Posted in Whathaveyou on August 7th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Okay, so. In addition to these freshly-announced, fishing-themed-because-they’re-hooky-get-it tour dates in Dec., Greenleaf will be at FuriousFest this month in France, have their first-ever US tour lined up for Sept./Oct. which will take them from Ripplefest Texas to In the Key of Doom, and then they’ll be back in Stockholm in Nov. for Truckfighters Fuzz Fest ahead of returning to the US at the end of Jan. for Planet Desert Rock Weekend, and I don’t know anything about anything, so don’t quote me, but I’d imagine there will be a West Coast run around that fest appearance as well, with the tour still TBA.
It’s a pretty packed schedule for a band who don’t have an album out, but I have to acknowledge that at one point in my life, I thought I’d never see Greenleaf, ever. Now, not only have I seen them multiple times with different lineups in various settings, big stages and small, but they’re coming to the States. I mean, short of playing North Jersey, they could hardly make it easier. Sometimes, when I think about how generally awful the world is, I remind myself of thing like this and life doesn’t seem quite so oppressive. No, I won’t be in Dresden or at the Freak Valley Xmas show (though that would be fun), but it’s still relevant to me because someone else will and maybe they’ll feel the same way about it I do.
10.12 Jena KuBa 11.12 Dresden Beatpol 12.12 Siegen Freak Valley Xmas 14.12 Paris Backstage By The Mill 15.12 Dortmund Junkyard 16.12 Münster Rare Guitar 17.12 Groningen Vera 18.12 Bielefeld Forum 19.12 Hamburg Knust
GREENLEAF North American Fall Tour 2026: 20 SEP 2026 Austin, TX (US) Ripplefest Texas 21 SEP 2026 Houston, TX (US) The End 22 SEP 2026 New Orleans, LA (US) Broadside 23 SEP 2026 Atlanta, GA (US) The Earl 24 SEP 2026 Asheville, NC (US) Eulogy 25 SEP 2026 Lexington, KY (US) Al’s Bar 26 SEP 2026 Chicago, IL (US) Reggies 27 SEP 2026 Milwaukee, WI (US) X-Ray Arcade 29 SEP 2026 Detroit, MI (US) Sanctuary 30 SEP 2026 Toronto, ON (CA) Monarch Tavern 01 OCT 2026 Montreal, QC (CA) Piranha Bar 02 OCT 2026 Braintree, MA (US) Widowmaker Brewing 03 OCT 2026 Brooklyn, NY (US) The Meadows (…In the Key of Doom)
GREENLEAF is: Arvid Hällagård – vocals Tommi Holappa – guitars Sebastian Olsson – drums Hans Fröhlich – bass
I still think of this as a debut. Which is only funny because it was Greenleaf‘s fifth record. Also kind of a debut.
The final release of the Swedish outfit’s Small Stone Records era, the nine-song/42-minute Trails and Passes (review here) came out in May 2014, and it was a big change. For 14 years at that point, Greenleaf had existed as a side-project for Dozer guitarist Tommi Holappa, who, working with bassist/producer Bengt Bäcke, had previously worked with an assemblage of players more than a lineup. Peder Bergstrand from Lowrider and Dozer‘s Fredrik Nordin handled vocals early on, and Karl Daniel Lidén of Demon Cleaner handled drums on the first two records before Erik Bäckwall took over for 2007’s Agents of Ahriman (reissue review here) and then-Dozer‘s Olle Mårthans took over for 2012’s Nest of Vipers (review here).
Those last two records were also fronted by Oskar Cedermalm, best known as bassist/vocalist for Truckfighters from Örebro. Greenleaf was a side-project for him as well. But with the dissolution of Dozer after the release of 2008’s Beyond Colossal (featured here), suddenly Holappa didn’t have a ‘main’ project, and more and more, Greenleaf seemed to be filling that role. They did live shows, some touring, but it didn’t and couldn’t work with that lineup, fun daydream though it was.
So Holappa revamped the lineup, and even then, it felt like he was doing so with the express intent to tour, to make Greenleaf — we’re talking like 13 years after their first EP (discussed here) — a real band for the first time. Mårthans was out in favor of Sebastian Olsson (who would also eventually join Dozer) on drums, and Arvid Jonsson took over on vocals, bringing an immediately bluesy affect to “Our Mother Ash” and “Ocean Deep” at the start of Trails and Passes. Bäcke still handled engineering and bass but would soon enough leave the band for being unable to tour, and apart from an anniverary reissue of that aforementioned EP, they haven’t looked back.
But the thing that made it feel like such a beginning was the context of the progression of the prior incarnation of the band. Agents of Ahriman — which, on a personal level, I consider one of the best heavy rock records ever made — seemed to manifest the classic-heavy intent Greenleaf had always said were at their foundation. It was something distinct from Dozer in sound and purpose, but benefitted from the ever-ace songwriting of Holappa and an emotionality from Cedermalm‘s voice that at that point had only just begun to show through in Truckfighters and now is something of a given. And then Nest of Vipers followed and was more elaborate, with more complex arrangements, guest appearances (once a regular feature for Greenleaf LPs) and a marked breadth in the recording and mix by Lidén.
Trails and Passes, in making the trade to realize Greenleaf as an actual, sustainable working band, stripped a lot of that away. Not all of it, mind you, but the dug-in shuffle of “Equators” and the shove of the penultimate “Bound to be Machines” — powered, it should be noted, by Olsson‘s drumming and an energy that’s become a signature of Greenleaf since — stepped aside from the stately melody-craft of Nest of Vipers. The songs were alive, but in a different way. Pieces like “Depth of the Sun” and the eight-minute “With Eyes Wide Open” had space in their sound, but even this felt like the band going to ground, realigning, and the inevitable story of the album was the difference from what Greenleaf had been doing just two years earlier.
What listeners couldn’t have known at the time and I certainly didn’t, was that Trails and Passes would become the model Greenleaf would go on to follow for the next decade — which, it should also be noted, was the most productive decade of the band’s existence; 2014-2024. From Trails and Passes, Greenleaf would sign to Napalm Records and put out three albums, 2016’s Rise Above the Meadow (review here), 2018’s Hear the Rivers (review here) and 2021’s Echoes From a Mass (review here) — then shift to Magnetic Eye Records for 2024’s The Head and the Habit (review here), which remains their latest offering as of now. The patterns of riff and melody, the hooks and bluesy strut, Jonsson‘s growth into embracing the frontman role — all of these are documented across this 10-year span as Greenleaf went from being a side-project to one of the finest European heavy rock acts of their generation.
Listening to Trails and Passes now, it’s hard to separate it from that context, from the band Greenleaf have become, but this also only makes it feel more like a first album, and in hindsight, it’s an even bolder forward step for the band than it seemed at the time. Imagine doing a thing for the better part of a decade and a half and completely revamping the whole thing. But Greenleaf‘s ability to hold most of its lineup together — as noted, Bäcke stepped away after this album, and Dozer‘s Johan Rockner played bass on Rise Above the Meadow, but Hans Fröhlich joined ahead of Hear the Rivers and has been with the band since — with Holappa, Jonsson and Olsson has led to a continuity they’d never had in their earlier days, and though fans will argue in the way of fans, the tradeoff was more than worth it.
I guess I’ve got Greenleaf on the brain as the band will travel to the US for the first time this Fall, appearing at …In the Key of Doom in New York City and Ripplefest Texas in Austin (reverse order) with club shows between them (tour dates here), possibly with new material in tow as they move inexorably forward from The Head and the Habit. It’s one more milestone for them that probably would never have come to pass had Holappa not restructured the band 12-13 years ago, and the lesson to be learned is that sometimes it’s worth trusting the artist to know what needs to happen to make the art the way they want. It was a big risk and the rewards are still paying out. Listening now, Trails and Passes sounds classic sure enough, but as much for being a landmark itself for how it speaks to the history of heavy rock and roll.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
—
Too hot this week. Not the first time or the last time. We’re in Connecticut at The Patient Mrs.’ mother’s place on the shoreline. Got here yesterday. I’m not sure proximity to water mitigates the heat or not; frankly it’s too hot to get up and measure. There were town fireworks last night for July 4 out over the beach down the way. A bunch of people came. It was a lot. The Pecan stayed up too late and was a mess. Blah blah blah same as ever.
More bullshit with the school, back and forth. Still haven’t heard from the hopeful new one. Exhausting. Consuming.
The Pecan watched a video about how heat makes human brains lose cognitive ability. Sitting here with the fans going, I believe it. I feel dumber.
I think The Pecan’s aunt and cousins are coming to swim later. They’re older; the cousin who’s her age (my wife’s brother’s son, turning 10, I think) we don’t see as often because they live in Baltimore. But she loves them, so it’s nice anyway. I don’t really like salt water on a sensory level, so I threw out yesterday that maybe while everyone was swimming I’d go record shopping. There’s a store a few exits south on I-95 that I like and that has a ‘Metal’ section. That’s usually enough to get me to peruse, and it’s been a while. Would be cool to pick up the Monolord CD, other odds and ends. I could use the time.
The meme I saw yesterday was “of course I don’t have Fourth of July plans, what am I a fucking republican?” and that was cute. As this country has abandoned even the previously-lip-serviced principles to which it once allegedly aspired, I find I’m even less inclined to be patriotic. War, capitalism, colonialism, genocide. The United States of America: it was a decent idea that never really panned out. Could’ve been a cool project until they decided to keep slavery.
Again, blah blah blah. No one gives a fuck. “Keep your politics outta my white privilege,” and so on.
Whatever you’re up to this weekend, I hope it’s air conditioned, even if that air conditioning contributes to global warming getting even worse than it already is. Sorry, but it’s really about maintenance by now, isn’t it? Haven’t we all collectively decided to run out the thread until we boil off the planet’s surface like the 97-percent water we are? Can they use that water for data centers? Stick around long enough and maybe we’ll find out.
Speaking of, I’m ready to go back in the Matrix, thanks. You know the ’90s was peak-humanity because Type O Negative put out October Rust.
Enough. Great and safe weekend. Fuck fascism harder than your grandparents thought fuck fascism.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 15th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
I don’t know what else you have going on this Fall, but holy mackerel. Greenleaf are not only coming to the US for the first time 26 years on from their first release, they’re teaming up with two of the best live heavy rock bands the country has to offer in High Desert Queen and Howling Giant. How good are these shows going to be? Well they’re going to be quite good. You should go. Maybe to all of them.
The tour will take the blues/heavy rock masters from Ripplefest Texas in Austin to Brooklyn for …In the Key of Doom, and while it’s not the most extensive foray — that is to say, if you’re on the West Coast, you’re out of luck this time unless you want to travel (and you do) — once you’ve paid the extortionate charge for a US visa, my understanding is the inclination is to make the most of it. Multiple tours. Look for West Coast next year, hopefully.
And what’s the status of Greenleaf‘s next record? I don’t know, but I sure hope to have some idea before I see them in NYC at The Meadows. Here are all the dates off the PR wire:
GREENLEAF announce North American Fall Tour 2026
More than twenty-five years since their inception, Scandinavian heavy rock legends GREENLEAF will be coming to North America for their first-ever live shows in the USA and Canada. This exciting road trip will be kicked off with a headline show at the inaugural Magnetic Eye Records label showcase at this year’s Ripplefest Texas. This will be followed by nearly two weeks across the continent with the support of their label mates HOWLING GIANT and HIGH DESERT QUEEN. The Nordic foursome are ready to give longtime fans their own take on desert grooves and stoner riffs, and everything they’ve been waiting for from this legendary live outfit.
GREENLEAF comment: “It’s been a long time but finally the wait is over”, guitarist and band founder Tommi Holappa declares. “We are beyond excited to go on tour in the very country that gave us our childhood heroes: Snake Plissken, John Rambo, Paul Kersey, Major Alan Schaefer, and many more. Come out and join us on our first ever tour in the USA and Canada!”
GREENLEAF will be touring North America in support of the latest album “The Head & The Habit”, which hit stores first on June 21, 2024.
Please see below for album details and all currently confirmed shows.
GREENLEAF North American Fall Tour 2026: 20 SEP 2026 Austin, TX (US) Ripplefest Texas 21 SEP 2026 Houston, TX (US) The End 22 SEP 2026 New Orleans, LA (US) Broadside 23 SEP 2026 Atlanta, GA (US) The Earl 24 SEP 2026 Asheville, NC (US) Eulogy 25 SEP 2026 Lexington, KY (US) Al’s Bar 26 SEP 2026 Chicago, IL (US) Reggies 27 SEP 2026 Milwaukee, WI (US) X-Ray Arcade 29 SEP 2026 Detroit, MI (US) Sanctuary 30 SEP 2026 Toronto, ON (CA) Monarch Tavern 01 OCT 2026 Montreal, QC (CA) Piranha Bar 02 OCT 2026 Braintree, MA (US) Widowmaker Brewing 03 OCT 2026 Brooklyn, NY (US) The Meadows (…In the Key of Doom)
GREENLEAF is: Arvid Hällagård – vocals Tommi Holappa – guitars Sebastian Olsson – drums Hans Fröhlich – bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 15th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Bringing production as well as release distribution in-house via self-recording and their new label Horror Lizard Records — the name being the English translation of their own moniker — long-running progressive heavy-hitters Skraeckoedlan have unveiled “Mareld” as the first hint of things to come on their next album. I don’t know when exactly the new record is out, but the band’s calendar is already filling up for this Fall, with stops at Tundra and Lightning in Norway and Desertfest Belgium slated for October.
The last Skraeckoedlan long-player was 2024’s Vermillion Sky (review here), which came out through Truckfighters‘ Fuzzorama Records. Those Swedish forerunners-o’-fuzz have always been a key influence on Skraeckoedlan, and perhaps that now extends to the manner in which the band will oversee their next record. “Mareld” comes through a little rawer and more forward in the vocals on first blush, but the band’s sound has always pulled from proggy, twisting elements, and that essential core of who they are remains the same, despite the rampant evolution in their sound over the years.
I grabbed the info below from social media. (Translated) Lyric video for “Mareld” is at the bottom of the post.
Have at it:
We have been working from deep inside the meadows for over a year on our upcoming album. We have produced, recorded and mixed it ourself and also started our own record label Horror Lizard Records.
First single Mareld is out now. A song that explores the depths of the ocean both sonically and emotionally. It’s about daring to trust your inner self and follow the light of the sea-fire in an otherwise dark and stormy ocean.
Dozer‘s new rare-tracks compilation, Rewind to Return: Rarities, Singles and B-Sides, is at least 25 years in the making. Released this week on Blues Funeral Recordings, it is in-part an accounting for the band’s earliest work, a succession of pre-first-album demos and three splits with Demon Cleaner — whose drummer, Karl Daniel Lidén, would remain an essential component of Dozer‘s story through the years, from recording and playing drums for a time up to remastering this material — and a cataloguing of off-album material. The tracklisting is varied in its origins and — with thanks to founding Dozer guitarist Tommi Holappa — appears with the sources below. So far as I know, this information hasn’t been released yet elsewhere:
Rewind to Return: Rarities, Singles and B-Sides tracklisting (w/ source)
1. Tanglefoot (Demon Cleaner vs. Dozer split, 1998)
2. Hail the Dude (Domestic Dudes split w/ Demon Cleaner, 1999)
3. Centerline (Demon Cleaner vs. Dozer split, 1998)
4. Southern Star (bonus track on Call it Conspiracy vinyl)
5. The Electrocuter (B-side on the Day of the Rope 7”, 2002)
6. Universe 75 (Unreleased early demo)
7. Serpents Head (2011 reissue bonus track for In the Tail of a Comet)
8. Rings of Saturn (LP-only bonus for Madre de Dios)
9. She (Graven Images, Misfits tribute CD, 2000)
10. Mammoth Mountain (Nerve Compilation CD with local Borlänge bands, 1997)
11. Silverball (Hawaiian Cottage split w/ Demon Cleaner, 1999)
12. Star by Star (Split 7” with Giants of Science released in Australia when we toured there in 2004, also B-side on the “Rising” cd single)
13. Season of Giants (Unreleased early demo)
14. Vinegar Fly (Sunride cover from Vultures session, c. 2004)
15. Two Ton Butterfly (Unreleased early demo)
The three demos — “Universe 75,” “Season of Giants” and “Two Ton Butterfly” — either come from 1998’s Universe 75 demo tape (discussed here) or concurrent recordings. The band sound like kids because they were. The material from the three Demon Cleaner splits — 1998’s Demon Cleaner vs. Dozer (discussed here), 1999’s Hawaiian Cottage (discussed here) and 1999’s Domestic Dudes (discussed here) — is just one step removed from those rougher sessions, and for those more familiar with their later work or who got on board with 2023’s righteous reunion offering, Drifting in the Endless Void (review here), might be surprising in its desert-rocking style, but Kyuss was a defining influence for a lot of bands at this point, and “Season of Giants” and “Two Ton Butterfly” bear that out, the latter like a specific attempt to capture some of the same energy of Kyuss‘ “Rodeo,” with its explosive volume trades and resultant grooveriding.
Compare that to “Star by Star” from a 2004 split or the depressive-lyric Sunride cover “Vinegar Fly,” which was previously a bonus track on the 2021 reissue (discussed here) of the Vultures EP (review here), originally released in 2013 and recorded with Lidén drumming in 2004-’05 as preproduction for 2005’s Through the Eyes of Heathens (featured here; discussed here), and there’s a notable shift in both the band’s style and the impact-mindedness of the recording. That is to say the band’s sound grew between the time they were appearing on a compilation of local bands from their hometown of Borlänge with “Mammoth Mountain,” which is the earliest and jammiest track on Rewind to Return, from 1997 — they sound like babies because they were — and their refined and somewhat more aggressively charged sound that came to the fore on their 2002 third album, Call it Conspiracy (featured here, discussed here).
Dozer represent all three of their first LPs on Rewind to Return, each with a bonus track. In the case of “Rings of Saturn,” which originally appeared on the vinyl of their 2001 second album, Madre de Dios (featured here), that’s a hook worthy of its position as the centerpiece, but part of the story Dozer are telling as they look back is how they figured out who they were as a band over the course of those first seven or eight years. Holappa and fellow founding guitarist Fredrik Nordin, whose voidbound melodic callout vocals are refined in realtime across “Serpents Head,” “Rings of Saturn” and the roughly concurrent Misfits cover “She,” have proven over time to be at the core of the group, but Lidén‘s work remastering highlights just how heavy Dozer were early on in a way that the original releases never could.
To wit, the tonal beef wrought by “Tanglefoot” and “Hail the Dude” at the outset. These songs, both from Demon Cleaner splits (this being a Dozer review, I’m not going to tell you to go back and listen to Demon Cleaner, but yes, do that), are treasures for longtime fans of the band. Whether you were with them from the start and have those 7″s because you’re Johnny Groundfloor and that’s just how you do, or you came along later and have been subject to someone on YouTube’s digital rip of the vinyl, hearing the fullness of the new masters, they sound new again, and the janga-janga push of “Hail the Dude” — if 1999 could be a riff, it’d be that riff — sounds fresh enough that if you told me it was a new band, I’d be like, “Wow that’s amazing, they sound just like Dozer,” because in any era, Dozer are unmisfugginstakable.
That might be the ultimate lesson of Rewind to Return: Rarities, Singles and B-Sides — that Dozer‘s progression defines their tenure; it’s a thesis worth exploring — and as a fan of the band who’s been whining loudly for years to have their early works compiled and released (that’s right folks, I’m taking credit for the whole thing; it was me; you’re welcome), these versions of these songs remind listeners new or old of the path Dozer took to becoming one of their generation’s defining heavy rock bands. I’ll note that it’s not complete. This may be where they blow up the Death Star, but it’s not the whole story. It’s not everything, laid out with the dry procession of ‘this was on this single,’ ‘this was recorded on this afternoon at this time after we had tacos,’ etc. that one might find on a more academically-minded offering, but the thing about the story being told is that it also isn’t complete, and there are more years in addition to more songs.
I don’t know that Rewind to Return will get a follow-up or it won’t, but it could. And whether it’s taken on for nostalgia or the curiosity of newer fans, as a historical document from one of the finest rock bands Sweden ever produced or a casual saunter through part of a footnote portion of Dozer‘s catalog, the songs hold up to the span of years and the weight of expectation, and it’s not hard to hear what would’ve been so exciting about a new band coming out of the gate with these sounds. It still is.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 8th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Swedish heavy rockers Greenleaf have spent a decent portion of this year in celebration of the 25th anniversary of their self-titled debut EP (discussed here), and that indeed is a worthy cause. Looking back on that outing, its simple, organic nature is perfectly suited to nostalgia; it was something of a nostalgic sound to begin with. Something influenced by classics becoming classic. The march of generations, and such.
But of course, Greenleaf have more to offer than looking back. Their 2024 album, The Head and the Habit (review here), was supported by tours last Fall and this Spring, and the band will continue on in November, hitting the road for club dates in the post-fall-fest style. The tour runs nine days in Germany, Switzerland, France and Spain, which isn’t the most expansive run they’ve ever undertaken, but covers a decent amount of ground in the time allotted.
If you’ve never seen Greenleaf, hot they do the thing onstage is a big part of why I think of them as one of the best rock bands in the world. I’ve had the good fortune a few times at this point, and if you’re in their path, either for this tour or at any point, consider yourself lucky.
From Sound of Liberation on socials:
⚡️GREENLEAF – EUROPEAN TOUR 2025⚡️
Swedish stoner rock heavyweights Greenleaf are returning to the road this November, bringing their signature mix of thunderous riffs, fuzz-drenched grooves, and unstoppable live energy to clubs across Europe! 💥
Expect a wild ride of pure rock power – loud, heavy, and straight from the heart. Don’t sleep on this!
Here are the full tour dates: 21.11.2025 (DE) München, Feierwerk 22.11.2025 (CH) Aarau, Kiff 23.11.2025 (FR) Lyon, Rock’n Eat 24.11.2025 (FR) Toulouse, Rex 25.11.2025 (SP) Barcelona, Upload 26.11.2025 (SP) Madrid, Bolte 28.11.2025 (FR) Marseille, Molotov 29.11.2025 (CH) Martigny, Caves Du Manoir 30.11.2025 (FR) Colmar
Don’t miss this powerhouse live experience – tickets available now! 🎟️
GREENLEAF is: Arvid Hällagård – vocals Tommi Holappa – guitars Sebastian Olsson – drums Hans Fröhlich – bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 22nd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
What was originally the vinyl-only bonus track of Dozer‘s Man’s Ruin-issued second album, 2001’s Madre de Dios (featured here), “Rings of Saturn” heralds a new rare-tracks compilation from the long-running Swedish heavy rockers. I don’t know what eras of the band this covers, but I promise you this isn’t something I knew was coming when I did that succession of closing out three weeks with Dozer‘s early split singles with Demon Cleaner (discussed here, here, and here) at the end of last month into this one. Rewind to Return will be a double-LP, and there’s certainly plenty of other off-album releases Dozer could pull from.
A bonus track, for example. It had been a while since I heard “Rings of Saturn,” which was long enough to forget the killer groove that the youngins lock in for the second half of the song. If you know the record, it’s got the same turn-of-the-century buzz in the tones, and there’s a visualizer up for it that you can check out at the bottom of this post.
Coincident to the release is a return for tour dates on the US West Coast. As with Domkraft, this will likely be on the same artist visa — these considerations are existential on financial terms for a band who want to travel — they got to play Desertfest New York 2024 (review here), and the underlying message there is buy lots of merch because they invested a shit-load of money into putting themselves in the US at all. They’ll be out with Abrams and Moon Destroys, the latter of whom just wrapped a run with Elder and Sacri Monti as well.
Here’s word from the PR wire:
Stoner rock legends DOZER to release “Rewind to Return: Rarities, Singles and B-Sides” double album on Blues Funeral Recordings; US summer tour announced
In celebration of their 30th anniversary, Sweden’s godfathers of stoner rock DOZER announce the special release of the “Rewind to Return: Rarities, Singles and B-Sides” double album on August 1st via Blues Funeral Recordings and share a first excerpt with “Rings of Saturn”. Don’t miss them on their upcoming European and US shows!
Formed in 1995 in the town of Borlänge, Sweden, DOZER led the earliest wave of stoner/desert rock, a fusion of proto-metal, riff-rock and punk that blasted forth from Scandinavia and Europe in response to the tectonic heft and sun-baked fuzz of American bands Kyuss and Fu Manchu.
30 years on, DOZER are heralded as undisputed forerunners of a movement and champions of volcanic energy. Their status was affirmed in 2023 with the release of the landmark Drifting in the Endless Void, an amp-splitting return that dominated best-of lists and turntables, which Distorted Sound called, “a perfectly executed stoner album and then some” and was dubbed “an outstanding comeback” by Hellfire and “a magnetic fireball of propulsive hooks and cosmic majesty” by Decibel. This renewed dominance led to DOZER’s first US tour in 20 years and set the stage for their three-decade milestone in 2025.
DOZER have always been prolific. Driven by take-no-prisoners energy, they’d hit the studio often, laying down songs in rapid-fire batches with little concern for schedules and album planning, and their early days saw the band self-release a multitude of small-run 7-inch singles that tapped into their DIY leanings and allowed forward momentum at maximum velocity. More songs surfaced on compilations and as limited-release b-sides, while others went into the proverbial vault.
In celebration of their 30th anniversary, DOZER enthusiastically present Rewind to Return, a double album of singles, rare tracks and b-sides from across their prolific history. Neither a chronological document nor a comprehensive collection of every non-album track, this is a carefully considered selection of the band’s favorites, chosen for their meaning and impact, brilliantly remastered by Karl Daniel Lidén and assembled to create the best possible record to commemorate DOZER’s vast catalog and untouchable legacy.
TRACKLIST: 1. Tanglefoot 2. Hail The Dude 3. Centerline 4. Southern Star 5. The Electrocuter 6. Universe 75 7. Serpent’s Head 8. Rings Of Saturn 9. She 10. Mammoth Mountain 11. Silverball 12. Star By Star 13. Season of Giants 14 Vinegar Fly 15. 2 Ton Butterfly
DOZER further underscore three decades at the forefront of the scene with a handful of European dates in 2025, along with a live return to the US this summer, embarking on a West Coast tour with spectacular up-and-comers ABRAMS and MOON DESTROYS supporting the monumental run.
European festival dates May 3 – Izegem, Belgium @ Headbanger’s Balls Fest May 23 – Berlin, Germany @ DesertFest Berlin October 17 – Thessaloniki, Greece @ Eightball Club October 18 – Athens, Greece @ Arch Club Nov 14-15 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Fuzz Festival
Return to the Endless Void US Tour 2025 (with Abrams and Moon Destroys) August 7 – Las Vegas NV @ The Swan Dive August 8 – Los Angeles CA @ Lodge Room August 9 – San Diego CA @ Brick By Brick August 10 – Palmdale CA @ Transplants Brewing August 12 – San Francisco CA @ Bottom Of The Hill August 13 – Eureka CA @ Savage Henry Comedy Club August 14 – Eugene OR @ John Henry’s August 15 – Portland OR @ Dante’s August 16 – Vancouver BC @ Rickshaw August 17 – Seattle WA @ Substation
DOZER is: Tommi Holappa – Guitar Fredrik Nordin – Guitar/Vox Johan Rockner – Bass Sebastian Olsson – Drums
Like their two preceding shared releases — 1998’s Demon Cleaner vs. Dozer (discussed here) and 1999’s follow-up Hawaiian Cottage (discussed here) — the split 7″ Domestic Dudes was released through Molten Universe, the label helmed by Dozer guitarist Tommi Holappa. And because it’s the last of the three, it’s easy enough to think of these four songs and 13 minutes as a springboard that sent both of these outfits toward releasing their debut full-lengths in 2000 — that’s Dozer‘s In the Tail of a Comet (featured here, discussed here) and Demon Cleaner‘s The Freeflight (discussed here); note that Lowrider also had their first album and Greenleaf, who pulled members and guests from all three bands, had their first EP in 2000; good living in Sweden at the turn of the century (also now) — and sure enough, there are easy-enough-in-hindsight arguments to be made that that’s what’s happening.
I’m not sure there’s actually such a thing as being ‘ready’ to make an album, since plenty of great ones have been put out by people who obviously weren’t ‘ready’ in any convential sense for what would result. It’s a cliché that rock critics throw out there — myself included (at least in the cliché part; I’m not sure I count as a critic anymore) — as a way of saying, “I think this band could make a record I’d think is cool,” and since it’s generally intended as a compliment and is kind of milquetoast, nobody really blinks. Fine.
By the same token, to listen to Demon Cleaner‘s “Taurus” and “45” and Dozer‘s “Octanoid” and “Hail the Dude,” even in comparison to the work they were doing just a year earlier in 1999, I think you can hear a progression of sound and purpose that helped solidify their respective identities going into their 2000 LPs. Neither of these Demon Cleaner tracks would show up on The Freeflight or the band’s subsequent 2002 self-titled swansong, but they’re for sure on the trajectory of where that album was coming from, loosely grooving and plenty brash in the buzz of “45,” taking the desert roll of “Taurus” and the little bit of a jam they throw into the solo section and paring it back to the most essential components, then setting it to run.
Kyuss still very much is a defining influence — for both bands at this stage, really — but by the end of “45,” Demon Cleaner gave a picture of where they were headed, and given the limitations of the 7″ format they were working in for what was either intended as a series from the start or just became one as they went on, the fact that they manage to give a dynamic expression of their sound in just six minutes and two well-paired tracks speaks to how generally underrated Demon Cleaner‘s work is to begin with. That whole stopped-after-the-second-record thing probably has something to do with that. Bottom line though, Demon Cleaner were onto something here, and though they wouldn’t be a band anymore by the time five years passed after Domestic Dudes came out, they did manage to realize at least some of the potential they showed in these three nascent splits.
“Octanoid,” with its standout pottymouth chorus and the emergent distinctive throaty swagger of guitarist Fredrik Nordin, will be recognizable from Dozer‘s second album, 2001’s Madre de Dios (featured here), and I don’t know that “Hail the Dude” is or isn’t about The Big Lebowski, but it’s possible, as that film was also released in 1999. In any case, with a howl of guitar after the drum count-in and a steady stoner-rock-when-it-was-stoner-rock-now-we-call-it-classic janga-janga in the verse, “Hail the Dude” is exactly the kind ‘lost’ track that has for years been begging to show up on a compilation release of some sort, but I’ve harped on that enough these last couple weeks, and the songs themselves make the argument better than I could anyhow.
I’d be curious to know if Dozer and Demon Cleaner — and you’ll notice that they’ve switched back to Demon Cleaner vs. Dozer on the cover art; for Hawaiian Cottage, Dozer had top billing — went into Domestic Dudes knowing it was the last of three, or if there was no plan to start with, or what, because there’s such a palpable sense in listening to it of both acts being all in. On the first split, they’re beginning to get a sense of who they are, but by the third, Demon Cleaner have a firm grip on their intent in “Taurus” and “45,” and while Dozer would move past the desert-fuzzed style after their second record and find a more individualized take, at times aggressive, at times spacious, and still evolving these many years later, their 2023 comeback, Drifting in the Endless Void (review here), boasting a richer sprawl after a 15-year studio absence.
But you knew that, so right on. I know these guys are plenty busy. As previously noted, Demon Cleaner‘s drummer was Karl Daniel Lidén, who not only would go on to play in Dozer and Greenleaf, but would record those bands as well as countless others, his work as producer having no less of an impact on the shape of Swedish heavy across a generation than his contributions as a musician. He continues to produce and/or mix killer records — had a hand in High Desert Queen‘s album last year, which ruled — and this clique of players, from Dozer to Greenleaf, Demon Cleaner, Lowrider, probably a couple others from around then, still exists in terms of collaborating with each other and the friendships that these three platters helped solidify.
And it would just be the bloggiest thing ever for me to tell you that those friendships are what’s most important, that it’s the sense of community and support in the heavy underground that makes it so special in a world that’s come to be defined largely by its cruelties and isolation. All true. But while I’m glad at least some of the relationships here continue on to this day, because it’s nice to have friends or so I’m told, that has little to do with the actual listening experience. As far as a takeaway from the third of the trilogy: understand that Domestic Dudes isn’t really the finish, but barely the beginning of what either of these acts would accomplish. They’re still young, hungry, and yes, both bands also sound ready on whatever level one might think of to take the next step. Obviously they were about to do exactly that.
As always, I hope you enjoy, and I hope you’ve enjoyed all three of these over the last couple weeks. I’ve wanted to write about these forever and it was a lot of fun to dig in. Maybe some day they’ll make a fourth. You never know.
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Rough week. I’ll be honest, my head’s been elsewhere pretty much since Wednesday. The Pecan’s having trouble at school. She went after a para at lunch who pulled her away from getting into it with another kid, and we had to go pick her up yesterday early. It sucked. The Patient Mrs. and I were an hour away when we got the call, trying to chase down a check so she can buy a car that ended up taking us to a credit union on the campus of (wait for it) West Point, which was surreal even before you get to the gummy I’d eaten. But yeah, that was a long-ass, quiet drive back from West Point to the school. Gut-wrenching.
You feel terrible for the kid. It’s not like she doesn’t know what she’s doing is wrong, she just can’t stop it. She gets overwhelmed and lashes out. The para touched her. I’m sure the kid was doing some goofy shit or calling her names or whatever — there’s a whole set of boys in her class she’s having trouble with the last few weeks and it’s turned her world to shit — but she apparently went after him and then the para and there you go. That was a shitty pickup to live through.
We kept her home today. She’s in the bedroom watching Mark Rober — a new obsession, at least a decent portion of it is science — and will likely be there until hunger makes it untenable. The Patient Mrs. is home today too and the sun looks like it’s daring to come out, so leaving the house might happen at some point. That would probably be advisable, anyhow.
But the kid had a great weekend last weekend, including Monday off, which we spent all day at the arcade at the mall. We even played Super Smash Bros. for N64, which felt like a parenting achievement I didn’t know I’d been waiting for for years, and she got into it deep on some skeeball like the Jersey girl she is, and had a ton of fun. We saw family and family friends and she’d had a decent day last Friday enough that we didn’t get a call and so I thought going into Tuesday maybe upping her meds had helped. Not so much.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were each a wreck and so here we are Friday.
This isn’t our first time in this position as parents. Honestly, after the rough start to kindergarten last year, which was a fucking trauma, I was hoping we were done. Now I’m wondering if this is how it’s going to be and if so, if that’s where we are, how we’re going to move forward. Not only getting her back in school as soon as possible, where she belongs by any measure, but what can be put in place so that the escalation of the last couple weeks stops before somebody gets hurt.
It’s fucking difficult. It’s been a difficult week, and absolutely, I’ve been distracted from what’s going on around here. There’s been a lot of cool shit though, it was a good week. I’m doing my best to keep my head in it, and as usual The Obelisk is a bit of therapy for my brain, even if I’ve come to spend more time complaining about the back-end work of running the site than I used to.
Next week is a Quarterly Review. I’ll start working on it tomorrow. It’s seven days, and then after that I’m going to Roadburn and then I’m taking like a day off after that and that’s basically April. I’ve got premieres set up through the end of the month after the QR and fest coverage, and then we’re into May. It’ll be 2028 before I know it. Shit, she’ll be in fourth grade. That’s almost middle school.
Have a great and safe weekend. Hydrate, watch your head, try and have some fun. Things are hard. Take your moments where and when you can, and if you need to breathe, breathe. Thanks as always for reading.
