Explosive psych power trio Earthless plays Bay Area shows
Dedicated to resurrecting the art of the psychedelic hard-rock power trio, Earthless deliver a bracing collision of expansive sounds and sternum-rattling thunder with their instrumental attack. Formed 18 years ago in San Diego by Mario Rubalcaba (Hot Snakes, Rocket from the Crypt, Black Heart Procession, Off!), bassist Mike Eginton (Electric Nazarene) and guitarist Isaiah Mitchell (Nebula, Howlin' Rain, Golden Void), the group takes an open-ended improvisational approach to hard rock that alternately recalls the jam-heavy exploration of Cream and Jimi Hendrix, modern Japanese psych purveyors like Acid Mothers Temple and more obscure '70s riff alchemists like Dust and the Groundhogs.
The group released its impressive debut Sonic Prayer on Gravity in 2005 and two years later followed up that effort with Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky, an album that dazzled critics and fans alike. Locking into epic grooves stretching to 20 minutes and even longer without losing their dynamic upward trajectory, the band's transcendent live performances have earned Earthless a reputation as one of the best heavy music acts performing today.
The trio took some time off after the release of Live at Roadburn (a ripping two-disc document of the trio's blistering 2008 performances at the famed Dutch festival of the same name), though they did contribute its first original song featuring vocals with Mitchell singing entitled "Demon Lady" to a split 2011 EP with like-minded bands Danava and Lecherous Gaze for the Kemado label.
The break allowed members to focus their energies on a variety of projects. Mitchell relocated to the Bay Area where he founded his popular band Golden Void, while Rubalcaba played with both a reunited Hot Snakes and Rocket From the Crypt in addition to putting out several albums and touring with former Black Flag/Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris in hardcore revival band Off!
The band reconvened in 2012 to tour and released another studio effort, From the Ages the following year. Hailed by many as the band's best yet, the double album featured three sprawling epics. The title tune clocked in at over 30 minutes, while two other songs -- the transporting opener "Violence of the Red Sea" and "Uluru Rock" -- both stretched to 14 minutes of face-melting intensity.
The band has toured regularly since that album, but has only issued a couple of new tunes in the interim, releasing the savage track "End to End" for free download in 2016. Only their third song to feature Mitchell's vocals, the tune shows the band is just as adroit at crafting hooky concise rock burners as it is extended improvisations. Earthless also put out a split 12" with Tee Pee Records labelmates Harsh Toke that featured the opiated Meters-meets-Eddie Hazel groove of "Acid Crusher."
But the long wait for a new Earthless full-length effort finally ended in 2018 when the band announced that it signed to Nuclear Blast and would release it's first new album in five years after recording at the famed Rancho De La Luna studio in Joshua Tree with noted guitar hero Dave Catching (Eagles of Death Metal, Queens of the Stone Age, earthlings?) producing the sessions.
A marked departure for Earthless, Black Heaven features four vocal tracks with Mitchell singing and included far more songwriting input from the guitarist than past efforts. At turns recalling the James Gang and Thin Lizzy (propulsive opening track "Gifted By the Wind") or a diabolical melding of Zeppelin, Funkadelic and Hendrix (the monstrous instrumental title track), the new tunes may be the trio's most focused yet.
The trio toured heavily to promote the album's release, serving as artist-in-residence at Roadburn 2018 in Holland where they performed with legendary Can singer Damo Suzuki and their spring tourmates Kikagaku Moyo as well as criss-crossing the states. The band has also issued a live album recorded during a San Francisco date at the Great American Music Hall that captured intense performances of the new songs plus a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown."
Packaged to mirror a classic Trademark of Quality Zeppelin bootleg from the early '70s, the ferocious concert document From the West was issued on vinyl via Sliver Current Records and saw CD release on Nuclear Blast with additional songs not included on the record version.
With the announcement in late 2019 that Mitchell would be joining a new line-up of the Black Crowes as their lead guitarist for an extensive tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of that band's 1990 debut Shake Your Money Maker, there were some questions as to how the guitarist's new gig would impact activity with Earthless. Those questions were answered when the coronavirus pandemic shut down all touring activity for most of 2020.
Earthless was able to reconnect just prior to the shutdown when Mitchell relocated back to the trio's San Diego home base. The move gave the band a chance to play together more regularly and stay connected with fans though a series of live-streamed performances, including one remarkable session in the Southern California wilderness as part of the Live in the Mojave Desert concert film series. Those shows -- which also featured such notable bands as Nebula, Spirit Mother, Mountain Tamer and Stöner -- were streamed, made available for online rental as well as being sold in vinyl and BluRay editions.
The band also was able to develop material for their latest Nuclear Blast effort, the ambitious Night Parade of 100 Demons. Inspired by a book of Japanese ghost stories that Eginton read to his young son who is fascinated with mythical monsters, the tale of the Night Parade or Hyakki Yagyō described an otherworldly procession supernatural creatures that would descend on Japanese villages, in some versions striking dead all who witnessed them or whisking hapless villagers away to the spirit world.
With striking cover art meticulously created by Eginton himself, the new album finds Earthless returning to sprawling instrumental epics with the hour-plus recording featuring just two songs: the intense two-part title track that features some of the trio's most harrowing music ever rounded out by the over 20-minute closer "Death to the Red Sun."
Featuring arguably the broadest sonic palette the band has used yet, the record finds Earthless crafting a more intricate whole, with multiple restated themes making Night Parade of 100 Demons the band's most cohesive effort yet. While the band was set to play the Bay Area just two days after the album was released in late January last year, a case of COVID forced Earthless to push back several dates of the tour promoting the new effort.
The band eventually played a rescheduled show at the Cornerstone in Berkeley, delivering a blistering set that featured an extended take on the album's title track along with a couple of other earlier tunes. The trio returns to Northern California this weekend, playing Moe's Alley in Santa Cruz on Thursday night with support from SF drone heavyweights Terry Gross before returning to the Chapel in San Francisco Friday night with Drunk Horse/Once and Future Band guitarist Eli Eckert's side project Low Plateau opening. The run of shows ends Saturday night with a performance at the Sebastiani Theatre in Sonoma.
Earthless
Thursday, May 18, 8 p.m. $25-$30
Moe's Alley
Friday, May 19, 8:30 p.m. $22-$25
The Chapel
Saturday, May 20, 8 p.m. $30
Sebastiani Theatre