Chris Randall
Alternative / Blues / Rock
Oregon
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About
After eighteen years of fronting the pioneering industrial rock band Sister Machine Gun, Chris Randall has returned to his roots with the release of The Devil His Due, his first solo album. The Devil His Due recalls the traditional American styles of blues, early jazz, and vaudeville, mixed together with the dark, foreboding feel that Randall is known for. While there is obvious homage to the alternative blues of Nick Cave and Tom Waits, and even the klangmusik of Einstuerzende Neubauten, Randall creates an altogether different result, one that reflects his own life and musical skills.
Born in 1968 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and raised in rural Oregon, Chris Randall's first twenty years in this world were a haze of sagebrush and poverty. He moved to New York City in 1988, and formed Sister Machine Gun in 1989. Soon relocating to Chicago, he spent nearly two decades pushing against the boundaries of the industrial genre, receiving wide praise (and healthy criticism as well, it should be noted) for introducing jazz and blues elements in to that somewhat limited form of expression. With seven Sister Machine Gun albums, four EPs, and countless singles under his belt, along with production and artist credits on over 60 other releases, Randall felt it was finally time to explore new musical territory in areas closer to his personal tastes, and The Devil His Due was born.
The Devil His Due was written and recorded over a two-year period entirely in Randall's own Shaolin Fist Of Death studio, following his move back to rural Oregon in 2005. Performed partly on homemade or found instruments, the album is a complete sonic about-face from Randall's earlier work, yet it maintains the writing style he is already known for. Events in Randall's life provide the fodder, and he created a colorful cast of characters to act out the drama in the songs. The album has a fluid story, yet each song tells its own version of the classic Faustian bargain. From the opening count-off of "Judas Iscariot" to the final romping jump-blues of "It's All The Same In the Nighttime," The Devil His Due is both an exploration of traditional music styles and an entirely new form of expression.
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Jan 21, 2009
Let this blow your mind...
Click that fucker to zoom out. Waaaaaaay out. This photo was snapped from 432 miles above Washington DC at 11:19 am on 1/20/09. I think you can figure the rest out on your own. Normally, satellite photos do a good job of making me feel small. This one makes me feel …
Jan 4, 2009
Jagged Lines & Extras...
I'm trying out SoundCloud. It is, if you're not familiar, essentially to music what Vimeo is to video and Flickr to pictures. This player has four micronaut out-takes that I uploaded to test the service. These were all written somewhere between the …
Jan 2, 2009
Start The New Year Right!
Our yearly Major Wind Storm just tore through town last night. Trees down everywhere. The town next to ours really got nailed, too. Quite a few houses got squished, but as far as I'm aware, nobody was hurt. The electricity was off for hours, but it has been more on than …
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R.fm, May 7, 2009:
Hi,
our new site is up and running now, check it and let us know what you think.
Love from R.fm crew
Udault, Nov 29, 2007:
oldschool sounds, very nice blues with powerful breaks and beats
Ozone42, Mar 7, 2007:
Thanks for taking the time to look up SMG fans. I hadn't heard you were doing your own thing now. I just bought both of the albums listed here, looking forward to listening through them!