Doom and Sunshine

“The shows are always fun. And that’s something I wouldn’t change for anything. I don’t want to be one of these grand, doomy, pissed-off bands all the time.

“In the past there were these killer bands that actually had a sense of humour. For me, growing up, there were bands like Cheap Trick and Van Halen, or The Melvins, just to name a couple, that brought sarcasm to their music. Because you can’t just put on your leather fucking vest and get on a Harley all the time. You’re gonna want to laugh some of the time.”

The spectrum of moods Torche want to convey is reflected in the diversity of their music, where soaring pop hooks can sit next to down-tuned, slow-burn riff-o-ramas. So when Nuñez mentions there’s another Torche full-length in the works, The Music presses him for details.

“The new one is going to be called Restarter and it’s coming out on Relapse in mid-February. We’re really stoked on it; it’s a lot different. Where Harmonicraft was an upbeat record, while not grim and doomy and sad and whatnot, it’s definitely sonically super-heavy. And very true to the live sound.

“The new one is heavier, but it still has those upbeat jams. It was never like, ‘Oh, we’re on Relapse now. We better write that metal record.’ When you put it on you’ll know it’s us. We’re still doing what some people would consider a wide spectrum of sounds, but I just feel like we’re just playing and writing stuff that mirrors what we’re into. At some level, everybody brings in whatever it is they’re listening to and where they’re at creatively or playing-wise.”

If that spectrum of influences is too wide for fans, Nuñez doesn’t really care. He reckons Torche are going to have a good time with their music no matter what. But he does think people are starting to come to understand what they’re about.

“At the start a lot of people didn’t get it, because it’s not just the same three or four songs over and over. I want to say there’s continuity in our music, but we’re also not afraid to switch it up. You know, there are still bands who are playing originals and basically sounding like tribute bands. I think for us, it took a little while, but people have finally gotten it, and they like what we do.”