Hutch And Kathy (from The Thermals)

The Body, The Blood, The Machine is one of my favorite records in recent years. Every song is good. I get fired up every time I hear it in the same way I do at their shows. Prior to The Thermals, Hutch Harris and Kathy Foster released a record aptly entitled, Hutch And Kathy, an acoustic approach to their energizing pop-punk. A recent reissue of this record seemed to provide a solid basis for shooting The Thermals Take-Away Show. Yet little did I know we would be treated to some new unreleased songs.

On a sunny March morning, we set-off for a weekend road trip down the Pacific coastline to film one of my favorite Northwest punk bands play acoustically on the beach. Once a year the band retreats to Falcon Cove to record. We were greeted at the door by Kathy Foster and a friend. Soon thereafter Hutch arrived; a six pack in one hand with the other extended for a handshake. His friendly exuberance and Kathy’s calm demeanor made me feel comfortable, like visiting old friends. With a few hours of sunlight left we packed the gear and headed for the beach.

The Oregon Coast, known for its cliffs, rocky beaches, and giant rock formations protruding from the ocean (and the "The Goonies" amongst other things), is one of the most gorgeous shorelines I’ve witnessed. Hutch lead the way singing sweet nothings as Kathy followed, strumming away. We stumbled and slid down the rocks to have the two plant themselves on the rugged surface at the edge of the water. It was an atmospheric scene with waves crashing loudly, bright sunbeams, and gusts of wind coming off the ocean. But as beautiful as it was, the craggy beach wasn’t the most comfortable so we moved to the more steady setting of a beached log. Here, I was able to move with less chance of a buckled ankle and Hutch and Kathy could actually sit somewhat comfortably. "That’s Inertia" is a fantastic new one. I especially enjoy it when after the lines, "I store energy, store it inside of me/ once I start I’m hard to stop!" Hutch breaks into his guitar solo, which is kind of hard for me not to stop air guitar-ing along with each viewing.

For "I Know It’s Too Late", we bent the "one-take" rule and attempted something new. Initially this wasn’t the plan but after viewing the footage and not liking the entirety of each take, I decided to fuse them together with slow dissolves as if mimicking the rolling waves. And it works! For this one we wanted to shoot more stationary using a long lens to get the depth of the coastline. With blending two separate takes, I think we’ve captured certain elements of the song such as solidarity and separation. Standing atop a hill, Kathy drives the rhythm with her catchy strumming while Hutch sits at the base of the hillside looking out at the sea, singing words of lost hope.

They graciously offered to let us crash in the spare room, so we spent the rest of the evening enjoying pizza, beer, Trivial Pursuit, and watching Mr. Show. The next morning we gave our thanks, said our goodbyes and headed north on 101.

Steve, One Shot Seattle