Alongside their previously announced West Coast tour set to kickoff May 16 in San Francisco, Hippie Death Cult will this summer head to Europe and the UK for a solid month of road time as they continue to support their 2023 long-player, Helichrysum (review here), which marked the beginning of their trio-era in terms of studio releases and was badass besides.

There are still a decent amount of open slots at least as of when I’m posting this, but you can see Blackdoor Fest, Stoomfest, the venerable Stoned From the Underground, Woodrock Festival, Blue Moon, and so on spread throughout, so no one can accuse them of not making the most of their time. And of course, if you’re in a position to help with a TBA, I encourage you to do that both as a matter of general principle and so you can see Hippie Death Cult live, which you’re not likely to regret if you’re still reading this paragraph.

I’ve included the West Coast dates here too, and if you’re on the US Eastern Seaboard like myself, heads up they’ll be at Desertfest New York this September and it’s not a huge cognitive leap to think they’ll be touring around that as well, given their obvious knack for it.

Off you go:

Hey all, we are stoked to announce that our heavy fuzz riffers HIPPIE DEATH CULT will tour Europe this Summer !!!

!! STILL FEW OPEN SLOTS !!

BOOK YOUR SHOW WRITE TO info@heavypsychsounds.com

*** HIPPIE DEATH CULT European Tour 2024 ***
FR 28/06/2024 IT BOLOGNA – Freakout
SA 29/06/2024 DE PASSAU – Blackdoor Fest
SU 30/06/2024 ***OPEN SLOT***
MO 01/07/2024 UK *** OPEN SLOT ***
TU 02/07/2024 UK NOTTINGHAM – Ye Olde Salutation Inn
WE 03/07/2024 UK PRESTON – The Ferret
TH 04/07/2024 UK SHEFFIELD – Yellow Arch Studio
FR 05/07/2024 UK HUDDERSFIELD – Northern Quarter
SA 06/07/2024 UK LONDON – Stoom Fest
SU 07/07/2024 UK SWANSEA – Elysium Gallery & Venue
MO 08/07/2024 *** OPEN SLOT ***
TU 09/07/2024 FR LILLE – Le Bulle
WE 10/07/2024 *** OPEN SLOT ***
TH 11/07/2024 DE MANNHEIM –
FR 12/07/2024 DE ERFURT – Stoned From The Underground
SA 13/07/2024 *** OPEN SLOT ***
SU 14/07/2024 DE MUNCHEN – Unter Deck
MO 15/07/2024 DE MAINZ – Kulturcafe
TU 16/07/2024 NL NIJMEGEN – De Onderbroek
WE 17/07/2024 DE KOLN – Stereo Wonderland
TH 18/07/2024 DE DRESDEN – Chemiefabrik
FR 19/07/2024 DE KARLSRUHE – Das Fest
SA 20/07/2024 PT FIGUEIRA DA FOZ – Woodrock Festival
MO 22/07/2024 *** OPEN SLOT ***
TU 23/07/2024 SK BRATISLAVA – Garaže
WE 24/07/2024 *** OPEN SLOT ***
TH 25/07/2024 *** OPEN SLOT ***
FR 26/07/2024 DE COTTBUS – Blue Moon Festival
SA 27/07/2024 *** OPEN SLOT ***
SU 28/07/2024 SI LJUBLJANA – Channel Zero

𝐩คc𝕚𝐟Į𝓬 𝕠Ⓓｙ𝕤Ｓ𝐞𝓎 ŦᗝỮя ➁ʘ２➃
5.16 SAN FRANCISCO, CA – @sfeagle
5.17 COSTA MESA, CA – @wayfarercm
5.18 OCEANSIDE, CA – @pourhouseoceanside
5.19 LOS ANGELES, CA – @permanentrecordsla
5.20 LAS VEGAS , NV – @the_dive_lv
5.21 RENO, NV – @lobarsocial
5.22 BRENTWOOD, CA – @thebrentwoodemporium
5.23 REDDING, CA, – @thedipredding
5.24 CRESENT CITY, CA – Enoteca
5.25 PORTLAND, OR – @coffinclubpdx
6.14 EUGENE, OR – @johnhenryseugene
6.15 SEATTLE, WA – @clockoutlounge
Ticket Links for West Coast:
https://www.bandsintown.com/a/12709196-hippie-death-cult

HIPPIE DEATH CULT is:
Laura Phillips – Bass/Vocals
Eddie Brnabic – Guitar
Harry Silvers – Drums

https://hippiedeathcult.bandcamp.com/
https://instagram.com/hippiedeathcultband/
https://www.facebook.com/hippiedeathcultband/
https://soundcloud.com/hippie-death-cult
https://www.hippiedeathcultband.com/

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/

Hippie Death Cult, Helichrysum (2023)

Surprised that Hippie Death Cult are rolling out this Spring for West Coast dates supporting their 2023 album, Helichrysum (review here), or that they’re heading off anyone who’d do the social media thing where people complain tours aren’t coming to their houses like Amazon deliveries by saying there’s more to come in North America and Europe? Yeah, I’m not really either. Touring is a big part of what they do and remained such as they restructured their lineup around the three-piece of bassist/vocalist Laura Phillips, guitarist Eddie Brnabic and drummer Harry Silvers, and that includes fostering a rawer, more-live-feeling sound on last year’s aforementioned LP.

The news is no less welcome for being not-unexpected, however, as Hippie Death Cult set themselves to hitting stops up and down the Pacific Coastline, dipping inland for Las Vegas, Reno, etc. Having already pulled off the sonic pivot of Helichrysum decisively and with rare freshness of perspective for something that’s not actually a debut, maybe this can be something of a victory lap for that. Or, you know, if not, maybe the next tour, because history paints them as honest when they say there’s more to follow.

In the meantime, this took me a couple days to post because I suck at this whole thing, but here’s what they had to say about it, fancy fonts and all:

Pacific West Coast !! Get ready⚡️We are kicking off our 2024 tour season with a special run up and down the coast this May & June !! Like always, each n’ every show is a 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐝 h͎i͎g͎h͎ ͎v͎i͎b͎r͎a͎t͎i͎o͎n͎a͎l͎ ͎m͎o͎j͎o͎ ͎s͎h͎i͎f͎t͎e͎r🫨 See y’all SOON!

Tickets on sale today at 10am PST!! Don’t miss out !!

Get your tix, tag your friends, See y’all soon !!

𝐩คc𝕚𝐟Į𝓬 𝕠Ⓓｙ𝕤Ｓ𝐞𝓎 ŦᗝỮя ➁ʘ２➃
5.16 SAN FRANCISCO, CA – @sfeagle
5.17 COSTA MESA, CA – @wayfarercm
5.18 OCEANSIDE, CA – @pourhouseoceanside
5.19 LOS ANGELES, CA – @permanentrecordsla
5.20 LAS VEGAS , NV – @the_dive_lv
5.21 RENO, NV – @lobarsocial
5.22 BRENTWOOD, CA – @thebrentwoodemporium
5.23 REDDING, CA, – @thedipredding
5.24 CRESENT CITY, CA – Enoteca
5.25 PORTLAND, OR – @coffinclubpdx
6.14 EUGENE, OR – @johnhenryseugene
6.15 SEATTLE, WA – @clockoutlounge

Ticket Links:
https://www.bandsintown.com/a/12709196-hippie-death-cult

More North American, UK & European dates TBA …

HIPPIE DEATH CULT is:
Laura Phillips – Bass/Vocals
Eddie Brnabic – Guitar
Harry Silvers – Drums

https://hippiedeathcult.bandcamp.com/
https://instagram.com/hippiedeathcultband/
https://www.facebook.com/hippiedeathcultband/
https://soundcloud.com/hippie-death-cult
https://www.hippiedeathcultband.com/

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/

Hippie Death Cult, Helichrysum (2023)

Most bands get one debut. Here’s Hippie Death Cult‘s second. It’s been an interesting few years in the life of the Portland, Oregonian heavy rockers, who with their third full-length, Helichrysum, mark a new path forward. In the two years between 2019’s 111 (review here) and 2021’s Circle of Days (review here), the then-four-piece built remarkable momentum for a time that at least in part included pandemic shutdowns, and as they resumed domestic and international touring — fests, headlining dates, support slots, the whole thing — later in 2021 they bid farewell to vocalist/organist Ben Jackson. A change up front is always significant, and the departure of the keyboard that had up to then been a likewise formidable presence and distinguishing feature in their sound would probably derail some acts, but Hippie Death Cult not only kept going as a trio, they also faced the departure of drummer Ryan Moore this past January.

Helichrysum, then, represents a kind of going to ground. With Jackson and Moore gone, the band held fast with the core duo of bassist and now-lead vocalist and lyricist Laura Phillips and guitarist/riffmaker Eddie Brnabic (who also produced and mixed here, with assistance from Ben Barnett and Jeremy Romagna engineering) bringing in the classic-styled Harry Silvers (also Robots of the Ancient World) on swing-drums. Tours continued, songwriting and recording obviously happened or we wouldn’t be talking about a new record, and they even managed to get it released in time to keep a two-year interval between albums — whether or not that was a goal, I don’t know, but it’s impressive, considering — while reimagining their sound.

And there’s the crucial point. With Phillips up front and the organ gone, and with Silvers on drums in place of Moore — I’d imagine drummers could opine on their respective styles based solely on the builds of their respective kits on stage; rack cymbals out, soon-to-be-busted crash and big kick in — Hippie Death Cult aren’t trying to deny things are different this time, and that’s about more than just no-keys or the gender of their lead vocalist. They’re diving headfirst into it. In the brooding chug of on-theme opener “Arise,” the rawness of the punch in the bass and the corresponding currents of prog and metal that were in Brnabic‘s guitar to start with are highlighted from the outset, and while the dynamic and the chemistry of Hippie Death Cult has shifted — Phillips letting out the first of the album’s several righteous screams as they transition to the guitar solo at about four minutes into the six-minute piece; a sample about a minute later brings more with the lava-flow finish; not a complaint — both are accounted for in the new incarnation of their sound. It’s a little different, and that can be scary, I know, but the lesson of Helichrysum is that sometimes it’s worth starting over.

From “Arise” on through the smooth-boogie, maybe-written-later-in-the-process “Shadows,” which follows, and into the mellower psych-doom of “Better Days,” Phillips owns the role taken on in the material, and she, Silvers and Brnabic seem to revel in the subsequent centerpiece “Red Giant” and the subsequent hippies-go-metal “Toxic Annihilator,” the two shortest inclusions on the album and, at least as applies to the latter, the most aggressive output they’ve had to-date, in case you were concerned that just because Hippie Death Cult have never thrashed before that might mean they couldn’t do it. They do, and make it their own. Bolstered by the tension of Brnabic‘s speedy chug in “Red Giant” — hard-boogieing through its layered solo with a willful recklessness that, frankly, rules, they set up “Toxic Annihilator” not only with more vocal screams (as opposed to the tubes in their amps, likely also screaming) but a swagger they’ve never really shown before in a brief, stage-minded series of stops as well as the riff parade preceding — the energy at the start of “Toxic Annihilator” is electric, palpable.

The last time Hippie Death Cult made a three-minute song it was the acoustic interlude “Mrtyu” on 111. In its production, “Toxic Annihilator” isn’t metal, but in its actual construction and purposes, it most definitely is, and it’s easy to imagine that what feels so much like it was written for the stage is duly flattening in a live setting. Atop a torrent of guitar, Phillips shouts her way through the early verse with Silvers‘ crash for complement, then croons through the build up to an almost Slayer-ish growl (thinking Tom Araya at the end of the intro to “Angel of Death,” minus the high note preceding) at the transition point to a headspinning, hypnotic digging in marked by another scream at the start of the next cycle through before the making-sure-the-barn-is-all-the-way-burnt solo finishes.

For anyone missing keys, the penultimate “Nefilibata” is introduced by organ before it nestles quickly into its midtempo groove, and all seems business as usual — amazing how effectively ‘usual’ is redefined here while staying true to a high standard of what that means — until a layered arrangement of melodic vocals marks it out from its surroundings, emblematic perhaps of a reconstructed band trying something new that might or might not further manifest in their sound as they move forward, but it makes “Nefilibata” a late highlight, and with the reorientation of that initial organ line, there’s no interruption to the flow that has carried them really from “Arise” without any more hitches than they’ve seemingly wanted there to be as they turn to “Tomorrow’s Sky” to close, the by-now familiar thud of the drums, a spacious guitar, and yes, a little more keys, coming about as close as Hippie Death Cult might to drift with the guitar floating above, mirroring the lower-frequencies of the drums and bass holding the rhythm while feeling bright and engaging in the doing.

Fluid front-to-back, “Tomorrow’s Sky” wants nothing for angularity as its early melancholy gives over to a verse with a lightly progressive feel and the band oozes toward the somewhat-understated winding finish with a grace that’s both familiar from what they’ve done in the past while also distinct from it in form. New, in other words. It’s not just that Hippie Death Cult went through lineup changes before they made their third LP. They took advantage of the opportunity those changes represented to bring new perspectives to what they do, and so while Helichrysum is more outwardly raw in its sound than they’ve been before, the songs that comprise it benefit from the vitality that becomes so much of the album’s focus. They will, one hopes, continue to grow organically as they settle further into this modus over the next few years, but the efforts they’ve made and the resilience they’ve shown already have their payoff here.

Hippie Death Cult, Helichrysum (2023)

Hippie Death Cult on Bandcamp

Hippie Death Cult on Instagram

Hippie Death Cult on Facebook

Hippie Death Cult on Soundcloud

Hippie Death Cult website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds on Instagram

Heavy Psych Sounds on Facebook

Been waiting for news about the next Hippie Death Cult record? Me too. The Portland, Oregon, trio will issue Helichrysum — which, trust me, you don’t want to forget that second ‘h’ and then have to go back and change not only all the front-end text, but the tags and such that I use for back-end navigation through the disorganized clusterscrew that is this site for a grand total of upwards of four minutes of self-embarrassed inconvenience; the title comes from a kind of plant, and no, I don’t know if it gets you high — on Oct. 20, and if you’ve kept up since the release of their 2021 album, Circle of Days (review here), you’re already aware that it was basically the work of a different band.

Since that outing, Laura Phillips has taken over lead vocals in addition to her prior bass duties, and Harry Silvers (who also plays in Robots of the Ancient World) has landed the drummer role, so as a three-piece with guitarist Eddie Brnabic‘s now-unaccompanied-by-organ riffs leading the way, it’s a rawer Hippie Death Cult in the new collection, but also a more forceful one. Phillips has an undercurrent of classic metal to her delivery that suits the Sab-worship grooves on opener/first single “Arise,” and Silvers proffers swing to spare. Not saying I’ve heard it or anything, but it’s a rager. You’re gonna want to see them live after you listen. How fortunate the band also recently announced a September tour with Spirit Mother. Those dates are below, along with the album announcement for Helichrysum.

The PR wire sent the following:

HIPPIE DEATH CULT to issue new album “Helichrysum” this fall on Heavy Psych Sounds; stream debut single “Arise”!

Portland’s most hybrid 70s heavy rockers HIPPIE DEATH CULT team up with Metal Injection to present their new single “Arise” today. Their third studio album “Helichrysum” is due for an October 20th release on Heavy Psych Sounds.

“Lyrically, “Arise” serves as a poignant reminder of the prevalence of grifters and self-proclaimed spiritual leaders who exploit vulnerable individuals searching for guidance, often leaving them even more disillusioned and adrift than before. The song narrates a tale of a devoted follower who finally sees through the charismatic manipulation and shatters the illusion. Another reminder to question everything and trust your own inner compass when navigating the path of truth,” says bassist and vocalist Laura Philips.

About the album, the band adds: “Helichrysum delves deep into the human experience, exploring the wounds we carry and the transformative power that lies within us. It serves as a culmination of the countless creative and personal choices we have made, leading us to a place of greater harmony within ourselves, with each other, and with our collective intentions. Musically speaking, the new album is a testament to our commitment to delivering a sonic experience that is unapologetically raw, adventurous, heavy, groovy and psychedelic. The choice to name the album after the Helichrysum plant holds significance as it symbolizes endurance, healing, immortality, and the power to overcome adversity, which mirror many of the themes throughout the record.”

“Helichrysum” was recorded and mixed by Eddie Brnabic, Ben Barnett and Jeremy Romagna at 8-4 Studios in Portland, Oregon. It was mastered by Maor Appelbaum at Maor Appelbaum Mastering in Los Angeles, California. Artwork illustrated by Greg Traw.

New album “Helichrysum”
Out October 20th on Heavy Psych Sounds – Preorder: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS285

Tracklisting:
1. Arise
2. Shadows
3. Better Days
4. Red Giant
5. Toxic Annihilator
6. Nefelibata
7. Tomorrows Sky

To support the release of “Helichrysum,” Hippie Death Cult has planned full-blown North American and European tours. Fans can expect an immersive and powerful live experience as the band brings their high-energy performances to stages across the globe. With their unwavering dedication to their craft and their ability to push boundaries, Hippie Death Cult is poised to leave an indelible mark on the music scene for years to come.

HIPPIE DEATH CULT & SPIRIT MOTHER tour:
9/8 Portland, OR- Lose Yr Mind Fest
9/9 Seattle, WA – El Corazón
9/10 Vancouver, BC – The Wise
9/12 Calgary, AB – Palomino Smokehouse
9/15 Winnipeg, MB – Pyramid Cabaret
9/16 St Paul, MN – Turf Club
9/17 Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon Madison
9/18 Chicago, IL – Reggies
9/19 Memphis, TN – Growlers
9/20 Lafayette, LA – Freetown Boom Boom Room
9/21 Arlington, TX – Division Brewing
9/22 Austin, TX – Ripplefest
9/23 Houston, TX – Black Magic Social Club
9/24 El Paso, TX – TBA
9/26 Albuquerque, NM – Sister *
9/97 Tempe, AZ – Yucca Taproom *
9/28 Las Vegas, NV – The Usual Place *
9/29 Los Angeles, CA – Permanent Records
9/30 Albany, CA – Ivy Room
10/01 San Francisco, CA – Kilowatt Bar
*w/ @brant_bjork

HIPPIE DEATH CULT is:
Laura Phillips – Bass/Vocals
Eddie Brnabic – Guitar
Harry Silvers – Drums

Hippie Death Cult, Helichrysum (2023)