Beardfish
Mammoth
Inside Out

And here’s the second of the ‘beard’ bands I promised, Sweden’s Beardfish, a 10-year prog rock institute with five previous albums under their thumb, each of ‘em wild n’ weird monuments to certain grand masters like King Crimson, Yes, and Gentle Giant. Mammoth doesn’t really offer any wholesale changes to Beardfish’s hippy-jazz blueprint, but what it does offer is a deft heaviness not heard on previous albums. In fact, songs like “The Platform” and “Green Waves” — the former complete with metal vocal growls — certainly deliver on the album’s name by delving into Porcupine Tree territory. Hell, even “Akakabotu” has some balls, despite the fact that it’s six minutes of sax-driven muzak. I know not everyone’s into prog, but if you are, you’ll get all you can handle on “And the Stone Said, ‘If I Could Speak’” and “Without Saying Anything (feat. Ventriloquist),” both of which will put a little extra beard onto your fish. Or fish into your beard. Whatever, man, it’s the end of the year.

Listen to “Green Waves” from Mammoth!

One day they’ll erect a rock n’ roll pantheon dedicated to attitude and sound instead of social stature and sales. It’ll be a natural history museum of sorts; neanderthals in motorcycle boots; a hall of beards; denim through the ages (its brilliance lies in its resiliency); stuffed herds of tattooed buffalo. And they, whoever they are, would be best served to hire Tony Reed as curator. Reed, best known as a musician and producer, is also a rock n’ roll preservationist. It’s not an accredited title, but it is a state of mind, a way of life, and it is in this capacity that Reed can approach his other duties with the respect they are owed.

Hence, Stone Axe. Reed’s band, founded in 2007 in Port Orchard, Washington and in which he does most of the studio work less the vocals (he leaves that duty up to friend Dru Brinkerhoff), is a nuts n’ bolts (that’s balls n’ lightning, baby) testament to rock’s classic aesthetics. Reed’s obsession with the heaviest, meanest, choicest, and oft obscure bands of the ’60s and ’70s infuses his songwriting with a golden, hairy-chested gusto. His old band, Mos Generator, sold the skies as a rocket fueled entity, a cosmic druggernaut of futuristic proportions, but Reed ultimately succumbed to Earth’s gravitational pull, and the urge to write dirt and mortar songs for past Gods was too strong to ignore.

Since its birth, Stone Axe has released two full-lengths, a 10″ EP, three 7″ singles, and a split with Sun Gods in Exile, proof that Reed’s work ethic is as relentless as his music. In fact, the start of this interview was delayed until Reed could return from working in Texas with Blood of the Sun. So there you go; he even goes whole hog for other bands, too. But the great preservationist finally put aside his craft for a moment to talk to me about his favourite songs of all time, his vinyl collection, what’s next for Stone Axe, playing the Wurlitzer, and, of course, beards.

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Monster Magnet
Mastermind
Napalm Records

Yes, twenty year stoner rock veterans Monster Magnet are still around, and yes, their megaton dope n’ roll still glitters and shakes, so put on your tinfoil pants and swallow your purple pills because the mastermind himself, Dave Wyndorf, is still preaching volcanic decadence from high atop his asteroid throne. Sure, the third dimension apocalyptic vision still dominates the Monster Magnet narrative, and sure, they’ve still got their tongues wrapped around the live wires coming out the back of the cosmic boogie machine, but that just means their sonic, silver riffs still roll over you like a marching army of radioactive spacemen with exploding balls. Nobody does Monster Magnet like Monster Magnet, baby, and it’s still the best and it’s still bad-ass.

Check out the video for “Gods and Punks” from Mastermind!