Satin Sulfur #5 - Shifting Shadow

Shifting Shadow is a testament to time. A few years ago, I drew a whimsical sketch of two boys running up a tree to a treehouse. The person who inspired the treehouse sketch and I are both avid Converge fans, and the band Converge put out a record in 2012 called All We Love We Leave Behind whose cover features what amounts to a stylized chart of moon phases. After several years of friendship, during which the person and I grew a great deal, I wondered what we would be like in twenty or thirty years, even fifty. Shifting Shadow is a simple piece, featuring two friends under a passing moon, beneath the tree they played on as children. I could try to cram a profound statement at the end of this, but I won't.

Oddly enough, the fourth piece of the series is not complete yet, although this, the fifth, was complete a week ago. Plans are coming together for publication in the near future. Just a little longer.

-Brian

Satin Sulfur #3 - April, Cruel & Kind

I could talk about this piece for hours, maybe because it took several times as long as the first two combined to create. April is about conflict. It was meant to deal with the complex variety of situations that a relationship can find itself in. The two people in the relationship exist in a stormy environment that seems to shape itself around them. Their eyes are locked. The body of their love has many worn spots, so many that the wear and tear could appear as a decoration. The most important part of this piece is that the two people may be at odds but they are part of the same being - they are connected in an inseparable way and the damage that one does to the other, they also do to the relationship, and ultimately, their own self. Again, I could go on and on in circles about this piece, but the point is that no matter where the pain comes from, when there is pain in the life of one, there is pain in the life of them both.

-Brian

Satin Sulfur #2 - Meekly Toward

This second piece was less stressful and more enjoyable to create than the first, being one of those projects that comes together on its own. The idea is simple - the attention and care of loved ones can help to carry you over obstacles.

When I began working on Meekly, I wanted an ominous atmosphere to surround what would otherwise be a peaceful scene, and to have a symbolic object laid over the scene. The balloon is not something that could realistically carry a man Walter's (his name is Walter, by the way) size through the air, but the piece is meant to have a slightly whimsical feel that allows a certain suspension of disbelief.

Next up, and last for this month's abbreviated issue, the third piece.

-Brian

Satin Sulfur #1 - Waking Limb

This month, I am going to be concentrating on a series of mixed media pieces which I began in April called Satin Sulfur (Burning In The Bed You've Made) that has taken up a great deal of my time and energy. The process of creating these pieces is long and tedious but the details of that are ultimately irrelevant - I want to talk about what the pieces mean.

The series/cycle is meant to catalog the emotional cycles of personal relationships, and Waking Limb consists of the first meeting of two people, and the way people remember each other's faces.

Red around the edges was meant to serve a duplicitous purpose: to enhance a feeling of love for the person, or to give an aura of cold indifference or pain, and ultimately to bring out the vulnerability of love, that trusting another person involves being vulnerable to their actions and motives. The path from my desired outcome and the actual outcome was much different and much more complicated than expected, but the outcome itself was satisfactory, as was the second piece, which I will talk about next.

-Brian

News

Unfortunately, there will not be any new content this month, as both writers of this blog are currently moving.

Logan Riddle (1987-2011)

This month's posting had to be put off for a few weeks because of circumstances in my personal life. These circumstances of loss brought me back to the memory of a friend that I and many, many others in Augusta lost a few years ago - Logan Riddle. Everyone here knows his name but not many people knew him as a person. Logan had a heart of gold. Flipping through his facebook pictures, it seems to defy all reason that I can't just ride down the road and find him listening to Calico System or hanging out with his friends. I played in a band with him from the Summer of 2007 to the Spring of 2008, and we recorded a live set at Sector 7G on August 5th, 2007 that I recently realized, I don't think anyone besides myself and the drummer (Ryan Meadows, who also played in Midnight Society with Logan) have the demo of. The songs didn't have titles and we played the same five songs at every show. Logan's banter between songs never fails to bring a smile to my face. "All right, I'm workin' on like two hours of sleep..." has become my motto for working when I'm tired. As far as I remember, the band's last show was Sausage Fest 2008 at the Shade Coffeehouse in North Augusta. Please correct me if you remember otherwise.

When we lost Logan, we lost a friend. I want people to be able to have this primarily as a piece of Logan's life and output as a musician, but also in a lesser way to add to the catalog of Augusta bands' recordings. I encourage you to download them and share them. The link below contains the five .mp3's that were recorded that night and an album art .jpg.

Within The Gallows - Live at Sector 7G

That's all I have for this month. Next month, things will be back to normal.

-Brian

Interview With Curmudgeon

Photo credit: Angela Owens

- How did Curmudgeon form?

Krystina: Ryan B and I were in another powerviolence band called Unperson, who disbanded when our drummer moved to Canada. Ryan S had been wanting to play more guitar in general, so decided to try out the idea of bass-less PV band.
Ryan Berry: Yeah, that. Specifically, I think almost everyone wanted to call that band Curmudgeon, so when Unperson ended we decided to finally start that band before really knowing what we wanted it to sound like.

- What was your favorite part of your tour from Boston to Augusta?

K: Every show was very different and very cool in its own way. We played houses, bars and even had a day off to go to the movies and go record shopping, all before getting to Augusta!
RB: Finding two Neil Young records I look for on ebay every day!

- Are there any bands that influence you all? Did bands like Earth Crisis inspire you to start such a message-driven band?

K: I actually have heard Earth Crisis maybe twice in my life...but I’m definitely influenced by political punk bands like Crass. Punk music has shaped a lot of my political identity and exposed me to all sorts of radical ideas, so I basically have a hard time separating punk/hardcore from socio-political thought - hence, my lyrics are the way they are.

- What was your motivation for "Amygdala"?

K: I was trying to come up with a sort of “concept” for the album that would provide some ideas for artwork and also express the general tone of the record. The amygdala is the part of the brain linked to fear and panic. A lot of the songs on this record have to do with critiquing peoples reactions to things they are afraid of: powerful people who don’t identify as cis-men, one’s own privilege, problems in our own punk subculture, questions ourselves and our actions.
RB: Lyrics aside, writing for Amygdala was definitely a lot of ‘hey, we gotta have enough for an LP!’. I think the last song we wrote before any of those was Dysmorphic, which was the first to break two minutes, and we figured we may as well try to write more intentionally long (for us) songs if we don’t have a time limit, which I think gives it a pretty different sound overall from our previous stuff. I definitely remember erring on the side of as few repetitions of a riff as possible like it was a powerviolence rule or something, which wouldn’t have allowed for songs like Possess, Severed, or Unchain. I guess we just didn’t care about writing a powerviolence record.

- Each band member put a lyrical explanation to different songs. Does this coincide with who wrote them?

K: When we share lyrics writing duties, we explain the songs that we write - because even though we all agree with the general messages behind our songs, it’s important to get that direct perspective and individual’s take on a certain idea.

- How do you feel about the representation of women in the punk/hardcore scene?

K: I have to say that things are getting a lot better for women in the Northeast. Each year I see more and more bands featuring women playing pissed off, awesome, aggressive music and it's amazing. I almost feel that the issue of “women in punk” is hardly an issue where we come from, at this point. I realize that's a hugely privileged perspective, too. Where we’re from, I’d like to see this line of conversation drift more to the representation of people of colors and transfolk in the punk and hardcore community.

- Have you ever had issues in the scene based on your gender?

K: I have been remarkably lucky to encounter relatively few pigs in my time, at least in relation to doing bands. I honestly think the overt political content of our lyrics/presentation sort of weeds out the shitheads. There are always going to be mildly ignorant people who start a compliment with “I don’t normally like girl frontmen, but…” - but I’ll always welcome an opportunity to start a conversation that way and turn it into a constructive discussion.

- Have you ever had people react negatively to the messages conveyed in your songs?

K: Not really! Which is pretty surprising, honestly.
RB: Once in a great while there will be meatheads at a show who look over our records or whatever on the merch table, get put off, and don’t talk to us. I know that sounds pretty sick, but I guess you could call it a negative.

- Are there any bands local to you that you think our readers should know about?

K: Everyone should listen to Ancient Filth and No Sir I Won’t, who are two of my favorite Boston bands at the moment. Completely great music with thoughtful lyrics about things that actually matter - this seems to be rarity in 2014!
RB: No Sir, I Won’t is the best punk band in Massachusetts. Draize is the best hardcore band.

- What do we have to look forward to from Curmudgeon? Any upcoming projects?

K: We are hoping to tour Eastern Canada and possibly Europe or at least the SW of the US this year, any/all of which would be great and exciting.
RB: And hopefully a new record!

-Sammy