By Sean Flinn | March 8, 2001
Minneapolis native Bryan Black long ago punched in his time card at the indie industrial mill. He hasn't punched out yet, placing him in league with a hard core of musicians who've somehow - probably through sheer will and talent -- managed to survive the drought that hit the US scene in the late '90s (hello rap rock!). And given the names of Black's two musical projects - h3llb3nt and haloblack - Black seems to like it that way; let it come down rough and tumble. The music will meet the mood.
Grabbing attention in 1995 with the release of decay, his first album under the moniker haloblack, Black proceeded to unleash an unremitting dark electronic noise storm equally fueled by crunching guitars, brutalized synths and seductive beats. And while his lyrics tend toward the well-mined territory of solipsistic nihilism, his husky, tortured, yet totally unpretentious voice manages to anchor his compositions well on the fair side of believability. It was on tour to support decay Black connected with 16volt's front man Eric Powell, with whom, he quickly discovered, he shared a desire to explore some non-guitar driven avenues within their genre. They hooked up with Chemlab vocalist Jared Louche, brought in legendary bassist Charles "Lovely" Levi (part of the Pigface stable a former member of the Thrill Kill Kult) and Servo from 16volt / KMFDM, and formed h3llb3nt, a more "devilishly playful" group than anything its separate members belonged to. The band released 0.01 in 1996 on Fifth Column Records to widespread acclaim, overcoming the often limiting "supergroup" label that usually weighs down aggregates of established musicians, winning new fans and carving out a niche for themselves that has yet to erode. The group's 1998 album, Helium, released on the now defunct Re-Constriction label, built upon the successes of its predecessor, introducing the band to an even wider audience.
After a three year hiatus that saw h3llb3nt's members pursue various non-musical side projects, the group reconvened this year, committed to treat the band as something more full time, and less periphery. The fruit of their labor? Hardcore Vanilla, an irresistible blend of synth-front industrial pop and smart-assed S&M poetry. Choler caught up with Black, now living and working in London, to quiz him on his h3llish past and present.
Sean Flinn: Let's begin, as they say, at the beginning: Give us a quick rundown on your background. Where did you grow up? When did you become a musician, and at point did you decide that dark electronic music was the road down which you wanted to steer your musical life? Were there any seminal life experiences or music-fan moments that affected your artistic perspective?
Bryan Black: I'm originally from Minneapolis. I think I was about 11 when I saw Purple Rain. That record had a great effect on me. But because my brother was a star musician (jazz guitarist), I was delegated the role of athlete. I always dreamt of [doing] something in film or music, but didn't actually act on it until I was 18. I had graduated from high school, and decided it was my time to do what I wanted. I went to work at a modern art gallery that summer and started buying keyboards and made house music as a way to learn how to sequence music on computers and keyboards ... I discovered alternative music around the same time, and watched [MTV's late great alternative music video show] "120 minutes" religiously. I was into Bauhaus, New Order, Meat Beat Manifesto ... my music got more dark and heavy as I progressed ... it came naturally. I was excited by raw energy. I wasn't into R.E.M. and that whole indie rock thing.
How about h3llb3nt's origins - everyone involved has other projects as well. How did this group come together? What made you want to work with Eric Powell from 16 Volt, Jared from Chemlab and "Lovely" Levi and Servo?
It was my first tour ... haloblack, 16volt, virus-23, and Bile. We toured about half the country and somewhere in California, Eric (16volt) and I got together and chatted about how fed up we were with all the guitar driven industrial music we surrounded ourselves with on a daily basis. We decided we wanted to go back to our electronic roots and make music that took itself less seriously. Levi was playing with me at the time, and I always appreciated his talent. Jared was working at the record label. He and I always talked about making a record together... it all worked out for everyone.
Let's talk a bit about the new album -- first off, why the title, Hardcore Vanilla?
Jared told a story about someone describing their sex life as being hardcore vanilla -- hardcore sex in a vanilla fashion (missionary). It suited the music very well. Everyone has their own take on it. Some people are convinced it means "white guys making hardcore music' or 'we're funky vanilla ice types who make funk music because we want to be black." It just lends itself to better jokes when we get all tired from doing the same interview day in day out.
How did this album come together? What motivated you guys to sit down and say, "OK, it's time for another h3llb3nt release"?
| "
Jared told a story about someone describing their sex life as being hardcore vanilla -- hardcore sex in a vanilla fashion (missionary). It suited the music very well. "
|
Eric and I (and Jared for that matter) all took a couple years off to pursue other interests after the first record (Wall Street, multi-media, film). It was about the time Jared and I started hanging out in London and Eric started 16volt again. We all wanted to do something different in between our other projects. After starting the record, it slowly started taking shape and we decided to treat it like a full time band, not a side project -- which is where we are at now. The record's come out, and we're preparing for some tours and keeping busy. The response has been overwhelming. I didn't realize that there was still a market for independent music in the U.S.
How much time did you spend writing and recording it?
It came together over a couple of months. Because of the budget restraints we couldn't all work in the same studio for the duration we would have liked, so we started conferencing sessions and mp3'ing ideas over the net when necessary with the goal of selling enough of this record to justify a bigger budget on the next record to do it all together without too much time restraints.
How did you hook up with Raymond Watts (Pig), Anna Wildsmith (Sow) and some of the other folks with whom you collaborated on the album? Have outside collaborations proven as successful as you envisioned?
I called Raymond out of the blue one day and we hooked up the same day. He really liked the music I was working on and suggested we both write stuff together for Sow (a project by Anna Wildsmith). We are about to collaborate on a new song. The track on the h3llb3nt record was a Pig song that he was playing with. I stole it. So, now we're actually writing a track together which I think will be interesting.
What does h3llb3nt provide for you, as a musical outlet, that your other project, haloblack, does not? Or do they pretty much serve the same impulse? What can you do in h3llb3nt that you can't (or don't allow yourself to) do in Haloblack, and vice versa?
h3llb3nt is more of a collaboration where I'm not writing the lyrics, the music and playing the instruments on every track. It's all divided up which makes it more enjoyable. We tend to take chances and gear things at the dance floor a lot more ... it's also going to take on some interesting performance art ideas into a live context that we've never experimented with before. There's no cock-rocking on this one.
Are you ever able to take anything away (lessons learned, new ideas, etc.) from h3llb3nt that benefits your other work?
Yes, I've learned some new technologies on this record which I will bring into the new haloblack record. I'm also more inclined to work with other musicians and look at different ways of visual communication.
You used to be signed to the fabulous Re-Constriction Records label, before it folded. Did the label's demise leave you in any sort of lurch? How has your tenure at Invisible been?
We're working on a track called 'label killer' for the next album. We've successfully broken up 2 labels -- 3 if you count Eric's thing at Slipdisc. We're pretty proud of that. No, really, it's all been good. We just work with whatever label goes along with our unreasonable demands. With Invisible, we get access to Martin who's a wicked drummer and producer/idea guy. Things are really coming along with the label and we're pleasantly surprised at how it's all unfolding. In light of all the b.s. going on with major labels, we're happy to maintain control and work with a label with some integrity. We're not being held up against manufactured pop bands.
The inevitable online music questions: In a recent interview with Noise Nation, Eric Powell mentioned that h3llb3nt uses mp3s to shrink your musical world - online music has enabled you guys to assemble an album while living in far flung locations. What are your thoughts on this? Beyond using mp3s and the Internet as a creative tool, what do you think of technologies like Napster, Gnutella, Freenet, etc.? (As a side note: has net access improved enough in the UK to make file sharing more attractive? I know a year or so ago, most people were still being charged per minute of use, which dissuaded people from spending long periods of time online downloading rich media files.)
| "
I'm sure Europe will always be about a year behind the US, which is fine, because Europeans will always be better lovers, so you can't fuck with that.
"
|
It's more common now to have 'un-metered access'. You pay a flat fee, about $15-20 /month and you can surf 24/7. Broadband access is improving. It's becoming less of a time/money issue and more of a bandwidth issue. I'm sure Europe will always be about a year behind the US, which is fine, because Europeans will always be better lovers, so you can't fuck with that.
As far as Napster, and whatever, it's a fucking wake-up call to the industry. We need a revolution of some sort to change the direction things are heading in. I'm all for fucking with a system that pays no favors for innovation -- one that has no appreciation for art. Music, to me, is still a form of art, expression. What are manufactured pop bands "expressing?"
Your music is easily available for download from the Emusic.com (along with every other album in the Invisible catalog), and you offer free downloads of tracks from your own Websites (h3llb3nt.com and thesickcity.com) - has this impacted your career at all? If so, how? What's the download traffic like on the files you guys offer up?
It's been crucial in getting the word out. We're attracting a lot of new fans on a daily basis. We don't have radio or MTV to work with, so we're very dependent on the net to spread the word. It's amazing how many emails I get [that read], "You guys rule. I never knew this type of music existed." But they all have the same 10 - 20 major label industrial rock / metal / rap albums because that's all they know about. With Hardcore …, we've opened the door even further with poppier tracks and a strong image that will translate into more exposure in the end. It sounds calculated, but it's not; h3llb3nt has always been about poppy hard dance hooks, and being devilishly playful.
What's up next for you? I've heard rumblings about a h3llb3nt tour …
Yeah, we're waiting for confirmation on some bigger tours, but are looking at some small tours with a couple of bands to get the word out until we have access to a large scale tour. We're also doing a video, and whatever we want because we enjoy these things. We are not part of the machine yet, so we're enjoying our freedom while we can.
| 
