You may have noticed the advert for UK/Australian collaboration Filth currently up on Sentinel Daily’s front page; Their music might accurately be described as an ‘acquired taste’, and we know as much about this band as you do, so when boss man Adams dispatched me for a chat with Bitt, the ‘sampler/drum presence’ with the enigmatic outfit, I was pleased  to see if I could find out more. I was in for a disappointment…

Tell us a bit about the band. “It’s not a band. It’s a loose agglomeration of ‘personalities’ who come in and out of the orbit of the central ‘committee’ that runs the musical entity. And they do so under a firm guarantee of anonymity, and always will. A lot of our stance, a lot of what we say, is not popular and we don’t expect people to agree with that but if they want to collaborate on a purely musical level that’s fine by us”.

So how would you describe the music you make? “It was rooted in DIY, noisecore, whatever you want to call it. It’s not metal. But on the first single Useful Idiots there are some pretty heavy guitars which we think will appeal to metal fans. I guess if we decide to progress it we will be manouevred into making something more listenable, more techno/industrial in order to get the backing to get the message out there. If we sell enough downloads with this single though, maybe we’ll be able to do it ourselves. Keep things horrible”.

The lyrics for Useful Idiots are unremittingly bleak. Chris Arrowsmith, my colleague, felt it was as miserable as those crust bands predicting mankind’s demise during the cold war.  “Pretty much, We are at a time now where the survival of ‘a normal way of life’ is threatened in a similar way to nuclear devastation, with the added thrill that when the ‘bomb’ drops we’ll all still be able to live through the aftermath. So yes. Pretty miserable”.

So what do you think the future holds for heavy metal music? “Not much. I don’t see the future holding much for any forms of music the way things are going”.

Which emerging bands or sub-genres are you most excited about? “I don’t want to come across as unnecessarily nihilistic; but part of what Useful Idiots is about is people’s inability to see through what’s served up to them as bullshit. We’re all part of a machine. By participating in something like Bandcamp to release this track, Filth is part of that machine. Unless we remove ourselves from those constraints there is no future for any band, whatever sub-genre they inhabit”.

So, do you think technology will continue to influence heavy metal? “Of course it will. Heavy metal ceased being a working class medium as soon as the cost of equipment needed to perform it at a decent level exceeded the normal means of a person to earn it without working more than one job or taking out loans. It became a middle class pursuit. Technology was meant to cut those costs, to bring the capability to produce music back to people working out of their bedrooms. But the price of that is that the technology is all linked to the grid, So of course, in time, the ability to make metal or any other music will remain in the gift of those who own the grid. If you aren’t making a message they like, you’ll find your ability to create severely curtailed”.

What challenges do you think heavy metal will face in the future? “If what I just outlined isn’t a challenge I don’t know what is. I should probably add that Filth doesn’t offer any solutions to the problems we foresee, and we certainly don’t subscribe to or support anybody currently on the political spectrum. We believe ‘building back better’ would involve removing, with force if necessary, the existing political and media classes and starting again with a fairer system. Anarchy!”

Well, that told me!

Useful Idiots is out now.