Why Heavy Music Is Good Music

Boris

The experience of seeing Boris live is something that’s as hard to explain as it is to forget. Even in the drone metal scene, where bands are prone to excursions into the esoteric, their set stands out as one of the most inscrutable. Even beyond the massive drum kits, weird instruments and smoke machines that obscure all but the silhouettes of the band while they play, there’s the band’s preternatural ability to blend doom and drone with straightforward rock’n’roll and dreamy pop numbers.

But Takeshi says these shifts all occur very naturally for the prolific band. “We just do whatever we would like to do; we are just like a music addict. [So] we have never intended to change our musical styles intentionally. Even though some may feel we do, we don’t. As far as it still means ‘heavy’ for us whatever music style sounds great to us. Because there is certain signature sound and music that only three of us can play, and that will never end.”

"We just do whatever we would like to do; we are just like a music addict"

Touring on the back of last year’s album, Noise – 2014 was a slow year for Boris, only releasing two full-lengths – the band is now adding punk and hardcore sounds to their already brimming bag of tricks. “Atsuo [drummer/vocalist] and I had been heavily influenced by punk rock and hardcore music when we were young. It is pretty natural for us because those influences are like our blood so deeply and it’s pretty hard for us to resist against it. Not only a BPM or how we can play faster, that music mean a lot to us in a way of how we work on music or how distorted guitar tones are cool. I don’t know; it would be in an unconscious way. Though playing faster music is hard physically, it is still fun.”

As for whether Boris, who Takeshi adds are presently collaborating with Japanese extreme music collective Endon for another album, will continue to explore their hardcore roots, the guitarist only offers a ‘maybe’ – which means that they could pretty much play anything on their upcoming tour. Takeshi tries to explain: “Basically Boris play our latest songs for the show. This is how we do not only in Australia but also in US, Euro and Japan. Though it is pretty hard for us to decide the set-list in order to have both new and long term-fans enjoy shows at once, Boris have always tried to play enjoyable set not only for our audience but also for us.”

And then the exchange turns to smoke machines, a simple stage accoutrement used with phenomenal impact by Boris. Takeshi is quick to suggest that they’ve got nothing on Sunn O))) in regards to smoking out rooms. Because they love using smoke machines, they can make a dingy club feel like a Van Halen arena show when they turn that shit up to 11.