For those not in the know, Thumbnail is the product of Knoxville, Tennessee, where Jason Morris, David Burns, Steve Schmidt and Justin Sinkovich—now a member of Atombombpocketknife—were students at the University of Tennessee. The band recorded two records, one self-titled and "Dead Red," before deciding it was time for a change of scenery.

"We were together for a long time," explains Sinkovich, "but eventually we all wanted to move. We had toured enough and really used that experience to determine where we would move. Eventually, we decided on Chicago." Unfortunately, only three of the band's four members were able to come right away. In the interim, Sinkovich ended up "switching gears," and devoting more time to his side project (ABPK—about which you can read more, next week, in this space), and Thumbnail faded.

But clearly, that wasn't the end of Thumbnail. The File 13 record label (which was originally founded by Thumbnail's Burns) showed interest in putting out what was essentially an unrecorded record. "We actually had some of the songs recorded," says Sinkovich, "so we decided to get together and record the rest of the songs." Those songs became "That Static," a ten-song run of noisy rock that pits discordant, swirling guitar lines against one another, resulting in a hardcore record that's more shrewd than punk and metal, but still doesn't outsmart itself out of being good. Others have tagged Thumbnail as similar to eighties-era Sonic Youth, but that comparison can only be made for very brief snippets on the record. For a band that doesn't really exist, it sounds unbelievably modern and fresh.

Thursday night's Thumbnail performance will be the band's first since 1998. The members will then play one show as the band (as well as ABPK) heads to CMJ in New York, before playing at that esteemed music festival. Were the various band members surprised that they could come together and record as easily as they did? "We've all remained really good friends since leaving Knoxville," says Sinkovich, "so no. But what was surprising was that people were still somewhat interested." Even that's an understatement; Thumbnail is working on licensing the record in Japan, and will even be recording some of the live material during their three shows.

The dual shows (in Kent and New York) present Sinkovich with playing with tow very different bands, in one night, on the same stage. Isn't this difficult? He laughs and answers, "I don't know—I've never done it."

Thumbnail plays third on a bill that also includes The Oxes, The Race and Volta Do Mar.

[NOTE: The above was written before the events occurred on the morning of September 11. Attempts to confirm the status of the CMJ music festival were unsuccessful.]

Dark book:
For those who plan on catching garage-rock machine Dead Moon on Friday at the Bottle, it's a night worth arriving early.

Opening for DM is relative newcomer to Chicago, Bible of the Devil. Perhaps newcomer is a bit inaccurate, since BoD has actually been tooling around the city for about two years—regardless, this marks the band's highest profile opening slot. Though Raw Material didn't get a chance to talk with them, the press releases that BoD sent along with a self-produced record, "Guts," speaks volumes and shows that these guys have the right idea. "Quite frankly," it reads, "the men of Bible of the Devil are looking to toss a glass-filled pie-in-the-face to apathetic quitters and soulless non-believers that decry rock 'n' roll as passe and proclaim its fictional demise."

Though "Guts" is rough, it certainly has its moments. Fans of Zeke, the Dwarves, Turbo Negro and slopcore will be drawn in right away by "Asheton," which brings one of most crushing hard-rock hooks you'll hear in the rock world. Other tracks, like "Sucking Chest Wound" and "Tomahawkin," would sound top-notch were Bible of the Devil to amp up the tempo a little—we assume that'll happen on stage whether it's intentional or not.

Also by Dave Chamberlain

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