Metal Machine Music: A Persher Baker's Dozen | Page 2 of 14 | The Quietus

Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

1. Battle Of Wolf 359Tour Demo

Arthur Cayzer: I guess I could have picked any of their records, although they didn’t have that many. This is the one that I bought the first time I saw them play at Ramparts in Whitechapel, which was a squat venue. It was a time when I was starting to get very disaffected with the more mainstream hardcore scene, and listening to stuff that was more in the range [of Battle Of Wolf 359], which was skramz, for want of a better word. I hate genre names; people even refer to this band as emo violence, the worst genre name ever. But anyway, I was completely blown away seeing them, I still remember that night more than most gigs I’ve seen. I went in with that disaffection for heavier in music in general, feeling like I was just hearing the same thing over and over again, but then being blown away by the raw power and emotion of their performance. They played this one track and I bought their demo, really hoping it would be on there, and it was. I wish that the production was a bit better because it’s very, very raw, but musically it’s so good.

The London hardcore scene at that time was not super big, and as a result, it kind of had to cater to all tastes, basically. And the big taste was this really beat down hardcore that was never really my thing. I was more into the US straight edge bands. I was also getting into dance music at that time in quite a big way, so I guess I felt jaded with stuff. But this band really kind of changed things for me, at least momentarily.

PreviousNext Record

The Quietus Digest

Sign up for our free Friday email newsletter.

Support The Quietus

Our journalism is funded by our readers. Become a subscriber today to help champion our writing, plus enjoy bonus essays, podcasts, playlists and music downloads.

Support & Subscribe Today