Justin Broadrick - Jesu

Interviews with Justin Broadrick (Jesu, Godflesh, Final)

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Jesu - Video

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"deadeyes" - fan-produced video

Justin Broadrick On . . .

Godflesh's Breakup and Demise

“I’d been doing Godflesh for so long, but it was also stuff happening within the band,” he says, addressing Godflesh’s dissolution. “GC ‘Benny’ Green [bass] left the band after we recorded [2001’s] Hymns, two weeks before a two-month European tour with Fear Factory. I was in a complete and total dilemma, wondering if this is where we pack it in. Ted [Parsons, drums] was like ‘Fuck it, let’s get [Paul] Raven [Killing Joke, Prong] in.’ He learned the stuff quickly and came over at the drop of a hat. To be honest, I didn’t even have time to digest the fact that Benny had just walked out because, next thing you know, I was rehearsing with Ted and Raven and we stepped out on the tour. About a week into the tour I was like, ‘This is all wrong.’ Raven is a fantastic bass player, but it just wasn’t Benny, who I had been playing with for thirteen years and was a whole part of what Godflesh was. It really started to get me down, and I knew it was the fucking end.

“I’m not the sort of person who can do anything I’m obliged to do,” he continues, “and during the European tour, a headlining tour of North America was being put together without my input and I felt things were out of my control. When the European tour finished, I felt really disoriented and disengaged from the whole experience. I told Ted and Raven and they were like, ‘The tour is on paper. If you want to do any soul-searching, we suggest you do it after the American tour.’ That didn’t make sense, and I literally didn’t get on the plane to leave for the tour. I couldn’t even get out of bed. It was like the Brian Wilson job. I was just paralyzed by the stress, anguish and the thinking that this was the end of something that’s been mine for thirteen or fourteen years. That was just the beginning of it, because I was made to pay for canceling the tour and was financially ruined for about a year. You’d be surprised what sort of shit you can get into by splitting up your own band.” [-- Justin Broadrick discovers Jesu and life after Godflesh Decibel March 2005]

The origin of the name and the last track on Godflesh's "Hymns"

Even during the recording of that last Godflesh album, I was already aware of Godflesh’s mortality. Though I enjoyed a good amount of the album, I still felt a bit restricted. I started doing a lot of stuff during the recording of that album where I really trying to get past the limitations of Godflesh, which was self-created. I had this fantasy during the making of the Godflesh album that I had this new band called Jesu. I was writing the song at the time and couldn’t come up with a title so I called that song “Jesu.” It’s weird the way things come around like that. A lot of times I use titles which I could be tempted to use as a band name. Jesu is just one of those loaded, ultra-powerful things, quite like Godflesh in terms of its somewhat ambiguous, but very powerful suggestion of something epic and absorbing and consuming. I couldn’t really resist having something with religious overtones again, because I’m always kind of obsessed with that sort of thing. [-- Magnet Magazine Interview]

The transition from Godflesh to Jesu

I felt like I'd become a bit of a caricature, to some extent. Godflesh was always perceived as this industrial, metal, grinding, brutal thing. I'd really gotten tired of it; I'd backed myself into a corner. In hindsight, Godflesh lasted a few years too long, anyway. For me, the challenge was saying goodbye and moving on. I knew I'd lose a load of fans, but I was also quite confident that I'd gain people from other areas who weren't so single-minded about what they listened to. Not that Godflesh fans were that way, particularly. Jesu is kind of single-minded in a way, too, but I'm trying to use melodies that I've derived from the pop music I've listened to all my life. I could never sufficiently get it through my music before; it was always dominated by the aggression factor. [-- The A.V. Club April 2007]

Music and creativity

There’s not much drive besides that sense of creativity. I’m so immersed in it, it’s really hard for me to articulate the necessity of me doing this. Outside of any form of so-called success for any music I create, I would still do it regardless. I definitely use music as a therapy. Playing it and making it I find therapeutic and I almost find a sort of spiritual escape in it. Everybody has their own gods and I think I use music in that way. When someone else’s music touches me that strongly, it feels like a god-like experience or as close as you can get. There are many things that can get close to it—sex, all the stuff that comes close to that spiritual mindset. I’m trying to create something where I give off that same feeling or set of emotions that feel almost divine. I think I’d be pretty fucked up without [music]. I’d probably be on the couch permanently. [-- Magnet Magazine Interview]

"Jesu" - first LP

I honestly expected this Jesu album to have a lot of problems. I made it without having any concept of [musical] scenes at all. I thought that when it came out, it would have met with a lot of derision; that it would be too indie for metal kids, and too metal for indie kids. [Maelstrom Issue no. 39, 2004]

Jesu - "Lifeline" (2007)

LIFELINE Release Date: October 23, 2007

Track Listing

"Lifeline" - 5:17
"You Wear Their Masks" - 6:18
"Storm Comin' On" - 5:58
"End of the Road" - 5:34
"Lifeline" (Alternate Version) - 5:23 (Japanese Version Only)
"Decide" (Alternate Version of "Storm Comin' On") - 5:54 (Japanese Version Only)

Personnel

Justin Broadrick – guitars/vocals/programming
Diarmuid Dalton – bass ("Storm Comin' On")
Ted Parsons - drums ("Storm Comin' On")
Jarboe - vocals ("Storm Comin' On")

Reviews

  • Decibel Review: "Lifeline" December 2007:
    ... the metal portion of his metalgaze masterpieces is slowly being drained out, leaving lots of multi-track room for headphone-happy effects and the shimmering, swirling electronic music he’s toyed with since he formed Final in the ’80s. Aside from that, “Storm Comin’ On”—Broadrick’s best song of the year, hands down—is a nerve-wracking reminder of what a great producer he is (see all those Techno Animal albums he did in the ’90s). By dropping Jarboe in a room full of guillotine guitars and bouncy ball beats, Broadrick brings the Swans obsession of his youth full circle (he’s been known to credit Cop as a crucial creative inspiration after leaving Napalm Death) and suggests just how much he’d benefit from playing with others more.
  • PitchforkMedia Review: "Lifeline", by Zach Baron:
    On Lifeline, a short four-song EP for Hydra Head, Broadrick returns to the same sources-- gauzy, swirling guitars and ephemeral vocals, clarion bouts of melody, and that slow ascending arc-- adding only a duet with Jarboe, the prolific ex-Swans, called "Storm Comin' On". This track-- a rare departure from Broadrick's studio-centric meticulousness-- seems at first typical, with Jarboe merely taking Broadrick's role as muted vocalist. But within seconds she's clawing her way above the surface of Broadrick's instrumental, and her struggle to get on top of Jesu's atmospheric bleed gets at how complexly crafted (and how deceptively difficult) Broadrick's songs tend to be.

Labels:

Jesu - "Pale Sketches" (2007)

PALE SKETCHES

Track Listing "Don't Dream It" - 5:30
"Can I Go Now" - 5:49
"Wash It All Away" - 5:22
"The Playgrounds Are Empty" - 5:37
"Dummy" - 6:46
"Supple Hope" - 6:39
"Tiny Universes" - 4:59
"Plans That Fade" - 5:44

Personnel

Justin Broadrick - guitars, vocals, programming

Notes

  • Release Date: October 8, 2007
  • The first release from the Avalanche Store in almost 7 years.
  • Limited to 2,000 copies on CD, 1,200 on vinyl. The first 400 of the latter come on white vinyl.

Reviews

Labels:

Jesu / Eluvium Split (2007)

JESU / ELUVIUM SPLIT
Release Date: July 5, 2007

Track Listing:

SIDE A (Jesu):
Farewell (6:26)
Blind & Faithless (3:31)
Why Are We Not Perfect? (6:43)

SIDE B (Eluvium):

Time-Travel Of The Sloth Parts I, II, & III (19:56)

Labels:

Jesu - "Sundown / Sunrise" (2007)

SUNDOWN / SUNRISE EP

Track Listing

"Sun Down" - 17:30
"Sun Rise" - 15:12

Personnel

Justin Broadrick – guitars/vocals/programming
Diarmuid Dalton – bass

Notes

  • Release Date: April 23, 2007.
  • Featuring Justin and D. Dalton, this experimental release came out solely on 12" format. The tracks may be found on the Japanese version of Conqueror.
  • Two pressings were made of this. The first was on grey/yellow vinyl, the second a clear/red mix vinyl limited to 300.

Labels:

Jesu - "Conqueror" (2007)

CONQUEROR

Track Listing:

"Conqueror" – 8:10
"Old Year" – 5:46
"Transfigure" – 5:58
"Weightless & Horizontal" – 10:06
"Medicine" – 7:22
"Brighteyes" – 7:20
"Mother Earth" – 7:16
"Stanlow" – 5:58

Personnel

Justin Broadrick - guitars, vocals, programming
Diarmuid Dalton - bass
Ted Parsons - drums, percussion

Notes

  • Release Date: 2007 - February 2 Japan | February 19 UK | February 20 US
  • 8 tracks clocking in at just over an hour comprise the 2nd Jesu LP. CD versions out in February 2007. Vinyl version released in black/gold, gold and clear formats. It was later repressed in standard black.
  • Japanese release contains the 2 tracks found on the Sun Down / Sun Rise EP.

Reviews

  • Decibel Review: "Conquerer" March 2007
  • PitchforkMedia.com Review: "Conqueror", by Zach Baron.
    It's no coincidence that his lyrics throughout the album dwell on clouds, sunsets, sunrises, medicine and its dully narcotic effects; his music comes over the stereo like its own weather pattern, an experience with more layers and detail than even 10 or 20 listens can trace out.

    One might hope that others follow Broadrick's lead, but there's probably no surer way to convince him to abandon Jesu and its rush of pure ecstatic sound. If he could hear exactly what he wanted without having to make it himself, he most likely wouldn't make it at all.

  • PopMatters.com Review: "Conqueror"
  • MetalReview: "Congqueror".

Labels:

Jesu - "Silver" EP (2006)

SILVER EP

Track Listing

"Silver" – 6:44
"Star" – 7:00
"Wolves" – 8:27
"Dead Eyes" – 6:26
"Silver (Original Beats)" - 6:57 (Japanese version only)
"Wolves (Original Mix)" - 8:35 (Japanese version only)

Personnel

Justin Broadrick – guitars/vocals/programming
Diarmuid Dalton – bass
Ted Parsons – drums on "Silver"

Notes

  • Released on the 11th of April, 2006, a vinyl version appeared later in white/green, clear/grey, clear, grey & green limited editions.

Reviews

  • Review: "Silver", by Brandon Stosuy. PitchforkMedia.com:
    Silver's only shortcoming is its length. The layers on each track are so interesting-- no matter how closely you look, it's impossible to spot the shadowy bottom surface-- that fans of backlit ambiance, dark metal, and Flying Saucer Attack circa "My Dreaming Hill" will be left wanting for more.

Labels:

Jesu - "Jesu" Self Titled (2005)

JESU

Track Listing

"Your Path to Divinity" – 9:14
"Friends Are Evil" – 9:43
"Tired of Me" – 9:30
"We All Faulter" – 6:56
"Walk On Water" – 11:23
"Sun Day" – 10:02
"Man/Woman" – 9:28
"Guardian Angel" – 8:06
"Your Path to Divinity (The Endless Path)" – 9:22 (Japanese version only)
"Friends Are Evil (Highest Throne)" – 11:31 (Japanese version only)

Personnel

Justin Broadrick – guitars/vocals/bass/programming
Ted Parsons – drums/percussion
Diarmuid Dalton – bass (songs 1/3/4/8)
Paul Neville - guitars (song 7)

Notes

  • Released on the 8th of December of 2004, this is Jesu's first LP.
  • Tracks 9 and 10 are remixes and are only available on the Japanese release.
  • All songs written and produced by Justin. Recorded and mixed at Avalanche, 2001-2004. Drums recorded in Oslo
  • Click Here for scans of the Japanese 2CD version.

Reviews

  • Decibel Review: "Jesu" [self-titled] January 2005:
    This is Broadrick’s Dr. Jekyll side, with all of his Mr. Hyde thrill-killing tendencies stripped away through some kind of elaborate, self-imposed behavior modification process. It’s clearly the same wizard manning the controls, but while one is off somewhere, watching Metropolis, snorting speed, and upping the bpms on his drum machine in an impressive—but ultimately futile—race against time, the other has just popped a couple of blues and is relaxing in a public park, watching the clouds make their way across the gray firmament. If Godflesh was a deliberation on Industrial Society and Its Future, Jesu is the aural equivalent of Siddhartha. Call it a “moment of clarity”—or “spiritual awakening."
    [Decibel January 2005]
  • PitchforkMedia Review: "Jesu", by Brandon Stosuy.
    Founded on poky dynamics, densely crunchy instrumentation and often surprising electronic accents and submerged melodies, throughout the record, Broadrick continually exhibits the most disciplined, slowdive patience before implanting a metallic backbone. Jesu's eight tracks sound so uniformly thick-- and issue such an inexorable grind-- that it's easy to slip-slide inside the sludge and drown. Metaphysical volleys aside, the environment sustained is so submerged that its tones become habitual, disappearing into the fabric of the landscape as they continue to ring.
  • PopMatters Review: "Jesu".

Labels:

Jesu - "Heart Ache" EP (2004)

HEART ACHE EP

Track Listing

"Heart Ache" – 19:42
"Ruined" – 20:13

Notes

  • Released 30th August 2004.
  • The first release from Jesu, this features Justin performing all instruments including the ever-familiar drum machine tracks.
  • Released in January 2008 through the Avalanche Store. This double-gatefold 180gm vinyl release is limited to 1,500 copies, the initial 300 on red vinyl.

    • Reviews:

    • Review: "Heartache" Decibel October 2004:
      Eschewing track divisions for two separate twenty-minute movements, Heartache is a celebration of sound both technically and creatively. It’s massive, clear and saturated—things Godflesh never quite achieved—and it sounds fiercely beautiful. Broadrick’s contemporaries have long managed to harness the aggression and density of his six-string assaults, but there has always been far more depth and color to his palette. And Jesu is a vision of rock music as strong on the symphonic, the minimalist, and the skull-shatteringly heavy. Long live the new flesh.

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