1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Hey, first of all, thanks for the interview for your webzine. We have been playing together for more than ten years. We previously had a psychedelic doom band, Mills of God, with Kai (now Yagow), with which we released an LP on Modus Operandi (the band also continued to exist for a while with a slightly different musical direction under the name Dead Widows). After the breakup of MOG, we didn't make music at all for several years, mainly for family reasons.
In 2018 I contacted Pat with the idea of forming a band again as a duo. All started well off, the feeling was right back after all that time and we quickly had enough songs together for a whole set. Over time, a good friendship has grown out of it, we often spend half of the rehearsal just hanging out, drinking beer and talking....
2.In December you had released your first album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?
So we are very happy that Alex released the record on Bleeding Heart Nihilist. The record actually has a bit of a history. We had actually finished recording in summer 2019. We recorded the songs in an industrial hall, with our buddy Jan, who is by the way a sound engineer. It was a mix of DIY and professional arrangement. We are super satisfied with the sound. Jan was able to understand what we were sound-wise aiming for and had no problem with the fact that everything was recorded extremely loud and with some extreme feedback, haha… After that Jan was very busy at work, so mixing and mastering took almost one year (also due to the crappy pandemic situation).
Alex from BHN Prod. and I used to go to school together for a while and, if I remember correctly, we also had a band together for a short time (Nihil Obstat).
The year before he also released a tape of Lebend Relique, a solo project of mine with T. from Wigrid on vocals, so it kind of made sense to touch base with him for the Shit Hexis release. I think that the label roster of BHN is really characterized by very good, unconventional bands (e.g. Cruda Sorte, Sunshine & Lollipops, Wigrid, Noia, Arcane Frost, Fvneral Fvkk etc.).
Due to the pandemic and some other projects with Alex, the final release was delayed again. For several reasons it took another year, so it ended up being Dec. 2022 when the record was ready to be released. And the songs are now almost 3-4 years old, haha. But we are happy with the collaboration with Alex, which is on an uncomplicated and friendly basis. We would have liked to release the record also on vinyl, but that was financially and also due to the tense situation in the pressing plants not an option. But maybe one day….
Concerning the musical style it was clear from the beginning that it should go in the direction of sludge. We had in mind a sound like Moss, Burning Witch, Eye Hate God. Certainly bands like Mantar or Black Cobra were an inspiration to realize it as a duo. Pat is more into punk/indie, while I listen to a lot of death and black metal - the common intersection is doom/sludge - and so in the end the songs developed quite quickly and naturally in this melange. The important thing was that the whole thing sounds ugly and shitty, haha. More primitive than progressive - I think that worked quite well. In the constellation as a duo, the equipment must not be underestimated . I play two amps in parallel, not particularly loud anymore, but sonically somewhat different - that's already important, so that the sound also has the violence of a 'whole' band.
3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you have explored so far with the music?
Mhh..well, I understand Shit Hexis as a political band. Often there is this premise that music and politics should be kept apart, especially in metal music. This is difficult for me to understand or even illusory, because the issues that we express as people are always the product of a certain socio-political constellation (even if we are sometimes more or less aware).
The topic that concerned me at that time and still does today is the strengthening of a dull nationalism. This actuality of nationalistic or ethnic home discourses and blatant racism are for me ultimately childish and regressive ways of reaction to flee from the complexity of late-modern societies. Especially in (Black-)Metal the identification with Germanic mythology is a big topic and there it often tips over into racist fantasies of superiority. That is just absurd for me. It's ultimately a crappy coincidence where the universe has shat you out and there is no reason for you to feel somehow better or more valuable or to be particularly proud of a certain tradition, which under other circumstances could have been quite simply another one. Behind it there is often a great emotional insecurity or emptiness and often also a feeling of alienation, which overlooks and/or fades out the social and economic contexts and then seeks orientation in the identification with simplistic cultural interpretations.
I am down with everyone who is interested in the traditions and mythologies of his cultural area, being fascinated by them or even identifying with them. But in the end the Edda remains just as much a fantasy epic as the Bible etc. And most of the pagan “black metal warriors” are also doing their 9 to 5 job, painting their board game figures at home, drinking honey beer in the village pub and thinking they are at war with modern civilization because they are wearing army pants and a mjölnir pendant from a mailorder catalogue around their neck.
The lyrics on the record are partly a certain vulgar persiflage of this context. I also sing in German because I can express myself better that way and I also like the aesthetics of the German language. In my eyes, tradition is not problematic, only the uncritical and patriotic handling of it. Adorno, for example, reflected this quite well in the essay “Was ist deutsch?” (“What is German”).
4.You have also taken an anti occult or esoteric viewpoint, can you tell us a little bit more about these views?
The standpoint is not 'anti'-occultist. My relationship to it is rather a skeptical one. I had recently read the book “The Devils Cradle - The Story of Finnish Black Metal” by Tero Ikäheimonen and was in a way also fascinated by the spectrum of occultism in Black Metal and also how seriously the topic is taken there. In principle I can also appreciate the premises, as they are represented for example in the concept of the 'Left Hand Path': Autonomy of the self, greater attention to our corporeality and the associated 'dark' desires, breaking with social (sexual) conventions, dealing with questions of transcendence and spirituality, etc. Ultimately, this has its roots in Hindu and Buddhist body and meditation practices, which I also practice myself.
However, the impression that often creeps over me in the omnipresent 'occult' themes is also that it is mostly just a rather content-less form of aesthetic production and/or a certain 'cozy' form of escaping the world. Often it seems to me that a certain biographical lack of orientation and meaning is filled. Or rather, it also seems to be about satisfying a certain religious desire of integration into this cosmos in a meaningful way. That is also human and completely legitimate. Ultimately, however, I would also ask the question here: why seek salvation in any magical or supernatural phenomena? Sure, this is fascinating and can be found in all religious liturgies. But doesn't the perceived longing for a higher meaning or the suffering (from the meaninglessness) in one's own life rather have its reasons in an unfamiliar handling of one's own body, the unresolved issues of one's own (family) biography and especially with the social and economic conditions in which one grows up and lives? So from this point of view I see much clearer and realistic answers in our 'occidental' philosophy and history of science: with regard to the questions of an aesthetic way of life in the 'existential philosophy' of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, respectively in the psychoanalysis of Freud with regard to dealing with questions of corporeality and unsatisfied needs/taboos, and in a structuralist, non-ideological reading of Marxism with regard to the widespread feeling of alienation. But sure, dealing with social reality and oneself is just not as cool as creeping through the forest with corpse paint and feeling the devil in the ether, haha.
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Shit Hexis'?
The term Hexis has nothing to do with witchcraft or magic. We are referring to the original greek meaning, which means something like a basic attitude, character or way of life or 'habitus'. It's about this basic, optimistic attitude towards life that everything sucks, haha.
6.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
The artwork and logo are done by Chris/Misanthropic Art. We sent him the lyrics of 'Le mort saisit le vif' as an inspiration. This is a Marx quote: the dead grasps the living, which means that the structures of 'alienated labor' historically catch up with us again and again in a new form. The lyrics read:
Deep from the black mud
of the class struggle stare 1000 pupils.
They reflect a gray light
that cuts through all humanity.
The stench is bestial.
In a way, it's the clichéd, but somehow also increasingly realistic dystopian vision that humanity manages to wipe itself out quite well in the long run and that it's often difficult to look to the future with hope. In this respect it is an extremely well done visualization of our lyrics. He really worked very committedly and professionally.
7.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you open to expanding the line up or do you prefer to remain a duo?
We will definitely remain a duo. This constellation makes it so much easier to write songs, organize dates and make all other decisions regarding the band. I also think that we manage it well in terms of sound, that there is no feeling that something is 'missing'. It's also quite cool to see that especially at the live shows people are surprised how 'brutal' a two-piece line-up can be, haha.
8.Has the band done any live shows or open to the idea?
Yeah, sure. We've played a handful of shows around here. Some of them with our good friends Turin Horse and Geisterfaust. We also try to organize shows ourselves to revive the metal underground a bit and are also constantly looking for gig opportunities. So get in touch with us!
9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black, sludge and doom metal?
Since we didn't have a demo and the record is freshly released, there are hardly any reactions so far. We are also trying to publish it through the usual social media channels and Alex/BHN Prod. is doing his best in terms of promotion. But the net is overcrowded with good (and not so good) bands. I find this whole internet publicity often very exhausting and annoying, so it's even nicer when every now and then a review or an interview request like this one comes along…
10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
I think we will start writing new songs soon. They are going to be a bit more dark and disgusting, but also a bit more homogeneous and maybe more primitive and simple. So the stench of hopelessness will be a bit more acrid in the nose, aargh.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
As already said, bands like Moss, Burning Witch, Iron Monkey, EHG, Meth Drinker, Graves At Sea or Buried at Sea were certainly a clear influence, also doom bands like Black Sabbath, Sleep or Electric Wizard, punk like Black Flag, Subhumans or His Hero is Gone but also old Hellhammer, Sodom, Bathory, Darkthrone, Mayhem, Dodheimsgard etc..
Lately the following tapes and records were on my stereo: Unholy, Predatory Light, Baxaxaxa, Katatonia, Watain, Eremit, Impaled Nazarene, Bell Witch, Xasthur, Korpelarörelsen, Wagner Ödegard, Black Curse, Undergang, Thou, Mizmor, Mortiferum, Azaghal, Conan, Flotsam and Jetsam, but also Portishead, Nirvana, The Cure, Tenhi, Soft Kill, Sleater Kinney, Brutus and Afghan Whigs.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Nope, not really. Except for a huge thank you for your review and questions! Has been a pleasure.
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