"I just want to make heavy brutal shit that makes people feel anything at all."
My friends Heather and Seth play in a band called HIDE that - in addition to offering a disorienting and bludgeoning live experience - creates pulsing, lurching soundscapes that I think are some of the best sounds to come out of Chicago of late. Their 2018 debut full length is called "Castration Anxiety," and I think it's fantastic - so I got them on the podcast to talk about it - as well as the relationships in behavior between repeatedly watching funny YouTube clips and enjoying minimalist music and the usage and subversion of religious iconography in HIDE's visual art.
Check out more from Heather, Seth & HIDE here:
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Show Notes
- [01:23] Seth wasn't into pop punk growing up. Heather was on tour with pop punk bands, but only liked "real punk." And sitting with albums and listening to them deeply in the pre-internet era.
- [10:45] The association between live performance and recorded music – and filtering the amount of content you consume through the lens of live performance. And how the spirit of HIDE relates to Heather's punk background and Seth's metal background even if the surface aesthetics may be different.
- [27:53] Overanalyzing repetitive watching and listening behavior in viral videos as well as music. And what is the role of repetition in HIDE's music? And how do Heather and Seth balance competing desires for minimalism and variation?
- [50:42] Use of symbols and iconography in association with HIDE's imagery, and Heather's bizarre and uncomfortable experiences with the way that people react to their body in art, in performance and in daily life
- [1:08:21] Humans are humans no matter where they go, and engage in shitty behavior even in subcultures that ostensibly value more progressive views – and the reaction of creating online "call out culture" is probably not the best response
- [1:23:00] Check out “Castration Anxiety" and do whatever you want – as long as it is exactly what Seth wants you to do
Links and Resources Mentioned
