Winnipeg surf rock band the Thrashers brought the spirit of the ocean to the prairies over their previous EP and CDs, but bring the spirit of the universe on their latest CD ‘ Robot Invaders from the Death Galaxy.
They play the Owl Acoustic Lounge with the Ruby Plumes, March 30.
“The killer robots sprouted from a conversation I had with Iaian (Loeppky, bassist) about ’50s B horror movies,” said lead guitarist Jesse Bercier, complete the trio with drummer Sean G.
“ We wrote the title track first and the rest just kind of spread organically from there,“ he said adding there was some talk of designing a nine foot robot to walk across the stage as well, which they did.
“ For the CD release in Winnipeg, we’re playing the West End Cultural Centre. We do have a nine foot robot and some film we shot, so there is a stage show aspect to it, but that’s too much to take on tour,” he continued adding Lethbridge will be the second stop on the 10 day tour following their Winnipeg show.
the songs on the CD are interspersed with snippets of dialogue from B movies Loeppke collected.
‘We’re over the moon about how it turned out,” Bercier said.
We haven’t actually released it yet, so the only people who have heard it are media and their response has been overwhelmingly positive, so we hope that is indicative of how it will be received,” he continued.
The band has branched of from the more surf punk if their previous works into a more ’50’ ‘60s surf sound.
There is also a big Shadowy Men From A Shadowy Planet influence to the music.
“ My guitar is definitely influenced by Dick Dale and ’50s and ’60s surf music, but S I was a huge Kids In The Hall fan so Shadowy men From A Shadowy Planet were my first exposure to that kind of music,” he said.
They are excited about the tour, which will likely be the only one for the album due to day jobs.
pIt will be high energy and fun. We’ll be playing most of the new album and some older songs,” he said adding the band’s sound has evolves.
“We evolve every time we sit down and write new stuff,” he said.
“It will be high energy and fun,” that’s what we do,” he continued.
He noted touring is challenging.
“ We all work full time, day jobs so there is a limited amount of free time we have,” he said.
“ We’re very excited to play the Owl Acoustic Lounge again and play with the Ruby Plumes, ” he said.
There is no cover for the show which also feature the Ruby Plumes.