Drawn from what promises to be an extremely extreme and unique forthcoming solo demo courtesy Robert Williams of punk-grind progenitors SIEGE, “Morning Has Broken” is a wild, hilarious, and disorienting track which — both as a piece of film and music — truly needs to be seen/heard to be believed.
“I had just done a speedball and was engaging in some auto-erotic asphyxiation when God appeared to me and blessed me with the divine vision of this musical ministry,” Williams tells Decibel. “‘Go forth and find ye new ways to be heavy!‘”
Check out the clip below and then get the inside scoop from the touched-by-Christ legend his damn self…
Were you surprised at all by how weirdly well the final product works? I mean, I personally would not have guessed that extreme metal gurgles would settle with such perverse perfection into a soft rock groove, but here we are…
It’s just like the concept of “crossover,” though. Or like in the days preceding so-called Grindcore… When people combined genres a lot more freely and audaciously. Both pop music and the confining traditional genres of this music we all love — heavy metal — need to be spun around backwards, fucked in the ass, then put out of their misery. But lovingly! And the body parts combined. The musical world has been beyond ready for a while now.
You say in the YouTube comments section that you’re “reclaiming” the Sound of Music as an “act of loving encouragement for tomorrow’s artists of our extreme musicks communities.” Is that a tongue-in-cheek thing? Or do you have a longstanding interest in that film — and/or, I suppose, a desire to subvert it?
Well, now that you mention it — it is an interesting parallel for recent times, isn’t it? The soaring musicality of nature, radical nuns ripping wires from Nazi trucks. By the way, any band out there that does a grindcore version of “The Lonely Goatherd,” I will personally give…hearty congratulations to.
Sacrilege! You seem to enjoy it. Why?
I was actually hoping to start a church of cross dressers, but there already is one… It’s called the Vatican. My feeling is that metal needs to find new ways to mock religion, in addition to the tried-and-true let Jesus fuck you kind’ve thing, you know? But it’s an allegory; we’re just as devoted to our music as these wack-jobs are to their traditional delusions.
“Morning Has Broken” is, I gather, part of a solo release you’re plotting ahead of SIEGE’s next…siege. It’s pretty eclectic if the other two videos from it — “Get Together”; “The Pledge of Allegiance” — are any indication. What’s the thread tying that upcoming record?
In my journey as extreme musick-devoted freak, I’ve seen the techniques of some of my friends who went on to be considered some of the legendary harsh screamers, right up close and personal. And I realized the duty to uplift listeners a bit as well as pummel them into oblivion –- and the unity it creates — is more fucking important than ever. That’s why I’ve added singing to destroying drum sets in the interim before SIEGE reconvenes.
The videos are very cool as well. Very much in that Larry Cohen/Lloyd Kaufman theater of the uber-bizarre vein. Is that something you enjoy delving into? Could you see yourself working in longer form?
I was influenced early, early on by Richard Kern — “You Killed Me First” and “Fingered” — as well as, of course, the master, John Waters. I was also greatly inspired by some of the costumes I saw at Obscene Extreme. But looking back at a certain record cover that I may or may not be on the cover of — I’m thinking method acting might have been my true calling.
I love how expansive and unbridled your take on extremity is. Do you think that’s important? And is it a sensibility the scene is lacking these days?
Well, think of Burroughs’ “cut up” method where they took strips of newspaper, threw them up in the air, and made new sentences — which supposedly told the future — out of the pieces. The future of extreme musick lurks deep, deep underground, where freaks are more free and apt to musically mutate. And I will be right there with you when you do.
Finally, we always need to ask what’s up with SIEGE? You guys coming out of pandemic guns blazing or what?
Probably by the time you read this SIEGE will have jammed at Dropdead’s rehearsal space in Rhode Island, which is one of the fucking loudest rooms I’ve ever been in. There is no greater honor than to reach fans with an authentically aggressive rendering of this music — which is now a two-guitar attack with saxophone by the way! And when the time is right and the punk and metal families gather once more, which is going to happen eventually. Well…say your prayers.
