BY COLLIN JOHNSON, Staff Reporter

Describing themselves as a “bluesy adventure metal” band, Thunderhound is gearing up to begin recording in their new space after a summer-long hiatus and to resume playing shows all over Washington with the same drive and passion as before.

The name “came about from trying to jam together a million different animals with thunder, and hound just sounded rad,” said Thunderhound guitarist Ryan Bury, who is also a senior general economics major.

The band’s lineup includes Bury, lead singer Liam McCoy, lead guitarist Jole Ratcliff, drummer Van Smith, bassist Tony Davis, and keyboardist Joey Thornton.

“We all basically grew up together in one way or another, except for Tony who we met when he was playing in another band,” Bury said.

The group’s musical influences include Clutch, Black Sabbath, The Sword, Queens of the Stone Age and Red Fang.

The band decided to change their name from The Ancients to Thunderhound to differentiate themselves from numerous other bands that have similar  names.

“When we uploaded our first CD to iTunes, iTunes just automatically gave us the full bio of the Australian Ancients band, and we sold a couple songs online actually,” Bury said with a laugh.

The group has had many external issues interfering with their strong desires to rock over the past few months.  Between having a family, finishing up school at Central, enlisting in the army and holding down a job, the band has been busy.

With their new recording space finished at drummer Van Smith’s house in town, the band is planning on taking the next step with recording a new album and playing shows out of Ellensburg.

“We want to do an EP, and release it as Thunderhound. Most of it as our older stuff, like our last album we did, just re-release that, and then immediately start working,” said McCoy, a chemistry senior at Central and vocalist of the band.  “We have almost an entire album of new songs that we need to start recording.”

The band recently added their newest member Tony Davis, who has 20 years of experience under his belt in the music industry as both a musician and booking agent.

“Tony’s going to be a big help,” McCoy said. “He was booking half our shows before he was even in the band.”

Davis has connections all over Washington and hopes to team up with Seattle band, Witchburn, to give the band more exposure and increase their experience.

“Witchburn said they would take us under their wing, if we get our shit together,” Davis said.

The band’s most memorable show was their most recent Halloween gig at Pounders, a small event room above the Palace Cafe, where McCoy proposed to his girlfriend of several years.

“She was Donatello, and I was Satan,” McCoy said.

This happened during the band’s set amidst a song about stalking and Antonio Banderas.  The level of romance in the room was palpable; there was no way she could decline his proposal.

The band’s largest show was coincidentally their first show, which was held at Raw Space over two years ago.  According to McCoy, about 200 people were in attendance, and the band was opening for fellow local acts Star Anna and Tyrannosaurus Grace.

“It was crazy playing for that many people for our first show,” McCoy said.

The band highlighted that seldom do they experience the “pre-show jitters,” and the group has been doing what they call “rock-stretches” before each performance which stomps out all feelings of anxiety.

“Right before we go on stage we all get together in a circle, and just stretch and bullshit, have a smoke and whatever, and crack each other up, then put all our hands in the middle and do like, a 1-2-3 chant,” Bury said.  “And even if there was some jitters, [the routine] just washes it all away, and we can go rock.”

There’s nothing but good things to look forward to with this group.  Despite obligations in their personal lives, they continue to strive forward as a band in the crazy music world that exists today.  Keep an ear out for both new releases and a potential music video in the coming year.

“We have a porn star who’s going to be modeling our merch,” McCoy said.  “They’ll be very tasteful.”