In the bleary-eyed early hours of 2019, when most heads were still clearing from the panicked revelry celebrating the march into an unknown and horrifying future, there came Kiss the Ring (discussed here), the debut EP/demo from Bellingham, Washington’s Mount Saturn. Then a four-piece and currently a trio seeking a drummer, the upstart outfit follows in the Pacific Northwestern tradition of putting the focus on riffs and melody, with guitarist Ray Blum and vocalist Violet Vasquez working in partnership to set a solid foundation of both throughout Kiss the Ring‘s four tracks, with bassist Cody Barton and then-drummer Tanner Scinocco locking down a duly weighted groove to counterbalance the spaciousness of the vocals and guitar.

The EP, preceded only by a single-version of its opening track “Dwell,” holds to a central method, but is varied in mood and approach around that enough to give its songs an organic sense of character, and as statements of intent go, it shows both a will toward progression and an ingrained penchant for songcraft, and it makes it clear that the band know where they want to reside on the spectrum of heavy and, most importantly for the longer term, they’re willing to adjust that balance as called for by their material and progressive intent.

I know you heard the thing, so I won’t prattle on, but just in case, there’s a full stream below from Bandcamp and tapes are newly available from Ice Fall Records. I wanted to get the basic background on the band and how they worked together to make the EP, and Vasquez and Blum were both kind enough to offer insight.

Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions.

Six Dumb Questions with Mount Saturn

—

How did Mount Saturn get together? Give me the origin story for the band.

Violet Vasquez: So myself and my partner Ray knew we wanted to start making “doom” or something that strayed a bit from conventional metal together, and starting by jamming together in an old storage unit. I had never sung before in a band, but really wanted to give it a shot, and Ray had been playing guitar for a while but had no projects. It started as something to do. We tried out a couple of drummers, and then decided to just write together for a bit and see what we had to say as writers. We were discovering so much new music together at this time and weren’t sure what we wanted to sound like. We took our time, for sure. Ray ended up starting the band Crystal Myth with Tanner, who he had jammed with in another band briefly, and then Cody came along by suggestion of our good friend Autumn. Essentially, the members of Crystal Myth were coerced into backing the songs that we been working on, and lending their talents to the development of new ones. They both just wanted to play music, so it wasn’t too hard to convince them. We were eager to contribute to a heavy scene that seemed to be experiencing a sort of resurrection in Bellingham and it’s been really fun to do that.

Tell me about writing Kiss the Ring. How did the songs take shape? You’d done a version of “Dwell” earlier. Was that the first song you wrote together?

VV: The first song we wrote together was a song we don’t have recorded, called “Down” about a witch who employs a wizard to fight a dragon. Perhaps a little heavy handed on the DOOM elements in retrospect, and it was a bit too long admittedly at seven minutes, but I recall it fondly! As far as writing Kiss the Ring goes, we would bring the skeletons of ideas to practice and work it out. We jammed a lot, and some of the things we expected to go one way went another based off the input and style of our rhythm section. I think songs like “Dwell” became keepers because of this. Generally, though, we had really good chemistry in jamming and got a few ideas that way. Once I found a melody that I liked to sing, that jam became a song in progress and would take shape from there.

How long were you in the studio making the EP, and what was the recording process like? Is there anything different you’d like to do next time around? Anything you’d like to keep just the same?

Ray Blum: We took a weekend in July 2018 to go to a studio in Anacortes, WA, called The Unknown with hopes of nailing down a drum and vocal sound that we liked. Erik Wallace, our engineer, suggested the space because it’s an old church with great acoustics. To this point in the band’s life, every studio experience has been successively better than the last, as we gather knowledge and an increased understanding of what we think the project should sound like. It was probably a faster process than we would have liked it to have been, but we had drums essentially done on the first day, guitar and bass done the second and vocals on the third. As far as things I would change, I would have liked to have spent a little more time trying to vary tones from song to song, but I think that’s what every guitar player thinks about studio time. Working with our friend Erik Wallace of Shibusa Sounds (who recorded, mixed and mastered the whole thing) was a blast and definitely something I would like to keep the same. He pulled not only a good sound out of us; but good performances, which at the youthful stage the band was at, was integral to the positive response that the EP received. Next time, we’d like to really take our time and try to record more things live.

Of course, the Pacific Northwest is a huge hotbed for bands and all that. What influence do you take from your surroundings, whether it’s nature, other bands, whatever? What does being from the PNW mean to you?

VV: Mount Saturn would probably not be the band we are without the doom, the gloom, and Holy Grove. We love that band, they’ve inspired our inception in a way, truly. We love our often-gloomy surroundings, too, and there’s no doubt that fuels our moods and keeps us inside jamming or writing. Being from the PNW, we are also living in a pretty socially-conscious area, and I’d say I tend to definitely focus on those kinds of issues thematically. Half our songs are about issue of feminism and the fight for equality across genders, but issues of racism and classism are also on our minds, and on the minds of people we play with or those who come to our shows. Those themes, they’re not just fueling our lyrics, but our passionate performances, too. It’s a way to heal that pain and I think it’s why we’ve gotten a good response locally; people want to be healed and empowered by music.

You seem to have a good idea of what you’re looking for in terms of your sound and style. How do you see the band growing as you move forward?

RB: It’s tough to say how we think the band will grow musically moving forward at the moment. We’re in the process of replacing our drummer (Tanner left shortly after Kiss the Ring was recorded), and we can’t make any assumptions about future sounds until we have an understanding of what that new person may bring to the table. I would say that our influences have certainly shifted slightly away from purely doom metal and more towards psych rock but I would hesitate to guess how that will be reflected in the writing at such an early stage.

Will you tour? Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?

VV: You know, we would love to. We’re in the process of looking for the right drummer to join us so we can start writing a full-length and at least go down the coast a bit before the end of 2020. Wish us luck! Also, keep your eye out for our pals in Dryland who are about to release their first full-length. They’re Bellinghamsters, too, and we can’t get enough of them.

Mount Saturn, Kiss the Ring (2019)

Mount Saturn on Thee Facebooks

Mount Saturn on Instagram

Mount Saturn on Bandcamp

Ice Fall Records webstore

From out of the mountains of Colorado come Luna Sol, who are set to issue their second album, Below the Deep, on June 21 through Slush Fund Recordings. Riff heads will note that the band features guitarist Dave Angstrom, whose songcraft is a long-since proven quantity owing to his time in Hermano and Supafuzz. Given that pedigree, it’s not entirely surprising to find some basic discussion of desert rock around the band — having John Garcia on the first record will inevitably help that too — but one would hardly consider them bound by ecosystem in their work. It’s like rock, but you know, heavy. They should really come up with a name for that.

Enjoy heavy rock:

Luna Sol to Release New LP, ‘Below the Deep’, June 21

Denver Rock Group Featuring Former Hermano Guitarist Readies Electric Sophomore Album

Colorado heavy rock hypnotists Luna Sol, which features in its ranks guitarist / vocalist Dave Angstrom, formerly of Kyuss vocalist John Garcia’s early aughts band Hermano and Lexington, Kentucky’s Supafuzz, will release its new LP, ‘Below the Deep’, on June 21 via Slush Fund Recordings / Cargo Records.

Luna Sol (Latin for “moon soil”), plays self-described “high mountain rock”, delivering riff-centric music in the “desert rock” tradition while incorporating more variety. Deceptively tuneful, the band delivers an intoxicating collection of hazy, leaden R’N’R that blends volcanic riffage with an earthquaking crunch while crooning vocals float over the songs like ghostly echoes. Luna Sol’s robotic boogie is catchy in a way that doesn’t so much announce itself as creep up behind you. ‘Below the Deep’ is the follow-up to the group’s 2015 debut, ‘Blood Moon’, an album which featured guest spots from John Garcia, Guns N’ Roses’ Dizzy Reed and Nick Oliveri.

Ominous cover art by Amplified Design (Pallbearer, Brant Bjork) lends a foreboding visual air to the record, which Angstrom says was the plan all along. The clearly troubled personal lyrics of the album create a tension that we can all empathetically relate to. With messages of pain, praise, sorrow, death, rejoicing, revolution and honest apologies, ‘Below the Deep’ takes us on a fairground ride of riffs, hooks and emotions.

“We wanted ‘Below the Deep’ to look and feel like worn out Steven King novel, with artwork that will scare children,” he says. It might. A clothed young woman submerged in a lake at the foothills of the Colorado Mountains is creepy. But Angstrom thrives in the darkness. He was married at the Standley Hotel in Estes Park, the haunted mansion that inspired King’s classic “The Shining.”

“This may be the best record I’ve ever made,” says Angstrom. “Below the Deep is a lyrical confession, served with a fist. It’s a dark cohesive album. Hangings, suffering, pain, recovery, family, life; it all seems to make sense when I’m playing and singing about it. We had a goal to create a straight up, guitar oriented, fist-in-the-air classic rock record. I’m extremely proud of this one.”

Track listing:

1.) Black Cloud
2.) Below the Deep
3.) Along the Road
4.) Man’s Worth Killin’
5.) Sometimes We Get It Right
6.) The Dying Conglomerate
7.) Garden of the Gods
8.) Hallelujah
9.) Mammoth Cave
10.) Wait For It

Pre-order ‘Below the Deep’ at this location

In addition to Dave Angstrom, Luna Sol features David Burke (guitar), Shannon Fahnestock (bass, vocals) and Justin Baier (drums).

https://www.facebook.com/Lunasolmusic/
https://squareup.com/store/slush-fund/.

Luna Sol, Below the Deep album trailer

As far as opening gigs go, supporting Sleep is about as good as it gets, at least for heavy shows. Virginian three-piece Pontiak will head out this September with the stoner metal kingpins on a Canadian run, following up on a gig tonight — yes, this very evening — in RVA alongside Dead Meadow. Also not too shabby a spot to land.

Pontiak‘s most recent album is 2017’s Dialectic of Ignorance (review here), which took the lessons of classic heavy to heart and built an earnest vibe therefrom without losing a kind of modern harmonized chic. Cool record from a cool band playing a cool tour. Sounds pretty cool, right? It is!

The PR wire has dates:

Powerhouse psych trio Pontiak touring Canada with Sleep this September

Pontiak’s Dialectic of Ignorance out now

This September, powerhouse psych trio Pontiak will be touring throughout Canada with stoner rock outfit Sleep. Ahead of the tour, the Pontiak brothers will also be playing with Dead Meadow in Richmond on May 28th.

In 2017, Pontiak released their latest collection of acid-scorched guitar workouts Dialectic of Ignorance, an album that takes the trio’s colossal riffing into heady new territory. Live, the music takes on a new dimension, free to reach even deeper out into the cosmos. Snaking melodies and irresistible grooves erupt from the brother’s instruments like billowing plumes of psychedelic smoke, expanding to fill the space, with the Carney brothers’ shimmering vocal harmonies providing an anchor through the trip.

Pontiak Tour Dates
May 28 – Richmond, VA – Richmond Music Hall *
Sep. 1 – Victoria, BC – Capitol Ballroom #
Sep. 2 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom #
Sep. 3 – Nelson, BC – Spiritbar #
Sep. 4 – Calgary, AB – The Palace Theatre #
Sep. 6 – Edmonton, AB – The Ranch Roadhouse #
Sep. 7 – Saskatoon, SK – Coors Event Centre #
Sep. 8 – Winnipeg, MB – The Garrick #
Sep. 11 – Guelph, ON – Guelph Concert Theatre #
Sep. 12 – Ottawa, ON – Algonquin Commons Theatre #
Sep. 13 – Montreal, QC – MTelus #
Sep. 14 – Quebec City, QC – Theatre Imperial #
Sep. 16 – Halifax, NS – Marquee Ballroom #

* w/ Dead Meadow
# w/ Sleep

thrilljockey.com/products/dialectic-of-ignorance
https://www.facebook.com/BrothersPontiak/
https://www.instagram.com/brotherspontiak/
http://brotherspontiak.com/

Pontiak, “Ignorance Makes Me High” official video

I don’t think I knew it before, but Gurt‘s isn’t the first one I’ve seen and I think I might be a sucker for Lego-style animated videos. There’s always something new to discover about yourself. While I venture into solipsist meditations, you might check out the video in question which is for a short screamer called “Jazz Cabbage.” It’s probably about weed. It comes from Gurt‘s impending new full-length, Bongs of Praise, which likely also is about weed. Nothing wrong with working on a theme.

The shenanigans sludgers will release Bongs of Praise sometime in the coming months, which I assume means whenever the hell it’s done and they feel like it. Somehow a lack of specificity suits their aesthetic.

Info from the PR wire:

UK sludge purveyors GURT to release new album ‘Bongs Of Praise’ ; watch blistering first video now!

London party doom purveyors GURT announce the release of their third album ‘Bongs Of Praise’ and share a thundering first excerpt with the animated video for ‘Jazz Cabbage’!

They take the blues and groove of 70s rock and drag it backwards through the swamps of Louisiana. The drums are thunderous, the vocals demonic and the guitars down-tuned, down-tempo and down right sexy. This is not doom, this is not sludge: this is GURT.

The UK foursome’s wicked sense of humour bubbles at the surface of their latest release ‘Bongs of Praise’. Without any sense of irony, the band deliver sleaze in the best possible way, and first excerpt ‘Jazz Cabbage’ makes no exception and delivers a blistering, crushing minute-long sludge onslaught, enhanced by this fun animated video crafted by Dead Walk Designs.

GURT’s new album ‘Bongs Of Praise’ will see a release in the coming months, while the band are still on a hunt for a label to host their new sludgy adventures. Stay tuned as more details will be unveiled soon!

Since their genesis in 2010, the band have laced up their boots and stomped over everything you thought you might have known about them and the beloved conventions of metal. GURT collide their barbaric sound with lines of funk and tongue in cheek lyricism to mould what has been hailed as “party doom”. In 2014, they unleashed their debut album ‘Horrendosaurus’ through independent label When Planets Collide, and which they promoted through a three week European tour with Dopethrone, as well returning home to a packed out audience to open Bloodstock’s second stage.

Released in 2017, their sophomore album ‘Skullossus’ explores darker and more menacing shades of sludge doom. Through a theatrical performance, their sound swelled in size as they toyed with their repertoire; adding rip-roaring, guttural vocals, psychedelic rhythms and classic rock’n’roll-worshipping riffs. On top of their two full-lengths and seven EPs, GURT have been relentlessly touring the UK and Europe, sharing the stage with the likes of Weedeater, Red Fang, Eyehategod, Black Tusk, Valient Thorr, Cough. In their own right way, they have cast their hypnotic savagery to the crowds of Bloodstock, Desertfest, Riffolution (UK) as well as Stonerhead (Salzburg) and 2019’s Monospace Fest (Paris)

GURT are:
Gareth Kelly – Vocals
Bill Jacobs – Drums
David Blakemore – Bass
Rich Williams – Guitar

https://www.facebook.com/GURTsludge/
https://gurt.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/gurtsludge/
https://gurtsludge.tumblr.com/

Gurt, “Jazz Cabbage” official video

New Zed is a ripper, which definitely makes it kin to old Zed. The album, out in July, is called Volume, and fairly enough so, and the track they’re streaming from it — available for listening at the bottom of this post, among other places — is called “The Other Kind.” If you want to think of it as a kind of check-in to let all interested parties know that Zed haven’t lost the chip on their collective shoulder since 2017’s Trouble in Eden (review here), I think that’s probably reasonable. Dudes know how to both turn and knock heads.

They’re fresh off their first excursion to European soil for a quick run that wrapped at Desertfest London 2019, so it’s hard to imagine the record announcement coming at a better time in terms of momentum. Their second album, Desperation Blues (discussed here), was also reissued by Ripple earlier this year, so you know, full calendar and all that. Busy busy.

Details come via the PR wire:

ZED return with VOLUME on RIPPLE MUSIC | Stream and share new song ‘THE OTHER KIND’

Volume by ZED is officially released on 26th July 2019

Making their roaring presence felt in the Bay Area rock scene since 2007, with heavy footprints and sonically indelible marks are San Jose earth shakers ZED. With a sound based on the core principles of blues, heaviness and groove, this quartet is the genuine article. No bell bottoms, wizard sleeves or hip huggers for this crew. Instead, it’s a barrage of head-bobbing, air-guitaring, hip-shaking, blues-driven riffage as delivered by the true bastards of rock and roll.

From their inception ZED made a name for themselves with their crushing live shows and incessant grooves. Having played together in various projects since 1998, including releasing several albums with the band Stitch for Prosthetic and Metal Blade Records, guitarist/vocalist Peter Sattari and bassist Mark Aceves joined up with guitar wizard Greg Lopez and drummer extraordinaire Sean Boyles to create a sound that was uniquely their own. Drawing from their varied influences, ranging from classic ’70s rock to punk and hardcore, by way of metal and old school funk, ZED write music fuelled by nasty grooves. The band has even been called, “a pissed off Led Zeppelin with Chris Cornell meets Ian Astbury on vocals.”

In recent years the band’s momentum has exploded, signing to Ripple Music and growing into a household name in the stoner rock community. Their hard-grooving live show has seen the band perform as headline support at Maryland Doom Fest and numerous SXSW events. They recently capped off their first European tour with a benchmark performance at Desertfest Lodon, where Kerrang! Magazine caught their set and said, “Their booze-drenched blues’n’roll almost breaks into a riot as both band and audience raise the roof and plenty of Hell in the process, leaving the most triumphant first impression.”

Volume by ZED is officially released on 26th July 2019 on Ripple Music.

TRACK LISTING:
1. The Other Kind
2. The End
3. Wings of The Angel
4. Hollow Men
5. Take Me Home Again
6. Chingus
7. Poison Tree
8. The Great Destroyer
9. Time and Space
10. The Troubador

Zed is:
Pete Sattari- Guitar/Vox
Sean Boyles – Drums
Greg Lopez – Guitar
Mark Aceves – Bass

https://www.facebook.com/zedrocknow/
https://zedisded.bandcamp.com/
http://www.zedisded.com/
http://www.ripple-music.com
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/

This was the first episode of The Obelisk Show on Gimme Radio to air in the new timeslot of Friday at 1PM Eastern, and I’ll just be honest, I think it was the best one I’ve done yet. The music was right on, the rhythm of one song into the next. There’s a way to make a thing like this that carries a flow — remember mixtapes? Same deal. This one had that. It tripped out when it needed to with Kandodo3 and instead of going psych-blast at the end, it went heavy with Nomadic Rituals and Thronehammer. I loved opening with 16 Horsepower as something unexpected and apart from both the riffy and the Gimme norm, and from pairing Lord Vicar and Destroyer of Light — someone book that tour! — to Sacri Monti and Wild Rocket, everything just came together right.

Tapping Monster Magnet for a classic track (classic track! yay!) didn’t hurt either, but even aside from that, it was a cool show. I’m not sure of the timing on re-airings — they’re every Sunday now at 7PM Eastern; the old timeslot for new episodes — but Gimme also has that Brigade thing you can join and listen to their full archive of everything. I’m not trying to spend your money; just want to give you options and not be like, “Hey this awesome thing happened and you missed it!” On that thought, maybe I should start posting these playlists before the show airs. Hmm… Things to consider.

Here’s the full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 05.24.19

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Radio airs every other Friday at 1PM Eastern, with replays every Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next show is June 7. Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Radio website

The Obelisk on Thee Facebooks

They come from Lublin, from Wroclaw, and from Warsaw, and they bring riffs in bulk, but what’s even more striking about the four-way split from Polish heavyweights Dopelord, Weedpecker, Major Kong and Spaceslug — in that order — is the level of diversity between the bands and just how much of their own personality each one brings to the proceedings. These are four of Poland’s best, to be sure, but by no means representative of the entire underground in the country — that is, they’re not Poland’s only four heavy bands, nor do they represent the entire stylistic swath of their compatriots (Sunnata and Belzebong walk by and wave) — but in terms of groups who’ve emerged over the past five-plus years in order to make an impact on the wider European sphere, they’re a suitable representation, and with an exclusive cut from each act involved, the self-released CD and LP makes an all the more fitting sampler of what Poland’s long underrated scene has to offer. It’s telling that 4-Way Split is a DIY release, and it’s also telling that, having come out in February, most of the LP editions and CDs are mostly if not entirely sold out.

The underlying message would seem to be that Polish heavy deserves a broader look it hasn’t yet gotten, and the audio from each of these bands lives up to that narrative. They each have their own measure of accomplishments and have developed an identity of their own, whether that comes in the form of Dopelord‘s tonal largesse or the grunge-infused melodic wash of Spaceslug, and as this release demonstrates, the bands aren’t so much united by a singular approach — they don’t all sound the same — as they are by the fact that each one has embarked on finding its own place in terms of sound. Some of this can be related to geographic spread, with Lublin, which is home to Major Kong in the west, while Spaceslug‘s native Wroclaw is further east and Warsaw, from whence come Dopelord and Weedpecker is a bit further north on the eastern side of the country. But the diversity of influence would seem to speak more to a general creative will than the fact that these acts simply represent different scenes within the country.

Even just Dopelord and Spaceslug, in opening and closing the release and both representing the capital, have markedly different approaches. It’s the former’s “Toledo” that provides the seven-minute leadoff/longest track (immediate points), and Dopelord, who’ve kicked around since the 2012 release of their debut, Magick Rites (discussed here), show that they, almost in parallel to a band like Monolord have managed to carve an identity for themselves out of a core Electric Wizard influence. There is perhaps a bit of subtle commentary as a sample tops the initial bassline saying, “A city of the dead… the living dead” as “Toledo” gets started, but while what ensues may be informed by zombie horror, its procession is nonetheless emblematic of the band’s reaching toward an international aesthetic, taking something from outside and making it their own. This is essentially the story of how any “scene” organically develops, and as Poland’s scene has over the course of this decade, like Greece or even Australia, Dopelord have helped pave the way for others to follow.

One might say the same for Weedpecker, who by now have become a progressive enough group that some part of them probably wishes they had a different moniker. 2018’s III (discussed here) was their label debut for Stickman Records, and their “Rise Above” inclusion on 4-Way Split would seem even to push past that offering’s gorgeous melodic wash. Still holding to the weighted tones of their early work, they too would seem to have found their niche in terms of style, and at just five and a half minutes, “Rise Above” conveys that achievement with telling efficiency. It’s at least a minute shorter than anything they had on III, so it might be indicative of some tightening of their craft in the future, or it could just be a one-off. Either way, the flow Weedpecker hone in that relatively brief time is essential to understanding where they come from as a unit and what they bring to this release and Polish heavy as a whole, so mission well accomplished.

Side B leads off with the instrumentalist Major Kong, who bring forth the 6:11 “The Mechanism” and tap into a core modus of riffing that would seem to know no borders. Theirs might be the least nuanced of the four cuts here, but even for the lack of vocals there are backing swirls deep amid low end and other bits of sonic detailing, bass runs, etc., to dig into, and they demonstrate that if you’ve got groove, you’ve got everything. Some of Major Kong‘s work in the past has tended toward a burlier plod — the trio’s last LP was 2017’s Brace for Impact — but “The Mechanism,” while still out to leave a bruise or two, doesn’t want for melody. It is a clear-headed take on instrumental heavy rock that is pulled off with a live-feeling energy and finds the band able to portray a sense of structure even without the use of traditional verses and choruses. No doubt it should, as Major Kong have been at it for the better part of a decade, but the firmness of their purpose is refreshing and shows yet another side of Polish heavy.

Speaking of, I’m not sure another Polish band have come along in this decade who’ve been able to make a mark as quickly as Spaceslug. The three-piece have worked quickly to issue three full-lengths since 2016 — 2018’s Eye the Tide (review here) was among the year’s essential releases — and the 4-Way Split capstone “Ahtmosphere” underscores their ongoing creative growth, with laid back push into a tonal and melodic wash that, even as the central line becomes, “The atmosphere is gone,” indeed wants nothing for ambience. A solo takes hold in the last minute to bring the track toward its drawn-out conclusion — things fall apart, or maybe just roll to a stop — and “Ahtmosphere” rings out to 6:53 to bookend with Dopelord‘s “Toledo” and further highlight the sense of identity so crucial in what these bands are doing.

Each one has their root influences, and each one has done the work necessary to push past them and discover who they really are as a band. That’s not necessarily a process with a solid ending — who they are will inevitably continue to change — but this split feels like a declarative moment on the part of some of Poland’s strongest acts, telling those who care enough to hear them that their home country deserves consideration as a significant contributor to the greater European underground. They make the case well, and loud.

Dopelord, Weedpecker, Major Kong & Spaceslug, 4-Way Split (2019)

Dopelord on Thee Facebooks

Dopelord on Bandcamp

Weedpecker on Thee Facebooks

Weedpecker on Bandcamp

Major Kong on Thee Facebooks

Major Kong on Bandcamp

Spaceslug on Thee Facebooks

Spaceslug on Bandcamp

If maybe you’ve been around this site for any length of time, or even if you haven’t really and you just wound up here right now through internet happenstance — the thing about happenstance: it happens — I don’t imagine it’s much of a mystery to you why I’d jump at the chance to co-present a tour featuring My Sleeping Karma, Stoned Jesus and Somali Yacht Club. All three are quality acts I’ve never had the opportunity to see live, and if I can’t do that, then living vicariously through encouraging others to do so seems like an obvious correct decision. The run is put together by Sound of Liberation and has been dubbed the “SOL Sonic Ride Vol. 1,” which seems immediately to drop the clue that there’s intent toward a “Vol. 2.” So be it.

Shows start Nov. 15 in Cologne, Germany, and finish in Stuttgart with the second of two nights of the run that also include Belzebong. Stoned Jesus will mark their 10th anniversary as the internet’s favorite heavy rock band, My Sleeping Karma will have new material and Somali Yacht Club will offer highlights from their two to-date full-lengths. Sounds awesome.

Here’s the info:

MY SLEEPING KARMA announce SONIC RIDE TOUR VOL. I with STONED JESUS and SOMALI YACHT CLUB!

Instrumental hypnotic rockers, genre pioneers My Sleeping Karma, have announced to embark on an extensive tour this Fall, with very special guests Stoned Jesus and Somali Yacht Club on the bill!

THE SONIC RIDE, presented by powerhouse live institution Sound of Liberation, will feature this eclectic tour package in its first edition of a new SOL roadshow trip, a must-see run for every psychedelic and heavy rock fan with stops in Germany, France, Italy, Austria and many more European locations!

Beside timeless classics My Sleeping Karma will introduce their upcoming album material live on stage, well-respected heavy fuzz rock unit Stoned Jesus, who just released their brand new album Pilgrims with Napalm Records, have announced to play an exclusive “greatest hits”-set in celebration of their 10th band anniversary. Psych post rockers Somali Yacht Club to open these November nights will perfectly round up this very special line-up you do not want to miss!

Get on a SONIC RIDE with MY SLEEPING KARMA, STONED JESUS and SOMALI YACHT CLUB live at the following dates:

15.11.19 Cologne | Live Music Hall (DE)
16.11.19 Neunkirchen | Gloomaar Festival (DE)
17.11.19 Brussels | Botanique (BE)
18.11.19 Paris | Alhambra (FR)
19.11.19 Rennes | Antipode MJC (FR)
20.11.19 Toulouse | Rex (FR)
21.11.19 Genf | L’Usine (CH)
22.11.19 Bologna | Freak Out (ITA)
23.11.19 Salzburg | Dome of Rock Festival (AT)
24.11.19 Budapest | A38 (HU)
25.11.19 Munich | Feierwerk (DE)
26.11.19 Vienna | Arena (AT)
27.11.19 Leipzig | Werk2 (DE)
28.11.19 Hamburg | Markthalle (DE)
29.11.19 Berlin | Festsaal Kreuzberg (DE) + Belzebong
30.11.19 Stuttgart | Hallschlag (DE) + Belzebong

www.soundofliberation.com
www.facebook.com/MySleepingKarma
www.facebook.com/stonedjesusband
www.facebook.com/Somaliyachtclub

My Sleeping Karma, Live at Freak Valley 2018