Mesh interview: ‘We just have to re-adjust the way we discover art and music’

Few bands have achieved such a rapid development and enduring status in the Electronic music scene as Mesh. Founded in Bristol in 1991 by Mark Hockings and Richard Silverthorn, the British band evolved from a synth-driven group into an act with a highly distinctive blend of Electro-Pop, dark synth textures, subtle Rock influences, and deeply personal lyrics. From their earliest records, their music generated immense enthusiasm, which only continued to grow over the years. Their list of hits is almost too long to recount, and every new album generated a buzz. Following Neil Taylor’s departure in 2007, Mesh continued as the creative duo of Hockings and Silverthorn. Although a long period passed without a new studio album after the release of “Looking Skyward” (2016), Mesh never truly fell off the radar, largely because they continued to perform live. Eventually, the duo returned to the studio to begin writing new music. Their new album, “The Truth Doesn’t Matter (The Complete Truth)”, released on Dependent, marks Mesh’s ninth studio album. Despite the long hiatus, the band’s musical identity—or, indeed, its DNA—has remained completely intact. It is a strong record that stays true to the group’s distinctive sound and finest traditions. This interview took place during their current tour, which has also seen the band’s live lineup evolve. Mark and Richard are now joined on stage by drummer Sean Suleman and keyboardist Vaughn George. I reached out to Mark Hockings to look back briefly on 35 years of Mesh and, of course, to discuss the band’s current album and the road ahead. (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Mesh on 35 years and the decade after ‘Looking Skyward’

Q: This year, you celebrate Mesh’s 35th anniversary, and your debut album “In This Place Forever” was released exactly 30 years ago. Which memories and absolute highlights immediately come to mind?

Mark: It only seems like yesterday we started out, yet it really was a lifetime ago. I suppose our first album/EP “Fragile” getting made, our first shows in Bristol, our first shows in Sweden, our first shows in Germany, our first record signing to Memento Materia, our first big festivals, giving up work when we got signed to Orbit/Home Records, going on tour on a real tour bus, touring in the USA, every new album we ever released, every live show we ever played. As you can tell, we love it all. It’s been just one long adventure and we are still making memories.

Q: Moving forward in time for a moment: it has been 10 years since you released a new studio album following “Looking Skyward”. That’s something we weren’t used to from you—how do you explain that gap, and when did you begin working on the new album?

Mark: I think we just needed a bit of a break from writing and the whole album release cycle. It really is quite a commitment once you say ‘yes’ to a new album. It’s a lot of work and you have to be prepared to launch into it 100%. We did spend that time doing some writing, but we mostly played shows like the “Retrospective” tour and “The Point At Which It Falls Apart” re-release tour. We don’t consider any of this ‘lost’ time and was very valuable in further building up our following. We were able to come back to writing full of energy and fresh ideas. I think ultimately our releases this year will make up for the 10 years of waiting.

‘The Truth Doesn’t Matter’ and its post-truth title

Q: What formed the foundation of the ideas and influences behind “The Truth Doesn’t Matter – The Complete Truth”?

Mark: It has not been difficult to find inspiration for this record. The rate of change of social and political norms has been unprecedented. We are in the middle of a huge technological shift that will forever change the way we work and communicate. The way that we all filter and process these changes will be key to how the World will look in the next few years. “The Truth Doesn’t Matter” is in parts a damning commentary on the World, but also offers hope for the future. If we can develop our skeptical skills and bring back some empathy then and we might just be OK. We are going through a huge learning period and I think we might just turn it all around. The mostly bland and disappointing use of all this new technology will hopefully give way to spectacular and life changing uses that will change all of our lives for the better.

Q: With the album title, you seem to refer to so-called ‘post-truth’ realities. To what extent is this record an expression of criticism, or perhaps resignation—even acceptance—of that condition? And if truth no longer matters, what remains as a moral or emotional compass for humanity, and for artists who are, after all, only human?

Mark: The title is more cynical than a statement of what I truly believe. It’s more of commentary on the ‘I believe this is true, and here are others that agree with me’ echo chamber type mentality that seems so have become gradually worse over time. The internet feeds such things of course. Ultimately the title suggests that you can actually spend your life mis-informed of basic truths and there is a high chance that your life will not be any worse for it because you will be in the company of the like-minded.

On the face of it you could say that those people don’t matter and what is the harm in letting then be. But I’m not sure that these people are harmless. The danger comes when people try to re-write important social history or reverse the progress of technology, political leadership, social care, awareness and tolerance. So actually the truth does matter. It matters a lot.

The personal songs on ‘The Truth Doesn’t Matter’

Q: Perhaps I’m misinterpreting certain titles, but songs like “I Lost A Friend Today” and “Trying To Save You” suggest more personal themes or experiences. What do these tracks convey exactly, and do they carry a deeper or more emotional significance for you?

Mark: Yes, there are still personal songs on the album. “I Lost A Friend Today” is particularly personal. There needs to be room left for those intimate spaces on our albums I think. We rarely write an album completely based on a theme, but rather the theme exposes itself when the work is complete. We feel that the political, the emotional, the light and the dark can easily coexist on a single record and yet still present as a coherent piece. That coherence is as much to do with the construction of the music as the lyrics.

Q: Despite the melodic and danceable nature of your music, there has always been a darker, melancholic undercurrent. I find it fascinating how these elements coexist—people dancing intensely to songs that deal with serious themes. How do you view that contrast?

Mark: I think we’ve always tried focus on the emotional side of all of our tracks. Yet is important to us to create energy if it helps to push that emotion to the fore. It can seem like a dichotomy when analysed in this way, but to us it has always made perfect sense to us. There are quiet emotions and there are loud emotions. There are sad emotions and there are angry emotions. It’s a spectrum that requires a different musical backdrop every time.

Mark Hockings on art funding, streaming and the album format

Q: In a world that often seems to be deteriorating, Art—including music—serves as an outlet and a source of hope. At the same time, we see increasingly conservative governments and world leaders cutting funding for the Arts. How do you interpret this contradiction, and how do you see the role of Art and music evolving?

Mark: It may be true that the funding of publicly funded art is generally being cut all over the World, however it feels like there is more creativity out there than there has ever been. People are able to make great music, film and art with the cheapest of tools. They have free platforms that give them an outlet for that art. I think you just have to go and find it. Gone are the days when a small number of intellectuals influence the way our culture moves. There are very few blockers in your way if you want to make art in some form. Most people are not out to make money, or become famous doing this. It just makes them happy. I think this is a really great thing. We just have to re-adjust the way we discover art and music. It just requires a little more effort possibly. But isn’t that part of the fun?

Q: At a time when everything is accelerating and constantly evolving, I sometimes wonder what purpose an album still serves. With streaming platforms and algorithm-driven playlists and social media dominating how people listen to music, does releasing an album become a form of resistance—a deliberate ‘no’ to that evolution?

Mark: We still think it’s important to give people a coherent piece of work. To take an idea and run with it. We still like the format of the physical album, the journey, the depth, the story, the artwork. The album set a theme like a film or a book. The songs are the scenes or the chapters. Hopefully the album tells a story and the listener is left with an experience or a memory when they listen to it a whole. We understand that things are moving possibly in a different direction, but I don’t think this a denial thing, like being resistant to new technology or delivery platforms. I believe that people are genuinely missing out on the album format as a way of consuming music, and I think that streaming services could do more to make music more of an experience.

How Mesh wrote and recorded the new album

Q: As mentioned earlier, it has been 10 years since your previous studio album. Has your way of collaborating changed during that time? And how have studio practices or production tools evolved for you—especially with the rise of technologies like AI?

Mark: Collaboration tools have improved certainly. Our main program Cubase has a remote client that we use when working with our mix engineer Olaf in Germany. This is partially made possible due to faster network connections available now. A lot of retro gear is cheaper and more available due to companies like Behringer. Controversial possibly, but they have made expensive classic synths affordable to a lot of people. A.I has certainly made mastering tools a lot easier to use for final productions, but we tend to still rely on the skills of people like Olaf to deal with that still. Tools like Suno AI, particularly Suno studio might have their place in bringing ideas to the table, but those platforms are still a little predicable in their results. Ultimately I suspect we will use such things to generate sounds and loops not unlike using sample packs or services like splice. I don’t see anything wrong with any of this stuff really. Ultimately the artist is the filter for ideas and where those ideas come from is largely irrelevant. Exciting times though.

Q: The album features several short interludes. What role do they play within the broader context of the record? And could you also tell us more about the album’s Deluxe Edition?

Mark: The interludes we call “Particles” and are used to add a bit of colour to the record or to change moods in the flow. When you take the confines of the lyrics out of the equation then you can be a little more free in the way you manage the structure of those pieces. We are able to try a few sound design experiments that would be difficult if words were involved. So they are just little mood changing experiments that are fun to write.

The deluxe edition contains a few tracks that we either couldn’t fit on the physical CD/vinyl or we didn’t think necessarily fitted on the album quite as well as the final track list. That is subjective obviously, but we spend a long time considering such things. That said, I love the additional tracks on the extended version.

Q: Is there a particular stereotypical modus operandi when it comes to creating a song or an album, or how does that process actually work—more specifically for the new album?

Mark: Not really. We just swap ideas and see what happens. The difficult part is just getting started. We need a couple of good songs finished before the ball really starts to roll. Generally Rich will give me some music and I’ll write a song around that, or I’ll make a demo and Rich will work on it. But the process varies. We get together to work on final vocals, final mixes, final arrangements etc. It’s much more collaborative towards the end of the process than at the start. We tend to need to get together a nucleus of tracks and then step back and see a) where is this going? And b) what are we missing? But tracks sometimes just appear out of nowhere – like “Exile” for example. This was written after we’d mixed the final album and was added at the very last minute. Happy accidents or hard work? Difficult to be sure.

Touring ‘The Truth Doesn’t Matter’ in 2026

Q: At the time of this interview, you’ve already played a lot of live shows, and the tour is still ongoing. What have been the highlights so far? What do you enjoy most about touring and performing in different countries, at different festivals, and in a variety of venues?

Mark: The highlights have been the people and the enthusiasm and love they have shown us. It’s been quite humbling. Can never get used to it. We pushed ourselves to make this tour a really special production and I think we surpassed our expectations on how the show looked and sounded. Touring is just fun. We love the whole process to be honest. The shows, the fans, the travelling in the tour bus, the friendship and the shared experience. Every venue is different, every crowd is different. Festivals can be fun, but a very different thing as the audience is not necessarily there to see you. Its a different challenge, but just as rewarding off you get it right.

Q: I’ve always wondered how a band prepares for a tour like this. What’s involved in getting everything ready? Could you also tell us a bit about the crew that travels with you? And when you’re not on stage, how do you spend your time on the road, and what do you do to stay in good shape throughout the tour?

Mark: There are months of preparation involved in a tour like this. The music has to be completely reprogrammed for live, hardware and software has to be prepared/written especially for the tour. Video plays a big role in our stage show and this also takes months to author and sync to the live sequencing. So essentially we are straight out of the studio from the album, then straight back into it again. There are a huge amount of logistics involved around video, lighting, merch, crew, travel, support bands etc. it’s a huge undertaking.

We have the best crew and many of them we have worked with for many, many years. I think there were 14 of us on the bus for this tour.

Touring seems to be a lot of hanging about interspersed with intense periods of activity. But the time passes too fast. It’s a lot of fun. We all keep reasonably fit. Myself and Rich do a lot of cycling. Sean does a lot of gym work. You can’t do. Much once you are actually on tour, so the prep is important.

About Mesh

Mesh formed in Bristol in 1991 around Mark Hockings and Richard Silverthorn, later joined by Neil Taylor. The mini-album “Fragile” appeared in 1994, and the debut album “In This Place Forever” followed in 1996 on the Swedish label Memento Materia, which also issued “The Point At Which It Falls Apart” in 1999. “Who Watches Over Me?” came out in 2002 through Home Records, and “We Collide” in 2006 on Königskinder Schallplatten. Taylor left in 2007 and the band has worked as a duo since.

Dependent Records has carried every Mesh studio album since “A Perfect Solution” in 2009, followed by “Automation>>Baby” in 2013 and “Looking Skyward” in 2016; Metropolis Records handled several of those records in the United States. In September 2024 the duo issued a 25th anniversary reissue of “The Point at Which It Falls Apart”. Hockings also records as Blackcarburning, which released the MCD “Divide Us” in 2022 and the debut album “Watching Sleepers” in June 2023.

“The Truth Doesn’t Matter” was released on 27 March 2026 through Dependent Records and runs sixteen tracks. It was trailed by three video singles: “Exile” in January 2026, “Hey Stranger” in February and “This World” in March. A box set titled “The Complete Truth” pairs the album on double vinyl with a bonus LP of additional tracks and alternate versions, two CDs, an artbook edition, postcards, a poster and a hand-numbered signed certificate, limited to 500 copies. The “The Truth Doesn’t Matter” tour opened after the release, with Hockings and Silverthorn joined on stage by drummer Sean Suleman and keyboardist Vaughn George.