Interview with Mik and Tye of Glam Punk Band Crone Tye

How would you describe your music to any person who may have never heard it before?

Mik: We combine elements of Industrial music, sleaze rock, 80s rock, punk and a touch of 2000s metalcore. Everything that influences us both.

What's the significance of your band's name?

Mik: I'm Crone, and he is Tye.

What are your musical influences?

Mik: Ministry, Danzig, Deftones, Skinny Puppy, Killing Joke, LA Guns, Faster Pussycat, Nine Inch Nails, The Cult.

What are your musical inspirations?

Mik: To create a groove that is equal parts bouncy and brutal yet covered in sparkles.

Tye: Just to leave a portfolio of awesome sounds behind when I’m not around anymore, the world will always have the music I’ve been a part of creating, love it or hate it [Laughs].

If given the chance, what musician(s) would you like to collaborate with? Rather this is to either write a song or be featured on a track.

Mik: I would like to collaborate with Lady Gaga, Blondie, Al Jourgensen, and Tommy Lee on drums.

Tye: Something with Nero Bellum from Psyclon Nine.

What's the new single about?

Tye: It’s all about comparing and contrasting the way in which fame and infamy are usually equalized just in different ways. It's pointing a finger and having a sardonic giggle at the people who think rock music or horror films are dangerous and baseless yet these are the same people giving Charles Manson the covers on Life magazine or the Columbine Shooters their posthumous fame. I used the lens and framework of 80s Los Angeles and Miami type aesthetics, you’ve got glitz and glamour and Hollywood stardom yet 5 minutes down the road, there’s a serial killer on the loose or drug use or sleazy goings on, it’s very much like the world portrayed in the 90s with Marilyn Manson’s music and worldviews or a film like Maxxxine.

What's something you hope people take away from the new single?

Mik: The understanding that we are wearing our influences on our sleeves. We are trying to create an audio example of what visually influences us. We sing about horror films, sleaze rock and gothic counter culture.

Tye: People can read into the subtext and lyrical content, or they can just enjoy the song for what it is, I greatly encourage people to dig deeper with any form of art as you can learn so much and be offered great perspectives, but I also promote people having their own relationships with music, however that may look.

What did you allow yourself to do creatively for this song that you haven’t in the past?

Mik: I took on the challenge of playing all the instruments myself and arranging the music. It can be a bit intimidating if you don't have a formula to follow.

Tye: It was fun as this is a song that I would listen to stylistically, being a long-time fan of the genres and bands Mik has mentioned, but I’m from a more METAL metal background with lots of screaming, fast riffs and breakdowns. So it was fun to do something familiar but completely different, it’s a much brighter sounding song than what I’d usually write, so I just got in that 80s/90s headspace and had fun with it.

When you find yourself in a creative rut, what do you usually turn to? Any habits, environments or even non- musical sources that help you reconnect with your creativity?

Tye: I just let it breathe and go do something else, I’m very hyperactive and usually have 50 things going on at once so I can always switch and come back to things, but whether it’s writing, composing music, reading - stepping away for just 5 minutes can really help to reset.Do you have any favourite songs to perform live? Could be your own music or even a cover. Any reason why?

Tye: I think our song “No Guts, No Glamour” would translate very well live with its huge hooks and rhythms! Hopefully we can do that in the future. Right now with my other band INHERITOR, we keep covering Eternally Yours by Motionless In White which is my favourite song so that’s cool, our song Wasted Time, Borrowed Pain is a live staple and favourite for me as vocally it covers all my favourite things to do.

If you could perform a show this very second anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Mik: LA, New York, London, Leeds, Chicago.

Tye: I’ll honestly play or travel to anywhere, but LA for sure.

Is there any particular venue(s) or city/cities that come to mind?

Mik: Red Rocks amphitheatre in Colorado. That place looks amazing. Or The Greek in Griffith Park Los Angeles.

Tye: Red Rocks would be so cool and immersive, mainstage Download wouldn’t be too shabby either.

What do you currently have planned for the remainder of the year?

Mik: We are working on a new single. I'm excited about the next one because, as we write, we evolve. The project is ongoing.

If your music was a type of food, what would it be and why?

Tye: Crone Tye would be a classy steak dinner with some form of bourbon or cheap Caifornian champagne on the side.

What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you while performing?

Tye: There’s been a lot and many not safe for work, but one that springs to mind is throwing my now guitar player from INHERITOR over my shoulder into the crowd and no one catching him, he was just a mate and fan of the band back then so his pelvis nearly getting broken either impressed me or made me feel guilty and he’s been with us a while now.

What's the most random thing that has ever inspired you to write a song?

Tye: Going back to the INHERITOR song Wasted Time, Borrowed Pain, we wrote that song around a chorus melody idea I had when basically doing a spoof-like impression of another famous band. Their influence clearly runs strong in our creative veins as even a joke version of a hypothetical song by them created one of our biggest tracks. What's the most useless talent you have, and would you incorporate it into your music if you could?

Tye: I already do by making noises like some kind of injured animal.

Thanks for the time today, Mik and Tye. Is there anything else you may want to add that I didn't cover before you go?

Tye: Only to say thanks and that people can check us out everywhere under Crone Tye and listen to our first single which is everywhere!