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Eye of the Stoned Goat 5 Official Poster Unveiled; Lineup Finalized

Posted in Visual Evidence on February 19th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

Tickets go on sale March 6 for Eye of the Stoned Goat 5, set to take place June 12-13 at Amityville Music Hall, on Long Island. The Golden Grass and Mos Generator will headline, and the lineup has been finalized to include acts from the East Coast, the West Coast and in between — Lord FowlWounded Giant and Brimstone Coven, if you need an example of each — in what’s without a doubt the most expansive Stoned Goat festival yet.

The poster for this year’s Stoned Goat is by Joe Mruk, and you can see the final version below (click to make it even larger) followed by the official lineup announcement from the fest:

eye of the stoned goat 5 poster

‘Eye of the Stoned Goat 5’ announces official lineup for summer festival!

Snake Charmer Booking is pleased to announce the final artist lineup for the annual celebration of stoner-psychedelic rock and doom-heavy metal known as The Eye of the Stoned Goat Festival—now in its 5th year. The two-day fest, featuring some of the most exciting talent of the Mid-Atlantic, East and West Coast, will take place June 12th and 13th 2015 at the Amityville Music Hall in Long Island, New York.

Headlining the Friday night opener on June 12th are Brooklyn, New York trio The Golden Grass (Svart Records), whose catchy progressive psychedelic self-titled debut received numerous accolades as the “Best of 2014.” Another band that has received copious amounts of praise from rock blogs and music rags alike are none other than Long Island’s long-running rock outfit John Wilkes Booth, whose album ‘Useless Lucy’ was mentioned in many journalists “Best of 2014” lists. Also joining the bill from Long Island territory, those wildly eclectic heavy rockers Moon Tooth, who Metal Injection recently named one of “10 Awesome Underground Bands You Need in Your Life!”

Naturally, it wouldn’t be a ‘Stoned Goat’ show without giving attendees a healthy dose of band from the excellent Small Stone Records label. This year’s elite selection includes three bands that are simply a treat to bring to the stage: Boston’s master craftsmen and 2014 Desertfest alums, Gozu; local New York natives It’s Not Night: It’s Space; and returning ‘Stoned Goat’ retro rockers Lord Fowl, currently working on the follow-up to their 2012 riff encyclopedia, Moon Queen.

More contenders for total rock domination include Ripple Music stalwarts White Dynomite, composed of former members of such fine acts as Roadsaw, Lamont, and Wrecking Crew, to name a few. Also on the Ripple Music roster, from Frederick, Maryland: Weed is Weed, featuring Dave Sherman and Gary Isom of Pentagram, Earthride and Spirit Caravan fame. Additionally, hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, fans will experience the infectious “sludge n’ space rock” vibe of Supervoid, who will be heading into the studio in February to record their follow-up to 2013’s Filaments.

For the first time, Seattle Washington’s own rising stars Wounded Giant will be bringing their blistering, monstrous, signature sound to this year’s festival. Also spearheading the volume-dealing campaign from STB Records is Connecticut’s Curse The Son, who’s latest offering Psychache (2014) was widely heralded as “the best of its kind in 2014” by The Sludgelord and other critics. Another band traveling a good distance to bring their doomy, occult craft to the east coast is Metal Blade Records’ newest acquisition, Brimstone Coven, who are currently working on their much anticipated next album for the label. Speaking of travelling a long distances, the festival will witness the U.S. debut of Toronto, Canada’s demonic stoner-blues rockers Ol’ Time Moonshine. Alongside this already hefty bill, ESG5 has decided to treat festival goers to the atmospheric retro-doom stylings of Totem Cat Records’ own Doctor Smoke.

One band that has been tenaciously trekking through the rock scene for over a decade now is Philadelphia’s working class groove dealers, Kingsnake. The four boys of Kingsnake have had the honor of performing alongside such acts as Clutch, The Sword, Scorpion Child, The Skull, and Vista Chino, to name a few. Also on board for the 5th installment of the festival, Long Island locals Borgo Pass—a popular act that has developed quite an impressive loyal following.

Last, but not least, officially closing out this year’s Eye of the Stoned Goat festival is none other than Port Orchard, Washington’s stoner rock torch-bearer’s Mos Generator. This marks the band’s first ever performance in New York. Mos Generator have released 5 studio albums, a retrospective album, numerous splits, and a live album, attracting such labels as Roadburn, Small Stone, Ripple, Nasoni, and Lay Bare. For charismatic singer/guitarist Tony Reed and crew, touring has been just as important to the profile of the band as making records. Over the years, Mos Generator has shared the stage with many great heavy rock bands, and in March of 2013 joined a 26-date European tour with Saint Vitus, earning a whole new fan base to their fuzzy, energetic sound. On stage, Mos Generator embodies the word “chemistry,” revolving their sound around swagger and groove, while improvising just enough to keep the songs feeling fresh from night to night—often with delightful results.

Tickets for ‘Eye of the Stoned Goat 5’ will officially go on sale on March 6th 2015. The Event will be 21+ with I.D. Tickets will be $15 per night, or $25 for a weekend pass. For more information on the Eye of the Stoned Goat festival, visit www.TheEyeoftheStonedGoat.com

http://www.TheEyeoftheStonedGoat.com
https://www.facebook.com/TheEyeOfTheStonedGoat
https://www.facebook.com/events/853840991328849/
https://twitter.com/stonedgoatfest

The Golden Grass, A Curious Case/The Pilgrim (2014)

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Eye of the Stoned Goat 5: The Golden Grass and Borgo Pass Added to Lineup

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 2nd, 2015 by JJ Koczan

eye of the stoned goat 5

Lineup additions continue to trickle out in pairs from this year’s Eye of the Stoned Goat fest, to be held June 12 and 13 in Amityville, Long Island. Last we heard, the fest reached across the nation to pluck Wounded Giant out from their Seattle base of operations and have them join with Connecticut’s Curse the Son, and today it’s feelgood Brooklynite trio The Golden Grass and LI’s own Borgo Pass who’ve hopped on board.

To be honest, it would be more of a surprise if Borgo Pass didn’t play Eye of the Stoned Goat 5. The long-running bruise rockers are an institution out on Long Island, gigging regularly and consistently throughout the region for nearly 20 years while staying true to their roots in classic heavy metal, loosely Southern-styled sludge rock and burly groove. Releases have proved infrequent — their latest full-length, Deadwater (review here), came out in 2011, six years after the prior Nervosa — but Borgo Pass have never shied away from a Long Island stage, and to have both them and John Wilkes Booth on the bill, no one could accuse Eye of the Stoned Goat 5 of showing up to Long Island without giving native acts their due.

As regards Brooklyn’s The Golden Grass, their appearance at Eye of the Stoned Goat 5 will follow a trip to Europe for a stop at this year’s Roadburn festival to follow-up on their across-the-pond live debut last fall, with which their latest 7″, A Curious Case/The Pilgrim, was issued to coincide. Their 2014 self-titled full-length (review here) was released by Svart and served as one of last year’s finest first-albums, and they’ll have along with them their new bassist Morgan McDaniel, who joined either at the start of the year or late in 2014 to replace Joe Noval in the trio lineup with guitarist/vocalist Michael Rafalowich and drummer/vocalist Adam Kriney, whose prior outfit, the psych-freakout-prone La Otracina, also seem to be rearing their head once more.

The Eye of the Stoned Goat 5 announced their additions as follows:

Alright Long Island, you wanted them.. You got ’em!

Announcing that appearing on the ESG5 stage this year is none other than New York’s sonic bulldozers… BORGO PASS!!! Additionally, we are absolutely thrilled to announce for the first time on the ‘Eye of the Stoned Goat’ is Brooklyn’s psych-rockers The Golden Grass!!!

https://www.facebook.com/TheEyeOfTheStonedGoat
https://www.facebook.com/BORGOFKNPASS
https://www.facebook.com/thegoldengrass

The Golden Grass, A Curious Case/The Pilgrim (2014)

Borgo Pass, Deadwater (2011)

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Borgo Pass, Deadwater: Sharks off Long Island

Posted in Reviews on July 12th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

Has it really been six years since Borgo Pass released their last album? Nervosa, which came out in 2005, saw the band refine the harder Southern take of the 2002 Slightly Damaged EP, itself the follow-up to 1999’s excellent Powered by Sludge, and now in kind, the long-running Long Island outfit issue their next installment in the 50-minute Deadwater. Like all their albums, it’s self-released, and though the band claims to be “looking for a label home” on their sundry web-presences, I can’t imagine how they wouldn’t have been picked up by now had they really wanted to. They’ve never been a touring act to the best of my recollection, but to think of the slew of East Coast hard rock and metal acts who managed to find labels, it’s hard to believe they didn’t have offers at some point in the last 15-plus years. Shit, if E-Town Concrete can sign to Razor & Tie, surely Borgo Pass could’ve been picked up by someone.

That’s not a sonic comparison, by the way, just thinking of another act of formidable presence in its own region not really known outside of it. And at this point, Borgo Pass are the kings of Long Island. They can always be relied upon to draw a crowd – an eager crowd at that – and they never fail to proffer solid, melodically-aware, guitar-led metal that’s accessible and catchy well beyond the point of commercial viability, but that nonetheless retains some edge of underground-mindedness. On Deadwater, their radio-friendly heaviness comes to full boar. Vocalist James Tamarazzo never screams outright, but clearly puts his whole stomach into his approach nonetheless, and dual guitarists Tom Crane and Paul Rosado lead the rhythm section of bassist Thomas J. Karcher and drummer Joe Wood through 10 tracks (and a bonus Black Sabbath cover, “Tomorrow’s Dream”) of straightforward American metal structures. There are some ears for which Deadwater is going to simply sound too commercial – including, at points, my own – but there’s little on the album to argue against Borgo Pass having long since mastered their craft.

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