Peter J. Woods is a DIY noise artist who has also been active in hardcore punk, grindcore, and other genres. He recently released the noise album Fairweather Mask under his own name on Autumn Wind Productions. He is currently involved in a straightedge power electronics project, xALLxFORxTHISx, whose first release Chemical Death Rattle will be released on Phage Tapes.

http://www.myspace.com/peterjwoods

http://www.myspace.com/xallxforxthisx

CLOAK OF DIN: What are the issues, themes, images, or topics with which you are most consistently obsessed or possessed?

WOODS: The list is pretty long, hence the revolving door of 3-5 different bands and projects. One that sticks out with most of what I do is the idea of futility, how we face it and cope with it but also what it does to us. My solo stuff deals with this directly exploring both the effects of futility and its different manifestations, whereas something like xALLxFORxTHISx approaches it from one specific angle, specifically peoples purpose in life and how that can be effected by drug use.

CLOAK OF DIN: When did you first come up with the concept for ALLxFORxTHIS, and how long did it take you to begin writing and recording material for the project?

WOODS: The idea for the project started about two years ago. I have been seriously listening to hardcore for about 6 years and noise for about 4 or 5, three of which were focused heavily on power electronics. I saw this disconnect between the two. Hardcore kids HATED noise and the people in noise were a bit more forgiving, but not much. Despite this, I saw a certain similarity and connection between the two and I wanted to explore that.

After a year of thinking about it, Jason Linski of Blessed Sacrifist caught wind of the idea and offered to help out with the project and xALLxFORxTHISx was born. We took about a month to write and record our first set of demos, trying to get an initial sketch of what we wanted to do out there super quick, then sat back for a while to decide where we want to go next, only playing one show with the original material. We only finalized new material this past September, which is a pace I am definitely enjoying. Both of us have other projects that we are focused on, so it allows this one to grow very organically.

CLOAK OF DIN: As someone obviously rooted in the straightedge punk scene, what is your current relation to punk and hardcore culture? Do you feel noise is a part of or perhaps even a more modern form of this culture, or is ALLxFORxTHIS taking the form in a seperate direction from its contemporaries?
WOODS: I’m definitely very involved in the local scene around Milwaukee, but in this weird “respected outsider” role. I’ll book hardcore bands, they’ll book me, I’ve been on tour with hardcore bands before, I go to their shows, they come to mine, that sort of thing. It’s a nice back and forth and a lot of respect involved, which is great. I’ve also played in a number of hardcore bands, most recently the d-beat grind band Half Gorilla.

As for it being a more modern form of the culture, I think thats a pretty nuanced question, but ultimately I’d say no. Punk as a whole has always been a genre that does not want to change too far, so it builds in these mechanisms where it can reel the whole genre in. We start with punk in the 70s which eventually degenerates into New Wave in the 80s, so the kids that are still in the underground say “fuck this” and start hardcore. So then hardcore rolls around and eventually devolves into metalcore and the dancier, sassier hardcore stuff that was around, so recently kids started saying “fuck that” again and started power violence and also pushed a huge revival in crust. Thats what I love about hardcore- it can’t get away from its roots. It will always be about yelling shit over three chords. If you look at it, artistically, you can claim that noise is the next iteration of hardcore, just like its the next iteration of industrial, jazz, or classical, but hardcore will always be hardcore.

xALLxFORxTHISx definitely does not take the form in a separate direction from its contemporaries. In fact, it revels in the fact that it is firmly rooted in what its contemporaries are doing. The project is ultimately, on an aesthetic level, a play with genres. The goal is to take the precedents of both Hardcore and power electronics and mix them into something new. No new direction is taken, we just have a lot of contemporaries to steal from.

CLOAK OF DIN: Do you ever feel that some may find an aura of nostalgia, irony, or even satire in the blunt and hardline stance of your lyrics? Do you feel that current cultural trends towards almost nihilistic levels of nostalgia, irony, and ideological ambiguity create difficulties in communicating ideas in such a blunt and serious way?

WOODS: Oh god yes.

The whole thing really strikes me as pathetic really, this indulgence in irony that everyone has taken too. It fucking sucks. People build their entire lives around these ironic stances on everything to the point where they can’t even tell whats ironic anymore. This leads to people not having to engage with anything critically. Call someone out on liking something stupid, and they claim they just do it ironically. Call them out on liking something decent, and they laugh at you because you fell for it. Its the absolute worst. The nostalgia and satire stuff is annoying too, but generally unavoidable. I find it hard to compete with nostalgia, mainly because most of the things in my music people would be nostalgic for existed either before or right around the time I was born, so that doesn’t really apply. As for satire, thats an audience interpretation that I can’t control. Will some people think this is satire? Yeah, probably, and understandably so. The lyrics are very much over the top and definitely exaggerated (full disclosure- I don’t actually want to curb stomp junkies, I just don’t like them all that much), but it comes from a place of earnestness, which in my mind is a big staple of power electronics. I don’t think the majority of power electronics artists out there are condoning rape and murder, but they do have a fascination with ideas of power and control. Thats where my lyrcs reside.

All of these things create a wall for me to get through in terms of communication, but all forms of communication are imperfect. All I can do is approach the project with as much transparency as possible. Let people know what I’m trying to say, explain myself, answer questions, give out lyrics, all of that. Hopefully it can push through some of those problems, but then again, I really have no control over what the listener thinks.

CLOAK OF DIN: How do you apply straightedge ideology to aspects of your life outside of mind-altering substances? Are you a vegetarian or vegan, do you practice sexual restrictions, do you apply the ideology to over-indulgence in media or entertainment, and so on?

WOODS: Really the only place I apply it is in the world of drug use, and even that isn’t too hardlined for me. I’m not a vegetarian, but I don’t buy meat, I’m pretty open and positive sexually as long as consent is involved and a certain amount of restraint is shown, and I guess I don’t really participate in most mainstream media or entertainment, but even then I’m not going to storm out of a room if a TV is on. As for the drug stuff, I still use medicinal drugs and drink waaaaaaaaaaay too much coffee.

I think this is what separates me from the classic image of a guy into straight edge. I don’t come at straight edge from a position of authority or neo-facism, I come at it from a position of purposefulness in personal choice. I’m a person who believes in a directness and decidedness in his actions. I don’t do anything just because its fun or because I feel like it or it feels good. I do things with as much awareness in the consequences of my actions and I act accordingly. I see drug use as a dead end: nothing more than a means to instant gratification with long lasting negative consequences. I have yet to hear any argument for drug use that I agree with and only see the problems it causes for so many people, adding to the constant degradation our society is going through. This is why I don’t do drugs and I’m straight edge because I want people to know it. Along with transparency in my music I want a transparency in my life. I want all of my choices to be laid bare.

So with these other aspects, I see the negative consequences of partaking in all of them, but I also benefits from each. There are ways to safely and consciously eat meat, be sexually active and engage in media. Do people go over board with this and are there ways to engage in all of these that are unjustifiable? Yes, obviously, but I can actually see a benefit all of these. People can argue against all three of these and do it well, but thats the point: there are definitely arguments on both sides. As for drug use, there’s none.
CLOAK OF DIN: Do you feel that straightedge ideology, seen from a certain angle, may have an almost ascetic or gnostic spiritual element to it? Do you find inspiration or common ground in the positive values of religious movements such as Buddhism or certain forms of Christianity (such as the radical anti-war Plowshares Movement) which may have some elements in common with your ideology?

WOODS: I see the connection between the two, but its a connection I don’t care about. All religions have this base level where there ideas make sense (be good to people, don’t ruin your life on purpose, etc.). Even something like Scientology starts with what basically amounts to a few months of psychiatric help for anyone joining the cult. Where I feel there is a distinct divide is in the reasons people into religions and certain overarching philosophies are drug free and why I am. Christians don’t do drugs because God told them not to, that is moral, and someone who is Buddhist can very easily not do drugs for the sole purpose that it is part of the philosophy. I don’t do it because I believe in it, not someone else, and even then I believe in it because I have rationally considered the choice of drinking or doing drugs and realized its a bad one. I feel like people are drug free because they are religious, where as I am straight because I am drug free (not drug free because of straight edge).

One of my biggest beliefs is in autonomy, in the idea that people should be able to choose for themselves what they do, to have freedom over their actions. This may sound hypocritical considering where I am coming from, but I don’t think it is. In order to have a freedom of will, you have to be clear headed, able to think. I think that drugs, alcohol, and religion all remove this freedom. With autonomy, are people allowed to make these choices? Yes, definitely, but I also have the right to tell them how I think they are stupid. Its also why I am fine with drinking caffeine and using medicinal drugs. In both cases (at least for the most part), the use of these drugs does not lead to an altered perception of reality or a dumbing down of the thought process. People who drink coffee may be a bit more irritated, but they can still think through problems and consider their own actions. This is what I strive for in life, and being drug free is what leads to that.

CLOAK OF DIN: Do you find a great focus on “purity” which may manifest itself in movements such as straightedge or even modern “consumer activism” may end up placing a greater emphasis on avoiding “negative influences” than putting forth positive effort as an activist?
WOODS: Yes, but its extremely important. The way capitalism and globalization have constructed out society, every action has consequences which reach beyond ourselves and into the world as a whole. Buying clothing can force slave labor and purchasing food can reinforce the degradation of the environment. So by removing these negative influences, we create a much wider, positive impact. Where our money goes has been the greatest form of both support and protest in recent years. The move towards direct action is a joke. Property damage does nothing more than make a statement and cause insurance companies to lose a buck or two. It does nothing, where as merely watching what you spend has an actual (although, considering grand scope of things, admittedly minimal) impact. The goal is to get enough people to think about what they are buying to have an actual impact.

Even with this being said, I think there is a general trend in society for people to pigeonhole people into one category. “Someone who protests the war ONLY protests the war.” That sort of thing. Really, this isn’t how it works. People are complex beings and activists take on a lot of different rolls. xALLxFORxTHISx lyrically is about being drug free, but the way I create music is an economic process as well, one that acts to counteract the current capitalistic mode of production. Its entirely DIY and works with DIY groups (labels, venues, etc.), therefore undermining the issue of labor injustice on a small scale. It talks about avoiding negative influences, but acts in a very positive way.

CLOAK OF DIN: Do you have any advice for young people reading this who may wish to alter their lives in positive ways, including adopting straightedge values? Do you favor an immediate radical change or gradual weaning off negative influences as a path to the “purity” you describe?
WOODS: All I can say is think about what you are doing and act in the best way you can. If you can justify what you are doing, even if it is drinking or using drugs, then do it. I don’t know how you can do it in a way that I see fit, but thats not your problem, its mine. The point of what I am doing is not to force everyone to think like me – its merely to make sure people actually think about their actions and make a conscious decision, as opposed to just doing whatever they feel like. Rationality in everything. I hope that this would lead people to drop the addictions, but even if it doesn’t, a world of people thinking about their daily lives is better than a sober world that doesn’t think about anything.

As for how that change can take place- whatever is effective, do it. I generally see more people actually accomplishing something with gradual weaning, but radical change can also be effective. All I can say is that 2 months of strict sobriety followed by the usual abuse is way less effective than a life time of slowly improving.

CLOAK OF DIN: Are there any upcoming events or releases about which you’d like readers to know? Any closing words?
WOODS: No events, but our debut release (a c25 entitled Chemical Death Rattle) will be coming out soon on Phage Tapes.
Act with purpose.

I know things are going very slow with the blog lately, as I’m busy as hell with other shit, but in the meantime here’s a vile, nasty and disgusting release requested by a few people during the past weeks.

01 – Still Remains
02 – Birthmother
03 – Gutters

Amateur Pornography
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

Those of you already familiar with David Rodgers works as the man behind vehement Power Electronics groups Brethren and Organized Resistance might do well to come to this project with fresh ears. While Rodgers’ unmistakable vocal bark and white power politics are present, this release features a more low-toned dynamic musically. From what I gather there are two additional players in the group, but I have nil information about them.

All in all this is a great, and very different, addition to the David Rodgers discography. Nice minimal graphics on the sleeve and a lyric sheet and pamphlet written by Brethren, a good first release from ADR. Limited to 200 copies.

Review stolen from Plaguehaus.

01 – Different Reality
02 – This Blood
03 – Boiling Point
04 – Our Day
05 – Solution
06 – Majority & Wisdom

New Era
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

Advokat Ihrer Hoheit was a short lived side project of Markus Kropfreiter (Söldnergeist/Drape Excrement). “Opferbereit” was released on vinyl by Art Konkret in 1993.

01 – Attracted by Fools
02 – Luzifer’s Hammer
03 – Stimulation
04 – Childhood Drama (Studie 1)
05 – Gedicht 2
06 – Fetzen einer geborgten Erinnerung

Opferbereit
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

Pretty good old Folkstorm release that was available online for about a month only back in 2000.

01 – Campaign 1: Discipline and Strength
02 – Clone This
03 – These Are the Days
04 – Child of Decay
05 – Kapnoiseology
06 – The Hour of Liberation
07 – Campaign 2: TharmvredDTAJDNoisemaker

The Culturecide Campaigns
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

This is a collection of live material recorded between 1998 and 2002 in the form of 15 tracks from 4 different shows around Strom.ec’s native Finland. This is a project that has always done the mechanized heavy distortions to near perfection, not straight forward beats but crushing factory sounds and all the abrasive atmospheres you would expect to go with it, and it’s nice to hear the live interpretations of these tracks. Saturating, grimy distortions and statics, pummeling cyclic plods and throbs, and distorted vocals more or less describe the essence of what Strom.ec does. It’s got the filthy abstraction of rust and grease and a mechanical core that builds a meditative quality to the ugliness. In the live setting the grit is accentuated and pervasive, the vocals more tortured and reckless. It’s a raw and primal listen with a genuine ferocity, that must have left an impression on the onlookers. The sound quality is pretty strong for a live recording yet still contains that “live” atmosphere to it, which I think helps the impact of these recordings. This is definitely a release worth picking up whether you’re a fan of the project or haven’t been exposed to them yet, don’t let the live element dissuade you. Excellent.

Review stolen from Worm Gear.

01 – Destiny (Random Killing)
02 – Pain as we Know It
03 – Neuroscan
04 – Patriots
05 – Homicide Division
06 – Peilikuva
07 – Hermoston Arkkitehti
08 – In a Glass Cage
09 – The Great Architect
10 – Dogs of Total Order
11 – Helvetin Esikartano
12 – Psyyke
13 – Arma Christi Part II – Human Vexation
14 – Herra
15 – Victory is a Question of Stamina

Laboratorio Suomi
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

Another release by the Japanese fanclub. Cover art by Trevor Brown. Possibly limited to 500 copies.

01 – Dictator II
02 – Movement 1994 (Just Like a Fucking Cunt WB vocal vers.)

Dictator
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

Swedish cultural terrorism supplemented with new material and re-released in the golden collection of cultural terrorism series.
If compared with the most aggressive albums of Kristian Olsson’s this CD is perhaps more atmospheric than openly destructive.
Yet, like all other Survival Unit’s albums, it is pervaded by black social despair and hate towards human civilisation.
Violence against violence for violence.
Resistance to everything and anything.
This album is a gloomy insight into the future that awaits us all and a fine lesson showing us what stands at the end of the Scandinavian idyll.

Submitted by John.

01 – Introduktion
02 – Endtime Operations
03 – Consumerist Cancer
04 – Disinformation Control Unit
05 – Humanflood (Zero Population Growth)
06 – Outsiders on the Inside
07 – Beyond Good & Evil
08 – Insurgent Ferocity
09 – Anthrax Zone
10 – Thought-Trigger-Target
11 – Europpression
12 – Ship of Fools (Bonus)
13 – Cast Away the Dream (Bonus)

Thought-Trigger-Target

Will To Zero is the third part in Survival Unit’s golden collection of cultural terrorism series, actually meant for crippling as many people as possible without a hope of recovery.
Aggressive and deranged long trackss.
Very straightforward sound, to crash minds.
Do you believe your nerves are strong enough to take this?
Zero chances to survive to that attack but those who do, will surely require medicines.

Submitted by John.

01 – Moment of Revolt
02 – Oppression Free Doom
03 – Born into Slavery
04 – Stot Till (Angripp Livsnerven)
05 – The End Justifies
06 – Conflict & Adversity
07 – Breaking the Surface
08 – The Struggle Continues
09 – In the Wake of Deception (Bonus)
10 – Will to Zero

Will to Zero

Russian heavy electronics. Submitted by John.

01 – Untitled
02 – Untitled
03 – Untitled
04 – Untitled
05 – Untitled
06 – Untitled
07 – Untitled

Ashes

Immediate opening for a Power Electronics Design Engineer.  Salary to upper 90s.

Job Description and Duties:

Seeking passionate individual to be part of variable speed motor development team.  This team will be responsible for the design, development and production of variable speed motors for various applications and markets. Applications include operating voltages up to 600VAC and operating power levels up to 5hp.

This position will be responsible for the specification, design, development, and qualification of electronic circuits related to high variable speed drives (PMSM and VSIM).  Circuits include power conversion, protection, switch mode power supplies, and motor drive circuitry. This position will interact with other areas of expertise within the company to take projects from the development phase to the production phase.

• Over ten years of experience in the design of industrial power conversion equipment such as PM or VSIM drives, industrial drives, etc.
• Design expertise developing power electronic circuits and components such as IGBTs, MOSFETs, diodes, capacitors and high frequency magnetic components.
• Proficiency and understanding of the architecture, specification, and hardware design of 120 – 600VAC industrial power conversion equipment.
• Demonstrated proficiency in the use of simulation tools i.e. Matlab/Simulink, Simplorer, PSPICE and design analysis.
• Solid understanding of EMI noise reduction techniques, PCB layout, gate drive design, thermal design, voltage and current sensing techniques and protection circuitry.
• Experience with agency approval requirements and design for regulatory compliance (UL, CE).
• Demonstrated expertise with laboratory testing and experience with test equipment including oscilloscope, power meters, data acquisition equipment, spectrum analyzers, etc.
• Candidate must be detailed oriented and possess good organizational and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects.
• Knowledge of industrial drives and/or motion control technology and industry trends.
• Understanding of motor control techniques and algorithms such us vector control and their implementation on high microprocessors or DSPs.
• Understanding of thermal management for power electronics and machine is a plus.  

Desirable Skills and Training 

• Self-motivated, strong customer focused behavior
• Strong team player with demonstrated ability to work in a cross-functional team to deliver common goals
• Ability to work effectively as a member of a global team
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Six Sigma, Green Belt trained and certified
• DFSS & DFR trained and Certified

 Education. 

* BSEE/MSEE/PhD

Brethren are one of those projects that just gets progressively better with each passing release, taking the necessary time and using constraint between each, every new item that Mr. Rodgers is like a newsflash, or more precisely a lecture. For the easily offended or any with leftist sympathies I’d suggest giving this a wide, wide berth. Brethren makes no qualms about where it stands and just by looking over the cover, the anti-semitic, pro-white stance should be blazingly obvious, but whether you agree with the political stance or not, the power of the sounds cannot be denied.

Closing out the EP on side B is “Torah Truth”. More squealing feedback meets droning synth lines and a grenade burst of low-end that provides a strange thudding rhythm throughout. More televangelist samples and Rodgers throat-ripping yell that really puts the guy in my top 5 of the all-time great Power Electronics vocalists and Brethren one of the elite of US/PE. I’m under the impression that this 7” is a preview of a full-length to come and I hope that is indeed a fact. There are not too many releases of this power and magnitude rolling down the pike these days. Limited to 250 copies with an insert and a lyrics sheet, just in case you missed anything. Another mandatory release from Freak Animal.

Review stolen from Plaguehaus.

01 – Kingdom Coming
02 – Semitic Sermon
03 – Torah Truth

BUY!!!
Kingdom Coming
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

Comes in an oversized 1/2″ broadcast video tape shell, wrapped with videotape and dipped in gray paint. Inserts included scenes from an asylum and electronic schematics. Limited to 86 copies.

01 – Pulse Death Conductor
02 – …Conversion

Electro-Chamber
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

Cassette 1995.

01 – Untitled
02 – Untitled

Porcelain Fuck Machine
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

Nordik Battle Signs is a disturbing nightmare featuring power electronics and spoken word, industrial noise with a harsh ‘explosive’ quality, shouts and screams, a Satanic ritual, and the militaristic drumming of an infernal army.

01 – Hz 412 / Introduktion
02 – Algiz – Konvergence of Life and Death
03 – Satan Jugend
04 – Der Kampf geht weiter
05 – Satan Jugend II: Global Konquering
06 – Tyranor
07 – NBS Act I: Begravning
08 – NBS Act II: 14W

Nordik Battle Signs
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

The sound of collapsing civilization. Beyond noise, beyond power electronics, CAZZODIO are the slayers of your normality. Harsh, raw, decomposed, saturated fragments of mental distortion.

01 – Volontà Mutilata
02 – Ultimo Avviso: Insurrezione!
03 – Waste
04 – Geometrie d’Odio
05 – Submit to the Lord
06 – Pleasure Sequence
07 – Ad Negantem Usum Significationes
08 – Naked Lie
09 – Ingirumimusnocteetconsumimurigni
10 – Altre Danze Tra I Cadaveri dei Servi del Grigiore
11 – Il Significatio Attribuibile al Silenzio
12 – Submit to the Lord (Prey Robot mix)

Ad Negantem Usum Significationes
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

Droning, pulsating Power-Electronics at its very best with fantastic voice-samples and frightning-hard vocals. A masterpiece of swedish analog Terror-Electronics!

01 – Awakening & Bravery
02 – Low Cost / Lost Cause
03 – Lessons Learned the Hard Way
04 – Bringing Down the Heat
05 – Lead Song (Negative Approach. STP.)
06 – Continuity
07 – Uppror I Kasban
08 – End of All Hope
09 – Werewolf Training
10 – The Warprayer
11 – Only Failure is Immoral
12 – Predators in the Urban Jungle
13 – After the Fact
14 – De Ridderliga Soldaternas Väg / Sic Semper Tyranis
15 – Deliverance from the Claws of Their Final Grasp
16 – What Works is Good

Continuity
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

By request. Satanic Skinhead power electronics-noise. This is a rip of the soldout LP version. Buy the CD here.

01 – Werwölfe
02 – Systematische judischer Vernichtung
03 – Verus Malum
04 – Hammer arischer Dunkelheit

Hammer of Aryan Terror
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

“HATEKOD is a French cold power/electronic project with strong ideologic topics”

01 – Germ of Decadence
02 – Brainless Audience
03 – Kill Z.O.G.
04 – A World to Cleanse

Death to Democracy
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com

Dedicated to Luigi Russolo

1.    Vidas Ocultas
2.    El Ruido por el Odio
3.    Dissonância Futurista
4.    Existência Humana
5.    Sociedade Clandestina
6.    Tortura Psicológica
7.    L’arte dei Rumori
8.    Tiempos de Muerte
9.    Machine Of War

Download

This album is also available at:

TRASHFUCK NET / Records

Black Bloc is an anarchist power electronics artist from New York State, USA.

www.myspace.com/blackblocpe has a great deal of lyrical material available, as well as samples of recordings.

BLACK BLOC: First off, thank you so much for wanting to ask me some questions and giving me an opportunity to speak outside of a performance. Thank you too for asking some interesting questions! With that said, I hope both the person asking the questions, and the people reading these replies are doing well and involved with some wonderful things wherever they may be located at.

CLOAK OF DIN: What are the issues, themes, images, or topics with which you are
most consistently obsessed or possessed?

BLACK BLOC: A good question right off the bat.  The short answer for me is that struggle is my obsession…and I suppose love. I understand that is very, very broad and I will break it down into not so vague terms.

For me personally, everything I do is motivated by the struggle for a better world…a struggle taken out of love for people despite our obvious short-comings. Struggle for a better world I feel requires struggling to be better ourselves. So every personal struggle I have such as my emotional issues, to just relaxing with my friends, is all related to the broad struggle. This is not to say I cannot relax and have a fun time, laugh at things, laugh at myself…I do not take myself overly serious, but I think for people who see Black Bloc play, or who see the page, or anything to do with this project, that they get this idea I am some ultra-militant, super serious person that can never be relaxed and such. It is true that I look really stern and serious…I do not smile much outside of my social circle but that is more my own personal social awkwardness which admittedly I need to combat…and I work on that….but you combine that, with a larger male bodied figure of about 6 feet, 200 pounds, black boots, fatigues, spikes and patches, ratty hair, lots of scars….and intense images, performances and sounds…it is understandable why that impression could be had.

So for me, the struggle is life, a life long attempt at bettering my own self, to be able to be that world I wish to see, to be able to treat other people, as well as myself better…I think we all have a ton of shit to work on in ourselves. None of us are perfect nor will we ever be…but we certainly can treat each other better, unlearn a lot of this horrible shit we have been instilled with, and those of us who have faced extreme abuse of some form be it racial violence, sexual assault/rape/gender violence, emotional trauma…we often need to and can constantly be working on ourselves to not lose our humanity, to not become that monster, to still believe in and work for a better group of societies that is not instilling that horrible shit, not systematically churning out 10 year old rape victims, or mass producing self-hatred or  disharmony.

I have had a very intense personal struggle to overcome a lot of severe emotional issues that stem from numerous kinds of abuse that spanned well over two-thirds of my lifetime, and I am beginning to use those more personal experiences as topics for lyrics since it connects to the bigger picture. Going through that shit helped a lot to be able to see the patterns and help connect the dots of how fucked up we are, but more importantly helped me see first hand how fucked up things are here, and have a reference point of that to be able to speak from experience and say “hey, this should not be happening, how can we let this be happening??”

I guess it could be summed up that the issues and themes I deal with are ideas around the personal being political, how we all tie into the oppression, how we are all being victimized but all being aggressors too….I try to challenge this in myself for sure, but I also try to promote that ideal to other people as well. I also apply this to other
dynamics such as patriarchy, racism, sexism, equality, animal rights, primitivism, hierarchy…and they all fall under a broad classification of anarchism. Some other topics of great interest to me which have been touched on by Black Bloc are psychology obviously, armed struggle and nonviolence, waste culture and software piracy.

CLOAK OF DIN: It seems as if most people come to “noise music” indirectly, through other “extreme” genres or subcultures. Do you think this applies to you, and how did you realize that noise was the form for you?

BLACK BLOC: I would agree overall that people come to noise from other more extreme forms of music. That or I think they stumble upon it randomly. That is what happened to me really.

The first noise based thing I saw was when I was 18 in my little college town I live in. I saw a guy named Aaron Davis, who goes by Lost Earth Lock, playing these live sound collages using probably 15-20 pedals on the floor, and a guitar and a sampler. He was doing this type of dance with all the switching of pedals he was doing. It was absolutely incredible and I never had seen, nor heard anything like that ever. I got a tape from him that day called “The Greatest Artist Ever” which became one of my all time favorite recordings. I still listen to it regularly. At that point I knew I
wanted to do music and sound and a couple of years later that would start happening.

At the time I was not into anything too extreme…not in the sense I am today. Back then I was listening to the emerging trendy Norwegian black metal of Dimmu Borgir…Cradle of Filth…Moonspell, Type O Negative…Faith and the Muse and Dead Can Dance…it was not quite like today where I listen to 80 minute drone albums made of one solitary note…or listen to Knurl, or Phobia, or any funeral doom metal or depressive black metal….though I guess back in the late 90’s, that stuff was not trendy and was seen as extreme to some…

Anyway…I kind of found this stuff randomly by chance. Lost earth Lock was by no means anything like say Napalmed, Survival Unit, Merzbow, Masonna or anything extreme…but it was sure as fuck unique and unlike anything I have heard before or since.

I didn’t start getting into the more extreme stuff until Clint who was one of the guys in the doom metal act Long Winters Stare sent me some cd’s from his new dark ambient/experimental label. He sent me stuff from Vedisni, Monstrare, LS-TTL, and Necrophorous. Vedisni resonated as did Monstrare, though all the discs were really awesome. Vedisni was so brutal and haunting and vicious. I still love that album, some of the best dark ambient/black noise stuff I have ever heard to date, just some amazing sounds coming from 4 guys who knew how to bring it.

After those I started learning more about other projects like Whitehouse which did very little for me honestly. It was shock bullshit, high end abrasion for the sake of being shocking and different in my opinion. I was always more into the low end, filthy sounding material. Once I started doing music…I actually started a project called Romance In Tragedy which was me teaching myself piano and synth but I wanted to start experimenting rather quickly and ended up starting another project called Deconstructive Screwdriver Criticism, which allowed me to do material that was not written, not scripted etc. That project spawned every other project I did or do, including Black Bloc.

And as I began playing live I started getting exposed to more stuff through trades and such. Eventually found my way to stuff like Mourmansk 150 and Survival Unit which became some of my favorites along with Steel Hook Prostheses,  Napalmed, Knurl, Ex Order.

In all honesty, I do not think noise is for me, at least not totally. I enjoy it, I play it, some people think I do it good, but I am a person that needs variety and not constant routine. Black Bloc only started because I could not get a grind or crust punk band started, or any type of band started that could be a political outlet for me and allow me to
explore these things.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy playing very much. I enjoy listening to new stuff and classics at times but I am always shifting. Noise is probably the genre I listen to least in my collection. There is almost always a punk band, or post rock or ambient artist playing on my speakers, and occasionally I will get in that mood where I have to hear some vicious
and demonic walls of distortion.  And just as I shift a lot what I am listening to, I shift on what project I am focusing on…there usually anywhere from 2-4 active projects I am working on, including Black Bloc.

CLOAK OF DIN: Could you quickly sum up your non-musical connections to activist and radical circles? How do you feel your career as a noise artist fits in with your lifestyle and goals as an activist?

BLACK BLOC: I have very few connections to any activist circles but honestly, that is more a symptom in my opinion, of a shitty radical base in the US. I find that radical politics are in no way a movement here in the states, but a scene and clique no different than the punk scene and just as cliquey despite all the rhetoric of mutual aid, community and all that.

Before I get into what I am doing, and further developing thoughts on this subject, I want to mention something that happened to me that is relevant to this topic, and reflects on my first thoughts to this question. Back in September I was at a performance of a political play called Ulysses Crewmen in Buffalo. The play is a two person piece which was amazing and highly recommended if you get a chance to see it! I know they performed down in Pittsburgh on the day of the G20! It is some amazing writing that raises some really poignant questions we must be asking ourselves in the movement I think.

To top the night off there was a group discussion with the two who performed, and all audience members, where we sat around and asked questions and talked and debated about issues and such. It was really an amazing thing to be a part of.

So, as I got at a bit earlier in the interview, I deal with some emotional issues which make it hard to branch right out and be a social butterfly. I am not even close to the only person like this…I have found in my personal experience, that so many people are much more scared to get involved, to ask questions, to make their opinions heard…I think this is the effect of a type of psychological warfare that has us all so fucked up and beaten down and self-hating….much like the old SPK in Germany back in the 70’s and 80’s, I believe this system is sick and the resulting “mental illnesses” such as depression, and the like, stem from this systemic disease, it is bred.

So I raised the issue of psychology in this group talk, and more precisely how we can bridge this gap to get people who are scared and timid and shy, and make them feel welcomed in our spaces and projects? It is intimidating for new people to hear about grand juries, the green scare, and see how paranoid activist circles are, it is intimidating to me and though I am sure a lot of individuals wont admit it, they are just as terrified, if they were not I do not think the paranoia would be as bad as it is…of course nobody wants to be in prison or face huge fines and fees, none of us are in a great position to pay monetarily, and prison is something that is brutal one way or another, so it is understandable a bit why this paranoia exists, and I am not saying we shouldn’t be thinking about security and such, but it is to the point, I feel, that the radical “movement” has closed itself off, and it is not making it easy for new blood to get involved, despite knowing it needs popular support to survive.

Back to the discussion…the response I got was so disheartening and contradictory. Now, I know that every person is a paradox in many ways…and I believe in very, very few absolute things. But in my opinion, for the “movement” to say
things like “we all have our own battles we have to fight” in response to my point/question is lazy and naive…I find it a copout because not everybody is at a point where they can make that leap and be self-determined or self-assured or comfortable with certain things. I think that response takes out  the personal contexts of people like myself, who deal with social phobias, isolation, and self-worth issues. I find that approach very contradictory to the ideas of community, mutual aid, and the ideas that anarchism holds, and broader revolutionary theory that values the
individual experience and context as a base. As Malcolm said about whites during the black struggle…there is a place for them in the struggle against racism, they just cannot lead it. The same holds true for any oppressed group…they must be the leaders of their liberation, not the followers, and sometimes to be a leader one has to be a follower and learn to listen, understand, and step away from their bullshit ego.

So when I look back on that, I see how compromised the radical “movement” seems to be. The culture of society, the capital mainstream society of me now vs. totality later, has permeated even the radical circle, and it is displaying those very traits it fucking despises. And I think that is a huge, huge problem that needs to start being addressed instead of being brushed aside like we always have a tendency to do.

Now, as to what I personally do beyond this project, I started and run a portable infoshop here in western NY that tables at shows and events, selling books, zines, videos, patches, and also has a dedicated free section with papers, pamphlets, stickers etc. That project was started in hopes of bridging some gaps, getting some networking going and building some community strength. It has had a lot more personal success than movement success, but that is just as important because I have come away with some more solid ideas, critiques, and made some great advances in my personal struggle with my own issues.

I was involved with doing the Really Really Free Market in Buffalo over the summer but that is on hiatus currently.

As far as being in some group or anything, at this point I am not and honestly, I think people put way too much stock in that. I was putting all of my energy into that, trying to get it going, trying to start projects such as a reading group to build towards an affinity group, wanting to summit hop etc. I got burned out trying and got myself into a bad place emotionally.

I am working now at getting more into mental health activism, and have been an active participant in the Icarus Project forums recently. The wonderful people there have a lot to teach me, and everybody really, not just about mental health issues, but about the human experience, coping, and being a better person. It is without a doubt the most respectful place I have been involved with on the internet and I am proud to be a part of that community, learning, and maybe helping too.

These days my stance is that there is a lot all of us can do alone, or in groups. I hone my beliefs in interacting with my friends, lovers, families. I hone them by forcing myself to discipline myself and practice what I believe, learning to be self-motivated and work toward living as freely as possible and undermining static routines and oppressive structures how I can at this point as one person…and there is a lot we can do like this. We can distribute information so many ways which can build our creativity and also our courage…for instance..I try to come up with new ways to get info to people…so I stole some rubber bands, wrap up catalogs, nor’easter issues, or whatever, and I become a paperboy…I fill my shoulder bag, walk around my town and put them on door steps or in mailboxes. In the realm of building courage and honing your mind, wheat pasting posters, putting up incendiary stickers, or tagging things works wonders, as does dumpster diving and learning to steal as much as you can.

None of this alone will even come close to collapsing this fucked up system, but it does hone us and put ourselves in a position that is more ready to fight in whatever manner is needed. For me personally, since I started getting involved I learned to make paste, got back into pretty good physical condition, worked on a lot of my personal issues and confronted them head on, learned to solder, and just became more equipped as a person, be it radical critique or just supporting a friend. It all ties together in my opinion. And if the time comes where I meet like minded people who are committed, I will be ready and able to work with them.

CLOAK OF DIN: How long have you been doing your current project, and how did it start?

BLACK BLOC: Black Bloc started back in late March/April 2007, playing its first show in the first week of April that year.

It evolved, as I said from my first experimental project DSC. I wanted to do stuff in a more dedicated power electronics style…more harsh and brutal. The other aspect that factored in was failing to get a crust band going, which is something I have wanted to do for years. I love that style but it just happened or happens here…so I applied my politics to this project, as well as an influence from crust punk. I figured it may be even better because then it is not “preaching to the choir” (even though I was told that I was in my lyrics.) I found, and still find very few dedicated, outspoken, explicitly anarchist positions in noise and power electronics. There are some I came across after starting, but I dont think any put their politics as the basis for the project, that is fine, and I am saying nothing bad about them, just an observation. There are a couple radical based projects though which deserve mention…far more mention than this one I think…Suburbia Melting I find amazing, same with Shallow Waters their lyrics are so good! I also greatly enjoy Mourmansk 150.

CLOAK OF DIN: What do you feel are noise’s connections to punk rock or hardcore? Would you like to see these connections grow?

BLACK BLOC: Interesting question again! I think they share a lot in the clique-based scenes, the elitism, lack of introspection, and fucked up social values. This is not to say every punk, or every noise kid is an arrogant asshole. There are amazing people in every scene you could go to be it rap or noise or goth or metal or punk. I find though that no matter which scene you’re in, the building of walls is so fast over arbitrary shit…the punk kids bicker about whats punk, shit talk emo, and then scream “equality.” Then you have hardcore kids saying “fuck street punk, its all fashion” and blah blah blah. I hate that shit, and I believe that anybody that would tell me I am incapable of revolutionary activism, or that I am a shitty anarchist because I have had mohawks, because I wear spiked and patched vests and clothing, is fucking ignorant. That stuff has NO bearing on what I can or cannot do in those movements. None.

I would like to see any connections grow. I am all about cross pollination of scenes. Why are noise people not playing rap shows and vice versa? There is room for all of this stuff, none is better or worse, its all subjective. Like what you like, but respect anybody doing something creative or meaningful or something to better themselves as a person, even if it is in a style or scene you don’t enjoy personally.

CLOAK OF DIN: Do you feel that the inherent harshness or dissonance of noise makes it a genre particularly resistant to recuperation into pop culture? Do you think noise will ever go mainstream in the sense punk has?

BLACK BLOC: Theres already shades of this I think, with post rock becoming pretty damn popular, but even more so groups like Flaming Lips etc who use weird sounds and the like. No its not power electronics by any means, but regardless, I do not believe anything is immune to being co-opted. I also think that is more individual based…if a movement is strong it will not be co-opted, even when individual bands or people are.

Punk is still very much alive and well, even the underground shit. Crust punk is full of great bands, as is hardcore and even street punk. Despite bands that have went on to make decent money or get decent exposure. Punk is by no means a social threat like it was back in the 70’s when it exploded…then again maybe that was only shock value and no real threat…I would be more inclined to say punk was never a threat, just shock. Same as noise. Those things only become threats when they build awareness to power and challenge it…and lets face it, there are not many, if any bands out here now doing the things Crass did…shit like the Thatchergate tape and direct actions. I may be completely disconnected, but it seems like a lot of the bands going let their activism end with their band, or low risk, low level liberal shit…not many are involved with say the ELF or ALF, or in the Zapatista struggle, or any more risky activities…and I think until they/we are doing more serious actions or activism or whatever …our scenes are no threat. I think a good place to start for making punk/noise/insert name here a threat, is to start eliminating scenes as we know them, bridging gaps, becoming informed, learning and teaching each other, and building a welcoming and legitimate community.

Though these scenes may be no threat, they can however, be money making sometimes…but being money making does not mean you were/are a threat, and because something was bought out does not mean it was co-opted to diffuse it.

Then again, what the hell do I know?

CLOAK OF DIN: Are there any upcoming events or releases about which you’d like
readers to know? Any closing words?

BLACK BLOC: Don’t wait for events to happen, make them happen right now. We can die in a moment, if you don’t think that I hope you do not face what I faced…having a good friend die unexpectedly fucks with you, and it hurts a lot when you eat the words “next time, I promise.”

I encourage anybody to get in touch with any questions or general hellos. I like interacting with people and making new contacts and friends, or engaging in dialogues on issues. black.bloc(at)riseup.net

To anybody dealing with emotional or mental health issues, get involved at the Icarus Project. www.theicarusproject.net

I am not one for plugging releases much…Black Bloc was on recording hiatus for about a year…did a track for the anti-nazi noise comp put out by RJ Myato down there in Pittsburgh. The only other thing that will be recorded is a split with the Buffalo grind-crust band called Ancients of Earth. They were formerly Brain Pollution and they are brutal stuff. One of the best in Buffalo and so fucking overlooked here. We played down there at Roboto together actually, and we hope to come back in the future, with maybe more than 10 people showing up haha. But yeah we will be doing a split soon. My track is about earth liberation…will be “studio” version of Ecocide which I played a couple of times  over the summer. Thanks so much for the good questions and opportunity to speak out a bit. Please take care of one another and be well.

By request. Blast this shit at full volume and rape someone/something!

01 – Urethral Soundings
02 – Satanic Rage
03 – Tie ‘em Up, Take ‘em Down, That’d Be It
04 – Send You to the Devil
05 – Seethee
06 – King of Kings
07 – Kill Eyed
08 – City Girls Do It for 30 Bucks
09 – Indecent Liberties

Indecent Liberties
PW: heavyelectronics.wordpress.com