FOREIGN BODY
PHOTO CREDIT: LEAH KOMOS
1. Hello and welcome to All the Cores and More! Would you please introduce yourself and what you do in Foreign Body, as well as provide some context such as where you’re from and when and how you formed?
I’m Nikolai, I play guitar in the band. We’re from all over, but we’ve all been in New York for the past ~10 years, and we formed in late 2020 at Fordham.
2. On September 11th, your sophomore LP Libertine arrives via Brutal Panda Records. I’d like to provide my description of the record and see if it accords with yours: Death Wish but American Psycho, with Big Black and Flipper substituted for Katrina and the Waves and Huey Lewis and the News; it’s an Eyehategod record playing on Patrick Bateman’s stereo while he tells Christie, “I don’t want you to get drunk, but, ah, that’s a very fine Chardonnay you’re not drinking.” Could you give the readers some insight into what informs the record and what it covers topically?
You’ve certainly hit a few of our influences! In terms of the record, lyrically and thematically it’s a glorification of vice, excess, and the moral compromises that come with pursuing self-authenticity and pleasure to their logical extremes. We’re not interested in judging people for their impulses; we’re interested in seeing them as they are.
As for the overall sound and vibe, we’re greatly influenced by Rusted Shut, No Trend, Brainbombs, early Swans, Ride for Revenge, Unsane, loads of 2010s noise rock (Twin Stumps, the New Flesh, Rectal Hygenics, Sightings, Pygmy Shrews, Clockcleaner, etc.), all the bands with some variation of “Drunk” in them (yes, all of them), and various noise/power electronics projects like Sutcliffe Jugend/Bodychoke, Whitehouse, GO, Macronympha, and on and on. Equally as influenced by The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Stooges, Black Sabbath, you name it.
3. “Strung Out” sets the tone as the album opener—it felt like if Fear’s “New York’s Alright if You Like Saxophones” was made yet more abrasive and caustic. I asked King Sans this, but it feels fitting to ask you as well: there are many ways to be sonically abrasive, and you chose this one. Why?
Thank you for bringing up FEAR, god bless Lee Ving. Regarding your question, the saxophone has an ability to glide over a song without taking up too much space, which was sort of necessary given how dense the song was. In addition to this, the saxophone on “Strung Out” was directly inspired by bands like The Birthday Party and a lot of those New York No Wave bands (DNA, Mars, James Chance, etc.). Like those bands, it’s another way to recontextualize the instrument that's typically associated with polished 80’s pop stuff.
4. Can you walk us through how the record came together, the writing and recording process, etc.?
Some of these songs were written three years ago, and some were written while we were in the studio. We recorded in Chicago with Matty Russell and Matt Ibarra, who were crucial in helping us develop the sound we wanted to achieve. For writing, I’ll usually bring in a riff or two and as a band we’ll figure out ways to string them together.
5. Talk to us about the album’s artwork and the aesthetics around the music and band.
We work as equally as hard on the artwork and overall aesthetics as we do the music. Hugh does all of the art which is typically collage work. In terms of the overall aesthetic, Émile Zola, Dennis Cooper, Eugene Richards, Hans Bellmer, Francis Bacon, and Gaspar Noé all came up a couple times when thinking through our influences.
6. Will you be touring in support of the record?
Yes, we’re hitting the Midwest and some of the East Coast.
7. This may be somewhat of a strange question, but given the inherently challenging and inaccessible nature of the music, how would you respond if someone said they “enjoyed listening to it”?
I’d assume we’d have similar taste and would shift the topic of conversation to another band.
8. I’d like to close with a fun exercise. I’ll say a name, title, place, or phrase, and you say what comes up for you organically in ten words or less. First one: modern living.
Bound to boil over soon.
New York City.
A good place to contract a disease.
Rudy Giuliani.
Say what you want, he really cleaned up the place.
Rock music.
The dumber the better usually.
FIXED.
I hear it’s big in Malaysia (shout out Menora Recordings!)
Matt Ibarra.
Living legend. A great mentor.
Matt Russell.
Another legend. Patient and level-headed.
Libertine.
Those who do whatever they can to get what they want.