A Sunday Conversation with Cancer Killing Gemini

Hanging out with Eric Michael Cohen from Industrial sex slaves, Cancer Killing Gemini:

What have been your musical epiphany moments?

I remember the first time I heard, Jane's Addiction, NIN, Faith No More.... I had been listening to Bon Jovi, Van Halen and whatever else Boston radio had to offer. There was no alternative station then, and to be honest, I didn't even know college radio existed. So all of a sudden (to me) there's this music that's not about bikinis and bullsh*t, and it sounds awesome. Then the whole palette of alternative opened up: The Cure, The Cult, The Replacements, New Order, The Stone Roses, Violent Femmes, Ministry, Big Black, etc etc etc.


Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?

I start with melody and simple accompaniment, usually bass. I'm not really a riff writer. For me, the melody is the most important element of the song. If you start with a riff, it can force the vocal to go in certain directions. If you can create a killer melody, the chords almost write themselves.If I don't start with bass, my second choice is usually Rhodes (vintage electric piano by Fender). When I write on Rhodes, the end result is often very slow and sad. A nice balance to wall of guitars.

Who has influenced you the most?

Ask me that question every 5 years and you'll get a different answer. Kurt Cobain and Trent Reznor were there closer to the beginning. More recently, it's been Silversun Pickups, Ben Folds, Fiona Apple, The Jesus Lizard, Mutemath...

Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?

Everywhere. The trick.. the skill.... can be taking the mundane and making it interesting, or taking a great story and not wrecking it by putting it in a song. I'm trying to move away from always writing about myself and instead writing for other people. Does that make sense? I'm hoping to try to start a conversation with a song. We'll see how that goes.

How do you see your music as different that other artists in your genre?

I'm hoping to do what we can to leave genres behind (and yes, I know how pretentious that sounds). There's a loud industrial edge to much of the first record, but there's also down tempo, post-grunge, electronica / dance... As the band progresses (especially the live band), more and more genres are going to enter into the equation. I like electronic music, but my roots are in rock, and rock is a giant "genre" with thousands of styles. The band has the ability to jam, not like Phish or The Dead (thank God), but to take a song section and just bury you with it. "Christcontrol" (from "It only hurts when we breathe") now has a monstrous break in the middle that totally kills.

 I was in an electronic project before Cancer Killing Gemini where some keyboard parts and loops would play from a sequencer. If forced the song to be the same every time we played it. No deviation or there'd be a trainwreck. This time is different. Everything is live on stage.

What is you musical intention? What are you trying to express or get your audience to feel?

Subversion / perversion / distortion of your mainstream. Bringing the fringe of society to centerstage through music. I really enjoy pushing the boundaries of people's comfort zones and seeing how they react. More and more of that in CKG's future.
 
Come on, share with us a couple of your great, Spinal Tap, rock and roll moments?

I wish I had specific Spinal Tap moments I could think of.... there's definitely stories in my past, but I don't think they're all funny. I had a drummer hang himself in jail in a previous band, I dated the singer in kittymonkey until she switched sides / became a lesbian (not my fault... well maybe), in another band my ex-girlfriend became the bass player's wife (awkward!)....

You worked with Julie Simone on your recent video for "Should I tell you that you're pretty?" Stories please!

At one point I was going to go down to NY and meet her to shoot some of the footage for the video, but the timing didn't work out, so it was actually all done via email after email. I worked out a "plot" and sent her a slideshow. Bit by bit, the plot morphed, based mainly on suggestions from Julie until we had the final product. She has a specific way she wants to be portrayed. Victim is not part of that image. So, despite the male-chauvinist angle of the song, the video is more about femdom (doubt that word's in Webster's). The footage in the choruses is from her archives. I had an interesting time editing around the nudity, penetration and dildoes to make a video that could be played on YouTube.

 What makes a great song?

If you want to immediately hear it again, there's a good chance it's great.

Tell us about the first song you ever wrote?

A prog rock anthem called "Sterile Rabbits" with a friend of mine. It was about sterile rabbits.

What piece of your music are particularly proud of?

Each piece of music I write has something about it that makes it my favorite, in a certain way. "Christcontrol" is just balls to the wall aggression, "Century" has this undeniable low key groove, "Prescription Drugs" is just plain fun. It's always the newest piece of music that's the best in the eyes of the writer, so right now I'm really keen on "Carousel", "You Let The Honey Out Of Me" and "University" which you should see in 2011.

Who today, writes great songs? Who just kicks your ass? Why?

Cee Lo Green. Fuck that guy. That song (F You) is awesome. Back Eyed Peas. Not great songs, but great pop music. Big difference. Phoenix. Can't understand half the lyrics, but man are they catchy.
Silversun Pickups. Throwaway lyrics but an awesome soundscape.

 
Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?

It's not vinyl. Go ahead and shoot me. I don't want a non-faithful reproduction format that I can't play in my car or on the beach that degrades over time and has to be manually flipped every 12 minutes. Compact Discs are adequate but not awesome. Digital will be amazing once someone figures out a cool way to embed more stuff when you download a song (lyrics, photos, videos etc), so digital should be my format of choice, soon.

Whiskey or beer? And defend your choice

On beer I get sleepy and pass out. On whiskey I'm more likely to rage, then crash. Whiskey it is.

We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new music. What's your home town, and when we get there, what's the best record store to lose ourselves in?

I'm in Boston. I don't do much record shopping but when I do, it's Newbury Comics. They're a local chain that understands alternative music.

Any final comments or thoughts you'd like to share with our readers, the waveriders?

Help out your favorite bands by telling them what you'd be excited to buy from them. We (musicians) don't care all that much about getting rich, but if we can not go broke as we create, that means alot. Do you want bonus tracks, T-shirts, signed copies of something, blood, pee, private concerts? Help us survive as the record labels die. And buy us drinks at shows.