Return-Path: From: rsgour@aol.com X-Mailer: America Online Mailer Sender: "rsgour" Reply-To: "rsgour" To: bzs@world.std.com Date: Tue, 26 Oct 93 18:48:49 EDT Subject: Chaos4.ChemLab The name Chem Lab has been floating around for some time now as the next big electronic band. Unfortunately, their music hasn't been the easiest thing to find and didn't reach all of the potential listeners. But now the group has improved distribution and released their first full-length album, "Burn Out At The Hydrogen Bar." Chem Lab performed extensively this past summer to support the LP, and prior the tour's second date (at Cambridge's Manray) took the time to talk about the group. Chem Lab had its beginning three and a half years ago. The core of the group is comprised of Jared Hendrickson and Dylan More, filled out by a group of musicians that has rotated more than the duo would like. Dylan originally started up the first version of the band and found Jared by asking around for a vocalist. He had been doing more soundtrack oriented music before starting up Chem Lab and says that the music got more aggressive after Jared came on board. The debut EP, "Ten Ton Pressure", came on Fifth Colvmn in 1991 and got Chem Lab recognized as one of the most promising new electronic bands, despite the fact that poor distribution made it very difficult to find. The group was able to showcase themselves to large audiences by supporting Nine Inch Nails at the request of Trent Reznor. "It took of, comparatively, for a completely unknown band on a completely unknown label that had nobody working for it and no organization and just had money to throw around, it was amazing that it sold 10,000 copies," says Jared on the EP, adding that he became General Manager of Fifth Colvmn to help out with the organization. Small pieces of that first EP appear on the new album in the form of "sutres", sound collages that connect some of the tracks. The group took a vinyl copy of "Ten Ton Pressure," recorded small segments with various scratch effects and ran it through a harmonizer. "Burn Out At The Hydrogen Bar" was recorded last summer and released earlier this year. Chem Lab originally intended to put the album out in October or November of last year but wanted to first solidify a better distribution deal. They wanted to go through Relativity but Fifth Colvmn was too small of a label, so they ended up going through Metal Blade to get to the distributor. It took the group a year and a half to actually get into the studio to record it, but Chem Lab feel that this made the end result even better. "The material matured and had we done in at the original time it wouldn't have been nearly as strong," says Jared. "There's a lot more frustration that went into it and personal self-destruction we were going through and surrounded with was an inspiration." Finding a steady line-up for live shows has been tough for Chem Lab, especially when it comes to drummers. A live drummer is one of the more important, and difficult elements Jared and Dylan have had to contend with. "You've got to be a really good drummer to play along with the backing tracks and if you're not it's going to be because what we're trying to do really is to pit two major forces against each other; the strict digital draconian precision of the computer that shows no mercy whatsoever and the chaos embodied by the guitar, the rock chaos," says Jared. "Putting those together is what creates, I think, a tremendous dynamic quality. But as a drummer, if you're not right on with the backing tracks you're going to be flailing, people are going to notice." Chem Lab use ADATs to supply the additional keyboard and percussion parts heard in the background of the lives shows. Those, along with a click track, are put through the monitors so that the band can follow along. Most of the sound, however, comes from the live keyboard, percussion and guitars. "It's a pain being slaves to a machine," says Jared on the use of backing tape. "And I'm sure that all the other bands that play this kind of music will tell you. But it's going to be a while before we can come forward, financially, to get away from that. Each time we go out, we're getting farther and farther away from it. A lot of the bigger bands that do this kind of music have more elaborate systems, we'll reach that stage." When going into the studio to record "Burn Out At The Hydrogen Bar," Chem Lab set out to add more live elements to the music. But adding live guitars was done more for a better sound than an easier adaption to the live setting. "The difference is you're in a studio for a month and can do whatever you want, but remembering how you did everything is a different story," says Jared. "It's a weird thing because once you're in the writing process, you're going to run with the ball regardless of what goes on. If there's something that's really moving you you're not gonna think about 'oh, I ought to head this in another direction because it's not gonna be good live or it's not going to work in the studio. You've just gotta led it ride, flow with it." Chem Lab have many ideas for future sounds they would like to experiment with. They would like to deconstruct the overly perfect electronic sound prevalent in todays music, possible trying out raw, low-fi sounds, cold, technical compositions and even incorporating more blues elements into the music. Jared and Dylan don't see their group as an "industrial band," even though that label is often applied to them. "In terms of what's going on on stage, to me it's much more akin to an updated version of Iggy of the Stooges. I'm not trying to categorize what's going on. If other people want to call it something, that's fine. But once you label something, you know what it is. When you know what it is, you can see it. When you can see it, you can sight it with a target. When you sight it with a target, you can s hoot it and it's dead. A moving target is a lot harder to hit."