PREMIERE: THE MOTION BELOW // Who I Am

We’ve all got things that make us, us – whether it be our experiences, backgrounds, personalities or interests.

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For a lot of our teenage selves, that thing was angst. And this is, in part, what inspired The Motion Below’s latest tune, Who I Am. Vocalist Thomas Katgert drew from his past to talk about the importance of maturing and accepting your past behaviour.

To celebrate the track’s release, we spoke to Katgert and dug into both the track and all the things that make him, him.

Hysteria: Tell us about the new song, Who I Am.

Thomas: The song is based on my experience of growing into myself from my teenage years. I went through a turbulent time as a teenager where I had problems with identity, a streak with bullying and not a whole lot of friends. I struggled to find an aspect of myself I really connected with and the unfortunate result of that was I got sucked into some really harmful ideologies and some unhelpful views of the world.

The song is more or less about me coming to terms with that stuff and learning to walk away from the trauma I experienced at that time and embrace the person I’ve become. It took a lot of work and a lot of time. Sometimes things like that can get deeply ingrained in you. And back then, I was very contrarian and got sucked into that pseudo-intellectual outlook.

So moving past who you were, let’s dig into some of the things that have made you who you are now. Tell us about the first band that got you obsessed with music.

Escape the Fate! I think many people would name their first album as the one that got them into heavy music. I know a lot of my friends feel the same way. 

I went through a phase where I didn’t understand music with screams in it, ironic coming from me. But then I had a friend show me a track from Dying Is Your Latest Fashion, and I thought it was awesome. It helps that the whole album was very well written, regardless of who the band members were. It was my gateway into heavier bands, like All That Remains, Parkway Drive, and I Killed the Prom Queen. I ended up getting into Australian metalcore, but the timing was unfortunate since it wasn’t in the mainstream as much at that point, and bands like Prom Queen weren’t doing too much. That was how I got into gigs. And they developed my passion for live music. 

The song is more or less about me coming to terms with that stuff and learning to walk away from the trauma I experienced at that time and embrace the person I’ve become.
[ Thomas Katgert ]

Your favourite song 

The song I always go back to is called The Ardent Optimist by a band called Across The Sun. I was really into them in the later years of high school. They were a smallish band from the US that got picked up by Rise Records for one album and then disappeared off the face of the earth. There was something about that song I wasn’t getting from others at the time. That band was melodic metalcore with a heavy emphasis on synths. I used to describe them as Killswitch Engage if they had a keyboard player. 

There’s something about the song’s combination of quick metalcore riffs and soaring, electric organ sections and the guys’ amazing voice. The whole song has a really uplifting feel, so I used to fall back on it a lot when I was going through hard times. Now when I think back to it, I only have fond memories. I may listen to songs in the future that are better than it, but I don’t think I’ll ever consider anything else to be my favourite song.

The movie character you most relate to.

It was easier when I was younger. Back in my teens, I was more awkward. So me and my best friend back in high school loved the movie Superbad, and the way we used to behave with each other was reminiscent of the two main characters played by Michael Cera and Jonah Hill.  I used to fit into the role of any Michael Cera character, just in terms of my mannerisms and sense of humour, but it’s trickier now because I’ve changed since then.

I suppose the meme answer would be to say I’ve gone from Michael Cera in Superbad to Michael Cera in This Is The End. That’s a tough one, though!

The first video game that stole your heart.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask! I could arguably say Ocarina of Time, too – they were both on the Nintendo 64, and that was the first game console I owned. Those games are relatively primitive by modern standards. They came out in the mid-90s when 3D games were first becoming a thing, but there was something about the characters and the world-building in those games that entranced me. 

Majora’s Mask was built around the idea of repeating the same three days over and again. Each character would have their routine and lives they’d follow. So if you wanted to, you could go hang out on a farm for three days and get to know the sisters that lived there, and you could help them stop people from stealing from the farm. Or you could progress and find out all these tragic backstories of all the characters. 

For the time, that game blew my mind, and I’d consider it my favourite game of all time still.

Your go-to coffee order.

I’ll typically go for an extra-strong cappuccino with almond milk and no sugar.  My journey with coffee has been a bit weird (laughs). When I started drinking it, I was 15 and didn’t really have the palate for it. I used to have a lot of sugar or some kind of syrup in there. As I got older, I preferred my coffee bitter, which came to a head when I had to stop drinking cow’s milk due to health reasons.  Now, in my head, the more bitter and acidic coffee is, the better it is.  Something about almond milk mixed with really strong coffee. That’s what happiness tastes like to me.