By John Pecorelli
Alternative Press magazine
“I don't know what the hell we write,” says Brech, Pachinko's singer and guitarist. “The punk rockers think we're a noise band, and the noise bands think we're punk rock. And everyone else just has no clue.”
Clue number one: intensity. From the initial roar of “Lubrilarneygurney” to the tarred-and-feathered Monkees tune that closes the album, the Madison, Wisconsin trio's debut, Behind the Green Pachinko (Alternative Tentacles), is a raucous gale of desensitized thrill-seeking: faster drumming, uglier bass, noisier guitar. Everything's upped for maximum listener trauma, and to help illustrate the band's penchant for amphetamines, hot rods, and senseless violence. Then it's topped off with a recording technique that startled even punk overlord/social agitator Jello Biafra.
“We took a week and a half to get everything, all the tones, absolutely perfect—then we just fuckin' redlined it, just destroyed it,” Brech explains. “So during mastering Jello called me up and was freaking out about one song—the signal was so overblown that the mastering deck wouldn't accept it. But the CD is perfectly safe to play. It's not your speaker blowing,” he chuckles, “it's just a recording of a speaker blowing.”
Keep in mind this is a guy who had Killdozer perform ZZ Top's “La Grange” at his wedding reception. Yet Brech's favorite tune on the CD is “Bullitt XYZ,” a swing-beat narrative with jazzy guitar licks and angelic female background vocals—and a guy getting his head blown off in a bar. Still, it's almost pretty.
“I appreciate all kinds of crazy music—this is just the shit I'm stuck playing,” says Brech. “It's the one thing I can play. But I truly enjoy it. I love the speed; I love the feedback; I love everything about it. But there's a difference between our style of noise and that completely disjointed, fuckin' no-form bullshit art-fag noise. As far as I'm concerned, that's just as whack-off as a bad metal solo.”