** Interview/article  by Shane Prendiville (guest of Adrenalin) - January 2007 **

 

     I did my piece on Thymme Jones because he is by far one of my all time favorite musicians. He is an intensely powerful composer that can pull the rug from underneath you and put it back before you even fall on your bum, and for that matter, before you even notice that you are about to fall on your bum. Spitting out complex musicianship that will not compromise for sake of banging out cheap music to those who are willing to hand over their money for cheap music, he plays an array of instruments including the drums, trumpet, piano, voice, vacuum cleaner, and apparently as of late, the microphone stand.

    I first witnessed Thymme in action at Ryan's Ballroom in Combined Locks, WI, with the band Cheer-Accident. First off, this place is in the middle of nothingness; the Fox Valley in the northeast part of the state. The band rolled into the venue and brought their instruments upon the stage. As they were setting up and sounding their instruments, being the judgmental jerk that I am, I thought maybe these guys weren't going to be much. They were a little bit older; Thymme wore a bushy beard, which I never have seen on him since. They were not about to let anybody know their might while warming up. And
to further my expectation of them, they start the set off with a
heavily mutated version of the Monkey's song 'Believer', I didn't notice which song they were playing until the chorus, 'till I saw her face, now I'm a believer' and so on. As they continued the set, they blew my mind. Their playing astounded me as I just sat in the mostly empty room watching what was to become a huge influence and a band that will raise the standard of music, and even more.

    I remember reading a review of Cheer-Accident a while back where it was written, something to the effect of, 'Cheer-Accident will give you the impression that they are performing a pop tune which they are proceeding through nicely, then they turn, not only into left field, but straight off the cliff'. I love that aspect of this band. They have not 'made' it successfully due to

 

their fearless experimentation and strong will to uphold the absurd. By 'made' of course, I mean rolling in dough, buying girls and shiny things. I'd say they have been extremely successful at accomplishing the improbable.

    The people in this band I have met are Thymme Jones, Jeff Libersher, Dylan Posa, Jayme Fillmore, Alex Perkolup (last 3 are no longer members), and Todd (can't remember last name); they always seemed very nice and down to earth. There are others who join in on the stage for various songs. I once remember seeing a show of theirs in Chicago at the empty bottle. After about two or three songs, they went a rant,
about what, I don't quite recall the details, something along the
lines of giving money to their corporation to help the children with looks as if they were expecting sympathy from the audience. Well into this group rant, a guy yells out from the crowd, "If you guys keep this up, no one will want to listen to you." And with a simple look and swift pause from Jayme, holding a guitar upon the stage, the speech continues, "So, if you can please help us out….". On and on this continues for something like ten to fifteen minutes, then BAM, out nowhere they fire back into the song like there was no pause for
discussion to be had. I found the will of this band incredible. I
also once heard they played outside for a bunch of homeless people and just repeated the same chord over and over for two hours. Whether that's true or not is not known to me, but I like to believe it and knowing the ways of Cheer-Accident, it's very likely.  I have seen this band about six or so times now and it is always refreshing. My band opened once for them and they pulled no punches, they threw an overwhelming attack of simplistic groove to frantic polyrhythm, sweet melody into severe dissonance. They shamelessly tore us apart with their craft I nearly crapped my pants with joy.  Of most of the occasions I have witnessed their witty self-indulgent shows, I

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