Rob Savillo banned stage banter. Replaced it entirely with harsh noise interludes. “I did not want to give the audience a break,” he explains. “I wanted our performances to be endurance tests. I wanted to make ugly music you couldn’t forget — that you wouldn’t want to forget.”
That ethos holds on “Deceiver,” the first track off “Fictional Days,” the Baltimore noise-rock outfit’s final release, due May 22 via Expert Work Records and Reptilian Records. It’s a fitting opener for a record that doesn’t ease into anything — the kind of track that sits squarely in the muck where early-90s noise rock and post-hardcore collapse into each other, where you can smell Flipper and The Jesus Lizard in the walls but nobody’s pretending to be anyone.
“Fictional Days” is a nine-track compilation drawing from unreleased originals and cover versions — Sonic Youth’s “Sunday,” The Comsat Angels’ “Postcard,” Nirvana’s “I Hate Myself and Want to Die,” SSD’s “How Much Art,” The New Flesh’s “Scapegoat.” Recorded by J. Robbins, mixed by Barrett Jones (Pussy Galore, KARP, Nirvana), mastered by Mathew Barnhart.
For singer and co-founder Sean Gray, the cover choices weren’t random. “These covers are important to me as a whole because they act as a soundtrack to the progression we had,” he says.
“This band had many challenges both personally and logistically. There were times where I think most bands would have given up — and we did for a moment.”
Gray is direct about what he sees in the band’s full run: “Birth (Defects)’ span as a whole is a body of work that represents accepting the shortcomings of those around you but — more importantly — accepting your own shortcomings. It is on yourself to own those shortcomings and grow. It never ends. Birth (Defects) will forever be a living document of that.”
Savillo came back to music after a hiatus that stretched through his teens and early 20s, returning during a divorce and a complete personal reorganization.
“Returning to music felt natural. Birth (Defects) was a lifeline, an outlet — a renewed drive to create. I’d always felt most comfortable behind a guitar, expressing myself through sound rather than word.”
Eugene S. Robinson of Bunuel, puts a harder point on it: “when no one gives a fuck what you do, you can do just about anything and here Birth (Defects) do exactly that.”
“Fictional Days” lands on vinyl and digital May 22. Pre-orders are up now via Expert Work Records and Reptilian Records.
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