GRAND MAGUS
JB:
2006 proved to be a dramatic year for Grand Magus. It started with an awesome European tour together with Cathedral and Electric Wizard which meant that some of our earliest goals were full filled. We also got an opportunity to come to Greece and play in Athens which was a great experience, we hope to come back to you soon brothers! Enter a new drummer! SEB, an incredible talent and seasoned pro joined Magus to take us to the next level. We came out of 2006 more focussed and united than ever before. New album in the works, and it will crush the foundations of the western civilization!
- Unleashed – "Midvinterblot"
- Dismember – "The God That Never Was"
- Necrophobic – "Hrimthursum"
GROWING
Joe:
2006 was pretty quiet, with the exception of an east coast tour in may with Thrones and Mammal and a trip to Montreal to record “Vision Swim” in October.
- V/A Congotronics #2 – "Buzz & Rumble In The Urban Jungle"
- Black Dice – "Manoman"
- Ladanian Tomlinson – "31 Single Season Touchdowns"
GURU GURU
Mani:
For Guru Guru 2006 was a good year with many nice concerts
and 6 re-issues of old CD's. For me it was a pleasure to play and visit
Japan, Mongolia and India, and I just finished a tour in Japan with Acid Mothers Guru, consisting of Tsuyama Kawabata & Mani-san -it was hot, new psycadelic!!!
My most heard CD's s were Umeko Ando-Ainu singer, Hendrix, and -in a japanese coffeeshop Coltrane and Monk, and Acid Mothers Temple.
THE HEADS
Simon:
Highlights of the heads last year: we released our 4th 'studio' album, "Under The Stress Of A Headlong Dive." We recorded it ourselves in our rehearsal room [ta Gareth] and Wayne mixed it in his spare room. DIY due to time and money constraints, rough and raw as they say. Thanks to Fatty / Invada for putting it out, it got some good reviews and we did a spate of gigs [3?], best of which was Ashton Court thanks to some beautiful backlights. Ta too to Johnny O for visual armour and art.
Other gig highlight, or trip, was playing the Roadburn Festival inTilburg, Not our best show, though a great weekend, as we met lots of like minded and most kind people.
Alternative Tentacles released our album in the US, thanks Jello. In 2007 we’re releasing "Dead In The Water" on double vinyl and re-issuing our debut, "Relaxing With..." on double CD with loads of extras. A DVD is also promised but has been for some while, otherwise we all work so the band continues to be our release from the drudgery of everyday existence. We may play a gig or two, record an album with J. Biafra but mostly will get lost in the noise of rock in our rehearsal room whenever we can.
I thought I'd list some gigs instead of albums cos live bands have inspired me more than albums this year. Whether this means I'm not hearing enough good new stuff I dunno, could just be my age, anyway here goes:
The Stooges, ATP, Butlins,Minehead
A most surreal w/end festival but a superb show from Iggy and the boys. They are gods and were impressive at the Hammersmith Apollo [Funhouse album show] but were even better here. Classic after classic, such a strong reservoir of glorious riffs, played with no pretentions. In silhouette you could have been back in 1970 with Iggy humping the bass rig, awesome, the motherlode of psyche-rock.
Mudhoney, Shepherd's Bush Empire, Encore.
Again, one of my all time faves but still burning my ears with sweet fuzz. The whole gig was good but the 15min encore ["When Tomorrow Hits", "In And Out of Grace" and "Fuck the Police"] was heaven, they always seem to really enjoy what they do and they do it so well, thanks.
Brian JonesTown Massacre, King's College, London.
This was the first and best of 3 times I caught this lot last year and is easily in my top 10 gigs of all time, 2 ½ hours of melting droning pop-psyche. It took 15 minutes for the first song to start after the band came on, fights, nonsense, tantrums, tambourines and transcendental twanging, nice one Anton, how Spacemen 3 could've ended up?
Melvins, ATP, Minehead.
Best band bar the stooges of the weekend, so on top of their game they were operating in the stratosphere, I caught their 2nd, Saturday lunchtime set. I first saw them 15 years ago in a small pub in Bristol playing to 6 people, it's great that bands can stay true and triumph. Shared a smoke with Dale and our Gareth too which was a nice touch.
Most listened to song on my ipod? The Sinking Belle/Blue Sheep, SunnO))) Boris – "Altar", by far the best thing they've done. Saw them live, art installation?... I'm into Earth more, I guess I prefer the twang and rumble to just the rumble. OM and The Howling Rain also did damn fine albums.
HERMANO
Dandy Brown:
Last year turned out to be another great one both personally and for the band. I remember a couple of years ago I was able to start off a retrospective with the news that my wife and I were having another child, and how excited I was to be able to report the news to anyone and everyone I came in contact with. Well, I am happy to be able to give another similar report in this year’s retrospective... we are expecting another addition to the Brown family. We just recently found out that we are going to have another girl. That, of course, is going to mean having to share my home with four women now! Wow.
As for Hermano, it was another pretty relaxed year as far as touring and recording, but we did release our DVD ["The Sweet and Easy of Brief Happiness"], and that was definitely a great experience. The footage from that DVD goes back to the European tour we did in the winter of 2004... definitely a magical experience for all of the members of Hermano that had already left it’s impression on all of us forever. Now we can re-live the experience with the DVD whenever we want to.
While Hermano didn't get an opportunity to record our third studio release during 2006, we did finally, after what seemed like an interminable delay, hammer out the details of the contract for that release, and finally put all of our names on the dotted line. Last year wasn't full of sitting in the studio recording the new collection, but we did finish writing the music and preparing for the sessions. Just getting the contract out of the way was a huge step, and something that led us through the end of the year pulling together all of the demos we had been working on for over a year and a half in preparation for the sessions that are scheduled for 2007. I know that all of the members of Hermano are looking forward to the new release with a lot of anticipation... there is no doubt in my mind, listening to these new songs, that this is going to be the best one yet.
During the summer of 2006, Hermano did manage to find an opportunity to get together and head over to Europe for another batch of shows. We made a brief swing through the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, and it was fantastic to be able to hang out with all of the guys for about a week, and see all of our friends who managed to make it out for the shows.
As always, we were humbled and amazed at the reception that Hermano received during those shows. I think it's always amazing for us to come out of the day-to-day grind of our normal, day-job lives to have those experiences with folks who appreciate the music we are playing. It is really something else, man. Definitely, only spending a few weeks a year on the road with the band keeps it fresh and alive. It keeps us looking forward to the next round of shows... as of right now that next batch is scheduled for the autumn of 2007. I’m already looking forward to being able to write in next year’s retrospective the results of that tour. I know it's going to be a blast.
JOSIAH
Mat:
Josiah spent the first half of 2006 getting together to write for the
new album. We had some real good times, especially at the Swamp Room
Happening ["Malakas From The Crypt"], and Stoned From The Underground
["hot hot hot"]. We missed our flights back to the UK after Stoned
along with half of End Of Level Boss ["Look Harry it's a digger"]
resulting in a magic unplanned holiday thanks to Andreas of Exile On
Mainstream.
August saw us holed up at Dave Anderson's Foel Studio in Wales for
five days recording album number three. It was heavy going but we
managed to lay down fourteen new tracks and we are all real pleased
with the results. Then October saw us out on the road in the UK with
our good friends Gentlemans Pistols [aks Gent's Piss] as perfect
special guests, ending with a great Halloween show at The Underworld,
London.
Many thanks to everyone who helped make 2006 happen and to all of you
who have already put work into 2007.
- Colour Haze - "Temple"
- Pentagram - "First Daze Here Too"
- Highway Robbery - "For Love Or Money”
I first heard this in 2006.
LA IRA DE DIOS
Chno:
2006... what a busy year!!! we started off hiding in the rehearsal
room for 3 months... then we recorded our second album here in Peru.
We released a 50 minute long "EP" called "Empirea", then released
"Archaeopterix"and went for a 2 month long European tour. Right now on
the 31st of december, we've finished writing our third album and are
about to head into the studio again. Not bad for a Peruvian
underground band, eh?
On a personal note, I spent 3 beautiful months working in Cuzco [a sacred city in the higher grounds of Peru] where we did a couple of shows. So I have to say that 2006 was an excellent year for La Ira de Dios.
2006 in music... well, I'm not into current bands very much, but from
what I can remember I would say that OM's "Conference of the Birds"
[just bass and drums but nothing's missing??? cool!!!], Witch's self-
titled [new band... old guys... cool songs] and Orthodox's "Gran Poder"
[you have to see them live... oooh my god... totally spooky!!!] were
the best albums of 2006...and of course La Ira's "Archaeopterix" [the
best one!!! Believe me... jajaja].
This year I found out about a lot of bands, maybe not new ones, but
bands that I started listening to. For example Triana, a Sevillan
band from the 70's with an amazing feel. Sex Museum, the best
underground band in Spain, on stage they are animals!!! Thin Lizzy,
well you all know this one, I've just started a fascination with
them, and the Fuzztones... goddamn... what can I say about them? Just
awesome!!!
In Peru... I like El Cuy [they're about to release their first album]
an MC5-Sabbath-Cream high octane band whose shows are on fire.
Superfuzz89, very young kids playing fast super fuzz songs, very
cool, and Dios Hastio, extreme hardcore in the vein of Anticimex or
Doom... highly recommended [they have released some 45's... pick them
up if you find 'em].
LEAFHOUND
Pete:
One of the most memorable moments for the new band in 2006 was having the pleasure to be able to have the new bands first appearance at the Roadburn Festival, and we all greatly enjoyed it. And then also being invited to appear at the Sweden Rock festival in Solvesborg, and also the Kactus festivalen in Sweden.
The other real big achievement was to get the new Album Leaf Hound "Unleashed" finally finished, and mastered by October 2006, the recording was being completely financed by ourselves.
Also Leaf Hound signing a publishing deal with AMV-TALPA in Hamburg in November 2006, and frustratingly now waiting to see what label will be keen to release it, hopefully early in 2007.
- Aerosmith - "Honking on Bobo"
- Van Halen - "Greatest Hits"
- Thin Lizzy – "Greatest Hits"
LITMUS
Martin:
The rest of the world has to wait another couple of months to hear it, but for Litmus 2006 was all about "Planetfall" – our long-overdue second album. The big news is that it's going to be released on Rise Above records [who should need no introduction to anyone who is reading this], and landing that particular deal was in itself one highlight of the year for me.
We started recording it in February -one week completely snowed-in at Foel Studios in Wales. A great place to work, we set up our gear in the live room, drank beer, played loud and proceeded to distil the purest essence of Litmus, channelled through Dave Anderson’s trusty Trident mixer into a pile of crackling and buzzing 1s and 0s on the hard drive in the corner.
Then a difficult few months while we finished overdubs in London, recording guerrilla-style whenever and wherever we could. Back on track by September, with a week mixing at the Fortress in London, with Gareth Parton expertly setting the controls and bringing forth order from nearly an hour and a half of chaos. Finally, in November we went to Oxford to give the album its sonic armour-plating with mastering-wizard Tim Turan. Listening back to it a couple of months on and it still sounds good to me –Rise Above love it, and we hope that some of you will, too.
We still managed to fit in a few gigs along the way: playing "Astronomy Domine" at the first ever Eastern Haze festival, just a couple of weeks after the sad loss of Syd Barrett; jamming with Huw Lloyd Langton in Brixton; and more comic escapades with Space Ritual, including another night of legendary excess at the sadly-no-more venue and social experiment known as The Farm. We played. We drank. We fell over.
Last, but not least, flying out for Roadburn 2006 and finding out that it's just as good from the other side of the stage. Cheers from Litmus to all at Roadburn, and to everyone who's kept the faith in us this year –here's to an even better 2007
Well, these are just my favourites – no two people in Litmus are ever listening to the same stuff – but here are the ones that I kept returning to in 2006:
- Joanna Newsom – "Ys"
- Scott Walker – "The Drift"
- Thom Yorke – "The Eraser"
JOHN MCBAIN
John:
Here’s what I did in 2006:
1. Engineered/Produced some bands.
2. Bought some new guitars but didn't play them [Too busy. Maybe next year?].
3. Cheated fellow musicians by downloading their albums via the internet. Sorry, dudes.
4. Remained jaded and unwilling to budge on my assertion that there have been no classic records recorded after 1975.
But heres a short list of music released in 2006 that I still listen to.
Slayer - "Christ Illusion"
Metallica are a bunch of pussies. Slayer rules. And Lombardo is back! [I just don't understand the whole Metallica thing. Their fans are just Trekkies dressed in black. And Lars still plays drums like a guy who is sitting behind a kit for the first time. But Slayer are still Slayer and will always be Slayer. Plus their fans are as creepy and fucked up as the band.
So to reiterate; Metallica sucks and SLAYER RULES!
Aside from the Rhino Records’ Pretenders and ZZ Top re-issues, I can't think of anything else that is worth mentioning. Wait a second... did Void put out anything new in 2006? No? Shit.
MONKEY3
Boris:
2006 was the year of the 2nd record for monkey3. We wrote and
recorded the "39 Laps" album. A great experience for all of us in the
band!
During the year we also played some cool shows in really cool places
and met a lot of nice, friendly and interesting people.
- Tool – "10.000 Days"
- Colour Haze – "Tempel"
- Hypnos69 – "The Eclectic Measure"
MOS GENERATOR
Tony:
Mos Generator stepped into 2006 on a high note. On December 30th 2005
we opened for High On Fire, "The Late Great Planet Earth", our latest
recording to date, had sold out of the initial vinyl pressing and was
scheduled for release on CD by two different labels.
After the usual end of the year "is it worth it to continue being a band" meeting
ended with a unanimous "yes" we geared up to start recording the next album.
In January 2006 we started the recording sessions for our yet untitled
next CD. We took our time in the studio and at the same time we also
prepared for the release and promotion of the CD versions of "The Late Great
Planet Earth."
In March we played a very successful CD release show that was also filmed
for a live DVD. The gigs continued and in June we recorded four songs for Flotation
Records to put out on 10 vinyl. These songs and four
additional outtakes would end up end up on "The Vault Sessions" CD, released
December 2006.
With summer came more gigs. Including a headlining slot on the Seattle Hempfest mainstage. The next festival on the schedule was the Stoner Hands of Doom festival. This year held in Mesa Arizona. We used this as an opportunity to do a bit of touring. By this point we had already decided to re-record the album we started in January and at the same time we
went back to the studio we received copies of the Sucking The Seventies
volume 2 compilation CD on Small Stone records in which we appeared doing a
Rush song called "Garden Road."
The last two months of this year have been spent in the studio and playing shows.
2006 has been a great year for Mos Generator. We played a lot of great shows with a lot of great bands, put out two CD’s and succeeded in setting ourselves up for a great 2007.
- Dexter Jones Circus Orchestra – "Morbyn Outtakes"
- Golden Pig Electric Blues Band – "Hitchhicking to Oblivion"
- Pearls & Brass – "The Indian Tower"
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