Originating in Kalamazoo, home of the state’s largest mental facility, the dark-edged satirists GOD BULLIES warped minds in the ‘90s by taking rock and garage-punk conventions and injecting them with massive overdoses of mental sickness, Midwestern perversion, backwoods hatred, and completely whacked-out speech sampling. Imagine Flipper crossed with Link Wray, fronted by a prison-bound Jim Bakker, and you might be close.
With several LPs and EPs on former label Amphetamine Reptile and various other independent labels, breaking up and shuffling members to return on West Coast’s Alternative Tentacles for their fourth LP in 1994, they again broke up. Mike Hard went on to perform in several bands including Thrall, Hand Over Head, and BrainSaw, with incestuous sharing of members between these bands, with the one constant through all this twisted output being the charismatic singer/psychopath, “Father” Mike Hard.
Fast-forward to 2024, and Father Hard and a core group of deranged Detroit disciples – guitarist Scott Kodrik, bassist Pat O’Harris, and drummer Cliff Carinci – have made the pilgrimage to Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studios to share their twisted, obsessive tales of conspiracies and fringe beliefs with the brainwashed masses! Boasting a much tighter, heavier, and more sinister sounding GOD BULLIES, As Above So Below (2024) is set to rock the foundations of your faith; a dark, crude, and menacing attack that should appeal to fans of Jesus Lizard, Tomahawk, Easy Action, Melvins, Unsane, The Birthday Party, and the prime years of Amphetamine Reptile Records.
