Nastie Band is polymorphic sleaze seen through double vision. A full moon draped in a cape of jewels, weeping black tears of liberation. A rotating die of haunts, trances and hexes. “I thought it would be funny. It was terrifying.” Nastie Band is a multi-headed ghoul who etches the rules on the inside of a coffin lid. Nastie Band isn’t.
Sleeping Giant Glossolalia announces the July 26th release of the self-titled debut album by Nastie Band.
“With leather, chains, macabre makeup, and a cast of characters including an 85-year-old vocalist, shirtless twin brothers, and iconic keyboard player Roddy Bottum (Faith No More, Imperial Teen), Nastie Band is one of New York City’s most thrilling spectacles.
The sound: spine-chilling dirges, for fans of the creepiest depths of Khanate or Thrones or Confessor. The album opens and closes with songs featuring octogenarian Chris Kachulis’ croon – a damaged, pining voice, in the spirit of the late Scott Walker. Fans of early electronic music know Kachulis as a collaborator of Bruce Haack; he sang on Haack’s 1970 album, The Electric Lucifer, among other things.
“I’ve often stopped and wondered why I appeal to men / Men cluster to me like moths around a flame / And if their wings get burned I am not to blame,” he intones maniacally on Nastie Band’s first track.
Over seven songs, the band descends deep into dungeon atmospherics and minimalist metal, punctuated by Bottum’s icy, signature synths. From the hypnotic throb of “Shapeshift,” to the battle march of “Circle of Knives,” to the dance-terror of “Relapse,” Nastie Band’s art-doom crackles with the type of danger, darkness, and drama that once defined New York City.
Revolver Magazine calls it, “Mind-melting destruction delivered at a lumbering, sinister pace… An incorporeal call to revelry.”
Masterminded by Sandy Smiles – the alter ego of visual artist Frank Haines, whose body of work includes film, stained glass, performance art, and more – Nastie Band’s lineup has morphed since its inception and still might change from show to show. Appearing on the album are Haines, Kachulis, Bottum, guitarist Patrick Delaney (ex-Villains, Pollution), twin brothers David and Tradd Sanderson, drummer Elsner Nino (ex-Merchandise, Horoscope), artist Reuben Lorch-Miller, and vocalist Inyang Bassey (Moby). Since the time of the recording, drummer Hisham Bharoocha (Black Dice, Kill Alters, Soft Circle) has entered the fold as well.
Nastie Band was recorded at Seizures Palace in Brooklyn by Jason LaFarge (Swans, Devendra Banhart, Opening Bell) and mastered by James Plotkin (Merzbow, Sunn O))), Gnaw).
With the album set for a July 26th release, first single “Shapeshift” will be released June 14th on cassette as a maxi-single containing ten remix versions of the song, by members of Nastie Band, dälek, Opening Bell, and Ornament(Growing).
Nastie Band:
Reuben Lorch-Miller
Chris Kachulis
Patrick Delaney
Roddy Bottum
Elsner Nino
Mr. Sanderson
Mr. Sanderson
Sandy Smiles
Recorded and mixed by Jason LaFarge at Seizures Palace
Mastered by James Plotkin
Photographs by Jonathan Grassi
Vocals on “Relapse” by Inyang Bassey