The information you want — i.e., the tour dates — is in the tour posters, but as you can see there, what’s happening is that Desert Records denizens Red Mesa (from Albuquerque) and Sorcia (from Seattle) are both going on tour in August, and for part of each run, the tours will combine.

Got it? So they’re not touring the entire time together, but they’re hooking up for a leg as part of each’s broader stint up and down the West Coast/inland. Lacking a good word for it is how you get to “intertwining” in the headline. I could’ve gone with “conjoined” or “joint,” but I felt like either of those would mean it’d be the two of them the whole time — you can see in the images Sorcia actually have more shows with Tigers on Opium, and both they and Red Mesa will share the stage with a bunch of others in the sphere of Desert Records along the way — whereas “intertwining” at least in my head implies joining with something else from a more solitary state.

And I’m sorry to get sidetracked on language here — I should be dropping review links, right? isn’t that how it goes? like someone’s gonna click that? — but I find words interesting and it’s nice to have an idea what to call a thing when it happens. If you have any other suggestions, hit the comments and please let me know.

Otherwise, the tour(s) announcement(s) follow here, courtesy of the reliably-paradigm-shifting PR wire:

RED MESA / SORCIA TOUR

Two of Desert Record’s power trios RED MESA and SORCIA, have announced their respective Western U.S. tours for August 2024. The bands will support each other on a leg from ALBUQUERQUE-SEATTLE.

A multitude of Desert Records bands will support including Nebula Drag, Dali’s Llama, The Penitent Man, Spliffripper, Grim Earth, Droneroom, Breath, Doors to No Where, and Fuzz Evil.

“We’ve been talking about doing a full Western US tour for years…and it is FINALLY happening! We couldn’t be more stoked to do the Albuquerque to Seattle leg with our dear friends Sorcia. As we support our latest album, ‘Partial Distortions’ we will be bringing the heavy desert rock to your city!” – Red Mesa

“We are very excited to announce that we are getting back on the road for another Western US Tour this August! For the first half we will be hitting the West Coast joined by our dear friends, Portland rippers Tigers On Opium. For the second half we will be linking up with our amazing Desert Records labelmates Red Mesa as we make our way through the desert and up through the Rockies, where we will end the tour by hosting them in Seattle for our tour homecoming. We are looking forward to hitting some new towns on this tour, and we have some killer bands lined up to support these shows, so stay tuned for individual show details. See you on the road!” – Sorcia

Red Mesa tour poster by Joey Rudell of Fuzz Evil / Sorcia tour poster art by Misanthropic-Art (poster layout by Jessica Brasch).

Red Mesa is:
Brad Frye – Rhythm and Lead Guitars, Lead and Backing Vocals
Roman Barham – Drums, Lead and Backing Vocals
Alex Cantwell – Bass Guitar, Lead and Backing Vocals, Additional Rhythm Guitars, Piano

SORCIA
Neal De Atley – Guitar, Vocals
Jessica Brasch – Bass, Vocals
Bryson Marcey – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/redmesaband/
https://www.instagram.com/redmesaband/
https://redmesarock.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/SorciaBand/
https://www.instagram.com/sorciaband/
sorcia.bandcamp.com
https://sorciaband.com/
http://linktr.ee/sorciaband

https://www.facebook.com/desertrecordslabel/
https://www.instagram.com/desertrecords/
https://desertrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://desertrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://linktr.ee/desertrecords

Red Mesa, Partial Distortions (2024)

Sorcia, Lost Season (2023)

So here’s what happened. All of a sudden, toward the end of last week or whenever it was, a bunch of cool bands started to announce they were touring with other cool bands. Package tours are a long-held tradition, especially for times when money’s tight in various spots around the world, and a decent way for acts to sometimes share road expenses as well as give club crowds more reason to leave the house. Whether it’s Greenleaf and Slomosa or Dopelord and Red Sun Atacama in Europe, Mars Red Sky and Howling Giant or — the subject at hand — Austin, Texas, trio The Well and Seattle duo Year of the Cobra; none of these sounds like anything other than a killer night in the making.

But for The Well and Year of the Cobra, there are a bunch of other shows both bands are playing in addition to those they’ll do together, with the former heading to Tennessee later in August for Muddy Roots and the latter with a few dates in the Pacific Northwest in early June, and so on. There wasn’t one general announcement for the tour that I found on socials, so I took the dates that were posted by each band, the Branca Studio art that accompanied, and I decided rather than try to parse out who’s where for one broader list, to just have them as they are.

The Well‘s dates are under the band’s name, and ditto that for Year of the Cobra, whose new album I think is recorded — another announcement to wait for — and will hopefully be out in the coming months. Both their latest LP and The Well‘s were in 2019, so if you said they’re due, fair enough. Do I honestly believe I needed to tell you about organizing two posts into this single one? No. But I did anyway, because that’s how it is when you’re neurotic. Now you know.

From social media as noted:

THE WELL

YOU KNOW WE CANT STAY AWAY FOR LONG! STOKED TO HIT THE ROAD WITH @yearofthecobra THIS SUMMER!

More dates to come; here’s a teaser with some killer artwork by the goat @branca_studio

7.19 – Tulsa, OK – Mercury Lounge
7.20 – OKC, OK – Blue Note Lounge
7.21 – KC, MO – recordBar
7.22 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th St. Entry (18+)
7.23 – Chicago, IL – The Empty Bottle*
7.24 – Youngstown, OH – Westside Bowl* (all ages)
7.25 – Albany, NY – Fuze Box*
7.26 – Providence, RI – Alchemy (all ages)
7.27 – Manchester, NH – Jewel Music Venue*
7.28 – NY, NY – The Bowery Electric*
7.29 – Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie*
7.30 – Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506* (all ages)
8.4 – Dallas, TX – Ruins*
8.6 – Scottsdale, AZ – Pub Rock*
8.7 – LA, CA – Permanent Records*
8.8 – Long Beach, CA – Alex’s Bar*
8.9 – Sacramento, CA – Cafe Colonial*
8.10 – SF, CA – Kilowatt Bar*
8.31 – Cookeville, TN – Muddy Roots Festival
* – w/ Year of the Cobra

YEAR OF THE COBRA

Yo! Excited to announce our US tour with @thewellband. More dates coming soon, but for now…we feast!!!

6.1 – Bellingham, WA – The Shakedown
6.2 – Vancouver, BC – The Cobalt Cabaret
6.9 – Portland, OR – Polaris Hall
7.20 – Libby, MT – Montvana Festival
7.23 – Chicago, IL – The Empty Bottle*
7.24 – Youngstown, OH – Westside Bowl* (all ages)
7.25 – Albany, NY – Fuze Box*
7.27 – Manchester, NH – Jewel Music Venue*
7.28 – NY, NY – The Bowery Electric*
7.29 – Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie*
7.30 – Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506* (all ages)
8.2 – Lafayette, LA – Freetown Boom Boom Room*
8.4 – Dallas, TX – Ruins*
8.6 – Scottsdale, AZ – Pub Rock*
8.7 – LA, CA – Permanent Records*
8.8 – Long Beach, CA – Alex’s Bar*
8.9 – Sacramento, CA – Cafe Colonial*
8.10 – SF, CA – Kilowatt Bar*
8.11 – Santa Cruz – Moe’s Alley*
*w/The Well

http://www.facebook.com/thewellband
https://www.instagram.com/thewellband/
http://thewellaustin.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ridingeasyrecords/
https://www.instagram.com/easyriderrecord/
http://www.ridingeasyrecs.com/

https://www.facebook.com/yearofthecobraband/
https://www.instagram.com/yearofthecobra/
https://yearofthecobra.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/prophecyproductions/
https://prophecy-de.bandcamp.com/
https://en.prophecy.de/

The Well, Death and Consolation (2019)

Year of the Cobra, Ash and Dust (2019)

This will be a thing I’ll enjoy owning. The Obelisk All-Dayer was an event I put together starting in 2015 for Aug. 20, 2016. It was held at the Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn. Heavy Temple and King Buffalo opened. Mars Red Sky headlined. Death Alley (now defunct), Kings Destroy and also-disbanded Ohio proggers EYE featured, and it was with a particular personal joy that Snail agreed to make the trek from their respective homes in Washington and Southern California to make their first East Coast appearance(s), playing Boston and Rhode Island as they made their way south to NYC.

I had been lucky enough to see Snail previously, on a 2010 trip to San Francisco (review here), where I also met the then-four-piece-now-trio for the first time, and I could gladly go on about how rad that was, but the bottom line is that even asking Snail to play was something I was doing as a fan of the band, and as they had released their stunning Feral (review here) LP in 2015, the timing couldn’t have been better.

It’s humbling to think it was special for them too. Most of all, I’m glad it happened and I’ll be glad to have this as a document of it. It’s digital-only for now, but I bet you could convince them to make some tapes if the downloads do well enough. We’ll see. Either way, I’m grateful it exists and for the kind thoughts the band express below.

Maybe 2026? I’ll think about it. For now, two tracks from Thou Art There are streaming below to mark the launch of preorders and the band’s 2021 LP, Fractal Altar (review here), is down there too in order to facilitate further digging.

So by all means, dig:

It was early Spring of 2016, and Snail had just come off the long-awaited release of Feral, when they got an email from JJ Koczan of the heavy psych blog The Obelisk. JJ was putting together a festival called ‘The Obelisk All-Dayer’ and wanted to know if they would be into playing. Without a second thought they were on board; this was destined to be a gathering of the tribes that no one wanted to miss!

Fans and bands came from all over – as far away as France – to play and be a part of it. This was Snail’s first tour on the East Coast, and the welcome couldn’t have been warmer. After playing shows in Boston and Rhode Island, Snail arrived at the club, devoured the catered veggie tacos and began meeting fans that they had only interacted with online. Everyone was so genuinely nice and positive, the music was HEAVY, and the energy in the club and city was electric.

Snail was exhilarated being on stage and playing for what felt like their “people.” Having loosened up with previous shows, they was now firing on all cylinders and vibing off the crowd. Seeing JJ head-banging in the front when the riff dropped for set closer ‘Thou Art That’ was like attaining heavy-music realization and the entire room resonated together.

So if you were there, we hope this recording puts you right back to that day and lives up to the memory. And if you weren’t, this is a chance to check out what all the fuss was about.
Thou Art There.

1. Blood (Live) 06:49
2. Cleanliness (Live)
3. Smoke the Deathless (Live)
4. Confessions (Live) 03:06
5. Mustard Seed (Live)
6. Hippy Crack (Live)
7. Mental Models (Live)
8. Thou Art That (Live)

Front of house engineer – Jeff Filmer
Mixing and mastering – Matt Lynch

Cover photo – Adam Donnelly
Additional cover image – Jennifer Hendrix-Johnson
Cover design – Matt Lynch

Snail are:
Marty Dodson – drums
Mark Johnson – guitar, vocals
Matt Lynch – bass, organ, vocals

www.snailhq.com
www.facebook.com/snailhq
https://www.instagram.com/snail_hq/
https://snailhq.bandcamp.com/

Snail, Thou Art There: Live at The Obelisk All-Dayer (2024)

Snail, Fractal Altar (2021)

Seattle sludge rockers Sorcia will hit the road in April to support their Desert Records-issued sophomore LP, Lost Season (review here), on a weekend-to-weekend stint around their appearance at Rocky Mountain Riff Fest in Kalispell, Montana, on April 20. Before they get there, of particular note is the Road to Riff Fest Showcase in Spokane on April 19, at which Sorcia will be joined by Mos Generator and Merlock, both also making their way to Kalispell the next day.

The regional run is certainly welcome news, and it follows a broader West Coast tour the trio undertook last summer around the time of Lost Season‘s July release. Still, Substation aside, it’s at least Sorcia‘s third escape from Seattle (cue a grunge-era Snake Plissken in the best movie the ’90s never made, and not a gritty reboot), and an occasion worth marking all the more with a revisit to the album, which you’ll find streaming below should you want to lose your head again in the lumber of “Entering the Eighth House,” which, yeah, you probably do.

Info from the PR wire:

Sorcia Spring Tour 2024

🚨TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT🚨

We are very excited to announce our Spring Tour 2024! We look forward to shaking walls around the NW with so many amazing bands as we make our trek to Rocky Mountain Riff Fest and back. More details to come, so mark your calendars and stay tuned!

4/18 – Ray’s Golden Lion | Richland, WA
4/19 – Road To Riff Fest Showcase | The District Bar | Spokane, WA
4/20 – Rocky Mountain Riff Fest | Eagles | Kalispell, MT
4/21 – Mikey’s Gyros | Moscow, ID
4/22 – Substation | Seattle, WA
4/26 – High Water Mark | Portland, OR
4/27 – McCoy’s Tavern | Olympia, WA

(Poster by Jessica Brasch)

SORCIA
Neal De Atley – Guitar, Vocals
Jessica Brasch – Bass, Vocals
Bryson Marcey – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/SorciaBand/
https://www.instagram.com/sorciaband/
sorcia.bandcamp.com
https://sorciaband.com/
http://linktr.ee/sorciaband

https://www.facebook.com/desertrecordslabel/
https://desertrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://desertrecords.bigcartel.com/

Sorcia, Lost Season (2023)

Look, just because I haven’t posted about it in the last 35 seconds doesn’t mean I didn’t have Sandrider‘s 2023 album, Enveletration (review here), on yesterday. So no, I’m not over it yet, and the fact that the Seattle trio of guitarist/vocalist Jon Weisnewski, bassist/vocalist Jesse Roberts and drummer Nat Damm posted up the Aviary/Baleen two-songer in December ahead of a 7″ pressing in January on Alternative Tentacles was like an end-of-year bonus for having made it through another 12 months of the 2020s. Like going around the Monopoly board except you pay $200 every time you pass Go because that’s real capitalism, the years, fleeting.

But yes, Sandrider made a video for “Aviary,” and it’s a hoot and I’m posting it. No, not just because the song dares to ask, “Where do I go when I sleep?,” but that’s of course part of it. Sandrider‘s post-hardcore-informed take on heavy has an energetic shove of its own and that’s readily on display in “Aviary,” which along with its aren’t-whales-creepy-yes-they-are complement “Baleen” was recorded at the same time as Enveletration — which is a boon in my head considering what they got out of that session, not at all their first with producer Matt Bayles who has helmed all their work to-date — and it definitely fits with where the band are at more than a decade on from when they got going following the end of Weisnewski and Damm‘s time in joyously aggro chaotic noisemakers Akimbo (who for a while were on Alternative Tentacles, because it all comes together), while offering something of its own apart from the way the songs on the LP interacted with each other. As I think I probably said in December, they’ll make great bonus tracks on the Enveletration reissue.

I did go ahead and buy the 7″ just now though. It was $16 after shipping and that’s not nothing, but I got paid to write a death metal band’s bio last week (super fun), so I’m treating myself. And having immediate access to the download isn’t the worst either. Maybe I’ll sneak them into the Quarterly Review (hopefully last week of this month) and get to talk about the single more. Or maybe they’ll do a video for “Baleen.” Oh, and if you watch the video, you’ll see big letters behind the band ‘B,’ ‘Y,’ and ‘C.’ I do not know what they stand for, and if it’s something obvious and dumb I do hope you’ll convey the information gently.

Or, perhaps in the spirit of “Aviary” itself, you’ll punch me in the face and knock the glass vase off the table on your way to flipping the chair just for the hell of it. I’ll take it as it comes, I guess.

E-n-j-o-y a life or wit free of toxic positivity:

Sandrider, “Aviary” official video

WHAT’S UP YOU BEAUTIFUL DORKS?

Extremely relevant to your immediate interests will be the hashtag thrilling news that we made a goddamn music video for our assured grammy winning hit “Aviary”.

This is a video for our brand new 7″ single on Alternative Tentacles records. Black vinyl still available so if you love small vinyls and flipping sides as much as we do, go get it.
alternativetentacles.com/collections/releases/products/v517-sandrider-aviary-baleen-7

I have an aunt and she’s great but she’s always had pretty abrupt phone etiquette. She’ll call up and talk to you about things an aunt would need to call you about, like the latest death in the family or christmas, and regardless of how pleasant the chat ends up being she’ll end it with a single “Bye” and hangup that is so ruthless. Absolute savage when it comes to phone calls. As confronting as it can be I always respected her for being so efficient at murdering communication. Bye.

—

AVIARY/BALEEN was recorded by Matt Bayles (Mastodon, ISIS, The Sword) at Studio Litho & ExEx Audio October 2021.
Mixed by Matt Bayles at The Red Room March 2022.
Additional recording by Jeff McNulty at The Kill Room November 2021. Mastered by Ed Brooks at Resonant Mastering April 2022.
Paintings by Jesse Roberts.
Layout by Nat Damm.
Photos by Invisible Hour.

SANDRIDER:
Nat Damm – drums
Jesse Roberts – bass, vocals
Jon Weisnewski – guitar, vocals

Sandrider, Aviary/Baleen (2024)

Sandrider, Enveletration (2023)

Sandrider on Facebook

Sandrider on Instagram

Sandrider on Bandcamp

Alternative Tentacles on Facebook

Alternative Tentacles on Instagram

Alternative Tentacles on TikTok

Alternative Tentacles website

This will be one of two times that at least some of these dates will be posted, as happens from time to time on a run that features more than one killer band with stuff to talk about, but to look at the spread of touring to be taken on by Seattle’s Bell Witch, I’ll just say that there are a lot of ways to say a band is tight, like they’re friends, chosen-family, etc., but making it publicly known that you’re willing to spend upwards of eight weeks in another human being’s close company, in any situation let alone crisscrossing Europe on tour, is a particularly resonant one.

Bell Witch found new grandiose lows in last year’s Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate (review here), and now that I think about it, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to think that at some point on such a tour the inevitable follow-up might manifest. On the other hand maybe they’re just going to go and I don’t know anything, as usual. Flailing at guesses. Rampant speculation.

But it’s an event either way. Check it out:

In March we embark on an 8 week odyssey across Europe. From the frostbitten North to the Hellenic land of myths in the South, the Emerald Isle to the Balkan states we’re playing many cities for the first time ever…

Along the way we’ll be joined for stretches by friends old & new in FVNERALS, Knoll, Esoteric, Thantifaxath & The Keening. We’re excited to share the stage with bands who bring something truly unique & powerful to their music.

Tickets are on sale now from https://www.bellwitchdoom.net/live.

We can’t wait to see new & familiar faces alike.

March
28 – Dresden, DE – Chemiefabrik *
29 – Bremen, DE – Lagerhaus *
30 – Copenhagen, DK – Alice CPH *
31 – Oslo, NO – Inferno Fest
April
1 – Göteborg, SE – Musikens Hus *
2 – Aarhus, DK – Radar *
4 – Oberhausen, DE – Ebertbad *
5 – Diksmuide, BE – 4AD *
6 – Brighton, UK – The Arch ^
7 – Bristol UK – Exchange ^
9 – Dublin, IE – Academy 2
10 – Limerick, IE – Dolan
12 – Glasgow, UK – Room 2 ^
13 – Manchester, UK – Rebellion ^
14 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club ^
15 – London, UK – The Dome ^ +
16 – Namur, BE – Belvedere
17 – Eindhoven, NL – Effenaar
19 – Tours, FR – Le Temps Machine
20 – Paris, FR – Petit Bain =
21 – Nantes, FR – Le Ferrailleur =
22 – Toulouse, FR – Le Rex =
23 – Portugalete, ES – Groove #
24 – Barroselas, PT – SWR Fest
26 – Madrid, ES – Nazca #
27 – Barcelona, ES – Sala Upload #
28 – Grenoble, FR – Le Ciel #
29 – Martigny, CH – Caves Du Manoir #
30 – Luzern, CH – Sedel #
May
2 – Wien, AT – Arena #
3 – Budapest, HU – A38 #
4 – Zagreb, HR – AKC Attack #
6 – Sofia, BG – Club Singles #
7 – Istanbul, TR – Babylon #
9 – Thessalonki, GR – Eightball Club #
10 – Athens, GR – Temple #
11 – Larissa, GR – Skyland #
13 – Caserta, IT – Lizard #
14 – Pescara, IT – Scumm #
15 – Ravenna, IT – Bronson #
16 – Treviso, IT – Altroquando #
17 – Linz, AT – STWST #
18 – Brno, CZ – Kabinet Muz #
* with FVNERALS
^ with Knoll
+ with Esoteric
= with Thantifaxath
# with The Keening

Bell Witch is Bassist Dylan Desmond and Drummer Jesse Shreibman.

https://www.facebook.com/BellWitchDoom/
https://www.instagram.com/bellwitchdoom/
https://www.bellwitchdoom.net/

http://www.profoundlorerecords.com
http://www.facebook.com/profoundlorerecords
http://www.instagram.com/profoundlorerecords
http://www.profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com

Bell Witch, Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate (2023)

I didn’t have to get any further than ‘recorded when they did Enveletration‘ to know I was on board for the new Sandrider single, and if you want the actual truth, I wasn’t much past seeing the band’s name in the subject of the email and the word ‘new’ before I understood I’d be spending a few bucks.

Sandrider released a top-tenner for me earlier this year in the aforementioned Enveletration (review here), and actually, if you’re up for something a little more extreme, Sandrider guitarist/vocalist Jon Weisnewski‘s counterintuitively-named-and-that’s-the-point solo unit Nuclear Dudes released a leaves-marks burner called Boss Blades (review here) that sounds half like the panicked side of my brain when I have to be around humans and half like it was just taking a break from scraping the highway to doom itself into your cortex.

Wrapping 2023 with two more Sandrider tracks suits me just fine. You might recognize parts of “Aviary” from songs that did make it to the record, and that’s kind of fun, and the drums in the middle just rule. “Baleen” is the more intense of the two and like a lot of Weisnewski‘s stuff this year I find it deeply relatable. Whales are fucking weird. And baleen, if you’ve ever seen the stuff, is creepy. I end up reading a lot of fact books about sea creatures these days. It’s a blue whale’s planet. We’re just fucking it up for them.

Anyway, the corresponding subject matter makes me wonder how long he’s been a parent, though I don’t actually know if dude has kids or not. Would be weird if I did. But on Enveletration, I’m pretty sure “Alia” is a daughter ode and I don’t know that it is but I really want the line in LP-closer “Grouper” to be about restless, angry fathers staring at their phones. Relevant to my current fucking moment, I tell you.

So yeah, seeing as I woke up last night with the realization that the singular is shenanigans would be shenanigan, and here’s Sandrider with some prime free range shenanigans, I’m calling it fate. The vinyl is in January, on Alternative Tentacles, which the PR wire reminds was once upon a time Akimbo‘s label.

Info and audio from Bandcamp:

Just a handful of months after releasing their meteorically heavy LP Enveletration (Satanik Royalty Records), Seattle loud-rock trio SANDRIDER has teamed up with Alternative Tentacles to release a two-song 7” in January 2024. Engineered by Matt Bayles (SOUNDGARDEN, MASTODON, BOTCH) at Seattle’s Litho Studios during the Enveletration sessions, the two tracks “AVIARY” and “BALEEN” offer a concise snapshot of what Sandrider does best: pulling together lead-heavy riffs and cathartic wails into songs that are somehow fun and infectiously catchy while also being messy and relatable angry. Much like their Seattle grunge/punk-rock predecessors, their sound is paired seamlessly with modern hopelessness as much as it is crushing beers and reading Dune.

This cheeky duality of Sandrider is also captured perfectly in the subject matter of the EP’s two tracks: The explosive first track, “Aviary,” portrays the modern hellscape of social media as sinister, soulless mama bird, willfully vomiting disinformation into the eager mouths of enthusiastically consenting participants. “PLEASE MOTHER, FEED THEM YOUR BILE. DOUSE THE BABES WITH YOUR WHOLESOME RETCH,” vocalist/guitarist Jon Weisnewski wails over massive, frenetic riffs, rounded out by bassist Jesse Roberts’ warm low end and drummer Nat Damm’s ultra-hard, punch-like beats. The song concludes in a frenzy of danceable beats, with Weisnewski doing his best Painkiller-era Halford screams as he commands you to flood the whole damn thing – drown those who wish to destroy us. As pissed off as the song is, you’ll feel triumphant by the end anyway.

Side B’s “Baleen” on the other hand (while ironically the angrier-sounding song of the two), is about a lighter thought that keeps Weisnewski up at night: Do you ever think about how fucking weird whales are? They’re enormous floating creatures that can’t handle gravity, and they hang out in the deepest oceans. Yet they can’t breathe underwater, so they have to stay near the top and come up for air all the time. Seems inconvenient. And you’d think that the biggest mammal that ever lived would be a brutal carnivore, right? But no. They eat the tiniest creatures, through a bunch of hair in their mouths. What the fuck? Anyway, ponder on that while you bang your head along with Sandrider’s signature primal, hypnotizingly heavy riffs.

While the Aviary/Baleen 7” is Sandrider’s debut for Alternative Tentacles, Weisnewski and Damm have a long history with the label, having previously been signed to AT with their former band, AKIMBO. After forming Sandrider in 2007, the band released three full-length albums and a split with KINSKI via the now-defunct Seattle label Good To Die before signing to Satanik Royalty Records for the release of 2023’s Enveletration. The trio are thrilled that they get to release records with their local Seattle friends as well as the punk-rock legends in Alternative Tentacles.

Weisnewski comments:
“I’m so excited to work with Alternative Tentacles again. I have so much appreciation for Jello and the label finding and investing in artists that continually push expectations. They’re often unsafe, in that they champion artists over mainstream commercial appeal, and at the same time that consistency has built a fucking amazing legacy. Sandrider is just so humbled and appreciative that they would extend the offer to us. We’re over the moon about it.”

AVIARY/BALEEN was recorded by Matt Bayles (Mastodon, ISIS, The Sword) at Studio Litho & ExEx Audio October 2021.
Mixed by Matt Bayles at The Red Room March 2022.
Additional recording by Jeff McNulty at The Kill Room November 2021. Mastered by Ed Brooks at Resonant Mastering April 2022.
Paintings by Jesse Roberts.
Layout by Nat Damm.
Photos by Invisible Hour.

SANDRIDER:
Nat Damm – drums
Jesse Roberts – bass, vocals
Jon Weisnewski – guitar, vocals

http://www.facebook.com/sandriderseattle
https://www.instagram.com/sandriderseattle/
http://sandrider.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/AlternativeTentaclesRecords
https://www.instagram.com/alternativetentacles/
https://www.tiktok.com/@alternativetentacles
https://alternativetentacles.com/

Sandrider, Aviary/Baleen (2024)

An all-dayer set for Saturday, Dec. 16, at El Corazon and Funhouse in Seattle, Washington, Rain City Doom Fest was announced late last week by the bands. There are eight of those, which is probably plenty, considering you’ve got Matt Pike bringing his Pike vs. the Automaton solo band through with direct support from Witch Ripper and Mos Generator. Un, Sorcia, Sun Crow, Grim Earth and Mother Root round out, and if you know all of those bands or you don’t — Sorcia in July put out a record called Lost Season (review here); Witch Ripper gleaned fervent hyperbole around their The Flight After the Fall (review here) this Spring; Sun Crow are working toward their next LP; the list goes on — but if I’ve earned any trust in the last 14 years, I hope maybe you’ll take my word for it when I say it’s a solid lineup between established and newer acts, and that I hope it continues to be a regular thing.

Because a homegrown heavy fest isn’t anything to sneeze at and it’s not easy to put together, learning many invariably crucial lessons the only way they can be learned: by doing the thing. I didn’t know it when I first posted the lineup, but Jessica Brasch of Sorcia books this one and it’s been going for three years. This is the first time it will be at two venues — I think — and it remains a killer bill.

Have at it:

El Corazon & The Funhouse present:

RAIN CITY DOOM FEST 2023

2 stages, 8 bands. Showcasing some of the heaviest music in the PNW and beyond.

Pike Vs The Automaton
Witch Ripper
Mos Generator
Un
Sorcia
Sun Crow
Grim Earth
Mother Root

Saturday, Dec. 16

Doors @ 6pm | Show @ 7pm
$20 ADV | $25 DOS | 21+

(#127903#)️ on sale Friday 10/13 at 9am

Poster: Brian Kim

Event page: https://facebook.com/events/s/rain-city-doom-fest-2023/1021960045617875/

Sorcia, Lost Season (2023)