The Thumbs, 1995-present
We are a punk band from the D.C. area. We started in the spring of 1995. The original lineup was Bobby Borte (guitar, vocals), Mark Minnig (bass, vocals), Mike Hall (guitar, vocals), and Randy Davis (drums). With this lineup, we briefly toured eastern Canada in the summer of 1995. We had only played one show prior to the Canadian tour (at the Bohemian Cafe in Baltimore). That winter, we recorded our first record- a self-titled 12" on Sneezeguard. Only 500 of these were pressed, and we screened the covers ourselves.
In the spring of 96, Randy left the band. He was keeping very busy splitting time between us and the Great Unravelling. We really wanted to play more shows, and tour, so we parted ways. Phil Spence joined the band on drums. In September ‘96, we recorded the "Sprague Dawley Rats" 7", and released it on Sneezeguard. We recorded 8 songs in December 1996, while planning our first U.S. tour. Phil decided he could not afford to tour, so he left the band. With the tour already planned, we desperately needed a drummer. We found our savior one week before the tour was supposed to start- Jason Gambrell, from Columbia South Carolina. Jason used to be in Jackleg and Premonition. Lee Ashlin (another savior)filled in on drums for 1 show in Baltimore, and the first 2 shows of the tour. Then Jason went on to play the remaining 35 shows of the tour.
When we got home, Jason went back to South Carolina, and Lee Ashlin continued to play drums for us. On the winter tour, we had met Mike Jerk from Soda Jerk Records in Colorado. Mike was interested in putting out some of the songs we had recorded in December. "Sweet Merciful Crap, it's the Thumbs" (7") came out on Soda Jerk in the Spring of 1997.
We were planning another U.S. tour for the Fall of 1997. Since Lee was in school at Univ. of Maryland at the time, and also playing for the Fuses, he could not go. The next drummer for the Thumbs was Tom Fortwengler. Tom was playing drums for Perestroika, and agreed to take 6 weeks off to come with us and ended up playing 21 shows.
A rejuvinated Phil rejoined the band when we came back from tour. He had only been absent about a year, but we managed to tour twice during that time- 76 shows. The next plan was to come out with a full length. Mike volunteered to put it out on Soda Jerk. We wanted to record it around Christmas time, and then do another tour in the early Spring of 98. But we didn't come up with the songs as quickly as we had hoped, and then Mark went on tour for a month with the Fuses. When Mark came home, we recorded "The Thumbs Make America Strong," which came out in April 1998.
In the Spring of 1998, we all made a tough decision. Mark decided to take an opportunity he had to go to New York to pursue his animation career. We decided that we needed to keep touring while we have the chance (we're no spring chickens). Mark got into a school in New York, and we finally decided that we would continue as a 3 piece. Mike switched from guitar to bass, and we went on our third U.S. tour for 9 weeks. It was hard to leave Mark, but we're so proud of him. He is as talented an artist as he is a musician. Hopefully Mark becomes a huge success up there (I don't see why he wouldn't), but if not, he's always welcome back with us. As for the tour, it was the most successful of the three. We played 53 shows in 63 days.
The next record will be a split 7" with Pinhead Circus, on Suburban Home Records.