Neurosis – Through Silver and Blood – Interview

Neurosis

Through Silver and Blood (Relapse)
An interview with guitarist/ vocalist Steve Von Till
by Chris Dick

California’s Neurosis have been pushing the boundaries of extreme music for some time now. With almost all of their records being acclaimed items, it’s no wonder they’ve been swiped up by the entrepreneurial enterprise known as Relapse/Release Records. Neurosis recently released the follow-up to the mind-blowing Enemy Of The Sun, ambiguously titled Through Silver And Blood. This record sees these tribesmen branching out in almost unheard-of dimensions as they fluidly incorporate influences ranging from hardcore to brutal psychedelia.

How do you feel about making the switch from Alternative Tentacles to Relapse/Release? Obviously, the companies are very different from one another.
It feels good. It was a deal-to-deal relationship with Alternative Tentacles. It was basically however long we wanted to stay with them; we just felt it was time to move on. We wanted more thorough distribution, really. We wanted more of a push behind this record. The Relapse people are really cool. They’re our own age and are really enthusiastic. We needed that kind of relationship.

The Souls At Zero record was probably your most melodic, but ever since then, Neurosis have seemed to move away from that melodic and streamlined sound. Enemy Of The Sun was the mediator, more or less straightforward, and Through Silver And Blood is somewhat more experimental.
Souls At Zero was the first release where we used keyboards, samplers, tapes, and all that, so it was our first experience with that kind of technology. I guess it was a natural progression for us, but from the beginning of Neurosis, we’ve always wanted to go further and further away from a conventional record. So yes, Through Silver And Blood is a more experienced and experimental record.

Do you think you’ll ever stop yourself from becoming too experimental? Or is that where Tribes of Neurot comes into the picture?
I hope not (laughing). It’s not really a conscious effort, but it was when we first formed; we just thought that’s what the band should do, the foundation of the band. It hasn’t really been too much of a conscious thing, we just listen and see what happens. Sometimes things make a mess of themselves, but a lot of the time it’s those things which turn out to be the most interesting. Tribes of Neurot has really nothing to do with Neurosis – well, it does, but in an indirect sort of way.

Originally, Neurosis was, dare I say, a punk band. Which brings me to the whole MaximumRockNRoll incident claiming Alternative Tentacles and Jello Biafra aren’t punk anymore. It appears MRR have done what they basically said they’d never do; they set boundaries, or defined the current state of punk rock.
Oddly enough, when we started, we were a three-piece playing loud music. That’s the saddening thing about MaximumRockNRoll, because punk, to me, was something that came from within and had no boundaries. Now everybody is saying this Green Day and Rancid stuff is punk. I think it just constantly redefines itself. For me, the best bands were the ones that sounded different and were interesting. MaximumRockNRoll turned me on to a lot of bands that I’m glad I’ve heard of. Bands like Big Black, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, and Pussy Galore all came from MaximumRockNRoll. It doesn’t seem like they even cover these bands now (that’s because the majority of them have signed to major labels; but oddly enough, none of them sell as much as the trendier-than-thou bands like Offspring, Bad Religion, etc… – CD) . They say Jello isn’t punk anymore because he was involved with Mojo Nixon, but when you start saying stuff like that, it boils down to musical formula – that’s not what it’s about! It’s about the lifestyle, it’s protest music if you ask me. I’m not complaining, but we’re still an independent band and we’ve been around for ten years now. We don’t get the hype that most bands in MaximumRockNRoll get, while they’re still in the magazine.

Do you think you’ve pushed yourself out of that scene? I’m being biased when I say that Neurosis paints a much broader textural picture than 99.9% of the punk that’s currently circulating. The music of Neurosis is more like philosophy through technology.
Yeah, maybe, but that’s a tough question. I do know that they have killed their broad range of audience with that maneuver. I don’t know if we kicked ourselves out of the scene. We’ve been very radical and different (isn’t that the embodiment of punk, people? – CD), so we’ve realized that we appeal to a certain audience. Music should open more people, regardless of style.