The Soda Shop Podcast This Saturday!
This Saturday on Grip of Delusion Radio betwee 3-5 EST make sure you check out The Soda Shop’s latest Podcast. We used to run a featured called Swedish Sunday where we would feature a different Swedish band. From time to time we would venture a little bit out of the country into neighboring countries and the feature would be called Scandinavian Sunday. This Saturday it returns. We once again pay tribute to some of the great bands in Podcast form. Make sure you tune in and listen! Fet!
01 Switch Opens – “Express Death” from Switch Opens (2009)
02 Noctum – “Mistress” from The Seance (2010)
03 Dozer – “Born A Legend” from Through The Eyes of Heathens (2005)
04 Blowback – “Dead Mans Blues” from Eight Hundred Miles (2009) (more…)
Swedish Sunday – Black Bonzo
…And Sunday comes afterwards. Yes, folks, today is Sunday. This means, of course, that we here at The Soda Shop take a detour to the Scandinavian country of Sweden, a well-known hotbed of some of today’s best music. Much like the last few weeks, today’s feature is another relatively unknown band (to me, at least), Black Bonzo. This retro rock/progressive rock band is from Skellefteå, and will probably go down as one of my favorite accidental discoveries.
From their last.fm bio:
In the winter of 2003 Black Bonzo was formed from the ashes of the 8-piece psychedelic rock group Gypsy Sons Of Magic. The first 6 month the band practiced 24 hours a day in their rehearsal room in Skellefteå, Sweden. They worked really hard trying to find a sound of their own and getting the mood right for the songs. Soon after that a demo was produced with 17 songs. This demo somehow reached the B&B Records office who liked the music so much that they signed Black Bonzo to their label.
In the begining of 2004 Black Bonzo started to record the debut album at the classic analog studio Rumble Road Studios, in Skellefteå. In late march the recording, mixing and mastering was finished and in July the record was released. (more…)
Scandinavian Sunday – Cherry Overdrive
Welcome to our Scandinavian Sunday feature. This weeks feature is an all girl band who sing some fine garage rock. Here’s the bio via their website:
Danish all girl garage-psych rockers Cherry Overdrive has a long and persistent history of hard working and do-it-yourself attitude, integrity and a lot of live experience which over the years has made them fairly recognized outside their native country Denmark.
Cherry Overdrive was formed during fall 2003 in Copenhagen by Swedish guitarist Cecilia Cresso (Drivers, Harry Lime), drummer Jeanne Dahl-Mikkelsen, Brazilian bass player Jirasol Pereira and singer/guitarist Lene Kjær Hvillum (The Davolinas, Fuzz Manta). The girls had their live debut on 1st may 2004, soon followed by their first tour in Germany in fall 2004 and the band released their first ep, “Sharks” also in 2004. Two songs from this ep were released in Germany on the split single “Cherry Overdrive meets Mandragora Lightshow Society” (Swamp Room Records, 2005). The band has continuously toured Germany several times a year ever since.
Swedish Sunday – Switch Opens
It’s yet another Sunday, and that means my weekend is coming to a close, and I will find myself in the bowels of Hell in less than 24 hours. It also means Swedish Sunday. This week’s featured artist is from Stockholm and is a little different from my normal features. Switch Opens started off as a stoner rock band as Fingerspitzengefühl but are now more progressive and doom. It left me impressed enough to make them today’s featured artist. (more…)
Swedish Sunday – The Soulshake Express
Welcome back to Swedish Sunday. Today’s band is a band that I discovered a while back and is deserving of the spotlight for the week, The Soulshake Express. They hail from Karlstad, Sweden.
From Last.FM
The band started out in the late summer of 2003. David, Marcus and Robert had been fooling around for a while with some old blues songs with David behind the drums. With higher ambitions the three decided to ask their mutual friend Joakim to handle the drums. With David on lead guitar and vocals, The Showdowns was born. Starting out with some song material that David had, the band soon had a good idea of what they wanted their sound to be like. With influences from blues and rock n roll they started to develop their own style of “bouncy” rock. A new member recently joined the band. With Martin Hammar helping out on organs and percussions the band has established a strong name as The Soulshake Express in the underground scenes and are now on a mission to shake your souls! (more…)
Swedish Sunday – Thalamus
It’s yet another Sunday, the day before the work week begins and the last chance at some peace in your world. It’s also the day that we bring you a band from Sweden that you may or may not have heard of. Today’s band is a band I discovered early last year. To date, they’ve released one full length and an EP with another full length coming up. Well, I’ll let them tell you a little more… (more…)
Swedish Sunday – Witchcraft
This week’s feature is a band that I hold in high regards and is a bad that I have a history with. This band was the third show I saw live, and it was the first band I saw in a small venue. It was an amazing experience and one that really set off my love affair for live shows, especially those in dark, small bars. They are the first and only Swedish band I have seen live to date. They are the influential doom metal/rock band from Örebro, Witchcraft. (more…)
Swedish Sunday – Brutus
Today’s featured band on Swedish Sunday is a band that has, until recently, flown under the radar here at The Soda Shop. That band is Transubstans Records artist Brutus. Here is their bio via the Transubstans website.
Around 2006 after countless evenings and nights in front of, and around, their local bar. After heeps of loud discussions and intense arguments on how everything just sounded so much better before – these guys felt the time was right to take matters into their own hands.
Three bearded Swedes and two Norwegians immediately started to deep-dive into their own private collections of LPs and thus the conception of a musical journey was in process. (more…)
Swedish Sunday – Deville
After a nice, long holiday weekend, Swedish Sunday is now back. I hope you all enjoyed the holidays, and I hope you’re ready for more great music. Today’s featured artist is the always heavy Deville.
From their MySpace bio:
When it all came together at the end of 2003 Deville was born after some years of searching. Through a haze of rock, metal and stoner the members have found a way to do something that feels… The line-up was complete when Åkesson came back from Australia and Hambitzer gave up soulless pop and joined the inseparable duo, Andy and Markus. Since the 2004 line-up there have been over 150 gigs and festivals in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy and Portugal. Deville has also appeared in radio and national press in these countries. Daredevilrecords released at the end of 2005 a double feature cd lp with Deville and gothenburgers Sergej the Freak called Sergej the Freak meets Deville. Deville signed to Buzzville Records in 2007 and the album Come Heavy Sleep was released in Benelux, December 2007 and in the rest of Europe and the US in the beginning of 2008. Hail the Black Sky is the latest album released in June 2009 again through Buzzville in Europe and in the US and the touring in Europe has continued.
Swedish Sunday – Noctum
Our next Swedish Sunday goes to a fairly newcomer to the Swedish music scene, Noctum. Noctum have been together for a little over a year. They hail from Uppsala, Uppsala län, Sverige.
Traditional doom metal from Sweden, mixing early Black Sabbath and Pentagram with 70s proto-metal influences a-la Sir Lord Baltimore and Budgie.
Recommended for fans of: Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Count Raven, Witchcraft, Sir Lord Baltimore, etc.
Tobias Rosén – Bass
David Indelöf – Guitar/Vocals
Per Wikström – Guitar
Gustaf Heinemann – Drums
Swedish Sunday – Dollhouse
Welcome once again to Swedish Sunday. Today we step away a bit from the usual heavy stuff and go with some good old fashioned tuned down rock and roll. Today’s featured band is Dollhouse.
Michael Davis, from the legendary Detroit band The MC5, took Dollhouse to his heart and praised the band beyond the ordinary. After he heard their first 7″-vinyl, he flew Dollhouse to the USA in order to produce the band’s debut album “The Rock & Soul Circus” on his own. Moreover, Davis described the guys’ sound as “This is what the MC5 whished we could have sounded like”.
Nicke Andersson from The Hellacopters took the band under his wings and produced their second and very critically acclaimed album The Royal Rendezvous. Andersson himself describes Dollhouse as “one of the best live bands on the planet today“.
Dollhouse has toured a lot, and they always got great response from media. They’ve gathered a big fan base all over the world. Furthermore they have had the opportunity to tour with great names such as; The MC5, The Hellacopters, Radio Birdman, The Flaming Sideburns, The Bellrays, Electric Frankenstein, Hardcore Superstar, Baby Woodrose and King Khan & his Shrines.
Now, 2010, Dollhouse is back with their new album Rock n Roll Revival. The record was originally released in 2009, but since then the band decided to let Nicke Andersson from The Hellacopters re-mix of the whole album. (more…)
Swedish Sunday – Burning Saviours
Yes, folks, it is Sunday, and you know what that means. It’s time to showcase more great music from the Scandanavian musical hotbed otherwise known as Sweden. In a bit of a break from our current streak of retro-rock bands, today’s Swedish Sunday is about Swedish “classic” doom metal band, Burning Saviours, from Örebro. (more…)
Swedish Sunday – Dead Man
Today marks the 10th week of Swedish Sunday. Time flies by when you have all of this great music surrounding you. As always, we must thank the Swedes for putting out such great music that deserves special recognition. This week’s artist is somewhat of a supergroup like last week’s artist, Greenleaf. Without further ado, I introduce this week’s band out of Örebro, Dead Man.
From Crusher Records‘ band page: (more…)
Swedish Sunday – The Brimstone Days
Is it Sunday, already? It must be because here is this week’s Swedish Sunday feature. This week, we feature a band that have seen quite a bit of press here on The Soda Shop lately. This retro-rock trio has had their EP and their brand new, debut album reviewed as well as being this past Friday’s New Band To Burn One To. The band, of course, is The Brimstone Days, hailing from Malmö.
The Brimstone Days aim to be the live band with enough energy to get the listener and the audience caught up in an euphoric thrill. With clear influences from the 70’s and with catchy tunes, they deliver retro-rock with a modern twist to dance to.
As a fairly new band, they’ve already had to live through a line-up change with original bassist, Elias Dellow, leaving the band after they recorded their EP, Flowers and Rainbows. This was a hard thing to take for the remaining duo, but they soon found a new spark with the addition of their next and current bassist, Hampus Hallgard. With the addition, the band quickly reenergized to bring energy to their live show.
With the desire to bring the same sound and energy from their live shows to their studio releases, the band recorded and released their full-length debut, We Are the Brimstone Days, in October 2010. In their own words, We Are the Brimstone Days “is a mix from the new and the old with a strong feeling of the 70’s. Therefore, the music can be best described as modern retro-rock.” In other words, “Take the grove from funk, the ‘hell yeah’ from rock and the catchy from pop.”
Johannes – drums
Håkan – guitar and vocals
Hampe – bass and backing vocals
Self-released
- Float Away
- Confusion
- One Foot Taller
- Get it On
- Don’t Run
This album is a short one at 16 minutes. They are more along the lines of The Dragontears, Dollhouse or Baby Woodrose. They have a nice little garage rock sound to them.
– Bill Goodman, The Soda Shop
Self-released
- Intro
- Confusion
- Aim for the Sky
- Cookie Jar
- Get in Line
- Come On Come On (Let’s Get it On)
- Grand Theft of Time
- Sunset
- Electric Blue
- Float Away
- We Are the Brimstone Days
- The Story of The Brimstone Days [hidden track]
[T]his is a feel good album. It’s very happy and upbeat. It’s some of the finest garage rock you’ll hear ever. It’s something you can definitely listen to as you drive down the street, have some friends over or introduce to a friend that is still stuck on top 40 radio garbage.
– Bill Goodman, The Soda Shop
Swedish Sunday – The Crystal Caravan
The Crystal Caravan are probably Sweden’s best kept secret. Well guess what? The cats out of the bag. The gig is up! The secret is out, here’s The Crystal Caravan. They’re one of the best bands to come out of Sweden since Graveyard. They play some of the best classic rock music that you haven’t heard, yet. They’ve put out a self titled album in 2009 and a second followup album, Against The Rising Tide, is due this week (October 28th, 2010). The band is a 7 piece from Umeå, Sweden. Sometimes when you have bands that have more than 5 members yo question their quality and question if that may be enough. Seven is a lot, but they make it work and you’d think that this no more than a 4 piece. Fear not, kick ass rock and roll is here to stay and The Crystal Caravan are going to be the ones to hand it to you.
The Crystal Caravan is a seven-member rock band from Umeå, Sweden, and stands with one foot in sixties rock and the other on the moon. 2002 marks the start of the Crystal Caravan. Founders and guitarists Björn Lohmander and Stefan Bränberg are still in the band. The Crystal Caravan took it’s present form in 2006 with both organist Jonas Lindskold and percussionist Annika Bränberg joining forces. Bass player Pierre Svensson and vocalist Niklas “RG” Gustafsson joined the Crystal Caravan in 2005. Drummer Christopher Olsson was the last piece of the puzzle. The Crystal Caravan made it’s first German tour in February 2010. The highlight of the tour was a sweaty, memorable gig at White Trash in Berlin.
Niklas “RG” Gustafsson –Vocals
Björn Lohmander – Guitar
Stefan Bränberg – Guitar
Jonas Lindsköld – Organs
Pierre Svensson – Bass
Annika Bränberg – Percussion
Christopher Olsson – Drums
Swedish Sunday – Siena Root
Siena Root is a group and an experimental project with its roots in analogue old school rock music. The foundation is a trio from Stockholm that’s been around since the late ’90s. The sound is classic but yet original, founded on heavy organ, strat leads, bass riffing and big drums. It is also often enriched with bluesy soulful vocals, indian classical instruments and psychedelic vibes.
In the sense that blues is blue, hard rock is black, and reggae is pan African coloured, this music has the colour of siena. It is a warm, earthy colour, originally from the muddy roots of Toscana. Because this sound has roots that go deep, it was also natural to let root be a part of the bands name.
Four full length albums and one 7″ single have been released so far, each one marking the development and refinement of the bands diverse style. Through touring the music has developed in such a way, that jamming and improvising has become an essential element, always keeping you on the edge of your seat. A Siena Root concert is dramatic and exciting, visually, as well as emotionally. It’s a dynamic rootrock experience.
KG West – guitar, organ
Sam Riffer – bass
Love – percussion
Nasoni Records, Rockadrome Records (re-issue)
- Coming Home
- Just Another Day
- Shine
- Fever
- Above the Trees
- What Can I Do
- Little Man
- Roots
- Trippin’
- Until Time Leaves Us Again
- Words
- Rasayana
- Into the Woods
Obviously, classic rock purists will lap this up (if they already haven’t done so), but anyone who can appreciate bluesy rock will dig this. The playing is impeccable, the sound is captivating, and this is highly recommended. Better late than never – get a copy of A New Day Dawning
– John Pegoraro (stonerrock.com)
Nasoni Records
- Mountain I
- Mountain II
For me these two tracks show a group with a definite and convincing early 70’s sound. The female heavy soulful rocksinger with group, has a kind of inner progressing direction and drive of power roots derived from bluesrock, comparable to a group like Led Zeppelin, but then with a female singer, and with a more straight forward hard-rocking drive, with its own rhythmical variations on “Mountain I”, and with a strong soul-hardrock energy on “Mountain II”. The single is a teaser for what can be expected on the group’s next (second) release. Promising!
– Geraldpsyche
Nasoni Records
- Good and Bad
- Nightstalker
- Blues 276
- Bhairavi Dhun
- Crossing the Stratosphere
- There and Back Again
- Ridin’ Slow
- Reverberations
One can hear influences from South American, Hindi and North African folk music mixing with rock from the early 70’s, making this THE album no matter what you are looking for…Now you must discover Siena Root for yourself… The Masters of the inner space.
– Monolith
Transubstans Records
- Dreams of Tomorrow
- Waiting for the Sun
- Time Will Tell
- Almost There
- Two Steps Backwards
- Wishing for More
- The Summer is Old
- The Break of Dawn
- Long Way from Home
The guitars still riff it up, but the sitars, mellotron and arrangements head off into a world where Captain Beyond became the biggest band of the seventies and the Pete French fronted Atomic Rooster took up a residency as the British band of choice. That world only exists in my head, which is why I’m delighted to have Siena Root provide the soundtrack…An absolute delight.
– HotDigits.co.uk
Transubstans Records
- We are Them
- In the Desert
- Over the Mountains
- As We Return
- Bairagi
- Bhairavi
- Ahir Bhairav
- Bhimpalasi
- Shree
- Jog
For the most part, Different Realities is great 70’s styled hard rock record. However, the band spends too much of the second suite stuck in that Middle Eastern rut, which comes across as quite jarring after the excellent opening batch of numbers. Still, the first half of this CD is so strong that it more than makes up for the bit of rambling that the band gets into throughout the latter half.
– Pete Pardo
The Soda Shop Needs Help
As Jake posted on Facebook a few days ago, we’re looking for help. Him and I focus a lot on the rock side of things and we tend to neglegt the doom and sludge portion. Because of that we’re looking for a contributor or two to help add give those two other genres a little bit more exposure. Here is what we’re looking for:
Some writing experience preferred but not required. Please submit a few samples of your work. Samples may be cut and paste into an email, a URL or any other form.
We’re looking for people passionate about the doom and sludge genres of music. If you don’t absolutley love doom and sludge then still feel free to submit but keep in mind that doom and sludge is out top priority.
Must have both a Facebook and WordPress account. Knowledge of both also required. No HTML experience required but it certainly doesn’t hurt.
Contributors will be required to review doom and sludge albums and post the reviews on The Soda Shop blog and post links on The Soda Shop Facebook page. Whenever possible, post about doom and sludge related news onto the blog and Facebook page. Keep in mind, this is more or less done in your spare time. You put in what time you can and contribute as much as you can. We aren’t looking for someone that’s going to post something once every few months, please don’t bother if you’re that type.
Now this doesn’t pay money. We’re all as broke as the next person. We can pay you by giving you our thanks and from time to time, free music. Look at it as more of a way to unleash some of your creative side. We’re not as big as Rolling Stone so we don’t see they type of traffic and submissions they do. Perhaps with your help though we can get there.
After all that your still interested, well send an email to bill.goodman@thesodashop.us with your name and samples.
Swedish Sunday – Asteroid
Our next Swedish Sunday goes to the highly liked and ultra cool band, Asteroid. A few weeks ago we ran Blowback as a band featured. On there we showed a split that Blowback put out with Asteroid. Well here today is that other half of the split.
Asteroid comes from Örebro, Örebro län Sweden. They formed in the winter of 2003. Together that have released 1 EP, one split album and 2 full length albums.
From Fuzzorama Records:
And the totally awesome band ASTEROID! Heavy, progressive and with a groove that will blow your mind! Swedish spaced out 70’s style fuzzrock at it’s best!!!
Robin Hirse – Lead Vocals, Guitar & Organs
Johannes Nilsson – Lead Vocals & Bass
Elvis Campbell – Drums
Asteroid EP (2005)
- 2029 A.D.
- Time-Space-Mind
- Electric Voodoo
- On The Planet
Asteroid (2007)
Fuzzorama Records
- The Great Unknown
- Speaking To The Sea
- Panoramic Telescope
- The Infinite Secrets Of Planet Megladon
- Silver Leaf
- Water
- Little Fly
- Strange Trip
- Flowers And Stones
- The 13th Witching Hour
- Dr. Smoke
Asteroid II (2010)
Fuzzorama Records
- Garden
- Disappear
- Karma
- Karma
- River
- Lady
- Towers
- Fire
- Time
Split EP with Blowback (2005)
- Supernova
- Anagram
- Electric Voodoo
- Hexagon
- Sim-Sala-Bim
- Walk Alone
What I’m quickly discovering about his band I’m going to call the “Asteroid process.” It happened with the Swedish band’s self-titled Fuzzorama debut, and the same seems to be holding true for the numerical follow-up, II, as well. It happens like this: you listen to an Asteroid album, and while you’re in it, the music relaxes you to a barely conscious state. You hear the laid back fuzz tones and feel as though you might melt in them. Maybe you do. And when it’s over, you say to yourself, “Golly, that was pretty good,” and you go about your day. If Asteroid set forth the band’s name as one of the brightest newcomers in 21st Century fuzz, then II confirms the potential. Like its predecessor, it is an album whose appeal will only grow with time, and I already have difficulty imagining it won’t be on my best of 2010 list. (The Obelisk)
A mini review from earlier in the year about the second album: The next release is II (2) by Asteroid. I was expecting this album to come out in the summer of 2009 after the band had announced that is was complete. I had no intention of buying the album right away. In fact I held off on buying it but eventually broke down and got it. I’m glad I did. It exceeded my expectations. They retain that signature sound that belongs to Asteroid. The album sounds like a fuzzed out jazz album minus any brass instruments. A lot of the album sounds like the last track, Dr Smoke, from their first album. The CD case is something to be seen too.
Swedish Sunday – Blowback
Welcome back to Swedish Sunday, a new feature here at The Soda Shop. We hope you enjoyed last week’s introduction of the feature with the impressive Graveyard, a great band to start off with, I must admit. This week, we are featuring a band out of Örebro, Blowback.
Blowback’s story begins long before their formation in 2004. According to their website, Seb and Stefan played together in several bands over the course of 10-13 years, and then they started jamming with Chris around 8 years ago. In 2004, the band officially formed when they added on drummer, Henke.
With a background in rock music, the band started off true to classic rock with a release of a 5 song EP in 2005. It wasn’t until 2006 and the split release with Asteroid on Fuzzorama Records that they mixed their classic rock sound with stoner rock that we continue to hear in their music today. In 2008, we saw the band’s first full-length release, MorningWood, that allowed them to tour in Europe and grow as musicians. All of this culminated into their latest album, 2009’s Eight Hundred Miles. With their latest album, they are well on their way to reaching their goal of making a mark across the world.
They’ve certainly caught our attention.
Stefan – vocals
Seb – guitar
Chris – bass
Henke – drums
EP (2005)
- Screaming My Name
- Lady in Black
- Troll
- I Lost My Mind
- Insanity
Split (w/Asteroid) (2006)
Fuzzorama Records
- Holy Skies
- Autumn Leaf
- Fairys Dance
- Cosmic Dust
- The Arquitect
- Invisible Touch
Morning Wood (2008)
- Kamasutra
- Sleeping Widow
- Eclipse of the Antropoid
- Insanity
- Yesterday is Gone
- Living
- Lazy
- Phase One and Two
- After the Sun
- Holy Skies (Live)
- Eclipse of the Antropoid (Live)
- Living (Live)
Eight Hundred Miles (2009)
Transubstans Records
- The Only Thing I Have
- The Big Black Hole
- No Soul
- Butterfly
- Dead Mans Blues
- Fool
- Crossroad
- Away from the Planet
- Water in My Wine
The Soda Shop 