Brothers, without a doubt
The Decline Effect will play their first show on Saturday, at Cahoots. Vocalist Dave Johnson, known for The Glasspack, tells LEO how he joined ex-members of Kinghorse and Malignant Growth to start Louisville’s newest supergroup:
“I found out (brothers) Mark and Chris (Abromavage) were starting a band. I sent Mark a bit of lyrics and links to pass to Chris since I did not know Chris very well. I obviously knew of Malignant Growth, but I had never known Chris. I had been going to school, studying philosophy with a concentration in social sciences and a minor in social change. My higher learning made me reconsider how I approach bands and lyrics. It made me discover how the nation’s ideology (subtly based on freedom and equality) is so ass-backwards to the way things really are (inequality and arbitrary meritocracy). I then came to the conclusion that with the new band, my voice was not just an instrument but a tool — to make people think and question why it could be that a few have everything while many have none, and the gap keeps widening.
“I do not think any longer of my voice as just an instrument or lyrics as unimportant. I have always felt that I wanted to say something more, but I needed a band, the opportunity to be an authentic frontman, and the knowledge to be more ‘MC5.’ Chris and Mark are those musician brothers that are tight as a knot on guitar and bass — and bicker a lot. I love it.
“The band is fun. We took the necessary time to put quality in front of quantity. The music itself, mostly riffs written by Mark, is wonderful. I stepped on this band-scene expecting some type of classic rock, but I got good old-fashioned Louisville hardcore punk-metal at its best, by definition, because these guys contributed to its origin. The rest of us contribute a bit to arrangement and everyone speaks their piece — balls-to-the-wall style.”
Find more info at www.facebook.com/TheDeclineEffect
ear X-tacy Top Sales:
Wild Flag — Wild Flag
Nerves Junior — As Bright As Your Night Light
St. Vincent — Strange Mercy
Red Hot Chili Peppers — I’m With You
Gillian Welch — The Harrow & the Harvest
Beirut — The Rip Tide
Girls — Father, Son, Holy Ghost
The Ladybirds — Shimmy Shimmy Dang!
Alice Cooper — Welcome 2 My Nightmare
Anthrax — Worship Music
This article appears in September 20, 2011.