THE VANISHING IN VISIBLE INK:

Article on the Vanishing from the Orange County Weekly
Vol 8. No 6. October 4 -10, 2002

The Vanishing should be from Berlin, not San Francisco. Their In the Bat Haus EP on SF indie Cochon is tied up tight in the grim chiaroscuro of German Expressionism, all woozy black-and-white shots that look like they were swept off Fritz Lang’s cutting-room floor—even the gears-and-wheels collage on the insert takes a few winks at Hannah Hoch (technically not quite German Expressionism, but we’re already way too intellectual for you right now anyway, huh?). And then the music—with swan-dive-off-the-roof female vox over dissonant keys and a PIL-on-downers rhythm section—and the lyrics and especially the gruesome little story about men melting into machines that kicks it off all play like a lost sequel to Metropolis, squeezing a few more drops of blood out of that desperately glamorous between-the-wars dystopianism that all the suburban Goth kids wish so fucking hard they coulda had for themselves.

Or, well, so it seemed to us—bassist/sometime sax player Jessie Trashed takes a second to process that one.

"I think that’s the most interesting thing people have ever said to us," she says. "Usually, people ask me, like, really stupid questions, like, ‘Where did you think of the name ‘the Vanishing’?"

And if not that, they’re flipping out over the Vanishing’s prom-night-in-hell aesthetic, she says. God, people suck. Jessie got tagged as a "sexy zombie" in some review; "I wear a lot of black eyeliner—I’ve always worn a lot of black eyeliner," she explains wearily. "In the past couple of years, I’ve been coming to terms with my Gothness—I need to get it out of my system." Not too bad in itself—they’re pretty, um, distinctive-looking, sure—but there’s more to the creepiness of the Vanishing than a little fake blood.

"My father was a religious fanatic who was always preaching about the blood of Satan," says Jessie. "When I was 12, I would stare in the mirror for hours every night, thinking I was possessed by demons. For me, writing and playing music is like coming face to face with all the monstrosities buried inside—it’s as though everything I was told was the ugliest, most wretched parts of myself are actually the most beautiful parts."

She grew up in Mendocino, the kind of little Northern California town off PCH where people can talk about the blood of Satan and mean it—it was nice for a while, she says, wandering out into the woods and getting lost for fun, but the teenage years hit hard and bleak. Some of the songs on Bat Haus came out of her dreams; some of them came off the playground, from the creepy nursery rhymes that little kids trade back and forth without really knowing what they mean. Mostly, says Jessie, it’s about loss of innocence.

"Life is a balance between pleasure and pain; to savor the darkness in life is to come to terms with being human," she says—if you’re too uptight to handle that coming from a bass player wearing a lot of black eyeliner, maybe you could pretend it’s from a misunderstood French philosopher, okay? And the songs she writes for the Vanishing—like "Disaffectionate" and "Princess Poison"—teeter back and forth between the two.
"I already feel, like, totally fucked. Don’t you get the feeling people are already brainwashed and fucked?" she asks. "I’ve had a lot of nightmares where the future is like this underground sort of shopping mall with escalators everywhere, and the outside world is totally fucked and dangerous—and you can’t get outside. It’s pretty standard symbology. I don’t know if we’re all just being forced into being consumers, but it seems like a realistic analogy of what’s coming . . . but I’m in a really pessimistic bad mood today."

It’s the rent, it’s the bills, it’s the van that won’t run but has to be registered anyway, it’s paying 20 fucking dollars for some broccoli and salad dressing in the hypertrophic San Francisco economy. Maybe you’ve got a little too much Teutonic existentialism right now, we ask? Maybe you need a vacation? But where would you go?

"I want to go to Berlin so bad," Jessie sighs. "I just feel drawn there. My friend Cookie just got back, and she said it felt like New York in the ’80s—there were freaks everywhere!"

Written by Chris Ziegler

Article from the Sentimentalist, Issue 13 Fall 2003

Interview from Deathrock.Com, conducted by Mark Splatter


San Francisco's The Vanishing are one of the most unique bands to have carved a groove in the surface of modern deathrock. The music consists of layers of atmospheric versus aggressive synths, bass as combination rhythm, lead, bass guitar and noise machine, Jessie Eva's baleful vocals, and their organic live drums. It all meshes to create a sound that borders on the edge of goth, indie, electro, fear and insanity. The Vanishing's debut album, "Songs for Psychotic Children" was released in 2003 on GSL records, following that was a European tour. Deathrock.com is pleased to bring you a closer look at one of our favorite new bands.
This interview was conducted via email by Mark Splatter in Los Angeles to Jessie Eva in Berlin, about to start The Vanishing's European Tour 2003.
Deathrock.com: Your lyrics are very dramatic in a visual sense. Do your songs have influences from the visual arts?

Jessie: My photography inspires my music and vice versa... Usually I want to tell a story, our last album "Songs..." was very conceptual in that I wanted it to be like a songbook for fucked up children, the voices that aren't heard. I was thinking of my little brother because he is 7 and has been very wild since he was born, talking about things almost of a demonic sense that kids don't usually talk about. We have this image of children being innocent, which isn't the case, since they see everything.
I was relating a lot to fairytales, escpecially Hans Christian Anderson, which are very dark, moralistic. I always remember the original "The Little Mermaid" in which she is granted to go ashore by the Sea-witch for the cost of her voice and in the end is turned into sea foam. In the past I was writing from a very nostalgic point of view but that has shifted more into the present where it is all about now, so fuck nostalgia.
Deathrock.com: Tell us in a nutshell the evolution of The Vanishing, from formation to the present. What inspired the name?

Jessie: Brian and I have been playing together for 5 years now, the first band we were in was the KNIVES. We started The Vanishing with Sadie playing keyboards but she left to do her garage group The Husbands so Billy joined. Him and Brian have been playing music together since they were kids, so it is very deep. We are like family. The name THE VANISHING was really the least offensive thing we could think of. When I first said it I felt as though I was vanishing from poverty, vanishing from fear, from everything that I hated, into the nothingness which is ecstatic.

Deathrock.com: You have a great cross genre sound, you seem to attract a wide variety of listeners including indie and goth types. Are you surprised at all by either of those audiences?

Jessie: Our audience is very mixed. We have played shows with country, metal, pop bands. It doesnt seem to matter. I like to bring together different people and would like to play more shows with hip hop groups, etc.
Deathrock.com: There are a few projects emerging from the Vanishing right now, would you care to tell us about them?
Jessie: We have a couple of electronic side projects. AUTONERVOUS is the fraction of Billy and I. It began as the goth aerobics but now it is more neurotic dirty disco cabaret. ZONETECH is the fraction of Billy and Brian and has been together for longer than The Vanishing. They have done soundtracks for sci-fi sexploitation films such as CANDY VON DEWD. We have a split tape/cd between these bands called "Fetalities 2003" which you could get from us if you tried. Right now we are looking for labels to put out this music.
Deathrock.com: Tell us a personal story that inspired any specific Vanishing song.

Jessie: "Glass Is Falling" was inspired by a mushroom trip I took when I was 14. I was out of my mind and speaking in some language which sounded like russian to me. A voice awoke inside of me which was very ancient and began controlling my movements, my arms and legs became the hands of the clock, racing down the street. I puked in a toystore. I was terrified because I had never felt something so deep. I had just dyed my hair purple and the dye was pouring off my stained hands into the gutter.
"Still Lifes Are Failing" is somewhat inspired by another mushroom trip I took in which I became the part of a painting that had been covered up, painted over, but still remained beneath the surface of what was deemed appropriate or beautiful. It was the most ecstatic feeling actually, because though no one could see me, I existed alone, in peace.
Deathrock.com: You have been doing a lot of touring recently, any good war stories?

Jessie: Our favorite show we have played in the last few months was in Houston, Texas at this place called "Super Happy Fun Land". It used to be a church, but now it's painted flourescent green and seems like an afterschool center for delinquents, I hear that many experimental jazz groups play there. The bands we played with were THE FACADE, and SWARM OF ANGELS who were both incredible. While they played, there were about 8 people sitting in the pews looking completely bored, the energy was like a deserted movie theater. Before we began we had to ducktape shut all the chairs, suddenly there were lots more people and the show was incredible. Afterewards we hung out all night drinking opiate tea and jamming out with the members from the other bands. Our other favorite places we have been to are Lawrence KS, Portland OR, New York, and Berlin! We have had a relativly relaxed time, and not felt the need to strangle each other too much.

Deathrock.com: Why the addition of saxophone in particular to some of The Vanishing's songs?

Jessie: I got bored playing bass because I wanted to dance and sing. I hadn't been playing sax since my last group, SUBTONIX broke up, and so I wanted to focus on that.
Deathrock.com: Do you have any scars?

Jessie: I have a scar on my hand from when my babysitter while I was 8 years old stabbed me with a pair of wirecutters. The other is on my stomach, my cat became rabid and I had to lock her in a shed in the woods. I went to visit her and she attacked me.
Deathrock.com: What are the Vanishing's plans for the future?

Jessie: To go to Japan, Spain, and South America. We have some records coming out in the next few months: A split 12" 45 with SIXTEENS (San Francisco) on GSL. A split 12" 45 dance remix with VON IVA (San Francisco) on Princehouse records. A split 7" with THE PHANTOM LIMBS (San Francisco) on Hungry Eye Records. An Italian Birthday Party tribute split 7" with WITH LOVE(Italy). A Swedish Cure tribute 7" on Release the Bats records.

Interview by Mark Splatter

The Vanishing interview by Lio of Cashin In

"CAKE IN THE EYES AND A BIG BLOODY KISS"

Band Members
brian hock: drums, synth
billy bates: synths
jesse eva: vox, sax, synths

How and when did this band come about/ form?

A: WE MET THRU PHONE SEX. WE ALL WORKED AT THE SAME PLACE, IT TOOK ITS TOLL ON OUR VOCABULARY. EVERYTHING BECOMES LIKE "FUCK THIS, FUCK THAT. I WANT TO FUCK YOU"
I see from [your] bio that The Vanishing's members were in some other bands. What bands have you played in?
A: Previous bands we have been in : SUBTONIX, THE KNIVES, NOCTURNIUM, THE SNOT FACTORY, SYNAPTIC FLUX, etc. Other projects we are currently doing: AUTONERVOUS,,(goth arobics for the neurotically fit), ZONETECH (doing sci fi soundtracks for sexploitation films), VOUVE CLOUCOT (sorry i dont know how to spell this yet all i know is "voove clucot is the golden exaust pipe"), HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON (staring pandora pumpkin head)
What is the inspiration behind The Vanishing's music?
LYMPHATIC STRUCTURES THAT CEASE TO AMUSE US.
Who writes the music in the band and how do you come up with your sound?
WE SMOKE LOTS OF POT AND BANG OUR HEADS AGAINST THE WALL. WE ALL STRUCTURE THE SONGS TOGETHER AND WRITE PARTS FOR EACHOTHER . . . I RECORD EVERYTHING ON BOOM BOX AND THEN WE SORT THROUGH.
You definitely seem to have an old goth/punk style to your image, down from the name of the band to the photos? How would you describe your look?
PHEASANTS
I definitely see style as a massive influence with the band. Do you think that it is important to relate style with music?
YES, BUT IT IS MORE OF AN AFTERTHOUGHT. WE HAVENT PUT MUCH ENERGY INTO IT, THOUGH WE DO LIKE TO DRESS UP.
Do you have someone design clothes for every one in the band? If so can you tell us some about how you come up with the designs/ideas?
MY FRIEND KELLY FROM BLACK ICE HAS MADE ME A COUPLE OF DRESSES. BILLY FINDS HIS CLOTHES IN THE DUMPSTER. BRIAN AS BEEN OBSESSED WITH MANEKINS, WHICH DISGUSTS ME.
With your sound I'm extremely curious what some of your musical influences/favorite records are. Can you tell us some of them?
CHRIS AND COSEY, "Heartbeat," "Action," anything else... JAH WOBBLE, NINA HAGEN, TUXEDO MOON, GOBLIN, MALARIA, CHROME
Lately I have been hearing/seeing a resurgence of dark goth/punk in many of the clubs around Philadelphia and NYC. Do you think that that scene is
coming back?
WE HAVE NEVER FELT PARTICURARLY ALIGNED WITH ANY SCENE BUT I ALWAYS APPRECIATE MUSIC THAT IS DARK AND FROM THE HEART. I THINK THAT THIS SCENE HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS AND WILL CONTINUE.
If so, do you think that kids are ready for it?
THE KIDS WILL BE READY FOR WHATEVER COMES AROUND, WHATEVER IS SHOVED DOWN THEIR THROAT BY THE MEDIA.
What type of mark would you guys like to make on the music industry?
CAKE IN THE EYES AND A BIG BLOODY KISS.

hungry eye records: home >> the vanishing >> press