Bright Sky Tracks On Acid
Skug Magazine - Issue #1
December 1990

*BIG Thanks to Claus Dielacher for the German to English translation*


Chrome:

Chrome, the Cult Gang from San Francisco, (founded in 1977) marked with their raw mixture of angry Rock and Electronoise, the logic progress from psychedelia to spheric heights.
Ever since this burst out ,the albums Half Machine Lip Moves and 3rd from the Sun are important parts of many collections. (mine too)
1983 Chrome buried themselves (because of differences) and out of the ashes rose Chrome 2 (under the leadership of Damon Edge) and Helios Creed solo.

Skug: H, what do you think about the re-release of the Chrome records?

H: That`s great because I get some money out of it and the fans get a better sound quality. Touch and Go did it for me – it is a great label. They are really fair to the artists.

HC Solo:

Skug: After the Chrome split we did not hear so much about you and now your solo records are released in such short intervals. Why?

H: I tried to get a contract but it was not so easy . In SF I was under contract of Subterranean but they released just one record (X-Rated Fairytales ) and because of bad distribution and promotion we did not sell many. Superior Catholic Finger took another 2, 5 years to bring it out. The Last Laugh came out on Tom Hazelmeyer‘s Amphetamine Reptile Records.

S: Did you play live after the split?

H: I played in SF a long time before small crowds. They granted Damon the whole Chrome Credits which I think is not fair because I wrote most of the Chrome songs.

Acid:

Skug: Could Chrome ever live from their music?

H: No, I had to work on the side but maybe we could have. Damon wanted to absolve many gigs, but at that time I did not want to play. That was one reason Ieft Chrome. I was on weird trips back then.

S: There are rumors that you still take lots of acid. Do you need acid to get that intergalactic sound on the way?

H: No, that's not the reason I take acid. I do acid sometimes according to a recording session to check the sound but I record the master tapes totally straight.

S: Totally straight?

H: Ok, maybe I smoke some joints but I don`t take acid  in the studio. I got misinterpreted.

S: Your gigs are as well drug free?

H: Some days ago some people, who were on Mega Acid, offered me some. I told them – you eat the acid and let me play. It sounds shit when I play on acid, but for the listener who likes that certain oceanic feeling, it may sound good.

S: Certain statements of the music press turn out to be myths.

H: Yes, I really have been misunderstood. “Oh he is on acid all the time and makes music.“ Nobody can do that. Your body doesn`t work when you‘re always on acid.

Sound Visionary:

HC has nothing in common with the British Rave Mania (Ecstasy) he got a unique, special soundvision and avoids synthetics. The HC band plays rock music, but one which is out of this world. H: The combination of noise, soundcolours (tones) and ambient is my thing – I feel more a tonalist than a guitarist.
HC uses for sound effects an electroharmonic memory man and microsynth, fuzz, wah wah and distortion – also he uses delays and echos for his voice (on this tour he hasn`t got all of his vocal effects along so he can`t use the full spectrum). Mark Duran (long time HC bass player) and Randy Krause (tour drummer of a band called Mannakin Beach) give a solid rhythm section.
Over this rock and roll fundament he unfolds a mighty and strange soundcascade which remembers a bit on Hawkwind, one of his main influences along with Lemmy Kilmister, Pink Floyd and King Crimson as a teenager in Hawaii (because his father was a marine) he inhaled a lot of Hendrix (H: listening to Hendrix on acid is probably the ultimate psychedelic experience), Iron Butterfly and other heavy sound bands.

Further it seems that diverse Californian acid psych rock bands have left their footprints. He refers to the Sex Pistols, Frisco based Snakefinger and the Residents. Creed knows about the San Francisco scene (Steel Pole Bath Tub, Bomb….) Amphetamine Reptile and Subpop acts. He doesn`t know Spacemen 3 but thinks the name is great.


Superior Catholic Finger:

The lyrics of SCF are mostly surrealistic and odd.

Skug: What is your intention by having a word for believe, in your artists name and what do you think about catholicism?

H: I try to keep my songs open for interpretation. I mean everyone can see that the catholic system causes a lot of problems. Organized religion harms people after a while.

S: Do you have a personal believe?

H: Religion is a personal matter, for me people should look on themselves and at the world in an individual way instead of following sects who pretend to know everything. You can`t feel lust or joy if you have to follow rules. SCF only shows the catholic religion like it is. I am no expert, but the lyrics sound good. I keep it to the fan to interpret the songs. Are you a catholic?

S: I was one but i stepped out some years ago and now I am without confession.

H: You see, catholicism is bullshit and the record shows my feelings about that.

S: You was a catholic too?

H: I was educated so but I was not in a catholic school like my brother. I wanted to do katechism and such things.

S: Why did you quit?

H: As a teen, as our parents gave up on us, we quit with going to church. Our parents wanted us to quit anyway, they thought we were too old for that. That was the time the church moved from Latin to English and then it was obvious what they really wanted to say. It ended as we layed more interest in the words then in the ceremonies.

Extended Lyrics:

Nirbasion Annasion (from The Last Laugh) is a song about asketic contemplatin hindus who live in the desert without any food. Sounds from India are mixed with western music.
The new album, Boxing The Clown, goes beyond the scope of narrow rock and roll schemes. The vocals step back in favor of a monolithic fat wall of sound. Master Blaster is about the shit which makes the world bad and costs us a lot of energy. In Sunspots he tells us about main energy burst outs on the sun which happen every eleventh year. 1990 is such a year - one of the most intensive ever.
The opposite is “Black Hole,“ a song in which every song structure is sucked in to nirvana.
"Got Me Floating" and "Go Blind", HC tells us, are love songs. The first high of a kid. "Hyperventilation" is a delicacy for your ears. Sister Sarah and Neptune could be associated with earthquakes (Frisco), Big Clown is a threatening finish.
How does HC himself think about his latest work – It is a spiritual album.

Different Trains Different Shoes:

What do gap-toothed musicians with elflocks and hat in their no music time?
Creed loves trains - electric railway systems. His hobby mate, drummer Randy Krause, has even  occupied two rooms of his flat by his railway systems.
Asked about his LA Gear sneakers (promoted by Michael Jackson ) he ends up with the following bonmot: My sister bought them form me – they are really comfortable. I`m gonna be the new Michael Jackson. (Glamorous dance performance in the backstage room)

Images appearing in this interview:

Front Cover of Skug Magazine