Maine guitar rockers Sun Gods in Exile have a new video for the song “Hellwell” off their Black Light, White Lines debut on Small Stone Records. I’d give you the YouTube version, because I hate the way MySpace does their videos, but I don’t think there is one yet, so too bad. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who gives a rat’s ass about the difference anyway. Here’s the video:
Some things are always welcome here in the valley. Good friends with six packs, boxes of CDs, winning lottery tickets, anyone willing to clean up anything, ever, and so forth. Somewhere on that unwritten list is quality ’70s-style boogie rock — music that makes you feel good without being corny or overly emotionally trite — the kind of stuff in which?Portland, Maine‘s Sun Gods in Exile specialize. Their recently reviewed Small Stone debut, Black Light, White Lines, comes on like a wicked buzz, and though tunes like “The Gripper” and “Mexico” are bound to get up to some mischief, well, they’re just so darn lovable.
There’s beer and cocaine flowing freely, but the party never ends in tragedy and everyone’s the coolest guy in the room. Guitarist Tony D’Agostino (ex-Cortez)?rips solos so naturally it’s easy to imagine him doing it in his sleep, and vocalist/guitarist?Adam Hitchcock sounds road-tested and whiskey-drenched. Bassist JL‘s name will be familiar to anyone playing along at home from monolithic doomers Ocean, and though Sun Gods in Exile is quite a departure, he sounds perfectly at home in the rhythm section alongside drummer Johnny Kennedy. Together, they’re party rock sans douchebaggery, not looking to harsh your buzz or anything but hey would it be cool if they made out with your grandma for a while? It’s hard to say no.
In between shreds, D’Agostino took a couple minutes out of his busy day to let his fingers hammer out the answers to the email interview after the jump, discussing how the band got together, recording with Benny Grotto (Dixie Witch, Roadsaw, etc.) and of course the obligatory touring question. Click “Read more” and enjoy.
It’s a good thing the High Council of Stoner Rock hasn’t yet instituted mandatory tests for performance enhancers, because I’m pretty sure that if they did, Portland, Maine‘s Sun Gods in Exile would come up with O.D.-levels of testosterone in their blood. Their Small Stone debut, Black Light, White Lines is dick swingin’ brawl and roll dudelier than all those extreme fisherman they show on the Discovery Channel off the New England coast. Think AC/DC, Skynyrd and a toxic amount of liquor, and you’re off and running.
It took me a while to get into Black Light, White Lines. At first the album hit me as a throwaway that didn’t offer much original or exciting for me to sink my teeth into, but after a few listens, and particularly after warming up to the lead vocals of guitarist Adam Hitchcock, it proved to be an unpretentious jaunt through classic guitar rock that Sun Gods in Exile passionately — and probably drunkenly — set to tape with the arrogant gusto necessary to really pull it off. Snarling, biting and wiseassed, tunes like “The Gripper” and “Mexico” exemplify the barroom belligerence carrying Black Light, White Lines across like the kind of album that claims “manifest destiny” as the reason it infects your brain.
