HEALTH: "A lot of bands from our era and our scene are gone"

Don't commit to a genre. Stay on the outskirts of any movement or scene. Create a confusing, almost cryptic timeline of releases. Welcome to HEALTH's 'h...

Don't commit to a genre. Stay on the outskirts of any movement or scene. Create a confusing, almost cryptic timeline of releases. Welcome to HEALTH's 'how to stay relevant 101.' Not only are they more relevant than ever, but the LA noise-rock trio are about to release their most exhilarating record yet, over 15 years into their career.

"I don't think any of us anticipated that we'd still be doing this," says guitarist and vocalist Jake Duzsik. "A lot of bands from our era and our scene are gone - not that that's a negative thing - just oftentimes music is a youthful artistic expression that connects to a zeitgeist. Things are so cyclical that you can have an ascendent moment of being a buzz band, then there'll be a changing of the guards, and certain things pass out of fashion."

When HEALTH first burst onto the LA DIY scene in a cacophony of glitchy electronics and pummelling, mind-melting drum beats, the cynics amongst us can be forgiven for thinking they were a flash in the pan. There were hints of buzz band moments: the Crystal Castles 'Crimewave' remix, for instance, or the self-titled debut recorded in iconic LA venue The Smell, but HEALTH have stood the test of time.

"Part of what has helped us to be fortunate enough to continue doing this, is that we never really had a genre or a specific scene," recalls Jake. "Even coming out of the scene we did in LA, with The Smell and that downtown noise scene, we were very far afield: we weren't a garage punk band. On the other hand, there wasn't really a movement of music that burned out that we were stuck with. We were always on the outskirts, but we were lucky enough to have a dedicated fan base to allow us to keep doing things."

Jake is quick to point out that the band have also experienced several serendipitous occurrences, one being the scoring of the soundtrack for the Max Payne 3 video game in 2012. Despite murmurs that they were 'selling out', it was a hugely successful venture, and just one of the many examples of HEALTH using the fluidity of their sound to their advantage.

"That helped us reach so many people who had never heard of us, connecting us with the gaming culture, who in turn tend to be more connected with heavy music culture. On the last collaboration record, we made, 'DISCO4 :: Part I,' we did tracks with JPEGMafia and Ghostemane, who are both musical artists in completely different niches with large fan bases, and both of those guys only knew us because of the video game.

"It's little things like that where we've been lucky enough to have opportunities that have connected us to new people. We've continued to update the conversation we're trying to have musically, and we don't make the same record ever again. Sure, you're not going to get crazy rich doing that, but you're going to get to keep doing what you love!"

"Getting sent a vocal track and it was Trent Reznor's voice... that was pretty emotionally significant"

While being willing to bend and adapt when it comes to the musical landscape they've found themselves in, one thing HEALTH have always stuck to their guns with is the format of their record releases, which Jake himself refers to as a "confusion bomb." Rather than stick to the traditional album release cycle, each HEALTH LP has been accompanied by the release of a corresponding remix album using the title 'DISCO' - basically a companion album featuring remixes of each track by different artists.

"When we released our first album aeons ago, it was an incredibly fertile time for remix culture. We really like symmetry and consistency, if not in the sound of a record but the presentation, so for the second record we had to do a remix companion too, and it just became part of what we do.

"Last time we did a remix album was for 'DEATH MAGIC' (their third album, released in 2015), and it just felt like the musical landscape had shifted. We noticed that the way people were listening to music was changing, and finding people that were interested in doing remixes in a way that was creatively exciting to them was getting harder."

Wanting to continue the tradition of having a musical document to fill the space between each record, but also wanting to shake things up, the solution was to work with other artists to create collaboration albums.

"Now we get to collaboration records, and it's confusing as hell," laughs Jake. "We had a serious debate about whether to stick with the 'DISCO' title, which was true initially because we were a noise band and the remixes were dancey, but the majority of these songs are very heavy, and we're collaborating with artists like Nine Inch Nails and Lamb of God. It's funny: at a certain point, I've embraced that part of what we do is a little confusing. It can make the messaging of the band difficult to streamline, but if you get into it, there's lots of little corners to explore."

After the ominous industrial beats of 2019's 'VOL. FOUR :: SLAVES OF FEAR', the second part of their 'DISCO4' series continues down the same blistering path, opening with the nihilistic beauty of DEAD FLOWERS, their collaboration with Poppy, before moving through ferocious collabs with HO99O9, The Body and Lamb of God to name but a few.

"We found that by far the most productive way to make these collaborations was to start by sending something as skeletal as possible. It doesn't matter who starts the idea, but you don't want to write a whole song, because then you're going to get a featured artist. Not that there's anything wrong with features, but a feature is not a collaboration between two artists.

"It's been very genuine and refreshing; we probably wouldn't have recorded a second album of collaborations if it hadn't been for the pandemic, but it really does get to the core of what's fun about making music. Even though most of it was created remotely, even just being in the proximity of these artists was reinvigorating.

Though the whole record is testament to HEALTH's ability to exist between genres and produce earth-shaking results, there's one track that has truly caught people's attention, and that's the Nine Inch Nails collaboration, which was mixed by Atticus Ross. Rather than make the "bat shit crazy, aggressive experimental song" that people expected, 'Isn't Everyone' is a haunting, glacial track where Trent Reznor's iconic vocals intertwine with Jake's signature otherworldly whispers.

"That one blew my mind," Jake recalls. "I've had a relationship with Trent over the years as he's always been supportive of us, and we've occasionally played shows with Nine Inch Nails, but getting sent a vocal track and it was Trent Reznor's voice... that was pretty emotionally significant."

If one of the secrets of HEALTH's longevity is connecting with other fan bases and taking them along for the ride, then they're sure to gain a whole new bunch of admirers with 'DISCO4 :: Part I.'

"We were acutely aware of the fact that there are some intense fan bases, particularly with Nine Inch Nails and Lamb of God. It's been overwhelming seeing how each song has really connected with the fans of each band. I shared some emails back and forth with Trent and Atticus after we'd finished the track to chat about how heartening it was to see both fan bases responding so well to the song. Trent responded, "Yeah, did we fuck up somehow?! It seems like everyone likes it!"

Taken from the May issue of Upset. HEALTH's album 'DISCO4 :: PART II' is out now.