the obese

Track 10: Thieve On

Sometimes inspiration just strikes you and has you doing things you might not otherwise do.  I was heading up to the studio to work on mixing down tracks for one of our latest works when the progression for “Thieve On” struck me, so I abandoned whatever i was doing and started up this ambitious title.  I could hear this epic exchange of harmony and rhythm explode in my head as the ideas come together but the main line was so simple and easy going, I wasn’t sure if i was going to be able to pull it off… Rather than lash myself to the guitar or bass I did my best to remove my expectations and began to compose the lines all together in fruity loops with a simple piano bass structure to be expanded upon by us all later.  It came together perfectly and I was over joyed at the cohesion of the two bass/lead layers but as always a skeleton sequence in fruity loops had to expand into hand played riffs.  It took us several practice sessions and a few recording sessions but after we’d put the work in we had the proper riffs in the palm of our hands, all that was left was to execute.  These newer songs are a lot more complicated than some of the stuff in our past and with session times coming fewer and far between the guys really had to concentrate to get lines just right, and after a couple tough sessions we had nailed it down.  We all (not Mikey, he just drums) sing for this one in a bitter sweet four-part harmony with ~ thieve on, thieve on, what more could you take from me ~ Dave: Low-1, Booty: Mid-1, Geoff, Mid-2 and Aeryn High-1 and actually on the last time through Geoff sings a High-2 over everything else, so it’s a five-part harmony, not too bad for 4 guys with killer metal screams…

As for the concept behind this song; I had been reading some online friends of mine debate the various ill’s of the wall street bailout and subsequent ‘comeback’ of all these major banks that were begging to be saved , too big to fail, etc., now raking in billions in profit while people like you and me foot the bill.  Listening to people get worked up into a lather over the issue, pro and con got me wondering as to when hustling the public at large wasn’t a part of the American dream? Get as much as you can, while you can, and fuck the ethical implications…  guilt is only for those who get caught.  Either you can do it, or someone can do it to you.  All the way back to when natives were slaughtered in the name of manifestdestiny, or blacks enslaved as free labor that built this country into a world power, or the impairialist tactics we employ around the globe to insulate our interests.  It’s always been about coming up with justification for taking something from someone else, be it for religious rational, economic reasons, or just to quash an undesired culture, it’s only called ‘theft’ if there is somebody left over to identify the ‘thieves’.  We’re all too good at white-washing history and keeping a clean conscious above all else.  With the only way to keep the good times rolling (at least across the headlines and front pages) is to keep it up, “Thieve On, thieve on.” It’s a protest and a rallying cry all in one, a heartfelt apology in one hand and a rapier between the shoulder blades in the other.  A protest song for a new generation of would-be thieves too ignorant of their own crimes to ever feel the real weight of the guilt we all share in.

“Thieve On” by, OBCT
Thieve On, Thieve On
What more could you take from me
Thieve On, Thieve On
I hardly need anything
that is if you’re pressing me (down)

You worked, you prayed, you paid you way
now you turn and stand and spout cliches about
how to live and die right
then it repeats again
every generation

you can start by undressing me
with your machines
you can use this money
protec these thieves
I guess we didn’t need anything
they thought up
every generation has it’s thing
they bring down on us.

“Reeling” from inhaling slowly…

The newest track for “Survived By” is called Reeling.  I wrote this one in my head one day as I was sitting atop my throne contemplating my next great movement.  Tapping my toes and hands and blathering out a bass line that sounded like something off of a scratched up George Clinton record.  It seems some of my best stuff rattles around in my head for a while before I am able to get it to slink out into a step sequencer or a bass or guitar line. 

When I went to start the demo I sat in front of Fruity Loops with a beer in hand and smoke in the air and blathered to myself the note structure and transposed as best I could the funky, walkie, bass line and we we’re off on a new one.  The boys always bring a fury to a new track, and with something as dancey and upbeat as this it was knocked out after a single session. 

Mikey and I had a meeting of the minds one day before practice, I imparted my simplistic view of the beat and he took it and ran with it, adding fills, stops and cymbal work that blew me away!  He has a wonderful way of taking a simple idea and adding all his years worth of drum theory to it and make it sound fresh and original with every passing measure. 

Aeryn took his typical thirty-five seconds with his eyes rolled into the back of his head with the loop playing and he had it all figured out, lead and all.  We recorded his keys a few times, and on the final one I ran him through our guitar effects pedal and worked the wah for him as he banged out a particularly brutal take and we had him set in stone. 

Dave was finally ready to step up into his new role as lead guitar player and he and I run special sessions for him so he can take the time to write and retain his leads.  After a single session he’d written some fantastic counterpoints that really bolstered the other elements and with a couple hour session we had them. 

Booty has a new rig as well, a sample station with glitches, pads, vocal samples, bass drops, you name it, he crammed it on his rig.  He gave a really nice one-off performance, and rather than splice and edit it I let it flow.  Boot did his backups and I had some fun working with Gsnap to pitch correct his voice, which turned out to sound positively evil as a result.  Boot’s voice has a tendency to waiver a little on notes, so when it’s corrected you can hear the modulation but it doesn’t seem to do much other than make him sound robotic and totally evil as hell.  Boot and I have a few different ideas for delivery on the backups, and rather than try and change anything I did, I simply split our backups left and right, he did his thing, i did mine and in the end they play off each other really well. 

We also did a 4 part vocal for the final line, where each singer repeats the scream in order; Geoff, Boot, Aeryn, Dave moving back and forth from left to right which is pointing to things to come, as each member will have more opportunity for vocals in these new songs. 

The final stop is at our producer Nic Heidts’ studio, where he works his magic getting everything to sit in the proper space.  He gets so much more out of our sound because he understands how to get signals to stop fighting each other and get our sound closer to the mainstream.  He did a killer job on fixing up some of the rough edges with some great effects on the drums.  Nic goes out of his way to make sure that everything has it’s place and if it doesn’t he has no trouble telling us to jettison some shit and it works.

All in all this is one of those songs that jumps up and surprises you as a song writer, you’re not expecting much out of a goofy little idea but then it ends up being one of the best things I’ve written this year.  I hope you enjoy it, thanks for listening. 

-Geoff

LISTEN HERE: http://obct.bandcamp.com/track/reeling

LYRICS FOR “REELING”
By, Geoffrey Makousky

Whatever vessel from slum crime to old castles
it’s a mother fucking repetitious battle ain’t it?
We witness history repeat itself violently
subverted rebels, in every walk of life we got em
it’s a mother fucking curious travesty
that this could continue to happen to me…

Reeling from inhaling slowly
god showed him a way to categorize his pain
you fold it, throw it away
creeping through his days to a young grave
god showed him a way to escape his pain
and wouldn’t you know he took it.

The harp’s playing we got miracles like everyday now
heartbreaking reality is a sober come down
I can’t answer you without my head clear
I’ve got sinking sensations drowning my inner child
with ancient fear.

Fall with me out of the earths gravity
Follow me infinitely.

Produced by: Geoffrey Makousky
Mixed and Mastered by: Nic Heidt
Written by: Geoffrey Makousky, Daniel Bateman, David Erickson, Mike Johnson and Aeryn Emrys.
Recorded at Pophorse Studios September 2010.

“Survived By,” Preview

For the better part of the decade we’ve taken to the studio to record our work, to package it and to deliver it to the public at large.  Since 2003 we’ve had a record in production one way or another; we’re either writing, tracking instruments, sequencing drums and synths, recording vocals, rehearsing or just toying around with sound and we’ve got plenty to show for it.  Typically we’ve stockpiled tracks until it’s time to release an album, then we painstakingly comb through it, perfect it, create concept art and finally if all goes to plan we make a release.  Last year’s multi-layered concept record “TOTAL CONTROL” ended up as a 20+ track behemoth and took us nearly two years of a lot of hard work to complete.  Two years is an awfully long time to wait for a band to finish a record, and while holding the completed package in hand feels damn good with a lot of heft and depth you won’t be seeing us take such a long view with our releases in the coming years.  Our new plan is to continually release our work in 5 song increments and compile them together for a one time $5.00 charge.  Then as the new songs come out, the track count will rise and everyone who buys the record will get all the new tracks!  It’s less of an album and more of a subscription, with new music and art coming to you right as we create it.  It’s going to be served up hot, fresh and ready for immediate consumption!

Our next release is entitled: “Survived By,” it’s a collection of our best post-industrial, electropunk work.  The name of record signifies what I feel has been the extinction of classic-industrial era. Now that nearly every band employs a computer, sequencers and all the bells and whistles that used to require a far flug passion to compile, now comes as standard stock for most production rigs it’s deluded the genre to a point where it hardly exists.  It’s been fractured into a thousand scattered sub-genres.  That’s where we come in, if you we’re reading the obituary for Industrial music at the end of the lengthy tribute to the fallen giant you’d read about those left behind, those who Industrial music is survived by. Survived by, OBCT.

The first 5 songs of this record are nearing completion and there is a huge song cue piling up behind them.  Within a month or so “Survived by,” will go live and we will continue adding to it until we break the seams and put a cap on it.  At that time each and every subscriber will receive a one-of-a-kind, hand-made collectors edition of the release signed by the band.

Geoff

Tripping the light fantastic, et al.

A little bit ago, I was reminiscing about a production of Medea I saw at the Jeune Lune with my high school English class on a field trip.  Naturally, most of us were not of the mindset or maturity to be the usual audience members for a Greek tragedy, but we went just to get out of class.  However, as the play got going, the giggling and chatter stopped cold.  I sensed a profound change in the air as we, the audience, became captivated by the events unfolding on stage.  By the time Medea washed her son’s blood off, the catharsis was deafening.  To this day I vividly remember when the house lights came up and not a single person spoke or moved for at least 10 seconds.  The 10th graders went from not giving a shit to fervently shaking the hands of the actors in the lobby.

That feeling, that experience is so rare and beautiful, I’ve dreamed of one day replicating it myself.  However, I’ve found as a musician, the connection with the audience is of a different beast entirely.  Don’t get me wrong, playing great shows with great people to a great audience is well, great; but with the buffers of loud amps, booze, and showmanship, the emotional fidelity and the connection to the viewer is a little dulled.  There are plenty of acts that incorporate theatrics into their acts well (Skinny Puppy and GWAR are two excellent examples), but the setting and venue dilute the message, and the audience tends to be entertained rather than struck dumb and left raw.

So what’s missing?  As creative individuals, musicians shouldn’t be forced to be stuck behind some invisible barrier.  Rolling around ideas with other musicians, actors, and playwrights in the area, I think there may be a solution.  In order to strike fear and awe into a captive audience, perhaps we should combine the three-act play with the concert.  I’m not talking a musical, or call and response acting, then playing, but a cohesive fusion of the two.  Convention be damned, to have the theatrics of Nivek Ogre mesh with something on the level of The Metamorpheses, we may finally be able to attain the equilibrium-shattering impact of our dreams, along with collaborations over all realms of artistic output.  If you wish to share in this dream, please, let’s talk.

Kudos to Shawn Phillips for sparking the flames of this in my noggin some foggy evening of yore.

Aeryn

TOTAL CONTROL

OBCT “Total Control”
2009 Pophorse Records