Posted in Questionnaire on August 16th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Tommy Stewart of Tommy Stewart’s Dyerwulf, Hallows Eve and Black Doomba Records
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I am an explorer of music! I’m a producer with a studio, a label, I’m a songwriter, bassist and vocalist mostly. I’m often thought of as the bassist of Hallows Eve. How did I come to do it? I had music and art in the house from the very beginning and my mother began teaching me about music on piano at age four.
Describe your first musical memory.
Playing ‘Silent Night’ on piano at a Christmas recital in kindergarten at age five.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
One of my favorite musical memories was being dragged up onstage at a Supremes show and singing with Mary Wilson plus making her laugh because I did all her dance moves with her. It was quite surreal, being a metal guy.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
This is a tough one. I keep finding out everything I think is a certain way turns out to be true. Which is pretty scary since I have a fairly bleak opinion of the world that I keep to myself except in art and music where I express it, you lucky people.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I don’t know, I never saw art as a destination which takes us or me anywhere. I just… do. I create in the moment and it reflects what’s happening to me now.
How do you define success?
Being happy. It’s that simple.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I can’t think of anything. Most unpleasant things I’ve seen I accept as parts of life, even death right before me. All parts of life are part of life, I accept it. I’m the one not shocked when others around me are freaking.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I have painted since I was a kid, it started with coloring. I’m not good at drawing and don’t enjoy it, but I like painting. I’d like to paint much more. I feel that time is coming, wherein I may do less music and paint more, not for anyone in particular but just for the sake of it and myself.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To express oneself as a form of language, at times just to oneself. An example is I feel, I play, you hear, you feel. That is language.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I’m spending December holidays on a small island with my family!
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 16th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
I’ll readily admit I haven’t heard Callus‘ A Breath of Flesh Air in full at this point. While we’re being brutally honest, I had the word “fresh” in the title when I started writing this post. So yeah, I’m not going to claim to be O.G. on the Lancaster, UK, heft-bearers who released their debut full-length, Hogpocalypse, in 2019. But I took a listen to “Ka-tet” as the lead single from the impending Trepanation Recordings release — out Oct. 29, up for preorder, and so on — and that was enough to convince me to dive further. The words “Produced, mixed and mastered by Chris Fielding at Foel Studios” didn’t hurt either, frankly.
And neither did the art, which could damn near hang out front of a tech-death record but for the band’s logo. If you, like me, take a listen to “Ka-tet” and find it’s the kind of thing you’re interested in, you should probably note that when they talk about “limited edition” for physical media, Callus aren’t screwing around. 50 CDs, 25 tapes, and that’s it. And while I’m not generally the type to plug a band’s merch, I’ll add they have bundles available with shirts boasting the aforementioned cover, which as you can see is pretty nifty indeed.
It looks like this:
‘A Breath of Flesh Air’ by Callus Released 29th October 2021
CALLUS is a HEAVY band formed in Lancaster UK in 2013. Taking their influence from Stoner, Thrash, Punk, Doom, and Instrumental Space Rock ‘A Breath of Flesh Air’ is a hard album to pin to any particular genre and is all the better for it!
Encompassing seven hard hitting and heavy tracks, ‘A Breath of Flesh Air’ is the bands second album proper, after 2019’s ‘HOGPOCALYPSE’, and sees them hone their sound even further. The recording of this behemoth was undertaken by Chris Fielding at Foel Studios in February 2021 so you know it sounds top notch!
Callus have gigged up and down the length of the UK, from Brighton to Dumfries so are no slouches when it comes to the live performance department. They have also played Bloodstock Festival, Hammerfest Festival, Mammothfest Festival and supported both the likes of Tombstones and Witch Mountain.
As well as digital download this release will be available on limited edition CD (limited to 50 copies) and cassette (limited to 25 copies). You can pre-order your copy here:https://callus117.bandcamp.com/album/a-breath-of-flesh-air
All music written and performed by CALLUS. Guest backing vocals on Molar Crown featuring Chris Fielding. Produced, Mixed and Mastered by Chris Fielding at Foel Studios, Wales, February 2021. Album painting by Ryan Hancock.
Was there at any point in history another band called Fuzz? Probably, I don’t know. But from the minute the Los Angeles trio released their self-titled debut in 2013 through In the Red Recordings — RidingEasy, then known as EasyRider, had the tape — there was no doubt as to who the mountain of hype was talking about. Having the already-an-indie-darling Ty Segall on drums/vocals certainly didn’t hurt them in that regard, allowing for an otherwise unlikely audience crossover, but the salivating critics, the hyperbole, the wax poetry of the response to Fuzz‘s Fuzz was enough to turn me right off. I don’t think I even really listened to it until they put out the follow-up in 2015. And even that I didn’t really cover.
No, I don’t think that makes me cool. I think it makes me a dope, no different than if I’d just blindly followed along with the mass of other reviewers, bloggers — there were more of those then — and whoever else in immediate and what I thought of as unthinking worship. It’s not cool to miss out on good records because someone else said nice things about them. It’s dumb, and it’s a habit I’ve worked hard and continue to work hard to break. “Oh that’s too cool for me.” This record rips and it’s nothing if not inviting. Not to veer too far into pop-psychology, but if I couldn’t bring myself to dig into something because it made me feel insecure that other people were there before me and were super into it, that’s my loss on every level.
So it was. Segall, guitarist Charles Mootheart and then-bassist Roland Cosio offered up this eight-song/36-minute collection just as mobile social media word of mouth was taking hold as a true generational shift, and kaboom, were everywhere. And I won’t take away from the mellower unfolding of “Earthen Gate” at the outset or the way-memorable grunge-that-isn’t hook of “What’s in My Head?,” or even “Loose Sutures” since it manages both to stop the song already in progress to vibe out on a drum solo and then bring it back in explosive fashion, but an all-go blaster like “Preacher,” or “Sleigh Ride” earlier on, or even the more shuffling “Raise,” where Mootheart and Segall trade vocals and the whole thing ends in a wailing cacophony of guitar — that’s where it’s at for me.
The structure of the album is such that each side starts and ends with a longer track. That’s four out of eight songs over five minutes long (three of those near six). Sandwiched between those longer pieces is a short song and a still-short-but-slightly-longer song.
Consider side A:
Earthen Gate (5:01)
Sleigh Ride (3:12)
What’s in My Head? (3:55)
HazeMaze (5:51)
And side B:
Loose Sutures (6:13)
Preacher (2:21)
Raise (3:43)
One (6:06)
Both sides follow the same pattern, though it’s more stark on side B with “Preacher” under three minutes and the bookends over six. Make no mistake, Fuzz‘s tracks go where they want anyway. It’s not like everything long has to be slow or psychedelic and everything short has to be fast — here I’ll cite “What’s in My Head?” and its sun-baked repetitions with a willful sense of drag, as well as the furious instrumental scorch they bring to bear on “One” to close out; Vincebus Eruptum reborn — but from the beginning swell of “Earthen Gate,” Fuzz makes each turn count and the band’s presentation remains thoughtful despite keeping an organic-above-everything vibe. For the first 90 seconds? They are a serene strum, languid groove. Then the first push begins and barely stops, especially with “Sleigh Ride” immediately backing it. The key difference, then, between the five-minute “Earthen Gate” and “Sleigh Ride” — at least in terms of how the band is spending their time; I’m not trying to accuse the songs of sounding the same, which despite consistent production they don’t — is that intro. But it’s positioned perfectly to set the tone of a record less predictable than it would otherwise be, and the rawness of what ensues becomes pure Californian acid rock, conveying volume, heft and, when it chooses, melody, in varied dosages like it’s feeding it to the listener from a dropper. Here, try this.
“What’s in My Head?” is an outlier, but a welcome one. Slower, hookier, it swells and recedes in a way that nothing else on Fuzz quite attempts, and it makes the mid-paced “HazeMaze,” which follows, seem fast by comparison. I don’t know the origin of the song, but its position as a standout is, if nothing else, a demonstration of Fuzz doing whatever the hell they wanted from the outset, and one could say the same of Mootheart‘s meandering guitar in the midsection of “HazeMaze” ahead of the purposeful dive into chaos — or what sounds an awful lot like it — at the finish. “Loose Sutures” isn’t shy about a melody either at the start — that is, before the drum solo and the burning-of-barns that ensues after — but “What’s in My Head?” has the clearest verse/chorus trades Fuzz make on their debut. And if you want to look for the next closest example, the place to go is the mirror spot on side B, “Raise,” where the interplay of vocals between Mootheart in the lead and Segall backing is a novelty compared to the rest of the offering — a standout, again; the spot to change things up — but still also a clearly executed, finished song.
And of course they follow that with a six-minute instrumental tear-a-whole-in-the-cosmic-fabric jam to round out. So it goes. Fuzz have had a steady stream of releases across the eight years since their self-titled. As noted, II followed in 2015, but by then they’d done a handful of singles and Live in San Francisco in 2013. They swapped out Cosio with Chad Ubovich, and last Fall issued III (review here) to general aplomb. They’ve got a Levitation Sessions tape out — affiliated of course with Levitation Festival in Austin, Texas; see also Dead Meadow, Ty Segall & Freedom Band, Slift, Windhand, etc. — this year with what looks to have been a killer set. Golden age for live records, we’re in. You could eat for a week on that irony.
I’m still not sure I’m cool enough for Fuzz, to be honest with you, but I’m trying real hard not to give a shit.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
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I’ve been waking up at 4:30 for most of this week. That puts me an hour earlier than I was before. The idea is that I’m trying to transition to a workable 4AM alarm in time for the break between daycamp and school starting up after Labor Day. The Patient Mrs.’ semester starts before The Pecan’s school does, and those first weeks are always a clusterfuck before you really get in a rhythm, so yeah, I’m anticipating a bumpier ride starting in about a week and a half. Getting up early will not help my state of being — since it’s not like I’m trading off by going to sleep at 7PM to account for the difference — but it will help me get writing done, and that will.
Next weekend is Psycho Las Vegas. I posted on Facebook earlier this week that I didn’t know I was invited but then heard from the crew out there that I was, and was I going? Well, I’m not going, sad to say. I thought about it long and hard and talked with The Patient Mrs. who was very diplomatic about not applying pressure either way, and when it came to saying yes or no on the deadline, I had to say no. I’m vaccinated, and so is she, but the shot isn’t approved for three year olds yet, so The Pecan isn’t and likely won’t be until the start of next year. A club show? Maybe. A mostly-indoor festival with however many thousand people kicking around in a hotel/casino setting? I wanted to. I did. I still do.
Next year.
Next year Desertfest London. Next year Freak Valley. Next year Roadburn. Next year Psycho. Next year Høstsabbat. Next year everything.
What do you think next year will look like?
I have no idea.
I’m still undecided on Maryland Doom Fest in October. As heavy fests go, that’s not the same scale as Psycho, obviously — what is? — but yeah. I’d like to go to that. Gotta get back into it at some point if I’m ever going to.
Or maybe I’m not going to. Maybe that’s what life is now. Maybe I’m done with live music?
Nah, I still haven’t seen Blackwater Holylight. Or My Sleeping Karma. Not done yet. Okay.
But the bottom line is I’ll regret missing Psycho Las Vegas this year. I know the Euro bands were having visa issues or whatever and some had to drop off. Whatever. Still a packed bill and they added even more to it. If it was just The Patient Mrs. and I in the house, I’d be there. With the kid, and plague variants looming, yeah.
I need to take at least a day off at some point from doing a review of any sort and get PostWax liner notes done. I think that’s what it’s gonna take. Mammoth Volume and The Otolith need doing. My head aches at the thought.
No Gimme show tonight. Next week. Need to do that playlist too.
At least next week I get to write about Lammping. That’ll be awesome. Record is great.
That’s all I got. Thanks for reading, and please have a great and safe weekend. Watch your head, and for the love of anything, please hydrate. Hotter out there all the time.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 13th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
When Constantine Grim of Floridian heavy rockers The Electric Mud took the Obelisk Questionnaire, the non-musical thing he said he was looking forward to was the birth of his first daughter in July 2021. Good to know that amid the tumult and upending-of-life that is welcoming a new child into the family, he and the band have nonetheless found time to record a new EP, complete with C.O.C. and Allman Brothers, and to schedule a round of tour dates that will take them as far out as Wisconsin — provided they happen — this Fall. Hey, want to get out ahead of both that Delta Variant and that four-month sleep regression? Yeah, I get that for sure.
Congratulations though to Grim on what my wife and I still refer to as an “additional factor,” and to the band on the new release. The Electric Mud‘s 2020 album, Burn the Ships (review here), was on Small Stone and Kozmik Artifactz, but I believe the EP is independent, though I might be wrong there. In any case, it’ll be up through their Bandcamp, where there’s also the opening track streaming now (also at the bottom of this post).
Details from the PR wire:
THE ELECTRIC MUD: Florida Stoner/Retro Rock Unit To Release Black Wool EP September 25th, New Track Streaming + Tour Dates Announced
Florida-based stoner/retro rock unit THE ELECTRIC MUD returned to the studio earlier this year to record their brand new EP, Black Wool, now completed and confirmed for release on September 25th.
Captured at Farmadelica Sound in Bokeelia, Florida with tracking, mixing, and mastering done by Howard Wulkan, the EP represents a heavier and proggier turn for the band with a pair of new, original tracks as well as and an homage to the seedy, sordid Sunshine State bar circuit where they cut their teeth with covers of Corrosion Of Conformity and The Allman Brothers Band.
In advance of the release of Black Wool, today the band is streaming EP opener, “Ordinary Men,” noting of the track, “Opening the EP is ‘Ordinary Men,’ a rollicking slab of riffs and grooves that takes us through some of our heaviest and most intricate paces to date, alongside lyrics that implore the listener to make the most of the time they’re given.”
Black Wool EP Track Listing: 1. Ordinary Men 2. Black Wool 3. Albatross (Corrosion Of Conformity cover) 4. Whipping Post (The Allman Brothers Band cover)
In conjunction with the release of Black Wool, THE ELECTRIC MUD will kick off a near-two week run of live dates beginning September 25th in Cape Coral, Florida. See all confirmed dates below.
THE ELECTRIC MUD: 9/25/2021 Rackem – Cape Coral, FL 10/01/2021 Burns Alley Tavern – Charleston, SC 10/02/2021 TBA 10/06/2021 Tribbles – Piedmont, SC 10/08/2021 Skylark Social Club – Raleigh, NC 10/09/2021 Riffhouse – Chesapeake, VA 10/11/2021 The Empty Glass – Charleston, WV 10/12/2021 Westside Bowl – Youngstown, OH 10/13/2021 Legends – Mt. Vernon, OH 10/14/2021 Metal Monkey Brewing – Romeoville, IL 10/15/2021 Lyric Room – Green Bay, WI 10/16/2021 Polack Inn – Wausau, WI
Norwegian progressive black metal progenitors Enslaved just last week announced their new EP, Caravans to the Outer Worlds, would be released this Fall on Nuclear Blast. Well, at the time, I had already conducted this interview with founding guitarist Ivar Bjørnson, and though I asked about new material, there was never a mention of what will be the direct follow-up to 2020’s Utgard (review here). I guess we learned that the dude can keep a secret.
Further evidence? I brought up the fact that he was supposed to curate at the outdoor fest Fire in the Mountains in 2020 in amid the gorgeous scenery of Wyoming, and asked if he’d heard anything about resuming that post. He didn’t say no — which I took as yes anyway — but confirmation came down the PR wire this week that, indeed, Bjørnson will curate the 2022 edition of Fire in the Mountains. Not that you need an excuse to experience the landscape of Wyoming for yourself, but that’d be one if you did. So again, (not sarcastic) kudos to Bjørnson on keeping the secret. With a 30-year career behind him, no wonder dude’s a professional.
Even further evidence of that? He did this entire interview from a sailing ship. Apparently as part of a thing for Norwegian television, he was invited to take a sailing trip around Bergen, and yeah, he’s out there, on a boat, the whole time. Because of course. The waves look smooth — it was the connection that was choppy — but still, did the whole interview, live from the deck of the boat. Pro-shop. It seemed like a beautiful, if breezy, day on the water.
So let’s say there’s been a bunch of Enslaved news lately, and that’s before you even get to the fact that they’ve announced tour dates in Europe for early next year. Plus, they’re still not at all far removed from the release of their Cinematic Tour 2020 box set, which was the impetus behind my wanting to do the interview in the first place, to talk about the streaming shows, the production value, playing older songs and doing 2003’s Below the Lights in full with new band members Håkon Vinje (keys/vocals) and Iver Sandøy (drums/vocals), as well as bringing Utgard to life in that context. Even with the secrets kept, there was plenty, plenty, plenty to talk about.
Please enjoy:
Enslaved, Interview with Ivar Bjørnson, Aug. 4, 2021
Enslaved will release Caravans to the Outer Worlds on Oct. 1. The Cinematic Tour 2020 box set is out now. More info at the links. Special thanks to Mike H. for the inspiration to chase down this interview.
Enslaved, “Homebound (Cinematic Tour 2020)” official video
Enslaved, “Caravans to the Outer Worlds” official video
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 13th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Not so far removed as yet from issuing their second album, The Magnetic Ridge (review here), through Psychedelic Salad and Forbidden Place Records, Melbourne heavy blues purveyors Jack Harlon and the Dead Crows have signed on with Copper Feast Records — perhaps going forward? — and will reissue their 2018 debut, Hymns through that label as well as Tuff Cuff Records sometime in the coming months. One assumes as soon as they’re back from the pressing plant.
This is good news for folks such as myself — though I admit, I rarely think of myself as “folks” — who missed out on the album the first time and had to play catchup with the sophomore long-player. Not a hardship given the quality of the work, but as Mr. Alwayslatetotheparty — way more how I think of myself — at least now I’ll have a chance to get a copy in probably the five-minute span before it sells out on preorders.
Speaking of, I don’t know when those start, but Copper Feast Records posted the following on the social medias, and you might keep an eye out for word from them as well as Tuff Cuff on dates and other particulars:
Time for the first of our two HUGE band announcements this month!
We’re delighted to welcome Melbourne blues/stoner/heavy psych outlaws Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows to Copper Feast Records as we prepare to reissue their killer debut album ‘Hymns’ alongside Tuff Cuff Records.
We’ll be preparing some killer variants for all you folks in the UK and Europe while the fast of finger can get stuck into the stock that ends up heading to The Cosmic Peddler in North America!
Australians that missed out the first time around, make sure to give Tuff Cuff a follow to grab one domestically.
As summer soundtracks go, Alain Johannes‘ 2020 album, Hum (review here), makes for pretty melancholy fare, but the truth is that it’s become one of those records I fall back on regardless of season. Amid a regular flux of things in and out, it hasn’t left my phone and I often find myself putting it on in the car in those moments where it’s what-do-I-listen-to-can’t-think-too-hard-in-a-hurry-well-okay-it’s-Hum-again-because-that’s-awesome. It is a reliable listening experience for me. I’m not going to put it on and at any point regret it.
The album came out last July on Ipecac, and I’m sad to say I still don’t have the CD. On my last trips to Vintage Vinyl here in New Jersey before it closed, that’s what I went to find, and no dice. I looked at my other local shop as well, and nuh-uh. True, I could order from Amazon, but you know, support your stores and all that. It’s not even in Johannes‘ own webstore, where the preceding 2014 outing, Fragments and Wholes, Vol. 1, is also sold out on the old-style compact disc, though available on vinyl, along with Hum and his 2010’s solo debut, Spark (discussed here), LP sold out, CD available with an autograph, which is nice. I’m just shopping, don’t mind me.
But if one might be tempted to go down a virtual retail rabbit hole through Johannes‘ merch, let that stand as a testament to the quality of his work. “Here in the Silence,” with a new, animated video below, is a gorgeous song that comes from a beautiful record. If you don’t get snagged by it, I’m not sure what to tell you. It’s the frickin’ fifth video they’ve put out from the album — a regular media blitz — and that’s in addition to streaming the entire record on Bandcamp (aha! found my CD!), so it’s not like ample opportunity to dip toe isn’t being provided even for those who won’t dive headfirst. If I haven’t made it clear by this time, I support that headfirst dive. There are five videos and an album stream with this post that I hope demonstrate that.
Alain Johannes has a show in Los Angeles coming up Sept. 11 at Highland Park Bowl with Big Pig (feat. Dino Von Lalli from Fatso Jetson) and All Souls, who also recently announced they’d be working with him as producer for their next album, citing of course Johannes‘ litany of credits including Chris Cornell‘s Euphoria Mourning solo LP. Being a nerd for All Souls, I look forward to what that collaboration will do for their sound. Info on the show is here if you happen to be in L.A.: https://www.facebook.com/events/361081742034953/
Enjoy. All of it:
Alain Johannes, “Here in the Silence” official video
Celebrating the one year anniversary of Alain Johannes’ album, Hum, with a beautiful new video for the song “Here In The Silence”. Pick up a copy of the album at: https://lnkfi.re/AJHum
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 12th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Later this year, Richmond, Virginia’s Thunderchief — named after a warplane? nope. — will release the follow-up to last year’s No Sufferance for Thy Fools, which will come preceded by a few cover tracks yet to be unveiled. That’s cool. No specifics other than Mike Dean produced, and it’ll be out “later this year,” which at this point I just read as “if you want vinyl you’re waiting longer” because of the state of the world, but these things happen when they happen. If you’re sitting around waiting for something you preordered and holding it against the band, label, whatever, that it hasn’t shown up, pull your head out of your ass.
Kind of curious to see the band, founding by Rik Surly, listing Erik Larson as a new member on drums. As I recall Larson and Surly were playing together back at Maryland Doom Fest a couple years ago when I couldn’t get in to see them because I’d lost my drivers’ license (it’s hard being a person, leave me alone) and hilariously got carded at the door. He’s also played on the records. But I guess sometimes these things get made official later on. So be it. You know he’ll kill it either way.
And the new album announcement from the PR wire follows here:
Richmond, VA’s nihilistic ruffian outfit THUNDERCHIEF, will be playing at The Depot in Baltimore, MD on Friday, August 13, 2021 as part of a 2-day event known as “The Deviant Collective” featuring Yatra, Horseburner, Stonecutters and Howling Giant.
This show will mark the first appearance of THUNDERCHIEF as a live DUO, moving forward w/ Erik Larson manning the drums.
The band will be premiering new material from a full-length album, recently recorded by Mike Dean of C.O.C., and will be releasing a series of “appetizer” cover songs, leading up to the album’s drop, expected later this year.
Stay tuned for future live dates/tours/news from the band at the links provided below.
Thunderchief are: Rik Surly – Guitar/vocals Erik Larson – Drums
