Escape From The Reality Of Drab Decay

Teethgrinder by Therapy? popped up on my music shuffle, the first time I've heard the song in a while. 

 

Back in the early 1990s it was a staple of the alternative indie discos I used to go to, a guaranteed floor filler to the extent that none of their follow up singles seemed to displace Teethgrinder in the DJ's record box.

 

I have more songs than I thought in my collection but they;re pretty much limited to half a dozen or so EPs and a smattering of compilation appearances, the music mainly spanning 1992 to 1995, with a few later but no later than 1998.

 

To be honest, my favourites and most frequently played tend to be the remixes: Die Laughing by David Holmes, Nowhere by Andrew Weatherall/Sabres Of Paradise and Loose by Photek; Consolidated also remixed their cover of Isolation by Joy Division. And Teethgrinder, of course, remixed by engineer supreme Harvey Birrell, whose name appears far more in your record collection than you might expect.

 

In all that time, I've never listened to a single Therapy? album or paid much attention to what they were doing after those early singles. 

 

It was a surprise, then, when doing the minimal research for this post to find that Therapy? have carried on regardless for the last three decades and in May this year released Hard Cold Fire, their fifteenth album. There have been a few changes along the way, but the current three-piece has been stable since 2004 and still includes Andy Cairns (vocals/guitar) and Michael McKeegan (bass) from the original line up.

 

I've only heard one single from the album, the brilliantly titled Poundland Of Hope And Glory and aurally and visually (or in terms of editing, at least) it's not a million miles away from Teethgrinder.

 

Therapy? is about to embark on a European tour, with UK dates in late November and December. Dates and details are available on their official website. They're playing at The Fleece in Bristol. I'm intrigued but won't be there as it's a mid-week gig and I'm planning to see a living legend play a gig nearby a couple of nights later. Sadly these days, two trips to Bristol in a week is one logistical nightmare too far...