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Thistle
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The life span of a local band can be similar to that of a Hollywood celebrity couple: No matter how good it seems in the beginning, it rarely lasts more than four or five years. And if it does, it's downright miraculous.
In that analogous light, the local Indie Rock power trio Thistle are the Steve and Eydie of the Cincinnati music scene. The group have been together since 1993 and over time have quietly built up their name on the underground circuit, garnering 'zine praise, compilation appearance offers (include a recent Magnet magazine comp) and clocking major mileage on the touring van. The band members site their sheer love of playing music as the main reason why they've stuck it out, though stubbornness, often a band-killer, is also pointed to as a key to their longevity.
"I think the three of us are all very stubborn by nature and are resolved to sticking it out, as long as it remains creative and exciting," says singer/guitarist Mike Montgomery.
Another factor in Thistle's consistency is their road work. While a local band that plays out in-town once a month might ultimately feel like they're banging their heads against a wall, Thistle's touring has helped keep things interesting and made them comprehend a bigger picture.
"I think the fact that we try to tour and play out-of-town as much as possible is a large key to us still being around," says drummer Rick McCarty. "When you go on the road for two or three weeks at a time, it really puts a different perspective on what you are doing."
All the travel has also helped the band make some important contacts that have enabled them to keep up a touring circuit. The group has traded shows with like-minded D.I.Y.-ers and has had the opportunity to share stages with bands and artists they have looked up to over the years, including Superchunk, Poster Children, Mineral and J. Mascis, the former Dinosaur Jr. frontman whose style has greatly influenced Montgomery's playing.
"Playing with (Mascis) was as cool a thing as I ever could have wanted to come from doing this," Montgomery says. "When I was 14, I dreamed of the day, then all of a sudden, there you are sharing the stage, and it's like, 'Well, what comes next?' I hadn't ever really set any goals, but if there were any, that was certainly always one in the back of my mind."
"It can be intimidating (playing with bands that inspired us)," bassist Tobias Weiss continues. "But it also shows us that these are just guys like us who have been doing this longer and better than we can understand. It's humbling, but inspiring."
Since the band's inception, they have released three CDs of their melodic, shimmering Rock tunes on their own imprint, Tiberius Records. But two of those releases (including the brand new four-song Oxygen) have been EPs, both following 1997's sole full-length Tremble Kisser. There are various factors behind the brevity of the band's more recent efforts, but the most important one appears to be timeliness.
"We like to have CDs to sell that in some way reflect what people hear when they come to see us," Weiss says. "It usually takes us six to eight months of messing around with a song before we play it out, and even longer before we think about recording it. The moral of the story is nobody wants to buy a CD of a band and then get home to find out that all of the songs on that CD are no longer part of the band's set list."
The group has already begun to write new material for a possible upcoming full-length. The band members are also looking to expand Tiberius' roster, with releases from Ampline and Sweet Impala on the horizon, as well as a possible compilation CD featuring bands from all over. The band alsohas more than their share of touring ahead of them.
While the band doesn't consider themselves "control freaks," they do relish their independent status and don't seem to be in a big hurry to give up the reigns to an outside label (this is a band, oddly enough, with a mailing address in Independence, Kentucky). But they wouldn't mind the money.
"It is nice to be able to do exactly what we want whenever we want, but it comes with a high cost," Montgomery says. "It's physically, emotionally, mentally, and, most of all, financially draining to operate the way we are right now.
"But on the same hand, it's tremendously rewarding when you achieve something or create something, or get anything done really. The whole process is really rewarding to me. I like to make posters. I like to staple them to telephone poles. I like to write songs. And I honestly like to spend money on this stuff, because I know it's ensuring my own good times."
THISTLE will host a CD release party at Top Cat's on Friday.
