Ripple Music Prez Details All ‘Beneath the Desert Floor’ Heavy-Psych LPs, Hints at New Fireball Ministry Album
Earlier this week, we brought you a long-overdue but hugely rewarding interview with Fireball Ministry co-founder and guitar virtuoso Emily Burton. The conversation revolved mostly around the desert-rock band’s big win in regaining the rights to their record The Second Great Awakening, which they then recently reissued in conjunction with their current label, Ripple Music (based in San Ramon, California).
Today, we focus on the series in which the reissue is part of: Beneath the Desert Floor, a program that Ripple Music President/CEO Todd Severin launched in January 2024. Best of all, said discussion revolves around an interview with – can you believe it? – Severin himself. Join us as one of most important figures in the world of heavy psych comments on each installment of the treasured series.
As Burton mentioned in our conversation, Beneath the Desert Rock originated because, while the late ’90s and early 2000s saw the release of a slew of exceptional desert-rock and heavy-psych releases, and a devoted underground audience lapped them up, neither the vinyl resurgence nor social media had kicked in yet.
“I wanted to do a vinyl-only series to reissue some of these great releases on the vinyl format, and re-push it all with social media and a current PR push to try and help these albums reach a new audience of young (or old) heavy rock fans,” Severin told The Bad Penny on Saturday. “Like most things Ripple, there were a bunch of older albums that had never been released on vinyl … and I tend to sign and work with bands whose albums I want in my own collection, and spin them regularly. Maybe not the best barometer to sign a band – I suppose metrics like sales history, tours and fanbase are more valuable.
“Of course, I do look at those,” he continued. “But in the end, it all comes down to whether I dig the music or not. I’ve had opportunities to work with bands who would sell well, but the music doesn’t resonate with me, so, I pass. Again, maybe not the best barometer, but then Ripple isn’t a job for me, it’s a passion. I have a day job. So now I have the most badass collection in town.”
It’d take some cajones to refute Severin’s claim, especially given how passionate he is about the bands he loves and his music taste, but the proof lies in Ripple’s clientele: Boise badasses Ealdor Bealu, Wino, Black Sabbitch, Borracho, Temptress, Hermano (featuring Kyuss‘ John Garcia), Suplecs, Dunes and loads more.
“Fireball Ministry was definitely one of the main drivers of me starting this series,” Severin said of Beneath the Desert Floor. “I had an old label sampler CD from [record label] Liquor and Poker Music, and ‘Sundown’ was on it, and that song just rocks. I ripped it, and for many years it was on my ‘workout’ playlist on my old iPod and iPhone.”
“I’d always loved reissues and working with older music,” he further commented. “Ripple was founded [in order] to release masters from the legendary ’70s acid blues/proto-metal band JPT Scare Band after the drummer [Jeff Littrell] contacted me from a review I wrote for The Ripple Effect (our review blog). I’m a huge fan of the proto-metal period, so we’ve worked with JPT, Leaf Hound, Bang!, Poobah, Iron Claw and Buffalo.”
With that background laid out, we gave the floor to Severin to run down the releases that comprise his series Beneath the Desert Floor:
Chapter 1: Awesome Machine’s It’s Ugly or Nothing: “I got in contact with them via a Swedish label that was releasing some odds and sods, and asked if I wanted to re-release this album. It storms. So I made it the first chapter to launch the series.”
Chapter 2: Glitter Wizard’s Hunting Gatherers: “This is a big, synth-driven, retro-rock local band I saw play back in the day. I was spinning the album in my office and realized they’d self-released it 20 years earlier, so I decided to get it back out with a bonus song [‘Fire’].”
Chapter 3: The Witch’s White Witch Canyon: “Another local band that never blew out of the scene, but Tim Narducci and Cornbread are Ripple family members who are also in The Watchers and this album is a die-hard collectors classic. Way early doom.”
Chapter 4: Fireball Ministry’s Their Rock Is Not Our Rock: “This album inspired the whole series. I needed ‘Sundown’ on vinyl. I had the amazing side benefit of meeting Emily and the rest of the band, and working with them on other projects. To me, they are upper-echelon desert rock, and I pinch myself that I’m working with them. Even better – not sure if the new interest in their music inspired it or not – the band got back together to play the Ripple Night at Planet Desert Rock Weekend in Las Vegas, then they headlined the Ripple 15-year anniversary party. I consider them pure Ripple family.”
Chapter 5: Rollerball’s Lost in Space: “Rollerball are to Australia what Fireball are to the USA. A killer, early stoner/desert band that came out in that time period before social media and the vinyl resurgence. I contacted [Rollerball guitarist] Dave Talon, and he jumped at the idea. Now they have also re-formed and are more active.”
Chapter 6: Sabians’ Shiver: “A fascinating album. Justin Marler was one of the original guitarists on the debut Sleep album [Volume One], then quit the band and became an orthodox monk. He returned to music and teamed up with former Sleep drummer/OM founder Al Cisneros and formed Sabians. More of a grunge vibe than stoner, but amazing. Local boys from the South SF Bay.”
Chapter 7: Dear Deceased’s Dear Deceased. “Another local band from South Bay. I was exploring the fertile South Bay scene that raged in the late ’90s and gave us bands like Sleep and High on Fire. Dear Deceased were well-loved in the day but never really stepped out of the local scene.”
Chapter 8: Datura’s Visions of the Celestial: “A much-loved New Zealand stoner-rock band, suggested to my by JJ of The Obelisk. Just an incredible album. And now I’ve been told that they are back and recording a new album, so hopefully Ripple will become their home also.”
Chapter 9: Rollerball’s Submarine: “Their most popular album, now on vinyl. I think we’ll have more Rollerball to come.”
Chapter 10: Fireball Ministry’s The Second Great Awakening: “Another firestorm of riffs. I think we have more Fireball to come, maybe even a new album.”
Chapter 11: 7Zuma7’s Deep Inside. “Not released yet, but coming very soon. A much-loved Netherlands band from the first wave of stoner rock. May have more coming from them too.”
Chapter 12: Place of Skulls (TBA album). “A collection with the legendary Victor Griffin that’s coming later this year.”
Severin added that Operator Generator and Abdullah are among the additional bands that will soon join the Beneath the Desert Floor series, and that it will also encompass another Awesome Machine entry.
Stay tuned to Ripple Music’s website and Bandcamp page for further updates. And keep your eyes peeled for the second part of our interview with Fireball Ministry’s Emily Burton, in which she discusses her favorite movies.
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