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: Rory Rummings of Cloud Catcher

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

Cloud Catcher plays heavy music, plain and simple! No gimmicks, no image, just heavy riffs, musical dialogue between the band and cranked amps! This would have never came to be if my parents didn’t play Maiden, Priest, Sabbath, Skid Row and guitar driven tunes on repeat when I was a little kid… I also owe them the world for their endless support growing up and allowing me to continuously blow the tiles off the ceiling in our basement with my shitty Randall half stack hahaha!

Describe your first musical memory.

Setting up pots and pans to drum on in the living room as a 4 year old and pretending I was Clive Burr from Iron Maiden while watching “Video Pieces”

Also playing air guitar with my Dad to “Paris is Burning” by Dokken… George Lynch rules!

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Touring with Earthless in 2017 was pretty damn cool… here’s to hoping something like that happens again!!

Honestly, thinking of the jams with my friends at our home studio always makes me stoked. Oh and meeting Uli Jon Roth and having dinner with him by chance was so fucking cool too.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

Ah man, good question… having to sacrifice a friendship for the pursuit of artistic vision definitely opened my eyes.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Artistic progression leads to the freedom to explore your own voice… I wish more bands were not afraid to take risks like this, instead of pigeon holing themselves into a box where they will always remain the flavor of the week… bands like the Melvins are a tried and true example of sticking to your guns and progressing your sound and vision while not giving a fuck about what others think. The result is priceless and something that will remain eternal.

How do you define success?

Jamming every Friday, being able to play shows and tour all while being a part of the working class. Doing shit yourself and being proud of the work you put in instead of relying on others to hand you things… that’s success to me.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

People still dressing up and pretending like it’s the 70’s in 2023… hahaha!

Honestly the way that social media has spread its psychic illness over the world has been something I wish I never had to see.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

A collaborative album between Cloud Catcher and Blood Incantation and Danava. Atmospheric synth filled riffage that this world needs… perhaps the best modern day prog album? Hmmmm we shall see. Paul, Greg I’m looking at you!!

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

The artist fully embracing who they are and what they like and just fucking going for it!

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Staying at a family friends cabin with my wife and inner circle this upcoming week… few things are better in this world.

[Photo by Jake Yergs.]

https://www.facebook.com/cloudcatcher303
https://www.instagram.com/cloudcatcherco
https://cloud-catcher.bandcamp.com
https://cloudcatcherco.com

Cloud Catcher, Return From the Cauldron (2023)

Six years and a rhythm section later, Cloud Catcher are back with a third full-length, Return From the Cauldron released on their own Cauldron Audio Works imprint. The follow-up to 2017’s Trails of Kozmic Dust (review here) arrives three years after the Denver trio offered their split with alter-ego outfit Tricoma, Royal Flush Sessions Vol. I (review here), which makes it four since founding guitarist/vocalist Rory Rummings dismantled the band in 2019 after canceling a tour and an EP The Whip. Rummings ended up revamping Cloud Catcher, with Matt Ross on bass and Will Trafas on drums, and Return From the Cauldron is the first long-player from this version of the three-piece.

The consistency of songcraft, then, and of Cloud Catcher‘s stylistic niche between classic heavy rock, proto-metal boogie and NWOBHM — not to say the whole album is all three at the same time all the time, but “Wield the Blade” certainly is and it still nods at Black Heaven-era Earthless — one might credit to Rummings as a principal songwriter. Certainly to go back to “Visions” from Trails of Kozmic Dust and put it next to some of the boogie on Return From the Cauldron, the style is recognizable.

Though never quite as willfully dizzying as The Atomic Bitchwax, Cloud Catcher are no strangers to making heads spin, and they do so across the first half of Return From the Cauldron while also finding themselves dug into a sludgier-rocking vibe, the verses of “I Am the Storm” calling to mind Backwoods Payback or early Alabama Thunderpussy as “Burning Might” will again soon enough, which the hot-shit noodling and Sabbath-blues shoftshoe of “Boundless Journey” only echo, Rummings‘ solo casting space outward from the cyclical riffs. Also consistent with the last album is a studio sound, by which I mean they have one.

I won’t claim to know Cloud Catcher‘s ethic as regards attempting to capture live energy in a recording. For sure they don’t sound like they’re trying to make it boring, but whether or not they’re specifically geared toward conveying stage-sound on record, I’ve no idea. But they use the studio space. You can hear the separation of the instruments in “Gemini’s Ascent,” the echoing layers of lead guitar taking off around the barebones psych expanse after two minutes in, room left for verse and flute alike. Fleet as “Wield the Blade” and “Wretched Moon” are, there’s nothing about them to muddy the clarity of their impression.

This is a mature Cloud Catcher. They are cognizant of what their songs are doing and how they relate to each other, the double-kick of “Wretched Moon” and motorshove of “Magician’s Chariot,” for example. And while there are parts that can and do sound raw, whether that’s the bassy fuzz of “Burning Might” or the chase in the guitar and bass after two and a half minutes into the closing title-track, that suits the band’s style, which is impressive enough in technique if not overly technical in what is being played.

But the amalgam of nod and thrust, within the earlier tracks (side A) leaning toward the lumber and in the back end delving deeper into the metallurgics of the thrashy “Wield the Blade” and “Wretched Moon,” which gallops later and crunches like ’90s doom in its first verses, drums building in intensity in the latter like they’re ending the album, even though that doesn’t actually happen for another eight minutes or so with “Return From the Cauldron,” with its creeper and obscure-samples intro and ensuing janga-janga chug, a slower-developing riff than many here that leads to plenty of gallop later. But if Cloud Catcher are going to take their time anywhere, the closer is the place to do it, and their patience is rewarding in the central groove and the twisting payoff alike.

I would love to go on about the band’s accomplishments a decade on from their start, but I’m sick. I can’t keep my eyes open and can’t keep food or water in me and I need to go to bed, now. But please don’t take that as a slight against Cloud Catcher or their achievements in this material, the efforts on Rummings‘ part to find and gel with a new bassist and drummer, and the resulting righteousness of the songs. That I managed to be upright at all to talk about them should be seen as a sign of respect for their work.

You can hear the entirety of Return From the Cauldron on the player below, followed by tour dates and whatnot off the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

CLOUD CATCHER has toured the US several times, including one run with Earthless and an appearance at Psycho Vegas 2017. The power trio has also had the pleasure of sharing the stage with the likes of such stoner/doom luminaries as Dead Meadow, The Obsessed, Danava, Acid King, Lecherous Gaze, and Pike Vs The Automaton. The band is set to embark on a West Coast tour in the Fall in support of Return From The Cauldron. See all confirmed dates below.

CLOUD CATCHER – Live From The Cauldron Tour 2023:
9/30/2023 Hi-Dive – Denver, CO * Return From The Cauldron Record Release Show
10/06/2023 TBA – Fort Collins, CO
10/07/2023 Ernie November Record Store – Cheyenne, WY
10/12/2023 Aces High Saloon – Salt Lake City, UT
10/13/2023 Artifice – Las Vegas, NV
10/14/2023 Poor House – Oceanside, CA
10/15/2023 Knucklehead – Hollywood, CA
10/16/2023 Cocktail Lounge – Ventura, CA
10/17/2023 Thee Stork Club – Oakland, CA
10/18/2023 Cafe Colonial – Sacramento, CA
10/20/2023 High Watermark – Portland, OR
10/21/2023 The Shredder – Boise, ID

CLOUD CATCHER:
Rory Rummings – guitars, vocals
Matt Ross – bass
Will Trafas – drums

Cloud Catcher on Facebook

Cloud Catcher on Instagram

Cloud Catcher on Bandcamp

Cloud Catcher website

The forthcoming Return From the Cauldron by Cloud Catcher will be the Denver-based headspinner-rockers’ first full-length since 2017’s Trails of Kozmic Dust (review here). But if you’re feeling like six years is a long time, it’s actually not a terrible turnaround when one considers that the band broke up in 2019 and wound up back together with a new lineup behind founding guitarist/vocalist Rory Rummings — that’d be bassist Matt Ross and drummer Will Trafas — putting out a split in 2020 with their alter-egos Tricoma called Royal Flush Sessions Vol. 1. Three years on from that, releasing on their own label, yeah, that sounds about right.

But if you’d like to know a bit more of what’s to come with Return From the Cauldron — more than you might glean from the first single, “I Am the Storm,” streaming below — it’s that split that you’re going to want to dig into, because “Boundless Journey,” “Magician’s Chariot” and “Wield the Blade,” which all appear on the album’s tracklisting, were all featured on the 2020 release as well. So if you play it right, you’ve got the first three tracks and a cut from side B — four songs. That’s probably a more significant advance listen than will otherwise be available, even if the recordings are different.

West Coast tour lined up, of course. Release show is Sept. 30 in Denver, then they’re off and running. I wouldn’t mind seeing them again. Last time I did, they were a whole different band. Funny how that happens sometimes.

The PR wire has it like this:

CLOUD CATCHER: Denver Power Trio To Release Return From The Cauldron September 29th; New Track Streaming, Preorders Available, And Fall Tour Announced

Denver heavy rock power trio CLOUD CATCHER will release their third full-length, Return From The Cauldron, on September 29th via their own Cauldron Audio Works.

CLOUD CATCHER is guitarist/vocalist Rory Rummings with bassist Matt Ross and drummer Will Trafas, a rhythm section akin to Geezer Butler and Mitch Mitchell. With two albums and two EPs already under their proverbial belts, CLOUD CATCHER has been dispensing their own brand of guitar driven, heavy rock to the masses for over a decade. The band’s 2017 released Trails Of Kozmic Dust full-length reaped critical accolades both stateside and abroad.

With Return From The Cauldron, the Rocky Mountain riff merchants continue to push their signature sonic assault forward. An album about emerging positively from hard times and negative experiences, it’s a collection of songs where the themes are perseverance, growth, and hope. Most of the tunes were written when CLOUD CATCHER went on hiatus for the better part of 2019 and during 2020 when the world was slipping into pandemic madness…

“Return From The Cauldron is what I would consider the first true CLOUD CATCHER album,” elaborates Rummings. “We have found our sound and the material present is a further expanse on what we are capable of.”

In advance of the record’s release, today the band unveils first single, “I Am The Storm.” Notes the band, “’I Am The Storm’ is a song about crushing negativity and overcoming hard times with the power of self-realization and riffs. This song was inspired by some of the bands we all know and love such as Iron Maiden, ZZ Top, and of course, Black Sabbath. This song has been chosen as the first single because we feel it is a great introduction to those who don’t know of CLOUD CATCHER.”

Return From The Cauldron was self-recorded by Riley Rukavina, mixed and mastered by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios, and comes swathed in the cover art of Christina Hunt of Heavy Metal Talisman.

The record will be available digitally and limited-edition vinyl via the CLOUD CATCHER Bandcamp page HERE:

Return From The Cauldron Track Listing:
1. I Am The Storm
2. Boundless Journey
3. Magician’s Chariot
4. Burning Might
5. Gemini’s Ascent
6. Wield The Blade
7. Wretched Moon
8. Return From The Cauldron

CLOUD CATCHER has toured the US several times, including one run with Earthless and an appearance at Psycho Vegas 2017. The power trio has also had the pleasure of sharing the stage with the likes of such stoner/doom luminaries as Dead Meadow, The Obsessed, Danava, Acid King, Lecherous Gaze, and Pike Vs The Automaton. The band is set to embark on a West Coast tour in the Fall in support of Return From The Cauldron. See all confirmed dates below.

CLOUD CATCHER – Live From The Cauldron Tour 2023:
9/30/2023 Hi-Dive – Denver, CO * Return From The Cauldron Record Release Show
10/06/2023 TBA – Fort Collins, CO
10/07/2023 Ernie November Record Store – Cheyenne, WY
10/12/2023 Aces High Saloon – Salt Lake City, UT
10/13/2023 Artifice – Las Vegas, NV
10/14/2023 Poor House – Oceanside, CA
10/15/2023 Knucklehead – Hollywood, CA
10/16/2023 Cocktail Lounge – Ventura, CA
10/17/2023 Thee Stork Club – Oakland, CA
10/18/2023 Cafe Colonial – Sacramento, CA
10/20/2023 High Watermark – Portland, OR
10/21/2023 The Shredder – Boise, ID

CLOUD CATCHER:
Rory Rummings – guitars, vocals
Matt Ross – bass
Will Trafas – drums

https://www.facebook.com/cloudcatcher303
https://www.instagram.com/cloudcatcherco
https://cloud-catcher.bandcamp.com
https://cloudcatcherco.com

Cloud Catcher, Return From the Cauldron (2023)

Cloud Catcher & Tricoma, Royal Flush Sessions Vol. 1 (2020)