Relevancy would be good for Health
By Kevin W. Smith
KSMITH@AZSTARNET.COM
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.24.2008
Health wants to be one of "those" bands.
Meaning, when their young fans grow up, Health will be mentioned as an example of what inspired them way back in 2008.
"A new band that's relevant to your times," said bassist John Famiglietti, 23.
So far, he has two examples of extreme fan behavior:
● St. Louis: Some young, mushroom-ingesting fans drove six hours to see the band perform and spent two hours before the show trying to find its members to say hello.
● Raleigh, N.C.: Two fans on acid beat each other up during the group's set to the point they were covered in blood afterwards.
"I don't know if that's the sign if anything is working," Famiglietti said from a tour van on its way to a gig in Minneapolis.
Tucson can show its own devotion — with less blood, hopefully — when the Los Angeles band plays Solar Culture on Sunday.
The four-piece makes deliriously intense, tribal-chanting, distorted prog-metal that transforms into an experimental thrash party live. Members crouch drown and seemingly dry-heave ear-bleeding electricity.
Health was recently thrown into media references to the "Noise Rock" scene in Los Angeles, which includes acts like No Age and Abe Vigoda.
Famiglietti said there is a genuine scene in Los Angeles, but he's not so sure Health fits under the noise rock umbrella.
"We're the only band in the scene that sounds like us," he said.
Although pretty much all bands would claim a unique sound, Health is so all over the place Famiglietti has a point.
He said it's not exciting anymore to be a new rock band that sounds like an old one, or even one that's trying to one-up aesthetics of the past.
"The path is so worn, you can't really do any of the old stuff anymore," he said. "You could play extreme death metal and no one will be shocked."
Health is also a band that Famiglietti says embraces technology, which is good because if not for the Internet, it would be tough to see a band like this being exposed through radio or TV.
"We're not Luddites," he said. "We're trying to be very modern and relevant."
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