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Valley of the Sun

3/31/2014

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Fresh off of their first European tour, Cincinnati rockers Valley of the Sun recently released their long awaited debut full length album, Electric Talons of the Thunderhawk, on Fuzzorama Records. Cincinnati residents can pick up the new album this Friday, 4/4 at the Valley of the Sun record release show at Northside Tavern with special guests Electric Citizen. That's going to be a killer show, right? I recently had a chat with the VotS guys to check in on the album, tour, and future plans.

First off, welcome home! How was the European tour? Anything crazy to report?

AARON: The tour was great, we got to play a variety of different types of venues. We were also fortunate to meet all sorts of awesome new people in cities and countries we'd never been to before and make some great new friendships. It was also cool to be able to play our music and get some of the best reactions we ever have in front of a crowd. We're thankful to Truckfighters and White Miles for having us along.

RYAN M: Europe was insane, beautiful and delicious. My brain and spirit have been forever altered by the experience. The culture of live music over there is unreal. The people are so kind and the clubs are amazing.


How would you describe your sound to the uninitiated?

RYAN M: High Gravity, Imperial Rock and Roll. We're three dudes who play the shit out of our instruments and get off on it.

AARON: I would describe VOTS as a loud rock band. There's elements of stoner rock, punk rock, classic rock......I think there's also a difference between describing us on record and us live.

Who are some of your influences and who are you listening to these days?

RYAN F: Guitarists who inspire me are Jimi Hendrix, Alvin Lee, Josh Homme and Django, of course! Vocal inspiration comes from Chris Cornell, Josh Homme, Scott Weiland and John Garcia.

RYAN M: Anything with a killer bass player. Led Zep to Vince Guaraldi Trio. Rush, Yes, Sabbath, Tool…I like bands that are tight and play with time. I also love straight up raw rock and roll and have been digging all the rock records by Boris lately.

AARON: I have the same influences every other rock drummer has: John Bonham, Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, maybe a touch of Tommy Lee, but I also take inspiration from more modern players like Jorma Vik and Dave Grohl. My personal listening is sort of varied. I can tell you the 5 albums I had on repeat during this tour; Florence and the Machine - Ceremonials, Red Fang - Whales and Leeches, Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues, Chvrches - The Bones of What You Believe, and Royal Thunder  - CVI.


You have a new record out on Fuzzorama Records. Can you describe the recording experience for us?

AARON: This record was recorded at Nada Studio in New Windsor, NY. It's the same studio and producer as The Sayings of the Seers from 2011. It was a pretty standard recording experience: we stayed 7 nights in a murder hotel, 7 nights in a business class hotel, 10 hour studio days, falling asleep to "Predator".  I usually use a house studio kit to record but this time I took my personal kit, a Tama Starclassic Bubinga and a mish mash of different cymbals.

RYAN M: Recording was a whirlwind. We busted the album out in two weeks among various injuries, bad weather, illnesses, shady hotel rooms, hilarious late nights and lots of hot wings. I used my Fender TB1200 bass rig with a handful of effects and a 4003 Rickenbacker to cut the bass tracks.

RYAN F: Hiwatt DR103 and DR504, Sovtek MIG 100, Marshall JCM800, Gibson Les Paul Standard, Gibson SG Standard, Boss OC-2, Crybaby and, of course, Green Sovtek/EH BIG MUFF.


How did valley of the sun come together?

AARON: I had spent a couple of years trying to get something going but was having a tough time.  I had emailed Ryan F. and a guy named Chris Owens who were both previously in a band called Blacklight Barbarian.  I dug what they did so when their band broke up I got in touch to see if either of them would be into starting something new.  They were both down so we got together and jammed.  About that time a guitarist I had been playing with on and off named Casey Beagle got in touch and we had him out.  That was the Mark I lineup of VotS.  Long story short, both Chris and Casey left the band and we picked up Ryan McAllister and kept moving forward.

Cincinnati has seen a resurgence of loud, heavy rock bands recently.  To what do you attribute this rock revival?

AARON: I don't know but it rules. The new Mangrenade track has me super excited to hear the rest of their new album. It's really just cool to have such an amazing group of bands to get to play shows with. I think Cincinnati is luckier than most in regards to its local rock scene.

RYAN M: First of all, I fucking love all the rock in this town these days. I'm not sure what to attribute it to exactly. If I had to wager a guess I would say it might have something to do with people needing some kind of musical release. People's tastes swing like a pendulum but I think a lot of us are always looking for a rowdy good time. To me that’s what rock and roll is regardless of whatever the genre du jour is at a given time.

What's the best thing about living in Cincinnati? 

RYAN M: I love the people in this town, the food and the local beer.

AARON: For me the best thing is its geographic location. I love being so close to so many cool cities: it's not a far drive to Columbus, Indy, Louisville, Chicago---so yeah, my favorite thing about Cincinnati is being able to get out of it fairly easily…haha.


What's next for Valley of the Sun?


AARON: Hopefully more of Europe if we're lucky.


RYAN M: Shows, writing a new record, eating a lot of tacos.


VotS on Facebook
VotS on iTunes
Fuzzorama Records
Editor's Notes: Huge thanks to Ryan, Ryan, and Aaron for taking time out of their busy schedules to answer some questions for us here. Click on the links above to check out the new album and don't forget to check out Valley of the Sun this Friday at Northside Tavern if you're going to be in the Cincinnati area. These guys absolutely destroy on stage. - JO 
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Monolord

3/11/2014

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Swedish doom masters Monolord are about to become a household name. With their debut album, Empress Rising, due out in less than a month on EasyRider Records (North American release on 04/01/14) and a massive touring schedule coming up, I think it's safe to say that Monolord are going to turn some heads and crush some skulls in 2014. I recently had a chance to correspond with guitarist/vocalist Thomas Jäger to speak about the band's formation, the recording of Empress Rising and Monolord's future plans. 

How did Monolord come together?

Thomas Jäger: Me and Esben, we started the band mainly to be able to do some low end rumble, apart from playing the boogie rock in the band Marulk. Later on we found Mika on bass and it was a perfect fit.

How did you get into doom and who are your influences?

TJ: I listened a lot to stoner rock and roll in my early twenties and gradually found my way into doom as time went by. You can actually hear us paying homage to Goatsnake in one of the songs on the album. I won't tell you which one, though.  Other than that, I always listen a lot to Blue Oyster Cult and mostly the album Secret Treaties, which is one of the best albums ever made.

Describe the process of recording Empress Rising.

TJ: The process of recording Empress Rising was a bit weird. At first, the bass player/vocalist from our other band Marulk played with us. We split ways and me and Esben started to record the album ourselves, without a bassist/vocalist. When we were done with drums and guitars, Mika joined and he laid down some really heavy stuff. After that I tried to put some vocals to all of that and it sounded great so we decided to be a doom power trio.

So the original idea of Monolord was not necessarily to be a doom band?

TJ: When we jammed with our other band, we often got into groovy psychedelic stuff but since our tuning was just one step below standard tuning, it didn't get that heavy. So we decided to tune down a lot and just go for it. Empress Rising was made at the first rehearsal.

Did you look around for a singer before you decided to record the vocals yourself, or were you planning to sing all along?

TJ: We all like the idea of being a trio, but when we recorded the album we had not made up our mind. I just made a few tries and we liked it.

What kind of gear did you use on the album?  Did you use any crazy equipment on Empress Rising, or just your normal setup?

TJ: I play Flying V’s only and I have this old Orange amp from '73, but with a Matamp front that sounds awesome. Mika plays through a Death By Audio Apocalypse fuzz that is insane. Esben has a sweet sounding Gretsch kit with a huge ass bass drum. Pretty normal for us.

Do you have any plans to tour in support of Empress Rising?

TJ: We are going to do some gigs around Sweden this spring and hopefully we'll tour as maniacs after the record comes out.

There seems to be a lot of doom coming out of Sweden these days. Is that just a coincidence or is there a large doom scene over there?

TJ: Can't really name many doom bands from Sweden. I don’t feel that it is that big. It is still on the uprising, me thinks.

Sweden has a great heavy metal history, from Candlemass through the 90’s Gothenburg scene. What's going on over there that inspires such great metal?

TJ: Don't know really. Maybe it is because of the eternal winter? Summers of eternal raining that make us pissed off? We have been lucky with a few big bands that have been setting some trends. Entombed and At the Gates for the death metal scene and as you said, Candlemass for the doom scene. So maybe that's why?

Is Marulk still active? If not, what's next for Monolord?

TJ: We're focusing on Monolord now and Monolord is gonna tour, tour and tour. We can't wait for it, really.


Editor's Notes: Huge thanks to Thomas for battling through a bout with the flu to provide some great answers for us all. Also, thanks again to my friends at Sheltered Life PR and EasyRider Records for tipping me off to this fantastic new doom band. Cheers, guys. -JO
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Windhand

3/10/2014

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While perusing all of the "Best Albums of 2013" lists a few months back, one album kept popping up that I was unfamiliar with. Windhand's Soma (Relapse) managed to crack top-10 after top-10 despite it's slow, plodding, ridiculously heavy doom tracks, the shortest of which clocks in at 6:38 and the longest, the epic "Boleskin", coming in at 30:30. Strong comparisons to early Electric Wizard turned out to be apt, but Windhand offers up an interesting change to the tried and true doom format, with haunting female vocals leading the charge. This stuff is basically heavy, American doom at it's pinnacle. Soma is the band's second full-length offering and it sounds like we can expect more from the Virginia doomlords in the near future. I caught up with Windhand during some downtime on their current US tour, a tour that inexplicably stopped in Canton, OH, but not Cincinnati. Next time, guys...

How did you get into doom and who are some of your influences?

I think some people are just wired to like doom/sludge/metal.  It's a way to still be involved with metal but I'd say doom puts the emphasis on soul over chops.  We're all fans of Black Sabbath, but we're from the Nirvana generation so they're an influence on us as well.  Led Zeppelin, Electric Wizard, Acid Bath...I feel like any music you like somehow has an effect on what you play.

How did the band come together?

Asechiah has known Garrett for 20+ years.  Dorthia responded to a Craigslist ad.  We arrived at this current lineup through a couple of rhythm section changes.

There seems to be a lot of metal, and doom in particular, coming out of Virginia these days. Do you have any explanations for that phenomenon?

Richmond has always been a hotbed for punk and metal.  Maybe as humanity gets dumber we're all getting worse at our instruments and our lack of talent forces us to play slower.

Soma ended up on a lot of year end lists for 2013. Were you surprised at all by the reception the album received?

Nothing too surreal has happened yet but it was cool to get a mention on Rolling Stone's website.  It helps validate what we're doing to the loved ones who got by without our presence for months at a time.

How is the current tour going so far?

Good!  We're seeing a lot of familiar faces and friends in each town.  Playing some really cool venues, too.

Do you have any immediate plans for a follow up to Soma?

We're writing whenever we're home long enough to unload the van.

How does the Windhand songwriting process work?

I imagine it's pretty normal.  Someone will come in with a handful of riffs and we build on it from there.  We share ideas and try different things with the arrangement. 

Do you consider yourselves a live band or an album band?

I don't think that's for me to decide because I don't think we have to be one or the other.  Playing live is what we do the most, whereas recording an album only happens every once in a while.  When we record, it's all analog so it tends to be pretty similar to the live show, where timing and feeling are concerned.  When we play live, doing the recordings justice is high on the list of priorities.

A lot of our readers are musicians, so I have to ask...what are you using to get those thick, heavy tones?

The guitar heads are all vintage 100-watt tube amps.  The bass head is solid state but running through octave and fuzz pedals.  It's all hooked up to a bunch of speakers ranging from 10"-15" in diameter.

What's one album you couldn't live without?

Electric Wizard’s Dopethrone is playing it safe, but you can't fuck with that record.  It's one thing for music to be “moving”, but I see red when I hear that album.  I can't wait to hear the new one.

What's playing in the tour van these days?

Nick Cave, Alice Cooper, Sixteen Horsepower, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Waylon Jennings, and the Flying Burrito Brothers lately.  Coffinworm and Pilgrim's new albums have gotten some love but I try to go easy on my ears during the day.

Where would you like to tour that you haven't been yet?

Japan would be cool. 


Editor's Notes: Big thanks to the Windhand crew for taking some time out of their rigorous tour schedule to answer my questions. Soma is currently out on Relapse Records, and if you dig that, the S/T debut is your next stop.

Windhand on Bandcamp
Relapse Records
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Salem's Pot

3/6/2014

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On the heels of last week's review of ...Lurar ut dig på prärien, the upcoming EasyRider Records release from Swedish doomsters Salem's Pot, I wanted to connect with the guys behind the music to get a glimpse into their strange world. The following is the result of a rapid-fire interview that turned out to be every bit as fucking weird as the new album itself. Enjoy.

How did the band come together?

Salem's Pot: Luck, I guess. After years of searching, a couple of misfits just ran into each other.

How did you get into doom and who are your influences?

SP: We really like the video game and early Pentagram & Sabbath. Otherwise, we prefer Gram Parsons.

Describe the process of writing and recording the new album.

SP: Well…I was tripping.

What kind of themes were you looking to establish with the new album?

SP: Not really trying to establish anything. If people are weird enough to dig what we do, that's great. Maybe we should go with fashion. What year is it?

What are your plans for touring in support of the album?

SP: We want to play as much as possible.

Are you coming to the US?

SP: Sure, if they let us in. If your living room is open, let us know.

What's one piece of gear you couldn't live without?

SP: The Pick of Destiny.

What's the worst part about living in Sweden?

SP: The winter. No, the drug laws.

What's the last album you listened to?

SP: Dead Moon - Stranded in the Mystery Zone

If you could tour anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?

SP: Probably Ukraine.

Other than the Pick of Destiny, what's your dream gear setup look like?

SP: The usual…bigger Orange amps and endless amounts of weed.

What are you going to do to celebrate on the day the record comes out?

SP: We're always celebrating.



Editor's Notes: I'd like to thank the guys from Salem's Pot for lifting their ban on interviews for The Blog of Doom. Much appreciated, fellas. I'd also like to thank my Welsh mate, Richard Jones, from Sheltered Life PR for facilitating the interview on short notice. -JO

Salem's Pot
EasyRider Records
Sheltered Life PR
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