Psychic Ills are an American

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

band from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, consisting of Tres Warren (vocals/guitar; 1978-2020), Elizabeth Hart (vocals/bass), Adam Amram, Jon Catfish Delorme, and Brent Cordero. They formed in 2003, and have released five albums, one compilation, four EPs and a number of singles. For the period 2005 to 2010, the band were signed to

The Social Registry The Social Registry is a record label based in Brooklyn, New York that was started in 2003. It was voted "Best New Record label" in The Village Voice's Best of New York issue in 2004. Artists Artanker Convoy, Blood Lines, Blood on the Wall, C ...

. Since then their albums have been released by

Sacred Bones Records Sacred Bones Records is an American independent record label founded in 2007 and based in Brooklyn, New York. The label has released recordings from artists including Zola Jesus, David Lynch, John Carpenter, Blanck Mass, Crystal Stilts, Marissa ...

History

Tres Warren (1978-2020) was born and raised in Texas, where he attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

and met Elizabeth Hart. Formed by Tres Warren, the band made their debut on the Mental Violence label with the single "Killers" b/w "Vice" in November 2003. It was followed by the four-track EP ''Mental Violence II: Diamond City'' released through The Social Registry in November 2005. It included a remix of the title track by

Sonic Boom A sonic boom is a sound associated with shock waves created when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding similar to an explosion or a thunderclap to t ...

. These two releases together with two tracks that appeared on separate compilations were collected on ''

Early Violence ''Early Violence'' is the debut compilation album by American rock band Psychic Ills. It was released on December 5, 2006, by the Social Registry The Social Registry is a record label based in Brooklyn, New York that was started in 2003. It w ...

''. Warren later described the beginning of the band as "I had just gotten this

Roland TR-707 The Roland TR-707 Rhythm Composer is a drum machine released by the Roland Corporation in 1985. Features The TR-707 has fifteen digitally sampled sounds. The instrument is capable of 10-voice polyphony. The alternate bass drum, snare, and hi- ...

drum machine, and I was getting into programming drums and writing songs. There wasn’t really a course planned ahead, and it just evolved into a live band". The band released their first full-length album, ''

Dins ''Dins'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Psychic Ills. It was released on February 7, 2006, by the Social Registry The Social Registry is a record label based in Brooklyn, New York that was started in 2003. It was voted "Best ...

'', in February 2006. It featured Tom Gluibizzi (guitar/keyboards) and Brian Tamborello on drums. Concerning the recording process at this time Warren explained that it involved "improvised jamming, and seeing if you could write a song that way". The album's cover art is German

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...

artist Wolf Vostell's painting ''Three Hairs and Shadow''. In early 2008, Psychic Ills performed in Marfa, Texas for the opening of artist Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe’s exhibition ''Hello Meth Lab in the Sun'' art installation and at the Contemporary Art Museum in Bordeaux, France for the IAO festival. In 2009 they released '' Mirror Eye'' preceded by the single "Mantis". In the same year they toured as support to

the Butthole Surfers Butthole Surfers are an American rock band formed in San Antonio, Texas, by singer Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has bee ...

and collaborated with

Gibby Haynes Gibson Jerome Haynes (born September 30, 1957) is an American musician, radio personality, painter, author and the lead singer of the band Butthole Surfers. Early life and career Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Gibby Haynes is the son of actor ...

. Instead of recording a new album, the duo released four EPs of experimental material. The first, ''Telesthetic Tape'', appeared on the Danish Skrot Up label and featured two untitled tracks. It was re-released in 2011 on vinyl. In June 2010 the band released the four-track ''Catoptric'' EP through The Social Registry. In the same month the ''Astral Occurrence'' EP appeared on the Australian label The Spring Press. Lastly, a remix EP entitled FRKWYS Vol. 4 included contributions by

Juan Atkins Juan Atkins (born September 12, 1962), also known as Model 500 and Infiniti, is an American record producer and DJ from Detroit, Michigan. ''Mixmag'' has described him as "the original pioneer of Detroit techno." He has been a member of The Belle ...

, Gibby Haynes and Hans-Joachim Irmler. For 2011's '' Hazed Dream'', the band moved to

and opted for a more song based approach. Warren explained that "it’s definitely been more writing songs and then recording them". In Spring 2013 the band released their fourth album '' One Track Mind'' and toured Europe afterwards. The album featured contributions by

Neil Hagerty Neil Michael Hagerty (born 1965) is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer. He is best known for his work in Royal Trux which he formed with his partner Jennifer Herrema, who he lived with in Washington, Virginia. Hagerty released sev ...

and artwork by

Powell St. John Rayward Powell St. John (September 18, 1940 – August 22, 2021) was an American singer and songwriter, active on the mid-1960s Austin, Texas campus folk/bohemian music scene. He was an occasional member of various Austin rock groups, including ...

. On June 3, 2016, they released their fifth album, a double LP titled '' Inner Journey Out'' featuring art by Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe. Warren died on March 21, 2020, at the age of 41.

Collaborations

Members of Psychic Ills have been involved in various other projects. Elizabeth Hart played bass with Effi Briest and performed with the improvisational dance and music ensemble Skint. Tres Warren collaborated with visual artist Taketo Shimada as Messages and with

Drew McDowall Drew McDowall (born 28 January 1961) is a Scottish musician who has been a member, collaborator, and remixer for various influential music groups. McDowall was formerly a full-time member of Coil. History McDowall formed art-punk trio Poems in ...

of Coil as Compound Eye. Former drummer Brian Tamborello participated in the

Boredoms Boredoms () (later known as V∞redoms) is a rock band from Osaka, Japan formed in 1986. The band's sound is often referred to as noise rock, or sometimes Japanoise (Japan’s noise music scene), though their more recent records have moved towar ...

' Boadrum projects and played drums on Mike Wexler's record ''Sun Wheel''. In 2021, Hart and her husband Iván Diaz Mathé released their album '' Sounds of the Unborn'' via Sacred Bones.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

'' (2006) * '' Mirror Eye'' (2009) * '' Hazed Dream'' (2011) * '' One Track Mind'' (2013) * '' Inner Journey Out'' (2016)

EPs

* ''Mental Violence II: Diamond City'' (2005) * ''Astral Occurrence'' (2010) * ''Catoptric'' (2010) * ''FRKWYS Vol. 4: Psychic Ills'' (2010) * ''Telesthetic Tape'' (2010)

Singles

* "Killers" (2003) * "Zoned" (2012 - split single with Moon Duo) * "Radar Eyez" (The Godz) (2013) * "Never Learn Not to Love / Cease to Exist" (2020)

Compilation

* ''

'' (2006) * "Psych-Out Christmas" (November 2013) * "Love Me Two Times - A Psych Tribute To The Doors" (February 2014)

References

Other sources

''Go to the Radio: An Interview with Psychic Ills''
Identity Theory, November 24, 2008.

External links

Psychic Ills at All Music

Psychic Ills at Sacred Bones Records

Psychic Ills at Violitionist Sessions
* * as Tres Warren * as Elizabeth Hart {{Authority control American experimental musical groups Sacred Bones Records artists