State of the Art – Missouri’s SAVAGELAND [EP Stream]

Hungry and visceral with a hint of southern edge. SavageLand is a beautiful sip of aged bourbon, followed by a punch in the face. Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri they sound more like they are straight from the heart of New Orleans. The band was formed in 2016 and has since released one six song, self-titled EP, with tremendously impressive production value.

Picture groove riffs with guttural stoner vocals. Fans of Crowbar and Corrosion of Conformity meet fans of Baroness and also meet a calloused hard working slide guitar player by a campfire. The EP opens with said slide guitar, and a Mastodon quality riffs. SavageLand crafts these pseudo-stoner anthems with such ease. Down and Pantera influences, too, leak into the blueprints of their songwriting. “Animal Kingdom” has a wiry riff strung through the verses, swelling behind the chorus. The kind of jams to smoke a joint and enjoy a beer to. It’s aggressive but not disruptive.

SavageLand teased the early stages of new material mid 2018, after stating in 2017 they are inactive. Fingers crossed that 2019 will be the year the band gets in gear and releases some new music because this stuff is really something.  

 

State Of The Art: Missouri’s BUMMER [Album Stream & Live Video]

*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state. This month’s state is Missouri.*

Bummer hails from Kansas City, Missouri. Their name is quite ironic as their music and style is in no way a “bummer” its quite the opposite. Bummer slips into the genre of noise rock, but they aren’t your run of the mill noise rock band. Their music is honest and a straight forward punch to the face. The band formed in 2012 and is a trio which includes Matt Perrin pulling double duty on guitar and vocals, Mike Gustafson laying down the bottom end on bass, and Sam Hutchinson behind the kit on drums. Bummer is currently signed to Learning Curve Records. The bands first release was a 3 track EP titled ‘Young Ben Franklin’ that was recorded in vocalist Matt Perrin’s parents basement. That EP was released in April of 2013 and quickly the band followed that up with another EP ‘Milk’ in October of 2013. The band would then take some time before they would release ‘Spank’ in 2015. Since then the band has been pretty consistent with their releases pumping out a 12″ Split with Pinko in April 2017 followed by the release of the single “Beautiful People” several months later. Bummer’s most recent release is ‘Holy Terror’ which dropped in August of 2018. It is the band first full studio album which includes 10 thundering tracks. The album was Recorded at Westend Recording Studios, Kansas City, Kansas, produced by Bummer & Justin Mantooth, engineered by Justin Mantooth and was mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering, Portland, Oregon.

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Louder Than Life Spotlight: RADKEY

*Every Tuesday and Thursday from now until Louder Than Life gets here we will be releasing an article about a band playing the festival to get you familiar with them.*

Today’s Artist is Radkey

There are a lot of bands in the hard rock/metal community that consist of siblings – Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell of Pantera, Chris and Willie Adler of Lamb of God, Max and Igor Cavalera of The Cavalera Conspiracy/Sepultura, and Michael and Chris Amott of Arch Enemy, to name a few.  The same applies for the Missouri trio, Radkey.  The band is comprised of three home-schooled brothers that bring a punk-inspired rock sound that at times, is quite aggressive but contrasts well with the more ‘toned down’ tunes in their arsenal. Continue reading