V.E.X// Night Work// Stacian// The Creatrix upcoming SF show!

For those living in S.F. who cringe at the thought of trying to make the last BART at midnight, here is a night when Oakland comes to you. On Tuesday, February 21, the Elbo Room features an "evening of avant-garde industrial, space synth, and minimalistic cold wave" among other "delights" featuring V.E.X., Night Work, Stacian, and The Creatrix, with DJ sets by Nihar Bhatt (Left Hand Path/Surface Tension) and Demian Glas (Milwaukee).

V.E.X is a meritage blend of no-wave, queercore, and slime punk (you may have heard of their previous, more rock-focused band Moira Scar). Roxy Monoxide and LuLu GammaRay play dual synths, both do vocals, and they sometimes even add sax for an improv jazz element. They came out with two albums last year, Codex Hex ( Cool World/ Fantasy 1 Records)  and Insectsex (the latter on Oakland's own Ratskin Records), and are currently working on new material. Lyrically focused on pro-community, anti-fascist, and anti-racist messages, they take another step in removing any ego-driven barriers by performing in bizarre and bejeweled masks made by LuLu. V.E.X. will steal your little mutant heart. 

Night Work is an experimental industrial pair formed by Henry Larsen (vocals) and Jamile Jackson (drum machine/noise). In their live show, they might make you feel uncomfortable at times, but that's the point. Slamming drum machine work, jarring beats, and vocals that blend screaming and spoken monologues create a performance that is captivating and unnerving — think of splicing Swans' Filth with a Boyd Rice album. "Night Work is a reaction to the evils of our society," explains Henry Larsen. "It is a survival mechanism for our spirit amongst the cancer of capitalism." You won't want to look away. 

With two analog keyboards, a sequencer, and a drum machine, Milwaukee-born solo act Stacian fuses minimal/cold wave sounds with darkwave female vocals spiked with nostalgic moments of '90s techno. Inspired by Kraftwerk and Doris Norton, what you get is moody, haunting club bangers to sway and dance to. Also make sure to check out her most recent album, the ambient collection Drones for Everyday Use. Swoon!

More approachable in delivery, The Creatrix is all electronic melodies and cosmic-wave/techno meditations, sonically plush yet cool in tone, and erring on the side of hypnotically upbeat grooves. No vocals here, but who needs that when you're going down the rabbit hole of rave cave soundscapes? "Breach in the Hulll" is a fine example of this mind/body journey. 

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/244398036010417

V.E.X.: https://xanaxax.bandcamp.com

Night Work: https://soundcloud.com/nightwork_inc 

Stacian: https://stacian.bandcamp.com

The Creatrix: https://soundcloud.com/fanciullagentile

To Feel it One More Time: Disorder bids us Farewell

Named after a Joy Division song, Disorder was created seven years ago to showcase current basement-born darkwave/post-punk fusions, including bands like High Functioning Flesh, Black Marble, and Void Vision; even the font of the Disorder fliers, with 3-D effects and primary colors, has all the cool elements of some New Order album art. But now Nickie Tilsner, Disorder's founder and resident DJ, is leaving S.F. for more northern territories. 

To say goodbye to Disorder, there is a final show at the Night Light on Friday, February 10, featuring guest DJs Zlaya (Body Rapture/Wire Trap) and Hether Fortune (Wax Idols) with Nickie downstairs. Upstairs features live performances by All Your Sisters, Russell E.L. Butler, Zanna Nera, and Lyfers, with DJ sets from Zer0w0lf.

Before Nickie makes the move to Portland in June, I had to find out more about the history of Disorder and how it all came together. The Upper Haight was eerily empty that early afternoon. I found myself missing the bundles of crusty punks eating pizza and asking for change alongside their hankerchiefed hobo dogs. No one asked if I wanted to buy any weed, let alone did I smell any of its fragrance wafting along the air as I walked to the cafe. There were no wanderers, no listless beatniks, no overjoyous hippies, no studious anarchists. But discussing San Francisco's artistic erosion and dissipation of diversity is no new topic of rage and anger. At this point it's rather a burned-out topic, a disillusionment and a disappointment. So it comes as no surprise when S.F. loses another artistic inspiration in search of greener (and hopefully cheaper) pastures. 

Sitting in the window seat at a cafe on Haight and Masonic, and over the loud whir of a juicer, Nickie and I discussed the beginnings, the tribulations, the music, and our badass little community by the bay. 

So February 10th is the last one. What are your feelings on all this?

Oh god, it's so weird, I have so many. It's funny, the way this show came about. I wasn't going to do a farewell show. I had been done with Disorder for awhile. School got kind of crazy, so I just put it on hold. But after Ghost Ship I was reaching out to a lot of people and I ran into Jon Lady (Third Shadow/Lyfers) and he and I have always wanted to collaborate together. So after running into him a few weeks after the fire, we decided that we had to do something creative and positive. 'So let's put together a show,' we decided. There are so many different facets to what this show is about. It's about the end of 2016 and what a shit show that was. It's the weekend of Valentine's Day and I'm leaving, so we are celebrating our love of Oakland. It's heavy, but it's really positive, too. 

It's going to be a very energetically charged night. So many great players! So, for the record, when did you start Disorder?

It actually started in 2010, the last weekend of September, at Bar 355 in Oakland and I started it with no experience. I didn't know how to DJ, I didn't know how to promote. I didn't know how to book. I just knew I loved music and I had a good record collection and there were no goth nights in Oakland. So, I just did it, having never DJ'd before. 

That seems intimidating! Did you only play vinyl?

At first! I would go to Shutter all the time, which was kind of like my favorite night ever, even though I would have to leave before midnight because of BART. So I thought I would start something for all the goth kids in Oakland. So I brought out all my records and played them and It was super fun. I started out doing traditional goth and post-punk and darkwave, and then it kind of became a little more electronic over time. Doing Disorder at 355 didn't last long because I didn't know how to promote and then one night after the show all of my records were stolen. Some of these LP's were things that I have had since I was 13. Like I had a Pink Turns Blue album that was stolen… ahhhhhh [sigh of disdain]. It was pretty heartbreaking, so I stopped for awhile. 

Oh no! Did you cry?!

Oh … I BROKE shit. Then I cried. Then I broke shit. It was awful. So then I started working from the laptop, learned some tricks, moved to the city and realized I loved the Knockout (S.F. bar/venue) and I thought, 'I wonder if they'll let us do something there!' So I wrote them and they said yes and they gave me a monthly. This is kind of how I've done this thing from the start. 

Putting it out there and waiting to see what catches on.

Yes! Being a real-ass person! Being genuine! And people seem to respond really well to that. 

That seems like an ideal way of getting things done! So what were you spinning in the early days?

Pink Turns Blue, The Sound, Joy Division, New Order. Kind of the basic stuff that people like to dance to. Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie. As I continued doing monthlies and gaining more musical knowledge about what was going on out here in S.F. and out there (East Bay), styles changed, skills changed, and that's where I am at now. 

It was kind of perfect timing then when bands like All Your Sisters started coming up. 

Yes, perfect timing. 

How long were you at the Knockout for? Did you do guest appearances at other venues?

I was at the Knockout for a few years. They had this clause that if I had a monthly night there, I would have to book bands, and I had never booked bands. So I started doing that there. I started reaching out to people that I thought were awesome and asked them to play and 9/10 they would normally say yes! Then I started nursing school and realized, 'Oh, I can't be up late at night any more. I've got to put a hold on this.' So I would do one here and there. I tried to do the Night Light monthly there, but with school I just realized I didn't even have the time for that. 

It sounds like it can be time consuming — the promoting, the energy that it takes to prepare.

Making sure that everything goes right and that everyone gets paid well and all of those things. So, yeah, had to put a hold to it and now it's just this big last thing to kind of feel it once again. I really want to before I go. The one thing I am going to miss about the Bay Area is the music scene.

So when you were at the Knockout you had to book bands. All Your Sisters, Drab Majesty, RedRedRed … who else did you have perform?

Oh, man, there were so many! High Functioning Flesh, Eleven Pond, Void Vision, Black Marble, Soft Kill. Everyone that I can think of from Oakland ... like, Pssngrs played a couple times, Wax Idols. Any band that I thought ripped, I called them up and asked if they would play and they would! 

Drab Majesty

You brought all the goods! Speaking of that, when you were doing Disorder at the Knockout, you put out a split with Eleven Pond and Drab Majesty. Was that the first record you put out? How did you go about doing that?

Oh, yes! That was the first and only record I put out! Basically, Disorder was named after a Joy Division song and I wanted to do something that Factory Records did: put on a few shows and then release singles of the bands that played. And then I released a single of bands that played and realized how much financial backing you need to run a label. It costs a lot of money to put out a record. But it was super fun and I am glad I did it! I just asked Eleven Pond and they said yes and I was like [pause for excitement] "OH … MY … GOD." Then Drab is on there and everything he does is like gold. So they both sent me tracks and I went to Pirates Press here in S.F. It's a very DIY punk place. Did all the visuals, designs, sent it out, they pressed it and I put it out. Still haven't made my money back, but it's great to have a piece of media in my hands that I helped produce. The weird thing is that I see them being sold on Discogs for like 60 Euros and I still have fucking boxes in my closet of them! It was only one pressing, but there's still some left!

You better get to sellin'!

I'm going to bring some to the show!

I couldn't tell you how many times I listened to that split right after you released it. It was raining that whole month of December and I was listening to it everyday and the person whom I was living with would come home and it would be on and they would be like, "Oh, man, you're listening to that again!?" It was a great time!

Oh, that's awesome! I also have these little mix tapes I used to make for Disorder. I might redo some of those and bring them out. I'm not sure yet.

You should for your last hurrah! Speaking of that, you're moving to Portland. Have you had a  chance to dabble with the music scene up there? It's more "metal" up there, right?

Yeah! It's (more focused on) metal and punk. My roots are in punk. I was a punk kid most of my life, so it feels good to go and hear them play punk music, like at Star Bar. There's a place called The Lovecraft bar and every night is a night there: goth, industrial, synth, etc. I have yet to set foot in there, but I hear it's really awesome. I'll be up there soon to check it out. I also have a friend who has a monthly spot that I could guest DJ at, so maybe once I'm up there I can try it out. So, there's a little bit of darkness up there, there's a little bit of a scene.

Maybe you can infiltrate it! The name for Disorder came from a Joy Division song. Tell me more about this, because I am sure there's a story!

Ha! Funny story. So it was my night at 355 and I was still really green and my library wasn't as deep as it is now, so Joy Division was everything to me at that time. So I was thinking, ‘I want to name it after a Joy Division song!.' I was going to call the night Shadow Play, but that was already taken, so I called up my best friend Amy and was like, ‘Look, I need to find a song to name this night so people know what this is about!' and she responded with "DUDE! Disorder!" and that was it. The name just rolled right off the tongue. Plus I study psychiatric pathology, so everything is a Disorder to me, so it works, it's me. It's perfect! Hahaha. Amy is to thank for that!

Were there any specific songs or albums you would always play on your nights? 

I would ALWAYS play Cold Cave, Linea Aspera (they're fucking great, plus all of their song lyrics use medical terminology!). My favorite thing to actually do is, towards the end of the night when I'm kind of tipsy and I'll play something totally off, like, I'll drop Gaga or something and people will get really excited.

Yeah! It's surprising and unexpected!

It's kind of my favorite thing to do!

You were saying that when you first started DJing you didn't have any experience, but you just wanted to open up the goth scene in the Oakland area. How was it first learning to DJ? Awkward? Scary? Did it come pretty natural? Were there any moments of "Oh, I fucked up"? 

Oh, yes, so many times have I fucked up! But I just had to not have an ego about it. 

So, what is a "fuck up" in this situation?

 A "fuck up" is when a record is on 45 and it's supposed to be on 33, or when you hit the stop button instead of the go button, or you had too many Old Fashioneds and you just don't start the next record. In the beginning — which I'm sure for those who have been going to Disorder from the beginning can confirm — there were many "moments." But the funny thing is that we all just laughed about it and kept dancing. That's the thing about Disorder that I really liked and that I am proud of: that it's not about ego, it's about the music. So, fuck it if I screw up. That's how you learn. Over time I've gotten better, learned programs, beat matching, and I think it's super fun, but it wasn't necessarily my goal. It just happened over time. I feel pretty comfortable now. I used to get sooooo nervous, but I'm not nervous anymore! 

You've worked alongside many rad people doing Disorder.  Any specific DJs that you worked with that you have a fondness for?

Favorites, of course, are Omar and Nako. They did Shutter back in the day. Omar is an encyclopedia with any genre. You throw something at him and he will knock it out of the park, he's amazing. Marco Misfailed is another favorite. He and I have collaborated on a lot of things and he's really great. Kevin, who does Dark Room, he's one of my favorite loves and has really been supportive of me and Disorder and has helped me out a lot and collaborated with me. I love Aja Vision, she's awesome, love her. Otherwise, other people who I look up to and haven't really worked with are Marco De La Vega (everything he does is awesome), Sky Madden, and that whole crew (they do really great shit, too). I never really got a chance to play with them, but I went to all their stuff as often as I could.

At this point how do you feel about leaving the city, since you've been here since you grew up here and you're so involved in the music scene here?

It's loaded, man. I grew up in the Mission District, with a goth mom in alternative underground warehouse spaces and venues. She was a bartender. Music and art everywhere. We are the only ones still living in the city out of that group from my childhood. I used to have this perception that you would have to pull this city from my cold dead hands. I'm going to stay forever, this is it. My roots. Then one day recently, when my boyfriend was looking for a place down here and it was just not really working out, the blinders sort of came off. I started looking around and began to realize why was I staying here? For what? I don't recognize my city anymore. At all. It's a struggle to stay here. For instance, I make really good money with the business I run, but I have nothing in savings and I don't want to live like that anymore. It's time and it's sad. There was this last little vestige of hope that I had, that S.F. would be a "thing" again and it's not. Oakland is still badass, I love it there, but in Portland I'll be closer to my partner and tuition for school is cheaper. My kid can have a yard and a dog and it's creative. It's not as diverse — and I will lament that loss for sure. Otherwise, fuck, you know, I'm alright with it. I'm definitely going to come back down and do some "one-offs" here and there. 

So what is your advice for someone who wants to start a night or wants to start to DJ?

First of all, the most important thing is to be a fucking human being. Honestly, don't fall into that trap of thinking that being a DJ makes you the coolest person on Earth and that you are actually "running" something. This is actually all about the artist that actually makes music. You are just playing THEIR music for other people to listen to it. So don't get some attitude about it. As long as you are sincere and you know what you want and you have a clear vision, just tell people what it is and they will be receptive to it. If you come up all being "puffed up" and "oh I'm the shit," it's not going to work very well for you. 

Oh, gross!

It is! Unfortunately, a lot of people fall into that trap. Luckily in S.F. it's not really like that. If you want to book bands, just get a hold of them, and if you really want to do well, make sure everyone gets paid well. I never paid myself for Disorder actually. I just gave it all to the artists. You have to have a passion for what you do and you have to practice. For vinyl, it's a skill and it takes time. Get a mixer and put it in your bedroom and practice before you play out. I wish I would have done that! But, really, just be a good person. Be honest. Let go of your ego. Life goes really well that way. 

The sound of the crowd.....

Any last thoughts for us?

This [interview] has made me think a lot about my life and music and what has transpired in the last seven years. I just really wanted to say thank you to those who came out and played and became my friends. The friendships that I've made through Disorder and this scene are really amazing. It wouldn't have been easy for me if I wasn't in the Bay Area. But all the chips were right in front of me and all I had to do was put them together. As long as there are artists in Oakland, keep it up! Keep being freaky weirdos and loving each other. 

If you want to keep up on Disorder you can do that follow on Facebook! 

The Mystere in Aggressive Aesthetics: a discussion with Heather Gabel of Chicago's HIDE

Chicago electronic/industrial duo HIDE shatters the air like glass. In their live shows, with freeze-frame strobe lights shuttering the stage and obscuring your view, Heather Gabel stands tall and shrouded with layers of snug-fitting black clothing, with her gritty lower-tone vocals alongside Seth Sher, who dominates his synths and drum machines performing clandestinely in the stage fog. Like a dangerous liaison, we want to participate — with anticipation and a little bit of fear. This is her first personal musical manifestation as she is known for her graphic designs for bands such as Rancid and Joan Jett. She also was married to Laura Jane Grace- formerly known as Tom Gabel, of the punk rock outfit Against ME!.  So she's not exactly new to the scene, just with this project. 

1-2-3-4 Go! Records show 2015 photo courtesy Ben Sizemore

The pair has only played in the Bay Area a handful of times thus far: Two years ago at Slim's and at at 1-2-3-4 Go! Records in Oakland and earlier in 2016 with the local ethereal noir duo Silence in the Snow at the Elbo Room followed by a second appearance in the east bay. Micah Danemeyer, one of our community's beloved mutants who was lost in the Ghost Ship fire, described them to me as "hard as nails" and said that their live show was "something to aspire to" when we were discussing HIDE at one of his own curated experimental dungeon raves, Obscura Machina. I interviewed Heather Gabel over the phone early this fall of 2016 while I was house sitting in Oakland.  I sat in the living room with walls decorated with hand painted portraits of zombies and shelves full of horror films. Gabel had just returned to Chicago from tour a few days before our phone call that afternoon.  

So you got a chance to perform at the Cold Waves festival [in Chicago] this year alongside Front 242 and Meat Beat Manifesto. That seems like an incredible fest to be at, let alone perform at.  

It was great! We played first … there were no other girls on the bill, which I thought was weird.

There rarely is.

It was a good time. I felt like I was in rare form. I was glad to be representing females, but also it was kind of annoying. [Cold Waves] do a good job of mixing new bands with old bands and they're picky, in a good way, about the curation of the sounds. So I get that if something doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. I don't know why I even noticed! Chicago has a rich history of industrial and there is always cool new shit going on. It never went away. 

I can see that. In the industrial realm, it's often a boys' club. 

I feel like in the underground there's a pretty strong queer presence, but I guess it's not like that everywhere. 

It seems like in the Bay Area there is definitely a resurgence of the darkwave/industrial genre. For a few years it was on a sort of garage, lo-fi, indie kick, and then this undertow of post-punk started taking hold. Needless to say, I was pleased about that!

Yeah! I used to live in Oakland and I would go to Dark Sparkle, but that place is gone now! I don't remember what venue it was at [Ed. Note: It was at Cafe du Nord], but it was great: you would go downstairs and it was like you were going into this French living room. I grew up in Detroit mostly and moved to Chicago to finish art school and then I moved to Oakland in 2003. Then I ended back up in Chicago about three years ago, just when the band started. 

How did HIDE start?

Originally it was three people: myself, my current bandmate Seth, and Brett Naucke. Brett is an electronic musician who was doing modular synth stuff and he was rad. Seth originally was a drummer, so this is his first band not doing drums. Seth wanted to do something different. He had just moved back here from Providence. Brett wanted to do a project and I wanted to do a project. I had never been in a band before. I'm a visual artist mostly, but I wanted to sing in a band, so I started singing in a band with them! Hahaha! Didn't know what the fuck I was doing! It was hard for all of us to get together to practice, though. Brett was getting really busy and it was easier for me and Seth to make the time, even though I had a daughter on top of that. The scheduling got kind of hairy, trying to get three people together. Brett had an album coming out that he was focusing on, so we sort of parted ways with him, and then Seth and I put out three singles and just started practicing and playing way more. A year later we did our full U.S. tour. 

photo courtesy by Carm from HIDE's Facebook page

So the Elbo Room was a part of this tour?

Yep, that was the last part of the tour. We had our EP come out. That was released in April. We toured a little bit in the East Coast. Then took a little break because I have a daughter. Then we went out again for the West Coast part. That tour was to support the EP called Flesh for the Living on the label Midwich. Jim Magas put it out. 

I really loved your show at the Elbo Room. It was really interesting because when you came out and did your first set, I thought about what my friend Micah (Obscura Machina) had said about you guys: "Hard as nails!" Your vocal style is kind of androgynous and your presence had this whole mystery. You were visually and emotionally captivating.

Thank you! It's pretty common for people to not know my gender when I'm performing. It's not something that I set out to do consciously, but a lot of what I am writing about and a lot of my inspiration comes from my own relationship with equal rights and gender identity and the way that those two things define who you are in society, the ideas that people have about you based on your gender. I'm pretty tall and I do have a deeper voice. I'm pretty into it. I think it's pretty interesting that people can't gender me. Not that I am interested in people trying to, but I do think it's cool that they can't right away, because it really doesn't matter if I'm male or female. I feel some sort of success in myself that my energy is not specifically female or male, because that isn't exactly how I feel — either female or male. I think that what a lot of people are responding to is the aggressive nature of the performance is maybe not energy that would readily equate with a woman. There are tons of powerful frontwomen, but I think maybe (the performance) is the throw off. 

photo courtesy Brooklyn Vegan

People are left in this suspended state of judgement … you came out with this sort of shroud, this veil over your face, and you're very tall and I couldn't tell if you were a she or a he but then I thought, "Oh, right, who cares? Why am I even wondering?" Maybe I was thinking it because you had such a mysterious persona.

 We're defininelty playing with (that concept) with the band name, the veil, the strobe lights; giving you "snips" of what's going on. Definitely trying to put the viewer in a place that is a little bit disorienting. 

Yes! Exactly. It's very cinematic. When did the strobe lights come into play? Have they always been there?

That's always been there! I'm kind of an insane person when it comes to the aesthetic because I am a visual artist and that's what I do. From the get-go I had this "black and white" vision, this stripped down thing that leaves more up to the viewer. Seth is a fog freak. I saw him play before and him using so much fog that I couldn't even tell that he was in the band. He over-fogs! But sometimes it works!

From the beginning — and knowing what we were and what we wanted people to get out of the live show — this is what we came up with: very minimal and something that we can easily control and it doesn't take up a lot of space and we don't need someone else to do it for us. We tour in my car and the light fits in the car and it's all good! We opened for Marilyn Manson for a couple weeks on our first tour [in 2014]. It was cool because we were playing really big places and [could] totally control the space and draw it down. In a basement or in a huge theatre, we can still sort of take people out of the space with the space that we are creating. 

Plus, you don't have to get anxiety about some guy trying to pull off this "look" for you and then you're getting distracted and all of that dumb avoidable stuff!

Our second or third show someone put a spotlight on me and I was so horrified! All the lights were up and the strobe was on, too, and I just turned around. I didn't know what to do. I had my eyes closed most of the time anyway, but I could definitely still tell the light was on me.

What were some of your musical influences for HIDE? Were you listening to something that sparked this? Have you always been into the industrial/darkwave scene?

 A lot of it has to do with it being Seth's first electronic project. First it was really about the drum programming, and I don't really like melody, so it became really stripped down. We figured out some sort of formula that works for us. Our first song we wrote and we really loved we realized, "Oh, shit, this is a CURE song already!" So we scrapped it and made something different. 

We have a lot of the same influences, Seth and I, but he's also really into high production and perfect sound and I like stuff that sounds like garbage. So we sort of have to come to our sound by accommodating and controlling (each others passions so to speak). He listens to everything! Metal, techno, all sorts of shit. He doesn't really like the stuff that I grew up with, the more traditional goth-industrial stuff. I mean, he does, but it's not what he grew up with. The common thread between what he likes and I like is aggression. There's some sample Seth wants to use and it's a Pantera riff, and then there's a Sisters of Mercy kick drum that I really like and we've sampled from. So we're coming from all different places. 

Well, it seems like coming from two opposite spectrums might make for something really interesting. Rather than just putting out another Ministry ripoff or Siouxsie ripoff. We want something new, but still in the same vein. 

Same spirit, but it's not "throw back-y" … that's just what we do and we play with all sorts of bands: punk, noise, whatever!

So I picked up your EP last time. Do you have other recordings in the mix? 

Yeah, we have a full length that was recorded in L.A. in February and we just finished the art for that LP. I'm pretty excited about it. I mean, this is my first band, so everything is pretty exciting for me!

I figured you were seasoned musicians! 

Seth has been in bands for a long, long time, and I worked for touring bands for a long time. So we both have experience in that world, but it's new for both of us in a lot of ways. We don't really have expectations. We just say, "Let's make this song, let's play this show." And plus we do other creative things on the side. 

It's like a labor of love rather than banking on it as a sort of "career move" or putting these super high expectations on what should become of this project. If something happens, great! If not, well, at least it's something you enjoy doing. 

Yes, yes, exactly. Honestly, I love touring and I would love to go to Europe and I want to keep touring in the States. If this was my full time job ... I'm just not sure if I am interested in that. 

It seems a little gnarly. 

Yeah, it can fuck everything up, I'm sure. I did it throughout my twenties, touring nine or ten months out of the year. It was rad, but it is also a fake world, a non-reality. You can't really integrate healthy relationships into it. When you are touring, (your tour mates)  become your family. I don't feel that that life is rewarding for me, also that was me working for somebody else. If it was my band then I might feel differently about it, but I know how it can fuck with your head. 

Random people everywhere, no showers, sleep deprivation. Who knows! 

I do love the part about planning a few days off in-between shows to for some crazy hike or just go and do what we want to do. It is really enjoyable. 

There's lots of symbolism in the band's logo. Tell me about it! 

It is the eye of Horus, this ancient Egyptian evil eye sort of concept. I incorporated it into the letters of our band. If it you look at it closely, it spells out "HIDE"! 

So you're looking for a label to put out your full length, when is the next time you're coming to see us in the Bay? 

We're going to be back sometime in the summer, regardless if the record is out by then or not.

Keep on top of their tour dates for 2017 via Facebook!

Here's their Bandcamp  and their label Midwich for more info, music and merch!

Leave the Drums, Add the Violin: Emilio Zef China and his tour life with Peter Murphy

                                                     

        I always go to see Peter Murphy. No matter what. It has become a kind of tradition for me — to bask in the ephemera of Bauhaus past and the more mystical, melodic routes that Murphy's solo career has taken. I love Peter Murphy and I love all the other projects that have stemmed from the Bauhaus collaboration sans Peter (i.e., Tones on Tail, Love and Rockets). Of course, it was fun to see Daniel Ash wail on the sax alongside Peter in Bauhaus back in the day. But it's also cathartic and exhilarative to see Murphy and his current lineup today with its variance in delivery.  

       Peter, Emilio Zef China (violin and bass), and John Andrews (guitar) performed their last West Coast show of the semi-acoustic "Stripped" tour at the Chapel in San Francisco on December 5, 2016. There were many eras to sample from as the mirror ball created a sparkly sky on the vaulted wooden ceiling of the Chapel. Prominent songs included "A Strange Kind of Love" (off 1989 album Deep) as well as the bass-driven "Indigo Eyes" from Love Hysteria  Revisiting some coveted Bauhaus moments with the stark and haunting "Bela Lugosi's Dead," the underdog single "King Volcano" from Burning from the Inside, and a rhythmic seduction of "Silent Hedges" from the 1982 album The Sky's Gone Out, he also ventured into some of this later works off the 2011 album Ninth, such as the heartfelt "Never Fall Out." 

      Emilio Zef China has been touring with Murphy as his accompanist on violin and bass for his solo work and his  "Mr. Moonlight" tour since 2011. As if Peter didn't already conjure feelings of nostalgia, pained romance, and darkness, Emilio adds to the emotional complexity with his instrumental mastery. Emilio and I got a chance to talk about his extensive musical past, his other collaborations — including his time with Genesis P-Orridge & Psychic TV — and what it's like to work with a man who, according to publications and fans alike, has been called the "Godfather of Goth." 

        

Emilio at The Chapel 12/5/16 photo courtesy of Todd Billeci

You've been touring for a while now with Peter Murphy. How does the "Stripped" tour   compare for you to the "regular" tours?  

We've been doing this all year, so this would actually be the third or fourth leg of  "Stripped." We recorded the New York shows this past April. Peter mixed the tracks in Turkey this fall, and from there will be releasing a live album of "Stripped" with John Andrews and myself. 

[The "Stripped" tour] is an opportunity to take the songs, old and new, and re-interpret them as a trio with acoustic and electronic elements. As there is not a percussionist, the drum role is often provided by acoustic guitar and other percussive elements in the music. It can be deep ambient and even symphonic, but it still rocks out when the song calls for it. For me, it is a lot more "viol-heavy." I use extended range violins with electronic treatments to create space in the songs.

How did this opportunity with Peter become available to you?

After working on Peter's album Ninth, a dear friend and producer/engineer, John Siket, called me up for a session in Woodstock with Peter, [The Dresden Dolls’] Brian Viglione, and John Andrews. I jumped at the chance. That was at the end of 2011 and at that time I was on the road with Nicki Minaj as a production manager.

A few months later I played acoustic guitar and violin with Peter on some radio shows in New York and an underground club show at the Delancey. Soon after that I was to join them for a tour when the bass player had to leave unexpectedly. I learned all the bass parts in three days and flew to London and joined the band. That was five years ago. 

Performing "Bela Lugoi's Dead" The Chapel 12/5/16 photo courtesy of  Peter Murphy's site

On top of working with the legendary Bauhaus figure, you also worked with Psychic TV. How did you get in touch with that project?

Psychic TV is through magikal connections. Always has been intentional. There are no accidents. Alice Genese [bass player of PTV] grew up around the corner from me in Hoboken and she is one of my best friends. The drummer, Edley ODowd, is also an old friend from the New York scene and his band Toilet Boys. Many roads have led me to Genesis. I'm on the album Hell Is Invisible... Heaven Is Her/e. I've toured with them on and off for a couple of years and nowadays I get to make appearances when possible. 

Did you grow up listening to Bauhaus? 

I grew up listening to lots of music. I didn't fit into any particular group stylistically, [I was] kind of all over the map. I remember hearing "Bela Lugosi's Dead" for the first time and really listening to it. I was stuck in traffic in a car and my mind was blown … [and then] of course, at 14 years old, one of the girls in our freaky high school crew rented The Hunger and that was the big event.

When we did the "Mr. Moonlight" tour in 2013, I had to learn most of the Bauhaus catalog. This had me basically studying their music, and David J in particular, for about a month. I studied and learned everything I could about his particular bass style, sound, and nuance. There is a particular psychic space and emotional charge to that music that is more than simply playing the parts. It is a bit like method acting, You need to find that place deep inside of you and use it, or what you're doing on stage is insincere. 

The Chapel 12/5/16 photo courtesy of Todd Billeci

You have been playing the violin since you were a wee lad,right? First time I saw you perform with Peter I was blown away! You really bring such an emotive edge through this medium. I think I probably watched you more than Mr. Murphy that night myself!

I started violin when I was 6. It was all I wanted to do at that age. Picked up a guitar by age 12 and I wanted to play rock 'n' roll. Fortunately at that time in my life my mother, who was a visual artist, had a lot of jazz musician friends and had parties at the house that included jam sessions. Meeting some of those guys helped me to realize that I could play the violin in a cool way as well as playing a guitar whatever way I was interested in doing. I just happened to be in a place where there were some great great improvisers and artists around. 

My oldest friend and partner, Mike Ill Kilmer, and I grew up together in Hoboken and I think we started a band at age 13. His mom was a piano teacher, so I think we first played music together at around 8 years old. We always wrote songs. Like everything else, stylistically it was all over the map. It was the '80s. We were listening to a lot of hip-hop (which was brand new at the time), Talking Heads, Blondie, Kraftwerk, reggae, classic rock, punk, R&B, and jazz. We got into recording, synthesizers, and technology early. We used play in the street in Times Square. I was doing violin through effects pedals and Mike was on synths. We were 15 or 16 years old, wearing ripped army jackets and we painted ourselves. [We were] playing improv/noisey/soundscape music. I met Grand Mixer DXT (Herbie Hancock's DJ from "Rockit") when I was playing on the street and went in the studio with him. I also played in the NYC kids’ jazz ensemble and at 16 got to perform with Herbie Hancock and Philip Glass, and I met Keith Haring, who painted my violin case. It was an amazing time to grow up in NY. We were exposed to so much emerging music and art (and everything else!).

      

We played every single instrument we could get our hands on. I'm better at some than others, but I like to think I can get some type of music out of whatever materials are available. I dropped out of high school at 16 and managed to go to Juilliard for a year and then the New England Conservatory for almost three, basically until we had a band (Sweet Lizard Illtet) and a record deal and we started really working. I was sharing a rehearsal space with Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, and Dinosaur Jr. Sonic Youth was always a major inspiration.

What locations have been the highlights for you this tour? Any favorite cities for you?

So many great cities and I get to return to some of them quite often. We played Tel Aviv recently and spent a day exploring the ancient city of Jerusalem. That had to be the highlight of this tour for me, historically and geographically.

How do you deal with the touring schedule? Seems intense! I know you've mentioned before you don't have a "normal" schedule

                 

Don't know what the fuck "normal" is. There is no normal, is there? Is weird the new normal? Tour life causes one to feel lonely, homeless at times, or just without foundation. It can drive you mad. Your tour colleagues become your family, with all that that entails. May be cliché to say, but it's really not as glamorous as it looks. Exhaustion, monotonous toil, day after day, all for that 90 minutes or so where we have the privilege to do what we love. The rewards are worth it, it's pure communication and light. It takes discipline to do this for a long time. It can be very taxing on all other aspects of your life. 

The last studio recording for Peter Murphy was Lion, right? Any other plans for future recordings?  

Of course. If you look at his career, he is very prolific and constantly doing new and beautiful things. I was fortunate to work on Lion with Peter and with Killing Joke's Youth. You can definitely look forward to the next chapter coming soon!

  

OK, so I must ask you what is "The Boss" like to work with? (You know we are all wondering!)

He's funny, spontaneous, quick-witted, and also quite refined, a mercurial being. We joke around a lot and have fun. We're a family and have seen each other through various highs and lows. He was there for me at the hardest time in my life when my mom passed away suddenly and we were deep into a European tour, loving like an older brother or a father even. 

One funny story I recall was when we did a show with Public Enemy in Mexico. Peter didn't really know them. Chuck D and Flavor Flav came in the dressing room, turns out they are huge fans. Flavor was very engaged with Peter, totally in character, clock around his neck and all! I couldn't stop laughing. They are heroes of mine. After they left, Peter turned and asked, "Is that Public Image? I thought John Lydon was in that band."

What an image! I noticed at past shows sometimes when that you don't always play "Cuts You Up" and showgoers are always sort of grumbly about this. Is there a reason why you don't always play this song? Burned out? Holding out? What are some of your favorites to perform? 

Hard to say, there are so many great songs and "Cuts You Up" is among them. He often decides in the moment what to do and what not to. A master of the stage. We do play it fairly often. I suppose it keeps you guessing, keeps you in suspense, and keeps you coming back.

(Some of my favorites are) "Strange Kind of Love," all the Bauhaus stuff, "Lion," "Your Face." I still get chills every time we play "Bela Lugosi's Dead." I have a blast playing all of it!

Outside of Peter Murphy, what do you enjoy doing in your off time? I know you also have many other music projects past and present you're working on. 

I live in NYC and in Los Angeles part time. I write and produce my own work as Zef Noise. My girlfriend and I bought an old dilapidated Victorian mansion in the forest about an hour outside of NYC ... it's a huge project and right now that's what I am most excited to do on my so-called downtime. 

Other bands and recordings include Sweet Lizard Illtet, Illness, Firewater, Moe, Backworld, Mad Happy, Psychic TV, Voltaire, Spy, J. Ralph, FAFU, Karsh Kale, Haunted Echo, Resident 51. Also, I  just finished a yoga/electro drone/gypsy Kirtan record called Bhujanga Sangha, which should be out soon. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more info on Emilio's sounds check out his sound cloud here!

For more Info about Peter Murphy check it out here!

The Count! photo courtesy Todd Billeci

The top photo of Peter is also Todd Billeci of Noise Art. He takes beautiful photos and the caption on that one was so distracting. Check out his site! 
Again thanks to John Graham, Master Editor.