photos fr ukraine

Dec.14, 2010

amazing photos from the last gig of the tour w the thing…. in amazing Zaporozhye,Ukraine, photos by dmitri. thankx, spatsiba!!!

http://tumbleweed-092.livejournal.com/93657.html

we would like to thank all the great listeners and producers and musicians that we met during this tour… many new friends were made…amazing….. the future is here!!!!!

the best tour ever for us. THANX BIG TIME!!!!! //// THE THING

Show your protest.

Dec.09, 2010

This thsirt was made by Micke Keysendal when Dror Feiler was stopped by the Israeli military while he was attending the Ship to Gaza fleet.

The military stole Drors saxophone and he still haven’t got it back.

if you want to order the thsirt you can send an email to micke@keysendal.com with the subject “Pirates tshirt” .
The prices is 20$ + shipping from Sweden to your location. You can only pay with PayPal. Remember to specify your size. The sizes that is printed soon is XL, L, M & S

vikings in spain…

Dec.08, 2010

after a concert in siguenzia in spain, the following review arrived.

NB – this is the same place where the real jazz- police showed up last year during a concert with Larry Ochs…

7/12/2010 THE NEWS PAPER SHARPENER

The Thing
Every story has its turning point and the Festival de Sigüenza lived in his second day one of the most intense episodes recorded in the memory of its six editions. As fate would have committed to corroborate the unwritten rule which breaks calm after the storm, the quiet opening night had its fair counterpoint to the Lord’s day with one of these sessions explosive impact and energy in abundance. A real explosion of jazz seamless sound and fury granite. Faced with such a display of quality, tenacity and strength, would hardly have any choice any applicant prejudiced overwhelmed at such display to the limit of any kind, label or corseted name.
The noise makers were three Nordic musicians respond to the name of The Thing and that under the leadership of saxophonist Mats Gustafsson form a perfect square is completed by two bastions such as group Atomic Ingebrigt bassist Haker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love . A trident of northern barbarians with the blood still fresh of their god Odin in the veins and an uncanny ability to release the beast that rages within him exposing the viscera and bowels of the music that have phagocytosed to the core and mortals to recognize heard under the name of jazz.
At no time seemed to weigh the disappointment to blower Gustafsson, despite the kindness of air transport to entertain the passengers before the happening of the air traffic controllers ‘distracted’ his beloved baritone sax and left without the most grave of his roaring. The Viking notches then twisted the wording to squeeze all its oxygen and marking the passage of each piece its coadlátares gave a forceful rebuttal brilliant, vital and cohesive profile consistent with its free jazz warriors.

another one from vortex…

Dec.01, 2010

http://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/the-thing-the-vortex-dalston-london-29-11-2010/

another the thing UK review

Dec.01, 2010

The Thing at The Vortex, 29/11/10

The Thing

During the gap between the first and second pieces that The Thing played tonight, a buzzing with-energy Mats Gustafsson was welcoming us to this first date of the European tour. He called it the “Fuck This, Fuck That” tour, swinging his arm as he said the word “fuck”, his ring catching one of the metal pillars which keep the venue upright. DING. He stopped mid-sentence, and raised an eye-brow. Huh. He hit it again. DING. Interesting. Ten minutes later, while The Thing were in full flight, Paal Nilsen-Love started producing an array of strange sounds from his kit, scraping at cymbals, and banging on rims. Gustafsson thought for a second, before answering him by taking the horn out of his mouth and hitting the pillar again. DING. It raised a chuckle at the time, but I’m using it here in a serious fashion to illustrate just how good The Thing are: no matter how loud, or violent, or freewheeling it can seem at times, there is always a control, a sensitivity, a thoughtfulness. Three great musicians producing, reacting to and mastering a maelstrom of sound.

Mats Gustafsson

The third piece they played today (they were all new and all called “Fuck This, Fuck That” according to Mats Gustafsson; although sometimes they seemed to allude to strangely familiar riffs or jazz standard-like melodies) illustrated the sheer range of extended techniques, sonic possibilities and dynamics of the trio. After a charging collective introduction, Paal Nilssen-Love began to dominate, thumping his kit through the floor with the power of a John Bonham, but with the precision of a Tony Williams. A solo accumulated thunderous polyrhythyms, before he cut them out to leave just metallic percussion. Mats Gustafsson then started to play a descending three note baritone sax riff, repeating and repeating, varying in tone and volume, adding growls and gasps (notes finishing with an exclamation of “-puuuUUUH!”) as he rocked back and forth, establishing a framework for the others to knit into. The wailing arco drone from Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and pulsing groove from Nilssen-Love gave this a deep spiritual jazz sound, before Haker-Flaten really began to buzz. Whether by accident or design, his bottom string was creating a mood-changing buzz, and he worked this into a solo, accentuating it further, almost playing two instruments at once – one low and rhythmic, one higher-pitched and percussive. The way he was setting about his bass, it looked like he was going to rip the strings off his instrument; Gustafsson just sat and listened, grinning, thinking, before luring the piece to a close with the same three note riff as before, but this time far softer, and on tenor.

During the five long pieces they played across the two sets there wasn’t a moment that was less than very listenable, and even very watchable, particularly with Gustafsson pacing and prowling around the right of the stage. As well as slapping pillars, he played solos composed entirely of breath (though not quite to the extent of his astonishing new Needs! LP), and produced sections of paint-stripping ferocious free-blowing which left him purple-faced and soaked in sweat. As unlikely as some of the sounds he was producing were, they always sounded so right. Fuck this, fuck that? Fuck me, this was so good.

more writing and reviews at:

http://mapsadaisical.wordpress.com/

first review the thing 2010 tour

Nov.30, 2010

here it is , fresh …. after yesterdays first gig on the “fuck this – fuck that” tour of Europe…

a review in Jazzwise, enjoy and see you out there:

Tuesday, 30 November 2010 09:47
Intense young women, elaborately goateed blokes sporting the odd cap, old gents who might otherwise be out walking the dog or tucking into a real ale by a roaring fire, yes, they were all out in force last night despite the tube strike and the inevitably described “Arctic” conditions even ahead of today’s snow for The Thing.

The who? You might well ask as the fearsome trio of Swede Mats Gustafsson and Norwegians Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Paal Nilssen-Love hadn’t played the UK in years but word had seeped out. The Vortex’s Oliver Weindling even had his decibel meter to hand, quietly amused following a blistering soundcheck that bled out on to the deserted square behind dark, blank blinds. But to the delighted faithful later on the sonic blitzing of Dalston could have been a lullaby.

Fresh from playing with the daddy of the galeforce blast, Peter Brötzmann himself, a few nights before, Gustafsson laughed like a drain later in his dressing room at the suggestion that he had in the course of the extraordinary performance “shed a skin”. But nonetheless the band who Gustafsson earlier told the frankly shellshocked but enthralled audience had in a daring move all dispensed with the same t shirts they had been wearing for years in favour of shiny new apparel, just as well as they were all glazed in sweat such was the sheer physicality of their performance. Nilssen-Love’s multi-directional style hammered out on hard-as-nails-sounding Paiste cymbals rooted deep within the soundworld of the late Rashied Ali, coupled compellingly with the throbbing deeply infectious bass lines from Håker Flaten, simply tore up the room as Gustafsson’s mile-wide embouchure ate up their rhythms particularly as he wielded the baritone sax.

A quite remarkable, outstanding gig, full of sound, fury, tenderness and just what the doctor ordered you suspect for the intense looking girls and the blokes who’ll have to walk Fido another night. They all came out in force and listened hard, a case if ever there was one of being in the right place at the right time as the thrill was definitely the thing.

– Stephen Graham

THINGJAZZ.COM!!!

Nov.30, 2010

the new the thing website is up!!!!

after 10 years of waiting… its up and going…. not complete at the moment, but soon… music, photos, gigography and such is up… check it out…. there will be news and updates frequently as we go!!!

http://www.thingjazz.com/

This is just the beginning….

The Thing right now on their “Fuck this – Fuck that” – tour of 2010… leaving our old t – shirts at home… leaving the tunes at home… just freakin HITTING it… PLAYING it… see u around!!!