Every now and then, a combination will go beyond “appropriate” or “good” and result in something that forever alters the universe. Just imagine a world without chocolate and peanut butter, Doc Martens and a leather jacket, Beavis and Butthead, and of course, Mudhoney and Sub Pop. April 2013 marks the 25th anniversary of both Mudhoney and Sub Pop Records, and there could be no better band to represent the label, past, present and future. Nirvana, Saint Etienne and Fleet Foxes are swell, but no other group has consistently kicked as much ass as Mudhoney, nor has anyone come close. Through two and a half decades, sarcastic grins remain implanted on their grizzled faces, even as empty bottles and the sneakers of a stage diver fly inches from their heads.
Mudhoney have bestowed no less than 2 new albums in 2018 upon us. It’s not their first album. Their seventeenth and eighteenth. “Lie” is a live album from their 2016 European stint, and “Digital Garbage”, their most recent studio effort, according to Pitchfork Media “a grave diagnosis of a festering societal condition”.
A truly remarkable feat for any band, but almost statistically impossible in their case, as we are talking about a band whose 1988 debut Touch Me I’m Sick b/w Sweet Young Thing Ain’t Sweet No More was such a volatile and desperate single that it’s miraculous the band made it through a weekend, let alone another year. In an age where only the newest of the new can survive (and even then, only for a few weeks at best), what could the decades-old Mudhoney have to offer? What could they possibly have left to say?
The answer is plenty. Whereas most groups originally (wrongly or otherwise) associated with the grunge movement have broken up, fallen apart, reunited as shells of their former selves or disappeared entirely (I’m looking at you, Sugartooth), Mudhoney kept on kicking out the garage-rocking, punk-infused, psycho-blues jams, ignoring the trends of the day in favor of scorching feedback, rumbling bass and the inimitable voice of Mark Arm. Vanishing Point is full of that fervor, but the band isn’t masquerading as teenaged, beer-soaked goofballs wandering high school hallways—these are songs written from the rare vantage point of a band who went through the rock ‘n’ roll meat grinder and not only lived to tell such a tale, they came out full of the wisdom and dark humor such a journey provides.
“ZEKE sound like the DWARVES if they snorted a tub of meth every day.”
– LA WEEKLY
“I can say without hyperbole that this big-guitar engine-block rock is a million times better than whatever it is you’re currently listening to.” – GUITAR WORLD
Ride With Zeke has quickly become the mantra for music fans who have accepted the invitation brought by on Heckler Magazine when they said, Welcome the new monsters of rock. And believe me, West Coast punk / thrashers ZEKE are monsters. Ever since their very first gig at the Rock City in Seattle in 1993, people have had no choice but to pay attention. Their records will assault you, and their live show will batter you.
“Hellbender” (Relapse Records) is ZEKE´s first LP in 14 years.
Please The Trees is a psychedelic rock band from the Czech republic. They have been following intuitively the trail of inspiration for ten years now.
Past tours of hundreds of shows included Europe, UK, USA and Israel. The band received Czech Grammy award for the best alternative record of 2012 with their third album A Forest Affair (Starcastic Records), produced by Jonathan Burnside. Fourth studio record called Carp came out at Starcastic Records in September 2015. The album was recorded with Chris Koltay at High Bias Recordings, Detroit during the band’s fourth self organized US tour. After the release the album gets ravishing reviews and receives APOLLO – Czech Critics Choice Music Awards for best record of 2015.
2018 saw the release of their latest LP “Infinite Dance” (Starcastic Records).
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