James ‘Jimbob’ Isaac is back with a new project, Silverburn, more than five years after he closed the door on Hark. Rich Holmes caught up with the multi-instrumentalist and visual artist to talk pandemic inspiration, 90s hardcore, returning to the festival fray and more…
DIY haircuts.
Those infernal Zoon work quizzes.
Right Said Fred’s political career.
Yep, the pandemic lockdowns spawned some bad – and some frankly bizarre – shit.
But there were some positives.
For many artists, the enforced downtime proved to be a creative catalyst.
In the case of James ‘Jimbob’ Isaac, the man behind UK metal outfits Taint and Hark, it jumpstarted a stalled musical journey.
His new project, Silverburn, rose from the pandemic years. A debut album, Self Induced Transcendental Annihilation (SITA), drops this month. And it’s Isaac’s first record since Hark’s Machinations was released in 2017…
Yes, he’s been busy producing sought-after artwork for a range of clients (Damnation Festival, Clutch and Converge among them) and is an accomplished tattooist. The guy likes to keep a few plates spinning.
But Isaac admits that he hadn’t played guitar, or made any kind of music, for two and a half years, following the end of Hark.
For someone so active in the metal scene since Taint emerged from Swansea in the 90s, it seems like a long time out.
So what changed?
“It was a really positive, constructive thing to feel a bit of those ‘apocalypse’ type vibes,” says Isaac of Silverburn’s birth in the 2020 lockdown winter. “It was inspiring, like ‘fuck it, it’s now or never, because you never know what’s around the corner’. I’d gone through a lot by that point anyway.”
Another creative spur came from the unlikely direction of Brazil…
“Eloy Casagrande, the Sepultura drummer, was sharing little drum jamming clips, and he was encouraging his followers to create some jam music on top of his drums,” Isaac explains. “I did three clips of those, which was super fun, and he reshared one of them. I also did a full length Sepultura cover song (Inner Self) with some of his drum tracks.
“It made me realise that I needed to pull my finger out on learning home recording software and hardware. I’d been slacking on that stuff for years!
“I just started writing really intuitively and very much with that ‘no fucks’ attitude. It was such a surprise to discover how potent the recording software is. It was like, ‘oh my god, this is a whole new era for me’. It was massively empowering.”
He continues: “It all just developed from there. It was a two and a half year process overall, including the artwork and some of the video work.
“I’m doing everything for this as I always have done in the previous bands.
“The writing was very authentic. A good song writes itself organically. It tells you what it needs if you’re actually listening. The music comes from within, from my DNA.”
Did learning the home recording ropes give him a sense of freedom?
“Yeah, definitely,” replies Isaac. “I’ve always been somewhat of a drummer, on and off.
“I realised I could create my own organic digital drum tracks to at least demo the entire album with. I then figured out how I could train myself up on my physical drumming to be able to play what I had written digitally. It was a kid in a candy shop thing!
“I’ve always wanted to improve my drumming, without just joining someone else’s band, so it was like, ‘right, I can do it this way’ and just write the drums and write the album as one cohesive collection of songs, and then get my body to match my mind when it came to being able to physically drum it.”
Sounds like a plan.
But that process didn’t come easy for Isaac.
He spent a year practising drums and shifting his kit back and forth from his flat to a rehearsal room: “It was a lot of work, like going out and chopping wood.”
A new direction for Jimbob Isaac?
SITA is an angular, jarring collision of noise rock and metallic hardcore, typified by intense, shock and awe assaults. Annihilation, the first single to be taken from the album, is a case in point.
It ain’t pretty.
And while it bears the hallmarks, of Isaac’s inventive songcraft, Silverburn feels very different to Taint and Hark’s progressive forays into sludge metal.
SITA was heavily influenced by Swiss math/sludge act Knut and is dedicated to their singer, Didier Séverin, who sadly passed away last year. “I was missing Knut so much as friends and as a band, that some of their influence really came on to the album,” Isaac reveals.
And New York noisemongers Unsane, mathcore luminaries Botch, hardcore heavyweights Earth Crisis also spring to mind when absorbing SITA.
In many ways, it’s a trip back in time.
Isaac sheds more light on Silverburn’s influences: “I’ve always loved some of the more gnarly metallic crossover, hardcore, metal, noise rock bands.
“Some of those noise rock, discordant influences have always been in my playing, and the songwriting in my previous bands, but there’s definitely a more metallic ‘chug’ edge to this.
“Every era we go through is formative. But for me, the early to mid-90s and the early to mid-2000s. were crucial. There are core influences (in Silverburn) from both of those periods.
“Over the last few years, I have spent a lot of spare time driving to the beach, finally attempting to learn how to surf and playing loads and 90s CDs, like Victory Records compilations, plus some Relapse and Hydra Head stuff. Those comps and New York City Hardcore: The Way It Is, on Revelation – which was around at a similar time – were massive gateways. They really shaped me.
“It all comes from there, really. I could be playing some Life of Agony, next to some Botch, next to some Crowbar, next to some Dead Guy.
“So it’s those noisy, underground, hardcore/metal crossover vibes, plus the more progressive side of things from the early to mid-2000s. It’s just a celebration of that stuff.
“However, a few friends have said they can tell Silverburn is from me, which is reassuring!
“My tastes have always been really varied. I was always a little bit uncomfortable with how much Taint and Hark were pegged into that ‘stoner rock’ arena.
“Both bands had their own different things going on, and a bit more identity than your average stoner rock band.”
The stage beckons…
You might have spotted Isaac singing Impetus with Clutch during their last UK tour, but he’s been largely absent from the live arena since Hark’s demise.
That’s about to change.
He’s now gearing up for an album launch show on August 12 at The Bunkhouse in Swansea, followed by Silverburn’s appearance at ArcTanGent the following weekend… and a slot supporting Mutoid Man in Bristol this September.
He’ll be joined by drummer Adam French Henderson and bassist Ross Barrington in the live version of Silverburn.
Was he itching to get back in front of the crowds?
“No. I’ve enjoyed lots of time away from my music during and after the lockdowns, and I have been very selective about what I will do. I needed a lot of time out from the entire environment.
“However, playing live is the natural evolution of this project and the closer it gets, the more there has been an authentic ‘building up’ of wanting to do it. But I’ve certainly not been itching to do it. In fact, I’m almost surprised that it has come to this.”
That said, he’s still excited about the prospect of unleashing the likes of Simulacreality and Vita Potentia Animus through a speaker stack.
“Adam and Ross are very strong players,” he affirms. “We are ready to crush skulls!”
It’s going to be one step at a time, though, for Silverburn.
Isaac doesn’t have a grand plan or an endless to-do list.
The future will be on his own terms.
“I’m sure we’ll be open to opportunities, but only as long as everything is organic and nothing feels forced, or is based on ‘we have to do this’,” he explains. “I’ve done that in the past and it can become ultimately destructive.
“You have got to be kind to yourself.”
Self Induced Transcendental Annihilation is out on August 11 via MSH Music Group.
Check out our review of Annihilation here.
Silverburn photo by Chris Treseder.