NOISE on the SIDE: #255

Who among us honestly thinks they are just sooooo filled with creativity that their bold musical ideas simply can’t be contained within one band? Well, the folks in our NOISE ON THE SIDE special in AP 255 and these folks, actually…



ONE : FIFTEEN

WHO: Alex Rose (Minus The Bear), Erin Tate (Minus The Bear)

THE STORY: "We’re roommates and insomniacs, so it was only natural," says Minus The Bear synth op Alex Rose of the formation of One : Fifteen, the late-night-inspired smoove-R&B duo comprised of Rose and MTB drummer Erin Tate. "[One : Fifteen provide] a chance to explore musical genres that wouldn’t work with Minus The Bear. Working with two heads is a lot different than working with five."

SOUNDS LIKE: Heavy on Auto-Tune, slow-jam beats and lyrics about, well, hitting that ("Yo Style"), One : Fifteen’s material may be written off as "jokey," something Rose isn’t worried about. "It’s whatever you want it to be," he says. "Some [Minus The Bear fans] will like it, some won’t." His favorite song thus far is "Saturday," which features a guest spot from previous MTB tourmate P.O.S. "We had been working on the song for a little while and sent him a rough mix," Rose says. "He sent back a verse and it blew our minds. He brought it to another level." —Scott Heisel



RIGHT AWAY, GREAT CAPTAIN!

WHO: Andy Hull (Manchester Orchestra)

THE STORY: Manchester Orchestra frontman Andy Hull looks to his solo project, Right Away, Great Captain!, not only as a creative outlet, but as a practical necessity. "[With RA,GC!,] I get to have a sense of time and really be able to put myself in the shoes of a different character rather than myself–that helps pass time on the road with Manchester." Hull’s released two albums under the RA,GC! name and hopes to tour more in the future. So how does he balance both bands? "It’s relatively simple: One is a lot more popular than the other," Hull says, laughing. "I spend just as much time on both mentally and creatively, but touring and press is a demand in Manchester where it isn’t necessarily a demand with Right Away, Great Captain!. It seems RA,GC! can exist out there as these records that people really enjoy listening to and dissecting as a story."

SOUNDS LIKE: The mostly acoustic, Bright Eyes-esque RAGC songs are more than just a stripped down version of Manchester Orchestra. Lyrically, the first two albums were based around the life of a sailor in the 1600s, and the upcoming third disc will further that storyline. "[The next album] takes place in two key locations," Hull explains. "The first is in a court room, and a lot of witness re-tellings and investigation. The second storyline is told [by] the sailor’s two children who [see] their father standing with his fisherman’s knife, over top of their sleeping mother. I’m going for that really happy-go-lucky, make-you-feel-good-inside type of vibe." —Rachel Lux



BLACKHEART & THE PISTOLEROS

WHO: Jason Cruz (Strung Out), Austin Cruz, Chris Stein, Nic Dibiasi

THE STORY: Relaxing at home after some touring with his day job, Strung Out, frontman Jason Cruz is taking some time to get his soul back. Surprisingly, it’s a process that involves a lot of Spanish guitar. So Cruz, who also moonlights as an oil painter under the moniker American Blackheart, enlisted some backup from his Pistoleros. "I do this with my brother and my two best friends," he explains over the phone from Los Angeles. Since Cruz has the summer off before the new Strung Out album drops this fall, he and his Pistoleros have to get down to business and plan to have at least 10 songs by year’s end. "The whole thing with Strung Out is it’s my living. It’s what I do, there’s a schedule, there’s an agenda. But I want something that’s just going to manifest itself."

SOUNDS LIKE: "Lee Van Cleef and old Clint Eastwood movies," Cruz enthuses. "That whole Sergio Leone sound, and that cheesy Spaghetti-western sound with the whistling and the vibrato guitar." Lucky for him and his banditos, 18 years of singing sandpaper-soft punk rock have left Cruz’s voice just gruff enough to wrap around the raspy, acoustic tunes his side-project purveys. "I want to create, like, a showdown with sound, like a Mexican standoff–I love that shit." —Jennifer Grathwol



ZERO COOL

WHO: Thomas Dutton (Forgive Durden), Bobby Darling (Gatsbys American Dream)

THE STORY: Good friends from the days when Gatsbys American Dream and Forgive Durden toured together, Thomas Dutton and Bobby Darling found themselves hanging out together in fellow friend and Seattle resident Casey Bates’ home studio. One day’s work produced the skeletons of about a dozen songs, one of which can be heard on Forgive Durden’s blog. "We have very similar interests with movies and music and books and everything, and he’s a super smart guy," Dutton explains of the collaboration. "So it’s much more about finally getting to work with someone I like so well and someone who’s art I respect so much."

SOUNDS LIKE: The duo have one completed track to their name-the driving, insanely catchy dance-punk number "Godzilla" (named for the film of the same name). "We tried to do it totally backward from how you do a normal recording session," Dutton says. "We went through and named all the songs. Then before even writing anything, we decided what key and what tempo each song was going to be. It’s such a weird thing to do-you don’t do that." Once they were ready to record, Darling handled guitar and bass, Dutton played drums, and they split vocals, melody and lyrics duties. While Dutton hopes to continue working on Zero Cool songs for an eventual release while he’s off the road and Darling’s home from his job with an airline, touring plans aren’t necessarily in the cards. "We’d definitely play in Seattle," enthuses Dutton. "I don’t know about touring. Obviously, if all of a sudden we sold a million records, we would." [Laughs.] —Rachel Lux





GREYMACHINE

WHO: Justin Broadrick (Jesu), Aaron Turner (Isis), Dave Cochrane (Head Of David, Ice), Diarmuid Dalton (Jesu)

THE STORY: As the founder of such forward-thinking units as Godflesh and Jesu, Justin Broadrick has been able to find beauty in horror and vice-versa. While in the studio doing mixdowns of Jesu tracks two years ago, he cited "a great urge to regress" and began creating tracks filled with layers of low-end terror and serrated guitar lines. "There were a few loose concepts of blending primitive, old-school noise rock–stuff like Flipper, No Trend and Drunks With Guns–with lots of bass textures," he explains. "I thought it was quite exciting and felt that I should take it further from just layering myself." To that end, Broadrick enlisted longtime associates Dave Cochran and Diarmuid Dalton, as well as Isis frontman Aaron Turner to bring the death-vibes into the blacker-than-black stylings of Greymachine.

SOUNDS LIKE: The opaquely blackened yin to Jesu’s majestic yang, Greymachine’s Hydra Head debut, Disconnected, is brutal, relentless and cathartic. "It was a bastard to mix," Broadrick says about the 50 channels of sonic miasma at play. "It wasn’t about achieving balance; it was about how gnarly it could be to some extent. It’s one of the most expansive records in terms of how many layers [of sound] one can possibly [stack]. He promises there will be more Greymachine music, with the possibility of one-off shows and the participation of "some very interesting people. It’ll be interesting to see what 10 guys on a record can do. Disconnected is a platform for a lot of future records." —Jason Pettigrew



ALL LEATHER

WHO: Justin Pearson (the Locust, Some Girls), Nathan Joyner (Some Girls), Jung Sing (Manqui Lazer)

THE STORY: With a resume that includes the Locust, Some Girls and such blink-and-miss-’em outfits as Ground Unicorn Horn and Head Wound City, Justin Pearson knows something about mutating existing genres; it was only a matter of time until he set his crosshairs on dance music. All Leather came to fruition when he and former SG guitarist Nathan Joyner discovered a mutual appreciation for electronics-based dance music. "We would talk about how [dance music] had cool elements, but was always ruined by lame lyrics, poor vocals and not enough balls," says Pearson. "Ironically enough, the balls I wanted came from my exposure to it while working at a gay bar. Nathan was very knowledgeable in that world, so when we talked about starting a band, things like Ida Corr’s ‘Let Me Think About It’ came up in conversation, along with some of the Britney [Spears] hits, too." The duo enlisted drummer Jung Sing, whom Pearson knew when Sing’s band Maniqui Lazer opened for the Locust’s last Mexican tour. Oh, and one more thing: "All Leather are a real band, not a ‘side project.’ I’m not a fan of the p-word to be honest."

SOUNDS LIKE: All Leather’s five-track EP, Hung Like A Horse, is capable of triggering a great gnashing of teeth, with its gritty gabber-techno thumping and Pearson’s patented two-cats-with-their-tails-tied-together-thrown-over-a-clothesline vocal delivery. "We wanted mean, weird and irritating to be part of what we were about to do," he says. "Apparently, we succeeded." On a related note, Pearson will be touring as vocalist with British dance maniacs (and Dim Mak labelmates) the Bloody Beetroots later this year. —Jason Pettigrew



JÓNSI & ALEX

WHO: Jón Thor Birgisson (Sigur Rós) and Alex Somers

THE STORY: Partners Alex Somers and Sigur Rós frontman Jonsi Birgisson have been creating music and visual art pieces under the name Riceboy Sleeps for four years. Riceboy Sleeps (the album) was written and recorded at various intervals in the duo’s small apartment in downtown Reykjavik, Iceland, with various acoustic instruments (guitar, bass, assorted keyboards) and PowerBooks–and the addition of the occasional string section, small choir or field recording. "The album is just us living our lives," explains Somers. "When one of us felt inspired, we’d just start to play."

SOUNDS LIKE: "I gave a copy of the album to a friend who was a plumber," Birgisson says. "He said he listened to it while he was driving and it made him drop from 50 mph to 40." Released in late July on XL Recordings, Riceboy Sleeps marries slowly unfolding, Sigur Rós-styled ambient dreamscapes with DIY home-recording aesthetics. Obviously, it is not a record inspired by traffic, a failing economy, pollution or wanting to kill your boss. "It would be great if people were filled with energy [by the album]," says Somers. "A peaceful energy where they just stood still and enjoyed the music, or an active energy where they can become inspired, whether it’s doing something creative or planning an evening with a friend." "It’s always different," offers Birgisson. "If you’re in a bad mood and you sit down to play something at the piano, it could change [your demeanor]." When asked if nihilists will just have to wait for his death-metal solo album, Birgisson deadpans, "Yes. It’s coming soon." —Jason Pettigrew

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