Therapy?: Ready, Aim, Fire!
THERAPY? have just released their new album Hard Cold Fire and it is a collection of songs that emphasis everything that makes THERAPY? such a special band. Catchy, abrasive, passionate and biting are just a few of the qualities of the tracks on offer and it feels great to have the band back firing on all cylinders. We had the pleasure to catch up with singer/guitarist Andy Cairns to hear all about Hard Cold Fire and how it feels for THERAPY? to be back and still doing what they do best.
We start off with a bang as Andy tells us all about the vibe of the songs on Hard Cold Fire, and how excited he is for this album to be listened to. “We really like the nature of these songs, they’ve got a direct focus, are energetic and I think going to go down well live, so we’re looking forward for people to listen to it.”
With THERAPY? having recorded the album a while ago, the band are super excited to finally get it out there, especially as they have been sitting on it for a while due to touring commitments as Andy explains. “It was recorded in November and December 2021 but then last year, we had over 70 shows to do that we had to cancel because of COVID and there wasn’t really any time to do a new album tour because we’ve got two separate tours. One was the greatest hits tour and the other one was an playing early cuts as well as the summer festivals so there was no space to release an album properly, and the decision was made to release it this year.”
With five years between Hard Cold Fire and the band’s last album Cleave, THERAPY? haven’t rested on their laurels in between and Andy tells us what else the band have been up to since that last record and why they feel reenergised with this new record. “Since the last album, we had a best of released, recorded at Abbey Road and we had a book come out of the band’s biography but it’s not the same as having a brand new record and that’s what we love doing the most. Five years didn’t seem a long time because of the pandemic and because of the book and the greatest hits, but it’s the longest we’ve ever taken between two albums and we just can’t wait to get it out there.”
The brilliant Poundland Of Hope And Glory is a standout track from Hard Cold Fire and sees THERAPY? at their best. Andy gives us a bit of insight into this rousing and fiery anthem. “I was thinking about after everything everyone had been through COVID. All of the UK and Ireland still seemed incredibly divided, post-Brexit, post-COVID, it hasn’t been any better. Everyone seems to be running around directionless, and this song’s about a lot of people on the upper right seem to be telling us that there’s this green and pleasant land, Great Britain, but at the minute it’s a very green and unpleasant land. The title came from watching the Proms one night which is a roomful of stuffy white people singing William Blake‘s poem, Jerusalem, put to classical music. We thought, well, this isn’t a land of hope and glory. Everyone’s trying to score points against each other on both sides and it’s horrendous. There’s a lot of division.”
Andy goes onto to state how the song highlights the state of things going on in this country and how things haven’t changed at all and the frustration that lies in that. “You would think after a pandemic, that the country would try and rebuild itself but no one’s leading by example. Poundland Of Hope And Glory is about the myths that we tell ourselves. There’s that old phrase that they lie so much to begin to believe it themselves. I think that’s the state certain politicians and certain people in this country have gotten themselves into.”
Next year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the classic THERAPY? album Troublegum and Andy tells us that the band are planning celebrating this landmark. “Yeah, there will be. It would be kind of churlish not to play thirtieth anniversary shows, so it’s just a matter of what kind of show we will be playing. I think we would have to do it because it’s an album that we’re very proud of, and I know the fans certainly have talked about it.”
From their early days to now, THERAPY? have always been band who have been forward thinking with their outlook and their music. Andy explained how they bridged the gap between alternative music and heavier fare early on and how they have always down exactly what they wanted with their music. “Well, I think we were we were like the canaries in the coal mine, FAITH NO MORE, HELMET and us. We were one of the first bands who took on board different influences outside rock. I remember whenever we released our first album Nurse, it was hip hop beats, it was industrial beats, short-haired metal but there wasn’t any flashy solos, then there was loads of effects on the guitars. We did a track on the film soundtrack for Judgment Night in America with a rapper called FATAL, and then about four or five years later, when nu-metal broke, people were going, here’s guys with short hair, playing riffs but with hip hop. We’d done that five years ago! But at least we didn’t go the full hog with the traction and white guy rapping! No-one seems to mention THERAPY? as much whenever they talk about that kind influence but we don’t need anyone to tell us that stuff because we know we were there.”
Hard Cold Fire is out now via Marshall Records.
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