Continental Grift

Continental Grift is a Lithuanian progressive wave metal band founded in 2002 by Kalvis Molnietius. Spurred to action by the lack of a metal scene in his hometown of Molnieta, Kalvis took up his father's Tesla guitar and taught himself to play. His style is both mesmeric and bombastic.

Continental Grift's music is characterized by the use of traditional Lithuanian instruments while eschewing traditional Lithuanian musical styles and song structures. Instead, the music combines elements of progressive rock, folk, New British Clang, and gore metal. The band has cited Mince as a major influence.

Vytautas Kosciuszko, Continental Grift's hydraulic drummer, says of the band's style, "We're a puzzle wrapped in an enigma mailed via DHL. We have a destination in mind, but by the time we get there we're a brilliant mess."

History

Front man Kalvis Molnietius was intensly interested in world politics in high school. His dissatisfaction with Lithuania's place on the world stage led him to create Continental Grift, thus explaining the somewhat political slant of the band's name. "Continental Grift was brought into this world, bleeding and screaming, in my World Politics class. What it became is concerned with things more important than my home country, but the name was too brutal to leave behind."

Future of Continental Grift

Kalvis currently splits his time between touring with Continental Grift and writing new material for his one-man side-project Pterrordactyl. In an October 2009 interview with scene magazine Paingargle he said, "It is very difficult for me to do two things at once. I have trouble urinating while brushing my teeth, so writing and performing in two bands at once will not end well for me."

Concept

Continental Grift's albums are heavily conceptual, each having a linear story with clear thematic elements. Geoillogic is primarily concerned with the various epochs of the Earth's history, while The Great Repulsor centers upon a massive interstellar artifact constructed by time-traveling transhuman analogues responsible for cosmic expansion and preventing an eventual Big Crunch. It's theorized that the two are connected and that the scope of future Continental Grift albums will continue to grow. However, it is unclear how the scope will grow beyond a universe-impacting artifact and transhuman analogues unbound by time and space.

Gong bassist Butkienė Gehennaheim has gone on record as saying that both Geoillogic and The Great Repulsor are metaphorical deconstructions of her first husband's death. Kalvis disputes this claim and maintains that Butkienė has never been married.

Hydraulic drummer Vytautas Kosciuszko has launched several side projects of his own, with mixed success. His current vehicle is a camelcore outfit known as Painsands, which takes its inspiration from what Kosciuszko describes as "the distinct and noticeable parallels between the deserts of earth and the cosmic agony found in the interstellar dunes." The notoriously unpredictable Kosciuszko has refused to elaborate on this topic, saying only "the cosmos are made of pain and glass, and one day we will be too." When pressed on this, Kosciuszko replied, "This music is the great and ancient serpent of the stars. In space, there is no water. It drinks of our essence." The first single "Revolt of the Cacti Kings" featured guest vocals from notable west coast hip hop artist bow-haus.

Discography

Albums

Singles/EPs

Members

Current Members

See also

Category:Music Category:Musicians

Published under the terms of the CC BY 3.0 license.

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