Treasure in Muncie

Folks often try to faultily claim that “there are two kinds of people in the world: people who this, and people who that” (fill in to support whatever point you’re trying to make). While Ease doesn’t support this black-and-white mentality 99 percent of the time, we do think that, when it comes to feelings of discovery, there are largely “two kinds of people.” There are the folks Ease doesn’t care much for – the harbingers of all-things-hip who chance upon something brilliant (and obscure) and greedily keep it for themselves. Ease don’t play that. If we stumble across something, anything – be it an overlooked film, artist, writer, album, book or flavor of Doritos – we share, share, share. Thus is the nature of this column. We share until our comrades’ collective ears bleed dry. Lucky for you we have something to share this week, something we hope will change readers’ overall opinion of Indiana-based musicians, or at least offer some bushy-tailed hope on the topic. Discovery: Thunderhawk. Sounds like the name of an over-the-hill oldies band or maybe a crew of metalheads, right? It’s supposed to be throwing – don’t worry, you’re still reading the same column that considers mostly ordinary guy with names like Stephen Malkmus, Doug Martsch and Paul Westerberg to be every bit as important as Mick Jagger, John Lennon and the like. On a recent Saturday night work session I found three promo kits from artists wanting me to listen to and review their albums. Sure thing – I listen to ‘em all. I always do, but rarely do I come across something that fits my petulant faultfinding taste. After two ho-hum CDs received obligatory sampling sessions, something unexpected happened. It started with a blast of horns, followed by a jangly guitar, some friendly keys, a loose rhythm section and, finally, a voice made perfect for fans of mid- to late-90s indie rock. The song in question, “I’ve Got a Bullet With Your Name On It,” the opening track from Thunderhawk’s latest album, Thunderhawk V (also known as Gravity Wins!), is a doozy; see for yourself at www.myspace.com/thunderhawkband. Check out the rest of the album while you’re at it, there’s not a redundant or lackluster track in the bunch.

After some brief research and about a dozen straight-through listens I finally e-mailed Josh Hall, the man behind Thunderhawk, for some further info. Days later (and after some serious e-mailing) a second disc, Thunderhawk IV, arrived in my mailbox. “This one is probably a little more ADD than the other one,” Hall wrote in an accompanying note. “My sister says it’s more ‘punky,’ though I’m not sure what she’s talking about.” I was sure – scratch that – I was certain that some completely unknown dude living in Muncie, Indiana had fluked his way into a great album. No way he could have a second set of songs worth listening to – scratch that – obsessing over. I was wrong. While Thunderhawk V hinted at the work of numerous 90s-era indie rock heroes (namely Pavement, the Pixies and Sebadoh), Thunderhawk IV plays through like a long lost Guided By Voices record, though not nearly as scatterbrained. This led me to ask Hall about his influences.

“The Beatles and Guided By Voices” was Hall’s immediate response. This excited me, as I am a big Pollard fan and have long considered the Beatles’ White Album to be the blueprint for the indie rock aesthetic. When asked to elaborate on his influences, Hall had one album in particular that he wanted to discuss: “The White Album. It’s the only album where [the Beatles] did whatever they wanted to do. A lot of it still blows my mind; I listened to it every day for a year when I was 10.” I was thrilled. Thrilled. But more on the many influences of Thunderhawk later.

Hall, who started playing piano at age 8 while living in a suburb just outside of Philadelphia, wrote his first songs at age 12. “I grew up about 20 minutes from New Hope, the town where Ween is from. They had these completely [messed] up albums they recorded themselves on a Tascam 4-track, so when I was about 12 I got the same Tascam 4-track and spent thousands of hours recording songs.” Hall also readily recalls the first time he heard the Pixies “Debaser,” one of the standout tracks from their breakout album, Doolittle: “Black Francis shouts something like ‘chien andalusia’ in it. I still don’t know what that means, but I smashed at least two guitars while listening to that when I was 13.” If that statement alone doesn’t make you a believer, keep on reading.

“I came to Indiana to go to Ball State,” explained Hall. “They have this really good music engineering program; there aren’t many schools that offer it.” While first attending BSU in 1998 Hall started Thunderhawk with drummer Doug Market. “The music scene in Muncie kind of sucks. There are a ton of bands and a lot of talent, but almost everyone is so pretentious and clicky. Just last year there was a Muncie band who had recently fired their guitarist; I was asked to try out for them based on the fact that I knew a few Wilco tunes. I showed up with a 12-pack of PBR; they didn’t even have a PA and the drummer was using brushes to practice! They were all sitting around in beanbag chairs when I show up ready to rock, and end up doing guitar solos behind my head to have fun … they never talked to me again.” Again, color Ease thrilled.

Before I could catch my breath Hall told me that Thunderhawk has nine finished albums. “I’m even sitting on three or four albums that no one has ever heard. I’m too obsessed with making the music and writing the songs to really do anything with them,” he said. Hall then went on to explain his album-making process: “I pretty much write all the songs and do all the instrumentation myself. Yes, I am in a basement with a drum set, guitars, bass, keyboard, trumpet, saxophone, trombone and accordion.” Additionally, Hall does, well, pretty much everything else. “It’s consuming,” Hall said about his creations. “It’s frustrating because I have all these songs I want to put on a CD that are ready right now, but it’s tough for one person to do the work of an entire band: the engineer, the producer and the graphic artist. I record all my stuff onto my PC. None of it was recorded professionally. I like doing it at home where I can spill a beer and nobody will yell at me.”

Aside from the Beatles, Hall lists GBV’s Isolation Drills as one of his major influences. “This CD completely haunts me. I didn’t write any songs for two years because I didn’t see the point; someone had already written all the songs I wanted to write.” Hall also lists album by Beck, Ween and, maybe most notably, Frank Black. “I just went nuts when I heard [the Pixies’] Doolittle as a kid. Frank Black was the last person to do something completely original. Pavement’s Slanted and Enchanted hurt, too. Admittedly, I didn’t ‘understand’ this CD until I was well into college.”

The more I found out about Hall and Thunderhawk, the closer my jaw fell towards the floor. “This is the real thing,” I kept telling myself. “And no one knows about it!” The more he said about his craft (read: obsession), the more my head wanted to pop off. I could go on and on about the songs of Thunderhawk V and Thunderhawk IV, but there’s no need, just consider this quote from Hall: “If you’re 30 and don’t know what indie rock is, I’d tell you that Thunderhawk sounds kind of like The Who. If you are at least 30 and know a little about indie rock, I’d tell you that we sound like Malkmus trying to sing songs that Pollard wrote. If you are under 30 and don’t know what indie rock is, I’d tell you that we sound like Weezer … but, for the record, I’ve never owned a Weezer record. If you’re Canadian I’d tell you that we sound like Sloan. Does that cover everyone?”

So there you have it, our new obsession.

Written by G. William Locke