Heavyfuckingmetal

by Carsten Wohlfeld for Gaesteliste.de (June 12th, 2003)

A couple of bars of the first song on the new Therapy? album are enough to convince us that, with High Anxiety, we finally have another tremendous record which seamlessly combines equal portions of power, fun and poppiness.

Naturally, the Belfast foursome Andy Cairns, Michael McKeegan, Martin McCarrick and new recruit Neil Cooper are rightly proud that their fans have remained faithful, without them having to serve up a dull rehash of their album of the century Troublegum. However, five years ago, after Semi-Detached, an initially commercial (1999 offering Suicide Pact—You First is hugely underrated) and then artistic (Shameless from 2001 is, with hindsight, despite a few good reviews around its release, not exactly a classic) downward trend became apparent.

After a couple of bars of outstanding opener Hey Satan—You Rock, it transpires, however, that High Anxiety is apparently the best Therapy? album in 8 years. Because the first song is by no means the only potential hit on the record. Who Knows, Stand In Line and the two singles If It Kills Me and Rust are just as good. Indeed, Rust can even be received as a lyrical recollection of the Troublegum era. After the timeless teenage-angst anthem Screamager (alongside Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit doubtless the most important song for hordes of disillusioned teenagers from the grunge generation), we hear now in Rust that “I don’t know what I want, but I want it now!” Thus, Therapy? have yet to arrive at their goal, and it would seem that this is a good thing, as it guarantees us a pile more exciting records in days to come.

Before Therapy?’s appearance in Cologne’s Prime Club, Gaesteliste.de had the opportunity to speak to the man who has been introduced every night for more than a decade on stage as “The evil priest himself, Father Michael McKeegan” on the tour bus. In the interview, as was expected however, he proved himself to be a charming conversationalist, who we first of all asked how it feels to be Therapy?’s bass player in 2003.

We kept everything pretty short and concise, and said to ourselves: that sounds good, let’s leave it as it is. If you start making big alterations to things, you hear the original demo 4 months later and think to yourself: man, that was far better!

“We’re having a blast at the moment and are really getting it together well. An extremely positive energy has returned to the band. When we released Shameless, the record company really spoiled a lot of things for us, and on the following tour it quickly became clear that our drummer at that time, Graham Hopkins, had had enough of rock ’n’ roll. Our energy level was very low and we were having problems getting anything done. What was more, our crew had been on the road with us for years and were also starting to get bored. Andy and I were constantly having to try to get everyone fired up. Now the majority of our road crew is new, our label is new and we’ve got a fantastic new drummer, so things are looking up. Apart from that, I’m really pleased with the new album.”

Well, well. That’s one of those sayings that you hear with stunning regularity as a music journalist. So, is it also the case with Therapy? that every new album is their best ever? “Nah, I wouldn’t say that”, retorts Michael with a smile. “I wouldn’t dare to make a judgement like that until at least 4 or 5 years after the publication of an album. Right now, the dust still hasn’t really settled on it. However, we do play about 8 songs from the new album—in addition to all the old ones—live, and up until now the new stuff’s been very well-received. Despite this, we’re naturally very proud of our past, because without it we wouldn’t be here now.”

“The fact that Therapy? are playing stacks of old classics on the current tour also has a little to do with High Anxiety being a very short album, if at the same time directly to the point. Shameless had a few very long songs on it, and this time we wanted to keep it a bit shorter: go in there, say what you have to say, and get out again. In the past we’ve sometimes overcomplicated things a little.”

It sounds a little as though it could also have something to do with the band members’ changing taste in music. The new album doesn’t only seem to draw from similar role models—cult bands from the Californian SST label—on tracks like Who Knows or Last Blast as did Troublegum. “You’ve hit the nail on the head”, agrees Michael. “When Neil joined the band, we discovered that we had the same roots: Helmet, Jesus Lizard, Black Flag. And then when we were in the studio we actually did listen to a lot of SST stuff from Hüsker Dü and the Minutemen—good, straight, intelligent punk rock. Of course, we wanted to make music which was innovative and clever, but we didn’t want to approach the subject too intellectually and end up with jazz. We kept everything pretty short and concise, and said to ourselves: that sounds good, let’s leave it as it is. If you start making big alterations to things, you hear the original demo 4 months later and think to yourself: man, that was far better!”

Nowadays there are more than a few bands who feel they have been significantly influenced by Therapy?… “Yeah, still, I don’t think there’s any band that really sounds like us. It does sometimes happen that someone shoves a tape into our hands and says “Have a listen, you’re one of our biggest influences”, but I usually can’t hear it.”

From the word go with Pete, he was saying things like: “That’s bollocks, I know you, and I know you can do better than that. Do it again!”

This brings us to the question of what, in Michael’s opinion, the most important ingredients in Therapy?’s sound are? “The most important is probably Andy’s voice, which has many different shades to it, sometimes screaming, sometimes growling, but sometimes very clean and melodic. Apart from that, you can perhaps say that the musicians form a square, and that whatever is in the middle of it defines the Therapy? sound. So there’s always an x-factor.” With Neil’s addition as drummer, this square has become a little tighter.

However, it was more by chance than through anything else that Neil got the job. “Therapy?’s first ever British tour was as support for Neil’s ex-band The Beyond. We knew him from those days and knew that he was a fantastic drummer. Andy bumped into him at a Rival Schools concert in London, they got talking, and Andy invited him to jam with us. The best thing about him is that he doesn’t only have the same roots as us. He also has a very individual style which is tailor-made for Therapy? Apart from that, he’s got the right perspective on things. That’s very important. Not just any drummer, no matter how technically perfect, could join Therapy?”

The new album was made with a long-term buddy, live sound engineer Pete Bartlett as producer. Perhaps this was another reason that Andy, Martin and Michael didn’t want another new face from the outside in on the act after that of the new drummer? “We’ve been working with Pete for 3 or 4 years at all our concerts, and he’s done a few live recordings with us which sound far better than our records,” explains Michael. “We didn’t want to record the album live in the studio, but Pete had loads of ideas about how you can recapture live sound in the studio. When we asked him, he said: “I would like to do it, but you must realise that I won’t be Pete, your friend and live soundman, but Pete the producer and pain in the neck.” It was all a great experience, because you normally need two weeks until you’ve got used to a new producer and his methods, and you don’t really feel at ease at first giving your own opinion. From the word go with Pete, he was saying things like: “That’s bollocks, I know you, and I know you can do better than that. Do it again!”

The choice of producer was a bit of a reaction to the experiences last time around. It is well known that Shameless was made with the “Godfather of Grunge”, Jack Endino, at the helm. “I’ve only got good things to say about Jack, but in our first week together we were asking ourselves just what the man wanted from us! he’s completely eccentric. Making records is his life. He’s a true expert. He’s got a big box full of weird effects and pedals, and he’s constantly saying: “Let’s try this and that and the other!” We started asking ourselves: “What the hell is the guy up to? we’ve been here two weeks and haven’t done anything but set equipment up and found out how to make a buzzing sound!” We can only recommend to all bands that they make a record with Jack Endino. He’s completely beserk, but a lovely guy with unbelievable passion for his work.”

We aren’t going to stand around, rooted to the spot. We won’t hang back, so the crew can get nice shots of us. Therapy? shows are about communication with the audience, energy and entertainment. The film crew knows that too, and they’ll be ready for it!

By the way, High Anxiety might not be the only Therapy? release this year. A few days after our interview with the band the explosive foursome’s hometown gig in Belfast was filmed for a planned DVD. “This came about because our record company Spitfire belongs to Eagle Rock, which has, in Eagle Vision, another subsidiary which has in the past produced DVDs for Marylin Manson, Eminem and Destiny’s Child. We’ve been talking about filming a concert for a long time, after all, we’ve been together for 13 years, and we also have a pretty good reputation as a live band. The plan is now to make a cut of the show in Belfast on this tour. There should also be a second DVD, though, with all our promo videos and selected snippets. It should turn out as a sort of documentation.”

“By the way, it was our decision to record the concert in Belfast. The company wanted to film the London show, as they have their HQ there, but it was only the third show on the tour, and we’d probably have been really annoyed about that because we’d have been better a few nights later. Apart from that, no-one records concert videos in Northern Ireland, so we thought, “Let’s do it at home, with all our mates in the audience” We were told the camera crew needs a bit of room in front of the stage. To that, I could only say “If the camera man gets in my way, then that’s his bad luck!” I’ll just carry on as always. We aren’t going to stand around, rooted to the spot. We won’t hang back, so the crew can get nice shots of us. Therapy? shows are about communication with the audience, energy and entertainment. The film crew knows that too, and they’ll be ready for it!”

We can’t resist one question to end with. In one of the—incidentally very amusing—tour diaries, which are to be found on the band’s website, Michael describes the tension of the moment when the tour bus which will be home for the next few weeks comes around the bend and into sight for the first time—regardless of how many times you’ve been on tour. How does the vehicle which we’re currently on board shape up?

“The first time we saw this bus, we were pretty horrified, because it’s pretty small”, answers Michael, laughing. “However, that’s turned out to be an advantage. If you have a double-decker bus, the whole band spreads out into their own little corners. Now we only have two, one at the front for non-smokers like me and our tour manager, who does his work there, and this one at the back, where we meet for DJ’ing sessions. Each one of us has his own stack of CD’s here, and we play songs for each other. There’s only one thought that goes through your mind: “How can I top the last song!?” Last night for example we listened to the Beastie Boys, Glen Campbell, Slayer, some kind of prog-rock, Turbonegro and The Specials, one after the other! It’s a great laugh! To put it briefly: the atmosphere on this bus is better than its dimensions.”

The good atmosphere from the tour bus has obviously rubbed off on the concerts, because the show in Cologne, at least, was a sweat-inducing Tour de Force par excellence. What’s that beautifully fitting slogan on the new Therapy? t-shirts again? Heavyfuckingmetal.

Translated by Richard Heaney

Related Interviews

Reviews of ‘High Anxiety’