tag:sargenthouse.com,2005:/blogs/earth-news?p=7EARTH News2022-06-27T02:18:28-07:00Sargent Housefalsetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/70024482022-06-27T02:18:28-07:002023-10-16T07:48:00-07:00WATCH EARTH FULL PERFORMANCE AT HELLFEST OPEN AIR<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="325" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vRv6Bu8tTgg" title="YouTube video player" width="580"></iframe></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/69990832022-06-22T02:37:27-07:002022-06-22T02:37:27-07:00EARTH HELLFEST OPEN AIR FESTIVAL LIVE STREAMING<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/05100574a5f917050df621a33fa355420008c464/original/earth.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Watch Earth performing at Hellfest Open Air Festival. Live streaming on ARTE Concert socials on June 24th at 8:45PM CET. </p>
<p>Website: <a contents="https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/108954-045-A/earth/&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/108954-045-A/earth/">https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/108954-045-A/earth/ </a> </p>
<p>Youtube: <a contents="https://youtu.be/vRv6Bu8tTgg&nbsp;&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/vRv6Bu8tTgg">https://youtu.be/vRv6Bu8tTgg </a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/69852792022-06-02T12:30:56-07:002022-06-02T12:30:56-07:00DYLAN CARLSON SOLO SHOW IN ANTWERP<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/9cab866ed64d6bdfe8746afa63ce5c5ac42e8735/original/dylan-solo-antwerp.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Dylan Carlson will play a solo show in Antwerp on June 26th during Earth EU summer tour 2022.</p>
<p><strong>Earth EU shows 2022: </strong></p>
<p>June 21 Utrecht NL - Winkelcentrum De Helling </p>
<p>June 22 Brussels BE- Le Botanique </p>
<p>June 24 Clisson FR - Hellfest OpenAir (Sold Out) </p>
<p>June 26 Dylan Carlson Solo Show - De Nor - Antwerp </p>
<p>Info/Tickets: <a contents="thronesanddominions.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com">thronesanddominions.com</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/69592312022-04-28T12:12:12-07:002022-04-28T12:12:12-07:00EARTH US CO-HEADLINE TOUR WITH ICEAGE<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/b77e6f9a384405fc1ed5662333d4a6afedbeb240/original/od6k-rzw.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><strong>Earth is going on tour in the US on a co-headline with ICEAGE.</strong></p>
<p>Sep 21 Brooklyn,NY - The Brooklyn Monarch </p>
<p>Sep 22 Jersey City,NJ - White Eagle Hall </p>
<p>Sep 23 Washington,DC - Black Cat </p>
<p>Sep 24 Pittsburgh,PA - Spirit </p>
<p>Sep 25 Columbus, OH - Skully's </p>
<p>Sep 26 Detroit,MI - El Club </p>
<p>Sep 28 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle </p>
<p>Sep 29 Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line </p>
<p>Sep 30 Omaha, NE - Slowdown </p>
<p>Oct 01 Kansas City, MO - Record Bar </p>
<p>Oct 03 Denver,CO - Marquis </p>
<p>Oct 04 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre </p>
<p>Oct 05 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad </p>
<p>Oct 06 Tuscon, AZ Club - Congress </p>
<p>Oct 09 Los Angeles,CA - The Regent </p>
<p>Oct 10 Santa Cruz, CA - The Atrium at Catalyst </p>
<p>Oct 11 San Francisco,CA - Great American Music Hal </p>
<p>Oct 13 Portland,OR - Aladdin Theatre </p>
<p>Oct 14 Tacoma, WA - Alma Mater </p>
<p>Oct 15 Seattle,WA - Substation</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><a contents="Info/Tickets: thronesanddominions.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.thronesanddominions.com/?fbclid=IwAR3RgusMkvvCTi57m1TXnPuzuyYaSU0z9-IcAYRqtiAARe7nvFuQN8C2XYQ">Info/Tickets: thronesanddominions.com</a></strong></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/69124682022-03-03T05:37:14-08:002022-03-03T05:37:14-08:00EARTH RETURN TO EUROPE IN 2022<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/2fcee397b1b12143b8213500527e1639ced20821/original/earth-eu-2022.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Earth will be back to Europe this summer. Tickets on sale now. </p>
<p>JUNE 21: UTRECHT NL - DE HELLING </p>
<p>JUNE 22: BRUSSELS BE - BOTANIQUE </p>
<p>JUNE 24: CLISSON FR - HELLFEST (SOLD OUT) </p>
<p>Info/Tickets: <a contents="thronesanddominions.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com">thronesanddominions.com</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/69094732022-02-28T08:44:13-08:002022-02-28T08:44:13-08:00DYLAN CARLSON GUEST ON VANS CHANNEL 66<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/3e2c3441c309186e64ac451d43d7759306bcabb6/original/screenshot-2022-02-28-at-17-20-30.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Dylan Carlson will be one of the guests on the next episode of Vans Channel 66.</p>
<p>Tune in on March 2nd at 4 PM PST: <a contents="https://www.vans.com/channel-66.html" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.vans.com/channel-66.html">https://www.vans.com/channel-66.html</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/69095192021-11-16T09:00:00-08:002022-02-28T08:47:29-08:00EARTH WILL PLAY SUBSTANCE 2021<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/28cae36a6c25cf51c6978fdc884ccd7ce5f59c5c/original/257477103-449440723208748-4944687830516829482-n.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Earth will play their first show of 2021 at Substance LA on November 26th with Chelsea Wolfe, Emma Ruth Rundle and many more. Tickets available: <a contents="https://www.substancela.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.substancela.com">https://www.substancela.com</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/66667962021-06-22T07:58:40-07:002021-06-22T07:58:40-07:00EARTH WILL PLAY HELLFEST 2022<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/2940a1b113c0cad920bbc7d358096b0d8b38adcc/original/201990130-343153563837465-755297806545913730-n.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Earth will play Hellfest Open Air Festival 2022 </p>
<p><em>Tickets/info: <a contents="https://www.hellfest.fr" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.hellfest.fr">https://www.hellfest.fr</a></em></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/66668332021-06-04T00:00:00-07:002021-06-22T08:01:03-07:00EVEN HELL HAS ITS HEROES: DIRECTOR CLYDE PETERSEN IS RAISING MONEY<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/78c266162213e6d169fa90773e75429a4ff1bf80/original/198911032-338776804275141-3775354595189175566-n.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Director Clyde Petersen is raising money through t-shirt sales to pay for the audio mix and color correction of Even Hell has its Heroes. </p>
<p>Richey Beckett designed these beautiful t-shirts to celebrate the upcoming Earth film. They feature portraits of Dylan and Adrienne (Adrienne image based on photo by Marylene Mey) and are available on black or dark brown unisex t-shirts: <a contents="https://evenhellhasitsheroes.bigcartel.com/&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://evenhellhasitsheroes.bigcartel.com/">https://evenhellhasitsheroes.bigcartel.com/ </a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/66285522021-05-12T09:55:27-07:002021-05-12T09:55:27-07:00EARTH'S "SHE RIDES AN AIR OF MALEVOLENCE" ON IGGY POP'S BBC RADIO 6 SHOW<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/88547794e93eeae5cc1b10ef79fd73cdc43ac081/original/screenshot-2021-05-12-at-18-51-31.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/d5f1dc5584079f12c571465cfcbef1a0aa238d09/original/screenshot-2021-05-12-at-18-51-26.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/d99631e698fc6fc01baba0f267d8a986f59da404/original/screenshot-2021-05-12-at-18-51-48.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Iggy Pop included Earth's song "She Rides an Air of Malevolence" from the band's album 'Full Upon her Burning Lips' in the new episode of his BBC Radio 6 Music show. </p>
<p>Listen to the episode: <a contents="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vjf4" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vjf4">https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vjf4</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/64170862020-08-25T15:43:59-07:002020-08-25T15:46:25-07:00Mark Lanegan & Earth’s Dylan Carlson cover Galaxie 500’s “Summertime”<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.brooklynvegan.com/watch-mark-lanegan-earths-dylan-carlson-cover-galaxie-500s-summertime/?trackback=twitter_mobile" style="" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/76447cbbe57430a5de5b9a55a3d2dc07b1b360e5/original/bv-1logo-new1.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="9pRx6uU_K-k" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/9pRx6uU_K-k/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9pRx6uU_K-k?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="360" width="600" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Artists have been covering songs by Galaxie 500 all month in lead-up to the Record Store Day release of G500's live album, Copenhagen, on August 29. Today we get Mark Lanegan who teams with <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="Earth" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/earth" target="_blank">Earth</a>'s <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="Dylan Carlson" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> for a slightly grungy take on "Summertime," which was on Galaxie 500's final album, This is Our Music. Says Mark, "Dylan Carlson and I giving the garage treatment to one of my favorite songs by Galaxie 500, one of the all-time great bands." You can watch that, and compare with the original "Summertime," below. </p>
<p>Other artists who'd covered Galaxie 500 in the series include Thurston Moore, The Feelies' Glenn Mercer, Barbra Manning, The Natvral (Kip from Pains of Being Pure at Heart), and Circuit des Yeux's Haley Fohr, and there are still covers to come from Magnetic Fields, Real Estate and more. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, Mark Lanegan and Cold Cave covered Joy Division's "Isolation" in tribute to Ian Curtis, and Mark released new solo album Straight Songs of Sorrow in May.</p>
<p><a contents="[via Brooklyn Vegan]" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.brooklynvegan.com/watch-mark-lanegan-earths-dylan-carlson-cover-galaxie-500s-summertime/?trackback=twitter_mobile" target="_blank">[via Brooklyn Vegan]</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/62140162020-02-13T06:00:00-08:002020-02-13T07:45:35-08:00EARTH To Perform Special 30 Year Anniversary Set At Roadburn 2020<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/ef8ec9f2e2523db94afe31bc9b3b6fc83786f3f0/original/rb-a9-ig-earth.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a contents="EARTH" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thronesanddominions.com/" target="_blank">EARTH</a> will be playing a very special set at <a contents="Roadburn" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://roadburn.com/" target="_blank">Roadburn</a> 2020, with songs spanning their entire 30 year career with rare tracks seldom heard live. Appearances from former collaborators Steve Moore and William Herzog with current <a contents="EARTH" data-link-label="Earth" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/earth">EARTH</a> members will make this a truly monumental set not to be missed!</p><!-- more -->
<p>Saving the best ‘til last is not always a deliberate thing (and it is of course purely subjective!); we had to be patient with this one, waiting for the stars to align just so. However, here we are - one of the last announcements of our 2020 line up - thrilled to announce the addition of Earth to Emma Ruth Rundle’s The Gilded Cage curated event. If that weren’t enough to get excited about already, they will be performing a special set - celebrating the past three decades of their incredible career. </p>
<p>Thirty Years of Earth will chronicle the path that this pioneering band has walked along; from early albums all the way up to last year’s Full Upon Her Burning Lips. Drone has been a constant throughout the long history of Earth; with diverse influences coming in at various points a distinct journey can be mapped out on the backdrop of ambient and minimalist noise. </p>
<p>Dylan Carlson is the one constant at the heart of Earth, but for the last 15 years drummer, Adrienne Davis, has been by his side - or rather, often behind him. Whilst the duo may be for many the most recognisable and consistent incarnation of Earth, others have of course sewn their own threads into the tapestry of the band’s history. We’re sworn to secrecy, but we can confirm that some former contributors and collaborators will be making appearances during this unique and special set. </p>
<p>Dylan comments: “The last time Earth played Roadburn was 2011, so it’s a real pleasure to be welcomed back at this year’s edition - thanks to Emma for asking us. We are celebrating 30 years of Earth with a special performance, featuring Steve Moore and William Herzog along with current members, as well as a set spanning the career of the band.” </p>
<p>Expect to see cuts from the back catalogue that are not often found in a typical Earth set - no doubt to the delight of long time fans of the band. One such super-fan just happens to be our curator, Emma Ruth Rundle, who comments on her choice: </p>
<p>“Much like the name of the band, the music they have made over the last 30 years is literally the foundation on which my understanding of guitar, dynamics, texture and atmosphere comes from and rests upon. I very much idolize Earth and would not have been able to develop my own style of guitar playing without this band. A pillar of style and creators of a whole genre, Earth have inspired so many. We are lucky to have them with us still making amazing albums. For Roadburn 2020 they will be presenting a comprehensive retrospective of their vast and visionary works.” </p>
<p>Dylan and Earth may be long time friends - and regular visitors - of Roadburn, but we are more thrilled than ever to be bringing them back to the festival, to appear as they never have before; in celebration of an incredible thirty years of artistry. </p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/60961842020-01-13T12:22:04-08:002020-01-13T12:22:04-08:00Dylan Carlson Live Set From Edinburgh<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="BaP3lTnOiP4" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/BaP3lTnOiP4/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BaP3lTnOiP4?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="Dylan Carlson" data-link-type="page" href="/dylan-carlson">Dylan Carlson</a> of <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="Earth" data-link-type="page" href="/earth">Earth</a> played a very special set in Edinburgh shot by <a contents="Scapegoat.tv" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/scapegoat.tv/" target="_blank">Scapegoat.tv</a> and Wall Of Sound Productions.</p>
<p> </p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/60369102019-12-20T15:43:52-08:002019-12-20T15:52:13-08:00"Full Upon Her Burning Lips" on CVLT Nation's Top Records of 2019<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://cvltnation.com/top-records-of-2019/" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/dfe360adc846f7a736247cf1866f57591a1b1258/original/cvlt-nation-logo-site-header-600.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_xl"><strong>CVLT NATION’S TOP RECORDS OF 2019</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">ELEVEN – <strong>EARTH, <em>FULL UPON HER BURNING LIPS </em></strong></span></p>
<p>In this too often self-obsessed superficial age when the trivial and the frivolous frequently take precedence over more intimate and meaningful things, how wonderful it is that we have at least got Earth to elevate us above the slime. Full Upon Her Burning Lips is Earth’s latest full length release, Carlson again pairing up with his partner in musical harmony, Adrienne Davies. Earth’s ninth studio album opens with ‘Datura’s Crimson Veils’, a wonderfully delicate lilt that lures you sumptuously inwards with Carlson’s delicate Bakersfield Sound guitar riff, slowly rising and falling. The 12-minute ethereal masterpiece is supplemented by sparse and selective drum taps from Adrienne with a cursory stroke of a cymbal to add a final sprinkling of gold dust. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2729236552/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;">Full Upon Her Burning Lips by Earth</iframe><br><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/5b2ae785c2074c0c33e65386cedbf96306d6e00a/original/tumblr-inline-pttpijysms1qbzv4w-540.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><a contents="Via CVLT Nation" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://cvltnation.com/top-records-of-2019/" target="_blank"><em>Via CVLT Nation</em></a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/60320372019-12-19T15:19:31-08:002019-12-19T15:59:03-08:00EG INTERVIEWS #8: EARTH<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="oULmNOjnt-M" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/oULmNOjnt-M/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oULmNOjnt-M?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="360" width="600" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>In 2019 <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="Earth" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/earth" target="_blank">Earth</a> celebrate their 30th year anniversary as a band. Before their show in Berlin, we talked with <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="Dylan Carlson" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> and Adrienne Davies about “Full Upon Her Burning Lips”. The latest Earth full-length, focusses on the humanity of Carlson and Davies, both in its outstanding cover art and in the intimacy of its compositions.<br><br>Interview by Marika Zorzi<br>Video by Yannik Vargar</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/59532572019-11-07T16:05:15-08:002019-11-07T16:07:23-08:00The universal vibrations of Earth: an interview with Dylan Carlson // NMTH<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://nmth.nl/earth-interview/" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/8a3a7064abeb6c61d58a962c4408de72d59484d8/original/nmth-1color-stroke-never-mind-the-hypelandscape.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<br><strong><span class="font_large">The universal vibrations of Earth: an interview with Dylan Carlson</span></strong>
</h3>
<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://nmth.nl/earth-interview/" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/4f5d3451147de49edc19d936b77471408d340a63/original/3000x-450x450.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<p><em>Full interview via <a contents="Never Mind The Hype" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://nmth.nl/earth-interview/" target="_blank">Never Mind The Hype</a></em></p>
<p>The 13th edition of Le Guess Who? Festival is coming up, featuring many wonderful artists with ringing names. One of those is the American band <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="Earth" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/earth" target="_blank">Earth</a>. Originally the band hails from Seattle, the birthplace of grunge, where main man <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="Dylan Carlson" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> has many friends, including the late Kurt Cobain. But Carlson chose a different musical path than his fellow Seattleites with Earth, he chose drone. </p>
<p>Carlson is often called the father of drone metal. Not a moniker he would pick, but one he gratefully accepts. Currently, as we talk over Skype with a bunch of disruptions on the line as friends try to reach him, he is staying in Los Angeles. For the film soundtrack he is making, but also because he will be moving there in December. It’s a lot more sunny in L.A. he concurs: “It’s way warmer up here, nicer weather for sure!”, he chuckles. </p>
<p>We talk about the new album, Full Upon Her Burning Lips, which recently came out. But also about his solo record Conquistador, on which he collaborated with Emma Ruth Rundle. And Bagpipes. And Le Guess Who?, obviously. </p>
<p><strong>What do you think about the Le Guess Who? Festival yourself? </strong><br>“It’s one of my favorite festivals. I’m not crazy about festivals, but this one always has an interesting program and many people are there that I’d love to meet. Not that I get to usually, but last time I was there I saw jazz icon Pharaoh Sanders perform. That is really cool!” </p>
<p><strong>How does Earth fit within the confines of a festival like Le Guess Who? And how did you end up playing there this year? </strong><br>“Well, The Bug is one of the curators and we did an album together, so I think that’s how it went. But why we fit in is that even though people love boxing us into genres or microgenres, Earth has always tried to do something new, always pushed itself into new directions. That fits within the confines of this festival very well. As a musician, I don’t feel confined to microgenres. I make music, as best as I can, but I can’t affect the way people deal with that. But we play all sorts of festivals, because we are not limited to just heavy music. We’ve done Hellfest, Primavera, but also Le Guess Who? and Levitation festival. That’s a big range. Big Ears in Knoxville is another one of my favorites by the way. We’re not stuck in a corner, we can go many different ways with Earth.”</p>
<p><span class="font_small">Text: Guido Segers // read more <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://nmth.nl/earth-interview/" target="_blank">HERE</a></span></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/59130902019-10-02T11:22:42-07:002019-10-02T11:25:55-07:00Lighter And Heavier: ADRIENNE DAVIES of Earth Interview // The Brooklyn Rail<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://brooklynrail.org/2019/10/music/Lighter-And-Heavier-Adrienne-Davies-of-Earth-In-Conversation" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/6c7a4c7b27ecea04f14e890439afebccb260cfc6/original/brooklynrail-logo-red.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></a><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://brooklynrail.org/2019/10/music/Lighter-And-Heavier-Adrienne-Davies-of-Earth-In-Conversation" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/86c59a66f27bccd1a8eca0c9d664b1839c6e0e9d/original/scoville-1.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://brooklynrail.org/2019/10/music/Lighter-And-Heavier-Adrienne-Davies-of-Earth-In-Conversation" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/6f73c553eabe59f9a72de43112ff469acb707936/original/screen-shot-2019-10-02-at-11-09-43-am.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a><a contents="(via The Brooklyn Rail)" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://brooklynrail.org/2019/10/music/Lighter-And-Heavier-Adrienne-Davies-of-Earth-In-Conversation" target="_blank">(via The Brooklyn Rail)</a></p>
<p>Adrienne Davies is one of two permanent members of <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com" target="_blank">Earth</a>, a Seattle band formed in 1989 by Dylan Carlson and credited with inventing ambient metal—a contradiction that caught on and evolved into the doom genre associated with groups like Boris and Sunn 0))). When Earth re-emerged following Carlson’s recovery from addiction after 2000, his guitar playing confessed a tender spot for the gothic moments of American country music. In its second life, the band evoked the cinema of Ennio Morricone, the hypnotic savagery of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, any Western with a sad and bloody ending. As striking was the addition of a new drummer in a band known to use machine programming in lieu of live percussion. With her unnatural restraint and stark rhythm patterns, Davies enhanced Earth’s geologic pace. Earth has since continued to expand on its meditative approach to hard rock, but 2019’s <em>Full Upon Her Burning Lips</em> promises an outlook sunnier than what the band’s followers have come to expect. On a recent tour, Davies spoke with me about the new album, her hybrid drum kit, the physical and mental challenges of playing at glacial tempos, and Earth’s fanbase—including a few doom-loving domesticates</p><!-- more -->
<p><strong>Sheila Scoville (Rail)</strong>: <em>Full Upon Her Burning Lips </em>is a departure from the last album because it is just you and Dylan without any guests. Did you want to return to an earlier, simpler sound or capture a different aesthetic? The album cover looks very 1970s, like the Stooges’ first record. </p>
<p><strong>Adrienne Davies</strong>: Yes, Dylan and I are big fans of the way many ’70s albums were meant to be listened to in their entirety. We wanted to have one pure intention with this album and tell a first-person narrative through music. We also wanted an album that was intrinsically just us. Instead of leaving room for other instrumentation, I had the freedom to step forward. Drums are usually just for timekeeping, but they’re organic instruments. My goal has always been to play drums so they have a voice, a human touch and emotion, and this record captures that. </p>
<p><strong>Rail:</strong> You apply unusual techniques on this album and play unconventional instruments like a bottle of water and a saw blade. The song "She Rides an Air of Malevolence" has this indeterminate rumbling. </p>
<p><strong>Davies:</strong> That was the thunder rumble: a close-miked, hide drum with soft mallets barely touching it. I played the tiniest drum rolls but they made cavernous, apocalyptic sounds. Often, the quieter you play—it can sound heavier than hitting hard.</p>
<p><strong>Rail</strong>: And “Descending Belladonna” has these time-arresting segments of feedback and underwater-like percussion. The drums draw the listener's attention with subtle variables. The guitar typically animates the songs, adding twists, but here it is almost the anchor while you get to spread your wings. </p>
<p><strong>Davies</strong>: We had a strong idea about mixing “Descending Belladonna.” We both love dub and this album was the perfect chance to do something different like that. </p>
<p>On previous albums, I would almost limit myself to literally one fill per song. The band was so sonically dense, and the songs were so lush and multi-instrumental, the drums had to make room. I had to be patient and restrained. It's so different with this album because I wasn't held back by any reins. I felt like a wild horse running free. </p>
<p><strong>Rail</strong>: You have a hybrid kit of instruments from various makers. Could you describe your set-up, and how it has evolved? </p>
<p><strong>Davies:</strong> I would love to have a brand new matching kit, Ludwig or Gretsch, but as a working musician who still has a day job, I care more about the way it sounds. I just find cool drums that I like, and if it's not a matched set, I don't care. I do spend money on cymbals and snares, but the rest of the kit can come and go, and you can backline it and interchange. </p>
<p>I used to have this huge, unplayable rack tom, but finally, I said, “This is ridiculous!” Maybe Dylan's influence with smaller amps finally wore off on me. I pared down to this '72, 14 × 10 Ludwig orange sparkle, which fits much easier over a kick drum. You don't have to be spread so wide and set up to make room for the crash, and even though it's a much smaller drum, it sounds more massive. I'm learning bigger is not always better. </p>
<p>A guy named Gregg Keplinger in Seattle makes these amazing, hand-hammered, chime-like cymbals. I'm playing two on tour now on top of the ride and the crash. They're raunchy without being too trashy, just really musical, not shrill, and everything I love about accent cymbals. </p>
<p><strong>Rail</strong>: What is your favorite piece of gear? </p>
<p><strong>Davies</strong>: There's something that I bring into the hotel room every single night and have for 18 years since I've been in this band, and it's my '64 mahogany Ludwig snare. It's been my main snare on every album and on tour. I have a backup, a '67, and I always tell myself to bring that one on tour because if I lost it, I would be sad but wouldn't cry. But I invariably end up bringing the baby. That's the thing that if I ever lost I would be absolutely distraught. </p>
<p><strong>Rail</strong>: Which do you prefer: playing with sticks or brushes? </p>
<p><strong>Davies</strong>: Oh, brushes! But they are hard to pull off live. Since you and the other players can't hear them over the guitars and bass, you need your own sound guy who knows which songs have brushes to be able to adjust everything. We usually don't tour with our own sound guy; so it limits how much I can use brushes. But I absolutely love playing brushes, and some of the heaviest songs that we've recorded have them because a lighter touch can be darker, heavier, more ominous. </p>
<p><strong>Rail</strong>: Recording or playing live? </p>
<p><strong>Davies</strong>: That's a tough one, but it's always been recording. I will say this about playing live: I used to have a lot of issues with confidence. Stage fright is a flood of adrenaline. It makes your heart beat through your chest. If you need to play tempos under 70 beats per minute but your heart's racing at 130 beats, it's not good. I have tools for dealing with it, stretching and breathing, just getting myself ready to be in the creative head space to let the music come through. Now I can relax and enjoy playing live, and get into that state that you always search for: this transcendent, meditative state where you're not thinking cognitively or trying to control what you're doing. </p>
<p><strong>Rail</strong>: You’ve talked about your experience of dialing in your less-is-more playing style and finding an approach to drumming in Earth that felt authentic to you. Could you describe that process? </p>
<p>Davies: The underwater dance quality or slow motion of my movements that people comment on, I just fell into that after swimming around until I found what worked. When I first began playing in Earth, we were at much slower tempos; there was almost no forward momentum. I had to jettison everything I'd ever learned. Instead of right angles and short, sharp movements that a drum teacher normally teaches, I had to do the exact opposite and adopt a cyclic motion. Also, to create drag and delay for such slow tempos, everything had to be as un-ergonomic as possible and angled to be hard to reach. Over time, I've been able to bring back the ergonomic, traditional school of playing drums, so I don't injure myself, but it is my own hybrid. </p>
<p><strong>Rail:</strong> Earth is a crossover band for listeners who normally aren’t drawn to metal. Do you have categories of fans? </p>
<p><strong>Davies</strong>: We definitely have a varied crew of fans. When I first joined Earth, it was a two-piece, just me and Dylan, and at the time we were kind of making brutal, therapy, war music. He was in a free jazz mode, and I was into loud, obnoxious metal machine music. When we first started playing, maybe you'd see one or two women in the whole audience. That has changed completely. There are so many more women in the audience; now it's almost 50/50, 40/60, which is amazing. I'm so happy about it because a lot of hard rock and metal in particular was and still is a boys' club. </p>
<p><strong>Rail</strong>: What women drummers have you admired? </p>
<p><strong>Davies</strong>: When I was 17 or 18 growing up in Seattle, Patty Schemel was probably my favorite when she was drumming for Hole. I remember living in Olympia, seeing Unwound play and just being floored by Sara Lund, a phenomenal, super-heavy drummer. </p>
<p><strong>Rail</strong>: Last question. You are a cat lover. How many do you have, and are they Earth fans? </p>
<p><strong>Davies</strong>: They do like Earth. They zone out and look kind of mellow. That reminds me! When our cello player, Lori Goldston, was in the band for Angels of Darkness, we used to practice at her house. She had a Belgian floppy-eared bunny. The second I brought out the drums he would hop over and crawl inside the kick drum; it was his favorite thing. No matter how loud I played he was just totally happy inside that big drum at full volume. He was an odd bunny. </p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/58835362019-09-06T15:08:13-07:002019-09-06T15:09:18-07:00Cover Feature // Music&Riots Magazine Issue 25<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://issuu.com/music_and_riots_mag/docs/issue_25" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/afe53bedfe3d185b03bdb1d6614b510c2a8361db/original/pdfsocial-1.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<p><a contents="Earth" data-link-label="Earth" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/earth" target="_blank">Earth</a> is featured on the cover of Music&Riots Magazine September Issue. Interview feature, pages 88-93.</p>
<p>Read the full piece here: <a contents="https://issuu.com/music_and_riots_mag/docs/issue_25" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://issuu.com/music_and_riots_mag/docs/issue_25" target="_blank">https://issuu.com/music_and_riots_mag/docs/issue_25</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/58205012019-07-10T12:20:54-07:002019-07-10T16:15:32-07:00Dylan Carlson & Adrienne Davies Video Interview // Ghost Cult Magazine<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="364" data-orig-width="600" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dvjr3CS547OE%26feature%3Dyoutu.be"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vjr3CS547OE?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="600"></iframe></p>
<p><a contents="(video link)" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjr3CS547OE&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">(video link)</a><br><br>Ghost Cult caught up with guitarist <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="Dylan Carlson" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> and percussionist Adrienne Davies <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="Earth" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/earth" target="_blank">Earth</a> in New York City recently before their sold-out show at Le Poisson Rouge. Their new album 'Full Upon Her Burning Lips' is out now via the Sargent House label and is sure to be top of mind for many Year-end type lists. We spoke to the veteran act about this creation of this new album, the production process, building a strong relationship with their label, how Dylan's solo album impacted the band, honoring some major anniversaries the band has coming up and much more. Interview by Keefy and videography by Dante Torrieri of Useless Rebel Imaging.<br><br>Purchase - 'Full Upon Her Burning Lips' <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://smarturl.it/Earth_FUHBL" target="_blank">HERE</a></p></figure>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/58132262019-07-03T15:33:22-07:002019-07-03T15:38:02-07:00Dylan Carlson's track-by-track guide to new Earth album Full Upon Her Burning Lips // Louder Sound<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="114" data-orig-width="516"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.loudersound.com/features/dylan-carlsons-track-by-track-guide-to-new-earth-album-full-upon-her-burning-lips" target="_blank"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/2d5a32b4632970fc21c94ba7cf7577ef/cacc0a8802bdf010-87/s540x810/ca9366ac14cf11b46bb95ae914c4d398878ac775.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.loudersound.com/features/dylan-carlsons-track-by-track-guide-to-new-earth-album-full-upon-her-burning-lips" target="_blank"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/7c9e2cf80c6434406aa8290390c91e98/cacc0a8802bdf010-81/s540x810/21237ec8d46fc5112e640418cfefa80c3c4f68d2.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a></p></figure>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="365" data-orig-width="650"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.loudersound.com/features/dylan-carlsons-track-by-track-guide-to-new-earth-album-full-upon-her-burning-lips" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/b1d1ee7ecb1cf11b0a80abef70389fe123b5ef63/original/urjrsr5zuspwdcm5zznks7-650-80-1.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></figure>
<p><a contents="(full feature via Louder Sound)" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.loudersound.com/features/dylan-carlsons-track-by-track-guide-to-new-earth-album-full-upon-her-burning-lips" target="_blank">(full feature via Louder Sound)</a><br><br>Seattle experimentalists Earth have long dabbled in drone-inflected sonic minimalism. Over the course of their 30 years – and their eight studio albums – they've explored new musical territories and influenced a legion of bands in their wake.</p>
<p>With new album Full Upon Her Burning Lips, Earth – now a duo consisting of founder member Dylan Carlson and percussionist Adrienne Davies – have stripped their sound back to its core. It's still Earth, but it's Earth at their most essential.</p>
<p>"It was definitely a very organically developed record," says Carlson. "I limited the number of effects I used. I always like the limiting of materials to force oneself to employ them more creatively. Previous Earth records were quite lush sounding, and I wanted a more upfront and drier sound, using very few studio effects.</p>
<p>“I wanted this to be a ‘sexy’ record, a record acknowledging the ‘witchy’ and ‘sensual’ aspects in the music… sort of a ‘witch’s garden’ kind of theme, with references to mind-altering plants and animals that people have always held superstitious beliefs towards. A conjuror or root doctor’s herbarium of songs, as it were.</p>
<p>"I feel like this is the fullest expression and purest distillation of what Earth does since I re-started the band."</p>
<p>Here, Carlson takes us through Full Upon Her Burning Lips, one track at a time.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/58077282019-06-28T12:21:41-07:002019-06-28T12:51:37-07:005 Star Album Review: Full Upon Her Burning Lips // New Noise Magazine<figure data-orig-height="91" data-orig-width="284"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://newnoisemagazine.com/review-earth-full-upon-her-burning-lips/" target="_blank"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/303fb531588dc89ce08294e7ed7bf894/tumblr_inline_pttpi4U3ZY1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/d9635a9347510ce4295977446b91180c/tumblr_inline_pttpm1EOHW1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://newnoisemagazine.com/review-earth-full-upon-her-burning-lips/" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/5b2ae785c2074c0c33e65386cedbf96306d6e00a/original/tumblr-inline-pttpijysms1qbzv4w-540.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/83841817ba26d0d33acd9f77f9d8deb7/tumblr_inline_pttpjxEfev1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></p></figure>
<p><a contents="(via New Noise Magazine)" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://newnoisemagazine.com/review-earth-full-upon-her-burning-lips/" target="_blank">(via New Noise Magazine)</a><br><br><i>Full Upon Her Burning Lips</i> by Earth is the ninth studio album from the Washington based band founded by Dylan Carlson in 1989. Their latest release sees Carlson playing guitar and bass alongside Adrienne Davies on drums and percussion. Out through Sargent House on May 24th, <i>Full Upon Her Burning Lips</i> is a transcendental journey with stripped down melodies, a rich landscape of sensual instrumentation, and gritty atmosphere of sound.</p>
<p>The album begins with “Datura’s Crimson Veils,” a slow-burning twelve-minute opener. Earthy ambience permeates the ether on this track. “I limited the number of effects I used,” Carlson said in a promo. “I always like the limiting of materials to force oneself to employ them more creatively.”</p>
<p>Adrienne Davies’ easy, simply playing “Exaltation of Larks” propels the motion forward on this track. “I really wanted the drums to be present,” Carlson says. “I felt with previous Earth records that other instrumentation took up so much of the sonic space that the drums were kind of pushed to the side.”</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2729236552/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;">Full Upon Her Burning Lips by Earth</iframe></p><!-- more -->
<p>Carlson’s slow droning riffs on “Cats on the Briar” sound like a distant hum and rumble in accompaniment to Davies’ building rhythm and beats. The two play off each other in a way that escalates and builds tension in the song’s rugged tone. Witchy guitar riffs on “The Colour of Poison” sounds like a purr, as if the guitar is a voice. The playing towards the end peaks in a way that’s like climbing a mountain. “Descending Belladonna” unearths Carlson’s long, hypnotizing licks, and is joined by bass, and the snare and percussion from Davies. There are some ambient interludes embedded on the track that offer a minute variation to the steady beat and riff.</p>
<p>“She Rides an Air of Malevolence” is striking in that there are magical yet brutal riffs. There is a sense of wandering in the wilderness, and the earlier feeling of going on a journey. Tonally colorful, the song emotes the colors of nature. “Maiden’s Catalfaque” offers twinkling cymbals and chiller drone riffs. By this point in the album, the previous melodies feel compressed into a singular experience, blending into one another as if they were steps on a hike. “An Unnatural Carousel” enriches the album with desert vibes. Davies’ shake percussions and snare elevate dirty guitar notes and inflections.</p>
<p>“The Mandrake’s Hymn” has meditative chimes in the beginning. Like the mandrake, the bass is absolutely deadly and devastating. Like the song’s namesake, there is an affecting heaviness to this merciless hymn. “A Wretched Country of Dusk” is awesomely titled track to end <i>Full Upon Her Burning Lips. </i>The song sounds like a Sabbath, with guitars searing and burning bright. Black magic twang and an ambient finale conclude this rewarding album.</p>
<p><i>Full Upon Her Burning Lips</i> is a complete and full expression of an aesthetic, mood, and narrative in sound. The songs blend together and feel like one meditative, transcendental trip. Carlson said of the album, “I feel like this is the fullest expression and purest distillation of what Earth does since I re-started the band.” That passion and expression shows on <i>Full Upon Her Burning Lips. </i></p>
<p><a href="https://earth.bandcamp.com/album/full-upon-her-burning-lips">Purchase this album here.</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/57972392019-06-19T13:12:37-07:002019-06-19T13:20:08-07:00Earth Announce EU/UK 2019 Tour<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/118ddd5988d746661b548c715d0cc224e6cb9a04/original/2-instagram-dates.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<p>Earth will be headed to Europe this fall in support of their most recent album, "Full Upon Her Burning Lips". Tickets available now at <a contents="thronesanddominions.com&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com" target="_blank">thronesanddominions.com </a></p>
<p>NOV 06 Karlsruhe, DE @ Jubez <br>NOV 07 Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who Fest <br>NOV 08 Rouen, FR @ Le 106 <br>NOV 10 Bristol, UK @ Trinity <br>NOV 11 Manchester, UK @ Gorilla <br>NOV 12 Glasgow, SCO @ Classic Grand <br>NOV 13 Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club <br>NOV 14 Newcastle, UK @ The Cluny 2 <br>NOV 16 Brighton, UK @ The Old Market <br>NOV 17 London, UK @ EartH <br>NOV 19 Paris, BE @ Petit Bain <br>NOV 20 Vevey, CH @ Rocking Chair <br>NOV 21 Zurich, CH @ Bogen F <br>NOV 22 Mezzago, IT @ Bloom <br>NOV 23 Bologna, IT @ TPO <br>NOV 24 Vienna, AT @ Arena <br>NOV 26 Budapest, HUN @ Durer Kert <br>NOV 27 Prague, CZ @ Futurum <br>NOV 28 Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz <br>NOV 29 Berlin, DE @ SO36 <br>DEC 01 Aarhus, DK @ Tape <br>DEC 02 Copenhagen, DK @ Vega <br>DEC 04 Dortmund, DE @ Junkyard <br>DEC 05 Ghent, BE @ Vooruit</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/57867952019-06-10T14:27:27-07:002019-06-10T14:30:29-07:00Full Upon Her Burning Lips Reveals A Soft Heart Underneath Earth's Crust // CVLTNATION<p><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/341ad344b64d01a98c7fa3f34c80cb9d661f7efd/original/cvlt-nation-logo-site-header-600.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
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<p><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/9845623bf474f2bea2cadf0fe8200a94e2992c8d/original/980483-750x750-2.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>In this too often self-obsessed superficial age when the trivial and the frivolous frequently take precedence over more intimate and meaningful things, how wonderful it is that we have at least got Earth to elevate us above the slime. </p>
<p>Dylan Carlson’s warm and emotive instrumental tones seem to connect and speak in such a way that vocals are superfluous. For those willing and able to invest in his work the rewards are plenty and precious. </p>
<p>When Carlson set about laying the building blocks of Earth it was as a minimalist drone outfit, the 2005 Morricone-inspired Hex, signalling a change in musical direction that has extended through albums such as The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull (2008) their latest full length Primitive And Deadly (2014).</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>full article via CVLTNATION <a href="https://www.cvltnation.com/full-upon-burning-lips-reveals-soft-heart-underneath-earth-crust-stream-full-set/?fbclid=IwAR3aIWzdddA7TKQsj55sJZT55tYRRi8OGpq9aIcfpayJP7aVNVlP2afa6Q0">here</a></em></p>
<p>//</p>
<p>Catch EARTH on the rest of their N. America tour with labelmates, Helms Alee</p>
<p>tickets - <a href="http://thronesanddominions.com">thronesanddominions.com</a></p>
<p>JUN 10 Orlando, FL @ Wills Pub <br>JUN 11 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade <br>JUN 12 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle <br>JUN 14 Richmond, VA @ Gallery 5 <br>JUN 15 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar <br>JUN 16 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s <br>JUN 18 Somerville, MA @ ONCE Ballroom <br>JUN 19 New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge <br>JUN 21 Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit Hall <br>JUN 22 Detroit, MI @ El Club <br>JUN 23 Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle <br>JUN 24 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry <br>JUN 27 Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre <br>JUN 28 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge <br>JUN 29 Boise, ID @ Neurolux</p>
<p> </p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/57788502019-06-03T16:51:24-07:002019-06-03T16:57:06-07:00Video Interview with Drummer of Earth, Adrienne Davies<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="fsCjADGdl-A" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/fsCjADGdl-A/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fsCjADGdl-A?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="360" width="600" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>"There are very few bands in which the drummer has such a distinctive style that becomes irreplaceable. Adrienne is one of those drummers, a unique musician, a leader and the spine of one of the most unique bands ever to walk this EARTH!" – Evil Warnings</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/57755322019-05-31T14:15:57-07:002019-05-31T14:16:33-07:00Earth's “Full Upon Her Burning Lips” on 'This Week’s Essential Releases' // Bandcamp Daily<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="109" data-orig-width="540"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/05/31/bandcamp-essential-releases-may-31/" target="_blank"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/77ac25a18fa98180a7663d5c3f767834/tumblr_inline_psdztif63U1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/5c1799e9e49e676cdfb48b1f8a7f075e/tumblr_inline_pse01b4Gbu1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/05/31/bandcamp-essential-releases-may-31/" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/bd26f3a9010781ad1af40dea71b8fdb0ac962625/original/7essential-05-31-1244.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p></figure>
<p><a href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/blogs/sargenthouse.com/earth">Earth</a> – <a href="https://earth.bandcamp.com/album/full-upon-her-burning-lips">Full Upon Her Burning Lips</a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2729236552/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;">Full Upon Her Burning Lips by Earth</iframe></p>
<p>Earth’s latest is a record that feels curiously intimate and subtly powerful, with as many plainly beautiful parts as hazy, evil-sounding ones. Though the pacing is slow, Full Upon Her Burning Lips isn’t really a record that demands patience from the listener as these songs are immediately accessible, melodic, and feature enough interesting push-and-pull between <a href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/blogs/sargenthouse.com/dylan-carlson">Dylan Carlson</a> and Adrienne Davies to make it a record meant for foregrounded listening.</p>
<p><a contents="full article via bandcamp" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/05/31/bandcamp-essential-releases-may-31/" target="_blank"><em>full article via bandcamp</em></a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/57739002019-05-30T12:17:37-07:002019-05-30T12:21:01-07:00"Full Upon Her Burning Lips" Album Review // Pitchfork<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="173" data-orig-width="1000"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/7d468ec6dd63e2f211c20642db9a902c45565572/original/pitchfork.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p></figure>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="352" data-orig-width="1045"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/earth-full-upon-her-burning-lips/" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/e5f73fb5d646edb187313e1761f031155e969d93/original/screen-shot-2019-05-30-at-12-11-02-pm.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></figure>
<p><br><em><a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/earth-full-upon-her-burning-lips/">via Pitchfork</a></em></p>
<p><strong>The minimalist drone-riff masters pare away excess and focus on the seismic repetition that made their best work so resonant, creating a new peak in their long discography.</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2729236552/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/artwork=none/track=1788842808/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;">Full Upon Her Burning Lips by Earth</iframe></strong></p>
<p>“I would hear riffs from bands that I liked, and I’d want them to keep playing that riff,” <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="Dylan Carlson" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> recalled recently. “I was always wondering what would happen if you just stuck on that one riff.” That such a simple idea could spawn a varied, lasting musical career seems impossible. Yet over three decades, Carlson’s band Earth have crafted a rich discography by doing just that. Early on, they stretched single chords into minimalist epics—inspired equally by La Monte Young and Black Sabbath—to coin a drone-metal style later perfected by descendents Sunn0))). But even as Earth’s sound has grown since returning from a late ’90s hiatus, Carlson remains infatuated with the power of repetitive riffs. </p><!-- more -->
<p>Though he and drummer Adrienne Davies have been constants in Earth Mk II, many musicians have flowed in and out of the group over the past 15 years. That culminated in 2014’s Primitive and Deadly, their first record to include vocals, courtesy of guests such as fellow Seattle veteran Mark Lanegan. Five years later, perhaps sensing their expansion had hit a ceiling, Carlson and Davies have finally made a record by themselves. Full Upon Her Burning Lipsfits the cliché of the “stripped down, back to basics” album, with Carlson intentionally limiting his sonic options and the duo refocusing on elemental repetition. But Earth’s previous explorations earned them the right to reset, creating a new peak in an already highlight-filled discography. </p>
<p>Full Upon Her Burning Lips hits that upper echelon not just through signature repetition, but also the quality of the riffs themselves. Lately, Carlson has insisted that repetition by itself isn’t enough (“[the riffs] should be something that you want to hear again,” he said), and the range of memorable hooks throughout these ten tracks is indeed crucial. Take the wiry curve in “Cats on the Briar”, the hints of funky groove in “Exaltation of Larks,” the beatific circles in the meditative “Descending Belladona” and the poignant denouement “A Wretched Country of Dusk.” Full Upon Her Burning Lips might actually be more catchy than what many consider to be Earth’s best album, 2008’s The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull. Though the confident swing of these songs can feel contemplative or even languid, the duo’s knack for adding small shifts and subtle accents injects a lot of tension.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/57669052019-05-24T10:32:44-07:002019-05-24T14:33:31-07:00Earth "Full Upon Her Burning Lips" OUT NOW<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://smarturl.it/Earth_FUHBL" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/d5e816c3f0bc214f98527ef61b012327f60115ae/original/3000x.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a><br><a contents="Earth" data-link-label="Earth" data-link-type="page" href="/earth" target="_blank">Earth</a>'s newest album, "Full Upon Her Burning Lips", is <strong>OUT NOW.</strong> Stream the album in full or purchase here: <a contents="http://smarturl.it/Earth_FUHBL" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://smarturl.it/Earth_FUHBL" target="_blank">http://smarturl.it/Earth_FUHBL </a><br>US Store: <a contents="www.hellomerch.com/collections/earth&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.hellomerch.com/collections/earth" target="_blank">www.hellomerch.com/collections/earth </a><br>UK Store: <a contents="sargenthouse.awesomedistro.com/artists/earth&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://sargenthouse.awesomedistro.com/artists/earth" target="_blank">sargenthouse.awesomedistro.com/artists/earth </a><br>EU Store (new): <a contents="https://evilgreed.net/collections/earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://evilgreed.net/collections/earth" target="_blank">https://evilgreed.net/collections/earth</a></p>
<p>Info & tickets for Earth's headlining US tour: <a contents="thronesanddominions.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com" target="_blank">thronesanddominions.com</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/57617942019-05-20T16:21:42-07:002019-05-20T16:45:42-07:00The Bandcamp Guide to Earth<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="114" data-orig-width="564"><h3 style="text-align: center;">
<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/05/20/earth-band-guide/" target="_blank"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/0f1cd56d471a94523d972def2f6cfbec/tumblr_inline_prts6weQvb1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a><br><span class="font_xl">The Bandcamp Guide to Earth</span>
</h3>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/05/20/earth-band-guide/" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/c24b689faddae84871e683f2c6dc815f8bc39340/original/earth-1244.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p></figure>
<p><br>For nearly 30 years, <a data-link-label="Dylan Carlson" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> has occupied an unlikely dual role as a true vanguard of experimental music and an undisputed Lord of the Riff, garnering respect from outer-sound explorers and metal heshers in equal measure.</p>
<p>Here’s a guide to a few of the most essential releases in Earth’s vast discography.<br><a contents="Full feature via Bandcamp" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/05/20/earth-band-guide/" target="_blank">Full here feature via Bandcamp</a></p><!-- more -->
<hr><p><em><strong>A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra Capsular Extraction</strong></em><br><br><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=204233186/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;">A Bureaucratic Desire For Extra Capsular Extraction by Earth</iframe></p>
<p>The seven songs that comprise<em> A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra Capsular Extraction </em>spent 20 years waiting to be reunited. Recorded in October 1990 as a debut full-length that never saw the light of day, the songs were parceled out across demos, EPs, and limited-edition records before finally being remastered and presented as a full album in 2010. It’s almost shocking how fully-formed the aesthetic of Earth’s first incarnation sounds on their earliest recordings. Carlson seems to have sprung from the womb capable of building towering drones out of detuned post-Master of Reality riffs. “Ouroboros Is Broken” is the obvious masterstroke here, an 18-minute treatise on heaviness that remains a staple of the band’s live set. </p>
<p><em><strong>Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method</strong></em></p>
<p><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1844741550/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;">Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method by Earth</iframe></p>
<p>Following a series of essential ’90s albums that shaped the sound of drone metal as we know it, Earth went on hiatus. Carlson was in the throes of heroin addiction and dealing with the fallout from his friend Kurt Cobain’s death. Music was the last thing on his mind. The band rebooted in the early aughts, and 2005’s Hex LP was the first major document of their ongoing second era. The impossibly heavy guitar drones remained, but they were complemented by the genius feel of drummer Adrienne Davies, and Carlson’s country and Western influences started to come through more in the songs. Earth have always had an Ennio Morricone streak, but on Hex, he’s a spiritual ghost writer.</p>
<p><em><strong>The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull</strong></em></p>
<p><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3719260108/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;">The Bees Made Honey In The Lion&#39;s Skull by Earth</iframe></p>
<p>In 2008, Earth released what many consider their best album. <em>The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull</em> is the band at their most grandiose, taking inspiration from the Biblical story of Samson and Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian and enlisting a crack team of collaborators to add new dimensions to their signature sound. The hypnotic riffs on the album double as hooks, too; good luck listening to “Rise to Glory” or “Miami Morning Coming Down II (Shine)” without getting them stuck in your head.</p>
<p><em><strong>Primitive and Deadly</strong></em></p>
<p><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4020844749/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;">Primitive And Deadly by Earth</iframe></p>
<p>The vast majority of Earth’s music is fully instrumental, and when it does utilize vocals, it’s typically to add another sonic texture, not to shift the focal point of the song. Primitive and Deadly is the glaring exception. Fellow Seattle alt-rock hero Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees brings his gravelly voice to the ominous tone poems “There Is a Serpent Coming” and “Rooks Across the Gate,” and Rose Windows belter Rabia Shaheen Qazi steals the show with her histrionic performance on album centerpiece “From the Zodiacal Light.” The remaining two songs are instrumental, and they make the case for Primitive and Deadly as the most metal Earth album. “Torn by the Fox of the Crescent Moon” is driven by a palm-muted riff that chugs forward like thrash played a quarter-speed, and “Even Hell Has Its Heroes” indulges in a 10-minute guitar solo.</p>
<p><strong>The Bug vs. Earth – <em>Concrete Desert</em></strong></p>
<p><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4215435627/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;">Concrete Desert by The Bug vs Earth</iframe></p>
<p>Here’s the album where Dylan Carlson renewed his experimental pioneer license. <em>Concrete Desert</em> is a collaboration between Earth and U.K. noise/dub/industrial artist The Bug. If that sounds like an odd fit, especially for the Western-obsessed Mark II version of Earth, then the project did its job. There’s room enough on Concrete Desert for The Bug and Earth to both sound like themselves, and also room enough for them to collide in unpredictable, thrillingly cacophonous ways. The best song here might be the JK Flesh-featuring bonus track “Dog,” which in an alternate timeline would have fueled the wildest raves of the early ’90s. </p>
<p><em><strong>Full Upon Her Burning Lips</strong></em></p>
<p><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2729236552/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;">Full Upon Her Burning Lips by Earth</iframe></p>
<p><em>Full Upon Her Burning Lips</em>, the latest Earth full-length, foregrounds the humanity of Carlson and Davies, both in its striking cover art and in the intimacy of its compositions. It retains the widescreen scope of the best Earth albums, but it also manages to make it feel like we’re in the room with the band while they’re tracking it. Musically, the stop-start dynamics of “The Colour of Poison” introduce a new wrinkle to the classic Earth sound, while the two 11-minute-plus tracks, “Datura’s Crimson Veils” and “She Rides an Air of Malevolence,” rival the most epic moments of the band’s career. </p>
<p>-words by Brad Sanders</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/57556682019-05-15T11:24:43-07:002019-05-15T11:26:36-07:00Earth Premiere "The Mandrake's Hymn" & Interview // Guitar.com<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="188" data-orig-width="675"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://guitar.com/features/interviews/earth-dylan-carlson-full-upon-her-burning-lips/" target="_blank"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/1fe3c5c3a4271de203c61d49448ba272/tumblr_inline_prk51eHGNT1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="364" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3sN3-EWcvCA?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="600"></iframe></p></figure>
<p><a href="https://guitar.com/features/interviews/earth-dylan-carlson-full-upon-her-burning-lips/"><i>via guitar.com</i></a></p>
<p>Earth’s trajectory is not so much of an orbit as it is a deviation. For the past three decades, the only constant for the band headed by <a data-link-label="Dylan Carlson" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> has been change – which is ironic for a group whose music relies heavily upon repetition.</p>
<p>Earth started out with ground-shaking seismic drone metal on 1993’s Earth 2, then took a left turn in 2005 into the arid West with the Morricone-inspired Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method. Almost a decade later, they ventured into meditative rock with Primitive And Deadly.</p>
<p>Now, the band have purged themselves of any embellishments, stripping instrumentation down to Carlson on guitar and bass and Adrienne Davies on drums and percussion. The upcoming record, Full Upon Her Burning Lips, is a lesson in austerity, and spotlights the duo’s sonic symbiosis.</p>
<p>Ahead of the release, we speak with Carlson about the record, his fascination with <a href="https://guitar.com/guides/buyers-guide/best-telecaster-neck-pickups/">Telecaster</a> <a href="https://guitar.com/guides/buyers-guide/best-telecaster-bridge-pickups/">pickups</a> and his favourite collaborations thus far.</p><!-- more -->
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="522" data-orig-width="696"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/ad0c93e4dcf05e8247566a2ecb6d8f9e/tumblr_inline_prk53cOlHF1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /><br><i>Dylan Carlson (left) and Adrienne Davies of Earth</i></p></figure>
<h2>The new album sees Earth stripped down to the core duo of you and Adrienne Davies. Can you shed more light on this decision?</h2>
<p>Well, I’ve been playing with Adrienne for almost 20 years now, and on previous albums, I’ve been fortunate enough to play with a lot of amazing players, but I really wanted this album to focus on the two main members at this point. Just because we really haven’t done that since, probably, Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method.</p>
<p>I also felt like live drums have always been a big part of what Earth does, but that has never come across as fully on record. You know, because when you’re recording a bunch of different instruments, you need to leave room for stuff, and I always felt like the drums didn’t show the full potential that Adrienne’s capable of.</p>
<p>And then also, I’ve always sort of been the guy that holds everything down with my guitar and let a lot of other instruments carry the melodic work – whether it’s cello or keys or stuff like that. So I sort of wanted it to just be the two of us showing off the best of our abilities.</p>
<p>The previous records, they’ve all been very lush sounding and I wanted this one to be very present and dry, and upfront. Using the 70s style, you know, where I was running two amps for the basics and hard panning guitars left and right – the kind of stuff that you just don’t really hear any more on record.</p>
<h2>Can you tell us a little more about the title Full Upon Her Burning Lips?</h2>
<p>I’m always trying to find titles that I feel are numinous and open to multiple interpretations. Many of them, I don’t necessarily see and people tell me about them later. Like someone recently asked if [the title] was about the moon because of the “full upon” bit – which I hadn’t thought of.</p>
<p>I feel like music is a sensual and sensuous experience, so I wanted a title that could evoke that. Originally, the cover idea I had for Primitive And Deadly was going to be much sexier than it turned out. I was sort of on a Scorpions jag at the time [laughs]. I think a lot of music now is missing that element. There’s so much music that’s hyper-male. To me, Metallica is a perfect example – nothing in their music or lyrics reflect the idea that there’s a feminine principle to the universe. So, I guess that’s where it came from.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FsuVxSq0YCOY"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="304" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/suVxSq0YCOY?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p></figure>
<h2>You mentioned in a statement that you like the “limiting of materials to force oneself to employ even more creatively”. How did that reflect in terms of guitar tone for this album?</h2>
<p>For this one I basically used a limited number of effects. I used my live rig, which was like a <a href="https://guitar.com/guides/best-electric-guitar-compressor-pedals/">compressor</a>, an <a href="https://guitar.com/guides/guide-best-overdrive-effects-pedals/">overdrive</a>, a Uni-Vibe and a <a href="https://guitar.com/guides/buyers-guide/best-delay-pedals/">delay</a>. I mean I used one other overdrive for some cleaner textures and an auto wah on one track, but I pretty much tried to limit it to just the pedals that I use live.</p>
<p>I tried to get the most out of them. For example, I’ve used the Uni-Vibe for a long time, but I’ve always just used the vibrato setting. I never thought the chorus was very useful, and then on this album, I figured out a bunch of really cool sounds with that setting. So that was fun to use in a different way than I normally do.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1050" data-orig-width="1401"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/41dcabfb5b8a6c531083ae3e8697dcd8/tumblr_inline_prk579oPoL1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /><br><i>Image: Sean Stout</i></p></figure>
<h2>A lot of artists tend to compose instrumental music around tension and release. Is that an approach that you take as well?</h2>
<p>I guess so, but I don’t know if it’s a conscious one. I feel like all songs should have some kind of arc – I call it a “narrative arc”. Although [with instrumental music] it’s very loose, as there’s obviously not any lyrics telling you what the story is. I sort of – in this very abstract sense – feel like songs and albums should still have a narrative arc. And I hope we convey that in the way that I put stuff together.</p>
<p>Again, it’s a sort of an abstract notion of a narrative, but you know, a song should start somewhere and then go somewhere, in some sort of rudimentary sense. I think that’s why, with instrumental music, the song titles become important. It’s the only way of conveying some kind of narrative with language.</p>
<p>I feel like music is a language in and of itself, and [communicates] in a different way. Music is simultaneously more immediate and more abstract in its meaning. With instrumental music, the audience is also participating in the creation of the meaning or the narrative or the imagery.</p>
<p>It’s not like songs with lyrics where it’s like “Oh my baby left me” or whatever. With instrumental music, it’s more challenging.</p>
<h2>This album has a lot of minimalism and repetition. How do you make repetitions sound like progression to the listener?</h2>
<p>With repetitive music especially, be it like the riff or the melody or whatever, it should be something that you want to hear again. So I think crafting really memorable riffs is key. They should be something that you want to hear again, and the riffs themselves should have some kind of arc to them as well – so that you’re getting mini arcs that build up to a bigger arc.</p>
<p>That’s one thing I’m constantly trying to do. When I come up with a riff it’s like “Oh, is this something like worth repeating?” There’s that thing that great riffs have where they make you want to hear them again. Whether they’re catchy or whatever, I feel like they should be strong enough – and interesting enough – that they bear repetition.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1051" data-orig-width="1400"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/d92bab85b1b58a6a2c85d1fe3321cff6/tumblr_inline_prk581Rk7l1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /><br><i>Image: Holly Carlson</i></p></figure>
<h2>Folklore is a major theme of this album, as it is with much of your work. What draws you to it?</h2>
<p>To me, with the music I make, I want it to be timeless and feel like it’s always been there. Folklore has stories and knowledge that have been around forever, transcending cultures. I also feel like, especially with rock music – for lack of a better term – and American music, are all originally from folk sources. You know, blues, jazz, country, rock ’n’ roll – the music is not “high culture”. It’s not like classical music in that it wasn’t created by rich people for other rich people.</p>
<p>It’s popular music from the people, embedded in the salt of the earth, and it’s the same with folklore. It’s interesting and it’s numinous. It’s got a quality of timelessness, like something that’s always been there and that goes along with what I try to do hopefully musically.</p>
<h2>Has your gear changed much over the years?</h2>
<p>Yeah, I would say so. When I first came back to guitar playing, I hadn’t had a guitar for at least four years. So when I came back to guitar in 2001 or 2002, I was really into gear and was always buying petals. I guess you could call it GAS. But along the way, I realised that it didn’t really matter what I played, it was going to be me like regardless. And so I got a lot less gear-obsessed.</p>
<p>I like gear obviously – I mean, I love guitar – and I’ve found things that allow me to translate what’s in my head better, but I don’t feel like they’re necessary. I’m going to sound like me regardless of what I’m given. I think a lot of people are always looking for that “magic box” or this amp or that amp. At the end of the day, it’s you, you know?</p>
<p>The gear I do get now, I get it because I like how it sounds – which is the most important thing – and then whether it’s functional and helps me with touring. Number one is the sound and number two is functionality and whether it makes my life easier. Those are sort of two of my guiding principles.</p>
<p>Right now I play my live rig which I’m very happy with because I discovered these Trace Elliot Elfs, 200-watt heads that weigh like a pound – I’ve got two of those. And then one has a 1×12 Dietz cab, which I love. The Jesus Lizard guys use them, and Buzz [Osborne] has one. I didn’t know about them before, I was just in Austin and I needed a cab. Yeah, it weighs a shit-tonne, but that’s the only downside to it. It’s got wheels, but it’s a little monster. Then for the other one, I have a 1×12 Mesa cab that’s semi-open.</p>
<p>And then I recorded the album with and did my solo tour with a Burman – it’s a British amp from the early 70s. They were a company out of Newcastle and they basically built these 100-watt power amps called the “Slaves” which ran for either KT66s or EL34s – mine’s got EL34s – and then they did various preamp modules. So they were kind of ahead of the curve, in a certain way.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1050" data-orig-width="1401"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/4c0c842c1187367c2af1153ebcf679ed/tumblr_inline_prk595dcck1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /><br><i>Image: Sean Stout</i></p></figure>
<h2>You’ve obviously played a lot of guitars over the years. Do you have any favourites?</h2>
<p>Yeah, my favourite guitar is the one my wife Holly bought. It has an alder Strat body, and then we had our friend, this artist Jason Borders, carve and stain it. It has no finish. It’s got a Fender neck, the classic player one, with a 12-inch radius pau ferro fretboard, and then I’ve got a brass tremolo. I love brass, I’ve had brass on pretty much all of my guitars that I can. This guitar’s also got a brass bridge and a brass nut.</p>
<p>And then I’ve been running a DiMarzio Fast Track Tele bridge pickup, DiMarzio Cruiser in the middle position, and a DiMarzio Air Classic in the neck. I’m a big DiMarzio fanboy, as you can tell [laughs].</p>
<p>Oh, and this guitar has a little thing called the <a href="https://alembic.stores.yahoo.net/blaster.html">StratoBlaster</a> which was made by Alembic. It’s a little boost switch – I have mine set for about plus 7- or 8dB, but you can go all the way to 14dB. That’s nice if you want a little bit of oomph.</p>
<p>I have a Tele, it was one of the Roadworn ones which I guess came out in the mid-2000s. That’s got a DiMarzio Tone Zone Tele bridge and a Seymour Duncan Little ‘59 in the neck.</p>
<p>In Europe, I have two guitars that live in a warehouse. I have an Epiphone SG. That one’s got a DiMarzio Tone Zone Tele bridge pickup and a Super Distortion in the neck. I was in a big Jerry Garcia phase then so I got a OBEL (or On-Board Effects Loop) on it, although I very rarely used it [laughs]. And the other’s an Epiphone Explorer that has a DiMarzio Super Distortion Tele bridge pickup. I basically put <a href="https://guitar.com/guides/buyers-guide/best-telecaster-bridge-pickups/">Tele Bridge pickups</a> in all my guitars.</p>
<p>Some of my guitars have names. Like my favourite one – the Strat or Hollycaster – I call “The Fox”. Tele is “The Cat” and the SG is “The Goddess” because it has a big sticker of Tara Guanyin on it.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1050" data-orig-width="1401"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/572e5ad7cab16c8ba033ddb383cc68d8/tumblr_inline_prk5ae5vTj1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /><br><i>Image: Sean Stout</i></p></figure>
<h2>Do you achieve noise through the amps?</h2>
<p>I use a lot of gain. Well, maybe not a lot of gain but I push the amps with the compressor and overdrive. With the 200-watt headroom, you’re not going to make it break up, so the tone is really a combination of pickups, overdrive and my hands. It’s not the amp. Same with the Burman – it’s a 100-watt – so the headroom’s massive.</p>
<p>If I’m playing a smaller tube amp, like when I had a 50-watt Plexi for a while, I didn’t use overdrive. I just hit the front end hard with the compressor. That was still like, loud as fuck. Over the years, I’ve come to understand headroom and the fact that no one really needs anything more than 50 watts. Even that is overkill, really, for most venues. Back in Earth 2 days, when I didn’t know any better, and I was young and could lug a shit-tonne of gear, it was like, “Oh yeah, let’s have, all this ridiculous amount of equipment!”. Back then most soundmen didn’t even bother mic-ing us, you know? Now I understand to let the PA do the heavy lifting.</p>
<p>I understand we all grew up on the cool pictures of [Jimi] Hendrix in front of a wall of Marshalls. But there were no PAs and they were playing outdoors half the time. Of course, you need like 25 Marshalls or whatever! It was a different time, with a 100-watt head now you’re never going to get to that sweet spot at a volume that’s not going to kill people.</p>
<h2>Let’s talk about collaborations for just a second. What would you say has been your best experience so far?</h2>
<p>Well, I love working with Kevin [Martin, aka The Bug]. It’s a whole different world than the one I am used to inhabiting. So it’s very fun for me in that way because I just get to be the guitar player and be creative.</p>
<p>I also love Emma [Ruth Rundle]. I think she’s an amazing musician and a wonderful human being, so that was enjoyable. And with Maddy Prior, that was super because obviously I was really into English folk. Yeah, so getting to meet an OG [laughs] and she was a lovely, lovely woman and really easy to work with. She had written a song and asked me to play guitar on it and I got to just come in and do it.</p>
<p>They’re all incredibly talented and really lovely people, so they’ve all been a real pleasure to work with.</p>
<h2>What was recording Concrete Desert like? Would you do something like that again?</h2>
<p>Yeah, I’ve been talking to Kevin about it! [Concrete Desert] was our very first collaboration, and he basically sent me the tracks and I played guitar and sent them back. So we actually hadn’t even met in person at that point. I actually just ran into him in on the street in Krakow because we were both playing the same festival.</p>
<p>Then Ninja Tune wanted us to play this anniversary party in LA together, and he had this material and was like, “Hey, why don’t we do this again?” and we were actually in the studio together for a couple days. I mean, he’d already generated much of the material but then after I put my guitar on, he went back and changed it a bunch. He told me he got new ideas from the guitar parts and kinda tweaked it.</p>
<p>But yeah, hopefully the next time we work together we can do it with both of us in the studio, building stuff from the ground up. I don’t know when that’ll happen, but we definitely want to do something together again.</p>
<h2>Are there any other guitarists you feel are pushing the instrument to the bleeding edge?</h2>
<p>I think Oren Ambarchi is pretty amazing. There’s probably some guys I’m not aware of, but I know Oren and think he’s a pretty good dude. I’m a rock dude and like the fact that he still manages to inject rock into [his music] in some weird way, like with that album he did with the Ace Frehley cover, for example. I think he’s got a lot of swagger to it that others don’t have.</p>
<h2>The Rig</h2>
<ul> <li>Main Guitar: The Fox aka Hollycaster (see above for details)</li> <li>Amp: Live – 2 x Trace Elliot ‘Elf’ heads (200w solid state) each with 1×12 cab (a Dietz and a Mesa). Recording – Early 70s Burman (100w power amp w/ EL-34s) and a pre-amp module and a DV Mark Micro 50 (50w solid state)</li> <li>Effects: MXR Custom Comp, MXR Shin-juku Drive, Dunlop Uni-Vibe chorus/vibrato, Dunlop Echoplex Delay, Korg Pitchblack tuner (1st version)</li> <li>Strings/Accessories: Dunlop Performance Plus Nickel .09-.42, Dunlop Primetone 3mm picks and various other Dunlop picks all around 2mm</li>
</ul>
<p>Full Upon Her Burning Lips is out 24 May. More information at <a href="https://www.thronesanddominions.com/">thronesanddominions.com</a>.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/57502732019-05-10T13:26:45-07:002019-05-10T13:29:04-07:00Dylan Carlson On ‘Full Upon Her Burning Lips’, The New Album By Legendary Earth // New Noise Magazine<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="76" data-orig-width="647"><figure data-orig-height="91" data-orig-width="284"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://newnoisemagazine.com/dylan-carlson-on-full-upon-her-burning-lips-the-new-album-by-legendary-earth/" target="_blank"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/303fb531588dc89ce08294e7ed7bf894/tumblr_inline_prb21yTLft1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://newnoisemagazine.com/dylan-carlson-on-full-upon-her-burning-lips-the-new-album-by-legendary-earth/" target="_blank"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/b29eff4d72b30203e914500c430dbb32/tumblr_inline_prb1u3jYrO1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a></p></figure></figure>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="515" data-orig-width="770"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://newnoisemagazine.com/dylan-carlson-on-full-upon-her-burning-lips-the-new-album-by-legendary-earth/" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/9510bae9fb9ef9774be854453d1102fa3b757a3a/original/dylan-salem-01-1-770x515.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></figure>
<p><i><a href="https://newnoisemagazine.com/dylan-carlson-on-full-upon-her-burning-lips-the-new-album-by-legendary-earth/">via New Noise Magazine</a></i></p>
<p>Guitarist and bassist <a href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/blogs/sargenthouse.com/dylan-carlson">Dylan Carlson</a> and drummer and percussionist Adrienne Davies of Olympia, Washington’s <a href="https://sargenthouse.com/earth">Earth</a> return as a duo on Full Upon Her Burning Lips, out via <a href="https://sargenthouse.com/home">Sargent House</a> on May 24. “I’ve been really fortunate in playing with some great people who I love,” Carlson says. “I just really wanted this album to be the core, and I felt it was the first album where the drums really get to shine.”</p>
<p>“Live, they’re a big part of the show, but on record, especially when you have a lot of extra instrumentation, the drums are sort of in a background role,” he admits. “With this one, I wanted everything—the guitar, the drums, and the bass—all to be very upfront. Previous records that we’ve done have been quite lush-sounding: a lot of reverb and studio glossiness. I wanted this one to be quite dry and everything upfront and raw.”</p><!-- more -->
<p>“We used a lot of percussion with the drums, so it really became part of the fabric of the song rather than the more traditional timekeeping that they are sort of relegated to,” Carlson says of the process. “I wanted to limit the instrumentation. My guitar has always been the main anchor and structural element, and on this one, I felt I was free and able to focus on a lot of melodic parts. There’s the riffs obviously, which is the structure, but then, I felt on this one that I was able to step out from that a bit and just really focus on melodic passages and adding melodic parts to the album.”</p>
<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2F0CpTtj3JWws"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0CpTtj3JWws?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p></figure>
<p>Carlson is the sort of guitarist who is capable of shifting people’s perspective on the instrument. “I feel like the guitar and the melodic part should be like vocal melodies,” he says. “I love the guitar, but there are albums that I feel are made by guitarists for other guitarists, and I don’t do that. I make music for everybody. To me, my favorite players, and the strongest players, are phrasing. It’s like a vocal instrument or a horn in jazz.”</p>
<p>“There’s a lot of guitarists out there who don’t think; they just go, and that, to me, is a weakness,” he clarifies. “It’s the so-called thread, just a constant flurry of notes, and it just sounds unnatural. It’s just like playing as many notes as possible. It’s like turning music into an athletic endeavor. It really drives me crazy.”</p>
<p>“I’ve read interviews with a few guitarists,” Carlson adds, “like Ritchie Blackmore [of Deep Purple and Rainbow], he used to listen to trumpet players to learn to voice or phrase well, and then Hendrix, especially the later stuff like [1970’s] Band of Gypsys, where you can hear him singing guitar parts. That’s, to me, the ultimate goal: the guitar should be your voice. I realized that no matter what I use, it’s going to be me, because it’s not about that stuff. It’s me on guitar, and I’m not going to sound like anyone else.”</p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3000" data-orig-width="3000"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/123629414e86ebbaf7b0da66e5f826dd/tumblr_inline_prb1v90mNq1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p></figure>
<p>Earth entered Studio Soli in Seattle with this awareness of their identity as musicians. Familiar with the band from previous collaborations, producer Mell Dettmer assisted with the organic process of creating Full Upon Her Burning Lips. “I feel like every record is a snapshot or a time capsule,” Carlson says. “It’s that specific moment, those specific people in that specific environment, and everything influences what comes out at the end. It’s been renamed, but it was the studio where we did [2005’s Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method]. So, it was sort of a homecoming or a circle, and, in fact, I can’t remember which song it is, but one of them opens with some wind chimes. Those were the same wind chimes that we had used on Hex…”</p>
<p>“The music came quite quickly,” he continues. “There were a lot of times in the past where I had a super specific concept or conceptual framework for an album, like with Hex… With this one, the music just came so [naturally]. It was more about the music and it just coming out. In the past, I’ve had notebooks full of song titles, and as I write the songs, I go back and pick a title. This album and the songs all came, and I didn’t have titles. The titles were a work in progress, and it came about sort of at the end when we were mixing.”</p>
<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FsuVxSq0YCOY"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/suVxSq0YCOY?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p></figure>
<p>Even the title, Full Upon Her Burning Lips, has a fluid meaning. “I always try to find something that has a numinous quality and that’s open to interpretation. Obviously, there’s the passionate, sexual nature of a kiss that could be referenced, and the ‘full upon’ reference, to me, is a statement of intent like, ‘This is Earth. This is what we do. No one else does this. No one else can do this,’” Carlson explains. “I really wanted to evoke sort of the feminine mystery and magic that is part of music, and especially a part of the world, that’s been repressed, ignored, mistreated. There’s a lot of stuff in there, to me, from the specifics about the band and our music to the situation of reality, that the feminine needs to be restored to its place of power and majesty. The world, and especially rock ’n’ roll, has been a boys’ club for way too long.”</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/57460962019-05-07T12:13:59-07:002019-05-07T12:16:40-07:00Interview with Dylan Carlson of Earth // Echoes & Dust<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="62" data-orig-width="581"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.echoesanddust.com/2019/04/soundwaves-to-landscapes-an-interview-with-dylan-carlson-of-earth/" target="_blank"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/bec27523937e3824ee088ec8300fb821/tumblr_inline_pr5e8pZitI1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/016768e79d53cb266a5a996e4b6fb347/tumblr_inline_pr5eiyHDTb1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a></p></figure>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="267" data-orig-width="400"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.echoesanddust.com/2019/04/soundwaves-to-landscapes-an-interview-with-dylan-carlson-of-earth/" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/a6f8c40496ce927e5f3553afec33957f5851b625/original/drc-e-d-interview.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></figure>
<p><em><a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.echoesanddust.com/2019/04/soundwaves-to-landscapes-an-interview-with-dylan-carlson-of-earth/" target="_blank">Interview via Echoes & Dust</a></em><br><br>From soundwaves to landscapes, the sonic experience conjured up by <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thronesanddominions.com/" target="_blank">Earth</a> is both a meditative and an immersive one. From having laid the root foundations of rock’s infamous exercise in extreme minimalism with the classic <i>Earth 2: Special Low-Frequency Version</i>, the Seattle-born earth-shakers have braced through the decades carrying a legacy of slow, heavy riffs and long, introspective song-structures with a strong emphasis on repetition. The band has kept their pace slow and steady whilst branching out into a multitude of directions, ranging from stoner rock on Pentastar: In the Style of Demons to the esoteric desert-rock musings on Primitive and Deadly. For the band’s first record in over five years, leading member <a data-link-label="Dylan Carlson" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> has decided to strip things down for a back-to-basics, raw approach, working as a duo alongside drummer Adrienne Davies to harken back to Earth’s core sound. We caught up with Dylan ahead of his solo performance at Paris’ Sonic Protest Festival to ask about his upcoming record, as well as learn more about his approach to sound and music playing.</p><!-- more -->
<p>E&D: Last time you were scheduled to perform in Paris, you unfortunately had to cancel due to some serious medical emergency. How have you been, how is your health?</p>
<p>DC: I’m much better. It was a gallbladder infection, so I was put on a bunch of antibiotics and I did a bunch of tests to clear it up. I’m fine now.</p>
<p>E&D: Welcome back to France. I understand your mother speaks French, by the way. Is that right?</p>
<p>DC: Yeah, that’s true.</p>
<p>E&D: You grew up moving around many different places, including in Europe. Have you ever lived in France?</p>
<p>DC: No, we lived in Germany, but we visited a lot because my mum liked Paris. The first year, we lived in Ramstein, which is basically just an airbase. Then we lived in Augsburg, Bavaria for three years. It’s an hour away from Munich. I also lived another year in Wiesbaden, which is by Frankfurt. We used to travel a lot. We went to the United Kingdom a lot, too, because we had relatives in Scotland. This was in the Seventies. We came back to the States in 1980. I was in first grade, so this was between the age of six to eleven. We were in American schools though.</p>
<p>E&D: May 24 will mark the release date of the first Earth record in five years, <i>Full Upon Her Burning Lips</i>. Back in 2014, you stated that you had already had started sketching out three songs for the follow-up toPrimitive and Deadly. Have you kept these ideas for this new album or have they been used for your solo and side projects?</p>
<p>DC: They were kept. Generally, when I come up with stuff, it will be earmarked for whatever project it was originally meant for. We played a couple of the ones that ended up on the album a few times live. We played one of the two songs at Hellfest in 2014. Two other songs were developed from playing live and held over. We also did a live soundtrack in Gent for Belladonna of Sadness and we tweaked and kept one of the tracks we performed. The rest of the material was pretty much done a month before we went into the studio. So basically there had been three tracks that had been bouncing around for a while and the bulk of it was done really quickly right before the studio sessions. I came up with a lot of the arrangements in the studio, too.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2F0CpTtj3JWws"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0CpTtj3JWws?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p></figure>
<p>E&D: Since Primitive and Deadly, you’ve released three solo albums and a collaborative album with The Bug. Did you originally plan on taking this ‘hiatus’ in between Earth albums?</p>
<p>DC: When we did Primitive and Deadly, it was the end of our relationship with Southern Lord. We had just gotten new management with Cathy from Sargent House. I knew it would be a bit of a while before the next Earth album came about. Things had to settle down and we had to test the waters, see who was interested in us. I had this other material that I thought would be a good solo record. It also gave me a chance to work with Sargent House as a label. Cathy was our manager but we weren’t with the label up until that point. It gave us a chance to do a solo project and a chance to work with Emma Ruth Rundle. It just kind of happened, I guess. It seemed like a good time to do it.</p>
<p>E&D: Coming into writing and recording this record, did you have any initial ideas or a particular head-space that guided you?</p>
<p>DC: This album was actually a bit different, in that I’d usually have a super strong conceptual idea that precedes the record. The records started out concept-heavy, but now it seems like I write music faster than I come up with concepts! [laughs] The concepts reveal themselves in the music more than the concept guides the writing of the music. This record came really fast because we decided we were going to do it with the core of the band, which is me and Adrienne. I ended up playing bass on the record. It was time to show what Earth can do with its core elements, as we’ve had so many members and guests join us over the year. We had been doing a lot of playing and writing in our practise space, just the two of us, and when it came time to do the album I figured “Let’s just do that!”. I also felt like it was a chance for the drums to really shine on record. I think the drums have been a big part of the band live, but with all of the instrumentation and overdubs, the drums aren’t left with much space on record. The drums were typically the last in line on record. For this record, I wanted everything really upfront and present. We’ve also had records that were quite lush-sounding, but I wanted this one to be really dry and stripped.</p>
<p>E&D: Did going back to a two-piece formation require some time to get re-accustomed to?</p>
<p>DC: No, not really. We’ve been working together for so long now that we don’t really think about it. When we add people, I generally know right away whether someone is going to work or not. For the tour that we’re getting ready to do, I’ll be adding another guitarist called Tristan. We did an improv show right before I left Seattle. We interpreted some Miles Davis stuff and we just clicked right away. We met because he was my driver on my solo US tour, before I found out that he was in a band. I invited him to jam and do this join, and now he’s joined the band for the tour.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1024" data-orig-width="683"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/c8d696705bbb69154bc70b4dc054a17c/tumblr_inline_pr5ecfKBVO1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p></figure>
<p>E&D: Do you approach working as a duo or trio differently from a strictly solo performance?</p>
<p>DC: I find playing with people more enjoyable, certainly, it’s more fun to explore with other people and see what happens. Playing solo is different in that it’s just you, there’s no real buffer. When you’re in a band it’s much easier to cover up mistakes and wing it I guess [laughs]. At the same time, it’s still enjoyable to just playing.</p>
<p>E&D: Part of what makes your shows with Earth so impressive is how “locked-in” you all are at these slow tempos. It’s as though the band followed its own organic pace, like synchronised “breathing”.</p>
<p>DC: Yeah, it’s not “tight” but it’s that weird kind of “loose but on’” thing. It’s not like a regimented prog thing [laughs]. I guess the best description for it, to me, is that it “flows”. You play and things just go right, everything just flows, you’re not getting in your way.</p>
<p>E&D: Is this something you work on with the musicians you add to your line-up or is it something that needs to naturally lock into place from the get-go?</p>
<p>DC: I pretty much know once we play together whether it’s going to work. They either “flow” or they don’t [laughs]. It either just works or it’s not happening. It’s not something you can force.</p>
<p>E&D: You mentioned that this record was written with a more open approach, without a conceptual backbone to guide the sound. Looking back on the end result, what do you “see” when listening to the record?</p>
<p>DC: I think the album titles that came out of it give a general idea. I wanted this album to be more “witchy”, so to speak, with magical plants and animals. I think that it has a very strong feminine energy involved with it. I feel like the music industry in general, and rock in particular, can be very unbalanced and hyper-masculine, and I think it’s reflected in society now, too. We’ve had this hyper-masculine society for so long now. If you hear a band like Metallica, there’s no hint of the feminine anywhere in their music, lyrically or conceptually. It’s this super-weird, “hyper-male bubble”. To me, music, in addition to being intellectual and emotional, is also sensual – especially rock and blues music. It’s from the hips as well! [laughs] I was trying to tap into that side of existence more on this record than on previous ones.</p>
<p>E&D: I was going to say that I did feel some hints of what you mentioned when I first heard Primitive and Deadly.</p>
<p>DC: Yeah, it definitely started with that record, and I feel like it’s reached fuller expression with this one.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="512" data-orig-width="768"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/1ba087b378796e37289cfae20616b138/tumblr_inline_pr5ecsIGGW1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p></figure>
<p>E&D: When it came to prepping the recording sessions, what guided your decisions regarding the gear and sound you wanted for the album?</p>
<p>DC: I basically used what I use live. Sometimes it’s nice to have a million choices for overdubs and whatnot, but for this one I just stripped it down. It forces you to be more creative with the materials that you do choose. I just used the same gear as my live setup, which is pretty minimal. It was really exciting to get all of the variety of sounds from those, rather than looking to do overdubs with a collection of gear like on previous albums. This was how me and Randall Dunn would work. We’d have a plethora of things to choose from, whereas I wanted things to be stripped back this time. There were four or five pedals at the most, but I used them in different ways than I had previously done.</p>
<p>E&D: For many, myself included, your music has marked a turning point, a discovery of a new way of listening to music. Can you remember what first raised your awareness of this way of ‘processing’ music? What made you want to go down that path?</p>
<p>DC: I guess, musically, I would hear riffs from bands that I liked, and I’d want them to keep playing that riff. I was always wondering what would happen if you just stuck on that one riff. At the time I was heavily into metal, but I was also into King Crimson. Through the Velvet Underground, I learned about La Monte Young. It was just this idea of enjoying the repetition of stuff. I used to listen to my guitar droning and practice singing through it. I would learn how to hold a note. I had done a couple of other bands before that, and I didn’t really like them very much. As I said, it started with a conceptual thing. Drone is a technique that’s in a bunch of different music. Indian music is probably its highest form of development, but Blues has it too with open string root notes. Maybe it’s this atavistic Scottish thing about bagpipes since I have Scotch heritage, I don’t know.</p>
<p>E&D: Was this on your own or in a band?</p>
<p>DC: It was more on my own, I guess. After my second band broke up, I just went into what I call “woodshedding”, for a couple of years. I was practising and listening to a lot of music, and thinking about what I wanted to do next. That’s where the ideas coalesced, I guess.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="512" data-orig-width="768"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/e6e5d2457c501215ec204e9be9ecc259/tumblr_inline_pr5ed6wkvd1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p></figure>
<p>E&D: Any overview of drone genre inevitably mentions two figurehead acts: Earth and Sunn O))). Having met the band and having worked with them in the past, have you had an opportunity to discuss your respective approaches about the genre, what “drone” means to you?</p>
<p>DC: Yeah, I’ve guested on their records, but other than that they’re doing their thing and I’m doing my thing. We’re both pursuing different aspects to me. From my perspective, I view myself as always serving the music. The riff needs to be worth repeating, it’s not just about repeating it. It needs to be something that grabs people. I’m constantly concerned about increasing the melodic content and the musicality of what I do. I’m also not as concerned with being the loudest or the slowest, which I feel can reduce the music. Back when I started, the bands wanted to be the fastest bands on earth. Whenever you play something ahead of the music, the music suffers. I just always consider myself a servant of the music and a servant of the song, first and foremost.</p>
<p>E&D: The new album features songs that are fairly short by Earth’s standards. Given that repetition plays an important part in your music, how do you determine the length of a particular song?</p>
<p>DC: I guess there’s a couple of things. There’s the feeling that you’ve said what you needed to say in that length of time. A lot of the time, our songs tend to grow in length live. I sometimes view shorter songs as snapshots of longer pieces. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, the physical means of reproduction limits you to a certain amount of time. People aren’t going to buy an eight-album set – you need to get it down to two LPs [laughs]. We need to consider how it’s going to fit on the vinyl.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="512" data-orig-width="768"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/2cecd2093e1322ef823161462bee1cbd/tumblr_inline_pr5edj0sHG1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p></figure>
<p>E&D: Finishing off, can you name one of your favourite albums, movies and books?</p>
<p>DC: There are so many albums, it’s hard to pick just one [laughs]! I guess I’ll say Memphis Underground by Herbie Mann for the LP. Movie-wise, I’ll say Le Samouraï by Jean-Pierre Melville. Book-wise, Blood Moon by John Sedgwick.</p>
<p>Earth’s new album, <i>Full Upon Her Burning Lips</i>, is released on May 24 by Sargent House. <a href="https://earth.bandcamp.com/album/full-upon-her-burning-lips">Pre-order here…</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/57217572019-04-16T10:53:43-07:002019-04-16T10:56:25-07:00Track Premiere “The Colour Of Poison" // Stereogum<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="364" data-orig-width="600" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D0CpTtj3JWws%26feature%3Dyoutu.be"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0CpTtj3JWws?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="600"></iframe></p></figure>
<p><i><a href="https://www.stereogum.com/2039945/earth-the-colour-of-poison/music/?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral" target="_blank">Premiere via Stereogum</a></i></p>
<p>Olympia, Washington’s <a data-link-label="Dylan Carlson" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> has kept his legendary, long-running drone-metal project <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com" target="_blank">Earth</a> going since 1989. In those years, he’s collaborated with Kurt Cobain, branched out into different musical ideas, and pioneered the whole idea of instrumental metal as full-immersion ambient music. Carlson has been busy lately, but it’s been five years since Primitive And Deadly, the last proper Earth album. Next month, they’ll be back at full force with a new studio LP called Full Upon Her Burning Lips. We’ve already heard the early track “<a href="https://www.stereogum.com/2034643/earth-cats-on-the-briar/music/" target="_blank">Cats On The Briar</a>,” and now they’ve shared another one called “The Colour Of Poison.”</p>
<p>“The Colour Of Poison” is exactly the type of track you think of when you think of Earth — a vast, heavy, elementally satisfying slow-trudge riff-monster. Part of the appeal with Earth is that you never know when they’re going to launch into free-jazz freakouts or Ennio Morricone soundscapes. But there’s still something satisfying about them doing basic stick-to-your-ribs doom metal with this kind of majestic mastery.</p><!-- more -->
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/bcee28e7aac8f55effbb04385b42fed0/tumblr_inline_pq2ei9bX4K1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" style="text-align: center;" /></p>
<p>Earth is a full band, but these days, it’s largely a collaboration between Carlson and longtime percussionist Adrienne Davies. Carlson has said that the new album took shape as the two of them worked on writing and recording it, not imposing any kind of concept on what they were doing. “The Colour Of Poison” is proof of that — a band intuitively doing what it does best.</p>
<p>Full Upon Her Burning Lips is out 5/24 on <a href="https://sargenthouse.com/" target="_blank">Sargent House</a>.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/56870222019-03-20T11:32:50-07:002019-03-20T11:33:28-07:00Earth Live Review @ Red Bull Music Festival 2019 // mxdwn<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="97" data-orig-width="396"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/0e1773a6e473fe46525abcac3178c84c/tumblr_inline_poogggSTFq1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://music.mxdwn.com/2019/02/22/reviews/earth-give-haxan-a-bewitchingly-heavy-live-score-at-ukranian-culture-center-for-red-bull-music-festival-2019/" target="_blank"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/1d8b2e58638ab9366cdfc49840b43feb/tumblr_inline_poogh0GhvQ1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a></p></figure>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="470" data-orig-width="770"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://music.mxdwn.com/2019/02/22/reviews/earth-give-haxan-a-bewitchingly-heavy-live-score-at-ukranian-culture-center-for-red-bull-music-festival-2019/" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/ceb21bbe763e9dc535490232f6aba9697d0d8972/original/tumblr-inline-pooghaaf8t1qbzv4w-540.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></figure>
<p><a href="https://music.mxdwn.com/2019/02/22/reviews/earth-give-haxan-a-bewitchingly-heavy-live-score-at-ukranian-culture-center-for-red-bull-music-festival-2019/" target="_blank">Via mxdwn</a></p>
<p>The Red Bull Music Festival is in full swing here in Los Angeles, with exciting upcoming shows from Robyn and the music from Red Dead Redemption on the way. Earlier this week, one of the highlights of the music festival came as a part of its concurrent film celebration Center Channel, hosted at East Hollywood’s Ukranian Culture Center, which is known for hosting a Pyanska Festival to punk rock shows. This performance was particularly special, as it saw drone metal legends <a href="http://sargenthouse.com/earth" target="_blank">Earth</a> provide their take on a live score for the 1920s-era Danish silent film Häxan.</p><!-- more -->
<p>For those that don’t know, Häxan was shot in a documentary style, exploring the topic of witch trials in Middle Ages Europe, mainly inspired by director Benjamin Christensen’s studies and impressions from the 15th century inquisitor’s guide, Malleus Maleficarum – which translates to Hammer of Witches. As the guide was written for German inquisitors, so much of the action – which is broken down between documentary-style segments and dramatic, horror-style sequences – is set in Germany.</p>
<p>The film has been released in various shapes and forms, including a 1968 version that runs 72 minutes and a more extended version from a restoration by the Swedish Film Institute. This version ran closer in length to the latter version, being broken down into seven segments that explored various aspects of Hammer of Witches, from the background of The Inquisition, to tests given to determine whether a person (more commonly, but not always, a woman) was a witch, the ins-and-outs of a witch trial, the emotional and physical torture endured by the accused in order to drum up a false confession and most shockingly, what they did with the witches after conviction.</p>
<p>Earth joins a storied history of live scores for Häxan. The film was initially released with a score made up of previously released compositions from the likes of Schubert, Gluck and Beethoven, with a 50-piece orchestra performing the score when it premiered in Copenhagen. That same score can be heard on <a href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/148-h-xan-about-the-music" target="_blank">the film’s 2001 Criterion Collection release</a>.</p>
<p>While a 50-piece orchestra performing well-known classical compositions certainly provides a dramatic oomph to the silent film, Earth’s ominous experimental metal perhaps makes for a more suitable pairing. The at-times grainy black and white footage being layered with songs played at 30 BPM appropriately built tension, casting a feeling of foreboding into the largely packed house at the Ukrainian Culture Center.</p>
<p>Likely there are those thinking to themselves, “Yeah, but wouldn’t an hour and a half of drone metal get boring? It all kind of sounds the same.” They’ve probably never experienced a band with the dexterity, experience and musicianship of veritable genre legends. While there were themes coursing through every movement, no two were identical and each easily wormed their way into feeling like an intrinsic part of the film.</p>
<p>Yes, there was plenty of chugs followed by apprehensive seconds before the next note. But there were also plenty of times the band injected elements of classic scores, even at times creating an atmospheric, metallic sort of Spaghetti Western influence into the tracks. Adding texture and color to mix was Adrienne Davies, the band’s drummer and percussionist. With music so slow, she had plenty of time to add flourishes of percussion.</p>
<p>What was most amazing about the performance from <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://sargenthouse.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a>, bassist Bill Herzog and Davies is that it was a completely custom soundtrack to Häxan. Unless the band chooses to record the score for release or decides to take this show on tour, it’s very well possible that this incredible piece of art was experienced once and only once for one night by a few hundred people. The level of care and dedication that the band put into their work is not just commendable, it’s quite astonishing.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/56777412019-03-12T12:24:04-07:002019-05-02T17:17:06-07:00EARTH Announce Headlining 2019 US Tour<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="5100" data-orig-width="3300"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thronesanddominions.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/2049a51c1ba225c91cff19b522597c3e76e19b13/original/earth-admat-full-dates.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p></figure>
<p>Legendary drone pioneers, <a href="http://sargenthouse.com/earth" target="_blank">Earth</a>, will be touring the US in support of their upcoming album <i><a contents="Full Upon Her Burning Lips" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://smarturl.it/Earth_FUHBL" target="_blank">Full Upon Her Burning Lips</a>,</i> with special guest <a href="http://sargenthouse.com/helms-alee" target="_blank">Helms Alee</a>. PREORDER your tickets now at <a contents="thronesandominions.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thronesanddominions.com/shows" target="_blank">thronesandominions.com</a><br>(password: burninglips)</p><!-- more -->
<p>MAY 24 Seattle, WA @ Neumos<br>MAY 25 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge<br>May 28 San Francisco, CA @ Great American<br>MAY 29 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo<br>MAY 31 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo<br>JUN 01 Poenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge<br>JUN 02 Albuquerque, NM @ Sister<br>JUN 04 Austin, TX @ Barracuda<br>JUN 05 Dallas, TX @ Club Dada<br>JUN 07 Houston, TX @ The Secret Group<br>JUN 08 Mid City Ballroom, LA @ Spanish Moon<br>JUN 10 Orlando, FL @ Wills Pub<br>JUN 11 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade<br>JUN 12 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle<br>JUN 14 Richmond, VA @ Gallery 5<br>JUN 15 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar<br>JUN 16 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s<br>JUN 18 Somerville, MA @ ONCE Ballroom<br>JUN 19 New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge<br>JUN 21 Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit Hall<br>JUN 22 Detroit, MI @ El Club<br>JUN 23 Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle<br>JUN 24 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry<br>JUN 27 Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre<br>JUN 28 SLC, UT @ Urban Lounge<br>JUN 29 Boise, ID @ Neurolux</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/56710112019-03-06T10:42:14-08:002019-03-06T10:46:47-08:00Earth Announce Tour + Album with Premiere New Track "Cats on the Briar" // Consequence of Sound<figure data-orig-height="57" data-orig-width="114"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/03/earth-cats-on-the-briar-new-album-us-tour/" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/e3b997cb647dad4cf2c84597e6e51826c28aa52b/original/178-1784731-consequence-of-sound-logo.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></a><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/03/earth-cats-on-the-briar-new-album-us-tour/" style="text-align: center;" target="_blank"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/edb3a3f66264a6c5c02c69b55f45517f/tumblr_inline_pnyjpg40Jm1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a></p></figure>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="481" data-orig-width="960"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/03/earth-cats-on-the-briar-new-album-us-tour/" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/31754c68a26f31f205251db3062b9f94dda54dc6/original/tumblr-inline-pnyjqdpqpf1qbzv4w-540.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p></figure>
<p>Feature via <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/03/earth-cats-on-the-briar-new-album-us-tour/" target="_blank">Consequence of Sound</a><br><br>Thirty years after launching their career, drone metal veterans <a href="https://consequenceofsound.net/artist/earth/">Earth</a> are back with a new song “Cats on the Briar”, premiering right here at Heavy Consequence. Moreover, the band has announced details of its new album along with dates for a US tour.</p>
<p>Featuring the core duo of guitarist-bassist Dylan Carlson and drummer Adrienne Davies, Earth will release the album, Full Upon Her Burning Lips, on May 24th. It marks the band’s first full-length release since 2014’s Primitive and Deadly.</p>
<p>As with the majority of the Olympia, Washington band’s music, “Cats on the Briar” is an instrumental tune, serving as the third track on the upcoming LP.</p>
<p>“‘Cats on the Briar’ is simultaneously uplifting and ominous, with a sense of perilous beauty,” Carlson tells us of the song. “It contains some of my favorite melodic embellishments, and I’m proud of the succinct solo at the end (all of which were developed during the recording, ‘off the cuff,’ so to speak).”</p>
<p>He adds, “It was the first song written for the new album. Inspired by a vision of my wife, Holly, dancing through a desert landscape, filled with dangerous flora and fauna. It was first performed in 2016 at Hellfest, in France. I feel this album is the strongest statement of what Earth is and does since I re-started the band in 2002, and this song is a great representation of that fact.”</p>
<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FsuVxSq0YCOY"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/suVxSq0YCOY?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="600"></iframe></p></figure>
<p>Earth will support Full Upon Her Burning Lips with a US tour that kicks off in Seattle on May 24th, the same day the album is released. The trek, featuring opening act Helms Alee, runs through June 29th in Boise, Idaho. See the full list of dates below, and pre-order the new album at <a href="http://smarturl.it/Earth_FUHBL">this location</a>.</p><!-- more -->
<p>Earth 2019 Tour Dates With Helms Alee:<br>05/24 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos<br>05/25 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge<br>05/28 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American<br>05/29 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo<br>05/31 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo<br>06/01 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge<br>06/02 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sister<br>06/04 – Austin, TX @ Barracuda<br>06/05 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada<br>06/07 – Houston, TX @ The Secret Group<br>06/08 – Baton Rouge, LA @ Mid City Ballroom<br>06/10 – Orlando, FL @ Wills Pub<br>06/11 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade<br>06/12 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle<br>06/14 – Richmond, VA @ Gallery 5<br>06/15 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar<br>06/16 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s<br>06/18 – Somerville, MA @ ONCE Ballroom<br>06/19 – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge<br>06/21 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit Hall<br>06/22 – Detroit, MI @ El Club<br>06/23 – Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle<br>06/24 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry<br>06/27 – Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre<br>06/28 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge<br>06/29 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/56589622019-02-25T11:01:03-08:002019-02-25T17:06:22-08:00Celebrating Earth’s Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light // CVLT NATION<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/96e5af5f40c8614cecb44bf162a0876a7f78107e/original/tumblr-inline-pjn077rkjd1qbzv4w-540.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.cvltnation.com/celebrating-earths-angels-of-darkness-demons-of-light-1/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/2cddfa2592baa7b98558fba52e69772227398b85/original/screen-shot-2019-02-25-at-4-55-06-pm.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/750d390169d2b8e8eefb53ad6575f2934c0b38c2/original/earth-angels-of-darkness-demons-of-light-1-2.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" style="text-align: center;" /></a></p>
<p>Full article via <a contents="CVLT NATION" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.cvltnation.com/celebrating-earths-angels-of-darkness-demons-of-light-1/" target="_blank">CVLT NATION</a></p>
<p>Coming towards the end of a very long and storied career, Earth’s Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1 was a move away from the rich, syrupy layers of Bees Made Honey. Eight years old this month, Angels 1 shifted their sound into something a little less layered and more guitar-driven.<br><br>Thin, sad, and minimalist, Dylan Carlson’s guitar snakes through long, ponderous riffs whilst Lori Goldston’s cello answers, wailing underneath. The resultant record is slower, calmer and older; it’s no mistake that a few of the titles reference age. This Earth, much like the dying one on which we live, is reflective, gloomy, and dour.</p><!-- more -->
<p>Old Black, opening the record, is one of the most recognisable Earth tracks; a languid guitar skeleton that mourns over a slow, ponderous beat. It’s telling that live versions tend to fill in a lot of the gaps; the temptation is to add more meat. Of course, the sparse quality means every note is felt with dramatic impact. Earth are rarely straightforward and this is no exception, but it’s curious to note that they’re rarely this morose; Old Black, and the record it opens, are sad, sad pieces.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/buG8_LOgMOY?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p>
<p>This sadness continues with the melancholic Father Midnight, which has less of a central riff for the flourishes to dance around and features some more off-script moments. Here the scratchy, unsteady nature of the instruments becomes clear; everything is only just in time with itself and feels like at any moment it could collapse into miserable ashes. </p>
<p>Descent to the Zenith is a similar story, with some cymbal bell work thrown in that makes the percussion a little clearer. By this point the record’s vibe is fully established; oppressive and mournful, every new addition has a funeral tinge; cymbals sound like lonely church bells, the cello dirge is sinister and deathly and the space between notes is the perfect time to reflect on the listener’s personal woes. By this point the minute distinctions in the riffs are a little more familiar. Hell’s Winter leans a little heavier on the central riff, the guitars a little stronger and more prominent, with more of a heavy metal swagger to them, flavoured by their unique goth-country. Things pick up towards the end before dissolving into a sad void.</p>
<p>The titular track, a mammoth 20 minutes, reminds us that despite having space to wander the rest of the album does have at least a loose architecture, even if this is cleverly obscured. Angels is sparser still, the silence palpable after the hint of activity moments ago. It builds to the lugubrious ponder that is so familiar, but this time a little more active and involved, a touch more melodic, the guitars playing against the cello. Here there’s more space for the track to build up before dropping away again, the pieces falling away. Even as it does so new ideas flourish and flounder, guitar licks fighting their way up before withering. </p>
<p>Angels 1 is wintery and draining, a very February record. Nonetheless, it’s testament to what Carlson and associates could do with so little, taking a minimalist approach to heavy music and make something raw and immersive. The saddest of all the Earth records, if Earth 2 showed them taking concepts like minimalism and applying them to metal, they’re just as effective at playing with moods and emotion.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/56328172019-02-07T17:56:42-08:002019-02-07T17:57:27-08:00Red Bull Music Presents Earth Live Score<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="500" data-orig-width="954"><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/thronesanddominions/"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/bf89e144b47512fe8bc0ffb8b83152cabd852ecb/original/screen-shot-2019-02-07-at-5-50-54-pm.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p></figure>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/thronesanddominions/">Earth</a> will play a live film score to Swedish occult classic ‘Haxan’ (1922) on February 18th at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Los Angeles.<br>Tickets/info: <a href="https://www.redbull.com/int-en/music/events/earth-live-score?fbclid=IwAR3-_zaAsNY6ZtwlgYHRlRvL_oZdBOTm_QGqL718MxAaa_lJ8LtXd6c58Y8">https://www.redbull.com/int-en/music/events/earth-live-score</a><br>Event page: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/584399455304665/">https://www.facebook.com/events/584399455304665/</a></p>
<p><br>Photo: Jody Poorwill</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/55644262018-12-21T11:08:19-08:002018-12-21T11:13:39-08:00Dylan Carlson Announces 2019 EU/UK Solo TOUR<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="4950" data-orig-width="3510"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/162841d0162cabb01feb982ffc64ddc8619177d6/original/dc-eu-2019.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></figure>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/drcarlsonalbion/?__tn__=K-R&eid=ARCoRJDsjFzuv4EiN8sISi9wDMC4sZbDU2eAJmwoB2pTkL3-aaEIPmHthWSMgT3EybTFBJpePldWNjsL&fref=mentions&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBlxpU0JYK52KYW0T6C6CapTHxbIhqDC6sxHzZ7qni2ChuuUJF-DKSTPHyU_UFc7zm9bG5UWI_6gog4iu6sUjU7W5DiNHh2mxPn2fVkUVeYPQAO48L0UJUiviptajIYTIAVPE79wtKP061Vite7qQBC4u2eq0KtaHabl7781Cc1tBw9Sj7fSnDR_iyGG9cNX4xkB_bXuxcS4IITIY3V6W0Vz04fECPlnnBYgASmz-xic5eVuqnIFK0re4MTpySuA5vpSjSwGaQ8Ojuma_WW3O_PZzZZ6yqBCDi30A3d4fBXBejDLsibFBkO_eQ" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> has announced his return to EU/UK with solo tour dates in 2019. Tickets at <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fsargenthouse.com%2Fdylan-carlson%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3F2mor9sGh57YbZ-7E_KAeMuZCQnfOUEzHRrLyQxUUl6azOPSI2eZq9vE&h=AT1avb3pT1lOQOeFFqf17Or785N1ZdRXOKBnUXP-a6StJ2QuX-OSQH_tJ_1MmlyWGvgkz3z4KCBtu-7Z1cp6aNkzo6pkGdIqBt0UdwH8iXU_JdNbikIi-T62XPsDXtJ-_11f7fm_rBLAmP1WfdqTHq7k5nNgkq8wUAsxPAvR9c74uyUVkJdeFbMe1vfRYELhAWbqmssDYRNFBJQr8tc6govIFdwb4hof0wfRfI15k-KrfwuhVPdtonD-ib0yDhv2g_uJjMF3MYg8d_YsHT05Vitjdf6A3DBn_Bbjc4PMW2P0hMSj-MEDo2txupwKr984_27_gnobwv6YgIQpH2bh-hxZtyWf0TmJ7Qc3ApKcDA35Rlf9KiXl3oWv4pThreLvExwaSBuCSHxhS2WlAtiPIFkauMboihD7ggUQLaAjK3A22EJOZ-zV8dEdrMxcyJBgryeKLpClmyvrEkvAikBMlK6uIfQg9DPF4Ps7WpEwjb1IGCAKk45ORobDy74u0Ih6yedTm3b7DGtrZnK-WdoCY38zLhik5mtyV-GZZlKz7elAN6xU2p36xxEpn-szu6ZuUAVKgU1iomEY1DUN2PUbKCiHKrqVnQlcqVFdYVnvblOnnGekxdA" target="_blank">sargenthouse.com/dylan-carlson</a></p><!-- more -->
<p>MAR 21 Newcastle, UK @ The Cluny<br>MAR 22 Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade<br>MAR 23 Manchester, UK @ Soup Kitchen<br>MAR 24 Birmingham, UK @ The Flapper<br>MAR 26 London, UK @ St John of Bethnal Green<br>MAR 27 Brussels, BE @ Botanique<br>MAR 28 Lille, FR @ La Malterie<br>MAR 29 Duisburg, DE @ Explorado Museum<br>MAR 30 Berlin, DE @ Cassiopeia<br>MAR 31 Prague, CZ @ Futurum<br>APR 01 Vienna, AT @ Grillx<br>APR 03 Munich, DE @ Feierwerk<br>APR 04 Lausanne, CH @ Le Bourg<br>APR 05 Zurich, CH @ Bogen F<br>APR 06 Paris, FR @ Sonic Protest Festival</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/54971712018-11-02T11:34:51-07:002018-11-02T11:36:57-07:00Dylan Carlson Solo Set in Full // Max Volume Silence Live<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="91" data-orig-width="1000"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://maxvolumesilencelive.blogspot.com/2018/11/dylan-carlson-live-at-brooklyn-steel.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/d0e496209b496307d2b19a4c2b4dc1f3/tumblr_inline_phkwuw6I3J1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/baVJAu-MMgk?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p></figure>
<p>See <a href="http://sargenthouse.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a>’s full set from his solo show at Brooklyn Steel via <a href="https://maxvolumesilencelive.blogspot.com/2018/11/dylan-carlson-live-at-brooklyn-steel.html" target="_blank">Max Volume Silence Live</a>.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/54358542018-09-19T15:30:50-07:002018-09-19T17:22:09-07:00Earth announce Daniel Higgs as Support on Upcoming Show Dates<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="960" data-orig-width="621"><figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="496" data-orig-width="496"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/b5cc299e0a089a293ab28e022f800e10/tumblr_inline_pfbvlan45l1qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a></p></figure></figure>
<p><a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://facebook.com/thronesanddominions" target="_blank">Earth</a> have announced <a contents="Daniel Higgs" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.thrilljockey.com/artists/daniel-higgs" target="_blank">Daniel Higgs</a> to play support for upcoming show dates in Portland / San Francisco this October before Desert Daze. All info at <a contents="thronesanddominions.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com" target="_blank">thronesanddominions.com</a></p>
<p>OCT 10 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom * <br>OCT 12 San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel * <br>OCT 12-14 Perris, CA @ Desert Daze <br>w/ Daniel Higgs *</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/53966672018-08-21T15:46:00-07:002018-08-21T20:15:22-07:00The Fangasm: Pentastar: In The Style Of Demons by Earth // Drowned in Sound<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="84" data-orig-width="538"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4151969-the-fangasm--pentastar--in-the-style-of-demons-by-earth" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/fe3418f41a9d7ce7392764af01732b49/tumblr_inline_pdu1nzcH3V1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a></p></figure>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="537" data-orig-width="942"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4151969-the-fangasm--pentastar--in-the-style-of-demons-by-earth" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/65fb2ace2da69d4513c9fc3b2553f1a7/tumblr_inline_pdu1ouNjex1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a></p></figure>
<p>by Alexander Tucker via <a href="http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4151969-the-fangasm--pentastar--in-the-style-of-demons-by-earth">Drowned in Sound</a><br><br>The first time I encountered <a href="https://www.facebook.com/drcarlsonalbion/">Dylan Carlson</a>’s <a href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/blogs/facebook.com/thronesanddominions">Earth</a> was through a Sub Pop cassette on <i>Lime Lizard</i>, a short-lived early nineties magazine. The free cover mount tape, a Sub Pop sampler, came with the May 1993 issue - side A included relatively standard US grunge of the time, from bands like the noisy guitar pop of Velocity Girl, Pond, Walkabout, Fastbacks and deranged punk rock band Dwarves. Side 2, however, was entirely taken up with one long track - ‘Seven Angels’ by Olympia, Washington’s Earth from their (just released) album <i>Earth 2</i>. A seething maelstrom of detuned metal-tinged guitars sent a thousand beads of buzzing sound flooding into my teenage skull, a strange familiarity combined with alien fear both drew me in and half repelled me.</p><!-- more -->
<p>I understood from my own early bedroom explorations into drone and noise guitar improvisations where this was coming from, but fitting this music into the context of genre and tribe was a difficult one at the time. I didn’t buy the album, but played the tape to friends as a weird curiosity. It wasn’t until around 1999 that I rediscovered the maximal delights of <i>Earth 2</i> in all their hallucinatory glory.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed?uri=spotify%3Aalbum%3A5irr64FYBRKBiWjVCrJZij" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p>Earth’s 1996 album <i>Pentastar: In The Style Of Demons</i> was not so immediate. On first listen it sounded too piecemeal for my liking, and I didn’t understand why you would structure an album this way. The songs felt too straight compared to <i>Earth 2</i> and the experimental pieces too cold and threadbare, but how wrong I was. My relationship with many of my beloved records start out this way, the initial response unimpressed or just a plain dislike, but these usually turn into an earworm that keeps burying deep until my obsession/possession fully takes hold.</p>
<p><i>Pentastar: In The Style Of Demons</i> begins and ends with ‘Introduction’ and ‘Coda Maestro in F (Flat) Minor’, both essentially a variation on the same track but with different layerings of phasing organ and glassy guitar leads. By bookending the album this way Carlson draws attention to the endless possibilities that each individual song can take, and although he is essentially a minimalist/maximalist, Carlson also understands the multiple paths any one track can take - time, place, mood and concept are the only constraints.</p>
<p>When it comes to the relatively straightforward songs on <i>Pentastar</i>, they retain a groove like no other Earth LP. In particular, ‘High Command’ and ‘Tallahassee’ give the lava flow of lugubrious guitars a connection to AC/DC, ZZ Top and JJ Cale, but also make me think of Spacemen 3 had they grown up in the state of Washington rather than Rugby. Another rare element to these tracks is Carlson’s laconic vocals, hovering in the distance behind a slack corridor of thick reverb.</p>
<p>This record spaces its different atmospheres equally between song and composition, rarely following the same structure as the last, moving between diametrically opposed surfaces whilst maintaining a focused economy. ‘Crooked Axis For String Quartet’ is the closest piece to anything on <i>Earth 2</i>; a low-end electrical tone unfurls as an indeterminate sound akin to a glass harp cutting across a frozen soundscape. I’ve never been able to identify this sound and I don’t want to know either, for the fear that the spell might be broken.</p>
<p>Carlson has spoken on a number of occasions about the influence of minimalist composer La Monte Young and the music of Terry Riley, which brings us to the most stubborn and obtuse track on the album - ‘Sonar And Depth Charge’, a 7 minute and 14 second repetitive piano figure employing only two notes, doggedly circling the same motif like picking a scab that never heals. More than the greats of US minimalism, this brings to mind the composer Michael Nyman’s piano pieces on <i>Decay Music</i> or outsider musician Jandek.</p>
<p>What striking about this album is how succinct and focused it is. For all its disparate elements, a plethora of textures, atmospheres, and musical genres come together as a cohesive whole to create an album that still surprises and inspires to the present day.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/53616032018-07-25T13:10:51-07:002018-07-25T13:16:57-07:00Dylan Carlson’s Theme for an Imaginary Western // Interview on Premier Guitar<p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.premierguitar.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/8f9b73409d2a6f3c5a67669d85d8d8a0/tumblr_inline_pceaxyuCcp1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/27512-dylan-carlsons-theme-for-an-imaginary-western" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/34229cc130ec11c4f4c09dbe8dba8fca/tumblr_inline_pceayoY5Dk1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/7bda24ebd70755993bbd94c21956c3eb/tumblr_inline_pceb1f8ptd1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Feature by Kate Koenig via <a href="https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/27512-dylan-carlsons-theme-for-an-imaginary-western" target="_blank">Premier Guitar</a><br><br>After nearly 30 years as the only constant member of drone-doom-metal cult heroes Earth, guitarist Dylan Carlson has released his first album, <i>Conquistador</i>. As the title suggests, the work espouses a fantasy world that’s rooted in history, not unlike the one explored on Earth’s 2005 <i>Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method</i>—a belated imaginary soundtrack to novelist Cormac McCarthy’s <i>Blood Meridian</i>. Carlson has also done soundtrack work, under his solo moniker drcarlsonalbion, for the film <i>Gold</i>. But this time, the music speaks exclusively to his personal vision.</p>
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<p>Carlson has always been known for wading against common trends—an approach that’s helped him define his voice in the sparse, expansive sound of Earth. Like most artists, he’s proud of not fitting into a mold. “I make records for people. I don’t make records for guitar players,” he says. But it’s not an exclusionary statement, just one that acknowledges the detachment he takes from the technical and cultural associations with the instrument while songwriting. Drawing heavily from his tastes in film and American history, he gradually and steadily builds a world on the all-instrumental <i>Conquistador</i> in which he becomes more of a visual architect than a guitarist, exploring the negative space between rich, textural tones.</p>
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<p>The minimalist, ambient compositions on <i>Conquistador </i>rely on the subtle personalities of Carlson’s guitar tones, which he achieves with a lot of patience, trial and error, and the perfect combinations of gear. Though, he admits, gear is not as important to him as it used to be. “There’s no magic box or magic amp. It’s all you, for better or for worse,” he laughs. Even so, he keeps a particular family of pedals—“discovering compression was a godsend”—and has refined, over the course of his career, the routes to creating the precise hues of distortion to furnish his sonic world. On the album, he worked with producer and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, and is accompanied by his wife, Holly Carlson (who’s also the model on the cover), on percussion, and Emma Ruth Rundle on baritone and slide guitars.</p>
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<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="92" data-orig-width="640"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/1784f1b4e01b9563234887019ab87f2d/tumblr_inline_pceb2qlile1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p></figure>
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<p><b>What inspired you to write your first solo album?</b><br>We had finished a lot of touring with Earth, for our last record for [L.A.-based label] Southern Lord, and we had just changed management. I had some ideas for some songs, so it seemed like a good opportunity to get into a studio and get some music done. The idea originally was in the vein of <i>Hex</i>, which was sort of a soundtrack to an imaginary film, and the other soundtrack I did for the movie <i>Gold</i>. <i>Conquistador</i> is also sort of Western-themed, and a soundtrack to an imaginary film. Since soundtrack work is something I’m really interested in, I hope to get to do another one at some point, but until then, I guess I’ll keep doing imaginary film work. [<i>Laughs.</i>]</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>So if <i>Conquistador</i> is a soundtrack to an imaginary film, is that film a Western?</b><br>The era that <i>Conquistador</i> envisions is during the initial collision between Europe and the New World. When I was in junior high, I lived in Texas, and we had a Texas history class where I read about a conquistador. He had a Moorish squire named Esteban, and they went to what was then Northern Mexico, now the American Southwest, and got lost for 20 years. They had a bunch of, I guess you could say … “adventures” where they were sold into slavery by one tribe and escaped, and worked with another tribe—basically, things didn’t go as planned. The album was more based on this memory of the story rather than the specific text. I’ve also been influenced by a number of my favorite films, like <i>The Fountain</i> by Darren Aronofsky. So it was a bunch of little things all bubbling around.<br><br><b>Is your guitar playing usually guided by that kind of visual experience?</b><br>I’ve always been visually oriented when it comes to guitar playing. When I first started, I’d find patterns on the guitar and see how they sounded, as opposed to being an ear player. And as I’ve progressed, I’ve become much more of an ear player. Also, since the title is the only verbal cue to describe the narrative arc of the song, I’m very conscious of the way the title looks or sounds. I’m always trying to look for something evocative, ’cause I’ve always believed there still needs to be narrative arcs to the songs—even songs that I do with a lot of repetition. I believe that there should be a narrative arc to the record as well, which I feel is something that’s a bit lost with the advent of the CD, and now digital media. It’s the order of the songs that makes a great album, as well as the songs themselves.</p>
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<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="383" data-orig-width="324"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/fa240d4d0ef558c4e4872ca420b67ef3/tumblr_inline_pceb546j9J1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p></figure>
<p> </p>
<p><b>How do you give your music a narrative arc?</b><br>Usually it’s through textural cues. I’ve always been interested in subtle dynamics in music. The thing that always bugged me about grunge is it reduced musical dynamics to “here’s the quiet part and here’s the loud part,” and I’ve always preferred music where the textures and the interplay of instruments build small crescendos and dynamics in that way. The intensity in the playing, you know? And then I was lucky in that Emma Rundle joined me to add her music to mine.<br>I’ve definitely always been a believer in that approach—where if you limit the options in certain things, it forces you to become more creative with what you have. I’m also a strong proponent of what I like to call “happy accidents.”<br><br><b>What is the ratio of improvised versus composed music on the album?</b><br>I don’t know … 80/20? [<i>Laughs</i>.] The riffs were there, but the structures were done in motion. And then a lot of it had to do with the fun of looking for guitar tones. Some songs are more composed than others, but even with the ones where there’s a strong compositional presence, I’ve always believed in leaving room for improvisation. The most composed song is the last song of the album, “Reaching the Gulf.” There’s the basic riffs, but then the arrangements sort of happened naturally as I played them in the studio, so they have much looser organization. Which, again, I think helps with the narrative arc of the record, because it’s about leaving, heading into the unknown, and then stuff happening that you don’t foresee, and then the return at the end to a controlled environment—or at least a more controlled environment.<br><br><b>What is it that draws you to repetitive patterns?</b><br>I’d always hear stuff in other songs and be like, “that’s a great riff, why don’t you just keep going with that rather than immediately jumping to another one?” I always liked Indian music and psychedelic stuff and, obviously, blues. Maybe it’s this atavistic thing from my Scotch heritage, like the bagpipe or something. [<i>Laughs.</i>]</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>How was it working with Emma and Holly on the album?</b><br>I played a show with Red Sparowes and Marriages, bands Emma was playing with, and I borrowed some of her gear that night. And then she’s on [our label] Sargent House, and my wife, Holly, and Emma got along quite well. I think she’s a fabulous musician and she really added a lot to the proceedings. Holly was travelling with me at the time, and we needed extra percussion. She played piano when she was younger and sang in choir. She was also a dancer, a belly dancer, so she has good rhythm [<i>laughs</i>], so that’s sort of how that happened. It was also my first time working with Kurt Ballou, which was really enjoyable. He has a cool studio and a really good ear and a lot of helpful ideas. At the same time, he doesn’t force them on you. He’s really open to your ideas. And then he has a lot of interesting equipment. But it was a very easy record, in a lot of ways, because it flowed quite well and everything that needed to get done got done. I enjoyed it. I hope other people do, too.</p>
<p> </p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="776" data-orig-width="567"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/97bb59f85cdc38bf7adb30195b3eb9b2/tumblr_inline_pceb6oTodW1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/339885d29b3fd0df82d3121ce111d92c/tumblr_inline_pceb79Cdy01qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p></figure>
<p> </p>
<p><b>Let’s talk about gear. How important is your gear to the songwriting process?</b><br>I’m much less gear-centric than I used to be. I realized over the last few years that no matter what I use, I’m going to get my sound and be me. And obviously, there’s slight variations based on gear choice, but I realized I could have saved myself a lot of time and money in the early days.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>What guides your preferences?</b><br>I don’t like a lot of pedals. I think there’s almost too many to choose from nowadays. [<i>Laughs</i>.] I see some people’s pedalboards and I’m, like, confused. I think some of the prices on gear lately are ridiculous. You don’t need to spend $10,000 to sound good. I’ve always been a big MXR fan. I use a Custom Comp, which is the sort of nicer version of the Dyna Comp. I love the regular Dyna Comp, too, but I find that the Custom Comp has a lower noise floor. And then I like the Shin-Juku Drive for distortion. Then, I just got this HBE Dos Mos, which is a dual MOSFET preamp. I really like it because it allows me much more textural options, where the distortion becomes a texture, too, so I can also do a loud cool sound. In the studio, I’ll end up using more modulation to separate the tracks and to color them. Live, I reduce the number of effects I use.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>What about amps?</b><br>I’ve actually gone solid-state. [<i>Laughs</i>.] I have a bunch of tube amps lying around and they all need servicing and are annoying to carry around. Right now I’m using a DV Mark 50-watt solid-state head, and I have a Crate Power Block solid-state head. I think a 50 watt is the largest head you’d ever really need. You’re never gonna get to the sweet spot on a 100-watt head, you know? We all grew up with pictures of Hendrix with these huge amp stacks, and that was because they were playing without PAs. Nowadays, you don’t need to do that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>One of the best shows I think we ever did was opening for Neurosis in London, and I was playing an old WEM Dominator, which is basically a 15-watt amp. People were saying how great we sounded that night, and no one thought we were too quiet or not loud enough. Because a 15- or 30-watt amp will scream. People seem to forget that you double the wattage of the amp and you’re only increasing the actual volume by 3 dB. All you’re increasing is your headroom. If you want the harmonic enrichment, you have to drop the headroom.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>How did you first get into guitar?</b><br>I guess my favorite guitar would be the Tele. Right now I’m on a bit of a Strat jag. I’ve played other guitars, but I always seem to come back to the Fender style. I find them the best for touring, ’cause they have the straight neck instead of the angled headstock, and they’re not finicky. They get the job done and they take the road really well—whereas set necks and headstocks that are angled are accidents waiting to happen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>How did you first get into guitar?</b><br>My parents were into music, so I grew up with a lot of music around me. But no one really played an instrument. And then when I got into music, as in buying my own, AC/DC was the first band I got into, and that’s what made me want to play rock ’n’ roll, I guess. For a long time, I wanted to play guitar, but never really got around to it. Then one day my dad suggested it, so I bought one finally on my 15th or 16th birthday. A good friend of mine at high school who was a big prog-head showed me a few chords, and that was sort of my beginning. I immediately started trying to write songs rather than learning other peoples’ songs. I taught myself the rudiments of theory. Although, the thing I’ve always tried to remember is, the music comes first—the theory grew out of that, not the other way around.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>What influences your guitar playing?</b><br>I’d have to say the guitarists I really gravitate to serve the music or serve the song—people like Steve Cropper or Cornell Dupree. I’ve always felt like the thing that really motivates me is, “Is the riff something that’s worth repeating, and does it convey my conception of the song?” I always find it very interesting when people talk about a song I’ve done, and they’ll say it’s similar to something I may have thought about the song, and the landscape I may have envisioned for it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>Earlier you mentioned how the music industry on the whole has somewhat lost sight of the album. Do you think this would ever shift your approach to your own music?</b><br>When I was young, Buzz from the Melvins was talking to me and he said, “There’s two ways to do things.” He was speaking specifically of music, but I guess it could apply to other things. “You can try to jump on the trend, or what’s happening at the moment, and you might succeed famously, but you might not. Whereas, if you do what you do and you just keep doing what you do, eventually people are going to pay attention to it, hopefully.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve always tried to follow that advice. I just do what I do, and just try to keep doing what I do, and it’s obviously not the quick route, but it’s seemed to work up to this point. I haven’t had to take advice from record labels, or play songs by hit songwriters I don’t know or don’t like, or dress up in clothes I don’t want to wear. You may not have a mansion on <i>MTV Cribs</i>, but you can go to sleep at night and look at yourself in the mirror, hopefully.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/52746802018-06-04T10:39:40-07:002018-06-04T10:41:44-07:00Earth performing “The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull”<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="5100" data-orig-width="3300"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/670b4fbee6e1936cb95636247ef59c9e/tumblr_inline_p9k9shIxHP1qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></p></figure>
<p>Earth will be performing “The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull” in full at these shows. More information and tickets <a href="https://www.thronesanddominions.com/" target="_blank">here. </a></p>
<p>OCT 10 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom<br>OCT 12 San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel<br>OCT 12-14 Perris, CA @ Desert Daze</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/52638772018-05-29T13:26:08-07:002018-05-29T13:27:03-07:00(((O))) INTERVIEW: Dylan Carlson // Echoes and Dust<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="62" data-orig-width="581"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.echoesanddust.com/2018/05/dylan-carlson/" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/f6fc245ebbeb9e86aea27d7a35f0216f/tumblr_inline_p9i71wd4TZ1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.echoesanddust.com/2018/05/dylan-carlson/" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/2c42d040f7cfdcff3bc5aa33da60275c/tumblr_inline_p9ib6ijxWq1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a></p></figure>
<p>Interview by Gavin Brown via <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.echoesanddust.com/2018/05/dylan-carlson/" target="_blank">Echoes and Dust</a><br><br><b><a href="http://sargenthouse.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a></b> has just released his wonderful and sprawling new solo album <a href="https://drcarlson.bandcamp.com/album/conquistador" target="_blank">Conquistador</a>. Gavin Brown caught up with him to hear all about the album and the story behind it as well as what Earth are up to next, the influence of folk music on his work and the influences and experiences he has had on his vast musical journey.</p><!-- more -->
<p><b>E&D: Your brilliant new album Conquistador is out now. How did the record come together and what is the story behind it?</b></p>
<p>Dylan: <a href="http://sargenthouse.com/earth" target="_blank">Earth</a> did a lot of touring after <i>Primitive And Deadly</i> came out and as well as hitting the Southwest as part of three full US tours we also had a run from Levitation in Austin to Psycho California that included the Southwest and Joshua Tree, and Primitive was our last record with Southern Lord. So while Earth was in the midst of sorting things out I had been working on some material and thinking about this half remembered story of this conquistador and his moorish squire Esteban, their 20 years in the southwest and the Darren Aronofsky film The Fountaininformed what I was working on. Another ’theme to an imaginary western’ as it were. I had some solo dates on the east coast and a week between a couple of them, and <a href="http://sargenthouse.com/emma-ruth-rundle" target="_blank">Emma Ruth Rundle</a> was going to be available at the same time, as well as Kurt Ballou so it was pretty serendipitous.</p>
<p><b>E&D: The album has a mesmerising quality to it. Did you have that in mind when you were making the album? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: Well, to me all the best music should transport one to somewhere, and so it’s something I certainly hope for when writing, performing, playing music.</p>
<p><b>E&D: How did the recording of the album go? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: It was done fairly quickly and the session really ’flowed’. it was a very enjoyable session.</p>
<p><b>E&D: Emma Ruth Rundle features on the album, what did she bring to the music on Conquistador? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: She is an incredible ear player and a wonderfully creative person.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4173613305/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;">Conquistador by Dylan Carlson</iframe></p>
<p><b>E&D: Were you a fan of hers before working with her? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: I became one at the same time we first met, Earth was playing with Deafheaven and Marriages in LA, and she loaned me her amp as Earth had just flown in, and then saw her solo a few times and became friends over a short period of time.</p>
<p><b>E&D: Converge’s Kurt Ballou produced the album. How did working with him on your solo album go and what did he bring to the sound of the album?</b></p>
<p>Dylan: It was the first time I worked with him and he is full of good ideas and has a lot of interesting gear and works quickly and efficiently and has a very nice studio.</p>
<p><b>E&D: You are touring the album playing with Kurt Vile, Sleep and Mary Lattimore at various dates. That’s three quite different audiences, are you drawn to paying to such eclectic crowds? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: It’s always interesting to see how you’ll be received by an audience.</p>
<p><b>E&D: As a performer, what do you like to bring to your live performances that differs from your studio recordings? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: Well, live they are always different than the recordings, tonally and bits will change and some things work in a live situation and others don’t and may have to remain an album only track.</p>
<p><b>E&D: Will you be playing Conquistador in full at the shows? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: That is the plan.</p>
<p><b>E&D: Are there any plans for any U.K. And Europe dates supporting the album in the near future?</b></p>
<p>Dylan: Yes there are, most likely in September. Though nothing has been announced yet.</p>
<p><b>E&D: Do you feel that playing your songs live is a cathartic experience and if so why do you think that is?</b></p>
<p>Dylan: I don’t know if I consider it cathartic. I find that when i’m playing at my best, the shows seem to go by really quickly from my perception, it’s like I start, and then it’s done and I’m back, those are the moments where I don’t get in the way, the music just flows through me. show’s where I think too much, or get caught up in something mentally, feel harder and longer and less effective. The more improvisatory a show, the more tiring it is, but in a good way, it requires listening to others and letting the music direct you, the more structured sets are more invigorating in a way, there’s still moments of improvisation in all the things I do, but some have more than others. Maybe that’s catharsis, but I feel like that’s more of a releasing of negative emotions or something, maybe i’m misinterpreting the word, but I don’t consciously feel like playing is cathartic in that way.</p>
<p><b>E&D: Who have you loved touring with the most in the past and who would you love to tour with in the future? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: Well, everyone I’ve toured with has been someone I’ve generally gotten on with, or respected what they do, which has been fortunate. particular favourites, would be <a href="https://opaon.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Ô Paon </a>(Genvieve Castree) who I thought was an amazing person, as well as enjoying her music and art. Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter and Wolves In The Throne Room were really enjoyable tours. Future dreams would be to tour with Blues Pills or if I was touring solo, with Dorrian Sorreaux, Blues Pills’ guitarist who has a solo thing he does now. Be nice to do some shows with the Melvins.</p>
<p><b>E&D: You’ve previously recorded as Drcarlsonalbion and collaborated with artists such as Maddy Prior and explored British folk and folklore. How was that experience and is that still a big inspiration to you as a musician? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: It was an incredibly nice opportunity and I felt quite honoured to be considered for that collaboration. Maddy Prior was so warm and welcoming and really a pleasure to work with. It remains an interest and one I plan to continue, i definitely haven’t exhausted the well in that direction.</p>
<p><b>E&D: Folklore of all kinds has been a constant feature in your music. What draws you to that as an inspiration for your music?</b></p>
<p>Dylan: Well, I love narrative, and how stories and music change over time, and are constantly evolving. Also I consider all ‘popular’ music to be ‘folk’ music. It’s not ‘high’ culture, i mean i’ve never cared for those terms, like ‘high’ and ‘low’ magic, its all the same, just if it’s done by the learned or wealthy for the learned and wealthy it’s ‘high’ and if its a cunning man doing it for a farmer it’s ‘low’, the same applies to music, and it’s endlessly fascinating.</p>
<p><b>E&D: How did you hook up with Kevin Martin aka The Bug for your joint album Concrete Desertand what inspired you both to create the album last year? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: We were introduced by Simon Fowler, and I had worked on the <i>Boa</i>/<i>Cold</i> 12″, but that was a collaboration where we weren’t physically present in the same time/space coordinates, and we were both in LA to play for Ninja Tune’s anniversary, and Kevin had a bunch of tracks, and I was available and we found a studio and were able to collaborate in person. So it seemed a good opportunity and we took it. It was his first time in LA, and I had lived there before, so it was really kind of inspired by our reactions to LA and through that to the Western US in general I guess.</p>
<p><b>E&D: How was the experience of touring the Concrete Desert album? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: It was quite different than an Earth tour, as it was mostly flying, or taking the train, rather than loading up the van and hitting the road. it was quite enjoyable, as the songs really grew and evolved over the course of the tour, the songs became much more dynamic and forceful I found, not that they weren’t good on the album or anything, haha, but I felt they really grew in a live setting.</p>
<p><b>E&D: Are there any artists that you would love to play with or do an album with in the future? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: Well, Ellin and Dorrian from Blues Pills. Billy Gibbons would be amazing. Uli Jon Roth</p>
<p>.<b>E&D: Are there any plans at the moment for a follow up to the last Earth album Primitive And Deadly?</b></p>
<p>Dylan: Yes, Earth is recording June 20th through July 5th.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FwEiRKpflgQA"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wEiRKpflgQA?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p></figure>
<p><b>E&D: 2018 marks the tenth anniversary of the Earth album The Bees Made Honey In The Lions Skull. What are your main memories of making this seminal album?</b></p>
<p>Dylan: Well I guess the biggest one is getting to have Bill Frisell play on it, he is such an amazing musician and such a wonderful human being. It was a real honour and a treat to have him involved.</p>
<p><b>E&D: Will you be revisiting the album in any live capacity to celebrate this anniversary? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: We are playing the album at Desert Daze 2018 in October.</p>
<p><b>E&D: What are your favourite Earth songs to play live and why? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: Hmmmm, well they all have a special place to me, some I keep in the set for the audience, more than myself. I guess ‘Torn By The Fox Of The Crescent Moon’, because it was inspired by my wife, Holly. ‘There Is A Serpent Coming’ I really enjoy. ‘Bees’ is a crowd favourite, that I also like because it changes so much with each time it’s played. ‘Old Black’ is another crowd favourite that I also enjoy playing. I usually gravitate to the newer material we do, as I like working songs up in a live situation, seeing how people respond to them. I think it helps with honing them, and then it gives the audience a chance to see what might be coming up on the next album.</p>
<p><b>E&D: Earth is obviously different to your solo work, how do you get into the mindset when you are working on your various musical projects? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: Well, My solo projects generally have an idea or concept behind them, one that may have been used with Earth, maybe not, but I like to leave Earth open to change and I don’t want it to get ‘stuck’ with one idea or concept, and sometimes the idea or concept for an Earth album evolves over the course of writing and recording it.</p>
<p><b>E&D: With all your different musical endeavours, how do you get into the mindset for each one?</b></p>
<p>Dylan: Well, I generally have a strong idea or concept floating around, and as I begin to work on it, it develops and becomes more present. Kind of targeted obsession. Though sometimes the concept can be hard to encapsulate, it develops over the course of completing the project and then talking about it.</p>
<p><b>E&D: Who has been the greatest influence on you as a musician?</b></p>
<p>Dylan: That is a tough question. I guess conceptually it would probably be Robert Fripp, in doing your own thing and doing it no matter what. Also Buzz Osbourne and Jimi Hendrix, for similar reasons, and they made me realise that an electric guitar is not just an amplified ‘acoustic’ one. That the guitar and amp are a unified instrument and that it creates a whole field of sound with which to create beauty. and all three made me realise ‘beauty’ in music is not maudlin or ‘pleasant’ necessarily. That it’s fierce and awe inspiring and beyond such timid signposts as that.</p>
<p><b>E&D: What are your initial musical memories and what got you into music in the first place? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: My parents were into music, and I got the first Greg Allman solo record as part of an easter egg hunt they had when I was in kindergarten. I liked the band a lot as a child, and my mum introduced me to the Velvet Underground early on.</p>
<p><b>E&D: What was the first album you ever bought and what affect did it have on you? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: AC/DC’s Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and from that moment (I was 11) I only wanted to be a rock n roll guitar player.</p>
<p><b>E&D: Was the punk and hardcore scene of your hometown of Seattle an early starting point for you as a musician? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: I went to a lot of shows, as there were a lot of all ages shows then. When I first moved to Seattle I bought the first EP by a local band the U-men, my first year of high school, I started to get into music outside of the hard rock/classic rock/heavy metal field, bands like X and the Gun Club, then when we moved back to Seattle I started going to local shows. Even if I didn’t really like hardcore or punk all that much (there were bands that I did like, but they were never the by rote hardcore/punk bands) it was important because it was seeing that I could actually do music, it wasn’t abstract, it wasn’t like surrounded by the ‘rockstar’ mythos. I mean when you read about bands before, they never talked about playing in shitty clubs and hitting the road in a van, it was all groupies and jet airplanes, even though they all started in little clubs and such, that was never really shown.</p>
<p><b>E&D: What music are you listening to at the moment? </b></p>
<p>Dylan: I’ve been listening to a lot of different things, old dub, like Burning Spears first album, this Nigerian Rock compilation (72-77), Ali Farka Toure, There’s a Riot Goin’ On on by Sly Stone, a lot of like Zeppelin stuff, but like the out takes and later stuff, not the hits. a lot of Herbie Mann like Memphis Underground and Push Push, a lot of Tulsa stuff like J.J. Cale and Jesse Ed Davis and Leon Russell.</p>
<p><b>E&D: What have been some of the undisputed highlights of your career thus far?</b><br><br>Dylan: Playing with Bill Frisell. Scoring a motion picture. Playing shows all over the world. a dance/music performance with my wife, Holly (something I hope to expand into a joint project).</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/52469602018-05-21T10:48:48-07:002018-05-21T11:23:25-07:00Dylan Carlson Photos + Interview // RCRD Magazine<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="3744" data-orig-width="5616"><figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="183" data-orig-width="738"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://rcrdmagazine.com/dylan-carlson/" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/ad23e3c83cb93dcc4efea4dab8210286/tumblr_inline_p93bf2dOix1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="DYLAN CARLSON" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank"><span class="font_xl">DYLAN CARLSON</span></a></p></figure>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://rcrdmagazine.com/dylan-carlson/" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/dc363b8765f1c52804735c3f5635d06d/tumblr_inline_p93a8ixaXW1qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a></p></figure>
<p>Interview and photos by Dominic Goodman via <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://rcrdmagazine.com/dylan-carlson/" target="_self">RCRD Magazine</a><br><br><b>I understand you moved around a lot growing up. Were you influenced musically by the places you visited or even just in a more general cultural way?</b></p>
<p>Yeah I mean my Dad worked for the department of defence, so I guess sort of an army brat in a weird way. Not in the military, I guess a child of the military industrial complex. As soon as we were born we left Seattle for Philadelphia and then from Philadelphia to New Mexico, then New Mexico to Germany and then we moved three times within Germany and then back to the States where we lived in Texas and then New Jersey and then back to Washington. My grandmother was Scottish. She came over to the States right after the war. We still had relatives living in Scotland so when we lived over in Germany we used to visit our relatives in Scotland quite a bit. My Dad worked for the military but wasn’t in the military, except for one year, so we didn’t live on bases, we lived out and about. We did go to U.S. schools but apart from that my parents definitely took advantage of the fact that we lived overseas and travelled a lot. Unlike, I remember there was a Sergeant that worked for my dad and he was proud of the fact that in his five years of being stationed overseas he had never left the base, never eaten outside the NCO club, didn’t know any German, you know, complete isolationist just waiting to get shipped back home basically. It was really strange, that kind of mentality of being somewhere that had so much to offer and just basically ignoring it.</p><!-- more -->
<p><b>Did you feel like you picked up on those cultures as you were moving around?</b></p>
<p>Yeah, definitely, we travelled a lot during school breaks and stuff like that. My dad had friends who were, you know… there was this one couple that were my parents friends. He was French but in the US Air Force and had a German wife Then our friend Peter, he had a German wife so they lived outside the base, they didn’t live in the enclaves. I guess nowadays you couldn’t get away with that.</p>
<p><b>Were you interested in music at that stage?</b></p>
<p>Music was sort of ever present in the house just because of my parents being of the generation they were. I guess you could say I grew up listening to a lot of my parent’s music. When we were like five as part of our Easter egg hunt we got the first Allman Brother record as a prize. I grew up listening to a lot of Bob Dylan and The Band, I guess what they would call ‘Classic Rock’ now. My Mum’s best friend’s husband was a big Zeppelin fan and Blue Oyster Cult fan, so sort of like through osmosis I picked up a lot of music. Once we moved back to the States when I was in Junior High, at about 11, I could start buying music myself or at least wanted to buy music myself. That’s when I guess I gravitated towards… my first record was an AC/DC record, that’s when I started getting into hard rock and heavy metal I guess. What they called heavy metal back then, now of course it would be called something entirely different because of the micro-genres.</p>
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<p><b>What kind of age did you begin to play or start to want to play?</b></p>
<p>It’s funny, I guess the first time was the moment I heard AC/DC, that was when I wanted to start playing. I didn’t quite figure out that you could play until a few years later, so I guess it was about 4 or 5 years of wanting to play before realising ‘oh I actually could play’.</p>
<p><b>Would that have been with friends? Did you form bands with friends at that time?</b></p>
<p>Not right off the bat, I mean right off the bat I just wanted a guitar and got a guitar and started learning to play and learning to write songs. It was weird because later, as I met people who played guitar, most of them spent most of their time learning to play other people’s stuff and I never really went that route. I just started trying to write songs from the get go, which, sometimes I regret not learning how to play other people’s stuff at the same time. For some reason it seemed like instead of learning to play Stairway to Heaven I should just learn how to write a song.</p>
<p><b>Obviously around that period of time, around Seattle, so much great music was being created. Do you think that there was something happening or a cultural aspect that enabled that, or just chance and a knock on effect from one band to another?</b></p>
<p>I think it’s a combination of things. Ultimately I think it’s the fact that you have an area where there’s not a lot going on. I can still remember the very first article on Seattle that was in NME and the description of Seattle was: “An obscure West Coast seaport”. I think the fact that Seattle wasn’t LA, or New York or one of those kind of places where people looked for things to happen it kind of created this blank slate for things to happen. Once people saw that there’s people doing things and it’s like getting noticed then more people wanted to start doing stuff. It kind of builds from there. I don’t think anyone set out to be like “Seattle is going to be the cultural nexus of rock music for the 90s”.</p>
<p><b>Was it exciting to be a part of that scene or was it frustrating that it very quickly had so much attention focused on it?</b></p>
<p>It’s weird, I mean at the time, you don’t really notice that’s going on so much. It’s just sort of like, stuff is happening and you see other bands doing stuff and they’re getting noticed and other bands aren’t. At least from my perspective it’s not a very conscious thing, it just kind of happens and some people are able to take advantage of it and other people aren’t.</p>
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<p><b>I’m interested in the sound that you and Earth have It seemed to sort of be there from the outset and yet you’ve managed to integrate that into different styles while still keeping this very idiosyncratic sound. Was that sound for you something that was very instinctual or was it something that developed through a number of years as you were beginning to play music?</b></p>
<p>I guess it would have to be sort of an instinctual sound, choosing to do it in a specific way….</p>
<p><b>Your guitar sound has certainly influenced lots of people. It’s instantly recognizable in the context of Earth but you have also been able to integrate it into a lot of different styles sometimes not always expected.</b></p>
<p>It’s funny I look back on the old days and where I was very equipment specific and “oh I need this” or “oh I need that” and now it’s like, I’ve sort of realized that I don’t really need any of those to do it.</p>
<p><b>Because it’s coming more from you than the equipment?</b></p>
<p>It’s not the gear, I mean, there is certain gear that makes it easier but ultimately, regardless of what I’m given, it’s going to be me that it comes out of. It’s not based on what I’m using.</p>
<p><b>Going back to the early days, specifically Earth 2 feels like a very daring record in it’s simplicity. Did it feel like that at the time it first came out? What was the reaction to it at that time?</b></p>
<p>Well, yeah. Earth 2 definitely was the most conceptual album. At the time it was like, what’s the maximum amount of time we have for a CD? which was like 73 minutes, so it was like, let’s fill up all 73 minutes. Again we ran into another problem which was that at the time you could only get a half an hour reel on a recording tape hence it had to be broken up into three parts. Conceptually that was intended to be the extreme of what technology could handle so that is what we wanted to use.</p>
<p><b>How did people react to that when it came out?</b></p>
<p>It’s funny now that it’s gotten this patent of ‘oh it’s such an amazing record, blah, blah, blah”. Obviously there were a few people who liked it but ultimately when it was first pressed there were 2,000 copies pressed and it took 3 years to sell those 2,000 copies. It was certainly not a popular record [laughs].</p>
<p><b>You talking about Earth 2 being the most conceptual, it seems in a way that all your records feel quite conceptual. Is that something you think about before you even start writing or do you begin writing a record and it just develops in that way?</b></p>
<p>I think nowadays, they’re much less that way. Originally I used to have notebooks of song titles. I’d write music and eventually I’d go through and be like “Oh this song title works for this piece” whereas nowadays the music comes a lot faster than any kind of song title.</p>
<p><b>Regarding Earth, do you put in time where you say “we’re going to write” or is it just an ongoing collaborative process?</b></p>
<p>I’m always writing stuff. Some of it will be an Earth song, some will be something else, so yeah it’s not compartmentalised. It’s not like “now I’m writing an Earth record” or “now I’m writing this record”. I’m just writing and I think this might be good for an Earth song or this one might be good for something else.</p>
<p><b>You’ve obviously got a very strong understanding within the band when you’re playing. Are the tracks very structured before you play live or is there a lot of improvisation going on?</b></p>
<p>I’d say there’s a lot of improvisation. There’s like certain riffs and those riffs can vary the number of times they’re repeated.</p>
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<p><b>So there’s a general structure and you just work around that? Is that the same with when you’re recording?</b></p>
<p>It depends upon the song, recording wise some of the songs are more structured than others.</p>
<p><b>You mentioned about you having ancestry from the British isles. Is knowing that something that drew you back here or do you think it was something in your genes that you connected with?</b></p>
<p>I think it’s definitely something I was aware of.</p>
<p><b>You visited Scotland growing up?</b></p>
<p>Yeah we visited Scotland and England quite a bit when I was younger.</p>
<p><b>And (your interest) in the folk aspect? </b></p>
<p>I guess that came later.</p>
<p><b>The origins of the background to some of those songs? Did you do some research on that side of things?</b></p>
<p>Yeah luckily, you know, there’s Cecil Sharpe House and Child Ballads those are quite a bit of information available on the history of that, which was quite helpful.</p>
<p><b>I’m interested in The Bug collaboration and how that came around. On paper I couldn’t really of envisaged it but in reality it works so seamlessly.</b></p>
<p>That happened kind of like out of pure serendipity. Simon Fowler, who’s illustrated a number of Earth album covers has also done a number of Bug album covers, so I guess was the catalyst.</p>
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<p><b>In terms of you guys meeting each other?</b></p>
<p>Yeah, Kevin [Martin] was aware of my work from back when he was a rock journalist. He’d been given an Earth2 record to review back in the day. I guess he must have kept tabs on what I was up to…</p>
<p><b>So he approached you with a concept for a project? </b></p>
<p>Yeah, originally he was doing this ‘Angels & Devils’ record and he wanted me to play guitar on a couple of the tracks and then for whatever reason it ended up becoming separate tracks. We ended up doing two 12” and keeping it separate from the record. We’d done a few shows together at the behest of Ninja Tune, and he was like ‘Oh why don’t we do a full record instead of just a 12”’ so we did that and the response has been really overwhelmingly positive.</p>
<p><b>Were you familiar with The Bug before?</b></p>
<p>It’s weird, I wasn’t as familiar with his music as he was with mine. I went through a period of time in the late 90s, during my – what do you call it – ‘silent era’? where I got quite into Jungle and stuff. I mean I’ve always been a big dub reggae fan so I guess it grew out of that. That’s where the interest came from.</p>
<p><b>So you were listening to more contemporary electronic music?.</b></p>
<p>Yeah, I mean, there’s music that I love and listen to a lot but there’s also music that….I mean, I think there is good music within every realm, I don’t think anyone has an exclusive hold on what’s good music and what’s bad music. There’s certain genre’s where it’s harder to find good music but.. [laughter]</p>
<p><b>Do you feel like you’ve gone through periods of time where you’ve listened to different genres in that sense?</b></p>
<p>Yeah, I mean I try not to. To me genres are kind of marketing tools, marketing gimmicks.</p>
<p><b>You mentioned that hiatus period when you weren’t putting any records out and then you came back. Was Hex the first record after you came back?</b></p>
<p>It was the first I guess that was [a proper album]. We’d done a live record: “Living in the Gleam of an Unsheathed Sword” and some other recordings but they were all live.</p>
<p><b>Was there a catalyst at that point where you thought it’s time to get back to creating?</b></p>
<p>Weirdly enough that time I started playing guitar again just because I wanted to play again, I didn’t set out to either restart Earth or restart guitar to be noticed.</p>
<p><b>You were just drawn back to it without any particular reason?</b></p>
<p>There was no plan to redo Earth or even necessarily to perform as Earth again.</p>
<p><b>Now, moving forward is your plan to continue with another Bug album, or work on your own stuff? Are there other plans for more?</b></p>
<p>I recorded a solo record in May of last year that’ll be out soon. We’re going to do another Earth record there’s no date yet for it or anything, but we’ve been writing it and we’ll see what’s up with it…</p>
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<p>Dylan Carlson’s new album <i>Conquistador</i> is available now<a href="http://smarturl.it/DCarlson_Digital"> – HERE</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/52295592018-05-11T15:15:14-07:002018-05-11T15:18:41-07:00Interview with Dylan Carlson // New Noise Magazine<figure data-orig-height="91" data-orig-width="284"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://newnoisemagazine.com/dylan-carlson-mediation-southwest-mexico-conquistador/" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/47ba893e3388cf2c7651ecfddadef33e/tumblr_inline_p8l44voCEr1qbzv4w_540.gif" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a></p></figure>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">INTERVIEW: Dylan Carlson: A Mediation Of The Southwest, Mexico & ‘Conquistador’</h2>
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<p>Full interview by Lucy Brady via <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://newnoisemagazine.com/dylan-carlson-mediation-southwest-mexico-conquistador/" target="_blank">New Noise Magazine</a></p>
<p>After a sojourn in the U.K. exploring the history and folklore of the British Isles while performing under the moniker drcarlsonalbion—a period that saw collaborations with Steeleye Span’s Maddy Prior and The Hackney Lass, aka Rosie Knight—Dylan Carlson is now back in thoroughly American territory.</p>
<p>The Seattle musician’s latest offering, <i>Conquistador</i>—released April 27 via Sargent House—is a meditation on the legends<b> </b>of Mexico and the American Southwest, tracing the real-life account of Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca.</p><!-- more -->
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<p><b>You mentioned in an interview last year that your work under drcarlsonalbion was something you wanted to keep separate from the canon of Earth albums. How do you feel <i>Conquistador</i> fits into the progression of your more recent solo work, as well as your earlier work with Earth?</b><br><br>Originally, as I intended it, the drcarlsonalbion thing was to be specifically about English folklore and music and general English things, and then, obviously, English folk music had a big influence on the [2011 and 2012] <i>Angels of Darkness, [Demons of Light I </i>and<i> II</i>] records, but I sort of didn’t want to restrict Earth to just that, because Earth was always sort of evolving over albums. I wanted Earth to be free to do Earth things.</p>
<p>But this album, it’s part of the same line from [Earth’s 2005 LP] <i>Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method</i> to the soundtrack for [the 2013 film] “GOLD” and this one. The soundtrack was originally intended to be released just under my name, but the manager I had at the time put drcarlsonalbion on it, because for him, that was like, “Oh, that name, it’s already known, so it’ll be easier.” I’m not currently with that manager anymore for a number of reasons, that included.</p>
<p>But yeah, the thematic content is more to do more with American stuff like the West, and it’s like <i>Hex…</i> in that it’s like a soundtrack to an imaginary film in certain ways. So, I guess you could say, thematically, it’s like a branch of the <i>Hex…</i> side of things: the interest in what’s now the Western United States—what was, at one point, Mexico and, before that, was native—but I guess that’s how they’re all tied together. At least in my head.</p>
<p><b>But unlike <i>Hex…</i>, which was based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel “Blood Meridian” and the <i>GOLD</i> soundtrack, this one is based on real-life events?</b></p>
<p>I mean, it’s not based on any specific text. The idea was left over in my head from when I was a kid in middle school. I lived in Texas, and we had Texas history classes. There was this conquistador who had a Moorish companion called Esteban traveling in what was then Northern Mexico. They basically got lost for 20 years and, then, made it back to what’s now Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. I think they got as far as what’s now Utah and ended up being sold into slavery by one tribe and escaping that and living with other tribes. Things didn’t go as planned, I guess you could say.</p>
<p>It’s definitely a much looser thing. I mean, it’s sort of how stories worked in the day. They change and grow and get added to and subtracted from. Folk songs do the same thing, like how “The Elfin Knight,” which was originally about supernatural encounters with fairies, became “Scarborough Fair,” which is a song shorn of any otherworldly concerns, and then, it became “Girl From the North Country” and was a Bob Dylan hit. It’s similar in that way to how tales adapt to their environment and change.</p>
<p><b>You 2016 solo record, <i>Falling with A Thousand Stars and Other Wonders From the House of Albion</i>, drew a lot on ideas of psychogeography and the relationship of music and folklore. Did you find any elements of this carried over now that you’re working on American themes?</b></p>
<p>Yeah, I mean, obviously they touch one another in some respects, but America is very different. The oldest history of the country and the landscape has been destroyed and lost and has to be discovered in different ways. There was a concerted effort to eradicate the native population, and then, the ones they couldn’t eradicate, to eradicate their languages and histories, and that has left the landscape wide open to a lot of interpretations. Then, the history that is there—obviously, because it’s written by the so-called winners—it doesn’t go back very far in some places. I mean, it does, really, but again, a lot of that is closed to the traditional methods of investigation: there’s no books and no maps.</p>
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<p><b>Both <i>Conquistador</i> and <i>Hex…</i> are broken up into sections, like the way McCarthy presents “Blood Meridian”—there are a couple of very brief statements of things that take place in the chapter. Is that something you were channeling with this?</b></p>
<p>I’ve always quite liked that idea. I mean, with instrumental music, because there’s no lyrical signposts for people to grab onto, I’ve always felt the titles are especially important. I’ve always felt strongly about the narrative—I know it’s like, in postmodernism and all that, the narrative is viewed as sort of evil and whatnot, but I’ve never had that, because I quite like narrative. But I mean, to me, not only should the songs have a narrative arc, the album needs a narrative arc too. I feel like that’s something that was lost with the advent of the CD and, now, digital media. The whole thing is important.</p>
<p><b>How did making <i>Conquistador</i> compare with your earlier work in terms of composition?</b></p>
<p>This one was less composed than a lot of Earth stuff. It was going to be just me, and then, Emma Ruth Rundle was kind enough to come along and add her bit of magic. I had musical ideas and motives, but the structure came during the recording process. In that way, it was similar to how the <i>Angels of Darkness…</i> records were created. The structure is quite loose and improvised. Then, the last song, [“Reaching the Gulf”], the return part, that was the most composed and the most structured. So, it reinforces the theme in that sense.</p>
<p><b>You’ve mentioned in the past that finding the right combination of people to collaborate with has always been an important but also quite difficult aspect of creating an album. How did Emma Ruth Rundle originally get involved? Is she someone you’d worked with before?</b></p>
<p>Ah, no I had not worked with her. The first time I met her, we were invited down to play in L.A., and we were playing with Deafheaven and Marriages, so that was the first time I met her. Then, we did a couple other shows with Deafheaven. At the time, I was looking for management and ended up choosing Cathy Pellow who runs Sargent House and also manages Ruth, and we just sort of hit it off. I liked her playing, so that was sort of how that happened, I guess.</p>
<p>That’s kind of the nice thing about Sargent House: it’s like all the bands are quite supportive of one another, and there’s a lot of camaraderie amongst the people around there, which is often rare in the music industry it seems these days.</p>
<p>[Rundle] happened to be on the East Coast, and I was going there to do some solo shows, and there was a week’s gap between a couple of the shows, so we used that as an opportunity to go to [GodCity Studio] in Salem, [Massachusetts].</p>
<p><b>Were there any more recent ideas or influences you incorporated into this album?</b></p>
<p>This one, no. I mean, this one—I pretty much had this material. I mean, it could have been Earth material at some point, although it would have probably been quite different that way. This one, it was more just like, “I’ve got this material,” and it was quite open, and then, it was more just a chance to work with [producer] Kurt Ballou and really have fun finding cool guitar sounds. So yeah, it didn’t have any real compositional goals. Sometimes, I’ll set little compositional goals for myself, but this one, it was very flowy, I guess. It just kind of happened quite fast and loose.</p>
<p>I’m looking forward to going out on the road and playing these [songs] live. It’ll be interesting figuring out how to present it in a live context.</p>
<p>Purchase Conquistador here: <a href="http://smarturl.it/DCarlsonStore" target="_blank">U.S.</a> | <a href="http://sargenthouse.awesomedistro.com/products/614031-dylan-carlson-conquistador-12-vinyl-cd" target="_blank">U.K.</a> | <a href="http://smarturl.it/DCarlson_AM" target="_blank">iTunes</a></p>
<p>Dylan Carlson on Tour:<br>JUL 10 Charlottesville, VA @ Jefferson Theater ^<br>JUL 11 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle ^<br>JUL 12 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel ^<br>JUL 14 Chattanooga, TN @ The Signal ^<br>JUL 15 Knoxville, TN @ The Mill & Mine ^<br>JUL 17 Charlotte, NC @ The Underground ^<br>JUL 18 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl<br>JUL 20 Charleston, SC @ The Royal American<br>JUL 21 Richmond, VA @ Capital Ale House<br>JUL 22 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club *<br>JUL 25 Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory *<br>JUL 27 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel *<br>JUL 28 Boston, MA @ Royale *<br>JUL 29 Kingston, NY @ BSP Kingston<br>JUL 31 Detroit, MI @ El Club<br>AUG 1 Chicago, IL @ The Riviera Theater *<br>AUG 02 Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room +<br>AUG 04 Denver, CO @ Lost Lake +<br>AUG 05 Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall +<br>AUG 07 Los Angeles, CA @ Resident +<br>AUG 09 San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern +<br>AUG 11 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge +<br>AUG 12 Seattle, WA @ Barboza +</p>
<p>^ w/ Kurt Vile & The Violators<br>* w/ Sleep<br>+ w/ Mary Lattimore</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/52230722018-05-08T11:28:16-07:002018-05-08T11:53:50-07:00Earth Joins Desert Daze Line-up<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="960" data-orig-width="768"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://desertdaze.org/" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/d66b0653653672732a703e6d4f7c2102/tumblr_inline_p8f9rmjCFF1qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a></p></figure>
<p>Phase two line-up for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/desertdazemusicfest/?fref=mentions">Desert Daze</a> has been announced! <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thronesanddominions/?fref=mentions">Earth</a> will be performing "The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull" in full joining a stellar line-up of bands including our own <a href="https://www.facebook.com/cchelseawwolfe/?fref=mentions">Chelsea Wolfe</a>.<br>Tickets / info @ <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://desertdaze.org/" target="_blank">desertdaze.org</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/52212612018-05-07T12:48:51-07:002018-05-07T12:54:16-07:00Dylan Carlson Interview // BBC Radio 6 Music<p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0667wd4" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/2fa33540e985de89acfcea0290415900/tumblr_inline_p8dh9ebjfk1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a><iframe frameborder="0" height="400" src="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0667wd4/player" width="600"></iframe></p>
<p>Guitarist <a href="http://sargenthouse.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> talks about the western folklore influences behind the music on his first solo album, <em><a href="https://drcarlson.bandcamp.com/album/conquistador" target="_blank">Conquistador</a> </em>– Out Now</p>
<p>Via <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0667wd4" target="_blank">BBC Radio 6 Music</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/52060472018-04-27T12:25:34-07:002018-04-27T12:31:06-07:00Dylan Carlson “Conquistador” Out NOW<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://smarturl.it/DCarlson_Digital" target="_blank"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/a678e58dddbf131d9cf2aa176b7e25c5b95f6283/original/dylancarlson-conquistador-cover-3000x3000.jpeg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Dylan Carlson’s newest album, ‘Conquistador’, is out TODAY. </h2>
<p>Listen, stream or purchase <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://smarturl.it/DCarlson_Digital" target="_blank">HERE</a><br>US tour info at <a href="http://thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/51997482018-04-24T10:44:06-07:002018-04-24T10:49:53-07:00Dylan Carlson’s Top 5 Tips For Guitarists // Music Radar<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="51" data-orig-width="422"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/e2beb08b2c265ceec9dc4fc0a746fa70/tumblr_inline_p7p93dVxvO1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p></figure>
<h2>
<a href="http://thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a>’s top 5 tips for guitarists: “Even with repetition and a good riff, songs should have an arc”</h2>
<p><a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thronesanddominions.com/home" target="_blank">Earth</a>’s drone-rock legend on going solid-state and why you should never pay more than $600 for a guitar</p>
<p>Article by Jonathan Horsley via <a href="https://www.musicradar.com/news/dylan-carlsons-top-5-tips-for-guitarists-even-with-repetition-and-a-good-riff-songs-should-have-an-arc" target="_blank">Music Radar</a></p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="545" data-orig-width="970"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/4e4b4d0b1d024c0bfbf9c1ab79112837/tumblr_inline_p7p9x4FNLp1qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p></figure>
<h2>
<!-- more -->Dylan Carlson is the sort of guitarist who is capable of shifting our perspective on the instrument.</h2>
<p>The Texas-born Seattleite is responsible for mapping out the contours of drone rock with Earth. Formed in 1989, in Olympia, Washington, and named in homage to Black Sabbath, Earth were Carlson’s third attempt at putting a band together.</p>
<p>“When I started Earth, I came to it with pretty strong ideas of what I wanted to do in regards to slowed-down metal riffs, repeated for a long time at large volumes,” says Carlson.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="300" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/7JjgvQWsLpIAvwgj2QtxAP" width="500"></iframe></p>
<p>If Earth were inspired by Sabbath they were to take that inspiration far from the source, with a sound that played out like an abstraction of metal, as though a thumb was on the record and the riffs looped on repeat. It was metal as a vibe, as ambience. </p>
<p>Putting some blue sky between his sound and his influences has been key to Carlson’s craft.</p>
<p>“I’ve never wanted to sound like my influences,” he says.</p>
<p>“What I get from them is inspiration, or songwriting ideas. It’s like they’ve done it: why do you want to do it again? I don’t understand that aping. So yeah, I think there are a lot of people who I consider influences but they don’t do anything like I do and I don’t do anything like them.”</p>
<p>As a player, Carlson is all about phrasing and repetition. Throughout his career, with Earth and his solo work, he has enjoyed an on/off relationship with the fuzz pedal, as the metal of early works such as Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version (1993) was augmented by and gave way to a growing country influence. The slo-mo Americana of The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull (2008) marked the apotheosis of the latter.</p>
<p>A discography of such contrasting styles might seem incongruous, but Carlson’s songwriting moves with a glacial inevitability, at a tempo where a simply phrased riff assumes an almost cosmic importance. In such a context, all makes sense. </p>
<p>Carlson is in town to talk about Conquistador, a solo LP recorded with Kurt Ballou that’s out on 27 April through Sargent House. It’s typically Carlson, of a piece with his work on Earth, with chewy blues riffs repeating upon each other.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Ftime_continue%3D2%26v%3DQxlaxXy7PbI"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QxlaxXy7PbI?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p></figure>
<p>Carlson uses his guitar in much the same way as John Ford uses his camera, capturing America as both awesome and beautiful, but also inherently dangerous. Like Cormac McCarthy, Carlson writes passages of restorative beauty, all the while maintaining a low thrum of tension, as though this yogic calm could end any time soon.</p>
<p>Carlson’s grasp of feel and composition is something any player could use, in all kinds of contexts. So, here, when he talks about his love for old R&B players who play right in the pocket, of the importance of writing songs and keeping on writing, and how inspiration is only really inspiration for you to do with what you please, it’s time well spent.</p>
<p>It’s a good rule of thumb - to paraphrase Wilson Pickett - to take such wisdom where you find it.</p>
<p><b>1. Songwriting always comes first</b></p>
<p>“When I started playing guitar, I immediately started writing some songs. I never took formal lessons or anything like that, so once I learned a few chords I started to write a few songs, but I guess what set me off on the course that I pursued was I’d hear songs and the band would be like, ‘Oh, here’s a good riff,’ and then they’d immediately go to another one - for me, it was always, ‘Well, if it’s a good riff, you want to hear it again and again’, so why dilute it by jumping around a lot? </p>
<p>"AC/DC are a great example. Malcolm Young took essentially the same however many chords per song - two, three chords - and wrote this incredible body of work with the simplest of materials.</p>
<p>"The guitarists that I really admire are like Steve Cropper, y’know, the guys from the R&B labels, the Stax Records band, Cornell Dupree. They can certainly do leads, but that’s not what they are about. They’re about that perfect riff or lick that you wanna hear over and over and over again. And that’s the core of the song, basically. That’s how I’ve always approached it. </p>
<p>"There are records that I love but, to me, they are records that are made by guitar players for other guitar players, and I never wanted to make an album like that. My technique or my ability is always subservient to the song, and even with repetition and a good riff, songs should have an arc.</p>
<p>"It’s harder when you are working instrumentally because it’s not like verse/chorus, verse/chorus, bridge, outro… There is no lyrical arc, but I feel like the songs should have a musical arc.”</p>
<p><b>2. Live in the moment and leave yourself open to providence</b></p>
<p>“A big thing for me in the studio is what I call the happy accident, and being able to perceive that. I’ve had friends who are perfectionists, and I just think, 'God, you must be miserable all the time!’ And it just seems like you’re never gonna get stuff done, and you’re never going to be happy. </p>
<p>"You have to be open. You may have an idea for a record, but it’s going to change, and there’s reality, and the people you’re playing with are gonna be able to add stuff to it that you couldn’t think of. With the right people, it’s gonna make it better, and what you’re ending up with is going to be better than what you had. It’s really being open to those moments. </p>
<p>"Recognise when enough is enough. You know what I mean? I think that Pro Tools has had this sort of pernicious effect on music where people are like, 'Oh, we have endless numbers of tracks!’ And so they end up burying things, and making things too dense. Most of the great music is deceptively simple. Generally, if we don’t get it in three takes then we leave it and come back to it.”</p>
<p><b>3. Learn your music history</b></p>
<p>“I hate to sound like the old guy, but one of the things I see with modern music is like it seems a lot of bands’ influences are bands from two years ago, so there’s no depth to their inspiration. Or they decide they are going to play this micro-genre before they even start the band.</p>
<p>"Back when I was first going, there were people who were going, 'We’re going to do hair metal’ or whatever, but it’s more like people got together to play music and whatever happened happened. It wasn’t like, 'We’re gonna be stoner-sludge doom, so we need this kind of gear, and this kind of look.’ Everything now just seems kind of like we decide on a micro-genre, and it’s just so weird to me. I just don’t understand it.</p>
<p>"I also think the audience wants something easy to latch onto, because there’s so much stuff out there now. 'Oh, this music matches the identity I want to present. I want to find the music that has the schtick that I can easily adopt.’</p>
<p>"I’ve always tried to make music that’s timeless, like it’s not of an era, or of a specific time. To me, great music sounds like it has always been there; it’s why so many songs that are overtly political sound dated because things have changed and it’s not relevant any more.</p>
<p>"It’s funny how a lot of the music made with the latest technology or whatever now sounds really dated because they were relying on technology and the technology has moved on. Like now it’s really funny because it sounds really dated even though at the time it was, 'Oh, we’re using the latest technology!’ Again, it’s relying on gear rather than yourself.”</p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="366" data-orig-width="650"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/c8d16bdde67f83918a785b86c6ea798b/tumblr_inline_p7p9b2c0oL1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p></figure>
<p><b>4. Don’t obsess over gear</b></p>
<p>“My favourite guitar right now is my Squier Strat, just the pretty much standard, the cheapest Strat, and I put a DiMarzio Cruiser pickup in it. They’re great.</p>
<p>"I don’t understand paying more than $600 for a guitar. An electric guitar, the prices on them, it’s like why? There’s no reason for electric guitars to be that expensive. It doesn’t make them any better - maybe with acoustics, I don’t know. Maybe the more you spend on them the better they are, but I don’t play acoustics so I don’t know. But electric guitars? As long as it’s got a good neck, good pickups, and good bridge and tuners, it’s like everything else is irrelevant.</p>
<p>"I still have my Tele [Highway One Series, an entry-level USA-built model]. It’s a few years old and it’s like a standard Tele, and then I have a DiMarzio Tone Zone T in the bridge. Those are my two main ones now.</p>
<p>"I had to move house in Seattle, and eventually I want to move here [London], so I did a huge clearing out. I’ve always felt that if you’re not using an instrument then you should pass it on. I don’t understand hoarding instruments. If you’re not using it then let someone else have a go.</p>
<p>"You have a lot of choice. I think it has gotten a bit ridiculous. I see some people’s pedalboards and I’m like, I don’t understand it. You don’t need that many pedals. I think there’s a reliance on them. I always try and keep my stuff down - a compression, an overdrive, and anything that’s not either of them I call a wobble box, like a vibrato or delay or whatever. Maybe one of those. I feel like if I have more than four pedals then it’s not that I’ll be forced to use them but that I’ll be relying on them too much.</p>
<p>"My whole rig is solid-state now. I use a Dietz 1x12 cab, that I think has an Electro Voice 12-inch speaker, and then I have an Ampeg 2x10 cabinet, and then I use on one cab a DB-Mark 50-watt head, a little solid-state, and then I have a Crate Powerblock because I usually run two-channel mono.</p>
<p>"I use a Korg Pitchblack tuner, an MXR Custom Comp, an MXR Shin-juku Drive – it was created by this guy Shin Suzuki, he’s a Japanese amp tech. He’s a Dumble amp tech, and he makes a pedal in Japan called the Dumbloid, which is 600 bucks and is supposed to create a Dumble sound. He got together with MXR to make a cheap version of that. It’s basically a Dumble sound. I love MXR’s stuff.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbcgPXhFSUKg"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bcgPXhFSUKg?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p></figure>
<p>"Yeah, it’s fun when you’ve got a huge amp or a stack. It’s an exciting thing, and we all grew up with these pictures of Hendrix with the walls of Marshalls and all that, but there were no PAs then so that’s why. And Hendrix used effects, but he used them musically. They weren’t crutches. It was part of his tone but he was playing large venues with no PA.</p>
<p>"With a tube amp, you’re never going to get to the sweet spot on a 100-watt amp in a venue. A perfect example for me was when we opened for Neurosis at Koko, in Camden, and I was playing a WEM Dominator, which is technically a 15-watt amp, y'know, and everyone was raving about how good it sounds but that’s because, yeah, the PAs now are good, so if you have a good amp it doesn’t need to be a million watts.”</p>
<p><b>5. Practice with purpose</b></p>
<p>“Usually I start out as if there’s a specific technical aspect I want to learn, like when I first started learning pedal-steel bends on regular guitar, the guy in the book talked about if you want to learn something new you practise that for the first 10 minutes, and then go on to the rest. I found that worked really well. At first I was like, 'Whatcha mean I only do it for 10 minutes?’ But then the first time, every time you practise, you practise that. When I wanted to learn that I did that.</p>
<p>"And then practising what I call calisthenics, like working on finger ability and that kind of stuff, working on chords or scales, that comes next, and, usually, by the end of it, I’ll be like, 'Oh, what’s that?’ And I’ll be working on a song, and that’s how it generally goes. I don’t woodshed like I used to. When I first came back I would do five to six, sometimes seven hours a day if I could!”</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/51975302018-04-23T10:24:10-07:002018-04-24T10:51:12-07:00LISTEN: Dylan Carlson's New Solo Album // The Quietus<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="212" data-orig-width="556"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thequietus.com/articles/24443-dylan-carlson-earth-new-solo-album-stream" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/f091567b034cdb021775429693726d02/tumblr_inline_p7niiyuUWv1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1Er0veIJe2k?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p></figure>
<p>Earth’s <a href="https://sargenthouse.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> returns with a new solo album; check the album in full as well as a Q&A with the man himself below</p>
<p>As part of <a href="https://sargenthouse.com/earth" target="_blank">Earth,</a> Dylan Carlson’s most recent projects have taken in a 2017 live album recorded at Jack White’s Third Man Studios in Detroit, and a collaborative record with The Bug released in 2016. He’s also been busy touring solo amongst live duties with Earth.</p>
<p>via <a href="http://thequietus.com/articles/24443-dylan-carlson-earth-new-solo-album-stream" target="_blank">The Quietus. </a></p><!-- more -->
<p>Now Carlson is gearing up to release his first solo album since 2014 via Sargent House. Entitled <i>Conquistador</i>, the album takes cues from a re-interpreted Western story which Carlson, as he explains below, first came across while studying the history of Texas at school.</p>
<p>The album takes some narrative cues from Earth’s <i>Hex</i>, which was themed around the historical fiction of Cormac McCarthy’s writing on white settlers’ interruption of Native American life. <i>Conquistador</i>, however, examines this idea without the lens of pre-existing written works.</p>
<p>It’s set for release this Friday (April 27) and can be streamed in full above ahead of release exclusively via tQ. Keep reading below for a little more from Carlson himself on the album’s themes as well as some words on Earth’s debut album with 2018 marking its 25th anniversary.</p>
<p><b>How did you settle on the western-inspired narrative for this album?</b></p>
<p>Dylan Carlson: Well, I think the ‘idea’ started germinating after Earth played Levitation in Austin, Texas in 2015. Earth did a run of shows between Levitation and Psycho California in the Southwest, with True Widow. Earth also did three US tours supporting Primitive and Deadly, which included shows in the Southwest. Earth had also recorded Primitive and Deadly in Joshua Tree, and my wife, Holly, and I went out to Joshua Tree when we spent some time in LA, so a long story short, I guess the environment set my mind to thinking of things desert and frontier-like.</p>
<p>The story behind the songs was sort of half-remembered from my youth in Texas (years 6 through 8 in the English system, middle school in the States) as Texas history was part of the curriculum (the largest text book I’ve ever had). I was also inspired by the film <i>The Fountain</i>, by Darren Aronofsky. The start of the film involves a conquistador searching for 'the fountain of youth’/eternal life and finding it in an Aztec temple. Historically, Ponce de Leon was searching for it in what is now Florida, so there were a few things boiling in my brain pot.</p>
<p><b>Could you tell us more about the adventures involved in the story which the album explores?</b></p>
<p>DC: The story as I remembered it was a bit different to the actual historical record. In my remembered narrative it involved the conquistador and Esteban, a moorish squire, setting out on horseback into the northern territories of Mexico, what is now the American Southwest, Western states and Texas. The historical figure was Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, and Esteban, a man at arms. In the actual story they set out by boat to what is now Florida as part of another expedition, got separated and sailed to the mouth of the Mississippi River, and up that river before heading west through what is now Texas and Oklahoma into the Southwest.</p>
<p>The rest of the story converges with my narrative at this point, being lost in the Southwest and being at times enslaved by some tribes. While living with others, they became healers (described as 'faith healers’ in some references), and they had some ability as linguists, so they also say they became 'traders’ as well. The pair eventually made it back to the Gulf of Mexico in what is now Texas, and there they sailed back to Mexico City. Cabeza de Vaca went on to explore South America, 'discovering’ Iguanico Fallls and becoming the governor of what became Argentina and helping to build Buenos Aires. Esteban was killed in an expedition to the Southwest in a battle with the Zuni tribe of Native Americans.</p>
<p><b>Do you find it easier, or perhaps more fulfilling, to put together an album with an initial concept in mind?</b></p>
<p>DC: Well, I always feel like songs and albums possess a narrative arc of some sort. It may be explicit, or it may be vague or involve emotional or mystical feelings, but one should feel like one has been changed or arrived somewhere else at the end of a song or an album. Since I do mostly instrumental music, there are no lyrics as signposts or verbal cues telling you where you are or where you’re going or that you’ve arrived. I feel that if I have that idea in mind it informs the music and helps it take shape and provides the music with that sense of narrative that may appear lacking without the verbal component. It also helps with titling the songs and album, as those are more important in instrumental music since they are the only verbal cues present. The dream of course is that just hearing the music will convey the narrative arc regardless of knowing the title, or the artist.</p>
<p><b>This year is the 25th anniversary of Earth’s album, <i>Earth 2</i>. Have you gone back to the album recently or had any desire to specifically revisit it in 2018? Did you have a sense while making it that it would be received so well in the years to come?</b></p>
<p>DC: I’m not really focused on past records, Earth is still a band that is moving forward and making music, I do not want to be a 'nostalgia’ act. It would be one thing if that was the only album I ever did with Earth, and then stopped, and then did it live 25 years later, though money always seems to be the reason that occurs. But for an active band that still puts out new music and tours extensively, I understand putting songs in the set for people to enjoy, but they are done differently as the band is different now and the musicians are different and there may be new members etc.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/51927602018-04-20T10:44:50-07:002018-04-20T10:49:00-07:00Audio Interview with Adrienne Davis of Earth // The Trap Set<figure data-orig-height="108" data-orig-width="275"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.thetrapset.net/164-adrienne-davies-earth/" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/61c45509003dbe53223419f1d7901b55/tumblr_inline_p7hvjkTtq71qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.thetrapset.net/164-adrienne-davies-earth/" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/e701402f99251cd406f18247e36463b7/tumblr_inline_p7hvk2mAP91qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.thetrapset.net/164-adrienne-davies-earth/" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/7aa886f9cf7bc87d40571108f4a92a0f/tumblr_inline_p7hvkdZQi01qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a></p></figure>
<p>Adrienne Davies joined long-running Washington band Earth in 2001. She brought with her the requisite aptitude for slow tempos, and–over the course of several albums–developed a command of sonic nuance that perfectly complements and differentiates the band’s meditative compositions. Adrienne speaks to Joe about: growing up surrounded by brothers, stage fright, feelings of creative inadequacy, breaking through those feelings through serious woodshedding, recovering from a serious back and head injury, her love of Jim White…and kitties!</p>
<p>Audio interview available via <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.thetrapset.net/164-adrienne-davies-earth/" target="_self">The Trap Set</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/51783732018-04-12T12:08:28-07:002018-04-12T12:16:05-07:00Rank Your Records: Earth // Noisey<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="109" data-orig-width="461"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/bjppz8/rank-your-records-earth-dylan-carlson" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/1c0f395ac632316cf32d16eba3d80d5c/tumblr_inline_p735zpnOgb1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" /></a><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/bjppz8/rank-your-records-earth-dylan-carlson" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/1f8e43aee0f7c028dbb7f90469c63d98/tumblr_inline_p735wfmSC51qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" /><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/ec4c899a7a772262b9f37c3b945d7b25/tumblr_inline_p735xpRn7z1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" /></a></p></figure>
<h2>The band’s founder plays favorites with the many records in a long, productive career.</h2>
<p>Full feature by TJ Kliebhan via <a contents="Noisey" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/bjppz8/rank-your-records-earth-dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Noisey</a></p>
<p><i>In </i><a href="https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/topic/rank-your-records" target="_blank">Rank Your Records</a><i>, we talk to artists who have amassed substantial discographies over the years and ask them to rate their releases in order of personal preference.</i></p>
<p>When you define a genre with your first record, where do you go from there? <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com" target="_blank">Earth</a>’s frontman and only consistent member <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> was living in Seattle during grunge’s reign over popular music. Being a young contrarian, Carlson decided to outright reject every trend that defined what was around him at the time. To his label’s prediction, Carlson’s cerebral brand of engulfing drone metal was not an immediate hit. With Earth, Carlson was never looking to top the charts, participate in a movement, or even start one. He was looking to do something different and do it well.<br><!-- more -->After a nine-year gap between records due to drug use, legal problems, and a lack of equipment, Carlson took Earth’s minimal, distortion-heavy sound and infused it with an Americana twang. The resulting sound was a career resurgence for Carlson and Earth. Although Earth sticks to a few principles such as open strings and repetition, the band’s adventurous second phase has found their heavy sound stretching into post-rock, psychedelic rock, and country. With such a varied catalog, Carlson admits he found ranking these records to be a challenge, “It would have been much easier to make a Greatest Hits record.”</p>
<p>Carlson has a busy month of April planned. Earth will be filming their show at The Crocodile in Seattle on April 18 for a new documentary on the band entitled <i>Even Hell Has Its Heroes</i>. One week later Carlson will be dropping a new solo record, <i>Conquistador</i>, on April 27. The record recalls some of the American Southwestern themes that Earth has explored on prior records. Ahead of<i>Conquistador</i>, Carlson was happy to revisit his career in Earth and rank his records with Noisey.</p>
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<p><b>Noisey: In prior entries in this series, a common trope of the lowest ranked album is that the experience of making the record is what gets it at the bottom spot, not necessarily the music itself. Is that the case here?</b><br><b>Dylan Carlson: </b>In a lot of ways, I really like <i>Phase 3</i>, but ultimately it’s unfinished. It was done at a time when I was at my lowest ebbs physically and mentally. It almost didn’t even get made. It was made in two different sessions a year apart. I showed up to the first sessions two or three days late with absolutely nothing. Thankfully we just rolled tape and my producer Phil Eck handled it very well. We headed to his house, grabbed a guitar and amp, and went right back to the studio. [<i>Laughs</i>]</p>
<p><b>You showed up with no gear?</b><br>Yep. [<i>Laughs</i>] Nothing at all! So after a few sessions, Sub Pop pulled the plug. Sub Pop didn’t want to put <i>Phase 3</i> out but we eventually convinced them to do it anyway about a year later, so the second round of sessions started. We were a few days in and my girlfriend at the time overdosed in the studio bathroom and that cut recording short. [The whole process] was kind of a mess and so was I. We ended up just mixing what we had. Really only “Phase 3: Agni Detonating Over the Thar Desert…,” “Tibetan Quaaludes,” and “Thrones and Dominions” was finished. A lot of tracks sound just, like, broken off midway to me. I’m glad it was “finished” and it is out there, but I feel like I shot myself in the foot with this one. I take full responsibility for that.</p>
<p><b><i>Earth 2</i></b><b> sounds like such a rejection of what was going on around you at the time with the grunge movement, but </b><b><i>Phase 3</i></b><b> is much more accessible in terms of track length and more traditional riffs. Do you think grunge possibly bled into this record a bit?</b><br>Not really. I always viewed Earth as separate from that entire thing around me. We’re Seattle’s redheaded stepchild. [<i>Laughs</i>] I never really felt like I was a part of any kind of movement, genre, or trend at this time.</p>
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<p><b>Was there a concern with putting this record out on Sub Pop, considering the label at that time was releasing mostly grunge records? It’s hard to imagine Sub Pop’s core audience embracing this release at that time.</b><br>Sub Pop was a great label and I’m happy I was on it. Sub Pop put up with a lot of shit from me personally. I think a lot of people definitely bought this record because it was put out on Sub Pop and did not get what they expected at all. In that way it was a bit of a double-edged sword, but Sub Pop was great people to work with.</p>
<p>Earth was my first attempt at a real band. I mean that in that I had very strong concepts and presentation that I wanted to push, and I didn’t have that before. I was talking to Buzz Osborne around this time and I’ve always held on to this advice he gave me. He told me, “Doing music, you can go two ways: jump on the hot thing or do your thing and keep doing it well. If you choose the latter you won’t have to compromise and eventually people will begin to notice.” I’ve always tried to follow this advice to the best of my abilities. I think it applies to more than just music, too.</p>
<p><b>It’s well-documented this record is inspired by La Monte Young. From what I’ve read you were inspired by his writings detailing his approach to music more than his actual music. Were you just trying to imagine or emulate what La Monte Young would do with distortion and a guitar?</b><br>That’s true, but it wasn’t emulation. I had really only heard his “A Well-Tuned Piano” tracks since his music was tough to get physical copies of in the early 90s. It was much more reading about him and his ideas than the actual music he made. Musically, it was metal and King Crimson-inspired. La Monte Young was much more the conceptual inspiration.</p>
<p><b>In a prior interview you stated, “To me an album represents a specific period of time and a specific set of circumstances.” Could you describe how </b><b><i>Earth 2</i></b><b>represents its time period and circumstances?</b><br>It very much represents my age. At that time, I was young and full of vigor as they say. It represents contrariness and willingness to be unpopular. [<i>Laughs</i>]</p>
<p><b>Isn’t that a bit ironic now that </b><b><i>Earth 2</i></b><b> is considered a popular and influential release?</b><br>Well it hasn’t been popular in terms of sales. [<i>Laughs</i>] I think it took us three years to sell 2,000 copies, so it’s hard to think of it as my claim to fame in that way. I don’t think that’s one of the more popular Earth records but it has been considered “genre-defining” or whatever. It’s certainly referenced a lot. I guess it will be my footnote.</p>
<p>The rating here is very much musical. If I was just going by concept and execution I probably would’ve ranked this higher. As I’ve moved on to new material, I’ve changed in my compositional ideas and musicality. I think I’ve rated it less highly because I feel like the conceptual side of this record very much overrode the musical aspect. To me, a lot of people talk about how huge this record sounds. I think this record sounds very claustrophobic. Knowing what I know now, I would’ve definitely recorded it differently, but then it would be a different album, huh?</p>
<p>I’m very glad that people responded to it though, eventually. It’s very gratifying to know that this record has had a small effect and achieved some sort of notice. To know it’s inspired people to do stuff is really cool.</p>
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<p><b>Was there a time after your prior record, </b><b><i>Pentastar</i></b><b>, that you thought you would never record music again? </b><br>Definitely. The entire time I was in LA, I did not own a guitar. I never had an intention of playing professionally. When I came back to Seattle I got a guitar, but it was more for personal reasons. Not to start a band. I kept my day job for quite a while, too, even after Earth was back in 2002. I didn’t do Earth full-time until 2009.</p>
<p><b>This is the first record you recorded with Adrienne Davies. Did you know pretty quickly that she was going to be a part of Earth for as long as she has been now? </b><br>At this time, we were together as a couple and we connected musically, too. Before we started recording this record I was not in a great spot. I was still sorting myself out and recovering from my time in LA. She was there for me in a number of ways and we started making music too. At this point I still wasn’t intending to start Earth back up, even. It was going to be a new project, but somehow it turned back into Earth. We’re at the point now that when I play with other drummers it feels strange. [<i>Laughs</i>] We’re not a couple anymore, but she remains a good friend. At this point I cannot see anyone else filling that drum chair. She’s the second longest member of Earth at this point and she’s a great drummer.</p>
<p><b>Can you describe the feeling of putting out this record after such a long layoff?</b><br>This one went really well. We had some rough patches earlier with bad labels and bad people in general who were more interested in capitalizing on the past. This was our first record with Southern Lord and they liked what we were doing now. We had a strong conceptual theme with <i>Blood Meridian</i> by Cormac McCarthy and creating a soundtrack for an imaginary western. My guitar playing was finally back up to scratch after my years in LA. It was our first chance to show the new phase of Earth and I felt like we did a good job of that. We made a strong opening statement.</p>
<p><b>Was combining that cleaner country twang sound with drone a very natural process for you? I know you’re a country fan, but I don’t think most would initially connect the two genres and expect the harmony that you created with this album. </b><br>I think with all music I try to see similarities, especially historically. Country has a connection to Scotch-Irish and English folk music that is very apparent to me. There is a lot of blues influence on country too. I never want to make a record that sounds like a genre. I don’t want a “country album” or a “blues album.” I want to stir genres.</p>
<p>I think a lot of people have a misconception about drone and think it’s a sound. I think it’s a technique. It’s not a sound or a volume thing. It’s an approach or a harmonic stasis. It exists in all kind of music and, to me, I guess I saw that connection in what appeared to be disparate.</p>
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<p><b>I’ve heard you refer to the first three records as your wilderness years. Why do you think this is the best record from that period? </b><br>There are some good songs on it! It’s a good rock record and has some talented people playing on it. After the <i>Phase 3</i> nightmare, I felt particularly focused and confident on these tracks.</p>
<p><b>This is the only full-length record that you’ve recorded your own vocals on. What made you decide to sing on this record? Do you ever see yourself singing again?</b><br>I just sang more back then and wanted to do it. I don’t practice singing as much as I play guitar now. I was practicing singing then, but I just don’t practice now. Plus now I know a lot of good singers and would rather hear them sing anyway. [<i>Laughs</i>] Maybe I’ll sing again sometime down the road.</p>
<p><b>Were the drug problems you had in the mid to late 90s interfering with the process at all yet?</b><br>It interfered on all my recordings after <i>Earth 2</i> and before <i>Hex</i>. It has a way of convincing you it’s working and that you’re better than you are, but you’re really not. Some of us need a strong slap in the face to wake up from that.</p>
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<p><b>I’ve read that the last track on </b><b><i>Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1</i></b><b> was completely improvised. Did improv play a large role on these records as a whole?</b><b> </b><br>Yeah, definitely. The first record actually runs from the most composed track to completely uncomposed. The second installment follows that same path of more composed to less composed. Funnily enough, <i>Conquistador</i> follows this as well.</p>
<p>These sessions were particularly productive because of my illness. I had liver failure and chronic Hepatitis B. I was afraid this was going to be the last Earth record. Lori Goldston, who plays the cello on these records, is such an amazingly phenomenal improviser and musician. We just rolled tape for these and went. “Old Black” was totally composed. I had a couple other riffs floating around and used a couple of riffs I had created during the <i>Bees Made Honey</i> sessions too. That was it. We just hit the studio.</p>
<p><b>How did the illness affect the music you wrote and the recording process as a whole? Does it feel more rushed or strained? </b><br>It’s certainly a personal record for me. It wasn’t really a rushed feeling, it was the least forced record I’ve created actually. The sessions flowed really well. Just everything was coming out and flowing well. It’s hard to describe but I was just feeling particularly creative.</p>
<p><b>This album has a lot of the English Folk roots that you usually reserve for your solo material. Why did this stuff feel right for Earth at the time and why is it mostly reserved for your solo records now? </b><br>I really took the deep dive into those themes on the solo records after the <i>Angels of Darkness</i> series, but these records are what kicked it off. I think that the medical situation I had was what focused me on my ancestral roots. What often happens to me before a recording process is that I put on an old record and get really obsessed with it. During this time, those older English folk songs and Led Zeppelin were really inspiring me. I also took a trip to London before this which really kicked all of these themes into overdrive.</p>
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<p><b>In an interview you gave around the time </b><b><i>Bees</i></b><b> came out you stated, “The improvising started with the </b><b><i>Bees Made Honey</i></b><b> album. I was listening to a lot of jazz and I’m a self-confessed Dead head. That was one of the things I always loved about the Grateful Dead was their improvisatory nature and the fact that none of their live shows were the same and none of the songs were the same night after night.” What’s your improv process like? Was this a brand new style for you or had improv played a small role on past Earth records?</b><br>It kind of started a bit before the record by playing with Steve Moore [piano/organ] who has a jazz background. I didn’t write his parts. He was coming up with his own stuff. It was more like just leaving space in the songs to play around with. Earth wasn’t doing that before. The songs on <i>Bees</i> are very compositional, but they have quite a bit of space. We left things open. It wasn’t straight improv. More like: here are a few structures and here are a few open areas. The Dead and Miles Davis have compositions with really loose structures that let the musicians do their thing. We wanted to have that free playing ability.</p>
<p><b>Everything about this record from the sounds, to the art, to the </b><b><i>Blood Meridian</i></b><b>references place it in the American Southwest. You’re a Pacific-Northwesterner with Scottish and British roots. What draws you to this region of the country?</b><br>It has to do with my upbringing. My dad worked for the Department of Defense and we had to move around a lot. I was in New Mexico from three to five years old and really liked that setting and have some memories from it. I also spent considerable time in Texas during my middle school years. I think I just like stark environments, whether it’s an English moor or a Southwestern desert. They call it the land of enchantment for a reason, you know.</p>
<p><b>These tracks have been a huge live hit every time I’ve seen Earth play. People really respond to these tracks. Was there a conscious decision on this record to make tracks that would be great live pieces? </b><br>Yes, definitely. “The Bees Laid Honey in the Lion’s Skull” has been in the setlist for ten years for this reason. It’s fun to play and its always different. Playing that song live is just great. I don’t get why people play exact representations of their own songs live. Like, you may as well throw on the CD up there and lip-sync. I’ve always wanted to see bands that play their music differently live.</p>
<p>That’s been the biggest change of my career. When I started my career I was all about the studio and was not interested in playing live. Now, it’s totally the opposite. I just want to get the record out there and hit the road. The songs change on the road. You learn which songs are really great live. It’s just a fun and exciting creative endeavor. It’s not planned and really can’t be planned. Recording in the studio improves certain things and playing live does that too.</p>
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<p><b>What gives this album the top spot for you? </b><br>Well, this series forced me to go back and listen to some stuff that I haven’t heard in a long time. The reason this is my favorite, though, is because it was from the time when I met Holly [Carlson’s wife]. She was the inspiration for so many of the tracks. She was actually supposed to be on the album cover, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. I was happy to get her on the cover for<i>Conquistador.</i></p>
<p>On top of that, it’s a really strong record for me. I think the material is great. I think its concepts were really well-executed. It’s also our best-selling record and we know the public is never wrong. [<i>Laughs</i>]</p>
<p>I like these songs and they’re still fun to play even though it’s not improv-y. Only “Even Hell Has Its Heroes” is improv-y. I think this record is the complete package for us. It’s a great rock record and I’ve always thought of Earth as a rock band, even if we’re a weird one. [<i>Laughs</i>]</p>
<p><b>This album has the most vocal passages of any Earth record. Was that a conscious decision as the songs were being written that vocals would be paired with the instrumentals or did it happen in more of a “hey, let’s try vocals over this” kind of way? </b><br>Well, I wrote some lyrics for “Rooks Across the Gate” but was planning to use them for my solo stuff. I was keeping it for myself, but Adrienne heard it and saw the lyrics and wouldn’t let me keep it for myself. [<i>Laughs</i>] So I liked the lyrics but I didn’t want to sing it so we needed to get a singer. This is when we reached out to Mark Lanegan [Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age]. I thought a female vocalist would contrast a male vocalist really nicely for the record so then I called Rabia [Shaheen Quazi]. I just gave Rabia some themes here and she wrote the lyrics and ran with the vocals.</p>
<p>Chelsea Wolfe actually almost sang on this record too. We really wanted her to, but she wasn’t available. Hopefully someday soon that collaboration will happen.</p>
<p><b>I’ve heard that this is your “midlife crisis” record. What do you mean by that? </b><br>[<i>Laughs</i>] It’s a return to my hard rock youth. And I picked the title because I thought it sounded like a Scorpions record. I was listening to a lot of the Scorpions and AC/DC and the middle school soundtrack I grew up on.</p>
<p><b>Are you the kind of guy that is always trying to top your last record or do they all kind of exist independently? </b><br>I don’t think of them like “this one has to be better” or “I want this to sell more.” I think of them like, “how can I make these new songs up to snuff with what I’ve done in the past?” I try to write music that is not nostalgic. I don’t want to write music that feels like it has always been there. I don’t want to make music that sounds like it was made in a certain era because that is how you sound dated. Like, so many songs from the 80s sound like the 80s right? My goal is to make the best record that I can with what I have, but I want it to have a quality that is hard to pin down. No matter where I am going conceptually I try to let this guide me.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/51744792018-04-10T11:52:31-07:002018-04-10T13:14:50-07:00Dylan Carlson Track Premiere "When the Horses Were Shorn of Their Hooves" // Revolver<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="137" data-orig-width="1091"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.revolvermag.com/music/hear-earths-dylan-carlson-conjure-spaghetti-western-vibe-droning-new-solo-song" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/0a55a37173f3c82af3cdc16b9b7df645/tumblr_inline_p6ze8vTJxd1qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/1b915d4c2d1480df2ff8f6d80cac70ac/tumblr_inline_p6zk34lnqy1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bcgPXhFSUKg?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p></figure>
<p>Full feature by Fred Pessaro via <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.revolvermag.com/music/hear-earths-dylan-carlson-conjure-spaghetti-western-vibe-droning-new-solo-song" target="_blank">Revolver Magazine</a></p>
<p><a href="https://thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> replaces the glacially-paced heroin blues of his influential Olympia, Washington, band Earth with another view of the wild west on his solo debut Conquistador — this time an electrified, mildly droning approach that would sit comfortably underneath a spaghetti western of yesteryear. The latest single by the drone-metal pioneer, “When the Horses Were Shorn of Their Hooves,” isn’t quite as slow and dark as recent Earth releases would have you expect. The track would be a fitting prelude to a gunfight or soundtrack to a deeply meditative moment, and it rings out particularly powerfully cranked to 11 on your car speaker system. With just one instrument, a little bit of fuzz and a foundation of finely honed songwriting, “When the Horses …” is a compelling, must-hear track for fans of arty heaviness. You can order your copy of Conquistador <a href="http://smarturl.it/DCarlsonStore" target="_blank">via Sargent House</a> ahead of the album’s April 27th release date.</p>
<p>Read more for headlining tour dates.</p><!-- more -->
<p>Dylan Carlson Tour Dates: <br>JUL 10 Charlottesville, VA @ Jefferson Theater ^ <br>JUL 11 Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle ^ <br>JUL 12 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel ^ <br>JUL 14 Chattanooga, TN @ The Signal ^ <br>JUL 15 Knoxville, TN @ The Mill & Mine ^ <br>JUL 17 Charlotte, NC @ The Underground ^ <br>JUL 18 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl <br>JUL 20 Charleston, SC @ The Royal American <br>JUL 21 Richmond, VA @ Capital Ale House <br>JUL 22 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club * <br>JUL 25 Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory * <br>JUL 27 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel * <br>JUL 28 Boston, MA @ Royale * <br>JUL 29 Kingston, NY @ BSP Kingston <br>JUL 31 Detroit, MI @ El Club <br>AUG 1 Chicago, IL @ The Riviera Theater * <br>AUG 2 Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room + <br>AUG 4 Denver, CO @ Lost Lake + <br>AUG 5 Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall + <br>AUG 7 Los Angeles, CA @ Resident + <br>AUG 9 San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern + <br>AUG 11 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge + <br>AUG 12 Seattle, WA @ Barboza + </p>
<p>^ w/ Kurt Vile & The Violators <br>* w/ Sleep <br>+ w/ Mary Lattimore</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/51683472018-04-06T13:14:30-07:002018-04-06T13:14:59-07:00Dylan Carlson Interview // I Heart Noise<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="120" src="https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?hide_cover=1&feed=%2Fiheartnoise%2Fdylan-carlson-interview%2F" width="100%"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="https://www.thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> (<a href="http://thronesanddominions.com" target="_blank">Earth</a>) interviewed by <a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/iheartnoise/dylan-carlson-interview/" target="_blank">Petridisch on I Heart Noise</a></p>
<p>Pre-order new album Conquistador (out on Sargent House on April 27, 2018)</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/51422232018-03-22T10:07:12-07:002018-03-22T10:07:12-07:00Earth Joins Days of Darkness II<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1500" data-orig-width="976"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.deathfests.com/event/days-darkness-festival-2018" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/f6de59d77df46e2bf32252dd48346866/tumblr_inline_p6040e6m4O1qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a></figure>
<p><a href="thronesanddominions.com">Earth</a> has joined the line-up for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/daysofdarknessfestival/?fref=mentions">Days of Darkness Festival</a> II in Baltimore, MD.<br>More info @ <a contents="deathfests.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.deathfests.com/event/days-darkness-festival-2018" target="_blank">deathfests.com</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/51385002018-03-20T14:45:40-07:002018-03-20T15:17:03-07:00Dylan Carlson Adds US Tour Dates Supporting Kurt Vile & The Violators<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1200" data-orig-width="1800"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/0360866d80be5575079233a3e3bc6da9/tumblr_inline_p5wtjkJvZO1qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a></figure>
<p>JUL 10 Charlottesville, VA @ Jefferson Theater ^<br>JUL 11 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle ^<br>JUL 12 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel ^<br>JUL 14 Chattanooga, TN @ The Signal ^<br>JUL 15 Knoxville, TN @ The Mill & Mine ^<br>JUL 17 Charlotte, NC @ The Underground ^<br>JUL 22 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club *<br>JUL 25 Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory *<br>JUL 27 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel *<br>JUL 28 Boston, MA @ Royale *<br>AUG 1 Chicago, IL @ The Riviera Theater *</p>
<p>w/ Kurt Vile & The Violators ^<br>w/ Sleep *</p>
<p>More info <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">HERE</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/51244662018-03-12T14:31:29-07:002018-03-12T14:36:16-07:00EARTH ‘EARTH 2: SPECIAL LOW FREQUENCY EDITION’ 25 YEAR ANNIVERSARY // CVLT Nation<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="84" data-orig-width="600"><p><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/ff50ca348e90e142cef0af32567a657f/tumblr_inline_p5hy4mH1NR1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">EARTH ‘EARTH 2: SPECIAL LOW FREQUENCY EDITION’ 25 YEAR ANNIVERSARY</span></p></figure>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="375" data-orig-width="750"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.cvltnation.com/earth-earth-2-special-low-frequency-edition-25-year-anniversary/" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/1af67714c9f3fe3177b4f61d2f69c8c3/tumblr_inline_p5hy6gDmfK1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a><span class="font_small">Photo by Charles Nickles</span></figure>
<p>Full article by Tom Coles via <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.cvltnation.com/earth-earth-2-special-low-frequency-edition-25-year-anniversary/" target="_blank">CVLT Nation</a></p>
<p>February saw the 10-year anniversary of <a href="http://www.cvltnation.com/earth-bees-made-honey-lions-skull-10-year-anniversary/">The Bees made Honey in the Lion’s Skull</a>. Warm, bright and psychedelic, for many long-term fans this was a time to reflect on a landmark event in doom’s history. But before their expeditions into shimmering folk doom, <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thronesanddominions.com/" target="_blank">Earth</a>’s experiments were much more foreboding, oblique and abrasive.</p><!-- more -->
<p>Earth 2 celebrated its 25-year anniversary on February 3rd. The record features three tracks of monolithic, sinister ambience with lugubrious metal riffs stretched out beneath the surface. It’s an overwhelming experience by merit of how loud, slow and long it is, but it’s also deceptively busy. Guitars clash, shiver and vibrate, then hum at a steady frequency for in excess of an hour. It’s nearly impossible to pick apart any of the elements; there are hints of what might be heavily distorted vocals in Teeth of Lions Rule The Divine, but this could just be more guitar noise.</p>
<p>It’s interesting to note how much Earth 2 sounds like a metal record; there are some bona-fide metal riffs lurking in the swirling chaos, in addition to the general air of anxiety the record conjures. The material is unforgiving, icy, frigid; the sonic equivalent of trudging through heavy snow. It’s a record that lends itself well to similes; Earth 2 is like being buried alive in Antarctica, or taking quaaludes and staring into TV static, or having a panic attack behind a malfunctioning appliance.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FLs1OYn_xGzM"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ls1OYn_xGzM?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p></figure>
<p>Opening track Seven Angels features one of Earth’s most straightforward metal riffs buried under all the noise; this acts as an anchor that other tracks don’t feature as prominently. Teeth of Lions… is thick with curious, baleful noises that cut through the blistering morass, but the really bleak, harsh sound on the record is focussed on closer Like Gold and Faceted, a sheer wall of arctic noise only occasionally punctuated by esoteric whispers. It’s curious that the titles are so immediately suggestive of detailed images whilst the songs themselves are so devoid of architecture.</p>
<p>Earth 2 holds up pretty well a full quarter-century after its release, still a punishing, challenging listen. Undoubtedly the most significant legacy of Earth 2 is that it spawned Sunn O))), and from there hundreds of imitators tweaking the formula. Without Earth 2 there’d be no Bong, no Moss, no boom of modern doom tinkerers. On a more pragmatic level, Earth 2 is a milestone for wilfully antagonistic records, on a par with Metal Machine Music and Napalm Death’s Scum; this was bewildering even for seasoned fans, a stunningly out-of-fashion record released at the height of grunge. Much like their post-Bees… material, they never really did anything else exactly like this; it would have been fairly easy to do a second take of this with more layers, but in retrospect if feels like that itch was scratched.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2Fa4Gn08JxHPY"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a4Gn08JxHPY?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p></figure>
<p>In retrospect, Earth 2 was likely their most difficult period of experimentation. Though the code has been cracked, it’s still a landmark for heavy metal and ambient music alike. Few bands could fuse minimalism and belligerence like Earth, and nowhere is this better displayed than here.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="750" data-orig-width="750"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/0874ece0efda3a2b9e3553ac5dd73873/tumblr_inline_p5hy9e8EC91qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p></figure>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/51204052018-03-09T10:40:29-08:002018-03-09T14:30:33-08:00Dylan Carlson “Conquistador” Pre-orders<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="600" data-orig-width="600"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.hellomerch.com/collections/earth" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/d8caf723b88401033665a6853fa9ec1d/tumblr_inline_p5c6bk9YHq1qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a></figure>
<p>Pre-orders for the new album "Conquistador" by Dylan Carlson on Vinyl or CD are now live. <br>N. American store <a contents="HERE&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.hellomerch.com/collections/earth" target="_blank">HERE</a><br>UK/EU store <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://sargenthouse.awesomedistro.com/products/614031-dylan-carlson-conquistador-12-vinyl-cd" target="_blank">HERE</a></p>
<p> </p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/51204062018-03-09T10:22:54-08:002018-03-09T14:30:33-08:00DYLAN CARLSON ANNOUNCES NEW SOLO ALBUM, SHARES FIRST SINGLE // PASTE MAGAZINE <figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="179" data-orig-width="650"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/03/dylan-carlson-announces-new-solo-album-shares-firs.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/0b00bace96a46c3d40905f24a5b28120/tumblr_inline_p58ggnUpOQ1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a></p></figure>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="372" data-orig-width="633"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/03/dylan-carlson-announces-new-solo-album-shares-firs.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/bdf45a35bf46d2a4f890b3ac61db54d4/tumblr_inline_p58ggzkxOZ1qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a></figure>
<p>Full article by Robert Ham via <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/03/dylan-carlson-announces-new-solo-album-shares-firs.html" target="_blank">Paste Magazine</a></p>
<p><a href="https://sargenthouse.com/dylan-carlson">Dylan Carlson</a> has released a wealth of droning doom rock with his long-running project Earth, as well as a smattering of material under the moniker Drcarlsonalbion. This year, however, he’s stepping out of the shadows a bit, with the forthcoming release of <i>Conquistador</i>, his first solo album out under his own name.</p><!-- more -->
<p>In and of itself, that’s not groundbreaking news, but listening to the music on this new LP, it reveals a boldness and a confidence that deserves to have this collection bearing his given eponym. Recorded with Kurt Ballou (Converge) in Salem, <a href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/tag/Massachusetts">Massachusetts</a>, during a break from a solo tour, <i>Conquistador</i> features plenty of Carlson’s slow burning riffs, augmented in spots by fellow guitarist Emma Ruth Rundle and with some percussion touches from Holly Carlson (Dylan’s wife).</p>
<p>To prepare the world for <i>Conquistador</i>, Carlson is sharing the first single from the album, “Scorpions In Their Mouths.” Don’t let the spooky title throw you off; this song is a thing of beauty, gushing with psychedelic buzzes and howls from the surely smoldering amplifiers. Check it out right here, and keep an eye below for some recently announced tour dates that will find Carlson opening for none other than Sleep.</p>
<p><i>Conquistador</i> arrives via <a href="https://sargenthouse.com/">Sargent House Records</a> this spring.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DQxlaxXy7PbI"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QxlaxXy7PbI?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p></figure>
<p>July 22 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club *<br>July 25 Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory *<br>July 27 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel *<br>July 28 Boston, MA @ Royale *<br>August 1 Chicago, IL @ Riviera *</p>
<p>w/ SLEEP</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/50966302018-02-23T13:53:05-08:002018-02-23T19:45:30-08:00DYLAN CARLSON OF EARTH ANNOUNCES US TOUR DATES W/ SLEEP <figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="640" data-orig-width="426"><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/8fae76906040274f95566aed6810db20/tumblr_inline_p4mhdlL4Az1qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></p></figure>
<p>Just announed: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/drcarlsonalbion/">Dylan Carlson</a> of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thronesanddominions/">Earth</a> will be supporting <a href="https://www.facebook.com/officialsleep/">Sleep</a> on these shows:<br><br>Jul 22 Washington DC @ 9:30 Club<br>Jul 25 Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory<br>Jul 27 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel<br>Jul 28 Boston, MA @ Royale<br>Aug 1 Chicago, IL @ The Riviera<br><br>More info <a href="https://thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson">HERE</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/50959592018-02-23T13:04:21-08:002018-02-23T13:11:31-08:00EARTH ‘The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull’ 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY // CVLT Nation<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="84" data-orig-width="600"><p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.cvltnation.com/earth-bees-made-honey-lions-skull-10-year-anniversary/" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/ff50ca348e90e142cef0af32567a657f/tumblr_inline_p4mfhfgeVU1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a></p>
<p><span class="font_xl">EARTH – THE BEES MADE HONEY IN THE LION’S SKULL 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY</span></p></figure>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="375" data-orig-width="750"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.cvltnation.com/earth-bees-made-honey-lions-skull-10-year-anniversary/" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/37473dc5dd91e6e59a1ee8eba6039c60/tumblr_inline_p4mfjmPfAf1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></a></figure>
<p>Full article via <a href="http://www.cvltnation.com/earth-bees-made-honey-lions-skull-10-year-anniversary/">CVLT Nation</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/thronesanddominions/">Earth’s</a> curious career has led them from drone-rock pioneers to gorgeous Americana-doom, fusing their natural aptitude for stark minimalism with a huge bank of influences. In their distinct second phase, The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull is a creative peak; warmer and busier and sunnier, and already celebrating its ten-year anniversary.</p>
<p><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3719260108/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=e99708/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;"><a data-cke-saved-href="http://earthsl.bandcamp.com/album/the-bees-made-honey-in-the-lions-skull" href="http://earthsl.bandcamp.com/album/the-bees-made-honey-in-the-lions-skull">The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull by Earth</a></iframe></p>
<p> </p><!-- more -->
<p>Drifting from the raw, blissful soundscapes on Earth IIand the monolithic, frightening power-drone on Phase 3: Thrones and Dominions and Pentastar: In The Style of Demons, the country-doom that emerged on their comeback record Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method is warmer and much less destructive. By 2008, their aesthetic became much more welcoming. Bees… is a curious mix of folk-psychedelia, American country music and the aching, lugubrious drone that characterizes both phases of their career. This is even showcased in the title, the biblical reference evocative of sweetness in the wake of brutality: a fitting nod for an often-oblique, hard-to-read band.</p>
<p>Though the musical ideas develop gradually, there’s a hell of a lot of them. The record is glacial, and the tone shifts microscopically. Opening with languishing psych guitar draped over the drippy drums of “Omens and Portents 1: The Driver,” the shimmering instruments gradually shift and coalesce, a theme continued on “Rise To Glory” which introduces layers of guitar chaos over the creeping melodic progression. Steve Moore’s piano really comes to the foreground by “Miami Morning Coming Down II (shine),” which languishes in the imaginary sunshine, giving way to a busier, noisier, guitar-focused “Engine of Ruin.”</p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="765" data-orig-width="750"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/45d3fbfa3dbe60c489633617f8472a08/tumblr_inline_p4mfm2gpWf1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure>
<p>When the sinister “Omens and Portents II: Carrion Crow” emerges, the tone darkens; the guitars strike deeper and the sun-bleached sheen is peeled back. The shimmering guitar layers are back in full force on “Hung From The Moon,” featuring the most present guitar work at the mid-point, a gradually deconstructed guitar solo. All these ideas are focused on the slow, sad “Bees Made Honey In the Lion’s Skull”; possibly the lightest touch on the record, it flutters and trills around the central theme, not hugely unlike a swarm of bees around a lion’s skull.</p>
<p>If Earth II led to the rise of Sunn O))) and a legion of copycats, the glitter of Bees… can be heard in so many of today’s fuzz-heavy doom bands (and the numerous acts named as some reference to the title). Indeed, the tracks have become live mainstays, immortalized on both 2008’s Radio Earth – Live 2007/2008 and 2017’s Live at Third Man Records. Earth are commemorating the release with a new merch design (a collaboration with Alan Forbes) and <a href="https://www.southernlord.com/bands/view/earth">Southern Lord</a> are preparing a special anniversary edition.</p>
<p>Bees… is a record that means a lot to a lot of people because it was the moment that Earth’s vision because truly gorgeous, a thick morass of liquid gold where previous efforts had been more oblique. In any case, it’s telling that they reached such a high peak that they didn’t really do a follow-up; Angels of Darkness… I and II share an aesthetic but the sunny psych elements are underplayed, and 2014’s Primitive and Deadly is much close to their harsher influences. Bees… felt like an itch they scratched, which led to a well-deserved focus on experimentation later down the line – a rare moment of blissful clarity in an expansive career.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="750" data-orig-width="750"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/0874ece0efda3a2b9e3553ac5dd73873/tumblr_inline_p4mfmnfh6u1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/50937972018-02-22T12:58:23-08:002018-02-23T13:10:13-08:00Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull – 10 Year Anniversary Shirt<p>For the 10th anniversary of ”The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull”, <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddomains.com" target="_blank">Earth</a> is proud to offer the ’honey skull’ t-shirt. <br>Design by Alan Forbes, inspired by one of Dylan’s favourites.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1024" data-orig-width="1024"><p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.hellomerch.com/collections/earth/products/honey-skull-black-t-shirt" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/64ecf557db095835c3590bf659e1e3ed/tumblr_inline_p4kkunR5Kg1qe8a39_540.png" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" /></a></p>
<p>Shirt available via <a contents="Hello Merch" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.hellomerch.com/collections/earth/products/honey-skull-black-t-shirt" target="_blank">Hello Merch</a></p></figure>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/49415092017-11-20T15:38:15-08:002018-02-22T13:12:15-08:00Earth: Live At Third Man Records // Black Friday<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1080" data-orig-width="1080"><p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thirdmanrecords.com/news/record-store-day-black-friday-2017-releases/" target="_blank"><img src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/db476ef0a0c2d0afbed26a0dd758e7d4/tumblr_inline_ozqphwX36y1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_xl justify_inline border_" /></a></p></figure>
<p><a contents="RECORD STORE DAY BLACK FRIDAY 2017 RELEASES" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thirdmanrecords.com/news/record-store-day-black-friday-2017-releases/" target="_blank">RECORD STORE DAY BLACK FRIDAY 2017 RELEASES</a></p>
<p>Earth: Live At Third Man Records <br>Washingtonian drone metal stalwarts <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thronesanddominions.com/" target="_blank">Earth</a> played live in the Blue Room on August 1, 2016, the band's set will get its own vinyl release for Record Store Day Black Friday. This bone-rattling set, recorded live to tape, exemplify the magic that only the Blue Room can provide.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/48603642017-09-21T16:01:32-07:002017-09-21T16:30:39-07:00Dylan Carlson // Interview on Coney’s Loft<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="777" data-orig-width="1500"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.coneysloft.com/magazine/2017/9/21/interview-dylan-carlson" target="_blank"><img src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/ec1e8bf3d9a5b970a073315a89d5b262/tumblr_inline_ownjbtRAcS1qe8a39_540.png" class="size_m justify_center border_none" alt="" /></a></figure>
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="400" data-orig-width="400"><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.coneysloft.com/magazine/2017/9/21/interview-dylan-carlson" target="_blank"><img src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/5c1d63acb972f03f67f0ac90c73d4024/tumblr_inline_ownjc960zB1qe8a39_540.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></figure>
<p>By <a href="http://www.coneysloft.com/magazine/?author=587568ab59cc6853ff499536">Elliot Jessett</a> via <a href="http://www.coneysloft.com/magazine/2017/9/21/interview-dylan-carlson">Coney’s Loft </a></p>
<p>Earth founder and drone pioneer, Dylan Carlson has always seemed to walk the road less travelled - navigating his own path through a terrain made up of his own creations. His music calls out to the solitary chambers of the soul; echoing forcefully with pain and hard-won wisdom.</p><!-- more -->
<p>Lauded for his groundbreaking work with Earth, Carlson also become known for his difficult personal life which included a long fought battle with drug addiction and the loss of close friend, Kurt Cobain.</p>
<p>However, they say time is a healer and for Carlson there's some truth to the idea of redemption. Now in recovery, Carlson is producing some of the most exciting and innovative work of his career, including an intriguing collaborative partnership with The Bug's, Kevin Martin.</p>
<p>We caught up with Carlson to discuss his latest musical projects, his work with The Bug, the illusion of the American dream and living under the rule of a presidential huckster.</p>
<p>Q. You have been working with The Bug, Kevin Martin - tell us a bit about how this collaboration came about and what you enjoy most in Kevin’s music?</p>
<p>It happened through the artist, Simon Fowler who knew Kevin and had worked with him when he was doing Kind Midas Sound. Kevin was aware of me as he used to be a music journalist so there was that initial connection.</p>
<p>The first collaboration actually happened before we’d even met in person. We had a project and it worked by him sending me tracks and then me working my guitar onto them. We met for the first time at a festival in Krakow and we just sort of gelled. We then did a show in LA and booked a couple of days in the studio and we went from there.</p>
<p>I’m a big fan of Kevin’s music – the dub element that he uses but also his rhythm tracks which would have these weird turnarounds on them that have a strange sort of intricacy. Kevin’s much more of a perfectionist than I am as I’m more into kind of winging it. No one really sounds like Kevin and that’s testament to his experimentation.</p>
<p>Q. You released the album, Concrete Desert earlier this year - what were your ambitions setting out on this project, what ideas were you looking to?</p>
<p>The album was born out of our individual impressions of Los Angeles. Kevin had lived in LA and I’d lived there and it was a case of reacting to the sense of place and the baggage of it’s weird history and its strange influences.</p>
<p>Q. We have two impressions of LA in the UK. The first is the glitz, glamour and perhaps the superficiality and then there’s the skid row, Charles Bukowski idea of the city. What’s your version of LA?</p>
<p>My perspective on Los Angeles is that it’s this weird mix of the pinnacle of the American fantasy and, at the same time, this vast noir permeated with poverty and other profound problems. For example, it’s a city which is basically an ecological disaster zone – like they have to take water from southern states just to supply Los Angeles because their own supply is only enough for a fraction of the population.</p>
<p>Then, if you look at the history of how the city was built and developed it was all wrapped up in subterfuge – cloaked in this happy, shiny persona but beneath the veil lurks this whole world of darkness and predatory ambition.</p>
<p>It’s weird because I kind of love Los Angeles. There’s so many other places like San Francisco which adopt pretensions to be some sort of idealised place to live when the truth is so much the opposite. Los Angeles is a place which just says, ‘take me or leave me’ and I admire that.</p>
<figure class="tmblr-embed tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" data-provider="youtube" data-url="https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DTmCPiAcfUgw"><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="304" id="youtube_iframe" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TmCPiAcfUgw?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque" width="540"></iframe></p></figure>
<p>Q. As an American living in the days of Trump - what’s your take on that whole phenomenon?</p>
<p>America was built by wealthy tax-dodging white men…con men. So, it’s natural that a person like that is the president as he represents those things to the fullest. Trump is a complete huckster.</p>
<p>The American dream is predicated on the desire or wish or perceived opportunity to become one of those wealth tax-dodging guys even if you have no hope in hell. I don’t think it’s an accident that he’s been elected because there are a lot of ignorant people that live in America.</p>
<p>Q. What are your thoughts on the role of the artist in times like these?</p>
<p>In terms of an artist’s role in times like these, I’m not a great believer in the power of peaceful protest to affect change and I have even less faith in musicians being able to do it. There can be quite a lot of arrogance wrapped up in protest. If you’re a privileged white guy then protesting is not an issue but if you’re (for example) from a poor ethnic minority then being arrested on a felony is a pretty life changing event. Some of that arrogance reminds me of those baby boomers who pat themselves on the back for stopping the war in Vietnam but then went on to set up these major tech companies!</p>
<p>Q. You will be playing Liverpool Psych-fest this weekend - how excited are you to be playing the Liverpool psych-fest?</p>
<p>I love Liverpool. In fact, I really like the north of England in general so I’m really excited to return and play there. When I think of Liverpool I think of the Beatles, Echo and the Bunnymen and the usual stuff but also the largest mass sightings of ferries in modern history in 1966 – unusual I know but that always comes to mind. I feel at home there and really love what they’ve done at the Psych festival and I’m looking forward to taking part and seeing what’s on.</p>
<p>Q. Psychedelia seems to be a catch all term for a multitude of different genres of music and sounds. What does the term mean to you and how would you describe your own music?</p>
<p>I think it’s kind of a weird term to use but hey, it works in the larger sense. To me, psychedelic music – perhaps because I’m older and a bit more traditional – I think of 60s garage bands or bands like The Pretty Things or even the whole drug culture.</p>
<p>But as a dead head I’ve been heavily influenced by all manner of psych bands. For me, I just play slow rock n’ roll and I tend not to worry about sub-genres or categories.</p>
<p>Q. In terms of your own journey, can you give us an insight into your own influences and perhaps (in particular) what artist or genre inspired your love of music?</p>
<p>I was in my mother’s womb when she went to see Grateful Dead in 1968 so I guess I must have absorbed that in utero!</p>
<p>I started out listening to my parent’s records which was mainly a lot of what would now be called ‘classic rock’. Then when I grew up a bit and started making my own choices the band that made me want to play music and rock n’ roll was ACDC. After that, anything heavy and psychedelic was right for me but then I grew into jazz and dub and many other types. Now, I’m just mad for music.</p>
<p>Q. Finally, what are your plans for the rest of 2017 and do you have a new project in the pipeline?</p>
<p>I’ve got a few more shows to do with Kevin and then I’ve got a solo album out early next year. After that I’ll get started on the next Earth record and then after that, a bit of a break!</p>
<p><i>The Bug Vs Dylan Carlson will be performing at Liverpool International Psychedelia Festival 22 September 2017.</i></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/48179272017-08-17T18:05:33-07:002017-08-17T18:05:34-07:00The Bug Vs. Dylan Carlson // Liverpool Psychedelia 2017<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.liverpoolpsychfest.com/bands/the-bug-vs-dylan-carlson/"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/40c70446de1489bd8a92b771d430af6dd226e34e/original/dhb1kfiwsai40uo.jpg?1503017194" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The Bug Vs. Dylan Carlson return to play <a contents="Liverpool&nbsp;Psychedelia" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.liverpoolpsychfest.com/">Liverpool Psychedelia</a> 2017.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/48166382017-08-16T13:40:15-07:002017-08-16T19:17:18-07:00Earth Announces Olympia, WA Show<p><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/628c2edb5b59b1880b7a03df8dbbca6e88111575/original/dg-pbhqxcaemypm.jpg?1502915631" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Earth announces a show in the city of their origin. Sep 09 Olympia, WA @ Obsidian. More info <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.bandsintown.com/event/15251053-earth-olympia-obsidian-2017?artist=Earth&came_from=174">HERE</a>.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/47371432017-06-07T15:22:20-07:002017-06-07T15:24:52-07:00The Bug vs Earth 'Concrete Desert' LP Available Now<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/9757e6408741f580f16c84f4719cfdc75ff7adec/original/screen-shot-2017-06-07-at-10-56-50-am.png?1496873884" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The Bug vs Earth 'Concrete Desert' LP available now. Order yours <a contents="HERE." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://ninjatune.net/release/the-bug-vs-earth/concrete-desert">HERE.<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/395dc804d10c034e8072986ee4bd1d1c29882b79/original/screen-shot-2017-06-07-at-10-56-14-am.png?1496874213" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p><!-- more -->
<p><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/ae4f294d0d51fcebf3ac195127cb6ebd66826204/original/screen-shot-2017-06-07-at-10-56-40-am.png?1496873956" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/c6c7abaae2325d4f4027d01f4a1f06098faeba8b/original/screen-shot-2017-06-07-at-10-56-27-am.png?1496874018" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/47286362017-05-31T11:11:50-07:002017-05-31T11:11:50-07:00The Bug vs Earth at Le Guess Who Festival<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/6349d6945abae4ebc4145854e066e66d1174267f/original/leguesswho.jpg?1496253822" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>The Bug vs Earth will be performing at Le Guess Who Festival on November 11, 2017. More info <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://leguesswho.com">HERE</a>. </p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/47286192017-05-31T10:54:09-07:002017-05-31T10:54:09-07:00The Bug vs Earth comes to Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia<p><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/5e06a1e3fe8f924924bec7c2f383df4422bafd8d/original/dcfb.jpg?1496253132" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The Bug vs Earth comes to Liverpool International <a contents="Festival Of Psychedelia" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://liverpoolpsychfest.com/">Festival Of Psychedelia</a> - September 22nd. Excited to return to Liverpool ?? <br> </p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/47015442017-05-08T16:05:48-07:002017-05-08T21:16:47-07:00Conversation w/ Kevin Martin & Dylan Carlson // Clash Music<img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/cb6158efd3e289dcf9cd5e2a8546f7793d09d6c4/medium/clash-logo.png?1494283983" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/0593e75baea9f07889301b9f6f282dfe0ab4cb74/original/secondleadphilsharp.jpg?1494284051" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><p>In one of recent years’ more surprising collaborations, Kevin Martin (AKA The Bug, Ice, Techno Animal, God) and Dylan Carlson (AKA Earth) have followed up a 2014 EP with a full album: ‘Concrete Desert’. </p>
<p>Having each established a reputation in what might seem, on the surface, like completely different fields — one in bass-heavy dub-inflected electronica, the other in bass-heavy minimalist guitar drone — 'Concrete Desert’ is a powerful demonstration of what genuine musical risk-taking and an ear open to shared loves can do. </p>
<p>Clash caught up with the dynamic duo at Ninja Tune’s headquarters in Kennington, London. </p>
<p>Clash: It’s great to encounter a genuinely surprising collaboration when so many these days feel like they’re just being done to grab audience share or headlines… </p>
<p>Kevin: My problem with most contemporary music culture is its safe. Some people want music to be an easily consumable thing or want comfort. I like the fact that a band like Autechre or Sunn O))), who have made zero commercial compromises, just by being committed to their aesthetic, people pick up on that: you gain an audience through respect. </p>
<p>It takes a lot of bravery to keep doing what you do if it’s not commercial. Dylan has had the lean years that I’ve had: peer pressure, family pressure, mental pressure thinking “am I mad for going down this path?” But, actually, it’s the only path I can live with myself. Buddhists believe in navigating a path through chaos: I think music is that path through chaos. </p>
<p>Dylan: When I was first starting out I lived in Aberdeen (State of Washington) for a while and I used to watch the Melvins practice. Buzz (Osborne) said, “there’s two ways to do music: you can try and do what’s happening right now which you might succeed at but you might not. Or you do what you do and you keep doing it until, if you keep doing it long enough, people catch up to you.” To me it’s like people think “why would this guy waste his time for 20 years doing this? There must be something there.” </p>
<p>So, yeah, I could have made 'Earth 2’ over and over again. When 'Pentastar’ came out we played this music festival in New York — we played one song, the Jimi Hendrix tune ‘Peace In Mississippi’ for 45 minutes. I didn’t know but a friend of mine who worked for MTV came backstage and told me the whole audience was all industry people: they’d all come to see Earth and they were furious. One lady was so angry, “who do they think they are making fun of us?!” I had no fucking idea. Supposedly Gene Simmons was there. </p>
<p>Kevin: As I’ve gotten to know Dylan I found out he moved around a lot, I did too, my dad was in the navy. I feel quite rootless. I’m sort of envious of musical forms that are pure because I love those forms whether it be reggae or hip-hop or grime or whatever but I’m just this mutant freak who ghosts through cities and scenes. </p>
<p>I am always attracted to the idea of people trying to be originators and mavericks and I feel that’s what Dylan definitely is. Also just trying to maintain a trajectory: I always aspire to a different record, I always want to surprise myself, but I don’t want it to be radically different because that can feel very kneejerk. </p>
<p>Dylan: Yeah, you don’t want to look like you’re genre-hopping but I abhor the idea of making the same record over and over and Kevin feels the same way. </p>
<p>I remember as grunge was happening, it was the tail-end of the hair metal years, and so all the want adverts for musicians were hilarious: “looks, hair, attitude: gotta have gear — we’re going places, we’ve got a development deal…” and, of course, none of those guys went anywhere because grunge killed that paradigm. Then grunge became its own by-rote thing: it’s really funny to me, the concept of picking the genre before you start the band. </p>
<p>Kevin: I literally started making music, as opposed to just absorbing it, through DIY post-punk music: the idea of independence — trying to do your own thing. Why would you want to sound like someone else? Why would you want to adopt the formula that gets you accepted? With 'Techno Animal’, as soon as we worked on something that sounded like something else we’d drop it and move on. </p>
<p>Of course it makes your life more difficult: sometimes it feels like spiting myself. 'Techno Animal’ was too noisy for hip-hop people and too hip-hop for noise people; God was too jazz for noisy people but too noisy for jazz people; Bug it’s too noisy…There’s a theme here isn’t there? Too noisy for grime people or dubstep people. </p>
<p>Really it’s just staying true to a path you feel inspired by. I want to develop my own voice. With music that’s the critical question: how can you make yourself have a voice through machinery? Same with guitar. It comes through texture, tone, philosophy, aesthetic: how can you continue to develop an aesthetic that’s true to you and feels good? </p>
<p>Your shared aesthetic is noticeable, but how did the two of you actually come to make music together? </p>
<p>Kevin: I was a fan-boy. I’d heard 'Earth 2’ and was horrified by it in a good way. Then I got totally smitten by 'Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method’ and then followed Dylan’s path from 'Hex’ and really liked how he had continually taken left turns and absolutely explored the space in music between notes and how he seemed obsessed, like me, with slowness and volume. </p>
<p>At the time I was looking to try something different with 'Angels & Devils’ and I wanted half the album to be expansive, textural, not club-orientated. When we originally worked together on what became the 'Boa’ EP, the idea was that one or two of those tracks would be on 'Angels & Devils’. But, because I felt we had created something really special in a wholly different area and I felt we would push the album in a direction that may not fit. </p>
<p>I must admit I had a hunger to do more stuff with Dylan: I think he’s a craftsman of the top drawer and, for me, I’ve become obsessed with tone and texture and Dylan has that times a zillion. </p>
<p>Dylan: I’m more often in the position of collaborating with people through Earth as the line-up changes a lot, but if I’m working with someone where I trust what they’re going to do is going to work and then with him, since he asked me, I figured ‘how can I not work with him?’ So after 'Angels & Devils’ we got asked to play Supersonic together and then the Ninja Tune 25th anniversary party in LA and that’s where the opportunity to work together came from. </p>
<p>Kevin: It was originally meant to be another EP. I popped the question: “hey, we’re going to be in LA, how do you feel about doing another EP?” Prior to going to LA I was working on some sketches in Berlin and Brazil — and it snowballed. </p>
<p>Suddenly I had a lot of sketches in front of me that I felt were alright and were very much with Dylan in mind. So I reached out to Dylan, said that we had a few days off, that I had a few more sketches, did he fancy having a crack at an album? </p>
<p>I think Dylan must have thought I was mad particularly as we only had two days booked in a studio. In all fairness it was wicked of Dylan to say yeah. </p>
<p>Dylan: I laid down my guitar tracks in those two days then Kevin did his work after that, the tweaking came later in Berlin. He reacted to what I had done. </p>
<p>Kevin: Exactly that. I reacted to what Dylan had done. Again, what was really interesting was we didn’t really know each other. When we did the first single we had no direct contact other than email. </p>
<p>So the studio sessions for 'Concrete Desert’ was the first time we were sitting next to each other, Dylan with a guitar in hand, and we were discussing ideas for the tracks — getting to know someone you know? Being able to communicate about how we could structure shit and just philosophically talking about LA. We didn’t know the album would be focused narratively on LA until after the fact. </p>
<p>So the focus on Los Angeles came later…? </p>
<p>Kevin: I realised that what I would love to do was to recreate LA again in my head. The information I got from Dylan, as a one-time resident of LA, made me think maybe I wasn’t totally mad in my perception of the city. It was me wanting to recreate the haze, the expansiveness, the alien quality of that city: trying to evoke it in a listener. </p>
<p>I think when we discussed the idea of calling the album 'Concrete Desert’, when I first heard what Dylan had ended up gravitating toward sonically, he was doing stuff that, for me, sounded like inner-city claustrophobia, but his recent stuff sounded to me like desert music, parched, dry, barren landscapes. The idea of this collision of the two — which I feel LA is — is what I hoped the album would be. </p>
<p>Dylan: I lived there for four years and I still have a weird fondness for LA that Kevin doesn’t share — but a similar view about the disparities of the city, the alienation and fractured nature of the city, the complete ecological disaster that the city is. And yet it’s the producer of fantasies, it pretty well governs the fantasies of the entire world with its output. </p>
<p>It’s the core of the American dream: Los Angeles. Yet, at the same time, it’s the city of massive homeless encampments. Because it’s so big it’s very territorial: people don’t go outside of their neighbourhoods. A friend of mine was from San Gabrielle and there are two gangs there: none of his cousins could go to school there because it meant crossing five blocks of the other gang’s territory. </p>
<p>The very insular nature of the neighbourhoods and the fact that it’s a supremely racist city. America’s a supremely racist country which it keeps trying to deny but I especially notice it having spent a lot of time in London now. </p>
<p>So the album isn’t just pure dystopia or celebration then? </p>
<p>Dylan: I consider myself weirdly optimistic. I’ve always viewed my band Earth and the music I make as an antidote to the bad stuff in the world rather than waving a flag for it. </p>
<p>Kevin: Earth’s music now is incredibly pretty — to me it’s beautiful — and 'Concrete Desert’, I feel there’s a beauty to it. OK, it’s dystopian in theme but actually, just as LA isn’t all hell, there’s sunshine and beauty in that city — and the dreams of a city, and LA in particular, there are the dreams everyone aspires to. And I didn’t just want to make an ugly record, I wanted it to have duality. </p>
<p>Some people might listen to 'Concrete Desert’ and be disappointed it doesn’t sound like ‘Skeng’ (note: track from 'London Zoo’) or may be disappointed that it doesn’t sound like 'Earth 2’. We wanted to sound like X plus Y equals Z. </p>
<p>We both knew that we wouldn’t want it to sound like a typical Earth record or a typical Bug record. I know Dylan pushed me: for instance, there’s a couple of tracks where it’s like trying to find a new form of fuzzed out jazz that swings like a motherfucker — I don’t think I would have done that without playing alongside Dylan. The collaborative process is crucial: it’s about creating sparks and collisions that form new mutations. </p>
<p>Dylan: There are musicians that I admire that are weird, solitary types in a certain way but, to me, other people do stuff you wouldn’t think of and they add to what you’re doing, so the magic happens when you interact with other musicians. </p>
<p>Kevin: When I started making music, music was the only thing I loved that helped me make sense of the world. I started because my father and my grandfather were musicians, so it was in my blood. Also I dropped out of school very young, warfare at home so got kicked out my house — there weren’t any other options. </p>
<p>Punk music was my driving force because it seemed to reflect the madness I was surrounded by. You didn’t make music as a career move: I think, now, a lot of people are doing it just to make money — same with contemporary art. I made music to make myself feel better about this world; to understand this world, and myself, a bit better — to escape this planet. </p>
<p>Dylan: That’s the thing, all the best music, there’s a sense of freedom and limitless possibilities. So much music now — and there was plenty of shit back in the old days too, we’ve just cherrypicked the good stuff and think “oh it must have been great back then,” when really it was the same — I question its motives: they don’t seem pure, there’s a lack of people who are doing music because they can’t do anything else. The best music, to me, it’s because you’re desperate to make music, it’s all you can do. </p>
<p>I’ve watched it change so much. Before, alternative music was made by people no one liked, the outcasts who had to find their people. Now it’s the cool kids doing it: the cool kids already have everything else… When I started I really wanted to fuck people off. </p>
<p>Dylan: I think that’s a common theme when we’re young. I remember when someone interviewing me asked “what inspired you in the early days?” and I said “revenge.” </p>
<p>Kevin: That’s it. I had a lot of issues and music was my way of dealing with them: it was about therapy and spite. I was all about getting immersed in the horror: I wanted my music to show the ugly madness of it all. Now I feel I’m trying to create parallel worlds and to create sounds I can’t hear anywhere else as opposed to trying to reflect the madness of everything else. There’s a shift, that’s something different. </p>
<p>Maybe I’m, finally, a more positive person? I feel I am attempting to be a craftsman at what I do. I would have spat at myself saying that 25 years ago. But I’ve fallen in love with the craft of producing sound and I’d like to leave this planet in the process of doing so. I think Dylan feels the same.<br><br>Via <a contents="Clash Music" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://clashmusic.com/features/city-of-fallen-angels-the-bug-vs-earth">Clash Music</a>.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/46415072017-03-22T11:42:17-07:002017-03-22T14:17:09-07:00PITCHFORK REVIEWS THE BUG VS EARTH "CONCRETE DESERT"<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="140" data-orig-width="530"><img src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/242a1eba473a4112bb4ded1dda2807dd/tumblr_inline_on8aq9TIJp1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure>
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<p>Despite the similarities between noise and heavy music, the pairing of <a href="http://pitchfork.com/artists/539-the-bug/">the Bug</a>’s Kevin Martin and <a href="https://sargenthouse.com/earth">Earth’</a>s Dylan Carlson still makes for a bit of a curious contrast. The UK-born Martin traffics in chest-compressing beats, drawing on a lineage spanning from dancehall through grime and dubstep. <a href="https://sargenthouse.com/earth">Earth</a>, meanwhile, is a Washington state doom band that trudges with an ambient, codeine-hazed pace. In other words, this electronic collaboration, <i>Concrete Desert</i>, is one man’s looming sonic claustrophobia versus another’s sprawling open space.</p>
<p>But dig into the nuances of their catalogs—like the sparse first-half of the Bug’s 2014 album <i><a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19742-the-bug-angels-devils/">Angels & Devils</a></i>, or the low-end of <a href="https://sargenthouse.com/earth">Earth’s</a> heatstruck churn on that year’s<i> <a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19777-earth-primitive-and-deadly/">Primitive and Deadly</a></i>—and it begins to make sense. Forget genre or even structure: Martin and Carlson value <i>pressure.</i> They revel in the attack and release of slow-building drone grooves and the contrast between thumping bass and a floating tempo. <i>Concrete Desert </i>sees them finding common ground, though there’s more debt to minimal, tense electronic music than dust-bleached rock. The beats themselves are sparer than most of what you’d expect from a producer like Martin, who is so steeped in dance, and Carlson adds a pensive quality, showing what Martin can build when he makes music to <i>stop </i>moving to.</p><!-- more -->
<p><i>Concrete</i><i> Desert</i> leaves space for the sounds to sink in, and you can really absorb the individual qualities of both artists. The album feels crucially airy—not breezy, but rather a stinging dry heat. A few songs let booming basslines take on the role of Carlson’s droning riffs, or echo them, like the tense “Snakes Vs Rats.” Given room to wander, the feedback and reverb become instruments themselves. Lower frequencies heave like rusted cellos on “Broke.” And a decayed quality brings out the static in the beats on “Don’t Walk These Streets” and “Hell A.” When the songs really take advantage of the record’s dynamic—ambient contemplation jolted by a rattling bassline or scalpel-jab guitar strum—the idea of this music as a doom-metal dubplate sinks in. On a track like “Agoraphobia,” the lowrider subs are laced with guitar echo, and it feels less like a meeting of bass music and drone and more like bass music <i>as </i>drone.</p>
<p>If the album’s title weren’t enough, Martin has stated that <i>Concrete Desert </i>is a specifically Los Angeles kind of album, and not just because it was recorded there, in <a href="http://pitchfork.com/artists/8506-daddy-kev/">Daddy Kev</a>’s studio with DJ Nobody at the console. Even if all the words are in the titles—“Gasoline,” “City of Fallen Angels,” “Other Side of the World”—the music itself is laden with a Brit’s half-awed, outsider take on L.A. It feels a bit like the sonic equivalent to English punk iconoclast Alex Cox turning to the grimier outlying regions of L.A. to depict a lawless and unpredictable concrete landscape in 1984’s <i>Repo Man</i>. (<i>Concrete Desert</i>’s spiritual resemblance to<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3dCjk_DPso"> the film’s score</a> doesn't hurt, either.) It’s neo-neo-noir music that draws you into its discomfort. If its vast expanses leave listeners vulnerable, at least there’s more space to let yourself roam.</p>
<p>via <a href="http://pitchfork.com/">Pitchfork</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/46331422017-03-16T14:32:37-07:002017-03-16T16:06:42-07:00Interview with Dylan Carlson of Earth // Red Bull Music Academy<figure data-orig-height="82" data-orig-width="204"><img src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/bc3189181e1b088af9fe80c62160b0ce/tumblr_inline_omxflgxoE21qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure>
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<p>Like many of the most important figures to emerge in the foggier, drearier strains of grunge, metal, and post-rock, <a href="https://www.thronesanddominions.com/thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson">Dylan Carlson</a> is a Seattle native. In the late ’80s, Carlson founded the band <a href="https://www.thronesanddominions.com/thronesanddominions.com">Earth</a>, which first achieved a surge of recognition with its 1992 debut album for Sub Pop, Earth 2. Carlson's work with Earth in the ’90s helped define and establish the drone style of rock, which slowed down the fury of metal and married it with the tonal interests of minimalism. As the mastermind and backbone of Earth, Carlson has come to be seen as the father of drone. With more than 15 albums to his name, he has spent three decades exploring the sonic potentials of his guitar. In recent years, Carlson has also incorporated influences from traditional folk music into his work while also collaborating with fellow experimentalists such as Kevin "The Bug" Martin.</p>
<p>Speaking at the Red Bull Studios Berlin as part of the 2017 CTM Festival, Carlson looked back on Earth's beginnings, the trials and tribulations of being an experimental metal band, and the worlds of sounds that techniques such as oblique motion opened up.</p>
<p>Hosted by <a href="http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/author/hanna-bacher">Hanna Bächer</a></p>
<p>Read the transcript after the jump.</p><!-- more -->
<p>Transcript:</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Welcome to Red Bull Studios in Berlin and please welcome Dylan Carlson. [applause]</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>The track we just heard, it’s called “Divine and Bright” and I think it was recorded in around 1990 or 1991?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah, yeah, that was our first recording session, we did it in Portland, back before Portlandia...</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Long before Portlandia.</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>But, it was at Smegma Studios which was, Mike Lastra from the long-running improv band Smegma, it was his home studio basically. It was a one-inch eight track and that was... Yeah we... I had... I was... I had recently moved back to Seattle from Olympia where I started Earth in ‘89 and then Joe Preston, who was in the band, was originally from Eugene, Oregon so he had a lot of, I guess, friends, connections, etc. in Oregon so that’s why I ended up going down there and also the price was right since it was $300 for the whole kit and caboodle. [laughs]</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Joe was in Melvins later right?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah, he went to the Melvins and before that he was in a band called Snake Pit, from Eugene.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>All these places that you mention for people here... I suppose most people here are, sort of, based in Berlin... Olympia, Seattle and Portland are, sort of all like, two hours away from each other, right?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s about... Yeah about an hour... Seattle’s... Olympia’s about an hour from Seattle and Portland’s about three hours from Seattle, so relatively close by American standards.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Did you grow up around there? Did you move around a bit?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>I was born in Seattle, but my dad worked for the Department of Defense so we moved around, pretty much continuously. So I lived in Philadelphia, Los Cruses, New Mexico, Ramstein, Germany, Augsburg, Germany, Wiesbaden, Germany, San Antonio, Texas, Manalapan, New Jersey, and then back to Seattle and then I went back and forth between Seattle and Olympia a couple times and then my missing years were in Los Angeles and then back to Seattle.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>You say you formed Earth around ‘89 in Olympia, at that time when you first started making music to get... I mean, Earth has gone through so many different variations, or installations of the band, but the very first you getting together with, I think four other guys, three, four other guys at that time.</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>There was two, Slim Moon and Greg Babior.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>What was your... Was there any... What was the mindset? Where did you want to go?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Well it was my third band, so this one I had... I guess this one that was... I had a... It was like, sort of conceptualized before I started it. My previous bands, I guess were less conceptual but this being the third time around I had, you know, sort of specific things I wanted to do… So, yeah this... I, like, set about to do those and then… I mean there’s a number of reasons I’ve been through so many members I guess. Since I had the concept and their idea, anything that didn’t sort of work with it, or they left for other reasons, since everyone’s life takes a different path.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Is in your mind, is that a necessity for a really good band, to have one person that’s consistent and sort of the leader? Do you believe in equality more?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>I’ve seen very few bands that are consensual that have worked for a long period of time. Then it seems like bands where there are strong personalities tend to break up. They all go their own way. That’s just been my experience I guess. That being said, I’m not a control freak and I’m not... I have strong ideas and a strong conception of what I’m doing and what I want to do but within that, when I get people to play with me, I get them because I like what they do.</p>
<p>I figure what they’re going to do is going to add to it. I let them do their thing. I never tell anybody what to do or how to play something or anything like that. If I didn’t like what they did I wouldn’t work with them. They’re going to come up with ideas that I can’t come up with and hopefully add to what’s being made rather than me saying, “Oh no, the bass line has to be this.” I would never tell a trombone player what to play or a cello player what to play because I have no concept of how those instruments work. I have a hard enough time with my own side of things.</p>
<p>It’s open in a lot of ways, but it’s also, because I’m the main songwriter and the main guy I guess, sign the checks at the end of the day and all that [laughs] I generally try not to control people. I’m not a control freak at all. I believe in what I call happy accidents and being able to perceive those moments and not... Whenever you go into a studio to make an album you have a certain idea of how the album’s going to come out and all this, but it’s not going to be that by the time you get done with it. It’s going to be something else as it makes its way into reality. It’s usually better than what you originally thought of because things happen that you can’t plan or foresee. Then people have their input and their part and whatever they contribute. You can’t come up with that either because you’re not them and they’re not you.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Was it an accident that there were no drums on your first proper album?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>No. Basically being around other people doing bands and a lot of other musicians, I saw people constantly, “Oh, when we find this guy, when we find the perfect drummer, then it will be ready,” or, “When we find the perfect guitar player, then we’ll be ready.” “When we build the perfect practice space, then we’ll be ready.” Always waiting for something before they would get going.</p>
<p>To me it was like, I don’t know if it’s impatience, but I couldn’t find a drummer at that time. For some reason drummers were very hard to find in the Seattle, PNW area. I just figured I’d get a drum machine and deal with finding a drummer at some other point in time. Then funnily enough during my missing years in LA I met a bazillion drummers. LA was crawling with drummers. But…</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>You weren’t playing.</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>But I wasn’t playing. Yeah, I just figured you do… To me, it’s like you do what you can with whatever you have and you don’t wait for something that may not happen. Otherwise it’s not going to... You’ll never do it.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>You don’t wait, right? In general if you have to do a thing, you do it.</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah. No, I mean I try to get stuff done. I don’t know how people spend years on an album. One thing, the cost alone, I guess it must be luxurious to take seven years to do a record or 10 years to do a record. Yeah, I’ve never had that luxury.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>This first album that I mentioned earlier is kind of, I think initially there was supposed to be another album before that but it somehow didn’t happen.</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah. Well, originally we recorded the album and then we were approached by <a href="http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/subpop-session">Sub Pop</a> to do a 7” which is why that song is split in two, because it was going to be an A and B side of a 7”. Then since there was a fabulous new device, the CD was just coming out at that time, they decided to do a CD EP of the two songs rather than a 7”. They ended up releasing the two songs on that. Then the rest of the album was never released.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>For those...</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Until it was... Well, it was bootlegged by Joe Preston first and then reissued by Southern Lord.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>He bootlegged his sort of stuff he was involved himself?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Well actually, I don’t know if I should go into it, but for some reason, well, I guess I’ll just do it, why not? Basically for some reason… Basically he got his dream come true which was to join the Melvins and then promptly got kicked out. For some reason because he couldn’t strike back at Buzz he decided I was the enemy. He went to Portland, stole the masters and started bootlegging the first Earth stuff. Then also went to Sub Pop and got paid again after being reimbursed for what he had contributed to the recording costs. Yeah, I’m not sure why but… That’s that, what happened there.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Since we’re at early ‘90s here for gossip, for those who don’t know, which role did Sub Pop play in those years for the scene sort of?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Well, they were the local record label and they, Bruce and John, they were both very different. Bruce was I would say the more adventurous and risk-taking side of the partnership and Jonathan was the more business-oriented member of the partnership. Our original relationship was with Bruce and then after they sold part of the company to Warner Brothers Bruce basically retired from music and started pursuing other interests. Yeah, they... They pretty much are the reason Seattle is even noticed because they started out... When they first started putting out bands like Mudhoney and stuff like that they paid to fly journalists out to shows, especially English journalists. Took bands to Australia and did stuff like that. They really created the whole scene as it were and made it attractive to major labels. I always felt we were tangential to all that. It was, like everything in life, it was a two-edged sword with good and bad. I’m grateful to have been on Sub Pop and gotten the chance to put stuff out, because there’s thousands of talented bands that never get to. Although that’s changing because production is in the hands of everyone now.</p>
<p>What we did was not grunge and not part of that whole thing. A lot of people I think that bought the records saying Sub Pop expecting something were disappointed and then a lot of people that would’ve liked it didn’t buy it because they saw Sub Pop and expected something. Luckily I wore a Morbid Angel t-shirt on the back of the album and so metal fans were sort of the first to really embrace what we were doing. They’ve been consistent... Metal fans are great in that they don’t pay attention to trends and if they love you, they love you flat out. They’re not necessarily looking for the flavor of the month or whatever. They’re definitely a really good core audience to have.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Maybe we should listen to a track off this then very first album that actually came out Sub Pop in 1993. This is “Seven Angels” off Earth 2.</p>
<p>Earth – Seven Angels</p>
<p>(music: Earth – “Seven Angels”)</p>
<p>This is 16 minutes long?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah we can fade it.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>I know that during this time that you were writing the record you listened to but also read stuff that <a href="http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2013/05/the-hum-of-the-city-la-monte-young">La Monte Young</a> was putting out right?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>I didn’t... I was reading about La Monte Young, finding his music was much more difficult. Luckily the Gramavision, for some insane reason, they were like a New Age label of the time, did put out a box set of his Well-Tuned Piano. Which was like five LPs, I think, or something like that. Then they put out a CD of his B Flat Blues Band, as he called it. But it was mostly reading about La Monte Young and his concepts, I guess, that I found out about through, like probably most people do, the Velvet Underground and then Terry Reilly. When I formed the band I guess what I was listening to the most at that time would have been a combination of King Crimson, ’69 to ’75, and then Slayer and minimalist composers. Saying that too, I mean, I love all kinds of music. I guess they’re… Conceptually That was the strongest influences I guess. That’s why when I first started I sat down to play guitar instead of standing. I’m a bit of an adolescent trip worship.</p>
<p>Yeah, I mean, growing up I was exposed to a lot of music by my parents because they were of the... I was born in 1968 so a product of the Summer of Love, I guess you could say. My parents were into music and stuff since they were young when they had us. Then when I discovered music for myself and was able to buy my own records I gravitated... AC/DC’s what started this all. Hearing them is what got me into music and wanting to play music and be a rock & roll star. Yeah, I’ve always thought when I would hear a song and there’d be a cool riff or a cool part of the song I was always like, “Oh, what would it be like if they stayed on that instead of moving on to the next part?” Then I read about minimalism and stuff like that. I was like, “Oh, what if we take a Slayer-style riff and play it for 20 minutes at half speed?” I guess you could say that was my one good idea. I recognized it and ran with it. Then later discovered Indian music and stuff like that. I don’t know, maybe since I have Scottish heritage it’s some sort of atavistic bagpipe thing, but I’ve always been drawn to stuff that’s repetitive and on the slower side of the tempo.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Kind of, yeah.</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah. Then Earth 2 sort of came about. Again, Earth was very conceptual in the early days. Again, the wonderful new invention of the CD opened up at the time, however long, 73 minutes, I know they’re longer now, but at the time that was the length. We were like, “Oh, let’s fill up an entire CD with one song in three parts.” Obviously tape didn’t contribute to that because they only got 30 minutes max on recording tape back then. We had to sort of splice it or fade it in and fade up, stuff like that. Whereas nowadays with Pro Tools you could conceivably make an endless record.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Or do John Cage pieces for 600 years.</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>What?</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Or do… John Cage did a piece called “600 Years.”</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah, I guess so.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>In case you don’t know, it’s in a church in Germany, I think it’s an hour south from here. It’s only a new tone every two or three years but it’s announced usually so you can go see them. When you say you were very conceptual in those early years and you talked about La Monte Young and Indian music, were you conceptual when it comes to scales and tuning as well because both La Monte Young and Indian music do?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>I never did just intonation or anything like that. I always worked with standard guitars. Later the companies started making fretless guitars and just intonated fret boards and all that kind of stuff, but by then I’d sort of moved on. Again, that was always like I’m going to work with what I have and what I have is a regular guitar. Back then I used to tune much lower and then I realized Hendrix did E flat. I defy anyone to come up with heavier riffs than that. Then Tony Iommi dropped a whole step to D and used the thinnest strings because of his fingers. It’s not about how low the guitar is tuned or how many, if you have seven or eight or nine strings now. It’s this whole kind of... Earth sort of was a response to at the time everyone was trying to be the fastest band on earth, so we’re like, “Oh, we’re going to be slow.”</p>
<p>Again, if you take something like that and make it the focus, then it’s like you’re turning music into sport. It’s like oh, then now there’s bands, “Oh, we’re the slowest band,” or, “We’re the lowest tuned band.” It’s like they forget it’s all about music originally and it shouldn’t be about these things because then you’re not paying attention to the music. You’re just worrying about something else, you know?</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>How much is your own composition and strategy about just listening to your instrument?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Well, I think you have to listen to your instrument. It’s like it’s a symbiotic relationship hopefully. Maybe some would say parasitic, but ultimately it’s about being able to transfer what’s coming through you through this. It’s listening to that. Wherever music comes from, it comes through people and then it takes the form it does because it’s coming through those people and through a certain instrument. It’s like you have to listen to it I guess, but the goal is obviously to be able to transcend whatever instrument you’re playing at the same time and make it deliver the music as effectively as possible.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>I’m kind of asking that because I know you once said, and I quite liked the idea that if you don’t play different notes, basically you play drones, that allows you to listen to what is happening inside this one note.</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah, because of the way the human ear is built, the overtone series begins to create melodies that aren’t technically there. Then there’s a note that it produces that’s like an artificial… It’s a tonic that’s not there if you analyzed it with a frequency analyzer or whatever they use for that kind of stuff. Yeah, the human ear produces melodies of its own in response to the overtone series being produced.</p>
<p>I think there’s that. Everything in the universe is vibrating. Quantum mechanics is showing us that basically everything’s a wave form, even particles are actually wave forms or in string theory they are vibrating strings or whatever. Everything is a vibrational energy. It makes sense that that’s why we make music and why we’re drawn to music and why it affects us because it’s like it vibrates us physically and then down to the molecular level.</p>
<p>It’s why musical instruments, the more they’re played, the better they sound because the vibrations organize the molecules of the instrument. Whereas instruments that are locked away and enshrined and what not usually sound horrible because they haven’t been played. That’s what they’re meant for. Not to be put in a museum and shut away and hoarded and stuff.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Talking about all this I would kind of assume that you would have gone into just intonation, but you didn’t, right? Why is that? Or maybe we should explain what it is.</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Basically it’s a other way of intonating an instrument, when all notes are based on a ratio of numbers. There’s this little thing called the Pythagorean interval that messes everything up and so it’s basically what you do with this. And so, conventional Western music, which is called equal temperament, they take that and they divide it up amongst the notes. So that’s why we have a 12-note scale. But other intonation systems have done it different ways and then you have like, Arabic and Persian scales with quarter-tones and stuff like that. So they have other ways of dealing with it.</p>
<p>Mostly I guess, like, I moved on from that. To me it’s about making music with what I have. Most of those instruments are prohibitively expensive. And again I didn’t really see the need to do that... I mean I moved... I mean I kept... I mean I still love open strings and what they call oblique motion which is the drone basically. It’s the simplest form... Or not simplest, but is a form of oblique motion where you have one note going whilst you have other notes moving against it. It’s perfectly able to do it with conventional instruments. And then there’s things you can do with conventional instruments that you can’t do with just the intonated instruments and, um… Yeah, so…</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Is oblique motion a thing that you could show with just this one guitar?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s pretty simple.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>I like simple things. Things might be simple but still need to be...</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>[plays guitar] Yeah, I guess that’s like oblique motion because the E is constantly going and then you play other notes that move against it. You know, like a lot of metal is oblique motion because there are like open strings, you know “[inaudible] is Broken,” for example, is oblique motion. [plays guitar]</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Thanks. [applause]</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>A very fast version of that song.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>How are your fingers doing?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>What?</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>How are your fingers doing after all those years?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>They’re fine. I mean. Early in my career, before I had one, I had carpel tunnel syndrome and I had to have an operation on my left wrist, but I haven’t had any problems since then. So, I mean the more you play the stronger your fingers get, unless you have an unfortunate accident or strain them or you know, somehow mess them up but I have luckily managed to avoid that.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>I think we should listen to a track from the last album before a long hiatus. Before you said you got lost in LA. This is “Tibetan Quaaludes”.</p>
<p>Earth – Tibetan Quaaludes</p>
<p>(music: Earth – “Tibetan Quaaludes”) (music: Earth – “Tibetan Quaaludes (Remixes by Russell Haswell)”)</p>
<p>This was a remix of the same song of “Tibetan Quaaludes” by <a href="http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/08/russell-haswell-interview">Russell Haswell</a> and it came out exactly 10 years after.</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah. That was... the remix album was when I just sort of started doing Earth again. There had been actually a couple remixes done when I was on Sub Pop by <a href="http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2014/08/illbient-oral-history">DJ Spooky</a>. Then Russell Haswell was someone I met the first time I came to England in 1995 because we got brought over by Paul Smith from Blast First. Bruce Gilbert who was doing a thing, DJ Bumblebee, liked to use Earth too apparently as part of his records that he was DJing, but yeah, apparently we had acquired a following amongst I guess the noisier end of electronic music folks.</p>
<p>So when I started doing Earth again before there was any new material out No Quarter Records decided to do a remix album of inviting electronic musicians like Russell and Autechre and DJ Spooky and some other folks to mangle some Earth songs. Yeah, “Tibetan Quaaludes” is one of the, it’s got… One of the most dissonant songs they’ve done. I guess in addition to oblique motion another thing I’ve always liked is sort of the contrast between dissonance and consonants. That’s a fairly extreme example of it since it was back in the day.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Back in the day, you mean before your hiatus?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah. Yeah. That was the Phase 3 album that sort of almost didn’t happen. It had a number of problems seeing the light of day, which is sort of what led to the hiatus. Yeah.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>You did actually not play guitar for those eight, nine years? Or do you always play?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>No. When I moved to LA I did not own a guitar and didn’t play guitar. Well, it wasn’t eight or nine years. I mean I was in LA for four years and then I started playing again about 2001, 2002. Then we didn’t really have a label or anything like that until Southern Lord signed us in 2005 and we did Hex. Before that we’d done, there had been some reissues and a live record done by various shysters.</p>
<p>The No Quarter guy was a good guy. They were nice people, a nice guy to work with and a good label, but the one label that we… Well “label” that we worked with right when we came back was sort of a disaster. That guy was a con man and was selling a non-existing computer repeatedly on eBay to generate income. Later went to prison for wire fraud.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>I always wonder who those people are who do that, so that’s you.</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>That was like a whole... No, I didn’t do that. That was the guy that was supposedly our label. Yeah, that’s a whole other saga that we don’t need to go into.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>To talk about later. I think you still have a very good relationship with you mentioned Southern Lord which is the label of Greg Anderson of <a href="http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/stephen-o-malley">Sunn O)))</a> who were famously apparently named after one of your releases, Sunn Amps And Smashed Guitars or named after the amps you used.</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Named after the amps.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Yeah. How was that first contacts around 2001 when you started playing guitar again and since you were playing with a drummer etc.?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>I actually met Greg when I was in LA. He invited me to a Goat Snake show. Then we just sort of kept in contact over the years. Then he invited us. He had a little showcase night at South by Southwest in 2003, I think it was, and invited us to play at it. That’s when we decided to start working together. As I said, up to that time there had been a number of small labels and so called labels that we had worked with that hadn’t worked out very well. Yeah, and then we went in the studio and did Hex.</p>
<p>I got a guitar again, like I said, about 2001. I originally just started playing to play again. I had no plans to restart Earth or even do a band again or play live or record. It was just more I wanted to play guitar again. Then started drumming or I met Adrienne and we started playing together and eventually sort of morphed into music. After a period of what I call therapy music, we actually, I started writing again and even though... I’ve never wanted to make the same album over and over again. I’ve always, I’ve never understood that mentality. To me it’s like an album represents a specific period of time and a specific set of circumstances. You can’t recreate it and so there’s really no point in trying to recreate it. I guess a lot of people, they have a successful album and so they think, “Oh, we’ve got the formula,” and they repeat it ad nauseam. Coldplay. [laughs]</p>
<p>I’ve never thought that way. As you grow and change as a musician you want to grow and change as a recording artist and do different things and try. You have different concepts for a record. To me that’s always been important. Not only should a song have an arc, but the album should also have an arc. Every album is different and has a different set of circumstances. It’s a period of time that won’t be the same and you’re preserving it, kind of, unlike the live experience where it’s like a moment in time that will never be repeated and is not being preserved. It’s a luxury to get to go into a recording studio and work on stuff, a time to try and do your best work and do something different and experiment.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>For this album that then came out, Hex, as you just said you introduced Adrian, said that you met Adrienne Davies who played drums with you for a couple of albums. How did that change you to work with a drummer as Earth for the first time?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>I’d worked with a drummer on Pentastar. It made my life easier in some respects because I didn’t have to program a drum machine anymore, and then obviously you’re working with another musician, so they’re contributing something that you can’t. I’d worked with drummers in the two bands I was in before Earth, so it wasn’t strange. I’d never been opposed to having a drummer. It had just always been difficult to find one.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Let me maybe put it differently. You mentioned consonance and dissonance before, especially in this dual setup of Adrienne and you. Would you ever approach a dual setup as one person in the dissonant one and one being the consonant one?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Aiming at resolution?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>No. Everyone... Drums to me are not… They’re melodic but in a different way than a guitar or a cello or whatever, but they’re rhythmic, and then sometimes time keeping and sometimes not. They’re a timbre and color instrument that adds something and holds things together, I guess, is the way I look at it. But it’s not… Drums to me aren’t consonant or dissonant. They’re their own thing. Unless there’s tuned percussion like, say, a tabla, which is melodic or tuned cymbals or bells and stuff like that that can be melodic or harmonic like a vibraphone or something, but drums in and of themselves I don’t consider that way.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>You started touring, I think even Russell Haswell had you set up an early tour? Is that right?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>You started touring around that time. How did that feed back into the tracks that you made?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>I began to write a lot of stuff while we were touring and I’d work on songs in a live situation and introduce songs in a live situation. Then we’d always play new stuff on tour as well as the stuff on the album that we were touring on. We’d always have new stuff to play for the next album, hopefully. That was the biggest change… Not just writing at home and then recording. It was showing stuff to the audience before it was finished.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>There’s another double album that you did, Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light, and I want to listen to a track off that, and I want to listen to a track that I think was specifically not improvised but composed which is “Old Black.”</p>
<p>Earth – Old Black</p>
<p>(music: Earth – “Old Black”)</p>
<p>I could let this run forever. As I said, this was a composed track. Maybe you want to explain in this specific session, how would you move on from that, having one composed track as an opener?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>The arc of the album was from composed, the most composed track that opened the record, to the ending track which was completely improvised in the studio. That was the arc of that session. Then I composed “Old Black.” When I’m writing, I sometimes will set little jobs for myself or try something that I haven’t done before. That specific song, oh, I’m going to write in a minor key and I want to do a traditional structure, ABABC I believe is how it comes out. It’s verse, chorus, verse, chorus, and then an outro. That’s how that song originated, I guess you could say. That and, yeah. That was sort of it, was the little task I’d set myself songwriting. Then like I said the Angels Of Darkness albums were recorded all at the same time, both albums, but there was too much to do just one record. It kind of came about, I had had liver failure and was diagnosed with hepatitis B, wild-type, and so I booked a two week tour with Wolves in The Throne Room and went into the studio afterward. I wasn’t sure if that was going to be it for both Earth and myself. It turned into a very productive session and we did a lot of material, especially with all the improvising, which I credit Lori Goldston for helping me with that. She’s an amazing cello player and an amazing musician period. Probably the most formidable musician, all around musician, I know I would say.</p>
<p>When I was talking about albums having an arc, that was the arc of that project was to... Cos there were some composed songs that I had worked on on the tour with the Wolves and then we would also improvise quite a bit every night. I mean the improvising part sort of started with the Bees Made Honey album. I was listening to a lot of jazz stuff, I guess. I’m a self-confessed Dead head. That was one of the things I always loved about the Grateful Dead was their improvisatory nature and the fact that none of their live shows were the same and none of the songs were the same night after night.</p>
<p>That’s the way I look at the live thing. I’ve never understood the concept of like, “Oh we’re going to try to recreate an album on stage.” I mean to me I would just go mad, that would drive me crazy. Then also the fact that if I want to hear the record I will play the record, that’s why it was recorded. Just put the record on and lip sync, or pretend to play if you want to recreate it live night after night.</p>
<p>Whereas to me I’ve always thought live, I mean what I love about the live experience is that it’s not the same and it’s always different and it’s different every night, even if you’re playing the same songs it’s different every night. I’ve always tried to leave, well especially since the Bees album, always tried to leave moments where improvisation is possible or required cos that’s what’s exciting about the live thing, is like you and an audience are coming together to create this moment that will never happen again, and the song will never be played the same way again, and you’re opening yourself up to music and letting music dictate what’s happening.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>What would be the compositional tasks or challenges that you set up for yourself, or maybe even you would suggest for people to set up specific ones?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>I never suggest them to other people. Like I said I do the bulk of the songwriting, when there is songwriting. Then even in the improvisatory tracks I’ll usually come up with the riffs or whatever that are going to be used for that. The exceptions was the Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light track which was just, like we rolled tape and, you know, started playing.</p>
<p>I don’t know it’s usually stuff like, “Oh I’ll try something that’s like conventional song writing”, or so-called conventional songwriting, just trying structures that are, you know, like something that’s a recognized way of doing something I guess. So I guess that would be it, or I want to try and do a piece that does this or a piece that does that or does this evoke this. I want to do a quiet piece or stuff. I mean they only really make it on... They’re like tasks in my head a bit. I guess to a lot of people they’re just songwriting.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Another album you did after this, Primitive and Deadly, and I think it was first conceived, or parts of it was first conceived for your solo project and we have to talk to you about your solo project. We have to talk about Albion and I think it’s maybe mostly Germans are in this room, not all people would know what Albion stands for. What does it…</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Albion is an old name for England. It’s also a name that connotes the mythic Britain or magical Britain. The original name for the island was white, alba, Latin for white, because of the cliffs of Dover and I guess also because of all the mist. I guess it was during Angels of Darkness really I was listening to a lot of English folk rock bands like the Pentangle and Fair Port Convention and Mr. Fox. I guess I’m primarily of English and Scottish extraction with a heavy dose of Swedish and Finn in there as well. I don’t know if being near my end made me think about my roots or something like that, but I’d always liked...</p>
<p>My grandmother came from Scotland right after the war to America so when we lived in Germany we would visit relatives in Scotland, and so I’d been to England a number of times and always enjoyed it. Then when I was touring extensively, once Earth was going again, we played in England a lot. That was our first, I guess the first country outside the US that really embraced us. I’ve always liked it there and been into the history and then I got into history and occult folklore of the island and so I started doing... I didn’t want that, because that influence, the Angels records, I didn’t want Earth to be tied to that, so that Earth could change and do its thing album to album, so I started a solo project that was devoted to that.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>And where you would do field recordings?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>I mean that was like I was recording environmental sounds, I guess, I mean it was on a trip for a specific purpose, but none of them turned out to be usable, so…</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Do you mind explaining what psychogeography is?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Well, I guess psychogeography is a term... I’m not that familiar with the term myself but it was a term coined by the writer Iain Sinclair. I think he coined the term, or maybe the critics coined the term to describe what he does. I don’t know. Apparently it’s like being open to the psychic influences of geographical locations and perceiving the sort of different time periods that occupied that part of space, time, I guess is the concept.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>You once had a spiritual encounter in Camden, is that right? Or is it something you don’t talk about?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s not really something I talk about. I had personal experiences of a supernatural nature, I guess. That’s what spurred on the project, I guess that’s what I’ll say. It’s been a long time completing the project and everyone’s been really patient, for which I’m grateful. I still have the last part of the project to complete, which is the book, which is written. It’s just now I’m figuring out how to get it published and all that kind of stuff. The album and DVD are out and have been delivered. That’s the last part of the project and that will explain more about what inspired the project.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>I was going to play a track, Falling With a 1000 Stars. Do you want any specific one?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>No, you can choose.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>This is “Reynard the Fox.”</p>
<p>Albion – Reynard the Fox</p>
<p>(music: Albion – “Reynard The Fox”)</p>
<p>All right, time has come for any of you to ask questions if you like to. There’s going to be a mic that we’re going to try to pass around if the cable allows. Is there anyone who wants to start? You all look at me, you need to look at the mic person.</p>
<p>AUDIENCE MEMBER</p>
<p>OK, then I’m just starting. How did this collaboration come about with <a href="http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2014/08/the-bug-interview">The Bug</a> and what is the process of working with each other?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Hello? It came about through a mutual friend of ours, the artist Simon Fowler, who’s done covers for Earth, and for The Bug and other bands, as well as lots of other art. He asked me if I wanted to do some guitar for these two 12”s. Basically he sent me the basic tracks and I recorded guitar parts and then sent them back. Then he edited and did whatever he does. Yeah, that’s sort of how it worked.</p>
<p>We have a full-length album coming out this year. That one I guess worked a little different, in that we did a show together in Los Angeles and so since we were there I went into the studio and played guitar tracks and a couple multi-tracks on stuff that he was working on. We were actually in the studio together for that one but then, again, he takes them back and fiddles with them until he likes them, I guess. Then releases them.</p>
<p>AUDIENCE MEMBER</p>
<p>OK, thanks. How does it differ for you if you’re working by email, like lots of people do nowadays, or being in the studio with somebody? I always think there’s some magic happening you can’t just come away with this email process.</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah. I have yet to master a digital audio recording technology. I’m kind of a dinosaur and have to use a studio and have someone else twiddle the knobs for me. Yeah, I guess that’s the closest I’ve come to that sort of working together. I’d like to learn how to use digital recording stuff, I mean mix it with some analog output gear and stuff like that, just so I can do stuff on my own and not be tied to studios and stuff like that. Just because the costs of studios are increasingly prohibitive. Although, that said, there are also plenty of small studios that are not expensive and they do great work and need support. I certainly hope people will continue to use studios as well as their laptops.</p>
<p>Yeah, it seems weird to me, that kind of long distance sort of collaboration. I guess it probably works well for some people. I think it’s always nice when it’s face-to-face interaction, rather than remote interaction. It’s like playing live. Technically we could all stay home and watch a band on Skype, and maybe that’s the future, I don’t know. There’s something to be said for being all in the same environment and at the same moment interacting with one another that can’t really be replicated.</p>
<p>AUDIENCE MEMBER</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>AUDIENCE MEMBER</p>
<p>I wanted to ask if you were ever planning to sing on record again?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>I don’t have any plans to. We’ll see what happens. I never discount anything but, yeah, there’s no plans to at the moment. I haven’t practiced in a long, long time and even when I did I was not a vocalist of note. Yeah, we’ll see.</p>
<p>AUDIENCE MEMBER</p>
<p>When you’re home and you play guitar on your own, no one’s listening to you, what music do you play?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Right now I’ve been going through a book on R&B guitar and a book on Bill Evans songs for guitar. I guess jazz and R&B.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>OK, anyone else?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>It’s all about the front row today.</p>
<p>AUDIENCE MEMBER</p>
<p>What is your preferred guitar tuning? Do you play standard?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>It’s standard drop to half step, E flat, Hendrix tuning.</p>
<p>AUDIENCE MEMBER</p>
<p>That’s it?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>That’s it.</p>
<p>AUDIENCE MEMBER</p>
<p>Someone else?</p>
<p>AUDIENCE MEMBER</p>
<p>Are there any plans for a new Earth record?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ve been writing material. We don’t have a recording date set or any of that kind of stuff. Our contract with Southern Lord ended so I’m not sure yet where it’s going to find a home. Yeah, definitely, hopefully we’ll get recording sometime this year.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>If there’s no one else do you want to let people out with some of that jazz or R&B?</p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON</p>
<p>[laughs] Uhh, no.</p>
<p>HANNA BÄCHER</p>
<p>Cool. Before that, thank you. [applause]</p>
<p><a href="http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/dylan-carlson-lecture">(via Red Bull Music Academy)</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/46236942017-03-09T11:48:37-08:002017-03-09T13:06:41-08:00The Bug vs. Earth Release Premiere Track - 'Don't Walk These Streets' <img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/67715d3754bad610a38934aff7573dbdf9465cdc/original/screen-shot-2017-03-09-at-11-06-37-am.png?1489088180" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/441240b31ff24d9d640a7730aba9a69d7f07cc5c/original/pack.jpg?1487787879" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><em><a contents="By Vince Bellino" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://decibelmagazine.com/blog/2017/3/9/track-premiere-the-bug-vs-earth-dont-walk-these-streets">By Vince Bellino</a> </em><br> <p>Walking through Los Angeles can an interesting experience, one that isn’t always easy to process. Such is the inspiration for “Don’t Walk These Streets,” a song off the collaborative album between producer Kevin Martin (<a contents="The Bug" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://ninjatune.net/artist/the-bug">The Bug</a>) and guitarist <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson">Dylan Carlson</a> of drone outfit <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thronesanddominions.com/">Earth</a>, collectively known as The Bug Vs. Earth </p>
<p>Concrete Desert blends The Bug’s sense of melody and electronic influences with Earth’s buzzing, heavy soundscapes. </p>
<p>Martin, who hails from Berlin, describes his experience in Los Angeles while recording Concrete Desert that inspired “Don’t Walk These Streets.” </p>
<p>“‘Don’t Walk These Streets’ was really written as a reaction to feeling absolutely alienated and set adrift in the surreal manifestation of the American Dream that is L.A,” he says. “It’s a smacked out jazz, fuzzed up trip, into a social void, that I wrote after realizing there is zero safety net in the States for anyone that falls off the gravy train. And as a pedestrian walking a lot around the city in my stay during the recording of Concrete Desert, I attempted to conjure the feeling of sheer dread that I felt wandering across the Hollyweird landscape.” </p>
<p>Carlson, who lived in Los Angeles for a few years in the late 90’s, echoed Martin’s impressions of the city. </p>
<p>“Well, it’s something Kevin really noticed about LA and I confirmed it for him,” Carlson says. “You’re viewed as crazy if you walk anywhere in LA (more than a block or 2) or use mass transit - even though when I lived in LA 97-00, I did both regularly. Kevin is conceptually more involved with titles and stuff, I’m more of a guitar slinger/hired gun. In this track, the guitar is definitely the most abstracted from traditional guitar sounds, which I quite like.”</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="TmCPiAcfUgw" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/TmCPiAcfUgw/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TmCPiAcfUgw?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="400" width="520" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Ninja Tune will release the entire album of spaced out soundscapes that is Concrete Desert on March 24. You can preorder the record <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://ninjatune.net/release/the-bug-vs-earth/concrete-desert/">here</a>.<br><br><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/001ccd29b33918a9fc589f71af041630f933371c/original/static1-squarespace-1.jpg?1489088216" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><em> Photo By Phil Sharp</em><br> </p><a contents="(via Decibel)" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://decibelmagazine.com/blog/2017/3/9/track-premiere-the-bug-vs-earth-dont-walk-these-streets" target="_blank">(via Decibel)</a>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/45407042017-01-06T13:37:26-08:002017-01-06T18:33:00-08:00Earth to headline Dunk! Festival 2017<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/218bbef5a760a678f2608963f90113d44573844a/original/unnamed.jpg?1483736858" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Earth will be headlining Dunk! Festival, May 25-27th. Tickets are available <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.dunkfestival.be/festival/#tickets" target="_blank">HERE</a>.Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/44076372016-10-06T12:15:33-07:002016-11-03T11:33:08-07:00Dylan Carlson of Earth interview // Noisey<p> </p>
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<p>"Away with the fairies."<br><br>That's an old Irish saying that I came across years ago, while I was dating a patient Irishman with a superhuman threshold for my often wandering mind. "You're away with the fairies again," he'd say with a grin, startling me out of whatever reverie had momentarily captured my imagination. I asked him what it meant the first time he said it, and he obligingly gave me a quick Celtic mythology lesson. That common phrase has its roots in the doings of the "little people," the parallel universes said to be contained within their innocuous-looking hill mounds, and various examples of the eldritch mischief that's allegedly plagued the long-suffering Irish people for centuries.</p>
<p>The Celtic folk tradition is far darker than a leprechaun-loving public would like to believe, and bleeds over into the rest of the British Isles, who host their own versions of that shadowy netherworld. This is the world that <a href="http://thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson">Dylan Carlson</a>—renowned musician, recovered addict, and forever controversial ex-friend of a famous dead man—moves within. Best known as the riff-wielding cornerstone of Seattle drone gods <a href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/thronesanddominions.com">Earth</a>, Carlson is also an accomplished solo musician, having released a variety of albums and EPs under the moniker Drcarlsonalbion.</p>
<p>His solitary compositions speak the language of drone, but as we hear on his most recent work, <i>Falling With a 1000 Stars and Other Wonders from the House of Albion</i>, there's a certain gentleness at play, manifested in quiet, dusky, looping melodies. The album—which he funded via a successful (but stressful) <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/160700771/dylancarlson-wonders-from-the-house-of-albion-lp-c/description">Kickstarter</a> campaign—is not altogether dissimilar from Earth's latter-day work (the wavering, pastoral sunshine of <i>The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull </i>leap to mind) . However, it is a wholly personal effort, and one that springs from an unexpected source—the faeries.</p>
<p>That's not the whole of it, of course, but I was surprised to find out just how large the little people loomed in Carlson's creative process. I sat down with him and his wife, London-based artist and dancer Holly Carlson, to get to the root of the album's otherworldly inspirations. In an aside, he mentioned the strange legacy of his friendship with Kurt Cobain (he told me that he still gets sent death threats to this day, especially when he announces a new tour) but that's not what we're focusing on in this piece.</p>
<p>Our focus here is less... terrestrial, shall we say. He brought up how his Scottish grandmother's stories got him interested in eldritch matters—and in the privacy of our dark nook, with voices low, we also ended up talking a lot about ghosts.</p><!-- more -->
<p><br><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3804620346/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=de270f/minimal=true/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 350px;"><a data-cke-saved-href="http://drcarlson.bandcamp.com/album/falling-with-a-1000-stars-and-other-wonders-from-the-house-of-albion" href="http://drcarlson.bandcamp.com/album/falling-with-a-1000-stars-and-other-wonders-from-the-house-of-albion">Falling with a 1000 Stars and other wonders from the House of Albion by Dylan Carlson &amp; Coleman Grey</a></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>Noisey: You mentioned that your grandma is Scottish.<b> </b></b><b>Did she tell you fairy stories?</b><br><b>Dylan Carlson</b>: The one tale that she told was about this seer, this guy with a second sight that predicted all this bad stuff for one of the clans, I can't remember which one it was at this point…I think it was the Macdonalds. And my grandfather, during the war, was stationed in a English town that had a White Lady. These two buddies of his were sneaking out of camp to go to a cockfight, and wanted him to go with them. He didn't go, and apparently my granddad heard the White Lady scream, and saw her in a medical ward. Those two guys died in a car accident on the train coming back from the cockfight. Those would be the two stories that I remember.</p>
<p>Being into metal, there are a lot of supernatural themes that run through the music. I've always been a history buff. My dad was a history major, my brother is a history professor and archivist. The history thing runs genetically. When I was 12 in Texas, [at my school] a kid needed to turn his Rush t-shirt inside out because it was considered Satanic, [but] the librarian was really cool. They had a book on magick that talked about Edward Kelly and stuff. I found that stuff early on in my youth.</p>
<p><b>Where do you find these stories now? What sources do you use to find the things you're interpreting now on the new record?</b><br>My new stories are found in two sources. There's the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Ballads">Child Ballads</a>, which is a five-volume set of old the folk songs that've been collected; those are just the lyrics, the music is harder to find. There is only one collection of the music. It's a two-volume set and the last time it was issued was in 1972 by Princeton. They've never republished it. I went to Cecil Sharpe House, which is part of the English Folk Dance and Song Society; they have a library, so I got some stuff there.. There are certain songs where they know that they have the music, like the song "Elfin Night" that morphed into" Scarborough Fair" over time. A lot of the songs with a supernatural element, but moving forward, they would drop out the supernatural elements. It's kind of like "Danny Boy"— the only reason it survived is because the guy that heard some old lady walking by singing it. She was the last person to remember that song. Now we hear it at Irish wakes, but without that, it would have been gone.</p>
<p><b>What you're doing fits perfectly in this tradition of folk reinterpretation, using these unorthodox methods. Throw distortion in there, and it opens up a whole new realm.</b><br>It's kind of weird. With folk, there are people that take it and do stuff with it, but there are hardcore people that are like, 'Oh, we must bury it in amber and preserve it." I think that's kind of lame. To me, it should be a living tradition, not a museum piece.</p>
<p><b>Metal likes to bury things in amber too, as I'm sure you might've noticed through your years of experimentation. </b><br>It's funny how it went from how AC/DC was heavy metal, and Led Zeppelin was heavy metal…it was all heavy metal or hard rock. Now, it's been parsed into more and more specific micro-genres. It's really strange.</p>
<p><b>When you were choosing these particular songs, what behind your selection process?</b><br>I tried to restrict myself to stuff that is from the historical record. Most of the information about that stuff is from trial records, in witch trials when faeries appear. Unfortunately, most of that material is in the ecclesiastical court records, which have never been gone through. I could apply to have access to them, but that would take a long time. Maybe if I decide to become an academic or something, follow my brother's footsteps <i>[laughs]</i>. Climb the Ivory Tower.</p>
<p><b>Why faeries? </b><br>I wanted to dispel the Disney version of faeries. In the historical record, they're very different from what they became in the Victorian era. The process began with Shakespeare, in Twelfth Night, where they made them smaller and friendlier.</p>
<p><b>Speaking of the Victorians, are you familiar with those famous faerie photos? I can't think of the name of the sisters that faked it, but there was this incredibly famous photo of what people believed to be faeries.</b><br>Yeah, the Cottingley ones! Actually, the famous author Arthur Conan Doyle got behind the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingley_Fairies">Cottingley Fairies</a> photographs.<br><br><b>Oh yeah, he was deeply involved the Spiritualist movement.</b><br>And actually, both his father and grandfather were committed to asylums for claiming to see fairies. So he was hellbent to prove that they weren't insane, and that was a big part of why he got behind the Cottingley thing.</p>
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<p><b>You mention in the press bio for the new record you drew on some of your own experiences on this album, too; can you tell me about them?</b><br>The one that kickstarted it all was when I was on a press trip for [Earth's] <i><a href="http://thronesanddominions.com/angels-of-darkness-demons-of-light-ii-2012">Angels of Darknes</a> </i>record. I basically almost died of liver failure right before we did those records, so I was still recovering from that. I had an experience with an entity right around where Holly lived in Camden. Another one, when I was at Waterloo Station. Interestingly enough, Waterloo Station used to be a marsh that was owned by the Earle of Rundell. It was a famous pleasure garden. And. that whole area—basically if you were an astrologer or a magical practitioner of the era, you all lived in this area. It was outside the city of London; the south side of the river has housed all the things that the city-dwellers did not approve of.</p>
<p><b>So that all stuck with you.</b><br>There was the ghost in Leeds, too. I was in this hotel, all the rooms were themed, and I was in the Whitby room. I was asleep, and the curtain opened and woke me up. The sun was shining. I went into the bathroom, and during the night, something had unscrewed the hot water tap and the sink was running over and filled up this garbage can. It was totally screwed on when I went to bed.</p>
<p><b>So in your experience, England is really a hot spot for that kind of activity, and this album feels like a very Dylan Carlson way to process that. Musically speaking, what did you do to make these songs come to life?</b><br>I met this guy named Drew, who works with Alasdair Roberts, who's a folk musician from Glasgow. He turned me on to this Scottish music, this old tradition called the high music. It's basically the laments of dead chiefs, and it's based on a tradition called keening, that women would sing at funerals. It's this really slow, monotonous and limited melodic range music. He turned me onto it, and I really liked it. This kind of influenced how I did the folk songs—how I stripped them to their melodies, put a bunch of drones in the background. I decided to keep it quite limited.</p>
<p><b>The folk tune is still buried in there, though. It's really interesting—even when I heard the record I did not know really what to expect. I was thinking it'd be a Scott Kelly kind of</b><b> thing, dark acoustic music, and then—whoa.</b><br>I don't even know how to play acoustic guitar, so the world's safe from that!</p>
<p><b>It seems like every older metal musician either gets into that dark folk kind of thing, or goes country.</b><br>I love country. I love George Jones. I got thrown out of a bar for playing George Jones once. I put 5 dollars in the jukebox and played "He Stopped Loving Her Today" for every song. It came on like 20 times.</p>
<p><b>Do you have any interest in going into a different direction with this stuff and doing a straight up folk record, or do you think you've got it out of your system with this one?</b><br>Most of the people that I know that I like that are doing folk music, like Alasdair Roberts, they are doing modern folk. It was really cool, I got to work with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/records/n3fxcx">Maddy Prior for the BBC</a>. That was fun, she was really cool. If the opportunity came up, I probably wouldn't turn it down but we'll see what happens, I try to keep all of my options open.</p>
<p><b>Do you think you'll make more of the kind of music on <i>Falling With a 1000 Stars</i>, then?</b><br>I don't know, we'll see. I'm about to work on another solo record starting in a couple of days. This one has more of a desert-vibe. I don't know what the next record's going to be. There's no blueprint; I don't like making the same record over again. It's impossible because everything is different every time. Also like, why?</p>
<p>All music has repetition, but within that…there are a few things I always try to keep in mind: songs should still have an arc, within that arc there should be melodic passages that also have an arc. It's not about starting and then finishing. When I first started playing slow, it was a reaction to the fact that everyone was playing fast. I love Slayer, but everyone was trying to be the fastest band on earth. When you reduce music into one element, it turns into an athletic event, rather than music. Then the exact opposite happened, everyone wanted to be the slowest band on earth. You're ignoring the music part because you're focused on tempo. Take people somewhere and bring them back. It's not about just being slow or loud or fast.</p>
<p><b>Is music a spiritual thing for you?</b><br>I think that music is spiritual. Everything around us is made of vibrational frequent energy. Basically, matter is frozen and a standing wave. As a musician, my goal is to make music that is transcendent and isn't specific of a certain time. Good music transcends time. It's timeless. Music takes a certain shape when it goes through me. When I have a really good show…I start and I know when it's done.</p>
<p><b>There's so much real magic involved on this record, too; Holly mentioned to me earlier that you used to be more interested in sort of the physical side of creating magick.</b><br>Spells have always interested me, since I was in junior high. It's more of an abstract and historical approach now; for the most part. I think it just happens. The world doesn't operate on a rational basis. We have mastered electricity, but even electricity, we don't really know anything about it. Like that it flows instantaneously in a circuit. Electricity doesn't flow like water, it's instantaneously throughout the entire circuit and it's not rational. Weird things happen…unexplainable things happen.</p>
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<p><b>The cover art for the album seems like it's another one of those weird coincidences—it looks just like Holly! You guys worked together on the artwork for this, right?</b><br><b>Holly Carlson</b>: It was kind of an accident!</p>
<p><b>Dylan Carlson</b>: The first time I saw her at Union Chapel, she looked like an entity I'd seen before.</p>
<p><b>Holly Carlson</b> : When we first met, it was a little bit awkward. We knew a lot of the same people, and we knew who each other were. Dylan was kind of shy and didn't say much. He said he didn't say much because he thought that I was one of the faeries; maybe that sounds super cheesy, but that's what he said. When he asked me to do the artwork, I was a little surprised. I am used to making art that is just for me. I've been definitely been going down more of an abstract route, so I told him to tell me exactly what he wanted. What he usually does with artists is like, 'This is the vague idea, go with it,' and I think that's really beautiful. I really wanted him to like it, regardless of the fact that it was done by me. I didn't want that to affect it.</p>
<p>He said that he wanted there to be a female fairy-like creature. He sent me some reference images, which were drawn images. I didn't have anything else as a reference. I was trying to make it not like me. When I drew it in pencil, it didn't look like me at all. Once I painted it, I couldn't really recognize it. Then everyone was like, "it's you!"</p>
<p><b>The resemblance <i>is</i> pretty uncanny. Overall, was this tough record to get together?</b><br><b>Holly Carlson</b>: He kind of had to fight, even after the [Kickstarter] funding.</p>
<p><b>Dylan Carlson</b>: Obviously you go up and down after a project takes this long. I'm much more used to making a record, like boom, get it done and get it out. This has taken a lot longer. I had to pay for everything. I did everything myself. Going back to DIY 25 years in <i>[laughs]</i>. Nothing I had done was self-released before this. Nowadays, there are very few labels that are doing anything labels used to do, other than putting out product. Unless they are running recording costs, which some don't even anymore, it's very self-run. They are just paying for the pressing and taking half of the money. Ideally, I think the best thing would be to self-produce and then license it. It's obviously nice to have a budget to work with, too.</p>
<p>Looking back on it, I doubt I will ever do that [Kickstarter] route again. If you're the kind of person who budgets, Kickstarter is a great idea. But I'm not that kind of person. I go, 'Oh! I have an idea! Let's do it.' I didn't do enough planning or budgeting. I didn't realize how expensive stuff could be.</p>
<p><b>Do you think you'll go with a self-release next time, or do you prefer having that label support?</b><br>The music industry has changed drastically. In the 1990s, everyone was expecting to get signed to a major label. I knew we wouldn't be. That just totally vanished. Even if you have a huge album out, it's not like you're living the high life. The industry's changed so much from what it used to be. There's no money. No one's getting million-dollar advances and shit like that anymore. Licensing music is where you make money. That's why hip-hop makes so much money. It costs almost nothing to produce and then they license it…and they're guaranteed sales. They're making money right away. You don't need gear…you just need a studio. That's why all the big studios are closed.</p>
<p>I don't see it going back, unless the internet just stops. It's about finding other ways to sell yourself. Even touring…the more you toured, the better it got. Now you can over-tour. People are very different about touring now. I'll say this for the States. The charts in the States are sales-driven. In Europe, there's no unified chart. In England, you see the difference. In England, there's still print media. Print media can still influence things.</p>
<p><b>Have you noticed how your British fans have reacted to this very British album?</b><br>I think that England is my biggest market outside of the US. I get recognized sometimes in London, and that never used to happen to me, ever. It's very strange. We were in Durham, and there was this guy that looked like this guy I knew from Leeds. I walked up to him and I said, 'Hey are you Drew from Leeds?' He freaked out because he was listening to Earth when I walked up to him. He said no, but he always gets recognized as this guy from Leeds. He was like, 'What the fuck are you doing here?'</p>
<p>It was like I was an apparition of someone else.</p>
<p><br><b>EARTH on tour 2016:</b><br>Fri 21/10/2016 Belgium, Ghent, Vooruit (Film Fest Gent) - playing a live score to ‘Belladonna of Sadness’</p>
<p>Sun 06/11/2016: UK, Newcastle, The Cluny 2 <br>Mon 07/11/2016: UK, London, Koko (supporting NEUROSIS)<br>Tue 08/11/2016: UK, Birmingham, Mama Roux's<br>Wed 09/11/2016: UK, Manchester, The Ruby Lounge <br>Thu 10/11/2016: UK, Bristol, The Fleece </p>
<p><br><i>Photos by Holly Carlson</i></p>
<p><i>Kim Kelly is hunting for ectoplasm on <a href="http://twitter.com/grimkim">Twitter</a>.<br><a href="https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/dylan-carlson-is-away-with-the-faeries">(via Noisey)</a></i></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/43750612016-09-15T17:09:42-07:002017-01-10T06:30:33-08:00Adrienne Davies // Bandcamp Daily<p><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://daily.bandcamp.com/2016/09/15/adrienne-davies-interview/?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=Adrienne%20Davies" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/60028d74408ec4a859764db27da4b8862d222112/medium/screen-shot-2016-09-15-at-4-42-00-pm.png?1473984092" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="" /></a><br><br><br><br><br><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://daily.bandcamp.com/2016/09/15/adrienne-davies-interview/?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=Adrienne%20Davies" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/0629d959ef92db9a9cf0c608aa5ced991d8b0af5/original/screen-shot-2016-09-15-at-4-42-11-pm.png?1473984097" class="size_l justify_left border_" /></a><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>On a sticky, sun-drenched early evening in late July, Adrienne Davies is scrunched down low behind her hybrid Ludwig/Gretch drum kit, smiling, weaving her arms and legs in an intricate pattern. As she slams on the snare—which she does so infrequently it almost seems like she’s deliberately avoiding it—her eyes widen. She moves so slowly that it looks like she’s performing underwater aerobics. </p>
<p>She’s on stage at the Mohawk in Austin where her band, <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://sargenthouse.com/earth">Earth</a>, is opening for their good friends <a contents="Boris" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://sargenthouse.com/boris" target="_blank">Boris</a> on a U.S. tour commemorating the deluxe reissue of 2006’s Pink. Aside from being unspeakably hot, the show is also going to be loud, long, and slow. </p>
<p>At one point mid-set, the heat causes a local doom-bro to collapse on the concrete, as if gravity and Davies’ thudding bass drum are psychically commanding him to find cooler ground. As the venue’s staff drag him safely to the wings, the trio on stage is still locked in a hypnotic trance. They carry on, playing “Ouroboros is Broken,” a beautifully demented eight-minute dirge. Davies either doesn’t notice the fallen soldier, or is so locked in to the song’s heaving forward motion that she can’t break off, keeps the momentum going. She’s in control. </p>
<p>At a certain point about 50 minutes into their hourlong slot, Davies turns to guitarist Dylan Carlson and flicks her wrist horizontally across her throat, the universal symbol for ‘we’re fucking done here.’ Carlson, the only original member of the drone-doom band, is a Pacific Northwest legend, and onetime roommate of Kurt Cobain. He’s also, publicly at least, the face of Earth. But right now, the backbone—and, lacking a live bassist at the moment, the sole member of the rhythm section—is running the show. She’ll tell me on the phone two weeks later that it was so hot that night she was seeing sparkles. </p>
<p>The slowest drummer alive, Davies is an oft overlooked but absolutely essential component to the doom machine that is Earth. Because Davies does what she does at such a slow tempo—and yes, also because systemic sexism pervades both rock music and, speaking frankly, global society—what she does could be considered rudimentary, mere background to Carlson’s unwavering shredding. But Davies is not only Earth’s core—she’s one of the most methodical, reliable, and skilled percussionists in rock music today. </p>
<p>Born in Baltimore, Davies had to fight—physically, she says—her four brothers to get time on the family’s single drum kit. With hippie parents and a metalhead older brother, she forged both a drumming style and an ethos that she carries with her to this day. “I always thought drums were one of the instruments where people tended to showboat and do way too much,” Davies says, on the phone between Chicago and Madison, WI. “It detracts from the song. You always have to serve the song, otherwise it can be hard on the ears. I always wanted to make pretty drums.” </p>
<p>Davies, who has lived in the Pacific Northwest for the past 33 years, met Carlson when she was 17, but didn’t join Earth until over a decade later. She bounced around playing in what she calls “crappy, fun, shitty” hardcore bands, like the Flipper-influenced mid ’90s Olympia two-piece Hot Puke, but “didn’t seriously commit to a band” until Earth. Davies and Carlson reconnected and began dating in 2000 and, shortly after, the two began playing music together—though not as Earth. Carlson, in the throes of heroin addiction and still reeling from his close friend Cobain’s death, put the project on hiatus in 1997. As a guitar-based drone band since their inception in 1989, Earth has never needed a drummer. That soon changed. </p>
<p>“It was therapy music, in a weird way,” Davies says, of that time. “One thing led to the next.” Earth toured the East Coast as a two-piece in 2003, playing a recontextualized version of the band’s trademark doom metal, though Davies’ drums provided some traditional form for Carlson’s famous drone guitar work. The culmination of this marriage of styles was 2005’s Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method, nine tracks—one for each year Earth didn’t release an album—of molasses-slow mutant country metal, like a sun-warped Ennio Morricone 45 playing at 33 ⅓ RPM. Longtime fans were surprised. Gone were the 27-minute tracks of unmitigated shredding, replaced by fully formed Western-tinged suites and even—gasp!—clean guitar lines (fans made an immediate connection to Carlson’s newly clean lifestyle). With album art that featured a sepia-toned barn and farm animals, Cormac McCarthy phrases as song titles, and auxiliary instrumentation like tubular bells and pedal steel, it was clear that the Earth of the early ’90s was, if not dead, then reanimated in a different skin. Davies’ Earth debut was met with almost universal acclaim. </p>
<p>“We were listening to a lot of older stuff then—country, older R&B,” Davies says, of the group’s musical shift. “You can’t put pedal steel on everything, but it was perfect for Hex. And any chance you get to have Dan Tyack [play on a record], you take it. ” </p>
<p>Naturally, the band’s next move was to take a few songs from Earth’s early drone days and give them a proper Hex induction: Hibernaculum, a four-song EP that is, given the tempo of a typical Earth song, LP-length. It’s a line in the sand drawn by Carlson and Davies, meant to indicate that Hex wasn’t a fluke, or a one-off musical shift. It’s also, predictably, Davies’ favorite material to play live, a crystallization of her time spent as an Earth fan in the early ’90s coupled with her newfound influence on Earth’s musical direction. </p>
<p>“Dylan has tried to retire [‘Ouroboros is Broken’] many times,” Davies says, laughing. “I’m partially responsible for digging it out again. [I like] taking the really early Earth stuff, from before I was in the band, and re-approaching it, like ’Coda Maestoso.’ One of my favorite Earth songs was ‘Miami Morning Coming Down.’” These three tracks comprise 75% of Hibernaculum. </p>
<p>Davies, influenced by punk and metal drumming but also by ’70s session players like Steve Gadd and Jim Keltner, created a style for Earth’s rebirth that was wholly her own. It comes through on their records, like 2014’s return to heavy Primitive and Deadly, but it’s even more apparent live, where Davies is fully aware that she has to create her own lane in order to fully stand out. </p>
<p>“When I was developing a drum style for Earth, it was very much done to fit in with the music and to serve the songs—not to detract, but to add,” Davies says. “I was very conscious of that recording and playing live. I think you also don’t want to be a one-trick pony. You don’t want it to be like, ‘Oh, that’s the girl that plays really slow.’” </p>
<p>Davies has fine-tuned everything, from her pre-show routine to her kit setup, in order to maximize both her body’s energy and the economy of motion while she plays. She calms herself completely before every show—the natural inverse of musicians getting psyched up for a live performance. When you’re playing proficiently, and at a snail’s pace, it pays to have a heartbeat that beats as slowly as your right hand glides along the ride cymbal. </p>
<p>“I noticed how impossible it was to play music that slow, [with that] relaxed of a backbeat. If you go too slow, you lose all momentum and there’s no groove to it,” Davies says. “To get it as slow as you can get, but still have your momentum… the way I get that is to center, and envision what I’m doing before I do it. It’s meditation, in a weird way. If you can calm your physical self—your body, your heart, your cardiovascular system—there’s nothing stopping you from getting the right feel.” </p>
<p>Davies also learned over the years to take all of the things was taught coming up as a drummer in punk and hardcore bands—where the objective is to minimize motion in order to play as fast as possible—and do the opposite. The slow dance she does when playing live, her body rocking as slowly as a hypnotized snake, her arms cutting a labyrinthine path around her toms before she strikes—it’s all intentional. </p>
<p>“I’ve kind of developed my own thing. What I’m doing is very circular; there are no right angles. Even the way I set up the drum set isn’t for economy of ease of movement. It’s for making a forced drag,” Davies says. “You’re wasting movement. It wouldn’t work for anything else, but for very slow stuff, I’ve found that really helpful. I’m not trying to be theatrical, but it’s the way I’ve found that works the best.” </p>
<p>Two weeks before, at that Austin show, Davies misfires exactly once, knocking the rim of her snare drum. The only reason I notice it—the only reason anyone possibly could have noticed it—is because of the precision with which she wields her two sticks on a nightly basis. It’s a double-edged sword: Davies has galaxies of empty space in which to play, an open-ended field of possibility. But it also puts her on an island, and affords her zero leeway in the way of mistakes. Therein lies the weight that falls on Davies’ shoulders at every Earth show. </p>
<p>“It’s really about feeling comfortable enough in your skills as a musician to not have to think about it. It has a life to it—a buoyancy you strive for,” Davies says. “Not every live show has that, but that’s my favorite part of playing live, and why I’m smiling. When you hit that magical subconscious zone, where you’re almost not even aware that you’re there—it’s weirdly kind of close to spiritual. It’s an amazing feeling. It gives you a lot of leeway to get weird.” </p>
<p>When Davies strikes the rim of her mahogany Ludwig snare, I watch to see her reaction, expecting a look of horror. She just gives her now ex-boyfriend Carlson a goofy grin, raises her right arm, and slams it down on the ride.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/43333792016-08-19T11:43:19-07:002017-01-10T06:30:29-08:00Live Review & Photos // Invisible Oranges<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/683064f0d1659a55c69e0ed9c7398e3aac37b53b/original/screen-shot-2016-08-19-at-11-05-25-am.png?1471631648" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/2ffda64645eed415852265923326e6298f82098a/original/boris-21.jpg?1471631729" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /><p><em>photos and words by Ben Stas</em><br> </p>
<p>Today, <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="Dylan Carlson" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson">Dylan Carlson</a>’s long-running project resembles something of a psychedelic folk-tinged post-rock band – a long way removed from its origins as a pioneering, Boris-influencing drone-doom outfit – but that rendered the trio no less complementary to the evening’s headliners. Performing as a two-guitar and drums lineup (with matching cowboy hats), Carlson, longtime drummer Adriennne Davies and newcomer Brett Netson (of indie rock mainstays Built to Spill) offered a measured, hypnotic set. Netson, who guested on 2014’s excellent Primitive and Deadly, came armed with an elaborate pedal array and added color to Carlson’s towering riffs and Davies’ impressively thunderous one-woman rhythm section. As a fitting lead-in for their hosts, <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com" target="_blank">Earth</a>’s set closed on its heaviest note with a reach back to 1996’s Pentastar for “High Command”. <br><br><a contents="See the full photoset at Invisible Oranges" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.invisibleoranges.com/boris-live-at-boston-mas-paradise-rock-club/#photogallery-1=11" target="_blank"><em>See the full photoset at Invisible Oranges</em></a></p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/f67c194414b8204ffff6977ddc24e870f3dddaae/original/boris-26.jpg?1471632065" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/8886b38de42e6e2645901ad0c0c6f50b7abcad54/original/boris-25.jpg?1471632065" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/550bbffa7b922bdaca9efd84a86d39cb5d3931a7/original/boris-18.jpg?1471632062" class="size_orig justify_none border_" />Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/42976242016-07-27T11:03:05-07:002017-01-10T06:30:25-08:00Live Review // Dallas Observer<figure data-orig-height="50" data-orig-width="150"><img src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/99cd9355d4d5afe11c246bf05cef2746/tumblr_inline_oazitzfE9v1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure>
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<p>Mother <a href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/thronesanddominions.com">Earth</a> and Father <a href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/sargenthouse.com/boris">Boris</a> sharing the same stage: It’s hard to imagine a better soundtrack for the birth of a mountain, or even a planet. And while neither of these appeared within the walls of Trees last night, that might just be because they appeared in some far-flung place instead. Employees of NASA would do well to consider Boris’ current U.S. tour if they should find themselves in needing to explain any interstellar anomalies which might appear in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>If Boris were a volcano, then openers Earth were the lava flowing through. In fact, it was hard not to think of Monday night as a double bill. Led by <a href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson">Dylan Carlson</a>, a former roommate of Kurt Cobain’s, Earth is the grandfather-figure in the family tree of doom and drone metal. As Carlson sardonically put it last night, “Never thought I would make it this far. A lot of people owe me money. Though most of them are dead.”</p>
<p>Their molten slabs of guitar sound rolled over the edge of the stage like lava flecked with shards of feedback. It seemed impossible that only two guitars and a drum set should produce such a monolithic sound. The songs (mostly material from <i>Pentastar</i>, <i>Angels of Darkness</i>, <i>Demons of Light</i> and <i>The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull</i>) with their dirge-like tempos and architectonic structures, sounded like music for giants — proof that giants that stride the earth.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.dallasobserver.com/music/boris-and-earth-were-a-two-headed-giant-of-heavy-metal-at-trees-8527808">(via Dallas Observer)</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/42776572016-07-13T11:04:57-07:002016-07-13T15:33:31-07:00Music Radar interviews Dylan Carlson of Earth<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="40" data-orig-width="807"><img src="https://65.media.tumblr.com/7646b32bbb6cb0636b9a7252bceddb0f/tumblr_inline_oa9m11bbFp1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure>
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<p>Aside from his work with Washington drone pioneers <a href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/thronesanddominions.com">Earth</a>, <a href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson">Dylan Carlson</a> has a considerable solo canon, too, from soundtracks to sonic explorations outside of the ambient metal framework that he created.</p>
<p>The latest of Carlson's releases, <a href="http://thronesanddominions.com/falling-with-a-thousand-stars-2015">Falling with a Thousand Stars and Other Wonders From The House of Albion</a>, interprets Scotch-English folk ballads about human/supernatural interaction in the guitarist's own inimitable style.</p>
<p>Although Carlson's guitar is the lone instrument throughout, Falling with a Thousand Stars… is as menacing and hypnotic as any of his past full-band work, thanks to the nuanced, driven delivery of the trad-folk melodic themes, not to mention the sonic innovator's trademark haunting sustain.</p>
<p>With that in mind, we quizzed Dylan on his first guitar, desert island gear and live disasters - and this is what he had to say…</p>
<p><b>1. What was your first guitar and when did you get it?</b></p>
<p>"A 1968 Gretsch Streamliner with Super'tron pickups. It was $300 - before the 'vintage' madness - from West Seattle Guitars, which is no longer with us. I got it in 1985 or '86."</p>
<p><b>2. The building's burning down – what one guitar do you save?</b></p>
<p>"It would have to be my Les Paul 'Gary Moore' model."</p><!-- more -->
<p><b>3. Is there a guitar, or piece of gear, that you regret letting go?</b></p>
<p>"My first guitar!"</p>
<p><b>4. And what's the next piece of gear you'd like to acquire?</b></p>
<p>"I'm kind of over getting gear, but I'd love to get a Burman power amp and preamp or an H&H combo."</p>
<p><b>5. Is there an aspect of guitar playing that you'd like to be better at?</b></p>
<p>"All of them, haha!"</p>
<p><b>6. When did you last practise and what did you play?</b></p>
<p>"Today, and I ended up writing a song."</p>
<p><b>7. If you could have a guitar lesson from one guitarist, dead or alive, who would it be?</b></p>
<p>"[Fusion great] Pat Martino."</p>
<p><b>8. What item of gear would you take with you to a desert island?</b></p>
<p>"Assuming this is in addition to a guitar and amp, it would be an MXR Dyna Comp."</p>
<p><b>9. What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you onstage?</b></p>
<p>"I guess people throwing things when I opened up for the Lemonheads in San Diego in 1995, or the bass player stepping on the trigger pedal for the drum machine and restarting the song halfway through a 15 to 20-minute song back in 1992."</p>
<p><b>10. What advice would you give your younger self about playing the guitar?</b></p>
<p>"Practise smarter and more often - and play live more often."</p>
<p>Falling with a Thousand Stars and Other Wonders From The House of Albion is available now via <a href="http://bit.ly/23yLfUA">Hello Merch</a> in the US, <a href="http://bit.ly/1N4XHaz">Sargent House</a> in the UK and <a href="http://bit.ly/28ZeRtc">Bandcamp</a> worldwide.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/10-questions-for-dylan-carlson-640264">(via Music Radar)</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/41785342016-05-12T11:54:28-07:002016-05-12T16:02:59-07:00The Wall Street Journal features Dylan Carlson at the New York Guitar Festival<figure data-orig-width="555" data-orig-height="56" class="tmblr-full"><img src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/08dc3b59467d4e27191f2ed9b509ed19/tumblr_inline_o72ut6UZEE1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure><figure data-orig-width="872" data-orig-height="626" class="tmblr-full"><img src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/53db0f4309ab38927cbf796ddc8d28b2/tumblr_inline_o72utdbgKJ1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure><figure data-orig-width="890" data-orig-height="82" class="tmblr-full"><img src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/fd1daf1a300f5dc813172caec820534c/tumblr_inline_o72utkZdgJ1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure><p><i>by Steve Dollar</i></p><p>Music has long been performed in the galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But this week marks the first time <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323884304578324351839887338">the Cloisters</a>, its medieval art and architecture outpost in Fort Tryon Park, will be overtaken by a veritable army of guitars.</p><p>In the first collaboration between the museum and the annual New York Guitar Festival, 16 players from an array of musical styles and traditions will perform Saturday in the daylong event, “Audible Cloisters: Guitar Marathon.”</p><p>For David Spelman, founder and artistic director of the festival, the Cloisters offered intriguing possibilities—in particular, he said, the chance “to sonically activate the space, with its remarkable acoustics and amazing Gothic and Romanesque architecture.”</p><h2><a href="http://thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson">Dylan Carlson</a></h2><p>The leader of the seminal drone-metal band <a href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/thronesanddominions.com">Earth</a> has seen his share of sacred venues in his three-decade career, few as enticing as the Cloisters.</p><p>“We played in Leeds, which was one of the coldest shows ever, in an empty, no-longer-in-use church in northern England,” he said, where neither he nor the drummer could feel their feet by night’s end. “It was a Gothic Revival, a really huge church, so the reverb was pretty crazy.”</p><p>Although he will play versions of old English folk songs from a new solo album, Mr. Carlson can relate to the monastic in his own music. “Definitely the long, sustained drone thing has been used to alter consciousness for spiritual purposes,” he said. “These spaces were developed for that.”</p><p>Dylan Carlson will be playing solo shows in Philadelphia and Brooklyn in addition to his performance at the <a href="http://www.newyorkguitarfestival.org/schedule/2016-05-14-100000/audible-cloisters-guitar-marathon">New York Guitar Festival</a>. Then he joins the rest of Earth to play <a href="http://www.deathfests.com/event/mdf-2016">Maryland Deathfest</a> and <a href="http://www.hellfest.fr/">Hellfest</a> ahead of their just-announced full US tour with <a href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/sargenthouse.com/boris">Boris</a>. All dates and ticket links available <a href="http://thronesanddominions.com/shows">HERE</a>.<br></p><p><a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/musicians-are-pulling-the-strings-at-the-cloisters-1463014138">(via The Wall Street Journal)</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/41723042016-05-09T11:56:49-07:002017-01-10T06:30:15-08:00Earth to join Boris on full US tour<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/b2cbae2474ecf8a1867c9698374c378cbbe76e2d/large/dsc0348.jpg?1462820090" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com" target="_blank">Earth</a> is delighted to announce they will be joining longtime friends <a contents="Boris" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://sargenthouse.com/boris" target="_blank">Boris</a>, where they will be playing their classic album <em>Pink</em> in full in support of the deluxe edition release coming out on Sargent House July 8th. Earth will join Boris on all non-festival dates except two dates in Canada. <a contents="Shitstorm" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://miamigrindcore.bandcamp.com/">Shitstorm</a> will provide additional support on all shows.<br><br>A full list of dates can be seen below - updated ticket links and info can be found <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="Shows" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/shows" target="_blank">HERE</a>.
<p>BORIS PINK LIVE TOUR with EARTH <br>07-22 San Diego, CA - The Casbah <br>07-23 Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom <br>07-25 Dallas, TX - Trees <br>07-26 Austin, TX - The Mohawk <br>07-28 Ybor City, FL - The Orpheum <br>07-29 Orlando, FL - The Social <br>07-30 Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade <br>07-31 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel <br>08-01 Nashville, TN - Third Man Records <br>08-03 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle <br>08-04 Washington, DC - 930 Club <br>08-05 Brookln, NY - Warsaw <br>08-06 Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer <br>08-07 Hamden, CT - The Ballroom at The Outer Space<br>08-09 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club <br>08-10 Montreal, Quebec - Bar Le Ritz P.D.B. (No Earth) <br>08-11 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace (No Earth) <br>08-12 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop <br>08-13 Grand Rapids, MI - Pyramid Scheme <br>08-14 Chicago, IL - Metro <br>08-16 Madison, WI - Majestic Theater <br>08-17 Minneapolis, MN - Fineline Music Cafe <br>08-18 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre <br>08-19 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater <br>08-20 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge <br>08-22 Seattle, WA - Neumo's <br>08-23 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom <br>08-25 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore <br>08-26 Los Angeles, CA - The Regent Theater <br>08-27 Las Vegas, NV - Psycho Las Vegas @ Hard Rock Casino (No Earth)</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/41277682016-04-08T14:03:59-07:002016-04-08T15:47:06-07:00JUST ANNOUNCED: Los Angeles show added to 2016 Performances<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1222" data-orig-width="1122"><img src="https://36.media.tumblr.com/68bc4d11a25851629fedecee421b871d/tumblr_inline_o5c1exJHp01qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure>
<p>Earth has added a show with <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Andy-Stott-262174253793725/">Andy Stott</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Vatican-Shadow-266627890105555/">Vatican Shadow</a> in Los Angeles, CA at the end of April ahead of their festival appearances at <a href="http://www.deathfests.com/event/mdf-2016">Maryland Deathfest</a> and <a href="http://www.hellfest.fr/">Hellfest</a> in France.</p>
<p>Earth founding member <a href="http://thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson">Dylan Carlson</a> will also be playing some solo shows in May.</p>
<p>A full list of these shows can be seen below - tickets and info available <a href="http://thronesanddominions.com/shows">HERE</a>.</p>
<p>EARTH LIVE 2016<br>Apr 29 - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex w/ Andy Stott & Vatican Shadow<br>May 26 - Baltimore, MD @ <a href="http://www.deathfests.com/event/mdf-2016">Maryland Deathfest</a><br>Jun 17 - Clisson, FR @ <a href="http://www.hellfest.fr/">Hellfest</a></p>
<p>DYLAN CARLSON SOLO SHOWS 2016<br>May 11 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Side Chapel w/ Nick Millevoi<br>May 14 - New York, NY @ <a contents="New York Guitar Festival" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.newyorkguitarfestival.org/">New York Guitar Festival</a><br>May 15 - Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus<br> </p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/40718242016-03-03T13:26:04-08:002017-01-10T06:30:11-08:00Interview with Dylan Carlson // New York Guitar Festival<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/027ca06dde9444ad939b068ca379856e14c4bbbc/original/screen-shot-2016-03-03-at-12-42-52-pm.png?0" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /><br><br><strong><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/a3ad220153e8da770329e01f18fded6fa9904ce8/large/c-holly-carlson3.jpg?1454357358" class="size_l justify_none border_" /><br><a contents="A Conversation with Earth's Dylan Carlson&nbsp;written by Jesse FreedmanMARCH 2, 2016&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.newyorkguitarfestival.org/blog/post-209" target="_blank">A Conversation with Earth's Dylan Carlson </a></span></strong></p>
<p><a contents="A Conversation with Earth's Dylan Carlson&nbsp;written by Jesse FreedmanMARCH 2, 2016&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.newyorkguitarfestival.org/blog/post-209" target="_blank"><em>written by Jesse Freedman for New York Guitar Festival</em><br>MARCH 2, 2016 </a></p>
<p><strong>As we prepare for the ‘Audible Cloisters’ marathon in May we hope to give all the artists involved an opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions about their lives in music and provide a greater insight for our audience. We are kicking off this series of interviews with the brilliant guitarist, <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="Dylan Carlson" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a>. For the better part of 30 years Carlson has been the frontman of the drone metal band, <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/home" target="_blank">Earth</a>. He has subsequently gone on to cultivate a unique style blending a visceral, raw aesthetic with an almost penitent improvisational simplicity. We conducted this interview through email and, like his music, his words seem to pour fourth - devoid of capitalization, salient in their content, and showing intensity in a variety of different subjects. We are very excited to present this lens into a man that can appear a little elusive and the music behind him. <br><br>Read the full interview after the break, and see a current list of announced solo shows for Dylan Carlson and festival appearances by Earth below.<br><br>EARTH - <a contents="TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/shows">TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE</a><br>May 26 - Baltimore, MD @ <a contents="Maryland Deathfest" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.deathfests.com/" target="_blank">Maryland Deathfest</a><br>Jun 17 - Clisson, FR @ <a contents="Hellfest" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.hellfest.fr/" target="_blank">Hellfest</a><br><br>DYLAN CARLSON - <a contents="TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/dylan-carlson" target="_blank">TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE</a><br>May 13 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Side Chapel<br>May 14 - New York, NY @ <a contents="New York Guitar Festival" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.newyorkguitarfestival.org/schedule/2016-05-14-100000/audible-cloisters-guitar-marathon" target="_blank">New York Guitar Festival</a><br>May 15 - Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus</strong><br> </p><!-- more -->
<p><strong>You are regarded as one of the seminal figures in drone music. Drones figure prominently in a variety religious and spiritual practices around the world. How does your relationship with this style of music figure into your life spiritually/philosophically/religiously? </strong></p>
<p>everything in the universe is vibrating. the universe is composed of waves of vibrational energy. 'solid' matter is condensed vibrational energy or standing waves. the universe is a giant chord of an infinite number of 'notes'. for some reason, nothing evokes that better to me than the technique of drones and oblique motion in music. there are other beings that operate at different levels of vibrational energy than we do (to borrow edward kelley and dr. john dee's term 'spiritual creatures', the angels, fayres, devils, ghosts of the past). music is our original technology and was synonymous with magic. music is what we are and what the world is. hopefully times of discordant music (the times of greed, war, pestilence, cruelty, etc.) can be transformed into times of concordance and we can return to the time when we embraced all of our senses and lived in harmony with the universal chord and the other beings that inhabit it. </p>
<p><strong>Are there any uses of drones in non-Western or Western music that you are particularly interested in? </strong></p>
<p> i listened to a lot of indian music, probably the most well known of musics employing drones. the gnawa musicians from north africa, tibetan music. it is present in a lot of blues especially early stuff. the jazz musicians that explored it (pat martino, miles davis, pharoah sanders). of course la monte young and terry riley. i learned about them via the velvet underground. spacemen 3 and related groups after they split up. in folk/folk-rock like the pentangle and fairport convention. recently i got turned on to some early scottish music, it was the 'high' music that lamented dead cheiftans and commemorated battles and such. it is very slow and unadorned, unlike the faster reels and military pipe music. <br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/1c7b2472e179eae0bc02d83f4036cc1d46e75cd5/original/bw-holly-carlson2.jpg?1454357349" class="size_l justify_none border_" /></p>
<p><strong>Can you talk a little about the instrument and set-up you are using for the NYGF marathon? </strong></p>
<p>well most likely ill have my gibson les paul gary moore model or my tokai love rock (les paul style) the gary moore model is mahogany with a maple top and a rosewood fretboard, it has no finish on it, just stained wood. it has a p-90 neck pickup and a dimarzio fast track 1 (single coil sizes humbucker) in the bridge. i use strings size .10-.46 and i tune the guitar down a half step to E flat. the love rock is of similar construction but with a polyurethane finish. it has hambone pickups, a new company with a new design that i’m endorsing. they are humbucker sized, but work a bit differently. the bridge unit has 1full coil and then a half coil with 4 pole pieces under the higher strings , the neck 1 full coil and half a coil with 3 pole pieces under the 3 lower strings. when the bridge pickup is engaged so is the 3 pole pieces of the neck pickup, when the neck pickup is engaged so are the 4 pole pieces of the bridge pick up. In the middle positon all coils are engaged. this gives added heft to the low notes on the bridge pickup and added clarity to the neck pickup. ill be using a mxr custom comp and mxr fet driver effects pedals (compression and overdrive). i’m not sure what the backline is yet. i like to use as little effects as possible in live performance. and thats about it. </p>
<p><strong>Do you have a piece or song that you most enjoy playing these days? </strong></p>
<p>solo performances i quite like playing 'rose in the heather' (its a traditional scottish tune) i love nazareth's version, and its the song i walked down the aisle to at my wedding. i recently did a version of 'bridge of sighs' by robin trower, which is such a great song and was a big influence. with earth i like 'torn by the fox of the crescent moon' and 'the bees made honey’ is always great to play. </p>
<p><strong>How does your approach to your solo work differ, if at all from your work with Earth? </strong></p>
<p>its strange but both earth and my solo output are free in different ways and restricted in different ways. with drcarlsonalbion/coleman grey it is british oriented, coleman grey is exclusively folkloric, drcarlsonalbion british, but not exclusively folkloric. when its just myself it is completely free and earth allows me to explore and utilize a broad range of influences, but it has to be done a certain way. </p>
<p><strong>Do you think your music embodies something quintessential about the scene in Seattle or the Pacific Northwest? </strong></p>
<p>i don’t view myself as exclusively pacific northwest, or a seattlelite. my goal is to create music of a timeless nature. and many of my songs are rooted in mythic landscapes not exclusively the pnw. some of my music can not help but have elements from both real and imagined northwest landscape, as music is shaped by the musicians being as it flows through them. </p>
<p><strong>What projects are you currently working on? </strong></p>
<p>i’m finally seeing the end of the coleman grey project that was funded via kickstarter. the vinyl lp and the dvd/cd have been produced and delivered, with a limited number of extra copies available for purchase (where available tba). the last part is the book and i’m working on the draft and figuring out how to produce it. i’m writing new earth material and hopefully will start working on the next earth album soon. </p>
<p><strong>What are some of your hobbies outside of music? </strong></p>
<p>i’m not a very well rounded person, and i don’t really have any hobbies. i pretty much do music, and my other interests in folklore and history and such all inform my pursuit of music. </p>
<p><strong>What are you listening to these days? </strong></p>
<p>i’ve been listening to a lot of pat martino, miles davis, and herbie mann lately. </p>
<p><strong>What are you looking forward to doing in NYC other than playing at NYGF? </strong></p>
<p>i'd like to try and make it to the dream house (and have it be open) hopefully ill actually get to see it as my previous attempts have all failed. i’m sure theres things my wife knows about and wants to see (Holly is more aware of things to do and has more interests than i do). </p>
<p><strong>What concerts are you most looking forward to playing this year? </strong></p>
<p>i’m not doing a whole lot this year, this one at the nygf and a couple other solo shows and earth is playing maryland death fest in baltimore and hellfest in france, so they'll be quite different from one another. i look forward to this one because its at a unique location, the location of the cloisters has some personal significance to my uncle, so i’m quite looking forward to it. </p>
<p><em>Photo credit: Holly Carlson</em></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/40471102016-02-17T14:17:55-08:002016-02-17T17:03:56-08:00Earth to play SOLD OUT Hellfest 2016<figure data-orig-width="640" data-orig-height="640" class="tmblr-full"><img src="https://40.media.tumblr.com/8e677e2e4c4137c1fb0e2425f1c44df9/tumblr_inline_o2pp0qTygu1qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure><p>Earth will be playing the SOLD OUT Hellfest 2016 alongside some incredible bands - their set is at the Valley Stage on June 17th. For the full festival lineup and more info, click <a href="http://www.hellfest.fr/">HERE</a>.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/39090982015-10-27T14:50:39-07:002017-01-10T06:30:00-08:00Dylan Carlson featured in special BBC 4 programme<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/517cd10963aa10cfdb6a153d6e71cd19409279fe/original/drc-maddyprior.jpg?1445981870" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /><p class="p1"><a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/guitar" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> of influential drone-metal progenitors <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/" target="_blank">Earth</a> will join Maddy Prior of electric folk pioneers Steeleye Span on the 3rd and 10th of November on BBC 4 for two special broadcasts. Maddy has thrown down the gauntlet: namely for her daughter, doom metal cult heroine Rose Kemp, to compose a new work with a collaborator outside of her chosen genre – Jon Boden of folk revivalists Bellowhead. Returning the challenge, Rose has arranged for her mother to meet and write with Dylan Carlson of influential drone-metal progenitors Earth. BBC Radio 4 joins them in this experiment, as they discuss their lives in music, family and the songwriter’s process. As well as the resulting songs, the two programmes will also feature interviews with their collaborators and contributions from those attached to their musical legacies, including John Kirkpatrick (Steeleye Span), Hamish Glencross (Vallenfyre, My Dying Bride) and Mike Vennart (Vennart, Oceansize)<br><br>These shows will be broadcast at 11:30 GMT on November 3rd and 10th on BBC 4, and will be available to stream <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06mfqc8" target="_blank">HERE</a> shortly after broadcast.</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/38841182015-10-05T15:56:21-07:002015-10-05T18:15:59-07:00Live Photos from Bohemian National Cemetery, Chicago // The Farm Family<figure data-orig-width="1000" data-orig-height="376" class="tmblr-full"><img src="https://41.media.tumblr.com/2b554f1b18565cd31e98df7d750016f5/tumblr_inline_nvrr8vj97V1qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure><p>On September 10th, 2015, <a href="http://thronesanddominions.com/">Earth</a> played a set in Chicago’s famous Bohemian National Cemetery as part of The Empty Bottle’s “Beyond The Gate” series. Earth played the Cemetery alongside <a href="http://holysons.bandcamp.com/">Holy Sons</a>, the solo project of Emil Amos (OM, Grails), and Chicago’s own <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Disappears-130849953637535/">Disappears</a>. The darkly beautiful setting provided a fitting stage for each band’s own brand of stark and pummeling rock.</p><p>Illinois-based photographer <a href="http://www.ford-photo.com/#0">Joshua Ford</a> was there to capture Earth’s set.</p><p><a href="http://www.thefarmfamily.com/live-from-the-cemetery">See the full photoset at The Farm Family</a></p><figure data-orig-width="1000" data-orig-height="667" class="tmblr-full"><img src="https://40.media.tumblr.com/e1d7a1840b07c5519a7d6d72725bb7bc/tumblr_inline_nvrrjod4101qbzv4w_540.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure><figure data-orig-width="959" data-orig-height="893" class="tmblr-full"><img src="https://40.media.tumblr.com/a6c536905f032970e72fa53701f5e43d/tumblr_inline_nvrrjx4Jiu1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure><p><a href="http://www.thefarmfamily.com/live-from-the-cemetery">See the full photoset at The Farm Family</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/38469502015-09-08T14:22:35-07:002017-01-10T06:29:54-08:00Dylan Carlson interviewed by Tone Madison<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/f75915f1db56f56a213e4bbb844ef2ee3dcdf1b9/original/unnamed.png?1441746475" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/2e5e7ff2639f20de530e86d40260224a52637f88/large/screen-shot-2015-09-08-at-1-58-38-pm.png?1441746520" class="size_l justify_none border_" /><br> <p>The music that guitarist <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/guitar" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> has been making with his project <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/" target="_blank">Earth</a> in the past 10 years would stand up formidably by itself, even without Earth’s early-1990s forays into furious, abstracted sludge. Carlson’s more recent work keeps some of the droning deliberation of Earth’s beginnings, but re-focuses it through ringing melodies and harmonically complex but clean-toned chords. In fact, it’s surprising that last year’s album <a contents="Primitive And Deadly" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/primitive-and-deadly-2014" target="_blank"><em>Primitive And Deadly</em></a> incorporates as much distorted bite as it does, considering Earth’s other recent albums. On 2007’s <a contents="The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/the-bees-made-honey-in-the-lion-s-skull-2008" target="_blank"><em>The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull</em></a>, Carlson and drummer Adrienne Davies (the only other constant member of Earth’s current incarnation) use their command of slow tempos to create not languor but suspense, as the songs build up in shimmering layers of organ, piano and surreally twangy guitar. The companion albums <a contents="Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light I&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/angels-of-darkness-demons-of-light-i-2011" target="_blank"><em>Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light I</em> </a>and <a contents="Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/angels-of-darkness-demons-of-light-ii-2012" target="_blank"><em>Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II</em></a>, released in 2011 and 2012, and recorded while Carlson battled a near-fatal strain of hepatitis, showcase a more loose and improvisational approach to Carlson’s instrumental compositions, with help from bassist Karl Blau and cellist Lori Goldston. <em>Primitive And Deadly</em> switches things up still further with three tracks featuring vocals, two from Mark Lanegan and one from Rabia Shaheen Qazi of Rose Windows. Recently Carlson also has been exploring his interest in British folklore, and further dimensions of tuneful but challenging guitar explorations, in a solo project called <a href="http://www.drcarlsonalbion.com/" target="_blank">Drcarlsonalbion</a>. Ahead of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/391455464374506/" target="_blank">Earth’s show on Tuesday, September 8 at The Frequency</a>, Carlson spoke with me about Earth’s frequently shifting lineup and execution.</p><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3719260108/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3652470210/transparent=true/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: 'Roboto Slab', serif; line-height: 17.1429px; border-width: 0px; border-style: initial; width: 100%; height: 120px;"></iframe>
<p><br><strong>Tone Madison: What is the Earth live setup like on these upcoming shows?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Dylan Carlson:</strong> It’s the lineup we’ve had since June of last year that we’ve been touring with. It’s myself on guitar, Adrienne Davies on drums, and Don McGreevy on bass. He played on Bees and has toured with us for quite a while over the years. And then Bill Herzog, who’s on [<em>Primitive And Deadly</em>], unfortunately is not always able to tour as often as we do. So Don’s been pretty much the full-time bass player for most of the shows over the past year. So yeah, the power-trio lineup, and then for part of this tour, we’re lucky—Brett Netson, from Built To Spill and Caustic Resin, who played on [<em>Primitive And Deadly</em>], is gonna join us. Unfortunately, he has to leave the tour in New Orleans, so Madison will have the trio.</p>
<p><strong>Tone Madison: Do you find it interesting to see how the material changes as the lineup varies, from tour to tour, album to album, and even, like you were just saying, from show to show?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Dylan Carlson:</strong> I mean, I guess the benefit of being a long-running band—you get to play with a lot of different musicians and a lot of great musicians, and everyone sort of adds something different to the mix. And then especially, yeah, in the live situation, that’s why I like the live thing, because it’s always different every night. Even if you’re doing the same set, it’s never the same. It’s like the band and the audience, you’re creating a moment that can’t be repeated.</p>
<p>For example, [when Earth toured with metal band Sabbath Assembly], they had this guy Mike, their guitar player, who joined us a few nights at the end of the night, and then when we toured with Richard Bishop, he would play the last song with us. So yeah, it’s always fun to do stuff like that. Brett’s an amazing guitarist and we’ve known each other for a long time. His band Caustic Resin, Earth opened for them—that was our first show in Seattle, I think? So we go quite a ways back.</p>
<p><strong>Tone Madison: Has having all these different collaborators, especially on the last four Earth albums where you and Adrienne Davies are the only consistent members, informed your approach to the songwriting itself?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Dylan Carlson:</strong> I don’t know if it necessarily informs the songwriting so much—more just the execution. I’m not one of those control-freak bandleaders. The people I play with, I basically trust what they’re gonna do. I have a hard enough time dealing with what I have to do [laughs] so I don’t want to have to keep telling people what to play. Especially people like Lori Goldston, who’s one of the most amazing musicians I’ve ever met, you just let her do her thing. Pretty much anybody I play with, that’s generally my attitude. I like what they do, so I’m just gonna let them do it.</p><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=278329329/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3270444199/transparent=true/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: 'Roboto Slab', serif; line-height: 17.1429px; border-width: 0px; border-style: initial; width: 100%; height: 120px;"></iframe>
<p><br><strong>Tone Madison: </strong>It’s a really stark comparison between what Bees sound like to some of the more loose, conversational moments on the two Angels records.</p>
<p><strong>Dylan Carlson:</strong> Those records were definitely the loosest in that way. That was a very improvisatory record, I guess, in a certain sense. There were basic structures for some of this stuff, but we set up live in the studio and played and there was very little overdubbing on that record. A couple of the songs were just done in the studio, just roll-tape-and-see-what-happens kind of things.</p>
<p><em>Primitive And Deadly</em> is definitely more of a thoroughly composed record, although there’s moments where it’s a free-for-all, I guess. Then with the vocals, we did the tracks and then one of them I had written lyrics for, the “Rooks Across The Gate” one, and Mark did the vocals however he saw fit. And then he said he wanted to do another song and I said, “Yeah, cool,” and then he picked the one that became “There Is A Serpent Coming,” and he did the lyrics for that. Unfortunately, because of timing, I didn’t get to see him do those, and then with Rabia, too, the track was originally instrumental. That one, there was a little more interaction because she was in Seattle, so I came into the studio and we talked about placement and stuff, but she wrote the lyrics for that too. We just discussed a vague theme and then she went for it. It was very collaborative in that way.</p><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4020844749/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=2923227717/transparent=true/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: 'Roboto Slab', serif; line-height: 17.1429px; border-width: 0px; border-style: initial; width: 100%; height: 120px;"></iframe>
<p><br><strong>Tone Madison: Was there a lot of thought put into how the vocal melodies interacted with the guitar parts? Because it’s usually not a thing where the vocal melody is emulating the guitar melody—it’s a more angular relationship.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Dylan Carlson: </strong><em>Primitive And Deadly </em>was funny because I wanted this record to be more concise and immediate. Unlike previous Earth records, this one had a lot of cutting of material. It was funny when we were mixing and stuff, because—I can’t remember which song, but [engineer Randall Dunn ] said it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard in the studio, because there was this one song and I was like, “Just cut out this seven minutes here.” [Laughs] It was a large chunk of music to be edited out. I always think it’s funny how you have these intentions for a record, but things are always a little different from how you intended as they enter reality. Some of those songs ended up being quite a bit longer than I had planned. I came back to Seattle and did overdubs and then sat down with Randall, and we just were like, “OK, what’s necessary and important?” So we kind of really streamlined stuff.</p>
<p><strong>Tone Madison: When you made the Angels records, you were working really quickly, in part because you were really sick at the time. So with Primitive And Deadly, did you have an opportunity to approach things differently and enjoy the process more?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Dylan Carlson:</strong> Yeah, I mean, that record I think was really informed by the fact that we had been touring so much and I started writing the songs while we were on tour, our first tour of Japan and Australia. “Even Hell Has Its Heroes,” I came up with that in Perth. Because we were touring as a trio, the stuff had a harder edge to it, because as a trio you’re obviously a bit louder and everyone has to do a little bit more to fill in stuff. When I’m on tour, I listen to a lot of music, and I tend to gravitate towards the stuff I grew up on, hard rock and heavy metal stuff. I find it energizing. And then also, I definitely view this record, when I was writing it, obviously I was healthy again and we were playing a lot of live shows. It’s funny, because to me it’s all still rock, and hard rock and heavy metal, which of course have different meanings now to some people because of some micro-genre trend, but to me heavy metal has always been rock n roll regardless, and it’s the stuff that made me want to do music. To me, a record’s a response or a result of a specific time and what’s going on in your life, and so since that will never be duplicated, that’s why every record is different.</p>
<figure data-type="embed"><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4020844749/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1595541745/transparent=true/" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; border-style: initial; width: 100%; height: 120px;"></iframe></figure>
<p>It’s funny, I think, back in the day the bands that were considered hard rock and heavy metal and are now considered classic rock, like Zeppelin and Deep Purple and I mean even Scorpions and stuff, they had a broad set of influences. I mean, Zeppelin was influenced by reggae. I just think it’s funny now how if you do a specific genre you’re not supposed to be influenced from outside of it. I think that’s really strange.</p>
<p><strong>Tone Madison: And I’ve seen interviews with you before where you talk about having influences, but not trying to sound like them.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Dylan Carlson:</strong> Yeah, I don’t think you have to. To me it’s always been “This is something I like. What can I learn from it and how can I incorporate it into what I do, but without aping it?” I love Peter Tosh, I love dub, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna try and do a reggae band [laughs]. I just think it’s funny that there’s this, “Oh, I’m influenced by this so I want to sound exactly like it.” That’s just never really been the way I look at it.</p>
<p><strong>Tone Madison: What have you been getting out of doing the Drcarlsonalbion stuff that you don’t get out of doing Earth?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Dylan Carlson:</strong> The Drcarlsonalbion stuff, originally it started because on the <em>Angels</em> albums, I was heavily into English folk and folk-rock stuff, and that kind of metastasized into explorations of other so-called folkloric material. I’m still really into that stuff and heavily affected by it. So I wanted to be able to pursue that still, but not have Earth do the same thing again, because to me Earth is something that changes. Whatever the driving force behind it, it still involves other people. I wanted to still be able to pursue this interest and not have it necessarily make the next Earth record the same as the previous one. And then also, it’s a little freer in that way. There’s not the same expectations as with Earth.</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="oagF0ZPhXkA" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/oagF0ZPhXkA/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oagF0ZPhXkA?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="200" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe><br><br><strong>Tone Madison: What’s next for you?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Dylan Carlson:</strong> I’m at the moment getting a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/160700771/dylancarlson-wonders-from-the-house-of-albion-lp-c" target="_blank">Kickstarter project</a> finished, which is the Coleman Grey and Drcarlsonalbion project, so yet another moniker involved. That’s getting done. The vinyl is almost completed. Just finishing the DVD and CD of the film and music and figuring out how to get the book that comes with it done. There’s some stuff in the offing that hasn’t necessarily been confirmed yet. I’ve been writing new Earth material, so I’m hoping maybe at the start of next year, we can start working on a new Earth record. But yeah, I’ve been pretty much on tour since June of last year, so it’s been quite a busy year, and then I had three months off at the end of last year where I got married on December 20, so, it was—you know what I mean, I was planning a wedding. It’s kind of like planning a tour with one show, a very important show. But I’m very fortunate. My wife is a lovely human being and very helpful and supportive. But yeah, hopefully I’ll have some time off and can start thinking of the next Earth record, and there’s a few solo things in the offing.<br> </p><a contents="(via Tone Madison)" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.tonemadison.com/articles/dylan-carlson-on-the-wondrous-second-life-of-earth/" target="_blank">(via Tone Madison)</a>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/38170302015-08-12T13:20:25-07:002017-01-10T06:29:51-08:00Earth // Live Review in Music & Riots Issue 13<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/0e66c45970eef54976466d5a2f85021074ba2665/original/tumblr-inline-nqili8qruq1r1itoc-540.jpg?1439410576" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/cbe6a7cd60b04b9663f8ecd6a78df5396217ccd9/original/screen-shot-2015-08-12-at-11-15-35-am.png?1439409698" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /><br>Music and Riots caught <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/" target="_blank">Earth</a> at their show in Porto - see what they had to say about it <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://issuu.com/music_and_riots_mag/docs/issue_13_/122?e=11400139/14710945" target="_blank">HERE</a> or in the embedded reader below on page 123.<br>US, don't miss them on tour starting August 22nd! See all dates and purchase tickets <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/shows" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<div data-configid="0/14741922" style="width:525px; height:371px;" class="issuuembed"></div><script type="text/javascript" src="//e.issuu.com/embed.js" async="true"></script>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/38073232015-08-06T16:49:29-07:002017-01-10T06:29:50-08:00Staf Magazine interviews Earth<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/4abb17dca4d7ce8e1879e5bd770e34e10d63d3dc/original/screen-shot-2015-08-06-at-4-36-09-pm.png?1438904273" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/725e3427176dad0c73aa76e02a3462b29f1935f0/large/earth.jpg?1426712746" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The connoisseurs crown <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/" target="_blank">Earth</a> the pioneers of drone. The truth is that since they started their path back in 1990, this band has been forging an unique and one-of-a-kind style, impossible to embed in any genre. Dylan Carlson was a bit of a weirdo in the Seattle scene since his band was like chalk and cheese in the height of the grunge breakout. But unlike most of these bands, they still remain standing after twenty five years, established as one of the most acclaimed bands of the not any more underground scene.</strong></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Last year they released the full length “<a contents="Primitive and Deadly" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/primitive-and-deadly-2014" target="_blank">Primitive and Deadly</a>” (Southern Lord Records), a much rawer and bare work that reminds us of the primeval Earth. At Staf we had the chance of speaking about the album and other aspects of their career with Adrienne Davies, Dylan Carlson and Don McGreevy at Temples Festival in Bristol, UK.</strong></p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to me today. So you played on Friday in Barcelona at Primavera Sound (since I’m Spanish I have to ask…) How was that?</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: It was good, I thought it was great. We had a really great time.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Great show.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: The Adidas stage?<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Yeah, and it was the fourth time I think we played Barcelona? Or fifth time?<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: The second time at Primavera.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: I like Barcelona.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: Barcelona is a great city. So is Madrid, but we didn’t get to go this time.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Dylan-1, Marshall amp-0.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Yeah, I heard something about that.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Yeah the cabinet got set on fire.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: The highlight of the show.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: It was pretty cool.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">You toured last year in support of “Primitive and Deadly” and now you have upcoming dates for the UK, Europe and the States. Was originally the plan to tour so intensively for the new album?</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: We toured a lot more than normal. I think that’s because the album has done so well. The touring cycle would have ended by now.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: One in the States, one in Europe.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: And then that’s it. But the album has done really really well and people want to hear it.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: You’ve got to strike when the iron is hot, as they say.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: They keep asking us to play, so we keep saying yes.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">It’s very good in this case you can’t say no.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">On those lines, we are today at Temples, a newborn festival that in just two years time has gained a big reputation. Has the emergence of these festival in the past few years have made bands like Earth available enough so they are not so underground any more?</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: It’s weird. At a festival like this it doesn’t seem that way whereas at Primavera you’ve got Adidas, Ray-Ban, H&M and Red Bull stages…<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: You’ve got lots of underwriters and sponsors, although it still seems more of a grass roots thing.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: To be brutally honest rock’n’roll has never really been underground since 1968. The only place where rock’n’roll still seems to be like a dirty business is Italy, kind of Spain a little bit.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: Even Russia a little bit.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Other than the festivals, or you know, out in the East. Everywhere else there is no underground.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: Apart from the DIY-house party scene, but we were never really a part of that.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: I just play music, and if people want to pay me to come and play it then cool. And if not I will still do it. I’ve been fortunate enough to have done it long enough that that is all I do.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">So maybe the question is: is there still an underground scene or music nowadays? Or that doesn’t exist any more?</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: I don’t think so. Because basically, now any band can market themselves. Because it is all about internet presence, social media presence and niche marketing. So any group of any size can suddenly be the <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">in</em> thing and then you have magazine like vice and pitchfork and what not and they pride themselves on finding the next big thing.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: Although I would say I can’t wait for a new underground scene to start. I’d be very good if it were to happen.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Yeah, but that’s the thing. Because of the society we live in now…it is all about branding and it’s like, you know, for example: I like Odd Future a lot. From the get go they knew what they were doing marketing wise, doing pop-up shops and limited edition merch. So they are underground but they are not in that way, because in the old days an underground band played a shithole club, maybe did a 7” and vanished. And now the underground band can be marketed and there is no underground.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I have this feeling now that Primavera Sound is like Spain’s Coach</strong>e<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">lla.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Yeah, exactly!</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">And I’m pretty happy of this festival (Temples) happening, I have friend’s of mine playing here, bit in like three years you have all of the sudden all these festivals around here that are Roadburn wannabes, I am sorry to say… Nothing can beat them in my opinion.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: Oh yeah, Roadburn is great.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: It’s weird too because there isn’t that festival culture in the States other than big wig ones like Coachella. But there is not a lot of small ones.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: There is new ones like the Psych Fest (Austin) , but even those are getting much bigger.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Psycho Fest, that was mental</strong>.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: Which one?</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The one in California.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Oh yeah, Psycho Fest in California.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I don’t think they can beat that line-up ever again. They screwed it up in a way because I don’t know what they expect to do next!</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Yeah, they got <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Bang!</strong> to reform, come on!<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Judging by the way it was run I don’t know if they’ll be doing it again.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: It was pretty ramshackle. I think they learned a lot of lessons.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Speaking of scenes, there is this general feeling that many bands form the Seattle Scene had a massive impact in a relatively short period of time and all of the sudden they ceased. But other bands, such as Earth, Melvins, Alice in Chains… have perpetuated throughout time in a more progressive way, building up their reputation and their audience through the years. Do you think this has to do with the music you do or does it have more to do with the audience/scene Earth is in?</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: The fact is from the get go Earth was doing stuff that was not the same as what was going on in Seattle at the time. Basically people used to make fun of me because I was a metalhead. I knew everybody and they weren’t mean about it but it was just like I was the weird metalhead. And even though the stuff I was doing wasn’t necessarily “normal” metal, that was the first audience that liked us. Because we weren’t doing the same, grunge or…<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Shoegaze<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: Shoegaze. It was very specific geared towards an audience. Whereas I feel like when Dylan started writing he didn’t really give a shit.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Too arty for metal, too metal for art.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Kind of like the ginger step child. (laughs)</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne, How was it for you? Because you weren’t a metalhead per se.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: I like metal and I’ve listened to it since I was a kid. I had an older brother that was a metalhead. It wasn’t my strongest influence but I do definitely love metal, still do. I remember when I first started playing I felt like I had to do very caveman-esque drumming and be really tough and brutal and I’ve learned I don’t. And if you have the quieter parts and softer spots, it lets the stronger, more brutal stuff become more powerful. It’s great to have the dynamic between the two. As a drummer.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: I think that is one of the differences with Earth. To me it still needs to be musical, it still needs to be a riff that you want to hear over and over again. A lot of band seem to be “we are all about this, we are all about that”. “We are loud” or “We are heavy”.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: “This is our shtick”.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: They don’t bother to write songs any more.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Where is the hook of the song? Where is the melody? They’ve got everything else down but, where is the most important part?<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: It has to be catchy.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/89297f5450eed1809eb85994a2b4e60b6b87d6b2/original/earth2.jpg?1438904603" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>Earth is a band that has a lot of different influences, which can be pinpointed from album to album. Although the characteristic Earth sound is always there, that way of intertwining repetitive sequences while holding a perfect tempo. “Primitive and Deadly” has a more dense and heavier sound among other things. What have been the influences for this album?</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: I think one of the biggest influences is the fact that we did our first tours in Japan, Australia and New Zealand and it was more cost – effective to bring a three piece.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: As a trio you get a little bit louder.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: So the song I was writing are more suited towards the trio line up.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: And Dylan remembered he can palm mute (laughs).<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: I was listening to a lot of stuff on tour that I have grown up with: <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Scorpions</strong>, <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">DIO</strong>, <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Diamond Head</strong>. It’s been a while since. The guitar’s always there but the other records have been like “Oh! trombone and keys!” or cello. Other instrumentation has been featured.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: The guitar in the forefront.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: So in the trio there was none of that, so I had to step up a little bit more like in the early days, I guess.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: I think it was a bit of a return in a way, a sort of full circle. It started heavy, it went to this phase that it was a bit meandary and then more about exploring. And it came back to the song writing aspect once it was stripped back down to the typical-atypical rock power trio.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: I was very aware before going into the studio I wanted the drums parts I was writing to be more aggressive, assertive, and to really claim the space. And to aggressively form the song, let the guitars wrap around it, instead the drums to try to wrap around the guitars. Let the drums really form a brace. That was more aggressive and in your face than before and not quite as subtle. Because it was all about subtle before.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">That totally makes sense. But even the late albums, when you listen to them you still get bits of early drone stuff, there is still that essence in those records. When I listen to “Primitive and Deadly” or “Hex” I still get the feeling like I got from “Earth 2”. And it’s always been there. And I take you must have been aware of that when you took the nine years hiatus and didn’t want to change the name of the band.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Yeah, when I first started playing again, I just started playing. I wasn’t like “oh, I’m gonna do Earth again”.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: We didn’t even plan to do Earth again. We weren’t even trying to play publicly, it was just therapy music. Just playing to play.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: We were just jamming and then we got asked to do a show. I still write the same, it’s not that my writing style has changed all of that much from when I was a kid. I’m more aware of “Oh, let’s do this song in this structure or that structure”. I am a better player now than I was then. There are certain elements that are always gonna be there: the repetition, the riff being important and using an open string somewhere, just because that’s just the riffs I like. I like them that way, I guess.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Another really characteristic feature of the album (“Primitive and Deadly”) is the vocals. From what I what I can remember last time I heard vocals on an Earth album was in Pentastar.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: That was our most rock record at that point.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">You have the echo-y vocals of Mark Lanegan and Rabia Shaheen of Rose Windows…</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Who are now sadly no more.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: Yeah, they broke up already.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Like you were saying, bands make a really strong impact and then they disappear! Short like a comet.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Was it intentionally the vocals there because you wanted vocals on this record. Or was the consequence of them contributing ?</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: That ended up happening because there was one song that I wrote, “The Roots Across the Gate” I had actually written lyrics for<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: And it was gonna be for your solo, but I was like “No, it is an Earth song!”. I made Dylan use it as an Earth song.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: I’d known Mark for a long time.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: You’ve just missed many opportunities. Finally it came together.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Me and him wanted to do stuff for a long time and it never quite happened for various reasons. So he did that song and it was like “Hey, can I do another?” and he picked the one that became “There is a Serpent Coming”, wrote lyrics for it and then, since we had dude lyrics, I thought it would be nice to have female lyrics.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: We didn’t want a super macho album, we wanted that little feminine touch in there.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Well, not necessarily, I jut like female singers. She was available and we had a producer in common, Randall Dunn. And we knew the drummer from Rose Windows.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: I didn’t know you guys knew Patrick.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: We met him…<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: We met him at the burger joint he was working at. And then he sold me my cat food, because he worked at a pet store.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: Oh yeah, I forgot about that.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: He is a nice guy.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: It was funny because he didn’t say he played drums straight away. And then later on he was like “Oh yeah, I play drums in this band”.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: I didn’t realised that.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: We’ve known him for a couple of years now.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">It is a small world.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: And it keeps getting smaller.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I read somewhere that you allowed yourself to be more of a rock band for “Primitive and Deadly”. I guess that is also why you went for a more conventional formula as it is the power trio, like you said before.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: On the album we had Dylan doing main guitar and Brett Netson on second guitar and Jodie (Cox) doing third so it’s just “guitars!!!”, you know. And unfortunately, live, we couldn’t quite do that same line up all the time. But we did stripped it down to it most essential.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: And it makes it interesting too to have different line ups.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: It’s fun, it keeps it exciting.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Because Earth has changed its line up from album to album. Does this happen naturally because you come across and meet these people or is there an intention of enriching your catalogue?</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: It’s more accidental. Obviously you meet other musicians, you like playing with them but then they have their life and they go and do their thing.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: I didn’t play on “Primitive and Deadly” but I’ve been with the band on and off for the last ten years. It doesn’t really matter. Earth, for the most part just seems to be these two (Adrienne and Dylan). And everybody else is sort of ancillary.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Yeah, Bill (Herzog) has a wife, a business and a kid and I know Don likes to play and is a great player. He played on “Bees […]” and toured with us, he’s been with us for ten years, he was the best man in my wedding, or at least he signed the paper.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">How did it come to be that Brett and Jodie played in this records (“Primitive and Deadly”)?</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: I did part of my solo project <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Drcarlsonalbion</strong> with Jodie. I’ve known Jodie for a long time, he booked the first Earth shows in the UK and I’ve known him for years before he admitted he was a guitar player. And with Brett, the second Earth show ever was with <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Caustic Resin</strong> which was his first band.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Huge <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Caustic Resin</strong> fan!<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: I’ve basically known him since 1990.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: He is another person like Mark where we wanted to work with him for a long time, then finally, on the same project, we got both of those guys.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I have two more questions for you (although if it were up to me I could be interviewing you for hours). There are a couple of things I am very curious about. One of them is, how did you get Bill Frisell to play the “Bees[…]” album</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: That was through Steve Moore, the trombone and key player. Because he was a jazz guy and plays with Bill Frisell.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: Bill heard some of the demos and I think he really liked what he heard. And he agreed to come and play.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: He doesn’t agree just to play with anyone, so we really lucked out.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: He can be quite picky.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Yeah, he is just a super nice guy.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: He came into the studio first take and he just made everyone look like… Oh, he is just so good. He was ridiculous to watch.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: He is very humble.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Yeah, he is the sweetest guy.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Because he used to live in New York and then moved to Seattle, right?</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: He moved to Seattle I think in 1993, he was in <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Naked City</strong> with John Zorn and Wayne Horvitz, who both moved to Seattle.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: to get away from Don (laughs).<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: It was more because it was cheaper to live in Seattle<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Yeah…<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Yeah… (laughs).<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Almost not any more</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Why do you have a Plymouth Barracuda on the cover of “Pentastar”?</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: I was really into Mopars. Yeah, we are car nerds.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: yeah, we really like our cars.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Yeah, I love Mopars.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Now you like fancy clothes (laughs).<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: You asked why? Oh god, it is the sexiest car ever built.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Yeah that is why the video is all about the car.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: It is kind of hard to justify or quantify that one. “We put a car on the cover just because we like it , it’s sexy” (laughs).</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I mean, the rest of the covers kind of make sense. This one I particularly like and I always wandered if there was a special reason for it.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: Accidentally, that’s the Earth album I’ve ever paid for (Adrienne and Dylan laugh). When I moved to Portland before I met Dylan and Adrienne, that record was out and I said “Um, I’ll buy this one”. I didn’t know how it sounded like cause I heard the early Earth stuff on mix tapes. Because I grew up in Buffalo and there Earth stuff was very difficult to obtain. Mix tapes only. When I listened to it was like “what is this music!?”. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Earth</strong>, from Seattle. I never knew that when I moved to Seattle I was gonna join them.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Being in and out for ten years.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The cover arts in the Earth albums are amazing. One of my fave ones is the one for “Hex”. The one for “Bees[…]” is also very beautiful. Graphically you had pretty interesting visual artist working with you, like Seldon Hunt, Josh Graham…</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: Yeah, it is funny, because in the Sup Pop era I was more of a control freak, “Oh, I’m doing the covers, blah blah blah”. Now I meet artist and I like what they do and I trust that what they’ll do a great job and leave them alone. And they always do.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Don: Yeah we had Seldon Hunt, Simon Fowler, Steve O’Malley, Arik Roper, Stacey Rozich…</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">And the artwork for Primitive and Deadly by Samantha Muljat is brilliant as well.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: To me, because I grew up with albums and their cover art… the great albums aren’t great albums just because of the songs. They are great albums because of the songs but also the order of the songs, the cover…you know what I mean, it is a complete package.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: It all becomes in one in your memory. Living like crazy by the visual of it.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: I’ve always kept the idea that it shouldn’t be like “Oh, five great songs in a shitty cover”.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: Well, and I’ve always thought that if you are in a instrumental band a) your titles better be amazing, b) your artwork better be even more, because you are not saying very much you have to be very evocative and powerful.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Everything has to make you proud of being into the band.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Adrienne: yeah, bring them into the secret world.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Thank you very much for spending this time with me. I think there is no need to ask if you are feeling good, I can see you are in good shape… (while looking Dylan in the eye)</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: yes. Yes, totally.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">So I hope there are many albums and many shows to come.</strong><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dylan: There will be.<br><br>(via <a contents="Staf Magazine" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://stafmagazine.com/news/earth/" target="_blank">Staf Magazine</a>)</p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/37795142015-07-15T16:45:51-07:002017-01-10T06:29:45-08:00First Order Historians // Interview with Dylan Carlson<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://firstorderhistorians.com/2015/07/06/7-questions-with-dylan-carlson-of-earth/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/1d0a2f642d37166ae703dfb153a9c16a6c463e26/original/screen-shot-2015-07-15-at-4-23-22-pm.png?1437002650" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /></a><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://firstorderhistorians.com/2015/07/06/7-questions-with-dylan-carlson-of-earth/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/8db9eb7015730a2b149a55f0f5512357fc187e9d/original/00000000000000000000000000000000000drca.jpg?1437002708" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /></a><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/be7dbeef280c569e830e43ba7279043609cd2413/original/screen-shot-2015-07-15-at-4-23-32-pm.png?1437002742" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /><p><a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/" target="_blank">Earth</a> is an American musical group based in Seattle, Washington, formed in 1990 and led by guitarist <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/guitar" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a>. Earth’s music is mostly instrumental, and can be divided into two distinct stages. Their early work grew out of the Seattle-area grunge scene and is recognized as pioneering the genre of drone doom — an experimental offshoot of doom metal, characterized by droning, minimalist, lengthy, and repetitive structures. Earth’s early albums were usually recorded as a duo (Carlson and a bass guitarist), and could be seen as a variation of the experimental doom-influenced metal of The Melvins. Earth currently features a markedly different sound, slow-paced and lengthy, but now with a drummer and featuring strong elements of country music and jazz. Dylan Carlson founded the band in 1990 along with Slim Moon and Greg Babior. Carlson has remained the core of the band’s line-up throughout its changes. Current players have included: Adrienne Davies on drums, Lori Goldston on Cello, Karl Blau on bass, Steve Moore on keys and Don McGreevey on bass. Their new record is entitled “<a contents="Primitive&nbsp;and Deadly" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/primitive-and-deadly-2014" target="_blank">Primitive and Deadly</a>”, and I am pleased to have Dylan Carlson of Earth as my guest today in 7 questions. </p>
<p><strong>RM: So far, what’s the best part about being married? What was the wedding like; and what was your favorite moment from the ceremony?</strong></p>
<p>DC: I have a partner in crime! (laughs) I get to be with my best friend all the time. She is a Wiccan so we had a hand fasting, and my friend Corey Brewer officiated the ceremony. It was small (35-40 people) mostly my family and friends – as it was in Seattle – but we are going to have one in England as well. We planned it and pulled it off in three weeks on a small budget but it was still really nice and lovely. Walking down the aisle to Nazareth’s ‘Rose in the Heather’ before entering the magic circle, saying the vows, and walking out to Heart’s ‘Love Alive’ was pretty cool. My family and friends being there, my friend Melissa’s paper flowers and magic chocolate boxes…so many things.</p>
<p><strong>RM: Why do you think these variations of doom or stoner metal have become so popular among fans of heavy music over the past few years? Is it more than the desire to hear music that is laid-back in nature; and how much of the genre’s current popularity can be attributed to wanting to hear more of the doomy classic rock style that bands such as Black Sabbath made so popular in the seventies?</strong></p>
<p>DC: Even though some bands play slow, it doesn’t mean it’s less intense than other music. And in the ‘metal’ genre the bands are committed or sound committed, all the other forms of rock are infected with irony and sound half-assed to me.</p>
<p><strong>RM: What’s the story behind the title of your newest release “Primitive and Deadly”?</strong></p>
<p>DC: I thought it was a great lyric by Mark Lanegan. It’s a great mission statement, a perfect description of where the world is headed, and sounded like a record title the Scorpions might’ve used.</p>
<p><strong>RM: What was the most significant difference with regards to the way that album came together as opposed to the “Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light” records from a few years back? What made you eventually decide to work with Randall Dunn on the production of this disc?</strong></p>
<p>DC: It was more thoroughly composed and less improvisatory than the “Angels” record. It was also written with a power trio line-up in mind as well.</p>
<p><strong>RM: Are there any floor or rack effects that you feel are absolutely necessary to Earth’s signature sound? What’s your most prized outboard effect that you absolutely cannot live without?</strong></p>
<p>DC: An MXR Dyna comp or my custom compressor. My new ‘Engine of Ruin’ distortion + with variable diode by Tym’s guitars in Brisbane is amazing. I love it, and I love the MXR micro chorus.</p>
<p><strong>RM: You’ve said before that you wouldn’t necessarily rule out the possibility of eventually singing on one of your records, but also that it’s doubtful that would happen…When putting together new Earth material do you ever feel as if you’re hearing vocal lines that would add layers to and then instead put other guitar tracks to those melodies; and do you ever hear to your own records years later and hear some of those words over the tracks as you’re listening to the finished product?</strong></p>
<p>DC: I would write lyrics (as I did on “Rooks Across the Gate”) and I don’t think I’ll ever have the voice to lay down vocal lines as instruments, so I don’t really think of them that way, I’d get someone like Jessika Kinney for that.</p>
<p><strong>RM: Over the years, you guys have had the chance to share the stage with some of rock n’ roll’s hardest touring bands…Out of all of those artists who are the three that you seem to get along with so well; and why do you think it is that you have such a connection with those particular troops?</strong></p>
<p>DC: Wolves in the Throne Room, King Dude, True Widow, Sir Richard Bishop, O Paon, Wow…I mean we got along with them all! (Laughs)</p>
<p><strong>RM: When was the last time you recorded material for your solo venture DrCarlsonAlbion? For those aren’t familiar with the subject matter of that project, how would you put it into words; and why is doing that so important to you?</strong></p>
<p>DC: Well, there’s the gold soundtrack, though that was just going to be Dylan Carlson, but DrCarlsonAlbion got put on the cover, and there’s the kickstarter project, but that is ‘Coleman Grey’…I’ve got too many alter egos. (Laughs)</p>
<p><strong>RM: What’s up next for Earth in the remainder of 2015 and beyond? Anything big in the works that we should know about?</strong></p>
<p>DC: Earth has 3 new dates in July, and we’re playing the Necronomicon August 22nd, touring the Eastern US, and ending at Ellnora Guitar Festival in Urbana, IL on September 11th. DrCarlsonAlbion and Coleman Grey are finishing the kickstarter between July 22 and August 22, and then hopefully I am taking a little break to write more stuff and move to England.<br><br><a contents="(via First Order Historians)" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://firstorderhistorians.com/2015/07/06/7-questions-with-dylan-carlson-of-earth/" target="_blank">(via First Order Historians)</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/37474052015-06-18T14:05:56-07:002017-01-10T06:29:39-08:00Earth at Temples Festival // Live photos and live review<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/534d87a719b70ff4c4c3c3cb1e9eb921e35bf1b2/original/earth-520.jpg?1434661347" class="size_l justify_none border_" /><br><em>photo by Emily Power</em>
<p>The reverence for <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thronesanddominions.com/" target="_blank">Earth</a> and Dylan Carlson (<a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://louderthanwar.com/interview-dylan-carlson-founder-earth/" target="_blank">see Louder Than War interview here</a>) is pretty strong in the room tonight, a man who has managed to have a flourishing career producing some of the most groundbreaking drone albums as well his solo and side projects. Introducing the band in his inimitable high-pitched North West US accent after the first track, ‘There Is A Serpent Coming’ he holds aloft his guitar as he strums away, channelling its power. They move through the set like an ocean, delicately driven by the waves of riffs that crash on the audience’s heads like barrels of baptising notes.</p>
<p>The hour and a half long set also compromised of, ‘There Is A Serpent Coming’, ‘Badger’s Bane’, ‘Even Hell Has It’s Heroes’, ‘The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull’, ‘From The Zodiacal Light’, ‘Torn By The Fox Of The Crescent Moon’, ‘High Command’ and the encore, ‘Old Black’ and it was a beautifully, albeit relatively subdued, balm of a set to end an impressive three days.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/c5896493cb94b10c3d4c5df570570b122b868d8b/original/earth-0421.jpg?1434661483" class="size_l justify_none border_" /><br><em>photo by Emily Power</em><br><br><a contents="SEE FULL REVIEW OF TEMPLES FESTIVAL HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://louderthanwar.com/temples-festival-motion-skatepark-bristol-day-three-review/?utm_content=buffer3f18d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer" target="_blank">SEE FULL REVIEW OF TEMPLES FESTIVAL HERE</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/37462562015-06-17T17:48:43-07:002015-06-17T19:31:55-07:00Earth adds to US tour dates<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="423" data-orig-width="636"><img src="https://40.media.tumblr.com/2473d2d765d99dda68300a9bb085f223/tumblr_inline_nq478xtkGw1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></figure>
<p><i>photo by Brian Sayle</i></p>
<p><a href="http://thronesanddominions.com/">Earth</a> has added several new US tour dates after their July dates in the Pacific Northwest.</p>
<p>Tickets for all shows are available at: <a href="http://thronesanddominions.com/shows">http://thronesanddominions.com/shows</a></p>
<p>Jul 18 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall<br>Jul 19 - Olympia, WA @ Obsidian<br>Jul 22 - Seattle, WA @ The Black Lodge<br>Aug 22 Providence, RI - Necronomicon Convention @ Columbus Theatre<br>Aug 23 Boston, MA - Middle East Upstairs<br>Aug 25 Portsmouth, NH - 3S Artspace<br>Aug 27 New York City, NY - Saint Vitus<br>Aug 28 Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts<br>Aug 29 Baltimore, MD - Metro Gallery<br>Aug 30 Richmond, VA - Strange Matter<br>Aug 31 Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle (Backroom)<br>Sep 01 Atlanta, GA - Earl<br>Sep 02 Orlando, FL - Will's Pub<br>Sep 03 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks<br>Sep 04 Birmingham, AL - Saturn<br>Sep 05 Nashville, TN - Stone Fox<br>Sep 06 Bloomington, IN - The Bishop<br>Sep 08 Madison, WI - Frequency<br>Sep 09 Minneapolis, MN - Entry<br>Sep 11 Urbana, IL - Ellnora Guitar Festival<br> </p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/37335082015-06-08T13:24:44-07:002015-06-08T16:16:04-07:00Earth adds new shows<figure data-orig-width="605" data-orig-height="608" class="tmblr-full"><img src="https://36.media.tumblr.com/8aa6f4921eb58c433d5d80e643d4de41/tumblr_inline_npn6nrk89x1qbzv4w_540.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="image" /></figure><p><a href="http://thronesanddominions.com/">Earth</a> will be playing two new shows with support from ManDate after their performance in Portland, OR -- see a full list of performances below. Tickets and show info are available on their website:<br></p><p><a href="http://thronesanddominions.com/">http://thronesanddominions.com/</a><br></p><p><i>Jun 13 - Birmingham, UK @ Supersonic Festival (The Bug vs Dylan Carlson of Earth ONLY)</i><br>Jul 18 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall ++<br>Jul 19 - Olympia, WA @ Obsidian ##<br>Jul 22 - Seattle, WA @ The Black Lodge ##<br>Aug 22 - Providence, RI @ Necronomicon Convention **<br>Sep 11 - Urbana, IL @ Ellnora Guitar Festival</p><p>** w/ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TrueWidowOfficial">True Widow</a><br>++ w/ <a href="http://www.federalespdx.com">Federales</a><br>## w/ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mandatelimpwave">ManDate</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/37258182015-06-02T11:45:06-07:002017-01-10T06:29:37-08:00Louder Than War interviews Dylan Carlson of Earth<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://louderthanwar.com/interview-dylan-carlson-founder-earth/?utm_content=buffere5b72&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/f6995a419e80658f34378656a53ee001a3d186bb/original/screen-shot-2015-06-02-at-11-38-26-am.png?1433270338" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /></a><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/cc36fe0c1eec3e3cd33fc3cb0ea31102c27558d9/large/me-and-dylan-from-earth-copy-2-700x473.jpg?1433270381" class="size_l justify_none border_" /><br> <p><a contents="Louder Than War" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://louderthanwar.com/interview-dylan-carlson-founder-earth/?utm_content=buffere5b72&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer" target="_blank">Louder Than War</a> represented big time at this weekend’s Temples Festival in Bristol, one of the world’s foremost heavy music jamborees which this year was headlined by Converge, Sunn O))) and the mighty Earth!</p>
<p>We’ll be running a full review very soon, but we also had a dedicated interviewer, Sophie Sparham, on site too who spoke to a few of the bands on site. So we start our feedback from Temples Festival with this, her chat with the one and only Dylan Carlson from <a data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/home" target="_blank">Earth</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Louder Than War: So, just to bring us up to date, what have been some of the highlights for Earth the past couple of years?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Dylan Carlson</strong>: The most recent highlight would be the new record, it’s done better than anyone expect. We actually charted in the US and it outsold all the other Earth albums, so it’s done really well. We’ve been touring pretty much since June of last year.</p>
<p><strong>You said in the album that you felt you were allowed to be a rock band, what did you mean by that?</strong></p>
<p>Well, in the past, I’ve chosen to feature other instruments a lot. Instruments that you don’t see in a heavy rock context. We had a trombone and piano on Bees <em>(<a contents="The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull" data-link-label="The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull (2008)" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/the-bees-made-honey-in-the-lion-s-skull-2008" target="_blank">The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull</a> – Earth’s 2008 release on Southern Lord – ed)</em> and a lot of keyboard and piano and toured with that line-up. Whereas this album is definitely more of a guitar record.</p>
<p>The guitars are obviously always there, but in this album they’re front and centre.</p>
<p><strong>Did you choose to approach it like that?</strong></p>
<p>It kinda ended up that way because when I first started writing for this album we were touring Japan, Australia and New Zealand and it was cheaper to bring a three piece! So we started touring as a three piece a lot with guitar, bass and drums. So the songs reflected that. Then we brought in Jodie and Brett, who are both guitarists.</p>
<p><strong>I’ve listened to the album, it sounds solid.</strong></p>
<p>Yeah Jodie does stuff that’s not guitary. He’s really good at making stuff sound organny, where as Brett is just a really good rock player and really free.</p>
<p><strong>You really like England, why?</strong></p>
<p>My grandmother came over from Scotland in 1948, we lived in Germany when I was a kid and we used to come up and visit relatives a lot. I’ve just always liked the countryside, the people, the culture. My wife’s English also! I feel at home here. It’s funny because I’m pretty American, but I just like England a lot. I like being here more than the states.</p>
<p><strong>You said back in the day you used to prefer the recording process, but now you really love playing live. What is it about playing live that you love so much?</strong></p>
<p>The live thing I like because it’s like the band and the audience are together and you’re creating this moment that’s not going to be duplicated. It’s different every time. The studio is like, you know you can correct things. Whereas live is more like a roller coaster ride and you don’t know what’s going to happen. I like interacting more. A studio can be claustrophobic. The live show is a moment in time.</p>
<p><strong>What are you interested in outside the band? There’s just so much going on in your records!</strong></p>
<p>I’m just really into folk law, especially stuff about magic. I love English folk law and mythology. Old mythology or newer stuff. America has mythology that’s more recent, a lot of it was brought over and mixed with Native and African beliefs. It’s all folk music and it’s all folk law. It’s not high culture which is normally really boring!</p>
<p><strong>When people talk about Earth, they divide you into two phases. How do you feel about that and when you came back was that intentional or just natural?</strong></p>
<p>I never understood making the same album over and over. To me that’s what’s good about the album making process, you’re catching this one moment in time that won’t be duplicated. You won’t do it again. You change as a musician, hopefully you grow as a musician, you grow as a human being. To me there’s a continuity, because it’s still me and I still write. Hopefully I’ve gotten better at what I do.</p>
<p><strong>The more you listen to music, the more other influences will come in. It’s a natural thing.</strong></p>
<p><a contents="Earth 2" data-link-label="Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version (1993)" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/earth-2-special-low-frequency-version-1993" target="_blank">Earth 2</a> was done for a specific set of reasons and that’s why it came out that way. When we were doing <a contents="Angels" data-link-label="Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light I (2011)" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/angels-of-darkness-demons-of-light-i-2011" target="_blank">Angels</a>, we were working with the same guy, Stuart, and we were laughing about how different we would do that record now than if we did it back then. Back then we didn’t have a plan, we were just like ‘oh let’s write this, let’s write that’.</p>
<p><strong>It’s just natural! It’s not like you go in knowing what will come out.</strong></p>
<p>I always find that a record never ends up exactly as you pictured or intended it when you started it. You’re working with other people and they’re going to be influential. It’s a process and it changes. It usually ends up better than what you had in mind and stuff happens that you can’t foresee. I’ve never understood super control freaks. Especially with music, you have to give up control at a certain point. You don’t have control through the entire process and you don’t have control with how it will be perceived.</p>
<p>The thing with music is you don’t pick your best moment. You may think you know your best track, your best show your best moment, but other people decide what your best song, your best show and your best moment is and you have to just be ok with that.</p>
<p><strong>If you were a super control freak you wouldn’t be in a band! I notice that it’s been 20 years since <a contents="Phase 3" data-link-label="Phase 3: Thrones And Dominions (1995)" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/phase-3-thrones-and-dominions-1995" target="_blank">Phase 3</a>, but who are Earth now?</strong></p>
<p>Well that album came out at a particularly difficult period of my life so Earth was just me at that point. Now I’m older, I survived, hopefully learned from my mistakes. I just think I’m at a better place, I’m playing better, I’m married, I’m happy. Rather than near death or on my way to jail, things have improved!</p>
<center>~</center>
<p>Dylan Carlson plays Supersonic Festival the weekend after next in a soundclash with The Bug. Titled The Bug vs Dylan Carlson it’s not to be missed. See the rest of their upcoming shows <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="Shows" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/shows" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</p>
<p><a contents="(via Louder Than War)" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://louderthanwar.com/interview-dylan-carlson-founder-earth/?utm_content=buffere5b72&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer" target="_blank">(via Louder Than War)</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/37117132015-05-20T11:38:07-07:002017-01-10T06:29:33-08:00The Skinny Feature<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/interviews/the-insect-world-the-bug-meets-earth" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/7106b457c047d600e737d21316538318e0c37dd6/original/screen-shot-2015-05-19-at-1-07-16-pm.png?1432066076" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /></a><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/interviews/the-insect-world-the-bug-meets-earth" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/df0e4afa21f6ade5b42c477a12dbeb4f54db0f8b/original/screen-shot-2015-05-19-at-1-08-24-pm.png?1432066145" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /></a><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/ffd5f3528753b97a66d2e5636a1a7bb215a23282/original/screen-shot-2015-05-19-at-1-08-40-pm.png?1432066168" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/159790/151f685994767731c3ee7dc5520998ed2e542c3f/original/screen-shot-2015-05-19-at-1-08-30-pm.png?1432066191" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /><p>“I remember hearing <a contents="Earth 2" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/earth-2-special-low-frequency-version-1993" target="_blank"><em>Earth 2</em></a> around the time of release, and just thinking, ‘What the fuck is this?’ I had no idea,” crackles Kevin Martin’s voice across the internet, still thick with a Dorset accent that’s survived years living in London and now Berlin. On another connection from Seattle, <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/guitar" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> breaks his hitherto attentive silence to howl with laughter. Hearing a reaction to <a contents="Earth’s" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/" target="_blank">Earth’s</a> 1993 opus, which pioneered what would become drone metal, isn’t new. “But if I’m honest, a lot of the music I cherish most leaves me unsure if I love it or hate it first time round,” the ever-forthcoming producer and multi-instrumentalist also known as <a contents="The Bug" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://ninjatune.net/artist/the-bug" target="_blank">The Bug</a> presses on. “Then it pulls me back and I’m magnetised to it. That’s really true of Earth’s music.”</p>
<p>After more than 20 years of fate working round the clock, Carlson and Martin are set to cement a collaboration that started last winter with the release of Ninja Tune 12-inch Cold/Boa by performing live together at June’s <a contents="upersonic Festival" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.supersonicfestival.com/" target="_blank">Supersonic Festival</a>. It's “a perfect opportunity” as far as Martin is concerned, while Carlson is looking forward to finally being in the same time zone as Martin, having worked on their studio collaboration over the internet following a hook-up by mutual friend and album cover artist Simon Fowler. “The way Kevin uses beats, if you’re not paying attention they do these little rhythmic turn arounds,” Carlson reflects, speaking slowly and methodically on putting his tracks down. “He organises space in a really interesting way. I remember the first time I started playing and I was thinking, ‘Oh here’s the beat’, and then it made this subtle shift and it suddenly felt very odd.”</p>
<hr style="box-sizing: initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><h6 style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">“WE’VE BOTH BEEN THE RED-HEADED STEP-CHILDREN OF WHATEVER REALM OF MUSIC WE’RE PART OF" – DYLAN CARLSON</span></h6>
<hr style="box-sizing: initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><p>The parallels in both their ethos and respective careers are numerous. As Carlson was stepping outside the exploding Seattle grunge scene at the turn of the 90s by furrowing a darker, repetitious progressive sound, so Martin was similarly re-examining rock’s once-thought closed frontier and creating his own outsider scene with noise rock band God, and hosting DIY shows for Napalm Death, Godflesh and others. Martin and Carlson’s views on volume as being central to their process are obvious; yet both too have constantly sought to redefine what it is they do with it. The Earth of the 21st century is much changed from its 90s counterpart, much as Martin pushed The Bug fully clear from the dubstep connotations the project had picked up on 2008’s London Zoo, with last year’s thunderous, insular Angels and Devils. “With that record I was really aware that I wanted to keep honing my own craft away from everyone,” he agrees. “The musicians I respect most – and Dylan’s certainly in that area – are people who’ve found a sound that’s reflective of their personality and reflects them. I can recognise Earth tracks almost instantly and I would hope people would feel the same about Bug tracks. The real challenge for me in electronic music is how you personalise those machines.”</p>
<p style="box-sizing: initial; margin: 0px 0px 1.3846153846em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 18px; font-size: 0.9285714286em; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mfGUMBUxN4M" style="box-sizing: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="400"></iframe></p>
<p>“That’s one thing I feel in common with Kevin,” Carlson chips in. “We’ve both been sort of, to use the old phrase, the red-headed step-children of whatever realm of music we’re part of.” For Martin, Earth had been on his radar since his days as a Wire magazine critic in the early 90s. Carlson, though, fully became aware of Martin under his King Midas Sound project, when they supported Om at London’s Scala in 2012. Carlson has since gone on to write favourably aboutAngels and Devils for the magazine Electronic Beats, and enthuses on its “numinous quality and timelessness, rare in a lot of electronic music” to us this afternoon; but it’s perhaps the dubbier sounds of KMS that reveal some key shared sensibilities between the duo, with Martin pointing out that Earth’s use of space between the notes is something that speaks to him as a dub fan. “I share a great respect for dub,” Carlson replies. “That repetition and space, but also the willingness to use whatever was in front of them to create something interesting. Lee Perry’s studio was like a four-track and a space echo.”</p>
<p>As much as The Bug and Earth have somehow always seemed meant-to-be, however, there are certain ironies in their coming together. Carlson’s mentions of Hendrix – like the 60s icon he also tunes down a half-step – and his dropping a line by Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore about not playing too much bring out Martin’s oft-repeated teenage hatred of guitars, or at least of those for whom technique ruled over emotion. “As a young kid, Hendrix was like the devil to me,” he admits to more laughter. “It’s taken me a long time to figure out guitars – and metal too, funnily enough. For me, metal records are so often ruined by vocals or guitars that are played too much, or horrible theatrics. When it’s whittled down to the purest tone or personalised intent that’s when it works. It’s why I like Earth, Godflesh and early Swans.”</p>
<p>It’s what makes it so fascinating that the pair have wound up on the same page; what Martin has added over the years to the minimalism and intent learned from post-punk and noise rock, Carlson has distilled from behind the more overt styles of the likes of Todd Rundgren and Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, to meet somewhere in the middle. For both, the quest to continue to explore remains fierce too; “I think drugs become a quest to have that feeling,” says Carlson, briefly referencing his well-documented substance struggles of the 90s. “It was that desire to always have that feeling that music gave me. Unfortunately the human body is not meant to feel that way all the time. But music should be mind-altering and affect you, otherwise it’s not… I think it’s funny when all my friends are like, ‘Oh I’ve got this song stuck in my head,’ because I don’t even hear like pop music. It just passes through me and nothing sticks.” That those at Supersonic will feel every frequency of sound that two such titans emit is in little doubt. “Hey, Kevin,” Carlson quips as we sign-off, “should I bring earplugs?”<br><br><a contents="READ THE FULL FEATURE HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/interviews/the-insect-world-the-bug-meets-earth" target="_blank">READ THE FULL FEATURE HERE</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/36930072015-05-04T13:59:22-07:002017-01-10T06:29:30-08:00Earth and Chelsea Wolfe to headline Levitation Festival next weekend<img src="//40.media.tumblr.com/5a8aedcb0dd751707f9922611bb6f013/tumblr_inline_nnuewsoD9S1qbzv4w_500.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /><br><br><a contents="Earth" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/home">Earth</a> will be headlining the Elevation Amphitheater on Saturday, May 9th, as a part of <a contents="Levitation Festival" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.austinpsychfest.com" target="_blank">Levitation Festival</a>. <br><br><a contents="Chelsea Wolfe" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.chelseawolfe.net/" target="_blank">Chelsea Wolfe</a> has just been added to the lineup and will be headlining the same stage on May 10th.<br><br>They will be playing alongside some amazing bands, including The Jesus & Mary Chain, HEALTH, The Flaming Lips, This Will Destroy You, A Place To Bury Strangers, and many more.<br><br>For the full lineup and tickets, <a contents="click HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.austinpsychfest.com/" target="_blank">click HERE</a>. Schedules for May 9th and May 10th can be seen below.<br><br><strong>May 9th</strong><br> <img src="//36.media.tumblr.com/7295eda90f3f2ac07e1eaaaf6c41d297/tumblr_inline_nnuf3uFgtI1qbzv4w_500.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /><br><br><strong>May 10th</strong><br><img src="//41.media.tumblr.com/bb0b5287053337a0de030aad6f6beb54/tumblr_inline_nnuf4g91xH1qbzv4w_500.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" />Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/36833082015-04-29T14:50:00-07:002017-01-10T06:29:29-08:00Dylan Carlson of Earth to play first ever live collaboration with The Bug at Supersonic Festival<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/4665543e891924fab86bde366ab0a933c5a0cecc/original/the-bug-and-earth-010.jpg?1429145078" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /><br><a contents="Supersonic" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.supersonicfestival.com/news/debut-live-performance-with-the-bug-vs-dylan-carlson-of-earth/2015/" target="_blank">Supersonic</a> are beyond excited to host this first time live collaboration of <a contents="The Bug" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://ninjatune.net/artist/the-bug" target="_blank">The Bug</a> vs <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="Guitar" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/guitar">Dylan Carlson</a> of <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/home">Earth</a>. It’s a collaboration that simply cannot be understated. Dylan Carlson and Kevin Martin are both long established figures presiding over the radical fringes of heavy music, holding the attention of curious minds and audiences for over twenty years worldwide. Carlson, the mainstay of Seattle’s Earth, has created a volume of daring work that originates in distorted drone and expands over cinematic Americana, folkloric balladry and proto-rock, whilst Martin (as The Bug, Techno Animal, Ice, King Midas Sound) gained notoriety producing hulking hybrids of dancehall, dub and techno that are unparalleled in tactility and dark aggression. As The Bug vs Earth, they released Boa / Cold for Ninjatune in December (<a href="https://soundcloud.com/ninja-tune/the-bug-vs-earth-boa">listen here</a>), and it is with great pleasure we can announce that they will be performing together for the first time ever, especially for Supersonic Festival. Following this performance, The Bug shall be joined on stage by Flowdan to round up proceedings on Saturday night in style.<br><br><a contents="READ MORE ABOUT SUPERSONIC FESTIVAL HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.supersonicfestival.com/news/debut-live-performance-with-the-bug-vs-dylan-carlson-of-earth/2015/" target="_blank">READ MORE ABOUT SUPERSONIC FESTIVAL HERE</a><br><br><a contents="Tickets are available HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.supersonicfestival.com/tickets" target="_blank">Tickets are available HERE</a>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/36623592015-04-15T15:53:52-07:002017-01-10T06:29:17-08:00Earth adds dates to tour starting May 9<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/cc1607dcdd16512ac95c472471fdd8635b8b6059/original/11063424-10206441587908703-151017785301546943-n.jpg?1427245669" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /><a contents="Earth" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com" target="_blank">Earth</a> hits the road May 9th at <a contents=" Levitation Festival" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.austinpsychfest.com/" target="_blank">Levitation Festival</a> in Austin, kicking off a short run of US shows with support from <a contents="True Widow" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/TrueWidowOfficial" target="_blank">True Widow</a>. On May 16, they're playing <a contents="Psycho California" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://psychoca.com/" target="_blank">Psycho California</a> before heading off to Europe. New dates have just been added, and you can see a full list of performances below.<br><br>Dylan Carlson of Earth will also be a doing a special debut live collaboration with The Bug at <a contents="Supersonic Festival" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.supersonicfestival.com/news/debut-live-performance-with-the-bug-vs-dylan-carlson-of-earth/2015/" target="_blank">Supersonic Festival</a>, where they will perform <a contents="Boa / Cold" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://soundcloud.com/ninja-tune/the-bug-vs-earth-boa" target="_blank">Boa / Cold</a> which released on Ninjatune in December 2014.<br><br>Info and tickets are available <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/shows" target="_blank">HERE</a>, with a full list of shows below.<br><br>May 9 - Austin, TX @ Levitation 2015<br>May 11 - Albuquerque, NM @ Sister **<br>May 12 - Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress **<br>May 13 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom **<br>May 14 - Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet's **<br>May 16 - Santa Ana, CA @ Psycho California<br>May 26 - Porto, PT @ Hard Club<br>May 27 - Lisbon, PT @ Musicbox<br>May 29 - Barcelona, SP @ Primavera Sound Festival<br>May 31 - Bristol, UK @ Temples Festival SOLD OUT<br>Jun 01 - Liverpool, UK @ The Kazimier<br>Jun 03 - Bergen, NO @ Landmark<br>Jun 04 - Stavanager, NO @ Folken<br>Jun 05 - Eindhoven, NL @ Effenaar Grote en Kleine Zaal<br>Jun 06 - Eindhoven, NL @ Eindhoven Psych Lab<br><em>Jun 13 - Bordesley, UK @ Supersonic Festival (The Bug vs Dylan Carlson of Earth ONLY)</em><br>Jul 18 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall ++<br>Sep 11 - Urbana, IL @ Ellnora Guitar Festival<br><br>** w/ <a contents="True Widow" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/TrueWidowOfficial" target="_blank">True Widow</a><br>++ w/ <a contents="Federales" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.federalespdx.com" target="_blank">Federales</a>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/36623602015-04-02T11:52:20-07:002017-01-10T06:29:17-08:00The Throwaway Project: Earth<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thewordmagazine.com/music/the-throwaway-project-earth/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/8d44f025cb4ac4bfaac8884ad32debacd47da22f/medium/screen-shot-2015-04-02-at-11-36-54-am.png?1427999884" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /></a><br>Following their epic concert at Kortrijk's De Kreun last month, we managed to slip one of our throwaway cameras in the pocket of <a contents="Earth's" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/home" target="_blank">Earth's</a> tour manager who at the time was busy manning the band's merchandising table. After whispering a few guidelines to him ("All they need to do is capture their touring antics," "make sure they always shoot with the flash on," and, more important of all "please please pretty please send the camera back to us after"), we crossed our fingers, got back in our car and drove back to Brussels. Then, a few days ago, we got the camera back and fuck me did they deliver. In what is surely one of the best throwaway projects we've ever received, here's Earth eating, drinking, smiling, sight-seeing, sleeping and taking what is without a doubt already a strong contender for selfie of the year.
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/ca93c0e37fa1f550be4ae0361ebd0e437832c593/original/earthword1.jpg?1428000357" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/52f2b606ee2d21d516f3845a34115d451454bc29/original/earthword2.jpg?1428000355" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/1e2cc01bbe942d1eaa458f83aae9a4056c4f4ff3/original/earthword3.jpg?1428000356" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/66ca46629920be5bac983512e88ee4934b6d912e/original/earthword4.jpg?1428000357" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/e8571e27426102c277de5fa311980fcf922c0a1d/original/earthword12.jpg?1428000357" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/e7bb0b49bbef6bc443f17ca9f25ebc8cfd5cd9fb/original/earthword18.jpg?1428000451" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">See the full gallery <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thewordmagazine.com/music/the-throwaway-project-earth/" target="_blank">here</a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="Author: Guillaume Kidula" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thewordmagazine.com/author/guillaume/" target="_blank">Author Guillaume Kidula</a></p>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/36623612015-03-26T11:49:23-07:002017-01-10T06:29:17-08:00Kerrang! Interviews Earth: “THE PRIME MINISTER OF BELGIUM TOOK OUR BACKSTAGE PASSES!”<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/843a4d7c71b9e478f815ea83c9fbfaaad8fc2949/original/screen-shot-2015-03-26-at-11-39-57-am.png?1427395247" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /><img src="//www.kerrang.com/wp-content/uploads/Temples_Festival.jpg?455978" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /><br><br><strong>Kerrang! gets ready for Temples Festival with underground legends <a contents="Earth" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/home" target="_blank">Earth</a>.</strong>
<p>It’s only a month and a bit until <a contents="Temples Festival" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.templesfestival.co.uk/" target="_blank">Temples Festival</a> hits Bristol! Gathering together all sorts of weird, wonderful and downright heavy sounds from every dark corner of the underground, it’s the UK’s weightiest gathering bar none. There’s the furious hardcore of <strong>Converge</strong>, <strong>Nails</strong> and <strong>Trap Them</strong>, bong-rattling stoner vibes from <strong>Goatsnake</strong>, <strong>Weedeater</strong>, <strong>Bongzilla</strong> and <strong>Sea Bastard</strong>, there’s <strong>Triptykon</strong>, <strong>Bolzer</strong>, <strong>Grave Miasma</strong> and <strong>Vallenfyre</strong> bringing death metal darkness, and then there’s headliners <strong>Earth</strong> and <strong>Sunn O)))</strong> bringing <em>loooooooooong droooooning</em> notes.</p>
<p>So, to get us in the mood, we hooked up with Earth frontman <a contents="Dylan Carlson" data-link-label="Guitar" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/guitar" target="_blank">Dylan Carlson</a> to chat about Temples, festival etiquette, and dignitaries nicking your passes.</p>
<p><strong>Words: Olly Thomas</strong></p>
<p><strong>Hi Dylan. How are you doing at the moment?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Dylan Carlson:</strong> “I’m doing really good. The tour’s being going really well, the album’s been going really well (laughs). And we’re excited, cos we were originally just playing Temples and now it looks like we’re headlining! I’ve heard good things about Temples, and Bristol’s always been a good city for us. And we’re playing on the same day as Voivod! I haven’t seen them since the (mid-80s) War And Pain tour so I’m very excited! I know Converge and Sunn 0))) are the other headliners, and I’m sure there are some other people playing that I like but I haven’t had a chance to look at the (full) line-up yet! (laughs)”</p>
<p><strong>How’s it been playing the new material – has that made a difference to the tour?</strong></p>
<p>“I really like playing the new stuff. I mean, obviously, we’re one of those bands of hoary age that must play the older songs – I’m not going to call them hits, because they weren’t! We always try and put some old songs in the set cos, y’know, I’m a music fan too and when you see someone you’ve wanted to see for a long time, (you don’t want to come away saying) ‘They didn’t play the song I like!’ In fact, I just had that experience with Uriah Heep – it was a great show but they didn’t play Stealin’! But I guess you can’t please everyone all the time.”<br> </p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/71nROr1yLgI" width="420"></iframe><br><strong>It seems like you tour pretty regularly these days. How is touring now compared to back in the ’90s?</strong>
<p>“I didn’t really tour in the 90s, because I was… (pauses, then chuckles) not capable of it. We mostly did one-off (shows). There was one disastrous tour of Texas, that I’m surprised we made it out of! So we’ve toured as lot more since we came back, obviously just because I have my shit together, and I love touring. It’s funny, when I first started Earth I was really into the recording bit, not so much the live thing, and now it’s switched places, where I wanna hit the road and play.”</p>
<p><strong>I noticed an England sticker on your guitar. Do you have a particular affinity with Britain?</strong></p>
<p>“Yes, I do. It’s definitely my favourite country and I just married a Londoner and I’m hoping to move over at some point, if Her Majesty’s Government will have me (laughs)!”</p>
<p><strong>The new album’s done really well. How does it feel after so many years of struggle?</strong></p>
<p>“It feels really good. It totally took me by surprise. It wasn’t expected or calculated, you know what I mean? I mean, obviously every dude that starts a rock band has that secret little guy in the back of his head going ‘Yeah, you’re gonna be a rock star’, but luckily I had a reality filter and I knew from the get-go that we were not going to be (stars). But yeah, it’s been a long trip, and it’s been worth it. I’m surprised, and humble, and grateful.”</p>
<p><strong>Do you do anything different for a festival set?</strong></p>
<p>“I think for this one we’re gonna have to (laughs uproariously)! I’m not sure what yet, but I’m thinking of something. Normally, in the past, a festival has just been a date on the tour. I’ve only ever been to Roadburn for an hour! We don’t normally get a chance to hang out with everyone, but this time I think we will.”</p>
<p><strong>Have you had any memorable festival experiences?</strong></p>
<p>“The Roadburn we did in 2011 was really good. And we played Dour festival (in Belgium) and this guy cut in front of us and took our passes – and it turned out it was the Prime Minister of Belgium, which was really weird (laughs)! He just looked like some normal middle aged dude.”</p>
<p><strong>If you had to explain to someone who had never heard Earth before, what to expect from your set at Temples, what would you say?</strong></p>
<p>“I’ve always described Earth as a loud, slow, weird rock and roll band, and that’s pretty much what we do! Although maybe now I’d say loud, slow, weird hard rock or loud, slow, weird heavy metal (laughs)!”</p><img src="//www.kerrang.com/wp-content/uploads/Temples_Festival_2015.jpg?455978" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" /><br><br>(via <a contents="Kerrang!" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.kerrang.com/29805/earth-prime-minister-belgium-took-backstage-passes/" target="_blank">Kerrang!</a>)Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/36623622015-03-17T12:40:00-07:002017-01-10T06:29:17-08:00CRACK MAGAZINE: Earth's Unlikely Second Chance<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://crackmagazine.net/article/music/earths-unlikely-second-chance/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/cad6cdae8c3fa46f1815dfb29b8b932ead606229/original/crack-mag.png?1428002751" class="size_orig justify_left border_" /></a><br><br><br><br><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://crackmagazine.net/article/music/earths-unlikely-second-chance/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/6456a4fcd21f93b7877d5e2a4d8c7afd6515de82/original/crack-mag-screen-shot.png?1428002756" class="size_orig justify_none border_" /></a><br><br><a href="http://crackmagazine.net/author/tom-watson/" rel="author" title="Posts by Tom Watson">TOM WATSON</a><a contents="TOM WATSON&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://crackmagazine.net/author/tom-watson/" target="_blank"> </a>/ 17.03.15
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<p>Dylan Carlson has this joke. It’s one that’s been parroted for over a decade now.</p>
<p>“I joke I only had one good idea in my lifetime and have decided to run with it.” He laughs earnestly, winter winds bayonetting at his lungs as he relieves the catarrh from his throat. Carlson is currently travelling with his bandmates Adrienne Davies and Dom McGreevy to the north of England, a place he treasures for its folklore and sardonic humour. There’s this giddy movement to his delivery. “Obviously I’m as happy as pig in shit to be back in the UK,” he cracks another chesty cackle.</p>
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<p>As the founding member of doom drone devisors Earth, Carlson’s ‘one good idea’ is currently traversing from London to Newcastle with multiple appearances between. The shows, championing the group’s eighth studio album Primitive and Deadly, are sell-outs. Starting at Islington Assembly Hall, Earth’s performance was captured as a live stream for Boiler Room. One shot dissolves into the next in a whirring delirium as Carlson slouches back into his music’s prolonged sustain. The audience hardly move, put under by Earth’s amplification. “We brought three guitar heads with us on this tour and blew two in Birmingham. I’ve really really missed playing loud” Carlson says, knowingly.<br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="XJ0CyOVTSV8" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/XJ0CyOVTSV8/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XJ0CyOVTSV8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="420" width="640" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>It’s particularly rare for a band like Earth to have the luxury of a second chance. Their legacy can be partitioned into two polemic eras. Formed in the grisly bosom of the Seattle grunge scene in the early 90s, Carlson’s first era of Earth was a clamorous slobbering of elongated instrumental fuzz stretched out into fragmented riffs that would repeat and repeat and repeat. Like the hallucinatory arcs Earth’s music was trapped in, the majority of this time Carlson spent doped in a storm of narcotics. His criminal activity was habitual. Wrongly famed for aiding his best friend, Kurt Cobain, in his suicide (he gave Cobain the shotgun which was subsequently used to end the frontman’s life on the pretence that it was only to be used in times of defence), Carlson’s career was ebbing away. After the canonical three-track debut album Earth 2: Special Low-Frequency was followed by two ill-received records between 1995 to 1996, Carlson succumbed to a sonic oblivion, disbanding Earth and tumbling off the radar for nine years.</p>
<p>Then came Hex, Earth’s 2005 return. While Carlson was in the wilderness Earth’s influence had grown far, inspiring a musical movement, including being more or less the sole formative influence of the now-adored Sunn O))) – but his newfound direction was starkly different. The devilish repetition was still intact, but Carlson’s guitar work had manifested into something far more shamanistic. Pocketed influences of Ennio Morricone and Neil Young were more overt while the previous nods to minimalist prime movers La Monte Young and Terry Riley were more pronounced. Carlson reflects on this time with a chastity of gratitude, “There are a lot of people who established us on our second run after the release of Hex. Since then, all of our records have been received very positively.</p>
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<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/baa1e47538c62989e61d712b57386fb4f0994e8b/original/screen-shot-2015-04-02-at-12-51-01-pm.png?1428004293" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /><p>“We’ve toured a lot more, we’re much more of a present, functioning band than during the first era. We just weren’t popular. It’s weird now, because so many people talk about Earth 2 as a seminal piece of work. But the first pressing of that record was only 2000 copies and it took three years to sell. It was not universally acclaimed.” Carlson begins to laugh again – now, with the success of Primitive and Deadly, the band have amassed a reputation surpassing what anyone could have speculated. “Our latest record charted.<br>I can’t really fathom that. When I got the news that the record sold more than all the Earth records combined in the first week alone, I was speechless.”</p>
<p>But despite Primitive and Deadly’s surprisingly accessible heavy rock marauding, Billboard chart climbing is not what drives Earth Mk II. “I knew from day one as soon as A&R men started crawling out of Seattle’s woodwork we were never going to be a major label band. That was not our route. But the success of this record is overwhelming.</p>
<p>“I’ve always felt like when you’re recording an album, you’re recording a specific moment in time and its set of variables will never be the same again. And it’s the same with live shows. It’s us and this audience who are creating this moment in time that will never happen again in the same way. It’s this moment of possibility and transcendence that doesn’t occur every time. The best shows for me are when I almost don’t even know that they’ve happened. I start and suddenly it’s over. Those are the shows that matter.”<br><br>Like last December’s unexpected Ninja Tune collaboration Boa/Cold with fellow low-end fetishist Kevin Martin of The Bug, Primitive and Deadlystands as proof of Carlson’s fearless thrust to evolve and better his previous works. Yet the album hasn’t been met with total esteem from Earth formalists. Amongst the throwback hard riffing of 70s heavy metal and the sludgey drone nuanced by the likes of Neurosis and The Melvins, are the occasional inclusion of vocals – a trait seldom utilised in Earth’s aural arsenal. “I always thought of vocals in a different way than most bands. It’s more like if we use them, how should we use them? I really love what Wolves in the Throne Room did with Jessica [Kennedy] on Celestial Lineage. For Earth, vocals need to be instruments rather than the cheaper front-and-centre thing.<br><br>“It’s funny because a lot of people that dig us are just into noise. And that stuff is cool. Maybe I’m showing my age, but I don’t think doing loud or extreme music means you have to sacrifice melody or a riff. Songs can still have arcs and development. To me, everything is focused around the riff. It’s the riff you want to hear over and over again. My influences for Primitive and Deadly were early riff-based groups like Scorpions and Diamond Head. Bands that could make the similar dissimilar.”<br><br><span style="text-decoration: inherit;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/3bab79464cc5db2fd4dc6cd5a8899425d686b5fd/large/dylan-crac-mag.jpg?1428005169" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></span></p>
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<p>Despite his own synonymy with a very distinct musical subgenre, Carlson struggles to register with the music industry’s inclination to produce homogenous copies of the same sounds. “Bands, especially in metal, are obsessed with the microgenre. And instead of all these microgenres making music more broad, it has a reductionist tendency. It almost feels like people decide what kind of microgenre their band’s going to be before they start, rather than playing together and seeing what happens. You can be influenced by a band but that doesn’t mean you have to sound exactly like them. There just aren’t any gaps anymore.” But is this just another sign of Carlson’s detachment from modernity, the same detachment manifested in his fervour for English oral history? “I think there’s a contrariness and a resistance to modernity that I find attractive. I like being a curmudgeon,” he says. Yet modern audiences dote on Carlson’s Earth as he blithely explores the outer-boundaries of drone. “The Devil makes work for idle hands,” Carlson lets outanother crow of laughter, “I find myself very busy nowadays, but I need it to be that way. And thankfully people are still interested in Earth’s second era. Really, there’s a point where I think a band should stop. There are bands that shouldn’t keep going and bands that have stopped who should never get back together. Hopefully I haven’t worn out my welcome yet and hopefully, when that moment comes, I’ll know not to continue past it.”</p>
<div><p><a contents="Primitive and Deadly&nbsp;is out now via Southern Lord Records." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.southernlord.com/releases/view/primitive-and-deadly" target="_blank">Primitive and Deadly is out now via Southern Lord Records.</a> Earth headline Temples Festival, Bristol, 29-31 May<br>See show details <a contents="here." data-link-label="Shows" data-link-type="page" href="http://www.thronesanddominions.com/shows" target="_blank">here.</a></p></div>
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</div>Sargent Housetag:sargenthouse.com,2005:Post/36623632015-03-15T12:45:00-07:002017-01-10T06:29:17-08:00Earth joins Sargent House roster<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/164173/5ca396d5bc27c9588758a899b510611df90fea75/large/earthlogo-muljat.jpg?1429137641" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Earth are happy to announce they have joined the Sargent House roster for management. Dylan R. Carlson solo projects will also now be managed by Cathy Pellow of Sargent House and Sargent House Europe. Sargent House