#remember when he was an absolute yob

[munacy]

Repost of an old ATYD Remus drawing of mine🖤

[doomedandstoned]

Meet Judd Madden: Melbourne’s Most Prolific One-Man Band

~Interview by Shawn Gibson~

Art by Jeff Smith

How are you doing?

Pretty good! As good as we can in these strange times.

When you are not doing music you are doing web design. How busy does that keep you?

There's not much work on at the moment honestly, so personal projects have filled the void. And video games.

You live in Melbourne Australia right? Tell me a little about Melbourne and where you live.

Melbourne is home to 5 million people. It's a wonderful city with vibrant live music, restaurants, parks – anything you're into, you can find. I've lived here for 16 years and I absolutely love it.

How have the wildfires affected you?

We had smoke here in Melbourne for weeks, though Sydney was much worse. The bushfires (as we call them) were hell on earth for those nearby.

How are you holding up with the Corona virus affecting everything?

My wife is working from home now, with me, so that's nice. My friends and family are healthy and safe, but I miss seeing them in person – video chats and phone calls are just not the same.

I miss live music and being in a crowd, the physical space and sharing in the moment. Australia is doing well comparatively, we're a spacious country with a low population, and we're good at following rules like "stay home."

What places do you go to in Melbourne to see heavy music?

The Tote, The Bendigo, Max Watts (HiFi), The Forum. I can't fucking wait to get to a gig when all this is over.

What are some Australian bands you love and we should check out?

In the doom/metal scene there are so many. Droid, Dr Colossus, Pod People, Thaw, Holy Serpent, Lucifungus are some I've enjoyed live recently.

Glacial by Judd Madden

My first introduction to Judd Madden was Glacial. I loved it and checked the other albums on your Bandcamp page.

Oh, cool! That album featured my one and only music video; Mountain Slayer, which received great exposure.

Is there an album that was removed from your Bandcamp page? There was a song on an album that almost had a hardcore tempo, great bass line! I want to say something like against set. I wish I remembered!

Before Waterfall (the first album) was released I made dozens of rough songs, to see if I could do it all by myself, and to experiment. Most of them were bad. "Against Set" and some of the less bad songs are on the Old Doom & Demos album. Listening now, it's not that fast -- maybe you're thinking of something else? There are not a lot of fast songs in my catalogue, perhaps "Mouth" from Waterfall or Waterfall II?

Please tell me about 528hz (DNA repair). I have heard many frequencies in that range, higher and lower but never in a doom song!

It's from "Everything In Waves" which is about reality, energy, perception, matter, cosmos. In my research about wave-forms of all types, I stumbled across the "healing tones" genre, with its wild claims about specific frequencies.

The song is mostly tongue-in-cheek, but leaves the question open. Can listening to certain tones have healing/meditative benefits? Well, we don't know everything, right?

Feel No Pain by Dead End Thoughts

What prompted Dead End Thoughts?

The desire to create even heavier music, with vocals. It's a separate project, as my main catalogue doesn't have vocals – Dead End Thoughts is a different beast. I wanted a space to explore complex ideas, the edges of my mind and darkness. The songs are thematically and musically extremely heavy.

It doesn't come from a place of depression or anger, as some people have suggested, but a need to explore and create something original. If it's original I'm happy. Musically the songs are totally organic, it's a stream of consciousness in the jam, with vocals and instrument layers added after.

Dead End Thoughts recently released 'Feel No Pain' (2020). Please tell me about the spark that started the fire for this album.

Feel No Pain is created directly from live jams between myself on guitar and Dan on drums. It's an evolution from the first album, which I created recording guitar first and drums second (which was difficult).

When you jam with one melodic instrument and one rhythmic instrument, both are free (within reason) to do what they like. Adding a second melodic instrument like a bass usually requires more planning and results in more structured songs.

We enjoy seeing where things go. These five tracks were chosen from around 20 that we recorded throughout the year. I realised mid-year that this could be the next album; the riffs were of similar tone, and I wouldn't have to drum over them!

Once I added a second/third guitar, bass, and vocals, they no longer sounded like jams and became real songs -- but you can still feel the live energy. It's also not perfect, which I think makes it more interesting.

We surprise ourselves when we're jamming, there is no staleness from playing a rehearsed song over and over. Most of the riffs on the album were new to us as we played them. It's so much fun.

On 'Feel No Pain,' Dan Jolly plays drums and did the album artwork. Please tell me about him and his role in Dead End Thoughts.

Dan has been one of my best mates for many years. We've played a lot together, he's a fantastic drummer who's even more into doom metal than I am! He played on half of these tracks unaware that they would become an album, sorry Dan. (laughs)

Our drumming styles are actually pretty similar, but he's younger and more energetic. I asked him to do the album art, as I was doing all the production and extra instruments, so he could share ownership of the project. It's an awesome painting, we had it before the lyrics so I was able to connect with "By Burning Heat."

Colour High by Colour High

Tell me about Colour High and how that is different from the music you make most of the time.

Colour High is an electronic doom project, similar to the music in Stranger Things. It was made over two months very late at night, in headphones when I couldn't make noise.

I've always dabbled in electronic music, once I even 'played live' in 1999 with my brick of a computer and CRT monitor. I just sat behind it and pretended to be doing things -- I wasn't.

Colour High is all about exploring sounds, compositions, just having fun and enjoying a different process. Having the entire score and all instruments available when composing is very different to the track-by-track approach required for solo instrumental music.

What makes Judd Madden laugh?

Most things. My friends, my wife, my cat. I love TV shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Always Sunny, South Park, The Office. Love stand-up comedy -- hard to name just a few, but Dave Chappelle, Brian Regan, Bill Burr, Iliza Shlesinger, Joey Diaz, Dylan Moran and all the greats like Carlin, Seinfeld, Prior, etcetera!

Which bands have influenced you and the music you make?

My parents like Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Beatles, Metallica. 90's bands like Tool, RATM, Chili Peppers, Prodigy. Then I started getting into Kyuss, Sleep, Yob, and the amazing stoner rock/doom metal scene. It resonated strongly with me and I immediately wanted to make music in that genre.

Now I listen to anything good: jazz, classical, electro, darksynth, math, weird stuff like Scott Walker or doom bands like Conan, Bongripper, Aleph Null. Completely obsessed with an electronic artist called 2814, the album Birth of a New Day is a real trip.

Name some good books that you have read.

The Gap Cycle, Stephen Donaldson. The Nights Dawn Trilogy, Peter Hamilton. Enders Game Series, Orson Scott Card.I like big space operas, currently getting through The Culture series, but honestly I've fallen out of the habit of reading – I usually listen to music in headphones in bed.

How is the weed in Australia? Good?

It's illegal mate. But good, yes. I never touched it until I was 30 – now it's fun occasionally. I find it can help creativity, particularly with music. It can lower your ego, allow a more natural flow.

Is there anything you want to plug or promote?

Aside from the new album and the other projects we've discussed, my wife and I made Duel 52, a card game that you can play with a standard deck of cards. It's free and fun, if you're bored in lockdown check it out!

What is in the future for Judd Madden and Dead End Thoughts?

Once Dan and I can jam again we'll keep making music, and another heavy album. For my main project I have the beginnings of a lighter album similar to Float, spacey and guitar-heavy. Calm, meditative music to balance all this darkness.

Judd, thank you very much for your time! Stay safe and sane through these tough times!

Cheers, thank you for your support!

Waterfall II by Judd Madden

Follow The Band

Get The Music

[doom-ocean]

Snatched

Old school pre-filled 1. Would you have sex with the last person you text messaged? My mom? No. 2. You talked to an ex today, correct? Nope! 3. Have you taken someones virginity? If I did it would have been my second girlfriend. 4. Is trust a big issue for you? Very much so, yes. Telling someone your fears, weaknesses, issues, etc is a good way to have that shit thrown back in your face. 5. Did you hang out with the person you like recently? I don't like anyone. As in like like I assume. 6. What are you excited for? I ordered a flying V shaped guitar. Gotta wait 2 months for it to get made and mailed. I'm gonna have to assemble it but if all goes well I'll have a guitar that I would normally have to pay up to and possibly over 1600 dollars. 7. What happened tonight? Nothing, as usual. 8. Do you think it’s disgusting when girls get really wasted? When anyone gets really wasted. It's sad and unpredictable and will normally avoid situations like that. 9. Is confidence cute? I guess so. 10. What is the last beverage you had? Pepsicola 11. How many people of the opposite sex do you fully trust? None. 12. Do you own a pair of skinny jeans? No. Not enough swing room. 13. What are you gonna do Saturday night? Absolutely nothing. 14. What are you going to spend money on next? Electronics and hardware for the aforementioned flying V. 15. Are you going out with the last person you kissed? Nope. 16. Do you think you’ll change in the next 3 months? I don't know. Maybe. 17. Who do you feel most comfortable talking to about anything? No one really. Not even my best friend. 18. The last time you felt broken? Every day for a little over 10 years. 19. Have you had sex today? Not in a good few years. 20. Are you starting to realize anything? I may be out of a job for longer than anticipated. 21. Are you in a good mood? Rarely. 22. Would you ever want to swim with sharks? Never. 23. Are your eyes the same color as your dad’s? No.Mine are blue, his are brown. 24. What do you want right this second? This headache to go away. 25. What would you say if the person you love/like kissed another girl/boy? "Unsurprising" 26. Is your current hair color your natural hair color? Always. 27. Would you be able to date someone who doesn’t make you laugh? I wouldn't date anyone. 28. What was the last thing that made you laugh? Something on the internet probably. 29. Do you really, truly miss someone right now? Nope. 30. Does everyone deserve a second chance? Perhaps.... perhaps. 31. Honestly, do you hate the last boy you were talking to? No. 32. Does the person you have feelings for right now, know you do? Not applicable 33. Are you one of those people who never drinks soda? Quite the opposite unfortunately. 34. Listening to? Some guy reading an email fro msome other guy about how his wife was cheating on him and how he got revenge. Never get married. 35. Do you ever write in pencil anymore? Occasionally. 36. Do you know where the last person you kissed is? No I do not, nor do I care. 37. Do you believe in love at first sight? Lust* 38. Who did you last call? I dunno. 39. Who was the last person you danced with? I don't dance. 40. Why did you kiss the last person you kissed? Desparation, hormones, and legitimately believing it wasn't a bad idea. 41. When was the last time you ate a cupcake? Years, perhaps. 42. Did you hug/kiss one of your parents today? No. 43. Ever embarrass yourself in front of a crush? In junior high, all the fucking time. 44. Do you tan in the nude? I hate being nude unless I'm in the shower, so no. 45. If you could, would you take back your last kiss? Ohhhhhhhh yeah. 46. Did you talk to someone until you fell asleep last night? Nope. 47. Who was the last person to call you? My mom probably. 48. Do you sing in the shower? No. 49. Do you dance in the car? No. 50. Ever used a bow and arrow? No, but it'd be neat. 51. Last time you got a portrait taken by a photographer? No idea. School probably. 52. Do you think musicals are cheesy? Among other things. 53. Is Christmas stressful? No. More of an inconvenience. 54. Ever eat a pierogi? Probably thousands at this point. 55. Favorite type of fruit pie? Cherry. 56. Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid? Rock star. 57. Do you believe in ghosts? I am unsure. I've seen/experienced some weirdass shit. 58. Ever have a Deja-vu feeling? Not recently. You ever have reverse deja vu? It's where you randomly remember, vividly, a dream you had in the past. Usually is followed by disorientation, nausea and general what the fuck. 59. Take a vitamin daily? Yea, vitamins T, H, and C. Clever. 60. Wear slippers? Yes. Canada gets cold. 61. Wear a bath robe? Yes. Canada gets cold. 62. What do you wear to bed? Underoos or pj pants and t shirt. 63. First concert? Some kids concert for kids back when I was a kid. 64. Wal-Mart, Target or Kmart? Preferably neither. 65. Nike or Adidas? Preferably neither. 66. Cheetos Or Fritos? Any frito brand snack? Lay's. 67. Peanuts or Sunflower seeds? Ehhh, spicy bbq peanuts. 68. Favorite Taylor Swift song? The one where she retires. 69. Ever take dance lessons? Nope. 70. Is there a profession you picture your future spouse doing? Not being a whore. 71. Can you curl your tongue? In a few ways, yes. 72. Ever won a spelling bee? I don't believe so. 73. Have you ever cried because you were so happy? Ha... pee? 74. What is your favorite book? ??? 75. Do you study better with or without music? I haven't studied ever. 76. Regularly burn incense? Nah. Shti gives me a headache. 77. Ever been in love? I believed I did in my younger years. 78. Who would you like to see in concert? YOB, Slabdragger, Thorazine, Deftones though I hear they're terrible live. Never seen them despite them being my favorite band. SunnO))) would be interesting, but super intense. 79. What was the last concert you saw? Scale the Summit, North and some other band. The Ocean was supposed to play that show but didn't for whatever reason. I was bummed about that as they are a great band. North played instead and I was pleasantly surprised. 80. Hot tea or cold tea? Neither. Bot htaste like ass. 81. Tea or coffee? Neither. Both taste like ass. 82. Favorite type of cookie? Dunno. Not big on cookies. 83. Can you swim well? Haven't swam in over 10 years. I was never good at it. 84. Can you hold your breath without holding your nose? Yes. I am not retarded. 85. Are you patient? Sometimes. 86. DJ or band, at a wedding? Don't care. 87. Ever won a contest? I won a raffle at a metal show. Got a CD and a shirt that was like 4x too big for me. Gave it to my friend who is a big'n. 88. Ever have plastic surgery? No. 89. Which are better black or green olives? Neither. Both taste like ass. 90. Opinions on sex before marriage? Marriage is unnecessary. 91. Best room for a fireplace? Bathroom. 92. Do you want to get married? Never. I'm aware that I'm not the smartest person on the planet, but I'm also not stupid either.

[preserving-ferretbrain]

Revenge is... Awesome, Actually

by Sonia Mitchell

Thursday, 26 February 2009

Sonia reviews the film Revengers Tragedy.~

I was as surprised as anyone would be when a film I’d never heard of went straight onto my list of best films ever, particularly given that it features Christopher Ecclestone soliloquising to a skull that isn’t Yorick’s, Eddie Izzard being out-camped by Marc Warren and a soundtrack by Chumbawumba. Perhaps these reasons contributed to the film’s lack of fame, or perhaps fate is just very unfair. Because Revengers Tragedy is amazing. The film pretty much spoils itself with the title, but if you don’t want to know the details don’t read on. (The proverb the film opens with also gives a few hints as to the direction it might be going in - ‘Let the man who seeks revenge remember to dig two graves’)

Based on Thomas Middleton’s Renaissance play, Alex Cox’s film transports the story to near-future Liverpool. The majority of the dialogue is Middleton’s, though interspersed with gloriously anachronistic lines (‘we got ourselves a fuckin’ Cockney here boys’) and a fair amount of swearing. The story has been streamlined a tad, and dialogue altered accordingly, but you’d have to know the original play a fair bit better than I do in order to see the join. Frank Cottrell Boyce (writer of Millions) wrote the screenplay for the adaptation, and it’s a good one. Unfortunately the trailer did the film something of a disservice in that it was mostly visual and the few lines it did feature were ones in modern English, leaving the viewer with no idea the film uses predominantly Renaissance language. Presumably this left a few people quite surprised when they got to the cinema, while others who might have liked that sort of thing gave it a miss. Personally, in 2002 I was too distracted by LOTR: The Two Towers to notice an obscure British film starring a guy who wasn’t yet tipped to star in Doctor Who, but I’m very pleased to have rectified this.

Ecclestone is Vindici, a man seeking revenge. His wife was poisoned on their wedding day by Derek Jacobi’s Duke after she refused to sleep with him. Years have passed, in which time she’s become the aforementioned skull and Vindici has presumably been seriously stewing a long way away. Now, however, he’s ready for his revenge, and the film begins with him striding into Liverpool, shaving his head as he walks. When faced by a group of yobs he beats the shit out of them without a word, because you Do Not Mess with Vindici.

Star of the Duke’s team is Eddie Izzard, as heir Lussurioso. He and his gang of glammed and punked up brothers are decadence personified – chauffeured everywhere, partying hard and never doubting they can have any woman they choose. Lussurioso is looking for a disreputable man to secure him a particular woman, and Vindici is conveniently available. Somewhat unfortunately for Lussurioso the woman he’s after is Vindici’s sister Castiza, and his attitude towards her gets him spot number two on Vindici’s vendetta list.

At under two hours the film is fairly quickly paced, with the two main threads being Vindici’s plot to to get the most violent revenge he can, and the scheming of the Duke’s various sons to get the title for themselves. The interaction between Ecclestone and Izzard is the high point, both performances being perfectly judged. However the gaggle of brothers are a fantastic counterpoint to Vindici’s bitter wit, using the visual aspects of their performances to get laughs not in the original text. The genuinely ludicrous clothing helps, but Marc Warren in particular shows a gift for physical comedy I hadn’t suspected. His glam and camp Supervacuo is crafty at times, but his dim oblivion to what’s going on throughout the play results in some fantastically misjudged behaviour and is responsible for a lot of the laugh out loud moments. Justin Salinger’s somewhat brighter (and rather handsome) Ambitioso tends to scheme with him, and their double act mirrors the more grown-up Vindici and Lussurioso.

The film is highly stylised, contrasting beautifully with the four hundred year old dialogue. The use of CCTV footage, television reporting and an extremely good soundtrack all add to the exceptional atmosphere of awesomeness, and the story itself seems well fitted within such a setting. As the flier that came with the dvd says, ‘comparisons have been made with Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo and Juliet - both inevitable and unfortunate.’ There are surface similarities, but this is about adults, not youth. This is an angry, bitter film, and a lot of the humour is in slightly uneasy laughter. Vincini veers from anger and grief to a sinisterly manic happiness, and part of the skill in Ecclestone’s perfomance is that he takes us part-way along the path of laughing with him before leaving us as he goes into the obviously manic and not at all funny. The grey area between the two states is the interesting part. Is it funny that he sings a brushing-your-teeth song while coating the skull’s teeth with poison? What about singing the same song the next day as he brushes his own teeth, cheerful after having murdered the Duke?

Alongside the manic, however, is the genuinely moving. When he asks of the skull ‘does every proud and self-affecting dame camphor her face for this?[...] Who now bids twenty pounds a night?’ his speech is bitter and almost heartbreaking, as he ponders on the difference between the skull and the woman it once was. Derek Jacobi’s soliloquy as he reflects on his own misdeeds accompanied by flashback footage is also an affecting one. Only six lines long, it’s a rare glimpse beneath the public persona, addressed straight to the camera. I can’t decide if we’re supposed to see regret, repentance or distaste (and I think the impenetrability is deliberate – it’s a confession conscious of its audience, and he holds something back that we only find out later) but there’s certainly a gravity to the scene.

I’ve also spent a while trying to work out how this film treats women, and I’m still not altogether sure. To tamper with a winning formula, I present the Dystopia Rape Watch.

Women raped while alive: 1

Women raped post-mortum: 1 (prior to film’s main timeline)

Women who commit suicide after being raped: Supposedly 1, though there are questions raised.

Women who retain chastity despite being desired by powerful man: 1

Rapists who die horribly: 2

Potential rapists who die horribly: 1

Women who are complicit in helping above men die horribly: 1 (in a departure from the play, Castiza helps Vindici get his revenge)

Women tempted to sell their daughters to rich men: 1

Women who enjoy sex: 1

Women who enjoy incestuous sex: 1

Men who get soliloquies: At least 2

Women who get soliloquies: 0 that I can think of

No gold star, but the powerlessness of women is a theme rather than something that feels exploitative. The sacredness with which society views purity is contrasted with the corrupt powers that take whatever they like, and neither side comes away well. The supreme reverence of chastity comes from the Duke’s rival Antonio, who speaks over his dead wife’s body praising her for apparently committing suicide after being raped. This is sinister rather than something the film condones, and the fact that everyone agrees with him and the public leave a massive carpet of flowers and toys - Princess Diana style - isn’t something that sits comfortably. Rather, it highlights how broken that society is, and it’s telling that when Vindici wants the Duke’s body to be discovered he leaves it amongst the flowers of the shrine.

In this corrupted society Castiza’s position is vulnerable, and she relies to some extent on her brothers for safety, especially after her mother’s betrayal. However she has more lines and more power that she had in the original play, and actually becomes one of the revengers. She also has obvious intentions to kill Lussurioso herself with no help from Vindici, although ultimately circumstances prevent her and he’s the one who gets to revenge her honour.

I’m inclined to give the film’s issues a bye in the knowledge that the text was written four centuries ago. There’s a lot of misogyny from the characters and the society they live in, but I don’t think the film itself is inexcusably so. Castiza may be the only positive female role, but she is an important character who is active rather than passive. She’s also allowed to spit – the film doesn’t present her as an idealised lady but a young woman with opinions, agency and a sense of humour who happens to be trapped in dystopia. I think this is one of those occasions when departing from the original text is absolutely the right decision.

My only real problem is with the title. The lack of apostrophe is annoying me. Perhaps its absence is a refusal to state whether there’s one revenger or many, but I could live without the ambiguity in order to have the world as it should be. That aside, I thoroughly recommend the film whether or not you’ve heard of the play. It’s awesome.

Themes:

Fantasy Rape Watch

,

TV & Movies

~

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Wardog

at 09:49 on 2009-02-26Oh my God, I have to see this! *runs around in circles squealing with pure glee*

I love the fact that renaissance rape watch is ultimately renaissance soliloquy watch :)

To be honest, I rarely have problems with these kind of issues in historical plays... otherwise you might as well by Charlotte McBride crying over the fate of Elizabethan bears.

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Sonia Mitchell

at 12:02 on 2009-02-26

To be honest, I rarely have problems with these kind of issues in historical plays

I wouldn't bother much with a straight adaptation, but given that this departs from the text in places and uses its visuals to suggest a lot that isn't in the script I figured it might be interesting to pick through it a little. The film's very much a modern product rather than a historical one, and given what it had to work with I felt it actually did a pretty good job.

But I didn't mean to start crying about the bears :-)

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Wardog

at 14:28 on 2009-02-26Yikes, I didn't actually mean to level that as a criticism either at you or at your review. It's always interesting to pick at the issues and I think it was sensible to address them, especially since, as you say, it sounds like a self-consciously "modern" adaption (despite the Renassaince language). I think I should have used "one" instead of "you" in that sentence, and I certainly didn't mean to suggest you were crying over bears :)

It was a more a general point, actually, aimed nowhere in particular (not even at bears) - in that I have often encountered people who react badly to 'misogyny' in historical documents, in the sense that they won't attribute merit because it's anti-woman or anti-semetic or something.

Partially this is just on my mind because I've been reading a lot of Trollope :)

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Sonia Mitchell

at 20:51 on 2009-02-26I got that, don't worry :-) I was just wondering myself about the productivity of putting that bit in (And I think 'crying over bears' is a phrase I could myself using quite a bit. It's just so apt. Tilting at windmills and crying over bears...)

I have often encountered people who react badly to 'misogyny' in historical documents, in the sense that they won't attribute merit because it's anti-woman or anti-semetic or something

Yeah, it's tricky, and I think sometimes it is difficult to get over. I was iffy about Ezra Pound's work for quite a while after finding out about his views so I won't throw stones too much, but I do agree with you.

I think examining values

is

important, but as you said the problem lies in linking that with the merit of the work. I'm interested in Marxist takes on texts but I'm not going to throw my toys out of the pram because only the high characters get the blank verse speeches in pretty much any Ren drama.

I guess

The Tempest

is an extreme example of critics seeing only issues. I've only ever been taught it from a post-colonial angle (though in fairness it's not a favourite of mine so I haven't sought out wider criticism) whereas most of the other Shakespeare I've been formally taught has been from a more general angle which then touches on others. But that's anecdotal so proves nothing :-)

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Sonia Mitchell

at 20:52 on 2009-02-26That didn't look like such a long comment in the little box..

[doomedandstoned]

YOBOMANIA!

The beloved Oregon doomers return home from their journey across states and overseas

~ Review & Photographs by Stephanie Savenkoff | Films by Shelby Kray ~

⚸

I arrived at Portland's historic Star Theater on December 9th to a stellar line up. Although friends in the music scene raved about Yob's live performances, the circumstances had never been favorable for me to catch a show. This was the last gig of the year for the hard-driving Oregon band, the finish to a month-long West Coast jaunt with Thrones and Khôrada, following Yob's exhaustive tour of Europe. I wasn't alone in my anticipation for this show. In fact, you'd hardly know it was a Sunday night in the heart of winter, as the concert hall was bustling with fans eager to welcome back the hometown heroes.

☼

THRONES

Slated to open this epic evening was Thrones, an experimental ambient-doom solo project of Joe Preston, whose long resume includes playing in Earth, Melvins, and High on Fire (to name just a few). He has been a strong artistic influence on so many Northwest acts and is regarded as an important figure in the scene. No surprise, then, that he played to a packed house.

Unfortunately, Thrones experienced some technical difficulties and the show to be cut prematurely short. As Joe's set depends on his backing track and pedals, if they are not working properly his performance suffers and thus he felt that he just couldn’t continue. The audience expressed their love and appreciation of him, just the same. I respected his decision to preserve the quality of his work, both for himself and his fans.

Sundries by Thrones

☀

KHôRADA

Khôrada took the stage next. Their album Salt came out last June, but we witnessed their third time performing it on stage together. Aaron John Gregory, formerly of Giant Squid, performed vocals and guitar along with Aesop Dekker on drums and Jason Walton on bass, both formerly from Agalloch.

Khôrada definitely performed with passion. The songs were relevant and immediate in their content. The music had sadness, pain and despair, all the hallmarks of Doom. Heavy, intense rhythms and riffs combined with poetic, storytelling lyrics created an evocative experience.

Their first song of the night, "Seasons of Salt," spoke to consumerism, the reality of the resulting climate change and the collapse of society as we know it. Their second song, "Water Rights," illuminated the raping of native lands for the oil pipeline.

“They know of your snake that burrows just beneath their lake afraid its steel skin will crack turning their water black with its venom and lack of regulation.”

The third song in the set, "Edeste," is another song about over consumption. It evoked images of a large snake enveloping its prey and asserting that Nature will conquer us before we can destroy her.

"Glacial Gold" speaks of finding something of value after tragedy and devastation. "Wave State" seems like a song written for and to a child, warning about the changes that are coming, that the earth will shrug us off and reclaim its dominance.

“I’ll try my best to explain how we are the mites we are the mange to be cleansed and washed away crops and culture civility and song Golden nation state battered by the waves swallowed and gone.”

The last song of Khôrada’s set was "Ossify." It spoke of the lack of bones left behind for future generations to find answers to happened to us, long after we have passed on from memory.

“It’s hard to fossilize that which has no spine they will dig through our plastic cocoons they will have to theorize how we died.”

Salt by KHôRADA

☸

YOB

Yob. Such a little word for such a giant of a band and its immense sound. While researching for this piece, I discovered that “yob” is actually a real word whose definition is: “a rude, noisy, aggressive young man.” With his punk roots, I can see how that word might have resembled Mike Scheidt in his youth. Today, the Yob frontman has evolved into an elder statesman of doom. More than that, he has grown into a kind of modern day Western world Shaman, his spirituality infusing and informing every work.

As I mentioned from the outset, this was my first live experience with Yob and, suffice it to say, I was absolutely blown to pieces. For only a three-piece band, Mike Scheidt (guitar, vox), Aaron Rieseberg (bass), and Travis Foster (drums) filled the space impressively with an impenetrable wall of sound.

I remember reading a review of Yob's 'Our Raw Heart' (2018), which stated that heaviness was used by the band as a tool, not an end product. I believe that is true. The music is very heavy but it is the vehicle that takes you places, not the destination. There was a depth of emotion and a gravity to their sound. The heaviness had a deep resonation. Words like “epic” and “crushing” are words frequently used to describe Yob’s music, too, though these adjectives seemed hardly capable of capturing the transcendent nature of Yob's sound.

I would also say that Yob's sound has a certain delicacy to it. They weave that delicacy together with crashing thunder and a cacophony of sound into something beautiful. They build in space and the notes breathe. There is a musicality with the heaviness and there was an intense beauty that I was unprepared for.

Yob opened their set with "Ablaze" which came out of the gate firing on all cylinders. It was a powerful intro that was very tight, with all of the members contributing equally and powerfully. Mike’s amazing, soaring vibrato and deep, guttural growls were positively thrilling. "The Screen" came next, which was heavy to the max. This anthemic song filled me with surging energy as the bass line marched ahead in a steady trudge that pulled me forward.

"Our Raw Heart," truly the heart of the album, was perfection. The song title fits the music perfectly. The album feels triumphant and Yob truly did put their raw heart out there. I doubt I am alone in feeling connected to the music. They express real emotion and everything feels true and meaningful. This time there is a gentle intro, soft, sweet and light, then it deepens and intensifies. The poetic lyrics reflect the experience that led to and shaped the album.

“Leaving nothing left behind breathing through my dark inside the raw within Ayni sent reverence for what has been given in this shared life, the raw within.”

Yob also performed "Ball of Molten Lead," "The Lie That Is Sin," and "Breathing from The Shallows" in their set. They were all great pieces and I enjoyed them, each one a unique gem to be treasured.

Mike had two broken guitar strings right before the last couple of songs and he saved the day by replacing them right on stage and faster than I would have dreamed possible. I am beyond grateful that I he did so because otherwise I would have missed out on their epic closing song, "Marrow."

"Marrow" had a stillness, a quietness and a gravity that pulled me in. It started with a trance inducing guitar picking rhythm which went on for a while, lulling me into a peaceful nod and sway. I found my mind wandering, slipping over thoughts of things going on in my life, like water over river rocks on its way downstream.

Then the bass and drums joined in and deepened the sound and expanded the feeling. The crashing crescendo a couple of minutes in pulled me out of the lull and shocked me with its intensity and power. My focus returned to the music again and to Mike’s voice that pierced through the wall of sound they created together that filled the space around us.

The music was unifying and I felt like the audience was connected. That is something I have never experienced before. It amplified my response and I found myself moved to tears. Though the lyrics aren’t overtly sad I felt an ache and a despair as I listened and I felt the grief of losses in my life that I hadn’t faced. I try to be tough and strong when facing adversity and loss and the music broke me open and let me feel everything I had been pushing away. Instead of making me sad it actually felt healing and made me feel whole. It broke down my walls, but it made me feel stronger, not weaker for it.

It felt like Yob poured everything they had onto that stage, opening up and giving it all to us. After the show I discovered that I was not alone in my response. Many people felt that connection and were moved deeply. Trying to articulate the experience is like trying to describe a rainbow to someone who can’t see. How do you fully describe the beauty, the emotion and the passion? The only way to truly understand the magic that is Yob is to experience them live yourself.

Our Raw Heart by YOB

[doomedandstoned]

Doomed & Stoned Turns Five!

Coinciding with Doomed & Stoned's fifth anniversary, Todd Severin of The Ripple Effect talks to Editor in Chief Billy Goate about this bitchin' lil blog, from its inauspicious beginning in the summer of 2013 as a simple social media platform to bring together lovers of the doom-stoner sound to dabbling in its own music festival, a massive compilation series, podcasting, and of course album reviews and interviews. Touching on both the joys and challenges of coordinating a multinational team of contributors, Billy discusses battles with burnout, the excitement of new discoveries, and the struggle to stay on top of an exponentially mushrooming music scene.

Photo by Chris Schanz

Let's start with the obvious: why Doomed & Stoned?

The name Doomed & Stoned isn't really meant to be edgy, though it does have a nice ring to it. It came to me as a simple way to sum up the heavy vibe that is the heart and soul of our writing: doom metal and stoner rock. I consider those to be the enduring styles of true metal and classic rock 'n' roll, best encapsulated by the music of Black Sabbath. Sabbath played music that was famously downtuned, slow, plodding, and somber, documented so incredibly by those first four albums. Then they had their up-tempo swings that tapped into the feel-good era of the 1970s, "Hole In The Sky" and "The Wizard" comes immediately to mind, as does "Sabbra Cadabra" and a number of songs on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) -- such a forward-looking album. Black Sabbath is the quintessential doomed and stoned band and it has been, broadly speaking, the stylistic portfolio of music we've decided to hone in on for this venture.

Photos by Alyssa Herrman

As soon as I was turned on to the doom-stoner vibe, I began to notice things happening into my own backyard of Portland, Oregon. At the time, Oregon’s proudest exports were bands like Witch Mountain, Yob, Lord Dying, Danava, and a handful of others that were being signed left and right to labels like Relapse and Profound Lore. Well, I just started documenting everything, because I felt there was something really special happening here, much as there'd been a magical vibe about our sister city Seattle in the '90s when my family had moved up here from East Texas.

It all began with me showing up randomly at shows and shooting live footage, I believe the first was the Portland Metal Winter Olympics in 2014, then Hoverfest. Initially, no one knew who the hell this guy was showing up with his camera, but gradually I became more accepted by the community, which opened up opportunities for doing interviews, album reviews, and a big 75-band compilation of the Portland scene, which kicked off this massive series of scene comps that many know Doomed & Stoned best for.

Yob at Hoverfest (Film by Billy Goate)

What gave you this crazy idea of promoting the scenes to the rest of the world?

Doomed & Stoned originated out of a frustration I had in sharing discoveries like Windhand, Saint Vitus, Sleep, and Goatsnake with my metal friends. Many wouldn’t give these bands a chance or listened for half-a-minute and gave up. Surely, I thought to myself, there must be others out there who were just as in love with the doom-stoner genre as I am. It wasn’t long until I met Melissa Marie in a metal forum. I told her what I was planning, she was down, and together we burrowed in the heavy underground and discovered a whole community there welcoming us. Melissa was my first contributor and along the way, we made acquaintances with aspiring writers and photographers who really caught the vision and volunteered to document their own scenes. She's since become my executive editor and the organizer of our flagship festival in Indianapolis.

Suzi Uzi and Melissa Marie at Doomed & Stoned Fest

Just like that, the Doomed & Stoned team was born. Roman Tamayo joined the team shortly afterwards, now the Editor of Doomed & Stoned Latinoamérica and I started meeting people from all over who wanted to contribute an album review here, a bit of concert footage there. It all happened very naturally and organically, fueled by simple passion, a mutual love of fuzzy, downtuned riffs, and a desire to document the energy and excitement of what we were all witnessing -- Demon Lung in Las Vegas, Orchid in San Francisco, Pale Divine in Pennsylvania, Pilgrim in Rhode Island. It didn't take us long to discover was going on in the rest of the world and it blew our ever-lovin' minds.

With the explosion in blogging and desktop publishing, we gradually discovered there was a loose network of folks covering the doom-stoner scene all over the world, too. Most of them have been very friendly and we’ve even had the opportunity to collaborate with folks like The Sludgelord, Outlaws of the Sun, The Ripple Effect, Invisible Oranges, Revolver, Blabbermouth, and so many more. There are others that wouldn’t acknowledge our existence -- still won't to this day -- I’m guessing because we were viewed as unwelcome competition in an already small market with a tight circle of friendships. The thing is, we never really wanted to compete with anyone; we just wanted an outlet to share our love of music. It’s hard not to be competitive sometimes, of course. Competition can be positive in that it inspires you to push yourself, try new things, and grow.

Stephanie Cantu, Frank Heredia, and Elizabeth Gore at Psycho Las Vegas

That said, since none of the 20+ contributors to Doomed & Stoned are doing this full-time, we want ultimately just want to have fun and you can’t enjoy the ride if you’re constantly trying to outdo this site or that. We found our niche in digging into local scenes and telling the stories of the bands who may very well be the next Sleep or Windhand a decade or two into the future.

We're now in the fifth year of our existence and I feel we’re becoming known as people willing to give bands and their local scenes the kind of in-depth coverage they deserve. That speaks to our motto: “Bringing you the music and the stories of the heavy underground, with an emphasis on the Sabbath Sound and local scene coverage -- by the underground, for the underground.”

Disenchanter at Doomed & Stoned Winter Showcase (Film by Billy Goate)

How has the scene grown and changed in the intervening years?

Well, since those bright-eyed early days, the doom-stoner scene has absolutely exploded. We were lucky enough to time our entry, purely by happenstance, to ride that wave just as it was nearing its crest. Right now, the scene is at least twice as big as it was five years ago and it’s becoming practically impossible to listen to all the new albums coming out, even if we limit the consideration to just doom metal, or even a subgenre of doom like blackened doom or death doom. It becomes a matter of practicality to prioritize those albums that are brought to your attention by PR firms and record labels, but I always remember that some of our greatest discoveries have been unsigned bands.

Over the years, we’ve been lucky enough to discover bands like Disenchanter, Holy Grove, Troll, Year of the Cobra, Toke, and dozens of others that have since risen to international prominence. Just to know you were there the moment their demo showed up on Bandcamp. You were among the first to listen to their self-produced CD on the commute to work. You were there to witness them opening for a touring headliner. You wrote their first review. You made that social media post that sparked a fire of interest. You recommended them to one of your overseas blogger pals. All of that is tremendously gratifying to be a part of.

Toke at Doomed & Stoned Festival I (photo by Johnny Hubbard)

We're all the product of our musical past. What's your musical history? First album you ever bought? First musical epiphany moment? First album that terrified the hell out of you?

I was raised by parents who came of age in the ‘50s and ‘60s, so I was exposed initially to a lot of late-‘60s rock, big band jazz, and later the ‘70s radio pop. Mom was fond of playing three classical music albums with a mix of music by Mozart, Beethoven, and Rossini, and that left a very powerful impression on me early on. She also was fond of Olivia Newton John, so I have “Jolene” permanently etched on my psyche and every so often vainly attempt singing it in the shower.

My first vinyl was the Ghostbusters soundtrack, which dad bought for me, and it unleashed a curiosity for the popular music of the ‘80s. Like a lot of my friends at school, I was nuts about Michael Jackson and I remember asking dad if I could have one of those swank red jackets that he wore so famously in “Thriller” (I was denied, though I did get quite good at grade school moonwalking). I distinctly remember the day my family got cable TV for the first time and with it MTV, which brought the music of Metallica, Boy George, Madonna, Aerosmith, and Run-DMC into our conservative Texas household.

It didn’t last long, because somewhere in the mid-‘80s, my family got caught up in the whole “Satanic Panic” movement. They started monitoring my listening habits vigilantly. One day, for instance, my mom was horrified to find her ten-year-old boy singing along to “Nobody’s Fool” by Cinderella during Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 show. From that point on, both rock and metal were banned from the house and my radio was confiscated. It was too late, though, because I was hooked – particularly by metal. Something about it has always moved me in a way that only classical music has matched. My first metal album, which I purchased in secret, was ‘Appetite for Destruction’ by Guns ‘n’ Roses – which at the time represented the pinnacle of late ‘80s heavy metal. People need to understand how revolutionary it was to hear something that “hard” on mainstream radio and MTV. I listened to it and ‘Lies’ incessantly on my Walkman and continued listening clandestinely to FM hard rock and heavy metal.

Since I couldn’t listen to it openly, I started developing an interest in the darker side of classical music, the moodier pieces by Beethoven, Liszt, and Scriabin, and took up playing the piano around 13. My family was supportive of that talent and I would spend hours and hours a day for years playing the piano in solitude. That was my first introduction, in kernel form, to “doom” – especially late Beethoven, when he started growing deaf and began expressing his frustration and despair more poignantly through dark tones. Franz Liszt, later in life, experienced so much tragedy that he begin to write very bleak, obscure music and was one of the first to experiment with atonality.

It wouldn’t be until my college days that I’d come face-to-face with doom at a Saint Vitus show in Portland. From that moment forward, I knew I’d discovered my soul food. Doom metal made an immediate connection, as it addressed the fucked up nature of life and society in a way that felt authentic to me. It wasn’t just anger. It was dark, slow despair and even a blithe kind of acceptance to it all. It was refreshing to have those feelings mapped out in song like that. That triggered a wave of discovery that led to Usnea, Cough, Pilgrim, Demon Lung, Serpentine Path, Undersmile, and others that are now staples of my musical diet.

Drumhead from Doomed & Stoned Festival II

What do you see happening in the music scene today, good and bad?

More people are digging to the doom-stoner sound and the scene is growing exponentially. The internet has democratized music in a way that has made it easier than ever for bands to form, record, and share their music. It’s also made it much, much harder for a band to get discovered. We’re simply oversaturated by it all. We’re reaching peak information and many listeners have just stopped exploring altogether. I think there was a study done some years back that said by the late-20’s/early-30’s the average metal listener typically hardens in their musical tastes. I don’t know how true that is still, but I know that I’ve been increasingly suffering from listening fatigue. 2014 was the last year I felt on top of it all. 2015 was explosive and every year since has found me woefully behind in my listening. I’m still digging through the rubble and discovering incredible records that I share now and then in a series of short reviews I call, “Doomed Discoveries.”

Among the trends I’ve seen in our scene in particular is the increase in female-fronted bands (which we tried to document in our compilation, The Enchanter’s Ball) along with more experimentation with genre blending. It’s becoming harder to find bands who traffic in traditional doom, but that’s fine because I think we all needed more diversity in our playlist to keep us from becoming jaded. For a while, it seemed every other band was “witch” this and “black” that. I’m the last person to judge a band by its name, but it was leading to a ton of criticism from fans -- to the point I’d have a hard time getting doom-stoner listeners to take a chance with a newer band that had the word “wizard” in their name. One thing that seems to be a theme of the doom-stoner scene is a continual drive for excellence and evolution. On the negative side, we tend to expect more of our heroes, as a result -- which is why bands like The Sword and Electric Wizard have been criticized for producing music that would have otherwise excited us if they were a brand new band.

Holy Grove at Hoverfest (Film by Billy Goate)

What's been your all-time greatest "find"? That band you "discovered" before anyone else and started the word spreading?

It’s hard to pinpoint one band, but I’ve been instrumental in boosting the music of Holy Grove, Disenchanter, Troll, and Year of the Cobra -- all bands from out of the Pacific Northwest. Initially they were promoted through Doomed & Stoned and then found their way to small-to-medium sized record labels and festivals. Over half of the bands that played the Vinyl Stage at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in the inaugural year of Psycho Las Vegas were my direct recommendations. Though I was less involved in the following year, Psycho Las Vegas booked most of the bands that appeared at Doomed & Stoned Festival, such as Merlin, Toke, and Youngblood Supercult. It was a huge confidence booster in Doomed & Stoned’s ability to be a “taste tester.” This is not to say our taste in bands has always been picked up by festivals or record labels. The scene is getting bigger and out of necessity bands have to diversify their reach through a multiplicity of media outlets, because you never know who will read that one feature at the right time and dig your sound. Besides, there’s too much music in the doom-stoner subgenre for any one site to cover right now, so there are plenty of great recommendations coming from a number of amazing blogs and webzines.

What's the last album to grab you by the throat and insist you listen?

Definitely ‘Celestial Cemetery’ (2017) by Purple Hill Witch. I was only a nominal fan of their first album, but their second one was quite convincing, emotionally. There’s an underlying sadness to the record that appeals to me as a person who has long battled depression.

Celestial Cemetery by Purple Hill Witch

What's the hardest thing you encounter in promoting shows?

Convincing people that live music is worth leaving the comfort of our homes to experience, to say nothing of many benefits that come from connecting others in the underground music community. These days, we tend to value how conveniently something can be delivered to us. Audio books have replaced the need to sit and read (and collect printed media), our homes have become veritable theaters so no need to go out for movies anymore, and streaming high-definition music makes us feel like we’re in some sense getting the real deal.

Of course, those of us who go out to shows know there’s just no substitute for the excitement, energy, and sound of a well-produced live show, especially in a small venue. This is to say nothing of the community that comes with it. My best friendships in the scene have come about because I chose to breach my comfort zone and venture out to a show, sometimes merely on a whim. With that said, I admit I struggle with convincing myself to go out. It’s the introvert in me, I suppose. However, I have a saying that I try to live by: “Feel the fear and do it anyway.”

Witch Mountain -- first tour with Kayla Dixon (Film by Billy Goate)

If you could write a 1,000 word essay on one song, which one would it be, and why? What makes that song so important?

Funny, I actually did write a 1,000+ word essay on Cough’s “Possession” -- the only song I’ve been moved to write an entire piece about so far. I think it’s because it spoke to me during a time in my life where I was feeling such raw, charged emotion and witnessing a personal transformation from being a happy-go-lucky, easy-going dude, to someone emptied of hope and weighted down by a very nihilistic outlook and pessimistic thinking. This was, in turn, keeping me more closed off from other people, because my trust level was at an all-time low.

I’ve always valued music for its ability to commiserate with me in my circumstances. During Basic Training it was Superunknown and Down on the Upside by Soundgarden. In my college days, it was Alice in Chain’s last album just prior to the death of Layne Staley, which fans nicknamed Tripod. In 2016, Cough returned after a long absence, released Still They Pray, and headlined the first ever Doomed & Stoned Festival in Indianapolis. It was a year of transition for me with a lot of upheaval in my personal life and “Possession” seemed to capture my inner storm perfectly, which inspired me to write a few words about it.

Give us three bands that we need to keep our eyes out for.

White Wail: The grooviest psychedelics this side of Berlin are nested right here in Yob country, my hometown of Eugene, Oregon. White Wail is best described as part-Graveyard, part-Radio Moscow, with a special kind of DIY electricity that has made them hands down one of the most entertaining live acts in the region. Their upcoming second album is going to put them on the map for many people, I predict.

I by White Wail

Reptile Master: Norwegian doom-sludge clan with two guitars, two basses, a drum, and one unhinged vocalist. You’ll find none fiercer. “The Sorcerer’s Weed” (opening number off their first LP, In The Light of a Sinking Sun) is positively frightening. I can feel its seething rage filling up my chest cavity like pneumonia every time I listen to it. I believe they’re expecting a new album out in the first quarter of 2019, if not sooner, and I can't wait!

Chrome Ghost: The ultimate contrast of light and dark come to us from a relatively unknown band in Roseville, California. The secret sauce here involves incredible vocal harmonies pitted against massive, crunchy riffs, something that’s done very effectively in their recent EPs, ‘The Mirror’ (2018) and ‘Reflection Pool’ (2017). Now, they just need to take this show on the road so the world can get better acquainted with them.

Shallows by chrome ghost

Tell us about your personal music collection. Vinyl? CD? What's your prized possession?

People think I have a huge vinyl collection, but mine is quite modest, really. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have a bigger collection and show it off, but unfortunately, I haven’t a lot of money to put into it, really. My most prized records come from bands I’ve supported from their earliest stages, like Holy Grove, Menin, Soom, or Vokonis. CDs have come to dominate my collection, not so much by choice, but quite a few promos are sent to me that way. Mostly, I have a vast digital collection that takes up almost six terabytes of data. Since I’m doing a lot of podcasting, this allows me the easiest point of access to put together my mixes for The Doomed & Stoned Show.

BelzebonG at Psycho Las Vegas (Film by Billy Goate)

What is it about this particular type of heavy music that makes it mean so much to you?

To me, doom metal and stoner rock has incredible staying power. It’s something I can listen to over and over again without growing weary of it. Add to that the fact bands in this genre take so much care in crafting their live sound and you can go to any doom-stoner show knowing you’re going to have an incredible time, perhaps even walk away with a better experience than the record gave you. I was constantly disappointed by the concert experiences I had while immersed in mainstream metal. It just never sounded as good as the records did. With doom-stoner music, my experience has largely been that a band's show can, and often does, transcend their studio recordings. It’s just the ethic of our scene; we're fanatical about sound.

With BelzebonG

What makes it all worthwhile for you?

That's a really good question. My philosophy is that as long as we’re all still having fun, it’s worth it to keep doing Doomed & Stoned. With that said, it can be very demanding and stressful, especially as we’re increasingly turned to by bands, labels, and PR firms to host track and album premieres. The gratification of a piece well done -- whether by me or by one of my team members -- is ultimately what keeps me going day-to-day. I find a lot of joy in developing talent and even helping writers and photographers hone their craft, gain greater name recognition, and develop the confidence to even branch out on their own as freelancers. Several have gotten gigs with larger outlets like Noisey due to their work here and that just blows my mind.

When Melissa first started, she wasn’t confident at all that she could do an interview. Next thing you know, she’s interviewing Wino, negotiating contracts with promoters, booking venues, and organizing a music festival with international acts. I’ve very proud of the team and everyone who has been a part of it, if only for a season. I'd add to that my relationships with growing record labels and ambitious promoters, who I've been able work with to get bands like Tombstones, BelzebonG, Spelljammer, Vokonis, Cardinals Folly over here to play for the first time in the United States.

With Disenchanter

How would your life be different if you weren't spreading the word about music?

I suppose I’d be spending more time playing the piano, something I’ve neglected more than I’d like to admit since starting Doomed & Stoned. There are some gnarly pieces by Beethoven, Liszt, Scriabin, Godowsky, and Prokofiev that I've half-chewed, just waiting for me pick them back up again. Either way, I don’t think I can stay passively involved in music. I have to be playing it or writing about it, preferably both.

Usnea play 'Random Cosmic Violence' (Film by Billy Goate)

Ever been threatened by a band or a ravenous fan?

No, but I’ve been doggedly pursued on Facebook by overly enthusiastic bands trying to get me to review their albums. What they don’t realize is that I’ve got a very heavy editing backlog -- it takes at least 2 hours and more commonly 4, 6 or even 8 hours –- to prep a feature length piece for publication. To review a record, I need even more time to let it soak in. I have to find something in it that connects with me on an emotional or at least an intellectual level or I can’t write about it. Because of that, I don’t write very many reviews a years. Maybe a half-dozen traditional, track-by-track reviews, though I do try to write at least one short review a week on our Facebook page.

Part of the blessing and the curse of doing this as a hobby, as opposed to full-time, is I don’t have a lot of opportunity to hear gossip, get into interpersonal dramas, know who's not speaking to whom -- that kind of thing. With that said, I really wish I could spend more time responding to every message I receive and developing deeper level friendships. Perhaps in time I will. My work schedule is so packed right now that it’s very hard for me to tear away and just relax and get to know people. On the positive side, it does save me from a lot of inter-scene conflict and allows me to be more of a neutral party when issues arise between bands, venues, promoters, forums, or fans.

Saint Vitus Live in Portland (Film by Billy Goate)

In the end, what would you like to have accomplished, or be remembered for?

I’m hoping we can be remembers for documenting this special era in heavy music history. I want to get better at showcasing the bands in their scenes and telling their stories, just like the writers and photographers of the Seattle grunge era were able to capture the imagination of the world with the Nirvana-Soundgarden-AIC-Pearl Jam vibe of that scene in the early-to-mid ‘90s -- what the 1996 documentary Hype! captured so well. I also hope I’ll be remembered for writing interesting, engaging, and relatable music reviews that aren’t pretentious crap. That’s still a work in progress!

Bell Witch at Doomed & Stoned Fest (Film by Billy Goate)

Many people may not realize the hours you devote to what you do for little or no pay. Is there a day job? If so, how do you find the balance?

This is most certainly not a day job. I have a full time job that I work 40-50 hours a week and I do Doomed & Stoned in the evenings and weekends. Right now, I’m not doing very good with the balance, to be honest. I’m an unrepentant workaholic, if I’m being honest with myself. That said, every other weekend, my mind and body revolt and refuse to allow me to do anything except sleep or just lay around watching movies or doing normal things like, you know, mowing the lawn. If I could will it, I wouldn't sleep more than four hours a night, hit every show that comes to town, review every new release, put out a podcast every week, edit every article within a few days of it being submitted to me. In other words, I'd manage Doomed & Stoned as if it were a full-scale entertainment website. However, I have to remind myself that I started this to build community and to have fun, so it’s okay to operate on a different model.

Filming Elder at Dante's in Portland (Photo by Matt Amott)

What's next? Any new projects?

This year, we’re on a roll with our compilations, thanks to some wonderful organizers who are embedded in their local scenes and are good at rounding up tracks from all the participating bands. We’ve released Doomed & Stoned in Ireland, Doomed & Stoned in Philadelphia, and Doomed & Stoned in New Zealand, Doomed & Stoned in South Africa, Doomed & Stoned in Sweden, and we're coming up on Doomed & Stoned in Deutschland, and our fifth anniversary compilation, Doomed & Stoned in Portland III.

Other than that, we’re in the third year of our flagship festival, Doomed & Stoned Festival, which takes place on October 6th & 7th in Indianapolis. Over the summer, we’ve had two new festivals: Chicago Doomed & Stoned Festival and Ohio Doomed & Stoned Fest. We’ll likely be doing a festival in Portland later in the summer, too, perhaps doing an all-dayer in Eugene, too. These are very much passion projects and we're lucky to break even on them, but the joy of putting on a successful fest that brings together members of the community, that brings bands like Vokonis and Cardinals Folly to the United States for the first time, is totally worth it. This is history in the making. More than that, it's vital therapy for our people -- refueling our storehouses with the power of the Riff!

Finally, other than the music, what's your other burning passion?

I have cats that I love to death. I’m a fanatical collector of B-movies, from the ‘60s and ‘70s especially –- the more awful the movie is, production wise, the more I delight in it. Probably that has a lot to do with growing up on Mystery Science Theater 3000. When B-movies and cats collide with music, I’m in a very happy place (see the band Gurt!). Also an avid fan of vintage comic books -- many of the narratives of the pre-code 1950s comic books were taking chances that rival many of the shocking storylines of Marvel and DC today. Surprisingly, one of the themes that I see recurring between titles is DOOM! It's a delight every time I discover one of these stories. Art, film, and music have a very important, symbiotic relationship and I find it tremendously gratifying to play historian and trace the threads of the past into the present and watch how they continue to evolve into the future.

I've also got a gang of cats that keep me in line and like to be very involved with the production of Doomed & Stoned, so much so that I've had to make cat beds in front of my monitor and in the drawer of one of my desks for a pair of twins I adopted from the pound some years back. They absolutely are enthralled with that desk of mind, whether I'm editing an article or interviewing someone for a show! Best of all, they love them some doom. They sleep soundly every time I've got the likes of Sea Bastard or Serpentine Path rumbling my speakers. Wouldn't trade 'em for all the vinyl in the world.

Meet The Team

North America

Billy Goate (Editor in Chief -- Oregon), Melissa Marie (Executive Editor -- Indiana), Frank Heredia (California), Elizabeth Gore (California), Stephanie V. Cantu (Texas), Chris Schanz (Washington), Papa Paul (Pennsylvania), Zachary Painter (Texas), Alex Watt (Oregon), Alyssa Herrman (Oregon), Hugo Guzman (California), Lara Noel (Chicago), Suzi Uzi (Chicago), Jamie Yeats (Montana), Stephanie Savenkoff (Oregon), Corey Lewis (Oregon), Colton Dollar (California), Adam Mundwarf (Oregon), Dan Simone (Ohio), Shawn Gibson (North Carolina), Tom Hanno (New York), Eric The Red (Oregon), Justin Cory (Oregon), Jamie LaRose (Florida).

International

Roman Tamayo (Mexico), Sally Townsend (Australia), Calvin Lampert (Switzerland), Mari Knox (Italy), Svempa Alveving (Sweden), Juan Antonio (Spain), Angelique Le Marchand (UK), Jacob Mazlum (UK), Mel Lie (Germany), Silvi Pearl (Austria), Simon Howard (Australia), Matthew Donk (UK), Willem Verhappen (Netherlands).

Doomed & Stoned would also like to thank contributions from Ben Edwards, Brian Schmidt, Bucky Brown, Cherry Darling, Chris Latta, Curtis Parker, David Glass, David Knottnerus, Doomstress Alexis, Doug McHardlane, Drew Smith, Eleanna Safarika, Gonzalo Brunelli, Gustav Zombetero, Hannah Rachel Lowe, Jake Wallace, Joey Demartini, Johnny Hubbard, Jules Maher, Leanne Ridgeway, Marcel van der Haar, Mathew Jacques, Mona Miluski, Patrick Alex Thorfinn, Paul Bracamonte, Randy Beach, Sabine Stangenberg, Sandra Mez Russotto, Sandy Wright, Sarah Eriksson, Sean Schock, Stef Dimou, Steph LeSaux, Steve Howe, Thäedra Clare, Wendy Yashira, Ygor Silva, and so many others who have supported us directly or indirectly.

Mona Miluski from High Fighter sporting our basic black

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