Jung Guns: The Most Terrifying Thing

  His bandmates listened, knowing that they were in one of those moments when something clicks perfectly into place. “The most terrifying thing, according to the philosopher Karl Jung, is to accept oneself completely” explained Glenn, academic trapped in a bassist’s body, to the rest of the members of what was then known as Audioslave.  Frontman Chris “Pricey” Price had written a song called ‘The Most Terrifying Thing’, and was toying with the idea of adopting this title as the name of the band.  But once Glenn had revealed the extra significance of those four words, it was decided there and then: these four, relatively unknown Liverpool-based rockers would no longer be going halves on their current name with the rock juggernaut of Cornell and co, for they were to now be The Most Terrifying Thing…   OK, so in terms of pivotal moments, it was just a name change, a necessity - not even on a par with Eric eating a banana and becoming Bananaman.  But when you consider that Jung was the man who famously proclaimed Liverpool, the birthplace of three of TMTT (not Glenn, ironically, who’s from the North East), as “The Pool of Life”, it makes their whole conundrum even more difficult to solve.  For are not TMTT the band who hate everything, musically at least, that their home city has come to stand for?   From beneath a bedraggled mop of black hair, Pricey’s eyes raise from a half-drunk pint to engage the question.  “Let’s get this straight: we are not anti-anything.”  But hang on, haven’t you gone on record as describing Liverpool as a city full of bands obsessed with skiffle and The Beatles?  “Well,” Pricey counters, “it’s like, I got asked during a telephone interview whether I hated The Coral and The Zutons.  My actual words were “well, they’re irrelevant really because they’re totally different to us.  I don’t know ‘em as lads and we’re not exactly gonna do gigs with ‘em because we sound nothing like ‘em.”  But all that she (the journalist) wrote was her “Do you hate them” stuff and for my response, just, “Well, they’re irrelevant really aren’t they?”  As soon as I thought about what I’d said, I thought, God, they can twist that so much!”  Well, that sounds believable enough – and the band are learning quickly about the perils of being misquoted by unscrupulous hacks.  Is, then, TMTT’s alleged aversion to the local scene purely a case of misrepresentation?    Yes, they maintain, but they’re also quick to assert their frustration that, beneath the clichés, stereotypes and regularity parading on the surface of Liverpool’s musical landscape, there is a bubbling undercurrent that the Beatles-obsessed tourist industry (“an albatross”, spits Glenn) and mainstream media hope will trickle quietly away.  “If you speak to somebody outside Liverpool, then you’ll know that there’s a psychobilly scene, a rockabilly scene, every type of music is catered for in Liverpool.  But nobody else will know it, and it’s not ‘cos those bands are shit.  But you won’t hear about it on Radio City or read about it in The Liverpool Echo.”  Whisper it, people, but it seems Pricey might just care about his home town after all…   Even a casual listen to the lyrics of their very un-Beatlesy debut album ‘Victoriana’ which finally goes on general release on 31 January on London-based imprint Seeca Records, having been available online and at TMTT gigs since October, reveals a soul more concerned with disaffection and alienation than with spouting cod-psychedelic gibberish.  But if it’s an album that’s at odds with their city’s more obvious musical heritage, then it’s equally at loggerheads with the post-Strokes, mirrorball indie that’s so prevalent at the minute.  One part the sparse dynamics of Jeff Buckley (‘Pain and Problematics’), one part Pixies-esque noise manipulation (current single ‘Things Always Change’), a splash of Bleach-era Nirvana thrash (‘Blackpool’) and large slice of modern rock in the vein of Homme, Grohl, …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and their ilk; ‘Victoriana’ is a powerfully honest record that predictably has had many reviewers playing a yankophobic hand.  So come on, fellas, what’s going on with all this American malarkey?  Why don’t you make it easier for everyone and sing about cash machines and rowdy town centres?   This, it seems, gets Glenn’s goat.  “Sorry, I’ve got a bit of a chip on my shoulder about this!  When people ask that, I ask them, what were The Beatles doing on their first three albums if they weren’t being influenced by American music?”  OK, fair point, but what about your band?  Why American music and the grunge era in particular?  “90% of the music we listen to is American”, explains Pricey.  “During the 80s and early 90s in America there were that many bands and indie labels compared to in England, it seemed to us almost as if it was easier for ‘em to be more experimental.”  Onto Glenn: “the music press was so vital, every week you’d see the cover stars and it’d be “who the **** are they!”  The scene was changing so quickly; you’d even have the Butthole Surfers on the cover of one issue… I’d want to find the most obscure stuff in reaction to my brother’s metal!”  And let’s not forget the other 10% that isn’t American: “the likes of The Smiths and The Cure had the downtrodden kind of vibe that American rock didn’t have”, adds lead guitarist Dave.  “If we can get a happy medium between the two, we’d be happy!”