Hogleg (Houston, TX)
No website at this time

New band featuring members for Dixie Waste, Poor Dumb Bastards and Born Again Virgins.

 

 

 

Donkey Punch (Houston, TX)
https://www.myspace.com/donkeypunchtx

GHETTO – Vocals.. ART – Guitar.. CHOW – Guitar.. LENCHO – Bass.. CHEECHUMS – Drums

 

 

Something Fierce (Houston, TX)
https://www.somethingfiercemusic.com/

Something Fierce is a three-piece punk/pop band from Houston, Texas whose music combines the sound and attitude of first-wave 1977 punk with an energy and outlook that’s thoroughly contemporary, updating the attack of the Clash and the Buzzcocks for the 21st century.

Something Fierce were founded in 2005 by guitarist and lead vocalist Steven Garcia (ex-Gun Crazy and Born Liars) and bassist and vocalist Niki Sevven (formerly with the Neckbreakers); the group went though several drummers before teaming up with Andrew Keith, who they recognized from his frequent presence at local shows and parties.

In 2006, Something Fierce recorded their debut album, Come for the Bastards, which they released themselves. The release was followed by frequent touring through the Southwest, with occasional road trips into the South and Midwest; they group also recorded a handful of 7″ releases, including a split single with the Hangouts. In 2008, Something Fierce released their second full-length album, There Are No Answers; while the first pressing of the album was distributed by the band itself, the Portland, Oregon-based punk label Dirtnap Records liked the disc and reissued it after signing the band in 2009.

The band continued to tour extensively and released a 7″ on Action Town Records in 2010 before recording their third album, Don’t Be So Cruel, in 2011. The third album found Something Fierce’s sound evolving in a more sophisticated, pop-influenced direction without losing sight of their punk roots. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

 

 

 

All Them Witches (Nashville, TN)
https://www.allthemwitches.org/

Unexplained phenomena of all kinds can be attributed to magic. Music is among those marvels. When a group of unrelated individuals of different backgrounds gets together and locks into a sonic unity, there must be some sort of mysticism at work. That’s the only way to properly explain it. The members of Nashville’s All Them Witches would agree too. That energy even courses through their moniker, which unsurprisingly comes from Roman Polanski’s 1968 masterpiece Rosemary’s Baby.

“The name can be interpreted in many different ways,” explains singer and bassist Michael Parks, Jr. “It could be a person’s view on what the forces of good and evil are or even how we interact with each other as human beings. There’s a little bit of witchcraft in everybody’s life. Just waking up is pretty magical—you’re alive another day. In terms of the music, we’re so loose, and that’s where the magic comes from. There’s no controlling factor. We do exactly what comes naturally. We go in a room without any idea about what will happen, get in the groove, and it works. That’s supernatural.”

All Them Witches began conjuring up music together in 2012. Foregoing theater school to focus on songwriting, Parks traded New Mexico for Nashville at 19-years-old. The Shreveport, Louisiana native met drummer Robby Staebler while the two shared a shift at a “corporate hippie store”. Robby showed Parks some music he and guitarist Ben McLeod had written, and it inspired the singer to jam—which he adds, “I usually never do. It made sense though”.

Adding Robby’s longtime friend Allan Van Cleave to the fold on Fender Rhodes, All Them Witches cut their debut Our Mother Electricity. Almost immediately after, they began working on its follow-up 2013’s Lightning At The Door. Recorded live in a matter of days with producer and engineer Andy Putnam, the boys tapped into a distinct energy, mustering bluesy soul, Southern swagger, and thunderous hard rock all at once.

“We tracked everything live in the same room,” says Parks. “We got a lot of bleed from the mics and the amps being together. Everything felt organic. You get us untainted on the record.”

The first single “When God Comes Back” swings from a Delta-dipped groove into a striking riff juxtaposed with Parks’ transfixing delivery. It’s as hypnotic as it is heavy.

“Sometimes, I get visions, for lack of a better word, that lead to songs,” the frontman admits. “I’ll be doing a mundane task at work, walking somewhere in the woods, or driving, and I’ll get these narrative flashes in my head. Personal experiences play into those narratives. This song is about our egos coming to break us down and destroy everything. We try to govern each other and turn the only landscape we have to live in into a parking lot. There’s no room for anybody. So, when God comes back, he’s going to be really mad.”

Elsewhere on the album, one story connects the expansive and entrancing “The Marriage of Coyote Woman” and “The Death of Coyote Woman”. The tracks twirl through rustic instrumentation and muscular distortion before building into a wild climax.

“It’s a two-part song that follows one character in my brain that has its own trials and tribulations to go through,” Parks goes on. “It also discusses how and where I grew up. It’s a hodgepodge, and the lyrics and music just came to me while I was driving.”

Given their powerful and potent psychedelic sound, All Them Witches has shared the stage with everybody from punk luminaries Broncho to the buzzing Windhand. They’ve also rocked at WRLT’s weekly live series “Nashville Sunset”, played the station’s Live On The Green and appeared at the Scion Rock Fest.

“We can take so many different paths,” he adds. “The music is ever-shifting. None of us grew up listening to the same music. In Louisiana, I heard a lot of ZZ Top and Blues band. Allan was raised on classical, almost exclusively. Robby and Ben listened to a ton of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. When we came together, it simply works.”

Ultimately, everything comes back to that certain magic for All Them Witches. “Not to sound too much like hippie, but I hope everybody can ride our vibe,” Parks leaves off. “We’re very simple people doing something we really love. We have such a short amount of time on this earth. Everybody should be doing what they love. If there’s a message here, it’s that.”

 

 

Adam Faucett & the Tall Grass (Little Rock, AR)
https://www.adamfaucett.com/

“His voice knocks your brain into the back of your skull” - The Onion A.V. Club

“Nothing can prepare you for the sound that comes out of his mouth when he sings—or bellows—his stellar songwriting. It is a soulful power beyond belief.” -Paste Magazine

Hailing from Little Rock, Arkansas, and possessing a voice that the Onion A.V. Club warns “knocks your brain into the back of your skull”, Adam Faucett has drawn comparisons from Tim Buckley to Cat Power to Otis Redding.

Called “one of the greatest, most thoughtful lyricists the state has to offer.” (Arkansas Times) Faucett has again pushed the borders of his “part folk, part blues, part elemental rock stomp, part unidentifiable cosmic holler” (Arkansas Democrat Gazette) with the release Blind Water Finds Blind Water, a record of his most arresting and beautiful songs to date.

Faucett began performing solo in 2006 when the demise of Russellville, AR band Taught the Rabbits pushed him toward Chicago. He returned to Arkansas in 2007 to record his first solo album The Great Basking Shark, and began touring nationally. 2008’s Show Me Magic, Show Me Out followed, featuring Faucett’s band, The Tall Grass. A relentless touring schedule has led to shows with Jason Isbell, Damien Jurado, Chuck Ragan, and Lucero.

For the past two years, Adam has toured nationally and internationally in support of his third acclaimed release, More Like A Temple, which received praise from outlets including American Songwriter, Paste Magazine, No Depression and Uprooted Music Review. Temple also gained overseas support, landing at #14 on the EuroAmericana chart and receiving 5 stars from Altcountry.NL, bringing him to Europe for the first time.

From the opening note of the first track of Faucett’s new release Blind Water Finds Blind Water (Last Chance Records - 2014), it becomes clear that there is no holding back on this album. The emotionally raw “Day Drinker” sets the tone for a tour of unearthly themes set against the workaday backdrops of rural and suburban Arkansas. Sublime melodies mix tensely with characters who live in unsavory and haunted spaces. A Staten Island killer, an abusive ex-husband, and the 20th century “sleeping prophet” Edgar Cayce, all make appearances. Faucett, who says he “identifies more with the flood than the victims”, explains “the tunes of Blind Water take full responsibility for the irreversible damage.”

“Benton” and “Sparkman” reference two of the Arkansas towns where Adam spent his childhood, with the treatment of these stomping grounds blending reality and fiction to create Faucett’s own Arkansas Gothic vision. Deeply personal moments “Opossum”, “Poet Song”, and “Walking Home Late” are, according to Faucett, “all almost word for word true autobiographical accounts of my life in the not-so-Southern, not-so-Midwestern bastard state of mind that is Central Arkansas. This record, written on the run physically and emotionally, is a mapping of a moment guided by the whim and mercy of others. Water, blind and helpless moves not where it wants but where it’s allowed.”

 

$10, doors, 7pm, 21+,

 

 

The Linus Pauling Quartet (Houston, TX)
https://www.worshipguitars.org/LP4/

Pure guitar muscle and Texas Stoner Metal Psych insanity with universal themes like drugs, beer, sci-fi/fantasy, and Bongs of Power. If you like your riffs heavy, the solos unyielding, and the smell of the bong to billow out of your stereo, the LP4 is your band.

“a core point about the Linus Pauling Quartet isn’t merely that they’re a great psych band, but a great band period, able to embrace a lot of styles and moods and work them well. ” – Ned Raggett, Allmusic.com

“Anthemic, stupid and selflessly unrestrained, the LPQ eventually attain self immolation of sorts during the sprawling chaos.”– Phil Mc Mullen, Ptolemaic Terrascope (UK)

“Variety through dementia indicative of excessive drug use and boredom.”– Flipside

“Compulsory listening for anyone interested in modern American guitar rock, or just plain alternative music.”–Crohinga Well (Belgium)

” [the band] should consider doing a few less bonghits”–Michael Davis of Option Magazine

“A quartet of Texas weirdos who’re smart enough to play it real stupid, mining that fine line between drug-induced idiocy and conceptual genius for way more than you might’ve thought it was worth.”– Kevin Moist, Deep Water.

“I don’t know what kind of drugs they’ve put in the Texas water supply, but I hope they keep doing it, because now we have these mutant sons of Yeti.”–Factsheet 5

“…possibly the most enigmatic yet bombastic rock band to emerge out of Texas inthe last 10 years.”–Mats Gustafsson & Lee Jackson – The Broken Face(Sweden)

“… a 2,500-microdot dose of conceptual zig-zaggery so daunting that Roger Dean would get a hernia trying to sketch the album sleeve. Imagine Captain Beefheart’s magic Band “reworking” Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother right on the cusp of the Rapture. ” –Fred Mills – Magnet(US)

“Not surprisingly for a product of the same hometown as the Red Krayola and Rusted Shut, Houston’s Linus Pauling Quartet is equal parts demented and lovable. A sevenpiece with several guests, the Quartet specializes in waves of psychedelic slog thicker than humidity coming off Buffalo Bayou in August. At the same time, C6H8O6 doesn’t abandon humor or melody in its overwhelming sonic onslaught…Like Slater says in Dazed and Confused, “You couldn’t handle that shit on strong acid, man.” On second thought, maybe that’s the only way you could.” – Christopher Gray, Austin Chronicle

 

Wo Fat (Dallas, TX)
https://wofat.net/

You can wade through as many press quotes about “Texas-sized” as you want or see how many top-whatever lists Wo Fat have made since the Dallas trio got started in 2003, but none of that is going to be the same as staring down their swampadelic fuzz groove for yourself. If you want to know the monster, shake its hand.

In 2014, Wo Fat will release The Conjuring, their fifth full-length and second through Small Stone. Like their last two, 2012’s The Black Code and 2011’s Noche del Chupacabra, it’s a heavy-riff/heavy-jam blast of a time – the kind of record that turns the vaguely interested into converts and that makes the corners on squares look even sharper. Guitarist/vocalist Kent Stump, bassist Tim Wilson and drummer/backing vocalist Michael Walter are jazz-combo tight and their roll is easy and natural, like you remember Fu Manchu being, but bigger-sounding and in the case of The Conjuriing, darker as well.

There’s been a creature lurking in the woods since Wo Fat’s 2006 debut, The Gathering Dark – their second album, 2009’s Psychedelonaut, pulled back on the threat some to lighten the mood – but whether it’s the motor-driven rush of “Read the Omens” or the you’re-already-lost-in-it riff-exploration of 17-minute closer “Dreamwalker,” The Conjuring is indeed a backwoods ritual. Bluesmen have sold their souls for less.

Veterans of Roadburn, Desertfest and a prime slot at Freak Valley 2014, and self-sufficient with Stump handling the recording at his own Crystal Clear Sound in Dallas, Wo Fat push their jams farther than they’ve ever gone before on these five tracks. Topped off with a mastering job from Nolan Brett at Stump’s studio and an otherworldly cover courtesy of Alexander Von Wieding, the beast that Wo Fat’s tectonic riffage calls to earth has never seemed more real or more alive than it does on The Conjuring.

“over the last eight years since their first record, Wo Fat have become not only the standard bearers for traditional stoner rffing, but also one of heavy rock’s most essential and forward-thinking acts. The stylistic ground they cover here, from jazzy improvisation to thunder-thighed boogie and into psychedelic expanses beyond would be enough to make The Conjuring impressive, but the fact that Wo Fat accomplish these things while still sounding cohesive and unpretentious — please allow me to introduce you to the 17-minute jam that doesn’t lose itself in navel-gazing self-indulgence and leave its audience behind — makes their fifth a shoo-in as one of 2014’s best albums. ” - The Obelisk

 

“they nail the shit out of doomy stoner rock. They’re the intersection of Kyuss’ anthemic Sky Valley-era stuff, Clutch’s doom rock boogie, Electric Wizard’s Sabbath-on-cough-syrup apocalyptic mist, and, duh, Sabbath itself. And though a billion—yes, billion—bands have done that, Wo Fat do it perfectly. The Conjuring is a hell of an album: excellently sequenced, varied enough to not induce boredom while not risking stylistic whiplash, and all the songs are fucking great. While (obviously) I enjoy doom that drags you across the coals to make you a better/different person (a la Neurosis, Eyehategod, Lord Mantis, etc.), there’s something to be said for just making some kick-ass stoner rock. Wo Fat sound like they could do that in the middle of Matrix and Star Wars marathons on some holiday weekend.” - metalsucks.net

 

“The musical concoction they brew has equal parts heavy power blues, psychedelica, doom and stoner with a pinch of excellent jamming. And man it is an amazing drink they offer and like Sæhrímnir, the pig Æsir and einherjar slaughtered every night and feasted on only to come back to life the very next day, “The Conjuring”comes back by each spin, growing into a delicious drink that I can’t stop guzzling down.” - The Sludgelord

 

“Rejoice all you psychedelonauts, Wo Fat is back with another heaping helping of their trademark brand of malevolent blues rock. On their latest offering, The Conjuring, the boys from Big D take the custom sound they’ve crafted over the previous four albums and sculpt it into a stoner blooze masterpiece.” - metal-observer.com

 

 

(Doors 9pm, 21+, $8)

 

 

 

Project Grimm (Houston, TX)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Grimm/121509194528707

A decidedly less experimental group than its most direct predecessor, the Mike Gunn, Project Grimm was formed in 1995 by Gunn frontman and guitarist John Cramer to satisfy his urges to be a bit more straightforward in his approach to guitar rock. Interested in looking to build a band around this new direction, Cramer called local drummer Rick Costello (…of Houston band Bleachbath) who volunteered his services straight away. Drew Calhoun joined on bass, and former Schlong Weasel (University of Houston “branch”) member Jim Otterson rounded out the lineup as second guitarist. Their first show, on July 3, 1995 was followed by recording sessions that would result in their first album, Lying Down out on Linus Pauling Quartet’s Ramon Medina (also a former Schlong Weasel-er) Worship Guitars label in 1996. The pace of recording and releasing would slow down considerably for the band, which wouldn’t quite get around to releasing the follow-up until 2003. In the meantime, Bo Morris would take over on drums for the kicked out Rick Costello, and Cramer would work with former Mike Gunn colleague Scott Grimm on his Dunlavy project. July 2003 would see the release of Project Grimm’s second album, Huge Beings (released on Camera Obscura’s Australian sister label Camera Lucida), but it would also see the band split — on the very day of the album’s release. Leader John Cramer would later appear as a solo artist working under the name the Powers of Light & Darkness, and played sporadic shows around Houston. – Chris M. True via allmusic.com

 

 

 

Brand New Hearts (Houston, TX)
https://www.facebook.com/BrandNewHearts

 

“One was a quartet of guys from the teeny little town of Magnolia who called themselves Ultramagg. They were one of the best damn emo(-ish) bands this city had seen, in my humble opinion, and they played every show like they were destroying the stage at some arena-sized show in front of a jam-packed crowd of crazed fans. They were heavy, they were melodic, and they were awesome. Frontman/guitaristNathan Parsons wrote the kind of songs I wished I could’ve written, and it killed me when they stepped out of the limelight and put down the guitars and drumsticks.

Then there was Ben Murphy, who fronted or played with a slew of bands back in those days, from Pop Deflation to We’ve Got Airplanesand up through Panic in Detroit and Lucky Motors and beyond (and who most recently worked his magic in the sadly-defunct Bright Men of Learning). I can vividly remember watching Ben play guitar at one We’ve Got Airplanes show and feeling my jaw literally drop as I tried to figure how he was making the sounds that were coming out of the speaker.

Back in those early band days, we — like every band in this town — had trouble finding and keeping a drummer. We auditioned a ton of ‘em, honestly, and one of the few that utterly bowled me over was a guy named Jeff Senske. The man played like a hard-hitting metronome and was one of the best, tightest drummers I’ve heard before or since, up there with Sugar’s Malcolm Travis or Superchunk’s Jon Wurster. (Plus, he makes the best Drummer Faces ever.) Luckily for him, he came to his senses and demurred when we asked him to join the band, but we went on to be in damn near every good band that came after, including Trompedo and the aforementioned Bright Men of Learning.

Last but not least, there was Bring Back The Guns, aka Groceries, aka Gandhi in Evags, aka at least three or four more names I can’t recall. At one point, I’d pinned my hopes on BTTG to be The Band, the one who’d finally make the Music World At Large sit up and pay attention. The band’s skewed-yet-addictive brand of indie-rock was fun as hell but weird enough to make you scratch your head; in a lot of ways, looking back, they were about five years ahead of their time. And after releasing an EP, an album, and a couple of 7″s, they called it quits and went their separate ways, leaving myself and a bunch of other devoted fans sad and disappointed.

I say all this, by the way, both to set the stage somewhat and explain why I was so freaking excited to get word of the existence of Brand New Hearts a month or so back. I’d heard from Nathan Parsons back in the fall, when he nonchalantly mentioned he was trying to get a band together, and a couple of months later, BNH appeared, a band that boasted Parsons, Murphy, Senske, and Ryan Hull of Bring Back The Guns. It was damn-near perfect, at least on paper.

And, happily, from the snippets I’ve been able to hear so far, it’s damn-near perfect in reality, as well. The band comes off like the best elements of all the component bands/musicians, all mashed together into a glorious, rough-edged, insanely catchy whole, and I can’t wait to see ‘em live.” – Space City Rock

 

Dead Mineral (Houston, TX)
https://www.facebook.com/deadmineral

Formed in 2005 under the name Novox, Dead Mineral have been blasting Houston area bars and clubs with mostly instrumental dual guitar driven rock that wraps beauty inside searing noise. Members collectively hail from other Houston bands including Dry Nod, Sprawl, The Drunks, STOMA, The Keenlies, Run Trip and Fall, Rusted Shut, Project Grimm, Texas Guinness Lovers.

“This four-piece formed in 2005, originally billing themselves as Novox. They released a split seven-inch on Four Letter Music with Fired For Walking this year. The Dead Mineral side features their track “Hyper-Vigilance,” a melodic, shifting instrumental number. Houston’s first and foremost “Ouija Rock” band (note, if anyone wants to hop on that bandwagon, you’re likely to be the second) is definitely worth a listen, especially for those who admire Explosions In The Sky but want something a little surlier.” – Houston Press

 

 

The Ex-Optimists (College Station, TX)
https://www.facebook.com/theexoptimists

“I’m honestly kicking myself now for not listening to this sooner. College Station band The Ex-Optimists have been on repeat in my headphones for a while now, drowning me in a turbulent squall of Sonic Youth guitars, driving ’90s indie-drone-rock melodies, and hazy, softspoken vocals, and I’m enjoying the hell out of it.

On “Nitemare City,” the guitars are watery and sharp-edged in equal measure, drifting around you like psychically-controlled knives that periodically dart in to gouge out a chunk of your flesh. In the meantime, frontman Kelly Minnis serenely murmurs and croons like he’s already lost in the swirling murk; that is, until the whole damn thing explodes in a ball of fury partway through before coalescing back into its more stable previous state. The closest thing I can come up with is Houston’s own Muhammad Ali, except that this quartet sounds like they’re fueled less by beer and more by green, leafy substances.

Then there’s B-side “February,” which dives sideways into nearly Dinosaur Jr., quick-stepping along through an insanely-catchy melody while the overfuzzed guitars set fire to the scenery. Occasionally feels like I’m listening to a rougher-edged Silversun Pickups — there’s definitely a hazy, shoegaze quality to it, beneath the out-and-out noise. “- Space City Rock