EGxBH rages against the white noise, controlling forces in new video 'All in My Head'
Patrick Goray's wife is excited to have 30 or 40 TVs cleared out of their garage now.
“I've been collecting those for about a year,” said Goray, the frontman for Eugeine Grey and the Bad Habits. “My wife wasn't happy because they were all in the garage. I'd drive around and see a TV on the side of the road, and I would just grab it.”
The old TVs were used to set the scene for EGxBH's new video, “All in My Head,” out Friday, putting visuals to a favorite track off the band's recent six-song EP release, “Altered Beings.”
The video, which was filmed by Scott Loconti and Goray's wife Katie, conjures grungy rock videos from MTV's mid-90s heyday and gives a solid idea of what EGxBH - Lombard's Goray, Brad Haptas of Villa Park, Plainfield's Mike Arturi and Shaun Meek from Westmont - is all about.
“The TVs were like the white noise. It's about growing up, like all the different things that go through your head. The good and bad, the nice and not-so-nice,” Goray said. He originally wrote “All in My Head” a few years back after he started playing solo in 2013, but he resurrected it for EGxBH, putting an adult spin on that angst of adolescence. “You try to fight it off, try to battle it every day just to get past it. ... My friends, pulling me back and forth, and even like my mom and dad, the stuff I've done, anger issues with me and fighting with them, growing up through teenage adolescence, and just growing up and dealing with things, pretty much. And just dealing with that white noise that we deal with every day.”
There's a nostalgic comfort in the rage of the song. The whole EGxBH aesthetic, actually. Tracks from the recent album wouldn't be out of place up against the likes of Tool, Silverchair, Soundgarden or Rage Against the Machine, but with a modern spin.
“In the breakdown, you kind of hear in the background, 'Left, right, left, right,' almost like an army platoon,” he said. “That's more of the people or things that kind of control you, trying to put you in the right place in life. Trying to set you in a type of structure.”
“Organizing you to stay in the box,” Haptas added.
“I'm talking about being a victim, like you're the victim to the structure and everything like that,” Goray said. “It's difficult, but if you feel like you can find a fit with your fans or friends or family, if they like your song, then maybe they can kind of relate.”
“They might be dealing with that issue themselves, too, like they're stuck in a rut,” Haptas said. “They're feeling like they can't express themselves. Hopefully they can listen to this.”
“Altered Beings” has been out for streaming and purchase since late June, but next weekend EGxBH is bringing vinyl to the merch table as well for BrauerHouse's Labor Day Weekend Rocks Afterlife Music Festival Saturday, Sept. 5.
As part of a collaboration with Downers Grove's Alter Brewing Company to celebrate the vinyl release of “Altered Beings” at the show, EGxBH has hidden 25 “golden tickets” in random vinyl packages for sale that day. Each is a gift card worth $10, $25 or $50 for Alter Brewing. The albums are also available at Alter Brewing and at egxbh.com.
EGxBH scored the slot as direct opening support for Local H and Tantric on BrauerHouse's Afterlife Music Hall main stage.
“I've been trying to play with those guys (Local H) forever!” Goray said.
The festival starts at 11 a.m. (music at noon) with 12 acts scheduled on the regional room stage - Miles Maxwell, Sin MG, Alternative Method, Primal Moon, WESTWOOD, DayTime Hooker, A Story Unwritten, Tough 'Ombres, Suicide Puppets, 45 Fix, Eastgate Rock Band and Unlikely Souls - and a full slate of DJs and live acts on the Rockin' Down The House Entertainment DJ Patio.
Labor Day Weekend Rocks Afterlife Music Festival
When: 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 5
Where: BrauerHouse, 1000 N. Rohlwing Road, Lombard
Tickets: $40-$50; VIP packages available; (630) 495-2141 or brauerhouse.com