Jump to content

Braindead Soundmachine: Difference between revisions

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
m Added link to Outer Circle (band)
m Added short description
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile app edit iOS app edit App description add
 
(6 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|American industrial rock band}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Multiple issues|
{{Tone|date=July 2008}}
{{Tone|date=July 2008}}
Line 16: Line 17:
}}
}}


'''Braindead Soundmachine''' were an American [[industrial rock]] band founded by [[Cole Coonce]], Warren Croyle (aka "Mr. Reality"),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lacitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/?id=1217&IssueNum=66 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601045340/http://www.lacitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/?id=1217&IssueNum=66 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-06-01 |title=Los Angeles CityBeat - THE (NOT SO) INVISIBLE HAND OF DOOM |date= |accessdate=2020-03-19}}</ref> and Lee Howell (aka "Ikky Shivers"). Eschewing the [[industrial music|industrial]] genre, they coined the name metaldisco in reference to their musical style.
'''Braindead Soundmachine''' was an American [[industrial rock]] band founded by [[Cole Coonce]], Warren Croyle ("Mr. Reality"),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lacitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/?id=1217&IssueNum=66 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601045340/http://www.lacitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/?id=1217&IssueNum=66 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-06-01 |title=Los Angeles CityBeat - THE (NOT SO) INVISIBLE HAND OF DOOM |date= |accessdate=2020-03-19}}</ref> and Lee Howell ("Ikky Shivers"). Eschewing the [[industrial music|industrial]] genre, the band coined the term "metaldisco" in reference to their musical style.


==History==
==History==
After Coonce and Howell quit the Long Beach art-rock band [[Outer Circle (band)|Outer Circle]] in 1984, they founded Braindead Soundmachine in [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], United States, in 1989 with speed metal record producer Croyle. The trio conceptualized "metaldisco," a genre that melded [[Black Sabbath]] riffs topped by disco rhythm guitar and ethereal female vocals. The sound was rounded out by Shivers, a Los Angeles sound engineer, whose aural contribution consisted of non-musical screeching noises coerced from his collections of refurbished vintage analog synthesizers.
After Coonce and Howell quit the Long Beach art-rock band [[Outer Circle (band)|Outer Circle]] in 1984, they founded Braindead Soundmachine in [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], United States, in 1989, with speed metal record producer Croyle. The trio conceptualized "metaldisco," a genre that melded [[Black Sabbath]] riffs topped by disco rhythm guitar and ethereal female vocals. The sound was rounded out by Shivers, a Los Angeles sound engineer, whose contribution consisted of non-musical screeching noises made from his collections of vintage [[Analog synthesizer|analog synthesizers]].


Following Coonce's edict that "singers are like spark plugs, you screw them in and then you screw them out," Braindead utilized the services of sundry female vocalists, including those of Joan Jones from [[Sun 60]], Khalsoum Salloum and JenJen (Jenny Homer from [[Downy Mildew (band)|Downy Mildew]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=downy_mildew |title=Downy Mildew |website=TrouserPress.com |date= |accessdate=2014-08-21}}</ref>).
Braindead uses female vocalists, including those of Joan Jones from [[Sun 60]], Khalsoum Salloum and JenJen (Jenny Homer from [[Downy Mildew (band)|Downy Mildew]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=downy_mildew |title=Downy Mildew |website=TrouserPress.com |date= |accessdate=2014-08-21}}</ref>). The band followed the ethos that "there are no mistakes", with only one rule: "no chord changes."<ref name="NewsReview">{{cite web |date=2005-01-13 |title=Reno News & Review - No mistakes - Book Reviews - Arts&Culture - January 13, 2005 |url=http://www.newsreview.com/reno/Content?oid=23944 |accessdate=2014-08-21 |website=Newsreview.com}}</ref> The band's approach to making music was also informed by its insistence that Yoshi, a Japanese transgender woman working as a cocktail waitress in East Hollywood, was in fact "Dogvillasan," a deity (or "Coyote God") summoned by the group in the song of the same name.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTJa1M_4HLU | title=BRAINDEAD SOUND MACHINE - DOGVILLASAN (Official Lyric Studio) | website=[[YouTube]] | date=14 May 2023 }}</ref>


[[Image:Brainded-bandshot.jpg|thumb|300px|Braindead Soundmachine: (l,r) Ikky Shivers, Mr. Reality, Khalsoum Salloum, Cole Coonce]]
[[Image:Brainded-bandshot.jpg|thumb|300px|Braindead Soundmachine: (left to right) Ikky Shivers, Mr. Reality, Khalsoum Salloum, and Cole Coonce]]


⚫
In 1990, Braindead procured a recording contract with Chicago's [[Wax Trax! Records]], which put out the band's first long-playing compact disc, ''Come Down from the Hills and Make My Baby''. Singles from that album included "I'm in Jail,"<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kOueo_n4KQ | title=Braindead Sound Machine - I'm in Jail | website=[[YouTube]] | date=8 May 2023 }}</ref> and a cover of [[Patsy Cline]]'s "[[Walkin' After Midnight]]" (whose release included remixes of the song produced by [[KMFDM]] founder [[Sascha Konietzko]]).
The band followed a simple ethos that "there are no mistakes",<ref name="NewsReview">{{cite web|url=http://www.newsreview.com/reno/Content?oid=23944 |title=Reno News & Review - No mistakes - Book Reviews - Arts&Culture - January 13, 2005 |website=Newsreview.com |date=2005-01-13 |accessdate=2014-08-21}}</ref> with only one rule: "no chord changes".<ref name="NewsReview"/>

The band's approach to making music was also informed by its insistence that Yoshi, a transplanted Japanese transvestite working as a cocktail waitress in East Hollywood, was in fact "Dogvillasan", a deity (or "Coyote God") summoned by the group in the song of the same name.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTJa1M_4HLU</ref>

In 1990, and with the band's theology, philosophy and musical approach finalized, Braindead procured a recording contract with Chicago's [[Wax Trax! Records]], which put out the band's first long-playing compact disc, ''Come Down from the Hills and Make My Baby''.

⚫
Singles from that album included "I'm in Jail,"<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kOueo_n4KQ</ref> and a throbbing, discordant cover of [[Patsy Cline]]'s "[[Walkin' After Midnight]]" (whose release included remixes of the song produced by [[KMFDM]] founder [[Sascha Konietzko]]).


In 1992, Coonce scored the [[Greg Araki]] indie film ''[[The Living End (film)|The Living End]]'', a queer road movie that also featured Braindead's version of the [[Jesus and Mary Chain]] song that gave the film its title.
In 1992, Coonce scored the [[Greg Araki]] indie film ''[[The Living End (film)|The Living End]]'', a queer road movie that also featured Braindead's version of the [[Jesus and Mary Chain]] song that gave the film its title.


As Wax Trax! began to succumb to an eventual collapse and bankruptcy, Braindead sought to extricate itself from their contract.
As Wax Trax! began to go bankrupt, Braindead extricated itself from their contract.

⚫
With their release eventually granted, Braindead's second album, ''[[Give Me Something Hard I Can Take To My Grave]]'', was distributed on Shiver Records in the US, and Artlos in Europe.

The group disbanded in 1994 during pre-production for its never-released third album, after Mr. Reality suggested taking the band's ethos of only using one chord per composition into further musical deconstruction by mandating new songs use only "one note," an idea that Coonce found unworkable.


⚫
Braindead's second album, ''[[Give Me Something Hard I Can Take To My Grave]]'', was distributed on Shiver Records in the United States and Artlos in Europe.
⚫
After its creative collapse, the three founding members quit music and procured employment as sound engineers in game shows and the adult film industry, as documented in Coonce's memoirs about the music business, released in 2005 and also entitled ''Come Down from the Hills and Make My Baby''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Qp7USDa7nIC |title=Come Down from the Hills and Make My Baby - Cole Coonce - Google Books |accessdate=2014-08-21|isbn=9780971997714 |last1=Coonce |first1=Cole |year=2005 }}</ref>


⚫
The group disbanded in 1994 during pre-production for its never-released third album. Later, Mr. Reality suggested only using one chord per composition by mandating that new songs use only "one note," an idea that Coonce found unworkable. After it, the three founding members quit music and procured employment as sound engineers in game shows and the adult film industry, as documented in Coonce's memoirs about the music business, released in 2005, also entitled ''Come Down from the Hills and Make My Baby''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Qp7USDa7nIC |title=Come Down from the Hills and Make My Baby - Cole Coonce - Google Books |accessdate=2014-08-21|isbn=9780971997714 |last1=Coonce |first1=Cole |year=2005 |publisher=Kerosene Bomb }}</ref>
⚫
In 1995, the band re-grouped for its final musical endeavor, recording the source music in [[Dan Zukovic]]'s cult film ''[[The Last Big Thing (film)|The Last Big Thing]]''. With its scathing satirical attack on the entertainment culture of Los Angeles, the film's ethos is quite similar to Braindead's.


⚫
In 1995, the band regrouped for its final musical endeavor, recording the source music for [[Dan Zukovic]]'s cult film ''[[The Last Big Thing (film)|The Last Big Thing]]'', a satirical attack on the entertainment culture of Los Angeles.
⚫
Eventually Coonce changed occupations and became a freelance drag strip journalist of some renown,<ref>{{cite web |title=Introducing the panel |url=http://www.nhra.com/50th/top50/panel.html |website=NHRA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509183850/http://www.nhra.com/50th/top50/panel.html |archive-date=9 May 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> writing for publications as varied as ''National Dragster'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nhra.com/dragster/2003/issue07/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051224014135/http://www.nhra.com/dragster/2003/issue07/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2005-12-24 |title=NHRA: National DRAGSTER (Issue 7 February 28, 2003) |date= |accessdate=2020-03-19}}</ref> ''[[Hot Rod Magazine]]'' and ''[[WIRED]]''. This pursuit peaked with feature-length book on the history of the [[land speed record]], ''Infinity Over Zero''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hhJUczjM2rMC&q=infinity+over+zero |title=Infinity Over Zero: Meditations on Maximum Velocity - Cole Coonce - Google Books |accessdate=2014-08-21|isbn=9780971997707 |last1=Coonce |first1=Cole |year=2002 }}</ref>


⚫
Eventually, Coonce changed occupations and became a freelance drag strip journalist for publications ''National Dragster'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nhra.com/dragster/2003/issue07/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051224014135/http://www.nhra.com/dragster/2003/issue07/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2005-12-24 |title=NHRA: National DRAGSTER (Issue 7 February 28, 2003) |date= |accessdate=2020-03-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Introducing the panel |url=http://www.nhra.com/50th/top50/panel.html |website=NHRA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509183850/http://www.nhra.com/50th/top50/panel.html |archive-date=9 May 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> ''[[Hot Rod Magazine]]'' and ''[[WIRED]]''. Later, a feature-length book on the history of the [[land speed record]], ''Infinity Over Zero''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hhJUczjM2rMC&q=infinity+over+zero |title=Infinity Over Zero: Meditations on Maximum Velocity - Cole Coonce - Google Books |accessdate=2014-08-21|isbn=9780971997707 |last1=Coonce |first1=Cole |year=2002 |publisher=Kerosene Bomb }}</ref> In 2007, JenJen collaborated with Coonce on a new musical venture entitled Prozac Pop Machine. Their first single is "Shampoo" and is currently available as a podcast-only.<ref>[http://www.kerosenebomb.com/Shampoo.mp3]{{dead link|date=August 2014}}</ref>
In 2007, JenJen collaborated with Coonce in a new musical venture entitled '''Prozac Pop Machine'''. Their first single is "Shampoo" and is currently available podcast-only.<ref>[http://www.kerosenebomb.com/Shampoo.mp3]{{dead link|date=August 2014}}</ref>


Croyle is now CEO of the multi-media conglomerate Reality Entertainment.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reality-entertainment.com/music/index.html |title=Reality Entertainment Music |publisher=Reality-entertainment.com |accessdate=2014-08-21 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140321203951/http://www.reality-entertainment.com/music/index.html |archivedate=2014-03-21 }}</ref> Originally an outlet for ponderous and aggressive speed metal bands, in 2006 Reality signed seminal disco music stars [[KC and the Sunshine Band]] to a recording contract, a move which Croyle heralded by stating that: "KC has affected generations of music lovers around the world, we are thrilled to have KC on the Reality roster." It could be argued that with its signing of KC and The Sunshine Band, and by finally synergistically melding heavy metal with disco, Reality Entertainment succeeded where Braindead failed. Ikky Shivers died in June, 2001.
Croyle is now CEO of the multi-media conglomerate Reality Entertainment.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reality-entertainment.com/music/index.html |title=Reality Entertainment Music |publisher=Reality-entertainment.com |accessdate=2014-08-21 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140321203951/http://www.reality-entertainment.com/music/index.html |archivedate=2014-03-21 }}</ref> Originally an outlet for ponderous and aggressive speed metal bands, Reality signed seminal disco music stars [[KC and the Sunshine Band]] to a recording contract in 2006, a move for which Croyle states that "KC has affected generations of music lovers around the world, we are thrilled to have KC on the Reality roster."


==Musical style==
==Musical style==
In interviews, Braindead has never been shy about citing their influences. They employed [[N.W.A]]'s hip hop [[drum machine]] sound, Black Sabbath's bass lines and the guitar stylings of [[Chic (band)|Chic]], [[Fela Kuti]] and Funkadelic. The floaty, dreamy and drolly defiant female vocals are reminiscent of [[Julee Cruise]] and [[Lesley Gore]].
In interviews, Braindead cites their influences. They employed [[N.W.A]]'s hip hop [[drum machine]] sound, Black Sabbath's bass lines and the guitar stylings of [[Chic (band)|Chic]], [[Fela Kuti]] and Funkadelic.{{Citation needed paragraph|date=March 2024}}


==Discography==
==Discography==
Line 63: Line 54:
* "I'm in Jail" (Wax Trax!, 1991)
* "I'm in Jail" (Wax Trax!, 1991)
* "[[Walkin' After Midnight]]" b/w "[[Everybody Everybody (song)|Everybody, Everybody]]" (Wax Trax!, 1992)
* "[[Walkin' After Midnight]]" b/w "[[Everybody Everybody (song)|Everybody, Everybody]]" (Wax Trax!, 1992)
* "Where the Pavement Ends" b/w "Soon Come, Goddammit" (Artlos, 1993)
* "Where the Pavement Ends" b/w "Soon Come, Goddammit" (Artlos, 1993)


==References==
==References==

Latest revision as of 11:45, 31 August 2024

Braindead Soundmachine
Braindead Soundmachine: Yoshi, Reality, Coonce
Braindead Soundmachine: Yoshi, Reality, Coonce
Background information
OriginLos Angeles, California, United States
GenresIndustrial rock
Years active1989–1993
LabelsWax Trax!
Nitronic Research
Play It Again Sam
Shiver
Artlos
Past membersCole Coonce
Mr. Reality
Ikky Shivers
Jenny Homer (aka "Jen Jen")
Bones Murphy
Khalsoum Salloum
Prince Num-E-Num
Bo Fingers
Websitekerosenebomb.com/braindead[dead link‍]

Braindead Soundmachine was an American industrial rock band founded by Cole Coonce, Warren Croyle ("Mr. Reality"),[1] and Lee Howell ("Ikky Shivers"). Eschewing the industrial genre, the band coined the term "metaldisco" in reference to their musical style.

History

[edit]

After Coonce and Howell quit the Long Beach art-rock band Outer Circle in 1984, they founded Braindead Soundmachine in Los Angeles, California, United States, in 1989, with speed metal record producer Croyle. The trio conceptualized "metaldisco," a genre that melded Black Sabbath riffs topped by disco rhythm guitar and ethereal female vocals. The sound was rounded out by Shivers, a Los Angeles sound engineer, whose contribution consisted of non-musical screeching noises made from his collections of vintage analog synthesizers.

Braindead uses female vocalists, including those of Joan Jones from Sun 60, Khalsoum Salloum and JenJen (Jenny Homer from Downy Mildew[2]). The band followed the ethos that "there are no mistakes", with only one rule: "no chord changes."[3] The band's approach to making music was also informed by its insistence that Yoshi, a Japanese transgender woman working as a cocktail waitress in East Hollywood, was in fact "Dogvillasan," a deity (or "Coyote God") summoned by the group in the song of the same name.[4]

Braindead Soundmachine: (left to right) Ikky Shivers, Mr. Reality, Khalsoum Salloum, and Cole Coonce

In 1990, Braindead procured a recording contract with Chicago's Wax Trax! Records, which put out the band's first long-playing compact disc, Come Down from the Hills and Make My Baby. Singles from that album included "I'm in Jail,"[5] and a cover of Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight" (whose release included remixes of the song produced by KMFDM founder Sascha Konietzko).

In 1992, Coonce scored the Greg Araki indie film The Living End, a queer road movie that also featured Braindead's version of the Jesus and Mary Chain song that gave the film its title.

As Wax Trax! began to go bankrupt, Braindead extricated itself from their contract.

Braindead's second album, Give Me Something Hard I Can Take To My Grave, was distributed on Shiver Records in the United States and Artlos in Europe.

The group disbanded in 1994 during pre-production for its never-released third album. Later, Mr. Reality suggested only using one chord per composition by mandating that new songs use only "one note," an idea that Coonce found unworkable. After it, the three founding members quit music and procured employment as sound engineers in game shows and the adult film industry, as documented in Coonce's memoirs about the music business, released in 2005, also entitled Come Down from the Hills and Make My Baby.[6]

In 1995, the band regrouped for its final musical endeavor, recording the source music for Dan Zukovic's cult film The Last Big Thing, a satirical attack on the entertainment culture of Los Angeles.

Eventually, Coonce changed occupations and became a freelance drag strip journalist for publications National Dragster,[7][8] Hot Rod Magazine and WIRED. Later, a feature-length book on the history of the land speed record, Infinity Over Zero.[9] In 2007, JenJen collaborated with Coonce on a new musical venture entitled Prozac Pop Machine. Their first single is "Shampoo" and is currently available as a podcast-only.[10]

Croyle is now CEO of the multi-media conglomerate Reality Entertainment.[11] Originally an outlet for ponderous and aggressive speed metal bands, Reality signed seminal disco music stars KC and the Sunshine Band to a recording contract in 2006, a move for which Croyle states that "KC has affected generations of music lovers around the world, we are thrilled to have KC on the Reality roster."

Musical style

[edit]

In interviews, Braindead cites their influences. They employed N.W.A's hip hop drum machine sound, Black Sabbath's bass lines and the guitar stylings of Chic, Fela Kuti and Funkadelic.[This paragraph needs citation(s)]

Discography

[edit]

Albums

[edit]

Singles and EPs

[edit]
  • "I'm in Jail" b/w "Dogvillasan" (Nitro Records, 1990)
  • "I'm in Jail" (Wax Trax!, 1991)
  • "Walkin' After Midnight" b/w "Everybody, Everybody" (Wax Trax!, 1992)
  • "Where the Pavement Ends" b/w "Soon Come, Goddammit" (Artlos, 1993)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Los Angeles CityBeat - THE (NOT SO) INVISIBLE HAND OF DOOM". Archived from the original on 2008-06-01. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  2. ^ "Downy Mildew". TrouserPress.com. Retrieved 2014-08-21.
  3. ^ "Reno News & Review - No mistakes - Book Reviews - Arts&Culture - January 13, 2005". Newsreview.com. 2005-01-13. Retrieved 2014-08-21.
  4. ^ "BRAINDEAD SOUND MACHINE - DOGVILLASAN (Official Lyric Studio)". YouTube. 14 May 2023.
  5. ^ "Braindead Sound Machine - I'm in Jail". YouTube. 8 May 2023.
  6. ^ Coonce, Cole (2005). Come Down from the Hills and Make My Baby - Cole Coonce - Google Books. Kerosene Bomb. ISBN 9780971997714. Retrieved 2014-08-21.
  7. ^ "NHRA: National DRAGSTER (Issue 7 February 28, 2003)". Archived from the original on 2005-12-24. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  8. ^ "Introducing the panel". NHRA. Archived from the original on 9 May 2008.
  9. ^ Coonce, Cole (2002). Infinity Over Zero: Meditations on Maximum Velocity - Cole Coonce - Google Books. Kerosene Bomb. ISBN 9780971997707. Retrieved 2014-08-21.
  10. ^ [1][dead link‍]
  11. ^ "Reality Entertainment Music". Reality-entertainment.com. Archived from the original on 2014-03-21. Retrieved 2014-08-21.
[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to Braindead Soundmachine.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Braindead_Soundmachine&oldid=1243249133"