The Amazons have announced their fourth album '21st Century Fiction' with new single 'Pitch Black'. Check it out below along with our interview with frontman Matt Thomson telling us about comparing personal truths head-on, and getting in the studio with Royal Blood.
The band have today shared the album's second single, in the form of blues-rock scorcher 'Pitch Black', following on from the eerie launch single 'Living A Lie' back in September, seeing in a new era for the Reading rock trio after their 2022 Top Five record 'How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me?'.
“'Living A Lie' was really the turning point for us,” Thomson told NME. “The song that came out of that riff really correlated in an intimate and succinct way with how I was actually feeling at the time. The music that we were [initially] making didn't feel like an appropriate vehicle for me to express myself. 'Living A Lie' helped us get back into focus on who we are as a band, and what we have to say to the world.”
Opening up about 'Pitch Black', Thomson told NME that the song “inhabits the dark little caves” that young men often box themselves into. “Speaking from the stiff male experience, what we try and strive for in strength can turn into pride – we can be our own worst enemy sometimes. 'Pitch Black' inhabits a space that we can fall into, and it's really hard to get out.
“We dig ourselves a hole, and then we break the ladder. Isn't it funny that when we're in our darkest place, it's the least likely moment that we would reach out to someone? It's about the paradox of that.”
Check out our full interview below, where Thomson goes deep on the resonance of the word 'fiction', the challenges of approaching 30, and Royal Blood's role in their new album.
NME: Hello Matt. Did it feel like a eureka moment when 'Living A Lie' took the album process in its new direction?
Matt Thomson: “We basically found this flow state. The album that we'd been making up to that point had been so forced and so filled with second-guessing about what we should do. When you finally get into a flow state and the stars align, you have this really empowering feeling of, 'I love this – I don't give a fuck if anyone else likes it or not.' That's why I fell in love with rock and alternative music in the first place… feeling 10 feet tall, chest out, middle finger to everyone.”
The title 'Living A Lie' is quite self-explanatory – but does it refer to a specific experience?
“It's not as specific or conversational as a lot of music is at the moment. The power of this song is that it can be interpreted in a few different ways. It's that feeling of waking up at 3am or not being able to get to sleep. The weight of the world, the stark, bleak realities of little lies that we tell ourselves to get through the day – when they're just exposed on their own, you see them for what they are.
“It's very exposed and vulnerable. I'm fascinated by the little resolutions that you make in the middle of the night, [saying] your life is going to change tomorrow – and it never does.”
Did writing this album help you compare those truths?
“For the first time, these are songs that I just needed to write. I'm using them as mantras for my daily life, and I still have to keep them close to try and move forward. The slogans in 'Go All The Way,' which is the climax of the record, were influenced by Charles Bukowsi's poems. He was operating from a really dark place – more so than me – but the light in his work really resonated with me, at that point in my life.”
Why does '21st Century Fiction' sum up the feeling of the record?
“Being children of the 20th Century, we were '90s kids [who had] ideas of what our adult experience would look like. As we've worked our way through the 21st Century, it really does feel like a story that we were told which hasn't come to fruition: it's fiction. There's another element to the title – the heavy lifting that is expected from common people, in their daily lives, to navigate a discourse that is completely blurred between fact and fiction.”
In 2009, Green Day used '21st Century Breakdown' to voice their concerns about the world. Does 'fiction' really match the moment in 2024?
“I think 'fiction' is a really interesting word. We'll probably be in conversation with this album for the rest of our lives, as a band. So many elements of the 20th Century have distorted and twisted into the most extreme versions of themselves, to the point where I'm in a country right now [the USA] where one person's fact is another person's fiction. 'Fiction' could be one of the defining words of the 21st Century. We've always been storytellers, but in the 21st Century, the conditions in which we're operating have been twisted.
“We wanted to be bold. We had a bit of trepidation, calling the album '21st Century Fiction', because you don't want to seem too lofty, but it was almost a challenge to ourselves. This is the title – let's create an album that is worthy of the boldness and the provocative nature of the record.”
The imagery of band members reading a book – which is the main focus of the album artwork – has been teased all over your socials…
“The book can be interpreted as a form of distraction. The ensemble around me [on the artwork] is entranced by this impending doom, whilst the man in his 20s is absorbed and distracted. There was actually a version where the book was the answer, and everyone was looking into the book, it was kind of interesting – what story do you want to tell?
“The language of books, fiction and authors – we were inspired by these mid-century writers from Bukowski to John Fante, who has a book called Ask The Dust. I wanted to critique the cliché of young men seeking solace in that literature, rather than engaging with the world outside. I'm trying to speak to the internalization of young men, their troubles and their tendency to retreat inside themselves to find solace in dead authors, rather than addressing the world outside.”
That boldness coming out of the other side of these truths – it feels like you've truly backed yourselves on this album…
“Backing myself, in 2024 as a 30-year-old man, is to believe in my creative convictions. I have spent the last 10 years worrying about the right thing to do, or whether this creative decision will help us with opportunities within the music industry – all these completely unrealistic and superficial influences. There is no right answer.
“I'm trying to put that positive creative experience into the way I operate on a daily basis, instead of this constant self-flagellation that I'm not the man that I expected to be. I'm not strong, I don't look as good, I'm not as healthy, I'm not as successful as the people I see on social media. Accepting where I am in my journey and refocusing on my values, rather than 'I need to be hitting these numbers. I need to talk less, because I want to be a stoic, strong dude.' All of these complete crazy hang-ups that you have throughout your 20s as a young male.”
With that in mind, do you now look back on the band's story so far through a different lens?
“That's something I'm working on. I wanted to use the clarity of reflection to make a record that spoke to my experience as a young man in his 20s. As much as I've gained some clarity, there's so many frustrations on this record that I haven't resolved yet. I've been struggling with my view of our journey, retrospectively, ever since the first record. I'll still have the devil on my shoulder saying 'It could have been X, Y and Z.' Maybe I'm trying to harness that into a work ethic of carrying on and looking forward.”
Your old tour buddies Royal Blood feature on 'My Blood' – how did that collaboration go down in the studio?
“There's definitely a shared language, which was a thrill to see… in the barenaked creative process, in Royal Blood's studio. Mike [Kerr, frontman] was actually the first person attached to this record. I picked up the phone to him and said, 'Do you want to [produce] an Amazons record?' I think he was surprised, but excited and adamant that we were only going to do one song instead of the whole album. He said, 'We need to make sure that we shake each other's hands and remain friends after.'
“He really helped us craft the middle eight; that chord change is so Mike. We had most of the album done at this point, so it was a free shot. There was a little bit of back and forth… I turned up on the first day with half the lyrics, so I was a little insecure about not having a complete grasp of the song. That's the only place where we butted heads – he was suggesting some amazing stuff… because it wasn't mine, I was just pushing him back. But I apologized afterwards, and we're all good!”
Nothing great comes without its challenges…
“We're in the furnace, we're in the middle of Mount Doom. Mike's obviously been exposed to some incredible conversations with everyone from Justice to [Led Zeppelin icon] Jimmy Page. He said, 'Behind every great album and artist is an incredibly messy process.' It's imperfect, and 90 percent of the time it's not great – it's all about the patience and perseverance to push through.”
What did Ben Thatcher bring to the track behind the drum kit?
“I would call him a blockbuster drummer. Some of the fills that he was pulling off were just jaw-dropping. He's got these gospel chops, this technique that's really baked in from a young age. He hits like an absolute monster.”
The Amazons don't currently have a permanent drummer – might Ben be up for joining you on the road?
“Never say never, we'd love that to happen at one point. We've currently got one of our great friends George Le Page, he's locked in [as a touring drummer] for the foreseeable future. But that would be a thrill. Like Dave Grohl and Queens of the Stone Age!”
The Amazons' fourth album '21st Century Fiction' is due out May 9. Check out the full tracklist below:
'Living A Lie'
'Night After Night'
'(Panic) (Interlude)'
'Pitch Black'
'My Blood'
'(Shake Me Down) (Interlude)'
'Wake Me Up'
'(Intermission) (Interlude)'
'Joe Bought A Gun'
'Love Is A Dog From Hell'
'The Heat! pt.2'
'Heaven Now'
'Go All The Way'
