Purson (London, England)
https://www.purson.co.uk/
There is a magic place where folky warmth meets lurid technicolour horror, where progressive rock complexity and all out skull-crushing doom combines with classic songwriting to flesh out a sinister but romantic vision of twisted dreams and lurking threats hidden just out of view. That place dwells in the debut album by Purson.
The Circle And The Blue Door finds the missing link between Pentangle and Pentagram, by way of David Bowie’s dream reality and The Beatles’ feel for the perfect melody. And while it owes a debt to front woman Rosie Cunningham’s clear love of the late 60s and the early 70s, it is her poetic, evocative lyricism, tight song craft, sonorous vocal style and dedication to deep musicality that takes this wonderful album far beyond the waters of pastiche. Only an original mind could come up with a line like “ex dwellers of Spiderwood Farm, though they live here, they mean you no harm” — and set it against a mellotron solo.
“Spiderwood Farm is about ghosts,” says Rosie. “I was looking through a copy of Sounds from 1972 when I saw a band mentioned called Spiderwood Farm. From there I thought of a song about ex-dwellers, who are, of course, dead. The council are trying to evict them, but they’re not doing anything wrong. They’re just hanging about.”
There are not too many 21-year-olds out there who are familiar with the early 70s golden age of satanic flute rock, when bands like Coven and Black Widow terrified Middle England with slow yet ominous odes to the devil, all the while dressed like sociology lecturers from the Open University. But Rosie Cunningham has gone her own way from a young age.
Rosie grew up as a child obsessed by The Beatles. “For me, they are music,” she says. “I liked all the usual pop things my friends liked, but my real love was The Beatles, The Faces and Led Zeppelin, which they didn’t like.”
The other key influences are Slade and David Bowie. “Slade is a much underrated group, with a collection of perfectly crafted pop songs. Bowie is one of those people you can listen to forever and keep on hearing new things. I love all of his classic albums, but I’d have to put The Man Who Sold The World as my favourite. Tragic Catastrophe” — the final song on The Circle And The Blue Door — “takes a lot of inspiration from Bowie.”
Rosie was 16, and already an electric guitar virtuoso, when she left her native Southend to pursue music, forming the short-lived Ipso Facto in London. Dubbed The Female Horrors for their gothic take on psychedelic rock, Ipso Facto split when Rosie realized people were more interested in the way these four pretty, heavily stylized teenage girls looked than any actual sound they might make.
“We were getting a bit of hype, but it wasn’t what I wanted and I didn’t feel ready for it. Everyone told me I was doing the wrong thing by splitting the band but it felt like something was happening that I didn’t ask for; that we were being taken advantage of because we were so young. And I didn’t have the sophistication to make the music I wanted to, even if the ideas were there. It’s taken this long to get it right.”
After various aborted attempts to start another band, Rosie met Ed Turner, former assistant to Liam Watson at Toe-Rag Studios, multi-instrumental virtuoso and fellow enthusiast of the more arcane corners of early rock. So begins the story of Purson.
“We fell in love within five minutes,” says Rosie. “It was very romantic. I left my boyfriend, who I had been with for four and a half years, to be with this guy I had only just met. We dropped the rest of our lives to be together, writing loads of songs and forming the ideas for Purson along the way. Ed gave me the confidence and studio know-how to do what I wanted to do and it was so appealing and so natural; it was confirmation that I was on the right track.”
The intensity of the relationship, however, proved impossible to maintain. “Ed is a genius. I’ve never met anyone like him. But he’s also deeply complicated. Within a week of us living together I realized we couldn’t live together and it spiralled out of control, but that’s not to say that great things didn’t come out of it. Ed’s no longer in the band but his contribution to the album is significant.”
Ed left half way through recording and moved to Wales, but his imprint is marked: the incredible riff to Spiderwood Farm is one of Ed’s, while The Sailor’s Wife’s Lament, a beautifully melancholic ballad augmented by seagull cries and whirling organs, is about the year and a half he and Rosie spent together. “A lot of my songs are fictionalised versions of real events,” she says. “That one is about waiting for Ed to change.”
The band is now in a stable place, with Rosie’s childhood friends Sam Shove (keyboards) and George Hudson (guitar) making ever-greater contributions to the Purson philosophy and aesthetic. “We’ve been through everything together, we’ve been sharing musical discoveries since we were kids. Now Purson is our shared vision,” she says. Barnaby Maddix on bass and the Columbian drummer Gomez complete the line-up.
Influences may be rooted in the classic period of late 60s / early 70s rock, but the lyrics reflect a young woman’s vision of the world. Rocking Horse is about retreating into the innocence of childhood, although in Rosie’s hands this takes on a sinister edge, with lines like: “in our own secret garden we play, I the spider and you the fly.” “It’s about remembering childhood in a hazy way,” she explains. As for the Bowie-esque Tragic Catastrophe, it describes her dreams of being a rock star and feeling like a girl out of time. “It starts with me as a kid, going through my dad’s 70s music magazines in the attic and being fascinated with these people, and wondering how on earth I could ever do guitar music today.”
She answers her own question with The Circle And The Blue Door, a fantastical rock classic with its own vision and purpose. And there are subtleties. Purson, named after the great god of Hell, may evoke the colour-saturated English countryside of early 70s Hammer Horror movies, but they do so with Beatles-esque sophistication, baroque charm and minor key reflection. The Circle And The Blue Door proves that those impossible dreams of the little girl in Tragic Catastrophe weren’t so impossible after all.
Project Armageddon (Houston, TX)
https://projectarmageddon.com/
“From what I’ve heard…solid rockin material that will stand the test of time.” - Chris Barnes - Hellride Music
“Project Armageddon isn’t afraid to rattle the bars of metal. They freely experiment with forms and styles, crafting unforgettable pieces that grip a listener with an iron first.” - Jef Rouner - Houston Press
“I don’t know if you can even listen to other metal acts without comparing them to the inventive and rhythmic changes of this Houston 3 piece. Whenever I hear The Sword, who I love, I always feel like they’re just covering Project Armageddon” - David Garrick - Free Press Houston
“Project Armageddon found the heavy metal time machine…this guitar sound will recall classic Black Sabbath and big-riff doom-stoner sounds. You wanted the doom, you’ve got the doom!” - Metal Bulletin Zine
Spawned of Doom Metal, with open minds & experimentation; Hailing from the northern outskirts of Houston, TX-Project Armageddon consists of members: Brandon Johnson - guitar, Raymond Matthews - drums, and Doomstress Alexis - bass and vocals. After recording and touring with their former band, Project Armageddon embarked in a new direction by stripping their sound down to the foundations and beginning with an experimental, open minded attitude as the basis for writing and performing. Within a few months a 3 song demo was released and a full contingent of live material was ready for the stage.
February 2010 saw the release of Project Armageddon’s debut full length cd “Departure”: a self released, 45 minute record that stays true to P.A.’s no holds barred stylistic approach, running the gamit from straight out doom to somber acoustic tracks to full out effects laden psychedelic guitar tracks, dealing with super-genetic beings, nuclear holocaust, natural devastation, and religious intolerances.
Project Armageddon continued on an extensive show schedule from 2010 to mid-2011 both in the local clubs and around Texas. In the summer of 2011, Project Armageddon returned to Dungeon Manor studios to record their 2nd full length record: “Tides of Doom”. This was then sent out to be mixed by Supernatural Sound in Kultland, OH. “Tides of Doom” was released in March of 2012 followed the “Tides of Doom - Texas Tour” to support & promote the record. Demo work resumed after touring the Summer of 2012, and amidst a slew of many local shows supporting the local metal scene and touring acts both national and international. Project Armageddon rocked Austin during the SXSW festival and plans additional shows in Dallas/Ft. Worth and San Antonio. The touring schedule has recently been set taking Project Armageddon around the state and to some new areas as well as supporting more international acts. There has been a recent surge as Project Armageddon has launched into the top 20 Houston metal charts on reverbnation as well as being honored with a segment on the upcoming documentary “Heavier in Houston” the sequel to “Heavy in Houston”, documenting the metal and hard rock scene in and around Houston.
PuraPharm (Houston, TX)
https://www.purapharmmusic.com/
“Holy God in Tifa’s 7th Heaven, have you heard this girl? It’s like Nina Hagen was fronting the Legendary Pink Dots! She’s got a voice like a living orgasm that just pounds right out of a wall of psychedelic rock until you fall on the floor like the heroin just kicked in. No wonder she’s up for a Best Female Vocal award this year. ” - Jef With One F - Houston Press: Rocks Off 100
PuraPharm was formed in 2007 by Tessa Kole and Niki Sims. Tessa was looking for a new project after 61 Cygni - her former project - when her drummer, Eric Jarvis, moved on to pursue his dreams becoming more involved in professional recording & production. Tessa and Niki were coworkers at the time, and Niki was one of 61 Cygni’s biggest fans. Niki was usually not old enough to get into all the gigs, but she would find a way every time; whether she had to sneak in the back by helping lug in gear, or hide out in a bathroom for an hour before the venue would start carding at the door, she was always determined to find a way into the show!
In 2005, Tessa approached Niki with an opportunity to start something new from the ground up - Tessa doing what she does best by leading the band by bringing her vocal talents and guitar playing, and Niki rocking a saxophone and clarinet - which they named PuraPharm. Soon afterwards, Paul Adams (former bass player, and founding member of 61 Cygni) joined in on bass guitar. In 2009, a second guitar player came into the mix named Anthony “Tony” Rodriguez. Tony really helped the band to discover their new and unique sound, but he left the band in October of 2012, and was quickly replaced by Davis Jumper. Like Tony, Davis has brought another new element to PuraPharm’s sound, and still with us today. While the songs had been driven with programmed drum arrangements since the beginning, live drummers came along in 2013; first Josh Lastrapes for about 5 months, then John Polinski. In September of 2014 our newest drummer, Daniel Haymes, joined the band.
In 2012 PuraPharm and its members were nominated for five Houston Press Music Awards; Best Modern Rock Band, Best Vocalist, Best Bassist, Best Guitarist, and Best Other Instrument. Niki Sims won her nomination for Best Other Instrument, thanks to her saxophone and clarinet skills!
Purapharm is currently writing, recording, and very much an active part of the Houston music scene. We play regularly at local venues and even tour around the Gulf Coast region once in a while. Our live shows are the best part of being in this band; we enjoy every opportunity we can get to bring our energy to the stage, and love to be in the company of our friends and fans!
Project Armageddon
