What do you get when you combine two of the ugliest doom bands out there today? Well, it sure ain’t gonna be pretty. For their latest collaboration, You, Whom I Have Always Hated, The Body and Thou make some serious noise and cover Nine Inch Nails. They also made a video (directed by Thou’s Mitch Wells). Because we never want you to sleep again, we’ve premiered “Beyond the Realms of Dream, That Fleeting Shade Under the Corpus of Vanity” for you below. We also talked to Wells about why he would do something like this to his fans. We’re sorry.
Why did you decide to collaborate for a second time?
The reason I wanted to get together again is because it was so much fun the first time! All of us are super close friends (Lee and I literally text each other everyday) and any opportunity to do something together, whether it be touring, writing, recording, trampolining, comic book shopping, clothes shopping, etc. we’re gonna do it.
What do you see in each other’s work that you find so compatible?
I feel like we’re basically 2 sides of the same coin. We both sort of fit in the “doom” or “sludge” genre, so it’s not difficult finding a common ground to start writing a song.
The differences that I think compliment each other are The Body’s sheer force of sound, they have a very unique sound that is just so powerful, and now that they’ve become, what is basically, a techno band that opens up a whole new world for us. All we add is some squirrely guitar parts. So I guess it’s less compliment and more we’re just riding the coat tails of their soundtrack debut on The Purge: Anarky (starring Matt Serasin).
How do you go about the collaboration? Do you all get together in one room, or trade ideas over the Internet, or what?
We basically just hole away for a few days and write. The first collab was written in 2 days in a very hot, very sweaty room in Baton Rouge. This one was…basically exactly the same. There may have been some riff ideas that someone had before we all met up, but pretty much everything was done on the spot. It’s very unnatural for both of us, but I think that helps put us in a new mindset that may (or may not if you don’t like the record) help us write something we wouldn’t normally write.
Are there any unifying lyrical or musical themes to the album?
I just texted Bryan to get a good, solid answer and he said, “Alienation, despair, love.” So…those, I guess.
Did the members of The Body have any input into the video, or was it your idea?
I showed a clip of the video to Lee to see what he thought about where it was going and he said “can you make it more grainy?” The guy that usually does their videos, Bo Rankin, is a mastermind and usually has a grainy, VHS style approach so I understand where Lee’s head was at.
After I finished it I showed it to him all the way through and he said, “Aw coooooooooo”.
Did anything in particular inspire you to go with this creepy ass concept for the video?
I was watching the show “The Heart, She Holler” , which comes on Adult Swim, late one night and the last episode, which is a super weird descent into hell, had a few shots of this guy going in and out of a room that had a strobe light going in it the whole time. It was so creepy, and exciting, and scary, and it made me nervous. Like, what’s in that room?
It was so simple, but had this strange impact on me. I showed it to my wife later and she said, “what the hell happened to Adult Swim?” Also, horror movies are the best and I want to make one someday, so until that happens I can do things like this.
How does the video tie into the song?
The song is pretty repetitious so I wanted the video to be the same way. It isn’t so much the lyrics or theme that inspire the song, but more the feeling. It sort of lent itself to this weird zombie-like idea. It was also my favorite one to play live so I had a little extra attachment to it.
Can you tell us anything about the making of the video? Where did you shoot it, who’s in the parka, etc.?
The video was all done pretty easily, and cheaply! I only spent $30 on a strobe light, and the creepy person in the parka is my beautiful, beautiful, amazing wife Kathryn. Unfortunately for her we don’t really know too many people in Los Angeles yet so she’s forced, by marriage law, to walk around late at night scaring the neighbors. I would tell her things like, “Okay now act weird!” and she’d say, “What does that mean!? I don’t know what you want!!” I think she nailed it!
How do you suggest our readers get to sleep tonight after watching this?
They could try a pallet cleanser! I made a sort of tour/recording (but really just us and The Body playing D&D) documentary called JOURNEY INTO MAD KING DURRO’S CASTLE. It’s pretty funny and will quickly put you at ease! It can be found at www.vimeo.com/mitchwhales
TOUR DATES
JANUARY
31st-Portland (wonder ballroom) school of rock best of Portland with Stephen Malkmus and the Jjicks
FEBRUARY
10th-Portland (the know) collab record release show
MARCH
7th-Berkeley (two piece fest @gilman street)
8th-LA (all star lanes)
APRIL
7th-Fayetteville,ar (JRs lightbulb club)
8th-saint louis (melt)
With Full of Hell
14-Providence (Deep desert)
15-CT Up All Night Collective
16-Philly (golden tea house)
17-Richmond -Strange Matter
19-Atlanta (Drunken Unicorn)
20-St. Pete (Local 662)
21-Miami (churchill’s)
22-Gainesville (Warehouse)
23-Nashville (The End)
24-Little Rock (sticky fingerz)
26-Nola (Sisters in Christ)
27-Austin (Mohawk Inside)
28-Dallas (Three Links)
29-El Paso (Electric Banana )
30-Phoenix (52 West)
MAY
1-LA (complex)
2-Berkely (Gilman)
3-Portland (Highwater Mark)
4-Seattle (Black Lodge)
5-Boise (feral house)
7-Denver (glob)
8-Cheyenne (Ernie November’s)
10-Minneapolis (Triple Rock)
11-Milwaukee (Quarters)
12-Chicago (empty bottle)
13-Pittsburgh (Belvederes)
14-Buffalo (Sugar City)
15-Boston (Middle East)
16-NYC (ABC No Rio matinee)
16-NYC (St Vitus)
17-PVD (Machines With Magnets)
***You, Whom I Have Always Hated is out now on Thrill Jockey. Order it or they will haunt your nightmares.
