MALADY - Demos

We were supposed to release the second MALADY album, but mid-way through the writing process Chris Taylor quit since he felt the band hadn't considered his vocals when writing the new songs. Not long after, the remaining members kicked out Johnny Ward since his drinking was getting in the way of his drumming (and general life functionality). I don't really know the full story, so definitely take all that with a grain of salt... that's just what I was told at the time.

What I do know is that what was supposed to become the sophomore MALADY album shapeshifted into the VERSE EN COMA ep, which ended up being a financial disaster since we spent a ton on the recording and it was only really 5 songs that just didn't sell all that well. The band never performed live under that name or lineup, and I don't even know if VERSE EN COMA vocalist Brian Markham (who went on to form ANCIENT SKY) ever even met everyone in the band... kind of a weird situation. Oh well.

What I'm posting here are two sets of MALADY demos. The first of which is a *super* early practice tape that I dubbed off Nathan from CRESTFALLEN when Chris Taylor played it for both of us on Nathan's boombox in Richmond one afternoon. I dunno that anyone really knew I was copying it, but if I hadn't this probably wouldn't now publicly exist since this was just for the band members to learn/rehearse the songs to. You can tell Chris' vocals are kinda temporary in a few spots, so take all that for what it's worth. Three songs (that all ended up on the album in the end) all on one MP3 file, since that's how I ripped it a million years ago.

The second set of demos is kinda late-MALADY, proto-VERSE EN COMA era. I think this is the stuff they gave to Chris which he wasn't too happy with. I'm not sure, but there's no vocals on these. I think these all have Johnny on drums still, sounding a little rough. Cool to hear, but yeah you can tell the band is sorta unraveling with this stuff. Best to jam the "self titled" MALADY album and the VERSE EN COMA "Rialto" EP, which coincidentally we still have a pile of.

* download MALADY - Demos (via MediaFire)
* download MALADY - Demos (via RapidShare)
* download MALADY - Demos (via SendSpace)

Again, raw/rough demos so don't expect studio-quality stuff exactly. A lot of what these guys have released over the years is now out of print, but if you want some physical products that these guys have put out, try the following:

* PG.99 stuff in the Robotic Empire - Online Store
* PYGMY LUSH stuff in the Robotic Empire - Online Store
* VERSE EN COMA stuff in the Robotic Empire - Online Store

Three obscurities (download) posts of Virginia bands in a row, with plenty more for down the road at some point. Lots to compile from all different eras of these dudes bands, so while it'll probably be a while, hopefully they'll be worth the wait.

HISSING CHOIR - First Show (live, 3 songs) +videos

Figured I'd kick this project off with the recordings that put this whole idea in my head in the first place. Cleaning up the office a few months ago I came across some old minidiscs, and this brief little monster in music history was buried within.

This is a (rough) recording of the first ever HISSING CHOIR show. They were a short lived (but never truly "broken up") band comprised of members of PG99, CRESTFALLEN, PIG DESTROYER and TRIAC... essentially trying their hardest to sound like SWANS but still being fairly unique. These are three songs from their first show, so it's sorta rough around the edges, but still pretty intense for a FIRST SHOW. Not sure if these guys will ever actually release anything so I decided to finally upload this. I think the mic got dropped during the first song while I handed Mike a beer bottle to use as a slide, so that may explain the partial dropout about halfway in the first song there. Not positive, but I think the show was sometime in October of 2003 at the Talking Head in Baltimore, MD (it may have still been the "old" Ottobar back then?). It was recorded with a cheapo Sharp brand MD-MT15 portable minidisc recorder and a tiny clip-on interview mic, which sorta explains why it doesn't sound amazing. Better than nothing though, hope you enjoy this!

* download HISSING CHOIR - First Show (live, 3 songs) (via Internet Archive)

Also relevant to this posting are the only (known) video recordings of HISSING CHOIR, shot at the Banks St. Warehouse in New Orleans, LA. This was filmed by Anderson Cook, probably also in late 2003. The first link below is the original file of "part 1" of this live video, with little-to-zero quality loss from the original upload. The "mirror" link of that is the smaller, compressed version hosted on YouTube. I couldn't find the original, uncompressed file for "part 2" of the show, so YouTube is all there is of that.

* watch HISSING CHOIR - Live part 1 (via Internet Archive - original file, high quality)

* watch HISSING CHOIR - Live part 1 "mirror link" (via YouTube - lower quality, faster loading)

* watch HISSING CHOIR - Live part 2 (via YouTube - *if anyone has the original file for this please contact me*)

And last but not least, HISSING CHOIR did sort of sneak one officially release out there under nearly everyone's noses. Chrome Peeler Records did a compilation CD called You've Got You Orders - Volume One for their very first release that features a bunch of bands & artists recording material based on existing song titles provided by the label.

Chris Taylor was asked to contribute, so he sent in a song from HISSING CHOIR practice session recorded live in the band's rehearsal space. Unfortunately no vocals were recorded, and this is an even earlier version of the same song viewed above in part 1 of the live videos... but it is a bit more audible than the other available HISSING CHOIR recordings.

* download HISSING CHOIR - Practice Session (1 song) (via MediaFire)

PLEASE NOTE: The You've Got You Orders - Volume One compilation CD (and it's stellar followup) is still available from Chrome Peeler Records for a very reasonable price. If you like this song, we highly encourage you to pick up the compilation CD(s) as they both have a lot of killer artists contributing some pretty unique songs.

HISSING CHOIR LINEUP:
Vocals - JR Hayes (Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Enemy Soil, etc.)
Guitar - Mike Taylor (Pageninetynine, Pygmy Lush, Mannequin, Majority Rule, Haram, etc.)
Guitar - Nathan Grice (Crestfallen, Heavens, Dead To Me, etc.)
Bass - Chris Taylor (Pageninetynine, Pygmy Lush, Mannequin, Malady, etc.)
Drums - Jake Creggar (Triac, Drugs of Faith, Jesus of Nazareth, etc.)

Also, the above photo by Richard "The Grindfather" Johnson, from his ancient and impressive (and now online) zine Disposable Underground.

* HISSING CHOIR - Myspace Page (with an interview and some more information)