Sludge-metal showdown comes to Ivy Room in Albany
ALBANY -- Two veteran sludge/stoner-metal acts face off in the East Bay Wednesday when LA band -(16)- and local favorites HTSOB play the Ivy Room.
Though they initially forged a sound that hewed closer to early hardcore punk and the type of noise rock played by bands on Amphetamine Reptile and Touch and Go Records like Helmet, Unsane and the Jesus Lizard during the early '90s, -(16)- would end up becoming one of the seminal sludge-metal groups to rise from the U.S. later in the decade. Founded in Santa Ana in 1992 by guitarist Bobby Ferry and singer Cris Jerue, the group recorded its corrosive debut album Curves That Kick for Bacteria Sour, a label run by well-known punk/metal artist Pushead (Metallica, Misfits).
Despite mostly playing regional shows, the group would develop enough of a reputation that they were invited to open for Slayer on select dates. Their follow-up effort Drop Out slowed the tempos and downtuned the guitars, delivering a far thicker and heavier onslaught that would find the band being hailed as sludge-metal progenitors alongside Eyehategod and Crowbar.
Though the band saw heavy turnover among members -- the outfit went through four different bassists and drummers during its first decade -- -(16)- built a loyal following with subsequent efforts Blaze of Incompetence and the long-delayed 2002 follow-up Zoloft Smile, even with founding member Ferry and longtime bassist Tony Baumeister leaving the same year. Addiction issues would lead Jerue to quit the band, which carried on as a trio until calling it quits in 2004.
Ferry, Jerue, and Baumeister would reunite the band with drummer Jason Corley in 2007 and sign a deal with Relapse Records, eventually releasing a new album (Bridges to Burn) in 2009, followed by a compilation of early non-album material entitled The First Trimester the next year. -(16)- has maintained a steady output ever since, releasing several albums including 2020's Dream Squasher, the band's first to feature Ferry on vocals following Jerue's retirement from music prior to recording.
The band plays songs from its blistering, brand new effort In Dust (set for release on Nov. 18) alongside earlier material when it headlines the Ivy Room in Albany Wednesday night. The show pairs -16- with Oakland all-star stoner/doom heavyweights HTSOB (High Tone Son of a Bitch). Coming together in the early 2000s after the split of guitarist Paul Kott's sludge/doom project Cruevo, the group put out its debut EP Better You Than Me in 2003 that featured such notable players as A Minor Forest drummer Andee Connor, Portland, OR singer Scott Wagner and Kott's brother Andrew playing lead guitar.
Andrew's tragic death after a fall from a hotel window in San Francisco's Tenderloin in 2007 led to an extended hiatus for the band as Paul Kott shifted his focus to the crust metal band Kalas with Sleep and High on Fire guitarist/singer Matt Pike. Kott would revisit recordings made prior to Andrew's passing years later, eventually putting together a new line-up of HTSOB to finish and release the band's Velocipede EP. A follow-up EP the next year included the band's epic cover of the Alan Parsons Project radio staple "Eye in the Sky."
Two years ago, the band compiled its past efforts for Lifecycles: The EPs of HTSOB that was released right at the beginning of the pandemic shutdown. With the band unable to tour, Kott and company would plan a live in-studio concert that would be streamed and recorded for release by Bay Area metal imprint Ripple Music. Live at The Hallowed Halls features Kott alongside noted bassist and producer Billy Anderson (who has played with the Melvins, Acid King, Men of Porn), singer Russ Kent (Noothgrush, Alaric) and keyboardist Bryce Shelton (Nik Turner's Hawkwind, Acid King) and Phantom Hound lead guitarist Jake Navarra with guest appearances from Pike, guitarist Rob Wrong (Witch Mountain, The Skull) and singer of Portland, OR doom greats Holy Grove, Andrea Vidal. For this show https://www.ivyroom.com/#/events, the bands are joined by San Diego crew Doc Hammer and aforementioned fellow Oaklanders Phantom Hound. HTSOB and Phantom Hound also play Thursday evening at Winters Tavern in Pacifica.
-(16)- and HTSOB
Wednesday, Nov. 16, 7 p.m. $15-$18
Ivy Room