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Weed is Weed Stream Blunt Force Trauma in Full; Album Reissue out Today

Posted in audiObelisk on October 14th, 2014 by JJ Koczan

weed is weed

At one point or another, Weed is Weed members Dave Sherman (vocals/guitar), Gary Isom (guitar) and Rob “Cougin” Brannigan (drums) were members of the underrated Maryland doom act Wretched, but that’s just one of the lines of connection between them. Isom, who also played drums in Pentagram for a time, was Sherman‘s bandmate in the original lineup of Spirit Caravan, and it’s safe to say that these dudes, as well as guitarist Jason Fisher, bassist Darren Waters and guitarist Rob Portillo — yeah, that’s right, up to four guitars — have been kicking around the underbelly of MD’s fertile doom underground for a while. Today marks the Ripple Music issue of their 2013 debut album, Blunt Force Trauma (review here), initially self-released.

What do you get with Weed is Weed? Weed. A lot of it. Also riffs. Their multi-guitar attack provides some density to the album’s 10 tracks but much of what you need to know about Blunt Force Trauma you can get from looking at the cover. It’s raw stoner fuckery, riffs leading the way with punkish abandon and Sherman‘s distinctive weed is weed blunt force traumagravelly vocals tossing out simple but effective hooks on cuts like the opener “Weed is Weed,” the more Southern-styled “Alligator Crawl,” the shuffling “Goin’ Down to Harlem” and “Low to No,” which sleeks out a winding sort of groove while paying homage to SabbathOzzy and, of course, reefer. Most of the songs deal with or at least mention weed on one level or another — it’s a steady theme — but they change it up musically some along the way and by the time they get down to “One Hit Wonder” and “Blunt Force Trauma,” the riffs win out. I won’t say much for “Eat Pussy” — though it’s important in a relationship to be attentive to your partner’s needs, and I’ve certainly heard worse advice than “Eat that pussy don’t you be no jerk” — but its alternate lyric, “Eat Cookies,” rounds out as a bonus track with no shortage of smirking cleverness and charm.

It’s one for the converted, but between half the band’s pedigree and the nod-ready riffs the six-piece ride into smoked-out oblivion, Blunt Force Trauma outstones the stoners and is a mean boogie the whole way through. They had it up somewhere at some point, and I already said it came out last year and was available from the band on CD, so I wouldn’t exactly call this a premiere, but I’m happy to be able to feature Weed is Weed anyway on the day of the Ripple release, and you’ll find the album in its entirety on the player below.

Please enjoy:

Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!

Weed is Weed‘s Blunt Force Trauma is out now on Ripple Music. More info at the links.

Weed is Weed on Thee Facebooks

Weed is Weed at Ripple’s webstore

Ripple Music

 

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Weed is Weed Get Planted on Ripple Music

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 1st, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Maryland’s Weed is Weed released their debut album, Blunt Force Trauma (discussed here), earlier in 2013. In addition to being the most unabashed hailers of the leaf I’ve come across in some time, the sixsome also marks the reuniting of Gary Isom and Dave Sherman, both formerly of Spirit Caravan. Of course, Sherman‘s been fronting Earthride in the intervening years — Isom also did a stint in Pentagram — and he brings his indomitable personality to Blunt Force Trauma as well, most especially on my personal favorite track from the album, the snickering “Eat Cookies.”

Weed is Weed also play Stoner Hands of Doom XIII next week, and Ripple will reportedly issue Blunt Force Trauma early next year. Please note that when I say “reportedly,” I mean according to the PR wire, which sent along the following:

weed is weed blunt force trauma

WEED IS WEED – Featuring Legendary Alumni from Pentagram, Earthride & Spirit Caravan – Sign to Ripple Music

Top-tier stoner/doom metal band WEED IS WEED has signed a world-wide deal with Ripple Music for the release of their full-length album, Blunt Force Trauma.

Years of seismic rumbling have led way to the tectonic formation that is WEED IS WEED. Two legendary masters of Maryland Doom, Dave “Sherm” Sherman and Gary Isom, come with a stoner/doom metal pedigree second to none. Sherm and Gary have been the creative catalysts in such genre defining bands as Pentagram, Earthride, and Spirit Caravan, and now they’re set to launch their newest, blazing heavy rock venture. Having assembled their most blazing line-up ever, this group of musicians have crafted the perfect sound track for red-eyed blazers the world over – Blunt Force Trauma. Blitzed out, stoned heaviness is the order as this collection of tales of reefer madness and alligator fights is slated to be released early 2014 by the ever impressive Ripple Music.

That’s right folks… People are about to take notice.

Sherm is completely shredding the vocals, undoubtedly turning in his best performance to date, as he is more than ably backed by the rip and tear of the triple (3!) guitar attack courtesy of Gary on slide & lead guitar teamed up with Jason Fisher and Rob Portillo’s riffing and rolling. Match that with the full on rhythmic assault of Darren Waters on bass, and the single moniker’d Cougin on drums, and this band is ready to pummel the unsuspecting ear drums of those about to burn!

With the ink just dry on their contract with Ripple Music, it is being announced that WEED IS WEED has also signed on with 313 INC Artist Management to help further their reach and plan their underground takeover.

Watch for some pre-release touring to be announced soon.

It’s no doubt that the riffs are gonna be huge, the vocals are gonna be gritty and the low end will rumble that PBR floating in your stomach. Weed Is Weed is taking over… and it’s going to be a smoky green revolution.

Check out some sneak peeks of the upcoming release, Blunt Force Trauma (Ripple Music) now at www.reverbnation.com/WeedIsWeed.

WEED IS WEED Live:

11/02 @ Iallos – Knoxville, MD
11/08 @ Strange Matter – Richmond, VA – Stoner Hands of Doom Fest

https://www.facebook.com/WeedIsWeed

Weed is Weed, “Blunt Force Trauma”

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Buried Treasure and What the Weed Is

Posted in Buried Treasure on August 5th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

The chorus of the eponymous opener of Weed is Weed‘s self-released Blunt Force Trauma full-length debut sums up the band’s mentality neatly. It goes:

Weed is weed
So plant the seed
Oh yes indeed.

If there was ever any doubt about what weed is, let it be answered: Weed is most definitely weed. Weed is Weed culls together some of Maryland’s favorite sons of doom, fronted by Dave Sherman of Earthride himself with his former Spirit Caravan bandmate Gary Isom on lead guitar. Jason Fisher plays guitar, Darren Waters plays bass — though Mark Ammen (Unorthodox, Pentagram) and Johnny Kotsioukis (Wretched) both also play on the album, and Rob “Cougin” Brannigan (Wretched) plays drums. As you’d have to expect, the songs on Blunt Force Trauma are stoner rock to the end of each leaf, led by the riffs and Sherman‘s inimitable growl, but there’s a rough edge to the production that gives each piece a rawer feel, whether it’s the low-end boogie of “Low to No” or the later percussion/bass-driven “Goin’ Down to Harlem.”

So far as I can tell, the only track that has no mention of reefer is the sixth cut, “Eat Pussy,” which charmingly gets a PG-rated reworking as the unlisted bonus track “Eat Cookies” — “Eat them cookies when you come home from work/Eat them cookies don’t you be no jerk,” and so on, with an “Oooh, snickerdoodle” thrown in for good measure. This kind of tongue-in-cheek shenanigans is to be found all over Blunt Force Trauma — the album’s name itself turned into a pun thanks to the pot leaf on the cover — but between the mega-chug of the riffs, Sherman‘s vicious vocals, which harness some of his roughest growls to date, and Isom‘s how-did-this-dude-wind-up-playing-drums lead work, there’s more to be had throughout than inside jokes about pot. Though of course there are plenty of those as well.

Prior to that aforementioned bonus cut, the album proper rounds out with its title-track, which is plenty raucous enough even before the six minutes of noise and feedback round out its full 10:49 stretch, but if you’ve not yet climbed into Weed is Weed‘s smoke-filled van, you’re probably gonna have to get your fix somewhere else anyway. More downer crash and heavy THC-addled dirt ensue, which has more or less been the course of the album, though not without some sense of changing things up in terms of tempo if not overall method. It’s a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of affair. They didn’t call is Weed is Something Else, did they?

Certainly not. As the group has been together since 2005 in one shape or another and since Blunt Force Trauma just came out this year, I won’t dare speculate on the timing of a follow-up, but whether you look at Weed is Weed as a sidebar to Sherman‘s work in Earthride or as a bunch of dudes from Maryland who’ve probably known each other for ages getting together to riff out and have a good time, the band makes no pretense about being anything more than just that. You might have to work to get a copy (and by “work” I mean send them a message on Thee Facebooks), but for those who can’t get enough of the grittier side of Maryland doom, Weed is Weed will be as welcome as cookies after work.

Weed is Weed, “One Hit Wonder”

Weed is Weed on Thee Facebooks

Weed is Weed on Reverbnation

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