NEW MUSICK

'It's never too late to fall in love'

by Sandy Robertson

THROBBING GRISTLE are so away from the new wave - scene (sort of) and so totally reviled by the standard music fans (at least, by those who've heard them) that I assumed that they'd be just aching to get within talking distance of a tape machine in order to grind out a potted version of their own philosophy/history, not to mention protest loudly about how they were unfairly abused by the press after questions were asked in the House about their infamous show (remember those tampons?) at the ICA a few months back.

I went down to see 'em at this place in Hackney where they all hang out. Looks like a set from 'Coronation Street' only they have it full of ravenous cats who scurry around wildly at the first scent of my potato crisps. Plus I don't think Elsie Tanner would have the paperback of 'The Velvet Underground' (pornbook inspiration for the legend of the same name) nestling on her shelf next to various texts by Aleister Crowley.

After they all got themselves fully awake we attempted 'the interview'. But as Genesis P-Orridge (bass/vocals) later commented, it was all couched in pretty general terms. It did emerge that they think the new wave is mostly "regressive", and that they feel its exponents "Pretend that nothing ever happened for the last twenty years… that they've just invented rock n roll. All you have to do is say you're new wave and you can get gigs in London." They're also not too keen on the technical musicology side of things, even in the limited ways in which the punk bands are. Remember the page from one of the fanzines which showed a couple of chords and urged the reader to form a band using his new found knowledge? Not radical enough, kids.

"It starts with chords. They're saying 'Be like everyone else, you gotta learn to play'. You can start with no chords, why not just say 'Form a band and it doesn't matter what it sounds like or whether you even make a noise, if you just stand there silent for an hour, just do what you want!'.

"Its like in the art world, you find a recognisable trademark. Somebody decides that what you're doing is a slight shift but recognisable enough to be marketed. That's what these groups are doing - a slight variation in clothe or in the balance of the 3 guitars end drums, but its exactly the same product. Evsrybody wants a nice steady job, they wanna be safe."

Yes, but what about some good old subversion: infiltrate, THEN show them your disease? Like, er, Lou Reed with his Metal Music assault on the collective consciousness of RCA/the heavy metal public? Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson (tapes/machines): "that's like Rock Hudson doing a book of photographs. People who are famous, when they do something different from what made them famous, everybody just says, 'Oh yes, he's being a star. Genesis P is similarly unimpressed: " 'Rock n Roll Heart' is an abortion! And that's what he did on his last tour. He didn't do 'Metal Machine Music' on tour, did he? How many years did it take him to bring it out, anyway? And he's spent quite a lot of time apologising..."

Peter: "If you're a musician to make money, and also because music is what you feel strongly about, then inevitably its bound to get confused."

This group don't mix bizness und pleasure, however, as they are all qualified to earn a crust by other means. Gen has just finished working on an encyclopaedia of modern artists for a major publisher, Sleazy is a partner in Hipgnosis (the album cover people), Cosey Fanni Tutti (lead guitar) is a model, and quiet man and electronics mastermind behind the group, Chris Carter (keyboards). It's all too obvious that they are truly dedicated to the concept of Gristle just from looking at the large amounts of money (from their own pockets) which has been expended on electronics and other equipment.

They have an album in the works (reviewed this issue) and (honestly) a disco single too. Gen wants it to be something that "People meet and fall in love to in Brixton." Well, why not recoup some of their investment by going the whole route and assuming the identity of a punk group in order to get a recording contract, then blast em with whatever you want real soon after? You don't need to take years like ol Lou, I mean what about my hero, Mr. Kim Fowley? Doesn't he use the industry as a power tool? Apart from that old bugbear 'integrity', there are other reasons why they prefer to remain outside the mainstream of rock n roll...

Gen: "Who is Kim Fowley subversive to? He isn't actually changing the system, he's just witty enough to use it… If I had to choose between being one of the groups he has or being him, I'd be him 'cause he's aware of what he's doing, he's very conscious and he's in control but he isn't subversive in the sense that he's actually really changing anything or altering the way people think."

So they're determined that if you like them, it'll be on their own terms or not at all. Do they have fans?

Chris: "Some people find they don't like it at first... but it grows on them." At 18 gigs (approximately) in 18 months, they don't see it to be exactly pushing themselves. Thing is, they are determined to take everything at their own pace; they'd love to appear on 'New Faces'(!) and the cover of News of the World but they simply don't feel they have the time/effort to expend on things which might gain them quick fame and/or popularity, but no long term respect or credibility. Ah well, I get the general idea. But l still feel frustrated at not actually having grasped the essence of what they are trying to say in terms of a concrete philosophy. Its like clutching at phantoms.

This is still bothering me when we reach the Rat Club (a nebulous arrangement, currently having its home in this funny pub near Kings X) for the premier of the group's new film, 'After Cease To Exist.' We have time to spare, so we discuss such topics as Gen's obscenity trial (fined £300, I think, if you're interested), his fascination end correspondence with various murderers/assassins, why a lot of his mail gets opened/goes missing, and why Scotland Yard view him with more than slight suspicion. In desperation I tell him that I can't get any coherent argument/philosophy out of him/them. Turns out almost everyone who has interviewed them couldn't make an article out of what they got, or else had it rejected by their editors.

See, if this was Patti Smith, or most anyone for that matter, I'd get a straight statement of intent at least, a linear train of thought. But not from these guys; they don't HAVE any dogma. Gen has a file of documents on his trial in book form. In it is a letter from William Burroughs stating that "Genesis P-Orridge is an artist in the Dada tradition" (so are the rest of Throbbing Gristle by association, I assume). Now Dada was anti-art; creative anarchy early this century. This could be significant! A clue at last!

We go back and watch the movie (note the Manson song reference in the title). The soundtrack is 20 minutes, the film only 10. So you get an overture and coda. A speedy b/w image of a live gig. Cut to a table, where Cosey ties Chris down, cuts off his jeans, then gets the scissors and...wekk, the sight of those two realistic testes being gouged, snipped, amid oozing slime/blood did nothing for the club's patron's digestive systems. Flashes of Sue Catwoman sans makeup, wearing wig. Tied to bed, doing nothing. More live snots/end. The music grinds on like… well, they don't like comparisons but I'd say a fair estimate would be Nice/Eno slowed down end played simultaneously. They tell me the other side (for this is half the album) is totally different. I suppose I like it, sort of.

Genesis asks me if I'm beginning to understand a little more what Gristle are all about. I'm not sure... they're certainly not about any one thing. So...I'm an optimist, I don't enjoy confusion, but I like them. I think they are important, they could be anything...

Dadaism was the chaos which bred Surrealism, which in it's purest form was a new romanticism. Patti quoted Breton, 'Beauty will be convulsive or not at all.' Its never too late to fail in love.

Source: Sounds, 26 November 1977



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