There is something wrong here. By here, I mean an apartment in Rockford, IL. I can recall some scattered events like screams from the bathroom, stumbling past bottles and bodies, bearing witness to strange sonic experiments where hapless victims lay on a bed (equipped with headphones and extreme inebriation.) exposed to piercing highs and rumbling lows. Countless hours spent entangled in wires and cords, bending both sound and reality to our will, telling a tale of communal distrust and confusion of a society so wonderfully hateful the only escape is this place I speak of. Believe it or not, it’s saner in here.
The two who live here go by the names of Ginch and Charney. Our preffered place of recording takes place in Charney’s bedroom, resembling a cross between a God-forsaken laboratory and the seediest bar. Along with the various keyboards and machines laying on the shock white table lays a beaten, tired looking 4-track. The ancient Yamaha MT-50 is constantly punished by seemingly endless recording sessions. Among the instruments force fed into it are a variety of keyboards (primarily an Alesis QS6,) a Boss DR 550, live guitar and bass, an RP5 processor, and the vocals of Ginch.
Currently involved in the rock band Spencer Park and ex frontman for metal band Atonement, Ginch lends his broad vocal range to the project. Shifting effortlessly from explosive hatred to moments of delirious beauty, Ginch is the narrator of the story. Unfortunately there is not enough room for all of his major influences, his top five are Descendants/All, Anthrax, Chris Connely, The Go-Go’s, and Ludwig von Beethoven.
The Concept of Pullstartwitchhunt began with Charney and Ginch. Charney was involved with the band “The JMFC Cult.” Hearing of the band Atonement, Ginch was asked to sing a Stones song with the JMFC Cult at a local show. The two have been in contact ever since. Charney continues to hone his skills in Pullstartwitchhunt. He now programs and performs keyboards and guitar for the project’s recordings, generating synth sounds and constructing the majority of Pullstartwitchhunt’s drum patterns. Skinny Puppy, The Clash, Helmet, Foetus, and The Beatles are just a few bands that inspire him.
Charney met Aethan through mutual friends. Aethan had just finished “Ritual of the Machine: Horrible Dreams.” Filling out the roster as the third member, Aethan is currently involved in the punk band The Fightbacks, and has had stints with countless industrial/experimental side projects. Working as producer and chief musical director, Aethan also contributes his guitar and keyboard talents to the mix. He claims NIN, Ween, anything produced by Dr. Dre, Dead Kennedys, and Ministry as major influences.
Recorded between Nov 99’ and May 00’, Low Tech Prophets, High Tech Profits documents a fictional character experiencing such events as psychosis, hangovers and isolation, each song establishing a different mood and presenting itself almost as a different project altogether, every track asserts itself differently in it’s diversity, and sometimes just plain strangeness.
At this moment in time, Pullstartwitchhunt are in the midst of recording a six song EP scheduled to be tentatively released in the Fall of ’01. “Transition” will not only be a record documenting the band’s recent transition from analog to digital recording and production methods, it will also be a continuation of our unique sense of musical composition, and evidence of new influences.
