Two weeks ago I was at Psycho Las Vegas, and so didn’t get to post the playlist for episode 91. For posterity’s sake and because I plainly love looking at lists of band names, it’s below along with the playlist for the episode airing today, which is #92. The march to 100 continues.

The esteemed Dean Rispler (who also plays in Mighty High and a bunch of other bands) is in charge of putting the shows together on a practical level from the lists I send, and to him I extend my deepest appreciation. I’m constantly late. I suck at this in general, and worse, I know it. So yeah. Dean does a bit of hand-holding and I am thankful. He emailed me this week and asked if I was thinking yet about episode 100 and would I be doing anything special?

Well… yes. I have been. And I’d like to make it a blowout or some such, but you know what the truth is? I’m more about the work. When it comes to something like that, the most honest thing I feel like I can do is keep my head down, do another episode and then do one after that two weeks later. I’d rather feel good about a thing in myself and move on. I’m not sure I can get away with that. So maybe I’ll hit up Tommi Dozer and see if he wants to chat sometime in the next few weeks.

Thanks if you listen and thanks for reading.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 09.02.22 (VT = voice track)

And #91, which was a pretty damn good show:

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Sept. 16 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

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Swedish heavy rockers Dozer are looking to issue their first full-length since 2008 sometime this year as part of Blues Funeral Recordings‘ PostWax vinyl subscription series, and I can think of few albums that I personally am more anticipating hearing in 2022 than that. Maybe none.

I won’t at all discount the work guitarist and principal songwriter Tommi Holappa has done with Greenleaf in Dozer‘s absence — 2021’s Echoes From a Mass (review here) was a heavy blues beacon in a pretty dark year, and I don’t think it’s out of line to say that Greenleaf has progressed along a path that’s in part informed by where Dozer might’ve gone while benefitting from the differences of the other personalities involved; I could go on about this and probably will at some point — but after a decade of periodic shows and hints that something might be in the works, to know new Dozer is in actual progress feels great.

They’ll make their next record without drummer Olle Mårthans, it seems. Mårthans was with the band since 2008’s Beyond Colossal (discussed here; reissue featured here) — such as it was — and was a monster behind the kit, injecting youthful energy into Dozer‘s tried and true aggressive style of riff-led shove. The new drummer is Sebastian Olsson, who also plays in Greenleaf — Dozer bassist Johan Rockner likewise played in Greenleaf for a time, so there’s plenty of fluid history between the two bands — and he’ll appear on the new Dozer release, which, again, is happening and that’s wonderful.

The band’s social media announcement follows:

DOZER – BIG NEWS

We’d like to thank our (now former) drummer Olle for all the good memories. He could, sadly, no longer participate in our journey.

We’d also like to thank our new drummer Sebastian, also in Greenleaf, for taking part in this new chapter.

Great things are coming. New album with a new swinging setup.

DOZER is:
Tommi Holappa – Guitar
Fredrik Nordin – Guitar/Vox
Johan Rockner – Bass
Sebastian Olsson – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/dozerband
https://www.facebook.com/bluesfuneral/
https://www.instagram.com/blues.funeral/
https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com/
bluesfuneral.com

Dozer, Beyond Colossal (2008)

I had two ideas in my head for this episode. The first was to do a stuff-to-look-forward-to-next-year playlist, which I did, and the second was to do a me-spending-your-money-on-Black-Friday-Bandcamp-recommendations edition, which I did not do.

Was it the right choice? I don’t know, but it kind of feels like a victory for the good guys every time I get to play All Souls, or King Buffalo, or Sasquatch — or Gozu, or Conan, Stöner, Colour Haze, etc. — and there’s some small chance anybody will hear it, so I won’t exactly say I regret going the way I did. There will be other Bandcamp Fridays, I think.

And to be perfectly honest, I like thinking about this stuff, about new records coming out. I like to wonder what bands will come up with, song-wise, sound-wise, how things will have changed since their last record, how the identity of a group can shift over time. Think of High on Fire. Think of Dozer! A new Dozer album after 14 years. Who the hell knows what that’s going to sound like?

So yeah, that’s what I went with. And since preorder is up for some of this stuff — 40 Watt Sun, the PostWax series of which Dozer are a part, Naxatras, Messa, Earthless — I guess maybe you could spend some money anyway here. Plus there’s always older records to buy. It’s a big planet. There are a lot of albums on it.

Thanks for listening if you do and/or reading. I hope you enjoy.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 11.26.21

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Dec. 10 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

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Much-missed Swedish heavy rockers Dozer announce their return after 13 years with a new studio album to be released on Blues Funeral Recordings‘ PostWax subscription vinyl series. Their last record was 2008’s Beyond Colossal (discussed here; reissue featured here), and the band has played intermittently since getting back together alongside Lowrider at Desertfest Berlin and London in 2013, but even that’s eight years ago at this point. Certainly guitarist Tommi Holappa‘s work before and after that time in Greenleaf isn’t to be dismissed, but Dozer‘s work is the stuff of a very particular legend, and having Fredrik Nordin on guitar and vocals alongside Holappa on a full Dozer studio release is a significant happening.

The lineup for Dozer‘s impending PostWax offering will be Nordin, Holappa, bassist Johan Rockner and drummer Olle Mårthans, and that too is exceptionally good news.

Fresh off the PR wire:

Stoner rock legends DOZER to release first studio album in 13 years, as part of PostWax series on Blues Funeral Recordings.

Swedish stoner rock legends DOZER recently entered the studio to record their first full-length album since 2008’s “Beyond Colossal”. It will be released by Blues Funeral Recordings as part of their upcoming PostWax Vol.II vinyl series.
Dozer. A band whose name stands alongside the greatest pillars of the European desert rock movement, going back to its earliest genesis. A band whose music evolved, branched and grew over the course of five seminal albums and a wealth of memorable singles and EPs. Their era of peak activity saw them always crafting their sound as they matured and developed, endlessly sharpening their chops with shows and tours alongside Mastodon, Rollins Band, Hellacopters, Spiritual Beggars, Clutch, Nebula, Entombed and more.

Dozer has been playing festivals and reissuing a handful of their classic releases for nearly a decade, but the world has been without a proper new album for some time. Now, Dozer is well underway on a new studio album, which will be presented by Blues Funeral Recordings as part of its exclusive PostWax Vol. II series, as well as in a worldwide format to follow. It’s a homecoming, as Blues Funeral’s founder originally released Dozer on his first label, MeteorCity, on both the ‘Welcome to MeteorCity’ compilation and the Unida/Dozer double EP. Time passes, creativity re-ignites, friends circle back.

Says singer/guitarist Fredrik Nordin about Dozer’s return to the studio: “Cancelled gigs. Isolation. Many full moons have passed since we were last creating music together. We came to the conclusion that we should make something positive of all this… so we started to create. The ball was in motion. Made a post on Instagram which caught the attention of our old friend Jadd. He asked if we were writing an album? Yes, we said. PostWax and Record deal? Hell yes, we said. The ball was rolling. 2022 will be one hell of a year. How it will sound? No one knows. All we can tell you is that it will be something to look forward to, because it’s gonna be one hell of a trip.”

To subscribe to PostWax Vol. II and receive Dozer’s forthcoming album in a stunning collector’s format alongside PostWax releases featuring Acid King, Dead Meadow, Josiah, Dopelord, Elephant Tree, Lowrider, REZN, Mammoth Volume, The Otolith and Vinnum Sabbathi, visit Bluesfuneral.com.

DOZER is:
Tommi Holappa – Guitar
Fredrik Nordin – Guitar/Vox
Johan Rockner – Bass
Olle Mårthans – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/dozerband
https://www.facebook.com/bluesfuneral/
https://www.instagram.com/blues.funeral/
https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com/
bluesfuneral.com

Dozer, Beyond Colossal (2008)

Dozer‘s fifth and final (to-date) long-player, 2008’s Beyond Colossal (discussed here), has been reissued on Heavy Psych Sounds along with its predecessor, 2005’s Through the Eyes of Heathens (discussed here; also discussed here) and the collection of demos for that album, Vultures (review here; discussed here), first released in 2013 by the band itself. With Beyond Colossal — originally on Small Stone — out again, Heavy Psych Sounds has completed the Dozer catalog, having also overseen new editions of 2002’s Call it Conspiracy (discussed here; also discussed here), 2001’s Madre de Dios (discussed here) and their debut LP, 2000’s In the Tail of a Comet (discussed here).

One does not in the least envy the task that was before the four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Fredrik Nordin, guitarist Tommi Holappa, bassist Johan Rockner and then-new-recruit drummer Olle Mårthans. They were coming off their most realized vision yet in Through the Eyes of Heathens and had a desire to push it further, yet the songs still had to feel right to them as players. They still had to be Dozer, and headed toward album five, you can bet there were feelings about what that meant.

As a swansong, Beyond Colossal is almost tragically good. It is nothing less than exactly the album Dozer should’ve made and needed to make, building on the more aggressive stance of its predecessor, holding strong to the basic underlying craft that results in hooks like charging opener “The Flood,” “Exoskeleton (Part II),” as well as “Empire’s End” and “Two Coins for Eyes,” both of which feature Clutch‘s Neil Fallon sitting in on vocals, but also the subdued finish “Bound for Greatness” and the rush between “Message Through the Horses” and the cascading “The Throne,” so much of the record flowing in a way suited to the vinyl treatment it’s been given, but carrying a seemingly unstoppable momentum from front-to-back.

Don’t go calling Beyond Colossal the last Dozer album just yet, apparently. The band posted studio pictures on social media last month and who knows what that might mean. Rockner, in wrapping up this interview series, gives hints of more to come as well. Here’s hoping.

Enjoy, and thanks for reading:

Beyond Colossal Q&A with Johan Rockner

—

On some levels, Beyond Colossal is the most aggressive album Dozer wrote. What was driving the band at this time?

I think we just wanted to move forward. But at the same time, I don’t recall us saying “let’s make a different album”, it just happened.

For me, when you listen to those two last albums, you can hear the development, those two albums kind of work well together. They are not far away from each other, like Madre de Dios and Call it Conspiracy.

I know we really liked the sound of “Big Sky Theory” and “Until Man Exists No More” from THEOH, those songs are dropped in tune. I guess we liked the idea of taking that to the next level.

Tell me about following up Through the Eyes of Heathens. You had Troy Sanders from Mastodon on that record and Neil Fallon from Clutch on this one. How important were their voices to those songs?

Their vocals work really good on those songs, the extra boost, like the perfect spice. The songs are great, but they needed some more beard. :)

The album is a real journey from “The Flood” to “Bound for Greatness,” but “Message Through the Horses” still stands out for its intensity. What do you remember about what you were feeling as these songs came together?

I guess I’d liked the anger, aggressiveness, the intensity and the power of the songs on the album. That we didn’t set a limit or what we could or not. Just put together riffs of darkness and anger into really good, mean songs that are Beyond Colossal.

How do you feel about this being the last Dozer album, your final statement as a band?

Who said that?! But if it is, it’s a hell of a statement.

Anything in particular you’d like to add about Beyond Colossal? Any other standout memories to share about this time in the band?

Good times, great shows and good fun.

Dozer, Beyond Colossal

Dozer on Thee Facebooks

Dozer on YouTube

Dozer website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds on Instagram

Heavy Psych Sounds on Twitter

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Last week Sweden’s Dozer oversaw reissues of their final two (to-date) albums through Heavy Psych Sounds. The Italian label has been making its way through the Dozer catalog, and so has this interview series. Below, bassist Johan Rockner takes us back to 2005’s Through the Eyes of Heathens (discussed here), following the discussion yesterday of the demo collection recorded in the same era, Vultures (review here; discussed here), originally issued in 2013.

Through the Eyes of Heathens is a special album, and to be completely honest, I’m just happy to have the excuse to put it on while I write. From the bombastic opening of “Drawing Dead,” it establishes Dozer as a more dynamic outfit than any of their prior material could have, even as it hinted toward what was coming. “Born a Legend,” “From Fire Fell,” “The Roof, the River, the Revolver,” are more than just catchy tracks. They find Dozer more fully realizing the brash side of 2002’s Call it Conspiracy (discussed here; also discussed here), as they moved farther away from the desert-style heavy of 2001’s Madre de Dios (discussed here) and 2000’s In the Tail of a Comet (discussed here) and deeper into their own identity. Recording in Finland, they nonetheless set a standard for Swedish heavy rock that few beyond themselves could hope to meet, try though they might and have.

Their fourth album was also their 10th anniversary, and Rockner, as well as guitarist Tommi Holappa, guitarist/vocalist Fredrik Nordin, and then-drummer Karl Daniel Lidén rose to that occasion in songwriting and performance. Complete with a guest vocal spot from Troy Sanders of tourmates Mastodon on closer “Big Sky Theory,” Through the Eyes of Heathens is the moment at which Dozer became the band they were meant to be, and the identity of their craft has not been dulled in the least by the ensuing 16 years. It is a thing of beauty right unto Peder Bergstrand‘s willfully weird cover design, and whether you’ve embraced and been embraced by the record before or you’re a stranger to it, as someone listening to it right now, I’ll tell you flat out that you’ll only find welcome and refuge in its course.

This interview series, the other parts of which are all haphazardly linked above, will conclude tomorrow with Rockner discussing Beyond Colossal.

Until then, here’s this and thanks for reading:

Through the Eyes of Heathens Q&A with Johan Rockner

—

Tell me about where you see Through the Eyes of Heathens in terms of Dozer’s overall progression. How does it relate to Call it Conspiracy in your mind?

That album was a big turning point, in the same way Call it Conspiracy was, but different. I think it relates mostly through songwriting. But also, we learned alot from the making of Call it Conspiracy, which was a big project from start to finish. Especially for us. Best producer and best studios.

So, take all the good lessons we learned from CIC, and carefully use those, but in our way in the process of THEOH.

This was the first album Dozer put out with Small Stone Records. How did that deal come about and what did that change in distribution mean for the band?

Haha! I guess all the money ran out on the CIC project, and we were in urgent need of someone else to pay for the next album. ;) I guess distribution was a part of it, and also other connections the label had. But I guess, we needed a change over and all and Small Stone was back then a place for bands like us to be.

Looking back on them now and revisiting them for this reissue, what do songs like “Born a Legend” and “Man of Fire” mean to you now? What do you remember about writing or recording them?

For me, all the songs are great, and the songs “Big Sky Theory,” “Until Man Exists No More” and “From Fire Fell” stick out the most to me, but they are also songs we always love to play live. But this album is the album that I guess had the best impact for us as a band.

A lot of things happened before recording it, Erik [Bäckwall] left the band, Daniel joined the band, European tour with Mastodon and two years of making songs. So the band was full of new energy and the direction of the songs just came naturally. We made 16 songs for this album, 10 on album and six of them ended up on Vultures. Says a lot about our creativity at this time, we were definitely on a roll. :)

What’s the story behind the album cover?

Love the cover that Peder [Bergstrand, Lowrider] made. I don’t know the story, but I guess Peder had some weird fantasies about crossing different animal species and see what kind of strange new ones who would appear. We’ll never know.

Anything in particular you’d like to add about Through the Eyes of Heathens? Any other standout memories to share about this time in the band?

This album recording sticks out for me. A lot of good memories. This was around Midsummer’s Eve on an island just outside Helsinki, Finland. Two weeks of good times. Good recording days, music, friends and parties. Troy [Sanders, Mastodon] came by to sing some guest vocals, went to see their show with Iron Maiden. Good hang with them and Fantomas, who also toured Europe at that time.

The only video recording diary we ever made. Which also reflects how much fun, crazy and weird stuff that was going on during our recording. Watch it!

Dozer, Through the Eyes of Heathens

Dozer, Through the Eyes of Heathens Studio Diary

Dozer on Thee Facebooks

Dozer on YouTube

Dozer website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds on Instagram

Heavy Psych Sounds on Twitter

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds website

The reissue of Swedish heavy rockers Dozer‘s 2013 offering, Vultures (review here), is out now on Heavy Psych Sounds. With new artwork by Peder Bergstrand (also Lowrider) and an extra track that finds Dozer taking on Sunride‘s “Vinegar Fly,” it is the closest the band has come to issuing new material since their fifth and final full-length, 2008’s Beyond Colossal (discussed here). Issued as an EP, its six original tracks — plus the cover makes seven — were culled from demos for the band’s 2005 album, Through the Eyes of Heathens (discussed here), recorded by close ally Bengt Bäcke, whose history with the band helming their first sessions has meant they’ve always sounded way better than “demo” might imply.

Vultures was never a live-to-tape-in-the-rehearsal-space kind of affair, and eight years after its original release by the band, tracks like “The Blood is Cold” and “To the Fallen” have no trouble holding up. Bassist Johan Rockner talks below about the band having a glut of material and wanting to get it out in some form, with Vultures enabling them to do that. Then newly signed to Small Stone Records, the four-piece already had three records to their credit in 2002’s Call it Conspiracy (discussed here; also discussed here), 2001’s Madre de Dios (discussed here) and 2000’s In the Tail of a Comet (discussed here), as well as sundry tracks from earlier splits that continue to beg for an early-works compilation. When it arrived, their fourth album would continue a progression toward more aggressive, harder-hitting grooves, and Vultures represents the moment between Call it Conspiracy and Through the Eyes of Heathens as Dozer sought out the places they wanted their sound to go.

It is entirely to the band’s credit that Vultures is anything more than a fan-piece or curio for the converted. Guitarist Tommi Holappa, guitarist/vocalist Fredrik Nordin, Rockner on bass and Karl Daniel Lidén on drums bring a full sound to these tracks and in its substance it’s less a demo than a series of alternate takes. Dozer posted a short while that they were in the studio for a yet-unnamed reason. The fact that Vultures holds up as well as it does even for being material that didn’t get released when it was recorded, only serves as another example of why the possibility of their doing something new is so exciting.

Interviews with Rockner about Through the Eyes of Heathens and Beyond Colossal will follow this week.

In the meantime, enjoy and thanks for reading:

Vultures Q&A with Johan Rockner

—

Tell me about the demo process for what became Vultures. Even when the songs were first released in 2013, they seemed remarkably finished. Did Dozer always do this kind of preproduction?

At this time we’re really creative. We had a lot of songs, and these demo songs were a part of the demos for Through the Eyes of Heathens. We had 16 songs to choose from for the Through the Eyes of Heathens. And we made demos of all of them.

We had a studio in the building where we used to rehearse. Same studio where In the Tail of a Comet and Madre de Dios were recorded. So, when we had three-four, good and ready songs, we recorded them as a pre-production/demos for ourselves.

What did you learn from these demos that you took into the recording/writing for Through the Eyes of Heathens?

I think we’ve always felt that it’s good to make demos, to be able to listen to the song over and over and see if it works or needs more love. It’s a good working progress.

Is there more material from this session or where these songs it? Obviously you and Daniel Lidén already went back a long time. What were these sessions like?

No, this is it! :) That’s why we released Vultures in the first place. These songs are too good to be laying around. We also think that our music should be out there for people to hear. That’s why we also release “Vinegar Fly” (the Sunride cover) for this vinyl/digipack release.

The sessions were great, Daniel is such a great guy with a good music ear. He brought in some new fresh energy into the band which I guess reflects the creativity at this time.

Dozer was appearing at Desertfest around 2013 when these songs were released. What did it feel like to see the response to these tracks when they came out?

It’s always nice to see and hear people’s reaction to something the band does. Good or bad, it’s a matter of commitment and interest in the band, and that’s why we do this. To make music we love and hope others do as well.

Anything in particular you’d like to add about Vultures? Any other standout memories to share about this time in the band?

Great artwork by Peder!

Dozer, Vultures (2021)

Dozer on Thee Facebooks

Dozer on YouTube

Dozer website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds on Instagram

Heavy Psych Sounds on Twitter

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Whatever, it’s my show. I can throw 16 Horsepower in between Genghis Tron and Yawning Sons if I want. I can start with a 19-minute West Coast jam from Terry Gross, followed by a 12-minute Swedish jam from CB3 followed by a 15-minute jam from Croatian bizarros The Freak Folk of Mangrovia followed by nine minutes of pummeling noise from Gangrened. You don’t care. Don’t pretend you do. The weirder this show gets the better it gets as far as I’m concerned.

So yeah, there’s some Ulcerate after Coma Wall. Maybe incongruity is fun sometimes. I think so, and again, even if you’re reading this, you don’t give a crap. You’ll either listen or you won’t. My show’s on after the artist-hosted stretches, which is primo positioning as far as Friday goes — frickin’ drive-time, if such a thing still exists — and most of what I hear from people is that The Pecan sounds cute. Well, he is cute. I’m pretty sure that’s how children don’t get abandoned in the woods more often. They’re cute.

What were we talking about? The show. Right. Whatever. It’s fucking awesome. Yeah, I hope you dig it. Okay. You got me. It matters to me. Fine.

Thanks for listening and/or reading.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at http://gimmemetal.com

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 02.05.20

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Feb. 19 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

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