.Thorns of Life to Play at Gilman on Jan. 31

It’s official: According to whispers in the wind this last week and now confirmed on Gilman’s booking calendar, Thorns of Life are playing Gilman on January 31. The full lineup includes Thorns of Life, Hunx & His Punx, the Revolts, and Off With Their Heads as part of Punk Rock Joel’s Birthday Bash. 8pm. $7, plus a $2 membership card if you ain’t already got one. Get there early.
Aaron Cometbus has been on the West Coast for the last week or so; you can hear an excellent interview with him on WFMU (with ex-KALX DJ and hip-hop fanatic Billy Jam) by clicking here. He talks about his fantastic new issue of Cometbus, the reasons why he doesn’t dwell on the past, the possibility that most bands only have one good 7″ in them, and gives evasive answers to anything Internet-related. Even Jesse Luscious gets on the line for a while! Aaron also talks a bit about Thorns of Life:
“Well, there’s some inter-band dispute about the name of the band. So let’s keep it… I’m not… we’re not sure about the name yet. I always feel like music is basically a war or a romance between a guitarist and a drummer—with the bassist as sort of collateral damage—and me and the guitarist are still deciding about the name, we’ll just put it that way.”
I agree. The name doesn’t fit. Sorry, Shelly.
As for shows, Aaron says “we will be playing as many as possible. But we’re kind of avoiding the clubs, and just playing odd spots—houses, restaurants, readings, whatever—just to keep it kind of low-key, and avoid the doormen, and the IDs, and what not. But we are planning on recording either in the middle of this winter or in the early spring. We already have a bunch of songs.”
There’s a short interview here with bassist Daniela Sea, where she confirms that Thorns of Life are going on tour. And it’s unrelated to the band, but if you haven’t seen it yet, Blake Schwarzenbach’s Rate My Professor Profile from his students at Hunter College is totally entertaining. Now all we need are some lyrics, and we’re set. I’ve gotten a few speculations from friends. So far, the winner is “O denigrated hue of glass-lipped Huggies / I ask, hast thou prometheated veins?”
My full and completely speculative take on the band is here, and Gilman is one of the greatest and most amazing places in the world. Stoked.