BLACK TO BURN

Big Black remain the enigma of the Chicago music scene. Perhaps the city's most internationally successful independent band, they continue a feud with the city's music venues that's led to a home-town gig being a rare occurance. Much of this stems from the outspoken attitudes of the band's self-professed leader, Steve Albini, who is quick to attack what he sees as the ills of the music industry. Sticking to his principles has meant being forcibly thrown out of Chicago clubs, running his own label for new bands, Ruthless Records, never signing a recording contract and recently switching Big Black from Homestead to Touch and Go Records. With a single and EP due out simultaneously in England and America at the end of this month. WHPK's Patrick Moxey speaks to band members Steve Albini, Santiago Durango, and Dave Riley.

WHPK: What bands were you in before Big Back?
SD: I was in the first punk band in Chicago, Silver Abuse in 78, 79. The first times we played there were riots. Afterward I joined Naked Raygun, which was one of three bands that came up together in Chicago, the others being Strike Under and the Effigies. At first there was no place for us to play, so we threw loft parties until we got into the clubs.
WHPK: How did Big Black get it's start?
SA: I kept going through bozos till I found these guys.
SD: Yeah, Steve's a real asshole. Real aggresive. I'm laid back and quiet, so we tend to balance each other out.
WHPK: You put on a good show at Gaspar's in Febuary. Why don't you play Chicago more often?
SD: In the last year or two we've played all over the world. Nowhere have we been treated as shittily as here in Chicago.
SA: It's consistant. The overriding altitude of the clubs here in Chicago is fuck the bands, fuck the audience, keep the police off our back, and let's make as much money as possible.
WHPK: Why did you start Ruthless Records?
SA: Well it was originally started by the Effigies. They put out a single and also Naked Raygun an EP, and our first EP. Then Ruthless collapsed as people got off to work with labels that had money. I just started it up again. Ruthless now is Urge Overkill, Dark Arts, End Result, Riflesport and Appliances SFB. Riflesport's got an EP coming out produced by Iain Burgess.
WHPK: You've got some new releases coming out on Touch and Go. What made you switch from Homestead to them?
SA: We've never signed a contract with any record label. We only agree to do one record at a time. But of all the labels in America, Touch and Go is the only one I'd be willing to put our records on.
We've got a single and an EP coming out at the end of the month.
WHPK: Is that the Songs About Fucking you talked about at Gaspar's?
SA: No that's the album due out in July. The single is Heartbeat and Headache is the EP. It's a shame it's taken so long to come out. We've had this material since before Atomizer. The main reason for the delay is this limited edition, 1,000 copies here and 1,000 in Europe on Sonic Youth's label, Blast First.
WHPK: Did you initially want to release them on Homestead?
SA: Yes, but they wouldn't go for the cover. The inspiration for the Headache record is a morgue id photo of a guy whose head has been mushed open. It's actually two shots, one with these rubber gloves holding the head together and one where the head's just flopped open like a banana split. We decided we'd make a theme EP, like the most violent depraved EP we could think of. So we sent the photo to Homestead and said we wanted to use it for the next record, and Gerard said there was no way he could let us do it. Then sent it to Cory (Touch and Go) as a valentine and we got talking about it.
WHPK: What does this limited edition consist of?
SA: At first it was going to be the single and the 12" together in a little package. Then I got the stupid idea to do a special package, with special labels, a poster, and a book in a vinyl pouch of grey wax. All this stuff kept getting weirder and weirder. The final touch is the metal stamping on the cover.
WHPK: Are you doing more 'explosive' graphics for the cover of the regular edition?
SA: No, we've got a drawing by this English guy Savage Pencil. He used to do the Punk Rock Zoo with animal drawings of people and Mr. Inferno. Anyway he's done this drawing for us of a fist punching out in the middle of a face, like the monster in Alien coming out of the guy's stomach. The fist has these really cool biker rings with skulls on them and lots of fur on the arm.
WHPK: Is the new stuff produced by Iain Burgess?
SA: Half of Headache was done with him and one song on the Heartbeat single. For the LP Songs About Fucking, when we were in England we saw this really cool studio, the headquarters of Crass Records, On-U-Sound, etc. It's a great studio, in a garage. John Loder engineered it, and he's really got his shit together. That was the hi tech side, the A side. We've been through all that now, so the B side is the no tech side. We'll be recording it in the basement of this house I just bought.

Thanks to Curt Conklin for the scan!