Thursday has been touring across the U.S with Cursive, The Appleseed Cast, and Nate Bergman. The show made its way to the art apex of Pomona and I was excited to make it back to The Glass House for the first time since it reopened.

I arrived just in time to catch Nate Bergman wallowing into the mic. The solo act oozed charm and put on a powerful performance with the confidence of a full band. If you have the opportunity to catch the tour before it ends on Sunday, try not to miss Nate. Following were the emo-act, The Appleseed Cast. The band cruised through their set as the audience continued to file in throughout the weeknight.

By the time Cursive made it to the stage, the room was full and ready to get rowdy. Cursive faked out the crowd with the intro to Ugly Organ's, "Gentleman Caller" before jumping into Domestica's, "Lament of Pretty Baby." The fake-outs would continue throughout the night. Often kicking off with "Big Bang's" blusterous opening only to switch to a different song. The fake-outs did eventually lead to a payoff.

One of the joys of seeing Cursive perform is the occasional banter and jokes cracked by frontman, Tim Kasher. When asked if the crowd would like to hear how their new song "Botch Job" went, he began to describe and vocally replicate each part of the song before declaring that they would just play it. Cursive spent the set jumping between fan-favorites like "Art is Hard" and "The Martyr" and tracks like "Stranded Satellite" and "It's Gonna Hurt" from their most recent releases, Get Fixed and Vitriola. Eventually, they finished what they started by returning to "Gentleman Caller" to finish out their set.

Word had spread fast of Geoff Rickly's accident from the night before. The Thursday vocalist had fallen off the stage and broken his ankle. Needless to say, fans were unsure of how the night would go. Then the lights cut out. Queen's "The Show Must Go On" blared from the house speakers as the band walked out. Rickly rode to the center of the stage on a scooter with a cast on his foot and a smile on his face. He wasn't about to let the injury take away from the performance. The band jumped into War All the Time's opener "For the Workforce, Drowning." The band continued onto classics like "Cross Out the Eyes," "Jet Black New Year," and "Signals Over the Air."

One of the frontman's most endearing qualities is the love he expresses toward music and performing. He took a moment to reflect on the struggles throughout the tour, from having to postpone the first half due to the rise of Omicron, members getting covid (which even resulted in multiple special guests filling in), as well as shows getting snowed out, and to Rickly breaking his foot. He recounted how someone asked him if he thought God was trying to tell him that he shouldn't be touring but felt that the experience will just make them stronger. Rickly took a seat and delivered an emotional and impassioned performance of "This Song Brought to You By a Falling Bomb." The audience watched and listened in awe as he repeated the song's final lines over and over to a room of silence.

With Norman Brannon of Texas is the Reason filling in this tour, it only seemed natural for them to throw in a Texas is the Reason cover in the form of "If It's Here When We Get Back It's Ours," while scouring their own discography for deep cuts like "Running From the Rain" from 2006's A City by the Light Divided. But of course, no Thursday show is complete without "Understanding in a Car Crash" which really amped up the Tuesday night crowd before closing the show with the faux encore of "War All the Time."  When the show was over, there was no question that Thursday and Rickly gave 110%. His foot may have been broken, but his spirit wasn't.

The Formative Years – Daft Punk

In the mid-1990s there was a period of time that due to a love interest, lead me to Paris every other weekend, where we often ended up at warehouse parties. It was there that I was first introduced to French electronic music and a duo that referred itself to as Daft Punk, so when their debut album Homework was released and we received physical copies in the record store I was working at, I intuitively put one away for myself.

While house and dance music has never been a particularly favourite, what Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo presented with their first album, felt special and progressive from the get go. 

For a start, the title of the album was a telling one as the tracks were spontaneously recorded and produced in DIY fashion at their respective homes.

Then there was a deliberate departure from what had become a formulaic template that European dance music adhered to with its keyboard pre-sets as they infused it with big beat, acid house, ambient techno and a bit of punk rock spirit. 

Pretty early on it became clear that Homework was a ground-breaking instant classic and with its futuristic approach paved the way for Daft Punk to become one of the biggest electronic dance music acts ever, long before they ventured into pop territory and the creation of their iconic anonymous robot helmeted avatars.

Homework felt like more like a collection of singles rather than a cohesive album, with each track starting off by relying on a single sonic track to then evolve via the incorporation of sounds and techniques lifted from other subgenres, which is then weaved into a cohesive house music based whole.

A classic album that despite its infectious mass compatible tunes retains its intimate, playful and innocent nature.

The Formative Years – Daft Punk

Thus Let Us Drink Beer

Hop Nation & Cronulla Beer Co.

It must have been a couple of years ago that while on a quest to quench my hankering for a hopped out beer, I came across one of Hop Nation’s delicious emissions the first time. I remember that obviously the name, the label design and the overall way Hop Nation presented itself caught my eye and luckily their first IPA, The Fiend, did not disappoint on the flavour front either, which started an on-going interest in the brewery.

After refining their approach and a period of gypsy brewing, Hop Nation eventually set up their own shop in Melbourne, which was the starting point for a journey that eventually established them firmly on the firmament of Australian quality craft beer breweries with their focus firmly set on the creation of hop forward styles, centred around the experimentation with quality ingredients and minimal filtration.

With the Hop Nation founders having a pedigree in winemaking and a curious interest in experimenting, over the years a diverse array of barrel aged brews were given birth to as a side projects under the moniker Site Fermentation Project, which also saw the release of idiosyncratic beer-wine hybrids and fermented brews.

Hop Nation’s over-the-top hazy hop-hash informed tour de force that is the juicy and citrusy J Juice and the pale gold, grapefruity The Chop, which is informed by the best of what the quartet of Ella, Cascade, Simcoa and Mosaic hops have to offer, along with their take on a traditional American red ale, The Buzz, have become a reliable staples in my fridge 

Apart from consistently knocking things out of the park with their hop-centric releases, it was interesting to see Hop Nation branch out into sour beer styles, the first of which I experienced via their refreshingly salty, delicately acidic and passionfruity The Punch, which is a Teutonic-styled mango gose in nature and proved to be a perfect companion to be teamed up with a wee dram of Port Charlotte.

I have to admit that when I first learned about Hop Nation diversifying their offerings via the Ray Seltzer brand, I was a bit sceptical as carbonated water combined with alcohol and fruit flavouring does not exactly sound like an exciting proposition, however, with their natural brewing approach and reliance on real fruit, it makes for a refreshing tipple, especially when one feels like accommodating the urge to indulge during the earlier hours of the day.

Apart from the way Hop Nation is expertly channelling their alchemy in the realm of brewing and fermentation, their meticulous attention to detail not only can be experienced via the artful presentation of their drink range, but also with the creation of their top notch merchandise, which both in terms of designs but also the quality of their garments aligns with their quality approach.

Cronulla Beer Co.

We have covered a myriad of Australian craft beer distilleries from all necks of the woods of terra australis, however, an area that was not necessarily on my radar in the brewing department was Sydney’s Sutherland Shire. 

All the more exciting it was to see a brewery pop up that fully embraces the DNA of the place and channels the local vibes into their interpretations of hoppy nectars, which to culminates in a liquid, fun- and flavour filled equivalent to what Cronulla and its beaches stand for – an ethos that also expands to the branding and their high quality merch range, which given the stylish components it is based on, should be more than well received both by beer aficionados as well as folks a bit more invested in what garments they invest in.

Having initially started out with a core range of four beers, i.e. XPA, mid-strength, a lager and a pale ale, my current favourite expressions are Cronulla’s Next Level XPA, which is essentially based on an NEIPA by transforming the grain bill and hop schedule,  and their Pavlovian response evoking Ultra Hazy IPA, both of which are lipsmackingly great and dangerously more-ish due to the slightly higher ABV content.

Especially with the Ultra Hazy IPA, Cronulla Brewing Co demonstrates that they are naturals when it comes to expertly calibrating the finer nuances of subtleties, which are often overshadowed by lesser releases in the current haze craze breweries find themselves competing in.

Cronulla’s Ultra Hazy IPA is a beautiful union of solid and liquid, resulting in flavour that you can see, with each ingredient contributing to the haze without running danger of cancelling the impact of other ingredients out. 

An example par excellence for the best one could hope for when merging the triumvirate of protein-rich grains, yeast activity, and hefty hop additions, which results in a foggy brew that one would be hard pressed to distinguish from a class of orange juice as far as appearance is concerned, and thereby representing the provenance and natural hues of Cronulla and its surroundings.

The Formative Years - Kyuss 

There is something to be said for music that not only serves as a mere accompaniment but as the sonic equivalent of a psychedelic experience as it makes things infinitesimally better and literally adds another dimension to things.

It must have been in the early 1990s that I first was introduced to Kyuss and while my surroundings did not even remotely resemble the vastness and harsh environment and debilitating heat of the Californian desert, things clicked instantaneously.

What emerged out of Palm Springs seemed perfect and magical as the way that the four-piece channelled its alchemy in ways that combined what I loved about both Black Sabbath and Black Flag only to slow it down, make it heavier, add their idiosyncratic groove and infused it with an unrivalled vibe.

While their debut Welcome to Sky Valley in all its raw and unfiltered beauty. Music that felt like the desert come alive, dangerous, distant, white hot and intense while incredibly beautiful.

While their debut Welcome to Sky Valley and …And The Circus Leaves Town were solid offerings, their magnus opus remains Blues For The Red Sun  in all its raw and unfiltered beauty. Music that felt like the desert come alive, dangerous, distant, white hot and intense while incredibly beautiful.

For the band and its incarnations there was no staging needed: Their video clips just showed them playing in the desert without any added dramaturgy and still transported an enigmatic quality.

Needless to say, Kyuss spawned what was eventually to become known as “stoner rock” with bands still trying to not only emulate their sound but trying to replicate their thick and heavy guitars and recording techniques, which included placings cabinets so that certain frequencies would cancel each other out,  in a bid to sound both as dusty and powerful without ever coming close to creating that magic sauce that the masters effortlessly did.

A special band that with its spirit  and rumble came and conquered at the right time, with their posthumous legend quickly outgrowing their mere musical legacy.

Water of Life

Metallica’s Blackened and Waitui from New Zealand

“…fire to begin whipping dance of the dead – Blackened is the end….” - Well, certainly not the end of celebrity and band inspired spirit creations as they are mushrooming at a pace that it proves hard to keep track of. 
However, the question more often than not is if those often gimmicky liquids are actually of  drinkable quality or if they mainly serve as another novelty merch item for dedicated fans to display on their mantlepiece.

What separates BLACKENED from other celebrity endorsed spirits is that fact that its creation is based on a true collaboration between Metallica and two veritable masters of craft in the realm of distilling and blending, i.e. the late Dave Pickerell and Rob Dietrich, both of which have created quite a legacy with how they have become known to channel their alchemy when it comes to craft distilling, e.g. by being the creative heads behind Maker’s Mark and Whistle Pig’s liquid emissions.

Apart from the underlying concept of creating a blended spirit equivalent to Metallica, this collaboration takes things a step further by literally giving it an idiosyncratic note: During the final stages of aging, the whiskey barrels were sonically assaulted by a Metallica playlist via a specifically created “Black Noise” sound system in a bid to literally shake things up and thereby imbue vibes to the process that would enhance interaction of the bourbon and rye blend with the charred former Brandy barrels with the result being the extraction of  deeper flavours.

The efficacy and physics of the aforementioned process might be disputed by scientists, however, the result is an immensely enjoyable and unpretentious drop:

Bottled at an ABV of 45% , the stylishly and aesthetically well- crafted and nicely understated decorative vessel it is housed in pays homage to the Black Noise process via its label and each batch comes with an accompanying curated playlist of Metallica songs to enjoy it with.

Honey amber in appearance and with a distinctly creamy and slightly oily mouthfeel, BLACKENED tickles the nostrils upon approach with a melange of burnt caramel, plums and honeyed oak, rounded out by spicy highlights. 

On the top of the mouth citrussy honey nuances take on centre stage courtesy of the inherent sweet profile of the dominant bourbon component, flanked by spicy cinnamon, apricots, baking spicy and clove notes derived from the rye, to then culminate in a deliciously elongated finish, reminiscent of cognac and dominated by burnt butter, an intriguing saline aspect, caramelized sugar and molasses.

A well-balanced very decent sipper with a complex flavour profile that holds its own and does not need to rely on the celebrity endorsement. 

In Oceania, BLACKENED is available from the fine people of Groglords, which offer a wide array of well-selected band endorsed quality spirits, along with specifically designed limited edition merch, e.g. an Australian exclusive Metallica x BLACKENED shirt designed by Sindy Sinn.

Waitui Whiskey 

As part of this series I have covered the Australian whiskey landscape far and wide and while there is no vestige of the mushrooming of new boundary pushing distilleries ebbing at any time soon, I am always excited when I get to sample something new from across the Tasman, i.e. New Zealand, which at least for me is largely uncharted territory in the spirits realm.

We have covered and praised the excellent handcrafted emissions from the family owned Kiwi Spirits Distillery before, so needless to say that when a package from the Golden Bay of New Zealand’s South Island arrived, containing their latest 8-year old Waitui Whiskey expression, I was giddy with a excitement as the family’s credo is firmly focussed on creating quality over quantity.

What I loved about previous incarnations of Waitui is that all ingredients are locally sourced, i.e. garden to glass, and produced in small batches without any additives, spending eight years in two-hundred litre barrels that previously were used by local monks to create a Pavlovian response evoking, lip-smacking delicious honey mead. The fact that previous Waitui incarnations only got better over time, once they interacted with air, only adds to the appeal.

Now, channelling one’s alchemy in the realm of honey malt whiskeys can be tricky, as the honey aspects can easily run danger of overshadowing finer nuances, so it is good to see that with Waitui, things are on the more subtle side of things:

What tickles the nostrils upon approach is a pronounced fruitiness reminiscent of fruitcake, backed by a melange of honeyed oak and cinnamon, which seamlessly transitions to the palate where via a delicate oily mouthfeel, dark chocolatey nuances are married with the distinct New Zealand malted barley notes, i.e. nutty and faintly smoky notes with cocoa characteristics, and an interesting peppery heat.

The elongated finish reverberates for days and leaves on lusting for another dram.

A beautiful, unique creation that given its quality, makes me wonder what facets could be added if it was bottled at cask strength instead of the tame 40% it is currently being made available with. 

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images from company websites