|
Event
HOWLIN RAIN with GARCIA PEOPLES and SUPERMISSIVE
21+ | 9 PM | The Firefly
Since their debut in 2006, Oakland, Californias Howlin Rain has seen as many highs, lows, and wild adventures as any great American rock band. Led by singer/guitarist/lead howler Ethan Miller (co-founder of blistering psych rockers Comets On Fire), theyve performed to worldwide audiences, enlisted a megastar producer and label, moved on from said megastar producer and label, and ultimately embraced a DIY spirit.
With their new LP The Alligator Bride, Millers merry band of pranksters deliver their fifth full-length set of swampy, ragged, and unapologetic rock n roll. The guiding principle for The Alligator Bride was to create Neal Cassady Rock, says Miller. Which is to say, high energy, good-times adventure music, driving the hippie bus, shirtless and stoned, up for four days straight, and extremely fuzzy around the edges. Its their first release on Silver Current Records, the artist-run label owned by Miller, who carefully oversees all curation, recording, graphic design, and distribution.
The Alligator Bride is gleefully indebted to classic rock formations such as the Grateful Deads Europe 72, Mountain Bus 1974 burner Sundance, and Frees masterpiece of atmospheric, minimalist blues, 1969s Fire and Water. But theres a wider context to the Rain. At any given moment, Miller pivots between several projects, each a different facet of his sun-scorched California vision. From the pastoral psych jams of his celebrated Sub Pop band Heron Oblivion, to the scuzz punk freakouts of Feral Ohms, to the sprawling, analog ambience of The Odyssey Cult, to his various books of poetry, Miller cuts a renaissance figure in madmans garb, howling at the moon and cranking out handmade masterpieces.
Which brings us back to Howlin Rains latest. Tracked over three days by Eric King Riff Bauer at the Mansion in San Francisco, The Alligator Bride is the sound of a full band playing live to tape, cutting the material in first and second takes. (It also marks the second installment in the bands Mansion trilogy. First was 2016s Mansion Songs, a less raucous affair, with the gentle touch of Espers/Heron Oblivions Meg Baird on vocals, among other contributors.) Miller attributes the magic to the vibe of the Mansion studio, the same space that gave birth to modern garage-psych classics by Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, and Mikal Cronin. Because it has the word mansion in it, people are like, Oh, I didnt realize it wasnt an actual mansion. says Miller. Its a basement in Chinatown. Its a mansion of the mind. Its a creative castle. Its not a literal, San Francisco mansion.
From the first notes of opening track Rainbow Trout, Millers guitar choogles out an inescapable riff, a sly reference to the sky spirits of Norman Greenbaum and ZZ Top. The riff that riff! unabashedly grounds The Alligator Bride in the classics, but reaches for the stars. Daniel Cervantes bottleneck slide guitar eases into place along with Millers tuneful-yet-ravaged lead vocals, followed by Jeff McElroys bass and Justin Smiths charging drums. Title track Alligator Bride soon crashes the gates like Crazy Horse in all their ragged glory, telling a carnivalesque tale of American splendor, a parade of creatures across time and space. And final track Coming Down slow-burns its way through eight minutes of indestructible twin guitars, blazing to a heroic, acid-damaged finish.
Were in a vortex of futuristic events, ruminates Miller. At this present moment, we can still remember the way the train whistle sounded in the middle of the night, rolling through the dark on the outskirts of town. An old America before we walked on the moon, before TV, cell phones, and the internet. The song (and perhaps the entire album) Alligator Bride is about standing in the eye of that tornado of time between the past and the present in America. Its a fitting vision for the band: torn between eras, an epic perspective on whats come before and what lies ahead, woven into a cosmic tapestry of riffs, rhymes, and resonant frequencies.
silvercurrent.bandcamp.com
howlinrain.com
Garcia Peoples Top down, tunes up and cruising out of the Jersey suburbs into yr heart are Garcia Peoples and their debut LP Cosmic Cash on Beyond Beyond is Beyond. Originally a quartet (Tom Malach and Danny Arakaki on guitars, Cesar Arakaki on drums, Derek Spaldo on bass) but recently beefed up into a five-piece with PG Six (Tower Recordings, Wet Tuna) on keys, Garcia Peoples are just what our little psychedelic corner of the world needs right nowfun.
Cosmic Cash effortlessly heaves joy. The low-key vocal hooks and melodies snag you quickly and dont let go, not unlike mid-period NRBQ but loaded up on youthful longing and hallucinogens rather than RC Cola and Moon Pies.
And then there are the jams, oh the jams! More reined in than recent live action, Cosmic Cash delivers sparkling twin leads, barreling keys and bubbling rhythms recalling the Deads tightest, most simple studio work, the Allmans most radio-friendly moments and the Bands early 70s output.
Supermissive is the creative effort of four individuals fusing elements of psychedelic rock, desert rock, and heavy metal into progressive and conceptual music about space, time, justice, injustice, life, and death
|
|
 |
LocationThe Firefly Lounge (View)
1015 N State St
Bellingham, WA 98225
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 21 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: Yes! |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
|
Contact
|
