Weedeater preview

Weedeater
Empty Bottle, Chicago
Monday, July 16, 2007

Some bands eschew “stoner rock.” Fu Manchu, often thought of as one of the sub-genre’s grizzled vets, aren’t fond of the term, for example. Weedeater aren’t either. To hear them explain it, they aren’t stoner rock – how degrading? The North Carolinians much prefer “weed metal.”

With bloodshot eyes, long, gnarly beards hanging from their faces, North Carolina swamp sauce stuck to their boots, baggies of dirt weed in their pockets, and PBR tallboys clutched in their resin-stained hands, Weedeater return to Chicago, a place that surely has special meaning to them now because it’s the city where their best record was born. Godluck And Good Speed (July 31st; Southern Lord) was recorded with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio and could be the stoner rock or sludge metal or weed metal – whatever the fuck you want to call it – album of the year. Led by former Buzzoven/current Bongzilla bassist “Dixie” Dave Collins and completed by drummer Keko and guitarist Shep, Weedeater tune the guitars down to extreme lows on Godluck as well as churn the riffs so slowly, it’s a wonder this album even got completed. It’s Collins’ strung-out rasp on tracks like “Weedmonkey” and the group’s cover of Lynyrd Skynryd’s “Gimme Back My Bullets” that sets his group apart from the stoned, murky icons – eyehategod, Crobar, Corrosion Of Conformity – they were weaned on. The only non-Albini recorded track, “Alone,” might be the album’s best, or at least weirdest. Produced by C.O.C.’s Mike Dean and accompanied by just an acoustic bass and banjo, Collins dredges the depths of baritone for an un-human vocal performance.

Local heavyweights Minsk and Lair Of The Minotaur open, and, as are most Monday night Empty Bottle gigs, it’s free.

– Trevor Fisher

Click here to download Weedeater’s “Godluck And Good Speed.”

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly