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Date Posted: 10:41:22 02/26/04 Thu
Author Host/IP: adsl-65-42-51-67.dsl.akrnoh.ameritech.net/65.42.51.67
THE HISS
Panic Movement
March 23, 2004
Sanctuary Records
http://www.thehiss.com
So thereıs Aerosmith. And Oasis. Jamming with Queens Of The Stone Age. Directed by cult movie director Alejandro Jodorowsky. All in the mind of a 25 year old from Atlanta named Adrian Barrera. The band is The Hiss, and their debut album Panic Movement already set off an avalanche of praise in Great Britain upon its release there this past August. Now comes its American debut.
Weıve been here before. Bob Dylanıs Desireı; Big Starıs Radio Cityı; The Black Crowes Southern Harmony And Musical Companionı. But then thatıs the classic American song writing lineage Adrian Barrera fits into. From the opening seconds of blast-furnace new single Clever Kicksı, Panic Movement proves The Hiss more than live up to the hype-machine which prompted the NME to call them a cross between The Verve and The Stoogesı and has seen everyone from Oasis to The White Stripes request the band as touring partners.
³For me writing songs isnıt about looking up to the past, itıs absorbing it,² explains Adrian. ³People like Dylan and Alex Chilton are the Rosetta Stone you try to learn from. Iıve always had this idea of groups being outlaws, and thatıs exactly how I feel The Hiss are as a band. We want to
separate ourselves from the pack. Thatıs what a rock ını roll band is all about for us.²
Anyone who witnessed The Hiss on their recent headline tour of England, or the NME Rock N Roll Riot Tour with Jet, or their whirlwind U.S. outing in the summer of ı03, will have some idea what awaits on Panic Movement. Drums self-combusted in Who-like explosions care of drummer Todd Galpin; riffs flared up like psychedelic litmus courtesy of guitarist Ian Franco; bass-lines skulked as threateningly as youıd expect when played by a man called Johnny Kral. And then there was Adrian. When he wasnıt building songs to mantra-like levels via lead guitar acrobatics he was hollering in a bluesy rasp to rival Jack White at a Motorhead convention. Conversation stopped. Limbs twitched involuntarily. Local noise abatement groups went into emergency session. Anyone who thought rock bands couldnıt play this hard or heavy in 2003, meanwhile, plunged into the stage-front melee and made a mental note to cancel tomorrow.
³Our shows are total energy because thatıs what we live to do. Music is this perfect combination of the rational and the irrational, and playing live is the best possible way of communicating these ideas in the loudest possible context. To me thatıs what Panic Movementı is all about. Thereıs no point in not going at it full tilt...²
Beginnings. Gainesville, Florida, in the late 90s. Tired of the dead ends afforded by the local music scene there, Adrian and Todd decided to take their group, The Young Americans to Atlanta armed with 20 dollars each in their pocket. Inspired by the buoyant local hip-hop scene, they split their first band and formed a sprawling eight-piece groove outfit called Centipede. But keen to return to basics the duo recruited old friend Ian Franco on guitar (heıd originally auditioned on saxophone) and extravagantly
named bassist Mahjula Bah-Kamara. Things began to click. By mid-2001 The Hiss had became leading lights in a local scene boasting The Black Lips and Tom Collins and started to attract the interest of major labels fascinated by Adrianıs ability to write songs with an almost hypnotic tunefulness. Following the inevitable round of record company schmoozing (catalogued on the album on the excoriating Not For Hireı) the band initially opted for brand new English imprint Loog (Adrian: ³Out of everyone they just understood exactly where we were coming from.²)
All of these experiences have been channelled into the grooves of Panic Movement. Inspired by the portentous mood of Jodorowkyıs El Topo and produced by Owen Morris at Great Linford Studios, Buckinghamshire over five chaotic weeks, it takes the space rock blueprint forged by Morris on Verveıs Northern Soul (an inevitable comparison) and leads it into darker, dustier terrain. Clever Kicksı starts proceedings with a stuttering machine-gun guitar line, skyscraper-sized drums, and those wilderness period lyrics:
³Weıve had our share of scrapes and sticky situations,² but the overall mood, proven by a rousing Riverbedı and Brass Tacksı suggests a band who have decided to face their demons and leave them by the roadside. Ranging from the Rohypnol rock of Ghosts Gold,ı to the pulverising Step Aside,ı lyrically itıs a record that finds The Hiss occupying a world of ghostly motorbike gangs, deserted gold mines, gathering wolves and teenage escapism.
³Lyrically I wanted to be able to conjure up images which would take the listenerıs imagination somewhere else. I want to take the listener on a cinematic journey,³ explains Adrian. ³Films like Holy Mountainı or El Topoı take you somewhere else and thatıs the same mood we wanted to create with Panic Movementı; to take the listener out into the desert, into this completely different universe. My parents are both Cuban and Iıve only recently come to terms with the fact that the ideas in those films are as much my culture as much as rock ın ıroll. It seemed natural to me to combine the two.²
In a climate where great rock ını roll bands still remain remarkably thin on the ground, these songs represent both a farewell to old ghosts for The Hiss and a youthful ray of optimism. A guiding light, even out of the bad times. At volume ten thousand. As Adrian sings in epic final track Brass Tacks,ı ³Ive got a taste of what is yet to come.²
For The Hiss, the Panic Movement has only just begun.
Ecard:
http://www.sadisticcreations.com/hiss/
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