Michigan heavy rockers BoneHawk have announced their first tour of the West Coast, set to start July 15 in Chicago as they make their way out and toward Portland, Oregon, before swinging south and back around to finish curiously far away from where they started, in Nashville, Tennessee. They go supporting two new offerings, a Thin Lizzy tribute vinyl and a split with Sweden’s Kingnomad recently released as part of Ripple Music‘s The Second Coming of Heavy series (review pending). They’re keeping good company along the way in Ripple compatriots Blackwülf and the run includes a stop at Summer Spell IV in San Bernadino, where they’ll join The Great Electric Quest, Red Wizard, Desert Suns and others.

Dates and info came down the PR wire:

BoneHawk – West Coast Shows, New Split LP & More!

It is our most devious pleasure to announce Kalamazoo, Michigan’s BoneHawk will be hitting the hot pavement for their first ever, extensive West Coast tour (from July 15-July 30)! This coming on the heels of Hornacious Wax’ release of their “Southbound – a Tribute To Thin Lizzy” 7” EP and Ripple Music’s “The Second Coming of Heavy – Volume III” split LP with Sweden’s Kingnomad.

BoneHawk released their “Albino Rhino” album on vinyl only on Hornacious Wax Records in October 2014 to much acclaim, selling out 2 pressings quickly. The record is on its third pressing of wax and saw worldwide issue on compact disc on Ripple Music in April of this year, garnering new listeners in the process. But the band has toured extensively as of yet (responsibilities can be a bummer sometimes, right?!)…until now! And we’re glad to announce they’re bringing their high energy, fuzzed out, guitar harmony soaked live show to the West Coast this July!

“We’re super stoked that we were able to sell so many copies of ‘Albino Rhino’ on our own,” guitarist Chad Houts said. “But it’s been almost 2 years since we released it, so we’re even more stoked by the ‘Second Coming’ split LP (on Ripple Music) and the Thin Lizzy tribute – both of which have led us to get off our asses and out on the road!”

“We plan on getting out of Michigan a whole lot more through the rest of this year and into next year,” guitarist/vocalist Matt Helt added. “Touring has been a long time coming for us, and we hope to have a new record out next Spring and more touring to go with it.”

The band will have plenty of wax with them on tour (probably most of it in their ears, so speak loudly)! Please follow along with them on all social media, if you’re so inclined (listed below for your convenience).

Behold BoneHawk’s July 2016 West Coast tour:

-Friday, July 15 @ the Township in Chicago, IL w/Bionic Caveman and Thee Arthur Layne
-Saturday, July 16 @ Lefty’s in Des Moines, IA w/Office & Sundog
-Sunday, July 17 @ Cowboy Saloon in Laramie, WY w/Bondurant
-Wednesday, July 20 @ the Liquor Store in Portland, OR w/Pseudoboss & Old Kingdom
-Thursday, July 21 @ the Hemlock in San Francisco, CA w/Blackwulf & the Living
-Friday, July 22 @ the Tower Bar in San Diego, CA w/Archons, Loom & Beira
-Saturday, July 23 @ Summer Spell IV @ the Office Saloon in San Bernardino, CA w/ Red Wizard, the Great Electric Quest, Desert Suns & many more
-Monday, July 25 @ Strangers in El Centro, CA
-Tuesday, July 26 @ Yucca’s in Phoenix, AZ
-Wednesday, July 27 @ Depot O’Bar in Lubbock, TX
-Thursday, July 28 @ Hi-Tone’s in San Antonio, TX w/Lawman & the Bolos
-Friday, July 29 @ the Grotto in Fort Worth, TX w/Southern Train Gypsy
-Saturday, July 30 @ the Young Avenue Deli in Memphis, TN w/Stone Rangers (members of Heavy Eyes) & Native Blood

https://www.facebook.com/bonehawkkzoo/
https://www.instagram.com/bonehawk_band/
https://twitter.com/bonehawkmusic
http://bonehawk.bandcamp.com
http://bonehawk.bigcartel.com

BoneHawk & Kingnomad, The Second Coming of Heavy: Chapter Three (2016)

Ripple Music is keeping pace with its split series The Second Coming of Heavy. The second installment — or chapter, as it were — included cuts from Supervoid and Red Desert (review here), while the first paired Geezer and Borracho (review here). For the third, it’s Sweden’s Kingnomad and Michigan good-timers BoneHawk doing the honors, and the limited-run LP (300 copies) will be released June 24. I don’t know if Ripple‘s plan is one per year, two per year or “as often as we feel like,” but they’re working at a good clip to get through the series, which last I heard was going to have 10 installments, all of them already booked.

Info from the PR wire on The Second Coming of Heavy — Chapter Three follows, as well as tracks from Kingnomad (who I hadn’t heard before but sound awesome) and BoneHawk (less of a surprise, but still cool), which you can stream:

The return of Ripple Music’s The Second Coming Of Heavy; Chapter III | New split album from BoneHawk and Kingnomad

The Second Coming Of Heavy; Chapter III is released on vinyl on 24 June 2016

Already recognised as one of the world’s leading purveyors of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Stoner, Doom and Heavy Psych, Ripple Music upped the ante in 2015 with the arrival of one of the year’s most ambitious projects, The Second Coming Of Heavy.

Serving as an ongoing showcase for some of the best and heaviest bands emerging from the underground, each instalment shines a light on those worthy of your attention. Consisting of one, 12” slab of multicoloured vinyl with full colour sleeves and inserts, the series is designed to be saved and treasured, like a fine anthology of books. So much so, when the albums are filed next to each other, the complete collection of aligned spines forms a mind-blowing image direct from the underground.

Following on from the series’ first instalment released last summer featuring Geezer and Borracho, and February’s Chapter II’s split between Supervoid and Red Desert, the latest chapter, released this June offers up new music from hard hitting Michigan quartet BoneHawk and Sweden’s Kingnomad.

The Second Coming Of Heavy; Chapter III will get an official vinyl release on 24th June 2016 and is limited to 300 copies in three alternative versions (100 of each) – The Resurrection Edition, The Risen OBI and The Ascension Edition.

https://bonehawk.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/bonehawkkzoo/
https://www.instagram.com/bonehawk_band/
https://www.facebook.com/kingnomadofficial/
https://kingnomad.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.instagram.com/kingnomadofficial/
http://www.ripple-music.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Ripple-Music-369610860064/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/

BoneHawk, “The Scout”

Kingnomad, “Lucifer is Dead”

Michigan heavy rockers BoneHawk have issued their debut album, Albino Rhino, via Ripple Music. The awaited offering follows behind a late-2014 self-released edition and a limited vinyl run through Hornacious Wax Records. There was a second pressing of that, but like the first one, it went quickly. No word on a third for the LP, but Ripple‘s CD edition is out now, and to the best of my knowledge it’s the first compactular discus edition, and no doubt its reception will be as here-and-gone as was the vinyl.

The PR wire brings copious background for those who’d dig in:

BoneHawk: Share brand new album from hard hitting Michigan quartet, out now on Ripple Music

The story of BoneHawk is one that started as early as third grade, in an unassuming Kalamazoo school, where guitarist/vocalist Matt Helt and guitarist Chad Houts first met and bonded instantly over a shared appreciation of video games, pizza, poster girls and rock and roll. At the age of fourteen, Helt, already an accomplished drummer would jam along with Houts in the family’s basement to songs handpicked from the pair’s ever growing record collections. As the years passed by with each feeding the other on a steady diet of thrash metal and classic rock, when Helt eventually succumbed to the bug and traded in his drum set for a guitar, the duo quickly discovered that being in a band meant everything.

After toiling in various local outfits for years, around 2006 Helt and Houts formed Mesa with close friend Joel Wick (Quixote, Jihad), with the three deciding to put together something that paid homage to the heavy riffs they discovered as teens growing up in the mid 90s. Specifically, that beguiling breed of heavy rock directly influenced by the mighty Black Sabbath. The band would only release one record during this period, a 7” on Michigan’s UFO Dictator Records before breaking up to clear a path for the official formation of BoneHawk in 2011.

Helt and Houts envisioned combining Iron Maiden and Thin Lizzy-esque harmonies with the straight-up grooves of Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and the twin guitar assault of Judas Priest and Kiss. Enlisting old band mate Chris Voss on bass, after the departure of Wick the trio set about recording their debut album Albino Rhino, with Helt taking on vocal duties and returning to the drum stool.

Recorded and mixed by Jim Diamond at Ghetto Recorders in Detroit and initially released as a limited run of ‘Albino vinyl’ through Hornacious Wax Records in 2014, with newly appointed personnel in the form of drummer Jay Rylander and bassist Taylor Wallace (formerly of Wilson) the band played packed out local shows in support of the record. In less than two months all double LP copies of Albino Rhino had sold out, calling for a second ‘Ultraviolet Purple’ pressing and leaving Ripple Music boss Todd Severin in no doubt about the band’s true potential.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Bonehawk,” explains Severin. “From the moment I heard their two guitar blitz I was hooked on their sound. Albino Rhino is a masterwork of modern harmony guitar and post NWOBHM heaviness, with real stoner grit. A true gem of an album and we’re excited to be involved in the worldwide release of this CD.”

To order a copy of BoneHawk’s Albino Rhino on CD visit Ripple Music:
http://ripplemusic.bigcartel.com/product/bonehawk-albino-rhino-cd

https://bonehawk.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/bonehawkkzoo/
https://www.instagram.com/bonehawk_band/
https://twitter.com/bonehawkmusic
http://www.ripple-music.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Ripple-Music-369610860064/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/

BoneHawk, Albino Rhino (2014/2016)

I’m pretty much working with a caveman brain here, but let me see if I’ve got this right: Kalamazoo, Michigan, heavy rocking post-Red Fang good-timey dual-guitar four-piece BoneHawk released their debut album, Albino Rhino, in 2014. Sold out vinyl, gatefold 2LP, purple and bone versions, the whole bit. Very nice. They have a second pressing of that record coming out next month. Meanwhile, Ripple Music has stepped in and is going to release the same album on CD on April 22.

Seems straightforward enough until you get around to BoneHawk‘s new video for “Los Vientos.” It’s loaded with stonerly charm, pizza, an oracle in what appears to be a Pulp Fiction-style briefcase, beards, etc., but that track isn’t on Albino Rhino, and even as BoneHawk get ready to reissue their debut album, they’re putting out this new song, which will be included on an installment of Ripple‘s The Second Coming of Heavy split series later this year.

Again, caveman brain, but I’m pretty sure that’s the deal. So what you wind up with is a new release coming and a new video out now but the two things are not really connected. You think that’s quirky, you should go ahead and check out the video. It was directed by Three Goats Moving Pictures, and if you’re up for a little lipreading, it has all kinds of WTF-ery going on.

More background under the player below. Enjoy:

BoneHawk, “Los Vientos” official video

BONEHAWK: Hard hitting Michigan quartet to release debut album through Ripple Music | Stream and share new video for ‘Los Vientos’

Ripple Music is thrilled to announce the signing of Michigan quartet Bonehawk, and with it the worldwide CD release of their debut album, Albino Rhino.

The story of BoneHawk is one that started as early as third grade, in an unassuming Kalamazoo school, where guitarist/vocalist Matt Helt and guitarist Chad Houts first met and bonded instantly over a shared appreciation of video games, pizza, poster girls and rock and roll. At the age of fourteen, Helt, already an accomplished drummer would jam along with Houts in the family’s basement to songs handpicked from the pair’s ever growing record collections. As the years passed by with each feeding the other on a steady diet of thrash metal and classic rock, when Helt eventually succumbed to the bug and traded in his drum set for a guitar, the duo quickly discovered that being in a band meant everything.

Recorded and mixed by Jim Diamond at Ghetto Recorders in Detroit and initially released as a limited run of ‘Albino vinyl’ through Hornacious Wax Records in 2014, with newly appointed personnel in the form of drummer Jay Rylander and bassist Taylor Wallace (formerly of Wilson) the band played packed out local shows in support of the record. In less than two months all double LP copies of Albino Rhino had sold out, calling for a second ‘Ultraviolet Purple’ pressing and leaving Ripple Music boss Todd Severin in no doubt about the band’s true potential.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Bonehawk,” explains Severin. “From the moment I heard their two guitar blitz I was hooked on their sound. Albino Rhino is a masterwork of modern harmony guitar and post NWOBHM heaviness, with real stoner grit. A true gem of an album and we’re excited to be involved in the worldwide release of this CD.”

BoneHawk’s Albino Rhino is officially released on CD through Ripple Music on 22nd April 2016 and is preceded by the release of ‘Los Vientos’ as part of the label’s Second Coming Of Heavy series which will be released later in the year.

BoneHawk:
Matt Helt – Guitars/Vocals
Chad Houts – Guitars/Backing Vocals
Jay Rylander – Drums/Backing Vocals
Taylor Wallace – Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals

BoneHawk on Bandcamp

BoneHawk on Thee Facebooks

BoneHawk on Instagram

Ripple Music website

Ripple Music on Bandcamp