Seminal doom legends Goatsnake will reunite for an appearance at next year’s Roadburn festival, set to take place April 15-17, 2010 at the 013 venue and Midi Theatre in Tilburg, Holland.
YOB‘s going to be there too. God damn it. Time to start saving my pennies…
Day One of the Planet Caravan fest was last night, and a fest it was indeed, though I could see why they cut ticket prices as the go date drew closer. Even as the evening wore on and it got more crowded, there was still plenty of milling-about room. The bands ruled: highlights were Burst‘s set (despite technical problems), Bison B.C. doing “These are My Dress Clothes” over at Mo Daddy’s next to The Orange Peel, Clutch (of course) and Kylesa riffing out “Running Red” and sounding more massive than I’ve ever heard them. Last time I caught a set of theirs was in Austin, TX, a couple years ago and their two drummers played on an open trailer while the rest of the band stood on a back yard. That was cool, this was better.
Sourvein canceled, which was a shitter since they were kind of the sludge representatives for the day. Zoroaster are doomy, don’t get me wrong, but I was looking forward to seeing T-Roy and Co. tear it up in their native habitat. My sorrows I drowned in beer. Finally met Ben Hogg, who didn’t realize he knew me, toasted Ben Ward from Orange Goblin, whom I’m supposed to be interviewing in a scant couple hours, and fists with the guitarist from Zoroaster, whose set I missed entirely. Classy.
The plan for today: Shower shortly, go back to the Early Girl Eatery for another black bean and cheddar cheese omelet (holy shit that was good), kill a couple hours by any means necessary, then meet up with the Pentagram dudes for a sitdown interview. Then a beer with Ben Orange Goblin and probably finish with that in time to catch Taddy Porter about whom I know absolutely nothing. My mission for the show tonight is to make it through Pentagram‘s set. Hardly lofty aspirations, but I’m old and lame. Need better pacing on the hooch intake. First night’s always the roughest.
Holy shit, the post page on this laptop is ridiculously small. I made it alive to Asheville, and starting tomorrow, will have reports on the Planet Caravan fest over at Brooklyn Vegan, who were kind enough to let me cover this for them even after I did Roadburn earlier in the year. Some people never learn.
In any case, if you get a chance, please check out the posts over there because, well, the more hits they get, the more likely the site is to let me do more stuff for them. It’s self-interest, I’ll be honest. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check out their digs though. And what lovely digs they are. If I could maintain a blog half that bloggy hip, I’d be a god damned internet rockstar. Meantime I’m just drunk in North Carolina. So take that, everything.
More tomorrow.
…Here he is in a clip from when he and Josh Homme were on tour with Masters of Reality (note the “We don’t give a fuck!” reference that shows up on the Flak ‘n’ Flight live record), talking about how much he hates corporate rock. You even get to see Chris Goss for a couple seconds. Charm abounds!
Whether it was his screams, on-stage nudity or actual bass playing, what Nick Oliveri has always brought to his bands — Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, Mondo Generator, Moistboyz and The Dwarves, among others — is intensity. Indeed it?s an intensity much missed from Queens of the Stone Age since his 2004 departure from the band, and an intensity carried over even unto his solo full-length debut, Death Acoustic on Impedance Records/MVD Audio. Although it?s mostly covers, the immediacy in Oliveri?s performances of these songs is organic and undeniable.
It?s a neat half-hour set, and since it kicks off with Raw Power?s ?Start a Fight? and ends with ?Outlaw Scumfuc? by G.G. Allin, you know it isn?t going to be your typical sensitive singer-songwriter fare. Oliveri?s solo punk aesthetic manages to keep a sense of anger and spontaneity while being grown up and drugged out at the same time. His composition, ?Invisible Like the Sky,? is stylized like ?Six Shooter? and every bit as tense, and his version of The Dwarves? ?Dairy Queen,? highlights the fuck-all attitude that is so much a part of that band while giving the song a shot of class (all things relative).
PLEASE NOTE: In my recent review of House of Broken Promises‘ Small Stone debut, Using the Useless, I attributed lead vocals to guitarist Athur Seay, when in fact, bassist Eddie Plascencia is on lead, and Seay and drummer Mike Cancino handle backing vocals. This is what happens when you rush to get a review done before there’s a bio available. Apologies for any inconvenience the mistake may have caused, and in case you’re wondering how I found out, Eddie was kind enough to send me the following polite corrective email:
Hey H.P. appreciate the review of our upcoming album….correction though. Eddie is actually lead vocalist and Bass player, Arthur and Mike contribute to the back up vocals.
Thanks,
Eddie P.
So there you have it. If I trust anyone’s word on the matter, it’s gonna be the dude from the band’s. In this fast-paced world of internetular reviewism, sometimes the hurry to get something out there trumps rigorous fact-checking. Never believe what you read, kids. Again, unless it’s the dude in the band…
It seems like since we last checked in on them, New Mexico‘s Leeches of Lore, who released their self-titled debut on MeteorCity earlier this year, have solidified more of their tour dates. Now officially a trio — at least according to the number of band members listed on their MySpace — the quirky rockers are looking to hit the road October 17. Noble of them to spread the gospel for a couple weeks. They still could use some help with the routing, so feel free to email them at the address below:
Leeches of Lore have most of their October tour dates confirmed as follows. If anyone lives in or near the “TBA“? areas and has a venue for them to play, a house party for them to rock, or a couch to crash on, please contact the band at flyingmidgetrecords@yahoo.com.
10/17-Dive Bar–Las Vegas, NV
10/18-TBA–Southern CA
10/19-O’Sullivans–Santa Maria, CA
10/20-Kimo’s–San Francisco, CA
10/21-House Party–Eureka, CA
10/22-Plan B-Portland, OR
10/23-Winterland–Bremerton, WA
10/24-Central Saloon-Seattle, WA
10/25-TBA–Spokane, WA
10/26-TBA–Missoula/Bozeman/Livingston, MT
10/27-TBA–Montana/Idaho/Anywhere
10/28-TBA–Salt Lake City/Anywhere, UT
10/29-Surfside 7, Fort Collins, CO
10/30-Old Curtis Street Bar-Denver, CO
There are many impressions one might get on a cursory listen to El Schlong?s self-released debut, The Baddies are Coming, and most of them would be glaringly wrong, as I?m sure most of the impressions stated in this review will be. Hopefully, under the casual assumption that at some point they see it, they?ll at least get a good laugh. ?Ha ha ha, he said we sound like Death!? and so forth.
Just a little Death, and not all the time.
The Baddies, as mentioned in the album title, make a militaristic appearance in the opening title track, which on a foundation of warm bass from Nick Baldwin routs a jazzy spazzcore through some admittedly rough production while also showing the death growls and audio plundering that El Schlong emit so casually throughout the disc. The softer piano opening of ?Bungface,? immediately following, is but a momentary respite.
