THE APULIAN BLUES FOUNDATION Compel with Vibrant Doom-Blues Offering
Musically, THE APULIAN BLUES FOUNDATION is one of the most interesting bands I’ve encountered in some years. Their new album pays homage to early-20th century blues and its revival in the late-60s fused to “the lysergic and scratchy stoner-rock typical of the ‘90s, in which verses and atmospheres from the past are reworked in a current, personal and heavier solution, with a punk attitude.”
Oh you’re gonna love it. Take a listen to the first single, “Mississippi Bowevil Blues” – it’s 8 strong minutes of hell yeah.
Every element of the instrumentation works as “Everybody Out to Love Jesus” unfolds – and they’re right, it does conjure that wet '90s streets sound of the Seattle scene, particularly the burly, deep-throated strum of the bass. The guitar’s bittersweet plucking and strumming reminds me of the deep feeling in LA act The Great Sadness and the jadedness of UK sisters Coma Wall.
The Apulian Blues Foundation ups the ante to full-on doom, which is very much at home in this world. The genre blending and lyrical point of view is a fitting commentary on what has been a very strange progression in music and civilization these past 100+ years.
By far one of my favorite albums of the year, and I hope it gets into many headphones and speakers. This is a band I would love to hear more from in the fast times ahead. New record 'Traditional Songs About Life, Death, and Rebirth’ (2025) emerges November 21st (get it here)
Give ear…
SOME BUZZ
From the dunes of Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, to the arid lands of Southern Italy, comes the unique sound of THE APULIAN BLUES FOUNDATION — a meeting point between the roots of African blues and the acid, monolithic rock of Puglia. The idea behind the project captures the essence of Delta blues and merges it with the primal power of stoner rock, giving birth to what the band defines as “delta stoner.”
Formed in 2015, the band began their journey with the self-produced EP “Vol.1,” recorded and mixed by Bari-based sound engineer Andrea Dinapoli. After years of intense live activity — performing at Waves of Doom Fest, Freak Out Stoned Fest, Zolla Fest, Promontorio Music Fest, Rock in Lama, and sharing the stage with notable national and international acts — the band is now ready to present their first full-length album.
Their new record, “Traditional Songs About Life, Death and Rebirth,” will be released on November 21, 2025 via Zann’s Records. Comprising eight tracks, the album pays homage to both early 20th-century blues and the gritty, lysergic stoner rock of the 1990s, reinterpreting the verses and sounds of the past through a modern, raw and punk-driven lens.
Recorded and mixed at REH Studio within MAT Laboratorio Urbano in Terlizzi (BA) by Dario Tatoli, and mastered by Claudio Gruer (Nick Oliveri, Yawning Man, Brant Bjork) at Pisi Studio in Rome, the album marks a major step forward for the band, solidifying a sound that is both personal and immediately recognizable.
With this record, THE APULIAN BLUES FOUNDATION confirm their place as one of the most original and genuine acts in Italy’s contemporary rock scene — delivering a sound that feels both ancient and modern, dusty and visionary.
ABOUT THE TRACK
«When the missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. They taught us to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.» Jomo Kenyatta
“Everybody Ought to Love Jesus” draws heavily from the tradition of early 20th-century African American spirituals. In that historical context—marked by racism, segregation, and daily oppression — the Christian faith and the figure of Jesus took on a salvific role, embodying the hope that, after a life of suffering and martyrdom, peace could finally be found beyond the earthly realm.
In this song, however, we completely overturn that perspective, denouncing the oppression and coercion imposed by religious institutions. We do so using the very tools and narrative style of the prayer song itself — now confronted with distorted guitars and slow, drawn-out tempos, the “bastard offspring” of that same African American musical culture that later gave birth to rock ’n’ roll and its many descendants, now turned against itself.
The result is a conclusion diametrically opposed to the original message of salvation: there is no redemption in those who claim to sell Paradise while being the first to turn earthly life into Hell. Only damnation remains. We are doomed.