Please sir, can i have some more?

Following on from the last post, I managed to get a decent quality vinyl rip of Calhoun Conquer's debut EP '...And Now You're Gone'. This EP contains 'Diane', their cover of the Husker Du classic, along with three other WEIRD METAL tunes.

Get it here

If music be the food of love, put that piano in batter #3

Calhoun Conquer. Anyone else remember them? No? Just me then? Ahhh, you kids. You don't know what you're missing.
I guess that, in hindsight, these guys pretty much had 'future cult oddity' written all over them. Swiss. Only released one LP, back in 1989, on a record label that only ever put out 28 records, then mysteeeeeeeriously vanished. Featured a member of famously evasive tech-metal gods Mekong Delta. Never played outside of their home country. Covered a Jerry Harrison song AND a Husker Du song on an ostensibly 'metal' record. Got a great review in Metal Forces.
Shoulda seen the writing on the wall really, shouldn't we?



The mainmen behind the band were the brothers Gerling - vocalist Geri Christian and bassist/drum programmer Stefan, ably assisted by Mekong Delta/Poltergeist drummer Peter Haas and guitarist Chris Muzik. The above video is for their cover of Talking Heads guitarist Jerry Harrison's 'Worlds in Collision', an odd choice of cover from a progressive crossover thrash band, but one that works incredibly well in conjunction with the other less-than-usual tracks on their singular full-length recording, 'Lost In Oneself'. Seriously, there are some odd songs on here, such as the indefinably strange 'Torturer', the deeply psychedelic 'Portals Of Delirium' and the surging drone of 'Outermost Consequences'....and then there are the lyrics.

I'll quote from 'Torturer', if I may -

'Dead Ashlars, petrified air, forceps are lying in wait. Screaming Ashlars, panting walls, ropes tighten and rip. Agony is sticking at the walls and the earth is discharging pus. The fire is asleep and the hours creep by, then he stands in the doorway. Agony is coming down the walls and lowers on everything. Hell stares out through every crack, the chamber of torture is starting to breathe.
The illusion man breaks through his hand. What remains is a screaming animal. The superl of his movements creates infinite fear. The illusion man breaks through his hand. What remains is a screaming animal. His desire is inexhaustible. His desire is inexhaustible'

....I'm sorry, what?!?!

As the song progresses we learn that the 'Torturer' in question is God, and the man in the song wishes to trade places with him for 2 years. Does this not strike you as very odd subject matter for a thrash metal band?!?!

Fucking. WEIRDOES.

But, you see, THAT is why I love them. I've always been attracted to the oddball bands, the rampant individualists. I don't like the 'cult (or KVLT) for the sake of being cult' shtick, I like the bands that just came out that way. Voivod, Calhoun Conquer, Anacrusis, Watchtower, Ved Buens Ende. I like HONESTY in my music, and those guys are as honest as it comes because they just can't HELP it.

Enough blather, here's more WEIRD METAL.



I mean, to ME, that sounds like old Suicidal Tendencies on Mars. In a GOOD way.

Aaaaanyhoo. Geri and Stefan have an official Calhoun Conquer MySpace page here, and they DID have a 'real' website, but it hasn't been running for a while. According to Geri, there is a whole unreleased second full-length in the can - tracks from which HAVE turned up on their MySpace and bode incredibly well for the quality of said record, but as of yet there has been NO sign of it.
They also cover King Crimson's 'Neal And Jack And Me', and do it VERY well indeed. If you are at all interested, there is also an EP called 'And Now You're Gone' that came out before 'Lost In Oneself', on vinyl only, which can be tracked down without too much tearing out of hair (which is more than can be said for 'Lost In Oneself!)'. I have a copy, but, alas, no decent digital version to put up here.



So, without further ado, here is 'Lost In Oneself' by Calhoun Conquer for your listening pleasure. Quaff heartily of its strange brew and enjoy.

.....and so MODEST, with it!

A small update-ette here. I am now a regular contributor and honorary bro over at Illogical Contraption - my favourite blog. This, of course, is a great honour for me, and also for them. It is always refreshing to know that awesomeosity has been duly recognised and rewarded, especially when it is MY awesomeosity. After a couple of introductory posts, my first significant post went up there today, and you can read it here. Whilst I am blowing my own trumpet, I'd just like to say that I have finally cracked the problem of uploading files to mediafire AND putting hyperlinks up here, so i have taken the opportunity of re-upping the 'Closed On Account Of Rabies' Poe tribute, originally posted here, so you can now download the whole of each disc in one fell swoop. God I'm good to you.

Denis 'Piggy' D'amour

It was five years yesterday since Piggy died. My heart-felt wishes of support go out to his family, friends and bandmates. He is missed by many, not least by me.

RIP Denis, long live Voivod!

My brain is on fire

The road to hell, they say, is paved with good intentions. My intentions of late had been mostly directed toward this blog - since i am currently not gainfully employed, I had envisaged being able to get some serious writing done here on a variety of subjects that I wished to expound at length. I have two drafts of very differing subject matter half finished but as yet unpublished here, unfinished because I seem to be terminally incapable of actually FOCUSSING myself. When I do, my brain feels as though it is LITERALLY on fire - on fire with myriad possibilities and all of the things that I want to say, and what do I do?

NOTHING.

It's All Their Fault No.2.....VOIVOD

This is the second in an irregular series of blogs dedicated to people who have helped make me what and who I am today AND will, hopefully, continue to shape and influence me in whatever I do into the future.

This is a BIG one. One of the biggest musical influences/obssessions throughout my life thus far.....VOIVOD.






I first clapped eyes and ears on Voivod one school dinner-hour sometime in 1988 when I was watching a tape of the ITV 'rock' TV show 'The Power Hour' that I had recorded the previous night. The show was on at some unholy hour of the morning so I used to programme the video to record it while I slept, and then I would watch it - mostly on fast forward - the next day. If I remember correctly, I had come home from school at dinner-time, and was eating and flicking through the previous nights recording when I decided to watch a video that had just been announced by Jacqui, the presenter, as being a track called 'Tribal Convictions' by Voivod.
Now, I had seen the name mentioned in passing whilst reading through 'Metal Forces' magazine, so I felt I ought to give them a chance, I mean, their name and song title didn't sound like the usual LA Glam/Sleaze horseshit that was the usual fodder of the show, so I let it play.

I was completely mesmerised. I had never heard anything like it.

Since discovering Metal via ZZ Top, Dio, Metallica and Slayer a few years earlier, I had progressed into heavier, louder and generally more extreme territory, into Thrash and Death Metal. I was always searching for the next band, the next link in the chain, and was always drawn to musical individualists. Along with my love of metal, I also liked the 'odder' sounds of bands such as the Cardiacs, Butthole Surfers, The Pixies and Talking Heads, as well as electronic music by Jean Michel Jarre and Kraftwerk, so when I heard Voivod, it seemed to bring EVERYTHING I liked together into one raw, weird slab of psychedelic metal.
The pounding tribal drumming, the odd noises, the chainsaw guitar, the discordant riffs, the weeeeird throaty vocals, the odd time-signatures and the rough psychedelic look of the video all just totally pulled me in, and I was in LOVE!

I went into Liverpool the next weekend and managed to get a cassette version of the latest Voivod LP 'Dimension Hatross' and a vinyl copy of their first LP 'War and Pain' from the legendary Penny Lane Records.









I must have listened to that cassette of 'Dimension Hatross' at least three times before I even got home that first day, and I knew that I had discovered something that was 'MINE'. THIS was MY band. I was a little taken aback by the raw bombast of 'War and Pain', playing the LP later, but it still sounded like NOTHING else I'd heard. The massive riffs of tracks such as 'Nuclear War' and the title track indelibly etched themselves into my mind, as did near enough every track on 'Dimension Hatross'. The artwork on both releases was so unique and individualistic, right down to the calligraphy used for the inlays and track-listing, and I was surprised to find that the man responsible was Michel 'Away' Langevin the band's DRUMMER, since we tend not to think of drummers as being 'thinkers' or 'artistic' types. It seemed that EVERYTHING about Voivod was unusual and interesting.

I read as many articles about the band and interviews with them as I could find, and thanks to Away and bassist Jean-Yves 'Blacky' Theriault, I picked up on a number of other bands and artists that I found I had a great liking for. Voivod really did broaden my musical horizons exponentially.....particularly after hearing their next record.



'Nothingface' was released in October of 1989, and completely and utterly blew my mind wide-open. It was simultaneously like nothing that Voivod had done before, AND like nothing that any other 'metal' band had done either. It was a whole new frame of reference for me. As far as I'm concerned, 'Nothingface' STILL stands alone today, and is categorically my favourite LP, full stop.
I could rhapsodise over its tonal nuances and intricate riffs 'til the cows come home - hell, I've listened to it so much that I have even memorized the double bass-drum parts - BUT that isn't the point of this article. The overarching point is to share my LOVE of Voivod.

Not long after 'Nothingface' came out I actually started writing to Away, and I still treasure his letters in return. The penmanship is unmistakeable, and I hold them very dear. It was another few years before I actually got a chance to see them live and meet them in the flesh (on the 'Outer Limits' tour, by which time, sadly, Blacky had left), but when I did, Away remembered me well and I felt very honoured to be able to spend some time with him.
I got to the venue - The Marquee, fact fans! - very early, in hopes of meeting the band beforehand and managed to do so and get all of my vinyl signed and chat to them. They were kind enough to offer me a guestlist spot and give me a free shirt too, which I was bowled over by. Amusingly, when I first spied them coming out of a pizza place near the venue, I pointed over at them in open-mouthed awe, and they responded by looking behind them to see if someone more famous was there. They were very surprised to see such a big fan in the UK, and just couldn't have been nicer.
For the record, Voivod are THE only band I was ever 'starstruck' over, apart from feeling nervous the first time I met Elvis Costello - of whom I am also a great admirer.
The show was literally like a dream come true for me, and I was ecstatic for the whole thing. It was even worth not being able to get home from, and being stuck outside Sheffield trying to hitchhike back from. Looooong story.

It was sad to see them decline, to some extent, following 'Angel Rat'- which I have always LOVED - and the departure of Blacky followed by the subsequent departure of vocalist Denis 'Snake' Belanger just after the significantly more 'mainstream' ROCK sound of 'The Outer Limits', but I resolutely stuck by them throughout the years with Eric 'E-Force' Forrest on bass and vocals, and saw them several more times. Again, every time I saw them Away was a perfect gentleman and always had time for me, and Eric was a very nice guy too. I remember his being touched at my concern over the near-fatal car accident he was involved in, when last I saw him with the band.

I was given the opportunity to study in the US for a year in 2001, and chose to study in Plattsburgh, upper NY state, mostly due to its proximity to Montreal -'hometown' of Voivod. Even though things had been quiet in the Voivod camp for a while and there were stories of legal issues following Eric's injuries, I still harboured hope that they would continue to exist, and I was rewarded when I found out that not only had Snake rejoined, but that they were playing with Motorhead and Morbid Angel in Le Medley in Montreal, on April 28th 2002 - whilst I was still in the country! Naturally, I went without a second thought, braving the snow because, IT WAS VOIVOD, DAMMIT!!
Unfortunately, I was unable to pin Away down to talk, but the show was still outstanding and I was so happy to have Voivod back in my life again. Not that they'd ever left my heart, mind you.

The next year, following Jason 'Jasonic' Newsted taking over on bass and releasing the solid but not exceptional 'Voivod' LP, I was just glad they were still HERE. Sure, it would have been great to have seen them live again and for them to have made more 'challenging' music, but the fact that they still existed was good enough for me! Sadly, things were about to change......



Towards the end of August 2005, it was revealed that Denis 'Piggy' D'Amour was very ill with colon cancer. I was devastated, but still hopeful since he had already beaten cancer of the hypothalamus back in the eighties. My hope was shortlived, and it was announced - maybe 2 days after I first found out about his illness - that he had died on August 25th 2005.

I freely admit that I was inconsolable. I was so very upset at the death of this man whom I had met only briefly on a couple of occasions but had touched my life in such a positive and thrilling way, I did not know what to do. I felt that my reaction was a little OTT, but then, when I actually considered it, it WAS a lot like losing a friend. It meant that there would be no more of the music that I loved so much.
The knowledge that he had left behind already recorded guitar parts for songs that he had written at home was some small consolation, but following the release of 'Katorz' in 2006 and 'Infini' in 2009, there was nothing left save the recordings - to paraphrase William Burroughs.




Yes, Voivod continue - in tribute to Piggy - playing live, with new guitarist Dan Mongrain but if they DO record again, it will NOT be 'Voivod' - No disrespect to Dan. I'm sure I will enjoy it - Dan is a great guitarist - but the band will have a different spirit without Piggy.



VOIVOD will, however, ALWAYS live on in my heart and soul.






http://www.voivod.com
http://www.myspace.com/voivodband
http://www.voivod.net
http://www.voivodfan.com

Is thinking about Jesus a sign of mental illness? It IS? UH-OH!

I don't know about you, but I have a tendency to ponder over the nature of Jesus when left to my own devices. In fact, I probably think about Jesus a lot more than any non-christian really should. More than most schizophrenics even.

However, I feel I really must clarify what I mean when I talk about 'Jesus'.
I'm not LITERALLY referring to that guy from the New Testament with the beard, hair and sandals, and I don't believe that 'he' was the LITERAL son of God. Not for ONE minute. I'm not even sure that I believe that 'he' was an actual living figure from history, per se. SO what DO I mean?

Well, I think - or more correctly, FEEL - that the life and figure of Jesus Christ as laid out in the Bible are actually a way of discussing the human condition and the nature of OUR relationship with what is known as 'God' (which is in ITSELF a term that refers to something OTHER, a convenient name given in order to codify and simplify something into a form that can be more easily digested by our linear brains) in a veiled and abstracted way.

It occurred to me some time ago that the crucifixion can also function as a way of desribing the pain and trauma that comes with descending from a spiritual existence, into a physical, fleshly one. This also ties in with the multiple references to 'The Fall' throughout christianity - theres the 'original' fall of man into sin, and Satan/Lucifer's fall. I think that both of those are attempts to describe the same thing as the crucifixion - the 'imprisonment' of a being of SPIRIT in a body of dull, barely sensitive FLESH. The nailing of Christ to the cross echoes the feeling of being imprisoned in the fleshy suit of armour that IS the human body. To descend from the boundless freedom of life as a spirit, into the restrictive, sluggish leaden existence of 'life' as WE know it MUST feel exactly like having cold iron driven through the body and to be tethered to an immovable bulk until death comes.

So, the descent from spirit into flesh of the crucifixion is echoed in the idea of 'the Fall from Gods grace' of humanity, and that of Satan/Lucifer. To 'fall from the grace of god', is to descend from pure spirit into dense, corrupted matter - like a liquid or a gas congealing - downwards from Kether, the 'Godhead', to Malkuth, Earth, on the Qabalistic Tree Of Life. The Tree functions as a perfect glyph to express HOW the 'seed' of 'God' filters down through existence to cohere into matter. THIS process is what is hidden behind the crucifixion and 'The Fall(s) from grace'.

Interestingly, the fall of Satan/Lucifer opens up ANOTHER can of worms in relation to the nature of 'soul' and 'spirit', as there was a belief amongst the gnostics that 'humanity IS 'The Devil' - that when Satan/Lucifer fell from heaven, he shattered into pieces, and those pieces entered into the 'souls' of, then-nascent, humanity - forever tainting them. Now, my own personal theory on this is that the taint of 'evil', or hubris maybe, from this event - whatever it may be a cloak for - manifests most strongly when humans gather together for something. A crowd is generally not very smart en masse, and can turn nasty VERY easily, thus showing the taint of 'evil'. I have other thoughts in this area, but I feel its something for another time, as I've gone off on a tangent already from my original subject.

Jesus. I've established that the story of the crucifixion could serve as veiled way of referring to the pain of the descent from spirit into matter - or pure energy into form, correctly - but what about all this 'son of God' talk? Well, I believe that when Jesus said HE was THE son of God, he meant that, by extension, WE are ALL 'sons' of God - Don't forget that HE is supposed to have made us in His own image - and that Jesus basically functioned as 'paragon' of humanity, he was what WE should ASPIRE to. He was, to quote Alan Moore, the PINNACLE of humanity....and we trampled him down. We, the dull, prisoners of the flesh with our tainted 'souls, destroyed our own paragon.

Clearly there is a deeper meaning there, and an esoteric one too. I choose to read it as a warning that to be 'like' Jesus - spiritual and 'ascended' - is to open yourself up to the hatred and jealousy of those around you (This is ALSO parallelled in the idea that Satan/Lucifer 'fell'/was pushed from heaven due to his pride and jealousy over Gods position AND the respect given to 'man' over 'angel' - ANOTHER digression!), which is something that those who choose to follow the path of magick must beware of - friends and family WILL try to dissuade you from the path. This happened to Jesus also, he was mocked and ridiculed by those i positions of religious authority who felt threatened by his ideas. In many ways, Jesus was a terrorist - something i cannot see going down well with our American friends as a concept - when you think about it; He was in opposition to the ruling powers, he actively spoke out against them, and he was not afraid to physically act for his cause, OR to die for it.

Hehehehe. I can see THAT one going down well....'Jesus was a terrorist'........