Origin New York City, NY, USA Website www.psychicills.com | Years active 2003 - present | |
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Genres Psychedelic rock
Experimental rock Labels Sacred Bones Records, The Social Registry, The Spring Press, RVNG INTL. Associated acts Messages, Effi Briest, Skint, Compound Eye, Albums Inner Journey Out, Hazed Dream, Mirror Eye Profiles | ||
Psychic Ills are an American experimental rock/psychedelic rock band from New York City, consisting of Tres Warren (vocals/guitar) and Elizabeth Hart (vocals/bass). They formed in 2003, and have released five albums, one compilation, four EPs and a number of singles. For the period 2005 to 2010, the band were signed to The Social Registry. Since then their albums have been released by Sacred Bones Records.
Contents
History
Tres Warren (b. 1978) was born and raised in Texas, where he attended the University of Texas at Austin and met Elizabeth Hart. Formed by Tres Warren, the band made their debut on the Mental Violence label with the single "Killers" b/w "Vice" in November 2003. It was followed by the four-track EP Mental Violence II: Diamond City released through The Social Registry in November 2005. It included a remix of the title track by Sonic Boom. These two releases together with two tracks that appeared on separate compilations were collected on Early Violence. Warren later described the beginning of the band as "I had just gotten this Roland TR-707 drum machine, and I was getting into programming drums and writing songs. There wasn’t really a course planned ahead, and it just evolved into a live band".
The band released their first full-length album, Dins, in February 2006. Produced by Charles Burst, it featured Tom Gluibizzi (guitar/keyboards) and Brian Tamborello on drums. Concerning the recording process at this time Warren explained that it involved "improvised jamming, and seeing if you could write a song that way". The album's cover art is German Fluxus artist Wolf Vostell's painting Three Hairs and Shadow.
In early 2008, Psychic Ills performed in Marfa, Texas for the opening of the Hello Meth Lab in the Sun art installation and at the Contemporary Art Museum in Bordeaux, France for the IAO festival. In 2009 they released Mirror Eye preceded by the single "Mantis". In the same year they toured as support to the Butthole Surfers and collaborated with Gibby Haynes. In 2010 keyboard player Jimy SeiTang left the band.
Instead of recording a new album, the duo released four EPs of experimental material. The first, Telesthetic Tape, appeared on the Danish Skrot Up label and featured two untitled tracks. It was re-released in 2011 on vinyl. In June 2010 the band release the four-track Catoptric EP through The Social Registry. In the same month the Astral Occurrence EP appeared on the Australian label The Spring Press. Lastly, a remix EP entitled FRKWYS Vol. 4 included contributions by Juan Atkins, Gibby Haynes and Hans-Joachim Irmler.
For 2011's Hazed Dream, the band moved to Sacred Bones Records and opted for a more song based approach. Warren explained that "it’s definitely been more writing songs and then recording them".
In Spring 2013 the band released their fourth album One Track Mind and toured Europe afterwards. The album featured contributions by Neil Hagerty and artwork by Powell St. John.
On June 3, 2016 they released their fifth album, Inner Journey Out.
Collaborations
Members of Psychic Ills have been involved in various other projects. Elizabeth Hart plays bass with Effi Briest and performs with the improvisational dance and music ensemble Skint. Tres Warren collaborates with visual artist Taketo Shimada as Messages and with Drew McDowall of Coil as Compound Eye. Former drummer Brian Tamborello participated in the Boredoms Boadrum projects and played drums on Mike Wexler's record Sun Wheel. Jimy Seitang now plays with Rhyton.
Albums
EPs
Singles
Compilation
Songs
Another ChangeInner Journey Out · 2016
Mind DazeHazed Dream · 2011
I Don't MindInner Journey Out · 2016