THRONES: TWENTY YEARS YOUNG

Thrones photo by Jose Sandoval

Among the bands of the last twenty years, as far as we can tell, there's just a few that really have kind of ruled the roost as much for us as Thrones have. So, we decided to go out to Oregon for their twentieth anniversary show about a week ago. It was a rager, Joe Thrones was notably moved by the turnout and attention folks paid to his deal. There was cake, there were dudes in black leather jackets, there was a poor selection of beer in arguably the country's beer capital. It was a rock show! Back about twenty years ago, a twenty-or-so year old Josh saw Thrones first ever show. I didn't know it at the time, but that's what was going on at the Madrona Hills Winery with Unwound and the Waydowns.

Thrones was unquestionably the evening's highlight, and cranked out a set of full-tilt, Vocoder-laden whatever-it-is-he-does exactly. And I think that's probably the biggest part of the charm. Thrones isn't a doom band. It also isn't an experimental band. It's not a lot of things. It's too omnivorous for the metal purists and probably too riffy for the noise donks. But somehow, those dudes can see past their musical barriers and just feel the vibe. And it's just a real treat of a thing that Thrones does, I think.

Mostly, you can't help but be moved by what a savage the guy is on the bass, and with the sounds he makes. It's definitely a craft he's studied, perfected and mastered and I tell you what, there are few people I'd rather see on stage for about an hour. Here's to you, Thrones. That night was kind of special. Oh, and he covered Trees by Rush, which I'd never seen.

It's worth noting that both Daniel Menche and Survival Knife, who both also played, tore shit up in their own rights. Menche wove a big single quilt of noise-scape, complete with a contact-miked metal plank that he held up to his throat while singing, and laid down plenty of texture and build to command a pretty solidly rocking 25 minutes on the stage. Survival Knife, with Justin and Brandt from Unwound and the Kris Cunningham (who slayed Nudity's tubs) and Meg (who I don't know from other bands), were good too. Kind of a straight ahead punk and post hardcore vibe, compared with Unwound's more moody/feedbacky deal. I think for the music they're making, it would've been more intense for me had it been played faster.

More on Thrones: The guy's an excellent free spirit, and kind of an anomaly in 2014: label-less and booking agent-free, and with as far as  we can count, just a couple vinyl releases (Wage War 7" and Sedan split 12") over the last ten or so years. He does Thrones on his own time, and exactly as he wants to, and with no pretense. Recently, he's been uploading great live sets up to his webstore, here. More folks should check it out.

THE NIGHT IS DARK AND FULL OF TERRORS: THRONES!!!!!!

There's not much more that can be said about Joe Preston or Thrones. If you've never had the pleasure of witnessing the one-man wrecking crew lay sonic waste to a room, I don't know what's up with you. Maybe that's harsh, but Preston has been flexing this blissful sludge since 1994. Granted he took an extended hiatus, but Thrones touring schedule since 2010 has been as merciless as his sludgy insanity. He seems to be everywhere.

Maybe I say that "not much more can be said" because Thrones is a difficult project to describe. One charismatic, light-hearted grizzly bear, bookended by enormous cabinets, snuggled by machines, and comfortably harnessed to his bass orchestrates a series of distorted, feedback-riddled, ominous, surreal, gutteral, grinding (adj., adj., adj.) songs that offer enough ingenuity and complexity to satisfy any noise, sludge, metal, punk, arty music fan out there. Thrones trudges through its own landscapes, carving out tectonic plates of brutal awesomeness.

Thrones recordings are consuming in their own right. There's a groovy jazz aesthetic that courses through all the slow heaviness. Live, however, is how you need to experience this. It's imperative. From the first crack of sound, it's a visceral journey like no other. Preston effortlessly erects an eerie (some say "witchy") ambiance that envelops the audience. There's a subtle give and take, but the music wins in the end. Lured by the basslines, Preston pied-pipers the audience through an intricate set that pushes the bounds of experimentation without sacrificing the crusty edge that provides for most of the nightmarish joy of feeling Thrones live.

Thrones just came off of an east coast tour with Floor, (with some envy-worthy dates that included VAZ, and Torche), played a recent show with the Need and Fed Ex, and is playing a host of shows this spring and summer. There's probably a lot more out there. Who knows?

I jumped out of my chair, hugged my girlfriend, and high-fived our cats and dogs when I read the email exchange between Josh Vanek and Joe that landed Thrones for Total Fest this year. It was, perhaps, one of the most beautiful series of communications that I watched unfold. I'll say "don't miss this set" more than a few times between now and then, and if I see you there, I promise to hug you only once.  
 
The day is bright and beautiful and full of hope:

THRONES!
Really, that's all that should need to be said.

Joe Preston possesses a teeth-kicking resume that puts Chuck Norris to shame (you know who he's played with). Thrones is one of those groups that helps you to organize your friends (if you're one of the chosen few riding the google + comet, the first thing you should do is create a Thrones circle and non-Thrones circle ... and then never speak to the non-Thrones circle again). A one-man orchestra, Thrones moves away from the "days-of-yore-two-degrees-of-separation" indy-metal and strips it down to its most primal parts.

Thrones has released a slew of albums in its close to two decades of existence, but for my money, 2000's Sperm Whale is like staring into the mirror at 4am -- hide the tweezers and razors because Joe composes layers of sound that are thicker than any Rothko painting. You want to lie belly down in it and dig in your fingers, but you soon begin to lose your limbs. It's hard to swim so it's better to just let go and hope that the teeth that are mashing you save your brain for last. You need to feel it. A friend recently told me about centipedes in Maui that still bite weeks after she cut off their heads. This seems like an apt metaphor for Thrones -- an unstoppable, nightmarish beast that keeps calling you back for more. You brave the bite because the experience is therapeutically surreal. Adjectives are pointless here. This is the stuff that crafts your dreams.

Harvey Milk: Loud Band For the Ages
From the Where Has This Music Been All My Life file, comes Harvey Milk. They're an Athens, Georgia-based group who've been largely ignored since they began, back in the 1990's. Sort of the perfect antithesis to the crushing metal that takes itself too seriously, theirs are essentially love songs, Leonard Cohen covers, and other, less-than-manly fare played with more ooomph than handfuls of black-clad, neck-tattooed, and corpse painted heshers trying desperately to be heavy.

There's poetry in this stuff too, and from a guy with a general disdain for most poetic things, I've come to appreciate it, especially when set to music that's got the bombast, restraint and tonal excellence that this stuff does. Where heavy music can generally go one of two ways, total stoner riff repetition, without much to set one song apart from another, or dull dronery ala Sunn, Harvey Milk just play slow, tight, sad/triumphant shit, and it's pretty excellent.

Chunklet recently re-released their My Love Is Higher Than Your Assessment of What My Love Could Be on beautiful double LP. More to come in the re-issue dept. from them, sounds like. Hydrahead's responsible for their newest piece of work, entitled Life... The Best Game In Town, which is thoroughly a winner, on par with their best work.

Oregonian and Total Fest alumnus Joe Preston, whose Thrones is one of the best "bands" to ever rock, is currently the bassist for this outfit.

Not sure what the connection their gay California politician namesake is. NPR's doing a special on him soon.