Psychedelia had not seen the sun in years. It had been locked in the basement of rock 'n' roll, gathering dust since 1968 - until someone let it loose to wreak havoc. Psychedelic rock is back with a force, bringing the world a bit of color, some great guitar work and another look into psychedelic drugs.
Enter The Black Angels. Armed with their self-proclaimed "Native American Drone 'n' Roll," they are marching forward into battle for your souls. Sitting in the white room upstairs at the Rock and Roll Hotel, vocalist Alex Mass, percussionist-guitarist-bassist Kyle Hunt, guitarist Christian Bland, drummer Stephanie Bailey, guitarist-bassist Nate Ryan and keyboardist-drone machinist Jennifer Rainer took a moment to relax.
"We've been on tour for about three months," Mass said.
"It is our first headlining East Coast tour," Bland said, interrupting Mass. His interjection displays the familial attitude of the group, as they start and finish one another's sentences.
"On like Monday and Tuesday nights, in weird towns in the middle of nowhere, we are getting a good number of people at shows. It's cool," Mass said.
The Black Angels are riding a wave of success, garnered from their first full-length album, "Passover."
"Passover's" hypnotic tracks grind along a throbbing groove laid on foundations of pounding drums, all laced with lyrics that beg to be listened to. The Angels were quickly shuffled into the psychedelic genre. After all, they are named for Velvet Underground's "Black Angel's Death Song" and claim VU, 13th Floor Elevators and Spacemen 3 as influences.
"People are asking us a lot if we feel genre locked," Mass said. "We like all kinds of music, so it's hard to think that we would be considered one particular type. Anything can be psychedelic, from this room to anything, really."
"Native American Drone 'n' Roll," according to Bland, is a bit of tribal music, hypnotic repetitive beats and combining droning and rock 'n' roll.
"One of our methods of making music is just feeling it," Mass said.
"Tapping into the spirits of those who were here before we were. Psychedelic is more about being spiritual," Bland said.
Timothy Leary, iconic writer, psychologist and LSD guru, coined the catch-phrase "turn on, tune in, drop out," inspiring the Angels' slogan "Turn On, Tune In, Drone Out."
"It is about the spiritual feeling we get when we play," Mass said. "When we are at home we create a music that's just ... I mean, I love it. We look forward to practicing. It is an escape to just wipe off."
Socially and musically, the psychedelic movement recalls the infamous cast of characters known forever as "hippies." The idea of a modern day hippie seems misleading or elusive at best.
"I don't think there is a certain look to it anymore; like, you can't tell who's a hippie these days," Bland said. "I do think that the '60s parallels closely to what's happening now. Several altering events have occurred. We want to know what we can learn from history."
Songs like "Young Men Dead" and "The First Vietnamese War" show their passion, but how do these musicians explain the Vietnam flashbacks?
"Reincarnation, that's what it is," said Bland, who resembles a USSR soldier in his grey boiled-wool jacket.
Mass' flashbacks are brought on by the music itself.
"Whenever I heard the opening chunk, chunk I thought it sounded like a helicopter. Vietnam flashed through my head and set me on a march," he said.
Washed over with red light, hypnotizing their audience, the sextet fillled the stage. "Black Grease" had everybody in the Rock and Roll Hotel bobbing along to the beat, feeling the music and riding the groove. Bailey, a petite blonde, perched behind her drum kit, beating out every note. Ryan, Hunt and Bland occasionally switched instruments, playing something akin to "musical chairs." Rainer ran the drone machine, organ and keyboards, all while wearing spike-heeled boots. Mass crooned from the front of the stage, tying together this circus of talent.
The Black Angels sent another crowd home happy after coming back for an encore. With 13 tracks recorded for their next album and the rumor of a tour with psych-blues geniuses Brightblack Morning Light, these Angels hope to continue rolling with their success.
