Interview: Words That Burn

Recently DutchMetalManiac’s Tim van Velthuysen interviewed Words That Burn’s vocalist Roni MacRuairi.

Hey, how are you?

I’m very good thank you. Thanks for talking to us.

Can you tell us something about the history of Words That Burn?

We are an alternative metal band from North East Ireland. This version of the band is together since 2012/2013: Roni MacRuairi– vocals, Ger Murphy – bass, Jason Christy – drums, Shane Martin – guitars. So far we’ve released one EP (Praey 2013), one album (Regret is For the Dead 2015) and 5 singles. 2 of which (When we’re forgotten & Arise) are from our forthcoming album, Pyres, which will be out later this year.

For people not knowing you (yet), how would you describe your music yourself?

Our style has evolved quite dramatically from the first EP to now. We started off with a kind of muddled mix of metal and grunge which sort of worked but it didn’t have the same focus and precision in comparison to what we have going on now. In 2015 we travelled to Mathlab Studios, Agliana, Italy to record our first album Regret Is For The Dead. We learned so much about the recording and writing process from Jonathan Mazzeo which we have applied to everything we have done since, including our new record Pyres, which has a very fresh, modern metal sound. I think this record has something for everyone who enjoys different styles of heavy and alternative music, but fans of bands like Parkway Drive, Beartooth, While She Sleeps and Architects will particularly enjoy this record.

What makes Words That Burn unique?

We try not to carbon copy what other bands have done. We have our own stories to tell, which is the whole point of creating music in the first place. No one wants to hear the same story from 100 bands – which happens way to often these days.

Musically, Shane took over the writing process. It all came on the one place and one consciousness. Once his initial ideas were down we worked on refining them into songs, bouncing melody ideas off each other so I could then write my lyrics and add vocals to complete the whole process. We’re very happy with the end product. We tried not to let anything influence or taint what we did so for a good chunk of the writing process we didn’t really listen to any other music at all so our ideas came from our own creativity as much as possible. This helped give this record a quite unique sound.  

Any future plans you can already tell us something about?

The next big one is the release of our album Pyres which will be in late May/early June all going well. Then we are supporting Alien Weaponry in Dublin before we do our album promotion tour in Ireland and UK. We’ve a festival in Ireland (Knockanstockan) booked for around the same time with a possibility for a few more on the cards.

Any upcoming gigs for Words That Burn? Maybe coming to The Netherlands?

Believe it or not we’ve done 3 tours of Europe and have never played in The Netherlands, so we will have to remedy that!! Maybe not this year, but certainly 2020.

We’re going to focus on shows here in Ireland and the UK this year as part of the Pyres album promotion and then hopefully widen the net in 2020 to take in some places we’ve never played before.

How do you think your life would be without music?

It would be over a long time ago. Making and playing music keeps me breathing. I get up thinking about it every morning and how exciting it is to have created something that I’m so fucking proud of.

But to a lesser extent, I think for most people music is the soundtrack to their lives. Particularly now when it’s so easily and readily accessible. Life in general would be so damn boring and grey without music.

What advice would you give to young and starting bands?

Practice, practice, practice. Get good at what you do and then unleash your music to the masses. Don’t let anyone influence what you do either. If you love what you do, then that’s the right way to go for you.

Thanks for your answers! Is there anything you want to say to DutchMetalManiac’s readers?

Just a big thank you for taking the time to read about us and please check us out on the social media links below.  

Check out our new single Arise on Spotify, Bandcamp, iTunes, Google Play etc…..

Words That Burn Facebook
Words That Burn Instagram
Words That Burn Twitter
Words That Burn Youtube