An Interview With Theyrgy
Theyrgy returns with a full EP that gives off a gritty 90's alt-rock feel with electro and edgy dance rock intertwined between ambient undertones, dreamy and atmospheric soundscapes, rock guitars, and scattered synths that bring some added color to the already vibrant record.
The Interrupteur EP is packed with fuzzy bass tones, melodic and passionate vocals, and all not without a massive pop sensibility.
The record has a touch of darkwave and brings a gothic tonality and style to the music as pianos and an almost peaceful somberness lurking just beneath the surface.
The songs blend bands like Tears For Fears, NIN, and plenty more bringing old school fixtures to a modern palette.
The Ep is actually quite graceful and beautifully woven as there us such an array of digital and natural instruments swimming together on a constant basis.
You can even hear classic Genesis in there at times.
This is a huge record and feels much bigger than the 6 tracks it spans.
The release is an absolute ocean of emotion and sound that all comes together to build its own atmospheric and aggressive feel.
It's wonderful to hear the sounds this band creates from scratch and how the songs are arranged. It's all done with a tasteful touch and every single song has heart flooding it.
With such a great release we wanted to have a chat with Theyrgy to find out how this all came to be and what's next for them.
TSWS: Okay so let's begin with "Interrupteur". This release has a crossover genre wise from electro and darkwave into rock and alternative! Love the mix up! Where did this track come from?
JD: “Interrupteur” is a bit of a detachment from some of the predominantly darkwave approach we took on “Exit Strategies”. This wasn’t by design. What we collectively found, during this age of lockdown as we struggled to produce a recording remotely amongst us, was that the vibe and sound Theyrgy seems to produce when we write in a segregated manner seems to break into other musical genres and genomes. It is quite the opposite when we all get in the same room together. There is a chemistry that is formed in that room. That being said, what we did here on “Interrupteur” is attempt to coagulate that chemistry on a petri dish, magnify it and put that data in a digitized format. I think the result retains a lot of the soul of Theyrgy whilst also speaking to this new non-normal life we as a society are forced to live in now. Many of the tracks have lyrics that are tied into this same collective vision. Musically, we touch upon such archetypes as Gospel, Rock, Techno, Industrial, Metal, New Wave, Synth Pop, Classical, Dark Wave and even perhaps Psychedelic / Garaged Punk.
TSWS: How did all of this start for you?
JD: The process of this record started in late 2019, when Jack Bomher started sending all of us some foundational track ideas he’d been working on. We all were working through these ideas on our own when suddenly in March of 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic hit us with the magnitude of a Nuclear warhead. The repercussions hit us in waves and it took a few months for us to get in touch with each other as we all were tending to our families and loved ones as best we could. We finally got on a Zoom call in late June and put it out there that we all absolutely needed to complete this record whatever it took, to document our personal experiences.
TSWS: Can we expect more tracks from you this year?
JD: We have some pleasant surprises in store for everyone. Look towards Halloween 2021 for some exciting updates.
TSWS: I'm hearing several rock and electronic styles here. What artists really influenced you for this song?
JD: I guess I’ll start. Maybe it makes more sense to talk about each song sequentially. On the track “Unimportant Truth” I had a theme in my mind for the last couple years. I was fired from my “day job” right before my wife had her second child and it really ruptured my sense of a safety net or protection. This further was exasperated after losing my Mother a few years back. So, with this in my mind, I thought about a story in the news I’d hear of a CEO of the Chicago Transit Authority who’d stolen public funds for his benefit and got found out. He was later found to have committed suicide on the train trax of the CTA! So with these thoughts in mind I wrote a lyric for “UT” imagining a CEO’s perspective and envisioning that through the lens of an “inconvenient truth”. I also feel the song has some commentary on how society treats empowerment and what those empowered individuals feel in their deepest darkest thoughts.
TH: “No End In Sight” definitely channels our love for 90’s industrial bands and dark music. This song is representative of a certain mode our band inhabits at times. I interpret the lyrics in a way that speaks to the moment we’re all living through right now.
JD: “Lean Mean God” hits very home to me. I wrote those lyrics after feeling very defeated and frustrated with life as one does now and then during harder times. I was struggling to get someone that I care for deeply to understand that the fear or uncertainty of what’s to come in life can be subsided through a little bit of faith and love. Conversely, the row that ensued between us caused my own self doubt and fear to quake and break through the glass surface of the protective shell or “confidence shield” I had created for myself. As a result, I think I felt like a small molecule being thrown about by this over seeing God, raised up in strength and agility one day only to face the guillotine the next. This pendulum swing of positive and negative energy is constantly inside my own psyche and I think many of my musician friends here would agree that this manic energy is the coveted “magick energy” that we, as artists, are forced to live with every day. Only the strongest of us are able to channel that energy in a positive way without suffering some battle wounds in the process.
TSWS: What are you doing when you're NOT working on music?
JD: I am an Audio Visual consultant in my full time job. Besides that I help to raise my two daughters, Matilda and Ophelia and every so often I get some alone time with my wife Erika who is also an artist. We sometimes collaborate on painting, writing, music and other art forms. I also love to cook and exercise.
TSWS: What's next for you as a band?
JD: Our next logical step is to bring this thing to a live audience. I do hope that is going to happen soon. It has been a struggle with the pandemic.
TSWS: How do you record your tracks? What software are you using?
JD: Jack’s our wizard, I’ll leave it to him to decide if he wants to reveal his secret sauce or not but I will say we owe so much of the sound of this record to his recording philosophy as well as the hard work of his helpful and humble assistant, Wiley Wells. The two of them are an incredible team that remind me so much of the recording studio chemistry between Brian Eno and Flood / Daniel Lanois. They compliment each other’s gifts as engineer and producer in so many ways.
TSWS: Who are you listening to right now?
JD: Lana Del Ray, Boy Harsher, Clutch, Florence and the Machine, Roky Erickson, Goat, Portishead, Gotan Project
TSWS: Are there any live performances in the future?
JD: We are working on that but it is challenging in the current climate.
TSWS: What kind of advice would you have for other up and coming artists out there?
JD: If you can’t live it, embody it as best as you can and never give up on your dreams.
TSWS: What are the best places to find your music?
JD: https://theyrgy.bandcamp.com
TSWS: You wake up in the middle of the night starving. What is your go-to midnight snack? (a question of character)
JD: Chamomile Tea, Ginger biscuit
TSWS: Before we go, what would you like to say to fans of your music?
JD: Thank you for the good vibes. Please continue to support our art. We love you.