THE Therapy? bandwagon rolled into Barcelona last weekend as part a 48-date tour that has taken them from Moscow to Cork by way of Helsinki and Rome.
I first saw the band 1989, and chatting to them in their dressing room before their concert at the Sala Apolo, it was remarkable how little some things have changed.
“When the whole digital thing started to happen, everyone said that all gigs would become three guys with iPods, but that hasn’t happened. There is always going to be something special about a real gig. It is the same with orchestras, nothing will ever match that sound”, says singer and guitarist Andy Cairns, who comes from Ballyclare and now lives in Cambridge.
Some things have changed; a career in rock music used to be a short lived affair, based around a major record label, hit singles and appearances on Top of The Pops. Nowadays it is a job for life, internet music sales and an endless succession of concert halls and festival stages. “We have had a 22-year career; when we first started people said, ‘It’s a fad’,” says Andy.
“It is all about not being afraid to graft. A lot of bands don’t like working, and that is why it is over for them.”
Therapy? are showing no signs of slowing down, and with a new album, A Brief Crack of Light, to promote, they have a renewed sense of ambition and purpose. They are also perfectly comfortable about sliding into middle age while striking rock and roll poses. “No one bats an eyelid when a 60-year-old jazz or blues musician goes on stage, we consider ourselves like that,” says bassist Michael McKeegan, who still lives in Larne.
However, do not expect Therapy? to be mellowing with age. On-stage they are still a bundle of energy, joy and fury. Tongues may occasionally slip into cheeks, but there has been no dampening of the fire inside. “Just because you turn 40 does not mean that you automatically calm down“, says Andy. “When we play a song like Potato Junkie I still feel angry, but I am lucky I have this outlet. Many men my age are getting drunk, fighting in the street or beating their wives.”
Though they do admit that they have had to tone down the rock and roll lifestyle, Andy says.
“When we were younger we would party all the time, now we are not going drinking every night and I go to a gym in the morning or we play football.”
“We are all married and have kids,” says drummer Neil Cooper from Derby, who recently celebrated a his first decade as a member of the band. “You still miss the family when you are on the road but with Skype and technology communication is a lot easier.”
“It is not like the days when you had to carry around bags of coins in different currencies and had to run around looking for a phone box, “adds Michael.
Therapy? exploded onto the Northern Ireland music scene in 1990 behind a shockwave of bone crushing guitar riffs, nerve grinding bass lines, intravenous hip hop inspired beats and the sort of time signatures and key changes that are usually only deployed by jazz musicians who like to make a name for themselves as being difficult to listen to. Therapy? also raised the bar in the SPM (swearing per minute) stakes while stealthily fusing punk, pop, heavy metal and the avant garde.
It should not really have worked, but it did; and in a remarkably short space of time Therapy? were bothering the upper ends of the record charts and staging sell out concerts around the world.
It has not always been plain sailing, there have been professional, personal and personnel set-backs along the way, and audiences’ tastes have changed. Having weathered the storms, the band find themselves as an established draw on the European touring circuit, with a loyal and diverse fan base.
Andy says: “In the UK we are associated with the heavy metal, with bands like Iron Maiden and Motorhead, so the audiences tend to be older, though some people are now bringing their younger brothers, or even their kids, to gigs, and it is a similar thing in Germany.”
Michael continues: “In Scandinavia and northern Europe the audiences on this tour have been n the thousands, in Spain and Italy it is in the hundreds. In the 1990s we played 4000 capacity halls in Spain, and we are clawing our way back up there. In it is a different audience here, more alternative and younger. Some of the people we are meeting here are coming to see us for the first time so there have been some incredible reactions. Some people have started to follow us from show to show, so we change the set list every night to keep it interesting for them and us.
“We are also meeting many people in the music business who were fans of ours when they 14 or 15 and who are keen to work with us, so we are starting to get some great offers.”
Choosing the songs for a Therapy? concert is not without its challenges, there are so many hits, mainstream and underground, to choose from. Simply delivering a barrage of the best including, Turn, Going Nowhere, Diane (a top 10 hit in 15 European countries), Meat Abstract, Teethgrinder, Screamager and Die Laughing, could easily descend into an exercise in dead handed nostalgia. This time out the band are highlighting tracks from the new album and Andy still likes to wander off piste occasionally with idiosyncratic and spontaneous cover versions.
From the rictus grins and gleeful on-stage pogo-ing it is clear that Therapy? still very much enjoy being Therapy? Something that also shines through in their on-line personal tour diaries at www.therapyquestionmark.co.uk