Don’t bother listening to Memories in the daytime. To truly unlock the icy energy of the Athens/Atlanta deathrock trio, one has to submit to their macabre spell at night. The new EP combines the intensity of Killing Joke with the ethereal mythology of Xmal Deutschland and Second Still. Yet, as soon as the listener finds themselves drifting into the haunted abyss, raucous punk tracks like “Lost Girls” and “All for Nothing” hurl us back into our own equally disturbing reality. Religion, misogyny, and social norms all find themselves on the marble chopping block as Tears for the Dying shred and behead with complete abandon.
Despite the straightforward cover of Christian Death’s “Spiritual Cramp,” the deathrock genre finds itself torn between perversion and evolution throughout the EP, caught in the delicate fingers of the band’s founder, multi-instrumentalist, and lyricist Adria Stembridge. This fluid balance, as well as the group’s ability to channel a taste for metal riffs without spoiling the seance, is what makes Tears for the Dying utterly entrancing. Recently, Stembridge and I discussed the inspiration behind their new album, finding catharsis in darkness, and how the band is coping with the pandemic.
Memories seems to have more of a political and social focus than your last record, Charon. Is this an accurate assessment? If so, was there a particular reason for this focus?
I feel like the political bend is just a little more opaque on Memories. A similar vibe could be found on tracks like “Bottle” from Charon. Most of Memories was written from more of a metaphysical perspective. Speaking generally, 2019 was at times challenging and turbulent for each of us. I feel that many of our experiences were well represented by this recording, in one way or another.
Deathrock has always occupied a fairly small sliver of the goth and punk fringe, and that’s even more true in 2020. You’ve been writing deathrock tunes since 2003—is there a particular thing that has kept you drawn to the subgenre over the years?
The macabre is a timeless muse for artists and musicians to continue to draw inspiration from. Most people do not want to listen to romanticized, gloomy music about suicide and death. Sometimes I wonder whether that is because the average individual is prone to happiness and stability, or whether dark music and prose hit a little too close to home. Maybe the masses aren’t quite as normal as we often make out to be. The truth is that I find catharsis in writing angry, sad, introspective music. If I didn’t have this as an outlet, I wouldn’t be breathing today.
Another aspect of deathrock I tend to appreciate is the amount of creativity we, as artists, are afforded. Deathrock, while being widely seen as a subgenre, is itself an umbrella genre with many different styles and approaches. Sometimes by the same artist on the same recording. All three of us in Tears have active minds and enjoy working on multiple projects, be that music or electronics, or whatever else. We also enjoy playing different instruments, and each of us could play pretty much any of our songs on any instrument. We enjoy the fluidity in Tears and in deathrock as a genre.
How has Tears for the Dying evolved since the addition of Debbie (guitar, bass) and Candy (keys, guitar)?
This lineup has been together since fall 2017, so we’re going on three years as a collaborative. Debbie and I have prior band experience, and Candy was just learning to play the keyboard when the three of us came together. Each of us has grown as musicians over the last few years, and we continue to as we write new music together. On Charon for example, we were a bit more minimalist in our approach with guitar, bass, keyboards, and backtracks. We were still feeling each other out musically leading up to this release. Memories uses less keyboard and most songs use at least two guitars. So our sound has definitely taken a fuller, sometimes heavier, feel as we’ve grown together as a band and individually as musicians.
Is the current use of a drum machine in Tears for the Dying a practical choice or a thematic one? Do you feel like using a drum machine affects the feel and style of your songs?
We’ve used live drums in the past and while that certainly adds its own element of liveliness, programmed drum tracks add a precise, mechanical, and consistent feel to our music. Adding a human drummer in the future isn’t out of the question, but for the time being, we are comfortable continuing to use programmed backtracks.
One unexpected challenge of using a drum machine with a two-guitar lineup is that individuals expecting palatable, “radio-friendly” post-punk sometimes return home from our shows with ears ringing wondering what the hell they just experienced. We are often blistering loud and that isn’t something bands with drum machines often reach for. Booking gigs can be a little complicated. Musically, we absolutely fit in with your everyday punk lineup, but punk folks aren’t used to seeing bands without a live drummer. On the other hand, we tend to overwhelm lineups with quieter electronic/post-punk acts.
Apart from Christian Death being one of the most recognizable deathrock bands, was there a particular reason which inspired you to cover “Spiritual Cramp?”
Only Theatre of Pain was hugely influential to me early on. Specifically, “Spiritual Cramp” was the song that sold me on deathrock when I first listened to it in 1992. I loved how the song was musically punk, but lyrically and vocally felt very different—darker—than any punk music I’d ever listened to. Lyrically, I appreciated the arcane, opaque imagery Rozz [Williams] created. I felt a sense of kinship with them, having grown up in a rigid Christian household that ultimately hindered my own personal development and growth. I was pushed to the edge of self-harm and hidden suicidal ideation while still under their influence. I sense from reading Rozz’s lyrics that we shared that in common.
I know some bands and artists are waiting to release albums until the pandemic restrictions are lifted. Is there a reason why you felt it was important to release this record now?
Our original intent was to release Memories last fall. However, I had a major (planned) surgery last September, which caused everything to be pushed back. We wrapped up recording in February with Tom Ashton (Subvon Studio, also former March Violets guitarist) and initially hoped to shop the record around to labels. As you alluded to, COVID-19 radically changed a lot of things in a short amount of time. Ultimately, we were beyond ready to get this recording out.
More Info
Bandcamp: tearsforthedying.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @TearsForTheDying
Instagram: @tearsforthedying