Let's start with your name and your site. Let's have it.
Doomed & Stoned is really not meant to be edgy, though
it has a nice ring to it. It came to me
as a simple way to sum up the genre of heavy music that’s the heart and soul of
our writing: doom metal and stoner rock.
I consider those to be the classic, enduring styles of rock and metal,
best encapsulated by Black Sabbath.
Sabbath played music that was slow, low, and somber, but they had
up-tempo songs that captured the feel-good era of the ‘70s, as well. It’s the quintessential doomed and stoned
band.
As soon as I got turned on to the doom-stoner vibe, I began
to look into my own backyard to see what was happening here. At the time, Oregon’s
proudest exports were bands like Witch
Mountain, Yob, Lord
Dying, and a dozen others that were being signed left and right to Relapse,
Profound Lore, and other labels. I
started documenting everything, including bands that were flying below the. It started with me just showing up at shows
and shooting live footage. As I became
more accepted by the community, filming led to interviews, album reviews, and
the scene compilation series that many people know us best for.
Then, I started meeting aspiring and experienced writers and
photographers who caught the vision and wanted to document their scenes, as
well. It all happened very naturally and
organically, fueled by a mutual love of fuzzy, downtuned riffs and a desire to
bring more meaningful, in-depth coverage of the music for fans of the genre.
Start at the beginning, how did you get started with this
crazy idea of promoting music? How has
it grown and changed over the years?
Doomed & Stoned originated out of a frustration I had in
sharing discoveries like Windhand, Saint Vitus, Sleep, and Goatsnake with my
metal friends. Many wouldn’t give these
bands a chance or listened for half-a-minute and gave up. Surely, I thought to myself, there must be
others out there who were just as in love with the doom-stoner genre as I
am. It wasn’t long until I met Melissa,
my Executive Editor and first contributor, in a metal forum and together we
burrowed in the heavy underground and discovered a whole community that
welcomed us, as well as a number of other sites covering the doom-stoner scene
around the world. Most of them have been
very friendly and we’ve even had the opportunity to collaborate with folks like
The Sludgelord, Outlaws of the Sun, The Ripple Effect, and many more. There are others that won’t acknowledge our
existence to this day, I’m guessing because we were viewed as unwelcome
competition in an already small market with tight friendships. The thing is, we never really wanted to
compete with anyone – we just wanted an outlet to share our love of music. It’s hard not to be competitive sometimes, of
course. Competition can be positive in
that it inspires you to push yourself, try new things, and grow. But since none of the 20+ contributors to
Doomed & Stoned are doing this full-time, we want to have fun, too, and you
can’t have fun if you’re constantly trying to outdo this site or that. We found our niche in digging into local scenes
and telling the stories of the bands who may very well be the next Sleep or
Windhand five or ten years from now.
Now that we’re
closing in on the fifth year of our existence, I feel we’re becoming known as
people who are willing to cover the scene in the depth it deserves. That’s our motto, in fact: “Sharing the music
and the stories of the heavy underground, with an emphasis on the Sabbath Sound
and local scene coverage – by the underground, for the underground.” Since we first began, the scene has
absolutely exploded and we were lucky enough to time our entry, completely by
coincidence, to ride that wave as it was cresting. Right now, the scene is at least twice as big
as it was five years ago and it’s becoming increasingly impossible to listen to
all the new albums coming out, even if we limit our consideration to just
record labels, which of course we don’t want to do. Over the years, we’ve been lucky enough to
discover bands like Holy Grove, Year of the Cobra, and dozens of others that
have risen to prominence in our scene.
Just being a small part of boosting those bands and watching them get
the recognition they deserve is extremely gratifying.
We're all the product of our musical past. What's your musical history? First album you ever bought? First musical epiphany moment? First album that terrified the hell out of
you?
I was raised by parents who came of age in the ‘50s and
‘60s, so I was exposed initially to a lot of late-‘60s rock, big band jazz, and
later the ‘70s radio pop. Mom was fond
of playing three classical music albums with a mix of music by Mozart,
Beethoven, and Rossini, and that left a very powerful impression on me early
on. She also was fond of Olivia Newton
John, so I have “Jolene” permanently etched on my psyche and every so often
vainly attempt singing it in the shower.
My first vinyl was the Ghostbusters soundtrack, which dad
bought for me, and it unleashed a curiosity for the popular music of the
‘80s. Like a lot of my friends at
school, I was nuts about Michael Jackson
and I remember asking dad if I could have one of those swank red jackets
that he wore so famously in “Thriller” (I was denied, though I did get quite
good at grade school moonwalking). I
distinctly remember the day my family got cable TV for the first time and with
it MTV, which brought the music of Metallica, Boy George, Madonna, Aerosmith,
and Run-DMC into our conservative Texas
household.
It didn’t last long, because somewhere in the mid-‘80s, my
family got caught up in the whole “Satanic Panic” movement. They started monitoring my listening habits
vigilantly. One day, for instance, my
mom was horrified to find her ten-year-old boy singing along to “Nobody’s Fool”
by Cinderella during Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 show. From that point on, both rock and metal were
banned from the house and my radio was confiscated. It was too late, though, because I was hooked
– particularly by metal. Something about
it has always moved me in a way that only classical music has matched. My first
metal album, which I purchased in secret, was ‘Appetite for Destruction’ by
Guns ‘n’ Roses – which at the time represented the pinnacle of late ‘80s heavy
metal. People need to understand how
revolutionary it was to hear something that “hard” on mainstream radio and
MTV. I listened to it and ‘Lies’
incessantly on my Walkman and continued listening clandestinely to FM hard rock
and heavy metal.
Since I couldn’t listen to it openly, I started developing
an interest in the darker side of classical music, the moodier pieces by
Beethoven, Liszt, and Scriabin, and took up playing the piano around 13. My family was supportive of that talent and
I would spend hours and hours a day for years playing the piano in
solitude. That was my first
introduction, in kernel form, to “doom” – especially late Beethoven, when he
started growing deaf and began expressing his frustration and despair more
poignantly through dark tones. Franz Liszt, later in life, experienced so much
tragedy that he begin to write very bleak, obscure music and was one of the first
to experiment with atonality.
It wouldn’t be until my college days that I’d come
face-to-face with doom at a Saint Vitus show in Portland.
From that moment forward, I knew I’d discovered my soul food. Doom metal made an immediate connection, as
it addressed the fucked up nature of life and society in a way that felt
authentic to me. It wasn’t just
anger. It was dark, slow despair and
even a blithe kind of acceptance to it all.
It was refreshing to have those feelings mapped out in song like that. That triggered a wave of discovery that led
to Eyehategod, Usnea, Cough, Demon Lung, and others that are now staples of my
musical diet.
What's the last album to grab you by the throat and insist
you listen?
Definitely ‘Celestial
Cemetery’ (2017) Purple
Hill Witch. I was only a nominal fan of
their first album, but their second one was quite convincing, emotionally. There’s an underlying sadness to the record
that appeals to me as a person who has long battled depression.
What do you see happening in the music scene today, good and
bad?
More people are digging to the doom-stoner sound and the
scene is growing exponentially. The
internet has democratized music in a way that has made it easier than ever for
bands to form, record, and share their music.
It’s also made it much, much harder for a band to get discovered. We’re simply oversaturated by it all. We’re reaching peak information and a lot of
listeners have just stopped exploring altogether. I think there was a study done some years back
that said by the late-20’s/early-30’s the average metal listener typically
hardens in their musical tastes. I don’t
know how true that is still, but I know that I’ve been increasingly suffering
from listening fatigue. 2014 was the
last year I felt on top of it all. 2015
was explosive and every year since has found me woefully behind in my
listening. I’m still digging through the
rubble and discovering incredible records that I share now and then in a series
of short reviews I call, “Doomed Discoveries.”
Among the trends I’ve seen in our scene in particular is the
increase in female-fronted bands, which I tried to document in our compilation,
‘The Enchanter’s Ball’ (2015), and more experimentation with genre
blending. It’s becoming harder to find bands
who traffic in traditional doom, but that’s fine because I think we all needed
more diversity in our playlist to keep us from becoming jaded. For a while, it seemed every other band was
“witch” this and “black” that. I’m the
last person to judge a band by its name, but it was leading to a ton of
criticism from fans – to the point I’d have a hard time getting doom-stoner
listeners to take a chance with a newer band that had the word “wizard” in
their name. One thing that seems to be a
theme of the doom-stoner scene is a continual drive for excellence and
evolution. On the negative side, we tend
to expect more of our heroes, as a result – which is why bands like The Sword
and Electric Wizard have been criticized for producing music that would have otherwise
excited us if they were a brand new band.
What's been your all-time greatest "Find"? That band you "discovered" before
anyone else and started the word spreading?
It’s hard to pinpoint one band, but I’ve been instrumental
in boosting the music of Holy Grove, Disenchanter, and Year of the Cobra – all
bands from out of the Pacific Northwest. Initially through Doomed & Stoned and
then through Psycho Las Vegas, which was very involved with in its inaugural
year. Over half of the bands that played
the Vinyl stage in 2016 were my recommendations. Though I was less involved in the following
year, Psycho Las Vegas booked most of the bands that had appeared at own Doomed
& Stoned Festival. It was a huge
confidence booster in Doomed & Stoned’s ability to be “taste testers.” This is not to say my taste in bands has
always been picked up by big festivals or record labels. The scene is getting bigger and there are
more and more “taste testers” now, just because there’s too much music for one
outlet to cover now, so there are plenty of great recommendations coming from a
number of amazing blogs and webzines.
What's the hardest thing you encounter in promoting shows?
Convincing people that live music is worth leaving the
comfort of our homes to experience, to say nothing of many benefits that come
from connecting others in the underground music community. These days, we tend to value how conveniently
something can be brought to us – audio books have replaced the need to sit and
read, our homes have become veritable theaters so no need to go out for movies
anymore, and streaming high-definition music makes us feel like we’re in some
sense getting the real deal. Of course,
those of us who go out to shows know there’s just no substitute for the
excitement, energy, and sound of a well-produced live show – especially in a
small venue. With that said, even I
struggle with convincing myself to go out.
It’s the introvert in me, I suppose.
However, I have a saying that I try to live by, “Feel the fear and do it
anyway.”
If you could write a 1,000 word essay on one song, which one
would it be, and why? What makes that
song so important?
Funny, I actually did write a 1,000+ word essay on Cough’s
“Possession” – the only song I’ve been moved to write an entire piece about so
far. I think it’s because it spoke to me
during a time in my life where I was feeling such raw, charged emotion and witnessing
a personal transformation from being a happy-go-lucky, easy-going dude, to
someone emptied of hope and weighted down by nihilistic thinking. I’ve always valued music for its ability to
commiserate with me in my circumstances.
During Basic Training it was ‘Superunknown’ and ‘Down on the Upside’ by
Soundgarden. In my college days, it was Alice in Chain’s last
album before the death of Layne Staley.
And in 2016, Cough returned after a long absence, released Still They
Pray, and headlined the first ever Doomed & Stoned Festival in Indianapolis. It was a year of transition for me with a
lot of upheaval in my personal life and “Possession” seem to capture my inner
storm perfectly.
Give us three bands that we need to keep our eyes out for.
White Wail
The grooviest psychedelics this side of Berlin
at the moment are nested right here in Yob country, my hometown of Eugene, Oregon. White Wail are best described as part
Graveyard, part Radio Moscow, with a special DIY electricity that has made them
hands down one of the most entertaining live acts in the region. Their upcoming second album is going to put
them on the map for many people, I predict.
Reptile Master
Norwegian doom-sludge clan with two guitars, two basses, a
drum, and one unhinged vocalist. You’ll
find none fiercer. “The Sorcerer’s Weed”
(opening number off their first LP, In The Light of a Sinking Sun) is
positively frightening. I can feel its
seething rage filling up my chest cavity like pneumonia every time I listen to
it. I believe they’re expecting a new
album out in the first quarter of 2019, if not sooner.
Chrome Ghost
The ultimate contrast of light and dark come to us from a
relatively unknown band in Roseville,
California. The secret sauce here involves incredible
vocal harmonies pitted against massive, crunchy riffs, something that’s done
very effectively in their recent EPs, ‘The Mirror’ (2018) and ‘Reflection Pool’
(2017). Now, they just need to take this
show on the road.
Tell us about your personal music collection. Vinyl?
CD? What's your prized possession?
People think I have a huge vinyl collection, but mine is
quite modest, really. Don’t get me
wrong, I’d love to have a bigger collection and show it off, but unfortunately,
I haven’t a lot of money to put into it, really. My most prized records come from bands I’ve
supported from their earliest stages, like Holy Grove, Menin, or Vokonis. CDs have come to dominate my collection, not
so much by choice, but a lot of promos get sent to me that way. Mostly, I have a vast digital collection that
takes up almost six terabytes of data.
Since I’m doing a lot of podcasting, this allows me the easiest point of
access to put together my mixes for The Doomed & Stoned Show.
What is it about this particular type of heavy music that
makes it mean so much to you?
To me, doom metal and stoner rock has incredible staying
power. It’s something I can listen to
over and over again without growing weary of it. Add to that the fact bands in this genre take
so much care in crafting their live sound and you can go to any doom-stoner
show knowing you’re going to have an incredible time, perhaps even walk away
with a better experience than the record gave you. I was constantly disappointed by the concert
experiences I had while immersed in mainstream metal. It just never sounded as good as the records
did. With doom-stoner music, my
experience has largely been that concerts typically sound better than the
records. It’s just the ethic of our scene.
What makes it all worthwhile for you?
My philosophy is that as long as we’re all still having fun,
it’s worth it to keep doing Doomed & Stoned. With that said, it can be very demanding and
stressful, especially as we’re increasingly turned to by bands, labels, and PR
firms to host track and album premieres.
The gratification of a piece well done – whether by me or by one of my
team members – is ultimately what keeps me going day-to-day. I find a lot of joy in developing talent and
even helping writers and photographers hone their craft, gain greater name
recognition, and develop the confidence to even branch out on their own as
freelancers. When Melissa first started,
she wasn’t confident at all that she could do an interview. Next thing you know, she’s interviewing Wino
and organizing a music festival with international bands. I’ve very proud of the team and everyone who
has been a part of it, if only for a season.
How would your life be different if you weren't spreading
the word about music?
I suppose I’d be spending more time playing the piano,
something I’ve neglected more than I’d like to admit since starting Doomed
& Stoned. Either way, I don’t think
I can stay passively involved in music.
I have to be playing it or writing about it, preferably both.
Ever been threatened by a band or a ravenous fan?
No, but I’ve been doggedly pursued on Facebook by overly
enthusiastic bands trying to get me to review their albums. What they don’t realize is that I’ve got a
very heavy editing backlog – it takes at least 2 hours and usually 4 hours – to
prep a piece of the average size that Doomed & Stoned does for
publication. For me to review a record,
I need even more time to let it soak in.
I have to find something in it that connects with me on an emotional or
at least an intellectual level or I can’t write about it. Because of that, I don’t write very many
reviews a years. Maybe a half-dozen
traditional, track-by-track reviews, though I do try to write at least one
short review a week.
Part of the blessing and the curse of doing this as a hobby,
as opposed to full-time, is I don’t have a lot of time to hear gossip, get into
interpersonal dramas, that kind of thing.
I wish I could spend more time responding to every message I receive and
developing deeper level friendships.
Perhaps in time I will. I’m such
a workaholic right now that it’s very hard for me to tear away and just relax
and get to know people. On the positive
side, it does save me from a lot of inter-scene drama and allows me to be more
of a neutral party when issues arise between bands, venues, promoters, forums,
or fans.
In the end, what would you like to have accomplished, or be
remembered for?
I’m hoping we can be remembers for documenting this special
era in heavy music history. I want to
get better at showcasing the bands in their scenes and telling their stories,
just like the writers and photographers of the Seattle grunge era were able to capture the
imagination of the world with the vibe of the early-to-mid ‘90s. I also hope I’ll be remembered for writing
interesting, engaging, and relatable music reviews that aren’t pretentious
crap. That’s still a work in progress!
Many people may not realize the hours you devote to what you
do for little or no pay. Is there a day
job? If so, how do you find the balance?
This is most certainly not a day job. I have a full time job that I work 40-50
hours a week and I do Doomed & Stoned in the evenings and weekends. Right now, I’m not doing very good with the
balance, to be honest. I’m a workaholic,
if I’m honest with myself. That said,
every other weekend, my mind and body revolt and refuse to allow me to do
anything except sleep or just lay around watching movies or doing normal things
like, you know, mowing the lawn. If I
could will it, I would not sleep more than four hours a night, hit every show
that comes to town, review every new release, put out a podcast every week,
edit every submission within a few days of submission – in other words, manage
Doomed & Stoned as if it were a full-scale webzine. I have to remind myself that I started this
to build community and to have fun, so it’s okay to operate on a different
model.
What's next? Any new
projects?
This year, we’re on a roll with our compilations, thanks to
some wonderful organizers who are embedded in their local scenes and are good
at rounding up tracks from all the participating bands. We’ve released Doomed & Stoned in Ireland, Doomed & Stoned in Philadelphia,
and Doomed & Stoned in New
Zealand.
Coming up, we’re doing Doomed & Stoned in South
Africa, Doomed & Stoned in Sweden, Doomed & Stoned in
Deutschland, and our fifth anniversary compilation, Doomed & Stoned in
Portland III. Other than that, we’re in
the third year of our flagship festival, Doomed & Stoned Festival, which
takes place in October. Over the summer,
we’ll have two new festivals: Chicago Doomed & Stoned Festival and Ohio
Doomed & Stoned Fest. We’ll likely
be doing a festival in Portland later in the
summer, too, perhaps doing an all-dayer in Eugene, too.
We’ll see.
Finally, other than the music, what's your other burning
passion?
I have cats that I love to death. I’m a fanatical collector of B-movies, from
the ‘60s and ‘70s especially – the more awful the movie is, production wise,
the more I delight in it. Probably that
has a lot to do with growing up on Mystery Science Theater 3000. When B-movies and cats collide with music,
I’m in a very happy place (see the band Gurt!).
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