Therapy?, NI outsiders on 30 years in the music business

Formed in 1989 the band’s story is one of dedication and endurance but also of a touching friendship between two east Antrim lads, Michael McKeegan and Andy Cairns.

The intense melodies of Therapy? combined with Andy’s dark and deeply introspective lyrics and Michael’s ‘Evil Priest’ nickname could easily lead you to draw the wrong conclusion.

Michael said: “People think, the music is dark and intense, they’re going to be really dark and intense.

“The most messed-up people I find are people in pop music. A lot of them are horrible twisted people with weird agendas and they become quite damaged individuals. Then they go on stage everything is rosy.

“It’s really the old cliche – never judge a book by its cover. With us the lyrics are kind of twisted, but there’s a big, dark sense of humour there.

“We let off steam when we go on stage and jump up and down for 90 minutes. You tend to be pretty chilled afterwards.”

When the band first got together in 1989 lead singer and guitarist Andy Cairns was a pupil at Ballyclare High. Michael, who attended Larne Grammar with Fyfe Ewing (the original drummer from Therapy?), wasn’t present for the band’s first recording though he was there in spirit.

He said: “Fyfe and I were in the same English class and would have traded records. He was in a band, I was in a band.

“His band and Andy’s band had played a gig at Jordanstown Uni. They had more in common than they did with their own bands.

“They did a demo together. I was there in spirit because Andy didn’t have a bass guitar so Fyfe asked me and I lent Andy my bass. Andy played it on the first demo.”

Michael soon joined to play his own bass and things clicked from the start: “Our first gig was at Giro’s supporting Decadence Within. It went down really well, I was flabbergasted.

“We weren’t trying to be U2 or Guns N’ Roses – those were the two big musical things at that time in 89, 90. I don’t mind U2 and I quite like Guns N’ Roses but we had our own little thing going on.

“You kind of gravitated towards anyone who liked something that wasn’t Bryan Adams at school. In Larne where I grew up the metallers hung out with the goths, the goths hung out with the indie kids and you heard Joy Division, The Dead Kennedys and Slayer. We clung together as musical outsiders.”

The friendship between Michael and Andy has extended more than 30 years: “I think I was 17 or 18 when Andy and I first met. When the first album came out I’d just turned 19. I’ll be 49 later this month.

“One thing we did find quite early on is that we tend to be huffers. We got that out of our system. If you don’t like something you say then, you don’t leave it for six months and have a meltdown in the middle of eastern Europe.

“There’s a lot of rock and rolls myths and stereotypes out there that people love. One of them I think which is not correct is that you need to have creative tension in a band. Maybe that’s works for one or two albums, but that burns itself out really quickly.

“It’s really great working together as part of the band, what I get out of it is quite special, I think I’m very lucky.”

Michael contrasted the crazy intensity when the band shared a house together in Belfast’s Holylands with the situation now where they all live in different parts of the UK.

He said: “I think there was one time me and Andy worked out over an 18-months period we’d been within 10 metres of each other every day with the exception of Christmas Day.

“Now I live in Larne, Andy lives in Cambridge and Neil (Cooper) our drummer lives in Derby. When we meet up there’s lots of interesting stories and different experiences to share rather than walk down the main street in Larne going, ‘oh there’s the lads’.”

On Fyfe, his original bandmate who left in 1996, he said: “I haven’t spoken to him since he left. We have friends in common. He’s doing alright I believe. He moved to Brighton, he’s been there 25 years now. He’s had very little involvement in the music business.

“It’s a real pity because he was such a great drummer, it’s just he couldn’t really get on with the lifestyle. Somewhere down the line we’ll meet again.”

Family man with attic of collectables

Last year Michael contributed a recipe to a celebrity cookbook to support his nephew Matthew who had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.

Michael said: “Matthew is doing well. The family is getting things back on track. It was a big thing, he’s still a bit traumatised as you’d expect but he’s doing well.”

Of family life at home in Larne he said: “My wife works full time so if I’m at home I’m daddy day care. The only downside is when I’m away, I’m away 24/7 so there’s a whole different set of challenges for my wife who’s an absolute saint.”

Asked if his children, aged nine and five, were excited about their dad being in an band, he said: “They saw us at a big festival in Europe which was great because they were at the side of the stage and they were able to see 20,000 people from the other side.