That moment when you discover a great band, connect, and then find out they don’t exist anymore! That is right, Mystic Vulture by Quebec, Canada’s Cleōphüzz is a testament, a piece of inheritance to the world. The band got into the pandemic, and did not get out. It is quite sad, but it does not diminish the power of this album.
Mystic Vulture is the second full-length by Cleōphüzz, after their 2018 debut Wizard of Phüzz already hit the stoner world quite well, and sold out fairly quickly. You can hear that on this second effort the band went all the way to cook up something special though. Mystic Vulture is a rich album, with many layers, and many different instruments making up those layers. The essence is still heavy stoner, but the side steps into folk, psych, blues, alt country, and jam music make it into a very enjoyable and adventurous affair. Its replay value is pretty high too, especially where the band lets go of all song conventions and just hits the road vibing.
There are elements of the dark psych blues of early All Them Witches, the feminine touch, and the use of strings made me think of Subrosa, while the overall feel and theatrical approach also pays homage to old school grunge like Alice In Chains. Plenty of elements to love for the broad minded stoner and fuzz fan I’d think. All the sadder that it is their swan song.
I found guitarist Alex Savourin through the band’s Bandcamp page, and to my dismay the first thing he told me was that the band broke up. He was however still very much willing to tell me about his Cleōphüzz and what the band was all about. They released Mystic Vulture as a tribute to what once was. Let’s honor it by giving it some love.
How are you? How has the pandemic period been for Cleōphüzz?
Well pandemic kinda hit us hard. The band split up. With all the restrictions we couldn’t practice or play anymore so we stopped. But we wanted still to release this
LP. It was supposed to be released by Kozmic Arctifactz. We approached Kozmik, it was supposed to be released on a double vinyl set. But with the pandemic and the price rising, they abandoned the project. So for now we don’t have any plans of releasing a vinyl yet. Time will tell us!
Can you introduce the band, and how did you meet, etc?
My cousin (Joey) and me (Alex) wanted to play music so we approach one of our
friend ( Joseph) who is an amazing drummer! So the band started. After that we
introduced a Cello player (Carolune) and a bassist player ( Xavier) that we
changed for Freink.
What can you tell me about your musical backgrounds?
We are classic rock lover, Pink Floyd and a lot of psychedelic music, and of
course, stoner rock music!
What does a regular day in your lives look like?
Well work work work. No time to have fun haha.
What is the best thing about Mystic Vulture?
The whole been put together that make a beautiful and magnificent LP.
Where do you live and what is the environment like for musicians like you?
We are from Quebec, Canada, in Ville-Marie. A small town far for everything! For
that its been hard for us to play in bigger towns cause they are far!
Who are some contemporary musical heroes of yours?
Of course Josh Homme! Ryan Garcias, Matt Pike and many others!
Can you tell me about how you go about composing and recording songs?
We smoked weed and we try something haha.
What are your immediate and long term future plans?
Actually no plans for now since the band is dead … We’ll see.
What should the Weirdo Shrine reader do after reading this interview?
The Weirdo Shrine should lit up a spliff and enjoy the ride of Mystic Vulture! haha.
Weirdo Shrine 
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