This interview originally took place on June 30th 2011. Now that that’s out of the way and the excessive tardiness is forgiven; Texas’ This Will Destroy You candidly talk about outside projects, their latest release Tunnel Blanket and altered states of consciousness. Enjoy this one.
moodgusic: So how are you doing today Jeremy?
Jeremy Galindo: I’m doing well man, doing well. A little tired.
moodgusic: So you’ve been touring the UK this past few days, you played Newcastle last night didn’t you?
JG: Yeah, we played Plymouth, Newcastle, Cardiff and – uh it’s hard to keep track of everything, and another city [Glasgow]. So we’ve been here for a little bit.
moodgusic: And soon you’re playing London, then Belgium for the Dour festival isn’t that right?
JG: Yeah we end with the Dour festival and we have like one more show in Switzerland after that. But we have about two weeks left until we get back to the mainland.
moodgusic: So you’ve just released Tunnel Blanket. Upon it’s release, as well with your last EP Moving on the Edges of Things, it’s clear you’re going in a different direction: drone, doom, ambient. After departing from the post-rock sound, how do you look back at your old releases?
JG: The more and more that we grow as a band the more I respect our older releases. I guess there was at some point, just like when hear it every day when you’re shoved into category with all these other bands that you may or may not respect, you can start to not appreciate your work as you did when you first did it. But looking back if it wasn’t for those albums we wouldn’t be where we are now and those albums are still the reason why I’m able to pay my bills at home and still be able to do this. I have a deep respect for them, it’s just not how I felt about them when they first came out, it’s kind of a different feeling.
moodgusic: You, Chris, Donovan and Alex are very busy outside of TWDY, you’ve got different projects – I know you’ve got a film company We Tried Film.
JG: Yeah, I’m doing a film through We Tried Film in February so we have quite a few projects on.
moodgusic: So is there a delay in production, wasn’t production supposed to start in the Summer?
JG: No, the idea was to start the company in the Summer we just have to figure out some of the logistics. But yeah, all of us defiantly have stuff going on.
moodgusic: With that, is it hard for you to put full focus on TWDY?
JG: No not at all, it’s defiantly our number one priority. If something happens to where we have other projects going on that we need to finish up, but if something comes up for TWDY, like a tour or maybe a great support tour we’ll defiantly drop whatever we’re doing to make sure that we’re doing what’s best for the band at all times.
moodgusic: I was just on last.fm - do you use it?
JG: Oh yeah, we read it here and there.
moodgusic: I was just on the band’s page and read a bit of criticism from a fan, would you like to hear it?
JG: Sure yeah, I love ‘em.
moodgusic: Their username’s Chump86..
JG: Nice.
moodgusic: This is exactly what he said “because nobody comes to Sweden”. How do you respond to Chump?
JG: The problem is we’ve had some bad representation in the past in Europe, getting us to where wanted to go and wanted to tour. We played Sweden once, it was a great experience and we’ve always wanted to get back there. We had plans to get back there in the fall but things are getting moved around right now. We do plan on being there next year and we wish we could spend more time there, it’s just logistically and mostly financially it becomes more difficult when you start moving that way.
moodgusic: So Communal Blood is the first single from Tunnel Blanket, do you plan to release from this album or maybe a future release?
JG: Most defiantly we’re doing a single right not for Black Dunes as well as a surprise remix from somebody that we respect very well from this area actually. That will be coming out hopefully by fall. We’re going to keep on releasing stuff, we’ll probably do another picture disc within the next year to continue on with that series then hopefully start writing the new album by Winter.
moodgusic: [To Chris] In a recent interview I watched, you talked about the name Tunnel Blanket and how it came to be from a DMT (dimethyltryptamine) trip you had. Whenever I was listening to Powdered Hand and there’s a voxpop in it.
Chris King: Oh yeah that’s Temple Grandin, she has a documentary about her.
moodgusic: I couldn’t hear her clearly but she said something about hallucinations and seeing tunnels.
CK: Yeah, the idea of the theme of the album came on a DMT trip, like the near death experience, what you experience seconds before you die basically.
moodgusic: Was it a bad trip then, it’s seems like a fairly dark album.
CK: I mean it can be interpreted any way you know. That’s just kind of our take on it.
moodgusic: Was that the first time you had ever taken dimethlytriptamine?
CK: No it wasn’t, it was the first out-of-body experience that I’ve had on it though.
moodgusic: Have the rest of you ever taken DMT before?
JG: Most defiantly, I’ve had a few experiences with it. It’s maybe not something I would do again. I’m trying to settle down on the hallucinogens I think. The older you get, the less appeal it has, maybe just psychologically and how much stress we’re under. Well, mushrooms is always something I’ll always have a close connection with, but that’s a whole different story.
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moodgusic: What was it that turned you guys on to DMT?
JG: I first heard about it through William S. Burroughs
moodgusic: This guy? [pointing at shirt]
JG: Yes! I didn’t even see that shirt, that’s a great shirt. That’s the first time I ever heard about it, but it became quite popular in Austin, the area that Chris and I grew up in and you know it’s been around for a while but it’s definitely now starting to gain it’s popularity in film especially too now.
CK: Yeah there’s actually a documentary that came out at SXSW specifically about people’s experiences on DMT, it’s pretty interesting. It can be positive for people if they have the right frame of mind going into it. If you’re going into it not to just get fucked up, if you go into it with an open mind you can get a lot out of it.
JG: It’s not for beginners.
CK: It’s very intense and direct so a lot of people have trouble dealing with it, because you’re just kind of thrown into things that you might not want to see.
JG: Well people think that they can take two hits of acid or a few grams of mushrooms and they’re ready for a DMT experience and it’s a whole different trip.
CK: It’s not something I would just recommend someone to take, if you’re in the right frame of mind and you feel clear headed – I’ve definitely have positive experiences on it.
moodgusic: That’s the first time I’ve got to talk to a band about DMT, what about ayahuasca?
CK: Yeah, I would never do that again. There’s so much life changing perspective - you don’t really want to go there.
JG: I took it in a bad environment with a friend who extracted it. You definitely need someone there that understands the drug, to take it.
moodgusic: You mean a shaman?
JG: Most definitely. I would say so. To experience it properly.
CK: I took it in New Mexico with a friend of mine that took me to a sweat lodge, he’s half native American so he took me out to take it. That [ayahuascua] has to be in very controlled doses it’s also something you should have a high respect for, you should not fuck with it.
Donovan Jones: Yeah, I would agree.
JG: I took it with a friend who wishes he was a shaman, but is not. Yeah it’s not something I enjoy looking back on.
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moodgusic: So mixed experiences for both hallucinogens. Have you ever tried salvia divinorum?
JG: Oh yeah.
DJ: I like salvia.
CK: I don’t, it’s like huffing glue or something to me. You can get it from head shops in the states and I feel like it’s the equivalent of going and huffing gasoline or something like that.
JG: I would agree with that.
DJ: Huffing shit like that just kind of makes you pass out or disappear.
JG: Yeah I just mean equivalence, not necessarily the high.
DJ: I’ve had out of body experiences on salvia.
JG: Oh yeah, definitely. Without a doubt.
CK: I’m just saying in the hierarchy of things.
JG: It’s like the schwag of DMT.
DJ: I understand. It’s so short lived, it’s like five minutes.
JG: It’s just not a very pleasant high altogether.
DJ: I don’t mind it. It’s just different strokes I guess.
moodgusic: A friend of mine took it last night and came in and out [of the trip]. They came out of out and went back in three times, that was the first time I had ever seen that, and it was only 25x.
JG: Yeah.
DJ: You know what fuckin’ Mills did when we smoked salvia? He tried to hold up the world and shit. That was awesome.
JG: Yeah I’ve seen people freak out on it before. A lot of my friends are flailers when they take drugs like that. You have to have people hold them down.
moodgusic: Yeah you need sitters, everybody is different about that sort of thing.
JG: Definitely, when it comes to hallucinogens everybody reacts differently, everybody looks at it different. Everybody thinks that they’re all experiencing similar things so they all see the same things and some of that’s true. But all in all, it’s your own experience and that’s one of the problems that I have with the drugs is that it’s like becoming this thing where especially with DMT now, everybody is trying to find this certain area and have these same experiences that they hear about here and there. I’ve talked with people and had experiences out there but they were my own experiences and I don’t think that there is any sort of collective trip. I don’t think that exists.
CK: People equate it to a religious experience and the thing you have to realise is that it’s not real. I mean you can get solid life lessons from tripping but ultimately you have to realise it’s nothing tangible, it’s synthetic.
DJ: It just kind of shows you that shit you have to sort that out yourself.
JG: Yeah it’s incredible to have those experiences and to learn about yourself but I think a big problem is when people start equating that to some sort of higher life form or higher plane where they’re in contact with something outside of themselves when really all they’re experiencing is themselves. If that makes any sense.
moodgusic: Chris were you behind the April fool’s prank?
CK: No actually I was out of town when that happened.
moodgusic: Was it you, Jerermy?
JG: Yeah it was. That was the perfect time to use Chris as a scapegoat for it since he was out of town and he turned his phone off.
moodgusic: It caught me off guard. I started to write a blog post going through your career, being all sentimental then it just occurred to me, “fuck, it’s April fools day.” Right there I just turned on my heel and just said “okay I could go on being sentimental but the fact of the matter is it’s April fools day and these guys are probably taking the piss.”
JG: That was fun.
moodgusic: You can’t do that again though, that was like your one get out of jail free card used up.
JG: I’m sure if we pulled that one again we might piss people off to an extent that might not be so great. But at the same time, we like to have fun.
moodgusic: You probably pissed off a lot of people?
JG: Oh yeah definitely, even close friends. I didn’t realise the post even went out and I was sitting at a bar with a friend of mine and I just started getting text messages all over the place like “Are you okay? Where are you? Do you need help? What’s going on?” – Too many to respond to. I figured somebody posted something on facebook so I ran to my friend’s house jumped on the internet and saw it and immediately called up our old label (my friend Brandon) and told him just to run with it. And that’s where the “Who’s seen Chris?” flyers went out and all that.
Alex Bhore: Are you talking fake break-up?
JG: Yeah.
AB: [Laughs]
JG: Yeah it was fun, we enjoyed it but our management freaked out a little and they wanted to put us into it a little bit but it was still fun nonetheless.
moodgusic: I really started to second guess it when, I don’t remember if it was Suicide Squeeze’s website or Magic Bullet but they had this obituarary, if you will.
JG: Yeah, that was magic bullet.
moodgusic: What are some of your favourite releases so far this year? Or maybe even stuff that’s older and you’ve just picked up on again?
JG: I’ve really been sticking to older stuff, I haven’t had the chance to check out the new Grouper, I’ve heard it here and there and think it sounds amazing. I’d like to pick it up, but yeah, I’ve really been sticking to older recordings recently.
CK: There’s this band, or it’s just this one guy from New York called Clams Casino and his EP is amazing it’s kind of electronic, instrumental hip-hop stuff. It’s all over the place. Lately I’ve been enjoying the new John MOuse record a lot too.
DJ: When did that Dream record come out?
CK: Like three years ago.
DK: The newest one?
JG: No the newest one was within the last year.
DJ: That new Dream record is pretty fucking sick. I’ve spent some time on it. I haven’t heard much of it, but that new R. Kelly record sounded really good from some of the singles I’ve heard. That Local Natives record I’ve been jamming a lot, it’s like some happy time music, it’s nice to go there some times. The new Steve Reich is really good.
moodgusic: Yeah I watched one of his works the other day, at the Tramway in Glasgow. It was good. What about you Alex, what have you been enjoying this year so far?
AB: I’ve been digging some older music but the only new thing that I can think of and that I like a lot is the new Deerhunter record, it’s really good I love the textures on it and how it was made and recorded.
DJ: The new Boris, I like those new releases they released on the same day. The new Boris is fucking good.
moodgusic: One more question about DMT before I go, I know I’ve harped on it but when you’ve taken it did you play music to soundtrack it? I imagine you’d have to be very selective about that because the trip only lasts around 15 minutes.
CK: I mean a lot of the influence for the album, is not necessarily with drugs but the idea of things – it’s just kind of a response to hyper-culture, like slowing things down to where it’s almost exaggerated, like slow beyond the point of being slow to kind of make a statement. Codeine and things like that, that will slow down music so I guess some screwed up hip-hop music, that had a little bit of influence as far as the tempo of things. It’s very kind of slow and drawn out. It’s just a response to hyper-culture with smart phones being everywhere, everyone has ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) nowadays. This could be like a record made in the 1800’s if they actually had the means to make it – I would like it to be timeless, you know?
JG: As far as taking music into a DMT trip..
DJ: [Laughs] I like that dude, I like that.
AB: Back to the bullet-point.
JG: It disappears after a while and you hear your own – the sounds, they’re not what you start with when you’re inside it. The experiences I have had with it have always been slower, kind of calmer somber music to kind of ease into it but in the end it doesn’t even matter what you’re listening to. It could be Squarepusher and you’re still going to disappear.
moodgusic: And would you say that would be the same for mushrooms?
JG: Oh no, not for mushrooms no. You’re still too lucid. Music has a great effect when you’re tripping on mushrooms or acid just because of that lucidity. You can experience different feelings and different emotions depending on what you put on. You can go insane listening to certain things or you can be completely calmed down and pulled out of bad trips because of certain music so that’s very effective there, but I think with DMT you’re too far gone for the music to have an effect on the trip.
moodgusic: Have you experimented with naturally altered states of conscienceness, such as inducing lucid sleep or a sensory deprivation tank experience?
DJ: I had my first lucid dream about a week ago.
moodgusic: Did you induce it yourself or did it just happen naturally?
DJ: [Laughs] This is a shitty reason to have a lucid dream but I was taking my contacts out when I was in bed and one of my contacts landed on the floor and stayed there all night and I found it the next day.
moodgusic: Did you use it again?
DJ: Yeah I just sunk it back in the solution and it just softened up again – but I had a really planned out vivid fucking dream and it scared the shit out of me.
JG: I used to love it.
DJ: Well it was my first one and I got my fucking ass beat – or I was about to, by these three huge ass skinheads from Germany.
moodgusic: So none of you have tried sensory deprivation tanks then?
JG: No but I have been curious about them, I’d love to experience something like that. It’s just right now with as much as we’ve been doing at least for myself, my anxiety levels are too high. As soon as I’m able to relax and have a real home I would like to start trying things like that – natural ways of experiencing different things.
DJ: Isn’t our tour van like a sleep deprivation tank?
JG: [Laughs] Yeah, a little bit. That’s more of a meditative thing, that’s a whole new, whole different way of experiencing those kinds of experiences. I don’t know how to word that better. I don’t have that much experience with meditation. I know Chris has a little more experience than I do. But from what I’ve heard, sensory deprivation can be incredibly beautiful or insanely manic.
CK: Claustrophobic too.
JG: Yeah, you have to be able to overcome some of your fears if you have those and claustrophobia can be a big anxiety issue for me. You’ve got to be in the right state of mind for those things or maybe use them to attack those issues, which is what I used to do with mushrooms but it’s just different now.
CK: With meditation, so much is just trying to find a serene spot and the ultimate thing you can do is to completely surrender your ego and be perfectly fine with being by yourself for long periods of time. If you have the right state of mind and path for that then it can be very positive and clear out all the fucking gunk up there.
JG: Agreed.
moodgusic: Well thanks very much for taking the time to talk to me about all that. Have you talked about that sort of thing much at all?
DJ: We don’t get interviews like this very often.
JG: No, people aren’t too curious about that.
moodgusic: I hope it doesn’t build the wrong reputation for you, it’s just something I’m very interested in but now that I’ve got enough stuff to get you guys snitched by the FBI, I’ll be on my way.
CK: I don’t mind talking about it because so much of it is just like people assuming things and it’s just some kind of shit to get you “fucked up” like a drug addict. There can be higher meanings to things if they can get positive experiences out of it.
JG: Exactly, I’d rather have a more comprehensive interview like this about our experiences instead of “Oh, have you done this?” “Yes.” “Okay, next question.” It just seems like it’s more of just a fad that’s going on here when really it’s just a point we’ve used, not necessarily that we’ve specifically used to but one that we’ve used to find inspiration and to clear our heads and tackle some of the issues that we deal with also create music. But it’s not the reason for our music and I think that’s where things get clouded, as far as what people read and their perception of our drug use. The drugs didn’t create the music, we created the music. But our experiences that we’ve had on and off drugs are the reasons our music is what it is. I think it’s important that people realise that, we aren’t a drug band, but we do drugs - I mean it’s kind of two different things, it’s just a part of our lives. It’s not the music.
Fin.
Unedited interview audio in full ~
[audio http://moodgusic.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/234f1-interview_with_this_will_destroy_you.mp3]
Interview_with_This_Will_Destroy_You.MP3
*Apologies to This Will Destroy You for the delayed publishing of this interview.
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