When you have a hard describing a band’s sound I guess they are doing a good job. Emergency Group is one of those combos with a sound that you want to call free jazz or freestyle avantgarde rock, but whatever nomenclature you want to throw at it, it does not seem to it justice. It is improvisational music, it dares to be loud when it needs to and quiet when it feels the room for it, and completely rocks my world these days. Venal Twin feels like a pretty good representation of the state of the world right now, and I love to rock its hectic jams while walking the streets of the city I live in. Let’s see what guitarist Jonathan Byerley has to say about it…
How is Emergency Group doing? Can you give us a peek into your life as musicians?
It’s been a really exciting year for us! Our first album, Inspection Of Cruelty, came out at the beginning of the year and people really responded to it positively. Since then, we’ve started gigging and have recorded several more sessions. We just released our second album, Venal Twin, and have a third on the way (which will be our vinyl debut) next year. Next spring or summer we hope to get out and do some touring.
Can you introduce the band? How did you get together?
Robert Boston and I met when we were both in the songwriter Zachary Cale’s band, touring a little and recording the Skywriting album. For a long time I played in a rock band called Plates Of Cake and there was a period where Cale was playing bass in that group while I was playing bass in his. Anyhow, Robert and I clicked and started jamming as a duo in 2019. Robert and Andreas know each other from the world of modern dance having both worked with the Martha Graham and Mark Morris dance companies. Dave has played in a ton of bands and hosts a prog-rock and prog-adjacent show on WFMU called It’s Complicated. Robert called upon Dave to make the group a quartet.
Where do you live and what is the music scene like there?
We live in Brooklyn where there are a vast number of different micro-scenes. Emergency Group has really been buoyed by the musical communities adjacent to and around venues like Mama Tried, Union Pool, The P.I.T., labels like Island House Recordings, and of course the independent radio station WFMU.
What is your musical background? How did you become such good players?
I’m really just a rock guy and have been playing guitar since I was a kid. On the other hand Robert and Andreas are classically trained musicians with deep backgrounds in both jazz and modern dance as accompanists, performers and composers. I don’t know how Dave got to be so good at the bass but he rules. He’s also a great writer and a DJ like I mentioned.
What is your opinion of the free jazz tag? Would you consider yourself a jazz artist and why/why not?
Great question – ultimately, I think we are a rock group that shares some of the ethos of free jazz. I think we’re at our best when we’re really playing “out”. We’re trying to do a lot with our music, including making music that is danceable, but I find the more dissonant and atonal aspects of the group to be the most interesting. Obviously I’m not speaking for the other guys when I say this, but I personally shy away from the jazz term because a) we don’t play tunes out of any jazz-historical songbook and b) I don’t play “jazz guitar” in any kind of way that that term is typically understood.
When do you consider a piece of music yours? Do you consider that question when composing?
We’ve only just started incorporating composition into the group. On the record that comes out next year, Robert and I each contribute a tune. Otherwise we’ve been wholly improvisational. Sometimes we find “it” and sometimes we don’t, but it’s pretty clear to us when an improvisational passage transcends to the level of a “piece” that we’d like to share with people. Those are the releases we have out. The live thing is a little different because we’re trusting the audience to bear with us for a little while while we find out whatever it is we’re gonna do.
What role does improv or jamming play in your lives?
I’ve been a songwriter for years and it finally just became a drag. On the other hand, improvisation, jamming, spontaneous composition – whatever you want to call it – is really liberating for the immediacy. That is, in contrast to the lifecycle of getting songs out there: Writing them, teaching them to the band, testing them out on stage, recording, mixing, releasing, and so on… with all that there is like a 2 year tail between writing a song and giving it legs. On the other hand with improvisation you’re just putting down ideas to tape. Good session, bad session – it is what it is. This band is all about throughput. Right now that’s what feels fresh and exciting for me.
What is the highlight of your career so far?
I’ll answer this within the context of Emergency Group’s career, which is only about a year old. We got to record a Lagniappe Session for Aquarium Drunkard, which was an honor, and we used the opportunity to record Robert’s arrangement of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 2. I think it turned out really well. Secondly, we recorded an as-yet-unreleased album with producer Chris Schlarb, aka Psychic Temple. That guy is a prince and collaborating with him has been an incredible experience.
What are you looking forward to most this year (or the next)?
I’m mainly just looking forward to more gigs. I want to take this band on the road!
What should the Weirdo Shrine readers do immediately after reading this interview?
I’ll be shameless about it. Buy our stuff on bandcamp!
As I slipped into my personal rabbit hole the past months, I found myself feeling more and more attracted to free jazz in all its unfathomable forms and appearances. Take this wonderful new album by Denver’s Aaron Dooley and his International Disassociation: it is mindbogglingly intricate, yet soothing, and danceable all at the same time. It is an album you can take a good while to fully wrap your head around, and it will still show you new angles from time to time. A great record for people with full heads like mine. We got the please to talk to Aaron, who introduced his band and his plans for the future…
Hi Aaron! How are you doing? Can you give us a peek into your life as a musician?
Hey! I’m pretty tired to be honest, but my spirits are high! I just got back home from a two week tour promoting the new album. It has been quite the experience. Went to some great places, met some amazing people. Meeting people is the best part. I’m pretty sure it was my mom who told me this back when I first started playing music, but success as a musician is all about who you know, so I’ve always done my best not to be a stranger, especially since moving to Denver.
Can you introduce your band? How did you get together?
Yes, there are quite a few people on the album to introduce. I suppose I should start with Aesop Adams on guitar. I’ve known him since I was 16, and we’ve played together for most of that time. We also play in a cool rock band called Totem Pocket. Then there’s Zuri Lee on vox and violin, who I met in music school. She’s always been a supporter of the pulled-out stuff we like to play, and we love her for it. Next I met #1 drummer Diego Lucero shortly after rooting into the Denver music scene. We’ve played in a number of bands together including a neo-soul group called Dog Tags. That’s how I met trumpeter Gavin Susalski. It’s good having him in the neighborhood. Cooper Dickerson on the pedal steel is also a friend from music school. A true gnar dawg on steelies and 6-strings, he just moved to Nashville. And finally, we have supreme saxophonist Gabriella Zelek who I met via Denver’s music scene. She just moved to Paris to continue her ascension to the top and we truly miss her.
Also, there’s Eric Welty-Rodriguez, who joined me, Aesop, and Gavin on tour as the drummer. He’s a true powerhouse of musical energy, and his spirit helped drive us forward during our weeks on the road.
Where do you live and what is the music scene like there?
Denver, Colorado, Queen City on the plains. Or so I’ve heard. To be honest, the music scene feels pretty small here. It feels like everyone somehow knows everybody else out here, no matter what genre they play. I’d be a fool to say there’s a lack of outsider and/or progressive music in the city, but the love and attention for it seems few and far between. Denver is also a bit far from other major US cities, so it seems that if touring artists aren’t at the level of playing Red Rocks or one of the major venues in Denver, we usually get skipped. Bummer!
What is your musical background? How did you become such a good player?
Aw shucks, you’re making me blush. Really tho, I appreciate it. I like to think I’m pretty decent on the bass. Yes, there’s cats out there that can probably smoke me in a bass-off, but I’ll say this: I’ve got my own style and I try to sound like myself when I play. Since I started playing when I was 14, I always wanted to do the bass justice. I’ve never seen it as a lesser instrument. It’s like playing drums with strings; a conduit between rhythm and melody. A musical harmony that is not purely tonal.
I’ve gotta give credit to my first bass teacher, Brandon Mooberry. A true master of the bass, he taught me how to be disciplined in my approach to learning bass, and gave me the knowledge I needed to be an expressive player. He somehow knew exactly the right dosage and grade of music theory to teach a stony teenage me how to be creative and jam with people, and I’ve not stopped since.
What is your opinion of the freejazz tag? Would you consider yourself a jazz artist and why/why not?
I guess you could say I’m a supporter of free jazz, free rock, and free musical expression in general. It’s certainly a Rorschachian approach, open to heavy interpretation, and while some interpretations of musical splatting are more appealing than others, it is the best method for traveling wormholes into musical dimensions you hadn’t imagined.
I hesitate to call myself a jazz artist, as I embrace the textures of jazz more than the techniques, but it has always been the genre I am most curious about, which inevitably has tinged my sound.
When do you consider a piece of music yours? Do you consider that question when composing?
It’s hard to say. The music I record is so heavily based in improvisational collaboration, I hesitate to take credit for it as my own. The songs start as bass lines and parts that I come up with, but aside from explaining to the other players what key and dynamics/feel to use, it’s pretty open to interpretation. I guess it’s somewhat of a jazz bandleader approach wherein I assemble the players for the secession, presenting to them the musical roadmap upon which we will improvise, and letting expression take its course. For instance, the song “Jamais Vu” began as a bass line and a loose, swing-like drum beat from me, but the way Diego expanded the beat, and the fantastic melody Gabi created on the spot is entirely of their doing. I am but a catalyst for inspiration.
What role does improv or jamming play in your life?
Shit, I guess a pretty big one. I’ve always liked improvising and spontaneously creating with others and I guess that comes through in my music. In most every project I’ve played in, I make room for improvisation. Improvisations are like sparks that can ignite the vapors of inspiration into a full blown compositions, but even those compositions still need to leave a little room for chance.
What is the highlight of your career so far?
Releasing this album is certainly a highlight. I’ve always dreamed of releasing an LP, and I couldn’t be more grateful to Centripetal Force for making that dream come true. And I can’t express how grateful I am for how much love Trapped In Purgatory received last year. I’m incredibly grateful that Island House put it in people’s ears. Landing a 4-star review in MOJO Magazine? Ecstatic.
What are you looking forward to most this year (or the next)?
More music. Especially after this tour, I’m feeling inspired, looking forward to new possibilities. I’m really hoping to get back into the studio and lay down some new material with The Disassociation. Totem Pocket is working with David Baker, formerly of Mercury Rev, on our next album. It’s sounding really nice. The state of independent music is in constant turmoil, but I am hopeful for myself and my contemporaries.
What should the Weirdo Shrine readers do immediately after reading this interview?
Go buy the album! It’s flippin great, dammit! Centripetal Force still has LPs!Island House still has cassettes! Don’t be denied! Oh, and give me a follow on Instagram and whatever remains of bandcamp and the site formerly known as twitter. I’ll keep you in the loop. And if you’re into cool, noisy rock music, go show Totem Pocketsome love as well.
I have been following Ajay Saggar on Instagram as he has been touring the United States as Bahjan Bhoy these past few days. One of the many cool people he met and played with was Jeffrey Alexander, a fellow psychedelic improvisationalist who know how to jam with every fibre in his body. Alexander has been playing and releasing records in various bands and monikers, but the one that reached our offices last was Easy Portals by DWLVS, a band also once known as Direwolves, and Dire Wolves Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band. It’s beautifully meandering weirdo CAN-informed dream jam music, ethereal, surreal, and out of this world. It is worth your time. I was glad to be able to connect with its maker Jeffrey Alexander, who showed me a corner of the psychedelic USA I was not yet familiar with…
Hi Jeffrey! How are you doing? What was the last music related thing you did that gave you an energy boost?
I just completed a short run of live shows with The Heavy Lidders band last week. That was a rush – lots of improvising and impromptu playing with different folks along the way like Tom Carter, Dave Shuford and Ajay Saggar. The best thing about playing music for me is always experimenting with different players and digging the unexpected places where the sounds may go.
What can you tell me about your musical background?
My mother is a classically-trained pianist, and later church organist/choir director, as well as public school music teacher. My father was a church minister and jazz lover. So I grew up with all these great jazz LPs around the house and my mom playing piano constantly … choir rehearsals all the time, music always filled the house. But I never played an instrument, never had any lesson or training at all. I started collecting my own sounds around 7 or 8 years old, first collecting 8-track tapes, then cassettes and LPs as I got older. I started going to live concerts around age10 – just soaking in everything, all the time. I think all of this constant listening, immersed in everything from classical to heavy metal to jazz to punk, was the thing.
When and how did you discover “the psychedelic”?
Well I was around 13 or 14 when I got turned on to drugs. And a few years later I was gifted a 100-hit sheet of acid for my birthday. But I think the true psychedelic experience for me was ditching school, living out of an old VW campervan and traveling back and forth across the country for several years following the Grateful Dead. Sure, there were a lot of drugs, obviously, but it’s more than that. Being absolutely free, experiencing the world on the road, that sort of nomadic experience really altered my perceptions overall. There’s the euphoria of psychedelics and there is the openness of understanding things in a new way. During my five years spent traveling to Dead shows, my appreciation for art and music all changed. My interactions with others. Inspiration for new creative ideas and experiments. I first picked up a guitar, for example, in my mid-20s after those experiences.
I absolutely love Easy Portals! What can you tell me about the creation? What kind of headspace did you need to create it?
Thanks ! DWLVS is mostly free-improvisation. Well, aside from one or two cover songs we might have a go at now and then. But generally, its all free – “spontaneous composition”. Of course, we each have individual approaches to our instruments that we all love and return to. So it’s always going to sound like us, anyway. When I was still living in San Francisco, we would get together about once a month in our underground bunker on Bernal Hill and just play and play for hours. This was often the core four of Arjun (violin), Sheila (drums), Brian (bass) and myself on guitar. We got to a point where we were so comfortable improvising that we might land chord changes simultaneously or change moods together and so forth. But it’s obviously all about deep listening and – for me – getting out of my head. When I get lost in the music, the best results occur. About five years ago, I moved to Philadelphia. And shortly after, Sheila moved to Amsterdam. We completed a European tour at the end of 2019 and I said goodbye to them at the airport in Copenhagen. I hadn’t seen any of them in person since then, until we met for the recording session for Easy Portals last year. We decided to record a cover of a track from The Fall, just to get loose and re-acquaint our sounds, and then we just improvised for two days in the studio. The headspace was just to be free and open and complete listening, as always. I added a few (very subtle) overdubs when I mixed it all later, but not really much to be honest.
What was the best live experience you had recently?
Last week I was fortunate to witness a live set from Stella Kola at Tubby’s up in Kingston NY. Simply beautiful and expertly performed. I spent some time during their set focusing a few minutes on each player in that band – digging their instrument and then moving my focus to the next one. They are all so great.
Where do you live and how does it affect your music?
I live in Philadelphia, in Mt Airy, in the woods. It’s very quiet and mellow here and I think that has especially affected my solo recordings, as the last few albums have been more on the spacey, acoustic side of things. We also live next to a trailhead that leads to many miles of hiking, and I often go out there with headphones listening to rough mixes of material with my band Heavy Lidders. Hiking and taking notes, jotting down lyrics, that sort of thing.
Who are some of your favorite people in the scene, and why?
I used to run a record label back when I lived in Providence and worked with a bunch of great artists, and as the decades have passed, I would say that they are still my favorite people. Such as Taralie Peterson and Ka Baird of Spires That In The Sunset Rise and Lau Nau in Finland – all three have collaborated with DWLVSover the years. Christina Carter, Tara Burke, Marissa Nadler also come to mind. All friends from those Providence days that I have had the joy of making music with and they are all still going too – making great new stuff.
What are your short term future plans?
I just recorded a whole mess of new studio stuff with The Heavy Lidders, so I’ll work on that over the Winter. Mixing and overdubbing. I’m also doing sketches for my next solo record – another Winter project in my home studio. I would love to get DWLVS together again, perhaps in 2024… we’re all so spread out, I’m hoping for a festival invite or something that we could anchor a short tour around. We can easily fly in from our far flung digs.
What should the Weirdo Shrine reader do immediately after reading this interview?
Dig into one of – or all of – my three projects: DLWVS or Jeffrey Alexander + The Heavy Lidders or Jeffrey Alexander (solo).
I just put out a mailing list email that includes links to all of these (and loads of other fun stuff too).
The Spacelords are a household name in the German psychedelic underground. Their instrumental jams are well loved by heavy stoners as well as kraut rock aficionados. The threesome have released quite a few records already which have all been selling like crazy, and their shows are always packed with “heads” ready to trip into space with them. Who are these three psychedelic instrumentalists? Let’s find out! We talked to drummer Marcus Schnitzler.
Hi Spacelords! How is the band doing? How do you feel about the new album Nectar Of The Gods?
Hi Jasper. We’re doing fine, thanks for asking. Two of us are on vacation at the moment, so it’s just me ( Marcus ) answering your questions. We are excited to release Nectar of the Gods, which is probably the best album we’ve been recording until now .
Can you tell us a little bit about your musical background? For instance; what is your earliest memory of making music?
I remember some early musical education with small percussion and chimes at the age of 5 or 6. After that I was playing flute for a while and then accordion for several years, before I started playing the drums at the age of 12.
What music did you listen to most while growing up?
70s rock – then Punkrock and Hardcore Punk. Hazi grew up with Krautrock, Jazzrock and Spacerock , Akee also with 60s and 70s music.
Do you remember when and how you discovered “jamming” and making instrumental jam music?
Well, our music is NOT jam music. Some ideas are coming from jams we’re doing in rehearsals. Although we have free parts in our tracks from time to time, most of our music is composed and arranged. You can easily check this when you compare our live album ‘On Stage’ with the same tracks on our studio albums.
What can you tell me about the way The Spacelords create records?
When one of us comes up with a basic idea, the other two are putting their interpretation to it. Then we develop the main theme step by step until we have a complete piece of music. When the piece is well rehearsed we go into the studio to record it. Later we’re recording overdubs to refine the music. However the overdubs mustn’t have too much impact on the overall sound, because when we perform live we want the character of a title being the same as on our studio album.
What can you tell us about your relationship with Tonzonen Records and Dirk Raupach?
With Dirk and Tonzonen we have found the perfect label for us. Ever since we work with Dirk, his ideas and ours have been the same. Here’s an example: Three years ago I thought by myself that It would be great to release an LP box including our last three studio albums. Believe it or not, but a couple of weeks later Dirk called me asking if we would like to release an LP box including our studio albums. So we did it with even a fourth album included. This is just one example of many. I don’t think it can get any better.
Can you share some of your fondest memories of playing shows and being on the road?
Oh there are many! Here’s just a few:
‘ 2015: Fordongianus/Sardinia next to an old roman thermal. There was no stage, we just played on the soil and hundreds of people surrounding us. It was a magical atmosphere which made us almost feel like prophets speaking to the people , hahaha.
‘2018: Krach am Bach festival. What a great crowd and a big party
‘2019: Crystal mountain festival. In the middle of the alps playing open air in such a wonderful landscape and the audience was totally freaking out.
April ‘2022: The first concert after the pandemic in London with people not wearing masks. What a relief being able to see peoples faces again. It was a small club and the audience and we were really freaking out.
Oktober ‘2022: Tonzonen records festival: What a pleasure to meet so many friends and fans and the atmosphere was also fantastic.
This summer: Burg Herzberg Festival-Höllenschuppen: So much fun and what a crowd! Same at Finkenbach festival. And last but not least an all time favorite and probably the most spaced out location ever: Balver Höhle! Plus the Crew and the audience were incredible.
Alterna Sound Festival in ‘2019, O2 Academy Sheffield ‘2022 and Elite Culture Festival ‘2022 are also among our fondest memories. The list is very very long-impossble to name all. I guess it’s because we love to play live. Whether in small clubs or at open air festivals.
What are you looking forward to most this year (and/or the next)?
Of course we’re looking forward to playing all the shows scheduled until the end of the year. In the winter time we will create new songs –I love this creative process. And then it’s exciting to check what shows we’ll play next year
What should the Weirdo Shrine readers do immediately after reading this interview?
Belgian psychedelic blues rock upstarts Mojo & The Kitchen Brothers have a good thing going on. They have nailed their own style within the retro rock spectrum quite nicely, landed a cool vinyl deal with Dutch underground rock boutique label Laybare Recordings, and they are playing some cool shows as well. It’s a good thing we could get a hold of them in the midst of all these happenings to ask them to introduce themselves and what moves them as a band…
Hi guys, can you please introduce Mojo and the Kitchen Brothers to the Weirdo Shrine audience? We are Mojo and the Kitchen Brothers. Warre Brits on drums and lead vocals, Mathijs Van Meensel on Bass and backing weirdness, Luca Fazioli on guitar and backing vocals, Jules Meyvis on Guitar, synth and backing weirdness, and last but not least Jon on guitar: A 5-headed omnium gatherum of eclectically inspired music freaks from Belgium cooking up a late 60’s early 70’s minded mix of heavy progrock soaked in psychedelia. The smells emanating from our kitchen recall bands like Black Sabbath, Wishbone Ash and Pink Floyd. However, M&TKB is more than a nostalgia trip. Firmly tuned into the spring of our contemporary psych rockers, Mojo & the Kitchen Brothers’ catchy tunes, proggy riffs, deafening drums, roaring basslines and spacy, triple-guitar jams take the listener on a Janus-faced journey through the limbo between past and present.
What is the biggest trigger for you to do what you do with this band? Wanting to play what we are a’wanting to hear.
What are your musical backgrounds? And what was the first time you knew you wanted to play rock music? 2 of of the 5 have somewhat of a higher education in music, the rest are hobbyists. There was no definite first time, only the unceasing temptation of going out there and beyond.
What music do you listen to in the band bus? Any weird tastes among you? Our bassist loves to entertain the bus with his exquisite taste in Italian cinematic Modernism soundtracks like those Nino Rota composed for Federico Fellini for example. Also, there’s nothing like driving home victorious from a gloriously played show while listening to the Wallace and Gromit soundtrack. I suppose we just really enjoy soundtracks.
What would be the ideal line up for the ultimate Mojo and the Kitchen Brothers show, and where would it be held? In no particular order; Gong, Grateful Dead, Black Sabbath, Songhoy Blues, Acid Mothers Temple, Allman Brothers. Either at Pompeii or some cool observatory.
What is the best thing that happened to Mojo so far, and would would you still like to happen in the future? The best thing that happened to Mojo so far is a thing that luckily keeps happening. Namely, the continuous connections that we and our music manage to make with all the lovely people in the scene surrounding us. From industry people like Jan Viggria (The Guru Guru, our faithful producer), Daan and Henri (Daan Agency) and Desirée Hanssen (Lay Bare Recordings), to our families and fans, everything that we’ve achieved so far is thanks to this amazing group of people that came together thanks to this connecting force. And this ties in smoothly like a glove to the next part of your question: all we hope is to keep connecting.
Where do you live and how does it influence your music? We all live in Belgium. This fact doesn’t influence our music too much however. We can’t really be placed among the “typically Belgian” performers, whatever that might mean. Nonetheless, the Belgian music scene appears to be quite receptive to non-typical bands. In our experience, Belgium provides many great chances for those willing to take them, and most importantly a willing audience with a taste for the bizarre.
What is/was the best era of (rock n roll) music in your opinion? The best era of music has and will never come. The best thing about music is that it is not bound by the silly nostalgic dreaming of people, only people are.
Where can we see the band play in the near future? Any other plans/schemes you’d like to share? In the foreseeable future we’ll mostly be playing shows in Belgium, if you’re interested you can always check our socials for more info. In other news, we’re working on our next albums. So keep your eyes peeled and your ears eagerly gaping.
What should the Weirdo Shrine readers do immediately after reading this interview? Tell those near to you that you love ‘em! Give ‘em a hug, buy them a beer or perhaps some flowers, we don’t do those things nearly enough. Oh and also, go buy our merch at one of our upcoming shows or at laybarerecordings.com.
It’s a warm and fuzzy feeling when musicians you know and love release another album you know you are going to love. Zone Six is a band like that, and if you know them you know. Consisting of musical millipede and Sulatron label owner Sula Bassana, steady space rock juggernaut drummer Pablo Carneval, and new recruit Manuel Wohlrab on guitars, fans of psychedelic space rock are in for a treat.
Their sound is familiar and welcoming, but that does not mean Full Mental Jacket does not hold some surprises and psychedelic tricks up its sleeves. The three elaborate space jams go all the way from heavy fuzz gallopers, to chilled out jazzy saxophone jazz jams, and much in between. With everything that is going on you’ll forget that there aren’t even any vocals on the album. The power of the riff will compel you, and these jams will roll over your face endlessly, like sticking your head in a bunch of spinning car wash rollers.
Full Mental Jacket is an album to get lost into, its pulling power lies in the merciless repetition and layeredness. You will partake in many journeys, and each will feel slightly different from the previous. So enjoy the trip, as you will, again, and again…
Diverting a little bit from the usual, we decided it would be interesting to talk to a different member than our revered and beloved Sula Bassana, who we talked to many times over the lifespan of this weirdo blog. Luckily, newfound Zone Six guitarist Manuel Wohlrab was more than happy to assist. He already spent a small lifetime in the German music underground and jumped to the occasion to tell us about his biggest passions.
Hi guys! How is Zone Six doing at the moment? What was the last thing you did that made you guys happy?
Hey there! We’re doing fine and everybody is husteling his way regularly through the actual times in the place he lives: Vienna, Tübingen and/or the middle of Nowhere in North Hessen… : – D At least Dave now is also very busy with his other „projects“, mainly the Sula Bassana band. Bernie is becoming a neuro scientist and I work as a teacher in school which is also pretty engrossing.
But we’re very happy that finally our new album Full Mental Jacket is coming out on October 6th and we can play some more shows this year. And we’re looking forward for what’s coming next year!
Can you introduce the current line up?
So Dave aka Sula Bassana is the very core of the band as he started it in 1997 and „leads“ it until now. He already played nearly every instrument in this band (bass, drums, guitar synths), Bernie (Electric Moon) has been the drummer for many years now. And I slipped into the steady lineup last year as the actual only guitar player after playing two shows with the old lineup before.
We jammed and recorded the basic tracks in early March 2022 nearly directly after Putin invaded the Ukraine. I guess this dark and angry mood formed the new sound of this Zone Six-record. I’m still a little excited and tensed as I’m also coming out of a more Metal and heavy music background which makes the guitar sound different than every other Zone Six-output. Of course we feel very well with the result. And fans are pretty used to its everlasting evolution I guess but still a change of the musical style might always be a big deal – at least I witnessed this as fan of many other evolving bands. But until now we had a good experience. And we’re curious where the journey takes us next time!
What is your musical background? What is your earliest music memory?
So the first favourite song ever I remember is „I Can’t Dance“ from Genesis. It was on a „Best Of 1991“-CD my parents owned and I listened on repeat as a very small child and „sang“ and „performed“ it a lot.
Because I was really into watching wrestling in the age of 10/11, I stumbled upon Metallica as the wrestler Sting used to have their song „Seek And Destroy“ as his entrance theme. So it also was on the „WCW Mayhem – The Music“-sampler I bought in 99 and I guess that was the start of getting into harder guitar-driven music. Maiden, Manowar, Slayer were easy bands to discover. VIVA 2 introduced me to a lot of Thrash and Death Metal bands every Sunday night in the early 2000s. And Grunge of course was also a thing there. I guess it’s a pretty typical way to get into this music for my generation: Music television…
I think these genres also got me into „the groove“. The most important bands were: Anthrax, Exodus, Unleashed, Amon Amarth, Six Feet Under, Sepultura, Pantera, Down, Black Sabbath, Black Label Society, Corrosion Of Confrmity. A beer drinking metal kid living in a small village in the center of Germany – pretty nowhere… I also learned to play guitar and together with some friends I played some covers in a friends rehearsal room. With a Behringer V-AMP2- Hahaha! Oh man…
In 2006 we formed our first band: Route Irish, named after the street from the airport to the secured Green Zone in Baghdad, known as „the most dangerous street in the world“; we wanted to be some kind of poltical and chose this as a symbol of our back then times: the war on terror. We thought it was very deep, haha!
Also in 2006 I’ve been to Wacken and saw Celtic Frost. That was a turning point in my musical view of the world: They were so slow and therefore heavier than every Death and Thrash Metal-band I’ve listened to before and also seen on that festival. Mindblowing! And what a cool performance it was! Still gives me goosebumps when I watch it on Youtube today.
In the times around graduation from high school and the begin of university I finally met a bunch of people who were really into the same kind of music as me and knew how to play instruments. And now (round 2007) the internet, Myspace and Youtube were a thing and discovering music was even easier. When I started studying and moved to the small university city of Marburg, I really got into Stoner Rock, Doom, Psychedelic Rock and Post Rock. Even saw Truckfighters there in a small bar in 2007 – with two guitar players; yeah! Also Route Irish got more influences of Stoner Rock additional to the Groove/Thrash Metal. But it (unofficially) disbanded around 2012 after releasing one really shitty produced album because all my bandmates weren’t as involved as a band that wants to play some shows somewhere else than in a 50km radius rock bar (which can be fine of course…) needed. But it was totally ok. Since 2009 I also took part in some private jam sessions with a lotta new friends I made. So this is where the passion for jamming began.
Visiting many great festivals – Stoned From The Underground, Roadburn, the then upcoming Freak Valley Festival – of course also made an impact into my musical sensation. More „modern sounds“ and more and more „Blackened“ stuff took over the focus of my musical taste and creativity: YOB, Thou, Neurosis, Isis, Cult Of Luna, Pelican, Wolves In The Throne Room and so on… Fortunately my good friend Jussi founded the Post Metal band Amber (he wrote nearly all the songs; a beast of songwriting!) and I became part of the lineup for gigs lateron. With this band we really got around. But unfortunately the band „collided“ a lot with the first vocalist after 2 years and the following up vocalist quit the band out of nowhere – after being not that reliable the months before – with a short note 2 days before we wanted to record the third album. So we decided to restart and renamed the band Yanos– like the second face of Amber. And with this band we still play live and a new album will come out next year!
Then there was the founding of „Tunes From The Void“ but I guess I’ll come to that in the next question. Just want to mention here that music blogs (with illegal downloads…) like Sludge Swamp, Stonerobixxx or – the best – Bunalti were the doorway to endless albums for me back then… In 2013 I also started jamming regularly every week with 1 or 2 friends – later even up to 5 – in another rehearsal room in Marburg. Out of this grew „The Marburg Stoner Collective“, a fun jam project that even played live a lot later on. So this is maybe the direct root to Zone Six as Dave played with us a couple of times in Marburg as well. This project was just for fun and „nomen erat omen“… ; – ) We smoked a lot and played everything from funky Kraut over good old pentatonic Sabbath-Rock and melodic Psych to Doom and Post Rockish stuff. The conclusion of nearly every musical experience I made until then. But I guess this project is also done as most people – including me – don’t live in Marburg anymore and it wasn’t that „serious“ at all. But a great school in musicianship for me and some others…During the last years I mostly got into Prog and Fusion rock, but also back to a lotta Metal.
So yeah sorry, now this answer escalated heavily but I had a very driven musical journey and it took a big part of my life…
Where do you live, and/or which place you lived had the deepest impact on your music?
Actually I live in the beautiful small city of Tübingen 40km South West of Stuttgart. Moved here for becoming a teacher; now in „special needs education“.
But the city that made the biggest impact on my musical life was without doubt Marburg, beginning with the many new like-minded people I finally met after being the freak in a small village for many years. There I saw some great bands in the „KFZ“ like Brant Bjork, Karma To Burn, the „Up In Smoke“ Vol. II and Vol. III road festivals, Red Fang. It nourished my neverending craving for more „abroad-sending“ music. And Frankfurt and Wiesbaden weren’t also that far so I could attend even more shows.
But the main thing about Marburg was that it had a very good infrastructure for D.I.Y. culture. In 2012 I took a step back from studying and started to create a 2 hours radio show every month on „Radio Unerhört Marburg“: TUNES FROM THE VOID. This was probably the biggest step in my musical life. There also met some of my deepest friends originally connected by music: Paul (Plasma, musician and visual artist) and Adrian (nowadays in the Sula Bassana band; but also in business with Melting Eye with his wife Kristina). From there I expanded and started setting up shows in the „Cafe Trauma“, an open but – if you want – very professional venue. The conditions were so perfect: The Trauma had a really great PA and kitchen. It got some money from the city and the state of Hessen so we could pay the bands a good fee but didn’t need to falter when not enough people showed up. The place where I lived back then had enough space and great roomies who shared their dorms to host the bands privately. And with Paul Plasma (https://www.instagram.com/paul_plasma) and another friend (Caro) I had two promising artists who made some really great posters for the shows. Also the Yanos-rehearsal room was just next to the venue so that we could manage backline service pretty easy, even last minute. The whole infrastructure and my friends support made it possible to set up shows as a nearly one man-booking-venture: I booked the bands, coordinated the poster motives with the artists out of the lineups, ordered the poster prints online and brought them to the walls of the city, sometimes pushed flyers into the hands of unsuspecting students round the campus dining hall, cared about some people for the bar and entrance, cooked dinner, entertained the bands backstage and at home and sometimes even brought some nearly braindead musicians into bed… And Adrian set up some really great visuals with his liquid projectors!
It really meant a lot to me. And it was the biggest privilege to book many great bands I saw somewhere else and wanted to show them to the people in Marburg (for example Toner Low or Mother Engine) or listened to online and probably would have never seen them live otherwise (for example Soldat Hans, Weedpecker or Carpet).
Through Tunes From The Void I got into contact with many many bands, festival promoters and music freaks all over the world. And with some of them I’m still friends, like Dave and Bernie (hahaha), Nick DiSalvo or Vinnum Sabbathi – especially the Tamayos. There are so many down to earth people in these heavy psyched out music scenes and I’m glad we met. So thank you, „Fortuna“, Marburg, Radio Unerhört and Café Trauma!
What does jamming mean to you? How did you learn to do it?
So jamming is something magical to me. Where does inspiration come from and how does it – in best case… – spread amongst the musicians taking part in the session? Sometimes it’s pretty mystical! Especially when you try to make a change of the key note and everybody changes the same way and it all fits together! But of course it happens to not work out that well and you need to react quickly, hahaha! So jamming is the hardest but also most abundant kind of making music together!
Though we always wrote songs out of jams placed around home-„written“ riffs in Route Irish, I learned to fully jam in the late 2000s by just letting go into simple Sabbath-like Sludge and Stoner/Doom-riffs with some friends. For the Post Metal-band I got more and more effect pedals and so the jams got more „psychedelic“ and diverse over the years. The dope made them more repetitive and longer…
The biggest school of jamming was The Marburg Stoner Collective. Not only I jammed with many different musicians (the core Collective counted 12 different people who got on stage with me a couple of times; of course not all at once) in different styles, but also we went on stage with improvised music in front of an audience. I basically used the Collective as a cheap and fitting support band for some of the concerts I hosted with Tunes From The Void when there was no other fitting band around… Haha!
But it was often a lot of pressure as I’m very perfectionist and barely satisfied with myself, so often I didn’t have much fun on stage. I really WORKED there! But the recordings afterwards often turned out satisfying and so at least I could enjoy them… I learned to chill out more on stage and „let less be more“ over the years. But as we barely play with Zone Six and this band is more professional than TMSC, I‘m sometimes pretty tensed again when going on stage to be honest. But when the fun starts the critical brain fades… So I’m also glad we use some song basics as a framework and then get more and more into jamming at our concerts until we reach the free flow.
But maybe I need some musicians around Tübingen to let go from time to time!?
In your opinion, who are some contemporary giants when it comes to jamming?
For me this will be totally Motorpsycho! It’s always exciting to attend a concert of them as they play a very different, long setlist every night. And they like to jam in their mostly brilliant (many albums…) songs and attach them together or medley them up. They are outstanding musicians and blow me away when they jam.
I generally think that jammed music is something that mostly works live as you need to see and feel the energy. It’s hard to ban that on a record. But it’s possible and there are some good ones out there! So I barely listen to jam music at home to be honest. But when I do, I prefer some more forward-driven jams. The Cosmic Dead, Kanaan, Acid Rooster, Kombynat Robotron or Speck are some bands that come to my mind this moment who deliver some compelling jams. And of course Earthless might be seen as a jamming giant with less – but only high quality – output than the pure improvising bands…
How are psychedelic music and psychedelic drugs related in your view?
Maybe that’s a question about „hen and egg“? And of course it’s not that easy to define „psychedelic“ though it’s a word overwhelmingly often used to describe music… Especially as it’s a very subjective feeling/experience for each single person.
I’d say the mantric repetition, hit by unforseeable interspersions here and there are the elements in music that make it „psychedelic“ to me. The use of some sound-altering effects mostly help to shape the interspersions into different spectrums of frequencies that – somehow – hit your brain and perception… „differently“.
And psychedelic drugs can make your brain recipient for the driving and abroad-sending aspect of monotony as well as the impact of the interspersions. So I guess that makes the interdependence of psychedelic music and drugs to me.
But the thing is, that it of course also works out without drugs and one – if one’s into the combination – should never forget to attend a show sober from time to time to appreciate your pure mental reception of psychedelic music. I think the danger of using psychedelic drugs with psychedelic music is on one hand that you might slide into some kind of „mental dullness“ – haha, maybe that’s what you want – that doesn’t make a difference which band you’re actually listening to or on the other hand „overthinking“ everything too much so that you can’t enjoy the simple things in life. Both happened to me at least once…
And then nowadays in the late capitalism and age of memes, pretention and shallowness an industry – like in every subculture – has evolved around the feeling behind this mixture of drugs and music and all the aesthetics surrounding it that kind of pretends this whole complex in publicity for the sake of money… Of course influencing is something basic in culture and most of the stuff that was made 10 to 20 years ago was already influenced by the 60s/70s and all the stuff that comes along with it. But I think this whole industrialization and therefore standardization of „drugs&music“ (also i HipHop) makes a lot of new music mediocre and boring to me. Tell me the 1636th time about that witch in the woods with drugs and/or the sexist view of a woman that wants to smoke with you and then… No, please not! But yeah, also this is a subjective thing and people who get into this music and maybe drug-related context will find their own way… But fuck capitalism!
Back to topic: I still like the combination of psychedelic music and drugs… : – D
What are you looking forward to most this year?
First playing with Yanos as support for the great Astrosaur in Marburg on October 7th, then playing some shows with Zone Six in Czech Republic and Slovenia in the end of October and beginning of November. Hopefully I can catch Swans in Bochum in November, too. And after a big load of work in December I look forward to hopefully find some rest and peace in the end of the year… Maybe play some Baldur’s Gate III.
What should the Weirdo Shrine readers do immediately after reading this interview?
Listen to Ice Dragon on bandcamp (favourite albums: „The Burl, The Earth, The Aether“, „A Beacon On The Barrow“, „Dream Dragon“ and „Seeds From A Dying Garden“)!!! Most underrated heavy psyched out band ever!!!!! And then – if you like it – please go on their nerves and force them to make new music and play a European tour by writing many emails to them, haha!
When performed well, space rock is possibly my favorite genre in the world. Just check out the brilliant way Kaliyuga Express from Finland (with UK’s Mike Vest dialling in on guitar as well) sets their amps to the heart of the sun and stomps their reverb pedals to eleven. It is a fully packed fuzz bomb to distant galaxies, and we should be so lucky to be able to put on our astronaut’s headphones and join them on their journey.
The band consists of veteran musicians Otto Juutilainen (Solarhall), Ilkka Vekka (Seremonia, Nolla), Ohto Pallas (Nolla, Viikate), and of course the illustrious Mike Vest (who we interviewed extensively here). Together they get their space jams on, and produce three longform space rock shuttles, two on the A side of the album, and on the B side Endless Black Space extends through the entire length of the record. On this track especially the band succeeds in making the listener feel weightless, floating and rotating endlessly like an astronaut that lost connection with his ship.
Strongpoint on the album are the vocals by Juutilainen, who really keep you on the edge of your seat. His diction is hypnotic, adding to the trance inducing vibes of the band while they put their tractor beams on your head and fling your body into an orbit around the sun.
So yeah, Kaliyuga Express are a stellar space rock band. They do what you might expect from absolute Hawkwind adepts, and add tons of feeling and experience in their countless other bands to the mix. The result will likely blow your mind, and possibly your speakers.
We sent our electro tractor beam to Finland to talk to Ilkka Vekka, who handles bass and electronics for Kaliyuga Express, and whom we might know from his bands Seremonia, and Holla. We asked him about this new project and what we might expect from the future…
Hi Ilkka! How are you doing at the moment? What was the last thing you did that made you happy? Doing fine thanks! Last thing that made me happy was going swimming with my kids.
Can you introduce the current line up of Kaliyuga Express? Mike Vest – guitar, synth Otto Juutilainen – vocals, synth Ohto Pallas – drums Ilkka Vekka – Bass, electronics
What can you tell me about the formation of the band and its aim? I’ve been a fan of Mike’s work for over a decade and we hooked up online. The idea for some kind of collaboration came up immediately after. The band is basically our spacerock band Nolla, but with Mike on guitar instead of Teemu. Main difference between Nolla and Kaliyuga Express is that Nolla is 100% instrumental music. The aim is to make more music together!
What is your musical background? What is your earliest music memory? I’ve been playing in bands since my teens, and I think the same applies to everyone in the band. No formal musical education, just lots & lots of playing many different types of music. My earliest musical memory is probably discovering the few records we had at home, and learning to operate the turntable, listening to 7″s by Paul Anka, Elvis, Beatles and the Hawaiian singer Jay Epae.
Where do you live, and/or which place you lived had the deepest impact on your music? I live in Hämeenlinna, a town of about 70 thousand people in southern Finland. When I was young, this place was grey & boring, so I guess that inspired me to do things myself. It’s still no bustling metropolis though, but at least there’s a nice music club/bar here these days.
What does jamming mean to you? How did you learn to do it? I prefer the word “improvising”, “jam” brings to mind middle-aged dudes playing boring blues jams, heh. Not really knowing how to play an instrument “properly” has always led me to play music that has been more or less improvised; starting with noisecore/hardcore punk, leading up to experimental rock music, psychedelic improv and even free jazz.
In your opinion, who are some contemporary giants when it comes to jamming? This is a tough one. If we’re talking improvised music & being able to play just about anything, with anyone, the two names that come to mind are Keiji Haino and Jussi Lehtisalo of Circle.
How are psychedelic music and psychedelic drugs related in your view? I know that for many people they go hand in hand. I’m too old for that stuff, and I’ve also had the goal of making music that doesn’t have to be enhanced by drugs. Also, with the right drugs you can enjoy listening to a sewing machine for hours.
What are you looking forward to most this year? Getting the debut album out (should happen in the next few weeks) and getting to start working on the next one. We’ve already recorded some stuff for it. Also hopefully getting the second Nolla album released.
What should the Weirdo Shrine readers do immediately after reading this interview? Head to the Riot Season bandcamp & preorder the lp of course! Thanks for the interview! Peace & love, Ilkka.
Don’t you just love a surprise? I do, especially when they are as good as Rrrags‘ new album Mundi. Judging by their previous work I expected music more in line with their signature brand of high octane fuzz rock, which was pretty tight and delivered exactly what you might expect from members of Astrosoniq and Lords Of Altamont, but it kind of lacked the left field weirdo psych antics that tickle my fancy. Until now that is!
For on Mundi this Belgian/Dutch connection has found their hazy, trippy side, and went faaaar exploring it to the fullest. We hear guitars that reference Finnish psych black metallists Oranssi Pazuzu in their otherworldly darkness, desert dune buggy boogies that are allowed to take their good time to fully get their trip on, a newfound appreciation of the school of krautrock, and generally just a band that lets go of any rock restraints and dives headfirst into the rabbit hole, come what may.
Songs like Walkers, Visitors, Slavic Heat, and Galactic Strut fully put on display what it can be like when a band with top notch veteran musicians like Rrrags can sound like when they let themselves go completely apeshit in the best possible way. This is psychedelic freedom executed with a musical professionalism and attitude that is quite rare these days.
Rrrags teaches us that it is never too late to get your freak on, and that when you do and fully explore the endless freedom gained, space and beyond are your limits. Mundi is a rare gem that way, and it comes highly recommended for all you freaks and left field psycho rockers out there…
I had a quick chat with Rrrags guitarist Ron van Herpen, who you might also know from his other dark psych rock band Zoon, or Dutch stoner prog giants Astrosoniq. His new journey with Rrrags called Mundi recently took a psychedelic turn though, and so we were of course very curious to find out more about it…
Hey How is Rrrags doing these days?
We’re doing fine. Very relieved that the album finally is coming out after 18 months of work.
Can you introduce the band to the Weirdo Shrine audience?
We started the band after a jamsession end 2017. Walter from Roadburn heard about this and immediatly offered us a spot on Roadburn 2018. We wrote a couple of songs and from that point we were a band.
Some people at the Doom Charts were under the impression that you may have been disbanded, was there any reason to think so?
No we’re not disbanded. It was pretty quiet and maybe to quiet on our social mediachannels because we were working on new material. Maybe that’s the reason people thought we broke up but we didn’t.
What was the biggest difference creating Mundi in regards to High Protein?
We decided our sound could use a more psychedelic experimental aproach. So we added krautrock elements in our music and changed songstructures to make them more unconventional. Also we wanted more heaviness.
Can you explain the more “psychedelic” approach? Did that just happen or was it somehow a conscious decision?
We experimented with different kind of sounds and it just evolved in the music. Then we thought: “why don’t we recording that way”
Where do you guys live, and how does it affect your music?
Rob Martin lives in Antwerpen, Rob Zimmermann lives in Utrecht and I myself live in Oss, a small city in the south of the netherlands. Did it affect our music? Nah, not consciously as far as I know.
What can you tell me about your label Lay Bare Recordings, how did you end up there, and what makes you stay?
Laybare records is a label that is made by and for musiclovers. There is no commercial side to it. Love for music is their drive. It’s a small label and that means there is no time preasure, deadlines, tour obligations and things like that. Desirée, the label owner saw us on a small show. We talked and we felt an immediate connection. Now we have our second release on the label. Things go fast when you’re having fun!!
What is your ambition with RRRags? And what is something on your band bucket list?
First of all we want to promote Mundi. We are very proud of this album and our goal is to give it the promotion tit deserves. Do festivals next year and hopefully some touring. We’re checking out opportunaties at the moment. Rock in Rio is definitely on our bucket list.
Who are some of your favorite contemporary bands at the moment?
For me personally King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, All Them Witches, Ravencult and Krallice. Maybe not the newest bands but for me they are.
What should the readers of Weirdo Shrine do immediately after reading this?
Check out our new album on Laybare Recordings, keep your love for music, be kind to animals and separate garbage.
US sci-fi space rock weirdos Darsombra are truly limitless. They are not bound to any style, label, or corporate conglomerate and they live the lives of musical nomads free from expectations, living in the moment and doing the only thing they know how aside from breathing: making weird, otherworldly sounds.
This lack of boundaries, both creatively and literally (the travel all over the world and play basically anywhere) finds its way through in their music, and Dumesday Book is as good an example of this as any album of theirs. Created in the pandemic, and therefore bigger in volume (well over an hour) and craziness, this record shows everything Darsombra is capable of, no holds barred.
Meandering strangely from dreamy soundscapes to fevery nightmare visions, the album is a journey not the be undertaken without precautions. Like that time you mixed your Moroccan hash with hot chocolate and involuntarily tripped for over six hours, Dumesday Book will only let you go when it is finished with you, leaving you mind boggled and bug eyed. And satisfied too, like you just watched a long sci-fi action movie and now your head is full of strange images and flashy action scenes.
It’s a mind adventure, and you’re all invited.
I talked to heavy music veteran Brian Daniloski (formerly of Meatjack and Trephine among others) and his partner in sonic crime Ann Everton about their musical journeys in Darsombra. These musical nomads have been at it since as long as I can remember, and they sure have some stories to tell…
Hi Darsombra! How is the band doing these days?
Ann: Really good!
Brian: The band is doing well. We just released a new album that people seem to be digging, and we plan to do a lot of touring to support it.
Can you please introduce yourself, who are you and what are you to each other?
Brian: I am Brian Daniloski, a human on the planet Earth, and I play guitar and do other things in the band Darsombra. I am my bandmate’s bandmate.
Ann: My name is Ann Everton, also human, and I am Brian’s nibling’s auntie. And Brian’s bandmate.
What drives you to be Darsombra, and keep it up for such a long time?
Brian: Compulsion to create. If I didn’t do this, what else would I do? I really believe in the music and vision of Darsombra. I love a lot of music, but this is my favorite band.
Ann: We are compelled by oblique forces of the universe to do the Darsombra thing, bound for eternity to our quixotic vision.
I don’t know if you remember, but I saw you play Iowa City as an exchange student (I live in The Netherlands) once around 2006 in a tiny attic venue all by yourself with a million loop pedals. Completely blew my mind and I have been following you ever since 😉 Do you still play live gigs like that now that you are a duo?
Brian: Sure! We play wherever they’ll have us. Doesn’t matter if it’s some big festival or a house show or a generator show in the desert for the insects and aliens only. We love them all! I remember the show that you’re talking about. That was back when Darsombra was still just a one-person band. The venue was the Hall Mall in IC with the bands Kita and Breakdance also on the bill. I included a twisted version of The Police’s “Demolition Man” in my set. That was a lot of fun but the load was brutal!
Ann: Yes, though there are only one half million loop pedals, and there’s a second band member now with a gong.
Since you have been around for quite some time, can share any nice or weird memories of being on the road and making music?
Brian: One of my favorite memories was while on tour in 2017. We realized that we were going to be driving right through the path of totality during a total solar eclipse, and we had the day off. We decided to perform a pop-up guerrilla live stream generator show on the side of the highway during the eclipse. It was in Wyoming near a town that had a population of only four. There was nothing quite like performing and looking into the sky to see a total eclipse. We were so amped from the performance that afterwards we drove all the way to the Badlands of South Dakota to perform another generator show that same day from the top of a butte during sundown.
Ann: The highs always balance the lows on the road–and there are plenty of each! One day, you’re hearing your band’s name being announced over the town’s loudspeakers in a small village in Spain, and playing bizarre apocalyptic quasi-prog rock to people flamenco dancing and clapping to the beat–and at the next show, your laptop gets stolen from your bag at a venue in a big city, possibly by the disgruntled sound technician. Or you find a giant cockroach crawling up your leg in Indonesia when playing your set in the city ruins to a hundred or so new friends of all ages who only found out about the show earlier that day–though I like bugs so that’s all OK by me! Or the night after you scream away a drunk guy with no sense of boundaries that has followed you into the van, you meet the girl of your dreams and she cares for you like an old friend…the road giveth, and the road taketh away.
What can you tell me about the creation of the new album? It’s a big one!
Brian: We started working on it in mid-March 2020, right as everyone was told to self-quarantine. We had recently released our 40 minute/one song album Transmission, and were getting ready to leave for a month and a half tour of Europe to support it, when we got the news that nobody was going anywhere. We had a lot of time to jam and record and refine. “Dumesday Book” only represents a small portion of what we came up with.
Ann: We had so much fun making “Dumesday Book”! It took years, lots of costumes, lots of hiking and swimming at the beach while listening to demos, lots of dancing, lots of fixes in our recording process, learning how to grow crystals out of metal, camera upgrades, equipment upgrades, a bong hit, and quality time with 17-year cicadas.
What does it look like when you are composing, and recording?
Brian: We have a home studio/rehearsal room, so we are usually just in there jamming. Many of the the songs come from improvised jams that we record, then we’ll go back and listen to the recordings and pull things out of it to turn into something more fleshed out and composed. Sometimes we’ll release improvised stuff, but not very often. Most of it is pretty composed.
Ann: I like to put a shawl over my head and act like a disaffected old-world grandmother, depending on the part we’re recording. Occasionally we get critical input from the cat.
What can you tell me about the lyrical concept of the album?
Brian: The lyrics can come across as sort of nonsensical, but the general theme of the album is dealing with the pandemic and the emotions that we went through, good, bad, and otherwise.
Ann: It’s either all word salad…or a deeply esoteric set of messages hermetically instructing you how to make our favorite recipe for pot brownies. Open to interpretation!
What are you looking forward to most this year?
Brian: We were really looking forward to releasing this album, now that it’s out I’m looking forward to the shows. We’re currently on tour in Canada, so we’re in the middle of the part I was looking forward to.
Ann: Now that “Dumesday Book” has been released, I just look forward to distributing it to people all over the world!
Any other exciting things that you have coming up?
Ann: More music videos to songs from “Dumesday Book”! And we might start offering another free yoga class at the city rec center near us (we already teach two classes weekly there).
Brian: We plan to tour Europe next year if all goes according to plan. Plus, I’m sure there will be another North American tour in there as well.
What should the Weirdo Shrine readers do immediately after reading this interview?
Brian: Go out and buy our new album “Dumesday Book”, obviously!
Alright, let’s get ready to float. Today we are defying the boundaries of gravity by stepping into a floatation tank. We close the lit, and are immersed in absolute all enveloping darkness while we lose all sense of place of time in the still water. Sounds good? Wait til you have listened to this new nugget by Germany’s Acid Rooster…
It’s the musical equivalent to a floatation tank experience. This psychedelic threesome has mastered the power of levitation, and putting Flowers & Dead Souls on your headphones will be a mind expanding experience. Elements of stylish Khruangbin meet instrumental space rock that lives and breathes Hawkwind and modern psych in the vein of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and the likes. Acid Rooster are a versatile bunch, and their new album is a kaleidoscopic ride through many different colourful landscapes.
For a mostly improvised and instrumental album it holds the listener’s attention quite easily. The only thing is that whilst immersing yourself in these tunes you won’t be able to keep yourself from floating away. Inside your mind you’ll go, off to the furthest shores of your own dreams…are you ready?
We talked to drummer Stefan Schmidt, who was just gearing up for a cool tour with Weirdo Shrine alumni Helicon. Acid Rooster is hot as hell at the moment, so these three musicians are meaning to forge the iron while it is still hot and play as much as possible at the coolest places they can. Luckily they still found some time to talk to us…
How is Acid Rooster at the moment?
Thanks for getting in touch ! At the moment we are preparing for our tour in october with our friends from Helicon. They are from Glasgow and one of the finest psych bands around these days. We are also packing the pre-orders of our new album “Flowers and Dead Souls” which just came out. The response has been very positive so far. So the mood is very good, we are enjoying the last days of summer and are looking forward to the upcoming.
Can you introduce the band? What are the highlights so far?
Acid Rooster consists of three members. Sebastian plays guitar, Max the bass, sythesizers and all kinds of other stuff. Steffen plays drums and percussion. There are many highlights worth mentioning. Definitely our first ever UK Tour last year, that was a lot of fun. We got meet Dave Cambridge from our label Cardinal Fuzz and lots of other crazy stuff happened. Another one is certainly playing at Le Guess Who Festival in 2019. They have a very unique concept and you can see and meet artists of all genres from all over the world. You have to check this out if you don’t know it! And of course it’s always special when you got the opportunity to support some of your favorite bands like Kikagaku Moyo or Bitchin Bajas.
Where do you live and how does that influence your music ?
At the moment two of us are living in Leipzig. we also have our rehearsal space there a bit outside of the main city. There we can do whatever we want. It is a beautiful city with a lively underground music scene. Many artists from all over Europe moved here in recent years so there is a lot of exchange. Sebastian is living and working in our hometown Schweinfurt in Bavaria. There is not much going on but even a small and shitty town can sometimes be inspiring. The nature surrounding is very beautiful though.
What was the best thing you did this year ?
The first thing that comes to my mind would be the performance at this year’s Fusion Festival in Lärz. But actually, of course, it’s the release of our current album. It’s a very big relief to finally let it go and watch it grow.
Your new record has a quite natural live atmosphere. Can you talk a bit about the recording process?
When it comes to recording, we’ve all always been big fans of a natural sound and we’re just really into the special character of a tape machine combined with an analog mixer. In the past, we’ve recorded a few releases ourselves, so we really wanted to try that out on this album. All of our recordings are live one-takes, which we always embellish and add some overdubs to afterwards. The live feel has been integral to our band since the beginning, as we develop a lot of our tension arcs from the moment.
Tell me about the importance of improvisation and how you have grown as a band in that respect ?
Improvisation was definitely the spark that started the band. Each of us was tired of repeating the same song structures over and over again. We strove for musical freedom and created our very own sound from this point of view. Further development automatically takes place constantly and because we have played a lot of concerts in the last few years and had extensive recording sessions in our rehearsal room in between, we have become more and more experienced and intuitive in our interaction. Therefore, the new album sounds very coherent and radiates a special atmosphere.
What are your favorite contemporary bands?
Bitchin Bajas, Tengger, Frank Maston, Sven Wunder, Nico Georis, Nolan Potters Nightmare Band, Moonwalks, Black Market Karma, Surprise Chef, just to name a few.
What are some of your favorite places to play live?
In Hamburg the audience was always very passionate. And playing as a German band in London and Glasgow was of course super exciting. But the place with the best sound and atmosphere was definitely the Hope and Ruin in Brighton. Polly from Acid Box Promotions is booking the hottest bands there at the moment. It was also very nice to jump into the sea just before the gig. It’s only a few meters away.
What should the Weirdo Shrine reader do immediately after reading this interview?
Well, maybe you should just go to the nature and enjoy the last summer heat with our new record on your headphones!
Weirdo Shrine 