Undergången & Hus 7 presenterar:
Earthless
14 augusti, Hus 7
Earthless
Guess what?
Earthless has a surprise for you. Whereas the band’s three previous albums featured anywhere from two to four completely instrumental space rock jams, the California trio’s fourth and latest, Black Heaven, is nothing like that. “It’s quite different,” drummer Mario Rubalcaba says with a laugh. “It has six songs, and most importantly it has vocals on about 70 percent of the record. There goes being pigeonholed as an instrumental band, I guess…”
Though dedicated fans doubtlessly heard Earthless guitarist Isaiah Mitchell lend his soulful pipes to the band’s righteous cover of the Groundhogs’ “Cherry Red” on 2007’s Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky, they haven’t heard him—or Earthless—quite like this. Of Black Heaven’s six tracks, only two are instrumental. And one of those instrumentals is less than two minutes long. “It wasn’t a premeditated thing to do a record with vocals,” Rubalcaba explains. “On the older records, Mike was responsible for a lot of the riffs that would start these jams, but on this one Isaiah really brought his own pizazz and flavor to it. I’d say that’s one of the major differences on this album: It has more of Isaiah’s input. He took a risk bringing these ideas to us, not knowing if we’d like them. But as with everything we’ve done in the past, it felt very organic and natural.”
When Rubalcaba, Mitchell and bassist Mike Eginton started Earthless in 2001 as a psychedelic instrumental band, they were constantly asked, Are you guys looking for a singer? “That was the joke for years,” Rubalcaba laughs. “But we’ve always known Isaiah could sing. He’s got a great voice. We’d do a cover here and there or maybe write a song for a special project or collaboration, but we’ve never tried to focus on writing a few songs with vocals on them. It was really refreshing to try this approach on a record.”
While the band’s lysergic leanings are fully intact, Black Heaven takes on a more classic rock hue than previous outings. “For me personally, the psychedelic thing is pretty important,” Rubalcaba offers. “But I’m not sure if we’ll always be on the crazier side of things musically. Even on this record, there are moments when it’s more psyched-out, but we’ve always been really big fans of classic rock stuff like ZZ Top, James Gang, Allman Brothers—and of course, Cream. There would be no Earthless if it wasn’t for Cream. They’re like the great-grandfathers of power trios. So some of those simpler influences have leaked through on this record. To me, [album opener] ‘Gifted By The Wind’ has a more James Gang or ZZ Top vibe than Flower Travellin’ Band or any of the krautrock stuff. With all the vocals and harmonies, that’s definitely a different direction for us.”