So what the fuck is Simian Artillery all about?

Anything you want to ask ask me.

I figured it'd make sense to use this space for info people might actually be interested in rather than using it to spout a load or just generally bigging up myself or Simian Artillery.

Q. What's happened with Katscan?
Katscan is dead. I know, I watched it die. I sang it softly to sleep as it drew it's last breath. Mind you it was me that killed it. I wrote a blog about why I thought it was time to call it a day on the Katscan website.

Q. So is Simian Artillery going to be a totally instrumental band, or are there going to be lyrics?
Seriously. As if someone as self opinionated and self righteous as I could keep quiet and let the music do the talking! There will be lyrics. I never run out of things to moan and wine about and we live in times where every new day brings another fuckwit (or group there of) that needs a verbal kicking.

Q. Are there any other band members, or is Simian Artillery just you?
The constant factor with the band will be myself, but the plan is for this to be quite a loose thing line-up-wise in the tradition of Revolting Cocks or something, where various chums and fellow noise manglers can lay down vocals, beats or music in the studio or grab an instrument and join in the fuckery, if and when things get to a live stage.

Ed Oxime who played live synths and samples in Katscan will no doubt be involved though.

Q. What are the other guys from Katscan doing now?
As mentioned above, Ed Oxime is likely to record and play live with the band, but he is also working on his own new project called Concrete Lung.

Phil Able (the busiest man in London) is current helping manage both the Ghetto nightclub (home of Johnny Slut's infamous 'Nag Nag Nag' night) and Sin (Metal, Industrial, Goth 'superclub'.) He is also demoing new material for his own (as yet unnamed) Punk/Metal Band.

Q. What's all this NBH rubbish about?
Just a neat way to sum up the way the Simian Artillery sound seems to be going. NBH is crass perversion of 'NDH' (Neue Deutsche Härte - 'New German Hardness' or 'New German Hard Ones' - either way camp as christmas when translated into English, sorry to my German friends but it is! ;-) This is the name given to the modern German industrial metal scene which inspired by artists like Ministry and their country's own mighty Oomph! has spawned excellent bands like Megaherz, Eisbrecher, Unheilig and of course Rammstein.

The most basic way to describe it is: 'Ministry + Frontline Assembly = NDH".

'The music I'm doing is starting to sound like a cheeky British version of NDH, with a sneering electropunk, tongue-in-cheek twist. Obviously it's not NDH as I'm not German, so I guess it's 'NBH' (Neue Britisch Härte.)

Q. Where is the name Simian Artillery from?
It's from a Ross Noble tangent about apes taking over their 'Monkey World' wildlife park and repelling invaders with 'Simian Artillery'. He even says it would be a good name for a band. I like the sound of the words, but also I think it's important to remember that for all our technical advances and achievements as a species, our natural primal instinct to destroy all that threatens us, our perceived territory (whether geographic or monetary) or that which we don't understand, always comes to the fore and shows us up for what we are; apes with guns.

Completely by coincidence our friends at MAV (the guys who did the Zombie Machine video for Katscan) have just uploaded their new short film 'Ben Tre Logic' which illustrates this point perfectly (And even contains chimps, how freaky is that!.)