Remember HAL, the evil AI computer aboard the space ship in 2001: A Space Odyssey? Ever wondered about what it would be like if that guy was programmed to make music in stead of sending a bunch of astronauts to their death? Well that’s a borderline weirdo coincidence because Omnibadger just fixed that fantasy for you.
On the strangely titled Famous Guitar Licks Vol III The band draws up a menacing spectacle of death bleeps, harsh noise, noise rock, human yelling, and all kinds of other insane raucousness that is programmed to creep people the fuck out. And make you forget about the fact that there is no Vol I or II, which once again is of course suspect as hell.
The band used to be called Omnibael, which more openly referenced their demonic upbringing. But then again, consider a badger truly, and realise that those critters are evil as hell too, and not to be trifled with. It’s like the band wanted us to believe they were fluffy cuddly mammals in stead of the psycho devils they clearly house internally, well yo did not fool this weirdo, not today!
Back to the “music” though, because this racket is still considered that, even though at times on this record it stretches its definition. I guess if you like the sound of blown up speakers, broken beats, gurgling shards of glass, and being yelled at, this is your cup of boiling bile. All the other people might want to give it a go for shits and giggles, and hit the stop button as the former creeps down your pants well before the latter presents itself…
Any of the above might be completely made up though. It might be written by an AI trying to fend off potential saboteurs, it might be the truth, or it might be all or none of these things. Better see for yourself my adventurous furry little friends…
Better still, we made contact with Omnibadger to see whether we were dealing with actual humans. We are still not quite sure, though their answers made us lean towards yes. You guys be the judge! Oh and take to their Bandcamp to listen to their new album, because it is a hoot!
How are you? How was the pandemic period for you as musicians?
Yeah, not bad. Could be worse, you know? The pandemic was actually good despite all the horror going on. That’s what got us started doing what we do as Omnibadger. Music had pretty much come to a hault with our other projects due to lockdowns, but Jase and I knew eachother from playing shows together before with a couple of other bands, This Sun No More and Goya. I can’t remember why now, but we got talking about music and our solo electronic noise projects. (Plan Pony and Old Man Disgusting) We started sharing music with eachother and said “fuck it, why don’t we do something together?” It was during that time when the government arbitrarily allowed people to meet up in groups of two or three, so we thought we’d book our a practice space and just have at it. So we just brought a shit load of equipment and started messing about, usually just experimental improv stuff with drum machines, loopers, samplers, contact mics, oil containers, and guitars. It started working pretty well right away. I think we’d already recorded a small E.P. within the space of 4 hours. We got on board with a bunch of live streams with other artists, and started doing that every other week or so. We ended up on a few compilation records and it went from there.
Can you introduce yourself, how did you start your career, etc?
I’m Phil from Omnibael/Omnibadger, typically a play guitar/bass/vocals and general electronic nosie shit. I wouldn’t really call it a “Career” more just fucking about with music we like. I’ve been in a few bands throughout my life and this is the lastest venture. I’m a noise merchant at heart, so it’s about time I did something about it. It’s good to finally let loose and just make whatever the hell springs to mind on that particular day.
What can you tell me about your musical backgrounds?
I started out just playing guitar and instantly joined some teenaged hair metal band, you know fuckin Motley Crue sounding shit? Since then I moved on to what I actually wanted to be doing and joined a post metal band, which I’ve been in for over 15 years now (This Sun No More) I went to college in Stafford to study music tech and that’s when I became interested in the more noisy electronic side of things. Typically just recording nasty synths, chopped up drums and yelling my lungs out in to a webcam microphone. My parents were super proud.
What does a regular day in your lives look like?
Ah, you don’t wanna know about that. Typically I just work at a manufacturing plant with robots. On the weekends I try to make music, but life often gets in the way. It’s a good outlet. Music, or rather sound is a one of the few things I care about in life. Gigging, writing, recording, just hanging out with other “musicians.” Most of the time I’m just doing normal adulting to be honest. I’d rather not, but here we are. So music is a good escape from all that.
What is the best thing about Famous Guitar Licks Vol. III?
The secret track at the end that no one has noticed yet. We got a bit in to the Shaggs while coming up with ideas for the record, and thought we’d have a go at doing a sort of Shaggs song. We didn’t do the Shaggs justice but it was a lot of fun. It’s kind of just this out of tune guitar, out of time electronic drums, an old children’s recorder and a kazzoo. It’s probably the best song on there. Surfin’ was really fun as well, because that’s actually an older song which we never really got round to recording. We sampled the drums for it by just banging on old shit outside the practice space for that industrial sound. We had a lot of fun with that one.
What does the title refer to?
It’s just kind of a Throbbing Gristle inspired joke, you know Jazz Funk Greats? Clearly it’s not actually an album of famous guitar licks. I mean, Surfin’ has a Dick Dale inspired riff at the end, but you can’t tell due to the copious amounts of fuzz, and the terrible way I played it. All the reviews just focussed on the idea that it said “Vol. III” which is just another ironic layer. Ah, whatever. We felt because the previous record had a bit of a serious title and a very sickly sound on it, we ought to have a bit more fun with this one. It’s not all nihilistic angst… This one had more of a whimsical feel to it… At least for us anyway. That’s also why we changed the name to Omnibadger which was what we were originally called before we went in to pure industrial noise depression stylings of Omnibael.
Where do you live and how does it affect your music?
Stoke On Trent, city of pottery, debauchery, monkey dust, poverty and endless wearhouses. So yeah, you can see where we get the sound. I mean, it’s not so bad. There’s a lot of green space as well, but we wanted to focus more on causing a racket. Perhaps some of that green will chime in on a future record. Our Twee Pop phase will happen eventually. Be warned.
Who are some contemporary musical heroes of yours?
Swans, Isis, Aphex Twin, The Body, Can, Fartclops, Harvey Milk, Lightning Bolt, Merzbow, Nisennenmondai, Pere Ubu, Suicide, Lez Rallizes Denudes, Black Dice, Animal Collective to name a few. Everything we do gets compared to Godflesh and Throbbing Gristle for some reason, so I guess I’ll mention them. I mean… If you can describe any of that as contemporary.
Can you tell me about how you went about composing and recording songs?
Typically we’ll just grab a bunch of equipment, shove it through a bunch of fx pedals and speakers, jam with it for a bit and press record when it starts sounding pretty good to us. Then we’ll develop those ideas over time and hopefully come up with something that’s worth actually putting on a record.
What are your immediate and long term future plans?
Gig, record, gig, record, do some splits with folk around the country/world. Just meet some fucked up, like minded individuals and make some horrible music with them. Then who knows? Settle down with all our noise artist riches.
What should the Weirdo Shrine reader do after reading this interview?
Make some music, get in touch with us, invite us to play at your local DIY venue. Go buy some stuff from Cruel Nature, they’re an awesome DIY label, and everything on there is just gold. Then… Idk, take drugs, fuck the system, call your parents and tell them everything is going to be okay, take your dog for a walk, watch the Lord of the Rings extended editions, piss yourself for old time’s sake, quit your stinking job, make model ship in a bottle, drink a piping hot grape juice, coax a pigeon in to your local Greggs and watch the chaos, stick your penis in a hoover, delete your Facebook profile, listen to Dog Train, join a cult and invite Louis Theroux to check it out, go on the Wetherspoons app and order a bowl of peas to every table, cry. It’s been so long since you cried, why can’t you cry anymore? It used to be so easy.
Weirdo Shrine 