When Los Angeles-based ’90s-style stoner grit rockers Max Boogie Overdrive premiered their video here for the catchy single “Suffer Sister,” their debut album, Stoned Again, was a ‘coming soon’ kind of affair. That was a full year ago as of this week — fun coincidence — and indeed, the shove-prone 38-minute eight-track groover had a 2023 soft-launch, but the official release was at the end of March, and it remains firm in its declaration of purpose regardless of the timing.

The four-piece of guitarists Jim “Max Boogie” Bacchi and Richard “RC” Clark, vocalist/bassist Daren “Drop Dee” Ford and drummer Tom “Knuckles” Hernandez dig into older-school heavy riffing throughout, touch on a bit of metal gallop behind the solo, as in “Freakazoid,” for an example, and offer hooks a-plenty across the span, riding choice grooves on the C.O.C.-style “Van Boogie” and finding a space for an almost garage-style feel on “Demonaire” before the penultimate “King of Fire” lands with one of the record’s heaviest thuds, moving all the more effectively for the push-pull and subtle shifts in style around its central dirty-fuzz revelry.

Stoned Again caps with its title-track (video premiering below), which starts with a sample of former US president Barack Obama saying that, yes, he did inhale, and as regards mission statements, they’re not trying to hide what they’re all about. It’s right there in the first verse, “High like a mountain/I’m cool like the sea,” and the nigh-on-hypnotic chorus that follows to deliver the title line before they take off on a coursing lead-topped bridge, take another hit off that hook and slow it down.

Of course the cowbell comes out, and as with a lot of Stoned Again, “Stoned Again” is rife with if-you-know-you-know lyrical references — one might shout out a Monster Magnet influence for that alone, never mind the infinity-bound dope nod of “Freakazoid” — but namedropping Rainbow Rising over the steady nod that serves as the launch point for the record’s noisy finish is a hint at some of the ’70s-whatnottery also present in the hard-footed strut of “Bomb Incoming,” but despite the striking statistic that the album was recorded in five separate studios with five separate engineers, it never seems to be headed somewhere without an idea of the destination and path being taken. Songwriting, in other words, as well as a goodly dose of stonerly charm.

And I’m on record multiple times over as being a sucker for both. I don’t think Max Boogie Overdrive are out to rewrite the tenets of heavy rock on Stoned Again so much as to celebrate them and remind any and all within earshot that the whole point of the thing in the first place was to have a good time. They veer hither and yon, desert-bound in “Demonaire,” jammy in the rush later in “Freakazoid,” leaning into psych in that wash of “Stoned Again” and elsewhere, but like a West Coast Geezer, they know what they’re about and offer it without pretense otherwise.

If you see any of that and think maybe you can get down, the full album is streaming after the PR wire info, and if you want a quicker sampling, the title-track clip is nothing if not representative. It’s okay to have fun with it. They sure seem to be.

Enjoy:

Max Boogie Overdrive, “Stoned Again” video premiere

Max Boogie Overdrive was originally conceived in 2022, as a recording project between guitarist Max Boogie a.k.a. Jim Bacchi (Hittman, Fuzzbubble, The Tikiyaki Orchestra) and Drop Dee a.k.a. Daren Ford (Red Square Black, Ravine and the Generals) as a way to pursue their passion for all things Stoner and Boogie… mammoth guitar riffs, bellowing vocals, and the swagger of early 70’s Detroit rock n’ roll — dirty, fuzzy, with just a dusting of doom, and whole lotta Boogie (not Disco; Heavy Boogie Rock).

The debut album ‘Stoned Again’ includes the first single “Suffer Sister,” which offers up a dirty Motörhead vibe. Other songs “The Devil Knows my Name” and “Van Boogie” conjure the spirit of the more current Sabbath-influenced desert rock scene. And then there is the KISS thing — you know, those early records, when they were heavy. “Demonaire” and “Bomb Incoming” bring the Demon to mind (when Gene Simmons was still cool).

The cyclonic drumming of Tom ‘Knuckles’ Hernandez (Lords of Altamont, Superbeez) propels the band past the sludge and doom pace, and guitarist Richard ‘RC’ Clark’s guitar adds the necessary beef to the mix, fattening up the tone, and added vocal duties.

Produced by : Jim Bacchi and Daren Ford
Mixed by Jim Bacchi, except “Suffer Sister” mixed by Bob St John

Recorded at : Kingsize Sound Labs – Los Angeles, CA
Unison Sound – Northridge, CA
Le Studio – Huntington Beach, CA
Highland Studios, LaSalle, Ontario
PDQ – Ft Lauderdale FL.
Cover art – Big Toe

Engineers : David Dominguez, Bruce Witkin, Jim Bacchi, Bob St John, Mike Christie, Luc Michaud

Mastered at : Surfside Sound – Huntington Beach, CA

MAX BOOGIE OVERDRIVE LIVE 2024:
05/04 Las Vegas, NV – Red Dwarf
05/17 Costa Mesa, CA – Wayfarer (w/ Hippie Death Cult, Hashtronaut)
06/20 Palmdale, CA – Transplant Brewery

Max Boogie Overdrive are:
Lead/Rhythm Guitar: Max Boogie (aka Jim Bacchi)
Vocals and Bass: Daren (Drop Dee) Ford
Drums: Tom (Knuckles) Hernandez
Rhythm/Lead Guitar: Richard Clark

Max Boogie Overdrive, Stoned Again (2024)

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Tags: California, Los Angeles, Max Boogie Overdrive, Max Boogie Overdrive Stoned Again, Stoned Again, Unsigned bands

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 24th, 2024 at 12:49 pm and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.