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Baby Woodrose, Mindblowing Seeds and Disconnected Flowers: This is Your Brain on Pop

Posted in Reviews on March 29th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

When we last heard from him, Copenhagen preacher of the lysergic Lorenzo Woodrose was telling us to turn on, tune in and fuck off with the collective Dragontears. Now back under the moniker Baby Woodrose – the band taking its name from the Hawaiian baby woodrose plant, whose seeds are known to have psychotropic effects on those who eat them – our man Lorenzo takes us back to the very roots of the band with Mindblowing Seeds and Disconnected Flowers (released by Bad Afro). The 15-track, 39-minute full-length is a collection of the earliest Baby Woodrose demos, written and recorded by Woodrose during a rough patch in 1999 that had him crashing on the couch of his then-bandmate in On Trial and current-bandmate in Dragontears, The Hobbit and coming up with over 50 songs’ worth of material following a series of trips with the seeds from which he now takes his last name. He recounts the time in the liner tray of the digipak Mindblowing Seeds and Disconnected Flowers comes in (the gorgeously psychedelic artwork of Kiryk Drewinski both inside the package and out is also worth noting), and the result is that the album, in addition to functioning as a complete full-length with a flow one song to the next, also gives followers of Baby Woodrose an idea never before available of how the band began and just how central Woodrose himself has always been to the process.

Apart from a cover of The Illusions’ 1966 single “City of People,” all of Mindblowing Seeds and Disconnected Flowers is comprised of Woodrose original songs, and even though they are simple in terms of structure – it’s supposed to be; the garage rock elements of Baby Woodrose’s sound really comes out here – it’s still an impressive feat, and no doubt Woodrose had his work cut out for him in mixing, mastering and whittling down the glut of material for this release. Those familiar with Baby Woodrose will revel in the chance to revisit some of their earliest cuts – most would appear on the eventual 2001 debut, Blows Your Mind! – but even for someone who hasn’t followed the band over the course of their career, the immediacy with which these songs hit speaks for itself. In comparing these versions to the final album tracks, these have a directness to them even apart from the rawer feel of the recording. They’re definitely rough, but they show Woodrose’s talent for songwriting and love of mid to late ‘60s psych, as well as awareness of what was happening in the international stoner scene at the time. His voice, as ever, reminds in its inflection of Monster Magnet’s Dave Wyndorf, and he plays the rest of the instruments on Mindblowing Seeds and Disconnected Flowers, so it’s about as much a solo venture as you can get.

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Live Review: Metalliance Tour in NYC, 03.25.11 (Including Photos)

Posted in Reviews on March 28th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

I don’t remember the last time I looked forward to a tour the way I looked forward to the Irving Plaza, NYC, stop of Metalliance. Usually, I’ll get down with a couple bands on a bill, maybe even three or four on a great night, but this lineup was insane. Helmet playing Meantime, Crowbar, Saint Vitus, Kylesa, Red Fang, Howl and The Atlas Moth. Even the bands I was ambivalent about seeing I wanted to see. It’s been a while since that was the case for a single show.

The difference, I suppose, is that Metalliance is essentially a traveling festival. That means shorter sets — 20 minutes each for The Atlas Moth, Howl and Red Fang, then gradually more for Kylesa, Vitus, Crowbar and Helmet — but still, the thought of seeing this many bands on one bill made the show an absolute must. It’s been on my calendar for months. Whatever else happens, Metalliance.

There was a meet and greet before doors and I was invited for that, so I went and chatted awkwardly for a couple minutes with the bands, mostly the dudes in Red Fang about bassist/vocalist Bryan Giles‘ recent interview, but also got my picture taken with Wino, which was cool despite the lengths at which I’ll protest about hating that kind of thing (both having my picture taken and my picture taken with dudes in bands). The conversation steadily fizzled and everyone, myself included, went about their business. I grabbed the first of the evening’s several $8 Guinnesses, made my way upstairs to stake out a spot. It’s Irving Plaza instinct. I’ve seen more shows from that balcony than I can remember to count.

It was early, though. The Atlas Moth didn’t go on for maybe another 20 minutes, and the place was still basically empty, so the beer went fast. When they took the stage, I went downstairs to take the first of the evening’s many, many photos, and check out their set. I had been served a digital promo of their Candlelight Records debut, A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky, when it came out, but it must have slipped through the cracks. They were post-metal, and apparently down one of their three guitarists, but not terrible. They said from the stage that they’ll have a new album out in the fall. Maybe I won’t have my head up my ass about it this time. No promises, but it could happen.

If I’m not much familiar with The Atlas Moth, I’m a little more directly “take it or leave it” on Howl. The Rhode Islanders don’t really do it for me musically, but even they put on a good show, and I heard from several showgoers over the course of the night how much they enjoyed their set. They were heavier than I recalled them being, but just tipped to the far side of the doom/metal equation, and watching them made me feel old. Think I’d be used to that by now.

Part of my “meh” factor for Howl‘s set might also have stemmed from anticipation for Red Fang. Having never seen them before and so thoroughly dorked out over their forthcoming Murder the Mountains Relapse debut (second full-length overall), I was more or less dying to see their set. They opened with a couple tracks from their self-titled, and hit the new single “Wires” before closing with “Prehistoric Dog.” I felt justified in my excitement by their performance, as they more or less ripped through the material — not in the sense of rushing it — just making it all sound meatier and meaner. They were the first of the night’s several killer acts.

As I mentioned, with Kylesa, the set-times began to lengthen, but even a half-hour of stuff from them seemed short. Bathed half in darkness by the projected art of their Spiral Shadow album, the dually-drummed five-piece were also much heavier than the production on their record might lead you to believe. “Running Red,” from 2009’s Static Tensions, was a particularly welcome inclusion, and though the vocals were high in the mix, everything still came through well enough.

With the double-guitar/double-vocals of Laura Pleasants and Philip Cope, it’s probably really easy for some of Kylesa‘s complexity to become a wash in a live setting (I’ve seen them before but not yet on this touring cycle owing to January’s ridiculous snowfall) depending on who’s working the sound. I think they got a decent treatment at Irving Plaza and was glad to get the chance to have “Don’t Look Back” from Spiral Shadow injected straight into my head from the amps as opposed to the CD. I also got a new appreciation for bassist Corey Barhorst, who I think is a much bigger part of what makes Kylesa so damn heavy than anyone gives him credit for, myself included. I know they tour like bastards, but I was glad to see them this time around, especially after enjoying the album so much.

What can I possibly say about Saint Vitus? I felt like life was doing me a personal favor by their reuniting at Roadburn 2009, and I’ve seen them twice now since then, and I feel the same way. “Dying Inside,” “Born too Late,” “Clear Windowpane” — they were all fucking fantastic. The only challenge I had was trying to decide which I was most into (I finally settled on “Dying Inside”), but the whole set was earth-shakingly heavy. I don’t know how Crowbar felt about having to follow them, let alone Helmet, but I know I certainly wouldn’t want to. They also played the new song “Blessed Night” from the impending whatever-they’ll-put-out, and it was even better in-person than on the YouberTubes clips of it I’ve seen.

I’ve done plenty of worshiping at the altar of Saint Vitus before, but it’s worth noting that even just in terms of the chemistry between the members of the band, they’ve got it down. Even since I saw this lineup — Scott “Wino” Weinrich, vocals; Dave Chandler, guitar; Mark Adams, bass; Henry Vasquez, drums — in Brooklyn late in 2009, their time on the road has made them tighter as a group, and the songs sounded all the more killer for it. Vasquez, who came aboard as a replacement for founding drummer Armando Acosta owing to the latter’s failing health (Acosta died last Thanksgiving), does an excellent job driving the material, and watching Adams, Chandler and Weinrich on stage is like calculating a geometrical proof to discover why the word “legendary” so often appears directly before the band’s name.

If they’d been the only band of the night, I still would have made the trip into the city for the show, but to then have Crowbar follow them was when things really got surreal at Metalliance. It’s like one of those “But wait — there’s more!” infomercials, except that instead of useless, easily-broken shit you get high-grade metal. Crowbar were in sludgy fashion, and the guitar sound, which I bemoaned after their set at the Championship Bar and Grill in Trenton this past December, was much improved coming through the Irving Plaza P.A. They ran through a smattering of the highlight cuts from their career, offering a post-“Planets Collide” mini-encore in the form of latest single “The Cemetery Angels,” from their first album in six years, Sever the Wicked Hand.

It was interesting to compare the Saint Vitus and Crowbar sets in that the two long-running (admittedly Vitus longer running than Crowbar) acts have very different stage presences. Crowbar guitarist Kirk Windstein is clearly the star of the show. It’s his band all the way through, he’s the last of the founding members, the only songwriter and not to disparage the contributions of his band, because they sounded good, but you could probably have any number of musicians up there filling those roles. In terms of presence, Chandler is one of two very strong focal points in Saint Vitus, the other being Wino. Bassist Mark Adams, while a founding member of the band, is overshadowed personality-wise by the guitarist, and from the look of it this past Friday, that suits him just fine, but still, Saint Vitus — even apart from the aura their decades of influence carries with it — are more of a total band experience, where with Crowbar, it’s Windstein‘s gig and everyone knows it.

What that rounds out to, at least as regards Metalliance, is two unmistakable, diverging roads leading to a killer set. The place cleared out a lot after Crowbar with Helmet still to go, but those who stayed were ultimately rewarded for their effort. The truly unfortunate thing about Helmet is how their dissonance got bastardized in the later part of the ’90s by the nü-metal movement. That’s not to say their own burgeoning commerciality didn’t have a role to play, but the sound they became known for fostering wasn’t necessarily the way they actually played. As Meantime nears its 20th anniversary (originally released June 23, 1992) and Helmet has become a more melodically-centered band — the staccato riffing of guitarist/vocalist Page Hamilton taking a back seat — the songs themselves remains eerily relevant.

Hamilton is without a doubt the central figure, though, even more so than Windstein is to Crowbar. Though he’s had roughly the same band with him since 2006, Helmet is his band. All the same, their rendition of the Meantime album was welcomed by those who stuck around to see it, and an appropriate salvo to the evening’s unbelievable gait. When I left, it wasn’t yet 11PM, but I was already dead tired. Six hours of show will do that to you.

Feels redundant to even say it, but if Metalliance hasn’t hit where you are yet, you need to cancel whatever it is on your plate and go. As I noted previously, I took over 2,100 photos at the show, and most of them were crap. About 280 weren’t, and if you want a small sampling of that batch, click the “Read More” link below. Special thanks to Steve Seabury for making the night happen.

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Truckfighters Coming to US – This Needs to Happen

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 28th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

America needs Truckfighters. If you live in one of the cities below and can help put a show together for one of the best Swedish fuzz rock bands going, do it up. Ohio rockers Valley of the Sun are working on putting the tour together and sent me an email with their info and the potential routing they want the 10-day trek to take. They’ll be joining Truckfighters for the portion of the dates listed below. Let’s make this happen!

Dig it:

Fuzz rock powerhouses Truckfighters are bringing their groundbreaking brand of stoner rock to the US July 13-23.

Truckfighters will be joined for most of their US dates by Cincinnati, Ohio, band Valley of the Sun. The tour will stay on the East Coast/Midwest. Booking of the tour has just begun, any inquiries should be directed to: journeytothevalleyofthesun@hotmail.com.

Potential routing:

Truckfighters only:
07/13 New York City
07/14 Philadelphia
07/15 Baltimore
07/16 TBD
07/17 Pittsburgh

Truckfighters w/ Valley of the Sun
07/18 Cleveland
07/19 Chicago
07/20 Indianapolis
07/21 Cincinnati
07/22 Lexington
07/23 Atlanta

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Monkeypriest, The Psalm: Nature Worship for the Damned

Posted in Reviews on March 28th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

There’s no telling where the sludge is going to come from next. Andalusian three-piece Monkeypriest got together in 2006 and are now releasing their debut full-length, The Psalm, on heavy Spanish imprint Féretro Records. The album is seven songs, four of which are 6:45-7:00 minutes long, and though that might make it seem like Monkeypriest are working well within a formula, the other tracks – an instrumental opener called “Hanuman’s Dance,” a cover of Cerebral Fix’s “Feast of the Fools” and 10-minute closer “Our Kingdom (Involution Pt. II)” – are enough to break up the proceedings, and combined with the elements of metallic extremity the trio incorporate, The Psalm comes across more varied than one might think. It’s probably not going to blow any minds when it comes to sludge – shades of Eyehategod and Crowbar underscore much of the riffing from guitarist Marco Álvarez – but they have enough different about them to keep the tracks interesting.

Part of that includes a militant kind of nature-based spiritualism and activist sense. Lyrics like “Listen to the sound of nature/I have to follow your work/My protector, my Lord/I need your powerful words” from the title-track sound more like they should be coming from some swoopy-haired Christian deathcore, but Monkeypriest elevate environmentalism to a religious level and use it as the central theme of The Psalm. One might have a hard time figuring that out through the growls and screams of bassist Pedro Román, backed periodically by Álvarez, but the words are right in the liner notes for anyone who wants to explore the album on that level. Even through song titles like “The Word of the Priest” and “Involution,” though, it should be clear from the outset that Monkeypriest have a message they’re trying to deliver. For lack of a better word, call it preaching. It’s also worth noting that each member of the trio uses a numerical stage name. Álvarez is Monkeypriest #1, Román is Monkeypriest #2, and drummer Julio Moreno (who replaced Rafael García sometime before the album was recorded) is Monkeypriest #4. I thought for the purposes of this review that real names would make it easier to distinguish who was doing what.

“The Word of the Priest,” which follows “Hanuman’s Dance,” is more or less a mission statement for The Psalm lyrically and musically. The pacing is on the slower end of middle, and that seems to be where Monkeypriest are most comfortable. Moreno begins the track with heavy thuds and keeps that ethic moving well into “The Psalm,” which follows, enacting builds and subtle tempo changes skillfully. It being sludge, the riffs are central, but the dry-throated rasp of the vocals to “The Psalm” will also make it a standout to those who appreciate screams over their doom. The groove the band follows the riff into proves worthy of naming the album after, but the real surprise follows a Román-led bass break, when the band launch into black metal-style blastbeats and a guitar line that could have come off any of the last several Satyricon records. It’s a unique moment on The Psalm, but hardly Monkeypriest’s only foray into the more extreme end of metal. There’s still that Cerebral Fix cover to come. They do well blending those elements into their sound, though, and it gives The Psalm a sense of being more than just another screamy sludge outing.

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Stone Axe Auction to Benefit Japan Relief Efforts

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 28th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

I shared this link on the Facebooks over the weekend, but thought it was worth posting it here as well. Ripple Music, which just recently put out a deluxe CD/DVD and vinyl edition of Stone Axe‘s self-titled full-length, are auctioning off one of the vinyl test pressings to aid Japanese relief charities. It’s a good cause, good album and good people, so bid high.

Here’s some PR wire info on the auction and the link:

Starting Monday, March 28, and running for seven days only, Ripple Music and Stone Axe will auction off the only available test pressing of Ripple Music‘s release; Stone Axe I Collector’s Edition LP.  Proceeds from this auction will go to benefit Hands On Tokyo, a charitable relief effort to aid Japan after their recent disasters.

Only five of these test pressings exist, and this is the only one ever to be made available to the public.  You can jump into the auction, win a cool Stone Axe collectible and benefit disaster relief at the Ripple Music eBay Store.

Also, plan to catch Stone Axe on tour in Europe and the UK, ending at the world famous Roadburn Festival.

Tour Dates:
04/08 The Wheatsheaf, Oxford (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Desert Storm)
04/09 The Unicorn, Camden, London, UK (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Grifter)
04/10 The Earl, Sheffield, UK (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Groan)
04/11 The Captains Rest, Glasgow (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Low Sonic Drift)
04/12 Asylum 2, Birmingham (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Alunah)
04/14 The Vortex, Siegen, Germany (with Stubb)
04/15 MTC, Cologne, Germany (with Stubb and more)
04/16 Roadburn Festival, Tilburg, Holland

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Sat-r-dee Goatsnake

Posted in Bootleg Theater on March 26th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

Here’s a fun mathematical fact for you: I took over 2,100 pictures last night at the NYC stop of the Metalliance tour. Between pics of The Atlas Moth, Howl, Red Fang, Kylesa, Saint Vitus, Crowbar and Helmet, that’s how many I came out with. It was un-fucking-real. Of course, the vast majority of them are unfocused crap, but who among us can’t say the same about life? Am I right?

Speaking of images, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I installed a new image viewer on the site, and as of last week, all you have to do is click on a picture to blow it up all fancy-like. To wit, the below:

Simple as that. Feel free to try it on any of the pics currently on the frontpage. It should work for all of them.

Tonight I blew off several partially-mandatory obligations in favor of dinner out with The Patient Mrs. and a goodly amount of wine. I have zero regrets. Last night at Irving Plaza was amazing enough to fulfill a whole weekend’s worth of stimulation anyway (I’ll have a review and fished-through pics on Monday), and it’s nice to spend some time with the lady when she and I don’t get to see much of each other these days — different lifestyles, different career paths, etc. I’ll take what I can get when I can get it.

News came in this afternoon that Swedish fuzz-gods-in-waiting Truckfighters are going to hit the East Coast of the US in July for a tour with soon t0 be On the Radar-ized Cincinnati outfit Valley of the Sun, so stay tuned this coming week for more on that. I’ll also have reviews of Batillus, Monkeypriest and more, as well as my long-awaited (by me, anyhow) Q&A with bassist/vocalist Danny Nick of Suplecs, who, apart from being awesome, was a killer interview. The two (as you know if you’ve seen more than three interviews on this site before) don’t always go hand in hand.

In the meantime, I figured some Goatsnake was as good a way as any, better than most, to close out this week, so “El Coyote” it is. Tomorrow I’ll be trying to bust through the homework I blew off today to take a long nap and watch the Yankees spring training, but I’m sure I’ll be checking in regularly on the forums in my ongoing effort to distract myself from that which must be done. Because that’s how I do.

Things to listen to tomorrow: Bevar Sea‘s demo and the new Indian and Bong albums. Much to come on hopefully all three.

If you can believe it, March is almost done too. We’ll have the numbers posted this week and a preview of the next month, including the official announcement of the third release on The Maple Forum. Stick around for that, because like both the previous releases, I’m super-stoked on the next one and very much looking forward to sharing it with you.

If you do or don’t have to work tomorrow, hope you enjoy it. We’ll pick back up Monday with that Metalliance review and much more.

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Atriarch Signs to Seventh Rule

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 25th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

If you’re in a good mood this Friday afternoon, Portland, Oregon, happiness-bashers Atriarch would like to bring you down a peg or two. The depressively ambient foursome (which features bassist Nick Phit, formerly of the much-missed Graves at Sea) have just announced signing to Seventh Rule Recordings for the release of their debut, Forever the End. You can hear the very, very sad “Shadows” on the player below.

The PR wire speaks to you — do you listen?

Hailing from Portland, OR, vocalist Lenny Smith describes Atriarch as “a living entity comprised of four parts, offering catharsis through sonic ritual where there is no god, there is no devil; there is an all encompassing force that connects all living things.”

Comprised of members from Graves at Sea, TreesFinal Conflict, and Get Hustle, Seventh Rule will release Forever the End, the first full-length by Atriarch, in the coming summer months. Forever the End was tracked in Portland with the help of William Holloway then mixed and mastered by Greg Wilkinson (Ludicra, Asunder, Saviours) at Earhammer Studios in Oakland, CA.

Atriarch‘s current tour dates are as follows:
03/23 Medford, OR Johnny B’s
03/24 San Francisco, CA El Rio w/ Dispirit, Alaric
03/25 Oakland, CA First Church of the Buzzard w/ Embers, Headless Lizzy HIP, Vastum
03/26 San Jose, CA Born Dead House
03/27 Eureka, CA Facement
04/02 Seattle, WA Highline
04/08 Portland, OR Blackwater

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Six Dumb Questions with Curse the Son

Posted in Six Dumb Questions on March 25th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

New Haven, Connecticut, purveyors Curse the Son got their start a few months after the untimely end of guitarist/vocalist Ron Vanacore‘s prior outfit, Sufferghost. Sufferghost guitarist Tony Buhagiar was inflicted with a burst aortic aneurysm in 2007, and though he survived, that was more or less the end of the band. Together with bassist Cheech and drummer Rich Lemley, Curse the Son is now among the brighter hopes for doom in the Land of Steady Habits. The trio self-released their first full-length, Klonopain, late last year and are actively trying to ignite the Connecticut scene, playing host to the inaugural CT Fuzzfest on June 4 at Cherry St. Station in Wallingford.

It’s a formidable lineup joining Curse the Son on the CT Fuzzfest bill (you can see it below; all that’s missing is When the Deadbolt Breaks to bring in some ultra-doomed atmosphere), and I wanted to get a sense from Vanacore about what his hopes were for Curse the Son and the scene as a whole. Klonopain draws influence from a host of thick-riff purveyors, and aside from an understanding of the timeline between moving from Sufferghost to this project, I was hoping to find out what was driving Vanacore stylistically and in terms of keeping Curse the Son its own entity musically.

The guitarist was happy to cooperate, and I’m proud to say that of all the email interviews ever conducted for this site (and that’s plenty), this is the first one to have ever been done via private messages back and forth on the forum. I don’t know how you feel about that, but I think it’s awesome.

So thanks to Vanacore for taking part and please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:

1. After Sufferghost ended, how did you decide to start over again with Curse the Son? Are you still in touch with Tony? What’s his current condition?

It was not a decision that came easy. When Sufferghost ended, I was so devastated that I just stopped playing music altogether. You see Tony and I have a really cool relationship. There is this unbelievable chemistry between us. There were never any disagreements…we genuinely love and respect each other’s riffs, lyrics and ideas. I’ve never been in a situation like that where two guys are literally in the same head space all the time… It was incredible!

But when it ended so suddenly, it was a shock to the system. I couldn’t even go into the band room anymore, it was to depressing knowing it was over. I think it was about six months later, Tony and I were talking and he told me that I needed to play again. That is when I began writing material for Curse the Son.

As far as my relationship with Tony now, we talk all the time. He moved back to his hometown of Hayward, California, a couple years back. After a lot of hard work, he is back playing guitar again! His new band is called Tuco Ramirez and they rule. Good old ‘70s style hard rock. It makes me so happy to know he is playing again, I miss him dearly and hope that one day he returns to the East Coast so we can pick up where we left off.

2. What are some of the differences stylistically between Curse the Son and Sufferghost? Is there anything specific you wanted to do differently in this new band?

Stylistically, I view Curse the Son as a flip of the Sufferghost style. With Sufferghost it was classic stoner with doom accents. The Curse the Son sound is much doomier without losing the sense of melody and cohesion Sufferghost had.

Tony is a much better guitar player than I could ever hope to be. The dude has the chops. I am a much more rhythm based guitar player. So I play to my strengths… the riffs and the groove.

3. Has your songwriting process changed at all with the switch? How do you come up with riffs, and how do the songs come together from there?

The very first time me and Tony jammed I recorded it. It was such a good jam that we ended up with all the riffs for three out of the four songs on our Leave the Church EP! Most of our tunes came from jamming.

The process changed dramatically as Curse the Son began. It was me and my 8-track. Get stoned and write riffs for hours. Then hash out the quality ideas and start putting the song together. It was an abstract process but I’m pretty fortunate that I have the ability to hear a “finished song” way before it’s actually finished.

Initially there was no band, it was just my vision. I had no idea what I was going to do with the music. I just wanted to create something that was crushingly heavy and would honor my friend.

4. Tell me about recording the songs for the full-length. How do the album versions of the tracks that were originally on the EP compare to the originals?

The basic tracks for our CD Klonopain were recorded live. Just the three of us in the same room vibing off each other. It was a very cool, stress free experience. We recorded it at Underground Sound here in Connecticut. The owner Chris DelVecchio, is a good friend of mine and he gave me free rein over the place. We started recording on a nice sunny day in mid-May 2010, and didn’t wrap it up until December! I took my time with it because I could. Klonopain is the first record I’ve ever been a part of where I am 100 percent happy with everything about it.

As far as the Globus Hystericus EP goes, you have to remember that I recorded all the instruments myself. The intention was to have a product that I could use to promote the Curse the Son name and sound. Soon after its release I started to look for likeminded musicians to play with.

It was Cheech (bass) and Rich (drums)’s idea to rerecord those four songs. I was hesitant at first, but I’m really glad we did it because the new versions just bury those EP tracks, no question.

5. I know about the Redscroll Records store and Cherry St. Station in Wallingford and a couple other places around, but is there a Connecticut scene at this point? Are there other bands you especially enjoy playing with, or is everyone up in Massachusetts?

There is actually something starting to happen again in the New Haven scene. Mostly this is due to a couple friends of mine, Opus (Dead by Wednesday) and Eric Morton (Big E Promotions) who have been booking metal nights at places like Cherry St. Station in Wallingford and Bix’s Cafe in Branford. Toad’s Place has turned a blind eye towards metal for the most part, which sucks. The CT scene is weird, it comes and goes every 5-10 years or so.

Most of the bands we play with are very different from us, but we seem to fit in on any bill and we usually stand out which is always cool. I didn’t think there were any other stoner/doomy type bands around here but I was wrong!! They are just spread out all over the place and have never unified. I am hoping to give that a boost with CT Fuzzfest 2011 which takes place at Cherry St. Station on June 4. As far as I know there has never been any type of show featuring all bands like us here. I hope it gives the whole genre a kickstart around here. It’s time for Connecticut to get on board!

The lineup for the gig is:
Sea of Bones
Lord Fowl
Curse the Son
King of Salem
Stone Titan

6. What’s next for you guys? Any plans for shows around or outside of Connecticut or more recording before the end of the year?

The next step is to begin writing for the next release. I have a bunch of riffs ready to go, and look forward to jammin’ with the fellas.

We would love to play out of state, if we can find the right gigs, right bands and the right venues. Touring is probably not a reality as of now, but if the right opportunity came, hell yeah!

I hope to get the band back in the studio by late fall and have the next CD out in early 2012.

Thanks to your readers who have responded with such excitement and purchased the CD. To purchase Klonopain, it is $5 shipped (US) $10 (UK). Core9@netscape.net is our contact email and Paypal address.

Curse the Son on ReverbNation

Curse the Son on Facebook

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