haarp | pt

haarp

Country of origin:
United States
Location:
New Orleans, Louisiana
Status:
Active
Year of creation:
2005

Genre:
Sludge/Doom Metal
Lyrical themes:
N/A
Current label:
Housecore Records

Slow, low and thundering, the New Orleans-based band prefers all lower-case letters in their moniker, just as vocalist Shaun Emmons & drummer Keith Sierra did in their old grindcore outfit, rat in a bucket. In haarp's case, it's partly a reaction to HAARP, the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, a conspiracy-theory-laden research project funded by the U.S. government, military and the University of Alaska. "Everyone assumes our name is a reference to that", Emmons nods. "But it's not really. In Celtic mythology, the Dagda played a harp that had special powers that allowed him to enchant people or even kill people. haarp is like that to us. It's our weapon".

On August 27, 2005, two of New Orleans' extreme metal bands, manic grind freaks RAT IN A BUCKET & black metal blazers DE CAPA PRETA, were slated to play a show at the now-defunct Dixie Taverne in the heart of the city. Due to "inclement weather" and the threat of Hurricane Katrina making landfall, the bands decided that since many people were evacuating the city, the show could not go on. Hurricane Katrina struck & devastated the Gulf Coast region and affected many aspects of people's lives. The music scene in New Orleans was not spared from this change and many bands, including RAT IN A BUCKET and DE CAPA PRETA, went through several member departures before ultimately calling it quits.
Keith Sierra Jr., drummer from RAT IN A BUCKET, and Grant Tom, guitarist from DE CAPA PRETA, got in contact with each other from their temporary locations and discussed the state of the music scene. After digging up old conversations and ideas they had discussed at various local shows, they decided to return to New Orleans and start a new band. This new band would approach music from a new direction from the speed and chaos of their respective previous bands, and focus more on mid-tempo and slower music. The immediate choice for vocalist was Shaun Emmons of RAT IN A BUCKET, who shared the varied and eclectic musical tastes of Keith and Grant. Several tryouts later, Ryan Pomes of MILKTOAST joined the group and finalized the lineup as bassist.
"To call haarp 'slow' would be somewhat fair, but to say that they're just 'another slow band' would be sacrilege," states Anselmo. "Their music is crushing, resolute, dramatic and conceptually insane. If critics are going to try and lump them into any one genre, than they'd better put the crown on haarp's collective heads once it's picked. This ain't doom metal by any stretch. haarp makes playing halftime sound like an original idea all over again. This music is essential."
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