https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

10 Days of SHoD XIII, Pt. 1: Catching up with Lord

For the next 10 days I’m going to take a look at just a sampling of the killer acts playing this year’s Stoner Hands of Doom festival in Virginia from Nov. 7-10 at Strange Matter, and I couldn’t think of a better place to start than with the unhinged Southern sludge aggression of Lord. A band whose history is filled with underappreciation, makeups, breakups, lineup changes and whatever else you can think of, Lord has nonetheless served over the years as a proving ground for those who’s also make a stamp in Fredericksburg and Richmond bands from Ol’ Scratch and Ancient Astronaught to Akris and The Might Could. What’s been consistent for them over all this time is the intensity of their sludge, which they most recently demonstrated on the 2011 full-length, Chief (review here), which was alternately violent and brooding, a torrent of chaos that mirrors the band itself.

Of course, that being the case, there’s a kind of permanent X-factor around the band. Since the days of their 2006 long-play debut, Built Lord Tough, you’ve never known quite what you’re going to get with Lord, who’s going to be there and what kind of madness is going to be unleashed. They played Stoner Hands of Doom two years ago at Krug’s Place in Maryland (review here) along with Cough, Earthling, Fire Faithful and others, and what seemed to be becoming an annual gig at the festival was cut short in 2012 when vocalist Steven “Kerch” Kerchner announced they had called it quits:

Lord will unfortunately not be playing SHOD this year. Lord has officially disbanded. We had a blast rocking while we did and appreciate the love and support everyone has given us over the years!! Everyone is still jamming in other projects – definitely check them out: Bourne of Ash, Lacy, House Size Giant, Akris, Palkoski. There are still a limited number copies of Chief available from the members of Lord and it can still be downloaded from iTunes and so on. Love you guys – Kerch

As someone who’s been a fan of the band since the long, long ago, in the beforetimes, naturally it was a bummer to hear they were done, but though the members were busy in the projects listed by Kerch above — Akris have a new record out now (stream it here), and Palkoski never seem too far removed from another challenging slab of noise — apparently the split didn’t take, and they’ve once again joined SHoD and are set to bring their melee to Richmond this year. Not only that, but the band’s lineup of Kerchner, guitarist Willy Rivera, bassist Helena Goldberg and drummer Stephen Sullivan are also reportedly at work writing a new full-length, which they’ll record sometime after the appearance at Stoner Hands of Doom XIII.

How that will come together remains to be seen, but if Lord are working on something at all, you won’t hear me complain. They play SHoD on Sunday, Nov. 10, and share the bill with Devil to Pay, Black Thai, Wizard Eye and others. Check out “Zoh K Zo Kay” from Chief and find more details below:

Lord, “Zoh K Zo Kay” from Chief (2011)

Stoner Hands of Doom XIII

Lord on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Hound Records

Tags: , , ,

Leave a Reply