In this offering, we get up close and personal with Brian Bauhs, lead guitarist in the New York based instrumental doom band Clouds Taste Satanic.
The first record I ever bought with my own money was…
My VERY first record was the 7” single of the Carpenter’s “Top of the World”. I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin and the local music store sold records, TVs, stereo equipment, musical instruments, and had studio space for music lessons. It was the store for ANYTHING music related.
They had a record player available so you could try out singles before buying them. I was 6 or 7 years old and my mother had brought me there to get my first record as a birthday gift. I tried single after single after single. We’d get part way through and I’d say, “No, not that one.” and move on to the next. Over and over and over. I ended up with that Carpenter’s record because that’s when my mom’s patience finally ran out. LOL.
I’ve always been a restless searcher for songs and riffs and tones, even back then.
But that started my love affair with Karen Carpenter. Anytime I hear her voice I’m 7 years old again. Such an amazing voice and a tragic figure. Have you seen footage of her playing a drum solo?? She could be a beast on the drums.
My first album was Kiss “Love Gun” just a few months later. I got it for Christmas. I had been BEGGING for “Santa” to bring it. It was ALL I wanted. I was trembling with 8yo excitement as I unwrapped it and ran to put it on the family stereo. It had a cardboard/paper gun in the album sleeve and if you waved it through the air quickly the air caught the paper and it make a “BANG” snapping noise. I ran around the house for WEEKS bellowing, “You pull the trigger of my LOVE GUUUUUUN!!!” All of 8yo and having NO IDEA what that meant. My family was simultaneously amused and horrified.
Kiss was always really great about merch. That’s something I’m really proud of with Clouds Taste Satanic. We’ve always put a lot of though and effort into making every release special. The artwork, the deluxe version swag (acid blotter sheets, turntable pads, rolling papers). Steve (Scavuzzo, Clouds rhythm guitarist and main songwriter) is constantly thinking about ways to add in something cool for the fans.
The record that made me want to make music was…
Ozzy Osborne’s first solo record, “Blizzard of Oz” taught me so much about guitar playing. I LOVED Randy Rhodes’ guitar work.
I still have my first good electric guitar, a 1976 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. I got it used in mint condition for $400 which was the going rate at the time. After blowing up a little Crate amp (that actually LOOKED like a wooden crate, hence the name) I got a huge amp: a 400watt Peavey Centurian head and a 2×15” cabinet. I was doom before people knew the term doom!
I spent HOURS every day playing along with that Ozzy album. Over and over and over. It was a master class in riffs, melody, tone, precision, and rock and roll swagger. I learned so much about how to structure a guitar solo, how to build on a theme, create tension, and make it pay off. And once I learned that part of Randy’s tone was double tracking his parts, particularly his solos (recording the exact part the exact same way several times and stacking them) I had to play along with him and mimic his exact attack, tone, and phrasing. That laid the groundwork for me to develop my own style.
So when Clouds was in the studio recording “The Glitter of Infinite Hell”, I was able to craft the climactic solo for the end of the album (Wrath). I knew what parts I wanted to double track, the point and counter point of different lead voices, and how to make it pay off.
The record I’ve played more than any other is…
I have played Pixies “Surfer Rosa” so many times it would be impossible to count. I had run across their debut EP a few months before while reading NME (New Music Express). It seemed strange to me that a British music magazine was turning American kids on to an American band, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes. Hendrix had to go to England to make it as well. Pixies songwriting seemed to come from another planet. The dissonance, the dynamics, the tension… just insane. And Joey Santiago’s guitar playing was SO SIMPLE, but absolutely perfect and a unique, recognizable voice. Steve Albini’s production was raw and savage. The music seemed dangerous. It inspires me to search out new sounds on the guitar, to welcome harsh or wicked tones when they serve the song.
The record that always make me feel good is…
By the time the main riff of AC/DC’s “Riff Raff” has kicked in I have a big ass grin on my face and I’m desperately wanting to have an Gibson SG and a Marshall stack on hand. I love “Powerage”. It is such a killer and underrated album. I think it’s every musician’s goal to create songs that are memorable, that have a life of their own.
Read part two of Brian’s offering here.
• • • • • • • • • •
Clouds Taste Satanic’s latest album, Cloud Covered, was released on March 19, 2021. Available from Clouds Taste Satanic’s Bandcamp on sea blue & bone merge with gold, oxblood red and black splatter vinyl (200 copies) and coke bottle green with oxblood red and bone splatter vinyl (200 copies). The cloudy splatter variant and test press are sold out. Also available on CD and as a digital download.
Links
https://cloudstastesatanic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/cloudstastesatanic/
https://twitter.com/SatanicClouds
https://www.facebook.com/CloudsTasteSatanic
If you are enjoying our content, you can support Inhale the Heavy's coffee fund by clicking here.