This Will Destroy You / Courtesy
Dallas-based instrumental band This Will Destroy You brings “doomgaze” to On The Map Fest this Friday, March 25 in Fayetteville.
The band’s ambient doom meets wall-of-sound began with their third record Tunnel Blanket, and was honed on 2015’s excellent Another Language. On these records, This Will Destroy You ignored the obvious crescendo and focused on compositions that seem to effortlessly happen. The sounds on Another Language sway and swarm, melodies are buried, they run into mountains and die, to seep out of dying and become a song.
You’ve heard music by This Will Destroy You in the films Moneyball, and Room. Now you can feel it in person.
I talked to This Will Destoy You in the middle of a West Coast tour. Here goes…
Who: See lineup at OnTheMapFest.com
When: March 24-25, 2016
Where: Fayetteville Town Center
Cost: $25-$35 / Purchase online
What is TWDY doing right now? What is this Q&A currently pulling you away from?
Well, currently we are driving to San Francisco and I’m in the back bouncing around while typing.
TWDY started in the early 2000s and you’ve grown with this band, How has getting older affected the writing process and your idea process? How has it changed what it means to create music?
Over the years we’ve become more willing to experiment with ideas that just would not have flown a couple years back. I don’t necessarily think time has changed what it means to make music. It’s always been some sacred shit to me and us.
When writing new songs, is there a need to go against what you’ve done in the past?
We don’t want to write the same song over and over again if that’s what you mean. Ultimately we want to first please ourselves with our music. Surprise each other even. We want to grow and we make a concerted effort to try new things whenever possible. We don’t go against, we may try to compliment or give a nod to some previous idea, though.
Obviously your songs lend themselves well to visual images, is there a film or piece of art that has inspired you recently?
There have been some really good films out and about lately. Here are a few that have inspired myself and some of the band as well: The Revenant, Anomalisa, The Lobster.
Is there a new record coming soon?
We’re pretty busy touring the U.S. and Europe this Summer but we plan to start writing more in the Fall.
You’re about to start a tour, what do you look forward to in a new town? Where do you go first?
New towns don’t present themselves all that often but generally we look for a good coffee spot. Food and coffee. If We’re overseas we’ll check Atlas Obscura and see what’s really going on in the cities.
What will you be reading/watching in the van?
I usually bring a book or two but not this time. I’ve been watching Shameless, Walking Dead, Vikings, Dual Survival, X-files… and honestly I’ve just been playing a lot of Starcraft.
Have you played or visited Arkansas? Any other On The Map Fest bands you want to see?
I haven’t played Arkansas in over 10 years. I’ve been wanting to camp near Fayetteville lately though. We’re all looking forward to catching Pallbearer.
