the Thingz

The Thingz are a garage-punkin’ trio from Long Beach with a flippant, Groovy Ghoulies—style sense of fun, as well as a shameless penchant for singing admittedly “ridiculous” lyrics. Guitarist Mike Morris and bassist Kim Thing trade off vocals (“demonstrating the primitive duality upon which rock & roll is based”), combining the overt wackiness of the Rezillos with the stop-start abruptness of a much less angry Angry Samoans. On their 2004 self-titled full-length debut on Pelado Records, Morris and Ms. Thing are obsessed with the dangers of eating on “Manicotti Massacre” (in which a rotting TV dinner enacts its revenge on a hapless human victim), “Picnic Table Massacre” (where militant ants enact their revenge on hapless human victims) and the food-as-sex metaphor “Mastication Blues.” The Thingz turn their short attention spans to the life aquatic on their still-unreleased second album with “She’s a Piranha,” which features Morris’ deliciously icy surf-guitar shivers, and the senselessly cruel interspecies rivalry of “I’m Glad I’m Not a Mollusk.” None of this rampant silliness would matter without such catchy hooks and the frenetic rhythm section of Kim Thing and drummer Jason Cordero. (Falling James) LA Weekly 2/1/07