Text Mikko A
Videos & friday photos Mikko A (+Grunt clip by Pete)
Saturday photos: Voragography
It was 7.5.2005 when Genocide Organ was last time in Turku, Finland. Back then, times were so different that there had not yet been the explosion of Finnish noise shows and yet to test how many people would be potential of bigger shows. It was still pre-social media times and Kuolleen Musiikin Yhdistys who organized many shows in this area had been mostly bringing over Cold Meat related artists from Sweden. Costs and logistics were often less challenging. I was trying to convince them to bring over Genocide Organ and they were hesitating. Multiple members, multiple plane tickets and the other costs was concern, is there enough people in Finland to make it work? I volunteered to pay the losses if plan would fail. If I don’t recall it wrong, there was like 250 people who came to see G.O., Grunt and Zoat-Aon. Even people outside Finland, which was not very common back then. Grunt video was perhaps most obscene thing ever displayed at the club, yet I always regret that while soundcheck was pretty much perfect, the gig itself failed miserably. Or lets say, it was way inferior what it could have been. Consisting mostly trying to get microphones work, hah.. Audio material is published as one side of Grunt RRRecycled tape and it works if you don’t see the aimless hassle that was happening on stage. If only listening the crude simple noise, it won’t be embarrassing.
Almost exactly 20 years later Genocide Organ was back in Finland. Less than 10 kilometers from the venue they played last time. For friday, there was sort of ”warm up gig” that was announced after Saturday had been already sold out. Knowing how things usually go at noise gigs, I had prepared bunch of extra tables, synth stands and such things that may be needed to solve unexpected problems. Many times when noise shows happen, even if I am not involved in any way, it has turned out to be good idea to just in case have back up amps or other stuff. It is partly selfish reason. Being at noise gig, I’d like to see artists doing his best. That’s why I came to see it. Sometimes there just happens to be something so simple nobody thought of, like lack of tables for everybody and due logistics guys not having possibility to set up gear well in advance and delaying the schedule of evening and so on. Indeed, those were needed during weekend and barely effort for me to borrow things for weekend. Another thing was that neither of the usual sound engineers could make it for Friday as they had their own things going on in other cities. This meant I had to step in to help out with making sure PA is working. Connecting the sound system and getting it ready. Everything was running smoothly and in time. Setting FA distro table and then pretty much my obligations for day were done. With exception of being van driver, so no heavy drinking this time!
Pain Appendix was more harsh noise oriented set than last time when he was in Finland. There was small obstacles to get vocals working. They worked great in the soundcheck, but something happened meanwhile. Last year there was more industrial-noise vibe but I had no complaints of this set either. Vocals were not absolutely necessary and noise itself consisted different Pain Appendix elements. Listening the new tape on Influential Machine label, you are introduced to more monotone and bleak approach compared to material most Finns probably know, the CD’s on Freak Animal and Satatuhatta. Part of the set had this churning more static feel, but he would compensate it with vivid and energetic, fast paced noise. Amusing ”jump scare metal junk attack” was something I had never seen before, mixing in static harshness and more frantic noise, for me this was the best set of the first day!
Fecalove had forgotten part of his gear to Italy. Set consisted moments of great success but also weird failures. Fragmented set where he’d either rely on pre-recorded sounds, vocals and abruptly move into physical noise object abuse. Sometimes it worked, other times he spent surprisingly long times to figure out why there is no sound or why it only generates disturbing feedback. Best moments somewhere in the middle where harsh noise became full of energy and fast forward movement. Tisbor is also good vocalist, although I associate that more into his Teater project. Nevertheless, I liked what it was, since I feel there is also space for disturbance and ruined fun. In recent times I have been talking with several people who have mentioned specific artists or bands that are nowadays ”too nice”. Noisy, yes, loud, yes, but… just too nice! Technical excellency gone too far an now it lack the…. should we say unexpected dangers, risks, or being chaotically disturbing.
That’s what Fecalove was. Noise that no longer is technically advanced performance, but comes with truly disturbing and even annoying qualities. Teamed up with artists masturbation videos being displayed to almost exclusively all-male audience, was extra points for disturbance, hah… While Fecalove did not have any sort of performance arts going on, he’d certainly disturb some people with videos displaying similar ideas you can find from his Sexual Retard publications.
Kristian Olsson started surprisingly musical. I am not saying it sounded like ”dungeon synth”, not at all, but that it had simple gloomy pseudo-melodic patterns on synth for long time, before moving into more abstract postmortem soundscapes. A lot of tape hiss, a lot of different sources and suffocatingly bleak sounds mixed masterfully. Video material perfectly depicted his flawless aesthetic taste. This is also present in sound. There is nothing else really like this. Even if man would have obsessive appreciation for the 80’s cassette culture industrial, it is not really possible to say what exactly Olsson’s projects sound like – except his own sound! Even if relying a lot into aesthetic of old, I can’t really say he’d be resembling any artists in particular, but basically bringing personal material that sounds as if it could have been done decades ago, but wasn’t. Now being just timeless.
After the gigs, it was quick wrap. I loaded van full of people to drive as many as possible back to city. Entering bar at the midnight and beer drinking and chatting until they closed.
In the morning, first thing sending couple messages and then meeting with mr. Sadio, Bizarre Uproar and checking out one second hand bookstore. They had recently bought collection of 20-40’s era german books and magazines of the type that men tend to be interested in. All sorts of militaria and historical books are some of the most popular things in second hand market. However, this time I opted to spend money on 80’s Spanish underground comics. Then we headed to possibly best beer garden type of thing in Turku called Koulu. Not cheap if you come from Europe, but can be good place to meet & talk. Got joined with bunch of other people. As I was both driving, plus playing show, I wasn’t going to get hammered. Just amount of beers that was suitable. We had pleasure to get hours long Irish fashion style advices. So, its going to be leather shoes in Tower Transmissions, hah!
VIDEO OF SATURDAY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UASMLJLTw0o
Main event was Saturday and there was a lot of foreign people who traveled all across the world. USA, Italy, Sweden, Germany, UK, France, Poland and so on. Perhaps Finns who had used to access for tickets for more than couple of hours, were tormented by situation of having show happening even in their home town, but missing tickets while people from other continent made it… Well, if you missed the headliner, there is possibility to catch GO in USA later this year. Check out Hospital Productions website news/events for more info. For Europe, there is Tower Transmissions with line-up consisting many notable names. I have mentioned it many times, but Dresden is pretty cheap and easy to get to and I would bet that current GO set sound fits well with the massive PA system. Book tickets at:
https://towerpromotions.bigcartel.com/product/tower-transmissions-xi
For the Finnish names, you can’t be sure when they will be performing next. This is only second time Corral Shut performs live. First gig was mostly drunken mayhem where all sorts of technical flaws appeared to be what most people remember. This second gig was diametrically opposite. As soon as he got set going on, he masterfully crafted really rusty and rugged harsh noise. Table full of gear, but very often based on physical objects that are not merely shaker-boxes, but actually good source sounds. There was also tape decks, and I would assume part of the sources came from pre-recorded tapes, yet it was all restless live noise. For me this was among highlights of entire weekend, perhaps because I had never seen him play before.
Umpio is exact opposite. He replaced KSNK who has to cancel in last minute. I have seen Umpio countless times and know to expect high class set. He must be one of the most active live noise acts, who also plays in all sorts of events. Open minded for playing with music bands, sound-art gallery types, noise bands, power electronics and so on. Despite being ready to play with pretty much any type of venue and line-up, Umpio always has his own spirit and style. Simply being what he is, not adapting into surrounding scene aesthetics. Junk-craftman meets insect electronics and masterful control of his tools. Short videoclip found from SI documentation barely does justice, since many times his set has form that takes you slowly from quiet. You need to see it all to really appreciate. Starting from almost acoustic scrap metal sounds and little by little moving towards harsher climax. Umpio is never just full on blast, but saves it for the critical moments. Curious element here was also compositional aspect of using little splash cymbal that he’d hit every now and then, exactly in the critical quiet moment where cut up noise has fraction of second of silence where acoustic symbal sound emerges. Very nice.
Nostoväki is new project that just released debut full length album on Freak Animal. Debut tape and compilation tracks came out last year. Now it was time for live activity. Nostoväki may be new project, but men have long history in Finnish noise/experimental sound. Kaarna was doing strong vocal manifestations over slowly waving synthesizer patterns, while MT would play processed metal junk or floor-tom percussions. They would play formerly known songs that those who heard album are familiar with. From the video documentation, you can hear my personal favorite track. This is Nostoväki at the best. Eerie and dark, slowly moving synth tones and slowly screeching high pitched metal sounds and passionately performed vocals with clearly audible lyrics that reflect the critical moments of Finnish history. I think power of the vocals may be even better at the live show, yet sound of vocal production is better on the album. This is one of the biggest obstacles in power electronics and industrial: How to get perfect blend of sound and vocals, especially in live setting. I have no complaints of Nostoväki, but there are various ways to improve small details that basically is trial and error process that can take years to go through. Next Nostoväki gig at Virrat, 27.9.2025. With Commando 15 and couple Black Metal bands.
Next was my own turn as Grunt. Talking about trial and error, last time when I played with GO in Turku, as said before, mistakes was made to extent that after that was necessary to really consider what and how to play shows from then on. Despite most people know Grunt for couple things, there is quite big variation in live and recording activities. During couple decades, Grunt has changed approach and gear many times. 2024 meant basically dropping all formerly used gear and ways of making albums and starting from scratch. For this show, I had re-thought entire set-up of live gear. Bringing some old things back, but maintaining path of 2024. It is absolute necessary to be able to play truly live. To be able to improvise, change things based on gut feeling. Goal for the set was that noise needs to have free flowing and risky elements that can either succeed or fail, vocals need to be sharp, clear and loud, but not take all attention from the noise. Variations of the set was being rehearsed for couple of months, often several times a week with PA system. The search for how it will be build and how everything works. Changing set-up was also about figuring out how to make overall sound punchy and loud and how to blend vocals with noise with very specific way. Since ability to do different things and possibly change plans in blink of an eye was crucial, this also happened at the gig. I ended up playing different way than had in recent rehearsal session. During second track, it became clear where mood of evening will take and how tracklist must be changed. Set consisted some of new Karike album style improvised noise. That album was studio live, so doing something like that was very much possible. Blending that with harder hitting industrial-noise as well as renditions of older songs from Myth of Blood and World Draped… albums and older live material that never made to albums. Without clock to watch, based on gut feeling turned out gig lasted 22 minutes, which was shorter than in most of rehearsals were. Grunt usually plays less than half an hour. Currently no shows planned. Most likely upcoming years will be Finland only.
Organizers asked everybody to go out while Genocide Organ was setting the stage. Getting all the gear tables carried on stage, oil barrel and other industrial junk. When band had all things ready, people returned inside. Four members with each having their table with equipment. It appears that everything would be played live. Sample loops going between the songs when member would adjust the synth setting ready for next song. Early part of set consisted newer material, dominated by bleak and quite minimal synth oscillations and long vocal monologues. There was moment when microphone problems emerged, but just like every other artists of this weekend, GO quickly solved any difficulties. This is what I like in live noise. Not the flawlessness that may remind as if we’re listening playback, but sort of human touch, where something unexpected happens and it is quickly resolved. Mistake is not the end of the world, but getting back on track and handling the situation gives me feeling that artist is really on top of the game.
Even with microphone going on mute, GO masterfully simply went on playing. Brigant Moloch would keep reciting vocals acoustically. With his theatrical presence in front of the stage, he took all the attention and unless you would have seen that this happened due microphone being replaced, it would have felt like part of the live show.
Turning point of the set was when Under-Kontrakt album hit song ”It’s Over” started to blast from speakers. Like often with Genocide Organ, live versions of the songs may be more aggressive and harder. Vocal performance was vicious and fierce compared to more quiet spoken narration of studio version. This triggered audience to start… not exactly pit, but chaotic movement that continued pretty much rest of the set. Newer GO has less striking aggression and more emphasis on slow paced atmosphere and lyrics. In this set, songs like It’s Over and Autodefensa felt like most aggressive pieces. While I would certainly welcome couple vintage classic songs into set, I also like a lot that GO is not industrial-jukebox, just playing old favorites, but moving on and actively creating new material and performing it. Brigant Moloch would do couple songs, but it was mostly Wilhelm Herich in the front and clearly both most charismatic live vocalists of the genre. One thing I must say, a lot of non-finn audience was surprisingly busy filming short video clips and occasionally it was even annoying to see that many little screens between you and the artists. I would assume it’s common courtesy to be discreet, do it quickly and enjoy the gig. Not spend entire show for filming short fragments for… social media?
After the set ended, it was pretty quick process to wrap up all things, get all the merch and gear into van and drive into the city and hit the bar and get to discuss with bunch of people who had come around the Europe. This venue is great for possibility to having merch table in place where you are able to watch all the shows. Nevertheless, it feels every gig is notch too busy to really catch up with people you rarely see. It is always great to visit fest/gig where you are not playing, driving, selling, organizing. There will be bunch of those during this year.
For gigs in Finland, one easy place to keep updated is Special Interests forum concert announcement section. You will find many announcements for other countries as well. Notable bigger events worth to travel should be Harsh Ways Fest III. 1-2.8.2025 with 15 performers, including Sutcliffe No More as headliner, but 5 other international bands and huge amount of Finnish projects. 50 euro tickets! At this moment some available, so contact the organizer to email found from advertisement:
https://special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=13741.msg109418#msg109418
Big thanks for Harsh Ways Syndicate and Kammio crew plus all the rest!
To get physical releases of many of the mentioned bands, one option as usual:
https://www.nhfastore.net/index.php?route=product/search
