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Chaos:
Choice Of The Noise Generation
By Adrian ‘The Energizer' Bromley
There seems to be a lot of noise going on nowadays in today's music
scene. Have you noticed?
Hard rock/metal music is not just about fancy guitar riffs and melodic
vocals anymore. There is a new breed in town, and they're all about
going against the hard music mold, constantly changing around tempos
and fueling their direct musical onslaughts with mastery and downright
scary concoctions. In other words, hold onto your heads.
The element of noise has managed to weave its way into the realm
of hardcore and grindcore music, sometimes installing a truly deafening
array of ideas and other times bringing a group's material down
to scattered sorts of sounds spurned on by the aggressive nature
of the band. Bands like Botch, Dillinger Escape Plan, the now defunct
Deadguy and Vision of Disorder are but a few of the more well-known
acts that have captured the feel of chaos in their past and present
releases, most notably the blistering release Calculating Infinity
from DEP.
Anyway, this special section is designed to inform the average reader
about a style of music that has managed to add a truly volatile
nature to hard music, more so than blackened wails, guttural vocals
and down-tuned guitars. This is chaos, my friends. This is chaos
on a much grander scale.
So sit back and take note of a varied group of bands (i.e. Japan's
No Rest For The Dead, Arizona's Unruh and Virginia-area noisemongers
Agoraphobic Nosebleed) that may not be the best out there, though
I'd have to say they are the better of the crop. Their ambition
and attitude is helping to radically redraft the unoriginal musical
blueprints that most bands nowadays use to define their musical
parameters.
Wipe the slate clean. Keep it chaotic!
Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of creativity and determination
to get by. If that is the case, then mid-west powerhouse hardcore
heavies COALESCE have their hand in the whole jar (and then some)
with their latest, 012: Revolution In Just Listening.
"We never try to make the same record twice, though if you
listen to our earlier records and 7"s it seems like we did,"
says singer Sean Ingram down the line from Kansas City, Missouri
with a chuckle. "We've learned and we have tried to always
do something different with what we do. I think you can see that
now with our last few releases and especially with the new disc.
We really got quite a record out of our work, seeing that all this
stuff was going on with our lives, I'm glad to see we were able
to put a record out. We poured a lot of emotions and our problems
into 012, and it shows."
Ingram and his bandmates (drummer James DeWees, bassist Nathan Ellis
and guitarist Jes Steineger) are proud of the aggressive hardcore
that they play, though Ingram pushes aside the notion that they
are way too extreme for people to digest. He says, "We're not
so off the wall and out of control like Dillinger Escape Plan. I
can see how people might have thought that with our Give Them Rope
era of the band, but when 012 came out I don't think people knew
what to think of us, let alone what we were playing.
"I don't think we are very chaotic anymore. I mean, we are
in our lives maybe and a bit in the music, but I think the music
has grown and changed into something else. We are more focused on
groove. We have a lot to offer now, I think. I think we want to
just be able to sit back and listen to the music and get moved by
the groove."
Does the band fit into the noise genre? "I don't know anymore,
man…I just don't know. I have a hard time figuring out where
music is going these days. It is just so hard to pick on. As for
Coalesce? I just say we're Coalesce doing Coalesce. It's always
been the same and it hasn't changed much, I think."
While most bands will have a set agenda of where they want to take
their music, a blueprint if you will, Coalesce has never really
been about planning much of anything. It's all spurred on by the
notion that the key to making good music is to throw the map out
the window. Go with the flow, or in their case, the groove.
"Change has always come to this band. We always know how it
should be, it's just getting there sometimes that is the difficult
task. I know that when it comes down to songwriting, it's not about
writing for the high point on the CMJ Chart or for money, it's about
writing for yourself. Be happy. You write for something else in
mind and the music lacks soul. If music changes 'cause you don't
want to play the same thing over and over or beat the song into
the ground with different time signatures or what have you, then
go with it. I look at our music and if it moves, then bam! –
it is on the record."
While some might look at this record as just another listing on
the band's ever-flowing set of 7"s, EPs and album releases,
there is a real dark period of time and emotions that helps make
this one of the most honest records out there. Ingram explains.
"This was a very important record for us. This record was a
huge achievement 'cause we had basically broken up before it was
written. Everyone had cashed in their chips, started or joined new
bands and moved on. I think the fact that our hard feelings for
us at that point and (that we) put them aside and kicked ass on
a record and not have it turn out as dog meat was an achievement
itself. The fact that it exists is an accomplishment itself. I think
after releasing it and the band discovering the lyrics that came
with the record (the record was recorded and assembled in different
stages - Adrian) that the band were so hit by what came across with
this record that they wanted to just keep moving.
"I think that the record shows great accomplishment in breaking
the guys in the band from bigger and maybe better bands back to
the music that they'll love till the end of time."
And the lyrics and stories helping fill up 012? How hard were they
to bring from thought to paper to record? These are pretty personal
issues, aren't they?
"Those issues with the lyrics were on my mind at the time of
recording," says Ingram. "Some people got really pissed
off at me for what I wrote about. It's what I wanted to do. I'm
not going to sing how bulimia is bad or racists are stupid. It would
come across so out of place. So I took the time to put down on paper
what was on my mind and go from there. It was a struggle for me.
Older material on record came a bit freely to me 'cause I had a
concept in mind with the music, but this was all over the place."
With tales of suicides, deaths and uncertainty fueling his music,
Ingram saw faith in his reasoning to do so. "I felt like I
had to explore those personal items in our mind. It felt right at
the time. When it was all done and put together I felt that I had
been through so much. It was so hard," he laughs. "Man,
it was a struggle, but I got it out and the record is so much more
meaningful to me because of it."
>>>
Most people find underground/aggressive music too difficult to take
in sometimes, y'know? There is something too maniacal or fucked
up for the average metal-head to digest. Virginia-area grindcore/noise
aficionados AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED love to just scare the fuck out
of people. One listen to the band's latest effort, The Poacher Diaries,
a split with Boston heavies Converge, and you too might be wondering
what goes on in their sadistic little minds.
"We didn't know if this was going to work at all," says
member Scott Hull about teaming up with hardcore outfit Converge.
"It all just came about because we had known them for many
years as friends. We originally were going to do a split 7"
where both groups would team up for this hardcore ambient number,
kind of like Tribes Of Neurot on a smaller label. It just snowballed
into a release for Relapse where we were going to have the ambient
track and several typical numbers from both acts. The project was
a bit rushed and it ended up just being a split, minus the ambient
track.
"It's funny our stuff has a real metal feel to it, while they
still have that driving hardcore force within their music. If our
material had been like our last effort (the grinding behemoth Honky
Reduction) then it probably would have not worked out. Our stuff
is really showing off our Voivod influences for sure.
"I think just straight up hormones make us want to be this
way," laughs Hull when asked what fuels the ferocious acts
within the genre they delve into with their material. "There
are a lot of bands out there, and people that do extreme music have
this outlet to go out and create music to give you a headache, though
some also tack on the element of conveying a message. We don't 'cause
we don't have any need to do that."
When asked about the direction of the band and their battering-ram
like aggressive attack come the millennium (on their future full-length
Frozen Corpse Stuffed Full of Dope) Hull relays, "I don't know
where we will go with the music. The music of this split is so different
than what we have done before. I see the new material as more structured
and well thought out, but not as fast. I think to some ears it may
be more brutal sounding, and we like to hear that from our music.
"It's weird to try and plan things," he adds. "We've
always been just about writing and creating fast-as-hell music that
would cave your head in. We'd always try to get as much stuff packed
together as we could in as little time and stick it up your ass
and hope that you'll hang with it. At least that is what were banking
on."
Sounds like a good time, eh?
>>>
NO REST FOR THE DEAD may have a hard time grasping the concept of
the English language, but their grip on making truly dynamic thunderous
wallops of noise and aggression is a firm one.
Just listen to their new release The End Of Space or fucking incredible
demo Earthlings From Mars and you will see what might comes from
the land of the rising sun. Fuck Godzilla and tsunami waves. No
Rest For The Dead put the stranglehold on those two.
"There are so many bands out there nowadays with a sound and
a style that goes along with what is currently in and we don't want
to be a part of that," says NRftD guitarist Dead K by e-mail
about why they have chosen the chaotic, frenzied ways associated
with their music. "Our goal has always been to make music that
nobody else was doing. I still can hear a familiar sound throughout
our new disc (on ex-Brutal Truth drummer Rich Hoak's label Deaf
American) and I want to change that. We need to really work on taking
our music further ahead, and changes are happening."
With one listen of their disc, it's no wonder why Hoak signed them
to his label. They're cunning and deceptive musicians who are not
afraid to lash out with a vicious assault, but at the same time
manage to keep things cool and smooth. Shredding guitar riffs, jazzed-up
melodies, a very traditional psychedelic tinge and distorted vocals
help lead this onslaught up and over our pummeled bodies.
While NRftD may not be for everyone, the music is chock-full of
attitude. So are its members.
On the music scene over there, he comments, "Most of the bands
over here are really boring and unoriginal. 99% of music is really
shit. I personally don't like the much of the music scene here nowadays,
so I guess we got to go ahead to make the next popular scene?"
So how did a group of rebellious Japanese guys team up with Rich
Hoak? "That was the easy part," he says. "I really
wanted some of the artists that we loved to listen to our demo tape.
After we recorded the demo I sent one to Rich and he really liked
it a lot. He liked us so much he signed us to his label (the first
signing). He must see something in us.
"We always wanted to make music that would just be so powerful
it would crush and kill people," says Dead K with a humorous
tone. "We've started something here and I don't think people
know what they are getting into. Let anarchy rule!"
Get to know this band or they'll destroy you. You've been warned.
Say 'Sayonara!' to your eardrums, baby!
>>>
Should your ship be sinking and on fire, don't expect UNRUH guitarist
Ryan Butler to help you. <br><br>
"I'll be looking for a life boat. Forget setting fires,"
laughs the guitar slinger down the line from Arizona when asked
what he'd do should he be in the same scenario as the band's album
title: Setting Fires To Sinking Ships. "Forget the fires. I'm
out of there if it's going down."
It would be an odd situation to be in, eh? Let's face it, people,
not many of us have ever had the opportunity to set fire to a sinking
ship, but hearing something really cool and different is something
a bit more grounded, I'd say. Unruh is such a band: different, yet
grounded. Am I making sense at all? Guess not...read on.
With one part hardcore and two parts noise, Arizona act Unruh unleash
a rabid wave of anarchy and chaos within their Pessimiser Records
debut Setting Fire To Sinking Ships. It's a sonic wave of heat-intensified
numbers that rock the boat more than once.Their sound was a long
time coming, as Butler points out.
"I really think this record has a great sound. We're pleased
with the end results. While some people say our older material is
better, I think that is because it is a lot rougher and punkier.
I think the sound and work that went into this LP is great. We as
musicians have grown as well, and our sound engineer has gotten
incredibly good at what he does and, most importantly, working with
us."
With enough twisted ideas and rapid assaults of intensity fueling
their fire, Butler says playing this kind of music is just normal
to him and his band. "I think playing so aggressively just
comes easy for us. We have been for years, all of us, into punk,
and the music has always been situated in a punk style somewhat.
I love punk, but I think it didn't get brutal enough for me so I
moved onto hardcore," he explains. "It's just molded into
this powerful creature now."
And as for the lyrics and message they are trying to spread to the
masses? "Many people have stated that our singer writes very
apocalyptic lyrics for the band. He is pretty pessimistic and what
he writes about kind of reflects on how he views life. His lyrics
are based on having no hope with what is going on and as a band
we all seem to go along with what he is saying in his music. I dunno,
I just think what he writes about or what album titles he comes
up with just seems to fit what we are playing or the mood of the
band at that time."
One thing that irks Butler about the hardcore scene, like the problems
that many other bands face within their own music scenes, is the
task of dealing with certain group of bands that distort the scene.
"On a whole the hardcore scene is great, but there are facets
of the scene that I have a problem with," states Butler. "There
are these Victory Record, straight-edge kids that only care about
wearing Tommy Hilfiger clothes. They are not involved in politics
or punk or anything that hardcore is based on to begin with. That
has been the one of the main things that has kept me into and involved
in the hardcore scene, and that is the real-life factor of it. I
wouldn't change my role in the scene for anything. It's very special
to me."
Band, release and label info
-------------------
Coalesce - 0:12 Revolution In Just Listening (Relapse)
Agoraphobic Nosebleed (w/Converge) - The Poacher Diaries (Relapse)
No Rest For the Dead - The End Of Space (Deaf American)
Unruh - Setting Fire To Sinking Ships (Pessimiser)
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