Ample Fire Within: An interview with ASCEND

Photo: Phil Petrocelli

Greg Anderson, mad scientist behind such projects as Goatsnakeand SunnO))), has a history with SLUG Magazine. "I picked upa copy of the SLUG sometime in 1998 while I was on tour," saysAnderson, "and the issue I got just happened to have a reviewof Sleep's Jerusalem release." The reviewer not only trashed therecord, but caused Anderson's jealousy to flare up. "At that time,no one could get that record. It was only available as a promo throughthe record label, so I ended up writing to SLUG and asking if they'd sellme their copy. I can't remember if I paid for it or not, but they did send it tome." Seems like an interesting tie between Salt Lake City and one of thetrailblazers of the independent doom and drone movement in the UnitedStatesbut that's not Anderson's only tie to Salt Lake.

It's virtually impossible to stay on task when talking with Anderson and hispartner-in-crimeSalt Lake City's own Gentry Densleyabout their currentproject, ASCEND, without bringing up the duo's other projects. However, whenone considers the core of the band are musicians who've played in such outfitsas Engine Kid, Goatsnake, SunnO))), Burial Chamber Trio, Iceburn, EagleTwin and Form of Rocket, it's almost understandable. Add some extremelyinteresting guest musicians in the form of local hero Andy Patterson, jazz prodigySteve Moore, and the outright Hungarian weirdness of Atilla Cshiar to the debutrelease on Anderson's own Southern Lord Records, and it makes for one hell ofa listen and an equally interesting conversation.

Densley and Anderson became acquainted way back in the hardcore glory daysof the late 1980s. Anderson was a part of hardcore legends Brotherhoodand Densley a member of Better Way and both bands played a show withthe Accused. Fast-forward a few years and one finds Densley frontingthe extraordinarily influential Iceburn and Anderson masterminding hisown under-the-radar project, Engine Kid. Both bands were signed toCalifornia's Revelation Records, and both bands were extremelyunder-promoted by the same due to each band being ... well ...a bit too "weird" for the softy-hardcore masses of the early-andmid-1990s. The relationship between the bands culminated in therelease of a split LP by Revelation, which was almost criminallyoverlooked by masses of tough guys, Hare Krishnas and punkpurists.

Anderson and Densley had expressed interest in doing aproject together as far back as the Revelation days, but thetwo just never really seemed to be in thesame place at the same time, and bothhad their own individual musicaldirections to focus on. "I tried toplant the seed 5 or 6 years ago,"says Andy Patterson, SaltLake resident and guestmusician on the debutASCEND release. "I'mnot taking credit forthis pairing at all, butI've known Andersonand Densley for along time, and I startedbugging Densley to pairup with Anderson andsee what wouldPhoto: Phil Petrocellicome about." As it happened, it wasn't until midway through 2007almost20 years after their first meetingthat the two were finally able to convene inthe same place at the same time and with the same directive: to make heavy,beautiful and extremely cerebral music, that most casual listeners would almostinevitably shun.

"I had a ton of different ideas for a name for the project," says Densley. "Whenwe originally convened, the most logical name seemed to be SunnO)))Burn, orsomething to that affect. Eventually, Greg suggested we call it Ascension. Thiswas a problem because I was already extremely aware of another little-knownband by that name, so we ended up shortening it to 'Ascend'."

"We paid extreme attention to detail with the release we mixed the entirething with Randall Dunn up in Seattle. We were able to take recordings fromPatterson's studio here in Salt Lake as well as the studio we recorded at in LosAngeles to him and we all weeded through everything to make the best recordwe could."

He's not kidding

The record plays like a strangesort of doom opera. To a casualmusic aficionado, it could easilybe described as "repellant." Tothe individual who ultimatelyseeks a deeper feeling frommusic than what is shoveddown their throat on mass radio,it's a most welcome changeof direction. The final productwas put together in almost amad-scientist type of way: itwas approached as a creativeprocess as opposed to therecording and regurgitation ofpre-written tracks. Instruments onthe record vary from Anderson'sdrone/doom guitars to Densley'salmost jazz-like heaviness totrombone and Wurlitzer, addinginsane layers to a recordingthat is as lush and beautifulas anything in the last century."We just came back from LosAngeles, actually. We recordedsome new stuff, and one of thetracks is going to be used as abonus track on the Japaneserelease of the record. We did abunch of stuff down there, andthere is a lot more solid visionfor the project than there wasinitially," says Densley. While'solid' would not necessarily bea word I would personally useto describe a project made upof musicians that are not onlyup to their armpits in their ownprojects, let alone people whodon't live in the same state (orcountry in Atilla's case) theend result is amazingly solidsounding.Not bad for somethingthat essentially arose due to awell-timed vacation.

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