An Open Letter to JIRM About How They Say Their Name…

Posted in Features on February 7th, 2025 by JJ Koczan

jirm at planet desert rock weekend v (Photo by JJ Koczan)

Hi guys,

First of all, wow, it was great to see you this weekend. Both getting the chance to say a quick hello can getting to watch you play six or seven years after the last time that happened were standouts in a weekend full of thrills. I’m pretty sure Karl said the name of the band onstage at some point during the set, and I wanted to talk with you guys about that for a minute.

It’s not my interest here to tell anyone how to live their life, or to tell a band they’re ‘wrong’ about a thing. It’s art. That kind of ‘wrong’ doesn’t exist. You guys have been around well over 15 years, have been through shortening your moniker from Jeremy Irons and the Ratgang Malibus (which you were still called last time I saw you) and JIRM, and you’re well aware of who you are as artists and performers. That was clear from the stage, certainly clear on The Tunnel, the Well and Holy Bedlam, and has been a typifying factor of your artistic growth all along..

After the name change, when the leap was made from Spirit Knife (11 years ago now) to Surge Ex Monumentis, it seemed like you really were beginning to explore a new path. The band became more progressive, more melodically centered, and more intricate in terms of style. As a listener outside the band, it was almost like becoming JIRM set you free from genre in a way that Jeremy Irons and the Ratgang Malibus maybe couldn’t or weren’t ready to be.

You should know that when I wrote that last sentence above just now and I said the name of the band, I said the word “germ.” Karl had it as J-I-R-M the other day, and that’s what I wanted to reach out about.

I don’t want to be telling anybody what to do, but I do feel kind of surprisingly strong about this, that JIRM should be the word and not the acronym.

Why?

A few reasons. First and foremost, it fits better. As JIRM, you guys are a heavy progressive, forward-thinking and forward-songwriting unit. Your songs are expansive and atmospheric, but you’re still able on stage to back, pull out an old song and riff away when you want. It’s a beautiful thing.

Calling yourselves J-I-R-M acknowledges where you’ve come from, sure, but I’d be to bet that the majority of your listenership already knows you were Jeremy Irons and the Ratgang Malibus, and for those who don’t, well, it might be a cool thing to found out that this band you just heard called JIRM who’ve been around for a while used to be called something else and that their name, which, again, you pronounce like “germ,” actually stands or used to stand for this long band name, kind of absurd but still cool. It makes the old name lore, and part of the journey, which of course it is.

JIRM, as name-not-acronym, is less alienating to new fans in this way. You’re not immediately telling people there’s something they don’t know, which can be off-putting, and in evoking a germ, a thing that spreads disease, one is reminded yuck-factor classic prog and krautrock, records with gross covers and so forth.

Tying yourselves to this opens up a world of potential exploration, and you’re already there, so it’s wonderful, but JIRM instead of J-I-R-M keeps the focus on who you are now, where you’re going. It sounds weird. It’s short. It’s spelled funny. It’s counterintuitive to the fluidity of your music in a way that ties right in with decades of underground progressive heavy rock, and it’s memorable and no one else has it. To let that go seems like missing an opportunity to express part of who you are with your identity in a way that as J-I-R-M you simply can’t do.

Plus, JIRM rolls off the tongue in a way an acronym never can. There’s something to be said for efficiency.

Please know that I’m not being a smartass or trying to take the piss. I’m not, and I hope that with 16 years of doing this site behind me, you’ll trust me when I say that. I write to you as someone who genuinely enjoys and has enjoyed your music, and someone who apparently cares enough about the course of your ongoing progression to do something like this.

I hope you’ll consider the above, and if not, it’s cool, I get it. Do your thing. Thanks either way for the time and attention.

Much love,
JJ

Tags: , ,

Live Review: Planet Desert Rock Weekend V – Night 2

Posted in Reviews on February 1st, 2025 by JJ Koczan

Fireball Ministry 1 (Photo by JJ Koczan)

Afternoon — Before Show

Took a drive out to the desert for a bit this afternoon, looking at old rock formations and listening to tunes. The Samavayo guys had stayed over also at Adam from Sonolith’s house where I’m crashing, and it was good to hang out with them a bit this morning as well. I was up early, showered and finished the review, fest-mode, etc., but got my shit done and could hang out for a bit once the rest of the house was awake. Shockingly, balance has never been a strong suit.

It’s another burner tonight: Fireball Ministry headlining, with JIRM from Sweden, Valley of the Sun, Fire Down Below from Belgium and Godzillionaire opening. After last night unfurled with such a clear, and clearly intentional, narrative thread — each of the four bands adding something to the one before it, building to the headliner blowout of Unida — I’m curious and eager to find out how tonight’s acts might also complement each other.

Also I have a lot of friends here and people are very nice. I’m lucky to be here. I spent a decent portion of last night hanging around with Todd from Ripple Music, Scott from Clean and Sober Stoner, and John Gist, who’s the one behind the festival and far and away the fiercest promoter I know. I met Dave Angstrom from Hermano. I saw old friends I haven’t seen in a decade minimum and I’ll see more over the course of the next three nights. Don’t look now, but I think this might be awesome.

Earlier start to accommodate the fifth band in the Ripple Music showcase. Here’s the night:

Godzillionaire

My first time seeing Godzillionaire, from Kansas, whose new album, Diminishing Returns, came out I think two weeks ago now as their Ripple debut. Solid band. They didn’t sound like their sound was a settled issue, but they did sound like that was by choice. Kind of a mix of influences in noise rock, fuzz, weirdo grunge stylizations and frontman Mark Hennessy’s punk-poet vibes, but they’re pretty clearly chasing the organic more than trying to play to genre, and I found that as the set went on, the scope broadened around that central notion. I admit I’m at a deficit for not knowing Hennessy’s prior work in Paw — I missed out on a lot of cool shit in the ’90s; also other decades — but Godzillionaire were fluid in changing up the mood, getting in some sense of immersion and dynamic. I haven’t reviewed the album yet or I’d have linked it, but by the time they were done, I felt like I wanted to know the songs more, so I’ll say they acquitted themselves well on a first impression. That they — the band is completed by bassist Mike Dye, who doubles as the guy at the merch table with the afro, as mentioned onstage, guitarist and low-key secret tonal weapon Ben White and drummer Cody Romaine, who shut off the snare during the quiet parts for extra class — seemed so comfortable up there speaks to their experience, sure, but it also kind of tied the scope together, made it feel like there was a sure hand guiding you. I’m gonna go back to that record at some point.

Fire Down Below

The Belgian contingent coming in hot, which I guess makes sense, and with grunge and songwriting as threads carried. They’ve been around for a bit, I know, but this is my first time seeing them as well — my first time here, despite how welcoming the experience has been thus far — and they were on point desert-style as one would expect from their records, the latest of which, 2023’s Low Desert Surf Club (review here), and they were a ready reminder of the richness of thy Euro underground, how a band like this can grow their approach over time and find out who they are. Fire Down Below are very much the sing-along hook in “California” — to which, as was noted from the stage, they’ve reportedly never been so close — and are the kind of band you’d play to explain to someone the appeal of this kind of music. The kind of band who could win a listener over with a song. They were all about engaging the crowd, were likewise generous in their thanks and their on-point riffs, and the vocal melody cut through while still letting the guitar sound powerful, early Kyuss style. Which, if you’re going to do it, is an advisable course. It’s good living on Planet Desert Rock, is what I’m learning.

Valley of the Sun

If ever there was a brand you could trust, it’s Ohio stalwarts Valley of the Sun, whose shit is bordering in classic in my mind, and somehow that includes the new stuff? Anyhow, ferociously reliable as they are, I was nonetheless curious to see and hear them as a trio live. Turns out single-guitar Valley of the Sun is still Valley of the Sun, which should be taken as a relief. Their songs still had that distinctive energy and force-of-groove. And the songs are undeniable. They’re a pull away from the grunge that was shared between the first two bands, but Valley of the Sun drew out as a logical extension of the desert mood Fire Down Below were working in, and when they hit the big riff, it hit correspondingly hard. I’d been hanging out, was a little in my own brain before they went on, but Valley of the Sun started off with “Hearts Aflame” as a slap back to a better headspace and that is no small thing to appreciate. From last year’s staggered-release LP, Quintessence (review here), they treated the room to “Graviton,” “The Late Heavy Bombardment,” and “Palus Somni,” the latter of which closed out the set with a punch to counteract the song before and a shove better suited to fire emojis than fucking anything I could ever hope to come up with. Airtight.

JIRM

And then, of course, Sweden’s JIRM came and took the desert from Valley of the Sun and launched the fuzz into space. And further, their doing so adds another dimension to the arc of the fest, following suit from what MR.BISON brought last night. Interweaving plot threads drawn out across band sets on multiple nights? Do you understand how much fun that is for me? I’d seen JIRM before, but that was before they put out The Tunnel, the Well and Holy Bedlam (review here), and so they were among my anticipated bands of the weekend — I don’t mind telling you and I also told the band we were listening to that album this afternoon — and so I was excited to do so again. They mixed in some stuff from the Jeremy Irons and the Ratgang Malibus days, and the vibe opened up: they could get heavy or trip it out, slow roll or hit harder, and they did it with professionalism and fluidity. It all meshed, which, I mean, is what you’d expect. It isn’t like The Tunnel, the Well and Holy Bedlam reinvented their sound, but it was a deeper dive into atmospherics and sonic progressivism than they’d made before — on the most basic level, I’d float it as their best with to-date — but if there was an incongruous moment, I couldn’t tell you where. I felt justified in how much I’d been looking forward to seeing them. If you’re ever in a position where you can, do. I have to tell you, though. I heard a nasty rumor they don’t pronounce it “germ,” but instead J-I-R-M like the acronym it admittedly is, and I immediately set about outlining a 500-word essay (which I might actually write just for fun) on why they should.

Fireball Ministry

Hell yes again to the what-it’s-all-about headliner. Fireball Ministry rocked heavy before it was cool. Bleed it. Jim Rota and the esteemed Emily J. Burton sharing guitar and vocal duties, a pair of humans who have spent a goodly portion of their lives living for their instrument. They had Johny Chow, who’s been m the band before and played with Cavalera Conspiracy and a host of others, on bass, and he sat well in the groove with drummer John Oreshnick, but one would expect no less from Fireball Ministry, who remain legends of the Southern California heavy underground while always having been a bit removed from desert rock, more straight up heavy, lumped in with stoner in the ’90s because I guess every band didn’t have their own genre yet, but always coming from a classic place and unrepentantly sweet in the melody. In other words, they’ve been themselves for a long time, musically speaking, and their material is timeless in part because it never really fit. Some older songs — “from the Johny Chow era,” as Rota put it — were warmly received, and while their stuff was a departure from the thread to a point, Fireball Ministry are a celebration of heavy songwriting. They’re always gonna fit. I stood up front for a while, just to sort of soak in the sound, and no regrets. As with Unida, it was an extended headlining set, and Fireball Ministry pulled it off with motor riffs to spare.

I have been doing a lot of hanging out. I met a dude named DJ who told me I was his best friend. He was pretty serious, kind of intense about it. I teared up a little, gave a big hug. Shit, I’ll be friends with DJ. Fucking a right.

Said a few goodnights and had a good talk with Ryan from Valley of the Sun, who kind of nailed me down as I was on my way by saying safe travels. You know what my problem is? Somewhere a scroll just unfurled a list, but specifically I worry about disappointing people meeting them in-person. Someone comes up to you and they know you from what you do, they might have an idea of who you are based on that. There’s little more important to me than being honest in my voice in this space, but still, if someone’s saying hi, I don’t know their expectations and I hate the thought of bringing someone down who’s just been kind enough to tell me they see value in this project. So I’m awkward. But I’m trying. It was a nice chat with Ryan. I’ve had more than a few really good hangs over the last couple days, old and new friends, bands coming through, and so on. I am lucky to be here.

Was up until about three, crashed till a few minutes before an 8AM alarm. I have lunch plans, I think, and then it’s a venue change to The Usual Place for tonight’s six-band (!) festival crescendo. Looking forward to it. More pics after the jump in the meantime.

Read more »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Planet Desert Rock Weekend V: Night Two Poster and Lineup Revealed

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 22nd, 2024 by JJ Koczan

planet desert rock weekend v banner

After the reveal of the poster and lineup for night one last weekPlanet Desert Rock Weekend V presses its argument with a Ripple Music showcase on its second evening’s bill. With label-newcomers Godzillionaire opening — their album, Diminishing Returns, is out Jan. 17, as announced two days ago — and a bill that includes two import acts in Belgium’s Fire Down Below and Sweden’s JIRM, the sure guidance to grooving glory that is Ohio’s Valley of the Sun between them and no less than Fireball Ministry headlining, it’s another another killer night carved from a killer overall bill.

So what do we know so far? Plenty. Planet Desert Rock Weekend V will almost certainly have Joey Rudell posters for night three and its ‘Last Call’ Feb. 2 show too, and fest honcho John Gist notes there’s another announcement for night three coming, but now that night two is out, a rough estimate can be pieced together of what to expect for the day splits. Here’s how it looks:

Night one: Unida, MR.BISON, Sons of Arrakis, Samavayo (confirmed here)

Night two: Fireball Ministry, JIRM, Valley of the Sun, Fire Down Below, Godzillionaire (confirmed below)

Night three: Mos Generator, Solace, Sergeant Thunderhoof,
Omega Sun, Green Desert Water, (plus one more TBA)

Night four (Last Call): Duel, BoneHawk, Luna Sol, Iota, Jason Walker’s Badmotorfinger (confirmed here)

In other words, it looks pretty sweet. Looking forward to seeing who’s the last one to join the bill, probably next week.

From the PR wire:

planet desert rock weekend v night two

PDRW V – Night Two – Friday January 31st – Ripple Music Showcase

For Night 2 of Planet Desert Rock Weekend V we are proud to announce this as a Ripple Music Showcase evening! Since the beginnings of Vegas Rock Revolution, we have had strong ties to Ripple Music and their amazing roster of bands. From the early days of VRR we had Salem’s Bend, Void Vator , Rare Breed and Mothership play shows in the 1st year of our booking events. From there we had such Ripple bands as Freedom Hawk (PDRW ), Wo-Fat (PDRW), The Obsessed, 1000mods, The Watchers, Steak(PDRW) , High Desert Queen (PDRW), Sun Crow (PDRW) ,Blackwulf (PDRW), Wino(PDRW), War Cloud (PDRW), High Priestess, Ape Machine (PDRW),. Shotgun Sawyer (PDRW), Rifflord (PDRW), Horseburner, HTSOB and more!

Plus from Planet Desert Rock Weekend v2 we had 4 international bands that eventually would be part of the Ripple Split Series “Turned to Stone”. Mr. Bison (Italy), Saturna (Spain), Captain Caravan (Norway) and Kaiser (Finland) with 3 of them being curated by VRR’s John Gist.

So it only made sense as we were coming up with the roster for PDRW V that we do a night dedicated to such a fantastic label as Ripple Music. Headlining the evening with be Fireball Ministry who has been in a bit of a hibernating mode but has awaken with the re-release of their classic album “Their Rock is Not Our Rock” on Ripple Music. We have two amazing international bands playing exclusive USA shows with JIRM from Sweden and Fire Down Below out of Belgium. The thought of JIRM’s massive epic sound being heard in one of the best rock clubs sound wise at Count’s Vamp’d was more of a dream than anything. This will be a very special set and with Fire Down Below, we get to see a very hot Ripple band play their debut show in America. Long time heavy rockers Valley of the Sun whose Ripple Music release “The Chariot” landed on many people’s end of the year lists will be returning to Planet Desert Rock Weekend after playing the 1st one back in 2018.

And kicking off the evening is new Ripple band Godzillionaire that features Mark Hennesey who was also frontman for 90s grunge era band Paw. They have their new album “Diminishing Returns” being released in January 2025. Their debut album “Negative Balance” grabbed the attention early on from John Gist at Vegas Rock Revolution and Leanne Ridgeway of Mettle Media that helped get the momentum going for this album excellent band out of Kansas.

Night two event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/931143599075635/

Artwork is by Fuzz Evil’s Joey Rudell and we are excited to see what else he has in store for us on the remaining shows!

Saturday’s full lineup will be released soon and will include the final band announcement!

We are truly humbled by the response to Planet Desert Rock Weekend V! We will put a cap on how many tickets we sell as we want it to be a cool and comfortable weekender with your friends from around the world!

Cheers,
John
Vegas Rock Revolution / Planet Desert Rock Weekend

Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/901571638307182/

Tickets for PDRW Last Call: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1022254108557

Tickets for PDRW V: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/873750791137

FB event: https://facebook.com/events/s/planet-desert-rock-weekend-v-j/1399556780734695/

https://www.facebook.com/VRRProductions/
https://www.facebook.com/vegasrockrevolution/

Planet Desert Rock Weekend V preview playlist

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Planet Desert Rock Weekend V Makes First Lineup Announcement

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 29th, 2024 by JJ Koczan

The annual Planet Desert Rock Weekend festival will hold its fifth edition on Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2025, which I think marks the first time I’m actually writing that year to refer to an event that’s actually happening rather than random speculation. Feels like the future. And a killer future at that. Planet Desert Rock Weekend V makes its first lineup announcement today, and the sense of curation and purpose behind it could hardly be clearer.

No doubt the three-dayer conceived and booked by John Gist of Vegas Rock Revolution will pick up more than a handful of domestic acts in addition to Mos Generator (though if you had to only have one…), but five out of the six bands in this first publicly-confirmed batch will cross the Atlantic to play. Five for six, between JIRM, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Samavayo, Omega Sun (they’re making a return appearance after playing in 2019) and Fire Down Below. The very obvious message here is that Planet Desert Rock Weekend V wants to give the audience — the American heavy rock underground — a show it isn’t going to get anywhere else. If you can’t respect the put-up-or-shut-up nature of that, well, maybe you’ve never booked a show before. No doubt your existence has been easier and more gratitude-filled for that.

Early-bird tickets are up and there’s of course more to come, but in terms of the curation involved here and the feeling of Planet Desert Rock Weekend bringing over the acts it wants to see that no one else is bringing over, there’s a lot to admire as is. I will look forward to who else is added, finding out if this is it for non-US-based acts or if there’s more coming, and watching as the lineup takes shape generally. Thinking of making travel plans? I get it.

Word from the fest follows. Oh, and before you get your no-doubt-very-masculine panties in a bunch about AI art like all of a sudden you never used something cheap, convenient and easy because it was all of those things — we’re all complicit in the horrors of capital — the actual art is still in progress, and the full poster will be unveiled later. It’s a placeholder. Calm down, imaginary internet pearl-clutchers. Deep breaths.

Here we go:

planet desert rock weekend v first poster

Planet Desert Rock Weekend V — Jan. 30 – Feb. 1

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/planet-desert-rock-weekend-v-in-las-vegas-jan-30-31-feb-1-2025-tickets-873750791137

FB event: https://facebook.com/events/s/planet-desert-rock-weekend-v-j/1399556780734695/

Vegas Rock Revolution’s Planet Desert Rock Weekend is back for edition 5 and it’s going to be a spectacular collection of bands from around the world of heavy rock!

It’s 3 nights of highly curated bands with evening shows only so that you can enjoy all that Vegas has to offer during the day rather it’s hitting the museums or hiking or donating to our local casinos (ha we kid!). Each evening will be in a cool atmosphere and the sound will be top rate to make your concert experience an unforgettable one.

Our 1st 6 bands are:

Mos Generator / Washington State

Mos Generator has been rocking for over 20 years and led by Tony Reed who is a monumental force within the scene. From straight forward heavy rock to heavy psychedelic they have always created music that elevates above many.

JIRM/ Sweden

Ripple Music’s JIRM (formerly known as Jeremy Irons + the Ratgang Malibus) has built their reputation on an epic sound on each release regardless of the evolution and creativity of the album. They can range from a light summery psych song to a dark tinged song describing inner turmoil. They are accented by amazing vocals. JIRM’s album “The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam” landed #4 on the Doom Charts for March 2022. This will be their 1st time in the States.

Sergeant Thunderhoof / U.K.- England

These Brits have blown away fans in the U.K. for years and rocked amazing album after album of heavy rock for the world to hear. Highly touted for their live sets but their recent album “The Scripted Veil” took the scene by storm with incredible soaring vocals and superior songwriting to most. Landed #1 on Doom Charts for June 2022. This will be their 1st and only show in the States in 2025!

Samavayo / Germany

This German trio has been releasing amazing heavy rock since 2003! Their evolution of sound and influence have changed some over the years but at their core they are a heavy rock band that writes rocking songs that are catchy but yet get you moving. They have played with many of the top bands in the world whether it was on tour or at a festival. Samavayo’s album “Payan” landed #2 on the Doom Charts for March 2022. This will be their 1st time playing the USA!

Fire Down Below / Belgium

Since their 2017 release “Viper, Vixen, Goddess, Saint” they have done a masterful job of blending desert rock, stoner rock and grunge elements together to make music that is so easily accesible to people who want to rock. Their 2022 release “Low Desert Surf Club” on Ripple Music landed #5 on Vegas Rock Revolution’s end of year list and #3 on Doom Charts for September. This will be their 1st time playing the USA!

Omega Sun / Slovenia

Returning to Planet Desert Rock Weekend is Omega Sun whose recent 2023 release Roadkill captured many rocker’s ear with their powerful blend of heavy rock, doom, grunge and stoner rock. Recently the guys had the great fortune of opening up for USA supergroup The Winery Dogs and have embarked on a European tour. We love to bring back bands to the PDRW fold! Their 2023 release “Roadkill” landed #9 on the Doom Charts and VRR’s end of the year list at #6 in 2023.

We will be collaborating with Ripple Music again on this version and looking at a full night that would be all Ripple bands or close to it. Todd is such an amazing part of the scene and his curation of bands feels unparalleled.

We will announcements for at least 8 more bands from all around the world coming up in the months to come!

https://www.facebook.com/VRRProductions/
https://www.facebook.com/vegasrockrevolution/

Planet Desert Rock Weekend V preview playlist

JIRM, The Tunnel, the Well, Holy Bedlam (2021)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Album Review: Toad Venom, EAT!

Posted in Reviews on June 24th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Toad Venom EAT

The original intention of Sweden’s Toad Venom was to remain anonymous, but in the words of the band themselves, “it didn’t work.” The project, in fact, was founded circa 2021 at the behest of Kalle “Ian Venom” Lilja (also Wolves in Haze and Långfinger) and Mikael “Tord Venom” Backendal (JIRM), who anchor the alternatingly foggy and sunshiny psych-pop rock purposes of Toad Venom‘s debut album, EAT!. And usually it’s Lilja (who also recorded and mixed; Esben Willems mastered and Martin Björk is credited as producer) drumming and Backendal (who did the art) playing guitar, but they switch around as well, with Lilja adding guitar and bass to “Three Hearts” while Backendal plays percussion, both adding synth to the early instrumental “Fraggelgaggel,” and so on, their recording and engineering experience making the studio no less of an instrument throughout than the various guitar, bass, keys, synth, percussion, philicorda, and so on they employ throughout, never mind the other players brought in.

Delivered through the band’s own studio-affiliated imprint, Welfare Sounds, the album employs a host of vocalists, notably Cornelia “Virginia Venom” Adamsson (also Virginia and the Flood), who appears on opener “Grip of a Vice” and brings a more than respectable Blondie vibe to the dreamy “Three Hearts,” immediately following. Adamsson, in fronting the first two of the 10 total tracks on the 41-minute offering, helps set the tone of mindful, structured drift in which much of the album resides, a modern sheen looking back on and reimagining ’60s acid pop as Patrik “John Lennon Venom” Kolar (also Weeping Willows) makes no attempt to hide the primary inspiration for the piano progression that starts “Grip of a Vice” — the first thing on the record you hear is piano and it’s a pleasant surprise — and the Mellotron that joins later.

“Grip of a Vice” is originally by Inventors of the Universe and is one of three covers here, as Toad Venom also take on The Electric Flag‘s “Peter’s Trip” and Serge Gainsbourg‘s “Laisse Tomber les Filles” back to back as the album makes its way into its midsection following the Devoian “Fraggelgaggel” and the six-minute joy-piece “Calling All the Creatures,” which aligns Backendal and Lilja with vocalist Ester “June Venom” Nannmark, who adds a mellow, melodic spirit to the track that could easily be called modern indie instead of classic psych but that makes the first of only two six-minute tracks on EAT! — the other is the penultimate “Deadless Time” — an absolute highlight and immersive in a way that “Grip of a Vice” and “Three Hearts” didn’t seem to want to be, favoring instead that classic pop mindset.

Wait. Is it possible Toad Venom want to do more than one thing? Actually it’s kind of the point of the record. On the most basic level, it’s kind of the point of the band, with Lilja and Backendal each stepping aside from other bands to make these songs, but also in bringing in so many other players — Karl “Torsten Venom” Apelmo of JIRM and Jessica “Vera Venom” Mengarelli of The Presolar Sands on backing vocals for “Three Hearts,” bassist Per “Steel Venom” Stålberg of Division of Laura Lee on “Fraggelgaggel,” Kolar on the opener and the final three tracks adding Mellotron, vibraphone early, Hammond and Wurlitzer on “Swirling Hands” (video premiere here) or “Deadless Time,” helping add to the languid garage psych of closer “When They Leave,” on which Hanna “Nommnomm Venom” Samara tops the subtly weighted progression with a suitably lysergic melody.

toad venom

So yes, the songs have different goals. The siren of guitar on “Peter’s Trip” and Mengarelli‘s suitably ‘tombling’ delivery of “Laisse Tomber les Filles” speak to that well enough to make the point, and neither of those are originals. From employing artists outside the core unit of the band — or, perhaps, not having a core unit beyond Lilja and Backendal in the first place — to the actual shifts that take place throughout like “Alla är likadana” bringing in Charly “Vulva Venom” Paulin of The Presolar Sands for a shoutier, proto-punk verse made gleefully weird in an almost cult rock kind of way by the synth behind it, or the way Mengarelli‘s final appearance as Vera on “Swirling Hands” seems to be struggling to stay atop the wash of melody around, to the all-hands-on-deck, whistle-and-trumpet-inclusive spaghetti Western Morricone-ism in “Deadless Time,” which doesn’t introduce its Tilde “Wild Venom” Hjelm-vocalized verse until the second half of the song, establishing first a deceptively tense chug of who knows how many layers of guitar.

This confusing swap of players — it’s Daniel “Danne Venom” Ekborg on trumpet and Teodor “Telos Venom” Boogh (also Telos Vision, Truls Mörck) on the guitar solo for “Deadless Time,” by the way — and switching between different kinds of vintage synths and keys and who knows what else, is a mess. There’s no other way to say it. On paper at very least, it’s a mess. And in listening terms, it shouldn’t work. At all. It’s nearly impossible to know who’s where around Backendal and Lilja throughout, or to keep track of the comings and goings between singers and styles. By the simple math, the album should be a disjointed collection more about the self-indulgence of its makers than the listening experience of its audience.

But the horrifying truth of EAT! is that it does work, and that it’s in serving that very listening experience that the material is most united. The album’s 41 minutes pass in a breeze of sweetheart reverie, fluid one to the next and able to build momentum across the whole. The songs’ unabashed poppiness and accessibility provide a grounding effect that renders all the change surrounding not at all meaningless, but a part of the expression of the songs themselves, which in turn serve as the foundation for the record. They might and do vary in purpose and touch on different aesthetics, certainly on different instrumentation and a sense of the experimental, but the ultimate mission of Toad Venom is to build these songs into something memorable in their own right, and if Lilja and Backendal — one might be inclined to include Kolar in that list as well; I don’t know how involved he was in the writing, but his contributions throughout are pivotal — draw this too from a classic ethic of psychedelic rock of the mid and late ’60s, they’re headed in the right direction. If you want to make sense of nonsense, you need to expand your mind.

Whatever this project turns into, whether it remains as nebulous in makeup as it is here around Lilja and Backendal or becomes a band with either Adamsson or Mengarelli on vocals (or someone else), Kolar on keys, and so on, as part of a permanent lineup, the songwriting and the creativity and the cohesion of purpose across EAT! are not to be underestimated. They might have considered calling it ‘feast’ instead.

Toad Venom, EAT! (2022)

Toad Venom on Facebook

Toad Venom on Instagram

Toad Venom on Bandcamp

Welfare Sounds on Facebook

Welfare Sounds on Instagram

Welfare Sounds store

Tags: , , , , , , ,

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal Playlist: Episode 79

Posted in Radio on March 4th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

the obelisk show banner

Before I turn you over to the playlist — and I’m gonna try to keep this short either way — I want to single out and say thank you to Dean Rispler. He’s the engineer for this show, and with my dumbass voice tracks, it ran long. Instead of cutting out a song or whatever, Dean went ahead and trimmed intros and outros, making it a tighter ‘broadcast,’ such as it is, and enhancing the thing rather than detracting from it. Thank you, Dean. I know the effort that takes, the time that can take, and it is very much appreciated, by me if by no one else.

Some new stuff, some old stuff. I had Ufomammut on the brain and then I had stuff-I-like on the brain, and, well, that’s how you end up with me playing Colour Haze. I give myself points though for managing to leave Author & Punisher out of an episode though. I think he was in the last three. And if you haven’t heard the Charley No Face record, there’s a reason it starts the show.

If you listen, or you see these words, thanks.

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

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 03.04.22

Charley No Face Death Mask Eleven Thousand Volts
Wo Fat The Witching Chamber The Singularity
Fuzz Sagrado Lunik IX A New Dimension
Wovenhand Omaha Silver Sash
VT
Kryptograf The Spiral The Eldorado Spell
Uncle Woe Nine Kinds of Time Pennyfold Haberdashery & Abattoir Deluxe
Samavayo Afghan Sky Payan
JIRM Repent in Blood The Tunnel, the Well, Holy Bedlam
Green Hog Band Dragon Dragon
VT
Ufomammut Nero Idolum
Conan Battle in the Swamp Monnos
YOB Burning the Altar The Great Cessation
Colour Haze Grace She Said
VT
Acid King Coming Down From Outer Space Live at Roadburn 2011
Fuzz Meadows Benji Orange Sunshine

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is March 18 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Review & Album Premiere: JIRM, The Tunnel, the Well, Holy Bedlam

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on March 3rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan

jirm

Swedish progressive heavy rockers JIRM release their fifth album, The Tunnel, the Well, Holy Bedlam, tomorrow, March 4. It is the Stockholm four-piece’s first offering to be made through Ripple Music and the second since they announced in early 2018 that they were shortening their name from Jeremy Irons and the Ratgang Malibus, the cumbersome weight of which they’d carried since their founding in 2004 by guitarists Karl Apelmo (also vocals) and Micke Backendal — bassist Viktor Källgren and drummer Henke Perrson joined a few years later and the lineup has been consistent ever since, making their debut with Elefanta in 2009.

Their fourth full-length, Surge Ex Monumentis (review here), came out in 2018 on Small Stone and was enough of a remarkable shift in sound from 2014’s Spirit Knife (review here) and 2011’s recently-reissued Bloom to justify the name change if the convenience factor alone wasn’t enough. The band’s sound had clearly matured, taking on a somewhat darker aspect but resonating with proggy flourish in a way their prior material only hinted at amid its classic-heavy thrust. With The Tunnel, the Well, Holy BedlamJIRM continue the forward journey into the uncharted reaches of their own sound.

Across an immersive and sometimes ponderous 52 minutes and six songs, The Tunnel, the Well, Holy Bedlam carves an exploratory place within JIRM‘s canon. Opener “Liquid Covenant” unfolds with a quick-established wash of tone in guitar, bass, keys and drums, and though they’re a little later arriving (still before the two-minute mark), Apelmo‘s vocals become one of the central expressive elements throughout. As much room and reach as his and Backendal‘s guitars have in these pieces, the melodiesJIRM The Tunnel The Well Holy Bedlam carried by the vocals are an essential factor, even in the massive, 12-minute, sax-psych-and-space-doom second track “Deeper Dwell.”

Apelmo becomes the human presence — though I won’t take away from Persson‘s grounding snare either — speaking to the audience from these cosmic depths, slow moving and laced with noise as they are. Even in “You Fly,” which takes a more atmospheric approach to balancing the mix, that remains the case, with echoes ringing out over the swirl that, by the midsection, has moved toward epic in a way that even Surge Ex Monumentis couldn’t quite touch, moving into quiet, acoustic-and-key breadth at the end of the record’s first half.

Whether or not the band was deliberate in their intention to throw off the listener’s expectation, I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem unfeasible given their years together and that The Tunnel, the Well, Holy Bedlam is their fifth LP. Given the stated fact that they recorded across five studios during the pandemic, however, perhaps it makes sense that the songs here feel built up, constructed from a central base and working outward. That’s true certainly of “You Fly,” and “Repent in Blood” opens the second half of the tracklisting with a similar vibe, classically progressive but modern in impact and production, airy enough to float but rhythmically solid and rolling in a nod that remains even after the drums seem to drop out (and return) later on.

“Repent in Blood,” “Carried Away” and closer “Pestilence” all top eight minutes long, and with the sax solo in “Carried Away,” the vocal soul throughout, and the payoff distorted shove in the early stretches of the finale as well as the subsequent build into the crescendo, JIRM show themselves to be not only a mature band, but one still moving to new places in terms of style, defining their personality through their songs and performance in a way that is still of-genre in a sense but beholden to no influence so much as its own. That is to say, while one can pick out varying sides of their material and trace it to a root, what’s grown therefrom is JIRM‘s alone.

Under this moniker or the one prior, they have never sounded so rich or accomplished as they do on The Tunnel, the Well, Holy Bedlam. And if you find yourself feeling submerged or like you have a kind of aurally-induced vertigo at any point in listening, just understand that it’s all going to make JIRM‘s own kind of sense by the time they’re finished. Go along, then, for the ride.

Enjoy:

JIRM on The Tunnel, the Well, Holy Bedlam:

The making of this album has been long and weird to say the least. It has been a journey colored by streams of galactic beams and all that magic and stuff and has shaped this creation into a somewhat new organism. The songs have met our maker and turned back with new predictions of what lies ahead and we are ready to draw swords on the battlefield of sound. ‘The Tunnel The Well Holy Bedlam’ has more or less erupted from the same abyss of darkness as the last record. When making records in the weird way like that of this band, nothing ever turns up like we predicted, and it has evolved into some weird process that we more or less have surrendered ourselves to. So if you like or dislike any of this, we literally can’t be blamed. And the cause being we totally lost control the minute we made our first contact with the making of sound. From that point forward we still hope it remains interesting and keeps blowing our minds.

New album ‘The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam’ out March 4th on Ripple Music: https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/

Stockholm-based heavy rock stalwarts JIRM (formerly Jeremy Irons & the Ratgang Malibus), whose blend of psychedelic heaviness has been gushingly referred to as, “a blissful mixture of Soundgarden at their grooviest and Pink Floyd,” return with their latest album, “The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam.” The album was assembled in a true reflection of the world as altered by the pandemic, its tracks recorded one by one in five different studios across Sweden. The end result, though, is a massive liftoff from reality that’s sure to appeal to fans of everything from REZN to YOB to Elephant Tree to Cities of Mars. Prepare for an astral-traveling, riff-fueled trip into the cosmos!

JIRM is
Karl Apelmo — vocals, guitar
Micke Backendal — guitar
Viktor Källgren — bass
Henke Persson — drums

JIRM on Facebook

JIRM on Instagram

JIRM website

Ripple Music on Facebook

Ripple Music on Instagram

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website

Tags: , , , , ,

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal Playlist: Episode 77

Posted in Radio on February 4th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

the obelisk show banner

There’s a lot going on here. A lot to unpack, in the parlance of our times, but I’m gonna keep it short because I always feel like I screw these posts up by making it more than the list of bands and encouragement and thanks for listening that it should be. Hey, guess what? I think the songs I picked for the show I made don’t suck. If that wasn’t going to be the case, why would I pick them?

As for the voice breaks here, I barely remember what I said other than I was awkward. My wife was giving our son a bath at the time and I was worried he tub sounds would show up in the recording. That’s my rock and roll lifestyle. I’ve been considering a cocaine addiction so I can convince myself I’m fun again. Maybe go to a show.

Thanks for listening. Or reading. Whatever, really. Just thanks.

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

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 02.04.22

Author & Punisher Maiden Star Kruller
Purple Dawn Death to a Dying World Peace & Doom Session Vol. II
Eric Wagner Maybe Tomorrow In the Lonely Light of Mourning
VT
Madmess Stargazer Rebirth
Stone House on Fire Waterfall Time is a Razor
Hazemaze Ceremonial Aspersion Blinded by the Wicked
Spaceslug Spring of the Abyss Memorial
Mt. Echo These Concrete Lungs Electric Empire
VT
Slugg Yonder Yonder
KYOTY Ventilate Isolation
JIRM You Fly The Tunnel, the Well, Holy Bedlam
Carcaňo I Don’t Belong Here By Order of the Green Goddess
Ascia Eternal Glory Volume II
VT
MWWB The Harvest The Harvest
All Them Witches Blacksnake Blues Baker’s Dozen

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Feb. 18 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,