The rain washes everything,

The hope, the feeling,

The sky is falling,

The sick and the teething.

The conscience drains

And the mother mimes

Sounds babies make

In the echoes of time.

© Jesse Naish

(Source: e-m-p-t-y-s-e-t, via diablosita)

I watch how

The strings lift

Your dead weight bones

Back to standing, with a moan.

The tea sinks,

Like medicine

Your heavy mind

Gets loud.

© Jesse Naish

(Source: freebirdfeia, via tits-n-stuff)

I’m dead in the trenches;

In a river of rats.

There’s a vulture circling,

With the eyes of a cat.

I’m dead in the water;

Lost at the back of a skull,

Take me down to the river,

Crown my head with laurel.

© Jesse Naish

(via parchemin)

* Normopathy
Psychiatric theorist Christopher Bollas invented the idea of normopathy to describe people who are so focused on blending in and conforming to social norms that it becomes a kind of mania. A person who is normotic is often unhealthily fixated on having no personality at all, and only doing exactly what is expected by society. Extreme normopathy is punctuated by breaks from the norm, where normotic person cracks under the pressure of conforming and becomes violent or does something very dangerous. Many people experience mild normopathy at different times in their lives, especially when trying to fit into a new social situation, or when trying to hide behaviors they believe other people would condemn.

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(Source: io9.com)

I was lucky enough to catch the new Japanese Voyeurs video before release from a friend who directed it. I’m a big fan. 

I’ve been following the band since last year, not purely out of fanaticism, but partially out of curiosity and intention. Their rise seems to have been swift, and no doubt they deserve it, but it leaves me wondering how such an underground, unfashionable, un-orthodox band has made it out of the deep water. Now signed to Fiction (the same label as the legendary Cure), Japanese Voyeurs seem to not be able to do a thing wrong. There is a lot we could learn from Romily and the guys. 

So this leads me to question, why is this band different to the hundreds of grunge/metal inspired bands out there on the unsigned market? Is it purely down to the sound, or does it have something to do with the unique female vocals, or the non-musical side projects that keep the listeners visually content? I have heard mixed reviews on Romily Alice’s voice, from ‘whiny’ and ‘annoying’ to my own view that her voice compliments the dark, heavy musicality of the songs in a way that adds a completely original and characterful tone. So perhaps Romily’s voice is a unique is a selling point, although it is definitely one of those things that has to grow on a person.

This leads me to focus on the overall personality of the band, and the tendency of both audiences and media to draw on the vivid, outlandish character of the band via the image and merchandise that has been present from the outset. ‘Slimeball Comics’ is a prime example of this, as the band have the freedom to doodle, scribble, polaroid and paste things of interest into a small booklet. Lyrics, thoughts, photographs all play a part in introducing the band, and to the fans, this feels like a great skate-punk d.i.y. method of getting to know their idols. It is something that sets the band apart from bands that stick to t-shirts and badges, and give the listener an insight into the ideas behind their favourite songs. Very much like their blogs (Romily’s ‘Heavy Child’, ‘Heavy Mind’, fashion scrapbooks and guitar effects pedal brand ‘Screaming Meat’), there are more personal ways to follow the band than through Kerrang!. Similarly the Merch they sell via shows and the net have a childish d.i.y. feel, such as the pink vinyl and the homemade ‘Slimeball’ Christmas crackers. The Japanese Voyeurs have successfully created a brand for themselves.

Of course the image of the band fits the bill perfectly as well, not mentioning the pretty and role-modelesque front woman, the London based 5-piece has an American stoner-skater image that ties in neatly with their style and is always consistent. Romily Alice seems to have broken past the female guitarist cliche and earned herself respect in the boy’s club that is still prevalent in the music industry even today. I have heard nothing but good things about the Japanese Voyeurs and expect them to have a huge success with ‘Yolk’ which is released next month.

Personally, I have yet to decide whether this band’s outbreak will have a great impact on the grunge music scene or be detrimental to any following bands. For me, this is a big concern, being myself very similar to Romily Alice, and I fear that they may create a hard act to follow.

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© Jesse Naish

Chinese Burns, You’ll grow into…

I should hate Bo Ningen. They are over-indulgent, pretentious, ostentatious, and I can’t understand a word of it. I simply can’t work out if there is some irony there, or if the guys have just stumbled upon this sound after having an acid trip to Black Sabbath whilst making notes on how to get as much attention from London crowds as possible. Everything about this band seems exaggerated..but strangely natural.

Before all this, they have an animalistic brutality and abandon in their music that is so rare, and so exciting right now. The four Japanese Londoners are a band that a 1960’s visionary might have dreamed up, not only proven by their florid stage wear reminiscent of a curtain catalogue, but for the dreamy, improvisational turns all over their self titled debut. Yet coming to songs such as ‘Koroshitai Kimochi’, it is clear that Bo Ningen are a very modern band, trying to shift new music in their direction. The time signatures are unpredictable, the vocal melodies indifferent to a toddler having a temper tantrum and the guitar solos seemingly random, yet underneath all this, Bo Ningen seem to have it all worked out. 

After some initial listening, I decided to delve into the history of this four piece to unearth how and why they have surfaced on the London scene. I like to take my time before researching a band’s background to avoid any possible disappointment. I let the music talk for a few weeks, and then if I like the music enough to want to know more I’ll tentatively consult Google. I simply hate it when a band turns out not to be what you imagined when you first heard them, a little like the disappointment you get when you see a movie adaptation of a book you love. (my first memory of this happening was with Stephen King’s Carrie…I still refuse to watch or even think about that movie…)

Bo Ningen met in Japan but arrived in London two years ago with the aim of creating a retro-future rock behemoth. Job done already it seems. They have a very real and deserved buzz as one of the best new live bands in the country. - NME

This brings me to another, albeit envy-driven, reason to hate Bo Ningen. How often is the music scene this receptive and loyal to an unknown band? To me, this sounds ridiculously like a well thought out plan. Don’t get me wrong, Bo Ningen have the talent and the vision to completely deserve the recognition they are getting right now in London, however knowing the London scene perhaps too well at times, I know that childish dreams of packing your bags and running away to the circus are just that, naive dreams. There must be something else to it.

Complaining aside, I think Bo Ningen are going to be one of my new favourite bands. They have some kind of integrity that makes them worth treasuring. As if the tightly woven riffs and the child-like vocals weren’t enough, they are brutally heavy at times with a pounding drive. I just can’t wait to see them on the stage.

© Jesse Naish

© Jesse Naish

I used to love this video when I was younger…no wonder I turned out the way I am…

© Jesse Naish

After seeing a beautiful little worn wood Gibson SG a couple of weeks back, and along with re-acquiring my first ever Billie-Joe Armstrong look-a-like guitar from way back, I decided to take on the challenge and d.i.y. it. So…It really needed a name after all this hard work and after reading so far into the whole nightmare mythology, I decided that nothing seemed more fitting than ‘Mora’. Here’s a picture of the neck minus the strings and machine heads, but plus a nightmarish scribble…

I wonder about all the things the brain does when we aren’t aware of it even being there. Psychology has always interested me, the way that the brain knows exactly what to do in each situation, and the way it has methods of ignoring us completely more often than not. If we had complete control over our minds, I wonder the changes it would make to us as machines. I fear it wouldn’t be in our best interest. 

I have been reading up about night phenomena recently, things like sleep paralysis and hypnogogic states, and the folklore that inevitably ties in with all things creepy. I especially love the German interpretation of sleep paralysis….

The Mora of Eastern European belief.

 Also known as Morava, Morica (Southern Slavic), and Zmora (Polish). 

From the German ‘Alp’ to the Anglo-Saxon ‘Mare’, the mora is the peoples interpretation of sleep paralysis, a demon that slips through small holes to infiltrate the sleeping mind causing discomfort and some even believe death. One becomes a Mora through ‘improper’ birth or conception.  Such events include being conceived or born in the “evil hour,” anomalies during the pregnancy or birth, or being unbaptized (the latter from Poland).  The Mora is the wandering soul of a beautiful girl or child (baby).  It is a living person who is an instinctive, unwilling evil-doer.  The Mora smothers or strangles at night or causes victims to waste away.  She is known as the demon who sits on sleeper’s chests.

Dr. David J. Hufford is the leading scholar on sleep paralysis and the discovery of the surrounding mythology. His book ‘The Terror That Comes In the Night: An Experience Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions’ is number one on my reading wish list…