We've got a lot of love for sludge and post-rock - this shows in the music we create - but our individual tastes spread far and wide.
The four of us come from different musical backgrounds and we've all got different favourites; here's a quick selection.
Deep Purple - Burn
[Charlie] The song that made me want to pick up a guitar all those years ago.
The riff is fantastically simple and to-the-point, a real earworm and powerful as all hell. Deep Purple have such a cool progressive vibe whilst still writing grade A songs and I was instantly hooked.
I still remember when I first heard the track and listening to it now gives me exactly the same feeling as it did back then - a very important song indeed.
Blind Willie Johnson - Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground
[Charlie] This style of blues - one man and his guitar - strikes me as one of the purest and rawest forms of music out there.
I also adore slide guitar playing, so here's a no-brainer. Johnson's songs his are totally visceral and very much tell his traumatic story in an honest and real way - Dark Was The Night in particular is a haunting, woeful number that barely needs to do anything at all to leave a massive impact.
Big respect.
Fleetwood Mac - Need Your Love So Bad
[Tim] I remember the first time I heard the solo to Need your love so bad. Mel Reeves, my guitar teacher at the time, played it to me as an exercise in playing by ear.
To this day I don't think I've heard a more perfect solo. Peter Green's delicate melodic touch, his use of rhythm and blues scales fits the song like no other.
There simply couldn't be a better beginning or end to the tune.
Baroness - If I Have To Wake Up (Would You Stop The Rain?)
[Tim] It's no secret that we as a band are crazy about Baroness and we all waited excitedly for Purple to hit last year.
Out of all of the songs the one that really blew me away was the second to last track of the album. The way they create almost a vacuum of sound before punching you with the line "kill the lights", honestly it gives me goosebumps every time.
This song is a masterpiece of big and beautiful and no one does it quite like Baroness.
Kylesa - Unknown Awareness
[Kynan] Kylesa was my first foray into the magnificent world of sludge.
I was captured by their blending of melody and brutally heavy riffs to create an sound that induces a trance like state. They are a band that have always been a big influence to my style.
They also did a cover of Paranoid that sounded creepily similar to one we did a few years ago.
Com Truise - Chemical Legs
I got into Com Truise through Tim, he shared him with the band during the album recording.
He creates a sense of nostalgia, big synths and simple drum beats combine to make tracks that wouldn't be out of place in 'futuristic' police films made in the 1980s.
I have really got into the synthwave since and plan to do a thing inspired by it at some point.
Björk - Earth Intruders
[Tom] Chris Corsano plays drums on this; he's one of the most innovative drummers in the known universe and did a great job on Volta, Björk's colourful, tribal record.
This is a particularly solid banger, even with the two-minute foghorn section.
Melvins - The Bit
[Tom] Dale Crover is one of my all-time drum heroes.
Stag features some of his best material: The Bit has such a weird swagger and rhythm, flirting with noise but never quite settling. It's also one of the heaviest things ever committed to record and chief among many, many essential Melvins bangers.
Joint picks:
Cybernetic Witch Cult - Dark Star
We've played a good number of shows with these guys; they're good friends of ours on the local circuit and amazing fun live.
They always put one on hell of a show and know how to connect with a crowd! Dark Star comes from their latest release "Spaceous Cretaceous" which is packed full of sci-fi bangers, and this is no exception that rule. The riff is incredible, the chorus is ace, the overall level of musicianship on display here is fantastic.
Would very much recommend!
Famyne - Tower
Another of our friends' bands and an incredible doom outfit. These guys have an amazing Hawkwind-y space rock vibe; alongside some real heavy riffs there's spectral, explorative vocals which are great.
The whole group of guys are fantastic and the band is tight as hell - should you ever get the chance to see them do their thing, we strongly advise that you do.
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