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: Collyn McCoy of Circle of Sighs & Night City

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I’ve recently come to terms with the fact that what I do probably fits best into a “composer/producer” box. For a long time I considered myself a bassist who just happened to write some tunes. A “band dude” in other words. But then there was a stretch, from about 2017 to 2021, when I really wasn’t playing much bass at all. I was making a lot of music, in a lot of different projects, but only a bit of it involved four strings tuned way down low. So I figured maybe “bassist” isn’t what I should lead with.

Coming to terms with that fact happened to coincide with “composing” and “producing” becoming a much bigger part of what I do vocationally. I produce a good deal of music for video games, which involves a bit of composing (and performing), but mostly finding talent, booking studios, and following the head chef’s recipe to ensure that the soup gets made to everyone’s liking. But I’ve been doing some film composing as well and in fact I just finished the score to a very fun (and bloody violent) horror film that will be hitting the festival circuit soon. I can’t say much more but if you like Goblin, Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, and John Carpenter, the score is right in that wheelhouse.

But even a lot of the “avocational” music I make (i.e. my own shit) really doesn’t easily fit in a band box. I mean I get an idea and I make it happen but is it something I’m going to play out? Do I need to put together a new band and go play shows for every thing I do? Do I need to make shirts, sell merch, do a van tour? I mean I would love to, but that seems exhausting. Tommy Meehan from Deaf Club, Cancer Christ, etc etc seems to pull it off, plus make music for a bunch of cool cartoons my daughter loves, but he’s a bit younger than me and also, I’m pretty sure, super-human.

All that said, the Night City live iteration is coming together nicely and will soon be a thing.

Describe your first musical memory.

My dad was a musician — a bassist actually — so there were always musical instruments and musicians around the house. I remember my dad’s friends coming over for a jam session — jazz stuff, standards mostly — and I was bangin’ along on a little electric piano in the corner and to my toddler ears, it worked. Dad’s friends seemed to agree, or at least they were stoned enough that it worked for them in an Ornette Coleman sort of way. Beyond that, though — and this is a very very clear musical memory — it was hearing Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” while going to day care in my dad’s Volkswagen Camper Van. That breakdown section gave me chills, and still does. I don’t care if it’s supposed to be Robert Plant jizzing. It’s musical magic.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

DesertFest UK and DesertFest Germany with Ultra Electric Mega Galactic were both fantastic experiences. I’ve played to bigger crowds — a few anyway — but none more appreciative and “on the same page.”

There were a few Aboleth shows that were really special — Clarksville, TN, comes to mind. We were a new-ish band and our album had only been out about a week but there were people singing along to every word. Gave me the feelz.

Also, I did play bass live on network TV with Tony Danza — not the tech-metal band but the actual Tony Danza — which crossed something off a bucket list I didn’t know I had.

But lately, it’s when I take my daughter to her piano class and hear the massive leaps in progress that she makes each week. I get moist eyeballs every time. Every. Damn. Time.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

I gave up on firmly held beliefs a long time ago. They never work out. But I suppose accepting the fact that I’m a lot more flawed of a human being than I thought I would be by now, as a middle-aged dude — but that that’s actually OKAY — was a sort of breakthrough.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

I honestly don’t know but I’m dying to find out. I’ve been on this journey for a long-ass time and I feel like I’m discovering new things all the time. It’s like a video game where you think you beat the final boss only to realize that was just the end of the first level. Sorry, I’ve been working on games long enough that I’m starting to think in those terms.

How do you define success?

Contentment. Satisfaction. It’s not even happiness necessarily — not everyone is happy or meant to be happy all the time — but just knowing that you hit one out of the park in a way that can always hold up as an example of achieving what you want to achieve.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

A Serbian Film. Without hyperbole I can say that a part of me died when I saw that movie. The Trump Years, especially the pandemic portion of that, had a similar effect on me — just that gross realization that humanity is a lot more nihilistic, self-destructive, hateful, and stupid than I previously had thought.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I have some really big fuckin’ ideas for Circle of Sighs and I’ve barely scratched the surface of what I want that project to become. It was never meant to be a band. A creative collective, sure, and music would be a part of what that collective creates. But I always envisioned CoS as more of a touring multimedia event that draws from a whole bunch of disciplines — visual art, theater, video, projection mapping, dance, even mime. And I’m zero percent joking about the mime thing and in fact we recently starting incorporating mime into our live show and believe it or not it was really well received. But CoS, in its ideal final form, will be a lot more like Blue Man Group, Mummenchanz, or Cirque Du Soliel than say Black Label Society. I shouldn’t even need to be on the stage. Anyone should be able to pick up the gauntlet and run with it.

I mean a production like that would take a lot of money, and that’s not a thing that I have a lot of, but perhaps some investor or grantor would allow it to happen. Never say never!

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

Expressing something that can’t be better expressed — or understood — any other way.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Hanging out with friends and not having to mask up. Seeing them laugh with their actual mouth holes, hearing them speak not through a wall of microfibre. I mean I was bullish on masks and still am when necessary, but I missed seeing my friends visages and it’s great that I’m starting to again.

I’m looking forward to watching my daughter grow up just so long as it doesn’t happen too fast.

And I look forward to seeing Yob tonight. Which is not musical so much as it is spiritual. I mean I’m not a religious guy by any means, but I’ve seen Yob probably 100 times and it is exactly the same as every beatific event I’ve ever read about — enlightenment, “seeing the light,” holy bliss, ego death — it’s all that and more. But, like, fuckin’ doom.

https://www.facebook.com/NightCity666
https://www.instagram.com/nightcity666/
http://www.facebook.com/dunealtar
http://instagram.com/dunealtar
http://www.dunealtar.com/

https://www.facebook.com/circleofsighs/
https://circleofsighs.bandcamp.com/
https://circleofsighs.com/
https://metalassault.bandcamp.com/
http://facebook.com/metalassaultla
http://instagram.com/metalassault

Night City, Kuang Xi teaser

Circle of Sighs, “His Box”

Ah man, this is pretty cool. The namechecks below are right on. I hear exactly the part in “Molly Million$” that is the source of the Ministry comparison. Night City is another guise in the increasing number of them from Los Angeles-based Collyn McCoy, known for Circle of Sighs (on whose record I got to guest last year or was it the year before?), Aboleth, Diesel Boots, Trash Titan, The UEMG and so on, and it leans to the industrial side of the dark atmospheres one might expect from Circle of Sighs. There’s a lot going on with it and no tracks streaming yet — I think I had a request in to do a stream? — but a teaser is live and you’ll find it at the bottom of the post.

Also, I think this is like the 33rd post today? They’re not in order of preference or anything, don’t worry. But really, I think this might be number eight or nine on the day. I gotta look.

Oh the things you think about when the beats start to get crushing.

Anyone out there doing laundry?

From the PR wire:

Night City – Kuang Xi

Dealing in Godfleshian cyber-brutality, NIGHT CITY is an industrial/sludge metal project from multi-instrumentalist Collyn McCoy (Circle of Sighs, Aboleth). Anarchist, anti-authoritarian, and anti-capitalist, this project draws thematically from near-future dystopian speculation–think the gritty and disaffected cyberpunk worlds of William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, and Phillip K. Dick. Mirroring the unfiltered harshness of these literary visions, Night City sonically recalls such benchmark acts as Throbbing Gristle, Swans, Ministry, Author & Punisher, and Killing Joke. Perhaps most consequential, however, is the unrelentingly heavy formula established by the aforementioned Godflesh.

In the world of Night City, machines grind bones. Obsolete technologies gain sentience, taking their revenge against the selfish creators who abandoned them. It is an undoubtedly grisly affair. While occupying this unique aesthetic arena, Night City seeks to bring industrial metal back to its aesthetic roots and the implicit harshness and leftist politics demonstrated by the progenitors of the style, all while moving the genre forward in terms of production and sheer heft. To this end, Night City’s debut EP – the four-track Kuang XI – will be released March 11th via Dune Altar, an LA-based label defined by a demonstrated willingness to release music across an eclectic spectrum. The title itself is a dual reference to the Mandarin phrase for “crazy happy,” as well as the computer virus featured in Gibson’s Neuromancer. At risk of making a statement, Kuang XI is the opening salvo of the Next Wave of American Industrial Metal.

Night City sits at the cross-section of two impulses. On one hand is McCoy’s desire to recreate the overwhelming sensation of encountering industrial metal for the first time. On the other is a drive to write music with politics at the core–anarcho-socialism, post-capitalism, toxic media, social media, climate change, workers’ rights, the reemergence of global fascism, and revolution are all topics and targets of the Night City lens. The result of this thematic, intellectual, and sonic conglomerate? A blunt soundtrack for rage and revolt. A digital death rattle for a rancid, dystopian world.

March 11, 2022 on Dune Altar.

NIGHT CITY
Kuang XI

a1. Broken Dick
a2. Encryptor/Decryptor
a3. Steppin’ Razor
a4. Molly Million$

program repeats on side B

https://www.facebook.com/NightCity666
https://www.instagram.com/nightcity666/
http://www.facebook.com/dunealtar
http://instagram.com/dunealtar
http://www.dunealtar.com/

Night City, Kuang Xi teaser

Los Angeles, heavy rockers Aboleth issued their debut full-length, Benthos (discussed here), this past Spring, but like all good things, vinyl takes time, and so Kozmik Artifactz will have the LP version of the record out this Friday. The band parted ways this summer with founding member Collyn McCoy (also The Ultra-Electric Mega Galactic) and is now a four-piece with guitarist David Abrams and Mark Dalbeth, so Benthos will also remain the only album documenting the original trio lineup.

Interested to see what the future brings for them, but either way, the record is out on Friday from Kozmik Artifactz, which sent the following down the PR wire:

Trudge the Swap and unearth “Bethos” the debut album from Aboleth, Out December 14th

Sludgy riffs, Allman-esque slide solos and whisky-drenched-yet-soaring female vocals – this is Aboleth!

Aboleth was founded in 2016 by Collyn McCoy (Trash Titan, The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic) and 21-year-old whisky-throated belter Brigitte Roka. Roka propels the group with her Joplin-esque grit and soaring highs, while McCoy lays the sludgy foundation care of his baguitar — a bass/guitar hybrid that offers the lows of the former and the highs of the latter. Together the two meld stoner-doom with primal blues and desert rock to form what they have dubbed “dirt metal”.

‘Benthos’, their full-length debut album, expands on the themes explored on their 2016 debut cassette – murder, revenge, lust, devil worship, and the benefits of a plant-based diet – while pushing their sound deeper into the proto-blues swamp.

Benthos will be released on limited edition heavyweight vinyl on the 14th December on Kozmik Artifatcz.

VINYL FACTZ
– Plated & pressed on high performance vinyl at Pallas/Germany
– limited & coloured vinyl
– 300gsm gatefold cover
– special vinyl mastering

TRACKS
1. Wovenloaf
2. Fork In The Road
3. No Good
4. Black Box
5. Glass Cutter
6. Sharktown Blues
7. Ode To Plastic
8. Vinny Gets Arrested
9. The Devil
10. Wytches

Aboleth are:
Vocals: Brigitte Roka
Guitar: David Abrams
Bass: Mark Dalbeth
Drums: Boll3t

https://www.facebook.com/abolethband
https://abolethband.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/abolethband/
https://twitter.com/abolethband
http://kozmik-artifactz.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kozmikartifactz

Aboleth, Benthos (2018)

Aboleth, “Wovenloaf” official video

Just over a year ago, when it was announced that Los Angeles heavy blues bruisers Aboleth had signed to producer Ulrich Wild‘s WURMgroup imprint, word was they’d soon be recording a new EP. Well, apparently at some point in the line there was something of a burst of creativity, because the EP has turned into an LP and on May 25, the trio will issue Benthos, their debut album. It’s the successor to their first release, EP-1 (discussed here), which came out in 2016, and finds the standout track from that release, “No Good,” included among a total of 10 songs hitting the 40-minute mark with a striking LP’s fluidity and variety of approach. To wit, opener “Wovenloaf” is a heavy as hell riff cruncher laced with enough attitude to sell it in dimebags, while “Shark Town Blues” and “The Devil” are acoustic numbers intended to showcase the inner-Joplin of vocalist Brigitte Roka.

And to be sure, Roka has one. As producer, Wild is known for working with larger commercial acts, but he’s got enough sense to leave in the grit, the pops and the throatiness of Roka‘s voice without cleaning it up too much. Likewise, there’s little throughout songs like the desert rocking “Glass Cutter” and the boozy “Vinny Gets Arrested” to hold back either the tone of Collyn McCoy, whose combo bass and guitar — which he suitably enough calls a baguitar — comes to the project from the rhythm section of The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic and Trash Titan, or the impact in the drumming of Marco Minnemann, who since appearing on the record has been replaced by Boll3t, which I’m just going to assume is the name of a person who plays drums. Fair enough.

“Wovenloaf” is both the opener and longest track on Benthos — immediate points — and in its groove it highlights a lot of the dynamic that works throughout the album, but it doesn’t necessarily tell the whole tale. Other tracks derive more from classic heavy rock, grunge, and, as noted, the blues, but among the elements “Wovenloaf” has in its favor is its meld of weighted riffs and boldly-delivered melody. Unsurprisingly, the sound is crisp in terms of the production, but by no means is it staid or too polished. That’s true of the record as a whole: it finds balance enough to still be dangerous as it needs to be.

I’ve been curious to hear what Aboleth would do with a full-length since EP-1 came down the line, and sure enough they establish a place for themselves between and amid a host of styles while crafting a fluidity that carries across all of them and still sticks its middle finger in the air at pretty much anyone and anything with eyes to see it.

Aboleth have tour dates starting next month as well. You’ll find those and more info from the PR wire directly under the video, which follows here.

Please enjoy:

Aboleth, “Wovenloaf” official video premiere

Brigitte Roka on “Wovenloaf”:

“Wovenloaf” really captures what we’re about in a nutshell: blues and grit paired with super heavy, sludgy riffs. It’s about people you’ve known for a while who start acting like they’re big shots all of a sudden. And they treat you like they’re too cool for school but you know there’s nothing actually genuine (or, half the time, interesting) about them. This song is also about bread that’s woven together, which (little known fact) Albertson’s bakery does NOT always carry. To make, [the video] was very fun indeed. I’m glad we did this because I think the best way to experience Aboleth is live, and this video is a window into what we’re like when we play, so it showcases the essence of our band pretty well.

Collyn McCoy on “Wovenloaf”:

I love this song. It think it’s where Brigitte and I really found our groove for writing together. I had this dirt-simple, bone-headed riff. But it was deceivingly complex due to the odd time signature. We worked on it in my living room, with Brigitte singing her ideas, both melody and chord progressions, and before we knew it, we had our signature song. It’s actually been part of our live set for a while. Ulrich Wild, our producer, did a great job of capturing our energy while making it heavy and in-your-face. We actually had this very elaborate narrative video planned, but time and logistics got in the way. Not only were we wrapping up our album and planning a tour, but Brigitte was a few weeks away from graduating Art Center College of Design, so she had a very intense grad show to prepare for (in addition to making all our album art and tour shirt designs!). We decided to just let the music do the talking this time around. We filmed it at The Compound, which is an amazing studio in Long Beach with great vibe and a killer live room.

Wovenloaf from Aboleth’s debut album “Benthos,” available May 25th, 2018 on WURMgroup Records:

Order BENTHOS here: http://wurmgroup.bigcartel.com/product/aboleth-benthos

Shot by: Justin Cornell
Produced and Edited by: Wade and Schneider Webb
Special thanks to: Antoine Arvizu at The Compound

filmed on location at THE COMPOUND in Signal Hill, CA: https://www.thecompoundstudio.com/

Produced by Ulrich Wild
Recorded/Mixed/Mastered by Ulrich Wild in The Wilderness
Assisted by Raidar

TOUR DATES:
5/11 – Cincinnati, OH – The Venue Center
5/13 – Braidwood, IL – Top Fuel Saloon
5/14 – Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
5/15 – Minneapolis, MN – Lee’s Liquor Lounge
5/16 – Sioux Falls, SD – Bigs Bar
5/18 – Lewiston, ID – 3rd Wheel
5/19 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Loading Dock
5/20 – Denver, CO – The Roxy Theater
5/21 – Kansas City, MO – The Riot Room
5/22 – Oklahoma City, OK – Kendells
5/23 – St. Louis, MO – Fubar
5/24 – Clarksville, TN – The Warehouse
5/25 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
5/26 – Orlando, FL – The Haven
5/27 – Margate, FL – O’Malleys
5/28 – Greenville, SC – The Radio Room
5/29 – Fayetteville, NC – Drunk Horse Pub
5/30 – Brooklyn, NY – The Kingsland
5/31 – Pittsburgh, PA – The Smiling Moose
6/1 – Toledo, OH – New Longhorn Saloon
6/3 – Westland, MI – Token Lounge

ABOLETH:
Brigitte Roka – Vocals
Collyn McCoy – Baguitarist, Slide Guitar
Boll3t – Drums

Drums on Benthos performed and recorded by Marco Minnemann

Aboleth on Thee Facebooks

Aboleth on Instagram

Aboleth website

Aboleth on Bandcamp

Aboleth on Twitter

WURMGroup webstore

WURMGroup on Thee Facebooks

Hard not to dig the mission here. Anyone who’s had the pleasure of being in one and the other can probably tell you that Northern and Southern California are fairly different worlds. Forest vs. beach, off-grid pot farmer hippies vs. those hitting the dispensary on their way to whatever charmed adventure next awaits them. Weather vs. no weather. I don’t know, man. I’m from the Northeast. All I know is that driving southward down the Pacific Coastline, there’s a marked shift in ecosystem. To put it another way: things in one place be different from things in another place. Boom. Language economy. You’re welcome.

Anyhoozle, No Legacy Records is a new imprint helmed by L.A.-based Erik Kluiber of the bands Ironaut and Void Vator, and the label’s first release, No Legacy Vol. 1: Socal/Norcal features not only his own groups but a slew of others whose geographical disparities serve here to unite them in one underground. Always cool to see bands like Disastroid and Astral Cult show up, but along with Aboleth, Hazzaard’s Cure and others, the company they’re keeping is both good and plentiful. Like I said at the outset, hard not to dig the mission.

Info follows, courtesy of the PR wire:

NO LEGACY RECORDS DEBUTS WITH A FULL-LENGTH COMPILATION VINYL RELEASE ‘VOL. 1: SOCAL/NORCAL’, IN CELEBRATION OF TODAY’S CALIFORNIA HEAVY METAL UNDERGROUND.

Los Angeles, CA’s No Legacy Records formally announces their debut full-length ‘No Legacy Vol. 1: Socal/Norcal’ is available strictly on vinyl pressing. Featuring nine of California’s modern heavy music acts that span the full genre spectrum of ‘heavy’, including Ironaut, Disastroid, Madrost, Astral Cult, Void Vator, and others. There are ‘no legacy’ acts on the compilation, as the label was created to specifically highlight professional up & coming bands not already in popular awareness.

California is long-known for its contributions to the heavy metal music world. Be it bands, venues, and for many eras – record labels. With the digital stream eruptions, physical music sales plummeted and many major labels focused only on their ‘legacy’ artists, or outright folded. This gave smaller, independent labels room to grow and their underground artists found that same sunlight. Recent years sprouted a resurgence of physical format music on CD, Vinyl, and even cassettes. Yet, major labels still tote primarily ‘legacy’ artists, with reissue after reissue of legendary artist releases in every color vinyl in the rainbow.

However, music lovers still attend live music shows, searching for new heavy music that doesn’t carry that hefty legacy price tag. No Legacy Records was launched for this specific purpose. Erik Kluiber, label founder and executive producer of the compilation, knows his way around the California heavy metal scene. Erik is a long time heavy music artist, currently a member of both Void Vater (guitar) and Ironaut (bass and vocals), as well as former guitarist for Gypsyhawk and White Wizzard.

According to Kluiber,
“The title is called No Legacy, because this album features exclusively contemporary up-and-coming bands in the underground California heavy music scene. From my perspective, the heavy metal movement has shifted over to an unhealthy focus predominantly fixated on established legacy acts. Metal has become all about the brands, instead of the bands.”

“I met all of the bands included on ‘No Legacy’ by sharing the stage with them at club shows across California. I hear and see hundreds of bands every year and the good ones stand out. In 2017, I had this idea of the compilation album in my head. I approached bands that made an impression the night I played with them and asked them if this idea of a compilation album was something they would be interested in participating in. I was surprised on the immediate positive feedback. They reminisced about albums like ‘Metal Massacre’ from decades ago and understood the fan crossover potential.”

The “No Legacy Volume 1: Socal/Norcal” compilation is available in a limited edition, first press run of 500 on 180 gram black vinyl, with printed sleeve insert. Executive produced by Erik Kluiber, with assembly and additional mastering by Michael Hateley at Lotus Mastering. Cover artwork, design, and layout by Ryan Bartlett. The album compilation features nine California heavy underground bands, including Ironaut, Disastroid, Madrost, Astral Cult, Void Vator, Aboleth, Grand Lord High Master, Hazzard’s Cure, Tzimani.

“No Legacy Volume 1: Socal/Norcal” Track List:

Side 1
A1. Ironaut – ‘Sick Stupid Lies’
A2. Disastroid – ‘New Day’
A3. Madrost – ‘Scorned’
A4. Astral Cult – ‘Drowning’

Side 2
B1. Void Vator – ‘No Return’
B2. Aboleth – ‘No Good’
B3. Grand Lord High Master – ‘Sludge’
B4. Hazzard’s Cure – ‘Starvation’
B5. Tzimani – ‘Final Hour’

https://www.facebook.com/Nolegacy/
http://www.nolegacyrecords.bigcartel.com/product/no-legacy-volume-1-socal-norcal

Void Vator, “No Return” official video

Should be interesting to hear what Los Angeles two-piece Aboleth come up with for their next EP and how it sounds as filtered through the commercially-relevant knob-twisting of producer Ulrich Wild. The heavy blues rock duo offered up their debut outing, EP 1, on CD at the end of January and have announced they’ve signed with Wild‘s imprint, WURMGroup, for the follow-up short release, soon to be recorded.

Always a risk when a hard rock producer takes on a heavy rock band, but baguitarist — yeah, it’s kind of like a bass and a guitar; not that hard to figure out once you parse the word — Collyn McCoy seems to have a handle on the situation tonally, and his past experience in Trash Titan and Ed Mundell‘s The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic should continue to serve him well, while in the meantime, Wild is sure to coax the best out of vocalist Brigitte “The Kid” Roka, since getting top performances out of top performers is how one winds up a Grammy-winning producer in the first place. Or so I’m told.

More to come when I have it. Till then, the PR wire makes it official:

ABOLETH signs with WURMGroup; Ulrich Wild to produce second EP

Los Angeles dirt metal duo ABOLETH announce today that they have signed with WURMgroup, the label founded in 2015 by multi-platinum producer Ulrich Wild (Dethklok, Pantera, Deftones, Static-x).

The band and Grammy-nominated producer convened last week at the world-famous House of Pies in Los Angeles to finalize the deal — in typical rock ‘n’ roll fashion — over pie.

In addition to signing Aboleth to his label, Wild will produce and mix the upcoming release. Drum duties for the EP will be handled by legendary skinsman Marco Minnemann (The Aristocrats, Joe Satriani, Necrophagist).

“I’m very excited to welcome Aboleth to the growing roster of WURMgroup acts,” Wild said. “I’ve known Collyn and Brigitte for years and have worked with both on several projects. They are incredibly talented, with very different influences. They are pushing the boundaries of rock, metal, and blues to create their own mutant musical reality.”

Aboleth was founded in 2016 by Collyn McCoy (Trash Titan, The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic) and 21-year-old whisky-throated belter Brigitte Roka. Roka propels the group with her Joplin-esque grit and soaring highs, while McCoy lays the sludgy foundation care of his baguitar — a bass/guitar hybrid that offers the lows of the former and the highs of the latter. Together the two meld stoner-doom with primal blues and desert rock to form what they have dubbed “dirt metal.” The seven-song EP will expand on the themes explored on their 2016 debut cassette – murder, revenge, lust, devil worship, and the benefits of a plant-based diet – while pushing their sound deeper into the proto-blues swamp hinted at in such tunes as “No Good.”

Aboleth has several upcoming shows in the Los Angeles area (with Rick Ferrante of Sasquatch/The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic on drums). Summer tour dates will be announced soon.

https://www.facebook.com/abolethband
https://abolethband.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/abolethband/
https://twitter.com/abolethband

Aboleth, “No Good” official video

This Friday, Jan. 20, Los Angeles heavy rockers Aboleth oversee the release of their EP I (discussed here) on CD. Offered last summer digitally and on cassette, the three-track collection introduced a somewhat different direction for the touring rhythm section of psych-jammers The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic, with baguitarist Collyn McCoy and drummer/engineer Dan Joeright joining forces behind powerhouse vocalist Brigitte Roka to elicit classic vibes and a fervent, grooving drive. Clarity of sound and clarity of intent were likewise prevalent, and between the three of them and Matt Lynch of Snail, who mixed and mastered, they left little doubt as to the direction they were headed.

As to that? Less heavy rock and roll in the Californian desert style and more foundational hard rock. That is, rock that doesn’t need to be so aesthetically loyal to one end or the other. Rock that wouldn’t be out of place either in a skate video or in some raucous tv scene. Rock that might, just might, have an appeal beyond the already converted. These probably shouldn’t feel like brave steps for a band to take, even on their first outing, but Aboleth — as much as their name sounds like they should be playing black metal in a forest somewhere — come across as especially bold throughout EP I, which only serves to complement their songwriting and overarching energetic feel.

Roka and McCoy would seem to have parted ways with Joeright, and have been playing shows with the formidable backing of Sasquatch‘s Rick Ferrante. Neither Joeright nor Ferrante appear in the video for “No Good,” directed by Dugan Nasche, so it seems to be up in the air as to who will take that spot permanently, but the clip has plenty of attitude and plenty of hanging out in the desert to work from, and there’s just about nothing more I’d ask of it than that.

And yeah, I know I just went on about how Aboleth don’t necessarily sound like a desert rock band and now I’m posting a video of them actually performing in the desert. You’ll just have to take my word for it when I say they could just as easily have gone any number of places. But I guess when the desert’s nearby, you go to the desert. Fair enough.

Full credits and more info follow the video below. Please enjoy:

Aboleth, “No Good” official video

Aboleth release video for “No Good” from self-titled EP (available on CD Friday, January 20th, 2017)

Los Angeles desert doom band ABOLETH released its first official video for the song “No Good” from their debut EP.

Video was shot on location in Reefer City, CA (yes, it’s a real place, Google it) by infamous cult/occult filmmaker director Dugan Nasche (aka Dugan Na$H). Director of Photography was Mariana Fiel, First AD was Duffey Westlake.

The lo-fi, 70s-exploitation-style video focuses on the antics of vocalist Brigitte Roka and baguitarist Collyn McCoy (Trash Titan, Ultra Electric Mega Galactic, Otep) in a high-desert post apocalyptic landscape.

Said director Dugan Na$H: “I hadn’t done a music video in a few years. I’d been living as a recluse in my desert compound, working with found footage, tape loops. stop-motion animation pornography… anything but music videos, really. So I was skeptical at first. But when I met with Brigitte and Collyn, they had an energy that I wanted to capture. Also, they brought me weed and ammo. I don’t get out much so that was appreciated.”

“The video doesn’t have a concept per se. But the subtext is there. I see them as part of desert witch cult, like a post-apocalyptic Manson family, piecing together what they can of the pop culture flotsam from a bygone era to form something new.”

Aboleth vocalist/resident visual artist Brigitte Roka had this to say: “Working with Dugan was interesting. On the first day of shooting I asked him about one of the shots we filmed and he said he envisioned it that way because it would please his favorite desert demon, the Goat of Lust, as he often referred to it. Never look that guy straight in the eye unless you want to hear a 45-minute long explanation about who the Goat of Lust is. I learned the hard way.”

Aboleth’s debut EP, which was previously available only as a limited-edition cassette, will be available on CD on January 20th, 2017.

Aboleth’s McCoy said of the re-release: “Timing it to coincide with Donald Trump’s inauguration is no accident. The CD edition of the EP contains Satanic back-masking — basically a black magical spell to combat the negative energies generated by Trump presidency. In order for it to work, though, the record has to be cranked loud and often.”

The CD is available for pre-order from Aboleth’s Bandcamp site at https://abolethband.bandcamp.com/

Aboleth is currently in pre-production on their second EP, due to release in Spring of 2017, and have their sights set on touring Europe later in the year.

Aboleth on Thee Facebooks

Aboleth on Instagram

Aboleth on Twitter

Aboleth on Bandcamp

With two members of The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic in tow, one might expect Aboleth to have a kind of spaced-out aspect to their sound, but it’s a different band for a reason. As the newcomer trio’s first EP, suitably titled EP I, shows, Aboleth‘s is a bluesier take, more earthbound and doomed, like those moments when Witch Mountain enacted some shuffle to go with their lumber. Baguitarist (what’s a baguitar anyway?) Collyn McCoy and vocalist Brigitte Roka are joined by drummer Dan Joeright (who also played for UEMG live), for the initial outing, which features three tracks in demo-style introductory handshake form and will reportedly be out on cassette next month.

They sent word down the PR wire about the release:

L.A. DESERT DOOMERS ABOLETH PREMIERE DEBUT EP

AVAILABLE JUNE 17th AS DIGITAL DOWNLOAD AND LIMITED-EDITION CASSETTE

Los Angeles trio ABOLETH releases its debut three-song digital EP on June 17th care of the band’s Bandcamp page. In addition to the digital release they are taking pre-orders for a limited-edition cassette with artwork by the band’s vocalist, Brigitte Roka.

Recorded in Yucca Valley, CA at drummer Dan Joeright’s studio, Gatos Trail (Big Business, Behold! The Monolith), the trio meld melodic doom with metal, blues and murder rock. The EP was mixed and mastered by Matt Lynch (Snail) at his Mysterious Mammal Studios.

Aboleth could almost be considered an Ultra Electric Mega Galactic splinter cell. Joeright was touring drummer for UEMG when the instrumental psych-rockers visited Europe in 2014. UEMG bassist Collyn McCoy is also here on “baguitar” (a bass/guitar hybrid previously utilized in his band Trash Titan). But the pièce de résistance is singer Brigitte Roka, a 20-year-old siren with a voice that is equal parts Janis Joplin and Chris Cornell.

Per McCoy: “UEMG started working with Brigitte last summer, incorporating vocals into our traditionally instrumental format. Meanwhile, I was writing material for a new Trash Titan record. I asked Brigitte to contribute vocals on a few songs, which lead to us writing together, which lead to a sound that was much heavier, doomier and metallic than the swamp blues of Trash Titan. So we figured why not just spin this off into its own thing?”

Joeright, who’d previously played drums in New York avant-noise bands Sulfur and A/N (featuring Algis Kizys and Norman Westberg from SWANS), was the perfect complement to their nascent sound. Drawing from their desert environment for inspiration, the trio’s stripped-down take on heavy rock melds sludge metal riffs with Allman-esque slide guitar and Roka’s distinct whisky-worn-yet-soaring vocals. The resulting EP will sit nicely fans with of Black Mountain, Witch Mountain, and mid-period Soundgarden.

The trio will return to the studio later this summer to record a second EP, with a full length to follow later in the year.

Aboleth can be found online at:

https://abolethband.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/abolethband
https://www.instagram.com/abolethband
https://twitter.com/abolethband

Aboleth, EP I (2016)