In the depths of Upper Hutt, no-one can hear the screams.
Lurking in a lock-up in deepest Upper Hutt is The All Seeing Hand, a turntable/throat-singing/double-kick-drumming trio whose sound reflects the industrial wasteland around them.
"Quarry Metals" reads the sign on the building just past the barbed wire fence and pile of rusting, crumpled car-parts. Beyond this we can see the immaculate, ticky-tacky houses on the hills of Riverstone Terraces, and the blue sky above.
The All Seeing Hand rehearse in a storage space – a container about 10 metres deep and three wide – they share with artist Nathan Taare. His bone collection, photos, and random fluro-coloured objects sit around the band’s equipment – a drum kit, a sampler and turntable, an amp and a speaker. The band say that Nathan leaves them treats sometimes; a bar of chocolate under a possum skull, some artisanal Petone water, a note telling them "don’t give up just yet".
Forced out of their inner city flats, it’s the perfect place for them to rehearse. They can play as loud as they need to, and they’ve only had the one warning from the council about noise.
They’ve just released their third LP, Sand To Glass, a title which vocalist Jonny Marks says is about the idea that “we’re in a cyclical place, politically. But at the same time, we’re on a trajectory. But the trajectory seems to be going between these two states. It’s this pressure cooker, this thing that turns sand into glass. It’s saying that things can transform.”
LISTEN > The All Seeing Hand interviewed for Music 101: