Naked and truthful. Pure and brutally direct. Glassjaw work
stray chords, a Radiohead-ish swirl of guitar and a barrage of
bared emotions into a frenzy that's singular and
uncompromising. Glassjaw's IAM/Roadrunner debut,
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence is as
riveting and personal a record as you could ask for. One
where beauty turns to disgust; where melodies turn molten.
From the start, the members of Glassjaw didn't know or care
about anything other than playing together. Vocalist Daryl
Palumbo and guitarist Justin Beck may have been 14 or 15
at the time they started making this glorious racket in their
Long Island parents' basements. "We've always kind of done
whatever we want." says Beck, now 20.. "We always knew
that we'd go get a lot further doing something on our terms
rather than what everyone else was doing around us,"
Palumbo, also 20, chimes in. "We were always too dorky
looking to be metal kids...and we looked like skaters.
Nobody knew what to think of us!" At that point, who played
what instrument wasn't even the issue, Beck serving as the
band's occasional bassist and on-and-off drummer. What
was important was making music without confine. To
Glassjaw, sticking out like a sore thumb made more sense
than blending into the pack.
One person whose ear Glassjaw managed to catch was
producer Ross Robinson who calls the band "The new
post-millennial destroyers of Adidas rock, R.I.P." Known for
his work with Korn and Limp Bizkit, as well as his IAM label
imprint through Roadrunner (already home to the likes of
Slipknot), Robinson heard a mere few seconds of the band
at first on a crudely recorded demo a few days later at
rehearsal and the IAM/Roadrunner deal was sealed. "Ross
showed up at a practice," Beck recounts. "We start a song;
5-4-3-2-1. Ross stands up, waving his hands and he's like,
'It's over, it's done. I want to do this, you've got a deal!' he
told us. It was chills from the start. We couldn't believe
it...and actually didn't believe it for weeks."
The ensuing two months of recording at Indigo Ranch in
Malibu, CA were focused and intense. "The first day of
preproduction, we had no idea what to expect," says Beck.
"We start the first song and Ross is yelling 'Stop! Stop! He
says to Daryl, 'What's this song about?' Daryl starts telling
him and we start giggling a bit. He stopped us dead in our
tracks and basically let us know that this wasn't a joke at
all. It was dead serious. It put us all in check. He made
Daryl spell out exactly what the song was about which was
extremely personal. He taught us that the more you hold
back, the more you cheat yourself and the more you cheat
everyone else."
That honesty is core to Glassjaw. From the gnashing guitars
of "Pretty Lush"; the plunging bass-lines of "One Eight
Becomes Two Zeros"; the gnarled pop of "Ry Ry's Song"
straight to the musical and emotional meltdown of "Motel of
the White Locust", Glassjaw's debut speaks volumes. It's as
delicate and sensitive as it is venomous. Palumbo's lyrical
point of view is one of utter brutality and a keen intelligence;
"Punk times fifty!" he exclaims; cribbing bits and pieces
from sources as diverse as Elvis Costello, the Bad Brains,
Squeeze and Japanese Anime and monster flicks. "Collage
is the art form of the 20th century!" he states emphatically.
For instance: "Godzilla is a metaphor for life," he states with
a smile. "Every song I write is originally named after
something relating to a Godzilla movie. Don't laugh! Godzilla
movies singlehandedly taught me about growing up; taught
me about relationships, respect. If you get f**ked, you have
to level Tokyo!"
Expect moments as gnarled and powerful as the title track,
a cascade of pure sound and emotion that culminates in
Palumbo screaming "THIS IS WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE
ALONE!!!!!" A wired howl from a frontman who's spent the
past few years dealing with the intestinal disorder, Crohn's
Disease. "I'm not exactly the most positive person in the
world, but it's important for me to share this experience with
people," the frontman believes. "I know what I wish I could
have heard when I was diagnosed with this incredibly serious
disease. I know what it feels like to be alone in a hospital
room. I'm just a f**kin' 20 year old dork, but if I can make
people feel less alone, that's important."
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence isn't
necessarily an easy listen; it is, however, as truthful as a 20
year old can be. "This record is basically a modern take on
love," the frontman explains. "You can write a record that's
an anti-relationship record or a broken heart record or a
revenge record. Fact is, I'm in plain English saying what's on
my mind as bluntly as possible. Sorry, real life isn't
politically correct. This is how I feel in my heart and my
guts. If you say you can't relate to this, then you haven't had
your heart broken."
