Malhavoc, Vancouver, BC circa 1993.

this is a photo of James Cavalluzo of Malhavoc, taken at the Music West Conference at an outdoor skate park. i was supposed to be on a college radio panel when i was taking this photo -- rock before talk.

i first saw Malhavoc in 1989 at the old Zaphod Beeblebrox in Ottawa, completely by accident. i went to see local funk-punks Furnaceface and the opening band from Toronto couldn't make it so they sent their guitarists' "other band" -- Malhavoc. at that point, Malhavoc were an industrial-metal band, heavy on the metal. that genre was pretty new at the time and i found it refreshing. the use of electronics with metal/rock has always done something for me, with Tackhead being one of my favourite bands of all time. i shot a couple dozen photos of Malhavoc, sent them some, and a few ended up on their 1990 CD The Release. i have been a part of the Malhavoc family ever since, stumbling into the position of their unofficial "official" photographer, providing images for all their releases since.

where he was miles ahead of his time doing "Ministry" when Al Jourgensen was doing synth-pop, Cavalluzo continued to be on the cusp of new trends mutating Malhavoc more towards the electronic side of things -- James had progressed to trip-hop prior to Portishead, it just takes him a while to get stuff recorded and released. as great a guy as he is, James has one of those cartoon storm clouds constantly overhead, having tours disintegrate, two of the labels cease to exist (Epidemic and Cargo) and having the latest record The Lazarus Complex disappear into an magnetic poof. it was rebuilt like Steve Austin and was released last year on Sweet Tooth.

another thing that set Malhavoc above the relative mediocrity of the metal/industrial genre was the live show. where James' lyrics are mostly based on horror themes, the live show has always been theatrical and confrontational from Cavalluzo cutting a pentagram into his chest to performing naked.

having built his own studio to record Malhavoc's albums James has become pretty handy on the other side of the glass and has made up a name for himself in that realm remixing, working with the likes of Tool and Motley Crue (gak!), and mixing/producing -- Kittens, Voivod, Mundane. MC JC, Jimi La Mort, or just James -- two step ahead of the trends, just missing out on the breaks.

link of the day

Malhavoc

word of the day

phantasm  -  n. 1.  an imaginary appearance, phantom.  2.  a mental image.

right: "After dropping acid, Bob saw several different phantasms."
 

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all images (c) shawn scallen 2001. please contact before using or reproducing.