Die Warzau Never Again Atlantic Mix

It'due south been a full twelvemonth since we received a missive from Matt Pathogen, and what a peaceful year that was. But with such potent representation of his hometown Chicago at this year's Terminus, we couldn't resist the urge to drag Matt out of bed retirement for the sake of getting some field work on perhaps that well-nigh storied of North American cities in the history of industrial, and what their exports will be bringing across the border in three weeks' fourth dimension. Matt's polled the bands in question for some self-description and has offered up his own context, so permit'due south pass the digital quill to him.

Hey, folks! It's been awhile since I've submitted a feature to the site, but Bruce and Alex held me hostage at Aftermath and fabricated me reenact the Russian roulette scene from The Deer Hunter until I promised to write something new. And so, here nosotros go. Let's talk Terminus, kids.

You'll accept to excuse the states over here in the Windy City if nosotros sound similar a bit of a broken record these days in regards to Chicago's part in industrial music. Ours is a legacy with plenty of baggage behind it, equally our dear readers are likely enlightened of; the fabled rising and fall of Wax Trax! Records, the US' groundbreaking premier label for industrial music, is a legacy that has been attached to our fair city for decades, one we have both cherished and labored beneath. We as a community existed in a kind of tense but steady state for the menses between the label'southward being shuttered after being acquired by TVT Records and the commencement of the 2010s; we saw many of our bands break up, our concert and club attendance dwindle, and our familiar venues either close or move on to greener musical pastures. Now, all suddenly we're back in the saddle, with Cold Waves Three just effectually the corner, Wax Trax! relaunching under the supervision of founder Jim Nash'due south girl Julia, and the club and show circuit fleshing out noticeably. Information technology'south good to be back!

Time to switch gears: Terminus Festival's humble ancestry in 2012 flew under the radar for many people outside of the Alberta scene, but served to open the possibility of a multi-twenty-four hours industrial-oriented music festival in the western half of North America, a market that was used to hoofing information technology either to Quebec or articulate across the ocean if they wanted to have office in such an effect. The Terminus crew did not seem to be satisfied with stopping there, every bit evinced by the festival's 2013 iteration delivering an enormous and, bluntly, unexpected punch. The dance-card was stacked with scene heavyweights such every bit Combichrist and Aggregation 23, simply likewise dove deep into the miasma of up-and-coming bands and pulled out an extremely well-curated lineup of surprise audience favorites.

Some personal highlights (and I emphasize the discussion "some," equally I'd drown my word count if I went through all of them): The critically lauded Comaduster quite literally dove into the venue and onto the stage from fresh off the route, blasted out a heavy, engaging set, and so disappeared into the dark presently thereafter, owing to personal obligations; Ontario's Defense force Mechanism was joined onstage by Left Spine Down's Kaine Delay for a rousing cover of Information Society's "Pure Energy" that had the entire audience singing along; and, of class, the burdensome, stage-stealing performance from Iceland's Legend, whose debut album was so strongly received that they had a lot to alive up to, nevertheless still managed to exceed expectations by far. Terminus 2013 was a major coup in its ability to handily deliver familiar fan favorites while as well drilling down into the highly artistic groundswell of new acts coming to the surface of the genre.

What do Chicago and Calgary have to practise with each other? Well, you lot combine the two and y'all get Chicalgary, and that's exactly what Terminus is doing for 2014! Nestled inside a lineup of surprising headliners such as In Strict Conviction and Covenant and a host of acts that anyone who claims loyalty to industrial needs to be watching such as Author and Punisher and 3TEETH, Terminus has also managed to bring much of the creative core of Chicago's contemporary industrial scene together, punching in with v highly active banner-bearing acts. Allow's meet the family!

DIE WARZAU

Few bands embody the classic Chicago industrial experience equally impressively as Die Warzau, which has been a fixture in the underground music scene since the release of their archetype critical favorite debut album, Disco Rigido, in 1989. Sophomore album Big Electric Metal Bass Face found the ring signed to powerhouse characterization Atlantic, with 1994's Engine finding its home on Wax Trax! during its period of curation nether TVT Records. Die Warzau has experienced more than than its fair share of comebacks to critical and popular acclamation, including much talked about performance at Chicago's Cold Waves II festival in 2013. Live, the band skirts the chasm between music and functioning art, with a visceral, quasi-tribal visual aesthetic crossed with the band's delivery of an inimitable fusion of grinding industrial rock and head-bobbing funk beats.

Fun Facts About Die Warzau, as provided by honcho Jim Marcus:
-They were signed to Fiction Records subsequently an explosive show where it was erroneously reported that the live percussionist and turntablist Mel Hammond had been killed. Mel is all the same alive and is yet spinning. He was merely brought to the hospital after the bear witness, not the morgue.

-Their first shows at Medusa'southward, a legendary Chicago venue long since closed, included very picayune music and were mostly performance noise and art furnishings.

-Most of the drums and percussion for Disco Rigido were plant in the alley backside the recording studio, including the dumpsters and cans that were played every bit the drum kit for the song "Man is Meat."

-Artists like Chris Vrenna, Mars Williams, Chris Hall, and Xmas Smits concluded up playing on more songs than they had originally played on because they were sometimes asked to record and overdub loops of themselves that could be used later and were stored in a library.

-All the drums and percussion noises on their EP Land of the Complimentary were built using monophonic analog synths along with noises from keychains recorded in the control room at the studio.

Dead ON TV

Dead On TV is like a buddy cop moving-picture show gone horribly wrong, and the issue is as hilariously over the elevation and chaotic as y'all could possibly want. Office hard-and-fast punk stone, part synth-laden punch in the trunks, the band has been tearing ass all over the Midwest of late, playing a broad range of shows encompassing every venue from dingy punk bars to open-air festivals in the middle of Michigan's Upper Peninsula territory. Dead On TV has ever felt like a bit of an oddity, bouncing between blasting audiences at small Chicago industrial shows to playing headliner gigs at Los Angeles' famous Viper Room, but they've always been quick to comprehend the almost Dadaist absurdity of their existence. Fueled by frontman Dan Evans' deep and constant dear for the historic period of American industrial when the stars seemed like truly unsafe people you lot'd likely non desire to meet in a dark alley, Dead On Idiot box has go a strangely vital chemical element of Chicago'southward industrial customs.

"Hello, we're Dead on TV and I'm not actually sure what nosotros're doing here. We play punk rock with synthesizers, like The Expressionless Boys having unprotected bathroom sex with Devo. This project started when I, Dan, and my heterosexual life partner Chris were playing in big product, computer dependent industrial bands. We wanted to play stripped down music that was dangerous and unpredictable. Don't go me wrong, we attempt to play to a click, but information technology but doesn't matter. We came up in an age of industrial music where the bands and the music they played were dangerous, legitimately scary, or at least extremely weird. The music had clever, catchy songs, with a message draped in black sense of humour or an hostage deadpan sincerity. We wanted to capture the danger of a Ministry bear witness in 1998 or a Stooges show where you lot feared for your safety but the beauty was all in the catharsis. Our lineup is Vince McAley on drums, who also plays in gofight and Die Warzau with me, Mike Bradberry, who plays the bass/synth and also helps in gofight from fourth dimension to time and our guitar player, Corey Devlin, who we found in an alley. You tin can look to see analog synths played loud through amps, Vince striking the drums as difficult every bit he can, partial nudity, shredding guitar solos, and lots of shit talking when we play. The more than chaos the better." – Dan Evans, professional half-nudist

CYANOTIC

In a globe where much of industrial music has become driven by a kind of overwrought futuristic aesthetic, just a few bands have stuck ardently to an '80s-esque cyberpunk ethos. Acts such as Left Spine Down, Rabbit Junk and Chicago'southward own Cyanotic are the clearest pillars of the modern iteration of the classic machine rock audio of venerable favorites such as Chemlab and Sister Car Gun. Cyanotic, will exist joined at Terminus past Rabbit Junk, has long since been and and remain one of the nearly active Chicago industrial acts, with frontman Sean Payne doing enough of double-duty outside of the band, joining DJ? Acucrack to fill the infinite left past dearly departed former member, Jamie Duffy. Being the main human being behind the Glitch Way label and a primary mover of Flake Riot Records, Payne has also been experimenting with the cross-section of industrial and rap with a new human activity Robohop, every bit well as clocking in appearances as a guest DJ around Chicago'south bustling industrial scene.

"Cyanotic and Rabbit Junk will be sharing the stage, playing a retrospective mix of favorites spanning the past decade of the Glitch Style Recordings label. The Cyanotic/ Rabbit Junk (CyaJunk) mega set up will be featuring Cyanotic's Sean Payne [vocals/keys] and Chris Hryniewiecki [guitars] with special guests Rabbit Junk JP Anderson [vocals/keys] and newcomer Nadia Thou. [vocals/keys]. The last day of Terminus kicks off the first of their three international summer festival dates and will exist the merely North American appearance. Glitch Manner Squad assemble!" – Sean Payne, hugger-mugger robot

GO FIGHT

Back in almost 2010, Die Warzau's Jim Marcus erupted dorsum on the Chicago industrial scene after years of silence with a flurry of guest DJ appearances, which built up to the launch of his new ring Go Fight to much acclaim. The visionary multi-instrumentalist (and typography legend, oddly plenty) returned to active duty with a splash, with the 2012 debut Music For Military machine Torture, released on the band'southward own Pulseblack label, hit the top 10 of numerous music review sites for their year-end best-of roundups. Their music is not for the faint of middle, with lyrical content delving into subjects equally diverse as sexuality and gender politics, military machine imprisonment, and the invasion of religion and corporate ability in daily life. The band's live performances accept get a hot commodity effectually the Midwest, with the band traveling extensively too equally playing plenty of habitation games with other Chicago acts such as electro-rockers I:Scintilla, industrial metallists Czar, and in mid-June, will be playing the official relaunch upshot of Wax Trax! Records at the release party for Cocksure, a collaboration betwixt Revolting Cocks' Chris Connolly and Acumen Nation's Jason Novak. If one ring has been the standard-bearer for the rebirth of Chicago as an industrial mecca, information technology is likely these cats.

"Become Fight is an electroscuzz band operating out of Chicago, the former murder upper-case letter of the world. Founded in 2013, the ongoing release rate of the ring mirrors closely the decline in murders per capita in that metropolis and may be compelling proof of the ability of the ring to spread peace and self-awareness to those without an intimate understanding of the relationship between correlation and causation. The band is anti-war and pro-sex with a limited dynamic range and a fascination with high book dissonance. They are to the industrial music world what jello dog fighting would be to professional person sporting if that sport existed.

A note from the band: One twenty-four hour period, there will be Zombies. They will reach out with fetid hands and lift themselves out of mush-filled dirty graves and seek out the rich smell of brains. And everyone will say 'I fucking told you so' considering they don't make hundreds of movies well-nigh shit that can't always happen. It's inevitable. It's like the collapse of an old porch or grandma 'iron lung' dying this week. Her nickname is 'iron lung' for crap'due south sake. She's not a long term skilful bet. The world will be fucked. The money you lot save today, not buying music y'all love, will be worthless, not even expert to lite on fire to keep your feet warm. Spend that shit now.

Message for Canada: "Thanks for listening and nosotros look frontward to being within yous, Love, Get Fight." – Jim Marcus, cult of personality leader

MEND

Finally, we come up to MEND, a project that has get the critic'due south choice of bands floating through the atmosphere of Chicago's industrial scene, with their debut anthology Vanishing Point dropping like a bomb later on years of hype and apprehension. Stylistically the band is a huge departure from the storming, in-your-face mental attitude that the rest of the Chicago contingent brings to the tabular array. Instead they offer highly-tuned soundscapes that glide effortlessly across numerous genres, often within the same vocal, a trait that owes much to members Kassi Cork and Max Glascott's experiences and influences from genres every bit broad-ranging as classical, IDM and electronica. Recently, the band eschewed the typical label-oriented arroyo to music releases and instead chose to cocky-release Vanishing Bespeak over Bandcamp, leading to their charting high into the top viii electronic albums upon their debut. For their live shows, they've maintained a strict methodology of playing as much live as they can, while a much-storied visual element has been in production for quite some time, existence prepared for its debut at Terminus.

"Greetings humans – we are MEND. Nosotros are very excited to exist added to Terminus. (Unless it is somehow related to Terminus from Walking Dead…It'southward not, correct?) We have been friends and music collaborators since Max exploded a ketchup bundle all over my belongings at our high school lunch table. We both kind of come from different backgrounds musically, but this is part of what makes us work well together. Our sound is kind of hard to pigeonhole, and we think that is a proficient thing. Our music ofttimes gets described as IDM, so let's but go with that – and reviewers have described u.s.a. as 'the perfect soundtrack to dancing by moonlight in zip gravity,' 'serene and pensive,' and 'a lushly cosmic experience.'  Our alive show is me (Kassi) on synths or any else I can get my hands on, and Max on guitars, synths and lots of awesomely weird audio tweaking. Max also wants to cook everyone a repast while we are playing, I think that is setting the bar a little also high, so no promises on this one. We be playing some tracks off our new album Vanishing Point and this will be the whorl-out of our new sound reactive visual display that I tin only really describe as watching an abstract sci-fi video game. Come up with an open up mind, maybe attempt to dance (nosotros won't approximate you) and allow united states of america to melt your faces of while possibly preparing you an empanada." – Kassi Cork, homeless alien

That's a wrap, folks! For my function, I'one thousand extraordinarily excited for Terminus. Last yr I hurled epithets at a passing freight train at four in the morning while senior site editor Alex Kennedy looked on in shame and embarrassment, and I'm pumped to share all of these idiotic adventures and more than with my beloved hometown crew. Come across ya in Alberta, suckers!

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Source: https://www.idieyoudie.com/2014/06/04/storytime-with-uncle-pathogen-chicalgary-or-bust/

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