https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Trevor Richards of The Long Hunt

Posted in Questionnaire on August 5th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Trevor Richards of The Long Hunt (Photo by Allison Kacmar Richards)

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: Trevor Richards of The Long Hunt

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

In terms of The Long Hunt, I define myself as a guitarist, songwriter, photographer, social media manager, recording engineer, graphic designer, booking agent, video editor, webmaster, roadie, and esteemed van operator. I came to all these various roles through a combination of trial and error, sheer force of will, and a reluctant sense of responsibility.

Describe your first musical memory.

Not really sure what my first musical memory would be, but if I had to guess, it probably had something to do with the neglected 1950s ‘Kay’ brand acoustic guitar that sat in the corner of the living room, behind the television stand, gathering dust. On extremely rare occasions, and I am talking rare, my Dad might pick it up and pluck a few notes. More often than not, it was something that would get knocked over while trying to hook up the VCR or the NES. I remember that I did like the smell of it, for what that’s worth. It was kind of that ‘old wood’ type of smell. As a teenager, it was the instrument that I learned to play on. Now I have it in a case in the closet. It still pretty much smells the same.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

I am going to limit my answer to just within the scope of The Long Hunt, and even more narrowly, within the scope of live shows. Even then, I’m not sure this memory is particularly the “best” or if it’s just one good memory that sticks out among a field of several good memories.

The memory du jour is our first show as a band, which occurred Saturday, April 1st, 2017 at Cattivo in Pittsburgh. The lineup was The Skull, Horehound, and Monolith Wielder. The Long Hunt opened things up. Being our first show, this particular gig would probably stick in the mind regardless. Bolstering that fact, the turnout that night was especially good and we brought out a lot of our friends.

Up to that point, I had taken a few years off from playing live music, and this was the first group where I was kind of the de facto band leader. At the very least, I was the one with the microphone (talking between songs, not singing, just to be clear).

I was totally wired with nerves, which was especially challenging given how subdued, slow and “clean” our songs were back in those days. Believe me when I say It was an extreme challenge to keep things calm and controlled. But we did. Finishing our short set without a hitch was a massive relief and a massive release. In addition, the crowd seemed to enjoy our music, which was reassuring. This was truly the first real feedback we got as a group. It was a nice reminder how rewarding playing live music can be.

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

When I discovered that the beloved children’s book series of my youth, The Berenstein Bears, was in fact spelled The Berenstain Bears the entire time [I felt the same way when I found out those people were psycho christians – Ed.]. I am not saying it’s aliens, per se, but I think Cern and the Large Hadron Collider have something to do with it.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Usually towards a large pit in which to burn money. On the way to said pit is often a journey of self discovery and what I’ll call “artistic refinement”. Refinement in the sense that the more you do something, the better you tend to get at it. In addition, the longer you do something, the better chance you have in finding people who appreciate, and maybe even understand, what you are doing. Or at least trying to do, in some cases.

To me, artistic progression has, at the very least, a partial goal that is aimed at tearing down walls of pretense and allowing the exposure of one’s “true self” to be expressed to the world, through the vehicle of one’s preferred artistic medium. I am talking about making art that is pure. Art for art’s sake. Art that is an unfettered extension of one’s being, that also has that common thread that connects with others on some deeper and meaningful level. I am not saying this is an attainable goal, but it’s a goal nonetheless. Sometimes I’ll get glimpses of it on the way to that smoldering money pit.

How do you define success?

Being successful in music seems to have a lot to do with balance, and is a relative metric that will vary from person to person and band to band. There are always going to be positive and negative aspects to doing just about anything, and if, at the end of the day, the positive aspects outweigh the negative, then you can count that up as a net “success” of sorts. One person’s success is another’s failure, of course, though I think the healthiest outlook to have is to not measure yourself too much against what other people are doing. That’s not to say one shouldn’t have goals or that one should settle or remain stagnant.

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

Honestly, I think we all could have been just a little better off without witnessing many of the events over the last few years, things that still keep unfolding. That said, out of even the steamiest pile of shit often grows something new and beautiful. So there is that. We’ll see.

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

Putting together a book of some sort might be cool. Maybe a book of photography or something more of a visual sense. Specifically band related, a book of stills from our recently released animated short film “Threshold Wanderer” might be a nice thing to put out into the world.

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

The most essential function of art is communication.

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

Camping, traveling, and taking pictures.

https://listentothelonghunt.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thelonghuntband/
https://www.instagram.com/thelonghunt/
https://thelonghunt.bandcamp.com/

The Long Hunt, Threshold Wanderer (2022)

Tags: , , , , ,

The Long Hunt Premiere “The Tower” Video; Threshold Wanderer Out April 1

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on February 15th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Pittsburgh instrumentalists The Long Hunt release their second album, Threshold Wanderer, on April 1. And it’s more than an album as well, since guitarist Trevor Richards apparently taught himself 3D animation in order to tell an accompanying visual story in a short film that coincides with the six tracks of the release. “The Tower” (video premiering below) is the point at which the record begins to unfold, with the subdued “Prelude” setting a mood for two minutes before. It introduces the natural distortion and subtle noise vibe behind the riffs, like if earlier Mastodon slowed down to take a breath, and the brightness of the crash cutting through the density of the tones. The three-piece made their debut with 2018’s All Paths Lead to Here and are veterans of the Descendants of Crom festival in their hometown. Threshold Wanderer, as it happens, probably should’ve come out around the time they would’ve played that fest for the second time, in October 2020.

Clearly that didn’t happen — the release or the event — but one could hardly argue The Long Hunt didn’t make the best of their time. Drawing on visual elements both organic and otherworldly, the accompanying videos are a fitting match for songs like “The Golden Bough,” with its subtle Earth influence met by sunshine, a three-eyed deer, or the subsequent 12-minute “Night Falls on Black Wings” with its journey into aural and visual space. Dragons, the whole nine. It’s an immersive multimedia experience that The Long Hunt Threshold Wanderercontinues as “Crossing the River” courses through post-rock and heavy psychedelic drift and closer “Procession of Dust,” with the flapping raven wings at outset, reminds distinctly of the semi-animated album-video Neurosis put out over 20 years ago for A Sun That Never Sets. As the also-12-minute finale plays out, our evolved protagonist — the aforementioned three-eyed deer — is bathed in light like something out of 2001 and there’s fire, chaos and noise and I’m not really sure what the aftermath is but that’s probably the point. In any case, feedback.

Trevor Richards, bassist Allison Kacmar Richards and drummer Mark Lyons will be back at Descendants of Crom this June 3-4, and since Threshold Wanderer will be out by then, it’s a symmetry of happenstance that somehow makes sense considering the breadth, atmosphere and sense of exploration in the music of these songs. As they’re reportedly no strangers to live projections and such, it doesn’t seem unlikely that either at the fest or at some point thereafter, The Long Hunt would perform with Richards‘ animations accompanying. It all ties together, you see. Impressively. But for that, one feels obligated to point out that while the band’s intent may have always been to complement the audio, it was in fact that audio that came first, and “The Tower” speaks to that with its musical prominence, and the manner in which the video builds off the rhythm and mood of the track with which it’s paired.

Though “Prelude” is the actual entry point to the album, consider the clip for “The Tower” below something of an introduction as well, since it’s the beginning of the actual story that takes place throughout. Musically, it not necessarily tell you everything you need to know about Threshold Wanderer‘s more progressive-tinged intentions, but it’s a place to start. The place, actually. And I promise you, I promise, I promise, I did not know there was a big obelisk shooting lasers into space when I booked this premiere. I promise.

Preorder link and more info follows the video below.

Please enjoy:

The Long Hunt, “The Tower” video premiere

Digitally Pre-save ‘Threshold Wanderer’ now: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/thelonghunt/threshold-wanderer

Threshold Wanderer’ is the newest album by the Pittsburgh-based instrumental trio The Long Hunt, following 2017’s ‘Wilderness Tales’ EP and 2018’s ‘All Paths Lead to Here’ full-length.

the long hunt threshold wanderer posterIn contrast to the dry minimalism and sparse textures that defined the first two records, the songs on ‘Threshold Wanderer’ are often lush, dense, and verdant. Musical styles range from post-rock to post-metal, heavy psychedelic, doom, drone, and even a few hints of prog and classic rock. ‘Threshold Wanderer’ is all about musical exploration and traveling between worlds.

The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered in the first quarter of 2020, with the intent to release it later that year. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the global pandemic, those plans were unfortunately shelved. Not to be deterred by events beyond their control, the band soldiered on behind the scenes.

After a three-month crash course in 3D modeling, using open-source animation software Blender, guitarist Trevor Richards embarked on the monumental task of writing and animating an album-length music video. Eight months and over 1000 hours of work later, the accompanying music video/short film for ‘Threshold Wanderer’ was born.

Expanding on the band’s frequent use of archetypal themes such as nature, life, death, and rebirth, the music video for ‘Threshold Wanderer’ is an epic story-driven visual experience set to the music of The Long Hunt.

Bookending two years of anticipation, the band will release both the album and accompanying music video/short film for ‘Threshold Wanderer’ on Friday, April 1, 2022.

Upcoming Live Shows:

June 3-4 @ Descendants of Crom IV, Pittsburgh, PA

THE LONG HUNT is:
Trevor Richards: Guitars
Allison Kacmar Richards: Bass
Mark Lyons: Drums

The Long Hunt on Facebook

The Long Hunt on Instagram

The Long Hunt on Bandcamp

The Long Hunt website

Tags: , , , , ,

Descendants of Crom IV Lineup Announced: Bongzilla, Evoken, Ruby the Hatchet, Orodruin & More Confirmed

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 1st, 2020 by JJ Koczan

descendants of crom iv logo

The annual Descendants of Crom in Pittsburgh has become a reliable assemblage of heavy, with a lineup diverse in sound woven together by a consistent quality of taste that unites across styles. For evidence of the ongoing nature of this phenomenon, look no further than the first two names on the poster of Descendants of Crom IV — Bongzilla and Ruby the Hatchet. The former, a recongealed stoner-sludge exercise in Midwestern working-class bomber crust, and the latter, a more urbane newschool-via-oldschool heavy rock outfit laced with keys and nigh-on-glam melodicism.

Those differences are stark, but I’ll be damned if both don’t fit well at the top of the bill here, which includes plenty of shouldn’t-be-missed names in the likes of OrodruinValley of the Sun, Heavy TempleRebreatherPale DivineHorehoundCavern, on and on. I guess I could probably just run down the whole list at that point. It’s a good fest, and more even than last year, you begin to see the sense of curation and the personality of the festival emerge in its blend of styles. It’s not just about more, more, more, in an overwhelming onslaught of bands, but about what each specifically brings to the lineup as a whole. Kudos, as ever, to Shy Kennedy and her crew on a job on its way to being well done.

Here’s the announcement:

descendants of crom iv poster

DESCENDANTS OF CROM IV – A GATHERING OF THE HEAVY UNDERGROUND

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2nd & SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3rd

CATTIVO NIGHTCLUB – ­­­PITTSBURGH, PA, USA

The fourth annual Descendants of Crom will be held this year again in Pittsburgh on both floors of Cattivo Nightclub. The events begin early Friday evening and are followed by a Saturday all-dayer.

The underground scene of heavy rock and metal here is healthy and thriving and we’re feeding great regional bands to a hungry crowd and utilizing legendary, international fan-favorites to entice music fans in the door with the support of our amazing local artists. Descendants of Crom was planted in 2017 as a little black seed and has been growing and strong contender among other established annual music festivals. We aspire to become the premier music event of the Northeast and invite you to become part of the 2020 event. After all, we are all Descendants of Crom!

This year’s DESCENDANTS are:

Bongzilla, Ruby the Hatchet, Black Tusk, Valley of the Sun, Evoken, Orodruin, Rebreather, Horseburner, Heavy Temple, Horehound, Cavern, Pale Divine, Howling Giant, Ironflame, Cruces, God Root, Zom, The Long Hunt, Makeshift Urn, and We, the Creature.

Schedule and tickets will be on sale Friday, March 6th for single-day as well as two-day passes.

We’re looking for sponsors, vendors, and any entity that supports the heavy underground and all things psych, stoner, doom, sludge, and occult to reach out and be a part of our event and community.

Additionally, in anticipation for this year’s Descendants of Crom, there will be a DOC showcase held at Cattivo on Saturday, March 21st featuring bands that have all been part of the Descendants of Crom history. Urns, The Long Hunt, Horehound, Horesburner (WV), and Ironflame. This showcase is a taster of what sort of musicianship and energy that DOC brings to the stages.

Rritual event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/509381869977026/

https://www.facebook.com/DescendantsOfCrom/
www.instagram.com/descendantsofcrom/
https://www.facebook.com/events/437759083832580/
www.descendantsofcrom.com/Tickets.php
http://descendantsofcrom.com

Ruby the Hatchet, Live in Atlanta, GA, Dec. 5, 2019

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Descendants of Crom 2018 Announces Initial Lineup with Geezer, Devil to Pay, Kind, Curse the Son, Come to Grief, Heavy Temple and Many More

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 24th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

There are still headliners to be announced and others to come as well, and no doubt between now and then there will be one or two shakeups to what’s listed here between bands being added and bands dropping off as will invariably happen, but kudos all the same to organizer Shy Kennedy for the super-early unveiling of what’s probably the bulk of the lineup for Descendants of Crom 2018, the second installment of the Pittsburgh-based heavy fest. In addition to her own band, Horehound, Kennedy has already assembled a killer roster of acts, from Heavy Temple to Come to Grief to a slew of Steel City reserves in OutsideInside, Molasses Barge and others, and even if this was going to be the ultimate shape the festival would take — that is, if no one else was going to be added, which, again, they are — you’d still have to call it a good time in the making.

If you’ve got a 2018 calendar yet, mark it. Earlybird tickets are linked below. Here’s the announcement as posted by the fest, along with a quote graciously provided by Kennedy herself:

descendants of crom 2018

Blackseed Records Presents: Descendants of Crom 2018

The Descendants of Crom 2018 will be held in Pittsburgh, PA, USA in September 2018.

Pre Gala at Howlers in the evening on Thursday, September 27th.

Full days on September 28th and 29th at Cattivo.

“Descendants of Crom has been one of the most incredibly rewarding endeavors I’ve ever been involved with,” says fest organizer Shy Kennedy. “Having so many great people working and coming together for their underground music community the way they did that day was inspiring enough to erase any doubt that it has to grow. It has to be an annual event. Next year’s event may seem far away but it lends the time to really build it and get more people aware of it. As you know, a lot of work goes into a musical festival and if you take your time, it becomes a very enjoyable task. Descendants of Crom 2018 will be here all too soon and I, for one, cannot wait!”

Once upon a time there were 17 bands who joined forces to create one killer day of live, riff-ripping performances to celebrate the great community of our heavy, underground music here in the Northeast of the United States. That time was just a couple months back in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The all day event was a great collaboration in effort by local organization, bands from the region as well as a few touring and some very generous scene contributors. It was called the Descendants of Crom. Let’s do it again!

The second annual Descendants of Crom will be held on the last weekend of September of 2018 in Pittsburgh again. This time span three days in length as we are including a Thursday evening pre gala and all day events happening Friday and Saturday. There will be over 30 bands in total coming from all over the United States with a strong regional focus.

Tickets will be offered for single day to day events or in combinations. An Early Crow ticket sale will be held for the weekend combo for a 3 month period, limited to 125. These will be live soon today.

Stay tuned to find out the bands who will be rounding out the evenings of each night as well as the completed schedule.

Today, we announce the “meat” of the Descendants of Crom. These bands are the ones supporting this scene locally, regionally and or nationally. They are strong, beautiful creators of the jam, the breakdown, the beat, and the undeniable riff… they are the Descendants of Crom:

Descendants of Crom 2018 lineup:
The Long Hunt (PGH)
JaketheHawk (PGH)
Mires (PGH)
Solarburn (PGH)
Doctor Smoke (PGH)
Fist Fight In The Parking Lot (PGH)
Thunderbird Divine
Cloud
Curse the Son
Disenchanter
Molasses Barge (PGH)
OutsideInside
Wolftooth
Sierra
Horehound (PGH)
Cavern
Doomstress
Heavy Temple
Devil to Pay
Serpents of Secrecy
Eternal Black
Demon Eye
Geezer
Kind
Freedom Hawk
Duel
Come to Grief

Headliners and sub-headliners to be announced soon.
Early Crow tickets available for all event and 2 day passes for 3 months (11/23 – 2/23).

https://www.facebook.com/DescendantsOfCrom/
https://www.facebook.com/events/177536592803763
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3186333
http://descendantsofcrom.com

Solace, Live at Descendants of Crom 2017

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,