Beat the crowds and celebrate the 4th of July a little early this year as 10 drinking establishments in Old Sacramento will offer select $3 American beers on Friday, July 3, 2015, as part of the annual Red, White and Brews event! Participating bars and restaurants include River City Saloon, Laughs Unlimited, Fanny Ann’s Saloon, Coconut Grove Sports Bar & Grill, O’Mallys Irish Pub, Vega’s Underground, The Other Office, Sports Corner Cafe, Round Table Pizza and Graciano’s Chicago Deep Dish Pizza and Speakeasy. Post up at one bar or hit up all of them, it’s like a choose-your-own-three-dollar-beer-adventure! Major bonus: you’ll be able to see the fireworks show at Raley Field after the River Cats game that night almost perfectly from Old Sac! Visit Oldsacramento.com and click on “Special Events” for more information.

Lenzi’s Angels

During this month’s Second Saturday I found myself on foot, hiking over to Alley Cuts in downtown Sacramento to take in the art of Chad Lenzi. The artist’s voyage over the last few years has taken him from Sacramento to Los Angeles and back. It is evident that this journey has served as inspiration for his paintings and ink drawings. It is also evident that his art connects with people, judging by the large turnout at his shows. His paintings draw you in by their sometimes twisted, sometimes provocative portrayal of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Much of his art starts with the pop culture and social influences of his childhood—which include comic books, ‘60s television and the civil rights movement—then veer into his relationships with women and the punk scene of the ‘80s.

Lenzi’s paintings almost always feature a woman in the foreground displaying authority over a scene that is often chaotic. Never does this woman show panic. She calmly assesses and controls the situation with ease.

Lenzi asked me to meet him at the Starlite Lounge in Sacramento, which was fitting since the bar’s mid-century modern theme seemed to place us right in the middle of one of his paintings. The normally soft spoken artist opened up about his family, moving from North Hollywood to the rural town of Courtland and his fascination with fire.

Chad Lenzi will follow up his current exhibit in September with a show at Little Relics at 908 21st Street in Sacramento.

When was the first time you realized you wanted to be an artist?
Actually, the first time I remember drawing was when I was four. I remember drawing the Star Wars movie poster straight from the newspaper. My dad then took me to see the movie. I don’t think I could even see above the seats [laughs]. That was the first time I said to myself, “I want to draw that, I want to duplicate that, I want to be that.”

Was there ever a time when you stepped away from drawing or painting?
No, I just kept going. I kept going, because it was something I enjoyed. It was just like riding a bike or riding skateboards; it’s just what I enjoyed doing. Still to this day it’s the only constant in my life that brings me happiness and joy.

I’ve noticed a theme of strong women in your art. Where does that come from?
Growing up in a house with a mother and two sisters, that’s how it is. They rule the roost. I paint women because I love women. I don’t objectify them; they have always been a powerful element in my life. They are not to be disrespected.

Malfunction would have to be my favorite piece of yours. Can you tell me what you were thinking when you painted it?
I love the whole Batman ‘66 series. I thought it was funny and bizarre. Batgirl was a big deal at the time and so was Eartha Kitt as Catwoman, especially with the Civil Rights Movement. I really liked all of the colors and camera angles. I took those images and thought “I’m going to fuck with it. I’m going to flip the script a little bit and place Batgirl in the foreground so she’s running the shit. Batman is in the Batmobile, and it’s on fire.” I just wanted to see what would happen. It’s not so much, “Let’s set Batman on fire.” It’s more like, “Let’s fuck with the perspective and give it a controlled chaos and go from there.” Batgirl is like, “I got this, I got this.”

You mentioned Eartha Kitt and the Civil Rights Movement. Do you draw inspiration from that as well?
I do. I did do a piece with James Garner from The Rockford Files. He was a big civil rights activist. I stumbled upon a photo of him in a civil rights march when I was back in L.A. I flipped it and featured a bridge in L.A. and another car on fire. There’s a series where I liked to put things on fire. Whatever’s going on in the painting, something has to be on fire. I’m still kind of into it. I’m on the tail end of it though. I never want it to take over. I want it to be an element.

You mentioned your mother and your sister. Was your dad around when you were growing up?
My dad was around, he was a very good man. We came from a very low-income neighborhood. I just remember living in a duplex in a fucked up area. But my dad worked his ass off and became a structural engineer, and he just worked and worked and worked. I respect my dad; he’s a fucking champ for that. He was completely selfless, but I think he was selfless to a fault. I love him to death, but he and his father worked themselves to fucking death. As I got older I got mad at him for not living his life. He was an awesome musician. He’s the best guitar player I have ever seen. He could play anything.

How has music inspired your art?
I was raised on punk. I grew up in a goddamn mosh pit. I grew up in the punk scene in the ‘80s, and that scene here in Sacramento was fucked up, terribly fucked up. The skinheads fucked everything up. I went to my first show when I was 16. I got my license, I had a car, a station wagon. I remember I was so excited that I was going to see Social Distortion at the Cattle Club. It was the most violent fucking show on the planet. I have never seen a show since then that has been that violent. Before I even got into the show I watched skinheads get their heads smashed in by security guards swinging billy clubs.

I’ve noticed that your ink drawings are a little more provocative and intense than your paintings…
I keep my ink drawing more Sci-Fi, more horror. They are two different animals. It’s just a totally different outlet. I do the ink drawings when I want to take a break from the paintings, when I just want to cut loose a little bit more. In my ink drawings I like to make the women a little more sexier, make the violence a little more heavier, and lots of blood and whatever. I think, “Let’s turn it up a little bit.”

Have you ever thought about making a graphic novel?
Absolutely! I’ve tried a couple of times but I’m a horrible writer.

Something you’re not horrible at is cooking. Is it true that you cooked food at your last show?
I love cooking! Yeah, I cooked all of the food that was at the show on Second Saturday! When I’m cooking for other people, I want to fucking blow it up! I want things to be nice and taste good. For my last show I brought a big thing of water because I knew it was going to be hot. I filled it up with cucumbers and mint from my garden in Courtland. Everybody loved it!

You mentioned your garden in Courtland. Can you talk about your journey from Sacramento to L.A. and back to Northern California?
A very close friend of mine saw what I was doing and said, “What the fuck are you doing up here? You need to get your ass to L.A.!” So I packed up my truck and left. I did a show with Homeboy Industries only two weeks after I moved there. I hit the ground fucking running. It was bonkers. The assistant director of The Simpsons was there and he actually did buy one of my paintings that night for his office. It was like one of the greatest things ever.

Why did you move back to Northern California?
Sacramento is a boomerang. One of the reasons I moved back is because my family is here. I didn’t have any friends down there. Sure, I could sell paintings, but I didn’t have any friends. And I was sick to death of Hollywood. I was finally like, “Dude this place is fucked up.” I wasn’t happy, and when you’re not happy with something what are you going to do? You’re going to change it. So I’ve been living in Courtland since March.

How do you see your art changing now that you are back in Northern California?
I think I’m just going to do a lot of rural stuff. I mean, living out in a rural community … I have to deal with coyotes. I’m going to keep my perspective though. The lens will be the same, it’s just the target that will be different. Instead of walking out of my place in North Hollywood and seeing five guys zip tied together I have to deal with coyotes trying to get my chickens.

To learn more about Lenzi, go to Facebook.com/chadlenziart.

From 2006 to 2010, the regional folk/Americana band Silver Darling enchanted fans locally as well as up and down the West Coast via extensive touring, sharing the stage with such greats as Jason Isbell, Damien Jurado, The Cave Singers and others. Silver Darling released one full-length album (Your Ghost Fits My Skin) and an EP (Wrap Around My Heart) via Davis-based indie label Crossbill Records, and they even landed on one of the covers of issue No. 16 of Submerge! When the group ultimately disbanded, frontman Kevin Lee Florence, who now lives in Portland, Oregon, began focusing on his solo career. He has now released his first solo album Given on Fluff and Gravy Records and is preparing for his long-awaited return to Sacramento for an all-ages gig at Insight Coffee Roasters (1901 8th Street, Sacramento) with local guitarist Ross Hammond on Saturday, March 21, 2015. “Flecked with folk influences, finger-picked guitar lines and distinctive harmonies provided by his sister Kelly Florence, Given falls somewhere between Sam Beam’s hushed, vivid folk and [Paul] Simon’s own conversational, quirky lyrical genius,” his bio reads on Kevinleeflorence.com. The album was recorded almost entirely live in the hip and artistic Echo Park area of Los Angeles at Fivestar Studios, where artists like Father John Misty, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and the band Dawes and have also worked. Given features a slew of world-class musicians, including Florence’s personal hero, Garth Hudson of the legendary Canadian-American roots rock group The Band, as well as bassist Jon Button (Sheryl Crow, Robben Ford), drummer James McAlister (Sufjan Stevens, Bill Frisell), and guitarist Danny Donnelly. Hit up Spotify or Florence’s website to hear a stream of Given. We highly suggest taking in the whole thing; but if you’re in a hurry, make sure to at least check out the album’s ethereal opener, “Alone and Everything,” and the single (track 3 on the album) “Peace Like a River,” which has a really cool psychedelic Beatles-esque stomp to it. The March 21 show at Insight kicks off at 7 p.m. and is just $5 at the door.

Whether you’re on the grid or in the ‘burbs, the greater Sacramento area doesn’t lack in the “things to do on New Year’s Eve” category. Just check out this list of 15 ways to ring in 2015! We’ve got everything from rock shows with metal bands, to stand-up shows with the best local comics, to dance parties with big-name DJs and everything in between. Happy New Year’s, y’all, and remember to please be safe (and smart) out there!

1) Head bang till midnight at the “Sac of Stars” show at Boardwalk featuring Korean Fire Drill, Clockwork Hero, ForNever, Graveshadow and about a dozen other locals! Doors at 7 p.m., no cover charge, 21-and-over, free champagne toast.

2) Dance the night away with a huge balloon drop and confetti galore at District 30 with sounds by Well Groomed. $25 cover charge, party starts at 9 p.m., free champagne toast.

3) Dress your best for a party to remember at Park Ultra Lounge with DJ Peeti V. Watch the ball drop on their LED Wall, get free party favors and enjoy a free champagne toast at midnight. $40 presale, $50 at the doors, event starts at 8 p.m.

4) Enjoy New Year’s Eve in the foothills with slide guitar master Roy Rogers and the Delta Rhythm Kings at Main Stage Theater in Grass Valley! Tickets start at $40 for general admission, show starts at 9 p.m.

5) Bundle up for TBD Fest’s massive outdoor block party at 20th and K streets in Midtown featuring world class DJ and major-festival-level headliner A-Trak! Also performing is Gigamesh, Oliver, Nick Catchdubs, Sister Crayon, CHLLNGR and more! 21-and-over, multiple ticket levels available (general admission starts at $45), Tbdnye.com for details.

6) Love music from the ‘80s and ‘90s? Head to Harlow’s to kick it with cover band extraordinaire Lovefool! Doors open at 9 p.m., $20 cover, 21-and-over.

7) Take the Historic Folsom District by storm this New Year’s with a super-fun dance party at Powerhouse Pub featuring local cover band Take Out! Doors open at 9 p.m., 21-and-over. Bonus: stop into Samuel Horne’s Tavern before the show to check out their amazing beer list!

8) Get down with some mainstream mashups from DJ Rigatony at Starlite’s NYE Celebration! Two floors, pool table and the kitchen will be open until 10 p.m. Guest hosts Lori Love and Miss Lisa. $5 cover, 9 p.m., free champagne toast at midnight.

9) If you want to see some absolutely massive headliners and are not afraid of a little snow and possible sub-zero temps, definitely consider heading to South Lake Tahoe for SnowGlobe, which runs Dec. 29 to 31! Acts like Disclosure, Skrillex, Porter Robinson, Atmosphere, Phantogram and about a million others will keep you warm with their dance-heavy sets! Single day tickets are $99.

10) Why not mix some gambling with your NYE party at Thunder Valley Casino? Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is performing (7:30 p.m. in Pano Hall, $47.75), and there is also a grand opening celebration for their new nightclub, Illusions, where DJ Thomas will spin jams all night (9 p.m., $50).

11) If you’re looking for something different this New Year’s, check out Punchline’s “2014’s Last Laughs” comedy show! Two shows, one at 7:30 p.m. with local faves Ngaio Bealum, Ray Molina, John Ross and more. The late show (10 p.m.) will have Johnny Taylor, Keith Lowell Jensen, DJ Mervin and others, as well as a DJ playing dance music and a free champagne toast at midnight. 18-and-over, $25.40 for early show, $31.80 for late show, Punchlinesac.com.

12) Not into DJs, electronic dance music and/or indie bands? More of a country guy or gal? Ain’t no shame! Grab your boots and cowboy hat and head to Goldfield Trading Post for a “yee-haw” New Year’s with the excellent Brodie Stewart Band! The party starts at 9 p.m., and there is no cover charge, 21-and-over only.

13) Three of the best local party throwers (DJ Larry Rodriguez, MC Ham and DJ Wokstar) are getting together at Fox and Goose to spin some soul, funk, reggae, disco and more! Smoke, lasers, party favors, the whole nine. Cover is only $10, party starts at 9 p.m.

14) The annual Lipstick Presents NYE at Old Ironsides features a live performance from Sunmonks this year, plus DJs Shaun Slaughter, Roger Carpio and Adam Jay. Complimentary champagne toast, midnight ball drop, tons of giveaways. $8 tickets available in advance at Cuffs Urban Apparel.

15) Enjoy a small, intimate gathering in Davis when the rootsy-yet-dancey local group Mumbo Gumbo rocks a NYE bash to remember at the Odd Fellows Hall. Limited to only 225 tickets! Check out Mumbogumbo.com for more info on where to snag those limited tickets.

Want even more New Year’s Eve options? Check out our calendar section here!

Another one bites the dust.

We hate to say it, but in case you haven’t already heard, the short-lived Midtown music venue Witch Room is set to close its doors for good at the end of December. If you’re keeping track (we sure are!) this is the fourth Sacramento venue to shut down in the last year. First Luigi’s Slice and Fungarden, then Marilyn’s on K, then Assembly Music Hall, now Witch Room. In a statement released by Witch Room co-founder Olivia Coelho, she said, “The simple fact is that we were not able to sustain enough revenue to cover our expenses and provide compensation to the founders that was sufficient to justify our efforts.” She went on to point out that they knew what they were doing (read: “fostering creativity”) was risky and difficult, but that they wanted to give it a good 10-month shot to see what happened. She also pointed out that she and Witch Room’s co-founders all “expect to maintain our intense interest in the cultural life of this city that we love, and hope to contribute to it in the future.”

It was rumored that Eric Rushing and Bret Bair, owners of Ace of Spades and Goldfield, had shown interest in purchasing Witch Room and keeping it a live music venue, but when we hit them up Rushing told us that they “walked away from the deal.” (More on Rushing and Bair’s attempts to purchase a new venue will be in our next issue!)

While we are incredibly sad to see Witch Room close (we’ve been to more than a few awesome shows there this year and have done quite a bit of editorial coverage on artists performing there), we are also excited to see that they will be going out in style with a super-rad two-day local music free-for-all (literally, it’s free) called “Sac Go Home Fest” on Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014 and Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014. Organizer Drew Walker (also Witch Room’s beloved sound guy and talented local musician) told Submerge that Sac Go Home Fest is “purely for the community,” and that “it’s gonna be all locals who were down to play for free to celebrate the place!” As of press time Walker had confirmed 20-plus solid locals for the weekend-long shindig. On Saturday, you’ve got bands such as Pregnant, Lite Brite, PETS, Removed, Carson McWhirter/Nick Reinhart Duo, Cove, Honyock, Musical Charis and a couple others. On Sunday, Walker has lined up Doofy Doo (his own project), along with Fine Steps, Appetite, Dad?, Dog Party, The Kelps, Squidz, an open jam with Instagon and much more. “Come help the WR staff, friends, fans and haters celebrate both the life and death of Sac’s coolest shortest lived venue,” Walker wrote on the event’s Facebook page. “Buy all of our beer and make us an offer on the refrigerators too. And then, Sacramento, go home.”

Sunmonks and the Organic Evolution of Sound

The day after Halloween carries with it the reputation for temple-crushing recollections of a costumed evening prior spent howling at the moon. Burning the midnight oil. Chasing the dragon. Whatever your bag may be. When I catch up with Sacramento’s Sunmonks, it’s as if this were some distant reality unlikely to affect them, rather than the possibly rough-hewn phoner I’d partway anticipated. After all, we’re talking about a band here. It’s not as if musicians don’t hold their own reputations for debauchery even without the benefit of an annual excuse.

The fact that Geoffrey CK (vocalist, guitarist) and Alexandra Steele (vocals) were unaffected, uninvolved and ostensibly clear-eyed as we spoke Nov. 1, 2014, over what may have been a PA system/speakerphone hybrid at an unidentified house speaks more astutely to the nature of their music than you might think. Centered as they are around mitigating the dependencies of contemporary approaches of songwriting, Sunmonks’ tendency to side-step the familiar has become a strong-rooted foundation on the relatively new group.

“We’ve written a lot of songs that we haven’t recorded and that will never be recorded and that we wouldn’t be able to remember,” explains CK. “We’ve written a lot of songs we won’t perform, that are kind of dead. So in one sense, we’ve been a band for a long time, or at least a duo for a long time. But we just did it because it was part of life. Now we’re making our whole life music instead of having music be part of life.”

CK and Steele met in 2005, as they report, both immersed in a tight musical community in and around bucolic Auburn, California.

“We didn’t really care that the other of us played music,” says CK. “We just became friends and hung out a lot. I would write songs and play in bands and she would be around. Sometimes a band I would be in session with or playing live with would have a part they’d want sung and because she was there she would sing it. People liked it, so we started to play together.”

It wasn’t until around 2012 that CK and Steele settled on the direction they wanted to move toward as a musical entity, together. Prior to that, the duo wrote songs and sang together without any intentional path. Utilizing the admittedly modern benefits and staggered, textural whimsy of a loop station, CK began crafting songs like building blocks, creating demos by stacking parts over acoustic guitar and adventurous melodies and harmonies between himself and Steele. The formative wellspring of what would become the Sunmonks sound and ethos—so innately anti-modern—was stemmed from incorporating very modern technology.

This fact is important to the story of Sunmonks. Their debut EP In a Desert of Plenty—released Oct. 28, 2014, via Crossbill Records—explores themes, rhythms and melodies culled from myriad primal influences. Eschewing the parameters of what CK describes as a “paint-by-numbers” approach to songwriting, Sunmonks’ compositions are put through rigorous litmus tests by the band—now also including Julian Loy and Dave Middleton on drums and bass, respectively—unspoken though they may be.

“There’s no wrong way to make music,” begins CK. “But in terms of how much fun you’re having or how much you want to surprise yourself, I think it’s a lot more fun for us to play with people and even to start writing with people than recording yourself as a person on a computer.”

“Geoff still makes demos [with a loop station],” clarifies Middleton, “but he’s a great writer and arranger, so they come fully formed. A lot of music is written with loops in modern times, but one of the unique advantages from taking a looped composition and laying it out organically is you get these unique moments of chaos or these little human things that wouldn’t otherwise happen. I feel like that’s where we’re at now.”

For CK, citing inspirations like David Byrne and Fela Kuti (some symbiosis of the two may approximate the percussive-heavy, tribal pop R&B mish-mash of Sunmonks’ oeuvre) instigates the internal conversation he has regarding what the purpose or relevancy or resonance a particular song might have prior to even being shared with anyone else.

“It’s a more religious experience instead of a more scientific experience,” says CK. “That’s something that really excites me about music in general: some deeply profound or magical, primitive thing.

“People who write using plug-ins or gridded beats or things like that, I don’t know that they necessarily intend on having a religious experience while they write. Oftentimes it’s sort of feeling their way through it. It’s like, ‘this is super dark, so I like it,’ or ‘this is intense, so I like it.’ Then a listener hears that and they have a religious experience. Which I guess is the point anyway. But with me it has to start that way or else the song doesn’t survive the point where I can even show it to anybody else.”

On Desert of Plenty, the EP’s four songs play from most recent song written, to oldest song written, alluding to the recording’s nomadic snapshots, as this collection of songs was written and recorded over long periods of time and in mostly different locations. In an attempt to include some sonic congruency, the four songs were mixed together at Panoramic House studios in Stinson Beach by the band’s producer—and Tape Op publisher—John Baccigaluppi.

Special attention was given to eliminating the use of cymbals, as Afro-beat progressions bubble and bloom throughout the title track. Elsewhere, on the outstanding tune “The Deaf,” Sunmonks’ affinity for superb horn arrangements, densely layered textures and feel-good romps ripe for dance-alongs is made plain. Geoffrey and Alexandra’s voices weave together in primeval harmonies, expounding ancient melodies that create bridges between the organic inspirations they covet and the contemporary crutches they’re all but beholden to. To wit, the band says Desert of Plenty is a record of where they’ve been, with their upcoming 2015 LP aiming at where they are now.

The fantastic “Golden Words” ushers in yet another dynamic for Geoffrey and Alexandra’s quiver of songcraft, with fissures of funk cascading over sultry R&B melodies. Still, overused genre classifications do little to discern the lively vibe of Sunmonks’ sound. Those aural observations, as we’ve learned, are triggered by the energies dispersed during the composing of the songs.

“The Sunmonks stuff has to be instantly recognizable as Sunmonks stuff,” explains CK. “It just is Sunmonks stuff or it isn’t Sunmonks stuff. We tend to know that from the beginning of the song, when it starts to appear. When we get to the barking stages, and we’re barking at each other.

“Something stuck with me a while ago where someone was talking about arranging, and they were talking about there being certain rules for using brass, or certain rules for using guitar and a rule for Sunmonks is using [the instrument] not how it’s supposed to be used. Or at least trying to. The anecdote was described as everything being a drum. To not necessarily treat a guitar as Jimi Hendrix would have treated it or as Django Reinhardt would have treated it, but to treat it like Ginger Baker maybe would have treated it.”

Sunmonks vinyl release show for their debut EP, In a Desert of Plenty, is on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014, at LowBrau (1050 20th Street). They will also perform at Old Ironsides (1901 10th Street) as part of Lipstick’s annual New Years Eve party on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. For more info, visit Sunmonks.com

Though It May Seem the World of Hardcore is Getting Nicer, Hoods is Just as Scary as Ever

I remember being at a Hoods show back in the ’90s, watching some unfortunate kid getting the shit kicked out of him. For some reason, I stood against the wall, laughing. The poor guy was really getting it bad—Doc Martens to the face and everything—and there I was, giggling like an idiot. That is, until a fist flew out of nowhere into my nose, snapping it clean in two. It must have been some sort of punk rock, karmic retribution. There was blood. Lots of blood. My white T-shirt turned crimson. Nobody came to my rescue. The show went on. I woke up the next morning, proudly sporting one of the most prolific black eyes I’d ever worn. I couldn’t breathe through my nose that had swelled up overnight three times its original size.

Those were the days. Hardcore isn’t like that anymore. Sure, there are some scary bands, but the live shows don’t seem to have as much rage. Maybe people aren’t as angry as they were 20 years ago. Back then, all we had was Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and dial-up Internet connections. We were pissed. The point is that Hoods is still a scary band, maybe even scarier now that singer/guitarist Mikey Hood started drinking and smoking a bunch of weed. In fact, the new album, Gato Negro (Spanish, I think, for “We’re old, but we’re still going to fuck you up”), is just as brutal as their debut Once Again and even heavier than the celebrated Victory Records release Pit Beast. Gato Negro teeters on the edge of metal and hardcore, but ends up somewhere along the lines of street punk. Songs like “Middle Class Wash Out” have just enough melody mixed with brutality to show listeners that these are musicians who know exactly how to make fucked up music that jumps out of nowhere, punches you in the face and breaks your nose when you least expect it. It’s the best kind of nostalgia.

I got a chance to talk with Hoods vocalist/guitarist Mikey Hood about his old venue Westcoast Worldwide, cutting hair, fighting, tours, and, of course, weed. Lots of weed.

Hey.
Sorry it took so long to call you back, but we got home and got stoned and I was like, “Shit, I know I’m supposed to do something very important.”

Ah, the fucking weed. So do you miss Westcoast Worldwide?
Yeah, of course. We’re looking at opening a new one probably next year some time. It’s going to follow suit with rehearsal studios and stuff like that. I definitely want to do a live venue, but I want to do it with four or five people as a collective. Doing it all alone drains you. It’s like having an extra job on top of what you already have to do in life to make it.

What have you been up to the last few years?
We’ve been touring still. It’s just we haven’t been touring in the States. To play locally, people in your hometown don’t appreciate you as much as they do in other spots because they have the opportunity to see you. So we stopped playing all the time and then it started creating normal draws again. We did Europe for almost a month and we flew to [Philadelphia] and did Tsunami Fest and that was pretty cool. We played with Cro-Mags, Sick of it All, Obituary, All Out War.

Was it pretty crazy?
I missed it. I had an allergy attack, but everybody else loved it. I could hear it from the van. I made our set and then nearly collapsed.

Are kids different now at shows?
Yeah. Somewhat. The older dudes are still kind of nutters, but the younger kids … it’s more like a popular thing to be into hardcore now, as opposed to something you have a passion for. It’s cool to act tough when you don’t have to even be tough. You can just be a nice dude.

I used to be scared going to hardcore shows.
Now it’s kind of like a bunch of clowns doing karate moves. It doesn’t seem like they really feel it anymore. It’s kind of good it’s not as violent, but at the same time it took a lot of the realness out of it, I guess.

How was Europe?
Really good. We did 22 shows pretty much in 22 days. We played Finland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Poland, Austria and we did a bunch of shows in France. The shows were really good, but the country’s a little bit suspect.

Really?
They’re fucking assholes. Fuck it.

Why do you say that?
I don’t know, man. The kids at the show are cool, but when you have to deal with somebody in public they’re fucking assholes. As you go southwest, like to Bordeaux, the people are really cool, but some of the people in Paris and Marseille, they’re just really arrogant, man. If you ask them something in French, they’ll just look at you like you’re fucking stupid. It’s like, “I’m going to slap your fucking face with a baguette. You’re lucky I’m an American because if we didn’t help you in World War II, you’d be speaking German.”

So have you chilled out on your fighting ways?
Man, I didn’t know I really did get in a lot of fights.

Really?!
I don’t know. I guess … I don’t know. Did I?

Maybe it’s just a Sacramento legend. Those legends don’t even have to be true.
Dude. The thing is I haven’t been in a fight since—shit, no, actually can’t say that, but I haven’t tried to get in any fights in years. I don’t think we really ever started fights. I guess I was a little aggressive, but when I needed to be.

When did you start smoking weed?
Check it out, when I was 35, I was going to go back to college and try to finish up my A.A. degree. My friend’s like, “You gotta get this Adderall shit.” And I tried that shit and took it for three days. That shit kept me up for a fucking week. I got a lot done. I cleaned the house at least five or six times a day. I changed the oil in my car and sent all my old postage out. So it wasn’t a total loss I guess.

Then you started smoking weed?
Oh, yeah. I smoked weed for about five years. It’s funny, because everybody who knows is like, “You fucking hate hippies.” But actually I’m kind of a hippie. The only difference is I take showers and go to work and shit.

Do you ever smoke weed and trip out on your straight edge tattoos?
Oh, dude, no way, man. Straight edge shit’s cool, man. That shit kept me out of jail. Actually, if I was smoking weed, I probably wouldn’t have gotten in as much trouble, but it wouldn’t have been as fun. Yeah, so fuck it.

How’s your barber shop going?
That shit is fun as fuck. I like going to work. It’s a good job, too. You don’t get bored, man. You get like at least five to 10 dudes a day coming through all with different stories. Your day changes drastically from haircut-to-haircut. Most people hate their jobs. I actually like mine.

Let’s talk about your new album.
You already got a copy?

Yeah.
I honestly haven’t even heard the final product yet. I’m hella excited.

Well, it’s good.
I like that song “Gato Negro.” It’s the one we’re going to do a video for.

It’s got a cool melody.
It’s more like street punk-ish.

You know when you hear a new hardcore record and you’re worried that it’s going to be all soft and boring?
Oh yeah, this one had a while to bake in the oven. I’ve been writing some of these songs since Pit Beast came out. I’ve had about six of these songs for two years, at least, and then I kind of just rewrote them. I wrote a couple songs on the spot. I wrote the “Gato Negro” song on a “verse/chorus/verse/chorus/done” and we did it the next day in the studio and it’s like my favorite song off it. Sorry, I’m stoned. I’m getting off track. I think people are going to like it. And if they don’t I don’t care because my cats will like it.

What’s your most fucked up show story?
The tour was called Street Brutality Tour. It was Hoods, Shattered Realm and Donnybrook. It’s kind of like if you picked out the more thuggish kids in hardcore and put them on tour, this would be it. It was L.A., Sacramento, New Jersey, New York—so we covered pretty much every region. It was fucked up. There was a lot of tension that tour. To say the least, some kid got killed when we played at Skrappy’s in Tucson, Arizona. That was the same period when Dimebag Darrell had gotten shot on stage. I lost some friends that year. That made me not want to play music any more because when motherfuckers are coming to shows with AK-47s, that tough guy shit’s out the window. That’s when it gets really real. I don’t know about you, but I got shit to lose and I’m not trying to fuck around with being on some crew shit. It was stupid then, and it’s even stupider now.

Tell me about your walks that you take.
You’ve seen The Evil Dead, right?

Yeah.
You know when he’s walking out of the forest at the end and the thing comes and kills him?

Yeah.
The death walk is like that, but in the motherfucking pitch darkness. We get hella stoned. We get zombie, Cheech and Chong stoned and then we go on the death walks. You got to walk through. It’s maybe a third of a mile. It’s like a trail. There’s raspberry bushes and all this overgrowth shit. You can hear noises. There are some transients that live in there. So we call it the death walk. It’s pretty cool.

That sounds horrible.
Oh no. It’s healthy. You burn calories when you’re scared.

Hoods’ Gato Negro will be released Nov. 25, 2014, via Artery Recordings. Five days later (Nov. 30, 2014), you can celebrate its release at Blue Lamp. The show gets underway at 7 p.m. Check out Bluelampsacramento.com for more info. Mikey’s shop, True Blue Barber and Shave Parlour, is located at 1422 28th Street in Sacramento. Stop by and say hello!

The foothills of Northern California are a breeding ground for creative talent. Reggae/hip-hop/dancehall artist J Ras is just one of a seemingly endless list of people churning out quality tunes from towns like Grass Valley, Auburn, Nevada City, etc. J Ras’ newest full-length album Find My Way just dropped last week and quickly started building some major hype online, making it all the way to the No. 1 spot of the “100 best selling reggae songs” chart on iTunes on Nov. 12, 2014, ahead of headlining reggae acts like Common Kings, The Movement and Iration. “Feeling so blessed and grateful for all of the support and feedback from this album,” J Ras wrote on his Facebook page (Facebook.com/JRasMusic) upon announcing the big news with a screen capture of the website Musicianwages.com, which tracks up-to-date sales on the albums released each week.

J Ras’ recent success comes as no surprise, as he spent the entire summer performing on Warped Tour, grinding hard and self-promoting every single day all across the country. J Ras is living proof of the old “hard work pays off” saying.

“It was seriously crazy but so much fun,” J Ras told Submerge of his time on Warped. “I think of it like boot camp for musicians. If you can make it through Warped Tour, you’re ready for any other tour!”

Find My Way is 10 tracks and features guest appearances from Scarub of the Living Legends hip-hop collective, Jamaican reggae artist Prezident Brown and a few others. It’s out now on iTunes and Spotify. You can see J Ras live in Tahoe City on Nov. 28, 2014 at Hacienda Del Lago (760 North Lake Boulevard No. 30) and his next Sacramento show is Dec. 26, 2014, at Capitol Garage (1500 K Street). Visit Jrasmusic.com for more information and to sample some tunes.

Local alt-rock/hip-hop/soul group Iconoclast Robot is following up their solid 2012 full-length The Reti Opening with a brand new 6-track EP called BrightLights/DarkDepths. Citing influences ranging from The Roots to Radiohead to Rage Against the Machine, Iconoclast Robot have been steadily building a name for themselves in the local scene ever since forming in 2011, having since scored gigs at Concerts In the Park, Ace of Spades and many other reputable venues and events. Their new EP was recorded in September and October at Freqy Music Studio and was engineered and produced by Andrew Lozano. It features some stellar guest performers from the likes of emcee extraordinaire Rasar (formerly Random Abiladeze), violin work from Joe Kye (of the local band Joseph in the Well), as well as appearances from Zebulon and Danny Franco.

“The EP BrightLights/DarkDepths is cinematic soundscapes, symphonic backdrops,” guitarist Russell Boucher told Submerge. “Lyrically it’s driven by authority/political figures, religious pitfalls and found/failed love.”

Iconoclast Robot is throwing one helluva release show at Assembly (1000 K Street, Sacramento) on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014, with support from local heavy hitters James Cavern and the Council, DLRN, and Good Samaritans. Doors open at 8 p.m., all ages are welcome, and the cover is $12 at the door ($10 in advance). This will likely be one of the last shows at Assembly for a while, as word recently got out that the venue’s current operators (the peeps from Ace of Spades) are vacating the space at the end of November and are looking to purchase/operate a new venue sometime soon (more on that later!). No word yet on who will take over the Assembly space after November. In the meantime, visit Iconoclastrobot.com for more information on this talented local group.

With a solid lineup in place, Cold Blue Mountain surges forward

In 2009, chief songwriter Will McGahan (guitar) and yours truly (bass) built the beginnings of Cold Blue Mountain in the unique college town of Chico, California with the simple goal to start a heavy band. Joined by friend, funnyman and drummer Daniel Taylor, and guitarist Sesar Sanchez shortly thereafter, the instrumental metal band was soon playing local shows with an expanded sound.

In 2012, Chico’s resident metal vocalist (and Amazing Race contestant) Brandon Squyres convinced the quartet that vocals were necessary and themes were needed for the music, thus rounding out what is today’s version of the group, along with a new savage bassist Adrian Hammons.

With McGahan’s signature core songwriting intact, the group remains a force to be reckoned with on the heavy music circuit. The beauty of Cold Blue Mountain is that they are much more than your typical metal band and evidence of this can be found on their brand new release, Old Blood. Opening track “Seed of Dissent” begins with an emotionally driven piano track by Taylor that leads into sedating guitar strums by McGahan and Sanchez, which abruptly ceases into a classic guitar harmony. The sonic explosion of heaviness quickly ensues and Squyres’ sickening screams plead: “How much of this tyranny can you handle without speaking out against the captors that took hold of our land through force and corruption?” It seems quite apparent that Squyres put significant time into researching atrocities of American history and penned well-thought-out themes that make the new record a cut above.

What you’ll find within is a group of individuals who are casual, but committed to the craft of writing, performing and presenting the best product they can. Just about every member plays in another prominent Chico group (Amarok, Surrogate, Teeph, Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy), but with Old Blood, they might want to make Cold Blue Mountain a primary focus.

Drummer Daniel Taylor and vocalist Brandon Squyres took time out of their busy schedules to discuss the making of Old Blood, touring and other shenanigans.

How has the dynamic of the group changed since its early days as a trio?
Daniel Taylor: In some senses it’s a totally different beast, but in a lot of ways the vibe is the same since the beginning. We don’t necessarily play progressive metal or post rock, but the music has stayed true to a hybrid of having melody, riffs and being catchy. Also, we’re no longer an instrumental band and there are three new people in the band that weren’t before. We’re somewhat defined now by having a strong vocalist with experience and presence. Brandon also acts as a coach of the band, conducting all of us to continue to practice songs, making them better or more epic.

What can listeners expect from Old Blood? Did you guys try anything new this time around in the studio?
DT: We spent the better half of a year working on the recording, bits at a time. Before we went into the studio to track anything with Chris Keene [producer], our friend Greg Hopkins recorded all five songs on the album at our practice space. We did pre-production on every song we planned on recording, which gave us a rough copy to analyze and dissect. With our own intuition, we slowed down tempos making them sludgy or heavier, and trimmed down or altered parts of the songs to make them more cohesive. Will went through the songs with a fine-toothed comb and dialed his parts in and layered a lot of guitar tracks. Keene also helped serve as a final judge to whether or not we should include or scrap certain parts in songs.

Can you explain where the themes on Old Blood originated from? When did you decide to do a concept album?
Brandon Squyres: When I first joined the band, song titles were already in place and [I] just made the lyrics work with the existing titles. When we were making the new record, Sesar wanted the theme to be about breaking the will of man. I liked the idea, but took it a little further and wrote a concept story about a group of people that had been broken down who would rise up, take action and get back to who they were. I found inspiration with researching Native Americans and my own genealogy. In order for my Native American relatives to get government benefits, they would have had to give up everything they fought for just to be labeled something else. A lot of my relatives weren’t willing to compromise because they were so proud of who they were, thus weren’t recognized by the U.S. Government as being Indian. I was inspired by their self-preservation and perseverance. The ideas for the album were written with some of these themes in mind, but not about a specific culture or time frame.
My goal was to make the lyrics go with the structures of the songs like the score of a movie. The tone of the music goes along with the stories; like on “New Alliances” there is a calm before the people make attacks towards outlying outposts of a big city.

How was the decision made to sign on with Halo of Flies Records?
BS: I’ve worked with Cory von Bohlen (owner) on releases with my other bands (The Makai, Amarok) and have toured with his band (Protestant). We all like the releases he’s put out and it’s much more enjoyable to work with a friend. We wanted to give Cory the first chance to put out the record because he is a great guy and always puts out a great product.

How has touring altered the perspective of the band? Do you have any upcoming tour plans?
BS: We have plans to do a small weekend tour in Eugene, Portland and Seattle in December, then a full U.S. tour in January and February.
It’s nice when you’ve worked so hard making the music to hit the road and see people’s reaction to your music. You can read or hear reviews of the music, but it’s much more fulfilling seeing people’s reactions to the live shows in person. Touring is also a great bonding experience and makes you a stronger unit. You start to realize how to better work with each other and this transfers directly to the live setting.
DT: When you play in your own town, it feels like more of a hobby, but when you leave town and all you have to do that day is play a show, I tend to have more focus and play better because I want to perform the best I can. We always seem to have great shows in Seattle and Portland, so we figure it’s best to go back to the well.

Prepare for even more face meltage when Cold Blue Mountain plays the Starlite Lounge on Nov. 22, 2014. Check Coldbluemountain.com for more details.