Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Right Out On Front Street...

Goat Bong - Goat Worship & Sodomy (2012)
You've gotta appreciate a band that just tells it like it is. So when you're faced with an album called Goat Worship & Sodomy, you really don't put off listening to it, do you?
So here we have San Antonio's one and only Goat Bong. A stoner band name if ever I've heard one, I'm sure you're thinking the same. So with a name like that you should have a pretty good idea of what you should be in for once you click play, naturally? Well, yes and very much no. Firstly they're not quite as heavy as you may expect, thats in noway a criticism by the way, just that on the face of things you've got a few misleading hints, namely some dark ages inspired cover art with the words 'Goat', 'Bong' and 'Sodomy' on it. Usually thats pretty cut and dry, but not here.
Taking a somewhat unorthodox approach to the stoner genre as a whole the guys have firstly done away with your typical vocal element, which lets face it, is the usual factor that determines your subgenre. Instead being replaced with a healthy dose of samples, which gives you a little bit more artistic licence when it comes to the general acoustic dynamics of the band. Something that they've clearly reveled in when it came to hitting the studio here. Thrashing around in the pool of genres Goat Bong have managed to swing effortlessly in and out of the likes of sludge, doom, thrash, blues, southern and even desert rock, sometimes all within the same song. Which to me doe's sound great, even if it's a pain in the ass when it comes to trying to comparing them to anyone else. For others I know that it initially sounds like a somewhat reckless and haphazard state of affairs, but trust me when I say, some how these guys have got to bloody work! Don't ask me how, because despite listening to the album about five or six times from start to finish I still can't get my head round it. What I can say though is you really don't miss the vocals. Whether it's the use of samples or the shear mix of different styles fused together I'm not too sure, but it just seems to satisfy you enough and distract you from really caring that theres no front man. It's different and as far as I'm aware probably one of the most unique records I've been hit up with this year and well worth the measly $4 asking price. If you are a tight fisted arsehole though, Michael from the band has been kind enough to offer up download codes (what a gentleman!), you can hit him up here.
~ Jay

For Fans Of; Karma To Burn, Dozer, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Elder, At Devil Dirt





Monday, October 29, 2012

Just In Time For Halloween...

All Them Witches - Our Mother Electricity (2012)
This is the first time that I've ever had to pick what band I was going to review for my weekly blog post since this week we didn't get any emails requesting reviews. As much as I love writing reviews about stuff that I myself found, if you're in a band or know a good local band, don't be scared of sending us some tunes so we can help spread the word. On that note, I actually wasn't the one that directly found out about this band, but it was my good friend Thomas (avid bandcamp browser). He sent me their link one day and I've been completely hooked ever since. Alright, now onto the music...It's fucking mind-blowing. Sincerely one of the greatest examples of psychedelic heavy stoner blues rock. You probably didn't understand what I just described in the last sentence, but that's the entire point, this Nashville quintet has taken all of the best elements from so many different genres and made an album that is at the same time a complete throwback to the classics and immensely innovative. Let's take the lead guitar parts as an example, there are parts where they use slides (as you probably know slides are very common to blues music), and then the guitar starts laying down this amazing riff that doesn't even follow any traditional blues scales while all the instruments are down-tuned (something that's used in very modern heavy metal bands), but let's not forget that the constant fuzzy tone keeps everything together and makes the transitions unnoticeable. Oh yeah, by the way, this all happens WITHIN IN ONE SONG OUT OF EIGHT IN THE WHOLE ALBUM. The entire album is definitely one of the best I've heard all year and I think that if as the newest writer of the blog I'm allowed to make a contribution for our end of the year compilation, this would definitely be one of them. Please do yourself a huge favor and listen to these guys and let the world know about the sheer genius that is All Them Witches. Oh, and do them a favor by actually buying their album as well.
~Bernardo

For Fans Of; Queens Of The Stone Age, White Stripes, Led Zeppelin, The Datsuns, Wolfmother

Website • Facebook • Myspace • Twitter



Friday, October 26, 2012

Blame It On The Chronic...

Tumbleweed Dealer - Death Rides Southwards EP (2012)
Boasting a name more worthy than most for playing stoner rock, Tumbleweed Dealer actually play a pretty unique mix of 70's inspired psych infused with modern stoner, desert and even a subtle hint of post rock. But forget that for the moment, lets give you the guys background...
Sometime in June of 2012, Seb Painchaud (member of The Last Felony, former member of Ion Dissonance, Nefastus Dies & Vatican) decided to indulge in the greeny goodness for the first time in years. Never one to do anything half way, in a few hours a three and half was turned into smoke and the inspiration hit him. He decided to write and record right then and there on his home studio some tracks inspired by bands like Earth and Horseback. Three songs were created that night and the following night he went at it again, creating two more songs, this time incorporating post-rock and math-rock influences. A few weeks went by, and the inspiration hit again and Seb, who had now returned to his old chronic self of yore, wrote and recorded a few more songs. All these songs were rough demos with simple drum loops and never meant for public consumption, but when he wrote and recorded Death Rides Southwards, he knew he had something. He knew he had found his sound.
In another drug filled evening with good friend and fellow The Last Felony band member Felix Roberge we’re rocking the tracks and decided to combine their efforts, and Felix would take over drum programming and supervise Seb’s hectic and drug laden recording sessions. Out of this collaboration came this Death Rides Southwards EP. Now the band is in the midst of recording its first full length album, entitled Dirt, once again in their home studio, and plan to release it and start doing the live rounds in early 2013. The guys have also now recruited Vincent Houde of Dopethrone as their drummer for both live shows and studio, and swear to keep drum tracks as is and avoid the over-editing that is plaguing the music scene these days.

For Fans Of; Earth, Mountain Witch, Horseback, Dixie Witch, Roadsaw





Wednesday, October 24, 2012

If You Go Down To The Woods Today...

A View Of The Woods - Meant To Be (2012)
It's been a while since we've taken a trip down south to good old Oz, which is a sacrilege really because lets face it, they've got a pretty good track record on giving me things I really like; AC/DC, Chopper, The 12th Man, Mad Max and Kylie Minogue's arse. But better late than never I guess, especially if like me you're a down tempo, bluesy psych rock enthusiast.
The four Brisbanites may have only given us two tracks to wet our apetites with, but should it be your cup of tea I reckon it will leave you aching for more. Enthusing a style that lies somewhere between our hard rock favourites Pet The Preacher and Graveyard, A View's... sound does have a certain 'tint' more akin to many of the Scandinavian act that find they're way into our inbox. A wistful sort of psych with elements of classic rock and a hint of blues. Not the usual the sort of thing you hear coming from cricket loving, VB swigging Aussies. But after running this blog for the last couple of years, nothing really surprises me anymore.
Like I mentioned before, it's only a couple of tracks but if the guys can keep up the same pace then they're definitely gonna be onto a winner when it come to dropping a full length album. Even more so if they can knock out some equally cracking cover art!
~ Jay

For Fans Of; Graveyard, Pet The Preacher, DeepSeaGreen, The Heavy Eyes, Mars Red Sky



Monday, October 22, 2012

True Patriots...

Estoner - The Stump Will Rise (2012)
I think I've just found my latest pass time, listening to the music I'm going to review while in school. Seeing how the music provides a background for the scurrying about of the students in between hallways so that they can follow the educational system their parents love so much. When I slapped on my headphones while it was blasting out the first song on Estoner's The Stump Will Rise, I just saw that the image fit the music so well. The echoed vocals almost reminded me of a 1984-like Big Brother telling the students to hurry to their classes...or else there would be consequences. The combination of drop-tuned bass and guitars creates a perfect sense of both doom an psychedelic rock because of the way they switch on and off seamlessly between surplus amounts of fuzz and spacey reverbs and flangers. Also, the riffs vary between high-flying psych and doom landscapes and dirty blues headbangers.
This band comes all the way from the land north of Latvia...that's right,. they come from Estonia! Psychedelic music usually takes my imagination places if i'm not too busy, and this time i think it took me to Estonia....but I'm not exactly sure. I'm still amazed at the vast amount of countries that have such hidden gems as far as stoner rock bands go. And I'm even more surprised at the fact that I haven't found any in my neighborhood! Maybe I should move to Estonia. Or i can just help out the band by buying their album on Bandcamp, something you should do as well.
~Bernardo

 For Fans Of; Art As Catharsis, At Devil Dirt, Fuzzly, Ivy Garden Of The Desert, Stoned Jesus

Facebook • YouTube • Bandcamp



Sunday, October 21, 2012

News...



Graveyard - Lights Out (Nuclear Blast)
Martyr Defiled In Shadows (Thirty Days Of Night)

~

Don't forget our big prize draw at the end of the year people!
Our box of goodies is getting bigger and bigger each week. We've got shirts from DopefightGurt and Church Of Misery, cd's from StubbTrippy WickedIvy Garden Of The Desert and loads more. Some great signed 7" and 12" vinyl as well as some cassettes, posters and loads of stickers.
To be in for a chance to win the lot just drop us a donation and you'll go in to the draw at the end of the year. Every 5 bucks you donate gets you a ticket in the hat.
We really appreciate all donations big or small, they really help out for the costs of keeping the blog running. So to all those who have donated already, thank you!

~

If you want you're band reviewed on the blog, would like us to add you're company or store our links page, have us mention you're new release above or would like to send us any physical merch (which is always massively appreciated!) then just drop us an email.

Remember to like us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us here on Blogspot.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Epic Smoke Filled Sludge...

Mountain Goat - Self Titled (2012)
An extra special hot off the press Saturday Review for you guys today. Yup, I deemed it that important that I bring you this album asap!
Now, I know some of you have been awaiting this moment for quite some time, some may have even already got your hands on it, but for those completely oblivious... Oh boy do I have a treat for you.
For those of you not akin to the mighty Mountain Goat, just do your best to pull yourself away from the stunning artwork for one moment. What these guys may lack in classic album cover design they more than make up for in the ability to grind out mind bendingly awesome fuzz filled carnage. Teasing us for the last year and a half with just three EP's the Michigan trio benchmark to date has been their limited edition two track 7" Smoke Filled Land which became an instant underground hit and consequently became like rocking horse shit to find. Rightly so too. The classic combination of weed, groove, overdrive and DIY recording made it an absolutely blinding listen. Like a explosion of Eyehategod and Electric Wizard, the vinyl really cemented the band's status as potential giant killers.
So with such and impressive collection of pre album releases could the bands history really be their undoing here?... No, is the answer to that question. Well, 'hell no!' would be more accurate to be fair. Not a single shred of form has been lost or compromised throughout the entirety of the 46 minute runtime of this little beauty. Comprising of the guy's same well honed ethos of distant sounding vocals, churning riffs and more fuzz than you can shake a bong at, this new offering also strives to cover new ground. Going straight for the jugular, the angry uncompromising growling and rumbling through the first three tracks really adds a great sludge aspect to the bands virtuosity, not to mention the fact that echoes so vividly of the late great Iron Monkey to boot. If thats not a shining recommendation, I don't know what is. But just like the Monkey, and many others, elements of the classic sludge inspiring punk years are also apparent in tracks like Live Fast Or Die Drunk and Rites & Rituals. The real kicker for me though, and one of the really stand out elements of this album is the absolutely killer execution of the closing track Space. A 15 minute weed infused orgy of psych, space and doom style guitar taming in a tuning so low it rattles the very gates of hell.
It's been long anticipated, and where that can often be a band's Achilles heel, not here. Nope, Mountain Goat once again don't even slightly fail to hit the mark. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that if you label yourself a fan of the genre and you don't dig this album you may as well just put a shotgun in your mouth and try and pull the trigger with your toe, because it really doesn't get much better than this.
As soon as I get off my ass and update our top releases for 2012, this little beauty is gonna be slapped right up there. In the meantime please please please give the guy's a hand and pitch them a few bucks, if not for this worthwhile gem, then via their Big Cartel page, as if they can raise enough we could be seeing this get an outing on wax!
~ Jay
For Fans Of; Iron Monkey, Dopefight, Doomriders, Goatsnake, Raging Speedhorn


Friday, October 19, 2012

Parting The Waves...

Dead Sea Apes - Soy Dios (2010)
It's been a bit of a post rock sort of affair this week from the looks of things, so I may as well round the week off in a similar fashion.
Today ladies and gents I'm bringing you some absolutely cracking displays of ambient prog, in the form of UK based sound smiths Dead Sea Apes. Doing the rounds for the last couple of years now, the trio have done well to hone their talents into a three progressively more detailed, layered and impressive little albums. This, the guy's first release really sees them planting their feet in the genre so to speak. Very much bordering on the boundaries of drone for its entirety, it's still manages to produce a certain something thats able to keep me hooked. Not an easy feat when faced with someone such as myself who doesn't actively prefer the genre. I think its the fine balance of well presented ambience and the down right mellowness of the structure that must almost hypnotise you into maintaining for the full 10 minutes of each track. It's not going to be everyones cup of tea but what ever your views on the genre may be, if you ever like to just lay back and chill out for 30 minutes then you really should give these guys a try.
Soy Dios, their debut from 2010 is available on their bandcamp page and you can name your price. Their most recent two releases Astral House and Lupus are also up for you're listening pleasure but you are going to have to part with a few bucks. Very small price to pay for some quality tunes if you ask me...
~ Jay

For Fans Of; Red Sparowes, Russian Circle, Joy Wants Eternity, If These Trees Could Talk, Followed By Ghosts



Thursday, October 18, 2012

Caution: May Contain Vegetables...

Vintage Cucumber - Mc Goyl Style (2012)
I was in one of my school’s computer labs using a desktop freely before staring my computer science class in the next couple of minutes. As a habit, every time I use a computer at school, I do 2 things: open my email and check the blog to see if there’s any new good stuff on it. couple of days ago, I opened up my email and saw that my fellow blog writer Jay had sent me some bands to review (by the way, if you and your band want to be reviewed, send us an email, we don’t bite). I opened the bandcamp link, and for the next couple of minutes I could not recognize where I was. I don’t remember anything that happened that entire class, I was so incredibly lost in all the spacy and noise filled songs that it was the only thing I could think of. The music is done in a very DIY manner by a German fellow with lots of dragged out synth notes with a light and slow beat of the drums in the background, and various sound effects taken from the farthest reaches of the galaxy. The music isn’t really my type cause I’m a diagnosed multi-tasker, and if I’m listening to something that just leaves me inanimate, it’ll mess up my day, but I was able to enjoy it regardless since I didn’t have much to do this week anyway. My parent teacher conference is tomorrow, let’s just hope my teacher didn’t notice me taking off into orbit during class.
~ Bernardo
For Fans Of; Red Sparowes, Grails, Giants, Om, White Hills



Tuesday, October 16, 2012

The Emperor's New Doom...

ToMyDeepestEgo - Nero (2012)
These days it's pretty easy to just pitch a band into the good old post metal genre and more or less just forget about them. Many of the bands that dip their feet in this genre are often seen as being pretty abundant and most stick quite rigidly to the same old tried and test formular. Now I dont know about you, but this is kinda wearing thin on me these days. But fear not, ToMyDeepestEgo are here to throw a little something else into the pot, with this, their third album Nero.
Hailing from Rome, the five chaps have all but stripped the post metal ethos down to its bare bones and rebuilt it in their own idealistic view. Some of you die hard enthusiasts may well be dubious about this or even cry 'heathens', but just hold fire. With a reverberating uncanny likeness to Pelican (for me their closest comparison on this album) ToMyDeepestEgo have given themselves just that little bit more play to step either side of the mark. Giving a slightly more dark yet less disjointed ferocity in the highs and an altogether brighter melancholy in the low ambiences. Swaying from an almost sludge like sound and composition to a softer near shoegaze like harmonic in a matter of seconds, Nero flows through a myriad of elements with a near perfect execution. Where for some it may not be quite as satisfying as throwing on such similar classic albums like What We All Come To Need, Oceanic or even Geneva it still reeks of a certain talent, skill and vision that few outside of the well knowns even come close too.
~Jay

For Fans Of; Pelican, Isis, Neurosis, Cult Of Luna, Russian Circles



Monday, October 15, 2012

So Basic…

Bear Baiting - Self Titled EP (2012)
I like to consider myself a pretty decent rock guitarist, it’s definitely the instrument I enjoy playing the most. But every once in a while I fill in the much needed bassist position in a few bands with friends. Although sometimes I end up going to practice and getting bored because the parts are very simple and a bit behind my skill level. But now I’m just glad we’re not playing any covers by Bear Baiting, the LA duo whose sum of strings surprisingly results in 8! Yes, this band is programmed drums, some synth effects here and there and 2 fuzzed out basses, no more, no less. I was just as surprised and intrigued as you probably are right now, and trust me, that feeling of complete mind-fucking shock still hits me every time I remind myself that I’m hearing two simultaneous basses. What’s great about this act is that one instrument doesn’t drown out the other, more often than not the lower toned bass will be laying down a really sweet stoner riff while the other goes nuts with different types of beautiful harmonies, and sometimes the harmony will actually be lower than the sustaining riff. This musical conversation kind of makes up for the fact that there aren’t any vocals, and trusts me; you won’t miss them at all. 
~Bernardo

For Fans Of; Karma to Burn, Major Kong, Hawkwind, Dozer, Stoned Jesus



Sunday, October 14, 2012

News


Graveyard - Lights Out (Nuclear Blast)
Martyr Defiled In Shadows (Thirty Days Of Night)

~

Don't forget our big prize draw at the end of the year people!
Our box of goodies is getting bigger and bigger each week. We've got shirts from DopefightGurt and Church Of Misery, cd's from StubbTrippy WickedIvy Garden Of The Desert and loads more. Some great signed 7" and 12" vinyl as well as some cassettes, posters and loads of stickers.
To be in for a chance to win the lot just drop us a donation and you'll go in to the draw at the end of the year. Every 5 bucks you donate gets you a ticket in the hat.
We really appreciate all donations big or small, they really help out for the costs of keeping the blog running. So to all those who have donated already, thank you!

~

If you want you're band reviewed on the blog, would like us to add you're company or store our links page, have us mention you're new release above or would like to send us any physical merch (which is always massively appreciated!) then just drop us an email.

Remember to like us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us here on Blogspot.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Painting A Dark Picture...

Goya - Demo (2012)
Y'all should know by now that I love my stoner rock, doom, sludge etc with a dash of funk. Not to be confused with THE funk. I'm not talking Bootsy Collins, stacked heels and big afros. No, I mean just a touch of groove, faintly upbeat riffs and a tempo thats not afraid to step it up a gear every now and then. The sort of thing Iron Monkey did with sludge or Mountain Witch did with doom. Dare to toy with another genre outside of you're typical boundaries every so often and it can pay off. On which note it would be a perfect time to introduce you to Arizona's one and only Goya - masters of the fuzzy riff, dealers of doom and off the back of this demo alone, giant slayers. Yup, this Phoenix three piece may have only been belting out tunes since April this year, but they've more than proved that they can stand toe to toe with daddies when it comes to producing world class stoner doom metal. In fact I would probably go as far as to say that when it's come to demos we've received over the last couple of years, this little corker certainly ranks in the top three. Fusing the age old elements of weed and crushing overdrive the chaps have managed to circumnavigate the pitfall of being lumped straight into the stoner doom stereotype by incorporating a few certain subtle nuances. Sure, the key details are all there; the fuzz, the distant vocals, the six minute long tracks, but theres so much more. Namely bouts of sporadic psych, bursts of southern rock furiousness and even the odd touch of post metal ambience creeps in from time to time. Unorthodox? Sure, but if it works it works, don't knock it! I would even go as far as to say that this will even sway over many of the die hard purists of the genre that so often turn their nose up at bands that try and throw in a little something different.
It's fresh, its dark, its fuzzy but the real fact of the matter is; if this is the just the demo, what the hell do these guys have in store for the full length album? I'm looking forward to it and I can pretty much guarantee that following the final closing bars of Night Creeps you will be too!... and who said no good ever came from drugs?
~ Jay

For Fans Of; Black Pyramid, Elder, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Mountain Goat, No Anchor




Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Down 'n' Dirty...

Grime - Self Titled (2011)
How many of you hippies have watched the Wizard of Oz with Pink Floyd playing over it? So trippy or whatever huh? I did this once at a party when I was sixteen only cause I didn’t know how to talk to girls. I was that skinny awkward fucker on the couch at a party watching a movie, and I wasn’t even high. Nor drunk might I add. So here’s the new thing to do. Listen to Grime, the sludge band, while watching a Grimes video. Why the fuck are her videos so dark and more importantly why do people give a shit? All the attention should be on Grime. Evil as Satan raping a child, and more distorted than a creationist’s worldview, Grime brings that gritty evil doer sludge and delivers an amazing six track self titled album. One thing that I don’t hear too much is bass that is just as distorted as the guitars. Why should any sludge be played clean? It shouldn’t. Their instruments are so distorted and dropped tuned their strings probably flop around like wet spaghetti. As for the vocals, they don’t give up, even as they other members are keeping that slow churning sludge at bay the vocalist keeps it hitting strong. I imagine his blood shot eyes are exploding from his head and redder than from hitting that bong shaped like inverted cross by the end of their set.
~ Brett

For Fans Of; Iron Monkey, Eyehategod, Grief, Dopefight, Bottomfeeder




Monday, October 08, 2012

Classic Finish...


DryasdustSelf Titled Demo (2012)


From the very initial riff of the opening song on this album, I had a feeling these guys would be a very tight ensemble, the bass and the lead guitar complement one another heavily. Especially when switching on and off mid-riff and when they play together the combination of the sounds makes it seem like the two are simply one awesome and all-powerful entity. The riffs are all a mix of blues influenced progressions and some classical scales that sort of remind me of medieval music…yeah, I mean, in my mind this always reminisces back to the late 70’s heavy metal movement, and the fact that their Nordic makes it all appropriate. The drums provide a very stable (but kick-ass) backbone for all of the music. As for the vocals, done by the guitarist, it really goes back to a strong 70’s style. Although it is kind of funny when you notice the very slight Finnish accent, it’s the music that counts, and that’s where this power trio hits it home. This is what’s so great about reviewing all these foreign bands: it’s that I can see past the funny accents, language barriers, and just plain old music that isn’t sung in English. I won’t see a band any differently depending on where they come from, sure it’s an interesting factoid sometimes. But as long as the music is good, I’ll listen to it.
~ Bernardo

For Fans Of; Led Zeppelin, Wolfmother, Graveyard, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Fellwoods




~

Saturday, October 06, 2012

Interview...

Two dudes in Tucson got together and decided to throw a music fest. And no, it wasn’t a naked Indian and Jim Morrison who told them to do so. They were just bored and decided to do something about it other then bitch about how Arizona isn’t New York. No shit it’s not New York, we can walk more then five feet without smelling piss and stepping over a homeless man. So, what these two guys came up with is Southwest Terror Fest, which is in Tucson, AZ on October 19th & 20th.  I called up David Rodgers, one of the men behind the fest, to see what was up.

[Brett] Hello.
[David] What’s up man?
How you doing?
Good, how are you?
Pretty good, pretty good.
So, you want to just give me the basic details on what this Tucson fest is for somebody who has hasn’t heard much about it?
Yeah, so basically it’s a DIY fest, all the guys throwing it are musicians in bands; we wanted to bring something to Arizona, which is a good kind of central location in the southwest. Lots of bands come through here already, and there’s not a lot (of fests) here besides “Within These Walls” which is a hardcore festival. So myself and Dave Carroll from the Diseased Reason got together and we kind of just figured why couldn’t we just throw one of these ourselves? We just started calling everyone we knew and got thirty-two bands to come out. We have people coming from as far away such as Hull (New York), Sons of Tonatiuh (Georgia), three or four bands coming from California, bands from Colorado, along with a pretty good representation from a few different local scenes.
Cool, who are you looking forward to seeing the most?
Uh, I’m really looking forward to seeing Bereft, all those dudes are amazing musicians and I don’t think they have played out of California yet but I love the album that they just put out. Also looking forward to Hull a lot cause those guys are amazing, and I don’t know, I’m really just looking forward to the whole weekend because its bringing together a whole bunch of people I know from a bunch of different places and it’s just going to be fun hanging out with everybody.
Is this fest going to be better then Woodstock? 
Absolutely. One, there will be no hippies. Two, it will be inside so even if a hippie shows up and it rains, we wont have a wet dirty hippie, and I will make sure there is no brown acid. So right there, we are on top of Woodstock already.
How many virgin sacrifices will there be?
(Sighs) Ohhh man, are we counting the pre-fest party?
Yeah, I guess that counts.
Okay, and I’m guessing we are counting any after parties too? I’m going to say…. forty-seven?
That’s a pretty solid number.
Yeah, at least three dozen, somewhere around there.
How many times have you seen a metal dude from behind thinking that metal girl with the long hair has a flat ass and nice boots?
Hahahaha… I think its happening more at hardcore shows, with them borrowing their sister’s jeans and having the same haircut as their girlfriend. Um, but you know, um, usually you can tell because not that many girls wear combat boots. But, I know what you’re feeling there, can’t say it hasn’t happened to me its probably happened to everyone.
Hahahaha… Alright, what band do you play in and what are they doing next?
I play guitar and scream in Godhunter and we are playing up in Phoenix right before the fest, with Saint Vitus, Weedeater, Sourvein, and Twin Giant. I’m friends with a bunch of those dudes so that will be an awesome drive. After the fest we are taking off on a long winter tour and won’t be back until January.
Nice. How many black shirts do you own?
Haha, an easier question would be how many don’t I own, I want to say I have maybe nine white t shirts, like a white Black Flag shirt, a Kylesa shirt, a white Landmine Marathon, other then that all I own is black t shirts.
I heard that Pigeonwing is a straightedge Christian band?
Um, that is pretty much what I heard. Ya know, its funny that guy Ryan from that band wrote me email after email begging me to throw them on the fest, then he started throwing in bribes, and once the money got pretty high I was like, “Alright man, we’ll put you on here, I don’t think you guys will fit in at all, but hey, come out, rock it, and if someone throws a bottle at your head its on you bro.”
Hahaha good answer. I heard that band Ladybird asked for two male stripers, some horse lube, and fifteen pre peeled bananas as their rider.
Ah, I thought it was more bananas. We actually have to get them their own VIP area which no one else has access to which I thought was a little weird, but hey whatever bands have to do to get ready for a show I’m going to let them because we’re just trying to throw the best show that we can.
Do you plan on doing this next year?
That’s our goal. If we don’t lose too much money this year we’ll call it a success and then we’ll try it again, if we could break even on it and hopefully we can make it a little bit bigger and better for next year. Dave, my partner in this venture wants to do it with multiple venues next year or maybe the year after that. So we definitely have some plans for the future, and as long as we have good shows this year we’ll do it again.
Well I’m glad to hear that, sounds like you know what you’re doing so…
…Oh we have absolutely no idea what we are doing.
Hahaha.
Ya know, I don’t even really know how to play guitar, most of the time my shits not plugged in, so I’m faking ALL of this basically, so if any of this works its somebody else’s fault.
Hahaha alright, sounds good man thanks for doing this for me.
Anytime, no problem.
Yeah, I’ll see you soon.
Cool, we’ll see you at the fest. Have a good one.
You too.
Later.

If you want to see a fest that is better than Woodstock, head out to Tucson Arizona. $15 for both days, 32 metal bands, 47 virgin sacrifices, 1 Christian band, and most importantly 0 hippies.


Friday, October 05, 2012

Screamin' La Vida Loca...

Lady Blue - Vida (2012)
I'll confess. I'm not that into hardcore, or screamo or whatever you kids are calling it nowadays. Yeah theres the odd band here and there that make it under my radar and onto my iTunes but generally speaking the genre has never really buzzed me all that much. But let no one say I'm not open minded, I'll always give any band the time of day when they go to the trouble of dropping us a line. Inevitably I was a little sceptical when Lady Blue's latest album appeared in my inbox but credit where credit's due that soon washed away as the opening bars of track one Ignorance kicked in. Granted, my severe lack of knowledge of the genre and its off shoots does somewhat limit my ability speak with any authority here, but I will endeavour to do my best. With that being said the first thing I did noticed on my initial listening to the album is that it does burst with all the ferocity and anger of Norma Jean's Bless The Martyr Kiss The Child. Bit of a dated reference I know, but to hell with it, that album's still a classic. Actually the tone and beat almost match for a vast amount of the album. Don't get me wrong, they're by no means a rip off, no no, Lady Blue have managed to cultivate a sound thats very much their own. Harnessing that aforementioned ferocity by interspersing it with mellow break downs and screamed monologues, which I should say now are usually the key element that ultimately annoy and turn me away from the genre. But on that note it must speak volumes that in this instance my interest and concentration failed to wane. God knows there's been a thousand bands of this ilk that I've tried to get into or that have been suggested to me over the years but the vast majority have just left me somewhat blank or uninterested. Luckily for Lady Blue, they're joined the ranks of just a chosen few that not just made it onto my iTunes but shall remain there safe in the knowledge that they'll be escaping the trash can for some time yet. That last sentence may reek of a back handed compliment, but coming from someone who generally has very little time for the genre, that comment is at least on a par with giving this album an 8 out of 10!
~ Jay

For Fans Of; Norma Jean, The Chariot, Every Time I Die, Poison The Well, From Autumn To Ashes 



Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Just Winging It...

Pigeonwing - '*​*​*' (2012)
You ever notice how some (most) bass players kind of just play along with the guitarist and are so fucking boring you’d rather watch the fat ass fall down a hill? Just because the thing has four strings doesn’t make it any less interesting than a guitar. Don’t get me wrong bass culture is just as bad if not worse than guitar culture, who the fuck wants to see some dick with a ponytail play a 40 string bass in a hawaiian shirt that’s more out of date than hardcore? It’s not the bass that is boring it’s the player. Quit playing, get that job at yelp and sell your 8x10 to someone who will use it properly. Pigeonwing is a two piece. Bass and drums, but I didn’t even know it until I saw them in Long Beach. I have nothing but good things to say about this band and the two dudes in it. They destroy. They released one twenty minute song entitled, “***”. They really should have titled it, “( . )( . )” cause you can’t verbalize the first and the second one is funny. Get it? Those are digital boobs. Anyways, this song meanders through distorted and crushing bass riffs similar to Thrones. Not dependent on vocals, they come in every now and then, but when they do they are angry and mean. I remember seeing them live and as Ryan expelled his beer fueled anger, in came Ricky with overwhelming drawn out eyes closed cries that just added more to the glory of this two piece. Not only do they use all their limbs to make this crushing music, but they use all of their mouths too. This album rides on the bass. Listen to that crunchy tone, the ominous feedback, the brutal riffage; you can feel it deep inside you when you see them live. Deep inside. And the drums are blatantly crushing with no bullshit. I don’t know how his set can take such a beating show after show. His skins take a harsher beating then white people on a basketball court. These guys clearly know what they are doing and take care of their business, DIY, and on top of their shit. Call these guys up if you want to play in Long Beach. Pigeonwing is playing the Southwest Terror Fest this month and they are the number one band I want to see. See you guys soon. Thanks again for letting us smoke your weed and play Mortal Kombat.
~ Brett
For Fans Of; Sunn O))), Thrones, Jodis, Khanate, Nurse With Wound





Monday, October 01, 2012

To Punk Or Not To Punk?...

Goliathon - Pretend It’s Not Happening (2012)
This band has me confused. I don’t know how to classify it, because it’s at the same time kind of eerie but also very animated and up-beat. It’s almost like when in school, if you’re friends with the weird kid in the class, and while everybody is certain he’s a psychopath, you just like the fact that he’s quirky. I noticed that there is a great deal of combinations of genres when listening to this album: some punk elements, because of the fast beats and repetition, there’s a good amount of blues influenced rock elements showed by sweet guitar riffs. But, surprisingly, the genre that sometimes stands out is a kind of ska-rock type of mix, with the use of high pitched chords like in reggae (at times), non-blues influenced scales and the use of instruments such as the saxophone and trumpets. I’ve been listening to a lot of different stuff this week, and I think that by far this has been the most interesting to analyze.
The digital form of their album is available for 7 dollars on their bandcamp page.
~ Bernardo

For Fans Of; The Arctic Monkeys, 80's Matchbox B-Line Disaster, Reel Big Fish, Ween, Less Than Jake