“Their most intimate, darkly personal record yet… Taking them out of the doom corner and giving it a raw, post-punk feel. “Raven” sounds like a Satanic, downtuned Steppenwolf, and frankly we can’t get enough.” — Kerrang!
“An intoxicating mix of stoner metal and occultist rock — it’s dark n’ doomy, sure, but it’s also as catchy as fly paper coated in industrial strength glue.” — Metal Sucks
The Well announce yet another round of North American, EU and UK tour dates in support of their critically acclaimed new album Death and Consolation (RidingEasy Records.) The band has spent much of the year on tour, and now continue the trek into 2020, sharing some US dates with label mates Zig-Zags and R.I.P. These will be The Well’s first ever tour in the UK, having only played London’s DesertFest in 2019, and fans’ first opportunity to see the band performing songs from the new album. Please see all dates below.
The Austin trio recently shared a new video from their recently released album, Death and Consolation (RidingEasy Records) today via Brooklyn Vegan. Watch & share the 4K UHD video for album track “Raven” which was directed, shot and edited by William Orendorff HERE: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/watch-the-wells-new-raven-video-new-tour-dates-added/
Death and Consolation is without a doubt a weighty album title. And, The Well is among the heaviest heavy psych bands in existence. So when we say that there’s even more darkness and intensity to the band’s third album than previous efforts, take heed. It’s a deep sea diving bell of enveloping heaviness and longing.
“This one is a little more personal,” says guitarist/vocalist Ian Graham. “2018 was a strange, dark year. A lot of change going on in my life, there was a lot of depression and coming out of it over the last year. I wanted to call this Death and Consolation, because in life that’s a constant.”
While The Well continue to walk an intriguing line between authentic early 70s doom/heavy psych and frayed weirdness of dark folk – especially with their haunting unison male/female vocals – the new album also adds the stark vibe of post-punk acts like Joy Division and early The Cure. “I feel like this album is almost more gothic. We’re big fans of post-punk,” Graham says. There’s also much less jamming, the songs are tight and concise. And, did we mention, heavy? The band tuned down a full step to C-standard tuning for this album, which gives the proceedings its monstrous sound.
Sonically, Death and Consolation picks up where The Well — Graham, bassist/vocalist Lisa Alley and drummer Jason Sullivan — left off with their widely heralded 2016 RidingEasy album Pagan Science. The band once again recorded with longtime producer/engineer Chico Jones at Estuary Studio in 2018, who has turned the knobs for all three of their albums (Jones engineered the band’s debut album Samsara with producer Mark Deutrom [Melvins, Sunn0)))] in 2013.) Samsara, released late September 2014 was ranked the #1 debut album of 2014 by The Obelisk and Pagan Science among the Best of 2016 from the Doom Charts collective. Likewise, the band’s intense — some even say “possessed” — live performances have earned them featured slots at Austin’s Levitation Fest, as well as tours with Kadavar, All Them Witches, Black Tusk and more.
“This album might be a little less produced, because I didn’t want to push technical stuff as much,” Graham says. “I’m so scared of getting too complicated when getting better at guitar. This is still kind of punk rock.“
Death and Consolation was released on LP, CD and download on April 26th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records.
THE WELL TOUR 2020:
01/22 – Milan, IT @ Ligera
01/23 – Bologna, IT @ Freakout
01/24 – Turin, IT @ Ziggy
01/26 – Lille, FR @ La Bulle Cafe
01/27 – Tours, FR @ Le Canadian Cafe
01/28 – Nantes, FR @ La Scene Michelet
01/29 – Bordeaux, FR @ Les Voutes
01/30 – Dijon, FR @ Peniche Cancale
01/31 – Rennes, FR @ Le Melies
02/01 – Paris, FR @ Espace B
02/03 – Brighton, UK @ Hope & Ruin
02/04 – Milton Keyes, UK @ The Craufurd Arms
02/05 – Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast
02/07 – London, UK @ Black Heart
02/08 – Bree, BE @ Ragnarok
02/09 – Berlin, DE @ Zukunft am Ostkreuz
02/10 – Salzburg, AT @ Rockhouse
02/19 – El Paso, TX @ Monarch
02/20 – Phoenix, AZ @ Yucca Tap Room
02/21 – San Diego, CA @ Til Two Club *
02/22 – Oceanside, CA @ The Pourhouse *
02/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Permanent Records Roadhouse *
02/25 – San Francisco, CA @ The Knockout
02/26 – Nevada City, CA @ The Brick
02/27 – Portland, OR @ High Water Mark +
02/28 – Seattle, WA @ Substation +
02/29 – Vancouver, BC @ TBA +
03/02 – Kalispell, MT @ Old School Records
03/03 – Missoula, MT @ TBA
03/04 – Boise, ID @ The Shredder
03/05 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
03/06 – Denver, CO @ Streets of London
03/07 – Albuquerque, NM @ The Launchpad
* w/ Zig-Zags
+ w/ R.I.P.
Artist: The Well
Album: Death and Consolation
Label: RidingEasy Records
Release date: April 26th, 2019
01. Sabbah
02. Raven
03. Death Song
04. Cup of Peace
05. Eyes of A God
06. Act II
07. Freedom Above
08. This Is How
09. Endless Night
On the Web:
www.thewellband.com
www.thewellaustin.bandcamp.com