Music fans know Brian Chippendale as a guy who’s created an astonishing, hyperactive racket from behind a paint-splattered drum kit for almost 20 years now. Comics fans know him as a guy who crowds pages with anxiety-inducing panels in the series Maggots and Puke Force. From either angle, the dude is a complete weirdo genius. His drumming relies more on intensity and nonstop snare clatter than technical skill or precision—he’s compared his playing to his drawing style, where he fills up every possible bit of paper with busy, in-your-face ink. Best known as one half of groundbreaking noise-rock duo Lightning Bolt, Chippendale is currently touring in support of All My Relations (Thrill Jockey), the new LP from his solo project, Black Pus. On this latest album he exhibits some very uncharacteristic moments of self-control—at times he even plays something resembling a straightforward beat.
Yeah, it was an LP. I can’t remember the name of it. I actually have it on the record player.
Kid Cudi? I just saw a poster for that recently. I have no idea what that is.
Yeah, Parts & Labor. He has a new record out, also on Thrill Jockey, and we were talking about, “Oh, self-recording,” and I was saying how I’ve started segueing back into a hi-fi studio and he’s been doing stuff at home. And the thing we didn’t really talk about—but I think the big thing that divides the two—is the recording of the live drums, versus him not using live drums. When you have live drums in your project, it’s just an entirely different thing.
You’re recording it before you start, or you’re doing it—
A little bit, but I still feel like I have some unexplored stuff, at least with this project. If I do something, I tend to supercommit to it. So I’m scared if I bring in some other people, then there’s gonna be some allegiance to them that’s gonna get all messed up between Lightning Bolt and them.
Tue 5/7, 9 PM, Empty Bottle, $10, $8 in advance, 21+.
