Pastures

Scott and Dan started experimenting with noise and sounds influenced by early industrial music in the early 2000s, first meeting in 2000 or 2001. Dan was in a noise rock band called The New Flesh, separating from the group in 2004 or 2005. Scott was in a metal band called Vog from 2004-2006. Due to Scott living in Northern Virginia and Dan living in the Baltimore area on top of being in bands, collaborations took place when they could happen; aspiring to make it happen on at least a monthly basis. Scott was a founding member of Piasa, a DC/Northern Virginia harsh noise collective/performance art group that lasted from 2004 to 2007. Dan concentrated on Legless. Scott created his solo project in 2006. As Pastures developed a sound that they were satisfied with, they collaborated with long-time friend, Dave Litz, to record and release their first cassette in 2007, which was released as a split cassette with Children Egoism and followed by the 2008 CDr, 'Endtimes Feast'. After Scott and Dan released the 'Blue Light District' CDr, Pastures did a short Southeastern US tour in the Winter of 2007 while doing some shows solo as Legless and Nuss. Dave decided to leave the group for personal reasons in 2008. During the Winter of 2008, Dan and Scott recorded and released their split CDr with Consumer Destiny. In the Fall of 2008, Danny and Scott recorded 'Mercy Killing' and the an unreleased epic track, 'Lye', which will finally be released in 2022. In the Winter of 2009, Pastures had a longer Southeastern US tour booked, but Scott was the only one able to go and not wanting to cancel the tour, used samples/loops of Danny's material, and stated that Danny was unable to make it but he was there sonically. Ithn 2009 when Scott moved to North Carolina, the group was unable to collaborate as much with Dan still living in Maryland, but in 2009, played one live show together in North Carolina. Dan found it hard to get off work to play shows that Scott put together in North Carolina and one in Richmond. Scott continued to use Dan's samples/loops live to not have to cancel the shows. Unfortunately, this got to the point where people became confused as to what was Pastures and what was Nuss. After hearing about Mark Williams, Scott and Dan decided to collaborate with Hickory, North Carolina's own Mark Williams, who did a noise project called a.device.to.mimic.the.patient as well as an experimental sludge/noise/metal band called Smell The Rott). Scott and Mark primarily collaborated as Pastures between 2009 and 2010 with Dan coming down from Maryland to play one show in 2010. Scott decided to move to Providence in 2011 and Danny later decided to move there as well for the first time, both members lived in the same city, had a practice space, and recorded two releases, 'Crack Binge In Purgatory' and 'Excessive Deliverance', which were primarily distributed at shows in North Carolina. In late 2011, Scott was given the opportunity to join a band called Akris from Northern Virginia, record with Steve Mackay (RIP, saxophoniist from The Stooges), and tour throughout the South. The band consisted of friend, Helena, and influence/mentor for several years, Sam Lohman aka 36. Scott felt he could not pass up this opportunity and felt bad about Danny moving to Providence, partially to focus on Pastures, but it simply was an opportunity he felt he could not pass up. Unable to afford the cost of living in Northern Virginia, Scott moved back to North Carolina. Mark died in 2012. Mark's collaborations with Pastures were documented on a cassette released by Smell The Stench. While Dan and Scott kept in communication, it was not until 2014 that Scott drove to Baltimore to record new Pastures material. Due to recording issues, nothing was released from this session. In between 2014 and 2017, both members continued with their solo projects but Pastures recorded no new material for a variety of reasons. In 2019, Scott drove again to Baltimore and recorded material that will be released in 2022. For reasons still unknown yet personally speculated, Dan stopped talking to Scott in late 2019 after sending him two cassettes for him to overdub over... one of which Dan told Scott that he thought it was "already done," which will make up the second track on the 2022 cassette. Both members at least know that they wish each other the best. After much consideration, Scott has decided to continue Pastures with or without Dan. If he decides to get back in touch, he is welcome to collaborate. Scott has decided that former member, Mark, who passed away in 2011, would want Pastures to continue. Pastures sound has always incorporated metal percussion, which will continue. The sound will continued to be noise with an emphasis on having more of an evolved sound as should be the case with any project. The themes will be very different than prior releases with much open to interpration. Scott is primarily focusing on Nuss and a new project called Astral Arsenal. However, the 2009 recording of 'Lye' will be released on CDr, the 2019 release with Danny on cassette, one more additional "recycled" cassette using previously recorded by Scott, and another release will be recorded. Dan was always the member to primarily trade with other people doing noise that he appreciated. While Scott maintained Detournemont Media, he did not have a good setup for distributing Pastures material. However, he is trying to do a better job now and in the future with a webstore that will be selling cassettes and CDrs. Having mixed feels about self-promotion for years, Scott never sent out any material to labels... the only Pastures material to be either self-released or on a label not self-operated by Dan or Scott was the release on Smell The Stench. Before getting out of touch, Dan and Scott agreed that putting past releases available on Bandcamp for the sake of distribution is not a bad idea. Scott encourages anybody interested in Pastures to get in touch at nuss@protonmail.com regarding possible trades for releases that are still available as well as a few t-shirts. While being out of touch with Danny, Scott is also open to the new Pastures material (of his own) being released by labels other than self-released. Feel free to get in touch at nuss@protonmail.com if you are interested in releasing or distributing any upcoming releases. This page will be updated soon with past and future releases that are not documented, the Bandcamp site, an official website, some YouTube links, and more. Pastures appreciate all the people that have shown us support and appreciate all that continue to show support in the future. Scott encourages everybody to also support Dan's solo project, Legless, despite the lack of communication." - Scott (Pastures) - 3/10/2022 Note: A couple of the years might possibly be incorrect due to all that was going on in both of Dan's and Scott's lives between 2004-2008.