Johnny Doom talks to Terrorizer Magazine about his latest project for Supersonic

Interview by Terrorizer Magazine
Former Napalm Death frontman and Scorn mastermind Nik Bullen has joined up with JOHNNY DOOM, ex of Doom and Sore Throat for a special performance at this year’s SUPERSONIC FESTIVAL (Birmingham Custard Factory, July 25-26) under the name LIGHT TRAP. With little information out there other than the promise of ‘blackened and primitive noise rock’, Johnny let us know what’s up.

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Introduce Light Trap to us, what’s the story and what’s it like?

“Light Trap is a new collaboration between myself, Nik Bullen and Dougie who drums for a great local atmospheric post rock band called Una Corda. We originally jammed together for a Fluxus art show which was collated by Mr Bullen, where we performed two improvisational pieces especially for that evening. After the show we hooked up and discussed pushing the project further, which we are currently in the process of doing now.”

Have you rehearsed together?

“Yeah, quite a bit actually and I’ve really enjoyed it so far. We have so many ideas and similar influences that we probably have too many ideas at the moment, but it’s the freedom of the guitars that I am enjoying the most. As a three-piece you can really work off each other and there’s a really loose, noisey aspect to it, so I get to go mental.”

Obviously you and Nik probably go back a long way, do you remember first meeting him?

“Of course. He was at the Mermaid all the time when we started Doom in about ’85 and we all hung out, got trashed and listened to music together. I lost touch with him for a while, but then we got back together and made some more music just before he started Scorn. We’ve had our ups and downs over the years, but always kept on a good level.”

A collaboration between Nik Bullen and Johnny Doom is going to bring some crusties out in palpitations, do you reckon any long-term followers of your careers will be into it?

“Yes and no. The stuff we’re working on is quite proggy and noisy and al ot of it is just music with no lyrics. People expecting Napalm Death or Doom will probably find it a bit too arty!” he laughs. “However there is enough sonically that could interest lovers of punk, grind, noise and psychedelics alike. I just hope that people will feel the same freedom from it that I am. Music for me has become so ordered of late, so predictable. Its nice to be creating beautiful chaos again.”

Anyone you’re looking forward to catching at Supersonic?

“Lots…Goblin, Head Of David, Thorr’s Hammer….too many to mention. A lot of the music I’m not even familiar with, but one of the most intriguing things about visiting Supersonic is just ambling around and experiencing new sounds and concepts. It’s a wonderful festival.”

You’ve been quite active in the whole Home Of Metal thing, what kind of impact do you think Supersonic has had on the area’s music scene?

“Supersonic festival and Home Of Metal project are really just an extension of the fantastic work of Jenny and Lisa from Capsule who have been putting on events and gigs in Birmingham for many years now. Their overall mission statement, to bring fresh underground experimental music to Birmingham has been very effective and brought with it so many exciting new aural experiences to starved locals that we are endebted to them for all their hard work. Long may they reign!”
For Tickets to Supersonic Festival buy here

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4 weeks till Supersonic Festival – special guests just confirmed!

With just 4 weeks until Supersonic Festival is upon us, we have just confirmed a very special surprise performance due to take place during the weekend of the festival…all we can say is that it will be THE ONLY EUROPEAN show for this summer…we shall reveal all in the next couple of weeks in the meantime I’m afraid you’ll just have to keep guessing!
Tickets – Weekend tickets – £70 / Friday Ticket – £15 / Saturday Ticket – £35 /Sunday Ticket – £35

available from: www.theticketsellers.co.uk
24 hr order line – 0844 870 0000 – Calls cost max 5p per min from BT landline

Also available from
Polar Bear + Swordfish – Birmingham
Rough Trade East – London
Plugd Records – Cork

Confirmed line up:
Friday: Army Of Flying Robots / Atomized / Drum Eyes / Kylie Minoise / PCM / Scorn / Taint / Venetian Snares

Saturday: Bobby Previte / Corrupted / Diaganol / Flower/Corsano Duo / Growing / Iron Lung / Kim Hiorthoy / Light Trap / Marnie Stern / Master Musicians Of Bukkake / Monotonix / Nisenenmondai / Remember Remember / Rose Kemp / Skullflower / Tartufi / The Accused / Thought Forms / Thorr’s Hammer / Tweak Bird / Zu

Sunday: 65 Days Of Static / Arbouretum / Caribou / Chris Herbert / Earthless / Goblin / Head Of David / Jarboe / Khyam Allami  / Nancy Wallace / Pontiak / Pram / Pre / Theo / The Memory Band / zZz

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Supersonic Festival podcast

The wonderful Little Chris has kindly created a pre Supersonic Festival podcast on Brumcast to give you all a taster of things to come – jammed packed with info on artists performing and his personal highlights – its made us all really excited with just over four weeks to go now!!!

Here’s the playlist for part one  – LISTEN HERE
Enjoy

1. Tweak Bird – Shivers (2:12)
2. Caribou – Melody Day (4:11)
3. zZz – House Of Sin (4:59)
4. Venetian Snares – Gentleman (4:33)
5. Arbouretum – False Spring (5:50)
6. Taint – Hex Breaker (4:41)
7. Scorn – The End (P.C.M. – “Nightmare” Mix) (7:40)
8. Pontiak – Shell Skul (4:01)
9. Zu – Ostia (5:05)
10. Tartufi – Boat Of Armor (4:42)
11. Pre – Dudefuk (2:03)
12. Corrupted – An Island Insane, Part 1 (6:28)
13. Kim Hiorthoy – As if (3:03)
14. Army of flying robots – Try Reading A Good Book (3:13)
15. Diagonal – Child of the Thundercloud (8:48)
16. Rose kemp – The Unholy (9:22)
17. Iron Lung – White Flag (0:30)
18. 65 Days Of Static – Drove Through Ghosts To Get Here (4:18)
19. Head of David – 108 (5:24)
20. Goblin – l’alba dei morti viventi (6:04)

www.twitter.com/brumcast
www.myspace.com/brumcastbirmingham

Tickets for Supersonic 2009 are on sale NOW via www.theticketsellers.co.uk
information at http://www.supersonicfestival.com
Available via Rough Trade East in London + Polar Bear & Swordfish in Birmingham + Plugd Records in Cork

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ZzZ at Supersonic Festival 2009

The first time you see a band that you don’t know at all, and two guys appear on the stage, you wait like five minutes expecting the other two weirdos that are supposed to play in a good rock band. But, after half an hour with ZzZ, you lose that expectation and you slowly realise that those two guys are enough to keep your attention up with drums and organ(!!!), shouts and a lot of dark energy.

Being ‘half a band’ doesn’t mean that they play halfway. The give all of themselves, creating something live that is not captured in the studio. Fresh but sticky sounds, really dark and deep, sometimes trembling psychedelia. I didn’t see anybody going anywhere while these guys were on the stage. Nobody moved either! We were as stunned as you can be watching one of your favorite never-heard-before bands of all times. They’re becoming very popular in the Netherlands, just because of the word of mouth effect coming from concertgoers who never returned to the real world.


They sound very similar to bands like Morphine or The Doors, but these two names are not included in their influences list at the band Myspace profile. Surprisingly, they claim to be influenced by artists like Fela Kuti, Funkadelic and Django Reinhardt!!


zZz will play at Supersonic on 26th July 2009

http://www.last.fm/music/zZz

http://www.myspace.com/zzz

http://www.excelsior-recordings.com/artists/zzz/

By Nicolás Gómez

Tickets – Weekend tickets – £70 / Friday Ticket – £15 / Saturday Ticket – £35 /Sunday Ticket – £35

available from: www.theticketsellers.co.uk
24 hr order line – 0844 870 0000 – Calls cost max 5p per min from BT landline

Also available from
Polar Bear + Swordfish – Birmingham
Rough Trade East – London
Plugd Records – Cork

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Bobby Previte at Supersonic Festival

Last time Bobby Previte visited Birmingham, he brought together his acclaimed Constellation Ensemble; a jazz orchestra formed of trumpets, keyboards, sax, clarinet, harp, piano and additional drums to compliment the ones of Previte, renowned as much as a jazz drummer as a composer. That concert, commissioned by the City of Birmingham was celebrated in February 2004 at CBSO, 7 other cities in the UK and Teatro Nationale in Milan, Italy in May of 2005.

Previte played what is considered his masterpiece, The 23 Constellations of Joan Miró, a multimedia performance including texts and slide projections, based on the abstract work of the Spanish painter, which stunned Previte as he visited one of the three opportunities in history to see the full collection of 23 paintings together at the New York MOMA, in 1993.

The wide range of musical influences embraced by Previte allows him to travel from free-jazz together with the Constellations Orchestra, to urban funk, interpreted together with two of New York’s most outstanding musicians, Charlie Hunter playing his eight string guitar and DJ Logic at turntables for Previte‘s composition Blasticity. Other influences are massively mixed in his music, from Piazzola tango to Latin jazz, through to John Zorn, with whom he has worked in several projects. Some of the musical labels that have been associated to Previte’s music are free-jazz, psychedelia or doom jazz. The plastic arts and visual influence is still present at Previte’s recordings and live performances.

He will be performing at Supersonic, together with VJ Benton-C Bainbridge, an audio-visual performance in which Bobby will trigger his drums in a full direct set, no loops, no overdub, over Benton-C’s light brushstrokes, at their only tour date in the UK, in partnership with Birmingham Jazz.

By Nicolás Gómez

Tickets – Weekend tickets – £70 / Friday Ticket – £15 / Saturday Ticket – £35 /Sunday Ticket – £35

available from: www.theticketsellers.co.uk
24 hr order line – 0844 870 0000 – Calls cost max 5p per min from BT landline

Also available from
Polar Bear + Swordfish – Birmingham
Rough Trade East – London
Plugd Records – Cork

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Filmic delights at Supersonic

As well as scores of bands playing over the Supersonic weekend, there will be many filmic delights to choose from. This year Film Ficcones return with Pram to Supersonic. Pram, Birmingham’s own, will provide a sinister cinematic soundtrack to Film Ficciones 16mm projections for a special performance.

Eagle and Feather will present Kipple, cleverly edited footage of detritus of modern living amassed through visits to charity shops and jumble sales. Kipple is a term used by Philip K Dick in his book ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ to refer to ‘unwanted or useless junk that tends to reproduce itself’. Eagle and Feather have applied this to their video mashups.



There will be a programme of label shorts from Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar including Black Mountain, Phosphorescent and Parts & Labor. Screenings will also include 65 Days of Static ‘Road Movie’, a documentary of a US tour featuring interviews, live performances and footage from dates with the Cure.

By Anabel

Tickets for Supersonic Festival are available from: www.theticketsellers.co.uk
24 hr order line – 0844 870 0000 – Calls cost max 5p per min from BT landline

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Head Of David Interview

head_web
Interview with Head Of David
by Rock A Rolla Magazine – Issue :May/June 2009

In a year that’s already seen the unlikely return of Faith No More, The Jesus Lizard, Thorr’s Hammer and Goblin, the most surprising reunion is of industrial metal legends Head of David. Back in late 80s/early 90s, the West Midlands outfit ruled the roost, their pummelling Throbbing Gristle meets Suicide meets Sabbath combination setting the blueprint for bands like Godflesh, Fear Factory, Pitchshifter and numerous others. Frontman Stephen R Burroughs, once staunchly opposed to anything in the way of a reunion, finally succumbed, an offer from the folks behind Supersonic Festival too good to pass up and his long-term steadfast refusal eventually transforming into genuine enthusiasm.

“It’s something I swore, personally, that I’d never do” Stephen tells us of the reunion. “I swore I’d never play in this band again, however we got the offer from Supersonic – it was a good offer and it’s been 23 years since the original line up has played together, and we thought that was quite fitting so we decided to do it. Simple as that.”

So was there any particular reason he swore he would ‘never’ do it again after they split in 1991?

“No particular reason, I just went off and did other things. Dave (Cochrane, bass) and Sharp (Paul, drums) continued to play, Eric (Jurenovski, guitars) hasn’t played live – his last gig was with me in America, that was in Houston. I just didn’t wanna do it – I think bands getting back together is highly tasteless to be honest, but I’m joining the ranks of the tasteless (laughter).”

Since the band’s dissolution, the band members have variously gone on to do other things, musical and otherwise, the most high profile of course being Justin Broadrick’s Godflesh, Jesu and numerous other ventures. Dave Cochrane worked with Broadrick on a number of projects including Jesu, God, Ice and the upcoming Grey Machine, as well as The Courtesy Group and Transitional, while Eric, Sharp and Stephen all but retired from music. “I continued to write” Stephen says. “I’ve done a lot of things you see, but nothing that’s surfaced. The last time I recorded was actually last summer for the Alan Vega tribute, the 10” singles on Black First – that’s the first time I’ve been in the studio for years”.

One of the original outfits on the industrial metal scene, the Black Country foursome were operational between 1986 and 1991 with a varying line-up, producing three albums and a handful of EPs on Mute’s Blast First label before calling it quits. Appearing at this year’s Supersonic Festival, which is fast shaping up to be a sort of Dream Comeback Festival this year (see also Thorr’s Hammer and Goblin), 2009 marks the end of an almost two decade hiatus, with the bad appearing in their original 1986 guise.

“That’s the original Head of David” Stephen confirms. “Me on vocals, Eric Jurenovski on guitar, Dave Cochrane on bass and Sharp on drums, and that’s the band that recorded (the band’s 1986 debut EP) Dogbreath.”

And what about Justin Broadrick? Was he considered for the reunion?

“Justin, he’s locked away in his studio in Wales somewhere. We did suggest that he might like to do something with us for this, but he’s a busy man and simply couldn’t come along to rehearse – he’s doing too much studio work so sadly he won’t be involved. The initial idea was to get him involved and I think he was quite keen to do it as well. He played drums when Sharp sadly had to leave – Justin took over and he played on Dustbowl, the second album.”

So how was it playing these songs for the first time in twenty years?

“It was surprisingly good fun actually. It feels very different. The good thing about it is it doesn’t feel like it’s some ‘friends reunited, let’s all be self indulgent and try and live out our past’ kind of thing. It does feel quite relevant because I think with maturity over time, in ourselves, we’ve approached it all differently and it does feel quite fresh and it’s sounding very good. I said initially: let’s rehearse, if it sounds good, if we’ve still got the same sound, we’ll do it. And we plugged in and away we went and it was really quite easy. As I say, it does sound good.” Presumably, though, energy levels aren’t quite the same as when they were all younger? “(laughter)  You’re joking! No…that’s a categorical NO, and I certainly don’t shout with the same nervous energy that I used to”.

Like so many bands that would eventually prove to be influential, during their active phase Head of David were largely acknowledged only by those in the know, remaining underground while bands like Godflesh, and later on Fear Factory (who covered ‘Dog Day Sunrise’ on 1995’s Demanufacture), took this sound to a wider audience. Stephen, for one, is unperturbed by their lack of tangible popularity the first time round, nor was it ever part of the plan.

“It was never a consideration at all, and it’s something I never expected, that we’d be a big band. I do think that we were overlooked but I said at the time, back in 1986, that we’ll be more popular in 30 years time than we’ll be in a year’s time. That happens with a lot of bands, when people re-discover a band. I wasn’t expecting any fame then at all, I didn’t particularly want it either. But yeah, I think with any band it’s recognition they want more than anything, and I think that recognition started to seep through various channels, the ones you just mentioned, the rise of that genre of music, when Ministry mention us in dispatches, and lots of other bands have. So I think that’s brought our name to a few people.”

“But to be honest” he continues, “all we did at the time was we just played what we listened to and liked, we didn’t really think ‘oh, this is industrial metal’. We were certainly conscious, coming from the Black Country, the Midlands, of our heavy metal roots, with Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. But at the same time we didn’t want to be a heavy metal band – we wanted the overwhelming sound of a heavy metal band but at the same time we were listening to Throbbing Gristle, Boyd Rice and all the early industrial stuff, so it’s just a natural seepage of all those influences and that’s where the sound came from. It wasn’t necessarily concocted, it was purely instinctive.”

So with the band revving up for their performance at the upcoming Supersonic Festival in their natural surroundings of Birmingham, UK, the reunited combo are about to make their full comeback, with a swiftly widening plan to resurrect their name for a new (and for that matter old) audience.

“The back catalogue should be reissued later this year, hopefully in time for Supersonic, but I’m not sure when that’s gonna happen. As for recording new stuff, it’s now become apparent that we would like to record something – more of a continuation of what we were doing back then and put-the-record-straight kind of record. That’s what we’d like to do. Something with a bit of feeling. So hopefully we will record, but we’ve got Supersonic in mind, and that’s it at the moment. There have been a few offers already to do other things, and there’s a good chance that we’ll do other things. I can only be as vague as that at that moment”.

Catch Head of David at this year’s Rock A Rolla sponsored Supersonic Festival
www.supersonicfestival.com

To listen to tracks by Head Of David check:
http://www.myspace.com/headofdavidofficial

Tickets available from:
www.theticketsellers.co.uk
24 hr order line – 0844 870 0000 – Calls cost max 5p per min from BT landline

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Supersonic Festival meets Home of Metal

There is a strong metal presence at this year’s festival as Supersonic embraces Birmingham’s musical heritage.

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Home of Metal is a project that has been raising the profile of the West Midlands region as the birthplace of Heavy Metal, citing Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Napalm Death and Godflesh as key players within this genre who all came out the area.

Festival goers will witness the torturous Japanese ‘funeral doom’ band Corrupted who have embraced their heavy metal influence while twisting the genre to a parallel universe where guttural roars follow extensive harp pieces and atmospheric doom accompanies all out head banging sludge. It is fitting that the first UK show for this now cult band will be in the place where Black Sabbath originally discovered their dark ominous sound which still resonates in the haunting heaviness of Corrupted.

The reformation of Head of David is another reminder of the diverse interpretations that can be born out of Heavy Metal. This Black Country band were one of the first industrial metal bands, the tempo is slowed down and distorted. They create a heavy haze that subsequently poured into the sounds of Godflesh and Ministry.

Ex Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris will be playing the festival as industrial dub act Scorn. The sounds of Scorn take those dark, heavy sounds of Heavy Metal and strip them bare, creating a uniquely mucky minimal sound.

The influence of West Midlands’ Heavy Metal can be made out through the thrashing and pummelling of Kylie Minoise. His hectic bursts of noise a reminder of the early Napalm Death tracks that pound into submission. Kylie Minoise’s reinterpretation of the one second long Napalm Death track ‘You Suffer’ was released in 2007 – it’s over an hour long.

Other Heavy Metal influenced performances at Supersonic 2009 will include grunge doom from Thorr’s Hammer, thrashcore from The Accused, power grind from Iron Lung and a wealth of bands embracing dark, psychedelic and experimental sounds – whether they linger gloomily for eternity or smash into you briefly as a burst of noise.

In addition to these crushing sounds, a number of Home of Metal events will be taking place over the weekend. Catch Kerrang! Radio DJ Johnny Doom in discussion with Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley of Sunn0))), discussing the influence of West Midlands’ Heavy Metal. Dr Niall Scott of the University of Central Lancashire will be lecturing on the ‘monstrous male figure’ with Heavy Metal and their will be a screening of the Vice film ‘True Norwegian Black Metal’.

Tickets – Weekend tickets – £70 / Friday Ticket – £15 / Saturday Ticket – £35 /Sunday Ticket – £35

available from: www.theticketsellers.co.uk
24 hr order line – 0844 870 0000 – Calls cost max 5p per min from BT landline

Also available from
Polar Bear + Swordfish – Birmingham
Rough Trade East – London
Plugd Records – Cork

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