The San Francisco three-piece Terry Malts consists of Corey Cunninghma, Phil Benson and Nathan Sweatt.Some artists’ songwriting process involves carrying around a notebook and waiting for inspiration to strike. Others devote time every day to studiously honing their craft.
The members of the San Francisco punk trio Terry Malts, a side project formed by members of the pop group Magic Bullets, blaze a different trail. They get drunk — really drunk.
“We just decided we wanted to do something more freewheeling,” said guitarist Corey Cunningham. “We came up with the idea of trying to get as wasted as possible and write songs and see if we could remember them the next time we practiced.
“Drinking to the point of blacking out drunk and seeing if you can do it … was too tough after a while, so now we drink to the point of almost blacking out so we still kind of know what we’re doing.”
While it may be unusual, the approach is paying dividends.