Posted in Questionnaire on November 22nd, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Jim Healey of Blood Lightning, Set Fire, We’re All Gonna Die, Etc.
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I am a singer, guitarist and songwriter. I’ve been in a bunch of bands and my newest one is Blood Lightning.
I came to music probably the same way a lot of people did. My dad was really into music and had a decent/weird record collection that he was always playing. Depending on the day, we’d hear anything from The Righteous Brothers to The Beatles, the Moody Blues, Roy Orbison, Roger Whitaker, Bee Gees, Sandy Nelson etc. We had a couple of acoustic guitars kicking around in the house (although my parents weren’t musicians) so I would always try to bang around on those. My Dad showed my brother and I a remedial version of the “Satisfaction” riff on one of the acoustics one day at that was it. He got us electric guitars and drums from the Sears catalog the next Christmas, and I never looked back.
Describe your first musical memory.
I remember listening and dancing around to the old 45’s from my parents. My brother and I had a small Sears record player, and we would spend afternoons just playing through as many of these 45’s as we could. “A Taste of Honey” by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass was a favorite.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
There are many, but I would have to say We’re All Gonna Die touring Ireland in 2007 opening for Diamond Head. We were just three dopes from Boston, and we were received and treated well. Definitely a high-water mark for touring.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I find that in the current political climate, this is an everyday occurrence.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Artistic progression leads to being a better artist. I think the more you strive to be better player, singer or writer, the more “doors” that will open in your creativity.
How do you define success?
“Success” has been a moving target over the years. I find that now, I must be content to write and release music the I like and am proud of and just hope that someone vibes with it. Over the years, the best feeling has always been that one person who comes up to me after a show and tells me that they get it.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
The heavy answer is my Dad dying.
The light answer is Chris Cornell releasing a dance album.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I’d like to write a perfect album. I figured with all the downtime from the pandemic that I could have started on my The Dark Side of the Moon, but that hasn’t quite panned out yet.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
I believe art should convey emotion. Regardless of the medium, I feel that it’s the emotional response to art that keeps the world alive and moving forward.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I’m looking forward to my family being able to hang together for the holidays this year.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 14th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
It is not a huge shocker to find Boston trio Set Fire making the most of their richly melodic dual-vocal approach on their new single. That’s kind of what they do. But given that the new single is a cover of Led Zeppelin‘s “No Quarter” — also undertaken by the likes of Crowbar and Tool on separate occasions — their doing so is of particular note. The song is out today through the usual streaming suspects, and it is intended to herald the arrival of the EP the band recorded earlier this year with none other than Benny Grotto at nowhere other than Mad Oak Studios.
This will not by any means be Set Fire‘s first EP, and in fact it wasn’t intended to be one. But when you say things like “recorded earlier this year,” the usual shrug-ready context doesn’t apply to 2020. In fact, Set Fire were in the process of putting together their first album when life as we used to know it went down the tubes, and rather than continue to sit on the material in hopes of finishing it at who-knows-when time, they’re opting instead to roll with what they’ve got, among which is a pretty rad take on “No Quarter.” I certainly understand the impulse.
Adam O’Day‘s cover art, the info from the band, and the song itself follow here, courtesy of the PR wire:
Set Fire to release cover of Led Zeppelin’s No Quarter on 9/14/20
No Quarter is from the forthcoming (yet untitled) EP due in late 2020. No Quarter will be available through Bandcamp, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Spotify as of 9/14/20. No Quarter was recorded in Spring of 2020 by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios in Allston, MA. It was mastered by Jeff Lipton and Maria Rice at Peerless Mastering, Boston, MA.
Cover art by Adam O’Day.
Set Fire is: Jim Healey – Vocals and Guitars Jess Collins – Vocals and Keyboard Josh Cronin – Drums
The statistics of COVID-19 change with every news cycle, and with growing numbers, stay-at-home isolation and a near-universal disruption to society on a global scale, it is ever more important to consider the human aspect of this coronavirus. Amid the sad surrealism of living through social distancing, quarantines and bans on gatherings of groups of any size, creative professionals — artists, musicians, promoters, club owners, techs, producers, and more — are seeing an effect like nothing witnessed in the last century, and as humanity as a whole deals with this calamity, some perspective on who, what, where, when and how we’re all getting through is a needed reminder of why we’re doing so in the first place.
Thus, Days of Rona, in some attempt to help document the state of things as they are now, both so help can be asked for and given where needed, and so that when this is over it can be remembered.
Thanks to all who participate. To read all the Days of Rona coverage, click here. — JJ Koczan
Days of Rona: Jim Healey of Set Fire (Boston, Massachusetts)
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How are you dealing with this crisis as a band? Have you had to rework plans at all? How is everyone’s health so far?
Well, like most everyone, we haven’t been rehearsing. Jess and I have both been doing some writing at home. We have had to cancel/reschedule a handful of shows, and we will see how the others we have booked pan out. We were in the midst of recording, so that is on hold until things start to level off. Everyone’s physical health has been good so far, but the mental toll of isolating is taking some getting used to.
What are the quarantine/isolation rules where you are?
I’m in Boston, and Massachusetts has been shut down for a few weeks now. There is a “stay at home” order, and all non-essential businesses have been shut down. I have to go into work for my job a few times a week, and it’s pretty stressful, but I’m thankful to have a job right now when so many don’t.
How have you seen the virus affecting the community around you and in music?
Many of my friends are musicians, bartenders, booking agents, sound people, door-staff, recording engineers, etc, so there has been a huge impact. First and foremost, I worry for all of my friends trying to stay physically safe and financially afloat during all of this. After that, I wonder how this is going to impact the smaller venues, studios and such in the long run. That said, I am happy to say that I have seen people I know really stepping up and rallying around each other to try and make sure that everybody can get by.
What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a band, or personally, or anything?
When all of this is said and done, I don’t think I will ever take another rehearsal for granted. I’ll be really excited to get back to recording and playing shows. I hope that everyone looks out for one another, because if anything good can come from this, I would like it to be that humans can be more compassionate towards one another.
Posted in Reviews on October 2nd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Had to take a second this morning to get my email back under 100 unread. It currently stands at 95. There’s just something about being in triple digits that I can’t stand. Press releases and stuff I can usually file right away since not everything’s relevant to the site, etc., but that’s all stuff that either wants follow-up or could be a factor here if there was time. I do my best to try to keep up. And I fail, consistently.
The tradeoff, of course, is I spend that time writing reviews and other stuff for the site. Today’s hump day when we pass the halfway mark of the Fall 2019 Quarterly Review, and we’re doing it in absolutely all-over-the-place style, so all the better. Some pretty familiar names today, but some that might not be as well, so whatever your poison, I hope you enjoy the picking.
Quarterly Review #21-30:
Russian Circles, Blood Year
There’s simply no denying the force behind the depths and swell of a song like “Kohokia” on Russian Circles‘ latest offering, Blood Year (Sargent House), and though one knows what to expect to some degree from the Chicago heavy post-rockers at this point in their career, they seem to be doing all they can to deliver their instrumental progressions with energy to match the breadth of the spaces and the heft they conjure. Like 2016’s Guidance (review here), the seven-track/39-minute Blood Year — was recorded with Kurt Ballou, whom the trio imported to their hometown to work at Electrical Audio (aka Steve Albini‘s stomping ground) instead of traveling to Massachusetts to track at Ballou‘s Godcity. If it was the long-famed drum sound of Electrical Audio that they wanted and the live feel that so many of the recordings done there have, they got both, so mark it a success and another notch in the belt of one of the heavy underground’s most immersive and evocative outfits. Their building and releasing of tension is second to none and moves into the spiritual by the time they even get to side B, let alone through it.
Oh, the riffs you’ll gallop. Oakland, California’s War Cloud skirt the line between classic thrash and heavy rock and roll on their second album for Ripple Music, State of Shock, and from the sound of things, they have a good time doing it. The record’s not much over a half-hour long, which is as it should be for this kind of party, and they toy a bit with the balance between their two sides on a rocker like “Do Anything” or the subsequent “Means of Your Defeat” on side B, but the main crux of State of Shock and certainly the impression it makes off the bat with “Striker” and “White Lightning” up front ahead of the six-minute that-moment-when-Thin–Lizzy-turned-into-Iron–Maiden “Dangerous Game” is one of homage to the metal of yore, and in following-up the band’s 2017 self-titled debut (review here), it’s a showcase of energy and craft alike as two guitars shred, chug, groove and charge through the material. If they were from the Eastern Seaboard, I’d say something about getting caught in a mosh. As it stands, I’ll go with urging you to jump in the fire instead. Horns up, either way.
They should’ve just called it an album. Yeah, it would be short at 26 or so minutes, but it’s got everything you’d want from a full-length, and if they’d put a four-minute jam or something on it, they’d have been there anyhow. In any case, Los Angeles’ Afrobeat-infused heavy psych rockers Here Lies Man present seven tracks of dug-in glory with No Ground to Walk Upon (on RidingEasy), continuing to build on the potential shown across their first two LPs, 2017’s self-titled debut (review here) and last year’s You Will Know Nothing (review here), even as they swagger their way through a groove like “Long Legs (Look Away)” and show their continued forward potential. They continue to be a special band — the kind of band who doesn’t just come along every day and who shouldn’t be overlooked during their time, because maybe they’ll be around 30 years and maybe they won’t, but what they’re doing now is bringing something wholly individual to a heavy context. They’ve already proven influential to some degree, but listening to No Ground to Walk Upon cuts like the dream-keyed “Iron Rattles” and the opening strut-into-drone of “Clad in Silver,” one wonders if they wouldn’t be more so if people weren’t too afraid to try to pull this thing off. Hard to argue with that, since more likely than not most couldn’t.
I won’t take anything away from the eight-minute “Blacklight Warpriest” earlier in the offering, but the highlight of Book of Wyrms‘ second album, Remythologizer (on Twin Earth & Stoner Witch Records) has to be the closing “Dust Toad,” which at 9:25 is the longest track and the slowest crawl included. Led into by the synth-infused “Curse of the Werecop,” it takes the crunch that showed itself through opener “Autumnal Snow” and, later, the melody and swing of “Undead Pegasus” — as seen on the cover art — and brings them together in order to perfectly summarize the doom rocking ethic the Richmond, Virginia, four-piece are working from. Tonally righteous and more solvent in their songwriting than they were on their 2017 debut, Sci-Fi/Fantasy (review here), the band sound assured as they move in “Spirit Drifter” from a standout keyboard line to a likewise standout guitar solo, giving a feeling of progressive nuance that’s continuing to take hold in their sound, balanced by the underlying naturalism of their approach. That dynamic continues to duke it out on Remythologizer, much to the benefit of anyone who takes the record on.
Too weird for planet earth and, well, probably too weird for anywhere else too, Helsinki psych-space-kraut-whathaveyou experimentalists issue their third tape in the form of Huume Jet Set Life and whether it’s the cosmo-jamming on “MITÄ ON TULLUT VEDETTYÄ?” or the who-the-hell-knows-what-ism of “MEDIA-AJOJAHTI 2000,” the band at no point fail to make an impression of being out there in the far gone far out there reaches of the far out there. Talkin’ freaked out next level total, like the cassette just fell into the atmosphere to represent some other planet’s culture where things are both dangerous and interesting and you never really know if you’re going to get laid or eaten or both. Still, they may be doing math of the likes not yet conceived by humanity, but Möyhy-Veikot go about it in suitably friendly if totally over-the-top fashion, and it’s fun to play along while also being completely overwhelmed at the various pushes and pulls happening all at once, the media samples and the Windows 95 compatibility of it all. It’s one small step for man, one giant leap for disco.
It’s just lovely. Really. In some ways it feels like the 41:20 single-track full-length Transmission — self-released, no less — is what Baltimore ambient exploratory two-piece Darsombra have been building toward all along, but I think the truth is they probably could’ve done this at any time if they’d chosen to do so. Still, the fluidity of “Transmission” itself is something special, with its cascades of manipulated voice, riffs that swell and recede, loops, synth and somehow-manifested light that are as much immersion for the spirit as the eardrum. One doesn’t want to dive too deep into hyperbole and oversell it to the point of dulling the listener’s own impression, but Transmission is the kind of record that even those who profess to never “get” drone or noise offerings can engage with. Part of that is owed to Brian Daniloski‘s guitar, which provides landmarks along the path of swirl conjured by his own effects and the synth from Ann Everton (both add vocals where applicable; don’t look for lyrics or verses) that allow those who’d take it on to do so more easily. But the real joy in Transmission is letting go and allowing the piece to carry you along its progressive course, genuine in its reaching for the unknown. Plus there’s a gong, and that’s always fun too. Go with it.
Traya is the third three-song full-length from Boston’s Set Fire, and it would seem that, and in addition to marking the last recording to feature drummer Rob Davol, who’s since been replaced by Josh Cronin, it would seem to show the three-piece nailing their sound of classic-tinged duet-fronted heavy rock and roll. With two powerhouse vocalists on board in guitarist Jim Healey (We’re all Gonna Die, Black Thai, etc.) and keyboardist Jess Collins (ex-Mellow Bravo), they work in varying arrangements across a meager 12-minute run that feels short mostly because it is short. Too short. “Any Place Left” puts Collins in the foreground, while “Sacred Song” is more Healey‘s, and unsurprisingly to anyone who’s experienced their past work either together or separate, they’re more than able to carry the material — only more so with the other party backing. “Waves” brings them together around theatrical layers of piano and keyboard and guitar, and that they manage to hold it steady at all, let alone take flight as it does, speaks to how ready they are to embark on a longer offering. Put out an album, already, would ya?
For those feeling adventurous, Portugal’s Jesus the Snake follow-up their 2017 self-titled EP (review here) with the unmitigated warmth of Black Acid, Pink Rain, their live-recorded full-length debut. And for the sort of heavy psych-jazz-prog meandering, one would almost expect the organ-laced instrumentalist four-piece to track the record as they perform it, if not front-to-back then certainly one song at a time across multiple takes. Not one piece of the five total on the 49-minute offering is under eight minutes long, and sandwiched between opener “Karma” (10:28) and the closing title-track (10:55) are three cuts circa nine that prove no less hypnotic. The beginning of “Floyds I” is so fluid with the interplay of organ and guitar that one almost expects a gentle Portuguese spoken word verse to start, but of course one never does. Instead, Jesus the Snake complement mindful drift with flashes of more weighted or active fare, all the while holding to a central vibe that is peaceful even as “Duna” finds its chill before the halfway point, with no loss of spirit in the process.
As with any kind of sonic minimalism or release based around trance induction — see Darsombra above — there’s a certain amount of buy-in that needs to happen on the listener’s side. Accordingly, those going into the fourth LP from Chilean duo Föllakzoid, titled I and issued through Sacred Bones Records as a double-vinyl, should be aware that it’s requires that kind of interaction from one side to the other. It’s not especially loud or abrasive, or even demanding in terms of the basic sonics of the thing, but as “I” becomes “II” becomes “III” becomes “IIII” and the songs such as they are alternate between 17- and 13-minute runtimes and the blend of effects and electro beats tips to one side or the other — “II” with a fervent ‘ump-tis’ in its early going while “III” brings a more Vangelis-style cinematic wash — of course there’s an ask in terms of indulgence happening on the part of the two-piece to their audience. Whether an individual is willing to make that jump is obviously going to be up to their headspace and where they’re at, but Föllakzoid‘s work here is more than worth the investment, even for those less familiar with their methods.
The sub-three-minute “Hiedra – Sencillo” is the latest in an ongoing series of digital offerings from Mexico City’s Dresden Wolves, and though the two-piece band bill themselves as post-punk and they may actually have a history in playing punk rock — stranger things have happened, certainly — the song finds them working in a taut heavy rock context, brash in delivery but not overly so as to lose the overarching swagger they seem intent on conveying. Particularly as it follows behind two EPs and a swath of other single tracks, and is offered name-your-price through their Bandcamp, “Hiedra – Sencillo” feels like its most nefarious aim is to hook anyone who’d click play on first listen and try and keep them intrigued for next time out. Fair enough. I won’t profess to know what Dresden Wolves‘ plans are, but they’ve got songwriting in their pocket and the production on “Hiedra – Sencillo” is crisp and clear enough to convey the heft of the guitar but not so much so as to dull its rawer aspects. They’ve got the balance ready to go, whatever they might choose to do with it from here.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 5th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
It’s time to talk about the real potential of the New England Stoner and Doom Fest. No, I don’t mean the lineup. That’s awesome. You know it and I know it. I’m talking about the acronym. That’s always huge for a festival. How is it abbreviated? Think MDDF or SHoD or any of the DFs spread around the universe. These things matter.
I’ve seen NESDF tossed around for New England Stoner and Doom Fest, and that’s cool, but it’s missing the opportunity. You could have a festival abbreviated NES! Who the hell wouldn’t buy that t-shirt? I hereby cast my vote in the imaginary referendum on festival abbreviations for New England Stoner and Doom Fest to henceforth and forthwith and withhence be known as NES fest. Second the motion?
There’s reportedly one more band to be added and reportedly several in the running for that slot, so this might not be the final update before May 3-5 gets here and NES fest kicks off (see me using the acronym already?), and the lineup for a pre-party at 33 Golden St. in New London has been announced as well, which will be headlined by Fox 45, so, you know, more of a good thing and all that.
The full lineup as has been revealed follows. Note the Wretch reunion. NES fest!
New England Stoner & Doom Fest II
The New England Stoner and Doom Festival will make its return in 2019 on May 3,4, and 5 at Altones in Jewett City, CT.
Earthride Brimstone Coven Wretch Kings Destroy +1 TBA Foghound Pale Divine Vessel of Light Spiral Grave Solace Black Road Curse the Son Shadow Witch Hell Camino Clamfight Eternal Black Thunderbird Divine Stonecutters When the Deadbolt Breaks Mourn the Light Entierro Bone Church Buzzard Canyon The Age of Truth Void King Horseburner Scuzzy Yeti Witchkiss Cortez Benthic Realm Faith in Jane Conclave Set Fire 3 Parts Dead Insano Vision Old Earth Analog Pinto Graham The Stone Eye Sentinel Hell
Pre-party @ 33 Golden St.: Fox 45 VRSA Dark Ritual Owl Maker Feed the Beast
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 14th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Welp, I guess I know what I’m doin’ on May 3 and 4 next year. Calendar is marked. I was otherwise occupied during the first New England Stoner and Doom Fest earlier this year, but with the usual caveat that a piano might fall on my head between now and then, my plan is to hit New England Stoner and Doom Fest II as a priority, and the first lineup announcement has done nothing to dissuade me from that intention. Shadow Witch, Earthride, and Brimstone Coven are all vets of Maryland Doom Fest — Earthride are of course kingpins of that scene though release through NESDF-related Salt of the Earth Records — but Vessel of Light, Youngblood Supercult, Black Road, Set Fire and others it will be my first time seeing, so all the more reason to look forward to getting to Altones, which I hear kicks ass anyway.
And yes, I’m among the presenting media for the festival, but I don’t have the inside track or anything on who’s playing, so as the announcements come through for the bill, I’ll be just as surprised as everyone else. I’m looking forward to that too. There’s a good bit of diversity of sound already in the lineup, and any chance you get to see Brimstone Coven‘s harmonies in-person, you should do that. Bottom line is there’s a lot to like here so far, so dig in, and when I see the next round come through, that’ll get the same treatment.
For now, here’s the first poster and the list as posted on the fest event page on Thee Facebooks:
The New England Stoner and Doom Festival will make its return in 2019 on May 3 & 4 at Altones in Jewett City, CT.
Right down the block from where the El ‘n’ Gee used to be — the space is still there, with a new name and a line outside waiting to get in — is 33 Golden St., a classic rock and roll basement bar that feels immediately like home. It’s not dirty in that hey-it’s-rock-and-roll-so-we-never-need-to-sweep kind of way, and the room is warm and welcoming and they play Sabbath over the P.A., so somebody clearly has their head on straight. My guess is that would be the owner, Craig, though I didn’t get to meet him to tell him so.
The occasion for the trip to New London was to see Backwoods Payback, who’d so recently laid waste to Maryland Doom Fest 2018 in Frederick, MD, as part of heralding their new album, Future Slum, and the purpose for the long weekender was much the same. Joining them on the intended bill were Set Fire from Boston and Southern Connecticut’s Owl Maker, as well as Witchkiss, who dropped off at the last minute owing to a family emergency. Without the fourth band, it was an easy atmosphere to the evening. Three bands, cool vibe, stage tucked into the corner at the end of the bar. The place reminded me of what O’Brien’s in Boston might be with a little upkeep.
Owl Maker led off and were not entirely unknown to me, having checked out their March 2018 EP, Paths of the Slain (review here), from which they played a couple songs including “Freya’s Chariot” and “99.” Led by guitarist/vocalist Simon Tuozzoli, also of Vestal Claret and UP Recording Studio, the trio was completed by the punch of Jessie May‘s bass and the metallic-style drumming of Chris Anderson.
Deadpan humor and NWOBHM-inspired riffing — also a more direct line, with a cover of Iron Maiden‘s “Wrathchild” — ensued, and he had a few good ones, but I think my favorite song intro from Tuozzoli might’ve been, in full metal voice, “This song is one less than 100. This is ’99’!” Good fun. Formed in 2016, they’re still feeling out where they want to be sonically, but their pursuit of that is well-directed and they played 33 Golden with a solid idea of who they are as a band and how they want to get where they’re going. They have a new collection on Bandcamp called Summer Singles and I’ll look forward to hearing what they do next.
A couple familiar faces in the trio Set Fire, who played next. Three, actually. Drummer Rob Davol was a bandmate of guitarist/vocalist Jim Healey‘s in the trio Shatner and used to play in drunken rockers Cocked ‘n’ Loaded. Healey of course featured in Black Thai and We’re all Gonna Die in addition to Shatner and various others along with his resonant singer-songwriter solo work. And keyboardist/synthesist Jess Collins used to play in Mellow Bravo, so all three members have significant roots in Boston’s fertile if insular rock underground. Along with the bands, Healey also helps put together the Grub, Sweat and Beers festival, which was held this weekend, and which Set Fire and Backwoods Payback would both play the night after this show.
Got all that? Despite their incendiary moniker, which to my mind
seems to foretell harsher noise rock, Set Fire‘s style is dug deep into classic straightforward heavy, shades of Soundgarden — the second cover of the night there, in homage to Chris Cornell — and other ’90s acts coming through as filtered through the distinctive vocals of Healey and Collins, either of whom could easily front a band on their own. Together, they make Set Fire a melodic powerhouse, and Collins‘ keys and Korg and Healey‘s double-neck guitar filled out the space a bassist might otherwise occupy such that there was no loss of presence either in the low end or on stage in general. They were encouraging to watch and clearly enjoyed the collaboration between the three of them. I did likewise.
I’ve all but stopped wearing a watch, so my sense of time isn’t what it used to be, but I know it definitely wasn’t early when Backwoods Payback took the stage. Maybe 12:30? Something like that. The West Chester, Pennsylvania, three-piece are absolutely locked in. Brutally locked in. More locked in than they know, and they know they’re locked in. And a band like that, you want to see as much as you can. So while it’s been mere weeks, I knew I wanted to catch them at this gig. They’d had van trouble leaving Long Island after the show the night before and managed to catch the last ferry across the Long Island Sound to New London, so perhaps guitarist/vocalist Mike Cummings, bassist Jessica Baker and drummer Erik Larson were a bit harried, but though they brought the culprit component on stage with them and at one point hoisted it like a slain beast to show the room, tubes flailing this way and that, their actual performance didn’t suffer in the slightest.
The highlight was the short, grunge-derived roll of “Big Enough” from Future Slum, but anytime Backwoods Payback want to show up and play “You Don’t Move” from 2016’s Fire Not Reason (review here), you won’t hear me complain. Air tight and still dangerous, their dirt rock aesthetic has matured but is especially propulsive with Larson behind the kit, each player challenging the others to play better, be stronger on stage. The result is a kind of torrent that’s weighted emotionally as well as tonally. When it moves fast it absolutely burns, as on “Generals” from the new record, or “Snakes,” which closed out, and when it grooves, as on “Day to Day” or the ultra-catchy “Dirge” from the last album, it holds a tension and a nod that seems ready to break out at any second. They’re in utter control, however, and as much as Fire Not Reason showed the force of this lineup, Future Slum shows how remarkably well they can wield that force.
They didn’t start early, so they didn’t finish early either — funny how that works — but the ride home wasn’t nearly as bad as some I’ve had in my time, and the show was easily worth giving up a bit of my otherwise rigid schedule to see. I didn’t even wake up the baby when I got in, so bonus. Great night all the way around, from arriving at the venue for the (overdue) first time to hanging out after, and one all the more worth appreciating for the infrequency of its caliber.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 6th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Later this month, Boston singer-songwriter Jim Healey will issue his latest EP, Just a Minute More, in DIY digital fashion. Known for his work in heavy rock/metal acts like We’re all Gonna Die, Black Thai, Shatner and Set Fire, Healey‘s solo output — which, on this outing as it often does, features a full band behind him — resides in a soulful and emotional context all of its own, and the same voice so capable of channeling aggression into his heavier work once again proves itself capable of expressing a broader range of wistfulness and regret on songs like the new track “Faced” that’s streaming below as a first sampling of the upcoming release.
If you make your way over to Healey‘s Bandcamp, you’ll find plenty more to dig into as well, including his 2015 full-length, This is What the End Looked Like (review here), which continues to resonate as well. Healey‘s something of a well-kept secret of the Boston area, or at very least of greater New England, but his work translates regardless of region or other factors with the honesty of his performance and quality of his songcraft.
Here’s info on the release and the “Faced” stream, courtesy of Healey via the PR wire:
NEW SOLO EP BY JIM HEALEY – “Just A Minute More”
RELEASE DATE: Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Jim Healey will release his third solo release entitled JUST A MINUTE MORE Tuesday, September 26, 2017.
JUST A MINUTE MORE is the follow-up to Healey’s second solo album, THIS IS WHAT THE END LOOKED LIKE, released in 2015.
The five song EP was recorded and mixed between February and June of this year at New Alliance studio in Cambridge by Jon Taft. The album was mastered by Nick Zampiello at New Alliance East Audio in Cambridge.
The album features performances by Jim Healey (vocals, electric and acoustic guitar), Joe McMahon (electric bass, keyboards, backing vocals), Kyle Rasmussen (drums, keyboards), Glenn Smith (electric guitar, e-bow guitars), and Jess Collins (backing vocals)
JUST A MINUTE MORE tracklisting (all songs written by Jim Healey) 1. The Road 2. You and I 3. Swamp Thing 4. Faced 5. Burn Up
from which they played a couple songs including “Freya’s Chariot” and “99.” Led by guitarist/vocalist Simon Tuozzoli, also of Vestal Claret and UP Recording Studio, the trio was completed by the punch of Jessie May‘s bass and the metallic-style drumming of Chris Anderson.
