Real Detroit asked me to come up with something on Hellmouth for our best-of-2010 issue, which led to a last-minute interview with Jay Navarro tonight at AJ’s:
I had nothing to do with this. They asked me to do this.
JN: Took us by surprise.
Yeah, me too.
It was like, what, really? I think I texted somebody and they were like, ha ha. That’s funny. And they texted back and were like, wait a second, are you for real? I guess, yeah.
How does it feel to put the record out and have it be recognized?
It’s a surprise considering we’re more of a, I mean, it’s cool, because we address social and political issues, so it’s nice to see a band that actually does that get a little bit of recognition. But, doing what we do is kind of surprising that we made the list, that’s all. Maybe there’s just no one else.
I think that a lot of the ones that are still doing it aren’t doing it the way that you guys are doing it. And I think there’s not enough passion in what a lot of people are doing these days, and I think that that’s maybe what sets you guys apart. I haven’t seen your live show yet but I can only imagine.
My lips are all busted open from it. Well, I don’t know. It could have been the Suicide Machines show. I’m not sure.
How was that?
It was great. We raised 5300 dollars for the kids, so, split it even between the two of them… for last minute notice I’m happy with what it was. People were so generous I couldn’t even believe it. They were giving more than just what it was. They kept giving more, and to be honest it was a very fun show. I haven’t had that much fun in ten years. And, I don’t know. May have been a good healing thing for Royce and Derek and I, and Rich, and Ryan… it was like, we all got together and hung out, and it was a really cool time. It was nice. It was good. It was a good thing. It was all around, the whole night, everything, everybody, even St. Andrews at the end of the night, I was like OK how much do I owe ya? They’re like, I got kids. It’s cool. Give me fifty bucks so I can pay the security. You know what I mean? Everyone was like, it was one of the greatest vibes I’d ever felt at a show ever. It’s unfortunate that it happened the way it did, but you know. It was fun. Both of the shows were fun. Even the Hellmouth show, that was like, hardcore tough guy night, and it was all smiles.
The Earthmover show?
Yeah. It was all smiles and goofin’ around. It was cool, man. It was really nice. I wish I could’ve went to the Heads Will Roll show. Huge fan of Heads Will Roll. I love them. Probably one of my favorite bands of Detroit. Maybe of all time. I was kind of bummed we played at the same time on the same night. Pretty busy weekend in Detroit. I’m sure they’ll play again.
How do you feel this band has grown?
I think everybody chipped in. First time around I felt as if Alex and I wrote the album. I’m not saying we did, I’m just saying I really felt like the burden of all of it was definitely us two. And this time around, I tell ya, Justin stepped it up beyond belief. He breathed a ton of life into the songs which is awesome. And then Jeff wrote quite a few great songs so I just felt like… I felt like it was chaos right up until the last minute of recording. Like it was just all gonna fall apart because it was so loose and not together due to the fact that, I don’t know, we just didn’t really practice much, and we were writing songs up until like, the day of going in the studio. I had one song I had shown ’em before–I don’t even know if we even practiced it as a whole unit–and I’m like, we’re not doing this song. We’re not doing it. And they’re like, no. You’re doing it. I was like, nope. I don’t care. They were like, that’s the best song! I’m like, I don’t care! I wrote it, I hate it! We’re not doing it.
Which one was it?
It was “The Calling II.” And then me and Justin got in this gigantic fight over it. It was just a big nightmare. And I was like, dude this band is gonna explode and break up right there in the studio. And then it just all fell into place, man. It really did. I don’t know how it did it. But as far as changing, I mean, I felt like we got a little bit more experimental with some fast songs, too. We added a different element to some of it. There’s a little bit of almost like, stoner rock in there, too, which is a little different for us. We had that girl Vika play piano which was awesome. It was beautiful. It was just a progression of “The Calling II” redone. So there’s a lot of weird random stuff that came up thorough that recording, but this time around on vocals I just said, you know what? I’m not gonna, like… I went nuts and just painstakingly did Destroy Everything, Worship Nothing and this time around I was just like, done, done, done, just leave it. I don’t care. I don’t care if it’s off time, I don’t care if it’s messed up, that’s it. And that was Alex’s advice too of all things. He’s like, you know what dude? It’s chaotic. This is a crazy chaotic record. Who cares. Just do it. And I just did it and that was it. Couple takes each song and we left it. So that was a lot different, too. Alex made way different guitar… the guitar sounds are entirely different from Destroy Everything, Worship Nothing. the new record’s just like, heavy. Like it just sits on top of you and pummels you. You know and just like, some big gigantic wrestler get on top and you and just sits on top of you and just pounds you in the face. That’s how I feel about it. Just like, it’s heavy. It lays on top of you pretty heavy. A lot of it had to do I think with the guitar sound. He used a lot of different stuff this time around, so it was pretty cool. It was really frightening at first cos it felt like the whole album sounded so different from Destroy Everything, Worship Nothing and it scared me. You know I was like, this is so… it’s so different! And then a couple of days I was like, ahh, this record sounds better!
It just kind of came natural?
Yeah man. It seemed like this big chaotic ball of mess right when we went in. It just seemed like everything could just fall apart at any second, like, the band’s gonna break up, all these songs are just a mess and it was just like, done. Holy crap. How did we get through that so quick and how’s it done? How’s it good? How do we not hate each other? Wow. How the hell did that happen, cos it just seemed like it was about to be the biggest train wreck in the planet and it just somehow didn’t fall off the tracks. I have no idea how.
How long did it take you to make it?
I don’t remember. Not very long.
Days, or weeks?
Days. I can’t even think collectively, I think the drums were done in a day maybe. They were like, OK I’m done. I was like, what? Everyone’s like, dude, Justin hammered it out. He’s pissed at you. I was like, whoa, he must’ve been.
Where did you guys record it?
We recorded it out at Audiolux out in Fenton, MI with Marc Hudson. He did Destroy Everything, Worship Nothing but he now has his own entire studio out in Fenton. He does sound for Saves the Day and a bunch of people but he’s an old Flint friend of ours. He’s kind of an evil genius. His mind is way too fast for his mouth. Like his mouth has to catch up with his mind. It’s crazy. He’s just insanely smart.
How would it have been different if you went to someone else?
I have no idea, man. I can’t even imagine going to someone else at this point cos it’s a done deal. He knows how insane we are so he kind of just like, doesn’t listen to us. Especially me, so it’s just kind of like, yeah Jay, OK, whatever. You know what I mean? I’ll just sit there and go crazy and rattle off and he’ll just… turn me off. Which is probably a good thing.
What do you have planned for 2011?
Nothing. Dude we don’t ever do any of this on… we have no plan. We have no purpose. Well we have a purpose but, you know it’s just a day by day thing. Like, I mean we played Florida–Gainesville Fest out of the blue… we’re playing Chicago, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids and stuff like that but we really have no like, target plan. We have a bunch of money to buy our second van now cos we destroyed our other one. So, buy a van, and then who knows if we’ll even use it. It’s hard to say. Try to survive. It seems like Hellmouth shows kill me, so… like after playing with the Suicide Machines I played in Hellmouth, I was like, wow. Hellmouth’s hard to do. It’s hard to do it and like walk away in one piece and like, my throat not be torn up, my body not be torn up. It’s just two different worlds, man. I don’t know what it is but it’s hard.
What would you consider to be your purpose?
I think purpose has been accomplished. I think what we did is like you said, we tried melding all these different types of genres into our music. And then us being from our backgrounds, all of our different bands… I don’t want to say respected, but you know people in our “scenes” know who we are, they’ve all liked all of our bands, so we took that and we played with all these different types of bands and genres and really tried bringing other bands to meet other bands and go hey, you know what? So what if I’m in a punk band. I’m gonna totally go play with this rock and roll band, and a stoner rock band, or this metal band, or this pop-punk band, or a ska band… you know a lot of people are like wow, you’re playing with We Are the Union! I’m like, I love We Are the Union! They’re like, but they’re like, a ska-punk band! I’m like, yeah, and we’re Hellmouth. So what! They’re great. I like their music and I don’t see why all the shows should be–this is only a hardcore show. Or, this is only a punk rock show. Or this is only a ska show. Or this is only an emo show. Or this is only a rock ‘n’ roll, or an indie show. It should all just be… all the bands should be playing together. When I was younger in the early 90s, dude we played with every type of band there was. And everyone hung out. It didn’t matter. You may not be totally into what the other bands are doing, but like, dude everybody hung out together at the coffee houses, in the houses and the venues. Everyone was kind of like, you know what? I’m not into Pitbull, but Current’s playing, so sweet. I’m going. And it was like, I think that’s what we set out to do with Hellmouth, not rebuild, but like, reintroduce people to the idea of everyone not being so segregated in their own little social clique scene, and bringing it out of a setting where it’s like, you’re just going to a bar to get drunk and pick up people. A little bit more of a social setting to talk about interesting things, or you know, meet the love of your life, not someone you’re just gonna bang at the end of the night. We just felt like, god, playing another bar again. What the fuck. Another hardcore band. You know what I mean? We don’t want to do that. So I actually think that we’ve sort of accomplished it. I think we really kind of put people in touch with each other and I think they’re starting to move on their own. I mean, look. Tonight. Against the Grain, Snakewing, Chapstik. They’re all playing at the New Way Bar. Against the Grain? Met Chapstik cos of me. Against the Grain met Snakewing because of me. Chapstik said hey, I want to set up this show at the New Way, and I love Against the Grain, and these guys I met through Jay, and I know some Snakewing guys cos I work over here at this bar and we all know each other. Three entirely different types of music, still respectably pissed, I guess, but, you know. People are now going, yeah, man. You now, why aren’t we all playing together? So, I’d love Hellmouth and like, Few and Far Between to play. You know what I mean? There’s no boundaries or borders or walls to cross with Hellmouth, dude. We’ll play with hip-hop bands. If someone has an independent way of thought, we wanna play with that band. I don’t care what they sound like.
What would you say to bands that are just starting out in the environment that we have now?
Dude, right now is one of the best times ever to start out. I think the Detroit scene has gotten so incredibly good into the past year and a half, it’s mindblowing. I haven’t seen this many good bands in Detroit in years. And I also haven’t seen this many people hanging out together in years. So I think if you’re gonna do it just go out, and go out with the thought of, you know, it’s more than just going to a bar and playing a show. That’s not what this is. This is so much more to music in a setting of what it can mean than just playing a bar. I’m sorry, if I’m gonna do that, I’m gonna be in a cover band and play cover songs all night in a bar. There’s a lot more to what music can be. And I think that, you know, there’s still places like the Trumbull you can book your own shows. We just did that benefit for our friend that passed away. There’s still so much to be done in this city. Dude the situation right now with the homeless is ridiculous. Why not throw a show and just tell everyone, hey, you know what? If you bring a jacket, you get into the show for half price, or free. And then you take the jackets down to the shelter. Or you go down and distribute them yourself. There’s so much you can do with what music is. I think if you’re a young band you should really not worry about people liking you because chances are they’re going to like you anyways if you’re a cool person. I think people are too concerned about what their band is and who they want to like them and stuff. And to be honest, most of the people are so laid back in Detroit. If you’re just as laid back as they are everything’s going to be fine. So just don’t be a douchebag I guess. I guess that’s the only thing I can really say.
Imagine you’re meeting someone’s grandma. Doesn’t know anything about music, doesn’t know anything about… whatever. How do you explain what Hellmouth is to someone like that?
I would ask her if she understands what the Bible is. If she knows anything about the Bible, and if she knew what Hellmouth was, granted I don’t know if she’s gonna know, but I would explain to her it’s where everything bad in the world, as far as anything you can possibly think of gets sucked into Hell, and there’s monsters there that are waiting to fuck you up the ass, do whatever it is you do not want done to you. Fuckin’, torture you. It could be something dumb that you completely and entirely hate is going to happen to you. For eternity. I don’t even believe in Hell but I’m saying, that’s what… if I were to imagine what Hellmouth really is I would say Hellmouth is that hole that sucks you down, and think about the blight of Detroit, thinking about what Detroit has turned into, and mix it with that. And if she asks like, well what does it sound like? I’ll be like, that’s what it would sound like. If you were to ask me what Detroit sounds like, it sounds like Hellmouth. If you were to ask me what Detroit sounds like, it sounds like Easy Action. Like, I can actually say it sounds like that to me. Like a band like Easy Action. If someone were to say what do they sound like? I’d be like, dude, they just sound like Detroit. And they’d be like, what do you mean? I’d be like, it’s just sleazy, dirty, fucking… a nightmare, just, pissed. I don’t even know if I would even bother explaining to grandma what they sound like cos I wouldn’t want to frighten her. I’d just be like, yeah, you know, it’s just, you know, it’s like, did you like the Spinners when you were young? It’s like the Spinners. Beach Boys…
Well, some grandmas are cool. But I think most people of grandma’s age at this point would probably have some idea of the Bible and what Hellmouth is supposed to be, and that’s why the name stuck. I mean, we didn’t know anything about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They say there’s hellmouths all over the world in this TV show and in the movie, and I guess there’s, I looked it up and they actually say there’s one in Detroit. We didn’t know anything about it. We just thought it was a biblical reference to these holes that sucked you in, and then someone’s like, hey it’s cool, it’s a Buffy reference. It’s like, eh? What are you talking about? Then I googled it, and like… you know cos we never even thought about it. Hellmouth. That’s it. Cool. Whatever. We didn’t even think about it. We didn’t care if anyone else had the name. We didn’t give a fuck. We’re just like, I’m sure there probably is but who cares cos no one’s ever gonna like this band or ever hear about it anyways. And that was it. That was the whole reason why we just didn’t care, and then the demo came out, people found out about it, and we heard about that and we were like, holy crap. Yeah there is another band, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer…
I love all the old wood etchings and stuff of Hellmouth. I’ve seen a lot of the old artwork from the Bibles and stuff like that. Dude that Bible that we burned was amazing. There was this beautiful lithograph, full color in this Bible. So old, and it was Jesus… pushing Satan off the cliff of a mountain. It was awesome. We’re like, alright, snap it quick! We tried getting it as the picture burned and we couldn’t do it. It was beautiful. Such a beautiful, I wish we would have… we should have torn the page out and kept it.
What’s this I read something about the ashes made it into the record or something?
Yeah.
Into the actual pressing of the vinyl?
66 of them. Yeah, man. And the beauty of it is that most of them are unplayable. We did it on purpose as like, anti-music. You know how Sonic Youth is supposed to be anti-music? We thought, well what’s the next step we could take? Put out a record you can’t play. So people bought it, they’re going for like 60, 140 dollars online. They sold out, all of ’em sold out online in fifteen minutes. Now they’re on eBay. And the whole idea was, you can’t play it. You know, everyone’s like, oh it’s the Bible, and its like, no, it’s anti-music. It wasn’t, you’re burning a Bible and being creepy and scary, it was like, what do you do to top any of the stuff you put out? Put out something that you put out that people want to buy that’s supposed to be music and, you can’t hear it, buddy.
Did you just ship the ashes to the pressing plant?
Yep. Burnt it, documented it, shipped ’em to the plant and mixed ’em in the batter. I’ve got one record with almost like a page hanging out. I kept it. It was the worst one, I was like, oh that’s awesome. I heard some of ’em are actually playable. They just pop and hiss, but for the most part they can’t play ’em. The guy who pressed it, I made an agreement with him and my wife’s not too happy about it, but he’s going to, if he’s still around when I go or whatever, he’s going to have my ashes pressed in some vinyl. So I’m gonna press it. Fuck it. I’m gonna burn myself anyway, so I just thought, I’m gonna give him a digital copy of all my favorite songs that I’ve ever been a part of, and just all the bands I’ve been in and just put out a couple records. That’s it. Just press the record. No covers or anything, just press the records with my ashes in it. So he agreed to do it, and my wife’s like, you’re stupid. Whatever. If that’s what you want. So yeah. I don’t know if the bone’ll be mixed in, but…
jonfromthemoon 