BY JESSICA PACHECO, PHOTOS BY ERIK STABILE—On August 29, the first sounds of Chinese Gore, a noise project made from members of Reno band Swahili, crept out of Clinton Sleeper’s house like the low growl of an ulcer. Inside, now a darkened cave, bystanders stood against the wall like prey while Chinese Gore’s creation unraveled before them. Four members all dressed up and huddled in the middle of the tiny living room. The bassist, wearing an elaborate animal hat knelt before the amp to pluck aimlessly at his instrument. This, surprising to some, started the show. The abstract noises attracted some, confused others. But they developed. Behind him was another drummer dressed up as Robin. And to the side of both of them was the second drummer, dressed in grandmother garb.

The music Chinese Gore creates remind some of power, others of pictures of evil. It sounded like the inside of a nightmare. Regardless, Chinese Gore has the ability to take you somewhere. Where you go depends on what’s inside your head. That’s half the fun. The mixture of the abstract sounds made by the bass and the poundings of the drums is haunting. But the drummer disclosed they won’t be doing many shows, so you either experienced God or you didn’t.

Next to come aboard was the Santa Rosa band Starskate. Their sound was more metal and was definitely more orchestrated. They still left your mind and soul wandering—but your body was there rocking the hell out. Because of this, there was a lot more movement in the room, whereas with Chinese Gore you analyzed everything, staring either into oblivion or the drums as they bored through you.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: A Pack of Wolves (another Santa Rosa band) also played this show, and we briefly knew the inner turmoil of a disco light. We are sorry, Pack of Wolves, for having no pictures of you nor any video, but at this point most of the staff abandoned the house for night-soaked pastures.—BRAD)

(ALSO, EDITOR’S NOTE ABOUT VIDEO: So prior to filming this show, Courtney Laubacher purchased a video camera for RENO NOISE purposes and I made first use of it here. During filming I discovered that this camera was made of bullshit—it refused to focus and the footage refused to be edited in anything but the terrible software provided with the camera. Thus: the transitions are awful, the title text was purposefully made as awful as humanly possible (just to vent my rage, man) and everything is blissfully out of focus. It shall never be like this again, I swear.—BRAD)

STARSKATE VIDEO TO COME SOON!