Thrxnes, pronounced Thrones, have exclusively released their debut single, Atom Bomb, today at MetalTalk. Atom Bomb is a sonic explosion and a tremendous temptation of the future fruits from singer/guitarist Danny Dela Cruz, guitarist Dan Stevens, multi-instrumentalist/Producer Josiah Manning and drummer Will Richards.
“We’ve had this idea for a couple of years now,” Danny Dela Cruz told MetalTalk’s Steve Ritchie. “More recently, we started thinking about being Googled and related to the kind of Game of Thrones. It made sense to put the ‘X’ smack bang in the middle. We thought it looked cool.”
Although Inglorious are on a hiatus, the seeds for Thrxnes [an SEO’s dream] are not just a recent thing. “We were working on this project way before all of that as well,” Danny said. “This has been in the making for two years now.”
The first single, Atom Bomb, has been released exclusively at MetalTalk today. It’s a really cool song, “a sonic detonation, an anthem for those who are constantly trying to find their purpose in life.”
Josiah J Manning [Kris Barras Band] has a great keyboard part in the middle while the guitar outro is ripping. There is a great chorus. It’s a very atmospheric song, and listening to it again this morning was goosebump-inducing. Atom Bomb is a perfect introduction to Thoxnes.
“A lot of that is thanks to Josiah,” Dany says. “Josiah is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, mixing engineer, all of it. He’s a jack of all trades. To be honest, he’s a master of all of them. He is a proper weapon. He was responsible for a lot of the samples, obviously the whole production and all the synth stuff. That is what gives you those goosebumps with this track.”
When you watch the Atom Bomb video, you will notice that Danny is guitarless, apart from a middle section. “With this first track, we just wanted to make it super obvious that I’m gonna be singing in this band,” Danny says. “We always said with the first video, we won’t have the guitar around me as much. But I think people will be happy to know that I’m playing guitar on all the tracks from now on.
“There’s going to be plenty of solos from both me and Dan, quite often two per track. We’re going all the way with this. We are throwing all the bells and whistles at it.”
The idea for Danny to sing for Thrxnes was tried and tested early in the creative process. “Dan [Stevens] messaged me saying I’ve been working on this project. He sent a track over, and we were joking around at the idea of me singing on it. I thought, right, I’ve got an afternoon free. I’ll set it up in my studio and give it a blast.
“I said to myself, right if it sounds bad, we’re not going any further with this. But if it sounds good, we’ll toy with the idea.”
Dan and Danny headed to Josiah’s Momentum Studios in Plymouth. “We did a week there, hung out, to see if we vibe as a band and see what it sounds like. In our humble opinion, it sounded all right. Later, we got
Will Richards [drums]. He had toured with us previously, and Dan went to college with him way back in the day. We flew him over from Spain, and it all gelled. That’s how the band was born.”
Thrxnes plan is to release a few more singles. “We don’t need to rush it,” Danny says. “That also leaves us the opportunity to throw a bit more budget at it with music videos as well. Typically, bands will do two or three videos/singles and then drop the album.
“Whereas we actually want to do more than that. We want to do a whole year’s worth of videos and singles. The next year, we’re gonna drop an album, so a little bit more content for people, which is good. Then, hopefully, some festivals and some gigs early next year.”
I did ask if we were likely to see some warm-up live shows this year. “We have spoken about it,” Danny says. “We’ll see towards the end of the year.”
You could tell by the tone of his voice that this could be more than a distinct possibility. Watch this space.
Thrxnes, Atom Bomb, is set for release on 23 February 2024 and will be available worldwide on all major streaming platforms.
