Society Burning | |
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Background information | |
Also known as | The Watchmen |
Origin | Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S. |
Genres | |
Years active | 1991–present |
Labels |
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Members |
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Past members |
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Website | societyburning |
Society Burning is an American coldwave industrial rock band composed of Daveoramma (born Dave Mansfield, a.k.a. Dave Creadeau), Twitch, and Boom chr Paige (born Boom Fernandez). The group was founded in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1991 and was originally named The Watchmen (a tribute to the Alan Moore graphic novel).
Daveoramma (born Dave Mansfield) began recording music in 1991 under the name Watchmen with one other person while at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM. As an instructor of recording arts at the university, Mansfield had unfettered access to the university's 16-track recording studio, where he met Boom chr Paige (born Boom Fernandez), who was recording for a band called Your Mother. Boom provided guitar work and other musical support during the production of Watchmen's first release, Is God in Showbusiness Too?. [1]
After completing work on the Showbusiness cassette, Chase of If It Moves... records (later Cargo/Re-constriction records) found out about the band via a New Mexico college radio station. [2] Soon after, Chase include their track "Merciful Release" on the compilation Cyberflesh Conspiracy. [3]
After the other member of Watchmen left, Dave asked Boom to officially join the band. [3] The duo released a second self-produced work, Plague, in January 1992, [1] gaining further attention from Chase, as well as from German label Kugelblitz. Both labels released compilations featuring the band, but the band changed its name upon discovering at least two other bands vying to use the name Watchmen. [2] The resulting name change to Society Burning (ripped from a quote from a Denver, Colorado newscast) was chosen in time for both record labels to use the name on separate compilation appearances.
During this time the band relocated to Denver, Colorado, [3] where they met and enlisted, for a time, Michael Smith of Fiction 8 for assistance with keyboards on-stage. The move to Denver turned out to be difficult financially, and the duo found that they spent more time working to make ends meet than creating, a situation which contributed a turn towards writing "really mean music". [3]
In 1993, the band met Steven Seibold of Hate Dept., who would go on to produce/re-engineer the song "Human Waste" for the Re-Constriction compilation Thugs 'n' Kisses. [3] This would be the beginning of an odd precedent set by Re-Con and the band for 'premixing', or releasing the remixed material before releasing the original versions of their work.
In the first years of the 1990s, the band utilized emerging technologies alongside their music, from promotion via Usenet and via internet as early as 1991, to being one of the first bands with a website as the World Wide Web emerged in 1994. In 1993, before the Web, Boom programmed and distributed 3.5" floppy discs containing multimedia samples of the band's work in packages they called "noise letters." The band's multimedia expressions continued beyond the nineties with Dave's own company, Prescient Thought Productions. [1]
In 1994, Twitch (a.k.a. DJ Twitch) – an industrial DJ in Denver – met Boom while he was working at a local software retailer and they immediately connected. Soon after, Twitch took his place as guitar player for the band while Boom switched to keyboards. [1] Also in 1994, the band brought on Tracey – Boom's wife, a once Miss Teen Colorado and classically trained pianist – for live keyboard support. [2] Despite the band having additional personnel for live support, they never had the financial support to justify a tour, but did play many one-off shows. [1]
In 1995, Society Burning signed to Re-Constriction. The band had already begun work on an album, spending time and money on a professional studio in Golden, Colorado. At the same time, the band released older tracks to other artists for remixing. Due to a series of delays, Chase at Re-Constriction decided to release the remixes before the debut album was complete. The following year, the label issued the "premix" CD EP, Entropy Lingua. By October 1996 the band had re-worked their original material and had the album Tactiq ready for release, but logistical concerns at Re-Constriction pushed its release into 1997. [2]
Over the next two years, the musicians worked mostly independently: Mansfield worked with a cast of voices to bridge songs for the parody/tribute album Cyberpunk Fiction while Fernandez worked as remixer for artists including Leæther Strip, Purr Machine, THD, Urania, Hexedene, and Battery.
In 1998, the band provided six tracks for the Re-Constriction satire soundtrack CyberPunk Fiction – A Synthcore "Soundtrack" alongside other bands such as Tinfed, Killing Floor, Christ Analogue, Collide, Purr Machine, 16 Volt and Hexedene. [4] The band also created the mock dialogue filler in the style of the film between the compilation tracks. [5]
The band parted ways in 1999, following the closure of Re-Constriction. After completing a degree at the Colorado Institute of Art, [2] Dave relocated to Los Angeles, California, while Twitch remained in Denver, Colorado, and Boom relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The band regrouped in 2007, writing material for a new release on their own Audiocomm International Publishing label in addition to finalizing and releasing their previously unreleased 1994 album State of Decay in late 2009. October 2010 saw the release of their sixth album, Internal Combustion .
Mansfield has frequently teamed-up with other bands and producers to lend both vocal and production support. In 2017, he provided vocals for Gross National Produkt's track "Faceless." [6] In 2020, Mansfield joined Gabriel Wilkinson of Microwaved to co-produce the track "The Enemy God" for the latter's EP release Phantom Whisper. [7]
Babyland was an American performance-based independent electronic junk punk band from Los Angeles, California, featuring Dan Gatto performing vocals and electronics and Michael Smith on percussion. The band released six studio albums before disbanding in 2009: You Suck Crap (1992), A Total Letdown (1994), Who's Sorry Now (1995), Outlive Your Enemies (1998), The Finger (2004), Cavecraft (2008).
Collide is an American industrial music duo formed in Los Angeles in 1992, that has incorporated elements of trip hop, synthpop and music from the Middle East into their sound.
Re-Constriction Records was a division of Cargo Music based in California. The label was founded in 1992 and headed by Chase, who was previously the Music Director at KCR, a student radio station on the campus of San Diego State University. They specialized in releasing bands belonging to the industrial, aggrotech and EBM genres.
Diatribe was an American industrial rock group from San Jose, California, active in the 1990s. They had a sound similar to 16 Volt and Chemlab, integrating synthesizers and vocal samples with more traditional rock instruments. The band's full-length debut Diatribe was released by Cargo Music and Re-Constriction Records on November 3, 1996.
Re-Constriction Records released many albums and singles from various bands as well as a number of compilations which were influential in the electronic and Industrial music genres. Below is a complete listing of recordings released by Re-Constriction between its inception and folding. The label dissolved in 1999.
Wisdom is the debut studio album by 16volt, released on May 25, 1993, by Re-Constriction Records. It was produced with the aide of Skinny Puppy composer and musician Dave Ogilvie.
LetDownCrush is the third studio album by 16volt, released on August 7, 1996, by Cargo and Re-Constriction Records.
Nothing is the second EP by Diatribe, released on October 19, 1992, by Re-Constriction Records.
Christ Analogue was an American industrial rock group started in 1995 by frontman and producer Wade Alin.
Killing Floor were an American electro-industrial group based in San Francisco. The original incarnation consisted of keyboardists John Belew and Christian Void before guitarist Marc Phillips, percussionist James Basore and bassist Karl Tellefsen were added to the line-up. They released two albums on Re-Constriction Records: Killing Floor in 1995 and Divide by Zero in 1997. The band ceased activities shortly after the release of their 1998 EP Come Together.
Killing Floor is the eponymously titled debut studio album of Killing Floor, released on March 14, 1995, by Re-Constriction Records.
Tactiq is the debut studio album of Society Burning, released on July 15, 1997 by Re-Constriction Records. The secret song located on track sixty-nine is a cover of Adam Ants's "Stand and Deliver", which is a reworked version of what appeared on the Shut Up Kitty compilation.
Cyberpunk Fiction: A Synthcore "Soundtrack" is a various artists compilation album released on November 17, 1998 by Re-Constriction Records.
In Radiant Decay is the second studio album by Christ Analogue, released on April 8, 1997, by Cargo Music and Re-Constriction Records. Compared to the band's punk-styled live performances, the album displays more of the band's talent for combining industrial, techno and indie rock into an electronic music format.
Is God in Showbusiness Too? is the debut studio album of The Watchmen, released in 1991 by Prescient Thought.
Internal Combustion is the third studio album by Society Burning, released on October 10, 2010 by Audiocomm International. The album was available to download for free between January 5 and 22 of 2012 exclusively.
"Deep" is a song by Collide, released as a single in 1997 by Re-Constriction Records. It was the only single created to support the band's second studio album Beneath the Skin, which was released in January 1996.
Ultracide is a song by Diatribe, released as a single in 1996 by Re-Constriction Records.
Insight 23 were an American electro-industrial group based in Los Angeles, California, United States. The original incarnation consisted of vocalist Blayne Alexander, Brittain Alexander, and John Whatley. The band released the studio album Obsess in 1994 for Perception Rek.
Fiction 8 is a Colorado-based dark wave and industrial rock group, originally formed under the name Creeping Eruption in 1989.