You’re just going to have to take my word for it when I say I don’t mean this as condescendingly as it might sound: but I think it’s fucking awesome that Void King and Boudain are teaming up for European tour dates. Seriously. If either band winds up seeing this post, good for you guys. Way to live the fucking dream, get off your asses and make it happen.

The Indiana and Louisiana-based acts will head out beginning in Den Haag on Oct. 26 and make their way around Belgium and Germany en route to Kampen, back in the Netherlands, for the Off the Record Festival on Nov. 4. No question the fest is the occasion/impetus behind the tour, since both bands head abroad supporting 2016 releases that came out through Off the Record Label, and while it’s not the longest run, and they’re not the biggest bands in the world, for every US-based group I’ve ever had talk to me about how perfect life would be if only they could get over to Europe and do shows, it’s awesome to see two bands actually putting it together like this. Warms my heart. I mean it.

Info from the PR wire:

VOID KING / BOUDAIN to Launch European Tour in October

Indiana’s VOID KING and Louisiana’s BOUDAIN will embark on a European Tour in late October. The Stoner Rock Double Threat will perform in The Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium, including Kampen’s (NL) Off The Record Festival. Tour dates are below.

Oct. 26 – The Hague, Netherlands @ Vereniging de vinger
Oct. 27 – Wommelgem, Belgium @ JH Wommel
Oct. 28 – Antwerp, Belgium @ Kid’s Rhythm ‘n Blues Kaffee
Oct. 29 – Osnabrük, Germany @ Dirty Dancing
Nov. 2 – Gouda, Netherlands @ StudioGonz
Nov. 3 – Arnhem, Netherlands @ Brigant
Nov. 4 – Kampen, Netherlands @ Off The Record Festival

If there is nothing, as we have long suspected, then let the Void take us there. Let the volume of the oncoming storm compel us forward, into what can only be considered to be our one true calling; to praise the riff.

Void King is:
Derek Felix – drums
Chris Carroll – bass guitar.
Jason Kindred – voice.
Tommy Miller – electric guitar.

BOUDAIN’s Way of the Hoof is a storm of Space, Pork, and Riffs! Recorded at SpaceLab 420 studios, the follow-up to the band’s 2013 EP is perfect for anyone who enjoys the kind of groove that makes you want to smoke out, grill out, and chill with the swine.

Boudain is:
Brian Lenard – guitar
Chris Porter – bass/vocals
David Karakash – guitars
Stephen Jester – drums

http://voidking.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/voidkingband/
twitter.com/_VoidKing
https://boudain.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/boudainla/
https://twitter.com/Boudainmusic

Void King, There is Nothing (2016)

Boudain, Way of the Hoof (2016)

Few things in life are better than spending a full day at a fest with a killer lineup, and so I’m happy as hell to have The Obelisk stand among the presenters for the inaugural Heavy Mash on Sept. 23 in Arlington, Texas. The all-dayer-type event features 10 bands from all around Arlington and Fort Worth, as well as one from Monroe and one from — because, hey, why not? — Adelaide, Australia, but a good swath of Lone Star heavy is represented, and anytime you get Wo Fat on board to headline, you know choice-cut groove will be had. The Dallas trio don’t do it any other way.

Heavy Mash will be held at Division Brewing, so one imagines all the more of a party atmosphere as the day plays out amid fine beers and good times from band to band, and with the likes of jam-psych duo Stone Machine Electric, classic style stoner rockers Boudain, and more aggressive groove-rollers like Cursus on the bill — not to mention the swaggering two-piece Filthy Lucre, who will make that journey across the Pacific to get there — it’s a sonically diverse lineup to which I’m proud to have this site’s name attached. I don’t think I’ll get to Arlington for it, because money, and money, and money, but if you’re either in the area or can make the trip, doing so seems like a total no-brainer. Hopefully it’ll be recorded one way or another, video and/or audio.

You already saw the awesomeness of the poster above, the Thee Facebooks event page is here, but here’s the full lineup and more info:

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Heavy Mash 2017 featuring Wo Fat and more!

Arlington, TX Heavy Music Festival – Sept. 23, 2017

Division Brewing
506 E Main St, Arlington, Texas 76010

In conjunction with Division Brewing in Arlington, TX, we are pleased to announce this small fest sponsored by Division Brewing, The Obelisk, Off the Record Label, and Fistful of Doom Radio! It will be held at Division Brewing in Arlington, TX on September 23rd from 2pm to midnight. Below is our full line-up, starting with the headlining act:

Wo Fat – the veteran swampadelic trio from Dallas, TX
Filthy Lucre – desert blues from Adelaide, South Australia
Stone Machine Electric – weird doom-jazz duo from Fort Worth, TX
Cursus – psychedelic sludge from San Antonio, TX
Orcanaut – heavy/progressive shit from Denton, TX
Boudain – stoner-groove four-piece from Monroe, LA
FTW – heavy blues trio from Fort Worth, TX
The Dirty Seeds – face melting stoner rock from Houston, TX
Black on High – three true thugs from Fort Worth, TX
Justinian – stoner metal from Arlington, TX

Wo Fat, Live at Maryland Doom Fest 2017

Heavy Mash 2017 event page on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Mash on Thee Facebooks

Division Brewing website

Louisiana heavy rockers Boudain will release their debut, Way of the Hoof on — when else? — April 20. It’s an eight-track full-length that, yeah, will get your standard stoner rock comparisons to Kyuss and the Melvins, earning the former on “Neptune” and the latter on “Disco Jimmy” — and also because riffs — but for my money, it owes way more of its crux to the early work of New Orleans natives Suplecs than to those other, not-from-around-there bands. You can hear it in opening track “Sleazy Feats” and in how bassist/vocalist Chris Porter handles the vocals for the Blue Öyster Cult cover “Godzilla,” also notably taken on by Fu Manchu. In his inflection there, and in the bottom-ended fuzz that he, guitarists Brian Lenard and David Karakash and drummer Stephen Jester bask in throughout the record, 2000’s Wrestlin’ with My Lady Friend and 2001’s Sad Songs… Better Days definitely seem to have had a hand in informing the style and attitude, which comes in touting obsessions with pork products, space and who the hell knows what else.

Now, I’ll happily grant that Monroe, where Boudain are based, is closer to Jackson, Mississippi, than it is to New Orleans, and it’s not a singular influence by any means — but the shouts and rolling groove of “CODA” and even the chug-happy nod of “First Class” seem to bear it out. Boudain ride out the thickened riffs of “3 Man” in classic stonerly fashion, long-since passing the halfway point of the five-minute cut before the first verse starts, and in addition to the aforementioned Suplecs, Texas’ Mr. Plow and other underappreciated heavy rockers of the late ’90s and early ’00s come to mind, as well as some shades of Southern sludge, which is just about requisite for the Down/C.O.C. stylings of “The Mighty Turn Around.” Earlier in the album, “Coda” played off some similar ideas — a tonal molasses from Lenard and Karakash, with leads liberally sprinkled about from one or the other — but maybe it’s knowing that the eight-minute lurch of “Disco Jimmy” is waiting that makes “The Mighty Turn Around” seem even heavier. Truth be told, it’s all pretty heavy. Free of pretense, or the need for sonic equivocation, Boudain get down to the business of riff on their first LP, and business is drunk.

And yeah, they close out with that “Godzilla” cover. It’s way closer to the Fu‘s version than BÖC‘s, as one might guess, but tuned down and slowed down even from that, so that it comes across all the more plodding in its affect. Aside from the numerical significance, Boudain are probably right to release Way of the Hoof in spring. Right at the start of grilling season seems the perfect time for a record that smokes the way this one does. With just a bit of gristle.

Today I have the pleasure of hosting “Sleazy Feats” as a streaming premiere. You’ll find it, followed by more info from the PR wire, on the player below.

Get down:

Louisiana Stoner Metallers BOUDAIN will release Way of the Hoof, the band’s debut full-length, on April 20. The album is the follow-up to the group’s highly regarded s/t 2013 EP and is a storm of Space, Pork, and Riffs!

Recorded at SpaceLab 420 Studios, Way of the Hoof is perfect for anyone who enjoys the kind of groove that makes you want to smoke out, grill out, and chill with the swine. Hailing from Monroe, LA and featuring heavy (literally and figuratively) influence from genre-legends like SLEEP, THE MELVINS, KYUSS and FU MANCHU, BOUDAIN is ready to unleash their sun-blistered, misery-laden brand of stoner metal on audiences nationwide with Way Of the Hoof.

Track List:
1. Sleazy Feats
2. Neptune
3. CODA
4. 3 Man
5. First Class
6. The Mighty Turn Around
7. Disco Jimmy
8. Godzilla*
*Blue Öyster Cult cover

Boudain on Thee Facebooks

Boudain on Twitter

Boudain on Bandcamp