Posted in Whathaveyou on November 29th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
What is a Yawning Balch? It’s a bit Yawning and a bit Balch, I suppose. The former is desert rock progenitor trio Yawning Man, working as the three-piece of founding guitarist Gary Arce with bassist Billy Cordell — Mario Lalli being busy touring his Mario Lalli and the Rubber Snake Charmers collaboration with vocalist Sean Wheeler and the dudes from Stöner — and drummer Bill Stinson, and the latter is Bob Balch, best known for the shred that accompanies all that fuzz in Fu Manchu.
The two parties apparently had a pre-Thanksgiving get-down and there’s an album — perhaps one, perhaps more — to be dug out of the jams. Neato, right?
It doesn’t sound like such a different process from that of Big Scenic Nowhere, which involves Arce, Balch and Stinson, along with a host of bassists and Mos Generator‘s Tony Reed. That band also got together out in the desert, recorded a ton of whatnot and then sent Balch home to start carving it into songs. They’ve gotten two records and two EPs out of those sessions so far, so I look forward to hearing what might emerge from Yawning Balch, though I’m not sure if that’s a name for a project or just the album title. At this point, it’s all pretty nebulous either way. They could end up calling it something completely different by the time it comes out, if it comes out.
And when might that be? Well I don’t know that either, but Balch shared a quickie clip of the recording on the ol’ sociables, so here’s that along with his brief announcement. When/if I hear more, I’ll post more:
I jammed with Yawning Man last weekend. Here is a small un-mixed/un-mastered clip in the bottom picture. We are calling the album YAWNING BALCH. I’m so honored to have my name involved with this band. Can’t wait for you to hear the album. We are sitting on three hours of jams. Might be a double record. Stay tuned!
Posted in Radio on January 21st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Yeah, this is a good one. A lot of this comes from stuff that’s been and is being covered around here over the last couple weeks, and suffice it to say I’ve got no regrets about choosing any of these tracks. I was worried about White Manna getting lost in the Quarterly Review shuffle, so consider this an extra nod to check that out, and celebrating the new Big Scenic Nowhere, Lamp of the Universe, Weedpecker and Pia Isa records feels about right, as well as the Electric Moon collection, Phase, which put “The Loop” right back in my head like it had never left.
Upcoming stuff from Seremonia, Obsidian Sea, Fostermother, and SÖNUS give a glimpse of things to be released over the next month-plus, and the hardest part about including an Author & Punisher track is not rambling incoherently for 20 minutes about how great the rest of the record from which it comes is. I suppose there will be time for such things.
For now, I thank you for listening as always if you do and I’m grateful you see these words either way.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 01.21.22
Pia Isa
Follow the Sun
Distorted Chants
SÖNUS
Pay Me Your Mind
Usurper of the Universe
Weedpecker
Endless Extensions of Good Vibrations
IV: The Stream of Forgotten Thoughts
VT
Fostermother
Hedonist
The Ocean
Frozen Planet….1969
Diamond Dust
Not From 1969
Author & Punisher
Drone Carrying Dread
Kruller
Wormsand
Carrions
Shapeless Mass
Dream Unending
In Cipher I Weep
Tide Turns Eternal
VT
Obsidian Sea
Mythos
Pathos
Lamp of the Universe
Descendants
The Akashic Field
Electric Moon
The Loop
Phase
Papir
7.2
7
Seremonia
Unohduksen Kidassa
Neonlusifer
White Manna
Monogamous Casanova
First Welcome
VT
Big Scenic Nowhere
The Long Morrow
The Long Morrow
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Feb. 4 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
Posted in Reviews on December 30th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The Long Morrow is striking in the nuance of its sound and process alike. It is the second full-length from West Coasterly conglomeration Big Scenic Nowhere, the project founded by guitarists Bob Balch (Fu Manchu) and Gary Arce (Yawning Man) that quickly came to include multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Tony Reed (keys, bass, guitar, synth, Mellotron, etc.) of Mos Generator and Yawning Man drummer Bill Stinson, as well, initially, as a range of guests. That was true of their early-2020 debut LP, Vision Beyond Horizon (review here), which brought contributions from members of The Well, Monolord and acknowledged keymaster Per Wiberg (Kamchatka, King Hobo, Candlemass, Opeth, Switchblade, on and on forever).
Comprised of five tracks running 36 minutes — a substantial portion of which are dedicated to closer “The Long Morrow” (19:45) itself — The Long Morrow pulls back on that inclusionary mission somewhat. Wiberg makes a return appearance on synth, and guitarist ReevesGabrels (David Bowie, The Cure, many others) does likewise, both on the title-track, but beyond that, The Long Morrow is Arce, Balch, Reed and Stinson, and it proves handily that the band — and yes, they are a band — doesn’t need anything else.
In Oct. 2020, Big Scenic Nowhere issued their Lavender Blues EP (review here), and with it came more understanding about how their songs are made, and when. The core four-piece have gotten together all of once, jamming for a stretch of three apparently-quite-productive days in Nov. 2019. And everything they’ve released since, across Vision Beyond Horizon, Lavender Bluesand now The Long Morrow, has been culled from those sessions. But it’s what’s behind that culling. With Reed in Washington and Stinson, Arce and Balch in California (which doesn’t necessarily make them neighbors, by the way), the band has worked remotely.
It’s been a good time to do so, of course. But even without the plague, The Long Morrow finds Balch and Reed passing the initial jams and improvisations back and forth to each other, trading ideas and gradually sculpting songs out of pieces set to loops, with Balch finding common tunings and melodic expressions and parts that might set well next to each other to build cuts like “Defector (of Future Days)” while Reed fleshes out structures with verses, sundry keys, some acoustic guitar on “Murder Klipp” and the grand finale.
This work, which one imagines is both deeply tedious and deeply satisfying when it works — like a jigsaw puzzle that can be any shape; Balch talks about it here — can and sometimes does result in open-ended, longer-form material. Such was the case on the band’s first release, which was the 2019 proof-of-concept PostWax EP, Dying on the Mountain EP (discussed here). Likewise, the title-track of Lavender Blues easily reached over 13 minutes, and the aforementioned “The Long Morrow” nearly hits 20, so Big Scenic Nowhere want now and have wanted nothing for showcasing their jammy roots. At the same time, The Long Morrow feels like the most directly song-based work they’ve yet done.
Part of that clarity might perhaps stem from the relative hunkering-down of the lineup involved in those original jams implied through inviting fewer outside participants, but through “Defector (of Future Days),” “Murder Klipp” “Lavender Bleu” — which is a five-minute stretch constructed from the same foundation as the lengthier “Lavender Blues,” and admirably finds its own direction — the quicker, more intense “LeDü” and even in “The Long Morrow,” the band consciously carve progressive heavy psychedelic rock, lush in melody and aware of its own aural impact, from the sonic ether of those jams.
“Defector (of Future Days)” begins the proceedings with a purposeful crunch and angularity to its central riff. It feels written traditionally, a verse/chorus structure bringing the first of the Reed-delivered hooks as Arce‘s inimitable guitar tone adds post-rocking float to the winding rhythm from Balch (who swaps with Reed, playing bass on the track) and Stinson, whose reliability as a drummer isn’t to be understated. As “Murder Klipp” adds Mellotron and acoustic guitar to its dramatic second half and “Lavender Bleu” (premiered here) begins its serene unfolding with Arce‘s quiet dream-desert noodling at the front before the more direct fuzz of its chorus hits, Stinson‘s drums never seem to miss a moment or a turn. Even a cut-and-paste situation, where one wouldn’t necessarily expect to find ‘mistakes’ such as they are, he brings a fluidity to the songs that reminds of just how essential his work is to Yawning Man as well.
It’s all the more crucial, though, in a band with three guitarists, each with his own personality in Arce, Balch and Reed — the last of whom, yes, plays bass on most of the material, but adds acoustic to “Murder Clip” and “The Long Morrow,” as noted, and is very much a melodic presence on vocals and synth/Mellotron as well — even before they bring in someone like Reeves Gabrels, who’s presumably the party responsible (in part at least) for the shredfest that starts shortly after the nine-minute mark in the closer. The underlying point is that Big Scenic Nowhere come across in The Long Morrow more like a band than a project, and each member is essential to that, whether it’s Reed tossing in lyrical themes of one’s place in passing time and arrangement elements like the soft electric piano in the beginning verses of “The Long Morrow” or the layered vocal in “LeDü,” Arce spacing out the atmospherics, Balch finding the groove for a riff and piecing the songs together or Stinson serving as the baseline (not bassline) from which the material is crafted.
Finding a narrative of progression from one release to the next is an impulse on the part of the listener — what are they doing here as opposed to last time? — but despite pulling their songs from the same three-day stretch of show-up-with-nothing-and-see-what-happens jamming that resulted in the first album and subsequent EP, The Long Morrow indeed demonstrates growth in what’s being made from that raw material, and the deeper Big Scenic Nowhere go into the ground they’re working from, the more what they unearth seems to be their own. The Long Morrow affirms Big Scenic Nowhere‘s prog-hued vision of desert psychedelia, heavy without being held down by its weight, and able to drift or land hard at will. It is cohesive like an ecosystem.
Posted in Questionnaire on December 24th, 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: Tony Reed of Mos Generator & Big Scenic Nowhere
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
“Make Music Daily” are the words I live by and it’s very rare day when I don’t live up to this. I’ve very fortunate and blessed in my life to always have the support of people around me who have recognized and believed in my passion for music. It started with my parents and grandparents from a very early age. I’ve made a living at it for most of my adult life thanks to very hard work and the wonderful people that support what I do.
Describe your first musical memory.
Some of my memories aren’t really my memories. They are stories that my mom has told me about my obsession with the record player and stealing a “Nights in White Satin” 45 from K-Mart when I was 4. My first real musical turn on that I can remember was the album Rock Power. It was a compilation album released by Ronco in 1974. An amazing compilation and very diverse. I still listen to it regularly.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I’ve done a lot of very cool things with music in my life but what I think what I enjoy most is watching my son play. He is a very talented multi-instrumentalist with a great amount of passion. I’m satisfied by the pride I feel when I go see him play. I know that is not one musical memory but it is something I hold dear.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
When I refused to shake the hand of a person whose belief system was something I strongly disagreed with. This caused me a few years of “watching my back.”
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I only know that I’m getting better with age and that is something I would have never imagined when I was in my twenties or even thirties. I’m learning not only how to become a better musician and songwriter but I’m also learning how to convey certain emotions in my music. Emotions that I barely understand myself but need to exorcize them through lyrics and music. As I get older I feel that this is becoming more important to me. The music I am working on now is the most honest music I’ve ever made.
How do you define success?
When I was young success meant making records and playing in stadiums. Tour buses, lots of amps and guitars, etc. Over the years I’ve found that all I want now is an honest connection with the listener. I want people to take the time to understand what I’ve been through. I’m sure that most of the people listening can relate to the feeling and emotions inside the music and lyrics.
That being said, I feel like the people that listen to the music I make do take the time to look deeper into what’s there. When I get messages about how my music has had an impact on somebody, that is the payoff. I have made quite a few records and done a lot of touring over the years so I can say that I have achieved a bit of my teenage definition of success but I’ve also succeeded in building something that is just as satisfying as all of the “Rock Star” stuff.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Some of my own actions that have hurt others.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A soul-funk album.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To me art/music is true freedom. It is escapism for some and for others it is life. For me it is about leaving a legacy. My work will be around long after I’m dead and I hope will continue to be recognized long after I’m gone. This is not a new or original concept at all but the older I get, the more I realize that this is my line of thinking and that kind of thinking fuels my creative process.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Driving. I’m driving down to play a show with Big Scenic Nowhere in Yucca Valley in November and I’m looking forward to taking all of the old highways to get there. I like the back roads.
Tony Reed is relentless. Every day, he gets up, sometimes before six in the morning, and goes into his studio and works on music. The result of his ethic can be seen in his constantly expanding discography. Whether he’s recording, mixing and/or mastering someone else’s release or working with one of his own bands — Mos Generator are his main outlet at this point, but Big Scenic Nowhere have a new record on the way too and are soon to play their first live show, and I hear Constance Tomb might do more, sometimes Hot Spring Water happens, and in addition to his solo stuff, there’s always new projects lurking on the horizon — his prolific nature doesn’t at all undercut the quality of his work. He is undeterred from his purpose in a way that I find deeply admirable and inspiring, and I told him as much in this interview.
He hit me up last week and wanted to talk about the next Mos Generator release. Obviously I’m down for that. I’d seen social media posts from Reed talking about a different direction for the material coming together for the first new Mos Generator proper studio album since 2018’s Shadowlands (review here) — though of course copious other outings have followed that LP, whether it’s live albums, remastered works, EPs, splits, singles or tribute contributions from Mos Generator, the entire advent of Big Scenic Nowhere, Reed‘s first solo LP under his own name, the Constance Tomb album, and more that I know I’m leaving out — and I was curious how “different” things were going to get. Ahead of our conversation, I got to hear demos for three new songs — “The Lime Before the Law,” “(Don’t) Wait Until Tomorrow” and “Only Yesterday” — and based on those alone, there was plenty to discuss.
MosGenerator in recent years, with bassist Sean Booth and drummer Jono Garrett alongside Reed as the sole founder and principal architect of the band, have not been shy about showcasing a progressive rock influence. The new songs are, to put it simply, even less shy. Reed‘s demos, which are of better sound quality than any number of records I might review in a given week, are rife with layers of acoustic and electric guitar, vocal harmonies and rhythmic intricacy. With Garrett living between Boston and Texas — neither particularly close to Reed in Port Orchard, Washington — two fly-in writing sessions this past summer resulted in 80-plus minutes of new material, and as Reed takes the basic tracks and fleshes them out into what will eventually be workable, final form, he’s not wrong in noting the reshuffled sonic priorities on display. I don’t know that Mos Generator have ever sounded so intricate.
I’m going to leave the rest to you. Dive in. This is by no means the first time I’ve spoken with Reed, but it was great to hear his excitement about what’s coming. A Mos Generator triple LP? Maybe…
Enjoy:
Tony Reed Interview, Nov. 9, 2021
Mos Generator last month released the Strange Powers compilation LP, collecting tracks from studio albums released through Listenable Records between 2014-2018. It’s available through Mos Generator’s Bandcamp, along with a ton of other offerings new and old. More info at the links.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 8th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
When I interviewed guitarist Bob Balch earlier this year and he talked about the second Big Scenic Nowhere full-length, The Long Morrow, coming out in September, well, it seemed ambitious at the time. As anybody who’s tried to press, distribute or buy a record in the time since probably already knows, the manufacturing delays and materials shortages born of the Covid-19 pandemic have hardly lessened. Latest I’m hearing is that if you want a vinyl record made, it’s about an eight-month wait. Compare that to three or four weeks for a CD. Brutal.
The Long Morrowis slated to arrive Jan. 14, and to be honest, I’m somewhat relieved. I’ve already started thinking about my best of 2021 list and that thing is packed, with more still to come. One more killer release on the pile and my brain might just melt. Let this be a bit of warmth to look forward to in the dead of winter. Let it go on 2022’s list, which, yes, I’ve already started keeping notes for, because I am a sad, sad man.
On a decidedly-less-pathetic note, preorders for The Long Morrow — I love that cover art; I want a signed LP, just to have an excuse to hang it on my wall — are open now. Maybe I’ll see if Tony Reed wants to have a chat about the record sometime soon and follow up on the other interview. In any case, we’ve got some time, and Balch has copious background on the songs below.
The PR wire brought it all straight to your eyeballs:
Heavy Psych Sounds to announce BIG SCENIC NOWHERE sophomore album THE LONG MORROW – presale starts TODAY
sophomore album of the “super-band” featuring members of Fu Manchu, Yawning Man, Mos Generator, Spiritual Beggars and Reeves Gabrels from The Cure/David Bowie
Today we are extremely proud to start the presale of the BIG SCENIC NOWHERE sophomore album THE LONG MORROW !!
RELEASED IN 20 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL 150 ULTRA LTD TRANSPARENT GREEN SOLID CORNETTO VINYL 450 LTD SIDE A – SIDE B GREEN/PURPLE/YELLOW VINYL BLACK VINYL DIGIPAK
“THE LONG MORROW” BUNDLE: 1x ULTRA LTD CORNETTO VINYL 1x DIGIPAK 1x T-SHIRT 1x SHOPPER 1x POSTER
DISCOGRAPHY BUNDLE: 1x “VISION BEYOND HORIZON” BLACK VINYL + DIGIPAK 1x “LAVENDER BLUES” BLACK VINYL + DIGIPAK 1x “THE LONG MORROW” BLACK VINYL + DIGIPAK 1x T-SHIRT 1x SHOPPER 1x POSTER
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 14th, 2022
TRACKLIST: 1. Defector (of Future Days) 2. Murder Klipp 3. Lavender Bleu 4. LeDü 5. The Long Morrow
Album background:
Bob Balch here. Wanted to let you know about “The Long Morrow.”
We released the E.P “Lavender Blues” back in October of 2020. “Lavender Blues” and “The Long Morrow” are both the result of a three day jam session back in November of 2019. The players were myself, Gary Arce (Yawning Man), Bill Stinson (Yawning Man) and Tony Reed (Mos Generator). We left that session with hours of stuff to choose from. We still have tons to release!
Once 2020 hit, we started digging into what would become “Lavender Blues” with the intention to make it an EP and save the main chunk of the material for the LP which would become “The Long Morrow.” Once we released “Lavender Blues” Tony Reed and I began digging into the tunes.
All of the songs were jams at first, just two or three parts and lots of improvisation. Tony started chopping them up into arranged songs and added lyrics and a few changes. That’s where we got songs like “Murder Klipp” “Defector” “LeDu” and “Lavender Bleu.” I did a few guitar overdubs on them as well to flesh out the parts, but for the most part they are all live takes. I’m surprised that “Murder Klipp” came together so easiely that early in the morning. That time signature is bonkers, Bill Stinson had no trouble coming up with a beat that complemented it. I had to take notes and increase my caffeine intake for that one. “Lavender Bleu” is a second take for “Lavender Blues” hence the title similarity. They were both jams but “Lavender Bleu” became a structured song and the second half of it became “Labyrinths Fade” from the EP. I got to play bass on “Defector” and Tony switched to guitar. “LeDu” is inspired by Husker Du and Led Zeppelin. Gary Arce (Yawning Man) planted the main riff ideas for all of those songs on Side One. The dude is a riff machine.
“The Long Morrow” takes up Side Two. Clocking in at a little under 20 mins, “The Long Morrow” was the very first jam we did during the session. Took us about 30 seconds to fall into a groove and we didn’t surface for 30 mins.
I went home and re-recorded all of my guitar parts throughout 2020. I kept the original ideas in place but embellished them a little. After editing it down and changing guitar parts around it was sent to Reeves Gabrels (THE CURE/DAVID BOWIE) and Per Wiberg (OPETH, SPIRITUAL BEGGARS) to add guitars and synth. Then it was sent to Tony Reed (MOS GENERATOR) for vocals, overdubs and structure changes.
Mixed and Mastered by the very talented Tony Reed. I couldn’t ask for a better production. Sounds just as I wanted to hear it.
We are super proud of this album, and look ahead into the future as this is only the beginning. If we can create stuff like this the first time jamming together we can only imagine that it’s gonna get better and better! More soon!
Posted in audiObelisk on June 4th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Hard to talk about Big Scenic Nowhere and not use the term ‘supergroup.’ The band, which made their first release through Blues Funeral Recordings‘ ‘PostWax’ subscription series and followed that 2019 proof-of-concept Dying on the Mountain EP (discussed here) quickly by signing to Heavy Psych Sounds to issue a debut album, Vision Beyond Horizon (review here) and a subsequent EP, Lavender Blues (review here), both in 2020. Founded with the collaboration between guitarists Gary Arce (Yawning Man) and Bob Balch (Fu Manchu) at its core, the band quickly came to include Tony Reed (Mos Generator) on vocals, bass and various keys, drummer Bill Stinson (Yawning Man), and a range of guests that has continued to expand even as the lineup solidified.
As Bob Balch talked about in his interview here last month, the four-piece got together in Nov. 2019 for a few days of jamming and they’re still going through the resultant material to piece together songs. Their second album, The Long Morrow, is set to see release this Fall through Heavy Psych Sounds, and its songs are being issued piecemeal, one at a time, ahead of the full LP’s arrival. Premiering today, “Lavender Bleu” is the third cut to make its way to public ears behind the more straightforward driving “LeDü” and the weighted-riff-into-harmonies-and-dream-build of “Murder Klipp,” and like each of the preceding songs, it finds Big Scenic Nowhere with a different look. Across just over five minutes, it centers around trademark Arce noodling and the more grounded impulses of Balch setting a path for Stinson‘s drums, while Reed‘s vocals enter gentle, not quite foreshadowing the pickup to come at around 1:40 in.
Though “Lavender Bleu” — which reworks themes from the prior EP as Balch explains below — gets heavier, it never pushes too far away from the classic prog rock spirit one finds at its beginning, and instead trades back and forth before a Mellotron-inclusive ending offers duly resonant culmination. It is prog-of-old filtered through desert ambience with a heavy rock underpinning, and for many bands, this song would be more than enough of a stylistic blueprint to serve as a career arc. That is to say, there are bands who put out albums less rich than this one track and do just fine. Yet one would not call “Lavender Bleu” overbaked or overthought. Sculpted around improvisation, it nonetheless retains that air of spontaneity no matter how many layers are situated atop the basic tracks.
It’s fascinating on a process level to hear Balch talk about how the material for The Long Morrow is coming together — if you didn’t watch that interview, your loss — but “Lavender Bleu” brings more fluidity than the sum of the parts making it, and the textures it speaks to only herald further depth of exploration still to come. I can’t wait to hear this record.
Each member of Big Scenic Nowhere offers some comment below, I think in a manner that represents personae well. Arce talks about the improv, Balch the chord progression, Stinson the overall vibe of the finished product and Reed the reference point from which the lyrics emerged and the melody of the vocals. You can also stream the other two songs near the bottom of this post.
Enjoy the track and stay tuned for more on The Long Morrow:
Big Scenic Nowhere, “Lavender Bleu” official track premiere
LAVENDER BLEU is the new BIG SCENIC NOWHERE single. The track is taken from the band’s upcoming new album THE LONG MORROW, to be released this fall on Heavy Psych Sounds.
Bob Balch on “Lavender Bleu”:
“Lavender Bleu” is actually a combination of two songs from our “Lavender Blues” EP. When we recorded back in November of 2019, we would play two riffs a few times back and forth and then just jam out on one of the riffs. Think (riff A, riff B, riff A, riff B, jam out on riff A) (riff A, riff B, riff A, riff B, jam out on riff B) So the jams became “Lavender Blues” and “Labyrinths Fade” from our last EP. Now with “Lavender Bleu” you get to hear how those are actually sections of the same song. I really like how this tune turned out. Can’t really think of another band that sounds like this. Everybody killed it on this one.
Tony Reed on “Lavender Bleu”:
“Lavender Bleu” was the first song I worked on after the November 2019 recording sessions. I had Dan (Joeright) set up a microphone during the sessions so I could sing Ideas that were happening when we were recording the jams. I think this was the only song where the vocal melody came to me as we were recording. This is my favorite song of all the material we’ve done together. I’m a huge fan of melody and this has tons of it. It has a melancholy / romantic feel that I find pleasing as well. “Bleu” is spelled this way after one of my all time favorite songs. A song called “Butterfly Bleu” by Iron Butterfly. The lyrics seem to be about taking a harder path. Making sacrifices in life to follow passion and calling rather than falling into a routine where, as you get older, you’re constantly saying “I wish I….”
Gary Arce on “Lavender Bleu”:
“Lavender Bleu” started with a mellow riff I was messing with for a awhile. We had been been jamming for a few hours and I wanted to slow it down and do something more open and spacious. So I started playing the main riff and everyone just kinda fell into place quietly and patiently. The second heavier part just happened naturally during the jam. It’s one of my favorite songs we’ve done so far. Tony kills it on vocals on this song.
Bill Stinson on “Lavender Bleu”:
This song really pulls you in different directions… melancholy and weaving a story through the music.
There’s a point somewhere after 12 minutes in that Bob Balch reaches with both hands to his right and in a completely fluid motion, pulls a guitar in front of him, where it remains for the rest of the interview. And honestly, from that point on, he looks more comfortable too. This is a guy who spends a goodly portion of every day living just like this: in that chair, thinking, working, teaching, learning the craft of guitar. I don’t even know how many times he calls himself a nerd throughout the conversation, but it’s several. And awesome. He lives and breathes it.
Known for his work as well in Fu Manchu, whose 30th anniversary tour and release plans were scuttled in 2020, Balch has of late been overseeing the construction and release of the second Big Scenic Nowhere full-length, titled The Long Morrow. The group — legit “super,” with Balch joined by Mos Generator‘s Tony Reed and guitarist Gary Arce and drummer Bill Stinson, both of Yawning Man — have two songs released as of this post. Both of them come from a stockpile of jams the four-piece (and some friends, like Masters of Reality‘s Chris Goss) put together over the course of three days in 2019 — the same sessions from which their 2020 debut, Vision Beyond Horizon (review here), and the follow-up EP, Lavender Blues (review here), were carved.
That process, taking jams, finding tones and rhythms that coincide, and building songs from them, would seem to be how Balch spent much of a 2020 that otherwise would’ve been on the road, but as of now, work is still being done on The Long Morrow ahead of its coming out sometime hopefully this Fall. Balch talks about guest appearances to come, the project’s origins in wanting to jam with Arce and Reed and some of the material’s birth in his own Sun and Sail Club outfit — also the hilarious circumstances of how that more frenetic project was born, which I didn’t know previously — recording and release plans for Fu Manchu, who’ll look to get back on tour next year across multiple continents and follow-up the early-2020 Fu30 Pt. 1 EP with more originals and covers. If you’re wondering Fu Manchu practices on Thursdays. That’s Fu day.
Given the chance, I also wanted to talk about Balch‘s work in guitar instruction — he gives lessons and runs PlayThisRiff.com with videos and interviews with guitarists — his recent return to taking lessons rather than just giving them, and more general guitar stuff that’s piqued his interest of late. There was a lot of ground to cover, and it was a cool chat.
As always, I hope you enjoy:
Big Scenic Nowhere, The Long Morrow Interview with Bob Balch, May 10, 2021
Big Scenic Nowhere‘s The Long Morrow is being released as singles ahead of a full-LP arrival later this year on Heavy Psych Sounds. Fu Manchu‘s anniversary tour plans for 2022 are coming soon. More info at the links.
