San Francisco doom favorites Acid King play residency at the Chapel
Celebrated San Francisco doom metal outfit Acid King plays two different sets during a two-night residency at the Chapel starting Friday night that features support from like-minded acts Early Moods, Castle Rat, Brume and Cassette Prophet.
Formed in 1993 by lead singer and guitarist Lori Joseph, drummer Joey Osborne and bassist Peter Lucas (the first in a long string of rotating bassists), the power trio became one of the stalwart acts of the San Francisco metal scene. Recording an EP and its debut album for the Sympathy for the Record Industry label, the group eventually moved on to Frank Kozik's local Man's Ruin imprint later in the decade.
The band would refine its lumbering, hypnotic riff magic to new heights on the rumbling 1999 opus Busse Woods for Man's Ruin. Named after a forest area outside Chicago where delinquent kids would hang out, deal drugs and listen to music when Joseph was a teen, the album would later be reissued by Small Stone Records in 2004 with bonus tracks prior to the imprint releasing their follow-up III the next year. Acid King would go on hiatus for a time following that effort, but invitations to perform at European festivals prodded the band back into activity. With Scorched Earth Policy guitarist Mark Lamb joining the band on bass, the trio began playing regular local shows and gradually got together songs for a new album.
In 2015, Acid King issued what some called the band's crowning achievement with the trio's first new album in a decade, Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere on Svart Records. Adding psychedelic atmospheres to their signature monolithic riffs, songs like "Silent Pictures" and "Coming Down from Outer Space" take the listener on an interstellar journey unlike anything Acid King has produced in the past. The trio's line-up went through another transition in 2017 with the return of bassist Rafa Martinez (who also plays in acclaimed metal duo Black Cobra) and the addition of drummer Bil Bowman (a member of like-minded outfit Hornss).
The band would maintain its high level of crushing intensity live with a variety of festival appearances on both sides of the Atlantic including the Austin Terror Fest, the Up in Smoke Festival 2018 in Switzerland, the Treefort Music Festival in Boise, Idaho, the Northwest Hesh Fest in Portland, and an appearance at Levitation 2019 in Austin, TX. The group would also embark on one of its most extensive U.S. tours in ages that year to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Busse Woods that was reissued by RidingEasy Records with new mastering and new cover artwork. Last year would also see the release of the band's first live album, a document of their set performed at the 2011 edition of the Roadburn Festival. This month, the label reissued Acid King's debut EP on 12-inch LP cut at 45 RPM for extra volume to mark its 30th anniversary.
What started out as a pandemic collaboration and one-off contribution to Blues Funeral Recordings project that was not originally intended to be the next Acid King album gradually evolved into the band's latest cosmic salvo of hefty riffs and heady atmospherics. Teaming with Black Cobra guitarist/vocalist Jason Landrian and bassist and keyboardist Bryce Shelton (Badr Vogu, Nik Turner's Hawkwind) and drummer Jason Willer (Charger, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine), what started out as experimental sessions would become the first ever quartet line-up of Acid King that tracked the band's most cinematic album yet entitled Beyond Vision.
Taking the listener on an interstellar sonic voyage that picks up where Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere left off, the conceptual effort introduces synthesizers to the band arsenal, melding the Joseph's crushing riffs with ambient drones inspired in part by science fiction and space travel (including the soundtracks to 2001: A Space Odyssey and Matt Morton's vintage synth music for the recent Apollo 11 documentary).
The latest trio formation with Joseph joined by Shelton and Willer as her rhythm section has been touring steadily since the album's release, playing festivals in the U.S. and abroad (including Brazil and Europe) as well as playing a limited number of shows with the quartet line-up.
For this special curated residency at the Chapel co-presented by show promoter (((folkYEAH!))) in San Francisco's Mission District this weekend, Acid King tops two spectacular bills and plays different sets each night. On Friday, the group performs songs from Beyond Vision filled out by a career-spanning selection of tunes. Support will be provided by rising SoCal doom-metal act Early Moods. Founded in Los Angeles 2015 by guitarist Eddie Andrade and vocalist/keyboardist Alberto Alcaraz -- the two friends have been playing in bands since they were teenagers -- the groupcame together with the aim of combining classic doom inspired by Sabbath, Pentagram and Trouble with more traditional British metal from the late '70s and early '80s. Earlier this year, the band released its acclaimed second full-length album A Sinner's Past on RidingEasy Records. Opening Friday's show will be New York City-based "fantasy doom" band Castle Rat.
On Saturday, Acid King celebrates the 25th Anniversary of their classic album Busse Woods by performing the effort in its entirety with an augmented line-up featuring second guitarist Sean McGrath (best known as the founding member of local death metal band Impaled; he also sings in grindcore act Engorged and fronts theatrical thrash/gore outfit Ghoul). That night, Acid King is joined by celebrated SF doom sistren Brume. Formed in 2014 by relocated British expatriate guitarist Jamie McCathie (formerly of the London-based sludge band Gurt), bassist/vocalist Susie McMullan and drummer Jordan Perkins-Lewis, the SF band has refined a unique approach to heavy sounds over the past decade.
The band expanded its sonic palette on its gorgeous 2019 sophomore effort Rabbits, incorporating more layered vocal harmonies and new instrumentation including piano and cello courtesy of Grayceon's Jackie Perez Gratz, who would eventually be invited to become an official member of the group. Back in May, the quartet released its latest acclaimed recording Marten through Magnetic Eye Records. Opening Saturday's show will be Cassette Prophet. The new all-star noise-rock project led by Steel Pole Bath Tub guitarist Mike Morasky and featuring former Neurosis keyboardist and Christ on Parade guitarist Noah Landis, the band and choir presents the conceptual mythology of the "First Church of Radio Shack," complete with purported recordings from a 1979 FBI investigation into the cult. DJ Nate C -- the turntable alter ego of Witch Mountain drummer, Nanotear booking agent and writer Nathan Carson, who hosts a weekly radio show Heavy Metal Sewing Circle on Portland's XRAY FM -- plays music before and between bands both nights.
Acid King Residency
Friday-Saturday, Nov. 15-16, 7 p.m. $28 (2-night passes $46)
The Chapel
