Godflesh and Neurosis are heralded as the shamen of post-metal, but heirs to the throne Isis helped evolve the avant garde end of heavy music into a transcendent and even mystical reimagining of the sound. Isis’ Oceanic is almost unanimously regarded as a classic record.
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It’s been a minute since we’ve published an installment in our series What You Readin’ For, in which musicians discuss and recommend good reads to fans of their music and this website. The latest pick comes courtesy of Clinton Jacob, who handles vocals and guitars for self-described trashy grunge band mr.phylzzz from Chicago. The duo of Jacob and drummer Danny Sein are putting out their newest album, Fear the Lord, September 4 on Amphetamine Reptile, one of the most important noise-rock labels ever. (Fun fact: mr.phylzzz and Buzz Osborne‘s Melvins are the only two active bands left on Amphetamine Reptile’s roster.)
Get a taste of Fear the Lord in the video at the bottom of this post, but before you scroll down, read Jacob’s pitch for John Fante’s tragicomedy Dreams From Bunker Hill, available for purchase on HarperCollins’ website:
I read a lot, but if there’s one book this year that has held my attention more than doom-scrolling my life away, it’s Dreams from Bunker Hill by John Fante.
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A little over three years ago, unparalleled album art illustrator Frank Kozik – best known for being embraced by the stoner-rock community – or, as The New York Times gently worded it, “graphic artist best known for his posters for alternative rock bands.” While The Bad Penny was not in a position at the time to celebrate his and grieve his passing, now feels as good time as any to do so.
To be clear, Kozik’s widow, Sharon Kozik, is in control of his social media accounts. While she hasn’t posted copiously, she did publish the following in January:
“Frank would often tell me stories about what it was like growing up in Spain under Franco’s fascist dictatorship. He moved to America when he was 15 to escape it. Much of his artwork deals with the themes of rebelling against fascism, mocking it. He fully embraced our right of freedom of expression and open political discourse. Regardless of your political beliefs we must keep America free from government tyranny and police snatching people off the street, from their homes, schools.”
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It’s unclear whether the Jesus Lizard are an active band to any degree at the moment – an ambiguous status level the noise-rock tricksters seem to enjoy as much as they do occasionally reuniting for an unexpected swing of shows or even a new record. But with vocalist David Yow having ditched the U.S. for Poland, the chances seem slimmer than usual for another reunion of any sort.
But that’s not to say the other band members – we’re looking at you, guitarist Duane Denison – are inclined to rest on their laurels. At the end of a 20-minute video conversation with Melvins main man Buzz Osborne that Consequence posted two days ago, Denison mentioned – almost as an aside – that he’s formed a new band in Nashville, where he currently resides. It’s called D2 Archipelago and features two other players: guitarist Matt Swanson and drummer Brian Kotzur, formerly of Lambchop (also based in Nashville) and Silver Jews, respectively.
Continue reading“I have very precious feelings about dogs. I don’t want them to get hurt.” So says the gruff frontman of Melvins. Read my interview with Buzz Osborne for the 40th installment of New Noise‘s Pet Sounds series.
Read a rare interview with Kevin Rumantis of Melvins and Cows lore in which he and partner Gina Skwoz discuss their Lords and Lady Kevin project with Trevor Dunn of Tomahawk (and Melvins too!). New Noise has the piece.
While Buzz Osborne usually does most of the talking for Melvins, I caught up with their drummer, Dave Crover—whose 40 years with the band is nothing to sneeze at—to discuss this third solo outing. Read my FLOOD feature to see what he has to say about each of the 11 songs on his newly released effort, which features contributions from Tom Waits, Ty Segall, Pinback’s Rob Crow and more.
Mainstream metal fans claim Ozzy Osbourne as their patron said. But fans of heavy music who dig into the underground have an arguably even more crazy “Osborne” all their own. Check out this never-before-published interview with King Buzzo on New Noise.
With a handful of this year’s best metal releases dropping Tuesday, the timing feels apt for the Bad Penny to round up its favorite 2010 LPs – at least so far. Continue reading
