Sludge-caked guitars, brutally slow tempos and unsettling premonitions of imminent doom rule the day on “The Event” backed with “Abuse,” the latest from Nashville experi-metalers My Wall. Out Friday via drummer Carlos Ortiz’s No Sabes label, the 45-RPM 12-inch follows April’s longform Mine, which consisted of five trudging, gnarly tracks inspired by Sunn O))) and the mighty Electric Wizard among other nihilist noise-mongers, splayed across 46 minutes.
My Wall serves up a smaller dose of doom this time around, yet sounds even more troubled and feral than before. “I want people to hear it and say ‘That was bleak and fucked up,’ ” Ortiz tells the Scene. To mark the release, the trio will perform a virtual gig from The 5 Spot Friday at 8 p.m. Below, hear the new tracks and put in an order via Bandcamp, and check out my talk with Ortiz, bassist Vaughn Walters and guitarist-vocalist Frank Hand.
Where are each of you from?
Vaughn Walters, bass: West Virginia.
Carlos Ortiz, drums: South Nashville.
Frank Hand, vocals and guitar: Born in Birmingham, but went to high school here in Nashville.
How did you discover the type of music My Wall plays?
FH: I was really into grunge growing up — Nirvana, Soundgarden, Melvins, all that Northwest stuff. Bands like Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana, there’d always be a song that was heavier than the others … like the Pumpkins’ “The Aeroplane Flies High,” which is super heavy and slow — basically a doom song. But when I’d get on Pandora and type the titles of those songs in, it would just give me more ’90s alternative stuff. … “No! I want whole bands like that” Then, in college, I got turned onto Electric Wizard’s Dopethrone and was like “Whoa, OK, this is what I was looking for.”
VW: “Give me something like Smashing Pumpkins, but more satanic.” [laughs]
Is there a difference between doom and sludge, to you?
FH: I think doom is more broad, and sludge is generally dirtier … closer to hardcore punk.
Carlos, you grew up here in Nashville. What was your musical upbringing like?
CO: My dad was always into rock music, 105.9 The Rock and stuff. The first shop I ever went to was Phonoluxe. Thirteen was when I really started getting into music that was heavier, faster, weirder … collecting CDs and trying to learn every instrument I could. I just wanted to keep pushing my limits, my musicianship, as much as possible. But I didn’t start taking drums seriously till way later, when I started my first band Negra and met Frank.
FH: I was in a band called Poodle when Carlos was in Negra. He and I were talking at a show and were like “Where are all the doom bands in this town?” We saw an opportunity, so we took it.
CO: I also had this band Magmar that was sort of an offshoot of Negra — a bass-and-drums duo, Lightning Bolt-type thing. That was a different sort of heaviness, but my approach was the same — letting as much out as I could, just at a different pace. With this band, I just want to be as aggressive and as heavy as I can, naturally.
How do you get yourself in the proper headspace to play music that is so intense?
FH: We all focus on mindfulness in our lives in some way.
VW: Where mindfulness meets nihilism.
FH: We all really like this type of music, [even] if some people find it depressing or whatever.
What do your families think? Too loud?
VW: There’s basically nobody who doesn’t think it’s too loud. [laughs]
FH: Carlos’ mom got really concerned this one time while I was recording vocals in his shed.
CO: Yeah, she was grilling outside and he was going at it in there.
FH: It was one of these new ones, “Abuse” I think, and she thought something was really wrong, that someone was in real danger. She came in to check, and I could see it in her face. I had to talk her down in Spanish. “Todo bien … grabando.” [It’s OK, we were recording.]
Have you been happy with the response My Wall has received in Nashville up to now?
FH: From the people who give it a chance, yeah. We’ve played a lot of shows at Betty’s to four people. I love Betty’s. We’ve played there more than anywhere else, and really shaken that place.
Outside the band, what’s some music that’s helped get you through the last year?
VW: Sharon Van Etten’s first record, Because I Was In Love.
CO: This label called Analog Africa, out of Hamburg, Germany. They’ve rediscovered all this psychedelic cumbia, funk-soul stuff from Ghana and different sections of Africa. Sick label.
FH: I just picked up the Emma Swift record, Blonde on the Tracks. Listened to it earlier tonight and probably will again after this. It’s perfect.
