GREENBEARD: The Obelisk Premieres “Creatures Of The Night” Video From Austin Stoner Rock Outfit; Variant Full-Length Nears Release Via Sailor Records/Kozmik Artifactz

Photo by Dave Creaney

Austin, Texas stoner rock outfit GREENBEARD are pleased to unveil their brand new video for “Creatures Of The Night.” Now playing at The Obelisk, the track comes off the band’s impending new full-length, Variant, set to see release on April 9th via Sailor Records in the US and Kozmik Artifactz in Europe.

GREENBEARD has made their mark on the stoner/desert rock scene, boasting heavy, heady sounds, and high-energy performances. The band blends early British heavy metal and psychedelia influences with big desert riffs and sedated stoner grooves. Variant meanders promisingly into “desert soul” territory, with bluesy interludes and heartstrung, crooning vocals. The serendipitously named album was subject to a long incubation period, due largely to Covid-related challenges, as well as lineup changes and industry-wide delays in vinyl production. Nevertheless, Variant emerges as a valiant tribute to new directions, creative experimentation, and engagement with the wider musical community.

“‘Creatures…’ is sort of the stoner rock palette cleanser on the album: a more straightforward rock and roll song with our signature edge,” notes drummer Buddy Hachar of the band’s latest single. “It’s a fun, ear-catching crowd-pleaser that the whole band really likes playing live.”

Singer and guitarist Chance Parker took a somewhat playful approach to the lyrics for this track, “I think we all feel like Frankenstein… to some degree,” he laughs.

Writes The Obelisk in part, “The first of Variant‘s seven component tracks in its thirty-three-minute, don’t-take-any-more-time-than-you-need run, the song [‘Creatures Of The Night’] finds GREENBEARD off at a run, executing creative rhythmic turns and inventive melodicism that will shortly become a running theme for the record as a whole. It’s a sprint, careening in desert rock down-the-highway fashion, but GREENBEARD handle the corners smoothly, [Chance] Parker’s voice commanding without being any showier than any other element — for an album that will shortly to feature as much saxophone as Variant does throughout ‘Diamond In The Devil’s Grinder’ and the highlight ‘Sanitario de la Soul,’ the level of swag throughout defies logic in remaining understated — surfing the riff in ‘Creatures Of The Night’ to craft the first of the offering’s ace hooks and delving into Chris Goss-style patterning on the chunkier second track ‘Burns Like Basketweave.’ That is not a comparison lightly made, but the chic moan and dense fuzz that accompanies more than justify it…”

Read more and view GREENBEARD’s “Creatures Of The Night” video, directed by Daniel Fried at THIS LOCATION where the band’s previously released videos for “Get In The Car. No Time To Explain” and “Exodus” are also playing.

Having begun production in 2018, GREENBEARD set forth wanting to depart from the stereotypical derivatives of stoner rock and chose to take elements of soul music with them into the studio. They brought in layers of strings, slide guitar, horns, and sonorous melodies to realize their divergent vision.

Then came Covid-19: The band was unable to play live shows, and their support tour with Texas legends …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead was cancelled. Their former bassist departed, another was hired, then left to look for work in Hawaii. However, in the midst of all these changes, Pat Seals (Flyleaf, Kimberly Dunn, Belle & The Dragon) joined the band, bringing signature energy to their stage performances. The band then brought on Joe Samson as second guitarist, rounding out their lineup.

The new album represents an openness to change, and a melding of minds. “Instead of having an album fully constructed when walking into the studio, we wanted to bring elements of our vision in, and see how they would grow and thrive off the reactions from [producer] Jeff [Henson] and the various guest musicians we commissioned,” explains Hachar.

Variant was recorded at Red Nova Ranch in Bastrop, Texas and features the standout cover art of long-time collaborator Antoine Defarges. The gatefold is adapted from an actual diorama made by friend of the band, Mount Dracula.

Variant will be released on CD, LP, and digitally with preorders to be announced in the coming days.

GREENBEARD broke onto the scene in 2014 with a self-titled EP, followed in 2015 by their full-length Stoned At The Throne, mixed in Los Angeles by Adam Hamilton (Brian Jonestown Massacre, Counting Crows, LA Guns). After a few tears across the States and appearances at big-ticket festivals, they set to recording their second full-length Lödarödböl in the Fall of 2016 — produced, mixed, and engineered with Matt Bayles at Red Room Recording in Seattle, Washington. In 2018, they recorded a teaser EP Onward Pillager with producer Jeff Henson of brother-band Duel.

Never content to simply stay the course, GREENBEARD continues to showcase their range — both on stage and in the studio. They’ve traversed the edges of their genre and tread new sonic landscapes to conjure up something wholly familiar and yet starkly new.

GREENBEARD:
Chance Parker – guitar/vocals
Buddy Hachar – drums
Pat Seals – bass
Joe Samson – guitar