For this portion of my conversation with Avalon Kalin, we talk about the broken blast beat of California, his second band Patterns Make Sunrise, and the origins of his present-day solo work. Avalon Kalin: I wanted to talk about the emo blast beat, which is like a broken blast beat. Do you know what I’m talking about?
That "broken blast beat" is what we refer to as the "scissor beat" in our bizzaro world.
It's basically just a cheat fast beat. Hi-hat/kick on the 1; snare on the 2. It's been done since the Negative FX demo in 1982 and also notably by Siege, Straight Ahead, and Infest. All those would've predated Crossed Out or Heroin.
I think it feels a little different with Heroin because they're bouncing back and forth from fast to scissor while maintaining the same beat, opposed to always going to a tempo change off of the scissor like most bands who are using it as their only fast beat.
Cool interview - it's fun to see this stuff get hashed out.
That "broken blast beat" is what we refer to as the "scissor beat" in our bizzaro world.
It's basically just a cheat fast beat. Hi-hat/kick on the 1; snare on the 2. It's been done since the Negative FX demo in 1982 and also notably by Siege, Straight Ahead, and Infest. All those would've predated Crossed Out or Heroin.
I think it feels a little different with Heroin because they're bouncing back and forth from fast to scissor while maintaining the same beat, opposed to always going to a tempo change off of the scissor like most bands who are using it as their only fast beat.
Cool interview - it's fun to see this stuff get hashed out.