OK, I know you guys are excited about naked bike riding this week but I wanna tell you about something equally awesome and it won’t make you think twice about borrowing someone bike again - Portland Oregon’s The Thermals are playing Friday at Fitz!  Upbeat, catchy, and as fun as shaking your heinie at passing traffic.  As we are wont to do when nifty bands are coming to town, we asked front man Hutch Harris if he’d like to do an interview with us or a drunken Don Walsh.  Wisely, he chose the former.

FPH - Wow, the band started back in 2024. That’s getting to a decade! How’s that ride been? Could you have imagined you’d still be at it this long?

Harris - Jesus, it IS getting to a decade! The ride has been fantastic, more than we ever could have hoped for, with still so much more to come. We are lifers! So yeah, we always knew we’d still be at it.

FPH - The video for “I Don’t Believe You” cracks me up and “Not Like Any Other Feeling” is horribly cute. You guys have done lots of videos and they are all really fun but I wonder if videos really have much of an impact anymore. What’s the value in them and why do y’all make them?

Harris - A huge majority of people are finding out about bands and listening to music via youtube, so there is still a huge value in making them. The internet is video-obsessed. Video clips go viral, audio clips do not.

FPH - You’ve gone from the 4-track to studios over the years. What did you take away from those 4-track days that still informs your music?

Harris -We still use 4-tracks for demoing and practicing. the 4-track keeps you limber. It allows for way less punching in and editing than computers do. It makes you play things over and over again, which is actually good for you!

FPH - For realz, no wussing out - what is the most embarrassing thing you have on your ITunes? Why is this song more awesome than people realize?

Harris - Uh, Avail Lavigne?  The thing is, there’s nothing embarrassing on my Itunes because I can’t be embarrassed by any music I actually like. Everyone in the Thermals loves commercial radio pop. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.

FPH - When you tour, you run into a lot of local bands that open for y’all. What’s been the one that most sticks out in your head and why?

Harris - Probably Little Brazil, from Omaha. you really have to meet them to understand why they stick in your head. We have a lot of mutual friends.

FPH - How has this tour going and what has been the best and worst moment so far?

Harris - It’s going great so far! The best moment was when we poured our first martinis and the worst moment was when we ran out of olives.

FPH - When you are on tour what is the one thing you miss about home?

Harris - Fucking my girlfriend.

FPH - Your last album was really awesome but I still have to jump back and ask what the hell is up with “We Sleep In A Holy Bed.” Is that ever going to get released? ..and why hasn’t it been released? Did you guys just make it and say “Good god this sucks ass! What were we thinking?” or was there some other reason?

Harris - It may get released, one day! Of course it does NOT “suck ass”, it’s incredibly good. Every classic band or artist has at least one “lost” record. Maybe in another ten or twenty years we’ll release it.

FPH - Lastly, why is F#minor so fucking awesome?

Harris - I‘m not sure it’s “fucking awesome”.  It’s a very dark and troubled chord, but it works very hard, and is always there for you when you need it.

The Thermals perform Friday June 10 with Wild Moccasins at @ Fitzgerald’s 8pm ALL AGES $12