PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Irish metal outfit Words That Burn have just released their full length debut ‘Regret Is For The Dead’ and PlanetMosh caught up with lead singer Roni MacRuairi ahead of their European tour with Atropas.
Hey Roni, thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. Words That Burn is an interesting name, what is the train of thought behind it?
Hi guys. Thanks for talking the time out to speak to me.
One of my favourite poems has always been “When I am dead, my dearest” by Christina Rossetti which I stumbled upon in a book of poetry my dad had lying around the house called “Words That Burn.” I have always been about writing strong, meaningful lyrics so that title stuck with me. When I suggested it to the band we agreed that it was apt because of our connection to our lyrics. Ironically, the name is now more of a statement than ever in the sense that there is an ever-swelling social ethos of people getting “offended” by the written or spoken word …. Which as we all know, can’t really hurt you!
Describe your sound in five words.
That’s a tough question to answer because we try not to tie our colours to a particular mast. For example, if you listened to the very early Words That Burn releases from 2011 they would be unrecognisable compared to our current record “Regret is for the dead,” which will sound very different to our next album. But, if you put a gun to my head and asked me for five words to sum up our sound – aggressive, tragic, pretty, provoking, harrowing.
You’re just about to head out on the road with Atropas. How did this come about, where can we see you and what expectations do you have for the tour?
Yeah, we’re heading out to Europe on the 2nd September, which we are somewhere in the middle of super excited and anxious about! Ourselves and Atropas are on the same label (wormholedeath/aural) and have recently released new records. So when the idea of doing a European tour together came up so we jumped at the opportunity. They are great guys and a fantastic band so we felt that it was the right time for us to get our feet wet. So we’re heading to Hungary, Romania, Poland, Croatia, Slovenia and finishing with three dates in Czech Republic. We’ve checked out the venues and they look like they have great crowds for shows so we can’t wait to show ‘em how we do it in Ireland!!
See the show dates and locations here > https://www.facebook.com/wordsthatburn/events
There is a lot of talk in the press of the music business being dead, heading out is this demotivational? What is your mantra to get past this?
The business may be dead but music has been around for a long time before people started crippling it with greed. We have no delusions of grandeur about what we do. I don’t think any real band or artist thinks like that. We do what we do because we love playing music. We love sharing what we do with people and for the most part, people have a good time when we play. That’s what music is supposed to be about. I think the music industry kind of imploded on itself because it created this “get famous fast” generation and the whole meaning of art has been somewhat lost in the ether so there is no longevity in it. Music is being treated like a fast food product, which is extremely sad.
Words That Burn’s debut, Regret Is For The Dead, is out now. Can you tell us a bit about the WTB writing process?
Back then we didn’t really have a set structure to how we wrote. In its infancy, RIFTD was essentially a melting pot of brand new tracks that Shane had brought to the table and some older ones that I had written that we revived. Now, in saying that when we started piecing the album together we changed quite a few things so it fused as an album of songs. The jamming stage was very interesting because that put a totally different spin on the tracks and took us in directions that were not intentional. Our producer Jonny Mazzeo really put us through the ringer in those pre –production months. We’d write, jam, record, send to him in Italy, he’d make suggestions then we’d rewrite, re-record, re-send and so on…. It was a massive eye-opener to us and has really influenced how we approach writing now. There is a lot of construct/deconstruct involved, but it is worth it……. We think!
What can we expect from the shows?
Lots of energy! Our music is filled with different types of energy so we try and use that every time we get on stage. It’s hard to explain how much we enjoy what we do, but hopefully it shows when we play.
What are the plans in the Words That Burn camp for the rest of 2016 and beyond?
When we come back from tour we’ll take a few weeks break (we’ve been gigging pretty much straight for 20 weekends in a row now). We’re working on more dates around Ireland from October – December including our first show in Galway with our pals from Blood Thread from Scotland. Then we have the Siege of Limerick which we can’t wait for! We’ve got some more European dates lined up in 2017 which we’re just finalising and most likely a UK tour.
What bands do you hold in high esteem and if you could share a stage with one artist, who would it be?
As a band our main influences are Deftones, Slipknot, The Defiled, BMTH, Architects but personally I’d love to share a stage with Billy Corgan. Smashing Pumpkins have always been my favourite band although you wouldn’t hear it in WTB!….. But if Slipknot came over and asked us to support ‘em, I guess we’d say yes!!
Thanks very much for the interview guys. For more information on everything Words That Burn, here are our contact links:
http://www.facebook.com/wordsthatburn
http://wordsthatburnshop.bigcartel.com/
itunes: https://goo.gl/upCNbV
Google play: https://goo.gl/ZikfUA
Amazon: https://goo.gl/oy6bh7
Spotify: https://goo.gl/mAZDbD
