The Thermals - Here's Your Future

The Thermals are a hip trendy band out of Portland Oregon. I have heard them described as an indie rock band and also a punk rock band, those two styles are very different from one another, and yet weirdly The Thermals could be argued as either one. When I first heard them, I thought the Thermals were best described as a modern punk rock band, one of those soft pop punk bands, you know the type, but I must admit there is an indie influence present. Whatever, all these subgenres are getting hard to keep up with anyway, I guess The Thermals are an indie punk band, and no, I am not sure how they pulled that off.

With a quick listen, The Thermals would not necessarily seem like the sort of band I would get into, what with their somewhat nerdy, somewhat hipster ways, but here we are now, talking about them.

The Thermals

The Thermals is a three-piece band, fronted by Hutch Harris on lead guitar and lead vocals, and his now wife, Kathy Foster who plays bass and does the backing vocals; these two are effectively The Thermals, as they have gone through a few drummers at this point. I like Hutch and Kathy, while I am still learning about who and what they are, they seem really nice, and also, I like their music.

I first discovered The Thermals in November of 2012. I remember the date because I published a Music In Review called “27 Songs about the End of the World” which included The Thermals’ “Here’s Your Future.” You can read that review here: http://colinkellymusicinreview.blogspot.ca/2012/11/27-songs-about-end-of-world.html

At the time, I had never heard of The Thermals before, but I really like “Here’s Your Future” it had great energy, and I liked the prophetic doom of the chorus “here’s your future.”

Since that time, youtube.com has consistently recommended The Thermals to me, surely because I have listened to “Here’s Your Future” so many times on that platform. In that time, I have grown to be very fond of other Thermals’ songs like “Returning to the Fold” and “Never Listen to Me.” I have listened to many of their albums and live performances but my enjoyment seems to be primarily linked to their 2006 album “The Body, the Blood, the Machine.” Despite everything I have heard and learned to love by The Thermals, nothing compares to that first love, nothing is quite as great as “Here’s Your Future.”

As part of “27 Songs about the End of the World,” “Here’s Your Future” is indeed about the world’s end, specifically it is about biblical Armageddon.

“God reached his hand down from the sky,
He flooded the land then he set it on fire.
He said, ‘Fear me again. Know I'm your father.
Remember that no one can breathe underwater.’
So bend your knees and bow your heads.
Save your babies, here's your future.”

This interpretation of god is pretty damn brutal, and thus fairly accurate to the old testament. Rarely we see god presented in such open harshness, not only is he threatening his audience, but he is threatening their children, even more than that he is promising an eternity of abuse, “here’s your future.”

From that dramatic opening verse, we break into Noah’s flood:

“God reached his hand down from the sky,
God asked Noah if he wanted to die,
He said ‘No sir,
Oh, no, sir.’
God said, ‘Here's your future.
It's going rain.’

So, we're packing our things,
We're building a boat.
We're going create the new master race,
Cause we're so pure.
Oh, Lord, we're so pure.
So here's your future.”

Then we discuss Jesus:

“God told his son, ‘It's time to come home,
I promise you won't have to die all alone.
I need you to pay for the sins I create.’
His son said, ‘I will, but Dad, I'm afraid.’"

There is a rather obvious message in this song that is critical of the Christian god. It is very difficult, even for the staunchest apologists, to ignore the cruel and destructive nature of god’s actions in the original white light faith text. Those stories took place in savage times, full of violence and death, so we should expect no less from a god representing spirituality and morality of that era. Still, few, present god in such a linearly frightful way as The Thermals have here. The menace is not only extreme and immediate, but immortal, the shouting of “here’s your future” is of severe significance because it implies that this nightmare is continuous, forever, and given that god is the one enforcing this never-ending tragedy, we are powerless to stop it.

Other songs by The Thermals come across almost positive towards Christianity, and this seemed to somewhat conflict with the content of “Here’s Your Future,” but I come to believe the more upbeat and encouraging religious moments in The Thermals repertoire are mostly sarcastic, but also reflective of a rather neutral perspective on the topic. I do not believe Hutch and Kathy hate religion or Christianity, I suspect they have a passing fondness for it, but are ultimately critical agonistics, and that is why songs like “Here’s Your Future” and “Returning to the Fold” can both exist on the same album.

I thoroughly enjoy a good critical bashing of religion, but agnostic subtexts had nothing to do with my initial love for The Thermals or “Here’s Your Future.” As I said, the energy and pace of “Here’s You Future” is fantastic, the dread of a fearful future shouted at us by Harris with such unrelenting aggression makes for a very intense and powerful song of doom, and the end of the world.

Back in 2012 I knew one day I would be writing this review and promoting this song. “Here’s Your Future” got it’s hooks deep into me all those years ago and never let go. It is probably one of the best songs of this decade that I have discovered.

- King of Braves