Health (band)

Health
HEALTH performing at Becks Music Box in 2010
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Noise rock[1] experimental rock[2] electronic rock[3] post-rock[4]
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Loma Vista Lovepump United Trouble Flemish Eye No Pain In Pop City Slang Rome Plow
Website	youwillloveeachother.com
Members	Benjamin Jared Miller Jake Duzsik John Famiglietti
Past members	Jupiter Keyes

Health (often stylised as HEALTH) is an American noise rock band from Los Angeles, California.

History

Health was created after its members agreed the name should be an "everyday word." After reviewing a long list of terms, “health” was the only one not taken.^[5]

Health

Health first gained reputation through a remix of their song “Crimewave” by experimental electronic band Crystal Castles in August 2007. The rendition helped broaden Health’s audience in anticipation for their full-length debut a month later released under LovePump United. The band’s self-titled album was recorded in L.A.’s noise/experimental venue, The Smell. Known for its DIY mystique, Health knew how difficult, yet rewarding, it would be to record in the space. Famiglietti said in an interview, “The room completely changes the tone of anything you want to record; makes a lot of things dark and beautiful. It also makes everything sound like “CLANG!” We didn't realize how hard it would be at all, we especially weren't prepared for the Vaquero bar dropping the reggaeton jamz at 1pm every day.”^[5]

Their unique sound on the album caught the attention of Spin in which they wrote, “The near-innocuous opening track of Health's self-titled album, "Heaven," segues into the 36-second neurotic dissonance of "Girl Attorney," which picks up tempo on its transition into "Triceratops"—a thrashing scourge of screeches, feedback, and gratuitous clanging reminiscent of Liars laced with a relief of a Deerhunter meditation.”^[6]

Health//Disco

Health released their first remix album in 2008 with remixes of tracks off their debut album. The CD also included 5 data-only tracks that can be accessed through a computer. This was the band’s highest rated album on Pitchfork with a score of eight.^[7]

Health’s second album, also released on LovePump, earned a score of eight from Pitchfork in which the review claimed “Never merely meager, this project delivers, both when you're waving your orgy-snorkel all blotto on-the-town, and for a soundtrack to serious rumination at your midday desk of harsh reality.” Duzsik agreed with an interviewer that Get Color was indeed more accessible than their self-titled debut, but “It’s still crazy, though.”^[7]

In 2008 the band also opened for the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails on their Lights In The Sky final tour for five months (July–December).^[8]

Get Color

To promote their 2009 album, Get Color, the band held a sweepstakes contest, in which a winner of a golden ticket was awarded a free trip to Los Angeles to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain with the band. Other prizes included locks of the band members' hair and posters autographed in blood.^[9]

The track "Die Slow" was released as the album’s single with its music video garnering nearly 500,000 views.^[10][11] The album received a positive score of 7.4 on Pitchfork.^[12]

Health::Disco2

The band’s second remix album with tracks from Get Color continued to receive critical acclaim. BBC reviewed the album and said, “Whatever HEALTH’s secret is for excellent remix albums, they would do well to bottle it up to flog to lesser-able musicians insistent on releasing similar affairs of a much lower standard. This might not actually improve on the original, but it comprises a fine complementary release for hardcore fans and newcomers alike.”^[13]

Max Payne 3

In 2012, Health composed the soundtrack for the Rockstar Games video game, Max Payne 3.^[14] In an interview with Pitchfork, Duzsik said, “The number one reaction from HEALTH fans was, ‘What the fuck? You guys are doing a video game score?’ Just surprise. And very congratulatory.” Duzsik continued, “It was fun to make music that was atypical for that sort of entertainment.”^[15] Ivan Pavlovich, music director of Max Payne 3 said, “We wanted to give Max a sound that is really an identifiable sound and HEALTH as a band has an incredible sense of who they are and a very strong identity. When we saw HEALTH perform live it was very clear that they were the ones who were going to be able to capture this.”^[16] The score was nominated for Best Score in a Game and "Tears" was nominated for Best Song in a Game at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards.^[17] HEALTH later recorded a song called "High Pressure Dave" which appeared in Grand Theft Auto V; the song takes lyrics from "High Pressure Days" by The Units.^[18]

Death Magic

On April 23, 2015, Health premiered "New Coke" on Sirius XMU. Health's third album, Death Magic was released on August 7, 2015 on Loma Vista Records.^[19] The song "Stonefist" would be the second single released in June. On July 24, "Men Today" was released as the third track from the album.

Musical style

Health has been described as having "artfully crafted noise and raw synth, haunting monotone vocals, and drum skills that are borderline insane.”^[20] Guardian Unlimited writer, Louis Pattison, describes the Crystal Castles version of "Crimewave" as "melancholy electro-pop built from pixelated synths and depressed vocals that hint at a past programme of busy and sustained serotonin depletion.”^[21] The band's unusual sound can be partially credited to the use of the Zoothorn, which is a permutation of microphone and guitar pedal and an occasional atonal sound without a symmetrical structure.^[22] Lyrically, the band describes the role of lyrics as being "purposely kept vague for the listener" "...[Lyrics] sort of begin to bring out this more individual quality to the whole thing like, ‘These are the lyrics, and this is the guy is singing them, so I can relate to that.’ Which is really not something we want. We wanted the vocals to have an even, unaffected feel. A softness, like a Zombies melody, or even a Gregorian chant. We aren’t just interested in being a noisy screaming band."^[23]

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

• 2006 — Health/Elphaba 7″ Split - Rome Plow Records
• 2007 — Crystal Castles vs. Health - Crimewave - Trouble Records (#9 UK indie singles charts)
• 2007 — Crystal Castles//Health 7″ Split - Lovepump United
• 2008 — Perfect Skin +RMX 7″ - Suicide Squeeze
• 2008 — Heaven +RMXS 12″ - Flemish Eye
• 2008 — Triceratops//Lost Time +RMXS 12″ - Tough Love Records
• 2008 — //M\\ 7″ - No Pain in Pop
• 2009 — Die Slow 7″ - Lovepump United

Promotional Singles

• 2012 — "Tears" from Max Payne 3 Official Soundtrack

Remix Albums

• 2008 — Health//Disco - Lovepump United
• 2010 — Health::Disco2 - Lovepump United

Soundtracks

• 2010 — Wasted on the Young — "Die Slow"
• 2012 — Max Payne 3 — Rockstar Games (Including contributions from other artists)
• 2013 — Grand Theft Auto V — "High Pressure Dave"
• 2015 — Need For Speed - "New Coke"

Videography

• 2007 — "Heaven"
• 2008 — "Crimewave"
• 2009 — "Die Slow"
• 2009 — "We Are Water" (Directed by Eric Wareheim)
• 2010 — "USA Boys"
• 2012 — "Tears" (Directed by David Altobelli and Jeff Desom)
• 2015 — "New Coke"
• 2015 — "Stonefist"

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Health (band).

• Official website
• Health on Facebook
• SuicideSqueeze.net