Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (https://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
M.TY: Mr. Thank You is music for people who can’t sit still, by people who can’t sit still
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
M.TY: The idea for the band was formed when myself (Tom, bass and vocals) and our guitarist Dean went to the pub and wound up having a long discussion about how fun it would be to start an ambitious, genre-spanning musical project that would push us to the limits of our abilities.
In the sober light of day we decided that this was one of those rare good pub ideas, and so we booked a room for a bit of an experimental jam session. I invited my multi-instrumentalist friend Rick into the fold, whom I had played with previously in the band Rocketship Forest, and Dean invited his friend Justin, a seasoned drummer and perhaps the friendliest guy in Manchester.
The chemistry between the four of us was evident straight away, and things progressed quickly and organically from there.
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
M.TY: We all have pretty catholic tastes in music and so a lot of different genres are folded into our sound, which I think anyone who’d ever seen a live Mr. Thank You set would attest to. We’re particularly inspired by artists with eclectic discographies. King Gizzard, Björk and Mr. Bungle spring to mind.
Lyrically, we like to combine themes that aren’t very commonly addressed in songs (like spontaneous combustion, human evolution and French demons) with more common themes (like love, death and failed ambitions)
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
M.TY: We’re really just trying to reach any people who would be into it whatever the hell it is that we do.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
M.TY: That would have to be our latest single, Project Graham, which came out on the 26th of August and was engineered and produced entirely by ourselves.
And by ourselves, I mean that our aforementioned guitarist Dean did 85% of the work. We’re all really happy with how it came out and we are especially proud of Dean.
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new
artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
M.TY: Badly. We are really bad at it. Please help us.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
M.TY: We just email gig promoters and ask really nicely. Sometimes they reply. More often, they do not.
We are looking to get a few more gigs in the calendar before the year is out, so do reach out if you’re reading this and have the power to make that happen. We are polite, we are punctual and we shower at least once a day.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
M.TY: I miss the days of dodgy file sharing programmes like Limewire and Kazaa. Back then, if you wanted to listen to music for free then your punishment was that you had to tolerate your computer being riddled with malware and viruses. It was a fair and just system.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
M.TY: It would be pretty cool to have written an iconic and ubiquitous piece like Beethoven’s 5th, I suppose. Maybe we could just start telling people we wrote it anyway. Who’s going to stop us? Beethoven? He’s dead, mate.
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
M.TY: I think we would most of all like for music to be an actual viable career path.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
M.TY: We are currently mixing our next single, which we hope to release on or around Halloween. We reserve the right to push that date back as Dean is still mentally recovering from mixing the last single.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
M.TY: If you want to support us financially (first off, thank you for keeping independent music alive) our songs are available to purchase on bandcamp, and, merch-wise, we always* have Mr. Thank You badges on hand at our gigs. Those are free.
You can give us a follow on Instagram to keep with all of our goings-on, or we’re also on Facebook if that’s more your scene.
*except when we forget them
Mr. Thank You links:
Band/Artist location – Manchester, UK
Facebook – You Tube – Soundcloud – Bandcamp –
Instagram – Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – LinkTree –
Check our page for Mr Thank You
