Elder
Dead Roots Stirring
MeteorCity Records

Elder tap that critical vein, the one where the blood runs slow and thick, and they must know how good their stuff tastes, how addictive it really is, because like any pusher worth their salt, they hook us five songs at a time every two to three years. Thank Satan’s graces that those five songs hold enough crushing doom to keep us down and out until the next batch roll around. ‘Twas the way with their self-titled debut and just when you thought they’d been pinched and were gone forever, lost to the land of the tattooed sodomites, they show up like a greasy cousin to ruin your life once more. And with news that Black Pyramid has crumbled, now is the perfect time for Elder to indoctrinate the proud and confused with their spaced-out Sleep worship. On Dead Roots Stirring, the Massachusetts trio take the fuzz-punch of their debut and trick it out with a heavy dose of harmonics and melodic riffs, creating a more energized psych-doom that treads other genre waters as well, like stoner rock and post-rock. The end result is 52 minutes of boundary-baiting boldness; part Wizard, part Sasquatch, part Jupiter, all Awesome.

Listen to “The End” from Dead Roots Stirring!

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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Against Me!
White Crosses
Sire

I avoided — on purpose, mind you — Against Me! for a long time. It seemed like everyone around me, from out-of-touch radio disc jockeys to bratty teenagers with shitty haircuts, were sucking on the post-punk teet, swallowing the sour milk pablum like spoiled babies. The next thing you knew, tattoos were fucking mainstream and I was one hundred and eighty-seven years old. Or that’s how I felt, anyway. I wasn’t clicking, as it were, with the music of the new generation. That was around 2005 or so, and Against Me!’s popularity was hitting full stride with the release of their third full-length, Searching for a Former Clarity, and long forgotten were their days as folksy, raw, acoustic, eternal Floridian cowboys reinventing Axl Rose. Then came 2007′s New Wave and there was no doubt about their impact; the kids had found their modern day hero in Tom Gabel, a socially conscious front man who could write ridiculously catchy punk songs and lyrics with prominent, relevant staying power. So it wasn’t that I didn’t like Against Me!, it’s just that I really couldn’t get into Against Me! because to do so meant having to admit that being uncontrollably popular doesn’t mean you are complete shit. Yeah, I know, hard to believe, eh?

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