Health (band)

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HEALTH
Origin Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres Noise rock, experimental rock[1]
Years active 2006–present
Labels Lovepump United
Trouble Records
Flemish Eye
No Pain In Pop
City Slang
Rome Plow
Website http://www.youwillloveeachother.com/
Members Dick Johnson
Jake Duzsik
John Famiglietti
Jupiter Keyes
Logan Burgett

Health (usually stylized as HEALTH) is an American noise rock band from Los Angeles, California.

Contents

[edit] History

Early in their career, Health became popular playing multiple concerts for free,[2] leading to a variety of venues requesting to book them.[2] The band's favourite setting, LA's The Smell, has been their chosen place to record their full length album, "during empty mornings",[3] although the band have already recorded a live album at the Smell, released on DNT Records.

In 2008, Boston newspaper The Phoenix named them the Best New Band from California.[4]

Health opened for Nine Inch Nails on part of the Lights in the Sky tour in the fall of 2008.[5]

The name of the band was chosen after the band's members agreed that they wanted to use an "everyday word." They created a list of words and went through to see which was taken, and the word "health" was the only one left.[6]

Health have been described as having "artfully crafted noise and raw synth, haunting monotone vocals, and drum skills that are borderline insane".[7] Guardian Unlimited writer, Louis Pattison, chose the Crystal Castles version of "Crimewave" as the pick of the week, describing the song as "melancholy electro-pop built from pixelated synths and depressed vocals that hint at a past programme of busy and sustained serotonin depletion".[8] Jim Carroll of The Irish Times also chose the song as tune of the week.[9]

The band describes the role of lyrics as being "purposely kept vague for the listener"[10]:

"...[Lyrics] sort of begin to bring out this more individual quality to the whole thing like, ‘These are the lyrics, and this is the guy is singing them, so I can relate to that.’ Which is really not something we want.[10] We wanted the vocals to have an even, unaffected feel. A softness, like a Zombies melody, or even a Gregorian chant. We aren’t just interested in being a noisy screaming band."[10]

The band's unusual sound can be partially accredited to the use of the Zoothorn, which is a permutation of microphone and guitar pedal[3] and an occasional atonal sound without a symmetrical structure.[3]

In piece for Dummymag.com, Health described their love of sounds from the guitar solo on All Along the Watchtower to an elk's yelp.[11]

To promote their 2009 album, Get Color, the band held a sweepstakes contest, in which a winner of a golden ticket was awarded a free trip to Los Angeles to go to Magic Mountain with the band. Other prizes included locks of the band members' hair and posters autographed in blood.[12] In late 2009, the band was chosen as one of Beyond Race Magazine's "50 Emerging Artists," resulting in a spot in BRM's No. 11 issue as well as an exclusive online Q&A.[13]

An album remixing the tracks from Get Color, entitled Disco2, was released on June 22, 2010.[14]

Health plans to debut an internet television show entitled HealthVision, which will star members of the band. They will also debut a clothing line in early 2010, which will feature high-quality, hand-sewn, one-of-a-kind designer items.[15]

On March 5, 2012, it was announced that Health would be composing the score for Max Payne 3, a video game by Rockstar Games.[16][17][18] A short sample of the score can be heard in the game's second trailer.

HEALTH is currently working on its third studio album.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

  • 2006 Health/Elphaba 7" Split - Rome Plow Records
  • 2007 Crystal Castles vs. Health - Crimewave - Trouble Records (#9 UK indie singles charts)
  • 2007 Crystal Castles//Health 7" Split - Lovepump United
  • 2008 Perfect Skin +RMX 7" - Suicide Squeeze
  • 2008 Heaven +RMXS 12" - Flemish Eye
  • 2008 Triceratops//Lost Time +RMXS 12" - Tough Love Records
  • 2008 //M\\ 7" - No Pain in Pop
  • 2009 Die Slow 7" - Lovepump United

[edit] Promotional Singles

[edit] Remix Albums

[edit] Soundtracks

[edit] Videography

  • 2007 "Heaven"
  • 2008 "Crimewave"
  • 2009 "Die Slow"
  • 2009 "We Are Water" (Directed by Eric Wareheim)
  • 2010 "USA Boys"
  • 2012 "Tears"

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://allmusic.com/artist/HEALTH. Retrieved October 2, 2012. 
  2. ^ a b Music Glob » Blog Archive » Health making noise in Los Angeles
  3. ^ a b c L.A. Record » Blog Archive » Health: He’S Approving Friend Requests
  4. ^ 50 Bands, 50 States, The Phoenix. Published July 4, 2008.
  5. ^ "Boris, Health, the Bug to Open for Nine Inch Nails". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2008-09-12. 
  6. ^ Jones, Kenya (2009-09-17). "Interview: Health". Impose Magazine. Retrieved 2009-09-10. 
  7. ^ Rock Insider: Health - BLOWIN' UP
  8. ^ "Louis Pattison's new releases review". The Guardian (London). August 18, 2007. Retrieved May 4, 2010. 
  9. ^ Carroll, Jim. "On The Record » Tune of the Week - “Crimewave”". The Irish Times. 
  10. ^ a b c Paper Thin Walls :: Independent Music Community
  11. ^ Dummymag.com: Health's favourite noises
  12. ^ Health on MySpace Music
  13. ^ http://beyondrace.com/articles/features/2279-health
  14. ^ http://pitchfork.com/news/38469-health-get-second-remix-album/
  15. ^ Health band interview - REDEFINE MAGAZINE, Redefine Magazine. Published November 28, 2009.
  16. ^ http://www.pitchfork.com/news/45630-health-compose-score-for-max-payne-3-game/
  17. ^ https://twitter.com/#!/_HEALTH_/status/176757100041609216
  18. ^ http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/21571/first-max-payne-3-soundtrack-details-health-crafting-the-games-o.html

[edit] External links

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