Steeped in dark, desert grooves, there are times during ‘Coral Lady’ where the young Belfast trio could have easily sprung out of the Rancho De La Luna heartland. Wasting no time in capitalising on the underground success of March’s ‘Rat Bag/Texty Texty’ single, this lengthy, loose-limbed assault, combines the explosive, out-of-nowhere art-punk of the Mars Volta with the soaring highs of Songs For The Deaf. Yummy.
You Know Who is a band who plays hard and wears their hearts of their sleeves.
Featuring Mike Pyrgmie (guitar), Dylan Brown (bass) and Rob Peterson on drums ‘Marshall Stacks’ gallops and shoots electric arcs of hardcore punk.
As well as showing their punk rock credentials, the Palm Desert trio also has an outstanding desert rock pedigree, having recently played alongside Big Scenic Nowhere at the Rock for Isaiah Benefit Concert.
As well as handling vocal duties for Groan, Mazzereth is also part of a little known power-trio called Ratz Ass.
Accompanied by Jim Camp on bass and Will Bazeley on guitar, Mazz handles vocals and drumming duties on the project, who are influenced by Blue Cheer, Grand Funk Railroad and Sabbath.
According to Mazz he: “sings and plays the drums badly” however, their recently mastered seven tracks [which were initially recorded on a tascam four-track cassette] is a fun-filled approach to 60’s psych that is not meant to be taken seriously.
Ratz Ass is to Groan, what the Eagles of Death Metal are to Queens of the Stone Age.
Filed under: Exclusives
In a Chybucca Sounds exclusive, Whores of Tijuana’s drummer, Trent Ramseyer has been kind enough to give us a preview of the band’s second album, currently titled ‘II’, which has been produced by legendary bass player, Scott Reeder.
Here is a run down of the tracks that we had heard:
‘Conspiracy of Achilles’, the opening track off the album (which can now be streamed on the bands MySpace page), is a slow burner.
Beginning with a Colour Haze influenced heavy-bass line and deep spaced out mellow guitars, the band mix their sound around with tempo changes and a loud to quiet contrast, while bringing their rough and abrasive style to the table. Clocking in at around the six and a half minute mark, ‘Conspiracy of Achilles’ is a strong start to the album.
‘Toecut’, the second track to be added onto the bands MySpace player in recent days, is a hard-hitting, fast-paced slab of fuzzy rock and roll, with slide guitars and chord changes aplenty.
‘Pig Country’ on the other hand, is a much more laid back affair. The light, but heavy sounding drums, compliment the groovy and spacey sound of McGrath and Williams’ bass well (think of the more laid back moments of Colour Haze and Kyuss and your in the right area). Brooding vocals complete the three minute formula and exposes their softer side.
‘The Shank’ continues to demonstrate the trio’s progression from their debut album by taking their sound to another level. Following on from where ‘Pig Country’ left off, the trio continue to experiment with the dynamics of the heavy psych-rock genre by adding more layers to the bands blistering signature sound.
The track explodes into life in the last three minutes, with loud, crunchy fuzzy riffs and bluesy solos, is superb and shows a band that are looking to breath new life into this genre.
‘Onsiya Kel’. Just when you think you have found this albums je ne sais quoi moment, we are treated to the story of ‘Onsiya Kel’. Without giving too much away about this track, think of David Gilmour’s signature playing, aided by loud Orange County growls and the best elements of heavy-psych and your halfway there.
‘Robot Headresses’ sees the trio re-visit the rough and ‘dirty’ hard rock sound of their debut album and is a solid rock track.
‘Blue Ball Blues’, the last track on this release is short and sweet at two minutes and seven seconds. This is the Whores of Tijuana playing their version of ZZ Top’s Texas-style boogie rock and is a great way to end the album.
Keeping the rough, abrasive fuzzy tones and the attitude of their first album, the Whores of Tijuana have taken on the best elements of heavy-psych and 70’s rock, and have expanded their sound even further.
The result is an album that is more likely to be heard by a wider rock audience, than those whose taste do not step outside of the stoner rock box.
For a band that has been together since the early nineties (all be it with one of two line up changes), the Whores of Tijuana are not well known outside stoner rock circles and hopefully with this release the Whores will find the success that years of playing small clubs up and down America deserves.
http://www.myspace.com/whoresoftj
