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File under funCall it what you want, the party-rocking
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by ERIN MACLEOD Thunderheist was one of the Mirror’s 2007 Noisemakers. Clearly we were on to something. Connecting via MySpace, the Toronto-based Isis and then-Montreal-based (he since moved to Toronto) Grahm Zilla made a name for themselves with a killer live show that would get audiences sweating, smiling and shaking it. The pair had plans for more fun, more music, more gigs and more Skittles—as part of their rider, of course. Over the past two years they’ve achieved all that and more. Much, much more. Not only is their first, eponymously titled full length LP out now on Ninja Tune offshoot Big Dada, but on the way there, they’ve toured Europe, America and Japan, with more dates in the works. They’ve had tunes featured on The L Word, Ugly Betty and, let’s not forget, in an Oscar-nominated film (“Jerk It” accompanies Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler). The video for “Jerk It,” an entry in a video contest Thunderheist held, was not only on Pitchfork and Spin’s best-video lists of 2008, but it also won an award for best video at South by Southwest 2009. Speaking of SXSW, Thunderheist was on hand to showcase their special brand of what journalists have been pigeonholing alternatively as post-rave, booty, club rap, lazer bounce or whatever, depending on the day, at SXSW showcases left and right. Having been picked up and bigged up by the blogger everyone and his or her mother reads, Perez Hilton, Thunderheist also took part in his personal One Night in Austin party, where all reports point to Thunderheist having killed it. There’s also the wicked new video for “Nothin 2 Step 2,” directed by George Vale, and don’t forget Isis’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where she and her incredible silver dress Thunderheisted—seriously, there’s no other word for it—all the attention away from everyone else on stage. Perez is burningThe Mirror spoke to the duo—separately, though the two were pretty in sync. Perhaps that’s why Thunderheist has grown from an Internet tune exchange to an outfit that isn’t just ready to take it to the world, they already have. As Isis says, “Life’s pretty good. It’s been awesome, and I’m sure the next few months are just going to be ridiculously, ridiculously awesome.” For Grahm, he’s shocked at what all’s happened. “I hoped it was going to go this way, but I definitely think that it exceeded by far my expectations. Countless things have happened that I had no control over and I feel pretty lucky to be in the position that I’m in right now.” One of those things that seems pretty lucky is the Perez Hilton factor. The Web-celebrity, whose blog is the place to go for celebrity gossip and shouts of “OMG!”, seems to have decided that he’s also about music—and he’s into Thunderheist. Why might this be? “Gay men just love me. I’m the new Madonna,” laughs Isis. “But I don’t really know! You’d have to ask him.” Grahm’s not sure either. “I know that a lot of people contacted him about us. People would tell me, ‘I just forwarded your MySpace to Perez.’ That’s been going on for two years. I sort of figured it would happen sooner or later, I just didn’t know when. I don’t really read his site, but most of the time when he talks about bands, they are decent, like Rye Rye and Little Boots. I guess he has an ear for things with a pop appeal that aren’t totally over the top. But then again, he loves Lady Gaga, so that blows my theory out of the water!” One thing that isn’t just theoretical is the effect of Perez’s attention. “People popped out of the woodwork to tell me about being posted on Perez,” says Grahm. “Random people, family members I hadn’t heard from in a while.” And Isis can quantify the effect. “You don’t realize the power he has until you get to reap the benefits. We went from 3,000 views on MySpace to over 30,000 all because of him!” No worriesKeep in mind that the count is now well over half a million people getting a kick out of Thunderheist’s tunes. These people are coming out in droves to their incredibly high-energy, heaps-of-fun live shows, be it in Canada, Europe, Japan or Mexico. “It’s weird,” says Grahm. “We don’t really know what to expect. Sometimes there are a bunch of people that know the lyrics. We played a one-off in Guadalajara and there was a good chunk of kids who knew the lyrics. I was blown away. We have had that in Canada, and I get it, but elsewhere? You don’t know how they come across the music. I love being a product of this. It just sorta blows my mind.” And people who check out Thunderheist live are in for a show, because Isis has a presence on stage that’s pretty rivetting. It’s an appealing aggressiveness that’s not so far away from punk. “We bring punk elements to our performance,” she explains. “You won’t see this sort of attitude unless you go to a punk show.” And Isis is committed to bringing it, every time. No one will go home disappointed from a Thunderheist gig. “A lot of people work nine to five and might have boring daytime lives, so when it comes to the nighttime, you need to make sure you have a fantastic time and forget all your worries. That’s what it’s about. Forgetting all your worries and your woes and having a gay old time. In Montreal, we always get love, in Canada we always get love. Berlin is amazing, so is Paris. Really, if you have the right type of party, it always works out well!” Comfort zonesWith the new album, Thunderheist is due to draw in more fans. It’s a wide-ranging affair that shows that Grahm and Isis know more than one way to rock the party. The album was produced mostly independently, with some tracks stemming from a more connected production process. “At first, we did it with her sending me a cappellas, and most of the singing tracks were me doing the instrumentals first,” explains Grahm, describing how the album took shape. “Near the end, we actually did work on some stuff in person. ‘Little Booty Girl’ was actually the first time we sat in the same room together. We didn’t really know each other when we started. And we were both really into our own creative bubbles and we didn’t really want to let the other person in. But after going through the album process, we’ve worked it out.” Isis concurs. “We’re now starting to work together in the same environment, the same room. We’re both artists that have our comfort zones and it’s only recently that we have allowed each other to get into each other’s comfort zone. And it’s been working out pretty well. We haven’t killed each other yet!” They’re thinking of continuing this way. “I think it’s a better way to go for us at this point,” says Grahm, “especially since we are going in different directions and trying new things.” Isis is up for it. “I want to make music and not feel like I’m confined to any particular style,” she says. “I’m not really into having to be one way. You hear that on the album—there are some tracks with me singing. And that’s a taste of what to expect in the future—more songwriting. The fun will still be there, the party will still be there, but I am not going to keep it to any confined format.” And folks love Thunderheist because they make music that’s just plain fun. In fact, instead of trying to pinpoint exactly what genre or category they fit into, Isis wants listeners to relax and enjoy the tunes. “I would call it fun,” she says. “That’s the new genre, get with it, google it, it’s called fun. We’ve been called electro-booty, lazer-zap-zap-boom-bap crap. So many words. Whatever. It’s called fun music. Don’t overcomplicate things.” Grahm agrees. “It’s so funny. Every time I read a new interview, I’m like, ‘What’s going to be the hybrid this time?’ It’s like there is a wheel and they just spin it and we might get ‘bass and hyphy crunk’ or whatever. But it is what it is. I never answer that question when asked. I always just say ‘Thunderheist. Google me’.” WITH WINTER GLOVES AND PEER |
