Some Trivia about This, My Album and it all true!Trying to correct lies and rumors on the net about my band. This Canadian JUNO nominated record was produced by Dave Rave Ogilvie in 1994 just after he had finished producing the insane sessions for Marilyn Manson's ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR album. Yet somehow this independent Malhavoc album released thru Universal/Cargo more then a year before ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR. This was the beginning of the relationship between Rave Ogilvie and Malhavoc main man James, that continued for seven years, right up until their work on Japan's electropunk Mad Capsule Market's Pulse EP in the spring of 2001. Their production teamwork includes famous remixes for NIN and MOTLEY CRUE and four infamous unreleased remixes for TOOL and a few other artists.This concept album GET DOWN is about a rock star, MCJC who is having trouble understanding his fans who misinterpret his art. Based on factual incidents that happened to MALHAVOC and many other artists and bands, this fictitious story unintentionally sounds similar to the Kurt Cobain story, who like the record's MCJC, in a real weird coincidence, killed himself right after GET DOWN was finished and before it was released. This album also predates the Columbine High School Massacre which also has a lot of similarities to MALHAVOC's previous album PREMEDITATED MURDER.The album cover is a live photo of MALHAVOC singer James C. (aka MCJC /Jimi LaMort) taken at the famous annual Carleton's University KOSMIC PARTY on Saturday November 13th?, 1993. Kosmic 1993 "Dante's Inferno" may have been the biggest fundraising party in Ottawa that year. MALHAVOC were asked to play because the theme that year was Dante's Inferno/HELL! With approximately over 2000 people attending, the sold out event took place at the University's Architecture Building (AA). The architecture students has turned the whole building into a hellish labyrinth, with many rooms. The largest main room is where MALHAVOC played last, following 2-3 cover bands that all seemed to be made up of architecture students in full costume parodying classic evil metal and hip-hop songs. MALHAVOC thought if they came out and did their regular dark evil noisy performance it would empty the hall. So they played a couple hip-hop covers to start the show including an excellent version of what was the number one song at the time JUMP by Kriss-Kross. The crowd went nuts and seemed to be having the enjoying themselves a little too for the frontman of MALHAVOC, James. The band then headed into their own Hip-Hop influenced extreme noise and the packed audience kept on dancing and having the time of their lives. The fourth song S.C.E.X a song about man's duality of good and evil. As usual the 'singer' carved a pentagram into his chest a cinematic symbol of a wolfman. The fifth song was WOODWITCH based on a horror novel by Stephen Gregory. It details a man's obsession with his penis. As usual the frontman James decided to take off all his clothes at the start of the song (except for the padding he wore on his hands and knees because he had his broken hand in a cast from a previous performance) and in full view starting masturbating center stage while rapping, or screaming if u will, as blood was dripping down his chest. People had fainted from shock and horror while attending previous MALHAVOC performances. It was this reputation that got them this 'HELL' gig. They had full approval from the promoters who wanted to create hell, as it was an 18+ crowd. James then in the middle of the song threw himself on the crowd. Again quite typical, but the packed floor in front of the stage unexpectedly parted like the red sea. James ended up rolling around on the floor when the excellent local photographer SHAWN SCALLEN snapped the album cover's photograph!! This precise moment also started the concept for GET DOWN album! MCJC had appeared and Scallen had captured it on Nov. 13th 1993! Which predates the international arrival of the similar artist Marilyn Manson, whose Trent Reznor produced debut album, Portrait of an American Family was released on July 19, 1994!

What can you really say about Malhavoc. They are a bit of a Canadian enigma. At the time of this album, they were at their most popular, and received a lot of favorable press. I joined the Malhavoc camp a couple of outings previous with the Punishments EP, and at the time, I was just getting into a lot of different electronic/industrial music. Malhavoc always stood apart, and although not all of their music is great, they are an entity all their own, despite having to suffer through inevitable comparisons to bands like Ministry at the time, even though I don't consider their sounds to be very akin, other than that they are metal, with some electronics. Get Down was supposed to be their breakout album, and I suppose, for all intensive purposes, it was, being the first release by the band that was widely available in more mainstream music outlets. The album was produced by Dave Ogilvie, a long time member of the Skinny Puppy camp. I remember a friend being quite excited by this, as he loved the Skinny Puppy. Me, I was more expecting something like the production work that Dave did for early 16 Volt albums. In the end, Get Down sounds like neither. It is a solid progression from Premeditated Murder, with raw and gritty production, fitting the music well. The album itself is a concept affair, which is truly excellent, considering that "MCJC" as James had his moniker at the time, wrote some really excellent lyrics. Get Down is largely about one man's descent into hell as he tries to come to grips with the trappings of the music industry, his own psyche, and the relationships around him. James is even nice enough to offer alternative track sequencings in the liner notes to steer you around the story in different directions. I really cannot say enough good things about the lyrics. They are delivered with music that is similar to Premeditated Murder, but the production is clearer, allowing the guitars more crunch, the drums more punch, and the synth more....uhhhh....ok, I lost it there, but the synths are good too! Indecently, the video for Naked is like a synopsis of both the album, and of underground and alternative music’s of the early to mid nineties, and if you have not seen it but grew up around all of the various sub-cultures of the time, you really need to watch it, because it's hilarious, and brilliant. After this record, Malhavoc all but dried up, and although they are still around, releasing new material at a snails pace, none of it quite hits the highs of this record. Malhavoc perhaps deserved a larger audience, but something tells me that was never their aim, as their content was always far more controversial than what most bands of the time were willing to do, or release. It's that commitment to no compromise which makes this band worthy of checking out, especially if you have grown to like any incarnation of industrial metal. If you live in Canada, the chances of finding a Malhavoc album or two in a scummy used CD shop is high, so head on down and see what you can pick up, I doubt you will be disappointed.