Northern rock legends Therapy? take you into the songs and stories behind their sixteenth album in a two-hour RTÉ 2XM special, ahead of their upcoming Irish tour this November - listen to Hard Cold Fire: Songs And Stories above.
Music journalist Mike McGrath-Bryan chats with Therapy? vocalist/guitarist Andy Cairns, bassist Michael McKeegan and drummer Neil Cooper in a two-hour special as they listen to sixteenth long-player Hard Cold Fire in its entirety - and talk about unprecedented times, being in their fourth decade together as a band, and their upcoming Irish gigs.
For Therapy?, resilience and survival have become watchwords.
Enduring over three decades as the musical, cultural and social landscapes have shifted around them, the trio have forged and retained a powerful and lasting connection with a dedicated fan base around the world, doing so by putting their emphasis on the music, solidifying a hard-won reputation as forward-thinking writers and a fierce live proposition in the process.
As Therapy?’s fourth decade finally gets underway in earnest, sixteenth album Hard Cold Fire, written and pre-produced during an unprecedented time for music, is hefty, compact, and accessible, a distillation of everything that has made them what they are - hewn from County Antrim basalt, still possessed of their stoicism, but casting a renewed focus on catharsis and healing.
"One thing we did decide when we were eventually able to rehearse, was that we didn't want to make a ‘lockdown record’," says vocalist and guitarist Andy Cairns, "because people have been through enough."
"When we began to rehearse the songs, we realised there was an empathetic quality to them. We wanted to make something that was a bit more relatable, and less standoffish and claustrophobic - which we have a history of, and it stands in places - but we wanted to make something more approachable and open."
Therapy? play Roisín Dubh, Galway on Friday, November 4th, Dolan's warehouse in Limerick on Saturday November 5th and Cyprus Avenue, Cork on Sunday, November 6th.
