A few weeks back, our man from
Anyhow, I thought the record was just a ferocious listen from start to finish, perhaps not to everyone’s taste, if you’re more into your sludge doom, however judged on its own merit, ‘Hate’ is certainly worthy of all the acclaim.
Thy Art is Murder were recently due to hit the
SL) Chris (Vocals), can I say G’day and welcome to the Sludgelord, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us. How you all and where are you are guy’s right now then?
A) We’re in
SL) Some of our readers may not know you too well. Could you give them a brief history of Thy Art is Murder?
A) Started in 2006. Released an EP in 2008. Changed some members. Released an album in 2010. Changed some members. Released an album in 2012 called Hate that got re-released by Nuclear Blast worldwide this year. Touring everywhere!
SL) So what are your plans to see out the second half of the year? Any big touring plans or festivals?
A) We finish up in Europe then head to the USA for Summer Slaughter with Dillinger Escape Plan then off to China for some headline shows then we’re supporting Parkway Drive in Australia in September. Bit of a break then we have more international touring.
SL) You’re just about to hit the UK for 3 shows including Ghostfest and you’ve toured with Fear Factory amongst other this year, how was that experience
And how excited are you about these gigs?
A) Fear Factory was the start of the Hate album campaign and it’s been incredible, we’re midway through our second European run on it, we just did our biggest ever Australian headliner with Cattle Decapitation and we’ve got our first US tour coming up. Ghostfest will be sick, we had a great time in the
SL) So, to those that are unfamiliar with your live show, could you give a brief description of the experience?
A) Really heavy, really loud and lots of moshing!
SL) What’s the music scene like in
A) Pretty open ended question. Music is cool in
SL) Your brand new album ‘Hate’ has been universally praised, have you been surprised at the great reaction you’ve been getting? Our guys Markwell, wrote a rather splendid review.
A) We knew we were on to something good but the reaction has blown us away. Can’t wait to start working on the new one!
SL) When you were writing ‘Hate’, did you go into it with a definitive goal or did it just evolve naturally?
A) Our guitarist and bass player had some definite ideas they wanted to explore as well as making it more cohesive, tighter and heavier. I think they got there!
SL) Would you say that this is the album stretched you both as performers and creatively?
A) We’re always looking to push what we do. Looking back we achieved what we wanted but it’s all about looking forward now. We’re really happy with Hate.
SL) What are the aspirations of Thy Art Is Murder? Do you want to sell out stadia, or remain underground phenomena? What is your M.O. if you will?
A) We want to play as much as we can to as many people as possible. This weekend we play a festival with Slipknot so things are good!
SL) What do you feel are the best and worst things about being in a band?
A) Playing live, seeing the reactions and travelling is awesome. Missing our families and loved ones is the bummer. Pretty standard answer!
SL) How important do you feel social media has been to advancing the band?
A) Thy Art’s first EP was a big beneficiary of the MySpace effect. Now it’s just cool to see something like our video for Reign Of Darkness just keep racking up views on YouTube. It’s at 1.3 million which is insane to think about for us.
SL) How important do you feel blogging sites are to raising a band’s profile?
A) I think everything helps. It’s always funny to see people say things on Facebook like “when are you coming to the
SL) What bands or artists have influenced you, both as you were growing up and more recently?
A) Personally I love Deftones and Sublime, they are early formative bands for me. Parkway Drive for what they’ve done for heavy music in
SL) Staying with influences, do you like to play any covers live? If not already, are there plans to play any covers live, or do you aim to keep your set strictly original material?
A) No covers live; we are planning some for our next recording as B sides. It’s a secret!
SL) Going back to your record do you have some favourite cuts from the new record? Anything that you particularly like to play live, or that has been well received by audiences?
A) Reign Of Darkness and Purest Strain Of Hate are awesome to play live. Recently we’ve been doing Dead Sun too, which has a guest vocal part from our friend Nico from War From A Harlots Mouth, I like doing that part as its different to my normal approach.
A) Work hard, don’t be a fuckwit, keep working hard.
SL) Do you have any final comments you’d like to make?
A) Come see us on tour and check out Hate!
As ever, show your support to the band by checking them out at the various links and buying their merch. This record is available everywhere now. Thanks as always to Lottie Hunt / Hollie Arup @ Nuclear Blast for the hook up. Read Markwell's review here
