Artist

Chemlab

Washington, D.C., United States • Formed 1989

Chemlab is a music group from Washington, D.C., United States, active since 1989. Their discography on Gatefold includes 4 records.

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4

Albums tracked

1

In collections

1989

Since

Biography

Chemlab is a Coldwave and Industrial rock (or "Machine Rock") band formed in Washington D.C. in 1989 by Dylan Thomas More and Jared Louche with the help of short-time member Joe Frank. Influenced by the pioneers of the industrial genre, such as Throbbing Gristle, Chemlab brought a rough, experimental approach to their music. Moving to New York City in 1990 and dubbing their drug-influenced sounds 'Angel-Dustrial', they built up a strong fanbase by touring with such artists as White Zombie

The Arc of Chemlab

The pivots — what forced Chemlab to reinvent.

  1. The Hydrogen Bar Era

    In 1993, the band hooked up with producer Geno Lenardo to record their definitive statement, Burn Out at the Hydrogen Bar. They abandoned the rigid, step-sequenced templates of early industrial dance music for a loose, dangerous rock-band dynamic. Dylan More drove the machines to the point of digital clipping while Jared Louche snarled about chemical dependency and urban decay. The resulting record gave Fifth Colvmn Records its signature release and defined the coldwave subgenre. You can hear the struggle between man and machine in every blown-out snare hit.

  2. The Chicago Militia Shift

    By 1996, the band relocated to Chicago, the epicenter of the American industrial scene, to cut East Side Militia. They brought in KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko and pigface drum-slayer Martin Atkins to beef up the live instrumentation. The sound shifted from atmospheric cyberpunk paranoia to a direct, guitar-heavy frontal assault. The album was plagued by financial crises and label collapse, but the music itself was their most muscular work. It proved they could stand toe-to-toe with the heaviest bands on Wax Trax! Records.

  3. The Machine Age Return

    After a long hiatus and the death of Fifth Colvmn Records, Jared Louche resurrected the moniker in the early 2000s without Dylan More. He recruited members of the Chicago electronic project Acucrack to help construct 2004's Oxidizer. The analog synthesizers were replaced by digital glitch-work and drum-and-bass breaks. It was cleaner, faster, and more rhythmically complex than their nineties output. It split the old-school fan base but proved the project could survive outside its original decade.

Influences

  • Cabaret Voltaire — Jared Louche has repeatedly cited the Sheffield electronic pioneers as the blueprint for using cut-up tape loops to create urban paranoia. You hear this influence in the chaotic, non-musical samples buried in the mixes of 10 Ton Pressure. They took the Cabs' industrial noise and gave it a punk injection.
  • Ministry — Al Jourgensen's transition from synth-pop to heavy guitar-industrial during the late eighties cleared the path for Chemlab's entire career. Chemlab took Ministry's formula of distorted vocals and metal riffs but stripped away the thrash metal speeds for a groovier glam-rock swagger. The distorted vocal processing on 'Chemical Halo' directly traces back to Jourgensen's late-eighties production style.
  • The Stooges — Louche has frequently pointed to Iggy Pop as his primary vocal and performance influence rather than any electronic musician. You hear this in the slurred, confrontational, and desperate delivery on tracks like 'Suicide Jag.' It is the sound of street-level garage rock filtered through a sampler.
  • T. Rex — The band's self-proclaimed 'suture-bubblegum' style was directly inspired by Marc Bolan's boogie tempos and glam-rock excess. Chemlab took those classic seventies rock hooks and buried them under layers of static and synthesizer squeals. It is most obvious on the swing of 'Pyromance,' which is essentially a glam anthem played on broken machines.
  • Skinny Puppy — Before forming Chemlab, the members studied the dense, multi-layered sampling techniques developed by Dave Ogilvie and cEvin Key. The atmospheric dread and horror-movie sample integration on 'Vance in the Dust' pays direct homage to the Canadian band's mid-eighties output. They took the dark, claustrophobic textures of Vancouver and brought them to the East Coast.

Discography

Their records — most-collected first.

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