It’s 10PM and I’m due awake in six hours to begin a drive to Michigan. In case you didn’t know I sing in a band (I usually make a point not to talk about it, but we’re called Maegashira, and we fucking rule) and in addition to playing two shows while we’re out there — one in Lansing, one in Detroit — we’re hopefully going to be recording a new album (our second) completely live. We’ll see how it goes. In the meantime, I’m about to pick discs off the shelf to bring along on the road trip, so enjoy the above Los Natas video while I figure that out.

Sorry about the site downtime today. I don’t really know what happened, but I’m glad I was able to bring it back without really losing anything and I’m glad the internet didn’t totally succeed in its seemingly ongoing mission to eat The Obelisk. We live yet another day, my friends. Let’s be thankful while we can.

Next week we’ll close out April and I’ll give the numbers and post an interview with Primordial‘s Alan Averill, as well as the usual bunch of reviews and so forth. T-shirt news is coming soon, I promise, and Roareth are hitting the studio this weekend as well, so we should have more on that forthcoming as well. I say this all the time, but it remains true nonetheless: good things ahead, so stay tuned.

A while back, I reviewed RumDum Daddy by Kansas City rockers JPT Scare Band, and as a result, the band was kind enough to send me two more of their discs, 2007′s Jamm Vapour and the 2009 reissue of Sleeping Sickness (both on the band’s own Kung Bomar label). Now, as I said in the initial review, RumDum Daddy was my first real exposure — I own Past is Prologue but don’t really count it for whatever reason — but on the occasions I’d heard the band’s name, it was usually in connection to Sleeping Sickness, so I was glad to get the chance to listen. And now that I’ve spent some real time with both it and Jamm Vapour, I thought it warranted a quick note, if only to say “no regrets.”

2000′s Sleeping Sickness was the first album JPT Scare Band put out on CD. The two preceding — 1994′s Acid Acetate Excursion and 1998′s Rape of Titan’s Sirens — were vinyl only and have never been reissued (good luck finding them), so for most of us, Sleeping Sickness is the earliest glimpse at JPT Scare Band we’re going to get. Of course, the legend goes the band got together in 1973 and just never put out an album, but hey, 27 years late is still better than never, and listening to the mighty guitar solo work of Terry Swope on the 15-minute title-track, I’m certainly not about to start complaining.

What amazes me is how JPT Scare Band manages to capture the spirit and sound of early ’70s heavy/acid rock without coming off as retro or over-stylized. Jamm Vapour is even more given over to that spontaneity, but even on Sleeping Sickness, it’s right there waiting to be heard. JPT Scare Band pull off what every retro act in this generation has been trying for, and by all accounts, they do it in a basement in the Midwest. They’re like a mathematical equation that makes two and two equal five, and they kick ass in the process.

Bassist Paul Grigsby and drummer Jeff Littrell do an excellent job backing Swope throughout (Swope and Grigsby handle vocals when they come up), but there’s no doubt that both Sleeping Sickness and Jamm Vapour are vehicles for the guitar to shine. And man, it does shine. Swope‘s got the kind of lead playing used to make bands famous, and these songs feel like what Blue Cheer could have become after their first two albums if they’d been able to keep it together. Thanks to the band for sending this stuff over for me to experience. It’s been a pleasure getting to know this work.

And by the way, JPT Scare Band reportedly have a new double-vinyl/CD, Acid Blues is the White Man’s Burden, due out this year on Ripple Effect Music. More info on that here.

…And you know, they’re fucking right. There isn’t shit happening in New Jersey for underground heavy music. I look at this itinerary and it’s good for them that they’re not coming anywhere near my home state. It’s a bummer that if I want to see them play I have to go to Brooklyn to do it, but what the fuck? They play a show in NJ and the five people with a fucking clue show up (myself included), it’s a waste of a night, the promoter probably dicks them out of money and they don’t even get free beer. Sometimes I think I really need to get the hell out of here. Maryland here I come.

By the way, here are those dates. They come courtesy of the PR wire:

Fast-rising doom rock trio Black Pyramid has announced additional May, 2010 US tour dates in support of their much-talked-about full-length debut Black Pyramid (MeteorCity). The power-driven band will launch a 16-city tour beginning May 5 in Wallingford, CT.

Black Pyramid tour dates:
(* All shows also include Let the Night Roar)
May 5   Wallingford CT Red Scroll Records (w/ Nightbitch [feat. members of Hour of 13])
May 6   Worcester MA Ralph’s Diner (* Metal Thursday Four Year Anniversary w/ Sexcrement and Abnormality)
May 7   Portland, ME Genos (w/ Sun Gods in Exile, Ocean)
May 8   Allston MA     O’Briens (w/ Blue Aside, Cortez)
May 9   Providence RI The 201 (w/ Desolate Wind, Wall)
May 10  Northampton MA The Elevens (w/ Elder, Overman, Magna Mater)
May 11  Keene NH      Armadillo’s (w/ Ponds, Black Norse)
May 12  Buffalo NY     Mohawk Place (w/ Sonorous Gale, Chylde)
May 13  Cleveland OH Now That’s Class (w/ Red Giant)
May 14  Grand Rapids MI Mulligans (w/ Greenthrone, Bullpig, Balboa MI, The Plague Years)
May 15  Chicago IL The Rockbox (w/ Blood of the Tyrant)
May 16  Indianapolis IN The Melody Inn (w/ Apostle of Solitude, Necropharmacon)
May 17  Cincinnati OH The Comet (w/ Saber)
May 18 Columbus OH    Cafe Bourbon Street (w/ Masters of Luxury)
May 20  Wilmington DE Mojo 13 (w/ Backwoods Payback, Pagan Wolf Ritual)

Spanish instrumentalists Reznik formed in 2005, and since the movie The Machinist was released in Spain in December 2004, it’s entirely possible the band — initially a four-piece, now a duo — took their name from Christian Bale’s character in that film, Trevor Reznik. Whether or not that’s the case, I don’t know, but the dates work out and I thought that movie kicked ass, so I’m going to run with it. If I’m incorrect and there’s some other significance to the band’s moniker, I’ll leave it up to the vast knowledge of the intertubes to correct my erroneous thinking.

Wherever they got their name, Didi (guitarra) and Lolo (batería) offer a ‘90s-influenced mix of noise rock and stoner groove, occasionally hitting a reference point of Fatso Jetson or some others from the Palm Desert scene, but usually relying on more grit than fuzz sonically. Of the 15 tracks on their first LP, El Mal (Alone), which follows two demos and a number of splits, not one of them is over three minutes long, which is probably for the best. What makes El Mal work is that it never really has time to get mired down in its sameyness. If Reznik were just jamming endlessly on the same riff for six or seven minutes, it might get tired really quick, but by the time a riff has worn out its welcome, à la later cut “Octiembre,” the song is over. It’s not a bad system they have worked out.

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Given the personnel involved, it should come as no surprise that Kings Destroy are about as straightforward as doom rock gets. The Brooklyn-based five piece boasts members in its ranks of NYHC luminaries Uppercut and Killing Time, as well as Electric Frankenstein. Clearly people who’ve been around a while; clearly people whose interest in fucking around is going to be slim to nil. Which is good, because the double-guitar five-piece’s first output is a self-released two-song 7” named Old Yeller/Medusa after its component tracks and the whole thing is in and out in just about nine minutes, so there’s no room for it anyhow.

Beginning with side A, the guitar-led “Old Yeller” starts off with a creeper Sabbath riff and some solo-era Ozzy vocals from Steve Murphy. Guitarists Carl Porcaro and Chris Skowronski (both of Killing Time) keep the structure simple and slow, which works just fine for drummer Rob Sefcik, who seems to have no trouble keeping the drums lumbering while Ed Bocchino’s bass rumbles underneath. The pace picks up just before three minutes in with a “Children of the Grave”-type rhythm line that adds some shuffle before some more complex Porcaro/Skowronski interplay hints at what might be good things to come from Kings Destroy’s first full-length, set to be recorded this summer with Sanford Parker.

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Claremont, California, four-piece Ojos Rojos (“Red Eyes”) play a psychedelic brand of post-rock that varies in meter, space, structure and memorability. Their new album, Disappear (available via Cobraside Distribution), bravely begins with the aptly-titled, eight-and-a-half-minute “In My Head,” and it’s clear from the start the band aren’t shy about self-indulgence. Anyone who’s ever enjoyed, well, anything, knows that’s not necessarily a negative, but there are moments when I find myself wishing Disappear, or a given track therein, would make its point and be done. The songs tend to meander, lost in swoops and swirls of delay in a kind of ambient desert nighttime vibe that, when it’s nailed, is nailed really well, and would probably come across even better live than on disc.

The band is comprised of Aaron Emil, George Serrano, Luis Vera and Rhett Delang, and though they claim “love” as their primary influence, there’s a good bit of Dead Meadow’s shoegazing psych-rock in there as well. That’s not to say Ojos Rojos aren’t doing their own thing, but they’re working within a genre even if doing so reasonably well. In the end, I find I’m not wowed by Disappear, but neither am I underwhelmed. Again, at night, plugged into a desert generator, drunk on cheap keg beer — and while we’re at it, let’s just pretend I’m someone who can enjoy himself, ever — the case would almost certainly be different. It’s fair to say, then, that Disappear is a strong enough album to accompany such a mood, but not necessarily strong enough to change a contrary mood to better suit listening.

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According to an in-depth Obelisk investigative report (and by that I mean a comment on the band’s MySpace page), Eddie Glass of lauded Californian heavy psychedelic rockers Nebula has allegedly said that although the band canceled several weeks’ worth of tour dates last month, including several shows at South by Southwest in Austin, TX, they’re not actually done, just on break. Of course, it could have just been someone screwing with the Nebula MySpace account, and not Glass at all (why a comment and not a blog post?). You never know, but more likely Nebula will be reforming shortly with a revamped lineup.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see Glass get together with Mark Abshire and Ruben Romano for a record? I think it would be. I keep a list of things that would be nice, and that’s on it. Unfortunately, it’s under the subheading “Don’t Count on It,” so there you go. Here’s what Glass had to say on the subject:

Hey everyone. This is Eddie Glass. Sorry for missing that last tour. We were really psyched about it. Well, we as Nebula have been touring straight without missing shows since 1999. All over the world. Thanks for all who came and helped in the experience. As of late things started getting a bit rough with the touring and I got sick of it. The last cancellation had nothing to do with us as a band. Our transportation and things outside our control got out of hand. Well, I am starting a new band. I am on drums in one band and playing guitar and vocals in another. Still putting it together. Anyone out there into jamming respond. Hey Jim Jones. Ok. Nebula is taking a break for a while. We will probably play in the future, again, as I enjoy the playing guitar. I enjoy touring. Only problem is I am human and so are the other guys. We need a break. We are all working on new stuff. I am stoked on my new songs. You will be hearing them soon. Eddie Nebula

Nearly as rare as in-focus footage of their namesake are rock bands of Sasquatch‘s quality in Hollywood. The trio’s third album for Small Stone Records, III, is perhaps their most potent yet, meshing Grand Funk and Soundgarden and Sabbath in an environment where it’s less about how you play than who you are and what cellphone commercial your song has been in. As much as they don’t fit their surroundings, though, they’re just as necessary where they are: a voice of reason in a land where reason has no place. A rallying cry for the bullshit-free.

Guitarist/vocalist Keith Gibbs, bassist Jason Casanova (ex-Tummler) and drummer Rick Ferrante took part in this year’s SXSW festival and are among the bigger names at the upcoming Doom in June fest, but when I chatted with Gibbs (who is — you read it here first — a good dude) via telephonular apparatus, that had yet to be announced. A good portion of our conversation wound up being off the record, but Gibbs nonetheless spoke openly (and often hilariously) about the band’s excising of former bassist Clayton Charles, about making III and life in the post-apocalyptic hellscape they call home.

From their 2004 self-titled debut onward, I have always regarded Sasquatch as the great American hope for genuine stoner rock, and though, as Gibbs informs, they’ve moved somewhat beyond that classification, I am no less solid in my position today than I was six years ago. One still gets the feeling their best is yet to come.

My Q&A with Keith Gibbs is after the jump. Please enjoy.

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I’ve been knee-deep in a semester-ending term paper the last couple days, which should hopefully account for the relative lack of posts. It’s just about done (and by that I mean I’m ready to say “fuck it” and walk away), but I thought in the meantime I’d share this badass video of Queens of the Stone Age doing “Avon,” a song which has been playing over and over on my mental jukebox since picking up Desert Sessions Vol. 3 & 4 at Roadburn. It’s the band probably when they were at their peak, in 2002, with Dave Grohl on drums and Nick Oliveri on bass.

Taste my pain:

What I like about the Stoned from the Underground festival, aside from the lineup, is the acronym STFU, which I’m told in clever internet-speak means “shut the fuck up.” Certainly I’d never have figured that out on my own, but it’s good to know. The fest is set to take place this July in ol’ Bundesrepublik Deutschland, and will feature a host of European stoner types as well as Garcia Plays Kyuss and a few other American acts thrown in for good measure. MeteorCity, via the PR wire, make it known that Greece‘s Nightstalker will partake:

MeteorCity recording artists, Nightstalker, will play this year’s Stoned from the Underground festival in Germany. It’s the 10th anniversary of this festival and it will be held on July 9th and 10th. Other bands performing include Garcia Plays Kyuss, Yawning Man, Black Cobra, Weedeater, Firebird, Ufomammut and many others! This is clearly a festival that you should not miss!

More info can be found here: http://www.myspace.com/stonedfromtheunderground

When it comes to rendering true traditional doom — like when it comes to flying with umbrellas or shutting down airports due to volcanic ash floated over from Iceland — there are some things the British just do better. Enter London outfit Serpent Venom, whose self-titled demo takes the post-St. Vitus doom that has made The Gates of Slumber catch on so well with their last couple albums and strips it down even further, offering three songs of pure Sabbathian darkness partnered with a ritualistic feel that most American bands (I won’t say all) fail to capture properly.

Of the three songs on the disc (all of which are available for listening on the band’s MySpace), not a one of them is under six and a half minutes, the shortest being “Under the Compass” at 6:28. Both “The Outsider” and “Four Walls of Solitude” — the place to start — top eight minutes, with the latter going all the way to 9:20. So, at nearly 24 minutes, Serpent Venom is a healthy cut of an EP, and the professional recording job only brings out even more the character and mission of the band. Each time guitarist Pete pulls a Dave Chandler-type note and holds it out before cycling through the riff again, it’s hard not to smile. His fuzz-caked lead tone is another highlight of the demo, when and where it comes up.

Vocalist Gaz (no, not Cathedral‘s guitarist; a different Gaz) gives a where-the-hell-did-he-come-from kind of performance, making me wonder in what bands he’s been hiding all this time. His voice has the perfect warble for this kind of doom and is set just far back enough in the mix to give a yelling-across-the-abyss feel. He mostly follows the melodies as laid out by the guitar, but it utterly capable in that regard and lacking nothing in either talent or knowing when to sit back and let the music take over. Each track winds up with an energy all its own, and the demo is one of the strongest I’ve heard in some time in its genre. I can’t imagine these dudes won’t be signed, say, by the time this post is finished, but in the meantime, they’re definitely worth keeping on the radar.

Notable apart from its hour-plus length for being the first recorded output of the post-Bongzilla project Aquilonian, who’ve been threatening for a while now with MySpace samples and teases of the like, this split CD between them and Ohio sludge demons Sollubi (whose previous At War with Decency full-length might just have been victorious in its conflict) is two tracks — one from each band, each over a half-hour long — that seems to create an economy all its own. If you’ve ever thought of buying music in terms of “bang for your buck,” I fail to see a better option than getting two short LP-length offerings from these bands. Most splits feel like throwaway tracks. This feels like home.

Aquilonian go first, which given the built-in interest that will no doubt lead many to check out this split is only proper. The duo of guitarist/vocalist Michael Makela and drummer/vocalist Michael Henry (though neither is particularly busy in the vocal department) have composed “Symphonica de Levita” for the occasion, and with it they put on a master class in how to transpose a groove on top of repetitive riffing. Anyone expecting Bongzilla-type grime will be surprised to find Aquilonian residing in a different, less sludge-laden niche, as though all the stoner in the band was distilled to its essential weedian elements. “Symphonica de Levita” reminds heavily of Sleep’s Holy Mountain, but even more than Makela’s tone or vocals, it’s the drum work of Henry that provokes the association. The ready snare taps that Chris Hakius used to make the best material on that album as memorable as it is, Henry seems apt to employ here, and it works to similar effect. The simplicity of their groove is essential, and even when the track breaks down at about 24 minutes in, it is all the more satisfying when it picks up again to finish with some of its most active guitar/drum interplay.

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Though I never went back to it for repeat listens, I’ll be the first to admit that’s more my fault than that of Worm Ouroboros‘ self-titled Profound Lore debut. Certainly, if occasion put me anywhere near the West Coast while the Bay Area outfit were doing the run of dates outlined by the PR wire below, I’d be there, and I can only recommend you do the same, circumstances permitting. Here’s the info:

Worm Ouroboros will be doing their first short US tour on the West Coast in support of their self-titled debut album.

They play their record release show on May 1st in San Francisco with Laudanum and Dispirit (the new black metal band of John Gossard of Weakling and Asunder). Their West Coast tour goes as follows:

May 1 – San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern w/ Laudanum, Dispirit
May 13 – Eugene, OR @ Lucky’s w/ Rye Wolves, Vivemancer
May 14 – Seattle, WA @ The Comet w/ Rye Wolves, Vultures 2012, Dirtworshipper
May 15 – Bellingham, WA @ Jinx Art Space w/ The Narrows, Lozen
May 16 – Tacoma, WA @ New Frontier w/ Lozen
May 17 – Portland, OR @ Tube w/ Atriarch
May 18 – Portland, OR @ Satyricon w/ Portal and Aldebaran
May 21 – Chico, CA @ Cafe Coda w/ La Fin du Monde
May 22 – Arcata, CA @ The Alibi w/ Speed of Darkness
May 24 – San Francisco, CA @ The Elbo Room

There’s no denying that Hollywood rockers Fireball Ministry have, with their new self-titled on Restricted Release, crafted their most commercial album yet. They were never especially defiant in this regard before, but Fireball Ministry takes the band’s proven songwriting ability (a quick run through 1999’s Ou est la Rock? or 2003’s The Second Great Awakening should be enough to make you aware of their obvious chops in this regard) to new heights of accessibility, carrying across the otherwise unpretentious rocking material with a digital sheen only possible in this age of recording technology.

The centerpiece of Fireball Ministry’s attack has always been guitarist/vocalist James A. Rota. Working here with producer Andrew Alekel (Fu Manchu, The Company Band’s full-length), Rota sounds smoother than ever before on a track like “Fallen Believers,” which plunks along at mid-pace without ever really getting spirited or dynamic, or “Thought it Out,” which seems to reach in the direction of Fu Manchu-styled Californian fuzz but ultimately stops just short of pop-punk fluffery. The drums of John G. Oreshnick sound triggered, Johnny Chow’s bass is barely there, and Emily J. Burton, who provides backing vocals and guitar, seems to be resting almost entirely in line behind Rota’s riffing where some contrast between the two players would do a lot to add character to the material.

There is material on Fireball Ministry that hits with some impact, though. “Followed by a Fall” remains relatively un-neutered by the production it’s given, and “Butcher, Faker, Policy Maker” is such catchy and well-composed pop rock that it could have been recorded in a tin can and it would still be memorable. It’s not so much a question of the songs feeling uninspired or not accomplishing something creatively – and there shouldn’t be any doubt this is the record the band intended to make; Rota’s been heading Fireball Ministry for well over a decade now, and Restricted Release is owned by CKY’s Jess Margera (also Rota’s bandmate in supergroup The Company Band), so one doesn’t imagine there were tight deadlines or restrictions from that direction – but they’re simply lacking the punch that a more rock-centric production could have given them. Certainly they have nowhere near the weight they must carry in a live setting.

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Those who don’t know Marco Barbieri, he’s big time. Ran Century Media in the US for a number of years and then left to start up Salem Rose Music and apparently put together this new Doom in June fest in Las Vegas. I’m always interested to see who’s a stoner rock fan, and clearly Barbieri qualifies. And no, I wasn’t insulted not to be asked to sponsor. No more than ever, anyway. $20 is a good deal for this many bands. One just hopes the bar is well stocked.

Quoth the PR wire:

Salem Rose Music Presents has teamed up with Vegas Star Bookings to bring a different kind of music festival to Las Vegas. Doom in June fest, which will be held Sat. June 5 at The Cheyenne Saloon (3103 N. Rancho Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89130), is intended to be an annual event every June that will kick off the summer with some of the best names in doom and stoner rock. The musical styles are held near and dear to those dedicated to the cause and Marco Barbieri, owner of Salem Rose Music, is a longtime fan and supporter of the underground music scene and wanted to put his own spin on things.

“With only a handful of doom and stoner rock fests around the world we’ve decided to support these genres by throwing our own party to be held every year in June in Las Vegas. June 5th marks the inaugural Doom in June fest and we’re preparing for a special day showcasing some of the finest emerging bands in the styles.”

Fifteen out-of-town bands will be coming to Las Vegas to perform, including Fireball Ministry, Black Cobra, Slough Feg, The Gates of Slumber, Radio Moscow, Sasquatch, House of Broken Promises, Ride the Sun, Supergiant, Behold! the Monolith, Green & Wood, Aranya, Salvador, Lead Burns Red and Dirt Communion. Sponsors for the event include Doom Metal Alliance, All That’s Heavy Shop, Foundry of Doom Radio and Hellride Music. The event starts at 2pm and goes for 12 hours. Advance tickets are available now for $20 from brownpapertickets.com.