New Band To Burn One To: Zeremony

There was a time relatively early in the decade of awesome rock that was the Seventies in which bands used an organ as much as they did their guitars, and the sound was incredible because of it. Deep Purple, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Yes, The Doors, even the mighty Led Zeppelin on more than one occasion. Today's up and comer is truly a band you can burn one to because their sound harkens back to those not so innocent times while managing to establish their own wonderful sound. The guitar is mighty and not to be trifled with, the vocals are powerful and soul stirring, the driving rhythms of bass and drums are gargantuan, and the melodies are hook-laden attention grabbers. Sit back with your favorite delivery method of choice and burn a few to Würzburg, Germany's Zeremony.

bandcamp >><< facebook

New Band To Burn One To: DEAD QUIET

Progressive, psychedelic, doom, stoner, fuzz, seventies.......Dead Quiet tick all the boxes and then some. Melodic, great vocals, deep metal, mesmerizing, moody, sticky, and toothsome ..... this Vancouver up-and-comer has a big basket full of advantages drawn from the gritty experiences of past individual engagements, now banding together as massively talented individuals to create fresh takes on the amalgam of possibilities as a 5 piece juggernaut. The first release, a self-titled surprise assault of mammoth sound and proportion, should very well break through the cacophony of amplified voices, managing to rise above, to be noticed, to place an indelible stamp of mushroom infused metal upon the marrow of your musical mind.

bandcamp >><< facebook

DOUBLE TOKE: The Darts - Self-Titled LP / Mad Monkees - Self-Titled LP

I have 2 artists' works to share with you today, so this'll be two Quick Hits in one, which surely can be classified as a double toke, right? The theme today is a punky, garage-y, grungey assault with stoner rock fuzz bombs.



When I listen to The Darts I envision uber-slick rockers from somewhere in Britain, but these nimble rock warriors hail instead from Phoenix and Los Angeles. They display the full battery of stoner assault weaponry with a relentless bass, massive drums, and gargantuan guitar, blasting missiles of massive fuzz, but what sets them apart are the blitzkrieg of vocals from each of the four band members and the razor sharp melodies upon which the assault is laid. It's a formidable vehicle upon which is built an array of quality pieces, all of it erupting with heart and sweat and not a little bit of innate ability, making for music that is thoroughly pleasurable, deeply satisfying, and massively fun.

bandcamp ... facebook ... website

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Hailing from Fortaleza, Brazil this band of four very special primates delivers a whopping load of fuzz and fun on their self-titled LP, released a year and a half after their self-titled EP. If you're coming across these high octane rockers for the first time then together the EP and LP offer up 14 roaring tracks of imaginative assonance, designed to be played in the loudest mode you can muster.

bandcamp ... facebook ... website ... reverbnation ... instagram ... youtube

♪☺♂☻◙•☼◘○♀♫♪☺♂☻◙•☼◘○♀♫♪☺♂☻◙•☼◘○♀♫♪☺♂☻◙•☼◘○♀♫♪☺♂☻◙•☼◘○♀♫♪☺♂☻◙•☼◘○♀♫♪☺♂

Nuclear Dog's 2016 Favorites

I know I'm late. Schedules are hectic and excuses are thick. Not to mention choices are numerous. There is always such a plethora of great new music released worldwide each year.  That's a great thing, wouldn't you agree?

My favorites are, and have always been, albums with key characteristics, namely lots of guitar, most of it of the fuzzy variety, decent to great vocals, melody in song structure, and either memorable songs or a memorable sound, or both. I am not musically technical, unfortunately, so what I mean by melody in song structure simply means old fashioned song arrangements with rhyme scheme stanzas, choruses, solos, bridges, etc. at a 'fun' tempo, whatever that may mean.  Vocals to me are of utmost importance. A great vocalist can make or break what is otherwise a great album. When it comes to rating an album I often find that if there are a number of songs I put in my top playlist then, obviously, the album gets 'starred' as well. But sometimes there may not be a standout song so much as all the songs resonate greatly for an overall quality of awesomeness. The best example of that might be Nuclear Dog's favorite album of 2014, ¡Pendejo!'s "Atacames", or The Phuss' "On the Prowl", both of which are replete with great sounding songs, each as awesome as the last. And, of course, topping the list of prerequisites, the reason we all listen to these genres, the reason thousands of musicians worldwide generate this music despite the paucity of fortune or fame, is the guitar - BIG juicy, powerful guitars, generally tuned toward the low end with only the occasional foray into high falutin' solos - this is what drives us, artist and listener alike.

As usual, there were too many great releases this past year to have a conclusive 'best of' list. Any list may be missing an incredible album that simply escaped the notice of the lister. It's happened to me each year, usually at the hands of our HeavyPlanet guru, Reg, who always uncovers an album that would easily slot into my own list, if only I had known of it, if only I had been paying attention. But that's the fun of having so many lists, there is always something new and great to discover.

At HeavyPlanet.net and www.facebook.com/HeavyPlanet we strive to introduce the world to great music, most of it newly released, much of it from bands who've yet to 'make it', and all of it simply musically, heavily, fuzzily awesome. My list will have a paucity of 'known' bands or albums, keeping to the HeavyPlanet tradition and intent, but this is primarily a coincidence. Out of the thousands of worldwide releases in 2016 these simply are my favorites, no other agenda present, starting with #20 and working up to numero ichi.

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20. Stone Cream - "Rust"

Pure stoner goodness out of Greece. Not much is known yet of this band. They released this album via bandcamp in December and then another full LP in January of 2017. I suspect we'll learn more of who they are in the coming year, but in the meantime we have this magnificent music.

Release date - December 7, 2016

Favorite track - "Haunted Train"

Hometown: Somewhere in Greece

bandcamp

19. Stone House on Fire - "Neverending Cycle"

Sophisticated, clean, psychedelic, and deep. This is the third album from this Brazilian four piece.

Release date - June 14, 2016

Favorite track - "Anger"

Volta Redondo, Brazil

bandcamp || facebook || instagram || youtube

18. Wreck Plus - "Dark Constructor"

Tight and imaginative retro-fuzz from this gifted quartet that rocks hard and fast with relish and rigor.

Release date - December 11, 2016

Favorite track - "Starcrossed Lovers"

Hometown: Paris, France

bandcamp ||  facebook || youtube

17. Black Doldrums - "Exit City Lights"

Moody, mysterious, and deliciously dark psychedelia from this warrior isles duo.

Release date - August 12, 2016 & December 29, 2016

Favorite track - "It's a Dandy Massacre"

Hometown: London, England

bandcamp || facebook || twitter || tumblr || bandcamp



16. Wasted Theory - "Defenders of the Riff"

Lots to love here. Big, bold, and brash sound. Hot, swampy vocals. Crude, honest, rock n' roll lyrics. A full ten song LP of great butt-kick fuzz from this gnarly quartet.

Release date - October 30, 2016

Favorite track - "Belly Fulla Whiskey"

Hometown: Somewhere in Maryland and Delaware

bandcamp || facebook

15. The Freeks - "Shattered"

This band can be classified as somewhat of a supergroup, with founding members of Fu Manchu, Nebula, Backbiter, and others, but really the supergroup status lends itself more to the music that to anyone's CV. This is an album swollen with high energy music that runs roughshod through punk, funk, stoner, grunge, psychedelic, and seventies sounds. It's edgy, jagged, melodic, and quite brilliantly a riotous, romping lot of fun.

Release date - November 11, 2016

Favorite track - "Ivana"

Hometown: Rome, Italy

bandcamp || facebook || website 

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It probably goes without saying that any of the top 15 albums in my list could just as easily have been in the top spot. They're all exceptional and have made 2016 another incredible year for the fuzz.



14. Geezer - "Geezer"

Geezer have a mammoth sound, including perfectly tinged vocals, driving drumwork, massive bass, and monstrous guitar. They continue to deliver some of the most intoxifying music of the stoner/blues/metal genre. This album is replete with deep, tightly woven psychotropic threads of brilliance. Now part of the Ripple Music label, Geezer continue to grow, expand, and deliver. Bravo.

Release date - November 18, 2016

Favorite track - "Sun Gods"

Hometown: Kingston, New York

bandcamp || facebook || label



13. Cybernetic Witch Cult - "Spaceous Cretaceous"

This album is fun, enjoyable, unique, and chock full of knock yer block off rock woven around stories of fantasy and science fiction. While the theme is imaginative and quixotic, fun and exhilarating, rendering tales of deep space, mythical beasts and beings, mesmerizing magic, as well as the frontiers and power of science, the underlying structure of musical magnificence is what carries the day with deft musicianship and elegant melodies steeped in soaring blues rock, a pitch perfect vocalist with both edge and range, and supremely spellbinding guitar mastery.

Release date - May 28, 2016

Favorite track - "Enchantress"

Hometown: Cornwell, England

bandcamp || facebook || website



12. Deep Aeon - "The Devil's Vision"

Well, fuck! This one is both a celebration and a fare thee well, of sorts. After releasing some of the juiciest stoner rock over the course of three short years (too little of it for my covetous desires) Deep Aeon have called it kaput. Before disbanding they had begun production on a new album, and this EP is what they were able to record before the fateful fuzzy fission.

I realize this is only two songs and probably shouldn't be considered, but..........but, these two songs are simply magnificent. Well structured melodies of memorable scope and quality are bound on all sides by deep musical skill and deft delivery. The music is brooding and intense, the vocals penetrating, the melodies wonderful and memorable, and the guitars offer intricate tapestries of fatal, cold-blooded amplifications of doomsday steel.

The good news is that three of the four Deep Aeon members will remain together, forming soon a new band under the cognomen of Heavy Beam, having already recruited a new vocalist. This is exciting news. We extend to this coalescing stoner fuzzcraft, consisting of the aforementioned new singer as well as members Nickolaj Marfels, Alexander Weber, and Axel Meyer, all the hope and good will we can muster, which is a purely self-serving bestowment....BECAUSE WE WANT MORE!!

Release date - July 4, 2016

Favorite tracks - "The Vision", "Devils"

Hometown: Düsseldorf, Germany

bandcamp || facebook



11. Youngblood Supercult - "High Plains"

The evocative atmosphere wrought by this flatlander quartet is one of a piercing, keening young love lost, of heightened senses in bitter cold darkness, one of despair and desperation in bleak and lonely places. That's the incredible haunting sense of mystery and nostalgia fashioned by the twin engines of Youngblood's psycho-blues guitar sound and nimbly ardent vocalist.

Release date - February 19, 2016

Favorite track - "Monolith"

Hometown: Topeka, Kansas

bandcamp || facebook || website

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10. Desert Colossus - "Desert Colossus"

Fun and athletic is the atmosphere for most of this LP of initial release and signal quality from this exciting new quartet. There is fuzz galore and a sound that is smack dab in the middle of stoner/desert/fuzz rock. They do not so much as sound like Kyuss, but sound like a perfect fit for whatever exact genre Kyuss slots into. Melodic, upbeat, and deeply intriguing melodies are matched by twin guitar energy, powerful rock vocals, deftly driving drums, and a bass that'll cause you to bob and weave in ecstatic splendor.

Release date - January 3, 2016

Favorite track - "Fat Chicks"

Hometown: Zaandam, Netherlands

bandcamp || facebook



9. Slumber Dust - "Slumber Dust"

Another initial release from gifted artists striking out with deftly crafted songs of deep reverberations and mighty fuzztone fabrics of sound. Intriguing melodies intertwine seamlessly with psychedelic stretches of mind expansion and tribal intrusion.

Release date - October 22, 2016

Favorite track - "Pyramids"

Hometown: Saint Catharines, Ontario, Canada

bandcamp || facebook || soundcloud



8. Samba Cemetary - "The Bushgate"

This music is at once powerful and intelligent, driving hard ahead with white hot fierceness just as it slips smoothly into the icy coldness of psychedelic underfuzz. The riffs pummel and penetrate, drawing little blood in their sharpness while inflicting maximum metal carnage. Song structure is nimble and enduring, drawing in the listener over and again to consume the heady, quixotic experience. The vocals are unique and intriguing, adding to the overall thrill of new discovery and familiar heat as each song is savored and embraced.

Release date - September 19, 2016

Favorite track - "Last Samba"

Hometown: Berlin, Germany

bandcamp || facebook || youtube || website



7. Mesmer - "Mesmer"

The guitars are a dazzling, haunting, massive sound of macabre metal carried along by dark, delicious melodies and a vocalist of eerily beautiful tone and timbre, evoking haunted houses of horror and towers of terror through keenly wrought edges of nervous awareness.

Release date - June 3, 2016

Favorite track - "Weight of Confusion"

Hometown: Oakland, California

bandcamp || facebook



6. Stone Witch - "Order of the Goat"

This album is like an incessant, relentless heavy armored track brigade grinding and crunching its way through black forest gravel roads sodden and sopping with the dark blood of a thousand zombie amplifiers wailing and howling through the dank, dark night into the eternal stygian abyss. Dual guitars are unremitting in all-out onslaught of riff and solo, while the vocals deliver exquisite, alluring, haunting lyrics of depth and melancholy. Earth-rattling bass and superhuman staccato stickwork pulverize to bliss and submission.

The desert climes of Arizona are home to this magnificent quartet and their initial foray into the bastions of stoner rock, desert rock, and occult rock.

Release date - July 13, 2016

Favorite track - "Blood Feast"

Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona

bandcamp || facebook


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I'm tempted to list the final five as 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e. Any of these five could've made my #1 position. But that's a cop out, so in the immortal words of William Shakespeare, "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;"



5. Fall of an Empire - "Croweater: An Echo in the Bone"

Fall of an Empire released one hell of an album in 2014 in "Songs of Steel and Sorrow". Following up with something that good and that successful must be a neat trick (sarcasm), because as often as not a sophomore event struggles to match the heart and magic of the inaugural product, so when "Croweater" was released it was like an overwhelming rush of sweet snowy air. The talent and ability of this savvy quintet of stoner rock fabulists carried the day in overwhelming style. They again achieved a mighty and preeminently worthy collection of massively thrilling tales ensconced deeply in thick magic woolen riffs and heart piercing musical tales of medieval woe and enchanted adventure. The scope is huge, the delivery massive, and the experience thrilling.

Release date - August 17, 2016

Favorite track - "Uprising"

Hometown: Spartanburg, South Carolina

bandcamp ||  facebook



4. Mississippi Bones - "2600 AD: and Other Astonishing Tales"

Prolific, esoteric, and deep fried in southern stoner fuzz, Mississippi Bones are as gifted as a band can be. They create a LOT of music. They create a lot of GREAT music. Their songs are musically and lyrically profound, pulling you in myriad directions of intrigue, alluring in quality of riff and reverb, mesmerizing in tale, primal in melody and rhythm, there is more to chew on than ever meets the external acoustic meatus at first echo.

Release date - September 2, 2016

Favorite track - "Outhouse Poet (or Shitty Lyricist)"

Hometown: Ada, Ohio

bandcamp ||  facebook || twitter



3. Buzzzard - "Cold Blood"

Finding "Cold Blood" is a coup in my reckoning. The characteristics and qualities I always listen for when first experiencing an album, whether from a known group or someone new, are all present on this album. Twin guitars of heat and smoke, along with a bruising bass and piercing drums blister the auditory system in unrelenting brilliance. Three vocalists harmonize in glory and grandeur, led magnificently by a quintessential lead voice of fuzz rock purity. The primal chord of melody is fully exploited through each track by this melancholy stoner blues machine, combining to deeply hypnotize from the initial fuzz pedal power up to the last skin rap and cymbal tap.

Release date - November 23, 2016

Favorite track - "Nowhere to Go"

Hometown: Carbondale, Illinois

bandcamp ||  facebook



2. Ruff Majik - "The Fox"

The fuzz is huge on this magnificent album out of South Africa. A splendid blending of mammoth riff distortion driven by captivating and beguiling song structures as well as a new age vocalist of ability and intrigue. This threesome are nimble in execution yet powerful in deliverance. The music is uniquely their own, with little in the way of homage other than maybe the tonal range they choose to chisel from the stoner rock escarpment and vague references to a half dozen foundations of metal.

Release date - September 1, 2016

Favorite track - "Canned Fruit Bats"

Hometown: Pretoria, South Africa

bandcamp ||  facebook



1. Black Water - "Edison's Elephant"

I want to start by pointing out I know that technically this album was released in 2015, but it was a December release date and I didn't come across it until late January of 2016. This album is just too good to not share with as much of the world as is willing to peruse my list and perhaps sample the music therein. If you're as much a fan of bluesy stoner desert magic as I am then you'll surely appreciate the magnitude of what these Virginians have wrought. They are incredibly gifted song-writers, with half of this album getting the 5 star treatment on my personal favorites playlist. The melodies are immortally memorable, the tenor pure blues melancholia, the guitars as fine and ferocious as can be found in the dark, mossy metal underground, an inspired drummer and brutal bassist, an adept, keen vocalist and an ability to galvanize the disparate pieces into something truly special and enduring.

Release date - December 10, 2015

Favorite track - "Blueser"

Hometown: Rocky Mount, Virginia

bandcamp ||  facebook || twitter


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As with many bands that ply the stoner/doom/psychedelic/retro/blues waters the artists featured here are inspired by their love of the music and abilities that allow them to lay tone to tape. Brilliance isn't always discovered by record labels, late night TV hosts, or reality television. It doesn't mean that innate genius isn't to be found and enjoyed, at least not anymore. While Black Water, Ruff Majik, and Buzzzard, and the other bands on lists present and past, might not enjoy a tour with Disturbed, or whatever pretender gets the luxury of backing these days, I hope that at the very least they find their way into the hearts of the lovers of the best rock and metal on the planet. 

Band Submission: The Lunar Effect-70's Rock/Fuzz/Psychedelic/Riffage From London, England

Band Name: The Lunar Effect
Genre: 70's Rock/Fuzz/Psychedelic/Riffage
Location: London, England
Brief Bio/Description: Born in late 2013, The Lunar Effect was originally a solo project of tour hardened ex Deep Sea Green guitarist Jon Jefford. After releasing three records and touring internationally with Deep Sea Green, the London born songwriter was signed to 3 Ravens Records and released a self-titled debut "The Lunar Effect".

After receiving widespread praise, alongside national and international radio play for his self-titled record, Jon decided to make The Lunar Effect a fully-fledged touring band. He recruited brother and ex Deep Sea Green drummer Daniel Jefford, guitarist Jim Harris of UK Garage Rock act The Ladykiller’s and eccentric solo artist Mark Fuller on Bass.

The band has been performing material from the debut record throughout 2014/15 whilst refining their sound and experimenting with 60’s and 70’s psychedelic desert elements. Due to certain disagreements with their record label, The Lunar Effect went back to basics and decided to record, mix and master their own EP "Strange Lands" themselves, which was released 01/05/2016.

Band Members:
Jon Jefford - Vocals/Guitar/Piano/Harmonium
Dan Jefford - Drums
Jim Harris - Guitar
Mark Fuller - Bass
Links: Bandcamp | Facebook

Quick Hit-Vug-Doom Rock From Berlin, Germany

Vug is a 4-piece band that hails from Berlin, Germany. The band has recently released a four song demo on Bandcamp at a name your price. This demo did exactly what it intended to do and that is to plant the seed. Everything else will work itself out in due time as the band continues to grow. The mix is rough, the sound is raw and the musicianship a bit sloppy at times, but who cares, the band is having fun and they just need a little polishing. What they do bring to the table now is a bounty of fresh seventies infested doom rock. The songs have groove, melody and pizzazz. Favorite track: Loose. Give these fellas a listen with an open ear. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp

New Band To Burn One To: Limestone Whale

Personally speaking, I never grew up in the 1970s, hell I wasn’t even born then either, but when I sit back and imagine the haze filled days of experimentation and freedom, it’s usually soundtracked by something very similar to what Limestone Whale effortlessly do; delicate but leading bendy guitars, always tinkering on the edge of destruction but always happy to remain distant to the urge, vocals that require a voice to actually sing, and not simply yell, and a solid percussion of someone who has almost baked all of their brains. This is the Seventies I choose to believe in, I shall fail to be convinced otherwise.  

Aside from my culturally influenced assertions, what really matters is that Schwandorf, Germany, have just bellowed out a new, lightly tinged, doom stoner band, with enough caress and power to sooth many a mind. Their self-titled debut EP explores all stoner-heads territory whist being enclosed in the fist of doom’s embrace, highlighted perfectly on the track ‘White Flat’, a glorious slow tempo doom track which almost bursts into moments of serenity. But, it’s the bluesy elements to Limestone Whale’s sound, evident on ‘The Wizard’ and ‘Acid Entrance’, that lead back to those imaginary seventies hazy days, of headphones on, while the record spins 45rpm on the deck, just wanting to remain in the moment for a lifetime.

There’s a definite resurgence in throwback 70’s psychedelia in the scene at the moment, and all that matters now is to be the best at it, and Limestone Whale all well placed on our radars to evolve an album which makes us want to grab a tie-dyed shirt, roll a fat one, and get lost inside our own minds. Peace man!  

Facebook|Bandcamp 

SASQUATCH: The Heavy Planet Interview

Noted monster rockers Sasquatch, having just released their monstrous fourth album, "IV", have also taken the time to answer a couple of questions we posed to them about the album, their standing in the rock world, the overall state of rock from their viewpoint, their likes, their dislikes, what motivates them, and what they see the future holding for themselves and the band. With their responses this rock trio reveal a huge passion for what they do as well as a conspicuous ability and bearing in how they apply themselves to their chosen passion. Take some time, if you will, and get to know Keith, Cas, and Rick just a little bit and see what you might take away from having gotten to know just a piece of who these consummate rockers truly are. I open the questions with a reference to the song "Money", about an acquaintance who borrows a few bucks in an ongoing one sided relationship in which there is only one giver and one taker, a serious situation to be sure, but I had hoped to make light of it somewhat as an opening salvo, if you will. I was curious how they might respond to this question, and just as with their music, just as with the responses to the entire interview, they didn't only not disappoint, they tended to go the extra mile, because they can and, I suspect, they choose to. It speaks a lot to who they are. Ladies and Gentlemen . . . Keith Gibbs, Rick Ferrante, Jason Casanova . . . the incomparable Sasquatch:
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HP: Okay, I want to get the easy one out of the way first . . . can I borrow some money? Hah!

Keith: Sure, how much do you need?

Cas: Here at the First Bank of Sasquatch, we provide hassle-free short-term loans to all of our customers. No paperwork, no red-tape. You tell us what you need, and you’ll have cash in hand within minutes. Interest runs at about 20% per week and there’s no need to worry about receiving bills or sending in payments. We will have some nice men stop by your residence, remind you when payment is due, and they can even collect while on site. Think of all of the money you’ll save on stamps!

HP: Do you have any feedback yet on how well “IV” is selling out there in the world?

Rick: So far, pretty good. Small Stone would have more info though on how sales are doing. Getting a lot of thumbs-up so far. This is more of a direct approach. A “meat & potatoes” record if you will. People seem to like it; some miss the acoustic stuff and/or the intro-outro things we would do on some of the other records.

Cas: Rick misses the intro-outro things we do on some of our other records.

HP: How is the touring schedule for "IV" shaping up? Is it a difficult process to get one together?

Keith: We are talking to some European booking agents at the moment and hopefully we'll be touring sometime in April/May 2014. Touring the US is another animal. We would love to do it but getting guarantees is difficult since we usually book it ourselves.

Cas: Yeah, the US is tough. Demand and supply isn’t quite tipping in our favor. Can you make some calls and fix that for us? Great, thanks.

HP: Have you progressed enough in developing the tour to know who might tour with you, if anyone? Is there any chance of touring with a more well-known band? There is no one out there that plays better rock than you, but there are plenty of bands that are more widely recognized. Opening for some of those bands might garner a wider zone of interest from those folks who love meaningful rock. That's just me blabbering. Do you have an opinion on that sort of thing?

Keith: There are a few names being thrown around for Europe: UEMG (Ed Mundell’s solo project, Ultra Electric Mega Galactic, reviewed on Heavy Planet here: http://www.heavyplanet.net/2013/04/nuclear-dogs-atomic-split-ultra.html) and House Of Broken Promises, but nothing set in stone at the moment. We would love to go out on bigger tours as well but no takers as of yet. You would think it would be easier after four albums.

Cas: It’s a whole different ball game in terms of touring in the big leagues. From what I’ve seen and heard, it’s becoming more common practice that bands or their labels are buying on to these larger tour packages. Once again, “pay-to-play” rears its ugly head in a different fashion. Sorry, Debbie Downer moment.

HP: You guys have been together a decade now, and have released 4 very important albums (even if most of the world doesn’t realize it yet). How different was the process for writing the music on the first album from that on the last?

Keith: Very different. I had been a bit of a control freak on the first two, but now with the addition of Cas, I've let go of that. Rick and Cas both have great ideas, whether it be riffs or arrangements, so it's much easier to let go of total control. And I think that is very apparent if you listen to the progression of the songwriting on the last two albums especially.

Cas: I don’t really do anything. It must be the beard. Or Rick’s aftershave.

HP: Keith, can you describe to us a little bit of that process for creating songs? Do you start with the music, the lyrics, some combination of both?

Keith: It always starts with just a collection of riffs that I have in my head, then I bring it to the fellas and we arrange it together for the most part. As far as the lyrics, I've had a lot of ups and downs in the past five or so years and I draw everything from that. It's been a rough ride. My daughter, Riley, is a huge source of inspiration and she's also the greatest.

Cas: The writing part of it seems to be second nature for Keith. I just bring beer and watch the magic happen.

HP: Has it become more of a struggle over the years to write new songs, or do you feel like there is a pretty deep well there?

Keith: The well is very deep when it comes to riffs, thankfully; I have been lucky in that respect. There have been spaces of writer's block but that is usually because of drama in my own personal life.

HP: You mentioned Cas and Rick are now very involved in the writing process. As talented as they are as musicians I can only imagine they have a lot of deep understanding of song structure. Can you elaborate on what they bring to the table just a bit?

Keith: Rick and Cas are great when it comes to that. They each have different backgrounds in musical tastes so that really helps a lot. Rick loves old school Rock & Blues as well as Jazz, Psych, & Prog, but he is rooted there. Cas comes from more of an indie standpoint, which helps us to stay away from writing music to make money (as opposed to keeping our integrity). He also loves the old school stuff. I’m somewhere in the middle. Cas and I both love 80's thrash metal!

Cas: Keith brings the riffs. Rick then likes to get into the nuts and bolts of the songs as they come together; any and all aspects involved with the structuring, gear, and/or recording approach. The two of them get the songs to a point where it’s practically complete by the time I come in and add my parts. 

HP: Keith mentioned some inspirational sources, how about for Rick and Cas, where do you typically find your inspiration? Is writing a song something in which you have to flex a lot of mental muscle, or do the songs come somewhat easily? Or is it perhaps something in between?

Rick: Usually from a personal event or experience for the most part. Current & past world events maybe a bit as well.

HP: “IV” contains some incredibly well written music, both lyrically and melodically. I'm thinking specifically of "Eye of the Storm", "Corner", and "Drawing Flies". The thing that is inspiring to a fan like me is how fresh your music sounds, especially considering you've been cranking songs out for at least a decade. Is it a conscious effort on your part to create a specific sound or a certain feel for any of an album's songs? Do you struggle at all with trying to find a freshness in what you write?

Keith: We just write what comes out. I have kinda taken that AC/DC approach where I don't care what is going on around me musically, we just stick to our guns.

Cas: Yeah, there’s no real magic secret or concerted effort in the writing approach. It’s quite basic and to-the-point. It ends up typically being, “Oh, that’s a cool riff. Let’s make a song of that with that other cool riff.” Boom. Song done.

HP: Tell me a little about your playing, each of you. Has anything changed for you physically in the way you approach playing these days, whether it be for the studio or for a show. As you've aged a bit, has it had an effect on your ability to manipulate your instruments, whether positively or negatively? Do you guys find you have to warm up a little more these days before taking the stage or is the opposite effect where you've become so proficient at playing it's now second nature?

Cas: I can probably speak for all of us in that we have to warm up the fingers, stretch a bit, and get the pee break in right before set time. I think it’s important to go through the pre-show motions at any age, but it’s especially important now that we’re old fucks. My knees don’t function quite as well as they once did. The tinnitus also seems to be getting worse as I age, so I am trying to learn how to play on stage with earplugs. I tend to rip them out frequently because I want to hear everything at full volume. Yeah, I’m a dumbass.

HP: Similarly, Keith, how have the years treated your vocal chords and your ability to sing in the all out full throated way you do for Sasquatch? John Garcia recently stated that age has not diminished his ability to sing like it seems to do for most frontmen, so I was wondering what your experience has been in that regard.

Keith: It's pretty much second nature, at least for me. We've never had a grueling touring schedule so things like tendinitis or vocal issues have never been a problem. I’m happy and sad about that because we would love to tour 6 months of the year, but I think it helps keep our longevity.

HP: What does the future hold for Sasquatch? Do you see yourselves making music for another decade or more (I hope)?

Keith: Sasquatch will keep putting our albums as long as we are able to do so. I'm pretty sure I can speak for the guys when I say that our number one passion in life is music.

HP: Your music is usually placed within the genre of 'stoner' rock, for better or worse. What are your thoughts on that aspect of the underground rock world? What are your thoughts on the state of rock and roll right now where thousands of extremely gifted bands and musicians remain deeply obscure, labeled as stoner, doom, high desert, fuzz rockers, but get little to no airtime or notoriety? How do you feel about the more popular rock artists currently garnering air time, bands like Foo Fighters, Black Keys, Godsmack, Nickelback, Disturbed, or whoever is out there these days? Any of them making music that is worth the time to listen to?

Keith: I would have to defer to the guys for that question. I really don't listen to anything current, it's just a personal choice. Bands like old Traffic, Blind Faith, Zeppelin, Floyd, any seventies bands are what I draw from. Cas keeps up with what is going on, you should see his CD collection, it's fucking massive! As far as the Stoner rock tag…it doesn't really apply. I think of us currently as a rock band with some elements of stoner rock. We are strictly alcohol driven these days. Ha!

Cas: Tough questions. No clear answers quite yet. There have always been those bands, genres, scenes that haven’t gotten the notoriety they deserve, and I don’t think that has really changed since I’ve been a wee lad. I do think that the playing field has leveled out a bit more with the digital age and what some consider to be the fall of the “majors”. The opportunities are still in flux though. Many of the bands (us included) are trying to figure out how to really embrace and take advantage of the technology and Internet-driven advancements. On one hand, our music is freely available to anyone that wants to steal it. On the other hand, if it weren’t for the youtubes, facebooks, and even myspaces of ten years ago, Sasquatch wouldn’t have the kind of global exposure that we do now. Hell, a majority of our online store traffic comes from Europe, but we’ve even been getting some decent response from places deep in South America, Australia, as well as South Africa. Kind of wild when you think about it. To answer your question about popular rock… yeah, there is mainstream stuff I like just as much as the next guy. Soundgarden falls on the top of that list. I also have a lot of respect for what Grohl and Homme have done to make a career of it. Same goes with the Black Keys. That other stuff you mentioned is a bunch of rubbish though.

HP: When you're alone, each of you, what tunes are you spinning in your car, your office, etc.? How about when you're together, either touring or in the studio perhaps, what do you listen to as a gaggle of musicians. Is it a gaggle? A horde? A pride? I'm not sure.

Rick: Gaggle! My iPod will have anything from Frank Zappa, Budgie, Mahogany Rush, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Funkadelic, Monster Magnet, Killing Joke, The Cult, The Guess Who, pre American label Loudness, Rory Gallagher, Steve Earle, Eric Johnson, Tony Williams Lifetime, Robin Trower…pretty diverse. We also dig our fellow Small Stone bands as well. We will take turns & throw on whatever: Cas? Keith?

Cas: When the three of us are touring in the van, there tends to be a lot of Stern and random comedy shows on Sirius. Otherwise, it’s driver’s choice. In the office, I tend to listen to mellower stuff. Exotica, jazz, classical. Something that doesn’t distract. Ya know, like a Red Red Meat or Martin Denny record hits the spot. On the commute, it’s rock time, and there are a variety of bands I started listening to in the early 90s that still stay in rotation on my mp3 player. I can spin a Barkmarket, Quicksand, or Shiner record, for instance, and it still sounds as fresh to me as the day it came out. We’re also lucky in that one doesn’t have to look much further from the label for good stuff to pass the time. Try cranking Mellow Bravo’s “Ridin” while you’re on the freeway next time. I had it on yesterday morning. It’s great for bobbing and weaving in and out of traffic going 80.

HP: What was the last album that stopped you in your tracks and made you take notice?

Rick: I like the new Killing Joke record MMXI as well as the new Clutch.

Cas: Re-Voltaire.

HP: Each of you have had experiences playing in other projects or for other artists, just as you've had guest artists on your own albums, notably Small Stone Head Honcho Scott Hamilton of Luder and Gozu's Marc Gaffney on "IV". Are there any other projects or supergroups coming up, such as when Rick played drums for The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic and on which Keith had a guest spot? As fans of all three of you guys, as a group and as individual musicians, I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to hear whatever you produce, either as the monster group Sasquatch, as guest musicians for other bands, or perhaps as members of the trend of super groups that pop up from time to time.

Keith: Sasquatch is my baby and I really don't have that much interest in doing anything else right now except just guest spots. Hope that doesn't make me sound like a dick, it's just the truth. Cas is playing with our friends in Behold! The Monolith and I think he really enjoys it since they are much different than what Sasquatch does.

Cas: Yeah, I’m now splitting my time with Behold! The Monolith here in LA. We’ve known those guys for awhile (I think Keith and Chase have been bros for about 10 years), and I’ve been a fan of the band since Sasquatch had first played with them a couple of years back in Reno. This past Spring they lost Kevin (their frontman, bass player, and all around good dude) in a fatal car accident one week before they were set to leave on their first US tour. It’s been really tough on the guys, but after speaking with Kevin’s girlfriend and family, they decided to continue on. Anyway, I started jamming with them maybe in August just as they were getting back into it. It’s sort of a hybrid between sludgier doom, and fast-paced metal, something that I haven’t done since my early college days. It’s quite different musically than Sasquatch, so there’s a good balance between the two bands.
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So, there you have it, a little insight into three mammoth rockers, masters of the riff, who live for their music, are clever, gifted, and insightful, and conduct themselves with humor and wit. They are well matched as a threesome, each bringing a wealth of ability and heart to the music they make, and we, as their fans, are better off for it, even if, for them, it's a not insignificant struggle. Passion trumps strife, strife inspires art, we reap the rewards with the incomparable "IV".

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Nuclear Dog's Atomic Split: Skanska Mord, Abrahma, Lord Fowl

The year has flown right by, at least for me. It's been so much fun getting to know the best new music on the planet in an up close and personal manner this year. Of the many wonderful characteristics of stoner/doom/psych/retro rock there is one that just flabbergasts me, and that is how much new, original, MOUTHWATERING music is generated each year. Granted I've only been truly engaged for two years now, but I am staggered by how much new and incredible music I've found. There is so much that it's hard to showcase it all on Heavy Planet. Today I am showcasing three instead of the usual two. There have been a lot of 'best of' lists on Facebook the past several weeks and these 3 albums tend to make a majority of those lists, whether they be from fans, reviewers, or musicians. All three are from the ubiquitous and incomparable Small Stone Records label. Small Stone has cranked out more than their fair share of great, new music this year, and if rumors are any indication next year will at the very least match that output if not top it. Today we get to hear the incredible music of Örkellijunga, Sweden's Skånska Mord, the down home rock of New Haven, Connecticut's Lord Fowl, as well as the treasure chest of metal from Paris, France's Abrahma. Plug in, sit back, rock out, if you please.
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SKÅNSKA MORD - "PATHS TO CHARON"

Skånkska Mord are somewhat rare as a band because all members are from the same hometown, and while they didn't all start together as Skånkska Mord, they took full advantage of the demise of  former bands to form a new, tighter, more highly skilled and motivated band, one able to meld their seemingly disparate and individual sounds into something quite strong and exciting, something powerful and intoxicating, something that more rightly expresses the artistic qualities within each member of the new formation. They've now been together since 2006 and have generated nothing but music of the highest timbre and quality, culminating to this point with "Paths to Charon"

Skånska Mord are comprised of:
Patrik Berglin - Guitar
Petter Englund - Guitar, Backing Vocals
Patric Carlsson - Bass
Janne Bengtsson - Vocals, Harmonica
Thomas Jönsson - Drums, Percussion

They play a heavy, low tuned, and vibrant brand of psychedelic rock that slings the fuzz while wrapping a haunting and dark blanket of sound over magnificent, perfectly matched vocals from Englund and Bengtsson. The guitar work from Berglin and Englund is nimble and unforgiving as they inexorably carve their way through a thick, dense, nirvana of sound, all the while accompanied ably by Carlsson's monster bass and Jönsson's heavy caliber percussion.






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LORD FOWL - "MOON QUEEN"

Lord Fowl is:
Jon Conine - Bass
Don Freeman - Drums
Vechel Jaynes - Guitar, Vocals
Mike Pellegrino - Guitar, Vocals

Lord Fowl's music is an extension of some of the great, great rock of the 70s, with a slight southern tinge despite its creators hailing from the heart of yankee country. It's as if the decade had never ended, but instead endured through the ensuing three and half decennium, spawning a surfeit of incredible, delectable music.

Lord Fowl do not spare the riffs on this jam packed album. Guitars are salient, plentiful, and unburdened, spawning generous amounts of fuzz laced, down tuned distortion intertwined throughout with hot, searing solos and scorching riffwork. The vocals are perfectly matched to the music, bearing the slightest of raw edges, while percussion and basswork massivley encompasses all, expressing perfectly Lord Fowl's melodies of magic.




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ABRAHMA - "THROUGH THE DUSTY PATHS OF OUR LIVES"

This Parisian foursome have delivered a treasure trove of bright shining jewels, perfectly cut, formed to perfection, exquisite in composition and detail with "Through the Dusty Paths of Our Lives", an album of 15 catchy, heavy, clever, intelligent songs.

Band members include:

Sebastien Bismuth - Vocals, Guitars
Nicolas Heller - Guitars
Guillaume Colin - Bass
Benjamin Colin - Drums

with help on the album from Ed Mundell of Monster Magnet notoriety playing solos on "Big Black Cloud", as well as the cover artist for the album, Alex von Wieding, who also is the musical mastermind behind Larmon Clamor, contributing the song and vocals for "Oceans on Sand . . . ". How cool is that?

There is plenty of fuzz and low tuned music laid expertly over clever and often ingenious melodies generating a climate of fun and fury for riffs and solos, vocals and rhythm, chorus and refrain in this stoner rock fest of an album.






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Nuclear Dog's Atomic Split: Enos - "All Too Human" / Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell - "Don't Hear It . . . Fear It!"

It has been one hell of a year for new music, abounding with great new releases from old favorites as well as from newly formed bands that announce themselves to the stoner/doom/psych/retro world with high quality debut albums. Today's Atomic Split is not an end of the year compilation of favorites but does happen to spotlight two new albums that could very well end up on a lot of lists once the dust has settled, the amps are cool, the strings replaced, and the highs of experiencing the music are replaced with the highs of late evening analgesics. All I can recommend for you today, noble and faithful Heavy Planet follower, is to enjoy what is on offer today for it is truly meant to be relished long and often, deeply, immediately, spiritually, and with wonder. You want to know what constitutes art? Listen today. You want know what it means to have a spiritual experience through the medium of sound? Stay tuned.

ENOS - "ALL TOO HUMAN"

Ah, Alex von Wieding, when you get it right, you really nail it. The cover art for Enos' second release of 2012, as painted by von Wieding, is sublime, a true precursor for what is to be found inside as Enos continue the storyline begun earlier in the year on their first album, "Chapter 1". Not only is the story of the second chimp in space carried on, but so, too, is the great, transcendental rock that Enos create with their blend of trance inducing guitar riffs, tuned low, toxic in delivery, vocals that are at once rough and clear with a robust, gritty quality for which most rock vocalists seem to strive, but only a few attain, and a rhythm section attuned perfectly to the holistic tale at hand.

Enos consists of:

Chris Rizzanski - guitar, vocals
Sean Cox - guitars
George Cobbold - bass
Sparky Rogers - drums

"All Too Human" is a mixture of heavy, earthy, stoner sounds that are incomparably enjoyable, and aesthetic, ethereal sonnets of love and loss, faith and betrayal, revelation and loathing. The same incredible riffs inhabit this album as did the last, mesmerizing and ferocious, blended throughout with brief but beautiful riff snippets that trigger primal receptors deep within the soul, diving deep, ringing true, reverberating with the haunting call of truth and beauty. Part of the power of the songs on this album is in the attention to detail, the binding and blending of dozens of gorgeous little guitar expressions that provide depth and color in a rich tapestry of sonic bliss that cries out for full disclosure. Whether embodying the energy and volume of more traditional metal songs or sweetly, sedately channeling a composition of understated grace, the music here conveys an adeptness of bliss rarely ever on display.

Perhaps the most powerful pair of songs on this album are "Collisions", followed immediately by "Another Solution". "Collisions' sings out sweetly, in a measured and haunting rhythm of pain and loss, accompanied by one of the sweetest riff hooks on display, with equally haunting vocals that ride a spike driven straight through your soul, and with a slowly building ascendancy that inexorably drives the song toward a dramatic and conclusion. Following the understated domination of "Collisions" a deluge of pure power and low tuned energy blasts forth in an explosion of fuzz and distortion, accompanied by raw and bleeding vocals that grip and stir and relentlessly haunt the listener as "Another Solution" grinds and sears its way toward a gravelly, blistering, satisfying finale.

The best description of this music comes from the lyrics of the aforementioned "Collisions". The music can be said to be " . . . a razor's wicked stinging sound." Simply sublime.








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ADMIRAL SIR CLOUDESLEY SHOVELL - " DON'T HEAR IT . . . FEAR IT!"

Let your hair down. Wear your best shoes and undies. Carb up. Hydrate. Save back that $20 you would normally use for Taco Bell and the Dollar Theater on Friday night. Prepare yourself as best you can because it's time for a balls to the wall, everything you got, jam like you rarely get to jam party. This album is as great as it is unique. Music here is not totally like anything else out there, yet still derivative of tons of great stuff from the annals of rock history. It's high energy, freaky, a monster made from some of the same bits and pieces as all great monsters, though producing not quite the same end model as those first off the slab.

Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell have pulled off an exclusive, incredibly fresh, and immensely exciting feat with this album, creating music that is exquisite and rare while playing it like it's just come to mind. There had to be a lot of effort and thought put into the construction of these nine songs, because there is a LOT to them. When it came time to record "Don't Hear It . . . Fear It!" for posterity . . . well they went all out, playing with a looseness and a familiarity that comes only from still loving what you've spent countless hours creating regardless of how often you've played it. This makes for a brilliant album, to say the least. An album for the ages, perhaps.

Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell is comprised of:

Johnny Redfern, aka Johnny Gorilla - vocals, guitars
Louis Wiggett - vocals, bass
Bill Darlington - drums

As a three piece band they have found a way for all instruments to share in the fun. The drums and the bass riff energetically and beautifully in several places throughout the album, in addition to providing their usual rhythmic duties, which certainly is no mean feat. It's rare and enjoyable to hear so many songs where slices of guitar work is accentuated and enhanced by accompanying blows and barrages from the heftier instruments.

That's not to say the guitars are a background instrument here, because they are front and center, pummeling away in an almost three dimensional broadside onslaught of ferocity and joy. Adept and athletic in delivery, the artistry of the music is multi-layered, infused with dozens of various riff runs of diabolical distortion or crystal clear laser screams, at once blended and disparate, creating something so sweet and bodacious many will likely be jonesing for more.

The vocals as fourth instrument could be classified in a similar manner as the songs themselves, exhibiting their own unique characteristics, easily identifiable and recognizable in signature, unique in sonic quality, rough and controlled, adept and gravelly, blended perfectly with strings and skins.

The album consists of seven songs and an additional hidden track where Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell beautifully cover Buffalo's "Bean Stew". Of the seven songs I'd say only . . . all seven of them! . . . are special. Throw a dart. Play the song that gets skewered. You'll love it. Play them in order or on shuffle, you cannot detract from the power and singularity of this bundle of unprecedented metal melodies.

First up is "Mark of the Beast", as good a selection as any to kick off the odyssey. The intro is unique and deliciously discordant, slowly devolving to the song proper where melody is the starting point upon which many exquisite layers are threaded and bundled together, riffing through the refrain here, blistering a sunspot solo there, formulating an immense sound of sonic bliss.

"Devil's Island" is a 7 minute pleasure cruise beginning with a haunting melody that is pure sweetness of clear guitar string delivery, slowly, inexorably forging ahead, tacking back and forth between dozens of finely wrought riffs and solos, until it reaches its final destination only after you have engorged on a banquet of metal morsels.

"Ideath" follows, a less melodic number at the outset, powerful in delivery, blasting away with a riff and vocal barrage from all sides, seemingly without purpose until you realize you are in the middle of a coordinated assault that thoroughly assuages the metal receptors, leaving you drained and sated.

 "Red Admiral, Black Sunrise" is a beautifully written song possessing an excellent sing along attribute that provides a memorable and incredible hook on top of high voltage riffs and insulation melting solos.

More hooks and melody are up for offer on "Scratchin and Sniffin", as well as a more subdued and rich vocal delivery. Again, brimming with snippets of riffs that are blended to create a wonderful overall sound of power and grace.

"Killer Kane" has a more insistent tempo as well as an excited run of bass riffs. Fun and furious, it is a perfect closer to the original set of songs, a well suited lead in to the cover of "Bean Stew" where Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell's interpretation is a light speed up shift in tempo and energy from Buffalo's mellow rendition of the original song.

Altogether an incredible experience, a rare and scarce chance to experience something beyond special, something immensely enjoyable, something providing pleasure and diversion through each iteration, ramping up the anticipation of opportunity to once again immerse yourself in its overpowering experience.





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