Thine began to appear in 1993 when Paul and Alan decided to form a musical project based around darker atmospheres mixed with some theatrical elements. They were also influenced by black metal bands at the time such as Darkthrone, Bathory, Burzum and Mayhem.
Paul would play guitars and Alan would perform keyboards and vocals. Alan would occasionally fill in on drum duties, but usually early compositions were made with just guitar and keyboards.
Sometimes songs were made in a more ambient style based around NEPTUNE TOWERS, or others with more of a GGFH influence. No official demos were made at this time although many rough recordings exist from this period, including cover versions of (parts of) Mayhem and Darkthrone songs and also keyboard pieces entitled MY GREAT UNIVERSE and THE SUMMONING OF DEMONS. The band became Blood of Thine, taken from a play by Shakespeare.
In 1995 Paul and Alan enlisted the help of Dan Mullins on drums. They would perform cover versions by IMMORTAL, EMPEROR, DISSECTION, DARKTHRONE, and OPETH as well as coming up with their own style and compositions. Cover versions were just a fun distraction, nothing more. Creativity was always the driving force. Vocally, Alan was into a range of styles from the black metal screams, to the Attila De Mysteriis vocal, to the more operatic ISENGARD style and also VED BUENS ENDE. A self-recorded, untitled, rough demo was made in 1995/6 which included A TOWER ABOVE THE SHORES, DUSK CELEBRATIONS, INTO THE HOME OF PRIDE and a cover of UNDER A FUNERAL MOON as well as a ‘tribute’ track called THE CURSE OF MAYHEM. The songs had more of a black metal style to some sections (and obviously on the cover song too). The front cover pictured a waterfall and was on photocopied paper only.
In 1996 Blood of Thine decided to record a ‘real’ studio demo to show what could be done. This took place at ACADEMY STUDIOS and was produced by KEITH APPLETON. We used 2 tracks from the earlier recording; A TOWER ABOVE THE SHORES and INTO THE HOME OF PRIDE (AMONGST ANGELS). Both tracks were pretty long though and contained multiple sections glued together. The tracks were composed in 3 or 4 sections each and then basically stuck together to form the whole picture. The riffs and atmosphere were very important, more-so than the flow. This was recorded in 3 days I think. There was no bass player so Paul recorded 3 guitar layers to thicken the sound. Some of the feel to the riffs was based on early PRIMORDIAL compositions. After this, a tape was sent to, among others, Russ Smith, a well-respected member of the metal universe, who expressed an interest in the demo tape and approached us about the prospect of releasing it, after setting up a company called Black Tears. Alan had been in touch with Russ for a while so we went for it. The tape was named JOURNEYS and a full colour cover was made at the house of Dylan Rhodes, long-time friend of the band. The picture on the cover was supposed to look like a figure (an Angel?) with its head tilted backwards. It was a manipulated image of a photograph of flames which was probably taken by Alan. At around the same time a band called THE BLOOD DIVINE had signed to PEACEVILLE so to get around any similar sounding names (BLOOD OF THINE…BLOOD DIVINE, get it?), the band name was shortened to THINE, meaning ‘yours’ and with no religious implications what-so-ever.
The tape was released in 1997 at which point we had already recorded our second demo, which was more of an attempt at getting signed to a decent record label. The BLUE TAPE demo featured two new tracks called RE-ANIMATE THE MASQUE (based loosely on Frankenstein if I remember correctly) and FEATHERS AND ROSES. Recording took place at ACADEMY STUDIOS by MAGS and took slightly longer this time, the tracks being more complex, with more layers of guitar and bigger keyboard arrangements. We always liked the keyboard passages as they were used by bands like SIGH. Carl from BROKEN (Dan’s other band) performed a guest solo at the end of FEATHERS…
STUART and GIAN from CRADLE OF FILTH also paid a visit to the studio as they were both quite impressed with this up and coming band after hearing the JOURNEYS tape and were in contact with Dan.
As I said, the JOURNEYS tape was released in 1997 (Summertime I think). We received great comments and reviews (including an amazing (for us) 5/5 review in Terrorizer). One thing that bothered us slightly was the term pagan metal. We didn’t want to be classified as such and so when we were required to supply photos for a Terrorizer feature for an issue after the review, we decided to look as non-typically metal as possible as not to reflect what had already been injected into the minds of the metallers. We wanted to be more prog/avante-garde than anything else because the BLUE TAPE was nothing like pagan metal.
The BLUE TAPE was never released but was directed towards labels. We had a few offers and were about to sign with CANDLELIGHT RECORDS after also meeting Lee at an EMPEROR gig in London. However, we got a last minute offer from Peaceville (who we had been in touch with for a while and who put out some really classic bands/albums). We went for it. Just after signing we were asked to contribute to a Peaceville compilation CD, which involved doing a metallic cover version of a non-metal track. We were playing with a track by THE MOODY BLUES and also DISEASE by GGFH. We wanted to reverse the trend by doing a psychedelic version of DEAD SKIN MASK by SLAYER but we couldn’t do this. We eventually decided to do a NICK CAVE track from MURDER BALLADS, which we were fans of at the time (late 1997). We agreed on SONG OF JOY which was recorded at ACADEMY (once again) with KEITH at the helm and also playing the keyboard parts (a large percentage of the whole song). At around the same time we were asked to play a couple of shows with MAYHEM and PRIMORDIAL. I think Rich from SOLSTICE had mentioned our name as a recommended support act, so we rehearsed hard and got ready for our first EVER gig with a band who we had read about, listened to, and played cover songs of for years.
November 1997. The gigs went well. Nothing amazing because by this time there were few black metal ingredients in our songs so the crowd perhaps were not so overjoyed with us actually ‘singing!!!’. Since our songs were long ones, we only played four:
1. Into the Home of Pride
2. Feathers and Roses
3. Re-animate the Masque
4. My Song
MY SONG was a heavier version of the track which later appeared on A TOWN LIKE THIS, where, instead of the jazzy middle section, it was a bit more like proggy black metal with distorted guitars. We also played an intro and outro which were a mixture of NEUROSIS and BURZUM. Bass and second guitars were handled by Mike and Carl from BROKEN.
In January 1998 it was time to record the debut album for Peaceville Records. The procedure for composing was the same, which meant composing sections of music individually and then joining them together. We were trying to be really different as one of Peaceville’s priorities was that bands have originality and identity first and foremost. Therefore, we included many different styles and progressions to the tracks. The songs HERE TONIGHT and TRANSMISSION POINT ZERO (a keyboard track before track 1 on the CD) were constructed in the studio. Keyboards were handled by the ever-reliant KEITH at ACADEMY and the album was engineered by MAGS. Mike performed bass on the album. Reviewers stated that we sounded like old prog bands like GENESIS, DEVO, GONG, KING CRIMSON, although we never listened to these bands. It was more Opeth, Katatonia, Dissection, Sigh, Burzum, Nick Cave, Portishead, Entombed, Ship of Fools, Arcturus. The album was entitled A TOWN LIKE THIS and was more a twisted social commentary of collective themes. The album cover (for those of you who possess it) has a black area down the left hand side. This is because we wanted to have the cover like a film poster with the names of people involved set out like that of….a….film. The only problem was that ENTOMBED had released TO RIDE, SHOOT STRAIGHT AND SPEAK THE TRUTH on MFN (which were Peaceville’s label and thus ours also) and therefore we couldn’t use the idea too. That is why the cover looks quite plain.
In May 1998 we did a 5 date UK tour with MISERY LOVES COMPANY and BREED 77, both good bands and a good set of people too. We were a bit too experimental and soft compared to the other two and so we didn’t really fit the bill. A great experience though. In June we played a show with ANATHEMA and ORANGE GOBLIN. Both were really good live bands (Anathema having just released a great album too, in the form of ALTERNATIVE 4) and although we went down well with the crowd, the material was perhaps too fragmented and varied to enjoy fully. I think people more just stood and appreciated us instead.
The album finally came out in July 1998. From what I saw, many reviews were very good. It was almost a love it or leave it album, which is fair enough. One thing I can say is that the album was very original, as requested. Trouble with that, is that it is very hard to market. I have not heard much that sounds anything like that album, so classification was difficult. The best term I saw was by Nick Terry for TERRORIZER mag, who labelled us METAL NOIR! That was pretty spot-on because for parts of that album, we wanted a noiry (if that makes sense) ‘feel’. Opinion seemed divided over the album, but Mike from OPETH later said he really liked it and a Polish journalist said it was in his top 5 albums EVER (he told me this 4 years after its release so it wasn’t just a short-lived impulsive response), and that, my friends, is good enough for us.
After the album had been recorded we had started composing new material in a similar ‘style’ and also some clean guitar songs. These were all scrapped. The closest to today’s style was a song called MISERY FOUND THE BLACK DAY which was more structured than before.
In 1999 new tracks were composed that were more compact in structure. A good reference for this style change is COLD SEED by TIAMAT; a simple verse, chorus track with a pleasant lead melody over the top. REM became another important influence. We were mixing upbeat rock/metal with some more mellow passages influenced by bands like THE DOORS. Early versions of DENY EVERYTHING (the oldest of the IN THERAPY songs) were composed along with many that weren’t used. 1999, and the first half of 2000 involved Paul and Dan jamming out plenty of songs that had built up, and just getting rough versions onto tape. By the middle of 2000 THINE wanted to record a demo to show their new, more compact style of song-writing. Three songs were recorded: IN THERAPY, BLEAK BLUE HOUR and THE BAR. Recorded at ACADEMY (again) with bass duties handled by Paul and Dan. Around the same time we added to the line-up… with Dylan on rhythm guitars, and not long after, Russ was brought in to play bass.
In March 2001 we played the PEACEFEST shows with Beyond Dawn, Soundisciples, Katatonia and My Dying Bride, which involved 3 shows in 3 days, in 3 different countries: England, Belgium and The Netherlands. Here we could showcase our new style. Once again we dressed very Un-metal like to show that we did not want to fit any typical category. Some people really liked our performances, with the Dutch show being our particular highlight. Being the opening act is not ideal though. The worst thing, personally, was a comment in a UK review of the show which said we wore wallet chains!!! a.) Not the most intellectual remark to make about ones performance b.) Not the most observational either as NONE of us wore any wallet chains for ANY of the shows. A petty thing for me to pick up on but……sorry mate, must’ve been another band you saw. The show he reviewed (England) was not the best gig for us though, as it was very rushed, as is usually the case with large bills. I think the set list was:
1. Deny Everything
2. My Life (later to be called Contact Point)
3. The Soundtrack Ends (later to be called Running)
4. The Bar
5. In Therapy
There was possibly another song but I can’t remember, and I’m not sure if that was the exact order either. A few were disappointed that we didn’t do any tracks from the first album but our main intention was to show what we were up to at the time, and besides, those first album tracks were looonnnnngggggg. The songs we played were also changed quite a bit before we recorded the second album, just a few months later.
Recording commenced on the second album on September 10th/11th 2001. We had 15 tracks to record. The session took place at a new-look ACADEMY STUDIOS (different location) with the legendary MAGS in the hot-seat. This was our first recording in digital and using Pro-Tools. We decided to not include 3 songs, mainly due to time constraints. Actually, we nearly recorded 11 songs. The last one to put guitars to was FEEL, which is only included because Alan was unable to reach the studio for a few hours, otherwise, it would not have been on there. The track which needed most work was BLEAKER AUDIO, because it had only been composed a few weeks before we entered the studio. All of the structure was complete, it was more a case of forming something a little more electronic in feel for the first half of the song. The album took four weeks to complete, including mixing, with mastering then taking place at ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS. The album was going to be called THE DEAD CITY BLUEPRINT and the cover was going to be a strangely-lit cityscape. The title then became IN THERAPY and the cover was going to be black with pencil outlines in the shape of a square. (This can be found on the actual IN THERAPY CD print). It was supposed to be like an empty box for you to paint your own vision or therapy into (not literally). It was either to contain your visions (lock them away) or to frame them, to represent who you are, or have become, just as the songs on the album were somehow representative of what we had become. In around April 2002 we did a photo-shoot at Alan’s place and managed to capture the shot of Alan’s face which was eventually used for the cover of IN THERAPY.
We had been playing a few gigs around the end of 2001 and early 2002. In around February 2002 Dan finally called it a day. He had been drumming in another band which was based in a more extreme form of metal and this is something he preferred to pursue, so he let us know that it was no longer his passion to perform in THINE. It was disappointing at the time but very wise and noble to know when not to continue, rather than carrying on for the wrong reasons. Dan had done an exceptional job over the years so it was now time to look for a replacement. In July 2002 we had found a suitable replacement. His name was Swit and had previously played in a band with Russ. At our first rehearsal with him, he had learned all of the IN THERAPY material pretty well and the rest of us were quite surprised by this and knew we need look no further.
IN THERAPY was released SEPTEMBER 2002 and received some truly great reviews, especially from all of the British press. We knew it was good, but surely not THAT good! Obviously, some other reviews were fairly average, but we were now a non heavy band trying to win over a metal crowd. It was a hard task and should’ve been pushed harder because certain opportunities were missed, but we were pleased enough with the product, no matter how much it was like trying to fit a square in a circular hole, as we were fairly tame compared to what was out there, and didn’t have a female singer either to make up for it. In November 2002 we played a couple of UK shows with ANATHEMA again (fine by us!) and the late, great SHIP OF FOOLS. The show at THE MEAN FIDDLER in London was a fantastic gig. For a start it was busy on the ‘floor’ which is always a good sign, and when we finished playing the first song (there is usually a pause and a feeling of anticipation of quiet or applause) there was a great reception for us. It was like: wow!, we don’t even KNOW these people! ha ha! We have had good responses before, but that was…nice.
2003 was a quiet year really. A few gigs happened in late 2002/early 2003 which went pretty well. The rest of the year was spent composing and recording rough demo material. This time on pc. A lot of songs mounted up and continued to do so in 2004, when we finally parted company with Peaceville. The new demo has taken a long time and we will not send anything out until we are 100% satisfied. The songs take shape and are then re-moulded before the clay becomes very dry. Sometimes water is added again but, often, not after a certain point. The third album is written really. We know which label we would like to release it now and we know who will probably record it and where. Recent live shows have been very good too, with a fantastic response.
|
|
Facebook
Twitter
Contact Artist
Add to Profile
Add to station
