If you're looking for raw, unfiltered expressions of pain, Michael Berdan is the vocalist you should look towards first. From the second I encountered his work, Berdan has both awed and inspired me. Whether it be the unhinged howls from his time at the helm of Drunkdriver or the introspective cries in Uniform, his output is all too personal, and uncensored in all the right ways.
While societal norms dictate that things such as eating disorders, trauma, and other subjects should be kept within the bounds of a therapist's office, Berdan boldly faces these topics head-on. Rather than hiding away reality, he exposes the grimy underbelly of life exactly as it is. Not everyone gets to live a pretty, manicured life. Berdan’s work shines light onto the grotesque facts of living in America, and the crushing pain that comes with these jagged edges.
This past July, Berdan graciously took the time to answer questions about his life, art, writing and Unifrom’s latest studio album, American Standard. The group has also since released a companion piece to American Standard, Nightmare City, which is essentially the same record devoid of the rock elements.
I remember reading a quote from you discussing your first formative New York experience—you visiting '80s Times Square, and finding beauty in its downtrodden glory. What about the grotesque or “uglier” aspects of life do you find beautiful?
It’s not the easiest thing to quantify. I was a pretty troubled little kid, and my brief experience in Times Square conjured a sense of wonder that came from being simultaneously terrified and aesthetically stimulated. What was truly amazing about that moment came from a sense of spiritual identification with my surroundings.
I find beauty where I find truth. More times than not, I find truth beyond the fringes of polite society. For me, the most authentic displays of humanity are best viewed through the lens of vulgarity.
If you had to pick, which 5 albums were most influential on you in your adolescence?
This is a way tougher question than it probably should be, but I’ll do my best:
- Ozzy Osbourne, No More Tears (1991) - Ozzy was my first real musical obsession. This record came out shortly before my 11th birthday, and it cracked my young mind open like nothing before or since. I still get a little weepy when I hear “Mama, I’m Comin’ Home.”
- Slayer, Seasons in the Abyss (1990) - Most bands don’t live up to their aesthetics. After seeing their shirts around the neighborhood for a long time, I remember feeling disappointed that Iron Maiden and AC/DC weren't as heavy as their image conveyed. That wasn’t the case with Slayer. Perfect visual presentation. Perfect thematic content. Perfect sonic execution. This was my first exposure to the real shit, and I’ve never looked back.
- Cro-Mags, The Age of Quarrel (1986) and Best Wishes (1989) - I remember seeing the video for “We Gotta Know” on MTV's Headbanger’s Ball and having no idea how to process it. It kinda sounded like Biohazard to my untrained ears, but without the rapping. I got the digipak of their first two records for Christmas in 8th grade and it just destroyed me.
Alongside Scratch the Surface by Sick of It All, this became my first conscious experience with hardcore punk. The Age of Quarrel and Best Wishes don’t resemble each other at all in terms of song structure, but the dystopian lyrical through-way coupled with the palpable musical fury present on each record struck a primal nerve. While the homophobic shit always weirded me out, I otherwise relate to the bizarre dichotomy in songs about societal collapse filtered through Krishna consciousness.
- Depeche Mode, Violator (1990) - I was aware of Depeche Mode via MTV when Violator came out, but it didn’t really resonate with me until I started frequenting goth clubs in my teens. Having struggled with addiction and serious mental health issues by that time, the record began to occupy a different space in my life.
Next to maybe Alice In Chains’ Dirt (which also warrants a space on this list), Violator is the finest drug record I’ve ever heard. Few people can articulate matters of alienation, spiritual crisis, and physical dependance quite like Dave Gahan does. At a crucial time in my personal development, Depeche Mode let me know that I wasn’t alone.
- Honeywell, Industry (1993) - When I was 15, a friend’s older brother got into drum & bass and pretty much gave me all of his hardcore records. Included was a 7” comp called Lacking Mindset, which featured tracks from Groundwork, Unbroken, Struggle, and Honeywell (I kind of think Undertow was on it as well, but I can’t remember).
Honeywell fried my fucking brain and forever changed the way that I thought about music. Blistering dada-inspired noisecore coupled with moments of uncanny melody and one of the most unhinged vocal deliveries of all time. Many have tried, but no band has ever come close to replicating the bizarre violence of the Honeywell LP.
What was the first underground or DIY music scene you got involved in?
In the ‘90s, there was a shitty little warehouse venue in West Philadelphia called Stalag 13. It might not have been much to look at, but some of the craziest punk shows in history happened in that room.
On any given night you could see His Hero Is Gone or Spazz or Charles Bronson or Dystopia or Discordance Axis or Capitalist Casualties or Reversal of Man or Los Crudos or The Get Up Kids or pretty much any now legendary band of the era, and I was there more often than not. The scene around Stalag 13 was lightning in a bottle, and I’ll never find the words to express just how important it was to me.
What was the first musical project you performed with, and how did you get involved in playing live music?
Oh God… Well… I always wanted to be a guitar player, but a total absence of rhythm got in my way. When I was a sophomore in high school, a punk band from my neighborhood was looking for a second guitarist and I somehow convinced them to let me join. It was a disaster! We played a few shows before they kindly asked me to step aside. I switched to vocals in my next high school band and have pretty much stayed there ever since.
What albums or artists have influenced your vocal style the most over the years?
My most immediate influences are probably Tim Singer (No Escape, Deadguy, Kiss It Goodbye), Sean McCabe (Frail, Ink & Dagger), and John Brannon (Negative Approach, Laughing Hyenas). I borrow pretty heavily from Mike IX Williams (EyeHateGod), Jaz Coleman (Killing Joke), and William Bennett (Whitehouse) as well.
Everything I do has roots in something that was perfected before my time. I can live with that.
How would you describe the evolution of Uniform’s sound from Perfect World in 2015 to the new album, American Standard?
It’s a completely different animal. When we started Uniform, me and Ben were very protective about our orbit. People might think that the drum machine and bass synth were aesthetic choices, but in reality we just didn’t want to deal with other bandmates. The songwriting those days was pretty much a 50/50 split, with me doing the major key pop stuff and Ben behind the more complicated shit.
When you have a two-piece band and both members fancy themselves songwriters, problems begin to arise. Ben will tell you that the reason we started expanding the lineup was because he wanted a more organic sound. I will tell you that I wanted other voices in the room so that we’d break the stalemate. Whatever the case may be, adding more people to the mix has worked for us.
How it tends to work today is: Ben writes the bulk of the music, to which Sharp, Blume, and Brad will add various melodic lines and auxiliary percussion. I handle most of the editing, arrangement, and sequencing duties.
I haven’t written a full Uniform song since the “Awakening” single came out a few years ago, and my only musical contribution on American Standard (outside of vocals) was the short piano melody in the title track. Sometimes I wish my sonic fingerprint was a little more present these days, but I need to take my ego out of it because the overall flow of our music works better this way. I write simple pop songs. We are not a simple pop band. If we ever do stuff like “Indifference” or “The Lost” or “Penance” again, that’ll likely be my fault. I don’t see that happening, though.
What does the release of American Standard mean to you on a personal and professional level?
I’m in a much different place in my creative life than I’ve ever been. As I’ve gotten older, the superficial trappings of social currency have all but evaporated and the illusion of financial sustainability coming from playing in a small to mid-level band have been entirely shattered. A young man might be able to get by on free drinks and fleeting compliments, but that’s not the case for a 43-year-old with a family. Playing music has to be about something more.
When we made American Standard, I went to great lengths to rid myself of any professional ambitions attached to the record. We’re never gonna make real money from this thing and chances are good that we will never appeal to more than a fraction of people on the periphery of extreme music at large.
Rather than fight the tide for the sake of the algorithm, I’ve embraced the freedom that semi-obscurity provides. If you aren’t relying on art to pay your bills or stroke your ego, there’s no excuse to not go all in and create something that exists primarily for your own psychic and spiritual gratification. It’s great if it happens to resonate with others, but that can’t be the primary motivation behind anything I do right now.
If you had to pick a favorite Uniform recording, which would it be and why?
At the moment, it has to be American Standard. All of our records are important to me in different ways, but this is the closest I feel we’ve ever come to articulating our vision in a cohesive manner. I’ve always wanted to make an album that flows like a story, which I hope we’ve managed to pull off on this new one. Time will tell.
What music is currently influencing your creative output?
A lot of Pan Sonic and Esplendor Geometrico-inspired rhythmic noise. A lot of early New York boogie and electro funk ala Mantronix and Warp 9. Tons of Afrobeat. Tons of Berlin School stuff. When it comes to my listening habits these days, there is definitely an emphasis on beats and atmosphere over riffs.
What art, outside of music, is currently influencing your creative output?
I’ve never been precious when it comes to creative mediums. Music might have been the lane that I fell into, but there really isn’t much of a difference in intention between what my immediate peer group does and painters or poets or filmmakers. We’re all just trying to articulate the noise in our heads with whatever we have on hand. I spend much more time reading and watching movies than I do listening to records, and that has probably always been the case.
To get more specific, I’ve been deeply moved over the past few years by the work of Thomas Moore. His willingness to take stark personal inventory and mine the darkest corners of his past in order to better understand the person he is today is infinitely inspiring. Not many artists are willing to look in those dark psychic corners, let alone tell the world what they’ve found. Thomas will likely bristle if I’m to call him courageous, but I lack a better word so he’ll just have to live with it.
Which writers have influenced your writing the most?
This is another one that is pretty difficult to quantify. I read a lot and I’m sure that the works of other writers have seeped into my form over time, but I’ve never been great at following a template. The staccato bullshit likely comes from James Ellroy. The flippant humor in the face of tragedy is probably something I’ve borrowed in equal yet disparate parts from Dennis Cooper, Nick Tosches, and Kurt Vonnegut.
Nobody has inspired me more on a spiritual level than Cubby Selby, but his ear for vernacular and limitless well of empathy are impossible to replicate and only a hack would try.
Other favorites who I can’t begin to rip off even though I want to are Kathy Acker, Dallas Mayer, Shirley Jackson, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Samuel Delaney, Arthur Rimbaud, and Ryu Murakami. I can go on, but at a point it loses meaning.
Is there anything you’d like to say to those who are inspired by your art or writing?
Time is precious, and there are many things a person can be doing that don’t include listening to a middle aged white man pontificate over the things that keep him up at night. The fact that I’m not howling into the wind still baffles me, but knowing that I’m not alone out here is worth its weight in gold.
My only regrets stem from the times that I did not respect the humanity of others, and I would love to spare you that pain if possible. Try your best to treat everyone you encounter with love, tolerance, and decency. We are all just trying to make it through the day out here.
Your darkest moments are your greatest resources. Listen to those who are sick and suffering and be willing to share your experiences in a way that can benefit others.
Try to write every day. Try to play music every day. Surround yourself with better writers and better musicians than you. Ask questions and incorporate their responses into your own practice. This is how you grow.
Try not to compare yourself to anyone other than the person you were yesterday.
Life is precious. Life is finite. Try to enjoy it while you can.
Is there anything you'd like to say as we wrap up the interview?
Longlegs is a terrible movie.
***
American Standard and Nightmare City are both available now via Sacred Bones.
Uniform tour dates:
Oct 01: Manchester, UK - The White Hotel %
Oct 02: Newcastle, UK - The Lubber Fiend %
Oct 03: London, UK - Rich Mix %
Oct 04: Brussels, BE - Botanique %
Oct 05: Haarlem, NL - Patronaat %
Oct 06: Utrecht, NL - De Helling %
Oct 08: Hamburg, DE - Hefenklang %
Oct 09: Berlin, DE - Zukunft %
Oct 10: Warsaw, PL - Hybrydy $
Oct 11: Poznan, PL - 2Progi $
Oct 12: Prague, CZ - Underdogs %
Oct 13: Wien, AT - Chelsea %
Oct 15: Zagreb, HR - Mocvara %
Oct 16: Bologna, IT - TPO ^
Oct 17: Milano, IT - ARCI Bellezza ^
Oct 18: Fribourg, CH - Cafe XXe %
Oct 19: Paris, FR - La Java %
Dec 03: Washington, DC - DC9 ~
Dec 04: Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's ~
Dec 05: Boston, MA - The Armory ~
Dec 06: Montréal, QC - Cabaret Foufounes ~
Dec 07: Toronto, ON - Monarch Tavern ~
Dec 08: Detroit, MI - Small's ~
Dec 10: Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle ~
Dec 11: Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups ~
Dec 13: Richmond, VA - The Warehouse ~
Dec 14: Bethlehem, PA - National Sokols ~
Dec 15: Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw
% w/ Bad Breeding
$ - w/ Bad Breeding and A Place To Bury Strangers
^ - w/ Bad Breeding and The Body & Dis Fig
~ w/ Pharmakon and True Body
Tagged: uniform
