Bryan and Chris invited me to play at the maze with Bilal and Craig. This was basically the continuation of Subservient Fuck, with Andy replaced by Bilal, since he had moved to Oakland. I was very aware of the work of all the other musicians. Bilal played guitar on what is arguably one of the best records to come out of Baton Rouge, We Need to Talk’s “It’s not you, It’s us”. Andy had coincidentally played drums on that 7” as well. I had seen Craig play a few times with his British band, Moloch. A band whose music hovers in tension, while feeding you some very substantial riffs. Craig is now in New Orleans, making beautiful portraits and other pictures in his studio. Chris and I ended up hitting it off at morning practices, running songs over and over again, starting at 9 am, and it was obvious I needed to suggest him for Heat Dust. 

Bryan came by a handful of the initial practices, where I was learning the songs Bilal wrote. As a hardcore guitar player, they had a really cool style of picking and alternating palm mutes, and at the very least, it rubbed off on me. 

We started the collaborative songs here by just playing the same thing as the other, and not overthinking things. Loose structures were brought in and hammered out by the band on bright weekend mornings, before Bilal headed back to Baton Rouge, no complaints. We played a couple of local shows, which either people didn’t come to, or they didn’t think we would actually start on time. Bryan’s vocals on these recordings are some of my favorite. Lower in pitch than usual, arguably more understandable at points, and more obviously bitter in his view of New Orleans happenings, at the time. 

We took this ongoing concern on the road for two weeks to the west coast. I still think of  Craig and how he got severely burnt by the sun in San Diego. Poor guy. Or the time Chris almost passed out in a black-mold basement in Albuquerque, Bryan saying, “I thought the Thou guys were weenies..”, and Craig relieving the tension by one of us offering for him to do his impression of an American. (which he is now). Just imagine a handsome bearded Brit, who looks sort of beastly when he plays music, going “Y’all wanna hamburger?” in a Southern accent.