By Philip Whitehouse
Since their inception, the band Isis have been consistently releasing music that stands almost alone in today's scene as some of the densest, heaviest sounding sonic catharsis whilst simultaneously being atmospheric, ambient and cerebral. With their latest album, Oceanic, Isis took that template even further and, in the opinion of this writer, raised the bar to stratospheric heights for all future heavy music releases. I was lucky enough to be able to impress upon Aaron Turner's time to discuss how Isis got this far, and what we can expect next from the band.
Ultimate Metal - For those readers unfamiliar with Isis, who are the members and how did you all meet? What were the circumstances behind the formation of the band?
Aaron Turner - Jeff Caxide (bass) and I started thinking about the band in the spring of 98, but we didn't find a good drummer (Aaron Harris) until September of that year, and that's when Isis first began writing music. Jeff and I were roomates at the time Isis started and we had met through some mutual friends of ours in the band Cable. Jeff and Aaron and I all had similar tastes in music and were all on the same page about what we wanted to do - make some slow, heavy, loud, noisey shit - based upon some of the bands we had in common coupled with our own ideas... In 98 we recorded the demo & "Mosquito Control" (on Escape Artist records), and in 99 we recorded "Red Sea". we went through a number of second guitarists until we recruited Mike Gallagher, and the same was true for the electronics position until we found Cliff Meyer. we have had that line up since spring of 99 and we recorded both Celestial (Escape Artist records) and sgnl>05 (Neurot Recordings) and done most of our touring in that incarnation. Pretty standard affair...
UM - What influences, musical or otherwise, inspire Isis' work?
AT - We are inspired/influenced by tons of stuff: metal, noise, drum n bass, classic rock, ambient/electronic stuff, industrial, hip hop, it's endless really. People are always asking about bands and there are always so many that spring to mind. I guess some that are most obvious in our sound would be Swans, Melvins, Godflesh, Earth (presumably not Black Sabbath's first incantation, but rather the ultra-slow and heavy doom outfit - Phil), Helmet, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and maybe some more indie rock type of stuff like Mogwai, Slint, Tarentel, Codeine, etc. Aside from those musical references I would say the films of David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, Chris Marker, and Jim Jarmusch have been influential along with tons of other film makers, writers, and artists.
UM - 'Oceanic' as a body of work seems less about the individual songs than the feel and flow of the album as a whole - is this due to a conscious effort in the songwriting stage, or something that comes about of its own accord?
AT - We definitely made a conscious effort to create an album that was as fluid as possible - not just within the songs themselves but as an album overall. This is something that we've tried to do since our very first EP, but i don't think we'd really been all that successful until "Oceanic". Much of it has to do with natural progression as well - we're just better players now and better song writers and that is obviously something that can only comes with time. I guess it was just a matter of all of us becoming more comfortable with our roles in the group and learning to be more patient with compositions - especially in their formative stages.
UM - Since the last album 'Celestial', your sound seems to have changed to encompass more of a feeling of space, and gradual layering of sound to build up density rather than hitting the listener with walls of sound. Was this a deliberate progression to fit with the theme of the album?
AT - Again it's a little of both - with the recording itself we intentionally did less guitar doubling in an effort to clarify the tracks - to reveal more of the atmosphere and detail. We wanted a recording that was little less dense with more space to it. As for the songs, I think it was just nature taking its course - there was only so much of the constant hammering heaviness we could endure - after a while we needed a little something more - more room to move and breathe, more depth and atmosphere, more delicate sounds woven into the structures - I think we just need to exercise our dynamic abilities to a greater extent and that was how it developed.
UM - There's a definite cinematic feel to the album - you can imagine set pieces and moments of exposition being set to the music. Do you feel that Isis' music tells a story?
AT - The music and the albums in particular tell a story for sure - you just have to pay attention and dig as deep into them as you can - both reading and looking at the content of the layouts and listening to the music itself. I love music that conjures up imagery - that creates internalized scenes and moods - that is what great music is to me - a transport or a device to lead you to other places - I would hesitate to use the term cinematic as it is overly used these days, but in a way our music does have that element. we want to present music that carries the listener into something beyond their listening environment....
UM - Comparisons with Neurosis have been flying around for you since seemingly the dawn of time, but other than that group, Isis seem to have few contemporary reference points. Do you feel isolated in the heavy music scene?
AT - I think the Neurosis comparison is just lazy journalism at this point - I won't deny their influence nor the similarity of some of our earlier music to theirs, but we've grown so far beyond just what our influences were/are that I don't really think about it anymore. I feel there are a lot of bands that we have shared common ground with, but that we don't necessarily sound like - at least not overtly. Melvins have been around for a long time, but I still consider them very contemporary... Neurosis are still at it and getting better all the time, and there are younger groups like Keelhaul, Mastadon, Enemymine, Pelican, Khanate, etc that are pushing the envelope of heavy music and parallel what we are doing to varying degrees. I wouldn't say we feel isolated - we feel lucky to know and play with as many great bands as we have... Heavy and otherwise.
UM - 'Oceanic' was released on Mike Patton's label, Ipecac Records. What's the nature of this deal, and how did it come about? Does it signal the end of Isis' association with Hydra Head Records?
AT - Isis has never been on Hydra Head - we did a couple of unofficial releases via Hydra Head and Hydra Head Europe released Celestial over there, but we've never had a proper release on Hydra Head. Ipecac is a great home for us at the moment and I don't see us going anywhere else - unless they get sick of us...which I don't see as a forseeable problem either. A mutual friend of ours passed some Isis discs on to Mike and he liked what he heard - the rest is history. After we talked over our goals and expectations with them and they explained their focus and methods behind the label we knew it was the place for us and we haven't regretted it even for a moment.
UM - How do you find people react to Isis in the live setting? While the music is undoubtedly heavy enough to cause a reaction, it seems more cerebral than visceral.
AT - Really it all depends on the situation - sometimes I get the sense that the audience is bored out of their skulls - just staring listlessly at the stage, but then after the set I find out that most of them were just in a trance... Sometimes there are folks movin' around and "moshing", which I actually don't mind. Occasionally when we start to clear a room it just makes me play all that much harder - just depends on the mood. I just want people to listen and what they're doing with their bodies while listening really doesn't make that much of a difference... Some towns seem to react in a physical way - others not, like I said all depends on the situation.
UM - The use of vocals on this release is fairly sparse, and certainly not the focus of the music as in most other bands. I assume you see vocals as another instrument to be used when needed - so can you see Isis releasing a completely instrumental album in the future?
AT - I don't know if we'll ever go all instrumental, but either way I'm fine with it - vocals are treated as just another instrument so to speak and used sparingly. I don't feel that vocals are my strong suit, but for the most part I feel they're pretty effective for my purposes when I actually do sing. I have thought about the role of vocals in our band quite a bit and while they aren't the focus as you said I do think they add something else to the overall equation and I don't for see us becoming an entirely instrumental band - at least not any time soon.
UM - With the increased presence of electronics and ambient soundscapes on Oceanic, do you think it's likely we may see an Isis remix album or something similar in the future?
AT - Yes - that's our next project actually (you heard it here first, folks... - Phil). We're going to do an album based around the Oceanic material - basically having people remix stuff, but we want it to be more of collaborative effort than just handing tracks off to people - so far we've got Dalek, James Plotkin, Justin Broadrick, Joe Preston and some other folks on board to participate, so it should be pretty interesting. This will give us further opportunity to explore the more "experimental" aspects of our sound and to play with some different tools... I'm looking forward to getting started on that stuff.
UM - What kind of feelings are you trying to inspire in the listener through Isis' music, if any?
AT - Um, I don't know if we're trying to inspire an specific reaction - we just want to create music that will have some effect emotionally on the listener - from our point of view there are many emotional layers to the music and we all react differently to them - they same would be true of the listener I expect.
UM - Finally, is there anything you'd like to say to the Ultimate Metal readership?
AT - Never expect the same thing twice. thank you.
Isis' latest record, Oceanic, is available now on Ipecac Records.
Since their inception, the band Isis have been consistently releasing music that stands almost alone in today's scene as some of the densest, heaviest sounding sonic catharsis whilst simultaneously being atmospheric, ambient and cerebral. With their latest album, Oceanic, Isis took that template even further and, in the opinion of this writer, raised the bar to stratospheric heights for all future heavy music releases. I was lucky enough to be able to impress upon Aaron Turner's time to discuss how Isis got this far, and what we can expect next from the band.
Ultimate Metal - For those readers unfamiliar with Isis, who are the members and how did you all meet? What were the circumstances behind the formation of the band?
Aaron Turner - Jeff Caxide (bass) and I started thinking about the band in the spring of 98, but we didn't find a good drummer (Aaron Harris) until September of that year, and that's when Isis first began writing music. Jeff and I were roomates at the time Isis started and we had met through some mutual friends of ours in the band Cable. Jeff and Aaron and I all had similar tastes in music and were all on the same page about what we wanted to do - make some slow, heavy, loud, noisey shit - based upon some of the bands we had in common coupled with our own ideas... In 98 we recorded the demo & "Mosquito Control" (on Escape Artist records), and in 99 we recorded "Red Sea". we went through a number of second guitarists until we recruited Mike Gallagher, and the same was true for the electronics position until we found Cliff Meyer. we have had that line up since spring of 99 and we recorded both Celestial (Escape Artist records) and sgnl>05 (Neurot Recordings) and done most of our touring in that incarnation. Pretty standard affair...
UM - What influences, musical or otherwise, inspire Isis' work?
AT - We are inspired/influenced by tons of stuff: metal, noise, drum n bass, classic rock, ambient/electronic stuff, industrial, hip hop, it's endless really. People are always asking about bands and there are always so many that spring to mind. I guess some that are most obvious in our sound would be Swans, Melvins, Godflesh, Earth (presumably not Black Sabbath's first incantation, but rather the ultra-slow and heavy doom outfit - Phil), Helmet, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and maybe some more indie rock type of stuff like Mogwai, Slint, Tarentel, Codeine, etc. Aside from those musical references I would say the films of David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, Chris Marker, and Jim Jarmusch have been influential along with tons of other film makers, writers, and artists.
UM - 'Oceanic' as a body of work seems less about the individual songs than the feel and flow of the album as a whole - is this due to a conscious effort in the songwriting stage, or something that comes about of its own accord?
AT - We definitely made a conscious effort to create an album that was as fluid as possible - not just within the songs themselves but as an album overall. This is something that we've tried to do since our very first EP, but i don't think we'd really been all that successful until "Oceanic". Much of it has to do with natural progression as well - we're just better players now and better song writers and that is obviously something that can only comes with time. I guess it was just a matter of all of us becoming more comfortable with our roles in the group and learning to be more patient with compositions - especially in their formative stages.
UM - Since the last album 'Celestial', your sound seems to have changed to encompass more of a feeling of space, and gradual layering of sound to build up density rather than hitting the listener with walls of sound. Was this a deliberate progression to fit with the theme of the album?
AT - Again it's a little of both - with the recording itself we intentionally did less guitar doubling in an effort to clarify the tracks - to reveal more of the atmosphere and detail. We wanted a recording that was little less dense with more space to it. As for the songs, I think it was just nature taking its course - there was only so much of the constant hammering heaviness we could endure - after a while we needed a little something more - more room to move and breathe, more depth and atmosphere, more delicate sounds woven into the structures - I think we just need to exercise our dynamic abilities to a greater extent and that was how it developed.
UM - There's a definite cinematic feel to the album - you can imagine set pieces and moments of exposition being set to the music. Do you feel that Isis' music tells a story?
AT - The music and the albums in particular tell a story for sure - you just have to pay attention and dig as deep into them as you can - both reading and looking at the content of the layouts and listening to the music itself. I love music that conjures up imagery - that creates internalized scenes and moods - that is what great music is to me - a transport or a device to lead you to other places - I would hesitate to use the term cinematic as it is overly used these days, but in a way our music does have that element. we want to present music that carries the listener into something beyond their listening environment....
UM - Comparisons with Neurosis have been flying around for you since seemingly the dawn of time, but other than that group, Isis seem to have few contemporary reference points. Do you feel isolated in the heavy music scene?
AT - I think the Neurosis comparison is just lazy journalism at this point - I won't deny their influence nor the similarity of some of our earlier music to theirs, but we've grown so far beyond just what our influences were/are that I don't really think about it anymore. I feel there are a lot of bands that we have shared common ground with, but that we don't necessarily sound like - at least not overtly. Melvins have been around for a long time, but I still consider them very contemporary... Neurosis are still at it and getting better all the time, and there are younger groups like Keelhaul, Mastadon, Enemymine, Pelican, Khanate, etc that are pushing the envelope of heavy music and parallel what we are doing to varying degrees. I wouldn't say we feel isolated - we feel lucky to know and play with as many great bands as we have... Heavy and otherwise.
UM - 'Oceanic' was released on Mike Patton's label, Ipecac Records. What's the nature of this deal, and how did it come about? Does it signal the end of Isis' association with Hydra Head Records?
AT - Isis has never been on Hydra Head - we did a couple of unofficial releases via Hydra Head and Hydra Head Europe released Celestial over there, but we've never had a proper release on Hydra Head. Ipecac is a great home for us at the moment and I don't see us going anywhere else - unless they get sick of us...which I don't see as a forseeable problem either. A mutual friend of ours passed some Isis discs on to Mike and he liked what he heard - the rest is history. After we talked over our goals and expectations with them and they explained their focus and methods behind the label we knew it was the place for us and we haven't regretted it even for a moment.
UM - How do you find people react to Isis in the live setting? While the music is undoubtedly heavy enough to cause a reaction, it seems more cerebral than visceral.
AT - Really it all depends on the situation - sometimes I get the sense that the audience is bored out of their skulls - just staring listlessly at the stage, but then after the set I find out that most of them were just in a trance... Sometimes there are folks movin' around and "moshing", which I actually don't mind. Occasionally when we start to clear a room it just makes me play all that much harder - just depends on the mood. I just want people to listen and what they're doing with their bodies while listening really doesn't make that much of a difference... Some towns seem to react in a physical way - others not, like I said all depends on the situation.
UM - The use of vocals on this release is fairly sparse, and certainly not the focus of the music as in most other bands. I assume you see vocals as another instrument to be used when needed - so can you see Isis releasing a completely instrumental album in the future?
AT - I don't know if we'll ever go all instrumental, but either way I'm fine with it - vocals are treated as just another instrument so to speak and used sparingly. I don't feel that vocals are my strong suit, but for the most part I feel they're pretty effective for my purposes when I actually do sing. I have thought about the role of vocals in our band quite a bit and while they aren't the focus as you said I do think they add something else to the overall equation and I don't for see us becoming an entirely instrumental band - at least not any time soon.
UM - With the increased presence of electronics and ambient soundscapes on Oceanic, do you think it's likely we may see an Isis remix album or something similar in the future?
AT - Yes - that's our next project actually (you heard it here first, folks... - Phil). We're going to do an album based around the Oceanic material - basically having people remix stuff, but we want it to be more of collaborative effort than just handing tracks off to people - so far we've got Dalek, James Plotkin, Justin Broadrick, Joe Preston and some other folks on board to participate, so it should be pretty interesting. This will give us further opportunity to explore the more "experimental" aspects of our sound and to play with some different tools... I'm looking forward to getting started on that stuff.
UM - What kind of feelings are you trying to inspire in the listener through Isis' music, if any?
AT - Um, I don't know if we're trying to inspire an specific reaction - we just want to create music that will have some effect emotionally on the listener - from our point of view there are many emotional layers to the music and we all react differently to them - they same would be true of the listener I expect.
UM - Finally, is there anything you'd like to say to the Ultimate Metal readership?
AT - Never expect the same thing twice. thank you.
Isis' latest record, Oceanic, is available now on Ipecac Records.
