Although they derive their name from a mischievous pun based off Stephen King‘s stark, vampire novel Salem’s Lot, little is known about the mysterious Swedish psych rock act Salem’s Pot — except for the fact that their sound and aesthetic seems to draw from old horror movies like The Last House on the Left, El Topo and Blood Feast, as well as The Cramps, Pentagram, Roky Erickson, The Stooges, Deep Purple and others; in other words, murky psych rock with an unsettling sense of menace just underneath the surface. Interestingly what is known is this: between the release of 2014’s Lurar ut dig pa prarien and the forthcoming album Pronounce This! the band has gone through a lineup shuffle in which their previous drummer took up guitar, allowing the band to recruit a new drummer — and with the release of album opener and latest single “Tranny Takes A Trip,” the lineup shuffling has allowed the band to expand upon their sound as layers of scorching and acidic guitar chords played through copious amounts of wah wah pedal and other effects are paired with soaring organ chords, arena rock-friendly hooks and ironically snarled vocals. Sonically and structurally the song seems to equally draw from Black Sabbath and much more contemporary fare including Ecstatic Vision, Slow Season and others; in other words, much like those bands the mysterious Swedish act specialize in mind-altering songs consisting of several different sections held together by a propulsive rhythm section.
Tag: Slow Season
Comprised of Daniel Rice (vocals, guitar), David Kent (guitar), Hayden Doyel (bass), and Cody Tarbell (drums) the Visalia, CA-based quartet Slow Season have developed a reputation for a power chord-based hard rock sound that is indebted to the classic rock sound of the 60s and 70s as you’ll hear off “Y’Wanna,” the first single off the band’s forthcoming full-length effort, Westing slated for a July 8, 2016 through RidingEasy Records.
Written during an intensely busy touring schedule with labelmates Electric Citizen and Mondo Drag and recorded in DIY-like fashion, much like their previous efforts — in other words on reel-to-reel tape at Cody Tarbell’s home studio, located in the middle of a cornfield. And although their recording process hasn’t changed much, as Cody Tarbell explains in press notes the new album is “a different album. But we never wanted to find a particular sound or any one thing and be attached to it permanently. A big part of our records is experimenting.” While cementing the band’s reputation for being sonically ambitious, Westing‘s material is thematically ambitious as well, with the album lyrically following “a loose narrative about our nation’s loss of innocence as it explores its frontiers re-contextualized in a story about an unnamed protagonist faced with choosing between different ideological allegiances and his own social identity,” as the band’s frontman Daniel Rice explained in press notes — with each song following “the unholy trinity of greed + power + violence, the injustice wrought from this, persisting in willful ignorance and reaping what is sown.” In some way, the album’s thematic arc seems to capture the general tone and feel of contemporary conversations about institutionalized racism, institutionalized gender inequality, inequality in general and social justice.
Westing‘s swaggering, second single “Damascus” will further cement the band’s burgeoning reputation for crafting a sound that’s deeply indebted to 60s and 70s rock — in this particular case Black Sabbath, 38 Special, Led Zeppelin, and others as the band pairs bluesy power chords, some incredible guitar pyrotechnics, a propulsive rhythm section consisting of four-on-the-four drumming and a sinuous bass line with Rice’s crooned vocals. In other words, it’s old-time rock out with your cock out, arena-friendly rock that sounds familiar — but with a subtle contemporary sheen.
You can catch the band live throughout a rather extensive tour schedule during May and June. Check out tour dates below.
TOUR DATES:
05/27 Boise, ID @ The Shredder
05/28 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
05/29 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
05/30 Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge
05/31 Chicago, IL @ Double Door
06/01 Indianapolis, IN @ Bent Rail Brewing
06/02 Kent, OH @ Stone Tavern
06/03 Pittsburgh, PA @ Gooski’s
06/04 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
06/06 Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
06/07 Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe
06/08 Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Yacht Club
06/09 Nashville, TN @ FooBAR
06/10 Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone *
06/11 New Orleans, LA @ Siberia *
06/12 Hattiesburg, MS @ The Tavern *
06/13 Shreveport, LA @ Bears *
06/14 Texarkana, TX @ Arrow Bar *
06/16 Oklahoma City, OK @ Blue Note *
06/17 Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
06/18 Austin, TX @ Hotel Vegas
06/19 San Antonio, TX @ The Mix
06/22 Tempe, AZ @ Yucca Taproom
06/23 San Diego, CA @ The Merrow
*w/ Dirty Streets
With the release of their 2012 self-titled debut and its follow up 2014’s Mountain, the Visalia, CA-based quartet Slow Season, comprised of Daniel Rice (vocals, guitar), David Kent (guitar), Hayden Doyel (bass), and Cody Tarbell (drums), the Visalia, CA-based quartet Slow Season quickly developed a regional profile for a bluesy and heavy rock sound that’s heavily indebted to Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and others — but without the being soulless mimicry. RidingEasy Records released a remixed and remastered version of their self-titled debut at the end of last year, and while working on their third full-length effort, the Visalia, CA-based quartet released a 7 inch featuring covers of Black Sabbath and Cactus; however, the band released two singles from their debut — the Led Zeppelin “Immigrant Song” channeling guitar line, thundering drums and howled drums of “Heavy” and the slow-burning, bluesy, harmonica-led “Bring It on Home” meets Howlin’ Wolf channeling “DayGlo Sunrise.”
Certainly, if you didn’t know that the band was contemporary, you’d probably think that these two singles were recorded in 1967 and were recently re-discovered by someone who had been digging through the crates of a used record store somewhere.
The band is playing a couple of live dates across Southern California. Check them out below.
LIVE DATES:
02/19 San Diego, CA @ The Merrow w/ JOY and OVVL
02/20 Visalia, CA @ The Cellar Door w/ Beastmak