Posted in Whathaveyou on May 30th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
YOB‘s current US tour started over a week ago and this week swings through the Midwest en route to the Eastern Seaboard. The Eugene, Oregon, cosmic doom stalwarts announced about a week and a half ago they’ll reissue their debut album, 2002’s Elaborations of Carbon, through Relapse Records in the spirit of past album revisits with new artwork, a remaster, and so on. The tour will see them stop through Mutants of the Monster this week and as they head in that direction, they’ve put word out that Dave French (a noted front-of-house sound engineer and formerly drums in Brothers of the Sonic Cloth) has joined on drums as a permanent member of the group.
This isn’t the huge news it might seem to be when one considers that French has been playing with YOB for two years, as the band mentions below, but the current tour is the largest undertaking they’ve done in that time, so it’s a fitting moment to make it official. French stepped in on drums for YOB as life began to return post-pandemic, filling the role formerly occupied by Travis Foster, who had joined in 2003. Guitarist/vocalist Mike Scheidt is as he has been the lone remaining founding member, while bassist Aaron Rieseberg (also Simple Forms) came aboard when the band returned in 2009 after breaking up in ’06. Got all that?
The dates don’t really matter. What’s important is that with French as a permanent member, YOB will proceed on this tour and continue moving forward, and that their announcement gives me an excuse to post a pic by Dutch photographer Paul Verhagen, who is among the all-time champion sweethearts of the universe. Also included are the dates for the tour that I spent half the post talking about.
Dig:
We’re very happy to announce that Dave French is officially joining Yob as our new drummer.
We’ve been friends, neighbors, tour mates and admirers of Dave for over a decade. We first met in 2012 when he was playing drums for Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth. His crushing approach and commitment to detail behind the kit was remarkable. Since then we’ve toured with Dave in multiple scenarios when he was working as a tech or sound engineer for bands like Neurosis, Voivod, Sleep (as well with Om, Boris, Soundgarden, MC50, and many others) over the years.
Dave has been playing drums with us live since 2021 and has brought his focus, energy and inspiration to every moment. We’re thrilled to welcome him to Yob.
(#128248#) Paul Verhagen
YOB US TOUR DATES Tue 5/30 – St Paul, MN – Turf Club* (SOLD OUT) Wed 5/31 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown* Thu 6/01 – Lawrence, KS – Bottleneck* Fri 6/02 – Little Rock, AR – Mutants Of The Monster Fest* Sat 6/03 – Murfreesboro, TN – Hop Springs* Sun 6/04 – Louisville, KY – Portal* Tue 6/06 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall* Wed 6/07 – Pittsburgh, PA – Spirit Hall* Thu 6/08 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar* Fri 6/09 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts* Sat 6/10 – Boston, MA – Middle East (Downstairs)* (SOLD OUT) Mon 6/12 – New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge* Tue 6/13 – New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge # Wed 6/14 – Richmond, VA – The Broadberry # Thu 6/15 – Asheville, NC – Asheville Music Hall # Fri 6/16 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade (Hell) # Sat 6/17 – New Orleans, LA – House Of Blues # Sun 6/18 – Austin, TX – Oblivion Access Festival # Tue 6/20 – Albuquerque, NM – Sister # Wed 6/21 – Mesa, AZ – The Nile # Thu 6/22 – San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick # Fri 6/23 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom # Sat 6/24 – Oakland, CA – 3rd & Castro # * = w/ Cave In # = w/ Pallbearer
YOB is: Mike Scheidt – Guitar, Vocals Aaron Rieseberg – Bass Dave French – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 18th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
YOB won’t actually hit all four corners of the US on their upcoming coast-to-coast tour, but they’re not far off. After starting out in their native Pacific Northwest, they’ll swing through the Midwest, loop up northeast to go south along the East Coast, then turn west and circle back out across to Southern California, finishing en route back north through Oakland. As the press release states, it’s the most significant North American touring they’ve done in four years, and as they make ready to go, word comes through the PR wire of a reissue of their first album, 2002’s Elaborations of Carbon, through Relapse Records.
If you don’t recognize 12th Records, the original label that put out the Eugene, Oregon-based three-piece’s debut full-length, it’s the imprint of Electric Amplifiers — even if you’re not a guitar nerd, you’ve probably seen Green or Black or White, etc., amplifiers resting on guitar cabinets at shows. That’s them. The label also put out releases from Bongzilla offshoot Cuda, as well as High on Fire‘s first demo, Starchild‘s debut and a curated selection of others around the turn of the century — also Black Capricorn in 2009, so they’re not by any means ancient-ancient history. Their eBay store remains a moneyspender’s paradise.
Elaborations of Carbon is by no means YOB‘s most crucial release, but it was a formative moment for them in discovering a genuinely cosmic take on doom, a psychedelia of heft not seen before if also not yet fully realized, and it remains a document of their beginning that, whether you have the original CD or not, is worth seeking out. Essential? Definitely if you’re digging into YOB‘s catalog for the first time. And for collectors, this new-art/remastered-audio edition is a no-brainer. If neither of those is you, maybe you preorder just because it’s been five years since YOB last put out a record and you feel a primal need to spend your money on their wares. I get it.
The 2LP Elaborations of Carbon will be out Sept. 15, but it’s streaming now, player is below, blah blah. You get it. Info came off the PR wire:
YOB ANNOUNCE ELABORATIONS OF CARBON (REISSUE)
PHYSICAL PRE-ORDERS OUT SEPTEMBER 15; REMASTERED DIGITAL AUDIO STREAMING IN FULL NOW
Epic, crushing, and heavy beyond words, YOB has achieved legendary status over the last two decades with their unmatched aesthetic and incredible body of work. Now Elaborations of Carbon, the debut full length that set the stage for the band’s singular, organic universe of transcendent doom, is being presented for the first time on vinyl as well as being made widely available for the first time across streaming services.
Mike Scheidt Comments:
“At long last, Elaborations Of Carbon is available to anyone who wants it, and on vinyl no less! It’s wild that EOC was first released over 20 years ago, counting the 4-song burned CD-R version we handed out to friends before releasing the 6-song album. We were swinging for the rafters, and gave it everything we had. It’s been a blast to revisit this album and remember all of the good times we had.”
The enormous volume and pensive, ethereal beauty that YOB would become synonymous with make themselves known across the 6 riveting tracks on Elaborations of Carbon. The album’s lineup features Yob founder and heart Mike Scheidt (vocals and guitars), Lowell Iles (bass), and Gabe Morley (drums) and was recorded and mixed by Jeff Olsen (who would go on to become a long time collaborator of YOB’s) at Dogwood Recordings in Elmira, OR.
After its initial release in May 2002 on 12th Records, the CD would see a small repress in 2013 and the album has been unavailable since. Billy Barnett was called upon to make the archival transfer for the 2023 reissue which was mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis Music and features completely re-envisioned artwork by Orion Landau.
Additionally, YOB’s first full US tour in four years BEGINS this weekend on Sunday, May 21 at Modified Ghost Festival! The headline tour dates have them making their way across the US throughout late May & June with select support by CAVE IN (5/28-6/12) & PALLBEARER (6/13-6/24). Tickets are available now at https://www.yobislove.com/tour.
ELABORATIONS OF CARBON (REISSUE) TRACKLIST: 1. Universe Throb (2023 Remaster) 10:33 2. All The Children Forgotten (2023 Remaster) 17:01 3. Clear Seeing (2023 Remaster) 16:53 4. Revolution (2023 Remaster) 10:56 5. Pain Of I (2023 Remaster) 07:06 6. Asleep In Samsara (2023 Remaster) 07:20
YOB US TOUR DATES Select Support By CAVE IN & PALLBEARER Sun 5/21 – Vancouver, BC – Modified Ghost Festival (SOLD OUT) Thu 5/25 – Seattle, WA – Northwest Terror Fest Fri 5/26 – Boise, ID – Treefort Music Hall Sat 5/27 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge Sun 5/28 – Denver, CO – Gothic Theater* Tue 5/30 – St Paul, MN – Turf Club* (SOLD OUT) Wed 5/31 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown* Thu 6/01 – Lawrence, KS – Bottleneck* Fri 6/02 – Little Rock, AR – Mutants Of The Monster Fest* Sat 6/03 – Murfreesboro, TN – Hop Springs* Sun 6/04 – Louisville, KY – Portal* Tue 6/06 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall* Wed 6/07 – Pittsburgh, PA – Spirit Hall* Thu 6/08 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar* Fri 6/09 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts* Sat 6/10 – Boston, MA – Middle East (Downstairs)* (SOLD OUT) Mon 6/12 – New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge* Tue 6/13 – New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge # Wed 6/14 – Richmond, VA – The Broadberry # Thu 6/15 – Asheville, NC – Asheville Music Hall # Fri 6/16 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade (Hell) # Sat 6/17 – New Orleans, LA – House Of Blues # Sun 6/18 – Austin, TX – Oblivion Access Festival # Tue 6/20 – Albuquerque, NM – Sister # Wed 6/21 – Mesa, AZ – The Nile # Thu 6/22 – San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick # Fri 6/23 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom # Sat 6/24 – Oakland, CA – 3rd & Castro # * = w/ Cave In # = w/ Pallbearer
Elaborations of Carbon credits: Mike Scheidt – Guitar & Vocals Lowell Iles – Bass Gabe Morley – Drums
Recorded and mixed by Jeff Olsen at Dogwood Recording Archival transfer by Billy Barnett Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis Music Design by Orion Landau
YOB is: Mike Scheidt – Guitar, Vocals Aaron Rieseberg – Bass Dave French – Drums (live)
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 8th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
2023 makes it two full decades since YOB released their second album, Catharsis (discussed here). I don’t know if they’re doing anything on this tour to mark that occasion or not — probably not or they’d, you know, mention it — but that’s a record that directly changed my opinion of what heavy music could do and be, so it’s an anniversary I’ll celebrate even if I’m the only one celebrating it. In the meantime, it’s been five years since the Oregonian cosmic doom progenitors released their last album, 2018’s Our Raw Heart (review here), and that’s the longest stretch of their career without a studio LP. Even when they broke up in 2005, they were back with a new record in 2009. If you believe in due, they’re due.
I have no info or speculation to offer in that regard. They’ll either do another record or they won’t — there you have it. But while I’m listing out reasons for ongoing sentimental attachment to this band, I’ll note they were the first show I went to after live music opened up post-pandemic (review here), and I don’t think that’s something I’ll ever forget. I’ve been saying ever since that next time they come through it’s time for me to take The Patient Mrs. to a gig since they’re a band who’re important enough to me that she should experience them live as well. Maybe Le Poisson Rouge will be where that happens. Could do worse as well than having to pick your poison between Cave In and Pallbearer as an opener. Date night and whatnot.
Fresh off the PR wire:
YOB ANNOUNCES US LATE SPRING HEADLINE TOUR
SELECT SUPPORT BY CAVE IN (5/28 – 6/12) & PALLBEARER (6/13 – 6/23)
Oregon cosmic three piece YOB announce their first full US tour in four years! The headline tour dates have them making their way across the US throughout late May & June. Select support will be provided by CAVE IN (5/28-6/12) & PALLBEARER (6/13-6/24).
YOB US TOUR DATES Select Support By CAVE IN & PALLBEARER Sun 5/21 – Vancouver, BC – Modified Ghost Festival+ Thu 5/25 – Seattle, WA – Northwest Terror Fest+ Fri 5/26 – Boise, ID – Treefort Music Hall Sat 5/27 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge Sun 5/28 – Denver, CO – Gothic Theater* Tue 5/30 – St Paul, MN – Turf Club* Wed 5/31 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown* Thu 6/01 – Lawrence, KS – Bottleneck* Fri 6/02 – Little Rock, AR – Mutants Of The Monster Fest* Sat 6/03 – Murfreesboro, TN – Hop Springs* Sun 6/04 – Louisville, KY – Portal* Tue 6/06 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall* Wed 6/07 – Pittsburgh, PA – Spirit Hall* Thu 6/08 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar* Fri 6/09 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts* Sat 6/10 – Boston, MA – Middle East (downstairs)* Mon 6/12 – New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge* Tue 6/13 – New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge # Wed 6/14 – Richmond, VA – The Broadberry # Thu 6/15 – Asheville, NC – Asheville Music Hall # Fri 6/16 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade (Hell) # Sat 6/17 – New Orleans, LA – House Of Blues # Sun 6/18 – Austin, TX – Oblivion Access Festival #+ Tue 6/20 – Albuquerque, NM – Sister # Wed 6/21 – Mesa, AZ – The Nile # Thu 6/22 – San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick # Fri 6/23 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom # Sat 6/24 – Oakland, CA – 3rd & Castro #
* = w/Cave In # = w/Pallbearer + = Already on sale
YOB is: Mike Scheidt – Guitar, Vocals Aaron Rieseberg – Bass Dave French – Drums (live)
One assumes that next year, YOB‘s Catharsis will see a duly deluxe reissue for its 20th anniversary, just as the band’s 2011 outing, Atma (review here), was recently re-pressed to mark 10 years, and Catharsis itself saw reissue for its own first decade in 2013 through Profound Lore and Relapse Records (that is the version above). Seems only the Metal Blade albums — 2004’s The Illusion of Motion (discussed here) and 2005’s The Unreal Never Lived (discussed here) — sit untouched. But every 10 years is fair. If it was every five, I doubt I’d complain. If there was a way to just ultimate-forever-preorder and receive a new edition of every record every time one happened, into perpetuity, you would only be able to call it an investment. A debt paid in installments.
This album changed my life. I mean that. I happened into YOB, like so much else at the time, through StonerRock.com’s All That is Heavy store — both of those things are still missed; call me sentimental — and bought the Abstract Sounds jewel case CD as a new release. It reshaped what I understood the word ‘heavy’ could mean. I’d never heard something that managed to be riff-based, psychedelic, metal, doom, beautiful, crushing and fun all at once, and aside from the novelty of the track lengths — three songs on Catharsis: “Aeons” (18:10), “Ether” (7:16) and “Catharsis” (23:39) — I’d never heard a clean/harsh vocal shift like that from Mike Scheidt in my life, despite the turn of the century’s rampant scream-verse-sing-chorus metalcore ethic.
That eerie, effects-soaked voice, complemented by brutal growls or shouts, whispers as in “Aeons” or pure gutturalism near the end of the title-track — helped expand my definition of genre and form. I’d heard long songs, I’d heard weird songs, but YOB took the tenets of sludge via Neurosis and the stoner metal of Sleep, the it’s-doom-at-any-speed attitude of Cathedral and from all of this and more harnessed once-in-a-generation individualism. I didn’t quite understand it, and I’m still not sure I do, to be honest, but I loved that about it. It seemed like no matter how deep you listened, there was always something new. That funky break in “Aeon!” They’re taking it for a walk! 19 years after the fact, I still feel there’s more to find.
I’ve never written about Catharsis like this before in no small part because I feel so strongly about it. I find I’m nervous doing so now, like all the words want to come out of my brain at the same time and none can squeeze through. Whether it’s the lumbering spaciousness of “Aeons,” or the daring of both speed and a hook in “Ether” — there’s more Matt Pike in that riff than I ever realized; even now I hear something I hadn’t heard before — and the outright emotive expanse of “Catharsis” and the way it throws itself open for its chorus, “The tyranny built upon our philosophies/Not for me in solitude again,” the way those lines aren’t about defiance or a middle finger, not even angry, just knowing of place and self, Catharsis speaks to a timeless sense of not belonging, of seeing differently, while creating reaches in which to dwell.
For the trio then comprised of Scheidt, bassist Isamu Sato and drummer Travis Foster — Aaron Rieseberg (Norska, Simple Forms) took over bass when the band came back from a four-year hiatus with 2009’s blistering The Great Cessation(review here; discussed here) — it was formative, part of an ongoing realization of sound that is inarguably still happening in Scheidt‘s songwriting as of the band’s most recent album, 2018’s Our Raw Heart (review here). But the manner in which soul is manifested on Catharsis was legitimately new for heavy-anything at the time, and it turned the weight of the tracks themselves into a ceremony suited to the lyrical searching, that outsider perspective looking in with a kind of resigned disappointment and understanding that something else is needed. This point of view, honest, personal, continues to inform YOB‘s work, and while the band’s prior 2002 debut, Elaborations of Carbon, had spent plenty of time in the cosmos, Catharsis internalized that journey in a manner no one else has since, though plenty have tried.
And “Catharsis” itself would set forth a pattern of ‘the YOB epic’ that spans across their catalog. The Illusion of Motion had its closing title-track, The Unreal Never Lived had “The Mental Tyrant,” The Great Cessation had its closing title-track, Atma disrupted the pattern by making “Adrift in the Ocean” the finale but not the longest song but still followed the quiet-guitar-intro-then-all-hell-breaks-loose modus, while 2014’s Clearing the Path to Ascend (review here) offered the once-in-a-lifetime “Marrow”(discussed here), and Our Raw Heart dared to disrupt, putting “Beauty in Falling Leaves” as fifth of seven cuts. “Catharsis” was the predecessor to them all with its meandering but ever-purposeful procession, its undeniably metal culmination, its drone, thrash ‘n’ bash harvesting of the titular ideal and culmination that seems to find even another level of blast and spiritual release, ending almost while still in progress as if to remind us as listeners that our lives and our worlds will inevitably do the same.
YOB went on after this album to produce some of their generation’s most crucial heavy music, transcending even the cosmic doom that Catharsis helped define, delivering iconic performances in studio and on stage ever driven by passion and correspondingly influential and incomparable. It was by no means the start of the band, preceded by their demo (discussed here) in 2000 and the aforementioned Elaborations of Carbon, but I count Catharsis as the beginning of that process, the Eugene, Oregon, three-piece having discovered their sound and purpose to a degree such that the pursuit and growth across the nearly two decades since has had these three songs at its foundation.
A popular answer to the Obelisk Questionnaire question, “What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?,” is that all life experience is valuable because it has led that individual to become the person they are. Not judging anyone else’s self-assessments — including Scheidt‘s nine years ago — but I don’t agree. I’ve seen and experienced things in my life that I feel like I’d be better off without, whatever ‘character-building’ I might’ve missed out on as a result. When “Catharsis” hits that change as it enters its last seven minutes, though, I’m a believer. I’m ready to accept everything; the good, the bad, the up, the so, so many downs. All of it. To hear that progression, the turns and the push and riff that has just an edge of light coming through all the barrage, feels like a true exhale, low and deep from the center of one’s being. It’s all worth it, if only for a while.
I love this album like family.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
—
So why now, if I’ve never been able to write about it before? Fair enough.
I was loafing on the couch the other day, broiling in climate change comeuppance, and I suddenly had to ask myself the question of whether these might be the best days of my life.
I am reasonably healthy, physically, at 40 years old, and nowhere near my lowest of lows mentally. I don’t work outside of taking care of my son and doing this, plus odds and ends in other freelance writing/editing. I write for Creem, which feels weird to say. I’m on Gimme Radio — today, 5PM Eastern (playlist here). I finally went to Freak Valley Festival. People say nice things about me on the internet sometimes. My wife still speaks to me. Every now and then we get to make out, which is always nice. My family is close by. My mother is alive. My father is not. My wife’s mother is alive. Her father is not. My wife’s grandmother is alive. My sister and her husband and their two sons, my wife’s sister and her daughter and son are all around, healthy, well, challenging in their tween/teenagerdom, but vibrant people who make any day better and give hope for the future. My own son is four and a half years old and I don’t think we’ve ever spent more time together.
His getting kicked out of camp as part of the all-plans-blown-to-smithereens Summer of Pivot ’22 has resulted in my running point parenting — with about two hours’ break when the don’t-call-her-a-babysitter-she’s-just-his-friend-who-shows-up-to-play-and-gets-paid-for-it comes, that I almost invariably spend writing — more than I ever have. In the last two weeks, he’s gone from swearing he’ll never take off his diapers to playing ‘the cereal game’ aiming his pee in the potty, and he’ll now use a toilet in places that aren’t his house — yesterday at his speech therapist’s and Bed Bath and Beyond, today doing what we call a ‘bush wee’ (that’s what they call it on Bluey) at the nearby park — and he’s amazing and infuriating and just everything all at the same time. He is such, such an asshole, completely overwhelming and hits harder than the riff to Neurosis’ “The Doorway,” but I can’t get away from loving him.
We have this house, in this neighborhood. I eat Jarlsberg cheese like every day. After the kid goes to bed, I can sit on the couch in my garage like a teenager, light up a joint that I bought at the smoke shop right next to the pizza place — pure Jersey — and marvel at the fact that even my next door neighbor who’s a cop can’t do shit about it. That novelty may never go away.
Inside, the air conditioning works. The ice maker works. The shower works. The kitchen isn’t done, but it works too. The coffee pot works, and the Nespresso. I have shit days, often — having one today, in fact — but when was that not the case, and as time goes on into the imperfect stretch of memory, I look back on life events and mundane afternoons of years gone and remember them at least as much positive as negative, times worth being in. I wonder what I’ll say about now if I’m fortunate enough to live another two or three decades, which right now there’s no reason to think I won’t. The world is going to hell. My country is falling apart. Sometimes I need a xanax just to get me over until bedtime. But I’m okay right now, today. When I stand back and look at it, I’m okay. Doesn’t that count too?
I hope that, if these are the best days of my life, if this is the pinnacle, that when I remember them, I remember as well that I tried my best to appreciate them at the time. And that sometimes I even managed to do so.
It was in that spirit that I decided Catharsis was the record to close out this week.
Thank you for reading. Great and safe weekend. Drink water. It’s hot out there.
Eugene, Oregon’s Red Cloud released The Ruby Armada Volume One EP in April and have a corresponding five-song Volume Two ready to go for a digital release later this year — though both are available now, compiled onto a single CD — it’s a wonderful format, uses lasers. The first EP, as one might expect, sets the tone for the second, and though the roots of the band go back at decade, there’s a feeling-out happening across the songs that sounds fresh, and as The Ruby Armada Vol. I & II progresses between one release and the next, there’s a definite uptick in production and purpose. Vocalist/guitarist Aaron Williams has revamped the band’s lineup since they put out the 2016 full-length, Ursa Minor, and the poppish edge songs like “To All My Friends” and “Say Yeah” (lyric video premiering below) from the first EP is echoed in the full-sounding songraft in “No Left Turn” and the choir-inclusive-and-still-uptempo closer “Viva! Cascadia!”
What I’m saying here is that The Ruby Armada Volume One, from which the song premiering a video below comes, is rougher in terms of sound, and even though its follow-up is done and available to for purchase — not streaming yet — it’s clear that this trio incarnation of the former-four-piece, which now includes Williams alongside drummer Jesse Jackson and bassist Tanner Rauch, is setting out on a new progression of style. Volume One draws more specifically from grunge in “Walk Away” and “To All My Friends,” brings in Year of the Cobra‘s Amy Tung Barrysmith for a guest vocal spot, and stretches over seven minutes, while “Bleu Skies” is comparatively breezy in its circa ’95 the-world’s-about-to-end-and-no-one-knows-it-except-they-did-know-and-no-one-cared roll, and “Say Yeah” holds to a similar sentiment, except for being even more maddeningly catchy. You used to call it “radio friendly.” Now it’s just friendly.
“Say Yeah” also has the added advantage of Juan Carlos Caceres‘ added backing vocals, and it finishes the first EP, while “No Left Turn” immediately points to fellow Oregonians Red Fang‘s classic “Wires” at its outset riff before quickly finding its own chuggy, hooky path and delving into atmospherics in both its middle and end, giving over to the likewise more patient “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” the two songs bridging the divide between “Numbers” and the more straight-ahead movements of Volume One to paint a more complete image of the band as a whole. “Journey to the Center of the Earth” is dreamy by the time it’s done, and as Red Cloud careen through “Cut and Run” and “MTNS,” they do so carrying the echo of the pop aspects in “Bleu Skies” and “Say Yeah,” if leaned more toward modern heavy rock. “MTNS” also hits a little more angular, but is resolved in its comfortable pace, giving over to “Viva! Cascadia!” with its more complex arrangement, highlight solo and homage to their home region.
Between the two of them, Red Cloud — who take their moniker from a Lakota chief; a fairly noteworthy appropriation depending on their origins — establish a sound that refuses to compromise on songwriting in favor of playing to any given style but that should still find welcome among a cross-section of heavy heads. Thinking of The Ruby Armada Vol. I & II as a second debut feels reasonable, but even if it is one, it clearly benefits from the prior experience of the band’s current lineup. A glimpse of progress in progress, and perhaps of progress to come.
Enjoy:
Red Cloud, “Say Yeah” lyric video premiere
“Say Yeah” from Red Cloud’s Ruby Armada Vol I
Featuring Juan Carlos Caceres (Tigers on Opium) on backing vocals
Following the enthusiastically received debut LP Ursa Minor in 2016, now guitarist & vocalist Aaron Williams, bassist Tanner Rauch (Pink Pollen, Paleons), and drummer Alex Crane (The Cruelest Animal, The West Is Burning) present ‘The Ruby Armada’ (2022). Sure to be an enduring favorite, the album comes in two volumes, each with five songs apiece.
“Much of my music,” Williams remarks, “is really about respecting mother earth. It’s a very common theme: rising up to save earth. I feel like I’m channeling most of the time. I won’t even come in with a concept, I’ll just let it roll. “
A gem of modern rock, the album is fused with elements of grunge, alt rock, and stoner metal, which Red Cloud weave together with deft and heart. The result is a collection of songs that are imminently singable. Which song will hook you? Must-listen for fans of Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Screaming Trees, Helms Alee, The Clash, and Dinosaur Jr.
Produced by Aaron Williams and Alex Crane, the double album features contributions from Amy Tung Barrysmith (Year of the Cobra) on “Number” and Juan Carolos Caceres (Tigers on Opium, A//tar, Hound The Wolves) on “Say Yeah.”
The Ruby Armada is coming soon, with the first volume releasing April 22 (digital & cassettes), followed by the second volume early this fall (date TBD).
THE TRACKS The Ruby Armada: Volume I 1. Walk Away 2. To All My Friends 3. Number 4. Bleu Skies 5. Say Yeah
The Ruby Armada: Volume II 1. No Left Turn 2. Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3. Cut and Run 4. MTNS 5. Viva! Cascadia!
Red Cloud current line-up: Aaron Williams (guitar, vocals) Tanner Rauch (bass) Jesse Jackson (drums)
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 17th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
I’d be telling you to see YOB even if I hadn’t recently had the pleasure myself. It was my first show in New York in over two years and a genuine piece of needed spiritual rejuvenation. If you’ve seen YOB before, you know what I’m talking about. I’ve decided that my wife needs to see them next time they come through. That’s how important they are to me.
And Dave French killed it on drums. Don’t get me wrong, there are few drummers I’m as pleased to see walk into a room as Travis Foster, but French brought it. Recall he was in Brothers of the Sonic Cloth. If he’s heavy enough for frickin’ Tad, he’s heavy enough for you.
So anyway, YOB‘s got newly announced European tour dates and previously announced Southwest tour dates. Here are both:
We are so stoked to be heading out on tour, and with True Widow! Our beloved brother and drum wizard Travis is taking some time away from shows. The three of us put our heads together and approached Dave French, the sublime drum crusher from Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth to fill in. The four of us have toured together many times. We’re family, it shows, and holy shit is Dave killing it. We’re on fire, and we can’t wait to bring it to you.
3/17/2022 Sacramento, CA Harlow’s* 3/18/2022 Santa Cruz, CA Felton Music Hall* 3/19/2022 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall* 3/20/2022 Los Angeles, CA 1720* 3/21/2022 San Diego, CA Brick By Brick* 3/22/2022 Tucson, AZ Club Congress* 3/23/2022 Albuquerque, NM Sister Bar* 3/24/2022 Denver, CO Marquis Theater* 3/25/2022 Salt Lake City, UT Soundwell 3/26/2022 Boise, ID Treefort 4/27/2022 Glasgow, UK G2 4/28/2022 Leeds, UK Brudenell Social Club 4/29/2022 Manchester, UK Academy 3 5/1/2022 London, UK Desert Festival 5/3/2022 Lille, FR Aeronef 5/4/2022 Rouen, FR Le106 5/5/2022 Paris, FR La Maroquinerie 5/6/2022 Feyzin, FR L’Epicerie Moderne 5/7/2022 Karlsruhe, DE Dude Fest 5/8/2022 Munich, DE Strom 5/10/2022 Bologna, DE Freakout Club 5/11/2022 Mezzago, IT Bloom 5/12/2022 Martigny, CH Les Caves du Manoir 5/13/2022 Delemont, CH SAS 5/14/2022 Dortmund, DE Junkyard 5/16/2022 Oslo, NO Partkteatret 5/17/2022 Stockholm, SE Slaktkyrkan 5/18/2022 Gothenburg, SE Valand 5/19/2022 Copenhagen, DK Colossal Weekend 5/20/2022 Aarhus, DK Atlas 5/21/2022 Hanover, DE Café Glocksee 5/22/2022 Groningen, NE Vera 5/24/2022 Eindhoven, NE Effenear 5/25/2022 Esch-Sur-Alzette, LU Kulturfabrik 5/26/2022 Ghent, BE Dunk!Festival 5/27/2022 Berlin, DE Desertfest * – With True Widow
YOB is: Mike Scheidt – Guitar, Vocals Aaron Rieseberg – Bass Dave French – Drums (live)
Posted in Reviews on February 24th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
I was sitting by the side of the bathtub, giving my kid a bath. My head was between my knees and I just decided I couldn’t live like this. I was out the door half a xanax and 10 minutes later, headed to Brooklyn. Yes, I told my wife I was going first.
Yesterday was a misery. Weeks, really. It feels like years since I’ve properly slept and maybe it has been. I don’t know. I’d had tickets for the third night of the four, last night, but I just couldn’t do it. Couldn’t get out the door. And I’d been wretched all day. Mad at myself for missing it, mad at the bullshit, all the last two years, this endless feeling of being right on the edge of something terrible. Fucking hell, at some point you have to live. Was I really going to let this go?
The Saint Vitus Bar has changed. There’s a door in now that bypasses the front barroom if you just want to go to the back, and a corresponding wall on the side of the back bar that I imagine makes it even more compressed between sets but maybe that’s just me protecting my terror at being out among humans. They’ve redone the bathrooms. There’s a wine store next door. Luxury apartment buildings are going up in this neighborhood by the dozen.
In the end, it was the last-chance factor that got me. Four shows. I didn’t need to see all of them. But one didn’t seem like too much to ask for. I’ve been inside for so long. I’ve been good. I got all my shots. I thought less of those who didn’t. Can’t I get a little something for all that comfortable moral superiority?
Remind me sometime and I’ll tell you (again) about the first time I almost saw YOB. Let me tell you from experience: almost seeing YOB is no way to go through life.
So here I am. At soundcheck. They’re playing “Adrift in the Ocean,” which they’ve done for the last three nights, and fair enough since Atma is being reissued. Got to talk to the band for a minute, and the Ecstatic Vision guys are kicking around somewhere. I don’t know when doors are and I don’t care. I made it. I’m doing this.
They follow “Adrift in the Ocean” with “Prepare the Ground.”
—
Next week, Ecstatic Vision will announce the name of their new album and the release date, as well as post the first single. They got to soundcheck after YOB. They even nailed that, but if there was any thought that their mojo might prove elusive for all their time away from a stage, it was dispelled almost immediately once their set started. Covered “TV Eye.” Place went off.
Do you understand? I mean, communal energy. Not just some throw-your-hands-in-the-air hackneyed shit, but the real deal; an honest to goodness vibe. Energy sent on an electric wave through the room, Ecstatic Vision pummeling asteroids careening through space like they’re totally out of control but playing off that tension and release the whole time. Magic. Or at very least, technology my brain will never be able to understand. They just finished. I feel alive.
I have a memory of seeing them in Jersey that feels recent despite being 10 lifetimes ago. They played with Brant Bjork that night. And no one was there. I tried to be kind about it at the time, but the truth is I was maybe one of 30 in the room. But tonight, this place. Shit. They killed then, don’t get me wrong. They were fucking awesome that night. Tonight there were witnesses. I was up front, didn’t move. Almost took a guitar string to the eye. Who cares? Element of danger was sick. Cables coming unplugged before the riff hits. My man swapping between sax and guitar and flute, pounding a Bud Light the whole time. Ecstatic Vision’s psychedelia is beautiful the way you think of lions chasing down and devouring zebras. I feel like I could nap for a week and I feel like I just woke up.
—
“Prepare the Ground.” Awaken. Awaken. I want to say all the weirdness went away immediately. Like it was pushed out of the room by the amps moving air. Even at its most ideal, life doesn’t work like that. But headbanging to YOB on a Wednesday night in Brooklyn is probably the closest I’m ever going to get.
It was beautiful. What a beautiful moment to exist.
Mike Scheidt, Aaron Rieseberg, Dave French, the latter new on drums. Last time I saw him was playing with Brothers of the Sonic Cloth at Roadburn. Or maybe something else. I don’t know. The room was full by the time they went on. It was easier for me to look forward at the stage than to look back at the humans assembled, so that’s what I did. I stayed up front for the duration. Where was I gonna go?
They played the chug ‘n’ lurcher from the last album, “The Screen.” And they played “The Lie That is Sin,” and “Upon the Sight of the Other Shore” and” Adrift in the Ocean” back to back. Broken string? Whatever. Next guitar. Fucking a. Roll on. And they finished with “Burning the Altar.” And that’s when everything was obliterated. You. Me. The whole place. The toxic air. The time. The shitty condos. Just gone.
What do you do with that? This was the last of four nights of YOB at Saint Vitus Bar. I’m so, so glad I saw it. Heard it. Felt it vibrating in my chest, the pain in my neck that I expect will only get worse tomorrow and the next day before it gets better. It doesn’t even matter. Just the sound. That rumble, that ring out. That scream. Fuck. If the altar didn’t burn from that, I don’t think it ever will. I gave Mike and Aaron hugs. I saw friends when it was done. Real friends. Real life. Amazing. Love.
—
Bought a shirt, said goodbye on the quick, mask on, and left. Nothing against anybody’s anything but it was time to go. Flat tire when I got back to the car a bit ago. Called AAA like you do. Box Street and McGuiness. They’re gonna film Blue Bloods there on Friday. Cops and such. Dude put the donut on. I got out in time for the headache to kick in. That’s where I’m at now. Home. Tired. After 1AM. I’ll be up around 7 if there’s mercy to be had. Maybe there is, maybe not. Can’t say I earned it.
I feel like I’ve been hibernating a piece of myself and it just got up and got a first drink of cold water. I don’t know what’s next. Neither do you. But holy shit I’m glad I was born so that I could live tonight.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 27th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
I’m not going to sit here and pretend to be familiar with James Romig‘s work prior to this. Believe it or not, I just don’t run in the circles of compositional/classical academia, but when it’s YOB guitarist/vocalist Mike Scheidt playing what would seem to be a massive, nearly-hour-long work for solo drone guitar, chances are I’m going to check it out. Titled The Complexity of Distance — the advent of ‘plague era’ titles is amazing; someone get a listicle going — there’s no set release date yet, but maybe by the end of this year it could show up? I don’t know that either and while I’m not feeling like pretending, I won’t pretend I do.
It’s cool to see Scheidt talking about taking lessons and learning new elements of his craft in order to interpret Romig‘s composition though. That kind of thing can have an impact of course on Scheidt‘s own work as well, and one wonders if it might. I recall when dude learned finger-picking, it was like a bomb went off in my brain. Kaboom.
Scheidt posted thusly about the collaboration on social media:
I haven’t posted much here in awhile. Time to post some news I’m pretty excited about!
In 2018 I was lucky enough to meet a composer by the name of James Romig. He’s a classical composer and music professor at Western Illinois University. One of his recent compositions for solo piano, “Still”, was a Pulitzer finalist in 2019. Around that time he asked me if I’d be interested in performing and recording a new piece that he’d compose for me for solo distorted guitar, somewhat in the vein of Sunn O))), but really its own thing. My answer was yes, of course!
After receiving the score I spent the better part of 2021 taking lessons with my friend and fabulous guitarist Jake Pavlak, learning how to read Romig’s composition, how to count the beats, and how articulate the 20+ different chord voicings. In October I walked into Gung-Ho Studio to work with Billy Barnett (who’s worked on 6 out of 8 of YOB’s albums) and together with James (remotely), Jake Pavlak, and Billy, we recorded “The Complexity Of Distance.” It turned out great!
It’s monolithic, clocking in at 58 minutes. Romig’s website is https://www.jamesromig.com/tcod.html for a more detailed look at his work (he’s also on Instagram and Facebook). There is also a sample of the new piece on Youtube (a link is in the comments). I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to work with James! We do not have a release date as of yet, but I’ll have more to share on that front this year. Maybe soon. Until then, much love to you and yours. Cheers!
