In the fall of 1997, singer/songwriter John Grignon and guitarist Tom Atkins were searching for a band to perform the songs on their first CD release, “John Thomas – Darker Shade of Blue”, which was recorded entirely in Tom’s basement studio in Burnt Hills, NY. John and Tom knew they had a key player in drummer Bob Napierski, who had performed on most of the tracks of the “Darker Shade of Blue” album. One fateful night out in the local Albany music scene, Bob met up with an old high school friend, bassist Eric Schwanke and invited Eric to come up to Burnt Hills and jam. From that very first note of their first jam, it was clear that an exciting new band was underway. With a heavier guitar tone than used on “Darker Shade of Blue”, and with more of a Led Zeppelin meets Rush infused rhythm section, THICK was born. “We called ourselves THICK because that was the sound we were after,” explains Bob. “It was not just the sound, but the undeniable energy in the music.” In just a few short weeks, THICK got all of the original “John Thomas” music down as well as several sets of classic rock and modern rock covers, and scheduled their first performance for March 1st, 1998. In a few short years, THICK became a featured band in all of the capital district region music venues as well as performing up and down the New York Hudson Valley, from New York City to Lake George, NY. THICK opened up for Blue Oyster Cult twice, both at the Upstate Concert Hall. THICK performed over 500 shows between 1998 – 2004. From the moment they all got together, it was clear that the music produced by Tom’s guitar and the constant rhythmic interplay between Eric and Bob created a new combination of alternative music and Hard Rock. The debut CD was written and recorded in the summer of 1999, the recording of the THICK debut album was featured in EQ magazine by sound engineer and music producer Steve LaCerra. Gifted with the use of a beautiful mansion, THICK used carefully placed mirrors to record instruments on all three floors of the home. All of the tracks except for “Breaking me” and “Tell Me” were recorded that summer. After the drums and rhythm tracks were recorded at the mansion, overdubs and vocals were tracked at Tom’s Studio. Once completed, the CD was mixed at Woods End Studios in Saratoga, NY. Finally, it was mastered at Masterdisc in New York City by Rodger Liann. The first track, “Somewhere”, features the collective yearning of the band – “You are always somewhere, and nowhere at all, it makes me, makes me want you even more, I’ll find you there…” where the object of the search is understanding what inspiration is, and why we pursue it. The second track, “Summer Day” is a mix of early Rush inverted chords and a Foo Fighters sensibility with a great hook melody and a positive uplifting message. “From experience,” smiles Tom, “this song sounds best cranking in your car at about 74 miles an hour with the top down.” “Hypocrite”, the third track, is one of the darker songs on the record, channeling a little bit of Rage against the Machine, with a flanged guitar sound and a driving, head banging rhythm pulse. “About the Girl” was one of those instant songs. It wrote itself in minutes, and is probably exactly the musical and lyrical opposite of the Nirvana song of the same name. “Miles Between” was one of the more acoustically written songs on the THICK album. Featuring John’s layered vocals, “Miles Between” demonstrates the core THICK grooves with a hard edged pop style. “Miles Between” blends into the album’s sixth song, “Fields of Grey”, the only ballad on the Album, and continues the lyrical theme set in the first song, a longing for understanding the nature of inspiration and the price of following it at the expense of everything else. “Stereo Rain” was the most commercially viable song on the record, and was another one of those “quick self writing songs” and was the most often featured song on Capital District Radio from Capital underground and Vermont’s WEQX. “Angelhead” was the last original track on the record and expanded to a much longer song when performed live. “It was always a well received song when we played it live” explains Eric. “All of the odd time grooves in the song are very infectious.” “Hey You” was a humorous ska-metal take on the Pink Floyd classic. It has quite a turbulent rumored story around it. Instead of recording a guitar solo, Tom added in sound effects from the movie “Evil Dead 2”. Right after the song was mastered, a friend of a friend from one of his previous bands, (Kai Lee from “Reason”) was working on the first Spiderman movie and got a copy of the song to the movie’s director, Sam Remi. Sam Remi was also the director of “Evil Dead 2”. Supposedly, Sam loved the THICK version of the song and submitted it to the studio for inclusion on the Spider Man soundtrack. But unfortunately, the original writer of the song, Rodger Waters, hated the THICK version, and refused the studio rights to put the derivative THICK version on the Spiderman soundtrack. Given the number of different people involved in the story, it is plausably deniable, but there is an element of truth in there somewhere. Although THICK disbanded in 2004 on amicable terms, they produced several other songs and the possibility exists those songs may appear on future releases.