Tastes
Like Burningby Matt
Dixon, April '06 Photo
by Christina
Artifice
To Artifact from The Imposition of Order
1. Please introduce
Tastes Like Burning and give a brief history of the band, including
how you came up with the name:
Tastes Like Burning was basically born out of the breakup of P.O.S.,
the band Jamie (bass) and I had previously played in, and our desire
to move away from crustier punk music and more into a screamy melodic
hardcore sort of vein. We met Greg (guitar) at a Youth For Social
Justice meeting and after about twenty minutes decided we should all
play together. For quite a while we just fucked around with various
people on different instruments in Jamie's basement, and went through
probably 3 or four different drummers; all other friends, but none
who were really on the same page, musically. Then we hooked up with
Jeremy, who had previously played drums in xxxRESTRAINTxxx and xARMS
OF FEWx, and that basically started tlb as a real band, which must
have been....2000 perhaps? Probably fall 2000. That was our lineup
for a few months until Jamies' grind band CRAPULENCE was forced to
call it quits, at which point we quite unceremoniously ditched Jeremy
for Ryan Gallant, who had also played in MASTER DISGRACE and OBSOLETE,
way back in the day. This was what really solidified tlb as a band
I think, because Ryan was simply the most exciting, dynamic, and brutal
drummer any of us had ever played with. The name TASTES LIKE BURNING
came pretty much out of nowhere. I don't think anyone really remembers
the precise circumstances of its adoption, or how we ever thought
it was a good idea, but it's a slight variation on a Ralph Wiggum
quote from the Simpsons, and we've had to live with it ever since.
2. How would you describe TLB to someone in the hardcore scene
that has yet to hear you? How would you describe the band to someone
outside of the hardcore scene?
Screamy, chaotic, occasionally melodic hardcore, or to someone outside
of the hc scene, a car wreck that you wouldn't mind listening to if
it weren't for all the horrible screaming.
3. What bands have influenced TLB?
W ell, obviously not many current bands, since TLB's been broken up
for years, but at the time, definitely FINGER PRINT and ANOMIE from
France, EMPLOYER EMPLOYEE, ORCHID, REVERSAL OF MAN, UNION OF URANUS,
YAPHET KOTTO, probably EXHUMED and GROINCHURN on Jamie and Ryan's
part, and definitely LED BY REGRET and EQUATION OF STATE from Halifax.
4. What does your family think of the band?
I think it was always something that in principle, they were glad
to see me involved in, because my father's a musician, but mostly
my mother was alienated by the total incomprehensibility of the screaming
and was always concerned about the health of my vocal cords, and the
general wellbeing of my body, since TLB shows could get pretty crazy
and were always a vry physically taxing.
5. What are some of the things you try to communicate through
your music?
At the time, TLB was really focused on being a -political-- band,
and i guess above all to communicate a sense of personal and collective
responsibility not only for how fucked up the world was, but also
how change was possible and attainable not only on a grand scale,
but on a personal level, in our lives and our most basic interactions
with other people. We addressed a lot of different issues, but for
me it was always about pushing the terms of debate one step further.
I felt like there had been a lot of bands (punk/hardcore/folk/whatever)
who had already talked about a lot of the same issues, and usually
said their piece better and more eloquently than I ever could, so
in order not to seem redundant, and hopefully to make more of an impression,
I was very into taking the issue into areas that either weren't dealt
with often enough, or were perhaps beyond the comfort level of some
people. Examples I guess would be instead of just affirming women's
rights to reproductive choice, we would say "Not only must abortion
be legal, but it must be universally accessible and -free- so that
women from all areas and economic situations had access, otherwise
it would remain a privilege for those who could afford the procedure,
those who could afford to make the (often long, in much of Canada)
trip to areas that offered abortion services, those who could afford
the time off to make such trips." Simlarly, after a number of conversations
with a good friend I came to realize how integral (and often lacking
in radical pro-choice rhetoric) is the access to quality affordable
childcare services to any pro-choice position/policy that truly believes
in the viability of all possible choices. So this also became part
and parcel of how these ideas were put across. Another important theme
in the band for all of us was to go beyond the usual "homophobia is
bad, sexism is bad" and to try to get across a thorough challenge
to how our ideas of "normal" sexuality, and "normal" sex and gender
expression are formed, and how ideas of what is "natural" is largely
constructed by the culture we live in, and not at all about pre-existing
biological "facts." I'd like to get into that more now, but clearly
i'm rambling already, so....well, you get the idea.
Photos by Mike Lecky
6. Do you think it's necessary for independent musicians and
bands to have a form of ethics?
Well I think -everybody- has a form of ethics, I mean, that's just
the basic set of ideas of right and wrong through which we navigate
our lives...but I guess in terms of political or so-called "progressive"
ethics...I don't think it's -necessary- per se, but I definitely am
more attracted to bands who have something in mind besides getting
signed or getting payed or being "Big." Which doesn't always mean
having political songs, but for me it's always been important to bring
as much of the DIY ethic to music making, because as an industry it's
such a fucked up world. And yeah, I guess it bums me out a lot to
see that sort of draining out of hardcore, seeing less and less distinction
between the "independents" and major labels. I think the hardcore
scene has definitely become incredibly commercialized, and while -maybe-
I respect some of these bands less for buying into the industry side
of it, that's fine, because it's their lives, their music, their choice.
But what I see as really shitty about it is how it's influenced the
idea of hardcore fandom. I think what was always really awesome about
the punk/hardcore scenes was the sense of accessibility in terms of
going to shows and seeing other kids up there playing, and feeling
like "Hey, those are kids just like me, I could totally do that, I
should totally start a band" (granted, there's always been a big gap
in that accessibility for a lot of girls and queer kids and people
of colour who go to shows and see so few kids onstage that they readily
identify with, and so can and have gotten the impression that punk/hardcore
is a bit of a straight white boy's club), and how through the DIY
ethic it was very empowering and more direct- kids helping other kids
and creating a scene themselves, as opposed to going to big concerts
with tons of bouncers and promotion and sponsorship and that sort
of bullshit, which I think is changing a lot. I think, especially
with a lot of these 3 or 4 band package tours which are becoming more
and more the norm, where the shows are not only more expensive to
go to, but more expensive to put on because of large guarantees, but
also, there's only room for one, if any, local band, so kids who go
to see these shows really don't get the same sense of "anyone can
do this," they get more of an impression that "to do this I have to
get big and get on a big label," or I have to get the money and the
contacts together to put on big shows like this and be a "Promoter."
which is really weird for me because it's not at all the scene I came
up in.
7. What's your take on bands that try to install moral and political
messages in their music, but scream all the lyrics so that nobody
can understand them? How do you overcome this?
This was always an issue of some contention between both my mother
and I, and many of my friends who would come to see TLB who weren't
necessarily into hardcore music...and I definitely understand the
critique, but I think as a question it overlooks the aesthetic dimension
of the screaming, and how it works with the music. I always screamed
because that's what I wanted to do, that's what I wanted the band
to sound like, and in large part that's the sort of music that really
got it's teeth into me, that I was really passionate about. Basically
what it comes down to is that for us at least, the band wasn't -just-
about "the message," it was also about music, and catharsis, and having
fun, and just rocking the fuck out, about creating music that we would
want to listen to. If it was entirely about the politics and the music
was merely a vessel than we would have been a folk band, or spoken
word or something. Not that any of that -solves- the problem of communication
and accessibility, but it's where we were coming from. And I was definitely
conflicted about that, which is why we often had lyric sheets that
we passed out at shows, and why I regularly went on extended explanatory
tirades between songs, as a way of getting the message out, but still
expressing ourselves in the terms we preferred. So in our case, despite
the screaming, I don't think there's anyone who saw one of our shows
and -didn't- get the message, unless they just weren't listening at
all, and I don't think singing comprehensibly would have changed that.
8. Is/was it easy for you to play infront of an audience?
I never found it that hard to be onstage, although I was always concerned
about the performer-audience dynamic, and didn't like feeling like
we were any more important because we had the lights on us..which
was why we always preferred smaller shows where there was little or
no stage (basements, living rooms, etc) and as little of a line between
the band and the audience as possible. big stages and barriers and
stuff always freaked me out, but it was less about stage fright than
it was about wanting to be on the same footing as the kids we were
playing for, and hopefully for them to feel more personally involved
in what was going on as well.
9. Interesting tour/road stories?
There was this time when Mike got trapped inside the ass of this 30
ft tall inflatable gorilla in a parking lot in lockport, NY, but really
that summary is funnier than the story. Also, he got in a boxing match
in another parking lot with one of the guys from Pg99. The fight was
over a soccer ball, and he totally lost.
10. Who would you consider your current contemporaries in hardcore?
I wouldn't even know, really...I don't feel like I listen to that
much music in the same vein as what we were playing then...or, for
that matter, I don't think that there's much of what we were playing
then being played now. In terms of bands though who I think have a
similar ethic and attitude toward the music and the politics and scene
in general, but are also WAY better than we ever were, I'd definitely
name BURIED INSIDE from Ottawa, GREYSKULL from Tacoma, and BURIAL
YEAR from San Francisco.
11. What made you want to be in a band of your own?
At the time I think I had a lot to say, in terms of wanting to create
a political presence in the hardcore scene, and I'd been involved
in the scene for a long time, and a lot of my friends were in bands,
so it just seemed like a natural progression that I'd get involved
myself.
12. A favourite vegan recipe:
My current favorite, although not at all suitable for non-wheat-eaters,
is something which for the sake of naming i'd call French Toast Brutality.
It's basically just french toast with black bean stir-fry on top..but
I don't know really how to explain it in recipe form...umm. You will
need:
-as many pieces of bread as you plan on eating french toast
-1 or 2 cups soy milk
-a few tbsps (whole wheat? maybe it works with spelt too?) flour
-2tbsps nutritional yeast
-dash of cinnamon (to taste)
-1/2 tsp vanilla
-1 cup black beans
-1 small onion
-5 cloves garlic
-1 small carrot, grated
-some spinach
-herbs/spices to taste (I recommend small amounts of cumin and turmeric,
salt & pepper, maybe some basil, and fresh coriander if you've
got it, also a decent hit of cayenne powder or crushed chilis for
hotness)
So basically you take put the soy milk in a bowl and whip into
it as much flour and nutritional yeast as it takes to make it start
thickening up a bit, then add the cinnamon and vanilla. In a pan on
the stove you should be frying up the onion, cut fairly small, and
the carrot, in light oil, maybe with a little salt. After a minute
or so add the diced/minced garlic, then once the onions are just starting
to turn translucent add the black beans and spinach (chopped), and
all those herbs to taste, and keep cooking that shit at a medium heat
until the beans start to split apart and the spinach is cooked and
it starts looking like a total mess. At any time during the process
you can have a skillet or good flat pan heated up fairly high with
some melted margarine on it. Take the slices of bread and dip them
in the soy milk stuff, just enough to coat both sides, and slap them
on the skillet. Then you cook them shits, throw them on a plate, and
top them with the black bean stuff. To drive it home I usually put
syrup on top of the black beans, and more than likely some sriracha
chili sauce, but I like that shit spicy. Personally I feel the syrup
helps achor the meal in its French toast breakfast roots, but it might
not be to everyone's taste. This shit is extra good with a side of
steamed greens, healthier too. I recommend kale or maybe chard, lightly
steamed with some lemon juice and a little salt or margarine on top,
or if you have it, dulse flakes give 'em a nice briney flavour. Anyway,
sorry, if it wasn't obvious, I don't really cook from recipes usually.
13. How can kids contact you?
I don't think there's anything left to contact, but my email is gnarwulf@gmail.com
