That Hideous Sound is a lo-fi psychedelic garage rock project out of Portland, Maine. Created by vocalist and guitarist Elijah Crissinger, That Hideous Sound features Crissinger’s DIY ethos and his talents as both writer and producer—he records, mixes, and masters all of his material.
A Louisiana native who spent his teenage years in Seattle, Crissinger relocated to Maine in 2020. Enlisted as a kid by his older brother to learn the rhythm guitar parts on Strokes songs, Crissinger began recording on his 4-track Tascam Portastudio, layering guitar parts and melodies inspired by Brian Wilson, The Beatles, and Nirvana. That led to the writing and recording of his self-titled EP, That Hideous Sound (2020), an infectious trio of songs released by Maine label Repeating Cloud.
Wasted Life (Repeating Cloud, 2022), extends the narrative of the EP with a collection of guitar-centric rock that riffs on darkly humorous science fiction and his own personal experiences.
How did the band form and what does the band name mean?
That Hideous Sound officially started in late 2019 when I recorded the songs on my self-titled EP. I was living in Wyoming at the time and was pretty isolated even before lockdown started, so I spent all of my free time recording songs in my bedroom. I had been recording songs since I was a teenager and all throughout college on a Tascam Portastudio 424 and had just graduated and bought Ableton Live, so I was still learning how to use the software when I recorded those songs.
Previous musical projects? How'd you first get into music?
I learned how to play the guitar from my older brother who taught me the rhythm parts to Strokes songs so that he could play the leads over it. I borrowed and listened to all of his CDs and played along to them, albums by Nirvana, The White Stripes, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, etc. After I got pretty decent at playing, I started to record and multitrack guitar instrumentals onto an old Tascam 424 MKI that I bought from someone for $100. I recorded onto cassettes all the way up until I graduated college from the University of Washington in 2019 and then bought a copy of Ableton Live and now pretty much only use the Tascam as a preamp for the saturation you get when you push the inputs.
First concert that you ever went to?
The first show I ever went to was Jack White in Seattle in 2018. I was obsessed with The White Stripes ever since I first heard their self-titled LP as a teenager. I used to play electric guitar with my brother on the drums in our garage way back when I was 15 or 16 and was very inspired by their lo-fi DIY attitude towards recording and playing. After that I went to as many shows as I could afford from bands and musicians that I listened to like John Maus, The Voidz, Ariel Pink, The Flaming Lips, Thee Oh Sees, and a bunch more.
What's your writing process like?
I try to play guitar for at least a couple of hours a day and I have been doing that to the best of my ability since I was about 14. I will usually come up with a riff or chord sequence from just playing and then will record it if I think it's interesting. After that, everything just falls into place naturally. I will program the drum parts, record the bass guitar, the rhythm guitars, the leads, synths, lead and backing vocals, and other random bits until I feel like it is done. Lyrics come last in the process and are usually stream-of-consciousness and as unedited as possible.
What other artists or songs inspire your music?
I listen to music everyday as much as possible. Some big influences are The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall (first 3 LPs in particular), John Maus, Syd Barrett, Ariel Pink, Helvetia, Spacemen 3, Nirvana, Aphex Twin, Brian Eno, The Velvet Underground, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Flaming Lips, and 1000 more bands/musicians.
What's the live experience like and your philosophy on playing live? Do you think the music live should be identical to the recorded version or should it be it's own thing?
I usually play live on my own with my guitar and drum machines/synthesizers that I programmed for the show being triggered from a laptop. The synthesizers and drum machines are programmed in a way that is pretty different from the album so that it is more conducive to a live show rather than a sit-down experience like listening to an album. Each show is unique with different intros, interludes, solos, vocal melodies, setlists and lights/projections. I have played That Hideous Sound shows with a full band before and want to do that more in the future, but it is very important to me that each show is special and differentiated from each other.
What's up next for the band?
I'm about halfway done recording a new album for That Hideous Sound. I have been spending a lot of time recording experimental electronic music for myself to listen to which I think is definitely influencing the sound of the album, so it is shaping up to be pretty interesting in my opinion. I'm also playing shows here and there so catch them while you can I guess :)
https://www.instagram.com/that.hideous.sound/
https://thathideoussound.bandcamp.com/album/wasted-life