The Thoughts

Behind-the-scenes of our new EP, Ghost

In a short behind-the-scenes video, Katie gives a nice little description of how she goes about creating both her music and her visual art.  In addition to all of the gorgeous string-arranging and playing, she designed and screen-printed the packaging for the limited-edition physical copies of Ghost, our new EP (available here).  The video features the closing track of the album, You, the Hunter. 

 

Speaking of videos, we also did a bit of filming in various locations through Oregon and Washington last weekend while on a little tour through the NW.  It will be a video for the opening track of the EP, Someday.  We can't wait to get it completed and share it with you!  Here are a couple of shots from the locales we visited...

Right next to the Deshutes River in Oregon, we had a nice afternoon in the desert before we played a show in Bend that evening at one of our favorite venues, the Horned Hand.

In the same area.  Old rail bed converted into a trail.  Saw a golden eagle, and a rabbit.  The eagle did not eat the rabbit.  At least not when we were around.

The next day we headed over to Mt. St. Helens while on our way home.  We're both science and nature geeks, so it was a fantastic way to end our little mini-tour.  We did a bit more filming, I sat in the snow and sang some songs. 

 

 

Seattle Rock Orchestra plays Radiohead

Hello everyone! 

If you're a fan of The Thoughts, you may be a fan of Radiohead; if you're a fan of Radiohead, and are in the Seattle area this Saturday, February 19th, you definitely should not miss this show:

Seattle Rock Orchestra plays OK Computer and The Bends

 

As in, both albums, in their entirety, with a full orchestra, backing-band, choir, and a cast of amazing guest singers from Seattle, including Jon Auer of The Posies, Jim Antonio of The Purrs, Rachel Flotard from Visqueen, John Van Deusen of The Lonely Forest, and more! 

Katie and I have both been involved in the Seattle Rock Orchestra for the last year or so (including having them back The Thoughts last fall!), and this show is no exception; Katie is playing violin, and I'll be playing guitar in the backing band.  I also had the opportunity to arrange a couple of the songs from The Bends for the orchestra. 

It will be epic, and wonderful.  Also, if you haven't heard the news, Radiohead is releasing their newest album, King of Limbs, this Saturday as well.  You can download that, hear the future of Radiohead, and then come hear two of the most influential albums of our time in full orchestral glory.  We hope to see you there!

   - Ian

Little Show, Big Show

 

Hi friends.  We just wanted to let you know that we’ve got two shows coming up in the next 3 weeks; a little acoustic set at The Sunset, and a REALLY big show at The Moore theater, where we’ll be joined by the Seattle Rock Orchestra!  The Sunset show is on Wednesday, October 27th, and we will be opening the show nice and early at 9:00pm.  Come and hear the stripped down versions of our songs, and then join us on Saturday, November 13th, where you can experience The Thoughts backed by a full orchestra!  We are opening the evening with a set of our own music, and then the SRO will be playing The Beach Boys “Pet Sounds” in its entirety, along with some other great songs produced by Phil Spector, who pioneered the legendary “Wall of Sound” recording technique that was used in the recording of Pet Sounds.  There are a whole bunch of great local artists singing, including:

Jen Wood
Ivan & Alyosha
Lesli Wood of the Redwood Plan
James Lanman
Alessandra Rose
Mychal Cohen of Campfire Ok
Yuni in Taxco
Michele Khazak
Ian Williams of the Thoughts
Rachael Ferguson of NighTrain 

Tickets are available here.  Make sure and get the good seats early, the last SRO show at The Moore was nearly sold out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Shoot!

Last week we had the pleasure of working with photographer Justin Nunnink, who, along with filmmaker Erinn Clancy, have recently launched Shot and Cut Productions.  Erinn recently completed one of the short films for our new album, and we're excited for you all to see it soon!

Justin and Erinn made a special trip up from San Francisco to work with us, and we couldn't be more excited to have worked with them.  We donned our shirts, ties, and dresses, and headed out into the wilds of Seattle. The picture above is from a session we did where we were lucky to get some beautiful early evening sunlight... a rarity for a Seattle September.  The weather continued to cooperate and we had a night shoot out under the moon and stars.  We should have something to share with you in a few weeks!

Erinn and Justin are now on their way out to Brooklyn to set up shop, and we wish them the best of luck on the other coast.  

Here's a few more pictures of pictures being taken...

 

In other great news, we're on to mixing the new album!  We are also very happy that we were chosen to open the Seattle Rock Orchestra's 2010-2011 Season, with a show at The Moore in Seattle on November 13th!  We will be backed by the full orchestra!  After our set, the Rock Orchestra will be playing The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" in it's entirety!  

See you all soon,

The Thoughts

BOOM BOOM CRASH

We had two back-to-back days down at Foundry Studios a couple of weeks ago... we ended up getting a lot of great tracks down, including some brand-new songs we haven't played live yet.  Here's some pictures -

Here's Jon and I recording the basic tracks of Form and Color. 

Jon thinks hard about what sounds to make.  Or maybe he's sleeping.

Staring into the void, or something.  Those sweet headphones are the only nice thing I own.  The sweet guitar is not mine.  It's Pierre's.

BOOM BOOM CRASH BOOM BOOM BOOM CRASH CRASH BOOM BOOM CRASH...

Katie and I also played an acoustic set over the Gage Academy's annual Drawing Jam, where we played songs while people sketched away and figure models posed.  We even got to be temporary stand-ins  when of the models was running late.

Note the handwarmers that make it possible to play violin AND stay warm.  The artists were probably glad when the model showed up, and they could stop trying to draw the weird faces I make when I sing.

All in all it's been a great December, the recording is coming along nicely, and we have a handful of shows coming up that we're very excited about.  Make sure and check our calendar, or our facebook and myspace pages for the latest shows! 

www.facebook.com/pages/The-Thoughts/36947004354

www.myspace.com/thethoughtsmusic.com

Recording: Day One

We were all very excited about our first day back at Foundry Studios to record our new album.  After a long morning of Jon and Pierre (our engineer) tuning temperamental drums, Katie forgetting rosin at home, and me spilling coffee on the floor, we managed to have enough time left to record the basics of four songs.  We ate lunch on the studio floor; I made pumpkin curry and Katie made a pear-and-ginger-cake that fueled us through the afternoon.  We love Pierre and Foundry studios.  Our last album, Consider the Bear, was recorded there, and Katie spent most of the summer at the Foundry recording and producing the new Monday Mornings' (her other project) album. 

Setting up.  Jon had a rough morning.

Tuning up.  My default activity.

Warming up.  Katie's default activity.

Ukulele's and new albums

Hi there, readers.  It was a lovely summer for The Thoughts, we played lots of Seattle-area shows in August and September, a few of which were acoustic duo shows with just Katie and I.  The most recent of these was at one of our favorite venues, The Sunset, and we were lucky enough to get a bit of video from the performance.  The two songs below will be on our upcoming album, which, in more great news, we will be recording in December with our good friend, Pierre Ferguson, who recorded and engineered Consider the Bear.  We're very excited about recording again, having spent the last year working on lots of new material.  Over the next 6 weeks we're going to be hard at work finalizing the form and tone of the new songs, December we will be in the studio, and hopefully in January or February we'll have a little taster for you to enjoy before the album comes out.  

Here's some footage from The Sunset... the sound quality isn't super, but you'll get the idea.  Oh, and I got a ukulele a while back, which will also appear a bit on the new album.  Enjoy!

That was "Orange Sky"... here's "Stages of Sleep". 

Thanks to Carissa Bluestone for the video.

Where are you, Mr. Bear?

Wondering where you can get your very own copy of Consider the Bear? Well, we are folks who believe in both abundance and variety, so we have a myriad of options for you. Here's a few we recommend:

1. Buy the CD from us! Visit the Store page of our website and we'll send you a CD the very next day. Odds are you will even get a had written thank you from us because I've got just enough Southern built into my upbringing to be a sucker for formalities.

2. Buy the tracks on iTunes! Somewhat less personal but terribly, terribly convenient, you can get the record, make a playlist, and help spread the word. Find your favorite avenue to iTunes and search "Consider the Bear."

3. Download the album on eMusic! eMusic is one of my favorite places to find new music, even if I don't always remember to use all of my downloads....If you haven't checked it out for yourself, go! Go now! eMusic will be your new best friend.