#teepee creeper

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

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.

D&S Reviews

Teepee Creeper's 'Ashes of the Northwest'

By Ben Edwards

Teepee Creeper is pure Pacific Northwest sludge boogie with loud, burly guitar riffs and tight production from Mos Generator leader Tony Reed, who is reponsible for "all the studio wizardy" - recording, production, and mixing - of the new album Ashes of the Northwest (2015). As an added bonus, Mr. Reed plays drums, too, and sound, not surprisingly, just as I imagine he would want a Mos Generator drummer to play. Both Teepee Creeper and Mos Generator have been in drummer fluctuation over the past year and seemed to have tag teamed to get this hairy grunge metal recording session out to the masses.

Ashes of the Northwest 7 song album by Teepee Creeper

The seven track album opens up with an Iommi-loving song called "Far Far Away," an ode to escaping the evils and hypocrisies of everyday human existence, possibly by allowing music to take one far, far away. The lyrics could also be referring to any form of escapism (alien abduction?). Crushing riffs and great lead guitar melodies set the stage for Jon Unruh's intense, horror/sci-fi lyrical assault belted out Tad and Melvins style.

Ashes of the Northwest 7 song album by Teepee Creeper

"Galactic Oblivion" creeps in next and is kind of the genesis of this album, having been on the Teepee Creeper/Mos Generator split 7" in 2014. Once again, the band sets up the heavy riffs before blasting away at humanity's irrationality, ultimately saving the children of Earth by way of sky-gods transporting them "through space and through time" while "leaving earth to the souless and the evils of mankind." I think I prefer Jon Unruh's rough edged vocals on the 7" version, but the production and drumming on this track really shines. Another cool stoner metal pummeling that leans closer to the heavier roots of grunge, while also paying hommage to the Mos Generator boogie vibe. Mos Creeper?!

Ashes of the Northwest 7 song album by Teepee Creeper

The title track sets up a kind of Northwest patriotism in "Ashes of the Northwest." Teepee Creeper being from Port Angeles, Washington, they must love this place tremendously to declare wanting to die here. There's a grinding fuzz bass intro before the song jumps into an ode to the oneness of life, dying, and recycling of energy. Halfway through, the song switches gears with a catchy "in the Northwest, I lay my bones to rest" chorus, before launching into a killer boogie rock guitar solo met by a sludge riff bridge. Tony Reed shreds the drums like a motherfucker on the end of this song, which really adds to the riffage and overall energy of the production.

Ashes of the Northwest 7 song album by Teepee Creeper

Speaking of the almighty riff, a huge one opens up "The Raven's Eye," before a tambourine-layered tribal tom beat and noise guitar breakdown enters, leading back into my favorite Teepee Creeper riff, with a Kyuss-style stoner-desert rock sound and feel. Lyrics once again alert you that the evil deeds of mankind will not go unnoticed as the ravens of the world have seen us do everything throughout all of history. To take the symbolism of the cover art (done by Sean Schock of Eugene, Oregon, who also did the recent Brothers of the Sonic Cloth album cover) and the lyrics you could perhaps call this style of music "Native American" metal. This is my favorite track on the album.

Ashes of the Northwest 7 song album by Teepee Creeper

A swinging classic rock intro with clean guitar leads morph into a stoner metal riff on "Rainbow Sex Glow," which refers to post-coital auras, I assume. Not quite as engaging as the first four songs and maybe why it's deeper in the album. However, the bridge/breakdown has a nice, sludgey, desert rock feel. Lyrically, "Rainbow Sex Glod" is a borderline obsessive love song, almost in the same vein of Monster Magnet's dark stoner, biker metal humor.

Ashes of the Northwest 7 song album by Teepee Creeper

"Crushing The Gods of Men" is another one of my favorites from this album, as I think the interplay between Jon Unruh on guitar and Tony Reed on drums is really fun to listen to. This instrumental ritual of Black Sabbath doom is like some Melvins, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, and Shrinebuilder that seems like it could be played live for much longer if the band felt like it. 'Mos Creeper' is in full form here for fans of instrumental doom-stoner metal.

Ashes of the Northwest 7 song album by Teepee Creeper

The last track on this debut album is titled "Fire Fills the Sky" and opens up with a ferocious guitar riff that is halfway between Slayer and Neurosis. Drums pummel through this warlike song with some of the best guitar tones of the entire album. I don't know if they used Hovercraft amplifiers for the album, but I know Teepee Creeper is a big fan of Hovercraft, as the first time I met Jon Unruh was due to a conversation about my Hovercraft t-shirt. Huge riffage with a melodic death fusion guitar solo, flying over the top of what sounds like napalm being dropped on a village.