Finally getting around to typing this up!
I was lucky enough to talk to Iron Lung at Supersonic last summer. I was one of many queuing up for an interview that day so my time was very limited. Needless to say I still had a brilliant time chatting with them, and their live show was one of my favorite moments of the weekend. Iron Lung is Jensen Ward and Jon Kortland from Seattle. Jensen is definitely the more talkative one of the two as he answered all my questions and did all the talking during their set.
I also think it's worth noting that they told me that they read
Noise/Music by Cork's own Dr Paul Hegarty.
What brings you guys to Supersonic?Jensen: Our friend Jamie Thompson told us that he might be able to get us on this festival and I guess we said we were interested so here we are!
Who are you most excited about seeing tonight?Jensen: Corrupted and Thorr’s Hammer. Also, Rose Kemp! That will be amazing.
You played Dudefest in Indianapolis with the likes of Harvey Milk and Tombs how would you say the atmosphere differs at US festivals, if at all?Jensen: (Laughs) Yeah! That particular festival isn’t very professional this is very organized, very well done! That one over there is pretty much whatever goes, and it’s a lot smaller scale. It’s also very free in so we can pretty much do what we want to do.
You guys have been recording for a long time now is there anyone in particular you would like to record with?Jensen: That’s a good question. I always really wanted to do a Peel Session but unfortunately I don’t think that’s going to happen now, circumstances and all that! I liked to record over here at Southern Studios maybe. I also thought about Steve Albini but I’m not sure if that would work for us. We actually recorded some stuff in Japan and Australia that was really fun it was nice to see how people do it in comparison to home. Japan was kinda tough because of the language barrier the mix didn’t come out right, we needed a translator for the recording session.
How would you say the US hardcore scene has changed in recent years?Jensen: Noise element-punk and hardcore has pretty much been the same for the last twenty years, some bands got a bit more metallic in the 80s and that carried on. But now that people have gotten used to heavy music they’ve gotten tired of melody and have started adding more noise and distortion. So I think the noise element is the newest most exciting facet of hardcore.
How would you say your own music has progressed over the years?Jensen: Pretty much in that same way. I think we’ve incorporated a lot more noise and we’ve also started to collaborate with other musicians and artists. That’s how we’re changing. We’ve been a two-piece for 10 years and last year we played with a noise guy, a second guitarist and a bass player and we’re actually going to put it out as a record. It was so cool to play the songs that we were used to playing as a two-piece and adding a whole new facet to it. That’s how we’re trying to stay ahead of the game.
