An interview with C.S.B.

Amidst the hymns of hype that surround the resurfaced black metal and noise scenes, sits an island often overlooked for its musical endeavours. I'm talking of Great Britain, and if you have the patience to wade through the overplayed, overhyped, and overkilled shite that is endlessly spewed forth, given merch, and championed to no end - you'll find yourself sourcing out releases from labels such as Turgid Animal/Legion Blotan, and Casual Seizures. Bands, labels, and promoters associated with these styles of music have valiantly made a scene all their own, seperate from the ever increasingly laughable -core club. One band fully immersed in dirge, and churning out assault after assualt of blackend noise, is Manchester's very own Cryptic Salve Band. A few months back, I managed to get some words out of them. Here's what they had to say;

How did Cryptic Salve Band come about? What inspired the name and what inspired you to create such unique music?

Darren Adcock: My take on this was... we were both doing different projects, Barbarians, Insects in Sects, Axnaar.  If i remember right we played a couple of gigs together doing respective bands and eventually (I think when we shared a house) we decided to play a bit... and well it just worked.

Gareth Howlett: We came up with the name mucking about and shortened it to C.S.B to avoid having to say it all the time.

You have quite stark and intriguing artwork for each of your releases, there's a clear miasma and throwback to the harsher side of punk, how did this come about and who does most of your artwork?

GH: We've got a release called 'Slime Circle' that Poot in Hull put out. It's got a pencil drawing of a rock chick on the cover that his mum did. That's the sort of thing we like.

You've been featured quite predominantly on wellknown and prestigious internet blogs, is it weird for you to see yourself heralded online when perhaps you don't recieve the same response in the outside world?

DA: It is wierd yes. I guess for anyone in any scene doing any kind of project it would be the same. I guess it is easy to get frustrated by not getting praise or as many opportunities as you would like, however desire is also a pitfall that is easy to fall into. Sometimes I get frustrated, sometimes I am happy with anything I get. I'd rather be the last one, I try to be this.

What first interested you to such lo-fidelity and raw sounds? What do you personally use to record your music?

DA: Some of recordings are done on a 4 track. Alot are on a H4 mp3 recorder. Most of our recordings are done in our basement, so the frequencies kinda get mashed together, kind of becomes one entity at times. We won't be doing any more recordings down there as our house got given an A.S.B.O for loud music.

Is there anything that specifically attracts you to releasing on cassette? Can we expect a forray into other formats in the future from C.S.B?

DA: Vinyl and cassette first. Cassettes are cheap and accessible. 

GH: Ideally everything would be on vinyl, but we'd be homeless if we did that, so tapes are the second best format.

Within your staunch dirge of noise, are there any artists you see as directly impacting your sound? If so, who, how and why?

DA: The answer for this has too many options. I understand the desire to ask such a question. I'll answer with some of the bands from UK that I have and will continue to enjoy live, Drunk in Hell, Gruel, Foot Hair, Barbarians, Sump, Sex Wound, Vom, Klaus Kinski, No Womb, Rich Lexicon, Bong ... tons more... just off the top of my head. 

If there is any distinct philosophy or ethos that drives the band, what would you describe it as?

DA: Plug in play. All improvised. 

GH: Don't get bogged down thinking about it, just get on with it. No compromise.

Are there any current bands, labels, or general artists that you enjoy right now? Do any of these have an influence on your own work?

DA: Everyone I see has an influence. I respect anyone for getting out there and having a go.  

If you had to select one band to save from the inevetible decline of punk, and cement them in history, who would you choose?

DA: Drunk in Hell. The decline has been positive though. I get to see great bands. 

Lastly, what can expect for the future of C.S.B?

DA: Incubate 2011. Thanks to Kevin Jansen (svartvit). Maybe a wee tour in europe or netherlands.

GH: We have a couple of recordings waiting, either our selves to self release or interest off a label.

 C.S.B. still have a few records available from themsleves, harass them here. Or download their releases here.

- Thom