Aquarian Blood is Memphis duo Laurel Ferdon and her husband JB Horrell. JB is in Ex-Cult, and Laurel was in NOTS. Both have been involved in the band Moving Finger. You could say that between them they've played in their share of garage rock goodness.What started as a home recording project, Aquarian Blood has since developed into a full proto-punk band that play raw, synthy tracks that are often based on cults and the paranormal. A previous 7' was called Warlock Cock and for that we salute them.
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Their new album Last Nite in Paradise is out on hometown label Goner Records on Feb 10 and in some paranormal type way - aka email - they sent us the opening two tracks, "Heaven Is In My Head" and "Won't Forget to Die".JB is also a producer on The Invaders, a feature-length documentary about a group of militant black leaders and civil rights activists in Memphis in 1967. Listen to "Heaven Is In My Head" and "Won't Forget to Die" below and read a brief chat we had with JB about the album and film.Noisey: "Heaven Is In My Head" and "Won't Forget To Die" are quite different in pace. Do they do a good job of representing the two sides of the Aquarian Blood coin?
JB Horrell: These songs represent two sides of our sound but it goes beyond that. Aquarian Blood started out as a home recording project. We gave no thought to being a live band then. I was in Ex-Cult and Laurel was in NOTS at the time. This was a way for us to collaborate and expand on the sounds we were working with in our other bands. Found sounds, 808 drum machines, acoustic guitars, cheap sound effects, violin, etc when added to the familiar drums, bass, and guitar set-up made it more fun and interesting to experiment outside of the confines of garage-punk or whatever."Heaven Is In My Head" is quite frantic. How are you in person. Chillers?
There's no binary to our personalities as far as aggro vs chill. It runs along a spectrum that depends on time of day, weather, chemical additives and a ton of other factors.
JB Horrell: These songs represent two sides of our sound but it goes beyond that. Aquarian Blood started out as a home recording project. We gave no thought to being a live band then. I was in Ex-Cult and Laurel was in NOTS at the time. This was a way for us to collaborate and expand on the sounds we were working with in our other bands. Found sounds, 808 drum machines, acoustic guitars, cheap sound effects, violin, etc when added to the familiar drums, bass, and guitar set-up made it more fun and interesting to experiment outside of the confines of garage-punk or whatever."Heaven Is In My Head" is quite frantic. How are you in person. Chillers?
There's no binary to our personalities as far as aggro vs chill. It runs along a spectrum that depends on time of day, weather, chemical additives and a ton of other factors.
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What do your kids think of the band?
They're totally down with it. They've been exposed to band practice and recording in the house since they were in the cradle. My sons drum kit is the one we practice and record with at home. My daughter lets me borrow her guitar to take on tour as a backup. They offer their opinions freely about new material we're working on. We used a beat my son made for a new track recently so it's great to collaborate too.You seem like a great match with Goner. A local Memphis band that push things through a garage punk filter that isn't stale. What is it like working with Zac and Eric?
Working with them is awesome. Between Laurel and me, Aquarian Blood is the fourth band for which they've released records. They rule.
I met Minister Suhkara Yahweh (Lance Watson) aka Sweet Willie Wine in 2009 through a professor and friend of mine when I was working on a history degree. When he told me the story of the Invaders I was blown away and became interested in doing a project on them. A short time later a lifelong friend of mine, Prichard Smith who is a filmmaker, told me he heard about the Invaders from his mother. We decided to collaborate on the documentary.Growing up in Memphis were you aware of the story of these radicalised young black leaders?
No, I wasn't. The Invaders were militants whose tactics were not only suspect to the establishment but were viewed as dangerous. The FBI and Cointelpro were tracking them and attempting to destroy their efforts to uplift their communities and the sanitation strike. These are the kinds of people and groups that the establishment old white guy top-down history wants to write out of the books. That's why it's up to people like us to tell it from the bottom up.
They're totally down with it. They've been exposed to band practice and recording in the house since they were in the cradle. My sons drum kit is the one we practice and record with at home. My daughter lets me borrow her guitar to take on tour as a backup. They offer their opinions freely about new material we're working on. We used a beat my son made for a new track recently so it's great to collaborate too.You seem like a great match with Goner. A local Memphis band that push things through a garage punk filter that isn't stale. What is it like working with Zac and Eric?
Working with them is awesome. Between Laurel and me, Aquarian Blood is the fourth band for which they've released records. They rule.
How did you become involved in The Invaders documentary?
I met Minister Suhkara Yahweh (Lance Watson) aka Sweet Willie Wine in 2009 through a professor and friend of mine when I was working on a history degree. When he told me the story of the Invaders I was blown away and became interested in doing a project on them. A short time later a lifelong friend of mine, Prichard Smith who is a filmmaker, told me he heard about the Invaders from his mother. We decided to collaborate on the documentary.Growing up in Memphis were you aware of the story of these radicalised young black leaders?
No, I wasn't. The Invaders were militants whose tactics were not only suspect to the establishment but were viewed as dangerous. The FBI and Cointelpro were tracking them and attempting to destroy their efforts to uplift their communities and the sanitation strike. These are the kinds of people and groups that the establishment old white guy top-down history wants to write out of the books. That's why it's up to people like us to tell it from the bottom up.
'Last Nite in Paradise' is available Feb 10 on Goner Records.
Image: Cole Wheeler