stoner

Fu Manchu – Still Kings of the Road!

Scratch Acid may have been the hipper choice, but I headed to the Horseshoe last nite to catch quintessential stoner rockers Fu Manchu, touring in support of a new vinyl reissue of In Search Of… There seemed to be quite a few aging, balding pudgy rockers on hand–the place was pretty packed!

Kyuss Lives! Long Live Kyuss!

Last nite, Kyuss Lives! kicked off its North American tour in Toronto, with support from The Sword and MonstrO. To say that the venue was a little out of the way would be an understatement, and the support was a little underwhelming, but I woulda given a kidney to see 90 minutes of Kyuss tunes in the flesh. I’m just glad I didn’t have to!

Ride the dragon to the Sled Island…

Sled Island, a four-day, multi-venue fest, has been Calgary’s answer to NXNE since 2007. Seeing as the actual NXNE takes place the week beforehand, I’ve never had much interest in a lineup that often features many of the same bands as the Toronto event. But this year, while my initial impressions of the NXNE lineup are a little underwhelming, the Cowtown organizers have scored a major coup: they’re bringing Sleep to town for an exclusive Canadian performance, and just one of three gigs on the marijuananauts’ calendar this year.

OM: God Is Good

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Sleep, the quintessential stoner/doom band that kept the Sabbath dream alive throughout the 1990’s. While guitarist Matt Pike eventually decided to play faster with High on Fire, the other two thirds of the equation kept the stoner grooves going with OM. At least until recently. Drummer Chris Hakius left the band last year with little fanfare, and was replaced by little-known Emil Amos. Not much has changed, otherwise. Al Cisneros was the anchor holding Sleep together, and he continues to man the bass and vocal duties of the guitarless duo.