THERAPY? To Begin Recording New Album In May

In a new interview with Neil Jones of TotalRock, vocalist/guitarist Andy Cairns of the Northern Irish rock outfit THERAPY? spoke about the band's plans for the follow-up to 2023's "Hard Cold Fire" album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The reason why THERAPY? hasn't had a record out for a while is because just after COVID I went and had an MRI scan 'cause my knees were sore, and it turned out I needed two full knee replacements — not one, but two. And they have to leave six months between each one. So in February 2025 I had my left knee replaced, and that's 12 weeks rehab, learning to walk properly again… It's all metal and steel in there. And then we were able to do a few shows over that summer. And then in November of '25, I had my right knee fully replaced. And the rehab just really stopped about three weeks ago."

Asked if the damage to his knees was a result of "the road rigor" and all the gigs THERAPY? has done over the course of the last three and a half decades, Andy said: "I don't know. I've been doing this a long time. I only turned 60 last year, so they did say to me, 'You're quite young for someone that needs new knees.' But I'm glad I got 'em done, because they were agony. I mean, I was living with them really badly for two and a half years, and it was agony and I was on all kinds of painkillers to get on stage, and I had to make sure I sat in the dressing room with my leg up and didn't move. And it was no fun, really. I mean, the adrenaline's a wonderful thing. Adrenaline got me through all the shows, but then I said to the record company, I said to our management, and more importantly, I said to Michael [McKeegan, bass] and Neil [Cooper, drums] in the band, 'I need to get this sorted. And it's going to mean at least a year out of THERAPY? stuff.' So they were very good about it. And yeah, [the knees are] done now."

Andy went on to say that a new THERAPY? album likely would have been released by now had it not been for his knee replacements. "It would've been, 'cause we started writing it," he explained. "Because we don't all live nearby — Michael still lives in Ireland and Neil lives up near Derby and I live in Cambridge here — it's like a military operation to get us all together. And we do it in blocks of a week at a time. Then we go back and all this. And I think what happened was we'd started writing some songs. We got together and then we took the decision about the knees. And I found it very difficult to write lyrics when I was recovering, because for 12 weeks at a time I was like staring at the four walls, not really going out. And I wasn't able to go to gigs. I wasn't able to go and visit mates. So, the lyrics were really slow. But then, as I said, we've just been back in again. We've written the majority of the record. We're going to record half of it in May. And it's sounding really good. We're using [producer] Chris Sheldon, who did [1994's] 'Troublegum', who did 'Hard Cold Fire'. He's doing it. He's heard the songs. He likes them. So, yeah, for our fans, it's a bit disappointing that it took so long, but we're glad that we're doing it now. We could have maybe — I don't know what we could have done — we could have maybe done it on a computer, but it's not the THERAPY? way… We got together just before I got my second knee done in November. And we had lots of really good music. We had finished songs [musically], but no lyrics for a lot of songs. And then I couldn't get anything for them. And then when [my right] knee began to recover — it was just about the second week in January — and I had a really good day when I went out to the famous man shed and I was able to stand up and I got three songs finished in a day. And then that was it. Regardless of my knees, every THERAPY? album's been the same. It's nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, then gush. [Laughs]"

As for when THERAPY? plans to complete the new album and release it, Andy said: "The next thing we're doing is we're in rehearsals for another week to finish off this album in April. Then we go in and record five or six songs in May. Then we go over to Italy. We're playing with DROPKICK MURPHYS in Italy. Then we come back and we do the rest of the album. Then we have a summer of festivals. And then the idea is we don't really know if we'll release the album before the end of the year, or we might go old school and release a couple of singles and tour the singles, and then release the album in January next year and do a full tour."

"Hard Cold Fire" was released in May 2023 via Marshall Records.

Back in 2023, Cairns told Hot Press about the 30th anniversary of "Troublegum", which is widely considered to be THERAPY?'s most successful album, having sold over one million copies worldwide: "Lemmy [of MOTÖRHEAD] was asked years ago does he ever get tired of talking about 'Ace Of Spades'. He said, 'If you're going to be remembered for one song, make sure it's a fucking good one.' I think a little bit like that about 'Troublegum'. We're very lucky to have an album like that in our canon. It's full of signature songs, has sold over a million copies, and it all happened out of the blue. It wasn't really tied to any genre and the lyrics are like punchlines to jokes. I wasn't a teenager when I wrote it, but some of the lines were left over from when I was. I think most can relate to that time when you're 16, 17, and life's shit and you're trying to figure out where you are in the world. We'ee very grateful for what the album has done for us."

Photo credit: Tom Hoad