Sydney's Bird's Robe Records recently announced the impending first-ever tour of Australia by Texan instrumental rock band This Will Destroy You. We caught up with guitarist Jeremy Galindo ahead of the tour.

(((o))): What was one of the first songs you remember really getting swallowed up by – the sort you needed to hear in complete isolation from other senses and other sounds?

JG: Steve Reich - Piano Phase

(((O))): When you play live, particularly a song like 'Little Smoke', does that swallow you up in the same way? Do you feel drawn into it so you are almost oblivious to your surroundings?

JG: I think all of us are in a sort of trance when we play live. It's easy to get lost, especially with a song like Little Smoke, because of the repetition. Sometimes it is as if your body takes over the actual performance of the song while your mind wanders off to different landscapes.

(((O))): I understand you wrote “Tunnel Blanket” at a time of great loss and sadness - the record is drenched in despair, anger and darkness. Does performing songs from the record bring back emotions from those times?

JG: It is definitely emotionally draining to do such a dark set every day over a long tour. After 2 or 3 weeks of consistent shows, it can start taking a toll on your overall mental state. At times, I feel similar emotionally to where I was at during the writing of Tunnel Blanket, but mostly it is just draining.

(((o))): Is sad music the most beautiful music? If so, why?

JG: Aside from it being the most overt form of emotionally-manipulative music... Sad music is usually slower and causes you to slow down and go into a more meditative-like state. A trance-state that allows you reflect inward, while personalizing the music in a more subliminal way. Most of us listen to and crave music because, at it’s root, music is therapy.

(((o))): The record was a significant shift from your self-titled and from Young Mountain. Although still dynamic, that earlier crescendocore gave way a different use of repetition – drone. Is that where you steered it, or did you get carried there, albeit willingly?

JG: The change happened very naturally. We were struggling trying to find the right voice for a new album. Chris and I had worked on some different guitar tones a year prior to writing Tunnel Blanket. Those tones became Communal Blood after working on it with everyone, and the rest of the album came quickly after. It was easily the fastest we've written an album, outside of a couple songs that we had been working on for almost 2 years.

(((o))): Despite the repetition within the songs, there's a huge variety in sound between them. Was it hard to settle on the order of the songs?

JG: We all agreed on the order with no problem. The idea was to have to have the album feel like 1 long movement. The order was easy to put together after all the songs were written because the movements were all there.

(((o))): Having a vinyl made here is Australia seems a bit odd for a US band. How did that come about?

JG: We're big fans of vinyl. The sound is amazing and seeing the artwork on a larger scale is great. Hobbledehoy was open to putting it out in vinyl for us in Australia, and we couldn't be happier to have it released that way.

(((o))): It's a long way to Australia and you had expressed an intention to come here a year ago – what finally enabled the tour?

JG: Our management had been holding us back from touring in Asia/Australia for a while. They wanted more than we were getting. Now that we are not working with a management company anymore, we decided that we wanted to go even if it wasn't as profitable as they wanted it to be. We are very excited to finally get over there.

(((o))): You know the place is crawling with deadly animals don't you?

JG: Sweet. We're from Texas. Give us some shotguns.

(((o))): What's up next for TWDY?

JG: We have a live record coming out soon. We also have started writing the next full length and can't wait to get that out.

(((o))): What's something about you that we won't find on the internet?

JG: 8======>