When Hot Snakes wentto Australia in 2005 the band had already decided that their end was near. After 3 full length records, a Peel Session EP, a couple compilation appearances and 2 US tours the band had achieved what they set out to do and now were looking forward to alternate future possibilities. Fortunately the Australia tour would yield one last opportunity for the band to go into a studio and agitate their instruments with down-stroke jacking, pagan tomahawk bashing and node inducing voice.

Hot Snakes set up their instruments in the Australian Broadcasting Co. studios for a session that would later be broadcasted on Triple J Radio. Greg Wales who has worked with the likes of Radio Birdman, No Knife and You Am I engineered and produced the recording with a distinct approach that yielded a casual ferocity and unassuming intensity. The Hot Snakes sub harmonic boom was fortified by the addition of Eleanor Logan’s organ (who in 2004 earned the Australian Grammy “The Map Of Tazzy”  with her band The Tremors).  The end result of this “live” recording in a controlled environment is possibly the truest artyfact of what the Hot Snakes actually sounded like.

Thunder Down Under is looser yet more rehearsed than the bands previous albums and sonically much bigger than the Peel Session with hairy nutz dangling behind in the dirt. Unlike a true live record captured in a show setting, this session makes full use of the ABC’s vintage recording gear and spacious acoustic ambience. With all of the band’s favorite songs represented in a more visceral light it almost plays like an even greater greatest hits. Yet, the added bonus of a thick dynamic width coupled with a sharper flippant delivery makes Thunder Down Under essential for fans and newcummers alike. Whatever it is, it is certain that this is the final studio noise from the Hot Snakes. It was real fun while it lasted!