1999 Reviews
.
I just came back from France. I did a four hours drive (through Netherlands and Belgium) to see
Godflesh with a live drummer for the first time in Europe. The show was not in
Dunkerque as indicated in the web, but in Calais. The venue was called "Maison pour tous". There were two French
bands supporting named Jailbird and Dee'n'Dee. The line up was Justin, Ben ,
Dermot Dalton (Synth) and Ted Parsons.
The set list was amazing:
More info on the show soon.
Kevin Martin was with them. He was the DJ before
Godflesh started (nice to hear
Techno Animal and other related stuff).
Moreover he was the soundmixer of Godflesh.
Although Ted Parson was not with them (he is moving to Norway,
by the way), Godflesh played with four
people on stage:
Alongside Justin and Benny the played with Steve Hough and Dermot
Dalton. (both from Cable Regime) Steve
played second guitar, Dermot controlled the samples, tapes and made
additional noise through a Moog synthesizer. That means no live drummer and
Dermot does not play second guitar (as indicated in some interviews) but
Steve Hough does.
They played for about an hour.
The set list:
Execept of Nail (due to technical problems) they played all
my favourites from Us and Them. I love the songs live as well.
Especially Whose Truth is Your Truth was great in comparison
with the cd-version, where I did not like it that much.
They started with the frist three songs from it in the same order.
Then a version of Circle Of Shit, it was close to the Point
of Dub-remix from LaHiD, but with the complete lyrics
from the orginal version.
Then another three songs from the new CD, before they closed the
evening with old songs in new mixes. Gift from Heaven (seems
to be identical with the Breakbeat-version of LaHiD,
Spite (also with some additional beats and noises). The final
song was Headdirt. It is always great to hear songs from
my favourite Streetcleaner-album. Of course this one was also
a strange version with a lot of beats and additonal drums.
How to assess the show? I would not say it was the best show I have ever
seen, but it was great anyway. The development is obviously. The guitars and
the bass are more and more in the background, but the beats and drums are
heavier than ever. The role is definied as well when you look at Kevin
Martin. He played within the show, he always push and moved the pitches and
knobs, added hundreds of effects in the sound (especially on Justin's voice).
Hell, it was LOUD! The mxing desk shows that they played up to 110 decibel.
Kevin loves to bring the equipment and the sound to its maximum.
It is definitely not the old Godflesh
style, but if you like a loud, powerful and violent noise show,
Godflesh is the still best I can imagine.
It's the kind of night that should have had a warning posted at the
door:
'Surrender all hope, all ye that enter'
Sonic upstarts
Leechwoman open with a set of what they
do
best:
primal,sense scorching,beatific songs accompanied by retina-wrenching
visuals. They're the perfect mood stimulator for what follows. As the
room
is filled with smoke, the crowd stands eyes fixed on the stage. A buzz
envelops the gloom, indicating that some of Satan's finest are indeed
in the
house - Justin Broadrick and Benny Green, and the
hellacious-noise-beast
Godflesh (tonight augmented by Dermot
Dalton
on synth and four track, and Steve Hough on guitar). The intor pulse
of
I,Me,Mine sounds like Hell
bubbling over, and even before Broadrick has primal screamed the
chorus, the
crowd become an uncontrollable mass of slamming bodies.
Godflesh create an
ugly ,yet beautiful sound that remains constant and unrelenting
throughout
the likes of Mogadon moodswinger Us and Them ,the big beat
ferocity
of Endgames, and starkly named gargantuan groover 'Circle of
Shit.
It's an overwhelming, empowering performance, and one that wouldv'e
entered
the hallowed annals of classicdom were the sound not so hit-and-miss.
However , the crowd show no signs of either noticing or caring,
because
every time that sound does fuck up, it still somehow manages to
metamorphisise into something of sonic magnificance.
By the time Godflesh exit stage-left in a
tidal wave of feedback, the
congregation are truly mentally and physically drained, and all
wearing
shit-eating grins. As well they should, having just experienced an
ultra-rare set by England's finest noise makers.
Tonight is a rare outing for industrial rock hermits
Godflesh. Their first gig
in four years
[slateman's note: hardly more than
a
year and a half]
has brought all the old-school noise-freaks out of the woodwork
for a nostalgic evening of sonic brutality. And it's good to see that
the
'Flesh are still as uncompromising - and unlistenable - as ever.
Set opener I, Me, Mine sounds like the
Prodigy drowning in acid, but its
relentless drum'n'bass rhythms coupled with frontman Justin
Broadrick's
tortured screams make Liam Howlett's crew sound more like Steps.
And have we mentioned the guitars yet? Because this is where
Godflesh prove
they're head and shoulders above the rest of their dance/noise
contemporaries.
They're played like instruments of torture by the master of the
dungeon, rather
than a traditional heavy metal band. It's the sound of rusty nails and
bleeding
wrists.
Obviously, for casual fans of the noise-rock genre, this full-on live
experience is a somewhat torturous one, especially as the sound desk
doesn't
seem quite sure how to best represent their nightmarish visions of
eternal
suffering.
You could say they remain an acquired taste.
[slateman's note #2:...what
a useless review]
.
When an opportunity to deviate from one's usual path of HipHop
reviews comes by, it's like a welcome breath of fresh air. Tonight
saw the birth of a new era in the ongoing chronicles of
Godflesh,
whose musical journeys are reeking ever more of dope Hip Hop cutz and
beatz; a feeling, definitely compounded after the evening's events.
In what is to be the sole live performance of remix album Love and
Hate in Dub, headz were provided with an insight into what real,
rough, rugged and raw cutting-edge extreme music is. These are fucked
up sounds and ridiculous samples mechanically abrasive to the very
core, so manipulatively dark and so industriously hard that they slice
through you like gladd shards. Pungent ear-splitting acidity soared
from the spitting moog as the guitarist strangled a thousand contorted
frequencies from his tool while the thunderous boom of heavy-weight
blackheart HipHop doombeats made teeth clatter and bowels spasm and
splatter. If this was a HipHop or Phat Beat session then the
Godflesh artillery would have blown all
competition out of the water.
The live rendering of Love and Hate in Dub represented the remix
project while also exploding on to virginal planes of arritional
brutality. If this was deemed to be a one-off novel approach to live
performance that's too bad, because the shit was down. It was a
monumental representation of some of the illest, unadulterated
barbaric sound art witnessed yet and all the more impressive for the
fact that Godflesh Sound System kicked in the
face of adversity by
overcoming the mammoth technical problems earlier in the evening.
Godflesh tonight featured a hooded
Justin operating a portable mixing
desk and Ben on bass. A lead guitarist to cover for Justin and an
elusive guy at the back with a moog synth were guests.
[note: these 2 people are likely to be Dermot Dalton (moog) and
Steve Hough (guitar). Both helped out during the 1999 tour as well]
Tracks from Love and Hate In Dub were cut up, distorted,
and mutated live by Justin. Drum and bass cuts to silence and
offset samples are thrown in the mix. By the end of the gig, the true
"experimental" side of Godflesh had taken
over. Beats were overloaded
with moog white noise and feedback. Justin's knob twiddling threw
the most intense, scraping noisescapes around the venue. By this point
Ben had dropped the bass and was at the mixing desk with Justin. Both
were playing with samples and fx while the two guest musicians
improvised. The best Godflesh gig I've seen
since '92. Their sound continues to evolve... .
This night's show was cancelled. The following is the information sent to
me as to why.
"CWA, which in actuality stands for
Crackers With Attitudes, a play on the old
school rap group NWA , but introduced
themselves as Citizens With Arguments, played a
short and very forgettable set. Towards the end, the very obnoxious singer
begain making cracks that Godflesh was satanic
and that they were out back
sacrificing goats. The PA was very poorly mixed, though, and half of what he
said wasn't audible, when the rest of the group was playing. The small crowd,
playing off of his obnoxiousness, begain making the sign of the devil and
chanting "Hail Satan", to try and get him to shut up or act stupid. It was
relatively minor. "
"Then, they left, but not before the guitarist screeched "SATAN" into the
microphone. Right when he stepped offstage, something happened, and a crowd
gathered, evidently a fight. It broke up, eventually, and everyone resumed
waiting for Godflesh.
Eventually, an English man came onstage, dressed in black, took
a microphone and announced that Godflesh would
not be playing, that the drummer had been "beaten" and no one was in any
condition to play."
"There was only one fight, which consisted of a shove to the
CWA
singer administered by Mr Parsons, but not before calling him a "fucking
punk" (which is disputable...someone said to me that there was no
shove, and Ted himself said that he just asked the guy what his
problem was...) then the singer punched our erstwhile drummer in the
face and ran back on stage to brag about it. Justin just stood in the corner
watching what was going on, and no one knew what Ben was doing."
[Note:]
Unfortunately, that show was cancelled, as was the following
night's show in Winter Park Fl. Fortunately, the next night's in
Tampa, went on, but the setlist seemed a little (lot?) shorter than
the earlier ones. For the few days following this event, many of us feared
the remainder of the tour was to be cancelled, but fortunately, it wasn't
the case.
[snip]
When Justin, Ben, and Ted Parsons swung into Wake the audience
moved in a way I've rarely seen at concerts--they swelled and broke like waves
against the front of the stage. Equally intriguing was the variety of
styles of the audience's dancing; while some moshed and thrashed and
bounced up and down frenetically, others swam and reached and slithered in
rapture. The impact of the music was purely personal, bordering on the
sacred, but with such energy that one's body tried to radiate it all back
however it could.
Godflesh played a fair sampling of material
from all their LPs, sticking
mainly with the more crushing songs and avoiding the ambient. I was barely
disappointed. With Parsons on drums Mothra gained new life, and it
showed on Justin's ecstatic face. Ben remained fairly sedate on his corner
of the stage, leaning back and tapping his foot to his solid buzzing
rhythms. Meanwhile Justin shrank down, bounced up on the balls of his
feet, whipped his head around, bellowed into the microphone, and otherwise
dumped all the power coiled up in his wiry frame right onto the stage.
The band wrapped up their set with Christbait Rising. Justin hardly
needed to sing, because the words were screamed back at him just shy of
the volume all the venue's amps provided Justin. Then Ben and Ted left the
stage while Justin played variations on the final riff, ending by feeding
harmonics into his effects and amp to create dense feedback patterns. He
set down his guitar, left the stage, and let the guitar squeal. I have no
idea what was going through the minds of the rest of the audience,
although their wondrous stares gave me ideas. As for myself, I realized
Justin had discovered the musical equivalent of fractals, and was showing
us an aural Julia set--each tone revealed a deeper layer of subtones,
feeding one another, dying off, and giving birth to new sounds.
The audience wouldn't leave until Godflesh
came back out--which they did. For their encore they launched into Like
Rats, and made it sound heavier
than I had ever heard it before. Again the audience rivaled Justin's
voice. Again we were crushed. And again the guitar sang at the end, alone
yet full of awe, as Justin wished us peace and made his exit.
Godflesh hasn't been to cincinnati in a long
time... and i hope they
never show up at the club they did again. They played a great show, but
the security staff at bogart's in cincinnati, i could have done
without... Vision of Disorder was again,
nowhere to be found, but the Electric Hellfire
Club opened for them. Interesting satanic dance
music, but i wasn't there for them... I was there for
Godflesh. i have
missed them at least 5 times, so far, so there was no way that i was
going to miss this show. Justin, Benny and Ted entered the stage and i
have to say...I had no idea Justin was that tall...he is huge as
fuck! They opened with Wake, Sterile Prophet and Circle
of Shit from the new album. They went back in time and played
Spite and Mothra from Pure, before coming back to
Crush My Soul from Selfless. They proceeded on, thrashingly
and enticing the crowd withTime, Death, and Wastefulness,
Amoral from the new album, and Anything is Mine, again from
Selfless. The band came back with Hunter and a rousing
Christbait Rising from Streetcleaner. As
the band left the stage, deafening shouts of "Godflesh, Godflesh" poured
out and the band re-entered to play out, what many had asked for in the
first place...the song Like Rats. A great fuckin' show, but the
staff at this club sucked-ass...even the bands seemed to be having
problems with the way the club was handling things.
In talking with justin after the show, he said that the band is really
pleased with the way the album has turned out...and so far, it is
receiving a great response from people.
With news of an ominous snowstorm headed towards Cleveland that night, my
friend and I braved the hour and fifteen minute drive from Akron to
Cleveland. Supposedly going to get 8 to 16 inches of snow in four hours we
hoped that the show wouldn't get cancelled. The drive wasn't bad at all,
but we left extremely early. We got there at 7:15 p.m. and just walked
right in without tickets. Looking around we saw Justin on the drums setting
up the soundcheck and Benny Green sitting on a bar stool watching the
soundcheck. We went over and talked with Mr. Green for about ten minutes
asking questions about the band and just giving him general teen idoltry.
He went up and set up his bass system, running his Fender bass through a
Boss Heavy Metal pedal? and into his Ampeg bass stack.
Justin then set up his Marshall stack and ran his line through a Boss
Digital Sampler/Delay, a Boss Pitch Shifter/Delay, a Boss Heavy Metal pedal,
and a Crybaby Wah pedal. His sound and tone was incredible. We soon were
kicked out to let the other bands set up and to set up the ticket line.
When they let us back in from the VERY cold outside, we came in and got
autographs from Mr. Green, Mr. Broadrick, and Ted Parsons formally of Prong.
Mr. Parsons was sporting a cast on his foot from a fall off the bus in D.C.
"It was just one of those things..." he said.
[snip]
Godflesh was up next. Peabody's was packed
with about 250 plus people all waiting to get violent to
Godflesh. They came out at 11:25 and everyone
went crazy. Ted set off the beginning sample off of Wake and Justin let
his guitar feedback to it. When he started, the entire place went nuts.
The entire concert was one big pit. My friend and I were in front of the
stage trying not to get crushed from the bodies behind us. They then played
another song off of Songs of Love and Hate, Sterile Prophet.
Another great response from the crowd. Before they started, we saw the set
list.
After they played Cristbait Rising with it's mesmerizing ending riff,
Justin played around with feedback, delay, and pitchshifting and let out
sounds never heard on this earth that rumbled out of his Marshall halfstack.
How ironic that even though Slo Bob (opening
band) had bigger and louder equipment,
Godflesh obviously blew them out of existence.
The encore only had one song, Like Rats, and the crowd showed
Godflesh what it means to play in the
Rock and Roll Capitol of the World. At the end of Like Rats, Justin
let off a barrage of high pitch frequency noise which blew out almost
everyone's ears
(boy did that hurt but well worth the tinnitus). He gave out a final
goodbye to Cleveland and left the stage. They had to leave early for some
unknown reason (methinks it was the blizzard that occurred as we left
Peabody's) to get down to Cincinati for the next show on the 14th.
Godflesh
delivered, and hopefully they will return back to Cleveland on their next
tour of the states. I will never forget this concert ever and not just
because of the severe tinnitus I have right as we speak. INCREDIBLE....
Wetlands is a relatively small venue, so there wasn't much room for
fancy effects, etc. So Justin and GC just didn't bother. They came on
stage and kicked in our heads. It was fantastic.
Great pit, too. Always a bonus.
[snipped]
Then Godflesh took the stage. I had never
really had a grasp on how big
Justin was until he walked by me towards the stage earlier in the night.
He's what 6'2"? 6'3"? After looking at the photo on the self titled disc,
I would have thought him to be a lot smaller, but I digress. Ripping
through a trio of tunes from the new CD, they were on their way for an hour
long sonic joyride filled with feedback, samples and crushing energy.
There was more excitement and life put into the songs than a CD could ever
capture, Anything is Mine is the only track from Selfless that
even approached harnessing the power in the music, and live it simply
exploded. Even the closers from Streetcleaner, had a resounding
feel that could only come from a live performance. The drumming was good,
and it was nice to see Ted Parsons back in action.
[snipped]
Godflesh is one my all time
favorite acts around, and when I found out they would be headlining there
own U.S. tour, I was ecstatic. They came to Washington D.C., playing the
Capitol Ballroom at almost one in morning. They played a short but
exciting show, with a highly mixed but repsonsive audience. The first
thing we noticed was that the support band,
VOD had cancelled. We never found out why.
We saw upon arriving the trademark Marshall guitar amps Justin uses being
trucked in, as Godflesh followed the
Black Crowes show earlier in the day. We
walked around for a bit, and the announcement came that they were to begin
soon. The stage they played on was tiny, with
barely enough room to fit everyone comfortably. Ted Parsons, new recruit
formerly of Prong and the
Swans, first entered the stage, Heiniken in hand
and sat at a small drun kit. Then Ben and Justin walked on, Justin in a
heavy hooded sweatshirt that was removed as soon as got on and picked up
his guitar. He took awhile to set up a row of chainlinked pedals, then
popped in the ADAT and after a quick test of the machine, swung full force
into Wake,the first track from the new album. Justin's voice was
absolutely destroyed, however, making for the only disappointment of the
evening. They continued straight through the new album, with Justin's
strange halftime headbanging and incredible guitar playing making up for
his loss of vocal. The band then played the first two cuts off of
Pure, and the moshers were in full force during Mothra, which
really benefited from having a live drummer.
They played some more songs from SoLaH, and played favorites from
selfless, including Crush My Soul which had a rave-y light strobing
show. Justin pushed his guitar to the limit during the end of the song,
making it scream and sound as tortured as possible.
The set ended with the audience clamoring for old material, and
Godflesh obliged, playing an incredible
version of Christbait Rising.
To end, Ben and Ted walked off, leaving Justin playing the guitar outro.
Setting his guitar on the floor feeding back, Justin bent over to
manipulate his pedals. Justin Broadrick is truly a magical figure on
stage, and once again every eye in the audience was riveted upon him as he
delightedly sent wave after wave of noise issuing out. The result after
several minutes was a peaceful chain reaction that ping-ponged back and
forth between two vibrating strings, and faded out as he walked off.
Godflesh off stage were just as enjoyable
as the were on. Talking
to Ben, he relates that he is happy to come the United States, after
hearing our thanks he responded "our pleasure". He signs ticket stubs,
and then heads back. Justin Broadrick is smiling happily as he signs
things, and is still atired in ratty adidas sneakers, camouflage pants,
and a "Rosie and Jimi" t-shirt. He discusses the remixes he hopes to have
out by early next year, fields our questions, and signs things. He
apologises for his loss of voice, and when he speaks with you, he leans
over, puts his arm around you, and whispers conspiratorially to you, with
a smile. Godflesh are truly cool people, and
the experience of seeing them onstage and off was worth a million times the
price of admission.
Date:
12th November
Location:
Calais, France
Review By:
none other than...
Andreas Vondran
.
Date:
9th July
Location:
Eindhoven
Review By:
Andreas Vondran
.
Date:
July 2nd, 1999
Location:
The Garage, Highbury, London
Reviewed by:
Billy Chainsaw, Kerrang Magazine (24th July, 1999)
.
Date:
July 2nd, 1999
Location:
The Garage, Highbury, London
Reviewed by:
Andy Capper,
NME.com
1997 Reviews
Date:
4th October, 1997
Location:
The Garage, Highbury, London
Review By:
Lee Codrington, Terrorizor Magazine (Issue #48-November 1997)
Date:
4th October, 1997
Location:
The Garage, Highbury, London
Review By:
Gavin Toomey
1996 Reviews
Date:
3rd December, 1996
Location:
The Milk Bar, Jacksonville, FL
Review By:
Convulse
Date:
26th November, 1996
Location:
The Fenix, Seattle, WA
Review By:
Dora Mitchell
Date:
14th November, 1996
Location:
Bogarts, Cincinatti, OH
Review By:
Neil Gogate
Date:
13th November, 1996
Location:
Peabody's Down Under, Cleveland,
OH
Review By:
Damon Gregg
Date:
11th November, 1996
Location:
Wetlands, New York City
Review By:
Benjamin Hudgins
Date:
10th November, 1996
Location:
Tuxedo Junction
Review By:
Jeff Wheeler
Date:
9th November, 1996
Location:
Capitol Ballroom, Washington
DC
Review By:
Kurt Stefan Gluck