Saturday, April 16, 2011
chrome-half machine lip moves
Half Machine Lip Moves is the third studio album by the American Experimental rock band Chrome, released on 1979 through Siren Songs.
1. "TV as Eyes" 2:19
2. "Zombie Warfare (Can't Let You Down)" 5:47
3. "March of the Chrome Police (A Cold Clamey Bombing)" 3:38
4. "You've Been Duplicated" 2:38
5. "Mondo Anthem" Creed, Edge, Spain 3:33
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Half Machine Lip Moves" 5:21
2. "Abstract Nympho" 3:35
3. "Turned Around" 2:01
4. "Zero Time" 3:04
5. "Creature Eternal" 1:53
6. "Critical Mass" 2:00
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mynmm1znkmi
Anti Fade: Chrome’s Helios Creed Marches On By: Tim Shea Stomp and Stammer Magazine Fall 2008
Anti Fade: Chrome’s Helios Creed Marches On
By: Tim Shea
Stomp and Stammer Magazine
Fall 2008
Helios Creed was, along with Damon Edge, for all intents and purposes, Chrome. The first album on which guitarist Creed joined Edge (drums, synthesizer) was actually the San Francisco-based band's second release, Alien Soundtracks, from late 1977. The duo, periodically and sturdily assisted by various other players, went on to do another five albums and an EP together before Creed left in 1983 to pursue a solo career, debuting with his first album on his own – X-Rated Fairy Tales – in 1985. By '89 he was backed by the Amphetamine Reptile label for his third album, The Last Laugh, and became a major part of the burgeoning noise-rock scene of the late '80s/early '90s. After Edge's death from heart failure in 1995, Creed began using the Chrome name again alongside his own (Edge himself had worked under the Chrome banner for a number of underwhelming post-Creed albums in the '80s and '90s). Today, 55-year-old Helios Creed – whether operating solo, with a revamped Chrome or under the more electronic-oriented Dark Matter cloak – continues to make albums true-to his original vision, never straying too far from the original esthetic laid down by Chrome in the late '70s.
Chrome were one of those bands that added so much to the vocabulary and syntax of pop music that it's hard not to overestimate it. Still, their name is largely unknown beyond underground circles. They added electronic experimentation to metal and punk, creating an abrasive mixture between the acidic space-rock approach of bands like Hawkwind and the rawer sounds of the spiky ripped-shirt underground music of the time, pre-dating the Industrial (Music) Revolution while becoming one of its earliest sculptors. Like only a small handful of bands, they offered an utterly original vision, inspiring a significant thrall of cyberpunks and clatter-heads in the years to follow. Without their sound to draw from, countless sub-genres – never mind bands – would have sounded very different.
You grew up in Hawaii right?
My family moved to Hawaii when I was in the 9th grade and I lived there until I was 20. Before that we lived in different places in CA. My father was an electronic technician in the Navy . . . working on nukes [laughs]
What music did you listen to growing up?
As a little kid we had a radio in our living room. The first music that I remember liking was Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog." My brother and I would run and jump around the house to it when I was around 3-5 years old [laughs] The artist that I was a really big fan of was Jimi Hendrix. The first time I heard him was on the car radio on the way to a dentist appointment that my mom was driving me to. I would go to see more of the psychedelic bands of the time like Iron Butterfly, Pink Floyd. Then, of course when the punk scene happened I liked a lot of that . . . the Sex Pistols, the Ramones.
How did you come to start playing with Damon Edge?
I was trying to get a band together for a long time, playing really out there psychedelic stuff, but I could only find all these boring hippies who wanted to play the blues. How boring! I moved to San Francisco and had basically a solo project with Gary Spain playing violin. He was telling me about this band that he was in called Chrome who he played bass in that had just recorded an album [Chrome's debut, The Visitation, 1977]. When if was released I listened to it and there were a couple of songs I liked but not many. Everyone in the band quit because the album didn't sell at all. I asked Gary who it was in the band that was playing the drum tracks backwards and adding some of the more strange elements and he told me it was Damon so I said "Alright – that's who I gotta work with," and convinced him he needed me on guitar! [laughs]. He. played me some of the tapes he had and we compiled pieces of them along with new songs and released it as Alien Soundtracks in late 1977.
Didn't Alien Soundtracks come out in 1978?
No, it was late '77. We self released it and it didn't start picking up notice until early '78, but I was driving them to be mailed in late '77.
What was the band then?
Gary Spain played bass on a few tracks, but other than that it was Damon and I. Gary left the band shortly after and Damon and I carried on just the two of us. We hired the Stench brothers [John and Hillary] to play rhythm section to try to make a more filled out sound.
What was the distribution like for Alien Soundtracks?
Before we signed to Beggar's Banquet [for Red Exposure, 1980] we self released everything. We distributed all over the world. I would make weekly trips to the airport in a station wagon and ship them myself.
There seemed like quite a shift in sound for Red Exposure.
Yeah, we were working in a more expensive studio and wanted to experiment with cleaning up the sound while still keeping things very psychedelic.
It reminds me of Cabaret Voltaire's first album. Were you listening to them?
Sure, I was listening to a lot of those bands.
You have one of the most unique and immediately recognizable guitar styles. What were the main influences on your guitar style, apart from Hendrix, who you've already mentioned?
A bunch of different punk rock guitarists. Snakefinger, Tom Herman (from Pere Ubu), Jeff Beck. There's really a thousand guitar players . . . I can't think of them all.
I think of Chrome and Pere Ubu as probably the too most out there and influential bands of the immediate post-punk era. What did you think of Ubu's music?
Oh, I loved it! I used to listen to them all the time. I got kicked out of the apartment I had at the time for blasting The Modern Dance at three in the morning! [laughs]
Why did you and Damon split?
Damon didn't want to tour and I did. I think he was sort of insecure about not being perceived as the front man in the band. I was singing and playing guitar and he was playing synth. It was an ego thing with him, which was too bad. So I decided to go solo.
Chrome only played two live shows right?
Yeah, we played a festival in Italy in '82 in front of a few thousand people and then the Beyond Broadway club in San Francisco in front of about 600 people about a month later.
Was it hard starting out solo, getting recognition?
Yeah, it was! Nobody knew who Helios Creed was even though my name was on all the Chrome albums. Everyone knew who Chrome was but not Helios Creed. When I played my first solo show at the same place where just a couple of years before there were lines around the block for Chrome I had exactly one person in the audience for me! [laughs] My solo career didn't start to take off until the early '90s really.
When you were on Amphetamine Reptile?
Yeah.
How did label owner Tom Hazelmeyer treat you?
He paid for the recordings, which was great because some of those recordings were expensive to make. Not by industry standards, but for an
underground artist they were. We were his biggest selling artist on the label before the Cows got bigger, so it worked out.
Are you still in contact with anyone from all those bands from back then?
Not many, actually. I really wonder what happened to a lot of those guys. I mean, all those bands . . . I wonder what they're all doing now.
Yeah, a lot of the noise-rock bands seemed to have all folded in '95 – '96.
Things changed. After Nirvana got big, instead of ushering in all this interest in the whole [noise rock] scene it wiped out the whole scene. I remember talking with Kurt [Cobain] and he wanted to get weird, like the [Butthole] Surfers were doing. We were too weird [to be a part of the major label band grab of the era] anyway! [laughs]
Have you considered collaborating with anyone? Jim Thirlwell, say, for instance?
We were going to at one point. I was going to do the bottom tracks for one of his albums, but it was a bad time for me so it just fell apart. I've asked to tour with a lot of those guys, just to give me more exposure, but none have taken me up on it. Which kind of makes sense from their perspective [laughs].
Since Chrome never toured, how much exposure did you have among the bands – say from England – that were doing similar music as Chrome in the early '80s?
I was a little shy, but I would walk backstage and introduce myself to a lot of the bands that came to San Francisco touring. They had never heard of me, but once I said "Chrome" they were like. "Oh yeah – Chrome!" [laughs]
Everyone I've spoken with from that time, like Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke and John Halvorsen of Bailter Space, for instance, have told me they thought very highly of Chrome.
I used to love Killing Joke. Those early albums were great!
Apart from the Star Bar show you did in 2003, have you ever played Atlanta before?
We played that place that has several rooms like "Purgatory," "Hell," I can't remember the name . . .
The Masquerade.
Yeah! The Masquerade. We played there about four times, years ago.
Will you be releasing a new album anytime soon?
I have one about half finished but this year has been tough, a lot on my mind . . . I've been under some stress this past year as my parents both died. They were getting up in years and both died of natural causes . . . It's been rough.
By: Tim Shea
Stomp and Stammer Magazine
Fall 2008
Helios Creed was, along with Damon Edge, for all intents and purposes, Chrome. The first album on which guitarist Creed joined Edge (drums, synthesizer) was actually the San Francisco-based band's second release, Alien Soundtracks, from late 1977. The duo, periodically and sturdily assisted by various other players, went on to do another five albums and an EP together before Creed left in 1983 to pursue a solo career, debuting with his first album on his own – X-Rated Fairy Tales – in 1985. By '89 he was backed by the Amphetamine Reptile label for his third album, The Last Laugh, and became a major part of the burgeoning noise-rock scene of the late '80s/early '90s. After Edge's death from heart failure in 1995, Creed began using the Chrome name again alongside his own (Edge himself had worked under the Chrome banner for a number of underwhelming post-Creed albums in the '80s and '90s). Today, 55-year-old Helios Creed – whether operating solo, with a revamped Chrome or under the more electronic-oriented Dark Matter cloak – continues to make albums true-to his original vision, never straying too far from the original esthetic laid down by Chrome in the late '70s.
Chrome were one of those bands that added so much to the vocabulary and syntax of pop music that it's hard not to overestimate it. Still, their name is largely unknown beyond underground circles. They added electronic experimentation to metal and punk, creating an abrasive mixture between the acidic space-rock approach of bands like Hawkwind and the rawer sounds of the spiky ripped-shirt underground music of the time, pre-dating the Industrial (Music) Revolution while becoming one of its earliest sculptors. Like only a small handful of bands, they offered an utterly original vision, inspiring a significant thrall of cyberpunks and clatter-heads in the years to follow. Without their sound to draw from, countless sub-genres – never mind bands – would have sounded very different.
You grew up in Hawaii right?
My family moved to Hawaii when I was in the 9th grade and I lived there until I was 20. Before that we lived in different places in CA. My father was an electronic technician in the Navy . . . working on nukes [laughs]
What music did you listen to growing up?
As a little kid we had a radio in our living room. The first music that I remember liking was Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog." My brother and I would run and jump around the house to it when I was around 3-5 years old [laughs] The artist that I was a really big fan of was Jimi Hendrix. The first time I heard him was on the car radio on the way to a dentist appointment that my mom was driving me to. I would go to see more of the psychedelic bands of the time like Iron Butterfly, Pink Floyd. Then, of course when the punk scene happened I liked a lot of that . . . the Sex Pistols, the Ramones.
How did you come to start playing with Damon Edge?
I was trying to get a band together for a long time, playing really out there psychedelic stuff, but I could only find all these boring hippies who wanted to play the blues. How boring! I moved to San Francisco and had basically a solo project with Gary Spain playing violin. He was telling me about this band that he was in called Chrome who he played bass in that had just recorded an album [Chrome's debut, The Visitation, 1977]. When if was released I listened to it and there were a couple of songs I liked but not many. Everyone in the band quit because the album didn't sell at all. I asked Gary who it was in the band that was playing the drum tracks backwards and adding some of the more strange elements and he told me it was Damon so I said "Alright – that's who I gotta work with," and convinced him he needed me on guitar! [laughs]. He. played me some of the tapes he had and we compiled pieces of them along with new songs and released it as Alien Soundtracks in late 1977.
Didn't Alien Soundtracks come out in 1978?
No, it was late '77. We self released it and it didn't start picking up notice until early '78, but I was driving them to be mailed in late '77.
What was the band then?
Gary Spain played bass on a few tracks, but other than that it was Damon and I. Gary left the band shortly after and Damon and I carried on just the two of us. We hired the Stench brothers [John and Hillary] to play rhythm section to try to make a more filled out sound.
What was the distribution like for Alien Soundtracks?
Before we signed to Beggar's Banquet [for Red Exposure, 1980] we self released everything. We distributed all over the world. I would make weekly trips to the airport in a station wagon and ship them myself.
There seemed like quite a shift in sound for Red Exposure.
Yeah, we were working in a more expensive studio and wanted to experiment with cleaning up the sound while still keeping things very psychedelic.
It reminds me of Cabaret Voltaire's first album. Were you listening to them?
Sure, I was listening to a lot of those bands.
You have one of the most unique and immediately recognizable guitar styles. What were the main influences on your guitar style, apart from Hendrix, who you've already mentioned?
A bunch of different punk rock guitarists. Snakefinger, Tom Herman (from Pere Ubu), Jeff Beck. There's really a thousand guitar players . . . I can't think of them all.
I think of Chrome and Pere Ubu as probably the too most out there and influential bands of the immediate post-punk era. What did you think of Ubu's music?
Oh, I loved it! I used to listen to them all the time. I got kicked out of the apartment I had at the time for blasting The Modern Dance at three in the morning! [laughs]
Why did you and Damon split?
Damon didn't want to tour and I did. I think he was sort of insecure about not being perceived as the front man in the band. I was singing and playing guitar and he was playing synth. It was an ego thing with him, which was too bad. So I decided to go solo.
Chrome only played two live shows right?
Yeah, we played a festival in Italy in '82 in front of a few thousand people and then the Beyond Broadway club in San Francisco in front of about 600 people about a month later.
Was it hard starting out solo, getting recognition?
Yeah, it was! Nobody knew who Helios Creed was even though my name was on all the Chrome albums. Everyone knew who Chrome was but not Helios Creed. When I played my first solo show at the same place where just a couple of years before there were lines around the block for Chrome I had exactly one person in the audience for me! [laughs] My solo career didn't start to take off until the early '90s really.
When you were on Amphetamine Reptile?
Yeah.
How did label owner Tom Hazelmeyer treat you?
He paid for the recordings, which was great because some of those recordings were expensive to make. Not by industry standards, but for an
underground artist they were. We were his biggest selling artist on the label before the Cows got bigger, so it worked out.
Are you still in contact with anyone from all those bands from back then?
Not many, actually. I really wonder what happened to a lot of those guys. I mean, all those bands . . . I wonder what they're all doing now.
Yeah, a lot of the noise-rock bands seemed to have all folded in '95 – '96.
Things changed. After Nirvana got big, instead of ushering in all this interest in the whole [noise rock] scene it wiped out the whole scene. I remember talking with Kurt [Cobain] and he wanted to get weird, like the [Butthole] Surfers were doing. We were too weird [to be a part of the major label band grab of the era] anyway! [laughs]
Have you considered collaborating with anyone? Jim Thirlwell, say, for instance?
We were going to at one point. I was going to do the bottom tracks for one of his albums, but it was a bad time for me so it just fell apart. I've asked to tour with a lot of those guys, just to give me more exposure, but none have taken me up on it. Which kind of makes sense from their perspective [laughs].
Since Chrome never toured, how much exposure did you have among the bands – say from England – that were doing similar music as Chrome in the early '80s?
I was a little shy, but I would walk backstage and introduce myself to a lot of the bands that came to San Francisco touring. They had never heard of me, but once I said "Chrome" they were like. "Oh yeah – Chrome!" [laughs]
Everyone I've spoken with from that time, like Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke and John Halvorsen of Bailter Space, for instance, have told me they thought very highly of Chrome.
I used to love Killing Joke. Those early albums were great!
Apart from the Star Bar show you did in 2003, have you ever played Atlanta before?
We played that place that has several rooms like "Purgatory," "Hell," I can't remember the name . . .
The Masquerade.
Yeah! The Masquerade. We played there about four times, years ago.
Will you be releasing a new album anytime soon?
I have one about half finished but this year has been tough, a lot on my mind . . . I've been under some stress this past year as my parents both died. They were getting up in years and both died of natural causes . . . It's been rough.
Interview with Helios Creed By: Chuck Key It's Dagger Zine Issue III
August-September 2008
While many musicians try to stretch out their 15 minutes of fame with ‘old standards’ from their glory days, Helios Creed has managed to write at least one album a year of great original material since the 70’s. He was ½ the core of the rock group CHROME during what most fans refer to affectionately as ‘the Helios era’ (a.k.a. the good stuff) and he has led a successful solo career spanning over 20 years. When his album DEEP BLUE LOVE VACUUM was released in 2006, it was heralded as his ‘best work to date’. That’s an impressive compliment considering that in 1985 his first solo effort X-RATED FAIRY TALES (and every release since has carried the same description. He recently took some time to answer a few questions from Chuckket for IT’S DAGGER…
CHUCKkey: A write for Trouser Press described you as ‘someone who likely has more acid in his system than a Sears Die-Hard.’ How accurate is that statement?
HELIOS CREED: I think people listen to the music and decide that this guy must take a lot of acid to get his music like that. I’m just really one of those people that is into the psychedelic culture and always have been since I was a kid. That doesn’t mean I must take acid while I record music or play live. It’s for the people to do the acid and listen if they’d like, and experience the nice work that I have made for them, and enjoy those 3 dimensional songs that have depth and created a picture in your mind. Rather than a flat two dimensional song that says very little or nothing. But yes I have done acid but its been a while..
CK: When Chrome released ALIEN SOUNDTRACKS back in 1978, California was starting to gather a large ‘punk’ scene who’s music sounded much different than what you guys were playing. How were the first couple of albums received by the scene in California at the time, and was it what you had expected?
HC: It was accepted very well. And I didn’t think they would accept us. I was very happy about that.
CK: Fast forwarding to more recent times, there have been several ‘new’ CHROME releases including ‘RETRO TRANSMISSION’ and ‘ANGEL OF THE CLOUDS’. It’s no secret that many Chrome fans did not think Damon had left a very impressive legacy for Chrome after you went solo. Were the new Chrome recordings based on any obligations you felt you had to the Chrome name after Damon’s passing or were they based on ideas you had always intended to record with Chrome in the 80’s? Are there any future Chrome releases in the works?
HC: No, I will make no more Chrome records. But don’t forget Ghost Machine. It was the second to last Chrome I made. Angel of The Clouds is my last. And yes I had a need to end Chrome the way I felt would complete the story for Damon and I.
CK: I’ve never caught a live Helios Creed show, but I understand that you still tour whenever you possibly can. When is the next tour starting, and is there any chance of Helios Creed touring the east coast?
HC: Yes, I’m working on a nation wide fall tour. And if all goes well it will happen, spread the word. It will be booked as Chrome/Helios Creed, we will play half Chrome stuff and Helios stuff. It has been going over very well, because you get the best of both. It’s made for everyone who likes either or both, I love to do it this way.
CK: A lot of bands doctor their sound in the studio and can never pull it off the same way during a live set; All of the live recordings I’ve heard of your songs sound almost identical to the studio work. How many effects pedals and processors do you have to carry along to pull off a typical show?
HC: Trade secret. No itwould take forever for me to tell you everything. But I will say, I think its very important your live stuff resembles the recordings. That’s professional. And that’s a word you don’t hear very much these days.
CK: It’s been a while since DEEP BLUE LOVE VACUUM was released; When can we expect the next Helios Creed album?
HC: I’m working on one now. It will be finished soon.
CK: It seems that over the years you have accumulated enough points to be considered a ‘rock legend’, yet you seem pretty humble about it. Could you ever have imagined yourself doing anything else in life outside of rock and roll, like selling insurance or managing a Wal-Mart?
HC: No never, I’d rather be dead.
While many musicians try to stretch out their 15 minutes of fame with ‘old standards’ from their glory days, Helios Creed has managed to write at least one album a year of great original material since the 70’s. He was ½ the core of the rock group CHROME during what most fans refer to affectionately as ‘the Helios era’ (a.k.a. the good stuff) and he has led a successful solo career spanning over 20 years. When his album DEEP BLUE LOVE VACUUM was released in 2006, it was heralded as his ‘best work to date’. That’s an impressive compliment considering that in 1985 his first solo effort X-RATED FAIRY TALES (and every release since has carried the same description. He recently took some time to answer a few questions from Chuckket for IT’S DAGGER…
CHUCKkey: A write for Trouser Press described you as ‘someone who likely has more acid in his system than a Sears Die-Hard.’ How accurate is that statement?
HELIOS CREED: I think people listen to the music and decide that this guy must take a lot of acid to get his music like that. I’m just really one of those people that is into the psychedelic culture and always have been since I was a kid. That doesn’t mean I must take acid while I record music or play live. It’s for the people to do the acid and listen if they’d like, and experience the nice work that I have made for them, and enjoy those 3 dimensional songs that have depth and created a picture in your mind. Rather than a flat two dimensional song that says very little or nothing. But yes I have done acid but its been a while..
CK: When Chrome released ALIEN SOUNDTRACKS back in 1978, California was starting to gather a large ‘punk’ scene who’s music sounded much different than what you guys were playing. How were the first couple of albums received by the scene in California at the time, and was it what you had expected?
HC: It was accepted very well. And I didn’t think they would accept us. I was very happy about that.
CK: Fast forwarding to more recent times, there have been several ‘new’ CHROME releases including ‘RETRO TRANSMISSION’ and ‘ANGEL OF THE CLOUDS’. It’s no secret that many Chrome fans did not think Damon had left a very impressive legacy for Chrome after you went solo. Were the new Chrome recordings based on any obligations you felt you had to the Chrome name after Damon’s passing or were they based on ideas you had always intended to record with Chrome in the 80’s? Are there any future Chrome releases in the works?
HC: No, I will make no more Chrome records. But don’t forget Ghost Machine. It was the second to last Chrome I made. Angel of The Clouds is my last. And yes I had a need to end Chrome the way I felt would complete the story for Damon and I.
CK: I’ve never caught a live Helios Creed show, but I understand that you still tour whenever you possibly can. When is the next tour starting, and is there any chance of Helios Creed touring the east coast?
HC: Yes, I’m working on a nation wide fall tour. And if all goes well it will happen, spread the word. It will be booked as Chrome/Helios Creed, we will play half Chrome stuff and Helios stuff. It has been going over very well, because you get the best of both. It’s made for everyone who likes either or both, I love to do it this way.
CK: A lot of bands doctor their sound in the studio and can never pull it off the same way during a live set; All of the live recordings I’ve heard of your songs sound almost identical to the studio work. How many effects pedals and processors do you have to carry along to pull off a typical show?
HC: Trade secret. No itwould take forever for me to tell you everything. But I will say, I think its very important your live stuff resembles the recordings. That’s professional. And that’s a word you don’t hear very much these days.
CK: It’s been a while since DEEP BLUE LOVE VACUUM was released; When can we expect the next Helios Creed album?
HC: I’m working on one now. It will be finished soon.
CK: It seems that over the years you have accumulated enough points to be considered a ‘rock legend’, yet you seem pretty humble about it. Could you ever have imagined yourself doing anything else in life outside of rock and roll, like selling insurance or managing a Wal-Mart?
HC: No never, I’d rather be dead.
Helios Creed Interview By: Brent Marley Psych Trail Mix Issue #1 Winter 2008
Helios Creed Interview
By: Brent Marley
Psych Trail Mix Issue #1
Winter 2008
Helios Creed was co-founder of Chrome, a band hailing from San Francisco in the late 70's and early 80's that produced some of the most mind warping, other worldly psychedelic music ever. Helios Creed and Damon Edge, being influenced by the punk scene at the time, melded punk with psychedelia, creating some truly unique sounding music way ahead of its time. Helios split from Chrome in the mid 80's and continued his solo career, touring and recording albums ever since.
First off, how long have you been making music?
Recording, or just playing?
Just recording, touring and everything.
Ok, recording umm I'd say since '76. Because I started recording in '76... with Damon.
Ok, with Chrome...
In '77 Alien Soundtracks came out, you see....
So then you've been touring I guess ever since Chrome broke up...
Yeah I've done a lot of touring. I figured I did about 800 shows hahaha...
800 really?
Yeah.
Wow, that's impressive.
Yeah all around the world, I mean it's a rough estimate you know but I sat down and sort of got a rough estimate on how many shows I played in my lifetime. Give or take 50 or 100 shows, I don't know.
That's pretty good, so I guess how many years would that be total, you doing music, recording and touring. 30 some years?
Yeah 31 years, same age as my son.
Right, since you were like 19 or something right?
No, I started Chrome I was around 22.
Oh ok, about a year younger than me.
Yeah.
What were some of your biggest influences growing up as a young Helios Creed?
Jimi Hendrix, Jethro Tull, Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Iggy Pop, Suicide, The Stooges....
How do you feel about the latest album (Deep Blue Love Vacuum), are you satisfied with how it came out?
Well umm pretty much. I mean there's always something that you'd want to change if you could but, you know I'm pretty happy with it.
I hear you've got a new album coming out?
Yeah.
Anything about that, any kind of direction you're going in with that different or?
I can't say because it's not... there's not enough of it to really say what direction it is, but I can tell you there's gonna be a lot of good guitar on it. Guitar lovers will dig it I think.
Guitar lovers will dig it?
Yeah.
Oh ok, that's cool.
I would say because it's got a lot of good guitar work, and I'm going more for songs, vocals, you know...umm.... I want to make a... I wanna just want to make some really good music you know? Then again I wanna totally want to go left field again too. So I wanna do both. That usually entails, in the old days side a would be more accessible, side b would be off the wall.
Right, noise.
Nowadays it's just all one side haha.... but as the cd moves on you will notice the music getting stranger.. and stranger...
I read before that you used to give your albums the acid test, do you still give this test and did Deep Blue pass the test?
Oh yeah yeah.... see I don't need to do acid anymore, you know I can tell. You know, but uh yeah when I start a record I make sure it's acidic hahaha, you know that's where I'm coming from. Nobody else is doing that. I'm making music for acid heads, still after all these years.
Right, people who are still doing it.
Yeah, since '76.... and they said there wasn't a demand for it in '76... There's always a demand for it, because it's counter-culture that will never go away, there will always be a bunch of heads that like tripping and they're gonna want their music, you know.
Right, good music to take it to.
Yeah, so I plan on making that music until I drop dead.
Right, you deliver the goods to all the acid heads.
Yeah, deliver the goods for the acid heads, it's the least I could do. You know and as long as there's somebody out there making some good acid music for the people instead of the mafia with all their strychnine and shit, you know what I mean?
Yeah.
That's what they deserve. Good music and good pure LSD.
I think there's been some pretty good stuff going around lately.
Yeah, like I said, the psychedelic movement never went away, it just went deeply underground, but it will never go away and I suspect someday it will resurface in a big way, because it deals with psychic awareness as well as you know... vision quests, Indians doing mushrooms and peyote, it deals with shaman priests, you know that whole... it's where our counterculture sort of connects with the indigenous cultures. You know what I mean?
Yeah.
So, we can have some kind of culture besides Macy's and Walmart and Mcdonald's.
Best Buy and Burger King and stuff....
Yeah, we can have something else besides that reality.
Right, something a little more real.
I feel.... I always feel like there's a need for a different reality, a different culture.
Yeah, I think in a big way now especially.
Yeah, and not... you know and I'm not knocking the hip hop culture, but not THAT kind of culture you know? Maybe not even a hippie culture, you know? A psychedelic culture that consumes, you know, all those things. Or combines all those things, and consumes it haha. That's where I'm coming from, and I'll be doing that till the day I drop dead.
Well I appreciate that.
Huh?
I appreciate that.
Yeah, and I'm sure Nik Turner's... his view on making space rock.... Of course I would consider our stuff more acid punk.
Right, yeah that's what I like to call it. Anybody asks me how to describe it, I always say acid punk. That's the best way to describe it I think, to me. I feel the same way.
I've always liked that.
Right, aggressive psychedelia withut the you know... peace and love part of it.
Yeah, you can do without the peace and love, let's get real, let's explore some dangerous places as well as happy places.
Right, but always bring us back and not let us get completely lost in the dark side and bring us back with another song I guess after that.
Yeah, you can't learn anything spiritually unless you, unless you, you know go to the dark side and you know learn what there is to, learn that it's not good to lie or steal or fuck people over and do drugs adn waste your body away or whatever you know. Whatever you overdo, I mean... I think it's trying to get people to at least think about the law of karma. What they do will come back on them eventually. That's what I discovered out in... people don't seem to be aware of that in the rest of the country as much as they are in California.
Oh California?
Yeah.
Oh ok.
You know the karma thing.
Right.
I know... everybody thinks it's a lot of fruits and flakes, but you know there's nothing wrong with people trying to be good haha...
Right, definitely I agree. What was it like touring and recording with Nik Turner of Hawkwind?
It was always a blast, you know what I mean? Because I got to play somebody else's music, and experience, play with somebody that played with my biggest idol, Jimi Hendrix you know... play with somebody that's actually hung out, recorded with him, talked to him, got stoned wtih him.
Oh, did Nik Turner do that? I didn't know that.
Yeah, Nik hung out with Jimi and they recorded, or they worked together on something and they got stoned together and they got along pretty well together.
Yeah that's cool. Nik is a great guy, I remember I played with him. He played with a show that we did, for free. Somebody asked him to do it and he said sure I'll play the festival for free.
Yeah, he's not a business man, he's an artist ya know. If he wanted to be a business man, he would've been a doctor or a lawyer, he wouldn't have been in the Nik Turner business haha.
I hear Nik Turner is a pretty wild guy to tour on the road with, do you have any crazy road stories?
Oh yeah, there's tons of crazy road stories.
You can just hit me with one or two if you want, it's no big deal.
Alright, we were going down the street, we see this naked guy, blonde naked guy running down the street, and uh.... with his arms up in the air and wow this is weird, look at that guy man he's running down the street naked. Then we go to our motel and the cops bring this blonde guy to our motel and it's Ziggy, it's Ziggy our light show guy!
Oh yeah I just met him recently.
Yeah, and uh... he was tripping on acid. Yeah, and then one time Del Dettmar got really pissed off, threw a gallon of orange juice up in the air and that's the first thing I noticed was this gallon of orange juice coming down hitting the ground, and him walking off into oblivion. I think it took Ina and Nik like 7 hours to find him or something like that.
That's funny.
Yeah it's just stuff like that, lots of stuff like that, LOTS of stuff like that.
That's cool.
Yeah Nik and Del did acid everday at every show.
Who did that?
You wouldn't believe it but they, somehow they do.
Who does it?
Nik and Del Dettmar.
They did it every show during that tour?
EVERY show they would do a hit of acid.
Wow, I didn't know that.
Yeah.
Did you do it?
No, I was too busy with the band you know? My job was to make sure the band was playing right, you know? It was my drummer and I was sort of helping Tommy get a good guitar sound, so I couldn't have been tripping on acid doing that you know?
Would have been kind of hard to play guitar anyway.
Hahaha... it was good, I enjoyed playing with Nik a lot because he was 54 years old at the time, it was very inspiring, you know? I wouldn't do it again, but I'm glad I have those memories hahahaha
Right, you wouldn't do it again you said?
I don't think I'd do it again. Once is enough. I think we made our mark, and we made a live record, and if people wanna check it out they can go to Cleopatra and ask about it, you know on the internet.
What do you think of current mainstream music?
I don't think about it at all, I don't even know what they're putting on the radio. So I don't know... I guess if I, I'm never in a situation where I have to listen to what's.... I don't have any kids, my kids are all grown up so I don't hear their music. I'm not around any of the young people that listen to the, I don't know. I'm totally useless in that department hahaha... I don't know what's happening, I say yeah there's this one band that I think is pretty cool but I don't know because I don't pay any attention to it. I'm not into the mainstream middle of the road crap. I don't care about you know Paris Hilton or Britney Spears or any of that shit you know, what Hollywood deems is big or whatever.
Yeah it's all a bunch of shit anyway.
I imagine it's hip hop, you know what I mean?
Yeah that's the big thing now pretty much.
I imagine it's still that you know.
Yeah I don't really get it.
Yeah, but I feel like it's fading. I mean I can also feel it's old, it is old. It's been around for what 30 years, 20 years?
Yeah then the comeback though and the old stuff, the old hip hop wasn't so bad.
Like Public Enemy and...
NWA and all that, that wasn't too bad.
What's that other one? Yeah it wasn't so bad, it wasn't so GANGSTA.
Right, you can actually understand what they're saying.
They developed their own music, culture, you know. Gangsta ho's and all that shit.
Nowadays it's just about how much money they have I guess.
Yeah I mean it's... see I don't know very much about it... see my son would know a lot about that scene, my son Alex. He listens to that, he knows what's cool and what's not cool i that scene. If I ever have any questions I'll just call on him.
Just consult Alex or write him on myspace or something.
Haha
What are your hobbies or interests outside of making music?
Model railroading, hiking, boogie boarding, screwing girls, hiking with girls is really fun, of course I already said hiking. Tripping with girls, if they're cool. I need a girl to smoke pot with so... I find I get along with the girl better if she's a pot smoker like me. That's what I think went wrong with Paul Mccartney, his bitch didn't smoke pot hahaha... Yeah I think that created a rift. Yeah if you're a pot smoker and you have a spouse, you should both be into the same thing, and it would be nice if you like the same music.
Right, yeah that helps. Or at least some of it.
Yeah, you know I mean Z and I, I mean we pretty much liked the same music. So that was ok, she had good taste in music and I could deal with her, you know? Haha.. And then after we broke up, I started sharing my place with a new girlfriend, I discovered I hate her music hahaha....You know, I hate what she listens to, it drives me nuts.
What kind was that?
Huh?
What kind of music was it?
You know I really don't know, it's that goat stuff you know? Like, uhh goat music, I think Pearl Jam started it. OHHHH (Helios proceeds to give me his best impression of Eddie Vedder).
Oh no, that's awful!
Goat boy music.
Goat boy music hahaha...
Goat boy, progressive rock, drove me crazy anyway, so I was happy when she actually went... that ended hahahaha.... I realized, wow I can't be with anybody unless we like the same kind of music, because that's gonna drive me fuckin nuts.
By: Brent Marley
Psych Trail Mix Issue #1
Winter 2008
Helios Creed was co-founder of Chrome, a band hailing from San Francisco in the late 70's and early 80's that produced some of the most mind warping, other worldly psychedelic music ever. Helios Creed and Damon Edge, being influenced by the punk scene at the time, melded punk with psychedelia, creating some truly unique sounding music way ahead of its time. Helios split from Chrome in the mid 80's and continued his solo career, touring and recording albums ever since.
First off, how long have you been making music?
Recording, or just playing?
Just recording, touring and everything.
Ok, recording umm I'd say since '76. Because I started recording in '76... with Damon.
Ok, with Chrome...
In '77 Alien Soundtracks came out, you see....
So then you've been touring I guess ever since Chrome broke up...
Yeah I've done a lot of touring. I figured I did about 800 shows hahaha...
800 really?
Yeah.
Wow, that's impressive.
Yeah all around the world, I mean it's a rough estimate you know but I sat down and sort of got a rough estimate on how many shows I played in my lifetime. Give or take 50 or 100 shows, I don't know.
That's pretty good, so I guess how many years would that be total, you doing music, recording and touring. 30 some years?
Yeah 31 years, same age as my son.
Right, since you were like 19 or something right?
No, I started Chrome I was around 22.
Oh ok, about a year younger than me.
Yeah.
What were some of your biggest influences growing up as a young Helios Creed?
Jimi Hendrix, Jethro Tull, Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Iggy Pop, Suicide, The Stooges....
How do you feel about the latest album (Deep Blue Love Vacuum), are you satisfied with how it came out?
Well umm pretty much. I mean there's always something that you'd want to change if you could but, you know I'm pretty happy with it.
I hear you've got a new album coming out?
Yeah.
Anything about that, any kind of direction you're going in with that different or?
I can't say because it's not... there's not enough of it to really say what direction it is, but I can tell you there's gonna be a lot of good guitar on it. Guitar lovers will dig it I think.
Guitar lovers will dig it?
Yeah.
Oh ok, that's cool.
I would say because it's got a lot of good guitar work, and I'm going more for songs, vocals, you know...umm.... I want to make a... I wanna just want to make some really good music you know? Then again I wanna totally want to go left field again too. So I wanna do both. That usually entails, in the old days side a would be more accessible, side b would be off the wall.
Right, noise.
Nowadays it's just all one side haha.... but as the cd moves on you will notice the music getting stranger.. and stranger...
I read before that you used to give your albums the acid test, do you still give this test and did Deep Blue pass the test?
Oh yeah yeah.... see I don't need to do acid anymore, you know I can tell. You know, but uh yeah when I start a record I make sure it's acidic hahaha, you know that's where I'm coming from. Nobody else is doing that. I'm making music for acid heads, still after all these years.
Right, people who are still doing it.
Yeah, since '76.... and they said there wasn't a demand for it in '76... There's always a demand for it, because it's counter-culture that will never go away, there will always be a bunch of heads that like tripping and they're gonna want their music, you know.
Right, good music to take it to.
Yeah, so I plan on making that music until I drop dead.
Right, you deliver the goods to all the acid heads.
Yeah, deliver the goods for the acid heads, it's the least I could do. You know and as long as there's somebody out there making some good acid music for the people instead of the mafia with all their strychnine and shit, you know what I mean?
Yeah.
That's what they deserve. Good music and good pure LSD.
I think there's been some pretty good stuff going around lately.
Yeah, like I said, the psychedelic movement never went away, it just went deeply underground, but it will never go away and I suspect someday it will resurface in a big way, because it deals with psychic awareness as well as you know... vision quests, Indians doing mushrooms and peyote, it deals with shaman priests, you know that whole... it's where our counterculture sort of connects with the indigenous cultures. You know what I mean?
Yeah.
So, we can have some kind of culture besides Macy's and Walmart and Mcdonald's.
Best Buy and Burger King and stuff....
Yeah, we can have something else besides that reality.
Right, something a little more real.
I feel.... I always feel like there's a need for a different reality, a different culture.
Yeah, I think in a big way now especially.
Yeah, and not... you know and I'm not knocking the hip hop culture, but not THAT kind of culture you know? Maybe not even a hippie culture, you know? A psychedelic culture that consumes, you know, all those things. Or combines all those things, and consumes it haha. That's where I'm coming from, and I'll be doing that till the day I drop dead.
Well I appreciate that.
Huh?
I appreciate that.
Yeah, and I'm sure Nik Turner's... his view on making space rock.... Of course I would consider our stuff more acid punk.
Right, yeah that's what I like to call it. Anybody asks me how to describe it, I always say acid punk. That's the best way to describe it I think, to me. I feel the same way.
I've always liked that.
Right, aggressive psychedelia withut the you know... peace and love part of it.
Yeah, you can do without the peace and love, let's get real, let's explore some dangerous places as well as happy places.
Right, but always bring us back and not let us get completely lost in the dark side and bring us back with another song I guess after that.
Yeah, you can't learn anything spiritually unless you, unless you, you know go to the dark side and you know learn what there is to, learn that it's not good to lie or steal or fuck people over and do drugs adn waste your body away or whatever you know. Whatever you overdo, I mean... I think it's trying to get people to at least think about the law of karma. What they do will come back on them eventually. That's what I discovered out in... people don't seem to be aware of that in the rest of the country as much as they are in California.
Oh California?
Yeah.
Oh ok.
You know the karma thing.
Right.
I know... everybody thinks it's a lot of fruits and flakes, but you know there's nothing wrong with people trying to be good haha...
Right, definitely I agree. What was it like touring and recording with Nik Turner of Hawkwind?
It was always a blast, you know what I mean? Because I got to play somebody else's music, and experience, play with somebody that played with my biggest idol, Jimi Hendrix you know... play with somebody that's actually hung out, recorded with him, talked to him, got stoned wtih him.
Oh, did Nik Turner do that? I didn't know that.
Yeah, Nik hung out with Jimi and they recorded, or they worked together on something and they got stoned together and they got along pretty well together.
Yeah that's cool. Nik is a great guy, I remember I played with him. He played with a show that we did, for free. Somebody asked him to do it and he said sure I'll play the festival for free.
Yeah, he's not a business man, he's an artist ya know. If he wanted to be a business man, he would've been a doctor or a lawyer, he wouldn't have been in the Nik Turner business haha.
I hear Nik Turner is a pretty wild guy to tour on the road with, do you have any crazy road stories?
Oh yeah, there's tons of crazy road stories.
You can just hit me with one or two if you want, it's no big deal.
Alright, we were going down the street, we see this naked guy, blonde naked guy running down the street, and uh.... with his arms up in the air and wow this is weird, look at that guy man he's running down the street naked. Then we go to our motel and the cops bring this blonde guy to our motel and it's Ziggy, it's Ziggy our light show guy!
Oh yeah I just met him recently.
Yeah, and uh... he was tripping on acid. Yeah, and then one time Del Dettmar got really pissed off, threw a gallon of orange juice up in the air and that's the first thing I noticed was this gallon of orange juice coming down hitting the ground, and him walking off into oblivion. I think it took Ina and Nik like 7 hours to find him or something like that.
That's funny.
Yeah it's just stuff like that, lots of stuff like that, LOTS of stuff like that.
That's cool.
Yeah Nik and Del did acid everday at every show.
Who did that?
You wouldn't believe it but they, somehow they do.
Who does it?
Nik and Del Dettmar.
They did it every show during that tour?
EVERY show they would do a hit of acid.
Wow, I didn't know that.
Yeah.
Did you do it?
No, I was too busy with the band you know? My job was to make sure the band was playing right, you know? It was my drummer and I was sort of helping Tommy get a good guitar sound, so I couldn't have been tripping on acid doing that you know?
Would have been kind of hard to play guitar anyway.
Hahaha... it was good, I enjoyed playing with Nik a lot because he was 54 years old at the time, it was very inspiring, you know? I wouldn't do it again, but I'm glad I have those memories hahahaha
Right, you wouldn't do it again you said?
I don't think I'd do it again. Once is enough. I think we made our mark, and we made a live record, and if people wanna check it out they can go to Cleopatra and ask about it, you know on the internet.
What do you think of current mainstream music?
I don't think about it at all, I don't even know what they're putting on the radio. So I don't know... I guess if I, I'm never in a situation where I have to listen to what's.... I don't have any kids, my kids are all grown up so I don't hear their music. I'm not around any of the young people that listen to the, I don't know. I'm totally useless in that department hahaha... I don't know what's happening, I say yeah there's this one band that I think is pretty cool but I don't know because I don't pay any attention to it. I'm not into the mainstream middle of the road crap. I don't care about you know Paris Hilton or Britney Spears or any of that shit you know, what Hollywood deems is big or whatever.
Yeah it's all a bunch of shit anyway.
I imagine it's hip hop, you know what I mean?
Yeah that's the big thing now pretty much.
I imagine it's still that you know.
Yeah I don't really get it.
Yeah, but I feel like it's fading. I mean I can also feel it's old, it is old. It's been around for what 30 years, 20 years?
Yeah then the comeback though and the old stuff, the old hip hop wasn't so bad.
Like Public Enemy and...
NWA and all that, that wasn't too bad.
What's that other one? Yeah it wasn't so bad, it wasn't so GANGSTA.
Right, you can actually understand what they're saying.
They developed their own music, culture, you know. Gangsta ho's and all that shit.
Nowadays it's just about how much money they have I guess.
Yeah I mean it's... see I don't know very much about it... see my son would know a lot about that scene, my son Alex. He listens to that, he knows what's cool and what's not cool i that scene. If I ever have any questions I'll just call on him.
Just consult Alex or write him on myspace or something.
Haha
What are your hobbies or interests outside of making music?
Model railroading, hiking, boogie boarding, screwing girls, hiking with girls is really fun, of course I already said hiking. Tripping with girls, if they're cool. I need a girl to smoke pot with so... I find I get along with the girl better if she's a pot smoker like me. That's what I think went wrong with Paul Mccartney, his bitch didn't smoke pot hahaha... Yeah I think that created a rift. Yeah if you're a pot smoker and you have a spouse, you should both be into the same thing, and it would be nice if you like the same music.
Right, yeah that helps. Or at least some of it.
Yeah, you know I mean Z and I, I mean we pretty much liked the same music. So that was ok, she had good taste in music and I could deal with her, you know? Haha.. And then after we broke up, I started sharing my place with a new girlfriend, I discovered I hate her music hahaha....You know, I hate what she listens to, it drives me nuts.
What kind was that?
Huh?
What kind of music was it?
You know I really don't know, it's that goat stuff you know? Like, uhh goat music, I think Pearl Jam started it. OHHHH (Helios proceeds to give me his best impression of Eddie Vedder).
Oh no, that's awful!
Goat boy music.
Goat boy music hahaha...
Goat boy, progressive rock, drove me crazy anyway, so I was happy when she actually went... that ended hahahaha.... I realized, wow I can't be with anybody unless we like the same kind of music, because that's gonna drive me fuckin nuts.
Chrome – Alien Soundtracks
01. Chromosome Damage (3:42)
02. The Monitors (2:23)
03. All Data Lost (3:22)
04. SS Cygni (3:38)
05. Nova Feedback (5:58)
06. Pigmies in Zee Park (6:07)
07. Slip it to the Android (4:01)
08. Pharoah Chromium (3:28)
09. ST37 (2:12)
10. Magnetic Dwarf Reptile (3:30)
http://www.mediafire.com/?yunkm0i4d2i
Helios Creed Interview By: Steve Smith Skull Ring
Helios Creed Interview
By: Steve Smith
Skull Ring
1. Greetings, Helios Creed. First of all, tell us a little about yourself. What do you do when you aren't making music?
Model trains, strange relationships with ladies, pure laziness, and I paint a little.
2. Let's talk about Chrome a little. How did that band come about?
Well it started with Damon-drums, "John-guitar, Gary-bass, and Mike-vocals. I was doing this little space folk thing with Gary on violin. We played at small clubs for change. It was 75-76, the end of the disco era, but I really wanted to make a band space rock and he told me he was in this band Chrome and they just finished an album. He brought me a copy and I heard potential and really liked the spaceyness of it. Well the record didn't do well and the band fell apart. The record was called The Visitation. Damon and Gary stuck it out, and Gary told Damon I was interested in working with them, so I met with Damon and told him they needed me hehe and the rest is history.
3. Was it difficult performing live with Chrome? It seems like the recorded material would be hard to translate live....
Not really it was always as weird and punk as we could get and we rocked hard. I always loved playing Chrome songs.
4. What is your personal favorite Chrome album?
Oh I would say "Half Machine Lip Moves" but I did love them all I felt like "they's all my chilin".
5. What events led up to your departure from Chrome?
Oh personal differences and I wanted to do a solo thing for quite a while. Time to move on I guess…
6. There is a noticeable difference between Chrome's sound and your solo efforts. Was that intentional on your part? How would you describe the difference between the two?
Well yes I didn't want it to sound too much like chrome, maybe it was just natural evolvement and the freedom to do what ever I wanted.
7. What is your personal favorite Helios Creed album? Mine's LACTATING PURPLE...
Yes I'm fond of that one too. That’s a good question though, they're all my children I always say so I'm digging on the new baby lately "album"{ Deep Blue Love Vacuum}. I love the way Paul on drums and Jeff Pinkus on bass play together. "Superior Catholic Finger" has always been one of my favorites too…
8. You have a very prolific output, but yet your work never grows stagnant. Your new album, DEEP BLUE LOVE VACUUM has a very refreshing sound. What did you do to make this album sound so unique?
I always try to take things in a different direction and hope it’s a one of a kind, and try not to repeat what I've already made.
9. What are your strongest musical influences?
Jimi hendrix- Sex Pistols- Snake Finger-old Rolling Stones-King Crimson- and there's a lot more but that’s the basics for me I guess..
10. Are there any movies and books that have strongly influenced you?
The Angry Red Planet-Alien-Plan 9-Star Trek-Carrie-Texas Chainsaw M- 2001 Space O. and much more but I’d have to say these movies and a hit of acid did the damage hehe.
11. To me, space rock has not gotten the recognition it deserves. Do you it will ever make its way to the masses?
I used to think so but now I see earth people are too earth bound. They can't seem to go to that other dimension in their minds. But if it ever does get mass popularity I think this world would be a cooler place. I don't see that happening but I'm always hopeful…
12. Thank you for your time. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Yeah we don't play out that much these days so you may want to check us out.
By: Steve Smith
Skull Ring
1. Greetings, Helios Creed. First of all, tell us a little about yourself. What do you do when you aren't making music?
Model trains, strange relationships with ladies, pure laziness, and I paint a little.
2. Let's talk about Chrome a little. How did that band come about?
Well it started with Damon-drums, "John-guitar, Gary-bass, and Mike-vocals. I was doing this little space folk thing with Gary on violin. We played at small clubs for change. It was 75-76, the end of the disco era, but I really wanted to make a band space rock and he told me he was in this band Chrome and they just finished an album. He brought me a copy and I heard potential and really liked the spaceyness of it. Well the record didn't do well and the band fell apart. The record was called The Visitation. Damon and Gary stuck it out, and Gary told Damon I was interested in working with them, so I met with Damon and told him they needed me hehe and the rest is history.
3. Was it difficult performing live with Chrome? It seems like the recorded material would be hard to translate live....
Not really it was always as weird and punk as we could get and we rocked hard. I always loved playing Chrome songs.
4. What is your personal favorite Chrome album?
Oh I would say "Half Machine Lip Moves" but I did love them all I felt like "they's all my chilin".
5. What events led up to your departure from Chrome?
Oh personal differences and I wanted to do a solo thing for quite a while. Time to move on I guess…
6. There is a noticeable difference between Chrome's sound and your solo efforts. Was that intentional on your part? How would you describe the difference between the two?
Well yes I didn't want it to sound too much like chrome, maybe it was just natural evolvement and the freedom to do what ever I wanted.
7. What is your personal favorite Helios Creed album? Mine's LACTATING PURPLE...
Yes I'm fond of that one too. That’s a good question though, they're all my children I always say so I'm digging on the new baby lately "album"{ Deep Blue Love Vacuum}. I love the way Paul on drums and Jeff Pinkus on bass play together. "Superior Catholic Finger" has always been one of my favorites too…
8. You have a very prolific output, but yet your work never grows stagnant. Your new album, DEEP BLUE LOVE VACUUM has a very refreshing sound. What did you do to make this album sound so unique?
I always try to take things in a different direction and hope it’s a one of a kind, and try not to repeat what I've already made.
9. What are your strongest musical influences?
Jimi hendrix- Sex Pistols- Snake Finger-old Rolling Stones-King Crimson- and there's a lot more but that’s the basics for me I guess..
10. Are there any movies and books that have strongly influenced you?
The Angry Red Planet-Alien-Plan 9-Star Trek-Carrie-Texas Chainsaw M- 2001 Space O. and much more but I’d have to say these movies and a hit of acid did the damage hehe.
11. To me, space rock has not gotten the recognition it deserves. Do you it will ever make its way to the masses?
I used to think so but now I see earth people are too earth bound. They can't seem to go to that other dimension in their minds. But if it ever does get mass popularity I think this world would be a cooler place. I don't see that happening but I'm always hopeful…
12. Thank you for your time. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Yeah we don't play out that much these days so you may want to check us out.
Chrome – Blood on the Moon
Blood On The Moon
1 The Need 3:03
2 Inner Vacume 2:58
3 Perfumed Metal 4:40
4 Planet Strike 2:23
5 The Strangers 3:38
6 Insect Human 5:06
7 Out Of Reach 3:33
8 Brain On Scan 4:10
9 Blood On The Moon 5:18
Along w/ Half machine Lip Moves, probably my favorite Chrome album.
www.mediafire.com/?h0pc54c4hwq0yl5
Angel of the Clouds CD cover
Angel of the Clouds
CD
Released: July 1st, 2002
Dossier Records
Cat. No. DCD9082
Tracks 1 - 7:
DAMON EDGE - vocals, synthesizers
HELIOS CREED - guitar, bass, synthesizer, vocals
TOMMY L. CYBORG - syntheziser
NOVA CAIN - guitar
RODNEY DANGEROUS - bass guitar
ALEPH - drums, percussion
Produced by Damon Edge & Helios Creed
Track 10:
DAMON EDGE - vocals, synthesizers, drum computers, percussion
Tracks 8, 9 & 11:
DAMON EDGE - vocals, synthesizers
REMY DEVILLA - guitar
PATRICK IMBERT - drums
PHILIPPE SAUTOUR - synthesizers
PIERRE ROUSSEL - bass
Produced by Damon Edge & Manfred Schiek
Having a Wonderful Time with the Tripods Compilation cover
Having a Wonderful Time with the Tripods
Compilation
Released 1995
Dossier Records
Cat. No. DCD 9061 (CD)
Chrome Sampler Volume I
Left my Heart in San Francisco
In a Dream
Danger Zone
Eyes in the Center
Animal
Electric Chair
New Age
The Need
Perfumed Metal
Planet Strike
Insect Human
Brain on Scan
Blood on the Moon
Fire Bomb
Future Ghosts
Meet you in the Subway
TV as Eyes
You've been Duplicated
Memory Chords over the Bay
Helios Creed Interview February 28, 2006 Psychotropic Zone
Helios Creed Interview
February 28, 2006
Psychotropic Zone
Coming from Hawaii, the guitarist legend Helios Creed was originally known from a San Francisco band Chrome who operated in the change of the 70's and 80's to do pioneering work on combining psychedelic rock, industrial, punk and new wave. This very influential guitar player has also made a lot of excellent solo albums with extraterrestrial music about aliens and other abnormal things that's been left a bit outside of the mainstream. The heavy, deranged guitar sound of Helios is based on massive use of effects, and his effected, even scary vocals can be too much for many people, but to me he is a big hero, the survivor of the great psychic wars. Helios is still making music, and I thought that it would be great to catch up with him.
When and how where you first interested in music? Who where your first idols?
I was twelve when I really started getting interested in music and got my first guitar. My influences back then: Blue Cheer, Canned Heat, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, -just to name a few.
What where you doing before you joined Chrome?
Acid hehe... Doing a lot of folk type stuff and passing the hat in bars. Made a few failed bands.
How did you first meet Damon and the others? How did you join the band?
I was playing with Gary Spain. He was playing violin over my acoustic stuff, he said he played bass in a band and made a record. I heard The Visitation and really dug where it was coming from and told Gary that they needed me. Then I met Damon and told him the same thing, the rest is history.
How did you come up with the original Chrome sound? There was nobody around at the time that sounded anywhere near like that...
Well, that's what I loved about Damon and the guys, we were all into sounding original, and that's how it happened, it was just us being natural.
Please tell us something about how it was being in Chrome during the early albums. What was it like to work in the studio? Can you describe a bit the scene in California at the time? What was your life like?
I would never trade those days for anything, it was a real gas. We were young, healthy and fresh.
I think you didn't really play many live gigs with Chrome. Why was that?
Damon.
What are your favourite Chrome albums and why?
Half Machine Lip Moves is my fav, but really I love them all...
How and why did the original Chrome split up?
Drugs, the yoko syndrom and Damon's ego.
Please tell us something about the time after Chrome. It took a few years to get your first solo album X-Rated Fairy Tales out, what where you doing during that period?
Trying to get any companies interested in me, and trying to get my solo thing of the ground, it was a very tuff time for me...
Have you been happy with reaction your solo albums have made on people? How about the sales?
The sales vary. I seem to go in and out of popularity, but I don't care. It's my baby and I love it and I don't care who loves it or hates it. But it seems to be on an up swing lately and that ok with me...
How did you hook up with the Pressurehed/Farflung guys? What was it like to be part of the Nik Turner's excellent Space Ritual tour? Has Hawkwind ever been an influence on your work?
Those guys are fans, I met them at a HC show, I love those guys. Tommy G. got me hooked up with Nick Turner. It was both a nightmare and a dream come true to work with those freaks. Crazy memories like you wouldn't believe...
What other collaborations have you done? What was the thing with the Butthole Surfers?
I played a couple tracks on Indipendent Worm Saloon, "Clean It Up{BITCH]" and "The Annoying Song", I love those guys.
Since Damon's death you've been putting out albums as Chrome, as well us under your own name. Why's that? Is there big difference music vice between the two?
My last HC Chrome was Ghost Machine. I don't think I'm going to make any more Chrome albums after GM unless there's a lot of doe in it. There were just a few more Chrome songs I needed to do. Yes to me Chrome and my solo thing are two totally different entities.
How important part have drugs played in your music? Do you think it's possible to create psychedelic music without hallucinogens?
Why not, it all comes from your imagination anyway? Drugs or no drugs?
I guess playing psychedelic acid punk hasn't actually made you a rich man. What has helped you through the hard phases and made you still want to play music?
I love it, and someone needs to do it, don't you think?
Please tell us about your UFO encounters. Have these influenced your music and lyrics a lot?
Oh, I think so. My experience with these things was a totally positive experience for me, to see a saucer hovering over my head and receive psychic knowledge about music and the future, and you know what. I don't care if people think I'm nuts or not, I think the ones I've seen are here to help...
What it is that you want to achieve with your music?
To make people happy and give them a kind of hope spiritually they can't get anywhere else, and to get laid, hehe!
Have you heard the Chrome tribute Burning Chrome released in 2005? What do you think of that? Any favourite versions on that CD?
You mean You've Been Duplicated? It's ok but I wish the guy that released it would pay me...
You have a brand new CD to be released soon. Can you give us some details, like who plays on it and so on? You also got a new tour coming up, right?
Yes, it's true, a tour, and the album is called "Deep Blue Love VacuUM" with Jeff Pinkus- Fabienne Shine-Jerry Page-Paul Della Pelle-Blair Bovbjerg. (Pinkus is not on tour, Domokos of Pink Cloud is on bass for the tour. Bovjberg is also not on tour, just on the CD.)
February 28, 2006
Psychotropic Zone
Coming from Hawaii, the guitarist legend Helios Creed was originally known from a San Francisco band Chrome who operated in the change of the 70's and 80's to do pioneering work on combining psychedelic rock, industrial, punk and new wave. This very influential guitar player has also made a lot of excellent solo albums with extraterrestrial music about aliens and other abnormal things that's been left a bit outside of the mainstream. The heavy, deranged guitar sound of Helios is based on massive use of effects, and his effected, even scary vocals can be too much for many people, but to me he is a big hero, the survivor of the great psychic wars. Helios is still making music, and I thought that it would be great to catch up with him.
When and how where you first interested in music? Who where your first idols?
I was twelve when I really started getting interested in music and got my first guitar. My influences back then: Blue Cheer, Canned Heat, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, -just to name a few.
What where you doing before you joined Chrome?
Acid hehe... Doing a lot of folk type stuff and passing the hat in bars. Made a few failed bands.
How did you first meet Damon and the others? How did you join the band?
I was playing with Gary Spain. He was playing violin over my acoustic stuff, he said he played bass in a band and made a record. I heard The Visitation and really dug where it was coming from and told Gary that they needed me. Then I met Damon and told him the same thing, the rest is history.
How did you come up with the original Chrome sound? There was nobody around at the time that sounded anywhere near like that...
Well, that's what I loved about Damon and the guys, we were all into sounding original, and that's how it happened, it was just us being natural.
Please tell us something about how it was being in Chrome during the early albums. What was it like to work in the studio? Can you describe a bit the scene in California at the time? What was your life like?
I would never trade those days for anything, it was a real gas. We were young, healthy and fresh.
I think you didn't really play many live gigs with Chrome. Why was that?
Damon.
What are your favourite Chrome albums and why?
Half Machine Lip Moves is my fav, but really I love them all...
How and why did the original Chrome split up?
Drugs, the yoko syndrom and Damon's ego.
Please tell us something about the time after Chrome. It took a few years to get your first solo album X-Rated Fairy Tales out, what where you doing during that period?
Trying to get any companies interested in me, and trying to get my solo thing of the ground, it was a very tuff time for me...
Have you been happy with reaction your solo albums have made on people? How about the sales?
The sales vary. I seem to go in and out of popularity, but I don't care. It's my baby and I love it and I don't care who loves it or hates it. But it seems to be on an up swing lately and that ok with me...
How did you hook up with the Pressurehed/Farflung guys? What was it like to be part of the Nik Turner's excellent Space Ritual tour? Has Hawkwind ever been an influence on your work?
Those guys are fans, I met them at a HC show, I love those guys. Tommy G. got me hooked up with Nick Turner. It was both a nightmare and a dream come true to work with those freaks. Crazy memories like you wouldn't believe...
What other collaborations have you done? What was the thing with the Butthole Surfers?
I played a couple tracks on Indipendent Worm Saloon, "Clean It Up{BITCH]" and "The Annoying Song", I love those guys.
Since Damon's death you've been putting out albums as Chrome, as well us under your own name. Why's that? Is there big difference music vice between the two?
My last HC Chrome was Ghost Machine. I don't think I'm going to make any more Chrome albums after GM unless there's a lot of doe in it. There were just a few more Chrome songs I needed to do. Yes to me Chrome and my solo thing are two totally different entities.
How important part have drugs played in your music? Do you think it's possible to create psychedelic music without hallucinogens?
Why not, it all comes from your imagination anyway? Drugs or no drugs?
I guess playing psychedelic acid punk hasn't actually made you a rich man. What has helped you through the hard phases and made you still want to play music?
I love it, and someone needs to do it, don't you think?
Please tell us about your UFO encounters. Have these influenced your music and lyrics a lot?
Oh, I think so. My experience with these things was a totally positive experience for me, to see a saucer hovering over my head and receive psychic knowledge about music and the future, and you know what. I don't care if people think I'm nuts or not, I think the ones I've seen are here to help...
What it is that you want to achieve with your music?
To make people happy and give them a kind of hope spiritually they can't get anywhere else, and to get laid, hehe!
Have you heard the Chrome tribute Burning Chrome released in 2005? What do you think of that? Any favourite versions on that CD?
You mean You've Been Duplicated? It's ok but I wish the guy that released it would pay me...
You have a brand new CD to be released soon. Can you give us some details, like who plays on it and so on? You also got a new tour coming up, right?
Yes, it's true, a tour, and the album is called "Deep Blue Love VacuUM" with Jeff Pinkus- Fabienne Shine-Jerry Page-Paul Della Pelle-Blair Bovbjerg. (Pinkus is not on tour, Domokos of Pink Cloud is on bass for the tour. Bovjberg is also not on tour, just on the CD.)
helios creed - Chromagnum Man
Tracklist
1 Dimension 5 2:54
2 100 Years Of Space (The Gate) 5:08
3 World Infiltration III (The Dragon) 7:24
4 Dimension 6 4:02
5 The Rapture 6:59
6 Twilight Zone 7:48
7 Level 7 4:27
8 Fallen 4:11
9 Chromagnum Man 4:40
Credits
Bass – Chris McKay, Hilary Hanes
Design – Rabbit Schinalzki*
Drums – John Hanes (2), Paul Della Pelle
Guitar – Nova Cain (2), Theo Creed
Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Keyboards, Engineer – Helios Creed
Producer – Helios Creed
Synthesizer, Sampler, Vocals – Z Sylver
Vocals, Synthesizer, Drum Machine – Tommy L.Cyborg*
Barcode and Other Ide
http://www.mediafire.com/?dnnl5ua9wxv
Mission of the Entranced LP cover
Mission of the Entranced
LP
Released 1990
Dossier Records (Germany)
Cat. No. DLP7556
Re-released 1990
w/ portions of Live in Italy
Dossier Records
Cat. No. DCD 9020 (CD)
V/A - AMPHETAMINE REPTILE RECORDS SAMPLER 1993
1 - chokebore - coat
2 - the cows - sugar torch
3 - boss hog - some sara
4 - guzzard - tex
5 - surgery - kickin' around
6 - helios creed - the federation
7 - janitor joe - boys in blue
8 - today is the day - i bent scared
9 - hammerhead - tuffskins
10 - vertigo - king of terror
11 - x - i don't wanna go out
12 - helmet - born annoying
Am-rep comp with "the federation" by helios creed.
http://www.mediafire.com/?wjtyjmyqmdw
Chrome – Third From The Sun
Side A
Firebomb
Future Ghosts
Armageddon
Side B
Heart Beat
Off The Line
3rd From The Sun
Shadows of a Thousand Years
All songs by Edge/Creed
Produced by Damon
http://www.mediafire.com/?tzmbznqzow0
One Million Eyes LP cover
One Million Eyes
LP
Released ___
Dossier Records
Cat. No. ___
Re-released 1991
w/ Subterranean Modern tracks
and Live in Italy
Dossier Records
Cat. No. DCD 9023 (CD)
The Clairaudient Syndrome LP cover
The Clairaudient Syndrome
LP
Released 1994
Dossier Records
Cat. No. DCD 9056
DOPE GUNS -N- FUCKING IN THE STREETS VOLUMES 1-3 (1989)
1. U-Men - Bad Little Woman
2. The Thrown Ups - Traffic Accident Sex
3. Lonely Moans - Lots O' Life
4. Helios Creed - The Last Laugh
5. Surgery - Action Candy
6. Cows - Almost A God
7. Halo Of Flies - Insecticide Stomp
8. Mudhoney - Twenty Four
9. Tar - Antlers
10. God Bullies - Tell Me
11. Tad - Habit & Necessity
12. King Snake Roost - My Zippo
13. God Bullies - Mussolini
This is Amphetamine Reptile's version of the Single-Of-The-Month Club. A 7" each month. Compiled on one cd, upped it b/c it has a helios creed track.
http://www.mediafire.com/?tz9yxmoyay1
liquid forest cover
Liquid Forest
LP
Released 1990
Dossier Records
Cat. No. DLP 10
Re-released 1991
w/ Dreaming In Sequence
Dossier Records
Cat. No. DCD 9026 (CD)
1. You Remain ( 6.01)
2. Down the River (4.28)
3. Hey Hey (6.01)
4. Look Away (3.57)
5. Tibetian Nights (3.12)
6. Let Me Have It (4.39)
7. As Rabbits Run (4.26)
8. We Can Be Together (4.13)
Recorded 1984 in Rome and Italy.
Produced & written by Damon Edge for Siren, 1984
Co-produced by Cliff Martin
Chrome – No Humans Allowed 1982
Released 1982
Expanded Music (Italy)
Cat. No. EX 40
...and as part of The Chrome Box
Re-released 1990
Dossier Records (Germany)
Cat. No. DLP-8
Re-released (?) on CD
Dossier Records (Germany)
EFA# 074982
(not sure if released)
Features Dangerzone and In A Dream from the Inworlds 12", Informations from the flip side of the New Age 7", and all of the Read Only Memory EP, and an unreleased track, The Manifestation.
http://www.mediafire.com/?2pin2nkeumg
live in germany cover
Live in Germany
LP
Released 1989
Dossier Records (West Germany)
Cat. No. ST 7559 (clear vinyl)
Re-released ___
w/ The Visitation
Dossier Records
Cat. No. ___ (CD)
Dreaming In Sequence LP cover
Dreaming In Sequence
LP
Released 1986
Dossier Records (West Germany)
Cat. No. ST 7527
Re-released 1991
w/ Liquid Forest
Dossier Records
Cat. No. DCD 9026 (CD)
1. Everyone's the same 4.17
2. Seeing everything (Emilia) 4.04
3. Touching you 7.10
4. Windows in the wind 5.56
5. The venusian dance 4.16
6. White magic 0.24
7. Love to my rock (cause of me) 7.02
Produced & written by Damon Edge for Siren, 1986
Helios Creed - The Last Laugh
A1a Some Way Out
A1b The Dream
A1c The Diplomat
A2 Bend Over
A3 Nirbasion Annasion
A4 Road Out Of Hell
B1 Late Bloomer
B2 Where The Children Are
B3 The Rant
B4 Resurrection Blue
B5 Beef
Artwork By [Cover] – Deuteronomy, Haze*
Bass – Daniel House
Drums – Jason Finn
Guitar, Vocals, Sampler [Emax] – Helios Creed
Photography [Front] – Charles Peterson
Producer – Helios Creed, Jack Endino
Songwriter – Daniel House, Helios Creed, Jason Finn
A pretty rockin album.
http://www.mediafire.com/?nymyndkjgyd
eternity covers
Eternity
LP
Released 1986
Dossier (West Germany)
ST 7520 (EFA 08-5325)
Re-released 1988
w/ Blood on the Moon
Dossier Records
Cat No. DCD 9006 (CD)
another world cover
Another World
Description
Released ___
Dossier Records (West Germany)
Cat. No. XXX
Re-released 1987
on CD w/ The Lyon Concert
Helios Creed - Lactating Purple
Tracklist
1 Lactating Purple 2:52
2 Flying Through The Either 2:24
3 Ub The Wall 3:12
4 Nebuchadnezzar 3:04
5 Modular Green 5:13
6 Big Bang 3:35
7 The Radiated 1:56
8 Spider 2:58
9 Martian Sperm & Bagpipes 2:49
10 Amenti 2:28
Credits
Bass – Paul Kirk
Drums – Paul Della Pelle
Engineer – Billy Anderson, Jonathon Burnside*
Guitar, Vocals, Sampler, Synthesizer – Helios Creed
Producer – Helios Creed
Synthesizer, Sampler – Z Sylver
http://www.mediafire.com/?tzmmgzjtozz
Chrome Box
Box Set
Originally Released 1982
Subterannean Records
SUB31
Re-released 1996
Cleopatra Records (US)
Cat. No. CLP 9770-2 (3 CD set)
(The CD release is substantially different)
This is a six record boxed set including re-releases of Alien Soundtracks, Half Machine Lip Moves, Blood on the Moon, and three new records, No Humans Allowed, The Chronicles I and The Chronicles II.
http://www.mediafire.com/?9mjduiwnwsx
http://www.mediafire.com/?npj05xzeclk
http://www.mediafire.com/?wwpqiez7o1j
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