Thunderegg (band)
| Thunderegg | |
|---|---|
| Origin | New Haven, Connecticut |
| Genres | lo-fi indie rock |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels | Command-Q (1994-2005) HUEVO (2005-present) |
| Members | |
| Will Georgantas Jake Fournier Keith Woodfin Bob Porri Tim Kane Jonathan Chatfield Nathan Gohla Ken Moon Greg "Action" Zinman Aileen Brophy Russell Lord |
|
Thunderegg is an American rock and roll band and solo project led by songwriter Will Georgantas (guitar, vocals). Its earliest incarnation was the Yale University band Larry, formed in 1992 and featuring future Thunderegg players Jake Fournier (bass) and Keith Woodfin (drums).
Between 1995 and 2004, Georgantas recorded the first eight Thunderegg albums by himself to four-track cassette in various apartments in Brooklyn, New York, and his parents' house in Princeton, New Jersey. These albums, from 1995's Universal Nut through 2004's Sweetest One, are generally considered lo-fi, and reviewers have remarked on their high lyrical quality.[1] In January 2006, all of these recordings were collected for the anthology Open Book: The Collected Thunderegg, 1995-2004. The independently produced Open Book featured 231 mp3s on a single data CD along with a 108-page illustrated lyric book. It enjoyed a positive reception both for its large scale and its music, which was likened to rock in the vein of Guided by Voices, East River Pipe, and R. Stevie Moore.
Thunderegg began playing and recording as a full band in 2000 after Fournier moved back east to Hartford, Connecticut, from Portland, Oregon. (The band was named after the thunderegg, the state rock of Oregon.) In 2005 Thunderegg released its first full-band album, A Very Fine Sample of What's Available at the Mine, recorded by Nathan Gohla at the Shed in Manchester, Connecticut, and featuring Jonathan Chatfield (keyboards) and Tim Kane (trumpet). Thunderegg's second full-band album, Line Line, saw the addition of Bob Porri (pedal-steel guitar) and Ken Moon (guitar, keyboards) and was completed in April 2007. It was mixed by Alan Weatherhead (Sparklehorse, Cracker) at Sound of Music Studios in Richmond, Virginia. It was finally released independently in September 2011.
In January 2008 Woodfin relocated to Hong Kong; a new 2010 lineup included Greg Zinman (guitar), Aileen Brophy (bass), and Russell Lord (drums), and a 2011 lineup saw the return of Fournier and Moon. Georgantas continues to record at home on his 424 Portastudio: In 2005 he posted a new song every week to Thunderegg's web site, the best of which were collected for the CD This Week, which was self-released in early 2007. Outtakes from that project were released as Where Are the Cars in 2008. Platinum, recorded from 2007 to 2009, collects covers and originals and was released in 2011. Gazillion is an in-progress album that has so far comprised material written for February Album Writing Month in 2010 and 2011.
[edit] Discography
- Larry (May 1994)
- Universal Nut (Nov. 1995)
- New England Music (May 1996)
- Personnel Envelo-file (Feb. 1997)
- Thunderegg (Nov. 1997)
- Powder to the People (Aug. 1998)
- In Yanistin (Sept. 2000)
- The Envelope Pushes Back (Oct. 2000)
- Sweetest One (Oct. 2004)
- A Very Fine Sample of What's Available at the Mine (Mar. 2005)
- Open Book: The Collected Thunderegg, 1995-2004 (Jan. 2006)
- This Week (Feb. 2007)
- Where Are the Cars (Feb. 2008)
- Platinum (Sept. 2011)
- Line Line (Sept. 2011)
- Spent Butane: 100 Thunderegg Outtakes (unreleased)
- Gazillion (unreleased)
