PRIMTS
quicksand
Although they'd never admit it,
New York City's Quicksand are the
epitome of the American Dream.
Sure, they've attacked and con-
demned truth, justice and the
American Way since day one, but
under their cold, ragged exterior
lies a band that have profited
through undying perseverance,
unwavering confidence and a little
luck. Harry Truman would have
been proud.
Quicksand formed in 1988 from
the ashes of NYC hardcore groups
Gorilla Biscuits, Youth Of Today,
Bum and Bold, but over the years,
Walter Schreifels (vocals/guitar),
Tom Capone (guitar), Sergio Vega
(bass) and Alan Cage (drums) have
garnished their rebellious punk
roots with a brutal metallic stomp
and crunch. Their gritty, melodic
debut album Slip, combines tune
ful screams, jagged guitar abra-
sions and heated urgency
But it didn't happen overnight
On tour with Fugazi two years
ago, Quicksand drove around the
country in the middle of winter in a
windowless van. "The place in our
neighborhood where we used to
park our van was under a bridge
where there was a lot of crime and
hookers. Our van got broken into
every night and we couldn't afford
to keep fixing the windows.
After a while, the hookers
started using our van as a
place to take johns. We'd
find used condoms every
once in a while," say Schreifels
In an effort to expand beyond the
boundaries of their homeland,
Quicksand threw together their first
European tour in less than ideal
circumstances. It was during the
Gulf War when the danger of fly
ing dramatically reduced the price
of tickets, and though the band
didn't have any gigs booked before
they got there, their burning
desire to play allowed them to
perform in small bars all over
Ireland and Wales. "We just played
anywhere we could," Schreifels
says. "It was wild. At this one tiny
Mysterious geeks bashing strange time beats,
Primus explores the realms of inner space on their new
album Pork Soda. Some might mistake them for
fragmented aliens inhaling helium or furious freaks
who communicate in garbled combustibles, but
truth be known, bass manipulator/vocal charlatan Les
Claypool says, "We're boring California guys, every-
body is surprised how boring we are."
When Primus chooses their weapons of musical
swordsmanship however, it's a horse of a different
lampshade, and riveting unearthly reverberations.
are the likely result. Low decibel cosmic strings
plummet into a dank abyss as spangled guitar.
splashes by in a mist of irrationals, Claypool mutters
in muted babble that coaxials down the percussive
alleyways of their latest forest of freaky songs.
"This album was pretty spontaneous," says Les.
"We went into the studio with not even half of it writ-
ten and had to whip some stuff out. We were
shootin' from the hip on this one."
Freed from any preconceptions about what Pork
Soda should sound like, Les, Larry and Herb created
a grooving volume of rambling, quirky dispositions.
"Hamburger Train" is a lengthy joy ride down a bent
rail line and over crossings of barking backlash. "Bob"
is a twangy stomp with a haunting aftermath of fuzz
and shimmer. And "Mr. Krinkle" calls out to a fiction-
al fuddy duddy in the grand Primus tradition.
Amid a hurdy gurdy of heady experimentation,
Les feels right at home. "It doesn't seem unnatural
to me because I've been doing it for so long," he says.
"I make love to my bass, I caress it."
place in Wales, a really mellow folk
band with harps and mandolins
opened for us."
"We were the first Americans
ever to play the town, but they
picked right up on it and were total-
ly into it," adds Cage.
These days, Quicksand's tours
are more easily booked and their
travels are a bit more comfortable,
but the band still thrive on their
own frustration. "Fuck, man. I'm
frustrated about everything. That's
what makes our songs intense,"
says Schreifels. "With hardcore it
-Dick Reimer
was, I hate the cops, the cops are
to blame,' but now it's definitely a
more cerebral thing-feelings of
loneliness and dissatisfaction.
Having your life fall short of your
expectations. Stuff like that."
"I think that the older you get.
the more you start to realize that
life is so complicated that you don't
even know what you're frustrated
about anymore," adds Cage.
"Sometimes you just wake up and
you can't even figure out what's
eating at you. But it's there."
-Jon Wiederhom
Chi
ENTER FOR THE
BRAND-NUBIAN
INTERVIEW
Out in '93 with their album, In God
We Trust, Brand Nublans have
come off again. After the break up
with Grand Pubs, people wondered
what would happen with the Brand
Nublans. But not to be concerned,
with Lord Jamal, Sadat X and
Sincere, the Brand Nublans have
remained strong so ever
What happened over the recent
break-up with Grand Puba7
Basically, we all came together and
got a deal. Got in the door, got some
recognition, but once we got to a cer-
fain point, he wanted to do his own
thing and we wanted to do our own
thing, so we just did it like that
How's your relationship with Puba
since the break-up?
It's cool as always. We don't really
see him that much. We doing our
thing, we're not really in the same cir-
cles too much no more. We'll see
each other and there ain't no, there
ain't no thing.
Talk to me about in God We Trust.
The concept behind the whole
album is to trust in yourself. Don't rely
on any outside forces to guide you in
life. The black man is God so we say.
In God We Trust." We not looking up
to no presidents or no mystery gods to
take us out of a situation. No one else
could make the album but ourselves.
ERIC
MONROE
That's why we did all the production
ourselves. In God We Trust is just a
message to all black people: trust in
yourself, look within yourself.
What is "Black Star Line" all about?
Basically, it's just about Marcus
Garvey, how he had the back to Africa
movement. It's about freeing your
mind, opening your mind and accept-
ing and understanding the truth. We
knew Redd Foxx through a mutual
friend. He liked our stuff, we liked his
stuff, so called him, we hooked up
and put it together.
It's good to go physically back to
Africa and definitely go home. We
can't all do that, but we got to mentally
get back to ourselves, get on the
Black Star Line mentally. Free your
mind. Take that back to Africa notion
that Marcus Garvey had with those
ships and get your own mental ship.
Your music is very Islamic based,
which is exemplified on the "Meanin
of 5%, why do you choose to come
off in that manner?
'Cause that's what we know. It's our
duty to teach that. It's not our duty to
go around the issues. Selling records is
not our first duty. Our first duty is to
teach. People be worried they might
not want to buy it. Can't worry about
that, you just gotta do what you feel is
real, and that's what we do.
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