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The Suicide Chords: Four Nice Boys from San Diego

And now for something entirely different: "Romance Metal." One can almost hear the grin in Clay Hackett's voice as he says the words. He's on the phone, talking up the Suicide Chord's current EP-in-progress.

"We're trying to find our own little niche. So far, we're the only band to use the term." He explains the genre they have invented as a contrast of hard rock with ideas that verge, more or less, on the idealistic. "Metal describes the music. Romance describes the lyrics. Otherwise, our stuff is dark." He forwards some lyrics:

Saying goodbye, feels like a dream / Hoping you whisper something so sweet / Holding your hand, I feel you trembling / Let go of me / The shadow of the sun can feel so cold / I cannot see the hollow pain that cause your eyes to weep / I'm going blind.

He explains that the song is about a "reckless military soldier and his lover. He goes away to war for years, dies in action and finally comes home in a coffin."

Dark, indeed.

Hackett, who lives in La Mesa, is the band's drummer. He says the Suicide Chords have been together since 2009 and that the band is based in Ocean Beach. Jai Luna plays guitar, Jay Edwards is the singer/front man, and Dylan Wills rounds out the quartet on bass guitar.

At present, Hackett says the Chords are in the pre-production phase for a new EP that will follow the pair they released last year: The Wilshire EP and Prelude to 11. Tightly wrapped guitar-driven stuff, strong production values, and a prog-rocker feel are words I would use to describe the band's body of work to date.

"We may just put out a single right now, but a real high quality single." He says that presently, quality is more important than profit.

"We give away our music. We're resigned to the fact that people don't pay for music these days." He uses the term 'labor of love.' "We do get some online sales, and that gives us a little buffer to handle other things."

On June 8, the Suicide Chords will perform as part of a benefit concert at the Ruby Room called Headup Chi to raise money to help cover medical bills for the Deftones' Chi Cheng, who is still in a coma following a 2008 auto accident.

The Suicide Chords with Slut Machine, Coda Reactor, and Stalins of Sound: Casbah, Monday, June 4, 8:30 p.m. $5

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/30/25268/

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And now for something entirely different: "Romance Metal." One can almost hear the grin in Clay Hackett's voice as he says the words. He's on the phone, talking up the Suicide Chord's current EP-in-progress.

"We're trying to find our own little niche. So far, we're the only band to use the term." He explains the genre they have invented as a contrast of hard rock with ideas that verge, more or less, on the idealistic. "Metal describes the music. Romance describes the lyrics. Otherwise, our stuff is dark." He forwards some lyrics:

Saying goodbye, feels like a dream / Hoping you whisper something so sweet / Holding your hand, I feel you trembling / Let go of me / The shadow of the sun can feel so cold / I cannot see the hollow pain that cause your eyes to weep / I'm going blind.

He explains that the song is about a "reckless military soldier and his lover. He goes away to war for years, dies in action and finally comes home in a coffin."

Dark, indeed.

Hackett, who lives in La Mesa, is the band's drummer. He says the Suicide Chords have been together since 2009 and that the band is based in Ocean Beach. Jai Luna plays guitar, Jay Edwards is the singer/front man, and Dylan Wills rounds out the quartet on bass guitar.

At present, Hackett says the Chords are in the pre-production phase for a new EP that will follow the pair they released last year: The Wilshire EP and Prelude to 11. Tightly wrapped guitar-driven stuff, strong production values, and a prog-rocker feel are words I would use to describe the band's body of work to date.

"We may just put out a single right now, but a real high quality single." He says that presently, quality is more important than profit.

"We give away our music. We're resigned to the fact that people don't pay for music these days." He uses the term 'labor of love.' "We do get some online sales, and that gives us a little buffer to handle other things."

On June 8, the Suicide Chords will perform as part of a benefit concert at the Ruby Room called Headup Chi to raise money to help cover medical bills for the Deftones' Chi Cheng, who is still in a coma following a 2008 auto accident.

The Suicide Chords with Slut Machine, Coda Reactor, and Stalins of Sound: Casbah, Monday, June 4, 8:30 p.m. $5

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/30/25268/

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