Sometimes a band gets into your head, rearranges your brain synapses and then you are never the same again. As once that music enters into your body there is nothing to be done but allow it to become part of who you are. With a force of sonic madness that can only be thought of as “getting fucked by music”, Marin County grunge rock band Physical Suicide Deterrent System Project has no problem making their music hit you like a truck in a way that feels really good.
The music of Physical Suicide Deterrent System Project, (or PSDSP for short) is more complicated then just “grunge”, as the band pulls from jazz and psychedelic genres while often eschewing the normal “verse/chorus/bridge” construction of a song to create a river of sound that takes you on a sonic journey with intelligent and poetic lyrics that uphold deep imagery to tell a story of both darkness and hope.
The music of Physical Suicide Deterrent System Project, (or PSDSP for short) is more complicated then just “grunge”, as the band pulls from jazz and psychedelic genres while often eschewing the normal “verse/chorus/bridge” construction of a song to create a river of sound that takes you on a sonic journey with intelligent and poetic lyrics that uphold deep imagery to tell a story of both darkness and hope.
PSDSP has mainly been hitting the local Bay Area bar scene, but it was a joy to witness their magical chaos at the famed Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, CA recently. Seeing the band live is a very different experience than hearing their recorded songs, as the rambunctious dynamic between the three members of PSDSP is very much greater than the sum of their individual parts. Frontman and songwriter Eli Carlton-Pearson tosses himself around the stage with his guitar while wailing, screaming and howling his vocals. Each song often goes from vicious insanity to a sweet whisper of someone telling you a secret, all in about 10 seconds. Michael Pinkham’s fluid playing on drums and the wicked 6-string bass playing of Brian Wilkerson rounds out a band that has a habit of bursting into a cosmic explosion of sound; simplicity is not what this band is about.
With their incredible back stock of songs, the band ripped us open from the get-go with a soothing instrumental piece, then tore through punked-out thrashers like “Stolen Fruit”, “Shoulder”, “Overpass”, “Give It Up For The Ocean” as well as the instrument jazz-like song “Time Thing” and the sweetly crafted “Love Grows”. PSDSP ended their amazing set of rollicking hard-core tunes with a killer version of their punk-ass, bass-thumping rager “Orders Of The Motherboard” bringing the crowd to a happy mosh pit mentality of pogo dancing and headbanging.
I would like to say that a PSDSP show can be like a spiritual experience, bringing a powerful force of someone else’s creative juju into our own bodies as it uplifts and shifts our personal reality. Spirituality comes in all shapes and sizes, and to me “spirit” is music, as music changes us in positive ways and helps us recreate who we are and how we see the world.
With their incredible back stock of songs, the band ripped us open from the get-go with a soothing instrumental piece, then tore through punked-out thrashers like “Stolen Fruit”, “Shoulder”, “Overpass”, “Give It Up For The Ocean” as well as the instrument jazz-like song “Time Thing” and the sweetly crafted “Love Grows”. PSDSP ended their amazing set of rollicking hard-core tunes with a killer version of their punk-ass, bass-thumping rager “Orders Of The Motherboard” bringing the crowd to a happy mosh pit mentality of pogo dancing and headbanging.
I would like to say that a PSDSP show can be like a spiritual experience, bringing a powerful force of someone else’s creative juju into our own bodies as it uplifts and shifts our personal reality. Spirituality comes in all shapes and sizes, and to me “spirit” is music, as music changes us in positive ways and helps us recreate who we are and how we see the world.
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