Posted in Whathaveyou on February 9th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Sort of a new single, anyhow. Swedish progressive heavy fuzz rockers Skraeckoedlan have never been shy when it comes to bilingualism. Their debut album, 2011’s Äppelträdet (review here), is a decade old this year, and as the band embarks on re-recording some older tracks that were originally in English in their native language, they’re beginning next Friday (Feb. 19), with “Universum,” originally known as “Universe” on that first record.
So it’s a new single from an older track. I haven’t heard “Universum” yet — the cover art for it rules and can be seen below — but being familiar with Skraeckoedlan‘s general modus, it would be a remarkable surprise if the lyrics are the only change between “Universe” and “Universum.” As 2019’s Eorþe (review here) made plain, the band continue to develop new sonic ideas around their central heavy template, and it seems only reasonable to expect that will apply to these new recordings as well.
I don’t know how many tracks Skraeckoedlan have redone in this manner, if it’s one or two or they’ll be sprinkled throughout the year as the band presumably also eventually looks to return to the road, but this has been a group worth following for over 10 years now, and frankly, they’ve yet to steer wrong. I consider myself fortunate to have seen them live.
They announced the single thusly:
We have re-recorded a couple of old tunes that was released with english lyrics, but this time in swedish.
The first one ‘Universum’ will be released 2021-02-19. Can not wait to show you, they sound massive.
Recorded and produced by Erik Berglund at Massiv Musik
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 27th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Swedish heavy rockers Greenleaf will release their eighth full-length, Echoes From a Mass, on March 26 through Napalm Records. To coincide with this righteous news, the four-piece have a new video to unveil for opening track “Tides” from the 10-song outing, and, well, it’s just a joy to behold. It’s been since last March that the band said they were writing with an eye toward early 2021 — so hey, nice that somebody’s plans for 2020 came together, if likely not in the way they imagined. If we’re being honest with each other — and I hope we are — this is probably one of the three records I’m most looking forward to in 2021. The other is Yawning Sons and I’m leaving an open space for later. So yeah, it’s gonna be good.
The esteemed Karl Daniel Lidén produced, and the art deco-style cover is by Lowrider’s Peder Bergstrand (who also took the photo above and made the video below), so Greenleaf are keeping noble company as ever. I’ve already started putting together interview questions to bug guitarist Tommi Holappa with when the time comes. Can’t wait.
Preorders are up, video’s at the bottom here. Dig:
GREENLEAF Announce New Album Echoes From A Mass Out March 26, 2021 via Napalm Records
Listen/Watch the New Single + Music Video “Tides”!
2021 is destined for heaviness: Sweden’s finest stoner rock four-piece GREENLEAF have just announced their upcoming full-length, Echoes From A Mass, out March 26 via Napalm Records! The successor to their 2018 epic, Hear The Rivers, is poised to disperse their renowned sludgy energy to all disciples of the genre.
Once again, GREENLEAF have combined all of the finest stoner metal ingredients for their forthcoming offering – impacting with a prog and psychedelic-laced punch that accents the Swedes’ already motile sonic firmament. Heavy desert riffs, sprawling drums, captivating melodies and grooving rhythms make their new record an absolute must-listen.
Their first single, “Tides”, and its intense official music video, immediately draw the listener into a swirl of guitar driven soundscapes, while Arvid Hällagård’s remarkable voice merges with hypnotizing background vocals, ceremonially inviting the listener into a heavy reverie.
GREENLEAF on the new album: “2020 was a shitty year for sure but there was at least a little bit of light in the darkness, Echoes From A Mass was written and recorded! This is an album that we are extremely proud of and we hope you will like it as much as we do.”
Once again, GREENLEAF prove that they dare to think outside the box and deliver a heavy roller comprised of Sebastian Olsson’s rumbling drumming performance, fuzzy guitars, Fröhlich’s haunting bass lines, Arvid Hällagård’s powerful yet ghoulish vocals and undeniable heavy stoner, southern desert and blues vibes. Echoes From A Mass was recorded at Studio Gröndahl in October 2020 by former band member Karl Daniel Lidén, who also mixed and mastered the record at Tri-Lamb Studios. Lidén is recognized for his work with well-known acts such as Katatonia, Bloodbath, Lowrider and Crippled Black Phoenix, to name a few.
Echoes From A Mass Tracklisting: 01. Tides 02. Good God I Better Run Away 03. Needle in My Eye 04. Love Undone 05. Bury Me My Son 06. A Hand of Might 07. March on Higher Grounds 08. Hang On 09. On Wings of Gold 10. What Have We Become
Echoes From A Mass will be available in the following formats: – 1 CD Digipak – 1 LP Gatefold Vinyl Black – 1 LP Gatefold Vinyl Cream/Black – 1 CD Digipak + Patch Bundle – 1 CD Digipak + Shirt Bundle
Line-up: Arvid Hällagård: Vocals Tommi Holappa: Guitar Hans Fröhlich: Bass Sebastian Olsson: Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 12th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
There isn’t really a wrong answer to the question of what’s your favorite era of Dozer, but golly, their later work? I love that shit. 2005’s Through the Eyes of Heathens (discussed here), and 2008’s Beyond Colossal (discussed here)? I won’t say a bad word about their first three records unless you count cursing when I say “holy shit this is good” but the Small Stone era is what I most often reach for when I need that Dozer fix. The more aggressive punch of their songwriting, the ferocity of their forward drive that’s so much their own. Sign me up for that every time.
And the Vultures EP (review here) that came out digitally in 2013 and was taken from pre-production work for Through the Eyes of Heathens was like the icing on that particular cake. An unexpected bit of “hey you know that thig you love well here’s some more of it” that no one knew was coming. Or I didn’t, at least.
Heavy Psych Sounds, which already oversaw reissues of the first three Dozer LPs, will now stand behind the first physical pressing of Vultures — with revamped art by Lowrider‘s Peder Bergstrand — and reissues of Through the Eyes of Heathens and Beyond Colossal in February. Preorders are up now. I think my position on whether or not you should place one would be obvious.
From the PR wire:
Heavy Psych Sounds Records & Booking is really proud to start the presale of HPS147 – DOZER – Vultures
– first time printed on vinyl and digipak with bonus track –
Today we are extremely proud to start the presale of the DOZER album VULTURES – printed for the first time on vinyl and digipak !!!
We are also repressing two DOZER albums: Through The Eyes Of Heathens + Beyond Colossal
RELEASED IN : 10 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL 200 ULTRA LTD CORNETTO white background/purple stripes VINYL 400 LTD GOLD VINYL BLACK VINYL DIGIPAK
TRACKLIST The Blood Is Cold – 5:12 The Impostor – 4:11 Last Prediction – 3:21 Vultures – 3:42 Head Ghosts – 4:45 To The Fallen – 5:07 + unreleased bonus track Vinegar Fly (Sunride cover) – 4:35
ALBUM DESCRIPTION
Vultures is a first time pressed EP of the swedish stoner band Dozer. Recorded in 2004-2005 at Rockhouse Studios in Borlänge, these six tracks were used as pre-production demos for what would later become the fourth Dozer album, 2005’s Through the Eyes of Heathens.
The album is now released for the first time on vinyl and digipak with a very special unreleased bonus track, a cover of the Sunride song Vinegar Fly. Vultures is a real heavy-stoner explosion, something that only Dozer can provide..
The amazing artwork is made by Lowrider leader Peder Bergstrand.
HPS148 *** DOZER – Through The Eyes Of Heathens*** – REPRESSED in brand new coloured versions –
Progressive fuzz heavy hitters Skraeckoedlan originally released their second album, Sagor (review here), in 2015, and it was something of a special moment for the band. Foremost, it was a chance for them to prove decisively that their 2011 debut, Äppelträdet (review here), was no fluke, and further, it was a moment that allowed them to reach a wider audience by releasing through Razzia Records in their native Sweden. I guess it went well — they’re still a band, and they’ve only garnered more notoriety over the last five years since Sagor came out, touring and last year releasing the follow-up LP, Eorþe (review here) through Fuzzorama. Fair enough they might want to revisit that time, and The Sign Records, which previously reissued the first album in 2018 and is also doing another pressing, obliges with a subsequent Sagor LP reissue.
“Doomedag” as I understand it was a bonus cut on the original LP pressing of Sagor that’s never been digitally released before. The only version of it I could find anywhere was a live show from 2017, and while that looked like good fun, with the band in a small venue packed onto a stage, headbanging and all that kind of thing, it’s hardly the most representative of the track itself. All the better then, that here, on the day Sagor is being reissued — and that new pressing of Äppelträdet as well — comes a video for the studio version of “Doomedag”; something that hasn’t appeared online before to support an album initially put out five years ago. You’d almost think these things were planned in advance.
But anyhoozle, you’re gonna dig the track, which is on the shorter and less epic end of Skraeckoedlan‘s sound and has some pretty awesome push behind it from the drums. Plus the single has the art above, and that alone is worth the price of admission, which if you’re keeping up, is nothing. This premiere kind of came in last-minute, but hell, I dig the band and I dug Sagor when it came out, and I’ve legitimately never heard this song before, so I’ll take it. Doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that, really.
The Sign Records re-release the second album “Sagor” by Skraeckoedlan on colored vinyl August 14. The album, which turns five years old this year, will be released on 180g double LP with gatefold cover. The first pressing is limited to 1000 copies, and the vinyl is available today.
“Mountains. Colossal peaks stretch past the darkened clouds and further into the cosmos. In the leviathan’s towering shadow the landscape is left black, like the uncertainty of eternity. Only a pulse remains. A barely noticeable but steadily growing sensation, a promise of direction in the fangs of darkness. Through the dream we escape time, to the brink of infinity where love thrives.”
To celebrate the 5 year anniversary of their album Sagor, Skraeckoedlan is now releasing a song that previously only was to find as a bonus track on the original print of the vinyl. The song is called Doomedag, and is a song about finding yourself, to always look ahead and not to be scared about the unknown. The album was recorded in numerous studios with different technicians and producers during a two year period. The band collaborated with Daniel Bergstrand (In Flames, Meshuggah, El Caco) and Niklas Berglöf (Ghost) among others.
The artwork has been made by Johan Leion, who also designed the debut album, Äppelträdet.
“Sagor” will be available in 1000 copies of colored, 180g gatefold double LP. Besides the re-release of “Sagor”, The Sign Records will also release a new pressing of Skraeckoedlan’s debut album “Äppelträdet” in 500 copies of 180g purple vinyl.
Skraeckoedlan: Robert Lamu – Vocals/Guitar Henrik Grüttner – Guitar Erik Berggren – Bass Martin Larsson – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 1st, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Swedish modern progressive heavy rock/metallers Skraekoedlan originally released their second album, Sagor (review here), in 2015 through Razzia Records, and I recall at the time thinking it was kind of a curious fit, as they mostly release pop and not stuff quite so hard-hitting as Sagor was. There was some relation to In Flames, if I remember right. I don’t know. Whatever it was, the album didn’t seem to get the love it deserved, so I’m glad to see it being reissued on vinyl through The Sign Records. The label also reissued Skraeckoedlan‘s debut, 2011’s Äppelträdet (review here), in 2018, and that’s being pressed again as well. The more the merrier.
Preorders are up. Here’s the info from the PR wire:
Skraeckoedlan to re-release second album “Sagor” on colored vinyl
The Sign Records will re-release the second album “Sagor” by Skraeckoedlan on colored vinyl August 14. The album, which turns five years old this year, will be released on 180g double LP with gatefold cover. The first pressing is limited to 1000 copies, and the vinyl is available for pre-orders today.
Skraeckoedlan’s second album “Sagor” was released in June 2015 on Razzia / Sony Music. The album was praised by both critics and fans, and the physical release has for long been difficult to obtain. This year, the album turns 5 years old. To celebrate this, Skraeckoedlan has partnered up with The Sign Records for a physical re-release of the vinyl. The band has previously collaborated with the label – in 2018, The Sign Records released a repress of Skraeckoedlan’s debut album “Äppelträdet”, and in the fall of 2019 Skraeckoedlan headlined The Sign Records’ traveling festival “The Sign Fest”.
Robert Lamu, vocalist and guitarist in Skraeckoedlan, states:
“We are very happy to finally be able to re-release our album “Sagor” on vinyl after 5 long years. This album means a lot to us, and it feels good to finally be able to offer it on the format it was meant for.”
“Sagor” will be available in 1000 copies of colored, 180g double LP. Like the original, the album will have a gatefold cover. In addition, the design of the cover artwork will have a few changes. Besides the re-release of “Sagor”, The Sign Records will also release a new pressing of Skraeckoedlans debut album “Äppelträdet” in 500 copies of 180g purple vinyl.
The re-release of “Sagor”, as well as the new pressing of “Äppelträdet”, will be out on vinyl format August 14. Both albums are available as pre-orders today.
Posted in Features on March 18th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Man’s RuinRecords, which put out the first two Dozer albums in 2000’s In the Tail of a Comet (discussed here) and Madre de Dios (discussed here), had folded. At the same time, the Swedish four-piece — still working with the lineup of guitarists Tommi Holappa and Fredrik Nordin (the latter also vocals), bassist Johan Rockner and drummer Erik Bäckwall — had well earned momentum on their side both from the quality of the two records they’d put out and the tours they’d done to support. They’d done vinyl releases before through their own Molten Universe imprint, including the LP version of Madre de Dios, so when it came time to unveil 2002’s third album, Call it Conspiracy (also discussed here), rather than take the time to chase down another label, they simply pressed the album themselves.
That choice is important in understanding where the band were at stylistically at the time as well. Call it Conspiracy is an urgent 13-track shove, more crisp in its production and more assured in its drive, less distinctly desert rock than either of its predecessors, and it therefore marks a turning point in Dozer‘s sound. They could hardly be said to have been lacking in identity before it, but even though it had only been a year, there’s a marked shift that takes place between Madre de Dios and its follow-up, though the band’s songwriting — on display right from the start with the essential opening one-two punch of “The Hills Have Eyes” and “Rising” — was more resilient than ever, and Call it Conspiracy remains a fan favorite even some 18 years after its initial release. They’re the kinds of songs a promoter might ask to hear twice and then the DJ would play through the P.A. afterwards anyhow, but I suppose the same could be said of the entire Dozer catalog.
After Call it Conspiracy, Dozer signed to Detroit-based Small Stone Records and offered up 2005’s Through the Eyes of Heathens (discussed here) and 2008’s Beyond Colossal (discussed here). By 2005, Bäckwall was out of the band. He and Rockner can currently be found in moody atmospheric rockers Besvärjelsen. In the meantime, around 2007, Tommi Holappa‘s long-established side-project Greenleaf began an ascent to the forefront that, as Dozer receded following the 2008 offering, would only continue to shift the balance between the two groups. A succession of albums and tours that in some ways answers the stylistic progression that Dozer left behind, but with its own, bluesier sensibility as well, took shape, and even now awaits its next installment, as Greenleaf recently announced they were writing their next full-length for release on Napalm Records.
As Call it Conspiracy is the third in the trilogy of Dozer releases being reissued through Heavy Psych Sounds, and this is the last of the full-album-streams/interviews to coincide, I’d like to send my thanks to the label, to Purple Sage PR and of course to Tommi Holappa for allowing me to host the records and do the Q&As. These records have meant a lot to me over the years and I’m glad they’re getting back out there again. The more who hear them, the merrier.
Thanks for reading. Please enjoy:
Call it Conspiracy Q&A with Tommi Holappa
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Call it Conspiracy marked a shift in Dozer’s sound away from desert-style heavy rock. How purposeful was that progression? Was there a reason behind it, or was it just the way your sound evolved?
When we started writing songs for C.I.C. we could early on hear that we were going in a different direction on some of the songs, which I think was just natural growth of the band, new influences and maybe not wanting to do the same album over and over again. We still wanted to have a fat heavy sound but maybe it didn’t have to be the fattest and fuzziest sound in the world, this is when we decided to tune up our guitars half a step to make everything sound a little bit clearer.
The biggest change was definitely that we hired a producer for this album. All the earlier albums and demos were recorded by Bengt Bäcke (Greenleaf) at the Rockhouse studio in Borlänge. This studio was a simple demo studio but it worked just fine for the first albums. We thought it was time to try something new and see what happens so we hired Chips Kiesby, he had produced High Visibility with The Hellacopters which was an album we all loved. So a producer and a “professional” studio (Music-a-matic in Gothenburg) was the biggest change.
It was only a year’s space between In the Tail of a Comet, Madre de Dios and Call it Conspiracy, but the band seemed to go through so much growth. How do you feel your songwriting process changed over that time? What was it like being in Dozer in 2002 as opposed to 1999 or 2000?
Well it was a year between the releases but in the end I think it took a year for Man’s Ruin to release In the Tail of a Comet so when it came out I think we already had most of Madre de Dios written. But yeah we were growing fast, we didn’t want to be stuck in one place and write the same song over and over again. The more albums we put out the more time we put into trying to write better songs.
Of course, Call it Conspiracy also helped set up the progression across Through the Eyes of Heathens and Beyond Colossal. How do you feel about the thread of Dozer’s work overall?
If you listen to the albums from first to last you can really hear a band that keeps growing the whole time. The first and last albums are almost like two completely different bands but you can still hear that it is Dozer and that is the most important thing.
Anything in particular you’d like to add about Call it Conspiracy? Any other standout memories to share about this time in the band?
This was a crazy and fun time for us! We toured a lot! We did support act tours with Clutch and Mastodon in Europe, we did shows in US, Canada and Australia for the first time.
Also Karl Daniel Lidén joined the band to replace Erik Bäckwall on drums. With Daniel’s energy, heaviness and kick in our asses we started the writing for Through the Eyes of Heathens, but that’s another story.
Will there ever be another Dozer album?
There are no plans at the moment for an album or anything but It would be fun to at least try to write a song together with the guys and see how it would turn out. It’s been 12-13 years since we last wrote together so it would definitely be interesting.
Posted in Features on March 16th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Dozer‘s second album, Madre de Dios, will see reissue this Friday on Heavy Psych Sounds, and if the arrival just a week after In the Tail of a Comet (streamed/discussed here) feels quick, consider that in reality the sophomore LP came out just a year after the debut — so it was quick then as well. Born in 2001, Madre de Dios was pressed to vinyl through the band’s own Molten Universe imprint and to CD through Man’s Ruin Records, with different artwork for each, and despite the speedy turnaround from its predecessor, already one could hear growth in the sound of the Borlänge, Sweden, four-piece, who were beginning to take the desert rock style that had typified the first album and their earlier demos and splits and reshape it to their aesthetic will, consciously or not, through the seemingly simple act of honest songwriting.
With the returning lineup of guitarist Tommi Holappa, guitarist/vocalist Fredrik Nordin, bassist Johan Rockner and drummer Erik Bäckwall, songs like “Freeloader,” “Octanoid,” “Soulshigh,” the spacey “TX-9” and indeed, opener “Let the Shit Roll” — about which Holappa shares a good story below — showcased a fast progression on the part of the band, who were beginning to reach for a faster, sometimes more aggressive, sound that, ultimately, was more their own. In hindsight, it’s easy to look at Madre de Dios as a turning point from who Dozer were in their nascent days to who they’d become as they began to mature as a group, but the same could be said more or less of every album up to the last, since once it got underway, their progression never really stopped bringing their sound to new and exciting places in terms of craft.
But in 2001, fuzz was still king in Dozer‘s sound, and Madre de Dios‘ 10-track/39-minute run is as righteous a conglomeration of hairy riffs as one could ever hope to encounter. Propelled by the gallop in Bäckwall‘s snare and the emergence of Nordin as a frontman, from the moment the shit starts to roll, right down to the aptly-titled closer “Thunderbolt” — which even in its reissue form keeps the stretch of effects noise at the end — the record is sharp in its execution and still somehow laid back in its groove, as though Dozer were pushing that defining line of heavy rock and roll as far as it could go, testing those boundaries while actively working to find their place in (and/or out) of them. As a band, at this point they were on the road, and as part of the post-Kyuss movement of “stoner rock,” Dozer were helping to shape what we know today as the heavy underground. Their influence and their songs continue to resonate.
By which I mean Madre de Dios still kicks ass. Hear for yourself above. Holappa talks about it below.
Please enjoy:
Madre de Dios Q&A with Tommi Holappa
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Tell me about being in the studio for Madre de Dios. What do you remember your attitude was coming off of the first record, and was there anything in particular you wanted to do differently with the second one?
After the first album was released we wanted more, bigger and better! Releasing albums and touring was fun! So we couldn’t wait to go back into the studio and record another album.
I´m pretty sure the attitude was that we just wanted to write the best songs we could and record an album that sounded fat as hell!
To be honest I can’t remember much of the recording session of this album, only some bits and pieces, it has nothing to do with drinking too much in the studio or anything it’s just that it’s so damn long ago hahaha! I remember that I got my Russian Big Muff and my Gibson SG just before this album so those two were used a lot.
The original CD and LP wound up with different covers. Was that a choice on the part of the band, or maybe Man’s Ruin? Do you feel that one or the other better represents the album?
The story is that Man’s Ruin didn’t want to release it on vinyl so we asked them if we could release it ourselves via Molten Universe. They were okay and we said cool, then we release it with different artwork and put a bonus track on it. I personally prefer the vinyl artwork and the song “Rings of Saturn” is on it, one of my favorite early tracks.
What was the reception like in Sweden specifically to the band at this point?
It was ok but nothing compared to Germany and some other central European countries. So most of the touring was done outside of Sweden where people actually showed up to see us hahaha!
How hard was Dozer touring at this point? What was the reception like to this material live? Are there any memories that stand out from the Madre de Dios era that you can share?
At this point we had started touring quiet a lot. Reception was good, outside of Sweden of course hahaha. “Let the Shit Roll” was a song that usually got the crowd going nuts and I have actually one pretty funny story about that song.
We were in Zurich/Switzerland and the DJ at the club started playing “Let the Shit Roll” just before we were about to go on stage, fuck! Why do they that song now!? What do we do? Should we just skip the song from the set or?! Fuck it let’s just play it!
Anyway we did our set and played “Let the Shit Roll” and I don’t think anyone cared that they heard it twice. We went off stage and the crowd was screaming for more so just when we were about to go on stage again to play the encores the promoter came up to us and asked if we can play “Let the Shit Roll.” We told him that we already played it and we will play a couple of other songs instead but he really kept going on and on about how much he wants to hear it, so he offered us one more case of beer if we would play it.
We went up on stage and of course we had to play it again! It’s free beer! And free beer is good beer! Hahaha! So we played “Let the Shit Roll” a second time and a couple of more tracks. When we were done we go off stage and guess what song the DJ starts playing? “LET THE SHIT ROLL!”
Anything else in particular you’d like to say about Madre de Dios?
I got the idea for the album title from an episode of The Simpsons.
One could go on and on about how important or influential Dozer‘s early work and essential first album, In the Tail of a Comet (discussed here), has been over the 20 years since its release. The Borlänge, Sweden, four-piece — then comprised of guitarist Tommi Holappa, guitarist/vocalist Fredrik Nordin, bassist Johan Rockner and drummer Erik Bäckwall — had already amassed a decent catalog of short releases by the time the record came out through Man’s Ruin in April 2000, mostly splits with fellow Swedes Demon Cleaner, but also 1999’s Double EP split with Unida (discussed here) and the 1998 demo tape Universe 75 (discussed here), but it was the album that really solidified who Dozer were as a band and brought their yeah-we’re-from-Sweden-and-we-play-fuzzed-out-desert-rock-deal-with-it, all-go thrust and groove approach to its point of peak asskickery.
And that’s the thing about In the Tail of a Comet. Yeah, without it, an entire generation of Swedish heavy rock that followed in Dozer‘s wake probably sounds much different, but at its heart, the album just rocks. It’s a pretense-free collection of ultra-fuzz riffs and hard-hitting, unabashed stoner rock vibes. Coming just a few years after the dissolution of Kyuss and two years after the first Queens of the Stone Age, it was a part of the ascendant international heavy rock underground, a good deal of which was fostered through Frank Kozik‘s Man’s Ruin Records in bands like Acid King, Los Natas, Alabama Thunderpussy, Goatsnake, and so on.
Joining those ranks for their first release, Dozer unleashed a collection of songs that has only gotten better with time. In the prime of the CD era, when albums regularly stretched past bloated 50-minute runtimes, In the Tail of a Comet was a taut 37-minute LP with not a moment to spare, and its tracks were front-to-back high-grade heavy. Nordin‘s voice was unmistakable from the start, tossing off lyrics about getting high while flying through space or whatever the hell it was as he and Holappa led the charge with riffs on cuts like “Supersoul,” “Speeder,” “Inside the Falcon,” “Riding the Machine,” “Grand Dragon,” and “High Roller” — or, you know, the whole record, really — while Rockner and Bäckwall alternated between swing and thrust behind, utterly locked in for the duration and charged with an energy that would become yet another signature of Dozer‘s approach, carrying them through the sonic progression that In the Tail of a Comet helped to launch.
As the record turns 20 and receives a well-earned reissue out this week on Heavy Psych Sounds to be followed by 2001’s Madre de Dios and 2003’s Call it Conspiracy on March 20, Tommi Holappa takes a few moments to reflect on In the Tail of a Comet and what it was like to be in Dozer at the time. Much laughter ensues. The band still plays periodically, of course, but it’s been 12 years since their last LP, and these days, Holappa is much more likely to be found in Greenleaf, who have started writing a new album with plans to record this Fall. The following interview begins a series of three that will continue next week covering the next two albums in Dozer‘s catalog, all of which remains crucial.
Please enjoy:
In the Tail of a Comet Q&A with Tommi Holappa
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It’s been 25 years since Dozer started, and 20 years since the first album. What was it like being in Dozer during those early days? What do you remember about doing the splits with Demon Cleaner and how did you feel going into your first record?
What I remember the most from the beginning of Dozer is that it was very carefree and simple times. When we started the band we had just figured out that you can actually tune down your guitars to make them sound heavier and cooler and if you ad a fuzz pedal to that, then it would blow you away! So the songwriting was easy! Play a riff, add more fuzz to it… done! Maybe it wasn’t this easy but that’s how I remember it… hahaha!
The Demon Cleaner 7” splits were a lot of fun to do! After the first release it became kind of a friendly competition between us and Demon Cleaner, something like, “We have two songs ready for the next split, hope you have songs ready too because our songs will kick your ass!” hahaha!
We sold some demo tapes at the local records store here in Borlänge before this but the first split that came out in 1998 was our first official release.
After this came the Unida/Dozer split EP which was a huge thing for us as well, can you imagine to get asked to do a split John Garcia’s new band? Well we were blown away! Kyuss was the band that showed us that we can tune down our guitars.
So when we got signed to Man’s Ruin we felt like we were ready to release our first full-length album.
How did signing to Man’s Ruin Records come about? Tell me about that process.
When we felt it was time to start looking for a label to release our first full length Man´s Ruin was the only label we could think about. They had released stuff with all the coolest bands that we looked up to and we wanted to be one of those cool bands as well…hahaha! We never thought they would sign us but we sent a four or five track demo cassette (yes kids we are old hahaha) to them anyway. A couple of weeks later I checked my e-mail and there was a mail from Man’s Ruin and yeah the rest is history. One more funny thing about the whole thing is that we only sent out this one demo and we got signed, we didn’t send demos to any other labels.
What do you remember about being in the studio for In the Tail of a Comet? What was that experience like as compared to later Dozer records? How did you feel about it when it first came out and how do you feel about it now?
I don’t remember a lot from this specific recording, I remember it was recorded on tape, there were no computers around. The computer was invented just before we recorded Madre de Dios hahaha!
All the early stuff we recorded was recorded really fast and the more records we released the more time we put into songwriting and getting the right sounds, etc., etc. But I think In the Tail of a Comet still holds to this day! I´m proud of it!
What was the response like to In the Tail of a Comet at the time?
From what I remember the response was mostly good! Of course every once in a while people called us Kyuss clones or something, but fuck them, now we were on Man’s Ruin and we were one of the cool bands hahaha!
Anything else you’d like to add about In the Tail of a Comet in particular?
We had a hard time coming up with good album title so we just stole one, hahaha! It’s from one of our favorite Clutch songs, I’m not telling which one…
