Stoner Rock Dublin

The past - The present - The Future

2012-04-10T01:12:00.000+01:00

Many of you wondered what actually happened to StonerRockDublin over the last couple of weeks. No updates over a long time, not present on Facebook or Twitter. But what really happened?
I got a bit bored with my job and I wanted to get something else while staying with the product I was working with over the last year. Since I had no change to find the job I was looking for here in Ireland I started looking around somewhere else. At the same time I broke up with my girlfriend, since that wasn't working out to well either. Unfortunately, the apartment is a bit over my budget and therefore I have to leave the apartment very soon. I then lost his motivation to write due to all of this at the same time.
I applied for a job back in Germany and I was lucky to get this job. This is why I am going back to Germany in a few weeks and I am not too sure what will happen to StonerRockDublin.
I would like to keep it updated and continue posting about Stoner Rock here in Dublin, since it was a great time and I always got great feedback for this blog. But it would be weird to continue, considering the fact that I won't live in Dublin anymore.
I will do a few new entries before I leave and I also got a Stoner Rock compilation planned. So, give me some feedback what you think and we will see what happens to our website in the future.
Cheers for everything
Bene

Sleep in The Button Factory/Dublin

2012-02-28T00:49:00.000+00:00

Sleep - That's what you shouldn't do on this Wednesday the 23rd of May 2012. The Black Sabbath influenced Doom Rockers from San Jose/California will be playing a gig in The Button Factory here in Dublin and you definitely should not miss this gig. For those who are not familiar with Sleep, check out the video below. It's the one hour track "Dopesmoker" which has only been released in full length in 2003 on TeePee Records. A shortened bootleg version was released by Sleep themselves somewhen last century.
For those who are familiar with the Band, see you in the Button Factory when these lads are on stage.

Also have an eye at the Event on Facebook and the Events-Section for further updates
Tickets at Tickets.ie
Price: €21.50

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A little bit from Wikipedia about them:

Early Years
Sleep evolved in the early 1990s from the band Asbestosdeath, which was established by vocalist/bassist Al Cisneros, drummer Chris Hakius, and guitarist Tom Choi. Asbestosdeath expanded to a quartet with the introduction of Matt Pike on guitar, and recorded two singles - "Dejection" for Profane Existence and the self released "Unclean". Choi departed, and would later found Operator Generator, It Is I, Noothgrush, and Las Vegas' Black Jetts. Asbestosdeath recruited Justin Marler as replacement and the band adopted the new name, Sleep.

Recording Era
Their debut album Volume One was released in 1991. Frequently compared to bands like Saint Vitus, Sleep soon gained a devoted fanbase within the developing doom metal scene. Marler quit the band soon after to take up life as a monk, leaving the band as a power trio for the recording of their Volume Two EP, which was released officially by Off The Disk Records in 1991. The band's next album was sent to the independent label, Earache, as a demo. Recorded at Razors Edge studios in San Francisco, with Billy Anderson handling production, the tape showcased Sleep's love of all things retro, from the blatant Black Sabbath/Blue Cheer influences, to their fixation with 1970's-style tube amplification. The label immediately signed the band and released the tape exactly as it was received.

Sleep's Holy Mountain (1992) is widely considered a seminal album in the evolution of stoner metal. The album's release was followed by a potentially lucrative offer from London Records, and Sleep signed with them. Around this time, Earache released its first Black Sabbath Tribute album, and Sleep contributed a cover of "Snowblind". Under their new contract, they began work on their third album, Dopesmoker, in 1995. Much to the dismay of executives at London records, Dopesmoker was a single song more than one hour long. London Records declared the album unmarketable and refused to release it. Sleep returned to the studio and then submitted their second attempt at the new album. They had retitled it Jerusalem, re-written some of the lyrics and trimmed it down to a "lean" 52 minutes, but it was essentially the same as Dopesmoker. London Records again refused to release it. Frustrated and generally unhappy with the situation, the members of Sleep decided to disband.

Reunion
In May 2009, Sleep reformed to perform two exclusive reunion sets in England as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival. In the shows the band performed for the first time a song that had previously been intended for inclusion on, and wrote during the Dopesmoker recording sessions and widely unheard entitled 'Antarcticans Thawed'. On November 19, 2009 Al Cisneros confirmed in an interview with The Obelisk that Sleep will be reuniting in the fall of 2010 for some US dates. It has also been confirmed that Jason Roeder (of experimental metal band Neurosis) will replace Chris Hakius on drums. The group are confirmed to play the ATP New York 2010 music festival in Monticello, New York this September where they will perform Holy Mountain in its entirety. They are touring the rest of the United States, playing headlining dates and festivals, through September. Sleep embarked on a 9-date US tour shortly after the All Tomorrow's Parties festival. During 2011, Sleep were confirmed as an act for the 2012 annual music festival, San Miguel Primavera Sound, taking place in Barcelona over late May and early June. On April 14, 2012, Sleep will headline the 17th annual Roadburn Festival. A band statement for which reads “Sleep are honored to attend the Symposium of Iommic Research, Tilburg at Roadburn”. In May 2012 the band will support Slayer at the All Tomorrow's Parties 'I'll Be Your Mirror' festival at Alexandra Palace, London.

Chocolate Love Factory - Octavia

2012-02-24T00:28:00.001+00:00

I'm pretty sure that everybody knows this feeling: You're sitting at home, going through your music library and you don't know what to listen to. This is where Chocolate Love Factory from Northern Ireland comes in place. Influenced by many different artists like Kyuss or Queens Of The Stone Age, Tool, PJ Harvey and Stevie Wonder, Chocolate Love Factory is creating a great mixture of all of these genres and bands. And if you think that sounds like a weird mash-up of different genres, you're mistaken. The 3 lads know how to combine that all and their unique sound is ranging from Stoner Rock with Blues touches to Progressive Rock or even towards Indie.
They recently released their latest album "Octavia", which was recorded during winter 2011. The overall sound of the album is a bit deeper than the rest of their stuff and leaned more towards stoner rock, with a few more grooving elements. But this album still shows that they don't really care about what genre their music actually ranges in, they just play what they like and what sounds good. And the punk/hardcore touches here and there fit in really well. My favourite on this record is the downtuned track Octavia. But don't take my word, listen for yourself!

Homepage | Bandcamp | Breaking Tunes | Facebook | Posterous

Northern Irish 3-piece Chocolate Love Factory are fresh out of the studio and ready to unleash their first EP, 'Octavia'.

Groovy, dirty and intense; the EP is dripping in the distinctive octave guitar sound that guitarist Rory Dee has made his own. It mixes melody with filthy riffage, and the band (which includes new bassist Pearse McClelland) are confident that the set of songs presented on 'Octavia' will be an accurate representation of where the band is right now.

After a busy 2011 releasing singles 'Rat Bag' & 'Texty Texty' in Spring & Airbrake, Belfast in March; and summer single 'Coral Lady' with an Irish tour in August, the band are back to prove themselves once again.

Recorded in the winter months of 2011 with Neill McCartney at Pretty Circus Studios in Belfast, CLF are eager to share their new material in 2012. Releasing single 'Scarlett Blues' as a taster on 2nd February (download only at chocolatelovefactory.bandcamp.com), the EP itself will be released on both CD and online on 16th February.

Engines of Ruin - Triquetra

2012-02-21T00:49:00.000+00:00

Can you remember the days when Karma to Burn had a singer in the band? It didn't sound bad at all, but Karma to Burn got better as soon as they turned into an instrumental stoner rock band.
Same happened to the Dublin based trio Engines of Ruin. They have a few tracks with a singer and they have a very grunge-like sound with a great touch of Stoner Rock, which you can listen to at Reverbnation. Those tracks are great work and they really sound good.
But then, during production of their debut album, the singer left the band and they continued to make music as an instrumental stoner rock band. Which was, not only in my eyes, a great decision.
Their debut contains heavy usage of the Wah pedal, jam parts and a lot of bad-ass riffs. Karma to Burn runs into a truckload of Wah pedals and starts jamming right on the spot, is probably the best way to describe their sound. Nice groovy tunes on a great debut album. The band is currently writing and recording new material, and we are all looking forward to their new stuff.

The current line up:

Adam Brewer/Guitars - Adam Kelly/Bass - Johnny Brewer/Drums

From Breaking Tunes:

Having gone through various line-up changes over the last couple of years, Engines Of Ruin are now a three piece instrumental rock band, consisting of bass, drums and guitars. This came about accidentally as the singer left the band at a time when they had just started to write their debut EP.

Rather than putting everything on hold and audition for singers they decided to hold off for the time being and continue on instrumentally, scrapped what they had written and started over. The band have again looked into getting a singer, but to date have not been fortunate enough to get the right fit. The hunt continues….
Guitarist Adam Brewer took on the responsibility of engineering and mixing the EP. This was no easy task as he had the added pressure of balancing this with his guitar duties. Adam had experimented with recording earlier tracks for the band, but this is his biggest recording gig to date.

"Engines of Ruin are an all-instrumental heavy blues band from Dublin. With the pedal to the metal, and I do mean that literally, the band lays it on heavy with tons of wah-wah and reverb. Engines of Ruin rocks you into oblivion with their scorching solos, crunchy power chords and substantial groove. Check'em out now!" - HeavyPlanet.net

Facebook | Bandcamp | Breaking Tunes

Talisman Stone

2012-02-19T22:25:00.000+00:00

You don't really need guitars to make good music. Bass guitars are enough. The Italian band Talisman Stone from Ravenna knows that and bass guitars are pretty much all they use, apart from Sitar, Synth, Drums and Tabla. Andrea is playing the 5 string bass, Erica is playing the 4 string and Lucia is playing the drums.
All that makes their sound really hard to classify. It ranges from Industrial, Psychedelic Rock over to Stoner Rock, Shoegaze and Post Hardcore with a lot of bass driven sounds, of course. Because of this, they are really worth listening to. And they are coming to Ireland for a short tour around the country, so if you're around, you should definitely go to their gigs. The dates are as follows:

May 3 2012: TBA, Galway
May 4 2012: Pheonix/Kildare
May 5 2012: The Pint/Dublin

Band Members:
Andrea Giuliani - Vocals/Lead Bass Guitar/Sitar
Erica Bassani -Lead vocals/Bass Guitar/Flute
Lucia Centolani - Drums/Tabla

TalismanStone are a trio playing without guitars, made for 2/3 by women and for 2/3 by bassists. Indeed they’re formed by Andrea on vocals, 5 strings bass guitar, effects, sitar and synth; Erica playing the 4 strings bass and on the backing vocals; Lucia playing drums and tabla. Their sound is the result of stoner, rock, shoegaze, noise rock, post punk, post hardcore, industrial, dark, metal and indie influences, and that’s maybe the reason why it is still difficult to classify them in only one genre. Active since 2008 with concerts and recordings: our first album "Sunya" produced by the German label Graveyard Confessional, and this autumn they’ll have their second album "Lovecraftopolis" produced by the Italian label Moonlight Records

Facebook | Myspace | Homepage | Reverbnation

Castero - Consequence Of Thought

2012-02-16T22:17:00.000+00:00

Take heavy distorted guitar riffs, stomping drums and a nice bassline, mix that all up with a lot of Metal, Stoner Rock and Doom, add a few guitar solis and a great voice and you have Castero from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. These 4 lads definitely know how to make great Metal influenced heavy Stoner Rock.
Their debut album "Consequence of Thoughts" was released 2010 and offers a wide range of various sounds from Doom Metal to classic Stoner Rock. And yet you can hear the rough Castero sound in every song, which makes it a fantastic debut album.
Therefore a big thanks to Johnny for sending me their CD via post.

The current line up is as follows:

Johnny McMahon - Guitar/Vox
Bob "Mog" Morgan - Bass/Backing Vox
Ritchie Donovan - Guitar

Recently left Castero:

Spanner - Drums

Homepage | Reverbnation | Myspace

From their Homepage:

Castero are a 4 piece Heavy Rock band from Munster, Ireland & are strongly influenced by bands such as Down, Clutch, Black Label Society, Grand Magus,Orange Goblin & Black Sabbath.The band play heavy bluesy Rock n Roll.

Debut album "Consequence of thoughts" was released on April 16th 2010.

To date Castero have played on bills with Diamond Head, O/D Saxon, Fivewilldie, Misty Morning, Trench Hell, Haieeta, Brigantia, Three Hour Ceasefire, Wardog,Bad Boat, Old Season, Mourning Beloveth, The Wounded Kings & they have also played at all 6 Siege of Limerick festivals....

Castero are now working on material for their forthcoming second album, this should be ready to roll in 2012.
Its all about the Groove..............

Blood Red Water - Tales Of Addiction And Despair

2012-02-14T01:55:00.000+00:00

Thanks to Mick from the Stoner Doom band "Blood Red Water" from Venice/Italy for sharing their five track debut EP with us
Blood Red Water has a lot of Sludge Metal influences which gives their mostly Stoner dominated fuzz sound enough energy to tear down the whole city of Venice.
Singer Michele can definitely not deny his Grindcore roots, and his voice gives their overall sound a bit of a metal touch. Especially the song "Modern slave blues", which, at the same time, is my favourite track on their EP. Considering that this is their first release, it is a really nice album.

From Facebook:

"When life is a stormy sea of addiction and grief, music could be a strong lighthouse”

Blood Red Water formed in the summer of 2010 with Michele (vocals, ex grindcore bands: NAB and Grunter Screams) Fiorica (ex and bass player in Blank Symbol, now at the drum). Michele & Fiorica were longtime friends, drinking partners and united by the passion for sludge music so they decided to create something wicked. Immediately Francesco “Volt” (of mr. Boonekamp) joined them as guitarist and feedback noise junkie, so Mick, Fiorica and Volt started to create their music as Blood Red Water.

Lorenzo Petri from Gli sportivi , Valium doll as bass player joined them after few months.

For Blood Red Water it became clear that the band would not be the umpteenth cover band in the zone but their interest/purpose is writing the music they like and feel. All members love bands like EyeHateGod, Eletric Wizard, St. Vitus (list of musical influences is long, very long) but - jam after jam - they realized to not belong to any particular genre. Some tunes are pretty doomy, other tunes could be more into stoner stuff. Blood Red Water lyrics are a merciless portrait of what can save a life or ditch it. Far away from fantasy themes, lyrics give off Michele’s life experience; you can even find redeem words as well as the deepest dopesick despair. At the end of 2011, they entered at the Flameout studio and they did their first 5 songs EP “Tales of Addiction and Despair”. For the time being the EP is in digital format with a free download, but a physical release of “Tales of Addiction and Despair” is coming soon in the pure spirit of D.I.Y.

In the meantime line-up is changed: Lorenzo left them and they got a new additional guitar player; so the current line-up is: Michele vocals/Fiò drums/Francesco “ Volt” guitars and Dodi guitars Now BRW are planning to play live and spread their EP as much as they can. Let the Blood In!

Facebook | Download | Bandcamp

Electric Taurus

2012-02-12T22:49:00.000+00:00

The Stoner Rock trio Electric Taurus from Dublin is influenced by bands like Hendrix, Clutch, Black Sabbath, Grand Magus, Sleep and many more. They use these influences to create nice, down-tempo Stoner Rock with a lot of Blues elements. Their four track demo album, which you can listen to on Reverbnation, has it all: nice bluesy basslines, heavy riffs, grooving drums and a voice that reminds me of the former Spiritual Beggars singer Christian "Spice" Sjöstrand.
Electric Taurus is for fans of Spiritual Beggars, Lonely Kamel and stoner bands that are heavily influenced by blues.

The band changed their members quite often, and right the current line up is as follows:

James Lynch - Bass Guitar
Matt Casciani - Guitar and Vocals
Mauro Frison - Drums

Facebook | Reverbnation | Myspace

Matt and Rob formed Electric Taurus in January 2010, they change few drummers, have the privilege to play with Mino Vitelli and Chris Styne. Finally settle down with Mauro Frison on the drummer stool. Sadly Rob left the band in May 2011 to join his sweetheart in England. Matt then took charge of the vocals and keep on writing new material and recording the final songs for their first album. Finally James Lynch joined the band in July 2011 and the band is a three piece again. Strongly influenced by classic blues (Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Robert Johnson) Rock and Roll (Chuck Berry, Little Richard) and the 60s British invasion (Cream, Free, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin) a lots of stoner bands Kyuss, Sleep, Acid King, Grand Magus and Spiritual Beggers.

Weed Priest

2012-02-10T00:36:00.000+00:00

Doom mixed up with a lot of Stoner Rock riffs and a touch of Psychedelic tunes, that is Weed Priest from Galway. The two Lithuanians Adam Demon Lung (Guitar/Vocals) and Ragas Sabbath (Bass) are riffing you deep into the world beyond, here and there guided by Adam Demon Lung's demonic voice, while the Irishman Adrian Z Goat (Drums) is giving you the rhythm for the journey. And they are not going to take you for a short journey. None of their live recorded track is under six minutes, many of them going towards 12 minutes or beyond, and they were all recorded in one or two takes.
They also have a stunning cover of Kyuss' "Molten Universe" that is critically looking at global warming and a cover of Led Zeppelins "When The Levee Breaks". I am a big Kyuss fan myself, so I'm picky when it comes to Kyuss covers, but you really shouldn't miss this rather unconventional version of "Molten Universe".

The Priest was invoked by his 3 acolytes on October 31st of 2008. After six eons of deep slumber He now once again roams the plain of mortals preaching the sermon of doom this world is yet to wake up to.

Facebook | Download | Reverbnation | Myspace | Irish-Metal Archive

Smokin Engine

2012-02-08T00:28:00.000+00:00

Smoking Engine is a Stoner Rock band from Dresden/Germany that was formed in 2007. These lads didn't need a bass player on their 2009 EP "On The Roads Of Cosmos Five EP" to create sounds as deep as hell. However, they now added a bass player to their team to push the speakers even more. Think of Doom that is played a bit faster with a lot of fuzz in it. All this comes with a nice rough voice that perfectly fits their rough and overall very deep sound.
Their influences are Fu Manchu, Orange Goblin, Kyuss, Slo Burn, Electric Wizard, Weedeater, Church of Misery, Dozer and Helmet and you can hear a lot of these bands in their sound.

The members are:

Benny - Guitar, Vocals
Henry - Guitar
Max - Drums
and Thomas - Bass

Myspace | Download | PlanetFuzz

Wizards Of Firetop Mountain

2012-02-06T01:24:00.000+00:00

Wizards of Firetop Mountain is another great five piece Stoner Rock band from Dublin. They play classy Stoner Rock with a touch of Garage Rock a la The Hellacopters and are influenced by Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, High on Fire and many more. I can also hear some Danko Jones influences in their song Dollar Hips. A bit of a opposite to their sound that you hear on the Demo is their song "Onwards Towards The Sun" which is a heavy stoner track with a touch of doom, where you can hear the Black Sabbath influences. It's my favourite track, but it's not included in their demo, which was released 20 May 2011.
They are going to support Orange Goblin in Dublin and Belfast

From Bandcamp

With floods of fire raging from the rocky peaks, five wizards descended their sanctuary,,arriving many centuries later at the Foothills of the ancient Gaelic stronghold Dubh Linn to unleash a furious wrath of Wizardry and Riffs upon the scorched- sunken soil.

Facebook | Bandcamp | Braking Tunes

Brains - Strange Meat

2012-02-03T22:41:00.000+00:00

Brains is a four piece blackened Rock'n'Roll band from Cork that was formed in 2009. Since all the members of this band were playing in different bands before, it's a blend of different music genres like Blues, Black Metal, Stoner and Psychedelic Rock. They are creating an unique sound that combines all the best from many different music styles. You might not get hooked on them when you listen to it the first time, but after a while you can't get enough. Especially That Awful Witch, which is almost constantly running in iTunes
They released their debut demo "Strange Meat" in 2010 and which was also released on vinyl and they are currently working on their second recording. They will also perform a few gigs in Dublin in February, so check out the Events-Section for updates.

From MySpace:

BRAINS was formed by laapot666 in 2009 and plays Blackened Rock n Roll exclusively. Brains' ultimate aim is to create serious, honest and dark Rock n Roll steeped in the influence of traditional rock arrangements, black metal atmospheres and psychedelic/stoner vibes. BRAINS released their debut demo in early 2010 entitled STRANGE MEAT and made it available as a free download. Since then BRAINS have been putting in much work in the jam room and on the live circuit with a view to becoming a live force to be reckoned with. To be updated as time events dictate...

MySpace | Bandcamp | Facebook

Rites - Self Titled

2012-02-01T22:37:00.000+00:00

I actually don't like Sludge that much. I'm more the heavy-psychedelic-bluesy-fuzz-riff-guy, but sometimes I need a bit more than that.
Then I need a band like Rites from Galway to get what I want. Heavy in-your-face riffage and a screaming voice that is marching through your ears. Fans of 5ive, Fehler or Isis could really like this 4 piece band that was formed in Nov 2009. Kieran (Guitar/Vocals), Higgins (Guitar), Nicola (Bass) and Rory (Drums) were working together to create this beast of an EP.
Unfortunately, Rory left the Band just recently. So if you're living around Galway, are available for regular practice, gigs, recordings, tours etc, then give them a shout.

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Realistic Train

2012-01-29T22:23:00.000+00:00

It's about time that I have another Stoner Rock Band from Dublin on this blog, and here it is:
Realistic Train from Dublin. Realistic Train is a 3 piece stoner rock band, which plays some nice and fast garage rock like stoner that easily gets you off your chair or whatever you sit on. Lowrider meets Feuerzeug with a lot of stoner is probably the best way to desribe their style. But listen for yourself!!

Here's something about them from Facebook:

Realistic Train are a Dublin based stoner rock band formed in 2008 with the sole intent of bringing big riffs and songs about cosmic trains to the masses. Thus far, the group have recorded and released one demo and continue to rock hard and ride free, gigging all around Ireland.

and more from their Myspace-Page:

We are a ROCK band originally formed from members of Mongolia (Dunchee: drums, Tob Swift: bass) and Terrordactyl (Owensie Owens: guitar and vocals) while both of these bands were on hiatus, with the aim of writing some psychedelic/ stoner/ garage rock anthems to get us through the dark Irish summer. The original concept was formed more or less over a weekend at the Roadburn Fest in Holland last year, during the consumption of many good beers, blemmers, space cookies and mushrooms. By the end of the dark summer, as the sun re-emerged from the black clouds above us to waste it's distant rays upon our frost painted hills, the intitial project had taken on sufficient momentum to continue as a realistic band. The irony was not lost on each band member equally. "Ha ha ha", we laughed, heartily. Except Dunchee, who did one better and realized his long-term plan to move down under to Melbourne, Australia. In stepped Ruari Conaty, ex-fellow band member of Puget Sound with Owensie from back in the day. Out stepped Ror several gigs later to make way for Kenn Sweeney (Easpa Measa, The Boy You Hit is Dead...). Having recorded our first demo with Dunchee before he departed these shores, we are STILL in the rehearsal studio of reality, composing more songs from the vast bulk of material that we have generated over this time. This summer sees the emergence of a cosmic fear, a fear of the infinite universe, the galactic realities incomprehensable to the human mind; a creation of our small brains; constricted by the institutions which suppress our imagination, our visions of the past, and of the future, directing us ever closer to our own oblivion. Within the immediate surroundings of the more tangible rehearsal studio, where invisible waves collide in unison and reverberate, shaking the ground upon which we stand, legs wide, our heads and hair ever rocking back and forth, we travel to and fro, across time AND space, from the confines of the practice room to the margins of orion, from the small streets of Dublin to the colliding galaxies and expanding systems of the distant universe, the Train carries on.... ROLLING DOWN THE TRACKS INSIDE YOUR MIND NOW!!!

Facebook | Myspace | BandCamp | Download

Russian Circles - Ireland Tour

2012-01-26T20:49:00.000+00:00

Russian Circles is a three piece post-rock band from Chicago. It's not exactly a stoner rock band, but Russian Circles creates a nice wall of sound and I'm really looking forward to the gig in the Button Factory.
But they will also Tour through Ireland with a stop in Belfast and in Limerick from the 26th to the 28th of April this year.

Check out the Bands Bio from Wikipedia:

Russian Circles is a three piece instrumental rock/metal band from Chicago. Russian Circles play instrumental, sprawling music which runs the gamut of heavy discordant metal, to soft delicate passages. They are also known for their energetic live shows, mostly headlining now but in their earlier days they toured with the likes of Boris, Isis, Red Sparowes, Minus the Bear, Daughters, Coheed & Cambria, Mono, and Pelican as well as appearances at the 2006 SXSW, and 2009's Bonnaroo. They were also the opening band for Tool while playing their first tour in the United Kingdom in 2007. Their name is taken from a drill exercise used in the game of ice hockey.

Formed in late 2004 by guitarist Mike Sullivan and bassist Colin DeKuiper (both formerly of instrumental band Dakota/Dakota), they quickly recruited drummer Dave Turncrantz, formerly of St. Louis band Riddle of Steel. In the autumn of 2007, it was announced that the band had parted ways with Colin DeKuiper. As a result, the bass tracks on their second album, titled Station, were handled by ex-Botch/These Arms Are Snakes bass player Brian Cook. The group's third full-length, Geneva, was released on October 20, 2009 and reached No. 24 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. In 2011, Russian Circles signed to Sargent House who had previously only exclusively released the band's albums on limited edition vinyl. Their fourth studio album Empros was released on October 25, 2011. A supporting tour with Deafheaven followed the release.

Myspace | Facebook

Baleful Creed

2012-01-25T23:23:00.001+00:00

Nice heavy grooving riffs, pounding drums and a Danzig like voice to make your head bang. That is Baleful Creed from Belfast and they are really using the power of two guitars to blow you away. They will be live in the Ma Nelsons in Belfast together with Double Wide to present their new EP "Buried Beneath" this Saturday 28th January. Make sure that you don't miss this event!

Baleful Creed are a four piece band from Belfast and North County Down ready to pour out their classic rock influenced tunes in a passionate live performance.
Featuring a dual guitar team that lay down head- nodding chunky riffs that touch on the Stoner Rock sounds of Black Sabbath, Danzig and Fireball Ministry.
Soul searching lyrics that have been dragged from the well of life's broken promises and experiences, are woven into ear catching tunes that are fuelled by the stomp of a powerful bass and drum rhythm section.

From Stonerrock.eu

Baleful Creed, from Belfast, Northern Ireland were formed with the lure to try their hand at their own songs which were influenced by Black Sabbath, Danzig, Goatsnake and Fireball Ministry, resulted in their songs becoming head-nodding chunky riffed tunes filled with soulful melodic vocals. Their music is spreading rapidly through the dedicated rock radio stations, such as Total Biker FM, ARFM (London), and many internet rock stations like Rock Radio NI, ShineFM, South West Donegal FM and the band have featured twice in live interviews/acoustic sessions on Belfast's Blast FM 106.4.

The latest EP called Buried Beneath, which was recorded in the same studios that The Answer use, was officially released on 28 January 2012 in Ma Nelson's Rock Bar, Belfast. The Killing Time debut EP was released earlier in 2011. The band have also played support to Bill Steer's (Carcass/Napalm Death) blues rock band Firebird in the Limelight in October 2011 and have gained rave reviews from their live shows.

RECENT REVIEW QUOTES:

From Phil Allely for Total Biker FM: Buried Beneath acts as a perfect introduction to the boys Southern Rock influenced double guitar–based doom tinged sound. Here we get to see the stoner rock roots, the classic rock influenced guitar hooks and of course there is the fist-punching attitude, which along with those twin guitars, let Baleful Creed strut their collective stuff very well indeed (4 out of 5 stars).

From Mark Ashby for This Is Not A Scene: Live Review - Baleful Creed – a classic rock quartet playing like a modernised Mott The Hoople, complete with ravaging guitar solos. ‘Fortune Seeker’ is a strong song, with its stoner elements mixed with classic late 60s/early 70s inflections, while ‘Crazy Man’ is another highlight of this well-performed set, melding Black Sabbath style riffs with modern influences such as Danzig. The second half of their set is just glorious.

From Mark Ashby for HevyPetal: Opener Baleful Creed sums up the entire package in one fell blow – heavy southern rock with a strong doom undertone, grinding yet melodic twin guitars, and vocals that sound like Zakk Wylde if he could actually sing! There are elements of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Sabbath, Danzig and The Cult all fused into a neat, toe-tapping package.

Greg 'Fin' Finlay - Vocals/Guitar
'Brother' John Allen - Guitar
Stephen 'Thor' Fleming - Bass Guitar
Mark 'Guinness' Stewart - Drums

Myspace | Reverbnation | Facebook

Kings Destroy

2012-01-23T21:57:00.000+00:00

Thanks to Steve Murphy from Kings Destroy for sharing their album with me. Kings Destroy is a nice downtempo doomlike stonerrock band from Brooklyn/NYC. Since Steve Murphy is an Irish citizen, who's representing Ireland and Stoner Rock in the whole wide world, it's a great pleasure for me, to share this album with you.
Their sound is heavily influenced by Black Sabbath with a great mixture of other Stoner Rock and and especially Doom Bands like Electric Wizard. And all that has a nice Hardcore finish. I always say, that you can classify the early Sabbath Work as Stoner Rock and these guys prove that I'm (almost) right.
The members are Carl Porcaro (Guitar), Chris Skowronski (Guitar), Steve Murphy(Vocals), Rob Sefcik (Drums), Ed Bocchino (Bass)

Bio: Kings Destroy, NYC’s newest hybrid of Stoner Rock, Doom and Hardcore, unites musicians from many of the genres’ most prolific bands. Hailing from the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, KD features guitarists Carl Porcaro and Chris Skowronski from legendary, 100k album selling ‘Killing Time’, vocalist Steve Murphy from ‘Uppercut’, drummer Rob Sefcik formerly of ‘Mans Ruin’, ‘The Begotten’, ‘Uppercut’ and ‘Electric Frankenstein’ and bassist Ed Bocchino of ‘Stanley’ and ‘Uppercut’. The common bond? “An addiction to excessive volume, power and driving, distorted riffs” explains Porcaro. With influences ranging from Zeppelin and the Who to The Melvins, Yob and Cro Mags, KD describes their sound as “brutal Sabbath heaviness with hardcore outbursts and disturbed vocals verging on the demented.” King’s Destroy will release their debut 7-inch on May 25th, featuring the singles “Old Yeller” and “Medusa” with digital versions available May 31st. Their yet to be titled full length, LP, produced by the legendary Sanford Parker (Pelican, Nachtmystium) is scheduled for a Fall 2010 release.

Myspace | Facebook | Reverbnation | Download

We Hunt Buffalo

2012-01-23T00:17:00.000+00:00

This band should definitely more recognised. We Hunt Buffalo is a Stoner Rock trio from Vancouver/Canada which plays some nice fuzzy tunes and they remind me a bit of the Truckfighters with a touch of Asteroid. The bandmembers are Ryan Forsythe (Vocals/Guitar/Bari Sax), Brendan Simpson (Bass/Vocals) and Brandon Carter (Drums/Percussion)
This is their deupt LP, which follow up album to their self titled EP, released in 2010.

Hailing from Vancouver, BC, We Hunt Buffalo plays dirty, grimy stoner rock with fuzz-tastic results. Animal rights activists rest assured, they use the whole buffalo.

Myspace | Facebook | Bandcamp

The Machine - New Album coming up!

2012-01-22T12:06:00.000+00:00

The Machine is a heavy-psychedelic band from Rotterdam/Holland. The members are David Eering (guitar/vocals), Davy Boogaard (drums) and Hans van Heemst (bass). They are going to release their fourth album called "Calmer Than You Are" in March and it will be released on Elektrohasch. You can listen to the song Sphere already and it's a really nice track in the style of The Machine. Although they decided to do a more straight forward rock album, you can still here the heavy psych influences that makes the sound of The Machine so unique.

More infos and full interview with The Machine at stonerrock.eu and their website

Events

2012-01-19T22:31:00.000+00:00

Just added the Events to the Tab-Bar which lets you quickly access upcoming Events in Ireland. The design isn't quite right yet, so I will tweak it during the next few days until we are all satisfied with the look and feel. So stay tuned for updates. Should you think that there's a gig missing, email me at stonerrockdublin@gmail.com and let me know where, when and who's going to play and I will add it to the Events.

There are two Events coming up this Saturday 21st. The first one is Wizards of Firetop Mountain, Celtachor & O.P.O.D- Live at The Blind Pig for all you lads in and around Limerick.
The second one this Saturday is Diet Pills, Loose Nut, Sickener, Wölfbait, Murmur and Wild Rockets in The Lower Deck for the Dublin area.

Pyramidal - Dawn in Space

2012-01-18T23:55:00.002+00:00

Thanks to Pyramidal from Spain for sharing their first Album with me. It reminds me of a great mixture between Samsara Blues Experiment, The:Egocentrics and The Heads.

Pyramidal is a Psychedelic / Space-Rock band from Alicante, Spain. Their influences come from progressive and hard rock bands of the 70s such as Hawkwind, Can, Black Sabbath, Amon Düül II, Captain Beyond or Ash Ra Tempel.

Born in 2010, Pyramidal’s members have a long career within the hard rock, stoner and psychedelic music scene, and played in several bands before.
Their first work came up at the end of December 2011 under the title “Dawn In Space”.
A seven tracks LP mostly instrumental, full of lysergic sounds, obscure psychedelia and hypnotic rhythms that will take you to the deepest trance.

Enjoy your cosmic journey with us!

The crew:

Miguel Rodes: Bass

Miguel Angel Sanz: Guitar & Synthesizer

Oscar Soler: Guitar & Vocals

Lluis Mas: Drums & Percussion

Discography:

Dawn In Space (CD, Radix Records, 2011)

Orange Goblin in Dublin!!!

2012-01-17T00:14:00.000+00:00

ORANGE GOBLIN
orange-goblin.com
Myspace
Facebook
Youtube

The Pint
Fri 20th April 2012
7.30pm

Tickets €17.50 inc fees from www.ticketmaster.ie & outlets nationwide, Sound Cellar & Into The Void Records

dublinmetalevents.com

BY ANY MEANS
Facebook

WIZARDS OF FIRETOP MOUNTAIN
Wizards Of Firetop Mountain

ORANGE GOBLIN ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM RELEASE DATES AND FULL UK & IRELAND TOUR

ORANGE GOBLIN will release their brand new studio album ‘A EULOGY FOR THE DAMNED’ on Monday 13th February 2012. This date is the same day as Black Sabbath released their self-titled debut album in 1970!

Monday 13th February 2012 – UK & R.O.W

Tuesday 14th February 2012 – USA

This is the bands 7th studio album but first for new home CANDLELIGHT RECORDS.

The album was recorded at The Animal Farm studio in South London, UK. It was produced and engineered by Jamie Dodd and mastered by twice Grammy nominated Pink Floyd engineer Andy Jackson at Tube Mastering.

The album will be released on CD and Limited Edition Coloured Vinyl in Gatefold Sleeve.

The full track-listing will be as follows:

1 – Red Tide Rising
2 – Stand for Something
3 – Acid Trial
4 – The Filthy & The Few
5 – Save Me from Myself
6 – The Fog
7 – Return to Mars
8 – Death of Aquarius
9 – The Bishops Wolf
10 – A Eulogy for the Damned

To celebrate the release of the new album the band will hit the road in April 2012 for the ‘A Eulogy for the Damned UK & Ireland Tour’. Dates for this are as follows and support on all dates (except Irish shows) comes from GRIFTER:

April 2012

Sat 7 – Desertfest @ The Underworld, London
Sun 8 – The Fleece, Bristol
Mon 9 – The Old Bell, Derby
Tue 10 – Classic Grand, Glasgow
Wed 11 – Sound Control, Manchester
Thu 12 – The Garage, Swansea
Fri 13 – The White Rabbit, Plymouth
Sat 14 – o2 Academy, Oxford
Fri 20 – The Pint, Dublin
Sat 21 – Spring & Airbrake, Belfast

Orange Goblin will also be appearing live at the following (with more festivals to be announced soon):

Sun 13th Nov 2011 – Candlefest, Moho Live, Manchester
Sat 3rd Dec 2011 – Hard Rock Hell V, Prestatyn, North Wales
Sat 17th Dec 2011 – The Underworld, Camden, London
Sat 14th Jan 2012 – Club Zeljeznicar, Zagreb, Croatia
15th – 17th Jun 2012 – Hellfest, Clisson, France (Exact date still to be confirmed)
Sat 11th Aug 2012 – Bloodstock Open Air Fest, Derbyshire

European Booking Agent – Klaus Koschel – klaus@vibra-agency.de

US Booking Agent – Erik Jarvis – erik@tonedeaftouring.com

Press Contacts – Darren Toms – d.toms@plastichead.com
Paula Hogan – paula@candelightrecordsusa.com

Band Management – One Fifteen – ben@onefifteen.com

Also have a look at Facebook

KillKillKill - From beyond the Agave

2012-01-16T23:12:00.000+00:00

Thanks to Eric from KillKillKill for sharing their wonderful 4 track EP with me. KillKillKill is not only a nice name, the music these lads make is also really great. A really trippy, relaxed psychedelic sound that make you see the sunshine even if it's in the middle of the night. Just lay back in the grass, turn on their music on and relax. But be careful, you could face reality when you return to earth again.
Here's their Bio, which also explains their rather confusing and aggressive name. The name indicates some different music, but do not be distracted by the name.

We are a trip-music-collective in Los Angeles made of many different musicians. A couple of friends started the collective because we were bored of terrestrial drugs and playing standard music and we needed a new psychic energy. We harnessed all the psychic energy we could find and killed what we new of standard music. We Killed the idea of traditional song structure.... We Killed traditional band makeup... and we Killed any business that has to do with our music... that is where the name Kill Kill Kill came from. We then sent an open invitation to any part of the universe that feels bored. Over the years the collective has had more than 20 members come and go and come back again. The members include our friends from childhood and more recently collaborations with cosmic brothers and sisters like members from Acid Mothers Temple and the Brian Jonestown Masacre. This is our 15th album and it was recorded in Echo Park in 2011. There is also a split 7" single with our friends Oxbow on our friends record label Hydrahead Industries for this same album.

Go Down Records Compilation

2012-01-15T22:56:00.000+00:00

Thanks to Max from the Italian label Go Down Records for sharing this nice compilation with me.
This compilation features 30 Stoner Rock, Psychedelic Rock and Rock 'n' Roll tracks that were released during the existing of Go Down Records. This is a nice collection of songs and you shouldn't miss it. So enjoy this nice piece of work:

Tracks: (Band / Track title / Album title)

1 Dome La Muerte And The Diggers / Session Man /Diggersonz
2 Muzzled / Gimme More / Reborn
3 The Morlocks / Dirty Red / Easy Listening For The Underachiever
4 Clepydra / Jimi Plays My Guitar / Marmalade Sky
5 Poison Deluxe / Mature Wine / The Three Dead Blues
6 Muffx / Like Before / Small Obsession
7 Maya Mountains / Wanna Know What I Know? / Hash And Pornography
8 Ojm / Oceans Hearts / Volcano
9 Re Dinamite / Fuzzy Love / Split Connetion Vol.1 With Vic Du Monte's Persona Non Grata
11 Cut / Summertime / Annihilation Road
12 The Sade / Deaf Love / Damned Love
13 Link Protrudi & The Jaymen /Bandito /The Beast Of Link Protrudi & The Jaymen
14 The Last Killers /Flesh And Proud (Feat.Brian Auger)/Violent Years
15 The Shoes / Talk With You / The Shoes
16 Losfuocos / Revolution / Revolution Losfuocos
17 Pater Nembrot / Supercell / Sequoia Seeds
18 Vic Du Monte's Persona Non Grata / Barons &Bankers / Barons & Bankers
19 Glincolti / Ferma Un Momento / Visti & Imprevisti
20 The Strange Flowers / Hollywood / Vagina Mother
21 Gorilla / Hot Cars / Rock Our Souls
22 Veracrash / Beyond The Grave / 11:11
23 El Thule / Black Mamba / Green Magic
24 Underdogs / Fuck Coverband / Ready To Burn
25 King Size / Money Laundering / Guess It
26 Volcano Heat / The Sky / Vive Le Rock!
27 Fango / What I Think / Icarus
28 The Fuzztones / Me Tarzan, You Jane In Heat / Raw Heat
29 Autumn's Rain / Too Loud / Autumn's Rain
30 Horrible Porno Stuntmen / Camon / Unpublished Of Next Album Of 2012

See you there!

2012-01-14T17:44:00.001+00:00

There will be some heavy guitar work in the Lower Deck,Dublin on the 21. January 2012 and it will start at 8pm. It's 8 € in, so it's a fair price for a lot of bands. Would be nice to see a few people around there.

picture by Niall Ó Claonadh

Directions:

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Diet Pills: A sludge noise rock band from Leicester and Coventry near Birmingham/UK

Loose Nut: Hardcore Punk Rock from Dublin/Ireland

Sickener is a 5-piece Grindcore band from Dublin/Ireland, formed in Nov 2010

Also announced:
Wölfbait another word for shite also featuring Colin Mifsud and more importantly than him Jaakko on vocals
Murmur Prog/ Kraut Rock/ Psych behemoth
and
Wild Rocket fuzzed out space rock messers