By Sarah Knott
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati.Com

Oxygen by Thistle was released Sepetember 2001.

L I S T E N  U P

Due to lead singer/guitarist Mike Montgomery's broken leg, Thistle won't have any concert dates set until early spring 2002. Listen to Thistle: • My Own Armor

Alternative rock trio Thistle focuses more touring than playing local gigs, but they may have to get used to hanging out in the 'Nati this winter.

Lead singer/guitarist Mike Montgomery recently broke his leg--an accident that required the band to cancel its entire concert schedule through February. But what looks like a disaster could be a blessing for his band mates Rick McCarty (drums) and Toby Weiss (bass).

"The plan was to be on the road for the next three to four months," says McCarty. "But now, all Mike can do is write. So hopefully, we'll have a ton of songs by the time he's up and mobile."

Thistle is working on a follow-up to the fall 2001 release of Oxygen, their third CD. McCarty took some time to talk to Cincinnati.Com about Thistle's role in the local scene, their new projects and what would make him quit playing music.

What projects is Thistle working on right now?

We have been putting all of our collective energy into finishing all of the material we want to put on our next release. It will be a full-length record and we hope to have 10 to 14 songs before we go into the studio. We are about halfway done with that goal, actually. It really has been what we have been constantly working on since we finished "Oxygen."

What has the response been like to Oxygen?

We have all been very pleased overall with the response. I just found out late last week that it was the fourth most added record to College Music Journal's radio station playlists, so that is very encouraging. In general, zines, both print and online have all been giving the record quite positive reviews--from the response I've seen.

You've been together for eight years. What would make you quit playing?

Oh boy. I've thought about that. If I felt like we weren't getting better--that's when I'd stop. If you listen to our past three CDs, you'll notice an improvement in each one. And the first album had 15 songs on it. The second had six. The third has four. Each one has fewer songs on it, but each one gets better and better. And with each one, I'm more proud. That's what keeps me going.

What is your favorite part about being a local band in Cincinnati? Your least favorite part?

I don't really know a favorite part. None of us have ever had an attitude where we thought of ourselves as a "Cincinnati band" per se, partly due to the fact that when we started playing I had just moved here from Boston, and Mike and Toby lived in different parts of Northern Kentucky. So we never really felt totally included in the local "scene" in Cincinnati. That feeling was compounded by the fact that there really weren't any bands in Cincinnati that we felt were that similar to us musically, or shared the same mindset about doing things yourself, and touring as much as possible.

So, I guess you could say we have always kind of felt like outsiders here. But we have never thought about our band being a "local band." To me the idea of a local band is a band like the Websters, or the Menus...a band that bases its existence on surviving here locally. We do not share that mindset at all. We pride ourselves on having a much bigger scope in regards to what our goals are, and how to achieve them. That is why we don't play in Cincinnati that much.

We try to play, and do shows all over the country, since I don't think Cincinnati is a big enough city to support what we do on its own. We don't live in New York or Chicago, where you can play every week somewhere and get a different crowd of people. It just isn't like that here. So I guess that is more of what I like least about the local scene. There are too many people that don't share our idea that you need to really try to branch out and get out to as many different places as possible.

What should people expect to see when they come out for a live show?

When someone comes out to see us, expect to see and hear three guys who put everything they have into their songs. We want people to be overwhelmed sonically and come away feeling some of the emotion we put into the songs. We aren't a band that puts much emphasis on the visual aspect of a "show." We are much more concerned with the music, and the presentation of our music is much more about what the audience hears as opposed to what they might see. We just really try to blow people away with the precision of the arrangements of the songs and the dynamics. We try to use that to get our point across.