
When I first heard that Dischord were due to
release a new album featuring Brendan Canty and Rich Morel (best known for his
DJ and remix work) I wasn’t sure what to expect. When I heard the band name was
Deathfix, I knew even less. But in many ways, that was a good thing, as the
music was something entirely different from their previous efforts. Cheap Trick
power-pop meets Senator Flux-style psychedelia, contemporary alt-rock meets
krautrock experimentation, and serious commentary standing alongside sly
playfulness. Basically, it’s a great album which would be great whoever had made
it. So when I subsequently heard they
were going to be playing some dates in the UK, now with Fugazi cohort Jerry
Busher in their ranks, my attendance was compulsory.
Setting up an interview was also high on the list, as much to catch up with Brendan as to get the lowdown on Deathfix, so I get along to the Lexington nice and early. Time to grab a beer with the legendary Jabs while the band soundcheck, and then finally meet up with Brendan. Once another round of drinks is distributed, we find a quiet spot where Brendan promptly knocks my beer over. Regardless, there’s other interviewers waiting, so I’ll get straight into the interrogation. Both Brendan and Rich had played in Bob Mould’s touring band a few years ago. Was that where they first had ideas to put some of their own music together ?
‘Yeah, mostly. We met when we were on the Bob Mould tour a few years ago and became friends, so when we came back, we said we should try and write some stuff together. But, of course, we never did until a couple of years went by, when we suddenly realised, we have to do this, we have to set a date. So he started coming over to my studio every Thursday night, and it gradually became every Tuesday and Thursday night because once we started writing stuff, we really started enjoying what we were doing. He plays piano mostly, so as he does that, I’m just looking for something to play that will fit in with it. And in a way, I guess it leads to a style that could be called more solo-ing than anything, you know, finding a single note that will give us space around his keyboards, so that it’s more orchestrated. I’m really enjoying it, because Rich is an incredibly musical person… it’s cool to be playing with someone who can say, oh yeah, this is a ninth, look at the way this chord is going ! I get it, because I’m sorta like that as well, but I’ve never really worked in a band with other people like that before now. The Fugazi guys weren’t like that at all, but Rich and Mark Cisneros, our bass player, are both very much like that… Mark is really cool, he went to School to study sax, he plays bass with us, he plays guitar with Kid Congo, and he plays drums with The Make-Up whenever they play…if they play… so the dialogue we have is a little bit more musical. In some ways, I do miss some of the discordant vibe to things, although I think some of our newer songs are bringing that back a little bit. But ultimately, the way that we work and write together is very much based around musical theory. And we’ve also spent a lot of time on the lyrics, you know, deciding on what themes to go with which music. Usually, when I write a song, I’ll get it to about 80% there, and then Rich will help with how it ends, or how we play the bridge, and maybe he’ll come in with a whole other vocal part…’
You got to know each other while you were working with Bob Mould… I can’t imagine there was much scope for your own input in that band…
‘Oh, no, we were just playing Bob’s songs. It was all, like, Husker Du songs and Sugar songs, stuff like that, so I just played like me, and that seemed to fit. I mean, I love Bob and I love his songs, but it wasn’t really challenging. In fact, the only real challenge was being away from my family for so long, but apart from that, it was pretty straight forward. We all got along really well, but it just wasn’t one of those things that I thought would continue. You know, I felt that, if I was going to spend so much time doing something, it really ought to be my own thing. Of course, all the Fugazi guys are still in kid-world, so it’s not as if we could fire that thing up again at the moment. So, this is where we are, now…’
Setting up an interview was also high on the list, as much to catch up with Brendan as to get the lowdown on Deathfix, so I get along to the Lexington nice and early. Time to grab a beer with the legendary Jabs while the band soundcheck, and then finally meet up with Brendan. Once another round of drinks is distributed, we find a quiet spot where Brendan promptly knocks my beer over. Regardless, there’s other interviewers waiting, so I’ll get straight into the interrogation. Both Brendan and Rich had played in Bob Mould’s touring band a few years ago. Was that where they first had ideas to put some of their own music together ?
‘Yeah, mostly. We met when we were on the Bob Mould tour a few years ago and became friends, so when we came back, we said we should try and write some stuff together. But, of course, we never did until a couple of years went by, when we suddenly realised, we have to do this, we have to set a date. So he started coming over to my studio every Thursday night, and it gradually became every Tuesday and Thursday night because once we started writing stuff, we really started enjoying what we were doing. He plays piano mostly, so as he does that, I’m just looking for something to play that will fit in with it. And in a way, I guess it leads to a style that could be called more solo-ing than anything, you know, finding a single note that will give us space around his keyboards, so that it’s more orchestrated. I’m really enjoying it, because Rich is an incredibly musical person… it’s cool to be playing with someone who can say, oh yeah, this is a ninth, look at the way this chord is going ! I get it, because I’m sorta like that as well, but I’ve never really worked in a band with other people like that before now. The Fugazi guys weren’t like that at all, but Rich and Mark Cisneros, our bass player, are both very much like that… Mark is really cool, he went to School to study sax, he plays bass with us, he plays guitar with Kid Congo, and he plays drums with The Make-Up whenever they play…if they play… so the dialogue we have is a little bit more musical. In some ways, I do miss some of the discordant vibe to things, although I think some of our newer songs are bringing that back a little bit. But ultimately, the way that we work and write together is very much based around musical theory. And we’ve also spent a lot of time on the lyrics, you know, deciding on what themes to go with which music. Usually, when I write a song, I’ll get it to about 80% there, and then Rich will help with how it ends, or how we play the bridge, and maybe he’ll come in with a whole other vocal part…’
You got to know each other while you were working with Bob Mould… I can’t imagine there was much scope for your own input in that band…
‘Oh, no, we were just playing Bob’s songs. It was all, like, Husker Du songs and Sugar songs, stuff like that, so I just played like me, and that seemed to fit. I mean, I love Bob and I love his songs, but it wasn’t really challenging. In fact, the only real challenge was being away from my family for so long, but apart from that, it was pretty straight forward. We all got along really well, but it just wasn’t one of those things that I thought would continue. You know, I felt that, if I was going to spend so much time doing something, it really ought to be my own thing. Of course, all the Fugazi guys are still in kid-world, so it’s not as if we could fire that thing up again at the moment. So, this is where we are, now…’

As neither of you were really inputting your
own musical ideas while you were working with Bob, how did you come to realise
that you might be compatible to work together on a new project ?
‘Well, it was more that we just got on well as friends, and then the music came afterwards. I mean, he’s coming from a really different musical world than me. He’s coming from House music and stuff like that, but when we talked, we realised that we were both into all the same kinda stuff. I think that’s why, when we’ve been discussing it, we’ve said that Deathfix is more like a pre-punk band rather than post-punk, because all of our mutual references are from before that era. He saw some of the same bands that I saw, like Mission of Burma, but he certainly wasn’t seeing the Bad Brains or people like that. We match on things like PiL, which is definitely one of our formative bands… certainly one of the most influential bands in my musical vocabulary. And Gang of Four, of course, all that kinda stuff. I mean, you had to be deaf not to get into that kinda stuff back in the 80’s. But Rich also went down this path of big, blown-out House music, which was not my kinda thing, at all. So that’s his world, although he’s also worked with people like Cyndi Lauper and he’s done all sorts of things. But generally, we work together just because we’re good friends and we love each others’ company. We enjoy writing together and there’s a really easy dialogue in the way we work. And we just seem to know each other’s reference points. All we ever seem to talk about is records and music ! It’s endless, we’re just the biggest fucking music-geeks on the planet ! It’s embarrassing !’
Do you enjoy the balance of working with someone else again, as you’ve been mainly involved in writing sound-track music on your own over the past few years…
‘Yeah, I usually work on my own in the studio, although when I make movies with my production company, I’ve worked with bands like Wilco and Pearl Jam and the Decemberists, all sorts of people, but that’s a bit more like a business. I do work with a collaborator on most things, Christoph Green, but even when we’re ‘working together’ we’re really working apart and just communicating between computers. We’re like slaves tied to the oars, just working in the service of the ship ! I can’t stand it anymore, I’ve been doing it for 15 years and it’s killing me ! It makes my eyes bad, it makes me fat and it makes me angry. So this is a big step for me, getting away from the computer. I mean, it’s all creative work, making movies or making music, and you are sorta working with other people, but most of it is just sitting, sitting, sitting… Working with Rich, there’s a much more physical sense of what we’re doing. That’s the best part, when you’re actually playing in the company of other people. I do also do some of the soundtrack stuff live, you know, playing a soundtrack live to accompany a film. So that can be good, when you get to work with cool people, and I do like doing that. But when I do it, I’m still kinda working like a hired-gun or a session man and I’ll mostly be travelling by myself. In some ways, Deathfix is a reaction against that, because I don’t like travelling or being by myself. I mean, a book will only take you so far, and continually sitting in front of a computer just makes you feel isolated. Fugazi was always about the whole band, almost like a family. That took things to the complete opposite in many ways, and I kinda miss that so I guess that why I enjoy this thing. I just love hanging around with these guys, even if this trip has maybe been a little too long… there’s been a few really long, cold, rainy drives, and I think I’m getting sick ! We’ve only been to Spain, a couple of shows in France, and then these shows in the UK, so it’s been a pretty short time, but there’s been a lot of driving. I think we just wanted to test things out, see what’s out there…’
When I thought about the different musical backgrounds of the people involved in Deathfix, it wasn’t easy to imagine what the results would be… if anything, the name would suggest some sorta cross between Marilyn Manson and Ministry…
‘Yeah, it does, doesn’t it ? I think it’s a terrible name, I don’t know why we chose it… I think it was back when it was still just a studio project, we started calling it that, you know ? But then it stuck, and we started playing gigs and we got a nice logo, with a little heart on it, so it just started getting more and more absurd ! Now we have these pink shirts that say ‘Deathfix’ and have the little hearts on them, so it all seems to work as a kinda branding thing even though it’s totally absurd. I don’t know if we’re stuck with it or not, maybe we’ll end up chucking it. I’m not that attached to it, but it serves its’ purpose and it looks great when you put it on something. Even when it makes no sense, it sorta makes sense ! You take the name, you make it all flowery and pink put a heart on it, and suddenly it makes sense… But when you just tell someone the name, it’s hard for them to get it. I mean, you have to remember, I was once in a band called Happy Go Licky, which was named because it was the singularly worse name we could think of ! When we said it, we laughed and rolled around, and decided we had to use it because it was the worse name we’d ever heard. And then we were called that for the next two years…’
‘Well, it was more that we just got on well as friends, and then the music came afterwards. I mean, he’s coming from a really different musical world than me. He’s coming from House music and stuff like that, but when we talked, we realised that we were both into all the same kinda stuff. I think that’s why, when we’ve been discussing it, we’ve said that Deathfix is more like a pre-punk band rather than post-punk, because all of our mutual references are from before that era. He saw some of the same bands that I saw, like Mission of Burma, but he certainly wasn’t seeing the Bad Brains or people like that. We match on things like PiL, which is definitely one of our formative bands… certainly one of the most influential bands in my musical vocabulary. And Gang of Four, of course, all that kinda stuff. I mean, you had to be deaf not to get into that kinda stuff back in the 80’s. But Rich also went down this path of big, blown-out House music, which was not my kinda thing, at all. So that’s his world, although he’s also worked with people like Cyndi Lauper and he’s done all sorts of things. But generally, we work together just because we’re good friends and we love each others’ company. We enjoy writing together and there’s a really easy dialogue in the way we work. And we just seem to know each other’s reference points. All we ever seem to talk about is records and music ! It’s endless, we’re just the biggest fucking music-geeks on the planet ! It’s embarrassing !’
Do you enjoy the balance of working with someone else again, as you’ve been mainly involved in writing sound-track music on your own over the past few years…
‘Yeah, I usually work on my own in the studio, although when I make movies with my production company, I’ve worked with bands like Wilco and Pearl Jam and the Decemberists, all sorts of people, but that’s a bit more like a business. I do work with a collaborator on most things, Christoph Green, but even when we’re ‘working together’ we’re really working apart and just communicating between computers. We’re like slaves tied to the oars, just working in the service of the ship ! I can’t stand it anymore, I’ve been doing it for 15 years and it’s killing me ! It makes my eyes bad, it makes me fat and it makes me angry. So this is a big step for me, getting away from the computer. I mean, it’s all creative work, making movies or making music, and you are sorta working with other people, but most of it is just sitting, sitting, sitting… Working with Rich, there’s a much more physical sense of what we’re doing. That’s the best part, when you’re actually playing in the company of other people. I do also do some of the soundtrack stuff live, you know, playing a soundtrack live to accompany a film. So that can be good, when you get to work with cool people, and I do like doing that. But when I do it, I’m still kinda working like a hired-gun or a session man and I’ll mostly be travelling by myself. In some ways, Deathfix is a reaction against that, because I don’t like travelling or being by myself. I mean, a book will only take you so far, and continually sitting in front of a computer just makes you feel isolated. Fugazi was always about the whole band, almost like a family. That took things to the complete opposite in many ways, and I kinda miss that so I guess that why I enjoy this thing. I just love hanging around with these guys, even if this trip has maybe been a little too long… there’s been a few really long, cold, rainy drives, and I think I’m getting sick ! We’ve only been to Spain, a couple of shows in France, and then these shows in the UK, so it’s been a pretty short time, but there’s been a lot of driving. I think we just wanted to test things out, see what’s out there…’
When I thought about the different musical backgrounds of the people involved in Deathfix, it wasn’t easy to imagine what the results would be… if anything, the name would suggest some sorta cross between Marilyn Manson and Ministry…
‘Yeah, it does, doesn’t it ? I think it’s a terrible name, I don’t know why we chose it… I think it was back when it was still just a studio project, we started calling it that, you know ? But then it stuck, and we started playing gigs and we got a nice logo, with a little heart on it, so it just started getting more and more absurd ! Now we have these pink shirts that say ‘Deathfix’ and have the little hearts on them, so it all seems to work as a kinda branding thing even though it’s totally absurd. I don’t know if we’re stuck with it or not, maybe we’ll end up chucking it. I’m not that attached to it, but it serves its’ purpose and it looks great when you put it on something. Even when it makes no sense, it sorta makes sense ! You take the name, you make it all flowery and pink put a heart on it, and suddenly it makes sense… But when you just tell someone the name, it’s hard for them to get it. I mean, you have to remember, I was once in a band called Happy Go Licky, which was named because it was the singularly worse name we could think of ! When we said it, we laughed and rolled around, and decided we had to use it because it was the worse name we’d ever heard. And then we were called that for the next two years…’
But seriously, were you curious about what
the results would be when you started working together ?
‘I don’t know… I mean, when I listen back to the album now, and compare it to how we sound live, it sounds pretty soft. But I don’t think it sounds like anything you’d expect from either me or Rich, when you think of what we’ve done in the past. I don’t know what it is, we just try out our ideas and if we stick with them long enough, we put them on a record. We’ve already done a lot of different kinds of music with this band, so the songs that we put on the record were the ones that seemed to make the most cohesive album. It just came together naturally, to the point where I insisted that we put out a record because these things were just piling up. I wanted to put the record out and do a little touring, so we could get some idea of where the fuck we’re going to go from here. I mean, you really don’t know until you put out a record and start having dialogues with people about how it strikes them. I work in my own world and Rich works in his own world, so unless we put it out there, we’d have no dialogue, and Art without dialogue is pretty meaningless, I think. To me, it’s an important stage of growth for a musician not to spend his entire life in a studio. It’s part of the process, for sure, and I’ve always felt that playing live is very important. And it’s the fun part !’
There’s been some quite strange comparisons in some of the reviews the album has been getting… Deep Purple have been mentioned a few times, which I really don’t hear at all…
‘Maybe they think it sounds like a poppy Deep Purple… I don’t really know Deep Purple that much, so I can’t really say. Maybe it’s the keyboards ?’
Actually, the elements that I kinda hear in the album probably refer more to Psychedelia and Krautrock…
‘Oh yeah, there’s a lot of Krautrock influences in what we do, definitely. I think the newer songs are really like that, as well as being a little more dancey. It’ll be interesting to see what people think of the new songs. We like modern music too, not just Sixties and Seventies stuff. But to be honest, I quite like the idea that we’re confounding people and I don’t really give a shit if some people don’t like it. I’ve made a lot of music in the past that people have shrugged-off, and some music that a lot of people have liked. I mean, some people hated Fugazi when we first started touring, because a lot of them still just wanted to hear Minor Threat ! So right now, I just really want to play. The way things work is that, when you make a first record, people have expectations based on what you’ve done in the past, but if the band continues, when you make a second or third record, you start to create a narrative that’s based on what you continue to do. The only way you know if a bands’ worth its’ salt is if it gets out on the road, and if we can get along with each other and survive. And so far, so good. We’re playing a few new songs tonight, and we’re writing new stuff all the time. I really like the material we’re putting together for the next record and, of course, Jerry’s playing drums with us now, which has been fabulous. It’s like having Topper Headon on drums, he’s so tight ! ‘
There’s also a very playful element to the music you’ve been making…
‘There’s a lot of that ! And I guess that’s something that could bug the shit out of some people, so not all of it is like that, but I certainly don’t mind something that comes out kinda funny, as long as there’s a purpose to it. ‘Dali’s House’ is the song that people have picked up on, but at the same time we have other songs that are pretty depressing… Some reviews have been a bit disparaging about that song, but what can I say ? I’ve always had fun making records, and it was the same with this one. I mean, I’ve spent a lot of time writing and playing music that avoids pop references, but I can also enjoy tapping into that stuff. I can pull things from popular music, and it’s fun. It’s enjoyable for me to listen to something and take something from it that I wouldn’t have considered in the past. Most of the time, it’s usually been the case that if it even remotely sounds like something else, we wouldn’t do it. But this band is more like, we’ll have a song and we’ll say, let’s make it sound like Thin Lizzy playing ‘Whisky in the Jar’… of course, it never ends up like that, we don’t just sit there and rip-off ‘Whisky in the Jar’, but we’ll realise, that’s the guitar sound we want… That’s the kinda dialogue that happens, you know… ‘it’ll be cool if we get that vibe, or that touchstone…’ And we’ll try to bring that in, production-wise, but it’s really still our song. Basically, we’re just two record-geeks who are also producers, sitting around talking about their favourite records, and trying to make their own record that touches on some of those references. And that’s fun ! I just hope that people respect me enough to have a band that sound different to things that I’ve done before. That’s where I am, and that’s what we’ve done. We’ve put ourselves out there as a totally new thing.’
‘I don’t know… I mean, when I listen back to the album now, and compare it to how we sound live, it sounds pretty soft. But I don’t think it sounds like anything you’d expect from either me or Rich, when you think of what we’ve done in the past. I don’t know what it is, we just try out our ideas and if we stick with them long enough, we put them on a record. We’ve already done a lot of different kinds of music with this band, so the songs that we put on the record were the ones that seemed to make the most cohesive album. It just came together naturally, to the point where I insisted that we put out a record because these things were just piling up. I wanted to put the record out and do a little touring, so we could get some idea of where the fuck we’re going to go from here. I mean, you really don’t know until you put out a record and start having dialogues with people about how it strikes them. I work in my own world and Rich works in his own world, so unless we put it out there, we’d have no dialogue, and Art without dialogue is pretty meaningless, I think. To me, it’s an important stage of growth for a musician not to spend his entire life in a studio. It’s part of the process, for sure, and I’ve always felt that playing live is very important. And it’s the fun part !’
There’s been some quite strange comparisons in some of the reviews the album has been getting… Deep Purple have been mentioned a few times, which I really don’t hear at all…
‘Maybe they think it sounds like a poppy Deep Purple… I don’t really know Deep Purple that much, so I can’t really say. Maybe it’s the keyboards ?’
Actually, the elements that I kinda hear in the album probably refer more to Psychedelia and Krautrock…
‘Oh yeah, there’s a lot of Krautrock influences in what we do, definitely. I think the newer songs are really like that, as well as being a little more dancey. It’ll be interesting to see what people think of the new songs. We like modern music too, not just Sixties and Seventies stuff. But to be honest, I quite like the idea that we’re confounding people and I don’t really give a shit if some people don’t like it. I’ve made a lot of music in the past that people have shrugged-off, and some music that a lot of people have liked. I mean, some people hated Fugazi when we first started touring, because a lot of them still just wanted to hear Minor Threat ! So right now, I just really want to play. The way things work is that, when you make a first record, people have expectations based on what you’ve done in the past, but if the band continues, when you make a second or third record, you start to create a narrative that’s based on what you continue to do. The only way you know if a bands’ worth its’ salt is if it gets out on the road, and if we can get along with each other and survive. And so far, so good. We’re playing a few new songs tonight, and we’re writing new stuff all the time. I really like the material we’re putting together for the next record and, of course, Jerry’s playing drums with us now, which has been fabulous. It’s like having Topper Headon on drums, he’s so tight ! ‘
There’s also a very playful element to the music you’ve been making…
‘There’s a lot of that ! And I guess that’s something that could bug the shit out of some people, so not all of it is like that, but I certainly don’t mind something that comes out kinda funny, as long as there’s a purpose to it. ‘Dali’s House’ is the song that people have picked up on, but at the same time we have other songs that are pretty depressing… Some reviews have been a bit disparaging about that song, but what can I say ? I’ve always had fun making records, and it was the same with this one. I mean, I’ve spent a lot of time writing and playing music that avoids pop references, but I can also enjoy tapping into that stuff. I can pull things from popular music, and it’s fun. It’s enjoyable for me to listen to something and take something from it that I wouldn’t have considered in the past. Most of the time, it’s usually been the case that if it even remotely sounds like something else, we wouldn’t do it. But this band is more like, we’ll have a song and we’ll say, let’s make it sound like Thin Lizzy playing ‘Whisky in the Jar’… of course, it never ends up like that, we don’t just sit there and rip-off ‘Whisky in the Jar’, but we’ll realise, that’s the guitar sound we want… That’s the kinda dialogue that happens, you know… ‘it’ll be cool if we get that vibe, or that touchstone…’ And we’ll try to bring that in, production-wise, but it’s really still our song. Basically, we’re just two record-geeks who are also producers, sitting around talking about their favourite records, and trying to make their own record that touches on some of those references. And that’s fun ! I just hope that people respect me enough to have a band that sound different to things that I’ve done before. That’s where I am, and that’s what we’ve done. We’ve put ourselves out there as a totally new thing.’
‘Yeah, just Rich and I, but then we brought
in Devan and Mark when we decided we wanted to play live. We toured a bit and
then Devan had to quit because of his work, so Jerry came in and has been with
us for the last six months. But the jump to playing live has been a really
interesting process for me, because I still have the ghosts of Ian and Guy
playing in front of me ! You know, the most incredible front-men ever, so
that’s obviously going to haunt me, but I’m trying to come at it in my own
way.’
From what you’ve been saying, you’re intending this to be an ongoing band rather than just a one-off collaboration…
‘Oh yeah, we’ve been writing continuously and we enjoy doing that, so I’m certainly looking at it as an ongoing thing. What I’d really like to do would be to take it one step at a time, and hopefully put out a second record early next year. I’d like to be able to get home and really concentrate on finishing-up the next record, because we have most of the songs written and we just have to get them down. Mark is also playing with Kid Congo, so he’s away a lot of the time, but both Rich and I have our own studios, so that really makes things a lot easier for us. It’s kinda hard when we have to take a break, you know, once you’ve got into a rhythm of playing together. That can be pretty frustrating, like when Devan told us he wouldn’t be able to play anymore and we had to figure out what to do next. We had stuff we wanted to do, but we just had to wait around, and waiting around sucks ! So in the end, I just arranged to get together with Rich in the mornings for like three hours at a time, just so we could write some stuff and get some new things down. And then we’d still have the rest of the day to do whatever we needed to do, but we also were able to feed that need to write and create. Those are the things that you really love to do and I think they’re really important. So we were able to work on new things every morning and then I’d feel good every day. And I think that’s also what we’re trying to do right now, just get it out and keep it moving at least a little bit. That’s the main thing, because if I don’t keep working on something, even for a couple of days, I can end up feeling pretty depressed.’
Okay, well I must apologise, because I’m sure this is the question that everyone has been asking… I just hope you're not fed-up with answering it... do Insurrection have any plans to reform in the near future ?
‘Hahahaha ! I’m impressed… that’s some deep knowledge ! But no, we don’t have any plans on getting back together right now… and neither do Fugazi, hahaha !’
So, just about enough time to have a chat with Jerry Busher (French Toast RIP…) and watch a bit of the support band Moones, before Deathfix themselves take to the stage. I still find it strange watching Brendan playing guitar, even though he’s an accomplished player, but the music is easily strong enough to surpass any such preconceptions. Rich and Brendan switch vocals back and forth, complimenting each other whilst stating their own character. The songs from the album sound even more direct when heard live, especially ‘Hospital’ and ‘Low Lying Dreams’ while several as yet unreleased tracks confidently point the way towards the next record. The finale, the excellent psych-pop of ‘Transmission’ is the perfect way to end the set. There was a decent-sized audience for this gig, but I do have the feeling that in the future, even more people are going to wish they had been there. Deathfix just need to be heard to win over their audience. I’m expecting a lot more from these guys !
From what you’ve been saying, you’re intending this to be an ongoing band rather than just a one-off collaboration…
‘Oh yeah, we’ve been writing continuously and we enjoy doing that, so I’m certainly looking at it as an ongoing thing. What I’d really like to do would be to take it one step at a time, and hopefully put out a second record early next year. I’d like to be able to get home and really concentrate on finishing-up the next record, because we have most of the songs written and we just have to get them down. Mark is also playing with Kid Congo, so he’s away a lot of the time, but both Rich and I have our own studios, so that really makes things a lot easier for us. It’s kinda hard when we have to take a break, you know, once you’ve got into a rhythm of playing together. That can be pretty frustrating, like when Devan told us he wouldn’t be able to play anymore and we had to figure out what to do next. We had stuff we wanted to do, but we just had to wait around, and waiting around sucks ! So in the end, I just arranged to get together with Rich in the mornings for like three hours at a time, just so we could write some stuff and get some new things down. And then we’d still have the rest of the day to do whatever we needed to do, but we also were able to feed that need to write and create. Those are the things that you really love to do and I think they’re really important. So we were able to work on new things every morning and then I’d feel good every day. And I think that’s also what we’re trying to do right now, just get it out and keep it moving at least a little bit. That’s the main thing, because if I don’t keep working on something, even for a couple of days, I can end up feeling pretty depressed.’
Okay, well I must apologise, because I’m sure this is the question that everyone has been asking… I just hope you're not fed-up with answering it... do Insurrection have any plans to reform in the near future ?
‘Hahahaha ! I’m impressed… that’s some deep knowledge ! But no, we don’t have any plans on getting back together right now… and neither do Fugazi, hahaha !’
So, just about enough time to have a chat with Jerry Busher (French Toast RIP…) and watch a bit of the support band Moones, before Deathfix themselves take to the stage. I still find it strange watching Brendan playing guitar, even though he’s an accomplished player, but the music is easily strong enough to surpass any such preconceptions. Rich and Brendan switch vocals back and forth, complimenting each other whilst stating their own character. The songs from the album sound even more direct when heard live, especially ‘Hospital’ and ‘Low Lying Dreams’ while several as yet unreleased tracks confidently point the way towards the next record. The finale, the excellent psych-pop of ‘Transmission’ is the perfect way to end the set. There was a decent-sized audience for this gig, but I do have the feeling that in the future, even more people are going to wish they had been there. Deathfix just need to be heard to win over their audience. I’m expecting a lot more from these guys !