Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol are headed out on tour once again starting next month in their native Texas and hitting up the East and West Coasts in succession. I gotta be honest with you, I’m still not really sure how I feel about this band. They released their sophomore album, Doom-Wop (review here), this past Fall to the usual swell of social media hyperbole (that’s nothing to hold against the band or anyone else, mind you; it’s fun to be excited about music and you might say that’s why I do this), building on their 2020 debut LP, Burger Babes… From Outer Space! — likewise fortunate in riffs and unfortunate in cover art — and I dug the crap out of it.

Really, no complaints. I’ll save you the trouble of (not) reading that review: Heavy tones, quirk, fun vibes with tight songwriting and performance to back it up. Reminded me of early-Floor/Torche in a positive way and had its own persona to reside in a post-Red Fang universe of good-time groove. Eight-string guitar and so forth. And they’re a DIY band who tour hard, put in the time, effort and cash to do the thing they believe in doing. If you can’t respect that, well then what the hell do you believe in?

So what’s the missing piece for me jumping on the bandwagon? I’ve given it actual-thought, like, in real life, and I think it’s just that I haven’t seen them live yet. I don’t know that I’ll get to rectify that on this tour — Brooklyn seems to be getting farther and farther away these days; to think I used to complain about having to drive to The Continental — but I hope at some point this year to catch them if I can and while we’re being honest, I’m fairly certain that if/when I do get the on-stage experience, all the cartoon-hamburger-ladies in the world won’t be able to stop me from singing their praises, so covering them until I eventually, hopefully, get there I guess is a way covering my bases. So after the fact I can look back on a post like this and tell myself, “see, I knew they’d be awesome.”

I’ve included the stream of Doom-Wop and the trio’s Katie McDowell-directed video for the ultra-catchy “Heel” here, in case you’d also like to dig in, and of course the dates for their newly announced tours come courtesy of the PR wire:

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol announce US headlining tour, including Shaky Knees & Thin Line Festivals

Austin trio Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol announce summer U.S. tour dates, including Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta and Thin Line Festival in Denton. Please see all dates below.

RBBP released their latest album Doom Wop in September 2022. Hear Doom Wop on your favorite streaming service HERE: https://ampl.ink/2YGEb

With their 5th studio release, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol is putting a name to the style of fuzzed out, overdriven, melodic, groovy music they have been making since 2016. In 9 concise, no bullshit songs, RBBP demonstrates their ability to blend the merciless low end of Leo Lydon’s 8-String guitar, Aaron Metzdorf’s masterful chordwork on the bass, and Sean St.Germain’s driving drumwork. Lydon and Metzdorf’s vocal melodies cut through the high frequencies to deliver fresh layers to the hooks that RBBP fans have come to love.

As the name implies, Doom Wop is a heavy, melody-driven, party metal album. With riffs as big and dumb as ever, and lyrics that stab at the worst members of society and ourselves (while keeping tongue firmly in cheek), listeners will find all the elements that make up the soul of RBBP on this record.

Doom Wop is available on CD and download, released on September 23rd, 2022. Vinyl LP coming in May 2023.

RBBP LIVE 2023:
04/21 Houston, TX – Black Magic Social Club
04/22 San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger
04/29 Denton, TX – Thin Line Fest
05/06 Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees Festival
05/07 Nashville, TN – The 5 Spot
05/09 Charlotte, NC – Snug Harbor
05/10 Washington, DC – Quarry House Tavern
05/11 Cambridge, MA – Middle East Upstairs
05/12 Brooklyn, NY – Saint Vitus
05/13 Philadelphia, PA: Kung Fu Necktie
05/14 Pittsburgh, PA – The Funhouse at Mr. Small’s
05/15 Chicago, IL – The Empty Bottle
05/17 Oklahoma City, OK – The Blue Note
06/09 Los Angeles, CA – Permanent Records Roadhouse
06/10 San Francisco, CA – The Kilowatt
06/13 Seattle, WA – Substation
06/14 Portland, OR – High Water Mark
06/16 Salt Lake City, UT – Aces High Saloon
06/17 Denver, CO: Hi-Dive

https://www.facebook.com/rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol
https://www.instagram.com/rickshawbillieandtheboys
https://twitter.com/RickshawBillie
https://rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.bandcamp.com/
http://www.rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.com/

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Doom Wop (2022)

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, “Heel” official video

If you’re unfamiliar — and if you are, that’s fine; I’m not trying to be out here keeping a gate or some bullshit — Ripple Music‘s Turned to Stone split series began after the success of the Cali label’s The Second Coming of Heavy 10-parter and has featured more than a few killers in its time, usually working on a loose theme either curated by Ripple itself or some underground denizen close to their heart. This time around, the two bands are Austin rockers High Desert Queen — about whom I’ve ended up writing pretty much daily for one reason or another the last couple weeks — and Albuquerque’s Blue Heron, who are fronted by Jadd Shickler of Magnetic Eye Records and Blues Funeral Recordings (he also co-founded MeteorCity and the All That is Heavy store before the century turned).

Both bands are awesome, so you’ll pardon if I treat this one as a total no-brainer. May 26 release. Preorders up. Fine. Blue Heron get first-single honors, and you can hear their “Able Baker” (is that you, Richard Scarry?) at the bottom of this post as a herald of more to come. I’ve done a few premieres for the last editions of Turned to Stone, and this press release just came in, so I haven’t made a request yet, but I think that might be where I head after I finish up here, which as it turns out, I just did.

From the PR wire:

US stoner rock units HIGH DESERT QUEEN and BLUE HERON to release ‘Turned To Stone Chapter 8’ split album on Ripple Music this May!

HIGH DESERT QUEEN / BLUE HERON
“Turned To Stone Chapter 8: The Wake”
Out May 26th on Ripple Music
US preorder – https://ripplemusic.bigcartel.com/products

European preorder – https://en.ripple.spkr.media/

Bandcamp – https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/turned-to-stone-chapter-8-the-wake

Ripple Music announces the release of “Turned To Stone Chapter 8: The Wake”, the new split record featuring Southwestern heavy and stoner rock merchants HIGH DESERT QUEEN and BLUE HERON, to be issued on May 26th, 2023. Listen to Blue Heron’s debut single “Able Baker” now!

About joining forces with High Desert Queen, Blue Heron frontman Jadd Shickler says: “We dig High Desert Queen as musicians and as people. We invited them to Albuquerque to play the release party for our first single, which I think was their first-ever out-of-town gig. They returned the favor by having us play with them at Ripplefest Texas last summer, and I think all of us in Blue Heron are pretty impressed by their go-getter attitude. Along with all that, several of us are actual friends outside of band stuff, so it just felt like a natural pairing that Todd at Ripple was on board with. We’re stoked that it worked out, and with luck, we’ll be playing some shows with them to promote the record later this year!”

Pairing up two highly esteemed bands of the Southwest underground scene, “Turned To Stone Chapter 8” is a gigantic masterclass of heavy rock, with six tracks that will take you on a riff-fueled journey with no further ado! Between HIGH DESERT QUEEN’s versatile and massive-sounding heavy and BLUE HERON’s raucous and desert-shaped songcraft, it is no understatement to say that we are in presence of true forces of nature, an alliance between two up-and-coming greats of the US stoner and desert rock scene.

“Turned To Stone Chapter 8” will be available on May 26th in various vinyl formats as well as digitally, with preorders available now on Ripple Music. The artwork was created by award-winning comic and poster artist Johnny Dombrowski.

TRACKLIST:
1. High Desert Queen – Black Moon
2. High Desert Queen – Drift Into The Sun
3. High Desert Queen – Roll The Dice
4. Blue Heron – Able Baker
5. Blue Heron – Day Of The Comet
6. Blue Heron – Superposition

https://www.facebook.com/highdesertqueen/
http://www.instagram.com/highdesertqueen
http://highdesertqueen.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/blueheronabq/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5iNywSwnYX4eMwaQISEpzG
https://www.facebook.com/blueheronabq

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

High Desert Queen & Blue Heron, Turned to Stone Ch. 8: The Wake (2023)

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: Ryan Garney of High Desert Queen & Lick of My Spoon Productions

—

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

I have the privilege of fronting a band with three absolute beasts behind me. They push me to be better every day and there is nothing better in this world than getting in the studio and creating with Rusty, Morgan and Phil.

Describe your first musical memory.

For me it was when my dad showed me James Brown. I was probably six years old and there was a live performance on TV. I immediately started trying to dance like him much to the delight of my family watching me. To this day I use some of his songs as a vocal warmup and try to bring as much energy at a live show as I can because he brought it every time.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

This is hard to narrow down. As a fan it’s probably watching Mark Lanegan perform at Psycho Las Vegas while standing knee-deep in the wave pool with my wife and my brother.

As a musician I’ve been so lucky to have the opportunity to play with and meet legends I’ve looked up to for years like Mario Lalli, Nick Oliveri, Tommi Holappa, and countless others. But the highlight so far for me was when High Desert Queen got invited to play a Desert Generator Party out in the California desert with Fatso Jetson and others. I’ve always wanted to go to one of those parties and never dreamed I’d actually get to perform at one. Incredible moment for me.

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

I would say this happens pretty much daily. There will always be people the doubt what I’m doing in my life trying to make High Desert Queen excel. Those people are starting to realize I don’t listen very well and that HDQ is much more than just a hobby in my life.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

It leads to absolute bliss. There is nothing greater than expressing yourself artistically. It rarely ever comes out like you intend but there’s beauty in that. Because of that the thirst can never be quenched and I continue to want to create more and more, pushing myself further each time. If that ever stops, it’s time to do something else.

How do you define success?

To me success is if what I have done has made a positive impact on at least one person, myself included, and has allowed them to feel more love than they had previously, then it was successful.

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

Avatar: The Way of Water. Worst movie ever made and I can never have those three hours of my life back.

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

A concept record. I would love to make a concept into the studio with no previously rehearsed material and write a record. This is something that HDQ has talked about doing in the future and I can’t wait.

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

The most essential function of art is to give someone an emotional response. Even if it’s not the one you intended. That doesn’t matter because everyone rects differently, but if it causes no reaction, then it ins’t art in my opinion.

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

I’m looking forward to traveling and seeing the world more. I know I’ll be doing that because of my music, but I look forward to meeting new people from different cultures and learning how they live, eat, and drink. Speaking of drinking, I look forward to trying the beer in all of these places!

https://www.facebook.com/highdesertqueen/
http://www.instagram.com/highdesertqueen
http://highdesertqueen.bandcamp.com/

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

https://www.facebook.com/LOMSProductions
https://www.instagram.com/LOMSProductions/
http://www.lickofmyspoon.com/
https://linktr.ee/Lickofmyspoon

High Desert Queen, Secrets of the Black Moon (2021)

This band has done nothing since they started but make things happen for themselves. Releasing a killer debut album in 2021’s Secrets of the Black Moon (review here) through Ripple certainly helped, but whether it’s touring the West Coast with Sasquatch, hitting Europe and the UK last summer and then going back in December, when I was lucky enough to catch them at Truckfighters Fuzz Festival #3 (review here), or vocalist Ryan Garney — who was kind enough to provide the quote below about heading abroad for the third time in not quite 12 months — organizing the massive RippleFest Texas lineups and contributing directly to the flourishing community of which the band are part, High Desert Queen put their money where their riffs are, and if you’ve never seen them play, they bring it on stage in all-in fashion.

This tour, which hits both Spring Desertfests and Esbjerg Fuzztival and has room for more besides (help with TBAs if you can), finds High Desert Queen teamed with Fatso Jetson and then Mario Lalli‘s improv desert-art-rock outfit The Rubber Snake Charmers, and I’m pretty sure at over a month it’s the longest stint they’ve done to-date. Much respect, wishes for safe travel, and all that kind of stuff. This is the kind of thing most acts dream about. High Desert Queen, once again, making things happen for themselves. Seems to just be how they do.

From the PR wire:

High Desert Queen – “Smoke and Dust Tour”

Texan heavy rock powerhouse HIGH DESERT QUEEN returns to Europe this spring with an extensive tour alongside desert rock veterans Fatso Jetson, including festival appearances across the continent.

After two successful trips to Europe so far, High Desert Queen embarks on their largest tour to date. Their “Smoke and Dust Tour” is highlighted by several large festivals like Desertfest London, Desertfest Berlin and Esbjerg Fuzztival, and will see them travel throughout the UK and all across Europe this spring.

“We couldn’t be more excited to be heading across the pond to several places we’ve been to before and experiencing several more places for the first time,” says singer Ryan Garney. “We are also humbled to announce we will be touring with the legendary Fatso Jetson for the first half of the tour, and the improvisational project the Rubber Snake Charmers for the last half. We have a pretty good feeling some of us will be all playing together and creating something original and new every night.”

6.5.23 London, UK Desertfest London*
8.5.23 Bournemouth, UK The Anvil*
9.5.23 Tunbridge Wells, UK The Forum*
10.5.23 Winchester, UK Railway Inn*
11.5.23 Hastings, UK The Crypt*
12.5.23 Rotherham, UK The Hive*
13.5.23 Bradford, UK The Underground*
14.5.23 Leeds, UK Boom*
15.5.23 Newcastle, UK Trillian’s*
17.5.23 Utrecht, NE dB’s*
18.5.23 Munster, DE Rare Guitar*
19.5.23 TBA
20.5.23 Berlin, DE Desertfest Berlin*
21.5.23 TBA
23.5.23 Cologne, DE Club Volta*
24.5.23 Hannover, DE Lux*
25.5.23 Leuven, BE JH SOJO*
26.5.23 Hamburg, DE Molotow*
27.5.23 Esbjerg, DK Esbjerg Fuzztival*
28.5.23 Asendorf, DE Kulturhaus +
29.5.23 TBA
30.5.23 TBA
31.5.23 Lucerne, CH Sedel +
1.6.23 TBA
2.6.23 Verona, IT Anteprima +
3.6.23 TBA
4.6.23 Pisa, IT Pontile 102 +
5.6.23 Zero Branco, IT Altroquando +
6.6.23 Ljubljana, SL Channel Zero +
7.6.23 Ulm, DE Hexenhaus +
8.6.23 TBA
9.6.23 TBA
10.6.23 TBA

*w/ Fatso Jetson
+w/ Rubber Snake Charmers

https://www.facebook.com/highdesertqueen/
http://www.instagram.com/highdesertqueen
http://highdesertqueen.bandcamp.com/

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

High Desert Queen, Secrets of the Black Moon (2021)

This Friday, Heavy Psych Sounds will issue two of four concurrent live albums, gathering sets recorded in 2022 from Austin, Texas, bashers Duel and New Jersey-based headspinners The Atomic Bitchwax as both bands undertook European tours. Next week, the label will have two more from Ecstatic Vision and The Lords of Altamont, and those won’t be streamed here (nothing personal, just logistics), sad to say, but in addition to giving these bands something new for the merch table on their respective upcoming tours, these releases also capture and celebrate the return of live music post-pandemic, the sense of deliverance that came as a result of acts being able to hit the road again. Shows were different, life was/is different, but if you’ve got a group nailing it on stage as part of a righteous festival lineup, then there’s still beauty in the world to appreciate. So let’s do that.

—

The Atomic Bitchwax, Live at Freak Valley Fest

Preorder link: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS251

Full throttle full-throttlism. Band on fire. For over a quarter century, and increasingly so over their most recent three studio records, New Jersey’s The Atomic Bitchwax have made themselves an institution of heavy shred. Led by bassist/vocalist Chris Kosnik, with Bob Pantella on drums and Garrett Sweeny on guitar vocals, the trio hit Freak Valley Festival 2022 with all-go force, and as someone who was there, their presence on the bill as outright rippers did not go unappreciated. You can hear some of that in the quick turns and forward sprints of “Ain’t Nobody Gonna Hang Me in My Home” or “Ninja” or the by-now-classic “Shitkicker,” which are only some among the 15 songs the Bitchwax squeezed into their 48-minute set, bookended on either side by sections of Edgar Winter‘s “Frankenstein,” also duly kicked in the pants.

Not that they never slow it down. The Core cover “Kiss the Sun” and “So Come On,” “Liv a Little” late in the set are at about warp three (out of a Constitution-class seven), but on Live at Freak Valley Fest, even “Hope You Die” and “Forty-Five” feel faster, and the Evel Knievel aspect is part of what makes it fun. Kosnik, Sweeny and Pantella, up on stage, tearing ass to run circles around the riffs of “Houndstooth,” playing with heads-down tenacity that offsets what might otherwise be the seriousness of the physical effort required by such speeds with a palpable sense of just how much they’re enjoying themselves. It’s like watching a race. You know they probably won’t crash and you’re drawn in by the adrenaline in the atmosphere, but especially in the case of The Atomic Bitchwax, it’s all done in the name of a good time.

From the stage banter — two songs about ninjas, “Kiss the Sun” out to the ladies in the crowd, lots of “you guys ready?” before the next burst, etc. — to the way “Coming in Hot” takes off from its own teaser slow intro, The Atomic Bitchwax are every bit a blast, and as the closest thing they’ve come to a proper live album in their time was the 2005 set from Seattle included in the 2006 Jack Endino-produced Boxriff EP, they’re well due for this kind of showcase. Live at Freak Valley Fest brings to life the ‘t-t-t-total freedom’ heralded in the lyrics to “Hope You Die” and is a twisty speed rock gauntlet being thrown down.

Can you keep up? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it’s a thrill to try, and the energy they bring to their material, new and old alike, is infectious. They play and smile, you listen and smile, and this communion and shared experience is the point of the whole thing. I don’t know when they might follow-up 2020’s Scorpio (review here) — wouldn’t mind this year, but I haven’t heard more than a murmur about new stuff — but Live at Freak Valley Fest captures them at their best on stage, and considering who we’re talking about, that means something.

The Atomic Bitchwax on Facebook

The Atomic Bitchwax on Instagram

The Atomic Bitchwax website

—

Duel, Live at Hellfest

Preorder link: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS258

Duel are a proven argument in my mind. They lay waste, exclusively. Their 2021 fourth album, In Carne Persona (review here), highlighted the underlying metallic current of their songwriting, and that LP’s “Wave of Your Hand” from opens the set at Live at Hellfest with due charge. It might sound strange until you see them or maybe really dig in here, but the Austin-based four-piece — who also appeared at Freak Valley (review here) as part of this tour — are most of all about love. Their Hellfest 2022 set? It’s half an hour long; 30:20 on the record. Not taking up your day, and whether you were there or not, the sheer sense of relief of the band playing on stage comes through unabated. This is a band who sat on their collective ass for two years waiting to break out, and Live at Hellfest is their breakout. It is something you want to hear.

This is the second live record Duel have done behind 2018’s Live at the Electric Church (review here), and they meet the occasion in furious form. Through “Devil” from 2017’s Witchbanger (review here) and into “Electricity” from their 2016 debut, Fears of the Dead (review here) — the title-track of which also closes — the band draw a from older material to newer, with the delightfully metal “Strike and Disappear” representing 2019’s Valley of Shadows (review here) before they turn to “Children of the Fire,” the opener of the latest LP. That song emphasizes a lot of what works best about Duel on stage; it is tight in structure, swinging and grooving with enough tonal presence behind it to feel thick, catchy as anything you want to sit next to it, and delivered with propulsive authority, the gruff voice of guitarist Tom Frank — backed by bassist Sean Avants and guitarist Jeff Henson — a commanding presence that nonetheless sounds sincere amid the cacophony at the end of “Children of the Fire” when he says “We love you so much.”

And really, that’s the story here. That love. The love of the band for their audience, for their material itself, for the performance itself, the passion of their delivery that comes through even the raw audio. For that, they don’t need more than the half-hour Live at Hellfest runs, and as brash as their songs can be — “Electricity” and “Strike and Disappear” both build into righteously noisy solos — the spirit that drives Duel remains the same. They’re an act who believe in what they do and are going to get on stage and put as much into it as they can. I’ve been fortunate enough to see them a few times over the last half-decade, and they’ve only ever been a joy to behold, throwing elbows as they gallop through, riding riffs like “Fears of the Dead” as they coalesce around the next hook, dirt-fuzz and an overlaid element of danger the calling card left imprinted on the memory of the crowd standing before them. On Live at Hellfest it’s easy to imagine slackened jaws and wide eyes, but you can also hear the roar of the crowd when they’re done, and yeah, that tent was on board for where Duel were headed. Rightly so.

Duel on Facebook

Duel on Instagram

Duel on Bandcamp

—

Heavy Psych Sounds on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds on Instagram

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

[Click play above to stream the title-track of The Ever-Living Fire by Slumbering Sun. Album is out Feb. 24 with preorders on Bandcamp here.]

You’ll pardon me if we skip the debate on whether or not Slumbering Sun is a supergroup. Based in Austin, Texas, the five-piece emotive doom outfit brings together vocalist James Clarke of Monte Luna, guitarist Keegan Kjeldsen and drummer Penny Turner from Destroyer of Light, guitarist/vocalist Kelsey Wilson of Temptress and bassist Garth Condit of Monte Luna and Scorpion Child, so one way or the other, they are not wanting for experience in underground heavy. And their self-released debut album, The Ever-Living Fire, is unquestionably the beneficiary of this collective experience. Full in its production, coherent in songwriting, energetic in performance even in its most deliberately slogging and doomed stretches, the five-song/44-minute offering is a generous lesson on how to find an in-genre niche, and how to, as a new band, approach craft with a sense of perspective and purpose.

With Wilson commuting about three hours from Dallas to Austin, they do not come across as haphazard, and the nascent feel in some of the material adds excitement rather than detracting from the atmosphere in the material. They are perhaps an advent of pandemic-era creative reshuffling/redirection, as the lyrics to subdued centerpiece “Love in a Fallen World” seem to speak toward, but whatever brought them together, they are doing more here than “seeing where it goes” or any so casual cliché. The Ever-Living Fire is expressive and weighted in kind, forlorn in the spirit of Pallbearer with a notable and malleable performance from Clarke as frontman, whether he’s riding the riff of 12-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “Morgenröte” or nodding to Mike Patton and Patrick Walker in “Love in a Fallen World,” Ozzy Osbourne in the penultimate “Dream Snake,” maybe even Howard Jones in the closing “The Ever-Living Fire,” etc., and powerful in terms of the presence of the band behind him, as Wilson steps up to make “Liminal Bridges” more of a duet amid the (relatively) faster push of the groove behind.

From the outset there is no rush. “Morgenröte” begins with a whole-album intro of quiet guitar and voice, organically folkish and building toward the eventual crash in at 2:27 as the first consuming thrust arrives. They’re soon into the verse and underway, but the atmosphere they set up in that intro holds firm despite the volume splurge, lead guitar howling in response to the wistful melody in the chorus vocal lines. Again, Pallbearer are a touchstone for this style and Slumbering Sun share some of their existential-feeling lumber, but that is not necessarily a limit imposed so much as a foundation from which they’re working outward.

The gentle lead notes above the fray in “Liminal Bridges” are drawn more from heavy post-rock, while the chase-chug in the midsection of “Dream Snake” speaks to traditional doom metal as fostered by Candlemass and the emotional peak of “The Ever-Living Fire” answers that with a thoroughly modern subversion, but the key is that from all of these aspects — which aren’t inherently divergent, but still — Slumbering Sun hone a refreshing style of their own and deliver the abiding message of The Ever-Living Fire, which is their own forward potential.

With the band spread out geographically and members involved in other ongoing projects, it’s difficult to say what their priorities may ultimately become, but if they do move ahead with Slumbering Sun as a ‘real band,’ maybe even one that tours, the work they do with these tracks not only gives backbone to that promise, i.e., a cause worthy of such support, but sets out multiple avenues of songcraft they might continue to explore. One does not come out of The Ever-Living Fire with the sense that Slumbering Sun are a settled issue in terms of aesthetic, and that is part of what makes it such an engrossing listen, since even as they issue their first work, they do so with a clear idea of what they want to be as a band.

Such an idea might grow and change with time, and that’s fine — an ideal, actually — but it’s the intent behind what they do here from which it will inevitably develop. It is all the more fortunate, then, that The Ever-Living Fire is as spacious as it is, as patient as it is regardless of tempo, as dynamic as even “Dream Snake” as a standalone shows them to be, with its metallic soloing leading to a slow and grand finish, inclusive either of strings or keyboard sounds comfortably set alongside the heavy nod of the bass and drums. The album’s fluidity is among its greatest strengths, and right unto the “nah-nah-nah” pre-crescendo of the title-track, that is born out of the melody, which is thoughtful throughout and draws the material together even while presenting shifts of its own from song to song.

Thus changes like that at around 7:30 in “Morgenröte” — and about a minute later as it bump-bumps into a quieter, bass-led stretch and dares to showcase Clarke and Wilson with a confidence that makes them that much more able to pull off doing so — become emblematic of the ethic of the band overall, which is to bask in breadth while offering a human spirit to dwell in it. As the four pieces after the opener work shortest-to-longest, allowing for the multi-stage finale of the title-track, the album reaches farther and farther with that same crucial poise, expansive but never itself removed from its objectives. Moreover, the earnestness manifest in, for example, the return to the hook after the bridge of “Liminal Bridges” or the dramatic ending of “Dream Snake,” bolsters the sense of Slumbering Sun as a project driven by passion and creative urgency; the need behind the thing’s making born through the thing itself.

I will not engage in speculation or hyperbole, despite ready temptation. The Ever-Living Fire is a beginning point and one doubts even the band think of themselves as a finished product, but it immediately sets itself up to stand among 2023’s best debut albums, and it digs in willfully and with palpable knowledge of where it’s coming from and maybe even where it’s headed, impressing with scope while remaining structurally solid. A concept proven, with gusto. Now the real work can begin.

Slumbering Sun, The Ever-Living Fire (2023)

Slumbering Sun, “Liminal Bridges” lyric video

Slumbering Sun on Facebook

Slumbering Sun on Instagram

Slumbering Sun on Bandcamp

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: Keegan Kjeldsen of Slumbering Sun and Destroyer of Light

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

I think of art as the transformation of our incommunicable emotional states into a form that emotionally moves others. I had the dream of being a touring musician for a long time, and first realized this goal in 2012 with my other band, Destroyer of Light. I’ve kept up touring since then in spite of the mental and emotional (and financial) toll it has taken because traveling around performing live music is perhaps the best feeling I have experienced on this earth.

Describe your first musical memory.

My dad is also a musician, and when I was a very small child, he helped me compose my then-magnum-opus, entitled, “You Can Drink Hot Cocoa”. We sang and played it together, him on guitar, and me adding the percussive elements.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Seeing Sunn O))) perform live forever changed my life and my perception of what music can be or do to an audience. It transcended the purely auditory; it was like an interruption in normal reality, as though the outside world was dissolved and some metaphysical truth were being revealed.

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

The few times in my life that I’ve managed to perform in front of a thousand people challenged my deep-seated cynicism and self-doubt. I usually expect that every effort will end in disappointment. I suppose this is another reason why I love playing music, because it has expanded my horizons of what is possible.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Hopefully it follows with someone’s personal and psychological development. I am not the same person I was in 2012, or 2015, or 2018, so why would I write the same music? The underlying emotional reality being conveyed is differently so one’s art should manifest in a different way as they grow as a person.

How do you define success?

The ability to feed myself and pay the rent with my art would be nice. This is the success that most of us are looking for, but admittedly that few of us get – so you have to be at peace with never succeeding in this way. Which, I suppose in a Daoist way or something like that, is its own form of success. Whatever it is, over the years I’ve come to appreciate this other form of success more: how the unique experiences and memories, friendships, great performances, and adventures out on the road are themselves the reward for following one’s dreams.

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

A lot of gore got shared around on the early internet and it probably scarred me as a child.

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

I’ve always dreamed of having a series of videos that create a storyline to accompany a concept album with related lyrics, one for every song, so that it’s a film alongside the album. Hopefully a double LP that can play for an hour and a half. The only problem with this is that it’s prohibitively expensive.

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

Art is our greatest weapon in humanity’s ongoing war against reality.

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

Christmas with my family, up in the forests of Colorado. We’re doing a reunion this year, so the whole extended family should be there. Usually it snows, and there’s nothing like being at the foot of the Rockies, sitting around the fireplace with your loved ones, on a snowy night.

https://www.facebook.com/slumberingsun
https://instagram.com/slumbering_sun
https://slumberingsun.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/destroyeroflight/
http://www.instagram.com/destroyeroflightofficial/
http://destroyeroflight.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/heavyfriendsbooking/
https://www.instagram.com/heavyfriendsrecords/
https://heavyfriendsrecords.bigcartel.com/

Slumbering Sun, The Ever-Living Fire (2023)

Destroyer of Light, Panic (2022)

Touring on the heels of their finest work to-date — that being late 2022’s Panic (review here) — is a decent position for Austin’s Destroyer of Light to be in, and the band who’ve been together for more than a decade now seem to be making the most of it. They’ll do a full run of the East Coast and then some just as Spring begins to show up, and look to personify the doomed spirit of their most recent work while kicking ass as they do on stage. Doable? For them, almost certainly.

They go in the company of fellow Lone Star staters Temptress, and while I’m not sure who else will be on these bills, filing out local opener slots, etc., the one-two is a punch worth taking even before you get to a complete lineup for a given night. I’ll admit, I’ve had a hard time getting back to show-going mode as regards clubs post-pandemic, but if you can make it happen, these are artists for whom your direct support matters. To that end, I’ll remind you that today’s Bandcamp Friday as well, though if your email inbox and notification flood is anything like mine, you don’t need that reminder. There it is anyway.

Dates follow, as per social media:

Hey East Coast friends, remember that tour we had to cancel back in 2020? Well, we are coming back and this time bringing our Texas friends with us, Temptress. Hope to see ya out there. Poster art by Daniel Marschner.

3/22 – Houston, TX – Black Magic Social Club
3/23 – Lafayette, LA – Freetown Boom Boom Room
3/24 – Birmingham, AL- The Nick
3/25 – Atlanta, GA – Boggs
3/26 – Tampa, FL – Brass Mug
3/28 – Miami, FL – Gramps
3/29 – Orlando, FL @ Will’s Pub
3/30 – Savannah, GA @ El Rocko
3/31 – Asheville, NC – Fleetwoods
4/1 – Richmond, VA @ Wonderland
4/2 – Baltimore, MD – The Crown
4/3 – Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus Bar
4/5 – Pittsburgh, PA – Black Forge Coffee
4/6 – Columbus, OH – Spacebar
4/7 – Detroit, MI – The Sanctuary
4/8 – Kalamazoo, MI – Papa Pete’s
4/9 – Chicago, IL @ WC Social Club
4/11 – Indianapolis, IN – Black Circle
4/12 – Louisville, KY @ Planet of the Tapes
4/13 – Nashville, TN @ Cobra Lounge
4/14 – Memphis, TN @ Growlers
4/15 – Fayetteville, AR @ Smoke & Barrel
4/16 – Tulsa, OK @ Whittier Bar

Destroyer of Light:
Steve Colca – Vocals/Guitars
Keegan Kjeldsen – Guitars
Nick Coffman – Bass
Kelly Turner – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/destroyeroflight/
http://www.instagram.com/destroyeroflightofficial/
http://destroyeroflight.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/heavyfriendsbooking/
https://www.instagram.com/heavyfriendsrecords/
https://heavyfriendsrecords.bigcartel.com/

Destroyer of Light, Panic (2022)