Meet Thunder Gloss

THUNDER GLOSS HOOOOOOOOO!!!! That one was for all of you Thunder Cat’s fans out there. For those of you who do not know what I am talking about allow me to change the subject as I introduce you to this band, Thunder Gloss. Nestled somewhere comfy between Post-Rock, Post-Punk, and Postmates Thunder gloss explodes into your face at a high velocity. Their album Halos recently dropped and if you dig anything I have been saying you should give it a listen. Unless of course, you’re CHICKEN! If that is the case get to know them in our latest interview and work up the courage.

PRIME TIME GOSSIP a Mad-lib by, Thunder Gloss

Handsome BERNIE.and his co-CUSTODIAN, the STEELY CHRIS raised PALMS when they were seen kissing LABORIOUSLY at the screening of their VAPID TV movie. The LUGUBRIOUS couple denies it's a romance; they say they are just APHOTIC friends.

Here's another STORMY tidbit... love must be in the DOLE. WILLEM DAFOE and MAYA who had only SILLY words for each other last week were seen holding PLEASURES and whispering in each other's SOLES at this week's benefit for adopted DAYS.

Would You Rather

Would you rather get a full back tattoo of Garfield or Alf? Please explain why. 

Kit: Both are lecherous bastards who deserve the grave. I would get a stained glass-style tatt of both of them being guillotined by The Bill from School House Rock.

Sara: Alf—Since I don’t feel any sentimental attachment whatsoever to either, I’ll go for the one that I feel is the underdog.

John: I don't have a strong opinion on either, so I guess I would ask to get them both, but have them arm wrestling to look like that meme of Jesus & the Devil, cause it would be funny I think.

Some questions with Thunder Gloss

How did the three of you come together?

Kit: Sara and I had been playing together in our old band Monster Bad for like, three years or so? In 2018, one of the other two members decided to move on and pursue more satisfying work (which I support and respect) and the other one dissolved fully into nothingness, hopefully soon to be forgotten altogether. After that lineup change, we decided to look for a new drummer- we ultimately asked John (who thankfully said yes), chosen because he’s a great collaborator and a stellar drummer, and also the leader of one of my favorite bands, Henderson Century.

Do you see a relationship between emotion and atmosphere? Does this play into your creative process

Kit: I think emotion and atmosphere are negligibly different things, in terms of their artistic utility. In real life, they’re a feedback loop which we can alter by doing work to reshape our perception, in regards to how our emotions will feed an atmosphere, and how an atmosphere will inspire our emotions. They’re technically discreet, but that feedback loop, in many ways, is where art lives. In that way, I see them only as a union. The endless diversities of color and texture and density of any potential feedback loop, and how it feels to engage with it, ultimately determines all of the parameters with which we define style, which is an extremely important thing to me (and probably most people) in an artwork.

In that way, this absolutely plays into my creative process, because I think it plays into the process of anyone who wants to make an accessible work. Style, and the feedback loop it results from, is the utilization/reverse engineering of cultural symbols to get across unspoken, specific, desirable things, which may live abstractly in atmosphere or concretely in composition, and is subjectively desirable because of how that style makes you feel or affects your thinking. All communication is semiotic, and all art communicates (whether it wants to or not). Let it also be said that what we recognize as symbols are determined by our cultural upbringing, which even further diversifies (happily) what and how we validate as part of a specific genre or style.

Jumping back for a sec, if an accessible work is defined by its ability to effectively put up abstract signposts to signal: “Hey, this music will make you feel how you’d like to feel!”, and an audience member’s understanding of those messages is based on their ability to understand those symbols, then their access to that work is entirely dependent on whether or not the artist was able to utilize those signposts effectively, and to create the emotional/atmospheric feedback loop which that audience has a hankerin’ for. 

I’ve tried brute forcing it and failing (the album Spark Thrush by Monster Bad), by creating music in which attempted to exploit symbols indicating “pop music” in a general sense, but which stylistically was specifically anti-”cultural signpost”/”understandable symbol”, which spoke to no atmosphere outside of the work itself, and which, in that way, was deeply unrelatable, and maybe only appreciable in the way that like, “art-for-art’s sake Pollack-esque abstract painting” would be, or something. I like that record, but that’s literally because I made it. Maybe there’s some audience for the “style” I was thrashing around in, but I certainly never found it. It’s also mixed poorly and not composed particularly well. 

“Halos”, our new record, balances all of this I feel. It is, in an essential way, a rock album, and is readily accessible to anyone who has a background in engaging with that type of work. The fun and more dangerous stuff is in the actual detail, which is a very delicately crafted feedback loop that we’ve done a lot of work to develop.

Sara: Absolutely—I think one affects the other, and when it comes to music from a listener’s perspective I think it’s very hard to separate the two, or voluntarily listen to something that doesn’t reflect what you’re feeling. Creating music is similar in that I find it very difficult to write(or even attempt to write) parts for a song with a specific mood if I’m not there myself. I think my most effective songwriting happens when I have time to really access and dive deep into my feelings.

John: For me, songs are "spaces", or "places" a listener can go to to experience a strong sense of feeling from whatever atmosphere the artist has developed. So, emotion is definitely relative to atmosphere for me, but in that the atmosphere should create the potential for strong feeling from the listener, rather than dictate a specific emotion. That's how I approach the creative process, and I've always admired Kit & Sara for their ability to create this type of listening potential in their work.

What was the recording process like for your debut album? Did you learn anything along the way?

Kit: Halos was written mainly by myself from 2014/2015-2018, with other specific parts either co-written with, or written by, other members or collaborators along the way (things that other people would be playing live anyway, like drums, bass, synthesizer, some vocal parts). It took so long because I had been writing and finishing a few albums at once, and also like, going to school for audio engineering. We played the songs with tons of different lineups on tours and stuff, and did some fairly rigorous rewriting pretty much until we were done tracking. We started the tracking process at the tail end of 2017, and finished by mid-2019, mixing all along the way. The scope and style was honed a lot over the entire process, and by the end, the core tenants/theses remained intact, stronger even, which I was stoked about because, to me, it felt like we really got to the philosophical core of this record, one that hopefully shines through. 

I also started with a completely separate roster of collaborators than I ended with, which is funny. Maybe like, 5 out of what feels like 50 ex-members (not literally) and collaborators ended up actually on this recording. Without everyone’s efforts from all parts of that history, however, this album would actively be bad. A collaborator and close friend of mine, James Yaiullo, played drums incredibly well on many of the final recordings, and is probably the best artist I know. Sara specifically did some unbelievable work that I still cannot believe is in there, and I’m so happy that she’s a permanent member and that we’re co-writing records now. John’s not on this album unfortunately, but I’m excited to get him and his drumming style all over the next one. In more ways than one, John’s work is the future.

I’ve learned too much to list here- unfortunately, because of my dumb brain, you’d get another 400,000 word fake philosophy paper were I to try. I’ll say this- 90% of my working understanding of how to effectively compose music (and art in general) I learned during the mistake and misstep intensive creation process of this album.

Could you tell us a lie about NYC? It can be anything.

Kit: Trains good

Sara: Be sure not to miss Times Square.

John: It's cool.

Was your musical style developed in a vacuum or could you site any other major influences?  Is this your first foray into music?

Kit: I’ve been writing music since I was a freshman in high school (2011) and studying it since before then. I liked (and still like) a lot of grunge music and mid-2010’s alt/art rock/indie when I was in high school, which is why I started playing guitar and writing music in that vein. I started getting into electronic music/just kinda weirder stuff when I was in college. My favorite band is Xiu Xiu. I also don’t think cultural vacuums exist.

Sara: I’ve been part of a couple of projects before Thunder Gloss, but I’m still pretty new to being a musician, so I’ve had most of my life to let my musical influences steep before getting to it. I can’t name one that stands out above the others--it’s more like a collective influence where all of these crazy moments from albums and songs are constantly bouncing around in my brain and they all inform my style as a musician. Some of my favorite artists have never even incorporated synth into their music, but I’m sure you can hear their influence on my sound in other ways. 

John: I've been playing in bands since middle school, so music has been a part of my life for quite some time. Growing up in Vermont where Grateful Dead cover bands propagated was definitely vacuum-esque, but I was lucky to be sent in many different listening directions by good friends of mine who helped develop my curiosity for fresh sounds. Ultimately, my foremost influence is the eradication of boredom.

What is the most comfortable pair of shoes you own?

Kit: I had these really sweet basic black-and-white Nikes that were super comfy and good for running and just went with every outfit. They don’t make em anymore though, which is fine. Gotta let the past die. I liked those shoes though! I’m counting those as my answer because I still have them somewhere, they’re just too destroyed to wear to anything.

Sara: I got these Keds rain boots that look like regular shoes from a thrift store not too long ago—I don’t think they make them anymore. They’re super comfortable and it’s nice to have a pair of shoes that you can throw on and they’ll be fine no matter the weather. 

John: I've had this pair of Adidas slides for over a decade and you can see my footprint in them at this point. So yeah, those.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Kit: This tweet, in my opinion, is the north star all fellow modern leftists and anti-fascists should hold closely. For as much stupid academic philosophical shit language I’ve used today about art or whatever, which might indicate that I hold academic thinking on a pedastal or something, I think recognizing accessibility and empathy as the most important things in the poilitical and social structures we’re trying to build anew is a dire necessity-- and significantly, significantly more important than sounding, or even being, academically smart. Collectivism (historically, literally, always) fails when you lose this thesis: empathy comes first, theory comes next. Your movement is doomed if you try it the other way. Everyone’s gotta come up together.