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Randy Holden: Population II Reissue Due Feb. 28 on RidingEasy Records

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 20th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

This is just RidingEasy Records doing the universe a solid. Does anyone say ‘do a solid’ anymore? I don’t know. Whatever the Gen-Z equivalent of doing a solid is, then. That’s what’s happening here. Randy Holden‘s 1970 solo album, Population II (discussed here), has long been relegated to being one of those collectors pieces. A record that, if you know, you know. The guitarist, known for his work on Blue Cheer‘s New! Improved! Blue Cheer!, is playing this weekend with no less than EarthlessMario Rubalcaba in Los Angeles, and if that’s not enough badassery for you, consider Holden‘s description of the remaster below.

I know there are a ton of albums from that original heavy era that get saddled with the “lost classic” thing, and many of them earn it to various degrees. Population II is legitimately an offering of continued relevance that listeners across multiple generations — even you kids on the TikToks — should know.

I turn it over to the PR wire for the particulars:

randy holden population ii

RidingEasy Records to reissue extremely rare 1970 doom album Randy Holden – Population II

Randy Holden (ex-Blue Cheer) playing live December 21st at Whiskey A-Go-Go in L.A. with Mario Rubalcaba (Earthless, RFTC) on drums

RidingEasy Records proudly announce the official reissue on physical and digital formats of the extremely rare 1970 proto-metal album Randy Holden – Population II. Considered one of the first doom metal albums ever, the ex-Blue Cheer guitarist’s solo debut has long been sought out by collectors. The remastered full length will be available on all streaming platforms for the first time, with a master more true to the original mix on LP, CD and streaming.

This weekend, Saturday December 21st, Holden will perform a rare live show at the Whiskey A-Go-Go in L.A. supported by drummer Mario Rubalcaba (Earthless, RFTC, OFF!) It will be a career-spanning set featuring songs from the Fender IV, the Sons of Adam, the Other Half, Blue Cheer, and his solo work, including Population II. Tickets and info HERE.

“Godzilla just walked into the room. People just stood there with their eyes and mouths wide open.”

To hear Randy Holden describe the audience’s reaction in 1969 to his solo debut performing with a teeth-rattling phalanx of 16 (sixteen!) 200 watt Sunn amps is about as close as many of us will get to truly experience the moment heavy metal music morphed into existence. However, at last we have unearthed the proper fossil record.

Population II, the now legendary, extremely rare album by guitarist/vocalist Holden and drummer/keyboardist Chris Lockheed is considered to be one of the earliest examples of doom metal. Though its original release was a very limited in number and distribution, like all great records, its impact over time has continued to grow.

In 1969, Holden, fresh off his tenure with proto-metal pioneers Blue Cheer (appearing on one side of the New! Improved! Blue Cheer album and touring for the better part of a year in the group), aimed for more control over his band. Thus, Randy Holden – Population II was born, the duo naming itself after the astronomical term for a particular star cluster with heavy metals present.

“I wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before,” Holden explains. “I was interested in discordant sounds that could be melodic but gigantically huge. I rented an Opera house for rehearsal, set up with 16 Sunn amps. That’s what I was going for, way over the top.”

And over the top it is. The 6-song album delves into leaden sludge, lumbering doom and epic soaring riffs that sound free from all constraints of the era. It’s incredibly heavy, but infused with a melodic, albeit mechanistic, sensibility.

“At the time, I was hearing these crazy melodies everywhere I went,” Holden says. “I thought I was going crazy.” For example, one day he slowly rooted out a powerful sound that had been nagging him and discovered it coming from a ceiling fan. “Machinery all around us doesn’t turn in a perfect rhythm. That’s what I was tuning into, I heard the music and the discordant sounds coming from the machinery. It was perfect for rendering the machine we built.”

Troubles with the album’s release bankrupted Holden, who subsequently left music for over two decades. It was bootlegged several times over the years, but until now hasn’t seen a proper remaster and has yet to be available on digital platforms. “The original mastering just destroyed the dynamics of it,” Holden says. “They flattened it out. Now we got a really nice remaster that should be the closest thing to the original recording.”

Population II will be available on LP, CD and download on February 28th, 2020 via RidingEasy Records.

RANDY HOLDEN LIVE 2019:
12/21 Los Angeles, CA @ The Whiskey A-Go-Go

Artist: Randy Holden
Album: Population II
Label: RidingEasy Records
Release Date: February 28th, 2020

01. Guitar Song
02. Fruit & Iceburgs
03. Between Time
04. Fruit & Iceburgs (Conclusion)
05. Blue My Mind
06. Keeper of My Flame

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Randy Holden, Population II (original master) (1970)

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Friday Full-Length: Randy Holden, Population II

Posted in Bootleg Theater on June 5th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

Randy Holden, Population II (1969)

He was walking a tightrope made of liquid steel. Mind you, I’ve heard some colorful alternatives to the phrase “playing guitar” in my time, but that one might be the king of them, and it’s more or less the mission statement of “Guitar Song,” the opening track of Randy Holden‘s Population II. Population II was the moniker both of the band and the album, referring both to the fact that there were two people in the band — Holden and drummer Chris Lockheed — and to a class of star that includes some heavy metals in its composition. Not too much heavy metal, but a bit. The album, which at the time of its original 1969 Hobbit Records release had six tracks and ran just under 31 minutes, follows suit. It has flourishes of what would later become heavy metal, but is mostly geared toward weighted psychedelia, acid rock and post-hippie volume. And guitar. “Guitar Song” is a title that could apply equally to “Fruit and Iceburgers” or “Blue My Mind” or “Keeper of My Flame,” even of those tracks — aren’t about playing guitar, which the actual “Guitar Song” is.

Holden, who had done time in various West Coast acts prior, made an appearance the same year on side B of Blue Cheer‘s third album, New! Improved! Blue Cheer!, and toured with that band in replacement of founding guitarist Leigh Stephens, but would soon enough be gone, and it wasn’t until 1996 that he put out another solo album to follow-up Population II, the popularity of which endured as a cult classic of early metal and guitar rock. On a sonic level, it was legitimately a couple years ahead of its time — it would take most acts seeing the explosion of heavy in the wake of the Black Sabbaths and Led Zeppelins of the world to pick up on tonal weight as a lifestyle option; Holden could be considered an early adopter in pushing the envelope licked first by Jimi Hendrix, or The Yardbirds and Cream, if you want to stretch definitions. Still, Population II is remarkably clear-headed in its purposes and its jams, and if nothing else, Holden well earns his footnote among the six-string greats of the era.

In the last decade, he’d release an answer to 1996’s Guitar God in the form of Guitar God 2001, issued the year of its title, and 2008’s Raptor, and this year he has issued the self-recorded Psychedelic Blue, which is available at his websitePopulation II has seen a handful of reissues over the years as well, legitimate and bootleg, and its cult continues to grow with a new generation of heavy rock heads hell-bent for rare vinyl and classic groove.

About to head out of the office and down to Connecticut for the next couple days, so I’ll keep it short. Tomorrow night I’m seeing Serial Hawk in Connecticut, so Monday I’ll have a review of that up. Look out next week I think for the video premiere from Kings Destroy that was originally supposed to be this week, as well as a new track from the Khemmis album coming soon from 20 Buck Spin, and hopefully a track and Q&A with The Exploding Eyes Orchestra, which is an offshoot of Jess and the Ancient Ones that will have a debut LP out soon on Svart. All cool stuff.

Reviews too of the Death Alley record and vinyl something or other. Records are starting to stack up.

To that end, I’ve also started plotting out the next Quarterly Review, which will happen at the end of this month. Don’t ask me how I’m going to manage that while also working full-time, I’m just going to fucking do it and that’s going to be that. Sleep be damned. Not Sleep, the band. Just sleep, the concept.

Hope you have a great and safe weekend. If you’re someplace that has good weather or, say, at the Freak Valley festival in Germany, I hope you enjoy it. Please check out the forum and radio stream. I was listening earlier. Some good shit on there.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

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