PODCAST: Episode 390: John Gist of Vegas Rock Revolution Talks Planet Desert Rock Fest IV


Keefy caught up with John Gist of Vegas Rock Revolution Presents to discuss the upcoming Planet Desert Rock Fest IV! The fest features ⁠Brant Bjork⁠, ⁠Spaceslug⁠, ⁠FATSO JETSON⁠, ⁠Freedom Hawk⁠, ⁠Spiralarms⁠, ⁠Scorpion Child⁠, ⁠Borracho⁠, ⁠Beastmaker⁠, ⁠Sandveiss⁠, ⁠Black Elephant⁠, ⁠WARLUNG⁠, ⁠Sun Crow⁠, ⁠Mezzoa⁠, ⁠Flames Of Durga⁠ and ⁠Sonolith⁠. Planet Desert Rock Weekend returns for its 4th installment on January 25-26-27, 2024 in Las Vegas! John discussed how he got into booking shows, and what it takes to book a fest like this, he shared his thoughts on other festivals like Psycho Las Vegas, things to do and enjoy in Vegas, and more! Continue reading


Watch Debut Live Footage of Umbra Vitae (Converge, The Red Chord, Twitching Tongues)


 

Death Metal supergroup Umbra Vitae, consisting of current and former members of Converge, Hatebreed, The Red Chord, Twitching Tongues, Scorpion Child, and more, performed their first-ever live shows in December 2022. They releasaed their debut album Shadow of Life on Deathwish Inc. in 2020. The band made their live debut at The Middle East Nite Club in Cambridge, MA on December 15th, and Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn, NY on December 16. The band includes vocalist Jacob Bannon (Converge, Wear Your Wounds, Blood From The Soul), guitars/vocals: Mike “Gunface” McKenzie (The Red Chord, Wear Your Wounds, Stomach Earth), guitars/vocals: Sean Martin (Twitching Tongues, Wear Your Wounds, ex-Hatebreed), bassist Greg Weeks (The Red Chord, Labor Hex), and drummers Jon Rice (Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, ex-Job For A Cowboy, Scorpion Child). Watch fan-filmed footage here!

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Job For a Cowboy Resurfaces on Social Media Again Teasing Some News


According to a report by Metal Injection, Job For A Cowboy once again popped up on social media to tease the fans about something coming soon. Ghost Cult broke the story last year that the band posted for the first time in 5 years and we had been told by a well-placed source close to the band (read that as a guy who is in a band with JFAC guys) that they had written and recorded some new music. This weekend they posted to Facebook (with an auto-post to Twitter, tsk tsk) a clip from the movie 1995 film Mortal Combat with the caption “It has begun” from the film. Vocalist Johnny Davy was a guest of Metal Blade CEO Brian Slagel’s Instagram Livestream a few months ago and confirmed a new album is written and if it wasn’t for the pandemic, the band would be in the studio now recording it. No confirmation as to whether they would be rejoined by drummer Jon Rice (Scorpion Child, Umbra Vitae) will rejoin the group, but the rest of the band is returning.Continue reading


Duel – Valley Of Shadows


It’s a soulful, heavy trip with Texan quartet Duel. Formed largely from the ashes of Groove rockers Scorpion Child, new album Valley Of Shadows (Heavy Psych Sounds) is their third album in three years but despite the prolific nature, there remains a certain impact from the tracks on offer here.Continue reading


GUEST POST: David Gates Of Season of Arrows Top Ten Albums Of 2016


Ghost Cult once again brings you another “End Of Year” list, as we close out 2016. Today we get a list from David Gates of Nashville sludge and doom rockers Season Of Arrows. The band just signed a new record deal with Argonauta Records, Give it to the Mountain, due out on March 24th 2017. David puts down his axe, and picked up his laptop to send us in his essential list of albums from this past year, and it’s killer!Continue reading


Open-Minded: Dimitri Vossen of Desertfest Antwerp


YOB Susanne A. Maathuis Photography

YOB Susanne A. Maathuis Photography

Desertfest Antwerp takes place this weekend in Belgium, at the legendary Trix Club. Named for the distinct cult style of California’s Palm Desert style of rock, doom, and psychedelic influences, pioneered in the 90s by bands like Kyuss, Acid King, Fu Manchu, Goatsnake, Monster Magnet, 60 Watt Shaman and more. The fest itself and its related other events represent the best in underground culture, with music ranging from stoner rock, doom, indie bands, and other styles to please fans of discerning taste. Ghost Cult’s Susanne A. Maathuis, who is covering the fest this weekend for us had some questions for Dimitri Vossen – one of the organizers of the fest. Continue reading


Scorpion Child – Acid Roulette


scorpion-child-acid-roulette

This isn’t my first go around with Scorpion Child, and, honestly, they’ve just never really been able to catch or keep my attention for very long. That trend continues here with their second album Acid Roulette (Nuclear Blast Entertainment) with the exception of a few songs.

‘Moon Tension’ was the first track to grab my attention. It’s more dynamic than the songs that come before it rather than just sounding the same for three and a half minutes. I could find myself singing along to this. ‘Tower Grove’ follows immediately afterwards, keeps the energy going, and I actually did find myself singing along to the chorus. Both of these tracks continue to stand out to me through repeated listens. If the rest of the record could keep up with these two songs, then we’d really be talking.

While the concept of an album based upon the life and adventures of a man wrongly imprisoned for a murder sounds interesting, it just doesn’t do enough to bring this record to life. This album fits in well as background music but nothing really jumps out and above the rest of the general sound. It’s just there.

Scorpion Child may not be my thing personally, but the potential for greatness there and, at the very least, they are worth keeping an eye on for future endeavors. For right now, I’ll keep my hopes high.

5.0/10

ALEIDA LA LLAVE

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Scorpion Child Recording New Album


Photo credit: Monica Yvette Cavazos

Photo credit: Monica Yvette Cavazos

Austin rockers Scorpion Child have entered the studio with Chris “Frenchie” Smith (The Answer, And You Will Know Us By The Tail Of Dead…) on their sophomore album, out later in 2015 via Nuclear Blast.

Scorpion Child vocalist Aryn Jonathan Black had the following to say:

“The band is now locked in the studio committing everything to album #2. Everyone is dressed to the 9’s and it’s business time!”

Scorpion Child on Facebook
Scorpion Child on Twitter
Scorpion Child on YouTube


Kylesa, Cancer Bats, Scorpion Child To Appear On Black Sabbath Tribute


Cleopatra Records are reportedly preparing a Black Sabbath tribute album for a 2015 release. An image was shared on Kylesa’s Facebook page, and the track listing is as follows:

Wo Fat – “The Warning“
Stoned Jesus – “The Writ“
Death Hawks – “Hand Of Doom“
House Of Broken Promises – “Lady Evil“
Scorpion Child – “Hole In The Sky“
Mos Generator – “Dirty Women“
Machuca – “Planet Caravan“
Ulver – “Solitude“
Cancer Bats – “Into The Void“
Witch Mountain – “Sleeping Village“
Solace – “Electric Funeral“
Pentagram – “Tomorrow’s Dream“
Kylesa – “Paranoid“
Bloody Hammers – “Changes“

cleopatra sabbath

More information on the release is expected soon.


Stubb – Cry Of The Ocean


STUBB-CRY-OF-THE-OCEAN

 

With the profusion of proto-metal, stoner, psychedelic rock acts about the question is, do we really need another one? Zodiac, Blue Pills, Scorpion Child and a host of others are now joined by Stubb and their second full-length release Cry of the Ocean (Ripple). Everything fuzzed up, riffs repeated ad infinitum and laid back languid vocals it would seem that Stubb have all the ingredients to fit into the psych, blues locker and roll out success.

But there is a problem; at times it seems that all the ingredients are part of a formula. It is only by the time track four, ‘Sail Forever’ kicks in that the sense of individualism comes through, as Jack Dickinson’s vocals rise above his intricate guitar work. The ability to put together such involved work is on display on ‘Heartbreaker’, but Dickinson’s vocal performance this time is reminiscent of an off-key punk doing a ballad during the verses, however, when it kicks in it turns into a good track which displays the potential of the band. Stand-out track ‘Devil’s Brew’ has a sense of purpose to the blues tinged classic rock feel as Christopher West (drums) and Peter Holland (bass) drive the track along, though

Throughout this release there is no doubt of the potential in Stubb; but someone needs to sit them down, take that potential (and musical ability) and slap it into shape. At times they stray into early Pink Floyd, Iron Butterfly and Cream territory so much so that it might be best to take any albums they have of those acts away from them until they can work on their own sound, and Dickinson’s vocals range from bluesy to sounding like Roger Waters giving a lecture on life’s lessons.

Despite these criticisms, what Stubb have produced is a solid album within their chosen genre, with the final two tracks –‘Snake Eyes’ and ‘You’ll Never Know’ – showcasing what they can do when they focus. The space the seven-minutes plus of each track allows is enough to doff a cap at what Stubb might become. Overall, this not a bad release, but has too many flaws to make it an essential part of collections of fans of this type of rock.

5.0/10

Stubb on Facebook

JONATHAN TRAYNOR