Gratitude, not attitude

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Baltimore’s Thank You is just one of the many bands currently exploding out of the burgeoning monument city. Although Baltimore, Maryland was long off the map of musical hotbeds, bands like Metal Hearts, Ecstatic Sunshine, Celebration, Beach House and Dan Deacon are quickly changing that. As with any scene that starts getting this degree of attention, at the core of the hype is a small group of dedicated music fans, of which Thank You are card-carrying members.

“I can’t really even go to the post office without running into somebody who plays in a band,” explains keyboardist Michael Bouyoucas. “The scene here is really small and I’ve been everywhere, and I can say it’s really different from any other place I’ve ever been. It’s really close-knit and everybody is really supportive of each other. It’s kind of like a huge family and it’s pretty amazing that no one has fucked it up yet by being competitive or talking trash, which is pretty rare because everybody in Baltimore seems to be in a band.”

Even with the surge of bands coming out of Baltimore right now, Thank You could be described as the apple of its eye. Their second and most recent release, Terrible Two, burns and churns with the occasional chanting vocals, organs switched on exotica, looming samples and assaulting free-jazz skronk all hanging off the locomotive, expressive drumming. The record gets Baltimore’s stamp of approval, recorded by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines) in his Baltimore digs and mixed by and ex-Baltimore scenester wunderkind Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio).

“J. is really amazing and is just great to work with—I love that guy. With Chris [Coady], we grew up with him and he’s more like the fourth member of our band. He’s been really busy lately and doing really well, and we thought he would never have time to work with us anymore, but he told us he would always make time for us. We can’t ever picture making a record without his involvement in some way. We’re pretty lucky, really.”

WITH MI AMI AT BAR ST- LAURENT 2,
ON SATURDAY, FEB. 14, 9 P.M., $10