Wednesday 30 May 2018

VIDEO PREMIERE: Piss River deliver kick-ass riffing, kick-ass vocals and a party time vibe on "Thor Is Strong"

On the 24th of April 2018, Piss River released their self-titled debut album via The Sign Records. The album combines a variety of influences and results in a sound that can only be described as a cross between Girlschool, L7, The Gits and Annihilation Time


The album contains tracks such as”Speed Machine”,Take Me To Rusk” and ”Thor Is Strong” that shows the band's NWOBHM background. While "Sparks” is a tribute to L7s Donita Spark. Other stand out tracks includes ”Bad Reptution” that have that has a driving punk rock attitude that will turn any party upside down. A cover of Larry Wallis’ song”Police Car” ties together the albums many and mixed influences into this infectious rock n roll nightmare.  Today coming 4 weeks after the album’s release, we have been given the chance premiere the band’s kick ass new video for “Thor Is Strong”, which you can check out below.  You can purchase the album here



Band info: facebook

Tuesday 29 May 2018

INTERVIEW: The Art of NerdGore



Over the course of the last 6 years not only are we striving to cover great music but to cover the wider community involved in the music we adore. It's not just bands, its label people, engineers, and very importantly its artists and illustrators too.

I love a great album cover and visiting the local record store in my teens every Saturday made me notice album covers even more than I had before.  More recently one of my favourite album covers was also for one of our favourite bands at THE SLUDGELORD, none other than Grizzlor and their fantastic debut full length “Disastroid”.   The artist responsible goes under the moniker of NerdGore, a truly gifted individual with an insane eye for detail in his work. And I am beyond pleased that he accepted an invitation to talk to us. I truly hope you all enjoy

Could you introduce yourself and offer a quick bio?  What media do you work in?

My real name is Rich, but I ply my trade as an illustrator under the moniker NerdGore. I grew up in the UK but moved to Australia about 5 years ago. I currently live in a rural town called Bellingen on the East Coast with my wife, three kids and a collection of various animals. My route to becoming an illustrator has been some-what unconventional, given that I had such a shit time at art college that I promptly dropped out, gave up drawing and tried to become a horror writer instead... it wasn't pretty. I didn't start drawing again until I came to Australia and couldn't get a 'normal' job, I posted my efforts on instagram and was blown away by the response and it has just kind of snowballed from there. The vast majority of my work is produced very simply with paper, brush and ink. For colour work, I prefer watercolour over inks, but I also do digital colour with photoshop.

Could you highlight some of the musicians/bands who you've created artwork for and what that process is like?

I'm lucky enough to have worked with bands like Black Dahlia Murder, Municipal Waste, Exmortus, Gatecreeper, Ohhms, Grizzlor, Clowns (Aus), Ratlord (Ger) and others. I would say that nearly all the bands I work for have given me very loose briefs like 'something satanic' or 'a bunch of undead warriors' and this really works for me. I usually respond to that with working drawings and thumbnails and between myself and the client we hammer out a decent working rough. I then light-box my own rough onto larger paper and produce the tight pencils. I normally go back to the band at this point as it's still easy to make changes and then once they're happy I ink directly over the pencils and produce the final illustration. A number of the bands I've worked for, I've already been a fan of and know their music, but if the band is new, I'll always listen to some of their music to get a feel of what sort of illustration might suit them.

Grizzlor, "Disastroid"


In what ways does music influence your creative process? Do you have "go to" bands or albums when working?

I have a slightly odd approach to listening to music whilst working. When producing pencils, I always prefer listening to punk or thrash bands (Early Graves, Venom Prison, Power Trip, Bloodlust, Barbarian, etc) so that I stay fast and loose and don't get too obsessed with detail. Then for inking, I like to slow it right down and listen to a lot doom and sludge, much heavier music (Dopethrone, Chrch, Elder, Hollow Leg, Sunburster, etc) because it requires a bit more patience and a steadier hand. Then again, I often reach points where I overdose on metal and just spend periods listening to old Fat Wreck Chords albums from the early 90's. The pop-punk scene, along with skateboarding, exploded in the UK right when I was a teenager and it was my first proper music love; listening to Snuff, Propaghandi or Lagwagon is like wrapping up in a warm blanket haha.

So when a label or artist commissions you to start a fresh piece of work, what is the process for you? Do they come to you with pre-conceived ideas at all?

As above, it is generally a loose brief but most bands have a good idea of what they want and just allow the illustrator to fill in the details. I did have one experience where the brief was super tight and detailed and it was probably my least successful piece of work. It caused a lot of redrawing and tweaking and made it hard to keep a lid on all the changes. I'm sure there are illustrators that excel at this type of brief, but I think my best work comes when I have freedom to use my imagination a bit and invent some characters or worlds.

Are there any artists, visual or otherwise, who distinctly influenced your style, medium, or process?

The absolute single biggest influence on me as a person, let alone illustrator, would be the British comic 2000ad. I'm the proud owner of a near complete collection (they recently passed issue 2000...), have Judge Death tattooed on my leg and it is absolutely at the top of my 'people-I-want-to-work-for-bucket-list'. 2000ad is fairly legendary these days and its cultural significance is well documented, but for me personally, it was an art training course. From the age of 8 I was copying whole pages of art from my heroes (Mike McMahon, Simon Bisley, Steve Dillon, Glenn Fabry, Colin McNeil, etc) and it's most significant creator, Pat Mills, shaped many of my opinions towards authority, religion and the environment, although I didn't really appreciate it at the time.
In terms of process, my first exposure to how comics were made was from Conventions in the UK and I would hang around at the art booths of all the 2000ad guys. In those days, it was much more informal and you could watch them doing stuff, have a long conversation with them and show them your art work. I got great advice from guys like Henry Flint, Siku, Greg Staples and Peter Doherty and it pretty much meant I was set from an early age to pencil everything and then ink using brush or dip pen. I still work like that now.




Who are some of your biggest influences within your field?

Instagram is running shit hot at the moment with amazing artists. It's actually quite scary how many good artists just appear out of nowhere each day on Instagram, definitely encourages you to keep raising your game. One of the guys who impresses me time and time again is Scott Wygman, he's an awesome dude who recently did a killer cover for a GWAR comic book and his work is steeped in Heavy Metal and RPG gaming, but also draws influence from Anime and stuff like Calvin and Hobbes. It's hard to exactly describe his style and it is very unique, but one scroll through his feed always encourages me to loosen up and stay imaginative (check him out @darkwizard­_bezerker).

The most metal artist I know, is without a doubt Daniel Shaw(@shawillustrations). His work is incredibly detailed and dripping with everything that is cool about underground metal illustration, from decaying skulls, to vomiting priests, to haunted graveyards; this guy can draw it all. His work really influences me to push the detail and never settle for short-cuts and just draw the fuck out of everything. Lastly, the grand-daddy of all Metal meets Gaming illustration; Skinner. This guy has been a massive influence on my work. When I first moved to Australia and was sitting around doing nothing, a feature in Pork Magazine on him was the thing that got me back at the drawing desk. He definitely influenced me to just draw shit that I loved or found funny and make art for the enjoyment, rather than to spin a buck.  

You're quite obviously a big metal fan. Was album artwork always an aspiration for you? What were some of your favourite covers growing up, and do you have a favourite from your own portfolio of work at all?

I am a big metal fan, but I would say that I'm a late convert. I was much more into punk as a teenager and came to metal in my mid-20s. Because of that, I don't have that deep connection to a lot of metal album covers that you would forge as a teenager. However, there are a lot of parallels between a lot the fantasy stuff that influenced me as a kid and heavy metal. One of my single favourite pieces of artwork, is Michael Whelan's painting Stormbringer which I remember vividly from my dad's Michael Moorcock collection. Of course, this later became the cover to Cirith Ungols great album Frost and Fire but I knew it first from the Elric book. Alongside that, I used to hang out in video shops as a kid and the amazing covers always stuck in my mind. Stuff like Deathstalker by Boris Vajello blew my mind and also influenced many a heavy metal album cover. Then, as always, it comes back to 2000ad... so many of those artists started out doing album covers; Simon Bisley's Mortal Sin cover and an near unknown Kev Walker doing Autopsy's Mental Funeral cover.

As for my own work, I think the original Corehammer t-shirt I did is possibly my favourite. It was early on when I started getting commission work and it took me ages but the response to it was great. Corehammer is a blog and facebook group that focuses on Tabletop Gaming and Hardcore Punk music and by doing that shirt, I got to meet a whole bunch of cool people who I've stayed in contact with. I've since done a bunch of shirts for them (and their sister arm DungeonPunx) and we are always planning all sorts of stuff from zines to RPG supplements.

There have been several blogs and articles calling attention to appropriated or "repurposed" artwork, generally taken without credit to the original artist, specifically in the world of "music artwork". Could you speak a little about the current attention to this issue and your feelings on artistic credit in general?

I'll try not to get too ranty here, haha. I really don't like shit like this and, to me, it ties in with the rise of digital art. That's not to say digital art is bad, just that it has provided a whole set of tools that make it easier than ever before to rip people off and make money off someone else's hard work. For years, people have been influenced by other artists and my drawing board has a ton of art books around it so my all my art heroes are within reach if I need a shot of inspiration. But, actually copying artwork directly and re-skinning it as something new is fundamentally wrong and entirely pointless. With stuff like this, it just confirms to me that a lot of people aren't interested in learning how to draw and that speed has overtaken everything. Personally, I think a lot of time saving and cheats that can be done with photoshop, etc skips out essential steps that make you a better artist; sure, Google Sketch Up can do perspective for you, but if you learn how to do it, then only your imagination can limit you. The end result might not be perfect but it will have a ton of personality and character and that is way more important.



Do you still have anything left that you want to achieve in your chosen art form? Maybe a group you would like to do a cover for, or another artist that you would love to collaborate with?

I feel like I've only just scratched the surface to be honest and there is heaps I'd like to achieve. As for an ultimate art goal it will always be 2000ad and more specifically Judge Dredd. If I could work on even just a one-off 5 pager in 2000ad, I would die a happy man!

Finally, where can fans view and purchase your work? Feel free to promote any musical/film/literary/etc. projects you're involved in as well.

The best place to find me is on instagram @artofnerdgore  

Thanks for having me!


Artist info: facebook || Official

Monday 28 May 2018

ALBUM REVIEW: Overkill, “Live in Overhausen”

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 18/05/2018
Label: Nuclear Blast



Overkill are now fully established as the Motorhead of thrash:  a lean mean killing machine that defies age and just keeps on delivering the goods while upping the ante each time.

Live in Overhausen2CD//DVD//DD//2LP track listing:

1. Coma
2. Infectious  
3. Blood Money
4. Thanx For Nothin'
5. Bare Bones
6. Horrorscope
7. New Machine
8. Frankenstein
9. Live Young Die Free
10. Nice Day - for a Funeral
11. Soulitude
12. Raise The Dead
13. Rotten To The Core
14. There's No Tomorrow
15. Second Son
16. Hammerhead
17. Feel The Fire
18. Blood and Iron
19. Kill at Command
20. Overkill
21. Fuck You

The Review:

Overkill return with a double live album after last year's excellent studio effort, “The Grinding Wheel”. Instead of a career spanning greatest hits set, or even a compendium of track's from their last four stellar albums the band have gone for something a little different. Indeed, New Jersey’s finest have opted to re-visit their “Horrorscope” and “Feel The Fire” albums. In full. In track list order. Oddly, the set starts with the chronologically later album, “Horrorscope”.

So, you get 21 tracks over either two CDs (plus DVD or Blu Ray) OR you can fork out for two double LP sets; one for each album. I have opted for the CD and DVD this time around as I simply can't justify buying that and two double LP sets- that really is a big ask, even for a dedicated fan.

This review only focuses on the audio part of the release: it is superb. In fact, this is easily the best Overkill live album. “Wrecking Your Neck” suffered a little from a flat sound, whilst “Wrecking Everything” was an improvement, it still did not capture the full intensity of the band. This time around the band has nailed it. This is one intense performance with the band firing on all cylinders and ably assisted by guest drummer Eddie Garcia of Pissing Razors.

I saw one of the shows on this tour and the band were on fine form, and clearly building up to this performance in Germany. The sound is excellent; full and clear with 1500 German maniacs ably assisting the band by rowdily cheering along and chanting the band's name between songs. The material form “Horrorscope” sounds fantastic with the beefed up modern production and the songs shine. The band retained their punk-ish edge even through the more complex and dark material on offer here and it is still regarded as one of their best, over a quarter of a century later.

The real draw for me, though, is the performance of the “Feel The Fire” album. It stands shoulder to shoulder with “Kill Em All”, “Shown No Mercy”, “Fistful of Metal”, “Bonded By Blood”, “The Legacy” and “Killing is My Business...” for me- and I prefer it to nearly all the records on that list! Overkill's debut was and is a thing of marauding beauty- matching Maiden-esque guitar runs with thrash speed and punk like aggression. To hear the band sounding so vital and revved up on this thirty-something year old material is a treat. “Rotten To The Core” is superb, the extended middle section of the title track (Higher... Higher... Feel The Fire!!!) is as dramatic as it is spine tingling. Metal perfection! The run of great tracks on the album is astonishing; “Hammerhead”, “Blood and Iron”, “Kill at Command...” thrash metal does not get any better.

The CD/DVD is actually pretty good value- you get two full albums live and a DVD for your money: not bad! As stated before, forking out for both vinyl sets is pretty steep, but if you love one album and are not too bothered about the other, you can choose. I'll pick up the “Feel The Fire” set when I have the cash. Ah, who am I kidding, I'll get the “Horrorscope” one as well!

Overkill are now fully established as the Motorhead of thrash:  a lean mean killing machine that defies age and just keeps on delivering the goods while upping the ante each time. Compare their recent output to any of the other big thrash names. Overkill are streets ahead in intensity, hunger, material and work ethic. This expansive live release may well test your wallet, but the band passes the thrash exam with flying colours.


Live in Overhausen is available here


Band info: facebook

VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Graveyard - Truls Mörk discusses Peace and new drummer Oskar


With their fifth album, Peace, GRAVEYARD guides the listener through an ever-changing musical landscape filled with their trademark take on classic rock. From the opening track’s blistering declaration that ‘It Ain’t Over Yet’ to the final note of heart beating bass on the epic and moody rocker ‘Low (I Wouldn’t Mind)’ the band manage to squeeze out every last creative drop of what there is to know, hear and love about GRAVEYARD in 2018.

To anyone who has followed GRAVEYARD throughout their career it comes as no surprise that »Peace« offers yet another passionate display from band that utilises a wide variety of styles and moods. But, if you were to pin-point the one thing that really sets “Peace” aside from the band’s previous albums, it would be that the production on “Peace” is the band’s heaviest and most solid to date. With the album release last Friday, 25th May, today you can check out an exclusive video of Truls Mörck talking about why the album is fucking awesome and what new drummer Oskar brings to the fold.  “Peace” is available HERE


Band info: facebook

Sunday 27 May 2018

6 NEW BANDS: THE SLUDGELORD's 666 PACK REVIEW (May 2018)

By: Nikos Mixas
Art by: Joshua M. Wilkinson 



It’s the May edition of THE SLUIDGELORD’S 666 PACK REVIEW!  While some of you may be graduating school or looking for a summer job, the album/demo submissions keep pouring into THE SLUDGELORD’S inbox for review.  If you’re new to this, each and every month we handpick 6 review submissions and critique them by only using 6 words, then we rate them on a scale from 1 to 666!  Check out our very spring-like rating scale below: 

1 – We’re guessing when you let your mother listen to your band on Mother’s Day, she cried...       
2 – Even with Shinedown, Sevendust and Five Finger Death Punch releasing new material this month,          that still won’t help your cause.    
3 – May is the most average month of the year, it’s not too shabby, nor exactly great.  Congrats on being   a May!       
4 – Just like the new Candlemass, we’re intrigued.  Keep working at it.    
5 – Time to start planning those mini-tour dates!  You need to get yourselves out there! 
666THE SLUDGELORD crowns you with flower helmet encrusted in emeralds representing fertility and success because that’s the best we can do for May!  Hails! 

Caveat:  Even though the 666 PACK REVIEW is meant to offer humorous critique, there are no safe spaces here and your gripes will only make you sound like a bellyacher.  THE SLUDGELORD is a picky listener…and doesn’t care what you think of his opinions….

1). vAv,  “vAv” (Tel Aviv, Israel)    Rating: 3

Textbook doom that plays it safe.




2). Arakk, Under Søvnen” (Copenhagen, Denmark)   Rating: 3

Two songs, too similar, too bad.



3). End of Hope, “D E M O” (New York City, U.S.A.)   Rating: 2

I’m “hoping” this isn’t the “end.”  



4). Denim Casket, “Demo” (Boise, U.S.A.)   Rating: 5

Old school grind meets G.G. Allin




5). Titanosaur, “Eat Me” (Hudson, U.S.A.)   Rating: 1

One man band with computer skillz.



6). Montagne, “Spring Birds” (Paris, France)   Rating: 4

Post Hardcore is still a thing?



Bonus: Yanari, “Marine Leg Demo” (Buffalo, U.S.A.) Rating: 4

Solid doomage.  Vocals are missing reverb.



Band info: vAv || Arakk

Friday 25 May 2018

INTERVIEW: Denver down-tuned blackened sludgers Oryx are all about that bass

By: Mark Ambrose & Aaron Pickford
Alvino Salcedo (C)
The two-piece metal group is a risky venture: for every stellar example that incorporates multiple registers, tones, and intimate dynamics (Bell Witch, NEST, Obsidian Tongue) there are a dozen that do not sound like anything except an inept demo tape (which I politely won’t call out here).  Thankfully Oryx, the Colorado by way of Santa Fe two-piece, fall solidly into the former group: a balanced collaboration that sounds like a symphony of savagery.  While “Stolen Absolution” is a sophomore release, this marked their first album as a two-piece – a sort of second debut, more distinct, assured, and unique than their prior effort, Widowmaker”. 

Skip forward nearly 4 months since the release of this record and the band are set to play some of the biggest shows of their short tenure, what’s more the band are set reinvent themselves again.  This week I hooked up with drummer Abigail Davis to get the low down on their forthcoming shows and she tell us about their decision to change up the line up once more, to present Oryx 3.0



So Abbey, welcome to THE SLUDGELORD! Could you tell our readers a little about how you started playing music, leading up to the formation of Oryx?

Tommy (guitar, vocals) has been playing in metal and punk bands for most of his life. I picked up the drums in high school and then really dove headfirst into it once Tommy and I started jamming five years ago. We helped run a DIY show space in Las Cruces, NM called The Trainyard. We lived right down the street from it, so we would show up at around midnight and play as loud as we wanted without bothering anyone. We just kept playing together until we felt ready for shows.   Oryx was born.

For those people unfamiliar with Oryx, is there any bands on the scene past and present that you would use as a reference point bands to describe your band, and who or what continues to inspire you and push you to try new things?

Bands like Earth, Man is the Bastard, Eyehategod, Drunkdriver, Corrupted, and Noothgrush are all huge influences on us. Currently active bands like Primitive Man, Yob, Bell Witch, Thou, and The Body continue to inspire us and pave the way for heavy music in general.

What can you tell us about your latest record “Stolen Absolution” and where do you feel it sits within the context of current doom scene

With ‘Stolen Absolution’, we set out to create an album that could represent our live sound more accurately and articulate our voice better than any of our other previous recordings. We feel the album stands strongly on its own in the current doom scene, but it’s also a mash up of several genres and with darker undertones that black metal or blackened doom fans could appreciate.


Alvino Salcedo (C)
Does anything spring to mind when you think about the completion of “Stolen Absolution” and for those paying attention to the article, they may notice a change.  So with that in mind, how is the mood in the camp at present?

After “Stolen Absolution” released in February, Tommy and I re-evaluated what we wanted for the band. We decided that we wanted to see this band evolve and grow beyond what we’ve been able to achieve as a two piece. We figured that one way to try this would be to incorporate a bassist into the mix. Over the past several months we have been writing new music with our newest member, David Saylor. We met David years ago when we played with his band Terminator 2. David brings a unique style to the band and we are happy to have him on board. Having a new voice to collaborate on song writing feels like a fresh start for the band. It’s also allowing Tommy to expand on his guitar parts in ways we’ve never been able to do before. It’s an exciting time for Oryx!

With you new record released and a new member on board, how is your schedule shaping up over the next 12 months?

Well we are excited to announce that we are heading back to the studio in June to record several tracks for an upcoming split. This time we are recording with Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios in Oakland. This is a bucket list recording studio for us. We have two big shows in June as well. We are opening for Ufomammut on June 9th at Sister Bar in Albuquerque, NM and then we open for the legendary Sleep at the Ogden Theatre here in Denver on June 11th. For these two shows, we will have a friend guest subbing on bass while David travels back to Texas for some shows with Terminator 2. Get ready to see Oryx debut as a three piece for these shows! We also have plans to tour in August. Those dates and cities will be released soon.


Finally, do you have any last words?

Thanks for the interview and the support, SLUDGELORD! Cheers!




“Stolen Absolution” is available here (CD) and here (Tape)

Band info: facebook || bandcamp

REVIEW: Speedclaw, "Beast In The Mist"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 01/06/2018
Label: Shadow Kingdom Records


The sound over the six tracks comes on like a revved up version of early Saxon and Dio crossed with “Fistful of Metal” era Anthrax and “Bonded By Blood” era Exodus. The production is 80's to the max, the performances strong and the band sound hungry and dangerous


“Beast In The Mist” CS//CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Prelude
2). Beast in the Mist
3). Faster Than Hell
4). Rising of the Claw
5). Aggression Strikes
6). Evil That You See


The Review:

Croatian Speed Metal! Speedclaw are probably Croatia's finest exponent of the genre... and maybe one of the best in the world. The sound over the six tracks comes on like a revved up version of early Saxon and Dio crossed with “Fistful of Metal” era Anthrax and “Bonded By Blood” era Exodus. The production is 80's to the max, the performances strong and the band sound hungry and dangerous. The instrumental “Prelude” opens proceedings before the title track rips out of the speakers with a vengeance. “Faster Than Hell” lives up to the title's promise. Widdly lead work abounds as riffs come thick and fast.

The latter three tracks deliver more of the same- pleasingly- and the band don't let up. Ranger have got some serious competition here as this is pure metal of the highest quality; nostalgic, referencing what went before and the band makes sure to put their own stamp on things. If anything, “Rising of the Claw” and “Aggression Strikes” go closer towards out and out extreme thrash metal, but that is no bad thing. Better to press the pedal to the metal than ease off down the back stretch!

The impressive EP/mini album closes with “Evil That You See”, which sees the NWOBHM influences come back to the fore. The name of the band tells you almost all you need to know here. Surely a candidate for a Fenriz endorsement (if he hasn't done so already) and high time the band gets offered a slot at Live Evil in London. Raging stuff.

“Beast In The Mist” is available here



Band info: facebook

Thursday 24 May 2018

ELEVEN IS ONE LOUDER: Rob Hoey (Limb) picks 5 artists & bands he loves that had a great impact on heavy music... Without using mountains of distortion (and in lots of cases, none)

By: Rob Hoey



As we (Limb) get ready to release our third album “Saboteurs of the Sun...” (available here) ...I thought I'd chat about some of our influences who didn't need modern distortion to get heavy. 

A lot of people who read this will already be very aware of these artists and in writing it I thought 'if I were to read this would I find this kind of thing patronising'? Then I realised that if I hadn't heard of some of these people I wouldn't be able to appreciate the music we have today, so here's to them... The scoundrels, cads, olden day punks who said 'fuck you, I won't do what you tell me' and started something that we can still see / feel today in the roots of all that is sonically heavy. 

So even if you've heard all these before, click the links and refresh your memory while we look back and take our hats off to the men and women who carved out the path we now tread! 



Screamin' Jay Hawkins (1929 - 2000)

If you like Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, Ghost, Kiss or any other shock rockers then you have this man to thank! Before heading to tinkle the ivories, he would emerge from a coffin onstage and wore gold and leopard skin costumes and had voodoo stage props, such as his smoking skull on a stick (called Henry). Alongside all his stage antics he had scream (hence the nickname) that would give Noddy Holder a run for his money. 


Check Out – “I Put A Spell On You”



2 Jerry Lee Lewis (1935 - Present) 

The 'killer' as he is known (and nearly for very good reason, he tried to kill Elvis, look it up) is a controversial figure and no mistake. He is a wild and unbridled force of nature and pushed rock and roll to its limits at a time that America just wasn't ready for it. He once shot a gun to wake up tired party goers who couldn't keep up with him. Any live performance of his will give you a good indication of how energised he was. Also, he played piano like he'd made a deal with Lucifer himself. (you can still catch him live if you're in the states) 

Check Out – “Wild One” 




3 Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883)

Way before the metal zone pedal (or the DOD grunge for that matter) there were people who were determined to get tone henge blasting so had to be inventive. How I hear you cry? Load the bottom end of your orchestra with things like the 'octobass' a giant version of the double bass played with a bow that would make even SunnO))) smile (ok maybe not, too doom!). Richard Wagner was the king of heavy back in the day, those days being the middle of the 1800's. He was rattling the rafters way before Boris came along and showed us how to get a bass tone that would rattle your teeth straight down your neck! 

Check out – “Entrance Of The Gods Into Valhalla”



4 Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915 - 1973)

So... A white Gibson LesPaul SG with three humbuckers sounds like something Zep or The Darkness might bust out on stage but long before all that came a gospel rock whirlwind in the shape of
Sister Rosetta Tharpe and man could she play. She cemented her place in rock and roll history when she embarked upon a European tour with Muddy Waters in 1963 (her UK debut was in Manchester) she noted as an influence by prominent British guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Keith Richards

Check Out – “Up Above My Head”



5 Lead Belly (1888 - 1949)

Here we have Lead Belly a ne'er do well, moonshine swilling multi instrumentalist who saw his fair share of hardship which lead him to sing about women, liquor, prison life, and racism. He was also known to write songs about people in the news, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler and Howard Hughes. You might know him best from Nirvana's cover of “My Girl (where did you sleep last night)”. They don't come much rougher round the edges than Lead Belly and if you scratch the surface of his prolific song library you'll find it paints a picture of man who lived hard and played harder. 

Check Out – “Black Girl (in the pines)”



Band info: facebook