A three-way split released in gorgeous 180 gram LP (limited to 500), with each of its participants represented in a different primary color – red for Californian desert rockers WaterWays, blue for UK prog instrumentalists Sons of Alpha Centauri and yellow for Australian brotherly noise rock duo Hotel Wrecking City Traders – the latest Bro Fidelity Records is every bit as intricate and lush in its psychedelia as its Alexander von Wieding artwork. The three bands display distinct personalities between them and as WaterWays come first with side A all to themselves and twice as much material as either Sons of Alpha Centauri or Hotel Wrecking City Traders, they’re obviously meant as a focal point. No wonder, given the band’s lineup. WaterWays boasts in its ranks guitarist Gary Arce of Yawning Man, bassist/vocalist Mario Lalli and drummer Tony Tornay (both of Fatso Jetson) and vocalist Abby Travis, who in the past has collaborated with the likes of Masters of Reality and Eagles of Death Metal, so if they come first of the three acts represented here, at least they earned it via pedigree. It’s also not the first time Hotel Wrecking City Traders – who also run Bro Fidelity Records – have sought to highlight Gary Arce’s work. The band collaborated with Arce on a 2011 collaborative 12” (review here). And as WaterWays’ first release was a late-2010 split with Yawning Sons, which is Arce’s pan-oceanic collaboration with Sons of Alpha Centauri, he would seem to be the figure tying everything together on this split, particularly as his influence has bled into the work of Ben and Toby Matthews of Hotel Wrecking City Traders on their contribution here, the 9:37 closer “Pulmo Victus.” Before them, on side B, Sons of Alpha Centauri dig deep into their archives to unearth the 8:48 track “27,” from an early recording session, and of course on side A, WaterWays take their time unfolding four songs of textured dune-minded psych, Lalli and Tornay’s well-honed chemistry underscoring Arce’s expansive tone and Travis’ sweetly melodic vocals.

Travis is joined vocally — presumably by Lalli — by low-register rhythmic singing on opener “Piece of You,” playing up a progressive feel early into the split. “Piece of You,” “Queen,” “The Blacksmith” and “WaterWays” are all relatively short, none touching five minutes, and they play out with more structure to them than one is necessarily used to in the often jam-minded context of Arce’s work. The guitarist in no small part defines any band he touches. His tone is inimitable and unmistakable, and for the most part, though it’s not what Yawning Man usually traffics in, he does well with the material, which still feels and sounds open despite having set verses and choruses. He’s hardly caged here – there’s still plenty of room in these songs for him to wander as he will, and even Yawning Man’s freest material doesn’t linger time-wise – but it’s Travis’ vocals that wind up characterizing much of what separates WaterWays from the slew of other Arce projects. She’s got just enough quirk in her voice to make “Piece of You” stand alongside the Palm Desert tradition of weird explorations while still injecting a soulful breathiness into “Queen,” somewhat ironically jarring the listener back to the sandy ground with the punctuated line, “You’re fucking high.” “Queen” has a Western march in its snare from Tornay and Lalli has no problem keeping up and setting the melody on bass while Arce emits echoes of what seems like an eternal lead. It would be the highlight of WaterWays’ section of the split but for “The Blacksmith,” which has “hey-ya, hey-ya” backing vocals behind Travis reminiscent of but not caricaturing Native American chants and the band’s most engaging chorus here. By contrast, the eponymous “WaterWays” offers “lalala”s and an introductory progression that reminds strikingly of Geto Boys’ “Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangsta,” which left an impression as a featured track in the movie Office Space. Sonic coincidence most likely, and the song moves away to a drum-led section with Tornay setting the course on his toms, but the vocals here seem like an afterthought added once the instrumental progression was set, and the repeated line, “Go the waterways,” falls short of the lullaby it seems to be reaching to be, its pacing just a little too quick to soothe in its four-minute course. Crash cymbals toward the end and layered vocals don’t exactly help in that regard either, though the song remains undeniably infectious.

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It’s been four years since UK instrumental heavy proggers Sons of Alpha Centauri released their self-titled full-length on Sound Devastation, and though they’ve got another record in the works, it’s not like the four-piece has been sitting still since that time. In 2009, they released one of the best albums of that year in Ceremony to the Sunset, the debut of Yawning Sons, their collaboration with Gary Arce of Californian desert legends Yawning Man, as well as a split with Karma to Burn offshoot Treasure Cat.

In 2011, Sons of Alpha Centauri return with another installment of Yawning Sons. This time, it’s a split 7″ with another of Arce‘s many projects, Waterways, and, as SOAC proper, another split 7″ — this one with Karma to Burn. If you believe in guilt by association, Sons of Alpha Centauri have thrown themselves headfirst into the upper echelon of the instrumental heavy underground, and while one hopes their next offering lives up to the high standard they’ve set in these collaborations, their progressive atmospheres have already helped make several strong releases even stronger.

There’s a lot to keep up with, so all the more reason to hit up bassist Nick Hannon to get a better sense of everything happening with the band. Fortunately, he was kind enough to field the interview and you’ll find the results below.

Sons of Alpha Centauri is Hannon, guitarist Marlon King, first-name-only ambience specialist Blake and drummer Stevie B. Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions.

1. How did the collaboration/split projects with Gary Arce and Karma to Burn come about? Does the writing process differ at all when you know someone else is going to be playing on the track?

The projects were quite straightforward to arrange. I called Gary and Will and they both responded with interest to develop some new music. SOAC are a flexible band and both Gary and Will [Mecum, Karma to Burn] are accommodating musicians. As such, when they came over, they used our equipment, and compositionally, we held the bass and drums low with room for guitars to breathe along. It was great to watch the tracks unfold in front of us from there! We played and practiced by the sea and everyone found it a very emotional and inspirational experience.

2. Tell me about the Yawning Sons process this time around. Did Gary come to the UK again to record?

No, no Gary by the sea this time! The track on the vinyl came from an original demo from the Garden Sessions from when we were all recording over in Marlon’s garden. There are quite a few tracks that didn’t make it onto Ceremony to the Sunset and that’s one of them. We didn’t have time in the studio so we re-recorded it and sent it over the Gary who laid it down thick on his end. We had it mastered at Abbey Road and it sounds very chilled. Just like when we were in the garden!

3. Any idea on a release date for the new Sons of Alpha Centauri full-length? How has the recording been, and can you give any hint as to what can be expected from the album? Did you have anything in mind specifically for the songwriting and recording?

We have been determined in writing and recording the second album but there’ll be plenty of music on there, so it’s not going to be a short production. Blake is having a much greater role in the band compared to six or seven years ago and it’s been great to grow since writing and recording the debut. All I can say for the time being is that it’s next logical step and level for us from the debut. Strangely we’ve been together 10 years and we’ve only just started recording our second album! We’re aiming for a release date of mid/late-2012.

4. Talk about the development of the Sons of Alpha Centauri sound. Do you feel that these collaborations have had an effect on how you create new material?

As we had hoped, we’ve grown from the collaborations and accelerated our learning curve for new ideas and exploration of sound for sure. In a way they’ve developed into entities in their own right now, which is cool. For the first five years we wrote 35 songs and picked some for an introduction to some of the styles we liked. The new album is a complete concept in itself and we’re really excited about it.

5. What does the word “progressive” mean to you?

To spiritually evolve organically within your environment. Musically the same applies to SOAC and Yawning Sons. We’re both progressive bands for sure – always evolving!

6. What’s next for you guys? Will you do any other joint projects or releases between now and the next Sons of Alpha Centauri release? Is anything in the works as far as touring after the record comes out?

Well, we’re busy at the moment, which is good. Later this year we’ll be finishing off and putting out the next Space Age and Cheesecake release on 7” vinyl. This is the second in the SOAC/Karma to Burn 7” series as it goes. As with the previous release it’s got a new SOAC track on there and new artwork from Alex Von Wieding. We’ll also be doing a special 12” release before the second album comes out so we’ll be focusing on that for the New Year. Got some great people involved with that…

As for touring, we’re hoping to play some shows in Europe next year and depending on our setup we’ll be looking to bring our background visual setup with us like we’ve been using for the UK shows.

Sons of Alpha Centauri’s website

Yawning Sons on Thee Facebooks

Space Age & Cheesecake Records

I wanted to make sure I heard UK prog instrumentalists Sons of Alpha Centauri‘s follow-up contributions to their Last Day of Summer split/collaboration with Treasure Cat (Underdogma) before writing about their 2007 self-titled debut on Sound Devastation Records, because the first thought in my head on listening to that full-length was, “Man, these drums are dry.”

And they were. 2007’s Sons of Alpha Centauri was recorded live over two sessions between 2005 and 2006, and even after going through the album a couple times, I kept coming back to, “Can I get a little reverb here?” And in fact, I extended that to everything — the guitars and bass too, but still most especially the drums, and most especially the snare.

Finally I realized where this expectation came from. Prior to hearing either the Treasure Cat split or the self-titled, I knew Sons of Alpha Centauri principally by name and from their Yawning Sons collaboration with Yawning Man‘s Gary Arce. One thing about that record: it was drenched in reverb. I’m not going to say the drum sound on the first offering is perfect (any production issues are cleared up by the split, it’s also worth noting), but taking away my prejudiced expectation, I felt much less like something was missing from the sound of the band and was able to get into the record with no problem.

There’s plenty of it to get into, too. Sons of Alpha Centauri is 67 minutes long, a monster of an instrumental album, rife with riffs and clever turns. Groove isn’t the primary focus — Karma to Burn‘s an influence, but this isn’t trying to be Karma to Burn — but it’s there nonetheless, and as Marlon King‘s Tool-ish guitar line opens “(Battle at) the Forts,” it’s clear Sons of Alpha Centauri have a diverse range of inspirations. I was surprised to find more straightforward material on the split, like “Under Surveillance,” which goes so far as to include cowbell (very un-prog; not at all a complaint). Not sure if they were just rocking out for the sake of accompanying Treasure Cat, which boasts in its lineup guitarist Will Mecum of Karma to Burn, but it worked for them. The strong rhythm section of bassist Nick Hannon and drummer Stevie B. — the lineup is rounded out by Blake on “textures” — prove adaptable to either approach, so bonus points there.

Doesn’t make much sense to say it, but of the two, I’d recommend starting with both. Some of the production issues on the self-titled might give a mistaken first impression, but the songs are still definitely worth hearing, and the Sons of Alpha Centauri cuts on the split with Treasure Cat go a long way toward confirming those actually were production issues, rather than something internal with the band itself. Plus, the three Alpha Cat tracks on Last Day of Summer — that’s Sons of Alpha Centauri and Treasure Cat put together — are stellar. As a way of getting introduced to the band before either tackling their latest split 7″ with Karma to Burn or impending new album, you really shouldn’t hear one without the other.