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Spotlight: Pillars of a Twisted City — Breaking Rules, Building Riffs & Unleashing “False Prophet”
Spotlight: Pillars of a Twisted City puts the spotlight on raw energy and honest songwriting as we sit down with frontman Johnny Stewart to talk about their latest single “False Prophet”. From the band’s gritty beginnings to the evolution of their sound, we dive into the creative process, musical influences, and the journey that led them here — all while getting to know the personalities behind the power.
Let’s start at the beginning — how did Pillars of a Twisted City come to life?
Pillars of a twisted city started in 2020. Probably like most people in the world the incoming pandemic cast a wave of uncertainty upon everyone. Instead of coming to fear, we use the time to write and record music to harness some creative energy.
Your new single “False Prophet” is a beast. What’s the story or inspiration behind it?
Musically the song draws inspiration from Killing Joke, Modern English, The Northern Pikes. The lyrics and ideology dive into individuals that loose touch with the natural world. Succumb to the status quo. Losing sight of your own identity.
And then the path of discovery and finding balance within that natural world.
How would you describe your sound to someone who’snever heard your music before?
Pillars of a twisted city touches upon many different musical genres. Although the last couple of releases, including the new one titled Brimstone Prophecies, ties together what I considered to be the best elements of the band. Weaving through atmospheric, beautiful instrumentals to 80s postpunk inspired songs, with a touch of black metal throughout..And then the path of discovery and finding balance within that natural world.
What does your writing and recording process typically look like?
Literally all the songs start off as poems. From there, they are transposed to lyrics to fit the music of that song. Inspiration comes from many different places, which I’m sure would be the same for any artist. Quite often from the environment that you are in at that moment, you put pen to paper. Lately, the themes have been more from political and religious ideologies that tend to cause harm in disfunction within the population. I have a studio in Vancouver, British Columbia ,Canada. I do all the drum tracking in that controlled environment. All of the vocals and other instrumentation takes place recording at a couple of remote studios. I set up out in the Clayoquot, BC, Canada. I consider this area to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. Surrounded only by ocean streams nature uncorrupted. This isolation promotes creative autonomy.
Every band has that “we’re really doing this” moment — what was yours?
I’ve been involved with bands, writing and recording, since I was a teenager. The “we’re really doing this moment “ has been a lifelong commitment to enjoying, listening to music and reading and performing music. It is never wavered or changed.
What’s been the proudest moment in your musical careers so far?
That’s a great question. I’ve never really considered that . I would say that the moment when you rehearsed with your partners in a band for years, and all that hard work comes together with the flawless performance that not only moves the musicians in the band, but those in the audience watching.. I have been fortunate enough to have a few of those and they always stick with you.
What’s one thing you think should be asked in an interview that isn’t asked enough?
Do you have integrity with your music or are you willing to compromise all your ideals for immediate success?
What milestones or goals are you aiming for in the near future?
The goals are to write a full length record to be released a year from now in 2026. We currently have peace together some awesome musicians to perform some shows over the next few months, hoping we can expand upon that.
Let’s have some fun — if your band’s life became a movie, who would play each of you?
I can only speak myself as the other members, unfortunately are not available to comment at the time of this interview.
Johnny would be the Lieutenant from the movie Apocalypse now. (Bill Kilgore)
What do you hope fans take away from your music?
The willingness to join me on a journey of expiration of different sounds and styles.
What motivates you to keep walking down the musical road
Referring to one of the questions from the above, I would say choosing remote, beautiful locations to do the recording is a constant form of inspiration to keep composing music. It eliminates the feeling of being stagnant and always inspires something out of you that you didn’t know was there.
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