Make Them Suffer interview done by Mike De Man.
For starters, I want to talk about your background, Perth, Australia. It’s a very dedicated scene over there but do you think the Australian scene has benefited Make Them Suffer positively or negatively?
Perth is a great community, everyone knows each other and is friends which is great. Unfortunately it means more money for flights every time we wanna hit the east coast, but bands have overcome greater problems and to be honest it’s always worth it. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the Australian scene has really been impacted by us, that’s egotistical. I’m fairly proud to say that we’re at least trying to bring some influences and sounds that aren’t traditionally Australian which is cool. I think Australia has always been a music scene which very much hones in on quality of content over originality, our outlook is a little different. I feel as if we’ve found somewhat of a niche, bringing some more European influences to the table that have been way too overlooked in Aussie metalcore. Having said that, Australia is producing some extremely diverse and inspiring music to the scene.
Old Souls, the new MTS album is coming out rather soon, and it’s gaining a ton of hype as each day passes. What are you most excited about when it comes to the release of Old Souls?
I’m excited to hear what people think, the responses thus far have been overwhelming! We have some really dedicated fans, and it’s always great to see people giving such in-depth analysis’ of our content! I also can’t wait to play some fresh material live and absolutely love it when I can see people knowing the borderline indecipherable words I’m saying, stuff like that makes my day!
Going backwards a bit, how were the early Make Them Suffer days of the Lord of Woe EP compared to the current release of Old Souls?
Well Lord of Woe coined our original sound and that’s the Make Them Suffer we’ll always be. We may tiptoe around and experiment (as we’ve done a lot of this album), but Lord of Woe is the truest form of Make Them Suffer, and we’ll never depart from that.
Of the singles released this year, which one holds the most value to the band?
I feel from a songwriting or musical point of view it’s the general consensus amongst the band that the song “Old Souls” probably takes that spotlight. Although every song on the album serves it’s purpose, and it depends on what you value in music. “Requiem” is a great headbanger and is considered “classic mts”, “Scraping the Barrel” takes us back to the demo days of 2009, “Blood Moon” is something way new for us; angsty, moody, moshy, “Threads” kind of bridges the gap between “Requiem” and “Let Me In” (probably the most emotionally driven song), “Fake” is a 3 minute banger, “Marionette” is a conceptually driven Dahlia tribute, and “Timeless” well, who saw that one coming?
If the band could tour to any specific part of the world for either the first time or revisit there again, where would it be?
We still haven’t hit the U.S. so I’m dying to get over there, Canada would be great (I was born there), Europe and the UK was fun last time, Japan and South East Asia, EVERYWHERE!
What was the coolest tour you guys have been on over the course of your career as Make Them Suffer?
It’s gotta be a toss up between Northlane’s “Free Your Mind” tour or Bleeding Through’s final tour. “Free Your Mind” had insane show turnouts and we made some great friends! And well, Bleeding Through have been a massive songwriting influence on the band, and to see them off was extremely emotional for all parties involved.
