An Interview w/ Terry Malts + Show Preview
For the last year, I’ve absolutely devoured everything this band has released. Their debut full length, Killing Time, is currently holding its own as my top record pick of the year (Out now on Slumberland Records). They’re heading to Austin on Thursday night (Buy tickets HERE) at Mohawk, so we caught up with the group before their trip into town to chat about various things. Thanks to Anton for hooking the interview up.
ATH: Now that Magic Bullets seems to be completely in the past, do you find that as you write songs for Terry Malts do you find that hints of that sound seep into the new work, or is it easy to see both groups as completely separate entities?
Phil: It’s easy to see both groups as completely separate entities just due to the fact that me and Nacie have switched instruments.
Corey: Also our writing process is totally different and scattered in Malts. Sometimes one of us will have a riff or two that we flesh out in practice. Mostly we just get as wasted a possible and goof around until something clicks.
ATH: There’s a great deal of ferocity in the music on Killing Time. Was the sound just a natural evolution in your songwriting, or was there some sort of conscious effort to create something a bit more abrasive (and I don’t mean that offensively)?
Corey: We had actually explored this kind of sound in bands before Magic Bullets. Phil and I had a really funny punk band that I played drums in called Youth Decay. But going to see our friends in Weekend and Young Prisms’ first shows was exciting to me and definitely got me thinking.
ATH: How do you feel about all the praise you’ve received since Killing Time was released? By and large, it’s been pretty positive, so do you feel that there are larger expectations to fulfill or does it make you more grateful? Or both?
Corey: I don’t think we try to invest too much in either positive or negative comments about the music but I’m grateful if anyone is listening at all.
Phil: Our only plan is to do what we want, when we want which was the whole point of starting the band in the first place.
ATH: Personally, I can see hints of various bands in your tunes…so, if you had to create the perfect bill of bands, dead or alive, to sum up your sound/show, who would play the Terry Malts Killing Time bill?
Corey: Dead Milkmen covering ‘Metal Machine Music’ is the only person on that bill to me!
ATH: What’s the best thing to you guys about touring around the States? Is it the chicks? The booze? Meeting new people? The experience in general? I mean, what gets you guys motivated to hit the road for a long stretch.
Phil: Two things for me would be exploring cities I’ve never been and getting away from everyday routines, more specifically day jobs.
ATH: What songs are you guys leaving out of the set list on this tour? I guess sometimes it’s hard to pull of all the studio magic live. I feel like you guys could bang them out nice and fast and still kill it. Are there any surprise covers or anything?
Phil: I feel like we could play anything off the album without practicing it beforehand. But our set usually changes every show.
Corey: I think we have about an albums worth of covers by now, so there’s plenty of surprises to lean on. We even do Durutti Column sometimes.
ATH: As a band, you guys have been around and touring for sometime, so what’s the one thing you hate the most about the current state of things, be it blogosphere related or just shows on the road? Are you jaded at all?
Phil: I don’t know about jaded but bored would be an appropriate word to describe people’s strange allegiances to certain ‘tastemakers’.
ATH: What was the last song to make the record? Looking back, was it the right move?
Phil: It was either ‘I Do’ or ‘Nauseous’ and we’re pretty happy with both.
Corey: ‘I Do’ was one of those fun little spontaneous drunk things and rightwhen we finished I instantly thought of the words ‘I do’ for some reason.
ATH: Create a Killing Time Ad Slogan….aside from Killing Time!
Phil: Out Of The Garbage Pail And Into Your Heart
Thanks guys for your time. Here’s a track off Killing Time!
[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/01-Something-About-You.mp3]Download:Terry Malts – Something About You [MP3]