Comets on Fire

Comets on Fire
Comets on Fire in New York in 2006
Background information
Origin	Santa Cruz, California
Genres	Noise Rock, blues punk, psychedelic rock
Years active	1999–2008
Labels	Alternative Tentacles, Sub Pop
Members
Ethan Miller Ben Flashman Ben Chasny Utrillo Kushner Noel von Harmonson

Comets on Fire was an American noise rock band from Santa Cruz, California. The band was formed in 1999 by guitarist and vocalist Ethan Miller and longtime friend bassist Ben Flashman, who were seeking to create rhythmically and sonically intense music that paid no attention to categorizations.

History

The band started in 1999 and released their debut record on Alternative Tentacles (Jello Biafra's label). This album shows the influence of the Butthole Surfers, Hawkwind and the MC5. The next album Field Recordings from the Sun for Ba Da Bing label showed more growth on the record with new drummer Utrillo Kushner, as well as saxophones being added to their noise rock jams. Before the next record the band officially added Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance to their lineup in 2003. He had previously performed and recorded with them. With this line-up they got a deal on Sub Pop Records and released their critically acclaimed Blue Cathedral. The record exposed them to a whole new fan base and the record found favor with enough people for Comets on Fire to tour as the opening act for Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and Mudhoney. In 2006, they released their fourth album Avatar which showed the band turning away from their psychedelic noise jams for a more subdued sound that ventures close to classic rock at times.

They are notable for their heavy use of the Echoplex, used primarily on vocals but on other instruments as well. This often renders the lyrics unintelligible; Miller claims to not remember the lyrics after putting an album together.^{[citation needed]}

The band has been on hiatus since a brief European tour in 2008. In the Feb/Mar 2011 issue of Rock-A-Rolla magazine, Ben Chasny said there are no current plans to restart the band.

Band members

• Ethan Miller - vocals, guitar
• Noel von Harmonson - electronics
• Ben Flashman - bass
• Utrillo Kushner - drums
• Ben Chasny - guitar

Discography

Albums

• Comets on Fire (2001)
• Field Recordings from the Sun (2002)
• Blue Cathedral (2004)
• Avatar (2006)

Other

• Live in Europa (Split LP with Major Stars, Limited 500 copies) (2003)
• Bong Voyage (Limited 800 copies) (2003)
• Cardboard Sub Pop Promo Jams (Limited 1000 copies) (2004)
• Euro Tour 5 CDR Boxset (Self Released, limited 10 copies) (2005)
• Collaboration (Split LP with Burning Star Core, Limited 1000 copies) (2005)

Related Projects

• Howlin' Rain
• Six Organs of Admittance
• Colossal Yes - side project of Utrillo Kushner

External links

• Official website
• Comets on Fire Take Off in Exclaim! magazine
• Comets on Fire at Sub Pop records
• Allmusic entry
• Comets on Fire on Last.fm
• Interview with Ethan Miller