THY ART IS MURDER
The Aussie antagonists are destined for Donington
HOW’S 2018 LOOKING FOR THY ART IS MURDER?
ANDY MARSH (LEAD GUITAR): “We’re playing Download again after four years and headlining the fourth stage, which is insane; thank you to whoever allowed this but you’re also a lunatic. It’s a huge honour and a lot of pressure to deliver the best show we’ve ever done. One of the craziest sets I’ve ever seen was behemoth headlining a tent so we need to bring that intensity. It’s still funny that we get these great opportunities; we’re not worthy.”
WHAT’S THE BEST TOUR YOU’VE EVER BEEN ON?
“Our first American tour because we’d toured Europe before and it was so organised, everyone works together and bands share buses. We thought touring everywhere else would be like that, but we had to tour for seven weeks with no money, getting paid $100 a show, so we’d have to play 1,500 shows to break even. It was just us and our photographer with no cell phones or gpS. It was hell, but looking back, it was total freedom. We tried to shoot fireworks out of our van on the highway but one didn’t go out of the window, it bounced off the ceiling straight into my face while I was driving…”
WHAT KEEPS YOU SANE ON LONG TOURS?
“CJ [mcmahon, vocals] buys a football because he loves kicking around to de-stress and Kevin [butler, bass] brings a foam roller which we use to stretch and incense to burn onstage if we’re allowed. I bring a sous vide water circulator, which is an odd item but it cooks your food safely for eight hours without you watching it.”
HOW MUCH CRAZY SHIT GOES ON AT YOUR SHOWS?
“Someone died in a pit in Australia but the paramedics revived them. We’ve had dudes in wheelchairs crowdsurfing, which is insane! They overcome adversity to get in the pit, crowdsurf and stagedive in their chair! Also, our friends in parkway Drive had confetti cannons at a show with us and we loaded one with a burrito and shot it out over the crowd. This job has its drawbacks but you can do all the stuff you wanted to do as a kid. I got paid to shoot a beef and cheese burrito at people today – what did you do?”