HafLife Music Review ~ Gothic Girl Art Magazine
A ranting nightcrawler out for some bootycore
HafLife’s music sounds like it’s written in their historic Detroit home. The wizardry located in their art-house hideout offset by a matte-black, 60’s era Cadillac droptop sitting in front. If the Cadillac isn’t there, it should be.
Pushing steel ‘til the red eyes drift away.
I admit it, I’m in love with…no…I’m addicted to Booty Core. Music that Lead Ranter MD 20/20 describes as “…the bastard hybrid between Old Skool industrial and 70’s funk/R&B.”
I’m not going to tell you again~get out of the car.
It’s 3am at a Berlin Goth party and I need to hear “NightCrawler.” Again. Really, this is the last time. Ok, please play it again.
MD 20/20 and I diverge here~ he’d prefer a biker rally in Berlin. “…we tend to scare most of these [Gothic] audiences…even in Berlin.”
Unsafe.
Formed sometime after the millennium, Haflife started as a 3-piece with a drum machine. Venues were hesitant to book them and promoters didn’t know what to do with them. Today, they’re a legitimate 4-piece band. Legitimate from a new-age promoter’s perspective in the same way that our world’s governments make us feel safe by quoting revised revisions to undecipherable safety statistics.
Scary thoughtfulness.
I wouldn’t expect to feel safe around Haflife. But I wouldn’t want to, there’s too much thinking going on behind their music for safety.
Haflife is~
MD 20/20~ Vocals
HANDI J~ Guitar
V~ Drums
TSAR BOMBA~ Bass
Gothic Girl Art Magazine~ What inspires you to create music?
MD 20/20~ Inspiration mostly comes from boredom…It amazes me that despite all of the new outlets for indie and DIY music, how banal most of it sounds….and Sex…music and beats are about sex…no getting away from it.
Gothic Girl Art Magazine~ Is scaring the hell out of people with your recordings and live show intentional? Why would the Goths in Berlin be afraid of you? Should they be afraid of you? Do you want them to be afraid?
MD 20/20~ Doing something different always scares the hell out of people.. we are saturated with violence and death every day to the point that it’s practically pornography…The only thing that is truly scary anymore is the UNFAMILIAR.
Gothic Girl Art Magazine~ Do you always start writing a song with lyrics/rants/
MD 20/20~ We almost always start with a sound or a breakbeat…then Handi J and I go into the Dungeon and write a full piece of music…Then I find lyrics to fit the piece. I rarely start with lyrics….V and Tsar take over from there and grease the gears…
Gothic Girl Art Magazine~ What’s the story behind the song “NightCrawler?”
MD 20/20~ NightCrawler is a nod to one of my favorite books of the last decade ..RANT…by Chuck Palahniuk…if you haven’t experienced it…it’s quite a read.
Gothic Girl Art Magazine~ You paint an amazing picture with Nightcrawler~I can hear And feel in the lyrics and music the story of “Rant.” There are two phrases that really stand out in your lyrics. Please tell me more about~
MD 20/20~ “Pushing steel ‘til the red eyes drift away” …. [is] a reference to party crashing in [the book] Rant…late at night in the fog…and the tail lights drift off like red eyes in the night…The “get out of the car” bit was me merely assuming a chance encounter of a police car stumbling across the car crash cult…
Gothic Girl Art Magazine~ Is Michigan [USA] a good place for independent artists?
MD 20/20~ Michigan is great for all forms of art, since the real estate is cheap and the scene is diverse. Artists from all over the globe have emigrated to the D in the last 5 years. Local labels continue to spring up year after year…But it’s a tough grind, especially for music. Most new bands, erroneously labeled as the “NEXT BIG THING” rarely last 12 months.
Gothic Girl Art Magazine~ What is one thing that not many people know about you and the band and you’re willing to admit?
MD 20/20~ We perform in Drag more often than we care to admit!
Five of Five Black Roses ~buy their music today and embrace them at their next live show. GGAM
Facebook~ http://www.facebook.com/HafLifeDetroit
Reverbnation~ http://www.reverbnation.com/haflife
Twitter~ https://twitter.com/haflifedetroit
USA
