American Heritage Interview with Adam Norden: “We’re Just Letting Ourselves be Whatever the Fuck We Are.”
Posted in Features on April 7th, 2011 by H.P. Taskmaster
According to that great purveyor of all interwebular knowledge whose name I don’t even need to mention because you all know it, it’s at least 12 hours in a car to get from Gainesville, Georgia, to Chicago, Illinois. Taking into account that that’s the trip drummer Mike Duffy had to make every time he wanted to show up to band practice, it’s kind of understandable why it’s taken American Heritage six years to issue Sedentary, the follow up to their 2005 Translation Loss debut, Millenarian.
Not only that, but the then-three members of the band — Duffy and guitarists Scott Shellhammer and Adam Norden — also had to deal with the issue of a bassist. As in, they didn’t have one. Most bands would either hit up Craigslist or go without, but perhaps in an effort to contradict the album’s title, American Heritage decided to call upon a host of players, from Bill Kelliher of Mastodon to Sanford Parker, who also recorded the bulk of the record.
So on top of their drummer’s hellacious commute, they wound up with the task of chasing down a bass player for each track on Sedentary, while also recruiting Erik Bocek to fill the role full-time. Oh, and Norden — who also handles vocals — completely reinvented the way he sings, moving from gruff hardcore growls to a semi-melodic cleaner approach, still rooted in shouting, but infinitely more decipherable than on the last album.
Come to think of it, maybe six years between releases isn’t that bad. I’d go on about the record, but you can read the review here if you’re so inclined. Better to get right to the Q&A with Norden, since there was a lot to talk about, including the lyrical thematics at play on the songs and the roots of the band’s choice of Sedentary as the album’s title, the sonic changes American Heritage has undergone in the last six years, the process of rounding up all those bassists and much more.
Complete Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.
Let’s say you’re American Heritage. You hail either from Chicago or Gainesville, Georgia, depending on who in the band you are, and you put out an album that gets some pretty sizeable critical response in 2006 called Millenarian on Translation Loss. Two years go by and you decide it’s time to start putting together your next album – but wait, your bass player isn’t with you anymore. Sure there are plenty of bands who go without these days, and with two guitars, you would probably be heavy enough in any case, but some people just like to make things difficult, and apparently you’re that kind of person. Or band.
One listen to the conscious “War Pigs” reference that caps off “Controlled by Lunar Forces” on White Summer/Black Winter (Translation Loss) and it’s all too obvious that Philadelphia instrumentalists Serpent Throne know full-well what they’re doing. Their third album overall following last year’s The Battle of Old Crow, White Summer/Black Winter is not only a continuation of the four-piece’s fetish for vinyl-ready ‘70s-style LP artwork, but is also a tour de force of classic rock, dropping riff-led nods like the above-mentioned with ease while integrating them seamlessly into the sans-vocal Serpent Throne sound. The pace varies throughout, if not the approach, and though they never quite hit the same kind of unhinged bluesy playfulness as the first Cactus record or the same cowbell-ly vibe of some of their Mountain climbing earlier work – their strengths more evident here in the Iommi-driven “Riff Forest” – they pull off an individualized sound within a well-established aesthetic.
Coincidentally, I was thinking about these guys the other day, in a “What ever happened to American Heritage?” sort of thing. Turns out they’ve got a new record dropping in the New Year. Needless to say, I’ve been wondering what ever happened to my millions and millions of dollars ever since this press release arrived. So far, no word on that.
at Chicago’s Semaphore Studios with Buried at Sea‘s Sanford Parker once again behind the boards, the 11-track album features a different bass player on each song including contributions from the aforementioned Parker, Mastodon‘s Bill Kelliher and Black Cobra‘s Rafa Martinez. After recording Sedentary, American Heritage added Erik Bocek (Joan of Arc, Ghosts and Vodka) as their permanent bass player.
full-length Quietly with a monstrous new EP, The Violence Beneath.
There must have been something in the accompanying press release that turned me off Columbus, OH’s Struck by Lightning initially, though I can’t remember what. Somehow their Translation Loss debut, Serpents, wound up at the very bottom of my to-do pile and I’m only getting to it now. Though the artwork had me thinking Converge for some reason and wondering if they’d even be appropriate for this site, once I actually popped the disc in and gave it its fair shake, discovery trumped assumption and the four-piece proved to not only have some of that hardcore vibe, but also a good deal of the new-school gangly-note prog à la earlier Mastodon or, you know, everyone else who bit off them over the last decade.
It?s hard these days for a band to maintain any kind of mystique. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and the preponderance of immediately accessible online zines has whittled down the rock star persona to lines in a label-scribed biography, for better or worse, and now when an act comes out and tries to withhold information about themselves, it seems more like they?re keeping secrets just to be obnoxious than like they?re full of any kind of mystery. Where are City of Ships from? I don?t know. They won?t tell anything more than ?United States.?
East of the Wall is excited to announce its new lineup. Joining the band are guitarist Chris Alfano and drummer Seth Rheam. Both played in the band Biclops with East of the Wall bassist Brett Bamberger and guitarist Kevin Conway. Due to the merging of the two bands? lineups, all music created by the aforementioned collective, along with guitarist Matt Lupo, will be released under the name East of the Wall. This will include the release of the group?s next record, Ressentiment, due out next summer through Translation Loss Records.
Their team may be down in the World Series as of Nov. 3 (Cliff Lee can?t pitch ?em all), but Philadelphia?s finest purveyors of thickened thrash, Javelina, are just hitting their stride. On their second offering for Translation Loss, Beasts among Sheep, they rip, tear, growl, feedback and scream their way through eight tracks (nine if you count the bonus) of righteous workingman?s fury, with just enough doom awareness to keep away from being a basement version of Slayer or whichever modern Slayer clone you?d want to compare them to.
changes or variety in the approach, though all three singers handle screams. The tactic is most effective on tracks like middle cut ?Arcadia,? where the voices combine or run in and out of each other, making the most of the differences between everyone?s individual contributions.
melodies seamlessly. Translation Loss Records will be releasing a three way split release from East of the Wall, Rosetta and Year of No Light late 2009.? The material is the ultimate precursor to what will be their stunning Translation Loss debut. East of the Wall have released records on indie label Forgotten Empire Records.
Records debut release titled Beasts among Sheep due out? September 29th, 2009, 
After the considerable buzz that surrounded them following the 2007 release of their debut, self-titled EP through Translation Loss, Boston?s Bloodhorse make a firm statement with Horizoner, clearly demonstrating there?s more to stoner metal in 2009 than Sleep worship or post-metal posturing. With nine tracks in just under 50 minutes, the trio update Kyuss riffs with beard metal sensibilities, pounding drums, and semi-melodic vocal shouts. It?s new school, for sure, but Bloodhorse?s up-from-the-basement aesthetic serves them well when it comes to unleashing their sometimes speedy charge.
Philadelphian behemoth Javelina shall unleash their sophomore album September 29th via Translation Loss Records. The aptly titled Beasts Among Sheep boasts eight tracks of the band’s ultra-brutal brew of sludge-inspired, streetfight gutter metal, as was witnessed on their 2008 debut self-titled release.
Damn thing just came out on Tuesday and the Boston/Brooklyn trio are already giving it away for free. I’m talking about Bloodhorse‘s first Translation Loss full-length, Horizoner, which follows up their impressive 2007 self-titled EP. The album is available in CD and 2LP form, with a fancy etching on the second vinyl disc for any hard core collectors out there. I’m listening to it for the first time now and so far so good. If you dig Torche, it might be a good way to spend some time.
