Ranges & Man Mountain USA Tour 25: Boston, Rochester, Columbus

Read: Ranges and Man Mountain Tour Diary Part 1

Day 4

Monday 21 July 2025

O’Brien’s Pub, Boston, Ma

w/ The Burning Paris

I’d been looking forward to going to Boston, having spent a few days there last time I was in America.

We drove through Connecticut along the Merritt Parkway, a beautiful stretch of road with many unique bridges and lush woodlands either side.

The guys all wanted to have lobster rolls. Feeling that my day yesterday had been dominated by getting a sandwich, I choose to instead go exploring the city and get some time to myself to recharge.

Boston is a great place. It has the benefits of a big city, having decent public transport and lots to see and do. But it still felt clean and open, with lots of cool old buildings and greenery. And the weather was ideal.

Ranges. Mark on drums, Tim on guitar

David from Man Mountain

There was another post-rock gig in Boston that night, with a lineup of Pelican and Glacier. Surely this affected turnout for our gig. But somehow, even though the turnout wasn’t huge, this was the show that had netted the band the most money on tour so far.

I don’t have too much more to say about Boston. I was exhausted and in a low mood and not really present much that night.

Day 5

Tuesday 22 July 2025

The Spirit Room, Rochester, NY

I woke up feeling significantly better. It’s amazing what a decent sleep can do to improve one’s mood. We set off to Rochester, to the north of New York state.

It was a reasonably long drive but didn’t feel it. On the way we stopped in at The House of Guitars. It’s was a music nerd’s dream. There was a music shop selling instruments, dotted with memorabilia. Rare instruments, many signed by famous musicians. Downstairs was an old recording studio. Through the rabbit warren was a record shop with thousands of records and CDs and t-shirts piled haphazardly. Photos and signatures of bands who stopped by adorned the walls.

The House of Guitars

Mark works for Gibson, painting guitars. He struck a conversation with the staff and turns out they had a lot of mutant contacts. They gave us a tour of the place. They were showing us a stage where in-store performances happen, and mentioned one that Zakk Wylde had done there. Then he dropped the bombshell that Ozzy Osbourne has just passed away.

It was such a weird coincidence. Mark and Chuck had just been talking about Ozzy on the drive there. And last tour, Mark had been talking about recording with Steve Albini the day that we’d heard that Albini had passed. And I remember that Tom Petty died when I first went on tour with Ranges. So we need to stop touring in order to protect these famous musicians?

One of the funniest stories from House of Guitars was about when adult model Jenna Jameson had come to do an in-store signing to promote Jackson guitars. The line was out the door and around the block, with more fans queuing up to meet Jameson than there had been when Green Day had done an in-store signing.

Most of us bought a t-shirt or hoody. Mark picked up a new cymbal at a very good price.

Rochester had an interesting feel. Lots of big stately looking buildings, like the Kodak headquarters and a few sporting venues. But it was fairly quiet and not many people around.

Spirit Room

The venue, Spirit Room, was a cool space. There was all kinds of weird and wacky decor. Lots of taxidermied animals. The statement piece was huge cast of an elephant head that had featured in The Greatest Showman film, as had a taxidermy ostrich. The bar had a drink offer that involved pulling a tarot card from a deck, and then the bartender would make you a cocktail that corresponds with the chosen card. I was sad to hear that the venue was in it’s final days, with the landlord kicking them off the premises in the near future.

We went and got barbecue before the gig. The portions were big and tasty and everyone was having a great time.

Barbeque

We finished the night with a trip to Taco Bell. The Man Mountain guys had recommended the Baja Blast drink, and Tom could not get enough of the “Obama Blast.”

Ranges. Mark on drums, CJ on guitar

Day 6

Wednesday 23 July

The Spacebar, Columbus, Oh

We started the day with a visit to Niagara Falls. I was surprised to see that it didn’t cost to go to, seeing as many American state parks and attractions do charge for entry. It was pretty impressive. The falls created a lot of water spray, and rainbows were being formed in the mist. Canada was on the other side of the river. We walked around, seeing various falls from different vantage points.

Niagara Falls

We got to Columbus early and browsed a few shops – a record store and a curiosity store that stocked a lot of items similar to what we’d seen at The Spirit Room the night before.

Ranges and Man Mountain had played The Spacebar together back in 2017. They were surprised to see some of their stickers still stuck up where they’d placed them, all those years ago.

It was largely as I remembered it. One of the staff mentioned covid and it made me realise how fortunate we are to still have spaces like this, after years of the live music scene coming to a halt.

We ate Skyline Chili. Spaghetti with chilli. I’m not quite sure what makes that different from spaghetti bolognese but it tasted good.

It was a good sized stage, with lots of incandescent lights hanging and giving a nice glow. Both Man Mountain and Ranges played well.

We stopped at a pizza joint on the corner. Last time we’d been there I’d been quite drunk and Jared had carried me out, quoting Lord of the Rings: “I can’t carry the ring for you Mr Frodo, but I can carry you!” Bryan was delighted to see that the pizza joint had The Fellowship of the Ring playing on the TV, purely coincidentally.

After the gig we had a great time celebrating the last night of the tour. Man Mountain had a ridiculously hot chip coated in a chili seasoning that had been sitting in their merch box for years, with nobody brave enough to try the challenge. I ate a good portion of it, with David and Tim also having some. It was punishingly hot and painted our tongues blue.

L-R: Chuck (sound tech), David, Tom, CJ, Tim, Bryan, Mike. Front L-R: Jacob, Mark, Me (Joseph)

We traded merch, signed each others’ posters. The bar was selling a pineapple cider that was popular. We took a group photo together on the stage, before heading downtown to take another with an Arnold Schwarzenegger statue.

We’re all heading to Indiana for Post Festival after this. Ranges are playing on Saturday. Man Mountain played the festival last year, and are coming as attendees this year. It’ll be a nice way to cap things off, without the big drives and exhaustion that can come with touring.

Joseph James

Ranges & Man Mountain USA Tour 25: Chicago, Cleveland, Brooklyn

Read these first if you’d like some further context for this tour blog:

Ranges USA Tour 2017

Ranges Eu Tour 2018

Ranges UK Tour 2024

Ranges Sin album review

The people in the Ranges van are:

CJ Blessum – Guitarist and owner of A Thousand Arms record label and printshop

Mark Levy – Drummer

Tim Moens – Guitarist

Tom Verryken – Bassist

Chuck Goodwin – Sound engineer

Joseph James (me) – Roadie and photographer

Day 1

Friday 18 July 2025

Bookclub, Chicago, Il

w/ Outrun the Sunlight

First day of tour!

I’d been hanging out with CJ for the past few days. We’d driven a looooong way from Montana to Chicago with the gear and merch. Then we swapped CJs truck out for a tour van with 8 seats and space for the instruments.

CJ and I at Dinosaur Park, South Dakota

Last night we picked Tim and Tom up from the airport. It was their first time in America and it was great seeing their reactions to everything. They kept pointing and saying it was like things they’d seen on TV.

We spent the morning grabbing some breakfast (CJ and Tom got chicken and waffles, Tim and I got a pile of fried potatoes, eggs and avocado), stocking up on snacks and drinks for the van, and setting up at Fort Knox Rehearsal space. The problem with half the band living in Belgium is that the guys don’t get the chance to come together and practice. So they booked a practice space to get used to their gear, play through and set, and iron out the kinks.

At the rehearsal space. Chuck on the faders

I had used a trimmer to buzz my head and most my beard the night prior, leaving a small moustache similar to Mark’s. The guys were cracking up and how Mark and I both looked the same. Mark just took it in his stride and said it was a good look.

Bookclub was a cool venue. It wasn’t the easiest to find because it didn’t have signage. The staff were all super friendly and made us feel welcome. The venue had three levels. The upper level was the green room, that we didn’t really use. The ground level had a bar and an enormous TV wall where they played live footage of the bands on stage. And downstairs was the live music space. The stage was an interesting shape, almost a diamond with a mini catwalk jutting out the front and a pillar in the centre.

Van Mountain

Man Mountain arrived and it was fantastic to see the guys again. I’d met them when they’d toured with Ranges on their 2017 tour, and they toured again with Ranges a few years later. I remember they had a pillow with Nicolas Cage’s face on it, and had drawn John Travolta’s face on an inflatable beach ball (a reference to the movie Face/Off, also featuring Nicolas Cage). I bought them a small laser engraved wooden token with an image of “Saint Nicolas” burnt into it and hung it from their wing mirror. They proudly showed me their vehicle – Van Mountain – complete with a custom license plate and some enormous truck nuts dangling from the tow bar.

After soundcheck, Tim and I went for a walk down to Wrigley Field. The Cubs had just played a game and the bars in the surrounding area were pumping. We each got a Chicago style hot dog and walked around.

Bookclub in Chicago

We arrived back at Bookstore during Man Mountain’s set. They’re class musicians and I loved watching them play again after so many years. There’s a lot of subtlety and nuance to their music, and the new songs from their upcoming album were great. I also thought about how last year I’d played Borderlands 3 on Xbox, which featured a Man Mountain song.

I’d suggested that they sell beard combs at their merch table, so was very pleased to see they had some, along with CDs and pins and stickers.

Man Mountain at Bookstore, Chicago

Local prog rock act Outrun the Sunlight are great. I spent a lot of their set standing side of stage, watching the drummer in awe. It’s pretty complex sounding music and you can tell that they’re masters of their craft.

Mark had some friends turn up, and I actually remembered them from the 2017 tour. He wanted to head out to bars with them but I didn’t want to be in such a crowded, noisy space so I hung outside and called my girlfriend back in New Zealand who I hadn’t spoken to in a few days.

On the way out of town we stopped to see a fountain which had sadly just stopped 5 minutes beforehand at 11pm. Everyone nearby had love heart lights that indicated KPop stars Black pink had just played a concert nearby. Tim really loved seeing the Chicago skyline, which was a stark contrast to the buildings in Belgium.

Traffic was a nightmare, even that late at night. We were running low on gas and a lot of the gas stations had their entry blocked or were hard to access due to one way streets. Eventually we found one, which appeared to have a huge party onsite. Loads of people sitting around in deck chairs and blasting loud music. This is after midnight. So weird. We fueled up quickly and then drove off to our accommodation about an hour away.

Day 2

Saturday 19 July 2025

Dunlap’s Corner Bar, Cleveland, Oh

w/ Seeress

It was a fairly long drive to Cleveland. We didn’t have time to look though the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but stopped in to check out the gift shop anyway.

Walking to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The drive through the city felt a lot different to the insane traffic of Chicago, more spacious and green, with some neat old buildings.

Dunlap’s is a cool space. Joe who ran it was telling me how it is the second oldest bar in the area, started just after the prohibition ended, under the name Pacino’s. It was basically a residential area, and it was pretty funny watching the locals hoon past with insanely loud vehicles. It must have been a local spot for it because the same people drove back and forth along the same stretch, in all manner of crazy vehicles. I’m guessing there was a swimming spot nearby because lots of families went past with swimming costumes and towels. And we saw a beaver cross the road!

Dunlap’s Bar

The stage in Dunlap’s was only big enough to fit a drum kit, so the guitar and bass players set up on the floor in front of the stage. There were a few dim lights and a disco ball that made photography difficult due to low light, but it helped create a cool mood in the space.

Man Mountain was up first. It was really nice catching up with them again, and they kept saying over and over how happy they were to see me after so long. I really love seeing them play. Their music is so comforting and they’ve really honed the dynamics of their songwriting. I asked if they would use the floodlight I remember them using in 2017, and they laughed and said they’d retired it after a bunch of complaints from people who were momentarily blinding by it at their shows.

Tom on bass during Ranges’ set

I wasn’t so keen on Seeress. Man Mountain had packed away some of their lights so it was really dark. The music just didn’t do it for me.

Man Mountain went off to check out a house from A Christmas Story, I guess that’s an iconic film here? We went to our accommodation for much needed sleep ahead of our early start.

Day 3

Sunday 20 July 2025

Gold Sounds, Brooklyn, NY

w/ Another Demon, Precious Blood

Mark is from Brooklyn, so we all knew this would be an interesting day, being a homecoming for him. He’s been so involved in the music scene on so many levels over the years, so he seems to have a connection with almost everyone.

We had an early departure for a long but beautiful drive to NYC. Lovely to see big trees and rivers in Pennsylvania. Certainly nicer than the grassy plains or concrete jungles we’ve encountered this far. A lot of the scenery reminded me of my time in New England when I lived in Maine for a few months.

Everyone was on good spirits and the banter was free flowing, despite the lack of sleep.

Gold Sounds, the venue, opened at 2pm. We arrived at that time, only to discover that we should hold off loading in because there was a matinee show on that afternoon.

On the subway in NYC

We parked up and took the subway to Manhattan to visit Katz’s Delicatessen. There was a long queue to get in. We all ordered pastrami on rye bread with mustard and cheese. They came with a side of pickles and cost over $40 by the time we’d paid for it with a drink and tax and tip included.

Then Mark took us to a bar he used to work at for a few hours before we headed back to the venue.

It was basically a repeat of last time Ranges played NYC: same venue, same visit to Katz’s.

Gold Sounds was ok. The staff were not friendly, the green room was too small to fit much gear and became dangerously cluttered. I thought that booking four bands late on a Sunday night was ambitious, but it was a good turnout. Maybe people don’t have work Monday mornings here?

Ranges set had a few technical mishaps. The cable connecting Tom’s bass cab to the amp kept cutting out, and then his tuning pedal was playing up. Tim used the mic to chat to the audience while they sorted it. All in all it didn’t affect things too much and everyone appeared to enjoy the set.

Joseph James

Album Review: Tenacious D – Post-Apocalypto

Tenacious D have long been a guilty pleasure of mine. They’re misogynistic, juvenile and crude, but at the same time I do find some of their content funny, and they know how to rock. I guess the same could be said about Jack Black, who has had gold moments throughout his acting career (namely School of Rock), but mostly boasts lemons. He’s a slightly more reliable Adam Sandler, but I still have a soft spot for his work.

Post-Apocalypto is their fourth full length album. Like The Pick of Destiny, it is a soundtrack. It follows a YouTube webseries that has played out over the past month, featuring the songs and snippets of dialogue from the show.

Both Black and partner Kyle Gass are comedic actors, so writing funny songs with narrative suit their strengths. I’ve seen them play three times, and although it can feel slightly forced, the story arc that carries through their shows is fun, and allows them to play with theatrical flair.

The narrative for this record doesn’t quite work though. I still enjoy the skits from their first record, which were silly stand-alone pieces. But the skits on this new album are just snippets from the web series used to advance the story. This should help to provide context for those who haven’t watched the series, but there isn’t enough to fill in all the plot points of the story-line. I think they would have been wiser to have an all-or-nothing approach, and should have left the snippets out, instead of sprinkling an inadequate amount throughout.

Post-Apocalypto (the web series) was a painful watch. Like I’ve said, I’m a fan, so forced myself through it, but didn’t feel rewarded for my efforts. I hesitate to call it an animation, but more a selection of Black’s hand-drawn stills to give visual reference for the audio. It’s a sci-fi series that explored Tenacious D trying to survive in a (you guessed it) apocalyptic wasteland. Along the way they adopt a three-headed dog, battle genital monsters, fight Nazis and travel to space.

Tenacious D have always been crass, but I was shocked at the many gratuitous sex scenes. But then again, it’s exactly what I should have expected – it was just visual this time. It’s a political show too, with The D taking shots at Trump and Nazis. I guess the timing is appropriate, with approaching elections in America, but only time will tell how fast these political and pop culture references will date the album.

The songs are short. It makes sense, they fit within short episodes. And The D have plenty of short, furious songs with impact. But still, this entire album lasts half an hour, and that’s with skits padding it out. They could have at least fleshed out a few of the songs so that the album lasted longer. The title theme offers plenty of potential for extension, but feels incomplete as is.

And they’ve done their fair share of ballads in the past too, but almost all of the songs on this album are ballads, leaving me wondering what happened to the band that once won a Grammy for “Best Metal Performance”.

It’s not all bad though. Black’s voice acting shines through. You really feel for Terminator’s lament in “Robot” (despite the odd Arnie-esque accent). The redneck Nazi’s sound so thick that you really want to believe that they’re all really that dense.

“Hope” is arguably the best of the ballads, and most rousing. The D explore new musical horizons with “JB JR Rap”, rapped in a hoarse voice and complete with an autotuned section. To be honest, most of the album is Classic D, albeit shorter and less rocking.

The D have a long history with Foo Fighter Dave Grohl. Grohl has drummed on all of their records to date, and the trio have featured in a number of each other’s videos. The first time I saw The D live was opening for Foo Fighters at Western Springs in Auckland, where the crowd jumped up and down enough to trigger minor earthquakes [It sounds absurd, but it’s true!]. Black has also guest starred on one of Grohl’s Probot tracks, “The Warlock“.

As you’d expect, Grohl’s drumming is on point. He’s long been known as a powerhouse drummer since his Nirvana days, and has collaborated with such a range of rock royalty that it has almost become a meme. You can hear unmistakably in the title theme – a rehash of an old unreleased bridge (Rolling Thunder) that the band cut from their song “Rize of the Fenix” (off their last record). “Daddy Ding Dong” also has Grohl written all over it, one of the few stand-out rock of the soundtrack that venture into metal territory, as does “Woman Time”, with awesome Dio-esque vocals.

In short: Post-Apocalypto not a great album. Just as their other soundtrack, Pick of Destiny doesn’t compare well to the other albums, this one feels weak too. It is entirely in keeping with the Tenacious D brand, being puerile and budget, but doesn’t rock enough. Only the most loyal fans will appreciate it, and I doubt even they will revisit it after the initial listens. If you’re interested in it, at least watch the web-series so that you can hear the songs with context. I hope this isn’t the end of The D, but if they do release new music in the future, they’d be best to write without a constraining concept.

Tenacious D links:

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/tenaciousD

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tenaciousd/

Website: https://www.tenaciousd.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealTenaciousD

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tenacious/

Album Review: Shihad – Old Gods

It’s no secret that I’m a big Shihad fan. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen them play, but the figure is near 20. I’ve got all their albums on CD, as well as bunch of special editions, a live DVD and a handful of EPs and singles. They never quite “cracked America”, but to me, they embody the dream of a NZ rock band who have achieved the dream of making a successful career from their music. They’ve toured the world, shared the stage with rock heavyweights such as Faith No More, AC/DC, Pantera, Motorhead and Black Sabbath; and have just released their tenth album, Old Gods.

The band has changed a lot throughout their 30+ years. Their debut Devolve EP features blistering speed-metal and a Black Sabbath cover. The first time I heard one of the tracks I honestly thought it was a cover of a Metallica song I wasn’t familiar with.

Churn beckoned a more industrial sound, thanks in part to Killing Joke front man Jaz Coleman in the producer’s role. Killjoy was less metal, but still raw and heavy, boasting some of the band’s most enduring riffs.

The self titled record (known by many as the fish album) introduced a more radio-friendly rock which the band honed and perfected with the commercial alt-rock giants The General Electric and Pacifier.

Pacifier was derided by many fans and critics who viewed it as evidence of the the ultimate sin: selling out. I’ll always remember reading a passage written by Grant Smithies, in which he stated he’d prefer to rub himself raw with a cheese grater and throw himself into shark-infested waters than listen to Pacifier. Harsh words, but fantastically evocative writing.

I personally loved Pacifier. I was a teenager obsessed with bands like Linkin Park and Foo Fighters so I couldn’t understand how anyone could find fault with the music.

Love Is The New Hate was considered a penitent return to form, and although much of it was angry, there was a lot of sadness and mellow moments to be found. Beautiful Machine, by comparison, was very much leaning towards the pop side of things. It’s a lot softer, almost 80’s feeling at times. I enjoyed it, but it was more Foo Fighters than AC/DC.

Ignite was the most forgettable album of Shihad’s catalogue. “Sleepeater” was a hit when played live, but the rest of the album seldom gets a mention. When looking at an overall trend, it feels like the quality and “rockiness” of the band’s output had been in decline since the beginning of the 2000’s.

Shihad’s last album FVEY came out in 2014. It’s the first album review I wrote when I started this blog. I raved about the album and how it felt like a return to form with the sheer heaviness of it all. Admittedly, I did tire of it when the new songs featured so heavily during the band’s ensuring tours. It felt a bit too chug-heavy and I wanted more dynamics. But I’ve given the record a few spins recently and I stand by what I wrote seven years ago: it’s a killer album.

The Adults at Meow, Wellington. Image: Will Not Fade

Front man Jon Toogood has a side project called The Adults. Their second album Haja stands among my favourites. I was fortunate enough to catch that iteration of the band at their first show in Wellington, and they even used one of the photos I took to promote that tour [although they didn’t even credit me for my photo, naughty!]

The Adults revealed a different side to Toogood. Stemming from when he married his wife in Sudan, Haja is a feminist pop/hip-hop album featuring contemporary NZ musicians and Sudanese drumming. A real departure from the hard rock of Shihad. And I learnt something else new about Toogood last year that arose from his marriage – he has become a Muslim.

I don’t wish to come from a place of judgement, I think it’s great that he has found a faith. It just came as a surprise. Look at this list of Shihad songs: “Missionary”, “Sport and Religion”, “The Bible and the Gun”, “Waiting Round for God” and “The Prophet”. I don’t claim to understand everything that these songs are about, but they are certainly anti-religion to an extent. And that’s fine that Toogood could write those songs, and then later change his beliefs. People are allowed to change. But I do find it interested that Shihad would name their new album Old Gods after hearing that Toogood has found a faith. To be fair, it sounds like the title track is aimed at those who have traditionally been in positions of power, rather than an attack on any specific religion. But Shihad are still taking potshots at churches, with one song on the album, “The Hill Song” taking aim at a group that shouldn’t be hard to figure out.

FVEY came from a place of unrest. There was never any doubt that the songs were written from a space of defiance against corrupt governments and world powers. I found it really amusing to see that National MP Chris Bishop featured on a podcast about Shihad recently. Bishop is allowed to enjoy whatever music he choses, but I certainly see an irony, considering that Shihad’s last album had songs that were essentially a middle finger directed squarely at his political party.

Old Gods comes from the same space. Sure, world governments have changed over the past seven years, but there’s still a lot to get angry about. If anything, people feel even more oppressed. One big movement from recent years is #blacklivesmatter. The movement sparked international demonstrations against racism and police brutality.

Another occurrence that sparked the rage was in 2019 when a scumbug came from Australia to New Zealand and went on a shooting spree at two mosques in Christchurch. This horrifying event shook us a country and highlighted how New Zealand as a nation is more racist than many would like to admit. Toogood played a number of gigs to raise money to help those affected by the attacks, coming public with his recent conversion to Islam.

In a recent conversation with Grant Smithies (the same guy who wrote the scathing Pacifier review), Toogood shares how he was watching footage of an English crowd tear down the statue of an historic slave-trader. He wrote a song about it. To quote the interview: “That song is about the fact that many of us aren’t prepared for such people to be portrayed as heroic anymore, especially in the middle of the streets where we live.”

I live in Shihad’s hometown of Wellington, New Zealand, and a lot of streets here are named after wealthy colonials who first settled here. It sounds like a lot of these men were not good people. (Here’s a funny song about Wakefield, by local band Housewitches) I’ve got a magazine sitting on the table in my lounge. The magazine is called Massive – the Massey University student rag – and the main head line of the cover is about how former prime minister William Massey was a racist. They’re outing their own namesake. I think that gives a pretty clear example of how far some elements of society have come. So-called heroes are being scrutinised and some of us have decided that we don’t want to glorify people who were responsible for atrocities.

“Tear Down Those Names” is a thunderous cry to action. Sonically, it’s extremely similar to FVEY, with dense, downturned riffing.

My personal favourite, “Feel the Fire” harkens back to Beautiful Machine, with an synth-drenched uplifting feel. I love it so much. It makes me happy and I can happily play it on repeat. It stands out on an album of heavier tracks. There’s still that omniscient bass tone from Kippenburger, but there’s a lot more treble in the guitars, and the song exudes vibes of hope.

“Empire Falling” is also one of the better tracks, with interesting palm-muted rhythmic strumming and a lighter feeling chorus. It’s about how Toogood is kept awake at night worrying about raising his children in a world dominated by so many bigots.

Maybe I’m being a bit dismissive, but some of the themes in FVEY came across as overly paranoid. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that the government needs to be held to account more than they are. But naming the album after a collection of spy agencies gives of vibes of conspiracy theories. I leveled the same criticism at Killing Joke in my review of their last record. There’s distrusting authority figures and then there’s going full-blown antivaxer. Head too far down the conspiracy route and people just aren’t going to take you seriously.
I’m trying to say is that the themes of Old Gods seem more realistic than they did in FVEY. Complaining about governments spying on us sounds a bit too James Bond-fantasy. But it’s harder to deny racism when we’ve recently witnessed extreme nationalism under Trump, Brexit, #blacklivesmatter, mosque shootings and so on… And I think that makes more sense given Toogood’s personal situation. Toogood has a Sudanese wife and two bi-racial children and now he’s witnessing forms of discrimination such as racism in a different light. Suddenly the message seems a bit more targeted than ‘sticking it to The Man’.

In an 2014 interview with NZ Musician, drummer Tom Larkin discussed the impact of Green Day’s American Idiot, and how it was a vehicle for planting dissenting ideas in the minds of a demographic of Americans who may not have otherwise been questioning the status quo. Lead guitarist Phil Knight namedropped Rage Against the Machine as a big influence on the new album in a Guitar World profile too.
I’m not sure how much I buy into the whole message. I’m not opposed to the message of fighting the bankers and the politicians, but it seems a bit futile. “Eat the Rich” is a great sentiment (Motorhead and Aerosmith both have songs with that name), but not sure it’s so great in practice. Look at America, where the last president organised an attack on his own government. Nothing appeared to changed for the better or worse.

Voting doesn’t appear to make much of a difference – neither of the two big political parties in NZ appear interested in making changes to improve the lives of their citizens. And governments have refused to acknowledge what the people have voted for in a majority of the referendums we’ve had over the past few decades. Maybe I’m just cynical. Maybe we need more bands like Shihad spreading the fire of discontent so that the population don’t become as jaded as I am.

Final verdict?

I went through Shihad’s albums earlier and explained how the band have continually evolved throughout the years, changing their sound as they progressed. Each record had a unique sound. This has earned them accusations of selling out every step of the way, but it has also meant that they’ve never felt stale.

Interesting then, that after their longest break between releases, Shihad haven’t altered their sound. In many ways, Old Gods feels like an updated version of FVEY. I’d argue that the topics seem more relevant with this album, but the sound and themes are very similar. The gang vocals outro of “Kill! These! Old! Gods!” may as well take the place of the “GCSB!” cry from the previous album.

Remember how I said I got a bit tired of FVEY being so chug-heavy? It does feel a bit more like more of the same. It’s weird, I would have found the premise of an album’s worth of “My Mind Sedate” very exciting as a teen. But I’ve since learnt that too much heavy riffing gets old. Variety and dynamics go a long way. Old Gods is a good record, but could use a few more tracks like “Feel the Fire” .

I’ve got a ticket to see Shihad play next month. It was originally going to be in November but had to be postposed. I just hope that the concert actually takes place, because I could sure use something to make me feel amped up for once.

Joseph James

The Function of Dreams: An Interview with Mark Owen of We Lost The Sea

Sydney post-rockers We Lost The Sea have just released their new album, A Single Flower, and are about to embark on their first USA tour along with hubris. Long time fan and friend of the band Gilbert Potts connected with founding member Mark Owen to discuss.

Gilbert Potts: Thanks for agreeing to an interview with Will Not Fade, and congratulations on the new album A Single Flower and the US tour.

Mark Owen: Thanks Gilbert, I know this isn’t a question, but I just wanted to thank you for your support over the years. It is always great to see you up front of the stage having a great time. Your passion is infectious and you have become a very valued member of the big extended WLTS family.

1. What’s the most beautiful sound you’ve ever heard?

Oh man, this is a hard one. Let me think about it. I’ll let you know.

2. You’ve built a strong following over the last eighteen odd years from just four releases, and for many fans it’s mostly the appeal of the thirteen tracks from the last two, instrumental ones. Why do you think people feel such a strong connection to your music?

I think maybe it seems to work out that way for a few reasons. With Departure Songs we really talked about a universal phenomenon of grief and loss, something that everyone experiences, as Nick Cave says: “that if we love, we grieve.” With Triumph & Disaster, we talked about our, humanities, relationships with the earth and each other and it came out at the perfect time really, in the middle of the plague. Well, maybe great topically, just not for touring a new album. Ha.

These are things that people can easily connect to, can easily empathise with and can feel heard about. Which is what we all want at the end of the day, to be seen, feel heard and have our fears and hopes and dreams validated. I think the storytelling and the artwork really helps, although we strive to not be disingenuous. We never write a riff we don’t mean, if it’s angry we are angry about something, if it’s sad we are sad about something. Art imitates life. Listeners can discern if someone is being full of shit, they might not be able to articulate it, but they can tell, especially live. I’ve seen a bunch of Post-Rock bands who are NOT genuine and it really comes across as a bit gross live.

Another reason, without tooting our own horn, we are pretty approachable guys. We love a laugh and a beer and we always try to make time online or in person to talk to people. It has led to some really memorable funny moments as well as hearing some horrifying and heartbreaking stories. We’ve been put into this really amazing position where we get to hear all these peoples stories and it’s a privilege.

3. You’re the last OG of WLTS. What have you gained along the way, both as a band and you personally?

I have experienced some of the greatest moments of my life in this band, not all of them playing shows. Some core memories have definitely been unlocked on tours outside of the shows. Drinking wine on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur with Solkyri and our crew singing “Wonderwall”, of course, bloody Australians, drinking beers in Biergartens in Dusseldorf or snow in Prague, food in China. All of it has been amazing. I’ve gained friends for life, in other bands, in promoters, in people who started as fans and became great friends (not you Bruce from Pray For Sound).I’ve been surrounded by the best crew, Matt, Zoe, Chris, Anton, Mike, Jef the list goes on. We’ve played with some of our favourite bands, met some of our favorite musicians.

But I think what I have gained most of all is a sense of meaning, in all of this. It is something I struggle with, a Camus-like constant questioning, if you follow me on social media you know some of my content can be quite nihilistic at times, and in the moments when I am playing music or sharing a vodka with a local in Poland outside the venue in Warsaw, the noise in my brain, the constant searching for meaning, quietens just a little bit. There isn’t so much of a din happening and I feel settled in that moment. I always felt like I was meant to play music and when I get to do it, I get to share these moments in time with an audience. It’s like everything just feels right.

4. What are you happy to have lost on your journey, and what do you miss?

I am glad we’ve lost a lot of negativity, the band is in an amazing place right now, personally and believe me when I say that over the, just under, 20 years we’ve been a band, we’ve been through it. All kinds of through it. We’ve been angsty and drunks and combative and mistrusting, the entire gambit, all those things that can happen when you have a creative relationship with people. We’ve all been dealing with all of our own bullshit, then wins and the loses and then you walk into a band room and the smallest thing is wrong and next thing you know you feel like a lone soldier landing at normandy, a bit dramatic, maybe.

Actually Matt Harvey described us and I think he was being kind as ‘a bit dramatic’ and I couldn’t have put it better myself. But for the first time in the life of the band it feels very settled, I don’t spend a lot of time mitigating problems or dealing with one drama with one band member or another. I love the guys and it just feels really good.

What I miss is the simplicity of playing a show at venues like The Old Bar or Blackwire Records. Booking a show, doing a flyer and turning up. Maybe you have merch, maybe you don’t. You drink your door take in beers and you just have a great time. Now there is always so much to think about, so much money changing hands, so many people involved. So many fucking emails.

5. Your new release, A Single Flower, has clear WLTS DNA, but you’ve explored new structures, sounds and emotions. From 6:15 on in “Everything Here is Black and Binding” is a good example of the unexpected. What has been inspiring this move away from the more familiar crescendocore?

I have found that the general consensus amongst our fellow post-rockers is that a lot of us don’t listen to a lot of post-rock. I mean, I actually feel like we kind of fell into the genre and while I am happy to have found a home, I don’t love the label per se. So as a band we all listen to a lot of different music, I find myself not actually listening to heaps of music these days, I know I know I should. I am pretty bad at staying on top of new releases etc, I mostly listen to Audiobooks, I have for the last few years, follow me on Goodreads! Ha.

So we try to write what we like, what we want to hear. We don’t actually ever intentionally talk about what styles of things we want or how we want a song to end up being, most of the time. Sometimes, for example “If they Had Hearts” I had a pretty clear vision of how I wanted it to be, what the end result was and how I wanted to achieve that. Likewise, “Everything Here is Black and Binding” was really pushed by Matt (Harvey) who had that guitar motif and the big dirty fuzz part for a long time. And we tried to deviate from it a fair bit and we kept on coming back to the simple almost electronic idea. He wanted a very NIN vibe and we took that general vibe and then pushed it through the WLTS meat grinder.

Just exploring new ways to get heavy or big is always exciting. We all come from heavy band backgrounds and love big riffs and big dirty guitars, and a lot of Matt’s natural playing style is aggressive and angular and he always writes unique to him parts. So he led the charge on this one and fought the good fight to keep it within his vision. The new record feels like a lot more people had moments to stand on a hill and die for parts, if that makes sense.

When things start happening in the writing room ideas can snowball and things move quickly when we are cooking. So it takes a bit of coaxing and a bit of bravery to stand up and say this part is really good, but it’s not what I wanted it to be, and he did that. It was actually the song I had the least to do with overall, still involved, but I intentionally took a back seat because he really had the vision, so I just trusted him and went with it and the results speak for themselves.

6. Your new drummer, Alasdair Belling, has brought a new style following the departure of Nathaniel D’Ugo. The production of A Single Flower has also brought a sharper drum sound to the fore. You must be happy with how the transition has gone?

I literally couldn’t be happier. Al has been such a revelation, such a great breath of fresh air. He brings not only his amazing ability as a drummer but he also has added such a great positive vibe to our band. He’s young and excited and keen to do anything. Obviously after Nathaniel being with the band for such a long time there was a lot of anxiety around the change and it was such a big change to make.

But Al has made it a dream. I could crack on for a long time about how much I love the dude and am grateful for him being in our little band of miscreants but I won’t, I will say though, that we as a band felt in a pretty dark place and I think his joining and what he has brought to the table probably saved us from extinction. I started this band in 2007, it’s been going a long time and the fire was burning low, the writing process had all but stalled and it was growing increasingly difficult to a, get together with D’Ugo living in Perth and b, to write in the room together. The creative fire had gone out and we had hit a wall. When we added Al it lit a fire. The first demo’s for one or two of the ideas on the record were recorded almost 6 years ago and we didn’t have one complete song. Al joined in Oct 2023 and Christmas Day 2024 (shout out to our legend Mastering engineer, Simon Struthers, who finished mastering the record on Christmas Day while holidaying in Japan) it had all been wrapped up.

One thing I love about Al’s drumming on this record is that he’s taken what Nathaniel had established over the years and has just evolved it. Al plays well within his abilities and really was respectful of Nathaniel’s legacy in a way. He does at moments unleash and show us all what a monster drummer he is and he’s also a very good songwriter which really helped. I think when we start writing again he’ll really be able to establish his own style more and I am very excited about that.

As for the production Tim Carr, our Orb Father, did such an amazing job. Everything sounds incredible and we have had a lot of people comment on the drum sound. One thing we did was I wanted to discern Al and Nathaniel in some audible way, something more aural that wasn’t immediately obvious, so I basically told Al i wanted him to trying recording with a vintage Ludwig kit, get that John Bonham, Dave from Russian Circles vibe, more than a traditional drum sound and because Al is a trooper he was happy to, and it worked out really well!

7. Sophie Trudeau of Godspeed You! Black Emperor wrote, recorded and mixed the strings on “The Gloaming”. How did that come about?

It came about with me drinking probably a bottle of red by myself one night, and thinking about the piano piece I wrote and thinking about how I could make it really special. I LOVE Godspeed, they are my favourite band of all time. I think everything about them is amazing, the music, the ethos, the whole thing is amazing. Greg Norman who recorded Triumph & Disaster is from Chicago and he works out of Electric Audio Studios, Steve Albini’s studio and he had recorded two of the previous Godspeed records.

Greg is an absolute legend and we had an amazing time with him and became good friends. So I shot him a drunken email saying “hey I’ve got a dumb idea and please tell me if you aren’t cool, but could you pretty please put me in touch with Sophie from Godspeed.” He said yes and did, and she was absolutely lovely. Godspeed were going on tour and it didn’t look like it was going to happen, but I was just very happy to have her be open to it and I essentially said “If it doesn’t work that’s all okay maybe we can do something further down the line” and I had basically moved on.

I got an email only a few days before we basically needed to submit the record to get mastered and she said that due to a band member illness she was back early and did I still want her to do something, which the answer of course was hell yes. So I didn’t really give her any direction at all and she wrote, recorded and mixed the strings and sent it through to me. I was actually driving a work truck at the time when I got it and I pulled over to listen to it and it was perfect, better than I had ever imagined. It was exactly what I wanted, what it needed and I am so grateful for her, especially considering what the song is about. It feels very right that it was her to play on it.

1.2 What’s the most beautiful sound you’ve ever heard?

There is one moment in “The Gloaming” where Sophie does this one run that is THE MOMENT for me. I am sure there are plenty of other answers but right now that is the one.

8. When streaming started it changed the music industry. There were good changes and bad changes, but everyone has had to adapt and there is more music out there than ever. What brings in money for a band your size? What are some of the new ideas you’ve played with to increase awareness and income from music?

Streaming has allowed basically everyone in the world access to our music, which inherently is good. The problem becomes the total oversaturation as well as the problematic pay structures, the complete utter domination by the top tier bands and of course old mate from sp0tify being a warmongering piece of shit. I think to combat this we’ve tried to part of communities. I am in so many online groups and I jump on Reddit and we respond to as many fans who send us messages and emails as we possibly can. I think that connectedness has really helped us with our community and the ability to keep those who are already fans engaged and looking forward to new music, new tours, new merch etc.

I think the hard part is breaking through all the white noise and getting your music out there to new listeners. We aren’t a cool, young hip band, so Tiktok and the likes have no use for us and essentially we’ve been relying on fans to spread the word about us. We’ve also dropped two new clips, one of us in the studio and another which Matt worked hard on with Simeon from Siems. That kind of content helps and both have had a pretty good reach, as well as things like being on some TV shows and the superbowl etc. We’ve always focused on putting out quality, we have really high standards and not much gets past us

9. You’re off to the US very soon. What can your fans over there expect to hear? And can you bring me back some Hatch Green Chilie?

Yes, very excited about it. They should expect to hear a bunch of the new stuff and also of course the old favourites. I think they are lucky, they are getting the best version of the band yet and the best live version and the best live sound we’ve had. So get ready to have a good time/good cry.

And yes, sure. Where do I get it from?

10. You also have some Australian dates coming up in October/November. Last time I saw you the crowd demanded an encore and we got “Balaklava Cold” sans vocals, and it also popped up with vox just before Covid hit. Is there any chance of hearing some more earlier stuff sometime in the future?

We will never say never. Those songs are a big part of our DNA and I love them. The Quietest Place on Earth is my favourite record of ours, well until this new one and I love throwing down heavy riffs with vocals. However, we also want to move on as a band and back ourselves for our newer stuff. But maybe, If we can convince Johannes from CoL to jump up with us, sure!

Thanks for the interview and best wishes for Flower and the tours!

Thanks man, see you at the shows!