is love alive lyrics

is love alive lyrics
When last we heard from the Thermals, they were railing against the political establishment with "The Body, the Blood, the Machine," a scathing allegory about, in the words of singer-guitarist Hutch Harris, "a fascist Christian government ruling the U.S. with an iron fist and going to war with the world."
These days, they have a new message: "Oh-way-oh, a-whoa-oh."
On "Now We Can See," the fourth studio album from the Portland, Ore., indie-rock band led by San Jose natives Harris and Kathy Foster, the Thermals achieve new levels of pop accessibility and sonic clarity — albeit in a concept album about death. Harris and Foster return for a rare hometown show Friday at the Blank Club for KSCU-FM.
Harris, a Prospect High School alum, says the title track's wildly catchy wordless chorus was inspired by the band's time on the road with the Hold Steady and the Cribs in support of "The Body."
"Both bands were doing a lot of 'oh-ohs' and 'whoa-whoas,' " Harris says. "You see how the audience responds — it's so amazing. 'Cause there's no words to learn, but you can totally sing along. When you hear a whole crowd singing along, that's so fun. One of the big goals of this band is to get people singing along, jumping around and shouting."
Harris and Foster got their start playing in South Bay bands like Haelah and the Urban Legends, performing DIY shows with like-minded friends in alternative venues such as the Knights of Columbus Early this millennium, the two musicians, at the time a couple, moved to Portland and formed a new band. The first Thermals CD, 2003's "More Parts Per Million," was a defiantly lo-fi affair, recorded on cassette in Harris' kitchen. Since then, the band has gradually upped the ante in fidelity, letting its lyrical and melodic gifts shine through more clearly.
"Each one of our records has been a little more produced sounding, a little more hi-fi," says Harris, who adds that the group continues to release bare-bones demo versions for fans who prefer the old sound. "We love lo-fi, and we have made really lo-fi records, but at the same time we also enjoy really produced records."
Eric Fanali, a KSCU DJ and concert promoter, says he became aware of the band around the time of its second CD, whose name we can't print in this paper.
"That's when I first really noticed — wow, this is more than just your typical pop-punk indie band," Fanali says. "Really sharp lyrics."
But live, Harris' incisive intelligence is paired with an exhilarating physicality.
"I can't believe he can do that," Fanali says. "There's so many damn lyrics, and he's jumping up and down, just pounding the guitar. It's a very exciting live show."
The scathing wit and furious honesty of "The Body" brought the group its best notices to date, but when it came time for a follow-up, the two knew they wanted to try something different.
"There was no real plan for this record, except that we wanted to try to have no politics or religion," Harris says.
The band's contract with Sub Pop had ended, and rather than re-up, the two decided to pay for the recording themselves and shop for a deal later.
"We didn't have a deadline for ourselves, because we just didn't want to rush it," he says. "We really felt pressure to make the next record better or as good as the last one. We didn't want to get stuck releasing something that we just kind of felt OK about."
A song called "When We Were Alive" proved to be the entree into the new record — a look back at life from beyond the grave, tinged with fear and regret, but also a joyous sense of release.
The duo entered the studio with producer John Congleton, known for his work with bands like the Polyphonic Spree and Explosions in the Sky. Since the band's third drummer, Lorin Coleman, had left after the "Body" tour, the two recorded the new album as a duo, with Foster playing drums as well as bass.
Westin Glass has taken over the drum stool for this tour and, Harris hopes, for quite a while longer. But Harris and Foster plan to carry on regardless.
"We have gotten used to people coming and going," Harris says. "If for some reason Westin was to quit, we would just keep soldiering on and making more Spinal Tap jokes."
The Thermals ultimately signed a one-record licensing deal with Portland's Kill Rock Stars label, while maintaining ownership of the master recordings.
Though Harris is looking forward to eating his mom's home cooking, drinking iced tea on the patio and shopping at Streetlight, his heart is firmly in Portland. The Thermals are even bringing two Portland bands with them: Shaky Hands and Point Juncture, WA.
"When you actually add up all the bands that Portland has right now, it's totally the indie-rock capital of the world," he says, referring to acts like the Shins, the Decemberists and Modest Mouse. "We're all about Portland."