As noted back in February, the new group Big Scenic Nowhere brings together guitarists Bob Balch of Fu Manchu and Gary Arce from Yawning Man. The band inherits its name from a past Arce project but ultimately doesn’t have much more to do with it than that. Fine. Over the last two months, more and more has been trickling out as progress on their first recordings has been made. Nick Oliveri was announced as playing bass, Bill Stinson was announced as drumming. Awesome.

Then came the guests. Thomas Jäger from Monolord. Tony Reed from Mos Generator. Lisa Alley and Ian Graham from The Well. Oh, and then fucking Per Wiberg is on keys? Come on. And Mario Lalli takes over on bass for the second of the two tracks? Seriously?

The finished result is called Dying on the Mountain and it will be released through Blues Funeral Recordings‘ PostWax subscription series, for which I’ll be writing the liner notes. Needless to say, there’s plenty to talk about. Most of it rounds out to “holy crap this is awesome.”

Balch announced the EP was done thusly:

The first BIG SCENIC NOWHERE E.P. is all done! Should be out mid summer. Working on the full length now which should be out in the fall. More guest musicians too! From the BIG SCENIC NOWHERE instagram…

Our first EP is done! “Dying On The Mountain” features two songs. A 19 min space rock jam named “Dying On The Mountain (including “Altered Ages”)” featuring Gary Arce on guitar, Bob Balch on guitar, Nick Oliveri on bass and Bill Stinson on drums. Ian and Lisa from THE WELL sing the intro and outro, Tony Reed from MOS GENERATOR has a five minute track within the jam named “Altered Ages” and Per Wiberg from OPETH, SPIRITUAL BEGGARS, CANDLEMASS is on keys.

The second song, “Towards The Sun” is super heavy and hooky and features Gary Arce on guitar, Bob Balch on guitar, Mario Lalli on bass and Bill Stinson on drums. Tony Reed and Thomas Jäger from MONOLORD both sing on that track. Thanks to everyone involved on this EP! Should be out mid summer. Now on to the full length which will be released in the fall. More guest musicians on that one too!

https://www.instagram.com/bigscenicnowhere/
https://www.facebook.com/bluesfuneral/
https://www.bluesfuneral.com

It’s a science-fact that any relationship based on a mutual enjoyment of tacos is bound to last, and so it is that Yawning Man‘s Gary Arce and Fu Manchu‘s Bob Balch enter into partnership as a double-guitar version of Big Scenic Nowhere, a one-time Arce offshoot from Yawning Man that featured that band’s bassist Mario Lalli as well as Lalli‘s Fatso Jetson bandmate, drummer Tony Tornay. There was a demo (discussed here) that floated around the interwebs and pieces of which can still be heard on YouTube and elsewhere, but that version of Big Scenic Nowhere eventually morphed into WaterWays and that would seem to have been that for the band.

No word on whether Lalli and Tornay are involved in the new incarnation of Big Scenic Nowhere with Balch and Arce, but the project will debut as part of the PostWax subscription vinyl series — for which I write the liner notes; full disclosure — and then follow-up with a standalone LP, so it looks like we’ll find out soon enough.

The PR wire has info:

Bob Balch (Fu Manchu) and Gary Arce (Yawning Man) to debut heavy riff-psych project BIG SCENIC NOWHERE as part of the anticipated POSTWAX subscription series.

Duo gears up for two Big Scenic Nowhere releases, starting with an exclusive PostWax release in June, then a full album later in 2019.

Blues Funeral Recordings has confirmed that BIG SCENIC NOWHERE is the last band to land a spot on the inaugural year of PostWax, its ambitious series of exclusive stoner/doom/heavy psych records that launched with a massively successful Kickstarter last November.

The brainchild of Fu Manchu guitarist Bob Balch and Yawning Man guitarist Gary Arce, BIG SCENIC NOWHERE is a project built around massive riff-power and singular guitar atmospherics, like a soundtrack to vast canyons and endless highways that explodes with stratospheric fuzz and ambient delay.

Together, the two guitar gods are creating a heavy transmutation that’s certain to deliver for fans of both of their primary bands, and certainly to those who signed up for PostWax early on without knowing what was to come until now.

Talking about how Big Scenic Nowhere came together, Balch says:

“Gary posted a pic of Del Taco on his Facebook page, saying “it’s good to be back home” after a two month Yawning Man tour. I commented with my usual order, regular red with sour cream. I think that triggered something, because be called me minutes later saying he wanted to start a heavy rock band and wanted me involved. We jammed a few days later and it was gnarly. So many ideas. We started taking about other musicians and the list grew. I don’t want to jinx it, but this record will blow people’s minds. The riffs are super creative and the musicians involved are at the top of the genre.”

Adding to that enthusiasm, Arce says:

“Bob and I just had a mutual respect for each other’s playing. We spoke a few times about jamming together and it finally happened, two completely different approaches to the guitar but a common ground was found… a musical sweet spot of heaviness and ambient, experimental power riffs!”

The pair promise several more incredible additions to the project that it’s too early to mention, but whatever they turn out to be, PostWax subscribers will be the first to hear it when Big Scenic Nowhere is unveiled as part of the series this summer.

PostWax year one will include exclusive new releases from psych-metal boundary-breakers ELDER, Brooklyn metalgaze trio SPOTLIGHTS, apocalyptic doomsters DOMKRAFT with a guest appearance from MARK LANEGAN, and desert rock progenitors LOWRIDER, among others, with 7 records total set to land during 2019.

More info on PostWax can be found via the label at bluesfuneral.com, with additional details on the project and Big Scenic Nowhere coming soon.

https://www.instagram.com/bigscenicnowhere/
https://www.facebook.com/bluesfuneral/
https://www.bluesfuneral.com

Big Scenic Nowhere, “Demo 1”

As they make ready to appear next month at Desertfest Belgium 2018, Swedish trio Domkraft announce they’ve signed on with Blues Funeral Recordings — founded by the enviable tastes and entrepreneurship of Jadd Shickler, who once upon a time started a little company called MeteorCity and thereby helped shaped heavy rock as we know it today — for the release of their second album, titled Flood. They’re streaming a new song from the record now called  “The Watchers,” and one can only hope that The Watchers will respond with a track called “Domkraft,” but in the meantime, the Stockholm outfit will also feature on Magnetic Eye Records‘ impending Pink Floyd tribute, The Wall [Redux], about which you should stay tuned for more to come around these parts.

Domkraft‘s debut LP, The End of Electricity (review here), was issued in 2016. The PR wire fills in on everything they have going on, and there’s plenty:

Domkraft share first track from forthcoming sophomore album Flood

Swedish trio Domkraft share the first track from their forthcoming sophomore album Flood.

The album will be the first release on new label Blues Funeral Recordings, founded by former MeteorCity (Truckfighters, Nebula, The Obsessed) cofounder Jadd Shickler.

Domkraft will also appear on Magnetic Eye Records’ massive Pink Floyd homage, THE WALL [REDUX]. Out in November, the song-by-song recreation and reimagining of the iconic Floyd double album features recognizable artists including The Melvins, Mark Lanegan, ASG, Pallbearer, Ruby the Hatchet and Scott Reeder, and includes Domkraft’s rendition of the song, “Empty Spaces.”

Musically, Sweden has always been exceptional at sensing and seizing upon significant moments. And at a time when political chaos and societal unrest have deadened our senses, it takes a band with monolithic, hypnotic power to secure our attention and offer a mollifying score to civilization’s decline. Domkraft are that gloriously massive and land-levelling band.

If debut album The End of Electricity was the soundtrack to the impending apocalypse, then follow-up Flood provides the musical backdrop to armageddon in full, The Purge-style swing. A strong contender to dominate a style some are calling the New Wave of Swedish Doom Metal, Domkraft wield a mindbending soundscape of obeliskian riff-majesty, layer upon layer of crushing fury weaving through the wormhole punctures of spacetime in defiance of beginnings and endings.

Majestic, annihilating, reductive and roaring, Flood merges blackwater tributaries from Neurois, YOB, Monolord, and Windhand into an all-encompassing torrent of nothingness and resignation, but in the most singable, appealing way imaginable. There is no fan of blistering, melodic doom on earth who should be without this record.

DOMKRAFT. Their name combines the Swedish “DOM” for judgement and “KRAFT” for power.

The seeds for this monolithic Stockholm band were planted in Gothenburg, where bassist/singer Martin Wegeland, guitarist Martin Widholm and drummer Anders Dahlgren met while playing in various musical constellations.

Bonding over the likes of Spacemen 3, Monster Magnet, Sleep and Hawkwind, plus a fascination with trudging, 10-minute/three chord songs, they finally came together after each relocated to Stockholm. Drawing from the heaviest of their combined influences, the three spent spent years shaping and crafting a sound that blends towering dirges of annihilating doom, mindbending psychedelia, and hypnotic minimalism.

“Our songs build from one riff, played LOUD, then we add and lose parts to mold it into something powerful,” says bassist/vocalist Martin Wegeland. “Focusing on the dramaturgy of the songs, we have clear images in mind when writing, often inspired by films like Jake Paltrow’s Young Ones, Stephen Fingleton’s The Survivalist and (of course) The Road Warrior, though we never let it interfere with the groove and energy. The results of our songwriting method may differ in shape from one song to the next, but the foundation is always the same — repetition and volume! You’ll eventually get sick of every melody, but grooves are forever.”

Flood will be available on LP and download on October 19th, 2018 via Blues Funeral Recordings.

Artist: Domkraft
Album: Flood
Record Label: Blues Funeral Records
Release Date: October 19th, 2018

01. Landslide
02. The Watchers
03. Flood
04. They Appear To Be Alive
05. Sandwalker
06. Octopus
07. Dead Eyes, Red Skies

Domkraft is:
Martin Widholm – Guitar
Martin Wegeland – Bass & Vocals
Anders Dahlgren – Drums

domkraft.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/domkraftband
https://www.facebook.com/bluesfuneral
https://www.bluesfuneral.com/

Domkraft, “The Watchers”