Wednesday, July 26, 1995 - The Michigan Daily - I
ear Factory build on their expanding fan base
Kirk Miller bum," Bell said. "So we had to create a to do yet, because all the cool stuff has Possibly improving their audience
ily Arts Writer vision of what we wanted. We didn't already been done, so we've got to do base will be the fall tour with no other
When done right, a good science fic- have a story line, but we had a concept of something really cool and different." than the unretired Ozzy Osbourne and a
n movie can make the most cynical having a futuristic feeling along the lines That's all well and good, but having couple of high profile side projects in the
wer say "Cool!" Musically that effect of 'Blade Runner' and 'Terminator 2.' I a sound and vision ahead of their time band, including Bell's collaboration with
Fear Factory, the futuristic industrial / write the lyrics after the song is written. and somewhat based on the currently Ozzy / Black Sabbath bassist Geezer
tal hybrid for people who normally ... It turned out to be a concept record, untrendy thrash scene might not play Butler coming out on TVT records and
er far away from either of those and the concept is of a certain individual well in Peoria, or Pine Knob for that mat- two other band members dallying as un-
ids. struggling against a machine-like soci- ter. Given music's current state it was a derground Mexican death metal drug
"In our beginnings we had a lot of ety. ... He's trying to let other people surprise that the band charted on lords Brujiera. There's even a remix al-
sh / death types," lead singer Burton know the importance of individuality. Billboard's "Heatseekers" and made it bum cleverly titled "Remanufacture" in
1ll explained of their fan base. "Now And that together it can work, collec- on to the cool industrial soundtrack for the planning stages, which if anything
e get all sorts of fans ... everybody tively as individuals, to 'demanufacture' the movie "Hideaway," but Bell thinks like their previous remix album might
ems to like this record." the society."(And yes, Bell claimed, it the best is yet to come. get some airplay and club play.
The record is "Demanufacture," a can be a comment on today.) "I think we have potential," he Maybe we'll even see their cool
sncept album that doesn't let the con- Unfortunately the band hasn't been hoped. "I think people want something video for "Replica" on MTV in the fu-
pt get in the way of dramatic, heavy able to bring the visual element they new and Green Day is on the outs and ture, if the channel decides to ever repro-
tng structures. A slightly unusual direr- want to stage, especially with their six- Offspring is on the outs, even though gram hard music. It's a nifty ode to
on for a band on the verge of song, fourth-band-on-the-bill placement they're selling 4 million records. That "Blade Runner," which brings up an-
effersons"-style "moving on up" but opening for Megadeth this summer. sound came and went already 10 years other point; cool sci-fi movies like that
se that came naturally. "We can't afford it," Bell laughed. ago, while our sound is completely and "Star Wars" began their lives with
"We had four months to write this al- "We haven't been able to figure out what new." dorky names like "Do Androids Dream
Foetus is reborn with reissues and a tour
of Electric Sheep?" and "A New Hope"
respectively, so you know there's one
lurking in Fear Factory's background.
"We went from 'Creeping Butter-
cup' to 'Fear Factory,"' Bell laughed.
And the world was a little brighter from
that moment on.
y Ted Watts
aily Arts Writer
For the past 15 years or so, J. G.
hirlwell has been creating
nclassifiable soundscapes resembling
verything from punk to dance music
er various permutations of the name
oetus. Foetus Interruptus, Scraping
oetus Off the Wheel and Phillip and his
oetus Vibrations are only a handful of
xamples. But on his current release,
Gash," the band name is simply Foetus.
(The different names were due to) dif-
rent intentions for different records,"
aid Thirlwell. "And pure perversity. I
eel I've got that out of my system, strip
down to plain old Foetus."
The music, however, is as compli-
ed as it ever was, if not more so.
ongs vary vastly in their genre from
Liz Phair - "Juvenilia"
An EP with seven new songs from
Ms. Guyville.
Bone Thugs N' Harmony -- "E.
Eternal"
The Health and Happiness Show
"Instant Living"
Tasty country-folk-rock.
Soultry - "Soultry"
Earth Eighteen - "Butterfly" #
Glam-rock at its finest.
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track to track. "I compose something,
then feel I need to move on to something
else. I don't want to write 10 punk rock
songs in a row. Once I've got one out of
my system, I might want to move on to
an overture, and then a big band song,
and then whatever I feel like at the time.
FOETUS
When: Sunday, July 30
Where: St. Andrew's H all
Tickets: $10 in advance;
Doors open at 8 p.m.
Sometimes all of the above in the same
song." Thirlwell is not exaggerating. The
big band-esque "Slung" is sandwiched
between the dirge/kiddie song "They
Are Not So True" and the punk/house
"Steal Your Life Away." Foetus is not a
band that gets in a rut.
Well, Foetus albums are actually a
bit obsessively named. They all have
four letters in the title. "It's a thematic
thing. No, actually I considered stopping it
after I'd done 10, butI definitely like the
idea. I think it looks good. Ilike using triple
entendres in the titles. It's aconcept,man."
The art on Foetus works was also
purely drawings by Thirlwell until the
current album. "'Butterfly Potion,' a
single I did, to my artwork to a logical
conclusion. And when I was recording
'Gash,' I was wondering where I could
take it next. I was recording it in Times
Square, and one night I left the studio
and was walking around. I looked up,
saw the Jumbotron and it struck me how
sick it would be to take over Times
Square. And after alot of wheeling and
dealing and button pushing, I actually did
it,"chuckled Thirlwell.The final productis
a tasty photo of the Times Square
Jumbotron and surroundings taken by Alex
"Bill of Bill and Ted" Winter, with a
Thirlwell rendered graphic on it.
Of course, to see how Foetus has
changed since the earlier '80s, you need
some of the older stuff to compare to the
newer stuff. And fortunately, we are in
the midst of a Foetus reissue frenzy. Two
singles are going to be released from
"Gash," Big Cat has just rereleased five
Thirlwell albums, and Thirsty Ear is in
the middle of rereleasing five. "Hole"
V f
Hey you, Flock of Seagulls.
and "Nail" have been released, and
"Sink,""Thaw" and "Dirtdish" are being
released this month. "Basically, I've got
13 CDs coming out this year." Try to top
that.
Anyway, with a touring band that in-
cludes Jim Kimball of the Laughing Hy-
enas and Dave Reed of Don Cabellero, the
Foetus stage show certainly must be some-
thing to see. And since it's been at least
three years since the last tour, who knows
when you'll next get a chance to view it?
1.(
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