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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Ted Venemann of Yidhra and Oculus Outré

Posted in Questionnaire on March 31st, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Ted Venemann of Oculus Outre

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: Ted Venemann of Yidhra & Oculus Outré

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

I suppose I would say I create art. Of course the definition of art itself is entirely subjective, so I don’t feel too pompous defining it as such. As far as how I came to do it, it is just something that I have always done and fortunately for me, I’ve been able to segue it into a lifelong career.

Describe your first musical memory.

Growing up my life always filled with music. In the house, in the car, in the van, on family trips, you name it, there was always a soundtrack. Fortunately, my parents had eclectic tastes and they encouraged my brother and I to explore different things. They didn’t always like the results, but they never forbade us from listening to what we wanted to.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

That’s a difficult one because there are quite a few, but I’m going to have to say, my brother Jerry and I playing a show with Cherie Currie and Sandy West of The Runaways.

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

When I ceased being straight edge.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

That’s kind of an obtuse question since it can lead anywhere really. It can lead to stellar heights or abject failure.

How do you define success?

Success for me is when I am happy with a project and it reaches or surpasses its intended goal.

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

My brother’s lifeless body.

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

There are some 3D projects I’ve always wanted to create.

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

Enlightenment, opening doors of thought and/or emotions. In my honest opinion, if a piece of art doesn’t make you feel anything or learn anything, either it failed its purpose, or you failed to recognize its purpose.

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

On a very personal level, I am looking forward to experiencing my boys’ life journeys.

http://www.yidhra.com
http://www.facebook.com/YidhraWitchQueen
http://www.yidhra.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/0culus0utre
http://oculusoutre.com/

Yidhra, Cult of Bathory (2016)

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Yidhra Southwestern Tour Starts Tonight

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 20th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

yidhra

Tonight, Los Angeles doom metallers Yidhra hook up with Wisconsin sludgers Attalla for a stint of Southwestern tour dates running through the weekend. Attalla are on a longer stretch, having looped around the Pacific Northwest to meet up with Yidhra in L.A., and together they’ll head into Arizona and Nevada before Attalla continue on back home toward the upper Midwest. If that geography is confusing, it’ll make more sense when you see the routing of the tour (the rest of Attalla‘s dates are here).

Yidhra of course head out supporting their late-2015 Cult of Bathory EP (review here), which as the PR wire informs is now also available on tape:

yidhra attalla tour

YIDHRA: Stoner/Doom Alchemists Announce Southwest Tempest Tour With Attalla; Signature Fuzz Pedal Launched + Cult Of Bathory EP Available On Limited-Edition Cassette

California stoner/doom alchemists YIDHRA will join Attalla for a short run of live dates later this week. The Southwest Tempest Tour will run from July 20th through July 24th hitting Los Angeles, San Diego, Tucson, Phoenix, and Las Vegas.

The band will be touring in support of their Cult Of Bathory EP. Initially released this past Winter via Black Voodoo Records on limited ten-inch vinyl and digital formats, the follow-up to 2013’s critically-lauded Hexed full-length was captured live with master engineer and producer Bill Metoyer (Slayer, Corrosion of Conformity, Trouble, etc.) at Skull Seven Productions and boasts four dark, lead-footed hymns centered on the occult, witchcraft, life, death and imminent destruction. Cult Of Bathory is now available on cassette through The Harmacy Records’ Giallo imprint. Limited to fifty-five units worldwide, it can be obtained at THIS LOCATION.

YIDHRA w/ Attalla – Southwest Tempest Tour:
7/20/2016 Complex – Los Angeles, CA w/ Sisters Ov The Blackmoon, Ancient Spell
7/21/2016 The Merrow – San Diego, CA w/ Great Electric Quest, Supersonic Dragon Wagon
7/22/2016 SurlyWench Pub – Tucson, AZ w/ Abhorrent Contagion, Blacklidge
7/23/2016 The Sandlot – Phoenix, AZ w/ Tombstalker, Goya, Grey Gallows
7/24/2016 The Warehouse – Las Vegas, NV w/ The CG’s, The VD’s, Duct Tape Shoes, Commital, Grim Reefer, Wax Pig Melting

In other YIDHRA news, the band recently launched their own “signature” pedal, the Hexed Fuzz Custom through Arts In Bloodshed Custom Effects. There is a music realm made of heaviness, where goblins dwell and witches prepare their potions in wicked cauldrons. A doomed land where the trees are evil and the sky’s dark green. If you belong in here, then the Hexed Fuzz Custom is for you. Built according to the specs of YIDHRA guitarists Dave Krocker and Ted Venemann, the pedal provides an extra thick yet detailed high gain fuzz distortion perfect for extra low tunings. The fat and squished texture is filtered through a custom three band EQ and features a soft action true bypass switch as well as a bright creepy green led. Switchcraft jacks complete the high quality hardware. Heavy, extra gainy, and quiet. Now’s the time to get your hoof on it and begin to compose your malevolent chant. For more info visit THIS LOCATION.

http://www.yidhra.com
http://www.facebook.com/YidhraWitchQueen
http://www.yidhra.bandcamp.com
http://www.blackvoodoorecords.myminto.com

Yidhra & Attalla tour trailer

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Yidhra Stream Cult of Bathory EP in Full

Posted in audiObelisk on December 16th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

yidhra

Los Angeles-based doomer foursome Yidhra release their new EP, Cult of Bathory, on Friday through Black Voodoo Records. The four-songer arrives pressed up in 300 copies on a 10″ platter with digital and CD versions to follow (a rare swap in pressing order), and sees the band take a step further thematically from their 2013 full-length debut, Hexed, exploring modern/current subjects through a veil of coded references and metaphor.

One wouldn’t exactly call Cult of Bathory subtle as it mines desolate landscapes and pummels front-to-back in a burled-out assault of sludge riffs atop rolling doom grooves, but in its imagery and atmosphere, its songs give a glimpse at a world gone dark, and the brutality they emit almost immediately as the opening title-track unfolds from its swinging intro into the aggressive, guttural first verse en route to a chorus in which vocalist/rhythm guitarist/thereminist Ted Venemann seems to nod directly at Metallica — see pronunciation of “Bathory” vs. Master of Puppets‘ “Battery” — mirrors the brutality their songs would seem to be interested in portraying.

The lineup of Venemann, lead guitarist/vocalistyidhra-cult-of-bathory Dave Krocker, bassist Thomas Harris (since replaced by Erik Brasher) and drummer Chris Hannan use “Cult of Bathory” to establish a uniformly grim vision that persists throughout the subsequent three tracks, “Iron Mountain,” “The Adversary” and “Reign of Terror” exhibiting a sonic breadth in kind with the underlying dedication to weighted spirits and sonics. “Iron Mountain” is the longest of the four inclusions at 8:11 and uses its added space for a subdued, semi-psychedelic midsection jam that holds its underlying tension in Hannan‘s toms and some spacious volume-swell swirling.

They build their way back to the full-toned assault, naturally, and finish side A with a few measures of extra bashing. The thread continues as “The Adversary” launches side B with gruff chugging in tradeoff with quieter verses and dudely roll that gives way after the halfway mark for a briefer sojourn into minimalism that, similar to “Iron Mountain,” kicks back to maximum heft, en route to “Reign of Terror,” which is more uptempo but still unabashedly driven by the lower end of the tonal spectrum. A late solo feels in its element over the faster backing, and “Reign of Terror” justifies its closer position through a general uptick in the energy level that hits its apex in a post-slowdown fit of chugging and pace build, cutting out to finish cold, which is suitable enough to the preceding vibes.

Produced and engineered by Bill Metoyer (Slayer, Trouble, many others) at Skull Seven Productions, where Yidhra also recorded Hexed, Cult of Bathory is a strong follow-up to that full-length release, showing that the style the band proffered there and on the prior self-titled EP in 2009 was the ground floor of a development that remains underway. Crisp in sound and pointed even in the bluntness of their execution, the EP’s tracks are available to stream now on the player below ahead of Friday’s release date. Please enjoy:

Black Voodoo Records will release YIDHRA’s Cult Of Bathory on December 18th, 2015 on 10-inch vinyl in three limited edition color variants: 100 blood red splattered, 100 purple sold exclusively through Black Voodoo Records, and 100 standard black. Cult Of Bathory will be available on CD and digitally in early 2016. Stay tuned for details. Teaser tracks to be unveiled in the coming weeks.

Yidhra website

Yidhra on Thee Facebooks

Yidhra on Bandcamp

Black Voodoo Records

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Yidhra Releasing Cult of Bathory 10″ Next Month

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 10th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

yidhra

It was noted in this space back in 2013 when Los Angeles Theremin-inclusive doomers Yidhra released their full-length debut, Hexed, so it seems only fair to post word of the follow-up 10″ EP, Cult of Bathory, which comes out next month. Like its predecessor, the new offering features a veiled lady in sepiatone, though I guess the difference is this time she’s got no clothes on other than the veil — always the last to go…? — and is engaged in some creepy ritual whatnot, as the band themselves seem to be. The four-songer is out Dec. 7, and like the album before it, was tracked by Bill Metoyer in L.A.

Word follows from the PR wire:

yidhra cult of bathory

YIDHRA: Los Angeles-Based Stoner/Doom Bringers To Release New 10-Inch EP This December Via Black Voodoo Records

Los Angeles-based stoner/doom volume abusers will release a new 10-inch EP this Winter via Black Voodoo Records. Titled Cult Of Bathory, the followup to 2013’s critically-lauded Hexed full-length was captured live with master engineer and producer Bill Metoyer (Slayer, Corrosion of Conformity, Trouble, etc.) at Skull Seven Productions and boasts four rumbling, lead-footed anthems centered on the occult, witchcraft, inhumanity, life, death and imminent destruction.

Cult Of Bathory Track Listing
1. Cult Of Bathory
2. Iron Mountain 1
3. Theadversary
4. Reign Of Terror

Since their inception in 2009, YIDHRA have drawn comparisons to the likes of Electric Wizard, Saint Vitus, Trouble and Candlemass. But there’s something singularly hypnotic about YIDHRA; an intangible allure slithering beneath the doom and gloom. Literally formed by the fates of tragedy, life and death, they’ve been able to rise above their roots of despair and use those experiences to forge a massively heavy, dark and catchy arsenal of material. Lyrically and visually, YIDHRA conjure strong horror and occult themes that yield a seductive sense of foreboding. Musically they build a mountain of distortion, groove, thunder and a haunting ambiance that can only be attributed to true devotees of the almighty riff, master practitioners of tone worship and a spiritual relationship with the Theremin. Though there’s been a steady evolution within the band over the years, YIDHRA’s approach has always been focused on true expression; raw emotions and creating powerfully catchy kick ass songs.

YIDHRA will bring their smokey odes to the stage with two newly confirmed performances including a show tonight opening for New Orleans sludge kings, Crowbar with additional live abrasions in their plotting stages.

YIDHRA:
11/20/2015 Sweet Springs Saloon – Los Osos, CA w/ Behold! The Monolith, Inferos, Lesions

Black Voodoo Records will release YIDHRA’s Cult Of Bathory on December 7th, 2015 on 10-inch vinyl in three limited edition color variants: 100 blood red splattered, 100 purple sold exclusively through Black Voodoo Records, and 100 standard black. Cult Of Bathory will be available on CD and digitally in early 2016. Stay tuned for details. Teaser tracks to be unveiled in the coming weeks.

YIDHRA is:
Ted Venemann – vocals/rhythm guitar/theremin
Dave Krocker – lead guitar
Thomas Harris – bass (on the recording/since resigned)
Erik Brasher – bass (new/current)
Chris Hannan – drums

http://www.yidhra.com
http://www.facebook.com/YidhraWitchQueen
http://www.yidhra.bandcamp.com/merch
http://www.blackvoodoorecords.myminto.com

Yidhra, Hexed (2013)

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Yidhra to Release Hexed on Sept. 13

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 30th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Following up on their 2009 self-titled debut EP, Los Angeles doomers Yidhra (also stylized YIDHRa) will issue their first full-length, Hexed, on Sept. 13. The band takes its name from a shapeshifting Lovecraftian goddess, and if you missed their EP, all four of its tracks have also made their way to the long-player, which was produced by Bill Metoyer and makes an immediately burly impression with the eight-minute “Witch Queen,” which is about as close as Yidhra come to an eponymous song. There’s a considerable undercurrent of extreme metal to a lot of what Yidhra does on the album — like at any moment the tension they build might explode into death growls and blastbeats — but their interests seem to rest in weighted grooves and chugging riffs, resulting in a potent brew that at times gives an impression of what Orange Goblin might sound like at three-quarter speed.

The entirety of Hexed has been made available via Yidhra‘s Bandcamp, and you’ll find it on the player beneath the album info below:

“Hexed”, the first full length studio album from Los Angeles’ doom-metal wizards YIDHRA, is set to be released through all major digital outlets on Friday the 13th of September 2013. A vinyl release is slated for winter 2013. “Hexed” is the long awaited 9-song follow-up to 2009’s critically acclaimed self-titled EP and was recorded at Skull Seven Studios in North Hollywood, CA by legendary producer Bill Metoyer (SLAYER, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, TROUBLE, ARMORED SAINT, DARK ANGEL, SACRED REICH, CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER, D.R.I.) Metoyer had this to say about working with YIDHRA, “Not since TROUBLE have I worked with a band in this genre so talented. YIDHRA! I have no clue what the name means, but to me it means DOOM!”

“Hexed” track listing:

01. Witch Queen
02. Oath Breaker
03. Blood is the Harvest
04. Raven’s Flight
05. Ancient Ones
06. Conquest for Nova
07. Mai-cob
08. The Lament of Longinus
09. Dagon

YIDHRA are streaming the entire “Hexed” album on their bandcamp page. Check them out using the link below.

Says YIDHRA founder and guitarist Dave Krocker: “Working with Bill was awesome. Just the thought of his history, and reading his name on all those influential records, it was kind of crazy. He knows his stuff and he’s super easy going. It was great!”

Comments vocalist Ted Venemann: “We went in the studio with a plan to make a record that ebbed and flowed. One that would organically segue, like our live shows, from one powerful emotion to the next and Bill helped us capture all of that intensity and more. “Hexed” is a super heavy and grooving album and we are really proud of what Bill and us accomplished.”

Bassist Thomas Harris says: “We’ve developed a far more solid musical bond as a band since the EP. Honing and refining our sound and having a master of the craft such as Bill capture it is fantastic!”

Drummer Chris Hannan adds: “Bill, is an absolute pro. He has the gift of understanding your band’s sound & purpose. He’s extremely patient, and really knows how to capture the feel of each song.”

http://yidhra.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/YidhraWitchQueen

Yidhra, Hexed (2013)

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