Posted in Whathaveyou on January 15th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Following on from the release this past Fall of After Dark (review here), their return after a six-year studio absence, Sabbathian-loyalist boogie rockers Satan’s Satyrs are set to make it real with a month-plus of touring on the road in Europe starting in early February. They’ll be out supporting Unto Others and cult rocking headliners Green Lung, as well as supporting the album, and the Tee Pee Records denizens have put word out that handling drums for the upcoming tour is Erik Larson.
A figure whose jib-cut might be familiar to those who’ve been around these parts a while, whether that’s through his solo work or participation in an entire festival lineup’s worth of bands, from Alabama Thunderpussy, Avail and The Mighty Nimbus to Sun Years, Thunderchief and Omen Stones, with scores of others throughout like Kilara, Axehandle, relatively shortlived sludgy supergroups like Birds of Prey, and Hail!Hornet and so on, and plenty besides.
When I saw Satan’s Satyrs this past Fall at the opening party for Desertfest New York (review here), they had Sean Saley (ex-Pentagram, among others) bashing away, and no question Larson is likewise suited to the task. If you recall the propulsion he brought to the skins in Backwoods Payback, whether this is a ‘permanent’ position or not, it’s a thing to be excited about. Hopefully someone on the European continent gets video for the rest of us.
From socials:
Greetings! We’d like to introduce our drummer for this upcoming European run, Erik Larson! Our tour with @untootherspdx and @greenlungband is approaching fast, so grab a ticket and say hi to us at the merch table. We’ve got some new shirts coming and we’ll have our latest LP ‘After Dark’ out on @teepeerecords .
Satan’s Satyrs w/ Green Lung & Unto Others: 06.02.2025 – SE, Gothenburg – Pustervik 07.02.2025 – NO, Oslo – John Dee 08.02.2025 – SE, Stockholm – Debaser Strand 10.02.2025 – FI, Tampere – Olympia-Kortteli 11.02.2025 – FI, Helsinki – Korjaamo 13.02.2025 – DK, Copenhagen – Amager Bio 14.02.2025 – DE, Hamburg – Gruenspan 15.02.2025 – BE, Antwerp – Zappa 17.02.2025 – UK, Bristol – Marble Factory 18.02.2025 – IE, Dublin – The Academy 20.02.2025 – UK, Glasgow – The Garage 21.02.2025 – UK, Manchester – O2 Ritz 22.02.2025 – UK, London – O2 Forum Kentish Town 23.02.2025 – NL, Utrecht – Tivoli Vredenburg-Pandora 24.02.2025 – LU, Esch-Sur-Alzette – Rockhal 25.02.2025 – FR, Paris – Trabendo 26.02.2025 – FR, Toulouse – Rex 28.02.2025 – PT, Lisboa – LAV – Lisboa ao Vivo 01.03.2025 – ES, Madrid – Sala Copernico 02.03.2025 – ES, Barcelona – Razzmatazz 2 04.03.2025 – IT, Milan – Legend Club Milano 05.03.2025 – AT, Vienna – Flex 06.03.2025 – DE, Munich – Backstage 07.03.2025 – DE, Berlin – LIDO 08.03.2025 – DE, Bochum – Matrix
SATAN’S SATYRS: Erik Larson – Drums Morgan McDaniel – Guitar Clayton Burgess – Bass, Vocals Jarrett Nettnin – Guitar
Posted in Reviews on October 15th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I’ll be honest, I don’t even want to talk about how well this Quarterly Review is going because I worry about screwing it up. It’s always a lot of work to round up 10 records per day, even if there’s a single or and EP snuck in there, but it’s been a long time now that I’ve been doing things this way — sometimes as a means of keeping up, sometimes to herald things to come, usually just a way to write about things I want to write about regardless of timeliness — and it’s always worth it. I’ve had a couple genuinely easy days here. Easier than expected. Obviously that’s a win.
So while I wait for the other shoe to drop, let’s keep the momentum going.
Quarterly Review #61-70:
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Massive Hassle, Unreal Damage
Brotherly two-piece Massive Hassle, comprised of brothers Bill Fisher and Marty Fisher — who played together in Mammothwing and now both feature in Church of the Cosmic Skull — get down with another incredibly complex set of harmonized ’70s-style soul-groovers, nailing it as regards tone and tempo from the big riff that eats “Lost in the Changes” to the strums and croons early in the penultimate “Tenspot,” hitting a high note together in that song that gives over to stark and wistful standalone guitar meander that with barely a minute ago gorgeously becomes a bittersweet triumph of nostalgic fuzz reminiscent of Colour Haze‘s “Fire” and having the sheer unmitigated gall to tell the world around them it’s no big deal by naming the band Massive Hassle and stating that as the thing they most want to avoid. When they did Number One (review here) in 2023, it felt like they were proving the concept. With Unreal Damage, they’re quietly pushing limits.
Iress are the Los Angeles-based four-piece of Michelle Malley (vocals), Michael Maldonado (bass), Glenn Chu (drums) and Graham Walker (guitar). Sleep Now, In Reverse is their fourth full-length in nearly 15 years of existence. As a record, it accomplishes a lot of things, but what you need to understand is that where it most succeeds and stands itself out is in bringing together a heavy post-rock sound — heavygaze, as the kids don’t say because they don’t know what it is — with emotive expression on vocals, a blending of ethereal and the most human and affecting, and when Malley lets loose in the payoff of “Mercy,” it’s an early highlight with plenty more to follow. It’s not that Iress are reinventing genre — evolving, maybe? — but what they’re doing with it is an ideal unto itself, taking those aspects from across an aesthetic range and incorporating them into a whole, at times defiantly cohesive sound, lush but clearheaded front to back.
When the band put the shimmying “Apocalypse Babes” up as a standalone single last year, it was some five years after their debut full-length, 2018’s Mindtripper (review here) — though there was a split between — so not an insignificant amount of time for Norway’s Magmakammer to expand on their methods and dig into the songs. To be sure, “Doom Jive” and “Zimbardo” still have that big-hook, Uncle Acid-style dirty garage buzz that lends itself so well to cultish themes but thankfully here is about more than murder. And indeed, the band seems to have branched out a bit, and the eight-song/43-minute Before I Burn is well served by divergences like the closing “I Will Guide Your Hand” or the way “Cult of Misanthropy” sounds like a studio outtake on a bootleg from 1969 until they kick it open around a build of marching guitar, even as it stays loyal to Magmakammer‘s core stylistic purposes. A welcome return.
The kind of sludge rock Ohio’s Evel play, informed by Mondo Generator‘s druggy, volatile heavy punk and C.O.C.‘s Southern metal nod, maybe a bit of High on Fire in “Alaska,” with a particularly Midwestern disappointment-in-everything that would’ve gone over well at Emissions From the Monolith circa 2003, isn’t what’s trendy. It’s not the cool thing. It doesn’t care about that, or about this review, or about providing social media content to maximize its algorithmic exposure. I’m not knocking any of that — especially the review, which is going swimmingly; I promise a point is coming — but if Evel‘s six-songer debut EP, Omen, is a foretell of things to come, the intention behind it is more about the catharsis of the writing/performance than trying to play to ‘scene’-type expectations. It is a pissed-off fuckall around which the band — which features guitarist/vocalist Alex Perekrest, also of Red Giant — will continue to build as “Dust Angel” and the swinging “Dawn Patrol” already find them doing. The going will likely be noisy, and that’s just fine.
Some six years and one reunion after their fourth album, 2018’s The Lucky Ones (review here), Virginia-born classic heavy barnburners Satan’s Satyrs are back with a fifth collection beating around riffs from Sabbath and the primordial ooze of heavy that birthed them, duly brash and infectious in their energy. Founding bassist/vocalist Clayton Burgess and guitarist Jarrett Nettnin are joined in the new incarnation of the band by guitarist Morgan McDaniel (also Mirror Queen) and drummer Russ Yusuf — though Sean Saley has been with them for recent live shows — and as they strut and swing through “Saltair Burns” like Pentagram if they’d known how to play jazz but were still doom, or the buzzy demo-style experimentation of “Genuine Turquoise,” which I’m just going to guess came together differently than was first expected. So much the better. They’ve never been hugely innovative, but Satan’s Satyrs have consistently delivered at this point across a span of more than a decade and they have their own spin on the style. They may always be a live band, but at least in my mind, there’s not much more one would ask that After Dark doesn’t deliver.
Delivered through Kozmik Artifactz, Weight in Gold is the second long-player from Melbourne, Australia’s Whoopie Cat, and it meets the listener at the intersection of classic, ’70s-style heavy blues rock and prog. Making dynamic use of a dual-vocal approach in “Pretty Baby” after establishing tone, presence and craft as assets with the seven-minute opening title-track, the band are unflinchingly modern in production even as they lean toward vintage-style song construction, and that meld of intention results in an organic sound that’s not restricted by the recording. Plus it’s louder, which doesn’t hurt most of the time. In any case, as Whoopie Cat follow-up their 2018 debut, Illusion of Choice, they do so with distinction and the ability to convey a firm grasp on their songwriting and convey a depth of intention from the what-if-Queen-but-blues “Icarus” or the consuming Hammondery of closer “Oh My Love.” Listening, I can’t help but wonder how far into prog they might ultimately go, but they’ve found a sweetspot in these songs that’s between styles, and they fit right in it.
Cheeky, heavy garage punk surely will not be enough to save the immortal souls of Earth Tongue from all their devil worship and intricate vocal patterning. And honestly the New Zealand two-piece — I could’ve sworn I saw something about them moving to Germany, but maybe they just had a really good Berlin show? — sound fine with that. Guitarist Gussie Larkin and drummer Ezra Simons benefit from the straightforward outward nature of their songs. That is, “Out of This Hell,” “The Mirror,” “Bodies Dissolve Tonight!” and any of the other nine inclusions on the record that either were or could’ve been singles, are catchy and tightly written. They’re not overplayed or underplayed, and they have enough tonal force in Larkin‘s guitar that the harder churn of closer “The Reluctant Host” can leave its own impression and still feel fluid alongside some of Great Haunting‘s sweeter psych-punk. Wherever they live, the two-piece make toys out of pop and praise music so that even “Miraculous Death” sounds like, and is, fun.
The collection House of Pain (Demos) takes its title from the place where guitarist/vocalist Tomas Iramain recorded them alongside bassist Matias Maltratador and drummer Jorge Iramain, though whether it’s a studio, rehearsal space, or an actual house, I won’t profess to know. Tomas is the lone remaining member carried over from the band’s 2020 self-titled LP, and the other part of what you need to know about House of Pain (Demos) can also be found in the title: it’s demos. Do not expect a studio sound full of flourish and nuance. Reportedly most of the songs were tracked with two Shure SM57s (the standard vocal mic), save for “Nomad” and “The Way I Am,” I guess because one broke? The point is, as raw as they are — and they are raw — these demos want nothing for appeal. The bounce in the bonus-track-type “Mountain (Take 1)” feels like a Dead Meadowy saunter, and for all of its one-mic-ness, “Nomad” gives a twist on ’50s and early ’60s guitar instrumentals that’s only bolstered by the recording. I’m not saying Las Historias should press up 10,000 LPs immediately or anything, but if this was the record, or maybe an EP and positioned as more substantial than the demos, aside from a couple repeated tracks, you could do far worse. “Hell Bird” howls, man. Twice over.
Certainly “Come With Me” and others on Aquanaut‘s self-titled debut have their desert rocking aspects, but there’s at least as much The Sword as Kyuss in what the Trondheim, Norway, newcomers unfurl on their self-titled, self-released debut, and when you can careen like in “Gamma Rays,” maybe sometimes you don’t need anything else. The seven-track/35-minute outing gets off to a bluesy, boozy start with “Lenéa,” and from there, Aquanaut are able to hone an approach that has its sludgier side in some of the Eyehategod bark of “Morality” but that comes to push increasingly far out as it plays through, so that “Living Memories” soars as the finale after the mid-tempo fuzzmaking of “Ivory,” and so Aquanaut seem to have a nascent breadth working for them in addition to the vigor of a young band shaping a collective persona. The generational turnover in Norway is prevalent right now with a number of promising debuts and breakouts in the last couple years. Aquanaut have a traditionalism at their core but feel like they want to break it as much as celebrate it, and if you’re the type to look for ‘bands to watch,’ that’s a reason to watch. Or even listen, if you’re feeling especially risk-friendly.
While I would be glad to be writing about Ghost Frog‘s quirky heavy-Weezerism and psychedelic chicanery even if their third album, Galactic Mini Golf didn’t have a song called “Deep Space Nine Iron” on it, I can’t lie and say that doesn’t make the prospect a little sweeter. It’s an interlude and I don’t even care — they made it and it’s real. The Portland, Oregon, four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Quinn Schwartz, guitarist/synthesist Karl Beheim, bassist Archie Heald and drummer Vincent LiRocchi (the latter making his first appearance) keep somewhat to a golfy theme, find another layer’s worth of heavy on “Shadow Club,” declare themselves weird before you even press play and reinforce the claim in both righteous post-grunge roll of “Burden of Proof” and the new wave rock of “Bubble Guns” before the big ol’ stompy riff in “Black Hole in One’ leads to a purposeful whole-album finish. Some things don’t have to make the regular kind of sense, because they make their own kind. Absurd as the revelry gets, Ghost Frog make their own kind of sense. Maybe you’ll find it’s also your kind of sense and that’s how we learn things about ourselves from art. Have a great rest of your day.
Posted in Reviews on September 13th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Before Show
Desertfest New York 2024 gets underway in less than an hour. The annual pre-party has been held at Saint Vitus Bar for every edition of the caricature festival to-date, but of course the Vitus’ being shut down precludes that, so it’s up to The Meadows to fill those shoes for the evening. That’s no small task. Show me somebody who doesn’t think venue matters and I’ll show you someone who has never felt like a rock show was home. In any case, I’m sure it’ll be fine. Desertfest hasn’t let its attendees down yet.
Four bands tonight. It’s Thursday, and though I find my eyes wandering over the next two days of the schedule above, tonight is a more than solid kickoff, with Legions of Doom celebrating their debut album, The Skull 3, picking up where The Skull left off following the death of The Skull frontman Eric Wagner, as well as Satan’s Satyrs and Mirror Queen, who both have new records out, and Mustafina opening, from whom I could find no audio streaming. Clearly worth putting sneakers on for, despite the sandal-ready weather.
A two-hour dove to get here reaffirmed my decision to stay in the city this year. That’s a choice not without some level of investment, but I tried to do commuterfest last year and it was hard and I sucked at it, so The Patient Mrs. was well on board with getting my ass out of the house during fest time rather than have me try to cover a thing with one foot in domestic life. I am loved and cared for. I will do my best to do justice to that love and care by not getting towed this weekend. Fingers crossed.
Doors at 6 was applied casually, but the line wasn’t bad by any means. I had a few minutes to stand around awkwardly and not know where to put myself. Shit that I should’ve learned before middle-age. Alas.
The night went like this:
Mustafina
They loosened up as the set went on, and the crowd warmed accordingly. Some connection to AmRep, maybe? Obviously it was my first time at the dance with Mustafina, from New York. They bill themselves as psychedelic punk, and that might not be wrong, but there was more to it than that, with quirk and bounce in the bass and a crunch of guitar tone that indeed felt NY-punker in its root — at least mostly; they hit into a couple bluesier nods as well, and that was welcome; “Metasin” might have been one, if I have it right on the setlist, which I assume I don’t — but a healthy dose of grunge mixed in with that and the dude standing next to me (his name is Eric, he’s from Tennessee, works from home, has a badass backyard and it was nice to chat) cited Mr. Bungle, so I guess it’s fair to say the sound was open for interpretation. That’s not a weakness as a new band gets going — and Mustafina are that, whatever else the members have or haven’t done on whichever legendary noise rock label — but there was a definite moment where it all gelled and from there the groove came easy. For knowing nothing about them going into the set, I felt like by the finish they gave a decent sense of their persona and scope, and I’ll keep an eye for the record when the time comes.
Mirror Queen
Their new album is called Dying Days, and its title-track and “Strider” — which guitarist/vocalist Kenny Sehgal said, “only has like 85 parts” — featured in the set along with the more familiar “Riders” and “Scaffold in the Sky” and a closing cover they said was obscure and sure enough, I didn’t know the provenance from which “Lizzy” came. They’re a reliable good time in my mind. I stood by the bass side of the stage, and dug into the bouncing classic progressive heavy that is such a staple of the NYC underground in my mind. Sehgal, who doubles as the head of Tee Pee Records, mentioned it was kind of a label night — which bodes well for Mustafina, I suppose — and the various releases out. It would be very easy to spend a lot of money at Tee Pee’s table this weekend. If I had any, I might be concerned about that. It was by no means the longest set I’ve ever seen Mirror Queen play, but they know how to make a song that has 85 parts (allegedly) still be a good time to a room that doesn’t already know it, and that’s not an easy thing to do or something to take for granted, even though, yes, I very much take Mirror Queen for granted. There has to be some tradeoff for that two-hour drive to get here. New York has to have an upside.
Satan’s Satyrs
Tore it up. That’s the long and short of it. Sean Saley on drums was a treat; 10 years ago I watched him bash and bash his kit in Pentagram on two successive tours, and tonight was the same story, only faster. I said hi. Plus Morgan McDaniel, who had just played in Mirror Queen, doing double duty. Neither is original to Satan’s Satyrs, but hell, the energy, the drive. Killer set. Big change in vibe from Mirror Queen, whose style is downright soothing in comparison to the brashness on display from the Virginian outfit, who were reborn around bassist/vocalist Clayton Burgess and guitarist Jarrett Nettnin last year after however long it was since they last did a thing. It wasn’t a huge stage at The Meadows, but they used every inch of it, Burgess back and forth like a ’79s thrash icon if such a thing ever existed or could possibly exist, and the swagger was backed up by the charge of the material itself; yeah, new album. I haven’t really dug into it yet — only so many hours in the day — but if it’s got a quarter of what they brought to the stage they’d still be readily kicking ass. I wondered how Legions of Doom could possibly keep up.
Legions of Doom
Then they came out with Karl Agell fronting the band and opened with “Dance of the Dead” from C.O.C.’s Blind record, which I’ve had in my head since I was about 10 years old, and I don’t know what anyone else did in the room, but I certainly lost my shit. In addition to songs from their aforementioned new album, The Skull 3 — a title that does better with context, yes — and bringing out Scott Reagers (original Saint Vitus singer; he shouted out Saint Vitus Bar) to do “War is Our Destiny” and to trade off fronting the band with Agell, they did a few Trouble cuts in “The Wolf” and set-capper “Psychotic Reaction,” and it was a celebration of all of it, including the new stuff and The Skull’s “For Those Which Are Asleep,” which was a highlight even among the highlights. Agell coming back out, “What are you still doing here? Don’t you have a pressing engagement with your cat or your couch?” They thanked Desertfest and Tee Pee and were a doomed pleasure to behold front to back. The place started to clear out as it edged toward 11PM, so maybe there were a couple couchly appointments to keep, but I knew I didn’t need to drive home after, so sticking around was no problem. I’m glad I did. Reagers and Agell sharing “Psychotic Reaction” was priceless.
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More tomorrow, of course, but it was a rousing start, to be sure. My back? Killing me. Gonna think really hard about whether I need the big lens tomorrow, but I’ve got time to dwell on it. Until then, there’s more pics after the jump, and thanks for reading. If you’re here, lucky you.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 7th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
A righteous dose of lineup additions to Desertfest NYC 2024 today puts High on Fire and Amenra at the top of the bill thus far along with the previously announced Russian Circles, and unveils the bands who’ll play the pre-party as The Skull-offshoot Legions of Doom, Tee Pee Records‘ house classic heavy proggers Mirror Queen, the revamped Satan’s Satyrs, and Mustafina.
All well and good, don’t get me wrong. Killer, all the way through. For me though, the personal highlight here is Spaceslug coming from Poland to play, hopefully on the main stage at the Knockdown Center. Not only is their new album the latest in a string of immersive heavy psych semi-metal explorations, but right around the end of last year, I was angling trying to get myself out to Vegas to see them at Planet Desert Rock Weekend, where they featured this past January. The thought of seeing them in Brooklyn takes some of the sting out of missing their first US appearance, and as that will occur among the likes of Primitive Man, Blackwater Holylight and Spirit Mother, so much the better.
If you’re not from New York and have ever thought about traveling there, take a gander at the following:
DESERTFEST NEW YORK ANNOUNCES HIGH ON FIRE, AMENRA, PRIMITIVE MAN, BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT, SPACESLUG + MORE FOR 2024 EDITION
Performing at the Knockdown Center please welcome… ↠ High On Fire ↠ Amenra ↠ PRIMITIVE MAN ↠ Blackwater Holylight ↠ Spaceslug ↠ Spirit Mother
Who will all be joining the likes of Russian Circles, Acid King, GREEN LUNG, Truckfighters, Dozer, BelzebonG for the 4th edition of our independent East Coast venture, celebrating the best in underground heavy music! With more still to announce, including day splits – which will be released in July.
We are extremely proud of this line-up and the amount of EU bands we are able to bring over to you! Plus we are thrilled to welcome doom metal super-group Legions of Doom (ft. members of Trouble, Saint Vitus, The Skull & COC) to headline our SOLD OUT pre-party, hosted by TeePee Records alongside the return of Satan’s Satyrs, plus local heroes Mirror Queen & Mustafina!
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 7th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
A bit of housekeeping here as the PR wire steps up to make official the return of Satan’s Satyrs. Perhaps relocated from their Virginia home to NY, the classic heavy rock unit led by bassist/vocalist Clayton Burgess announced early last month they’d reunited with a new lineup, would have a new single and live shows and all that we’re-a-band-again stuff. What’s new here is making public the band’s signing to Tee Pee Records for Quick Quiet Raid and the preorder link for the 7″. One assumes this is kind of a precursor to a fuller return in 2024, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an LP at least in the works by the end of next year if not before. You’ll note in the below Burgess says he’s been writing all the while.
Cool stuff to come, one hopes. We’re into November now, so there’s as much that’s going to be about next year as this one, but with the single on the way, I don’t think you’re wrong to think of it as something to applies to today as much as eight months in the future, or however long it ends up being until they get another record together. Gets the old “we’ll see,” I guess.
From the PR wire, as noted:
Cult Scuzz Rockers Satan’s Satyrs Return with 7″ Single, Live Shows, and a Pledge of Allegiance to Tee Pee Records
After calling it a day in 2019, this Friday the NY-based biker trash/occult obsessed quartet will be reborn again via new single ‘Quick Quiet Raid’
After years in the void, heavy rock devotees Satan’s Satyrs are back to deliver a lumbering, glam doom Frankenstein of a tune with 7″ single ‘Quick Quiet Raid’, the band’s first stab at new music since 2018’s The Lucky Ones.
Having harboured a cult following for over ten years and four indispensable albums prior to their split – Electric Wizard’s Jus Oborn once described them as, “Violent, filthy, ugly and loud like it should be” – the band is thrilled to announce that they’ve signed to legendary New York label, Tee Pee Records.
“It’s a great fit for us because they can appreciate our odd-band-out legacy,” explains bassist, Clayton Burgess. “Tee Pee Records has a long history of cultivating a heavy freak rock underground and we feel right at home in that universe.”
Soaking Sabbath, Venom, The Stooges, and Blue Cheer in acid and acrimony, the quartet’s love of exploitation movies and horror culture have always permeated their music, and none more so than on their latest paean to primitive rock. Replete with howling vocals and a freak-fuzz guitar meltdown, this is volcanism at its finest and signals a return to form for Dungeon Rock’s wayward sons.
“Even during the band’s recess, I never stopped writing,” Burgess continues. “We were always the riffy band on punk bills, the fast band on doom bills, the glam-tinged band on metal bills, with each album sounding different from the last. As new material slowly amassed and the right players fell into place, the potential couldn’t be ignored. The band could be a vital force again.”
The band also take to the road this month for a string of live dates, all of which you’ll find below. Pre-order their 7″ single here ahead of its release via Specimen Records/Tee Pee Records on 10th November 2023. LIVE DATES:
14/11 – Local 506 – Chapel Hill, NC 15/11 – The Warehouse – Richmond, VA 16/11 – The Runaway – Washington, DC 13/12 – Knitting Factory – Baker Falls, NY
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 8th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Virginian doom rockers Satan’s Satyrsbroke up in 2019 following a successful run of 10 years and four full-lengths — the last of them was 2018’s The Lucky Ones (review here), on Bad Omen Records — as well as other releases and a tenure that saw founding bassist/vocalist Clayton Burgess receive no less of an endorsement than being hand-picked to hold down low end in Electric Wizard for a few years/tours. Not a minor feather in the cap of a young player and I’ve little doubt it was an education unto itself.
If you missed the headline, the band are back. Hey hey! I hear there’s new music in the works — that would presumably be the “and more…” in the discussion of a live set below — and it’ll come from a lineup that now includes Morgan McDaniel (Mirror Queen, ex-The Golden Grass, etc.) on guitar alongside Russ Yusuf on drums, Burgess, and fellow guitarist Jarrett Nittnin. They’ve got three shows booked that are listed below, and let’s assume there will be more to follow after the winter’s thaw.
New album? We live in a universe of infinite possibility. Here’s this in the meantime:
Hey Satan! Hey Lucifer! We’re here, baby!
Very excited to announce that we’ve got the band back together again and we’ve been hard at work crafting a killer set that spans all 4 of our albums and more…! Join us for these select shows as we close out 2023:
11 / 14: Chapel Hill, NC: Local 506 11 / 15: Richmond, VA: The Warehouse 11 / 16: Washington, DC: The Runaway
We’re bringing Maryland Downer Rock freaks @magickpotionband with us so it’s gonna be LOUD!!
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 29th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
I guess in the end it was probably lineup trouble that did in Satan’s Satyrs. Bassist/vocalist Clayton Burgess was a founding member, and guitarist Jarrett Nettnin, if he wasn’t, joined pretty early on as well, but in their decade together, they’d been through a handful of drummers, and though they brought in guitarist Nate Towle in 2016, they’d seen a few other six-stringers come and go along the way as well. That kind of thing can take a toll on a band over time.
Still, Satan’s Satyrs‘ run was plenty productive. Over the course of their 10 years, they released four full-lengths — the latest of which, The Lucky Ones, came out in 2018 on RidingEasy and Bad Omen Records — as well as their 2010 breakthrough EP, Lucifer Lives!, a 2018 split on Relapse with their oft-tourmates Windhand and a host of other live and EP-type outings. While we’re on the subject, they toured steadily as well, hitting Europe multiple times as well as the US, where among many others, they did a run alongside Electric Wizard as Burgess pulled double-duty playing bass at the time for the UK doom legends.
As to what future plans might be, I’m not sure on the whole. Towle has hinted at something coming together with drummer Jason Oberuc — who filled in on Satan’s Satyrs‘ last tour — and vocalist Alyson Dellinger, but it’s all still pretty murky, and as to what the others’ plans might be, I can’t say. They were confirmed to take part in SonicBlast Moledo 2019 in Portugal next month with Sean Saley (ex-Pentagram, etc.) behind the kit, but that appearance as well as all other live dates have been canceled.
For being relatively young, they were veterans who came out of the gate 10 years ago with an aesthetic that was ahead of its time in blending ’70s biker boogie and doom to a VHS-grained effect. They would seem to have influenced more bands one way or another than they know.
Their statement was short and sweet:
Satan’s Satyrs is no more. The band’s scheduled appearance at Sonicblast Modelo is cancelled. Thanks for the last ten years, from the first demo tape to the final show.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 24th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
It was good lineup after one announcement, but here we are and SonicBlast Moledo 2019 has announced the next batch of acts for its bill, which, when you step back and really take it in, seems all the more formidable. Note the San Diego infusion this time around from Sacri Monti, Harsh Toke and Petyr. I can’t help but wonder if that might mean those bands will head out on tour together in Europe sometime around August. Would make sense, since they all seem familiar with each other anyhow, but of course that’s speculation.
What isn’t speculation is that one continues to daydream about a quick weekend trip to Portugal in order to see this festival. Have you ever watched videos from SonicBlast? Seen pictures afterwards? It looks pretty incredible, and somehow the thought of seeing Monolord in such a rare and gorgeous setting seems all the more fun, let alone the classic-style rock of MaidaVale.
Ah, to dream.
The announcement was posted on the ol’ social medias and looked an awful lot like this:
We’re thrilled to announce ten more bands to the 9th edition of SonicBlast Moledo!
Monolord, LUCIFER, Toundra, Satan’s Satyrs, SACRI MONTI, HARSH TOKE, PETYR, KALEIDOBOLT, MaidaVale and MAGGOT HEART will bring us some loud heavy fuzzy doom tunes!
