Masters Of The Art

"There’s a lot of stuff out there that doesn’t really float my boat and I don’t really expect everybody to jump on board with what we’re doing,” Thy Art Is Murder growler CJ McMahon suggests via Skype from Massachusetts. “The only thing I find is any sort of hate, or any negative comments that we ever see – which is very rare to see these days – but when we do see it, it’s such a shame, because it’s usually Australians. I would have thought the Australian community would back us just because we’re working so hard, we’re touring our arses off. It’s working really well for us overseas, and we’re stoked… There’s no other fucking band on the face of this earth that will tour as much as we do. I find it very hard to find another band that’s working as hard as we are.

“I don’t expect everybody to like our music, that’s fine. We’re not meant to be liked by everybody. But you think they’d have some sort of, Australian camaraderie there where people would just back us because, fair enough, they’re not into our stuff but we’re Australian, we’re doing the best we can and we’re trying to build amazing tours for our fans and other people out there in the metal world.”

The deathcore act, originally formed in Blacktown, but whose members are now littered throughout Sydney, Brisbane and the US have made a rapid ascension. Conversely, they’ve also been shunted in certain quarters, perhaps due to finicky attitudes which often exist within overly segregated pockets of extreme music. Although some more seasoned devotees have lambasted Thy Art Is Murder, their upcoming Australian headline tour alongside local heroes and more traditionalist death metal outfits Psycroptic and Disentomb, as well as crushing Americans Fit For An Autopsy and Revocation may just (ahem) break down a few barriers. The shows, sure to be heavier than a busload of sumo wrestlers, will conclude the frantic touring cycle for 2012 sophomore album Hate.

"There’s no other fucking band on the face of this earth that will tour as much as we do."

The Music ponders whether enough of this type of cross-pollination occurs, or if too many heavy crews are content to remain within familiar territory when hitting the road. It’s all brutal music, albeit with a few relatively minor points of difference, so venturing into new realms could pay dividends. “I think there’ll be a few of our fans that may not have heard Psycroptic, and they’ll probably check them out and dig them. There’s probably a few Psycroptic fans that have given us a chance years ago and just didn’t like us.

“At the same time we don’t really give a fuck, but I’m pretty sure that we’re gonna impress the haters I guess anyway, and if we don’t, we don’t really care. We’ve got enough fans around the world that love us, support us… Occasionally you get a very small amount of people that don’t back our ideas, or don’t think that we’re worthy of headlining certain tours, and these people are just crusty old metal cunts that just have no fucking idea about what the fuck’s going on in the real music world.

“We don’t really care, we’re having the time of our life; we’re working hard. We’re probably one of, if not the most hardest-working touring bands, not even in Australia, it’s beyond Australia. Australia’s such a small market. We’ve been on the road world-touring for two-and-a-half years; we haven’t really had a break. So if there’s anybody out there that goes against us, we don’t really care. We’ve got an army of followers.”
The frontman emphasises a DIY attitude as a key facet of their success, and they don’t plan on altering either the way they write or do business. As much as their fans spur the band on, Thy Art Is Murder possesses a welcome outlet for venom directed at them too. “It kinda gives me a bit of fuel for the fire, going out there and playing a show in Australia, especially on the metal tours that we do. I know there’s a few people out there a bit long in the tooth, and they’re particular about the metal that they listen to. Because we’ve got breakdowns, we wear Nikes and some of the boys in the band are actually quite young in comparison to a few other metal bands out there, I think people give us shit because of that.

And they don’t realise the hard work and the sacrifice that each member of the band has gone through to get to the point where we are.
“Since day one [when] this band started, even before I joined there was a bit of hate on the band. But like, haters gonna hate, bro, we’re killing it. We’ve got an amazing team behind us now with like tour managers and our crew that work for us, our record label, everything. So it doesn’t bother us, especially me in the slightest… But at the end of the day, we’re not meant to be liked by everybody. I’m surprised that there’s that many people in the world that actually do love us, and support us. It’s mind-blowing looking back three years ago before we started internationally touring and looking at us now. We’re headlining over bands that we’ve loved for many years, and the band’s just blown up at a record pace.”

Indeed. Signed to prominent German label Nuclear Blast overseas, they’ve created considerable buzz via extensive trekking throughout America, the UK, Europe and Australia in recent times. Such is their momentum even potential mishaps seemingly only enhanced the band’s profile. Temporary removal from and subsequent reinstatement to this year’s Soundwave run by festival head honcho AJ Maddah falls into this category. The heavy-hitters were criticised for encouraging crowd members to invade the stage at the Brisbane leg.

"These people are just crusty old metal cunts that just have no fucking idea about what the fuck’s going on in the real music world."

In his typically frank fashion, McMahon feels the incident was misconstrued. “Yeah, it’s just all bullshit, man. AJ [Maddah, Soundwave promoter], it wasn’t really his fault… I just wanted the crowd participation, wanted people to try and make their way up on-stage and have a crazy show… Everyone had a good time, nothing was broken, nothing was damaged; no one was hurt.

“So really, AJ was only doing what he thought was the right thing given the information that he was given. At the end of the day everything fucking turned up Thy Art Is Murder in a good way anyway. Because we had all this free publicity and exposure in the news and people just think we’re fucking psychos, and we’re not. But that kinda boosted us a little bit as far as social media goes anyway, and advertising and marketing. Really, if anything it kinda helped us rather than hindered us.

“But man, that shit’s behind us; we’re looking forward to the future. We’re going to have a few months off, release an album and slowly take over the world.”

Thy Art Is Murder is clearly relishing that much-needed post-Christmas downtime. Following the Australian gigs, they’ll have a rare breather. McMahon is visibly enthused at the prospect of unwinding with family and friends instead of being on a tour bus or plane. The grunter is also enthused about reflecting on their achievements and likely plans to get engaged.

“[It’ll be welcome] just not to do music for a little while. It’s been a long couple of years for us, and we’re playing upwards of 250 shows a year for the past two-and-a-half years… I just want to relax, release this new record; let it sink in to the world and then go out and do this all over again.”