BL'AST! off

I've never really understood what people mean when they use the phrase 'post-hardcore', with it normally being employed as reference to bands such as Fugazi et al*, which strike me as post-hardcore only in the chronological sense.

If you ask me, in fact even if you don't, a band has to do a lot more than simply exist after 1984 to become post-hardcore in my mind. The true post-hardcore bands are the ones that take the principles and lessons (in terms of both sound and theory) learnt from hardcore and build upon these foundations to create a new, though heavily hardcore-reliant, still fresh and interesting environment. Musical evolution if you will.

This might be another dose of my trademark hardcore-related elitism kicking in, but I feel that bands such as these, which apply their hardcore upbringing to the convention and innovation of the day, genuinely seem to posess that extra little spark which seems to separate them and put them apart from the co-inhabitants of their chosen genre. Bands like The Hives, Nirvana, GWAR and suchlike**; placed within genres awash with repetitive clones, shining out thanks to that extra spoonful of intensity which, by my reasoning at least, is due to a solid grounding in hardcore.

GWAR, for one, are not just your average metal band. This is obvious on the surface, but underneath the wacky get-ups and metal riffs, they still so clearly exude that unique attitude and tinted view so evident within hardcore, also apparent within their unique, difficult to describe punked up speed-metal sound.

Observing The Hives, a highly energetic and concentrated outfit coupling scratchy, yelped vocals with decidedly punk rock guitar playing (lightning fast, energetic downstroke powerchords); by who's reasoning are they tagged with the denegrating 'indie pop' label?

This ambiguity makes it hard to legitimately categorise and assign genre to bands such as these. You can tell there's something different there, but you just can't quite put your finger on it.

Anyhow, getting back to the originally intended focus for this post; one band in particular I feel stands out in (my interpretation of) the post-hardcore club, that I was lucky enough to catch live a few weeks back is Fu Manchu, a stoner-rock 4-piece from, unusually for an intensified, high-energy surf/skate-rock band, Southern California.

Below is a video of Fu Manchu performing 'Hell on Wheels', chosen because it typifies their sound and gives as solid an inclanation as YouTube videos can as to how the band comes over live.

Note the communicative link between guitarist/frontman Scott Hill and drummer Scott Reeder during the anticipative intro; a prime example of the harmonious cohesion between members which I think contributes a lot to their highly-collaborative sound.



All gigs obviously have that sense of jittery anticipation among the crowd before the band comes out, but it felt somewhat different in this case.

Watching them take to the stage, watching Hill pick up his lucite Dan Armstrong guitar (weapon-of-choice for Greg Ginn, Black Flag originator and hardcore demi-god forefather) and tease out some feedback before the first number began, there was an odd almost uneasy sensation within the crowd as though everyone was secretly a little intimidated by just how intense and heavy they all knew things were about to get, yet at the same time innumerably over-excited.

Things were swiftly climaxed by a bracing screech shooting out from Hill's guitar as he lifted a foot high in the air and stomped it down with immesurable force, burdgeoning in the super-heavy crescendo to the tortuous build-up of prior moments, resulting in an en masse adrenaline rush as the band catapaulted into their set.

I don't know what it was about that foot stomp, but it seemed to be the perfect movement for the simultaneous explosion of sound, I just remember being totally shocked by the intensity and force it seemed to put out. I recall, upon seeing Hill put all his weight into that stomp, instantly knowing we were in for a good show. It was clear from that very first chord that these guys understood the true meaning of heavy metal. There was no warming up for this band, everyone dived right in from the get go. I found myself unable to resist after about 5 seconds jumped right into the middle of the pit.

All shows need to have pits like this one; it was violent and intense (To do list: 1. Buy Thesaurus. 2. Look up synonmns for 'intense'. 3. Buy milk.), yet at the same time not vicious or overly-brutal. Casual enough to go nuts and punch and push and kick to your hearts content, though with enough of a feeling of community and light-heartedness to avoid the all too common unpleasantly confrontational or combative atmosphere you find at a lot of shows. Basically, you could punch someone in the back of the head and shake hands with him afterwards; no-one was taking anything personally, it seemed like for once everyone was there just to let loose and have a good time rather than flex their muscles and beat down on someone.

Fu Manchu's trademark sound is a creamy, superbly-heavy maximum-fuzzed growl, blissfully slow and indulgent at certain points, then life-givingly fast and racy at others. On tape they come across as irresistably hard and heavy, but to really listen to Fu Manchu, you have to do it live.

There's 'loud' loud, then there's Fu Manchu, 'so-loud-your-spleen-rattles' loud. If ever there was a band to see in the flesh, Fu Manchu is it. This is down to a combination of a few different factors; to name but a few, the tenacity and sincerity of each member's gnarled performance, the sheer volume and thickness of their sound, the drums that drive right through you and most notably that all of their songs basically consist of a series of build-ups and climaxes (linked with some insanely vicious riffs), which are taken to a whole other level, amplified and accentuated even more when taken in as part of an exhuberant crowd.

Criminally heavy, agonisingly powerful, invigoratingly driving, delivered with a vicious snarl and unbridled veracity;

Fu Manchu are post-hardcore.

*I say 'et al' to try and hide the fact that Fugazi are the only 'post-hardcore' band I know...
**I can only think of these three examples at the moment, I'm sure there are more, feel free to pitch in if you think of any.

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