I have a dream that my grandchildren will live in a hipster free world. I have a dream that all the members of Liturgy, Horseback and all indie rock acts who call themselves Black Metal will be thrown in ovens. I have a dream that all mainstream media types who write about Black Metal will suddenly die afterwards. I have a dream that all collaborators with the mainstream media who are trying to water down our purity will suffer and die from a sexually transmitted disease which they got at the Pitchfork office.
Illinois-based Vikings thrashers THE HORDE have released a video for the song "Odin's Blood" off their latest release, Thy Blackened Reign; out now on Stormspell Records. The band is currently working out the details for an East Coast tour in support of Thy Blackened Reign set to take place in the Spring of 2012.THE HORDE is also hard at work on their as-of-yet untitled third album. Guitarist Tim Matthews comments, "Three songs have been written and from what we have gotten so far the next album is going to be even more epic and violent!" THE HORDE was formed in 2006 and released their debut album From Empire to Ashes via
Scenester Credential Records in June of 2008. Thy Blackened Reign,which was released in 2011, was engineered, mixed and mastered by John Hopkins and John Svec at Minstrel Studios in Iowa City, IA using old school technology married with new school production values. ------------------------------- I (MR.WOLF) LIKED THEIR RELEASE, SO SHOULD YOU!
Seeing that this is on Hells headbangers you already should know it's gonna blow away 90% of everything else out there in the metal realm. Originally released in Chile on Pacto Records last Fall this EP finally finds it's way to the states as well as the rest of the world via this great label for those of us with extreme tastes. I became a quick fan of these Chilean overlords with their 2008 debut full length Cult of Destruction. Since then they've just released another EP and a split. Either way I'd rather have these five blackened thrash blasts then nothing at all. Speaking of which PERVERSOR takes the basic Teutonic Thrash template adds some traditional S. American Satanic bestiality and the rest is here in pure violent ecstasy. Need I say more? I shouldn't have to unless you're an idiot.
In my not so humble opinion NOMINON are one of Sweden's best death metal exports who started out after the initial explosion. Remember people the band started out in the early nineties releasing demos from 1993 to the end of the decade. Their debut full length, the amazing and essential Diabolical Bloodshed, didn't come out till 1999. At that time the metal music media was hyping bands who were influenced by the ghetto and jumped around on stage as if they had gerbils up their rectums. (aka: nu-metal / rap metal) Maybe if you missed that one maybe you should go back and check it out. Don't stop there either since all four of this band's full lengths (yeah you can throw in their short form releases as well) are amazing if not essential to any death metal demon. That's why I am looking forward to NOMINON's as-of-yet untitled new full length release expected to come out sometime in 2012. As for now this will do.
For all of you out there who are fans (and potential new ones) you will understand that this band's EPs are like mere crumbs of substance to the starving throng who are willing to kill for the full loaf. We know that these two cuts, "Manifestation of Black" and "Burnt Human Offering" are going to be on the new full length. Hell any one of them would make a great title cut as well. Both cuts are great since they hold true to this band's murky dark death blows. NOMINON were never really clones of their nation's death metal peers. In fact I've always considered them that foil between the pure old school sound and the melo-death which started in 1993.
Either way these cuts are great and on here we get introduced to the new line-up (yes again). basically the biggest change is in new vocalist Henke Skoog from one of Sweden's new OSDM sounding acts EVISCERATED. Longtime main man and guitarist (now on bass) Juha Sulasalmi has found another way to keep this act going strong. Great death metal stands the test of time it also helps when you bring in new blood enthused with noxious bile as well. Yes I'm bias but at least I'm bias about good bands like NOMINON as opposed to
I think by this point in the musical game a band like ROYAL TALONS fits in well since they just throw everything heavy at your head. Later on you can pick out what you like the least but for now you're getting it all at once. This power trio hails from Denver, Colorado a place already known for spawning some unique, extreme music bands in the past. This one is just the latest. The ROYAL TALONS sonically charge their brand of sludge and stoner psych. Which means there will be no sleeping or trance meditating here people. This five song debut of theirs is a diverse batch of material which is best served while you're fully coherent.
When listening to this release I can't help but feel that this band's natural environment is it's biggest influence within their music. The vocals sound like screams from atop the mountain which echo down into the valley. The music is like a forceful wind gust bending trees and shaking infrastructure throughout the land. The guitar riffs sound distorted to the point that it sounds like bacon frying in the pan. And when they indulge in a solo it's like the soundtrack to watching an eagle soaring in flight. That's just on the first cut "Shark Skull". All of the songs on here are long epic workouts that start with an atmospheric vibe which leads on into a more aggressive finale.
"The Scroll" is another perfect example with it's atmospheric plucked bass opening with leads into some sludgey power crunch. The song finalizes with this ethereal psych beauty. The solo at the three quarter mark will send ya fuckin chills, amazing shit here. This whole release is masterfully done with not one track leaving you wanting more. No reinvention of the genres is at play on here. The band simply takes plenty from others and remolds it into their own perception. Overall it's a combination of OM and GRIEF since the band likes keeping things diverse. Not only is this interesting as well as a great listing experience (it took me ten listens before I could write one one word about it). I also consider this to be one of the best releases you will here in 2012.
(above SCOTT CORKERN of the SPO-ITS with the infamous "Grind Guitar", photo taken by Mr. Wolf)
When you think about Rock n Roll meeting debauchery, destruction and perversion one name should come to mind, THE SPO-ITS. They are the band who put the X in X-PLOITATION. You could also add hot violence, noise terror and extreme destruction to that list. While their CD releases were of definite interest for extreme minded listening pleasure it was their live performances which have become legend for fans and nightmares for pleasure haters. I was lucky enough to have witnessed six performances by the SPO-ITS. All of which were uh interesting, two legendary (since I worked at the club) and their last one I actually feared being physically maimed for life, and I wasn't the only one.
There's one underlying fact and that's a SPO-ITS' show was always memorable.
To quote Scott, "The show that Closed the Old Caboose. This is perhaps the most perfect Spo-it's show ever. I considered disbanding the group after this as we had attained perfection."
I was at that show and in all honesty I'd say it's in my top five of greatest performances I've seen and I've seen a lot. Also it didn't close the club down per say since the band returned in a year later for Scumfest 99. Although the performance from 98 was captured on VHS and was for sale at the the club that night. Rumor has it that the local authorities did get a hold of a copy and in late 99 the club did close down.
It was back in the late 90's that I originally interviewed the SPO-ITS for Scumfeast the print fanzine version after one of their safer shows. (the one with the robot) Since then I consider Scott a good friend, a person I respect as far as his intelligence and creativity goes and someone who truly embodies the word "extreme". Recently Scott has been working on a self produced documentary on the SPO-ITS. He's been traveling around collecting interviews which brought him to town in order to interview Andy Miller (former club promoter and now vocalist in the band KIFF) and myself. Afterwards I figured why not do an interview with King Spo-it about the documentary he's working on, especially after seeing some of the interview material. Come along and read about such things as mouse cannons, working with nude women on stage, getting banned from clubs and all sorts of hysteria.
SFM666 - For those people out there who don't know about the SPO-ITS can you give a brief history? I started the Spo-it's in 1990 with Jason Gibbs as a two piece. we called it originally the John Wayne Gacy five. but after our first show we added a second guitar and two chicks and changed the name to SPO-ITS. We were initially a poetry and noise band. I also loved to hire players who did not know how to play their instruments. The SPO-ITS is based on the Idea of Radical personal freedom. I would include any stupid stunt in the show anyone wanted to do. Before long we had people getting beaten, cutting themselves breaking television sets, getting nude, having sex on stage. I was showing video's of porn and bestiality mixing the sound into the show. To my shock eventually the band members that stuck around learned to play their instruments and we got more of a jazzy noise punk sound.
Our big break came when we were touring with the MENTORS and we got the chance to get on the Jerry Springer show for " Shock Rock". After that we upped our already crazy shows to the point of madness. our best years were from 1994-2000. About 2000 - 2001 a lot of the band members moved away from Savannah. We never ended the band but I only booked a few shows like the 2003 GG ALLIN death anniversary show with the MURDER JUNKIES with Jeff Clayton of ANTISEEN singing. Also we played the White Trash Luau in Virginia.
When 2010 came around I decided we should do a 20th anniversary show. I got the whole crew together Chuck Metaxus from NYC on guitar , Ash from Wisconsin on Sax , Rik from Charlotte on Drums. Then we added John Dunn an old friend of mine and the old bass from TRUCKADELLIC to play bass. We also added two stripper friends of mine to be spo-it's girls, lauren and LIz . We ended up tearing up the club, the Wormhole in Savannah, and got banned from yet another venue, the audience rioted, we set Ash on fire for an 18 second burn. It was just like the old days. After that we decided to play one more show. We came up and fucked up SCUMFEST 2010, again getting banned from Volume 11. The band has three CD's to it's credit "And Your Little Dog Too"," Free Sex" and "Live at the Knitting Factory". I have another CD "Full Retard" which I have written and have started the process of recording the tracks.
SFM666 - When did you decide upon doing a documentary about the band? I had the idea for a Spo-it's version of a hard day's night for a long time. It was just before the 20 anniversary show that I thought of the idea of doing a film about the band using all the crazy video I have shot over the years. We had three HD cameras shooting the 20th anniversary show and we had some stupid fuck that was supposed to follow us around filming for SCUMFEST 2010 but he just fucked off on his job. I did not get nearly the amount of video I would have liked to get.
SFM666 - How far away are you from completing it? So what should people expect when it's completed? I am about 2/3 finished with the interviews I need for the movie. I need to take a trip to California to interview Jay from DICK DELICIOUS and Robert from CAPTAIN BEEFHEART. I also need to get up to NYC and Boston to interview Chuck and Karla. I am guessing if my money hold out I can finish shooting by the end of this year. Then I am having the film professionally edited.
SFM666 - Who are some of the more notable people in the music biz you interviewed for the documentary? Brent from MASTODON, Merle and Dino from the MURDER JUNKIES,I have some old interview footage of GG ALLIN where I give him the first SPO-ITS Tape, Ruyter from NASHVILLE PUSSY, T-roy from SOURVEIN, Dixie from BUZZOVEN and WEEDEATER, Kirk from BUZZOVEN, Gary Mader of EYEHATEGOD, Trademark G from the Evolution Control Committee and of course Jay and Scott from DICK DELICIOUS and the TASTY TESTICLES. I'm hoping to catch Jeff from ANTISEEN when they play Savannah later this month. And I need to go out to California and interview Robert Williams the drummer from CAPTAIN BEEFHEART who played on our second CD. All of these folks have played with us or have been at our shows.
(Here's a clip)
SFM666 - When you were doing the interviews did you get any from people who have negative memories of the SPO-ITS? I have not got any of that yet. I very much want some of it; I want to interview Phillip of KYLESSA about the time he tried to punch me out at a big gas cycles show. There are also some know haters I want to interview. But the folks that do not like The SPO-ITS usually don't like me personally either and they avoid me.
SFM666 - Since the SPO-ITS shows were known to have some nudity involved once in a while I'm guessing the documentary will contain some nudity as well. Will that be the case? I am including tons of nudity in the film. Sex acts too!!. I also have a photo montage a La ken burns which will feature some of our best stills.
SFM666 - Now I worked at a club that did not mind the type of extreme performance that the SPO-ITS were known to do. In fact I believe we (at the Caboose) cooperated fully.I'm sure there are some venues which didn't care for the SPO-ITS. Are you at liberty to mention those places and will they be mentioned in the documentary? The most famous place we ever got thrown out of is the Whiskey A Go Go. I don't have any video of that because the bitches wanted 50 bucks to allow us to video tape. I just would not do that on principal . In my own interview I will go in depth. The suck ass clubs in Savannah that would never have us play. I can truly say I got next to no support from the suck ass Savannah GA music scene. Like Jeff Clayton Says " I got this far without you".
SFM666 - In the documentary will you go into detail on how the Grind Guitar came to be as well as your experiences on stage with it? There will be a whole segment on the grindertar. I got the idea in 1991 watching jim O'rourke in Atlanta play a guitar on a table with lots of pedals and motors that he would put on various parts of the guitar to get strange sounds. I though "that is so cool............ but it does not rock" so I started experiments with attaching things to my guitar which ended in me buying a grinder and attaching it to the guitar head. Tricked out with the pedals attached right to the guitar itself it makes a real sonic weapon. Most guitars can make you deaf but this one can make you blind as well.
(editor's note: it can also hurt you.)
SFM666 - Here's a few more SPO-ITS' stage performance devices which I believe need explaining; The Mouse Cannon, Shooting Fireworks into the Audience, Smashing TV sets? Mouse cannon. Well , we got asked not to do fireworks into the audience so I thought of hitting them with vermin. Mice are always rescues from the snake food cages at the pet store. Even though there is some danger to the mice they have a great chance of getting away or being adopted at the show. Better than their chances with the snake. So mice are light and you can fire them easily using a bellows and a tube. It is great because lots of times women will throw up when hit in the hair by a mouse. Fireworks.... Well , we did jumping chasers at our feet for a long time. But it was not long till I did not want to hog all the fireworks to myself and share with the audience. I especially like setting off rockets in banks of 100 in very small crowded clubs. It really looks more dangerous than it is. We have had some burns and I did set dixie's dreads on fire once in Virginia but no blindings yet. I want to Make the audience be part of the show. The Television thing I really stumbled on. Wendy O (of the PLASMATICS) had been chainsawing tv's but I never thought of copying her. We started by gluing shards of broken bottles to television sets like porcupines and bringing them to shows to raffle off. They were so dangerous we would always get cut moving them. One day in 1990 the guy who had won the tv did not want it so we busted it up with a crowbar. When i saw the crowd reaction to breaking a television ..... they were like "I could have watched Baywatch on that" it was really effecting. Soon we had to do it at every show. Now though the tube tv is an antique and our show segment will go the way of the dodo bird unless we break into communications museums to destroy their collections.
SFM666 - Were there any major problems with finding people you wanted to be in the documentary?
Yes I am out of touch with several of the SPO-ITS like Jason who started the band with me. It has been 15 years since I have heard anything from him and I do not even know where he lives. Also perhaps he does no use computers like a normal person. Perhaps he is dead. Jim Kelly our first drummer is somewhere in Atlanta and disappeared before our Clermont show when I was going to get him on video. Dawn the SPo-it's girl from 1998 stole a mexican's car and lit out from HIlton Head. She stopped in Atlanta to fuck Jay and then rode off into the sunset. If you are near a pole check and see if she is dancing on it.
SFM666 - Is there a website for the documentary or some where on the web people can contact you about it? I do not have a doc web site yet. best place if you have a spo-it's story you want to tell for the film is my spo-it's Facebook page or my Scott corkern Facebook page.
SFM666 - Are the SPO-ITS done or is this just a stopping point for now until the right opportunity arises to do it again? No I am going to keep doing SPO-ITS until I am prevented by the law. I have an idea I will send the film to festivals and if it gets in I will book the band to play that night or the next night.
SFM666 - What was one of your favorite SPO-ITS performances where everything just clicked and the audience left amazed? My favorite performance is and always will be Scumfest 1998. Great crowd great spo-it's line up with Chuck and the Dick D crew. Lots of great angry nude women and sex acts on stage. The only thing that could have made it better is 200 rockets firing into the audience. But at that time caboose had shut us down from doing fireworks that show.
Swedish deadly doomsters THE GARDNERZ have started recording new material for an EP that will follow up their debut album, The System of Nature, which was released last year through Abyss Records and Mechanix Records.
Drummer Vedran Benčić recently entered Armageddon Studio, in Osijek, Croatia to lay down his drum tracks for the five-track death/doom masterpiece. Soon guitarist Wilhelm Lindh and bassist Francisco Martin will once again head over to Funky Cat Studio in Landskrona, Sweden to lay down their epic tracks. Vocalist Niclas Ankarbranth will record his tracks at Ninja Studios in Malmö, Sweden. The EP is tentatively scheduled for a mid-2012 release through Abyss Records.
Guitarist Wilhlem Lindh comments, "This time around the songs are a bit slower and darker then on the system of nature, we tried to continue on the path we have chosen. We have found our niche and have no reason to stray , so if you liked our first release you will like this. This time it was a bit more of a group effort and I think that made the songs stronger."
Here's a clip of Vedran at work in the studio.
Wanna hear some music? The System Of Nature is currently streaming in its entirety at www.TheGardnerz.com.
