Not that there’s anything soft or cuddly about the thrown live experience itself. During summer’s festival run, they had climbed high enough in the pecking order to command longer slots onstage, but they routinely started late and finished early. Bloodied and bruised as hell, no-one walked away feeling short-changed.
“Without sounding too pretentious, we want to do everything we do our way,” Marcus continues. “This is the way we like it. If I was watching my favourite band, I would like it very much if they were just slamming out the songs with no B.S. Especially if they were playing our type of music, where it fits the sound and the aesthetic.
“Playing our first shows, we didn’t say shit between songs. And people thought it was cool. We do say more now, but I could never do a whole stand-up routine like other frontmen. Songs can be about things without them needing to be explained.”
When thrown return to the UK in December, they will play the sizeable Manchester and Glasgow Academies, wrapping up in London’s 3,600-cap Troxy. Although UNWANTED will bring their catalogue to almost an hour of music, the focus will be on “picking and choosing” rather than loading everything up to maximise time onstage. It’s an extension of their ruthless approach to everything they do in this band, but that attitude is reliant on harmony behind the scenes.
“We’re all very similar people, but also very different,”Marcus unpacks. “Buster is our drummer but also our producer. That’s a blessing for us, but maybe a curse for him. He’s always working, mixing or chipping away at other things. Our guitarists Andreas and Johan ensure we go through enough vodka and Red Bull that we can truly be called rock stars. I’m sober, myself. We’ve all been in touring bands before, but as thrown has gotten bigger, it’s been about committing to the boring stuff.
“Personally, I have had to learn how to get enough sleep, drink enough water. My style of vocals takes its toll. There are plenty of times when you want to stay up all night talking shit but you’ve got a big festival super-early the next day – and you need to know when to fucking go to bed.”