12:31AM - Their budget is by no means the highest, and at one point, the video seems to just cut to a shot of a dude rubbing his sword in the woods — why does everything sound like euphemism to me lately? — but frankly, it’s precisely acts like Dali’s Llama who I find most inspiring. The Palm Springs outfit led by Zach (guitar/vocals) and Erica (bass) Huskey have been at it for 20 years, have shown no sign of slowing down, and continue on with what drives them regardless of trend, promotion or anything else. They play out in the desert, but don’t really tour, and they release albums on the regular of quality tracks put to tape on their own terms and released through their own label. We should all be so independently motivated.

And by we, I mean me. Because you’re independently motivated, out there, making things happen. Me, well — to me, my laptop — like Silver Surfer and his board, long ago, Galactus decreed that I’d be tethered to this thing and that’s kind of how it’s worked out ever since. I doubt Joe Satriani will write a record about it, but having occasion to run into an act like Dali’s Llama every now and again, who so much epitomize the ideal of creating and following your own path, it makes me want to follow my own. I’m not just blowing smoke up the band’s ass either — no reason to, really — I think that in the whole time I’ve been running this site they’re one of the most admirable acts I’ve been fortunate enough to come across. Further, their last record, Autumn Woods (review here), was the most realized yet of the ones I’ve heard in their 11-strong discography.

It’s short, but the track “Bad Dreams” comes from that record, and you’ll find the video for it below. Enjoy:

Dali’s Llama, “Bad Dreams”

I don’t know if it actually is, but this show probably should be something of a legend. On May 16, 1986, Saint Vitus played the Palm Springs Community Center in — you guessed it — Palm Springs, California. It was their first gig with new vocalist Scott “Wino” Weinrich, still months before that lineup — Wino, guitarist Dave Chandler, bassist Mark Adams and drummer Armando Acosta – would release the pivotal Born too Late, which has arguably become one of the most influential American doom albums released, though they’re anything but shaky. The six-song set reportedly went like this:

Saint Vitus
Prayer for the (M)asses
Clear Windowpane
Zombie Hunger
White Stallions

Also on the bill was Across the River, whose lineup featured Mario Lalli (of Yawning Man/Fatso Jetson) with Alfredo Hernandez (of Yawning Man) and Scott Reeder (later of The Obsessed and Goatsnake), both of whom would later join Kyuss. It was reportedly also Reeder‘s 21st birthday, but just to have so many crucial figures in doom and desert rock playing one show is mind-boggling. And one better? The dude filming the show was Larry Lalli, who in a few more years would be playing bass in Fatso Jetson. One can only assume a young Brant Bjork was in the crowd somewhere, getting ideas and scratching his teenaged peach-fuzz of a beard.

The whole set is up for streaming, as well as a cut or two from Across the River, should you feel like going searching, but in picking a single track, I decided to go with “Prayer for the (M)asses” precisely because it’s probably not as recognizable as the other stuff they played that night. Hell, I’m pretty sure Vitus is still playing that other stuff on tour. On the other hand, tucked away as the closer of 1985′s Hallow’s Victim, “Prayer for the (M)asses” has hardly had the same kind of reverence paid to it as the rest of the setlist.

Most notable for its lyrics, which I admit are barely audible in the video (hey, it was 1986), “Prayer for the (M)asses” was almost a line-for-line rewrite of Black Sabbath‘s Christian metal precedent-setting “After Forever.” So much so that “Have you ever thought about your soul and can it be saved?” became “Or else with your stupid soul you will have to pay,” and the lines were set to a riff close enough to that of the band’s eponymous song, “Saint Vitus,” that putting the two next to each other in a live setting, one might’ve thought it was simply a different part of the same piece.

Maybe “Prayer for the (M)asses” isn’t one for the greatest hits collection, but at least in the video below, it was part of a pretty special show. Kudos to Larry Lalli for capturing it, since this kind of thing should be in a museum somewhere. At least playing in a bar. I’d have sworn the video of this show came out with the Southern Lord reissue of Vitus‘ aptly-named 1990 live album, Live, but I don’t have the disc on hand to check. In any case, enjoy and have a great Wino Wednesday:

Undervalued stalwarts Dali’s Llama are the kind of band that 15 years from now someone’s going to make a documentary about. And rightly so. The largely-unpromoted desert rocking Palm Springs, California, foursome will celebrate two full decades of existence in 2013, and they hit that anniversary behind the release of their beefy 10th (or possibly 11th) album, Autumn Woods. As always, they’ve issued the disc via their own Dali’s Llama Records, and where their prior outing, 2010’s Howl Do You Do? (review here), saw them step outside of their long-since established desert blues rock aesthetic, and frontman Zach Huskey (vocals/guitar) veered even further away from Dali’s Llama in 2011 with the heavy rocking side-project Ogressa’s Warts and All debut (review here), Autumn Woods makes for an excellent homecoming while still providing a twist on the more trademark desert-isms of records like 2009’s Raw is Real (review here) or the prior Full on Dunes (review here). As one might be able to glean from looking at bassist Erica Huskey in the photo on the album’s cover – clad in a cape and peeking out from behind a tree to look at the sky while drummer Craig Brown, her guitarist/vocalist/husband Zach, and guitarist Joe Wangler stand out front – not to mention the title itself, Autumn Woods is less about desert sands than it is darker atmospheres derived from classic metal. Dali’s Llama aren’t about to start writing about castles, steeds or epic battles, but filtering thicker distortion and more metallic atmospheres through their inherent desertitude (*copyright The Obelisk 2012), the Huskeys, Wangler and Brown both return to their musical roots and stem from them in a new and exciting way. A production job from none other than Scott Reeder presents Dali’s Llama with suitable tonal thickness on cuts like “The Gods” or the 9:36 centerpiece title-track, but still leaves the band room to move in terms of tempo, as they do on the punkier opener “Bad Dreams” or later “P.O.A.,” which starts off with a near-thrash intensity before cutting the pace for a more grooving second half… of its total 1:26.

That’s one thing that’s always been true of Dali’s Llama since I first encountered them: they are remarkably efficient. Like Howl Do You Do? was with its focus on classic horror punk and alternate reality early ‘60s surf, Autumn Woods sounds like an album approached with a specific sonic concept in mind, i.e. someone in the band saying, “Let’s make a record that sounds like this.” And they do. Top to bottom, Autumn Woods retains Dali’s Llama’s characteristic lack of pretense even as it’s based entirely on one – namely, that they’re a metal band. Of course, they’re not a metal band, and through Zach lets out a scream before the apex of penultimate track “O.K. Freak Out,” at their core, they’re still playing heavy desert rock and they retain the penchant for wah, for rolling groove and for classic rock structures led by riffs. No complaints at that. Catchy highlights “Goatface,” “Nostalgia” – on which cleaner vocals top a more open verse before the chorus takes flight – and the later Sabbathian “The Gods” provide landmarks around the title-track, and each song presents a personality of its own despite sharing the elements of chugging guitar, straightforward vibes and variations on Zach’s punker-bluesman’s snarl. The lead lines in “Blowholes and Fur” seem to nod at Deep Purple’s “Woman from Tokyo,” but even this Dali’s Llama work quickly to make their own, and while it’s a strong and distinguishable instrumental hook, the context they give it makes all the difference, accompanying a meaty chug made even thicker by Erica’s concurrent low end work. Even on “Autumn Woods,” I wouldn’t call them showy, but the extended cut (the next closest is “O.K. Freak Out” at 5:22, though “The Gods,” which follows, also hits 5:19) does give them room to range as far as they’d like, which structurally is something of a departure, despite Zach’s croon tying the early verses to the rest of the album and indeed to Dali’s Llama’s already formidable discography. The chief difference seems to be a sense of patience that a lot of the songs – derived from grown-up punk as so much heavy rock is; ask Fatso Jetson if you don’t believe me – eschew. Very subtly, the four-piece move into a darker soft of jam from the initial verses, letting a slower jam take hold amid Danzig-style atmospherics and a gradual push.

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Right from the opening track, “Flustrated,” it’s clear Dali’s Llama are having fun with their latest offering, Howl Do You Do? (released through their own Dali’s Llama Records). Maybe after eight records of straight up desert rock, the Zach Huskey-led Palm Springs, California, outfit decided it was time to try something else – and who could blame them for that? They’ve been kicking out fuzzy jams with such regularity that the routine was bound to wear them down, so a turn to garage rock and horror punk is probably just what the band needed to shake things up. A lot of their bluesy core is still in tact, but if all you know of Dali’s Llama is what they’ve done the last several years – records like Sweet Sludge, Full on Dunes and Raw is Real – Howl Do You Do? is bound to be something of a surprise.

The organ features heavily on songs like “She’s My Halloween” and “Flash Flood, Flash Flood,” played by Mikael Jacobson, who joins Zach, bassist Erica Huskey, guitarist Joe Dillon and drummer Craig Brown (all of whom also contribute backing vocals), but I tend to return more to the piano-laced sounds of the title track, which has a more blues-driven feel to it than the camp spookiness of the horror punk material. Just a personal preference. Huskey’s songwriting, probably the central driving force within Dali’s Llama, is strong as ever, though it should be noted the structures of the songs haven’t really changed so much from the band’s last couple full-lengths, just the genre play. It’s like Dali’s Llama have put on a costume – a Halloween costume, appropriately enough. Underneath, they’re still who they are, but they’re playing the part of a garage horror punk band for an album. Howl Do You Do? was probably a lot of fun to make.

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The answer is no, it hasn’t been a year yet. It was only back in November of last year that I reviewed Palm Springs desert rockers Dali’s Llama‘s ninth album, Raw is Real, and now already they’ve returned with a follow-up. Due out August 9, Howl Do You Do? is number 10, and like the rest, it’ll be released on the band’s own Dali’s Llama Records. Hey man, if you believe in it, you do it.

There’s a new track called “She’s My Halloween” posted on Dali’s Llama‘s MySpace page now. As you can tell from listening, it’s a little different, a little spookier with the organ, and a whole lot more garage rock. That’s just how the band wanted it to be. Here’s what they had to say about it:

Although we are normally thought of as a tuned-down desert rock “stoner” band, we wanted to make a CD that shows our garage rock roots (with a big heap of raw blues). Hints of The Sonics, Music Machine and The Yardbirds grace this CD, with a more contemporary Fuzztones and The Damned influence. In the spirit of Green Day’s Foxboro Hot Tubs, this is our homage to the nuggets that inspired songwriter Zach Huskey when he was growing up Green on Red like. Join us on our journey through garageville, we’ll return to “heavy” soon enough. Hope you dig it.

Fact: You don?t release eight records independently on your own label if you don?t believe in what you?re doing. Palm Springs, California, real-deal desert rockers Dali?s Llama have done just that, with Raw is Real serving as the latest in a long line and taking a somewhat darker approach than other recent offerings. The album continues Dali?s Llama?s production relationship with Scott Reeder (The Obsessed, Kyuss), who helmed last year?s Full on Dunes and 2007?s Sweet Sludge, and the two entities seem more in step than ever before.

Prior to issuing the album, Dali?s Llama guitarist/vocalist Zach Huskey posited that it was their heaviest yet and (as noted above) darker as well. While I only have the last couple to compare it to, Raw is Real definitely lives up to its name, more ideologically than sonically — it sounds clean but there is a cynical bite to the lyrics of songs like ?Theocracy? and the punkish ?Grump? that, political or not, adds thematic heft to the proceedings and stands the album out among its predecessors. Dali?s Llama aren?t the first to politicize stoner music to the extent they do so, but within the context of their work and in particular this record, there is a refreshing amount of honesty and forthrightness coming out in these songs. Hey, raw is real, right?

Regarding Reeder?s production, there are moments on Raw is Real that feel flat and moments that positively sizzle. When the guitar solo kicks in on ?Hell No,? for example, it?s as though the album has come to life. Likewise, the opening riffs of later cuts ?Syphilization? (love the count in with the snare — very death metal) and ?Blackout? are prime grooves, highlighted with Huskey and Joe Dillon?s guitars up in the mix, whereas even on the opening title vibe is there but not as palpable. It works for the more mellow, sweet tones of ?Always? (a mid-album favorite), but the ending movement in ?Eve?s Navel? is begging to stand out more than it does. This is a minor, easy-to-get-used-to gripe, but worthy of note, nonetheless.

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Palm Springs desert rockers Dali’s Llama have their new album, Raw is Real, for sale on their label’s website now. The follow-up to Full on Dunes, Raw is Real is Dali’s Llama‘s eighth album and was produced by Scott Reeder, who also plays drums on the video for the title track below. The band says it is their “hardest and darkest sounding yet.” Good times.