thysen is a post-shoegaze quartet based in Leeds, UK. Their new E.P. “Saigon” came out on June 30th and I must say it’s a tremendous set of songs you wont want to miss out on. I sat down with band members Josh, Voy, Keir and Tom to talk about how they got together, their earliest musical inspirations and the making of “Saigon” which you can listen to in full here.
What was the first music that really made an impact on you all as kids?
V – I was brought up on popular music, whatever was big on the radio and TV channels as a child, but the gamechanger for me was a bootleg System Of A Down CD my class mate lent me in year 6. Huge
J – My dad has always been a big collector of music, I distinctly remember him playing the Cure and Depeche Mode on vinyl in the living room as a child, Fugees and Cypress Hill in the car – the Score still remains one of my favourite albums
K – Lemon jelly and the Kaiser Chiefs for sure, as a kid I used to spend hours listening to them on one of those USB MP3 players, intermixed with eurovision hits of course
T – I remember being sat down by a friend at 8/9 years old and he put AC/DC- Highway to Hell, and Trivium-Rain on; and that was my initial exposure to rock/metal music. That soon blossomed into an obsession and I began exploring deeper sub-genres
When did you all first start playing instruments and writing your own songs?
V – I started playing guitar at 13, but then probably after two or three years later I have actually joined bands playing bass and writing
J – I started playing drums at the start of secondary school, when I got a vintage jazz kit for an absolute bargain but the tom shells were all odd sizes. Ive been playing in bands ever since, and spent a few years playing with marching drum ensembles
K – I taught myself guitar when I was a teenager, but I was always a fan of electronic music so i started off making chip tune covers of stuff like black sabbath, or the morrowind soundtrack, and then moved onto my first real band Wizzardstorm
T- I played piano from 7 and guitar from 9, and I can still remember my first Hendrix-y type riffs I was writing from about 10; as soon as I had a basic grasp of the instrument I was trying to compose.
How did thysen form and how did you all shape the cosmic sounds you all create?
V – I invited my dear friends Tom and Josh to join me on this musical journey when after months of writing sad bedroom music I got an offer to play support slot in the local venue and it just it went from there really… After about 6 months we played a tour at the end of which Keir have joined our ranks, and this is in my opinion where this band really took root and started becoming what we are today
J- We’d all shared different bands and line-ups for years before starting thysen, we’re really the amalgamation of three/four different groups, so we all came into the group with mutual respect for each other’s talents. The first time Keir and I had ever played together was on stage in London and from the start there was that understanding, you know the feeling, where it all just clicks.
K – A lot of the sound nowadays comes from the way we write. On the one hand, Woj and I can just count to 4 and start playing anything, and about 8 times out of 10, we end up writing a new tune. Sometimes it’s as easy as one of us playing a chord, then everyone gives them “the look” and we know we have to develop it. We write in a really democratic and organic way, we all put ideas forward or if something isn’t feeling write then we are happy to say. We are good mates first and foremost so we always keep ourselves open to each others ideas.
The latest E.P. “Saigon” is truly incredible. What was the writing and recording process like? Any particular gear you all used that really helped shape specific parts of the record?
V – Thank you very much, that’s very kind!!
Saigon is a combination of songs, some of which we wrote together as a band and then unfortunately because of the pandemic we were forced to work in groups on tunes, so some of that stuff is in there as well.
We recorded, mixed and mastered Saigon together with our friend Dom Richmond at Eiger Studios in Leeds, which was a great experience to be fully involved in the whole process as well as just performing. He was really receptive to our ideas and welcomed an experimental approach to the production.
The reverb used on record is especially meaningful to us – we used emulation of St Paul’s Concert Hall at the University of Huddersfield, which is where most of us studied and met.
K- One of the things that stood out when recording was we had all the drums going through a crush bus on an outboard compressor, which just helped bring a lot of impact into the recordings I think. Shout out to my Squier Jaguar bass aswell!
T -My whole “sound” on the EP is a Tele with a touch of chorus from the CS-9 and a subtle slapback delay. The only time I really veer from that formula is on Plastic Castles where I decided the more brittle, almost percussive tone of Gretsch’s filtertrons suited the song better.
If you all could do a score for any film director who would it be and what would the film be about?
V – We did actually think about doing few re-scores, hopefully we’ll have a chance to actually do it!
J – For a re-score, I’d really love to do Rene Laloux’s Fantastic Planet. I have a big love for documentary films as well like Koyaanisqatsi – that style really inspired the video for Splinter
K – I would love to have done a soundtrack for Jodorowsky movie because I love El Topo and The Holy Mountain. I’m a really big Isaac Asimov fan aswell so maybe a Jodorowsky imagining of a selection of his short stories from Robot visions – they are some of my favourites – Asimov creates such a rich world, I’d love to see it through Jodorowskys lens; although, since he’s no longer available, the same premise with David lynch would work….. Or a guy ritchie bank heist movie.
T – I’m a huge fan of the classic horror genre – anything by Stanley Kubrick, every single scene is remarkable in its own way – re-scoring The Shining would be a lot of fun. In terms of current directors, Edgar Wright would be cool to work with as I appreciate the way he creatively incorporates music into his films.
What’s next for the band? Any new recordings/shows etc etc?
We’ve got a few big ideas in the pipeline… Material written for the first album, and more coming along for the ones that follow – we’re prolific writers outside of the studio and we cant help but writing more when we’re together, so definitely we plan to start recording our debut album at the end of this year with gigs going on in the meantime to help spread the word. We’re looking at travelling further afield later this year/early next year around Europe with all being well globally.
