If a few years ago you would have asked Make Them Suffer if they thought they’d have been closing out 2024 with their career’s most defining statement, they surely wouldn’t have believed such a thing was possible. Yet from making their way through tumultuous waters and with a newfound sense of self, Perth’s favourite purveyors of devastation feel more phoned it and primed to deal out punishment than ever before.
That ethos is presented via their new album ‘Make Them Suffer’, a pitch-perfect display of the drama, destruction and decadence that has represented their sound over the last decade. Luscious, crushing and brimming with confidence and character, it’s a record that suits the stature of the milestones the band are hitting right now, and opens the door for even bigger and brighter things.
To sum up this period of life in the band and what it has taught them, Rock Sound sat down with guitarist Nick McLernon…
ROCK SOUND: How does it feel to be at a place with Make Them Suffer where you’re clearly the most comfortable and confident in what this band is you’ve ever been?
Nick: “The honest truth is that before this album cycle, we were at a stage where we were this close to breaking up. Having a moment where you ask yourself, ‘Are we going to die now?’. Is ten years of work about to go down the drain? But now, we haven’t really had a chance to reflect on these past two years when the writing and recording of this record took place, but that is because, in the time when we have been rejuvenated, we just haven’t stopped. We have been busy constantly. And there is a serendipity to ending up in that situation because it feels like it has all happened for a purpose. To go from a point where I thought the band was going to break up and our lives work is gone, a very volatile period of time, to where we now really does suit the word serendipitous.”
RS: For you, what is that shifted to allow you to get to this place?
Nick: “I think that everybody can agree that this is a point where we are finally locked in. For ten years, we were still trying to learn the ropes. We were figuring out and finding out our identity. That’s within the band name, the fact that we have a female presence and the importance of that asset. And when Alex joined, it was very unintentionally a very pivotal moment for us. We were just so focused on staying a band and trying not to go our separate ways. Alex happened to be a friend that I had made over the COVID period. She had regular touring experience and was already in a metal band, and it just made so much sense. She brought way more to the table than we had initially imagined. We knew she was a good singer and could scream, but more importantly, she brought this chemistry into the band. She bought this sense of belief. She has changed our chemistry; we are all looking at the same goal and vision. I don’t think that would have happened without her.”
RS: To find someone who fits what you are doing and reminds you why you are doing this in the first place, it’s impossible for it not to have a huge effect on everything you’re moving towards…
Nick: “And that really came through in our writing. Not only because we knew we had this talent it’s because of her energy. When you bring another person into a studio, there is a subconscious effect on how your music is written. I don’t know the science behind it; it just happens. And Alex is a classic example of that taking place. I like to think that she gave us more confidence to write how we wanted to write. This is an honest record, and that’s because we were now able to write our identity. This is a totally self-produced album as well. Every record we have made, apart from [2017’s] ‘World’s Apart’, has had some sort of outside influence helping us make it. In ‘Worlds Apart’, we didn’t know what we were doing, but it exists in the same place because we were at least honest with ourselves. The difference between then and now is that now we are more locked in and confident in terms of producing it and producing that honesty.”
RS: There’s a sense of control as well. Now, every piece feels like it is in the right place, rather than just thinking it and running with it. There’s a significant distinction between the two and the result of what creating within that is. Also, positivity can come from that control and confidence, and it’s about not being afraid to thrive in that despite having so many roots in heaviness and darkness…
Nick: “Our band has always been built on juxtaposition. The heavy to the light, the yin to the yang. So we would go into writing a song and feel such positivity, and that’s how you end up with a song like ‘Mana God’, which is actually the heaviest song on the record. But when you dive in, there is a lot of light and positivity between the riffs. Then when we write a sad song or a ballad, it comes out like ‘No Hard Feelings’, which is in the major key. What we have learned through that honesty, we have unintentionally created that juxtaposition that we have always been searching for. We have finally nailed it.”
RS: When you find yourself there, that must be a big push towards why you want to umbrella those songs with the title ‘Make Them Suffer’. It is the perfect embodiment of what you have spent all these years searching for, and you want people to know that…
Nick: “Again, it goes back to why serendipitous is the term to define this period. We’ve had to go through this journey to find that missing piece. It would always take as long as it has, but it would always happen for us. It’s difficult to explain that feeling, but the journey has been very purposeful. We’ve had to learn a lot of lessons to find that inner balance we have always been searching for.”
RS: The opportunities you have been allowed through that journey may have always been there, but because of the mindset you’re in now, they feel more valuable. Compared to the mindset you were previously in, you’re actually able to grasp onto and be grateful for everything even more so…
Nick: “It means that we are able to express our art and our music whilst actually enjoying it. That comes from making an honest record. If you don’t make an honest record, you might be playing to 10,000 people at Wembley Arena, but something will always be missing. When ‘Doomswitch’ and ‘Ghost Of Me’ first came out, you could feel straight away that the missing piece was occupied. People can tell when you’re making music that isn’t true to yourself or comes from that honest place. I like to think that music is the physical manifestation of the spirit. You can really feel it when people mean it. Knocked Loose are a classic example of that. They are being true to themselves; they do it well, and everybody can feel it. If there is anything we want to take from their book, trust in your own process and sound because people will feel it.”
RS: That sentiment can be felt the most in heavy music because everybody cares about it. They have found themselves here for a pure reason, and the search for that purity in others will always filter out the fakes…
Nick: “Thinking like that has given us more confidence in our process. We’re now following our own instead of someone else’s. From now on, the motto is to just do what we think is right—do what feeds the purpose.”
RS: Within all of this, there is a sense of relief in the fact that you have ended up here and now said farewell to this band when it felt like that was the only choice. So how does it feel having it still be such a vital part of your life now as you look towards whatever may be next?
Nick: “It’s hard to answer because it’s something I have never taken the time to think of. Simply because we have been so busy for so long. But when we first met Alex, she was going through the same thing as what we were with her old band. She had the same feelings of feeling like she was losing years of work. Music is who she is, which is the same as everyone else in this band. None of us really know anything else. And for Alex, she felt like she was about to lose a part of her identity. We would share these sentiments of knowing precisely what she was going through because of our situation. But for us all, being in Make Them Suffer now and being such a part of our identity feels like we are all at the beginning of reaping the rewards of sticking to it. Staying true to ourselves, making sacrifices to build and maintain that identity for ten years, and only now are we starting to see the result of that. And that feels so good.”
