Posted in Whathaveyou on July 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
I guess someone on social media was giving Unida crap for touring without John Garcia? That seems like a pretty shitty thing to do, although I do think they need to do a record with the current lineup, or even an EP, maybe make a couple videos or some such to let people know what they’re about as they move to what they’re calling ‘Unida 2.0.’ But the band’s heart has long been guitarist Arthur Seay and drummer Miguel Cancino (see also House of Broken Promises), and after having their career short-circuited as it barely began, losing their frontman, reuniting a decade later, then kinda splitting again, that they’d want to move forward one way or the other at long last and be a real band is nothing to talk shit about.
So Unida, which is Seay, Cancino, bassist Collyn McCoy (Circle of Sighs, etc.) and vocalist Mark Sunshine (RiotGod), will tour Europe this Fall with support from Roadkillsoda, who are from Bucharest and will host Roadkill Fest on Oct. 24. A few days later, Unida will also hit Heavy Psych Sounds Fest in Berlin and Dresden, as you can see below. Don’t talk shit on the internet. That’s not who you wanna be.
Dates:
This Fall Unida 2.0 (meaning the line-up from 2022+) joins forces with Roadkill Soda, hitting up Greece, the Balkans, Heavy Psych Sounds Fest, and more. This will see Unida presenting classic material, songs from the unreleased Great Divide (For the Working Man ) LP as well as road testing all new music slated for release in the not so distant future!!
Here we are and we are setting up the tour for 2023. We weren’t sure how frequently people would pop off references to John Garcia, Unida’s founding member and iconic vocalist, regarding his continuing absence. In 2022 we had to handle all manner of comments regarding the situation. Respectfully, our current scenario is one of a band having endured several dormant years and that simply wasn’t tolerable anymore. Any comments rehashing John Garcia’s absence will — for our desire to remain focused on the present — only be engaged by private message but will NOT be allowed to bloom into some back and forth hell-thread. We appreciate YOUR devotion, please respect OUR priorities.
EASTERN EUROPEAN TOUR – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2023 13.10 – KYTTARO LIVE, ATHENS [GR] * 14.10 – LAB ART, VOLOS [GR]* 15.10 – EIGHTBALL CLUB, THESSALONIKI [GR] * 16.10 – DOWNLOAD BAR, PLOVDIV [BG] 17.10 – SINGLES BAR, SOFIA [BG) 18.10 – ZAPPA BAZA, BEOGRAD (SRB] 19.10 – SKCNS FABRIKA, NOVI SAD [SRB] 20.10 – MOCVARA, ZAGREB [HR] 21.10 – CHANNEL ZERO, LJUBLJANA [SI] 22.10 – GODOR, BUDAPEST [HU] 24.10 – ROADKILL FEST, BUCHAREST [RO] 25.10 – FLYING CIRCUS, CLUJ NAPOCA [RO] 26.10 – PINK WHALE, BRATISLAVA [SK] 27.10 – HEAVY PSYCH FEST, BERLIN [DE] * 28.10 – HEAVY PSYCH FEST, DRESDEN [DE) * 29.10 – HYDROZAGADKA, WARSAW [PL] 30.10 – TBC, [PL] 01.11 – VIPER ROOM, VIENNA [AT] 02.11 – TBC, [DE] 03.11 – VORTEX, SIEGEN [DE] 04.11 – RARE GUITAR, MUNSTER [DE] * WITHOUT ROADKILL SODA
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 18th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
I don’t feel the need to even really say anything here. The lineup speaks for itself. And those who go to this year’s RippleFest Texas will also speak of it, for years, probably in a similar way people now talk about having been at this or that Emissions From the Monolith when that was going on in Ohio. The stuff of legend, in other words. Yeah, you can put on a fest and try to make it cool and fun, or you can do something like this and make it the highlight of everybody who attends’ year.
Kudos to Lick of My Spoon Productions and Ripple Music on a job well done. This will be something special. Bands have been leaked out one at a time at intermittent daily intervals, but the final lineup is out as of today, and it’s stunning. A blend of generations, a reach from on end of the country to the other, and a swath of the heavy underground all rallied in one place for a few days, pre- and after-parties included. Fucking a. If you’re attending, count yourself lucky.
As seen on socials:
Here it is! The full lineup for RippleFest Texas #3! This will be one for the ages with a stacked lineup and lots of special treats in between. Get your tickets now!
Amazing art by @1horsetown
* playing the Pre-Party + playing the Afterparty
King Buffalo, Acid King, Brant Bjork Trio, Sasquatch, Wo-Fat, Fatso Jetson, Mondo Generator, Unida, The Well+, The Atomic Bitchwax, Telekinetic Yeti*, Duel, Forming the Void, Hippie Death Cult, High Desert Queen*, Avon, War Cloud, Rubber Snake Charmers, Spirit Mother+, Kind, Nick Oliveri, Thunder Horse, Royal Sons+, Restless Spirit*, (Big) Pig, Fostermother, Dead Feathers+, Rainbows Are Free, Warlung*, Sun Voyager, Red Mesa, Dunes, Tia Carrera+, Mr. Plow, The Heroine*, Michael Rudolph Cummings, The Absurd+, GoodEye*, Red Beard Wall, God Damn Good Time Band+
Plus a “Legends of the Desert and Friends” jam session to close out Saturday night!
And as always, the visuals by The Mad Alchemist Liquid Light Show
All-Access passes are SOLD OUT! All we have left are 2 Day Passes and Pre/Afterparty tickets available. Many more bands to be announced! Get your tickets now before the full lineup is revealed and the ticket price goes up!
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 1st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
A lot to dig here as SoCal Heavy Jam unfurls its 2023 lineup. The second edition of the Santee, CA-based festival at Full Circle Saloon will be held Sept. 30 and feature Unida and Sasquatch — at least the latter will be fresh off laying waste to RippleFest Texas the weekend prior — alongside Zed, Formula 400, Desert Suns, Mezzoa, Lords of Dust, Salem’s Bend and Whiskey & Knives. Of those, four are repeats from last year’s inaugural fest, and as the event is helmed by Formula 400 bassist Kip Page, Mezzoa guitarist/vocalist Ignacio “Nacho” Maldonado and Desert Suns vocalist Jason Busiek, it’s not a huge surprise they’d be back on board for the jam. Lords of Dust are the other repeat offender, and well, maybe they’re just awesome live. That happens sometimes.
The impression I got last year — not that I went, but from the announcement and the way the thing rolled out — was that true to its name, the SoCal Heavy Jam is more in the spirit of a casual all-dayer rather than an all-consuming festival, though one never knows how these things will solidify over a period of years. As it stands, with nine bands, the day is plenty packed, and sure to be a good time for those who manage to make it out. Maybe that’s you, maybe not. Personally, I’m hoping that by this time, new releases from both Sasquatch and Unida will have been at least announced if not released, which would of course add a bit of urgency here but also make life better generally as quality heavy rock will do. A few months before we get there, so fingers crossed.
The lineup was revealed in straightforward fashion via social media the other day and looks like this:
2nd Annual SoCal Heavy Jam at Full Circle Saloon – September 30th, 2023
2nd Annual SoCal Heavy Jam at Full Circle Saloon featuring – Unida, Sasquatch, ZED, Formula 400, Desert Suns, Mezzoa, Lords of Dust, Salem’s Bend, Whiskey and Knives!
Posted in Questionnaire on February 21st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Mark Sunshine of Unida (ex-Riotgod)
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I have this creativity source inside me, like a nuclear pellet. It has always been there. As a youth it just ran wild – not hard to imagine – for a child. It still does.
However I also had these parents by-adoption who were unused to such a volatile, challenging presence that came with their first-arrived. I’ve ridiculously imagined other scenarios – parents who are artists or musicians seeing right away that their child might be able to be trained, guided, with raw talents refined slowly during youth via whatever discipline is chosen. Consider those children as if they are orchids and the parents know just the treatments, care and attention needed.
For my particular upbringing ( which absolutely matters good or bad ) consider me a being who might have needed such attentions, yet received “house plant”.
This matters, this back-story because having gotten no introduction to anything – forget about a road to advanced tutelage – I had to make my way on my own – to “figure it out” — the messy route of the autodidact. I engaged the default option of art until my college years. Shortly after the cessation of my university experience, I underwent an undeniable animal direction change, with my spirit absolutely rebelling against almost all that I had known prior. I bought a drum set frst, but it became apparent that that instrument would not be an option for me long term. Again – without any prior experience – I threw myself into the world of metal and hard rock when I was 19 – choosing become a vocalist. Since those chaotic early days I have become the hybrid that I am. Artist who is heavy duty cartoon/comic art/fine art leaning and hard rock vocalist with passions that include many other forms of music.
Describe your first musical memory.
I was three. I was in the bedroom of our Brooklyn apartment on Ave H. My father had these Maxell cassette boxes he’d brought home from work. The box had a clear lid attached by hinges. You could see through the transparent lid the divisions of space, the slots for the cassettes.
I’d pretend I was playing a piano or keyboard, jamming along to say Bachman Turner Overdrive. That is a pure and rich memory for it does not relate to the life I actually had. When we eventually scored a Story and Clark piano after a ‘70s-era relocation to Jersey, my sister received the piano lessons.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
This is tough, because: Does it involve MY music experience through performing? Or is it one of music by a particular personal concert experience? I have a series of what might be called super-experiences in music, from both situations.
I will make it thus a two-part answer.
My best musical memory in the category of personal experience was the moment the curtains parted for the Riotgod set at Wacken. I was handed a wireless microphone, with the tech taking mine, putting it aside. BOOM. It was on. The rest as they say in showbiz – is on YouTube.
Best overall musical memory as far as concert experience was my being on the lawn during the Enit Festival. 1996? I was shall we say feeling quite good, a lush experience on the rolling hills of Holmdel. Porno for Pyros was set to play and I had never seen them live. I also had never seen Janes Addiction live. So when P4P eased into “Summertime Rolls” it was unexpected big time, magnificently epic.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Involving music…. I didn’t think it then but can cite it now.
It was a time of musical nothing after the band I had been in for almost a decade (Riotgod) had completely imploded. I had no band, nothing solid going on at all. However I was somehow in contact with a guitarist who said his drummer had a home studio, and you know phone talk, realities painted, speculation. These dudes were not part of ANY scene I knew, not even the cover circuit. Nonetheless, all roads led to some kind of get-together.
Eventually I took a drive down to Neptune and it had been a long time since I’d felt the “try out” vibe. I parked my car, arriving early. The song I had on my mind was “Into the Mystic” by Van Morrison. The guitarist told me that they’d be trying out a bassist — told him to learn that tune. I saw another dude sitting in his car – the bassist?
When I’d first learned of this song choice, I asked, “So what are you guys doing for the horn break?” Simple question right? I have seen Government Mule handle it with guitar for example. I asked because the band for the day would be the guitarist, the drummer, the auditioning bassist and me. No keyboard player, no horn section.
Guitarist had no ready answer. Incredibly he did not immediately know what I was talking about. How could that be? It is essential to the tune, that horn part.
After the yikes “rehearsal” I reflected on what had gone down in that cramped feedback rich room inside some home in a neighborhood. Right! It was one lightly equipped room rented for the day’s activities. The home was being renovated and I briefly chatted with a resident in the kitchen. The music room was used for personal and church projects. As for the band – I didn’t even ask why we weren’t at the drummer’s studio.
During the session, I had to ask who was keeping time. It was all over the place and they looked at me sideways and eventually it became that my questioning was the problem, such radical repeated interjections! How dare me.
With my long ass hair and “rock casual” attire they looked at me like I’d walked in radiating the outlandish style of Janis Joplin, you know, full Pearl, boa wrapped. As if I was some demanding “rock star.” The guitarist and drummer were dressed like they might be spotted at Costco, Dadcasual. The bassist, kinda student ragamuffin. Oh yeah – I did the horn parts vocally, which the band wasn’t ready for, even though the notes and meter were spot-on! What was Mr. Pearl doing!
Later, in my car, I played back the scenes, with the uptight short-guy drummer drinking banquet beer, the intermediate level guitar player that I had only had the pleasure of talking to up until then and the quiet bass player who’d stayed in his car sipping Heinekens up until the time we had to go into the space.
For the first time in my life I questioned my devotion, my belief that I should go on doing what I’d been doing for decades, expressly my entire musical experience. It was a fleeting moment on Rt. 18 North as I headed home. It was dreadful, the day less so than that enormous unexpected thought.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
It leads to expertise and satisfaction if one is fortunate.
How do you define success?
One’s being able to exist outside the slave to wheel common experience. Now – for those who are family men and women, they might have a different manner of qualifying the success factor but for me, escaping the tricky paradigm I got myself wrapped up in, lord that would be success, not having to work so hard, for so little, for so long.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Oh lord. Too many options. I will semi-abstain from this question. I might somewhat satisfy the question with the broad generality of “Any grease-trap.”
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Again this invokes my life-duality. Art-wise, to have the time to create my own art book, I mean a proper expression employing Phaidon style printing.
Music-wise a marriage of heavy material, powerful, involving my vocal stylings, tracks laid down over an electronically assembled creation that doesn’t sound altogether too electronic.
Specifically? Eventually getting to lay down tracks over the new Unida material sent my way – that’d be pretty good too.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To make it all better.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Every new day I spend on this earth with my LB, woman I love, my best friend. 3:1
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 15th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
I have said so many times in the past, but of all the festivals throughout any given ‘normal’ year in the sphere of Sound of Liberation‘s booking itinerary, I always wanted to go to Keep it Low in Munich. Yeah, part of that is because Colour Haze regularly shows up — kind of the house band — and any opportunity you can take advantage of to see them in your life is a thing worth doing, but also the general vibe of the artwork, what seems like kind of a laid back feel and intention. At this point it’s been going on long enough (without me in attendance) that I’m sure a community of familiar faces has been built up, and as the first lineup announcement for Keep it Low 2022 on Oct. 7 & 8 comes out, I’m in the same boat as ever thinking that if this was the complete festival, done, one shot, blamo, then you’d say it was looking to be a killer couple days in Germany.
That Friday lineup is unstoppable, and Saturday is more populated but right behind it with Fu Manchu and Unida at the top of the bill so far and a reunion slot for The Great Escape (feat. members of My Sleeping Karma), as well as US imports like The Heavy Eyes, High Reeper and Hippie Death Cult (waiting for that tour announcement any minute now). Maybe they’ll all go together and call it the Triple-H tour, thereby proving that they too remember pro wrestling in the mid-1990s.
Alright, maybe not. Either way, with more to come, here’s what the fest has to say about its own badass doings:
KEEP IT LOW – LINE-UP NEWS & SINGLE DAY TICKETS ON SALE
Dear Keepers,
today we’re happy to reveal the first bands for our upcoming Keep it Low festival 2022! Additionally, Single-Day Tickets are now on sale!
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 7th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
As regards filling shoes in heavy rock and roll, filling John Garcia‘s seems like it would be only the most significant of tasks. That duty — for the duration of Unida‘s upcoming Fall European tour of festivals and club dates — falls to Mark Sunshine, last heard from on New Jersey-based RiotGod‘s third album, Driven Rise (discussed here), for Metalville Records. His work there and on that Monster Magnet-affiliated band’s prior two outings proves dude has some pipes, but even so, to step into John Garcia‘s role as the frontman for a landmark act in no small part because of his performances act? No small feat. Not to say it can’t be done, just that I’m surprised it is.
The band will play Desertfest Belgium, Into the Void in the Netherlands, Tabernas Desert Rock Fest, Rockthrone Fest in Barcelona and Keep it Low in Munich, not at all in that order, and more shows besides. I hear great things about Vortex in Siegen, for what that’s worth, and there’s that one open day on Oct. 8. That’s a Saturday, so I have to imagine there’s another show or festival in or around Germany that will fill that slot that just hasn’t been announced yet. Wasn’t Heavy Psych Sounds doing something around then?
Anyhoozle, glad to see Unida getting out, in any form. Been nine years since I was lucky enough to catch them in London (review here) and Arthur Seay consistently knows how to put on a show, so it’s easy to imagine this’ll be a good time. Album? Slow down. They posted a clip of a new song last year, but I haven’t heard much of anything about it since. Could happen, hasn’t yet.
From socials:
Unida European tour in oct, John will not be singing but gives us his blessing, he is not out of the band either lol, we welcome our brother @marksunshine from RiotGod who is killing it on vocals!
We will be playing Wayne Gro and Urbam Coyote in their entirety!!! Plus more.
Says Mark Sunshine: “[Rockthrone Festival is] The first date in the 2022 Euro tour for Unida, the band I will be accompanying, as vocalist, for their return to the stage and circuit. It will be some hard work and attention to detail, especially for me but my goal is to put forth the best live experience possible. For the band to tour without their legend vocalist John Garcia — makes this a multi-faceted challenge — which I would like to think motivates all involved — focusing on gittin’ down — letting the music shine. 110% #unidatour2022”
Unida European Tour 2022 30/09 Barcelona Spain Rockthrone Festival 01/10 Tabernas Spain Tabernas Desert Rock Fest 04/10 Torino Italy Spazio 211 05/10 Livorno Italy The Cage 06/10 Mezzogo Italy Bloom 07/10 Munich Germany Keep it Low Fest 08/10 TBA 09/10 Leeuwarden Netherlands Into the Void Fest 11/10 Dublin Ireland The Grand Social 12/10 Belfast Northern Ireland Voodoo 13/10 London UK Nambucca 14/10 Siegen Germany Vortex 15/10 Antwerp Belgium Desertfest
This isn’t the first time I’ve done this — an all-request show — but I’m especially happy to have put word out for people to pick tunes in this instance, because look at that middle block of songs! It’s like a guided tour through classic stoner rock. Not Slomosa so much, though they certainly emphasize the enduring influence of ’90s and ’00s heavy rock on new bands — or Circle, who end that block in avant-sludge fashion, but the rest of it is right in there. Unida. Goatsnake, Astroqueen. Lowrider. Acrimony. I’ll say them again. Acrimony. Even newer Bitchwax. I could’ve put Spirit Caravan in there as well, I guess, but I like the way this one flows as is, and you can see, they all came by request.
Some were just bands — play Slomosa, etc. — but some were specific to the songs included here. Playing Tin House and Funkadelic back to back is my idea of a good time. See also Lowrider and Goatsnake. I was thinking I might do blurbs in the Gimme chat for these bands while the show’s on. The last episode was pretty dead — I think it was also Good Friday? so maybe that had something to do with it — but just to help people kind of understand some of the context here, because I’m guessing that the more headbangerly contingent is going to see stuff like 500 Ft. of Pipe and not know what the hell is going on. Fair enough.
I may do that, I may not have the energy later today. I’ll be around in any case. Come say hi.
Thanks if you listen, thanks if you’re reading. Thanks in general.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 04.29.22
Blackfinger
Waiting for the Sun (for Abraham Ram)
When Colors Fade Away
Tenebra
Moon Maiden (for Marco Gargiulo)
Moongazer
Telekinetic Yeti
Ancient Nug (for Matthew Parness)
Primordial
Spirit Caravan
Fang (for Tim Waits)
Jug Fulla Sun
VT
Slomosa
On and Beyond (for Steve Janiak)
Slomosa
Lowrider
Convoy V (for Rob Godfrey)
Ode to Io
Goatsnake
Black Cat Bone (for Sven Mueller)
Trampled Under Hoof
Astroqueen
Tidal Wave (for Max Mountain)
The 2003 Sessions EP
Unida
Wet Pussycat (for Rob Godfrey)
The Best of Wayne-Gro
Acrimony
Hymns to the Stone (for El Pez)
Tumuli Shroomaroom
Sheavy
Savannah (for Darryl Felstead)
The Electric Sleep
500 Ft. of Pipe
77 Burnout (for El Pez)
Dope Deal
The Atomic Bitchwax
Easy Action (for Mark Richard)
Scorpio
Circle
Rakkauta al Dente (for Amy Johnson)
Terminal
VT
Wartime
Under Your Light (for Juan Lopez)
Volumen II
King Woman
Golgotha (for Caleb Dub)
Celestial Blues
Achachak
Celebration for the Desert (for Mile Mijac)
Planet Hashish
Funkadelic
Qualify and Satisfy (for Scott Hamilton)
Funkadelic
Tin House
Be Good and Be Kind (for Cheri Pi)
Tin House
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is May 13 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
Unida and Dozer in 1999. Each with an EP, teaming up to put them out together on CD via a then relatively-nascent MeteorCity. I ask you, what’s not to dig about that? And if you can ever get past the hook of Unida‘s “Red” — no easy feat, mind you — you’ll find the whole release has something to offer as regards peak post-Kyuss-era heavy rock. The Californian desert and Sweden never sounded closer together than they do here.
The Best of Wayne-Gro was the first Unida release, and it was put out by MeteorCity as a standalone in 1998 before being included in this split. Of course, Unida was John Garcia‘s next project after the dissolution of Slo Burn and Kyuss before that, and with the fuzz of guitarist Arthur Seay (now of House of Broken Promises), the bass of Jerry Montano (Hellyeah, Danzig, etc.) and the drums of Miguel Cancino (also now of House of Broken Promises) behind him, the band was a powerhouse from the start. They’d hold on to some sense of jammy looseness with Garcia‘s “what the fuck?” freakout shouts in “Wet Pussycat,” which finished out their section of the split, and “Delta Alba Plex” before that began to depart somewhat from the more rigid structure of “Red” and opener “Flower Girl,” but one way or the other, Unida offered primo desert rock in this first outing and filled the listener with hope for what they might go on to accomplish together.
The groove was immediate on “Flower Girl,” and Garcia rode on top of it as only he seems to be able to do, his cadence and the guttural push in his voice entirely his own. Unida‘s always been thought of as a “John Garcia band” along with the likes of Hermano and Slo Burn — that is, I don’t know if the group would’ve worked with a different singer, which is likely part of why Seay put together House of Broken Promises and left Unida to reunite as their own thing when the time came in 2013 — but the entire band was on point. Listen to Cancino‘s drumming at the start of “Red.” He’s carrying that entire build himself, moving to his toms and cymbals before taking off on the crash for the chorus. The fuzz features, naturally, and I won’t take away from Seay‘s solo later in the track, but in terms of propulsion, it’s the drums all the way, and they hold together the nod of “Delta Alba Plex” as well before “Wet Pussycat” kind of pulls itself apart at the end after that sweet, laid back roll in its first half. I’m not the first person to say it, and this is by no means the first time I’ve said it, but what a band. What potential. And do you know what the craziest part is? If you put Seay, Cancino and Garcia in a studio today, they’d absolutely crush it. I’m sure I don’t need to recount for you the story of their lost album, The Great Divide, which would’ve followed up their 1999 debut, Coping with the Urban Coyote (discussed here). Bottom line: some you win, some you lose. We all lost on that one.
Of course, Unida wasn’t the only act brimming with potential on the release, and like them, Dozer had issued their four-song Coming Down the MountainEP as a standalone the year prior. Recorded in the band’s native Borlänge, Sweden, it stands as an ultra-early release for them as well, following their 1998 demo, Universe 75 (discussed here), and preceding a why-the-hell-has-no-one-compiled-these-for-reissue series of three splits with fellow Swedes Demon Cleaner that would be released over the course of ’98 and ’99. At the time, Dozer were guitarist/vocalist Fredrik Nordin, guitarist Tommi Holappa (now Greenleaf), bassist Johan Rockner and drummer Erik Bäckwall — the latter two now of Besvärjelsen), and the same lineup would go on to make three full-lengths together, 2000’s In the Tail of a Comet (discussed here) and 2001’s Madre de Dios on Man’s Ruin and 2002’s Call it Conspiracy (discussed here) on Molten Universe before parting ways with Bäckwall and working with producer/percussionist Karl Daniel Lidén — by then formerly of Demon Cleaner — for 2005’s more aggressive Through the Eyes of Heathens. Here though, they sound raw in comparison to the more experienced Unida, and man does it work for them.
I’m a big fan of what Dozer ultimately became. I think Through the Eyes of Heathens and their 2008 swansong, Beyond Colossal, were nothing short of incredible achievements of individualism in heavy rock, and if you want to know where they might’ve gone next, pick up Greenleaf‘s 2012 album, Nest of Vipers (review here), and go forward from there. That said, early Dozer — along with earliest Natas and just about no one else — offers some of the most natural sounding not-from-the-desert desert rock you’ll ever hear. “Headed for the Sun” is a near-perfect execution of what at the time was barely a genre, and to follow it with the roll of “Calamari Sidetrip” — the watery effect on Nordin‘s vocals almost acting as a tie to Garcia‘s — and the psychedelic guitar work there offset by the all-thrust of the drum-led “From Mars” and the consuming fuzz of “Overheated,” Dozer sound like a young band, to be sure, but their energy is infectious as it would remain throughout their career. Something else they still have in common with Unida? Put these guys in a studio today, and yeah, they’d absolutely destroy.
I thought maybe I’d bug former MeteorCity honcho Jadd Shickler and see what he had to say about it as one of the guys who put it out. Here’s what he had on the subject:
“Within our first year of trying to figure out what the hell it meant to run a record label, we’d managed to open a communication line to ex-Kyuss/Slo Burn singer John Garcia and his new band Unida. We were also on the forefront of exploring the new contingent of Kyuss-inspired bands in Sweden. With the Nebula/Lowrider double EP coming together so beautifully, we wanted to continue on that magic path. Debuting the first recordings anywhere from Unida, which saw a more in-your-face vocal style than anyone had heard from John with Kyuss or Slo Burn, paired with (I think) the first worldwide release from Dozer, who would grow into an internationally-known stoner-rock juggernaut themselves, was perfect synchronicity. The songs were badass, and the sense of significance was palpable. It was pretty much impossible to ever tap into that early sense of trailblazing discovery in quite the same way again.”
The Double EP split has a special place in stoner rock history, and the quality of the material on it is unmistakable and a banner example of the best of its era. MeteorCity reissued it circa 2005, so I think copies still exist someplace on the planet.
As always, I hope you enjoy.
—
I just went for a walk in the parking lot of the townhouse where I live. Back and forth with the little dog Dio. Apparently that’s a thing I do now. It’s quarter-to-six in the morning. I’ve been up since three. Somehow though, if my impressions during semi-conscious rollovers and getting up to go to the bathroom twice (11PM and 1AM, like clockwork) are anything to go by, I think The Patient Mrs. slept even worse. I was out early. I don’t know that it was 8:30PM. Pretty soon I’ll be asleep before the sun goes down. Hell if I care. I’m up before it’s up, so that makes some kind of sense. As much as anything.
I hear next week is the Quarterly Review. Well, I’ve done all of jack shit to prepare for it at this point and I think I just might decide to make it a six-dayer unless at the end of next week I’m so mentally burnt I can’t handle the prospect of going the additional day — which is certainly possible given everything else slated for the week as well. Dig the notes, subject of course to change:
Mon.: QR1, Greenbeard video premiere.
Tue.: QR2, Black Rainbows review/stream.
Wed.: QR3, Gozu review/track premiere.
Thu.: QR4, new Green Druid video.
Fri.: QR5, Rancho Bizzarro EP stream.
My brain aches thinking about it. Also I’ve got family in town this afternoon and tomorrow and I’m going to a Passover Seder tomorrow night at the home of one of The Patient Mrs.’ longtime friends down on Cape Cod. None of my pants fit. None of my shirts fit. If you need me, I’ll be drowning my anxiety in bran flakes and soy milk and sumo oranges. Also meds.
Oh yeah, plus five-month-old. The Pecan had a banner week. Dude’s clean vocals need some work, but he’s a screamer with the best of ’em.
I was in the grocery store the other day though — I grocery shop like every fucking day; it’s a thing to do with the baby and an unfortunate side-effect of eating food — and this leaving-middle-age dude in front of me in line turned around, saw the baby in the car seat in the cart and said, “I did that for 15 years before it was really accepted,” obviously talking about house-husbanding because it was the middle of the day. He had a pretty thick Massaccent, so I didn’t pick up everything he said, but I told him in response that it turns out it’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. That’s not really true — I also want to write, all the time — but in terms of work, it’s incredibly difficult and only going to become more so once he’s verbal and mobile, but it beats the living shit out of every single job I’ve ever had. So yeah. Dude looked surprised. I was a little surprised too, I guess.
Then I went home and walked in the parking lot and told the little guy about snow melting and becoming water again. Somehow I doubt that’s the last time I’ll have that conversation.
Times continue to be hard in my head. Really hard. I see things and they set me off, like the dinner jacket that used to be my grandfather’s that I wore to my grandmother’s funeral that will never fit me again, and I get really sad. My nutritionist keeps telling me not to think about my body as a number, i.e. a weight. I’m not. I’m thinking of it as a thing that doesn’t fit into any of its clothes. Given where I was three months ago, it sucks to be where I am now. The doctor took more blood this week. I can’t even remember why.
Alright, I don’t really want to turn this post into a poor-fat-me piss party, so I’m going to leave eating disorder discussion there. I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I’m expecting a call any minute now from The Patient Mrs. for me to go upstairs and change the baby, so that’s something. Anyway, have fun and be safe. Quarterly Review starts Monday and don’t forget the forum and radio stream in the meantime. Thanks for reading.
