It Only Gets Worse is the collaboration between Matt Finney of Heinaly and Matt Finney, also of Secret Admirer and Maurice of Gnaw Their Tongues, a duo that dangerously experiments with pop music to come up with a dark electronic hybrid sound, built around some fascinating, addictive, bleak writing and delivered in strong spoken word.
They are about to release their best material so far on their new album, Christian Country Home, which is due this fall. We spoke with them about it and about their fascinating band in general.
How did It Only Get Worse come about?
Matt:
It happened a few years ago, back in 2011 I think but I had a bit of a
nervous breakdown and stuff halted. I had been a fan of what Maurice was
doing with all of his projects. He's a legend and I thought we could do
something really cool together. I connected with him on Facebook and
asked if he'd be up for maybe collabing on something. I didn't expect to
get a reply but it all worked out. I'm really lucky.
How would you describe this project's style?
Matt: Music for sad kids to tear the club up to. I think that works.
How similar or how different is it working on this project than on Secret Admirer or Gnaw Their Tongues?
Matt:
With IOGW there's total freedom. Secret Admirer was formed to tell a
story through our albums. IOGW is total catharsis for me. I can write
whatever I want with this band as long as Maurice is up for it and I
love it. It's a chance for us to keep people on their toes.
Maurice:
I can totally experiment with sound in IOGW. It gives me a chance to
live out my electro fantasies and do some really really sad music.
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| Matt, pictured above, is believed to be out of focus even in person... |
It's
not very common for dark underground acts like you to sample or cover
popular artists, like Young Thug and Drake. It feels like you enjoy
giving the current pop culture a dark twist. What drew you to this
approach?
Matt: I think throwing something
that's so unexpected of us into what we're doing makes it that much more
fun. I never thought the Justin Bieber sample we put on one of our
songs would work but it pushed it over the top. It's also a way to maybe
get people to check out music they'd normally write off. I love the
idea of a bunch of ambient fans/black metal dudes jamming to Young Thug
because they heard it from us.
Maurice: I like
how it will fucks with people's expectations of what IOGW would sound
like. We are so out of the box… the box isn't even in sight anymore.
How would you explain that your music appeals so much to fans of metal?
Matt:
Probably people following us over from our other projects. It's a
pretty tight knit community and almost everyone is friends and they're
all really supportive. I think we're pretty heavy too. There's a lot of
stuff Maurice is doing where it sounds so claustrophobic it's scary.
Where do you draw inspiration from?
Matt:
The terrible day to day shit, being poor, being an anxiety ridden mess,
Raymond Carver, Margaret Atwood, my family, my friends, getting less
than four hours of sleep most nights. I sound like a really fun guy to be
around, huh?
Maurice: I mostly get inpired by Matt's text. Trying to put the vibe i get from the texts into music.
What do you mostly listen to these days?
Matt:
Here's some stuff from this year that I've really loved: Drake- If
You're Reading This It's Too Late, Prurient- Frozen Niagara Falls,
Citzen- Everybody Is Going To Heaven, Ghost Bath- Moonlover, Young Thug-
Barter 6. I have a bunch of albums to catch up on though. It's been a
great year for music.
Maurice: I'm totally on a 80's metal trip these days... but also: Leviathan, Dodheimsgard, Macabre Omen, Henry Gorecki.
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| Maurice pictured in action... |
Christian
Country Home will be soon released on cassette via Tartarus Records.
How do you feel about physical media compared to digital?
Matt:
I love holding an album in my hands and putting it on the stereo and
enjoying it on a Saturday/Sunday morning. It doesn't get much better for
me but as a rap fan I've gotten used to downloading mixtapes and being
completely blown away. As long as whatever I'm hearing is exciting I'll
pick it up any way that I can.
What does the near future hold for It Only Gets Worse?
Matt: Definitely more albums. We're already writing stuff now!
It Only Gets Worse's latest release is an EP called Love Songs and together with a couple more releases, it is available for name-your-price download through their Bandcamp.