Seppuku was an attempt to produce the most abrasive, unpleasant noise music I could muster. Inspired by early Industrial acts like SPK and Throbbing Gristle, I tried to throw away everything I knew about melody, structure, rhythm and counterpoint and chuck everything through a lot of distortion.
The result is a guttural, disconcerting aural assault that I suspect is quite unlike anything you’ve heard before – and with good reason, you probably have more taste.
However, the project did illustrate a valuable point – sometimes it’s important to get way outside your comfort zone and see what happens. While it is very difficult to write catchy, melodic pop songs it’s even more difficult to make “music” that genuinely doesn’t sound like anything else – that was my challenge with Seppuku.
I did have some pretensions of taking Seppuku the live arena, consisting of myself wearing a mask with a laptop and sampler, but I didn’t quite have the courage at the time and struggled to think of a venue or audience that would be suitable. Still, it might be an interesting thing to pursue if I ever have a nervous breakdown, or get accused of “selling out” by the music press.