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Interview with Paul - Thine
Thine is a band from the UK playing some brilliant music in a style I would describe as "Melodic melancholic hard rock". You can read a review of their new release "In therapy" here.
First, I'd like to know a little bit about your history. Why did you start Thine and how did you get together?
I think we started originally with myself and Alan, the singer, back in 1993. That was because we were very mutual people and we were in to the same style of music. We just got together and a lot of it was playing cover songs of our favourite bands and messing with ideas. Then by late 1995 we got the drummer of Thine, Dan, who was into the similar style. It was much more extreme when we started out. Back then we were still playing covers, but gradually we began to develop a style and found a direction we wanted to progress to and then in 1996 we did the Journeys demo tape. It was more to become familiar with the studio experience, recordings and everything. Then by March 1997 we did the Blue tape. It would be the demo we used to shop around to the record companies. Then eventually by the end of 1997 we found Peaceville and then did the first album in January 1998 which was released in July that year and then we kind of had a big gap since then. A lot of it has been due to personal problems and band problems.
Yeah, I read on your homepage about some changes.
We still kept writing the songs and developing more of this new style. A bit more direct and focusing a lot more on the structure and dynamics. You know, more to exploit the singer and vocals to transfer the message across. So it's not like we haven't done anything all this time. It's been hard to keep it together sometimes but I'm sure most bands go through that. It was by summer 2000 that we did a three song demo CD to showcase the new style which is on the new album. We did In Therapy and The Bar from that album and a different song to show people what we could do and then got a good response from that. Then we did the Peace festivals last year and then we recorded In Therapy, the album, september last year. It took about four weeks. Now it's finally come out.
I've heard it.
Yeah, I've seen the review actually
Ok, great. So you know I like it. Since I wrote the review I've been listening to it a lot more
Good. You wrote the review quite a while ago.
Yeah it's more than a month ago, so it's still growing. I'm pretty surprised by that.
It's positive that that happens isn't it.
Yeah definitely
That's what I like to hear.
Haha yeah. Well, you have an excellent singer.
That was kind of the point. We always knew this guy could sing and made a conscious decision to use it a bit more. It didn't go down on the first album where I think everybody were fighting for attention in the world, like the guitars were playing all sorts and the drums and. So we just wanted to be a bit more reserved on the next one, you know. Not doubling the guitars up too much in favor of the vocal and a more traditional verse - chorus structure, without having ten minutes long songs.
It seems that all the songs fit very good together. The whole album has a very special atmosphere
Yeah I mean we wanted to keep it consistently high standard. We didn't want any filler tracks and things that we just do in the studio, so we can get more than forty minutes or ten songs. We went in with fifteen songs, so the quality didn't suffer, we just did twelve. We could have tried cramming fifteen into the time we had then and maybe it wouldn't have turned out so well. I mean they will all surface at some point in time anyway.
So you didn't record the last three songs?
No, I think we did drums and guitar on one of them and then maybe drums on one of the others, but the songs were all fully written anyway, so it's just a matter of recording them. Definitely next time.
Is there some kind of concept behind the album or some of the songs?
Yeah, it's quite an apropriate title "In therapy", because lyrically it's a lot more introspective and it's a bit more personal. The first album was a bit more outside, us looking in and this one is a bit more inside, us looking out in that sense. The thing that we concentrated on was more a balance. It wasn't supposed to be happy and it wasn't dupposed to be totally depressing. It was about the highs and lows, you know, the contrast. It's supposed to be more of a reflection of existance because I didn't think it was realistic to have an album filled up with depressing music. We're not trying to portray life like that. We're trying to pull you back and forth. I've don't know anybody who has lived every day for life a happy person. Just trying to be a bit more real. We tried to find the best way to put it across. The music is a lot more up beat. So sometimes you can feel a bit positivity from it, but the lyrics are mostly quite bleak, so they bring you back down. So it was just a constant to-ing and fro-ing, you know. Pulling the one way or another.
That's actually pretty much how I felt after listening to the album.
Great!
Well, I missed the lyrics becaus they weren't with the promo.
They are actually not with the actual CD either, but they should be up on the web site.
Who writes the music in Thine?
I write the songs. Over the years I've been doing it from home and then taking them to rehearsal and if there's anything that needs changing then I bring them back home and change them and keep working and trying to get what's best for the impact of the song. I try to cook out all unnecessary things that don't have to be there. I wrote most of the lyrics and Alan wrote three of them including the title track.
So some of the lyrics are based on your experiences?
Yeah I think so. Some of it is more from a personal side. Sometimes it's after you've written them that you can look back at them and disect and find out where you were coming from when you wrote a particular piece. Some of them may have been in regard as... I've known Alan for years and years and years and some of them are perceptions and observations. Some of it's more personal stuff, but hopefully it's something that people can relate to.
There are some emotions in there that I recognise. Never learn and Contact point. Those are my absolute favourites.
It's been starnge you know. Everybody have liked different songs. There hasn't been one particular song that's mentioned all the time and that's good because it shows some consitency and it shows that people have different taste in what they like in a song. I'm glad that everybody haven't picked one song. Personally I can like a particular song one week and then something totally different song the next. So I'm glad that it's a consistent album. There's nothing I'd like skip on the cd player. I'm relieved.
So you're proud of the album.
Definitely. When we'd first finished it we didn't know how people would recieve it. You get mixed emotions and you think, Well I certainly like the album but how will other people that matter like the album? Are they going to be alert to things and sing along to it and there's so much to worry about. I suppose in the end we kind of did it for ourselves as well so it's good in that respect. But it's something that I wanted to do. Escpecially a song like Bleaker audio was something that I always wanted to finish an album. It's supposed to be something to contemplate after you've finished. So it's quite intentional ever since I wrote it that it should be that last song and it's like fading out
Yeah, A good closer to relax on after the album.
(Laughs) yeah, and recover yourself from it.
As I can understand the reactions from people has been very good to the new album
We were really quite worried and then the promos were sent out and we weren't so sure, but then the reviews started to come back and they were very positive. Being on a label like Peaceville which is in essence a fairly heavy and extreme label. We were a little bit concerned this time if people would know what we were about and to be able to put any genre boundaries aside and it seems people have been able to do that.
That's good. I read somewhere that you toured with Mayhem at some point.
Yeah, That was around november 1997 around the time of our first album.
They are a pretty extreme band
Yeah, it's a strange contrast because we were on first and (I just can't hear which band he says here) were on next and then Mayhem, so we stuck out like sore thumb, but it was a great experience in a way.
You played in front of a lot of people then?
Yeah, I think the London show was a lot more full and the crowd knew what to do about us, because we weren't screaming on a black metal voice, you know. Well I can't remember if we did any black speech, I think we may have done a black speech back then, but that was just so we could fit in obviously. With Alan doing proper singing rather than screaming, cause some people like what they like and actually it's not like that. When I used to like only Black Metal that was it. But now I've grown older and you just have to keep an open mind.
So are you still playing live shows now?
Well, we're trying to set up a few. It's more UK shows at the moment. But we have plans to come to Europe. Sometimes it's quite hard being a UK band to get a tour in Europe but we're definitely hoping to play there. Funding is a problem though. It's quite frustrating at times.
You'll have to catch a tour with some other band
Yeah, I mean, we're kind of on the look out for any touring bands.
I hope you'll come to Europe sometime.
So do I
What about the cover on the CD
Well, that's Alan, the singer.
The colors fit the atmosphere of the album pretty good
That's a relief. Cause in a way it looks kind of like an extreme cover, but the music is not, but then again it's quite bleak.
It's a little introverted. So how is the style of your older full length album "A town like this" compared to "In therapy"?
The album is a lot more based around the music. Partucularly that structure "verse, chorus". It was a lot more progressive and experimental. We were just trying to incorporate many different styles. We were quite schizofrenic in a sense because we were jumping around all over the place with metal and almost jazz. And this time it's a lot more focused. A lot more energy and a lot more structuired around the singer. A bit more on the mark. I think it works well.
It definitely does, so you should continue to develop this style. Are some of you full time musicians or do you have jobs on the side?
We all work and I think our bassist is at the university at the moment, but the rest of us all work. That's the reality I'm afraid.
You got a new drummer recently
Dan recorded this album as well. He left around March this year because he'd for the past couple of years, he'd joined a different band helping them out on drums, but then he got more and more into that style and I think it's more something he wanted to do anyway. It was all mutual, there were no fall outs or anything. Then we got this new guy who playes the drums pretty well actually.
Great, so what are your immediate future plans?
Our immediate plans are the UK shows at the end of the year and then we will try to get some European dates. Festivals would be good.
I think that's pretty much all the questions I had, so if you have any final words now is the time.
I just hope that people enjoy the album and enjoy the songs for what they are. It's not about labels. It's not about if we're particularly heavy. It's just got some good emotion in there and I think the songs are quite true and don't pretend to be anything we're not, and just enjoy!
Cool, I have and I will.
For many years to come
Yeah I hope so.
Good luck with everything and thanks for the interview.
Thank you, bye bye. | |
Written by Steen - 12/8/2002 |
This article has been shown 3061 times. Go to the complete list.
RevelationZ Comments
| Comment by Amertume (Anonymous) - Monday, March 22, 2004 | Thine is a great, underrated band. Nice interview!
Anyone who knows where to find Thine lyrics on the web?
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