Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 5th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
This Friday, Hermano release their live album captured at Hellfest 2016, Clisson, France (review here), through Ripple Music. The full video of the set — what if this was 20 years ago would almost certainly be released as a DVD — premieres below, beamed from 10 years ago this summer straight to your eyeballs with urgent, dynamic and, yes, sometimes very fun heavy rock and roll.
Hermano maybe isn’t the least likely of projects, but it’s not far off. With the songwriting of bassist Dandy Brown (Orquesta del Desierto, The Fizz Fuzz, etc.) at their root, the band flourishes from what guitarists Mike Callahan (Disengage) and David Angstrom (Luna Sol, Supafuzz), drummer Chris Leathers and inimitable (though plenty out there try) vocalist John Garcia (Kyuss, solo, Slo Burn, Unida, etc.), and given everybody’s involvement in other bands, Hermano isn’t and probably won’t ever be anybody’s main band.
Sad story? Maybe, until you watch the video. I was fortunate enough a couple weeks back to sit in on a video chat with the band organized by Rich Piva (Rich & Turbo’s Heavy Half-Hour) and Sean Patrick Brooks (The Heavy Underground Farm Report), and most of what was said was that Hermano endures because they’re all friends in real life, because they care about each other and understand they share something special between them. Watching the video, this rings unmistakably true. The rarity of their doing so (they were at Hellfest again in 2025), then, becomes part of the appeal. That is to say, if they’re onstage reveling in the joy of being among friends doing something they love — and by all recorded multimedia accounts that’s how it went at Hellfest 2016 — that energy comes through in the music itself. The ‘least likeliness’ makes it all the more a thing to appreciate, both for the band and the audience in France, clapping along in that massive Hellfest tent that was a rite of passage for a generation of killer acts summer-touring Europe.
I will gladly argue that Hermano should do another album. Their last was 2007’s …Into the Exam Room (discussed here), and when it came out, I thought it was doing things in a style of desert rock that was utterly its own. They sounded like a band with more — much more — to say. That was 19 years ago, and the closest to a studio release they’ve gotten is 2024’s When the Moon Was High… EP (review here), collecting unreleased archival tracks and a couple live songs, including ones from this set. It made a lot of sense for Hellfest 2025, but was not the strident studio return one might’ve hoped for.
The lesson there is simple. It’ll happen if it happens. That’s not to say it wouldn’t take a push to make a new Hermano record, but neither does it make any sense for a band who’ve existed intermittently to suddenly sit down and bang something out just to produce content. If the record doesn’t write itself, maybe it doesn’t need to be written, and honestly, given Hermano‘s three-for-three studio LP standard, I wouldn’t want them to produce something without their particular soul just to have a new release. It’s rare enough that, with the EP, the Hellfest return and this live album released a decade after it was captured delivering on the character of the band in a way not even their prior live album, 2005’s Live at W2, could do, partly because being a little more grown up, perhaps they’re more able to value what they have together for its intermittent nature. Not that they wouldn’t be themselves if they were a full-time band, but I think if you listen to Clisson, France and for sure if you watch the video below, you get a sense of just how deep these friendships go, and the heart in the music mirrors that.
Video credits follow in the blue text, as cut and pasted from the video page.
As always, I hope you enjoy:
Hermano, Clisson, France full set video premiere
HERMANO – Live at Hellfest, Clisson, France, June 18, 2016 Ripple Music 2026
Tracks 1. Left Side Bleeding 2. The Bottle 3. Cowboys Suck 4. 5 to 5 5. Senor Moreno’s Plan 6. My Boy 7. Love 8. Is this OK? 9. Alone Jeffe 10. Kentucky 11. Manager’s Special 12. Angry American
Produced by Hermano Recorded at Hellfest, Clisson, France, June 18, 2016 Live engineer Michael Kuhna Video recording Sombrero & Co. Video editing Larry Treadway at gotreadgo Mixed and Mastered by Jason Groves at Sneak Attack Recordings in Lexington, KY Legal: David W. Prasse, P.C. Booking:Yerry Stetter K2 AGENCY Cover Art and LP Label Image: Lane Speas at Amplified Designs Graphic Design: Mark Aceves
Hermano: John Garcia, Voice David Angstrom, Guitar Mike Callahan, Guitar Dandy Brown, Bass Chris Leathers, Drums
Posted in Reviews on January 8th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Closing in on a decade after the fact, Hermano‘s appearance at the 2016 Hellfest Open Air Festival in — as the title of the live record puts it in if-you-know-you-know fashion, Clisson, France — was clearly a pivotal moment for the band. Sure enough, there’s a point in the second half of the set, right after “Is This Ok?,” where vocalist John Garcia (ex-Kyuss, ex-Unida, solo, etc.) goes around the stage and says where everyone came from and the reason they were there is “for you.”
The “you” there, of course, is the Hellfest crowd, who erupt in appreciate cheers every time a place is named, from Denver to Joshua Tree and Palm Springs, California, to Cleveland and Atlanta. I don’t know how many in the crowd in France really know where Cleveland is as relates to Atlanta and Palm Springs — that’s West Coast, East Coast and Midwest represented — but for a band who started out in 1998, put out three LPs between then and 2007 and fizzled as members went on to other doings, that had to feel pretty special. Like, I’m sure that’s not the only reason Clisson, France is being released, but if you needed just one, it’d serve.
In 2024, Ripple Music put out Hermano‘s EP When the Moon was High… (review here), with two previously unreleased studio tracks, and four live cuts, three of which, “Love,” “Manager’s Special” and “Senor Moreno’s Plan,” came from this performance. Considering Hermano, prior to 2024, hadn’t had a release of any kind since 2007’s so-much-better-than-I’ve-ever-heard-anyone-give-it-credit-for-being …Into the Exam Room (discussed here), one might forgive the repetition.
Hermano actually appeared again at Hellfest in 2025, so there’s been some return to activity over the last years, and one can’t help but wonder if momentum isn’t leading toward a new studio album even as Garcia, bassist Dandy Brown (The Fizz Fuzz, Orquesta del Desierto, etc.), guitarists Dave Angstrom (Luna Sol, Supafuzz) and Mike Callahan (Disengage) and drummer Chris Leathers (Supafuzz) are all plenty busy besides and geographically dispersed as noted. Nice thought, but for now, the most hint they’re dropping in that regard arrives in the midtempo “Love,” which was ‘the new song’ 10 years ago, and what that means is it was put together sometime after 2007. Maybe table those new LP expectations until the announcement comes through, hmm?
So, taken in its own context, one might think of Clisson, France as a victory lap for an underheralded band, long cast — by me as well — as one of the several in Garcia‘s post-Kyuss ouevre, a ‘John Garcia band’ when in fact they’ve always had more going on, never more so than on …Into the Exam Room. That being said, their focus is earlier in the Hellfest set, as almost the entirety of 2002’s debut, …Only a Suggestion (discussed here) — “The Bottle,” “Alone Jeffe,” “Manager’s Special,” “Senor Moreno’s Plan” and “5 to 5” — and a goodly portion of the 2004 follow-up, Dare I Say…, with “Cowboys Suck,” “My Boy,” “Is This Ok?” and the ripper finale “Angry American” included. Only “Left Side Bleeding,” which opens, and the later “Kentucky” feature from …Into the Exam Room, and there could be any number of reasons for that.
Sales might be one. I know we’re not supposed to talk about that kind of thing because like art happens in an imaginary vaccum somehow distant from the real world it’s speaking to, but if you’re talking about a record that didn’t get its due, sales are one way that might be demonstrated. I don’t have figures on the relative units moved, so I’m not going to say that’s definitely the thing, but if Hermano got more response to their 2002 and 2004 outings, it would make sense that less from the 2007 LP would be included.
The relative complexity of the arrangements from …Into the Exam Room would be another factor, and though I find myself drawn to these incarnations of those songs for the contrast with their layered, more polished studio versions, I recognize that sometimes that kind of thing is hard to bring to life on stage, even with Angstrom and/or Brown doing vocal backups. It’s fun to hear Garcia rip into “Left Side Bleeding,” though, and that song and “Kentucky” serve as a draw to fans who might have bought Hermano‘s Live at W2 sometime in the 21 years since its release wondering what’s distinguishing Clisson, France beyond the passage of time.
Well, that’s part of it. “Angry American,” the two cuts from the third album, “Is This Ok?” and “Love” didn’t appear on Live at W2, which means that seven of the 12 inclusions did, but it’s a different sound, a different space, a different drummer and a different time, so if you’re looking at that on paper and thinking Hermano are repeating themselves needlessly, I think maybe they just have a lot of songs that their audience wants to hear. That “Brother Bjork” isn’t on Clisson, France is a strike against it in comparison to Live at W2, but no way on earth would I trade “Love” or the perfectly rolling “Kentucky” for it. Fortunately, planet earth has room for two Hermano live albums to be released over two decades apart from each other.
But going on a full 10 years after the fact, Hermano‘s 2016 Hellfest appearance was a clear landmark for the band. To wit, I didn’t see them there and have no reason to retain it, yet I knew without reading the press release what year this performance took place. It was an important moment for them as a band. I won’t speculate on what will or won’t take shape from Hermano in the years to come, apart at least from the European touring they’ll do this Spring and perhaps more catalog reissues through Ripple at some point down the line, but if you want to know why people still sweat the band so long after their last record, the answer is written all over Clisson, France, whether it’s the bluesy energy of Angstrom‘s soloing, Garcia‘s belting out the cyclical hook of “My Boy,” or the sheer charge of “Cowboys Suck,” “Angry American” and others here. Maybe it’s a fan-piece. Fine. Let it make you a fan.
Hermano, “Manager’s Special” live at Hellfest 2016
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 11th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Hermano have an efficient stretch of European touring coming up next Spring, which will take them to Desertfest Berlin, Desertfest London, Sonic Whip and Obsidian Dust, as well as club shows in France, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. They’ll keep company with Solace and others for the going. Last year, they issued the EP When the Moon Was High (review here), as their first studio offering of any sort (in other words, it was archival, but still) since 2007.
This is an uptick in activity for Hermano. For example, when they played the 2016 edition of Hellfest in Clisson, France, that’s now being released Feb. 8 as the live LP aptly titled Clisson, France, I don’t think they did much else on stage. And Hellfest was again where they wound up earlier this year, so it seems like there’s a relationship there between the fest and the band. So much the better if they’re comfortable.
Obviously, if Hermano were to knuckle down with the lineup they have and put together a new record, well, I wouldn’t be complaining about it. As it is, that they’re doing anything at all feels like a win, and we know from experience one thing leads to the next. For now, here’s what’s up via the PR wire:
HERMANO: Hellfest live album coming on Ripple Music
California’s heavy blues titans HERMANO (fronted by iconic Kyuss vocalist John Garcia) announce their new live album “Clisson, France” this February 6th on Ripple Music and present a first video with the roaring single “Left Side Bleeding”. The announcement comes with news of a European spring tour, including festival appearances.
About the upcoming Hellfest 2016 live album, guitarist Dave Angstrom enthuses: “We were honored to be invited to perform at Hellfest 2016. It had been several years since we all had been in the same room, let alone had the chance to jam together—and it was an incredible experience. Being with my closest friends in France, connecting with the amazing audience, and having the opportunity to spend time with my family while experiencing the magic of Hellfest is a memory I will always cherish. Capturing that first Hellfest experience for Hermano on vinyl is special, serving as a reminder of the strong bond, love, and friendship I share with John, Chris, Mike, and Dandy. I’m a lucky man. We are so appreciative of Todd Severin and the Ripple Music family for getting this out. We hope everyone enjoys what we created that memorable evening as much as we enjoyed being there together.”
Recording albums and touring when they wanted to since their formation nearly three decades ago, Hermano has always consistently refused to operate on anyone’s schedule other than their own. Lured by the repeated calls of their devoted fans, though, the band first reunited for a stirring performance at Hellfest in Clisson, France, in the summer of 2016. Eight years removed from their last live performance, they arrived in Clisson with time to rehearse through their material for a couple of hours before taking the stage. In what has been hailed as the most thrilling set of the 2016 edition of Hellfest, that evening the audience witnessed a band hitting on all cylinders, a performance so energetic and seamless that those in attendance were in awe that the band had not performed together since 2008.
Captured on both audio and video, “Clisson, France” promises to be one of the most magical and significant live releases of 2026. It will be issued on limited LP edition, CD, and digital format on February 6 through Ripple Music, as well as on DVD through the band’s channels.
Not ready to stop there, encouraged by the fervor of fans across the globe, Hermano has booked their first extensive tour in over a decade for the spring of 2026. For both old and new fans of the band, these shows will offer a rare and unique opportunity to experience one of the most influential and thrilling groups in the heavy blues genre.
Hermano European tour 2026 May 7 – Paris (FR) La Maroquinerie May 8 – Utrecht (NL) Tivoli Vredenburg May 9 – Cologne (DE) Luxor May 11 – Vienna (AT) Arena May 12 – Munich (DE) Backstage Halle May 14 – Berlin (DE) Desertfest Berlin May 15 – London (UK) Desertfest London May 16 – Nijmegen (NL) Sonic Whip May 17 – Brussels (BE) Obsidian Dust
TRACKLIST: 1. Left Side Bleeding 2. The Bottle 3. Cowboys Suck 4. 5 to 5 5. My Boy 6. Is This Ok 7. Alone Jeffe 8. Kentucky 9. Manager’s Special 10. Angry American 11. Love 12. Señor Moreno’s Plan
Hermano first formed when David Angstrom (Supafuzz), Steve Earle (Afghan Whigs), Mike Callahan (Disengage), and John Garcia (Kyuss) agreed to lend their talents to the session that Dandy Brown had scheduled for December 1998. Coming together for the first time in Cincinnati, the initial riffs that Brown had constructed were arranged by the newly formed group and would become the foundation for the band’s debut album, Only a Suggestion.
Over the next decade, Hermano would go on to release three studio albums (Only a Suggestion, Dare I Say and Into the Exam Room) and a live record (Live at W2) showcasing the force the band had become in the heavy blues market. Embarking on a series of now-legendary sold-out live performances in the United States and Europe, Hermano continued to grow a legion of dedicated fans and critical acclaim. Following the European tour in support of their debut album, Steve Earle’s departure to pursue his solo project opened the door for veteran drummer Chris Leathers (Supafuzz) to step in during the band’s performance at FestiMad in 2004. Performing on the next two studio albums and their live release, Leathers’ addition to the group cemented another chapter in the friendships established during the band’s formation six years earlier.
With wind in their sails after their iconic 2016 Hellfest performance, and with the acquisition of full ownership of their entire catalogue, Hermano committed to sonically updating their albums through remixing, remastering, and reissuing their three studio albums and live material with San Francisco-based Ripple Music. The first in the series of reissues, Only a Suggestion, was made public in the fall of 2023, drawing tremendous reviews for the band’s updated blues rock masterpiece and giving their devoted fans a delicious first taste of what is to come over the next few years.
Seizing the energy of finally having an open window of opportunity, Hermano issued their first new material in over fifteen years with the release of When the Moon Was High in 2024. Featuring previously unreleased material from their Only a Suggestion sessions, live tracks, and the new single “Breathe”, the band stepped back into the fray with overwhelmingly positive reviews, culminating with their stellar headline performance at the 2025 edition of Hellfest.
HERMANO line-up: John Garcia – Vocals Dandy Brown – bass Mike Callahan – Guitar David Angstrom – Guitar Chris Leathers – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 5th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Prior confirmations at Desertfest Berlin, Desertfest London and Obsidian Dust Festival in Belgium made a run of European tour dates all the more likely for Hermano, but certainly it’s nice to see how it will all shape up as the John Garcia-fronted heavy rockers — and I’m not saying they’re the most underrated of his projects, because Slo Burn and Unida, but still — take to old continental shores for 10-thus-far dates that include the above-mentioned fests and a coheadlining night in Austria with Truckfighters, which even with just the two bands is like a Desertfest unto itself.
It’s not three months on the road and it doesn’t put them someplace I’m likely to be, which is a bummer, but I have it on good authority I’m not the only human being on the planet and I can never get out to shows anyway, so maybe I’ll live. For Hermano, the tour represents a continuation of periodic, mostly-Euro-centered activity that saw them performing in France earlier this year for not-their-first Hellfest, that slot following up on the release of lost studio material, When the Moon Was High…, that came out on Ripple Music in 2024.
The last Hermano album was 2007’s …Into the Exam Room (discussed here), and while that record brimmed with creative vitality in producing some of the best and most memorable songs of Garcia‘s post-Kyuss career, there’s never really been word of a next one.
Bassist Dandy Brown posted the dates on social media thusly:
Contact your local ticket agencies. It’s on.
Hermano Europe 2026
07.05 Paris FR La Marquinerie 08.05 Utrecht NL Tivoli Vrendenburg 09.05 Cologne DE Luxor 11.05 Vienna, AT Arena* 12.05 Munich DE Backstage Halle 14.05 Berlin DE Desertfest Berlin 15.05 London UK Desertfest London 17.05 Brussels BE Obsidian Dust
* One more to be announced soon. Stay tuned.
HERMANO line-up: John Garcia – Vocals Dandy Brown – bass Mike Callahan – Guitar David Angstrom – Guitar Chris Leathers – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 7th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Am I crazy (granted) or are we a little early arriving at the place where Desertfest throws down 20-someodd bands — in this case 28 — added all at once to the lineup? I mean, 28 bands, even for a four-day festival, would be a festival lineup. So Desertfest London 2026 is basically showcasing an entire fest’s worth of fest as just part of its broader lineup, the first announcement for which came out just a little over a month ago. I’m not worried about the promo plan or anything, you understand. They know what they’re doing. But I usually think of this kind of thing coming in winter as a hopeful portent of spring. Here in the backwater US, we haven’t even changed the clocks yet.
But can you blame them for being excited? If I had Hermano, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Solace, Causa Sui, High Desert Queen, Steak, Abrams, Alunah, Moundrag, Bismut and the rest of this cohort — Dandy Brown pulling double-duty between Hermano and Lorquin’s Admiral; nice — locked in, I might splurge too. And hopefully I’ll have more to say on this subject, but Solace‘s booked return to the UK has me convinced their new album will be out by the time they go. Do me a favor and don’t prove me wrong.
There’s a lot to like here, and also just a lot for what’s a relatively straightforward list of names. Read ’em and weep:
OUR SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT IS HERE! We’ve got 28 juicy additions to our 2026 edition and this announcement one is truly one for the DF OGs right here: desert legends HERMANO will headline the Electric Ballroom at Desertfest 2026.
Back to show us all how it’s done, John Garcia and the California cult icons will be playing their first UK show in almost two decades and we know that they’ll receive the homecoming they deserve at Desertfest London.
↠ Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – returning to Desertfest stage for the first time in 8 years.
↠ Danish heavy psych heroes turned instrumental wizards Causa Sui make their Desertfest London debut!
↠ New Jersey stoner-doom veterans Solace playing their first UK show in over a decade.
And that’s not all, folks! We’ve still to announce our final headliner for our second stint at the Roundhouse, but in the meantime we’ve prepared a mighty offering that we know you’ll love in our latest round of artists set for 2026:
HERMANO Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Causa Sui Zig Zags Steak Band Solace Deaf Club Witchsorrow High Desert Queen MOUNDRAG KOMODOR Alunah CULT OF OCCULT Forlorn LORQUIN’S ADMIRAL OMO ALPHAWHORES Abrams Bismut Okay You Win UK Ironrat Kannabinõid MOLTEN SLAG HASHTRONAUT ISAK SUPERNAUGHTT Teiger Nomadic Reign
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 22nd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
First of all, this art frigging rules. Kuba Sokolski Illustration is apparently the party responsible for the look of Desertfest Berlin 2026, and I dig it. The colors, the theme, the implication of narrative in becoming part of something bigger than yourself. Oh yeah, and the first band announcements are pretty killer too.
Russian Circles, Hermano, The Sword, Acid King, King Buffalo, Truckfighters, Earthless, Crippled Black Phoenix, Pelican, Mother’s Cake, High Desert Queen, Zerre, and Dope Purple comprise the first cohort to join the lineup, and aside from having me at Acid King and King Buffalo — which, yeah; also Hermano — it’s good to see The Sword will take their reunion to Europe next Spring, and Truckfighters will likely be out supporting their new album, which is due around that time as well.
This won’t be nearly all of it, but it’s plenty and it’s a killer start. As with every year, I look forward to seeing how Desertfest and the European underground circuit will shape up for next Spring. Here’s the announce from social media:
BERLIN, THE DESERT IS CALLING! 🌌
We’re beyond stoked to drop the first wave for Desertfest Berlin 2026 // 14.-16. May 2026 – and it’s a riff-heavy ride straight into the void 🌙
Russian Circles will crush you with their cinematic post-metal soundscapes, while desert rock legends Hermano return with John Garcia at the helm. Texas riff titans The Sword are back to shake the ground, and the mighty Acid King keep the doom thick and smoky. King Buffalo invite you to drift away on cosmic psych grooves, while fuzzlords Truckfighters bring the Swedish desert storm with their first new album in 10 years.
Earthless will melt your mind with endless space jams, and Crippled Black Phoenix deliver apocalyptic rock full of grandeur. Expect instrumental heaviness from Chicago pioneers Pelican, plus wild progressive energy from Mother’s Cake. Adding Texan groove power from High Desert Queen, new wave of würzburgs thrash metal Zerre, and psych-doom freakouts from Taiwan’s Dope Purple – the storm is real.
If this line-up speaks to your soul – better grab your tickets now before they vanish into the haze:www.desertfest.de
DESERTFEST BERLIN 2026 14.-16. MAY 2026 COLUMBIA VENUES, BERLIN
⚡FIRST ANNOUNCEMENTS⚡ RUSSIAN CIRCLES HERMANO THE SWORD ACID KING KING BUFFALO TRUCKFIGHTERS EARTHLESS CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX PELICAN MOTHER’S CAKE HIGH DESERT QUEEN ZERRE DOPE PURPLE AND MANY MORE!
Posted in Reviews on December 9th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Welcome to the Quarterly Review. Oh, you were here last time? Me too. All door prizes will be mailed to winning parties upon completion of, uh, everything, I guess?
Anywhazzle, the good news is this week is gonna have 50 releases covered between now — the 10 below — and the final batch of 10 this Friday. I’m trying to sneak in a bunch of stuff ahead of year-end coverage, yes, but let the urgency of my doing so stand as testament to the quality of the music contained in this particular Quarterly Review. If I didn’t feel strongly about it, surely I’d find some other way to spend my time.
That said, let’s not waste time. You know the drill, I know the drill. Just don’t be surprised when some of the stuff you see here, today, tomorrow, and throughout the week, ends up in the Best of 2024 when the time comes. I have no idea what just yet, but for sure some of it.
We go.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
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Gnome, Vestiges of Verumex Visidrome
Some bands write songs for emotional catharsis. Some do it to make a political statement. Gnome‘s songs feel specifically — and expertly — crafted to engage an audience, and their third full-length, Vestiges of Verumex Visidrome, underscores the point. Hooks like “Old Soul” and “Duke of Disgrace” offer a self-effacing charm, where elsewhere the Antwerp trio burn through hot-shit riffing and impact-minded slam metal with a quirk that, if you’ve caught wind of the likes of Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol or Howling Giant in recent years, should fit nicely among them while finding its own sonic niche in being able to, say, throw a long sax solo on second cut “The Ogre” or veer into death growls for the title line of “Rotten Tongue” and others. They make ‘party riff metal’ sound much easier to manifest than it probably is, and the reason their reputation precedes them at this point goes right back to the songwriting. They hit hard, they get in, get out, it’s efficient when it wants to be but can still throw a curve with the stop and pivot in “Rotten Tongue,” running a line between punk and stoner, rock and metal, your face and the floor. It might actually be too enjoyable for some, but the funk they bring here is infectious. They make the riffs dance, and everything goes from there.
The lone studio track “Breathe” serves as the reasoning behind Hermano‘s first new release since 2007’s …Into the Exam Room (discussed here), and actually predates that still-latest long-player by some years. Does it matter? Yeah, sort of. As regards John Garcia‘s post-Kyuss career, Hermano both got fleshed out more than most (thinking bands like Unida and Slo Burn, even Vista Chino, that didn’t get to release three full-lengths in their time), and still seemed to fade out when there was so much potential ahead of them. If “Breathe” doesn’t argue in favor of this band giving it the proverbial “one more go,” perhaps the live version of “Brother Bjork” (maybe the same one featured on 2005’s Live at W2?) and a trio of cuts captured at Hellfest in 2016 should do the trick nicely. They’re on fire through “Senor Moreno’s Plan,” “Love” and “Manager’s Special,” with Garcia, Dandy Brown, David Angstrom, Chris Leathers and Mike Callahan treating Clisson to a reminder of why they’re the kind of band who might get to build an entire EP around a leftover studio track — because that studio track, and the band more broadly, righteously kick their own kind of ass. What would a new album be like?
Almost on a per-song basis, Stahv — the mostly-solo brainchild of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Solomon Arye Rosenschein, here collaborating on production with John Getze of Ako-Lite Records — skewers and melds genres to create something new from their gooey remnants. On the opening title-track, maybe that’s a post-industrial Phil Collins set to dreamtime keyboard and backed by fuzzy drone. On “Lunar Haze,” it’s all goth ’80s keyboard handclaps until the chorus melody shines through the fog machine like The Beatles circa ’64. Yeah that’s right. And on “Bossa Supernova,” you bet your ass it’s bossa nova. “The Calling” reveals a rocker’s soul, where “Plainview” earlier on has a swing that might draw from The Birthday Party at its root (it also might not) but has its own sleek vibe just the same with a far-back, lo-fi buzz that somehow makes the melody sound better. “Aaskew” (sic) takes a hard-funkier stance musically but its outsider perspective in the lyrics is similar. The 1960s come back around in the later for “Circuit Crash” — it would have to be a song about the future — and “Leaving Light” seems to make fun of/celebrate (it can be both) that moment in the ’80s when everything became tropical. There’s worlds here waiting for ears adventurous enough to hear them.
I mean, look. The central question you really have to ask yourself is how mellow do you want to get? Do you think you can handle 12 minutes of “Transmigration?” Do you think you can be present in yourself through that cool-as-fuck, ultra-smooth psychedelic twist Space Shepherds pull off, barely three minutes into the the beginning of this seven-track, 71-minute pacifier to quiet the bad voices in your (definitely not my) brain. What’s up with that keyboard shuffle in “Celestial Rose” later on? I don’t know, but it rules. And when they blow it out in “Got Caught Dreaming?” Yeah, hell yeah, wake up! “Free Return” is a 15-minute drifter jam that gets funky in the back half (a phrase I’d like on a shirt) and you don’t wanna miss it! At the risk of spoiling it, I’ll tell you that the title-track, which closes, is absolutely the payoff it’s all asking for. If you’ve got the time to sit with it, and you can just sort of go where it’s going, Cycler is a trip begging to be taken.
It is all very big. All very grand, sweeping and poised musically, very modern and progressive and such — and immediately it has something if that’s what you’re looking for, which is super-doper, thanks — but if you dig into King Botfly‘s vocals, there’s a vulnerability there as well that adds an intimacy to all that sweep and plunges down the depths of the spacious mix’s low end. And I’m not knocking that part of it either. The Portsmouth, UK-based three-piece of guitarist/vocalist George Bell, bassist Luke Andrew and drummer Darren Draper, take on a monumental task in terms of largesse, and they hit hard when they want to, but there’s dynamic in it too, and both has an edge and doesn’t seem to go anywhere it does without a reason, which is a hard balance to strike. They sound like a band who will and maybe already have learned from this and will use that knowledge to move forward in an ongoing creative pursuit. So yes, progressive. Also tectonically heavy. And with heart. I think you got it. They’ll be at Desertfest London next May, and they sound ready for it.
Are Last Band a band? They sure sound like one. Founded by guitarists Pat Paul and Matt LeGrow (the latter also of Admiral Browning) upwards of 15 years ago, when they were less of an actual band, the Maryland-based outfit offer 13 songs of heavy alternative rock on The Sacrament in Accidents, with some classic metal roots shining through amid the harmonies of “Saffire Alice” and a denser thrust in “Season of Outrage,” a rush in the penultimate “Forty-Four to the Floor,” and so on, where the title-track is more of an open sway and “Lidocaine” is duly placid, and while the production is by no means expansive, the band convey their songs with intent. Most cuts are in the three-to-four-minute range, but “Blown Out” dips into psychedelic-gaze wash as the longest at 5:32 offset by comparatively grounded, far-off Queens of the Stone Age-style vocalizing in the last minute, which is an effective culmination. The material has range and feels worked on, and while The Sacrament in Accidents sounds raw, it hones a reach that feels true to a songwriting methodology evolved over time.
Debuting earlier this decade as a solo-project of Andrew Cox, Seattle’s Dream Circuit have built out to a four-piece for with Pennies for Your Life, which throughout its six-track/36-minute run sets a contemplative emotionalist landscape. Now completed by Anthony Timm, Cody Albers and Ian Etheridge, the band are able to move from atmospheric stretches of classically-inspired-but-modern-sounding verses into heavier tonality on a song like “Rosy” with fluidity that seems to save its sweep for when it counts. The title-track dares some shouts, giving some hint of a metallic underpinning, but that still rests well in context next to the sitar sounds of “Let Go,” which opens at 4:10 into its own organ-laced crush, emotionally satisfying. Imagine a post-heavy rock that’s still pretty heavy, and a dynamic that stretches across microgenres, and maybe that will give some starting idea. The last two tracks argue for efficiency in craft, but wherever Dream Circuit go on this sophomore release, they take their own route to get there.
“All is Light” is the first single from New Paltz bliss-drone meditationalist solo outfit Okkoto since 2022’s stellar and affirming Climb the Antlers and Reach the Stars (review here), and its seven minutes carry a similar scope to what one found on that album. To be clear, that’s a compliment. Interwoven threads of synth over methodical timekeeping drum sounds, wisps of airy guitar drawn together with other lead lines, keys or strings, create a flowing world around the vocals added by Michael Lutomski, also (formerly?) of heavy psych rockers It’s Not Night: It’s Space, the sole proprietor of the expanse. A lot of a given listener’s experience of Okkoto experience will depend on their own headspace, but if you have the time and attention — seven-plus minutes of active-but-not-too-active hearing recommended — but “All is Light” showcases the rare restorative aspects of Okkoto in a way that, if you can get to it, can make you believe, or at least escape for a little while.
Trappist Afterland, Evergreen: Walk to Paradise Garden
Underscored with a earth-rooted folkish fragility in the voice of Adam Geoffrey Cole (also guitar, cittern, tanpura, oud, synth, xylophone and something called a ‘dulcitar’), Melbourne’s Trappist Afterland are comfortably adventurous on this 10th full-length, Evergreen: Walk to Paradise Garden, which digs deeper into psych-drone on longest track “Cruciform/The Reincarnation of Kelly-Anne (Parts 1-3)” (7:55) while elsewhere digs into fare more Eastern-influenced-Western-traditional, largely based around guitar composition. With an assortment of collaborators coming and going, even this is enough for Cole and his seemingly itinerant company to create a sense of variety — the violin in centerpiece “Barefoot in Thistles” does a lot of work in that regard; ditto the squeezebox of opener “The Squall” — and while the arrangements don’t lack for flourish, the human expression is paramount, and the nine songs are serene unto the group vocal that caps in “You Are Evergreen,” which would seem to be placed to highlight its resonance, and reasonably so. As it’s Trappist Afterland‘s 10th album by their own count, it’s hardly a surprise they know what they’re about, but they do anyway.
For a band who went so far as to name themselves after a fuzz pedal, Spain’s Big Muff Brigade have more in common with traditional desert rock than the kind of tonal worship one might expect them to deliver. That landscape doesn’t account for their naming a song “Terre Haute,” seemingly after the town in Indiana — I’ve been there; not a desert — but fair enough for the shove of that track, which on Pi arrives just ahead of closer “Seasonal Affective Disorder,” which builds to a nonetheless-mellow payoff before its fadeout. Elsewhere, the seven-minute “Pierced by the Spear” drops Sleepy (and thus Sabbathian) references in the guitar ahead of creating a duly stonerly lumber before they even unfurl the first verse — a little more in keeping with the kind of riff celebration one might expect going in — but even there, the band maintain a thread of purposeful songcraft that can only continue to serve them as they move past this Argonauta-delivered debut and continued to grow. There is a notable sense of outreach here, though, and in writing to genre, Big Muff Brigade show both their love of what they do and a will to connect with likeminded audiences.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 25th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
When Hermano signed to Ripple Music in 2022, the word was a new 10″ would surface in addition to the program of catalog reissues that’s played out in the time since. Well, here we are, and here’s When the Moon Was High… (gotta have that ellipse in there). Set to release Oct. 4, the EP gathers two previously-unreleased studio tracks, the classic “Brother Bjork” that I think might be the same as appeared on the 2005 live record Live at W2 — I could be wrong; I’m sure there’s a story there either way — and three cuts from the band’s reunion set at Hellfest 2016.
As frontman John Garcia and the band’s other members have woven in and out of other projects and/or solo work, Hermano‘s 2007 offering, …Into the Exam Room (discussed here), offers just one example of them as a group who never got their due in terms of craft or the sheer kickassery they were about. A new album might do more to change that conversation than an unearthed-material EP, but if this is a step on the way or it isn’t, I’m not going to argue with a new Hermano outing to chase down. Take what you can get, in all that. Nothing overly new in heavy heads knowing what the rest of the world is missing.
No songs out When the Moon Was High… yet, but preorders are up on Ripple‘s Bandcamp, which is where this info comes from:
“when the moon was high…” brings the moons of Hermano back into alignment. As we embarked on the remix/remaster/reissue Ripple series of our catalog, a new song emerged. During this process, we uncovered some valuable discoveries while revisiting tapes, drives, and cherished memories accumulated over our 26 years of friendship. We collectively thank our good friend Todd Severin for opening the door that brought “when the moon was high…” to life.
Breathe
Taking back claim to the territory they had charted years ago, Breathe, the upcoming limited-edition release from Hermano, features the first new music released by the band in fifteen years.
While the band had continued to write and perform on each other’s individual projects during the last decade and a half, Breathe showcases the sticky-sweet and heavy blues riffs and tones that are unique to these five musicians when they come together under the Hermano banner.
The title track, Breathe, travels back to the band’s first release, filled with the same swagger and heavy hand as the band’s initial offerings, reinforcing the impact the band has had upon modern heavy rock, stoner rock, and driving blues genres.
Written for the first Hermano sessions, Never Boulevard was tracked during the last few hours while recording in Cincinnati during the winter of 1998. Rediscovered while organizing the master tapes for the Ripple catalog reissues and utilizing the original core tracks, the band has finally brought the song to completion twenty-six years later.
Rounding out the limited-edition are four never-before-heard live tracks that again underline the unique place in heavy blues music Hermano occupies. Brother Bjork serves as more evidence to the band’s stellar performance at the Willem Twee Poppodium in 2004, a show that continues to be hailed as one of the finest the venue has ever hosted.
Taken from the last time the group came together to perform, Senor Moreno’s Plan, Love, and Manager’s Special all give a special glimpse into their lauded reunion at Hellfest in 2016. After eight years of not performing together, John, Dave, Mike, Chris and Dandy arrived a couple of days before the festival, rehearsed for a few hours, and came with a head of steam that left those who witnessed the event both touched and amazed. Breathe not only features a small sliver of that legendary performance, but also introduces the only existing audio recording of the band’s song Love.
“We are so incredibly thankful to be able to bring new music to both new fans and those who have followed Hermano for the last twenty-six years. We are looking eagerly forward to continuing this reissues and special editions journey with Ripple . . . so hang onto your hats because we have a lot more coming and a long way to go. Breathing new life into our catalog and having the opportunity to release special collections like Breathe, well, it is an especially ‘dream-come-true’ time for all of us. For that, and to all who have continued to stay interested, thank you.”
John, Dave, Mike, Chris, and Dandy
Tracklisting: 1. Breathe 2. Never Boulevard 3. Brother Bjork (Live @W2) 4. Senor Moreno’s Plan (Live @Hellfest) 5. Love (Live @Hellfest) 6. Manager’s Special (Live @Hellfest)
HERMANO line-up: John Garcia – Vocals Dandy Brown – bass Mike Callahan – Guitar David Angstrom – Guitar Chris Leathers – drums
