YouTube Digging: Kris Wadsworth's Ten Tracks To Make You Cry

If there’s something we’ve come to love about Kris Wadsworth, besides his disturbing pitched down vocals and raw analogue grooves, it’s his candid take on the world at large. In our last interview back in January, he ended the discussion with a threat “I want to come back and play heavy metal in Room One as long as possible before you guys kick me out. That is my goal this year to be really honest.” Well, he may be making his Room One debut on the 18th of this month but I’m not sure that even our soundsystem will take to the thrash so, instead we gave him the floor on our blog to give us a guide to his tracks he wishes he could play at peak time, but would most certainly cause a few tears of despair. Funkadelic – Maggot Brain The first track I put on here is really important to me for many reasons. Musically it is an amazing piece to listen to MANY, MANY, MANY times with things you never noticed coming out after repeated listening, much like a good book or whatever. The guy playing guitar is named Eddie Hazel. If you don’t know who the fuck Eddie Hazel is, now you do. Hendrix was good, but Hazel in my mind, was the real deal. Also dead, also black, also American, also incredibly heavy and really helped write the book on what is known as “heavy.” I couldn’t even estimate on how many times I have listened to this and other live versions of it. During some really pivotal moments in my life present and past; positive and negative; simple and complex--Maggot Brain has been priceless to my existence as a human being. I want it played when I die as loud as humanly possible. In the meantime, it still gets played as loud as possible, whenever possible. Black Sabbath – Electric Funeral Tony Iommi (guitarist for Black Sabbath) is the father of all modern heavy metal riffs. No questions, no other fucking opinion is able to be consciously considered. His riffs are THE blueprint for “how-to-rock-a-nasty-electric-groove-on-six-strings.” I’ve heard ‘Sabbath a million times, but when I got older (past the age of about 15) and realized how incredibly influential the band was on everything “heavy,” it sort of changed how I listened to it and I actually still study their music as a source of inspiration. This particular track reminds me of my dad. I (vividly) recall when we took LSD together when I was about 19 or 20 years old and I went downstairs in his house and played this on repeat. My old man had decent taste in music. RIP dad… Altamont – Casino You can hear the ‘Sabbath in this totally killer riff from these guys called Altamont. I respect it a lot ‘cause it’s not a cheesy ‘Sabbath worship/rip-off-riff like a lot of crap out there. It stands on its own and nods with respect at the same time. This groove takes me into this hypnosis; this specific heavy place and then, like…totally pops off. It’s a really cool arrangement. For some reason it reminds me of Johnny White of No.19 and Art Department fame. (Hi, John) Maybe it’s the hair? I don’t know. Yeah it reminds me of skateboarding on a sunny afternoon and like, being in Paris while John admired my “666” tattoo. Cheers, dude. Electric Wizard – Patterns of Evil The balls of metal with a really unique emotion: almost like Smashing Pumpkins without the wussy-ness that occurs with their stuff. Balls-out, heavy groove with some nasty-ass solo work; great vocal, awesome track name…can’t fuck with it really. I think it’s cool that the guitar player is badass girl too; like totally a “keeper” in my book. I have tickets to see this band in Berlin. Most likely I will go by myself because too many of the people I know are closed-minded pussies. I will gladly go solo to a British metal concert in Germany to keep in touch with myself, by myself and then probably come home and make a bunch of weird shit nobody will ever buy. PS…I wouldn’t have it any other way. The Melvins: A History of Bad Men. I love The Melvins. Wait…did I mention that I love The Melvins? This is a fuckin’ J-A-M, motherfuckers. This is that dope-ass American “grunge” sound that changed my life and many other people’s. Music like this (and all of the tracks here come to think of it) is timeless in my ears and will NEVER be out of my mind. RIFF. Nirvana was cool, still is, but…if you somehow don’t know The Melvins and like Nirvana as well, I will put money on it that now you like The fuckin’ Melvins too. I LOVE The Melvins. Love. At any rate, incredible, dirty music here…not much else needs to be said, listen to it. Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath Speak of the Devil. (Pun intended). I am actually writing all this stuff after being rudely awakened at about 3AM with some really nasty Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) nightmares. I was diagnosed with this psychological disorder in 2006. One of the most obvious symptoms is amazingly realistic nightmares. Usually my nightmares have a similar theme; people coming to kill me or trying to kill me in some form. The creepiest, most-realistically imaginable caricatures of individuals from reality behaving in subhuman manners; having to run and/or defend myself in extremely violent ways often resulting in the death or near death of my attacker(s); no way to exonerate myself or escape. If I don’t wake myself up as I have learned to do and stay awake/get back to a sense of reality before attempting sleep again; the nightmares will continue to run as beyond-fucked, terrifying scenarios reminiscent of real life trauma experienced. This track pretty much sums up a disorder I have dealt with for almost a decade now. It will never go away completely, but when it comes up from Hell, one of the only things that help aside from speaking to a family member who is a Doctor of Psychology, is blasting music and embracing that this is a part of me for life. Ministry – Filth Pig Disgusting. I love Ministry and am generally into anything industrial of any sort. Maybe being raised in one the world’s largest industrial areas has something to do with my ears being tuned to this sort of clang and racket? The lyrics are perfect as a continuation of the last expression and interpretation of ‘Sabbath/PTSD. Look up the lyrics if you want a good read. This is what I think about when I think of the Midwest American underground; nasty, dark, confrontational, contemplative, detached, outspoken, weird, beat-down and fuckin’ LOUD. The singer of this band was a once notoriously horrid heroin addict who got his shit together like a lot of my favorite musicians. They are from Chicago I am pretty sure too, which is about five hours from where I grew up. The American Midwest: the place so many Europeans draw from musically but have usually never been before…AKA…The Rust Belt of America. Down - Underneath Everything Phil Anselmo, singer from the great American metal band Pantera did some other stuff with a band known as Down. This is my favorite track by them. I was born in Atlanta, Georgia and I appreciate metal and other forms of music (blues, jazz, bluegrass etc.) that comes from the Deep South. You can hear a definite Southern swagger and twang in this in comparison to say, The Melvins who come from the Northwest; or the black doom of British metal for instance. This has a dark but warmer, country-ish sort of vibe and I cannot listen to it without moving. If your head doesn’t bang to this, you got a problem. Straight up serious New Orleans metal from one of the best. Fuck. Yes. Sepultura – Amen Sepultura are from Brazil. In Brazil there are South American Native people…AKA…original people. I am part Native American Indian. I always asked questions in school to myself when it came to religion, history, society, and specifically Christianity’s view of original people as “heathens,” and the forcing of their shit down ancient cultures throats (literally). Questions like: “Does that mean we are all evil who are even partially Native and will go to Hell unless some dork who likes shitty-ass, weak music hooks us up his direct line to Jesus to save us?” This is a weird thing to bring up, much like politics, but I don’t give a fuck. I love this track, I love the message, and I love the energy. I think about it when I see the brainwashed agents of the churches to this day still going around trying to infect people with their beliefs even when they want nothing to do with them, under the guise of “or you’re going to Hell.” Cool. The Devil makes the best music anyways. The above is a rhetorical question by the way; I am not looking for an answer. I just listen to this track and settle into another little piece of a heavy, strong, anti-bullshit identity that makes perfect sense to me. A Perfect Circle - Judith (Renholder Remix) Last one…I bet the weenies and uptight Christian-minded hypocrites who sit in clubs with people on drugs, or drunk, or fucking in the bathroom who think I’m attacking them are going to love this. You know why? Listen to the best part. You can’t miss it at 3:01. This track isn’t what you think it’s about either, so if you want to dig around and figure it out, go for it before you start crying and talking some stupid shit. Maynard, the singer from Tool is brilliant. This is his other band called Perfect Circle, also brilliant. Renholder the remixer is a guy who has worked with Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, etc. DOPE. This was in the vampire movie Underworld. I like vampires. I was named after a Dracula actor. I like this track. Blah, blah, blah. It’s all of the stuff listed here so far slammed into one futuristic, electric knot of energy and emotion. Maybe now this makes that final stretch into how heavy, dark, beautifully expressive…whatever stuff…is a big part of my life and thus my music? I don’t make metal or industrial or whatever (right now), but without it, I probably would have never got into whatever it is that I actually do. Kris Wadsworth will be in Room One on 18th August with M.A.N.D.Y. and Tim Green, for tickets and info click here. Listen in succession in our YouTube Playlist here.