THE BANDS | PART THREE Place of Skulls Porn The Quill Ribeye Bros. Santeria Gideon Smith Smoke Solace Sons of Otis Southern Gun Culture Spiritual Beggars Stinking Lizaveta Sunride Suplecs Valis

PLACE OF SKULLS Victor: 2003 for Place of Skulls was full of ups and downs. We started out the year well enough with the recording and completion of 'With Vision.' Immediately after, we found ourselves in search of another bass player after Greg Turley's departure. By the time 'With Vision' was released in late summer, we had exhausted the search of local talent but were fortunate to finally make contact with Dennis Cornelius on bass. Finally having a complete line-up once again, the traveling and logistics of the four of us not living in the same area began to wear on us towards the end of the year. After discussing these issues further, we came to an agreed conclusion that Tim, Dennis, and myself would continue onward as a 3-piece in Place of Skulls, and Wino would continue exclusively with The Hidden Hand. All in all, except for the release of 'With Vision' and getting Dennis in the band...the year was a complete wash out, especially for live performances. We've just recently started to get it back on track. On an up note, we were fortunate to gain a lot of good press in some major mags on both shores as well as most of the great die hard doom and stoner zines. Not much more to report then that...other than the fact that we've got a lot of good stuff planned for 2004. It should be a good year for us, touring both the States and Europe then back to the studio for our next album.

PORN Porn, the year in review by Dale Nixon: So, this guy calling himself 'Moss' keeps incessantly calling me, trying to get me to write a review of his band’s 'year.' He tells me he’s in some band called 'Porn' and goes on and on about some guy called 'Melvin' and a studio geek that plays bass. I don’t know these people or this 'Porn' band, but I chat with the guy for a minute. He seems like a cool enough guy-kinda guy, slow, but sincere. I remember having to tell him to speak up a lot ‘cause it sounded muffled-like he was mumblin’ through a big beard or something. Well, he finally spit out some info, tells me how this little band of his has been around for quite a while, but never had a solid lineup. Mostly friends that are in other bands, but don’t stick around for the long haul. So, annoyed but intrigued, I say I gotta think about it and do some research before I give him an answer. He says "okay, man' thanks , let’s party sometime anyway, okay?" So I hang up the phone and get on the web. After a search or two and a bothersome trudge through a zillion pages of gay porn, I come to find a few things about the BAND. [You try a search for just 'Porn' it’s a real treat. Maybe that’s how he thought of the name...] anyway, the things I found were interesting. Apparently this guy Tim Moss 'sings' and plays guitar with lots a goofy 'vintage' [broken..?] pedals and a guitar that’s made out of aluminum by some guy named 'Bean.' What peaked my interest was finding out that over the years, he’s had quite a few people in his band that are in other bands --Swans, Acid King, Buzzov.en, El Dopa, The Obsessed, Goatsnake, Helios Creed, Horsey to name just a few, pretty impressive. Now though it looks like he has a more permanent lineup, with some guy named Dale Crover playing drumbs and who is also in this kick-ass band The Melvins, and in addition, the guy playing bass is also some high-fallutin’ engineer/producer guy named Billy Anderson, who’s made a ton of records for heavy bands such as Sleep, Mr. Bungle, Neurosis, Fantomas, Cathedral, Orange Goblin and others. All these people playing with a shy dude who calls himself 'Moss' and sounds like a mush-mouthed-high-school-joint-selling-keg-party-dude? Must be something there... well, needless to say, I called the kid back and told him "yes, I’ll write the year in review thing... he let out a girlish "WHOOOOOOOP!" and said "oh,man.... yhanks, dude. You rock!" So here it is: The past year has been a big one for Porn. After a few successful 2002 tours across the USA, a controversial KOZIK poster commemorating the last live show at the now defunct and legendary club The Covered Wagon in San Francisco and an appearance at this years SXSW, Porn didn’t really do SHIT in 2003. For most of it anyway.... August came rollin’ around and the band decided to get off its ass and get a tour together. The tour encompassed all of 9 grueling West-Coast USA shows [including the SHOD Festival] and ended in the studio with Billy Anderson, Dale Crover and Tim Moss tracking 3 entire albums worth of material. The Recording Reels contain a total of more than 200 minutes of music [21 of which is new material] encompassing a wide spectrum of sounds. First up for release thru Small Stone Records in the Spring of 2004 is 'Wine, Women and Song', an album the band calls more or less a 'Rock' album, though I would use the term 'Rock' to describe the music in relative terms. Next, in the Fall, the band will issue the second installment in the on-going 'Experiments in...' series thru Small Stone Records. This album, according to the Producer of the sessions, will be more experimental in nature. In addition to these two releases, a 'Live' album will be released during the year and there is also rumor of a video that is made up of footage shot during these recording sessions. Talk of upcoming US tours [SXSW, Emissions] and European tours are being held. So, I guess you could say that it looks like for the upcoming 2004 year, Porn will most likely not be doing SHIT either. So there it is --Porn, The Year in Review, signed Dale Nixon Top Three albums Billy Anderson was involved with in 2003: Crisis - "The Return, Bigger and Badder Than Ever" Porn - Album[s] All 3. "A pure joy to hack it up-all-short-notice-style with Moss, long awaited jams with Heir CROVAR" Sleep - "Dopesmoker" "Vindication. 5 years later" Top three albums Tim Moss subjected his band mates with: Neil Young - "Greendale" "Brilliant Fantomas - "Delirium Cordia" "Beautiful" Khanate - "Things Viral" "Brilliant & beautiful" Top Three albums for Dale Crover: ZZ Top - "Mescalero" Friends Forever - "Killball" White Stripes - "Elephant"

THE QUILL Christian: We had a quite busy year with some real highlights. First of all our fourth album, 'Hooray! It's A Deathtrip' was released in October. We had a real extended recording-period; the first tracks were recorded in December 2002, then we continued in a dozen of sessions up until May before everything was put together and mixed. And what a mix!! Daniel Bergstrand made an incredible effort dressing our songs up with the most astonishing sound we only could have hoped for. Totally great! The album has received rave reviews from all over the world. That's always pleasing knowing that people out there actually like this band as much as we do ourselves. We have done some live performances as well, unfortunately not as much as we hoped for, but knowing what's ahead of us that doesn't matter. We did a really cool gig at the 'Wacken Open Air' festival in Germany. 'Metal Dayz' in Switzerland was nice as well; watching Testament was an incredible and surprisingly powerful live-experience! There has also been a handful of shows in Sweden which is always nice. 2004 is here, and we will embark on a --by far most extensive-- tour ever. We will be the opening act for the great Monster Magnet and Glucifer on a European tour that will last for 38 shows. We hope to see you all out there, somewhere. Hmmmm... not that much has thrilled me this year. I have actually just one album that was released in 2003 Led Zeppelin - "How The West Was Won" This could possible be one of the best live albums ever made. This is a real band communicating with their instruments. Listen to that incredible guitar-sound! Pink Floyd - "Wish You Were Here" I hadn't actually heard the whole album til' I bought it this year. I put it in my walkman for the first time --while sitting on the train at 6 in the morning. An incredible way to wake up. Muddy Waters - "Fathers and Sons" Had been told about this album for many years. It's supposed to be the best recording he ever made. When I finally found it all my expectations were fulfilled. Probably the best blues-album ever!!!

RIBEYE BROS. The State of the Ribeye Brothers 2003, Tim Cronin version: Well we went on a short badly attended tour, played some cool shows, almost finished up our new record [entitled either: 'Ding Ding Here Comes the Shitmobile' or 'New Ways To Fail']. Nobody quit the band for a while now; our side band Gallery of Mites put out a record that was actually released in Europe. We hope that people dig our new shit. Looking forward to a comprehensive FEEDTIME reissue in 2004 Lungfish - "Love is Love" Clone Defects - "Shapes of Venus" Six Organs of Admittance - "Compathia" Wellwater Conspiracy - "Wellwater Conspiracy" Les Rallizes Denudes - "Blind Baby Has it's Mothers Eyes"

SANTERIA Dege: Santos Recap. Good year. Toured the lower US and the West Coast and sold many copies of our latest CD, 'House of The Dying Sun', which got killer reviews across the board, except for one pitiable nerd, hopelessly stuck in the Old South, who seemed unable to cope with our modernized interpretation of the 'southern rock sound.' Yawn. We conducted studies of paranormal phenomena in Roswell, NM. We searched for Mestizo ghosts down the backroads of Mexico. Wandered the streets of Tombstone, AZ. Met many bands. Made many friends. Made a few enemies. At one point, during the summer of 2003, after sending in a copy of a song I wrote to some of their new music, I came with inches of being asked to join Alabama Thunder Pussy, but unfortunately, I sucked on their old songs. Best of luck in the future to my southern brothers in ATP. I published the most comprehensive installment of the Santeria Journal yet, 'Folk Tales of the American Longhair', excerpts of which were published in numerous paper and online zines, including Roadburn. We burnt thru the zooligan jungles of our imaginations and began fleshing songs for the next 4th Santeria CD... the songs of which are way beyond anything we've ever done and I think are going to surprise a lot of people. In November, I began recording songs for my 3rd solo CD, produced by 4x Grammy Man, Tony Daigle, who has recorded some of the greatest 'roots music' of the last fifteen years. Additionally, I spent 8 months documenting my adventures living in seedy, subterranean motels, possibly for book in the future titled, 'Motel City.' That's about all I can remember at the moment. What will the future bring you, you ask? Who knows? The future is always unwritten in the Great Unknown. Top 3 --Note: Being in a "rock band," I'm a firm believer that listening to too much rock is very bad for your Rock & Roll. It's terrible for your creative output to listen only to rock exclusively. The least inspired rock music I've ever heard has been played by dudes in bands who listen to nothing but the shit they want their band to sound like...and bag on everything else that doesn't suit up in the same uniform while ignoring other types of music that may have a direct, historical lineage to the stuff they are playing. The Throat Singers of Tuva - "Orphan's Lament" Incredible, gruff, odd, and strangely beautiful folk singing done by sheep herders who live in an isolated area of the Siberia/Mongolian border. Imagine long, meditative choruses of demented groans and harmonic grunts executed by devout semi-Mongol animists who, in part, are trying to replicate the sound and shape of the mountains surrounding them. They hear the mountains. Badass. This rocks. Debashish Bhattacharya - "Master of Hindustani Slide Guitar" Totally insane dude from India, who plays classical Indian sitar compositions on this crazy, customized Dobro. The riffs and tones sound just like a sitar, but the sound has its own peculiar character...and it's mind blowing. Amazing. Any slide guitarists out there who've worn out there Delta Blues collections and are looking to see what other kinds of madness can be attained on a Dobro should check this out. I came across this dude while looking for transcriptions of Indian scales and compositions for western instruments. Then I found an article on this guy... and flipped out. What the fuck?!! Like most classical Indian musicians, he's dedicated his life to this pursuit, going the guru-route and such. Eastern musicians, and their level of dedication, make us rock&roll types look like a bunch of spoiled, little pussies. Believe it. We ain't even close. Let There Be Raga! Barbez - "Barbez" Great experimental band from NYC that includes the world's most badass theremin player, Pamelia Kurstin.

GIDEON SMITH & THE DIXIE DAMNED Gideon: 2003 was a great year for me and the band. We have just finished up our 'Dealin' Decks' EP, which originally was a four song 7" and turned into a six song CD/10" due out early next year on Scarey Records out of Italy. Soon we will begin working on our second album for Smallstone Records. We now have a webpage for the band, which is www.dixiedamned.com We did a Zodiac song for the Sleazegrinder Zodiac Mindwarp tribute cd, our version of the song 'Meanstreak.' As for top albums of 2003, I have enjoyed Throttlerod, Five Horse, and the other new CDs out on Smallstone this last year. We played some cool shows with Gods of Mars, Crank Country Daredevils, Automag and Dead Kings, all good bands and cool people.

SMOKE 2003 saw us make great strides in our attempt to broaden our audience, as we were able to experience an extensive tour, in all we performed 36 shows in 20 states in just a two month span. However the rigors of the road did not get the best of us and we are currently working on new material and preparing for a Southwestern jaunt this coming spring. The Mars Volta – "De-loused in the Comatorium" [Bobby] Dead Meadow - "Shivering King and Others [Yosh] Dirty Power - "S/T" [Marc]

SOLACE Tom: 2003 saw the release of our album "13" which saw a very positive response. It also saw our first tour in years, which was a bittersweet affair. Having set this thing up months in advance we saw our self at the starting gate with no singer. Not wanting to cash the chips in, we looked for someone to fill in. No easy task. We had to look no further than our own back yard with Jadd Shickler coming in and saving our asses. On a few practices, a wing & a prayer off we go... First day. Truck breaks down on the way to Virginia. Barely make it to the gig, but we do. Play. Get drunk. Have fun. Wake up in the morning and our drummer is gone. What the fuck??? A big thanks goes out to Bo from Throttlerod here who did everything in his powers including missing work to try to help us out. A million phone calls later we decide to ask Greg from the Rubes, who we are on tour with, if he thinks there is anyway he can fill in for the rest of the tour. A few hours in a basement in Virginia and the man is ready to Rock N' Roll! The man is a stud! Learning our shit and playing 2 sets a night for the rest of the tour! Everlasting love & up's to Greg Fee and The rest of The Rubes, Mace & Brent for the support and positive attitudes and for doing everything in their powers to make this work for us. Had some great shows along the way but ending in a nightmare debacle at Emissions with gear breaking on stage. It's only Rock n Roll - Redemption for us this year at emissions. So we have added a permanent drummer in Kenny Lund from New Jersey thrash-core legends Lethal Aggression and a second guitarist Justin Daniels. Both of who have not only added their dedication and love of all things Solace but have certainly added to the heavy with great musicianship, ideas, and positive-ness. 2004 will be, by all indications with these new additions a GREAT year for Solace. The new record is completely written. As a matter of fact we have enough material for a double CD. Part of the problem is trying to figure out what we should and should not use. Which is not a bad problem to have I suppose. But at this point it's a hard decision because, were all really liking almost everything equally. Jason, our singer is to start work on vocals in January and with any luck maybe we will start recording in the late spring, early summer. In addition, my other band Robot Dicks will also start recording in Feb. and we will self release a 7-inch. Anyone interested in Helping with the release, setting up shows, or want any other info about Solace or Robot Dicks can give me a shout at Solacetom@aol.com We are also looking into the possibility of a European tour and the signing with a new label. All of this is in its infancy but may happen, more details to follow. There's way to many people to thank for all the help we received in making all this shit possible but chances are if your reading this we owe you some thanks. Killing Joke - "S/T" The hidden hand - "Divine Propaganda" Abdullah - "Demos 2003"

SONS OF OTIS Ken: I wish I could remember the beginning of 2003 but I can't. I'm getting old!!! Once again we got screwed over by our label and are now searching for a new one. We just finished recording with Billy Anderson and he was solid, Unfortunately the studio wasn`t!!! The church of despair! An old friend helped us out with the finances since our label pulled the plug at the last minute!!! The record is entitled 'X' and it's the truest Otis yet!!! So we hope to find a solid label to release it in 2004. Check our site for updates. Our news is rather...grim, sorry, but hey, that' s what the blues is all about! The Allman Brothers - "Hittin' The Note" Gov't Mule - "The Deepest End" Jimi Hendrix - "live At Berkeley 1970"

SOUTHERN GUN CULTURE Danny: It's been a good year for Southern Gun Culture, and we want to say Thank You to everyone who came out to the shows and wrote us through the website for their continued support! We've had a blast and met alot of great people. In 2003 we released a split EP and toured the west coast, south and midwest; we shared the stage with Nebula, ATP, Speedealer, Bad Wizard, Porn [The Men of], Suplecs, Sasquatch, Fatso Jetson, RPG, Dixie Witch, Honky, Super Heavy Goat Ass, Solid Donkey and hooked up for mini-tours with Throttlerod and Devil To Pay. We got our website [www.southerngunculture.com] up and running, and at our recent New Orleans show, Josh Homme and Sean from White Zombie made appearances. But this is only the beginning... 2004 will be an even bigger year!!! SGC is planning a US tour for the Spring and hopes to record and release a full-length follow-up to 2002's 'Room 65.' In the meantime we're working on a limited-edition import EP on vinyl with the UK's Riot Season Records, and we'll keep you posted.

SPIRITUAL BEGGARS Michael: 2003 was a great year for us. We got to get out on the road again in Europe and Japan on our 'Monstergroove 2003' tour. After a couple years away from the live circuit it felt really good... It was so nice to see how positive people were to the new incarnation of Spiritual Beggars! We brought out Clutch, Dozer and Spiritu with us, and that proved to be a great combination of bands --great people and cool music! As for the future, there’s live audio [from Tokyo, April 2003] and live audio/video [from London, March 2003] that all needs to be mixed and edited. Then there is talk of putting together a 'Best of' album on the Music For Nations label for a 2004 release. And yes, new music is coming together. I have 10 new songs pretty much knocked into shape for the next studio album –-whenever we get to do that I don’t know... I am so fucking busy at the moment with Arch Enemy, but it will happen sometime on 2004! There was quite a few cool releases this year in my opinion –-a good year for rock and metal. The Turbonegro CD rules, the new Morbid Angel was a return to form, The Haunted’s 'One Kill Wonder' was great, The Mars Volta made dig out the YES and KING CRIMSON vinyl again... lotsa cool stuff that’s been entertaining me on the tour bus and at home. I have narrowed it down to my "3 best albums of the year" –-for those who care! The Darkness – "Permission To Land" [Good guitar playing and it’s funny too] Turbonegro – "Scandinavian Leather" [Good guitar playing and it’s funny too] Grand Magus – "Monument" [Good guitar playing and it’s evil too]

STINKING LIZAVETA Cheshire: Stinking Lizaveta trudges forward as we have been for the past ten years. We are the band that refuses to dot the 'i' or cross the 't' and so we tend to create the best and worst of luck for ourselves. But we continue to challenge ourselves and to totally give over to the music on stage. One highlight of this year was learning AC/DC's 'For Those About to Rock' with which we accompanied Knoxville's Gypsy Hands Belly Dancers on several occasions. Another was Stink Fest or Yanni Fest as we've called it, down in New Orleans. Yanni managed to get Axe Handle, Meat Jack, The Gypsy Hands and Stinking Lizaveta to converge for some serious heaviness at Check Point Charlies for Halloween and the day after. It was crazy and awesome as only Checks can be. I must say, however my drumming absolute once in a lifetime high, was getting to play bass drum with the second line in the Day of the Dead Parade with the Krew Du Poux. Thanks you guys forever. Meat Jack - "Days of Fire" The Hidden Hand - "Divine Propaganda" That Object at the End of History - "S/T"

SUNRIDE Wille: I'm writing down my thoughts for Roadburn's Retrospective for the 4rd year in a row now, and every year when I start writing this, I notice that the current year has been a step forward in our career. And 2003 is certainly no exception. We released our 2nd full-length album, 'Through The Red', back in May, and the release was followed by two Finland-tours and some additional touring in Sweden, Holland and Germany during last Spring and this Autumn. The album got very good response everywhere and this is something that surprised us all. I mean you always know your latest stuff is the best you've ever done, but the fact that someone else thinks so too, makes you feel kinda better you know... It was good to notice that this kind of music is still needed and what we do is worth all the effort. Since October we have pretty much just taken it easy and keeping a somewhat lower profile. We've wrote a lot of new songs for the next album [which we hope to record next year!] and we are eagerly waiting for 2004 which right now seems to become the 'touring year' for Sunride. In February we will hit the European roads for 3 weeks, then its time for some Finland-dates and in April and May we will do a Norway / Sweden / Finland-tour with 2 other bands. And who knows, maybe you get another Sunride album in 2004 too! Fingers crossed. Katatonia - "Viva Emptiness" The Cardigans - "Long Gone Before Daylight" Swallow The Sun - "The Morning Never Came" Dozer - "Call It Conspiracy"

SUPLECS Durel: This year was a pretty cool for Suplecs. We didn't tour as much as we did in the past but we played some really great shows. Some of the highlightes were the shows with Clutch, SXSW in Austin TX, and of course, Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans. When we went out with Clutch this last time it was in the dead of winter on the east coast. Being from New Orleans, we have never seen that much snow in our lives. One night in New Hampshire we actually stayed in a log cabin on a frozen lake and went snow sledding. In Boston we got trapped in a hotel room because of the biggest snow storm in 10 years. Our dumbasses didn't bring boots, only vans and our feet were wet the entire tour. The shows were killer though, we got to play in some big venues with big turnouts. SXSW was really cool this year. We got to play 3 times and every show was great, especially the benifit for Handsome Joel. Got to see all of our friends and tons of bands. We do an annual Mardi Gras Day show in New Orleans every year and it's always the craziest show of the year. We don't charge a cover that day so every insane, drunk motherfucker in a costume goes and we have a big party. Our video for the song 'Rock Bottom' was accepted by MTV2 and they played it a few times. Although we never saw it, it was still cool to get feedback from around the country and to be on the Headbanger's Ball. We will be recording our new record in Febuary!! QoTSA - "Songs For The Deaf" Dixie Witch - "One Bird, Two Stones" Clutch - "Live At The Googolplex"

VALIS Van Conner: Late 2002 saw the release of our first full length Album, 'Vast Active Living Intelligence System' on Lunasound Recordings [Sweden]. Around that same time, Kurt Danielson left the band to pursue endeavors overseas and we recruited our old friend Adrian Makins formerly of Kitty Kitty for bass dutie The reviews of the record were great and a lot of people who had never been into our former bands got to hear us for the first time. After playing a slew of shows around the Pacific Northwest we felt it was time to take the show on the road and hooked up with Tonedeaf Touring for our first west coast tour in summer 2003. It was predicted by some in the VALIS camp that this might be our first and last tour. We pretty much kill ourselves when we play and the idea of doing it every night was somewhat daunting. Luckily, we settled quickly into the groove, kept up damage control and ended up playing some of Valis' best shows to date. We had been in the studio on and off all year laying down tracks for our next CD when the opportunity came to sign up with Small Stone. With a new record near completion and the subsequent demise of Lunasound, the offer from Small Stone seemed too good to refuse so we dove in headfirst and signed on with the label from the motor city. Eager for the release of VALIS' second full length and tours to follow there may be more than a few surprises in store for 2004. Now with the combined power of VALIS, Tonedeaf and Small Stone, we embark on 2004. Two tours are planned for spring, SXSW and Emissions from the Monolith, and a new full length is slated for release in Spring 2004. Abdullah - "Graveyard Poetry" Caustic Resin - "Keep On Truckin'" Unida "The Great Divide"