The face of a benevolent dictatorship

Man of a Thousand Faces launch their new single, Dumb It Down, on Friday, July 4, at Amplifier Bar with support from Noah Skape, Hunk and Raw Dog. BOB GORDON sits down with vocalist and provocateur Laith Tierney to explore his evolution from frontman of Perth acts The Bible Bashers and Fear of Comedy to ringmaster of a genre-defying studio collective.

Man of a Thousand Faces was a film that documented the life of horror movie icon Lon Chaney. Given the long, dramatic arc of your music career, do you see yourself in a similar vein?

(Laughs) Long and dramatic? I’ve been called worse. The big difference is Lon Chaney had a successful career. Though I’m not sure I’d trade places with Lon, particularly given how crazy his life was.

That said, I do tend to forget and downplay just how insane and dramatic my own life has been. About Chaney, though, he was an incredibly versatile actor who not only reinvented himself many times over but even developed his own make-up techniques to embody each character he portrayed. Despite all that, he’s the poster boy for being typecast—so much so his son carried the torch.

My hope is that using this as a band name signals a willingness to experiment and explore. Look, I have some rather lofty and arguably quite pretentious philosophies about making art and the meaning of it all—I could go on for hours—but the marketing team says it’s bad optics; it’s better if I keep it simple and stupid. Me like actor. Me name band after actor. Me have stretchy face.

Musically, where does this lie in juxtaposition to your former bands, The Bible Bashers, Fear Of Comedy or LYTS?

Those were three completely different bands that never shied away from experimenting and evolved a lot over time. Musically, maybe you can detect some carried-over influences or genealogy? But how the music is made and who it is made with really changes everything.

In past projects—and there are a lot more than those three—I was the frontman, contributing songwriter, and manager, but it was usually a democracy. The bands were ambitious but worked within their limitations and played to their strengths. I had fun in those projects, learning valuable lessons, racking up a ton of experience, and forging great memories with friends. I saw these guys every week for a rehearsal, and we played week in, week out, year after year.

Man of a Thousand Faces? For laughs, let’s just call it a benevolent dictatorship. The truth is I’m lucky enough to be friends with some absolute guns, who are helping me elevate my material and bringing some really strong parts to the table too. The recording studio is where things really come together, and I’m very comfortable with that process.

I recorded home demos with Liam Adams on bass, a friend and collaborator for most of my adult life, and then Nathan Sproule came in to track drums for 23 songs with Ron Pollard at Sleepwalker’s Dread. He knocked them out—with percussion layers over a couple of weekends. Jozef Grech and Aidan Gordon are in several other bands, so they have tracked guitars whenever they had time.

Along the way, Ron went from engineer/producer to a full-blown member of the band, one that’s left an indelible mark with his playing. We catch up regularly to work on the songs, and we’ve got a great chemistry going. So, if I wanna turn a song inside out or push it further, I have a team and an amazing producer that’ll gladly rise to the challenge, with the perfect skillset to do so.

What’s crazy about that is there are cases where I tried playing some of these songs with other bands before, but they didn’t work out, and I was left feeling disappointed. With this team, every song is explored and supported and given the opportunity to become whatever I dream of it being.

I’ve got history with them all from other projects, but every member is by far a better player than me and all talented songwriters in their own right. So I’m incredibly appreciative and humbled that they indulge me.

Was there a vision for this band at the outset, or has it morphed from your initial notions?

The vision was always for the band to avoid being pigeonholed into a genre—to pursue whatever idea and to put together a live show that kept people guessing. I did think we’d have racked up a ton of shows by now, but as I explained, we have been more of a studio band. Live shows took a back seat. Ironically, we’re now a better live band because of it.

I’ve mapped out several multiverses’ worth of timelines that haven’t quite worked out, and it’s probably better not to force things.

The other big thing is that we’ve never really had the same line-up live, and we have only played five or six shows since we started in 2023. Everyone has other projects going. This is crazy, but we have still yet to have the full studio line-up of Nathan, Aidan, Jozef, Ron, Adams, and I perform together. In the past, our line-up has been filled in and out by Nikki Dagostino, Mark Ralph, Peter Helfgott and Luke Reynolds. Then good mates and past collaborators Karl Hiller and Russ Loasby joined the live team in May to rip it up at Mojos. And Marcus Roberts has come onboard for this launch after Aidan got called away for work. We’re literally a band of a thousand faces. I think of it as ‘the bad seeds’ model.

With that too, we have never played the same set twice. I see now the path forward for performing what is essentially the first album. We have a release plan and know which tracks will be released in that lead-up. It makes sense to play those live, but there is also a second album of drastically different material, plus an EP worth of material that’s quite different again. All songs that have got parts down. So it’s been a real sprawl, but it’s nice being able to go wherever inspiration takes you too.

Dumb It Down is the latest single—what sort of bomb have you dropped?

Honestly, the song is self-aware, and not in a good way. I suspect it’s been messing with me since its inception. It’s been an incredibly convoluted, difficult, and drawn-out experiment bringing this track to the world. Almost every aspect, from production to promotion, has been overcomplicated. It’s mocking me.

When I wrote Dumb It Down, I was feeling pretty disillusioned… but my intention was to write a really simple, stupid song—one that was taking a shot at exactly that, along with anyone who enjoys that kind of thing. I also couldn’t help but think maybe there are some very smart people playing dumb and pandering to the masses—it certainly looks like good business.

Thing is, I’m a petty and spiteful prick, one who missed his calling as a musical theatre kid and suffers from a raging case of ADHD. So instead of simple’n’stupid, it became something completely over the top, making a bombastic and ridiculous spectacle of itself. Which still somehow seems very fitting, given our culture’s rapidly declining attention spans and celebration of excess.

I believe it’s called palpable irony.

The launch is on July 4—telling, but even more so given the last few days?

Well, hopefully half the planet doesn’t end up looking like one giant ashtray by then. If that doesn’t riddle you with anxiety, I hope it serves as impetus for a night out.

It’s a hell of a time to be running around with stars and stripes painted on your face and a firecracker up your ass. Ask not what I’d do for that country?

Yeah, America has a lot to answer for. But I’m a sucker for good iconography.

What does the future hold for Man of a Thousand Faces… and all of us?

The best way to predict your future is to create it.

I think every artist might benefit from a lobotomy in the future. Otherwise, we all better buckle up for the accelerating decline of culture and have the nerve and audacity to persevere in spite of it. Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Just keep doing what you love and surround yourself with good people that can help you rebuild society when it’s time to emerge from the bunker.

Seriously though, time and money are the enemy of progress, and I’m bad with both—despite desperately craving momentum. But we’re chipping away. I have about 30 more songs I’ve demo’d that I need to factor in somehow, and our next two or three singles are pretty much ready. At one point this magazine said I was one of Perth’s best frontmen. I’d kinda like to reclaim that title and show audiences we can still put on a show. The cheque is in the mail, X-Press (laughs).

So, get used to seeing these faces. All thousand of them. How’s that for long and dramatic?