Hand Habits, in partnership with Saddle Creek Records and Bandcamp, will be donating all of the profits raised from the EP to the Amazon Conservation Association, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, that has been protecting the Western Amazon for almost 20 years.
“Being a touring musician 8 months out of the year, you are exposed to a lot of varying degrees of climate change effects in a short period of time. From the gasoline that’s used to fuel touring vehicles, to the massive amount of plastic waste at the end of every show, to the carbon emissions released into the air by all the travel, it’s often not the most environmentally conscious career. I wanted to contribute, even if in a small way, to the efforts at work by the people at the Amazon Conservation Association for being dedicated to preserving such a vast and heartbreakingly crucial part of our ecosystem that has been threatened by wildfires, deforestation, and the effects of climate change.
I believe that writing and performing music can be a healing force, used for good, and not always for capitalizing on emotions and commodifying a personality or lifestyle. People need to be able to relate to each other, in times of joy, and especially in times of sorrow or struggle. The Wildfire Compilation, in partnership with Bandcamp and Saddle Creek, will be donating all of it’s funds raised to the ACA in hopes to lend a helping hand to those on the front lines of fighting climate change in places that may seem inaccessible to those of us unable to travel at length.
I chose 5 artists, Tara Jane O’Neil, Lomelda, John Andrews, Angel Olsen, and Kacey Johansing to interpret and cover my song “wildfire” that I wrote during the California Wildfires in 2017. All of these artists are dear friends and have all taught me a lot about the complexity of emotions in music.”
We only need to hear the opening, warped guitar lines of “Deep Web” to find ourselves lifted out of our chairs and taken to somewhere far more glamorous and unhurried. Given that we first covered the track back in February of 2015, it’s no mean feat that it still retains such a sense of glowing magic and it remains a key component of MagicPotion’s debut album, which followed this year via Stockholm’s ever-engaging PNKSLM label.
Handily, for both us and them, such pleasantries weren’t only savoured for that track, and across this record the band deliver a multitude of utterly delightful guitar-pop songs that hang in the air like the summer’s most fascinating breeze. Led by the delightfully soft croon of a voice, the Stockholm-based quartet make good on their early promise, delivering a collection of songs that simmer, glow, and grab in all the right places. “Golden Power” is exactly that, a spirited message delivered with all the languidness we’ve come to expect, while “Jelly” rivals “DeepWeb” for their most endearing moment, drifting effortlessly and captivatingly through dreamy guitar lines and a sumptuous atmosphere that will slow your day down to a crawl, no matter what situation you find yourself in.
In just a few years, Fremantle four-piece Spacey Jane have gone from playing small local shows to selling out tours across the country, starring on massive festival line ups Now after a series of well-received EPs and singles the indie-rockers are unveiling their debut album Sunlight. It’s the kind of first record you’d hope your fave new band would deliver. Building on the immediate charms of previously released singles – like ‘Good For You’, ‘Good Grief’, and ‘Head Cold’ – it’s an album brimming with glistening hooks and choruses you can imagine belting out in big venues and festival fields.
Fronted by singer/guitarist Caleb Harper’s distinctive voice and introspective lyrics, Sunlight balances breezy-sounding songs with emotional weight and heft. It might not reinvent the wheel, but it’s easily one of the smoothest indie rock rides you’ll enjoy from an Aussie guitar band this year.
“The feelings that overran my head were in the songs before I could stop them and I didn’t see the point in hiding it,” frontman Caleb Harper said, Given the maturity of the song writing on Spacey Jane’s Sunlight, you’d be forgiven for thinking the group are 20 years into their tenure rather than around 20 years into their lives.
Following the Western Australia’s group’s 2019 breakout BIGSOUND appearance, there couldn’t have been more buzz around their debut album. Fast forward some nine months and Sunlight is more than fitting of its hype. Spacey Jane have the potential to be our next big indie export so if you’re not already on them, take this as your warning.
Spacey Jane? More like “really good band,” am I right? An amazing group of people with amazing tunes and an amazing live set (bonus points for a very aesthetically pleasing collection of guitars). It’s always a pleasure to catch Spacey’s chirpy indie-rock bangers live and we’re really looking forward to witnessing the world domination that is surely coming their way.
A few months ago we shot a video for Good Grief and had a total blast doing it. But, sometimes things get delayed, and the tapes got held up for a coupla months at German customs. We’re stoked to finally get this out there, better late than never we reckon!
Spacey Jane have the potential to be Australia’s next big indie export, As most bands do, Caleb, Kieran, Ashton and Peppa came together through blooming friendships and lucky connections. A few jams later, the bond was cemented and the debut gig in Caleb’s dad’s backyard kicked it all off. In the year that followed, Freo’s very own garage pop outfit Spacey Jane went from backyards to bright lights, sharing the stage with the likes of Car Seat Headrest, Nothing But Thieves, Alex Lahey, The Jungle Giants & more, As you’d expect of an album titled Sunlight, there’s a summery sheen to everything. Affable melodies and jangling guitars are lounged in with warm back-up vocals and the occasional sparkling synth part. Even when they up the tempo, leaning into their wiry energy on ‘Good For You’ or the bouncing ‘Weightless’,
The Lemon Twigs seem to be a band whose bodies are in 2017 but their hearts and minds seem happiest in the past. BrianandMichel D’Addario lead the group and are joined by Danny Ayala (keyboard) and Megan Zeankowski (bass). In every feature and article written about The Lemon Twigs there is that consensus: they are certainly a little odd. Modern music, and music in past years, seems too safe, sanitised and predictable in many ways. The introduction of the quirky and quixotic band, a duo in the studio but band when playing live, is a breath of fresh air to the Green Room of music – a band that evoke blissful memories and extract a deep-down sensual sigh from the listener. Comparisons have been made with the band and two legendary names: The Beatles and Beach Boys.
The harmonies and 1960s Pop magic of the Liverpool legends and sun-kissed harmonies of Brian Wilson and co. are staples The Lemon Twigs employ – they update the music of both and provide their distinct spin on events.
Photographs of the brothers D’Addario, in some, evoke cynicism and strange remarks. One sees shots of them and gets a combination of hipster-gone-wrong and Billie-Ray-Cyrus-fed-through-a-blender-of last-minute-shopping-mall-clothes-shopping – the unmistakable whiff of mullet into the agenda. The boys’ talent is astonishing, though: considering they are still in their teens it makes their mature, accomplished and astonishingly ambitious music all the more unlikely and unparalleled. In a music world where similar-aged musicians, for the most part, write of indiscretions, love lives and anxieties: The Lemon Twigs are a much more sophisticated, glass-half-full kind of proposition.
All of these components go into the band’s music: you cannot hear one of their songs and be uninvolved or not register any reaction. The D’Addarios dad released some albums in the late-1970s and his musical talent, throw in the fact he was a multi-instrumentalist and producer extraordinaire, has been passed onto his sons – a genetic gift that beats diabetes or a receding hairline. The debut album from The Lemon Twigs, “Do Hollywood”, was met with critical acclaim with many saying the same thing: not only is there nobody out there like The Lemon Twigs but the sheer wonder, intensity and talent or display is audacious. Their best work may be ahead of them but there are not many debuts that are as transfixing, beguiling and nuanced as their debut release “Do Hollywood”. I have mentioned The Lemon Twigs being a ‘band’ but they are more a duo, to be honest. Most of the instrumental chores were handled by the D’Addarios – Brian plays, among other instruments, drums, guitar horns; strings and keys whilst Michael – such a completely amateur dunce! – ‘only’ plays guitar, bass; keys and drums. Both of the boys took up performance at school – Brian at elementary school; Michael from the age of thirteen . – and that all goes into The Lemon Twigs’ debut. There is never any bragging or ego-trip on display: every song is lovingly-crafted and possessed of soul and attention. If some albums tracks recall other acts – The Kinks on Those Days Is Coming Soon and Pink Floyd on Haroomata – the band’s most-famous duo of songs bring in the McCartney – Beach Boys dichotomy – the former’s Wings incarnation of I Wanna Prove to You and Beach Boys’ bliss on These Words.
It is worth noting how their debut album is a homemade, D.I.Y. work that should inspire many upcoming musicians. You do not need a well-stocked, gaudy studio (and all its tinsel and multi-track recorders) to produce something sumptuous, professional and world-class. There is some background chatter and ad-libs which give the L.P. an authenticity and relatable feel. Even if the songs seem born of superhumans and prodigious musicians; the snippets of chatter and tape-hiss brings it right down to Earth. The Lemon Twigs“Do Hollywood’s” mixed influences – some reviewers brought in names like Ramones and Supertramp – means their music is sumptuous and beautiful one moment; edgy, attitude-laden and spiked when needed. Few other artists can achieve those polemics and make them sound so natural and unforced.
At the time the boys claimed they’re “…just a couple of bozos from Long Island”. The guys have no interest in the city and all its life: where they live, about forty-five minutes outside of New York, is a lot less eventful and exciting than you’d imagine. They are not only brilliant musicians but modest and grounded. The brothers lust after California and its sun, sea and beauty – seemingly much more conducive to their brand of Beach Boys-inspired sounds. One wonders whether the calm and contemplativeness of their N.Y. base have resulted in focus, quiet and calm; allowed them to create the music heard on Do Hollywood. Would California, and all its allure, charm and distractions lead to less inspired and sensational music (something more ordinary and predictable?). The album itself was recorded in California – if its words and origins sit in New York – but the guys had their upbringing and parents’ record collection to thank. Raised on a combination of “the greats”, including The Beatles and Beach Boys, it is small wonder they were bitten by the music bug. As Brian stated:
“It all goes back to that for us. But when we write, we’re not trying to emulate those things – it’s just our idea of what a song should be is based on the principles set in those decades”
Brian’s heroes included Pete Townshend and Procul Harum Brian distills it thus: “It seems that popular music has become simpler over time”
That is a sentiment shared by Michael who claims music of the ‘60s and ‘70s was more complex and challenging: today’s standards are lower but that, as stated, is not always a bad thing. Michael went out to reason modern classics like Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, in addition to its quality and political themes, stand out because the music around it is so simple and, compared with previous decades, unsophisticated. That might raise eyebrows with some but it is hard to argue against that assumption.
The Lemon Twigs, therefore, are keen to bring music forward by bringing in the past. Whether it is reverse-evolution – or tribute to their heroes – you just know the kind of music that was playing around the time Do Hollywood was written.
The demand is out there and extends across three continents. Few bands manage to accrue that kind of adulation and popularity after their debut album. To some, The Lemon Twigs are an oddity of Ziggy Stardust proportions; to others, they are an acquired taste. For those who listen carefully and share common bonds – the love of legendary harmony-makers, Beach Boys and the peerless Pop instancy of The Beatles – you find so much to fall in love with. One blast of These Words’ chorus or I Wanna Prove to You and its man-from-another-era peculiarity and you are hooked and helpless.
What I do know is the brilliant mind;s of Brian and Michel D’Addario seem perfect for journalistic craniology . It may seem condescending to say such a thing but the Americans are in a league of their own: a luxuriant, heart-warming sound that will see The Lemon Twigs…
I hope that you all are safe right now, and have found some moments of joy in amongst all the upheaval and worry and sorrow of the last three months. My lockdown has been up and down, with moments of despair, moments of gratitude, and lots of tiny gifts in the form of love and humanity. I cannot wait until we are all through it and can be together in one room again!
I’m also really sorry I didn’t write at the beginning of the pandemic. I felt a twinge of deep deep shame when a friend told me she’d been even been contacted by a former drug dealer with a ‘supporting our customers during this difficult time’ message. In my defence, I’d like to blame my baby! I hope you know that this community has provided a lot of solace for me, and I composed about 20 newsletters in my head while tending to my small human.
But here we are, somewhere in the middle, and I have some news. My fourth album, will be released on Bella Union on October 9th, and the first single comes out today. It’s called “Dandelions/Liminal”, and it was written in New York the summer after the 2016 election, after I’d dabbled with some Buddhist philosophy on a music residency in China. It’s a happy song about co-existing with sorrow in the summer, and that’s pretty much still where I am right now.
The rest of the album was mostly written in Hong Kong in late 2017, during a precious, peaceful time that began with the Mid-Autumn moon. That story will gradually be revealed as the songs and videos and texts come out, but we all know already that a lot has changed in Hong Kong since that time. I am immensely proud to have written this album for that city, and to know a piece of my heart is there. Now I get to share a piece of my heart with you.
I should stop before I paraphrase any more 90’s lyrics, but here is the single and album pre-order. Be in touch and let me know your news.
Emmy the Great new song “Dandelions/Liminal” released on Bella Union 2020-07-07 Emma-Lee Moss
Texas-born / Nashville-based singer-songwriter Lou Turner has crafted some kind of low-key masterpiece with “Songs For John Venn”, released a couple months back by the Spinster Sounds label. The album’s sonic picture is made up of Astral Weeks-y flute flutters, Hurley-worthy armchair boogies, garage-y rambles, and beyond. But however eclectic it gets, the album is held together firmly by Turner’s singular lyrics and perfectly breezy vocals. She can make even the most tongue-twisted of lines sound as natural as a conversation with friends, blending wry humor with piercing observations, stony wonderings with crystal clear vision. These tunes follow their own weird inner logic but remain altogether accessible for the casual listener—a neat trick, indeed. Conjuring up circles within circles and wheels within wheels, Songs For John Venn feels both mystical and earthy, both feet on the ground with its head in the clouds.
Lou Turner (aka Lauren Turner) grew up in Texas, playing music in school and at church. She remembers hearing her mother harmonizing along with everything—from commercials, to songs on the radio, to religious hymns. Her listening quickly expanded in high school and college from singer-songwriters like Dylan and Van Zandt to folk and jazz traditions from around the world. She says, “The spirituality I felt in music as a child is still there, but is far more mysterious and boundless, and simultaneously more grounded and rooted to contexts and histories. Spiritual jazz (specifically Alice Coltrane’s Journey in Satchidananda) has become hugely important to me for this reason.”
Eventually landing in Nashville, Turner fell in with the underground indie/experimental music scene, in part through Chris Davis’ (The Cherry Blossoms) FMRL presenting series, and in 2018, she started deejaying at Nashville’s freeform radio station with her program Shout, Sister Shout!, highlighting music by under-represented women throughout time and space. As a solo artist and with her band Styrofoam Winos, Turner has opened for the likes of Simon Joyner (who offered a blurb for the record), Kath Bloom, Xylouris White, Josephine Foster, and many others.
Songs for John Venn was written during 2017-19, a period in which Turner began her day job in a library and became further inspired by libraries as creative, communal spaces “where we each have a little space carved out for ourselves and all of our particular interpretations can coexist and breathe together.” She researched John Venn, credited with creating the diagram in classification, and discovered that he too had grown up in a religious household and served as a priest before deciding to become a mathematician. Feeling a kinship, the symbol became an anchor for her work during this time. She says, “the theme exists on this record in form as well as content, and the backing artists make up the form of my Venn diagram.”
Official Video for Lou Turner’s “Widening Venn Diagram” on “Songs for John Venn”
Captain Beefheart’s 1970 album Lick My Decals Off, Baby, is a classic album. If you can imagine (for a moment) that ‘Trout Mask Replica’ never happened and the next in The Captain’s discography was ‘Lick My Decals Off, Baby,’ the chasm between lovers and haters would be just as strong. For those who could palate ’Trout Mask Replica,’ the follow up album seems somewhat “commercial” but is still very much just as lyrically abstract and equally instrumentally adventurous. The production quality of the album is unquestionably superior to its predecessor. First, gone are the “field recordings” from the Beefheart house in Woodland Hills, CA. The entirety of this follow-up album was seemingly recorded in a proper studio…and was given enough of a budget to spend precious studio time to make sure it sounded much more than a hugger-mugger arrangement of demos/outtakes.
Perhaps it’s the simple and sublimely unique charm of it all, but the “fault” that I have discovered with ‘Trout Mask Replica’ is the fact that it feels more like a scrapbook of those nine months holed up in a claustrophobic house rather than a proper and cohesive autobiography of those times. Please don’t misinterpret those words to mean it is unworthy. After all, I am an ardent supporter and one of the faithful that applaud ‘Trout Mask Replica,’ that represents one of the most landmark recordings in Pop/Rock of the 20th century. As a matter of fact, I listened to it alongside The Mothers Of Invention ‘Uncle Meat’ in a single sitting and there is quite a bit of similarity regarding the structure of each album.
Obviously, the common denominator is FrankZappa himself who informed the construction and flow of ‘Trout Mask Replica.’ He was able to more-or-less realize what HE THOUGHT The Captain was trying to achieve rather than allowing Beefheart to express what he truly wanted (perhaps that was impossible)…but that will never be known. However, the snippets of those “field recordings” and other shenanigans that were grooved into wax seem to be more of Zappa’s perverse nature than it does the overarching concept Beefheart had in mind.
That said, ‘Lick My Decals Off, Baby’ has all of the raucous, cantankerous, obstreperous and demanding music of ‘Trout Mask Replica,’ yet has a beauty, sheen and digestive quality that I don’t think Zappa ever wanted; he endeavored to make a difficult album even less surmountable by the masses…pushing the boundaries further than The Captain even wanted. ‘Lick…’ is just as free, unencumbered and freewheeling, but unlike its predecessor, possesses more structure, stability and accessibility. However, reflecting on Beefheart’s recorded output, ‘Lick My Decals Off, Baby,’ is an album that (like ‘Strictly Personal’) is absolutely essential; equally as ground-breaking.
The immediate takeaway is that the songs are more succinct and the music (thanks to the production) is much more intense than the inconsistent sonics of ‘Trout Mask Replica.’ The ‘Trout Mask…’ graduates; John French (aka: Drumbo), Mark Boston (aka: Rockette Morton) and Bill Harkleroad (aka: Zoot Horn Rollo) were all on absolute FIRE for this recording. Despite all of the insanity that occurred during the recording of ‘Trout Mask Replica,’ that prepared them to achieve the “cohesiveness” on ‘Lick…’ Those three (and no disrespect to Artie Tripp whose contribution is equally significant) were nothing short of telepathic at this point.
The solo guitar piece, ‘One Rose That I Mean’ is nothing short of virtuosity. ‘Peon” is an absolute sublime bass/guitar duet that illustrates a performance between players that have spent an immense amount of time playing (fantastic and unconventional material) together. The soprano sax excursion in ’Japan Is A Dishpan’ is just as “Coltrane” as John Coltrane himself during those years where he was “searching” for something he was not able to harness within the normal bookends of traditional harmony. Well, The Captain seemed to distill that searching in the matter of just shy of three minutes.
I didn’t ever think that I would have so much to say with regard to specific tracks, but the vocals, are “in your face.” This is Beefheart at his absolute most pointed, direct, intense, focused and determined. ‘The Smithsonian Institute Blues (or the Big Dig)’ should have been the theme song to the ill-fated civil engineering disaster labeled ‘The Big Dig’ in Boston, MA as a way of expanding roadways in and out of the city to ameliorate perennial vehicle congestion. ‘The Buggy Boogie Woogie’ is absolutely an answer to our current zeitgeist.
Much like the “now assumed” controlled chaos of ‘Trout Mask Replica,’ ‘Lick My Decals Off, Baby’ is the Pop/Rock album that is chaos perfected. The music contained therein confirms the so-called “randomness” of the former and cements it by reproducing it to amazing detail. It ossifies that “controlled chaos;” it is thoughtful, repeatable and unable to repeat the sentiment that ultimately created the art.
‘LickMy Decals Off, Baby’…’ requires and demands as much a close analysis as its predecessor (not to mention it sounds a whole lot better) and is bereft of much (if not most) of the “filler” that consumes ‘Trout Mask Replica.’ If newcomers to the Beefheart camp need to warm their toes into his most fruitful/experimental period before diving-in head first, listen to ‘Strictly Personal’ and ‘Lick My Decals Off, Baby’ before attempting the glorious miasma that is ‘Trout Mask Replica.’
PS – I know this sentiment might rival a lot of opinions but I appreciate having the ability to compose and share my thoughts in an open forum…all reactions welcome!
Psych rock is having a moment, and with it brings tons of new bands trying to sound like Tame Impala and Ty Segall. Mother Tongues, meanwhile, draws on a vast range of influences, from krautrock keyboards to theatrical guitar solos amid clean instrumentation, for a sound wholly their own. Debut EP Everything You Wanted is due July 31st on Buzz Records.
Finally! After many revolutions around the sun, Mother Tongues have announced their debut EP , “Everything You Wanted” (out 07/31) and shared psych opus, “Let You Down” that explores themes of mysticism, free will, and romance.
Mother Tongues harks back to a time when music and mysticism were entwined, carrying on the canon of psychedelic music that came before them, taking things somewhere new and unexplored. A link to the past, a glimpse into the future. The group has been a prominent part of the Toronto music scene for the last 5 years. Members Lukas Cheung, Charise Aragoza, KonradKarczewski, Nick Kervin , Hannah Bussiere Kim were brought together through a mutual love of everything from 60s french pop, to break beats, kraut rock, shoegaze and film scores. With an equal embrace of pop sensibilities and the experimental, the group has come into ah an inventive new sound reflective of their eclectic palette. They have toured the U.S and Canada, sharing the stage with notable artists such as Dilly Dally, Fucked Up, U.S Girls, The Mattson Two, The Sadies, Doldrums, Moonking, and Yves Jarvis. They have played festivals and showcases that include Night Owl Fest, River & Sky, Transmit Fest, NXNE, CMW, Bloor West Fest, SWIFF, Exclaim’s Class Of series, Long Winter, Crystal Lake, and Hollowfest.
The group’s performances are an explosive experience that pulls the audience in with metronomic kraut rhythms, they weave in and out of different genres and spaces seamlessly. Serene moments of lush shoegaze drones contrasted with punishing breakdowns. Comparisons have been made to Stereolab, Broadcast, CAN, and The Flaming Lips. “Everything You Wanted” is the debut release from Toronto based Mother Tongues. On the sound of Mother Tongues, Cheung the founding member of the group states, “We’re always striving to create an atmosphere, It should feel like a space, real, or imagined. Music has always had that power over me, to take me somewhere glamorous and grand or stark and uncomfortable; it transports you. It can grant you access to all these impossible spaces, it’s like you can strum two chords and all of a sudden you’re in a new room, a different era.”
At the same time the songs off “Everything You Wanted” are a reflection of a very real community. A blossoming psychedelic music scene in Toronto. The set of songs have grown and gone through countless revisions through 5 years of live shows. They’ve been informed by audiences, and other bands. “It’s really full circle that these songs I wrote in an apartment as a form of escapism have cultivated such a rich community, it’s made us friends around the world and given us the opportunity to tour and travel.”
The group covers a lot of ground, from the single “Let You Down” that starts as a fast paced pop song soaked in nostalgia then weaves into counterpoint guitar parts reminiscent of Phillip Glass and ends in a cacophony of swirling, phasing guitars . The title track where walls of shoe-gazey guitars lay the bedwork under musings of “too much excitement for me”. Grooves and a thumping baseline that brings to mind influences like Stereolab, sit seamlessly next to Sabbath worthy fuzz lines in the song “Fortunes”. Metronomic Kraut rhythms disintegrate into doom metal breakdowns in the 7 minute epic “Eternity”. “We’re music lovers and that’s who we made this record for, it’s our compass and the catalyst for everyone and everything near and dear to us. More than anything I hope the record expresses a sense of wonder to the listener. I think we downplay that aspect, you’re rippin’ it through a fuzz pedal, vibrating frequencies in the air and affecting people’s emotions, changing their brain chemistry. That’s magic.”
Mother Tongues’ debut EP, Everything You Wanted, arrives on July 31st 2020.
For the past decade, Little Kid have quietly been one of Toronto’s most prolific bands, sharing spiritual perspectives of everyday experiences with cathartic, slow-burning folk
The town and the city, the loneliness offered by both, so different but so alike; an ache somewhere deep inside that can’t be replenished, that can’t be patched up forever. So we keep moving, both inside or out. Searching for a place that feels like home, where can hear the trains, and no the way the rain falls. Looking for answers, out where the boundaries bleed, among the lights at the edge of town that give way to the darkness surrounding. Answers we’re not even sure we’d recognise if we found them.
Little Kid was formed in the 2009. since then, they have self-recorded and self-released five albums.
The Band: Kenny Boothby – vocals, guitars, piano, organ, keyboards Paul Vroom – electric bass, upright bass, omnichord, background vocals Brodie Germain – drums, percussion, guitars, harmonica, keyboards, background vocals, lead vocals on “way past dark” Megan Lunn – vocals on most songs Aaron Powell – vocals on “a road in my mind”
Zakk Sabbath is the Black Sabbath tribute band featuring guitarist/vocalist Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne), bassist Blasko (Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Zombie) and drummer Joey Castillo (Danzig, Queens of the Stone Age), who have been constantly gigging since 2014 with their take on the Birmingham four’s early songs.
Legendarily recorded in a single day in October 1969, Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut was released on a Friday the 13th in 1970, and the world was never the same.
“We recorded a live EP and were wondering what we could do next as a cover band, so the 50th album anniversary came just at the right time”, explains Blasko regarding Zakk Sabbath’s decision to go studio. “Compared to ‘Paranoid’, which is almost like a best-of record, the bulk of the material on ‘Black Sabbath’ is deep-cut, really experimental stuff that was never thoroughly explored, so that was a challenge, not to forget that we wanted to meet our own high standards.”
Describing the DIY process as “very productive,” the three respectfully added their own flair to make for a slightly different flavor, also revisiting various live renditions and “extending a solo here or slowing things down because that’s what they tended to do on stage.”
Titled “Vertigo”, Zakk Sabbath’s ode to the masters won’t be available digitally, “to make the release feel authentic to the time when vinyl ruled the earth. It was such a cool time for those of us that grew up during that time. The fan experience with the physical product is irreplaceable with digital and streaming. We wanted to capture that authenticity.”
The songs were faithfully recorded in the spirit of the original – live in the studio and with a film crew documenting the process – culminating in a new celebration of the greatest heavy metal band of all time and the record that started it all.
Produced by Zakk Wylde.
Unlimited edition of ‘Vertigo’ packaged in a deluxe gatefold LP sleeve and pressed on purple vinyl,
