Track Premiere: Child Bite - "Molestation of the Arts"

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You might as well call it Detroit week here at Invisible Oranges.

OK, more like Detroit two-day stretch, but that hardly rolls off the tongue.

Yesterday, we presented a full-album stream by Hollow Earth, and today we’ve got “Molestation of the Arts,” a new track from Child Bite off their new Strange Waste EP. As a once-frequent concertgoer in the Detroit area, I’ve seen Child Bite more times than I can really recall—they’ve opened for an awful lot of great bands, but there was always people in the audience just to experience their off-kilter blend of sludge, grindcore, punk and schizophrenic low-fi prog. Strange Waste is a fitting title indeed: sometimes Child Bite remind me of Neurosis, and other times they remind me of The Dead Kennedys, both because vocalist Shawn Knight can push his voice into the same tittering ebullitions that Jello Biafra can, and because Child Bite would have fit right in on the roster of Alternative Tentacles—or Mike Patton’s Ipecac label, for that matter (Knight can pull off some Patton screechy-cleans as well).

As it happens, however, Child Bite currently reside at Phil Anselmo’s Housecore records. Makes sense, the band just played Housecore Horror, and have recorded an Anal Cunt covers EP with Anselmo behind the mic. For what it’s worth, Child Bite’s collaborations are uniformly inspired—they’ve shared vinyl with Dope Body, as well as the spectacular psych-rock group We Are Hex (seriously, also check out We Are Hex).

This band could go anywhere, in the best way, and also have an uncanny ability to attract non-metal listeners, if their live shows are any indicator. I’ve seen people come in from the street and pay entry to see Child Bite sight unseen, only to watch the arty garage band they thought they were seeing devolve into a savage grindcore outfit before their eyes—and stay put. I’m not sure I’ve seen a band with as much potential to surprise people and cross over genre boundaries since I first heard Mastodon. That said, Strange Waste ain’t Remission. But it might just be Lifesblood. I’m psyched to see where Child Bite take their career after this. In the meantime, check out “Molestation of the Arts,” and if you dig it, pre-order the EP at Housecore. Also, you can peep their back catalog at bandcamp.

Strange Waste drops November 25th.

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