Thematic

The one day of the week, the ONE DAY I don’t usually have anything to do and just get to sit on my couch and watch football ( .…us Bears fans usually stop watching around Week 14, but we keep the faith). Well January 15th was a little different. I still got up at the ass crack of dawn, worked on my website (my one shameless plug…. www.WhereWeDrinkin.com) for a few hours, and watched the afternoon game. But then my Sunday night got a little more interesting with a trip to the Rusty Spur to see the Fort Wayne rock band “Thematic”. Now you might remember a few of the guys in the band as remnants of “Pheen”, another prominent band from the area that unfortunately went on an indefinite hiatus. You can hear a little bit (and I stress little bit) of their previous band, but Thematic takes it to a new level.
The band started early last year and has been making waves around the area ever since. Their first show as the band “Thematic” was the Indiana State Fair. Now granted, it’s not a national tour with Led Zeppelin, but it’s a hell of a “first-show”. And from what I hear they rocked it. This provoked me to ask the guys for a little bit of their time for an interview before they rocked out with another (non-local) local favorite, Downstait. Now I hadn’t seen the guys in Thematic before, but had heard of Pheen, and liked what I heard. Even with most of the same lineup, Thematic is something different. It’s a lot more emotional, in-tune, and refined. The best part about music (for me anyways) is that every song has the ability to instill some kind of feeling in you. Thematic had me ready to rock!
And the Rusty Spur was just the place to do it. It could have been on a little better night than Sunday (….. yea, no more Sunday shows bands) but all the same it was a good time. The guys have great energy on stage. Definitely some seasoned veterans up there. They really commanded the stage and tried to get the (whole lot of 75) people in the bar going. They were very professional, not overly done up, and a bunch of really nice guys. They are also some really talented musicians. You really can’t ask for much more than that right? They’re music is pretty inspiring. Great content. Maceo Morris provides a few great messages to think about. I love the harmonics usage by the rest of the guys as well. At the same time, they’ll bust in to a chorus that just makes you want to “Liu-Kang” someone. Yes, I really referenced a Mortal Kombat character, get over it. You know you played that game back in the day before it got stupid. Anyways, it was a great mix of different emotions throughout their entire set. Well done, and well put together guys.
Overall though, Thematic’s performance was top notch. They know what they’re doing on stage, and it really shows. Some high quality musicians, a high quality establishment, and high quality bands to follow up, I’d say they did very well. I look forward to seeing Mace, Dan Edwards, Kevin Samuel, Nate Beusching, and John Walther rock out again in front of a lot more people. All of them are really cool guys. They’re really interested in helping the music scene and making a name not only for themselves, for the whole Fort Wayne scene. I salute you guys on your hard work, and really hope it pays off. Definitely let us know when the next Thematic show is! And readers, when they do…. check ‘em out. - Brandon McGinnis