SWANS on tour / USAs LOUDEST Band

[KGHofSF]

Yes it's true. As per

http://younggodrecords.com/blogs/tou...ans-tour-dates


I caught them in Denver last night. Sort of a mixed reaction. Having The Seer and having digested the accompanying DVD there wasn't a whole lot new to catch a hold of last night. And it was LOUD . Really #@%$!#@$ Loud. And, of course, I realize producing sound that has a physical presence and all manner of Harmonics & Overtones not usually encountered by Moral Man is sort of the point. . .

But

Perhaps they could have achieved that at 9.5 on the Amps, without any need to go to 11 Also they went with One Drummer and no Orchestral Chimes (the keyboard dude in the back provided most of the high end trills). Still if you have an interest (and live in Europe, as the USA portion of this tour seems to be almost done) it's certainly a bit of a primal experience. . .

But bring the ear plugs, or perhaps.

earpro.jpg

regards

KGH

[markwoll]

I have no doubt that they bring the noise.
If you really want LOUD, go experience Sunn O))))

[flytomars]

Ive seen the swans and also got back with mixed feelings, I know its part of their concept and message but I was missing alot of detail that was on the albums (which I adore)-
The frustrating part is that I could see these parts being played but just could not hear them because they were drowning in a mass of blurred sound.

I got to see Strphan Omally from Sunn o))) but at least there they handed out earplugs before the show and also it was just a guitar drone so no hidden detail...

[battema]

Saw them on this tour and loved it, volume and all.

[Drake]

For people like me with tinnitus this is just insane.

[Scrotum Scissor]

If you really want LOUD, go experience Sunn O))))

True as well, but Gira & co. were essential pioneers of the menacing drone - and influenced the Sunns directly. A bit of an apple/orange case, really. And Swans' Cop album is still one of the, er, worst ever.

[battema]

True as well, but Gira & co. were essential pioneers of the menacing drone - and influenced the Sunns directly. A bit of an apple/orange case, really. And Swans' Cop album is still one of the, er, worst ever.

Plenty of room in the world for both of them to assault the ears

[Udi Koomran]

I been accused of mixing Present too loud -at some points it is fucking loud like the climax of Promenade

with Present its always a matter of dynamics - there is plenty of variety in dynamics

From what I gather both Swans and Suno)))) shows are 99% of the show at 11 right ?
I once had to mix Acidmothersgong with Makoto and at one point I cautiously and respectfully asked him if he could perhaps turn it down a notch - and Makoto who was up until that moment was very friendly and cooperative turned to me with this Samurai look and said "ABSOLUTLEY NO "

[mnprogger]

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[WHORG]

Saw them on this tour and loved it, volume and all.

Same - it was quite memorable.

[Dana5140]

I have not seen Swans, but have seen Sun o))) and in comparison to hearing either MC5 or Blue Cheer, both of the older bands were louder. Way louder. Ear-bleeding loud.

[battema]

I have not seen Swans, but have seen Sun o))) and in comparison to hearing either MC5 or Blue Cheer, both of the older bands were louder. Way louder. Ear-bleeding loud.

The trick with Sunn 0))) is twofold: one, the venue makes a HUGE difference. I've seen them three times and each one was very different. Smaller clubs typically resulted in MUCH louder decibel levels. The other trick (IMHO) is that Sunn 0))) is all bass volume. It isn't the sort of shrill treble volume that typically demolishes ears. If anything, at a certain point it starts feeling like a full body massage, LOL.

But, as soon as someone is called the loudest, there'll always be another to come and steal that crown away

[Jerjo]

Though they don't tour (or record) regularly I always heard that My Bloody Valentine were the kings of pain when it came to volume.

[littleatlas_steve]

I saw them last month and could not stay past 4 songs (despite paying $22 cover charge). I would have enjoyed them had I brought earplugs to attenuate, but it was the single loudest experience I have ever heard. And I was FAR in the back. I am not sure what the point of the loud was. And I like my rock loud. It was just DANGEROUSLY loud.

[Scrotum Scissor]

I have seen Sun o))) and in comparison to hearing either MC5 or Blue Cheer, both of the older bands were louder. Way louder.

First of all, practically *NO ONE EVER* played as preposterously loud as Blue Cheer - it's an historical fact. The story about the dog that died after being incidentally tied behind stage by a roadie is apparently true, although it wasn't the volume as such but rather the poor creature's level of stress when attempting to break free to escape that ridiculous racket. The tale of the dock workers who complained about Cheer's noise when the latter were recording Outside/Inside on a peer some six miles down the Hudson in '68 is supposedly also true, as I believe is the one about Pete Townshend or Jimmy Page running from the Carousel Ballroom in sheer terror at the sonic attack he'd just tried to endure.

Stephen O'Malley would undoubtedly have been honoured to even be considered as comparison to Blue Cheer. The only modern-day band circle I know who've come anywhere close to the Cheer approach to sound is High Rise/Musica Transonic/Mainliner (featuring a.o. Nanjo Asahito, Ruins-man Tatsuya Yoshida and Makoto Kawabata of Acid Mothers Temple, mentioned by Udi above ^^^). But this is essentially all rather low-fi neo-garage noise-rock, a different concept than Sunn altogether. Some of it is still quite, uhm, unlistenable:

[WHORG]

Yes - Acid Mothers (and their derivatives) have always led a sonic onslaught while here in town . . . Kawabata rules.

[loosefish]

I saw them last month and could not stay past 4 songs

That's still a good two and a half hours...

Seeing them next month when unlike the last time i will remember to take ear protection. How the hell Gira still has his hearing intact is one of lifes great mysteries.

[Scrotum Scissor]

I saw them last month and could not stay past 4 songs [...] it was the single loudest experience I have ever heard. And I was FAR in the back. I am not sure what the point of the loud was.

Granted you're talking of Swans, there's a definite artistic idea behind the volume. When they started out already in '82 their outspoken aim was to transcend the gulf of sender/receiver in the act and art of soundmaking, principally by generating a "physical" mass of sonics which would render it impossible for anyone within reasonable proximity to stay ignorant towards what was happening. It was also a part of the package of their aesthetic as such; Gira wrote texts mostly dealing in the extremities of not only the human spirit but of the body - toxic reactions, artificial manipulations, sickness and disease, torture, insanity, sexual deviance and much more. Those infamous incidents where Norman Westberg or Gira himself would come off stage and charge violently into given audience members because the latter were headbanging or laughing or apparently not paying attention or whatever, become all the more a token of menace when considering that they were both usually completely damaged by cocktails of steroids, booze and amphetamines and were into musclebuilding and sado-masochism at the time. I've met several people who were present at Swans concerts in the mid-80s and they're basically all telling the same tale of frightening vibes and a generally threatening atmosphere.

Gira personally appears to have calmed down, and nowadays there's supposedly only the "artistry" left of it. His agenda remains the same, though - to overwhelm and encapsulate the listener in the force of sonorities, thereby imposing a "physical" dimension of sound,

[Dana5140]

First of all, practically *NO ONE EVER* played as preposterously loud as Blue Cheer - it's an historical fact. The story about the dog that died after being incidentally tied behind stage by a roadie is apparently true, although it wasn't the volume as such but rather the poor creature's level of stress when attempting to break free to escape that ridiculous racket. The tale of the dock workers who complained about Cheer's noise when the latter were recording Outside/Inside on a peer some six miles down the Hudson in '68 is supposedly also true, as I believe is the one about Pete Townshend or Jimmy Page running from the Carousel Ballroom in sheer terror at the sonic attack he'd just tried to endure.

I was lucky enough to see Blue Cheer at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. The opening bands were the Psychedelic Stooges (with young Iggy) and the MC5. I sat no more than 15 feet from the stage. It was ungodly loud, like nothing I have ever heard before or since. And I think- rumor has it- that the MC5, knowing of Cheer's reputation for being loud, borrowed additional amplifiers. I can attest that Dennis Thompson's drum were each individually miked, and there were at least 6 double stack Marshall amps on stage along with some Ampegs. My ears rang for the next week, literally and no joke.

[WHORG]

Granted you're talking of Swans, there's a definite artistic idea behind the volume. When they started out already in '82 their outspoken aim was to transcend the gulf of sender/receiver in the act and art of soundmaking, principally by generating a "physical" mass of sonics which would render it impossible for anyone within reasonable proximity to stay ignorant towards what was happening. It was also a part of the package of their aesthetic as such; Gira wrote texts mostly dealing in the extremities of not only the human spirit but of the body - toxic reactions, artificial manipulations, sickness and disease, torture, insanity, sexual deviance and much more. Those infamous incidents where Norman Westberg or Gira himself would come off stage and charge violently into given audience members because the latter were headbanging or laughing or apparently not paying attention or whatever, become all the more a token of menace when considering that they were both usually completely damaged by cocktails of steroids, booze and amphetamines and were into musclebuilding and sado-masochism at the time. I've met several people who were present at Swans concerts in the mid-80s and they're basically all telling the same tale of frightening vibes and a generally threatening atmosphere.

Gira personally appears to have calmed down, and nowadays there's supposedly only the "artistry" left of it. His agenda remains the same, though - to overwhelm and encapsulate the listener in the force of sonorities, thereby imposing a "physical" dimension of sound,

I was at a very early Swans show in NYC back in the 80's - Gira purposefully had the AC shut down in CBGB's in that same regard . . . and I saw him stomp on several peoples fingers/hands up front (who placed them on stage) - and were ultimately not paying attention to the show, or talking to the person next to them (practically impossible). It was a crazy good show . . .

JK

[Udi Koomran]

[QUOTE=Scrotum Scissor;615052]First of all, practically *NO ONE EVER* played as preposterously loud as Blue Cheer - it's an historical fact.

How is that a "fact"
Yes noise levels are measurable but I doubt there is there any empirical comparisons between these bands

[Scrotum Scissor]

[QUOTE=Udi Koomran;615349]

First of all, practically *NO ONE EVER* played as preposterously loud as Blue Cheer - it's an historical fact.

How is that a "fact"

Because I forgot to use quotation marks. It's an established "fact" (marks in place) precisely because of the stories concerning the very dangers surrounding their volume - as with the dead dog. There are countless other such stories, of course - and I never heard anything as remotely extreme about black metal or noise artists, for instance. But "scientifically"? I wasn't alluding to that. From what I understand, Blue Cheer's senseless volume came about due to their shunning of various developments in sound techniques and live production values, meaning that they made an image out of continuing to employ basic analogue miking spewed directly towards the audience; no filters or any of those primitive PAs they were starting to produce. One of the reasons why their music got as sonically dense was that they had to outplay the consequent feedback. You can even hear some of this on their first two studio albums. I think it's quite telling how folks like Keijo Haino and Kawabata are always namechecking the Cheer - they were simply notoriously "bad".