I know what you are
thinking, "damn it Bluebird, you've made me wait weeks for your next
feature on a North Carolina band. You lazy good-for-nothing slob, I want my NC
Thursday feature and I want it now." A valid reason for such accusations
of my character, but no one ever said music journalists are the most timely
bunch, so who am I to rock the proverbial boat? Well wait no more you hippies and headbangers, feast your eyes (and ears) on Viajando.
There is just something about growing up in the south. Life moves at a slow pace. The dicey historical baggage, the artery clogging food, and the thick humidity of the region can make one drag their feet through the thick sludge, and wipe their brow as they trudge to their grave. With that sort of immediate surroundings, it really is no surprise that this is where the blues and country music originated , incorporating a steady swinging rhythm that is a far cry from the hectic jazz music happening up North. Inevitably, the best heavy metal music to come out of my native region has historically incorporated similar plodding rhythms and smokey blues-oriented riffing, a far cry from the chill of Scandinavian Black Metal or the blitzing speed of Bay Area Thrash. While Black Sabbath melded blues with the industrial landscape of post-war England, the majority of such "groove" oriented heavy metal comes from the American South (and the contrasting landscapes of west coast "desert rock"), that has a clear regional identity. Over the last decade, Georgia has made a name for itself as the "place to be" for sludge metal, with modern heavyweights like Mastodon, Baroness, and Kylesa making huge waves in the international metal scene. But as these bands have expanded to broader sounds and have stepped out of the underground and onto a larger scale, there has been a vacuum of music that is slow, vast, and heavy (and sometimes catchy). North Carolina's Viajando has to the potential to pick up this torch(e) and carry it proudly.
Formerly known as Stone City, Viajando
(vee-uh-hon-doe) have recently released their Stone City demo, a culmination of
several months of musical and personal progression. Their riffs reek of resin
hits and bong water, fueling their crushing rhythms that inspire the sincerest
of head banging. With surprisingly harmonious vocals reminiscent of both Kyuss
and Floor, the vocal melodies seem to be made as more of an accompaniment to
the music than the driving force of the songwriting. Where they lack in
innovation to the sludge/stoner metal genre, they make up in gusto and
song-craft. I reached out to my old friend, and Viajando guitarist, Nick Brown
to discuss the name change of the band, his record label, and why music can
sometimes sound better slow.
Bluebird: well to
start, could you explain the name change from Stone City to Viajando, and the
meaning of the new band moniker?
Nick Brown: Well
simply Rick James' backing band is The Stone City Band and we just wanted to
avoid any legal issues. Viajando is the Spanish word for "traveling"
or "traveling a great distance." It seems to stand out and people
like it so we've stuck with it.
BB:
Do you feel like "traveling a great distance" has any relation to the
band, or was it just an immediate sort of approval of the sound of it?
NB: Kind of funny
you say that. I "commute" so to speak from Greensboro once a week to
practice and travel whatever distance to play for the band. I feel that
traveling also means exploring and we have been exploring all kinds of styles
and combinations to make our distinct sound. I think "traveling" has
a much larger meaning then just moving from point A to point B.
BB: Absolutely.
I feel like the appeal of such a name comes from both a musical and physical
sort of movement, but more importantly I feel like this could also apply on a
larger scale to how one's personality and livelihood can travel from one
transition to the next..
NB: Not only that
but we have shifted from a four to a three piece which has dramatically changed
our sound without letting our intensity die. It's very interesting
BB: Absolutely.
To me, it seems to represent the constant flux of life.. Now, I've always
thought of punk rock/hardcore as an incubator for vastly different art styles
that many artists use as their initial musical foundation, and than use that as
a springboard for a more vast web of content, but I feel that it somehow leaves
it's thumbprint on any later content that is created. Now, that being said, you
initially came from a punk/thrash background, so could you tell me about your
initial immersion into "heavy music" and the transition from rabid
punk rock to the more patient and groove oriented nature of stoner rock?
NB:
It was a huge time, in my life at least. I was in college and was partying more
and then the Magrudergrind self-titled came out and I heard SFN for the first
time and those dudes had some slow fucking songs for being some of the fastest
powerviolence I heard at the time. I think I finally accepted slow music. I
also had a band black lung that wanted to do some kind of downtempo hardcore
band thing and we kept getting out of tune and more stoned so we ended up with
that stoner doom sound. Time went on and I kept discovering new styles,
dynamics, theories, and especially bands that gave me new inspiration. I
wouldn't even call my "style" as stoner. As long as it's groovy and
fun and especially loud then I am definitely doing it right. I couldn't get
more satisfaction than that from people telling me how much fun they had during
our set.
BB: That sounds like it was a really natural evolution for
you. You've mentioned to me before that when you were younger, you really
enjoyed bands like Black Sabbath and Fu Manchu. Would you say it felt natural
to maybe go back to music that had effected you years prior?
NB: Fu Manchu was
a huge blast from the past once I seriously got into stoner metal. Everyone
remembers "evil eye" from THPS 2x and that song wasn't punk or metal
or rock and I was interested in their music video but the rest of their music
was quite different. I think I was like 11 when I first heard them and I wasn't
ready to seriously listen to them yet. Black sabbath was always in the picture.
Always. Classic rock was, is, and always will be in the picture. That's what
made me put my hands on a guitar.
BB: Would you say
that living in the south has at all informed your or your bands sound?
NB: I'd say the
south is a very interesting place for music. Not only is it on the east coast
but it's also in a hard part of America for artsy music to find success. The
south is desperate for change all the time and I think more so than anything it
wants better music all the time. If you think about it, all the people that go
to shows are in bands. Bands want to work with other bands to make the whole
scene better. This has allowed for a really positive attitude with these
southern bands but the audience has not gotten bigger. So all though I have
pursued music and have been surrounded by people that care, it's hard for
people that aren't active in music to stay interested, discover new bands, and
go to local shows which makes it hard on the others that want to see success
with their creative pursuits which require a huge amount of time and
unfortunately money. I think that the south has definitely motivated us to get
out of the south haha but without our friends, family, supporters, and
southern, drunken, rock n rollers, we wouldn't be able to do anything
BB: Could you
give me a rundown on your guitar rig and how it contributes to the bands sound?
NB: I'll give you
the quickest run down since I could literally write the most boring book about
it: I have a Verellen Loucks going into a mojotone 4x12 and I have a laney aor
pro-tube 50 through an avatar 2x12. I have an agile with a bridge p90 going into
a xotix sp compressor into a boss ps3 into an OCD into a mojo hand nebula 4
into a Ernie ball vp passive into a carbon copy into a lehle little dual. There
is tuner somewhere in there. I use two amps for three reasons: 1) volume 2)
tone boost - the laney exemplifies the tone of the Verellen and makes it oh so
pretty. 3) it fills the tone space that another guitarist would fill. We had
such a huge drop in tone when the other guitarist left and another amp was the
only solution. I play both amps at the same time ALWAYS
BB: You recently
started a label/distro called Crimson Eye Records. Could you tell me about your
goals/ vision with this endeavor?
NB: Totally
separate from the band but the label has always been a goal of mine for a long
time. Not much to say about it. I plan on making a family and my kids will be
the bands I work with and the albums they make. I mainly put out vinyl records
but I have some other cool projects in mind. Not limited to any kind of music
except that music that I like this baby is brand new so lots of time to grow.
Keep an eye on it at www.crimsoneyerecords.com!
Following my interview with Nick, they shortly after released the crushing new
track Rogue, that can be checked out at viajando.bandcamp.com. There really is
something about growing up in the south, and Viajando are simply a reflection
of such an enviroment.
BB: Alright
Nick, lastly, are there any plans in the not too distant future for Viajando?
NB: We just
finished our first song "Rogue" that is on our split with The
Seduction. It will also be on our first EP which is being recorded currently.
The van is getting worked on so more out of town shows soon! New album, more
shows, more of everything. We aren't slowing down and everyone should watch out
because the fun has only just begun!
Following my interview with Nick, they shortly after released the crushing new track Rogue, that can be checked out at viajando.bandcamp.com. There really is something about growing up in the south, and Viajando are simply a reflection of such an enviroment. Do not fuck up by not listening to this crucial new metal band.
