0 [NW NOISE #2] Great Falls (Seattle)

NW Noise by Nik Christofferson

Much like the feeling of stumbling upon a rare gem while sifting through crates of used vinyl at your local indie record shop, brand new projects or not, the accidental discovery of a killer local band can give that exact same feeling of triumph. Therefore I am driven to share my finds with you in this brand new weekly SRG column deemed, "NW NOISE". This column will aim to champion and profile Seattle bands that I believe you should know, and eventually branch off to hit upon bands that call our neighboring NW regions (i.e. PDX, Vancouver B.C.) home as well. Hope you dig!

A name change for a band can be risky business; confusing for fans, worthless leftover T-shirts, multiple Myspace sites, lets not forget the unsightly but sometimes necessary "formally known as" printed on pretty much everything you can think of. The logistics may be slightly painful, but luckily it has historically not meant death. The Stooges found continued success as Iggy and the Stooges, Lamb of God has had a very fruitful existence after ditching the Burn the Priest title, and even Kyuss's lesser known change from Sons of Kyuss may have helped out in their post-mortem popularity. It also never hurts the transition if a bands music also changes for the better as well (because that's what its really about, right?). In the case of Seattle’s Great Falls (formally known as Hemingway), their sound evolved from ultra-violent noise to a just as violent, but decidedly more structured noise, thus making the band much more listenable for non-noise purists. The change in Great Falls' song writing approach and identity has proven positive thus far as they have played on some solid local bills, garnered local praise from Brian Cook in The Stranger, and of course right here on SRG.

Much like the video of Hemingway (No Great Falls videos available) performing at Funhouse above depicts, Great Fall's sound is menacing, jarring, and at its core really pissed off. A soundtrack of doom and destruction, brutality and doubt created with a single guitar, a single bass, drum machine, sampler, tonsil scrape vocals, and endless layers of corrosive distortion. The duo played their very first show after the name change opening for AFCGT and New Zealand’s Our Love Will Destroy the World at Funhouse back on January 9th, and now seem destined to make their mark once and for all, not only as Great Falls, but also as this city’s premier heathen noise duo.

Info:

One or more of the members were in Playing Enemy, Kiss it Goodbye, Hemingway, Undertow, Nineironspitfire, and a Diamondhead cover band.

History:

Demian Johnston added his two cents on the orgins of Great Falls:

The two lone members of Great Falls have been mainstays in Seattle’s heavy music underground for years. As members of Playing Enemy, Demian Johnston and Shane Mehling traveled the US and Europe, released two full lengths and multiple split EP’s before realizing that Seattle’s noise scene was actually a better fit for them. The duo called their noise project Hemingway and released countless DIY cassette tapes and CD’s all depicting Johnston’s acutely dark artistic ability. “Shane and I started doing straight up noise shows after that (Playing Enemy), and found a new scene we felt more at home in.” recounts Demian speaking about the origins of Hemingway. “After spending a few years doing mostly noise shows we started writing more traditional songs. We were slowly changing the direction of our band so we changed the name.” and thus Great Falls was born. “It's been nice to remember that you are good at an instrument, but we still love making noise. “

Discography:


Links:

Myspace
Demian Johnston