Album of the Year

Thank
I have a Physical Body That Can Be Harmed
Big Scary Monsters
8th November 2024

"Listen up, cause this is important, our friends are headliners and we are supporting."

Imagine the scene. It is 2022. Leeds is gripped by Yard Act fever. BBC Radio Introducing is playing in my old Armley kitchen and a track starts which sounds like the bastard child of 'The Trappers Pelts' and 'Blindness' by The Fall. The song was 'Dread' and it was my first taste of Thank.

This is a song that defined Thank's sound at the time. Upon seeing the band for the first time that August, I was confronted by the brutal wall of sound from the gabber-esque track 'Good Boy' and I remember how 'Punching Bag' gave me intrusive thoughts about cashing in my help-to-buy ISA on a drum kit. 

Over the next two years, I attended several Thank gigs, mainly at Wharf Chambers - a community that all members of the band champion. Thank are veterans of the Leeds DIY scene and the origins of the band stemming from a similar, now sadly defunct, space - CHUNK in Meanwood. Thank's DIY values remained evident at these Wharf gigs. Not once were they the headline act, despite most the crowd making the journey specifically for them. Thank instead used their growing popularity to support and promote other bands that they loved dearly - with these gigs subsequently introducing me to fantastic artists such as Penance Stare, Beehoover, Extra Life and Psychic Graveyard.

Across these two years, Thank were also seemingly in a period of transition - with a changing lineup and drip feeding of new songs into each new setlist. The culmination of this evolution came in December 2023, when the band travelled to Beckview Studios in Scarborough to record their next album, with ex-band member and producer Rob Slater. The outcome of this residency was the band's second full-length LP – ‘I Have A Physical Body That Can Be Harmed’ (IHAPBTCBH).

On this new record, Thank are a band unafraid to show character. Freddy Vinehill-Cliffe's signature wit is in abundance on singles 'Do It Badly' and 'Woke Frasier', with the lyric 'Pint of Guinness in a Madri glass' coming to fruition simply because it was the funniest combination of pint to glass that he could conjure up. The spotlight, however, is now often on Steve Myles - the finest drummer and Charles Bronson lookalike in the West Riding. On stage, Myles is an abrasive but tightly choreographed sweaty demon, and he has brought ounces of dynamism to this album.

IHAPBTCBH has plenty of hooks in the form of Cameron Moitt's chunky basslines (‘Perhaps Today’ and, ‘The Spores’ being shining examples of this) and Lewis Millward's techno inspired synth parts. However, it is ultimately an album of delightfully ugly moments. This includes the torturous scream at the start of 'The Spores', which I have already replayed a hundred times over in an attempt to ascertain whether it is pedal interference or Marvin stepping on the nail in Home Alone. Another example is album opener 'Control' which slowly grows into an overwhelming cacophony of feedback, distortion and crash symbols.

The album also successfully revisits 'Dead Dog in a Ditch' which was initially released as a b-side on a standalone single via Yard Act's Zen FC label in 2023. Except now, the track is re-recorded to match the tempo and energy that it delivers live.

IHAPBTCBH's crowning moment is album closer ‘Writing Out A List Of All The Names Of God’. This was the final track written for the album and yet the first single released, which maybe hints at the band's pride for this number. Myles' jungle beats create a foundation for the biggest sounding track on the album, with the second half of the song being a masterclass in building suspense to achieve a more than satisfying climax.

Thank have been tweaking their formula for eight years and ‘I Have A Physical Body That Can Be Harmed’ is the complete equation. However, this album cements the notion that Thank cannot be pigeonholed into a genre. They are influenced by hardcore, grindcore and at least seven other types of 'core'. They are not post-punk and would take offence at being branded as psych rock. They are simply Thank - the rock band from Leeds… and they kick ass! 

Words by Magnus Pike. Photos from the bands channels.