INTERVIEWS AND MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES

So, who are Anatomy of the Heads and who am I speaking to this morning? I can find credits for; Michael Van Gore (High treasurer, God of Dangdut, Luau-Master, Batik shirt, Hawaiian shirt), JH (bass, death cult rumbling, bassoon, beard), Gay/J Rome Fish (orgon generator, moral superiority, reichsabwehr guitar, stunt guitar), Christ Orf Gutsch (bass), Jonas of Mt. Ararat (electrified cacti, Dionysian mysteries), Gimhae-Clan (bird calls, goose whistles) and Heidenreich (homeopathic treatments). All a bit mysterious.

Michael: It is I, Andy - Michael van Gore. The stallion of liberty and supreme leader of Anatomy of the Heads.


Jonas: Hi, I am Jonas Heidenritch and I play bass.


Jerome: I am Jerome and my morals, as well as manners, are allegedly impeccable.

Where are you guys based, when and how did you form, and is it principally a duo, trio, or a band? Maybe even a solo project? Possibly all of the above!


Jonas: Well, I think primarily we are friends hanging out and making music.


Jerome: We met in University. Although Jonas and I met before we were introduced to Mikey by a shared friend who already made music with him.
Jonas: ...which was technically the original bassist Christ Orf Gutsch because he worked on some parts of Adoration in Prayer and Ritual. I'd put it somewhere around 2013 or 2014.


Jerome: As far as current location is going. We have settled on Indonesia. But we move around a lot through the years.
Jonas: The idea to form a band came from a research trip to Kiribati, where we had to interview people and ended up accidentally joining a cult.


Michael: As far as initial plans go, the only thoughtout thing was basically the economics behind AoftheH. How can we make and sell music without living the lives of professional musicians?
Jerome: Because we heard that sucks.


Jonas: I'd rather be a day-trader.


Michael: Building a mobile home studio to record demos, getting our own PA system and go from there. It's a classic, ‘having your cake and eating it too’ scenario. No physical releases, print on demand, no unnecessary permanent liabilities, rent out the PA system and studio to other people and so on to recover costs.


Jerome: Like we said, we'd rather be day-traders than touring or session musicians.

So, when you started out did you have a particular mission or plan in terms of what you were going to sound like and the aura you wanted to create?


Michael: Personally, I always thought that I was going to be in a black metal or goregrind band. You know, anything pretentious. But turns out I suck at playing stuff like that. I like listening to it, but not making it.
Jerome: So, jazz it is.


Michael: Indeed it is.


Jerome: By the way Tarquin, just to de-baffle you, Mikey plays all the jazz guitar stuff while I primarily use my guitar to make noises. Hence, I play the ‘stunt-guitar’.


Jonas: Jerome and I were really into grunge, stoner, garage and post-rock stuff. We played in some local bands that never went anywhere. But now...


Jerome: ...now it is just Barry Manilow.


Michael: The actual sound is just what has developed over time from jamming and sharing music together.


Jonas: I guess you could say we wanted to create something that on one hand makes sense and has conceptual continuity while on the other hand accommodates all our eclectic tastes.


Jerome: Nothing would be easier than to say we are death metal or some other genre band, but we are too promiscuous for that.


Michael: Yeah, and this is not a democracy. I reserve the right to change everything.

Given the nom de plumes (and a dig into your site) there’s a tinge of mystery about you, I assume this is intentional. Is this done as a bit of fun, or is there some darker secret attached to the anonymity?


Michael: Well, Tarquin, it all started in 1978 in a small bar at the beach. There was a girl named Lola, she was a showgirl. She used to merengue and do the cha-cha.
Jonas: Here we go, again...


Jerome: Yes, tell us about your mother, Mikey!


Michael: As I was saying, some bar patrons got into a fight about said woman and a fire broke out that left me horrifically scared. Ever since my accident I have been cursed to hide my monstrous visage amidst the underbrush of the jungle and pray upon local villagers and their livestock for sustenance.


Jonas: Are you really willing to give away your tragic backstory for free?


Michael: He asked politely.


Jonas: I think you sold yourself short on that one. You should have waited until you are more famous. You could make Christina Aguilera money for that kind of tragic biography striptease.


Michael: You have to spend fame to get fame. I just laid the groundwork for your tragic origin story and subsequent biopic.


Jonas: No dice.


Jerome: The short end of the stick is - our tragic and heartfelt origin stories of disfigurement, love, betrayal and triumph are classified.


Jonas: That's right. They are classified and if we would tell you we’d have to kill you.

Jerome: It is for your own safety Tarquin.

OK – best move on from that subject, I guess. It’s a challenge to categorise your overall sound, (one reviewer described AotH as an ‘..unclassifiable act that is so weird and outside the parameters of anything else, that you can only simply tag this as experimental music’ – Ed) as it varies album to album, so I will avoid doing so. Is there a particular sound you are looking for and do you seek to invoke a particular response from the listener?
Jonas: On top of that there is also the romantic idea of creating a super esoteric record that will break through the human veil of ignorance, destroys your ego and remakes you in the image of the gods that we are striving after.

The cover art is pretty striking and (with the exception of Maximum:Pleasure which readers can seek out themselves!) has an ancient mystic, religious and / or belief connotation. Who creates the art and is the theme intentional as part of the AoftheH aesthetic?
Michael: While we come up with the general art direction together, I am to blame for the artwork, although sometimes when time is short, I outsource bits and pieces. But the general art direction has to stand.


Jerome: Yeah, otherwise you would have to use language to convey visual ideas.

Jonas: And that, my friend, is always a disappointment.
Michael: The artwork usually develops together with the music but faster. Once we got the artwork down it basically inspires the whole record. As far as the kind of anthropological theme goes, it is definitely our attitude to explore the places we write music about. It's less about weird characters like Mack the Knife or Mandy or whatever, but rather a more detached view about groups and goings-on within imaginary societies.
Jerome: If we would have lyrics that would shine through more.


Jonas: Yeah we are working on that. We have kept our Manilow-skills rather scarce so far. But we are slowly working our mouths into the mix.


Jerome: But we'd probably never go full vocal.


Michael: Oh and MAXIMUM:PLEASURE fits right in there. What was the term, Jerome? You have read it somewhere.


Jerome: Japanese techoerotic animism. You know - like in Tetsuo the Iron Man - penis- drill and all.


Michael: Hence human flesh as a temple because it's Japan.


Jonas: ALL HAIL THE NEW FLESH!

I’m grateful for the wrap around cover design for this issue of TQ. Tell me about it. What was the inspiration and intention, what was the medium used, and who designed it?


Michael: You are welcome. Glad you like it.
Jonas: I hope you like spooky scary skeletons.


Jerome: ...they’re coming to get you, man!


Michael: We came up with the concept together, and I made it using all the copyright free art from yesteryear that can fit on my hard drive as well as some drawings.
Jonas: Some would call it a collage, but it doesn't really work for me, since all the material is hundreds of years old. It feels more like directing the hands of the dead.


Michael: The primary idea behind the design was our frustration with the whole corona virus thing and the thought that you haven't had a wrap around cover so far for your zine. And since you mentioned the ritualistic aspect of our work we thought why not go all out with it. Thematically the design is based on the medieval idea of Satan as God's monkey, or Diabolus Simia Dei as it was known in medieval Europe. Which understands evil not as the absence or opposite of good, but rather as the impotence to create as intended. Thereby constructing sinister imitations of life based on good intentions.


Jerome: Like well-intentioned safety concerns that end up being overly oppressive or full- blown tyrannical.


Jonas: Just so you know, we are pretty international dudes and all the Covid stuff has screwed us out of a lot of money and, more importantly, family time. Since it made travelling impossible. Without getting too personal one of us also lost a family member, not to the virus but rather the associated security measures. I know, very egomaniacal of us, but we call it as we see it.


Michael: We imagined the whole Covid incident as an apocalyptic vision in which people are led further and further away from their divine parents through the rejection of the Babylonian dilemma.
Jerome: You know, like the divine virus being something like a natural limit to human cooperation. Instead of living and dying with the virus and accepting it, humans strive to move beyond this, as well as any other given barrier for that matter.


Michael: In this version of the event, humanity is led astray by devilish monkey figures that promise the absolution of death and disease.
Jonas: But it is not paradise proper. It's a fake. A counterfeit version of immortality and wellbeing. It's monkey-business!


Michael: The siren song of altruism seduces people to be willing to nobly sacrifice themselves and ultimately their very humanity for the promise of a better world. This post- humanity has regressed into an imitation of what it means to be human - uniformly masked children that place medical concerns as the "greater good" above their own interests, desires and dreams. The siren song has been a curse all along and the connection with the divine has been severed.
Jonas: Spoken like a true maniac.


Michael: WAKE UP, SHEEPLE! IT IS THE TRUTH!


Jerome: The government is trying to mind control you through your cereal, man.

Jonas: ...and the dead are in on it.


Michael: As I was saying Tarquin, hide your pennies - Eliot Ness is coming for you!

Sound advice – thanks. You have made tee-shirts available depicting the cover art for each of your albums. Are these still available?


Jerome: Most of them will be erased and replaced with new designs.


Jonas: No album artworks, though. All original designs this time.
Michael: Yeah, we have a lot of plans for the merch. For one thing, we want to move away from the print on the demand thing to lower prices. Nowadays, it's kind of normal, but a $30 shirt still seems outrageous to me. We are also looking into other types of clothing. For example would love to do AoftheH themed Hawaiian shirts, leisure suites, action figures with gorilla press action. Everything is possible, it's just a matter of how much people want it. Also look out for our Patreon later this year for more exclusive goodies.

For the An Adoration in Prayer and Ritual album (2017), (TQ subscribers receive a download code with this issue – Ed) I’ve read comparisons with Sun Ra, This Heat, TG, Melvins, The Residents, Psychic TV, Non. Are there any influences in musical style you are willing to share, and what about influences regarding the overall mystique of AoftheH?
Michael: The biggest unheard influence has got to be Steely Dan. Their discography has basically become the soundtrack for everyday life and has rubbed off in terms of composition and approaches to production. They really place instruments in a way that you hear every single one clearly and independently. Otherwise, for me personally, all the more superfluous aspects of black metal. I like the sinister atmosphere, the thin treble heavy production. It sounds like something that you were not supposed to hear. Like the recording of a secret.
Jerome: But we can do without the metal part.


Michael: Again, I love listening to it. But playing it is just not working for me.


Jonas: Other people have compared us to the Sun City Girls or Vas Deferens Organization.


Jerome: I can see that.
Jonas: Yeah, but literally none of us knew these bands before our first release. I would credit Dr. John as another unheard musical influence. The Night Tripper has always been with us.


Jerome: For me its KISS.

I read a review of the Adoration album that referred to it being “complete and utterly unlistenable...one track contains six minutes of bass wabbering for god’s sake!”. What a great review, you must have been pleased with that?


Jerome: Hahaha, was that the Emerson, Lake and Palmer one?
Yeah that’s the one.
Jonas: “When ELP are not enough, Anatomy of the Heads.” That was the best incidental endorsement someone could give us.


Michael: I have to say, we are really not out to offend people, although we do that anyway, but there is a child-like glee when someone gets way too upset about what it is we are doing. People tend to hate the tuning-slide bass piece as well the first three minutes of the record, or the suite format in general.
Jonas: All of this is just a highfalutin way of saying that we love this kind of outrage.

The Adoration album puts me in mind of Isotope, Red Snapper and Nucleus, so I guess the jazz rock genre of the 70s with some experimental sounds added to the mix. It’s very different to the other material I have checked out. Was this the debut, and how come the subsequent material is such a departure in style?
Jerome: We actually have a kinda sorta system or plan for that.


Michael: Adoration is a studio album while Triptych Terror Oriente is basically a triple live record. All of our studio albums will always give you the whole spectrum. The real deal. The primordial soup that contains all the vitamins and proteins to get YOU through the most monotone of math classes. In any other format we are more willing to step away from that and highlight single aspects of our sound.


Jonas: It's Love Beach every day all day.


Jerome: We could imagine doing a solo piano EP or more noise stuff...


Jonas: Basically, whatever we are currently into.


Michael: Yeah, for example the triple live album was the result of many unfinished records and pieces that just didn't really flow all that well together. So in 2018 we had a lot of new music on our hands but nothing that we could turn into a single record in good consciousness.


Jerome: Yeah, and the idea of re-recording the material live is what really added the final touch to the idea.

That album was released in 2017 and then a lull until those three albums all released on the same day in 2019, and since then...silence. Have I got that right? Are the three albums for 2019 all recorded live and if so, were they part of a tour?


Michael: We strive to be on a two-year schedule for releases. We could do one a year, but then our music would be way less developed. The average purist could think that is a good thing to have things as raw and bloody as possible, but in our case that is just not the thing we are going for.
Jerome: Nothing in this movie is incidental.


Michael: As far as Triptych Terror Oriente goes, saying that we were on tour is a bit of an overstatement. We played or contributed to five art festivals and on two of these festivals we showed some film projects we made. So, the AoftheH live experience only adds up to three shows.


Jerome: All of which have been recorded and released for your delight!
Jonas: And when we say live, we mean that we KISSed the recordings. We recorded the music straight from the amps, so that there are no crowd sounds, and further edited the recorded material in the post-production process.


Jerome: Yeah, for example Exorcisme was initially performed with drums.
Michael: ...but I cut them out to serve my humble ego.


Jonas: It sounded perfectly fine with the drums. It was cool.


Michael: But my power electronics sensibilities said, ‘no rhythm section’. That way it was much blacker magic.


Jerome: That is not to say that we sterilized the records. We kept a lot of the mistakes, for example on Copper Clad Coinage.


Jonas: Anyway, since the release of Triptych Terror Oriente we haven't been that silent. We have released some outtakes from our upcoming second studio album on multiple compilations.

Copper Clad Coinage comprises two long form synth pieces; Barnacle Headdress and Island Giantism. I really like the album. Is it true that it was performed live a couple of years ago at the Gwanyongsan Arts and Culture Festival in South Korea, and is the recording of the actual performance at that festival?
Michael: Yes it is. As you can hear some synth lines are out of sync because as it turns out, drawn-out dungeon synth dirges are the last thing drunk Koreans want to hear after a high energy pop performance.


Jerome: But those were mistakes that we decided to keep because the lines oddly go together and create interesting interlocking rhythms that add to the meditative atmosphere of the record.
Michael: So, we had to deal with a bit of a hostile and unappreciative crowd, but we pacified them by inviting the most hostile and most drunk people to make bird sounds with us.


Jerome: None of which made it on the actual record because it's just a bunch of drunk people yelling, but we credited them as the Gimhae-Clan.
Jonas: High comedy.


Michael: High comedy, indeed. Add a slide whistle, and we turn into the Spike Jones Orchestra.

If Super Hot Fluids from the MAXIMUM:PLEASURE album is indeed recorded live in front of an audience, what was the reaction? Many walkouts? Or did the audience know what to expect?


Michael: Hahaha there was literally no one left when we started playing. Because it was a city-wide festival with many locations and the main stage had a much bigger act happening at the same time as us - Mariko... Mariko something. That way we basically had the whole venue to ourselves for a few hours. It was basically us and a few of the performers from the acts before us that drew the short end of the stick and had to keep watching their equipment.

For the piece you were joined by an orchestra. How did that come about?
Jonas: Our tour manager booked us as high art, so we played the same stage as two student big bands that went on sometime before us. Since it takes forever to rig up a twenty-piece big band all the microphones and equipment were permanently on the stage, and we had some contact during the day with the bands because we were traveling on a shoestring budget and had just the bare minimum of gear with us.
Michael: We basically ran around and asked if we could borrow this and that.

Jerome: Apparently, we seemed nice enough.


Michael: It's all Jerome. His manners and morals are impeccable
Jerome: Honorary Japanese.


Michael: When it turned out that we had the venue to ourselves for like two hours until they would tear down the stage we just asked them to jam with us. Although it was not that innocent.


Jerome: The problem was that people in orchestras have a hard time improvising. So we handed them some graphic notations that we just so happened to have prepared.


Jonas: That's basically graphs that represent dynamics and that performers can interpret as they see fit. For example a graph like this ^ could mean start in one pitch raise it continuously and then come back down. Or play what you want, but start out soft, get louder and then become slowly quieter again. We could say luck is the residue of design, but it was actually premeditated murder passed off as improvisation.


Jerome: We had the idea of using an orchestra early on when working on the material for MAXIMUM:PLEASURE because it started out as a commission for a soundtrack to a short film called End of Venus. Long story short, the movie fell through, and we already made 20 minutes of music that featured some midi orchestration as well as pages upon pages of graphic score.


Jonas: We were kind of hoping for something like that to happen in one form or another. It was a long shot but it kind of worked out, and we are happy about it.


Michael: Not everyone in the orchestra made it on the record, though. We cut out some players in post-production. For example there was a lady playing the harp who was literally drowned out by everything else going on and played for nothing, but we credited them anyway.

I’d unreservedly recommend readers of TQ check your albums out and while they are at it, check out your amazing visuals on YouTube. Such a mixed bag of visuals, some not for the feint hearted, one even coming with an age warning. All very interesting. How important is the visual aspect in relation to the whole AoftheH deal?
Michael: Having awesome artwork on a good record is like having a cherry on top of your sundae. Equally, it is very disappointing to see artwork that is really appealing, but then you end up not liking the record. You could argue that artwork is just a marketing gimmick or a superfluous element, and that it is all about the music. But artwork gives works of music a distinct identity that can help to immerse the listeners into whatever it is you want to communicate.
Jerome: Tie that to what we have discussed earlier, and you can see why we are so anal about artwork.


Jonas: It's all about immersion.


Jerome: Well that, and we grew up when music videos were like little movies with big budgets. So just as a fantasy we edit something together out of archival footage. We would love to do more filming, but that's not in the cards, yet.

I have read that there’s an album in the can called A Banishment of Bloodshed and Superstition slated for release late summer of this year. What more can you tell me about this?


Michael: By now mate you should have a pretty good idea about what to expect. Dense vegetation of jazz rock, unnerving jungle drums, much more brass and woodwinds, more refined attempts at exotica, vicious bongos as well as some vocals.
Jonas: As far as the disintegration of your ego goes, this time we partnered with some (better to remain unnamed) benefactors to induce amnesia in the listeners upon repeated listening through the use of something like pulsed microwaves.


Jerome: Get ready to kiss your boring old selves goodbye and embrace Anatomy of the Heads into your hearts and wallets.

I know many readers of TQ like to dig deep to learn more about featured artists. What are the best links to delve into?


Michael: To get your head on, visit www.aoftheh.com for more information about Anatomy of the Heads than your noble frame can stomach.

Many thanks, it’s been a blast. Any final comments for readers?
Jerome: Always remember music and passion are always the fashion!
Jonas: ...and don’t fall in love at the Copacabana.


Michael: Amin!