Local sludge/doom/post-comedic metal trio Harvey Milk has been “on hiatus” since 2010’s bleak, bone-crushing, career-defining A Small Turn of Human Kindness—which, BTW, you can stream on Bandcamp, along with much of the band’s back catalog.
But fans of the group have reason to celebrate today, as it has been revealed that HM bassist Stephen Tanner—he of unkempt mane and perpetually befuddled facial expression—has constructed a solo LP under the name Music Blues (!). Inspired in part by a bout of depression brought on after the death of Tanner’s friend (and former Maserati drummer) Jerry Fuchs, Things Haven’t Gone Well is out Aug. 26 via Thrill Jockey, and you can pre-order the album on “shit-brown vinyl” here.
Noisey’s got the premiere of “91771,” the record’s uh, Harvey Milk-like leadoff track, along with an extended Q&A with Tanner, who recorded the album in Athens while staying at HM frontman Creston Spiers’ house but now lives in New York City. Below, stream the song and check out some of the best bits from the interview:
On R.E.M.:
R.E.M. I love. I started losing interest, no pun intended, around “Losing My Religion.” They stopped having a “sound.” Their first five, six records, there was a “sound” and you couldn’t really place it with the bands they were influenced by… be it The Byrds or whatever. They had the Rickenbackers and the VOX AC30’s and stuff like that. They had a sound and I love those records. I saw them live and met most of them. They’re all real nice.
On pop music:
Well, I’m a sucker for a really good pop song. I haven’t heard a good one in a while. I remember in 2000, there were two pop songs that I was just obsessed with. One was “Get The Party Started” by Pink and “Who We Be” by DMX. Those were the two fuckin’ jams, man. I love those songs.
It turned out to be more depressing than anything I almost ever experienced. It was just a crummy time of year and their house is full of clutter. His wife collects Simpsons memorabilia, they never open the curtains and most of the food in their fridge is almost always potpies.
That band always seemed…I always got the impression they were just grabbing a bite of everything about The Butthole Surfers. There’s just something insincere about that band to me. And the music sucks. Except for that song (starts singing) “Do You Realize?” That one’s pretty. There’s just something about that band…I don’t buy it. “I still live in Oklahoma and work at Long Jon Silvers.”
On MGMT:
Music Blues was a title I had for a Harvey Milk album I had for years and I just never got around to using it. We were gonna make a record called MGMT: My God, Music’s Terrible… I know those dudes and they are all really cool. I don’t like MGMT but actually Creston loves that band.
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