This is one of those tour-to-end-all-tours tours. Beginning in Austin on Sept. 27, including a stop Oct. 14 at Erosion Fest and culminating Oct. 23 at Southwest Terror Fest, the newly-announced tour with Saint Vitus, The Skull and Witch Mountain also covers both coasts in nearly its month-long stretch. I’ll admit the prospect of seeing these three bands together at the Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn has my arm hair standing on end, remembering the Vitus-at-Vitus gig from 2012 (review here) as one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, at that venue or anywhere else. It’ll be a different lineup of the band this time, with original vocalist Scott Reagers back in that position as the Die Healing-referential poster art indicates, but they’re keeping excellent company in The Skull and Witch Mountain as well, so kudos all around, including to Nanotear, which put the package together.

Witch Mountain have a couple dates as well en route to meeting up with the others. Find the complete routing, including those shows, below:

SAINT VITUS tour dates
All dates with THE SKULL, WITCH MOUNTAIN
Sept. 27 Austin, TX @ Midway Field House
Sept. 28 Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey Dallas
Sept. 29 San Antonio, TX @ The Mix
Sept. 30 Shreveport, LA @ Riverside Warehouse
Oct. 1 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jack’s Saloon
Oct. 2 Atlanta, GA @ The EARL
Oct. 3 Raleigh, NC @ Kings
Oct. 5 Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Oct. 6 Boston, MA @ @Middle East
Oct. 7 Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus Bar
Oct. 8 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
Oct. 9 Indianapolis, IN @ 5th Quarter Lounge
Oct. 10 Chicago, IL @ Reggie’s Bar
Oct. 11 Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
Oct. 12 St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
Oct. 14 Missoula, MT @ Erosion Festival
Oct. 15 Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
Oct. 16 Portland, OR @ Star Theater Portland
Oct. 18 Sacramento, CA @ Starlite Lounge
Oct. 19 Oakland, CA @ Oakland Metro Operahouse
Oct. 20 Costa Mesa, CA @ Wayfarer.
Oct. 21 Los Angeles, CA @ The Viper Room
Oct. 22 San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick
Oct. 23 Tucson, AZ @ Southwest Terror Fest

Witch Mountain shows on the way to meet up with Saint Vitus + The Skull:
9/22 Portland, OR – Dante’s (WM only)
9/23 Boise, ID – Neurolux (WM only)
9/24 Salt Lake City, UT – Metro (WM only)
9/25 Denver, CO – Hi-Dive (WM only)

https://www.facebook.com/saintvitusofficial/
https://www.facebook.com/troubletheskull/
https://www.facebook.com/witchmountain/
https://www.facebook.com/Nanotear/
http://season-of-mist.com/
teepeerecords.com/products/

Saint Vitus, “Born too Late” Live at Hellfest 2015

Working out of a home-base in Missoula, Montana, Erosion Festival 2016 has announced a formidable lineup bringing together bands from the West Coast and the Midwest and beyond, including headliners Saint Vitus, Acid King and The Skull, for a two-night stint at Stage 112. Familiar names from the Pacific Northwest include Mos Generator, Witch Mountain, Mammoth Salmon, Teepee Creeper, Mother Crone and Disenchanter, and they’re joined by Thorr Axe, Chron Goblin, Stone Elk, Wizzerd, American Falcon, and others for a heavy weekend surrounded by mountains and Montana’s open sprawl. I wonder if it snows in Missoula in October.

There’s more info to come from the fest in terms of who’s playing when, how much tickets are, how to buy them, when to buy them, and so on, but the lineup is the news here and the lineup is more than solid. If you’re wondering, Missoula does have an international airport. Not that I’ve looked or anything, but flights seem to be pretty cheap.

From the festival:

We are very excited to finally announce our entire 2016 Erosion Festival line-up! It’s an honor to have these awesome bands on board for 2016, please welcome SAINT VITUS, THE SKULL, ACID KING, and WITCH MOUNTAIN!

Erosion will be held in Missoula, MT on Friday October 14th and Saturday October 15th @ Stage 112. 18 bands total for 2 nights of heavy music and great times we hope to see you there!

We will have ticket information soon, our facebook event page, and the official Erosion Fest 2016 poster, with all the information you’ll need.

Thank You all for supporting us and we’ll see you in October!

Erosion Festival lineup:
Saint Vitus
The Skull
Acid King
Witch Mountain
Mos Generator
Thorr Axe
Mammoth Salmon
Mother Crone
Disenchanter
Chron Goblin
Teepee Creeper
Swamp Ritual
Stone Elk
American Falcon
Shramana
Wizzerd
The Old Ones
Piranha Dog

https://www.facebook.com/erosionfestival/
http://www.stage112.com/

Acid King, “Teen Dusthead”

Don’t get me wrong, I dig Saint Vitus‘ Thirsty and Miserable EP for what it is, but I think the bigger impact of the 1987 release has to be what it said about who the band were and the ground it so brazenly tread upon, namely that of Black Flag. Now, Vitus had been putting stuff out through Greg Ginn‘s SST Records since their 1984 self-titled debut, and maybe having them take on Black Flag‘s track “Thirsty and Miserable,” which appeared on that band’s Damaged full-length in 1981, was an idea that came up as a way of bridging the gap between the ultra-Sabbathian Saint Vitus and SoCal’s punker elite, which famously hated the band. I wasn’t there, but my understanding is it didn’t work.

Nearly 30 years later, however, the Thirsty and Miserable EP holds a special place in Saint Vitus lore. Complemented by the two originals “Look Behind You” and “The End of the End,” the EP’s titular cover isn’t about meeting a fanbase halfway so much as showing the fuckall that had rooted itself into the band’s approach by this time — somewhat ironic since that very same fuckall is precisely what they had in common with the punk of the day. Coming off their third album, Born too Late, the band sound assured on Thirsty and Miserable of their sound and style, and listening to them run through “Thirsty and Miserable” and “Look Behind You” — both of which wind up pretty fast — and the swinging “The End of the End,” they make a convincing argument that if the world doesn’t get it, it’s the world’s problem. In hindsight, it’s easy to hear that statement and view it as being correct. Plus, they talk about breaking into a liquor store, and that’s hilarious.

This is Wino Wednesday number 199 out of 200. Next week we’ll wrap up the series and hopefully end on a positive note. Since this is the last time Saint Vitus will be featured as a part of it, I thought it important to include something special. Enjoy:

Saint Vitus, Thirsty and Miserable (1987)

I’m going to be honest: I can’t even pretend to know what’s going to happen with Saint Vitus at this point. The legendary doomers are currently two nights deep into a European tour that will carry them to and through Hellfest in Clisson, France, later this month, and following the arrest in Norway last fall of vocalist Scott “Wino” Weinrich (he of Wino Wednesday fame), they’re touring as the four-piece of guitarist Dave Chandler, vocalist Scott Reagers, bassist Mark Adams and drummer Henry Vasquez, which actually puts them as close to their original lineup as they can get after the 2010 passing of founding drummer Armando Acosta. Nonetheless, how permanent any of this is, with Reagers stepping in for Wino in the frontman role, what the band’s plans are and whether or not they’ll follow-up studio comeback, Lillie: F-65 (review here), which was released in 2012 on Season of Mist, I simply have no idea.

As a fan of the band, it’s exciting to have Reagers back singing for them much as it was exciting to have Wino singing for them when they first got back together in 2009. Their 1984 self-titled debut is a watershed moment in American doom — as pivotal, essential a release as anything the genre produced before or since — and to think of Reagers singing “Saint Vitus” and “White Magic/Black Magic” again makes it easy enough to get on board. Minus “The Psychopath,” that entire album was aired at Vitus‘ tour-kickoff on May 23 at Red 7 in Austin, Texas, as well as cuts from 1985’s sophomore outing, Hallow’s Victim and their 1995 post-Wino/post-Chritus Linderson/pre-Wino reunion with Reagers, Die Healing. 1995, incidentally, was the last time the band performed with Reagers up front. Two decades ago. Here’s the setlist as reported to the interwebs:

Dark World
One Mind
Zombie Hunger
War is Our Destiny
White Magic/Black Magic
Trail of Pestilence
White Stallions
Burial at Sea
Look Behind You
Mystic Lady
Saint Vitus
Born too Late

Of those, only “Look Behind You” and “Born too Late” were originally vocalized in the studio by Wino, so Chandler and company have definitely shifted their focus, but as the clip below shows, Reagers is readily able to take on the anthem as well that has become so much a signature of Vitus and what they represent. If you’re one for bootlegs, there’s a killer version of Reagers singing “Born too Late” on Let the End Begin — one of the band’s several not-quite-official live albums — and here’s how he handles it nowadays:

Saint Vitus, “Born too Late” live in Austin, TX, May 23, 2015

SAINT VITUS European Tour 2015:
June 1 Livorno, IT @ The Cage
June 2 Bologna, IT @ Alchemia
June 3 Giavera del Montello, IT @ Benicio Live
June 4 Innsbruck, AT @ Weekender Club
June 5 Wien, AT @ Rock in Vienna
June 6 Zagreb, HR @ Vintage Industrial Bar
June 7 Beograd Stari Grad, RS @ Dom omladine Beograda
June 8 Budapest, HU @ A38
June 9 Prague, CZ @ Modra Vopice
June 10 Warsaw. PL @ Hydrozagadka
June 12 Talinn, EE @ Rockclub Tapper
June 13 Helsinki, FL @ Nosturi
June 14 Tampere, FL @ Klubi
June 16 Oslo, NO @ Blå
June 17 Götebor, SE @ Truckstop Alaska
June 18 København, DK @ Copenhell
June 19 Deventer, NL @ BWH
June 21 Clisson, FR @ Hellfest Open Air – The Valley

Saint Vitus on Thee Facebooks

Saint Vitus website

Season of Mist

For as long as I have a brain with which to remember it, I will consider myself fortunate to have been at Roadburn 2009 to witness the beginning — barring a warm-up show or two they played before leaving the US — of Saint Vitus‘ reunion. They hadn’t put out a record in 14 years by that point, and you’d have to add five more to that to get back to 1990’s V, their last studio outing to be fronted by Scott “Wino” Weinrich. Even though that Vitus reunion continued for the next half-decade, produced a righteous comeback in the form of 2012’s Lillie: F-65 (review here) and introduced a new generation to some of the finest American doom ever riffed through a Marshall, the beginning moments were a landmark. The start of a band getting its long over-due.

That Wino/Vitus reunion may continue, it may not. Following the former’s arrest last fall in Norway, the band linked up again with original vocalist Scott Reagers, and the future remains uncertain. But even if it is over, Saint Vitus have left behind a mark on their genre that will continue to be felt for years to come — not just for that full-length they were able to put together after so long away, but for the force with which they got on stage and delivered their classic material. It’s toward that classic material we turn for this week’s Wino Wednesday, finding Saint Vitus at Hellfest 2009 in Clisson, France, for “Mystic Lady,” which originally appeared on their 1985 sophomore outing, Hallow’s Victim (on which Reagers sang). Drummer Armando Acosta had already by then left the band prior to his death in 2010 and Henry Vasquez joined guitarist Dave Chandler, Wino and bassist Mark Adams, so even as they kept moving forward, the character of the band changed.

Still, these moments remain something special within doom, proving the timelessness of this band and their work. I hope you enjoy:

Saint Vitus, “Mystic Lady” Live at Hellfest 2009

Nine days ago, I posted a eulogy for my favorite t-shirt, a Saint Vitus tour shirt purchased at their Spring 2011 run on the Metalliance Tour with Crowbar, Helmet, Howl, Kylesa and The Atlas Moth. I caught the tour in Manhattan at Irving Plaza. Great show and an even better shirt. I was sorry to lose it after four years of regular wearing, and knew that even if I bought another Vitus shirt — as I have done in the intervening years — it wouldn’t ever be the same.

By my count, that post was up for 18 minutes before Lisa Hass, a venerated constituent of the NYC heavy rock faithful and all-around swell lady, left a comment that not only was she at the same show, but she also purchased the same shirt, in the same size, hardly ever wore it and was ready and willing to let it go to a good home, i.e. mine. Well shit. I just about fell off the couch. I informed Ms. Hass that, hell yes, I would be glad to adopt her Vitus shirt as a replacement for my own, and it came in the mail today.

The photo above doesn’t really do justice to how beat my old shirt (on the left) looks in comparison to Lisa‘s much-less-worn-by-me-for-four-years one (on the right), but trust me, there’s a difference. My old one is more or less gray. No holes in the new one — yet. If you’re wondering, yes, I tried it on. Of course it hasn’t had the intervening time to become acclimated to the shape of my gut, but I looked down at the sleeves and they just about covered my elbows and I knew the potential was there. They were just right. As for wearing in the rest? There’s plenty of time.

I’m not sure I can properly convey to you, let alone to Lisa, how deep my gratitude runs for this gesture, or how amazed I am by the generosity — my question about paying either for the shirt or the shipping was laughed off — and the selflessness. Needless to say, I’m going to wear the living crap out of this shirt, but when I do, I won’t just be thinking about how good that show was, or how lucky I was to see it. I’ll think about how lucky I am to know such wonderful people and to be a part of something so supportive and considerate.

Thanks to Lisa and to everyone else who took the time to comment or send condolences. I didn’t expect this story to have a happy ending, but I couldn’t be more thrilled with how it turned out.

I have loved this Saint Vitus shirt since the day I bought it, March 25, 2011. If I’m not mistaken, it was the esteemed Kim Kelly who sold it to me, at Irving Plaza in Manhattan. Vitus were playing the Metalliance traveling festival, alongside Helmet, Crowbar, Kylesa, Howl and The Atlas Moth (show review here), and I knew on-sight that the shirt was something special. Had to have it.

A reasonable estimate seems to me that if you’ve seen me in a public place in the last four years, there’s at least a 30 percent chance I was wearing this shirt. Last night, doing my usual toss and turn routine in my sleep, I moved my left art up and under my pillow, felt the fabric give — even a Gildan Ultra Cotton can only take so many years of punishment — and mumbled out a barely conscious “ah shit,” because I knew what had happened and I knew it meant that the already-existing armpit hole had just gone from keep-your-hand-down to unfit-for-public-wearing. It’s a fine line sometimes, but looking this morning definitely confirmed my favorite Saint Vitus shirt is on the other side of it. What a bummer.

This shirt has seen me off to more shows than I care to count, has accompanied me to four Roadburn festivals, two Desertfests, to SHoDs and Stoned Goats and much, much more. It’s been a loyal companion through my move from New Jersey to Massachusetts — anywhere I put it on was home — and together with my Brothers of the Sonic Cloth shirt formed a reliable duo that never let me down.

If I could bear to do anything with it other than stick it in a box marked “SENTIMENTAL CLOTHES,” I’d have it cryogenically frozen until I could clone it or 3D-print myself a new one. Or maybe a Viking funeral. Either ice or fire; some elemental extremity worthy of celebrating it. There are other holes as well, and while the teary six year old in me wonders at the possibility of a patch or sewing the seam back together, my clearheaded, through-the-five-stages-of-grief adult self knows the cotton is too worn and it would never work. The moment has simply passed and it’s time to say goodbye.

I’ve had plenty of good shirts in my day, even other Vitus shirts, but few that I’ve enjoyed as much as this one. Not only because Saint Vitus are an incredible band, or because that was the first time I saw them play “Blessed Night” — the first new song they wrote after getting back together in 2009 — but just because it fit so damn well. I’m not a small guy. I’m not out there wearing a medium. For me, to find a shirt where the sleeves reach or go past my elbow and the chest is wide enough and the shirt itself long enough — it’s not something that happens every day or with every shirt. The Vitus shirt was perfect. It was just right.

Already it was semi-retired, only broken out for shows or other special occasions — I wore it to Thanksgiving last year, pretty sure I wore it out to dinner for The Patient Mrs. birthday — but after last night, it’s time to give up the ghost and put it into full retirement, never to return. Rest assured, it will be missed. Gone but not forgotten.

Saint Vitus, “Blessed Night” Live at Irving Plaza, March 25, 2011

Some pretty surprising word from Season of Mist concerning an upcoming summer European tour for Saint Vitus brings the news that the hugely influential doom outfit will be joined by original vocalist Scott Reagers on the run, including their stop at Hellfest in France this June. I haven’t seen other dates for the tour, will post when I do, but the news of Reagers joining his fellow original members Dave Chandler (guitar) and Mark Adams (bass), as well as drummer Henry Vasquez, is striking in itself. His last recording with the band was 1995’s Die Healing, and even that was a reunion, Reagers having left the band after the release of their 1985 sophomore outing, Hallow’s Victim.

Of course, Reagers‘ taking part in the tour — and it is, at least as of now, just listed as being for this one tour — comes after the arrest of current Vitus frontman Scott “Wino” Weinrich in Norway near the end of their fall 2014 35th anniversary tour, co-headlining with Orange Goblin. What Weinrich‘s legal status might be in Europe and whether or not he’s banned from performing there, I don’t know, but it would explain why Reagers is being brought in for the tour after about 20 years absent from the band.

More as I hear it, but for now, here’s the announcement from Season of Mist with some comment from Vitus themselves:

Saint Vitus have announced that vocalist Scott Reagers will be joining them on their 2015 summer dates in Europe. The band comments: “We will play a special set for the fans; one comprised mostly of Reagers’ pre and post era as SAINT VITUS’ singer. We hope that the Vitus family, fans and friends, are eager to revisit the Reagers sound for this brief tour and we especially thank you for your continued support!” The doom legend has already been confirmed for Hellfest Open Air Festival and more dates will follow in due time.

https://www.facebook.com/saintvitusofficial
https://www.facebook.com/seasonofmistofficial/

Saint Vitus, Saint Vitus (1984)