So there’s a lot of depressing music out there, much of which we cover in this magazine, but very little of it was made by someone who had stage IV melanoma. Nevada Hill did, and along with Ryan Williams, John Teague, and David Saylor, created some pretty fucked up Harvey Milk-style noise rock inspired by his harrowing experiences. Bludded Head’s latest EP, Reign in Bludd (nifty title, maybe it’ll catch on) comes out next week, but you can hear it in its entirety below. Hill was even kind enough to write notes about each of the songs for us during one of his hospital stays, so get some insight and listen to some messed up music. Enjoy?
1. Shitsucker Blues
Original riff conceived by playing a terrible version of the blues. Looking for that Harvey Milk mysticism simple but decadent on the minimalism. I was very depressed and terrified that I was going to die. Written during one of the darkest times I have been through in my life. It was snowing a lot; I remember it being very cold and alone. I was sick most of the time because of the radiation. I felt very alone. Lyrics were created on the spot in the studio. Memories of Parkland Hospital. A man that only spoke Spanish excreted six days of faeces from his bowels in the bed next to me. Title of the track is a rip from the stones ‘Cocksucker Blues’ I joke that its ‘cocksucker blues’ of 2014. It’s white boy blues.
2. Fuckitdry
Simple odd riff. I wanted something different in the set. Trying to break my own rules. As I claimed earlier the title is from friction with no lubrication. Throwing caution into the wind with mixed results.
3. Pouring Rain
Is the companion piece to ‘Fuckitdry’. I think of the first three songs as a triptych. Pouring rain is a good bookend. The riffs are me trying to write like Bedhead/Slint and Pinkish Black/Great Tyrant. Its odd that Jon Teague later on became our drummer. Gillian came up with the name of the track. It’s that part in the movie when it’s pouring rain. Half about being locked in a room having to pee with a women that is a sleep and the other half are more memories of Parkland Hospital. The song wasn’t even rehearsed until the first night of our East Coast tour. We played it seven times before recording in Chicago with [Matthew] Barnhart my hero.
4. Pea
Written by Stephen Immerwahr from Codiene. I had a routine going back and fourth from Parkland Hospital five times a week to receive twenty million units of interferon a day. I just bought the Codiene box set from Good Records and was listening to Frigid Stars on repeat in the car. I thought about how funny it would be for me to cover this song with stage four melanoma. It makes me laugh on the inside. Once we were planning on recording in Chicago I wanted to do 4 tracks. I thought covering the song would be good for sense I have actually tries anything like it before. Before we recorded I told Barnhart that I didn’t want to record it because I didn’t know the correct chords. He of course somehow knew the band and got the tab with the lyrics. I said, “Fine we can do it if we finish on time”, as we only had a day to do four tracks. Then we finished the other three tracks. I was hoping that he had forgotten our arrangement. Alas he did not and came up to me again asking if I was ready to record ‘Pea’. I finally caved in and did it in three takes. This track wouldn’t have been possible with out Matt. Thanks to Codiene for letting us use the song. It is beautiful.
***Reign in Bludd comes out on October 6 courtesy of Sleeping Giant Glossolalia. Preorder the album here. Check out the band’s website here.
