Posted in Whathaveyou on December 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Something you might not get to see every day here in heavy psych rockers Blasting Rod making the voyage from their home in Nagoya, Japan, to play their first show on North American soil this coming Jan. 6. The gig is set for the Redwood Bar & Grill, and the band will be joined by Vie Jester and Power Falcon on what’s sure to be a lifetime memory for Blasting Rod.
Understand, this isn’t a tour. They’re crossing the Pacific Ocean to play a show in the US and proffer their weirdo lysergic experimentalism in a context entirely new. Will they ever come back? Who knows. But if you’re in Los Angeles or someplace adjacent, this is one to consider if you like being part of once-in-a-lifetime experiences. The ostensible occasion is the anniversary of their 2022 album, Of Wild Hazel (review here), but come on. This one is its own excuse for being.
Get there if you can get there. And it’s $10 at the door!
To wit:
Break those New Year’s resolutions Saturday, Jan. 6 at Redwood Bar & Grill in downtown Los Angeles when Blasting Rod makes its one and (so far) only North American live appearance.
In Fuzz We Trust presents Blasting Rod, Vie Jester, and Power Falcon.
Escape to L.A. with Blasting Rod at Redwood Bar & Grill on January 6 for the 1st anniversary of the North American LP release, Of Wild Hazel.
8pm Showtime $10 Cover at the door https://theredwoodbar.com 316 W. 2nd St. Los Angeles CA (213) 680-2600 Open 11am – 2am
Ain’t nuthin’ but a party, y’all!
Come hang with Blasting Rod at a chill bar with food and seating.
Blasting Rod is a get weird—stay weird tight but loose 3-piece based in Nagoya, Japan playing fuzzy grooves and slippery psychedelia.
Las ranuras borrosas y la psicodelia resbaladiza te transportarán a unas vacaciones para desconectarte de todo por un tiempo.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Look. This probably won’t be the last time today I talk about a video that came out a couple weeks back, and I know that maybe from outside, a 2022 album that did pretty well on Bandcamp and whatnot getting picked up for a vinyl release doesn’t seem like a big deal. But in the case of Fargo, North Dakota’s Gypsy Wizard Queen, I assure you it is. To be able to say someone — never mind that it’s Buddy Donner of Glory or Death Records (also Sabbath Buddy Sabbath and Great Electric Quest) as the individual in question — thinks enough of your work to get behind putting it on a 12″ platter, and then the test pressings show up at your house? I don’t care if you’ve put out 40 albums in your career — that’s a good day.
Preorders are up for the vinyl now, and the band has a video for the 10-minute languid-roll opener/longest-track “Witch Lung,” which is about as NSFW as a bunch of Hammer Horror exploitation flicks because that’s where at least most of the footage comes from. I think the lady with the skull and the knife by her breast was used by Electric Wizard at some point or other, but it’s been used by a lot of people, so maybe you’ll recognize it. In any case, if you’re at work, don’t watch the clip — and yes, it’s not new unless you’re some kind of weirdo who thinks just because something has been out for more than 48 hours it might still have relevance; and if that’s you, congrats on staying off social media — and if we’re being all the way sincere here, I don’t really like perpetuating this kind of imagery. I don’t feel like there’s much aesthetic gain at this point from slathering ’70s boobage all over your riffs, but I’m clearly in the minority there considering how many do. It’s a big universe, though, and the arc of history at least in this case bends toward inclusion, so it’s another instance where, as George Carlin reminds us, “Evolution is slow; smallpox is fast.”
Think maybe I’ll go back to bed for a bit. Link to buy the thing, the video embed and the album stream all follow here, because one likes to be thorough:
“Witch Lung” is the opening track of the Self-Titled album released in 2022
“Gypsy Wizard Queen is a heavily fuzzed-out power trio hailing from the frozen tundra of Fargo, ND. The band consists of Chris Ellingson on guitar/vocals, Chad Heille on drums, and Mitch Martin on bass/vocals. Their dynamic, bluesy grooves can be found on their latest self-titled release.”
Shipping begins around November 28
Gypsy Wizard Queen are: Chris Ellingson – Guitar/Vocals Chad Heille – Drums Mitch Martin – Bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 29th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
For a band who call themselves Fuzz Forward, one might expect the Spanish troupe to be an absolute hair-covered overdose of effects pedals sprawling out across whatever stage they’re playing, but to listen to the new single “Intoxicate” that’s coming out in about two weeks ahead of their next album, Parasites, next year, they’re awfully clearheaded in their approach. Such was the case as well with their 2018 debut, Out of Nowhere (review here), so it would seem their purposes are perhaps a little more straightahead than their moniker.
Fair enough, and that’s hardly true only of them, but the songwriting isn’t really arguable either way, and I know I’ve said this about releases of this sort before, but it’s the kind of thing you might see five record labels or so getting behind. Hail teamwork. I don’t have audio of “Intoxicate” yet to share, but I’ve got art, info, a lifetime’s supply of links and 2022 single “Shout to Forget,” which isn’t on the record but, you know, exists in a public sphere and is thus applicable to our purposes here.
Barcelona based Fuzz Forward are releasing the single Intoxicate next October 13th on Spotify.
The band continues to pursuit their own path with their personal blend of grunge, hard rock and stoner rock. FF is heavily influenced by Helmet, Alice In Chains, Black Sabbath…
Intoxicate is the first single off their sophomore album “Parasites” due for release on January 2024 via Glory or Death Records, Discos Macarras Records, Violence In The Veins, Hombre Montaña and Demons Punk Records.
Fuzz Forward “Parasites”
1. Shout To Forget 2. Intoxicate 3. Fade Away 4. You Never Learn 5. She Comes 6. S.O.S. 7. Set Me Free 8. Hand It Over 9. Dead Friends 10. These Flowers
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 6th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Mos Generator releasing a thing can be news even if it’s not really a huge surprise. Led by the e’er prolific Tony Reed — also of Big Scenic Nowhere, Hot Spring Water, Constance Tomb, ex-Stone Axe, on and on — the Port Orchard, Washington, heavy rockers have posted 2022 remasters on their Bandcamp for 2018’s Shadowlands (review here), 2016’s Abyssinia (review here) and 2014’s Electric Mountain Majesty(review here), representing the most productive stretch in terms of full-length records in the band’s career, though along with studio LPs there’s always EPs, singles, and other odds and ends the band have going.
To wit, Heavy Sevens and Spaced Oddities is a compilation of off-album tracks from various releases over a 20-year span. That and a reissue of their latest album, 2022’s Time//Wounds, will be out through Glory or Death Records, deepening an association that’s been in place for several years, as Mos Generator has taken part in tribute releases for the label before — why I don’t write about those whole-album or best-of-whoever tributes more: it just got to be too much, there’s like a zillion of them, and as cool and novel as those are, with the hours in the day that I have, it seems more suitable to me to write about actually-new music — and Reed‘s Hot Spring Water project put out their 2022 album, In Session, via Glory or Death as well.
Release dates? I don’t know. They put up test pressings over the weekend, signed and so on, so I’d imagine there will be more word soon. In any case, one to keep an eye out for:
Greetings all, just letting you know that we have a few things coming out at the end of summer through Glory or Death Records.
First is ‘HEAVY SEVENS & SPACED ODDITIES’. This is a single LP collection of the original songs from our 7″ singles and also a few audio oddities from 2001-2021. Second is the Glory or Death version of our last album ‘Time//Wounds’. This version has different art layout and mastering and will be available in some different variants. Unlike the Music Abuse version which was only available in black vinyl. We will have some standard editions available on our bandcamp but if you would like to pre-order or find all the limited versions please go to: gloryordeathrecords.bandcamp.com www.gloryordeathrecords.com/
Signed test pressing go live Sunday July 2nd @ 12pm CST
Here is the tracklisting for the Heavy Sevens album. Music Abuse will be releasing it on Cd with extra tracks.
– Gus’s Boogie – You Bring the Wine, I’ll Bring the Weather – Step up (7″ Version) – Godhand Iommi – Downer Rock ’89 – Wicked Willow (rsd 7″ Version) – Wroomb – Tracks (tall Bodies)* – Serpent’s Glance – There’s No Return from Nowhere (video Version) – Gamma/hydra (7″ Version) – Nowarning (flexi Mix)
Mos Generator: Tony Reed: guitar/vocals/mellotron Jono Garrett: drums Sean Booth: bass
Posted in Questionnaire on October 6th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
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: Sven Shah from Blasting Rod
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Both myself and probably others would most likely call it, “Messin’ around.”
I like to do something and see what happens. I tend to take the ball and run with it. Depending on who I’m working with, that can be an asset, or a deal breaker. As drummer and executive producer, Chihiro keeps me anchored, or at least within sight of the shoreline. I’m getting better at delegating, but my peers often tell me I’m working too hard and doing too much myself, while also ignoring conventions that remove any need for thinking. They aren’t wrong, but I don’t want to be in a Zappa position where I’m telling everyone what they have to, or not do I want to just accept convention as wrote.
I want my collaborators to have the freedom to make it their thing, too. I like a bit of chaos in the band. That way it can be thrilling for me and hopefully provides a sense of anticipation for those seeing us again. I think it’s important to be light on your feet so you can be open to changing course onto a path that you had not even initially put into the map. If the size of the group swells with people who are working to too tight a brief it becomes more difficult to make those sorts of spontaneous decisions.
On the other hand I do want to do some Blasting Rod Big Band shows with a horn section and additional percussionists on some songs. Having more people contributing sounds means that each person needs to contribute less, which might actually free me up to do some spontaneous conducting, or be more deliberate. A lot of musicians talk about having a sound in their head, but I tend to run with an actual sound. As George Harrison said, to allow it to be what it was always going to become. For me, personally, it’s important that “things” develop organically, but that involves understanding where the sounds are going.
Not sure how I arrived at this approach. It sounds more than a bit cliché to attribute it to the influence of Zen, but I have long been attracted to indeterminism, getting lost and finding my way home, both metaphorically and physically. Japanese animist beliefs tend to favor fate, but that is often counterbalanced by an impulse to micromanage and hint of real nature out of something. In order to maintain spontaneity and allow the hand of fate it’s place at the table we record together without a click and overdub layers by feel. Most, not all, of the guitar solos are improvised at the same time the bass and drums are recorded, and all of the bass improv. Variations in tempo are just as crucial to dynamics as fluctuations in volume.
Describe your first musical memory.
My Dad handing me a harmonica, or maybe it was a kazoo, then dropping the needle on a 45 of Love Me Do by The Beatles, and the two of us improvising on harmonica, or harmonica and kazoo, to that record is the earliest concrete memory of being aware of music. I may have been four?
Describe your best musical memory to date.
This is much more difficult. I’ll go with picking up a miracle ticket outside the box-office of a sold-out John McLaughlin trio concert in Montreal. Just happened to see he was playing, turned up ticketless and was immediately turned away. Some nearby had one extra, sold it at cost, and I got to see the concert, but alone. Having no idea what to expect, only knowing McLaughlin’s name from every single guitarist name-checking him in guitar mag interviews, at some point in the show I was levitating about 10 inches above my seat, and I was stone cold sober.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Every time I plug my gear in. I believe it’s gonna work, however some trial inevitably awaits. Great successes are often born from the darkest depths of despair.
This is a result of willingly bucking convention, and occasionally I have to cave in to conventional wisdom. An example of this being my belief that an LP with digital download coupon is superior to a CD. Not in Japan. I finally had to relent to the mounting claims of, “I don’t have space for a turntable and I don’t use my computer to listen to music.” Blasting Rod III and our upcoming solstice album are both being issued as limited edition CDs in Japan.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I have a pet theory, that I know in my heart is false, that bands start out as garage punk, but eventually become prog if they continue to challenge themselves. Bands that stay punk are admirable in their dedication. That intricacy can also eventually evolve into minimalism as the essence of the work becomes clearer. Although we are constantly challenging ourselves to do something, if even just slightly, different, we also make a conscious effort to keep the presentation casual, and tap into the energy of the moment. In other words, even though we have a progressive stance, perfection is overrated.
How do you define success?
Being able to do whatever want… No. No. I want a 12 cylinder Ferrari… but seriously, freedom is the ultimate success, and even the definition of that freedom is measured on a sliding scale. Having nothing is both freeing and constricting, for example, but which draws one’s focus?
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Saw a guy fall out of a moving train just after departing Howrah Station in Calcutta. Thankfully for me his landing was obscured by some shrubbery, but certainly it did not end well for him, regardless of my visual comfort. I guess in a way I’m glad I saw it. After that I was a lot more careful near open train doors.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Ha! It would be quite easy to get snarky about this and say a multi-platinum selling retirement piece, but actually we keep putting off the recording of this long-form song of the mystical Orient that was inspired in nearly equal parts by India, Thailand, and Japan, yet is still unable to escape rock’n’roll. Wow. I’m really propping up expectations with that description. Let’s just call it our “Jazz Odyssey”, a 15 minute raga rock number. We still have some other more concise songs in pocket, but rather than do a side-long Atom Heart Mother with a few other tunes on the opposite side, I’ve hit upon a much more excessive plan, which is to record both acoustic and electric versions with each taking up a full side. Now, if that isn’t decadent enough for you, I already have a six-hour album of solo guitar improv in the key of C# based on insufficiently studied Hindustani ragas each titled by a full 17 syllable haiku. This future Blasting Rod album idea is the height of commercialism by those standards.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
The art that is most appealing to me, at least, is art that provides a transportative experience out of normal expectations and experiences. That can be something fantastic like Dali’s Hallucinogenic Toreador, or just the opposite, something that may be so ordinary that it makes you completely rethink all of your notions of art simply by defying them entirely. At the very least it should move the mind, if not the heart as well.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I can’t wait to get away to some Pacific islands again, but a weedy gray Central Japanese beach will probably have to do for the foreseeable future. I’ll take it! Everything else on my calendar, that I’m looking forward to at least, is music related. The beach isn’t even on the calendar yet. Scratch that, Chihiro just informed me that we’re booked into a hotel in Okinawa for a late summer holiday…which, presumably, is why she’s been too busy to fill out her questionnaire
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 7th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
For those in other parts of the world, there are really just two states in the union in which one might launch a one-state tour. Texas is one of them, California is the other. If you’re in Europe, think of it like announcing a ‘German tour.’ Hudu Akil, from Phoenix, Arizona, are slated as previously noted to play at Heavy Mash 2022 in Arlington, TX, on Oct. 8, and around that they’ll do dates in El Paso, San Antonio, Austin and San Angelo, so yeah, that’s a legit Texas tour.
They signed to Glory or Death Records earlier this year to release 2020’s Eye for an Eye on vinyl, and according to social media the test pressings for that were a go, though I don’t have an exact release date if such things even exist anymore for this kind of stuff. It’ll happen when it happens. Cool your jets and preorder. Ha.
The dates follow here along with some comment from Hudu Akil‘s Zac Crye, who notes that they’ll be playing largely new stuff in the sets. Right on:
Hudu Akil, the stoner metal trio from Phoenix, AZ, will set out to spread their desert rock gospel around the Lone Star State in October with the following dates:
10.05 – Raves – El Paso, TX 10.06 – Hi-tone – San Antonio, TX 10.07 – Valhalla – Austin, TX 10.08 – Division Brewery – Arlington, TX (Heavy Mash 2022) 10.09 – The Deadhorse – San Angelo, TX
The band will be showcasing their new work alongside crowd favorites with nearly half of the touring set comprised of unreleased material.
Vocalist, Zac Crye says: “Our most recent album was picked up by Glory or Death Records a year after it was released during the pandemic. When they asked about getting “Eye for an Eye,” on vinyl, they also wanted to know if we could have a new album ready to send out for vinyl around the same time. At that time we didn’t have any new material, so we got to work and crafted some of our favorite songs for this new album, which we are nearly finished writing. So, its time to take the new tunes and see how they hold up in one of the best states for the genre at the moment.”
“I think Texas is a great state to tour because there are so many large cities with great music scenes that are fairly close together. Stoner Rock/Psyche Rock and Heavy Blues are really big around Austin. Those are our vibes with a little dry heat added in.”
“Eye for an Eye” was released in 2020 and is available on all streaming platforms. Go to huduakil.com for more information.
The second full-length from Indiana-based solo artist Roy Waterford, aka Watchman, is titled The End of All Flesh, and it’s being released on vinyl and digitally this coming Saturday through Wet Records and Glory or Death Records. The project has worked quickly across the last two years, issuing the debut EP, Behold a Pale Horse (review here), in 2020 before following up with last year’s Doom of Babylon debut long-player. The sophomore outing begins with its longest track (immediate points) in the just-under-six-minute “Pour Out the Vials,” and the hazy psych-driven stoner lurch is palpable in the nodding undulations, like if Electric Wizard decided momentarily to give it a rest on watching old VHS horror tapes and mellowed out a bit on the cultistry. Not to say that “Fire and Brimstone,” the hookier drawl of “Death is Coming” — a roughed-up take on doomgaze made more vital by the solo performance — or the fuzz swinger “The Smoke,” which appears right ahead of the closing title-track as The End of All Flesh wraps in suitably melancholic, misanthropic fashion, the drums barely there behind the gruel-fed guitar and slow lurching groove.
All told, the album runs seven songs and 36 minutes. It is largely unipolar in its point of view, willfully dug in to its own riffing and able accordingly to convey a due sense of trance. There are full-band progressions happening, mind you. These are songs, constructed and executed in layers and put together at the behest of one person, but it’s Waterford‘s vision that most unites the material throughout. What if Six Organs of Admittance was also Sleep at their most miserable? It is a somewhat troubled sonic blend, but that’s very obviously the intention, to bring that sense of bedroom folk intimacy to something no less personal but manifest in an outwardly heavier way. Familiar elements resound, but Waterford‘s doom is ultimately his own.
And if you can’t hang with a half-hour-plus of wretchedness and riffs, I humbly suggest that perhaps doom isn’t the thing after all and that The End of All Flesh may be overwhelming despite and in part because of its empty and manipulated spaces. What I’ll say though is that while this second Watchman album was clearly designed or at least arranged after the fact to maximize an overarching flow, the individual songs that comprise it nonetheless are pointed in the impressions they make. The only thing stopping Waterford is nothing, and left to his own devices, one wonders how much deeper into the doomed psyche he might plunge as a forward step coming off this release. Eventually there’s a floor down there, you know.
Enjoy the album and thanks for reading:
Watchman, The End of All Flesh album premiere
After the very well-received “Doom Of Babylon”, the creation of multi-instrumentalist and producer Roy Waterford (Indiana), Watchman returns once again with his second album “The End Of All Flesh”.
Through its slow and mesmerizing riffs, and distant and mysterious vocals, listeners are pulled into a mystical and chaotic journey.
Watchman echoes a dark and outstanding atmosphere. Roy tells us that he taps into the gritty, fuzzy 70s sound, combined with his Stoned Doomed inspirations mentioning the names Electric Wizard and Sleep. Amidst the monolithic riffs, we are engulfed in strong psychedelic touches.
The fantastic Album Art for “The End Of All Flesh” was created by Enrico Zappalà Castorina (MontDoom)
About vinyl:
Watchman is teaming up with Wet Records once again to bring their second album, “The End Of All Flesh” into this world on vinyl and digitally. Which happens next Saturday, June 11th.
Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 7th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
San Diego-based heavy rockers Formula 400 recently completed a three-week stint that took them across the US and included an appearance at the Maryland Doom Fest over Halloween weekend, where one can only imagine they were greeted warmly. The four-piece’s 2020 debut, Heathens (review here) — vinyl through Glory or Death Records, CD on Animated Insanity — continues to offer riffy thrills from front to back, and the band’s abiding lack of pretense extends to their presentation in their new video for “Messenger” as well, as you can see in the premiere below.
Dudes made a cool record and hit the road — it’s an idea as simple as could be in everything except the timing. Accordingly, “Messenger” follows the band-in-room-playing-song ethic of videography one saw in the prior clip for “Light My Way” — also notable that it’s the second track on the album and “Light My Way” is the opener — though it comes coupled with some clips of Bela Lugosi as Dracula, and that’s good fun too. Is the song about Dracula? Probably not, but it’s definitely about that hook and that’s all I really need, to be honest with you.
That’s kind of thing about Formula 400. Right down to their well-Firebird-was-taken moniker and through the album itself from the whiskey grit of “Ridin’ Easy” to the still-catchy bombast and metallic soloing of “Sun Destroyer” and the closing instrumental “The Long Road Home,” they’re readily telegraphing what they’re about. Ain’t anybody’s first go-round in a band, and they’ve got songwriting solid enough that if you actually put the record on, they make you feel welcome to stay for the duration. Anything else you want to ask of rock and roll is superfluous.
It’s never gonna be the cool thing. The critical hit. Kids won’t be dancing to it on TikTok. But whatever. There’s room in this world for that stuff too. Sometimes it’s okay to just enjoy a groove. So you’ll pardon me if I do that.
Dig:
Formula 400, “Messenger” video premiere
Formula 400 are: Dan Frick: Guitar and Vox Kip Page: Bass Ian Holloway: Guitar and Vox Lou Voutiritsas: Drums
