Maryland trio Chowder are one band whose pedigree and lineage give you absolutely no context for what they sound like. Some bands, you know what you’re getting just by who they hang out with, but when you consider that guitarist Josh Hart cut his teeth playing in early incarnations of Revelation and Unorthodox — both names of formidable contribution to Maryland’s doom scene — and that he’s currently a member of Earthride, well, that kind of sets you up to think doom, or at very least some derivation thereof. On their long-in-arriving debut full-length, Passion Rift, Chowder defy almost every expectation you could put on them while still also using guitars.

The album, released by I, Voidhanger Records, is entirely instrumental and blindingly varied musically, bouncing hardcore rhythms off wild off-time changes and the kind of progressive technicalities that only true fans of Rush seem to be able to make gospel. There are elements of heavy riffing to be found here and there, but not enough to really ally the band to one genre or another. They never rest that long, and even ambient pieces like “Mazuku” or the opening “Mysterioid” have more to them than they might at first seem to, with Hart adding layers of synth, mellotron and even theremin to the mix of effects and drones.

Comprised of Hart alongside bassist Doug Williams (also cello) and drummer Chad Rush, Chowder began in 1992. It wasn’t until 2006 that the band released a demo through Revelation guitarist/vocalist John Brenner‘s Bland Hand Records, and Passion Rift has been another six years coming beyond that, so when it came time for listening to the album (streaming a couple tracks here), I had plenty of questions about how it was made, when and what were the band’s motivations.

As you can see in the following Six Dumb Questions, Hart had plenty of answers. Please enjoy:

1. Take me through the history of the band. It seems like Chowder was always in the background while other projects were the main focus. How has working with Chad changed over the years? Did you always know you wanted to keep the band instrumental?

Chad and I started writing music together while I was still in Revelation, back in 1992 I guess. A mutual friend thought we might be on the same page and it clicked pretty early. We wrote a few songs around that time but just sort of always considered it a sort of side-project as I was busy playing bass with Revelation and then Unorthodox soon after. In 1994 we managed to get into a studio and record four of the tunes we’d been screwing around with over those couple of years under the name Spectre that I clipped from my favorite Revelation song. Our friend Rich Newberger sang on three of those songs and his brother Steve played bass. It was pretty exciting to hear that stuff recorded because it was so weird for the time period. I don’t think many people we played it for really knew what to make of it then. That lineup kind of fizzled out and Chad and I continued to write a ton of music after I split with Unorthodox. It was one of those periods when you’re just spilling over with ideas, like every time I picked up my guitar I was writing a keeper riff or something. Sadly, we could never flesh out a lineup to play live and just kind of floundered over the years.

Back then I thought we wanted a singer as well and that was really tough because I was super-picky and there weren’t many people around that really fit what I expected. So we just hammered away as a three piece, Chad, myself and Joe Ruthvin on bass who left to form Earthride with [Dave] Sherman and Eric Little. It was always easy to write with Chad though, we both had a somewhat eclectic tastes so nothing was ever really a contention idea-wise. I’d bring something to the table and we’d both get really excited about it and try out best to form it into something unique. I remember laughing our asses off at some weird riff that just seemed so ridiculous but by the time we’d evolved it into a song it felt really, really cool and fresh. That was even before we started to implement synths and other post-rock effects. Chad‘s talent for irrational timing was really exceptional and allowed me to just go with whatever crazy thing came up. As far as being instrumental goes, like I said that wasn’t the plan but I was always into that kind of thing from the early math rock bands like Buzzard and King Sour to the obvious Rush and ‘70s prog tracks where the bands just busted loose for a song or two.

I think the thing that made me say, “Screw it, we don’t even need a singer,” was this Asylum tape I used to just play constantly that was a whole 45-minute side of songs without vocals. That was my favorite thing out of all the Maryland “doom” bands and it was funny because when I started playing with Unorthodox, Dale [Flood] and I used to joke about him not singing anymore and just going that route. By 2006, when John Brenner and I were booking the Doom or be Doomed fest in Baltimore and the idea of Chowder playing was on the table, I was comfortable with the idea of just playing the music and started to write with more self-indulgence and less conventional structure. I felt the addition of all the synths and mellotrons could keep things interesting enough that some kind of vocal wouldn’t be missed. Ultimately, I really don’t have anything to say to these people listening that they haven’t heard 1,000 times before anyway. I know as I get older I get kind of burned out on hearing the screaming guy wailing at me about his inner tumoils and emotions or whatever book he/she just read.

2. When was the material on Passion Rift written? What’s the writing process like?

The album is all over the place. “Mazuku,” “Salt Creep,” “The Innsmouth Look” and “Head Full of Rats” all go back to the ‘90s. The rest of it was written for the album between 2007-2008. I think it’s a good mix and some of our best material. I purposely kept it off the 2007 EP we did with Bland Hand Records to save for a full-length if it ever happened. I’ll usually bring riffs or whole songs to the other guys and we build on it from there. Sometimes I’ll have specific ideas about what the drums or bass do, but mostly it’s very loose and we just sort of design the song together based on a rough outline I’ve come up with. Playing with guys who really know their chops is a huge comfort when coming up with ideas. We developed a kind of language over time to communicate ideas back and forth. Like, “Try one of those sizzle drop, slap runs” and Doug would know what I was referring to. Most of the descriptions aren’t really words though and are just sounds. DUN DUN DUN dee doo DUN dddeeeeiin!!

3. One thing the album seems to do is balance different styles. The songs have a lot from prog, more than a bit of hardcore and some doom in them. When you started putting together the demo in 2006, how clear of an idea did you have of what you wanted to do stylistically? When you’re writing when does something start to take shape as a Chowder song?

I know that no matter what I write that these guys can play it and they’re up for trying it out which is the beauty of this band in my eyes. There’s never been a conversation about what we should sound like or, “is this new song really us?” I know we’re not breaking any new ground here but the idea has always been to just write what sounds good, what feels right. The demo was actually recorded in 1997. John Brenner released it for download on his Bland Hand Records label around 2006. No, it’s never been clear. I’m so heavily influenced and have been by so many different kinds of music and bands that it’s nearly impossible to write within a style on purpose, if that makes any sense. Like if you were to tell me to write a straight doom metal song, I would have trouble. Same goes for anything else, punk, hardcore, rock. Everything seems to channel through some screwy filter and come out all twisted up. If I’m writing, it’s a Chowder song. If I start playing something on the guitar and it sounds like it could be a potential Earthride riff, for example, I usually have to change some element about it to make it fit. Music loses its power when it tries too hard to capture a certain vibe or sound. If you can easily stuff my band into a genre then I’m probably not living up to my full potential as a musician.

4. When in the recording process for Passion Rift were the samples, keyboards, mellotrons, theremin added? How much of that stuff comes from experimenting in the studio and how much is thought out beforehand?

Most of those things were recorded after the basic guitar, bass and drum tracks. There are a few parts in the there that were recorded with me on synth with the bass and drums at the same time though. Any part like that was written and rehearsed long before we booked recording time. The track “Mysterioid” was written almost entirely in studio with only the main synth notes worked out before. It and “Mazuku” were both intended to be production pieces only so we had some room to mess around with them in there. Adding a bunch of different things, getting out of hand with it. Everything else is written. Anything you hear in the other songs was worked out ahead of time at home and at rehearsal. We were very lucky to meet Jim Rezek through our engineer Mike Potter. Jim has the nicest vintage synthesizer and keyboard collection I’ve ever seen and was entirely open to the idea of us coming to his house and recording some tracks on his equipment.

5. What are some of the differences for you between playing guitar in Chowder and playing bass in Earthride? Are there things the two bands have in common, or is it a totally different experience?

Laziness. In Earthride, I’m able to lay back a good bit and stay in the pocket with Eric, which was something I missed while playing all this wacko, technical music for so long. I can just live out my Geezer Butler fantasy while relaxing up there and groove to the massive heaviness. With Chowder something is coming down the pipe at all times. A chord or key change, a solo, something to trigger on the pedals. It requires a shitload of concentration and I’m going to go so far as to say it isn’t much fun. When we’re playing that material live and we nail it, it’s very rewarding but I’m not so sure it’s worth the panic attack I’m about to have about every 30 seconds attempting it. I totally get why bands like Rush and Genesis simmered down on that shit over the years. It wasn’t just for the sake of selling records! And those guys are WAY better at that stuff than we’ll ever be. I gained a hell of a lot more respect for what bands like that accomplish in a live setting trying to be fancy like them. Ultimately, it’s two different experiences, both rewarding though. I have loved playing other people’s music because each one taught me something new that I’ve taken with me and implemented in writing my own songs or how to behave (or not). Joining Earthride was almost a no brainer anyway because I went to high school with those guys. We’ve been friends a long, long time. Hell, Eric and I were in our first band together with Kelly Carmichael from Internal Void back in 1985. So it feels like home. Chowder feels like a draconian P.O.W. camp in Siberia…only less smiling.

6. What’s next for Chowder? Will you guys do shows, and would you be able to recreate all those layers of keys and effects in a live setting?

Well, things are a little weird these days for us. Chad moved to the West Coast a couple years ago and seems to be happy doing what he’s doing out there. I have however started rehearsing and writing some material with Ronnie Kalimon from Asylum/Unorthodox/Internal Void and things are going nicely. Doug has expressed interest so I’m hoping he’ll be available to join us soon and we can start moving forward. I’m not sure what will actually come out of it. My desire would be to play some shows, maybe a fest or two and most importantly record something new. I’d pretty much given up on anything happening at all as it was a true struggle to get this record onto a label and released and then with Chad moving it was looking pretty grim. Anything at all is a bonus. Everything we’ve recorded is done so in a way that it can be reproduced live aside from the obvious production tracks. There are parts on “Passion Rift” and “Custody” where the guitar drops out and I take over on the keyboards which we were also doing live. Anything that plays concurrent with the guitar is done by Doug on the Taurus pedals or triggered by me on Roland PK-5 midi pedals from an E-MU Vintage Keys synth. It’s a nightmare, let me tell you. I look like a fat, dancing idiot up there trying to nail all that stuff at the right times. During our last few shows I would be thinking, “Never again, never again,” but somehow we always ended up there doing it again. Must be the loads of girls that come out to see us.

Chowder on Thee Facebooks

I, Voidhanger Records

Now a trio for the first time in their career, Swedish outfit Ereb Altor mark a lineage that spans well over a decade despite having issued their first album, By Honour, in 2008. Their mission on that record was an almost singular homage to their countrymen forebears in Bathory, taking that outfit’s seminal Viking approach and recontextualizing it into powerful melodic Euro-doom. For the core duo of founding multi-instrumentalists Crister “Mats” Olsson and Daniel “Ragnar” Bryntse, it was a departure even from their main project, Isole, which had released its debut just three years prior.

From 2008 on, both acts would continue to exist almost independent of each other, and Ereb Altor continued to develop a personality distinct from that of Isole on their second album, 2010′s The End, which pushed further into the epic Viking style and kept the plod and melodic presence of its predecessor. Some of the novelty had gone out of their loyalist approach, but Ereb Altor‘s sophomore installment still showed they weren’t a fluke or a one-off tribute band to anyone who might have thought otherwise. That Ragnar and Mats would be joined by a full-time drummer, Tord, for their third album was much less of a surprise — makes for easier touring, songwriting, etc. — than that album itself wound up being.

The record, which was released just at the end of June, is called Gastrike, and while it holds fast the epic nature of Ereb Altor‘s songwriting, it also shifts away from the doomed sensibilities of the first two albums toward a harsher black metal feel. Songs like “Dance of Darkness” or the blistering closer “Seven” (also the seventh track, as it would almost have to be) rip into a side of Bathory‘s sound perhaps more commonly heard in the overall sphere of the metal underground, but which is a marked turn for Ereb Altor as a unit. That they managed to do it so well speaks to both their level of devotion and the universal nature of quality metal songcraft.

Hoping to get some insight into what might have prompted the change in direction, I hit up Ereb Altor for the following Six Dumb Questions:

1. Ereb Altor seems to be really branching out with Gastrike in terms of the band’s sound. Was there something purposefully you want to change from By Honour and The End? Were there any shifts in the songwriting process from the past albums?

Yes, it was our purpose to have a different approach on the new album. It’s been in my head right after the release of The End. I had an idea of building a concept with stories from the area where we live. Dark myths, legends and ghost stories and therefore the music had to sound darker to fit the concept. We haven’t changed the way we write songs and I think you can hear that if you listen carefully, it’s all Ereb Altor wrapped up in a black coat.

2. How involved was Tord in the songwriting and what does having a full-time drummer mean to Ereb Altor? Does having Tord in the band open up the possibility of doing more shows? How does it change the dynamic between the two of you?

Tord was only involved with some thoughts and input about the actual drumming since all songs were already written when he was recruited. We needed a good drummer and he was the right man for the work. He’s a good musician and he will probably be able to help out in more ways in the future and the fact that it’s easier for us to do more shows nowadays. The dynamic between Ragnar and me are the same as usual.

3. What does it mean to you to be moving away from the Bathory Viking metal style, or do you see Gastrike as a different interpretation of a similar idea?

I think we needed to move away a little bit to avoid repeating ourselves. I still think there’s some flavours of this particular style in our sound though. Perhaps it has some influences from the earlier works of Bathory as well.

4. Tell me about balancing time and musical ideas between Isole and Ereb Altor. When Ereb Altor started out, it seemed like a side-project paying homage to Bathory, but as the band has put more music out, it’s become a distinct entity of its own. How do the two bands relate for you? Is there ever material you write that you’re not sure which band it would work best for?

To me Ereb Altor never was a side-project. I always write songs specific for each band and most of the times I’m not writing for both band at same period of time. I just put focus on one band at the time. Both bands are very close to my heart and none of the band means less to me than the other one.

5. Is there any way to tell yet what the future holds for Ereb Altor? Are you thinking of Gastrike more as an experiment on the part of the band, or do you think Ereb Altor will continue to work more on the side of black metal than doom? Or is genre not a concern for the band at all?

Genre is not a great concern, I will follow my instinct and do what’s come from inside. As I mentioned Gastrike is a little bit like a concept album and I will probably not abandon the epic touch completely. Actually I had almost a whole album sounding like the first albums but without lyrics and to me the lyrical concept of Gastrike didn’t fit that music. My vision is to unite these two styles but only future can tell how Ereb Altor will sound for sure.

6. What’s next for the band? Will you tour for Gastrike before going back to work on Isole? The last couple years seems to have been a back and forth with a release each year. Is that the pattern you want to keep going for the two bands?

We’re working on getting a European tour for Ereb Altor right now as well as some festival appearances. I can’t reveal anything at the moment. And I already have lots of ideas for the future sound of Ereb Altor.

When it comes to Isole I think we’ll start writing material quite soon but there is no new release planned at the moment.

Actually a new Ereb Altor album feels closer somehow.

Ereb Altor on Thee Facebooks

Napalm Records

I was legitimately surprised when Pittsburgh sludgers Vulture‘s full-length debut, Oblivious to Ruin, came across my desk. Not that they weren’t due for a follow-up to 2009′s self-titled EP, which was one of the first releases ever reviewed on this site, but because of how much the band had changed in the three years since that EP came out. Vulture had a doomly appeal to start with, but what Oblivious to Ruin (review here) brought to that was a low-down, dirty feel. A big part of that was the inclusion of new vocalist Justin Erb, whose raw-throated screams, shouts and growls added not only brutality but also character to Vulture‘s sound, now more professional and altogether more lethal.

That’s not to say the seven cuts present on Oblivious to Ruin aren’t without precedent — one finds Vulture culling influence from Sourvein, High on Fire and Down (in that order of prevalence) — but their blend is far more their own than it was a few short years ago, and what’s more, they seem to have hit a starting point for further growth and development, and so the record becomes an essential beginning step in that process, as well as a nasty-as-fuck slab of sludge. They’re having their cake and smashing it with buzzsaw guitar tone too, if you will.

As such, it seemed the perfect time to harass Mr. Erb for some info on his background in the abrasive arts and how he came to be a member of Vulture, and just what Oblivious to Ruin might be driving toward in terms of the overall trajectory of the band. Par for the course for this kind of thing, I also asked about some other stuff as well, like any Pittsburgher recommendations he might have and what’s coming next for Vulture, and he was forthcoming on that as well, as you can see below.

Vulture is Erb, guitarists Garrett Twardesky and Gene Fikhman, bassist Justin Bach and drummer Kelly Gabany. Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:

1. Tell me about how you came to join Vulture. Did you know the rest of the band beforehand?

I met Vulture while jamming with my other band, Reduce to Ash. Our guitar player, Quinn Lukas, who also plays with Icarus Witch, is good friends with Vulture’s old singer, Buddy Smith. Every summer Quinn has a few huge yard parties, and during one of these parties we made plans with Buddy to do some shows together. Through those shows I ended up becoming good buddies with Garrett, Vulture’s riff master. Anytime Reduce would do shows, Garrett would try to make it out and we would end up outside getting high and rocking out some Sabbath in the parking lot. After a show at Marlene’s Corner Bar in Connellsville, PA, Garrett told me they were having trouble with their singer and were planning on sacking him. He just wasn’t on the same page, musically. I told Garrett that if they fired Buddy, I would be interested in auditioning. Turns out they were planning on approaching me for the gig. The funny thing is that from the first time I saw Vulture play, I imagined myself fronting that band. In Reduce to Ash, I play bass and split vocals with Tim Weir, the other guitarist, so I jumped at the chance to front a band without worrying about playing an instrument. Especially a band like Vulture, who I had a ton of respect for from day one.

2. What was the timeline of the material on Oblivious to Ruin? How much was written when you joined the band, and as the singer, how involved were you in structuring and putting the songs together?

The songs for Oblivious were written over a pretty long period of time. It’s kinda hazy as far as the exact timeline. I was working out of town a lot and the guys made me demos of basic arrangements of the songs. I wrote all the lyrics and rearranged some of the structures to fit my lyric ideas a little better. Most of the arrangements were perfect before I even put my stamp on them. When I joined the band, Garrett gave me a demo with three songs that needed lyrics. The first song ended up being “Prick of Misery,” which we recorded for the Innervenus Music Collective‘s compilation disc, Iron Atrocity Vol. 1. The second song was the title-track, “Oblivious to Ruin.” We jammed on the third song but never ended up using it.

3. How was the band’s time in the studio? The recording seems to capture the songs perfectly, sounding natural and nasty. How long were you at Calfax Alley, and what was the recording process like?

The band’s time in the studio was brief but awesome. All the instruments were recorded live. With a few punch-ins for guitar solos here and there. What you hear on the album is a live take of the band jamming out with my vocals recorded separately. All seven songs, instrumentally, were recorded in one day. The vocals took three sessions. Without incriminating ourselves too much, I will say that we did partake in some illicit substances to capture the right vibe while recording. We are all about the vibe and atmosphere.

4. This being your first outing with the band, and the band’s first full-length after the self-titled EP, how representative is it of the direction you guys want to go in? How do you see Vulture’s sound developing over the next couple records?

I think it is representative of our direction as far as the heaviness that is captured on the album. I don’t think we could lose that if we tried. I can see us keeping with the sludge but also adding more groove and melody. Maybe even some acoustic stuff. We want to record the next album on analog tape. Like some old ‘60s or ‘70s gear. If that’s even possible these days.

5. I know Pittsburgh has a few really killer heavy bands – Argus, Vulture, Sistered, etc. – but is there anyone you guys especially enjoy playing shows with? Any other bands from the area you’d recommend for outsiders to check out?

I love playing with Mockingbird. They are from Ohio, but they do play Pittsburgh from time to time. Fist Fight in the Parking Lot is a badass ‘Burgh band with some deep roots in the city. Molasses Barge are labelmates and good friends of ours. They groove it down and rip it up hard. Gene and Garrett have a band called Grisly Amputation. They may possibly be the fastest and heaviest band I can think of in Pittsburgh. Plus they have hands-down the coolest name.

6. Any other writing/recording in the works, show plans or closing word you want to mention?

We have a ton of shows coming up in and outside of Pittsburgh. Vulture is also planning on recording new songs for a split with Ohio’s DeathCrawl sometime in the near future. Check us out at facebook.com/vulturedoom for all the latest info.

I’m really excited about Gene and Garrett‘s Grisly Amputation full-length, which should be done very soon. My other band, Reduce to Ash, just laid down guitar tracks for our first full-length. It is going to crush.

Vulture on Thee Facebooks

Innervenus Music Collective

London-based Crystal Head was a band I knew literally nothing about before watching their set at Desertfest. That was half the fun, in fact, and it made it all the better when they kicked my ass with both the professionalism of their approach and the obvious strength of their hooks. They’d turn out to be a highlight of the weekend, and I was even more stoked after listening to their self-titled debut (review here) and finding that the album confirmed what the live set seemed to indicate: that the heavy rocking trio were more than just the sum of their influences.

As regards those influences, though, you really can’t go wrong blending Queens of the Stone Age‘s wooing pop anthems and the distorted crunch of Helmet with progressive structures and a nearly per-track variety of mood, and Crystal Head‘s Crystal Head did just that. Songs like “Perfect Weirdo” and “Mad Dog” nodded in the direction of heavy, but also had some underlying malevolence about them, a subtle darkness, that hinted well at a classically dangerous element the loss of which is often mourned in rock by those whose heads have long since drowned in the barrel of commercial cynicism. Crystal Head, the album, was crisp, and professional, and accessible, but somehow your lip still ended up bloody by the time it was done.

Being that guitarist/vocalist Tom Cameron and the cousinly rhythm section of bassist/vocalist Jon Deal and drummer Dean Deal made such a strong impression live and followed-up with another on the album, it only seemed right to hit them up for more info on their origins and subsequent doings. Their choice to record Crystal Head at Sawmills Studio in Cornwall — essentially a 17th Century water mill converted to a modern studio that’s only accessible by boat at high tide — made for even more curiosity on my end, and I’m glad to report that Cameron was forthcoming on that situation as well as Crystal Head‘s songwriting processes and what went into making the record the beast it is.

Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:

1. Tell me about how the band got together. I know you went through a name or two before you arrived at Crystal Head. What did it take for you to get to the point where you felt like you were ready to put out the self-titled album?

Jon and Dean are cousins. Dean and I met at school and Jon literally just knocked on my door one day and I let him in. We had a mutual friend so I knew of him, but it was still a bit weird…

We all grew up in the same small area just north of London called Welwyn Garden City. It’s quite a dead town, built around a Shredded Wheat factory with very little to do. Jon and I moved down to London five years ago.

We basically started the group from scratch, out of boredom and a shared love of music and rock bands. Dean learned to play the drums. Jon moved from six-string (which we would jam on together) and started playing bass. I was classically trained piano when I was young and had been messing about with guitar for a couple of years before we began putting songs together.

Jon and I originally played some acoustic shows before Dean began drumming and we still perform like this from time to time.

The album for us was well overdue. We’d produced numerous demos and EPs in our previous guises but never a full-length effort. And with the change to Crystal Head it felt like a suitable time to draw a line in the sand and move forward.

2. When were the songs for the record written? The material sounds fresh, but it’s all really well structured as well. Did it take much time for those tracks to come together, and did you know when you were making the album how you wanted to order the songs?

Songwriting has never been a short process for us. Any songs that make it to a live performance would have been formed over many hours of meticulous rehearsal and change. One song that didn’t make it on the album had four different choruses before we ditched it from our live set.

“Mad Dog” is the oldest song on the album and has been in existence for a few years. “Truth Hurts,” on the other hand, we wrote during the first album session at the studio. Most of our songs, like other artists, evolve and mutate over time until they become the finished recorded article. Then in turn they tend to change again when played live. Areas loosen up and spaces are sometimes filled.

The running order of the album was something very important to us. Without trying to sound cliché, we wanted to make the album as much of a journey as possible without being conceptual. Once all the songs were recorded the tracklisting decisions were like brain surgery that we stewed over for a number of weeks.

3. What was it like recording in Cornwall? From what I’ve seen about Sawmills Studio, it looks gorgeous. How did you find that place and decide to do the album there?

The Mill is one of the most beautiful places we’ve all visited. It’s set within a small tidal creek, which is only accessible via boat at high tide. Basically other than between 7AM-10AM and 6PM-8PM, you are stricken on this remote island in this huge mansion surrounded by woodland.

There’s no mobile phone reception or connectivity so you are literally cut-off from the world. A great place to be (in our opinion) if you want to make a record. Add to that the amazing Tom Joyce who engineered and mixed it with us, you’ve really got something very special. We’d recorded a couple of EPs there prior so knew when we decided to record the album that it was the place for us.

4. The songs sound way more modern than a 17th Century water mill might initially indicate. Did you know what you wanted out of the production going into the recording process?

We benefited from having many of the songs in the bank for a long time so were aware of how they could sound from previous demos. Our main challenge was making the album sound “like an album.” So trying to achieve a comprehensive sound for the record in its entirety without each track losing too much of its individuality. Again a very intense process of working day and night listening to every sound over and over until we reached where we wanted to be.

We also were intent on making a “studio” record, which for me means utilizing anything available in the studio, be it other instruments, effects, layers to create a sound that sets the bar for our live performances. Obviously, being a three-piece, this can be difficult to achieve, but as much as we can we’ll play out the tracks as hard and incisively as the album recordings.

5. How was Desertfest for you guys? It seemed like a really strong gathering of bands and fans across the three venues, and being on the outside of London’s scene, I thought it was a cool opportunity to see bands I might otherwise never be able to catch. What was it like for you playing, and how did you feel overall about the fest itself?

DesertFest was just such a positive experience. I think anyone who was involved or came to watch the bands will say the same. It’s like we took over a little corner of London for the weekend and just had a big party. We had two sets, one acoustic and one plugged in and the response from the crowds was really overwhelming. Have to say a big thank you to everyone who came to our performances and shared those moments. We really appreciate it.

We’re good friends with Reece, Dan and the whole Steak crew and what they are doing is an absolute right. We’ll continue to assist them (as they do us) with anything they need to keep momentum going. We played the very first Desertscene show a couple of years ago now and it’s phenomenal to see the way it’s grown so rapidly and successfully. You can expect some big things in the future from the team there I’m sure.

6. Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?

We’ve just been added to BGA Management Groups, who are based out in Europe. Funnily enough they found us at our DesertFest show at The Underworld. They’ve promised us world domination so we’re going to hold them to that!

You’ll see a revamped online presence and tour dates very soon via crystalhead.co.uk and we’ll be looking to get back in the studio to start work on a second album this winter.

Crystal Head on Thee Facebooks

Sawmills Studio website

This one has been a long time coming, any by that, I mean months. I’m bad enough with email interviews as it is, since general wordiness and the thought that someone might read something the wrong way and embark on a 300-word answer that basically rounds out to “You’re a putz” keeps me more or less paralyzed in terms of actually phrasing the questions (whereas with phoners, I usually just work from notes and enjoy that flexibility), but part of it too has to be attributed to New Zealand gloom rockers The House of Capricorn‘s genre blend.

Across their two records, 2010′s Sign of the Cloven Hoof (review here) and last year’s In the Devil’s Days (review here), the Auckland four-piece take elements from doom, heavy rock and ’90s-style gothic imagery and occultism and turn it into something grand, smiling shiny teeth through its own darkness. And you know, I think part of the holdup too was just the fact that I knew I was hearing Type O Negative in their sound but wasn’t sure if it was just my own East Coast American ears putting it onto those albums, both released through Swamps of One Tree Hill.

Turns out that, no, it wasn’t just me. Founder and vocalist Marko Pavlovic not only acknowledges the influence, but seems to delight in it, leaving credit for the stoner/doom elements at work in The House of Capricorn‘s sound to guitarist Scott Blomfield, bassist Ami Holifield and drummer Mickey Rothwell. Fair enough, since if you’re going to have a genuine blend, it needs to come from different sides within a cohesive whole, but as Pavlovic recounts doing the majority of the writing for In the Devil’s Days and Sign of the Cloven Hoof, it’s worth noting his stylistic breadth isn’t limited to just one sound or another.

Except perhaps his own, since although The House of Capricorn are comparable to this or that act in terms of citing influences, there doesn’t seem to be any single source from which they wholly derive their modus. As they continue to progress and move past In the Devil’s Days and on to the next work, whatever that might be, that can only serve them well — all the more if they can hone a production sound that serves to highlight both the unique aspects and cohesiveness of their sound. In the Q&A that follows, Pavlovic discusses (in part through a great number of parenthetical asides) what shape that next outing may take, as well as how The House of Capricorn got together, some of their favorite countrymen acts, and much more.

Thanks to Pavlovic in being so patient waiting for these to come through, and thanks to you for reading. Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:

1. It’s been almost six years since the first EP came out, but background info on the band is pretty sparse. How did The House of Capricorn first get together, and how would you characterize the music you play?

Christ, we sound almost as mysterious as Miss Scarlett (it was always that saucy vixen, in the library, with the candlestick).

The House of Capricorn first came together with its still-current lineup at the end of 2005 (we’d all first met each other around the end of ‘03), after I coerced Mickey into playing drums on a couple of songs I’d had written for years (which results in The Rivers & the Rain/Old Redhook demo) — I first met him in the quad at Auckland University, after I commented on his Alice in Chains shirt. He was drumming for a band called Grenade Kills 3 and playing guitar for Graymalkin at the time, both bands which I really like(d). After the demo was recorded I had it duplicated to exactly 66 hand numbered CDRs (with artwork sporting a grubby old tomb under a tree — right on), and started chucking it out to some people who I thought might be interested (bear in mind, this is handing it out to people involved in extreme metal in Auckland — no one was really overtly into the whole hard/stoner rock thing in our town, in that scene), and selling it for $6NZD a piece (hey, I had to find the other ‘6’ from somewhere). Mickey then decided the tunes were reasonably tolerable, and offered to join fulltime.

Ami I knew from gigs and parties — she was also playing bass for a Black Sabbath covers outfit (or as some would say, “tribute” band). She hit me up at an Ulcerate show at the Kings Arms one night and offered to play bass. I quickly agreed.

At the time I was playing in Creeping with Scotty B., who I’d met through a mutual acquaintance at his place of work. It was a completely natural move to ask him three times in a row to join, each time with growing desperation (Scott: Man… Are you sure you shouldn’t just change the name of the band to The House of Creeping?). From then on, EP in ‘06, couple of EP/single-length samplers on CDR and a video across ‘07-’09, SotCH ‘10, ItDD in ‘11.

I still personally consider the band to have started in 2001 when I first wrote “The Rivers & the Rain” (March 19, 2001, to be exact). I used to have a band with a few guys I was in high school which was essentially the first incarnation, but it was never anything more than a bit of fun.

So there you are, for anyone who gives a shit. History to date = complete. We try extremely hard to mimic Hasjarl’s and Mikko’s levels of ultimate clandestine infamy. I’ve just ruined all that.

In terms of how I would characterize our music… “apocalyptic devil rock” is what I’ve been going with. I really can’t think of anything better than that. It’s a little outrageous, really.

2. How much influence do you take from gothic rock? Listening to In the Devil’s Days, it seems like there’s a side of the band working from those elements, thinking of bands like Type O Negative and maybe Paradise Lost.

We are all Type O Negative nutcases, so its really only natural for us to plagiarise the greatest band of all time.

Aside from Type O Negative, I’m probably the most aligned to the whole gothic rock thing out of all of us — the others are a lot more into the stoner rock/doom buzz than I am. Babylon Whores are one of my top three bands of all time, and I love The Sisters of Mercy (just saw them on Feb. 22 in Auckland — it was fucking awesome, but Jesus, walking into that show it felt like someone had exhumed half the graveyard).

I’ve heard the Paradise Lost reference a couple of times for this new album of ours. Truth be told I don’t think any of us are really big on them. I mean, I’ve got One Second, which I do like (“Blood of Another” is killer), but that’s about it. Not to say they’re not a sweet band, I just don’t think we were really exposed to them in the way people seem to think. Maybe I need to give them more of a spin.

Overall though, the influence from the stuff we do listen to is extremely prevalent. The elements we overtly absorb/reflect from gothic rock are much the same as the ones we absorb/reflect from good black metal: spooky melodies and gloomy sonic atmospherics to match my obsession with wanting to live in the Addams Family house.

I’m not big on party-goth stuff though. It’s all cemeteries and haunted mansions for The House of Capricorn.

3. What’s The House of Capricorn’s songwriting process like? Were there any specific goals you had in mind for In the Devil’s Days and now that the record has been out for a while, do you have a sense of what you’d like to do next?

To date I’ve written most of the material, but the other guys (and gal) were a lot more in the mix on the last album.

On one hand, I’ll come to the others with a full song written and say, “Hey, learn this shit, this is the new one.” On the other, one of us will swoop in with a riff or two or an idea, we’ll sit down, work out some accompanying riffs, usually in one of our lounges while drinking Milo, and close it up like that. I’d say we work pretty similarly to most bands when it comes to writing… even though I’d love to tell you that we snatch the inspiration from our individual ritualistic trance-state journeys into the void.

With regards to specific goals, it was all outlined from the start (apart from in the case of one of the riffs from “Horns”). Once SotCH was finished and out, we all sat down at a practice and discussed the direction for the next one. It was decided upon that we would do a concept album, outlining a descent into Hell to meet the Devil, and that the music would match the tale. I’ve read a lot of criticism about the album’s disjointed nature, switching from mid-paced to funeral crawl (see that little reference there? some people will get it), but to me it makes perfect sense being in line with the overall storyline. Maybe only because I wrote the fucking thing. We really should think about the end-user next time.

Regarding the next album, it’s currently being worked on (along with a couple of tracks for some splits which will hopefully materialize). It probably won’t be as much of a formed, conceptual masterpiece as ItDD… probably more just a bunch of leftover odd ends we decide to throw together. Expect ReLoad ‘13.

4. Tell me about writing “Horns” – the song in three parts. How did it all come together, and what’s the band’s connection to arcane themes? Where does that influence come from?

“Horns” was the first song started and the last one finished. The main riff from the third section was actually the first one written for the whole album, before we’d even started thinking about doing our first record properly. Rothwell had asked me to play bass for a Graymalkin reformation as they were supporting Napalm Death on a couple of shows here in about ’07, I think. We were sitting in his bedroom just jamming away (probably around June ‘07), and I can’t remember which one of us started playing it, but we both looked at each other and went, “Yeah! That sounds like some real-deal Halloween shit!.” The rest of the song was written throughout 2010, right up until about one month out from tracking. My favourite riff in that song is the first of the second section — that was a Scotty B. special that me and Mickey added a bit to. The reason it’s in three parts however was a decision made by yours truly to completely and utterly rip on Bloody Kisses-era Type O.

When it comes to the arcane, thematic element of the band, I am completely and utterly possessed by the atmosphere generated by symbolism tied hand in hand with (as mentioned above) campy, Dracced up aesthetics like low-lying mist, and old buildings with creaky doors and creepy shadows.

Couple all that with a genuine interest in the Devil — and I mean the Devil (horns, wings, hellfire and brimstone, the Morning Star, etc.), not a metaphysical concept or any kind of representative idol, and you get our final product.

I really don’t know where that influence comes from though. I’ve always been interested in Devil worship and other assorted occultism. I can’t remember where it started. I wish I could say it was when I developed a crush on Fairuza Balk after watching The Craft for the first time, but it was definitely before that. Maybe I was fiending on Maleficent when she turned into the dragon. I still vividly remember that line that finished with “…and all the powers of HELL!!” I mean, she did have that kinda sexy Scandinavian look going on… high cheekbones and a haughty walk. Know what I’m saying?

5. I know of a few bands from New Zealand playing doom or heavy rock – Arc of Ascent, Beastwars, etc. – but is there anyone you’d recommend checking out? Anyone you especially enjoy doing shows with? What’s the scene like in New Zealand?

[Please note: This section contains many links which may not at first be obvious. -- ed.] Our top partners in crime are/were Second Gear Grind, Soulseller and Arc of Ascent.

Second Gear Grind from Christchurch are probably as close to pure stoner rock as you’re going to find in NZ. Total blues driven “yeah yeah yeah” stuff that is 100 percent ticket and heavy as fuck. You gotta check ‘em out, man. I’ll send you some if you like.

Soulseller, who have recently, disappointingly disbanded, were a rowdy, heavy rock ‘n’ roll crew from Dunedin. They’ve got a self-titled EP that came out a few years ago, and also a couple of tracks on a couple of compilations. One of (along with Second Gear Grind) the best bands I’ve ever seen, ever.

And Arc of Ascent from Hamilton you’re already familiar with. No doubt Craig [Williamson]’s space-spirit popped a CD into your mailbox during one of his transcendental soul-flights through the celestial heavens.

These three bands along with us I think really began the foundation of what became the “scene” (that’s said without conceit — and if you can even call it a scene). Before we all got together for the tour (we did a four-date StonerDoom tour [http://stonerdoom.co.nz is a forum originally started by a guy called Rich who has since moved back to the UK -- whatup Rich!] in 2008 in each of our hometowns — may not seem like many shows, but shit, NZ isn’t a big place!), and Ami’s annual December stoner fests Eyes of the South in Christchurch and Northern Lights in Auckland, which started up in ‘07, there really was nothing. We were all playing shows in our respective cities with bands from other scenes (extreme metal bands in The House of Capricorn’s case, maybe due to previous alignments), to people who didn’t give a shit (not saying anyone really gives a shit now, but it’s gotten a bit better). Craig was playing in Datura in the ‘90s, and when I asked him he said it was pretty much the same deal.

Nowadays, in terms of doom and hard rock, other bands that definitely need checking out are Shallow Grave (Rothwell from HOC playing guitar again) who are a heavy psychedelic doom outfit — their debut should be out sometime this year, Stone Angels (Steve, Geoff and Mike from Second Gear Grind, and Kris from Sinistrous Diabolus) who are a real downbeat doom/crusty Iron Monkey-kinda crew, Sinistrous Diabolus (who have been around since the early ‘90s) who play total funeral doom probably more aligning with the metal side of things, and Triceratops who are a new doom band, and have just released their VS Music EP.

There are also bands like Interconnector who take more of a, I guess, party rock ‘n’ roll Fu Manchu-kinda approach (cars and girls and stuff), Osmium, who are on a real good Alice in Chains vibe, Left or Right who do a wicked cross of big stoner riffs and reggae, Cobra Khan, who have more of a punky flavour, and Somme who are on a drone buzz, all of whom rule.

In terms of metal though: Ulcerate, Vassafor and Skuldom. Yeah!

6. Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?

Hopefully we’ll get something sorted out in way of a tour (either the US or EU) at some point in 2013 after the next one’s out. If there are any promoters or good bands interested, we’re definitely keen to hear from you! We’re keen to come to the table to make it work.

If not, well, fuck ya, we’ll try do it ourselves.

The House of Capricorn on Thee Facebooks

The House of Capricorn on Bandcamp

They’re doom, for sure, but there’s more at work behind the sound of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, foursome Sleestak than just heavy riffs and slow cymbals. The band’s self-released sophomore album, 2011′s The Fall of Altrusia (review here), was raw on the one hand, but sublimely progressive on the other, showing melodic range and a tendency to wander into lengthy jams. That impulse was even more highlighted on Altrusian Moon, which Sleestak posted online in January.

Altrusian Moon was essentially a practice-room recording — the band subtitled the release A Lo-Fi Collection of Psychedelia and Space Rock — but it was also a fascinating insight into the creative process that drove the writing for The Fall of Altrusia. As complex as the material on that full-length was, its organic roots nonetheless shone through the finished product. Listening, you still knew you were hearing jams.

When it came time to do it, there was plenty to talk about with Sleestak guitarist/vocalist Matt Schmitz, from the band’s participation in Wisconsin’s Days of the Doomed fest to the fact that they’ve been a band since 2003, to their penchant for making references to the tv show Land of the Lost, from which their moniker and album title are both derived and from which the lyrics of The Fall of Altrusia draw thematically. It was a long time coming, but Schmitz took great care in his answers (I think it’s the cleanest copy I’ve ever gotten back on an email interview), and you’ll find the results below.

Sleestak is Schmitz alongside guitarist Brian Gresser, bassist Dan Bell and drummer Marcus Bartell. Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions.

1. Tell me about how the band got together. What brought on the Land of the Lost references? Were you a particular fan of the show?

Marcus, Dan, and Brian had already been jamming together for a while, at least a year I think, before I came into the picture. Marcus and I had been in a previous band together so I would see him at shows and he would always try and get me to come down and hang out, an open jam-type vibe. I always kind of just passed it up. Well, finally I gave in and what do you know? It was cool and there was for sure potential there. As for the name of the band and the LOTL references, it came about while we were jamming one night and I had just stopped playing and threw the name out there. I knew everyone in the band had at least heard of the show. Myself, yes, I was very into it as a kid and then forever it was just a hazy memory. How awesome it was that they released it on DVD not long after we were a solid band. That really gave us a treasure trove of conceptual material to work with, as I found how much depth the show really had. It could easily appeal to children, sure — that‘s who the show was for — but there were many more grown-up themes interlaced, things kids wouldn’t necessarily understand. Despite the now very corny effects and such, it has proven to be quite dark and psychedelic and I guess that’s the direction we try to go in.

2. How would you describe the concept of Fall of Altrusia? What’s the story you’re telling in the lyrics and music?

I guess it helps to know some of the source material, but I tried writing most of it lyrically to appeal to anyone with imagination, who digs post-apocalyptic themes, fantasy, and sci-fi, and I did take some creative liberties with the actual fiction to develop my own story. Basically (or not so basically), there is this immensely advanced civilization, their city being Altrusia. They are scientists, statesmen, philosophers, etc. and have recently developed the technology of time travel. For the first time in history, their debates over this technology lead to war. Factions develop, fighting erupts among everyone, and eventually the losing group of Altrusians are exiled into the jungles. It is there that they discover an ancient temple with a room containing the skulls of their ancestors. The skulls speak through hallucinatory visions and telepathy and warn this group of impending doom by the rising of a triple lunar eclipse. This group goes into a hibernation as this warning plays out in the form of a meteor storm that causes mass devastation. The city is destroyed, yet the temple remains unharmed and those who were victorious in the war are all wiped out. During the hibernation, the surviving Altrusians go into a de-evolution, a fall from grace if you will. Their intelligence, memory, and even speech is lost due to the barbarism and cruel acts of war inflicted upon each other. This is the transformation into Sleestak. As they awake, they encounter a creature similar in appearance but with high intellect and speech. This is Enik (please reference the television show or wiki for the background of this character). While he walks among them, the Sleestak conspire to kill him — but not yet. He is much too powerful of a being. In the story of the song, Enik does not die but the wheels are set into motion for his murder. Here we are left with the final prophecy of the arrival of the Marshall family. I do not wish to elaborate on this area of the story’s timeline as I leave it to the show. They come, change and affect the Sleestak world, and then they either leave the dimension, die, or just become caught in a time loop. My story then picks up after them…

3. The transitions between the tracks are so smooth. Was the album written as one long piece, or separate songs that were then joined together? Do you see yourselves keeping to narrative concepts for future releases?

It really is a mixture of both ideas as Altrusia has some of our original plans which were to have a way to play our songs set with transitions and without stopping. Since then, of course, that has almost all but been rewritten with the only remnant being “The Marshall Prophecy” which is a variation from “Plan” on our earlier album. For the next studio album we do plan on continuing this form of songwriting, having recently decided that we are going to do the next act of the “Altrusian” story and that it may even be a trilogy. In fact, we’ve been doing A LOT of conceptualizing lately and the story and music is flowing quite nicely and coming together faster than anything we’ve tried writing before. But of course writing an hour-long song and making it sound like a singular cohesive piece takes some time. We are really trying not to make it sound like “riff A” goes into “riff B” goes into “riff C” and so on, we want there to be a pace to the music with lots of atmosphere. If we have a part or a riff there should be a purpose for it.

4. Talk about the contrast between jamming and heavy parts. There are these stretches that feel very open, and then you play off that with really gritty sounding doom metal. Are your roots more on the metal end than rock? Is there any influence from European death/doom?

Doing these long jam sections is just a part of the band’s identity now. We used to, in the beginning, do it to mess around, make noise, or work out a song idea, but they started taking on a more serious side, realizing that we were really able to express something through this, almost like sculpting while continually marching forward on a blank slate of time. If that makes any sense? Anyways it just seemed a natural thing to have these jams work their way into a structured song, with our songs primarily in a metal style. Personally, my roots are in punk, thrash, death, and grind and there is definitely a European influence there. I am a big fan of My Dying Bride, Anathema, Paradise Lost, Amorphis, etc. along with stuff like Napalm Death, Entombed, and Carcass. I don’t keep up on that stuff as much as I used to as you can probably tell by the band names I dropped, but the influence is still there for sure.

5. You guys played the Days of the Doomed Fest this past year. How was the show? Any highlights you’d like to share? How is doom received in Wisconsin in general? Is there a scene of bands?

The fest was amazing. Hands down, Mike Smith is the man for putting that together. It’s only going to get bigger and better and this year Sleestak are going to be curators for the official pre-party show on June 21, 2012. I think the highlight at the fest for me this past year personally was getting to meet Eric Wagner and hang with him a bit as he was one of my favorite vocalists growing up. The fest is definitely putting Wisconsin on the map for fans of doom.

As far as a scene goes, bands have come and gone, some good, some not so good. We’ve been here watching it change and evolve. For a few of the early years we felt like we were the only doom band this city had and to be honest it’s been a lonely ride in Milwaukee. For us it seemed like we were too heavy to play with any of the indie kids as we don’t even have that heavy sludgy “indie” sound and on the other hand we weren’t heavy enough and didn’t fit in with a lot of the generic death metal and hair bands that plague the area. We actively avoided doing anything locally for a few years unless we were helping route some good touring bands through town giving us a reason, a justification for us to play a show. We were jaded from both a lack of fan response and from reaching out to bands and clubs who either ignored our desire to connect and network or just flat out dicked us around and were assholes to us. Just this last year, though, we decided to try again and stir up interest here because it’s much easier for us to play local shows than it is for us to get out and tour all the time. But, let me tell you, because of Days of the Doomed fest and a small handful of bands like Northless, I see a glimmer of hope. I think there’s going to be something wonderful and important happening with the scene here given a little time and nurturing.

6. Any other plans or closing words you’d like to mention?

THANK YOU — to everyone who has been supporting us through the years and to all our new friends we’ve made in the past several months. It’s getting crazy with how things are picking up. Even though we’ve been going since 2003 it seems like the start of an amazing journey… Cheers!

Sleestak on Thee Facebooks

Sleestak on Bandcamp

Lo-fi duo Blut make their home in fucked-up drone and doomed riffing, working hard to sound as inaccessible as possible at any given moment. This is completely on purpose. The band’s warped vision of psychedelic extremity feeds into an overall perspective that is disaffected and hinting at a core of cerebral violence. Such as it is, their motto, “Drop out and fucking kill,” fits them well.

Over the course of several cassette releases and two full-length CDs — those being the interrelated Ritual and Ceremony (2010, review here) and Grief and Incurable Pain (2011, review here) — the initials-only two-piece of bassist N.B. and drummer/guitarist/vocalist S.M. have inflicted upon unsuspecting (or possibly suspecting) ears a sound that is pure in its misanthropy and songs that range between excruciating and unlistenable. The two albums develop ideas one off the other, but there’s an undercurrent of cruelty that remains no matter what might be happening in any given five-minute stretch.

Wanting to find out just what it is that could be behind such utterly demented musicality, I figured it was time to hit up Blut for Six Dumb Questions. Below, S.M. (joined by N.B. for the last question) provides answers to some of Blut‘s drives and motives. Please enjoy.

1. How did the two of you get together and start the band? Did you know what you wanted the sound to be going into it? There’s so much mystery around the band, with just the initials being given for the two of you. What’s the reasoning behind keeping that info so sparse?

We met whilst playing in a black metal band and decided to start Blut as a side-project, the sound of the band comes from our obsession with records like Earth 2 and Nightstick’s Blotter, also bands like Brighter Death Now and Deadwood. The basic idea was a style of music with heavy passages of psychedelic noise and drone with some doom riffs and slow minimal drums. In this band we basically are free to experiment with noise tapes, walls of guitar and bass distortion with no real boundaries or rules, if we want to write a 40-minute song, we will. The band is kind of a direct reaction against most modern types of extreme metal music, which have become stagnant, old, repetitive and boring.

As far as the initials-only thing, well, that was a necessity at the outset of the band due to a few problems with certain individuals. FUCK. After that the initials-only thing just stayed, and also this band isn’t really about posing or anything like that, we don’t even tell people we play music. It’s just not necessary.

2. Take me through your writing process for the first album and for Grief and Incurable Pain. When you’re writing these huge walls of noise, how do you know a song is over? Was there something new you wanted to try the second time out?

The first album we had no real idea, we had a bunch of riffs and some ideas for drones so we sort of just pieced it all together over time. We rehearsed that record a lot more and it wasn’t as spontaneous-sounding as the newer material. On Grief and Incurable Pain, it was decided to have a less accessible sound. We wanted to delve deeper into the dark black metal-style psych drones. Also, the bass guitar was a lot higher in the mix than the rhythm guitar, actually nearly all the riffs on the structured drum led parts of the new record are played on bass, allowing the guitar to then be used as an outlet for noise solos and heavily-delayed feedback improvisations. We basically wanted Grief and Incurable Pain to sound less like a metal record and more chaotic and even less organised than anything we’ve ever done before.

3. Do you record live? The albums sound so harsh. What were you trying to accomplish in the studio, and how much of the material is improvised?

The drums are recorded first then we play over them together, so I guess it’s half-live. We wanted to make these records sound real murky and dark. Absolutely nothing is polished or clean-sounding, everything is pretty much first take. If an instrument drops out or we make a mistake, it’s kept, and I’d say almost all the drones and noise sections are improvised or played loosely around like one or two riffs.

For us, doom and black metal have become far too acceptable now. The danger is gone, the badly-recorded noisy element has died and instead people are polishing their sound way too much. We recorded our first two albums in an attic onto old Dictaphones a Korg cassette 4-track and a beaten up old computer for digital transfer and some looping tasks. Some of the vocals were recorded in a crawlspace under old blankets by candlelight. We have old valve P.A. systems as our guitar amps, shitty old cabs and a collection of fucked microphones, this adds to the overall rotten ambience and is something that more mainstream musicians will never understand. We have also recorded samples and improvised instruments in actual forests and woods.

Another thing is the lack of creativity with bands now, a lot of bands seem to think a digital amp and a Line Six multi-effects pedal is the holy grail. Well, the way I see it is Hendrix had a valve amp that was simple as fuck, a fuzz pedal and a wah and he did more with that than these new bands can achieve with an arsenal of unlimited digital shitty affects.

4. To date, everything you’ve put out has been available on cassette. What is it about the format that keeps you loyal to it? So much focus seems to be on vinyl these days. Is there something in particular about the way Blut sounds on tape that you enjoy?

People buy vinyl but they don’t seem to listen to it. It ends up in a box and they just download the album as mp3. Why? Vinyl and tape sound way better — CD still sounds good to me also — but cassette is a real passion for us. It’s just that cool heavy sound, the background hiss, the fact that tapes play at slightly different speeds on different cassette decks as well, awesome!

5. How do the titles Ritual and Ceremony and Grief and Incurable Pain relate? Both have the “and” in there, but are they meant to be a summary of what the albums convey, or is there something else behind picking them? Put side by side, the two album covers seem to be staring at each other.

Well both these albums are part of a trilogy. The next record is called Drop Out and Kill. It’s our farewell punk rock-kind of record. After this one we intend on changing our sound again, make it darker sounding, more noise and less drums, maybe. As far as the album titles go, Ritual and Ceremony came from an occult encyclopaedia and Grief and Incurable Pain came from a biblical text. The art is supposed to look the same, actually when you spread the sleeves out next to each other it looks like some fucked up comic book. Unintentional but cool.

6. Any other plans or other closing words you want to mention? When is the split tape with Decaying Citadel due out?

S.M.: Split tape with Decaying Citadel should be out next year. We have recorded covers of The Melvins, “Leeech”/”Boris” and Doom’s “Lifelock” for that split. It was good to record some covers. It’s actually probably some of our more listenable material, we were going to record a Bauhaus cover but never got round to it. Maybe next time. “Hollow Hills,” maybe. A live show would be good next year or some sort of performance. Drop out and fucking kill.

N.B.: Well this is the first time I could be bothered to say anything for this interview. I just have this to say… Buy a valve amp and ditch your shitty Marshall combo, throw away your Mac with its fancy fucking GarageBand program. Steve Jobs is dead. His life has become a toilet book to be stacked in with your cheap porn collection. Move on. You will be ok. Delete your Facebook and try to have at least one ounce of integrity. The underground is not meant to be pretty… Fuck life…

Blut’s Blogspot page

Bubonic Productions

He’s been in and around the Cleveland, Ohio, sludge scene for about as long as it’s been there for him to be in and around it, and as guitarist in bands like Fistula, Ultralord, King Travolta, Necrodamus, Sollubi (in which he played bass), Bibilic Blood and Morbid Wizard, Scott Stearns has helped shape the misanthropic, vitriolic sound of the Midwest. Seated on the left in the picture above of his latest band, Morbid Wizard, Stearns has also contributed album art to both his comrades’ bands and to those outside Ohio‘s borders, and his graphic style is as manic and terrifying as the music.

Credited occasionally as Wizard or Wizardfool or some derivation thereof, Stearns is also intensely prolific. This year, Morbid Wizard made their debut in the form of Lord of the Rats (review here) and his duo Bibilic Blood released their third album in three years, Blood Butterfly (review here). Though the projects are vastly different — the one a who’s who of Ohio sludge players and the other a nightmarish horror-psych two-piece — Stearns brings something unique to both in his playing and his art. There’s no bullshit in either. No compromise of form. No play to accessibility. Any one of his visual works on your notebook would get you immediately expelled from high school, and his music is all viciousness and disaffection — the stuff of landmark sludge.

His mastery of underground forms notwithstanding, I wanted to hit up Stearns with Six Dumb Questions to talk mostly about how Morbid Wizard came together around musicians from Fistula, Rue, Sollubi, Accept Death and others — those being drummer Corey Bing, guitarist Bahb Branca, bassist Mike Duncan and vocalist Jesse Kling — but there was room as well to discuss the terrifying nature of Bibilic Blood and his work with bassist/vocalist Suzy Psycho in that band, as well as his development as a designer and artist. Even so, this is really just the beginning of Stearns‘ portfolio, and for more, you should check out his website at stearnsdog.com.

Please note too that the art accompanying the Q&A is all by Stearns and that any images can be enlarged by clicking on them. Hope you enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:

1. Morbid Wizard brings in members from many different projects. How do you all find the time to get together and how did the band form in the first place. Is Morbid Wizard the priority for everyone involved?

Morbid Wizard was formed by me and Corey Bing. We had gotten together and jammed a couple times but hadn’t really done anything for a while. The last band we were both in was called Blackwell that was a hardcore band with Larry Gargus from Don Austin on vokills. Blackwell recorded an album and then fell apart but me and Corey were always trying to get something going over the winter and finally we just said fuck it and booked two days at SUMA Studios with Paul Hamman. SUMA is an awesome studio where Grand Funk recorded their first albums, Bloodrock, Shok Paris, Destructor, Integrity and a lot of other classic bands. Paul let us use some of his vintage Marshall cabinets and a HiWatt head, I also used my SICK head and the plan was to just get completely retarded with high volume. Corey got Bahb from Fistula to play second guitar, Mike Duncan from Black Mayonnaise on bass and noise, and Jesse from Sollubi on vokills and noise. Morbid Wizard is not really a priority for anyone, it’s just something we are going to keep trying to do when we get the chance. Everyone has their main bands that they are dedicated to. We are working on new material, so hopefully we will get it done and have an EP or another record out next year.

2. Talk about the sludge scene in Ohio. It seems like there’s a really dedicated group of people (many of whom are in Morbid Wizard) who’ve been in bands with each other for a while now. Did it really all start with Sloth and Nunslaughter? What’s the area like, and where do the best shows happen? How did it begin for you, and what do you think allowed the community of bands that’s there now to develop?

I got into it in the ‘80s when I was in high school. I was into punk at first, like Black Flag, G.B.H., The Bad Brains, X, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Kennedys, and I would go to punk shows but then I started getting into metal and thrash bands like Metallica, Mercyful Fate, Slayer, Exodus, Venom, Voivod, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost. My favorite local bands were Destructor and False Hope. Destructor is still playing today and some of the guys in False Hope went on to play in Keelhaul and some other good bands. Nunslaughter has been around playing death metal since the ‘80s. I think the people that have been around forever have a true love for making heavy metal, punk, noise, sludge, whatever.

My first band that I played guitar for was Die Hard, with Aaron Melnick, Dwid, Chubby Fresh and Stork, that was the band before they became Integrity. We recorded an album in 1989 called Looking Out for Number One.

I think my first Introduction to sludge metal was doing artwork for Sneak from Shifty Records. He gave me a whole bunch of awesome CDs: Fistula[‘s] Hymns of Slumber, Church of Misery, Weedeater, Abdullah, Cruevo, RUE, Sofa King Killer, Mugwart, Rwake, Beaten Back to Pure. Then I met Corey Bing around 2002 when Fistula played a festival with Weedeater, Soul Preacher, Bongzilla, Red Giant, Boulder, and Mastodon before they were really big. I was playing guitar in Madman Mundt, which I loved but I also wanted to do something much slower so we recorded the first Necrodamus EP at Rock Solid Studio in Cleveland and I called up Corey and asked if he would be interested in singing on it. Then after that, we recorded the first Ultralord record, Act 1.

I live about 30 miles east of Cleveland. Lake Erie is two blocks down the street from where I live. Most of the people are just regular working stiffs, there are a good amount of mutated Chernobyl fallout hillbillies around here but they keep it interesting and give it a creepy 1950s small town feeling. The best place to see bands is at Now That’s Class over on the west side of Cleveland. Peabody’s also has some good big-name metal bands that come through Cleveland and the Beachland and Grogshop have some good bands closer to where I live.

3. Your art graces many of the covers for these releases and of course others as well. How did you get your start as an artist and what can you say about the development of your style? Is there something behind your decision to use color for one piece and not another?

Growing up I was very heavily into comic books, Dungeons and Dragons, Heavy Metal and Epic magazines, Frank Frazetta, H.R. Geiger, and H.P. Lovecraft. Then I went to high school with some of the guys in False Hope and did flyers for them. It wasn’t until a couple years after that Dr. Maxar Berezium from 100,000 Leagues Under My Nutsack asked me to do the cover of his first album Welcome to the Fold. He was a big influence because he was always asking me to do artwork for t-shirts and stickers and posters. He would go all over the country and Europe putting up stickers with my art. Then other people would ask him about the artwork and if they could get me to do something for them.

I have just recently started to experiment with color using Photoshop. Trying to figure out how to do it has taken a while but I think I’m getting better now. For the Bibilic Blood records I used color because Suzy Psycho specifically wanted the alien on the first cover to be green and we liked it a lot so we decided to make them all color.

4. How did you get involved in Bibilic Blood, and how does that compare to the other bands you’ve been in? There’s something so horrifying about Bibilic Blood’s music. Not that I think there are animal sacrifices or anything, but what’s the atmosphere like when Bibilic Blood is writing songs? Where does this stuff come from?

Bibilic Blood is mine and Suzy Psycho’s band, we started out by just making noise on a 4-track, then started recording on a digital 8-track. Bibilic Blood is different because our studio is set up in our living room so we can practice and record whenever we feel like it. We don’t do any animal sacrifices because we love all the furry little creatures that live in the woods, but it is very easy to imagine some of the weirdos that live around us are doing some animal or human sacrifices right now in their living rooms. Part of the atmosphere is that we are always aware that the outside world is full of horrific nightmare people and places, so we are just grateful that we can hang out and have a good time and play music together. We have a black light we turn on, then Suzy comes up with some riffs and we jam them out and record it when we get something we like. Then Suzy does her vokill tracks and then I will do the guitar parts a little at a time over the next couple days.

5. Do you see yourself as bringing something consistent across the board to the many different bands you’ve played with, or do your contributions depend on the other players involved? How does your visual art play into that? Is it harder making covers for a band you’re in or someone who’s hired you from the outside?

Yeah I think all the bands I’ve played in are mostly about coming up with a couple good heavy riffs and tying them together. I always look to my favorite bands for inspiration Slayer, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, DIO, Ozzy, Venom, Celtic Frost, Cirith Ungol, Suicidal Tendencies, Black Flag, Saint Vitus. I am always happy to do art for the bands I play in because for me the artwork is a really important part of the band. There is some more pressure doing art for other bands because I always want it to be as sick as possible especially when it’s a band I am a really big fan of.

6. Any other plans, new releases or closing words you want to mention?

We are working on new Morbid Wizard songs for hopefully a 2012 EP or album, Bibilic Blood is going to have two new songs on the SLUDGESAPIENS tape compilation put out by Quagmire located in the barbarian Russian wastelands, and we are working on new Ancient Sickness.

Scott Stearns’ website

Morbid Wizard on Thee Facebooks

 

Included at the bottom of this post is a live clip of German stonerly trio Wight performing in their native Darmsdadt. Taken from the band’s upcoming DVD Wight Home Weedio (get it?) and the same audio source as their split 10″ with Stone Axe, the song is the title-track from their 2011 Wight Weedy Wight debut (review here), which was self-released through Fat and Holy Records and among the most sincere executions of unabashed stoner groove I heard all year. If you watch the video, you’ll notice the band has trails.

Now, that could be an effect put on in editing, but I prefer to think that wherever Wight go, they have those trails with them. They’re just that stoner rock. So, if Wight goes to the cash machine? Trails. Wight orders a sandwich for lunch? Trails. Wight lets loose some awesome languid riffing and heady jams? Trails. In fact, even if that’s not the case, don’t tell me. I’d rather live with my fantasy, however contradicted by the fire and sundry psychedelic visuals that come up later on as the song progresses.

Wight Weedy Wight followed a simple and familiar enough formula for crafting cool and natural sounding heavy psych, and though it was still obviously a first album and pretty rudimentary in terms of style, it rocked and showed potential for righteous jams to come. Having already previewed the follow-up sophomore outing — to be titled Through the Woods into Deep Water — with a free download of a new demo called “You!” (streaming here), Wight look to already be developing the classically spaced-out side of their sound and balancing it with their organically jammed mentality. Right on.

Before Through the Woods into Deep Water hits this coming spring, I wanted to bug the three-piece with Six Dumb Questions just to get some basic idea of what they’re all about and what went into making Wight Weedy Wight, and caught them just as they were hitting the road with Bushfire on their “Malakas of the Universe” tour.

Wight is guitarist/vocalist Rene Hofmann, bassist Peter-Philipp Schierhorn (also of black metal outfit Fallen Tyrant) and drummer Michael Kluck. Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:

1. Tell me about how the band got together. What was it that first sparked the idea for Wight, and how did the three of you join up?

Rene: When I came to Darmstadt, I wanted to found a new band because I had a lot of ideas. In all of my previous bands, I was only the vocalist, and this time I wanted to play guitar too in order to combine my ideas for vocal and guitar melodies.

Peter and I met in late 2007, and after some months of searching we found a drummer in April 2008. We started with some of my ideas, and with the input of the other two band members we developed a heavy, doomy style. On our first demo and a lot of unreleased material you can hear that. We played a couple of gigs in 2009 before we parted ways with our old drummer. Michael and I knew each other from working in a record store. Michael joined the band in February 2010, and we really started all over from there. We developed a really awesome workflow and wrote, arranged and recorded Wight Weedy Wight within a couple of months.

2. How much of Wight’s songwriting comes from jamming out on the riffs? How are the riffs pieced together, and if that’s the way it goes, how are the songs kind of carved out of those jams?

Peter: Rene usually comes up with the riffs, we start jamming on them in the practice room and Michael and I develop our parts. Usually, Rene also has some rough ideas for the structure, and we refine them together. On one or two occasions, we also started from a drumbeat or a bass line, but usually Rene‘s guitar riffs are the base for our compositions.

3. Tell me about recording Wight Weedy Wight. How much of the album was recorded live, and as your debut, how much does it show what you want the sound of Wight to be?

Rene: We recorded the album live, together in a 200sqm studio. It was a cool experience recording that way. Our engineer Jorge [Medina] also helped a lot with that. I recorded some guitar overdubs afterwards, as well as all of the vocals.

It is important to know that we recorded Wight Weedy Wight after only about half a year together as a band. So the songs have a kind of impulsive vibe to them, which really forms the sound. It’s always that way when we write new songs, and you will hear that on future recordings.

4. How did the split with Stone Axe come about? When were those jams recorded, and will any of that material make it onto Through the Woods into Deep Water? Do you know yet when the next record will be out?

Michael: Yeah, man, ask Tony.

Rene: Michael and I saw Stone Axe at Roadburn 2011 and were blown away by the performance. I took out my camera, filmed two songs and sent the videos to Tony [Reed] later. I told him about Fat & Holy Records. Together, we had the idea to release a split because I told him we had recorded a jam session during the Wight Weedy Wight sessions – the “Cosmic Rhythm #2.” He said he was about to record three jams in the studio with his band for the B-side. The other Wight track on the split LP is a live version of “Wight Weedy Wight” which was recorded in Darmstadt early this year.

Peter: The tracks are exclusively released on the split, they will not be included on the new album. We will release Through the Woods Into Deep Water in March or April, but we do not have a fixed date yet.

Rene: It all depends on how soon the mixing and the layout are done.

5. You guys have signed on to play the Berlin Desertfest. Will you tour around that, or do other strings of dates in Europe for the new album? Any chance you’d hook up with Wiht from the UK and do a “Wight on Wiht” tour?

Rene: We don’t have any tour dates confirmed for the new album. We will play a couple of gigs in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands in February and March together with our friends from Bushfire, though. We hope to play some more gigs around or after Desertfest. The Wiht guys seem to be nice, I hope to see them live or even play with them some day. Like they said, a “Missing G Tour” … ;-)

6. Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?

If you ask something like that, we go Darkthrone on you and just drop a bunch of names of bands and friends you should check out: Bushfire, Fallen Tyrant, Black Lizard, Godless Funk of Bonanza, The Wolves, Manges, Burden, The Gasoline Disaster, Okta Logue, 1000mods, Sun of Nothing, Cherry Choke, Coogans Bluff, Hyne, Toner Low, Broken Spirits, Negativvm, Robotnik.

Wight’s website

Wight on Thee Facebooks

The man who would later become known as William the Conqueror set about earning his name in 1066, leading the Norman Conquest of England. Until his new moniker took its place, he was William the Bastard, and as England‘s first Norman king, he would struggle to keep his hold of power till the time of his death in 1088, quelling rebellions and continuously working to secure his position.

It’s the story of that struggle that seems to have interested Leeds instrumental post-doom trio Wiht (not to be confused with German stonerly heavyweights Wight) , who’ve given the title The Harrowing of the North to their self-released debut full-length in reference to William‘s quashing an uprising in Scotland shortly after assuming the throne in the late 1060s. Using historical documentation, Wiht craft a narrative through the album’s 20-minute titular cut entirely without the use of vocals, relying solely on the shifting mood of the song to act as emotional and functional descriptor.

That alone would be fascinating enough for me to want to hit the band up with Six Dumb Questions, but I was also eager to find out how “Orderic Vitalis,” the second and only other track on The Harrowing of the North, fit into the story, and how the idea came about to delve into England‘s rich imperial history of wars and kings. The band, who recorded The Harrowing of the North at Ghosttown Recording Studio, were happy to comply, with both guitarist Chris Wayper and bassist Joe Hall — the lineup is rounded out by drummer Rick Contini — offering explanation of the motives and circumstances behind the creation.

The Harrowing of the North was previously reviewed here, if you’d like to check it out, and please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:

1. Tell me how the band got together. Things seem to have worked out pretty quickly between when you started playing and when you did your first show between April-August, 2009. Did you know specifically the sound you guys wanted when you started playing?

Chris: All three of us have been good friends for as long as we can remember, we played in bands together when we were younger but then all went our separate ways musically. Myself and Joe spoke for a while about getting something together, something heavy and fuzzed out. We then contacted Rick (drummer) and it all got together pretty sharpish!! Our first rehearsal revolved around several riffs and a bottle of good dark rum!! We felt the best way to get our shit together would be to book some gigs and have something to aim towards, it worked and the gigs went down a treat! The first EP we kind of knew what we wanted to do, and we were all really happy with the way it came out.

Joe: THotN was nothing like what we expected, due to adding/changing/breaking down and swapping parts around, it turned into something completely different… So I guess we have changed drastically from the way we initially wanted Wiht to sound, but still keeping the slow and heavy side to it alive and healthy.

2. What was it about the story of William the Conqueror that inspired you to take it on for The Harrowing of the North? Many bands write about the histories of their homelands, but with such a rich well to draw from, were there other stories that competed with this one?

Joe: I guess due to the fact that we were all brought up in Yorkshire, this is the tale that had the most relevance to us, and with it being a morbid and cruel subject it fits the overall feel of the band quite well. The first EP was loosely based around this concept also, just not to the degree THotN is.

I think Neil Edward, the artist who did the cover, did an absolute sterling job at replicating this into drawing for us as well.

There are tones of other tales and stories we would love to write about, maybe in the future we will explore further subjects such as British/Northern myths and tales, tales concerning Christianity, Scandinavian myths/Sagas, folklore etc. The possibilities here are endless….

3. How did the process of writing the album work? Were the movements of the song “William the Conqueror” written separately, or did you know ahead of time how you wanted them all to work together?

Chris: We had written “Orderic Vitalis” long before we started writing “The Harrowing of the North.” “Orderic” was written just after we released the s/t EP and represented a change in direction. We then began to think about recording the next record and set about writing the next song “The Harrowing of the North.” This took about a year!! The song initially was written in sections then was drawn together before entering the studio. With the help of Ross [Halden] from Ghost Town Studios in Leeds, the song manifested itself into something we never could have imagined!! Ross is a genius, he’d probably hate being called that but it’s true!! He really helped us see our ambition of developing and creating this “concept” piece. So, I guess the writing process was done in the studio and practice room. As we were writing the parts to “The Harrowing of the North” I think we began to develop a sense of what this could turn into but the theme and concept for the record developed with the songwriting process

4. At what point did you realize you wanted Wiht to be completely instrumental? Working with such a specific theme and narrative, was there ever any temptation to take on a singer or have one of the three of you take on the role yourselves?

Chris: Singers are a pain in the arse!!! Nah… I guess as the band developed the need for a singer declined. We thought of the idea at the start and it’s probably fair to say some of the earlier tracks may have benefited in some cases from a singer. Personally, the greatest compliments from the reviews so far of The Harrowing of the North is the universal acceptance we don’t need or lose out from not having a singer on this record. Now, I think, we have developed a dynamic that means we write songs with no singing in mind, the need for vocals is replaced by a need for more riffs! The concept of The Harrowing of the North also lends itself well to our instrumental style. Having a concept and no vocals can allow the listener to imagine their own narrative without someone wailing over the top!

Joe: It’s all about the riff!

5. How does “Orderic Vitalis” relate to the concept of the album, or does it? Will subsequent releases also keep to historical themes, or do you see a change in the songwriting process in the future of the band?

Chris:  “Orderic Vitalis” pays homage to the outspoken chronicler of William the Conqueror.  A loyal subject, he was outraged and sickened with the unrelenting fury and cruelty William showed during the raids. He basically deserved his own song, not many people would of spoken so ill of the king! Orderic was also there at the time of William’s death, he claims William’s remorse of the raids and regret of the massacres he inflicted. The quote on the inside of The Harrowing of the North and on the back of our s/t EP are quotes from Orderic Vitalis in his epic writings Historia Ecclesiastica. It felt right to make this a separate track, an opus to Orderic and a vindication of William the Bastard!

The songwriting process is a pretty natural occurrence, I can’t see that changing. In regards to whether we continue with a theme or concept, I don’t know. They are pretty tough to write and to also make relevant to the listener, especially without vocals and I guess we hit something special with The Harrowing of the North, it may be foolish to try and repeat it!

6. Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?

Chris & Joe: Yeah… we’ve started writing for the next record, sounding different from the last but that’s not to say it will change too much! We’re aiming for a vinyl release of The Harrowing of the North… you heard it here first!! Hopefully February/March 2012. Got some great shows lined up too, London, Edinburgh, Leeds, Oxford; check our Facebook page for them. Big shout out to the Leeds scene too, there are some truly great bands kicking around, most notably Wizard’s Beard, Tree of Sores, Khuda and A Forest of Stars. Also some mates from around the UK you MUST check out, (if you haven’t already): Undersmile, Conan, Slabdragger and Haar.

See you around!!

Wiht on Thee Facebooks

Wiht’s BigCartel store

Of all the records I’ve encountered thus far into 2011, Wizard’s Beard‘s Pure Filth might be the most aptly named. It’s more of a mission statement for the Leeds four-piece, and they live up to it every bit of the way. The outfit’s first full-length, initially self-released, was picked up for wider issue through the respectable PsycheDOOMelic Records.

That in itself is a worthy endorsement for the ethic of Wizard’s Beard, but their extreme sludge earns respect on its own the whole way across Pure Filth. They don’t veer from their approach in any significant way, instead challenging the listener with a nastiness of sound that few approach, as if to find out just how much you can take before you give into their assault. Their songs don’t swagger so much as they stab.

With a follow-up to Pure Filth already recorded — no word on whether it’s called Riffy Fuckall in keeping with the “doing what they say and saying what they do” idea of the debut — the time seemed right to learn more about Wizard’s Beard‘s origins, plans, and European tour where they sold seats in their van to anyone who wanted to join them on the road. Guitarist Craig Jackson was kind enough to field the interview.

Wizard’s Beard is Jackson alongside vocalist Chris Hardy, bassist/backing vocalist Neil Travers and drummer Dan Clarke. Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:

1.Tell me about how the band got together. Where did the name Pure Filth come from for the record, and how did you wind up signing to PsycheDOOMelic?

Well, me and Trav used to be in another band together, and when we called it a day the two of us decided we wanted to stick together and start something new. We both had the same idea to do something slower and dirtier than before…. so that’s exactly what we did.

We shouted around for a drummer and Dan was quick to offer his services.

Then all we needed was vocals. I’d been a huge fan of Agent of the Morai when they were around and I knew Chris hadn’t been doing anything since then. I got a fairly enthusiastic response when I asked him to join us… I think he’d been getting withdrawal symptoms from being a lunatic with a microphone!

Pure Filth came about simply because that’s what we set out to do. Make slow horrible filthy music. We have no intention of bringing in any beautiful melodies or wanky guitar solos. We’re here to play big fat dirty riffs, that’s it.

The PsycheDOOMelic thing came out of the blue to be honest. We were putting the album out ourselves so I’d been shouting about it all over the forums and wherever I could, and putting the track “Paint the Skies” up everywhere. When it had been out for about four days, [Hegedus] Mark from PsycheDOOMelic got in touch to ask if he could stock it. When he found out we’d released it ourselves he asked if we’d consider releasing it through PsycheDOOMelic, and that was that!

2. How did the writing process for the album go, and how was the time in the studio? When were the songs written? How long were you in the studio?

I already had all the songs written for the album with exception of “The Albatross.” They’d been written for a while and were just waiting to be used. “Albatross,” was differently based and came about when we just started jamming in the rehearsal room. As we were jamming the main riff I started coming up with small variants on it in my head and start to work out an idea for the structure. I went home and finalised it all and we went back in and put it together. It turned out to be my favourite song on the album too. We recorded demos for each of the songs beforehand and passed them to Chris and he wrote his lyrics away from rehearsals. When Trav was doing his backing vocals in the studio he was learning them there and then.

We were only in the studio for two days on this one so we had to blast through it. Out of 48 hours in the weekend, we were in the studio for 26. It was fairly intense but we all picked our poison to help us through (whisky, beer, cigarettes, pot noodles… cake!). Ross [Halden] at Ghost Town put some serious time and effort in to help us get it done, he’s a major part in how that recording turned out.

3. I thought I read you have a follow-up already written? How does it compare to the first album?

Not only is it written, but it is now officially recorded. Just with Fragment Mastering getting finished off now! It’s due for release around March 2012, more details to follow in October with an announcement regarding who’s releasing it, too.

It’s quite a bit darker than the last. It runs around 50 minutes too, so it’s a good chunk longer than the other, despite only having one track more. We had it around the hour mark but cut a song in the studio, as it just didn’t sit right at the time. The album flows a lot better as it is. I’d say it’s a hell of a lot heavier than Pure Filth too.

First two days in the studio we’re a living hell, but I reckon that’s added to the mood, ha ha! The album is called Four Tired Undertakers, keep your ear to the ground for more info.

4. Tell me about the upcoming tour of Europe. You’re bringing people along with you in the van? Is this just some evil trick to get them to work your merch table?

Ha ha! Well it was more out of necessity, but in the end it’s shaping up pretty damn good. Essentially, we had to hire a van for the European leg of the tour. The van and driver is £100 a day. Now I’m not sure if you realise how much money we make doing this, but it’s somewhere in the region of nothing and less than nothing! So the £700 was a lot to us, on top of petrol and ferry fees… So, we figured, three extra seats, who wants to chip in and come on holiday with a set of idiots like us! Turned out Matt [Faragher] from Tree of Sores, Sam [Read] from Foetal Juice and our good friend and regular cameraman Jez (we may have to supervise any camera related goings on while on this adventure!). So we’ve got a good bunch.

Matt has offered to man the merch table for us though. I think it’s mainly so he can sell Tree of Sores merch!

5. Do you know yet when and where you’ll record the next album, and when it’ll be out?

With regards to the release, we can’t really reveal anything at the moment, but details should come out in October and it will be released early next year (sorry, I can’t be more specific right now).

As for where, that was never in doubt. We went back to Ghost Town Studios to record again. We recorded with Ross last time and we couldn’t ask for anymore. He went out of his way for us last time and his knowledge is second to none. He’s always coming up with ideas to try and help us improve what we’re already doing and he just seems to get what we’re trying to do. It’s now with Fragment Mastering to get to be finished off. There’s never any problems with Fragment, always quick too.

We genuinely can’t wait to get this one out there. There won’t be quite as quick a turnaround after this album, we’ll be taking more time to tour on it and just play a lot more gigs and enjoy being a live band! Recording two albums in the space of seven months is not as much fun as it sounds!

6. Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?

Well we’ve got quite a few gigs lined up besides the tour, including supporting Ufomammut who are without a doubt one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen, so that really is a pleasure.

I’d just like to thank everyone who’s bought any merch or being to see us live, we really do appreciate the support and we’ve had a lot of it.
The doom/sludge scene over here at the moment is thriving and there’s so many good bands about. Undersmile are a band you’ve really got to check out, they have such a unique and creepy sound! Our friends in Wiht and Tree of Sores need to be given a listen too. Then there’s all the other quality bands on these shores like Slabdragger, Conan, Dopefight, Dead Existence, Wet Nuns and of course the amazing Palehorse. We’re playing ‘Kin Hell Fest in Leeds in November and the lineup is ridiculous (Ingested, Astrohenge, Khuda, The Afternoon Gentlemen, Diascorium, Foetal Juice, The Atrocity Exhibit and more!), for those of you over here, get down! Filth Fest in October too is just a monstrous day of sludge/doom and whatever other filth is going on.

We’ve so much to look forward to and we hope to see as many of you as possible when we’re out and about.

Wizard’s Beard on Thee Facebooks

PsycheDOOMelic Records

For many bands, the immediate-interest factor is brought on by pedigree. “Former members of,” and so forth. Not so in the case of Portland, Oregon¸ trio Lamprey. What most excited me about their Ancient Secrets release wasn’t what they’d done before, but what they’re doing now, and more specifically, how they’re doing it.

The pursuit of clean, thick low end has been a mainstay of heavy sounds since Sabbath, and though Lamprey aren’t the first act out there to feature bass instead of guitar (they count Om as a principal inspiration), their use of two bass players to do it stands them out right away. Bassists Justin Brown and Blaine Burnham, who also handles vocals, work off a riff-based and grooving ethic – underscored by Spencer Norman‘s heavy-landing drums – but in terms of methodology and how they get there, Lamprey are more unique than they give themselves credit for.

Their recently-reviewed Ancient Secrets release is rough around the edges, but there’s no denying that Brown, Burnham, and Norman have their influences in order, taking Sleep’s stonerly fixations to new aural valleys without the songs coming out of it sounding like a mash of muddy bass fuzz. The idea behind hitting up Brown for this interview was to get some introduction to how the band came to be and came to cast off the notion of being guitar-led in their riffs, how Brown and Burnham developed two distinct tones (you can hear a difference on Ancient Secrets) and how they can separate themselves from the pack in a crowded Portland scene.

Brown was honest, humble and entertaining in his answers. Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions.

1. Tell me about how the band got together. Where did the idea for two bassists come from? It seems like you cut out the middleman of having ultra-low-tuned guitars, but were you worried at all about capturing more than just bottom end in the recording of the album?

Blaine, Spencer and I all got to know each other working at a glass factory, where we basically shoveled hot lava in a 100-plus degree industrial hell. For a brief period during that time, Blaine and I were in a band called Glaciers, in which he played bass and I was the rhythm guitarist (I never played bass before Lamprey). It was a side-project for both of us, as we were in other bands and neither of us were writing any of the material, so it didn’t last long.

Fast-forward a few years, and a fairly serendipitous chain of events took place. Blaine and Spencer went to a show, I believe it was The Abominable Iron Sloth, and they were so inspired they walked out of there with what they referred to as “metal boners.” They were intent on starting the heaviest band in the land. At that same time, I had my own epiphany about what I wanted to do musically. I was playing baritone guitar in a band called Bruxing, and it just wasn’t doing it for me. I couldn’t seem to make it sound massive enough – when I turn on my amp and pull a string I want it to raze cities, you know? Those low tones just invoke this incredible physiological response in me, like I’m riding a horse at full gallop or something. And so I thought about some of my favorite tones, such as those of Om and Karp or Big Business, and realized I’d been trying to make my guitar sound like a bass.

I cashed out my 401k and bought a Rickenbacker, and as I was leaving the store with it I bumped into Blaine in the street. He told me about his and Spencer‘s quest for heaviness, and it just hit us — what could be more crushing than two basses? We weren’t necessarily convinced it would work, tonally, but we met up about a week later at my practice space and went for it. I remember that at this first practice, Spencer hadn’t played his drums in several years and I was new at bass. Before plugging in, I made a disclaimer that the riffs I had been working on were more stonery than straight up metal. I mentioned the almighty Sleep as an influence, and the boys just got these wild ravenous looks on their faces, grinning in anticipation.

I started in on the riff that would later become “Oiwa” and we just blasted off. The tones worked, we locked into each other. It was the sound we’d all been after. As far as the delivery of that sound, we are first and foremost a live band. We never thought about how Lamprey would sound pouring out of some shitty car stereo. Our intention is to fill the air in a room with so much pressure it feels like you’re standing at the bottom of the ocean. That’s another great thing about low tones at massive volumes; it envelopes you, it pounds on your sternum — but without the piercing treble of a guitar that make your teeth want to explode. I like to think of our sound as brutal yet smooth: a soothing punishment.

2. What is the interplay like between the two basses on stage? It sounds on the record like there’s lead and rhythm bass, but is that the way it actually works out?

I suppose, generally speaking, you could say that Blaine plays rhythm bass and I play lead, but that’s not a strict rule or anything. He handles all the vocals (except for a few spoken passages, which on the recordings are done by Spencer, who writes most of our lyrics as well), so he’ll tend to play a more traditional bass line, root notes and such.

Being a reformed guitar player, I play lots of chords and harmonizing melodies. We’ll often play the exact same part, or just at different octaves, for a kind of doubling effect. And no matter which of us is playing what, we’re ultimately a beefed-up rhythm section; occasional flurries and bursts aside, the basses do their thing in whatever pocket the drums carve out for them.

3. Talk about the amps and equipment used on the album. There are separate distinguished tones between the bass and, well, the bass. Did you and Blaine develop your tones separately or together as part of the same band, and was there work involved in making them mesh together?

When Lamprey began, we had already established the basic foundations for our respective tones. I played my Rickenbacker through an Orange Rockerverb 100 and matching 4×12 cab. The Rick has this fast growly tone with lots of mids, and playing it through a guitar amp really helps fill that sonic niche that we might otherwise lack by not having a guitar. Blaine is a bassist’s bassist. Wielding a Gibson Thunderbird for ultimate thump, he started out with a Sunn Sorado through an old 2×15 cab.

The earliest days of the band are what we refer to as a kind of amplifier cold war — Blaine added a vintage Ampeg to the mix, as the Sorado was no match for the Orange in terms of volume. Then I would add another head, and Blaine would have to catch up to me again, in terms of wattage. We began collecting cabs, pondering the tonal possibilities an array of assorted speaker sizes might hold in store for us. It became a sickness; we couldn’t even fit it all in the practice room!

We finally called a truce when he found this weird, one of a kind monster amp made by a guy here in town. It’s called the Big Black, and all I know about it is that I have to really push my hot-rodded Orange to keep up. As far as cabs go, we’re always tweaking and experimenting. I’m currently running my Orange through two Orange/Matamp 4×12 cabs, along with a Sunn Concert Bass through a 2×15, but only because there’s not room in the van for anything more than that. The 12′s give me a crisper, snarlier sound that sits right on top of Blaine‘s smooth boominess, which is our overall plan.

He’s running the Big Black through some old Fender cabs, dual 12s and 15s, that project with surprising depth. Our eventual goal is a backline consisting entirely of Monolith Loudspeaker cabinets, which are based on old Sunn and Acoustic designs and made in Portland. Beyond all that, we sculpt the finishing touches with a few select fuzz pedals, some vintage Electro-Harmonix effects, some wah and our finger attack.

4. What’s the story with Ancient Secrets? Do you consider it a full-length or an EP? Was there a self-released version before the Captain Couch one, and if so, was it different somehow?

Actually, we consider it more or less a demo. We went into Ghost Town Studios, run by our friend David Pulliam, as a very young band with a very small budget. I think we’d been together about three months and had four songs. We just wanted something better than a practice space recording to give out at shows. We did it live in a day, with one more day for vocals and mixing.

Shortly thereafter, Blaine founded Captain Couch Records, and now I help him run it. The idea behind the label was to record and put out into the world music from all these amazing bands in Portland that no one knows about. The house Blaine lives in hosts these epic shows about once a month, and it seemed like a natural progression to begin recording and distributing music from our favorite bands to help launch them up to the next tier.

Obviously, Lamprey is a priority for us, so we went back to Ghost Town to record a song for a 7” release, the label’s first official offering. We then also recorded “Cylenos Crassidens,” a newer song, and redid “Thulsa” (as the original take was embarrassingly sloppy), and added them to the EP. We felt better about the revamped version, and put that out through Captain Couch (which, by the way, rhymes with “pooch” — it’s a Portland thing).

5. The Portland scene is so multifaceted and it seems like every week there’s another band putting out an album. How do you distinguish yourselves among such a glut of bands, and do you have any favorite acts to share the stage with you care to recommend to those on the outside?

This city is unreal; a veritable cache of undying energy and uniquely talented musicians. The thing is, it’s been that way for a long time, only no one has been paying any attention until recently. Obviously, bands like Red Fang, Witch Mountain and Grails have put us all on the map and inspired hordes of Portlanders (ourselves included) to craft their own oblation to heavy music – often yielding truly epic results.

Honestly, I’m not at all sure that we do stand out yet – I still think of us as a young band, cutting our teeth and working the bugs out. But the three of us have a shared vision, musically speaking, and we believe in the sound we’ve conjured. It moves us, and I think that kind of fervor can be very contagious, especially at full volume in a small room.

I’m sure the very same can be said about a slew of other bands in this town, and we’re lucky enough to be friends with them and play out with them. I would strongly urge anyone interested in Portland‘s stoner/doom/metal scene to explore a few of my favorites: Zmoke, Heavy Voodoo, Diesto, Avi Dei, Rabbits, Lord Dying, Purple Rhinestone Eagle and pretty much anyone that any of these bands might share a stage with.

6. Do you know when you’ll be back in the studio for more recording? Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?

As I alluded to earlier, we’ve just released a 7” split release with Zmoke, which can be found at any of our shows or at CDBaby. We’re constantly working on new material, and when we have enough ready to warrant some studio time, we really want to work with Adam Pike at Toadhouse Studios, as he’s recorded quite a bit of our favorite music.

In the interim, we want to do some traveling and test the waters outside of our hometown — hopefully a West Coast tour will happen next spring. We’d like to reach new ears here at home, too, by opening for bigger bands. We’re actually opening for Karma to Burn in October — which we still can’t quite believe is really happening — and hope to get together with Rabbits in the near future. For now, though, we just want to keep playing shows with all the killer bands in this town, and work as hard as we can to feel worthy of the incredibly supportive response we’ve been receiving.

On that note, I would be remiss not to acknowledge that Blaine, Spencer and I would not be fulfilling any of our 16-year-old selves’ rock ‘n’ roll fantasies if not for the infinite support and encouragement of our collective better halves, the Lamprey Ladies. Ellie, Sarah, and Kim help finance our gear habit, design our art, work our merch table, tolerate us practicing in the basement, and don’t seem to mind our beards smelling like beer. We think that rocks.

Lamprey on Thee Facebooks

Captain Couch Records

A funny thing has happened since I reviewed Splitting Sky, the first full-length from Washington D.C. outfit Borracho. I haven’t listened to the record in a couple weeks — right up until I put it on just now to write this — and yet as recently as this morning before my daily caffeine load up, I had the chorus of “Grab the Reins” stuck in my head. Of all the debuts I’ve heard and reviewed this year, Borracho‘s may have left the strongest and most lasting impression.

For that alone, it’s worth featuring the band, but after I got to see them in-person opening for Truckfighters in Manhattan, I felt like I understood even better what it was about the songs that had stayed with me to such an extent. By combining Clutch-style riffy groove with just a touch of dirt-rock grit and burl into solid rhythms and topping it with truly killer lead work from guitarist Steve Fisher, Borracho have crafted a sound that’s like a nod to rock heads, as though, while they’re standing in front of you playing, they’re going, “Check out this shit I came up with. It rules.”

More than anything else, what Splitting Sky sounds like is the first statement from a band looking to leave a lasting mark on the scene. The reception has been huge, and aside from wanting to get the band’s take on that, I thought it would be interesting to find out their take on where they fit in the long-running D.C. legacy of heavy/doom rockers, and a bit more info on their basic bio and how they came together from the now-defunct units Assrockers and Adam West. Drummer Mario Trubiano was kind enough to field the interview on behalf of the band as a whole.

Borracho is Trubiano, Fisher, bassist Tim Martin and guitarist/vocalist Noah. Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions, and expect much more on these guys in the future.

1. How did Borracho get together? What happened to bring about the end of Adam West and Assrockers, and was there a point where you knew Borracho was going to be the main priority?

We were all buds who played music together for years in Assrockers and Adam West. In 2007, Adam West did not go to Europe to tour for the first time since 2000, and Assrockers’ activity level was pretty low while we were looking for a new bass player. I kicked the idea to Steve and Noah about doing something with me on drums, Steve on guitar, and Noah singing, since the three of us have all been big fans of stoner rock for a long time. They both liked it in theory but we didn’t get right on it. As soon as Tim heard about it he wanted in, and he was in.

We had the Assrockers rehearsal space available, so one night we finally got together, Steve came in with his gear and the rest of us took up one of the others’ rigs. I think Noah had two or three songs he’d been working on, and Steve had a LOT of riffs, parts, and sections, and we just jammed that night. There was undeniable chemistry, but it was pretty rough.

In 2008, we got together regularly, and even cut a two-take, live-in-studio version of our song “Rectify” that we arranged to have on a split 7” with Adam West to be available for what was to be the farewell Adam West tour in Europe. But that year was pretty focused on the new Adam West record ESP and that tour. Assrockers was still writing, playing a few shows, and rehearsing, with Bruce Falkinburg on bass.

By 2009, with Adam West fully retired, Borracho began to hit a stride. We had a lot of songs ready to record, had played some cool shows with our buds from Ol’ Scratch, Cortez, and Sun Gods in Exile, but we weren’t playing out too much. We began tracking what we thought was going to be our debut in a fly-by-night studio in an old vacant mansion in Arlington, Virginia. We actually moved into the mansion for rehearsal during the same time. It was a super cool spot, but the outcome of the sessions wasn’t up to snuff for a bunch of reasons, and it actually was never finished at all. Some progress on the recordings continued into 2010, but we were all pretty disappointed with what we got and ultimate shelved it. We ended up with some reasonable demos of “Concentric Circles” and “Never Get it Right.”

During this period I started realizing I was becoming more of a drummer than a guitarist, which was a pretty startling revelation. Bruce left Assrockers, and the band moved to a space that we didn’t ever fully get comfortable in, and really just stopped playing with any endgame. 2010 was notable for Borracho only for launching our website, and getting together with more old friends we had shared the stage with before in our other bands. We loved bringing The Brought Low to D.C., Scott [Fuse] from Cortez came down here with his other band Black Thai, and we met and played with the guys in El Grande, who have become our local brothers in rock.

2. Tell me how Borracho’s sound developed to the point of Splitting Sky. The album has been so well received, and Borracho’s style seems to have a pretty diverse range of influence. What inspires a song like “Concentric Circles” as opposed to “Grab the Reins?”

Most of what ended up becoming Splitting Sky was material we all collaborated on. Our writing process became pretty fluid – usually starting with a riff and a jam. Steve is a riff-aholic!! I’d say the earlier days when we were all getting more comfortable with our instruments, we were more structured. We’ve built a much more collaborative process in the last year or so, and our newer material came together pretty quickly just from jams during rehearsals. Splitting Sky has a mix of tunes – from those that were brought in by Steve or Noah and some that we really wrote all together. I think that really is the reason why you can hear some of the difference in influences.

We actually have a bunch of great songs that didn’t make it onto the record, more because they didn’t mesh with other songs the way the eight tracks from Splitting Sky just work together.  We actually have quite a bit of faster material – tunes that didn’t make the record, but that don’t lack in quality, just space/time. We’re hoping to put these tunes to good use soon!

We definitely all are huge fans of all kinds of music, and the area of overlap in our tastes is pretty much squarely the sound you hear from us. That being said, I wouldn’t expect our next record to sound a lot like this one. We don’t feel any pressure to be limited in our approach, and so far the new material we’re working on has its own vibe and we won’t know what the next song will sound like till we jump into it.  I think we all feel fortunate to be able to play music with the same guys for five and 10 years, and be able to sustain the chemistry we all have even after changing instruments. Our sound just comes from clicking as musicians and friends.

3. How did you get hooked up with Frank Marchand, and how was recording with him? Did you do the album all at once? What was the time in the studio like?

Ah, we thank our boys from El Grande, who brought him along to do sound at a couple shows we played with them in D.C. and out in Maryland in their neck of the woods. Amazingly Frank asked us if we wanted to do some recording with him because he really liked our sound. The timing of it was just right. We had wasted a lot of time on our previous recording venture, and really wanted to lock down a time and place to do a proper recording session. We met Frank at the exact right time in December 2010, and immediately made plans to get in the studio in March to cut the record.

Working with Frank at such a nice studio that was literally minutes from all of our houses made for one of the best recording experiences any of us have ever had. Beforehand, we weren’t sure if we had the time to record everything we wanted to record.  We talked about doing an EP.  In the end we said fuck it – let’s do as much as we can.  The energy was right, the sound was amazing, and we were well rehearsed. I cut all the drums in the first weekend and we ended up keeping most of the live guitar and bass tracks. We went in another weekend session to finish up guitar overdubs and track vocals, a day to mix and a day to master, and we were done. It all went extremely smoothly. You don’t want to be in a studio and feel like you’re working.  I mean at times it’s laborious, but overall you want to feel like you are creating, you want to be psyched.  We felt pretty quickly that we were onto something good, so we were in fantastic spirits.  It exceeded our expectations as far as the experience and the outcome go.

4. The D.C. scene has been strong going back decades at this point. Do you see Borracho fitting in with the D.C. or Maryland pedigree of bands at all?

This is a fitting, but funny question that could be answered in a bunch of different ways. First off, we’re humble guys. We play music because we love it. It’s a flattering prospect to be considered a part of some pedigree. But it feels different in D.C. than maybe it did in Baltimore and the area of MD most known for the doom scene. The past 10 years in D.C. proper hasn’t been very nice to heavy bands. We’ve felt almost alienated in this town at times. I think there’s something to be said about the bands you’re referring to – Pentagram, Spirit Caravan, Clutch, Sixty Watt Shaman, etc. – actually all being guys from Maryland. Part of that scene was that a lot of kids grew up together, they were mostly all friends. It kind of nurtured itself.

Borracho is a bit different by nature because we’re all from all over the place.  It’s interesting that we met here – our only shared experience is here and it’s been that way for years so certainly there is a good amount of Maryland dirt cooked in.  But we all take something from our respective scenes in Boston, New York, Colorado, the Midwest, and even London, where Steve spent some formative musical years. We don’t have these influences of what our direct peers, who we grew up with and played in a bunch of other bands with would have.

5. You guys are playing Stoner Hands of Doom XI next month at Krug’s Place in Frederick. How did that come about and is there anyone in particular you’re looking forward to seeing?

We actually talked to Rob and Cheryl back in 2009 about playing, but it didn’t work out. As soon as I heard they were bringing it back this year I dropped a note to them to see if they still had any space. We pretty much picked up one of the last slots. The timing is actually just right. With our album just out we’re hoping that some folks will come with the intention of seeing us, but in the end there’s a huge potential for exposure that a regular show doesn’t get you. We’re looking forward to it. We definitely see a show like this and even the one we just played in New York as amazing opportunities to get in front of more fans of the this kind of music. If we can make some new fans opening up the entire festival Friday evening then we’ll have succeeded. So – if you are coming to SHoD please come early Friday to catch us!

I for one am excited to see Earthride who I haven’t seen in ages, Electric Magma from Canada, and Gates of Slumber who are playing Friday night too! But mostly we’re all stoked to just take in a ton of good tunes, meet and hang with the other bands, and get to be fans for a few days.

6. Any other shows coming up, plans or closing words you want to mention?

We’ve got some shows in the works in September and October, including a CD release show. We’ll be announcing each of them as they are confirmed, but we should have some shows in the D.C./Baltimore area, a trip up to the northeast, and a trip down south. The vinyl release of Splitting Sky is scheduled for early-September on No Balls Records, and we’ll be selling them at shows, on our site, and through No Balls directly. We also have another announcement that we’ll be making soon about another vinyl release. You’ll have to wait for that one.

Lastly, thanks to everyone in the scene for all of the support, and for making this one of the best underground scenes for bands and fans.  We look forward to delivering quality music long into the future, meeting a lot of great people – fans and bands – and continuing to nurture this scene with all of you!

Borracho on Facebook

Borracho’s Bandcamp page

It’s hard to get a handle on Cleveland doom rockers Threefold Law. Embroiled in a curious mysticism, and not exactly forthcoming in the totality of their thematics, the four-piece seem old school in more than just their sound, working to restore some of the mystique to bands that social networking and immediate accessibility have undone. Their latest (and recently-reviewed) release, Revenant, went so far away from today’s lack of emphasis on physical product as to include a printed novella by guitarist/vocalist J. Thorn.

But there’s more to Threefold Law than just reaction against trend and interesting packaging. The music of Revenant, broken up into five tracks named for the classic elements (earth, air, fire, water) with an interlude splitting the middle, follows a surprisingly varied course. Their shifts in sound are subtle, but Thorn and his cohorts — none of whose names are a matter of public record — unfold a gradual growth in complexity so that, by the end of the album, the beginning is far less recognizable.

There’s a lot to ask an outfit like Threefold Law, about why they do what they do and why they do it how they do — or even just who they are — but I figured this would be a good place to start. J. Thorn was more than accommodating, as you can see, and I hope you enjoy the following six dumb questions.

1. Tell me about how you were exposed to the concepts behind Threefold Law? What is your relationship to wicca? Did the band come together around those ideas, or were you playing first and the themes came later?

We relate to many Wiccan themes, such as the Rule of Three. It basically says that whatever you do comes back to you three times over, a variation on the “Golden Rule.” The idea that we’re accountable for our actions, good and bad, is really a universal concept. Wiccans recognize it as a rule of the universe, sort of like gravity.

2. What inspired the story for Revenant? Do you do a lot of fiction writing? How do you feel the story complements the music and vice versa?

A relative of mine passed away last year and we were cleaning out his attic when I came across a dusty copy of Omar Khayyam’s The Rubaiyat. I could tell the book was pretty old and saw that someone scribbled “1904” on the inside cover. I sat on the floor and read it from start to finish. Edward Fitzgerald translated the poem in Victorian England and it has this flowery, epic tone that really drew me in. I immediately began formulating a concept around the piece, which in turn inspired the music. When I brought the idea to the band, they ran with it. At that point, Revenant took on a life of its own. The story and the music are intricately tied together. The vision was to have our fans read the story while listening to the album, from start to finish. It’s a throwback to the days when bands tried hard to create a piece of art instead of a single for iTunes. If you remember reading liner notes while listening to a band’s new record, you’ll appreciate Revenant. We’ve included the entire album and story on our website which is free to listen and read. You can purchase it from our merch page.

In addition to Threefold Law, I write novels. I currently have one novel on Amazon.com in their Kindle store titled The Seventh Seal. I have five more that I’m in the process of formatting for the ebook readers. My writing tends to fall into two general genres. The Seventh Seal and my new novel, Preta’s Realm (coming Fall 2011) are both contemporary horror/suspense stories in the style of Stephen King or Richard Laymon. My other novels are epic fantasy (three of which are a series) that have the same vibe as Revenant.

Like music, I’m a compulsive writer. An addict. After sending dozens of queries to agents with the hopes of having a publisher pick up one of my novels, I abandoned the idea. Agents and publishers want mass appeal. I write what I love to read, and that’s a highly specific target audience and it ain’t soccer moms or beach paperbacks. With the demise of booksellers (Borders just announced it’s closing all stores), I felt it was time to embrace the future and prepare to sell my novels directly to readers in an electronic format. I know who they are and I don’t need a publicist or an agent to find them.

3. Between the CD/book combo and the double-EP collection/USB key, you’re building quite a catalog of special editions. What’s the appeal of that for you? Are you a collector yourself?

We’re really thoughtful about everything we do. The blessing of the mp3 age is that anyone can get music directly to fans. That’s also the curse. There is no question that the music is the priority, and it has to be killer. But there are a lot of bands making killer music. We want to create an experience for our listener, something that will resonate, something that connects. By offering releases that are all “special editions” we’re providing a unique product in an otherwise oversaturated market.

I own over 1,500 CD’s, cassettes, and albums. I’m a collector and purchasing the “special editions” has always been a blast. I remember searching record stores for import versions of my favorite albums, just for that bonus track or different artwork. One of my favorite release mediums was the “box set.” I own the first edition Led Zeppelin box set and the original Live Shit: Binge and Purge released by Metallica in the early ‘90s. Even though it was shitty Black Album-era Metallica, the box set has live performances of early Metallica and tons of cool extras in it.

4. What was behind structuring Revenant with the titles of the four elements? How did that play thematically into the story (acknowledging that the story was also broken into chapters that way), and how closely related were the lyrics of the songs to those elements?

Again, the Rubaiyat gave us a loose structure for Revenant, but we created our unique take on it. There isn’t anything directly connected to the elements in Khayyam’s work, but we felt it lent a signature vibe to each track. “Earth” and “Fire” are heavier, more grounded tunes while “Air” and “Water” have a lighter, more fluid feel. “Interlude” gives the listener context and something very different from everything else we’ve recorded. We care greatly about dynamics. I get fatigued by a recording that is 10 tracks of double-bass drum at 180 bpm. The elements in the story, as chapters, help to push the themes through different written dynamics as well.

5. Any chance you’ll reveal the identities of the rest of the band? Is there a philosophy behind keeping proper names out of it?

No. Yes.

6. What’s next for the band? Any more recordings this year or anything else you want to mention?

We’ve been writing material for our next record, which we’d like to have done by the end of 2011. We have a concept, but we haven’t fully developed it yet. We’re also in the process of scoping out studios in Cleveland. Chances are we’ll track the next record in a commercial studio.

As your readers are probably aware, we won the Soda Shop/Heavy Planet March Bandness contest this past spring. “Earth” is featured on the second Soda Shop Compilation coming out soon. We’ve just struck a deal with a Swedish distributor who is getting our product into over 1,400 record shops in Europe, and we’ve had interest from one of Cleveland’s finest metal bands to collaborate on a project in the near future. This fall we’re considering a regional tour with another killer Cleveland band that could take us through Chicago, Columbus, and Cincinnati. Eventually we’d love to head east through Pennsylvania and into the New Jersey/New York metro area. I used to live in your neck of the woods and know there is an appreciation for heavy music in the Garden State.

Threefold Law is keeping us very busy.

Threefold Law’s website

Threefold Law on Thee Facebooks

It’s been four years since UK instrumental heavy proggers Sons of Alpha Centauri released their self-titled full-length on Sound Devastation, and though they’ve got another record in the works, it’s not like the four-piece has been sitting still since that time. In 2009, they released one of the best albums of that year in Ceremony to the Sunset, the debut of Yawning Sons, their collaboration with Gary Arce of Californian desert legends Yawning Man, as well as a split with Karma to Burn offshoot Treasure Cat.

In 2011, Sons of Alpha Centauri return with another installment of Yawning Sons. This time, it’s a split 7″ with another of Arce‘s many projects, Waterways, and, as SOAC proper, another split 7″ — this one with Karma to Burn. If you believe in guilt by association, Sons of Alpha Centauri have thrown themselves headfirst into the upper echelon of the instrumental heavy underground, and while one hopes their next offering lives up to the high standard they’ve set in these collaborations, their progressive atmospheres have already helped make several strong releases even stronger.

There’s a lot to keep up with, so all the more reason to hit up bassist Nick Hannon to get a better sense of everything happening with the band. Fortunately, he was kind enough to field the interview and you’ll find the results below.

Sons of Alpha Centauri is Hannon, guitarist Marlon King, first-name-only ambience specialist Blake and drummer Stevie B. Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions.

1. How did the collaboration/split projects with Gary Arce and Karma to Burn come about? Does the writing process differ at all when you know someone else is going to be playing on the track?

The projects were quite straightforward to arrange. I called Gary and Will and they both responded with interest to develop some new music. SOAC are a flexible band and both Gary and Will [Mecum, Karma to Burn] are accommodating musicians. As such, when they came over, they used our equipment, and compositionally, we held the bass and drums low with room for guitars to breathe along. It was great to watch the tracks unfold in front of us from there! We played and practiced by the sea and everyone found it a very emotional and inspirational experience.

2. Tell me about the Yawning Sons process this time around. Did Gary come to the UK again to record?

No, no Gary by the sea this time! The track on the vinyl came from an original demo from the Garden Sessions from when we were all recording over in Marlon’s garden. There are quite a few tracks that didn’t make it onto Ceremony to the Sunset and that’s one of them. We didn’t have time in the studio so we re-recorded it and sent it over the Gary who laid it down thick on his end. We had it mastered at Abbey Road and it sounds very chilled. Just like when we were in the garden!

3. Any idea on a release date for the new Sons of Alpha Centauri full-length? How has the recording been, and can you give any hint as to what can be expected from the album? Did you have anything in mind specifically for the songwriting and recording?

We have been determined in writing and recording the second album but there’ll be plenty of music on there, so it’s not going to be a short production. Blake is having a much greater role in the band compared to six or seven years ago and it’s been great to grow since writing and recording the debut. All I can say for the time being is that it’s next logical step and level for us from the debut. Strangely we’ve been together 10 years and we’ve only just started recording our second album! We’re aiming for a release date of mid/late-2012.

4. Talk about the development of the Sons of Alpha Centauri sound. Do you feel that these collaborations have had an effect on how you create new material?

As we had hoped, we’ve grown from the collaborations and accelerated our learning curve for new ideas and exploration of sound for sure. In a way they’ve developed into entities in their own right now, which is cool. For the first five years we wrote 35 songs and picked some for an introduction to some of the styles we liked. The new album is a complete concept in itself and we’re really excited about it.

5. What does the word “progressive” mean to you?

To spiritually evolve organically within your environment. Musically the same applies to SOAC and Yawning Sons. We’re both progressive bands for sure – always evolving!

6. What’s next for you guys? Will you do any other joint projects or releases between now and the next Sons of Alpha Centauri release? Is anything in the works as far as touring after the record comes out?

Well, we’re busy at the moment, which is good. Later this year we’ll be finishing off and putting out the next Space Age and Cheesecake release on 7” vinyl. This is the second in the SOAC/Karma to Burn 7” series as it goes. As with the previous release it’s got a new SOAC track on there and new artwork from Alex Von Wieding. We’ll also be doing a special 12” release before the second album comes out so we’ll be focusing on that for the New Year. Got some great people involved with that…

As for touring, we’re hoping to play some shows in Europe next year and depending on our setup we’ll be looking to bring our background visual setup with us like we’ve been using for the UK shows.

Sons of Alpha Centauri’s website

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Space Age & Cheesecake Records