11. My Bloody ValentineLoveless
The first guitarist in God was a friend of My Bloody Valentine so he introduced me to the band. It ended up that Kevin Shields did live sound a couple of times for God, and I would go and visit them in their house and go and see their shows. Then they dropped Loveless. Melody and harmony were things I was out to eradicate for so many years with God and Techno Animal, but Loveless changed that for me. You’ve got this insane wall of noise, with the most incredibly beautiful melodies on top and submerged within the sonics. The insane production sounded totally like a mistake to me in places, it was like when I first heard dub, it sounded like mistakes in a great way.
Kevin Shields ended up inviting God to support them at the Town and Country Club just after Loveless was released. It was pretty amazing – he could have played it safe and had some shoegaze indie band. Seeing the Valentines, and this deep sensuality that exists within their avalanche of sound really inspired me. Certainly, when we reworked King Midas Sound when I felt the first album wasn’t working live and I wanted to get extreme with presentation, it was with a big hat tip to My Bloody Valentine and how subversive I felt they were. When I was a teenager and in my early 20s I wanted brutality, because I was in pain, but by the time I’d levelled out it was definitely about trying to find balances of extremes. MBV had yin and yang beautifully.
