Interview

Richard Johnson Of Agoraphobic Nosebleed: "That’s Part Of What Defines Our Sound, The Drum Machine."

Chaotic. Spastic. Destructive. All these adjectives describe Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s brand of unkind grind. The group along with Pig Destroyer, who shares members, are one of Relapse Record’s flagship grindcore bands. Since 1994, the band has released a epic list of recordings through split 7-inches, label comps and four full-length albums. The Massachusetts-based group is known for blasting out minute-or-less-length tracks, many at five seconds or less. This means a long list of tracks on each album including 100 tracks on “Altered States of America” (2003). The group’s last full-length “Agorapocalypse” (2009) contained songs a bit more substantial in length, although the album is still gonzo in many ways.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed is also known for using multiple singers, including current screamers Kat Katz and Richard Johnson, who trade back and forth lung-piercing wails. The group also paved the way for grindcore bands to use drum machines. Before only their second ever full live performance at Housecore Horror Film Festival 3, singer/lyricist Richard Johnson joined me for a chat about the band’s brief tracks, use of drum machines, influences and the group’s future plans.

Rex_84: How do you feel about playing Housecore Horror Film Festival? Are you going to watch any of the bands or the films?

Richard Johnson: I haven’t caught any of the movies. That’s the unfortunate first thing. The unfortunate second thing is I’ve only caught a couple of the bands. There’s been some running around so I haven’t hunkered down and gone “I want to see this, this, this and this!” So I’m hoping to do more of that as the festival goes on, but I’m loving it.

Rex_84: When was the last time you played a show? You don’t play very often.

Johnson: This is just the second one. The first one was Maryland Deathfest. If you want to be technical, the first time we actually performed live was at New England Metal and Hardcore Festival. That’s where Pig Destroyer played and then Agoraphobic Nosebleed came on and just did three songs. And it wasn’t announced. We just tacked that on at the end of Pig Destroyer’s set, so we are calling this the second real live show we’ve had because this is a full set, instead of something you can call impromptu. The first time Pig Destroyer and Agoraphobic Nosebleed are going to do shows together will be at the Netherland’s Deathfest in February. Both bands are on the bill, not on the same day.

Rex_84: So John [Jarvis] has some time to rest?

Johnson: He plays bass in both bands. He takes a breather. Same thing with Scott [Hull]. Since he’s on guitar in both bands.

Rex_84: Relapse is perhaps the greatest label for grindcore. Brutal Truth, Cripple Bastards, Exhumed, Kill The Client, Pig Destroyer, Repulsion and others. How do you feel about being part of a fraternity of greatness in this field?

Johnson: (laughs) I like working with Relapse a lot. My association with them pre-dates Agoraphobic Nosebleed. I had a band [Enemy Soil] that had put out a 7-inch and they took a couple of songs and put them on a couple of compilations. Because, you know, they put out these comps all the time. They just put out another sampler. Yet another one. They did a re-issue of that 7-inch recently, which was really nice. I like that a lot.

Rex_84: What led Agoraphobic Nosebleed to use a drum machine?

Johnson: I think it’s the same thing that most bands that play this kind of music do. They can’t find a drummer that understands the music or has the chops to play it. I’ve done the same thing with that band that was put out on Relapse. We had a drum machine. Eventually, we found a drummer and stopped using the machine. So with Agoraphobic Nosebleed that never changed. We just kept it. That’s part of what defines our sound, the drum machine.

Rex_84: When you perform, will it be with a drum machine?

Johnson: Yes.

Rex_84: Agoraphobic Nosebleed is a pioneer of drum machines in grindcore bands. There is a good example of this in Texas with the death metal band called Insidious Discrepancy who only has one member. He just plays guitar and has samples.

Johnson: Yeah, and he plays shows that way?

Rex_84: Yes. How do you feel about other bands using drum machines?

Johnson: The thing is about how you pull it off. Just like it costs money to be in a band and buy equipment and go from place to place, this band and other bands that play with a drum machine have to be able to pull this thing off, too, live. Everybody has their own opinion when you go see a drum-machine band play live if they’ve done a good job or not. It’s not just how the machine comes across, it’s how they programmed it, how the band is doing, so I’m sure it’s totally nutty to see. I think I’ve only seen this one other time. My other band played a show with a guy. He did the same thing. I think he had a laptop going into a PA. It was all that stuff, with the drums and he had samples. He had this thing where, unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the band, but he used a lot of “Simpsons” samples. That was just his shtick. And you know, it was a lot of fun. So I guess I take one-man, one-woman bands with a grain of salt because you can’t look at them the same as, I don’t know, Autopsy. It’s just not the same. So that’s a long-winded answer to say “go for it.”

Rex_84: Agoraphobic Nosebleed has released four full-length recordings but the meat and potatoes of your career is in 7” splits and other small formats. What do you like about releasing split albums with bands on vinyl?

Johnson: Yeah, it’s fun to get together with another band we’re friends with and do a split. That’s what bands always say. “I’d love to do a split with you guys,” each band will say that to the other one, so it’s good fun! It comes across better on vinyl than it does on CD. This other band I have, we did a split with Antigama. What we did there was vary the tracks. We had one. They had one. We had one. So you don’t go, “here’s a block of all them and there is a block of all of the other band.” We stole that idea from Napalm Death. They did a split with Coalesce. They staggered the tracks on the CD.

Rex_84: That’s cool. You can compare bands.

Johnson: Yeah. And it’s also good because up until now we never played shows, so you keep your name out there by pumping out releases, so you do that with splits.

Rex_84: You have 100 songs played in 22 minutes on the “Altered States of America” album. How did you arrive at so many songs? Did you plan on doing 100 songs?

Johnson: Well, this is a technical point, but the way I refer to it is 100 tracks. When you listen to it and actually watch the counter go by, there are not a 100 songs that have lyrics on that record. The thing is, we’re packing a 100 different moments, a 100 ideas onto a 3-inch. That was just another crazy idea that Scott Hull and Jay Randall had. Scott had to hide one of the tracks because you can only put 99 on a CD. So we did the same thing with “Agorapocalypse.” There is track zero. That came out and I’m sure people thought “what crazy thing are they doing this time?” We did another one of those. It’s a blast! That record was nuts.

Rex_84: How did you fit all the song titles into the CD insert?

Johnson: I guess it’s just all small print, right? And plenty of pages in the booklet.

Rex_84: So you couldn’t put it all on a one-sheet?

Johnson: Like a four-page? No.

Heavy Metal About.com says 'Agorapocalypse' “is the most purely musical thing Agoraphobic Nosebleed has ever recorded.” It’s certainly contains some of your longest material. First, do you agree with that statement? If so, why did you decide to take this direction?

Johnson: That’s just the influence of Scott Hull. He writes all the music and he records it all. That’s just him growing as a song writer. It sounds a lot different than an earlier record like “Frozen Corpse Stuffed with Dope.” That’s the first one I appeared on. Actually, that’s not true. That’s not the first record I appeared on. Anyway, I see where they are coming from because there is more room for competition. So those earlier records like “Altered States” and “Frozen Corpse” are not like that. The thrust of it was different. Paint broadly are not the right words to really mix it up with a lot of different ideas and cram them all on a record and he really went outside the box, so to speak. Yeah, so I guess “Agorapocalyspe” is a little more traditional, but there is still some stuff there that other bands won’t do. I mean, it’s got a drum solo on it. That’s the first thing that comes to mind. When somebody asks, “What’s the strangest thing about Agorapocalypse?” What else am I going to say? It has a hidden track and a drum solo.

Rex_84: You released the “30 Song Demo” cassette in 1995. Will we possibly see more tape releases in the future? Cassettes are kind of coming back.

Johnson: I don’t know if anyone has approached us about doing a cassette or even putting out one of our future records on a cassette. I don’t know. I haven’t thought about that. Yeah, it’s coming back, but it’s still a limited thing. If I did a cassette, I would want a download code so that people that don’t have a tape deck will be able to play it. A lot of people don’t have a tape deck. I assume it’s still easier to buy a turntable today than a tape deck. It’s old school. I’ve still got my tape deck. I’ve still got some of my tapes.

Rex_84: What kinds of tapes do you have?

Johnson: I still got all of these old records that I bought back in the day. I’ve got the second Cro-Mags record on tape, the first Godflesh EP on tape. I have some demos. Stuff like that. All kinds of stuff. I’ve got the first REM record on tape.

Rex-84: Do you have any Repulsion or Napalm Death?

Johnson: Come on, I have a ton of Napalm Death records, mostly on CD. I think I’ve got two of their records on tape. I’ve got “Horrified” on CD. I think it’s one of the re-issues that Relapse put out, not one of the earlier ones.

Rex_84: How important were Repulsion and Napalm Death on your sound? Were these influential?

Johnson: Napalm Death was majorly influential for me as a writer and probably the political/social lyrics I like to write. Repulsion, not so much. In a way, I was influenced by death metal. I put them in a death metal category because of their imagery and lyrical content. Yeah, Napalm Death is such a major influence on me. It can’t be understated, I think.

Rex_84: When did you first come into the band?

Johnson: I first came into the band on the split with Laceration. That was like a fill-in thing. I just sang. I wrote the lyrics and sang on the split with Laceration. I joined the band when they were in the middle of “Frozen Corpse Stuffed with Dope.” I haven’t been on every record since then. Some of them I haven’t been on. For example, I wasn’t on the split, a major one, with Apartment 213. I wasn’t on that record. I think that record came out after “Frozen Corpse.” There are a few splits I haven’t been on, here and there.

Rex_84: There have been a lot of band members in Agoraphobic Nosebleed, right?

Johnson: Yeah, there were a lot of singers that came in to record and played on different records before Jay [Randall] and then Jay was our mainstay. Then, people would come in like one of the guys who sang on “Frozen Corpse” and “Altered States” is not in the band now, Carl [Schultz]. To give you one example. Kat [Katz] came in later on vocals.

Rex_84: What’s next for Agoraphobic Nosebleed? I understand you have a few splits and even full-lengths coming out.

Johnson: The main thing is our solo records. We’re working on Katz’s solo record. It’s going to be a doom record. We don’t have a release date. We’re going to keep going with this.