Thank You Scientist – Maris The Great

I am a headbanger. I follow heavy music. Metal, punk and hardcore generally make up the diet of the gay undead. Occasionally, I will throw in a pop band for a little roughage, but I tend to eat that which I know. Heavy bands move, smell and taste a certain way the dead have come to appreciate.

Most unusual my hunt would take me to witnessing a seven-piece prog rock band called Thank You Scientist. But I attended their sold out show in Denver recently and if I wasn’t a serial killer intent on ending the lives of bands, I would claim myself a fan. Yes it was weird not banging my head or witnessing the homoerotic joy of hot, sweaty guys running around in circles and slamming into each other, but Thank You Scientist went down really well.

The group is unique in that they incorporate various horns, strings and other unique instruments the dead are not accustomed to. I was fascinated in how simple yet chaotic their music could get and how they made complexity sound very effortless. They’re easy to listen to passively but can also be picked apart on repeat.

They were formed in Montclair New Jersey back in 2009 by guitarist Tom Monda. He is not the first one in the band I would necessarily fuck (for my money, I would go for furry, lead vocalist Snuggly-Bear-Sal), but he is definitely the brainchild, primary writer and ultimately their mortal leader. They’ve released several albums a couple of EPs and a number of singles (including a joyous cover of Eddie Murphy’s “Party All The Time). For a number of years they were signed to Evil Ink records, which is the label owned and ran by Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria. They are currently writing material for a new release.

When they arrived in Denver, I took saxophone player Alex “The Velvet Blade” Silver out on a date. Yes, he is generally addicted to vagina, but he wasn’t about to turn down free food and alcohol either. I took him to the iconic Scruffy Murphy’s where we had a wonderful time. But as is usually the case, I killed him soon after. He quickly reanimated and returned to his band a killing machine. You can see what happened in the pictures below. But here is a superior interview with Tom…

~Maris The Great

THE DEMISE OF THANK YOU SCIENTIST

THANK YOU SCIENTIST FINAL INTERVIEW

I know it’s a generic question, but let’s begin at the beginning. How did thank you scientist begin?

Tom: It started as my bedroom project in college. Eventually it went from my imagination to an actual live band, and became sort of my main focus. It went through a bunch of variations in the beginning before we actually hit the ground running so to speak.

What kind of variations?

Line up and musical concept. As you know as a band leader, it takes time to find the right weirdo aliens to make it work

You have spoken correctly! Was it prog from the beginning?

I got very lucky with my boys. It always had a kind of maximalist sensibility. And I love prog. Old prog. But I never specifically set out to make any kind of band. Just make fun crazy music.

What bands did you love?

Genesis, Gentle Giant, Univers Zero, Zappa, cardiacs. All the shit that your punk and hardcore friends made fun of you for when you were growing up.

Did you get made fun of?

Oh of course dude look at me! Probably most psychotic obsessive music weirdos can say the same. I had Crohn’s disease kinda bad at the time and was a sick quiet guy who just wanted to play guitar

I have heard of this disease. You shall tell me more about it.

It’s just an autoimmune thing where your body attacks part of your intestine, I guess. I used to have to pump myself full of medicine but I’ve been in near remission for like eight years with no pills. Just rock and roll. And medical marijuana.

I have mostly dealt only with punk metal and hardcore band from New Jersey. They would always tell me there were no places to play. They would have to rent out VFW halls. Where did you play in the beginning?

VFWs, basements, parties, backyards, we played everywhere we possibly could. We really started building an audience at a local club that used to be called Mexicali. We just started playing there semi-frequently and people started coming. Literally, not figuratively. We weren’t that good.

What types of mortals would come to these early shows?

Metal and hardcore kids, music school nerds, other disaffected weirdos like us

At what point did it dawn on you that this was turning into something sustainable and so vibrant?

We are still trying to make it sustainable, believe it or not. It’s a big band and it’s truly a gargantuan financial beast to take on the road. You’ll be happy to know that we still sleep two men per bed to save money on the road. No, I don’t have pictures.

I was going to ask about how you cram that many mortals in a van and actually tour across the country?!

Painfully. Sometimes, all those mortals, plus a dog, when we used to have our RV (RIP). But we are one big family. I love my dudes and it’s a pleasure to tour with them. I think the bonding makes the music better. It’s an adventure. I used to read (Henry) Rollins “Get In The Van” over and over. I wanted this.

I have observed that straight mortal men have the unique mortal ability to go extreme lengths of time without uttering a word to each other. Do you utilize such a skill as a manner in which to deal with each other?

Absolutely I can fully disappear into my own mind any time.

I didn’t realize the connection with my straightness though.

It is. Straight mortal women and gay men have to talk about our feelings and we gossip quite a bit. When you’re undead it’s all that – except the conversations are more about maggot infestation, decomp and the various murders we’ve committed

It’s all adding up. Makes sense to me. That’s fertile conversational ground.

Straight men are a mystery – even to science. Please don’t tell me you shave your pubic hair to appease your female mortal?

No, I’m a hairy Italian. I do keep things trimmed out of politeness though. But I’m still hairy as fuck though, don’t worry.

Do you have a hairy butt?

I dunno. I can’t see it, but I assume so. Only in passing. Isn’t that why they call it a full moon? You only see it sometimes…if the mirror angle is right.

I like to be blissfully unaware. It’s caused me a lot of trouble over the years, what with Crohns and all. We are barely on speaking terms, to be honest.

Are you still the primary writer of the music? Or, over the years have you allowed input from the other members you’ve worked with?

I started as the primary writer but over the years it’s become much more collaborative. I’m lucky to have a band full of amazing incredible musicians.

Why do you have the particular instrumentation that you do? Why no keyboards?

Just figured we would mix things up

Metal, punk and hardcore have their gatekeepers. They believe everything should be kept brutal dark and… brutal. What are the gatekeepers in prog like?

I’m not sure. All I know is that gatekeepers are generally hard to please. There’s tons of people who don’t like our music. It makes sense. It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure.

Why was your last EP released independent of Evil Ink ?

It was just that time. We like to control our own stuff and they understood that. They are great guys and certainly gave us an incredible leg up and I will always be grateful to Claudio for that, as he truly helped us out of the kindness of his heart. Thank You Scientist isn’t exactly super marketable.

Did you get to work with him intimately? What was it like?

We toured together extensively! But never did anything creative together. There’s always time I suppose!

So what is the new material shaping up to be? And when will it be released?

We are only a few tunes deep but I’m super excited about it. Me and the boys are going to be hitting the lab heavy very soon. I have a lot of seedlings that just need a little development on my end but we are getting there.

Will it be the same as before?

Hopefully not the same thing we’ve done before. If anything, we will work hard to try to do that. I myself get caught up in musical boxes and I’m always trying to break out of them. But it’s too early to describe the degree of departure I suppose

This will be the first record with Kevin and Alex?

Yeah. They bring a lot of fresh ideas and sounds into the mix. They are very charismatic players. Incredible dudes.

Any closing comments you would like to make about this journey you have been on all these years?

I’m super grateful that people enjoy the stuff me and my friends create together. I never take that for granted personally, and I can speak for the whole band when I say we really believe in what we do and work our asses off to do it. Shit’s getting kinda grim out there, the music game is getting harder and harder by the year, but we will keep trucking the best we can, as long as people keep coming to see us.

FOLLOW THE BAND HERE

Photos by Shudder Speed Photography. Special thanks to Rainie, Scruffy Murphy’s and Gage Cline