Knifehandchop

Toronto native Billy Pollard is the man behind the plunderphonic hardcore techno of Knifehandchop, but he started out playing in a traditional rock band at the age of 15. A fan of death metal, experimental noise, industrial music, and hip-hop, Pollard gave up the guitar the minute he got a computer. At first his music sounded like the pumping hardcore techno of Alec Empire or Hellfish, but after a while Pollard looked to work in some of his beloved hip-hop or maybe some pop. With no rapper or singer available, he started chopping up and combining his favorite records to achieve his goal.

As Pollard layered pop tunes over R&B tunes he realized that he was commenting on the sameness of the 2000s' brand of pop, and that Pink sounded just like blink-182 to his ears. Four singles for the Irritant label were released between 2000-2002 before Kid 606 snatched Pollard up for his Tigerbeat6 label. In 2003 Irritant collected all the singles plus three compilation and three previously unreleased tracks for Bling the Noize, while his Tigerbeat6 debut, Rockstopper, appeared in the fall. His second full-length, How I Left You, followed in 2004.