Posted in Whathaveyou on March 22nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Would it be funny if I said I didn’t get the reference in ‘Tom Cruise Control?’ Probably not. “What’s a ‘danger zone’?,” and so on. Meh.
The news is still good, as Boston heavy rockers Gozu send first word of their upcoming album, Remedy, which will be out May 19 through Blacklight Media. It is their second full-length for the label — which is an imprint of Metal Blade Records — behind 2018’s Equilibrium (review here), as well as their third to be recorded with Dean Baltulonis, who also helmed 2016’s Revival (review here). The PR wire has it as their fifth long-player overall, and my count is six, but I guess it depends on how you situate their 2008 self-titled. Well, I just checked the band’s Bandcamp and they call it a demo, so there you go. Remedy is number five.
In case you’re looking at the tracklisting and curious, I looked up “CLDZ” and it’s a cannabis-infused drink company — whose beverages look lovely — owned in part by Baltulonis. I bet that’s a good-ass song. Sadly, I haven’t heard the record yet to confirm for myself. There’s time.
And until then, the four-piece have a video up for Remedy‘s first single, the aforementioned “Tom Cruise Control,” and it’s a riffer for all seasons, topped with a career performance from Marc Gaffney on vocals. The chorus hits with harmonies that are a technology I don’t understand and so can only think of as magic, the kick is heavy and aggro in the verses, and Doug‘s fuck-it noise shred is on point, while Joe Grotto joegrottos it on bass, holding the nod as they build toward the finish past the four-minute mark. Hot shit. It’s a fuckin’ burner. Sign me up.
Today started out pretty rough. This made it better:
GOZU ANNOUNCE FIFTH ALBUM ‘REMEDY’ OUT MAY 19 BLACK LIGHT MEDIA/METAL BLADE
BAND SHARES “TOM CRUISE CONTROL” VIDEO
Boston’s GOZU — Marc Gaffney (vocals and guitar); Joseph Grotto (bass); Doug Sherman (lead guitar); and Seth Botos (drums) — return riffing and screaming with their fifth full-length Remedy.
Today, the band has shared the video for “Tom Cruise Control.” Watch it here.
“‘Tom Cruise Control’ will take you riding into the danger zone,” the band shares. “It will take you right into the danger zone! Turn ‘n Burn.”
The record was engineered, mixed, and mastered by Dean Baltulonis (Death Ray Vision, The Hope Conspiracy) at Wild Arctic studios in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The album will be available via Digital/Streaming, CD, and vinyl. The U.S. vinyl variant will be Blue/White Melt, while the European vinyl variant will be Red/Black Melt.
About the album Gozu says, “A wise man said, ‘To rock is human, to roll is divine. Gozu’s Remedy should be cranked at full volume, all the time.”
REMEDY TRACK LISTING: “Tom Cruise Control” “CLDZ” “Rambo 2” “Joe Don Baker” “Pillow Talk” “The Magnificent Muraco” “Ben Gazzara Loves No One” “Ash” “The Handler”
Gozu will also hit the road this May. “On May 19, Gozu hit the road with some serious BGVs. Get ready to stop, drop, and open up shop! See you all at a club near you. Woooo.”
GOZU ON TOUR: 5/19 — Brooklyn, NY — Saint Vitus 5/20 — Philadelphia, PA — Kung Fu Necktie 5/21 — Pittsburgh, PA — Green Beacon Gallery 5/23 — Indianapolis, IN — Black Circle * 5/24 — Columbus, OH — Ace of Cups * 5/25 — Newport, KY — Southgate House/Revival Room * 5/26 — Chicago, IL — Reggies / Music Joint * 5/27 — Lincoln, NE — Cosmic Eye Brewery 5/28 — Denver, CO —The Crypt 5/30 — Houston, TX — Black Magic Social Club 5/31 — Austin, TX — The Lost Well 6/1 — Arlington, TX — Division 6/2 — New Orleans, LA — Gasa Gasa 6/3 — Nashville, TN — Springwater * 6/4 — Atlanta, GA — Boggs Social & Supply * 6/5 — West Columbia, SC — New Brookland Tavern * 6/7 — Raleigh, NC — The Pour House * *With Ancient Days
VIDEO CREDITS: Director, Editor, Animation & VFX: Shawn Reilly PunchDance Studios Studio Manager- Frank Pino JR Grip: Alex Fiorentino
GOZU is: Marc Gaffney – guitar and vocals Joe Grotto – bass Doug Sherman – lead guitar Seth Botos – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 22nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
In the ever-present question of “crunch or crush,” Boston’s Morne realize that it in no way needs to be one or the other. The doom-tinged aggressors have signed to Metal Blade Records — congrats on that, by the way; pretty much the dream — and are currently dig into the recording process for their next full-length, to be released hopefully sometime before the end of the year. Honestly, if it’s November or even early December, I think that makes sense for Morne‘s sound, which to me speaks of cold Massachusetts winters where the sky is just grey from late Fall until, oh, May or so, and you never see the sun and everybody gets even angrier at each other and the only thing stopping the masses from rioting at any given moment is the continued success of the local sports franchises. It’s an intense season, the northern winter. I’m surprised everybody doesn’t play black metal up there, but I suppose that’s a different conversation. In any case, in 2015, Morne put out The Coming of Winter, so they would seem to know it as well.
I was fortunate enough to catch Morne at the 2019 Roadburn Festival (review here) as they supported their 2018 LP, To the Night Unknown, which was released by the band in collaboration with Armageddon Shop. Their next outing is being recorded with the esteemed Kurt Ballou, a parenthetical snippet of whose pedigree you can see below, which is no doubt a promise of continued bludgeonry. So much the better. The four-piece will also travel to Germany for Hell Over Hammaburg, where they’ll play with the likes of Sanhedrin, The Ruins of Beverast, High Spirits and others. Good fun.
The PR wire tells the tale:
Metal Blade Records Announce the Signing of Morne
Metal Blade Records is proud to announce the signing of Boston, Massachusetts’ MORNE who are adding their brand of crusty and ethereal doom to the label’s celebrated roster. The band is currently recording a new album with Kurt Ballou (Converge, Cave In, High On Fire) for release in late 2023.
“We are wrapping up the recording session at GodCity Studio with Kurt Ballou in Salem, Massachusetts. This will be our fifth studio album and we are very excited that a legendary label like Metal Blade is releasing it to the universe.” comments MORNE vocalist Milosz adding that “music and words for this album were written during stressful and challenging times and life changing moments and I hope people will find something for themselves in this album and enjoy it. I’m very grateful that Metal Blade helped us put it all together.”
Metal Blade GmbH Label Manager, Markus Grasseck, had this to say about the signing: “We’re very excited to welcome MORNE to our Metal Blade family. Being a fan of the band since their Demo 2008, it’s a great honor to finally work together for the years to come. The band’s unique blend of atmospheric Doom with Crust attitude is unparalleled and we can’t wait to get this out to as many people as possible. Brace yourself for their new album due out this fall!”
In other news, MORNE will be heading over to Hamburg, Germany to perform at this year’s Hell Over Hammaburg Festival in March. More festival details can be found here: helloverhammaburg.blogspot.com
MORNE is: Miłosz Gassan – vocals, guitars Paul Rajpal – guitars Morgan Coe – bass Billy Knockenhauer – drums
About the band: Formed in 2005, MORNE blends doom metal and classic British crust but stretches beyond those boundaries, combining a bleak lyrical style with driving riffs. Four studio albums have been released to date with the band currently recording material for their 5th studio album. Their first, Untold Wait, was on Feral Ward Records in 2009 then in 2011, the band signed with Profound Lore Records and released Asylum that same year, followed by Shadows, in 2013. Their latest, To the Night Unknown, was released in September of 2018 on Armageddon Label and the band’s own Morne Records. The band has toured the US, Canada and Europe, where they have been part of large festivals such as Roadburn, Hellfest, Quebec Deathfest, Psycho Las Vegas, Into the Void and Blow Up the Gramaphone.
Posted in Reviews on September 23rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
See you back here Monday, huh? Yeah. If onslaughts of new music are your thing and you’ve been following along throughout this week — first, thank you — and second, we’ll pick up after the weekend with another 50 albums in this double-wide Fall 2022 Quarterly Review. This was a good week though. Yesterday had some genuine killers, and I’ve added a few to my best-of lists for the end-of-year stuff to come. There’ll be another Quarterly Review then too. Never any trouble filling slots with new releases. I’ve already started, in fact.
Madness. Didn’t I say something yesterday about one thing at a time? Ha.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
Crippled Black Phoenix, Banefyre
There are times where I wonder if Crippled Black Phoenix aren’t just making fun of other bands, their audience, themselves, and everything, and then there are times when I’m pretty sure they are. To wit, their latest outing for Season of Mist, Banefyre, is nearly an hour into its 90-plus-minute runtime before they offer up the 10-minute “Down the Rabbit Hole,” and, well, if we’re not down it by then, where the hell are we? See also “Wyches and Basterdz” near the outset. Whatever else they may be, the long-running, dynamic, progressive, dark heavy rock troupe surrounding founding songwriter and guitarist Justin Greaves are like nothing else. They offer shades of influences, discernable elements from this or that style, this or that band — “The Reckoning” has a bit of The Cure, “Blackout77” filters that through Katatonia, etc. — but are never working to be anyone but themselves. Accordingly, the thoroughly British depressive triumphs throughout Banefyre — looking at you, “I’m OK, Just Not Alright” — are part of an ongoing narrative of creative development that will hit its 20th year in 2024 and has offered listeners an arc of emotive and stylistic depth that, in whatever genre you want to try to confine it, is only ever going to escape. The only real tragedy of Banefyre is that they’ll probably have another record out before this one can be properly digested. That’ll take a few years at least.
An Oklahoma hardcore-born circus of sludge-toned tragedies personal, cultural and socioeconomic played out across nine songs/42 minutes held together at times seemingly most of all by their disenchantment, Chat Pile‘s debut album, God’s Country is arthouse angularity, raw aggression and omnidirectional intensity. As the UK’s post-industrial waste once birth’d Godflesh, so now come vocalist Raygun Busch, guitarist Luther Manhole, bassist Stin and electronic-drummer Cap’n Ron with brilliantly constructed tales of drugs, murder, suicide, loss, violence, misery, and general wretchedness of spirit, presented instrumentally with quick turns that draw from hardcore as noted, but also death metal, sludge, industrial doom, and so on. The lyrics are masterful drug poetry and delivered as such, semi-spoken, shouted, some singing, some acting out, such that you never know from what direction the next punch is coming. “Why” tackles homelessness, “Pamela” demonstrates the impossibility of coping with loss, “Slaughterhouse” is what it says, and closer “Grimace_Smoking_Weed.jpeg” resolves its nine minutes in long-held feedback and crashes as Busch frantically screams with decreasing intelligibility until it’s even words anymore. A perfect finish to a stunning, terrifying, moving first album. Don’t go into it expecting listenability. Even as “I Don’t Care if I Burn” offers some respite, it does so while describing a murder fantasy. It’s not the only one.
Fuck yes Gen-Z doom. Yes. Yes. Yes. Show the old men how it’s done. Please. Not a gray hair in the bunch, or a bullshit riff, or a lazy groove. Early Moods got their influences in line with their 2020 debut EP, Spellbound (review here), and you can still hear some Candlemass in “Broken,” but their self-titled debut LP stamps its foot to mark their arrival as something new and a fresh take on classic ideas. Vocalist Alberto Alcaraz is a distinct presence atop the hard-distorted guitars of Eddie Andrade and Oscar Hernandez, while Elix Feliciano‘s bass fuzz-rumbles through the interlude “Memento Mori” and Chris Flores‘ big-room-ready kick counts in the Trouble‘d early highlight “Live to Suffer.” Later on, “Curse of the Light” leans into the metal end of classic doom metal ahead of the chugging roll of “Damnation” and the finisher “Funeral Macabre,” but Early Moods have already put these things in play by then, as demonstrated with the eponymous title-track. Songs are tight, crisply produced, and executed to style with a promise of more growth to come. It’s an easy record to get excited about, and one of 2022’s best albums. I might just buy the tape and the CD.
Less than a year after a return born of celebrating the project’s 10th anniversary with the Ink fo’ Blood (review here) full-length, prolific visual artist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and singer Alexander von Wieding returns with Larman Clamor‘s latest, With a Deadly Hiss. As ever, formalities are dispensed with in favor of deceptively intricate arrangements of slide acoustic and electric guitar, whatever’s-around-style percussion and von Wieding‘s telltale throaty vocals, which on “Swamp Jive” and even a bit of the six-minute finale “Eleventh Spell to Cast” draw back the throaty grit in favor of a more melodic, somewhat less performative delivery that suits the material well. Songs are mostly short — there are 11 of them and the aforementioned closer is the longest by about three minutes — but each is a blinking glimpse into the humid, climbing-vine world of von Wieding‘s creation, and in instrumentals like the manic percussion of “Monkey and the Trash Goblins” and the distortion-backed algae-delica of “Iguana at the Fountain,” the brashness of “Tortuga” and the playful falsetto of the leadoff title-track are expanded in such a way as to hint of future paths to be explored. One way or the other, Larman Clamor remains an entity unto itself in concept, craft and delivery, and if With a Deadly Hiss is just another forward step en route to the next stop on down the road, even better.
Recorded in 2021, The Necromancers‘ third album would seem to have a mind toward picking up where the Poitiers, France-based four-piece left off pre-pandemic with 2018’s Of Blood and Wine (review here). Can hardly blame them, frankly. Now self-releasing (their first two albums were on Ripple), the semi-cult heavy rockers bring an air of classic metal to the proceedings but are remarkably cohesive in their craft, with guitarist/vocalist Basile Chevalier-Coudrain fronting the band even in the studio as demonstrated on the ’80s metal roller “The Needle,” which follows the eight-minute doom-adjacent unfolding of “Crimson Hour” — and that “adjacent” is a compliment, by the way; The Necromancers are less concerned with playing to genre than with it — wherein guitarist Robin Genais adds a short but classy solo to underscore the willful grandiosity. Bassist Simon Evariste and drummer Benjamin Rousseau underscore the grooves, prominent in the verse of the title-track, and while it’s guitars up front in traditionalist fashion, the truth is all four players are critical here, and it’s the overarching affect of the whole that makes When the Void Rose such an engaging listen, rather than the individual parts. That is to say, listen front to back for best results.
Though instrumental across its vast stretches, Les Lekin‘s Limbus — their first full-length since 2017’s Died with Fear, also on Tonzonen, and third overall — begins with a verbal message of hope, lyrics in German, in the beginning intro “Licht.” That gives a specifically covid-era context to the proceedings, but as the subsequent three massive sans-vocal pieces “Ascent” (14:14), “Unknown” (8:18) and closer “Return” (22:00), unfold, they do so with a decidedly otherworldly, deeply-weighted psychedelic verve. The narrative writes itself in the titles, so I’ll spare you the pretense of insight (on my part there), but note that if it was escapism through music being sought on the part of the meditative Salzburg three-piece, the richness of what’s on offer throughout Limbus is generous enough to share that experience with the audience as well. “Ascent” swells and builds as it moves duly upward, and in “Unknown,” the trio explores post-metallic atmospherics in a crunching midsection without ever losing sight of the ambience so central to what they’re doing, while it would be hard for “Return” not to be the highlight, drums and initial bass rumble giving way to a huge sounding, engrossing procession of atmospheric density. Les Lekin have been a critical favorite for a while now, and it’s easy to hear why, but their work here holds far more than academic appeal or to-genre conformity. They embody the release they would seem to have sought and still carry an exploratory spirit despite the clearly charted course of their songs.
LightShower is the fourth session from Hungarian jammers Highbay to see release in the last year-plus, and it arrives with the immediately noteworthy backing of Psychedelic Source Records. In the vein of many of that collective’s offerings, it is live recorded, probably improvised, and wholly instrumental, the trio vibing their way into a groove early on “Walking on Bubbles” and holding gently to that locked-in, entranced feel across the following five jams. The shimmering guitar tone, particuly as “Miracle Under Water” moves into the more extended “Spaceship” and the pleasantly funky “FunKing Dragons Above Fissure Mountains,” is a highlight, but the intention here is a full set, and I won’t take away from the fuzzier, riffier emergence later on in “FunKing Dragons” either, or, for that matter, the ready-to-wander post-rock float of closer “3D(ays) Trippin’.” It’s a big universe, and Highbay have their work cut out for them if they want to feel their way through all of it, but “Spaceship” mellows its way off into a greater beyond, and even “Hungover Sadness (’90s Romance)” manages to not be a drag as filtered through the trio’s chemistry. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t be the last time Highbay are heard from this year, but they’re yet another name to add to the list of Psychedelic Source-associated acts whose jammy sensibilities are helping manifest a new generation of Eastern European lysergic rock and roll.
Think of this as less of a review and more of a general reminder to throw a follow in the direction of Berkeley, California’s dug-in-as-hell Sound Animal, or at very least let your ears pay a visit every now and again to soak up some of the weirdo drone, dance, psych electronics and whatever else might be had on any given afternoon from the prolific solo-project. “Yes, Yes, You” is the latest single, but likely not for long, and it plays out across 3:33 of keyboardian ambience and recitations of the titular reassurance that would be soul-pop were they not so definitively experimental and part of such an ongoing creative splurge. Tucked away in a corner of the Bandcamp dimension, Sound Animal comes across as an outlet for ideas as much as sonics, and with the persistent thud of a beat beneath, one, two, three, four, the melodic serenity of the wash feels like direct conversation, with the listener, the self, or, more likely, both. It is beautiful and brief, as I’m told life also is, and it may just be the thing that came after one thing and before the next, but if you stop for a minute or three and let it sink in, you just might find a more substantial place to reside. Not gonna be for everyone, but the fact that “Yes, Yes, You” is so vague and yet so clearly encouraging rather than accusatory speaks to the artistic purpose writ large throughout Sound Animal‘s e’er expanding catalog. Wouldn’t be surprised or sad to find a subsequent single going somewhere else entirely, but again, just a reminder that it’s worth finding that out.
Somewhere between classic metal and doom, heavy rock’s riff-led impulses and cultish atmospheres there resides the Pesaro, Italy, trio Warcoe and their debut album, The Giant’s Dream. Led by guitarist/vocalist Stefano — who also plays bass on some of the later tracks — with bassist Carlo and drummer Francesco proffering thickened roll and punctuating rhythm all the while save for the early acoustic interlude “Omega Sunrise,” the band nestle smoothly into a modern-via-not-at-all-modern sphere, yet neither are they retro or aping ’70s methodologies. Maybe that moment has passed and it’s the ascent of the ’80s metal and doom we’re seeing here — or maybe I just slated Warcoe and Early Moods the same day and both bands dig Trouble and Death Row/Pentagram, I won’t pretend to know — but the bass in “Fire and Snow” is more of a presence than bass was pretty much ever 40 years ago, so to call The Giant’s Dream anything but ‘now’ is inaccurate. They lean into rock on “Thieves, Heretics and Whores” and manifest grim but stately lurch before the fade of the penultimate “Scars Will Remain,” but wherever each piece might end up, the impression is abidingly dark and offers a reminder that Italy’s history of cult doom goes farther back than most. Paul Chain, Steve Sylvester, your legacy is in good hands.
Hard to find info on the Boston or Boston-adjacent extreme-metal-inflected, sludge-toned dark hardcore outfit DONE — and that may just as well be anti-social-media mystique creation as the fact that their name is ungooglable — but the tape slays. Aged and Untreated hammers 15 scathing tracks into its 28 minutes, and dies on a hill of wintry black metal and barking hardcore mostly but not completely summarized in the turns of “Soulsplitter.” The fun part is when they bounce back and forth, throw in some grind on “To Curt on Waverly,” scratch your eyes out with “Dance for Them” — the second cut behind says-it-all-in-a-minute opener “Nah” — and willfully crash into a wall on the comparatively sprawling 2:35 “I Fucking Hate Thinking About You.” Haven’t seen a lyric sheet and probably won’t if my success rate in tracking down relevant factoids is anything to go by, but shit, I lived on the South Shore for seven years, including the record-breaking winter of 2014, and it sure felt a lot like this. Maybe they’re from Arizona, and if they are, I’m sure some hack would say the same thing, but hell’s bells Aged and Untreated is an intense listen, and its wreck-your-shit violence is meted out such that even the slightly-slower punch in the first half of “Hope Trickle” makes the song feel sarcastic. I wouldn’t put it on every day, but yeah. Righteously pissed.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 23rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Gozu have finished recording their new album. Their sixth full-length, the yet untitled outing continues the Boston-based heavy rockers’ collaboration with producer Dean Baltulonis at Wild Arctic Studio in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who also helmed 2018’s Equilibrium (review here) and 2016’s Revival (review here), released on Metal Blade Records imprint Blacklight Media and Ripple Music, respectively.
As of now, the next LP is reportedly slated for a May 2023 release, also on Blacklight Media, and will also mark the first on-record appearance of drummer Seth Botos, who joined last fall. And I’m not saying I’ve heard any of the unmastered tracks or anything like that, but if you’ve been on board with the aggressive turn the last couple albums have taken, bringing metallic shove to coincide with the heavy rock groove and soul-bent melodicism. Dudes have only been on a tear for, I don’t know, a decade. No big deal. Also, there’s a song called “Joe Don Baker,” so anyone who’s ever watched the ‘Mitchell’ episode of MST3K should be immediately pleased.
More news to come on the album, of course, but in the meantime, Gozu‘s October tour is coming up, with more dates added since it was first announced in August. Have riffs, will travel. Find those show dates below, including stops at Desertfest Belgium and Heavy Psych Sounds Fest:
Our Euro tour kicks off in 3 weeks!! Couple of open dates on here so reach out to @heavypsychsounds_records if interested!! Giddy Up!! Poster by @hellespont_alhambra
Says Gaff: “We are extremely excited to get back over to Europe after this sensitive hiatus. New songs, new outlook and new attitude! What’s that delicious sound you hear? Sounds like more. Giddy up!”
FRI 14.10 2022 ANTWERPEN-DESERTFEST SA 15.10.2022 SAARBRUCKEN- HORST SU 16.10.2022 OPEN SLOT MO 17.10.2022. LJUBLJANA CHANNEL ZERO TU 18.10.2022 VIENNA ARENA BEISL WE 19.10.2022 OLDENBURG MTS RECORDS W/ NICK OLIVERI TH 20.10.2022 KIEL-SCHAUBUDE FR 21.10.2022 BERLIN-HPS FEST SA 22.10.2022 DRESDEN-HPS FEST SU 23.10.2022 SALZBURG ROCKHOUSE MO 24.10.2022 OPEN SLOT TU 25.10.2022 OPEN SLOT WE 26.10.2022 BASEL IRRSINN BAR TH 27.10.2022 ZURICH-SAFARI BAR FR 28.10.2022 FONTANAFREDDA-ASTRA SA 29.10.2022 ZEROBRANCO SIDRO
GOZU is: Marc Gaffney – guitar and vocals Joe Grotto – bass Doug Sherman – lead guitar Seth Botos – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 15th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Boston heavy rockers Gozu began recording their next album in February, and I believe they’re in the ‘getting close’ phase of the process, if it’s not already done. I haven’t heard it, if it’s finished, but Europe will get a preview as the four-piece head abroad for a run of dates around festival appearances at Desertfest Belgium in Antwerp and the two Heavy Psych Sounds Fests in Germany. You can see there’s a fair amount of open dates here — and I know I always say that if you can help, you should, but it applies all the more here. Gozu don’t just get out every year like it’s a never-ending album cycle and their last record, Equilibrium (review here), came out in 2018. They’re due and you can help make it a party. Who wouldn’t want to do that? There are few things more noble in my brain.
I mean that, too. Since I was nine years old, before I even knew what a bar/venue was, I wanted to open one. Third grade. Never had the money to do it and likely never will, but if you or someone you know with a space can help these guys out, duh. Time’s a wasting.
From social media:
Update!
Euro Tour News:
Things are looking nice!!! We currently have some dates that are still open so please Write to: info@heavypsychsounds.com for all booking inquiries.
FRI 14.10 2022 ANTWERPEN-DESERTFEST SA 15.10.2022 SAARBRUCKEN- HORST SU 16.10.2022 OPEN SLOT MO 17.10.2022. OPEN SLOT TU 18.10.2022 VIENNA ARENA BEISL WE 19.10.2022 OPEN SLOT TH 20.10.2022 KIEL-SCHAUBUDE FR 21.10.2022 BERLIN-HPS FEST SA 22.10.2022 DRESDEN-HPS FEST SU 23.10.2022 OPEN SLOT MO 24.10.2022 OPEN SLOT TU 25.10.2022 OPEN SLOT WE 26.10.2022 OPEN SLOT TH 27.10.2022 ZURICH-SAFARI BAR FR 28.10.2022 FONTANAFREDDA-ASTRA SA 29.10.2022 OPEN SLOT
We look forward to seeing you!! #tour #europe #heavypsychsounds #heavypsychsoundsrecords
GOZU is: Marc Gaffney – guitar and vocals Joe Grotto – bass Doug Sherman – lead guitar Seth Botos – drums
Posted in Questionnaire on July 26th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Mike Patton of 3 Parts Dead
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Yikes, first question and I’m not sure how to answer. I guess I’ll stick to what’s relevant and just say I’m a musician, with the assumption that that encompasses playing, creating, listening, and generally experiencing it. It came about pretty organically – some of my first memories are around listening to music, some of my best memories growing up are around playing it… Can’t imagine ever not surrounding myself with it.
Describe your first musical memory.
The Beach Boys at the Compaq company picnic when I was 5 years old. First live show, big outdoor shindig with a bordering on festival vibe (at least to a 5 year old), and I loved every second of it. Right up until some glowsticks I had exploded in my eyes and sent me to the ER. Good times.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Another doozy of a question… Haha, it’d be so easy to go with the “cool” memories (neat shows we’ve played, meeting idols), or the funny memories (road stories, spinal tap moments)… But those really just make for fun stories or brags. I guess really it was one particular rehearsal. We had recently gone from a four-piece to our current three-piece, and that first jam with the three of us… it was so fucking freeing. I knew there was interpersonal tension and conflict, but it wasn’t something I had really fully realized was hanging over the band before that – like we’d show up, do our jobs (play), and then pick the drama back up.
But we started to play, and the lack of stress and tension and WEIGHT, and just the way we were able to jam and have the creative juices flow again… I don’t even remember what we jammed on (I think at least one of the tracks from our 2nd EP Master was written then). But I distinctly remember that feeling of relief, and being able to breathe and just enjoy playing with my brothers in a way I had forgotten. I had always idealized the “a band is a gang” mentality, and it got replaced along the way with the “a band is a business/marriage/collective endeavor” mentality of you suck it up and ignore differences and just endure because of whatever… and that jam, I got back to just doing something I love with some dudes that I love.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Fuck man. I’ve read these things many times before, but I guess I completely forgot what you asked when I volunteered myself. I don’t know, I’m not really sure I have many firmly held beliefs, or that any of those have been tested. I don’t have any real spiritual or religious beliefs, I don’t have any faith in politics or people… I was going to follow that up with saying that I believed in my friends and family, but I guess that’s actually probably a valid answer to this question. Without getting into specifics, I’ll just say there have been plenty of let downs there. Part of me says that’s my fault for forgetting they’re people too (which I’ve already established I have no faith in), and part of me says sometimes it’s worth keeping the faith.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I guess that depends on the artist? Some artists progress in a circle, some meander through different climes and times, some grow, some evolve, and some don’t progress at all. I also think it’s a question that can be answered completely differently depending on how you experience the artist’s journey – if you like the Use Your Illusion (or Chinese Democracy), your answer is probably pretty different from someone that is stuck on Appetite. Speaking for myself and my progression… I have no idea. I can barely tell you where I’m at today, much less where I’m going. Let me know if you know where I’m heading!
How do you define success?
For me, at least artistically, I think it’s the moments where something I’ve helped to create is able to connect me with someone else. That can be moments where we’re on stage or rehearsing or in the studio and connecting with each other, moments where the crowd is into it and connecting with us, or moments when someone takes the time to say I dig something you’ve put out there. Commercial success is just the financial ramification of connecting with more people (that would be nice too).
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Haha, fuck man, again? I don’t know… Too many friends die too young, the opioid/fentanyl/mental health crisis (which have all contributed to that first point), 2 girls one cup, the most recent Mötley Crüe tour, the cultural takeover of social media and cell phones… The world is a dark place. But hey, I’ve avoided the Kardashians so far!
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I’d love to write a novel. I’ve spent so many hours transported to the most amazing places, taken on the most incredible journeys, by books. When I was a bored and lonely kid in a new school (we moved a good amount growing up) I would sit at my desk and just escape. To this day a good book provides a break from whatever I need a break from, even if it’s my own head. I wrote a few questions ago about my artistic success lying in being able to create connections – that is a kind of connection that I would love to explore someday.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Haha, I’m sensing a theme in my answers here…. Connecting with people. I could also (and many other people have) describe it as moving people, transporting them, making them think or feel or experience or forget or remember. From the artists perspective, maybe it’s putting yourself out there, exposing yourself, risking yourself, expressing yourself. But really I think those are all facets of just creating a connection. And I think that’s something we desperately need in a world that feels increasingly isolated.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I’m planning on heading to France for the Rugby World Cup with my family and some friends next year as an early birthday celebration. That should be pretty awesome.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 14th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
New in the sense of new-to-you and new-to-me, the second single from Boston four-piece Blood Lightning, who boast in their ranks members of Worshipper, Gozu, Sam Black Church and We’re All Gonna Die, is called “Blankets.” Clocking in at shortly under four minutes long, it fuses metallic aggression and heavy rock melody and groove, the vocals of Jim Healey layered at the forefront and pushing alongside the central riff of Douglas Sherman while Bob Maloney locks in bass and J.R. Roach manages the stomp of the drums, building tension in the verse, opening it up in the chorus, classic in its construction and borderline nasty in the execution.
Last year, Blood Lightning put up “The Dying Starts” (posted here), and “Blankets” arrives just as the band are about to take part in the sixth edition of the Grub, Sweat & Beers fest at O’Brien’s in Allston, MA. It’s a fitting tie-in, since Sherman and Healey — along with Aaron Gray of Grayskull Booking — put together the fest in the first place. It is an annual gathering of friends and tunes with a lineup drawn from New England’s evergreen underground, and if Blood Lightning have it in them to hit stage this Saturday with half the vitality Benny Grotto at Mad Oak captured in this studio version of “Blankets,” then there’s nothing to worry about. Apart, obviously, from liver damage.
Info on the track (the player’s at the bottom of this post) as well as the lineup and ticket links for Grub, Sweat & Beers Six follow here:
New Blood Lightning Track – Blankets
New Track!! See us this weekend at Grub Sweat & Beers Six: Day 2
“Blankets was a Doug riff that we all got together and hashed out in the rehearsal space. This was the second tune we wrote after The Dying Starts and I feel like it’s a pretty good representation of us,” says Jim Healey.
Recorded and mixed by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studios in Allston, MA. August 2021 http://www.madoakstudios.com
Mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music http://www.westwestsidemusic.com
GRUB SWEAT & BEERS LINEUP O’Brien’s, Allston, MA
Day 1 Fri, Jul 15- 8pm doors Ectovoid Night Hag Chained To The Bottom of The Ocean Wretched Inferno
Day 2 Sat, Jul 16, 2022 1PM Birnam Wood Blackwolfgoat Blood Lightning Blue Manic Cartridge Death Strider Evil 80 Gog Greylock Mollusk Paul Jarvis Sexless Marriage Waelmist Wire Lines
Posted in Questionnaire on June 2nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Curtis Caswell of High Karate
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I define what I do as performing in a rock band. I know it is probably cliché to say I don’t like to put labels but I feel like as a singer in this band I draw from all sorts of music from Metal, to stoner, doom, noise, punk, sludge and grunge. I hope that when people listen to us they can hear all of that in the music.
Describe your first musical memory.
My first musical memory is listening to old 45’s of Frank Sinatra with my grandmother. She would get so excited to play them for me and sing along. This was definitely what got me interested in playing music myself.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Touring in Belgium with Cortez when we were signed to Buzzville Records and playing shows with Brant Bjork, Monkey3 and Deville.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I feel like this is tested all the time. I have always had a really hard time when people treat others poorly especially talking down to or disrespecting women. It is difficult for me to ignore a situation where someone is hitting on or making a woman feel uncomfortable. It has gotten me into some trouble in the past.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Artistic progression should lead to a continued evolution to the art. If you can build upon what has been done in the past and morph into something better, be it song structure, technical prowess etc. In order to do that you have to be able to accept criticism as well as praise. Art is subjective once you realize that some things are palatable to some but also to abhorrent to others it should allow you to grow.
How do you define success?
Success to me is really being grateful enough to be able to perform for people. Be it 20 or 2000 the process of being able to go out on stage and perform night in and out is incredible. If you’re fortunate enough to build a larger fan base while doing so it icing on the cake.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Unfortunately when I was a teenager I saw someone get shot. That stills gives me nightmares to this day.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I would love to be able to play all the instruments on a track. I think that would be cool it will probably never happen. That or I would like to write a screen play or learn to sculpt.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
The most essential function of art to me is having spaces where art can be created. In a lot of cities especially in Boston these creative spaces are being taken away by investors buying the properties and forcing these places to close down with nowhere for the musicians, painters, radio stations, etc., to go. We need to make sure we keep these places and really become advocates for the arts. Go out to an art exhibit, support local music or we will might see ourselves in an Orwellian future.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I love to go hiking in the summer and travel. So looking forward to doing that as the warm weather starts soon.
