Tag Archives: combichrist

If I was a playlist.

  

 

 One of the beautiful things about music is the way that we are able to connect to a song, and think yes this is me, this is who I am as a person. This isn’t just about the pretty songs, but also the dark ones, the ones that we wouldn’t want another person to know about because it is so dark and personal. I decided to be honest with myself and I put together a playlist of songs that would be me as a person. Like if I wanted someone to get to know all the parts of me, ugly, sexual, sad, the love I give, this is the play list that I would give them. I will mainly be talking about how I relate to each song and what they mean to me. The order that I have chose to go in is well me, I come off as super aggressive like industrial, and become soft over time like some Violent Femmes. One of my favorite parts of some albums is how they can start off hard, and end on the softest note. That’s me, I am rough around the edges but once you get to know me it is a different story.

 

 

“This shit will fuck you up”, Combichrist, Everybody hates you

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RibfuH4yF04&list=RDAMVMRibfuH4yF04

    When I started college, my first semester I took History of Rock and the first words that came out of the professors mouth was, “All music goes to the beat of sex. It doesn’t matter the genre.” So we are going to start with my first of two stripper songs and one of the most sexual on the list. “This shit will fuck you up”, is the opening song from the album Everybody Hates You, it is an aggressive way to start out even industrial albums. Do you hear those boots walking in at the beginning of the song? Yeah that’s me and I’m about to fuck up your life in an absolutely amazing way. With the lyrics only consisting of this one phrase “I am a bitch/ How do you want me/ From behind/ Or on my knees?/ I am a slut/ Please hold me down/ I’ll be your noise/ This shit will fuck you up. 

   I am not a very submissive person, in fact you could find many people in my life that will tell you I am a pain in the ass who can’t just say ok. But when it comes to sex and with the right person, that is the only area in my life where I will let a man dominate me. Why? I don’t know but it has certainly always been a preference. It has always been more fun for me to just be a submissive slut, and that is just part of who I am as a person.

 

“Spooky”, God Module, Let’s go Dark

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ7dFvAqyHU​

   As we will notice industrial is the main part of the beginning of my list. My dad once told me that industrial sounded like a B movie horror soundtrack and I told him that was not only a compliment but also the most accurate description of industrial. One of the reasons I have always liked industrial is because it is creepy. The words in “Spooky” discuss things like ghost, werewolves, and serial killers and have you ever imagined what it would be like to die. These are indeed all things that I think about and love. You can literally look at me and know that I am a creepy person, and I listen to creepy music. I simply just like it spooky.

 

“The Great Destroyer”, Nine Inch Nails, Year Zero

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=se1Txe49L0A​

       This was one of Trent Rezors first albums that he released to the digital age for free and I remember being so excited that I could get it for free legally. I know that this is not one of the most popular albums from NIN but it has always been a personal favorite because of this song. With lyrics that read, “ Say your name/ Try to speak as clearly as you can/ You know everything gets written down/Nod your head/ Just in case they could be watching with their shiny Satellite/ I hope they cannot see/ The limitless potential/ Living inside of me/ To murder everything/ I hope they cannot see/ I am the great destroyer.” As lovely as a person I am, I am also terrifying. I always have been, and because I am a very friendly person who will talk to anyone I have learned some skills along the way, like how to make a molotov cocktail. With the stuff going on in our country and the pure unhappiness and unrest that is going on, it is always good to have some random skills to pull out in the event that it is needed.

 

“Overcast”, Aesthetic Perfection, Close to Human

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iy5kJikEedg​

    This is were I would say that some of the hardness of me starts to become softer, like you have worked your way through some of the harder exterior, and this is what its like to start to know me. I am indeed a mess. However even though I feel like a mess, I have started to become ok with the idea of someone seeing me in my imperfect life. Letting someone see that sometimes when I lose control over my mental health or my life isn’t the worse thing to happen. I have a hard time asking for help, let alone let any man be around for any length f time. As someone who has been single for about 8 years now, and I only dated the man I loved he was never my boyfriend, I am stupidly independent. But the line “if you wait for me I will wait for you”, is saying hey dude I will be right here if you have a bad mental health day or you lose control. Sometimes we feel like we have it all under control, and that we had our life together only for life to bitch slap us. It’s ok.

 

 

“My Body”, Perfume Genius, Too Bright 

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev_-77G1KRk​

    Some of us did not get the fortune of having wonderful health. I have had weird illness from strep throat and my wisdom teeth causing a terrible bacterial infection which currently lays dormant, I have had panic attack since I was 6, depression since I was 11, shingles at 30, and a thyroid/vitamin issue. It might not be to the degree as others or as the artist of this song, but the idea of the song is that regardless of what the problem is it is my body. I wear it, I do not hide my flaws, I call myself fat regardless of how uncomfortable it makes other people, if I am having a panic attack, I will yell at you and tell you to not touch me. It does not matter because it is my body and it is what I live with. Some of my favorite lyrics from the song is the middle stanza, “I war my body like a rotted peach/ You can have it if you handle the stink/ I’m as open as a gutted pig/ One the small of every back/ you’ll see a picture of me/ Wearing my body”.

 

 “Reflection” Tool, Aenima

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=f9vp7Jbc0p8&list=RDAMVMf9vp7Jbc0p8

     This is the first song on the list that fully describes how I currently deal with my depression. As I mentioned in the above song, I have had depression since I was 11. My dad thought I was being dramatic when I tried to tell him about it so I learned to survive those days by telling no one how I felt and just numbing my feelings to just make it through the day. As I have gotten older I do on occasion give myself “selfish” depression days where I give in to my pitiful hole if you will. It has always been comfortable and lets be honest when those days are happening, it is way easier to sleep it off and ignore everyone. I have lived in the hole that Maynard Keenan describes. I know that hole well. That hole has kept me warm and aloft for 22 years. But I also understand that living there is awful. I have lived in the hole for years at a time and that is not a place I would like to go back to. One of the things that in creative writing classes we are reminded of is that writing is not a skill everyone has and it is our duty to share the spoken word because it is our job, Keenan reflects on that in this song, “And in my darkest moments, fetal and weeping/ The moon tells me a secret, my confidant/ As full and bright as I am/ This light Is not my own and/A million reflections pass over me”. It has as many writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, has said that it is the writer, and in his opinion the journalist job, to document everything, the ugly and the beauty, We are the history keepers and sometimes that comes with a little extra weight. However it doesn’t matter you have to keep sharing and going. 

 

“Pure Morning”, Placebo, Without You I’m Nothing

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kt7o0W15sI​

 This is the last and final striper song of the playlist. Appearing on one of their most famous albums with David Bowie asking to sing back ups vocals on “Without You I’m Nothing”, this song manages to still be the absolute most sexual song on the record. If you have seen Brian Molko and listened to Placebo, this may not be hard to believe, but this is indeed the panty dropper of the album. How it relates to me is that I have always been the friend with great big tits, and weed. I have also preferred a friendship first before I actually dated anyone; I have also had many fuck buddies in my day two of whom became more than fuck buddies. Sometimes you want to know if the sex is as good as the friendship so I have always tested it. And the next morning is always a pure morning, its always calm and the after sex glow is real.
 

“Nowhere Fast”, The Smiths, Meat is Murder

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nJS6F6S3b5s&list=RDAMVMnJS6F6S3b5s​

    This is the second most accurate song to my depression. I am notorious for feeling nothing, and if I did feel something sometimes it way more intense of a feeling then I can deal with. I have always appreciated that the Smiths have included politics in their music because sometimes when I am numb I like to immerse myself into bigger things then me. It doesn’t always last long, and more often then not it is moments like Morrisy description, “And when I’m laying in my bed/ I think about life and I think about death/ and neither one particularly appear to me/ And if the day came when I felt a natural emotion/ I’d get such a shock I’d probably lie/ In the middle of the road and die”. It all becomes just overwhelming.

 

“Misty Mountain Hop”, Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin Four

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=0E1VXKkCvhc&list=RDAMVM0E1VXKkCvhc​

    We are going to have a few songs of just fun.  There are only a few stories I feel comfortable sharing on the internet relating to the theme of this song, however I certainly have more. I cannot if my life depended on it get a man to buy me a drink, but I sure as shit can always get weed. I have been to a few events as a journalist where I have hunted down and found weed by sniffing it out, or I have been offered a joint by the people I am chatting with at that moment. Personally I would much rather smoke weed with a person and get to know them rather than drinking at a bar or something, but hey that’s me. One of the fun things I love about this song is how the melody and Robert Plants vocalize work together to give an idea that this is indeed an adventure, and when people offer you things like that, hell yeah it is an adventure. And let me tell you, I really want to go to these misty mountains.

 

“Life of Illusion”, Joe Walsh There goes the Neighborhood

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=VGM43B_kyxk&list=RDAMVMVGM43B_kyxk​

    To quote the Dude, “I fucking hate the Eagles”, however I love me some Joe Walsh. I have always liked that he had some songs that were more about living life rather than focusing on an emotional pain. Indeed “Life of Illusion” is a feeling. I don’t know about the rest of you but my life has not gone to plan, like at all. I planned something far better then what I am living right now, yet life bitch slapped me and told me where I was going. It isn’t bad; it just simply isn’t the plan I had for myself. I gave myself some grand illusion and it did not work out that way. Thank you Joe Walsh for teaching me that life is the one in control and it is indeed “it’s a waste of your day/ Caught up in endless solutions”. Yeah it fucking is a waste of my day. Additionally, I've seen several outdoor classrooms, which have an important advantage over traditional brick-and-mortar constructions in that they can be placed almost anywhere. Similar to https://specialeducationalneedsanddisabilities.co.uk/benefits-of-outdoor-classrooms/.

 

“Chemtrials over the Country Club”, Lana Del Rey, Chemtrails over the Country Club

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gCw1f1GmPaU&list=RDAMVMgCw1f1GmPaU​

     This is one person I never thought I would include in anything. I thought she was a boring artist, but I have also maintained that we get to things when we are ready. I was far too wild to understand what she was saying till I calmed down as a person. For a long time I lived with a lot of anger and metal fed that part of my soul, but as I’ve gotten older I have changed, as a person, and this current person understand softer songs, hell I started to get the appeal of Phil Colins. This is where I am now, I didn’t think I would be this person, but I understand when Del Rey sings, “It’s beautiful how this deep normality settles down over me/ I’m not bored or unhappy, I’m still so strange and wild”. I didn’t think I would ever be open to settling down in the sense of letting another person in my life at all, but as I get older I am wanting to have something so “normal” but let me tell you I can still that wild crazy bitch. 

 

“Good Feeling”, Violent Femmes, Violent Femmes

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=_yZDSguBypU&list=RDAMVM_yZDSguBypU​

      The end of the playlist. This is the last song on the self-titled album by the Violent Femmes. I have claimed this song as how I have felt towards a person I cared about long before it was Marshal and Lily’s song on How I met your MotherHowever as that has always been my personal favorite TV couple, it reinforced my love for this song. There are only 3 men that I have truly cared about in my life, and at some point I have felt this way about them. That is a good feeling, and that is how I love. Seeing the Violent Femmes play this song was so special and it is truly a lovely song. It has always been one of my favorite love songs, but out of all of them, with the violin and the minimal hard sounds; it embodies how I feel about someone when I actually care.

 

 

The B Sides Baby.

    “Good Feeling” is the last song on my play list, however I love me a really great b-sides. Sometimes I like the b-sides more then I like anything else, case in point B Sides and Rarities by the Deftones. The following songs are me, some of them are past tense me that I don’t want to be anymore but a me that exist, or I had a hard time picking between the two of them and I still wanted to include them in my playlist.

 

“Black Eyed”, Placebo, Black Market Music

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ADEDCXu2oZE​

    As much as I have tried not to show that I come from a fucked up background, I am black eyed, I am marked. Sometimes it shows when you work harder to hide it. It is what it is; I can’t change where I come from or the past. However I am a dented person covered in glitter. I use to not give a shit about anyone and that is really easy to do, but things change. This is a never ending process on working on not being this person, but this indeed was a version of myself. 

 

“In my feelings”, Lana Del Rey, Lust for Life

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=jDj6orud0n8&list=RDAMVMjDj6orud0n8​

      I don’t know about some of you but men have told me that I am not allowed to feel my feelings. We have all had one person in our life that would diminish how we felt and tell us that we are acting crazy. Sometimes how that looks and feels is only too crazy because that person doesn’t want you to feel anything. They want to be able to treat you like garbage and if you feel any kind of way that is on you. I have certainly been told that to my face before. However I have come to a point in my life where I am going to feel how I feel and I am not going to be sorry about it. If you treat me like trash because you are indeed another loser, then yeah I am going to be fucking pissed and I am going to feel it and get the fuck over it. 

 

“Knife Prty”, Deftones, White Pony

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=tMqfNzaOf10&list=RDAMVMtMqfNzaOf10​

     For as long as I can recall I have told everyone that being around my family and I is like swimming with sharks. Were all aggressive, and I have always been considered the weaker one, which is pretty funny because I can be a giant cunt. However birds of a feather flock together and my friends, like myself, are all kind people but we are very rough around the edges. You can come play with us, and well be weak or “anemic”, however you still have to come play armed. None of us are going to take any shit and we can go from kind to a total bitch in 5 seconds. I’m rough around the edges and I have always been and being apart of my world means that you have to come prepared, as much fun as I am if I am fucked with I will pull the knife (not really though).

Combichrist “This is Where Death Begins”

              Combichrist put out a new album, “This is Where Death Begins” last month and it is worth listening to. The styling that Andy LaPlegua has gone for has changed quite a bit, instead of the pure industrial sound that many of us have listen too for over a decade, Combichrist has transformed into a metal industrial band sounding musically much like older Tool music, which is by the way fantastic. Now notice how I said musically, lyrically they sound like Avenge Sevenfold, which is not good. My expectation of his lyrics is like those of “Throat Full of Glass” which at the time was much different then their older work.

      At first lyrically it did not bother me, I just kept listening to it but as I was pulling weeds and listening to the album, I felt like something was off and as  cunt (Destroy Everything) was being yelled at me, and my dad snarled asking what kind of lyrics this band was singing,  I realized that either he has a new writing partner or  a different  inspiration either way the lyrics are not on the same level as the music. For instance the first track “We are the Plague” has a strong lack luster of giving a fuck about the lyrics. Not all of the songs have crappy lyrics, “Don’t Care About You” is fantastic musically and the lyrics are much betters then half of the album, but the lyrics do stand out on the album.

      Musically however this album is beyond on point. Despite the change in sound, there are the stable industrial sounds in the songs. In fact musically this is quite enjoyable and makes up for the lyrics for me. The drumming on this album from Joe Letz is impressive, in fact personally I think he is a fantastic drummer and I enjoy hearing the progression in his career. This album over all is a good album. This is a big change for everyone, and it is going to be a successful change for the band and it will be enjoyable to see these songs intermixed with older ones while they are on tour. 

Combichrist Glass house October 11th

Combichrist-2014-Band-Photo-Final

 

 

 

On October 11th many bands had graced the stage of the Glass House which for fan is always a win because it is an up close and personal show. Combichrist had many bands that were playing with them that night and one of them happens to be Davey Suicide. With the new album out they were playing a large selection of songs from World Wide Suicide. With only a half hour set it is the best way to get people to not only hear your new stuff but to get people to become aware of who you are in this large fan base. The band put on a good show. Each member was high energy and despite the little movement they could do on stage, they made sure to take up as much of it as possible. At one point Suicide even got off of the stage and was singing down to the crowd. It was a good way to start off a show for a band that would be all over the stage as well. It was unfortunate to only see them play for such a small set, but it happens that way. At least they sounded great and they had some high energy.

After a few other performer Combichrist came onto the stage and started the set with “ We Were Made to Love You.” This is of course exciting to see what is going to happen with this band. There is so many of them and there are many sounds that come from this music that it is always fascinating to see how it will come to life. As promised we had a very hyper active Andy LaPlague who was running around the stage and making sure to interact with not only his band mates but the people who brought him there, his fans.

Some of the songs that they played were fan requested and by fan requested I mean they literally took a poll of what songs people wanted to hear. I did participate in this and was please to hear “This is my Rifle.” The sound was on point the only thing that was missing for me was the parts from Full Metal Jacket but that is just me being knit picky. One of the band members that always gets over looked is the drummer and I don't want to do that to Joe Letz because HE IS AWESOME TO WATCH. If you ever just want to sit back and watch one band member play forever he is the guy. Whether he is doing it because he is bored or for show it doesn't matter, not only is his sound on point in a highly drumlin based band but he still twirls the sticks, throws it to the crowd, throws them at random band members, or standing on them, it doesn't matter the fact is that he is one of the best drummer sound wise and entertainment wise. It has always been a joy to watch someone play like that.

Aside from the one man show Letz could do on his own, the rest of the band member were on top of it. In fact each band was so on point they sounded better then when I had first seen them a few years back. What I really enjoyed was when the encore came on and LaPlague had one of the drumsticks and he was conducting the band. It was great to see the his art come to life in the way that he wanted it to sound. It was like the mad man was comprising his work and we were lucky enough to see it.

Now for some personal bias shit; I was suppose to have an interview with pretty much all the bands. My video guy was late for the Combichrist interview, I was told it was ok and we could do it later which we didn't do. I wish they would have told me that it was a problem so that I could have just done an audio interview instead. I came all the way from Vegas to interview everyone and everyone bailed. Two of them didn't even answer their text messages. Guys I'm a fan but I'm also incredibly offended that my time was wasted like this. I didn't even get to shower after the bus ride out there so I COULD BE THERE FOR YOUR INTERVIEW. Then I was told one thing and another happened. So I am going to give out one question per a band feel free to email it to me or your publicist.

 

Combichrist- In our last interview we talked about how Jazz was an influence on the band. Currently I am taking a lit class which is heavily jazzed influenced and for our oral reports I used the interview I did with Andy as an example as the way that music can influence people of all nations and genres. My professor wrote on my slip back (which I got an A on) “ Louis Armstrong; In this presentation you did a very good job of highlighting a couple of the most recognizable features of Armstrong's performance, and including his use of the scat and the trumpet solo. You were able to talk about his use of muted trumpet while playing “Can't We be Friends.” a duet with Ella Fitzgerald. I especially liked the way you connect Armstrong's legacy to an unexpected contemporary band.” How does something like that make you feel? That I was using your music for an oral presentation on a historical member and it was well received for my class.

 

Davey Suicide- For you music review if you read it I had asked what was the context of “bitch” for your song Filthy Rich. So what are you using it as? In a time where feminism is an up hill battle do you think that it is the time to be using such a cliche fraze?

 

Darksiderz- There isn't a lot of information on you in fact I had a hard time finding anything so what made you get into this genre of music?

 

So those are a few of my question. If you would like to conduct your interview to get all of them I am always open for that after my class or before.