#war cloud

FDJ - No prisoners taken, in your face stonerized power metal that pins you to the wall with its ferocity!

WAR CLOUD - Striker State Of Shock (2019) Ripple Music Oakland / California

Adopting a classic 70s rock and 80s power metal approach and aggressively dousing it in modern sophistication, War Cloud released their self-titled debut album on Ripple Music to much acclaim in 2017. Their take on metal is a dish best served heavy and those that have dined on the likes of Saxon, Motorhead, Kiss, Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden will no doubt appreciate the hard rock sophistication, dipped deep in ’70s fuzz.

rock / doom / grunge / heavy metal / heavy psych / stoner rock / San Ramon

Chopper Wired (from their 2017 self-titled album “War Cloud”)

Band: Alex Wein – Vocals / Guitar Nick Burks – Guitar Joaquin Ridgell – Drums Taylor Roach - Bass

War Cloud - State Of Shock (Ripple Music, 2019)

War Cloud - War Cloud (Ripple Music, 2017)

After the decision was announced in October, Amazon issued a statement saying that it was “surprised about this conclusion,” while representatives with Microsoft seemed surprised the company had won the contract.

An Amazon spokesperson told Geekwire that the company has filed formal paperwork challenging the DoD’s decision.

~Bacon's Blog~

★ Photographs by Mo Nemo ★

For a genre as community-focused as stoner rock, it routinely astounds me how little regard most bands seem to have for the fan. This doesn’t mean that they aren’t grateful for the fans or that they’re intentionally being dicks to them. What this means is that in the world of heavy music, especially stoner rock and doom metal, it often feels to me that bands aren’t really writing with the consumer in mind. Now I appreciate the argument that on some level, you just want to create art for you, and that’s fine. Yet, a lot of the bands who want more attention and more fans are making these same mistakes. Again, yes, I understand that there is value to art for art’s sake, but that doesn’t mean giving up integrity. Most of the time, other people’s opinions are at least somewhat correct, especially when it comes to something as subjective as art.

So how does "writing for the fan" manifest itself in the day-to-day? Well, the main way that bands aren’t acting with their fans in mind is in song length. I know that it feels cool to say that you wrote a fifteen-minute-long-multi-part-epic -- but seriously, how many people in 2019 do you think have the attention span to really dig into that? Furthermore, if your band has only written three songs together before this, do you really think that your fourth track, an eighteen minute long epic is not going to be without its deadweight? So often, bands are crafting songs full of flabber in which there’s no real reason for fans to dig in. Sure, you have a few cool riffs in there, but we don’t need to hear them for four minutes straight. Look at a band like Metallica as a perfect example of this. Nothing on their last two records has been objectionable, but did their songs need to be as long as they were? No. Across all the original Ozzy Sabbath records, there are only six songs over seven minutes. Your album doesn’t need three over seven.

The other main way that bands who want to get bigger aren’t catering to fans is with their live set. We don’t want to watch a bunch of guys just standing there playing their instruments. I know you think your songs are very technical, or you want to be like Neurosis. I get it. Sometimes these things aren’t self-evident. But here’s the thing: Neurosis get to stand still and look cool because they are fucking Neurosis. You know who else worships Neurosis? Yob. Do you know who also places a heavy focus on their stage show? Fucking Yob. It’s really not much more complicated than that. I’ve been to a lot of stoner metal festivals, and frequently at least half the bands feel interchangeable. You need to be combatting that with your live shows. This can be through anything from using props to just working really hard to be energetic on stage. If you can bring that swagger the way Zed do, for example, then people will connect.

Another key point to note is that many bands aren’t really thinking about the fan when it comes to their merch. This is a question of expanding beyond t-shirts. Most fans already own a million shirts. Give them something with functionality. I see bands like Municipal Waste go through hundreds of sunglasses in a tour. Other bands sell things like koozies, which have inherent value because people need to keep beer cold. If you operate within this framework of value, it empowers people to start connecting with you on a much more meaningful level. Furthermore, if you invest in your merch designs and get cool artists to work on them, then people are going to want to support you more. Sure, it's cool that your girlfriend calls herself a graphic designer, but is her work really competing with someone like David Paul Seymour? I mean it really doesn’t get more complicated than that. Fans want cool and often atypical things to invest in. Few of you give them real options beyond generic and bland looking designs.

War Cloud by War Cloud

Finally, if you operate your social media from a place of gratitude to the fan, I think you’ll be blown away by the results. What I mean by this is multifold. On one hand, it can entail shouting out fans who rock your merch. The band War Cloud does this and it gets them a ton of traction. It helps show the world how excited War Cloud are that people care, whilst simultaneously showcasing their superfans. It routinely astounds me that more bands don’t do this. Furthermore, I think it’s important to give fans a voice. This means asking them directly about the type of content they’d like to see. It means going around and building out content that isn’t just the content you have, but the content people want to see. If you don’t want to ask people directly, just think about the kind of stuff you like to see and then run that. Social media is the greatest platform ever to foster conversation, but often we’re just shouting into the void, and we need to fight that.

Long story short, whenever you’re crafting stuff with your band, ask yourself how it would make sense from a fan perspective. Does it seem like something you would (personally) like to see from a band? If it isn’t, then you need to deal with it. If it has something to do with a personal block of your own, then that becomes a challenge to overcome. When you’re creating with the fan in mind, people start to notice and as such will be excited to see you. People want to feel catered to and loved. In a world that is full of one-to-many platforms, you need to focus on letting people understand that you are loyal to those who want to invest in you, and give them one-on-one experiences that they’ll spread the word about to their friends.

☀