Melbourne’s Thornhill are taking metal to new heights with their genre-defying upcoming album BODIES, out today. Fusing eerie synths with heavy metal elements, it’s a bold and innovative record that’s sure to excite fans. Ahead of its release, I had the chance to catch up with vocalist Jacob Charlton and guitarist Ethan McCann during a round of golf. In a brief yet wonderfully chaotic chat, we delved into the making of BODIES, its unique sound, and the creative process behind it.
Sonically, BODIES is quite different from previous Thornhill releases. Was this an intentional choice or more of a natural progression of sound?
Ethan: “I’d say the only deliberate or conscious thought we had going into this record was to bring back a bit of that pace and that rhythm. I think after Heroine, we kind of missed that in our live shows, especially because that’s sort of how we started. You know, we started playing heavy music when we were teenagers in high school and I think we kind of missed that spirit of a heavy show as much as we don’t really listen to heavy music anymore.”
You’ve already released some tracks, how have your listener’s been responding to them?
Jacob: “It’s been pretty crazy, I definitely think like “nerv” alone has been one of the craziest live experiences we’ve had and probably the most connected we’ve felt to our own audience for a while. So very keen to see how the rest of the record gets perceived back there.”
With the album release being so close, how are you guys feeling about it?
Ethan: “Probably the most keen that we’ve ever felt. We’re just kind of excited for all that work to be out and it’s probably the most rehearsal we’ve ever done because we really want to showcase it as best as we can. So I think we’re feeling, I don’t know, I think maybe with how Herione got perceived and how that all went down, I think these days we’re just a bit like, It doesn’t really matter.”
During the writing or recording process, were there any ‘a-ha’ moments where it all fell together, or any key moments that helped shaped the record?
Jacob: “I think it was kind of what we were listening to. I think we just don’t really see heavy music as a big influence for our band, but we do really enjoy heavy music. So we were kind of trying to find different inspiration and I think we found it in a lot of other avenues that we didn’t know we were going to get to until we started really giving it a crack. we enjoy so many elements of heavy music. But I think we just try and basically write our favourite heavy music. Like if it’s things that we wish people were doing, that we want to listen to, that’s what we try and write.”
You’re celebrating the album release by having three intimate shows- what can you tell us about these?
Ethan: “Yeah, so we’re going to play the album in full, basically cover to cover, and they’re going to be fucking gas, not going to lie. Like we’ve been practicing our asses off and I feel like it’s the best we’ve felt and sounded as a band. And I think hearing this record in a live setting is exactly how we wanted people to hear it for the first time. You know, like I said before, the only conscious thought was bringing that energy.”
And finally, what’s next for your guys after the album’s out?
Jacob: “We fly out to US to do our first headline tour across North America and Canada. That’s probably the most, the most excited we’ve been for a tour in a long time. I think there’s lots of fresh love. It feels like everything’s coming together.”
BODIES is out today, you can stream it wherever you listen and check out our review HERE
Header image credit: Jon Pisani
