Posted in Whathaveyou on April 3rd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
The information in the headline above I offer to you today with nothing more behind it than being happy about the idea of a thing. There’s no hype push behind the thing — not the least because it doesn’t exist yet. It’s not something I’m putting here in some vain attempt to either make hype happen or generate some kind of controversy — I don’t see a scenario where there’d be any, the less drama the better, and anyway, fuck the internet. Suplecs said they’re writing a new album, and I’m repeating what the wretched social media algorithm made me feel like it was doing me a favor as it put before my eyes. It made my day better, even apart from the silly photo they overlaced with the minimal text they had to offer on the subject, and I hope it makes your day better as well. As regards agenda, that’s the beginning and end of it.
Predating even the emergent internet ubiquity of the turn-of-the-century stoner rock underground — an era no less classic for the fact that describing it as such makes me old — by a couple crucial years, the New Orleans power trio have spent much more time over the better part of the last three decades not releasing albums than padding out their discography, and have counted bummer luck among their defining characteristics since probably even before Man’s Ruin Records — which put out 2000’s Wrestlin’ With My Lady Friend and 2001’s Sad Songs… Better Days (discussed here) — collapsed, right alongside fuzz, groove, and a party vibe that was certainly still resonant when I was lucky enough to see them at a rare-enough not-hometown show or Mardi Gras jam in late-2022.
Accordingly, I don’t know when or if what would be their fifth long-player and first since 2010’s Small Stone-issued Mad Oak Redoux (review here) — which even as a ‘redoux’ of earlier sessions wasn’t perfect and knew it — will be recorded, let alone released to some kind of public audience. But I do know that if such a thing were to happen, I’d want to be in that audience, so again, here we are, heralding a possibility. One among an infinity of infinite potentials. Gosh, the universe is big.
Would be cool to get another long-player from Suplecs though. Did you hear they’re writing a new record?
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 31st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
A brand you can trust, Crowbar will head out on the next leg of their forever-tour on Sept. 7, spending just about a month on the road joined by the noise-as-weapon felony-level assault of Primitive Man, which is a hell of a pairing. And they’re playing Dingbatz. Oh, I love it when bands come to New Jersey. It doesn’t happen all the time, but Crowbar have hit my beloved Garden State on the regular for years, decades now. They’re touring ostensibly in support of 2022’s Zero and Below (review here), but also because they’re Crowbar and that’s what they do. And by now, if you don’t know you’re getting a pro-shop top-tier sludge metal show when they arrive, well, now you do. They are the very definition of reliable.
Bodybox join the tour starting on Sept. 12, and as the PR wire informs, they’ll be rolling over/through the following:
CROWBAR Announces US Headlining Tour; Tickets On Sale Now!
CROWBAR today announces a US headlining tour! The twenty-four-date journey begins September 7th in Fort Walton Beach, Florida and runs through October 5th in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Support will be provided by Primitive Man as well as Bodybox, on select dates. Additionally, the band will play a special show with Venom Inc. on October 1st in Iowa City, Iowa. Tickets are on sale TODAY! See all confirmed dates below.
CROWBAR w/ Primitive Man: 9/07/2023 Downtown Music Hall – Fort Walton Beach, FL 9/08/2023 Conduit – Orlando, FL 9/09/2023 The Orpheum – Tampa, FL 9/10/2023 Gramps – Miami, FL w/ Primitive Man, Bodybox: 9/12/2023 Masquerade – Atlanta, GA 9/13/2023 New Brookland Tavern – Columbia, SC 9/14/2023 Asheville Music Hall – Asheville, NC 9/15/2023 The Camel – Richmond, VA 9/17/2023 Broken Goblet – Bensalem, PA 9/19/2023 Dingbatz – Clifton, NJ 9/20/2023 Song & Dance – Syracuse, NY 9/21/2023 Palladium – Worcester, MA 9/22/2023 Saint Vitus Bar – Brooklyn, NY 9/23/2023 Angel City Music Hall – Manchester, NH 9/24/2023 Space Ballroom – Hamden, CT 9/26/2023 Crafthouse – Pittsburgh, PA 9/27/2023 Hobart Art Theater – Hobart, IN 9/28/2023 Reggie’s – Chicago, IL 9/29/2023 Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH 9/30/2023 Pyramid Scheme – Grand Rapids, MI 10/01/2023 Wildwood – Iowa City, IA w/ Venom Inc # 10/02/2023 Red Flag – St Louis, MO 10/04/2023 Cobra – Nashville, TN 10/05/2023 George’s Majestic – Fayetteville, AR # = No Support
CROWBAR released their critically-adored Zero And Below full-length last year on MNRK Heavy. Produced, mixed, and mastered by Duane Simoneaux at OCD Recording And Production in Metairie, Louisiana, Zero And Below is the band’s most unforgivably doom-driven record since their 1998 landmark effort, Odd Fellows Rest. Led by Windstein, with guitarist Matt Brunson, bassist Shane Wesley, and drummer Tommy Buckley, songs like “Chemical Godz,” “It’s Always Worth The Gain,” and “Bleeding From Every Hole” are unapologetic emotional outpourings, with a bare-knuckle resolve alongside its soul-searching vulnerability, reliably delivered with crushing heaviness.
This Thursday, Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based noisemakers Woorms launch an East Coast/Midwest tour supporting their 2022 album, Fatalismo, but even as they go they’re moving forward from there too. If you’re sensitive to flashing lights, the idea of self-mutilation as sexual kink, or aural pummel, you might consider hanging back on this one, but for everyone else — therapy? — the 5:43 “Amputation Station” video should sit nicely. Making his first appearance in the trio is Miguel Rincon, and for those who encountered Fatalismo last year or who will find themselves standing in front of the stage on the band’s current tour, his presence would seem to make a marked difference in the group.
The narrative around the single is one of aural expansion. Drummer Aaron M. Polk and guitarist/vocalist Joey Carbo, and the aforementioned newbie low-ender Rincon, bring atmosphere into the song in a way that Fatalismo moved away from after 2019’s Slake (review here) was loaded with samples and whatnot. A keyboard part running alongside the central riff in the new song makes the last record seem so comparatively raw. Where even “And Heck Followed With Him” preferred to flesh out with feedback around its almost Melvins-y riffing and Carbo‘s guttural bellows, or the subsequent “Lunge Meat” held its noise till the end, “Amputation Station” builds off “Dead Dead Men”
Both of those, by the way, are well intact on “Amputation Station,” but with more layering, that current of keys comes through as methodical and a more essential piece of what gives the song its eerie vibe. It’s not a crazy shift in sound, but it does distinguish the track from the previous LP, and would seem to hint at the direction in which they’re moving, but of course what the hell do I ever know about any of it. Recorded by Carbo, “Amputation Station” is every-level-weird, a little off-putting in its subject matter, and visually abrasive. All of this is on purpose. Woorms are a band who offer their crunching, meat-toned aggression as a challenge to themselves and their audience alike. If you end up at a gig, I hope it’s a blast.
Carbo digs (carves?) into his fascination with the idea of amputation fetishization — I’m sure there’s a word for it, but I’m not going to look it up — in the PR wire info that follows the video, and sure enough, the video follows here. If you’re up for it on whatever level you want to read that as meaning, please enjoy:
Woorms, “Amputation Station” video premiere
“Amputation Station” is the newest video and single from Baton Rouge/New Orleans, Louisiana-based noise rock trio WOORMS. The standalone track drops as the band gets in the van to assault the Eastern half of the US on tour this week.
WOORMS’ material surges with dirge, grit, and groove, backed with bellowing amplification. Since their 2017 formation, the band has developed a diehard fanbase through three LPs, an array of singles, demos, and EPs, splits with A Hanging, Radiant Knife, and The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, released through the likes of Sludgelord Records, Forbidden Place Records, and their own Hospital Records. Most recently, the band’s third LP, Fatalismo, was recorded with Steve Austin from Today Is The Day and released on Austin’s SuperNova Records last Summer.
After the release of Fatalismo, guitarist/vocalist Joey Carbo and drummer Aaron M. Polk welcomed new bassist Miguel Rincon, and the trio immediately began creating new music, expanding the band’s sound with new stylistic experimentation. “Amputation Station,” the first new song from the revamped lineup, was recorded by Carbo at his own The Hospital studio in Baton Rouge, and now sees release through a video, filmed and edited by Istanbul-based director Ensar Oytun Morgul.
Carbo delves into the new song and video, “I have intended to write about self-surgery for maybe twenty years now. Back then I had read some accounts of people successfully removing glands in marathon self-surgery sessions, lying on plastic sheeting on a motel room floor. They would become obsessed with the removal of a certain organ; a pathology would develop there. I do a lot of research for songs and to find samples that no one will have heard before. These research sessions are not always the best part of my job, to put it nicely, but research for this song was fucking hardcore.
“I learned that there are a few subtypes within this community. So, let me be very clear on this video. The acts we portray mimic those of individuals who, for sexual and/or aesthetic purposes, willingly remove their own body parts. We absolutely don’t judge any of this behavior. We say go for it; safety first, and let God be your gardener… we don’t give a fuck. But what we are not making light of (or even portraying here) is the fetishization of those who have lost limbs in accidents, etc. Again, all good with us when consent is established. I say that because one thing I learned is that when someone suffers an amputation one of the first things doctors will prepare them for is the fact that they will be approached by or receive the attentions of certain people who will be attracted to the amputation itself, so they can decide how they will deal with that and consider how that might make them feel.
“We had no desire to tackle that nuanced subject. But two guys willing to take their own limbs off so they can enjoy some good old’ fashioned stump fucking? Well, that’s fair game. The extreme certainly interests me as much as anyone else. I am intrigued by those who would go so far as to self-mutilate, become a serial killer, or join a religion.”
WOORMS sets out across the Eastern US on tour this week. With sixteen shows confirmed, the band will play cities in Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, and Alabama between June 8th and 24th. See all confirmed dates below and watch for additional live updates and more to post over the months ahead.
WOORMS June 2023 Tour Dates: 6/08/2023 Marsh Room – Metairie, LA 6/09/2023 The Mix – San Antonio, TX 6/10/2023 The 13th Floor – Austin, TX 6/11/2023 3 Links – Dallas, TX 6/12/2023 Growlers – Memphis, TN 6/13/2023 Kiss Bar – Springfield, MO 6/14/2023 Minibar – Kansas City, MO 6/15/2023 Buzzbomb – Springfield, IL 6/16/2023 Cobra Lounge – Chicago, IL 6/17/2023 The Lager House – Detroit, MI 6/18/2023 Buzzbin – Akron, OH 6/20/2023 Southgate House – Newport, KY 6/21/2023 Cherry St Tavern – Chattanooga, TN 6/22/2023 Starbar – Atlanta, GA 6/23/2023 Alabama Music Box – Mobile, AL 6/24/2023 Fractal Brewing – Huntsville, AL
WOORMS is: Joey Carbo – guitar/vocals/keys/samples/etc. Aaron M. Polk – drums Miguel Rincon – bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Is it June yet? No? Then I’m glad not to be egregiously behind the times in posting these Woorms tour dates as the Louisiana-based atmosludgers/noisemakers will head out on a run through the Midwest and Southeast in support of last year’s Fatalismo, their third album, on SuperNova Records, the label helmed by Steve Austin of avant-caustic trailblazers Today is the Day.
Austin also produced, mixed and mastered Fatalismo, which is weirder than thou and judges thee harshly for that but is less prickish about it than, say, ’90s-era Melvins, and listening to it now, I wish I’d reviewed it a year ago (I did post a Questionnaire from Joey Carbo, so the neglect wasn’t complete), but such is Mango. Persistently.
The tour runs two-plus weeks and apparently they have a new single on the way as well. I’ll look forward to that press release coming in 10 minutes after this is published, because that’s how it goes when you suck as bad at life as I do.
From the PR wire:
WOORMS: Louisiana Noise Rock/Sludge Trio Announces Eastern US June Tour; Fatalismo LP Out Now On SuperNova Records + New Music In The Works
Baton Rouge/New Orleans, Louisiana sludge/noise rock crew WOORMS has announced a run of tour dates through the Eastern half of the US this June, supporting their SuperNova Records-released Fatalismo LP.
Released in May of 2022, WOORMS’ Fatalismo was produced, engineered, and mastered by Today Is The Day/SuperNova Records’ Steve Austin – who also provides additional vocals on “This Is Nothing Short Of Character Assassination” – at Austin Enterprise, with additional recording by the band’s Joey Carbo at The Hospital in Baton Rouge. The album was completed with surrealistic artwork by Januz Miralles and design/layout by Joshua Wilkinson.
Guitarist/vocalist Joey Carbo and drummer Aaron M. Polk also welcome new bassist Miguel Rincon, who joined the band in recent months. From Chicago, Rincon cut his teeth in the hardcore/metal scene of New Orleans. As a hired gun in various touring bands Rincon found a home in WOORMS in 2022. Known for his dynamic attack to the bass and high energy stage presence it’s safe to say he fits right in.
Having supported Fatalismo with regional live performances over the past year, WOORMS will now take the album out across the Eastern US in June. With sixteen shows confirmed, the band will play cities in Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, and Alabama between June 8th and 24th.
WOORMS is also working on new material, some of which will be played on the new tour. The band is currently completing a new single which will be released in conjunction with the launch of the tour. See all confirmed dates below and stand by for the new single and other news to post shortly.
WOORMS June 2023 Tour Dates: 6/08/2023 Marsh Room – Metairie, LA 6/09/2023 The Mix – San Antonio, TX 6/10/2023 The 13th Floor – Austin, TX 6/11/2023 3 Links – Dallas, TX 6/12/2023 Growlers – Memphis, TN 6/13/2023 Kiss Bar – Springfield, MO 6/14/2023 Minibar – Kansas City, MO 6/15/2023 Buzzbomb – Springfield, IL 6/16/2023 Cobra Lounge – Chicago, IL 6/17/2023 The Lager House – Detroit, MI 6/18/2023 Buzzbin – Akron, OH 6/20/2023 Southgate House – Newport, KY 6/21/2023 Cherry St Tavern – Chattanooga, TN 6/22/2023 Starbar – Atlanta, GA 6/23/2023 Alabama Music Box – Mobile, AL 6/24/2023 Fractal Brewing – Huntsville, AL
WOORMS’ anthems thunder with elements of dirge, grit, groove, and bellowing amplification foundationally attributed to masters of the realms of noise rock, sludge, and psychedelic metal scenes. Since their 2017 formation, the band has developed a diehard fanbase through performing live and their records, released through Sludgelord Records, Forbidden Place Records, and their own Hospital Records, including two LPs, an array of singles, demos, and EPs, and split releases with A Hanging, Radiant Knife, and The Grasshopper Lies Heavy.
In March of 2020, WOORMS drove 1500 miles to open for Today is The Day in Ohio where frontman Steve Austin joined them on stage for a song. This connection led WOORMS to Austin’s compound in remote northern Maine in the Fall of 2020 to record what would be their third LP, Fatalismo.
Posted in Questionnaire on December 30th, 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: Tim Smolens of High Castle Teleorkestra
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I produce and arrange music that draws on a variety of genres not typically put together, and assemble it in such a way that hopefully leaves the listener hearing it as unified. You could vaguely call it “progressive,” music, but it doesn’t have all that much in common with music typically stamped with that label.
Describe your first musical memory.
I made my mom take me to buy a 7-inch single of “Eye of the Tiger” which I had heard in Rocky when I was about five years old. I still like that tune to this day as it has an amazing energy that should get any listener pumped up for any occasion!
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I got to play cello on a John Zorn song that was arranged and produced by the Secret Chiefs 3/Trey Spruance called Hamaya on (Masada) Xaphan, Book of Angels vol. 9. It was a great honor since I had been a big fan of certain Zorn music for years. The kicker here is that I am not even really a cellist. I play contrabass which has similarities but cellists have much more melodic dexterity and therefore possess a different skill set that is not native to me. With some coaching from Trey he was able to coax a few takes out of me that sounded much better than I would have expected from a hack cellist like myself. I was surprised.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Every day, but I am having trouble pinpointing specific examples.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Hopefully towards truth and beauty but probably more often towards emotional release and a portrayal of the artists current state of being. Some art lifts us up towards that to which we aspire to, while others pull us back down by cinematically portraying the battles, roadblocks and adversity that routinely populate our paths. Both have their place.
How do you define success?
From an artistic standpoint success is when the result is better than what was planned. The artist worked hard but the subconscious elements (seeds) of the work took root and sprouted a life of their own as well.
As uncool as it is to talk about financial success, if you can’t make a living from your art you will have much less time to work on it which is the boat I currently find myself sailing in.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Well I work as an ER nurse so you I will spare everyone the details!
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Music composition and recordings using all pure intervals (just intonation), which is much more difficult since western music uses a compromise of a tuning system (equal temperament). It is so much more beautiful and has an incredible resonance but is hard to pull off because many musicians do not know how to tune in such a way, and many instruments are incapable of it (fixed pitch instruments).
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To elevate the listener from the mire (lead) of their current state to a more transcendent state which they seek (gold).
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
My 13 year-old daughter’s upcoming softball tournaments.
Posted in Questionnaire on November 2nd, 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: Chris Bogen from High Castle Teleorkestra
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
The short music-centric answer is that I am the guitarist (and occasional other instrumentalist) and co-producer of the High Castle Teleorkestra remote ensemble. I fell into this gig through a previous remote collaboration with Tim Smolens when we meticulously recorded a fleshed-out version of Steely Dan’s lost and legendary “Second Arrangement” track. After we finished that recording, we started working on other things that eventually became High Castle Teleorkestra.
In a more general sense, much of what I do is balancing time and attention amongst a lot of demanding and competing professional, artistic, and family obligations. I probably have found myself in this predicament due to excessive curiosity, tolerance for pain, and some mental allergy to the word “no.” I am not and have never been a full-time artist or musician. However, I have enjoyed home recording (and occasional performance) for over 30 years. My journey as a musician/recording artist has been extremely slow and persistent. Since musical time is somewhat limited in my life these days, I have adapted to a workflow that allows me to do big musical things, like High Castle Teleorkestra, through somewhat short, but persistent, sessions and loads of teamwork. None of this would be possible without a tremendous amount of support from my family, friends, my other professional colleagues, and my bandmates.
Describe your first musical memory.
The earliest musical memory that I can recall today is when I vomited and fainted at a pre-school choir performance. I think the same thing happened a few other times throughout my early life. I have no insight into what caused these incidents. Perhaps I was incredibly nervous, tense, and standing in a rigid manner. Or perhaps the music was just really bad (though I have no memory of what music was involved). The most likely culprit is that I have no talent for singing and the cosmos were trying to give a not-so-subtle hint to apply myself elsewhere.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
During my early elementary school days, my young cousins and I would sneak around and listen to their much older brother’s hard rock and metal albums (Ozzy, AC/DC, Iron Maiden). I had never heard anything like that stuff before and it was exciting because listening to that stuff was very taboo. I can remember us sneaking “Diary of a Madman” into my room. We shut the door and started playing the record on my portable Fisher Price record player. My mother knocks on the door and asks, “What are you doing in there?” We tell her we are “listening to jazz” and she goes on about her way. None of us knew what the hell jazz sounded like either so we could probably plead ignorance there if caught. We did know that we wouldn’t be in trouble for listening to jazz though. I can’t say that I really liked Ozzy’s music back then, but I did know that it was a world away from the Wham tape I frequently played on my Fisher Price cassette player.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
My firmly held beliefs are tested daily in my role as a parent of three young children. Once their little minds begin to become independent, they don’t miss an opportunity to challenge my beliefs which are implied by reasonable requests and commands. Additionally, I am frequently challenging my own beliefs and assumptions as I internally struggle to make “good” parenting decisions.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I’m not sure where artistic progression leads, but it certainly expands the bounds of our inner worlds. The destination may be less interesting than the pathway and the stops along the way. Hopefully, my artistic progression will lead to some place with a modest amount of revenue that could justify dedicating more time to artistic pursuits while cutting back on some portion of my other rewarding professional activities that keep my pantry well stocked, my mortgage and utilities paid, etc.
How do you define success?
With regards to music, success is: a) creating musical work that I can bear hearing more than a few hundred times, b) accomplishing item a. while not: compromising my values, putting my family and myself in peril (financially, mentally, etc.), or missing out on other important facets of life (priceless family moments, full-time career goals, couch potato time, etc.).
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
That 1990s Godzilla movie with Matthew Broderick. My buddy Jason and I sat through that whole thing at the theater. After it was over, we realized that we both wanted to walk out but did not raise the idea with each other because we didn’t want to rock the boat. Lesson learned: Life is too short for bogus Hollywood Godzilla movies (long live Toho Studios!), so rock the boat and tell your friend it’s time to walk out.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I’d like to record a follow-up to my Doc Booger EP (a Chet Atkins tribute of sorts). I’m getting rusty on my fingerpicking so it may take a while before I can work up some good fingerstyle arrangements.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Art provides a cyclical function by operating in two somewhat opposing modes: communion and mutation. As “communion,” art allows us to share intangible (spiritual, emotional), timeless experiences and create artifacts that contribute to a cultural body of work. In “mutation” mode, art arouses emotion and inspires individual imaginations in unique ways; and thus, art leads to more inner journeys that lead to more art. It’s a farcical, yet essential feedback loop that sustains and evolves humanity for better or worse.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I am a stereotypical South Louisiana dude, so I’m usually looking forward to my next meal. Food is a vice, and the struggle is real. At this moment I am looking forward to a plate of my wife’s delicious white beans, rice, and fresh spicy sausage (from Zuppardo’s Family Market).
Posted in Questionnaire on October 4th, 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: Lindsey Baker of Guts Club
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
About 10 years ago, I was making multiple series of lo-fi music videos that I organized by clubs. There was Big Mistake Club, Sad Club, Types of November Rain, Therapy Club, Feelings Club, and more. The music was bedroom recordings of various cover songs and the visuals were found footage from YouTube with really terrible animation. These videos sandwiched a series of long movies where I essentially extracted audio from rock ’n’ roll biopics (8 Mile, The Doors, and Elvis and Me) and replaced then with “normal people” covering the music.
Then came a series of videos actually called Guts Club. Instead of covering batshit ’90s hits like “Everybody Hurts” and “Nothing Compares To You,” like I had done in previous videos, I wrote these really extreme love songs. I was newly in love and as an obsessive scorpio, I thought it would be a great idea to send my new girlfriend these completely insane little videos with songs about stuffing loved ones in the trunk or drowning them. Weirdly, it worked — we’re married now. (We all have our own strange love language!) She thought the songs were cool and sort of pushed me to make the first album, The Arm Wrestling Tournament.
In my mind, The Arm Wrestling Tournament was an extension of what Vic Chesnutt had done with songwriting. I don’t think anyone really picked up on that though — more and more, I don’t think that’s what I was actually doing anyway. I slowly started adding musicians and made two country-leaning albums, Shit Bug and Trench Foot. Playing louder felt amazing and shortly before the pandemic, I started messing around with running my guitar through two amps. Obviously the pandemic sort of shattered everything I had been working on and completely destroyed my mental state. About a year into it, I had reworked what would become CLIFFS/ WALLS, found the current lineup, and somehow ended up playing super heavy music. I blame it on the pandemic and the rise of fascism.
Describe your first musical memory.
It’s a toss up between being completely terrified of the timpani in “Also Sprach Zarathustra” and just simply seeing Bruce Springsteen’s jeans-butt.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Like any musician, I love playing music to rooms of engaged people. But, I’m also a sound tech at a venue in New Orleans. When women, queer, or nonbinary folks tell me how happy and comfortable they feel when I mix their show, I feel like there’s a point a to all of this.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Buying a used car with low mileage doesn’t mean it won’t be a complete piece of shit.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I’m not sure but for right now, I’d like to keep pushing amps and breaking my voice. I’ve never had so much fun or felt so completely happy playing music until now.
How do you define success?
I don’t think there’s one answer for that. Universal healthcare, free college, federally paid parental leave, and universal basic income would allow for each of us to discover that.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I hate seeing pieces of people’s homes flying through the sky during hurricanes.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I’d like to hear Guts Club with a baritone sax. Come to think of it, maybe some timpani too.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Another one with more than one answer. For me at least, art functions to create culture and community.
Making this type of art has also helped me build confidence which is something I struggled with when Guts Club was a solo-project and even when I started adding musicians. Creating this type of music through the pandemic and playing it with Ronna and Alex has weirdly and magically helped me overcome so much of what I had previously wrestled with.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I’m a runner and I’m SUPER excited for the temperature to drop a bit in New Orleans so I don’t have to carry 80oz of sports water on my back just so I can run 10 miles.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 6th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
You don’t need me to tell you to go see Crowbar, but in case you do, go see Crowbar. The New Orleans progenitors of sludge metal are closing on 30 years since issuing their landmark self-titled debut, and they head out on this US run supporting their new album, Zero and Below (review here), on MNRK Heavy, formerly E1, bringing Spirit Adrift along for the ride. You should know by now what you’re getting into going to a Crowbar show — they will deliver — but while we’re on the subject of reliability, I want to say what a goddamn comfort it was to have Crowbar doing livestreams during the pandemic lockdown. I know they needed money and that fiscally that’s a poor substitute for touring, etc., but hot shit it was good to know that in a world busy turning itself inside out on multiple fronts, you could still count on Crowbar. May they outlive us all and tour forever.
From the PR wire:
CROWBAR: Summer Headlining Tour With Spirit Adrift Announced; Zero And Below Full-Length Out Now On MNRK Heavy
CROWBAR will return to the road this Summer on a US headlining tour with Spirit Adrift! The Riff Beast Tour will commence on July 22nd at Ripplefest in Austin, Texas, and run through August 27th at Tattoo The Earth Fest in Worcester, Massachusetts. Tickets are on sale now! See all confirmed dates below.
Comments vocalist/guitarist Kirk Windstein, “We are looking so forward to our Summer 2022 headlining tour! We truly believe in our latest album Zero And Below and can’t wait to bring you a great set list of old and new CROWBAR. See you on tour!”
CROWBAR will be touring in support of their critically-adored Zero And Below full-length released earlier this year on MNRK Heavy. Produced, mixed, and mastered by Duane Simoneaux at OCD Recording And Production in Metairie, Louisiana, Zero And Below is the band’s most unforgivably doom-driven record since their 1998 landmark effort, Odd Fellows Rest. Led by Windstein, with guitarist Matt Brunson, bassist Shane Wesley, and drummer Tommy Buckley, songs like “Chemical Godz,” “It’s Always Worth The Gain,” and “Bleeding From Every Hole,” are unapologetic emotional outpourings, with a bare-knuckle resolve alongside its soul-searching vulnerability, reliably delivered with crushing heaviness.
CROWBAR: 7/22/2022 Ripplefest – Austin, TX 7/23/2022 Amplified Live – Dallas, TX w/ Mothership 7/24/2022 The Vanguard – Tulsa, OK w/ Mothership w/ Spirit Adrift: 7/26/2022 Outland Ballroom – Springfield, MO 7/27/2022 Red Flag – St. Louis, MO 7/28/2022 Route 20 – Racine, WI 7/29/2022 Cabooze – Minneapolis, MN 7/30/2022 Cobra Lounge – Chicago, IL 7/31/2022 Piere’s – Ft. Wayne, IN 8/02/2022 Emerson Theater – Indianapolis, IN 8/03/2022 King Of Cups – Columbus, OH 8/04/2022 Montage Music Hall – Rochester, NY 8/06/2022 The Chance Theater – Poughkeepsie, NY 8/09/2022 Saint Vitus – Brooklyn, NY 8/10/2022 Anchor Rock Club – Atlantic City, NJ 8/11/2022 Reverb – Reading, PA 8/12/2022 The Loud – Huntington, WV 8/13/2022 The Broadberry – Richmond, VA 8/14/2022 Local 506 – Chapel Hill, NC 8/16/2022 Archetype – Jacksonville, FL 8/17/2022 Gramps – Miami, FL 8/18/2022 Will’s Pub – Orlando, FL 8/19/2022 Downtown Music Hall – Ft. Walton Beach, FL 8/20/2022 Soul Kitchen – Mobile, AL 8/21/2022 Chelsea’s Live – Baton Rouge, LA 8/23/2022 40 Watt – Athens, GA 8/24/2022 Elevation 27 – Virginia Beach, VA 8/26/2022 Empire Underground – Albany, NY 8/27/2022 Tattoo The Earth Fest – Worcester, MA
CROWBAR: Kirk Windstein – vocals/guitar Matt Brunson – guitar Shane Wesley – bass Tommy Buckley – drums
