Behead The Prophet No Lord Shall Live

Michael Griffen passed away on January 7th, 2008. I'll openly acknowledge that his passing lit the fire under my ass to actually get this blog up and going. In a week where Pitchforkmedia reported about the death of the grandmother of someone in Fiery Furnaces, Michael's death was ignored (even after I emailed a notice to their news department). Perhaps Michael's bands, Noggin and Behead The Prophet No Lord Shall Live, were just off the radar for a bunch of neo-yuppie Chicagoans. I certainly don't want to claim that one person's life was more important than another's, but I do hope that someone's creative output will last beyond their years. I guess that's why it breaks my heart that of the passing of two seniors, a supposedly creative community finds the death of a relative to a minor music celebrity more newsworthy than the death of a true artist. Behead The Prophet was definitely on my radar. And they definitely had an enormous impact on me.

Michael played the violin like no one else. It was a screeching, squalling mess. Yet somehow it fit into the blitzkrieg of Behead The Prophet. In a band with such frantic orchestrated energy, it was the instrument that actually plunged headfirst into total chaos. The strange thing was that Michael really did seem in control of his instrument. He knew how to play the damned thing. He just also happened to know how to get some really abrasive sounds out of it as well.

Behead The Prophet were truly a spectacle. Michael was clearly over twice as old as everyone else in the band. He had a bit of a mad scientist aura about him. This bespectacled man was bald on top but he had these huge wisps of hair that would pop out like tentacles when they started playing. Yet there was no novelty in his presence. They were a band full of strange looking people. They didn't seem like they should be musicians, let alone in a band together. Joshua Plague fronted BTP. Despite the 4/5 heterosexual status of the band, it was Joshua's out and in-yr-face lyrics and stage persona that placed BTP in the "homocore" canon. How many punk bands comprised of both gay men and retirees name themselves after Deicide songs? Their shows were strange amalgams of theatrics, sharp banter, and rowdy full-throttle discord. The performances often had themes: sometimes it would be just a color, or a more involved concept such as "Through The Looking Glass". Either way, every show was a seperate entity. The only guarantee was that the audience would be dragged into the mess. I remember seeing them play back in '97 in a big rock club in Tacoma as part of a hardcore festival. The specifics are a little hazy, but I imagine that there were too many bands on the bill. I do, however, remember that all the bands were of the typical masculine mosh variety. Every band asked for the lights to be dimmed. Every band played with their backs to the audience as if they were ashamed that they were on such a big stage. Then Behead The Prophet took the stage. Before a note was played, Joshua asked for "all the lights, all the strobes, and smoke if you have it." The band then launched into their first song in an explosion of flashing lights and fog. Seriously, that lighting guy must have been waiting all his life for that moment, and he went for it. The next 20 minutes was just sensory overload. And strangely enough, the hardcore kids ate it up. The audience rushed the stage, carrying various members on the crowd while they were playing.

Behead The Prophet No Lord Shall Live put out four records: a self-titled 7", the "I Am That Great and Fiery Force" LP, a split 7" with Thrones, and the "Making Craters Where Buildings Stood" 7". They're all worthy investments, but certainly don't compare to the live experience. Unfortunately thhe band dismantled around the time of the millineum, so these slabs of vinyl are all that remain. Members went on to play in Tight Bros From Way Back When, Lords of Lightspeed, Nudity, and The LIght Year.

Thanks for the music, Michael.