Malvern_Heavy Blog Is Heavy

Tag Archive: Malvern

AZWAI – The HBIH Interview

Mar.28, 2010

Local music scenes are funny things. For the most part they are wildly hit and miss, but growing up I was blessed with a fairly diverse and talented one: one that has inbred time and time again, recycling members, nurturing talent like some rapey old school janitor with a hunchback and a frog for a wife.

AZWAI are the six-fingered middle child of the Worcestershire music scene. There are hills. There are woods. Plenty of places to hide your incestuous progeny; perhaps in a cow shed in the middle of nowhere?

This is where I found Malvern’s very own bastard sons – [corresponding to the photo above] Dan Stokes, Adam Murkin, Craig Taylor and Dan Taylor [unrelated. Or so they say. See above paragraph.] – slavering over their instruments and sodomising a dead rat. Luckily they were in a ‘playful’ mood, and after placating them with the latest Hollyoaks calendar, they agreed to answer a few questions.

[End of hyperbole. Ish]

CG: AsZerosWeAreInfinite is not what you might call a usual name. How and why did you choose it in particular?

DS: It’s based on a mathematical theory known as ‘God math’, which talks about zero as being an infinite number. In the beginning we just wanted to write hardcore but the more we wrote, and specifically the more technical our music got, the more the name stuck.

AM: Well in honesty, it was either that or ‘I’m A Pterodactyl’. We went for the one with the better acronym.

How did you all get started in music? What drew you to the heavier end of the musical spectrum?

DS: We stumbled across rock music in high school like everyone else, and found like-minded people. I began writing music when I was fifteen. I found that my tastes became more and more violent the older and grumpier I got, and that I had a burning desire to constantly push myself to the very edge of my abilities; writing songs I could barely play. Eventually, we wanted the music we wrote to cause an emotional reaction out of the people listening and the easiest emotion to provoke from a crowd is anger. We’ve always thought that anger and passion go hand in hand and we’re all very passionate people.

CT: Slipknot. End of.

God By Any Other Name

Between my crooked teeth

And self-prophecised lies

You will discover salvation for your ache

What is it about Malvern that produces such a plethora of brilliant bands and musicians?

AM: Must be the water…

DS: I think its because it’s ‘small town syndrome’. We all live in this town where there isn’t much to do apart from drink and listen to music, so eventually you have a whole gaggle of people in the same generation feeling the same frustrations of being from nowhere special. A band seems like the perfect place to vent those feelings and turn them into something constructive. Of course I could be way off and it could just be the water. The Queen does drink it. But I doubt she’s in a Converge cover band…

View Full Article »

Tags: Adam Murkin, Aszerosweareinfinite, AZWAI, Craig Taylor, Dan Stokes, Dan Taylor, Deacon Birch, interview, Malvern, Mother Dirt, Stella Dawes

Dead People In Your House

Filed Under: Video

Mar.17, 2010

I’ve mentioned before that there are decent number of awesome bands – certainly more than our fair share – where I come from.

So far I’ve mentioned AZWAI and Mother Dirt, who in my opinion are the best of the bunch. Although not my favourites, the next band on my list – one Deacon Birch – are probably the best known, and certainly draw the largest crowds. Their shows are always a blast, especially when you throw the first two into the mix in a very small room with an extremely low ceiling.

They’ve not released a huge amount – mainly just a split 7″ with the now defunct Emerald Eye (the tracks from which are available on their Myspace) – but the song I wanted to share with you today is probably their best, and it is charmingly titled Corpses in the Walls.

From what I can gather, it’s an homage to Norma Jean‘s Murderotica (An Avalanche in D Minor), but with their own twist on the lyrics.

The video is pretty rad too, put together by the vocalist of Mother Dirt in fact. This is the kind of environment our musicians write and practice in; bands of the world take note!

- CG

Tags: AZWAI, British, Corpses in the Walls, Deacon Birch, Malvern, metalcore, Mother Dirt, Murderotica, Norma Jean, UK

AZWAI: AsZerosWeAreInfinite

Filed Under: New music, Reviews

Jan.30, 2010

AZWAI live

It’s a good feeling when something you’ve been working on for a long time comes to fruition. After months of hard slog for very little gain, you might finally feel as if it has all been worth it, and you can allow yourself a pat on the back and maybe a few drinks down the pub. For Malvern-based hardcore quartet AsZerosWeAreInfinite, or AZWAI as they are more colloquially known, that drink should be at least three fingers, and the hand should belong to a big sweaty gorilla.

You see, their self-titled EP was recorded over a year ago, but only now do you, the lucky public, get to sample the fruits of their labour.

The opener, ‘God, By Any Other Name‘, kicks in with the lyrics “between my broken teeth and self-prophesied lies, you will discover salvation for your ache”. This could be as much a comment from anybody who has found their way to the front of the stage during one of AZWAI’s shows as it is about the actual subject, one Wayne Bent. Bent, also known as Michael Travesser, is the charismatic leader of the Lord Our Righteousness Church in New Mexico, a religious community who were featured in the Channel 4 Documentary ‘The End of the World Cult‘.

It’s a belter of an opening track, driving home with the force of something big and forceful and un-clichéd as possible. You might be surprised that there is only one guitar at work here, as the entire band works hard to create a ferocious, full-bodied sound. Vocalist and lyricist Adam Murkin is great at taking a perspective and writing intelligently from it, no matter how bizarre or convoluted the perspective of that person might be. The clout with which he delivers his lines is unrelenting across the board, too, and conveys in part his mighty stage presence (both in front of and mid-crowd).

Next up is ‘Snakeskin in the Shape of Wedding Band, which claims the crown for the longest track on the EP – marginally. And that’s one of the great things about AZWAI’s refined style. The tracks are long enough to have enough substance to hold your attention (I’m looking at you, Ampere), but aren’t so long that the onslaught becomes wearing. I know that this will be a firm crowd favourite – enough breakdowns and catchy lines for them to really get into.

Closer ‘Poor Syntax’ stands out as my favourite. I am still in awe as to how drummer Dan Taylor can manage as many stick-clacks in the space of a single second as he does to bring in this track, but this is by no means the highlight of the track. The influence of The Dillinger Escape Plan is clear from the outset, but it’s no mere consummate rip-off: the guys know how to build on their influences, rather than rehashing existing songs.

The EP may only clock in at seven minutes and thirty-one seconds, but it’s more than enough. It is an unrelenting juggernaut, devoid of unnecessary trimmings or lyrical waffle. Hear me; salvation is coming – and it’s name is AZWAI.