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Loudest Bands

#25
PBass101 said:
Do bands still think it's cool to knock people deaf?

Seriously, I'd like to know.
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For a lot of the bands mentioned, it's not about trying to be cool, or any crap like that. For bands like Sunn, My Bloody Valentine, Boris, etc... it's about creating an experience in the audience beyond that of most concerts.

When I saw Sunn, with the dense fog they pumped into venue, the volume they play at, and the body vibrating synth blasting in the PA, there were many times I felt like what I was experiencing wasn't real, like it was a dream. In one of the songs they played, they hold out a chord for about a minute straight, everyone on stage was motionless during this, and when I looked up from the floor and saw them like that, it felt like time had slowed down or something. The whole hour long set, my body was vibrating, sometimes to the point of it upsetting my breathing. That's Sunn's intent though, to force the audience to face this claustrophobic atmosphere. And the best part is the end, when they all stop, and the tension you've felt for the past hour suddenly goes away. What was for the past hour a test of your ability to face an uncomfortable setting, suddenly turns into instant relaxation and calm the second they stop. I've never slept better than the night I saw Sunn.

Bands like My Bloody Valentine and Boris are using high volumes for the same reasons.

It's these bands that I have to thank for my 3 amp, 5 cab rig. While not nearly as loud as the bands mentioned above, I've seen people walking around after our set looking completely zoned out and that's the point. That, and I feel heavy music should be louder than everything else. I'm sick of seeing local heavy bands playing at polite, people pleasing volumes. I see the use of high volumes as a valid form of artistic expression. It's why I won't turn down when asked by venue staff or a sound guy as they have no right telling a band how their live show should be.

And yes, I realize the risks involved. Don't need any more lectures about it.


I imagine bands like AC/DC, Lamb of God etc, are playing super loud because they think that's how heavy music should be, not to create any sort of atmosphere like the above mentioned bands.
 
#26
+1 to the atmosphere, seeing sunn, holy crap. When they hit the first note my breath got shorter and faster. It was uncomfortable to breathe deeply due to the oscillations in amplitude. I lost track of the time, I stopped paying attention to the music and just felt it and stood there. The coolest parts were the silence (of sorts). At the end, I couldn't stop smiling for 15 minutes. During one of the parts all the members ring out a solid note in high feedback and I look up from my zone to see and feel this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A2LWIHCsI4 The clip doesn't do it justice, at all. After the show I wouldn't listen to music for like 4 days because it was missing that dimension of feel that sunn brought. I wanna see them again! I would hate a show at 139 decibels, why would you do that?!? And even after the sunn concert (used hearing protection) my friends still blast their headphones to the point of ear fatigue (had none after sunn ???). They are missing the point of high volume and what it can turn sound into, a sensation and atmosphere. :D
 
#27
Jordan M said:
Disaster Area, definitely. The ideal place to listen to them is 17 miles from the stage in a concrete bunker. Their vibrations are so strong that they flipped an entire desert.
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+1. Disaster Area is so loud, they have to play from orbit.
 
#29
Bands that i've seen that i can comment on:

SunnO))) - I think enough has been mentioned about them though.

Floor - It was a while ago, but i'm pretty sure they were louder than any time i've seen SunnO))). Floor is the much noisier pre-cursor to Torche.

Weedeater/Bongzilla - This might take the cake due mainly to the fact that the show was basement show and they were playing out of the collective amps/cabs of eachother. It made my ears hurt!

Grief - Also simmilar to the Weedeater/Bongzilla reason. It had more to do with the space than the actual db's. Grief was awesome. They also had the movie Necromantik projecting on them as they played. Heavy heavy heavy.

Harvey Milk - Loud AND awesome. Double win!



I didn't think Boris was THAT loud the two times i saw them...

I WOULD love to see MBV though, not because i'm a glutton for pain... but i love em :D



Also... Corrupted were/are apparently insanely loud. For a band whose tag line reads: "There is no doom, only Corrupted", you know SOMETHING awesome is gonna happen.
 
#30
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Queensryche for making me not able to hear anything above 4k in my right ear ever since I was about 15. I've seen a few 120db shows since, and whatever this was, it was much, much, Much louder. Louder that Motorhead, QOTSA, outdoor festivals... Frigging Queensryche.
 
#31
If i were to see one of these bands, i would take measures in order to protect myself, i see no point in causing an irreversible damage to one´s hearing, if i know that i am protected...of course i can enjoy some devastatingly loud rock´n roll concert, if it is too much i would go home, i don´t care if the greatest band ever is playing.
 
#32
I saw the Melvins at Grumpy's in Minneapolis, I think it was '01 or '02 or something, and they were using a PA for a room ten times the size of that bar. Of course, I was also at the end of the bar about five feet from the "stage" and was in serious pain by the time I left. The bar didn't sell earplugs, I think it was the first time they had any live music, as far as I know. Ouch.
 
#38
Saw Aerosmith completely over the top on the Rocks tour. Round basketball arena, a place with normally stellar acoustics but everything was pegged bigtime with twice as much equipment as they needed, and, oh yeah, a screw-up that had 3,000 extra tickets sold, so people were literally climbing on top of each other. The band was wasted, puking off the side of the stage and falling down. Just a solid wall of noise.

They came back the next year with their Draw the Line stage, small amps, an apology (they remembered?), and one totally kick @** show.

Uriah Heep used to get pretty loud, as did Black Oak.
 

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