Posted in Whathaveyou on February 24th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
As of this post, there’s been no official word from the band directly on the subject, but it appears that Portland, Oregon, heavy rockers Sons of Huns are calling it quits, at least for the time being. An upcoming European tour that included a slot at Freak Valley 2016 has been nixed, and while they have a show next Friday, March 4, at The Know in Portland with Cloud Catcher and Pushy, they’ve apparently set March 28 as the end of their tenure — again, at least for now.
One never wants to say never in these situations, because six months or four years from now who knows what might come, but even if their exit is temporary, Sons of Huns make it at the sacrifice of considerable momentum. While also sharing guitarist/vocalist Pete Hughes with Danava, the band — Hughes, Aaron Powell on bass/vocals and Ryan Northrop on drums — made a stir in their own right, their second album, While Sleeping Stay Awake (review here), having landed from RidingEasy Records as one of 2015’s highlight riffers and a worthy follow-up to their 2013 debut, Banishment Ritual. Even in the crowded Pacific Northwest, Sons of Huns seemed able to reach an audience.
Cool band, glad I got to see them. Their final offering was made last month in the form of a collaboration beer/single with Gigantic Brewing called Kiss the Goat (posted here), and Freak Valley festival posted the announcement from the band:
Sons of Huns canceled their European tour including the show @ FVF. Here’s their official statement:
“Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, Sons of Huns has to cancel their European Tour for May 2016. We are truly sorry to our fans and folks counting on us being there. We hope to make it up to you one day. Thank you for understanding. There’s been some items of business that we’ve had to figure out as a band, and it has caused us to go on indefinite hiatus after March 28th, 2016.”
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 29th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
I’ve been waiting for Portland, Oregon, trio Sons of Huns to announce a European tour. Veterans of Hoverfest in their well-populated hometown, they were confirmed back in November as taking part in Freak Valley 2016 in Germany, and while I suppose it’s possible they’re just flying over for that one show and then returning home, they’ve shown no aversion to hitting the road in the past, so a couple weeks doesn’t seem like an unrealistic expectation. There’s still a while to go between now and late May, when the fest takes place, so it’s by no means too late for that announcement to come through, though I haven’t seen it yet.
What I have seen as regards the heavy rocking three-piece, whose sophomore outing, While Sleeping Stay Awake (review here), was issued last year on RidingEasy Records, is a brand new single called Kiss the Goat produced to celebrate the release of a black dopplebock beer collaboration between the band and Portland-based Gigantic Brewing. The quick-turning boogie of the two tracks, “Powerless to the Succubus” and “Fantasy/Reality,” will be familiar to anyone who heard the last record, but for about 10 minutes of investment on a name-your-price download or a $5 vinyl, one could hardly accuse Sons of Huns of asking too much of their audience.
The songs are streaming below. Cover and release info follow:
Sons of Huns – Kiss the Goat 7″ Record/Vinyl
Limited Edition 7″ to celebrate the release of Kiss the Goat, a SOH/Gigantic Brewery collaboration!
Exclusive collaboration with Gigantic Brewing’s “Kiss the Goat” black dopplebock beer. Recorded September 22nd of 2015 with Pat Kearns at Perma Press Studios in Portland, OR. Art by Jon MacNair.
1. Powerless to the Succubus 05:27 2. Fantasy/Reality 04:44
Throughout their reign in the Pacific Northwest music scene, Sons of Huns have become widely known for their ability to turn every live show into a sci-fi, psychedelic-rock party and livening the spirit of every crowd with their jokes and unforgiving volume.
Pete Hughes: guitar/vox Ryan Northrop: drums Aaron Powell: bass/vox
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 3rd, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Well, this one’s a no-brainer. A free download from RidingEasy Records that previews two of the label’s upcoming releases while at the same time wrapping up some of the best 2015 had to offer. The label is calling it the Winter 2016 Mixtape, and what it rounds out to is 14 tracks that demonstrate how huge a role RidingEasy has played in setting the tone for heavy rock in the last year. The West Coast label has established one of the strongest rosters of acts in the US, persistently released quality offerings in quality formats, and developed an aesthetic that’s individualized and expanding in kind.
All the tracks listed below are mixed into one molten 74-minute file that you can stream and download below. And if you’re only rolling into it interested in the new stuff — hey, maybe you heard the rest — that’s right up front for immediate access:
Here is a smattering of tunes that came out in 2015 and will come out in the first part of 2016. Hand selected and mixed by DJ Bonghits.
1. Electric Citizen – “Evil” from the forthcoming album “Higher Time” out April 2016 2. Mondo Drag “Out of Sight” from the forthcoming album “The Occultation of Light” out Feb 2016 3. Slow Season “Day Glo Sunrise” from the album “Slow Season” 4. Salem’s Pot “The Vampire Strikes Back” (Full Version) 5, Zekes “Box” from Brown Acid “The First Trip” 6. Old Man’s Will “Got It” from the album “Hard Times Troubled Man” 7. Sons of Huns “Philosopher’s Stone” from the album “While Sleeping Stay Awake” 8. Spiral Shades “Frozen Fear” (Originally performed and written by Bedemon) 9. Holy Serpent “Shroom Doom” From the album Holy Serpent 10. Spelljammer “The Pathfinder” From the album “Ancient of Days” 11. Monolord “Cursing The One” From the Album Vænir 12. Blackout “Tannered” from the album “Blackout” 13. The Well “Crawling Mist” (McPullish Dub Mix) 14. The Picturebooks “Hail These Words” from the album “Imaginary Horse”
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 17th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
I’ve had a pretty good thing so far going staying on top of the announcements as they’ve come out for Freak Valley 2016, and I’ll go ahead and blame the fact that I was traveling last week for my having missed the news that Portland, Oregon-based RidingEasy rockers Sons of Huns will take part. Better late than never, and especially so when their addition can come coupled with the significantly fresher news that Swedish boogie specialists Spiders have also joined the lineup.
Unless they put out a new one between now and then, which is entirely possible, Sons of Huns will be abroad supporting their 2015 album, While Sleeping Stay Awake (review here). Spiders‘ latest offering is 2014’s Shake Electric as of now, but I seem to recall seeing someplace they had a follow-up in the works. Even if not, they certainly have plenty going on otherwise. This week they head out in the UK alongside Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, and in January, they will join Graveyard on the second leg of their US tour.
Announcements follow, courtesy of Freak Valley:
*** SPIDERS & SONS OF HUNS added to Freak Valley Festival line-up 2016 ***
Sprung out of Gothenburg, Sweden, the four piece rock-outfit Spiders has since their critically acclaimed debut album Flashpoint been one of the hardest touring bands in the business. Their MC5 -inspired glampunk honours rock history in their own unique way and has taken the band multiple mile after mile around the globe, both as a headliner and as support for Kvelertak, Metallica and the friends from Graveyard.
Actually they are supporting Uncle Acid and the deadbeats on their massive European tour. Spiders are crawling in a swift pace towards the top!
The beautiful he poster by Jo Riou Graphic Designer is dedicated to Louis. He’s a 5 year old child who lost his mother (who was a friend of Jo) and his grandmother in the Paris attacks some days ago. He collected his posters in his bedroom…
We are thrilled to announce, that the Portland heavy riffin trio SONS OF HUNS are coming to Europe for the very first time to play FREAK VALLEY FESTIVAL!!
In a city like Portland, Oregon, where there are quite literally hundreds of people playing heavy music – and playing it well, at that – it takes a bold, tightly-honed punch to the crowd’s ears in order to stand out. Formed in the winter of 2009 and armed with a full stack of Orange cabs, a lifetime of experience and enough classical training to out-riff any band that dares stand in their SG-wielding path, Sons of Huns [RidingEasy Records] have consistently blown crowds away. Peter Hughes of DANAVA fame (guitar), Shoki Tanabe (bass) and Ryan Northrop (drums) have headlined shows in anywhere from tiny bars to the main stages of Portland’s biggest music festivals.
Throughout their reign in the Pacific Northwest music scene, Sons of Huns have become widely known for their ability to turn every live show into a sci-fi, psychedelic-rock party and livening the spirit of every crowd with their jokes and unforgiving volume.
Posted in Reviews on August 5th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Chances are that if someone came up to you and said, “Hey, I just checked out a hotly-tipped heavy rock trio from Portland, Oregon, that you need to hear,” you’d be right in thinking that it’s a story you already know, and in the case of the three-piece Sons of Huns, to a certain extent there’s a superficial familiarity from the get-go. At least with the narrative. Band comes from hip town, makes cool records, gets noticed. That doesn’t do much to convey the appeal of Sons of Huns on their second record for RidingEasy, the vinyl-begging nine-track/37-minute While Sleeping Stay Awake, but if you’re already that jaded going into it, then fine.
For everyone else ready to get aboard the band’s party wagon of fuzzed up semi-thrash riffing, the Toshi Kasai-produced While Sleeping Stay Awake follows Sons of Huns‘ 2013 debut, Banishment Ritual, which earned a wide barrage of acclaim from listeners and critics alike. The new album doesn’t reinvent the methodology of riff-led shenanigans metal, but it does refine it, and even more impressively, it refines it while at the same time managing to not sound like Red Fang, who one could argue are the Pacific Northwest’s regional forerunners of the style. A song like “Eye in the Sky” is probably as close as they come, and even that still has plenty of distance to spare, Sons of Huns impressing in the meantime with their fast-paced winding rhythms and flourishes of arrangement, guitarist/vocalist Pete Hughes (also of Danava) and bassist/vocalist Aaron Powell running circles around the central forward movement from drummer Ryan Northrop (also of Holy Grove) that propels the track on its somehow-still-efficient route.
Hughes is quick to toss in a lead at the end of a measure or to mark out a transition between a verse and chorus, and that adds excitement to an already energetic performance, but in the end it’s the songwriting that rules the day over any individual performance — up to and including the guest spots from Scott “Wino” Weinrich, who adds vocals on third cut “An Evil Unseen” and the Melvins‘ Dale Crover, who sits in for “Philosopher’s Stone.” Opener “Osiris Slain” sets a lyrical tone toward the otherworldly, but Sons of Huns never veer far enough from their straightforward path to be called cult rock, even if they touch on a thematic inclination there and on side B’s two-parter, “Alchemist Part I” and “Alchemist Part II.”
Something else the leadoff piece does is establish a post-Motörhead type of momentum, Hughes and Powell both contributing vocals atop a speedy progression that finishes strong with some more subdued chugging only to pick up the pace again with the tense start of “Ad Astra,” the central riff of which could claim Dio‘s “Stand up and Shout” as a likely source for at least part of its genetic makeup. Sons of Huns make this their own as they do early-Fu Manchu fuzz a little later on “Philosopher’s Stone,” but with “An Evil Unseen,” they quickly establish Wino as a recognizable presence alongside Hughes‘ vocals, rhythmic rolls and shuffles playing off each other in a memorable chorus before a swath of leads hits in the second half. All this in a song under four minutes long, mind you. As noted, they work pretty efficiently throughout While Sleeping Stay Awake, but that doesn’t necessarily leave tracks without a sense of space either. “Eye in the Sky” is a rawer thrasher, but “Philosopher’s Stone” cuts the tempo somewhat to flesh out a sleek boogie that builds in intensity until fading out — Crover‘s drums seem to be the last to go — adding some variety to what by the end of side A has already been a precise attack.
And I suppose a big part of While Sleeping Stay Awake‘s success comes from the band’s ability to sound laid back while executing that precision, perhaps best shown on “Alchemist Part I” and “Alchemist Part II,” wherein they directly trade between a full-sprint rush subtly complex in its arrangement and the classic rock boogie and doomed riffing in the second part, which is the longest cut on the album at just over six minutes, Northrop‘s swing and Hughes‘ shouts and Alice Cooper-esque snarl making it a highlight of the collection as a whole. They answer it with the title-track and more fuzz boogie, but there’s little relinquishing the momentum they’ve worked so hard by then to build and maintain, the song seeming to hold its earliest-Metallica nod back until the last minute, seeking and subsequently destroying while keeping a grip on its groove to the last, closer “The Reaper” (or “The Reaper is Waiting,” or “The Reaper is Waiting for You,” depending on whom you ask) winding up While Sleeping Stay Awake with a tale of lost hope and impending destruction.
It’s a fitting enough end, particularly delivered at the clip it is and with the hook on top of which it seems to gallop, and while Sons of Huns boast a decided penchant toward lyrical severity, the underlying spirit of their sophomore outing doesn’t fall prey to pretense really of any sort, instrumental or vocal, and once again, it’s their ability to stand in a delicate balance that marks them out both within the populated scene from whence they emerge and the wider sphere of the heavy rock underground, on the West Coast and beyond. Somewhere between classic metal, ’70s boogie, modern heavy rock and thrash, Sons of Huns carve an identity for themselves that only becomes more their own over the speedy, quick-turning course through these songs.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 18th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Can’t say it’s much of a surprise, but the lineup for Hoverfest 2015 looks pretty awesome. The second installment of the annual fest brought together by Hovercraft Amps, Cravedog and Nanotear is set for an all-dayer Aug. 8 in Portland, Oregon, and like last year, the lineup of acts is made up mostly of locals — there are a few to choose from in Portland these days — and to go with all that hometown spirit, they’ll bring in San Francisco kings of weirdo trad metal Slough Feg to headline.
Slough Feg will sit atop a mighty Portlander grouping, varied between the doomly ways of Witch Mountain, who make a return appearance, a return as well for the ’70s heavy of Danava, Lord Dying‘s don’t-tell-anybody-it’s-death-metal-because-we-like-playing-with-stoner-bands genrebending, Sons of Huns on the heels of their new album, While Sleeping Stay Awake, a second showing from Holy Grove, and first-timers Zirakzigil and Mane of the Cur to lead things off. Sounds like a good time to me.
Last year, Billy Anderson was brought on to work the mixer, and whether or not he’ll make another appearance has yet to be revealed, but the preliminaries are out. With presumably more to come, here they are:
Cravedog Presents HOVERFEST 2015
Cravedog, Hovercraft Amps, and Nanotear Booking have teamed up to bring the second annual HOVERFEST on Saturday 8.8.15 in Portland, OR
The rocks starts at noon and rolls til sundown. Once again set in the alley behind Cravedog with the gorgeous sunset view of the Fremont Bridge. 611 N. Tillamook Street
This year will be 21+ so the whole alley is a beer garden.
Rock, metal, and doom all day long from:
SLOUGH FEG WITCH MOUNTAIN DANAVA LORD DYING SONS OF HUNS HOLY GROVE ZIRAKZIGIL MANE OF THE CUR
Posted in Features, Reviews on February 24th, 2014 by JJ Koczan
02.24.14 — 12:07AM Pacific — Sun. night / Mon. morning — Hawthorne Theater, Portland, OR
“Everybody gets a trophy at the Hawthorne Theatre…” — JJ Koczan
Oh, Portland. Portland, baby. 15’s my limit on schnitzengruben. You are making a German spectacle of yourself. It would be real easy to get spoiled living in this town. Quite a night. Quite a show. Pentagram had an amp blow out or something and the crowd was still going nuts. Pressed up against a metal railing at the front of the stage, I was reminded of younger days, a straight-line bruise along the bottom of the rib cage from being up front at silly shows. This was a young audience. They were into it. You kids and your doom.
Everything was a little more dead on tonight, as expected. Getting past the first show seems to have allowed for a certain amount of tension to abate. The three touring bands were tighter — no small feat after last night — and the local openers, Mothers Whiskey and Sons of Huns, both drew and performed well. Sold out show. Again, one could get spoiled.
I’ll try and make it quick again since it’s midnight and I’ve got actual job work to do:
Mothers Whiskey
Was talking with Mothers Whiskey guitarist/vocalist Greg Powers before the show and he mentioned he’s an East Coast guy, from Maryland. I don’t know that I would necessarily have picked it out in his approach had he not said it, but he had some of that post-Sixty Watt Shaman burl, though tempered obviously by the pervasive mellow of his current surroundings. Thus, Mothers Whiskey were a solid bicoastal blend, unpretentious and laid back, but still with an insistent undertone. Pretty clear they’re figuring out their sound, but their dynamic was solid, particularly on closer “Scorpion Moon Burn,” which carried that Southern heavy influence across smoothly.
Sons of Huns
The first band I’ve seen on this tour in which no single member had a full beard. Nonetheless, a local trio who’ve made a splash with their recent Banishment Ritualrelease, Sons of Huns were clearly known to the crowd. It was an all-ages show, and they skewed young, which never hurts, but they made their chops plain enough to see, guitarist Pete Hughes busting out solos that I read as an opening volley soon enough to be returned by Radio Moscow while sharing vocal duties with bassist Shoki Tanabe, who switched to a fretless about halfway through the set. Drummer Ryan Northrop was the anchor, but nothing was really holding Sons of Huns back as they gave the yet-unnamed post-Millennial generation a reason to relish Kyuss-style riffing.
Kings Destroy
Since I was in the van this afternoon with them, I know the literal miles Kings Destroy came for this show, but they do little justice to how many miles more comfortable they seemed on stage. Guitarists Chris Skowronski and Carl Porcaro were shoving and kicking, almost daring each other to fuck up, while bassist Aaron Bumpus and drummer Rob Sefcik provided the foundation for their shenanigans and Steve Murphy turned his mic stand at one point into a harpoon and thrust it in the general direction of the crowd. They started a little early, so squeezed “Dusty Mummy” into a riff-heavy set that worked well after Sons of Huns, setting up a rock/doom back and forth that would continue into Radio Moscow and Pentagram. The vocals didn’t come across as clearly, but the new song, “Embers,” was tighter tonight as well.
Radio Moscow
Doesn’t matter how many nights this tour goes, I don’t imagine I’m going to get tired of watching Radio Moscow make killing it look so easy. Two new songs in the set tonight, “Death of a Queen” and another one, plus “Rancho Tehama Airport,” which is also pretty recent, and where last night dipped back to the self-titled for “Frustrating Sound,” and that was certainly welcome as far as I’m concerned, I am not in the slightest about to complain about getting to know a couple new cuts ahead of the arrival of their new album, Magical Dirt, which seems to be slated for a spring release. Whenever it comes, the twists and turns in “Death of a Queen” are sure to be a highlight, as they were both in Seattle and at the Hawthorne, where they were met with due appreciation and then some by the all-ages set, who had youthful vigor on their side, and the 21-and-overs, who were sloshed. Suddenly the show felt very sold out, very packed in. No arguments though.
Pentagram
Yeah, and then Pentagram went on. Even before they took the stage, the push of people toward the front was fairly ridiculous. Bobby Liebling got cheers even as he walked out from the green room on the side of the stage, standing on a balcony and pointing at the crowd, obviously thrilled to see him. The place went off. Set was the same as last night — my only complaint with it is no “Walk in Blue Light,” but you can’t have everything — opening with “Nightmare Gown” from Be Forewarned and going into “Review Your Choices” before letting loose with “Forever My Queen” after what seemed to be some technical difficulty and on from there. It was during the latter (they were inadvertently switched at El Corazon, come to think of it), that being up front became an untenable situation and I did what any self-respecting adult would do and fell backwards into the press to make my way through. At one point the strap of my bookbag with my laptop in it was hooked around some plastered girl’s arm who refused to give it up, but I was ready to pull her outside with me if necessary. Finally I shouted something about it actually being my bag and a light went on in her head and she let go. I was pretty well frazzled, but made my way to the back to watch more. True, it was the same deal as Seattle, but screw it. Every time you get to see Pentagram — with Victor Griffin on guitar especially — it’s the right way to go, though I’ll admit that when they got down to the encore of “Be Forewarned” into “Wartime,” I was listening from outside.
Loadout, well, didn’t go quite as smoothly as last night. There was a bit of waiting and when all the stuff was in the sprinter, it was established that we’d be hitting a bar called Chopsticks at the suggestion of some locals who were headed that way. Tomorrow is an off-day for the tour. Turns out the place was a Chinese restaurant in addition to a bar — they called it fast food but they were the best dumplings I’ve had since I moved out of New Jersey — and that the karaoke was going in full force. Chopsticks wasn’t as packed as the show, but it had a crowd, and they felt like dancing. It was 1:30AM by the time we got there and about 2:30AM by the time we left, and in between is a blur of irony-overload ’80s hits sung by an assortment pulled from the almost-entirely-white assemblage. One guy did “Aqualung,” and nailed it, but the rest was Tears for Fears, Michael Jackson and the like.
Many laughs, many drinks, some dim sum, and no one was quite as sloppy as they semi-apologized for being. I think on some level it’s weird for these dudes that I’m here and that I’m writing as I’m here, like an embed. I know they’ve seen some of what’s been posted, and it’s not that they’re being guarded — at one point tonight I rechristened the band “Kings Destroyed,” so if there were guards, they went on break and didn’t come back — but my concern is not harshing anyone’s good time by making them feel like they’re being watched.
Anyway. There was talk of a James Brown hot tub party when we got back to the motel by the airport where we’re staying, but it was to bed almost immediately. Steve gets his own room, Carl and I share (even at his worst so far, which might be right now, he’s nowhere near the worst snorer with whom I’ve shared a hotel room), Rob and Aaron, and C-Wolf and Jim Pitts. We’re all in a row on the 200 level of the Clarion with a noon checkout tomorrow and a drive to San Francisco to follow. It’s now four in the morning. Something tells me we won’t be getting an early start.
There was a point during the making of this podcast when I stepped back for a second realized, “This is getting really heavy.” It kind of happened out of the blue, but it definitely happened, and though the thought occurred to me to maybe pull it back and get into some more rocking stuff in the second hour again, I decided instead to just run with it and have fun and go as all-out ridiculously heavy as I could think of. That’s when we get to Beast in the Field‘s 22-minute “Oncoming Avalanche.” I know I’ve had them in before, but if you’re going all out in 2013 releases, that’s where you’re gonna end up.
Plus, I figured there’s plenty of rocking stuff up front, starting with At Devil Dirt and the subsequent riff pushers in the first hour, and the whole thing rounds out with the psych-hypnosis of The Cosmic Dead, so though it’s far out by the conclusion, it does manage to come back from the ultra-weighted tones somewhat. Screw it. I was having a good time stringing together heavy songs. The bottom line of this whole thing is for it to be fun, and I was having fun, so there you go.
I hope you have fun with it too. Once again, we come in just under two hours with a slew of newer cuts and some stuff from earlier this year that maybe got missed along the way. Considering there’s so much pummel, it flows pretty well.
First Hour:
At Devil Dirt, “Don’t See You Around” from Plan B: Sin Revolucion No Hay Evolucion (2013)
Pigs, “Elo Kiddies” from Gaffe (2013)
Mutoid Man, “Scavengers” from Helium Head (2013)
Viper Fever, “Summer Time” from Super Heavy Garage EP (2013)
Sons of Huns, “I’m Your Dad” from Banishment Ritual (2013)
Blackout, “Seven” from We Are Here (2013)
Horisont, “Backstreet” from Time Warriors (2013)
Old Man Wizard, “If Only” from Unfavorable (2013)
Mother Susurrus, “Anagnorisis” from Maahaavaa (2013)
Coma Wall, “You are My Death” from Wood and Wire Split (2013)
Mollusk, “Hollowed” from Colony of Machines (2013)
Sea of Bones, “Failure of Light” from The Earth Wants us Dead (2013)
Second Hour:
Corrections House, “Dirt Poor and Mentally Ill” from Last City Zero (2013)
Rosetta, “Myo/The Miraculous” from The Anasthete (2013)
Beast in the Field, “Oncoming Avalanche” from The Sacred Above, the Sacred Below (2013)
The Cosmic Dead, “Djamba” from The Cosmic Dead/Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Split (2013)
