Up until Spirit Caravan got rolling again last year at Desertfest, the Roadburn festival seemed to be the home for a Wino reunion. In addition to Wino playing there with the Wino trio and Shrinebuilder in 2009 and 2011, it was where the Wino-fronted Saint Vitus first came back in 2009 and where The Obsessed launched their reunion in 2012. I was fortunate enough to be there, and while The Obsessed has always been the most straightforward, sans-frills brand of doom, the excitement in the room was palpable for the trio’s return, Scott “Wino” Weinrich on guitar/vocals, bassist Guy Pinhas and drummer Greg Rogers coming together on stage for the first time in more than a decade and a half. I don’t mind saying it was one of the best days I’ve had at Roadburn to date.

Their tour continued on and The Obsessed continued to play shows — Doom Shall Rise, tours here and there, Maryland Deathfest, etc. — with Pinhas departing to sign onto Victor Griffin‘s In~Graved for a time and then ultimately split with that group as well. Weinrich and Rogers kept The Obsessed rolling with Reid Raley of Deadbird on bass, but the current status of the band is kind of up in the air. The aforementioned Spirit Caravan reunited in 2014, Saint Vitus continued to tour, Wino joined forces with Conny Ochs for a second time this year. Rogers, meanwhile, drums on Goatsnake‘s upcoming Black Age Blues — their first album in 15 years — and Raley and Deadbird hit the studio this past year to record a new full-length, which would be their first since 2008’s Twilight Ritual, an underrated molasses crawl of doomed Southern blues.

Not to say they couldn’t pick up The Obsessed again and get out at some point, but everybody seems pretty busy for the moment. Fortunately their live shows for the reunion were well documented, right from the start. The clip below is “Endless Circles” and “Lunar Womb” a one-two punch from The Obsessed‘s 1991 sophomore outing, taped live at Roadburn in 2012, and I think it says a lot about what the band’s straight-ahead appeal is in the first place.

Hope you enjoy:

The Obsessed, “Endless Circles/Lunar Womb” live at Roadburn 2012

Over the last couple years, Roadburn has given birth to some legendary jams. Their late-night set in 2012 might not have been the first time J. Mascis (Witch, Dinosaur Jr.) kicked it off with the guys from Earthless, but in the couple years since it’s become a landmark for the fest and a model of one-off collaborations they’ve continued to refine. That set, under the title In a Dutch Haze, will be released on vinyl shortly, and it’s available to preorder from Outer Battery Records and Roadburn/Burning World Records now.

The lineup was Graham Clise and Mascis, both of Heavy Blanket, and Mario Rubalcalba and Mike Eginton of Earthless. Thus, Earthless Meets Heavy Blanket.

The PR wire has it like this:

EARTHLESS Meets HEAVY BLANKET “In A Dutch Haze” to be Released July 8

Titanic Team-Up Featuring Psych Rock’s Heaviest Hitters Takes Physical Form!

Monstrous Mash-Up From Members of Dinosaur Jr., Lecherous Gaze, OFF!, Rocket From the Crypt, Sweet Apple, Witch and More Delivers Whiz-Bang Wallop the Likes of Which the World Has Never Heard Before!!!

This July, a colossal collaborative concert, previously privy only to those who were fortunate enough to have helped fill a Netherlandic concert hall multiple moons ago, will be unleashed in awesome audio form as EARTHLESS Meets HEAVY BLANKET In A Dutch Haze. The out-of-this-world recording will see a July 8 release date via Outer Battery Records / Roadburn Records.

Back-story: an impromptu heavy psych JAM between J Mascis (DINOSAUR JR, SWEET APPLE, WITCH and one of both Rolling Stone and SPIN’s “Greatest Guitarists of All Time”) and California space rock masters EARTHLESS at the 2009 SXSW Festival left an onlooking crowd stunned and breathless. When word of the performance spread, the world-renowned musicians were asked to play the main stage of Holland’s annual international rock festival, Roadburn, to attempt to recreate the magic that revved-up an Austin audience at what was thought to be a one-time event.

Fast forward to the 2012 installment of the fantastic fest; when EARTHLESS’ guitarist Isaiah Mitchell had to back out at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstance, six-string shredder Graham Clise from J Mascis’ loud, psychedelic project HEAVY BLANKET (and who also plays with Mascis in WITCH and in the bitchin’ Bay Area band LECHEROUS GAZE) stepped in on second guitar. Backed by the best rhythm section in today’s adventurous rock world — Mario Rubalcaba and Mike Eginton from EARTHLESS — the quartet stormed the stage for what would become an incredible one-time happening, leading to almost a full hour of some of the most mind-bending heavy psych imaginable. The epic jam session gave birth to shredding psychedelia and hard rock blues underpinned by the muscular rhythmic sensibilities of kraut-rock and the unbridled energy of 70’s guitar rock. The formidable foundation laid by drummer Rubalcaba became a jumping off point for Mascis, Clise and Eighton to explore their inner cosmoi for consciousness-expanding riffs and music-induced psychedelic experiences.

Track listing:
1.) Paradise in a Purple Sky (58:34)

Now, the rest of the planet can ready their receivers and hoist headphones on high as the full live set from that magical evening in Tilburg is set to be unleashed upon an unsuspecting world! Far-out, gatefold-spanning artwork by San Francisco tattoo artist and designer Tim Lehi (High on Fire, Black Anvil, Xasthur) perfectly animates this incredible audio adventure, while matchless mastering by Carl Saff (Boris, Guided By Voices), pushes this priceless performance over-the-top. Flame retardant clothing is highly recommended!

EARTHLESS Meets HEAVY BLANKET In A Dutch Haze is available for pre-order purchase now at this location. The initial LP pressing takes the form of a special, 2xLP on purple sky vinyl, limited to 300 copies. Collectors, don’t delay!

http://burningworldrecords.com/artist/earthless-meets-heavy-blanket
http://www.outerbatteryrecords.com/products/earthless-meets-heavy-blanket-in-a-dutch-haze

Fucking hell, Roadburn. That’s not even fair. To take YOB‘s front to back performance of 2005’s The Unreal Never Lived from the 2012 fest and put it out as a 2014-fest-exclusive, limited-to-500 copies 2LP? You know I just lost my fucking job, right?

In all seriousness (which the last paragraph wasn’t, except for that part about being unemployed), I remember quite clearly having my chest cavity caved in by this set — one of two the Eugene, Oregon, trio would perform at Roadburn that weekend; they played Catharsis in full for the other, which felt like the universe was doing me a personal favor by making happen — and it was one of very few ultra-heavy experiences I can say in all seriousness hit me on a spiritual level. Which is why I’m going to start saving my pennies now so that hopefully in a couple weeks I’ve got enough to pickup a copy.

Having been there, I suggest if you’re going you do the same.

Info follows:

Roadburn to Release Yob’s The Unreal Never Lived – Live at RB 2012 On Vinyl Only at This Year’s Festival On Thursday, April 10th

The Roadburn only vinyl releases have become a tradition the last few years. Proceedings started in 2012 with the Voivod – Live At Roadburn 2011 LP and the Ulver Roadburn EP, followed last year by Dread Sovereign’s Pray To The Devil In Man EP and the Godflesh live Streetcleaner set.

This year is no exception , and we once more present a special release for you: In conjunction with their much anticipated Roadburn 2014 performances, we will release YOB’s The Unreal Never Lived – Live At Roadburn 2012 (2LP) at this year’s festival on Thursday, April 10th.

The tracklist is as follows:
A ‘Quantum Mystic’
B ‘Grasping Air’
C ‘Kosmos’
D ‘The Mental Tyrant’

Mixed by Marcel van de Vondervoort

Mastered by James Plotkin

YOB‘s The Unreal Never Lived Live at RB 2012 (2LP) is limited to 500 copies, only to be sold at the Roadburn Festival 2014.

http://www.roadburn.com/roadburn-2014/

YOB, “Quantum Mystic” Live at Roadburn 2012

As the Spirit Caravan reunion gets underway with US touring starting this week (and a bit of drama bringing drummer Henry Vasquez in to replace Gary Isom), I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at the beginnings of Wino‘s previous reunion with The Obsessed. The three-piece was Wino‘s first band, formed as Warhorse in 1976, and seems to be a place to which the guitarist/vocalist has returned periodically throughout his career, having ended their original run around the time he joined Saint Vitus and then picked back up when he left after 1990’s V, only to put The Obsessed back to bed prior to starting Spirit Caravan. I don’t think it’s inappropriate to think of The Obsessed as a kind of thread running through Wino‘s progression, and even though the latest reunion hasn’t produced any studio material as of now, the fact that he got the band together again after performing acoustically for a few years, doing the Saint Vitus reunion and collaborating with Conny Ochs speaks to a kind of getting in touch with his sonic roots.

Because that’s what The Obsessed seems most to be: Roots doom. The songs are stripped-down and simple in their structure, Sabbathian in their stride with some flourish of Motörhead to coincide, and offer little by way of fluctuation or deviation from their downtrodden mood. Listening to an album like 1994’s The Church Within isn’t always easy. It’s a slog to get through the 13 tracks of that record sometimes, because as much as tracks like “Streetside,” “Blind Lightning,” “Neatz Brigade” and “Field of Hours” are career high points for the band, most of the back half is a misery show, plain and simple, and after a while that kind of downer gets hard to take. Watching The Obsessed live at Roadburn 2012 was a different experience, however, and it was plain to see how much more the character of the tracks came out on stage than on record. Joined by bassist Guy Pinhas (who’d soon be replaced by Reid Raley) and drummer Greg Rogers, Wino was definitely in his element throughout the set, and it’s easy to see from the clip of “Blind Lightning” below just how at home he is in these riffs.

Enjoy and have a happy Wino Wednesday:

The Obsessed, “Blind Lightning” Live at Roadburn 2012

Every year at Roadburn since 2010, I’ve allowed myself to watch one set from the side of the stage in the main room at the 013. I attended in 2009 too, but too chickenshit to actually get up there and make it happen. In 2010, it was Garcia Plays Kyuss. In 2011, Acid King. Last year, it was YOB playing Catharsis in its entirety at the Afterburner — one of the last sets of the whole weekend. I held out for it, and when they started up with “Aeons,” took to the photo pit with the bevvy of far-more-professional Euro photographers, but knew that by the time they hit into the title-track (the third of three songs on the album), I wanted to be up there watching.

So I went. Catharsis is a landmark for me, an album that expanded my definition of what heavy could be, and from the opening guitar lines to the massive, earth-cracking apex and Mike Scheidt‘s deathly roar and desperate space ethereality, the song “Catharsis” is a doomed masterpiece. I got to the side of the stage by the time the band was through “Ether” and didn’t move from that spot for the rest of the hour. They’d already done 2005’s The Unreal Never Lived — the swan song of their original run — earlier in the fest (streaming here), but this one was something special. It was one of those things I couldn’t miss, had to see, was so glad to be there to see. Everything else revolved around this set. I can’t imagine anyone in the room felt differently about it.

Today Roadburn made YOB‘s Catharsis set available for streaming and you’ll find it embedded on the player below, with my gratitude as always to Walter, Marcel and the whole Roadburn crew. If I’m not mistaken, YOB are doing the album elsewhere this year, and if you can see it, consider yourself urged to do so. Until then, this:

Even as we gear up for the 2013 edition of Roadburn, the archive of 2012 audio streams continues to grow, this time with sets from Ancient VVisdom (they’re the spooky ones above), Huata, Kong, Necro Deathmort, The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation and Year of the Goat. I like when these things come out on a Friday because that way I get to check them out over the weekend. Hopefully you get some time to take a listen, and thanks as always to Walter, Marcel and the entire Roadburn crew for making these and the life-changing festival from whence they come happen:

Ancient VVisdom – Live at Roadburn 2012

Anekdoten – Live at Roadburn 2012

Huata – Live at Roadburn 2012

Kong – Live at Roadburn Festival 2012

Necro Deathmort – Live at Roadburn 2012

The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation – Live at Roadburn 2012

Year of the Goat – Live at Roadburn 2012

To answer your first question, yes, I do a little bit regret not buying an LP copy of The Obsessed‘s Live in Köln whilst at Roadburn this year. If, like me, you were unable for whatever reason to get your hands on a copy, the PR wire informs of an Outer Battery Records limited vinyl issue out as of, well, right now, that will probably be of interest.

Observe:

THE OBSESSED – Live in Köln collectors vinyl release streets TODAY!

Outer Battery Records is proud to announce the release of The Obsessed Live In Köln collectable vinyl LP.  The album hits stores today.  In collaboration with Roadburn, a limited pressing of 800 pieces on grey vinyl with new artwork designed by Guy Pinhas, is out now. An additional run of only 200 copies pressed on blood red vinyl is exclusively available from the Outer Battery website.  Outer Battery Records is distributed by The Orchard.  Sub distributors include CTD, Revolver and Cobraside.

Recorded in 1992 the album features the band’s line-up from The Church Within-era (Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich on guitar and vocals; Greg Rogers on drums; Guy Pinhas on bass).  The concert took place at Live Music Hall in Cologne, Germany on December 29, 1992.  The recording is being released now to celebrate the band’s long awaited live performance earlier this year at Roadburn Festival. Wino has been active with St. Vitus, Conny Ochs, his solo material and now performing again with Greg Rogers (Goatsnake, Sonic Medusa) and Guy Pinhas (Goatsnake, Acid King and Beaver). Mastered by James Plotkin (Sunn O))), ISIS, Pelican and Earth) this record features nine tracks:

1.  “Mourning”
2.  “Hiding Mask”
3.  “The Way She Fly”
4.  “Forever Midnight”
5.  “Streamlined”
6.  “Brother Blue Steel”
7.  “Blind Lightning”
8.  “Neatz Brigade”
9.  “River Of Soul”

“There were also 300 copies of the super limited Saturday Night Special 7″ that came with the first few copies of the European version,” Outer Battery Records elaborates about the release.  “We had our Dutch friends at Roadburn hold back 25 copies of the single for us, numbered for the American pressing, and they are available as a special add-on with the record.  We sold out of this package in the first hour!”

http://www.outerbatteryrecords.com/products/the-obsessed-live-in-koln-grey-vinyl

Today I’m happy to present the next batch of Roadburn 2012 audio streams. Along with Bongripper (above), you’ll find sets below from Coroner, Devil, Dragged into Sunlight, Hammers of Misfortune, Solstafir and Tombs. Thanks as always to Walter and the Roadburn crew for allowing me to host these streams (it is my extreme pleasure to do so) and to Marcel van de Vondervoort for helming the recordings.

Please enjoy:

Bongripper (Het Patronaat – Saturday, April 14th, 2012)

Coroner

Devil

Dragged into Sunlight

Hammers of Misfortune

Solstafir

Tombs

Read The Obelisk’s coverage of Roadburn 2012 here.