Time to talk: Kathy Foster of THE THERMALS

Kathy Foster is the bassist of the post-pop-punk trio The Thermals (also singer and guitarist Hutch Harris and Westin Glass on drums) from Portland, Oregon. The band was founded in 2002 - 11 years and countless gigs later The Thermals are back in Europe again! This year The Thermals signed to Saddle Creek and released their sixth record, Desperate Ground. Next saturday (19th october) they gonna play a show in berlin. I talked with Kathy about the current tour, the new album and future plans. Here we go!

Europe had become something like a second home for you as a band. How often have you been here?  
i've lost count, but i think its more like our 20th trip!

You've seen so many places and great cities. Is there a country/place/city which you liked the most? 

there is something good about every place we've been. on this tour, we went to rome for the first time and we had a little bit of time off there, so we walked around and saw lots of ancient sites. that was amazing! and of course, we ate lots of really good pizza and pasta in italy. we've probably played germany the most. the people are great there and we feel really taken care of there. the shows are run well, the food is great, and we get some really enthusiastic crowds. i love amsterdam. we've had the most time off there because we usually fly in and out of there. i love to walk around the city. its so beautiful. the people in the UK are great. the food in france is great. yeah, there is something great about every place. 

If you`d have the opportunity, where would you like to play in the world where you haven't been before? 
we'd love to go to japan, australia, south america, mexico. there are so many places we haven't been! 

You are now touring germany for a few shows. Berlin has a great music scene and pretty nice venues. Do you see similarities between the music scene in your hometown and berlin? 
we've had great shows in berlin and sometimes we have a day off there and get to see some of the city. but unfortunately, we've never been there long enough to really check out the music scene, so i can't say how it compares to the portland music scene. for a while, i kept hearing about musicians and artists moving there (i'm sure this is still the case!) because it was cheap to live there and because there are such vibrant art and music communities. this is definitely similar to portland. so many artists and musicians have moved to portland over the past twenty years and are still moving there. its an affordable place to live and its so nice to live with so many creative people. although, now its starting to get pretty expensive! noooo! it was so much cheaper when hutch and i moved there in 1998.

photo by the thermals

Your gig is on saturday. According to your tour schedule you got a day off after that. Will you spend the day in berlin? How do you use your quality time while touring? 
yes, we will have the day off in berlin. we try to schedule our days off in the cities we want to explore. we all love to walk around and get lost, go shopping, see sights, go to museums, eat. or sometimes if we are really tired and need to catch up on sleep, we spend the day off in bed. 

Much has been said about your new record „desperate ground“. I really love it. I know there is this theme going through the album about killing and fighting. However, the songs give me a pretty good feeling. They make me happy! Were you three all participating in the songwriting? Had there been any fights about the lyrics or did everyone agree with them? 
thanks! yes, i think you described the way we've made every album - heavy themed songs that make you feel good! we all think about these heavy themes but we still love to enjoy life and make exciting music. i think its good to confront these dark feelings and embrace them. we all collaborate on writing the music for the songs. hutch writes all the lyrics, but he always shares what he's working on and asks us our opinions, and we give him feedback. i've always loved hutch's writing and i like to help him. we've never argued about the lyrics. 

Seeing the songs from your new album as a connected tale, it seems to me like a huge movie with warriors fighting, inner conflicts and at least fate. What are your favorite movie genres? 
you got it exactly right! we were thinking about it in the same way. we felt like we were writing an action movie soundtrack. the more songs we wrote, the more we envisioned the "movie". the three of us love all kinds of movies, but while working on "desperate ground", we were definitely watching and thinking about action movies of all kinds - die hard, excalibur, full metal jacket, apocalypse now, army of darkness, lord of the rings, drag me to hell. 

I've read that you don't have a tour manager. Isn't it a lot of work doing it all by yourselves? 
sometimes we have a tour manager, sometimes we don't. on this tour, we kind of have a tour manager. but we do a lot ourselves as well. it can be a lot of work, but we started out in a very DIY scene where people set up their own shows and booked their own tours. so we started out doing everything ourselves, and then as we became a bigger band, we got a tour manager. its definitely awesome to have a tour manager, but sometimes it can be more work to try and find the right person! we've had good tour managers, but then sometimes they can't come on tour because they are busy with another tour, and then we either find someone else or decide to do it ourselves. we've never had a band manager. we like to be in control! 

photo by lifewithoutandy.com

Which bands are you listening to while being on tour? what are your favorite records right now? 
we've been loving "henge beat" by total control. also: the KVB, "crimes of passion" by crocodiles, "the new life" by girls names, the woolen men (one of our favorite portland bands), "dare" by the human league.

At the end of the year you will be back in the US. Will you spend the holidays at home? Is it important to you, celebrating with your family, presents and all this stuff?

i think we all usually alternate staying in portland and going back home for the holidays every year or so. hutch and i have family in california, and westin has family in new mexico. i think we'll all be in portland for thanksgiving and then probably go home for christmas. its important to see family but its also super fun to spend holidays with friends in portland. my family isn't big on christmas. we like to hang out but we don't make a big deal about it. 

What will The Thermals do next year? Are there any plans, maybe side projects? Are you gonna record some new songs? 
we'll definitely be working on some side projects AND some new thermals songs. hutch and i both have solo songs we're working on. i'm putting a band together called "love always". westin and i have another band called "hurry up" and we're currently working on getting our record done. i play drums and he plays guitar, and our friend maggie vail plays bass. the record will be out on "army of bad luck" records sometime soon. 

Thanks Kathy for the interview! And all the best for your future!

Desperate Ground, 2013, Saddle Creek, buy here
1. Born To Kill
2. You Will Be Free
3. The Sunset
4. I Go Alone
5. The Sword By My Side
6. You Will Find Me
7. Faces Stay With Me
8. The Howl Of The Winds
9. Where I Stand
10. Our Love Survives

european tour dates:
10.18 Frankfurt, DE Zoom
10.19 Berlin, DE Bi Nuu
10.21 Hamburg, DE Knust
10.22 Bochum, DE Bahnhof Langendreer
10.23 Cologne, DE Gebaude 9
10.25 Amsterdam, NL Paradiso


www.thethermals.com