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from RIP magazine, June 1991 (Fresh Blood)
[I'm not sure what it was about the Throbs that inspired my creativity. It was a combination of some sort of exceptional chemistry combined with being in a certain time and place in my life, and theirs. I can't define it, but whatever it was, it locked in every time I wrote about them. Even this short article for RIP is more inspired than my usual "Fresh Blood" features. Whenever I wrote about bands, I'd mentally step inside their world (or whatever their world seemed to be, judging from what they were about musically and what they presented to me in person), but the Throbs gripped me more than most. This little story is just an appetizer for the feature I wrote about the band a few months later. I had some great times during my subsequent friendship with the Throbs, but the times I spent alone with my computer, writing about them, were in reality just as exciting.]
Rock 'n' roll isn't about fashion statements or light entertainment. Not real rock 'n' roll, at least. Rock 'n' roll is an obsession that eats at your guts from the inside out. Nobody knows this better than the Throbs. Their debut album, The Language of Thieves and Vagabonds, gets under your skin with its snarling attitude and aggressive attack. This is not casual, fun stuff. The Throbs take the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune very seriously, and with tunes like "Underground," "Come Down Sister" and "Rip It Up," they prove that they give as good — or bad — as they get.
It's no surprise that this band uneasily calls New York City its home. It's also no surprise that three of the four members come from other parts of the world — singer Sweetheart is Canadian, guitarist Roger Ericson is Swedish, and bassist Danny Nordahl is from Maryland (drummer Ronnie Magri is the only NY native). If you don't grow up around that fast-paced, screw-your-brother mentality, it's gonna hit you more deeply, and one of two things happen — either you crumble under the pressure, or you get meaner and smarter. The Throbs opted for the latter path.
"That's the attitude you've got to get in New York," Roger explains. "People are gonna try to get at you any way they can. So after a while you get to the conclusion that you avoid all those people. There are three people I trust in this city, so now we're just sticking to each other."
Roger, Ronnie and Danny had known each other for several years, and had even played together, but they had never found a singer with the right kind of edge. Danny met Sweetheart one night at the Limelight, and his deep-throated vocal style perfectly matched the Throbs' hard-as-nails punch. After only three gigs the group was signed to DGC Records. In the two-and-a-half years between the deal and the release of the record, a lot of nasty rumors flew about the Throbs' bad attitude and supposedly unreasonable demands. "If that's the case, then we did a good job," Ronnie points out.
"Yeah, look at the record," Roger agrees. "We got everything we wanted, and now people respond to it. So I guess we couldn't have been that off."
If living well is the best revenge, then the almost-assured success of The Language of Thieves and Vagabonds should give the Throbs their just desserts.
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