Q&A: Inside The Thing’s Third and Most Authentic Record Yet
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY RACHEL LANE ☆
NEW YORK CITY-BASED ROCK BAND, THE THING — have released their third and most authentic record yet, self-titled, The Thing. Composed of Zane Acord (bass, vocals), Jack Bradley (guitar, vocals), Michael Carter (guitar, vocals), and Lucas Ebeling (drums), the band has been on a generational run over the past year. From playing 150 shows, including their largest show to-date at Music Hall of Williamsburg, to recording a fully analog album and wrapping up their sold out NYC residency this August, The Thing shows no sign of slowing down.
The Thing is a reflection of the band’s growth, musically and as a collective unit, showing the most authentic version of themselves. Recorded entirely on tape, you can't help but melt into the warm tones and nostalgic nature that brings this album to life. Challenging the ever-changing landscape of streaming and algorithms, they released the record over the course of six months in A/B side pairs, culminating in the full record release on August 6.
We caught up with The Thing to talk about their whirlwind year, the inevitable struggle with burnout, evolving as a band, and of course their new album, The Thing.
LUNA: Tell me what have you guys been up to! Y’all have been nonstop it seems like.
ACORD: We have been nonstop. I think we played around 150 shows last year, it was bananas. I think we got a little burned out by the end. We wrapped our December tour with the biggest show we’d ever played at that time, at Music Hall in Williamsburg. That was amazing. It was nice to be home and enjoy the holidays with the fam. Then it was a quick turnaround into the studio to start the fourth record in January, and start recording in February. Then we had another tour in Europe at the end of May, so yeah it's been hectic.
LUNA: You mentioned getting a little burnt out. What are some things you guys do in these busy seasons to stay grounded and refreshed?
ACORD: Honestly, just eating well and exercising, which is a big change. I don’t think I’ve exercised in three years.
LUNA: Playing a show is exercise in itself!
EBLING: It is, yeah. I exercise more when I play shows, being a drummer.
ACORD: We just try to take care of ourselves and keep the input up, especially for writing and stuff. High input is high output: just reading, listening to records, watching movies, keeping that faucet on as much as possible. As tired as you get, that stuff energizes you in a new realm. You start to get ideas and get excited for the next project.
EBLING: For me, having a routine, even just a full morning routine, and actually practicing is really helpful during time off, because we don’t really get to practice on the road. Feeling good about getting better at my instrument again is great. Playing some other instruments too helps, piano and all of that.
LUNA: Let's talk about your new self-titled album, “The Thing”! You guys have been trickling out tracks in A and B side pairs. What's your intention behind releasing this way?
ACORD: We felt at odds with the current consumption method of music, really, through Spotify and streaming. It begs the question: why release a record on these platforms when it doesn’t get any attention? It costs a lot to make a record. It’s not so much about the intention, but you obviously want your album to be listened to in its entirety. You don’t want it to just be a single that gets swept under the rug. I think switching it up and taking a risk was our intention.
We really had nothing to lose. It was more expensive, sure, but we wanted to try something new. What we’ve learned is, it’s crazy how the algorithm, or whatever it is, just stops promoting you when you put too much into it. Obviously it’s beyond frustrating. We always want to make records, that’s our love, listening to records in their entirety. Growing up as vinyl kids, with our parents' collections, that’s what got us into music. Opening up the booklet, having the whole design, it’s an interactive art piece. I think there is such beauty in that, and to abandon that for exposure purposes is silly to me, but playing the game a bit and doing the A side/B sides, we really just wanted to try something different.
LUNA: Which pairing that you released stands out to you the most?
ACORD: “Holy Water” and “Alive” are pretty cool and really cohesive. That's just kind of cut from a similar world, same as “Something to Say” and “Insane”. Those are super cohesive, just both in their own realms. But probably my favorite so far was probably “Family Business” and “Can You Help Me?”. I just like the way those songs kind of wrap into each other. Yeah, that was probably my favorite.
EBELING: It’s tough to say, because I really like all the songs, but I do think “Something to Say” and “Insane” are really cool, because the prior release, really goes into this different, psychedelic world, and then kind of shoots you out of that into these, really strong songs and like fast and energetic kind of feeling. So I really like that, those two pairings, how it goes from that world to another world.
LUNA: I think my favorite pairing has been “Holy Water” and “Alive” Can you tell me a little bit about how those two tracks came about?
ACORD: They are both right in the middle of the record. They are all released in chronological order, tracking the story. Those two are slower-tempo songs. The initial idea of “Alive” was brought to us by Jack, and then we blossomed it into what it became.
EBELING: In “Holy Water,” there are a lot of rhythmic and musical elements and genres that all came together in that one. Especially in the middle section, we really built it up before the end, where we just hit listeners with the wall of sound. That was pretty cool to pull off. I thought it was sweet, and definitely a jump for us musically. In terms of musical ability, and even more so in a songwriting sense, it felt like real growth.
LUNA: You chose to record this album entirely on tape. What made you want to record it this way and how did the process differ from your last two albums?
EBLING: I think the main motivating factor in doing it that way was the sound. We’re super into vintage and analog things, and we wanted to get an authentic sound and feeling. By doing it that way, we could really get the warm sound we were looking for, that we grew up listening to on all these old records. We wanted to lean into that, versus a new, more polished sound, which a lot of records have these days. It was also cool because it really allowed us to be fully present, just having that equipment in the room and being in the process of making the music. It really made us step up as musicians and songwriters.
ACORD: Having no screens was important. There’s nothing to look at, so you have to visualize it and keep track in your head, which was a cool exercise. It just allowed us to be fully in that world. All of our favorite records were recorded to tape. It’s such a good thing to learn how to make in real time. We are a live band, recording live to tape. Hearing it back through the speakers from the tape machine, just the instrumentals, was crazy. It was so warm and the texture was just insane. It was everything we’d ever wanted. Harping on what Lucas said, I think a lot of the time with new technology, if you follow the new digital ways to record, you hear too much of what's going on. It's nice to have it be lower fidelity than what you can get without manipulating it to sound like tape through digital processing.
LUNA: Are there any takeaways from the album that you want listeners to receive?
ACORD: It feels like the most authentic version of ourselves. I think that's why we self titled it. We try to reinvent ourselves a bit every record, and with this one, we didn't have a lot of time to think. Being in the hustle and bustle of trying to make it as an independent rock band and sustain moving out of New York and touring full time, I think it was all just a culmination of different emotions. It was also the excitement of having a four-piece band finally locked in after touring a decent amount. That excitement, mixed with the frustration of living in a van, selling T-Shirts, playing shows, and the freedom that comes with that balance, it felt really raw and real. Doing it on tape was the cherry on top for the whole process.
EBELING: I think the really cool thing about this record was, at that time, we were still unsure about where we were in terms of our status as a band. Not ,”How good are we?” but more like, “What are we capable of?” After we recorded this, it gave us so much confidence. We rolled straight from the studio into a three-month U.S. tour. We had no idea how that tour was going to go; it was a big leap. It ended up being amazing. One of my strongest memories is just playing a tape of this album in our van the whole tour, that is until the tape machine wore it out and basically ate it. I don’t think we would’ve had such a strong tour if we didn’t have this record in our back pocket. That confidence from recording to tape, pushing ourselves, and getting these songs, that really brought us to where we are now.
LUNA: Last year, summer was famously coined “BRAT Summer.” We've been blessed with so many albums this year, other than your own, what's your self proclaimed 2025 summer identity?
ACORD: I haven't seen much about Ty Segall's album, Possession, but I got to listen to it and I think it’s some of his best work. It’s crazy that he just keeps upping the ante. It’s always refreshing to hear a Ty Segall album. You can always count on him to hit you with something different. It might be a Getdown Services summer as well. That song “Dog Dribble” they put out is so good.
EBELING: Coltrane is what I go back to. I had a funny top five last year, it was John Coltrane, Miles Davis, The Beatles, James Brown, and Tame Impala. That sums it up. I just listen to albums and like to work my way through things. I’ve been listening to a lot of Beatles lately, just going through their albums and really taking my time and listening to every song. I’ve been listening to Mystery Lights a lot too, I have their albums on repeat. I've been revisiting a lot of music that I want to give another deep listen.
