Photo Credit: Jarkko Pietarinen
Finnish quartet Throat return with their third full-length Smile Less, due for release later this week via Svart Records. Recorded at Tonehaven Recording Studio with Tom Brooke, mixed by Andrew Schneider (Unsane, Cult of Luna, Cave In) and mastered by Carl Saff (Big Business, KEN Mode, Young Widows), the new album pushes boundaries within noise rock to showcase Throat‘s darker side. We caught up with guitarist/vocalist Jukka Mattila ahead of the release to discuss the band’s formation, influences, ambitions and more.
Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself and your band.
My name is Jukka Mattila and I play guitar and sing in Throat, a noisy rock band from Turku, Finland.
How did the band form and how long have you been together?
We started the band in 2009 when Aleksis (guitar/backing vocals) and I wanted to play something similar as the 90s bands we adored. We felt there were not enough bands with that type of sound around at the time, so we decided to do it ourselves. 12 years, a handful of releases and well over 100 shows later we’re still doing the same thing. The sound may have evolved into something more of our own, but the basic foundation for the band remains the same.
Can you remember the first time you realised you wanted to make music?
I can’t recall any specific moment, but as I’ve always been drawn towards music, I’m sure it must have been at a very early age. It simply has always felt like the best way for me to get stuff out of my system.
Who and what are the band’s main influences?
Our influences can be extremely varied, ranging from extreme electronic noise to cheesy 80s pop music. When we started Throat, influences could be traced easily to the 90s noise rock sound and bands such as Unsane, Fudge Tunnel, TAD, Helmet, Distorted Pony, Hammerhead, Tar, Melvins etc. but as years have passed we’ve begun to branch out and use whatever influences and ideas at any given moment. Our focus is on making music that pleases our tastes and whatever influences that outcome is not very important.
What do you aim to achieve as a band?
Like I just mentioned, making music that we like ourselves is the most important thing. If someone else likes it, that’s all fine and dandy, but doesn’t really affect anything we do.
For those who are yet to see you live, what can they expect from a Throat show?
Volume and energy. Those are two things we want to release when playing live. We’re not there to entertain, just to play loud rock music and it’s 100% up to each audience member to decide how they want to react to it.
What’s next for Throat?
Svart Records is releasing our third full length album, ”Smile Less” on May 14th. After that we’ll wait and see when live shows will start happening again and in the meantime we’ll be writing new music just like always.
Throat‘s new album Smile Less is due for release on 14th May 2021 via Svart Records, available to pre-order HERE.
