Contents of Y:
Yelling,
Screaming and ãWhat is All that Screaming and Yelling About?ä:
The human voice can make only a limited number of sounds, all of which
have been aestheticized. In the punk community, screaming is no longer an
inherently challenging approach to vocalizing oneâs ideas (and Iâve been
informed recently that similarly scathing vocals are making their way into
popular music too). Clearly, melodic vocals are often not challenging either.
Personally, (I say ãpersonallyä because not all members of Countdown to
Putsch share this view) when faced with the choice of whether I should sing or
scream my ideas, I want to base my decision on what makes most sense to me -
both artistically and politically.
Artistically, I am interested in creating music that is a complete
package - one in which form and content are aligned. I am interested in
articulating progressive ideas; therefore, I want to accompany these ideas with
equally progressive music. Part of this music is, of course, the way the ideas
are vocalized. Because plain old screaming is no longer a challenge, because
melodic singing is traditionally unchallenging, and because of the limitations
on the human voice, it is necessary to attempt to combine all of the
possibilities of the human voice in new ways. Through these Îrecombinationsâ,
it is possible to create a challenging presentation of the ideas.
The same can be said for the music that accompanies these ideas. Rather
than taking a step into the extreme avant guard, it is possible to take ideas
already in existence and unite them in ways that they have not yet been combined
in order to come up with something truly unique and challenging. While we may
still play music with electric guitar, bass, drums, saxophone, trumpet, and
dijeridoo on the recording that accompanies this book - all of which are
traditional instruments - we attempt to combine the sounds that these
instruments make in non-traditional ways (both in the way they are used and the
context in which they are used). Similarly, I attempt to create combinations of
the possible ways to vocalize my ideas in new and challenging ways.
To make a political statement strictly with the sounds emitted from
oneâs throat is very difficult, because nearly all manners of utterance have
been explored. However, to make a political statement with the sounds produced
by oneâs throat is less difficult when it is contextualized by the music
accompanying it.
Because both screaming and melodic vocals have been aestheticized, we are
not beholden to any restrictions that our chosen music scene places on how we
vocalize our ideas. As such, if we decide that screaming is what we feel most
comfortable doing then scream we will. The opposite holds true as well. We can
do what makes sense to us.
I find screaming to be the best way I can express intensity because I
lack the capability to sing melodically in an extremely intense manner. If
screams are my most intense manner of utterance then I want to save screaming
for the most intense ideas. My pursuit of the alignment of form and content is
one of the reasons you will find screams and melodic singing on said
recording. Part of what initially intrigued me about hardcore was all these
people screaming their heads off. I assumed they had something worth screaming
about and they were so angry, excited, happy, sad, or serious about it that they
felt like they had to scream. Clearly, a lot of the screaming that goes on in
hardcore is for aesthetic and apathetic reasons. But my interest in this idea
has never changed. I scream to communicate, the best way I can, the intensity of
the ideas I am expressing.
I feel the need to have a very good reason to explain why I vocalize
ideas the way I do since the vocalization is questioned from many angles.
A non-punk might ask why Iâm screaming so much. A punk may ask why so much
melodic singing appears in this music. A punk may also ask why I consider
screaming vocals to be crucial even after vocals have been screamed by punks for
fifteen or more years. I want to have a sound ideological explanation to answer
all of these questions. A sound ideological explanation is not, ãIt sounds
cool,ä which is how, I fear, most people would explain their vocalizations. I,
however, have given it more thought.
You:
...make this possible. ...make this meaningful. ...are the most important
project of your entire life. ...are responsible for all that you do. ...are
unique, unprecedented and unrepeatable.
These are phantom words, ghostly apparitions which linger unspoken but
nonetheless understood, after certain sentences which Ben says. Trust me, the
Putsch is not for the faint of heart.