Next time I’m sitting around being bored, feeling like there’s nothing to do but park my ass somewhere and wait for a baseball game to start, someone please remind me there are people out there like Tony Reed who manage to use downtime for the purposes of kicking ass instead of being a whiny jerk. Kudos to the Mos Generator/Stone Axe multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and producer for giving us all a lesson in DIY ethics with his take on the Pentagram classic “Forever My Queen,” which he recorded — as he intimates in the video info — more or less just for the hell of it:

I had a couple of hours to kill one day so i recorded this Pentagram song. I filmed as i did the takes so these are the actual takes from the song.

Blamo. I will not tell you some of the BS lines I’ve drawn on to-do lists just to be able to cross them out and tell myself I had a productive day, but suffice it to say, none of them have ever resulted in a cover as solid and professional sounding as this one, let alone a pro-quality edited video of me recording said cover, cut together perfectly with the finished audio. Were I wearing a hat, rest assured, it would be duly doffed.

Enjoy Tony Reed‘s “Forever My Queen,” and then go check out his bands and buy his albums, because they rule and because he obviously deserves the money more than the rest of us. Well done, Mr. Reed.

Tony Reed, “Forever My Queen” (Pentagram cover)

Mos Generator on Thee Facebooks

Stone Axe on Thee Facebooks

Contrary to what you might presume from the photo above, Port Orchard, Washington, heavy rockers Mos Generator have seen the light. They decided to make a video about it.

The first thing you’ll probably notice in listening to “Lonely One Kenobi” from Mos Generator‘s new album, Nomads (review coming soon), is that it is crazily, unabashedly, apologetically catchy. The power trio of guitarist/vocalist Tony Reed, bassist Scooter Haslip and drummer Shawn Johnson have outdone themselves with the album, which is due out Oct. 23 on Ripple Music, and I can only assume that the yellow light in which the video finds them bathing as they perform the track is powered by the chorus.

Speaking of the chorus, the title of the song is also going to make a lot more sense once you hear it.

Please enjoy “Lonely One Kenobi” from Nomads, followed by some PR wire-type info from Ripple:

MOS GENERATOR Premiere “Lonely One Kenobi” Video

“Lonely One was the first song we wrote in the batch of new songs we recorded for Nomads. From the first time we played it live I could tell it was a strong number,” said Tony Reed when asked about the choice of lead singles, “And as for the video, yeah, I’m happy with the way Lonely One came out with what we had to work with. We’ve had a very positive response from people who have already seen the video.”

Nomads will be available world-wide on October 23^rd, 2012 through Ripple Music. The nine track album features the heaviness and elegant melody that have become the trademark sounds of the band, but this time lyrically exploring the more introspective paths of soul salvation. The Port Orchard, Washington rock n’ roll nomads spent almost a year tracking, recording, and mixing the new album until they were happy with the end result, constantly holding the material to the light, never wanting to release anything less than stellar.

Nomads will be available through Nail/Allegro Distribution in the U.S., Code 7 in the UK, and Clearspot International through continental Europe. Look for MOS GENERATOR on the road throughout the Pacific Northwest starting in September with possible more road work in 2013.

Track List:
1. Cosmic Ark
2. Lonely One Kenobi
3. Torches
4. Step Up
5. Solar Angels
6. For Your Blood
7. Can’t Get Where I Belong
8. Nomads/This Is The Gift Of Nature

Mos Generator on Thee Facebooks

Ripple Music

As the kids would say, I am “all jazzed up” (the kids say that, right?) at the prospect of a new Mos Generator album. Nomads is due out Oct. 23 on Ripple Music, and the first batch out tour dates to support the record have been announced. Sure, they’re all on the other side of the country, but it’s still pretty cool.

Click the poster to enlarge and revel in the informative nature of what follows:

MOS GENERATOR Announce Live Dates in Support of Nomads, Support Slot with Saint Vitus

Hitting the road for select dates throughout the Pacific Northwest, MOS GENERATOR are proud to announce upcoming live dates starting this September, cuminating with an opening slot for St. Vitus as the legendary Doom merchants ply their trade across the U.S. For the Port Orchard trio, getting back on the live circuit to support their latest Ripple Music release, Nomads, is where they feel the music will take on a life of it’s own.

“Mos Generator has always embraced the live setting and where we feel our chemistry really comes together,” states guitarist/singer Tony Reed , “The songs take on a different form from night to night, one of us will throw out a new twist and the other two will pick up on it and take it where it feels best to go. It’s also very organic and a great outlet for us to fulfill musical needs we don’t get from the recording process.”

It’s been five years since the world has heard new material from MOS GENERATOR, and fortunately, that streak is about to end! Nomads will be available world-wide on October 23^rd, 2012 through Ripple Music. The nine track album features the heaviness and elegant melody that have become the trademark sounds of the band, but this time lyrically exploring the more introspective paths of soul salvation. The Port Orchard, Washington rock n’ roll nomads spent almost a year tracking, recording, and mixing the new album until they were happy with the end result, constantly holding the material to the light, never wanting to release anything less than stellar.

Nomads will be available through Nail/Allegro Distribution in the U.S., Code 7 in the UK, and Clearspot International through continental Europe. Look for MOS GENERATOR on the road throughout the Pacific Northwest starting in September with possible more road work in 2013.

Track List:
1. Cosmic Ark
2. Lonely One Kenobi
3. Torches
4. Step Up
5. Solar Angels
6. For Your Blood
7. Can’t Get Where I Belong
8. Nomads/This Is The Gift Of Nature

Join the MOS GENERATOR mailing list for special fan club opportunities in the near future!

Like seemingly everything else in which he involves himself, my friendship with Tony Reed has been remarkably straightforward. The guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, recording engineer and driving force behind Mos Generator, Stone Axe and HeavyPink (whose 7” is still available on The Maple Forum, hint hint) got an email from me when Stone Axe was putting out their second album requesting a copy for review, he said sure, and I reviewed it. Then we did an interview, I wound up writing the bios for the Ripple Music reissues of the first two Stone Axe records, then HeavyPink came along and I wound up helping to put that out, and there have been live reviews along the way and more posts than I can even think of at this point. In my head, I always go back to Reed calling me at one in the morning to talk about how excited he was to have just recorded Saint Vitus’ first album in 17 years, Lillie: F-65. The dude bleeds passion for rock and roll. It’s pretty much his thing, and in all my many dealings with him, he’s never been anything but upfront, honest and as bullshit-free as his music. Aside from his astounding level of output – two of the four albums reviewed this week – three if you count this deluxe remix of Mos Generator’s self-titled that I promise I’m going to start talking about sooner than later – involved his production (those being Mighty High and Trippy Wicked) – he’s got an incredible knowledge of rock and roll and has turned me on to a few killer bands and records. To put it mildly, he’s someone whose work I respect deeply, and someone I’m very, very glad to have emailed — and not just because a few weeks ago a full glorious 12” vinyl package showed up of Mos Generator’s Mos Generator 2002 debut full-length, given the complete “deluxe edition” treatment by Ripple Music, with whom Reed has cooperated closely over the last couple years, both on his own projects and the label’s.

To say they give the record its due is probably to understate it. That’s not to disrespect the album – it’s a more than solid enough collection, and the last Mos to be issued on vinyl – so it’s well worthy, it’s just the sheer volume of this release is breathtaking. With the Ripple LP, you get the original album, Mos Generator, on vinyl and CD. That’s standard. The CD comes as part of the package. Also included on the CD is the previously unreleased track “Hearts and Hands” and a live show recorded at the Manette Saloon in Bremerton, Washington, on Aug. 24, 2002, which is enough in itself to push the 75-minute mark. That’s probably more than a lot of deluxe reissues would give you, but the vinyl package also comes with a download card – it works, I’ve tested it – that includes an entire collection’s worth of songs. It’s got everything from the vinyl and the CD, plus another complete 2002 live show, this one taped at The Hole in Reed’s native Port Orchard, WA, earlier in the year, as well as four demo tracks, and to cap off, a massive 29-minute freeform rehearsal jam from the original Mos lineup of Reed, bassist Scooter Haslip and drummer Shawn Johnson that, among other things, includes a stopover from the riff to Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick” toward the end. All told, it’s nearly two and a half hours of Mos Generator material covering the self-titled era, and a package that fans of the band, of Reed’s work in his other projects, or of heavy rock who might have missed them the first time around will revel in. Mos Generator released their last album – to date; they’re apparently working on a new one – in 2008, and if this reissue is to mark a resurgence, they’re certainly getting off on the right foot. I mean, seriously. The full download has 29 tracks. For some bands, that’s a discography.

The star of the show, though, is the album itself. According to the liner notes penned by Reed, the band was borrowing ideas from their Washington compatriots in Golden Pig Electric Blues Band (whose second album Reed recorded) for some of these songs, but if the seven cuts that make up the record-proper show anything, it’s that the strong sense of structure pervasive in Reed’s work now is nothing new. Immediately with “Lumbo Rock” as the opener, Mos Generator offers rock traditionalism based around memorable choruses that don’t hook for the sake of hooking, but still maintain a firm sense of presence. The band is loose on purpose, but the sound of the reissue is crisp, highlighting the warmth of Haslip’s bass and pop and sway in Johnson’s drumming along with Reed’s swaggering vocal and upbeat riffs. With a tale of moonshining and handclap-worthy snare hits for breaks between its verse lines, “Stone County Line” proves an early highlight, and “Acapulco Gold” aligns Mos Generator to stoner rock with blatant herbal homage not often paid a decade later. Reed croons over a softer guitar line, “Acapulco gold, you’re the only thing I wanna do/You take my soul and I don’t stand a chance of quitting you,” and it’s hard to imagine he didn’t have Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf” in mind as a blueprint of the song’s red-eyed ethic. The song barely reaches three minutes, but in that time has enough character in its build to leave an impression by the end and make way for the even shorter and still strikingly efficient “F-1,” the newly-done mix of which highlights Haslip’s wah bass as its core and rounds out side A with a crisp execution that continues as the second half of the album takes hold in the form of “Sleeping You Way to the Middle.”

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Click here to purchase HeavyPink‘s HeavyPink 7″ by PayPal or other methods.

I don’t know if you’ve ever met him or spoken to him, but I can’t even begin to tell you how excellent it is to work with Tony Reed. He’s one of the most bullshit-free individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet, and by way of an example, when I emailed him yesterday to say, “Hey dude, I’ve sold a few copies of the HeavyPink 7″ in the last week and thought it might be a good time to do an update, you got anything new in the works?” it wasn’t even an hour later that he got back to me with info on two new albums he’s a part of and the news that he’s starting in on the next batch of HeavyPink songs already as well.

While I admit I’m hardly impartial, I’m really excited to see where Reed takes the one-man HeavyPink psychedelic project next. Of all his current bands and acts to which he’s contributed of late — Stone Axe, Mos Generator, Blood of the Sun, and so on — I really thought that HeavyPink was something different and unique within his catalog. Something he’d never done before. That was a big part of why I was so happy to help put it out, and with 67 copies left, I hope that if you wound up hearing the 7″, you’ve enjoyed it as well.

Reed informs that he, as ever, is busy. In addition to preparing for Stone Axe‘s set of Free covers at London Desertfest, which runs from April 6-8, and their European tour with Stubb and Trippy Wicked and the new releases detailed last week, he’s gotten started on what will be the first Mos Generator output in four years, a brand new studio album tentatively titled Nomad, for which there will also be a video for the song “Cosmic Ark.” In addition to this, Blood of the Sun‘s new album, Burning on the Wings of Desire, will be released by Listenable Records later this year.

So all good things, and in addition, Reed mixed and mastered the recently-lauded Stubb full-length, and recorded the new Saint Vitus album that’s due out this Spring, so it’s never too long before he’s heard from, one way or another.

Thanks for your support of HeavyPink, The Maple Forum and The Obelisk. To purchase one of the remaining 67 copies of HeavyPink‘s debut 7″, please follow the link above or simply click here.

In 2012, it will have been 17 years since Saint Vitus released their last studio album, Die Healing. Following the dissolution, 2003 reformation, dissolution and ongoing 2009 reunion of the band, the new full-length, reportedly titled Lillie: F-65, will be issued on March 27 by Season of Mist. It’s the first album to feature drummer Henry Vasquez, who came aboard in 2009 to fill the role of the late and then-ailing Armando Acosta, and the first album since 1990′s V to feature Scott “Wino” Weinrich on vocals alongside Dave Chandler‘s trademark guitar sound and Mark Adams‘ bass.

Even if Saint Vitus wasn’t arguably the best American doom band ever to walk the earth, Lillie: F-65 would be an event just for how long it’s been since the last record. But Vitus, who played Roadburn in 2009 and subsequently embarked on both American and European tours, are among the most influential doom acts of all time. In both their sound and their attitude, they set the template for what would become the miseries still prevalent in the genre today, and having seen them live on multiple occasions since this latest reunion got going, including seeing them perform the new song “Blessed Night” on the Metalliance tour earlier this year with Crowbar, Helmet, Red Fang and Kylesa, I can say with certainty their appeal is more than nostalgic.

The end of June 2010 found Saint Vitus on the road for a week-long West Coast US run alongside Washington classic rockers Stone Axe. The connection there is that T. Dallas Reed (sometimes referred to around here as Tony) plays guitar with Vasquez in his own ’70s-obsessed band, the formidable rock powerhouse Blood of the Sun, but after recording a live Vitus demo in his HeavyHead studio, it was decided that he should be the one to helm the album.

Reed, whose side-project HeavyPink is the latest release on The Maple Forum (I mention it because I’d be remiss not to; it doesn’t come up in the interview once), emailed me late one night a while back and asked if we could talk on the phone the next day. It was about 1AM on the East Coast and I said I was still up if he wanted to call. The sheer excitement in his voice as he recounted being in the studio with Saint Vitus as they tracked their new album was palpable. As much as he was a professional involved in making Lillie: F-65, he’s clearly also a fan.

I didn’t record that conversation — would be weird to just tap my own phone — but we spoke again not too long ago about the process of getting one of 2012′s most anticipated albums to tape (yes, literally tape), and Reed was no less enthusiastic to discuss the project of working with and recording Saint Vitus and watching as Lillie: F-65 began to take its final shape. You’ll find that complete Q&A, along with some info about Reed‘s work with Blood of the Sun, Stone Axe and the regrouped Mos Generator, after the jump.

Also included are some pictures and video of Vitus in the studio, which come courtesy of Reed himself. Please enjoy.

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