Thor Hammer: In-depth Interview With Kyle McNeil

By Tyler Crooks

May 3rd 2011, Los Angeles CA: Today, I had the pleasure of speaking with Kyle McNeil, the guitarist and frontman for the up-and-coming St. Louis thrash outfit, ThorHammer.

Tyler: So how and when did ThorHammer form?
Kyle: We started up in late 2009, after the band (Sean (bass) and I (drums)), MCF dissolved. Originally I was supposed to play drums and I was going to find guitar players, but I started writing songs and my other side project had a falling out with the guitarist/bassist so we just went with it and started jamming out as a 3 piece, we didn't find Vince (lead guitar) until July 2010.

Tyler: ThorHammer has a pretty unique sound for a genre (thrash) that can get kind of tired and boring at times. You seem to channel the likes of Exodus and Slayer while still managing to be original and fresh. How did you create your own signature sound?
Kyle: We're not as stuck up as a lot of other thrash bands, I think, we're not about slaying posers and being the ultimate thrash band, that scene is played out. I think a huge part of what separates our sound from others, is that we tend to take as much influence from Iron Maiden and Thin Lizzy as we do Megadeth and Exodus. I tend to think of parts of songs as colors, and I like to use all the colors I can think of, for insance Krusade appears to me mainly a golden yellow, Smoke and Mirrors is gun metal grey, Immolator is orange and red.

Tyler: You have a single 4 song demo under your belt, a little over 600 fans on Facebook, and have shared the stage with a legendary band in an incredibly short amount of time. What do you attribute your success to?
Kyle: We just really want it, we hunger for it. Real life sucks man! All we want to do is to peddle our musical wares all across the nation and make the best music we can. We're always trying to better ourselves and promote what we're doing. It doesn't hurt that we have pretty kickass production on that demo, and I am not afraid of facebook spamming the shit out of people! Social networking is a huge component these days and its awesome that we can reach people overseas with just a couple mouse-clicks.

Tyler: I've listened to the entirety of your demo, and it's an incredible effort for a band that's only recently hit the scene. There's a lot of obvious energy and passion on the demo, so I have to ask, what is your writing process like?
Kyle: Every song takes on a life of its own, and there's no set format for writing. One particular tune is literally just 18 or so non-sequitur riffs that just flow seamlessly with no repition. But mainly when we write, it starts with bong loads and me dicking around on guitar until I find something that really tickles my pickle. If I'm lucky, I'll come up with something cool to follow it and get a basic structure down. Then I'll bring it to the guys, more bong loads, then we toy around with it until we get something that tickles all of our pickles. One recent track, "The River" was incomplete for about 4 months, and one day Sean brought in a perfectly badass riff and we had the song done by the end of the day. Or conversely, our newest track was put together in 3 days and is one of the most epic things we've written. We're not into the lather/rinse/repeat song structure, or throwing together 35 breakdowns and calling it a day. We take songwriting very seriously and I like to think we don't do filler!

Tyler: You recently played a show with metal legends 3 Inches of Blood. What was that experience like for you?
Kyle: Dude, I can't even begin to describe it! 3 Inches of Blood is one of the first 3 metal bands I ever heard (I was a late bloomer, didn't get into metal til I was 15) when I was playing a Tony Hawk game, I was hooked on them ever since then. To say they are a huge influence on what I like to write, with the old-school sound and the guitar harmonies, not to mention the dual vocals, which I hope to incorporate into our sound someday. Picture how Christmas felt when you're little, then amplify that times a trillion and I think that's about how it felt.

Tyler: You take on both the guitar and vocal duties in ThorHammer. When did you discover that you had a voice for thrash?
Kyle: I have always been into singing, but I never had a "metal" voice, I was always more of a soft-singer. It wasn't until I started drumming and doing backup vocals in MCF that I started training my voice for metal, which I trained it by singing along to GWAR's "Beyond Hell" album. I always loved Oderus's vocals because they're harsh but still in key and somewhat sing-y, so I put my own spin on that approach. I've switched styles a few times in between now and then, everythng from death growls to blackened wails! I even tried finding us a singer in the early days but all I could find were Lamb of God types, so I was like "fuck this, I'll just try to sing it how I want to hear it!"

Tyler: The St. Louis metal scene seems to be incredibly diverse, with bands like Fetal Injury, Creaturezoid, and Cross Examination to name a few. How does ThorHammer manage to stick out in such a crowd?
Kyle: I think it's because there's nobody in town that's taking the same approach to thrash metal that we are. We're not afraid to bring in a bit of blackened sounds, a bit of melodic death metal sounds, some punk-ish sounds, I like to think we offer a main course of thrash with hints of those elements worked in. I think the live performance is key to us sticking out. We're loud and tight, and full of energy. I mean, when you got my 6'2 viking looking ass on stage, flailing my hair around and shoving my guitar up in the air, that's bound to catch somebody's eye.

Tyler: What are your future plans to ensure ThorHammer continues on successfully?
Kyle: We're just gonna keep doing what has been working for us so far, which, fortunately, is just making the exact kind of music we like to hear! We're gonna hit the road this summer on hopefully a couple tours, we're working on getting an album out too, so we're always gonna be busy. We're about to sign with an indie label, Skull Records native to St. Louis here, so that will be a huge help in getting us to where we want to be. It's incredibly hard to be in a band that wants to do something these days, the way the industry is, so every bit we can accomplish helps.

Tyler: Who would you say are your main influences when it comes to songwriting?
Kyle: Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy, Megadeth, 3 Inches of Blood, Skeletonwitch, and Motorhead. We all have our own influences to our playing styles, varying from Rush, Primus and Pink Floyd to Arsis and Amon Amarth, and all that somehw works its way into our songs.

Tyler: Finally, is there anything else you'd like to add in or say to the readers?
Kyle: I would like to say, that if you are lucky enough to have a good band in your town, go to their shows, buy their merch, and support your scene. Local music everywhere is suffering, and it can change with the help of the fans. Also, be sure to check us out on Reverbnation, and download our tunes! We're gonna be releasing our demo EP soon, as well as embark on midwestern and southwestern tours, so stay updated and catch us in a town near you! Thrash til death!

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