PREMIERE: Prepare yourself for a Torrential Thrilling good time!

Posted on March 2, 2018 by Paul 'Browny' Brown

In a country dominated by a rising market of hard/metalcore bands who are absolutely dominating right now, it’s refreshing to catch a glimpse of other bands with different sounds making their mark on the heavy music world. Torrential Thrill are a band of misfits from Melbourne hellbent on making a positive change on the world and luckily for them, they’ve got the talent and backing to make this happen.

Known for their high energy and humorous live shows, the guys are about to embark on a much more serious path with the release of their new single/video; the title track from their latest album Nothing As It Seems.

We grabbed frontman/rhythm guitarist Chris ‘Malks’ Malcher to find out more for those, not in the know of the Thrills they’re missing out on…

Chris, thanks for taking the time out, for those who haven’t discovered Torrential Thrill yet, why should that change that now?

James Hetfield said recently of the song writing process for Metallica’s latest album, “Hardwired…”, “We write songs that we want to hear”. I think that is so true of us and our style. We have a range of influences from the 80’s and 90’s in Metallica, Guns’n’Roses, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Ozzy, Ratt – big, heavy, hard, riff driven, balls out, crunching guitars smashing your whole body around and melting your face off with epic guitar solos to finish you off.

Before we got TT off the ground we felt for a long time that rock needed a good old fashioned kick in the guts. It felt like it got too ‘pretty’ again, but not in a glam way. Maybe lost its edge and became generic. Torrential Thrill is everything that hard rock was supposed to and should be. It’s raw, it’s rough around the edges, it’s a little reckless, it’s a little bit out of control and it doesn’t care if you’re offended.

Couldn’t agree more mate! Give us a roll call, who makes up the band?

We have an international mix. Brothers Matt (skin-destroying drummer) and Steve Morrell (face-melting lead guitarist) are originally from South Africa. Steve “Knoxy” Boyd, our Canadian constituent, slaps that bass and the only “local”, Chris Malcher (“Malks”), hits you in the guts with a huge set of pipes and a rhythm guitar.

And if you could describe your style in three words, what would you use?

Only three words? Hard, Melodic and Thrilling!

In the past, your videos have been a full-on, rock ‘n roll experience with comedic elements that show off your fun side, does that reflect your live performance too?

100%. A live show has to be engaging, entertaining and fun. We’re in it because we love it and there is no better feeling than connecting with the people out there listening to you. Our live show is evolving, a bit like our music videos, into something bigger and, hopefully, better for the punters each time we get up on stage.

Photo by Annie Warren

Maybe that’s one of the reasons the Gunners were so great in the heyday of the early 90s, because you never knew if their live show was going to be the best show you would ever see, or if the wheels were going to fall off and the whole thing would come crashing down, as it literally did in some places around the world!

While we have a lot of fun up there and generate a natural energy that gets everyone to lift, we leave nothing on that stage and give everything to the max each time.

This time around with ‘Nothing As It Seems’ you’re blending rock with a ballad-esque vibe akin to that of Metallica’s ‘Nothing Else Matters’, what’s the influence behind this song?

Nothing As It Seems, as an album, has a message around anti-corruption, anti-bullying, anti-big brother. We want to take a stand, shout it out to the world and help do something about it. It’s semi-political, semi-“fuck off”, full on bang-your-fucking-head!

The title track – Nothing As It Seems – is a ballad of someone who has just completely lost their way. There are so many stories of people with everything in front of them, that then get stuck in a system. They wake up one day and it’s all too late and everything has passed them by – their health, their family, their dreams, their happiness and it’s turned into a desperate mess.

The influence is heavily around the anti-corruption/bullying aspect, but there’s a side serve of “pull yourself together, get your head up and get the fuck out before it’s too late!”

A refreshing slap in the face, something a lot of us would need right about now! Your new video features a bloke who isn’t having the best time at his new place of employment, does this mirror any of your past experiences?

Perhaps to some degree, it’s a conglomeration of all of our experiences growing up and living in the Corporate World today – we all have typically “white collar” jobs and at various times, we’ve been witness to and victims of behaviours that go against our ethos. We hate a bully. We really hate The Bully and the predatory nature that makes someone take advantage of another. It’s a sickness. Whether it’s the kid taking your lunch at recess, the promotion you’ve waited for and fully deserved but didn’t get because you weren’t best mates with the HR Director, the Giant Corporation bleeding public services dry because of legal loopholes designed by Corporations for Corporations to get them out of their civic obligations, or when you’re slaving away to support a family but getting nowhere or going backwards whilst the rich get richer, we’ve had enough.

It’s an observation – we live in a world where mediocrity has become a new norm, where we put filters on our profile pictures and say “I support this cause” but not actually do anything about it because doing something about it would involve time, resources, money and – let’s be honest – it’s “too hard” for a lot of people now, for one reason or another. This is how we end up with fuckwits as the world’s leaders.

We don’t accept this norm, we won’t accept this norm and we’ll turn it up to 11 to voice our protest! We’re not going to wait here while the city is burning!

Abso-fucking-lutely spot on! We couldn’t agree more on that if we tried. For those who want/need to see you guys playing live, when’s the next show?

Our next live show is at the Brunswick Hotel – aka The Brunny – on Friday 23 March. Cost of entry is the right price for everyone – FREE – leaving a few extra bucks for a few extra beers. It should be a big night and we’d love to meet new fans, have a bev or three and then blow them away with our brand of hard hitting heavy rock!

You had us at Free Show haha and last but not least what’s more thrilling, skateboarding naked down Bourke Street Mall or listening to your new album Nothing As It Seems?

Is this where we have that Old El Paso meme with the girl asking, “why can’t we have both, skateboarding naked down the middle of Bourke Street, Melbourne, WHILE listening to Nothing As It Seems?” For what it’s worth… I’d be cranking Human Zoo!