P R A Y E R S T O A B R O K E N S T O N E
Vol. 2 Issue 2
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FROM THE EDITOR'S DEN
Velcome to issue 4. Life sucks, but that's hardly new. I think I'm gonna
just content myself here with saying, write me some stuff dammit and stop
making me do _all_ the work! That's it really, beside's send me demo tapes.
Perhaps I'll let the cat fill out the rest of this page that I allot myself
to spew random bits of language.
mousies are good, mousies are great, mousies are fun to masticate..
Or maybe not. Instead I'll do an essay on rain. I love rain. It's my
favorite kind of weather. There is nothing as peaceful as staring out the
window into the night and watching the rain come down under the street lights.
I'm not much of a nature or exercise person, but there's just something about
a nice light rain that sez 'go for walk and have a cigarette.'
Driving can also be a most tranquil experience in the rain. A nice light
drizzle, just enough so that the wipers wipe the windshield clean, but doesn't
obscure vision. Put Floodland on the tape deck and just _drive_. Try it
sometime, it's extremely pleasant and the other cars just sort of cease to
exist. It's just you, the road and the music. _I_ enjoy it anyway and it's my
zine to write as I choose so thhmmppht! :-)
editor, goth know-it-all
and major-league egotist,
corey
Prayers to a Broken Stone
Vol. II, Issue 2
Publisher: Morpheus Laughs Productions
Chief Blabber-Mouth: Corey W. Nelson
Contributing Writers: Satana Fury, Anastastia, everything else by me.
Contributing Typist: Michael Krammer
______________________________________________________________________________
Copyright Notice: This zine is copyright 1993 by Corey W Nelson for the
contributors, except for the bits that I've shamelessly stolen. Those
bits are of course still copyright by their original creators. This zine
may not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without express written
permission from me. Permission is given in advance for a printout for
yourself. Just because you get something for free via the net doesn't
mean it's public domain and you can do anything you want with it.
Interview with Andrew Eldritch
Just prior to the release of Temple of Love
Conducted somewhere in New York
_____________________________________________________________________________
INT: When you make a record, before you go out to performance, who do you
think is your audience? How do you picture your audience as this
quintessential person, say you're walking down the street and say,
"that's the person that's the guy that takes my record home".
AE: God only knows. When we started off, we thought, "well all you can really
do is make records for yourself and just pray that someone out there
likes it". Then you start playing gigs and you begin to concentrate on
the first ten rows, like the people you can see. People who are jumping
up and down a lot, so you make records for them. Then you realize that's
there's actually like another 5-600 people in the place that you can't
see and you've no idea what sort of people they are. and then you start
thinking about them cus there's always the first ten rows going to do
whatever they do anyway.
INT: Right, because that's the nature of the people that stand right up front
stage.
AE: So. we're back to making records the way we want to and praying that
someone out there likes them.
INT: On your own terms...
AE: Yeah...
INT: Cus the other night at Danceteria, someone yelled out 1969, and you said
"we don't do that anymore".
AE: Right, we turn our covers over much quicker these days.
INT: Which I took as a positive. Some people don't take that as a positive.
"Aww, they're not gonna do that". You said, "I'm gonna do things on my
own terms".
AE: It's a shame we don't play Jolene anymore. Cus I'd really like to come
over here and play Jolene. I saw Dolly Parton on the television this
afternoon doing her Elvis impression, that was wonderful.
INT: Dammit, somebody's gotta do it.
AE: Yeah, if I was butcher, I'd do my Elvis impression too, but as it is I'd,
well I even stopped doing my Dolly Parton impression.
INT: The new ep, the a-side is Temple of Love.
AE: Yeah, a real gonzoid song. It's very fast. We though we'd better put on
the a-side, just cus the last record we put out was the Reptile House
which was very slow.
INT: Very very slow...
AE: So just to prove a point we put a very fast record this time.
INT: Three songs on it? Four songs?
AE: Yeah, the seven-inch with a shorter version of that will be out in a few
days. The twelve-inch will take a little longer. We have to tie-in the
release of it here with the release of it in England. Otherwise we get an
import/export problem. So it'll be a little while before you can actually
buy the eight minute version of that here and, of course, has Gimme
Shelter on the other side as well as the usual b-side.
INT: In England that's on Merciful Release Records...
AE: Here it's on Merciful Release too, but we have a distribution arrangement
with Braineater, who are with Dutch East India out of Long Island.
INT: Now that's your label, Merciful Release.
AE: Yeah.
INT: You have the March Violets on that label and...
AE: I threw'em off actually.
INT: You threw them off?
AE: Yeah. I stopped getting on with them. I made a coupla records with them
and we stopped getting on.
INT: Really?
AE: Yeah. I actually produced those records 'n stuff, but you wouldn't know
it to look at them. Like I did the artwork, and I managed the band, and I
did their press and ...
INT: The whole thing...
AE: Yeah. And they sort of turned around and bit my hand. So I threw'em off.
INT: So you threw them off the label. (laughs)
AE: Yeah. I just got rid of them. What the hell.
INT: Fair enough. Do you have any plans to have any more bands on the label?
AE: Yep. There's a single out this week by a new Leeds band called Salvation.
Which is a very good first record. I'm intending to have another record
out by them before Christmas. My problem at the moment is I don't have
time to do anything more than executive produce other bands. So right now
I'm looking for people to license product from. Where I don't actually
have to work so much on getting the actual product together, but I can
just product manage the thing.
INT: Just put it out.
AE: Yeah.
INT: Which would be much easier, but...
AE: I was going to put the Chesterfield Kings out in England, but they got
some great press the week before I was going to do it and I thought,
"well I can't do this now because people will accuse me of jumping
bandwagons 'n stuff." But stuff like that and the True West record that I
brought back from America last time I went home...
INT: Yeah, I was about to ask you. Are you going to have everything in the
same style or be diverse and that answered the question.
AE: Whatever the hell we like.
INT: Whatever you like. Hey, listen, it's your label, do what you want.
AE: It just so happens that all of the people we know in West Yorkshire are
using are using drum machines and the occasional fast guitar. I guess
we're partly responsible for that.
INT: Is there any objective to the label? Or just to put out good stuff?
AE: No, there aren't any particular objectives for the label. I don't think
I've really got the right to impose my personal view on what other
people do to that extent. Although, obviously, if some fascist wants to
put out a record on my label, I'm going to tell them no.
INT: (laughs)
AE: Unless he's a very funny fascist, of course.
INT: Now, coming over to America, bands'll say, the one band I can think of
that has a really bad attitude towards Americans is New Order. They came
over and they just, were like, "get away from me", "just give me the
money, let me play and go home". Saw you guys the other night and didn't
think you had that attitude. Talking to you now, you don't seem you have
an attitude at all. Do you think attitudes on band's parts are bad? I
mean they come over and just...
AE: No, I mean I, as a race I think the Americans are a really gross
people. You know, the grossest in the world. But I got nothing against
individuals. I was surprised myself at the attitude I have towards
American crowds when you actually play to them. Because, I'm generally
fairly abusive to any crowd. But I like this place a lot. I'm having a
good time, and it's very difficult for me to get up there and pretend
otherwise.
INT: Right, it's just like, a lot of bands don't realize this, I mean,
Americans hate some of the things that come off abroad about Americans.
You come here and you have to take people as individuals. A lot people
forget that and it something that slips people's minds.
AE: Yeah, we suffer a lot of from American tourists, I guess, same as every
other place, and so we come over here and we think the place is full of
tourists. Which, of course, it isn't. I dare say that a lot British
tourists are pretty unbearable.
INT: The cameras and the Hawaiian shirts and things.
AE: Yeah.
INT: Now, the band has done a lot of 60's covers, other covers, you mentioned
Jolene before...
AE: Right now, we're doing Emma by Hot Chocolate and Gimme Shelter. Before
that we did Jolene, we've done 1969 by the Stooges, all sorts...
INT: And it's strange that 1969 really fit the style of Sisters of Mercy very
well. I've listened to it several times and the drum machine just fit
right in, everything, the arrangement fit in.
AE: We weren't originally going to release that, actually, because we had a
thing about not releasing covers. But it was the American market that
actually asked for it to be on the record.
INT: And it wasn't like, just as a cover, let's just put it on.
AE: No, we just did it in the studio cus we'd been playing it and we thought
"well, we're here, let's record it". We had a thing about not releasing
covers. Even now, we refused to put a cover on the a-side of a record.
BREAK
INT: So we're sitting with Andy, from Sisters of Mercy. As far as song-
writing, we haven't even touched upon song-writing. You've said there's
a lot of black humor in the songs.
AE: Yeah, we had to make the jokes a lot more private, actually, for the
songs to work these days. Most of the irony generally comes out on stage
these days and not on the records. Cus with the records, you bypass a lot
of the stupidities of rock 'n' roll. I mean the way in which it's
delivered is generally fairly stupid, but that doesn't come across on
records cus people take them into their bedrooms and the whole rock 'n'
roll schtick doesn't really interfere with the communication.
INT: Was there any record you thought was really, maybe not funny, but had a
twist to it, an irony to it, that just went over people's heads? Who
totally just ignored it.
AE: One of ours?
INT: Hmmm?
AE: A record of ours?
INT: A record of yours, yeah.
AE: Yeah. All of them. All them have got, I thought the Reptile House was our
finest hour yet because it was the most serious record we ever made,, but
it was also the most perverse. Everything about that record is perverse.
It's really slow, it's really long, and I just love the way all the lead
lines are hidden in the mix, involved in all the effects, completely
submerged. You really have fight with that record. And the last track
starts like it's gonna be a sort of pop number and the voice just
slithers back into the mix and the tune distorts itself and then that's
finished you just get a reprise of the beginning which brings you right
back full circle. It's a very perverse record. It's part of the concept
of the thing, that there's no escape from the Reptile House. But a lot of
this does go over people's heads, they just think, "ah yeah, a long, slow
record".
INT: "Now I'll listen to Culture Club". (laughs)
AE: (half laughs) Yeah, right.
INT: Do you consider yourself now, the press, as we mentioned before, the
press likes to lump people in big piles for their convenience. I've seen
you mention in articles, about Death Cult, and Blood + Roses. I mean, do
you see yourself as part of that? Do you see yourself as part of
anything?
AE: No. Well, yeah, we see ourselves as part of the rock 'n' roll tradition.
Which is where we differ from all those people, they make a big deal
about being some brand new thing. No, we're just a sort of modern twisted
heavy metal band I guess.
INT: With a different slant.
AE: Yeah. I mean, we're very aware of the tradition and we're keen to own up
to it. Hence, records like 1969 and Gimme Shelter and we're also keen to
point out the sort of parallel reference points. There's nothing wrong
with us doing the Jolene and Hot Chocolate songs.
INT: Cus music is music, it's as simple as that.
AE: Yeah. America's got a much better attitude toward songs. In England, a
lot of what a band does is hurt by it's status in the fashion stakes and
we have weird programmer's on the radio in England. Sixties nostalgists,
and motown fetishists and...
INT: We have that around here to, so, it's just not as profound....
AE: In England, if you do like a cover of a Supremes song in a fairly, sort
of electro-poppy way, you're guaranteed a top ten hit. And a lot of
people, like, do that.
INT: Is it because, I guess the country is smaller, that's why you can get
away with something that fast. It's harder here...
AE: It's a generation of DJ's that grew up through the pirate stations and
are now, like, head of light entertainment in the various corporations.
And it's also that the record companies are looking for quick returns,
but they've worked themselves into a vicious circle of no imagination
where the quick return is bringing on a whole culture where there aren't
any bands that are really being supported by record companies who can
inspire any loyalty in the public at all. When I grew up there were bands
who gave you something to live by, like reinforced your social code, or
whatever. Now that there isn't that at all, there are bands that will
reinforce an hour of your Saturday night and that's about the extent of
it. Or there are these sort of new spiritualist, ludicrous, positive punk
bands who I've got no time for whatsoever. Mostly because none of them
can write a good tune.
fin............
INTERVIEW WITH GARY MARX
Article from Artificial Life, No 14 (Final Issue)
typed in by Michael Krammer
-----------------------------------------------------------------
With the exit of Gary Marx (guitar) from Sisters of Mercy and Anne-Marie
(vocals) from Skeletal Family a band seemed already in the making. Following
three or four embryonic line-ups, Ghost Dance are now a three piece with
bassist Etch but additions may be made in the future. Having a certain amount
of optimism about the band, Artificial Bear talked to Gary Marx before the
bands Croydon gig.
In our days there does seem to be a very incestuous scene with bands
consisting of ex members of bands that were great in the past.
Gary: "It's like that in West Yorkshire. There were quite a few bands and they
all seemed to split up at the same time. I had Stuart Morrow on the phone
when he was kicked out of New Model Army and Getting The Fear down the
road. There were telephone calls from Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. It could
have been ridiculous. Everyone is living in each other pockets."
After the Sisters of Mercy, did you consider packing it in?
Gary: "I probably would have done if I hadn't already got quite a lot of songs
written and thought 'well I've got to do these if nothing else.' We were
working on stuff before I left with a view to carry on in a slightly
different line-up but still the same people...Sisters of Mercy that is! I
had quite a lot of material from that and just wanted someone to sing it.
At first I thought I could sing it but found I couldn't and fortune fell,
Anne-Marie rang me up and she was wondering what to do."
Having obtained a certain amount of success and now playing the Croydon
Underground, it seems to be a case of starting all over again.
Gary: "It's just a mental attitude. I did this for five years with the Sisters
doing grotty clubs and not getting sound checks and working at it and
getting to the fringe of the national chart and then it all folded. It
does make you think 'is it worth it?' and the answer is usually 'yes' when
you get the old adrenalin going and the volume coming out of the p.a."
What about the name Ghost Dance? A bit dubious...
Gary: (smiles) "When we chose it The Cult weren't quite as influential as
they are now. It was quite early on when we chose the name and we each had
a list of about 15 names and this happened to be on my list and Anne-Marie
said 'I like that but what do you think people will say?' and I didn't
know what she meant at the time as I didn't know it was a Cult song but a
Patti Smith song which says "We shall live again" which is what it means
to me...members of bands coming back from the dead if you like...that's
what it feels like."
Gary also read up The Cult's "Ghostdance" to see where they got it from and
that he approved of it.
Gary: "The Indian thing seemed reasonable to me. I said 'We can sod The
Cult...who are they anyway?' Since then they've proved me wrong...ripping
off a few of the Sisters' best ideas."
(At this point the bear chokes on his drink and has a coughing fit)
What about the music of Ghost Dance - do you consider it new?
Gary: "No, I consider the music to be exactly the same as Sisters of Mercy
except somebody else singing it. The LP was starting the split anyway. It
was my version of the Sisters and Wayne's version of the Sisters. This is
my version which means more basic rock/American rock whilst Wayne's
version was more Banshees. What I'd been doing was more as a result of
listening to Bruce Springsteen LP's."
At present Gary's music listening is limited to The Waterboys. However, it's
evident that Ghost Dance music is exactly the same as Gary's version of
the Sisters of Mercy with the addition of Skeletal Family vocals. OK, the
idea of that looks good on paper, but live, there seemed to be something
missing in that the band need something more than Sisters of Mercy guitar
and Skeletal vocals. The demo contains acoustic guitar which shows variety
but there are no plans for acoustic guitar live as it lacks power. I
was a bit disappointed but it's early days yet and hopefully the music
will develop and change in time!!! Lyrical content?
Gary: "This and that! Getting chucked out of groups... reflection...all of
life is there! They're quite uplifting. They are not despairing because
it's got a girl singing and immediately sounds less desperate. If I'd
given some of the songs to Andy it would have taken on the world is ending
tomorrow sort of thing but if Anne Marie does it, then you just think
she's a bit cut up about something."
How will Ghost Dance fit into music that's around?
Gary: "There's so little around for people. There's a big space and we can
drop in and a lot of people will go 'blimey'... it could be that simple. A
lot of people are grabbing at the American stuff which suggests there's
nothing for people to get into. It's like the bands that were about have
got a bit too big and nobody has come up in their footsteps."
What do you think you'd be doing if you weren't playing guitar in a
rock'n'roll band?
Gary: "I'd be a Jehovah's Witness. I could elaborate...that was my inspiration
to leave home. It was totally against what my parents and family believed
in as they're all Jehovah's Witnesses so if I hadn't had the urge to do
this I'd still be at home under that influence. Going round and selling
the Watch Tower which is harder than selling fanzines I can assure you!"
Well, Gary is always full of surprises and even has a new pair of second hand
boots which indicates that things are looking up. Any thoughts on the
past, i.e. the Sisters Of Mercy?
Gary: "I'm annoyed that other people have done what we should have done,
annoyed that it took us so long to do what we did and also annoyed that
we're not doing it anymore."
Still it's only rock'n'roll.
Gary: "I suppose so, it's not life or death."
Isn't it?
INTERVIEW WITH DIAMANDA GALAS,
Easter Sunday, April 19, 1992,
Backstage in Seattle
by Satana Fury
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SF: What brought you into using blues in your music?
DG: I've always been doing that music since I was little in my father's band.
I played with my father's band since I was 12 or 13. We would play
everything all the time, and I always have played everything. It's just a
normal part of an upbringing as a real musician. You just play whatever
you want (laughs).
SF: Is your training mostly in classical music or did you have some blues
teachers?
DG: No, not for this music. For this music I just work with my father. My
father's my teacher. He plays trombone and bass. So he was my teacher.
Then for the more classical stuff, I worked classical music when I was
younger as well, and I would have teachers who would work with me on that
music, but I think that's a pretty traditional music background we're
talking about. A lot of musicians coming out of the jazz world have that
background. A lot of blues musicians have that background. A lot of
people who really love music want to play everything, and they want to
know how to play everything, so they study with people. Blues guys study
with each other and would study with the best guy in town, like Robert
Johnson studied with Son House and a lot of different people. In a way,
you're always studying your profession. You know, you're always studying.
SF: Was the music you performed tonight pretty much written out or were
you improvising?
DG: Ha ha ha, oh definitely improvising. Nah, it's not written out. I'd
be too lazy to do that shit! I mean there's some structures that you fall
into that are defined by what the song is, but the songs are always
completely different every night, except the fact that it is the same
song, you know what I'm saying, and I respect the melody, and I respect
the changes, and I respect what the song is about, but the song is
different for me every night depending on what's happened outside the
theater, you know.
SF: Tell me about some of the things you're doing in New York right now,
like with ACT-UP, and what are some of the thing you've been doing with
the AIDS movement lately?
DG: In concerns of being an AIDS activist, my primary work is moving
through towns, doing my performance connecting with the AIDS community the
way I can, and discussing stuff that bothers me. I also have worked in
actions with ACT-UP like the St. Patrick's Cathedral action. I think
the thing people can do very well is try to find out information for their
friends who are HIV+ and who have AIDS, and people who, in many cases, are
decentralized based on where they're located in the United States. I have
friends who are located in cities where they aren't in contact with the
right buyer group clubs for medicine, and they get very freaked out,
because they'll hear things and think, "Well, I've got to move to San
Francisco to get these drugs and I can't do that." They are so many hours
in the day that all seem to have to be used up by people with AIDS just to
constantly do their own research, and I think that people can be very
useful to each other in helping set up communication systems and just
doing research, and I've done that for some friends who were looking for
DDI or finding out about programs with DDC and a lot of different things
for a while. I've worked in residence homes for people with AIDS, just
playing music. I'm part of the community , so I do a lot of different
things. People have the ability to do something every week to connect with
the AIDS community. There are a lot of services that are needed, and it's
a very important thing to do, and it's not impossible as so many people
think. There's volunteers, for example, if one wanted to start from the
ground up, that are needed for all sorts of programs, and there's training
programs for people who want to be buddies or work as care givers in
hospices, hospitals, etc., and I think it' s a pretty important thing to
do.
SF: Have you ever experimented with hemitones, or frequencies outside of
the normal hearing range that trigger certain emotional or physiological
responses?
DG: Oh, I'm sure I do it all the time! I didn't know what they were
called, but I'm sure I do. That's what the performances are all about. I
like to go different places, and that's how I do it, that's how I get
there. I haven't done it on a scientific level, but you can get there
with voice, you get there in music, and you work hopefully with good
collaborators. I've got a great sound guy that I work with, Eric. He's
fuckin' brilliant. So we do all sorts of stuff together. The guys' got
great ears, so he can hear when we want to build a sound with the delay
and we want to change things with eq or just enforce certain kinds of
mixes between the dry signal, the delayed signal, and the reverb,
depending on the pitch and timbre, because we do that all the time. It's
part of the sound. It was part of that kind of stuff that Hendrix was
doing on his level, in terms of guitar stuff.
SF: Were you operating the effects on your voice during the show tonight?
DG: Eric was doing that.
SF: How do you manage to do all that with your voice and the piano at
once! It's so amazing!
DG: Just if you've been doing it all your life, it's normal. You know,
just playing since you were a little kid, you always learn that kind of
stuff.
SF: Do you think that your next material will continue with a blues and
gospel base?
DG: I'll always continue that work. That's just part of my music, so
I'll always do that. There's a lot of different kinds of things I'd like
to do. I've wanted to do a record called "Speed Screams" which would be
about fifty one-minute performances. That's a pretty radical project. I
probably won't do it right away, maybe this summer. There's a lot of
different projects I'm doing.
SF: What about the "Vena Cava" project?
DG: It's a piece I did a few weeks at The Kitchen. It's a piece dealing
with the parallels between clinical depression and AIDS dementia, and that
piece I'll be performing next year with Mark Murphy at On The Boards,
hopefully. We're trying to arrange that.
SF: In Seattle?
DG: Yeah, I like coming here. It's nice! I've been here two years in a
row.
SF: Pick another good holiday to come next year!
DG: Yeah, looks like I'm here on the Easter weekend, doesn't it? (laughs)
SF: Have you been to Seattle much before?
DG: No. I hope when I do a longer run here with this theatrical production
that I'll be able to spend more time, because I like it here. It's very
nice. I took a walk here today, and I couldn't believe it. I thought I
was in heaven. I knew I wasn't in New York!
SF: Where'd you go?
DG: I just walked. I just kept walking from 8th to 4th to 3rd. It was
beautiful. The air was beautiful. I'd like to come back here. It's sort
of like a retirement from New York for a while.
SF: So is "Vena Cava" a theatrical thing, or is it musical, or both?
DG: It's a solo voice with a lot of signal processing in it, and use of tapes
that have a kind of psychological resonance applying to extreme
depression, with a lot of found sources. Better not to explain too much
until I do the show, but what it discusses is the fact that AIDS dementia,
which is often referred to as an organic dysfunction, is in fact something
that is much more related to what is traditionally thought of for people
who are mentally ill as extreme depression. The parallels are the
absolute powerlessness, the destruction of the mind through absolute
isolation. This is the kind of work I've been dealing with for a really
long time anyway. It will be interesting to perform it here.
MUSIC REVIEWS
=============================================================================
Ratings Guide:
***** absolute classic, essential listening
**** extremely good, buy at the first opportunity
*** a good, but not great record, buy if you have the xtra $$$
** not actually bad, but give it a listen first
* if you really want it, tape it off somebody silly enough to buy it.
- don't even bother
==============================================================================
Nine Inch Nails
Broken ep CD
Nothing/TVT/Interscope 92213-2 halo five
Rating: ***1/2
Track List: Pinion/Wish/Last/Help Me I Am in Hell/Happiness in Slavery/Gave up
Not really very goth except in the lyrics department, but it is my zine
and I'll do what I want as per usual. Trent follows through on his statement
that he thought Pretty Hate Machine was kinda lightweight in retrospect and
the next one would be a _lot_ harder. This bears virtually zero resemblance to
any previous NIN music, with the exception of the Get Down Make Love cover on
the Sin single.
Out the window went the keyboards, in with the guitars. LOTS of guitars.
Trent's work with Pigface and Al Jorgenson seems to have made quite the
impression on him. The ep is close the Ministry sound, but with Trent having a
great deal more emphasis on having a melody in there some where.
Things start of with Pinion, which is about two minutes of gradually
building guitar noise and rather pointless except as an intro to Wish. Wish
is my second favorite track. It shares many characteristics with Head Like a
Hole. Somewhat quieter passages with a tempo shift into fourth gear for the
chorus'. Lyrically, it's an extension of the themes of Pretty Hate Machine.
Last is by far my favorite track. A great guitar riff, just everything.
It grooves like Ministry always wished they could. Trent proves that even if
he's not that great a guitar player, he can at least write stuff that _sounds_
good, which is more important in my opinion. Lyrically, Trent has shifted from
being hurt and confused to simply being hurt and _incredibly_ pissed off. No
more whiny bastard accusations from me at least.
Help Me I'm in Hell is another short instrumental bit like Pinion, and my
opinion is pretty much the same, although I do like it more. Somewhat
reminiscent of the beginning bit of Something I Can Never Have. Happiness in
Slavery follows and is the song being promoted as the 'single'. I dunno, it's
an ok song, but Last is a MUCH better song. It seems to be doing pretty well,
so I guess there's a reason I'm not an A&R man. :-) The lyrics seem to be
inspired by Trent's contract disputes with TVT, as well as the quote from the
credits, "the slave thinks he is released from bondage only to find a stronger
set of chains."
Gave Up rounds it out. The vocal processing on this songs ruins what could
have otherwise been my favorite song. Trent's voice is treated to this warbly
distorted abomination that makes it sound like the heads on your tape player
need to be cleaned. Musically it's great tho.
Depending on whether you bought a first pressing or not, you get two bonus
track on a CD3. Later pressings have them as tracks 98 and 99, with tracks
7-97 being six seconds of silence apiece.
The two songs are a cover of the Adam and the Ants tune, Physical(You're
To) and a new version of Suck, Trent's contribution to Pigface. Physical is
by far the best song on the ep. Faithful to the original, but grunged up a
bit. Suck is the closest to the PHM sound. Not having heard the Pigface studio
version yet, I can't say how it compares to the original, the live Pigface
version is better, but it's still a good song.
A few words about the packaging too. It comes in a Digicrap, and given
that I hate Digicraps with a passion, I actually rather like this one. It's
set up with three flaps, so that as you open it, it spells out N-I-N on the
backs of the flaps. It also has the lyrics on the side two flaps with an big N
in the background and an I on the disc itself. Kinda clever and neat to look
at it, but I may be easily amused. :->
_____________________________________________________________________________
Prayers for the Raven
Sacred Ground CD
Wing and a Prayer Records
Rating: ***1/2
Track List: the Law/Neverland/Isolated/the Fall/"Time to Die"/Body Voided
Catharsis/Gabriel/Nocturne XIII/"What Happens to An Eyeball"
Headspin/So It Goes/the Portal/Shall It Never Be
Prayers for the Raven are another of Seattle's small group of Goth bands,
with their own unique take on it. Which is one of the great things about our
admittedly smallish scene. Not one of the bands bears the slightest musical
resemblance to the rest in any way. Quite a good thing in my opinion, but
unfortunately out best and only club has gone to live bands and grunge. Like
Seattle really needs more grunge. Um, anyway, enough of my bitching, onto the
review.
One thing I wanna say before I get started, is that no matter what I may
say and the rating I gave it, I _really_ like this CD. It has found it's
way into my player an inordinately large number of times since I got it and
I encourage you to order it. You shan't be disappointed.
Ok, once more for real this time. This CD screams 1983 at me for no reason
I can really figure out. Sorta like Theatre of Hate with keyboards. Something
_like_ that anyway. Maybe it's just the singer's voice. I dunno. Take the
comment for what's it's worth to you.
The Law is a quote from Rudyard Kipling that is also reprinted on the
back of the booklet. It leads quite nicely into my favorite song, Neverland.
A very well-done anti-heroin song. Not preachy, just stark and simple, the
way I like'em.
The rest of the album covers at lot of lyrical and musical ground. On the
whole I quite like the lyrics. A little inexperienced here and there, but
nothing that ever makes me wince, always a good sign. The music side has a
strong keyboard presence, which is rather refreshing in the Land of Guitar
Godz(tm).Extremely well-integrated keyboards. Rock with keyboards often comes
off wimpy, or reduces the keyboards to a totally unimportant background
filler. Not so with Prayers for the Raven. The keyboards are up front and an
integral part of the music, yet they still rock quite well. (sheesh, that
REALLY sounds juvenile, but I can't figure out a better way to phrase it,
thmmpht!! deal with it oh faithful readers)
Oh, wait, as I listen to the album writing this, I must single out So It
Goes as the only song I don't like much. Entirely because of the keyboard
presence. Those cute little fills might sound cool live, but on an album
they're dorky in the same way drum solos are dorky if you're not actually
there.
The samples are also something I think probably sounded like a good idea
in the studio, but simply come off pretentious and kinda boring on the CD.
"Time to Die" is simply Roy's soliloquy from Blade Runner and "What Happens
to An Eyeball" is from some Jack Nicholson movie that I forget the title of.
They add nothing to the album except filling out space.
Some reviews write themselves, other do not and I don't know what to say
than, ' I like it'. As I read over this, it strikes me as being a less than
helpful. So I'm just gonna finish it off this way. It's a really good album,
you should buy it, you'll be very happy you did and so will they. I'm gonna
try and interview them and let them speak for themselves since _I_ seem to be
doing a pretty terrible job of it.
contact address for Information and Merchandise:
the Trail of Tears
Attn: Nathaniel Killing Fox
1206 1st Ave. Suite 12
Seattle, WA 98101
==============================================================================
==============================================================================
It's been a pretty lame month for music, I've been broke, and nobody's been
sending me anything so it's back to the Crypt for reviews of a few classic and
less than classic bits.
==============================================================================
==============================================================================
Creaming Jesus
in Ditch Dweller V 12"
Jungle Jung 57 T 1991
Rating: ****1/2
Track List: Stray Toasters b/w Temple of Shite/Skinny Head
Grebo-Goth? I dunno, but it's great whatever the hell you wanna
call it and way too cool for this zine. Best bit is they don't take
themselves to seriously, _the_ pitfall awaiting all bands. They know how to
be humorous without trying to be funny if ya get my point.
The center-piece is, of course, Temple of Shite. A rather less than
faithful interpretation of Temple of Love. The drummer forgets how to play it,
the singer forgets the words and sings "Goth goth goth goth goth, black black
black black black even blacker!', deliberately forgets the words and tries to
interest the band in doing 'Kings of the Wild Frontier' instead. Then settles
for singing different words saying the cover is turning like shite. Classic.
If you take the word of Andrew as gospel, do yourself a favor and avoid this.
If, however, you're like me, you need to beg, borrow or steal a copy of this
because your life is simply not complete without it.
Their own songs are also excellent. Solid guitar work and they _rock_. I
greatly lament the fact that it's probably going to require a trip to England
that I can't possibly afford to get to see them live, ah well.
Oh, and I'm gonna break my rule again and comment on the sleeve. This baby
is _pretty_. Silver on a nice deep red. Typical Goth sleeve you might say,
until you look at it closely and notice the seal balancing a ball on his nose
and the silly things like 'your pretentious' written around it. :-)
Buy this now.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
various
Batcave-Young Limbs Numb Hymns
London CAVE 1 1983
Rating: ***
Track List:
Specimen-Dead Man's Autochop/Sexbeat-Sexbeat/Test Dept.-Shockwork/Patti
Palladin-the Nuns New Clothes/James T. Pursey-Eyes Shine Killidiscope
Meat of Youth-Meat of Youth/Brilliant-Coming Up for the Downstroke
Alien Sex Fiend-R.I.P./the Venomettes-the Dance of Death
An important piece of history here. The Batcave is one of those places we
all wish we could have seen in it's glory. It's gone now, but they left us
this. From the liner notes:
Look past the slow black rain of a chill night in
Soho: ignore the lures of a thousand neon fire-flies.
fall deaf to the sighs of the street corner sirens-come
walk with me between heaven and hell. Here there is a
club lost in it's own feverish limbo, where sin becomes
salvation and only the dark angels tread. For here is a
Batcave
This screaming legend of blasphemy, lechery and blood
persists in the face of adversity. For some the Batcave has
become an icon but for those that know it is an iconoclast.
It is the avenging spirit of nightlife's badlands it's shadow
loom large over London's demi-monde. It is a challenge to
false idol. It will endure
Of course it didn't in the end, but the idea lives on. The bands
represented here carry the spirit of 1983 pretty well, even if only two of
them went onto anything resembling success.
The Specimen track is fairly typical Specimen, i.e; a great goth-pop
tune, close to being one of their best.
Sexbeat was the band of one of the Batcave's dj's. Not nearly as bad as
you might imagine from that bit of information, just not that great either.
A fairly straight-forward goth-dance-rock song, but nothing terribly special.
Test Dept. Industrial Goth? Close enough. Certainly the most atypical song
on the compilation. Worth having if you like Test Dept.
Patti Palladin. Reminds me of Skeletal Family a bit. Also falls under the
category of good, but not great.
James T. Pursey. One of the few from this comp still going. See above
comments.
Meat of Youth. What was it about 1983 that made people name songs after
themselves? Sorta funk-goth. I kinda like it, but I'm strange
sometimes. :->
Brilliant. More funk-goth. ok song. Notable as being Youth of Killing
Joke's ex-band
Alien Sex Fiend. This, along with the Specimen song and a sense of history
are the real reasons to own this comp. The Fiend's first vinyl foray, and it's
a wonderful hint of things to come. That tinny drumbeat, Nik being maniacal.
Just _everything_. You should donate your brain to science if you don't like
this because it's clearly not being used
The Venomettes. A little nice macabre violin music to play at dinner.
Interesting in a This Mortal Coil kind of way. I quite like it.
There we go, history, perfectly preserved. It is an essential compilation,
just based on the Batcave's importance and the time period this represents,
but I can't rate it higher because based solely on the musical content, it's
not _that_ great. Mixed message? Yeah. decide for yourself I'm getting tired
and cranky.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Into a Circle
Inside Out/Reward b/w Flow/Field of Sleep 12" 1986
Abstract Records 12 ABS 042
Rating: ***1/2
Rising from the ashes of Getting the Fear, which had in turn risen from
the ashes of the Southern Death Cult, Barry joins forces with Bee to form
Into a Circle with a detour to put out a single as In Two a Circle. They put
out three singles before giving it up, this being the first.
Musically, they most resemble Getting the Fear, which I expect few of
you have ever heard either, since it didn't do well and only put out one
single before disintegrating. Expect no Southern Death Cultisms, Ian took
all that with him when he formed Death Cult.
Inside Out is by far the best song here. Some very nice 12-string guitar
work from Billy Morrison provide the rhythm that makes it flow so well. A
song that I would think packed dance floors everywhere, yet mysteriously did
not.
Reward is a short slow bit of early bowie-esque mood piece. Minus drums,
an almost ethereal bass line provides the foundation for a meandering
guitar part, with Bee's voice just floating along the surface. Very beautiful
in it's own way.
Flow returns us to more standard goth territory with a very nice mid-
tempo song that would probably be at home on one of the early Modern English
albums. What strikes most is how well the whole songs flows from verse to
chorus and back. It's so smooth, it reminds me in a way of the Church and
how Steve Kilbey writes songs without actual choruses, just places where a
chorus would fit.
Field of Sleep rounds it out in good fashion. Another mid-tempo song with
some very nice harmony work. It strikes me as odd that they never caught on
outside of the usual small group of fans. Then again, I think Specimen were
great and they never caught on either.
MOVIE REVIEWS
_____________________________________________________________________________
Bram Stoker's Dracula
- Love Never Dies -
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Screenplay James V. Hart
Review by Anastasia
Dramatis Personae:
Gary Oldman - Prince Vlad, the Count Dracula
Winona Ryder - Mina Harker
Keanu Reeves - Jonathan Harker
Sadie Frost - Lucy Westenra
Richard E. Grant - Dr. Jack Seward
Cary Elwes - Lord Arthur Holmwood
Bill Campbell - Quincey Morris
Anthony Hopkins - Dr. Abraham Van Helsing
Tom Waits - R.M. Renfield
Monica Belluci \
Michaela Bereu - the lamia (Dracula's brides)
Florina Kendrick /
Well, my black-clad gamines, here it is; the piece de resistance of the
banquet of blood-lust the movie moguls have spread before us this season. I
have dined twice, to be certain of the taste, before returning to tell the
tale to you. The cast is pendulous with names, all of whom have turned in
performances both sublime and wretched in the past. Anyone familiar with
Coppola will tell you that if nothing, his works are well-lit; so I betook
myself theater-ward secure in the knowledge that whatever savagery was done
the story, it would be visually stunning. My expectations were not
disappointed. Coppola makes a particular effort to stick with 'naive'
effects, which gives the film an antique feeling well suited to the subject
matter. It _is_ a visually stunning movie, so much so that the story is
clearly secondary. However, Dracula purists will be pleased to note that this
version of the story does return for its premise to the novel as promised
rather than basing itself on the stage production as the Bela Lugosi Dracula
(and most subsequent productions) did. True, there are still a few liberties
taken, but these can be forgiven by any but the most anal-retentive. Renfield
is elevated from his position as mere sensitive madman in Seward's asylum to
Harker's unfortunate predecessor in dealings with Dracula, returned home in a
state of mental breakdown after suffering "personal problems" in Transylvania
while making the company's preliminary arrangements for the Count's real
estate purchases.
The major difference, however, is a reincarnation subplot introduced to
give weight to the movie's introductory sequence, to explain how Dracula
became a vampire and to account for Dracula's obsession with Mina. Madam
Mina, it would appear, is the reincarnation of Elizabeta, Vlad's consort
during his mortal years. It is her suicide, and the priest's assertion that
this damns her soul that motivates Dracul to curse God and thus become one of
the undead. It also provides the films unconventional (in terms of the
vampire film cannon) ending, wherein Dracula, through Mina's love, is somehow
reconciled with God, and dies in peace, freeing her from her lamiahood.
If you like spectacle, you won't be disappointed, if you are looking for the
seminal Dracula movie, you may be. I enjoyed it more the first time, since at
the second viewing the more problematic portions of the film become more
obvious. Recommended, definitely worth the price of admission for the sweep
and grandeur that will be diminished by a small screen.
ADDENDUM
This has nothing to do with Goth. It is, however, very important. Read and
do something.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEGATIVLAND'S CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER 1992
***************************************************
SST RECORDS SUES NEGATIVLAND FOR REVENGE;
GROUP HALTS SALES OF ITS MAGAZINE/CD
THE LETTER U AND THE NUMERAL 2.
LOSES INCOME, PLANS DEFENSE
WELL, here we go again! As another Christmas rolls around, Negativland
seats itself, pen in hand, to compose our yearly Christmas Newsletter. A
lot has happened since last Christmas in our little family of appropriators.
Last September, feeling we had an interesting story to tell about how
something as simple as an office full of angry unmusical businesspeople
armed with too much money and some out-of-date copyright notions had
propelled us through a horrible nightmare of lawsuits, lawyers, liars, and
loss, we released a 96-page magazine with CD entitled 'The Letter U And
The Numeral 2' that documented the entire Negativland/SST/U2/Island
Records episode. The magazine simply presented the lawsuit, court orders,
faxes, public statements and press releases from all the parties, letters,
etc. in chronological order, with no commentary from us, so that the reader
could examine the facts and make up his or her own mind as to what it all
"meant".
Apparently Greg Ginn, owner of SST Records, thinks otherwise. On
November 10th, 2 months after the release of the magazine, he brought a
5-count lawsuit against us which essentially seeks to punish us for going
public with the dirty laundry. Yes, we have been sued. Yes, again. And
now it appears that the real nightmare may only be just beginning.
If you're not actually a member of Negativland, or if you've never been
sued yourself - you might find some aspects of the lawsuit to be quite
hilarious:
*We're being sued to stop us from selling a magazine about how we were
sued.
*We're being sued by SST for copyright infringement because we printed
their press releases (!)
*We're being sued by SST's corporate rock lawyer for printing a picture of
SST's "Corporate Rock STILL Sucks" sticker.
*We're being sued for printing their lawyer's letter saying that they want
to sue us.
Funny Stuff. But the grim fact is that Greg's actions are destroying any
opportunity we might have had to get back on our feet financially (we're
trying to self-release all our own stuff now) and could easily prevent us
from releasing any other new work for the next two years! Negativland is
what we do, and this magazine was our first new release back on our own
Seeland Records label. We now know that we could have sold many, many
more than the original limited edition of the magazine; it seems far more
people are interested in our story than we initially expected. This new case
could easily drag on for two years or more, and although we think we'll win
in the end, we can't safely make and sell more copies of 'The Letter U And
The Numeral 2' until the court decides on SST's copyright claims.
Greg Ginn is already keeping our royalties to pay himself back for the U2
costs, and he knows we can't afford to sue him to get him to agree to our
50-50 split offer rather keep back the 100% he so autocratically demands.
This case is going to cost Greg Ginn a lot more money than he has any
reasonable hope of recovering from us in any reasonable time frame (you
can bet his lawyer isn't working for free). SO WHY IS HE SUING US? Well,
it seems that his main reason is...revenge. SST grosses millions of dollars
a year- you can look it up in their credit report printed in our magazine
(he's suing over that too- of course- despite the fact that it's readily
available public information that SST themselves provided), so he can
certainly afford to waste the dozens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of
dollars that it'll cost to take this case to trial. We can't. He seems
quite happy to behave towards us in the same way as Island Records did to
him and us, using his economic might to crush the small and the weak.
A copy of the lawsuit is enclosed so you can see it all for yourself. (It's
a public document, so he can't sue us for that.) You'll notice some other
stuff in there about 'breach of contract';that's all about how they still
claim that we owe them every dime they had to spend over the Island suit
(despite: gaping holes in their contract; our denials to their claims that
we promised to pay; all the money they made by selling the record; our
providing the GUNS record to replace the U2 record; our flat-out inability
to pay; and SST's own decision to put the record out knowing there might be
problems), and about how they think we owe them master tapes for two new
releases that we canceled when they tried to stick us with the whole U2
damage (despite: our attempts to repay the advances; the fact that their
lawyer said they might not even be interested in releasing the records; and
the fact that the tapes aren't even finished yet).
SST is basically punishing us because we've resisted being abused.
If any of this behavior disgusts yo as much as it does us, we would
urge you to:
*SPREAD THE WORD about what SST's doing to us to all your friends, radio
stations, record stores, bands, writers, and the whole alternative
musical community. This mailing is only going out to about 600 people,
and we want EVERYBODY to know what's happening (copy this mailing if you
want, or post it to a computer network).
*Have everybody CONTACT GREG GINN, SST Records proprietor, and let
him know how all of this makes you feel about him and SST, and maybe
even ask him to explain to you just what the hell he thinks he's doing.
(fax 310-430-7286, tel 310-430-7687, 10500 Ilumbolt Street,
Los Alamitos CA, 90720)
*If you've seen the magazine, you know that we stand a very good chance
of getting our U2 single back if we can only change the mind of Casey
Kasem. Now that the magazine has been stopped, we no longer have a
way to tell the world that Casey has been interviewed on radio framing
Island's action against us as censorship, and saying that although he's
personally embarrassed by our record, he's for free speech and doesn't
approve of what happened to us; on the other hand, the last word we
have from Island Records is that they'd actually be willing to return the
record to us, except that Casey Kasem has told them privately that if
they do, he'll sue them (see letter and interview, attached). Casey's
lawyers have also threatened us similarly. If you want to help us out,
please
*CONTACT CASEY KASEM with a good letter or fax and ask him to explain
his contradictory position, but mainly to withdraw his opposition to the
return of our record to us (not to SST). Casey Kasem c/0 Westwood One
Radio Network, 8968 Washington Blvd., Culver City CA. 90230,
fax 310-840-4051, tel 310-840-4000.
*Are there any folks in the LOS ANGELES AREA willing to offer a few
couches and square feet of floor space for us to spend the night on the
days when we'll have to appear in court?
*Any LEGAL FOLKS out there with services to offer , or interesting ideas
on how to proceed?
*Any WRITERS out there? Please, write about this!
*BE CREATIVE! - think up something helpful (but not illegal...) and do it!
And, as always, feel free to contact us with anything you want to ask us or
say to us: fax 415-420-0469, 1920 Monument Blvd. Concord CA, 94520.
Well, we suppose we should close with a tearful "Happy Holidays," or a
heartfelt "Merry Christmas," but instead, since you may have heard of our
feeling that Christianity is Stupid, and since the "holiday," established by
the church/state, was arbitrarily located in the calendar year to coincide
with the well-established pagan/astrological holidays coinciding with the
winter solstice, while the actual 'birth' date of the extraterrestrially-
operated operative know as Christ was probably sometime in the early fall,
let's just say: "Til Next Year..."
We'll try to keep the world updated as the situation progresses.
Anything you choose to do to help, participate, or contribute will be
greatly appreciated.
LOVE,
"Negativland" signature here
"Copyright Infringement Is Your Best Entertainment Value" seal here.
ps...SST is also frivolously and maliciously suing the Meat Puppets. For
more info on that, contact their manager, Jamie Kitman, at 914-359-4520,
fax 914-359-4739 (He's being sued too. Are you surprised?)
SPECIAL THANKS to our legal and financial helpers across the
country, and particularly to everyone who came out to see us on
tour in the northeastern half of the country last month.
(end of Negativland's Christmas Newsletter)