By Gabriel
uicksand didn't really make sense to me until about a year ago. I learned about them from an old friend that believed they were essentially the perfect band (for him, at least) and swore by their drumming and overall prowess. In an effort to learn from someone that understood music, I tried desperately to get into them. The music itself was OK but Walter Schreifel's voice always got in the way. Compare his voice to some other post-hardcore singers and the high pitch doesn't match up with the brute nature of the music. So, hey, I bought both of the CDs anyway and they collected dust through 9 moves and were dug up at the best moment – the moment when there's really nothing important happening in music and you start back-searching for stuff you missed in the "good ole days."
What I always dismissed about the band is that so many groups that I love reference them as an influence. How could a band with one EP and 2 albums have so much weight? The easiest reason, which you'll understand if you let Walter's voice grow on you, is that those two albums are damn good. Even though the songs sound a little high in treble, the experimentation that we'd see later and the aggression that they'd moved past came together making them so incredibly distinct. I can't think of any other bands since then that make me think of Quicksand. They're stand-alones in the same fashion as Helmet. These two albums are turning points that don't really have the fame they deserve. Every band has its reasons for moving on, but if you hear music like this you can't really complain about not being able to hear a third or fourth album. Quicksand is a pillar to our modern hardcore and progressive rock bands. Show some respect for the masters.
If you enjoy Quicksand and feel hungry for more of that sound, give Helmet, Orange 9mm, Handsome, and Rival Schools a try. Handsome features guitarists from Quicksand and Helmet, which might work for you, but Rival Schools was Schreifels' follow-up band that actually retained that sound with a bit more pop.
Ah Quicksand... they take some time, but it's fun stuff. I still love the first line from their big "breakout" song that played once or twice on MTV in the 90s - "it's a cynch to pass the time with you..." It would be cute if the instrumentation didn't sound like forks scratching along a blackboard.
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