Pleading the fifth

>> How Slowly Going Deaf quickly became 5 Line Legacy

by LATEEF MARTIN

Local band Slowly Going Deaf--which had a lifespan of five years--was "the act gone wrong," according to guitarist Jack DePaola. "It started with a sound--we took all these influences [from rap, reggae, dub] and threw them in there regardless. Then we became more song-structured and it didn't feel like Slowly Going Deaf anymore. There was a lot of tension."

And that's how SGD ended. Round two began when Eric Cohen, the dreadlocked former drummer for Thelma, hooked up with SGD bassist Pablo Boerr and talked about some of their influences, such as drum & bass and dancehall.

"In the end, that sort of became the direction we ended up going in," explains Cohen. Tracy Biddle's multi-styled voice is the fourth instrument in the band, with lyrics to suit the various moods. "I don't have a plan," she says. "These guys will put a song together, I check it out, try melodies and lyrics, and all of a sudden a line will come up. I just build around it, or at other times I use a thought that's been bothering me for a while."

Check out 5 Line Legacy and you'll hear stuff like hardcore switching up into drum & bass with a crushing groove that flows into dub and back into hardcore. "It happens naturally," says Boerr. "The songs just write themselves and they just happen to have a lot of different flavours."

There will be those who will lump 5 Line Legacy with Korn, Deftones and the exceedingly annoying Limp Bizkit, but they sound like none of the above. With a knowledgeable ear, one might hear the influences of Bad Brains, Faith No More and Rage Against the Machine. But don't expect the same techniques to come across, just expect to be knocked stupid.

"We all play an integral role in each other's parts," says DePaola. "We don't pick apart the tunes, we all work together, we got each other's backs. That's 5 Line music--we chase each other's tails." :

With Ritual and DJ Ever at Petit Campus on Thursday, May 4, 8pm, $6