Industrial/EBM/Darkwave Artist Corpse Dust Amped to Spread ‘Suffer’ at First Boise Appearance Tonight
“I had to do a hard reset and decide if I wanted to build this project back up again. I’m really happy I did.”
-Corpse Dust
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Industrial/EBM/darkwave artist Corpse Dust is currently spreading his music around the country with Chicago psych-doom quartet REZN and Toronto post-hardcore unit lowheaven. Tonight, the three amigos descend on the Shrine Social Club in Boise, with roughly 10 shows left.
All three acts have had banner years, with Corpse Dust continuing to ride a wave of momentum after the strong reception of his LP, Suffer, in March. We hit up the artist from Asheville, North Carolina, who generously provided some insights into the album and tour, how Hurricane Helene – which happened roughly a year ago – affected his project, and how he much he enjoys introducing his music to new audiences.
Will this be your first time in Boise, or did play here in support of Nothing Left of Pain or otherwise?
This will be my first time performing Boise as Corpse Dust. I have been here in the past, with another project, but it’s been many years ago now.
If so, how did the show(s) go? If not, what are your expectations for playing here.
I tend to have no expectations going into playing new places. This project is still fairly new, so I know most people are hearing or seeing me for the first time. If there are people attentive in the room, I’m super-stoked. I know REZN’s crowd will most likely not be into what I’m doing, but I’m going to have fun playing for a new crowd – and hopefully exposing them to EBM in a good way.
Congrats on Suffer. Have you made a lot of adjustments to the songs since you started performing them live?
I always perform new songs live for a while before I fully finish them and track vocals. Some of the songs on Suffer had been played for a long time, while others were pretty new and only got played live a handful of times. I have a new song “Bound” that’s been in my live set for the last six months, so I’m feeling really close to done with that one.
How come you decided to move away from the harsher sounds on Pain?
I truly love sound design and creating the most insane noise and music I can, but to be honest, I just wasn’t having fun performing that record anymore. I felt more like a spectacle or as if I was doing performance art in a way that wasn’t engaging with others. I feed off of the energy of the crowd, so when it was consistently just rooms full of people not too sure what to do with themselves during my set, I started to question what I wanted to get out of performing music. So I changed it up! I’m really happy with the current live set, and I’m having way more fun up there.
Additionally, when Hurricane Helene decimated Asheville, my gear and home, I had to do a hard reset and decide if I wanted to build this project back up again. I’m really happy I did.
As such, does it feel more celebratory and less doomy when playing live?
Yes for sure. Although I do still think there’s an element of heaviness and gloom within the music, as well as the lyrical content.
Has music always been your primary form of therapy, escape and/or expression in dealing with hardship, whether they be personal challenges or the outlook/state of the world in general?
Absolutely. If I’m not able to create or perform music when life gets tough, I’m always listening to something and tend to find a connection with it. When it’s a deep connection, I come back to those songs or albums again and again. It serves as a very cathartic experience for me.
Why did you choose to remix a Godflesh song and did you ask permission to do so from Justin Broadrick? If so, how did that play out?
My friend Briar [Moth] (of Vexagon, a darkwave project) was doing a compilation called Gothflesh being released exclusively on the Darkness Calling Bandcamp page, and the proceeds were going to the Transgender Law Center. It sounded like a great cause and an awesome challenge for me. I chose a song that I first connected with back in college, so that’s why I covered “Angel Domain.”
I wanted to take a fairly nasty track and turn it into somewhat of a danceable goth/industrial track. I added a new melody to it, but mostly kept it as written. Briar reached out to Justin and got permission for the compilation. Pretty sick that he’s open to that kind of thing, but I wouldn’t expect anything less. Justin and all of his musical outlets are so wonderful, and he’s always come across as a great human.
Best show ever?
I’m going to go with this tour for these two. So far it’s been Phoenix. I’ve played to some big crowds on this run, but the small and highly energetic crowd in Phoenix blew me away. Everyone was so hype and genuinely was just vibing with the music on first listen. Really made an impact on me. People tend to be too stuck up or insecure (which I get) to have a good time in the moment.
Worst show ever?
On this tour, it has to be Olympia [Washington]. I had been told the goth nights there were pretty solid, and it just was not at all. One guy paid to get in and about five others decided the cover charge wasn’t worth coming in. That one guy also left before my set. I still performed to the DJ and sound person, but I can’t lie and say it wasn’t disheartening, because it was. The one thing I came away from that experience was that I’m just happy when people are in the room and paying attention to my set. It makes the Phoenix kind of shows and packed out rooms that much more special feeling. ‘Cause this shit is not forever.
Are you planning to do anything in particular while you’re in Boise (aside from playing the show)?
I have no plans. It’s about a nine-hour drive to the show, so I will most likely just soundcheck and hang with my homies in REZN. Really looking forward to that.
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Corpse Dust perform at The Shrine Social Club tonight with REZN and lowheaven. Tickets cost between $14.42 and $28.83, and are available for purchase here. Doors open at 7 p.m., with the show expected to start a half-hour later.
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