Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

The Thrills

  • 28-01-2023 12:46am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 4,995 ✭✭✭


    What do people make of them? They're an odd one in the sense that they are hardly ever remembered, but for a point in time were genuinely huge here and in the UK. And any time I do hear someone comment on them it's not positive.

    They were Irelands only sort of representative in the UK indie scene of the mid-00s, sort of like how Ash were the only real Irish band in the Britpop scene.

    Since we've had boybands with guitars like the Script and Kodaline, some solo artists, but the Thrills are really the last real Irish band that "made it" big for a sustained period of time.

    As time passes, people forget, and I think most forget just how big they were particularly for the summer of 2003. On hearing them for the first time in years, many people would be transported back there, they were the sound of that summer for Ireland and the UK, were everywhere.

    In a way that was probably their downfall, got associated with that period of time, sort of like how many Britpop bands got typecast and not given a chance to evolve by the public.

    But I always find it strange that they seem to be all but forgotten about by the general masses in this country, considering how many hits and well known songs they produced in such a short period of time. Great band I reckon, and at their height, one of our biggest and most successful bands in the UK



Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 5,965 ✭✭✭Declan A Walsh


    I bought their first two albums on CD earlier this century. My copy of the first album So Much for the City contained a bonus CD, which I gather was not available on all copies. I enjoyed them a lot at the time too. I think there is something of a time warp issue about their music alright. That said, it would be nice if they got a bit of airplay again. They did have a third album released in 2007 called Teenager, but I do not remember hearing anything about it at the time. It did make Number 24 in the Irish album charts, which was respectable. The first two - So Much for the City and Let's Bottle Bohemia - got to Number 1. I must start playing their CDs again.



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,995 ✭✭✭The Golden Miller


    Santa Cruz, One Horse Town, What Ever Happened to Corey Haim, Don't Steal Our Sun and Big Sur. That's their hits over one summer off the top of my head I think, all songs everybody would know. That's some quality output from a band basically forgotten now, it's not as if they were a one hit wonder.

    For about a 4-5 month period one summer, the only band played in UK and Ireland, at least 4 of their songs on the go all summer on the radios. They probably got too big too quick, and raised expectations for more hits of the same quality.

    Definitely the best band we've produced in years, that made it. Bell X1 didn't really "make it" to that level outside Ireland



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,831 ✭✭✭s8n


    gift grub used to do a great bit about them.



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,995 ✭✭✭The Golden Miller


    Don't remember that. Just remember the brilliant Mourinho stuff from gift grub. Rip the Thrills apart I take it ha?



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,857 ✭✭✭dogbert27


    Didn't they get one of their songs on to the OC series?

    Also as you said, they probably released too much too soon. Put all your big hits out over 2 or 3 month period!

    Could have spaced those songs out over nearly a year, would have maybe got them a bit more longevity on the airwaves while getting the touring done.



  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 4,995 ✭✭✭The Golden Miller


    Possibly. I know Bell X1 did. You getting them mixed up maybe?

    Looked up their releases there, What Happened to Corey Haim and Not For All the Love in the World off the second album. Again huge songs everyone knows so kept their momentum into the second album.

    Some seem to speculate as I look them up there, they left it too long to the third album. Music sort of moved from real real indie to more alternative rock again by 2007



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,857 ✭✭✭dogbert27


    Just checked it there, they had 3 songs on the OC and appeared on stage in 1 episode!


    Your right with the third album. Similar to Oasis, there was too much of a gap between What's the story morning glory and Be Here Now.

    2 years is a long time in music to not get new material out there and stay current.



  • Registered Users Posts: 788 ✭✭✭Alias G


    Their downfall was that they were absolutely dire.



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,995 ✭✭✭The Golden Miller


    They had 3 songs on it? That's some going. The OC the biggest show in America at the time.

    That's what I mean with time we forget. We forget just how big the Thrills were at one point, they were absolutely massive .

    The album was a slow burner in UK so never went 1, but as they got bigger stayed near the top of the charts all summer as hit after hit was released. All their songs on constant rotation for months on all the mainstream outlets



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,995 ✭✭✭The Golden Miller


    It was always the cool thing to say that about them for some reason, when it's clearly not the case



  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 788 ✭✭✭Alias G


    Incorrect. I was aware of the band long before they had any of their "hits". I recall seeing some of them gig when they must have been no more than 15 or 16 operating under the name freelance. They had limited talent then and nothing much changed subsequently. They faded rather quickly for good reason.



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,995 ✭✭✭The Golden Miller


    Well music is subjective I suppose, and they're as good as any general band to come from Ireland I'd say, have more well known decent songs than most imo.

    Forgotten quickly, but not after making it huge. Not many bands get that far, they couldn't of been that desperate surely?



  • Registered Users Posts: 788 ✭✭✭Alias G


    The definition of huge is subjective also. Certainly, none of them are still living off the back of their Thrills career. They all have fairly mundane careers now. I think only the lead singer still works in the music industry. They received good recommendations from bono which I think opened a few doors for them. Generating three albums worth of some faux Californian experience on the back of having spent a J1 there one summer is nothing short of cringeworthy.



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,952 ✭✭✭✭retalivity


    I completely forgot about them, came across them again 2-3 years ago, brought all the memories back of being in college but being too young/poor to go on a J1, and all the other bastards coming back in sept/oct.


    So much for the city is a banger though



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,995 ✭✭✭The Golden Miller


    Having 4 songs on constant rotation in the UK for months is something most bands couldn't pull off. As someone mentioned, were getting played in the UK mainstream to the point the OC picked up 3 of their songs. Their two hits off for second album would be known by pretty much everyone over a certain age too.

    Their high, as "short lived" as it was, is something most bands will never achieve, even more impressive the fact it's off the back of no talent according to you.

    Bands like the Script have had more sustained commercial success since obviously, but at their most popular weren't as big as the Thrills.

    Most bands have one song played repeatedly at any one time, for a good chunk of 2003, the Thrills had 4 songs on the go across the UK and Ireland, which is unheard of really. You couldn't turn on the radio at one point without them being played.

    They were the sound of 2003, the summer in particular, moreso than the Kooks, Razorlight, Keane, Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party etc. I've never come across a band having so many songs on constant repeat for months in the UK and Irish mainstream. Your entitled to disagree of course.

    Seems you grew up beside them and know them personally though and don't like them on that basis which is fair enough. What is the lead singer doing now music wise out of curiosity?



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,995 ✭✭✭The Golden Miller


    I'd say that's the case for thousands around UK and Ireland. On hearing them again, bring you back to a moment in time



  • Registered Users Posts: 788 ✭✭✭Alias G


    I dislike them on the basis of the quality of their music solely. And I don't know them personally, although admittedly yes, only one or two degrees of separation there.



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,857 ✭✭✭dogbert27


    "Most bands have one song played repeatedly at any one time, for a good chunk of 2003, the Thrills had 4 songs on the go across the UK and Ireland, which is unheard of really. You couldn't turn on the radio at one point without them being played."

    I think the over saturation can turn a lot of people away from a band also.

    As I said if they released those songs over a period of time the might have had more longevity although I'm sure it wasn't their decision but more from their management / record company to "strike while the irons hot" kind of thing.

    Another band at the time who got their song in to American mainstream tv was Rubyhorse from Cork who got two songs on Smalleville with In to the Lavender and Sparkle which was their biggest hit.



  • Registered Users Posts: 344 ✭✭AhhHere


    The thrills were great. Like most, forgot about them for years but found my love for them again in lockdown.

    Definitely brought me back to a care-free time in life. Probably why I sought the escape in lockdown...

    Haters gonna hate but can't deny the tunes were good.



  • Registered Users Posts: 5,965 ✭✭✭Declan A Walsh


    I decided to stick on their second CD this morning: Let's Bottle Bohemia. While there are some really good songs, listening to it reminded me of the faux-Californian style of Conor Deasy. Still enjoyable enough though. I am having difficulty locating their first CD at home (So Much for the City), but I will persevere. It has an interesting bonus CD attached. Overall, I think I prefer their first CD because of the quality of the tracks, as well as the added bonus. The second one did have a couple of tracks that were a bit banal, although not duff.



  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 4,831 ✭✭✭RayCon


    Not my cup of tea. Happy for them that they had their small run of success, equally happy they disappeared, never to be heard of again.



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,995 ✭✭✭The Golden Miller


    Looked more into it and noticed a few interesting things. "What Happened to Corey Haim" was the most requested track for the whole of 2004 on BBC's Radio 1, most prominent station in the whole of the UK



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,525 ✭✭✭Boooourns


    Remember hearing they were backed by a fair bit of money at the time, so the album and sound was well produced. I think they had a bit of a posh boys thing attached to them as well that they didnt have to work too hard for the fame, they were manufactured quite well at the time. I did like some of the songs in fairness, very catchy.

    Saw them once when the first album came out, they played about 30mins and fooked off, that kind of carry on doesn't help to create a fanbase.



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,995 ✭✭✭The Golden Miller


    That's interesting, few have said they lacked talent, yet came loaded with about 5 big hits on their first album alone, which is unusual, having such a quality output from one album. They've more well know songs from one album than most bands have with 4 albums. They've at least 6 household songs from two albums. Keane for example would have about 4 household songs from 4 albums.

    Other people helping songwrite for them maybe if they had money and a push? See I don't know much about them, but their rise and fall is curious, from being everywhere to getting no airplay at all and forgotten. They were different anyway



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,661 ✭✭✭NewbridgeIR


    Great band. I have the three albums as well as the rather lazily-titled compilation 2002-2007. The latter offers nothing new which is a pity. It could have included radio edits of the singles instead of the album versions.

    So Much For The City is the peak - really hangs together well and comes with a nice bonus disc. Love the West Coast vibe off it.

    Let's Bottle Bohemia and Teenager are solid with some filler.

    They got a terrible slagging at the time; particularly from the likes of Thumped.com. They didn't fit into the clique of the Irish indie scene AND they were unashamedly posh. As a result, many of the insufferable hipsters & neckbeards who infest such forums hated them.



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,900 ✭✭✭trashcan


    Was never a fan either. I found the singers voice extremely irritating.



Advertisement