02.23.14 — 12:47AM Pacific — Sat. Night — El Corazon, Seattle, WA

“High drama…” — Steve Murphy

I’m going to try to make this quick, because my laptop clock says 3:47AM and I can’t help but feel like that’s accurate. Tonight at El Corazon in Seattle. First night of the tour. Weather as advertised. Volume as advertised. Doom of many shapes. Place filled up as the night went on. A special cheers to the giant who decided it was fun to dig in elbows up front during Pentagram.

Tonight was a five-band bill. One of several that I know of on this run. Front to back and jetlagged, it was a hell of a way to start the tour. Good crowd though, unless you count the aforementioned giant. Which I do. In bruises.

Here’s how it went down:

Ancient Warlocks

I know the deal is the tour and the touring bands, and I’m way down with that or I wouldn’t be here in the first place, but I was really glad I got to see Ancient Warlocks play. I also got to meet guitarist/vocalist Aaron Krause and guitarist Darren Chase and it was good for the soul. Their easy-rolling fuzz and trad-stoner grooving must have been a good match tonally for Mars Red Sky a few years back when they teamed up, but they were locked in and not at all out of place on the stage. When I asked Chase if they had any copies of their album to buy, he said they were sold out. It was easy to see why when they played.

Lesbian

They were a late add to the lineup, but a welcome one. Lesbian crossed genre lines fluidly and touched on black metal, doom and even some thrash with natural ease. They’re the kind of band that, if I lived in this town, I’d probably go see a lot, but as it is, this was the first time. Even after Ancient Warlocks loaded their gear off the stage, there was a considerable wall of amps, and I think an entire layer in that wall belonged to Lesbian. Hard to argue with the density of sound they were able to elicit from them, two guitars and bass running in gleeful aural excess. Bassist/vocalist Dorando Hodous said their last song — unless I’m mistaken about this — was about a “really horny dinosaur.” I didn’t catch the title, but it fucking ruled.

Kings Destroy

At this point, I feel comfortable saying I’ve seen Kings Destroy more than any band in the last three years. If that’s not true — and it is, by a mile — then it certainly will be by the end of this trip. Tonight was the first night of the tour, and it took them a song or two to click, but somewhere right around a new song called “Embers” that has, among other things, the most complex vocal melody I’ve heard from the band, they locked it in and were full-throttle the rest of the five-song set. “The Mountie” into “Casse-Tete” worked well to open, but once they slammed into “The Toe,” I think they made a lot of new friends. Leaving the rest of the band on stage, vocalist Steve Murphy hopped down into the crowd for closer “Blood of Recompense,” walking away when the song was over and handing the mic to a random guy in the crowd who, as he told his friends after putting it back on the stage, was tempted to make a dick joke, but decided against it.

Radio Moscow

Radio Moscow had the leg up. On the universe, it seemed, but at least on the other two touring acts, since they’d already had a couple gigs under their belt over the last few nights. It’s a crazy change in vibe to have the San Diego-based trio playing between Kings Destroy and Pentagram, but they hit into “I Just Don’t Know” from 2011’s Brain Cycles and the room, which by then was packed out, was theirs. They also brought the Mad Alchemy light show with them, though the oils were going for all the bands and I guess will be for the duration of the tour. Not going to complain, and it works especially well for Radio Moscow, who tossed in a new song full of intricate starts and stops that served as a reminder of how ridiculously tight the band’s rhythm section, bassist Anthony Meier and drummer Paul Marrone are, though it’s guitarist/vocalist Parker Griggs who takes the bulk of the solos, each one earned and soaked in wah.

Pentagram

I don’t care who you are or what you’ve seen, watching Pentagram play “Forever My Queen” is one of the great joys of doom. When I came back from dinner before the show started, I got to watch some of their soundcheck, so I knew “Be Forewarned” was coming — you might say I was forewarned — but “8” from Last Rites and “Dying World” from the self-titled were cool to hear alongside staples like “Sign of the Wolf (Pentagram),” “All Your Sins” and “When the Screams Come.” While they were setting up their gear, someone in the crowd looked up and said, “Holy shit, it’s Victor Griffin!” and that about sums it up. His tone and Bobby Liebling‘s frontman presence are a rightfully legendary combo, and even though it was the first night of their tour as well, they sent the Seattle crowd into the evening well aware of who and what they had just seen. The current Pentagram lineup, with Griffin, Liebling, bassist Greg Turley and drummer Sean Saley already sounded like pros, but I’ll be really interested to see where they’re at by the time we roll into San Francisco.

—

We loaded out the gear from El Corazon about as fast as we could and on the way back out to the Red Roof Inn, I asked Jim Pitts to stop the van so I could jump out and take a picture of the Space Needle. No regrets. Tomorrow morning, 11AM, we head to Portland. It’s after 3:30AM now. I think everyone was a little more relaxed with the first show down. Myself included.

02.22.14 — 4:16PM Pacific — Saturday — El Corazon, Seattle, WA

“You could auction this moment…” — Chris Skowronski

Woke up at about seven this morning (on this time) and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I got up and went downstairs. Had some coffee and sat for a bit in the Red Roof Inn lounge, which was where the muffins probably would’ve been if there’d been any. Back upstairs to bed until after 11AM, shower, then waiting to come here, basically. Rewatched last week’s episode of True Detective and some of the long-since-jumped-the-shark second season of Twin Peaks while Carl and Chris warmed up their guitars by jamming first along to Carl’s iPad and then on some new riffs. I’m not coming into this trip with any great romantic ideal about life on tour. My impression is it’s a lot of waiting, a lot of driving, and then shows. Dudes are out getting drinks and I’m sitting at the venue listening to music and waiting. Rob and I miss our dogs. Load-in was 4PM. With seven people, it didn’t take long.

Jim Pitts is a fucking pro. He seems like a good-natured guy on first impression and he definitely came prepared: Hand sanitizer, Febreeze, baby oranges, work gloves. Dude has it together. I have no idea how the Kings Destroy dudes got in touch with him, but he’s stepped into a wrangler mode that he’s obviously comfortable with. The van’s pretty cushy, which is fortunate because there are some long drives coming up. The one from the hotel was not much to speak of in length, but a first look at Seattle was interesting. People knew what they were doing with building a town by the time they got out here. Cities in the Northeast, — Philly, Boston especially, New York too once you’re out of Manhattan’s grid — feel like they just kind of happened. I guess because they did. There’s a reason states out here have square borders and the East Coast is shaped like fuckall.

No sign yet of anyone from the Pentagram or Radio Moscow camps. It is early. There are a few other vans around outside, but I don’t know who’s who. Ancient Warlocks go on at eight. El Corazon looks like a cool room. Wider than it is long, which I like. Big stage. Spirit Caravan are coming through here and the flyer has a picture of Shrinebuilder on it. Had a laugh at that, but the space itself is right on. Blue floor in the bar, black in the stage area, and there’s a smaller side room. I think there’s a six-band bill in there tonight. Five in here, so that’s a total of 11 bands in two rooms. I was trying to buy a bar in Boston over the last several months but it fell through. I could run a place like this. No prospects for doing so (anymore) or funding to make it happen, but if I could end up with a space like this, I’d do it forever.

We’re staying again at the Red Roof Inn. Not sure if there will be room for luggage in the back of the van with the amps and such, but if we have to rent a trailer, tomorrow’s the day to find it out with a relatively short trip to Portland. I feel anxious for the first night of the tour, which is odd since I’m not actually playing.

02.21.14 — 11:30PM Pacific — Friday — Red Roof Inn, Seattle, WA

“On official review…” — Rob Sefcik

They say you find interesting things when you travel. I’ve found the neatest headache! Hit me about an hour into the flight and I immediately flashed back to Last Night Me, who, when he was packing his bags, couldn’t imagine any reason he might need the ibuprofen in his carry-on. What a jerk. Add your stereotypical screaming kid, some cramped quarters and flight attendants of all stripes and preoccupations bumping my shoulder on way by, and that’s basically the story of the flight. I put on the Young Hunter EP while we were landing and I was pretty sure it was going to crash the plane. At that point, I was ready.

I sat in a row with Carl and Steve from Kings Destroy, having met the band at the gate at JFK. Rob and Chris were a couple rows up and back, respectively, and Aaron was on the other side of the aisle from me. We were late taking off, but the sunset was expansive out the gate window, so you take the good with the bad. They’ve all gone off to a bar somewhere down the way. 13-something-or-other it’s called. I’ve turned on the AC and will shortly get myself some ice water and I dug out the ibuprofen and had a protein bar and I think that’ll do it for me. On their way out, Chris reminded me that “this is where the stories happen.” He’s not wrong, but something tells me I won’t be light on stories.

Carl had left his bag on the plane. The picture above was him after going back to get it. Spirits are high, laughs were had. Jim Pitts, who’s reportedly driving the van, was stuck in traffic and is due to arrive here at the Red Roof Inn shortly. I’m looking forward to meeting him. Steve informed he’s an oldschool hardcore dude. When I asked, “Who isn’t?” he rightly said, “You.” Touche. We took a shuttle over from the airport. I’ve seen no needles from space, no Robbie Cano. Tomorrow, I figure. Need to hit a bookstore as well. Forgot a book. Fucking amateur hour.

Back east, it’s coming up on three in the morning. I don’t know what the plan is for tomorrow, but then, I didn’t know what the plan was for tonight. I’m here though. I’ve never been in this city and I’m looking forward to seeing it by daylight, and I’m hardly out living it up, but at least I’m here. Feels like an accomplishment.

02.21.14 – 4:43PM Eastern – Friday – Gate B30, JFK International

“Your attention, please…” – Airport P.A.

I had never smelled anything so disgusting as Panda Express. Turned a corner and there it was, a punch of grease and ginger powder in the olfactory. Then I passed PizzaVino, which near as I can tell doesn’t actually serve wine. JFK looks like someone’s vision of a terrible Cold War post-nuclear-fallout future in progress. There is a man with a long grey goatee and one eye wandering lost. Pardon our appearance.

There’s a lot about this trip I don’t know yet. The bands I know: Pentagram, Radio Moscow, Kings Destroy, playing each night in that order. First show is tomorrow, Feb. 22 in Seattle, where we’re flying tonight. Lesbian and Ancient Warlocks are on the bill at El Corazon, which is good news because I’ve seen neither and I’d like to. After that Portland. After that, I’m not really sure. San Francisco, maybe. I could look it up, and probably will at some point. Transport, where we might stay on any given night, and so on. Much mystery.

Everyone in the airport looks like someone. Me too. I know I’m on the same flight as the Kings Destroy cats because it was the same reservation. Traffic was two hours-plus to get here from Jersey, and that’s not counting the four hours to get from Massachusetts to NJ last night. Quite a commute. I have no doubt it will be worth it when I land and whatever it is that’s supposed to be happening happens. The weather is shit until then and I think Lee Renaldo just walked past with an entourage. That would fill my New York quota probably for the rest of the year. A member of Sonic Youth: 300 points.

Last time I was at this airport was at least eight years ago. I had a friend who was coming back from war. In uniform, the whole bit. He had a layover here at some absurd hour of the morning – maybe eight? We drive out here to see him. I was so hungover that as we were driving up I opened the door and puked out the side of the car. Then he poured shots of whiskey. At eight in the morning. He’s a lawyer now.

Flight’s at 6:35PM. Time to spare.

Click Here to Download

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I like making these podcasts because I never really know where they’re going to end up once I get started. One song leads to the next leads to the next, and before you know it, you’re all spaced out on how cool some brand new acoustic At Devil Dirt sounds coming out of the brutal dead-sludge of Coltsblood, or deep into the ultra vibes of a second hour loaded with interstellar meanderings. Some of these go brutal. This one just went far out.

That At Devil Dirt EP was just released yesterday, so if you don’t recognize the title, that’s probably why. A lot of this stuff is pretty recent, and while some of the songs you might’ve seen around, whether it was the Conan song they did the video for or the Druglord track that was streamed here with the full album, still other cuts, like the Trilogy, Black Moon Circle and Mope are new to these parts. As ever, I think it winds up with a decent blend and I hope you agree.

First Hour:
Ogre, “Nine Princes in Amber” from The Last Neanderthal (2014)
Sun Shepherd, “Awaiting the Firepit” from Procession of Trampling Hoof (2014)
Trilogy, “Invade and Occupy” from Burned Alive (2013)
Young Hunter, “Welcome to Nothing” from Split with Ohioan (2014)
Sergio Ch., “La Familia y las Guerras” from 1974 (2013)
Hull, “Legend of the Swamp Goat” from Legend of the Swamp Goat 7” (2014)
Conan, “Foehammer” from Blood Eagle (2014)
Druglord, “Feast on the Eye” from Enter Venus (2014)
Coltsblood, “Beneath Black Skies” from Into the Unfathomable Abyss (2014)

Second Hour:
At Devil Dirt, “Mirame” from Dinner is Ready (2014)
Black Moon Circle, “Enigmatic SuperBandit” from Black Moon Circle (2014)
Eidetic Seeing, “A Snake Whose Years are Long” from Against Nature (2014)
Goya, “Death’s Approaching Lullaby” from 777 (2013)
Mope, “La Caduta” from Mope (2014)
Mike Scheidt, “Rake” from Songs of Townes Van Zandt Vol. II (2014)

Total running time: 1:56:49

Thank you for listening.

Download audiObelisk Transmission 035

The 2013 self-titled debut (review here) from Swedish stoner doomers Goatess — who are fronted by the considerable riff-riding pipes of Chritus Linderson (Lord Vicar, ex-Saint Vitus, ex-Count Raven) — left little room for argument, and while it’s a bummer that Berlin outfit The Oath won’t be able to make it out to Roadburn 2014, Goatess make a more than substantial replacement in the lineup. No clue on when on the opening day of the festival they’ll be playing or which stage in 013 they’ll grace, but cool that they’re involved either way. The countdown to April continues.

Announcement comes courtesy of the Roadburn website:

Goatess To Replace The Oath at Roadburn Festival 2014

We at Roadburn are very sorry to announce that The Oath have sadly had to cancel their appearance at Roadburn Festial 2014 due to personal circumstances. Hopefully, we’ll be able to welcome the band at Roadburn 2015.

Luckily, we’re able to report that Sweden’s Goatess will replace The Oath on Thursday, April 10th at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands.

Featuring the vocal talents of one Christian ‘Chritus’ Linderson, formerly of Count Raven, Saint Vitus, Terra Firma, and currently of Lord Vicar, Goatess have taken a different tack and managed to take the previously almost-completely stripmined sound of Kyuss, circa Blues For The Red Sun, and make it sound fresh again!

Sure, there’s more than a tinge of Sabbath on Goatess‘ S/T album (released on the ever prolific Svart Records), but the band hews closer to the fuzzed-up tone of California’s favourite desert-fried sons than to the average bunch of Iommi-worshippers.

Goatess axeman Niklas knocks out a woozy-edged guitar that moves from psych-edged subtlety to great big fuck-off ballsy rifforama, with a sprinkling of eastern-sounding melody woven through, more-than-ably backed up by a bravura drum performance from skinsman Kenta and Findus‘ deeply impressive, fluid, nuanced bass, leaving Chritus to work his magic safe in the knowledge that the heavy lifting is well and truly taken care of.

Make sure to indulge yourself in Goatess‘ primordial, hypno fuzz at Roadburn Festival 2014.

Roadburn Festival 2014 will run for four days from Thursday, April 10th to Sunday, April 13th 2014 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands.

Tickets for the traditional Afterburner event on Sunday, April 13th at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands are still available. Get in on the action HERE!

https://www.facebook.com/baldersounds
http://www.roadburn.com/roadburn-2014/tickets/

Goatess, “Alpha Omega” from Goatess (2013)

The Latin title of Swedish classic heavy rockers The Tower‘s full-length debut, Hic Abundant Leones, translates to “here are many lions.” A warning. Likewise, one might take a listen to the three-minute track “Exile” from The Tower‘s first outing for Bad Omen (North American distro via Prosthetic) and take it as a sign of what the record itself has in store. Just as a lion isn’t the only thing that can kill you in the jungle, so too does Hic Abundant Leones have a deceptively multi-pronged attack, and while “Exile” gives a solid demonstration of the Uppsala four-piece’s retro vibes and penchant for lyrical references — you’ll note appearances from The Doormouse and Queen of Hearts, à la both Jefferson Airplane and Alice in Wonderland — it’s by no means a complete overview of the album’s nine-track/48-minute span.

Immediate comparisons to Graveyard will be made for “Exile,” thanks in part to the bluesy vocal cadences of frontman Erik, but The Tower are more push than boogie, ultimately, and as cuts like “Lucy,” “Moonstoned” and the closing eponymous cut “The Tower” range past six minutes each — the latter clocking in at 11:41 to serve as the longest on Hic Abundant Leones and a companion piece to the Beatles-references in “Lucy” — the band seem to be pushing against such convenient assignations. Still, with their warmth of tone and natural, live-sounding spaciousness, the guitars of August, bass of Viktor and drums of Tommie, not to mention the nods in the lyrics to Baby Boomer greats, Hic Abundant Leones puts forth a heavy ’70s loyalism that comes through on just about every level of their presentation.

They not only acknowledge this in the songs themselves, but even unto their bio, which follows a timeline beginning in 1938 and carrying the band through the ’70s and into 2012, when they reportedly emerged following rumors of the end of the world with — what else? — the demo that led to this album. Good times.

Hic Abundant Leones is due out April 15 on Bad Omen Records. Preorders are available now. More info from the aforementioned bio follows the premiere of “Exile” below.

Please enjoy:

The Tower, “Exile”

“It was back in 1938 that the brothers Erik and August and their friend Viktor migrated south. They left the small village in the northern forests where they grew up for the big city and the university, to study the science of harvesting the earth. On the fields beside the burial mounds in old Uppsala they met Tommie, a Soviet refugee. He showed them his sole possession, a blues vinyl from 5300 BC, suspecting that it would fit their melancholy northern souls. The four sat down in a barn and played a blues jam which lasted until 1945, when the war ended and the post-apocalyptic nuclear winter began…”

So begins the extraordinary tale of Swedish ‘bad luck boogie’ combo THETOWER, whose cryptic, swinging timewarp of a debut LP is now released via London’s Bad Omen Records. The offbeat freakbeat and phantasmagorical psych-blues of Hic Abundant Leones exude an ageless charm and resounding singularity, striking eerie, dreamlike atmospheres that seemingly confirm THE TOWER’s eccentric parallel-universe narrative.

Sorting facts from the fantasy of the band’s complex mythology proves onerous; the quartet bonded during “long, all-night rehearsals in an old vicarage outside of Uppsala” and “began as some kind of personal quest for us but once we realised that we had a gospel we started preaching it. It is not something new. It is as ancient as the Sumerian blues records played by the Dionysos cults of the Postapocalyptic Era. Moreover, there have always been prophets of this gospel: wrayed Indians, electric shamans, crazy horses, black skinheads, exhumed singers, diddlying sheriffs, mean lick hookers, third eye girls, many a stooge, all-man brothers, Birmingham attendants of the Sabbath, and many, many more.”

Allegedly splitting in the 70s, they returned to the Tower in 1983, where they remained until 2012 – “when rumours of the end of the world enticed them to leave”. They recorded a demo (soon pressed to 12″ by Dybbuk Records) before cutting this mystical long-player. “The days in the studio were smooth. The loveable Joona Hassinen, who we recorded with, made us feel very comfortable, as if we were rehearsing in our ‘tower room’.”

And what is the significance of that peculiar title? “We saw it written on an ancient map of the (then known) world. It literally means ‘here are lions in abundance’ and was used by the cartographer to designate a uncivilised, wild and dangerous territory. When applied to Northern Scandinavia it becomes very weird, because there are no lions here, but this only furthers the poetry by making the lions mythical. The record is such a territory. So is the place where we rehearse. And stages we play on, and the vistas of our minds, the future and the past; the unknowns we want to explore and yet, paradoxically, also the regions where we feel the most at home.”

The Tower on Thee Facebooks

Bad Omen Records

Prosthetic Records

Fast-moving L.A. upstart imprint EasyRider Records continues a quick ascent since starting last year, this time signing Ohio retro rockers Electric Citizen for the release of their debut album, Sateen. The record is due out July 1, and the four-piece have a handful-plus of shows booked to precede it, some including the Mad Alchemy light show, which is sure to be a good match for Electric Citizen‘s heavy psychedelics.

Release info and a stream of the new track “Burning in Hell” follow here, courtesy of the PR wire:

Electric Citizen sign with EasyRider Records To Release Debut Album

EasyRider Records, the LA based label responsible for releases by the likes of Monolord, Sons of Huns and Salem’s Pot this week announced the signing of the heavy psychedelic outfit Electric Citizen.

Following on from limited edition vinyl/cassette-only releases on The Crossing and Breathe Plastic Records, the winners of this year’s Best Rock Band honor at the 2014 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards will release their debut album, entitled Sateen on 1 July 2014.

Taking their name from a song by the legendary Notting Hill Gate set the Edgar Broughton Band, Electric Citizen is the brainchild of guitarist Ross Dolan, enigmatic vocalist Laura Dolan, Nick Vogelpohl (bass) and Nate Wagner (drums).

Despite only forming last March the band has had a busy year turning heads and ears onto their dark and esoteric brand of haunting ’60s West Coast folk and quintessentially British sounding rock. Recorded and produced by fellow Ohioan and local legend Brian Olive (Greenhornes, Soledad Brothers) at The Diamonds, Electric Citizen follow in the footsteps of other, similarly 1970s obsessed anti-modernists Blood Ceremony, Wolf People, Graveyard and Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. Drawing on influences and eras synonymous with the heaviest of heavy psychedelic rock and archaic ill vibes, and music by bands such as Shocking Blue, Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Black Widow and Amon Düül II.

The band takes to the road over the next few months ahead of Sateen’s official release on 1 July 2014 via EasyRider Records (www.easyriderrecords.com).

Tour Dates:
Wednesday, March 19 – Double Door (Chicago) w. Mad Alchemy
Thursday, March 20 – Pyramid Scheme (Grand Rapids) w. Mad Alchemy
Friday, March 21 – Corktown Tavern (Detroit)
Saturday, March 22 – Happy Dog (Cleveland)
Friday, April 4 – Northside Tavern (Cincinnati) w. Valley Of The Sun
Wednesday, April 9 – w. Spirit Caravan (Columbus)
Saturday, April 26 – Milwaukee Psych Fest
Wednesday, May 7 – MOTR (Cincinnati) w. Aqua Nebula Oscillator

www.electriccitizenband.com
www.electriccitizenband.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/ElectricCitizen
@electriccitizN (Twitter)
@electriccitizenband (Instagram)

Electric Citizen, “Burning in Hell”