Five years on from their debut EP, Dying on the Mountain  (discussed here), it still feels a little weird that Big Scenic Nowhere are an actual band, never mind sounding more established with their core lineup, more progressive and more distinct as an outfit from their other collaborations than they ever have. They might rightly be called a supergroup with drummer Bill Stinson (Yawning Man, Yawning Balch, etc.), guitarists Gary Arce (Yawning Man, Yawning Balch, Yawning Sons, Ten East, Dark Tooth Encounter, Zun, WaterWays, some new band he’s got going with Pia from Superlynx, on and on) and Bob Balch (Fu Manchu, Slower, Yawning Balch, Sun and Sail Club, ex-Minotaur, etc.) and vocalist/keyboardist Tony Reed (Mos Generator, Twelve Thirty Dreamtime, Constance Tomb, Stone Axe, etc.), though the term has fallen out of favor as these things inevitably will, but Big Scenic Nowhere‘s third full-length, The Waydown, is an accomplishment and realization of the band as themselves and shouldn’t be thought of otherwise.

While the project started as a lost Arce demo (discussed here) with completely different goals, and have always been open to guest appearances, Big Scenic Nowhere have featured plenty between 2020’s Vision Beyond Horizon (review here) and 2021’s The Long Morrow (review here) — at the start it wasn’t clear who was actually in the band, so that’s solidified as well — and The Waydown brings sit-ins from returning keyboardist/organist Per Wiberg (Spiritual Beggars, ex-Opeth, solo, etc.), guitarist Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie, The Cure), as well as former Hall & Oates keyboardist Eliot Lewis on the included Hall & Oates cover, “Sara Smile.”

Those other contributions from Wiberg and Gabrels and are spread throughout the seven-track/39-minute long-player, delivered as ever through Heavy Psych Sounds and meld with those of the band itself, but it’s Big Scenic Nowhere‘s own performances that are the highlights. I’m not even sure if it’s Reed or Balch on bass on a given track, but as much as it’s the two guitars at the forefront when considering the band, “Summer Teeth,” the slower but hypnotically hooky centerpiece “Bleed On,” and the mellow-rolling, seven-minute closer “100” — which bookends with the also-seven-minute “The Waydown” at the outset — are much bolstered by the low end, with Stinson‘s drums (or maybe Reed‘s, depending?) as the solid foundation beneath the explorations taking place.

Because while The Waydown is perhaps the most song-oriented Big Scenic Nowhere have yet been and it brings the core group into focus in no small part because of the unifying factor of Reed‘s vocals, it is still based on and carved out from jams, the band’s core process rooted in getting together for a time, banging out as much improvised or thought-of-a-part whathaveyou as they can, and sending the files home with Balch to be edited and carved into songs after the fact. It’s a heady way to do it, but it has allowed for a sense of progression in the band even as most of their material to-date has come from a single multi-day session. And on The Waydown, whether it’s the righteous creeper riff of the penultimate “BT-OH” or the declarative arrival of the first lines in “The Waydown” after the brief and comparatively minimal ambient intro, the carving, cutting, pasting and shaping results in a decisively and purposeful-seeming progressive feel.

“Sara Smile” is a departure, obviously, with Reed shifting into a gentler, soulful vocal on the cover taken from 1975’s Daryl Hall & John Oates and the band tackling an arrangement that’s something kin to a heavy/desert interpretation of AOR, but in the post-chorus-takeoff melancholy of “Summer Teeth,” the harder-landing fuzz in “Surf Western” in the midsection riffing and how it changes back to shimmer for the verse, and even the dreamy vibe brought to “100,” there’s an attention to detail in The Waydown that tells you the songs have been worked on and, considering the depth, loved, before arriving in their final forms as presented, and that thoughtfulness in composition — even if it comes after the moment the actual music was made — and consideration of atmosphere while building same isn’t to be discounted. That Reed and Balch are also studio engineers kind of makes the band possible as they are now, as Reed‘s home in Washington State and the rest of the band’s in Southern California is a distance crossed by craft, Balch getting parts set in a branched collaboration with Reed adding vocals and maybe keys or drums, and so on, which makes Big Scenic Nowhere multi-tiered as regards creativity when one considers Balch‘s other direct partnership in the band, with Arce on guitar.

And what about Gary Arce? Is the man whose guitar made the desert sing an afterthought on The Waydown? Hardly. As Reed steps forward in lead-singer fashion, Arce‘s signature tone is what lends the proceedings their lightness, making the atmospheres of “Bleed On” and “100” possible and speaking to the improvisatory roots of the songs themselves. I’m not sure “Surf Western” would exist as an aural concept let alone the actual track on the record if it weren’t for Gary Arce, and the subdued standalone strums after three minutes in — in the drawdown right before the big riff circles back with a wallop — Big Scenic Nowhere remind that a goodly portion of their emotional resonance comes from the string section, even if that too is changing with the highlight stretches of bass as noted.

Is The Waydown the best Big Scenic Nowhere record? Yes. It feels like it’s the most vivid manifestation of their project yet as distinct from other outfits — which is saying something considering Yawning Balch is literally Yawning Man… wait for it.. plus Balch — and the intention with which it sets itself to the work of craft has become a key aesthetic component in a way that is likewise the band’s own. More importantly, it’s also the most Big Scenic Nowhere record in its contemplations, its dynamic turns and changes in volume or mood, and the resulting definition of the personality for the entire outfit. Yeah, it might still feel a little weird that they’re a band at all — to wit, I’m not sure they’ve ever played live — but they most definitely are, and never quite so engrossing a band as right now.

Big Scenic Nowhere, The Waydown (2024)

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With their core membership drawing from acts like Fu Manchu, Yawning Man and Mos Generator, atmospheric progressive desert rockers Big Scenic Nowhere will release their new album, the title of which was previously given as The WayDown and seems to have chilled out on that capital ‘d’ in the interim — it’s now The Waydown — on Feb. 2, 2024, through Heavy Psych Sounds. It is the third full-length to come from the jam-rooted mostly-Californian outfit, and still very much based around the collaboration between guitarists Gary Arce and Bob Balch as they have been since 2019’s Dying on the Mountain EP (discussed here), as heard in the seven-plus-minute title-track premiering below to coincide with the launch of preorders today.

Big Scenic Nowhere‘s sound, expansive since the outset, came into deeper focus on 2022’s The Long Morrow (review here), as their studio methodology of editing songs out of jams and tasking Tony Reed with patterning and layering vocals — a role at which he has excelled — as Bill Stinson‘s steady and not flashy movement assures the fluid melodies have suitable rhythmic complement. Distinct from its members’ main outfits, distinct even from Balch and Arce‘s work together in Yawning Balch — who also have a new album just out; it streamed here last week — Big Scenic Nowhere have set their own context in sound and approach.

For example one need look only at the change in “The Waydown,” when the riff turns more severe about halfway through, taking on a progression that would be metal in a lot of other situations. Big Scenic Nowhere have grown more adventurous in their process of construction — saying something, considering how they started — while at the same time relying less on guest appearances and more on their core lineup as they refine their sound. It’s not a hot take or anything, but I don’t mind telling you I’m looking forward to this album.

The PR wire has crucial data — the preorder links — as well as confirmation of the Feb. 2 release, a few words from Balch and background on the band.

Please enjoy:

Big Scenic Nowhere, “The Waydown” track premiere

THE WAYDOWN is the first single taken from BIG SCENIC NOWHERE upcoming new album called THE WAYDOWN too.

The release will see the light February 2nd via Heavy Psych Sounds.

ALBUM PRESALE:
https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/

USA PRESALE:
https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm

SAYS THE BAND:

These recordings go back to 2021.

BIG SCENIC NOWHERE played a show out in Joshua Tree and while we were all in the same place (Tony the singer lives like 20 hours away) we thought we should spend two days jamming in the studio. Our usual way of recording is jam out freely and then edit those jams down into songs afterwards. The song “The Way Down” was the last jam of that session. We were about to pack up and Tony Reed started playing the main riff. Sometimes that’s all it takes to get immersed into a 25 min jam. We are choosing this song as the first single because it goes to a lot of different places musically. Also, I feel that the album itself does that too so this song is a good representation of what’s in store for you. Enjoy !!!

TRACKLISTING:

1. The Waydown – 7:41
2. Summer Teeth – 4:58
3. Surf Western – 5:49
4. Bleed On – 4:24
5. Sara Smile – 4:26
6. BT-OH – 4:51
7. 100 – 7:38

BIOGRAPHY

Anyone familiar with the terms “Stoner Rock” or “Desert Rock” have surely heard the names FU MANCHU or YAWNING MAN. If you’re a die hard fan of the genre, or a causal observer, you know that both bands have been dishing out quality material since the beginning. While stylistically different, both bands occupy legendary status. FU MANCHU’s sun-drenched, stratospheric, fuzz worship sound and YAWNING MAN’s ethereal, ambient delay have never been crossbred until now. It’s certainty a good time to be alive if you’re a fan of either band. We bring you BIG SCENIC NOWHERE…

Like many of the best things in life, the root collaboration behind Big Scenic Nowhere between guitarists Gary Arce of Yawning Man and Bob Balch of Fu Manchu started with tacos. Specifically, Del Taco. Founded in 1964 in the Mojave Desert in California, the fast food chain has stores throughout the Golden State and the Southern US, but it remains a SoCal institution. Arce, just back from tour with Yawning Man and celebrating the comforts of home, posted on social media of his triumphant return to his local Del Taco. Balch responded with his usual order – a regular red burrito with extra cheese and sour cream – and a band was begun.

Of course, it’s never really so simple.

Bob and Gary have been acquainted since the ’90s, when Fu Manchu would practice in the garage of the house Gary lived in with other members of the desert scene. Gary remembers coming home from his construction job at the time, working outside in the desert summer, ready to kick back and crack a beer, only to be unable to watch television because Fu Manchu were so loud.

They’d bump into each other over the years periodically and Bob eventually brought Gary in to film a piece for his instructional guitar series, PlayThisRiff.com. After the above-mentioned Del Taco post, it was Gary – whose collaborative efforts have been myriad in outfits like WaterWays, Zun, Ten East, etc. – who finally called Bob to jam.

While the project would grow soon enough to encompass players like Tony Reed (Mos Generator), Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man), Per Wiberg (Spiritual Beggars, ex-Opeth), Bill Stinson (Yawning Man), Nick Oliveri (Mondo Generator, ex-Kyuss, etc.), Lisa Alley and Ian Graham (both of The Well), Alain Johannes (Them Crooked Vultures, Chris Cornell, Eleven) and Thomas V. Jäger (Monolord), Big Scenic Nowhere is founded on Balch and Arce tossing guitar riffs and leads back and forth, piecing together song parts one movement at a time. Jamming. Sharing music. Developing a chemistry to build something new based on their individual experiences. In this way, Big Scenic Nowhere is the heart of what collaboration should manifest. Something that grows stronger for the cohesion between those who make it happen.

Gary traveled to Bob’s place, Bob recorded the tracks and assembled what became more fluid progressions, and songs resulted, highlighting the differences of style between the two of them – Balch a fuzz-laden guitarist’s guitarist tuned to D standard, Arce a delay-drenched sonic explorer with a signature tone tuned to DAD’GAD – and the resulting cohesion from their efforts.

After Balch arranged the tunes they headed into the studio to get basic tracks. Over the course of a few months musicians started to send in their contributions to the record. Vocals from Tony Reed came first, then Lisa Alley and Ian Graham from The Well and lastly Alain Johannes. Tony Reed also provided some vintage synth sounds, along with Per Wiberg, and Alain added some extra guitar parts. The end result is an album that is so dense with talent that it’s frightening. It’s a result of seasoned artists that have grown to this point. While all of their styles are different, the collaboration created a beautiful and unique album. “Vision Beyond Horizon” will echo through the ages as a document of our time, a bible to all things stoner and desert and then some. It’s a very heady album and deserves full attention. So sit back, relax, and take a trip behind the sonic curtain. Let “Vision Beyond Horizon” be your guide for years to come.

After the debut album the band released the EP Lavender Blues in 2020 and the sophomore album The Long Morrow in 2022.

A new album will see the light in early 2024 !!

BIG SCENIC NOWHERE is:
Bob Balch (Guitar, Bass)
Gary Arce (Guitar)
Tony Reed (Vocals, Keys, Drums)
Bill Stinson (Drums)

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https://bigscenicnowhere.bandcamp.com/releases
https://bigscenicnowherestore.bigcartel.com/

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Big Scenic Nowhere, The Long Morrow (2022)

Comprised of Yawning Man‘s Gary Arce (also Ten East, Zun, Yawning Sons, etc.) and Bill Stinson (also Zun, Dark Tooth Encounter, Ten East, etc.), Fu Manchu‘s Bob Balch (also Sun and Sail Club, ex-Minotaur, etc.), and Mos Generator‘s Tony Reed (also Hot Spring Water, Constance Tomb, solo work, etc.), the real miracle here is that Big Scenic Nowhere manages to exist on its members’ respective calendars at all. I seem to recall when I interviewed Balch for their last record, earliest-2022’s The Long Morrow (review here), he said that all the recording they’d done to-date was pulled and edited from a single session — Fall 2018, maybe? — and that there was still more, so it may be that the forthcoming The WayDown will be pulled and constructed from those same jams, but I’ve got zero to go on for that beyond my own half-remembered suppositions. If only there was some place where all that kind of stuff was written down. A blog, maybe. Alas.

In any case, word of the next Big Scenic Nowhere was dropped, along with a clip of a yet-unheard song, so that’s a bonus. I’d have to imagine work on editing down and adding structured verses and choruses, which Balch was doing in his own studio, was somewhat stifled by the significant amount of touring Fu Manchu have done in the last year-plus, but at the same time, it’s worth noting that Arce, Balch and Stinson — along with Yawning Man bassist Billy Cordell — also have the collaboration Yawning Balch releasing its first album, Volume One, on July 7 through Heavy Psych Sounds, so there’s now a whole other, markedly jammier, manifestation of the pairing of the two guitarists, who complement each other in style as well as tone.

The post was quick and if you’re curious, yes it’s The WayDown instead of The Way Down. I asked because, hey, typos happen. In any case, here’s what went out:

The new BIG SCENIC NOWHERE record is finished! It’s named “The WayDown.” More details soon. Here is a small clip. @bigscenicnowhere @yawningmanofficial @mos_generator @fumanchuband

https://www.facebook.com/bigscenicnowhere/
https://www.instagram.com/bigscenicnowhere/
https://bigscenicnowhere.bandcamp.com/releases
https://bigscenicnowherestore.bigcartel.com/

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/

Big Scenic Nowhere, The Long Morrow (2022)