So give me a second while I try to get a handle on all of Stöner‘s upcoming tour dates. First is the holiday run with Clutch. Assuming that happens, it starts next week.

The following lists of shows though have all been announced at various points — the UK/Ireland tour first, then the Clutch dates, then EU plus various fests, now West Coast — so it’s been hard to keep it all straight. I’ve compiled the full list from various other news posts in order to get a more complete picture of what the band’s intentions for 2022 are going to be. My question amid all of this is whether or not Brant Bjork, Nick Oliveri and Ryan Güt will also as previously stated be releasing a second album sometime next year to follow-up on 2021’s Stoners Rule (review here). Would love to tell you, but I just don’t know.

What I do know, however, is that the poster for the portion of the newly-unveiled West Coast stint that involves Yawning Man — dubbed the ‘Interstellar Taco’ tour — is amazing and I’m glad it exists. That art is by Brian Walsby working off an idea from Yawning Man‘s Gary Arce and Mario Lalli. Fucking a.

Shows:

STÖNER with Clutch:
Dec. 27 – Baltimore, MD – Rams Head
Dec. 28 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
Dec. 29 – Cleveland, OH – Agoura Theatre
Dec. 30 – Detroit, MI – Filmore Theatre
Dec. 31 – Cincinnati, OH – The Icon
Jan. 2 – Washington DC – The 9:30 Club

STÖNER – WEST NORTH WEST TOUR 2022:
02.23 Costa Mesa CA The Wayfarer*
02.24 Santa Cruz CA Urbani’s Cellar*
02.25 Albany CA The Ivy Room*
02.26 Eugene OR The Big Dirty Live*
02.27 Portland OR Star Theater*
03.01 Seattle WA El Corazon*
03.02 Vancouver BC Rickshaw*
03.03 TBC BC*
03.04 Edmonton AB Starlite Room*
03.05 Calgary AB Palomino*
03.06 Missoula MT Badlander
03.08 Boise ID Neurolux
03.09 Salt Lake City UT Aces High
03.10 Las Vegas NV Soulbelly BBQ
03.11 Tempe AZ Pub Rock
03.12 Oceanside CA Pour House

STÖNER – APRIL & MAY 2022 UK & IRELAND TOUR :
Fri 22 Apr : Monroes Live, Galway, Ire
Sat 23 Apr : Dolan’s Warehouse, Limerick, Ire
Sun 24 Apr : Cyprus Avenue, Cork, Ire
Mon 25 Apr : Limelight 2, Belfast, UK
Tue 26 Apr : Opium, Dublin, Ire
Thu 28 Apr : The Garage, Glasgow, UK
Fri 29 Apr : The Warehouse, Leeds, UK
Mon 02 May : Academy 3, Manchester, UK
Tue 03 May : The Mill, Birmingham, UK
Wed 04 May : Thekla, Bristol, UK

STÖNER + support SLOMOSA Europe 2022
06.05.22 – TBA
07.05.22 – TBA
08.05.22 – Aachen / Musikbunker Aachen
09.05.22 – Hamburg / Knust Hamburg
10.05.22 – Luxemburg / Kulturfabrik Esch-sur-Alzette
11.05.22 – Belfort / La Poudrière – Belfort
12.05.22 – Paris / Nouveau Casino
13.05.22 – Toulouse / Connexion Live
14.05.22 – TBA
15.05.22 – Barcelona / Wolf Barcelona
17.05.22 – Duedingen / Bad Bonn
18.05.22 – Winterthur / Gaswerk
19.05.22 – Wien / ARENA WIEN
20.05.22 – Graz / p.p.c.
21.05.22 – Salzburg / Rockhouse Salzburg
22.05.22 – Aschaffenburg / Colos-Saal Aschaffenburg
23.05.22 – Munich / Feierwerk
24.05.22 – Erlangen / Kulturzentrum E-Werk
25.05.22 – Dortmund / Musiktheater Piano
26.05.22 – Marburg / Kulturzentrum KFZ Marburg
27.05.22 – Dresden / Beatpol
29.05.22 – Berlin / Desertfest Berlin

STÖNER is:
Brant Bjork – Guitars/Vocals
Nick Oliveri – Bass
Ryan Güt – Drums

https://www.stonerband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/StonerBandOfficial/
https://www.instagram.com/stoner.band/
heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.facebook.com/Soundofliberation/
https://www.instagram.com/soundofliberation/
https://www.soundofliberation.com/

Stöner, Stoners Rule (2021)

Those who keep an eye on such things will have noted a few canceled dates on the US tour that desert trio Stöner were doing until last week with Clutch and King Buffalo, owing to someone in Clutch‘s crew coming down with Covid-19. Obviously best wishes for recovery there. The three-piece of Brant Bjork, Nick Oliveri and Ryan Güt are slated to be back out with Clutch this winter on the Maryland stalwarts’ holiday tour — King Buffalo also taking part — and in answer to Stöner‘s having been confirmed for Desertfest Berlin 2022 next May (they’ll be in London as well) the band now have unveiled a full slate of European tour dates, bringing with them Norwegian upstarts Slomosa.

That pairing is significant. To my knowledge, it’s the most touring Slomosa have undertaken since the release last year of their self-titled debut (review here), and possibly overall as well. They signed with Sound of Liberation for booking at some point during this fucking pandemic, so their hitting the road this time most likely only prefaces more touring to come. If you haven’t checked them out yet, consider doing so, and consider their pairing with veteran players like those in Stöner a purposeful move to get them in front of a crowd looking to be won over.

I don’t know what the status of Stöner‘s intended second LP is yet, but Stoners Rule (review here) is still pretty new, so we’ll see. I know they were looking for a quick turnaround though.

Here’s dates from Sound of Liberation:

STÖNER – Europe 2022 with SLOMOSA

Friends,

are you ready for the most original desert tour to hit European roads in 2022?!

Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri (THE Californian desert rock legends and founders of nothing less than KYUSS, MONDO GENERATOR, CHÉ, FU MANCHU, BLOODCOT and more between them), together with flow-master Ryan Gut, are ready to finally hit our European stages with their latest project Stöner! RAD!

Support comes from Norwegian’s hottest upcoming „tundra rock“ band Slomosa Without a doubt one of the brightest new stars in the stoner rock sky!

Sound of Liberation proudly presents:
STÖNER + support SLOMOSA Europe 2022

06.05.22 – TBA
07.05.22 – TBA
08.05.22 – Aachen / Musikbunker Aachen
09.05.22 – Hamburg / Knust Hamburg
10.05.22 – Luxemburg / Kulturfabrik Esch-sur-Alzette
11.05.22 – Belfort / La Poudrière – Belfort
12.05.22 – Paris / Nouveau Casino
13.05.22 – Toulouse / Connexion Live
14.05.22 – TBA
15.05.22 – Barcelona / Wolf Barcelona
17.05.22 – Duedingen / Bad Bonn
18.05.22 – Winterthur / Gaswerk
19.05.22 – Wien / ARENA WIEN
20.05.22 – Graz / p.p.c.
21.05.22 – Salzburg / Rockhouse Salzburg
22.05.22 – Aschaffenburg / Colos-Saal Aschaffenburg
23.05.22 – Munich / Feierwerk
24.05.22 – Erlangen / Kulturzentrum E-Werk
25.05.22 – Dortmund / Musiktheater Piano
26.05.22 – Marburg / Kulturzentrum KFZ Marburg
27.05.22 – Dresden / Beatpol
29.05.22 – Berlin / Desertfest Berlin

We can’t wait for Spring 2022 to come. Get your tickets and let’s make this one hell of a party!!

STÖNER is:
Brant Bjork – Guitars/Vocals
Nick Oliveri – Bass
Ryan Güt – Drums

https://www.stonerband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/StonerBandOfficial/
https://www.instagram.com/stoner.band/
heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.facebook.com/Soundofliberation/
https://www.instagram.com/soundofliberation/
https://www.soundofliberation.com/

Stöner, Stoners Rule (2021)

The stated objective of Stöner and the recording of Stoners Rule (on Heavy Psych Sounds), as guitarist/vocalist Brant Bjork explained here, has been to strip excess toward essentials. That is to say, Bjork and bassist/mostly-backing vocalist Nick Oliveri — who are joined in the endeavor by drummer Ryan Güt — aren’t so much looking to build on the legacy they’ve created in desert/heavy rock so much as to plunge down to its roots in what Bjork long ago coined “low desert punk.” It is not a coincidence that the first lyrics in album-opener “Rad Stays Rad” are lifted from the Ramones, and “hey ho, let’s go,” set to a thick, mid-tempo rollout, is emblematic of the purpose on display throughout the record that follows.

Stöner, with an umlaut? That’s something you’d name a band in high school. And yeah, you might write even scribble Stoners Rule on the front of your notebook while note paying attention in whatever class it might be. But that’s the idea behind the band. Yes, their pedigree involves Kyuss/Vista Chino, Fu Manchu, Queens of the Stone Age, Mondo Generator, Ché, Ten East, The Dwarves, Desert Sessions, solo work from both, and on and on and on (we could do this all day). Stöner is an effort to distill all of that work they’ve done down to its simplest, most straightforward form.

Is that possible? Can you go back without actually going back? I don’t know, but Stoners Rule turns a willfully simple methodology into a strength throughout its seven tracks and 42 minutes. There is no question that some of what the trio are up to is a nostalgia trip for Bjork and Oliveri, and from the already-noted Ramones lyric in “Rad Stays Rad” and general perspective there to the Oliveri-fronted punk of “Evel Never Dies” — about daredevil Evel Knievel, which is about right in demographic terms — and in “The Older Kids,” to the these-are-lessons-we’ve-learned point of view in “Own Yer Blues,” “Nothin'” and “Stand Down,” even unto “Tribe/Fly Girl,” the 13-minute concluding jam that includes lines about finding their sound and finding their tribe, there’s a lot happening in past-tense throughout the songs. “Go ask the older kids” is something a parent says to a child.

“All your shit/It ain’t shit” in “Stand Down” comes across with the assurance of experience. “You take nothin’,” is both sound advice and testimony of ethic on the part of the lyrics. With the ever-fluid, laudably understated, not-doing-too-much-but-doing-it-right adaptable swing drumming of Güt, who also plays in Bjork‘s solo band, behind them, even at their most playful, Stöner are walking a delicate balance between looking back and embarking on something fresh, which is the project itself, while actively trying to remain unconcerned about any of it and just jam out and write songs and have a good time.

However simple they might seem and however straightforward the resultant material is — with “The Older Kids” nodding toward the ultra-seminal structures of riff that typified Kyuss as if to prove the theorem of “rad staying rad” before anyone could even have time to question it — these are not minor stylistic ambitions. And just because something is straightforward doesn’t mean it’s dumbed down or lazy, which the material on Stoners Rule isn’t. Rather, clever turns of phrase abound, even unto the idea of “taking things vs. taking nothing” in “Nothin'” — a song that’s two and a half minutes long and nonetheless serves as the centerpiece here.

Some compositions are easier to read more as Bjork‘s or Oliveri‘s at least in the main — “Evel Never Dies” has an inimitable mania that feels very Oliverian, and “Stand Down”‘s wah-soaked “Ain’t no funk if it don’t smell like a skunk” comes across as more Bjork, but the contributions of the one to the other aren’t to be understated. These are songwriters who’ve worked together on and off for over 30 years. Ultimately, a track like “Own Yer Blues” feels most like it emerged naturally out of a bluesy fuzz jam to become the slow-rolling hooky piece it is, and all three members of the band do well sharing space in the song. It’s by not pretending to be more than it is that Stoners Rule most flourishes.

It seems inevitable, though, that Stoners Rule would come up against high expectations, particularly given the personnel involved and the fanfare that surrounded the band’s debut as part of the ‘Live in the Mojave Desert’ streaming series. On a basic listening level, Stoners Rule doesn’t come across as that much different from the resultant live album from that stream, Live in the Mojave Desert Vol. 4 (review here), and it’s not supposed to. If anything, it’s to the band’s credit that it does, since the purpose behind what they’re doing is to make it sound like a live show might — the music in a raw, natural state, being itself raw and natural in its makeup — so while I’ve come across some ambivalence toward the record and it’s arguable the studio release has perhaps had some of its potential impact lessened by the live album showing up first, it seems likely that over time the balance will even out and Stöner‘s studio offering will stand on its own as the initial statement of intent that it is.

Part of its doing so, again over the longer haul, is what/if anything Stöner do to follow it up. Tour dates have been booked domestically and abroad, and it could well be that the band will continue forward and bring another collection of songs to bear after Stoners Rule, rather than Bjork and Güt going back to their band and Oliveri returning to any number of his several ongoing projects, and build on their accomplishments here. As it is, they do well by actively trying not to live up to the standard their pedigree would dictate, and that level of fuckall is all the more enjoyable as a listening experience because of the perspective of their songwriting and performances. I’m not sure what some listeners might’ve thought was coming, but it’s a band called Stöner. Maybe if they wanted it to be prog, they’d have called it that.

Stöner, Stoners Rule (2021)

Stöner on Facebook

Stöner on Instagram

Stöner website

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Heavy Psych Sounds website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp