Posted in Whathaveyou on June 24th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
I guess I’m supposed to be over here stoked that Earthless are going to come East supporting their 2022 album, Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (review here), and don’t get me wrong, better that than not, but I’m having trouble after reading the news this morning mustering up the requisite fanboy excitement. My country doesn’t believe women are people, believes that pre-human cell collections are, and is moving ever farther away from the representative democracy it once claimed to be toward and imperialist fascist white supremacist state. Failing, in essence, in even the most basic of its promises. As a citizenry, we should be disgusted, more than usual.
But hey, Earthless, right? That’s a cool band, with a cool record, and bands being able to tour is cool, and they’re all dudes so they’ll probably be allowed to leave the house or whatever when the time comes.
Fuck everything. The sun rises, humans let you down, the sun sets. Tomorrow is another day with more bullshit. Grab your precious moments while you can. The boots are coming for your fucking skull.
From socials:
Hello everyone! We are very happy to announce that we will be out in the Midwest/East Coast starting September 1st!
These will be our first shows out East since 2019 so we cannot wait to get back and play for you all. Hope to see you there!
Tickets on sale TODAY at 10 am http://earthlessofficial.com/tour-dates
9/1 Chicago IL Empty Bottle (Scorched Tundra Fest with Monolord + Dorthia Cottrel) 9/2 Hamtramck MI Sanctuary Detroit 9/3 Cleveland Heights OH Grog Shop 9/4 Toronto ON Velvet Underground 9/6 Cambridge MA Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub 9/7 Baltimore MD Ottobar 9/8 Philadelphia PA Underground Arts 9/9 Brooklyn NY MARKET HOTEL 9/10 Pittsburgh PA Mr Smalls Theater 9/12 Louisville KY Portal at Fifteentwelve Creative Compound 9/13 Fort Wayne IN Piere’s
EARTHLESS Lineup: Isaiah Mitchell – Guitar & Vocals Mike Eginton – Bass Mario Rubalcaba – Drums
Posted in Reviews on January 4th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Who doesn’t love a parade? Comprised of its massive, 41-minute title-track (split into two parts at 19:04 and 22:09, respectively) and the 20-minute companion-piece “Death to the Red Sun,” the sixth long-player from San Diego heavy psychshredders Earthless is being heralded as a return to form for the trio, and in some ways, Night Parade of One Hundred Demons is that. Their second full-length under the banner of Nuclear Blast, its structure and some of the included material harkens back to the band’s beginnings — according to the narrative (blessings and peace upon it), the first riff the band wrote is somewhere in the hour-plus stretch, which is neat on a trivia level some 20 years beyond their formation — and that’s a decided departure, or at least a re-parture, from 2018’s Black Heaven (review here), which now feels like an aberration as regards its shorter-form songs, inclusion of vocals from guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, and so on. Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, then, would seem to get back to business.
One might be reminded of Sonic Prayer (2005) or some of their no-break, all-in live work — 2008’s Live at Roadburn (discussed here) comes to mind, perpetually, but it’s not the only example — as bassist Mike Eginton (who also did the striking album art), drummer Mario Rubalcaba and Mitchell dig into “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons” itself, but the title-track doesn’t try to be so brazen as to pretend the last 15-plus years of the band’s progression hasn’t happened. Rather, they open with a movement of subdued psychedelic guitar that unfolds across the first six minutes before giving way to more angular lead work and gradually shifting into a jazzier jam with underlying tension in the drums and bass. It’s hypnotic and engrossing, very much Earthless being Earthless, which would seem to be the point. Like a classic power trio put through an interdimensional taffy pull, Mitchell spaces out on guitar over the course of who even knows how much anti-time as Eginton and Rubalcaba provide the underlying movement and foundation of groove on which the material is built.
By the time they’re 12 minutes into “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (Part 1),” Rubalcaba is nestled into a drum build and Mitchell follows the surge, rising into a more foreboding section of leads and riffs, Eginton, as ever, the low-end fueling the heft of the entirety on its course. There’s a triumph in space before the shredfest begins at about 14:00, some Slayery thrash sneaks in, a bit of doom, but it’s all on the way to a massive wash of noise that drops suddenly into “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (Part 2),” the drums and sparse noise holding to the darker atmosphere of some of the first part’s guitar work, while at the same time answering back the patient, so-long-ago-now gradual manner in which the opening track took off. In fact, “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (Part 2)” makes even more use of open space in its unfurling — the tolling bell is a nice touch — with wind sounds sweeping along with the airy guitar, drums and bassline until 11 minutes in, when whatever pedal that is clicks off and Mitchell, Eginton and Rubalcaba begin the next round of wormhole-digging rippery.
Colors flash in your face like a full-spectrum-and-probably-then-some strobe light as the second part of “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons” courses toward its eventual end, hitting those same triumphal notes before thrashing out meaner once more and, sure enough, dizzying itself into a wash and a well earned crash-out ending. If that was the finish of Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, the whole album, I have a hard time imagining Earthless‘ significant fanbase would argue. Few bands have had the same kind of influence they’ve had on the current generation of heavy rock and roll, and with its sudden, mic-drop-but-without-the-mic finish, “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons” is bound to make an impact as well, given both the band’s profile and their willingness to engage moodier ambience despite the shimmering at the outset and the head-spinning washes with which both component parts are resolved.
Which is enough to make one wonder why they’d bother to include “Death to the Red Sun” at all instead of saving it for some future release — until one actually listens to it. At 20:27, it’s about half as long as the preceding two-parter, but with its more immediate start, go-go-go gnarl and grimmer underpinnings, it makes a fitting complement to “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons,” with Eginton‘s bassline under Mitchell‘s early solo (four minutes in) giving a highlight bounce that maintains the rhythm that will soon establish itself as the central force of the song. “Death to the Red Sun” — not to be confused either with Kyuss‘ Blues for the Red Sun or Earthless‘ own “Violence of the Red Sea” and “Lost in the Cold Sun” — feels like classic Earthless, tapping into the energy and inimitable chemistry of the trio working together as they build their material outward into an ether-plane of twists and dynamic shove. It is this over-the-top freakoutness on which much of their legend is based, and when “Death to the Red Sun” turns back to that ‘main’ riff via the bass just before it’s 17 minutes deep, and they tell the listener there’s been a plan unfolding all the while, one can only be astounded in a way that feels readily familiar.
They bring “Death to the Red Sun” down more gradually than “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons,” marching it slower before the feedback and residual cymbal wash gives a false ending ahead of a final measure of thrash, and are out with a clean-feeling break that feels very much their own even as it has touched on some newer stylistic ground for them. A key to the shift back toward focused-instrumentalism might be Mitchell‘s moving back to San Diego from the Bay Area, but however they got there, Earthless reclaim their dominance of aural space with Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. In anyone else’s hands, you’d call it excess. Unmanageable. Earthless make it sound like a walk in the least-pretentious park you’ve ever seen. Whatever they do next, whether it’s got vocals and choruses or blinding solos or both or neither, they have laid claim to multiple approaches over their time, and Night Parade of One Hundred Demons finds them reveling in the audience’s perception of who they are as a band even as they refine and expand their reach. By and large, they are unfuckwithable.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 10th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Well, here’s that album reveal to follow up on the European tour announcement from this morning. Two Earthless news posts in one day? Must be a good day.
I maintain my position from earlier that this moment is a crucial one for Earthless as a band, all the more so now that the Jan. 28 release date for Night Parade of One Hundred Demons has been made official. You’ll note that the outing is comprised only of two songs, which is enough to lead me to think that they’re pulling back from the more straightforward, traditional verse/chorus (with vocals, no less) songcraft that showed up for parts of 2018’s Black Heaven (review here), though I suppose it could well be that one track is 35 minutes long and the other five. They’d have to get creative with vinyl editing, but stranger things have happened, though from what I can see of the preorder page, the vinyl edition is three sides with an etched side D. So I guess they’ve already done that “get creative” bit.
For the sake of completeness, I’ve included the West Coast and UK/Euro tour dates here as well. No, I don’t really think I’ll get to go write a book about the tour, but it was fun to daydream this morning.
Fresh off the PR wire:
EARTHLESS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM ‘NIGHT PARADE OF ONE HUNDRED DEMONS’
Out January 28, 2022 via Nuclear Blast
San Diego Psych Rock Power Trio (Isaiah Mitchell, Mike Eginton & Mario Rubalcaba) Share 3-Minute Excerpt of Epic 20-minute Track
“Death To The Red Sun”
Winter West Coast Tour: LA, Pappy & Harriet’s, Seattle & More
Earthless returns with their new album Night Parade of One Hundred Demons on January 28 via Nuclear Blast, along with a winter tour kicking off January 27th at Los Angeles’ The Echo. The latest from the San Diego-based psych rock power trio — Isaiah Mitchell (guitar & vocals), Mike Eginton (bass) and Mario Rubalcaba (drums) — was was recorded with Rubalcaba’s childhood friend Ben Moore, who’s worked with everyone from Diamanda Galas and Burt Bacharach to Ceremony and Hot Snakes. Their sixth album is comprised of two monster songs: the 41-minute title track and the 20-minute “Death To The Red Sun.” Hear a 3-minute excerpt of “Death To The Red Sun” HERE and pre-order the album HERE:https://media.nuclearblast.de/shoplanding/2021/Earthless/remasteredreissues.html
The album and its title were inspired by an ancient Japanese legend in which a horde of demons, ghosts and other terrifying ghouls descend upon sleeping villages at night, once a year. Known as Hyakki Yagyō, or the “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons,” one version of the tale states that anyone who witnesses this otherworldly procession will die instantly—or be carried off by the creatures of the night. As a result, the villagers hide in their homes, lest they become victims of these supernatural invaders. “My son and I came across the ‘Night Parade of One Hundred Demons’ in a book of traditional Japanese ghost stories,” bassist Mike Eginton explains. “I like the idea of people hiding and being able to hear the madness but not see it. It’s the fear of the unknown.”
Given the record’s inspiration, it should come as no surprise that Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons strikes a more sinister tone than the rest of the band’s catalogue. “It definitely has a darker, almost evil kind of vibe compared to stuff we’ve done in the past,” Rubalcaba says. “There’s more paranoia and noise, and some of Isaiah’s whammy-bar stuff kind of reminds me of these Jeff Hanneman moments in Reign In Blood, where it just seems like everything is going to hell. It’s pretty fun.”
When Eginton wasn’t tracking his bass parts, he worked on the album’s incredible sleeve art. “He really dedicated himself to the project,” Rubalcaba says. “He’d be drawing in the studio with, like, a coal-miner’s lamp on his head while we were doing overdubs. He really knocked it out of the park.” “I basically wanted to draw my interpretation of the folk story,” Eginton explains. “I started researching the different Yōkai—the demons—and really got into it. It was really cool reading about where they came from and what their interactions with humans were. Then I tried to create what I imagined the event might look like. I didn’t get a hundred in there, but I got quite a few.”
Their latest is a return to the epic instrumentals Earthless made their unmistakable name on, whereas 2018’s Black Heaven featured shorter songs and vocals from guitarist Isaiah Mitchell on much of the album—an unprecedented move for the trio. Black Heaven was recorded while Mitchell was living in the Bay Area, which made it difficult for the band to get together and work on the type of long instrumental pieces they’re known for. But, in March 2020 — specifically, the night the pandemic lockdown kicked in — Mitchell moved back to San Diego from the Bay Area. Bad timing, perhaps—or maybe perfect timing.
“With Isaiah here, we were able to get together once or twice a week to work on these jams,” Rubalcaba says. “We got back to our original songwriting process of just playing and building off each other little by little. And we actually had the time to do that, which was creatively inspiring.” Plus, they were all on the same page about not wanting to do another record with vocals. “Black Heaven was outside our comfort zone. I think it was a good record, but it was challenging to write songs in a more traditional verse-chorus-verse format. This one was more enjoyable.”
All told, Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons isn’t just a return to the band’s traditional format—it’s a return to their very beginnings. “This album actually has the very first Earthless riff in it,” Eginton reveals. “We just recorded it 20 years after we wrote it. But we’re really happy with how this record came out. We feel it might be our finest to date.”
‘NIGHT PARADE OF ONE HUNDRED DEMONS’ TRACK LISTING
01 – Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons 02 – Death To The Red Sun
EARTHLESS Jan./Feb. US Tour Dates: Jan 27 – Los Angeles, CA – Echo Jan 28 – San Diego, CA – Casbah Jan 29 – Pioneertown, CA – Pappy & Harriet’s Jan 30 – Berkeley, CA – Cornerstone Feb 1 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios Feb 2 – Seattle, WA – Chop Suey Feb 4 – Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall Feb 5 – Denver, CO – HQ Feb 6 – Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad Feb 8 – Phoenix, AZ – Rebel Lounge
Route One Booking in cooperation with Sound of Liberation proudly present:
EARTHLESS + special guest MAIDA VALE 28.04 – Manchester (UK) / Gorilla 30.04 – London (UK) / Desertfest London 01.05 – Bristol (UK) / Thekla Bristol 02.05 – Dublin (IE) / Whelan’s 03.05 – Glasgow (UK) / Stereo 04.05 – Birmingham (UK) / Mama Roux’s 05.05 – Brighton (UK) / Chalk Venue Brighton 06.05 – Hasselt (BE) / Nox Tumultum @ Muziekodroom 07.05 – Nijmegen (NL) / Sonic Whip 08.05 – Cologne (DE) / Club Volta 09.05 – Wiesbaden (DE) / Schlachthof Wiesbaden 10.05 – Rouen (FR) / Le 106 11.05 – Paris (FR) / La Maroquinerie 12.05 – Lyon (FR) / CCO 13.05 – Bordeaux (FR) / Krakatoa 14.05 – Madrid (ES) / Kristonfest 15.05 – Porto (PT) / Hard Club 17.05 – Montpellier (FR) / Victoire 2 19.05 – Monthey (CH) / Pont Rouge Monthey 20.05 – München (DE) / Feierwerk 21.05 – Berlin (DE) / Bi Nuu* 22.05- Leipzig (DE) / UT Connewitz *EARTHLESS only
Tickets go on sale this Friday 12th November 10am UK / 11am CET. Don’t miss out on it and join this monster of a live experience!
EARTHLESS Lineup: Isaiah Mitchell – Guitar & Vocals Mike Eginton – Bass Mario Rubalcaba – Drums
