Food for your brain, (and a feast for your ears).

hamburger hat

Do you have a volume knob on your computificator? Yeah? Then might I recommend that you turn it up?

Now then- Way back when, before the signature sound from Seattle began blasting across airwaves worldwide, and kids were just about to go bananas for the big, strange rock and roll sounds that came from musty basements in the Pacific Northwest, when I was in my twenty-somethings, I came across a band called Kyuss.

Admittedly, I came upon their mighty sound a bit late, as I first stumbled across them in the adolescence of their career, and though them, Nebula, Ché, Fatso Jetson, Mondo Generator and so on. ‘Stoner Rock’ was the loose blanket term that was laid over the genre, but the bands and their sounds were far more varied than any simple generalization could cover.

However, when I first heard Kyuss, without being aware of anything about them, I knew without pause that they came from a desert. The vibe of the environment literally seeped out of every note;

Eventually, my primary connection to what was transpiring with Kyuss, and their many compatriots was through Man’s Ruin Records and their Desert Sessions;
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It seemed as if the individuals who comprised each band filled roles in at least three others, the members of which filled roles in three others and so on. It was a swirling mess of sweet, dirgy sludge that my ears couldn’t get enough of.

So it was with great interest when sometime about a year ago I first learned of a documentary called ‘Lo Sound Desert’ detailing the musical seeds that were planted in southern California’s Coachella Valley, and the eventual fruits they yielded;

On Wednesday I made the fortunate connection with a fella named Jörg Steineck, who was the mind behind the film, and he graciously allowed me to have a viewing of it.

I cannot get enough of documentaries detailing the regions from which my favorite music has hailed. ‘You Weren’t There’ about Chicago, ‘It’s Gonna Blow’ about San Diego, ‘The Color Of Noise’ about Minneapolis, but more specifically Amphetamine Reptile Records, to name a few. I could spend the rest of my days watching these, and ‘Lo Sound Desert’, fits into this fascination brilliantly.

Of the aforementioned documentaries, Jörg’s effort stands tall and proud, and I can’t thank him enough for allowing me to enjoy it.

If this sounds like something you could sink your crooked teeth into, then by all means to here to snag a download, a DVD, a poster, or all of it for yourself, then schedule a screening for you and all of your hessian friends;
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As you crawl from beneath the pile of empties, you’ll thank yourself in the morning.

Coincidentally, the person who first clued me in on the film was a person named Bill from a band who has a song featured in it called Who Rides The Tiger. This band of course is the one that you’re probably aware I released a record for last year;
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And while we’re on the topic of Bill and his band, this next bit of information is one I am quite excited about, and very proud to announce.

In roughly six and a half weeks’ time, Who Rides The Tiger has thankfully agreed to travel to Las Vegas and perform for the eighth annual Underbike Industry Mixer;
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Please note that the venue has changed from, and is a stone’s throw from last year’s, and will now be held at the world famous Bunkhouse Saloon, which, (on the chance that The Bunkhouse runs out of beer), is an even easier stone’s throw to Atomic Liquors.

Also, not only does rumor have it that there will be drink specials provided by Pabst, but I hear there will be more than one bartender on staff this year as well.

Which is good.

Because when you have a single bartender, and a drive to drink like Underbike attendees generally possess, you’ve got nothing on your hands but the ingredients for a riot.

As always, the party is free, and no invite is needed. The only things we ask is that you not be a dick, bring your thirst, and an ass to shake.

So mark your calendars and make a plan to attend the almost best party of the year.

Of course, and though I’ve mentioned it previously, the party’s co-sponsors are also new this year with the inclusion of HiFi Components, and VYNL Race Bikes, both of whom I have some news regarding, which I will present for your consideration now.

Firstly, VYNL Race Bikes has recently been given their fifteen minutes in Bicycling Magazine, which for those who are unaware is like the bike world’s ‘Cosmo’;
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That is a real damn fine looking pony, and the words in the article I think sum it up well.

There’s also been talk of one of their whips being on display the night of the party, so there’s an opportunity to see one in all of its glory.

Secondly, the company called HiFi Components is the other imprint bringing this bash to the great unwashed masses again this year, and from HiFi Josh I got a heads up on some goods they have cooking as well;

Stevil.

As far as stuff we have going on, nothing as exciting as VYNL’s sweet article. Just the same, our booth at Interbike is a biggie for us. Underbike will be infiltrating Interbike, and we’ll have a decked-out VYNL among our show bikes. Also, we’re excited that you’ll be spinning records in there, as will (I hope!) Sophie and/or Sean for some guest DJ slots. We’ll likely have hard copy event flyers in the booth, or even just one on display, which I think would be worthwhile.

We plan to have a Squid, a Ritte, and Ti Cycles in there, and 1-2 others — nice lineup!

Other stuff: trying to rally sales of the “coffee then bikes then beer” kit to support the HiFi CX squad, and we just launched a pre-sale;
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Pics courtesy Amarett Jans.

The kit is pretty rad.

See you soon.

-Josh

So yeah… That’s a thing I neglected to mention, so I’m glad Josh did. Sophie, Sean (from VYNL) and I will all have DJ slots at the HiFi booth. I’m not sure what those two will be spinning, but I will be bringing along with me a selection of my very most prized 7″ records, and will be playing a side or two off of bands that span the alphabet. American Psycho Band, Baboon, Cherubs, Dirtbombs, Electric Frankenstein, The Fluid, Glucifer, The Helicopters, Infested, The Jesus Lizard, Knapsack, Lucy’s Fur Coat, Mudhoney, No Knife, OFF!, Pitchfork, Quicksand, Rocket From The Crypt (natch), Shellac (natch), Tanner, Unsane, Vitapup, Whores, (I have no X bands), Your Mom, and Zeke.

You know… Or some combination thereof. Whatever it takes to fill my time slot, and I won’t leave until the task is handled.

I don’t know about times, which days, or whatever, but it will happen one way or another and will most likely either aggravate or soothe anyone within ear shot.

If you are going to be lurking around the show, make a note to swing by to get both an eye and an ear full.

Individuals wearing giant hamburger hats will get additional points.
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Leave a Reply

17 Responses to “Food for your brain, (and a feast for your ears).”

  1. doubt August 5, 2016 at 6:42 am #

    I humbly submit this

    https://satanssatyrs.bandcamp.com/album/wild-beyond-belief

  2. Dan August 5, 2016 at 7:40 am #

    If you fancy some clown imagery, per the poster shown, I invite you to check out Gags the clown, who is apparently a thing (a scary, scary thing) in Green Bay, Wisconsin: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/08/04/creepy-clown-black-balloons-wandering-wisconsin/88063684/

    I ain’t gonna sleep for a week. More time to ride, I guess. Or fuck around on the Internet, which seems more likely.

    Also, thanks for the shipment of stuff. I got scolded at work for the “I Don’t Fuck Around, But When I Do…” shirt. And the “I Guess I Was Punk Once” is going on the back of my minivan, which is where I suspect about 90% of them end up. (The other 10% probably end up on the back of Subaru Foresters.)

    As for the rest of this post, the VYNL looks pretty sick. Dope color scheme. I wish ano parts were more of a thing again — specifically, bikes that had two or three different colors. Got a bud with an original Yo Eddy! that he’s been rocking since the early 90’s — got like four different colors on there, and every time I look at it, I get a little wistful for the days of full-rigid bikes (which makes me full rigid, but I digress…). Can we get a referendum on anodizing?

  3. Largo August 5, 2016 at 7:46 am #

    So much rad-ness, so little time……..

  4. Joe Mama August 5, 2016 at 8:18 am #

    The last fuzzed out song on the trailer…anyone know it? I know I had that record but can’t remember.

    • Stevil August 5, 2016 at 9:19 am #

      Life Leone, ‘Is This Love’. Bam.

  5. Hurl Everblown August 5, 2016 at 8:26 am #

    This is the best post you’ve ever made, or, conversely, that I’ve ever read. You just can’t fuck with that lo-desert sound. Like the record store clerk told me when I picked up Brant Bjork’s ‘Jalamanta’ cd many years ago: “It’s good headphone music.” So true. Also, now accepting offers from any media outlets looking to send me to interbike… #respecttherock

  6. Yafro August 5, 2016 at 8:40 am #

    I’ve got a couple of XBXRX 7″ you could borrow. Though they might ask you to leave if you played them.

    • Stevil August 5, 2016 at 10:56 pm #

      That might do the trick.

  7. johnl August 5, 2016 at 4:02 pm #

    That sound, Sabbath had it with Tony Iommi, slack tuning, maybe due to a lack of finger tips on his part, but it worked.

  8. Lipers August 5, 2016 at 7:15 pm #

    Or you could play X http://youtu.be/XU5COe4Dm8M

    • Stevil August 5, 2016 at 10:55 pm #

      I don’t like ’em.

  9. meli August 6, 2016 at 5:55 pm #

    locust and the casbah. sounds like things the most beautiful redhead boy from san diego young me dated talked about bwahahaaa. ‘bound to be next seattle’ — yeah nothing ever happens in sunny dee loll nice place to visit, 😀