Road End, Pilot Error (black-box com chatter), Sweaty Dirty Sex (I'll take a slice off the back), Information Overload (bulb-burst), 3:30 am Neon Bluuur, Foetal Distress (...---...), the Mercury Smear in his eyes, the Unpinned Grenade in her hand. The electric lightbulb burst. There's more there where the debris meets the sea.
Video for the song "White Room Black Eye" spawned from the mega-brain of Brien Hindman with Storm directing the bruised action and Sweet Scarling trapped in cabaret hell. The screwed hands are easily my fave irritant under the skin.
Throughout the 90s, CHEMLAB blazed a fearsome trail through the Indie music scene, alternately setting then breaking every convention of driving Machine Rock. Their music exploits the chaos found when the oil-slick of digital dance grooves meets the sonic, churning water of the guitar's organic roar.
CHEMLABs first full album, Burn Out At The Hydrogen Bar was written in the fuse burned, midi-ghettos of NYC by superuncool co-conspirators Jared Louche and Dylan More with the help of lost gutter saints Mark Kermanj, Steve "Fly" Watson and Ned Wahl. Recorded in 1992 at Chicago Trax studio, Burn Out quickly became the Machine Rock standard against which future records have been measured. Forged of tense, sample-rich programming, drenched in vicious, guitar roar and venting lyrics about a surreal, damaged proto-future, it unleashed a tsunami of rave reviews from magazines as varied as Alternative Press, Raygun, Keyboard and Rolling Stone. The record torched through the charts, trashed dance floors and shoved the band out on endless tours supporting Nine Inch Nails, White Zombie, Skrew and many others. After countless line-up changes and finally joined by rail-gun drummer Servo, CHEMLABs next album, East Side Militia, was written and recorded with old friends William Tucker (Ministry, Foetus) and touring guitarists Geno Lenardo (pre-Filter) and Krayge Tyler ( Virus 23 and before that Crazytown digression). East Side capitalised on the power of Burn Out, four-wheeling CHEMLABs explosive sound through uncharted terrain that mixed hammering dance-rock songs with disturbing ambient nightmares. Again the band received glowing press reviews, and again the record confounded all expectations. CHEMLAB took their gasoline riot shows on the road once more, touring with KMFDM, GWAR, Sister Machine Gun, 16 Volt and more. Tireless gigging, avalanches of critical acclaim, extensive radio play and a reputation for pushing the envelope of the unexpected has built CHEMLAB a broad and ferociously loyal fan base around the world.
The last few years have seen CHEMLAB frontman Jared Louche release a solo record from his decadent new base in London (the critically acclaimed Covergirl, produced by Martin Atkins), collaborate with electro-sex-noise project h3llb3nt (feat. members of CHEMLAB, 16 Volt, Haloblack/X-Lover, Thrill Kill Kult), spread his solo performance smear all over London, the UK and Europe, and tour the US many times with Pigface.
Now suited, rebooted and mutated, CHEMLAB explodes onto the scene once more with their Invisible Records monsterpiece Oxidizer, offering up a musical scornocopia that drags Machine Rock deep into the future. Recorded with Jason Novak and Jamie Duffy (Acumen Nation) and long-time CHEMLAB collaborator FJ (the Aggression), Oxidizer is the perfect synthesis between the violence of Burn Out and the groove of East Side, all of it channelled through a fractured T-Rex filter. The album features long-time CHEMLAB touring guitarist Greg Lucas, who adds a rich Stooges sound to the twisted, motorik programming. Oxidizer was produced by Jared Louche, Jason Novak and Julian Beeston (Nitzer Ebb, Cyber-Tec, Pigface etc). From the vicious Industrial slam of Binary Nation to the destructo-metal chunk of Monkey God, from the outer-spaced sadness of Megahurts to the lipstick-smeared Glam-Punk of Scornocopia, Oxidizer packs a fistful of sharp hooks, swaggering attitude and Machine Rock glory that will resonate long after the latest flavor-of-the-month bands have whimpered into obscurity.
Since the dead-heat summer of 2005 CHEMLAB has resurfaced as a touring entity as well. With the tireless help and sweat of genius programmer, multi-instrumentalist Gabriel from ebm atmosphere-generator mindFIELD (www.mindFIELD.org and also the ever-viral www.myspace.com/mindfieldebm), the band have been playing select "hit-it-and-quit-it" shows around the country with a fully rewired and ever-mutating line-up. Plans are in the ethers for tours both around the US as well as the rest of the globe, so don't touch that dial. We're not done fucking with your little universe yet!
Use these images to link to this page http://www.myspace.com/chemlab
or to the Hydrogen Bar website http://www.hydrogenbar.com
Yo Jared whats up been like two monthes since we talked... I am getting the welt forums up for shadow this week so we will be back up and running..
Just thought I would hit you up since we havent talked.. I myself and the rest of the cables have been working on music so its been a disapearing act if you know what i mean..
Come see the The Painkurst Girls at First Jason Feast of Flesh Saturday October 17th!
Viaduct Theater 3111 N. Western Ave Chicago, IL 60618
Featuring the finest in Phantasmagoria. A feast for your inner beast! Also featuring: Viva La Muerte Burlesque - Horror-Erotic dance presentation The Master's Devils Girls - Starring the amazing Sofiya Mina Smirnova First Jason - Monster metal from Ari Lehman, the first Jason Voorhees Sinister Fate - Gothic rock faves from the "Grave New World" DJ Risky - Spins a fearsome mix of horrow music until 3am Shop for hooror collectibles from the area's finest vendors, including: Horrorbles, Halloween Art Exhibit, Legion Studios. There will be a constume conteset, so wear your finest Halloween regalia. Winners will be lavished with prizes and praise!!
Found out about Chemlab from researching a shirt I saw (how often do you hear that one? haha) and caught you in 97-98 with GWAR- pretty rough show if I remember... Anyway, you're one of the best writers in the biz, don't let metal people or crappy circumstances get you down.
A man is lying in bed in a Catholic hospital with an oxygen mask over his mouth. A young auxiliary nurse appears to sponge his face and hands.
"Nurse," he mumbles from behind the mask, "Are my testicles black?"
Embarrassed the young nurse replies, "I don't know, I'm only here to wash your face and hands."
He struggles again to ask, "Nurse, Are my testicles black?"
Again the nurse replies, "I can't tell. I'm only here to wash your face and hands."
The ward sister was passing and saw the man getting a little distraught so she marched over to inquire what was wrong.
"Sister," he mumbled, "Are my testicles black?"
Being a nurse of longstanding, the sister was undaunted. She whipped back the bedclothes, pulled down his pajama trousers, moved his penis out of the way, had a good look, pulled up the pajamas, replaced the bedclothes and announced, "Nothing is wrong with them!!!"
At this the man pulled off his oxygen mask and asked again, "Are my test results back???