Biography
Savage Aural Hotbed came together in 1986 as a 1990s industrial act that steered clear of heavy-metal riffs and computer-driven beats, initially performing the same electronic body music favored by its peers. Japanese Taiko drumming shaped the direction of percussionists Mark Black, Stuart DeVaan, David Sarrazin and Valts Treibergs, together with bassist/vocalist William Melton, steering the music toward organic qualities that recalled Einsturzende Neubaten employing Asian percussion instruments in place of metallic objects. During the early 1990s the group honed its live presentations at Minneapolis' Walker Art Center and the Hennepin Center for the Arts while mounting original music-theater pieces Bio-Robot (Ressurection) and Alkahest (Audio Solvent) at the Red Eye Theatre, at the same time integrating found-sound instruments of a more traditionally American variety such as hubcaps and major appliances. After issuing the cassette Gomi Daiko (Garbage Drums), Savage Aural Hotbed joined the roster of Minneapolis' Twintone Records and delivered Cold Is the Absence of Heat in 1996; the quintet followed with Pressure of Silence the next year.
Albums
