I have only 14 copies left for sale of Roareth‘s Acts I-VI, so if you want one, use the Paypal button below to make it yours. The band has informed me that Porchlight Coffee in their native Seattle is selling the album, and that they’ll be kicking ass on August 1 at the Seattle Doom Fest, alongside the likes of Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, Witchburn and a band called Fuck Knuckles, who I can only imagine are the coolest ever.

Roareth will have a limited t-shirt for sale at the show, and I can’t imagine they won’t sell out of their CDs, so get yours while you can. They send along the following:

Hey Seattle: The only actual store that you can pick up our new Roareth CD is at Porchlight Coffee, on the hill. We are so happy that Zach (owner) will make room for our copies. Get caffeinated, warmly greeted and find awesome vinyl (and our CD) there.

Super-limited new t-shirt will be available at our August 1st, Seattle Doom Fest show… VERY limited. Get yers at the fest (only), no pre-orders, no mail orders, no “hey, please save me one” orders.

Buy Roareth‘s Acts I-VI via Paypal:

Thank you, thank you, thank you. If you’ve ordered a Roareth CD in the past week, I’m going to be heading to the post office in a couple minutes to mail it out. I ran out of copies in Vermont, but I’m back in Jersey, which as anyone can tell you, is where the goods are.

Let’s do some math:

We started with 100 copies.
45 went directly to the band.
10 are going to StonerRock.com to sell in the All That is Heavy webstore (five from me, five from the band)
1 I kept.
25 have sold.

That means I have 19 copies remaining for sale. That’s it. 19 copies and then they’re gone. If you haven’t bought yours yet, you can do so with the button below ($10 in the US, $14 international). I hope everyone who’s gotten one digs it, and again, thank you.

NOTE: The album is sold out, thank you for your support.

Click the button above to make a $10 PayPal payment and get your very own copy of The Maple Forum‘s first release, Roareth‘s stunningly heavy Acts I-VI. I just got the box of CDs in today and couldn’t wait to get them up. Today’s Tuesday, release day anyway, so July 13, 2010’s as good as any. There’s only 100 of them, and they come individually hand-numbered, so get yours now while the getting’s good!

Roareth‘s Acts I-VI is their first release, recorded by Tad Doyle (Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, TAD) at his Studio Witch Ape, and it’s a god damn monster. Seriously. I listen to a lot of sludge. This is pummeling.

Shipping is included in the $10 price. If you’re from Europe (or anywhere else) and you want one, it’s $14. I know, that’s a shitty thing to do, but when you consider shipping internationally from the US even for something as lightweight as a digipak and a little note that says “thanks” is $7, I’m still not making any money, so there you go. Plus, the dollar is inevitably worthless against whatever your currency is, so it’s probably not all that bad. Again, not like I’m making a profit or anything.

So consider this a recommended purchase from one friend to another, and enjoy, knowing you have my thanks for supporting Roareth, The Maple Forum and The Obelisk.

The Roareth CD, Acts I-VI, is at the plant. The artwork has been turned in, I mailed out the master, and unless there’s some tragedy there, it will arrive shortly and at long last The Maple Forum will have its first release. I know I’m excited, I know the band is excited, and I hope you are too.

Last Friday, Roareth played their first show, at The Funhouse in Seattle. Surely you remember the flier that was posted? Yeah, that’s the one. Guitarist Aaron Edge, who seems to be Roareth‘s ambassador when it comes to The Obelisk, sent over a quick note about it and some photos I thought you might enjoy. Click the images for larger versions:

Our first show was perfect!

The place was packed at 9pm, we played first at 9:30 (kept our opening slot to just 30 minutes) and after our set people swamped our merch table… bought every shirt we had and then half the place left the club.

It was incredible. Perfect. People were stoked and we were too. Everyone wanted CDs… and that, my friend, is a great sign from the Gawds.

…And here’s the flyer for the show:

Never let it be said The Maple Forum doesn’t know how to promote its bands.

I got a wav file yesterday of the 45-minute long track that is Acts I-VI by Roareth, and… wow. God damn that’s heavy. It’s like they took sludge and put it through a black hole. Fucking vicious. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it. Kudos to the band and to Tad Doyle for the excellent job recording. I couldn’t be more psyched to have it as the first release on The Maple Forum.

Doing an interview about the studio time seemed cheap, so I charged guitarist Aaron Edge with the task of writing a studio wrap-up, in which, much as in the recording of Acts I-VI itself, he excelled, detailing the atmosphere in the studio and how exactly drummer/vocalist Ben McIsaac broke his collarbone, delaying the process. Feast your eyes on the following and make sure to stick around at the end, where you’ll find a new video for “Act V.” Awesome.

Aaron says:

Considering all that goes into writing and recording a record, this went pretty smooth. As band members, we get along so wonderfully. As a creative team, I can’t think of a better crew to work with… everyone is so easygoing and at the same time, productive. It has been a pleasure for me to be part of Roareth over the last year of our journey.

These six songs, released as one entity, embody our growth thus far, from our first crop. Acts I-VI took less time to write than most records in my personal past, in part, because I am blessed to share the Roareth experience with such fine musicians. Though I did most of the writing for this record, each band member’s energy and spin took those early riffs to new levels of goodness. I’d bring in an idea and they would help shape it into something worth being proud of, I love these people.

Speaking of love, working with Tad is a huge part of why Acts I-VI became the wondrous monster that it is. Not only has he been a great musical influence, he (and his new amazing wife, Peg) have shown our band unconditional support. I got to know Tad better though the year that I was his drummer in Brothers of the Sonic Cloth. The dude is a big, sweet tank of talent. He has great ideas, but knows to give advice only when it is asked for. He lets our band have our way with our material, but he knows the material well too, helpful as an engineer. I have recorded a handful of other projects and bands with him at the helm over the last two years, he knows what he’s doing and he knows what I’m going for when we share audio and high decibel time together.

Read more »

…Well, I’m stoked they’re releasing a CD via The Obelisk‘s new label venture, The Maple Forum, that is. I’m not releasing a CD of myself.

Not yet, anyway.

Anyhoozer, Seattle‘s Roareth are getting ready to hit the studio to record Acts I-VI next week with Pacific Northwest madman of doom Tad Doyle, and as the dude helping to release the album, I couldn’t be more psyched for the outcome. If the demo tracks I heard were any indication, we’re all in for a treat around these parts. Roareth guitarist Aaron D.C. Edge thinks so too. Here’s what he had to say about it:

“We are so excited to be working The Maple Forum for our first recording. Our band loves the idea of small, limited pressings and JJ (from the label) is so supportive and knowledgeable of heavy music… it’s a perfect fit for our band, our union. Of course, before getting signed, we were already scheduled to document Acts I-VI with the legendary Tad. He is a kind and extremely talented human, we get along so well with him and are pleased to have him turning knobs on our release. It will be a crushing set of songs for sure!”

Good news all around. And in case you didn’t know, Aaron also handled the album’s art and does killer design work. You can check out his graphic-type wares at his beardly-tentacled website. Acts I-VI is due out next month, and rest assured, I’ll have more news about it before then. Maybe even some audio if the band lets me get my grubby mitts on it…

For anyone who missed the news in with March’s numbers, The Maple Forum is a new label I’ve started to do short-run releases for artists I dig. The first up is Roareth from Seattle. The band is set to record with none other than Tad Doyle (Tad, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth) at the end of the month, and the disc is due out in May.

I just uploaded some more info and pics to the label page on this site, but you can always check out Roareth‘s MySpace for news and music as well.