Interview: Gets Worse

Gets Worse Hotline Miami Edition

Could you give us a bit of history behind Gets Worse and your own musical histories?

Tom: Me and Rich grew up in the same neighbourhood so have being playing music together for a long time. I met Benj in the midlands when he was playing in Macho Insecurity. Benj had met Rich a few times though his bands The Afternoon Gentlemen/Joe Pesci and they had already discussed maybe one day forming a band if he moved up north. So when he did eventually move we asked Benj to play bass in an another band we were already invoved in but after one practice we ended up writing our own songs and naturally became a different band althogether.

How the Band Really Look

Is there any merit to the claim that the Gets Worse 10" doubles up as a demolition device if played at 11?
Tom: Is there any merit to the claim that there are now 300 people homeless on the East Deans, because someone on the estate played a Gets Worse record?

And is there any credibility to the other claim that if you guys played at the same event as Weekend Nachos the earth would swallow up the venue?
Tom: No insurance policy cover this yet. Not even Churchill. Oh yes.

Seriously though how do you get such a deep-set sound?
Tom: Its all from the low end tuning. We tune to drop A and Benj plays a five string bass though a guitar big muff pedal. There was never any concious decison about the sound we just made do with what we had and what we could afford. Credit should also go to Tom Drings awesome production
Benj: It's because Tom's guitar head is from North Yorkshire

Its scarcely been a year and you have already been asked to play at the world renowned Play Fast or Don’t Fest, Grinding Delamont, touring outside the UK, a fair share of UK shows, featured on a number of comps and have a highly well received LP and EP. Was Gets Worse intended to be so demanding on yourselves and how does it feel to have been so well received?
Rich: It feels really good and we are really happy that people seem to enjoy our songs so much. We never really had a plan but just hoped to play some gigs and release some material and have fun with it. We feel fortunate that we have been given some good opportunities.

Aside from atmosphere are there any major differences between Gets Worse on stage and on wax?
Benj: Apart from the pyrotechnics, huge monster animatronics, circus performers, trapeze artists, mini motorbike stunt drivers and stone henge replicas its exactly the same.
Tom: I think it's down to personal perception. All I know is it's fun to play live and when people let us know they enjoyed it, that's a good feeling. I guess hearing the recording back feels like receiving the songs from an outsiders perspective which I enjoy too.

Gets Worse - ST 10"

With your 10" had you already predetermined that was to be the format of choice, or did it just fit the length of material recorded?
Benj: At the time we just wanted to record what we'd wrote up to that point properly but once we started laying the tracks down it just seemed like the obvious choice to get them out there. 10" Vinyl is cool as fuck too.

Since you all share roles on vocal duties, who pens the lyrics? And what if anything would be the general theme behind the lyrics.
Benj: Like everything we do it's a collaborative effort. Once we have a track recorded roughly we listen to it together and all come up with lyrics and work out who's vocal style works best for each part.
Tom: Originally Rich and Benj switched vocal parts and I remember they spent all day writing lyrics for the demo. By the time it came to recording the 10" we decided that gang vocal would be better on certain parts so I joined in and I also started to chip in with lyrics. Since then I have steadily being worked into sharing vocal and lyrical duties equally on all tracks.
Rich: The songs are generally themed around a mix of our own experiences and things that piss us off in general as well as some pretty random and Dumb shit.

Gets Worse - Year of the Bastard

Back in January you put out the oh so wonderful "Year of the Bastard" a digital only release, is the material unique to the release or can we expect to see them in the future?
Benj: We wrote those tracks especially to accompany the 10" as a download on release. It was taking a while to get the 10" pressed and we knew people were waiting so we thought it'd be like a thank you to everyone that had been so patient with us.

And just who are the bastards of modern day society?
Benj: There's loads of them out there and we all know who they are.

I totally dig the aesthetic behind Gets Worse, not only in the album arts, but also in your digital presence can you give us a bit of background behind that?
Benj: That's all thanks to Tom is the Bastard. He's done pretty much everything as far as artwork goes. We asked him for a shirt design early on and instead of one he supplied us with two along with a load of other artwork that has just worked perfectly with the music from day one. We can't praise him enough really, awesome guy!

What bands do you guys take inspiration from? And do you have any non-musical sources of inspiration?
Rich : There's no one band we took inspiration from, we are all fans of US powerviolence from classic 90's to now but we never set out to replicate anyone.
Tom: Get's Worse is our own interpretation of the music we love
Rich: Non-musical inspiration? Life (deep)

Can you outline to us the creative process for Gets Worse? And how crucial is alcohol to the creative process?
Tom: We are pretty laid back about the process of writing songs. One of us might come up with an idea, riff or full song and then we all jump in and start making changes. None of us get too attached about our ideas and we have a good chemistry so it's never really a chore but on the contrary it's a lot of fun.
Benj: Alcohol has nothing to do with the creative process for us, we all drink but it's never had any impact on the music.

 Would you agree with me when I say the UK is going through a grind-powerviolence renaissance currently, and if so what do you think has fuelled it?
Tom: If that's true about powerviolence then I guess that may be a good thing but it's not something I can really say we have considered or spent much time thinking about. We have just found ourselves doing this but not in order to jump onto a band wagon or assosciate ourselves with anything in particular.
Benj: Theres loads of excellent grindcore and hardcore bands going in the UK at the moment but I don't think there's really any that sound like us or that we sound like.

Gets Worse 7"

Whats next for Gets Worse?
Rich: We have a 7" coming soon called "Negative", which we recorded in the same session as Year of the Bastard. Hopefully it will be here in time for the Euro tour. We also have a UK mini tour with Mangle between that and Play Fast or Don't in the Czech Republic.
Benj: Aside from the tours and festivals, we've been busy writing new tracks for upcoming releases. Apart from the 7", no further plans at the moment on formats but hopefully another release before the end of the year.

Any prospect in the future to do the genre staple and share wax with another band? 
Benj: Works are already under way with Henry Fonda (Germany) which we are both aiming to get our halves recorded in the summer.

Random Question: If you had to summarise modern day Britain in one phrase, what would it be?

"A solid bed of cunts"

Preview of their upcoming 7" 

Interview: Dorian Rainwater

Riffmaster Rainwater

Is it true if you had a $ for every good riff you wrote you would be a millionaire?

Well yes of course being that i constantly write music, and no due to the fact that i have never seen my music as being a source/output of money. It has always been something i put all my energy into. More like a passion or art form/expression

 In the unlikely event that someone has been stranded on an island for the past decade and thus unaware of who you or your contribution to music could you give them a bit of background to yourself and your projects?

Not sure someone who has been stranded on an island would want to know about music but yes I could fill them in if needed lol. My name is Dorian Rainwater I grew up in Santa Fe New Mexico,I have played guitar and written music since I was 12-13 years of age, I have recorded and played live with many bands/projects since the mid 90's such as Artortured, Vitrolic, Infanticide, Manias, Noisear, Phobia, Cara Neir,Kill The Client, Ditheist, The Inhabitants, Paravoid, Idols Plague, Reincarnated Abortions, Fragmented Aura, Paravoid, Dry Heaves ,Midget Parade,Winters In Osaka, Asphyxiator, Astralnomicon, Forsaken, Demise,and that is pretty much all I can recall rat the moment.

I have always been a musical person and it was very prominent in my upbringing so it has always been a very natural thing. I have enjoyed doing so all these years for I feel that music is the universal language and it definitely is a driving force in my life. Pretty much live and die for music 24/7 without it I would go insane!

Well I work a regular job,and have to find my own time like everyone else. Its no easy task and when things do work out it is a beautiful thing for all involved. I try to practice as much as possible and write new music all the time every band/project I am in is composed of people who live pretty far from each other so it takes a lot of arrangement and planning to get us all in the same place at the same time. I'm very happy we have been able to do what we have done in the past and I hope it works out like that in the future as well.

Noisear seems to bring the high end technical approach into grindcore in a weird but wonderful way, was this a specific play style you had intended when Noisear was conceived or was it more of an organic push?

Noisear has always been an animal of its own from its early beginnings when i was not in the band to the point where it has evolved to what it is today there has been many line up changes throughout Noisears existence and this has been very beneficial to the process which has moulded the many different aspects and wide range of music we have put out. You can hear differences in every album we have done since the beginning and one thing we have always tried to do is create something different from everything out there: unique and unorthodox but still catchy and raging adrenaline fuelled creative chaos. Im thankful to have been a part of all this and played with so many awesome musicians as well as amazing people who all grew together.

And what can you tell us about the creative process behind Noisear?

Noisear has always gone with natural feeling when it comes to writing and playing together or touring/playing live. We try to make sure everyone is on the same page and in tune not only instrument/arrangement wise but mentally as well.

Probably a stupid question, but every time I read the band it comes across as one of two ways; Noise-ear like having an ear for noise, or noisier like something is more noisy, does the name Noisear meant to represent either of them?

The name noisear comes from the 2 words Sear and Noise hence the blistering intensity of the sound as a whole grinding, blasting, piercing high vocals, almost like a natural disaster being orchestrated into sound. Our great friend Brian Harragara came up with it when the band was forming around 98.

You guys have a vast array of splits across a number of labels, with an upcoming three way split with The Kill and Antigama, how do you come about deciding when and who to do a split with?

Most of the time it is one or more of the band members from each band discussing a possible split in the near/distant future. We trade emails and figure out a time frame/what labels might be interested in releasing it,what format and then we all get writing or hit a studio and from there its history in the making everyone in Noisear is very spread out so we usually end up meeting a couple weeks prior to hitting the studio and flesh out some basic ideas. When we are pressed for time though we write on the spot which has been the case for the last few records it kind of adds a whole new dynamic though because everything is very spontaneous and off the top almost like jazz in a sense but with grind thesis

And what does the future hold for Noisear?

Hopefully the future holds something in store for Noisear. I really cant speak for everyone but i would like to do another record possibly some shows this year. We will see though. If everyone can get it together it will be truly epic I am sure. We all constantly have ideas brewing and everyone is always ready to grind

Grind Family

You also replaced Steven Burda as guitarist of Phobia, what was it like joining such a veteran group? And how did you come about being guest guitar in Rehashed?

I wouldn't say i replaced Steve he is one of my best friends from way back and it came as a surprise to me when he quit the band, one minute we were all writing on Unrelenting and a few weeks later i was told Steve couldn't do it any more. Shane recruited Cece for touring (main guitars) and i was pretty much writing with Fajardo and him I played maybe 10 shows with phobia last year and wrote some 7's as well as a lot of the material on Remnants of Filth with Bryan. We all had been friends for years and Shane asked me in 09 if i wanted to write, its an honour to be a part of one of my all time favourite bands; everyone who has ever been in Phobia is top notch and dedicated its quite a collective of extraordinary people.

Was there any difficulty for you to slot into Phobia stylistically? For some 20 years they had been mastering their craft and cultivating their unique brand of crust-grind

Well i have always been a huge fan of crusty h/c grind since i was very young so it felt very natural plus i have written with Fajardo for years in noisear and that helped too stuff like drop dead, assuck, discharge, disrupt and extreme noise terror all are implements to the style we write for phobia, its alot more punk oriented and straight forward as opposed to techy grind core and i think overall we made a great addition to the already phenomenal legacy on previous phobia releases.

Anything on the horizon for Phobia?

Currently writing a bunch of songs for a 7 inch which will be discussed in the next few months. Always ready man.

A little while ago there was quite a buzz surrounding super group Code/Error featuring, yourself, Arif of Wormrot and Mauro & Daniel of Maruta, is this project still a go ahead? And if so can you give us any inclination as what to expect?

Grind Mode Engaged

Code Error was an amazing idea but with everyone being so busy and scattered across the world it became too difficult to bring it to life. Hopefully it is still a possibility, again i cant speak for everyone else.

I also notice you are an uncredited Artist in Winters in Osaka – Eternal Black release, what can you tell us about that?

Winters in Osaka is based out of Chicago and the main unit is one of my best friends Adam Jennings who is also in Sick/Tired and a few other bands he has done several collaborations with many awesome people like Chris Dodge,Topon Das,and many others. Its really an excellent experimental/avant garde noise project and I highly recomend it to anyone into this sort of thing, Richard Hoak,Eric Wood and Dan Lactose have also been a part of WIO.

You are a very large advocate in the free use of Marijuana, what role does it have in your life, and do you feel it has any connectivity with your music?

Without weed we would lose our minds haha. It relieves pain,stress and helps mellow the vibe in tense situations its also great in food and can be used in a lot of ways, its part of the earth and should not be illegal. I don't need to say much that has not been said already about this magical herb.

Whilst on the subject 2012 and even still now in 2013 the subject of decriminalised Marijuana use has been a hot topic in the USA, what are your thoughts on the sudden political interest on the subject?

Its really a great thing I just hope taxes and money do not play a large role in it. I hope it is used for all of its qualities-agricultural, industrial, homoeopathic etc.

Jumping back into your musical projects, how would you describe your relationships with other band members, is it strictly professional, friendly or family like bond you share?

Being in a band is like having an extended family it has its ups and downs of course there's turmoil sometimes and fights, but most of the time it gets worked out. We have been through line-up changes like many bands in our scene and it has been a rough journey at times but I cant say its one I regret and I'm sure everyone else can say the same, all who have been in noisear and phobia are still good friends to this very day.

What is your choice of equipment?

Well right now i play Line 6 at home for practising  my white BC rich was recently stolen and Erik Burke was kind enough to give me a brand new guitar when he heard what happened, I am forever indebted to him for this guitar and cant wait to record with it soon as well. We played the last 2 noisear shows as a 2 piece and the tone through a mesa stack was crushing! Its A FRAMUS DIA BLO custom and i must say its the most amazing guitar i have ever touched, Im really simplified when it comes to gear because i have always been a firm believer in natural tone

Why is California such a great purveyor in extreme music?

For some reason Cali has been producing some of the sickest wave of grind and extreme musicians for a few years now. I started noticing this when bands like Godstomper, Indisgust and a ton more ultra angry grind-violence bands all started sprouting out of the woodwork around 05-08, It broke new ground and I'm glad to see a fresh take on the whole scene. I think there are hordes of amazing bands from obscure spots around the world and Cali is one of the top breeding grounds for this.


You are assembling no less than two volumes for “Alz-Grinders Grinding For a Cure” compilation, what can you tell me about this compilation?

Grinding for a cure was an idea my good friend Chris Messina of Swamp Gas (Florida) suggested to My lady and I, we are very active in the alzheimers community due to the fact that her mother is afflicted by this terrible predator of a disease, I lost my grandmother to it as well. It is very difficult for all loved ones to endure as there is no definite cure or treatment which can stop it.

We hope that as a collective we can raise awareness through our music/fundraising and possibly make this a step further in research/clinical studies.Truly hoping that medical science will soon have a major breakthrough. Pretty much every single band who has contributed to the comp has been affected by it and its very hard to detect in the early stages. We are currently putting volume 2 together and volume one has already raised close to 600 dollars since its launch in late January. The next instalment should see the light of day in the next few months and there has been discussion of a physical release.

You can get more info by visiting our facebook page and the alzheimers association as well. Very honored to be a part of something like this and proud of everyone who has done their part to support in any way shape or form

What bands have been pivotal in shaping your approach to music?

Too many but illl name a few: Jaco and weather report, Mahavishnu orchestra,Napalm death, Discordance Axis,Terrorizer, Assuck, 324, Free jazz, John Zorn, Coltrane, Zappa, Noise, Hip Hop, tons of weird stuff.

Any lessor known bands you feel our readers should be aware of?

Vulva Essers, Syntax, Feastem, Demisor ,Swamp Gas, Mule Skinner, Gride ,Lycanthropy, DeadPressure, Syntax and Spacebag are a few.

Random Question: Would you rather one horse sized duck or one hundred duck sized horses?

Horse sized duck im sure he would make a great friend :)