Speed freaks are a funny bunch.
First there was Kiss. They screamed and played fast. Then there was AC/DC. They played faster and more distorted. Oh, and the guitar player was insane. Motorhead followed. They were the fastest and heaviest thing on wheels until I was introduced to DRI and Slayer by the kid's who were smoking behind the Library at the tender young age of 12. On hearing Reign in Blood a few years later, I thought, "How can it get any faster short of playing the records at 78 RPM?" A favorite past time of mine for many years (Hey Ricky Bobby wanted to go fast. So did I >o<)
Enter Napalm Death, Repulsion, Carcass, Anal Cunt and 7 Minutes of Nausea. Most people, even the punk/hardcore/metal kids I knew, didn't have the bandwidth for these bands. Throttle down, distortion on and 6-20 minutes later it was over. Like Son Tay raiders, they were audacious, violent and at the top of their game. The ultra-compact, stripped down mission statement of "Reign in Blood" was turned into a stand-alone genre where raw emotion was pushed out through guitars, drums and vocals as fast as humanly possible.
Bands recorded the takes live, complete with mistakes, because there are no mistakes when you are locked on dodonpachi style. "Mistakes" are a invention of producers looking to make pop hits. Perfection has nothing to do with the frayed racket of humanity that is grind. When I am lost in a grind song, it's probably the most honest I'll ever be with myself because ego doesn't matter. It's not about me, even though nothing else will ever be more about me. It's the black box that survives the plane crash and shares it's last moments with you over and over again.
And then, there's the physical side.
When I was in Discordance Axis and it came time to do a new record or a show, Da5e Witte would give up his vices(drinking beer mostly). I would start running, cycling and riding down the road in my car screaming along with SOB, volume maxed out and windows rolled down. And then there are the guitar guys...
Last time I was in Japan, I stayed with Takafumi Matsubara(GridLink, Hayaino Daisuki, Mortalized) who's day starts by having his morning tea &toast while playing a million miles and hour for like 20 minutes to warm up so he can start playing "fast". Before I met Bryan Fajardo(Noisear, Kill the Client, GridLink), I heard stories about him showing up to play Noisear shows, doing his set and then just locking himself in a room to practice blast beats for hours on end.
Like I said earlier.. Ricky Bobby motherfucker.
Finally, there is the creativity. It takes someone special to create records that are essentially one beat the whole way through but still have nuance and form. Music with structure that is built like an SR-71, that is to say it can only be appreciated when it is cruising at mach 3 several miles above the ground.
Many musicians want to mix it up. I say, mixing it up got us rap metal. Enough said. Grind requires a unique talent to manipulate, control and engage at warp speed, creating subtle variations, shifts and sometimes abrupt changes without ever letting off the acceleration.
There is no other form of music, and I love a whole lot of different kinds of music, that is as challenging to get right but more rewarding when it is right, than grind.
I want to go fast. God damn it.
I feel identically. My emotion needs to explode or it isn't honest. I don't know if this depends on the person. What greater thing could art express other than honesty, no matter what the truth looks like? I mean when the artist can hear or look at his work and feel and say with absolute certainty: "that's all I had to say - that's me."
ReplyDeleteNot sure if I'm being overly dramatic.
Right on, as a little kid when i heard Scum the most jaw dropping thing wasn't the speed, crazy vocals, jagged riffs, it was the slow build up, the roller coaster climbing up towards the inevitable drop (1:16 on the track Scum).Fast forward and you guys ended up flawlessly executing it with songs like Jigsaw( a personal favorite). Whatever project you're embedded with, I trust it will certainly grind, thrash and destroy!
ReplyDeletep.s. Will there be any low vocals in the future of Gridlink?
My point of view also. I never felt connected with the political side of grindcore (or Art in general). But i swear i could kneel down and pray when i listen to TID or when i practice with my band. And it's not about being a fanboy, it's about enlightenment, epiphanies and transcendance.
ReplyDeleteGrindcore for the soul.
-Jyb
(God i know i sound like a fanboy)