Every music lover worth their salt has a band that they were there for at the beginning of their career and Therapy? were mine.
I’ve no idea where I heard of them from, peoples T-shirts at role playing conventions or on Dave Fanning (He was a more mainstream John Peel type DJ on Irish radio) but I’ll never forget buying Pleasure Death, their second ep.
It blew my mind, here was something that wasn’t metal but rocked like a motherfucker.
There were also my first gig, myself and my mate Mervyn went to the Lisdo in Dundalk, all of 16 years old and really excited, no idea what to expect.
And neither did the bouncers, the show was madness. Moshing, crowd surfing and just everyone going mental. I’ll not lie, at one point, in the middle of the pit I thought I was going to die, I scuttled out and Mervyn came running over, from the look on my face he thought I’d been stabbed for some reason.
Good times.
We walked out shell shocked, but it was an amazing experience and I wouldn’t swap it for the world.
And all that preamble is just to give you an idea just how excited I was when Therapy? announced their first album.
The first single Teethgrinder was a shocker, and almost industrial grind of a song, I snapped up the 12” and played the hell out of it.
Then the album came out and… Well. It was ok. There were some great songs on it but I never loved it. Saying that, they were fucking amazing live on that tour.
But that was that.
I’m not sure why but I got on a Therapy? kick after Christmas, I’d been playing the hell out of the first 2 ep’s and decided that maybe it was worth another spin. Maybe I was right and it was just ok.
Boy, I was an idiot.
Now, that’s not really that fair to young me. This isn’t an album anyone expected, it just didn’t sound like anyone else and it still doesn’t.
Early Therapy? are driven by the drums. Fyfe Ewing was an absolute beast of a drummer (and I’m not the kind of man who gets into the musicianship of band members) but here you have to. The rhythm section drives this band with the guitar adding texture. In a time where plodding American rock bands were being heralded as the coming of punk to America, three boys from N. Ireland were sounding like no one else.
The album opens with a sample of a man shouting “Here I am motherfucker!!” Which is a fairly bold opening statement.
What I didn’t know then, but do now, is that the man yelling is Nick Cave.
Now that’s ballsy.
I’ve said it earlier and I’ll say it again, this just doesn’t sound like anyone else, Deep Sleep is almost a dub song, its rolling bass and discordant guitar freaked me out when I was younger, but is highlight now. Zipless is another track with a dubby bassline. This was all madness in 1992. (Well, in the musical parts I lived in)
Gone is the first song of theirs to feature a cello and it’s a beautiful if despairing song about a miscarriage, they’d later add the cello player to the band full time.
But for me the standout on the album is Neck Freak. An insane, no holds barred riot of a song, with the kind of swearing that meant that it was listened to on headphones. The break in the song is phenomenal and I’m sure I’ve picked up a lot of bruises to it over the years.
So to sum it up?
What a great fucking album. You should check it out.
I miss these guys, I wonder when they’re playing London again.
The ways of exile 