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Woolly bullies: Mammoth Hunter grinds it out

Mammoth Hunter
With Mouth of the Architect, the Sons of Montana and Swallow the Ocean. Sunday, March 23. 7 p.m. Billy Baloney’s, 6 Ives St., Danbury. $10. myspace.com/billybaloneys

"We are either a regular band at a noise show or the weird band at a metal show," Ben Levesque, guitarist for Mammoth Hunter, says of his instrumental duo’s place in the world.

Perhaps it was meant to be. Levesque and drummer Mark Sziabowski had played in several conventional rock bands and "and in the end it was always Mark and me," says Levesque. Students of both the Grateful Dead and feedback fiends Sonic Youth, it seems hard for anyone in the statewide scene to keep up with their technical skills and mastery of their tools.

The swerving post-rock songs of the New Britain twosome are crisp, fresh-sounding and adventurous. Though concocted and pumped out by two people, the sound in way sounds thin. Levesque obviously treats his Marshall or Orange amps and "huge pedal with four different fuzzes" with as much diligence as his Fender. And when Sziabowski strikes his drums or cymbals, the sound is swift and deep.

Since August 2006, they’ve been pounding out carefully construed noise in their rehearsal space, an unheated, un-air-conditioned "three-wall shed," says Levesque. "Our other wall is a blanket." He adds: "It helps. We want to get out of there quickly so we focus."

Still, the two take a strictly improvisational approach, sometimes playing for four hours in search of something worth putting on an EP (they’ve released two thus far). "We come into it with no ideas," he says. "We never want a slow song or a long song." They don’t write or compose songs, so much as find them.

Levesque and Sziabowski, who both work in finance as their day jobs, dabble in different areas. Hartford’s been home, their partnerships with promoters Manic Productions often take them to New Haven and "Providence is really open-minded," says Levesque. "There are a lot of warehouse-type spaces and, art galleries and whatever kind-of-things...

"It’s just good because the kids are glad you’re there, glad to see live music."

When asked if people wonder when the singer will be onstage, he says, "Yeah, we get that, especially if it’s a metal show. People will think these guys are just fooling around until they find a lead singer."

They plan on doing some collaboration work. (There’s a project in in the planning stages featuring Mammoth Hunter and New Haven noise rockers florida = Death) but aren’t putting out want ads for any additional members. "The band is complete," states Levesque, who says Mammoth Hunter has amassed enough top-shelf material for its first full-length disc. "Besides, I doubt you would fit six people in our rehearsal space."