The Players
Duane Denison (Jesus Lizard) - Guitar
Trevor Dunn (Mr Bungle, Fantomas,
Melvins) - Bass
Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr Bungle,
Fantomas – co-founder of Ipecac Records) – Vocals, keyboards
John Stanier (Helmet, Battles) –
Drums
Former:
Kevin Rutmanis (Melvins) - Bass
The Albums:
Tomahawk – 2001 (Ipecac)
Mit Gas – 2004 (Ipecac)
Anonymous – 2007 (Ipecac)
Oddfellows - TBC
A number of years back a good friend of
mine coined the expression “Tomahawk is God's gift to music” and
ever since I have found no reason at all to disagree with him. They
are dark, violent, and visceral but also humorous, ridiculous, and
mightily unpredictable. What more could you want from you local pack
of weirdos?
The term “supergroup” aside,
Tomahawk is comprised of men with a lot of talent, prestige, and an
endless capacity for sick genius. Each are memorable players in their
individual projects and are well regarded by those in the know. Since
their formation the only change in personnel is when Rutmanis exited
with the band under mysterious circumstances. He performed on the
first two albums, but left to be replaced by Patton's running buddy
Trevor Dunn (they also worked in Fantomas and Mr Bungle together) to
commence work on Oddfellows earlier
this year. Each member brings their unique voice to the
collective sound - and that sound is a menacing one – but any band
that features Mike Patton is going to create some serious buzz.
Vocally, Tomahawk is the closest to
Faith No More that Patton has come since they stopped making albums
after 1996. Tomahawk generally seems to be following a structure of
some sort which separates it from the manic experimentalism of
Fantomas, or the freakshow spectacle of Mr Bungle. This both a
blessing and a curse: a blessing as it makes for an easy point of
reference to draw in new fans, but a curse in that some will accuse
the project of running on fumes. Mike Patton, let alone the other 2-3
members, doesn't half-ass anything and any fears that this was a limp
FNM retread were quickly put to rest. The major difference is that
this is not friendly stuff – more like some sort of musical
psychodrama blaring out of amplifiers.
Even when Tomahawk leaned the furthest
into mainstream recognition it was still pretty freaking out there.
Each of they're three existing albums bear only one single each. The
first 'God Hates A Coward' is performed live using a mic-rigged
respirator just so it sounds creepy enough. The second, 'Rape This
Day' has a name only a mother could love and, for obvious reasons,
received very little airplay. Finally 'Sun Dance' is mostly made of
wordless chanting, and a slice of hardcore wedges into a cut-throat
tribal jam. No 'Epic' or 'Ashes To Ashes' are likely to be found in
here.
Tomahawk is a willful exercise
in psychosis, you can feel it seeping through the tales of murder and
misanthropy. It might be a carjacking ('101 North') or the ramblings
of a musical outsider pushed too far ('Pop 1'). Mit Gas just
pours gasoline on that fire, closing the record out with a truly
demented coda. 'Harlem Clown' samples the same phrase on loop as it
decays into clicks and record skips. Top that with the positively
acidic 'Aktion FM1413' as it dictates the basic principles of
hand-to-hand combat in a soulless robot voice. The album's final
breakdown is punishing, glorious noise rock at its finest. As unusual
as those first two albums are nothing adequately prepared people for
their third album, Anonymous. Tomahawk had decided to infuse
their scowling rock with Native American rhythms and pay homage to a
practically-extinct musical style. It turned out not to be as bizarre
of a combination as it initially sounds. Which brings us to
Oddfellows. Apart from a 40 second teaser clip nothing has been
heard from the album and even an exact release is hard to pin down.
You could always spend the time that you have to wait twitching in
anticipation. If you are in / can get yourself to Australia next year
you might well have a chance to catch Tomahawk at Soundwave Festival
2013. They join the likes of
Metallica, A Perfect Circle, Garbage, and Kyuss (Lives) in what is
sure to be a hearty good time.
Are you behind the ball when it comes
to Tomahawk? Ipecac records has kindly re-released all three of their
albums in a boxed set titled Eponymous To Anonymous. You
officially have no excuse now.
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