Cruthu

A chat with Matt and Ryan of Cruthu as well as fans Korey, Brandon, Daniel, Paul, Matt, Erik, and Matt. We started out with the fans who span the globe to discover how they found Cruthu. We learn the origin behind the name of the band as well as their latest album Athrú Crutha and how to pronounce it. We explore the craftsmanship behind Cruthu’s music. Finally, we explore what everyone is listening to these days and the mysteries of pineapple.

How The Fans Discovered Cruthu

We kicked off this episode by asking the fans how they discovered Cruthu. Paul saw them at PJ’s Lager House where they opened for Spirit Adrift. He was glad he got there early as he loved the doom metal Sabbath vibe. 

Matt C has known Ryan (vocals for Cruthu) since high school and has known Ryan’s wife Misty (who joined the call with Ryan) since 7th grade. Regardless of timeline, Matt was enthralled after the first listen of Cruthu comparing the experience to his first listen to Metallica’s Master Of Puppets.

Erik heard the rough demos of the first Cruthu album (The Angle of Eternity) and was blown away. The experience still resonates with him today. Matt C added that he enjoys the storytelling aspect of Cruthu’s music. It is as if he is sitting around a campfire and hearing the story told.

Brandon discovered Cruthu at FuzzFest in Ann Arbor at the legendary Blind Pig. While all the bands were great, Cruthu’s doomy vibe captured his attention. He has been following the band ever since. Matt H has been a friend of Matt F (drummer for Cruthu) for some time. He felt he couldn’t really top the descriptions by Matt C or Erik, but agrees that the music of Cruthu speaks for itself.

Daniel called in from Chile. A friend of his asked him if he had heard of Cruthu as he knew that Daniel loved doom metal bands. It was love at first listen for Daniel. For him, the music is powerful doom with great blues roots. Daniel particularly enjoys the vocal phrasing and melodies. He thought it was fantastic that Cruthu released their latest album (Athrú Crutha) during the pandemic.

Athrú Crutha and Song Writing

Ryan kindly guided me through the pronunciation of the title of the latest Cruthu album called Athrú Crutha. Like the band’s name, the album title is gaelic and means “to transform into” in a supernatural form. This dovetails nicely with the first track as well as the overall theme of the album. By the way, Cruthu roughly means creation or to create.

We talked a bit about the evolution of the music of Cruthu. From the initial demos with Matt and Dan (guitar) through the addition of Ryan on vocals and Derek on bass. While their first album The Angle of Eternity is great, you can clearly hear a more cohesive sound on the new album.

We explored the songwriting process of Cruthu. This typically involves riffs from Dan that are shaped by the rest of the band into the final version of the songs. The lyrical content is developed after the music is created. In some cases, Ryan has existing lyrics that fit perfectly with a melody. In other cases, inspiration comes in an avalanche. This is how the lyrics to “Crown of Horns” were born.

Paul was curious if Athrú Crutha is a concept album. Ryan explained that it isn’t a concept album in the true sense. However, it is thematic where story ideas within songs can extend into the others. 

Recording the Album

Erik wanted to know where the latest Cruthu album had been recorded. Ryan indicated that it was recorded at Dan’s home in Lansing. The house is an older home with lots of natural wood that provides for a dynamic sound environment.

The recording engineer is George Szegedy who worked with Cruthu on the first album. George has also worked on the recordings of Ryan and his wife Misty’s other band Seritas. They recorded on tape to capture the continuous waveform of their music via analog signal.

Taking Cruthu on the Road

Daniel posed the question of taking Cruthu on the road. Not just to North America, but whether the band would consider some of the bigger doom festivals in Europe such as Hammer Of Doom Festival or Doom Over Vienna. Cruthu had been working on plans to play Hammer Of Doom, however all plans are currently on hold given the pandemic.

In addition, Daniel was interested in what Cruthu thinks of doom metal in South America. Ryan feels the doom scene in Latin America is very strong. Daniel mentioned it would be cool to have Cruthu play some shows with King Heavy and Apostle of Solitude. Let’s hope that in the near future we can see this happen.

More on Touring

Something we learned while talking is that the members of Cruthu are spread out across the Lower Peninsula of Michigan from Petoskey (up in the northern lower) to Lansing, Saginaw, and Grand Rapids. To some extent this has limited the band to doing just a few small strings of shows. Matt F mentioned that Cruthu really hasn’t gotten into the van to do any true turing. Ryan added that they haven’t yet done a Black Flag run which brought many laughs.

Paul continued that he didn’t really see Cruthu as a van band. He felt they should really be using a stagecoach or carriage for that old world Transylvania feel. Matt C quipped that they would have to keep the Stonehenge monuments to a minimum.

Cosmic Horror

As we talked more about songwriting, Ryan relayed that in the band Seritas the lyrics are personal. With Cruthu, the lyrics are complete fiction. Matt F added that their first singer had written more personal lyrics and he always felt that the H.P. Lovecraft themes of cosmic horror would be a great direction to take. When Ryan joined the band, he jumped on this notion.

New Music and First Albums

While talking about how we all have found music to be our savior while we deal with the pandemic, the topics of what everyone is listening to and their first album popped up. Matt C has been enjoying the new Mr. Bungle album.

Matt F has been listening to Ryan’s new side project (Ubuntu). His first album was Eye of the Tiger by Survivor. Misty added her first album was Freeze Frame by J Geils. Matt C’s first album was Weird Al’s Polka Party. Paul’s first tape was Europe’s The Final Countdown. 

Korey has been listening to the new Pallbearer. His first album was actually the entire collection of Led Zeppelin that he snagged from his cousin. The Go Go’s Beauty and the Beat was Erik’s first album. Brandon started out with System of a Down Steal This Album. However, lately he is fascinated with Bill Fisher’s solo album called Mass Hypnosis and the Dark Triad. Matt H is really missing live shows and remembers the Offspring as his first album.

Side Projects - Ubuntu and Budahas

As we talked about new music and what everyone is listening to, Matt F mentioned that he, Erik and Matt H had been in a band called Budahas. After several years, they will be releasing their album Explore via bandcamp. As mentioned earlier, Ryan has a side project of eclectic ambient music called Ubuntu who recently released their album called Jupiter.

Pineapple Anyone?

A classic wrap-up on Fans With Bands is the great debate of pineapple or no pineapple on pizza. Matt C is firmly on the no F pizza: No Fruit, No Feta, No Fish, and No Fungus. Matt F is not a fan of pineapple. Ryan and Misty are more traditionalists with pizza, however they did experiment with pineapple and it wasn’t too bad. 

Paul went to Michigan State and during his years of experimentation at school he dabbled with pineapple. Now that he has kids, he has left pineapple behind. Erik is straight up no pizza. Instead he’ll go for tacos and throw on pineapple just for fun. Brandon doesn’t really like pineapple, but he loves pizza enough to suffer the pineapple if that is all that is available. Korey is one of the few pineapple fans on this episode as Matt H gives pineapple the down vote.

 

Dig into the stories, laughs, and much more in this episode of Fans With Bands with Cruthu. We hope you enjoy it! 

 

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