Posted in Whathaveyou on March 27th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Pittsburgh-based underground festival Descendants of Crom has announced its first annual rRitual showcase for April 5. The night will feature six acts — three locals, three out-of-towners — and will get a still-probably-gonna-finish-late early start at 7:30.
If you saw that post a little over a week ago about the Temptress and Thunderchief tour, yeah, this is a stop on it and an occasion for the tour itself. The darkly progressive Axioma from Cleveland are the third import outfit, while the hometeam will be represented by Funerals, with former members of Horehound, as well as Altar and the Bull and Gloom Doom.
Yes, I realize this is next week. No, I’m not necessarily thinking everyone who sees this is going to drop whatever they’re doing and fly to Western PA next weekend. But maybe you are going there, or maybe someone you know is, or maybe you haven’t heard these bands before and it’s a name to chase down next time you’re bored. I don’t know, but it’s a thing that’s happening and apparently the intent is to make it an annual event to complement Descendants of Crom, which is Blackseed Services‘ prior-established festival offering. This may then be the first — I can’t help but roll the ‘r’ — rRitual of many to come.
Maybe I’m just happy I get to spend my days sitting at the computer listening to music and writing about it and so something like this comes along and I’m like “Oh so that wasn’t a spelling mistake in that Thunderchief post” and then one post leads to another leads to another and all of a sudden it’s been like 16 years and here you are. I had a friend send me a letter the other day. He signed it, “keep writing.” Shit, man. I can’t seem to stop.
If you do go, I hope it’s a blast. Here’s the info, ticket link and such:
rRitual: First Annual Descendants of Crom Showcase
Presented by Blackseed Services, this special event will be an annual showcase mixer, focusing on the darker, atmospheric styles. Doom/Stoner/Sludge/Blackened.
Featuring: Temptress (NC/TX) Thunderchief (Richmond) Axioma (Cleveland) with local support: Funerals Altar and the Bull Gloom Doom
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 18th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
The riff-crunching fuckall-purveying gentlemen of Richmond, Thunderchief, are will embark on a couple quick get-out-of-town rounds of shows next month, keeping company with Texas three-piece Temptress. Five people in two bands? Low-personnel has its advantages. Less disagreement, presumably. Less cost for travel, food. Plus the songs hit rawer, when you want them to.
Note the culmination here happening at Grim Reefer Fest in Baltimore. I was lucky enough to be at the Ottobar for that in 2023, and it was a killer time. I’d be there this year but for scheduling conflict, but in addition to Rezn and Vosh — and obviously Temptress, for whom it’s part of a larger Spring tour — Spellbook, Haze Mage, Knub, Sorge, Temple of the Fuzz Witch and others will feature. With 10 bands, it’s for sure a full all-dayer, but the vibe is mellow, the people are cool and you can step out to get some air and hit the food truck if you find yourself lagging. Just a heads up if you have the day and will to be mangled.
While you’re noting, note also that Thunderchief are sharing the stage with a bunch of rad bands, from The Magpie in Chapel Hill to New Dawn Fades in Philly. This is a band who make friends the hard way, by showing up:
HERE WE GO….our first run of the year will be with our brother & sisters in TEMPTRESS @temptressofficial , one of Texas’ finest trios and some of our favoritest people. We’ll be sharing 6 shows with them (Temptress will continue on to Canada & NE U.S. without us), ending at the mighty GRIM REEFER FEST @grimreeferfest in Baltimore, MD!
TEMPTRESS w/ THUNDERCHIEF 4/3 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 w/ The Magpie @themagpienc @local506 4/4 Staunton, VA @ Bricks w/ Heemeyer @heemeyer_doom 4/5 Pittsburgh, PA @ Squirrel Hill Sports Bar, Descendants of Crom rRITUAL w/ Funerals, Axioma @blackseedservices 4/6 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop w/ Slow Wake @thegrogshop @slowwakeband 4/18 Philadelphia, PA @ Keystone State Cycles w/ New Dawn Fades, St. Brigid @newdawnfadesforever @stbrigidphilly 4/19 Baltimore, MD @ GRIM REEFER FEST w/ Rezn, Vosh, many more @grimreeferfest @theottobar
See yous there!
Thunderchief are: Rik Surly – Guitar/vocals Erik Larson – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 7th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Set to take place at The Ottobar in Baltimore once again at the tail end of April — 4/20 season, if you’re not the type who gets stoned to do the dishes — the all-dayer Grim Reefer Fest has unveiled its 2025 billing, with Chicago psychedelic texturalists Rezn and D.C. industrialized post-punkers Vosh at the top of the bill, with Temple of the Fuzz Witch coming from Michigan as they continue to spread the word of their own well-received 2024 outing, Apotheosis (review here), Dallas rockers Temptress and the house band Haze Mage taking part, as well as heavy noise rockers Consumer Culture, and Sorge, who are well due for a follow-up to their impressive 2020 debut EP (review here).
Rounding out are Richmond duo Thunderchief, Pennsylvania melo-cult classicists SpellBook and Baltimore’s own Knub, who I’ve never heard of before now but who are killer, opening. Their logo is noise and their sound is too, but throw in some poppier melody and turns out I have some homework to do. I put Knub‘s tracks from their 2023 split with Brain Cave below, in case you also want to dig in. There’s a Black Lung set there too from 2024’s Grim Reefer Fest just for the hell of it — as the fest notes, there’s more on the YouTube Channel — and while I’m dropping dates and links, I’ll note that I was fortunate enough to attend Grim Reefer Fest in 2023 (review here), and if you’re on the fence, I’ll confirm it’s a blast and well run. Maybe that helps? There’s food and such and it’s low-key; an easygoing vibe in which to be variably pummeled by volume.
The announcement from the fest follows here. Keep an eye as some things may change, but it looks like a good time to me as it is. And the poster, as you can see, continues a years-long streak of righteousness from Grim Reefer Fest as well. From socials:
Grim Reefer Fest 2025
We are excited to announce the return of Grim Reefer Fest! Join us once again at the legendary Ottobar in Baltimore, MD for a full day of heavy music, dank vibes, and high spirits! Join us on Saturday April 19th, 2025 as we celebrate the High Holidays with a stacked lineup from start to finish with some of the best bands the scene has to offer! Featuring the heavy psych sounds of Rezn, the mesmerizing Vosh, the heavy hitting Temple of the Fuzz Witch and many more (10 bands total)!
This is the 6th year of Grim Reefer Fest and one of our most ambitious lineups yet! We’re proud of what we’re accomplishing as a DIY grassroots festival. The genres and sounds for this year’s bands range from heavy psych to stoner doom to industrial darkwave to noise rock with so much more in between! There’s so many interpretations of what heavy music is, and to us, they all fit in a proper 4/20 celebration! We strive to grow our event more and more each year and to become a premiere heavy music regional event on the east coast!
The full list of performers at this year’s fest includes:
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 7th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Well, that’s a DIY underground tour right there, with Thunderchief heading out from their Richmond home base in order to hit up the Midwest and venues with words like Tavern, bar, pub and, more curiously, skatepark, in their names. The tour runs as far west as Lincoln, Nebraska, and is essentially a loop that will carry the duo of Rik Surly and Erik Larson back toward home by the finish, going in support of their Dekk Meg… release, which compiled a year’s worth of covers released as singles. With one day off on a 16-show stint, one would not accuse them of taking it easy on themselves.
Safe travels to them and a hearty word to bring earplugs if you’re headed out to any of the shows. One doesn’t expect they’ll take it easy on their audience’s hearing either.
The below comes from the PR wire, and I’m pretty sure it’s the first time I’ve ever seen anyone’s anything referred to as a “powerfuck.” To wit:
THUNDERCHIEF Goes to Nebraska
Richmond, VA’s very own 2-piece powerfuck, THUNDERCHIEF, is heading West in July—to the Midwest, that is. The band will be bouncing around the Heartland, delivering a hodgepodge of songs from “Witchduck EP”, “No Sufferance For Thy Fools”, “Synanthrope”, and their latest release on ASR Records, “Dekk Meg…”, and maybe some new material if time allows.
The tour begins in Harrisonburg, VA, and meanders thru a variety of venues, skateparks & DIY spots, sharing space with a slew of killer bands, including Ommnus, Slow Attack, Crack Mountain, Long Cold Stare, Some Kind of Nightmare, and on the final show of the tour, the band finds themselves in direct support of LIE HEAVY’s Record release show (featuring Karl Agell & crew)
This will be THUNDERCHIEF’s first venture to the Midwest, and the band couldn’t be more excited to celebrate July 4 week in the nation’s Breadbasket!
6/28 Harrisonburg, VA — Golden Pony 6/29 Lansing, MI. — Mac Bar 6/30 Kent, OH — Zephyr 7/1 Chicago, IL — Liars Club 7/2 Waukegan, IL — Starlight Skatepark 7/4 St. Joseph, MO — Sk8bar 7/5 Des Moines, IA –Hull Ave. Tavern 7/6 Lincoln, NE — 1867 7/7 Kansas City, MO — Black Tar Pit 7/8 Indianapolis, IN — State St. Pub 7/9 Louisville, KY — Mag Bar 7/10 Murfreesboro, TN — CxR 7/11 Birmingham, AL — Saturn 7/12 Chattanooga, TN — JJs Bohemia 7/13 Atlanta, GA — Star Bar 7/14 Raleigh, NC — Pour House (LIE HEAVY release show)
Thunderchief are: Rik Surly – Guitar/vocals Erik Larson – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 16th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
The new release from Richmond, Virginia’s Thunderchief brings together a series of covers the duo have been releasing over the course of the last year in one handy collection. You’ll find the latest of the bunch — a take on Dinosaur Jr.‘s “Don’t” — streaming at the bottom of this post along with 2021’s Synanthrope (review here), and between here and there is a decent stretch of tour dates they’ll undertake beginning Jan. 9. Their route takes them southward, because who the hell wants to head north in January anyway, and be out for two solid weeks, heading as far west as San Antonio before looping back around toward home.
The title here, Dekk Meg…, is “cover me” in Norwegian, if you’re wondering, so fair enough for being a collection of covers. As you can see below, it’s been a not-insignificant undertaking on the part of Rik Surly and Erik Larson (the latter also Alabama Thunderpussy, etc.), and I’ll look forward to digging into the whole bunch together when the opportunity presents itself.
Info from the PR wire:
THUNDERCHIEF is heading South in support of their new release “Dekk Meg…” (ASR Records)
Richmond, VA’s 2–piece nihilistic Sludge ‘n’ Roll outfit THUNDERCHIEF are heading out due south to support their new CD release, “Dekk Meg…” (ASR Records), slated for Friday, January 6, 2023.
The album is the culmination of 12 cover songs that were digitally released as singles throughout 2021/2022, and have now been re-mastered at New Alliance East in Boston, MA. This collection of deep cuts by Sheer Terror, Joe Walsh, Neanderthal, among others, showcases the band making full use of the pandemic downtime.
“Dekk Meg…” (“Cover Me…”) was created in 3 sessions with 6 powerhouse engineers–Mike Dean, Mark Miley, Jordan Faett, Lance Koehler, Allen Bergendahl, and Nick Zampiello
Tour begins January 9 in Asheville, NC and continues on with heavy support from CrankBait, Hot Ram, Christworm, and a rare appearance from Southern heavyweight titans, Hexxus.
1/9 Asheville, NC Static Age Records 1/10 Murfreesboro, TN cXr 1/11 Little Rock, AR Whitewater Tavern 1/12 Denton, TX Dan’s Silverleaf 1/13 San Antonio, TX Faust 1/14 Austin, TX Lost Well 1/15 Houston, TX Black Magic Social Club 1/16 New Orleans, LA Siberia 1/17 Gulfport, MS VFW #1406 1/18 Birmingham, AL Saturn 1/19 Atlanta, GA Star Community Bar 1/20 Charlotte, NC The Milestone 1/21 Charleston, SC Trolley Pub 1/22 Raleigh, NC School Kids Records
Cover & Artist Photos: Chris Boarts Larson
Thunderchief are: Rik Surly – Guitar/vocals Erik Larson – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 24th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Thunderchief have been dropping cover songs on a one-per-month basis since I don’t even know when, but it’s pretty clear that by the time they’re through they’ll have a good collection behind them ready for vinyl, CD or tape, and maybe that’s the endgame and maybe it isn’t. While we’re on the subject of their studio work, last year’s Synanthrope (review here) was an especially nasty bit of business, and that’s just what they seemed to be shooting for, an definitively East Coast confrontationalist sludge that should go over like gangbusters on their July stretch of live shows.
I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing them live — my prevailing association with the band is when I tried to get in to see them at Maryland Doom Fest a few years back and couldn’t because my graybeard ass couldn’t find proper ID; how about I’m at Doom Fest not with a parent as proof of being over 21? — and there’s no New York or New Jersey (laughs at the idea of North Jersey shows) date here, but they’re still doing the thing in style, and Connecticut to Philly isn’t a terrible ride, depending on how you go.
Sit tight, won’t be long before they’ve got something new coming. Till then, this from the PR wire:
THUNDERCHIEF announces 10-day Summer Fling
Richmond, VA’s notorious 2-piece Sludge ‘n’ Roll duo hit the road for 10 days of volume, sweat and gear–and lots of it. Alabama Thunderpussy founder Erik Larson and his guitar-playing chum Rik Surly are heading to the Northeast US, while simultaneously releasing their latest effort, “Synanthrope” on CD format for the first time ever.
This round of shows kicks off in Charlottesville, VA with Telekinetic Yeti and will feature the band showcasing tracks from “Synanthrope”, along with deep cuts, select singles and fan favorites. Known for their uncompromising live sets, the THUNDERCHIEF experience is one that you should judge that is for yourself. At a show. In July. Please.
“We’re especially excited for this run,” says Rik Surly. “The sheer power of this record (“Synanthrope”) really comes across well onstage. Mike Dean and Mark Miley did a great job and I can’t wait for everyone to see and he
Jul, 21 Roanoke, VA @ Flying Panther Jul, 22 Cincinnati, OH @ MOTR Jul, 23 Akron, OH @ Musica Jul, 24 Youngstown, OH @ Westside Bowl Jul, 25 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place Jul, 26 Burlington, VT @ Swan Dojo Jul, 27 Portland, ME @ Urban Farm Fermatory Jul, 28 Boston, MA @ Middle East-Upstairs Jul, 29 New Haven, CT @ Cherry Street Station Jul, 30 Philadelphia, PA @ The Pharmacy Jul, 31 Washington, DC @ The Pocket
Thunderchief are: Rik Surly – Guitar/vocals Erik Larson – Drums
Posted in Reviews on January 20th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Welcome to Day Four of the Jan. 2022 Quarterly Review. Or maybe it’s the other half of the Dec. 2021 Quarterly Review. Or maybe I overthink these things. The latter feels most likely. Inanycase, welcome. If you’ve been keeping up with the records as they’ve been coming in 10-per-day batches over the course of this week, thanks. If not, well, if you’re interested, it’s not like the posts disappeared. Just keep scrolling, then I think click through. One of these days I’ll get an infinite scroll plug-in. Those are for the cool kids.
Also, ‘Infinite Scroll’ is, as of right now, the name of my ’90s-style pixel-art role playing game. Ask me about the plot when these reviews are done.
For now…
Quarterly Review #31-40:
SOM, The Shape of Everything
Working from a foundation in heavy post-rock, Connecticut’s SOM soar and float like so many shoreline seagulls over the Long Island Sound on the eight-song/34-minute The Shape of Everything, which would call to mind the melancholy of Katatoniia were its sadness not even more shimmering. Early pieces “Moment” and “Animals” build a depth of modern progressive metal riffing beneath only the airiest of guitar leads, a wash of distortion meeting a wash of melody, and with guitarist/vocalist/producer Will Benoit helming, his voice rings through clear in melody and still somewhat ethereal, calling to mind a more organically-constructed Jesu in poppier as well as some heavier stretches. The penultimate “Heart Attack” tips into heavier fare with a steady bassline and bursts of crunching guitar, and the finale “Son of Winter” answers back with a (snow)blinding spaciousness and an entrancing last buildup. There’s enough room here to really get lost, and SOM are too mindful of their craft to let it happen.
Alright, I admit it. I went to “Icy Flatulence” first. Even before “Cyborgian Burger Hut” or “Euphoric Nostril.” Scott Heller, otherwise known as Dr. Space of Øresund Space Collective and any number of other outfits on a given day, is as-ever exploring on Muzik 2 Loze Yr Mynd Inn, and the results are hypnotic enough that they might leave you using the kind of spelling on the album’s title, but even in the relatively serene “Garden of Rainbow Unicorns” there’s a forward keyline — and actually, in that song, an undercurrent of horror soundtracking that makes me think the unicorn is about to eat me; could happen — and the extended pair of “T-E-T” and “Ribbons in Time” are marked by ’80s sci-fi beeps and boops and a kind of electronic shuffle, respectively, though the latter is probably as close as the 54-minute six-songer comes to soundscaping. Which is like landscaping only, in this case, happening in another galaxy somewhere. And there they call it jazz as they should and all is well. In all seriousness, I keep a running list in my brain of bands who should ask Dr. Space to guest on their records. Your band is probably on it. It’s pretty much everybody.
Here’s some context you probably don’t need: “Cold Wind” and “When I’m King” were written around the time of Wellington, New Zealand’s Beastwars‘ 2011 self-titled debut (review here). They may even have been recorded — I could’ve sworn “When I’m King” popped up somewhere at some point — but they’ve now been redone from the ground up and they’re pressed to a limited 7″ as part of the 10th anniversary celebration that also saw the self-titled get a new vinyl issue. Now, is it helpful knowing that? Yeah, sure. If I came at you instead and said, “Hey, new Beastwars!” though, it’d probably be more of a draw, and whatever gets Beastwars in as many ears as possible is what should invariably be done. “When I’m King” is a banger (bonus points for gang shouts), “Cold Wind” a little more seething, but both tracks harness that peculiarly sludged tonality that the band has owned for more than a decade now, and the guttural delivery of Matthew Hyde is only more resonant for the years between the writing and the execution of these songs. That execution is beheading by riffs, by the way.
A Nocturnal Crossing, the second album from Toulouse, France’s Deathbell and their first for Svart Records, can come at you from any number of angles seemingly at any point. Which thread are you following? Is it the soaring, classic-feeling occult rock melodies of Lauren Gaynor, or her organ work that, at the same time, adds gothic drama to so much of the material on the six-songer? Is it the lumbering groove of “Shifting Sands” and the doomed fuzz of “Devoured on the Peak” earlier, speaking to entirely different traditions? Or maybe the atmosphere in “Silent She Comes,” which is almost post-metallic in its shining lead guitar? Or perhaps, and hopefully I think, it’s all of these things as skillfully woven together as they are in these tracks. Opener “The Stronghold and the Archer” and the closing title-track mirror each other in their underlying metallic influence, but that too becomes one more texture at Deathbell‘s disposal, brought forward in such a way as to emphasize the unity of the whole work as much as the individual progressions.
After debuting on Svart with 2018’s Toinen Toista (review here), sax-laced Helskini classic prog pastoralists Malady offer Ainavihantaa (‘all the time’) across a lush and welcoming six tracks and 37 minutes. The flow is immediate and paramount on opener “Alava Vaara” and through the flute/sax tradeoff in “Vapaa Ja Autio,” which follows, and though it’s heady fare, somehow the “Foxy-Lady”-if-King–Crimson-wrote-it strut-into-meander of “Sisävesien Rannat” skirts a line of indulgence without fully toppling over. Side B is jazzy and winding across “Dyadi” and “Haavan Väri” ahead of the title-track, but the human presence of vocals, even in a language I don’t speak, does wonders in keeping the proceedings grounded, right up to the Beatlesian finish of “Ainavihantaa” itself. This was on a lot of best-of-2021 lists and it’s not a challenge to see why.
The Earth, ecologically devastated by industrialization and the wastefulness of humans — capitalism, in other words — becomes a wasteland. A few billionaires, who’ve been playing around with laughably-phallic rockets anyway, decide they’re going to escape out into space and leave the rest of the species, which they’ve destroyed, to suffer. It would be — and used to be — the stuff of decent science fiction were it not basically what homo sapiens are living through right now. A mass extinction owing to climate change the roots of which are in anthropocene action and inaction alike. French outfit Wormsand tell this utterly-plausible story in cascading doom riffs that reminds at once of Pallbearer and Forming the Void, keeping an edge of modern heavy prog to their plodding and accompanying with clean vocals and some more gutty shouts. As one might expect, things get pretty grim by the time they’re down to “Carrions,” “Collapsing” and “Shapeless Mass” near the album’s end, but the trio get big, big points for not trying to offer some placating “you can avoid this future” message of hope at the end, instead highlighting the final message, “The oracles warned us long ago/That a huge mass would swallow us all.” Ambitious in narrative concept, expertly conveyed.
I hate to call out a falsehood, but Virginia duo Thunderchief‘s claim that, “No fucks were used, or given, on this recording,” just isn’t the case. I’m sorry. You don’t rip the fuck out of your throat like Rik Surly does on “Aiboh/Phobia” without a clear intent. That intent might be — and would seem to be — fuckall, but fuckall’s way different from ‘no fucks.’ If they didn’t give a fuck, Synanthrope could hardly come across as furious as it does in these seven tracks, totaling a consuming, gruff, sludged 39 minutes, marked out by centerpiece “King of the Pleistocene” fucking with your conception of desert rock, the second part of “Aiboh/Phobia” — the part named after a grind band, oddly enough — and “Toss Me a Crumb” fucking around with some grind, and closer “Paw” trodding out its feedback-laden course with Erik Larson‘s drums marching in crash with Surly‘s riffs. Hell, you got Mike Dean to record the thing. That’s giving a fuck all by itself. This kind of heavy and righteous, purposeful aural cruelty doesn’t happen by mistake. It’s too good to be fuckless. Sorry.
No lyric sheet necessary to get that the longest song on Turkey Vulture‘s Twist the Knife EP, the three-minute “Livestock on Our Way to Slaughter,” is based lyrically on the ever-relevant film They Live. The married Connecticut duo of guitarist/bassist/vocalist Jessie May and drummer Jim Clegg (also in charge of visuals), find thrashy release on the four-song release, which totals about eight minutes and in opener “Fiji,” “Where the Truth Dwells,” as well as “Livestock on Our Way to Slaughter,” they rip with surprising metallic thrust. The closing “She’s Married (But Not to Me)” is something of a further shift, and had me searching for an original version out there somewhere thinking it was a cover either of Buddy Holly or some wistful punk band, but no, seems to be an original. So be it. Clearly, at this point, May and Clegg are finding new modes of sonic catharsis that even a couple years ago they likely wouldn’t have dared. They’re a stronger band for their readiness to follow such whims.
In Stargo‘s Dammbruch, I hear a signal back to European heavy rock’s prior instrumentalist generation, the Dortmunder three-piece not completely divorced from the riffy progressions that drove the warmth creating heavy psychedelia in the first place, even as the four-part, 14-minute title-track of the EP shifts between those impulses and more progressive, weighted, extreme or airy movements before its eerily peaceful conclusion. “Copter,” which could be titled after its wub-wub-wub effect early and the guitar chug that takes hold of it, and the closer “Bathysphere,” with its outward reach of guitar telegraphed in the first half but still resonant at the end, bring likeminded breadth in shorter bursts, but the abiding story of the EP is what the band — who made their full-length debut with 2020’s Parasight — might continue to offer as their style continues to develop. 35007, My Sleeping Karma, The Ocean, Pelican and Russian Circles — Stargo‘s sound is a melting pot of ideas. They only need to keep exploring.
Fabrizio Monni, also of Black Capricorn, issues a second EP from the solo-project Ascia following up on Sept. 2021’s Volume I (review here) with the marauding lumber of Dec. 2021’s Volume II, bringing his axe down across five tracks in a sub-20-minute run that’s been compiled onto a limited CD with the first release. Makes sense. The two outings share an affinity for the running megafuzz of earliest High on Fire and showcase the emerging personality of the new outfit in the melodies of “The Will of Gods” and the untempered doom of the later slowdown in “Thousands of Ghosts.” The instrumental “A Night with Shahrazad” closes, and feels a bit like a piece of a song — it crashes out just when you think the vocals might kick in — but if Monni‘s leaving his audience wanting more, well, he also seems quick enough to provide. “Eternal Glory” and “Ruins of War” will remind you what you liked about the first EP, and the rest will remind you why you’re looking forward to the next one. Mark it a win.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 12th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Larson‘s gonna Larson. The admirably, persistently busy Richmond, Virginia-based multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and sometimes one-man-band released two full-lengths and an EP on one day last year and he’s got a bunch more in the hopper for 2022, including a record with nine different drummers, a collab with “Minnesota Pete” Campbell, an ongoing series of covers with Thunderchief and a new band with former Alabama Thunderpussy bandmate Asechiah Bogdan, and more. And I mean that, there really is more. Even more than he talks about here.
So yes, clearly Larson — seen in the photo below pushing back presumably against the pressure to use social media as a promotional vehicle for his various projects — is gonna Larson. It’s who he is and what he does. It’s for to the rest of us to keep up as best we can.
The following came with seeming reluctance in a Bandcamp update and is preserved here PR wire style for the sheer impressive amount of information it contains:
Hey y’all. Forgive the awkwardness of this message. I’ve never sent out a blank news thing. Not really sure how this works. I’m not a social media person AT ALL, so it’s amazing to me that anyone’s paying attention here. I do sincerely appreciate it.
The reason I’m writing this is to let y’all know that I’m going to have 2 more Solo full lengths going up very soon.
The first is titled “Everything Breaks”. I’ve got 9 different friends of mine playing drums on it. They’re all Richmond peops, some you may recognize, others maybe not so much. Working on getting that up here on the Bandcampage early February.
The 2nd will be another full length titled “Red Lines”. That one features Minnesota Pete Campbell on drums for 9 songs. Finishing up the mixing in the coming weeks w/Mark Miley on that album.
Still very busy playing drums with Thunderchief (new album Synanthrope out now!), Omen Stones (new album coming soon!) and the AVAIL dudes. Be on the look out for new music from the newer band I’m doing w/ Asechiah Bogdan (ex-ATP/Windhand) and Buddy Bryant (Paper Trail/Dirt Merchant) called Sunyears.
There’s also more solo shit in the works… always more songs.
