Posted in Whathaveyou on April 14th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
You don’t need much more here than the list of bands, which is its own excuse for being. Italian label Heavy Psych Sounds returns to the States at the end of next month with Heavy Psych Sounds Fests in Los Angeles and San Francisco. With the day-splits announced, you get a little more sense of how the two nights in two cities will function (it’s not an insignificant drive from one to the other, mind you) and share bands, but any way you go, you don’t lose, whether you’re looking at Dead Meadow and Weedeater headlining, the appearances of long-running acts like 16 and Danava and Nebula, or relative newcomers in Kadabra or Mountain Tamer and others from the label’s ever-expanding roster of talent.
It’s a fucking solid two day lineup. Doesn’t look completely overwhelming. Looks like a party, which is exactly what I expect it will be for those fortunate enough to be in attendance. Maybe that’s you. If so, cheers. I hear Bongzilla like it if you bring them weed.
From the PR wire:
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST CALIFORNIA 2022 – DAY SPLITS LINE UP
– feat. DEAD MEADOW, WEEDEATER, THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX, BONGZILLA, NEBULA, DANAVA and many more –
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS in cooperation with SUBLIMINAL SF and SOS BOOKING present:
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST CALIFORNIA 2022
28 & 29 May
(Memorial Day weekend)
LOS ANGELES @ 1720 Club
SATURDAY, MAY 28th
DEAD MEADOW DANAVA NEBULA HIPPIE DEATH CULT 16 KADABRA MOUNTAIN TAMER
SUNDAY, MAY 29th
WEEDEATER BONGZILLA THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX HIGH REEPER WARLUNG THE FREEKS JD PINKUS HIGH TON SON OF A BITCH
SAN FRANCISCO @ Openair at Thee Parkside
SATURDAY, MAY 28th
WEEDEATER BONGZILLA THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX HOT LUNCH HIGH REEPER WARLUNG JD PINKUS HIGH TON SON OF A BITCH
SUNDAY, MAY 29th
DEAD MEADOW DANAVA NEBULA HIPPIE DEATH CULT 16 KADABRA MOUNTAIN TAMER DISASTROID
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 2nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Well this looks pretty great. Heavy Psych Sounds-branded festivals are a regular feature across the regular-featuresphere in Europe, but far rarer in the US. The Rome-based imprint has teamed with SubliminalSF and SOS Booking to put on two nights in two cities presented as Heavy Psych Sounds Fest California 2022, and the names included are serious gosh darn business. Dead Meadow, Weedeater, Bongzilla, Nebula, The Atomic Bitchwax. Fucking a. You got Danava and 16 and heck I hope they play back-to-back just because that would be amazing. Imagine that for a second.
The bill doesn’t stop there with the righteousness, which if you know if you either heard the Kadabra debut album last year or watched Mountain Tamer‘s ‘Live in the Mojave Desert’ stream. Remember that? Yeah you do. Someone needs to tell Ryan Jones it’s time for season two.
This was my entire social media feed the other day, the lineup and poster. The Bitchwax and Weedeater are the new adds to finish out the lineup, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they announced tour dates together out west to get to CA. I don’t know that, mind you, but the two East Coast veteran acts have toured together before and it’s not outside the realm of possibility they’d do so again. Just a thought. Hell, let ’em bring High Reeper too.
Party hearty. Or hardy. Whatever. Just party and keep doing that:
Weedeater, The Atomic Bitchwax, Duel and more join Heavy Psych Sounds Fest California 2022 lineup; tickets on sale now!
Heavy Psych Sounds (in association with SubliminalSF and SOS Booking) announce the final names to join the 2022 edition of HPS Fest California, to take place on May 28-29th in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Grab your ticket now!
Sludge metal legends Weedeater and heavy rock stalwarts The Atomic Bitchwax join the lineup, alongside Heavy Psych Sounds bands Duel, Crypt Trip, Hot Lunch, The Freeks, Kadabra, Disastroid, Mountain Tamer and High Tone Son Of A Bitch.
The festival will take place over the Memorial Day weekend as an indoor event at 1720 Club in Los Angeles, and as an open-air event at Thee Parkside venue in San Francisco.
LOS ANGELES – 1720 club SAN FRANCISCO – Open Air at Thee Parkside
FEATURING: DEAD MEADOW WEEDEATER BONGZILLA NEBULA THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX DANAVA 16 DUEL HIGH REEPER HIPPIE DEATH CULT CRYPT TRIP HOT LUNCH THE FREEKS KADABRA WARLUNG MOUNTAIN TAMER DISASTROID HIGH TONE SON OF A BITCH
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 2nd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
With a poster that would seem to honor the Frank Kozik heavy rock works of yore — and by “yore,” I mean about 20-25 years ago — Heavy Psych Sounds Fest will return to California for the second time in 2020, bringing the mightiest Golden State trio Earthless as headliners for stops in San Francisco and Los Angeles, while none other than desert ultra-pioneers Yawning Man will headline a second night in SF with a totally different lineup at a totally different venue. So it works out to be two nights in San Fran, one night in L.A., and the first San Fran show and the L.A. show are the same four bands — Earthless, Danava, High Reeper and Crypt Trip. Meanwhile, as that bill heads south along the coast to L.A., moving into SF is the five-pack of Yawning Man, Brant Bjork — who’ll do a solo acoustic show! — Hot Lunch, Turn Me on Dead Man and recent Heavy Psych Sounds label signees Disastroid.
Not frickin’ shabby, as the kids might (not) say.
You had to know Heavy Psych Sounds Fest would be back in Cali in 2020 after the successful West Coast stint earlier this year, so now where know where and when and with whom it’s happening. Ticket presales are on as of today, so do it up.
Here’s the info:
Earthless, Brant Bjork, Yawning Man and More to Team Up for Heavy Psych Sounds U.S. Festival Dates
Influential Italian Rock ‘N’ Roll Record Label Continues to Expand Its Sphere into North America; Spring 2020 Showcases in Los Angeles and San Francisco Announced
Respected underground rock record label Heavy Psych Sounds is proud to announce details of its 2020 U.S. ‘Heavy Psych Sounds Fest’ live events. Set for March 27 in San Francisco and March 28 in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, the special shows will spotlight an exclusive selection of Heavy Psych Sounds’ blue-chip roster, including live sets from acts such as ex-Kyuss musician Brant Bjork, Yawning Man, High Reeper and Crypt Trip, as well as special guests Earthless, Danava and more.
Headquartered in Rome, Italy, Heavy Psych Sounds specializes in presenting the best artists in the global heavy psych, doom, fuzz blues and space rock realms, and the Heavy Psych Sounds Fest series is no exception, spotlighting the ever-growing label’s dedication to its craft. Earlier this year, the label launched the U.S. festival series with shows in Austin, Dallas, LA and San Francisco; the events met to shining acclaim.
“We are so delighted to announce the second edition of the Heavy Psych Sounds Fests set for this coming spring in California,” says Heavy Psych Sounds label owner Gabriele Fiore. “We are excited to get so many cool bands on board as these line-ups look incredibly rad. Heavy Psych Sounds Records is so proud to have a growing roster of both trendsetting and up-and-coming U.S. based bands and these special shows will prove exactly why.”
HPS FEST CALIFORNIA
Friday 27 March San Francisco – Rickshaw Stop EARTHLESS DANAVA HIGH REEPER CRYPT TRIP
Chances are you never thought ‘spatula of Satan’ was the kind of hook that you’d have stuck in your head. Well, Bay Area heavy skate rockers Hot Lunch will see their new single, Haul of Meat ship out July 16 via Who Can You Trust? Records, and in the span of 3:41, it just might have you rethinking your position on the matter. The single, which comes accompanied on its B-side by “Pot of Gold,” which is a title one might read in any number of ways depending on how clever one is feeling, marks Hot Lunch‘s first outing since 2015’s Slappy Sunday EP (review here) — issued by the now-defunct Scion A/V — and if you’re wondering what the four-piece have been doing with the time in between, uh, I don’t know. Probably hanging out. Skating. Maybe having jobs. You know, life stuff.
With the arrival of Haul of Meat, however, their return to activity comes caked in classic heavy fuzz, the warm and buzzing guitar of Aaron Nudelman holding ’70s-style sway over the shuffle-into-proto-thrash-into-Captain–Beyond-prog-at-the-last-minute groove of bassist Charlie Karr and drummer Rob Alper while vocalist Eric Shea spins the tale of skin-meets-sidewalk woe — the perils of skateboarding providing the fodder for the lyrics, “Hit the ground/Quarter pound/Spatula of Satan,” etc. Obviously the vibe is lighthearted despite any and all scars accrued, and with a live sound and flourish of tambourine and the aforementioned out-of-nowhere turn to prog-circa’72 at the finish, there’s a residual sense of weirdness that only makes it an even better time. Shea ends with a multi-layered “Get behind me, Satan,” as if to underscore the purely West Coast vibe throughout. That sense of, “yeah man we’re just screwing around,” while also kicking serious ass in the process.
As for what Hot Lunch have planned after Haul of Meat, I haven’t the foggiest. New album? Maybe. They’re due, if you believe in “due.” Leading up to the release of the two-songer, they’ll be on the road in Europe, starting June 29 in Switzerland and hitting a good swath of shows over the course of the two weeks-plus following in Germany and Italy, finishing the Heavy Psych Sounds-presented run — more than a jaunt, less than a temporary residence, but definitely a tour — at the respected Stoned from the Underground fest in Germany alongside Nebula, Orchid, Sons of Otis, and of course many others. What comes next, we’ll have to wait and see.
And before I give you over to the stream, you should know that I’m not just running this so I can re-post the band’s quote about scabs turning into cheeseburgers for Satan. That rules, make no mistake, but so does the song.
Tour dates and that badass commentary follows the song on the player below, courtesy of the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Taken from the HOT LUNCH – “Haul Of Meat / Pot Of Gold” 7-inch | WHO-35
Hot Lunch are not ambassadors of skateboarding. They are harbingers of hamburgers. “Haul of Meat” is a skatanic and cautionary canticle that rolls like an avalanche of high-voltage, overdriven fuzz across rumbling rhythms birthed by broken tectonic plates beneath Earthquake City. When asked to explain the caustic lyrics of this urethane-and-wood musing, the band replied, “You know when sometimes you slam so hard that your scabs become cheeseburgers for Satan and the tail of your deck turns into the devil’s spatula?” When further pressed to clarify, they added, “We have a holographic memory. Satan!”
Edition of 500 copies on black vinyl. Free ‘Sacrificial Blood’ sticker included with a limited number of copies! (Only 100 made… Choose your path, but do it wisely!)
HOT LUNCH European Summer Tour 2018: 29.06.2018 CH Frauenfeld-Kaff 30.06.2018 DE Siegen-Vortex 01.07.2018 DE Augsburg-City Club 02.07.2018 DE Mannheim-7er 03.07.2018 DE Leipzig-So&So 04.07.2018 DE Berlin-Urban Spree 05.07.2018 DE Dresden-Chemiefabrik 06.07.2018 CH Olten-Coq D’ Or 07.07.2018 IT Bozen-Mountain Sessions 08.07.2018 IT Sabbioneta-Sabbio Summer Fest 09.07.2018 IT Zerobranco-Altroquando 10.07.2018 IT Torino-Blah Blah 11.07.2018 IT Bologna-Mikasa 12.07.2018 DE Stuttgart-Keller Klub 13.07.2018 CH St Gallen-Rumpeltum 14.07.2018 DE Stoned from the Underground – Festival
HOT LUNCH are Eric Shea – Vocals Aaron Nudelman – Guitars Rob Alper – Drums Charlie Karr – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 30th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Whatever else happens in 2018, I’m pretty sure I’ve just encountered the best usage of the phrase ‘cheeseburgers for satan’ that I’m going to find before December 31. Kudos then, to Bay Area skate rockers Hot Lunch, whose new single, Haul of Meat, is available to preorder now with a July 16 ship date from Who Can You Trust? Records and whose summer European tour is being presented by Heavy Psych Sounds. The run starts on June 29, and I assume they’ll have Haul of Meatwith them on the road, its cautionary tale of, I guess, biting it, being spread far and wide as they make their way to the long-running Stoned from the Underground festival in Germany.
Release info and tour dates follow, both courtesy of the PR wire:
Heavy Psych Sounds Records & Booking is really stoked to announce the *** HOT LUNCH EUROPEAN SUMMER TOUR 2018 ***
Three years since their 2015 Slappy Sunday EP, Hot Lunch has returned from El Studio with a piping hot new single. Yes, “Haul of Meat” is another song inspired by skateboarding. But this isn’t a love letter. If you were expecting them to articulate how falling and getting back up is a metaphor for persistence, you’ve made a wrong turn. Go back. Rebate. And no, this is not one of those inspirational anthems about how pain is just “the feeling of fear leaving your body.” Upon close listen to “Haul Of Meat,” it sounds like the band is trying to warn you that your next case of road rash could wind up as Satan’s ground beef.
Ergo, the members of Hot Lunch are not ambassadors of skateboarding. They are harbingers of hamburgers. “Haul of Meat” is a skatanic and cautionary canticle that rolls like an avalanche of high-voltage, overdriven fuzz across rumbling rhythms birthed by broken tectonic plates beneath Earthquake City. When asked to explain the caustic lyrics of this urethane-and-wood musing, the band replied, “You know when sometimes you slam so hard that your scabs become cheeseburgers for Satan and the tail of your deck turns into the devil’s spatula?” When further pressed to clarify, they added, “We have a holographic memory. Satan!”
Edition of 500 copies on black vinyl. Free ‘Sacrificial Blood’ sticker included with a limited number of copies! (Only 100 made… Choose your path, but do it wisely!)
HOT LUNCH European Summer Tour 2018: 29.06.2018 CH Frauenfeld-Kaff 30.06.2018 DE Siegen-Vortex 01.07.2018 DE Augsburg-City Club 02.07.2018 DE Mannheim-7er 03.07.2018 DE Leipzig-So&So 04.07.2018 DE Berlin-Urban Spree 05.07.2018 DE Dresden-Chemiefabrik 06.07.2018 CH Olten-Coq D’ Or 07.07.2018 IT Bozen-Mountain Sessions 08.07.2018 IT Sabbioneta-Sabbio Summer Fest 09.07.2018 IT Zerobranco-Altroquando 10.07.2018 IT Torino-Blah Blah 11.07.2018 IT Bologna-Mikasa 12.07.2018 DE Stuttgart-Keller Klub 13.07.2018 CH St Gallen-Rumpeltum 14.07.2018 DE Stoned from the Underground – Festival
Hot Lunch is a punk ‘n’ roll band from the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area that specializes in getting loud, getting weird and getting rad. The quartet’s unique blend of brown-acid skate-rock and wah-fuzz proto-metal was born in the bowels of skatanic rituals, biker beer busts and wizard staff meetings. With a head-bludgeoning sound that refuses to take sides (and showers), Hot Lunch are on a hell-bent mission to create the best party soundtrack in the history of all music. Their self-titled debut album was recorded by Tim Green at Louder Studios and is available on all formats by Who Can You Trust? Records (EU), Tee Pee Records and Burger Records (US).
HOT LUNCH are Eric Shea – Vocals Aaron Nudelman – Guitars Rob Alper – Drums Charlie Karr – Bass
If I told you the new Hot Lunch video for “Slappy Sunday” featured grainy-ish footage of dudes skateboarding, would you be surprised? Probably not if you’ve ever heard the band, since grainy-ish footage of dudes skateboarding is kind of their whole aesthetic. Make it catchy as hell and you’re ready to roll down some sprawling West Coast sidewalk, kickflipping all the way. There is a plot to the new clip, though, and it involves a dude dressed as a giant taco.
Basically what you’ve got is the band and a couple other skater types are doing their thing in a parking lot somewhere, as one does when that’s their thing, and somebody orders tacos. Taco Guy shows up in full taco regalia and is like, “Yo, here’s your tacos now I gotta get mine,” and they give him a buck and a taco and he gets pissed and wants more money. Which is legit. That extra probably comes out of his taco delivery paycheck. The band doesn’t really have a leg to stand on, argument-wise, but there are like eight dudes hanging out, so they all get on their skateboards and chase Taco Guy into the Volcom skate park, where it turns out — here’s the twist — he can shred. Skate-brodom ensues and all is well as “Slappy Sunday” draws to a close.
At least that’s how I read it. If you’ve got a different take, I’m all ears. Hot Lunch‘s Slappy Sunday EP (review here) is available now as a free download from Scion A/V. Video is below, followed by some info off the PR wire. Dig it:
Hot Lunch, “Slappy Sunday” official video
SCION AUDIO VISUAL AND HOT LUNCH PREMIERE NEW “SLAPPY SUNDAY” VIDEO
Hot Lunch, the Bay Area band, premiere a video for the title track from their Scion AV Slappy Sunday EP.
The skate-centric clip, which was filmed in part at Volcom, features clips of the band interspersed with a group of mischievous California skateboarders, including Shea Cooper and Trevor Ward.
“We’re beyond stoked about this latest batch of tunes,” said Hot Lunch drummer Rob Alper. “Both structurally and sonically they’re true to Hot Lunch form, but we can’t help feel that this five-headed beast is of a new breed. Born of an all night rock ‘n’ roll house party? Or following a ferocious Sunday curb-skating session? We know not from whence it came. We’re honored to continue working with Scion A/V to bring high-energy punk ‘n’ roll music to the people! The Slappy Sunday EP is up-to-the-very-minute Hot Lunch in all its fuzzy, monstrous glory!”
Posted in audiObelisk on March 24th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
If living the dream makes you want to scream, San Francisco four-piece Hot Lunch invite you to “live the nightmare” in one of the several infectious hooks on their new Scion A/V EP, Slappy Sunday. Out next week, March 31, the five-song release follows Hot Lunch‘s appearance on the Riley Hawk-curated (also for Scion) Northwest Blow Out compilation alongside Kadavar, The Black Angels and Loom, as well as their Who Can You Trust? Records self-titled debut, released in 2013, an EP for Heavy Psych Sounds and other sundry appearances on splits the last couple years to go along with slots at Scion Rock Fest and the venerable daydream Duna Jam in Sardinia. If it seems like a lot of people are ready to get behind the band, they are, and it won’t take long into the Slappy Sunday EP before you figure out why.
Hot Lunch tap into a blend of proto-heavy rock and punk that’s so seamless it practically rewrites history. Slappy Sunday has five tracks — “Slappy Sunday,” “Expectations,” “China Banks,” “Pot of Gold” and the prior-alluded “Living the Nightmare” — and by the time its 17 minutes are through, the band has offered classic two-guitar soloing Thin Lizzy-style (as on “Pot of Gold”), introduced the Ramones to Jimi Hendrix (with “Expectations”), conjured simple, raw brashness (on the title-track) and even found room for some acoustic work (on “Living the Nightmare”). With “China Banks” as its centerpiece, Slappy Sunday shows off an impressive range, but even more, there’s little to no hiccup in terms of how the songs relate to each other. Classically styled and analog-sounding, Hot Lunch make difficult stylistic turns sound easy; a molten aesthetic that shifts according to the whims of deceptively complex songwriting.
Today I have the pleasure of hosting “China Banks” for stream and download ahead of the Slappy Sunday release next week. The last of an initial three songs all under three minutes before the final two cuts reach past the four-minute mark, it’s a bombastic hook that melds shuffle and thrust smoothly as it works its way to a quick, somewhat understated conclusion. Hot Lunch — the lineup of Eric Shea, Aaron Nudelman, Rob Alper and Charlie Karr — have places to be, and even in the longer tracks, they don’t linger, but “China Banks” should still provide a solid look at what’s on offer with their new Scion EP, and one doubts it will be the last we’ll hear from them this year.
Please enjoy “China Banks” on the player below, followed by the link to the EP at Scion A/V and some comment from the band, courtesy of the PR wire:
Hot Lunch, the San Francisco-based band, releases the Slappy Sunday EP on March 31 via Scion Audio Visual.
“We’re beyond stoked about this latest batch of tunes,” said Hot Lunch drummer Rob Alper. “Both structurally and sonically they’re true to Hot Lunch form, but we can’t help feel that this five-headed beast is of a new breed. Born of an all night rock ‘n’ roll house party? Or following a ferocious Sunday curb-skating session? We know not from whence it came. We’re honored to continue working with Scion A/V to bring high-energy punk ‘n’ roll music to the people! The Slappy Sunday EP is up-to-the-very-minute Hot Lunch in all its fuzzy, monstrous glory!”
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 17th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
The forthcoming Slappy Sunday EP will be the third collaboration between San Francisco outfit Hot Lunch and Scion Audio Visual, after participating in the Riley Hawk-curated Northwest Blow Out and previously issuing a limited 7″. They seem to be shooting for “house band,” which is probably a pretty good gig to get. “Slappy Sunday,” the boogie-ready title-track from the aforementioned new EP, has been made available as a free download ahead of the full release on March 31.
An invitation to dig comes via the PR wire:
HOT LUNCH RELEASE SLAPPY SUNDAY EP VIA SCION AUDIO VISUAL
TITLE TRACK AVAILABLE NOW FOR FREE DOWNLOAD; FULL EP AVAILABLE MARCH 31
Hot Lunch, the San Francisco-based band, releases the Slappy Sunday EP on March 31 via Scion Audio Visual.
“We always welcome the opportunity to work with bands early in their careers,” explained Jeri Yoshizu, manager of sales promotions at Scion. “Hot Lunch is exactly the type of artist we like to align ourselves with: smart, talented and hard working.”
Hot Lunch’s history with Scion Audio Visual extends back to the band’s origins with the quartet having played Scion Rock Fest 2013, Scion Rock Show in Los Angeles and Scion Rock Fest 2014. The Bay Area band was also part of the recent Riley Hawk curated Northwest Blow Out EP, with the song “Uprooted” and previously offered up the song “There’s Nothing Like Revenge for Getting Back at People” via a limited edition 7-inch single.
“We’re beyond stoked about this latest batch of tunes,” said Hot Lunch drummer Rob Alper. “Both structurally and sonically they’re true to Hot Lunch form, but we can’t help feel that this five-headed beast is of a new breed. Born of an all night rock ‘n’ roll house party? Or following a ferocious Sunday curb-skating session? We know not from whence it came. We’re honored to continue working with Scion A/V to bring high-energy punk ‘n’ roll music to the people! The Slappy Sunday EP is up-to-the-very-minute Hot Lunch in all its fuzzy, monstrous glory!”
Hot Lunch’s Slappy Sunday EP track listing:
Slappy Sunday Expectations China Banks Pot of Gold Living the Nightmare