The Key Studio Sessions: Thee, Idea Men

Call ’em blues, garage or modern, Philly’s Thee, Idea Men are a tight and infectious rock four-piece. Emerging in 2012 from the Drexel University scene that also gave us Lucy Stone and W.C. Lindsay, the band’s rumbling Stratocaster overdrive (guided by frontman Matt Jurasek and lead guitarist Matt Raspanti) was in top form on their 2012 release New Level Shoes. Recorded with Tommy Joyner at MilkBoy and released in May, the album sits nicely alongside festival scene favorites J Roddy Walston & The Business and The Weeks, reviving a classic American music style in a contemporary setting. “Help Me, Mama” and “All The While” might have been radio ragers had they come out in the 1970s, but here we are in the 2010s and they sound just as good. The band recorded this session over the weekend on a day jam-packed with three shows. I later caught them bringing down the house at Center City’s Midtown Village Fall Festival with a sweet cover of The Zutons’ “Valerie.” Their next show is on the eclectic Jawn of the Dead bill at Bourbon and Branch on October 17th; tickets and information can be found at the XPN Concert Calendar.