MSRY: Living Life Off The Edge

When you see front man Kial Churcher hanging from an unstable makeshift ledge 20 feet in the air whilst bellowing out his incendiary laced vocals, you get it: MSRY truly encapsulate underground hardcore. But the truth is, the Oxford quartet are an embodiment of everything you thought the genre was about off the stage too – arguably, even more so. The sweat stained walls of your local pub are home to Kial, who during his decade long tenure in music has got enough mileage on the clock that would cause your average man to need some new parts.

He speaks openly about being self-aware enough to acknowledge that MSRY would be his last band – come success or failure. “Yeah, there’s always been a hint of that. I’ve been in bands for like 10-12 years, so I’ve been tour ridden, I’ve been hurt, and broken bodied all throughout my late teens and early twenties. So I know this might be my last chance to do something as wild and crazy as MSRY” Notably, there’s not an ounce of fear in Kial‘s voice, if anything: it’s pure excitement.

As you’d expect, MSRY is very much an in-house project. Everything you see, hear, or wear has been created by the band and no one else, it’s a concept that works for most start up bands – but Kial takes time to point out just how well this suits them. “I’m not entirely sure it [being totally independent] suits our lifestyles as much outside of the band as it does inside the band. The DIY ethic isn’t just about doing home recording, I’m the graphic designer for 90% of the artwork we do, Harvey [Lake, bass] does a load of things on the side, and Charlie [Bishop, guitar] helps out with a load of the technical issues behind the band as well. Pretty much everything apart from PR and CD pressing is done by us, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

There’s a rustic, old school sense of pride and purpose to the way MSRY go about their business, and knowing every element of the band has had zero input from anyone outside of their four-way circle of trust is as charming as it is commendable. Even when it comes to recording material, the quartet are obsessed with all parties being happy with what they’re putting their names to. Whether it’s taken a nigh-on full scale riot of an argument or not, everything on tape is what everyone in the camp wants you to hear.

Perhaps the most charming aspect of Kial‘s personality is that he’s still a die-hard fan of alternative music at heart. Despite his years of struggles and sacrifices – he still just wants to emulate the success of his heroes. You can almost sense his heart beating faster when discussing the bands time with CANCER BATS vocalist Liam Cormier.

“It’s one of the most humbling experiences to know that one of your main vocal icon’s is this really chilled, down to earth guy. It [spending the day with Liam] was one of the most surreal experiences of my entire life, walking into our drummers house, with his Mom and Dad there, with Liam Cormier drinking coffee and talking about politics – like WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH MY LIFE RIGHT NOW [laughs]. We literally picked his brains continuously, he was probably sick of it by the end of the day.”

The chance for the band to mingle with Liam was down to the CANCER BATS front man taking up a guest spot on Still Breaks My Heart – the bands lead single from latest EP Loss (check out our track by track guide for the EP). The opportunity began to present itself after Kial and co had a technical problem towards the end of one of their sets, meaning they had no backing tracks left. In a weird twist of fate – the band improvised a cover of CANCER BATS‘ classic Hail Destroyer, word got back to the band, and the rest is history.

Kial doesn’t take too long to smell the roses when discussing working with one of his heroes though, instead he’s more keen to point out that the band knew going into Loss – they had to solidify their sound. “The first EP we bought out was very much the case of: ‘we’re a new band, we want to get our music out, be as good as possible – but we’re on a very tight time constraint here’ for the second EP [Safety First] we literally came off tour and thought ‘it’s probably about time we recorded some new music and keep ourselves out there’. This time we probably spent the better half of a year going over every song to make sure we nailed the sound.”

When Loss injects its relentless bite and power into your veins – you find the front man’s words here reign true, and the EP is the biggest symbol of MSRY‘s career thus far that they might be truly on to something. And part of the bands success thus far is down to how grateful they are to even be on a stage in the first place – they’re always close to the ground. So much so that current bassist Harvey Lake was only truly introduced to the band as Kial accidentally overcharged him £5 for a t-shirt he bought from the bands merch table: it doesn’t get too much more hardcore than that.

In between all the laughs, the smiles, and positivity you can obtain from Kial is his own admittance that he’s experienced the worst of the music industry, and he doesn’t intend on going there again. “I’ve had some amazing experiences [before MSRY] don’t get me wrong, and there have been nights and crowds that I’ll never forget. But after ten years of being in those bands and not really seeing a modicum of any success you’re just like ‘why the fuck do I keep doing this? Why am I destroying my body for nothing EVERY SINGLE NIGHT?’ there was a good period for like a year/year and a half where I was like: I’m never going to do music ever again.”

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and there’s no doubt that Kial is glad his mindset never stuck in its lowest point, as he admits right now he’s at the peak of his powers. And with a band that seemingly continue to take steps in the wrong direction, and a sensory feeling for what is working right now in hardcore: MSRY are in a position where their big break could literally be round the corner. And if it is: no one is going to try and claim they haven’t had to fight for it.

If there was only one thing MSRY could achieve in the future, what would you choose? What’s your one burning desire?

Kial: I’ve got so many burning desires man [laughs] it’s probably the thing that every breakthrough band do: open up the main stage at Download Festival. If we got the opportunity you KNOW I’d be climbing up that scaffold, and I would be hanging off that shit and making a SCENE!

You met Kier [French, Drummer] at your local, and by that point you’d already been in several bands, did it feel like MSRY was the last roll of the dice for you? 

Kial: Yeah, there’s always been a hint of that, not so much from Kier because there’s about a five/six year gap between me and him anyway. Ever since I saw him on stage and knew he had a recording studio I’ve just been like ‘I wanna work with this guy!’ I’ve been in bands for like 10-12 years man so I’ve been tour ridden, I’ve been hurt, and broken bodied all throughout my late teens/early twenties so I’m just like, ‘yeah this might be the last chance I get to do something as wild and crazy as MSRY.

How does being a DIY band suit do the bands ethos? Do you think you’re the kind of band that having to record in a home studio suits as individuals? 

Kial: I’m not entirely sure it suits the lifestyle outside the band as much as it does inside the band, but all of us together collectively are an absolute mess anyway so having us a mess inside the band and having that DIY ethic isn’t just about doing a home recording. I’m the graphic designer for pretty much 90% of the things we put out, Harvey [Lake, Bass] does loads of things on the side, Charlie [Bishop, Guitar] helps out with loads of technical issues behind the band as well. Everything apart from our PR and the CD pressings themselves is done by us, and to be fair, we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Loss is out now via self-release. MSRY are featured in our latest digital issue. Subscribe to our Patreon today to read our feature. 

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