The Slit Family
Stylistically The Slit Family combined abrasive, metallic guitar riffs; mechanical, industrial-influenced rhythms; samples and sporadic, seemingly "detached" vocals; and an undercurrent of dark, ambient electronica. Comparisons have been made to Ministry, Godflesh and others, whilst closer to home, earlier Hamilton bands Nihil, Usine and Department of Corrections may provide some point of reference.
The Slit Family is just one of several transitional incarnations of a project that was formed in about 1998 by core members Innes (vocals, guitar, keyboards, programming), and Van Dammen (programming, drums, percussion, additional keyboards). Under the name of The Slit Family (and also sometimes simply Slit) a third member, known only as Cooper (keyboards) was also added. This was the line-up responsible for the project's recordings.
These, however, are not the members' real names. The people behind the names of Van Dammen and Innes are known to be reclusive, private people. They are also known as perfectionists, and in the process of honing their craft as musicians, composers and producers they have often been quick to dissociate themselves from all prior output. The members' pseudonyms would therefore often change along with the name of the project as it evolved, so that no tangible links could easily be drawn from one phase in their evolution to the next. They were active as The Slit Family roughly between 2000 - 2002.
The member known as Van Dammen did however contribute to another short-lived project known as Fade in 2001, concurrent with Slit, whilst still using the Van Dammen nominal.
When performing live, other members were added to the Family, including frontperson Sarah (pictured; that was her real name, surname unknown) and leAsh, who played a specially constructed metal-percussion rig. The visual stage presence of the live members may have been in some way responsible for drawing the "Gothic" label.
The larger live entity was somewhat anarchic by comparison to the more studious recording unit, performances compared at times to those of Genitus Lung and Department of Corrections. The Slit Family soon became unwieldy, and conflicts arose amongst the personalities involved with regards to the direction and original vision of the project. The "band" was dissolved and the core unit changed their name to ... (further consultation required)
Releases
Blindman EP (year unknown)
Compilations
Against the Wall features the track Pseudos Year Zero also features the track Pseudos
