Can you give a brief history of the band of how it came together and where it is today?
We formed in 2021 as the South African Covid lockdown ensued, and the band had the opportunity to play one sold-out first show to a frothing home crowd before the plug was pulled on live music in SA. We utilised the following months to meticulously craft their sound and live set with a new melodic, yet high energy take on the psych rock revivalist roots that are inherent to our DIY Cape Town rock scene.
The band dropped a four-track EP, Adieu Or Die, as well as a double-single release with a music video which premiered on It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine in 2022. A few national tours and larger shows followed, including festival slots at That 70s fest, Pangea and Helter Skelter and releases were featured on local radio stations, SA Alternative Top 20 chart and playlists such as Spotify’s SA Rock.
Moskitos reopened our account in 2024 with several singles that lean into the more gritty garage rock sound and energy we cultivated at our live shows, still aiming to maintain the methodical musical and lyrical approach to piece together a sonic journey that draws the listener in from the inception.
What can people expect from your music?
The new album, Mirage, is a heady collision of sound. It’s an album for those who dare to question what they think they know. Our music shifts gears from composed emotional existentialism to unapologetic garage-rock with a good mix of wandering off into weird little pockets of soundbites before we bring everything back together.”
The band has always found a home in blending psychedelic guitar manipulations and infectious hooks, drawing inspiration from iconic acts like The Kinks and Nuggets-era bands. Still, in equal measure, we embrace the diverse musical tastes of the three members that range from Black Sabbath to the Beach Boys and more recent psych rock and art rock acts such as Thee Oh Sees, The Black Angels, and The Smile.
What is the best release that folks should check out from your band?
We are poised to drop our debut full LP, Mirage, on 1 November 2024. The album shows Moskitos at our most visceral - it’s a relentless journey where anything can happen next. The first singles including Woman and Ten Lies are out on all good streaming platforms.
Today I'm interviewing John Gist who is perhaps the person responsible for keeping the Desert/Stoner Rock scene alive and kicking in Las Vegas through his excellent work with Vegas Rock Revolution and his annual Planet Desert Rock Weekend Festival.
I caught up with John recently to discuss Planet Desert Rock Festival 2025 Edition, the formations of Vegas Rock Revolution and what people can expect to see and hear within the next edition of this KICK-ASS Festival. ]
Here's what John has to say....
Hi John. Thanks for doing the interview. How are things with you today?
Hey Steve thanks so much everything you do for the scene and its cool to chat!
We're here to discuss the upcoming Planet Desert Rock Weekend which will be hitting it's 5th Edition in Jan 30th 2025 to Feb 1st 2025. What can people expect to see from that weekend if they didn't know anything about the festival?
PDRW is setup different than the other 3 or so regularly done festivals for the underground scene in the USA. I have always felt a careful curation is paramount to what I am trying to do with PDRW. This year we have bands from 8 different countries slated to come perform. We did this back at PDRW v2 when we brought in bands like Saturna, Mr. Bison, Omega Sun, Kaiser, 1968, Green Desert Water, Captain Caravan and Monsternaut.
The way the weekend is set up is that the shows aren't until the evenings and so that folks can enjoy the days in Vegas doing all the cool things you can do in Vegas like the parks, gaming, museums ( Mob Museum, Punk Rock Museum, Atomic Museum, Pinball, etc), sightseeing, shopping, shows or whatever else Sin City has to offer. Each night of PDRW takes place in one venue and no overlapping sets.
The sound of the festival is of the utmost importance. Nights 1 & 2 take place in one of the absolute best rock venues in the country and is owned by Danny Koker who is the star of the TV show Counting Cars. They have the most amazing sound system and stage along with lighting system. The following night we shift over to the Fremont Street area at The Usual Place. We have done the last two PDRW there for an evening and its been killer.
The sound is done by Patrick Bonner who is a veteran of the scene that evening. He has travelled with bands like Orange Goblin, Nebula and others on tour doing sound. The feedback we got from PDRW goers and the bands have been amazing for both venues.
Recently we added a 4th night and that will be at Sinwave which is in The Arts District. It's a new venue with a cool setup and the Arts District is a neat area with lots of independent restaurants, shops and unique spots for libations. The vibe has been described as a fun party atmosphere where everyone gets to hang while catching great bands in a comfortable setting.
Some great bands you have performing at this edition of the festival - Fireball Ministry, Mos Generator, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Valley Of The Sun and Fire Down Below to name just a few. Are these bands all chosen by yourself to perform or did you have other folks asking you to put these bands on the same bill?
I hand select every single band. There is a certain amount of visualization that goes into who I invite each year. There is no doubt I get a ton of people asking/suggesting/telling me a band should be in the lineup but I stay true to what I am trying to achieve.
Sometimes I tell people this isn't McDonalds where you just order something. LOL.
There have been some cases where bands have reached out to play and after careful consideration, we made it happen like for instance Beastmaker, Solace and Valley of the Sun! Speaking of Valley of the Sun this will be a return to PDRW as well as Mr. Bison, Omega Sun and Green Desert Water.
Where is the festival taking place and where can people by tickets?
Tickets are available on Eventbrite and we have cool poster options. Fuzz Evil's Joey Ruddell is doing some of the posters again along with shirt designs. Alex Sonolith of the Vegas band Sonolith also helps so much on artwork and posters as well. He has since early on been a great supporter of Vegas Rock Revolution Shows since the beginning.
By the way Sonolith who has performed at several PDRWs has a new album soon to be released.
Will you be announcing any more bands to the bill or is the final confirmed lineup?
We have 1 more band to announce for the first three nights and four more to add to PDRW final night we named "Last Call" to go with Bonehawk who we are super stoked to have come out from Michigan. Their music is at a very high level of heavy rock.
We promise the final announcements will be a diverse selection of bands from the underground heavy rock scene and we will have a one time performance happening on the final night as well that is sure to be killer!
Where did the idea start of putting together an annual festival in Las Vegas came about?
A number of factors came into play on the idea of doing these weekenders Truth be told I worked in marketing for years and years for big companies but around 2016 my life changed dramatically from being a married successful highly stressed upper middle manager of programs and teams to basically pressing the reset button.
I gravitated to live rock music more and more during this time. Starting noticing how few people were going to many of the shows and started thinking I wonder if I could set up shows. Eventually was given the chance by 3 separate ladies at 3 separate venues to try my hand at it. I learned a lot during that time including how peculiar people can be in the scene who controls the levers shall I say.
The 1st show I ever booking was with House of Broken Promises. Arthur Seay also of Unida fame and I developed a relationship and eventually he linked me up to chat with.... John Garcia from Kyuss! After a cool ass talk with John we hatched a show concept that was called "A Night with John Garcia".
I had come in Nick Oliveri, Dave Angstrom (Hermano), Arthur Seay (Unida) and Chris Hale (Slo Burn) to perform with John. It was absolutely an amazing event and it was held at the Hard Rock Casino. Also that night Luna Sol featuring Dave Angstrom, Nick Oliveri and Death in Pretty Wrapping featuring Arthur Seay + Mike Cancinco of Unida/House of Broken Promises all played.
Now hey I have to admit I loved Psycho Vegas and it was inspiring. The direction I wanted to go though was a smaller more intimate type weekender that didn't have all the screaming stuff involved. Much prefer to blend closer to heavy psych and hard rock bands instead. Vegas is a cool place to have a weekender as it's one of the most popular spots in America to visit. Our weather last year was 60 for a day or two this year for PDRW IV.
Has it got any easier or harder arranging these annual festivals?
It's a labor of love. Since getting back at a couple years ago, I have really tried to stay consistent in my processes. Some of the more tenuous things that have to be planned out is budgeting and revenue projections. I lost a massive amount of money on PDRW v2 and learned some very hard lessons. I basically quit even thinking about it and then a couple years later Covid happened.
Slowly I have been building it and fans have increased each year. Most of the success of PDRW goes to the people who support these fun weekends. The scene really seems to be galvanizing as many are making multiple fests a yearly thing. The Ripplefest Texas connection is very organic as not only do many of the same now come to Vegas for PDRW but also their fest general Ryan Garney is a guy I have much love for and have helped him over the years with some marketing. I go every year with my two high school buds and we hang with so many cool folks from around the world each year.
What are the main aims and objectives for Vegas Rock Revolution?
To help the scene's best bands get elevated as well as expose more rockers who have no idea how much good heavy rock is out there that is kept underground by the big 3 record labels and the money machine that controls music industry. I work with selective bands on their marketing, promotions, social media along with a few other things and I only work with bands that i believe have upside in growth. Don't want to get paid what little I charge for my services if I don't think it will get anywhere.
Do you have a set of rules that you abide by when booking gigs or promoting certain bands?
No rules really other than be professional and come to play your heart out. Generally I don't want to repeat a band for PDRW for 2 years except for headliner like bands. Trying to make it a unique PDRW each year and not the same bands all the time.
What have been your biggest challenges and rewarding experiences so far with Vegas Rock Revolution and Planet Desert Rock Weekend?
Biggest challenges is revenue vs expense. If folks don't come out and support then PDRW is doomed potentially. I have to carefully work with the bands on pay so that neither of us over extend which leads me to a challenge I will bring up that may be eye opening. When the bands that have elevated some get booking agents or management companies they jack the rate so high that we (the four fests) can't really book them much.
For instance some bands maybe get $1500 - $2000 or so a show at most on tour but if you check with the agents the number for fest goes up to $15,000 or whatever. Both Ryan Garney and I have been stung hard by these tough lessons. The scene is just not big enough to gamble like that.... meaning not enough folks go to our underground fests to balance out the costs of these "bigger" bands.
It's a delicate balance of value and gambling. I could name names but I think it would not be wise right now. Some of the bands get bigger and they want to separate themselves from the "stoner rock" scene thus they barely play any festivals in the USA as they have outpriced themselves.
Most rewarding has been getting to know so many people including bands! I love being part of something and trying to make a difference. Some folks stand up for certain causes or political BS but I stay committed to rock music and the spreading of it. We have the bands, the tunes and the passion... now we need more people to hear these amazing musicians.
We must confront why in America it has been stifled so much. The P-Diddy thing is uncovering what may be the key to why things are the way they are in the Big 3 labels that control everything as far as money is concerned.
How did you get involved with promoting within the whole underground Stoner Rock/Metal scene?
Well I was a Kyuss fan when they came out but kinda floated away for a while but around 2011 or so I was looking around on Amazon for used CD's and started checking out bands suggested. I resisted the idea of there being good heavier rock music being out there and not being on the radio... sounds familiar?
I used to think the same way many are now as they seek validation of a band by traditional means. The four bands that woke me up from the conventional programming were: Rival Sons, Sasquatch, Freedom Hawk and Gozu.
Once I started digging deeper I found that the music that was rooted in the foundations of the music I dig the most (70;s & 90's rock) was alive and kicking but just barely on the radio including Sirius XM whose new rock channel created their own brand of heavy rock that is highly overproduced and in general crap! People like yourself, JJ Koczan, Billy Goate with Doomed & Stoned, Todd Severin with Ripple and Bucky Brown all had an impact on me getting more involved with the scene. Started doing The Doomed & Stoned show with Billy back in 2020 and its been a wild ride since!
What's your favourite and least favourite aspect of being involved with the underground scene?
I like the scene and feel it coming together more and more among the Gen Xers in America but we need more folks of any age to be presented some of our top bands so they can get into the scene.
And if you could change anything about the overall scene what would that be? We still need way more people to support the scene at live shows and part of that is recruiting new folks into the fold. People need to listen to their friends and understand first what kind of rock or metal music they like and then tailor what you suggest to them.
Don't give them Sleep right away! LOL Or some band that is nice to you so therefor you become a fanboy or fangirl and start putting them as the first band someone new to the scene should hear. You can't go wrong with bands like Sasquatch, Rival Sons, Dirty Streets, Freedom Hawk, The Watchers, King Buffalo or Clutch.
You also run some excellent Facebook Pages under the Vegas Rock Revolution banner. Does that take a lot of your daily time moderating both pages or do you manage your time quite well?
Yeah it can be very time consuming and I look at my Vegas Rock Revolution: Heavy + Hard Rock Group almost like a radio station. Ha for lack of a better term,.. I gatekeep the hell out of that page and approve each posting.
We all need some downtime to relax away from the scene. How did you relax away from the scene? Any personal hobbies that help you unwind?
*I really like to travel and need to do more of it but with my mom's health and age, I am really in a different space right now. Also I am a massive American football fan.
What are your favourite bands from within the scene itself?
So many to list! ha ha. But I really love Villagers of Ioannina City. Their album Age of Aquarius is a pure masterpiece and it speaks to me in some mystical or spiritual way. I have been a long time lover of Sasquatch, Freedom Hawk, Rival Sons, Gozu, John Garcia, JIRM and many more!
Any great bands that folks should know about?
The best under the radar bands for me to suggest is Tidal Wave (Sweeden), Saturna (Spain), Mr. Bison(Italy), JIRM (Sweden), Omega Sun (SLovenia), Sundrifter (Mass), Duneeater (Australia), Planet of the 8's (Australia), Witchskull (Australia), Dirty Streets (Memphis) and Sons of Arrakis (Canada)....
Hell I could say any band that has played PDRW is a band people should check out. Call me loyal but I sincerely believe in these bands!
Which physical media do you prefer – Cassette, CD or Vinyl?
CD..... love the sound and the size. My car has a cd player and it sounds so good still!
If someone is looking to start a career promoting gigs and festivals such as yourself, what advice would you offer them?
Move into it slowly and know that likely it will be more of a hobby. Make sure to talk to some people who have done the things you are considering but also actually listen to them some!
Any lessons that you've learnt along the way?
Don't get ahead of yourself and build a budget. Truly think through the numbers and don't just hope things will happen if you build it. There is a saying at my old employer Marriott had as part of their culture "Under promise and over deliver".
People are flaky so don't gamble too much on the shows early on.
Good Luck!
Words by Steve Howe and John Gist
Thanks to John Gist for doing this interview. Details for Planet Desert Rock Weekend 2025 can be found here:
From January 30th to February 1st, 2025 at Count's Vamp'd and The Usual Place (Las Vegas, NV) EVENT & INFO // TICKETS
Can you give a brief history of the band of how it came together and where it is today?
Lobo Mute is myself - Bernardo Falcao: guitar, bass and drums. Buenos Aires, Argentina, Pandemic times.
I had all these ideas, riffs and demos for putting together an instrumental Stoner/Doom project and I also have this passion for Ed Wood’s movies. This is how my “one-man band” Lobo is Mute was born. Around August 2022, I started recording my ideas, and in parallel, I started to learn how mix and master.
In January 13th 2023, I released my first EP, LOBO IS MUTE. It was very well received among the Metal community, having been shared by curators such as Rob Hammer, 666MrDoom, Weedian, Morphy, to name a few, having thousands of plays.
Then, slowly, from March 2023 until March 2024, I produced my second EP, HOME? I HAVE NO HOME. On June 6th 2024, it was released everywhere online, also being very well received. In order to promote the EP, I also produced a trilogy of music videos paying tribute to Ed Wood, Bèla Lugosi and Tor Johnson. Available on Youtube.
Now I am producing my third EP, with no estimate date of release.
What can people expect from your music?
Heavy riffs and chaos.
What is the best release that folks should check out from your band?
It’s like choosing a favorite son/daughter, but I have to pick my last EP: HOME? I HAVE NO HOME.
Where can people find you on Social Media?
I have Facebook and Instagram and you can listen to Lobo is Mute on Spotify, Youtube, BandCamp, Apple Music, virtually everywhere.
Doom/Stoner Metallers Somnus Throne first came to my attention back in 2020 when I reviewed their debut album which became one of my favourite albums of the year. With it's seedy and dirty style of Electric Wizard, SLEEP and Black Sabbath inspired sounds. However, there was more to the band if you listened to the cool and bleak lyrics the band had written for the album.
Fast forward 18 months and Somnus Throne are back with their even better second album "Nemesis Lately" due for release in June 2022 via Heavy Psych Sounds. This album is way more Psychedelic and contains a different sound.
I finally caught up with the band to discussion the evolution of the band, their new sound and signing to different labels. These guys are very frank, honest and forthright with their answers.
Read on IF YOU DARE....
Hi guys. Thanks for doing the interview. How are things with you today.
The sun itself leaves the bituminous wretch that is our souls yet unkindled.
For folks not in the know, can you give a brief history of how the band came together and where it is today.
So, we all used to be pretty damn crazy. We mostly still are, but we used to, too. Haley and I started the band with another drummer long ago around 2016. We basically spent all our time in either venues, house shows, under the bridge punk shows, woods shows, or the warehouse where Evan lived.
In that warehouse we would often throw epic parties. Without going into specifics about what went on at those parties, one time Evan made a grown man curl up into a ball and start crying because he was typing aggressively on a type-writer which had no paper. Another time, all the girls at our party decided they didn’t need to wear shirts if they just sprayed glue on their chest and then poured glitter on themselves. That was really cool until the sun came up and we had to clean it.
Also, one time Conan played our living room to like nine people. You want to talk about overkill? Think of your average living room and then put Conan’s rig in one half and us, going deaf, with nine other people in the other half. Twas’ fuckin’ awesome. Got to meet the entire band and pick their brains about the industry, gear, etc.
The stress of recording and releasing the last album split Haley and I up as a band. We’re cool, though. She’s doing a thing in Texas called Midnight Burial and they have their own thing going
on. Luke got a real job. So, now we are Ansel Bretz on bass and Matt Davis on drums with Evan still doing vox and guitar. Matt used to live in that warehouse with Evan. Not sure if he was there for living room Conan…
How would you describe your own sound. As it’s quite hard to describe and I admire how you guys show the seedier side of WEEDIAN based themes, ideas and grooves.
Man, that is the million dollar question. We’re definitely evolving and changing as a band constantly. To date, we haven’t really completely defined what Somnus Throne is. It’s possible that we might never fall into just one sound. When you look at bands we all know and love like Sleep, Electric Wizard, The Sword, etc, you definitely see a consistent sound. But, when you look back further, you see bands like Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd and they changed from album to album, song to song even. We’re undecided where exactly we’ll land. Why can't a band do an OM album, then a Clutch album, then a Dead Meadow album?
If you want to push us for an answer, we’d say we definitely make loud-ass jams.
You first grabbed my attention with your incredible self titled debut album back in 2020 that was released on Burning World Records. How did you hook up with that great label. Quite surreal to release your debut album on that great label.
We did a lot of research before submitting the first LP to any labels. We got a few offers straight away. Both times we made a record, the first people we sent it to wanted to buy it. Burning World had prestige like we liked, the people were being forthcoming (a rarity in the dream industry), and they were willing to do a give and take process in negotiating what we wanted. Releasing our first recording with them was definitely a boost!
Were you surprised by the response the album received by fans and critics alike.
Yeah. we were surprised by the critics for sure. Like, what? I’m sorry. The album sounds too much like Sleep and Electric Wizard? This is doom. Saying that is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500. Mephistofeles literally has long segments of the exact same riff as Electric Wizard in some of their most famous releases. There is a band named Dope Throne. I mean, the band, it’s named after an Electric Wizard album. Perhaps we’re just getting gate-kept, and we wouldn’t really have it any other way… but it doesn’t seem like we’re getting the a-team when someone says something like that.
Of course, not every critic said something like that. You and a whole lot of other people have been supportive since day one. It’s cool starting out to be able to connect with fans and critics all over the world. We had write ups in like 6-7 languages last time. It was nice to see that.
Was your debut album a hard experience to write and record for.
That process probably took several years off of our lives. Every single thing that could have gone wrong did go wrong. The guitar amp head broke. Three bass amps broke. The first studio really tried to rip us off and Evan almost ended up fighting the guy as he tried to escape. A plane broke during take off on the runway during the recording trip… stressful isn’t really a good word for it… it’s more like… labor. It was like giving birth.
It gets easier, but the first time is a whole thing.
Looking back would you change anything about your debut album or your experiences with your album.
We would spend more time building hype before the release. We placed pretty low on the doom charts because honestly, nobody knew to look for us. Other than that, no. Not really.
You guys have come roaring back with your brilliant new album Nemesis Lately. What can people expect with that album.
This time, we pulled out all of the stops. You can expect a lot less drone and a lot more action. It still manages to be heavy in all the right places. It’s definitely an homage to all of our favorite bands.
Nemesis Lately is quite a different sounding album. I felt like I was listening to another band. Whilst your debut was on the seedier side of Doom/Stoner Metal. This one is cleaner and dare I say more upbeat whilst retaining that “Psychedelic Drug” based atmosphere. Was that your original plan to release something different.
Yeah, we decided to try for a different tack. We’d never want us to be pigeon-holed. We can play whatever we want. We went more for Motorhead in some ways this time, but this album probably has heavier parts than the first album ever did as well.
What was the writing and recording process like for Nemesis Lately. Did you have challenges recording this album during the pandemic.
Writing basically was the same process it always is. Nah. Pandemic was mostly over.
Why did you call the album Nemesis Lately.
In a word, it’s about nihilism. People more or less project their hatred onto whatever their society tells them to, or, if they are contrarian, then they do the opposite. Very seldom, if at all, do you see people suddenly and apropos of nothing deciding their own nemesis. A person who does so would probably be seen as insane.
These causes people seem to have, the enemies we create, it’s about as vacuous as the latest hair-cut. It’s a fad. “Here, this is the new thing to hate.” All of this enmity we breed into ourselves, it’s all just belief, none of it is factual. As a nihilist, this is immensely tedious. Tell you what, chalk up a couple points against free-will on that one. This, we could talk about all day… but it has little to do with the music.
You’ve signed to Heavy Psych Sounds Records for this release. How did this come about and did you have any offers from other labels.
We only sent the album to them in our first round of emails and they got back to us, so we never got any other offers. We couldn't really believe it. We sent it more or less as a shot in the dark. It happened. We’re more than stoked. It’s like a level of legitimacy we couldn’t have anticipated. It’s definitely propelled us in a lot of ways which will carry into the future.
The artwork is freaking awesome. Who designed the artwork and how much input did you have into the overall design of this.
Sick!! We’re glad to hear that. Yet again, we found her on Instagram. It’s an English woman from the countryside with the Instagram @man_the_river. She did a piece for a band called Butcher in The Fog, we saw it and they pointed us to her. It’s rad. Buying art is one of the coolest parts of making an album.
Do you have any other musical projects outside of Somnus Throne that folks can check out.
Not as of yet. That will definitely change for all of us.
Before you go, do you have any words of wisdom for your fans (such as myself) out there.
Play life to the click. Keep your circle small. Drink beer. Smell bad. Hail Satan.
Words by Steve Howe and Somnus Throne
Thanks to Claire at Purple Sage PR for arranging this interview and Thanks to Somnus Throne for doing this interview.
Nemesis Lately will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl from June 03rd 2022 via Heavy Psych Sounds Records.
Pale Wizard Records have been going strong for a few years now and have released some great releases from Sergeant Thunderhoof, Phoxjaw and Mos Generator over the years. Now, the label may have embarked on their biggest project yet. As the band have just announced their latest project which will be a tribute album to Alice Cooper’s seminal 1971 album KILLER.
The band have launched a Kickstarter Campaign where bands such as Green Lung, 1968, Mos Generator, Ritual King and Sergeant Thunderhoof performing their own versions of classic tracks from the album.
I caught up with Tim and Dan, the brains behind Pale Wizard Records to see why they’re taking on such a huge project….
Hi guys. Thanks for doing this interview. How are things with you today?
TIM: Hello! I’m very good thanks. Hope that everyone is doing alright in these difficult times we live in!
Dan: All good mate, sun has been shining today which is a miracle for this country!
For people not in the know. Can you give a brief history of how the record label came together and where it is today.
TIM: Dan had already started the label prior to me joining last year. I’ve known Dan for 20 years and have worked together with him in a number of jobs over the years so it seemed a logical step to join up with him to help take this venture to a new level. Today we have several releases behind us, some currently in development and an exciting future planned. We primarily aim to make deluxe edition vinyl records, so expect coloured vinyl, gatefold sleeves, collectible extras and premium quality pressings on heavyweight vinyl. We’re also releasing on CD too!
Dan: The label was initially started up to release the first single for the band Phoxjaw. I’ve been supporting the band from their inception and it just felt like a good thing to do to help them out. The pandemic last year really spurred me on to resurrect it. Mostly as a way to keep my mind active. Getting Tim on board has really helped push things forward. It also helps somewhat in that we can release material for Sergeant Thunderhoof too, which I sing for.
Why did you call it Pale Wizard Records?
TIM: The label had already been set up when I joined, so you’d have to ask Dan for an answer on that one! I support the choice of name however, it’s definitely something that fits in the genre we’re currently releasing in.
Dan: I was just trying to think of something that felt kind of personal. As a proud ginger, freckly man, having the word pale in there seemed appropriate.
Do you have a set of rules or ideals when releasing albums on the label?
TIM: Not so much strict rules, but we definitely try to theme the releases we’ve curated around a specific idea. For example, last year we released a split single of Kate Bush covers. We plan to continue doing singles in this series using bands to cover artists that you wouldn’t necessarily expect to see a covered in this genre. It’s something we feel passionately about, the release has to interest us both really for us to want to take the project on.
Dan: Yes, we just want to release things that spark our interest and that we have a personal connection with.
We have to talk about your most ambitious project to date. A new project called 50 Years Later. With your first release being a re-imagination or re-working of Alice Cooper’s 1971 landmark album KILLER. So will this be the first of many releases and why did you choose this classic album as the 1st release?
TIM: Well the obvious answer is we’re both fans of Alice, and that is true, but I think the 50 Years Later series is something that we would love to become a staple of the label and an annual tradition. Killer is such an important album not only for Alice Cooper but also for rock music in general so we felt it would be the perfect album to start with and to set the bar high for future releases. The 70s were a hugely influential period for bands of all genres, and we are excited to give some modern bands the chance to put their own spin on these classic albums.
Dan: I’ve been a huge fan of Alice Cooper since the early 90s. It was when listening to Love it to Death and Killer last summer that it occurred to me that they were both about to turn 50 years old. It seems like such a colossal milestone and made even more impressive when you consider that they’re still very active. Killer has always been my favourite album by the band, it’s flawless. So I just got chatting with Tim and we came up with the title ’50 Years Later’. We were trying to come up with alternate ways of saying 50 years. But ‘Golden Jubilee’ sounds bloody ridiculous.
You’ve released a Kickstarter Campaign for the project which I’m hoping is mega-successful. Will all your future 50 Years Later releases be going down this route or is this just to start things off?
TIM: We’ve done it this way to try and get the name out there a little before release. Being a new label, we thought this a great way to promote the album, build up some excitement and also give the backers a chance to secure themselves some exclusive goodies! As you know we plan to get these albums released 50 years to the day, and Killer was released in November 1971. With the long manufacturing times on vinyl these days we felt it was right to let people secure a copy on pre-order in plenty of time.
Dan: I’m not sure if we’ll be doing a Kickstarter for each subsequent release. My gut instinct is probably not. As Tim said, this just felt like a good way to announce the series.
You’ve got some great bands on board such as Green Lung, Mos Generator, Ritual King, 1968 and some upstarts called Sergeant Thunderhoof. How did you decide on these bands and were there any bands that you asked but didn’t have the time to do this?
TIM: Ah yes, there were a few bands we considered that for various reasons we didn’t proceed with. The bands we have chosen for Killer are all top tier choices though, and we’re delighted to have the roster we have. Of course, due to the virus there were some people that just couldn’t commit to working on this project and the logistics of organising 8 recordings during the pandemic was at times challenging, but I think the experience has taught us a few lessons for the future for sure!
Dan: We had a few bands originally confirmed which had to pull out for various personal reasons which I don’t think would be fair on them to announce. But I’m really chuffed with the final line-up as it represents a great cross section of artists from the underground hard rock scene. We did chance our arm with a few high profile bands such as Orange Goblin, and although they were very flattered, there were various reasons why they couldn’t commit in time. The pandemic has made things very tough for everyone.
Do you have all the other future releases planned? Can you give any hints on what’s to come next.
TIM: We’re always planning the next release, and we hope to be putting out new records in our Beyond the Pale series in the near future as well as another 50 Years Later album in 2022. There’s also the possibility of a new album by a band quite close to home of course. Who knows when we might be announcing that…
Dan: The next Beyond the Pale release is coming together and I think we’ll be making an announcement on that within the next couple of months. As for 50 Years Later, we will be making a final decision on which classic album from 1972 to recreate very shortly. I think it’ll be something quite unexpected but very well received.
Will you being releasing multiple releases each year or will it be 1 release every year?
TIM: We’re definitely strong believers in quality over quantity. We want to make every release we do special, and I think with both of us being big collectors of physical media ourselves we know what we would look for that makes a release something extra special. It’s that certain something we strive for with everything we put out. We’re definitely treating each release with the care it deserves. We have 2 more releases out this year prior to the Killer record, a Mos Generator live record and a reissue of the first Hoof release ‘Zigurat’. The 50 Years Later series will be an annual tradition I hope, but our other releases will follow no set pattern.
Dan: Given the amount of work involved in putting together this first release of Killer, I think we would be stretching ourselves too thin to commit to more than one of that series per year. And as Tim said, we definitely want to focus on quality over quantity.
COVID-19 has pretty much put a stop to all life as we know it for the time being. How big of an impact has it affected both Pale Wizard and Sergeant Thunderhoof. And how are you surviving in this stressful time?
TIM: It’s pretty much all I’ve ever known as far as the label is concerned! The majority of my time at the label has been spent during the pandemic, and at the time of writing still is. Naturally, it’s made things more difficult for us, the knock-on effect for us has been some bands being unavailable to work with, with manufacturing being slowed down and at the height of the pandemic with postal deliveries being delayed. All these things combine to affect every part of what we do right through to getting our final product out there and we’ve had to adapt and change accordingly to keep everything moving. Now I hope the worst of it is behind us and I think we’ll see a big resurgence in live music as soon as we’re all allowed out to enjoy it!
Dan: It was a disaster for Hoof as we were 2 weeks away from going out on tour with Howling Giant, so financially it had a big effect. Psychologically it has been tough. We did as much as we could within the constraints forced upon us in 2020, such as an acoustic LP, the double A side Kate Bush tribute with Tony Reed, the live LP released on vinyl. And not to forget the split LP we did with Howling Giant which I personally believe was one of the best releases in 2020 period. I know that sounds big headed, but we were all so proud of that. This year is hopefully going to be very productive for the band and we’re busy working on the next album.
After everything is back to some sort of normality. What does the future hold for the label and the band?
TIM: The future for us is simply to keep creating the kind of releases we would want to buy ourselves. I think that’s the ethos that has run through everything we’ve done so far and is what has kept the quality of everything we’ve put out so far so high.
Dan: I just want to keep things interesting and unexpected. Ask us again in 3 months after we see how well this release goes! Ha-ha.
Thanks for doing this interview. Before you go, do you have any words of wisdom that you want to say to your fans?
TIM: I think quite simply ‘keep supporting physical media, it’s absolutely the best way to enjoy music’
Dan: Turn off your TV for a bit. My family stopped watching it at the beginning of the first lockdown and it has been bliss! Too much negativity these days. Smile and have a happy life.
All the best with the Kickstarter Project.
Words by Steve Howe and Pale Wizard Records
Thanks to Jade for arranging this interview. Thanks to Dan and Tim for doing the interview.
This
Italian psycho rock bands is young, effective and promising. Blending
space rock, psychedelic and some kraut rock they reached their first
big milestone – “Sky Over Giza” EP. This vivid, dreamy and
cosmic material transfers listener to vast sonic dimensions where you
easily could lose the way back to reality. However we have a guide
for La Morte Viene Dallo Spazio realm, her name is Melissa.
Hi
Melissa! How are you? What’s going on in La Morte Viene Dallo
Spazio realm?
Hey
there Alexey! Everything is fine with me, thanks, I hope the same
with you.
In our dimension many things are happening and we are
both glad and somehow surprised of the results we have achieved so
far. This summer brought us to important venues and festivals in
Italy and abroad, we got very positive feedback and our feeling as a
newborn band is that everything is going really fast and we have to
take advantage of all the occasions we are going through. The time is
now.
The
band was founded just about two years ago and till that time you had
only single record ‘Fever’ and ‘Jam In Erba’, so how did you
spend this period as the band?
The
idea behind the birth of La Morte Viene Dallo Spazio arose in the
mind of our guitarist Bazu three years ago. He composed “Fever”
before the other members joined the project which actually wasn't
supposed to be a band at the beginning, but an open ensemble
involving every time different musicians on stage. No rehearsal was
contemplated and the gigs were kind of jam sessions, nothing was
previously decided, all was extemporaneous.
The
very first concert took place in 2015 in Milan, along with the
Chilean band Föllakzoid,
and the only members of the current line-up involved in it were Bazu
and the flutist Angelo. Our first release “Sky Over Giza” was
recorded in studio last summer as an experiment, in a two-days jam
session, without any preparation at all. La Morte Viene Dallo Spazio
reached a stable line-up and became a proper band only at the
beginning of the current year, embracing three more musicians already
belonging to the Italian heavy-psych scene with other well-known
bands. Among them, two ladies: me as singer and moog/theremin player,
the bass player Claudia and the drummer Federico.
Theremin
is quite a specific instrument, how did you learn to play it? And
what was your first encounter with it?
Actually
it's not a long time since I started to play theremin. The first time
I saw this instrument I was a child. 'How can hands produce sounds
through that white box without touching it? It has to be some kind of
magic.' This is what I suddenly thought as I recall so far.
At
that time, as a 7 years old child, I was starting playing piano.
Learning how works theremin wasn't in my mind at all - it looked
like a far too mysterious and complicate instrument and I didn't know
anyone in person able to teach me play it. Much later, as soon as I
got in touch with psychedelia and space rock, I decided it was time
for me to face this charming instrument. All what I know about it I
have learnt by myself and everyday I continue increasing my
knowledge. If you have some kind of sensibility towards music, the
instrument itself speaks to you and somehow reveals what to do. This
is what happened between me and my theremin. Music is a proper magic
– children often know far more than what adults do.
So
your first bigger record ‘Sky Over Giza’ was released just few
months ago, what were your intentions when you started the work over
these tracks? What kind of sound did you want to gain?
The
purpose behind “Sky Over Giza” was to challenge ourselves and see
what we could be able to do. As already told, during the recording
session we have played freely, without arranging anything previously.
There wasn't any intention at all concerning the kind of sound to
gain, actually before entering the studio we didn't have have any
idea of what the songs would have looked like in the end, so
everything that comes out from these tracks is merely the result of
what was moving inside us in that period, both light and shadows, but
shadows mostly, I must say. We are somehow proud that things went
this way, otherwise our work wouldn't have turned out to be so
unconventional.
Italian
scene is known with few marks like prog rock, some horror
movies-influenced doom bands and… and I don’t know… power
metal? However you play in psychedelic rock vein mixing few more
components to this sound. How do you see a role of local influences
in your music?
“La
Morte Viene Dallo Spazio”, that means Death Comes From Space, is
actually the title of a 50s Italian sci-fi film by Paolo Heusch,
later released in English language with the different title “The
Day The Sky Exploded”. This kind of choice, for such an important
matter like the name of the band, already explains itself what our
music is influenced by: the Italian older motion pictures and
soundtracks mainly. We have always been fascinated by that world and
the mystery it is wrapped in.
The
project actually born with the aim to create a sort of b-movie's
soundtrack. Also our way of composing, very instinctive like a flow
of sounds, recalls what used to happen in Italy in the 70s composing
b-movies soundtracks – the musicians who were committed to create
those soundtracks often didn't play in the same band, but did meet
each other for the first time in that occasion with the common
purpose to give birth to something special.
La
Morte Viene Dallo Spazio
How
did you spend a ‘Sky Over Giza’ record session? Is it first
serious studio work for the band’s members?
“Sky
Over Giza” is the first serious studio work of La Morte Viene Dallo
Spazio, but definitely not the first one for its members, playing in
other bands already known in Europe with several albums released
through the years, although we prefer to keep the identity of these
other bands unknown - we would like people to focus on our music
instead on who we are and where we come from.
As
I have just explained, the recording session was very fast, the
drummer was the one leading the game, he gave the input for moving
towards a certain direction and all the rest you can listen to pop up
as the natural consequence of that.
As
I understand the lyrics is on second place for you, but the tracks’
titles are pretty interesting or, well, meaningful. What are stories
behind ‘Sky Over Giza’, ‘Zombies Of The Stratosphere’ and
‘Sigu Tolo’?
“Sky
Over Giza” with its Egyptian melody
gives a mental image of pyramids, ancient mysticism and strange
happenings in the sky.
“Sigu
Tolo”,
another name for the star Sirius, hints at a people named Dogon who
live in west Africa and were supposedly visited by extraterrestrials
5,000 years ago and given astonishing astronomical information at
that time.
“Zombies
Of The Stratosphere” tells the story of evil martians brought down
in flames in their rocket ship after a furious stratosphere raygun
battle. In
these tracks the standard
music structure doesn’t really apply, allowing in this way a
confluence of sound, atmosphere and melody through a free-form
journey with no defined destination or resolution in mind.
I
see you’re into weird stuff actually! Do you believe in the things
like Land of Mu, Atlantis and so on? I remember I read the story
about Dogon tribe too, hah, but you know when you have full-time job
and family you have no more time to gaze at the stars!
What
a hard question to answer to, well done Alex! :-) What I can say is
that we don't believe in any parallel reality but, as far as I know,
planets are many, galaxies probably also, and the world we live in is
only a little part of the universe – universe that will continue to
exist with us or without us (probably even better in this last case).
The
things we still don't know and the places human beings have not
reached yet are so many, that it wouldn't be so weird to find out
someday that there is something else beyond us. In the meantime what
we definitely believe in is music and its power to create and destroy
new worlds through fantastic journeys towards the borders of the
unknown.
With
what kind of bands do you usually play? Do you feel that La Morte
Viene Dallo Spazio live shows are in-demand?
Since
February, the turning point between the open
gathering of players that the project was and the proper band that it
currently is, we shared the stage
with several bands, very different one from the other: first the
danish psych-rock Mythic Sunship in Milan and the Italian acid-rock
Giöbia in
Germany, then Fu Manchu, Clutch, Corrosion of Conformity, Baroness,
among the others, at Duna Jam - an open-air festival that takes place
in astonishing beautiful spots into the wild nature - and finally the
American blacksters The Wolves In The Throne Room at SoloMacello
Fest.
It
has been weird passing in just a couple of days from the relaxing
Duna Jam's white sand dunes to the black metal scenery of SoloMacello
Fest, but this is also what we like most of our music: the ability to
be transversal to many genres and to easily move through completely
different sceneries.
In
Milan, at Cox18, we have also had the chance to be hosted by La
Società Psychedelica, an institution for what concerns the Italian
and international psychedelic scene.
Things
are going fast and according with the positive feedback we have been
getting we are now ready to leave for a tour across Europe which will
bring us from Italy to Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Netherlands.
Can
you tell more about La Società Psychedelica? What’s this
institution?
La
Società Psychedelica is basically the summary of different
attitudes.
It
was born in 2006 in Milan, at the very beginning only on MySpace, by
the idea of two well-known DJs, as a sort of moniker which allowed to
collect several bands from all over the world with an open idea of
psychedelia, from the classic Californian acid folk to the English
psychedelia, more bounded to pop, to kraut rock, stoner and doom,
sometimes influenced by ambient music going even towards black metal,
and so on.
Nowadays
the events organized by La Società Psychedelica are among the most
important in Italy and southern Europe for what concerns psychedelic
music and further.
What
are your ambitions towards the band? How do you see your prospects
from the point where you stand now?
We
feel to be very close to the people while performing and after the
shows, our public is widening continuously
and this makes grow the confidence in our project inside us.
In
six months we have managed to play on very important stages of which
many bands dream about all life long, we are thankful for the
opportunities we got so far and we couldn't have taken more advantage
of them than what
we did. I guess soon we will be able to look back to the last shows
as a springboard to something huger that will develop through the
upcoming tour.
How
did you manage to get on these big gigs? Do you work totally DIY way
or do you have a kind of manager?
We
don't have any manager at all. The closest person to a manager is me
actually, that means I keep contacts with the venues where we
perform, the reviewers and so on. Our “fortune”, as a project
born from the confluence of musicians belonging to other bands
well-known on the European scene, is that before starting La Morte
Viene Dallo Spazio we already had many contacts collected through
these years we have been playing around. This is the reason why it
didn't take so many efforts to get involved in some amazing
festivals. When the event planners already love what you do with your
band, they are often curious to find out what can flow out from your
brand new band.
The
following shows we have set up are the result of some positive vibes
we had spread during these first gigs - someone noticed us, asked us
to play at their venue and this is exactly how we began to plan the
upcoming tour.
Do
local medias support the band?
If
with medias you mean the radio or television, in Italy unfortunately
we don't have any about underground music like ours. There are
instead specialized magazines on this sector, some of these already
have reviewed 'Sky Over Giza', some others will do that soon - like
Rock Hard and Rumore, among the others - and we are very glad about
this.
Do
you already have plans for the next album?
Of
course we do! As soon as we stopped jamming and the project reached a
stable line-up, we entered the recording studio again. Now we already
have enough material to work on the tracks which will be forming
the next album - a more structured one this time - and we are ready
for the second recording session to happen soon.
We
are confident in the work we are doing, the previous
extemporaneousness of our sound seems to be heading towards new
horizons made of increasing efforts and complicity among us, so that
the upcoming long playing will likely be a more representative
product of what we are, not only a flow of dark energies but
something really deeper.
I
am not afraid to reveal that we have great news by our side, we are
already looking forward to the next album presentation tour across
Europe and, who knows, hopefully even further!
Good
to hear it! Then I hope that soon we’ll hear more news from La
Morte Viene Dallo Spazio! Good luck with that Melissa! So how would
you like to sum up the band’s message today?
Someone
once said that the universe is a pretty big place: if it's just us,
seems like an awful waste of space. Then, you folks out there, get
ready to be conquered from unconventional vibes... Death Comes From
The Space – La Morte Viene Dallo Spazio
