AND IN A PUFF OF SMOKE...GASP IS REBORN!THE CLAY YEARS 1994:
And in a puff of smoke, GASP as it is known 1994-1999 is born.But, before that smoke filled day, back in the "clay years" as us old school freaks call it GASP was a project started by Sean Hogan(local grind freak that has been around forever)and Sean Cole of local grind/crust maniacs MALFUNCTION(which had myself on guitar, Sean on bass and John Lee of Half Life Records on vocals, and for a short time Dino of DYSTOPIA on drums).GASP at the time was a pure FEAR OF GOD tribute band.I stumbled upon a band practice one day at Sean Cole's house and with my 40 ounce of old english in hand listened to the manic grind that these fuckers spit forth.Cole played drums at this point and Hogan did vocals, in the total Eric FOG tradition.At this very same practice and after quite a bit of drinking of those very said 40 ounces, I was asked to play guitar in this side project.MALFUNCTION was nearing it's end and the Sean's and I wanted to continue our noise.My suggestion is that we also throw in some Swedish/Finish crust core influences, as well as Swedish/Finish death grind influences, as well as the usual Japanese crust core bands for good measure.Oh and of course, the fucking English grind/crust maniacs as well.Once MALFUNCTION was dead, GASP was taken more serious.We then took our friend Mitch of local black metal band RITUAL and had him play drums.So the first serious line up in 1994 was: Sean Hogan/Vocals, Myself/Guitar, Sean Cole/Bass and Mitch Brown/Drums.We would practice in Mitch's Dad's pool room, in Sean Hogan's girlfriend's living room and also had a couple of jams in the Christfall/Suffering Luna jam room in the hood.I was the only one that had a steady job and a vehicle at the time so GASP was put on hiatus when my car took a shit in the summer.I then decided to join EXCRUCIATING TERROR at that point but on my way to my first practice my car was totaled on the 5 fwy.Sean Cole decided to join FYP next and then I got MALFUNCTION back together for a short time.
COME ON FUCKER!LETS GET GASP BACK TOGETHER FULL TIME!1995:
Late 1994 i asked Mitch "lets get GASP going again!".After MUCH prodding, Mitch finally agreed and we started jamming in a huge room in Brea, California in early 1995 in the middle of Sat nights/Sunday mornings for 4-6 hours at a time.We also started jamming up in the Brown family pool room again or in his garage.These places are where we wrote much of the "Sore For Days" demo.Sean Cole was too busy with FYP to re-join.So the hunt for a bassist as well as a vocalist was on.Once we tried out a couple of vocalists and bass players, I decided to start screaming.Along with the first set of influences with also wanted to throw in doom metal and psych to create some type of noise in the vein of: FEAR OF GOD, VENOM, MOB 47, SODOM, PENTAGRAM, CONFUSE, BLACK SABBATH, DISCHARGE, NIHILIST, TERRORIZER, ANTI CIMEX, you get the point.Mitch knew a local girl Cynthia Nishi that was interested in doing backing vocals and possibly bass for GASP so she came up for a practice and we all hit it off so we went on as a 3 piece with Cynthia on bass.So off we went with the 3 piece line up.Cynthia hooked us up with her boyfriend's garage to jam in so every Sunday we would spend hours in a garage in Lawndale doing songs and brews and drugs hahaha.We played 2 back yard gigs as a 3 piece.We also did "Outbreak Of Evil" by SODOM at a party that had SADISTIC INTENT on the bill, that was fun and people went nuts.But the 2 backyard parties were met with whatever responses.Our slow doomy stuff was especially hated at these parties which were more of a new school death metal type crowd.One day a local guy named Reggie Rosales hit me up to do an interview for a zine he was doing called Less Than One.So I invited him down to Lawndale to talk with us and get stoned and drunk.We all hit it off so I asked him "do you want to jam on 2nd guitar with us?" Reggie was down so he started jamming with us and became the 4th member.We ended up jamming and writing up until the end of the year.No shows were planned.We re-vamped our sound to also incorporate more psych and weird soundscapes and started really using all kinds of different drugs to help find the style we were looking for.We started getting into HAWKWIND and all kinds of cool prog rock shit like CACTUS and YES.The next year would change everything as we then started to play with some legendary bands and actually started getting a few fans!
"POWERVIOLENCE" and the scene explodes!1996:
We went out to Mitch's boss' house, Ken, and recorded our now "legendary" demo "Sore For Days".8 songs of death/grind/punk/psych/doom/sludge/noise fury which also had cover songs by FEAR OF GOD and SODOM.This was early Jan and later that month we played a show with DYSTOPIA, PHOBIA and DIVISIA at the Socco in West L.A.It changed our outlook and it also changed our fan base because we actually had people that liked us instead of being cussed out by new school death metal fans that wanted to hear DEICIDE and CANNIBAL CORPSE covers hahahaha.Those 3 bands then did a treck down to San Diego to play the Che Cafe and they took us with them.So we slowly started to build a good thing.The demo was getting out there with a great response.More and more local shows followed then Mitch started getting in contact with labels about putting out our stuff.It was an awesome time.We found ourselves on the bills with MAN IS THE BASTARD, EXCRUCIATING TERROR, SPAZZ, NOOTHGRUSH, UNHOLY GRAVE, CAPITALIST CASUALTIES, SENSELESS APOCALYPSE, LACK OF INTEREST, BLACK ARMY JACKET, CROM, and tons of others.Later in 1996 we made a trip out to Arizona to play with UNRUH.We also brought along CATTLE DECAPITATION in it's first form and line up.The fest in Arizona got canceled due to rain (I KNOW FUCKING ARIZONA GETTING RAINED OUT!?HAHA)So we then were going to play a house that got shut down by cops.Next we moved it to a trailer house and ended up blowing my guitar rig so I just sang and made an ass out of myself drunk but it was fun.We went back in and recorded the splits with NOOTHGRUSH and SUFFERING LUNA once again with Ken Lee.Mitch was getting really crazy with the samples and soundscapes now and we were doing even MORE drugs and I was drinking insanely and popping pills like no tomorrow.More and more psych influences were coing in and we did even more of the quiet and mellow stuff.Reggie and some of his friends started doing shows at the PCH Club.This gave us a chance to do some shows with some legendary bands passing through on tour.
IT WAS A FAST BLUR....AND THEN DONE!1997-1999:
I think due to all the drugs and drinking that was done, the last 2 years of the band was a fucking blur.Cynthia quit at one point to have a child and focus on him and her schooling.So we got local mad man Sage Jones to play bass.But things were starting to fall appart even 2 years out.Alot of egos and fighting and power struggles came forward.But playing locally and also out of town road trips all over the U.S. with the likes of , ASSUCK, DROP DEAD, HIS HERO IS GONE, LOCUST, FUCK ON THE BEACH, GODSTOMPER, JENNY PICCOLO, STAPLED SHUT, S.M.D., CLUSTER BOMB UNIT, DISASOCIATE, NO LESS, FINAL CONFLICT, CAVITY, SPACEBOY, 16, DETESTATION, ASSHOLE PARADE, SLIGHT SLAPPERS, AGENTS OF SATAN, and many more times with the bands mentioned in 1996, was very cool though.We were lucky enough to play 2 of the legendary Slap A Ham fests.While we were up north playing the 6th one in 1998 we recorded "drome triler of puzzle zoo people" with Bart Thurber at the infamous House of Faith studios.Chris Dodge at Slap A Ham wanted to put it out and we were very excited.At this point it seemed that there was such a difference of opinion of what style we wanted to play and there were more arguments than good times at some point.I know I wanted to play more heavy and extreme and keep the distortion.Mitch wanted to do more experimental music with a focus on the mellow side.We managed to keep very active with local gigs.And were still writing very cool material.Mitch's girlfriend at the time Irena also helped with tape loops live and Mitch brought a little tv that played all kinds of madness on it as we played.More abstract and progressive music.Yet heavy and loopy as before.So by mid 1999 it was in the cards for us to split.Reggie was going to quit to focus on his daughter and marriage at the time.Mitch and I wanted to play different styles of music altogether.Sage just wanted a beer.So our last show was at PCH Club, not sure of that date but ISIS and CAVE-IN played.The way it went down was bad.As Sage left before we were even to play.I think Mitch was late getting there and I got angry.I told him Sage was out and I was out as well.Mitch was very upset and this is very understandable.It was a stupid way for us to quit and very childish.But it was months of frustration.Reggie was like "FUCK IT!" and moved on.In 2000 the DEERHOOF split was done.At this point it was a "Mitch project" of ambient noise stuff.But it was cool to record.We all have kept in contact and stayed friends.I think we went through way too much together NOT to be cool with each other.We even tried to "re-unite" with all of us including both Cynthia and Sage on bass in 2005.But the same things that broke us apart in 1999 did it again in 2005.But it was a fun ride and now I guess people actually like us.I wish some of the younger generation was there back then but oh well.Now the music is here forever.If I forgot anything or anyone, sorry, but what a long, fucked up trip it's been!hahahaha.No regrets!It was an awesome ride!Thanks Cyn, Mitch, Sage and Reg!Love you fuckers!Hail Satan!
Mike Nelson
GASP Vokillist/Guitar/Noise Monger
FAN PAGE
working on it ...
heres a little of what i know
split with noothgrush 1997
Cry Now Cry Later 1998
split with suffering luna
drome triler of puzzle zoo people (either '95 or '96)
an earwigs guide to travelling ( rare+unreleased )
