Posted in Whathaveyou on July 5th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
All well and good for Josiah as they bring in bassist Andy Shardlow as part of the band’s reinvigorated trio lineup with founding guitarist/vocalist Mathew Bethancourt and drummer D.C. Lockton, and all well and good for them to have a new booking agency in Heavy Mountain. Put the two together, however, and it might just be that the London-based outfit will look to get out and tour at least in Europe to support their 2022 album, We Lay on Cold Stone (review here), which was released through Blues Funeral Recordings. Shardlow has played in a bunch of other bands as you can see below, and he takes the place of Jack Dickinson — also of Stubb; wherefore a third record, Stubb? — with whom the band leave open the possibility of continuing to work as a second guitarist. A fascinating thought.
Josiah will join GNOB, The Jonny Halifax Invocation, DVDE, Purple Kong and Longheads on July 29 at Hazy Fest in London at Signature Brew in Haggerston in the eastern part of the city. It will be their first show with Shardlow in the lineup, and, as noted above, there may be more to follow.
From socials, with emojis removed:
In recent times we’ve been evoking all things dark with the very welcome addition of Andy Shardlow (@beerded_bass_man) on low end duties.
Andy has previously played bass with the likes of @devilswitches @wildfuzztrip @jr_and_the_echo & many more sonic outlaws.
Our beloved Jack (@deathtofalsepsych) of @stubbrock stays within the circle of fire. His guitar slinging will feature live & on the next Josiah full length.
Come experience the new lineup at Hazy Fest @signaturebrew Haggerston, London on the 29th July.
Sonic rituals require a constant flow.
Josiah are proud to be a part of the incredible @heavymountain booking agency.
Contact tyler@heavymountain.co.uk to book some live action now.
Posted in Reviews on August 11th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Following a discography’s worth of well-timed catalog reissues, UK-based heavy rockers Josiah issued We Lay on Cold Stone, their first full-length in 15 years, as part of Blues Funeral Recordings‘ PostWax subscription series. In the interest of full disclosure, I do the liner notes for that series (usually late) and am theoretically compensated for doing so, if in LPs. I’ve been hesitant in most cases to put together a review after speaking to the artist, writing about the record from an ‘inside’ point of view, and being involved in a small way in the release, but as with Lowrider‘s Refractions (review here) in 2020, it feels warranted to dig in here as well.
From a perspective standpoint, this is more about the result than the making of the LP — though it’s almost inevitable I’ll say the same thing twice; true from one sentence to the next — but if it’s an ethical question, I’m never claiming impartiality because I don’t believe it exists, and as I listen to the six songs and 39 minutes of We Lay on Cold Stone, the prevailing sentiment is now what it was the first time I heard the album: garage rock ain’t like it used to be. And no, that’s not a complaint.
Fronted by Mathew Bethancourt, who here handles guitar, a goodly portion of the bass, multiple channels’ worth of vocals — that’s at least three in the midsection break of “Saltwater”; again, not complaining — all keys and even drums on three tracks, Josiah was never a band to follow rules. Even as the tenets of aughts-era stoner rock were being laid down, Josiah turned to Hendrixian garage rawness and psychedelia, creating a sonic identity born of classic swing and an ability to go not only where the song wanted, but where they wanted too, an alignment of interests that’s rarer than they make it sound.
Bassist Simon Beasley — since replaced by Jack Dickinson, best known as guitarist/vocalist for Stubb — and drummer D.C. Lockton want for nothing as a rhythm section, but after he spent a decade-plus careening through bands like Leicester’s The Kings of Frog Island, the deeply undervalued Cherry Choke, Dexter Jones Circus Orchestra and his own Mathew’s Hidden Museum solo-project, Josiah‘s return feels very much like a homecoming for Bethancourt, and it accordingly bears recognizable hallmarks of his craft.
Those include but aren’t by any means limited to a fluid use of multiple fuzz tones on a single track, so that the deeper layer in the 10-minute penultimate highlight “(Realise) We Are Not Real” — more a hope than a demand in its lyrics — is a reward for headphonic engagement, an organically malleable, clear vocal that cuts through the distortion and crash surrounding, and boogie derived from whichever lost ’70s classic it makes you feel coolest enough to know. But most of all, We Lay on Cold Stone manifests Josiah‘s refusal to adhere to the meme-style, stoner-riffs-as-text-on-background tenets of microgenre, to stand still, to be one thing. In 2022, does that mean your garage rock is GarageBand? Maybe.
But throughout We Lay on Cold Stone, Josiah continually turn when they’ve made you feel like they’re headed straight ahead. The music is able to carry through every pivot from the crow calls in opener “Rats (To the Bitter End)” onward through the hard ’60s boogie of “Saltwater,” the violent and self-aware soundtrack-ish opening of “Let the Lambs See the Knife” and the reinvention of Queens of the Stone Age‘s “Millionaire” riff that becomes Josiah‘s own with the leads winding around it, to the what-space-rock-would-be-if-it-was-burrowing-underground-instead “Cut Them Free,” the far out hook in the later reaches of the aforementioned “(Realise) We Are Not Real” and the bookending finale “The Bitter End,” the steady drum pattern of which has the indisputable push of an Endless Boogie track, but is something else entirely. Whatever style you tag a given song, part, etc., the LP is not primitive, or rusty, or haphazard in its execution, even when it wants you to think it is.
To jam or not to jam, that is the question. And when listening straight through, the answer is “yes” often enough to keep you guessing, but sneaky hooks in “Saltwater,” “Let the Lambs See the Knife,” and even “(Realise) We Are Not Real,” lyrics repeating in different forms, different layering — the barks and croons in their own channel in “Saltwater,” for example — also offer landmarks along the way, so that you’re not just following Josiah as they go farther and farther into hi-we’re-back aural oblivion. There’s structure at work right unto “The Bitter End,” with its subtly proto-doomed descending riff and insistent but unrushed answer back to the nigh-on-perfect pacing of “Let the Lambs See the Knife.”
Mood, tone, vocal and instrumental melody and pace are all likewise bendable in Josiah‘s work, and the band are no less effective in conveying the violence of “Let the Lambs See the Knife,” than the connection between rodents and rising oceans in “Rats (To the Bitter End)” and “Saltwater;” the not-quite-unspoken accusation of our responsibility for the currently unfolding climate disaster around the world. But while We Lay on Cold Stone is inherently Josiah‘s in terms of presentation, the deftness of the music and the flow that makes it such a joy to follow, the double-meaning there is that it belongs to Bethancourt as the driving force in the trio.
That’s not to take away from the contributions of Beasley or Lockton, or those Dickinson might make as they continue to move forward (it would be a crime not to have him join Bethancourt on vocals, at least once), but the personal vibe, the almost intimate nature of the progression through “Cut Them Free,” into side B’s “(Realise) We Are Not Real” and “The Bitter End,” is directly traceable to the guitarist, and it is the guitar that is at the root of the songs. Garage rock it might be, but Josiah were always and still are more about the fuzz and fulfilling the needs of their songs more than the expectations of their audience.
I would not expect their next record — which, as I understand it, is a thing that’s going to happen — to sound like We Lay on Cold Stone, since at least one hopes it won’t be made in quarantine and the lineup has changed as noted, but in capturing the advent of Josiah in the 2020s, the album holds as much promise for what’s to come as it harkens to what made the band’s first run so engrossing to begin with. I won’t say I’m impartial about it, but I will say it’s a ripper and this is a band who earn twice over every bit of hype they get, for the work they did back then and for the work they’re doing now. May they keep it going.
Posted in Questionnaire on July 18th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Mathew Bethancourt of Josiah
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I define myself as a creative person. I’ve always been driven to make, imagine, create. Whether it’s music, art, design, storytelling, media etc; coming up with often ridiculous ideas and constantly wanting to challenge myself to be more, push boundaries. It’s simply a way of life for me. I’m lucky enough to earn my living as a creative, and that keeps me sane (just) :-) I was a songwriter before I could play any instruments. Sure I’d drum and make rhythms up like any kid does, but it was the melodies and lyrics that came first. I’d just imagine songs and record them to cassette for my own pleasure. I dabbled with the classical guitar for a few months aged 10, but art was my first creative pull and all my passion was focused on becoming a fine artist. At 18 I found myself in a group of sorts. A summer just hanging with musical friends and they started to play my songs. I wanted some of the action, so I picked up a guitar, played piano, and got stuck in. A friend showed me two chords and loaned me a nice Tokai strat copy and I just hit the ground running. 6 months later, I bought a Les Paul, Marshall amp – formed a new band and was playing live with a full set of original tracks. Playing music came naturally to me. I picked up the guitar relatively late but caught up pretty fast :-)
Describe your first musical memory.
I’m not sure which one came first but it was either my Galician Abuela (Grandmother) singing Gallego folk songs during family gatherings. Absolutely mesmerising. No background chit chat. Time stood still and emotions ran high. Or it was my dad’s HiFi geek-prog rock obsessed friend sitting me down in front of his record collection with a set of expensive cans on my head and trippy lights filling the room while he and my dad talked DIY or something. He introduced me to Pink Floyd, Yes, Hendrix etc. In glorious Hi-Fidelity sound.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I think it has to be my Abuela singing. She was magical! The first time I experienced this beautiful woman summon up so much passion and command such keen attention from all around her with just her voice, will never leave me. I carry it as an inspiration always.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I’m not very good at suffering fools. Especially when their ideals and behaviour affect those around them negatively. So it was probably yesterday and I was definitely on a bike having a word with some dick in a car who almost cleaned up someone in front of me :-)
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
To deeply interesting places. If you do not seek to progress, you only stand to stagnate. Go where the challenges live.
How do you define success?
Freedom to create. If that then resonates with anyone out there – amazing! But the freedom to make is the key.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Not one thing. I’ve seen some upsetting events unfold in my time. But I wouldn’t want to un-see anything.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Leaving time machines, world peace and an end to poverty, hunger and greed aside :-) The next song I have written yet.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To enhance life for the living by inspiring freedom whilst creating with abandon. The freedom of expression is not to be taken lightly. And even though we may not all agree on what makes art, art or how to define it beyond the commercial realms. It is art’s very nature to be undefinable and as such be free of any rules or any reason.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Reading that next book. Watching that next sunset. Seeing my family grow. Falling asleep.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 20th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
First of all, I love the psych-band-doing-Celtic-Frost-cosplay of Josiah‘s new promo pic. I actually interviewed Mathew Bethancourt last week and forgot to ask him about it, but we talked for a while about the upcoming We Lay on Cold Stone in addition to the band’s reissues out this week and next on Heavy Psych Sounds. As for this album, well, that was discussed in the main a while back for the PostWax liner notes which I can’t seem to stop writing — my ego, ugh; I despise myself — but for the purposes of this post, let me just say I’ve heard this record, lived with it for a while now and it’s not just the cover and promo pic that kick ass. There are a whole lot of people who are going to know who Josiah are by the end of this year who were not previously aware. Perhaps that’s you, too.
Look for that interview I think next Monday with streams of all the current reissues and note that they’ve got Jack Dickinson from Stubb on bass now and it’s been well over a decade since the last Josiah offering, unless you count their debut EP reissue, which was last year. That does not, of course, mean that Bethancourt hasn’t been active. If you’ve never dug into Cherry Choke, you’re in for a treat should you take this chance to do so, and his work in the more recent solo-project Mathew’s Hidden Museum is a delight of bizarre psychedelic treasures born of genuine experimentation.
But all these things can and will be discussed another time. For now, info from the PR wire:
JOSIAH to issue new album ‘We Lay On Cold Stone’ on Blues Funeral Recordings; preorder and first single available!
UK’s heavy psych legends JOSIAH return this summer with their first album in over a decade, to be released on Blues Funeral Recordings! ‘We Lay On Cold Stone’ will be available worldwide on July 15th, and supported by performances at Desertfest London and Black Deer Festival. Watch their brand new “Saltwater” video now!
Blues Funeral Recordings recently announced their special collaboration with JOSIAH to release the UK trio’s new studio album as part of their revered PostWax II vinyl subscription series.
Forging ahead to reclaim their legacy as some of the earliest architects of lysergic heavy psych, JOSIAH return in 2022 with the exultant ‘We Lay on Cold Stone’. Emerging re-energized and in peak form, the band sear forth with a barrage of irresistible hooks and tripped-out riff-romps, utterly new yet subtly infused with vintage flashes of Cream and Grand Funk. Striding boldly into a new era, JOSIAH confidently claim a place amid modern titans of psychedelic heavy rock like Earthless, Kadavar, The Atomic Bitchwax and Graveyard, asserting vast gravitas in a style they helped create.
Frontman Mathew Bethancourt declares: “We Lay On Cold Stone has been a long time coming. Perpetual dawn, finally risen. The writing spans years, and the collective pulse of the tracks, lifetimes. Recorded with purpose and heart for all the seekers who wish to hear. The resurrection is truly upon us! I’ve come to realize that every song is an opportunity. It’s a chance to push some buttons and maybe get people to think in a different way. Saltwater speaks of acceptance. Accepting the fact we drank way too deep from this earth and had a ball doing it. Feel no self-pity as you sit amongst the ruins of fear. Embrace your fate. You earned it.”
‘We Lay On Cold Stone’ will be available worldwide on July 15th, 2022 (with the ultra-limited PostWax edition shipping exclusively to PostWax Vol. II subscribers in May).
Preorder now via Blues Funeral Recordings website and Bandcamp: https://www.bluesfuneral.com/ https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com/
Subscribe to the PostWax II series here: https://www.bluesfuneral.com/collections/postwax
New album ‘We Lay On Cold Stone’ Out July 15th on Blues Funeral Recordings
TRACKLIST: 1. Rats (To The Bitter End) 2. Saltwater 3. Let The Lambs See The Knife 4. Cut Them Free 5. We Are Not Real 6. The Bitter End
Upcoming live shows: 23.04.22 – Salty Dog, Northwich (UK) 30.04.22 – Desertfest London (UK) 18.06.22 – Black Deer Festival, Eridge (UK)
Josiah album line-up: Mathew Bethancourt – guitar and vocals (bass on side A) Sie Beasley – bass & vocals (side B) Dan Lockton – drums
Josiah are: Mathew Bethancourt / Guitar & Vocal Jack Dickinson / Bass Dan Lockton / Drums
