Two more bands added to the Eye of the Stoned Goat 5 this afternoon, and it’s Ohio/Pennsylvania four-piece Doctor Smoke and Pittsburgh’s Supervoid, both of whom add to the festival’s already considerable tally of sonic heft. As it turns out, the lineup is nearly complete — just one more band to be announced, reportedly — and here’s the full roster of acts slated to appear thus far:

Weed is Weed
White Dynomite
Gozu
The Golden Grass
Lord Fowl
Kingsnake
Wounded Giant
Curse the Son
Doctor Smoke
Supervoid
Borgo Pass
John Wilkes Booth
Ol’ Time Moonshine
It’s Not Night: It’s Space
Brimstone Coven
Moon Tooth

Don’t think I left anyone out there. Either way, that’s plenty for two days, and with one still to come, Amityville, Long Island, should definitely have its fill of heavy. Doctor Smoke‘s trip to New York will be their second of the year by the time we get to June, as they’ll team up with Wasted Theory for a weekender at the end of March in support of last year’s The Witching Hour full-length on Totem Cat Records.

Newly signed to Ripple Music, Supervoid join the Eye of the Stoned Goat 5 lineup with late-2013’s Filaments full-length (review here) and 2014’s The Other Side single (streamed here) as their latest releases, and their melodic and metallic approach to heavy rock is sure to stand out from the crowd, but they’re no less hopped up on riffs than anyone, and no doubt they’ll find welcome when they hit Amityville. I’ll be particularly interested to see if they get paired off with Moon Tooth, whose sound also has a bit of bite to it, or if they’re split up over the two days.

Presumably we’ll find out sometime after the last band is announced, when the schedule comes out. Here’s the announcement from the fest for these two:

ESG5 is proud to announce, from Totem Cat Records, Ohio’s newest doom masters Doctor Smoke!!!

Also making their ESG5 debut in Long Island NY is Pittsburgh’s space-sludge warriors Supervoid!!!

Only 1 more artist to announce.. stay tuned kids, It’s gonna be a monster!

http://www.theeyeofthestonedgoat.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TheEyeOfTheStonedGoat
https://www.facebook.com/SuperVoid.PGH
http://supervoid.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/drsmokedoom
http://doctorsmoke.bandcamp.com/

Supervoid, Filaments (2013)

Doctor Smoke, The Witching Hour (2014)

It’ll be a riffy couple days in March when Doctor Smoke and Wasted Theory combine forces for a weekender to close out the month. For Wasted Theory, who reside in Delaware, they’ll be making their way more or less around their stomping ground of Philly, York, and Brooklyn, but Doctor Smoke are making the trek east from Ohio for the occasion, and upon doing so, they’ll meet up not only with D.C. heavy rockers Borracho, but Boston’s Gozu as well, who’ll help close out the three-date run with Wasted Theory, Doctor Smoke and Reign of Zaius at Bar Matchless in Brooklyn.

Both Wasted Theory and Doctor Smoke are supporting albums released last year. Doctor Smoke‘s The Witching Hour is the more recent of the two, and while they toured the east coast in 2014 on the heels of their prior demo, this will be the first time they’re on the coast since their debut hit. Again, for Wasted Theory, they’re on familiar turf, but since their own full-length debut, Death and Taxes (review here), came out last Spring, I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a new cut or two to work into their set, and I’ve yet to see them that they haven’t delivered live.

Dates and info follow for the tour, which kicks off March 26:

Ohio Occult-Rockers Doctor Smoke team up with Delaware Riff Slingers Wasted Theory for a 3-day run in March 2015.

Thursday, March 26th 2015
Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie*

Friday, March 27th 2015
York, Pennsylvania @ The Depot*
*With support from Washington DC Heavy Groove Dealers and Desertfest 2014 alums Borracho!

Saturday, March 28th 2015
Brooklyn, New York @ Bar Matchless*
*With support from Small Stone Records and Desertfest 2014’s very own GOZU!

For additional Info:
Facebook.com/WastedTheoryBand
Facebook.com/drsmokedoom
Facebook.com/BorrachoDC
Facebook.com/Gozu666

Doctor Smoke, The Witching Hour (2014)

Wasted Theory, Death and Taxes (2014)

Split between Ohio and Pennsylvania, the four-piece Doctor Smoke have just issued their first full-length, The Witching Hour through Totem Cat Records. The long-player follows last year’s four-track Demo 2013 (review here) and repurposes three of those songs, including leadoff duo “The Willow” and “Blood and Whiskey,” giving the implication that they knew what they were going for their first time out and it’s not like their initial batch of songs needed to be scrapped. The other original cut from the demo, “The Seeker” appears on The Witching Hour — the last track was a Pentagram cover — but the album ups the band’s game in terms of production and presentation, their hooks coming across with a decidedly dark, brooding sensibility, more horror than cult, but still definitely aware of ritual.

CD is out on Totem Cat. I’m not sure about a vinyl release, though one has to imagine it’s in the works or in the pre-works one way or another, and the foursome already hit the road in support of the demo, so it seems probable they’ll do likewise for the album itself. More on that as it comes up, but the album’s on Bandcamp, so here’s the stream and info for you to dig in:

Our debut full length album available on CD in Digipak format from Totem Cat Records.

All music and lyrics written and performed by Doctor Smoke

Matt Tluchowski – Lead vocals/Guitar
Steve Lehocky – Lead Guitar
Cody Cooke – Bass/Vocals
Dave Trikones – Drums

Drums and bass recorded December 2013 at The Bombshelter – Nashville, TN
Engineered by Andrija Tokic and Jason Blackburn

Guitars and vocals recorded August-September 2014
Engineered by Steve Lehocky and Matt Tluchowski

Mixed by Steve Lehocky

Mastered by Gus Elg at Sky Onion – Portland, OR

Saxophone on “From Hell” performed by Mitchell Lawrence

Artwork by Katie Umhoefer – www.StrangeFortuneDesign.com

Layout by Casket Vex Design – www.facebook.com/CasketVexDesign

http://doctorsmoke.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/drsmokedoom
http://totemcatrecords.bigcartel.com/

Doctor Smoke, The Witching Hour (2014)

Part of the appeal of attending any festival worthy of the name is getting introduced to bands you might not have heard or encountered before, and when it comes to the lineup for this year’s Stoner Hands of Doom, which is set to run from Nov. 7-10 at Strange Matter in Richmond, Virginia, the riffy four-piece Doctor Smoke immediately caught my eye. I can’t help it. Not one week goes by that I don’t still wind up with the chorus to the closing track of Swedish trio Asteroid‘s first album stuck in my head: “Doctor Smoke… Doctor Smoke/Life is but a joke to Doctor Smoke.” Seriously, that album came out in 2007. I’m kind of surprised it took so long for a band to take the name.

Doctor Smoke play Friday night, Nov. 8, at SHoD XIII, sharing the evening’s bill with It’s Not Night: It’s Space, Gozu, Weed is Weed, Order of the Owl, Freedom Hawk and others. It’s a considerable evening to play, and Doctor Smoke have an admirable slot on the strength of their debut four-track demo, aptly-titled Demo 2013, which was released at the end of August. Sure enough, Demo 2013 makes an impression, and the four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Matt Tluchowski, lead guitarist Steve Lehocky, bassist Cody Cooke and drummer Dave Trikones offer a surprisingly cohesive, nigh-on-slick take on modern stoner metal, nodding at cult rock but never really taking it past “we watch horror movies” level, which is likely for the best.

Certainly it serves the material well. The swaggering opener “The Willow” darkens up heavy ’70s riffage, and the drive is modern, with Tluchowski‘s wizard doom vocals adding a modern edge somewhere between Kyle Thomas on the first Witch record and, on “Blood and Whiskey,” Billy Corgan‘s mid-’90s snarl. The dynamic between his and Lehocky‘s guitars accounts for a lot of the immediacy in Doctor Smoke‘s material — tradeoffs between leads and riffs are traditional, but well done — though Cooke and Trikones make their presence felt both on the slower “The Seeker” and the Pentagram cover, “Sign of the Wolf,” which closes Demo 2013 in appropriate and chugging fashion.

As they also prepare for Stoner Hands of Doom XIII, Doctor Smoke are looking past the demo as well and have plans to start recording their debut full-length completely analog at The Bombshelter Studio in Nashville (not to be confused with Truckfighters‘ Studio Bombshelter). In order to help with the cost of going to tape, the foursome have started an Indiegogo campaign and are past the halfway mark on their goal of $3,000. It’s a pretty bold move for a band without a record out to hit up fans like that, but considering they’ve already got four takers on the $200 “We’ll write a special song just for you” contribution, obviously they inspire a good deal of loyalty in their listeners. At this rate, they might have enough material for a sophomore outing before they’ve even finished their debut.

Doctor Smoke, Demo 2013

Stoner Hands of Doom XIII

Doctor Smoke Indiegogo campaign

Doctor Smoke on Thee Facebooks

Doctor Smoke on Bandcamp