Posted in audiObelisk on May 4th, 2011 by JJ Koczan
Whether you were there or not, part of the Roadburn experience each year is reliving it (and hearing the bands you didn’t get to see) with the flood of live audio streams that always emerge after the festival is over. As with last year, the fest was kind enough to grant me permission to host the links to the streams where you can listen, so here’s the first bunch. Some killer sets here from Acid King, Naam, Stone Axe (I’d recommend starting there), Evoken, Hooded Menace et al. Hope you like it heavy.
Posted in Reviews on April 25th, 2011 by JJ Koczan
Hard to know where a split ends and a compilation begins, but in the case of Heavy Ripples Vol. 1 (Ripple Music), I’m inclined towards the former, if only because the release’s format makes you pay specific attention to each of the bands involved, rather than bludgeoning you with track after track from disparate acts. Everyone here is pretty like-minded, and there’s only four of them, so it’s not too much to handle, and the double-7” release ensures that you’re going to be really working to listen – the longest side is just about seven minutes – so Heavy Ripples isn’t something you can put on and forget about. Not that you’d want to with the likes of Stone Axe, Sun Gods in Exile, Grifter and Mighty High around anyway, but at just under 20 minutes total runtime, Heavy Ripples is an efficiently drawn beeline to the rock. Each of the bands contributes something unique to the whole, and for something you could feasibly listen to three times in an hour, Ripple’s latest split packs more memorable songs than most full-length albums. Like I say, efficient.
Stone Axe open with “Nightwolf.” The track finds the Port Orchard, Washington, revivalists in their core duo form of vocalist Dru Brinkerhoff and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/producer T. Dallas Reed, but as usual with them, nothing in personality is lost for the lack of personnel. Brinkerhoff has enough swagger in his delivery for three bands, and I can’t think of any more appropriate way to kickoff Heavy Ripples than a non-ironic song with “night” in the title. If you know Stone Axe, you know what they’re about, and “Nightwolf” is right in line both in terms of style and quality with the bulk of their work. And excellently complemented on side B by Maine upstarts Sun Gods in Exile, whose “Over My Broken Bones” is set to appear (re-recorded) on their second Small Stone full-length later this year. Sun Gods in Exile’s Black Light White Lines was a solo-enthusiast’s wet dream, and “Over My Broken Bones” follows suit, but as was the case with that record, the guitar histrionics is backed by solid songwriting and isn’t showy just for showiness’ sake. Two strong modern classic rockers with a little over nine minutes between them, kicking out righteous jams that, even had Ripple chosen to release this as a one-disc affair, would still be worth investigating.
Posted in Features on April 16th, 2011 by JJ Koczan
3:01AM — Saturday Night/Sunday Morning — Hotel Mercure, Tilburg
I wound up giving up on seeing Shrinebuilder and Ufomammut tonight in favor of Stone Axe and Swans. I don’t know if it was the right decision, and quite frankly, fuck it, I’m through making the right decisions. I’m too tired and I’m too fuck-offy to care what I should be seeing. I made tonight at Roadburn what I wanted it to be, and you can fuck right off if you think I should have been somewhere other than I was.
Pushed my way through to Ramesses in the Green Room when I got back to 013, and no regrets for that, although the space was packed. They were ballsy, they were heavy, they killed, blah blah blah. It was good, and the more I stood there the more I wanted to hear their upcoming album, the promo for which is on my desktop at the office, so I guess mission accomplished. I’m starting to run out of euphemisms for “I liked it.” So fuck it. I liked Ramesses. They were good.
While making my way through the merch area for the umpteenth time this weekend, I ran into the dudes from Stubb, who were on tour with Stone Axe until tonight. I kind of offered to put out their record if they couldn’t find a better deal, so that was something, but more importantly, after shooting the shit for a while, I did the science and decided to see Stone Axe instead of Shrinebuilder. The math was simple and went like this: I’ve seen Shrinebuilder; I haven’t seen Stone Axe. Equation over.
Stone Axe, for what it’s worth, laid rocking waste to the Bat Cave. Theirs was the first set all weekend I’d seen in there, and if it’s the only one — which, since nothing for the Afterburner is booked in there, I guess it will be — it was the right choice. They rocked. And that’s it. I felt like I knew them from listening to the records, but live, Stone Axe is a different beast entirely. Tony Reed killed it on guitar and Dru Brinkerhoff was drunk enough to swipe my beer from the front of the stage before their set even started. It was a rock and roll party, and for a couple minutes, I managed to let go of what a miserable bastard I am, how fucking stressed out I’ve been about work, about school, about this site, all that shit.
It was brief, but for just a bit of Stone Axe, I genuinely didn’t care anymore about any of it. I pulled my earplugs out and let go, and honestly, I don’t think I’ve done that since Neurosis played here in 2009. It didn’t matter that when I get back to Jersey I have a ton of shit to catch up on, or that I spent most of the day wanting to blow my brains out all over the gorgeous Tilburg sidewalk, or that hits are down this month and everyone thinks I give a shit one way or the other what gets posted on the forum when I don’t, or what kind of asshole dwells on this crap anyway when he’s supposed to be having the time of his life: I just rocked out and that was it. I had to travel over 3,600 miles to make that happen.
Like I said, the respite was short-lived, and I was soon back to my grumpy fuck-all. I walked out of Stone Axe partied out, watched them close through the door and soon and set up shop in the main stage photo pit (fucking where else?) for Swans, who proved unphotogenic and apocalyptic in equal measure. I stayed until they did “Jim” from last year’s My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky and then split to come back to the Mercure and call it a night and revel in the foulness of mood for a bit. Oh, if only Evoken were playing now.
One more day to go. It’ll be 4AM at least by the time I finish uploading the photos for this post, so I’ll wake up when I wake up and head over to 013, probably same as today. I’m tired, I miss The Patient Mrs. and my tolerance for weirdos is at its end, but on my way out of the venue, I ran into Winter‘s drummer and he seemed like a cool cat, and I got Johan Lundquist, Robert Lowe and Leif Edling to sign my Roadburn flyer, and I told David D’Andrea I wanted to interview him for this site, so I don’t at all mark the night a loss. I also got one of the last discs of whatever it was White Hills was selling, so tongue out to anyone else who wanted it.
A photographer took my picture yesterday for the Dutch 3voor12 site, which in addition to covering the fest is doing a special pictorial on beards. I had to give my name (JJ Koczan), where I was from (New Jersey) and how long I’ve been growing my beard (a year-plus), and though she told me it would be online today, I can’t find it. Probably for the best. The first part of the series is here if you want to check it out. The rest I don’t know. Maybe I’ll show up there sooner or later and you can find out first-hand why I make it a policy never to put pictures of myself on this site.
Afterburner tomorrow. I want to see Sungrazer so bad I can taste it.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 28th, 2011 by JJ Koczan
I shared this link on the Facebooks over the weekend, but thought it was worth posting it here as well. Ripple Music, which just recently put out a deluxe CD/DVD and vinyl edition of Stone Axe‘s self-titled full-length, are auctioning off one of the vinyl test pressings to aid Japanese relief charities. It’s a good cause, good album and good people, so bid high.
Here’s some PR wire info on the auction and the link:
Starting Monday, March 28, and running for seven days only, Ripple Music and Stone Axe will auction off the only available test pressing of Ripple Music‘s release; Stone Axe I Collector’s Edition LP. Proceeds from this auction will go to benefit Hands On Tokyo, a charitable relief effort to aid Japan after their recent disasters.
Only five of these test pressings exist, and this is the only one ever to be made available to the public. You can jump into the auction, win a cool Stone Axe collectible and benefit disaster relief at the Ripple Music eBay Store.
Also, plan to catch Stone Axe on tour in Europe and the UK, ending at the world famous Roadburn Festival.
Tour Dates:
04/08 The Wheatsheaf, Oxford (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Desert Storm)
04/09 The Unicorn, Camden, London, UK (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Grifter)
04/10 The Earl, Sheffield, UK (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Groan)
04/11 The Captains Rest, Glasgow (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Low Sonic Drift)
04/12 Asylum 2, Birmingham (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Alunah)
04/14 The Vortex, Siegen, Germany (with Stubb)
04/15 MTC, Cologne, Germany (with Stubb and more)
04/16 RoadburnFestival, Tilburg, Holland
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 18th, 2011 by JJ Koczan
If you’re in the area, you can catch Stone Axe tomorrow night at Voodoo Lounge in the band’s native Port Orchard, Washington. It might not be an album-release show, but the band has plenty to celebrate all the same. As the press release below shows, they’re about to head over to Europe for the first time for a batch of shows in the UK alongside the likes of Stubb, Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of the Knight, Grifter and Groan, then they’ll hit the continent-proper en route to Roadburn, heralding the Ripple Music deluxe CD/DVD reissue of their first album and a split with Sun Gods in Exile, Mighty High and Grifter.
So yeah, they might be in good spirits at the Voodoo Lounge.
Said deluxe CD/DVD reissue also features a liner notes bio written by yours truly, and it’s available for pre-orders starting today. Hit that up here, and check out the news and tour dates below. I have nothing but respect for these guys:
Classic rock preservationists Stone Axe have officially announced that they’re hitting the road through the UK, parts of Europe, and wrapping up the tour with a night at the illustrious Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Holland! Starting on April 8 in Oxford, England and running through April 16, this will mark the third time that the band has ventured to foreign soil with the aim of converting new ears to their sonic-brand of classic rock, but this time they’ll be doing it in support of their first CD/DVD package.
Scheduled for release on April 5 and in time for the tour, Stone Axe has put together a deluxe edition of their self-titled debut album. The CD portion of the package features eight bonus live tracks, while the DVD portion features more than 70 minutes of videos, interviews, and live footage! Released through Ripple Music,Stone Axe – Expanded Edition CD/DVD will be available for pre-order beginning Feb. 18, 2011 on the label’s website.
Tour Dates: 04/08 The Wheatsheaf, Oxford (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Desert Storm)
04/09 The Unicorn, Camden, London, UK (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Grifter)
04/10 The Earl, Sheffield, UK (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Groan)
04/11 The Captains Rest, Glasgow (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Low Sonic Drift)
04/12 Asylum 2, Birmingham (with Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Alunah)
04/14 The Vortex, Siegen, Germany (with Stubb)
04/15 MTC, Cologne, Germany (with Stubb and more)
04/16 RoadburnFestival, Tilburg, Holland
Stone Axe has also contributed a song to the Heavy Ripples double vinyl 7” compilation that will also feature tracks from UK blues-based bike rockers Grifter, Brooklyn-based stoner-fied punks Mighty High, and New England’s southern-rock-tinged Sun Gods in Exile (on loan from incomparable Small Stone Records). The record will be officially released on April 19 to a worldwide audience!
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 27th, 2010 by JJ Koczan
Ripple Music, which released the recent Stone Axe/Mighty High split 7″ single, has signed Stone Axe for future releases, which apparently include an EP before the end of the year and their next full-length, as well as a slew of reissues to come from both Stone Axe and multi-instrumentalist T. Dallas Reed‘s prior outfit, Mos Generator.
The PR wire has the details:
T. Dallas Reed has signed with Ripple Music to re-release the critically praised Stone Axe self-titled debut on both vinyl and deluxe CD packages. Originally released in 2009, Stone Axe lit the message boards on fire with its ballsy, retro, bluesy sound, bringing back the classic sound of rock that so many were craving. Now set to be gloriously re-unleashed, the vinyl edition of the album includes an extended jam of one of the original tunes and a full lyric sheet. The LP version will hit the streets on September 7th.
The CD edition of the album, which will see the light of day later in the year, will be a deluxe package with almost 30 minutes of bonus live tracks and a DVD of original promotional videos, live performances, and bonus footage from the recording of the album. A true panacea for the Stone Axe fans!
But that’s not all. Now signed to Ripple Music, T. Dallas Reed has opened his ever expansive vault of recorded material. In 2011, Ripple Music will release a mind-blowing third Stone Axe full length LP, and a re-release of the first Mos Generator LP to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the debut of this legendary stoner rock band. This Mos Generator LP will be laden with bonus material and live performances.
Look for a surprise Stone Axe EP to come out later this year as well!
Time-wise, it’s a short blip of a release, but the new split 7” single between Port Orchard, Washington, rock resurrectionists Stone Axe and green-thumbed Brooklyn, New York, stoner punkers Mighty High has much more to give the listener than its seven-plus minutes would indicate. The offering, released by Ripple Music, brings together two seemingly disparate bands with two very different missions, who nonetheless work well in a row because listening to each one serves so specific a purpose. It’s short, but for anyone who hasn’t yet experienced either, Metal Damage/Don’t Panic it’s Organic is a great way to be introduced to two bands who most definitely are worth your time.
And if you have heard either band before now, you don’t need me to tell you whose song is “Metal Damage” and whose is “Don’t Panic it’s Organic.”
Present for Stone Axe on “Metal Damage” is the core duo of multi-instrumentalist and recent Obelisk interviewee T. Dallas Reed and vocalist Dru Brinkerhoff. To compare the track to Stone Axe’s recent full-length, Stone Axe II, “Metal Damage” is heavier in a traditional sense and, as you might guess, pretty metal. One of the best parts of listening to Stone Axe is picking out the influences on display – in that way they’re very much a band for music nerds – and here they pair Judas Priest’s driving rhythms and Holy Diver-era Dio riffing with an early Ozzy Osbourne (think Bob Daisley) bass line that’s just killer throughout the short, straightforward 3:41 song. Brinkerhoff does the lion’s share of tying “Metal Damage” to Stone Axe’s prior output – he’s a rock vocalist here almost in spite of himself – and the song in no way sounds flat for having just the two of them recording it. As ever with Reed’s recordings, you get a full band sound whether or not you get a full band.
Posted in Features on June 23rd, 2010 by JJ Koczan
When I spoke to Stone Axe multi-instrumentalist, occasional-vocalist, recording engineer and principle songwriter, T. Dallas Reed, he was, as I imagine he often is, working in his HeavyHead studio in his native Port Orchard, Washington. His prolific nature is evident in the sheer number of releases Stone Axe has had in the last two years or so, including two full-lengths, numerous splits and singles, compilation appearances, and so forth. Stone Axe II, the second long player, was recently released via Reed‘s own Music Abuse Records, and already there’s word of a new split with weedian Brooklyn mischief-making punkers Mighty High through Ripple Music, out just in time for the band to hit the road alongside the legendary Saint Vitus later this week. He just keeps going.
But if self-sufficiency is a factor in the output of Stone Axe, it’s because of the years Reed has spent honing his sundry crafts. As he explains in our conversation, he’s been making solo recordings for two and a half decades, and is well accustomed to completing projects on his own. His many years working with labels like Nasoni, Small Stone and Roadburn in Mos Generator have helped shape his mindset of what he wants albums to be, and he has the experience to execute his ideas as they occur to him — which apparently they do on a pretty regular basis.
The mission of Stone Axe is simple: To preserve and honor the godfathers of the heavy ’70s, and unlike the myriad retro acts out there whose vacuous posturing is more chic now than it ever was then, Reed prefers to focus on sonic orthodoxy in the songwriting and recording as a means for expressing his love of this sound. Through Stone Axe II and the band’s 2009 self-titled predecessor, joined by vocalist Dru Brinkerhoff, Reed has molded his guns and stuck readily by them, resulting in some of the most prudent classic rock to come along since before it was classic.
After the jump, we join the conversation already in process. Reed has just informed me that with him in the studio is Stone Axe‘s live bassist, Mike Dupont (Mykey Haslip rounds out the live band on drums), and although I shouldn’t be, I’m a little surprised he’s already onto the next round of Stone Axe material…
Whether you were there or not, part of the Roadburn experience each year is reliving it (and hearing the bands you didn’t get to see) with the flood of live audio streams that always emerge after the festival is over. As with last year, the fest was kind enough to grant me permission to host the links to the streams where you can listen, so here’s the first bunch. Some killer sets here from Acid King, Naam, Stone Axe (I’d recommend starting there), Evoken, Hooded Menace et al. Hope you like it heavy.
If you’re in the area, you can catch Stone Axe tomorrow night at Voodoo Lounge in the band’s native Port Orchard, Washington. It might not be an album-release show, but the band has plenty to celebrate all the same. As the press release below shows, they’re about to head over to Europe for the first time for a batch of shows in the UK alongside the likes of Stubb, Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of the Knight, Grifter and Groan, then they’ll hit the continent-proper en route to Roadburn, heralding the Ripple Music deluxe CD/DVD reissue of their first album and a split with Sun Gods in Exile, Mighty High and Grifter.
