The Amazons frontman Matt Thomson guides us through the making of their vital and exploratory new album ’21st Century Fiction’, set for release on May 09.
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“I think the underpinning ethos behind it was that we just had to leave everything out there.”
The Amazons frontman Matt Thomson is in a reflective mood, well aware that the long journey to ‘21st Century Fiction’, the UK band’s fourth studio album, has not always been an easy one.
“I think with our drummer leaving, it was like we realized that this might not be forever. There is a sentiment with a lot of people, when they hit their 30s, they feel more at peace with themselves or like they might have things more figured out or that they have a better sense of self. I was just the complete and utter opposite. I never felt more lost and was finding it hard to accept certain parts of my life were still unresolved.”
Rather than wallowing in thoughts of missed opportunities, Thomson took action, adding in orchestral suites, gang vocals and electronic tinges to their traditional guitar-led sound. The result is easily their most accomplished collection to date, surprising the listener throughout with its bold moves and subject matter.
“Maybe we only have this window of time to make our mark creatively, so we have to make our mark now. I felt on the last three records that we’ve been searching for something, searching for a home. And I just thought we’ve got to stop searching and we have to listen to ourselves.”
An uncompromising record that is equal parts personal and wide reaching, this is how ‘21st Century Fiction’ became a reality.
THE SOUND
“We wouldn’t have been able to make this record at any other time of our journey. We never had a big break so it’s been just more about following our noses at the time. With this record, it would be wrong to say it wasn’t a reaction to the last one, and not just in its sonics, not just in its sounds, but the entire process, the entire makeup.”
A big part of the process behind 2022’s ‘How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me?’ revolved around obtaining feedback from outside influences, regularly sending demos to friends and family to crowdsource opinion. The result? An album built by committee which left Thomson feeling uninspired.
“The only destination you get to through that process is boring, unimaginative music that doesn’t even reflect you, because we were pursuing success, ultimately. We have to pull back the curtain because it’s really embarrassing to say that we were looking to be successful in alternative and rock circles, right? But there is no way we could have made a record as uncompromising as ‘21st Century Fiction’ unless we’d been completely shattered by the process of the third.”
That uncompromising vision is evident from the second you push play on opening track ‘Living A Lie’, greeted by Hitchcock-esque held strings before a haunting female vocal glides over the top, giving the way to an electronic, almost industrial soundscape. A bold choice not just for an album opener, it acted as the lead single of this era, setting the stage for the equally experimental ‘Intermission’ section and a capella ‘Panic’.
“Maybe the cliches of following your instinct are absolutely right”, says Thomson. “The crash and burnout that we experienced informed this new record and we didn’t send it to anyone. We didn’t send it to our friends until it was done. And even then we were like, ‘I don’t care’. I’m sorry, friends or mum or dad, but it doesn’t matter. We actually had to do this for us. Even if this was our last album, this is what it fucking sounds like.”
THE COLLABORATORS
‘My Blood’, another punchy and swaggering track fit for a walk to the boxing ring, sees Royal Blood’s Mike Kerr take on production duties with drummer Ben Thatcher also providing his signature rolling beats in the background. But far from just another starry guest appearance, the collab was born out of a longtime friendship between Kerr and Thomson.
“It’s not quite a mentor relationship. He would probably cringe at that role or that title, but we’ve always had a relationship where, since I moved to Brighton, we would just go on these long COVID-era walks along the promenade and the sea. Then we just carried that on and had these semi regular, episodic calls where we would just talk about music and creativity. That naturally turns into sending demos over and swapping ideas.”
Originally asked to produce the whole record, Kerr was eventually given his pick of the bunch, saying “I don’t know about doing the entire album, but I’ll do one song and then we have to shake hands at the end and still be friends”.
Elsewhere, the band turned to producer Catherine Marks, a process Thomson describes as “much more of an emotional collaboration. Maybe we’d lost who we are or what makes us special or what makes the Amazons distinctive, and we’d had such a good time with her on the first two records. It did then feel like there were moments of songs where I don’t know if other bands could do this. So that was more of an emotional call to get her in so we’re safe. At the very least, we’re going to make something that resembles us.”
With Marks’ tight schedule allowing her to work on two songs, including single ‘Night After Night’, the band then turned to Pete Hutchings who produced the majority of the record. “We found him through Mike”, Thomson reveals, “I said to Mike that I loved the way Royal Blood’s records sound and the last two especially. Pete had engineered the records so I spoke to him and then we just got on with him so well. He is the most patient, gracious, creative collaborator. I want to make all of our records with this guy because I think we found each other at the right time.”
THE LYRICS
“I think this is the album that I found my voice when it came to lyrics honestly”, Thomson reveals. “To be candid, lyrics have always come second in my songwriting. Always. It was always about making fun, exciting rock and the melodies were always the main driver for me. I’d be writing lyrics in the vocal booth. Not to say that the songs didn’t mean anything to me, but I had no idea what I wanted to say. I didn’t know what I wanted to say to the world.”
The topic of toxic masculinity and its impact on the wider world became a fertile ground for writing, particularly on the damning ‘Joe Bought A Gun’.
“There’s a wider conversation about men and mental health, ultimately because it’s become destructive on a wider societal level in terms of the way people are voting and the never ending statistics about violence against women. I think that men have struggled to find their role in the 21st century. I think the big success story of the 21st century has been the new role that women have been able to carve out for themselves, but I don’t think the same has been said for men, and it just seems like we’re this cornered animal or something, and we’re just lashing out.”
In Thomson’s case, these toxic forces manifested in what he describes as “utter self flagellation over the last 10 years”, constantly feeling like he was coming up short and could never live up to an imagined ideal version of himself.
“For example, we have Glastonbury coming up, and in my old way of thinking – well actually I wouldn’t say I’m past it yet – I’d think ‘Alright, I’m going to get into shape. I’m going to look fucking good. I’m going to put on another muscle. I’m going to do everything I can to not be me and by the time we get to the album coming out, I’m going to be unrecognizable. Everyone will respect me, and everyone will listen to me, and everyone will be envious of me, and women will love me’ and all of this stuff. And the reason all of those things will happen is because I will have created something that’s just not me.”
The need to set a better example for young men is a subject that the likes of Sam Fender and The 1975 have touched upon a great deal in the last few years and Thomson knew that if he was to find something he could speak about with honesty and integrity, it was this vital topic.
“The rock world is very male orientated, and certainly the makeup of our audience is definitely male. I should be feeling more emboldened and more empowered because of our mandate, these are the people that we actually need to talk to. These are the people we actually need to reach, the people going to an Amazons show. When I’ve said stuff on stage about inappropriate behaviour or sexual harassment at the shows, it’s not really up to me to put the burden on women to speak up. It’s more about talking to our fellow men in the audience because we’ve got a responsibility to make this feel like a safe environment for everyone. Rock and roll has been around for 70 years. It has touched every single demographic in its endless array of sub genres and all that stuff. So he space of an Amazons show needs to be one that’s safe for everyone. I think men need to take pride in having standards. We’ve got responsibility.”
“I remember about two years ago, when we were starting bits and bobs with the album, I was trying to figure out who I was speaking to. I walked past a secondary school that was just clearing out around 3pm and I was looking at all these long haired teenage boys, and I thought ‘Oh my god, this is exactly who I was. These are the people I need to be speaking to because I’ve lived the next 10 years that they’re going to be going through and making all the mistakes. These are the people that actually need to be spoken to. We’re in a really unique and effective position in rock to speak to people.”
THE TITLE
“I was reading a lot of 20th century fiction, and I liked that title because it speaks to a worldview that doesn’t exist anymore, or at least isn’t compatible in the 21st century”, Thomson explains. “But I also feel like the fires began there, the sparks of the flames that we’re trying to douse out now kind of begun in that kind of in the mid century, in terms of how that modern male interacted with the conditions of mass produced consumerism and capitalism. The idea of the nine to five and those baked in roles of the men as the breadwinners, and all that kind of stuff that have turned out to be fictions. I think we’re surrounded by them and I think with when it comes to ‘21st Century Fiction’, I think we’ve got to acknowledge that at no point in history have the common person on the street had to, on the daily, navigate a discourse or a societal discussion with so much misinformation. There’s so much heavy lifting done by the average person every single day. What’s expected of us is is crazy. So how can we have productive conversations that actually move us forward if we cannot agree on the fundamental premise of such conversations or even the facts? So that, to me, is what ‘21st Century Fiction’ is.”
“I think also being a child of the 20th century, there were stories about what adulthood would look like, and that’s proved to be fiction as well. So there is a lot of dimensions. That is one of those titles that is like a tree with loads of branches that comes out of it for me, and lots of starting points for conversations which was really important to me. I wanted this title to provoke conversation and be the start of a creative relationship, or a journey that I’ll have with the work. I didn’t want it to be a dead end.”
THE FUTURE
“Really my ambition for us is to be seen as a great live band. We’ve played with extra musicians, and we’ve dabbled in tracks and stuff to be able to replicate live what we’ve done on record. Now I’m trying to find the route towards making people walk away from an Amazons show and thinking that was a really special night.”
As he prepares for another run of live shows in support of the record, Thomson has been taking notes from the performance style of one of the greatest showmen in rock history.
“One of my big inspirations recently has been the Bruce Springsteen live shows. I saw him three times last year, and just the way that he can find a new dimension for us, for everyone. He’s on the stage, the audience are in the crowd, on the floor. How does everyone kind of end up in this one mass? I found his shows were religious leaning. They were almost spiritual and I just found by the time he’s playing ‘Born To Run’ right at the end, everyone’s just lost their minds, and I’m just trying to work out the techniques he employed to get there.”
“I think we actually have to do things the hard way. We actually have to be good. We have to be showmen. I think there are a few acts out there who have the music and are really incredible, but they are just missing that element of taking it to the next level, or finding another space for everyone to be in by the end of the night. How do we go through the looking glass? How do we go down the rabbit hole? How do we get to Oz? Because I think rock and roll can do that, because I’ve seen it. That’s why studying the greats is not about becoming Springsteen, it’s about seeing what’s possible.”
