INDIAN
LOCAL LIVE REVIEW
Live at The Note on December 18th
The Chicago Rock Music Scene is like an onion blossom: The more layers you peel off, the more yummy deep fried goodness you find.
On December 18th, 2003 ChicagoStonerRock.com peeled off all the layers, and presented a free live show at The Note, that deep fried the brains and ear-drums of the festive late-night crowd who turned out to get burned-out by the blistering bass / guitar / drums combo called: INDIAN
Indian rocks. You may not have heard them yet, or even heard OF them, but if you have been lucky enough to catch one of their few live gigs, you know that when Indian plugs in their awesome equipment, Richter scales all over the world get nervous. When you see Indian, you feel Indian You may even feel a warm sensation running down your leg as the vibrations jiggle the piss out of your bladder. You may not care, however, because you will be transfixed by the un-godly sounds being generated by the three unassuming gentlemen on stage.
Ron complains that he "sucks" at bass, but I guess the bass itself must make up for it, because as soon as he touches it, magic things begin to happen. Very loud magic things.
The drummer, Brian, is the intellectual of the group, and beats on shit.
Dylan plays guitar and chews on microphones. The screeches, growling, and spasmodic ejaculations that come out of this twisted man and his tortured instrument will destroy you.
Luckily for us, no one was actually killed by the music, and when the assault was over, we all stood... around... wanting more!
As the organizer of the event, I felt-out the vibe of the crowd after the band left the stage, and here's what I was able to determine:
a) The people where blown away by INDIAN.
b) They wanted them to play longer, possibly forever.
c) Girls like to dance, and Boys like it when they do.
And yes, it's true, people where drinking,& wanting to drink more, so they did, until 4am in the morning! And since the band was done (in more ways than one), I took over the PA system, as DJ Stooby Helmsdeep, and blasted more loud music from my own travelling collection of nihilistic stoner-drug-metal fun. Hooray!!!
Look for INDIAN to have a 7" out soon, and for them to be playing live around Chicago over the next few months. If you like loud, heavy, rock and roll music, do yourself a fucking favor: Go See Indian.
Listen to INDIAN MP3s HERE
INDIAN was just the first free show that ChicagoStonerRock.com has brought to you live at The Note, the second one being SALT of the EARTH, an awesome heavy stoner doom band from Indiana.
-Stu Helm
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Send Material for Review to:
Stu Helm
c/o ChicagoStonerRock.com
1573 N. Milwaukee Ave., PMB 488
Chicago, IL 60622 USA
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" F "
FAT RAT GRUMBLE
"Chapter 1 - Liquid Stones"
Holy fuck. It came from Italy and it fucking rules. Slow, demented, weird, oozing, heavy, muffled, cryptic... did I say weird? It's like you're having a dream about slowly melting amplifiers, turned way up to 12, and filling the room with liquid distortion. As far as I know this CDR is almost enirely unavailable, and the band is now defunct, but it's members are still around, in a band called T.H.U.M.B. (see T.H.U.M.B.)
FIREBIRD
Self titled CD
These guys sound alternately like Cream and/or Led Zep never died. Great high range vocals, great leads & riffs. Good stuff from Rise Above records.
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FIREBALL MINISTRY
"FMEP"
I've tried to sell this thing to Reckless 3 times, & they never want it. The thing is, it's pretty good, so I don't even know why I want to sell it! The band has one of the chicks from L7 in it, so that's cool, & they do great covers of all-time classics by Alice Cooper, Blue Cheer, the Misfits & more, so what's my fuckin' problem? Who knows.
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FLOATING WIDGET
"Praises to the Riff Monolith"
Every city, state, region, or province in the world should have it's very own "King of Stoner Bands," and I think that Floating Widget must have Quebec pretty much covered. Fuzz guitars, thumping bass, pounding drums, and a vocalist who's high gravely voice is kind of like John Garcia meets the singer from The Quill. If power chords, catchy progressions, and riff-fests don't appeal to you, then steer clear of this one. If they do, then steer straight the fuck into it.
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FOR THIS I HAVE FALLEN
LOCAL
"Self-Titled
This is one helluva tight metal act here. Lots of double kick drums and crusty vocals, but more than just a sum of it's parts. Definitley one of the most "pro" sounding local metal bands around, without being too slick, or pussed-out. These guys play live a lot, so go see them if you get a chance!
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FUDGE TUNNEL
"Creep Diets," The Complicated Futility of Ignorance," & "In a Word"
For some reason I bought all three of these old CDs off of e-bay in one fell swoop. Creep Diets is as good as I remember it being on LP back in the day, & is highly recommended for old-school satisfaction. I haven't even listened to the other two yet.
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" G "
GLASSPACK
"Bridgeburner"
It's no secret that Glasspack is one of my favorite bands of all time. (I once paid $100 to see them play!) I've got every CD, LP, EP and Video that these guys have done, EXCEPT the new one: Bridgeburner, which I borrowed from my buddy Kevin for so long that I never bought it for myself, and then Dirty Dave said I should get a free copy from Small Stone, but I never did, so I'll eventually have to go get the damn thing, but I don't need to have it front of me to review it. IT FUCKING RULES. Hit after hit of the usual GP Southern Stoner Garage Rock sound. Dave's vocals are awesome as always, and his guitar wails and screams through the CD and their live set with fire & fury! My only complaint about this CD is the inclusion of "Sympathy for the Devil," which is a song that I could live the rest of my life without ever hearing again. Woo woo...
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GLASSPACK
"Road Warriors" EP, "Powder Keg"
" American Exhaust"
& "American Exhausted"
The Glasspack is one of the greatest bands out there as far as I'm concerned. If you get a chance to see these guys live, GO DO IT. If you're lucky, they'll do a 50 minute version of "Demolition Derby" into "Jim Beam & Good Green." Dirty Dave is truly a modern guitar hero, and one of the best players I've heard.
Powder Keg and American Exhaust share a couple of songs, but you should really get both if you can, because they each have sonhgs that the other doesn't. The EP rules too, and includes a sleeper hit called "Ice Cream, But No Reply." We picked up all three disks, plus the American Exhausted tour video directly from the band at their last live show here in Chicago. Glasspack RULE.S.
Powder Keg also has some of the Powder Keg abest cover art I've ever seen.
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GOATSNAKE
"Trampled Under Hoof"
Goddamn, around here we just about ate, slept, and breathed Goatsnake for a while there, and "Trampled Under Hoof" reminds us why. Made up mostly of songs that appeared previously on other compilations and obscure sources, this EP is a great gathering together of scattered bits, with a couple of awesome new tunes thrown in, to really hammer home the greatness of Goatsnake! Even though the intro to "Hot Rod" is one of the most god-damned annoying things I've ever heard over-and-over again, I'd still say that you gotta own this one, or be totally lame.
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GOATSNAKE
"1 + Dog Days"
It seems like Southern Lord Records is on a re-release tear, including two Goatsnake classics packed on to one hella-good disc that is a must have for anyone who doesn't already have both of them separately. Oh, wait, guess what? It's got a bonus track that fucking rules called "Knuckleduster," so it looks like you'll have to get this one no matter what. Ha Ha!
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GRAND MAGUS
Self Titled CD
Grand Magus is a big favorite in our house & somebody around here plays it at least once a week, even though we've had it & heard it forever. Derided by some as being "like Soundgarden," we like them because, well, we kind of liked Soundgarden once, & we would have liked them a Hell of a lot better if they sounded more like Grand Magus!
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GRAVITRON
LOCAL
"The Dawning of the Finite Moment of Now"
I love Gravitron! Musically, they go in unexpected places, but remain full of hooks that stand out in my i-tunes folder when I'm just listening randomly. Lyrically, you gotta love the sing-a-long-ability of lines like "Three O'Clock in the Morning, Riding rails, Going outbound!" Vocallly... what can I say? Gravitron needs help in the vocals department. They need effects, or one of those pitch correcting machines, or a new singer, or to become an instrumental band, or something! The singer/guitar player, Kevitron, and singer/drummer Davitron are both friends of mine, and really great guys, but I gotta be honest. I love the music, but the singing needs a hand. I'll cop another reviewer's words, and say that this disc is a "Diamond in the rough."
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THE GREAT ESCAPE
"Escape from Reality"
I think that Northern Europe must be the Stoner Rock manufacturing capitol of the World at this point, and The Great Escape is one of the region's finest new products in the genre. It has driving fuzz guitars that will hypnotize you, and catching leads and hooks that will have you barking for more. Liberal use of tremelo and other spacey effects make this one particulalry enjoyable for an old cosmonaut like me.
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" H "
HERBERT
"Steppin' Off to Eden"
Sounds like a mixture of Sloth & Monster Magnet if you ask me. Good stuff.
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HERETIC'S FORK
non-local
Self titled
This is some top notch DOOM here, with heavy atmospheric interludes. As a whole the disk is a dark journey through a foresaken soundscape that brings the listener closer to oblivion with each auditory step. Music to go to sleep by, if you want to dream about the End of the World.
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HERMANO
"Only a Suggestion"
Hermano is one of those super groups that seems to be made up of people from a bunch of other super groups, including John Garcia of Kyuss, Unida, Slo Burn, etc singing the vocals, which makes it sound like a long-lost Kyuss record to me, which makes it an instant classic.
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HIDDEN HAND
"Divine Propaganda"
Wino is like wine: he just gets better over time!
This new Hidden Hand CD is friggin' awesome, Man. Musically & lyrically, it's more sophisticated than anything else I've heard from Wino. Obsessed, St, Vitus, Spirit Caravan, Place of Skulls; all really great bands, but this disk is different. It's way political & conspiratorial, for one thing, and I'm into that shit for sure. The vocals, shared with bass player, Bruce Falkinburg, are clear & strong, which is good, because you'll want to catch what they're saying. The recommended reading list on the jacket is much appreciated too!
This disk is up for CD of The Year 2003 from me.
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HIGH RISE
"Live"
&
"High Rise II"
High Rise are from Japan, & they sound a little bit like, as if The Stooges met Guitar Wolf, and formed a cult to worship guitars, and then went insane and destroyed all the guitars in the world. The live-ness of the "LIVE" CD degrades the quality of the sound a little, but the guitars still blaze, & many pedal-stompings ensue. High Rise might be some of the most guitar-oriented people alive, but I especially dig the lyrics, Man.
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HIGH VOLUME
"The Stoner Rock Collection"
High Times Records & High Times Magazine have released a kick-ass comp that contains some great shit from some of our favorite bands, including High on Fire, The Hidden Hand, & Bottom, just to name a few. Ah, what the fuck, I'll just name them all, and if your smart, you'll know what to do:
Gas Giant, Bad Wizard, Clutch, Nebula, Unida, Orange Goblin, Suplecs, Sea of Green, The Formula, CoC, & Mystick Krewe of Clearlight.
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HUMBUCKER
"Mondo Electro"
I got this CD from the guitar player at a Penance show, because Humbucker is his other band. Penance fucking ruled that night, so I figured this shit would rule too. Only, the guitar player warned me himself that the singer on this disc is not good, and that they have a new singer now, who is much better. Okay, I thought, who bad can this guy be. The truth, he's not horiible, but he c=gets pretty whiney at times, and after an hour of it, you kinda wanna kill him. The music, however, totally rules, and I'm looking forward to hearing what they sound like now, with their all new & improved singer.
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" I "
ICHABOD
"Let The Bad Times Roll"
These guys are from Lowell, Massachusetts, so I automatically like them. Musically, this CD is all over the Metal, Stoner, Prog, Psych, Crust landscape, and hitting the nails on the head in most of these categories, delivering a solid CD of mixed-up styles. It's kind of different that way & definitely worth picking up.
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ISIS
"Signal > 05"
Machine tooled metal, spaced out sonic landscapes, vocals from the depths of Hell, & a slight tinge of The Residents "Mole People" period. Weird.
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