The omission of the verb ‘play’ is intentional, because Kollaps are committed to pushing the boundaries of the traditional concept of a ‘band’. But, in spite of their inherent anti-homogeny, Kollaps actually formed in a not-uncommon setting.
“This band started with two acoustic guitars down on a beach,” Black says. “That was four years ago.” Despite their familiar origin, the band took a left turn when choosing their name. “We were not really interested that much in experimental music, but I had just listened to the Kollaps album by Einstürzende Neubauten, a German industrial band, and we wanted the band to be called a one word name, so we just used Kollaps. But we still weren’t planning on doing anything experimental, but after a while we just got really into noise.”
Fast-forward 18 months and this Saturday night Kollaps – completed by Millar Teratoma on percussion and Robin W. Marsh on drums and programming – are launching their debut EP, Heartworm. The EP title comes from the first single, Heartworm, whichis a dense forest of industrial tones accompanied by Black’s half-spoken lyrics about sickness and disease.
“The way we write songs is noise-related,” Black says. “That is, we will find a sound that has interesting textures and we will just build a song a from there. Very often it starts from percussion, a beat. The starting point for Heartworm is that we were actually trying to write something really fun, something really fast and energetic. I was telling Robin, ‘I want something really fast and energetic,’ so he came in with that beat and we just built it up from there. And I was just rambling lyrics over it until we just built up this wall of enormous ear-shredding sound.”
A memorable section from Black’s ramblings is the line, “All the good things in life/ They go out the window when you’re sick.” Black expands on the origins of this particularly dark statement.
“It is very much in context to physical health: I had a friend that was really sick for a very long time and she lived with me. She said to me, ‘It’s crazy how many things you want and all these desires that you have as a healthy person that, as soon as you lose your health, the only thing that you want back is your health.’ So that’s where I got that line from.”
The music video that accompanies the single was filmed during a rehearsal session in the St Kilda vault and blended with a performance at a Melbourne squat. The St Kilda rehearsal space is one of the south side’s best-kept secrets, and Black was shown this guerrilla studio by someone indirectly vital in the evolution of Kollaps.
“The first ever recording was done in an abandoned jewel vault in St Kilda by a guy called Ash Wednesday, who is actually in the band Einsturzende Neubauten. So it was a massive honour to be able to record with him.”
The outcome of these recording sessions can be heard on the Heartworm EP, which is now available for purchase on cassette tape. A lot of independent bands are releasing music on this archaic medium these days. It’s a format that perfectly suits Kollaps’ aberrant edge.
“It’s a fuck you to people who expect everything to be really easy,” Black says.
“Putting out a CD is really, really easy; putting out something on tape is [a little bit harder], as well as paying homage to post-punk and noise outfits like Left Over Crack.”
BY DAN WATT
