Words cannot express how pleased I am that Veils exist. Before this release I had not heard of them at all but now that Clarity has brought the band to my attention my life has got that little touch better. Hailing I think from Cornwell and delivering 5 tracks of emotional screamo hardcore (fuck that sounds horrible) this quartet tore me a new one as soon as I heard them. It started with a random bandcamp play that led to me pre ordering the vinyl. I then found out they were touring with The Long Haul and bought that fucker too, simply because they are on the same label and sharing the same stages, such was the pull from this one track on bandcamp. The track in question is called Caves (anxiety) and it’s breath taking. A few moments later in my inbox the digital downloads appeared (other labels take note) and that is what I am basing this review from. The following 24 hours was stuffed full of this record. I must admit that I am somewhat obsessed.
Each track has a theme in brackets after the title. My current favourite being Stallions (Adrenaline), it pulls you along through the song by the scruff of your neck screaming “listen to me you fucker, I need to be heard.” The record has the same feel as the recent Touché Amore album. Which is a great record, it’s just I think this is better. The production is crisp and raw at the same time. The chaotic parts toward the end of Surrender (Clarity) simply need to be heard through a cranked up sound system. It is the aural equivalent of the Earth imploding. It’s damn near perfect. Thank fuck for Veils and Tangled Talk. It goes without saying I guess but I can’t recommend this release enough.
And as an aside this record has been released by Tangled Talk who along with Holy Roar, Big Scary Monsters and Blood and Biscuits have formed a sort of uber label called Pink Mist. The Holy Roar label gets a lot of stick and criticism over the internet due to the fact that a, they release bands that people don’t always like and b, they employ indie record label tactics like they have sent out promo cdr’s, press releases that big up their bands and have pre-orders and either have vinyl and T-shirt combined deals or exclusive limited run t-shirts and you know what, just about anything that fans of the bands they release might actually love. Some of these tactics are infact heaven forbid, employed by majors as well.
Well you know what, if the reason for disliking the label is that you dislike the bands on it then fine. Any labels in the Pink Mist group wouldn’t put out anything they didn’t like themselves and personal taste is just that, personal taste. But if the reason you think they suck is because a message board says the label is run like a major would be then just fuck off and step down of that DIY high horse for a moment and just accept that not all people see things EXACTLY like you do. If any tactics these labels use mean that they can release more records in the future without going bust then not only am I for it but I am damn proud to have these records as part of my collection.
As soon as you drop the needle on the record, you’re floored. The punch of the guitars may be a visceral blast of sloppy riffage, but it is effective as hell. Opening track Nervous Breakdown was the debut single released by Black Flag back in 1978. Now the Flag never claimed to be the first punk band in the USA but along with the Dead Kennedy’s, Greg Ginn and company ushered in the hardcore scene which spawned a hundred thousand mini genres and a work ethic that influenced my outlook on how I should run the band I was in.
The band adopted a Do It Yourself approach which involved every aspect of what the group did, from overseeing artwork to booking tours and releasing the end product on their own label (SST in this case). Many hundreds of other bands caught on and a generation of musical misfits took note. Without them there would be no Minor Threat, Nirvana, Green Day or even a Gallows, just how influential this band is I could not put into words. But as with any scene it had to begin somewhere and all Black Flag’s early recordings can be heard here, neatly compiled for your listening pleasure.
Kurt Cobain turned me on to them as he did with so many groups and yet even with his endorsement The First Four Years, which effectively documents exactly what is says on the tin, is a truly overlooked album. In my experience people often start at Damaged when they get into Black Flag and because Rollins wasn’t part of the band before this, tragically ignore all these raw primal gems that went before him. Henry Rollins, front man of the group from 1981 after the tracks had already been recorded admitted during the Black Flag biography Get In The Van that The First Four Years was his favourite Black Flag record. It’s easy to see why. He was the fourth vocalist. The three previous line ups of the band were the ones Henry fell in love with. These songs were the soundtrack to his life. I can picture him on route to his ice cream van job from home with his trusty walkman on, Clocked In pounding his brain sideways and him dreaming of clocking off and joining the band as they took flight across North America from one shitty venue to the next. A year later that’s exactly what he did.
The First Four Years collects together the Nervous Breakdown EP, Jealous Again EP, Six Pack EP and Louis Louis single on one LP. My favourite track though, Machine was previously only available on a compilation album called Chunks. In it singer Dez Cadena pleads with anyone that will listen that he is “not a machine“, the way he delivers the line is not to observe or convey an idea but to scream at us that he is at his wits end. It’s such a wrenching vocal onslaught the untrained ear would consider it an outburst prior to suicide. Black Flag of any era is not an easy listen. But it is an essential one.
Before November of 2012, my knowledge of all things Swans was miniscule. I knew they were a band, I knew that much at least, and in 2005 when I saw Dinosaur Jr. in Florida I said to someone in the crush on the way out of the show, “Jesus, that was loud,” and this guy said to me, “You should’ve seen Swans.” After reading a great review of the band’s latest record late last year I Googled them, and in principle at least they sounded fantastic, so I bought their latest album which is called ‘The Seer’.
Needless to say the seed that grows in a music fan when they fall in love with an artist afresh has blossomed in me. With each pay day I buy more of the back catalogue, and each time I get another album or EP it adds to the already exquisite body of work that I can listen to from the band. It turns out that Swans are today as unconventional and un-mainstream as they were when they began shortly after the birth of the New York no wave scene. There may be a huge difference in time and in musical space since they released their first album ‘Filth’ in 1983, but the essence remains the same. Swans do not compromise.
When the opportunity arose to converse with Swans main man Michael Gira via a Skype link connecting me to his HQ in New York, that fanboy in me jumped at it.
LIR: As a newbie to Swans what initially drew me to the group was first of all a positive review of ‘The Seer’ in a magazine, and after an internet search on the band I found the following quote: “If anyone stage dives or moshes at one of our shows, I’ll stop the music. I really hate group identity rituals like that. They are just a microcosm, a little factory workshop exercise in conformism.” I truly identified with that statement. You said this in the 80s. Do you still feel the same way today?
MG: Well yeah, if people do start doing that kind of thing I usually do stop the show, or I at least call out to whatever idiots are doing stuff like that. That’s probably a remnant of our previous, err, hostile relationship with our audience from the 1980s and 1990s.
LIR: It happens a lot in my town and the surrounding scenes, sometimes as soon as an audience is confronted with a distorted guitar. It’s depressing.
MG: It’s just like a football match or something. Well, I went to punk gigs in the 70s in LA, but that shit didn’t really happen there. People were pogoing which is pretty harmless (laughs). When I moved to New York, I would go to the hardcore shows at CBGB, and that behaviour started up about then and it was just frightening beyond description. It was just so stupid and that’s probably where my perception of it comes from. I just thought that latter day punk and certain kinds of hard rock was basically like a training ground for, well, until you go to work at an office or something. There’s no thought.
These days our shows are pretty overwhelming I suppose, and certainly the audience seems to receive it in a pretty intense way, but thankfully we don’t inspire that kind of behaviour.
LIR: Was there a point when you were watching punk and hardcore shows where you thought, “I can do this”, or even “I can do better than this”?
MG: I already knew I could do better than that shit. Going to those punk shows in LA, I became rather nonplussed by that era. There was a lot of music and art in New York at the time that was pretty intense and interesting and not conventional by any stretch of the imagination, so I moved to New York thinking that would be a propitious proving ground with bands like Suicide, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and the Contortions. It just seemed really powerful to me. It was emotionally raw, but without relying on the typical three chord punk structure and so I moved to New York. It took a long time for me to find my voice and the band to find its voice, but once we did I think we did a good job.
LIR: Even ‘Filth’ has an ominous finality to it.
MG: Yet we went quite a distance and did a lot of different things. You can’t rely on troves. You develop and you have to put yourself on unfamiliar ground which is what we are still trying to do.
LIR: Is there a big fuck you! I’ll do what I want with Swans?
MG: I don’t see Swans as a fuck you, I’ll do whatever I want kind of thing. I look at it as a very positive and joyous experience.
LIR: But you don’t play by conventional rules.
MG: My heroes in life are people that decided to live that way such as, for instance, Jean Jeunet, Francis Bacon or even Genesis P-Orridge; they have all lived their lives through active imaginations.
LIR: The way the 80’s and 90’s press clung onto the mantra of “Swans are so loud and intense you will be sick if you watch them live.” The press was turning your live reputation into a gimmick. That must have infuriated you?
MG: It’s such a cartoon perception of the music. What can you say though? That’s the music press.
LIR: You haven’t faced too much of that gimmicky press since the reformation though.
MG: Yes, that is gratifying. I think that what has happened at least in terms of the audience that comes to see us is that with the advent of the internet being so ubiquitous now that the people that we would naturally gravitate towards, who like the kind of music or experience that we provide can find it, and it weeds out people that would just be reading the music magazines or looking for something trendy or something to just glom onto as an identity. So now people that really want the experience come. That has been an Elysian moment because there have been a lot of years with me banging my head against a wall, all kind of frustrated.
We had an audience in the 90s certainly, but now people just really want the experience so we attempt to provide what we can do.
LIR: With me being a Swans newbie, I find myself each pay buying myself another record in your back catalogue.
MG: Thanks, that’s great to hear. Thank you. I mean that’s how I got into music; it’s the best way to discover artists, just to slowly do it. It is the same with books.
LIR: The album that has struck me the deepest so far is in fact the most recent one, ‘The Seer’. Out of the seven Swans albums that I own it appears to be your most complete work, but you have said that it’s unfinished. What do you mean by that?
MG: Well, it is a revelation that over the last four or five years I suppose that in actuality the music is never finished. It’s just in different states. For instance, most of the songs on that album began by my playing an acoustic guitar and singing a basic groove or melody in my room, and then I will take them to the band and we will patch them out for sometimes months on end in rehearsals, and gradually they morph into a Swans experience rather than just me with my acoustic guitar. That might be just one version of the music. We are constantly pushing the songs live. They are changing with each show and they are always developing and stretching. We find nuances in them and maybe we’ll discard parts and move on to something else even after the record has been recorded, so it is always in movement.
Of course I struggle mightily to make that something that resembles a finished piece in the studio but anything more… I just look at it as that’s how it was then. Even the songs from ‘The Seer’ now that we are playing live are much different than what’s on the record and they keep growing.
The song ‘The Seer’ itself has been known to have a duration of an hour live (Laughs). There are some moments on ‘The Seer’ album and moments on the last cycle of touring that I heard that were inspirational to me, and showed me a way to move forward. Those are these sorts of grooves we have been developing as a band so now we are really pushing that aspect. It doesn’t always work of course, but we always try to push it. It finds us rather than us finding it really.
LIR: That song with its lyric of “I see it all” has an ambiguous spirituality about it.
MG: It is meant to be that way; it is not like the lyrics are telling a story. It is the singer, i.e. me I suppose, but really it is the singer inside this experience and hopefully the channelling of what it provides. When the music is really lit, when it reaches a high point, it feels like we are being lifted up to heaven inside of it and hopefully that translates to the audience as well.
LIR: Have you found time to work on a new record?
MG: I have actually been writing and we have been working on material. What we do is that we have the basic structure of a song and then we take it and play it in front of an audience, like I mentioned, and then it grows and transforms just by attentive playing as a group in front of people. Half the set right now is new and unrecorded material that is still finding its voice, and the other half is things from ‘The Seer’ that are still finding their voice. They are always changing.
LIR: How much stock do you take in the fact that Swans have found a fan base once more and that the love for the band is still passionate, if not more devotional than it ever has been?
MG: Uh…yeah but the thing is with accolades. Obviously they feel a little gratifying, but if you pay too much attention to them you start acting like a parrot and try to replicate that experience just like any Pavlovian dog would. It is great that more people love the shows and we have the ability to keep making music which is really what it’s about.
LIR: You have said that you are inspired by death and the fear of living a pointless life.
MG: Hopefully that should be everyone’s credo (Laughs). We have a finite amount of time on earth, and I think it is important to find your potential and push yourself. Like everyone else I fall into rogue behaviour but, yeah, that is what I am looking for, particularly in the music live. It is a moment of complete abandon when all the work that you have done over the years just empties out and you have an experience that is the result from it. It can be fairly ecstatic live and I live for those moments.
LIR: Let’s talk about the band you created between both of these incarnations of Swans, Angels Of Light. Now Swans is back up and running, can you do both?
MG: That band is on permanent hiatus… well not permanent, but it’s on hiatus. That first album, ‘New Mother’, is quite good; there are lots of great moments on it. Well, that’s what I think when I go back and listen to it which I rarely do because I am quite dissatisfied with my voice. That project was begun after I terminated Swans in the late 90s, and I wanted it to be centred around my ability to write a song on acoustic guitar, and sing it and have it be a strong experience, and then place orchestrations and everything after that fact.
At that time I wanted that to be the way of working. I don’t know if I ever attained that level I should have as a singer but now Swans takes up all of my time. Even my record label, Young God Records, I don’t have time for now. I do the minimum possible. I put out Swans records but I can’t produce and work with other people’s music. Well, at this juncture anyway.
LIR: So where would you recommend a newbie like myself should have started with your vast back catalogue of music? Did I do it right to begin with ‘The Seer’?
MG: Oh yes, absolutely. It contains a lot of elements from the past work but of course it is moving forward as well. I think that’s a good crucible, a good place to test yourself if you want to explore our music. Personally of course I am always interested in what is coming next. I have no idea whether it will live up to ‘The Seer’ or be worse, but the important thing for me is to try and be in a new place and experience a bit of surprise and joy in the music
LIR: Finally is there any record I should avoid?
MG: Oh, ‘The Burning World’, yeah. There are a few good songs on there, but I can’t stand my voice on it. It didn’t really gel. It was a tiptoe in the water towards a more Angels Of Light direction and I think it was an abysmal failure. I would avoid that.
LIR: Got it, I will not spend my hard earned on that one then. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to speak to us and we can’t wait to hear what Swans comes up with next.
This interview I did with Mr Gira originally appeared in pennyblackmusic magazine.
Like fellow Holy Roar signings THROATS, MATHS are one of the leading lights in underground extreme music in the UK. I first looked them up when I heard they were doing a show in Canterbury. Their myspace tracks blew me away reminding me of early French emo/screamo band Peu Etre. I loved that band so dearly in the late 90’s/early 00’s and here, finally ten years down the line I came across a band who were worthy of being considered a successor to their crown.
When I saw them play they didn’t disappoint in anyway so I put together 10 quick fire questions that singer Zen scribbled back to me. Here are the results.
– How do you feel about the current UK hardcore scene as a whole and do you feel part of it?
My feelings on the current UK hardcore scene are pretty much non-existant. Maths aren’t really associated with any particular scene, and I think we like it that way.
– With regards to Norwich how have the local bands reacted to your getting a record out and having some success, are people happy for you or has jealousy set in like can often happen within small scenes?
I have absolutely no idea. None of us presently live in Norwich, and I have been the only one that’s lived there in the past couple of years. I doubt there is much jealously to be honest. It’s so easy to put out a record and go on tour now, you can set it all up without even having to leave your bedroom, so what we do isn’t inaccessible or unreachable. One thing I can say though, is that in April we played our first Norwich headline show and the turn out was really good. Lots of people were friendly and made conversation, so it really felt like we were part of a little community. Similar things have happened at other shows, but that’s the most recent one I can remember.
– How did the deal with Holy Roar come about?
In 2007 we played our first tour with Cutting Pink With Knives, the bassist of whom runs Holy Roar. Not long after the tour we recieved an offer to put out an EP in digital only format through Holy Roar. Months later that turned into the Maths/Throats split CD. We don’t have any written deal with Holy Roar, we just email each other ideas for releases and then agree the details of each release that way. It works for us.
– Descent sounds huge and very professional for a debut record. Where was it recorded and what was the process?
Thank you, I’m glad you think so. We did infact record it ourselves. It took many months and was very stressful, however I think it was all very much worth it in the end.
– Parts of And Left To Die have an almost trippy post rock vibe to them. Is this a direction you will be exploring further?
Who knows. Our sound is always slowly changing.. perhaps one day we will just completely shift direction and create something brand new..
– What came from the write up you had in NME if anything?
It’s very hard to gauge the effects of individual write ups, but any media attention like that will hopefully get our name out there some more. To be honest I would rather do interviews for fanzines than, hypothetically, be on the cover of Kerrang. This is simply because I believe that most people that listen to Maths are more than just casual music fans. How many people that read NME, for example, will go on to listen to our music and enjoy it? Very few I would assume. Compare that to the type of people that read the fanzines and the websites and the blogs, there is a much larger chance that those individuals will hear Maths as more than just another screamo band. This isn’t a knock on the mainstream music media, as we will always accomodate them and are always grateful for any coverage we get, it is just the view I have always maintained.
– How do you take a bad review, collective zine wrote a particularly harsh one if I remember correctly? I think they got you guys totally wrong by the way but do you take anything from critical responses at all?
It’s completely fine with us. I believe the Collective Zine community read an angry quote from someone else, or perhaps from Alex at Holy Roar, as something we had said, so it may have blown the whole thing up when it wasn’t even an issue with us to start with. Andy Malcolm, the guy that started Collective Zine, is actually a nice guy and has always been friendly enough to us even if he doesn’t like our music. Any reviews, good or bad, astound me in a way.. I am always shocked and grateful that someone took their time to write anything about Maths at all.
– Do you get annoyed with the constant use of the Screamo tag whenever you are talked about?
Never annoyed, although I don’t think I would listen to Maths and immedietly consider us a screamo band. Our influences are wide spread and certainly not contained within the boundaries of screamo. Tags and names for styles of music is fine though, it helps music fans easily identify new bands they might like.
– What are your future plans with the band?
We are currently recording for a 7″ record that will be released on Holy Roar. We also have tentative plans for a split 7″ with another band, although I can’t say who yet. Suffice to say it will be very, very interested and completely unexpected. In terms of shows, we will always play tours and weekends of shows here and there. Maths is going to be around for a long time to come, as we sincerely love being in this band and we love the satisfaction and chance as self-expression it brings us.
– I am currently writing a book of the greatest albums released the 80’s, of any genre. What do you consider is a highlight of the decade and why?
Kate Bush, Bad Religion and Pentagram, amongst many others, released some great albums in the 80s. Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath is obviously a (currently topical) highlight too. Also, for my money, and this may seem like a completely generic answer but, My War by Black Flag is one of the greatest albums ever made.
From the bands Canterbury show I took some shots on my camera, here they are. You can go on their website here or their facebook here.
Hailing from Michigan, USA. La Dispute along with peers Touché Amore represent a new wave of 2nd wave emo coming out of the country right now, with their feet firmly planted in the DIY punk/hardcore scene rather than on a hunt for major label funding it was a refreshing discovery to find bands once more adopting a more grass roots approach to their art. On their recent European tour they played my local city and totally impressed. Big thanks goes to vocalist Jordan Dreyer for taking time out of the bands insane schedule and returning my questions. Here we go…
Lost In Rock: How did you discover hardcore, post hardcore etc. what was the route you took?
Jordan: My first experience with hardcore/punk/underground/whatever-you’d-like-to-call-it was probably around the age of 13 or 14. A good friend of mine had an older brother who was really into bands like Hot Water Music, Small Brown Bike, and other No Idea Records stuff, and that friend would burn records of from his brother’s collection (when CD burners were rare) and give them to us at school. The first record that really, really hit me was Forever and Counting by Hot Water Music, and it didn’t hit me at first. The first 2 or 3 listens didn’t connect, but for some reason I kept going back to it. Eventually, I couldn’t stop putting it back in. Something about the rawness musically, the intelligence, and the gargantuan emotional presence–it really altered my perspective on what music was capable of accomplishing. Anyways, we started going to our local record store and really exploring things, and I haven’t stopped still.
LIR. From the photo’s on your blog the European tour seemed incredible. How’s it been? And was it what you expected?
J: Europe was amazing. The shows, the people, the scenery–it was a really great experience for all of us. As a band, it was phenomenal to be so far away and be able to experience a music culture and community that is simultaneously so different and so similar to the one we have back home, and to be welcomed so graciously into it. And as people, it was just great to experience a different place; to absorb the scenery, the immense history, and be able interact with the culture. It was awesome, really. And for the most part, I think, pretty similar to what we expected, though I don’t think we had too many preconceived notions in mind before going over. The turn-outs in some places were a bit surprising, of course, but any time people come to see us a part of us is pretty surprised. Some places in particular were pretty unreal. It was fun.
LIR: How has England Compared to the rest of Europe? What did you think of Canterbury in particular?
J: England was great. Lots of people came out and sang along and what-not; it was cool. Compared to the rest of Europe I’d say it was pretty comparable, save for that communicating with people was generally a bit easier there, given that we speak the same primary language. For the most part, I think, everywhere was pretty similar to everywhere else. Where you’re at a show, the only noticeable difference is the language people speak, the rest is nearly identical. Which, to me, was the best part about experiencing shows in so many different countries in a short period of time. You really get to witness the strength of what art creates, that is, the community, and how it transcends all our differences. As for Canterbury, we had a blast. Of all the shows in Europe, I think Canterbury felt the most like a show back home. The venue was a rented hall, the promoter wasn’t really a “promoter,” and their wasn’t a stage or a green room or anything like that. It happened because someone who loves hardcore put the effort into making it happen. That felt like home.
LIR. Do you still consider yourself part of the Michigan scene?
J: Absolutely. We always will. Michigan is home, the people here are our family, and the experiences we’ve had as a band here have shaped who we are in a lot of ways. And it’s shaped funny. Kind of like a mitten. It’s interesting how proud Michiganders (yes, that’s what people here are called) are about being from here. I talked to a band from out of state not too long ago about their experience in Michigan and all they had to say was “people in Michigan love Michigan.” I don’t know what it is. The auto industry, maybe (just kidding).
LIR: Any recommendations for readers to check out?
J: Brad’s reading Arthur Rimbaud right now and he’s really enjoying it. Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series is unreal. He’s from England. I don’t know. There’s so much good literature in the world, I could go on for hours. Was this a literature question? I saw “readers” and assumed. Now I’m realizing “readers” probably refers to people reading this interview, in which I don’t know what I’m supposed to recommending. Michigan artists? Small Brown Bike, The Swellers, Bars of Gold, Damages, Dire Wolf, Al Green. Other artists? Joanna Newsom, The Mountain Goats, Touche Amore, Native, Make Do and Mend, Defeater, Pianos Become the Teeth. Books? anything by Vladimir Nabokov, Karyna McGlynn’s I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl, Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, etc.
There, some recommendations.
LIR: Jordan, Lyrically At The Bottom Of A River is a very personal album. Singing these lyrics night after night must drive you insane, how do you approach it , does it keep old wounds open.?
J: That’s a really good question. In some ways, yes, it does, and I’ve struggled with that on occasion. It’s healthy, of course, to exorcise issues by expressing them, but I’m not certain dwelling on those expressions allows the separation necessary to make the problem fade. And playing the same songs, rehashing the emotional damage in the process, can’t be the best way to forget something. On the other hand, I don’t know. Going back to things that you know, when you’re honest with yourself, won’t really ever leave you allows you to reconsider, to learn, and to pull new information and understanding from it. Sometimes it’s better not to forget, and to instead let settle and exist. Not as something that dominates you, but as something that is forever cemented in you, with all the other things that make you who you are. In that way, maybe it’s good to rip the scab off. A lot of the more personal songs we play have taken on a whole new meaning for me over time in that way.
Having said that, most times it’s pretty easy to separate the subject matter from the performance. Not in a way that cheapens it, of course, but in a way that reinvents it every night. Every performance is an emotional trip, even when the initial instance that inspired the song isn’t present. The emotional involvement gets reborn in the moment with all the people there feeling something different from me and all the other people there with them. You draw from that–that everyone is feeling something–it doesn’t really matter what exactly it is.
LIR: Somewhere At The Bottom Of The River… reads to me like a concept LP. Was that the bands intention from the get go?
J: Not necessarily. I mean, we planned things out pretty deliberately musically, but the story is less a narrative than it is just a series of stories with comparable subject matter. There’s no running storyline, but there is a thematic consistency throughout.
LIR: How’s the new full length record coming along?
J: Good, thus far, though we’re only just now getting started. We have pieces and ideas and I’d imagine we’ll start piecing them together pretty soon. I’m excited.
LIR: You’re very DIY in approach, which usually goes hand in hand with a lack of funds. When the tour is over are you heading back to day jobs or are you now able to do this full time.?
J: Jobs and odd-jobs and outstanding bills for the most part, but that’s the name of the game. In point of fact, most bands a lot bigger than us still work jobs when they get home. It’s worth it.
LIR: When ever I interview a band I always ask about their favourite 80’s album of any genre. So if you had to pick just the one what would it be and why?
J: Rain Dogs by Tom Waits, then Remain in Light by Talking Heads. Why? Listen to them. You’ll understand.
For any one reading that wants to see the photographs from that awesome Canterbury show La Dispute played click here.
When I found out that BURNING LOVE were playing close to me I thought it best to send off this emailer to singer and general hardcore legend Chris Colohan to find out what’s currently going on with the band.
LIR: What was the catalyst that turned you on to the underground music scene?
CC: Just being a pissed off teenager growing up in a fucked up city. I listened to a lot of punk records and then somehow realized that existed on a level I could interact with firsthand.
LIR: After the Euro tour that ended Cursed how easy was it to dissolve the band fully and effectively start again from scratch with Burning Love?
CC: We were already a band while Cursed was still playing, but it was on the side of that and all the BL boys’ band Our Father. I definitely didn’t do shit for a few months after the Cursed thing happened, but then naturally came back to it and we kicked BL into gear.
LIR: From what we hear and read in the UK Toronto has quite a varied and healthy hardcore scene, Do you feel a part of it or, as you have gotten more successful as normally happens have some of your original fans turned their back on you?
CC: I don’t feel that at all, feel more attached to the hardcore scene than I have in years actually. Yeah, Toronto has a great thing going, lots of stoked younger kids and productive older ones, and a ton of great bands in all musical corners of the spectrum. I’m in the middle of releasing a Toronto/Montreal comp LP called City Limits with 23 of them.
LIR: Deranged puts out some fantastic records, how have you found it being on the label?
CC: I’ve known Gord a long time and worked with him before in past bands. He puts out some great records and did a great job with the BL LP and EPs.
LIR: The song Alien Vs Creditor hits home hard in this country as it would seem our government is also intent on bankrupting any person who wishes to gain an education unless they come from privileged backgrounds. Now the record has been out a while the themes contained on it (of which AvC is just one) still feel almost universal. Before you commit pen to paper do you consider how your writing maybe conceived in other countries…?
CC: No, I can’t say I think about it like that. I think most of what I write about translates cross-culturally, and as for AVC I think people being forced into systematic debt and bad credit is a symptom of modern capitalism everywhere, which unfortunately is universal.
LIR: Chris, you’ve been knee deep in hardcore for many, many years. What makes you stick with the DIY approach and ethics?
CC: I see what you did there. Hahah. Well, those are two different things. As for punk and hardcore, I love this music and it helped me at a time when my life would have taken a drastically different and worse path. So I feel like I owe it to that to see it through, even when it looks and sounds very different from the culture I grew up in.
To still be playing this music in basements at this age, you do have to make some compromises you don’t plan on, because if the math doesn’t add up at least to zero, then you can’t even be there doing it. But you try to pick your affiliations wisely.
And ethically, in terms of my personal lifestyle politics, those are a part of me regardless of my involvement in music, it’s automatic for me to do things as DIY as possible in all aspects of life, from food to work to consumerism. It really comes down to supporting the things you have a reason to respect, and cutting out those you don’t.
LIR: How about the downloading debate, which we hear a lot about in the mainstream press but very rarely in the context of punk and hardcore?
CC: Oh fuck. Who cares, other than Lars Ulrich and people who made their millions off it already? I can see it being a pisser if you can’t afford to make music anymore because of it, but those aren’t the people who generally complain about it. I find that our crowd, and me personally, will download something just to have it digitally and still buy the records and go see those bands if it’s something we’re into. Maybe hip-hop guys it really hurts, if a million college kids download it but don’t go see it live, buy merch or buy it on vinyl. But in our world, downloading doesn’t bother me at all, and it goes around 10 times farther and faster so it’s actually doing your band a favor.
LIR: You are returning to tour the UK again shortly. What were the best and worst experiences last time you came over with Burning Love and what are you looking forward to on your return?
CC: Man, I’ve always enjoyed playing in the UK, Cursed always had great shows there, and BL had a great time last year. There was nothing about it that sucked, minus one or two dud shows. The highlight was definitely the 1 In 12 Club, can’t wait to go back there. And all the awesome record stores you guys have. I’m stoked that we’re playing with Goatspeed and Cry Havok again, stoked to see our friends, eat awesome curries and stock up on British sore throat remedies that cost 1 pound and really work. I never even knew I had catarrh, now I’m a Catarrh Hero! Poundworld, Hollaaaaaa!
LIR: What is to come after the tour for Burning Love?
CC: We’ve been out on the road pretty solidly since June here at home and in the US, a lot of shit happened that left us pretty far in the hole, so after this next tour we’re going to chill the fuck out for a few months, work as much as possible and write a pile of new songs, make our plans and be out again by spring/summer.
LIR: I am currently writing a book about the 1980′s and would love to know, if push came to shove and you had to choose just one release from the 1980’s as your favourite which would it be and why?
CC: Probably Black Flag – My War. There are a lot of records I could name more recently but this one was there for the drunk, angry 16 year old me and still does it for the nearly 36 year old sober angry me.
If you click here on Burning Love’s myspace page you can see the upcoming dates of the bands UK tour, if they are playing near your town, you’d be a fool to miss them. If you took the photo let me know so I can credit you.
For the first night of their UK tour Cancer Bats, Trash Talk and Vera Cruz played the unusual destination on the club circuit of Folkestone’s Quaterhouse. As far as I am aware it was the first hardcore show to be put on there and my hat goes off to the promoters for getting such a coup. As I type this the day following the show I can hear nothing except for a whistling and ringing in my ears, not only was it one of the most fun shows ever but it was one of the loudest I have ever witnessed. This from a fella that has spent a lot of his time in front of Dinosaur Jr’s decibel defying noise.
First up tonight were Vera Cruz from Paris, France and you could tell they were having the time of their lives. Call it journalistic instinct or perhaps it was just the fact they were telling us after every song that gave the game away. Oddly they were also the loudest band of the night. This was their very first UK show and I kid you not the crowd went nuts from the off, forming circle pits and singing along to the tracks that were included on their free downloadable EP. They are an exceptionally tight band and pull off the cheesiest rock star moves throughout the show but you know what, they totally get away with it. Maybe it’s a French thing but it works, I tell you if a UK band tried it the crowd would rip them apart. By the time of set closer Liar Liar the crowd looked exhausted and Trash Talk hadn’t even played yet.
This was my first Trash Talk experience and I must admit to being utterly impressed. To me it felt like it must have felt watching a Black Flag or a Dead Kennedys show back in the day, knowing that you were playing a small part in the stuff of punk rock legend. They open up with a slow grinding riff before all hell busts loose and the band rips through blast after blast of screaming thrash. I know their music pretty well and I have to say whether they play out of control or pull songs off identical to the records (of which they do both tonight) they are an incredible band to watch. During Sacramento Is Dead singer Lee Spielman dove off the barrier onto the crowd that in turn dropped him head first onto the floor. Undeterred and with blood pouring down his face the band simply pummelled on regardless. Bonus punk points for the drummer who set his kit up on the floor and not on the drum riser. Stuff of legend.
Finally as if my ears hadn’t had enough of a beating Canada’s Cancer Bats turned up and finished the crowd off with an hour long carnage fuelled set. For the entire second half of it bodies were flailing over the barrier continuously. Older songs such as Pneumonia Hawk fit in seamlessly with the newer tracks such as Sleep this Away but it was the songs they played from their Hail Destroyer LP that had the best reaction of the night. Finishing up with the title track was an act of genius as the band drew the last bit of energy from the crowd that they could give. That crunching riff literally finishing everyone off, band included.
Folkestone has put on some great metal and hardcore shows over the past few years but this has to be one of the best I have seen, it’s great news that the Quaterhouse is willing to put on shows like this. Hopefully it’s the first of many.
In 1984 Black Flag head honcho Gregg Ginn began writing tracks meant for his debut solo album, it continued in the flavour of his bands previous records Slip It In (which was still aggressive but less punk sounding) and what would become the bands fifth long player; Loose Nut. The major change was Ginn’s guitar style, whilst there was always an unusual element to his style with his incorporation of harmonics and free style tempo changes even way back in the day but with the new tracks there were jazz element coming into play and hardly any rhythm guitar. Thankfully after Henry Rollins began to write lyrics for the music Ginn was creating the decision came to develop these ideas into a full length Black Flag record. I say Thankfully because it’s a much stronger record than Loose Nut and as it turned out the band would not release another studio album after it and it’s always better to go out with a bang. Just ask Kurdt. Um…. Sorry.
So…….. The most standard Black Flag type song on In My Head has to be Drinking And Driving; there is the inclusion of a great, great riff at the songs core; something that Greg seemed to avoid towards the end of the band’s career. It’s a strong lyric and vocal performance from Rollins as well which was shadowed a few years later in his Rollins Band incarnation on the Life Time record.
But as stated before it’s that guitar of Ginn that for better or worse makes this record stand out. For starters, it is ridiculously high in the mix. I mean crazy high. Rollins vocal and Kira’s bass are literally buried under its weight. The drums are recorded okay I suppose if you don’t mind the drumming sound on Def Leppard’s High ‘n’ Dry album which I am sure all the punk rockers dig to this day. If it wasn’t for some simply outstanding guitar playing then this record would be a complete mess. Regardless it’s in dire need of a remix.
The solos on the final track It’s Up To You are a great place to start. They are just off the wall mad and poke through the song like swords through a bag of grain. His playing is just unhinged. Opener Paralyzed uses the shrill note picking and soloing to even better use by incorporating the sound into the verses and the chorus so the song just sounds alien to anything out there at the time or even today for that matter. It’s verging on ridiculous but always works. Elsewhere there are jazzy notations afoot on The Crazy Girl which is my favourite track here. As Rollins whispers “My target is your eyes” Ginn has his flailing axe on speed dial, ac/dc’s set for riffing stun setting and then bursts into some abstract jazz business before setting off an a solo, all within 40 seconds. The man is a monster let me tell you.
To be honest it is not an album I listen to any longer, when a track comes on randomly I won’t turn it off but I never actively seek the vinyl out from my collection to give it a spin. It sounds too damn odd, a huge guitar wankfest over latter period Black Flag playing quietly in the background. Utter nonsense. Remix it please.
You want bleak. You’ve got it. This record truly is for the hardcore. When I recently saw this lot live I left thinking I hadn’t seen anything quite that brutal since watching Napalm Death when this reviewer was very young indeed. From the evidence on this here EP it becomes apparent that Throats are so much more than simple plagiarists. For those that are after the complete picture or simply need a lesson in sheer brute force try the final track Oaken/Wait which comes at you with wave after wave of fat riffs. From the full pelt speed attack to the slower paced, ten ton of heavy distorted, feedback drenched finale the song captures Throats very essence.
Alex Wealands lyrics come across as a portrait of a fellow that instead of going into therapy just vomits his mental state as prose onto the page. In My Hands Are Cold He screams “I guess I can’t see the best until I’ve seen the worst but there’s something in my head, they’re fucking with my head”. And this point is hammered home on each of the six songs here. Just when I find myself about to give up on heavy music for the umpteenth time along comes some new heroes to Champion. I’m sick of hearing that this band is the UK’s answer to Converge. What I want now is to hear the USA’s answer to Throats.
Never having been to the ULU before my first impressions were not great. The venue is a student union hall and simply a square box with a huge roof. The place was cut in two front half the venue and the second half was slightly raised where there was a bar and merchandise for sale. I only mention this because for the second half of converge I decided to watch the show from this point and get away from the front rows but the sound was appalling and the low stage meant you could hardly see a thing. If only the band had set this show up for the underworld in the first place (a day before the gig the band announced an extra show there) This gripe aside all I can say is what a show! We arrived at the venue in time to catch the whole of Gaza’s set. Lots of metal chug parts followed but no cheesy hardcore breaks thank goodness just utterly full on anti religious vile. Brilliant stuff. Vocalist Jon Parkin is a man on a mission. His screams must be second only to the headliners here tonight. The crowd didn’t move much but that’s what you get playing 3rd on the bill sometimes. They really deserved more.
Kylesa on the other hand got what they deserved. It took a song or so for the band to get their shit together but when they did they brought the house down. The duel vocal precision of Philip and Laura was something to behold and Jesus were they heavy. It felt like a proper metal show at points with zero hardcore, just one insanely heavy riff after the next. The addition of two drummers is such a cliché but it truly works with this band. I was at the front next to the bass bins and I felt like I had been pummelled. I recognised a few tracks off their brilliant Static Tension LP, they had it down so tight. It was great to get to see them live, no pretence no fashion just straight ahead metal with a little slab of stoner thrown in for good measure.
So onto Converge, perhaps the biggest hardcore band there is. For a full five minutes before they came on singer Jake Bannon was winding him self up so tight that when the band pounded onto the stage it was as if someone had let go of his spring and just watched him fly. Running end to end of the stage, throwing the microphone to the ceiling every second there was a break from his intense screams he really is the premier hardcore front man. Quite the presence indeed. The downside to the onstage onslaught was the venues poor sound. Unless you were in the front 10 rows it was pretty awful. 30 people back and it sounded like you were listening to them on a phone, it was that bad. I wish I’d stayed at the front. Saying that how anyone can expect to keep up the momentum after opening with a song such as Concubine is anyone’s guess. They succeed, just. I’d say converge it was a pretty good show but nowhere near their best. For me the night belonged to Kylesa, absolute metal gods.
Click on the band name to see photo’s from the night. CONVERGE / KYLESA / GAZA
Doom obsessed music journo from Australia living in the UK.
As soon as you drop the needle on the record, you’re floored. The punch of the guitars may be a visceral blast of sloppy riffage, but it is effective as hell. Opening track Nervous Breakdown was the debut single released by Black Flag back in 1978. Now the Flag never claimed to be the first punk band in the USA but along with the Dead Kennedy’s, Greg Ginn and company ushered in the hardcore scene which spawned a hundred thousand mini genres and a work ethic that influenced my outlook on how I should run the band I was in.
LIR: Let’s talk about the band you created between both of these incarnations of Swans, Angels Of Light. Now Swans is back up and running, can you do both?
In 1984 Black Flag head honcho Gregg Ginn began writing tracks meant for his debut solo album, it continued in the flavour of his bands previous records Slip It In (which was still aggressive but less punk sounding) and what would become the bands fifth long player; Loose Nut. The major change was Ginn’s guitar style, whilst there was always an unusual element to his style with his incorporation of harmonics and free style tempo changes even way back in the day but with the new tracks there were jazz element coming into play and hardly any rhythm guitar. Thankfully after Henry Rollins began to write lyrics for the music Ginn was creating the decision came to develop these ideas into a full length Black Flag record. I say Thankfully because it’s a much stronger record than Loose Nut and as it turned out the band would not release another studio album after it and it’s always better to go out with a bang. Just ask Kurdt. Um…. Sorry.
lostinrock 