Greek stoner-rock band 1000mods headlines Bottom of the Hill
SAN FRANCISCO -- Touring Greek stoner rock band 1000mods returns to the Bay Area when the band headlines the Bottom of the Hill Thursday night.
Formed in 2006 in the small town of Chiliomodi, 1000mods mined a heavy psychedelic sound that drew on classic proto-metal influences of Black Sabbath and Blue Cheer as well as more modern bands like Mudhoney and Kyuss. The quartet built a local following and recorded a pair of self-released EPs that led to them making their first proper album with noted stoner/doom engineer and producer Billy Anderson (Melvins, Sleep, Buzzov*en, High On Fire), Super Van Vacation, in 2011 on German label Kozmic Artifactz.
The album's slowly flowering, psychedelic epics helped the group make inroads to the European continent, playing two tours and appearing at Rockwave Festival, Desertfest and Lake on Fire. The band would expand its following with its two subsequent albums -- Vultures in 2014 and Repeated Exposure To... two years later -- and additional well-received jaunts through Europe. It wasn't until 2018 1000mods made its first trip to North America, playing extensive dates in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
The band recorded it fourth album and most recent album in Seattle with producer Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam) in 2019. Released the following year on their own Ouga Booga And The Mighty Oug imprint, Youth of Dissent might be the band's most polished to date. For its current tour, 1000mods are joined by popular Austin, TX-based power trio the Well.
Twisting together elements of heavy psychedelia, doom and proto metal deeply indebted to the sounds of Black Sabbath as well as more recent bands like Sleep and Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, the Well formed in 2012 when guitarist/singer Ian Graham first teamed with bassist Lisa Alley and drummer Jason Sullivan.
The trio's first independently produced 7-inch single issued the same year scored the band a deal with RidingEasy Records. The Well as produced three acclaimed records since then, including their most recent effort Death and Consolation that ended up on a number of "Best of" lists in 2019. More recently, the band has issued a couple of digital singles covering tunes by Depeche Mode and and Roxy Music, showing off a decidedly different set of influences.
Opening will be another power trio, Oakland's Slow Phase. Another crew of seasoned players, the threesome features guitarist Dmitri Mavra -- the creative mind behind stoner-rock band Skunk and acclaimed psychedelic doom studio project Dungeon Weed -- along with explosive drummer/vocalist Richard Stuverud (who played with Northwest punk heroes the Fastbacks and last year filled in behind the kit for Pearl Jam at several arena shows) and bassist/vocalist Anthony Pulsipher (Radio Haiku, Spidermeow, REQ'D). The band plays fuzzed-out hard rock that nods to the classic sounds of Mountain, the James Gang and Grand Funk Railroad.
1000mods with The Well and Slow Phase
Thursday, Oct. 5, 8 p.m. $18-$20
Bottom of the Hill
