Monday, 12 May 2025

Psych Stoner Rock Collective BASK Release Cosmic Cover of The Brian Jonestown Massacre Classic Track Anemone


After a smoking hot tour with their labelmates and fellow North Carolinians Weedeater, Bask are now ready to turn over a different kind of leaf. The Asheville natives will release their fourth album later this year. But first, the band are looking back at one of their influences.

"We've always been inspired by acts like The Brian Jonestown Massacre", says guitarist and vocalist Zeb Wright. "They write songs that feel outside of time and place".

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the documentary that thrust The Brian Jonestown Massacre into the spotlight, today, Bask are releasing a cover of "Anemone". The road to get to this point has been much smoother than it was for the shaggy San Franciscan collective, but the heavy dose of Americana that the band bring to this cult classic shows how far they've come.

Even though they're separated across coastlines and nearly three decades, Bask and The Brian Jonestown Massacre were in a similar headspace heading into their fourth albums. While partially named after the Rolling Stones' guitarist, BJM shifted from spaced-out shoegaze to flower-powered '60s psychedelia on 1996's Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request. Bask's upcoming full-length also ventures into headier pastures, though their cover of that album's sleeper hit "Anemone" is plucked straight from the band's Appalachian roots.

"You should be picking me up / Instead you're dragging me down", Wright repeats in a dazed drawl while twanging on his banjo.

Bask haven't endured nearly the same amount of lineup turnover as their kindred spirits in The Brian Jonestown Massacre. On "Anemone", Drummer Scott Middleton and bassist Jesse Van Note hold down a bottomless groove that's as sludgy and free-flowing as a riverbed. But this cover is the first release since Jed Willis joined as the band's official fifth member. As his pedal steel ripples against Ray Worth's colorfully swirling leads, the band take cosmic country into a whole new dimension.

"'Anemone' is hypnotic in its repetition and perfectly expresses the combination of emotional distress and unbothered cool that to us feels so integral to BJM's sound and songwriting", Bask says. "It's also really fun to play and riff on".

More praise for Bask:

"I've heard the components of Bask's music before: Baroness, U.S. Christmas, Bruce Springsteen, Crazy Horse, Across Tundras and so forth. But I've never heard them together as one unit. If someone were to ask me if it were possible to be heavy without being brutal, I'd refer them to Bask" - Invisible Oranges.

"Such a knack for expressive music is Bask's bread and butter" - Angry Metal Guy

"This is the kind of band you want to see grow. Join the party now" - Heavy Blog is Heavy

"The entire thing rocks your socks off with gripping guitar riffing" - Metal Bite

"... a remarkable demonstration of melodic genius created by a shrewd horde of big-footed giants...behold and bear witness to legends among villagers!" - Outlaws of the Sun

"...undeniably both infection and innovative" - Metal Storm

Lineup:

Jesse Van Note – Bass
Scott Middleton – Drums
Ray Worth – Guitar
Zeb Wright – Guitar/Vocals
Jed Willis - Pedal Steel

Guest Musician:

Kenny Harrington - Tambourine

Recording Studio:

Echo Mountain Spring

Production:

Produced, Engineered and Mixed by Kenny Harrington and Zeb Wright.

Mastered by Joe Hutchinson at Garage Masters in Nashville, TN

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Thanks to Season Of Mist for all of the info.
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