Sheer Terror
Standing Up for
Falling Down
Reaper Records
Interview with Paul Bearer by Hutch
“Very happy” is not an expression any long time Sheer Terror
fan would predict to be softly stated from the mouth of Paul Bearer. But when I
asked him how he felt about the first full length album in eighteen years with the
Sheer Terror name; he responded simply, “I’m very happy with it. Musically,
these guys clicked effortlessly. I am proud of my band.”
That band is comprised of Mike Delorenzo (guitar), Jason Carter
(bass), and Anthony Corallo (drums). Some fans only consider one or two true
line ups for this band. But those stubborn pricks will miss out. If you heard
the Spite seven inch three years ago,
you got a taste. But just a taste. Much like other NYHC titans, Sick Of It All
(Based On A True Story) and Agnostic
Front (My Life, My Way); the latest
Sheer Terror album musically revisits each era and combines them.
This is the same line-up of Spite. Actually, Mike had stepped away from the band. After a string
of close but not quite fillers, Jason talked Mike into “at least coming down to
jam. He wanted to rejoin. God bless his wife. She finally looked at him and
said ‘just fucking do it already’.” Paul says the “songwriting came fluidly
since he came back. He’s a great guy. I love him to death.”
I would bask in giving my amassed knowledge of their
history. But they got a documentary about them, “Beaten By the Fists of God”
(Ian MacFarland, 2005). So, fuck redundancy. Go watch that. If you wonder if
this is just another novelty reunion, Paul doesn’t find sentiment as a
motivation. He is happy that “everything is on my terms. I felt good doing it
again. I couldn’t even say that about the end of Sheer Terror. These guys are not
a bunch of whiny babies. They’re just hungry to go out and play, to have a good
time. I’d be stupid to let this slip away.
“We know that people
expect certain things from Sheer Terror. We know that. And I am not going
to deny them that. But I won’t deny myself expanding and trying different
things. It is a balance. I have the luxury of writing lyrics for the band. I
can write whatever the fuck I want. It’s not that I don’t care. I don’t have to
sweat it so much. I sweat it for me.
“The music is a mix of the old stuff; just putting a new
energy to it and adding our own flair. These guys have their own style.”
Recalling again the writer’s block, Paul notes it was crippling because he was
so excited about the new music. “It got that bad, where I almost recorded
mundane lyrics. I got to the point where I wanted to just put out children’s
records.”
The true essence of Sheer terror has always been Paul’s
lyrics, unlike any in hardcore punk. I explain that while the anthems are
classics, I always preferred “Roses” and “Burning Time” and “Ashes, Ashes”. I
certainly throw on Sheer Terror when I’m drinking with the boys, but the
majority of my Sheer Terror listening has been alone in the dark in a room.
Paul laughs, “I hear that a lot.” He takes that with a grain of salt. “I hope
to write something that will make you want to turn the light on, look around,
and say ‘what the fuck am I doing?’ My words will affect somebody whether I
want them to or not. People are going to take what they want from it. That’s
what music is supposed to be about. I have been the guy in the dark room,
miserable and lonely, but I am usually listening to Jimmy Scott.
“I put care into my lyrics. I don’t write crap. I’m not
going write about something that doesn’t mean anything to me or cheerleader
lyrics or whatever the flavor of the day is – a power point presentation of
positive messages. I am 46 years old. I’m writing for me. I can’t be writing
for the kids, that’d be ridiculous. If
the kids enjoy it, fine, but if they don’t; I can’t hold it against them”
“Boots Braces and Alimony” is a song directly off of Love Songs for the Unloved with a
bootboy slant. And the slight melodic feel adds a fraction of Joe Coffee as
well. “Coffee, 5 Sugars” is the odd kid
here. It is a slow, dark reverb fest. It could be a Melvins song. But under the
surface, and Paul’s vocals bring a strict rock and roll swing to it; like if
Sinatra played Peter Boyle in Joe.
However, if you think of Old New Borrowed
and Blue, it fits perfectly.
“Heartburn in G”
(heart burning…) leaves no doubt that this earns the Sheer Terror title. This
opener damages any naysayers and seduces diehards instantly. Covered with Negative
Approach glory, the song would open any set and rally the goons. And channeling
“Ashes, Ashes” or “Ready to Halt” complete with an Alan Blake gallop that sits among
the best, old school double bass Celtic Frost tribute.
“Remember when you
said I was your first (I’ll Burn this fucking bitch to the ground)
I may not be the last, but I’ll be the worst
(I’ll Burn this fucking bitch to the ground)”
Most of the treachery of Standing
Up for Falling Down is delivered in analchemy of Negative Approach, Poison
Idea, Discharge, YDI from Philly; to Motorhead, Venom (“Cigarettes and Farts”)
to the Saints and Dead Boys on meth and Red Bull with “Sandbox Tonka” and
“singalongstupid” when the chorus kicks in it is laid on a old pop soul break.
All this is done with a “College Boy” delivery.
A surprising big slow riff more akin to Sleep or Eyehategod is
birthed on “Return of Mr Jiggs”. However, that sinister doom sound of Sabbath
yields to drums boiling over, emulating work of Sheer Terror’s early days. It
could be “Cup of Joe” Pt II; cowbell to boot. But Paul’s vocal strength is far
more intense in its contempt and ferocity than those years.
Paul reports, astonishingly that, “for the first time ever”
he had writers block. It was the “first time ever I wrote lyrics in the studio.
It worked. I don’t know how, but it did.”
Hardcore producer/engineer of the last twenty years, Dean Baltulonis
helped out again, truly reuniting the players of Spite. “He knows how to get our sound. He also knows how to push
you without being a jerk.”
“Of course I want my music to effect people. I want it to
mean something to someone outside of just me. I want it to mean something to
me, that is why I make music. But if someone out there, whether or not they are
actually connecting or not, finds a reason to like themselves I want you to
have a reason to like yourself. Taking away from whatever is driving them nuts
and want to take that long walk off of a short pier. That’s a good thing. But I’m
not gonna lie. Some of them, I wish would take a long walk off of a short pier.
“I like to take my time with words. I like to fuck with
words, fuck with cadence. I play with a song and let it grow and have it mean
something. It’s gilding the lily. Well, maybe, it’s gilding the Venus Fly Trap.”
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