I’ve been listening to Hasil Adkins, a crazed, low-fi rockabilly performer; sort of sounds like Elvis crossed with a rusty robot bullfrog and dropped down a deep well. At the same time, I’ve been listening to the Swans — crazed, low-fi, goth performers, sort of sounds like teams of robots sloooowly bashing their brains out against infernal machinery at the bottom of a deep well.
As the description suggests, the two acts are coming from similar places. Goth in general is pretty obsessed with rockabilly, and I find it hard to believe that the Swans weren’t active fans of primitive rockabilly like Adkins and Link Wray. By the same token, I think it’s pretty clear that trudging seminal doom outfits like the Melvins are indebted to the Swans. Which means that Khanate’s 35-minute sludge opuses with some maniac shrieking “Trying….is not…enough!” have a pretty direct link to 2 minute Elvis tracks about blue moons and milkcows.
All of which is to say, screw Faith Hill and Travis Tritt; I want to hear a doom metal Elvis tribute album. I know Harvey Milk would do a bang-up cover of Mystery Train, damn it.
Hasil Adkins rules! He used to play in Lexington all the time when I lived there, but I never saw him. Stupid me.
Are Swans goth? I always lumped them in with (old) industrial. Maybe I’m getting them mixed up with Cabaret Voltaire.
I’m sure goth and industrial fans feel strongly that the distinction matters, but I tend to lump them together in the same corner of the universe. I’m not a huge fan of either; the Swans are kind of an exception. (Danielle Dax too.)
I’ve seen the Angels of Light a few times. Gira has taken to dressing like a toned-down Lefty Frizzell and singing country drone these days, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he loved rockabilly, too. Swans aren’t industrial in any way that I can figure: they played rock with traditional instrumentation (even if there was a good deal of minimalist and drone influences). But these days “industrial” doesn’t mean much. The goth association is just a matter of a brooding fan base resulting from lyrical content, I’d wager (back before “goth” acts turned into synthesized, syrupy metal and whatnot).
Jarboe's from Mississippi, so the rockabilly connection's spot-on.
Charles, I must be mixing Swans up with Foetus or something. I should hit the record store. I always think of "industrial" as Throbbing Gristle and Einsturzende Neubauten, even though Front 242 & Ministry seem to define the term as commonly used. I checked out when Marilyn Manson mixed Ministry, Goth fashion and marketing genus.