Some buildings just can’t keep quiet. Only a few weeks after it was announced that the downtown Sacramento music venue Starlite Lounge was closing (more on that here), we’re already getting word that the building will once again host live music in the not-so-distant future with a new name and a new management team.
Bret Bair, one of the forces behind the music venues Ace of Spades and Goldfield, among other local businesses, told Submerge today that “the ball is definitely rolling” for him and his team to take over the old Starlite building and start booking shows there under the new name Holy Diver.
“We hope that we’ll be doing shows there by Nov. 1, but there’s a chance it could be sooner,” Bair explained, going on to point out that they won’t be doing any “crazy, rebuild-the-whole-place type changes” to the building, but that they will be doing some cosmetic stuff.
Bair is also hopeful the venue will be able to host all-ages shows, stating that they will “work with the City of Sacramento on hopefully getting conditions that are similar to Ace of Spades.”
Originally, Bair and his team had planned on opening Holy Diver out in the suburbs, in a space that used to be called The Body Shop, but permitting setbacks and other hurdles caused them to jump at the opportunity to bring the project downtown.
“We plan on continuing the whole thing, you know, with bands upstairs, DJs downstairs,” Bair said of Holy Diver moving into the building downtown (which for many years before Starlite Lounge was known as The Townhouse).
“We’d like it to be a cultural epicenter,” he said of the space.
Keep it locked here and Submerge will do our best to keep you in the loop about when we can expect to Holy Diver to open. Bair and his crew also have a number of other projects in the pipeline, including opening a bar called The Cabin in a space near Kupro’s on 21st Street that used to be a tattoo parlor, and turning the aforementioned Body Shop space into a country bar called The Tackle Box. More on all that later, too.
For more on their other venues and to see upcoming shows they’ve got booked, visit Aceofspadessac.com and Goldfieldtradingpost.com.
Two of Sacramento’s most prolific live music venues dropped off the scene in the span of just a couple of days last month, fanning the flames on the unending conversation surrounding the health of the city’s live music scene.
This time it was the Lounges: Naked Lounge announced that they would no longer feature live music and Starlite Lounge announced that they would shut down entirely. A similar blow hit Sacramento about three years ago, when Luigi’s Fun Garden, Assembly Music Hall, Marilyn’s on K and Witch Room all shut down within a year of each other. Predictably, a wave of concern, tempered by a healthy dose of optimism, rippled across the various scenes, just as it did after the latest venue closures.
“It pains us to close the doors on what we all feel is such an important aspect of the community and the local scene, but when push comes to shove, we are out of options,” said Starlite Lounge via Facebook on the evening of June 20. “Sacramento is a tough market, and it’s a constant uphill battle to run a venue of our size that focuses almost exclusively on live music and touring bands. We truly appreciate your loyalty throughout these years as patrons, music fans, friends and family.”
In the years after The Townhouse changed ownership and became Starlite Lounge, the space became a haven for Sacramento’s heaviest music, largely on the back of Chris Lemos, who booked shows and ran sound in addition to playing in local doom/psych rock band, CHRCH. His name can be found littered across the Facebook eulogies for Starlite after the closure was announced.
But as much as Starlite became a hub for the metal scene, their offerings wandered far beyond the subgenres of that niche. While their closing night appropriately featured a metal show, the two events prior to that featured a band who performed at Woodstock and the Second Annual Booty Worship, which hosted burlesque and pole performances as well as spoken word and live music.
Naked Lounge offered something different, but equally important to a city’s live-music DNA: you could book a show there with unparalleled ease. The venue featured all-ages live music four nights a week in perpetuity. Musicians had to bring their own crowd (even more so than other local venues), but it didn’t take many people to make that room come alive.
As social feeds lit up with responses to the venue closures, we reached out to some local musicians for their take on the situation. Sprinkled between those responses are excerpts from other locals on social media.
April Walker (SpaceWalker): “I was honored to have been on [one of the last shows] at Starlite and the last show at Naked Lounge on June 30. This is a wakeup call for all components of our scene and a call to action for the venues, promoters and artists to find other ways to get people in the building besides relying solely on the performers, who already have a responsibility to keep people in the building with their art. An easy way to kill the scene is to take it for granted. Ever since I’ve moved here from a small town, I’ve been excited about all of the art and music that surrounds us, but for the same amount of time have heard Sac natives complain there’s ‘nothing to do.’ If we don’t seek it out and support the events going on, that will eventually be true.”
Danny Secretion (The Moans): “I don’t feel it says something about our local music community as much as is it does the changing economic landscape of Downtown and Midtown Sacramento. The music scene will continue to thrive, whether it’s in Downtown and Midtown or in Oak Park, West Sac or the suburbs. The musicians and music fans in this city are much too resilient to pack it up. Both [venues] served very important facets of our local music scene. Starlite was a home to many of the heavier acts in town. Naked Lounge was a home to many of the singer-songwriter types. As much as it hurt those facets with the closing of these venues, it points to how vital it is that the harder acts continue to support places like On the Y and the singer-songwriters continue to support places like Luna’s.”
Autumn Sky Hall (Write or Die): “We have emotional bonds to these places, like old friends. Naked Lounge was an amazing platform for musicians just beginning to play in the area. Venues have been coming and going since people began to play music in Sacramento and they certainly won’t fizzle out just because something dear to them was lost. We’re all far too stubborn. Every few years or so it feels like the scene has to more or less reinvent their wheel, but I think that’s good. It forces us to think of the future from fresh perspectives. I’m eager to see what the next chapter will be, and ready to work alongside the community to get there.”
Chris Lemos [via Facebook]: “I’m not going anywhere but GOD DAMMIT Starlite was home. Literally. I spent more time there than I did actually at home most of the time. There are wheels in motion and I can only hope that what the future holds feels as good and does as much as that room did for me and the staff, and so many others. Together we mourn, but together we can also make it out of the wreckage. RIP Starlite.”
Vinnie Guidera [via Facebook]: “I’ve played at Naked Lounge 27 times. They trusted me when I had weird ideas that were too big for a coffee shop and helped me make it work. They reached out and booked me when I had no drive and had all but given up on playing music. That stage was home base for a lot of years, and I’ll always appreciate the comfort that I felt there. Starlite was THE place to play loud and hard. Chris Lemos filled a huge gap in the artistic mosaic of this town by giving heavy music a home. Not only could you find some insane acts from across the world playing there, but you’d usually find locals on the same bill. We may have only played there three or four times, but those were three or four of my favorite shows. Go out to stuff. Support local art. ACTIVELY ENGAGE with your creative community. Take a chance and spend $5 to see a band you’ve never heard. Spotify doesn’t feed artists or keep venues open. PS: If you are an artist and you don’t go to shows other than your own, you aren’t pulling your weight.”
Chrome Ghost [via Facebook]: “We all loved the Starlite Lounge, and will miss it dearly. Chris Lemos was always a major supporter of this band, and we look forward to working with him for the rest of time. We played one of our most unique shows at the Naked Lounge, alongside our idols Odamé Sucks. Both of these venues offered something important to the community, and will be missed.”
Kenny Beasley [via Facebook]: “The Sacto scene is more vibrant now than ever. Trust me, I don’t think there’s been a six month stretch that I haven’t played a show in Sactown since 1987 or longer. And I can tell you that there are more cool spots to rock than ever. We got the Above and Underground crackin’ these days. How many rad spots have come and gone? It’s just a part of it. You got this kids!!!”
Brendan Stone [via Facebook]: “I can’t stress enough how important it is that we not only verbally support the businesses we appreciate and want to stick around, but actually come out to their events and promote them vocally with others.”
Ean Clevenger [via Facebook]: “Today we are feeling a huge blow to the scene … I hope the city rallies and really comes up to support the underground shows. This business is fragile, especially for people supporting real bands and artists. It’s no joke, it takes a village.”
Evan Thompson [via Facebook]: “This one really hurts. Every show I had the privilege of playing at Starlite, regardless of turnout, was an absolute blast. So many heavy hitters have played that stage thanks to the hard work and dedication of Chris Lemos and the rest of staff.”
Susan Rose [via Facebook]: “Well, fuck. Starlite Lounge and Chris Lemos pretty much brought the heavy music scene to life in Sacramento over the last few years. I’ve been honored to play so many shows with fucking amazing bands that, frankly, we wouldn’t have had the chance to open for otherwise. Thank you for staying around as long as you have, and I hope everyone working there lands on their feet. What a bummer.”
**This piece first appeared in print on page 8 of issue #243 (July 3 – 17, 2017)**
There are probably plenty of great reasons why Graves at Sea released their debut full-length, The Curse That Is, a scant 14 years after they formed. The Portland-by-way-of-Oakland sludge quartet did have a sizable hiatus from 2008 to 2012, when guitarist Nick Phit moved to the Pacific Northwest following the release of a few splits and a 7-inch single on Southern Lord Records. After that lengthy break, Phit started playing Graves material with a rhythm section in Portland. After some lineup changes, the band was solidified with Phit, founding vocalist Nathan Misterek and newcomers Jeff McGarrity on bass and Bryan Sours on drums. Misterek now lives in Germany, while the rest of the band dwells just outside of Portland.
“I don’t know what we are anymore, as far as where we’re based,” admits Phit. “For me, it was just time. I just missed my band.”
Once they reformed, the band found itself in the welcoming arms of Portland’s burgeoning heavy music underground, resulting in their 2014 EP This Place is Poison, released by the metal indie Eolian Empire. The Curse That Is was released by Relapse Records in April 2016.
“I guess it is weird,” admits Phit about their overdue debut. “But up til this point, we’ve never released more than two songs at a time, other than [2002 demo] Documents of Grief, which we never considered a full-length.”
For Phit, progressing at the needed pace was crucial to the creation of The Curse That Is.
“Since the band got back together, things were moving much too fast to take the time needed to write an entire full-length,” he says. “We eventually had to take most of a year off from playing shows just to focus on the writing process.”
Longtime fans of the Bay Area legends were pleased to hear that the finished product did not lack the band’s fabled ferocity, despite the daunting task of completing their first proper LP.
“This is what a Graves at Sea full-length sounds like,” says Phit.
The title track kicks the album off in ominous fashion, as roiling feedback lurks in the background just before a hammered-on riff introduces the beginning of a long and wailing road of doom-y dismay. At over 11 minutes long, “The Curse That Is” sets the stage for similarly epic scores of torment throughout the record. Probably the biggest musical element for the band lies in the nimble digits of lone guitarist Phit, whose affinities for both the churning, meditative riffs of Bay Area pioneers like Neurosis, and the choppy sensibilities of classic heavy metal conspire for brutally sludge-y grooves.
For proof, “Tempest” explodes with an evil syncopation, approximating the likely soundtrack to a Hessian death march. It’s worth noting that Graves at Sea revel in the kind of bleak cliché that lots of metal bands merely posture. Their official bio explains it the most succinctly: “This is music that will make you hurt.” The intricacies of their heaviness leave plenty of room for hyperbole, which is sort of the end-game for bands who feature guttural howling as a primary focus of their sound.
For Graves at Sea, despite the viciousness of their musical attack, there is a method to the madness.
“‘Curse’ was the first song we wrote for the album,” says Sours. “I was really proud of that song specifically, and it definitely set the scope of what the record should be. We wrote that song at least three times, and every version had a different structure or different feel to it. I remember it taking quite a long time to get to that final point, but feeling like we had accomplished something that we hadn’t done before with our songwriting. It pushed our whole process further, which in turn pushed the whole record further.”
Revealing a bit of a soft underbelly would not seem to go hand-in-hand with Graves at Sea’s oeuvre, but the band is not impervious to the bummers of life when their guards are down. Case in point is the emotive heaviness of “The Ashes Make Her Beautiful,” a song written in tribute to Misterek’s dog Akasha, who passed away while the band was on their first European tour in 2013. During the song’s finale, just beneath the busy textures of massive guitars emerge wistful string arrangements that cut the tension and add levels of tenderness that seem the antithesis to most of the rest of The Curse That Is.
“We couldn’t be back home when that happened and it tore Nathan apart,” explains Sours. “We wanted the song and the lyrics to convey the loss as accurately as possible. The violin additions brought the whole thing to life and added a depth that we couldn’t do by ourselves.”
Later, the eerie beauty of “Luna Lupus Venator” could throw the listener a bit of a curve-ball. Performed on acoustic guitar by Phit, the track is a revelation into the band’s raw talents, especially amongst the doom-y cascading of sound found throughout their catalog.
“We will definitely have more acoustic songs in the future,” says Phit. “But that doesn’t mean we’ll be straying away from what Graves is at its core.”
Other album standouts include “The Waco 177,” a song inspired by the 177 bikers who were arrested in May 2015 after a shootout in Waco, Texas, that killed nine people. The song’s brooding chord progression churns slowly, leaving ample space for Sours’ propulsive drum fills, and Misterek’s demonic vocals to spit, “The smell of burning rubber makes you feel alive,” offering solidarity for the perceived injustices committed during the incident.
“All of us have friends that were personally involved, wrongly persecuted, and whose lives were forever altered by that incident,” states Sours.
The band is headed out on the Cold Dead Hands Tour, which finds the band traveling up and down the West Coast through June, while Misterek is back from Berlin. Misterek’s new digs, as you might expect, hamper the band’s ability to tour much in the States these days.
“I doubt we’ll be back in Sacramento anytime soon,” admits Sours. “So catch us while you can …”
Graves at Sea headlines an epic night of heaviness on Friday, June 9, 2017, at the Starlite Lounge, located at 1517 21st St. in Sacramento. The 8 p.m. show, which also features CHRCH and Amarok, is 21-plus, with tickets $12 in advance or $15 at the door. For more info or to purchase tickets, check out Atlanteancollective.queueapp.com. Check out Graves at Sea’s album The Curse That Is below via the Bandcamp player. Keep up with the band on their official Facebook page.
**This article first appeared in print on pages 22 – 23 of issue #240 (May 22 – June 5, 2017).**
Everyone that filed into Starlite Lounge on May 12 was originally ready to hear Moving Units, the 15-year-old dance punk band, do their best Joy Division impression in the second story venue. Judging by the band’s recorded covers of post-punk staples like “Transmission” and “Digital,” Starlite was going to be a beautiful, sweaty swarm of moving bodies. Then something happened that is a little unclear and wholly disheartening.
Creux Lies lead singer Ean Clevenger addressed the notable absence during his band’s set.
“You’ll hear about it soon,” Clevenger said. That’s all he would say about Moving Units’ absence.
As of this writing, Moving Units has yet to make any statement regarding why their West Coast tour was canceled, and so it’s uncertain what happened with the band.
Most bands would be discouraged by their slot to open for a touring band change into a headlining show just three days before the set date, but Creux Lies powered through for one hell of a set.
Creux Lies | Photo by Dillon Flowers
The band, formerly known as NMBRSTTN, is a dark, brooding synthwave and post-punk outfit of the highest caliber. Their near hour-long set was made up of entirely new tracks that will eventually be a full-length to be released later this year. The five-piece glided through each song with vigor and precision. The drums hit hard, the synth-driven melodies were nothing short of infectious and the vocals were dynamic.
The whole band was brimming with nervous energy that moved over the crowd quickly. If the songs had been well-known, the room would have been a certified goth dance party.
Clevenger had some personal words to say during the Creux Lies set. He spoke about the need to end rape culture and misogyny in the punk scene and society as a whole.
“We are here to make sure that women are treated fairly and equally,” Clevenger said. “[Rape culture] is too much of a problem still.”
Creux Lies will release their debut album later this year and it’s bound to be one of the local scene’s highlights.
It’s entirely respectable that Creux Lies not only kept the show going, but were able to swiftly find a couple of acts to fill out the night with even more synths and what can only be described as a goth Batman mask.
Killer Couture | Photo by Dillon Flowers
Local duo Killer Couture opened the late night with screams, an Apple computer and a masked percussionist using a literal hunk of metal as their drum kit. The band calls themselves “electronic junk punk,” and it’s no secret as to why. Lead singer Seth Draven painted his face like he was celebrating Dia de los Muertos and wore a shirt that read, “I’m a fuckin maniac,” that came off during the first song. Everything they did was in vein of the chaos that is gladly accepted in the Sacramento punk scene.
The band even covered Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” in which they paused the song to recite the infamous Donald Trump “Grab ‘em by the pussy” tape and end the speech with a Nazi salute.
Killer Couture | Photo by Dillon Flowers
Once Killer Couture was done shocking the audience like a live dada art piece—they even said, “We’re going to make you feel real uncomfortable” at one point—Oakland post-punks Tremor Low took the stage.
Tremor Low is unsigned according to the band’s Facebook page, and that’s just a travesty. Indie labels should be throwing their money behind the Bay Area synth-loving quartet. Their music is danceable, versatile and intricate. They are even working on creating the soundtrack to an indie video game.
Tremor Low knows how to use their music to fit an ambience. They don’t necessarily need to create one, they just need to be able to get the vibe of the room to create the right mix of their tracks to fit the night. Tremor Low gauges their surroundings and puts the music to the room, not the other way around.
Tremor Low | Photo by Dillon Flowers
Whatever went on with Moving Units could have easily ruined that Friday night at Starlite Lounge. The show could have been entirely canceled. Instead, Ean Clevenger and Creux persevered with this show. Thanks to them, it paid off. Everyone at Starlite was treated to Northern California goth punks going all out for the music they love and damn was it good.
**This review first appeared in print on page 29 of issue #240 (May 22 – June 5, 2017)**
Fans of alt-rock a la The Pixies, Weezer and Brand New might want to listen up, because we’re pretty sure that Sunday School is bound to be your new favorite local band. This fuzzed-out, rockin’ Sacramento-based four piece has been gigging around town pretty consistently for a year or so and have honed their sound along the way. Let us be very clear here: these dudes have their shit together and their soon-to-be-released EP that they graciously let Submerge have a sneak peek of is proof of this. “The singer, Will Heimbichner, and I have been friends since high school and have worked on various music projects over the years,” Alex Giddings recently told us. “Will had met our bassist Zach Green while studying music and also used to work with our drummer Cameron English at a call center. We all basically took a lot of the lessons we have learned from past music ventures and combined into this band that has the best of everything we’ve come to love about music: guitar hooks, catchy melodies and harmonies, and tight and rhythmic dynamic changes.” Sunday School’s EP release show is scheduled for Friday, April 14 at Starlite Lounge, located at 1517 21st St. in Sacramento. The cover is $7, start time is 9 p.m., 21-and-over. Also on the bill is Jordan Moore and Cities You Wish You Were From. The show will be hosted by local comedian Edgar Granados. Lotta bang for your buck right there! Learn more about your headliners at Facebook.com/sundayschoolcanbefun.
Longevity in the music scene is difficult to achieve. Weathering the storm of band drama, touring, day jobs, vices, fickle fandom and writer’s block can be a practical superpower.
Desario formed in 2004 out of the ashes of the band Holiday Flyer, which included members John Conley and Michael Yoas. Holiday Flyer started in the early ‘90s. Conley and Yoas met as teenagers. They actually learned to play guitar together.
“We were about 16, 17,” said Yoas in a phone interview with Submerge. “We were both in high school—we didn’t go to high school together—but it was during a period in time when I lived in Sacramento during high school. We met through family members. My dad and John’s uncle were really good friends. We started playing music together almost immediately after we met. We pretty much learned how to play guitar together before we got good at playing guitar.”
To say that the members of Desario (also including Mike Carr on bass and Kirklyn Cox on drums) have been through a lot over the years is obviously an understatement. In addition to the album Desario is due to release, Haunted, they also released Red Returns earlier this year in April, as well as two prior full-length albums. Holiday Flyer had four full-length albums, as well as three EPs.
“When I look back and I see the number of releases and everything, it’s pretty cool,” said Conley. “Time-wise, it doesn’t feel that long, but looking back at some of the stuff, it does seem like it was such a long time ago, almost like a different life in some ways.”
Haunted, due out Oct. 28, 2016, has the band exploring a more intimate side, with the songs having more of a live and stripped-down nature. Much of the album has a hazy, dreamy feel, tracks like opener “Black Dream” and title track “Haunted” feel like slow dancing at your high school dance after hot-boxing your friend’s van. The band cites influences from the Britpop and shoegaze world.
“The Haunted EP and Red Returns both sound a lot different than our previous recordings,” said Conley. “They’re definitely more raw sounding. They’re a little bit more stripped down … We didn’t really do a lot of extra production. They sound like when we play the songs live. It’s kind of what we were going for, we wanted a more live, more gritty, raw feel.”
The band took a different approach to the recording process. In the past, Desario recorded their own albums, with Yoas behind the board handling production and engineering duties. However, this time around they opted out of handling everything on their own and enlisted outside assistance.
“We recorded [Haunted] with Tony Cale, the drummer for Soft Science, currently,” said Yoas. “He had a home studio when he was still living here in Sacramento. Previously we have done everything on our own, but we just wanted to mix it up a little bit, so we recorded it with Tony, and it was a good experience. It was very casual, he made it easy for us.”
There’s one other unique quality about the recording session that produced Haunted. As mentioned earlier, Desario started their career putting out two full-length albums (Mixer and Zero Point Zero); however, the last recording session didn’t work as a single album to the band. So, after stepping back and looking at the material, the band decided to split the songs into separate EPs, Red Returns and Haunted, feeling the two stood on their own, and needed separate releases.
“It seems like we start recording every time we have 10 or 12 songs ready to record,” said Yoas. “Then, as we get into the process, it starts dictating where we think it’s going to go. This one, for whatever reason there was like a natural break with this batch of songs. There was two separate releases amongst these songs.”
However, Yoas explains, he and the band intend to retake the reins going forward.
“For me, being the person that has recorded us and will continue to record us from this point moving forward, it was odd to give up the reins a little bit and go with someone else’s ideas and vision,” he said.
Typically, one would expect following a release (even two in a single year), a band would be planning to set aside a few weeks or so to tour in support of their album, but Desario is not your typical band. Actually, to date Desario has not toured at all, outside of the occasional show out of town. Mostly, they’ve kept close to home. However, they have had discussions of changing this, and would like to in the near future.
“We’re always talking about—at some point, at least—blocking out a couple of weeks at some point, and just trying to put something together,” said Yoas. “Whether it’s with some other band, or just trying to get out on our own. I think it’s something the four of us really need to do, it’s just a matter of making it happen with our schedules.”
And what will the future hold for Desario? Well, they’re ready to head back into the studio, of course.
“We’ve got about an album’s worth of material written that we just need to put the finishing touches on the arrangements,” said Yoas. “We will probably start recording a few of those pretty quickly here. We definitely want to get something recorded and released in 2017.”
“The next recording will be different,” Conley adds. “You can kind of hear a taste of what the next batch is going to sound like. The last song on Haunted, it’s a cover [of a song] by the band A House of Love, and we recorded that just a few months ago. There’s a shoegaze blog in Brazil called The Blog that Celebrates Itself, they’re doing a series of compilation albums, tribute albums to shoegaze, Britpop bands from the ‘90s, and we were asked to contribute a song to that [series]. We were so happy with the results, we decided to put it on the EP as well.”
Having released two EPs this year, and hoping to get another album out next year, one thing you might notice looking at the dates of their releases is the gap between the release of Mixer, in 2012, and Red Returns, this year in April. Well, the band had a change in the lineup, at drums. In regards to exiting drummer Jim Rivas, Yoas explains, “As cliché as it sounds, it was just musical differences.”
Enter new drummer, Kirklyn Cox.
“Kirk at the time he had recently moved to Sacramento, he was working in Arizona,” said Conley. “He was going to architecture school, and he had recently graduated from school, and he moved back here to Sacramento and he was looking for a band to be in … He wanted to play drums again. He hadn’t played while he was going to school. It just worked out.”
“Part of the reason for the delay between releases was just getting the band back on track,” said Yoas. “Getting used to the new lineup, reworking the batch of songs we have with Kirk. It’s different. We’ve changed a lot since he has joined the band. Now that we’ve finished up these two EPs, were changing and evolving again.”
That change, for better or worse, is quite possibly just a record of age and growth. When you’ve been playing together three decades-plus, it’s hard not to evolve together. Desario, especially with members Conley and Yoas’ long-term relationship, is no different than looking at a beautifully seasoned and well-weathered marriage. While there may have been tough times, they have each other, and no matter what changes come, they will still be themselves.
“We keep changing and doing what we think is different types of music,” said Yoas, “but in the end there’s always something in every song that’s always consistent and sounds like Desario, in my opinion.”
“Whatever we do ends up sounding like us,” echos Conley in agreement.
Celebrate the release of Desario’s new EP, Haunted, on Nov. 1, 2016 when the band will play Starlite Lounge (1517 21st St., Sacramento). Also playing will be Clay Rendering and Glaare. This 21-and-over show will carry an $8 cover and will start at 8 p.m. For more on Desario, check the band out at Facebook.com/desarioband.
The heretic’s fork was a medieval torture device. It looked like a double-ended barbecue fork with a leather strap around the center. The points were placed under a person’s chin and against their sternum, with the strap fastened tightly around the victim’s neck. It forced confessions from people who would not have otherwise confessed. The grim, simple image of a heretic’s fork adorns the cover of Roseville band Chrome Ghost’s first album, Choir of the Low Spirits.
“They would hang you upside down by your feet, and you couldn’t move your head. If you moved your head, it would pierce your flesh in either direction,” explains Jake Kilgore, guitarist for Chrome Ghost.
“It’s super iconic when you turn it into just a solid color, and it’s menacing, but you don’t really know what it is. As cool as upside-down crosses are, that’s not really what we’re going for. A weird torture device laid over pink flowers is much more our speed,” he elaborates.
Chrome Ghost is a three-piece, rounded out with Cole Thompson on bass and Jacob Hurst on drums.
The eight-song tape will sit comfortably on your coffee table, alongside your bong and the liner notes to that Baroness album on your turntable. Or in your digital music library, perhaps on a playlist you set aside for driving or going to the gym/420. Some of the tags used to describe the album on its Bandcamp page include “sludge” and “pop.”
The band is from Roseville. They all live there. They don’t live in the same house or anything, but they all live there, and they grew up there. I didn’t bother asking them when they plan on moving downtown, even though I thought that. I hate that I think that.
Thompson, Hurst and Kilgore have been playing together as Chrome Ghost for about a year. They wrote a rockin’ record, and they really just want to get in the van and go. You should give the record a listen on their Bandcamp, or purchase the cassette from them at their show on July 15, 2016. It’s at Starlite Lounge.
When did you guys start?
Jake Kilgore: I started the band almost a year ago with Jacob. I was living in L.A., and I moved back up here and hooked up with Jacob. I had a bunch of songs written, and we’ve been rearranging and reworking those songs.
Cole Thompson: I’ve been playing bass for about a month.
JK: The majority of the stuff was written in pieces at my terrible apartment in L.A. My original plan was to make all the drums digitally, like on Ableton or something, and just make the album that way. It would have been so stupid. Jacob was in this hardcore band in Roseville called Dive, but they broke up and now we‘re playing.
What do you guys want to do with this band?
Jacob Hurst: We were just talking about this …
[All at once]: To be signed to Southern Lord [laughter].
CT: I just want to be in a successful touring band, making enough to live on.
JK: I just want to get a fucking van, and go on a small tour and not lose any money. As long as I can pay rent. I have a fiancée, and she doesn’t deserve to be broke as fuck just because I have dreams.
JH: Yeah!
CT: That’s the dream.
You use some interesting tags on your Bandcamp page to identify your band. What would you describe your music as to someone who isn’t familiar with sludge or doom metal?
JK: The short version that we have agreed on is Black Sabbath Beach Boys. I think the closest we could be compared to is like, Torche?
JH: I think the Melvins are a good comparison, depending on the time period. Yeah, we get Alice in Chains a lot [as a comparison].
JK: Yeah I made these acoustic demos, and I got the Alice in Chains comparison, I guess mainly because of my vocals. I learned to sing for this band. I learned to sing because of Cole, he has a really good voice. But yeah, if I had to describe, it’s just like sludgy, heavy rock. I don’t even know if it’s metal, because it’s not, so you know, abrasive.
CT: Super-pretty vocals to heavy-ass music.
JK: Actually my initial inspiration for the album was to combine the feel of Odyssey and Oracle by The Zombies with Sleep’s Holy Mountain. Something that’s like, super heavy, riff heavy, big drums and big bass, with light, airy vocals … There are no songs about drugs, there’s no songs about women, no songs about cars. Basically it’s singing about hating yourself or the devil.
JH: It sounds so shitty when you say it out loud.
How did you guys choose Pat Hills to record with?
JH: I had a friend in a band called Tightrope, and they recorded with him, and I loved it. So I hit him up and he’s so easy to work with.
JK: Patrick Hills is the fucking man, he’s so cool. The second day that I moved back, I went and saw Big Business at Harlow’s. They are one of my favorite bands, HUGE inspiration … and the opening band was Chrch, and the liner notes said, “Recorded by Pat Hills,” so I kept that in mind. The original plan was to record everything at my house.
JH: We recorded the guitar, bass and vocals at home.
JK: We initially hit up Patrick, and he recorded the drums. And we were going to do everything else. When I looked at everything, I had like 70 tracks, and I was just like, “I am not capable of doing this!”
Chrome Ghost is playing the Earth Tone Studio’s one-year anniversary party at Starlite Lounge on July 15, 2016. Also performing will be Swamp Witch and others. This is a free show (but only if you’re 21-and-over). Fans of all ages can get their doom-y hands on a copy of Chrome Ghost’s Choir of the Low Spirits at Chromesludge.bandcamp.com.
If you’re hell-bent on knowing the real names of all band members in Greenville, North Carolina’s Valient Thorr, you are doing it wrong. After a successful six-album run on Volcom Entertainment (home to Pepper, Riverboat Gamblers and Guttermouth), Valient Thorr are back with a bad ass new album on Napalm Records inappropriately dubbed Old Salt. The band played a whopping 272 shows in 2006 alone and have supported countless acts including Gogol Bordello, Red Fang, Early Man, Riverboat Gamblers, The Sword and even more. Vocalist Valient Himself took time out of busy schedule to check in with Submerge. “I am honored that folks would even listen to our music … as people don’t have a lot of time. The fact that they spend any on us is great. We’ve opened some great tours for Motörhead and definitely made a lot of memories. I especially enjoyed the 2011 Motörhead run with Clutch. That tour was sold out all over the U.S. and Canada,” said Valient Himself. Collectors take note, the band has limited stuff for sale. “We probably have about four boxes of our old albums left on CD and will have three brand new shirts, a new hat, new patches, new 15-year anniversary pressed posters and a plethora of other stuff,” he said. Get the new album on July 29, 2016 at Napalmrecordsamerica.com or check out Valientthorr.com. Their show on Saturday, June 18, 2016 at Starlite Lounge in Sacramento starts at 8 p.m. and also features PEARS, Solanum and Cromson Eye.
Still looking for something to do on Halloween? Just focus on getting your costume ready ‘cause we’ve got you covered with these 14 killer parties throughout the Sacramento region featuring live bands and DJs!
Don’t worry, The Nibblers won’t bite too hard, but they will bring the funky and soulful goodness that the local seven-piece powerhouse is known for to The Torch Club! 9 p.m., $10 with costume, $12 without. 21-and-over.
You’d think they’d be in some sort of post-fest hibernation right now but nope, the folks behind TBD Fest are throwing a Halloween rager. “Bleepy Hollow” will feature Com Truise {pictured}, Slow Magic, and local DJs Shaun Slaughter and Adam Jay. 18-and-over, tickets are $35 in advance. Facebook.com/tbdfest for details.
Blue Lamp and Abstract Entertainment are teaming up for a rockin’ Halloween with the legendary Tav Falco’s Panther Burns featuring Mike Watt and Toby Dammit. Tickets start at just $12.50, 21-and-over, doors open at 8 p.m.
Former Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland will bring his new band The Wildabouts to The Boardwalk on Halloween night! $30 in advance, $130 for a meet-and-greet with the man himself! All-ages, 7 p.m. doors.
Requiem’s “Things That Go Bump In the Night” at Midtown BarFly will satisfy your needs in the following departments: deep bass, much dancing, crazy costumes, epic light show. San Francisco’s Ardalan and Portland’s Dallas Cotton {pictured} headline with support from Young Aundee, DJ Whores and many others. $20 (21-and-over) or $30 (18-and-over) at the door.
The Hideaway will host a rock ‘n’ roll extravaganza featuring an Andrew WK cover set by members of Bastards of Young and City of Vain! Trash Rock DJs, costume contests, horror movies on the tiki patio and more! Just $5, 8 p.m., 21-and-over.
Two shows, one night! That’s how Harlow’s rolls! Seattle’s Noah Gundersen {pictured} plays the early all-ages show at 7 p.m., with tickets being just $10 in advance, $12 at the door. New York’s Matt Pond PA headlines the 21-and-over late show at 10 p.m., tickets are $13 ahead of time, $15 at the door.
Australian metalcore band Parkway Drive is currently on a North American rampage and will tear down Ace of Spades on Halloween night! All-ages, 6:30 p.m. doors, $25 in advance.
Well over a dozen local bands will descend upon Old Ironsides for their annual Dead Rockstars Show! Hear cover tunes from, well, you guessed it, dead rockstars! $5, 21-and-over, 8 p.m.
The Park Ultra Lounge will host SKAM Artist DJ Crooked {pictured} with an early set from Sacramento’s own DJ Peeti V. A whopping $1,000 is up for grabs in a costume contest! 9:30 p.m., tickets start at $15, 21-plus.
Two great local punk/rock bands, Garble and The Rollin’ Blackouts, will play a costume party at Fox and Goose. 9 p.m., $5 at the door, 21-and-over.
Starlite Lounge wants you to celebrate darkness and horror with them as they host two awesome bands, Children of the Grave (a “zombie tribute” to Black Sabbath) {pictured} and Archangel (a badass Misfits tribute group). 9 p.m., 21-plus.
Country Club Lanes will house Lite Brite Productions’ 9th Annual Beetlejuice Party with 35 DJs, five dance areas, free bowling, zombie laser tag, video games, two bars, an outdoor movie theater and more! 8 p.m.–4 a.m., $40, all-ages welcome, costume required.
The night before Halloween (Friday, Oct. 30) the Sacramento Convention Center gets invaded by KSFM 102.5’s Gravedigger’s Ball featuring a DJ set by Lil Jon, live performances from Natalie La Rose and Charlie Puth, a $5,000 costume contest and more. 21-plus, $35 in advance.
Sacramento Doom Band Readies Vinyl Debut
If 2015 was shaping up to be a big year for Sacramento psychedelic doom band Church, it’s turning out to be an even bigger year for Sacramento psychedelic doom band Chrch. The two bands are strikingly similar. They both have the same mononymous members—vocalist Eva, guitarist/vocalist Chris, drummer Matt, guitarist Shann and bassist Ben—and both play the same songs, with the same titles. In fact, the debut Church full-length released earlier this year on cassette by Transylvanian Tapes, Unanswered Hymns, is the same as the debut full-length Chrch record set to be released September 28, 2015, on vinyl by Battleground Records and celebrated by an album release show October 3, 2015, at Starlite Lounge. So what gives?
As it turns out, along with the parts of making a name for yourself in international music circles that rule—having labels put out your records, getting tons of rad press, getting to open for Pentagram, etc.—there are some downsides to having your band thrust into the broader musical zeitgeist. Namely, threats of litigation from bands who find your name a bit too close for comfort.
“It was a month or two ago,” remembers guitarist Chris. “I was asleep and Eva our singer came over, banging on the door. She got let in, came in and woke me up, like, ‘Dude, David from Battleground just called me, the lawyers from The Church just sent us a cease and desist!”
The Church is an Australian band who found limited international success in the ‘80s, but has mainly been relegated to cult status outside of Australia. This, however, didn’t stop The Church from threatening to apparently pursue legal action against Church if they continued to operate as a band under that name. So, Church became Chrch, and the forthcoming release of Unanswered Hymns on vinyl became something of a debut do-over.
Thankfully, the loss of a vowel, a website, and a couple of years worth of band-name recognition hasn’t put a stop to the band’s forward momentum. As Chrch prepares to release their album on vinyl and hit the road for some high-profile shows to close out the year—including the third installment of LA-based Midnight Collective’s annual Midnight Communion, Nov. 13, 2015 in Long Beach—2016 is looking to be an even bigger year for the band, under any name.
How did Chrch get started?
We’ve all known each other for years. I used to play in a band, in high school, that used to play shows with our other guitarist all the time. Our bassist was in a different circle of friends that I met through music; I went on tour with my friend’s band that he was also friends with and we were both on tour together. That was probably five years ago. Through him, I met the singer … We’ve all just been around in the scene for awhile. Sacramento’s pretty small; everyone sort of knows everyone.
Did you know, at the outset, what sound you were going for, or did you just sort of start playing and waited to see what would happen?
We all knew that we wanted to play in a heavy band, that we wanted to play doom, but we didn’t really know what direction it was going. There are so many different kinds of doom, so many different sounds in that one genre. Really, we just play what we want to play and it just kind of comes out all similar.
When did you start thinking that maybe this band was gonna be something special?
Kind of from the beginning. Our first show was with Bell Witch, which was just already crazy; we’ve all been fans of that band for awhile. From that point, we got really good shows right off the bat. Then we played with Dispirit right after that; a month later we played with Eyehategod. People started to see our names on flyers, like, “Who the fuck is this?” then checked us out, and we got a really good response, right from the start. Even this month, just as far as playing shows … I mean, we just opened for Pentagram, which is fucking crazy for all of us.
As far as the name, I’m sure it’s not that cool for you to be threatened with a lawsuit. But in a certain sense, it’s kind of badass, like “Whatever, we’ll just take out a letter and soldier on.”
I mean really, there’s a part of it that’s kind of flattering. This band from the ‘80s that is not even relevant any more, that I don’t think anybody gives a fuck about, feels threatened, or something by us. I don’t know why they would send us a cease and desist. They’re like a new-wave band. There’s no similarities at all. But they still think we’re encroaching on their business.
How has the response been to the record so far?
It’s been crazy. It’s been kind of overwhelming. We just kind of recorded it as a demo, but then labels picked it up.
Seems like the record has been getting really good press, like that review on the Roadburn festival website. Has that been just a matter of getting the record in the right hands?
Yeah it’s all been by chance basically. When we got the record deal, we got a press agent along with it, Cat from Southern Cross PR. So she’s helped a lot along the way. But a lot of it has just been somebody coming across our stuff online, on our Bandcamp or something, and liking it. That’s what happened with Roadburn. Walter, the curator of Roadburn, one of his friends, some guy in England reviewed it, and Walter saw the review and was like “Oh shit, I gotta check this out” and then liked it and put it on Roadburn. James from Transylvanian Tapes has been doing a lot too. We’ve been on Australian radio, which could have something to do with why The Church sent us a cease and desist. But he’s gotten us on a lot of blogs that we didn’t even know about. We find something new every day.
It has to be a good feeling, to get noticed worldwide.
Yeah, its cool. None of us had planned on doing this. We’ve gotten a couple of tour offers that we’ve had to turn down, because everything’s moved so fast. It’s definitely overwhelming, but it’s cool. Especially being from Sacramento, a city not necessarily known for its doom scene.
Have you noticed that changing at all, or is it still an uphill battle for your kind of music?
It’s definitely better now than I feel like it’s been in recent years, but it’s always kind of an uphill battle. Sacramento’s hard. But it’s definitely a lot better than it has been in a long time.
Celebrate the release of Chrch’s Unanswered Hymns on vinyl on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, at the Starlite Lounge with Acid King and Cura Cochino, as well as interludes provided by Noctooa. Show starts at 8 p.m. and is 21-and-over. For tickets, go to Atlanteancollective.queueapp.com.
