INTERVIEW
Nemesis Fever!
Enemymine: two bass guitars, some drums, lots of small-town angst and approximately one million decibels of fury.

by ZACH DUNDAS
zdundas@wweek.com

The Ice in Me, Enemymine's full-length debut, encompasses rip-shit heavy metal, sinister rumbles and even some moments of actual melody-type melodies entombed in shattering volume. This kind of intricate, flexible noise is the hallmark of Enemymine's primary songwriter, Mike Kunka. His new band's alignment--two bassists, one drummer--continues Kunka's personal tradition of odd lineups.

Kunka's old band, loud bass/drums duo godheadSilo, flattened the underground rock scene after emerging from the blasted wilds of North Dakota 10 years ago. Enemymine's savage volume, obscure lyrics and whiplash dynamics basically take up where ghS left off.

Willamette Week: godheadSilo was the loudest thing I'd ever heard. Enemymine has other things going on. Melodies.

Mike Kunka: One thing that was frustrating about godheadSilo was...well, we thought we sounded like Rush. We were doing these terribly hard technical things, and then no one noticed because it was just so fucking loud. We both came from this BMX freestyle background, where you try a trick and try a trick until you get it right, and then you never do it again. And we were like, 'What about the songwriting, man?' So now, though I'm not trying to be really commercial, a little treble doesn't hurt.

How often do you have some guy come up to you and say, "Hey, do you need a guitarist?'

I wish someone would step up and write the lyrics, is what I wish. That's my most hated thing.

Why?

I never wanted to be a singer. I don't hate singing, but I wouldn't ever have chosen to be this main man, y'know? I can sing and play at the same time, so I do.

I guess it's sort of late in the game to recruit the singer from some Judas Priest cover band.

Yeah, and I just moved from Olympia to Port Angeles, this little town on the coast. So you gotta figure that it's going to be hard to pick out that guy or girl here.

Why Port Angeles?

My girlfriend works for Kill Rock Stars, and I make T-shirts, mostly for Kill Rock Stars bands. They said she could move her office, and I can pretty much make T-shirts anywhere. It's sort of like living in North Dakota--there's no scene to have to worry about. We're the weird couple who just moved into the neighborhood and never leaves the house. The UPS man comes in, but no one ever comes out. It's great.

Yes, tell us about NoDak.

My hometown of Colfax, N. D., has 82 people in it. I was listening to 7 Seconds and Minor Threat, trying to be a skateboarder even though I had to walk a mile to find pavement. And there were basically two camps--people who listened to Boston and Journey and people who listened to the very beginnings of rap. My best friend was into Huey Lewis, and that made him just as much of an outcast as I was.

I didn't see a band play until I was 19. With godheadSilo, we kind of figured that there was a band like us in every city--you know, how most hot local bands are just copies of other bands. It seemed like such a simple idea. Then we started hearing people talking about this crazy shit that was going on in Fargo. I guess what being from North Dakota did for godheadSilo was, we were really hearty. Playing for five bucks, saving up food stamps, that's what made godheadSilo. People had to see that band to understand what it was, so touring was crucial. People say that if you see where I grew up, you understand where the sound comes from. You can see for 50 miles in every direction. If I'd grown up anywhere else, I'm sure the band would sound different.