SWANS “Filth”

Label: Mute                   Noise/No Wave

“This is all slabs of sound, rhythm and screaming/testifying. What more do you need? In a way, it was a reaction against Punk (and just about any other music you can think of), and the conservative notion that 3 chords were somehow necessary. I used to deny it vehemently at the time, but No Wave (I “hated” that scene too, for some reason I can’t remember now) played a big role as the germ from which this music grew, along with The Stooges and Throbbing Gristle, of course. I wanted Swans to be “heavier” though – I wanted the music to obliterate –  why, I don’t remember! I think it just felt good.  Live, we used two basses (playing utterly unmusical chords that were stabbed and left to  sustain or sometimes hit in staccato or opposing rhythms), drums, a  “percussionist” that slammed down on a metal table with a metal strap, crude  cassette loops of various sounds/noises (usually some kind of undefined  ROAR), and Norman Westberg’s glorious sustained and screaming guitar chords.  It was pretty elating to play live – for us. If 100 people showed up (which would have been a huge audience at the time – 20 was more the average), 80 were guaranteed to leave by the second song. Somehow that tension – contempt or indifference from the audience – was nourishing, so we kept going. “  Michael Gira.