In a day and age when it seems that everything has been done, very few bands still push the
boundaries of music like Neurosis. They combine music and art to stimulate all senses, taking
you through a stream of emotions and leaving your mind raped of everything human. From their
first album Pain of Mind to their newest album Times of Grace, Neurosis knows no limitations.
There has not been a musical effort of this capacity since Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.
Dave Ed and Scott Kelley shoot the shit about the Bay Area underground music scene in the
early eighties.
ow did you all
first meet?
Dave: I first
met Scott about
fifteen years ago while
cutting school. He
came up to me and
bummed a smoke. I
had seen him around
before, and we knew
all the same people.
We just hit it off. I
When did you guys finally make it out on
the road?
Scott: After Pain of Mind came out we hit the
States on our first US tour. It's funny; the first time
you go out, the tour is self-booked. You play a lot of
houses and small clubs here and there. If you're
lucky, you make enough money for gas and beer and
have enough left over to get you to the next show.
You make it to New York City where your show gets
canceled, and down to Florida where your van
breaks down. You go into debt to get home, and you
love every minute of it.
When did things start to
change for you?
Dave: Well, in '89, Steve
Vontill joined the band.
His character and creativ-
ity added so much to what
were opening to a pretty empty amphitheater, or
playing right under the headliner at an arena.
The last time I saw you was at your practice
pad with the formula for Times of Grace
written on the wall with little notes every-
where. How long did it take to write and
record the album?
Scott: It's been in the works for about a year. We've
just been on the road so much these last couple of
years. We started with guitar parts, which took about
three months. Then back out on the road. When we
got back it took eight months between road trips to
build a foundation for the
songs, letting them evolve.
Then we started
adding texture
and lyrics..
Those last few
weeks we
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SISOJNBU
"The guys
in the band
are like brothers to me."
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Jason, and me.
asked if he would be
interested in trying out
That was the start
for our band.
of Neurosis?
Scott: No that was
Violent Corrosion, our first band with Dave,
Fifteen years is a long time to have played to-
gether. What's that like?
Scott: The guys in the band are like brothers to me.
We have been through so many good and bad times
together. When one of us is weak, we can always rely
on each other to walk us through it, and to tell you
the truth that's what a brother is. Once we commit-
ted to each other, the rest just fell in place.
Did you guys start touring back then?
Scott: A few dates here and there-LA, Portland.
Nothing too much. Back then there was so much
happening here. At the time I lived in a co-op called
New Method, where bands like Corrosion of
Conformity, Necros, or MDC would be playing in our
living room.
110 THRASHER
we were already doing that it just pushed us into an-
other dimension. Our songs started to define them-
selves and evolve. Also, Noah Landis, who I met my
first day of high school and who had also played in
Christ on Parade, joined up with us to play key-
boards, samples, and sound effects. Peter Inc, who
has been around forever, and who had done album
covers for Attitude Adjustment, Econochrist, and so
on, joined the band as well to do our visual arts dis-
play. We've written five albums since then: Word is
Law, Souls at Zero, Enemy of the Sun, Through Silver
and Blood, and now Times of
f Grace
After the album Through Silver and Blood,
Neurosis went out on the road with the
Ozzfest. What was that like? And did you get
to meet the Ozz-man himself?
Scott: Yeah, we all got to meet Ozzy. He was a cool
guy-great sense of humor, and never came off
with that holier-than-thou shit, like some people you
meet in the music industry. If you ask me, the real
test of the crowd came when we played the Pantera
tour. We met Pantera on the Ozzfest and just hit it
off. They took us on tour with them. They're guys
of their word, so one day they gave us the call. It was
the difference between the Ozzfest for us, where we
were slamming ourselves to finish
up before we went off to Chicago to
record the album with Steve Albini.
What was it like recording with Steve Albini?
Scott: I've been a big fan of his for years. Not just
the warm sound he adds to the music when he
mixes, but also Big Black puts out some great al-
bums. He's like a scientist. Between us all it was like
a meeting of science and religion-him being sci-
ence and us being religion.
Is there anything else in the works for Neurosis?
Dave: Yeah. There is the Tribes of Neurot CD,
coming out soon on our own record label,
Neurot recordings.
The Tribes of Neurot seems to be Neurosis'
alter ego. Can you tell us a little about that?
Dave: Well, the Tribes of Neurot is what we call
ourselves in
in our side project That has two al-
bums out already. The Grace album (by Tribes of
Neurot) is extra cool to us because we really got
to try something new with this album. See, when
you play Grace simultaneously with Times of
Grace (by Neurosis), it adds new texture and
sound. You can find out more on our Web site,
neurosis.com.
-Shumlic Saenz
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