Good news, Electric Citizen fans – the band just had a Daytrotter session posted two days ago. The Daytrotter Session includes the songs Light Years Beyond, Misery Keeper and Social Phobia. Check it out HERE. And, guitarist Ross Dolan sits down with PlayThisRiff to demonstrate how to play the band's Light Years Beyond guitar riffs HERE.

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Also, the band have announced a small, seven-date US Tour with the psych-rock veterans The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Dates for the mini tour run from February 10 through to February 23. See complete dates below.

ELECTRIC CITIZEN LIVE 2017:
02/10 Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Tavern
02/15 Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent *
02/16 Las Vegas, NV @ Vinyl Las Vegas *
02/17 San Francisco, CA @ Slim's *
02/18 Portland, OR @ Star Theater *
02/21 Chicago, IL @ Reggie's *
02/23 New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge *

* w/ The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

The Crystal Moth - Brainwasher Single (2016)

Brainwasher is the debut single by Perth heavy-psych five-piece The Crystal Moth. It was recorded at Blackbird Studios in Perth and released December 2, 2016. It's an over eight-minute proggy blues-rock jam with lots of vibrant Pink Floyd'esque moves. Fabulous tune and arrangement with a great sing a long vocal and a fantastic organ-driven groove. Can't say enough positive about it.

This gorgeous song show the guys getting off to a great start, that no doubt paves the way for more smashing songs. Get the track for as much as you feel like paying (free is even an option) on Bandcamp. Put on the headphones, go to your own lil world and sit back.

Bandcamp | Facebook | Soundcloud

Single Sale (Digital)
You can still download it for free from their Bandcamp

zhOra - Live at Wacken Open Air 2016

Some good news but more bad news from zhOra, a four-piece progressive metal band from Clonmel, Ireland. Well, the good news first. On January 20, they have released footage of their live performance at Wacken 2016. zhOra played three songs from their upcoming album. They band delivered a great performance and it seems like they had an awesome experience at the festival. Watch the show in the video above.

Live at Wacken 2016 tracklist:

The Breach

Sin Eater

Jettatura

The bad news is their bassist, Richie McCormack, has decided to retire from the band due to health reasons. Read below the press release from zhOra.

// YOU CAN’T KILL A BAD THING \\

Achieving your dreams is a cliché. It doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t happen. After only five years as a group, we walked onto a stage at Wacken Open Air. Being able to put a bit of cynicism aside for 22 minutes was good. Being stopped by Belgian police and having to explain what we were doing with five of the finest Tipp hurleys in a Transit Van was also pretty good.

Unfortunately, since August of 2015 Richie has been living with a Brain Tumour which has been causing him severe Epileptic Fits. Since the day we found out we knew we were running on borrowed time. Being onstage playing to a crowd of literal thousands was the best time for our boy to call it a day, so Richie’s leaving the band to look after his health.

Seeing as we’ve had time with the situation, there are no more sad feelings about anything, so with that we say Goodbye to our Part-time Musician, Professional Codologist; Richie McCormack and welcome his replacement: Alan Hanlon (Nautilus). The fact people call him “Batman” did not influence our decision making process too much. - zhOra

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P.S. Best wishes Richie. I hope that you’re back in the swing very soon!

Desertfest London 2017 - Day Splits & Tickets Are Now Up!

The DESERTFEST LONDON 2017 day and stage splits are here, along with individual day tickets! Discover the highlights, venue details and the full list of bands that will grace Camden with their heavy riffs on April 28-30th.

Last things first, let's get straight to that insane Sunday main-stage. To celebrate The Roundhouse venue joining the Desertfest family, we made their debut appearance something special. Not only will stoner doom icons SLEEP be topping the bill, but the Roundhouse hosts a full bill of huge acts. CANDLEMASS, with over three decades of underground acclaim to their name, bring the epic doom metal. USA's WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM bring the atmospheric black metal. Traditional doom metal stalwarts SAINT VITUS bring the classic riffs. And how about this for a 'curtain jerker'? BONGZILLA bring the raw weed metal for their second show of the weekend; more on the first later.

It's not just about the Sunday though. Friday's stage at the Electric Ballroom is headlined by returning heroes SLO BURN whose short run in the mid 90s furthered the then fledgling stoner rock scene. One band they surely had an impact on is LOWRIDER, who play Europe's finest stoner rock alongside them. Ukraine's STONED JESUS celebrate their resonant album Seven Thunders Roar, and 1000MODS and PONTIAK round up the main stage on the Friday.

The Electric Ballroom on Saturday will be swarming with Turbojugends as death-punk grandmasters TURBONEGRO turn Camden into party central. JOHN GARCIA sticks around for a solo show, sure to feature classics from his years of nonstop mastery in the stoner rock scene. Sheffield's rock and roll five piece BLACK SPIDERS visit London for one last time on their farewell tour, with SATAN'S SATYRS and AVON rounding up the main stage.

As ever though, it doesn't stop at the main stages. Our regular partners have delivered three stages with diverse lineups. Human Disease Promo and When Planets Collide take over The Underworld on Saturday in a bill headlined by BONGZILLA with a special set celebrating the band's early work. The Quietus stage is led by synth wavers ZOMBI, and Nightshift Promotions bring an eclectic mix led by Hungary's APEY & THE PEA.

TICKET PRICES are as follows:

Full weekend - £100

Friday - £40

Saturday - £40

Sunday - £45

A 'smart package' including festival pass + hotel room at Camden Lock Hotel can be purchased for the weekend from £245.

- DESERTFEST LONDON 2017 -

From 28th to 30th April in Camden, London (UK)

Friday and Saturday tickets on sale AT THIS LOCATION
Sunday tickets on sale AT THIS LOCATION

Get more infos on the Desertfest website

Follow the festival on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

P.S. Info from Purple Sage PR

Second ‘Eindhoven Psych Lab Presents’ announced for 26 May

Eindhoven Psych Lab Presents: Föllakzoid + TRAAMS + RMFTM + The Lucid Dream + Altin Gün + Modulab | 26 May | Effenaar

On 26 May, the Effenaar in Eindhoven hosts the second Eindhoven Psych Lab Presents of the year. Headlining is the incredible neo-kraut sensation Föllakzoid (CL) with new songs, supported by our co-hosts RMFTM (Eindhoven), TRAAMS (UK), The Lucid Dream (UK) and the Turkish/Dutch sensation Altin Gün who rock the afterparty with the best Turkish psych from the lowlands. Click here for more info

Modulab & Eindhoven Psych Lab VJ team
This evening and night will feel like a proper Psych Lab day thanks to the futuristic visuals by the Eindhoven Psych Lab VJ-team and the modular synth towers from the Modulab team who premiered their synth jams at the festival last year.

Eindhoven Psych Lab Presents: Moon Duo | 5 April | Effenaar
For the first EPL Presents of 2017 (5 April) we already invited Moon Duo. They will play their brand new album ‘Occult Architecture’ for the first time in Eindhoven om 5 April. Click here for more info

Dope Default - Tales from the Wasteland (2017)

And that's all folks. I'm presenting you the last group from Greece, Dope Default from Thessaloniki. The band has just released their second EP called Tales from the Wasteland.

What awaits you is a throwback to 90s stoner/hard rock and grunge. The band draws their influences mainly from Monster Magnet with a little bit of Queens of the Stone Age and Corrosion of Conformity. Although Dope Default sounds a bit raw at first, each of the 6 songs on their extended play features some strong melodies paired with an almost manic dose of groove.

One or two songs didn't appeal to me, but overall a nice grungy stoner rock collection from a relatively new band. I definitely enjoy the EP. Check it out if mentioned bands are up your alley.

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Mother Desert - Sand Hills (2017)

I'm almost coming to an end with the Greek week on Stoner Mountain, which actually has been almost two weeks since I started it. Here are the last few bands. Lets start with Mother Desert, an instrumental psychedelic/stoner rock group from Nea Peramos.

They released their debut album Sand Hills January 12 and it's full of warm psychedelic jams. The sound is raw, gentle, hard, soft, warm, all within the same album. The music on it's own is enough to make you smile, but stop and think about this for a moment. Imagine your listening to this album, while you're sitting on your porch with a cold beer in your hand, enjoying the perfect weather in your free time.

Without a doubt, here we have a very good album that should be in your hands in case you are interested in hearing some solid instrumental desert rock. Of course, it has some flaws, but who cares. You can almost feel the sand in your shoes and the sunshine beating down onto your face.

Bandcamp

Dead Man's Band - Back In The Alley (2015)

Dead Man's Band is a band that you'd expect to hear in a good ole coffee-shop or a good independent record store. Their third album, Back In The Alley, continues the style of their two previous releases, so if you’re familiar with those albums you will know what to expect from their latest record. Eight songs are included and once again we can hear a fantastic, bluesy retro rock.

Most bands concentrate on creating catchy singles that will sell their albums. Rarely do they try to put together a strong collection of songs that one can listen to from beginning to end. This album is definitely not one of those. The emotions of the music and the listener change with each track. This band is as tight as a band can get, and the vocalist is putting raw soul back into rock and roll. Each song is blessed with catchy hooks, memorable melodies and they know when to hold back and when to unleash a torrent of sound. I like that the keyboard is more present on this record. It seems like the band has been working very hard in making Back In The Alley sound bigger than any of their previous releases. The songs have variety and show off the depth of talent.

But Back In The Alley is probably not their best album, because the debut is still unbeatable, although it's a sensational album. Truly beautiful music and retro rock at its finest. You can't go wrong with any of the songs, they are all great. This music gets you rocking. I hope to enjoy new music from these guys for many more years to come.

P.S. Please support these guys. Buy it for yourself. Gift it to loved ones. Gift it to the neighbors who always play crap music! You shouldn't even have wasted the time reading my stupid review. You could have downloaded it while you were reading and been listening by now :)

Bandcamp | Youtube

Dead Man's Band - Vol​.​ II (2014)

Dead Man's Band had me back in 2012 with their marvellous self-titled debut album. The female-fronted retro-rockers from Piraeus were so underground you needed a shovel to get to it, and Stoner Mountain was probably the first blog that wrote about them. Sadly, not much has changed after five years, they're still very much unknown. To be honest I'm very surprised that this band is not receiving the press they deserve. I hope that I can make a difference.

Dead Man's Band's sophomore album is full of melodious and beautiful guitar lines. It's a bluesy rock jam packed with emotions. At times it rocks, at times it slows down to a painful raspy grace, only to pick back up and jam a song or two later. But the best part are the vocals. The woman can wail like no other. Her singing is very powerful, reaches out and grabs you. It’s a throwback that sounds familiar, but not one you can place in time, they just know how to make that old music sound as fresh and as vital as ever.

They have generously donated their otherworldly music to this wonderful because all their albums are available as a free name-your-price download. I strongly suggest that you support the band by paying them something for this record and any of their others. Especially if you are a fan of theirs. For those of you that aren't, if you were to sit down and listen to it, I guarantee you will like at least few songs on there. Please just buy it, you can't go wrong.

Bandcamp | Youtube

Mad John the Wise - Mad John the Wise EP (2014)

And we are leaving Athens with this one, so I'm presenting you something a bit different. It's an old request that I finally managed to post. In case you were wondering, the request is of course not as old as the EP.

Mad John the Wise is a boiling pot of stoner, hard rock, heavy metal, alternative rock and elements of prog metal, like soft-hard dynamics, changing time signatures and tempos. The band uses heavy influences of folk and I would say even some sea shanties. All that gives them a quite interesting sound - intense and fragile at the same time.

I'm not a prog expert and am far removed from the scene, but to me these guys have it. Whatever 'it' is. Perhaps no one will be breaking down any doors to get it, but it's still a pretty good listen. Songs like The Hunt and Gatti Di Strada certainly makes Mad John the Wise worth downloading, especially it's a free name-your-price download.

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Dr​.​Awkward and the Screws - S/T EP (2017)

I don't know what is going on in Athens' stoner rock scene lately, but they did it again. Who knows, maybe the Greeks want to conquer the world? Dr​.​Awkward and the Screws has been playing together since 2014 and this is their first release, a self-titled three-song EP.

You have here your stoner, your blues, your psych and 70s, all woven into something groovy. On the first track, The Screwdriver, the band sound like a more cheerful version of Pentagram and Witchcraft played through a heavy fuzz pedal. If I were to pick a song that got me into Dr​.​Awkward and the Screws, this would be it. Of course not because it's the first song, duh. But because it's so catchy. A very good beginning, this gets.
The second track, Seven, has basically the same vibe as The Screwdriver, but it's a bit slower and doomier.
Walking, the last song, has such a funky groove, like Aerosmith's Walk This Way mixed with a Black Sabbath song. It's heavy, but the tune is light and listenable.

Dr​.​Awkward and the Screws' EP is definitely worth checking out and it will only take 15 minutes of your time. A definite promise for the near future!

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