Tomahawk keeps it slow, steady, hard, and heady
May 30, 2013
Tomahawk falls somewhere between supergroup and working band.
Its members have superb experimental-hard-rock pedigrees: guitarist Duane Denison is from Jesus Lizard; singer Mike Patton was in Faith No More; drummer John Stanier used to be in Helmet; and bassist Trevor Dunn, Tomahawk’s newest member, was in Mr. Bungle and Fanto-mas with Patton, and recently toured with the Melvins. And the time between Tomahawk projects is supergroup in length, tempting the use of “hiatus” and “reunion,” though the band itself does not.
But unlike traditional supergroups, which usually deposit an album or two and disperse, Tomahawk has a rich and varied catalog of music as it chases ideas beyond the realm of each member’s most identifiable work with other bands. This is either despite or because of the pace of Tomahawk’s output, which amounts to four records over the past 13 years, each title offering a distinctly different twist to the band’s sound. The albums may be tumultuous, but they are also methodical. Tomahawk’s 2007 release, “Anonymous,” for example, was based on Denison’s assimilation of traditional Native American music into underground rock.
In January, Tomahawk released “Oddfellows,” the follow-up to “Anonymous,” and is touring for the first time in a decade. The band’s next leg of concerts begins on Saturday with a sold-out show at the Paradise in Boston, one of five US cities Tomahawk is performing in before heading to Europe for the remainder of the summer.
“I just accumulate ideas and stay in touch with the other guys,” says Denison when reached at his Nashville home. “I’ll record demos and form the structure of the songs, but I don’t map out everything. I let the other guys personalize their parts,” Denison says. “They are so good at what they do. When I started this with Mike, I told him I wanted this to be a collaborative project. I expect him to send the vocal lines.”
As “Oddfellows” evolved, it took on an air of social commentary, though the messages are more subtle than overt.
“If you read between the lines, there’s a fair amount of social commentary. The title track is about judgment and critics. You can’t do anything today without it showing up on YouTube with a bunch of comments. And they’re all hostile comments,” Denison says.
In “White Hats/Black Hats,” the band blurs immigration and gang discourse; “I.O.U.” is a love song and a prison song.
The ambiguity suits the sound of “Oddfellows.”
“In Tomahawk, I try to balance things. You have the artsy and ambient and cinematic and the very driving, heavy, and hard. There’ll be some dissonance and angular stuff in there,” he says.
In other words, “Oddfellows” fits into the ever-growing catalog of Ipecac Records, the label Patton founded in 1999. The imprint has become home not only to Patton’s many projects but also several other independent-minded bands that tend to be simultaneously heavy and heady.
“Any of the labels that become successful have that stylistic imprint and just give off an impression of the music it releases. You see that with Epitaph and Drag City,” Denison says.
Tomahawk’s range seems a function of the players’ versatility. Patton sings everything from shrieking hard-core to opera, and his Tomahawk work falls in between those poles. Denison likewise experiments with tones and textures in his playing, and Stanier can both drive a song with a pounding rhythm and make it list with an off-kilter beat. Dunn, who has known Patton for 35 years, replaced original Tomahawk bassist Kevin Rutmanis in 2012 when the band started making “Oddfellows.” Dunn works in an array of musical settings ranging from John Zorn jazz ensembles to his own rock projects.
“I heard the previous records, and the style of Duane’s writing falls within a specific place,” Dunn says of working with Patton in both Mr. Bungle and Fantomas, yet finding a fresh sound with the singer in Tomahawk.
And while he could both follow Denison’s direction and find a way to apply his own style to “Oddfellows,” Dunn says his induction to Tomahawk’s live lineup was more frenzied.
“I had just done a tour with the Melvins where we played 50 shows with one day off. It ended in Hawaii and I had just planned to stay there and decompress. But Tomahawk called and said it was going to start playing shows,” Dunn recalls of his debut with the band in October at Nashville’s Exit/In.
Dunn arrived in Tennessee from Hawaii at 4 a.m., slept until noon, then met up with the rest of Tomahawk members, who themselves had not played a show together in nearly 10 years.
“We were all hyper attentive,” he says of that first night Tomahawk was back onstage.
Since then, Tomahawk has done sporadic dates around the country and traveled to South America for a run through festivals there.
Tomahawk’s concerts thus far have featured a cross-section of the band’s catalog, and Denison says the audiences have been clamoring for older songs.
“Eventually, a couple years from now, people will cheer for ‘Oddfellows’ too,” he says.
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| Tomahawk |
Tomahawk falls somewhere between supergroup and working band.
Its members have superb experimental-hard-rock pedigrees: guitarist Duane Denison is from Jesus Lizard; singer Mike Patton was in Faith No More; drummer John Stanier used to be in Helmet; and bassist Trevor Dunn, Tomahawk’s newest member, was in Mr. Bungle and Fanto-mas with Patton, and recently toured with the Melvins. And the time between Tomahawk projects is supergroup in length, tempting the use of “hiatus” and “reunion,” though the band itself does not.
But unlike traditional supergroups, which usually deposit an album or two and disperse, Tomahawk has a rich and varied catalog of music as it chases ideas beyond the realm of each member’s most identifiable work with other bands. This is either despite or because of the pace of Tomahawk’s output, which amounts to four records over the past 13 years, each title offering a distinctly different twist to the band’s sound. The albums may be tumultuous, but they are also methodical. Tomahawk’s 2007 release, “Anonymous,” for example, was based on Denison’s assimilation of traditional Native American music into underground rock.
In January, Tomahawk released “Oddfellows,” the follow-up to “Anonymous,” and is touring for the first time in a decade. The band’s next leg of concerts begins on Saturday with a sold-out show at the Paradise in Boston, one of five US cities Tomahawk is performing in before heading to Europe for the remainder of the summer.
Denison is Tomahawk’s main songwriter, and he calls
the band his primary focus, though he does participate in the occasional
Jesus Lizard reunion, and in recent years worked with Hank Williams
III, Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, and Empty Mansions.
“I just accumulate ideas and stay in touch with the other guys,” says Denison when reached at his Nashville home. “I’ll record demos and form the structure of the songs, but I don’t map out everything. I let the other guys personalize their parts,” Denison says. “They are so good at what they do. When I started this with Mike, I told him I wanted this to be a collaborative project. I expect him to send the vocal lines.”
As “Oddfellows” evolved, it took on an air of social commentary, though the messages are more subtle than overt.
“If you read between the lines, there’s a fair amount of social commentary. The title track is about judgment and critics. You can’t do anything today without it showing up on YouTube with a bunch of comments. And they’re all hostile comments,” Denison says.
In “White Hats/Black Hats,” the band blurs immigration and gang discourse; “I.O.U.” is a love song and a prison song.
The ambiguity suits the sound of “Oddfellows.”
“In Tomahawk, I try to balance things. You have the artsy and ambient and cinematic and the very driving, heavy, and hard. There’ll be some dissonance and angular stuff in there,” he says.
In other words, “Oddfellows” fits into the ever-growing catalog of Ipecac Records, the label Patton founded in 1999. The imprint has become home not only to Patton’s many projects but also several other independent-minded bands that tend to be simultaneously heavy and heady.
“Any of the labels that become successful have that stylistic imprint and just give off an impression of the music it releases. You see that with Epitaph and Drag City,” Denison says.
Tomahawk’s range seems a function of the players’ versatility. Patton sings everything from shrieking hard-core to opera, and his Tomahawk work falls in between those poles. Denison likewise experiments with tones and textures in his playing, and Stanier can both drive a song with a pounding rhythm and make it list with an off-kilter beat. Dunn, who has known Patton for 35 years, replaced original Tomahawk bassist Kevin Rutmanis in 2012 when the band started making “Oddfellows.” Dunn works in an array of musical settings ranging from John Zorn jazz ensembles to his own rock projects.
“I heard the previous records, and the style of Duane’s writing falls within a specific place,” Dunn says of working with Patton in both Mr. Bungle and Fantomas, yet finding a fresh sound with the singer in Tomahawk.
And while he could both follow Denison’s direction and find a way to apply his own style to “Oddfellows,” Dunn says his induction to Tomahawk’s live lineup was more frenzied.
“I had just done a tour with the Melvins where we played 50 shows with one day off. It ended in Hawaii and I had just planned to stay there and decompress. But Tomahawk called and said it was going to start playing shows,” Dunn recalls of his debut with the band in October at Nashville’s Exit/In.
Dunn arrived in Tennessee from Hawaii at 4 a.m., slept until noon, then met up with the rest of Tomahawk members, who themselves had not played a show together in nearly 10 years.
“We were all hyper attentive,” he says of that first night Tomahawk was back onstage.
Since then, Tomahawk has done sporadic dates around the country and traveled to South America for a run through festivals there.
Tomahawk’s concerts thus far have featured a cross-section of the band’s catalog, and Denison says the audiences have been clamoring for older songs.
“Eventually, a couple years from now, people will cheer for ‘Oddfellows’ too,” he says.
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