Westing Premiere “Back in the Twenties” Video; Future LP Due Feb. 24

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on February 9th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

westing future

Visalia, California, heavy rock traditionalists Westing release their new album, Future, on Feb. 24 through RidingEasy Records. The fourth album from the band overall, it’s also the first since they changed their name in 2021 from Slow Season, adopting the moniker from their till-now-most-recent LP, Westing (review here), which was released in 2016, and their first since welcoming All Them Witches guitarist Ben McLeod to the band with founding members guitarist/vocalist Daniel Story Rice, bassist Hayden Doyel and drummer Cody Tarbell, who also recorded the album and has worked with Cloud Catcher and others. Despite the rebrand, Future‘s nine-song/40-minute run remains loyal to their classically-inspired ethic, with a sound that’s growth malleable enough to position Tarbell‘s drums as the John Bonham stomp beneath opener “Back in the Twenties” as Future struts out of the gate, or turn twang into pastoral sentimentalism in the guitars of “Artemisia Coming Down.”

A tour de force for Rice vocally, from the soul-shouts in the leadoff to the attitude-croon of “Nothing New,” the hilarious-even-if-you’re-not-in-on-the-joke (and I’m not, so I’d know) chorus of, “There ain’t no Larry here,” in side B’s “Stanley Wu” and FM-radio-ready falsetto hook that opens wide in capping shuffle rocker “Coming Back to Me,” it is an album of mature performance and craft throughout — something that feels like it could only be made by a band who know who they are as artists and a group — but infectious in its energy just the same, with a sing-along call and response in centerpiece “Big Trouble (In the City of Love)” that, for as based around classic rocking ideals as it is, is so much more about right now than 50 years ago.

Tarbell‘s production, which is crisp, modern, clear and organic, helps assure that while Future is most certainly in conversation with the past and lyrics like those of “Back in the Twenties” place it squarely in the present — “Another lost generation/Here come the good times/Here come the fascists…” — its sound is nonetheless forward-looking in its realization of the material. It’s not futurist, or sci-fi, or cloyingly trying to be something other than it is for artsy kudos. In the spirit of, say, a band dropping an established moniker after about a decade and moving ahead with a new one, Future is unhindered by its classic aspects.

One would be hard-pressed to think of another American band working at Westing‘s level in the stylistic niche they are. In Europe, the names come easier, with the likes of GraveyardKadavar, and hosts of others, but especially on this record, the band distinguish themselves in method and dynamic from the underground pack on either continent. And more than the sound of Future, it’s the songs. After “Back in the Twenties” gives over to the fuzzier but likewise memorable rollout of “Nothing New,” they turn to the atmospheric “Lost Riders Intro,” a two-minute stretch of ambient guitar and drone ahead of “Lost Riders” itself, the central riff there seeming to call out Journey and Thin Lizzy via The Lord Weird Slough Feg (the latter is a stretch, but it’s there) with a moodier stateliness.

The party picks up as “Big Trouble (In the City of Love)” revives the Zeppelin thread to finish out side A — and the aforementioned “Stanley Wu” will make you believe dancing days are here again in short order — but though “Lost Riders” is shorter than “Nothing New,” its dual guitar leads and methodical delivery are neither as upbeat as much of what surrounds nor lost in a brooding mire, establishing a kind of middle ground that pushes outward the expectations for the rest of Future to come, so that when they hit into “Artemisia Coming Down” with its mellow, atmospheric beginning, graceful melody and highlight finishing solo, there’s precedent for the going.

westing

Leading side B, “Artemisia Coming Down” — on the vinyl, “Lost Riders Intro” is integrated into “Lost Riders” as well, so it breaks down to four cuts on each side, eight total; of course it matters less when you’re listening to the album straight through — is another classic turn that Westing make theirs, fleshing out the mood of “Lost Riders” while shifting toward a direction of its own, smoothly shifting into the acoustic-led “Silent Shout,” which makes its title into a kind of single-breath repetition, almost an afterthought worked into its verse lines, so that by the last time it comes around near the song’s finish, it’s expected and welcome, a particularly floaty ’70s dreaminess that also serves to set up the arena-style chorus of “Coming Back to Me,” after the uptick in physical movement that “Stanley Wu” brings. An homage to a local bartender of the same name, its lyrics are less generally relatable, perhaps, than some of the material here, but it’s easy to get wrapped up in the title character’s persona as channeled through the band’s. To put it another way, they bring you into the place, the bar, the character, the story.

This is true of Future across its entire span, and it comes back to the quality of songwriting at work. Many aspects of Westing‘s sound are pointedly not revolutionary. They are classic heavy rockers playing to that ideal, less now than when Slow Season released 2014’s Mountains (review here), perhaps, but they know where their roots lie nonetheless. And as the already noted shuffle of “Coming Back to Me” lets its tension go for that chorus about being free, they make you believe it. Not everybody can do that, in this microgenre or any other, let alone turn the song back around to its boogie and proceed onward like nothing ever happened, until the next chorus arrives. And not for want of trying.

To call it graceful would maybe undercut some of the edges purposefully left rougher — like how the kick drum in “Back in the Twenties” is supposed to thud like that, and the back and forth of “more” and “never enough” in “Big Trouble (In the City of Love),” with “more” throaty and held out so that it’s “moh-ore” with Rice answering himself before McLeod rips out neither the first nor the last righteous solo — but it is lucid and tasteful. Westing may be a new incarnation of what Slow Season was, but part of that is the clear benefit of that band’s experience and chemistry that’s on display throughout these tracks, even with the change in personnel involved in making the record. It moves you like the best of rock and roll can, makes you remember why you fell in love with groove in the first place, and whether it’s up or down at a given moment, or raucous or subdued, it’s got its heart right on its sleeve and craft that’s in a class of its own. One would be a fool to ask more of them than they give here.

The video for “Back in the Twenties” premieres below, followed by the band’s bio… which I wrote. That’s right. It’s a bio I wrote, and I’m posting it under the review of the album, which I also wrote (just now, in fact). In the interest of full disclosure, I was compensated for writing the bio (it’s why I put the bio in blue, to distinguish that promotional content from this editorial content), and in the interest of context, I’ll point you back to that 2014 review to stand for how long I’ve been writing about the band before I got a Paypal kick to do it for the text below. I don’t know if it matters, but there you go.

Enjoy:

Westing, “Back in the Twenties” video premiere

“We’ve never been averse to a self-imposed challenge, really.” – Daniel Story Rice, Westing

Late in 2021, Slow Season announced they’d become Westing, and that Ben McLeod (also of Nashville’s All Them Witches) was now in the four-piece on lead guitar alongside guitarist, vocalist and keyboardist Daniel Story Rice, bassist Hayden Doyel and drummer/recording engineer Cody Tarbell. Their new LP (fourth overall for RidingEasy), Future, is not coincidentally titled.

Says Rice, “We wanted to hit the reset button on some things and so we included a new band name to that list. Fresh start, for the psychological effect of it. We first met Ben in 2014 opening for All Them Witches in San Diego, and we did that again in 2016 and he and Cody corresponded about tape machines, music production, and other similar nerd stuff. We started swapping a few ideas early in 2021 and then flew him out for four days in August 2021. We got Future mostly down in that short span and did some remote stuff for overdubs, but nothing major. Obviously, our creative processes jelled pretty well to allow for such an efficiently productive session.”

So the story of Westing, and of Future, is about change, but the music makes itself so immediately familiar, it’s so welcoming, that it hardly matters. For about 10 years, the Visalia, California, outfit wandered the earth representing a new generational interpretation of classic heavy rock. The tones, warm. The melodies, sweet. The boogie, infectious. They went to ground after supporting their 2016 self-titled third album, and clearly it was time for something different.

Listening to Future opener “Back in the Twenties,” the message comes through clear (and loud) that however much Westing’s foundations might be in ‘70s styles, the moment that matters is now. It’s the future we’re living in, not the future that was. The big Zeppelin vibes at the outset and on “Big Trouble (In the City of Love)” and the local-bartender remembrance “Stanley Wu,” the dare-to-sound-like-Rocka-Rolla “Lost Riders” and the softshoe-ready shuffle of “Coming Back to Me” that leads into the payoff solo for the entire record, on and on; these pieces feed into an entirety that’s somehow loyal to homage while embodying a vitality that can only live up to the title they’ve given it.

“To me, ‘future’ is a word that embodies both hope and dread,” explains Rice, “and the future seems to be coming at us pretty quick these days. In some ways, it really feels like I am living in “the future,” as if I time traveled here and don’t really belong. That feeling pervades this band’s ethos in some ways. I thought Instagram was a steep climb until I met TikTok.”

Is Future the future? Hell, we should be so lucky. What Westing manifest in these songs is schooled in the rock of yore and theirs purely, and in that, Future looks forward with the benefit of the lessons learned across three prior full-lengths (and the accompanying tours) while offering the kind of freshness that comes with a debut. No, they’re not the same kids who released Mountains in 2014, and the tradeoff is being able to convey maturity, evolving creativity and stage-born dynamic on Future without sacrificing the spirit and passion that has underscored their work all along. – Words by JJ Koczan

Westing on Facebook

Westing on Instagram

Westing on YouTube

Westing on Bandcamp

RidingEasy Records on Facebook

RidingEasy Records on Instagram

RidingEasy Records on Bandcamp

RidingEasy Records website

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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Daniel Story Rice of Westing, Brim, Sun Umbra & Fuzz Family Booking

Posted in Questionnaire on June 8th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

daniel story rice westing brim etc

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: Daniel Story Rice of Westing, Brim, Sun Umbra & Fuzz Family Booking

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

Composing lyrics along with vocal melodies and harmonies are my largest contributions to the music of Slow Season/Westing, Brim, and Sun Umbra, but I do write songs or just instrumental parts for guitar and keys as well. As far the lyrical side goes, I think that I am trying to find a way to express feelings and ideas that I find difficult to express in a strictly verbal sense. Music is very therapeutic for me in that way.

I came to do this work by very intentionally practicing songwriting in my early twenties. I would perform an exercise where I would open a newspaper with my eyes closed and put my finger on a column at random. Whether it be a classified add or murder mystery, I would set about writing a song using the details of that randomly selected newspaper content as a creative exercise.

After toiling on bedroom recording projects for awhile, I finally got the gumption to emerge and collaborate. I joined my first band when I was 23 because I felt confident enough in my singing abilities to provide a second harmony part to some three-part harmonies a friend had. I brought my lap steel along because I could fake proficiency at that instrument with enough reverb and a volume pedal. Soon enough I had started to play keys and harmonica in that band and began to gain confidence from the repetition of performance after performance. Cody Tarbell joined that band as our third drummer and we soon broke away and started to do what would become Slow Season in late 2011.

Describe your first musical memory.

I remember choking on a coin while the congregation sang a hymn at the church my parents and grandparents attended in Porterville, CA. I think I was two years old. I remember singing mixed with hushed panic as one of my parents hung me upside down and hit my rear end until the coin dislodged. I have no idea if there is an extended metaphor there or not. The second memory I have is attempting to harmonize to Beach Boys songs with my mom while we drove in the car. She sang either the alto or tenor parts in a church where instruments weren’t allowed and four-part shape note hymnals honed my musical ear.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

I started crying a teeny bit when King Crimson played “Epitaph” and just generally killed it at the Fox in Oakland in late 2019. It was an incredible show and helped me to process what had been yet another difficult year in my life.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

Outside of personal spiritual matters, I’d say a music-related belief I once held was that analog recording was superior to digital because the limitations of the medium became a component of the art’s aura itself. Now that I’ve done a record with Cody that incorporated some digital aspects into the latter parts of the production I can decisively say that that’s not really true. What’s more, recording digitally enabled us to work remotely with Ben [McLeod] since he wasn’t able to finish every single thing he needed to in the four days we had to record the new Westing record.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Hopefully to a better understanding of self, others, and life in general. Inevitably it will probably lead you away from fans of your early work as you grow and change as an artist and as person. Sometimes that means more financial “success” and sometimes that means less “success” but in the end at least you did what you had to do. I def don’t begrudge some of my favorite older artists their later output because the music they make now isn’t for me – it’s for the old fart I’m gonna become and the people that became old farts alongside the artists from their own generation.

How do you define success?

In broad terms I think it means reaching your deathbed without having compromised your core values. In musical terms, to me it means sharing my thoughts and feelings in a way that I can feel honest and uncompromised by economic interests. Financial success in music to the point that it paid my bills would probably destroy the pleasure and therapy of it for me.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

Most of the films that I’ve viewed in the last few years. I used to like movies but the vast bulk of productions in the last decade or so have gotten so dumb/redundant. I hate walking away from a screen feeling robbed of time and attention with nothing to show for it.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I’d like to either score a film or write and direct a serialized music video series. Either way, I want to be a part of combining visual narrative forms with music that will help audiences to interpret the visual art and immerse themselves more fully into the experience.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

Yikes. I’d say it mostly has to do with mediating our own confusing lived reality with our own imagined reality of the ideal. We are finite creatures who shit and stink and die and yet can also comprehend truth and beauty and the infinite. That’s a lot of therapeutic ground to cover, and I’m guessing music in addition to visual arts and narrative forms help with this in psychological, spiritual, and even concrete physical ways. I’ve gotten into to the ideas of Ernest Becker, Otto Rank, and Norman O. Brown in the past and that has helped me to make some sense of cultural functions like the arts.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Harvest time in my garden and the creation of a community garden next year at the non-profit I volunteer with. The focus is on organic, sustainable practices that address the realities of the seemingly permanent California drought. We are going to break ground in August on a community modeled after the Community First! Village in Austin which provides housing, relationships, services, and dignified income opportunities to people who are chronically homeless.

https://www.facebook.com/slowseasonmusic/
http://instagram.com/slowseasonmusic
http://slowseasonmusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sunumbraband
https://www.instagram.com/sunumbra/

http://facebook.com/bandbrim/
https://www.instagram.com/brimband/
https://brimband.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.instagram.com/fuzzfamily/
https://www.facebook.com/fuzzfamily/
https://visaliahomestead.weeblysite.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ridingeasyrecords/
https://www.instagram.com/easyriderrecord/
http://www.ridingeasyrecords.com/

https://www.facebook.com/royaloakie/
http://instagram.com/royaloakie
https://royaloakie.bandcamp.com/
https://www.royaloakierecords.com/

Brim, California Gold (2022)

Slow Season, Westing (2016)

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Slow Season Change Name to Westing; New Album in 2022

Posted in Whathaveyou on October 12th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

If you were to ask me how long it’d been since Visalia, California’s Slow Season released their most recent full-length, Westing (review here), I sure as shit would not say five years. Three, maybe? Four at the outside? However, there’s no arguing with math, and by the time they’ve got their next offering out through RidingEasy Records, that five years may well be six.

They’ll also have a new name, as they’ve apparently decided to take Westing as their moniker — not sure why, but I’d love to know — and are furthering their “fresh start” feel by bringing in guitarist Ben McLeod on lead.

Now. If your eyebrows shot up at the mention of that name, I checked, and yes, it’s Ben McLeod, also of All Them Witches. Uncertain if he’s relocated to the West Coast or is working remotely with Westing or what, but again, that’s another thing I’d love to know. One way or the other, as regards six-stringers in the sphere of modern heavy, that is the proverbial “good get,” and one looks forward to finding out more about how his joining Westing came about, presumably at some point after or concurrent to the new album’s release next year. Fascinating times we live in.

For a refresher on Westing, the album, you’ll find the Bandcamp stream at the bottom of the post. The band’s announcement of current and upcoming doings came from social media:

Westing

IIIIT LLLLIVES!!!

Hey! It’s been a minute.

First off, please welcome our new lead guitar player, Ben McLeod.

Second, we are changing the band name to Westing.

Third, there’s a new record that will be coming out in 2022.

It’s been over two years since we’ve played for y’all and it is time to change that with a set of brand-new material at the following:

November 5th – Booze Brothers (Vista, CA)
November 6th – Permanent Records Roadhouse (LA, CA)

Stoked? Let us know!

Westing (formerly Slow Season)

https://www.facebook.com/slowseasonmusic/
http://instagram.com/slowseasonmusic
http://slowseasonmusic.com/
http://www.ridingeasyrecords.com/

Slow Season, Westing (2016)

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Thin Lizzy Tribute Bow to Your Masters Available to Preorder

Posted in Whathaveyou on January 3rd, 2018 by JJ Koczan

While one could hardly at all argue that the title Bow to Your Masters is in any way inappropriate for a tribute to Irish heavy rock legends Thin Lizzy, it seems the intention on the part of Glory or Death Records is to make it an ongoing series, perhaps featuring different acts along the way in the spirit of Magnetic Eye‘s homages to Jimi Hendrix, Helmet and Pink Floyd? That’s of course if I’m correctly reading the preorder info — and hey, I’m pretty much a clueless moron so there’s always a chance I’m not — below for the first LP of the two currently slated to arrive for Bow to Your Masters: Thin Lizzy early this year and including a special screenprint of the album art and immediate streaming option.

You can see the LP1 and LP2 tracklistings below. They, uh, rule.

No really, I mean it. Killer assemblage:

Welcome to the first release from Glory or Death Records Bow to Your Masters series of tribute albums. For this first release we chose something special: Thin Lizzy, one of the most influential rock-and-roll bands of all time.

There are two vinyl options:
-“Glory” green LP1 vinyl and “Death” colored/patterned LP2 vinyl
-“Death” orange/black splatter LP1 vinyl and “Death” colored/patterned LP2 vinyl

There is also a tri-fold CD option!

All editions come with a 12×12 screen print of the album cover. Final shipping date TBD-likely early 2018.

LP1 live for preorder buyers now. Preorder on Big Cartel and we’ll send a link to listen to the entire first LP. You know you want it! Just to clarify, the preorder includes physical and digital files for both LPs!

Track Listing for LP1 (available to stream for preorder buyers)

Are you Ready – Mothership
Massacre – Mos Generator
Don’t Believe a Word – White Dog
Suicide – Egypt
Chinatown – Red Wizard
Thunder and Lightning – KOOK
She Knows – Slow Season
Cold Sweat – Great Electric Quest
Cowboy Song – Goya

Track Listing for LP 2 (not available to stream yet)

It’s Only Money – Wo Fat
Johnny – Worshipper
Jailbreak – DUEL
Emerald – Gygax
Still in Love with You – Isaiah Mitchell (Earthless)
Opium Trail – Jeff Matz (High on Fire), Mark Yalowitz (Zeke), Mike Scheidt (Yob), and more
The Rocker – Bow to Your Masters Supergroup
????? – High On Fire
And more…

http://gloryordeathrecords.bigcartel.com/product/bow-to-your-masters-volume-i-thin-lizzy
https://www.facebook.com/Gloryordeathrecords/

Thin Lizzy, “Cowboy Song”

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Wrapping up #VinylDay2017

Posted in Features on July 26th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

Grooves and platters galore. My motivation behind doing Vinyl Day 2017 was simple: I felt like listening to records and sharing that process. It was kind of an off-the-cuff thing. Just an idea I had and ran with it. I figure it doesn’t need to be anything more than that, right? Isn’t putting on an album its own excuse for putting on an album? I tend to think so.

And yeah, I made it a hashtag. Because it’s the future, and hashtags. Instagrammaphone and whatnot. I’m a novice at best when it comes to the social medias, but it seems to me that if you’re going to share a full day’s worth of what you’re listening to, that’s the way to do it. So that’s what I did. If I clogged up your feed or whatever and it pissed you off, sorry.

For anyone who might’ve missed it, it turned out to be nine records of various sorts. Here they are, complete with accompanying audio when I could get it, because it’s the age of instant gratification:

There you have it. Had to be Sleep to end it. Pretty awesome day of music on the whole, and whatever was on your playlist yesterday, if it was this stuff or anything else, I hope you enjoyed. I’m gonna call Vinyl Day 2017 a definite win. Thanks for reading.

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Electric Funeral Fest 2017 Announces Schedule; Kicks off this Friday

Posted in Whathaveyou on June 12th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

This Friday in Denver marks the beginning of Electric Funeral Fest 2017. Kicking things off at 4:15PM will be West Coast boogie groovers Lords of Beacon House, followed immediately by High on the Mountain right across the street. I know these things because the festival has newly announced its full schedule for its two-day run, which features the likes of Slow Season, The Well, Sourvein, Goya, Oryx, headliners Acid King and Corky Laing’s Mountain, and many others. I’ve got kind of a whirlwind couple weeks coming up as it is, but if you were offering me a ticket and a flight, I’d have a hard time turning this one down. Looks like it’s going to be an incredible time for those fortunate enough to be there.

If that’s you, I hope you have a blast. Here’s the info:

electric-funeral-fest-2017-schedule

DUST Presents: Electric Funeral Fest 2017

Tickets: www.electricfuneralfest.eventbrite.com
** 21+, All tickets are non-refundable **

DENVER, CO
HI DIVE // 3 KINGS TAVERN

FRIDAY JUNE 16th
The Joint by Cannabis Stage at 3 Kings Tavern
4:15 – 4:50 Lords of Beacon House
5:15 – 5:50 Oryx
6:15 – 6:50 Muscle Beach
7:15 – 7:50 Communion
8:15 – 8:50 Monarch
9:15 – 9:55 The Well
10:15 – 11:00 Slow Season
11:40 – 12:40 Corky Laing’s MOUNTAIN

Hi-Dive Denver
4:45 – 5:20 High on the Mountain
5:45 – 6:20 Smokey Mirror
6:45 – 7:20 Greenbeard
7:45 – 8:20 The Munsens
8:45 – 9:20 R.I.P.
9:40 – 10:20 Goya
10:40 – 11:25 Sourvein
-After Party-
12:50 – 1:30 Glitter Wizard

SATURDAY JUNE 17th
The Joint by Cannabis Stage at 3 Kings Tavern
4:15 – 4:50 Dizz Brew
5:15 – 5:50 Red Wizard
6:15 – 6:50 Feather Stone
7:15 – 7:50 Great Electric Quest
8:15 – 8:50 Barrows
9:15 – 9:55 The Heavy Eyes
10:15 – 11:00 Electric Citizen
11:40 – 12:40 ACID KING

Hi-Dive Denver
4:45 – 5:20 Urn
5:45 – 6:20 Jagged Mouth
6:45 – 7:20 Malahierba
7:45 – 8:20 Love Gang
8:45 – 9:20 Banquet
9:40 – 10:20 Cloud Catcher
10:40 – 11:25 Destroyer of Light
-After Party-
12:50 – 1:30 Crypt Trip

Electric Funeral will once again be happening in the South Broadway district of Denver. Anyone that is familiar with Denver knows that S. Broadway is one of the greatest neighborhoods this city has to offer. In our second year of this event, we have added a second stage at Hi Dive. Hi Dive is across the street from 3 Kings Tavern and easily one of the greatest places to party in Denver.

There is also no shortage of other great bars and restaurants in the area for attendees to visit if they need a break from head-banging. Although both stages are indoors, this will feel like just as much of an outdoor event as people go back and forth between the two venues that will run simultaneously through both evenings. Hey hey, my my, rock n’ roll sure ain’t fuckin’ dying in Denver!

www.electricfuneralfest.eventbrite.com
https://www.facebook.com/dustpresents/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1810211735896531/

Corky Laung’s Mountain, “Theme from an Imaginary Western” Live

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Bow to Your Masters: Thin Lizzy Tribute to Feature High on Fire, Mos Generator, Mothership, Harsh Toke, Egypt and More

Posted in Whathaveyou on May 23rd, 2017 by JJ Koczan

Not that this one really needs a plug, considering that as of this writing Glory or Death Records‘ Kickstarter campaign for a Thin Lizzy tribute to be titled Bow to Your Masters has hit 274 percent of its fundraising goal, but it’s pretty awesome that as a result of that, the label has added a second LP to the project and announced the first band who’ll take part in it is High on Fire. The way the numbers have played out pretty much underscores the absolute no-brainer, duh-of-course-head-slap awesomeness of the idea in the first place, and among life’s many worthy tenets, “The more Thin Lizzy, the better,” continues to resound as dogma.

Will there be a Volume 2? Will Glory or Death earn enough in the remaining week of the campaign to add a third LP here? Time will tell.

Background info and the latest tracklisting update follow here, courtesy of the label:

Bow to Your Masters Volume 1: Thin Lizzy Set for Winter Release

First Vinyl Release from Glory or Death will be a Tribute Featuring Heavy Underground Heavyweights

Glory or Death Records is extremely excited to announce our first vinyl release, and the first in our series of Bow to Your Masters tribute albums. For this first release we chose a special band to pay tribute to: Thin Lizzy, one of the most influential rock-and-roll bands of all time.

The album announcement comes with a Kickstarter campaign that has already met the original goal, but is still going until 5/30/17. The Kickstarter preorder features limited vinyl and art packages and surprise rewards that will be added in the second half of the campaign. Buying now will grant access to the highly-limited first pressing of Bow to Your Masters Volume 1: Thin Lizzy, which will feature some of the best heavy metal, rock, and psych bands in the business putting their own unique spin on classic Thin Lizzy songs.

The album features bands from innovative labels like Doomentia Records, Riding Easy Records, Ripple Music, Tee Pee Records, and Totem Cat Records.

The 10 bands coming along for the ride are: Mos Generator (Seattle, WA), Egypt (Fargo, ND), White Dog (Austin, TX), Red Wizard (San Diego, CA), Slow Season (Visalia, CA), Mothership (Dallas, TX), KOOK (San Jose, CA), Great Electric Quest (Oceanside, CA), Sacri Monti (Encinitas, CA), and Harsh Toke (San Diego, CA).

**UPDATE-2nd LP announced, High on Fire First Band Added**

LP1 Band/Track Listing
Mos Generator-Massacre
Egypt-Suicide
White Dog-???
Red Wizard-???
Slow Season-She Knows
Mothership-???
KOOK-Thunder and Lightning
Great Electric Quest-???
Sacri Monti-???
Harsh Toke-???

LP2 Band/Track Listing
High on Fire-???
???
???
???

The launch teaser video for the Kickstarter campaign includes a sample of Mos Generator playing a monster cover of Massacre, and there is also a teaser of Egypt’s version of Suicide. The rest of the tracks will be revealed before the end of the Kickstarter campaign. The album will release in late 2017—with a current target of November.
The album cover features art from renowned album and band/poster artists David Paul Seymour and Austin Barrett; the 4-panel cover will feature re-interpretations of classic Thin Lizzy photos and album covers. The Kickstarter campaign has reward tiers that include the 4 original art pieces that make up the cover as well as signed screen-prints of the 4 cover panels.

Details:
Kickstarter Address: http://bit.ly/gloryordeath
Kickstarter pre-order deadline: 5/30/17

http://www.facebook.com/gloryordeathrecords
http://www.instagram.com/glory_or_death_records

Thin Lizzy, Fighting (1975)

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Electric Funeral Fest 2017 Announces Corky Laing’s Mountain to Headline

Posted in Whathaveyou on April 3rd, 2017 by JJ Koczan

Acid King and Mountain as headliners? Look, I was pretty much sold on the notion of Electric Funeral Fest 2017 anyway, but it’s not like adding Corky Laing and a bunch of other dudes playing Mountain classics hurts. The festival is set for this June in the Mile High city of Denver, Colorado, and in addition to those two it features a swath of righteous acts from the West Coast, the Midwest, the South and the East, pulling in various kind of heavy from doom to sludge to classic rock and roll in what’s an obviously well curated environment. If I could go, I’d be there in a heartbeat.

Some of the below was posted previously, but I want to reiterate to underscore the point. If you’re in this part of the world, you should fucking go to this. Events like this deserve your support and they deserve to continue to flourish and grow. Don’t suck. Go and have a good time. That’s my piece. I’ve said it.

Info follows:

denver-electric-funeral-fest-2017

“Honored to announce the headliner of Day 1 at Electric Funeral Fest is current iteration of iconic rock band, MOUNTAIN. Original drummer Corky Laing has teamed up with a band to play Mountain hits from the early ’70s. It is a true pleasure to host a legend from the era that started it all.

Electric Funeral will once again be happening in the South Broadway district of Denver. Anyone that is familiar with Denver knows that S. Broadway is one of the greatest neighborhoods this city has to offer. In our second year of this event, we have added a second stage at Hi Dive. Hi Dive is across the street from 3 Kings Tavern and easily one of the greatest places to party in Denver.

There is also no shortage of other great bars and restaurants in the area for attendees to visit if they need a break from head-banging. Although both stages are indoors, this will feel like just as much of an outdoor event as people go back and forth between the two venues that will run simultaneously through both evenings. Hey hey, my my, rock n’ roll sure ain’t fuckin’ dying in Denver!

Electric Funeral Fest 2017 – Friday June 16th & Saturday June 17th
Location: Denver, CO @ Hi Dive & 3 Kings Tavern

LINEUP

Friday June 16
Headliner: Corky Laing’s Mountain
Support: Sourvein, Slow Season, Goya, R.I.P., The Well, Glitter Wizard, Monarch, Muscle Beach, The Munsens, Communion, Lords of Beacon House, Greenbeard, Oryx, Smokey Mirror, High on the Mountain

Saturday June 17
Headliner: Acid King
Support: Electric Citizen, The Heavy Eyes, Destroyer of Light, Crypt Trip, Cloud Catcher, Love Gang, Barrows, Great Electric Quest, Red Wizard, Banquet, Ocelot (performing as Feather Stone), Jagged Mouth, Pueblo Escobar, Urn

Flier art by Christina Hunt
Flier layout by Keith Dreissen

www.electricfuneralfest.eventbrite.com
https://www.facebook.com/dustpresents/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1810211735896531/

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