Thunderbirds Are Now!

Beards are now! Thrift-store blazers are now! Manchester United warm-up jackets are now! But most of all, Thunderbirds Are Now! Purveying that intoxicating amalgam of punk-rock brat-itude and dance-friendly dervish drums that made sensations of like-minded spaz rockers Hot Hot Heat and We Are Scientists, the quivering Detroit quartet seem...

By Eryc Eyl

October 12, 2006

Audio By Carbonatix

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Beards are now! Thrift-store blazers are now! Manchester United warm-up jackets are now! But most of all, Thunderbirds Are Now! Purveying that intoxicating amalgam of punk-rock brat-itude and dance-friendly dervish drums that made sensations of like-minded spaz rockers Hot Hot Heat and We Are Scientists, the quivering Detroit quartet seem primed to rocket from the cellar to the stadium. Yelping, twitching and occasionally crooning, guitarist/vocalist Ryan Allen makes anxiety sexy, while keyboardist Scott Allen adds all the right synthy hooks. For their part, bassist Howard Chang and drummer Mike Durgan must be mainlining Red Bull to keep those brash, bristling beats rolling so tirelessly. To keep the Thunderbirds party from turning into a me-too cliche or an indistinct trend-follower, the band takes no shorts on writing sincere (and, occasionally, sincerely goofy) lyrics and monstrous melodies. As a result, successive listens to its latest slab, Make History, are all the more satisfying. To top it off, in a few short years, the band has developed a sizzling reputation as one of the most passionate, unglued live acts going. The party is now!

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