Thy Art Is Murder: The Power Of Time
Over the course of their illustrious career, THY ART IS MURDER have proved themselves as one of Australia’s hottest exports. The anticipation for sixth full-length studio effort Godlike was simmering nicely but it remains to be seen whether recent events will put a significant blot on this juncture. Prior to the unsavoury actions and necessary removal of Chris McMahon, we caught up with guitarist Andy Marsh to discuss how this album came together.
“Every one of our album has been 10 tracks so we set out to do the exact same again and normally we’d maybe have about 15 but this time we had somewhere between 25 to 30! We really took our time this time around to focus on the elements which may have been rushed or lost in the nitty gritty as we were running out of time on previous releases. We had a lot more time to reflect on everything and zoom out to see the full picture. Normally we write songs in such brief pockets of time and I kind of enjoyed that in a way as it created a timestamp in my life and you could pinpoint exactly what it was written and it was easy to identify with what you may have been experiencing personally but this time the songs were written in a much longer period opposed to a solid block of a few weeks.”
Despite all the best intentions life can zip on by pretty quickly and it can be weeks or months that have elapsed since you have conversed or spent time with significant figures in your life. During this process, THY ART IS MURDER ensured that they spent more quality time together as a unit to strengthen their bond. “Over the years we’ve only spent time together when commitments required us to,” admits Marsh. “Almost like we were hanging out due to obligation. The things you choose in life are very important and choosing to spend time with each other creates a lot of beneficial by-products, you become more comfortable with each other and when you bring an idea to the table you don’t feel as anxious about someone shooting it down and thinking it’s ridiculous or worrying about whether people are going to laugh at you. This time round we spent a lot of time together throughout the process and had a few pints along the way.”
Having an outside perspective to utilise during the creative process can be a very useful and insightful tool to possess, it would be especially foolish having an ace up your sleeve like Will Putney and not taking full advantage of his expertise. “Working with Will and being able to have that immediate rhythmic feedback off him was invaluable as we didn’t have to take time away from the creative process,” explains Marsh. “He’s a phenomenal songwriter, everyone would want someone like him in their corner. We spent a lot of time with Will painting this picture in our mind of what our next steps should be and what elements we felt needed to be incorporated this time around. Having a large collection of tracks helped keep us centred and keep everything cohesive which isn’t a luxury we’ve had in the past.”
THY ART IS MURDER now operate under the banner of their self-made label Human Warfare. Whilst allowing them some additional freedom Andy made sure to reaffirm that without the guidance and tutelage the band have received previously, they may not be in the same fortunate position. “Having our own label has provided a little bit more flexibility on setting our own schedule when if you’re on an external label you have to work to a timeline which may not be synergistic with plans you have for touring or merchandise or things which may occur in our personal lives. It’s not been a huge change since we were with Nuclear Blast. They were great to work with and never meddled with the creative process in any way. I think Monte Connor only came into the studio once during the Aggression Sessions. I’m very grateful for his guidance over the years. He is one of the great mentors in my life and without his encouragement I don’t think we’d be anywhere close to where we are today.”
THY ART IS MURDER are due to embark on some extensive touring in support of Godlike, an endeavour they are very excited to sink their teeth into. Recently they had the opportunity to showcase the tenth anniversary of their much appraised Hate album. “It was fun reacquainting ourselves with the older material and it’s interesting to learn about who you were as a musician over a decade ago. There are some parts of that album which we would never attempt nowadays. Maybe that was our youthful ability or something!” Jokes Marsh.
“It was reassuring to know that we were justified in our choices and how well the album is still received all these years later. Ten years ago we were playing 300 capacity venues and now we’re a bit more established and the albums had significant promotion we managed to sell out venues more than twice the size. We haven’t had a new record in over four years now so we’re very excited to have more songs to choose from and it means we can build an even cooler setlist. We like to think about what journey we want to go on and what experience we want to give to the fans. It would be a misstep on our part to not perform better known songs because that increases your chances of connecting with the audience but we need to consider things like guitar tunings and overall logistics throughout the set as well. I’m excited to start putting the stage production together.”
Godlike is out now via Human Warfare.
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