Click the squares that contain ROCK! - Terrorvision are back! Today, the beloved Bradford Britrock band have announced their new album We Are Not Robots, out on September 20, and available to pre-order now on the Terrorvision Official Store.
With the video to comeback track 'Electrocuted' now streaming exclusively on the store, we spoke to singer Tony Wright about the themes and sounds to expect from the record.
We Are Not Robots, Terrorvision's first album since 2011’s Super Delux promises a raucous and marvellously eclectic statement of intent; new music to verify their existence and refresh their legendary, incendiary live shows which still draw gasps and grins in equal measure. From the opening tirade of 'Electrocuted' the record delivers a Bradford-certified punch on the nose, kiss on the cheek and the party to end them all. Recorded in Yorkshire during 2023 with producer Rick McNamara (Embrace) and mixed by old buddy Chris Sheldon (Foo Fighters, McFly, Feeder, Therapy?), We Are Not Robots, Terrorvision’s seventh album across a 30-year career, delivers a firewall of Analogue Happiness in a dastardly digital age.
TM: The last Terrorvision album was 2011's Super Delux, thirteen years ago. Why was 2024 the right time to return with a new Terrorvision album and what did the writing and recording of We Are Not Robots involve?
Tony Wright: Having the freedom to record when we feel we have the songs is so much easier than being asked to produce a quality album every year or so by a label. In the 90s we met up and played and wrote as a full-time job but now we all go and garner our inspiration from elsewhere and bring it together when we rehearse - usually for an anniversary tour of something... It's actually great to have real-world inspirations, as the world gets smaller when you spend all the time together in buses, hotels, dressing rooms and venues. Not having to rush the process means we can make the album we want to make and we think it will be stronger for that... isn't that better than putting out filler or something that's rushed and hasn't got the feeling it needs to be made or needs to be heard?
TM: New song 'Electrocuted', available for free download to mailing list subscribers, is a short, sharp, shock of punk rock that recalls the frenetic energy of classic tracks like 'Pretend Best Friend' - is this track a good indicator of the style of the whole record or are there more surprises to come?
TW: The new record is a roller coaster of thoughtful to chaotic, from happy to devastation and should leave folk exhausted by the journey. Every song demands its own approach and delivery - it will be a cacophony of sweet rock and roll!
"Terrorvision were a real problem back in the day for refusing to get into the stereotypical pigeonholes that we railed against!" - Tony Wright
TM: The artwork for the new album is a parody of an internet CAPTCHA window, which marries up to the title We Are Not Robots. Does the concept of humankind's increasingly complicated relationship with technology and AI play a part in the them of the album's lyrics?
TW: We are definitely not robots! We make all the mistakes that AI and the digital age don't make and we're proud of that. It is musically and lyrically a human set of songs. We wrote the songs never knowing that an album would come about or come together, but when we were playing them in our rehearsal room the tunes kinda demanded to be heard... We're from the generation that crossed from reality to virtual; born to climb trees for real and not on a screen. When I was at school we had a lesson called 'computers', not IT or programming and I remember as a 14-year-old thinking that these Commodore 64s were never going to take off and replace real thoughts and emotions.
We Are Not Robots is an album to put on, sit down and take the time to listen to... and not just to ask Alexa to play or get you from the lobby to the floor you're heading to.
We Are Not Robots is available now to pre-order on Signed Blue Vinyl, Signed CD and Casseette, alongside album-themed merchandise. Album bundles include Bonus CD, exclusively on the Terrorvision Official Store.