What's going on with High on Fire?

awesome.

(apologies for foolishly posting directly after someone else with nearly exactly the same name)

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HIGH ON FIRE JOINED BY EX-MELVINS BASSIST; ANNOUNCE U.S. TOUR

Relapse Records recording artists HIGH ON FIRE will be joined by
bassist Joe Preston (THRONES / ex-MELVINS) for their forthcoming U.S.
tour. Preston replaces long time HIGH ON FIRE bassist George Rice,
joining the power trio alongside guitarist / vocalist Matt Pike (ex-SLEEP)
and drummer Des Kensel.

Preston will make his live debut with HIGH ON FIRE when the band kicks
off a two week U.S. tour beginning August 4th in San Diego, CA. The band
will round out the 14 city trek on August 18th in Chicago, IL. Support on
the tour will come from a host of up-and-coming acts including TOTIMOSHI,
BONGZILLA and HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE.

At the conclusion of the tour, HIGH ON FIRE will enter Electrical
Audio Studios with engineer Steve Albini (NEUROSIS, JON SPENCER BLUES
EXPLOSION, NIRVANA) to record the follow up to 2002's heralded
"Surrounded by Thieves". The forthcoming HIGH ON FIRE album, tentatively
titled, "Blessed Black Wings" is slated for a February, 2005 release date
via Relapse.

Updated HIGH ON FIRE news and tour information
will be made available via the Relapse Records website: www.RELAPSE.com
and the HIGH ON FIRE website: www.HIGHONFIRE.net.

Best news i've heard all week

"See 'em live" is my recommendation. (Or buy Dopethrone!)

yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!!!

(anyone think this'll last longer than one tour/album?)

HIGH ON FIRE ANNOUNCE U.S. TOUR DATES

Relapse Records recording artists HIGH ON FIRE have announced Fall,
2004 U.S. tour dates. The critically acclaimed power trio will display
their high volume live prowess when they kick off six weeks worth of
performances beginning November 18th in Salt Lake City, UT. The band
will remain on the road until the end of 2004, concluding the jaunt with
a New Year's Eve show at Philadelphia's Trocadero Theater.

HIGH ON FIRE (drummer Des Kensel, guitarist / vocalist Matt Pike and
new bassist Joe Preston [ex-MELVINS]) who just completed work on their
highly anticipated new album, "Blessed Black Wings" with engineer Steve
Albini (NIRVANA, NEUROSIS, JESUS LIZARD), will hit the road for a number
of headlining dates before joining CLUTCH and FU MANCHU for a three week
span. Immediately following, HIGH ON FIRE will headline two weeks worth
of dates to round out the year. HIGH ON FIRE's "Blessed Black Wings" is
expected to see a February 1st, 2005 release date via Relapse. An
advance look at the album's artwork can be viewed at this location:
http://relapse.com/preview/BlessedRGB.jpg

It's an amazing record. Better than Surrounded By Thieves for one simple reason: Albini. He plays to their strengths, because the drums and guitar are huge, and Pike's purely functional vocals are downplayed somewhat (though they don't disappear entirely, or anything close to it). The songs are uniformly great, with killin' guitar solos (and an album-closing instrumental!). Actually, I'm overly dismissive of Pike's vocals - he sounds pretty good, still very Lemmy-esque but with more blood in his throat. Most of the tracks here almost sound like mid-90s Motörhead (think the song "Sacrifice," but noisier, and you've pretty much got it). There are some nice slowed-down bits at the beginning and end of songs, but for the most part it's headlong bash bash bash all the way through. And the drums are fucking enormous.

They played four new songs at the show I saw, but they also played "Baghdad." Great set. Ferociously loud.

I gotta say I don't really hear what Preston adds to the band. Part of that is knowing that the guitar and the drums are the really crucial sounds in HOF, and part of it is knowing that the Melvins are wildly, ludicrously overrated, but really, Preston is "just the bassist" here, adding name value for a few dozen and nothing as far as anybody else should be concerned.

Some PR waffle:

HIGH ON FIRE has announced the details for their first North American headlining tour in support of their highly-anticipated new album Death Is This Communion. Death Is This Communion will see its North American release on September 18.

The “Death Is This Communion North American Tour” kicks off on September 20 in San Diego, CA and will travel across North America for five weeks. Joining HIGH ON FIRE for the entirety of the tour are special guests MONO, PANTHERS, and COLISEUM. The tour is being sponsored in part by Decibel Magazine, Jaxprints, and Fixion Media. A complete listing of tour cities and venues can be found below.

Advance online ticket pre-sales for this tour will become available Friday, June 15 through DucatKing.com, with tickets opening up through all other standard outlets on Friday, June 22. Ducat King is a fan-friendly concert ticketing company dedicated to offering lower service charges and eliminating handling fees to the ticket buyer.

HIGH ON FIRE recently completed recording Death Is This Communion in Seattle, WA with producer Jack Endino.

Best news I've heard all week! Thanks Ned.

They're in my part of the world about a fortnight before this so WE get first wind of the new shit. Do this kids still say "w00t"?

Should be good. Assuming this will be on Relapse?

Yep

So what are the dates?

September 20 San Diego, CA Casbah

September 21 Los Angeles, CA El Ray

September 22 Tempe, AZ Clubhouse

September 23 Albuquerque, NM Launch Pad

September 25 San Antonio, TX White Rabbit

September 26 Dallas, TX Granada Theater

September 27 Austin, TX Emo’s

September 28 Houston, TX Meridian Red Room

September 29 New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jacks

October 1 Knoxville, TN Blue Cats

October 2 Athens, GA 40 Watt Club

October 3 Asheville, NC Orange Peel

October 4 Wilmington, NC Soapbox

October 5 Richmond, VA Toad’s Place

October 6 Baltimore, MD Rams Head Live

October 7 Philadelphia, PA Theater of Living Arts

October 8 New York, NY Webster Hall

October 11 Cambridge, MA Middle East

October 12 Providence, RI Living Room

October 13 Montreal, QC Les Saints

October 14 Toronto, ON Opera House

October 16 Buffalo, NY Showplace Theater

October 17 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop

October 18 Detroit, MI Magic Stick

October 19 Chicago, IL Double Door

October 20 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon

October 21 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue

October 24 Vancouver, BC Richards on Richards

October 25 Seattle, WA Crocodile Café

October 26 Portland, OR Mt. Tabor

October 28 San Francisco, CA Independent

October 29 San Francisco, CA Independent

BBW is going to be hard to follow, but I cant wait for this. I love these guys.

is preston on the new album/tour?

Preston's long gone (he can't stay in any band for more than 12 months, it would seem). The new bass player is Jeff Matz from Zeke, who was already touring with them at this time last year. I did see them twice on the UK tour with Preston on bass and it was an awesome thing to behold - as my mate pointed out at one point during the set - "he's playing that bass like a piano" (sounds better in a Scouse accent).

UK/Europe tour dates announced; UK dates are with Russian Circles:

September 1 Birmingham, UK The Barfly

September 2 Glasgow, UK Nice N' Sleazy

September 3 Manchester, UK Jabez Clegg

September 4 Bristol, UK The Cooler

September 6 London, UK Underworld

September 7 Paris, France Gibus

September 8 Antwerp, Belgium Trix Club

September 9 Dortmund, Germany FZW

September 10 Berlin, Germany Bastard

September 11 Tilburg, Netherlands 013

And a new track, "Rumours of War," is up:

http://www.myspace.com/HighOnFireSlays

"RumOURS"? Pike's an anglophile now?

New album is good

Very possibly great. Time will tell.

Best yet. (even) More consistent than BBW.

listening to Art of Self Defense tonight, haven't heard it in ages...underpraised album! gonna go see 'em tomorrow, fuck yeah - I haven't seen them since...well...the Art of Self Defense tour

Probably the most retarded (for the listener)/insane live band I've ever seen in terms of sheer musical force....just awesome. The volume they play at should not even be legal.

John OTM. Much as I've loved everything since, they still haven't topped the debut. More groove and variety, plus killer songs. And, yeah, one of the very best live bands I've seen in the last half decade.

nah, yr right, they totally did. the riffs from mid to late career really hit you in the fuckin' face, which is why I know lots of people who aren't into the whole doom/stoner aesthetic love them.

i'm listening to electric messiah and de vermis mysteriis like all the time practically. the sound that they shifted to, is that in a thrash vein? i'd love to check out more metal that sounds like this. i know reign in blood but never really spent any other slayer or classic metallica or megadeth. basically i just want to find more stuff that has a similar aura of all-consuming violence and machismo with like mythical overtones and more chromatic / jarring riffs along with more melodic stuff.

there are thrash elements in it, increasingly so over the years, but it's not full-on thrash. which is kind of what makes it neat, it's a very thick gumbo of sludge/stoner, and Pike's favorite elements from other genres like thrash, maybe occasional death.

trying to think of other stuff in this vein....uhh.....hmm. was gonna say Junior Bruce but they steal a wee bit too much from HoF for me to put them in the same league. have to think on it a bit!

You would probably like Power Trip, and you might like Lair of the Minotaur.

good call on Power Trip

ty

Power Trip is PERFECT

lair of the minotaur might be even more perfect. THANK YOU. sorry i was rude to you on that other thread unperson.

discogs brought up nile - loving the sound of "vile nilotic rites", might fuck with that too

good album, pretty much comfort food Nile. possibly seek out the songs "Kafir", "Black Seeds of Vengeance", or "Barra Edinazzu" (each from diff albums" as well.

thumbs up. digging into mastodon too.

if you want heavier Mastodon, Remission and Leviathan are the more primitive punch you in the mouth albums, though I like almost all of their eras.

remission would definitely fit that bill

early baroness too esp the 1st 2 sludgey EPs

Power, machismo, mythical overtones: clearly you need some Manowar.

i've got a playlist now with power trip's nightmare logic, lair of the minotaur's war metal battle master (great title), mastodon's remission and emperor of sand and the two aforementioned high on fire albums.

first impressions:

power trip basically wants to sound like reign in blood, which is cool. singer obviously came up through post-hardcore but everything else screams rick rubin producing slayer in 1986.

lair of the minotaur album is pretty fun, very impassioned, i dig the vocal style switch-ups, but is a little clumsy and amateur. i bet they're a lot of fun live.

the mastodon albums i'll probably spend some more time with. i think i like the sound and 80s metal / progressive rock feel of emperor of sand more than remission which sounds a little more like post-hardcore to me. they're definitely more of a progressive rock / post-hardcore band with metal elements blended in. the drummer is a little too busy for my taste. i never really jibed with this kind of prog sound so idk about these guys yet though there are some undeniably cool songs.

as far as high on fire goes, hearing these other bands kind of underscores how excellent they are imo.

a very thick gumbo of sludge/stoner

lair of the minotaur album is pretty fun, very impassioned, i dig the vocal style switch-ups, but is a little clumsy and amateur. i bet they're a lot of fun live.

hahahah i mean, you should listen to 7000 Dying Rats (dude's former band) ... it's more "funny" than minotaur. I vaguely remember a friend of mine touring with them as the drummer at one point

If concerts ever come back, HoF are one of the best live bands I've ever seen. Hollow your ears right out but you'll smile while it's happening

oh man i would love love love to see them live. i was just thinking about that this morning! like for the first time i really want to see live music again and it would be hof.

I've only seen them live once -- place was packed, hometown show fwiw -- totally worth it.

HoF is up there with MBV and Sunn O))) as a band you can feel.

I wasn't even a huge fan when I saw them the first time! I had many of their albums (most, actually), but more a casual fan. I had a ticket to see their Orlando show and was free the Friday before and decided to see them in Tampa. was a bit surprised by how much more I was into it than expected, and Pike's guitar leads were so fluid and clear and I felt like I could almost *see* them.

so I go again on Sunday, exhausted, tired, and cranky, and figure it's not going to be as good. the sound was overwhelmingly loud yet paradoxically clear, and Pike was pretty much holding his guitar like a literal weapon, couldn't believe the sounds he was getting out of that thing that night. probably a crowd of like 100, and everybody was going nuts, me included. didn't get to sleep until like 2 or 3 am cos I was so wound up about how great the show was, it far exceeded the first one, and for a while was my favorite show ever. when he got to the "Snakes for the Divine" encore it was like a gigantic victory lap.

became much more a fan, went back and bought the albums of theirs I didn't have.

only one time I saw them where they didn't destroy, and that was at Psycho Las Vegas last year. they were in a 10,000 seat convention center that swallowed them, and the sound was awful. Pike was visibly upset by it.

much better last year in Tampa, and the new material really slays live

yeah, I wasn't a major fan when I saw them either -- was pretty much going to hang with a friend who got in free to all the shows at the club where they were playing because she used to be neighbors with the club owners and had helped them with the remodel (mainly painting, nothing super fancy). Anyway, it was one of the few shows I have been to where I came into it with no expectations and was like, "damn, this is really fucking great." ...

One of the few post-70s bands where they're very much a metal band but don't really fit a metal subgenre.

Definitely one of the few bands that gets the "heavy" part of metal right. Their songs have weight, like you wouldn't want to drop one one your foot.

bendy and JiC otm. the guitars also sound and feel like buzzsaws. calling a guitar an 'axe' in this context makes perfect sense.

gotta credit Pike with battling a lot of issues to keep going, his alcoholism, then his diabetes health complications. had tickets to 4 diff shows of theirs that were cancelled for one reason or another for either reason. the last time (his toe amputation) I could almost hear his tears in the press release...he wanted to be on the road playing and it hurt to cancel those shows.

they weren't even the headliners of that show (Municipal Waste were) but I asked for a refund as I told the promoters "this lineup just got 75% lamer without them".

also had tickets tos ee them twice that I never used :(. once I accidentally forgot I had a conflict with the date and had to sell, the other they were playing in ATL and I was road weary and fighting a summer-long hangover due to my ambitious concert traveling and just couldn't bear to trek 8 hours to see another show. I regret that one a lot, esp cos of it being at a dope venue.

pretty incredible to be a member of Sleep and HoF simultaneously. I saw both last year!

i played electric messiah to death and then played vermiis to death and now i guess i'm ready to play luminiferous to death as it's really sounding great right now. "the falconist" and "the lethal chamber" are sooooo lit.

Carcosa is my fav from that one

also sick as hell. no track on this one that doesn't hit imo.

the only song i've encounteredthat i haven't been totally sure about is "warhorn" but 1) i can dig that it's different 2) i think it's mostly successful and 3) it's grown on me

other favs are "the pallid mask" and "drowning dog" (such a gut-wrencher) from em and "fertile green" and "madness of an architect" from de vermiis

"king of days" too

i've listened to these so much that there isn't a track that hasn't been a favorite tbh

still caning these guys lol.

i even got into luminiferous though it's obviously not quite as great as some of the others.

Some friends of mine are making a stink about Matt Pike coming off a conspiracy-minded crank here:

https://thequietus.com/articles/31016-matt-pike-interview

Which he is! But I was expecting much, much worse, unless I missed something major, which is possible, because he is so cranky I kind of skimmed.

Not really surprised either, hasn't he been going on about David Icke and lizard people for decades now?

I definitely remember Pike mentioning Icke in an interview I read years ago. The only musician I've ever had bring the reptoids up to me in an interview was Wino, who's now an anti-vax crank, so.

From what I've read in interviews with Pike and from my one, extremely drunken on his part, conversation with the guy, he seems more to just be into the lizard people conspiracy thing from a "this is batshit sci-fi fodder for kick-ass metal songs", I haven't gotten the sense that it's too engrained but I could be wrong.

I picked up an Icke book from a charity shop last year thinking I'd find out what his thing was. It's still sitting in a pile unread beside he toilet.
THought it be some interest. I dunno.

Like seeing how glaring the holes were or something

Oh there was definitely a time in my life I would have checked one of his books out from sheer curiosity, had I been aware enough to care.

Doing some googling, yeah, it's def. a weird purgatory of repurposing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a lizard people parable drawn from life, but the lizards are not, Icke insists, not Jews, just all powerful Zionists who *happen* to be actual, real space lizards.

I dunno, I didn't waste any more time on him. Pike, it's hard to tell what's up with Pike, though if you told me he believed or believed in literally anything it wouldn't come as a shock. Iirc the dude is even anti-earplug.

No interest in defending the guy, especially if there's more questionable beliefs of his I haven't stumbled across before, but he always struck me more as the old fashioned aliens and Illuminati corner bar type conspiracy theorist than the more dangerous, anti-vax, Q adjacent always online modern type conspiracy theorist.

Very contrarian "I would never belong to any club that would have me as a member" vibe.

he seems more to just be into the lizard people conspiracy thing from a "this is batshit sci-fi fodder for kick-ass metal songs", I haven't gotten the sense that it's too engrained but I could be wrong.

The line between aliens and Illuminati and Q has gotten thinner over time - the kooks were never quite as harmlessly goofy as we wanted to believe.

I think they were slightly more harmless before they were able to congregate online and stoke each others batshit.

a friend posted about this interview on FB with the "anarchist libertarian" bit, and I was like, "uh, I wonder if he's still in Oakland?" and then I skimmed the interview and lol of course he moved to Portland

Matt Pike seems like the sort of dude who lives wherever he wakes up. Did you see that thing about his amputated toe?

No surprise, the new song is pretty rad, but cliche or not it concerns me a little that Pike would name the album and song "Cometh the Storm." Given his predilections, he's the last guy I'd want talking about a coming storm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVr9AU9gMfo