May 23, 2025 Tsunami & Opinions on Julien Baker and Torres

Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thomson led the indie rock band Tsunami throughout the ‘90s, but that’s far from their only contribution to the independent music scene. The label they founded, Simple Machines, helped artists get their music out in the world without being exploited. And the advocacy group they founded, The Future of Music Coalition, sought to make digital music distribution more fair for artists. The duo talk with hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot about their perspective on that work with the advantage of hindsight and getting the band back together and on the road.

Listen

Kreative Control Podcast #921

November 7, 2024

Kristin Thomson and Jenny Toomey discuss their band’s new 5LP box set, Loud Is As, living in upstate New York with the AC on in October and also living in Philadelphia but being from Canada, loving hockey but not liking sports, how they first met via punk and Positive Force, the band Geek, touring with Superchunk, and starting Simple Machines Records, Dischord and the D.C. music community, nostalgia vs. longing, the contents of their Numero Group box set, touring again, other future plans, and much more.   

listen

Discograffiti Podcast #180

November 5, 2024

Jenny Toomey & Kristin Thomson—arguably the two women most responsible for the ceaseless onslaught of incredible indie music in the 1990s due to the Simple Machines Records label and their explosively powerful band Tsunami—go head-to-head-to-head with Discograffiti during an unprecedented 3-hour interview during which they discuss the entirety of their catalog, which thankfully is being reissued today by Numero Group in a lovingly compiled box set entitled Loud Is As. Do yourself a big favor and get yourself one.

listen

Beginnings Podcast

November 1, 2024

Andy Beckerman talks to Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thomson. Tsunami formed in Arlington, VA in late 1990, when Jenny and Kristin were housemates at Arlington, Virginia’s legendary punk-activist Positive Force house. Over the next seven years, Tsunami wrote and recorded prolifically, releasing three full-length albums (Deep End, The Heart’s Tremolo and A Brilliant Mistake) and over a dozen seven-inch singles and EPs, most on their own Simple Machines label. And next week Numero Group will release Loud As Is, a 5-LP box set reissue of their entire catalog, and buddy, you better believe it’s great!

listen

Discograffiti Podcast #130

January 19, 2024

Although admittedly a side project for the Unrest and Tsunami songwritin’ n label-runnin' bandleaders, Grenadine was a game-changer for the Discograffiti hosts.  Goya remains one of their favorite albums of all time. The band released one more LP, and a handful of magical 45s... and that was that.

In this dream-fulfilling Discograffiti interview, Mark & Jenny reveal:

- The overriding importance of visual design to the Grenadine aesthetic (longer cuts only)

- Whether or not Mark went consciously Weird Al on his Nopalitos material

- And the exclusive scoop on a possible 3rd GRENADINE LP!

Listen

Washed Up Emo #253 interview with Jenny & Kristin

11.14.2024

We talk about the 90s, running Simple Machines, their new box set out on Numero Group, what DIY means to them, and how it impacts their lives and current work.

Listen

Episode 695 RiYL Podcast

After 35 years, Tsunami returned with a bang. The Virginia-based band capped off 2024 by reuniting to deliver a massive, career-spanning boxset, Loud As. During their time away from the band, however, Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thomson were never too far apart. The roommates, turned bandmates, turned cofounders of indie label, Simple Machines never started too far from activistic – and musical -- roots. In 2000, the pair formed the Future of Music Coalition, a non-profit focused on music education and advocacy.

Listen

Telling some stories about Tsunami's time on the Lollapalooza side stage.

S4 EP15: The Secret Ex-Rock Star at The Ford Foundation

Oct, 9, 2019

Before Jenny Toomey became one of the most influential people working behind the scenes on all the big tech issues, she was a rock star. Quite literally. With her band Tsunami and record label Simple Machines, Jenny Toomey was a fixture on the '90s Washington, D.C. indie music scene. On this episode, Toomey shares her evolution from rocker to founder of the Future of Music Coalition to director at the Ford Foundation, one of the world's wealthiest philanthropies. Be prepared to hear a lot of amazing music...and an inspiring ideas about how youthful ideals can mature into pragmatic and powerful careers.


 

Listen here

EP #42 Women in Punk Music for th New Revolution

02.16.225

In this exclusive interview, Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thomson of pioneering DC punk band Tsunami talk about their experiences as women in punk rock, feminism, their adventures in the music industry,

Listen