Songwriting inspiration has to come from somewhere, so why not from a fan's chunk of severed ear? It's not the sort of ear damage you'd expect Boris to be involved with as Japan's foremost purveyors of metallic noise, but in this case, the dissonantly musical trio's ear play was on the recovery end.
Josh Baish, a dweller of Denton, Texas embarked on a trek across the state to Marfa to see Boris perform on October 18, 2007. Far exceeding even the wildest expectations of mosh-pit violence, four men assaulted Baish during the show, breaking one of his ribs and chomping off a piece of his ear.
Well, that's pretty fucking nasty, but the Boris crew know how to turn one form of auditory assault into another. While the band were loading out their gear after the show, they found the missing hunk of ear and returned it to Baish, hoping it could be reattached. It couldn't, so Boris did the next best thing - they wrote a song about it.
Early this year, Baish received a copy of Boris' "Statement/Floorshaker" seven-inch in the mail and recognised his story in the lyrics of B-side "Floorshaker," which includes the lines "I found a ripped ear on the floor/This must be yours."
Since doctors couldn't reattach the ear chunk, Baish gave his casualty of rock a notable home - in a jar behind the bar in his venue in Denton, Rubber Gloves.
Baish summed up the experience in an email to Pitchfork: "So basically, I lost my ear and broke a rib at a concert from my favorite band, and they wrote a song about it. I'd say it was worth it."
Hopefully Baish will be fully capable of absorbing the sounds of Boris' upcoming Smile, which will be released in North America on April 29th through Southern Lord.
Josh Baish, a dweller of Denton, Texas embarked on a trek across the state to Marfa to see Boris perform on October 18, 2007. Far exceeding even the wildest expectations of mosh-pit violence, four men assaulted Baish during the show, breaking one of his ribs and chomping off a piece of his ear.
Well, that's pretty fucking nasty, but the Boris crew know how to turn one form of auditory assault into another. While the band were loading out their gear after the show, they found the missing hunk of ear and returned it to Baish, hoping it could be reattached. It couldn't, so Boris did the next best thing - they wrote a song about it.
Early this year, Baish received a copy of Boris' "Statement/Floorshaker" seven-inch in the mail and recognised his story in the lyrics of B-side "Floorshaker," which includes the lines "I found a ripped ear on the floor/This must be yours."
Since doctors couldn't reattach the ear chunk, Baish gave his casualty of rock a notable home - in a jar behind the bar in his venue in Denton, Rubber Gloves.
Baish summed up the experience in an email to Pitchfork: "So basically, I lost my ear and broke a rib at a concert from my favorite band, and they wrote a song about it. I'd say it was worth it."
Hopefully Baish will be fully capable of absorbing the sounds of Boris' upcoming Smile, which will be released in North America on April 29th through Southern Lord.