Thermals Tour With Cursive, Talk New Album
Also: New Video

The Portland natives took a test run last weekend at Seattle's Bumbershoot festival, where Pitchfork was fortunate enough to catch up with them for a chat.

Outside of Easy Street Records (the Thermals were gearing up for an instore performance), we discussed Halloween costumes, makeout music, and their upcoming jaunt through the States.

In the new video for the galvanizing The Body, The Blood, The Machine track "A Pillar of Salt", the band and a supporting cast of friends (including a few indie rock superstars) go wild while wearing a wide array of silly outfits. And since Halloween is coming up, we decided we'd ask the band about their October 31 fashion preferences.

"I dressed up as Laura Palmer for Christmas. Er, Halloween," Harris revealed. "Yeah, when I was in high school, I dressed up as 'Twin Peaks' characters and scared my parents." He added that he's also trick-or-treated as Phil Collins in the past. Now that's scary.

Bassist Kathy Foster played it safe for a while ("I was a gypsy. And then I was a boy") before moving on to dressing up as "something that was dead. Beat up or dead. I was a dead swimmer and a dead cheerleader."

With these childhood secrets out in the open, the Thermals were able to discuss stuff that's, uh, a bit more current. The trio is currently focused on mastering older material with brand new drummer Lorin Coleman (present at the interview in a strong, silent way). Having witnessed a couple of teenagers making out during the Bumbershoot performance of Fuckin A's "A Stare Like Yours", we think they've been successful.

"There was a couple in California who did that," Harris commented on the kissing session. Foster added, "And one time in Frankfurt, there was a couple making out in front the whole time." For those who aren't quite to first base yet, the band recommends sending "naughty e-mails for a couple of weeks" and "dates at the mall" ("You could go shoplifting together. And then go to Cinnabon," said Harris).

Finally, we learned about the internet's effect on music. Who knew, right? Harris explained, "Before the record came out, we put things on Myspace, and so people knew the songs before we had an album out. This is the first record where we've done that-- put the songs on MySpace, put the videos on YouTube right away. This is the first one where it's come out and we've had all the internet stuff in place. So it's kinda shocking, kinda weird, kinda cool. It's cool to see how many people are paying attention."

Which reminds us-- pay attention to these Thermals tour dates:

09-16 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
09-22 Fargo, ND - Playmakers Pavilion *#
09-23 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue *#
09-24 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater *#
09-25 Chicago, IL - Metro *#
09-26 Detroit, MI - Majestic Theater *#
09-27 Cleveland, OH - House of Blues *#
09-28 Buffalo, NY - Icon *#
09-29 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom *#
10-03 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *$
10-04 Pittsburgh, PA - Club Zoo *$
10-05 Newport, KY - Southgate House *$
10-06 Nashville, TN - City Hall *$
10-07 St. Louis, MO - Mississippi Nights *$
10-08 Lawrence, KS - Granada *$
10-11 Denton, TX - Hailey's %
10-12 Austin, TX - Emo's %
10-15 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre *!
10-17 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue *!
10-18 Boise, ID - The Venue *!
10-20 Seattle, WA - Neumos *!
10-21 Portland, OR - Roseland Theater *!
10-23 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore *!
10-26 Los Angeles, CA - Avalon *%
10-27 San Diego, CA - House of Blues *%
10-28 Pomona, CA - Glass House *%
10-29 Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues *%
11-02 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom (Sub Pop CMJ showcase) ^

* with Cursive
# with Ladyfinger
$ with Detachment Kit
% with Man Man
! with Chin Up Chin Up
% with Eastern Youth
^ with the Shins, CSS, the Album Leaf, Oxford Collapse, the Elected, Loney, Dear

Video: The Thermals: A Pillar of Salt