2016 has been one hell of a year for Cyrus King. After three years making a gnarly, heavily electronic-infused industrial racket under the moniker This Be The Verse, he dropped his self-titled, produced and funded debut album in October. And in the last few months alone, the London-based producer and DJ has hit the road with some of the UK’s most ferociously exciting new bands, supporting loopy alt metallers Wild Throne and, most recently, decimating sold-out venues across the UK as part of a three- band wrecking crew with Black Peaks and Heck. By the time Hammer catch up with him, he’s battling severe post-tour blues. “I’ve had a taste of it now and I’m dying to get back on the road,” he groans. “I definitely love screaming at a room full of people.”
Cyrus maintains iron-fisted creative control over every aspect of the band, including all writing, producing and mixing duties. As such, TBTV provides him with an outlet to deal not only with personal turbulence but wider issues close to his heart. The lyrics and video for single Unveil tackle inequality, religion and the oppression of women. Another video shows a hoodie-clad Cyrus, shovel in hand, burying a book that could well be a Bible.
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“I thought if I’m going to write, I need to be honest,” he reveals. “It just so happens I have a lot of anger inside me and I’ve learnt to control it through music.”
Sonically, although he acknowledges TBTV are best described as industrial rock, he refuses to be pigeonholed by the tag. “Rock and metal is in my blood but not all my tunes are aggressive,” he argues. “I’m a big fan of techno music and house music and there’s a couple of tracks on this album which signal that direction, but at the same time, we could go even heavier.”
Cyrus might be reluctant to tick genre boxes, but there’s one influence he doesn’t deny. The unmistakable throb of Nine Inch Nails seeps corrosively through the steely veins, intense distortion and electronic pulse of TBTV tracks, especially The Wrong Road and Consequences. And in a twist of fate, in 2013 Cyrus was handed the opportunity to DJ in support of none other than Reznor himself, at an intimate NIN gig at London’s Scala. The occasion marked not only a huge personal triumph, but also his first live outing as This Be The Verse. “Trent’s such an influence on me,” he enthuses. “I didn’t meet him, which is probably for the best because I would just be a fanboy, but the ultimate goal is for me is to be supporting NIN with TBTV. That’s the dream.”
THIS BE THE VERSE IS OUT NOW VIA SELF-RELEASE
