Interview: God Bullies
Now is the time for the God Bullies message more than ever. Always Question Authority. False prophets, the hypocrisy of democracy and the very intense campaign of misinformation and outright lies made up by the ruling elite to maintain control over our lives while they try to steal our spirituality.
With their first album in thirty years, caustic noise rock kings God Bullies have returned with a majestic new album in As Above So Below and Gavin Brown caught up with the band’s vocalist Mike Hard and guitarist Scott Kodrik to get the lowdown on the album, what led to the welcome return of God Bullies and an extensive history of the band in a fascinating interview.
E&D: Your new album As Above So Below has just been released. Are you played with how it’s been recorded so far?
Scott: We are absolutely pleased with how it was recorded. This album is hands down our best album we have recorded and written. Recording at Steve Albini’s in the big drum B studio is something I’ve always wanted to do for decades not to mention having Sanford Parker behind the board. The guy is a sound engineering ninja.
E&D: What led to God Bullies coming back after all these years?
Mike: This is a very good question and our fans deserve an honest answer to it. It’s a long story. Johnny Johnson the III and David B. Livingston passed away while we were working together on a project entitled Pig Harvest, Most of the songs on As Above, So Below were developed by the musicians: Cliff, Scott, David and Pat as we evolved the songs structures created in these Pig Harvest jam sessions. Also, David, Adam Berg, God Bullies drummer, and Karen Queen Bee Neal, the bassist in Thrall, Brain Saw and They Never Sleep wrote ‘You Call This Love’ and ‘Help’ with me while we were in They Never Sleep. Although we never recorded them, there are some live recordings of these two songs performed by They Never Sleep, David’s guitar work on the live recordings is exceptional. Seeing how three original God Bullies are on these two songs with the awesome bass lines written by Karen, I thought it would be great if we could find a way to represent former members of both bands on this album. These two songs have a noticeable David B. Livingstone song structure. When Karen played live with me in They Never Sleep, Brain Saw, and Thrall, for the encores we would always include a few God Bullies songs. Like ‘Cemetary’, ‘I Like It Like That’, ‘Do It Again’ and so on. To me Queen Bee is just as much a “God Bully” as all the other former members. I have written more songs and performed more shows with Karen on my side than all the other former God Bullies with the exception of David, who with me are the only God Bullies members on every recorded LP and EP.
If it were not for Johnny Johnson III none of this would have ever happened. Johnny played guitar in Thrall with Scott, Cliff and me and Johnny was in Brain Saw with Scott, Karen and me. Johnny also played guitar in God Bullies on the Amphetamine Reptile 25-year celebration tour. Flash forward Ten years, Johnny gets the big idea to get Cliff, Scott and me together again to do a 25-year anniversary show for the Thrall LP Hung Like God LP released on Reptilian Records. I hadn’t talked to Scott for years and it was nice to know he was still alive. Getting Thrall back together again was soooo Johnny. A super nice guy with a weakness for the ladies, a great songwriter who was always trying to bring friends together. Johnny passed away suddenly a few months after we started the project. We really miss him. Knowing Johnny I think he would be complimented by me saying his death was caused by misadventure instead of an accident. Also, once again with the exception of David, I have performed more God Bullies songs with Johnny then all the other former GB members. Johnny also performed with me and Pat O’Harris, who is the current God Bullies bassist, in The Mike Hard Show with Cliff Carnici, the current God Bullies and Thrall drummer on ‘Hung Like God’ and ‘Lifer’. We played all the old-time favorites of God Bullies, Thrall, They Never Sleep and The Brain Saw around the Michigan area, Texas and the east coast for a couple years. So, I guess it was Johnny Johnson who led to this recording of As Above So Below, the first God Bullies LP in thirty years. I wanted to honor and bring attention to my longtime friends and bandmates whose music I have embraced with words. Friends who I have always admired for their sacrifice and commitment to rock and roll for all these years. I also hoped As Above, So Below would bring attention and possibly new interest to the God Bullies music and sound David B. Livingstone was such a huge part of developing. From our first LP Mamma WombWomb to the latest God Bullies LP, As Above So Below David B. Livingstone has a presence on all of them. With the new LP, Hopefully, new fans will look back on the God Bullies discography, and discover, what I have always known, former band members Tommy Shannon, Adam Berg, Mike Corso Eric Polcyn, and Tony Oliveri were also very good song writers. solid musicians and great performers. This was the same philosophy and intent I had when I went into the God Bullies Kill the King sessions. The God Bullies had broken up long ago. I had just completed the first Thrall LP, Chemical Wedding with Scott, Karen and guitarist Kevin Hagen (R.I.P.) for Alternative Tentacles.
At the time Thrall was playing a lot of shows with Mog Stunt Team 5. Through Kenny Mugwump and John Quigly’s connections from MST5 we were introduced to legendary Detroit producer Joel Martin and Grammy Award Engineer Steve King (R.I.P.) and the 54 Sound studio in Detroit owned by Joel. This studio was where great bands on Westbound Records, like Parliament Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins, and other artists like Aretha Franklin, the Romantics, Sponge and later Eminem, to name just a few, laid down their tracks at. Shortly after Chemical Wedding was completed Scott Kodrik decided leave the band and move to L.A. to work on a Special Effects film career. Without a band to really support the Thrall LP, Alternative Tentacles asked if I would be interested in doing a God Bullies LP in the meantime. Having just worked with Joel Martin and Steve King at 54 Sound and hearing the sound Thrall got out of that studio I was excited at the chance to work with them again. The Kill the King LP was the first time God Bullies used an actual sound recording studio to record in. All previous God Bullies’ LPs and EPs were engineered and recorded in various basements, closets and kitchens, etc. then produced by David and me. David was the king of lo-fi recording. The first 3 God Bullies LPs and 2 EPS and a COWS LP were recorded on David’s 8 track tape recorder, complete with track dump downs and sample splices with scotch tape. My, has recording changed. Tommy Shannon is a fantastic musician and was the original GB guitarist, Tommy was one of the essential song writers on Mama WombWomb. Tommy left the band before we recorded the LP and never appeared on any other God Bullies LP. This was a shame. Adam Berg and Mike Corso left the band in tandem after the 2nd LP Dog Show and were replaced by Tony Oliveri (Cows) and Eric Polcyn for the “War on Everybody” LP and the Join Satan’s Army EP, several other singles and some heavy touring. Getting the original GBs back together again was kind of complicated. We all still lived in Michigan and I was able to make it happen. Kill the King is the first GB LP recorded in an actual studio, it was engineered by David and Steve King. The original members were a little reluctant to work with David and me again, for whatever reason, however, I eventually was able to get David to play guitar on a few tracks and mix some others. Check out the Song ‘Hate’ on Kill the King it is David creating sound and noise at his best. I think Kill the King and As Above, So Below were created under similar circumstances and I am very proud of what we got out of these recording sessions at 54 Sound and Electric Audio. It is exciting getting a chance to work with talented Engineers and producers like Steve King and Sanford Parker. I hope this brief history answers this question. In their presence I am Mighty.
Scott: Mike pretty much summed up the main reasons and answers for doing the Bullies. David and Johnnie were very much the fuel for doing this. Especially David’s passing. We wanted to honor them both. For me, the stipulation being that we do this album and the comeback our way. I wanted it to be rebranded in the sense of the way that this is God Bullies now in 2024. Not us trying to be exactly like the past albums and definitely not myself trying to imitate David. No one can ever be David on guitar. He had a style like no other. Just like I have my own style of guitar playing and song writing I feel is very distinct. David and I played together for years so a lot of that gets thrown both ways. We both learned from each other I think musically doing the Pig Harvest project before David died. That was almost three years in the making not to mention both of us have always written music that Hard puts lyrics to for decades.
E&D: How does it feel to be back with your first new album in almost thirty years?
Mike: I feel a great sense of accomplishment on this recording and am proud of Scott, Cliff and Pat for being able to record the last few songs I had completed with David and with their help developing and arranging the songs from our final jam sessions with David. Scott definitely made the right move getting Sanford Parker and Electric Audio studios involved to make this epic statement in God Bullies recordings. Scott, Cliff and I worked with David on the Pig Harvest sessions for almost two years before David passed away suddenly in January 2022. This may have been the first God Bullies album for thirty years. However, Scott, Cliff, Pat, Johnny and I have been keeping the God Bullies name alive those thirty years touring Hand Over Head, Thrall, Brain Saw and They Never Sleep. We always included a few God Bullies songs in our encores and during our Sets. Scott Kodrik is a great songwriter. In the thirty years since the last God Bullies LP Scott and I have released 3 Thrall albums, several singles and a Brain Saw EP. Also, David, Queen Bee, Adam and I put out a great They Never Sleep LP. So, we have had several successful recording projects in the 30-year meantime.
Scott: So, with this album… Besides ‘You Call this Love’ and ‘Help’ basically I write and draft a very detailed version of each song. Usually, oddly enough I always start with the bass line first. Then a rough drum idea, and guitars. This one in particular I recorded most of the songs here in our rehearsal studio. After that, I’ll show the song/songs to the other three and then we will start rearranging parts, counts, Cliff will play the drums his way, Pat same… it’s a rough outline at first and then the whole band basically reworks the songs until each one is how we want it. Then we will record each rehearsal and change/edit accordingly. Often there’s lots of adjustment for Mike’s vocals to fit in with song structure. We do this until the songs are in our eyes ready to record in the bigger studio.
E&D; How was the experience of working with producer Sanford Parker on the album?
Mike: Working with Sanford Parker was great. He really pushed us to create a “live” sound. I was apprehensive at first because David and I loved using special effects and over dubs on my vocals and all over previous God Bullies recordings. We recorded this album in two days at Electric Audio Studios in Chicago with very few double tracks and overdubs. Sanford’s input and insistence on keeping the sound “live” created a fresh sound and clarity on As Above So Below, because of Sanford’s input, this recording has a very heavy feel to it and a heightened intensity not felt or heard on earlier God Bullies recordings. Sanford Parker is so fucking cool; I wish I was him. I would love to get another chance to work with him. The room Cliff laid down the drum tracks in at Electric Audio is awesome!
Scott: We can’t say enough about Sanford Parker and what an incredible engineer he is behind the board. We’ve worked with some of the best out there and I can honestly say, he’s top of his game. Between recording at EA and having Sanford as the producer I’ve defiantly crossed one off my bucket list.
E&D: With songs on the album like ‘Cops in Plain Clothes’, ‘We Are the Enemy’ and ‘Fight the Fascist’, is the defiant spirit of God Bullies still strong in your music?
Mike: The songs you mentioned are another reason I wanted to do another God Bullies LP at this time. These topics are from the same reality God Bullies addressed and warned our fans about 30 years ago, they have now turned into a Monster. Now is the time for the God Bullies message more than ever. Always Question Authority. False prophets, the hypocrisy of democracy and the very intense campaign of misinformation and outright lies made up by the ruling elite to maintain control over our lives while they try to steal our spirituality.
E&D: Can you tell us about your great video you have done for album track ‘Nice Place To Visit’?
Mike: In videos, I just do what they tell me to do. They give me bad memories.
Scott: ‘Nice Place To Visit’ was a fun video to make… Yes, Mike is correct when he says “We tell him what to do” as we follow a shot list and ideas we have shooting it. He often does his own thing though never the less. It’s very relaxed usually. We shot that video all over Down town Detroit. Also a very sketchy area call Brightmore getting the abandon houses. We did a few pick up shots of Mike and I in my 71 Chevelle and finally ended up shooting all the vocal scenes/guitar scenes at Mike’s massive library.
E&D: Have you ever had any static because of the band’s name and music?
Mike: Of course, there has been misunderstandings, that is why God Bullies is such a great band name. But the meaning behind God Bullies is also often misconstrued. It has very little to do with Christianity or satanic worship. God Bullies simply means, “God tells you what to do, whoever or whatever your God is”. Unfortunately, for most people they identified God as a he, with blonde hair, a beard and blue eyes who came from Africa. For me, and from what I understand and know about our forgotten past as humans, the story is a little far-fetched, hard to accept, let alone believe in.
E&D: Do you feel there is a renewed interest in noise rock at the moment with yourselves and The Jesus Lizard returning and newer bands like Human Impact and Chat Pile?
Mike: I get scared when I think about what kind of things interest people.
E&D: Have you had any thoughts about any potential new music?
Mike: I will always keep writing music with the musicians I have available to me. Or more importantly, want to work with me. We usually create a band name that is representative of the music and sounds we have summoned in that particular moment in time. As mentioned previously in this correspondence, I have been in several different bands since the last God Bullies album 30 years ago. I feel each band has had its own unique vibe, purpose and meaning. This God Bullies album is special because it is a memorial to David and Johnny and the songs, we were all working on together, before their sudden deaths. Because of my longtime friendship with musicians Cliff, Scott and Pat, who all wanted to do this project for me, as well as David, I do feel a sense of completeness in my musical journey with David B. Livingstone from the beginning of God Bullies, through our longtime friendship, to our final songs together. I am so happy and grateful Scott, Cliff, Pat and Johnny made this God Bullies Album possible. They all got to really know David over the last several years as a band mate and a friend while we all hung out together, talking about life’s possibilities, while jamming on these same riffs. You never know, man, you never know.
