Interview with Jack R. of BeHappy
Why “BeHappy”? Sarcastic instruction, or…?
So the name BeHappy has come to mean different things at different
periods for me, I had it floating around as a teen, definitely in a sardonic joking manner… Patronising even. probably conning lifelover or shroud of distress's track of the same name. But by the time I actually started, I intended on a Noise Project. depressive noise. And wanted it to be overtly controversial and political, So the BeHappy became the "you will be happy" we know. Some bland dystopian slogan.
I know of few bands as “cursed” as you. When we first spoke you had just broken your hand in a fracas with a car. What happened that time?
So the slightly smashed-up incident, I still have a few scars and a chipped tooth. Basically, I'm prone to depressive lingering.. usually not an issue, as I tend to be a loner aha. Anyhow, my partner who I was living with had done some stuff which I won't go into here. Which had somewhat led to a heavy drinking phase, which.. is very unusual for me, having grown up around a lot of it. This also led to "A Corpse Paints" recording so swings and roundabouts. But essentially I'd got very pissed, 1 litre tequila and a litre of rum..lambs, and dead mans finger. All I really know, Is I was full on screaming, ranting and raving that night. Ended up with said partner leaving the house and getting in the car to drive off for the night. I grabbed the damn thing and got dragged along the gravel drive for a moment. Things could have gone worse so. Well, no more drink since then.
Later there was some other unpleasantness with your hand. What happened there?
I get pompholyx, Dsyhydriatic eczema.. I'm still supposed to go get tests and what not But basically for around a month a year my hands turn into giant solid pustules and cease moving. There's worse things.. but I'd prefer the sort of eczema we usually picture to this. Wearing cream filled cotton gloves for weeks on end isn't the most metal thing ever.
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| (taken from https://substack.com/home/post/p-139624343 - with permission from J.R.) |
Whoever wants to read more about these impediments can go to your substack. However, to what extent does your personal life inform your music making?
Personal life plays a massive role in the music process. Inside me there's always more to make. But due to being somewhat irregular/unstable "on my own trolley" I've not often had the accommodation or means to create as desired.. A lot of years basically taking acid, living with hippies and roaming the streets of the south west.. I made "Rising Hostility" in this period but that's around all. I'm more considerate than you might expect. So I tend to need somewhere fairly out the way to really "put in my all". It's tricky to find the balance between. Being wild enough to gather experiences/inspiration. And being settled enough to make use of these. I definitely want to be at my lowest whenever I record, especially for vocals and lyrics (always somewhat improvised). But often if I'm that "immersed" it's hard to keep everything else afloat. It's definitely less chaotic over the past few years, and I've found the more settled I get the more I tend to favour guitar based pieces over the improvised noise. The domestication process perhaps.
You talk often about getting “fucked-up” before music making. What part do substances play in your music making?
To be honest I'm at a boring phase in my life, I smoke every day almost all day. But beyond that I'm pretty tee-total, down to sugar. But yes for the past couple of albums, especially during "vocal sessions" I have still indulged in quite prolific self harm. The way it used to be would involve a litre bottle of rum, a razor...some rubbing alcohol and solitude.. then lots of working myself up until I'm little more than frustration and rage. I had a moment around Christmas, when the most recent bunch of tracks were made. But still nothing too wild.
Who is “Acid Jack”? Does he still haunt the villages of Cornwall?
Aha that's quite funny you'd mention it. So I used to get sheets of acid for sod all back when I was living on a friend's bus. He used to get us to raves and host woods parties and beach raves that sorta thing, all very crusty. Basically, I took way too much straight away and shot myself into a different existence. Then for about 3 years I just used to have tabs in my mouth every day, 25i, lsd, 2cb, 5meo-dmt, mdm, sort of on rotation. I'd get these a4 sheets of blotters for nothing off of someone I was introduced to (They're unfortunately dead now), and a little vial of liquid, some pills. I just always had stuff on me and was always on the stuff too. People took to calling me Acid Jack (I was pretty mental for a lot of years, it's only in the past 3 or so that I've been living somewhat normally) thing is, up until the day I damn near killed myself with psychedelics (yeah, weird one), I'd only ever felt strong emotions when hurting myself, or seeing/watching/listening to awful things. That day something snapped and I was genuinely happy. I guess for a few years, I just couldn't get enough of that. (Plus, I still held a lot of very very out there beliefs, so I took the more extreme and solitudinal
side of psychedelics eventually) dark tripping on my own at night in some dodgy street became a ritual in itself.
From previous talks, I know you have a fondness for De Sade, but also for Eastern philosophy. Does these things have anything to do with BeHappy? What interest do you have in “non-standard” spiritualit(y/ies)”
More so when I was younger, Like a lot of us into these sorts of genres. Spent a fair amount of my teens pawing over Steiner, Manly P. Hall. Ah just the usual plethora of theosophy. But I was much more interested in ancient texts, especially old Hindi writings, Bhagavad Gita being the obvious example. It's quite hard to recall my beliefs in earlier life. I did some things, for some reasons, none of which good. You know my flat at 18 was all broken plaster and bare stud walls, various effigies, pentagrams and other BS all over the walls, bloody liturgy and just chaos really. I was in a different place entirely. Nowadays, beyond tangential thoughts of spirit cooking and some superstitious beliefs around Bhairava, I try to stay more… grounded. There was a lot in my head regarding cyclical ages, that all of this had been done before, and I still believe this, I just don't believe that to be spritual in its nature. So The Sade connection isn't half as insidious as it could be, I'm somewhat fascinated by most of the things we consider appalling. There's definitely a morbid fascination. However my liking here is more for that of the agent provocateur. I want to make people uncomfortable, hopefully not purely for it's own sake.
I feel people tend to shy away from blunt hard portrayals of things that do indeed happen, unless they're given quite the shake. As a teenager, I used to love the shake. Anything that got under my skin or elicited a strong emotional response was my fix, if I can provide the same shock and fascination even to a couple of weirdos like me, I'm pleased.
What do you intend by informing listeners that you are a “cross-dressing whore”?
Well I've actually started proper hrt now, so I might be able to update that soon enough, seems like the right turning point aha. Ah no basically "agent provocateur" again. It's true but mostly out there to rile feathers. Although given a lot of what I tend to emphasize in my lyrics. I think it likely also acts as a bit of a curveball to some who would assume me a very different type of person.
Your lyrics often seem to draw attention to illusions that sustain modern life. How do you understand “illusion” here? Are we stuck with our illusions or is there an escape-route?
No I really don't think it's something that could be done away with. On a personal level, I've always just wanted a little homestead in the middle of nowhere, self-sufficient and totally not involved with society, government or well... very little honestly. I do see most of it as illusory trappings and ultimately poisons picked for us, I won't go too full on here as 80% of my lyrics consist of this theme. I think I used to have higher expectations for humanity, including myself. Ultimately, people want what is on offer, even the negatives. And if they don't, well, they want it more than they want to bother resisting. "Give me convenience or give me death". Modernity is long past arriving, I'll still moan in lyrics just for my own sanity (Can't beat 'em, Won't join 'em, best to stay away from them). Outside of myself I find it very very hard to see much of what goes on in the world as something other than a sort of play. In a more cosmic sense, I'd subscribe to the idea of a "veil of maya". A younger me pretty desperately wanted to reach out into the nothing before and pull it back like curtains, shame I'm pretty physically bound myself it seems. Perhaps we need the illusions, maybe whatever lay beneath is unbearable enough to warrant a cage.
Many of your songs feature samples of infamous characters such as Eileen Wuornos. Have these people seen through the illusion, or is your interest in them something else?
No, although I've toyed with the idea of a conceptual album based around the idea. Especially after getting quite into Ian Brady's writings a while back, broadly speaking also someone who believed themselves to be in some ways overcoming the limitations of man, and the moral "servitude" we place ourselves under. But really I think he's a twat who rotted in a prison until he died. Same with most of these figures. The idea of “Lust for Life” was very much that of someone seeking out experiences which go beyond the accepted boundaries, to mistake lust for life. Those who give into their more base desires, or philosophize their acts into something far more remarkable than the chimp-on-chimp action it represents. Growing up I had a fascination with serial killers, and still do. And as for characters I can somewhat use as a focus for noise pieces I find them very inspirational. As for the Wuornos
track, I was more interested in trying to create that constantly rising swirling frustration of thoughts and phrases on the date of her execution, the procession towards that finality. And the ad-hoc rationalizations. Plus I have always found her to be one of the more sympathetic villains, especially given how I have lived. There's a lot of monsters in the world, and they aren't usually the whores. Can easily see how so many turn up dead.
Your music is very raw, but sometimes also very technical in a surprising way for a DSBM project. These things are balanced well, without seeming contrived or incongruous. The process you use whilst composing instruments is different from vocal performances, perhaps?
Raw is the key! well I wanted the project to be purely improvisational at first. Inspired by people like Sean Beard, Whitehouse, Swallowing Bile, both Shining and Lifelover "occasionally" (not improvisational, but for the level of performance, grimness... something realistic, nearer a relatable breakdown, or something you might encounter in a bad situation, as opposed to the
more musically composed and vocally stylized stuff) However this is part of that whole domestication thing, I've not really been able to act out in that way very often for the past few years. As such I've found myself obsessively on the guitar, and actually writing the music out (mostly as a disciplinary exercise but also for the drummer) and becoming more engrossed in the writing really, just very into making stuff as unusual as I can whilst being replicable. Found myself getting quite obsessed with numbers (No surprise given all the noise work is done in hz) time signatures, odd repetitions etc etc. Mostly it's just technical indulgence honestly, but fairly limited. As for the vocals well, I have a bit of a set up but I still prefer the one take while in a state approach with just a mic.
Are you remotely interested in the notion of sticking to a given genre?
Honestly I find this one hard to answer, it's almost as if there are a few branches stemming from BeHappy, The more involved and time consuming noise works, the quite straight forward and prolonged DSBM side and progressively a more typically heavy and technical element. They aren't too well married yet though, maybe won't be. I'm really quite attached to "BeHappy" just as a broad name for all the music I make, where themes are almost always similar but stylistically varied. Bleak audio, intended more as mini experiences than songs usually.
Outside of BeHappy are you/have you ever been involved with other bands/acts?
No, some rubbish in my college days and some jamming with a bunch of guys at the boatyard in Millbrook. I quite like the whole one man metal deal, Scott Connor, Russel Menzies, Whitehead, Paulo Bruno, Varg... that whole solo independent thing appeals to me a lot
What are your thoughts on the concept of “influence” Is that a real thing? If so, why should we care?
So I'm not too sure how this was meant but I'll take it on musical terms. I refused to learn any music by anybody else until about 2 years ago now. I didn't want to pick up any habits that weren't my own, or find myself writing or playing music which could safely be said; was already out there. None the less, it's almost impossible to avoid. I'm a huge fan of Xasthur, Nocturnal Depression, Make a Change...Kill Yourself, Striborg, and the influence is transparent at times, more so I do want to emulate the warped, psychotic meandering sounds of Xasthur and Striborg, but in my own more noisy, harsher and drawn out way. Ultimately though there's nothing wrong with having your influences. But I'd sooner hear what the guy with none might come up with haha. We're all covering covered genres, never mind tracks. But "I only saw so far by standing on the shoulders of those who came before me" and all of that. I'm really trying to keep these a little concise so I'll leave that there (Pretentious knobbery going on in my head).
What, if anything, do explanations, contextualisations and other talk add to art? Aren’t they like explaining the punchline of a joke?
Yes, pretty much. Sometimes people miss the joke though. No honestly I quite like art explanations, it's half of what I'd watch on youtube these days. More likely visual artists with an hour or so explanation of the lot. It's nice to see into the mind of the artist sometimes, and more often than not tends to be quite surprising. I suppose it's good to see where something comes from. It is surplus though.
What do you listen to most nowadays? Anyone you think the reader should know about?
Random ass 10 a penny grindcore albums, endless random album reviews around extreme metal. A fair bit of Tech Death. And then quite sort of normal stuff, a lot of Matana Roberts lately. Quite a bit of John Zorn, Grateful Dead are on a lot as well, hell I've even been listening through Slipknots Iowa frequently lately. have had Khanate and burning witch on the go a bit too Within the noise and black metal realms, honestly very little.. If ever I go to listen to DSBM or want to find some black metal, noise, I just have this sea of music before me, which was super exciting as a youth. But now I'll listen through 5 or 6 tracks by different bands in some playlist and 9/10 times I'll end up listening to Xasthur, Moon, Striborg, Make a Change.. etc etc, the old greats. I'm 100% sure amazing stuff is being made all the time. I'm fairly over-saturated myself though, and the "market" even more so I honestly prefer making music, playing the guitar or coming up with some concept and seeking out a hundred and one news clips to mash together into some noisy storyboard than listening. Probably why I mostly listen to music I have no intention of making! I do enjoy watching drum performances a lot too, could leave Benny Greb e.g. on all day. But if push came to shove for a newer recommendation, you know, I have none unfortunately.
Final thoughts, if any?
Life's been pretty crazy since February this year, and I've just been all over the show, only really getting settled back down again now. So hopefully more to come, time is always the biggest bitch, ceaselessly amazing how quickly it shoots off. As such I've barely had any of it to spend on musical pursuits until a few days ago really. Might find some of those answers would be different had I not been doing the headless chicken for 5 months. Go listen to Oppress and then buy my shit too, It's good to have something to hate after all.