What the fuck is a Child Bite? Not really sure, could be a James Bond villain or an actual bite sustained from a shitty kid. Either way, I have been following these maniacs since their first record, watching them evolve and grow; especially the hair and breasts in weird places. Every Child Bite release just gets better and better, but Strange Waste is their slime-soaked masterpiece. With the swagger of the Jesus Lizard or Creeps On Candy mixed with some mongoloid aggression, oozing trash, and frontman Shawn Knight barfing up tales of thing’s you’d find in Mutter museum, Child Bite has created their heaviest release to date.
Strange Waste encompasses all the things I love about noise rock, but it isn’t so discordant/abrasive that it wouldn’t appeal to other audiences; I can see fans of punk and metal digging this as well. The riffs on the record are catchier than the clap, and the rhythm section is a constant pummeling. Paired with energetic live shows, constant touring, and Knight’s deranged artwork and prints, Child Bite has become a self-made monster that’s leaving a viscous snail trail all over the country and starting to gain quite the fan base. From playing facial hair contests in the bowels of Alaska, to setting up Detroit’s epic Berserker Fest, these guys are some of the hardest working people in the biz.
Rating: 6 out of 6 Doves Prince loved this record so much, that he missed his name being called for his 11th Grammy of the night because he was playing it over and over again in his head. The doves knew to stay out of his way when he got back home. Scariest game of hide and seek at the Prince Mansion ever.
Here is an interview with vocalist/guitarist Knight:
B.G.M.: Where did the band name come from and what are the lyrics/themes on Strange Waste about?
SK: As anybody who has ever started a band knows, naming your band is the worst part, hands down. To make it a little less painful, the 3 original members of the band each came up with 3 ideas and nominated 5 of our friends to be on the voting committee. We sent out those 9 potential band names to all 15 friends and had them rank ’em. Child Bite came out on top.
The Strange Waste lyrics are about realizing you are a fuck up, realizing that everything you own is just future garbage, realizing that depression is devouring you, realizing that having kids is pointless, realizing that your day job is to trick people into thinking a product is more desirable than the competition, realizing that you have a fucking alien inside you, realizing that Honey Boo Boo is a modern day Joseph Merrick, realizing you really can do anything you want in life, realizing that you’re nothing more than shark food, and realizing that being in a band is all about who can withstand the most pain. In that order.
B.G.M.: You guys seem to always be on the road; any good tour stories? What do you guys listen to on the road? What are your favorite cities to play?
SK: We do try to hit the road as much as possible. I think I’m trying to cram as much in while the getting is good. You never know what fucked up wrench life is gonna throw at you. Too many funny/weird/awesome stories to mention, fuck man, it’s a blur. That’s a whole interview on it’s own.
We’ve got a rule that whoever is driving picks the tunes; sort of an incentive to take your turn at the wheel. Our van is a Ford E350 cargo van, which is very noisy inside. No carpeting, just a big tin can on wheels. For that reason, I tend to pick music that isn’t too abrasive ’cause it ends up sounding like a big noisy mess. Any extreme metal stuff becomes indecipherable while on the highway, especially if the windows are down. On the other hand, a hard rock classic like Danzig II works just fine. Or Squirrel Nut Zippers.
I don’t know if we have any favorite cities to play. As long as there are people there, we have a good time. We really do embrace the weirdness of tour and how each show is it’s own special little snowflake.
B.G.M.: The contents of your music videos are quite shocking; “Ancestral Ooze” plays out like a Lifetime movie, tackling such pertinent issues as drug peddling, Gatorade sweat, addiction gone wrong, melting flesh, etc; Valerie Bertinelli stars as a drug dealing Buzz from the Melvins and does a fabulous job. “Abysmal Splatter” contains disturbing footage of an actual child birth and also a slimy parasite that pops out of a dude’s stomach; also played by Valerie Bertinelli- why try to save the world with your videos?
SK: First of all, Valerie is a nightmare to work with. Just wanted to get that out there. Avoid at all costs.
Our reason for showing the horrors of the world isn’t intended to save it; we’re trying to show everyone that we’ve gone too far & it’s no longer worth saving. The time has come to drink the kool-aid and be done with this place. Our message to the kids: The world is terrible & everything is pointless.
We actually met ex-MTV VJ Jesse Camp not too long ago. He was hanging out in the parking lot of Harpos, the notorious Detroit metal club. We were opening up for the Misfits (Jerry Only-edition), waiting to load in, and we see Jesse wandering around taking pictures of kids and bums with his cell phone. Later we talked and I got his phone number. I don’t remember why I started telling this story. Oh yeah… he told us he was in town filming a Lifetime movie.
B.G.M.: What other projects, tours, releases, etc. are on the agenda in the near future?
SK: Right now we are writing for our next full length, to be recorded down in New Orleans w/ Phil Anselmo (ex-Pantera, Down). He puts out our records nowadays. Looking forward to that experience for sure! We’ve got a song that we tracked with him on vocals already done for a Celtic Frost tribute compilation that is currently being mastered by James Plotkin. That’s a fun one. Other than that, looking into potential tours for 2015! I know we are gonna perform at Berserker this March. That’s a punk & metal fest that I put on here in Detroit. This year’s headliners include Poison Idea and Incantation. Should be a good time!
B.G.M.: Can you tell people about the American Hardcore 7″ series?
SK: That was a project we did with three other bands from Detroit; Hellmouth, Old Gods, and Golden Torso. Basically, we had a recording of us doing “My War” and didn’t know what to do with it. Eventually we came up with the idea to do a 4-way split of bands doing Black Flag songs. We did a release show for it where you get a free copy of the record at the door. It went so well that we decided to make it a series. The next pair of 7″s was of the same four bands covering Misfits and Dead Kennedys. The final installments were of Minor Threat and Bad Brains. There was a wooden box set created as well, which Sean Clancy and I screenprinted. The project ended up being a little bit of a pain to pull off, but I’m glad we did it. The whole thing was a fundraiser which ended up contributing over $2,000 to a local charity, Alternatives for Girls. It was a lot of fun to cover those tunes, and definitely helped shape the direction of our own tunes. There are a few leftovers of the 7″s available via Corpse Flower Records, and the Child Bite songs are up on our Bandcamp.
B.G.M.: Do you think that watching Wicked Wisdom’s music video discography in my living room is why you guys decided to get heavier? Did Jada Pinkett-Smith have a hand in that?
SK: 100%. Her contributions to the pantheon of heavy metal are unparalleled. Jada rules. She’s like the polar opposite of Valerie Bertinelli.
B.G.M.: Shawn, your prints, album art, and artwork are pretty innovative and awesome, what are your influences and favorite subject matters? Have bands been hitting you up to do album artwork? Where can people check out your stuff? (http://shawnknight.bigcartel.com)
SK: Thanks! Lots of artistic influences, from stuff I grew up on like Pushead and H.R. Giger to more recent artists like Tyler Stout and We Buy Your Kids. My stuff has a 70s/80s vibe to it, which I’m totally fine with. My illustration style is pretty loose, which I initially wasn’t totally comfortable with at first but have grown to enjoy. I went to the same art school as 90s poster artist Derek Hess, though not at the same time. I remember taking note of his work, which are basically very gestural figure drawings. Guys like him helped bring me to the conclusion that it’s OK to spend some time working within finite stylistic restraints as opposed to reinventing the wheel for every project. I also remember hearing or reading that Frank Frazetta used to submit rough paintings for approval, which he would then polish up or completely redo for the final submission. Early on he realized that he usually liked his roughs better, so he stopped redoing them & would just use the initial piece. I think this also applies to Child Bite’s music; recognizing that happy accidents & random blemishes are often what makes a song sound authentic and interesting. Especially nowadays, it’s important to know when to stop polishing.
B.G.M.: Do you guys have other side projects or other ventures we should know about? Any bands from your hometown or bands you’ve played with on your travels that you have been rocking out to that you would recommend people check out?
SK: We don’t really have any side projects. It’s what helps us do so much with Child Bite; no distractions or conflicts of interest. No other band schedules to work around. There are definitely tons of rad bands from Detroit and various cities that we’ve played that are worth checking out. That’s actually a big part of Berserker Fest, to showcase some of these lesser known bands along with bigger bands that everybody knows.
As for Detroit, we mainly push bands that are out there hitting it as hard as we do. Bands like Acid Witch, Temple of Void, Against the Grain, Jamaican Queens. Those bands are all over the spectrum stylistically, but they are all our buddies & are all working their asses off right now. A couple other awesome newer bands from nearby cities Flint and Lansing would be Braided Veins and Cloud Rat. Outside of Michigan, we’ve been listening to this NYC band called Couch Slut, they rule. From Chicago, I really dig Oozing Wound and Like Rats. Just recently I caught a band from New Orleans called Pears, they were bad ass. Some of our Housecore label mates are really great too; in particular I would mention Author & Punisher from San Diego as well as King Parrot out of Melbourne, Australia.