#ancient warlocks

Doomed & Stoned

High Summer Fest

SCRAPBOOK

♒ Friday & Saturday, August 4th & 5th, 2017 Ash Street Saloon | Portland, Oregon ♒

Photos by Stephanie Savenkoff

Films by Billy Goate

DAY I

SARAMA

WOUNDED GIANT

YEAR OF THE COBRA

DISENCHANTER

DAY II

MAMMOTH SALMON

TEEPEE CREEPER

KLAW

ANCIENT WARLOCKS

Doomed & Stoned Winter Showcase

~Photographs by Chris Schanz & Stephanie Savenkoff~

~Review & Films by Billy Goate~

It’s Doomed & Stoned's second time collaborating with wicked Disenchanter bassist Joey DeMartini, whose own Mad God Booking and PR put together that stellar Doomed & Stoned Summer Showcase last year.   The event gave us a chance to introduce you to some of the rising stars in the Portland heavy underground.   After the brutal election season and one too many cooped up snow days, it was high time for another.   The evening of Friday, January 20th, gave us the reprieve we were looking for.

Though the Portland streets were restless with massive protests blocking areas around the venue (it was inauguration day and emotions were running hot), the Doomed & Stoned Winter Showcase went off without a hitch.   Truly, who could have asked for a more complimentary line-up?   I suppose Joey just has a knack for these things.   On tap for the show at Ash Street Saloon (one of Portland’s last remaining downtown venues for heavy music): Young Hunter, Die Like Gentlemen, Disenchanter from the Portland area, with Seattle guests Ancient Warlocks and Year of the Cobra closing out the evening.

Seattle photographer Chris Schanz (famous in these parts for his mesmerizing experiments with light) braved the I-5 rush and was the first friendly face I saw.   Even though he’s been a contributor to Doomed & Stoned nigh well since the beginning, and we’ve lived just six hours apart, this was my first meeting with him.   Not only is he one of the best photogs in the scene at large, he’s a down to earth good fellow with a great sense of humor.   He and Stephanie Savenkoff were having fun throughout the night comparing pics and sharing techniques (Stephanie documented our last showcase and, most recently, Ceremony of Sludge V).

Looking around, you might a few familiars in the crowd (Billy Anderson was on hand to see Year of the Cobra perform the new songs they’d recorded last year for ‘…In The Shadows Below’ on STB Records).   Brandon Eller, frontman of Seattle’s Terrasone and Sky Penis was on hand as Liquid Light Wizard, summoning an acid washed atmosphere for the evening.

As for me? After I’d said my hellos, I cozied up in the balcony with board op Steffy Ott, who had the place sounding great!   The sonority in the Ash Street hall is always superior, but she made the Doomed & Stoned Winter Showcase sound legendary.   Give a listen to Ancient Warlocks set below and tell me if that’s not one of the best live mixes you’ve heard.   Hunkered down and hanging high on the balcony with a ceiling full of legendary gig posters, I captured the riffage from début to fin.   Alright, enough of this bloated preamble, let’s get into the sights and sounds of this dark, wet night in the beautiful Rose City...

YOUNG HUNTER

What a perfect opener!   Against the backdrop of uncertainty and change, Young Hunter’s message resonated with us all.

In a thousand years will the earth still be here? Because the world is at war and we need to stay clear in the amnesia of time and the blindness of life, the sacred bundle carried must always survive

Talk about chills.   Freshly sheared frontman Benjamin Blake (I barely recognized him with the new cut) and master of keys Sarah Pinnell bring a certain folk sensibility to their vocal harmonies, giving each song a feeling of earnestness.   The reassuring calm contrasts quite effectively with those clean beats and crashing cymbals from drummer Grant Pierce (who reminds me a lot of Animal from The Muppets when he plays, see show opener "After Death") and the room-shaking bass play of Sam Dean (who is anything but a wallflower - look at him go!).

The big take-away for pretty much everyone I talked to afterwards was the euphonious collaboration of Blake and Erik Wells on guitar.   Erik's solo passages really sing with a Jerry Cantrell kind of tone.   It was a joy to hear a set of almost entirely new songs from Young Hunter.   The band is headed to Northern Cali next to put some of these gems on tape.

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DIE LIKE GENTLEMEN

It's been about a year since I'd seen Die Like Gentlemen perform, and then it was a reprise of their earlier material.   Tonight, I'd have a chance to hear some of the newer content off 'The Quickening Light' (2016).   Adam Alexander (vocals, guitar) is like a general shouting orders to take the hill.   Shawn Boles (drums) and Sean Rodgers (bass) provide the charge-ahead rhythm, while   Matt Wieber (lead guitar) keeps us guessing what weapon he'll lob next from his arsenal of riffs.   Progressive sludge rock FTW!

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DISENCHANTER

This evening was special for another reason: Sabine Stangenberg was celebrating her birthday (and Joey’s was the evening prior).   With the addition of a new drummer Douglas Jennings Barrett (from Missoula’s gnarly Stone Elk), it was time to celebrate!   Disenchanter found the perfect way to let us share in the moment, with three meaty numbers off their LP, ‘Strange Creations’ (2015 – DHU Records).   The crowd was engaged in every moment of the set, which closed with Disenchanter's signature air, “Sorceries.”

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ANCIENT WARLOCKS

Ever had a riff stuck in your head, but you could not for the life of you identify it?   That was my experience recently, spending the waning hours of twilight chasing down one those itchy earworm riffs.   Instantly catchy tune with an emotional hook, composed of a simple series of circling arpeggios, working through a repeating chord progression.

Barreling through Spotify, I followed a chain of “sounds like” bands, methodically sampling Dinosaur Jr., Screaming Trees, Meat Puppets, Green River, Love Battery, and eventually Joy Division.   I soon crossed the line between curiosity and obsession, and braced for a deep dive into the discography of QOTSA and Truckfighters.

At last, it occurred to me that maybe this was something I'd heard at Doomed & Stoned Winter Showcase and then it clicked: "Absent Motion" (which starts at 4:15 in this set).   Now this is a hit song.   Thanks to Darren Chase for the truly unforgettable performance!

The day after sharing my story, Darren took a few moments from road to respond:

These are such flattering words to read, man.   Thank you. This is the kind of thing I had in mind as absolute best case scenario when we started this band.   No, not a mountain of fine public praise from someone who knows what he's talking about, but creating a riff/song that somebody (anybody!) likes enough that it'll get stuck in their head.   That's a connection to the heart and that is really the only thing worth pursuing in the world of music.

This song was sprouted during a very uncertain time for Ancient Warlocks.   We'd had some members leave and we weren't sure we'd be able to find the right guys to keep the sound that got us to where we were.   I remember bringing these riffs to Steve's and playing them, just the two of us and hoping against hope that we'd be able to get this show back on the road.   And while I'm the guy who brought in the riffs that were the genesis of “Absent Motion,” I hope the world knows that I have never ever written a song by myself.   If not for the tireless efforts and impeccable tastes of Steve Jones, Stu Lasswell, and Chris Mathews Jr., I'd be sitting around at home playing these riffs for nobody.

Keep those sticky riffs coming, guys!

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YEAR OF THE COBRA

The bombastic evening came to a head with a genuine show-stopper: Year of the Cobra.   Jon Barrysmith (drums) brought phenomenal energy and some entertaining showmanship, too.   Amy Tung Barrysmith (bass) funneled some major wah power through those rigs of doom.   You could look around and tell people were feeling it (there was even a mosh pit going for a good chunk of the set -- not something you see very often in doom circles).   Let's do this again soon!

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Top Gear!

Stoned in stunned silence by the sonic slugfest!

Liquid Light Wizard casting the mood with acid magic

Polaroid portrait 125/1000

Seattle's Funhouse Plays Host To Massive Rainfall of Riffs!

~Photographs by Chris Schanz~

Last week, Castle and Mos Generator kicked off a short fall-ending tour of the West Coast (which ends Sunday at The Complex in Los Angeles) and Seattle photog Chris Schanz was on hand to capture it all in the most brilliant way possible!  We’ve featured Chris’ work many times over the years and I can never, ever get enough of it.  To say he does incredible things with light is an understatement.  His images are always surprising, sometimes even uncanny and otherworldly (dig the ghost image of Tony Reed above!).  Following are some of the choice pics from the Friday, November 25th, 2016 at Funhouse in Seattle (where Doomed & Stoned played host to a showcase earlier this year), backed by Ancient Warlocks and Teepee Creeper

CASTLE

More Castle

MOS GENERATOR

More Mos Generator

ANCIENT WARLOCKS

More Ancient Warlocks

TEEPEE CREEPER

More Teepee Creeper

Check out Chris Schanz's work here.

Watch clips from Castle and Mos Generator's fall tour here.