Posted in Whathaveyou on August 26th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
I know you caught wind of the grime-caked psych riff blowout that was the first, self-titled Drug Cult record (review here), so you don’t need me to wax poetic about the copious aural filth in which it wallowed. And yet, here I am with the video for “Reptile Hypnosis” playing as I write and the lumbering progression, echoing vocal spaciousness and general atmosphere of ceremony are infectious and affecting in kind. And the noise. Goodness gracious what a racket. I can’t wait to hear more.
Yes, yes, yes. The Australian four-piece have entered the studio to record their second album. They were there over this past weekend, so, done maybe? I don’t know, but the sooner and the nastier the better, as far as I’m concerned. They’ll once again release through Ritual Productions — because every once in a while, the universe dares to make mathematical sense in terms of lining up A, B and C — and I’d assume it’ll be out sometime early in 2020, but there’s no date given, so if they wanted to sneak it across in late November or December, I wouldn’t complain. I’ll take it whenever.
Here’s what the label had to say, as per the PR wire:
DRUG CULT ENTER THE STUDIO TO RECORD THEIR SECOND RITE ON THE RITUAL PRODUCTIONS IMPRINT
Cosmic light calls us back into the vortex.
Drug Cult step out of the shadows, alchemy attuned and are now ready to manifest their elemental energies once again.
August 23rd, the band entered Australia’s illustrious 70s recording studio, Music Farm Studios, in the Byron Bay Hinterland to record the follow-up to their self-titled debut rite, released during Summer Solstice 2018 via Ritual Productions. George Carpenter will continue to be at the recording and mixing helm of such surreptitious, spirited sonics.
Keep your third eye open for the serpent is stirring and a shift in your consciousness is on the horizon.
Masters of Reality, Sunrise on the Sufferbus (1993)
Originally based in Syracuse, New York, Masters of Reality count their beginnings as being in 1981, which as it was also the year I was born, I can tell you was a very long time ago. They released their Rick Rubin-produced self-titled debut, aka The Blue Garden, in 1989 and 1990 on Def American and then Delicious Vinyl, and then it would be three years and a new lineup before Sunrise on the Sufferbus came around as the follow-up via Chrysalis Records. Like much of the band’s work, it inspires these years later a passionate but somewhat obscure fandom, despite being arguably their highest-profile outing thanks to the inclusion of drummer Ginger Baker (who had his 80th birthday this week) — also of Blind Faith, Cream, Hawkwind for a hot minute there in the ’80s, Fela Kuti, and many others besides his own solo output — in the lineup alongside founding guitarist, vocalist and principle songwriter Chris Goss and bassist/backing vocalist Googe, who aside from Goss was the only holdover from the first album to the second.
Now, if you’re playing a kind of then-modern heavy rock that’s super-informed by the blues rock and songwriting modus of the later ’60s and early ’70s, having Ginger Baker on drums is like communing with Buddha, and amid Goss‘ ultra-tight, radio-friendly craft on songs like the boogie-laced opener “She Got Me (When She Got Her Dress On)” and “Tilt-a-Whirl,” the somewhat more pastoral “Rolling Green,” the cult-rock prescient “J.B. Witchdance,” the blues bouncer “Ants in the Kitchen,” and even the less grounded smooth meander of “Rabbit One,” Baker nails it. His style of play is a graceful complement to Goss‘ intricate but accessible guitar work, flowing melodic voice and flourish of psychedelic elements here and there, and while I won’t take away from Googe‘s bass, Sunrise on the Sufferbus becomes about this meeting of minds between Goss and Baker, each one stepping up to the other’s considerable presence in the material and not necessarily competing, but challenging each other to be more on point in the task before them. Whether it’s the popping snare and crisp toms in the later “Gimme Water,” which follows the brief and actually-drumless “Madonna” — can you imagine having Ginger Baker on your record and then being like, “Hey man, it’s cool to sit this one out?” — or the languid fuzzy roll of “V.H.V.,” the collaboration brims with personality and still never loses sight of the fact that the songs are most important. The songs are paramount. The songs are everything. Songwriting bloody songwriting. It’s the songwriting, stupid.
Masters of Reality have a few genuinely unheralded classics in their catalog — “Why the Fly?,” “Deep in the Hole,” “The Ballad of Jody Frosty” — but if Chris Goss had never written another song after “100 Years (Of Tears on the Wind),” you’d still have to say he beat the universe. And in just four minutes! The song begins with a fade in of guitar and drums and sets up a waltz of resonant strumming and jazzy ride cymbal and maybe mellotron (?) before Goss unveils the subtle raciness of the hook — “I’ve found my place in bed/Three feet beneath your head/I wanted to stay home/I couldn’t think of nothing new” — and croons into the next verse with the same final line repeating at the end, then comes back around and cycles through one more time, and that’s it. Done. But it’s beautiful and theatrical and lush and affecting, and genuinely shifts the mood of the listener even as the band follows it up with “T.U.S.A.,” which finds Baker taking lead vocals on kind of a goofy semi-spoken rant about how no one in America can make tea properly, which is to say, how the British do it. “Now this is serious,” Baker says in the opening line, signaling that of the many things the song might be, serious is not one of them.
But even that goofball transition is pulled off with aplomb and just like the 48-second wisp of melody “Bicycle” that led into “100 Years (Of Tears on the Wind),” “T.U.S.A.” leaves it behind immediately — on to the next thing. That’s very much how Sunrise on the Sufferbus operates, but in the three or four minutes of each track, the band builds entire worlds. “She Got Me (When She Got Her Dress On)” puts you at some mythical Americana county fair in god knows what year, while “Jody Sings” up-strums classic folk driven simply by the sweetness in Goss‘ voice, and while there’s often a playful aspect to it, as on closer “The Moon in Your Pocket,” that does nothing to pull back from the achievement of craft that the album ultimately is, in fact adding to it because fun is just one more thing Masters of Reality are willing to be.
The band recorded the LP The Ballad of Jody Frosty in 1994, and some of that material would show up on 2004’s Give Us Barabbas — including “The Desert Song” with Baker on drums — but Masters of Reality‘s next released studio album wouldn’t be until 1999’s Welcome to the Western Lodge (would someone please put this on YouTube so I can close out a week with it?). By then, the band was just Goss and drummer John Leamy, and Goss had cut his teeth as a producer in the fledgling Californian desert rock scene, working with Kyuss and Fatso Jetson, among others. That style would inform 2001’s Deep in the Hole (discussed here) and the subsequent European touring with Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri, then both of Queens of the Stone Age, that resulted in the 2003 live album, Flak ‘n’ Flight (discussed here). After Give Us Barabbas in ’04, it would be five years until the arrival of 2009’s Pine/Cross Dover (review here), which stands as their most recent offering. Goss posted a couple tracks on Soundcloud a while back, and I got offered an interview with him a few months that as yet I’ve been unable to make happen that I’d still love to do, but there’s nothing like a release date for a new Masters of Reality album or anything like that. Would be nice, and could certainly happen eventually, but that’s about the extent of what I know on the subject.
I admit, I picked this one just for me because I wanted to listen to it, but as always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
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Well, the Massachusetts era would seem to be over. We closed the sale on the place in East Bridgewater, MA, on Wednesday. Drove up for it, sat in the office giggling with our lawyer, who is an old college friend of The Patient Mrs., signed and dated all the whatnot. We ended up getting our asking price for it, which astounded me. Hard not to think the entire market is going to collapse, but whatever. Tidy profit on the sale — all the money’s spent, but I’m still gonna sneak a chunk out to buy a lens, hopefully today and celebrate the new New Jersey homecoming tomorrow night at Starland Ballroom — where else? — for C.O.C., Crowbar and Lo-Pan. That’ll be a good time even though I’m going alone.
We also yesterday came down to NJ with the last moving truck, stuff going essentially from one storage unit to another. I got to say a brief hello to the bulk of my CD collection — hello goodbye — which I’d pretty much have to win the lottery in order to have enough space to properly display. That kind of sucks. Here’s this library you’ve been enjoying building for the last quarter-century-plus, stuck in anonymous moving boxes. Would be out of sight out of mind but for the rental cost of the storage unit. But even in this house, there isn’t really a place where it could work, and the climate control here like so much else is a work in progress. We’ve got new windows coming on Monday. That should help, but even if I didn’t have a toddler hell-bent on destruction, I’d still basically need every available inch of wall in the house for a shelf, and that’s neither feasible nor fair. So, you know. Boxes.
And every couple years, more boxes. I don’t sell CDs.
I do, however, keep buying them.
My phone is busted, so I need to get that taken care of today, and between that, that lens purchase (assuming the wire transfer from the house sale comes through), donating some dishes and maybe another trip to Costco, that’s pretty much the day. Should be plenty. Next week look out for the C.O.C. live review and an Orange Goblin live review, as I’ll be hitting their show with The Skull in NYC on Tuesday, and a track premieres Italy’s Bretus and Esogenesi. Didn’t mean to do an Italian doom theme, but kind of did anyhow. I might go see Bask and Begotten as well the night after Orange Goblin, but we’ll see. That’s a lot and I’m just a poor boy. Might be nice to get a couple shows in before The Patient Mrs. goes to a conference next weekend and then starts her new job and life explodes all over again.
But anyway, we’re in Jersey now. There’s work to do but there always is, and sooner or later we’ll start calling this place home without even thinking about it.
I hope you have a great and safe weekend. If you’re at C.O.C. in Jersey tomorrow or Orange Goblin in NYC on Tuesday, please say hi. Otherwise, cheers.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 23rd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Bringing together members of West Coast rockers Skunk and 3rd Ear Experience, Slow Phase are a new outfit who’ll look to release their debut album sometime this Fall. No word on an exact date yet — one assumes it’s done if they’re putting out singles? — but they’ve got a video up for “Starlight” that you can check out below that features the trio, some lyrics, bright colors, the whole bit. The song is likewise straightforward, no pretense about what it’s going for or how it’s getting there. That makes the according vibe easy enough to dig, and though one would suspect the album has a bit more going on than just a single approach, “Starlight” bodes well for what might be in store when it gets here. Only one way to find out.
In the meantime, dudes clearly have their artwork game on point, as the cover for “Starlight” single shows. Check that out right here with its beardo-thinker-in-the-desert thing, followed by some more background from the band itself.
Like so:
It was only after having spent 3 years woodshedding stuff like James Gang, KISS, Mountain, Zeppelin, Zappa, Grand Funk (and playing the occasional party) that we decided to start writing our own songs, and christened ourselves SLOW PHASE, after the coolest setting on my 1972 Maestro Phase Shifter.
The band includes Dmitri Mavra, the founder and songwriter behind SKUNK, on guitar, along with Anthony Pulsipher (bass/vocals) and Richard Stuverud (drums/vocals).
Pulsipher is a veteran of many bands, and in addition to SLOW PHASE he also plays guitar, writes, and sings for Oakland’s SPIDERMEOW, a country rock trio in the tradition of The Band and Gram Parsons.
Drum wizard Richard Stuverud, originally from Seattle, has played with the Fastbacks, RNDM, Tribe After Tribe, 3rd Ear Experience, Jeff Ament, and many more. With SLOW PHASE Stuverud gets to indulge his love of Bonham, Ward, and Moon to the fullest!
Also, Stuverud and Pulsipher are both great singers and it’s been cool to add some harmonies to the sound, a facet of early rock that’s often overlooked by today’s bands.
The album should be out later this Fall. In the meantime, I hope you can get a chance to check out our first track, STARLIGHT, either via Bandcamp (free download) or the video on Vimeo.
Slow Phase is: Dmitri Mavra – guitar Anthony Pulsipher – bass/vocals Richard Stuverud – drums/vocals
Posted in Reviews on August 23rd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Zed‘s vision of rock and roll is not polite. It is not about accommodation. It’s the kind of rock and roll that drinks both your beer and its own, is loud, goes late, and damns tomorrow because it had already damned today first. It’s the kind of rock and roll that might put a large black rooster on its album cover and let the dick joke make itself. It is, as they might put it on their latest offering, “The Other Kind.” Volume is the fourth full-length from the San Jose, California, four-piece, and sees their edge undiminished in their decade-plus tenure. As their alliance with Ripple Music enters its third release, with the label having stood behind 2016’s Trouble in Eden (review here) and a reissue earlier this year of 2013’s Desperation Blues (discussed here), it results in a collection running 10 tracks and 48 minutes of aggressively executed straightforward heavy rock with a broad foundation in punk, metal and classic rock; the amalgam well familiar to those who’ve followed Zed over their years.
In that regard, what ultimately distinguishes Volumeis the clarity with which it is delivered. The band’s lineup — guitarist/vocalist Peter Sattari, bassist Mark Aceves, guitarist Greg Lopez and drummer Sean Boyles — has never sounded so firm in their purpose, and while their songwriting acumen has always been central to their style, the material here feels tighter and even more purposeful than that of Trouble in Eden, and the energy in the band’s performance has never been so effectively captured. Credit at least in part for that needs to go to engineer Tim Narducci (also of The Watchers), with whom the band worked on part of the recording last time around as well as on Desperation Blues — their 2010 debut, The Invitation, was self-recorded — and who obviously gets what they’re going for. It’s right there in the name of the album: Volume. Zed are not trying to convey some grand concept in their sound unless that grand concept might be the largesse of their sound itself, and thus Volume becomes its own celebration of that intangible thing that rock and roll has celebrated since its first hijacked blues riff — a vitality that simply can’t be heard at anything less than a shout.
Broken neatly in half with a longer cut closing each side, Volume might also be stating itself as a recommendation to the audience, though I’m not certain that with Zed that really needs to be stated at this point. How else would one take on tracks like “The Other Kind,” “The End” or the shreddy side B highlight “The Great Destroyer” but as loud as possible? The choruses of the slowed-down “Wings of the Angel,” the side B leadoff “Chingus” (video posted here), and “Hollow Men,” on which Boyles seems to give his cymbals an extra-cruel beating, are certainly standouts, and even as “Wings of the Angel” or “Poison Tree” pull back on pace as compared to the thrust of “The Other Kind” or “The Great Destroyer,” there’s no letup in terms of efficiency in their craft.
“Poison Tree” is perhaps the catchiest of the bunch, which is no easy feat considering its surroundings, and as Zed expand the palette with some B3 on the penultimate “Time and Space” courtesy of Brad Barth, their central mission of song-driven, riff-led heavy remains steady through the extra flourish en route to the closer “The Troubadour,” which is the longest inclusion on Volume at 6:31 and finds the band taking more chances in terms of melody, layering vocals for a chorus effect to go with Sattari in a fashion that is every bit worthy of finishing out the record even though it runs counter to the harder-edged approach heard earlier. Airy leads and a legitimately soaring chorus add atmosphere to the finale that one wouldn’t necessarily guess Zed would be interested in harnessing, but is only more welcome for that. Even “The Mountain,” from Trouble in Eden, which tapped into some similar ideas in the guitar, didn’t dare go so far as the vocals, and a greater focus on melody only suits the song itself, which, given how much of Zed‘s approach — again — is about the songs, makes Volume stronger on the whole.
Signal of a new direction for Zed? Probably not, and I say that not because I think Zed are creatively stagnant — far from it, given the efforts they take to refine their songwriting here, though they might bristle at calling anything they do “refined” — but because they don’t sound like a band who are interested in fixing what clearly isn’t broken in their sound. “The End” has a less throaty vocal in its initial verse as well, and it may be that their dynamic is expanding, but if it’s going to happen, Zed seem to be conscious enough to let it happen in an unforced way. Because while their overall affect is loud, clear and full, both recorded and on stage, they don’t do anything that feels unnatural in either side. They’re not going to seek out vintage equipment to record on or spend tens of thousands of dollars on this or that mixing board, and they’re not going to find some overly slick digital cut and paste method for putting riffs together.
They’re a songwriting and performance band, and that’s what you get on Volume. You get songwriting, you get performance. Sure, they’ve grown in the three years since Trouble in Eden — though they’re not so mature as to, say, not make a dick joke on their album cover — but the core of Zed remains unchanged, and it seems more likely than not that that’s how it will be for the duration. Zed were not inexperienced in bands when they formed, and as a group who knew what they wanted going in, they’ve been walking their path steadily ever since. What’s truly impressive about that is not just that they’ve brought this mission to bear in the memorable tracks of Volume, but that there’s that accompanying performance aspect. In payoffs for “Wings of an Angel,” or “Chingus” or “The Great Destroyer” — take your pick, really — they harness not just a live energy, but the energy of a band confident in the righteousness of their voluminous cause. And so they are.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 23rd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
When I finally dug into it — because I’m late to the party, always — I was genuinely into Nebula Drag‘s 2016 self-titled debut (review here), and you know what? I kind of dig the track they’ve shared so far from the upcoming Blud as well. Hey y’all, I think I might like this band. How about that?
Preorders are up now for Blud, which the based-in-San-Diego-more-in-geography-than-in-sound Nebula Drag will release through Desert Records on Sept. 27, and the songs “Always Dying” and “We all Want to Know” offer chunky-style riffing and a kind of melodified take on ’90s noise rock that hits a sweet spot of heavy without coming across as stylistically redundant or faceless. They’ve got dates booked out west, as one will, and that includes a weekender in the desert next month that I’ll just go ahead and assume is gonna be a good time celebrating the new offering.
That Vegas date is TBA. Somebody call John Gist from Vegas Rock Revolution! Dude should be on that.
Here’s the album info and the aforementioned tracks:
Nebula Drag – Blud
Nebula Drag is a psycho-delic three piece rock band from San Diego, CA. Definitely not your typical Southern California band… Nebula Drag’s music gives a nod to Stoner Metal and Psych Rock—all with a sound that is uniquely their own. The haunting and blistering riffs paired with the thunderous drumming comprises the heart of this band. Add the melodic and spaced out vocals to the mix and let a listening journey of the highest caliber begin.
Nebula Drag will be releasing their second album “Blud” on Desert Records in September 2019. Their first self-titled album was released in 2016, and they also released a 3 song ep “Always Dying” in 2017. The band also contributed to the San Diego Gimme Danger compilation in 2018, released by Fresh Pots Music.
Tracklisting 1. Dos Lados 2. Knives 3. Always Dying 4. Dogs or Gods 5. We All Want to Know 6. Faces 7. What Went Wrong 8. Numb 9. Infinite Vacation 10. Mental
2019 Performance Dates: 9/10 – The Merrow – San Diego, CA 9/14 – Tower Bar – San Diego, CA 9/26 – T.B.A. – Las Vegas, NV 9/27 – Time Out Lounge – Tempe, AZ 9/28 – Sister Bar – Albuquerque, NM
Nebula Drag is: Corey Quintana – Guitar/Vocals Stephen Varns – Drums Garrett Gallagher – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 23rd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
You know, I get why they didn’t, because the band has a direct relation to the festival itself and that’s always awkward because it’s not like you want to book your own band twice in a row, but there’s a big part of me just the same that wishes SÂVER were playing Høstsabbat in their native Oslo again this year. And it’s a selfish part. I’d heard their debut album, They Came with Sunlight (review here), before I saw them there last October, but I feel like I know the record much better now, and so would the rest of the crowd. And now there’s the news that basically right after the fest, the three-piece are taking off on a tour that starts on a run with Høstsabbat headliners Ufomammut, so really, one way or another, it would make sense to find them once again on that festival bill. Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll get brought over for Desertfest New York next September.
I count They Came with Sunlight pretty high on the list of the year’s best debuts so far, and there have been more than a couple of winners in that regard. If you haven’t heard it — and I know you have, but just roll with me — it’s down below in full, courtesy of Pelagic Records on Bandcamp. The band, also among the last confirmations at Desertfest Belgium, will play there as well as Into the Void in the Netherlands and alongside the soon-to-be-legendary Steak, Elephant Tree and Lo-Pan tour in Germany.
They posted the dates as follows:
We are touring Europe in October!
Stoked to join UFOMAMMUT, BONGRIPPER, Lo-Pan, Elephant Tree, Steak and more.
See you on the road!
Thanx to Hartwien Stein for the killer poster.
DATES: 08.10.19 – On the Rocks, Helsinki (FIN) – w/ Ufomammut 09.10.19 – Von Krahl, Tallin (EE) – w/ Ufomammut 10.10.19 – Melna Piektdiena, Riga (LV)- w/ Ufomammut 11.10.19 – Narauti, Vilnius (LN) – w/ Ufomammut 12.10.19 – Hydrozagadka, Warsaw (PL) – w/ Ufomammut 13.10.19 – Zet Pe Te, Krakow (PL) – w/ Ufomammut 15.10.19 – Peter-Weiss-Haus, Rostock (DE) 16.10.19 – Loppen, Copenhagen (DK) – w/ Bongripper 17.10.19 – Zollkantine, Bremen (DE) – w/ Lo-Pan, Elephant Tree, Steak 18.10.19 – TBC 19.10.19 – Neushoorn, Leeuwarden (NL) – Into The Void Fest 20.10.19 – Trix, Antwerp (BE) – Desertfest 24.10.19 – John Dee, Oslo (NO) – w/ Sibiir
SÂVER is: Markus Støle Ole Ulvik Rokseth Ole C Helstad
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 22nd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
The mighty force of metallic melancholy known as Khemmis will finish out 2019 with a nine-day run down the West Coast, the band taking unto themselves the potentially arduous task of driving through the Rockies in wintertime in order to get from their home in Denver through Utah and Idaho before hitting the more temperate coastline and circling south, ending up where they began with a hometown show at Bluebird Theater on Dec. 14. They’re joined in the endeavor by Un from Seattle, and I can’t help but wonder if this might tie into news of a new album coming next year, either in February, when the music industry returns to life after its winter hibernation, or sometime in Spring. Depends on when they record, duh, but as I haven’t seen news one way or the other about that — doesn’t mean it hasn’t been out there, just that it’s a thing I don’t know — I obviously can’t speak to it. One way or the other, I’d categorize a new LP from them in 2020 as “likely.”
But if “definite” is more your thing, they’re definitely touring. Here are the dates:
KHEMMIS Announce West Coast Desolation Tour 2019!
Denver, Colorado based doomed heavy metal quartet KHEMMIS are proud to announce their West Coast Desolation Tour 2019. The 9-date tour will kick-off on December 16th in Salt Lake City and conclude in Denver, Colorado on December 14th. Joining the band on the tour is Seattle funeral doom warlocks UN.
KHEMMIS comments, “After the success of the first leg of the North American Desolation Tour we are thrilled to announce the West Coast Desolation Tour a nine-date headlining trek with support from Seattle funeral doom warlocks UN. We will conclude the outing with a very special hometown show–our only one this year–featuring a rare local appearance by black metal hellions WAYFARER. Tickets for all shows will go on sale this Friday, we’ll see all of you on the road this winter!”
Tickets will be available for purchase on Friday, August 23 at 10AM PST. For more information visit: www.khemmisdoom.com
Confirmed dates for the KHEMMIS West Coast Desolation Tour 2019 with special guests UN are: 12/06/2019 Salt Lake City UT • Soundwell 12/07/2019 Boise ID • Neurolux 12/08/2019 Seattle WA • The Highline 12/09/2019 Portland OR • Doug Fir Lounge 12/10/2019. Oakland CA • Starline Social Club 12/11/2019 Los Angeles CA • The Echo 12/12/2019 San Diego CA • Brick By Brick 12/13/2019 Phoenix AZ • Club Red 12/14/2019 Denver CO • Bluebird Theater (w/ Wayfarer)
Khemmis are: Phil Pendergast // guitar, vocals Ben Hutcherson // guitar, vocals Daniel Beiers // bass Zach Coleman // drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 22nd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Alright, you know the drill. Weedeater are touring — because of course Weedeater are touring — so get yourself ready to see Weedeater. You know, it’s kind of weird, since I feel like I’ve been clamoring for a new Weedeater record for like the last three years, but it’s only been four since they released Goliathan (review here), so whatever. Good Southern cooking takes time, or so I’m told, so maybe they’ve got some riffs sitting out in a Dutch oven, waiting for the meat to fall off the bone. That’d be fair enough. Point is Weedeater are gonna tour. Fine. It hasn’t been egregiously long since their last release, even if, as album cycles go, theirs feels particularly extreme. Hazards of being so reliable in kicking ass, I suppose.
The thought of Weedeater and Orange Goblin sharing a stage, in Chicago or pretty much anywhere, is awesome, and I can’t imagine this is the first time it’s happened in the history of those bands, but that show’s bound to be a highlight, even if the impetus for the run is the stop at Muddy Roots in Tennessee on Aug. 30. Pretty sure Orange Goblin will be there as well — a ton of bands certainly will — but either way, it’s more Weedeater touring, so you go and you see Weedeater and you know you’re going to have a good time and then you do. Simple as that.
Word from the PR wire was likewise straightforward. Shows are presented by Tone Deaf Touring:
WEEDEATER Announce U.S. Summer Tour Dates!
Cape Fear metal legends WEEDEATER have announced a run of U.S. this summer! The trek will kick off on August 27 in Johnson City, TN and will conclude on September 4 in Athens, GA. The run will also include a festival appearance at Muddy Roots on August 30. The full itinerary is as follows:
WEEDEATER U.S. TOUR DATES: 08/27: Johnson City, TN @ The Hideaway 08/28: Tolono, IL @ Loose Cobra 08/29: Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall* 08/30: Cookville, TN @ Muddy Roots Fest 09/01: Chattanooga, TN @ Ziggy’s 09/02: Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern 09/03: Savannah, GA @ Jinx 09/04: Athens, GA @ Caledonia *Supporting ORANGE GOBLIN
And in just four minutes! The song begins with a fade in of guitar and drums and sets up a waltz of resonant strumming and jazzy ride cymbal and maybe mellotron (?) before Goss unveils the subtle raciness of the hook — “I’ve found my place in bed/Three feet beneath your head/I wanted to stay home/I couldn’t think of nothing new” — and croons into the next verse with the same final line repeating at the end, then comes back around and cycles through one more time, and that’s it. Done. But it’s beautiful and theatrical and lush and affecting, and genuinely shifts the mood of the listener even as the band follows it up with “T.U.S.A.,” which finds Baker taking lead vocals on kind of a goofy semi-spoken rant about how no one in America can make tea properly, which is to say, how the British do it. “Now this is serious,” Baker says in the opening line, signaling that of the many things the song might be, serious is not one of them.
