Portland, Maine, rockers Sun Gods in Exile make no bones about who they are or what they do. Their second album, Thanks for the Silver (Small Stone), is guitar rock all the way through – a dudely amalgam of Southern riffing and solos that puts a figurative edge to the literal “double-guitar” lineup distinction. It’s easy to imagine six-string connoisseurs swishing the work of Tony D’Agostino and Adam Hitchcock around a brandy snifter to air them out – or at very least popping the top of a can and enjoying the hiss and the fizz as a song like “Moonshine” plays out its Southern course. At times Thanks for the Silver is almost a caricature of heavy Southern rock masculinity, and coming from a band located in the northernmost state in the continental US, that has its own issues, but damned if the five-piece don’t do it well, and the sophomore outing shows marked growth from where their 2009 debut, Black Light, White Lines (review here) left off, most notably with the inclusion of Christopher Neal’s keyboards.

The effect Neal has on Sun Gods in Exile’s sound is to add melodic range and complement the riffs with long-sustained notes, as on a song like “Smoke and Fire” on the second half of the album, on which he fills out the verses behind Hitchcock’s lead vocals (everyone but D’Agostino provides backups), or “Since I’ve Been Home,” a classic road song in the same tradition with which labelmates Dixie Witch often align themselves. Despite its liberal soloing and guitar prominence, “Since I’ve Been Home” – as close as the 10-track Thanks for the Silver gets to a centerpiece – is a highlight more for Hitchcock’s vocals and those that back him for what’s probably the album’s most memorable chorus. Earlier cuts like the opening duo “Hammer Down” and “Moonshine” find D’Agostino and Hitchcock, as well as bassist JL (since replaced by his brother, Mark Lennon) and drummer John Kennedy, purposefully making room to account for Neal in the songwriting. The Hammond sounds add flourish to the riffs but are almost always in service to the guitar, as are the bulk of the rhythms, as are the structures, the vocals, and so on. If you’re someone who tunes out solos or thinks they’re needless wankery or if you’re even slightly unimpressed by scorching leads, Sun Gods in Exile simply is not the band for you. Their ballsy classicism – excellently balanced by Benny Grotto’s recording job and mix – won’t so much touch a nerve as get on one, and, frankly, you’ll miss the point of Thanks for the Silver, which if I haven’t yet made it clear, is all in the guitar.

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This isn’t the first charity auction that Ripple Music founders John Rancik and Todd Severin have put together. In the past, they’ve auctioned off test pressings for Stone Axe and The JPT Scare Band for the BP oil spill and the Japanese earthquake/tsunami disasters, and as the planet continues to show us just how badly it wants us off of it, Ripple Music is once again stepping forward to help out the tornado victims of Joplin, Missouri.

The PR wire has the details. Help out if you can:

Continuing with the company tradition of giving back to the community, Ripple Music will auction an extremely rare original test pressing of Heavy Ripples: Vol. 1, featuring Stone Axe, Sun Gods in Exile, Grifter and Mighty High, with proceeds going to benefit Joplin tornado victims.  The auction will take place on eBay at the Ripple store, starting Tuesday, May 31, and run for seven days only.

Only five of these test pressings exist, and this is the only one made available to the public.  You can jump into the auction, win a cool heavy rock collectible and benefit disaster relief at the Ripple Music Ebay Store.

Hard to know where a split ends and a compilation begins, but in the case of Heavy Ripples Vol. 1 (Ripple Music), I’m inclined towards the former, if only because the release’s format makes you pay specific attention to each of the bands involved, rather than bludgeoning you with track after track from disparate acts. Everyone here is pretty like-minded, and there’s only four of them, so it’s not too much to handle, and the double-7” release ensures that you’re going to be really working to listen – the longest side is just about seven minutes – so Heavy Ripples isn’t something you can put on and forget about. Not that you’d want to with the likes of Stone Axe, Sun Gods in Exile, Grifter and Mighty High around anyway, but at just under 20 minutes total runtime, Heavy Ripples is an efficiently drawn beeline to the rock. Each of the bands contributes something unique to the whole, and for something you could feasibly listen to three times in an hour, Ripple’s latest split packs more memorable songs than most full-length albums. Like I say, efficient.

Stone Axe open with “Nightwolf.” The track finds the Port Orchard, Washington, revivalists in their core duo form of vocalist Dru Brinkerhoff and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/producer T. Dallas Reed, but as usual with them, nothing in personality is lost for the lack of personnel. Brinkerhoff has enough swagger in his delivery for three bands, and I can’t think of any more appropriate way to kickoff Heavy Ripples than a non-ironic song with “night” in the title. If you know Stone Axe, you know what they’re about, and “Nightwolf” is right in line both in terms of style and quality with the bulk of their work. And excellently complemented on side B by Maine upstarts Sun Gods in Exile, whose “Over My Broken Bones” is set to appear (re-recorded) on their second Small Stone full-length later this year. Sun Gods in Exile’s Black Light White Lines was a solo-enthusiast’s wet dream, and “Over My Broken Bones” follows suit, but as was the case with that record, the guitar histrionics is backed by solid songwriting and isn’t showy just for showiness’ sake. Two strong modern classic rockers with a little over nine minutes between them, kicking out righteous jams that, even had Ripple chosen to release this as a one-disc affair, would still be worth investigating.

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Detroit rock kingpins Small Stone Records — who are the subject of this month’s podcast in honor of their two-day label showcase in Philadelphia next weekend — issued an update this week via the PR wire giving everyone the skinny on the label’s recent doings. Behold the report in its informative entirety:

First off, the new album from Denver’s Black Sleep of Kali, Our Slow Decay is now available at a better record store near you. If you can’t find it, feel free to get it from us.

The long awaited new album from Cleveland’s Red Giant, titled Dysfunctional Majesty rolls out to stores on the 28th of this month, but you can get it a little early right here on the Small Stone Online Store.

On the recording front, the new albums from both Suplecs and Roadsaw are almost finished (they just need to get mixed and mastered), and will both get released sometime between January and March of 2011. Also, the boys in Ironweed are still plugging away on their follow-up to Indian Ladder. Lo-Pan are scheduled to hit Mad Oak to record their follow up to Sasquanaut, and we will also be reissuing a new version of the Sasquanaut album that will be completely remixed by Benny Grotto and remastered by Mr. Goosman. This Winter both Dixie Witch and Sun Gods in Exile are scheduled to hit Mad Oak to record new albums for us as well.

You asked for it, so we are going to give it to you… Sasquatch’s III will be coming out on vinyl very shortly via Small Stone… That’s right folks, we are going to finally take the plunge into the vinyl game. We are currently getting the art together, and having the album remastered for the pressing plant.

Finally, we hope to see many of you in Philly next week… We have two rather kickass night of rock music all laid out for you at the Philadelphia Film and Music Festival.

It’s the weekend of my wedding anniversary, but man, the lineup for Small Stone‘s Philadelphia showcase is pretty badass. True, I’ve seen most of these bands, but I don’t imagine House of Broken Promises are going to make a habit of being on the East Coast, Backwoods Payback are buddies, Solace kill every time, Red Giant‘s got a new album coming, I’d really, really like to hear some of the material from Sasquatch‘s third record live, and the Millcreek Tavern has their own home brew. Looks like it could be another test of The Patient Mrs. living up to her name.

Here’s the news from Small Stone:

Small Stone is pleased to announce that we will be doing two back-to-back showcases at The Philadelphia Film & Music Festival in September. Our events will be taking place at the Millcreek Tavern which is located at 4200 Chester Avenue, University City, Philadelphia (215-222-1255). And, now for the lineup:

Friday September 24th: Dixie Witch, The Brought Low, Throttlerod, Lo-Pan, Sun Gods in Exile, Backwoods Payback

Saturday September 25th: Solace, Roadsaw, Sasquatch, House of Broken Promises, Gozu, Red Giant

According to StonerRock.com, Portland, Maine rockers Sun Gods in Exile are doing the weekend-warrior thing next month, heading to Massachusetts and Brooklyn. Yes, all reports indicate it’s going to be a guitar-slinging beery good time. As if you had to ask. Here’s the story:

Portland, Maine’s Sun Gods in Exile are heading out on a weekend of rock. The dates are as follows:

January 15: Northampton, MA – Elevens, with Black Pyramid, Might Could (Erik Larson’s new project), and Hotblack
January 16: Brooklyn, NY – Trash Bar, with The Brought Low, Mighty High, Cult 45 (ex-Lamont)

This will be in support of Black Light, White Lines, released on Small Stone Records in 2009. The band will also be releasing a split 7” with Stone Axe, due soon on Hydrophonic Records.

Sun Gods in Exile will also be appearing at the Small Stone Records SxSW Day Party in Austin, Texas, and will be taking a small tour of the mighty UK in April.

Maine guitar rockers Sun Gods in Exile have a new video for the song “Hellwell” off their Black Light, White Lines debut on Small Stone Records. I’d give you the YouTube version, because I hate the way MySpace does their videos, but I don’t think there is one yet, so too bad. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who gives a rat’s ass about the difference anyway. Here’s the video:

Some things are always welcome here in the valley. Good friends with six packs, boxes of CDs, winning lottery tickets, anyone willing to clean up anything, ever, and so forth. Somewhere on that unwritten list is quality ’70s-style boogie rock — music that makes you feel good without being corny or overly emotionally trite — the kind of stuff in which?Portland, Maine‘s Sun Gods in Exile specialize. Their recently reviewed Small Stone debut, Black Light, White Lines, comes on like a wicked buzz, and though tunes like “The Gripper” and “Mexico” are bound to get up to some mischief, well, they’re just so darn lovable.

There’s beer and cocaine flowing freely, but the party never ends in tragedy and everyone’s the coolest guy in the room. Guitarist Tony D’Agostino (ex-Cortez)?rips solos so naturally it’s easy to imagine him doing it in his sleep, and vocalist/guitarist?Adam Hitchcock sounds road-tested and whiskey-drenched. Bassist JL‘s name will be familiar to anyone playing along at home from monolithic doomers Ocean, and though Sun Gods in Exile is quite a departure, he sounds perfectly at home in the rhythm section alongside drummer Johnny Kennedy. Together, they’re party rock sans douchebaggery, not looking to harsh your buzz or anything but hey would it be cool if they made out with your grandma for a while? It’s hard to say no.

In between shreds, D’Agostino took a couple minutes out of his busy day to let his fingers hammer out the answers to the email interview after the jump, discussing how the band got together, recording with Benny Grotto (Dixie Witch, Roadsaw, etc.) and of course the obligatory touring question. Click “Read more” and enjoy.

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It’s a good thing the High Council of Stoner Rock hasn’t yet instituted mandatory tests for performance enhancers, because I’m pretty sure that if they did, Portland, Maine‘s Sun Gods in Exile would come up with O.D.-levels of testosterone in their blood. Their Small Stone debut, Black Light, White Lines is dick swingin’ brawl and roll dudelier than all those extreme fisherman they show on the Discovery Channel off the New England coast. Think AC/DC, Skynyrd and a toxic amount of liquor, and you’re off and running.

It took me a while to get into Black Light, White Lines. At first the album hit me as a throwaway that didn’t offer much original or exciting for me to sink my teeth into, but after a few listens, and particularly after warming up to the lead vocals of guitarist Adam Hitchcock, it proved to be an unpretentious jaunt through classic guitar rock that Sun Gods in Exile passionately — and probably drunkenly — set to tape with the arrogant gusto necessary to really pull it off. Snarling, biting and wiseassed, tunes like “The Gripper” and “Mexico” exemplify the barroom belligerence carrying Black Light, White Lines across like the kind of album that claims “manifest destiny” as the reason it infects your brain.

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