The Spanish are known for many brutal things. Most of these things involve bulls. When thinking of Spanish music it usually invokes light vocals over just as kind heated sounding instrumentals. Haemorrhage from Madrid, Spain bring the musical brutality…no bulls needed.
Haemorrhage bring to us their new album entitled Hospital Carnage. I won’t say that album artwork is a key selling point of a band but this cover is pretty cool. It depicts what appears to be a surgeon who has just murdered his staff and patient. Very cool.
Musically the band takes me back to the old days of grind core. Namely, Carcass. You can tell these Spanish grinders had some Carcass inspirations. The lead off track, “Open Heart Butchery” is a great way to open the album. Guttural vocals and blast beats offer a familiar death metal experience but make you want to hear more.
Another key track on the album is, “911 (Emergency Slaughter)” which begins with a recorded “911, what’s your emergency” which is quickly turns into heavy guitar riffs and almost pig like squeals. The track is then met with powerful drums which offer up a nice little up beat groove. This song made me want to start a circle pit in the living room…which my cats were none to happy about and scattered underneath the nearest chair.
The fifteenth and final track on the album, “Intravenous Molestation Of Obstructionist After…” is a quick under one minute track. Great for the ADD metal head. My personal favorite thing about this track is what seems to be a Spanish soap opera playing in the background. It adds a little something to the brutality that is this track and makes it that much cooler.
Bottom line, Hospital Carnage has earned it’s spot in my death/grind rotation. Guttural vocals, heart stopping blast beats and heavy guitars make this an album to check out. If you enjoy bands such as: Carcass, Cattle Decapitation, Anal Cunt or the likes of Bolt Thrower are sure to dig Haemorrhage’sHospital Carnage.
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.
Long before Charles Darwin tried to categorize all things animal and vegetable, before chemists catalogued periodic tables, we, as humans, seem to have been pushed to classify everything. Whether as a matter of memory or utility it seems we want to pigeonhole the entirety of the universe. We even sort art.
Some things, however, are not classifiable. An unexpected kiss from your valentine. The sun on your face on a clear winter afternoon. The emotive crescendo of a swelling string section.
I was compelled to try to categorize Dark Dark Dark and its six song EP Bright Bright Brigh” which is scheduled to be released on March 9, 2010 by Supply & Demand Music. Is it chamber music? Well it has some elements of chamber music. There is clarinet, cello, piano and bass, but there is also vocals, banjo, accordion, trumpet, drums and percussion. Is it choir music? Well a choir is present on some of the tracks, but there is also an interesting mixture of male and female lead vocals. Is it folk music? Not in a traditional sense. The banjo is not used as a country banjo, the accordion has more in common with klezmer music and the piano is quite classical. So what is Bright Bright Bright by Dark Dark Dark?
The band is composed of Nona Marie Invie on vocals, piano and accordion; Marshall LaCount on vocals, banjo, piano and clarinet; Jonathan Kaiser on cello and in the choir; Walter McClements on piano, trumpet, accordion and in the choir; Brett Bullion on drums and percussion and Todd Chandler on bass. Marshall LaCount says that on Bright Bright Bright. The songs are often about a character finding a place in the world, and the strange interactions that happen along the way."
There is texture and nuance in the rhythms and instrumentation. The words speak of loss, heartache, loneliness and hope and the music sets the scene – it evokes human emotion - coldness, confusion, desire, longing, regret and sorrow. I find myself listening over and over, each time finding, and feeling, something different. I cannot pigeonhole Bright Bright Bright. It is closer to a personal experience than a genre of music.
Dark Dark Dark will tour this year almost exclusively east of the Rockies. However, they are scheduled to play at SXSW. Now, if I could only get free room, board and a ticket.
My dog died this weekend. 15 years old and as much of a trooper as you'd ever find. Full of heart and soul.
Now this being a music site, not a dog site, I won't burden you with too many details of Kimo's passing, rather, we're going to talk about the album that found it's way onto my turntable the morning after Kimo's death. An album that filled that perfect chasm of being musically uplifting, nearly transcendent in it's melodic reach, yet still deeply mournful and somber, capable of pulling from my deadened heart every last bit of raw emotion. Music that became the eulogy of my dog's passing, Music that became my teary catharsis.
I've always been a huge Marshall Tucker Band fan. Skyrocketed to fame on the back of their tour supporting The Allman Brothers in 1973, very few bands ever sounded like them. Southern through and through, the Marshall Tucker boys seemed to live the cowboy ethic, writing songs about cattle drives and long hard rides. Yet don't go to Marshall Tucker expecting country music. Sure there were traces of cowboy western deep within their mix, but The Marshall Tucker Band were so much more than that, effortlessly blending simply stellar musicianship, a true guitar hero, and their southern leanings with the heapin' textures of jazz and rock. More southern sounding than The Atlanta Rhythm Section, not as fierce as Molly Hatchet, less rebellious than Lynard Skynard, more focused than the Allman Brothers, more "real" than 38 Special, but less pop oriented than Firefall, they were a hard band to classify. None of that hindered their success in the '70's though, as the band released a series of 6 gold and platinum albums and the radio hit, "Heard it in a Love Song." Still, as the millennium has changed, it seems that the Marshall Tucker Band often gets left off that list of great southern bands, and that's a shame.
Besides a rock-steady rhythm section comprised of Tommy Caldwell and drummer Paul Riddle, MTB had three distinct secret weapons, all of which make their presence felt on Together Forever: the once-in-a-lifetime, deeply emotional and soulful voice of Doug Gray, the southern rock virtuosic guitar work of Toy Caldwell, and the jazzy flute and sax accompaniments of Jerry Eubanks. Put it all together and you get a sound unlike any other in the southern rock cannon. Country rock jazz. All of which led me to chose this album to plunk onto the turntable that mournful morning.
Now, I'm not gonna say that Together Forever is MTB's best album. It's not. That honor would most likely go to Carolina Dreams, or The Marshall Tucker Band (although I've always been partial to Tenth, and the heartbreak of a song, "See You One More Time"). Still Together Forever was the first MTB I came across as I dug for the perfect music that morning after my dog's passing; something not to harsh or aggressive, yet not maudlin and passive. I wanted something that still rocked, but felt reflective. Something soulful. And for that Together Forever, was like a gift from an angel.
Beginning with the chugging guitar of rhythm player George McCorkle, it only takes a few moments for MTB to arrive in all their glory. Toy adds in a little acoustic, feathered with Jerry's gentle flute. When Tommy's bass comes in, it runs in jazzy arpeggios, not galloping county tones. By the time Doug's instantly recognizable voice jumps into the foray, I'm lost. Sure the lyrics added an interesting sentiment to my harsh feelings of loss, "When the morning sun/melts the morning dew/I'll be loving you." But it wasn't sentimentality that clicked with me that day. It wasn't the rawness of the emotion that made me realize that I loved MTB even more than I thought I did. It was the music.
Doug Gray possesses a voice that embodies country soul. Effortlessly, he wrings emotion out of each word. It's nearly impossible to describe his singing. Slightly nasal in tone, but still deep from the belly. His phrasing is perfect, nearly jazz-like in it's approach. It's a voice that even on the happiest songs belays an underlying sadness, a deeper sorrow, a weathered melancholy. On that first song, "I'll Be Loving You," it was a voice that reached right out from the vinyl and caressed me, gently cajoling my own tears to join the band's.
While the band runs away with a chugging southern groove, Toy Caldwell shows us that he just may be the most under-appreciated southern guitar slinger of all time. Carrying a tone that would melt the Allman Brother's hearts, his guitar is clean and crisp, deeply expressive. Jazzy, rocking, soaring, Toy wrings the notes for every moment of emotion. Whether playing slow and melodic or blinding at virtuoso speed, his guitar doesn't sound like southern rock, like the Outlaws, or jazzy, but comfortably somewhere in between. And it's all done with his magical thumb, plucking away.
Doug and Toy reach perfection again with the mid-tempo "Love is a Mystery," both of them soaring into their performances. The addition of some spellbinding jazzy sax by Jerry Eubanks completes the picture, filling out this 7 minute jam of a song. Toy comes back after the sax, his tone elevating to some place that few guitars can ever go. Doug's voice, even here on a love song, is still as deeply affected as before. It's just the way the guys sings, the tone of his voice that to me just speaks of heartbreak. I've loved that voice since the first time I heard it, and coming to me that sad morning, it was like a sorrowful salve to my wounds.
If you've never taken the time to explore the Marshall Tucker Band's vast catalog, don't miss it. If the thought of a blend of southern rock and jazz that's more concerned with soul and melody than simple blazing guitar solos appeals to you then Marshall Tucker is waiting. They were there for me that morning, and now they've found a place even deeper in my heart.
And to Kimo, rest easy, my boy. The angels are with you.
