Book Review: So Much For The 30-Year Plan: Therapy? The Authorised Biography

Belfast alt-metal band Therapy? have come a long way in the decades since their first rehearsal in then-drummer Fyfe Ewing’s childhood bedroom. The three-piece have released 15 albums, performed alongside Metallica, and pioneered the use of feedback as a fourth instrument.

As well as the electrifying music, Young’s new biog also reveals the wild, druggy underside of the band’s success. The book has surprises for even the most obsessive fan. That feedback-heavy sound? It’s partly the result of a bad acid trip that left frontman Andy Cairns huddled under a mixing table at Southern Studios.

But the biography isn’t all stark naked fun. Its most affecting chapter takes readers through the band’s hellish 1995: a year of sudden fame, creative frustration and constant intoxication that led Fyfe Ewing to quit the band. Fans should pick up So Much For The 30-Year Plan to see the human side of the iconic group.