A big step of my journey in learning more about the heavier stoner/doom metal scene in the UK was when I had the pleasure of taking Yinka and Sabatta to a gig organised by 1968 in their home town of Chester just over a year ago. After their sound and performance, it was something I wanted to learn more about and it’s been a wonderful journey ever since and I have been grateful for the people and bands I have met and listened to.
Sam Orr | Photo credit Matt Negus.
So it was a pleasure and felt like coming full circle to speak to one of the founding members, Sam Orr to learn about their journey of how they formed, their musical influences and how they got where they are. We also covered other topics, such as their successful tour of Spain and Portugal, how it came about and some adventures on the way.
It was great to learn about their recording process and how it’s evolved with each recording, including their new release ‘Ballads Of The Godless‘. They’ve used The Verve’s Simon Jone’s studio and it was interesting to hear how hands on he is with running it and how enthusiastic he still is, such as when he encouraged Sam to the studio to record a piece on an interesting new microphone he received.
And Sam’s musical journey which started with learning guitar from the age of 5 and how that affects his appreciation of good guitar playing and the time that goes into leaning it, which as we discussed is a great part of the rich seam of talent in the genre in the UK as well as the music, such as Yinka, Kevin from OAK and Scott from Green Lung among many others.
I interspersed our conversation with tracks from ‘Ballads…‘, such as Screaming Sun and SJD.
You can listen to it during the show here:
Here is the playlist for 26th July 2018 (With links to purchase or discover more where possible)
1 Everest Queen – Ascent (Everest Queen EP – 2016)
2 Everest Queen – Curse of the Everest Queen (Everest Queen EP – 2016)
3 Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell – Tired ‘N’ Wired (Keep It Greasy! – 2016)
4 OAK – Once You Die (OAK III – 2018)
5 Rival Sons – Open My Eyes (Great Western Valkyrie – 2014)
6 The Heavy Eyes – Levantado (Maera – 2012)
7 1968 – Screaming Sun (Ballads Of The Godless – 2018)
8 1968 – Temple Of The Acid Wolf (Ballads Of The Godless – 2018)
9 1968 – SJD (Ballads Of The Godless – 2018)
10 1968 – McQueen (Ballads Of The Godless – 2018)
11 Pelican – Pink Mammoth (Pink Mammoth – 2007)
12 Wychhound – Aurora (Earth Orbiter – 2018)
13 Yawning Man – Perpetual Oyster (Rock Formations – 2005)
