The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol...dateline January 28th, 2021

Hello from TBWNIS!  Hope that everyone is coping with the ongoing state of things!  Time to bring everyone up to speed in our world.  All members of our collective are well. The current 6 piece (Me, Bill, Nathaniel, Jason, Dave and Scott) are busy with getting by in life and have not played a lick together since end of June, 2020!  Does this really matter?  NO, it does not!  We all miss hanging out together and bangin' out the tuneage as that has been the case for 13 years. 

Above and beyond, we are FRIENDS and enjoy one another's company...in life, that is all that really matters and that is what we miss most here.  Making the music that we do is akin to riding a bike and whenever we get back on that bike, LOOK THE FUCK OUT!

Anyways...there's loads of news (some of you informed folks will know already) !  Brothers Mark Alexander McIntyre and Hesham Attaya (members of TBWNIS collective) have both recently seen the release of new solo projects!!!  Mark's new LP, his 3rd is out on the UK upstart label Vohu Mannah and is a wicked ball of dark, angst ridden electric acid psych/folk rock, fully energized by Mark's excellent guitar skills and acerbic observations.  For good measure a beauty of a Dead Moon song is re-visited and it's awesome!  Our mutual friend Dave Millsop from UK band vert:x did a fantastic book include with drawings accompanying Mark's lyrics and it's sweet, like a little compendium of poetry for kidos on the "darkside" of life with nightmarish pics! 😉

Hesham Attaya's LP has been a labour of love now for 4 years and is a work of art (literally)  "Shammie" has just moved back to Saudi Arabia after being in Germany where "Alphabarius" found completion. The album is a whack combination of middle eastern musings, psychedelic acid freak outs, prog and electronic Krautrock.  The book (20 pages) is fab as well; featuring drawings, words and pictures from Hesham and it's a ltd. wax offering (self released) !  Both myself and Scott from The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol play on it, so we are all proud of this long awaited release! 💕 

Symbol merch has been well received globally with rave reviews from all over the planet!  In the picture are 2 of the most recent releases and are available in various ltd. formats. LP of Berserkir II both pressings (colour variant differentials with insert and dlc, split LP with ours Canadian Brothers Anunnaki (super ltd. gatefold sleeve), CD versions and cassette versions are SUPER LTD but available at this moment in time.  The Berserkir cassettte is both volumes of Berserkir on 1 tape thanks to UK label Misophonia Records.  Both the LPs are on the venerable Cardinal Fuzz label from the UK, Berserkir in conjunction witjh Feeding Tube Rec. and the split with Noisesagonymayhem recs.  

Coming physical in February is our 4-CD set entitled "Shedding The Albatross"  (all music previously unreleased and FANTASTIC covert art by Brett savage of Dead Sea Apes fame ! 💕 Also scheduled to arrive from Cardinal Fuzz is the vinyl version of our pandemic recorded in isolation album "Unsemble" with new artwork by Brett again and mastered by Chris Hardman!  Our most fuk'd up engaging album to date, in my opinion!  As of yesterday and a chat with our studio engineer David Sarazin (Elevator, Dronverdose and Berserkir LPs), we are talking about going into the studio to put some new TBWNIS thoughts to tape !  Stay tuned, check it all out, be well, stay safe and all our heartfelt thanks and love to all!👽

you want a shot at any stuff physical...msg. me...here, facebook, messenger, email etc!  

PEACE & LOVE

John

https://vohumanah.bandcamp.com/album/murk-muck-mire

https://soundcloud.com/john-westhaver/2020-07-17-axa-b2-representation-and-divination

https://soundcloud.com/john-westhaver/alpharabius-muqaddimah

https://thebandwhosenameisasymbol.bandcamp.com/

2 Great LP's To Kick Off 2021 !

The ripe nostalgic emotions I feel upon hearing this finished project from Dead Sea Apes, Adam Stone and Black Tempest are hard to describe. From a distance, it's like hearing the dystopic quasi dub/krautrock record that was never made in 1981. If you were standing in THAT record shop when this was playing loudly in the background while being overwhelmed by 5 miscellaneous rows of "D" section vinyl releases, each 2 feet deep; it would give you pause! A teenager with a throbbing gristle tee on, some cash in pocket and visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in your head, you make your way to the counter; glancing at a Linton Kwesi Johnson LP in a rack to your left, as you screw up the courage to ask the clearly "cool" fucker at the counter, "what's playing"? As the curmudgeon snorts offhandedly, "new Dead Sea Apes", you say thanks and retreat back to the "D" section. As the LP appears to get flipped you rummage and find "Dataland". You look in your pocket, do quick math and tuck it under your arm. You also nab Palais Schaumberg, that LKJ "Forces Of Victory" you spied earlier and yer off ! Once home, "Dataland" gets it's inaugural voyage with an ice cold brew and a hit off the pipe. After "Empty Streets" dies out at end of side 2, you are feeling the inspiration and the follow spin becomes"Hamburger Lady" from "D.O.A The Third And Final Report"... Thank You to all involved in this new offering...I love timeless records...they are the bee's knees...

https://cful.bandcamp.com/album/dead-sea-apes-black-tempest-adam-stone-dataland 

So Zeus is outside going off like a rocket while I'm having a smoke and my postie Chris zooms up the snowy driveway. I see through the slats in the cedar fence the telltale sign of an exciting delivery! Being a white cardboard 13 x 13 inch record mailer it can only mean one thing! Like a kid in a candy shop; despite being 60, I'm tingling (this feeling never gets tired) ! This is a record by an obscure underground band from New York state who are called

Ambassador Hazy

and this is their FANTASTIC debut entitled "Glacial Erratics". It immediately got "cracked" and spun and I was sold after the first track! You can check out, if inclined, the links I post in my first comments, but suffice to say, my aforementioned "tingling at 60" above has proven an accurate thermometer as usual. I get very few free LPs, and feel super honoured when I do. I would never be so presumptuous to EVER ask for "free" anything...especially records, cuz I fucking get it!

Ambassador Hazy has unleashed a small run release which embodies for me, all that is right about why one is in a band, makes music and bothers to release in physical format. I suspect based on personal experience, that upon hearing the finished session, that all involved sat around, listened and said to one another..."fuck this is great, we should release this"... that is the way it works! This album encompasses a shitload of influences and time spans and is not simply put in a box! There is a psych of now, but also psych of yore, that spans 5 decades, I hear it. I hear Sebadoh (who i never listen to anymore: o.d.'d in the 90's but still love what they tabled). I hear a variety of obscure 60's psych influences (weird Pink Floyd), but others, too many to mention and it's mixed with a lopey, lazy funkiness (Circuit Rider scuzzy biker thingy) saddled right against warped west coast pop sensibilities. All influences are brought up to the "NOW". To these old ears I guarantee, this is not an accidental album! The playfulness throughout the entire record, is arguably it's most endearing quality and coupled with a sense of an understated heaviness is super appealing as well. The pieces are short and indicate to me that $10. says Ambassador Hazy can jam out and stretch shit to endless mind bending extremes in a live setting with ease! I have to thank

Josh

for being a conduit here, otherwise I may never have had the privilege of experiencing this really fucking excellent record...please give it a listen!

https://soundcloud.com/user-911853496/sets/glacial-erratics?fbclid=IwAR0r2MSNXElTj26IJy5C2L0KI9Ij05YgPQz7h8sPpWBre1OqtYCLYFQs1AI

by John Westhaver