Friday, December 12, 2008

The Human Abstract


After seeing these guys play day after day on the Warped Tour, heading to one of their club shows was an interesting experience. The Human Abstract deservingly scored a spot on tour with Japanese superstars, Dir En Grey, gaining them the undivided attention of J-rock fans across the nation. The band certainly didn’t disappoint me or the other members of the audience. The vocals are smooth and, whether crooning or screaming, the listener is captivated. Like the spider’s elegant, knowing legs the fingers of the guitarists travel up and down the neck of their instruments. The drummer keeps the cadence, flailing rhythmically in the background creating yet another titillating visual element. And the bassist doesn’t just pound away but intertwines overhand playing with vicious scales. Interviewing Nathan Ells, the voice of the band, was difficult as we moved from one supposedly quiet corner of the venue to another to escape from screaming Dir En Grey fans and members as the headliner finished up their night’s set. But after Nathan finished a drink at the bar, found a ledge in the entryway, and started to get into the in’s and out’s of the band - The Human Abstract, that is: things ran smoothly.
The basis of the band’s name comes from a William Blake poem which touches on the animalistic nature and instincts of man, and is just as profound as the music that is heard on the three albums released since the inception of the band in 2004. With a self-titled EP released in 2005, the full length Nocturne birthed in 2006, and the latest album to hit shelves, Midheaven, The Human Abstract has musically proven themselves with each endeavor they undertake – whether on tour, in studio, or a prosaic daily live show.
Nathan joined the band roughly seven or eight months after the band had formed on a tip from a mutual friend, Barry, who plays in a band called Look What I Did. The current line-up of The Human Abstract wasn’t working out as “they were having trouble with their singer…who was a raging alcoholic.” And Nathan, looking for a band at the time, gladly stepped up to the position – but he “drinks a lot too.” No one trying to feign innocence here. His vocal influences include such greats as Mike Patton and Maynard: standard icons in the world of rock vocals. Nathan is working on a joke for when he meets Maynard because “joking on famous people is the best way to meet them.” Take Dennis from the Refused for instance. When Nathan met him, at an International Noise Conspiracy show in Atlanta, taking him a Refused album to sign (ever so slightly gauche) he asked if he “was in the Illuminati and he froze. It was short circuit time.” Nathan had caught him by the tongue at an inopportune time and, after letting the musician conversationally flail for a long moment, he put him at ease by saying, “No it’s cool. I know you’re a communist.” The meet-and-greet ended well and Nathan was even provided with Dennis’ friend’s anti-Illuminati site. Not too shabby.
Life influences the songs that Nathan writes. Life and “writing in general.” For when he’s not “doing stuff with the band [he’s] writing” whether in the studio, in from of the microphone, or wherever the mood strikes. It’s actually an effort to “go out and hang out” but when you are in clubs and shows constantly, it’s not too appealing to go to clubs and shows on your day off. Bit of an occupational hazard. There really isn’t a process to the song writing. “It’s all about not worrying about writer’s block. The melody comes first and the words come after that.” This is the process that has produced such songs as the singer’s favorite, “A Dead World at Sunrise”, the chosen set-opener for the Dir En Grey tour: an ironically appropriate choice. This way the set starts off rather quietly – just a keyboard and vocals, stripped down, and surprisingly intimate for a metal show. It gets everyone’s attention and an anticipatory calm settles over the crowd.
It won’t be the choice for the upcoming As I Lay Dying tour this winter. Just expect brutal. And expect to be bewitched by whatever the Human Abstract offers – there’s nothing they can’t pull off. From Warped Tour to a small stage, the performance is always a musical masterpiece.

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