In 2001 THE VANISHING was born in San Francisco, from members Jessie Evans and Brian Hock, who formed out of the ashes of THE KNIVES. Jessie played bass and sang and Brian played drums. Shortly afterward they recruited Sadie Shaw ..boards. Their original sound was tough and dark, melody, mania, screeching vocals, fuzzed out bass like being stuck in a washing machine, and great drums. The music was like a sci fi horror film, lyrics reached toward beauty in dreamlike sequences. But always seen behind the eyes of a glass which might be filled with some poison. Their first EP explored the themes of a society which had become invisible. People who had become like ghosts walking inside their own skin, this theme and similar, of vacancy and the sadness and emptiness that it created, permeated throughout their music.
“At the time I had lost a couple people near to me, not through death in the literal sense, but love affairs gone bad and stuff like this, friendships which had turned rotten. Betrayal, and alchoholism! I was also feeling the strain of the society we were living in, in America, where a feeling can be bought and sold, manipulated attitudes and perception. All in order to persuade the masses. It just feels very rare to get to the core of love.”
The second single “Get in the car” was released as a split 7” with Memphis’ LOST SOUNDS. This romantic love song to a girl found on the side of the road hitchhiking, written from the perspective of her killer behind the wheel, was intended to be disco, but for some reason turned out much more morose!. “…everything I’ve ever done has turned out much darker than I wanted it to be!”
Their second album “Songs for psychotic children” was written as a musical book of fairy tales for children who had lost their mind. This was written with Jessie’s younger brother Anders (OTTO NERVOUS) in mind. Anders was 4 at the time and had been telling everyone in sight that he hated them and would cut their head off and flush it down the toilet, or that he would throw them in the sewer. Again the lyrics strived towards encapsulating some kind of setting where love was reached for but there was so many horrible obstacles in the way.
“My favorite track on this album is “White walls”, which is actually a pretty political song, “can walls be haunted like the rooms, where men poke sticks into cocoons, what is it that is wrapped inside, they covered up but cannot hide? White walls….” This is about “white man” and how he tries to stick his nose and his fist into everything that isn’t his business, like breaking into a beehive, something he thinks he owns, but its gonna get him into a lot of trouble…When I say covered up, I mean like how he tries to cover up everything with his own sense of beauty, of himself, like America, painting its sense of value over everyone else, whether it applies to their culture or not. I’m just thinking also, how the age we’re living in and the culture I grew up in feels so alien to me, how many of us grew up in rooms in houses with white walls. And how this is a culturally accepted as a neutral, practical and socially acceptable state to live in. We’re required to paint our walls white upon entrance and exit into many houses, many states of existence. I just find this to be a really boring color. This is not the norm everywhere, nor in other periods of time, and once again life needs to be much colorful”
“Another track I like on the record is “Terror, I’ve been dying to meet you” which is about duality. It starts from a dream I had where there was a ballroom filled with lights hanging from the ceiling which were made of one head with two faces coming out of it, one on each side. It was totally gross, but since then I’ve seen some sculptures and artifacts that have reminded me of this, so this idea is very present in the collective subconscious. Its about how the worst enemy is actually a part of you, something you may hate till death but can’t get rid of.”
Soon after this release Sadie Shaw left the band and was replaced by Billy Bates on Moog. Several more split records ensued, including a split 12” with SIXTEENS, which contained the tracks “Still lifes are failing’ and “Victim Card”. “Still lifes’ was written as an anti love song to the idea of the still life painting, a painting in which the ideal of beauty is placed in a very predictable pose (usually using fruit or flowers) and is one is forced to copy it to the best of their technical ability. But with metaphorical arrows pointing toward the industry, and how the media had messed up several generations of minds with its constant barrage of imagery aimed at glamorizing youth, beauty, and the ridiculous strive toward fame, this song said “no no no, we don’t need you, we don’t want to be part of your system, and we reject your ideals! We would rather remain underground and free !” Another great single that came out of that period was a split 12” with VON IVA which contained the track “Idle Eyes”. A song which simply said “when you take off the disguise, I’ll look into your eyes, until then you will never see me…”
In this lineup The Vanishing toured the US several times and arrived in Europe. On the streets of Brooklyn Jessie slept in their van “Otto “ to guard it against burglars, listening to Tangerine Dream on her boombox, as the rain poured down. That year they played shows with Get Hustle, The Gossip, Lovelife, Gravy Train, Quintron, The Phantom Limbs, Glass Candy, and many other great bands. It was a beautiful time, in which a frenzied violent feeling could conjure up the most honesty. The show became way more improvised and chaotic. With the addition of Billy into the band, Jessie was playing saxophone again, and Billy’s industrial /wave-hall influence was pushing them into a much harsher sound. Eventually Jessie and Brian decided to move to Berlin, having visited there on their last tour and fallen in love with it. With the friendship of HANIN ELIAS (Atari Teenage Riot) who had offered to put out their new album in Germany, they jumped on the plane (without Billy, who opted to stay in California) and arrived in Berlin on 8.18.2004.
Their final album “Still lifes are failing” was released the next month, just in time for both labels to belly-flop. But the album received great reviews in Germany, and they continued to tour successfully in Europe throughout the next year, building a close bond with Bettina Köster (MALARIA!) who they invited on tour with them, and traveling all over Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Hungary, Switzerland, and to Istanbul. The first track on the record “Lovesick” became a big underground hit.
“This song was truly the beginning of something new for me. Before that I was always thinking a lot about what I was writing, with lots of intention and plot behind it… When I first started singing and writing lyrics I had so much to get off my chest, that I tried to say a world in every song, so everything was so longwinded. With lovesick it just came out very simply, these words, ‘lovesick lovesick lovesick oh, lovesick in my heart, oh no…’ like a little cry in the dark from a broken heart, but then it goes to a darker place ‘lovesick, no! get off of my tit! Yr not my baby!!’ and this was the place where love ends and aversion to the person begins, but I just realized if I let it out naturally then anything is ok, and anything goes, I don’t need to worry about the lyrics so much, as the strongest emotion can be contained inside one word. More importantly, I realized that it was ok to write about love, which actually I had been writing about all along, but covered in so many layers of pretense for fear of being sappy, but after this I just don’t really give a shit, I’ll say what I feel like.”
The Vanishing broke up in May 2005, playing their last show in Los Angeles at the dud Silverlake Lounge. It was a sad show, but the two had grown apart creatively and needed to move on to explore other sounds and worlds on their own.
Jessie Evans stayed in Berlin, in 2006 releasing an album with Bettina Köster under the name AUTONERVOUS, and in 2007–08 playing over 100 shows worldwide with TOBY DAMMIT (Iggy Pop, Swans) on drums. Her first solo album “Is it Fire?” has just been released on her label :
FANTOMETTE RECORDS.
Brian Hock moved back to San Francisco to begin his project C.L.A.W.S. in which he has released several 12” and remixes, as well as continuing ZONETECH with Billy, DJing, and doing WAR VS SLEEP.
Billy Bates moved back to Half Moon Bay and is making music under the name MR SATURDAY.
Sadie Shaw has been playing for years with a great garage group called THE HUSBANDS.
hi, thanx for adding us. we don't want to have a lot of friends on myspace, but only real friends and artists we like a lot. your music is very special for me. by the way i hope you will release one day Hanin Elias rmx of "Iddle Eyes". take care, nasko
There is currently a search for two types of bands for record label consideration.
*** Note: PLEASE IDENTIFY IF YOU ARE IN GROUP 1 OR 2 IN THE SUBJECT LINE OF YOUR RESPONSE. Emails are being reviewed by different representatives.
1. A Pop/Rock/Commercial band with female lead. Band must consist of 2 guitars (Prefer both guitar players to be of lead caliber. However, one lead and one rhythm is acceptable), keyboard/piano, bass, and drums. Lead vocal, followed by backing vocals, in that order, is a plus as it relates to other members of the group. Average age of the band cannot exceed 28 years of age.
* Group must have an outstanding lead vocalist. ** Musicianship throughout the entire band must be very strong. *** Group cannot currently be under any contract of any type that is related to the music industry.
2. A Modern Rock band with male lead. Must be a complete band but there are no prerequisites as it relates to the make up of the band. Average age of the band cannot exceed 23 years of age.
* Group must have an outstanding lead vocalist. ** Musicianship throughout the entire band must be very strong. *** Group cannot currently be under any contract of any type that is related to the music industry.
XXX - If you meet the minimum qualifications as described above. Email a link for your MySpace Page and if applicable, a link for your website to: recordingartistsearch@gmail.com
Only send one email with your links. Due to the volume of responses normally received for these types of opportunities. After review of your material, you will only be contacted if there is an interest in attending one of your shows by a label representative. As such please to not send any follow up emails regarding selections. If you were not contacted back, there was not an interest.
Thank You.
PS: Before You Enter Any MySpace Contests You Might Want To Also Review The Website At: www.st
Our song 'Yellow Suit' is on the first FRIEND VOTE Indie Top 100 Chart on this week. Maybe our friends can help us get no 1 for Monday. Vote for AMYCANBE at http://www.myspace.com/indietop100 Until again, all the best, Amycanbe
Yes!!! We are in PEACE, compilation for Amnesty International out next January, along with other great names. See our blog section for infos. Cheers!!
I'm quite sorry to bother you with this matter but by any chance do you have any spare promo cd's that you can send me? I will love to play your music here in far distant Lisbon!!! And any kind of promotional material that i can use to promote you here in Portugal?(Like flyers, pins,t-shirts, whatever you think it might be useful)
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