Detroit-based experimental/noise rock band The Messenger Birds recently released Tragic Comedy, the duo’s
sophomore album. Tragic Comedy picks up right where the band’s debut LP, Everything Has To Fall Apart Eventually, left off — a world in isolation, outlandish conspiracy theories on an infinite feedback loop, overwhelming amounts of death and grief and uncertainty, and storylines that sound so hyperbolic and satirical that the only logical conclusion would be that we are all just living in a simulation and none of this is real. “Tragic Comedy’ started out as a natural carryover of themes from our first record and then became an animal of its own,” Parker Bengry and Chris Williams of The Messenger Birds said. “The more objectively sad and deranged our lives and the world around us became, the more it felt like an inside joke we weren’t in on or some elaborate prank someone was doing to us. A lot of what we were writing was sort of like ‘oh, this would be really funny if it wasn’t true’ and took on this Nathan Fielder-esque dark sense of humor, which maybe isn’t the most healthy way to process life-altering traumas, but it’s what worked for us.”
How did the band form and what does the band name mean?
The two of us met at a hockey training camp as incoming freshmen in high school. We were paired up as weight training partners, bonded over music, and have been best friends ever since. There was this little karaoke machine that could record to cassette tape in Chris' parents' basement, so we used to just get together and improv jam and record as much of it as we could, but we didn't actually form a real band together until after college. We hadn't seen a lot of each other and had each been fizzling out of our other musical projects at the time, so one day we made plans to hang out and watch a Red Wings game and started talking music; that led to jamming, and it felt like we had come full circle, back to where we were as 14 year old kids. That's where the name came from — a messenger bird always ends up back where it started, and we felt like that was a perfect representation of how our band was formed.
Previous musical projects? How'd you first get into music?
Parker: I've played in all sorts of bands before The Messenger Birds. I was a touring guitar player for an indie pop band for a brief period, played in a couple of metal bands, and was in a noise/hardcore band for a while — very Converge/Dillinger Escape Plan kind of stuff. I started out on guitar in 7th grade, at first learning mostly classic rock like Zeppelin and Hendrix and so on, but then I got really into all the ’90s grunge and alt/rock and what I guess you would call the emo wave of the mid 2000s. I really listened to a little bit of everything by the time I got to high school, but I absolutely hate modern/mainstream country music.
Chris: I started playing drums when I was 10 years old and would spend a lot of time jamming in basements with anyone who could play guitar. I loved playing punk music because of the energy. Then in college my focus was on writing music and experimenting with different recording techniques, and played with a handful of different music projects most of them indie/garage/punk rock. We would DIY tour at dive bars and house parties.
First concert that you ever went to?
Parker: The first concert I ever went to was in 8th grade, The Night 89X Stole Christmas at Cobo Hall in Detroit. 89X was the local alt/rock radio station for a long time in the area, and I think if I remember correctly, Good Charlotte headlined. Then it was Jimmy Eat World, Taking Back Sunday and The Used (both of which had just released their second albums), and Franz Ferdinand as the opener. They were all sort of blowing up at that point in time, and it's wild to look back at that lineup because you'd never see that again unless it was as part of a larger festival.
Chris: The first concert I attended was Ted Nugent when I was in 8th grade. President George W. Bush was facing re-election and Ted had written two songs about how much he loved him. At some point he brought down a cardboard cutout of Saddam Hussain and shot it with a bow and arrow. The guy two rows above me was so excited about it that he spilled an entire beer on me. It was a very memorable show, and it was the worst show I’ve ever seen in my life.
What's your writing process like?
Our writing process is never the same from one song to another. Some songs have started with a lyric or a vocal melody, others started with a guitar riff or progression idea, sometimes a beat or a general vibe, and we never know what's going to work or not. There have been times where the two of us sat down and jammed out an entire brand new song from start to finish, fully structured, and wrote lyrics the same day. Most of the time, we have to slowly piece together ideas and experiment a lot until we get something we are happy with. Our general rule of thumb is that if we get stuck, we set the idea aside until later and start on something new in the meantime.
What other artists or songs inspire your music?
There is a long revolving list of artists who have influenced us over the years, but lately we've had IDLES and Turnstile heavy in the rotation. We got to share the stage at Louder Than Life Festival with Turnstile and that was super rad, and IDLES is definitely on our bucket list of bands we'd love to play with. Bright Eyes has been an all-time favorite since middle school, and Conor Oberst's projects led us straight to artists like Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker. During the early stages of the pandemic, we listened to a lot of Run the Jewels and Nine Inch Nails, but in general we're always looking for new music to check out to keep things fresh.
What's the live experience like and your philosophy on playing live? Do you think the music live should be identical to the recorded version or should it be its own thing?
We've always liked doing a little bit of both — staying true to the record but also taking liberties where we see fit. Our main goal is to intensify all of the dynamics and crank the energy up as much as possible in a live setting. We wouldn't be doing our job if we failed to do that.
What has the touring experience been like? Best shows? Worst shows?
We love being on the road and have been lucky enough to have a lot of really awesome bands take us out on tour. One of the coolest shows we've ever done was at the Ryman in Nashville supporting our friends in All Them Witches. It sort of felt like this sacred, holy experience to get to play there and spend time in a building with so much music history. As far as bad shows, every tour has some hiccups here and there, but we haven't really had anything we would truly call a bad show.
If you want to talk about bad touring experiences in general, one our least favorite of all-time was driving home at the end of a run with '68. We made it within about five hours of our hometown and our car started making a horrible sound like it was struggling to accelerate. Then all of a sudden, the front right axle just exploded. We didn't know that's what happened at that moment, but we ended up getting towed to a Ford Dealership in Dayton, OH and at first thought it was going to be a quick axle repair job. Instead, when the mechanic was showing and explaining to us what happened, he noticed that the transmission was fully cracked and needed to be replaced in addition to the axle. He told us that it may take weeks to get the parts to complete the job, so we had to rush to try to find an available Uhaul to grab the rest of our equipment and get back home. It was one of the more exhausting and stressful experiences we've had in our touring career, but it could have been much worse.
What's coming up next for the band?
Our second full-length album, “Tragic Comedy,” came out on November 18 and we had a Detroit release show on November 19. Hopefully not long after we will get back on the road to keep promoting this album.
http://themessengerbirds.com/