THICK OIL, day three - The Plain White T's

"After last nights late night session, and an early wake up call courtesy of my 2 year old daughter, I am drained of any energy. I try to appear upbeat to Lance, the photographer, and the band as they arrive. We decide to leave beer out of the equation today, we are in need of a sober day. Needless to say, we have been enjoying a few ice cold ones, and they seem to go down easy in the hot, and sticky factory. The Plain White T's are young and fresh faced kids who have a quick step in their strut. I try to keep up."
Thus begins the third in a series of journal entries by THICK Records kingpin Billy Spunke documenting his label's newest compilation, "OIL". To read the full entry, click on READ MORE, and keep coming back here every day for the latest installment.

After last nights late night session, and an early wake up call courtesy of
my 2 year old daughter, I am drained of any energy. I try to appear upbeat
to Lance, the photographer, and the band as they arrive. We decide to leave
beer out of the equation today, we are in need of a sober day. Needless to
say, we have been enjoying a few ice cold ones, and they seem to go down
easy in the hot, and sticky factory. The Plain White T’s are young and
fresh faced kids who have a quick step in their strut. I try to keep up.

Tom and Sean, the guitar players, head straight for our collection of amps
and both pick out the Marshall JCM 800’s, over The Fender Bassman, Mesa
Boogie Triple Rectifier (custom Wink Donut), among others. They strap the
amps on the cabinets, and drummer, Dave is content with the Yamaha kit. We
wait for a tardy bass player while the boys fire up and let it rip. Within
a half hour of the bass players arrival, the band has two keepers, and they
immediately coast into vocals. The song is a straight up pop song that
sounds like Joe Jackson and The Romantics collaborated with Jimmy Eat World.
Again, for the 3rd session in a row, the song the band has written for Oil
is a departure from their signature sound. I was expecting The PWT’s to
write a ‘faux-punk’ song similar to the Drive-Thru vibe, but was pleasantly
surprised. The song, ‘Bruises’ rises up with a 3 part harmony in the
chorus-vocals are a specialty with this band, and the guitar interplay and
rhythm section tug and pull at each other to propel the song nicely. Lance
Reynolds says, 'the song just mixed itself’. The session goes very well,
and we are out he door before midnight.

Tomorrow, my very good friends, Lawrence Arms slip into the factory. They
will be greeted by a ‘Keg-a-rator’ courtesy of one of our friends in high
places at the local beer distributor. I imagine tomorrows entry will be
high on Tylenol.