Posted in Whathaveyou on May 9th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
I don’t really know the circumstances behind its making, but the behind-the-scenes documentary clip that Kyiv-based trio Risin Sabotage have put up ahead of the May 20 release of their new single “COG,” is remarkably pro-shop. It’s well edited and gives some sense of what the song sounds like without just playing it, making for a solid teaser as well as a glimpse at the band’s creative sausagemaking. Bassists are the same in any language. And wonderful for that, lest you think I believe otherwise.
As for the song itself, I’ve yet to hear it, so I’m just going off the video as well. The band dig into who does what and the arrangements, and it’s an interesting discussion diving deep because it’s still just about one song. I don’t know if they’re heading directly toward an album or not, but in terms of preserving a moment and giving your audience insight into how you do what you do, it’s just awesome.
Video’s at the bottom of this post. Info on the single follows, courtesy of the PR wire:
Risin Sabotage Unleashes New Track “COG” – A Test of Faith and Identity
Ukrainian alternative rock band Risin Sabotage proudly announces the release of their new track “COG”, available on all major platforms starting May 20.
“COG” is a deep and emotional journey exploring themes of faith, identity, and the struggle to find one’s voice in a constantly shifting world. The track is the result of the band’s introspective creative process, aiming to share a raw and honest perspective with their listeners.
More than just a song, “COG” is a call to reflect on who we are and what we’re willing to sacrifice for our beliefs. Join us on this musical journey into the heart of conviction and doubt.
Video featuring: Ihor Nediuzhyi, Viktor Panchishko, Valerii Skorzhenko. Editing & production: @sanliverecords
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 21st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
I’ve never been a huge fan of HIM‘s records and I’ve never seen the band live, but I do know that Igor Sydorenko of Stoned Jesus is the kind of dude who just might dare to like different kinds of music, let alone different kinds of rock music, so I guess that’s the risk you run for being actually-open-minded (instead of pretend-open-minded, which is what I think most people want to be). Fair enough. Catchy is catchy, songwriting is songwriting, and of course Sydorenko, who’s among the more charismatic of heavy rock frontmen currently working the Euro circuit, can handle the melody.
I don’t know when they recorded it, but the impression I get from the below is it’s the first studio outing from the revamped incarnation of the band, with Andrew Rodin on bass and backing vocals and Yurii Ciel drumming. I was lucky enough to see this incarnation of Stoned Jesus last summer in Budapest (review here) and Europeans will have the chance to catch the band this Spring as they celebrate their 15th — or XVth — anniversary with festivals and club dates ahead of taking off for their first Australian stint this Fall. I could’ve sworn they’d been before. I’ve never been either.
So the cover, the tours, the anniversary, and word of a new album sometime later in 2025 is the deal here. I hope it all pans out without complication. Stoned Jesus are all paid up on dealing with bullshit beyond their control and then some:
STONED JESUS Cover HIM’s “Buried Alive By Love”
Ukrainian psychedelic prog rockers honor kindred spirits with faithful ode to love metal
New album coming in 2025 + return to Hellfest
Having celebrated their 15th anniversary with two reissues last year, Stoned Jesus are turning over a new leaf in 2025. The Ukrainian psychedelic prog rockers are rolling across the European summer festival circuit in heavy anticipation of their upcoming sixth album and first with the band’s new lineup.
To kick off the new year in high gear, Stoned Jesus are honoring their fellow trailblazers HIM with a faithfully heart-pounding ode to love metal.
Listen to Stoned Jesus cover “Buried Alive By Love” on the Season of Mist YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/OHmEGyXHjmM
Though they were already a known force on the international album charts, before “Buried Alive By Love”, HIM were at odds with how they were perceived by the music industry. Igor Sydorenko – the mastermind behind Stoned Jesus – understands the feeling all too well.
“We constantly struggle with the limitations of the genre, having been pigeonholed as a stoner rock band early in our career, so HIM are very relatable to us”, Igor says. “It’s absolutely unfair that such a diverse and interesting band are remembered as this moody, one-dimensional bunch by the general public. I truly consider Ville Vallo one of the most underappreciated rock and metal composers ever. His way of balancing the heavy and dark stuff with the catchiest melodies is very inspiring when I’m busy with my own songwriting”.
With the opening track on 2003’s Love Metal, HIM truly hit upon their signature style. “Buried Alive By Love” shot the album to the top of the Billboard Heatseekers Chart. Now, more than two decades later, the hit single is launching a new era for Stoned Jesus. The band’s new rhythm section add fresh sludge, while Igor’s razor-sharp riff and coolly impassioned pleas match the Finn’s gothic groove drop for bloody drop.
“This is just a phenomenal song”, Igor continues. “Bumping HIM in the van with the new boys on our first tour together sure helped to build and solidify the chemistry that we have now”.
Catch this new era of Stoned Jesus as they relive the band’s greatest hits on their ongoing 15-year anniversary tour. The band are playing shows across Europe with stops at several festivals, including a triumphant return to Hellfest. Later this year, Stoned Jesus are making their long-awaited debut down under with five special anniversary shows in Australia.
Stoned Jesus 2025 XV Anniversary European Tour March 30 – Lediden, NL @ Interstellar Solar Fest May 2-3 – Bologna & Venezia, IT @ Heavy Psych Sounds May 16 – London, UK @ Desert Fest May 17 – Dublin, IE @ Lost Lane May 18 – Belfast, UK @ Voodoo May 21 – Malmö, SE @ Plan B May 22 – Stockholm, SE @ Bar Brooklyn May 24 – Helsinki, FI @ Sonic Rites Festival May 25 – Tallinn, EE @ Kinomaja May 26 – Riga, LV @ Melna Piektdiena May 27 – Vilnius, LT @ Loftas May 28 – Gdansk, PL @ Drizzly Grizzly May 29 – Wroclaw, PL @ Transformator May 30 – Prague, CZ @ Rock Cafe May 31 – Ljubljana, SI @ Menza Pri Koritu June 1 – Zagreb, HR @ Vintage Industrial Bar June 21 – Clisson, FR @ Hellfest June 27 – Oberzenn, DE @ Wasted Openair June 28 – Passau, DE @ Blackdoor Music Fest August 3 – Gyongyos, HU @ Fekete Zaj Festival
Stoned Jesus 2025 XV & Debut Australian Tour September 28 – Perth @ The Rosemount October 1 – Canberra @ The Baso October 2 – Sydney @ The Underground October 3 – Brisbane @ Soapbox Beer October 4 – Melbourne @ The Leadbeater
Line-up: Igor Sydorenko – Lead-Vocals & Guitar Andrew Rodin – Bass & Backing Vocals Yurii Ciel – Drums & Percussion
Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 22nd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Ukrainian heavy psych trio Somali Yacht Club brought a somewhat counterintuitive fluidity to the proceedings for an album that they decided to call The Sun, a name it shares with the last of its five-total tracks, but I guess when one thinks of a roiling ball of plasma 833,000 miles wide churning as it burns through billions of years’ worth of molecular fuel, making life possible in arguably the most giving of ways, it might make more sense. It was originally released in 2014, through respected countryman purveyor Robustfellow Productions, The Sun would be subsequently picked up by Bilocation Records — which is what we called Kozmik Artifactz way back yonder — in 2016 and re-pressed steadily leading to the band’s signing to Season of Mist early in 2021.
Sure enough, Season of Mist did their own pressing, including a gatefold vinyl that includes the bonus track “Sun’s Eyes” (which also showed up on earlier reissues billed as The Sun + 1), and all that’s a lot of facts and dates you can very easily find on Discogs/Bandcamp like I did, but what it actually tells you is that these songs have continued to find an audience since they were first released, even as the band have continued to push forward; their latest album, The Space (review here), came out in 2022 following on from 2018’s excellent The Sea (review here). The lineup of guitarist/vocalist Ihor Pryshlyak, bassist Arthur Savluk and drummer Oleksa Mahula has stayed consistent and in their intention, but evolved in their processes. With 10 years of hindsight, The Sun seems prescient of a fair bit of what would happen in progressive heavy psychedelia in the second half of the 2010s.
Of course, Somali Yacht Club have had a hand in shaping that — see also bands like Elephant Tree, King Buffalo, Weedpecker and others alongside more obvious names like Elder, All Them Witches, etc. — but the textures and shimmering feel of The Sun in the still-very-heavy roll of “Loom” or the wash that seems to crash ashore seven minutes into centerpiece “Up in the Sky.” With elements of post-rock tonal float in Pryshlyak‘s lead lines and a corresponding density of low end, the material breathes soothingly while remaining able to hit you up and down. Individual songs make an impression — perhaps most standout-ish is second cut “Sightwaster,” which shifts from a resonant proggy linearity into fuzzier riffing before a stop and the bassline carry it into a dub reggae jam, but that’s on purpose too — and I won’t discount the effectiveness of “Sun” in capping with what feels like a thrust into the atmosphere the band have been harnessing all along, belting out a killer vocal lift, and rolling on to the finish in classic style, but really the story is the flow.
It seems unlikely Somali Yacht Club would have written The Sun all as one song, and sure enough the album isn’t based around any single musical theme or progression, but it does tie together with particular gorgeousness and flow. This is set up in part by style. Fluidity is a big part of what these songs do, and that bears out in tempo, tone, melody and structure. The songs are delivered with patience but no lack of outwardly perceptible energy, and the immersive nature of their breadth lets the listener be subsumed and carried smoothly from front to back across the 42 minutes (48 if you do The Sun + 1). Grunge is a factor stylistically, in some of the riffing, and Somali Yacht Club do well with the despondent edge that affords, but the overarching feel of The Sun is accordingly warm and embracing. If it’s a roiling plasma ball — and yes, it is — then it’s nice to be at a comfortable distance in space, sonically speaking, while the gravity holds it all together in a single system, or, to drop the metaphor, a succession of welcoming, sometimes hypnotic, expansive tracks.
It’s also the beneficiary of being on the right side of the argument in terms of what came after. That is to say, not only have Somali Yacht Club launched their own creative growth here, but others have come along working in a similar sphere as heavy psychedelia, heavy progressive rock, and various other iterations of ‘heavy’ and ‘space’ have made their way to listener consciousness in the underground. A decade ago, I might have said it reminded me of Sungrazer, and fair enough as that still-missed Dutch band looked to be figureheads of the generation of heavy psych of which Somali Yacht Club are a part, and I guess there’s still some of that in the thickness of fuzz and some of the jammier foundations, but I can’t help but hear “Signals” here — the 11-minute-long penultimate cut that works across multiple movements to arrive at a payoff that’s more about outreach than largesse — and think about how much Somali Yacht Club were declaring themselves in the airy guitar and terrestrial bass, the steady motion of the drums making sure everybody’s headed in the right direction. The dynamic they’ve been building ever since, I guess.
This was a record that introduced them to Europe. It wouldn’t be until two years after its initial release that I actually engaged with it — I’d been put off by the moniker — but even though The Space finds Somali Yacht Club grown by leaps and bounds in terms of melody, there’s something about looking back to The Sun that not only shows you where they’ve come from, but reinforces the scope of their pursuit. They’ve made the rounds touring in Europe for the last 10 years — did all the festivals for the last album and such — and they’ve built a fanbase all the while. As their home country continues to grapple with a Russian invasion that’s been going on actively pretty much since this record came out, it’s hard to know what such an unstable future will bring for/from them, but I know that my day is better because I put The Sun on and decided to sit and write about it and that, I assure you, is not nothing when it comes to salves in heady times.
I hope you enjoy, is what I’m saying. And thanks for reading.
—
It’s like 1PM, which is kind of unheard of for me in terms of closing out the week. I got about three sentences written this morning before The Pecan came down. It was like 7AM, to be fair, so I knew what I was getting into. I didn’t sleep especially late, but was slow getting up and taking the dog out. Some mornings you don’t have it. I don’t, anyhow.
First snowfall today, which has been a novelty, though really it’s just fortunate we’re getting any kind of precipitation at all. Northern New Jersey, where I live, has been experiencing its worst season of wildfires ever — because of course it has — and we haven’t had any real rain in like two months until today. Yes, it’s unnerving. So is everything. If you need me I’ll be getting stoned, listening to records from the ’90s and playing Zelda. This is apparently what I need right now.
If I had time, or money, or energy, or basically if I was like me except not like me at all and a completely different person, I’d be fine. As it stands, an increasing number of things have become “a lot.”
But hey, let’s be positive. I took The Pecan to her ice skating lesson this week and she knocked it out of the park, which isn’t even a thing you’re supposed to do in ice skating and still somehow was awesome. Really though, it’s nice to see her get through. She breaks balls like no one I’ve ever met. You need to be ready — because it’s never everything that’s an argument, but it’s almost always something and it can be anything — but I’d rather have her fighting with me about taking another fucking bite of food when she still wants it than losing her shit at ice skating. I still have visions of how tae kwon do ended in the back of my head. Csúnya, as they say in Hungarian.
But not only is it a thing to appreciate that she’s doing well, I appreciate being able to appreciate it. I said “let’s be positive” above and she was the first thing that popped into my head. That has not always been the case throughout the last seven years.
So yes, absolutely, it’s a world of horrors. I live every day in fear for her and our family for what’s to come in the next few years. I hate everyone and anyone who would vote to strip the rights of others. You want to say “hey that’s 80 million people or some shit” and I’ll tell you actually the number of humans at which my vitriol might be directed is likely to be much higher, but yes, it’s a blanket disdain mostly for my fellow white people at this point. And once more, just in case it needs to be said by someone who’d read that and get white-guy triggered, get fucked.
Unfriend me. Do whatever you gotta do. I don’t care. I was here when nobody read this page and I’ll be the last one left when it’s done. I don’t want to accidentally make some nazi’s day better by sharing cool riffs.
Next week is Thanksgiving here in the US. I’m grateful you read. Thanks for that. We’re hosting family dinner — like 20 people, I think — and The Patient Mrs.’ mom just had her knee replaced (you may recall my mother had hers done while I was on my way to Freak Valley; that was a weird experience). Tuesday I’m driving to Rhode Island to pick up the turkey because, well, yeah. But anyway, I’ll write as much as I can, as always, and I hope if you’re celebrating, it’s a good thing. I know it’s a false history, the US is founded on like seven different genocides, on and on. I know all that. I know I’m complicit in the Palestinian genocide right now just for being here. I just want to have dinner with my mom and my wife’s mom and my sister and her husband and my wife’s sister and everybody. I know the narrative is flawed. The only answer I have is cauliflower gratin.
Whatever you’re up to, I wish you a great and safe weekend. Have fun, hydrate, don’t get too stoned, and watch your head. I’ll be back on Monday with more of whatever it is we’re calling this these days. Obelisking? Obeliskation? Obeliskiat? I don’t know.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 18th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
There hasn’t been a peep so far as I’ve heard from Kyiv’s Ethereal Riffian since the band led by guitarist/vocalist Val Hornev called it a day following the Fall 2019 release of their relatively-stripped-down Legends (review here) album, and but for the circumstance behind “Eternal Home,” I have to wonder if there would be in the first place. The Ukrainian meditative heavy specialists’ return comes on the heels of the war-destruction of a band associate’s home (and pets) — the brother of their sound engineer — and the two-minute instrumental clip of the first new Ethereal Riffian track in half a decade coincides with a fundraising effort on the part of Robustfellow Productions to give money to those affected by the bombing that took place on July 8.
Because, hey, by the way, this war is still happening too. Content in the first place to engage in a proxy-war gambling with other countries’ lives (big change), nobody in my home country seems to want to talk about it anymore — Democrats are fearful of being portrayed as warmongers, Republicans are christofascists poised to pull apart the country’s admittedly imperfect system in favor of pro-Russian demagoguery — and I’m not saying Israel/Palestine doesn’t also deserve attention, but nothing here has been solved and won’t be so long as the violence continues. Which it seems like it will until I guess Vladimir Putin has a new Soviet Union cast in whatever image of one he has in his mind. It will be a relief when the floods come.
Two minutes of peace in all this and the dissolution of civil liberties too is welcome. I don’t know what if anything it will lead to from Ethereal Riffian, but the video is gorgeous and the song is serene, and in 2024 you take what you can fucking get for reminders that there’s more to this world than horror and the potential for more horror.
To wit:
Ethereal Riffian Drops New Mesmerizing Music Video in July 2024
Mystic rock band from Kyiv, Ethereal Riffian, which seemed to be on hold since November 2019, drops a new mesmerizing music video called “Eternal Home”. The band worked on this meditative composition as a two-piece.
On July 8, a russian terrorist state bombed one of the largest children’s hospitals in Europe. The same day one part of the residential building in Kyiv was destroyed completely by one of their missiles. Brother of our sound engineer lived in this building with his family. Luckily, none of the family members was at home, but this inhumane atrocity took the lives of their cat and dog, and also their home.
All funds gathered from this campaign will go to help our sound engineer’s brother’s family and their neighbors,” comments Val Kornev. “In a world disrupted by wars, keeping the light kindled is crucial. This music video intends to give a small island of peace to people wherever they are and whatever their life conditions are at the moment.”
Robustfellow Prods. joins the charity initiative and prepares massive BUNDLE with rare Ethereal Riffian releases. Also, all July sales will go to support the neighborhood that suffered from the bombing.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 17th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
As Stoned Jesus move forward with a new lineup and head toward their 15th anniversary tour of Europe this Fall, the Ukrainian heavy rock forerunners will this August revisit 2012’s Seven Thunders Roar (review here) and 2015’s The Harvest (review here), reissuing the two albums through Season of Mist, which also put out their 2023 long-player, Father Light (review here). That record, in being both post-plague and arriving in the context of Russia’s ongoing attempt to eat Ukraine with murder, was almost defiantly rocking, but encompassed a lot in terms of sound that Seven Thunders Roar and The Harvest put forth, nodding to the… uh… nod… of the former and the willfully progressive spirit that kept the latter from being more than a retread of riffy glories. Three extra minutes of “I’m the Mountain?” I think I’m not the only one who’s ready to sign up for such a thing.
Kind of kills me I’ve still never seen this band. With the trio revamped around founding guitarist/vocalist Igor Sydorenko, that would be interesting to catch playing new songs or old. My understanding is — which is to say, don’t quote me on this — they’ve dropped the intention to follow Father Light with the hopefully-they’ll-put-it-out-someday Mother Dark, instead focusing on touring and presumably a fresh start for a next record whenever they get there.
The PR wire brings news of the reissues:
STONED JESUS Re-Issue Two Classic Albums in Seven Thunders Roar and The Harvest
Strap in, magnificent souls, because we’re diving deep into the kaleidoscopic universe of STONED JESUS, trailblazers of the European psychedelic progressive rock scene. The ever-ambitious trio is re-issuing their groundbreaking albums, the monolithic Seven Thunders Roar (2012) and the revolutionary The Harvest (2015).
Forged in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2009 by singer-songwriter Igor Sydorenko, Stoned Jesus began as an audacious experiment. United by a shared passion for the almighty riff, seismic grooves, and boundless creativity, the band bulldozed their way through the barriers of the genre, crafting a legacy that has since become the stuff of modern mythology.
“After years of waiting we’re finally reissuing two of our most-beloved albums, the heavy prog stalwart The Harvest and the already-legendary psychedelic classic Seven Thunders Roar!” Sydorenko states. “It’s funny now to think how surprised people were hearing The Harvest for the first time – a lot of them possibly expected Seven Thunders Part Two, but as a songwriter I’d never been into repeating myself. And with Seven Thunders, what else could I say about this overlooked-then-and-praised-now record, its importance and influence for the genre?
“This was our first release with our then-manager, Vlad Lyashenko, the man who helped to shape the Ukrainian rock and metal underground into the force it is today. Both reissues are dedicated to his memory, since he passed away last year – hauntingly, on the very same day we’d released our fifth album, Father Light. So please enjoy both The Harvest and Seven Thunders Roar with extended bonus tracks and have one for the guy to whom we owe our career”
Season of Mist is reissuing Seven Thunders Roar and The Harvest on August 16, 2024.
Seven Thunders Roar Digital Download CD Digipack 2X12″ Vinyl Gatefold (Black) 2X12″ Vinyl Gatefold (Gold with Black Splatter)
Tracklist 1. Bright Like The Morning (7:47) 2. Electric Mistress (9:21) 3. Indian (5:00) 4. I’m The Mountain (13:01) 5. Stormy Monday (8:43) 6. Bright Like The Morning (Extended) (8:43) 7. Stormy Monday (Extended) (9:32) 8. I’m The Mountain (Extended) (16:02) Total runtime: 1:18:09
The Harvest Digital Download CD Digipack 12″ Vinyl Gatefold (Black) 12″ Vinyl Gatefold (Red with Black Splatter)
Tracklist 1. Here Come The Robots (3:18) 2. Wound (3:14) 3. Rituals Of The Sun (7:01) 4. YFS (5:10) 5. Silkworm Confessions (9:07) 6. Black Church (14:45) Total runtime: 42:37
STONED JESUS will be heading out celebrating their 15 year anniversary across mainland Europe. Expect a setlist full of Seven Thunders Roar and The Harvest classics, along with tracks from their latest album, Father Light.
Tagging alongside them will be San Francisco’s Mondo Drag, Polish doom-giants Dopelord as well as label mates The Abbey on 21 European dates.
STONED JESUS XV ANNIVERSARY TOUR: 10 October: Berlin, DE @ Frannz Club 11 October: Copenhagen, DK @ Lille Vega 12 October: Hamburg, DE @ Headcrash 13 October: Haarlem, NL @ Patronaat 14 October: Arnhem, NL @ Willemeen 16 October: Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club 17 October: Bristol, UK @ Fleece 18 October: London, UK @ Garage 19 October: Cologne, DE @ Club Volta 20 October: Antwerpen, BE @ Desertfest Belgium 22 October: Munich, DE @ Feierwerk 23 October: Milano, IT @ Legend 24 October: Bologna, IT @ Freakout 25 October: Aarau, CH @ Kiff 26 October: Schweinfurt, DE @ Stattbahnhof 27 October: Innsbruck, DE @ PMK 29 October: Brno, CZ @ Kabinet Muz 30 October: Warsaw, PL @ Hydrozagadka 31 October: Krakow, PL @ Kwadrat 1 November: Poznan, PL @ Klub 2progi 2 November: Leipzig, DE @ Werk 2
Line-up: Igor Sydorenko – Lead-Vocals & Guitar Andrew Rodin – Bass & Backing Vocals Yurii Ciel – Drums & Percussion
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 3rd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
One vividly recalls how it went when Stoned Jesus were set to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their landmark second LP, Seven Thunders Roar (review here), in March 2022. Emerging from a global pandemic didn’t get any easier for the Kyiv-based band fronted by guitarist/vocalist Igor Sydorenko as Russia went into active-war mode in invading their home country of Ukraine now over two years ago, but in early 2023, Stoned Jesus offered the engrossing Father Light (review here) as their first LP through Season of Mist, and they’ve continued to move forward with tours to support it, including heading out this very month with Mars Red Sky as they begin to mark 15 years of the band.
Their accompanying Fall 15th anniversary European run will see them touring with the rotating cast of prog-classicists Mondo Drag, blasphemous riff rollers Dopelord and progressive doom melancholymakers The Abbey for most of October (including a few dates early in the month in Bulgaria and Greece that have moved from this Spring; see below for more info), with a stop at Desertfest Belgium 2024 nestled between club shows throughout Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Poland, and so on. And if you look at the three openers who’ll swap out for each other during the tour, it’s indicative of how broad Stoned Jesus‘s sound has become that they all absolutely fit as complement.
The below comes from social media as posted by Sydorenko. It’s unclear as yet what the ‘big changes’ are that he’s referencing, but whatever the upheaval, nothing’s slowed Stoned Jesus down yet.
Doomstar Bookings is behind the tour:
STONED JESUS – XVth Anniversary Tour
Here it is – the final leg of our XVth Anniversary Tour for this year! So many places to play (familiar and new), so many bands to share the stage with (again, familiar and new) and so many people to share our music with – see you all there. This one will be really, really good! Love, StJ #StJxv
Doomstar Bookings presents: Stoned Jesus XV Anniversary Tour, with special guests: Mondo Drag (10/10 – 26/10) / Dopelord (29/10 – 02/11) / The Abbey (10/10 – 02/11)! Check out the dates below!
3.10 – Sofia (BG) – Mixtape 5 4.10 – Thessaloniki (GR) – Mylos Club 5.10 – Patra (GR) – Frida Live Stage 6.10 – Athens (GR) – Kyttaro Live 10/10 – Berlin (DE) – Frannz Club # * 11/10 – Copenhagen (DK) – Lille Vega # * 12/10 – Hamburg (DE) – Headcrash # * 13/10 – Haarlem (NL) – Patronaat # * 15/10 – Arnhem (NL) – Willemeen # * 16/10 – Leeds (UK) – Brudenell Social Club # * 17/10 – Bristol (UK) – Fleece # * 18/10 – London (UK) – Garage # * 19/10 – Cologne (DE) – Club Volta # * 20/10 – Antwerpen (BE) – Desertfest Belgium # * 22/10 – Munich (DE) – Feierwerk # * 23/10 – Milano (IT) – Legend # * 24/10 – Bologna (IT) – Freakout # * 25/10 – Aarau (CH) – KIFF # * 26/10 – Schweinfurt (DE) – Stattbahnhof # * 27/10 – Innsbruck (AT) – PMK * 29/10 – Brno (CZ) – Kabinet Muz x * 30/10 – Warsaw (PL) – Hydrozagadka x * 31/10 – Krakow (PL) – Kwadrat x * 01/11 – Poznan (PL) – 2Progi x * 02/11 – Leipzig (DE) – Werk 2 x * # w/ Mondo Drag x w/ Dopelord * w/ The Abbey
Dear fans in Bulgaria and Greece!
Some big changes are happening in the Stoned Jesus camp that we can’t wait to tell you about later – but for now this means we have no other option but to move the first four dates of our XVth Anniversary Tour from early April to early October (please note the new dates).
3.10 – Sofia (BG) – Mixtape 5 4.10 – Thessaloniki (GR) – Mylos Club 5.10 – Patra (GR) – Frida Live Stage 6.10 – Athens (GR) – Kyttaro Live
While we kindly ask everyone to respect our privacy while we’re dealing with these unforeseen challenges, we need to assure you that these are not the issues that made us cancel all our touring plans back in 2023.
Thanks a million for your patience, understanding and support! See you a bit later this year, StJ
ps: to everyone who’s expecting to see us in France, Spain, Germany and Portugal this April – no worries, the rest of the dates stay intact
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 26th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Who wants to fly my grumpy, middle-aged ass to Paris in April to catch a show? No one? Maybe Bordeaux? Porto? Lisbon? Madrid? Barcelona? I’ll go pretty much anywhere that has an airport for this one. Stoned Jesus have had a particularly fucked couple of years, as their home in Kyiv, Ukraine, has been subject to invasion from neighboring Russia and the ensuing proxy war between Ukrainian forces with NATO backing and the monolith that is Russian imperialism. I’ve been saying for the last two years I don’t know how that war’s gonna end, and could go on and on about it, but it’s war. It would be a welcome change if humans stopped slaughtering each other, and at no point in the history of the species from voles hiding in the ground when the asteroid offed the dinosaurs to right this fucking moment has that not been true.
That’s not to make light of modern warfare’s particular horrors or the struggle undertaken by Ukrainians on behalf of their home/the Western liberal democratic ideology, mind you. Stoned Jesus in early 2023 nonetheless issued one of the year’s best albums in their Season of Mist debut, Father Light (review here), and were set to tour Europe this past Spring when Ukraine imposed travel restrictions, undercutting the band’s ability to promote their work as intended. I guess that’s ended or some special dispensation has been made — White Ward also seem to be getting out, so it seems less likely to be wishful booking — because in April 2024, Stoned Jesus are set to head west to France, Germany, Portugal and Spain.
They’ll be keeping company with Bordeaux’s Mars Red Sky — speaking of 2023’s best albums, they had one too — and I don’t know anything about anything about the paperwork involved, but for the sake of all involved, including the heads who’ll actually get to see these shows unlike my daydream-jetsetter self, I hope they happen.
From the PR wire:
Stoned Jesus are celebrating 15 years of doomy, heavy-hitting progressive rock this April with fellow stoners Mars Red Sky.
16 April: Strasbourg FR @ La Laiterie 17 April: Karlsruhe DE @ Alte Hackerei 18 April: Paris FR @ Le Trabendo 19 April: Bordeaux FR @ Le Royal 20 April: Hondarribia ES @ Psylocibenea* 21 April: Porto PT @ Hard Club* 22 April: Lisbon PT @ Lisboa ao Vivo* 23 April: Madrid ES @ Nazca* 24 April: Barcelona ES @ Razzmatazz 3* 25 April: Touluse FR @ Le Rex* 26 April: Toulon FR @ Omega Live* 27 April: Lyon FR @ Le Transbordeur *w/ Mars Red Sky
Stoned Jesus are: Igor Sydorenko – guitar, lead vocals Dmytro Zinchenko – drums and percussion, backing vocals Sergii Sliusar – bass, backing vocals
Posted in Bootleg Theater on December 22nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Ukrainian heavy rockers Risin Sabotage swung through Odessa earlier this year on tour and recorded the below video as part of what’s called ‘Carpet Sessions’ for reasons that will become apparent enough in the area ruggery of the clip when you see it. Included in the video that the trio was kind enough to let me premiere below are two songs from their 2023 Interstellar Smoke Records album, Macabre (discussed here), first is “Macabre” itself, followed by “Silence Queen,” which the band — guitarist/vocalist Vitya Panchishko, bassist Valerii Skorzhenko and drummer/vocalist Igor Nedyuzhiy — performed in tight quarters as captured by someone known to me only as sAn, who offered some comment on the process below.
All told, the clip is eight minutes long and it’s a ride that’s easy to take from the first hard guitar strum forward. In “Macabre,” Nedyuzhiy and Panchishko trade vocals during the verses as the camera twists and turns around them and Skorzhenko, the former in a kind of semi-spoken but clean delivery, the guitarist a bit grittier, in the vein of Mastodon‘s Brent Hinds. The pair took over lead vocals after Risin Sabotage parted ways with frontman KirillChepilko, who appeared on 2017’s Nasoni Records-issued Planet Dies LP (discussed here) and it’s encouraging to see them working purposefully to make the vocal arrangement, the patterning, etc., a big part of the song as presented here. No doubt whatever they do next to follow Macabre will take progressive steps forward in that regard.
But the point here isn’t progression, it’s a band in a box rocking out a couple tunes live being taped by a friend who apparently has it in for Skorzhenko‘s work on bass. Fair enough. The break between the two songs is short and right around four and a half minutes into the video, and some of their punker undertones come across in “Silence Queen” as transmuted onto heavier boogie, but you should know going into this that it’s the band in the raw and that’s the intention behind it. It’s not a fancy studio thing, or some multi-camera shoot. Dudes in a room, hitting it. It’s about as organic as you could possibly ask it to be and still be powered by electricity.
Of course, the war in Ukraine drags on. For over 650 days as my country waffles on support because we’re only set to spend 880-something billion dollars on the military next year and apparently we need all of it. I don’t have anything positive to say about it. It’s a fucking tragedy and humans don’t deserve to live on a planet so beautiful, but at least there’s rock and roll, and at least as their home is battered in ways from which it will take generations to recover, these guys can still get out and play shows domestically and do something like this, which looks like it was a great time. You find your solace where and when you can.
Please enjoy:
Risin Sabotage, Carpet Sessions premiere
sAn on Risin Sabotage, ‘Carpet Sessions:
I’ve known the Risin Sabotage crew for a long time, but I really got to know the guys in the winter of 22-23, and during their summer visit to Odessa we recorded a large-scale live on the picturesque expanses of the Kuyalnitsky estuary. You can easily find it on our channel. So the next stage of rapprochement was the mixing of this live, during which I was penetrated by every song of their new album, listening to it again and again, time after time. Now, God forbid I hear their song – then I go and hum it for a few days, and at their concerts I’m blown to pieces and yell in my voice some kind of their lyrics, some gibberish, but on time and in the notes. What does it matter, because nobody can hear me (but they can see me, and let them!).
Our friendship grows stronger with each visit, in direct proportion to my desire to steal their bassist Valera. Because I fell in love with his playing style and the whole range of grimaces during his playing. Valera, sooner or later I will steal you!
Let’s move on. Before their last visit by invitation to a special concert on the occasion of Generic Doom Band Name’s return in a new line-up, it was suggested to shoot a special acoustic live, but gods decided differently and having arranged all the equipment beautifully in my small but homey and cozy studio we recorded four songs. Please rate two of them in this video! Enjoy!
Finishing 2023 with a tour in Ukraine, after a gig in Odessa we made a live video for sAn live channel. We play some tracks from or new album Macabre during this Carpet Session. If you like it don’t forget to like and comment this vid.
A little bit about the channel: sAn live prod is a production studio, they make live videos for UA underground scene bands such as GDBN, White Ward, Heavenphetamine
