Nothing Pretty About It: A Look Inside The Body's Torturous New Collaborative LP With Krieg

Photo by Hilarie Jason

The Body plays well with others. As even a passing fan of the Providence-turned-Portland duo must have noticed, the two genial fellas behind the horrifying noise have recorded collaborative albums with a wide range of like-minded pals, most recently with Vampilla, Braveyoung, and a double shot with perpetual tourmates Thou. Now, they've thrown us for yet another loop by joining forces with USBM icons Krieg.

The collaboration between The Body and Krieg main man Neill Jameson was recorded a good two years ago, during a two-day lull between the sessions for The Body's Christs, Redeemers and I Shall Die Here LPs. As one might expect, it's a miserable, malformed thing, all sharp edges and piercing wails and gutttural noise. Though the spirit of friendship brought them all together, there's nothing positive on this record. Really, it's like a buddy comedy, except there are no good cops and everyone's already dead.

You can listen to the whole rotten creation below, and snag it from At A Loss on November 13. Since no one knows an artist's work better than the artists themselves, we thought it'd make sense to sic Jameson on The Body drummer Lee Buford for a little public tête-à-tête. We'd originally hoped to facilitate a back-and-forth kind of dual interview, but given that Buford and his brother in harm, Chip King, have been out with Thou for the past million years pounding the pavement like it owes them money, we were happy enough to find the following exchange sitting in our inbox earlier today.

For the record, we think you're pretty, too, Neill.

Neill Jameson, Krieg: When we initially talked about doing this record outside the Barbary in Philly in 2011, what did you think would come out of it?
Lee Buford, The Body: I really just wished that it would actually happen. So many things get brought up between friends as future projects, but I really wanted it to work out.

We had two days to fully realize a record, which isn't a hell of a lot of time; did you think we'd be able to do something fully fleshed out?
Initially, I thought we could get a good 4 or 5 songs done. The day of before you got there, I thought maybe we could get 3, just because I felt so burned out from working on our other LPs.

What did you think hen I walked into Machines With Magnets with just my guitar, some basic equipment, and a handle of Jim Beam?
Well, we planned on you carrying us through the recording, so I initially thought we might be fucked, but it worked out real cool.

We did a record that was really different from both of our main creative outlets; what surprised you most out of it?
I'm surprised it's as cohesive as it is. I credit Machines With Magnets for a lot of that.

Two and a half years after we finished this recording and went our separate ways, how do you feel about the experience, and about the finished record?
I'm way into the record. I'm really curious to see what people think about it, since so it's different than both of our projects, but also pretty different than most doodoo music being made today.

What is your favorite aspect of doing collaboration projects?
Honestly, just hanging out with friends. I mean, it's fun to see what happens musically, since it's usually so unknown, but making things with friends is the best part.

Do you think I'm pretty? Prettier than the other musicians you've worked with?
You do have the boyish good looks of a se7en-era Brad Pitt.

We're obviously going to attempt this live at least once, what do you think will come of that?
I'm guessing it's gonna be extremely noisy. You and Chip screaming over a wall of noise.