Doomed & Stoned in Boise
BOISE. Who would have imagined that it was a crown jewel of the Pacific Northwest’s hardcore punk scene? An epicenter of post-punk hardcore music that would provide valuable seeds of the Seattle music scene of the 1980’s itself. Scenes – as I hate to describe them – were specific to the geographic limitations and influences found within. College towns had a young population, ready to absorb tension and blow it back out. Provided with a local radio broadcast and courageous late-night DJ, a vibrant night club scene and access to a highway route frequented by touring bands, each town could foster a scene indicative of each regional influence. A spider web of interconnected cultural hubs. It was a moment in time where everyone could express their rage, their joy and a band’s wish to take their gig on the road to the next big thing.
When I first heard about the H-Hour reunion in Boise, I knew I couldn’t miss it. H-Hour, a Seattle powerhouse band that would populate the Seattle scene with some of the forefathers of the (forgive me) Grunge scene. While H-Hour came to Seattle to gain attention and get more influential gigs, their roots are deep in Boise. Tad Doyle (Bundle of Hiss, TAD, Hog Molly, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth) drove the rhythm section on drums along with Darren Peters (Willard) on bass, Johnny Clint (Willard) on Vocals and Danny Brown on guitar. While the Boise scene was more of a hardcore punk flavor (pre-Treepeople band State of Confusion), H-Hour contained the slower and lower groove we were more familiar with.
Treepeople, too? A Treepeople reunion would be the capstone of the Boise Treefort Festival on 2018. Doug Martsch (Treepeople, Halo Benders, Built To Spill) and Scott Schmaljohn (State of Confusion, Treepeople, The Hand) took the Treepeople to Seattle for a successful run on C/Z Records in the early ‘90s. Only after I returned to Seattle, and Tony Reed from Mos Generator reminded me, did I learn that Tony played with the Treepeople! The festival gained critical mass for my interests when Boise guitar shaman Brett Netson (Caustic Resin, Mark Lanegan Band, Built To Spill, Snakes) signed on to perform a set with Crosss and an improve set with Tad Doyle. You can hear how I would feature Brett in this story when you listen to Caustic Resin and his current works with Snakes.
Tad Doyle was kind enough to grant me an interview bringing us all up to date with him, spanning 30+ years of Pacific NW history and the trajectory of the current state of music in Seattle, especially his new record label, Incineration Ceremony Recordings!
We all know what happened once Tad got to Seattle, when Doug formed Built To Spill – but what of the rest? How did the Boise scene evolve? My goal attending four nights at the 2018 Treefort Music Festival was to dig, absorb, and capture everything I could see and hear there – and prove without a doubt that the hardcore scene in Boise can draw distinct proximity to the roots of our current Doom Metal and Stoner/Desert Rock vibe. In essence, I was able to show that the festival culture was able to incorporate and honor the local scene’s legacy without alienating the core of the audience, while bringing in new ears and eyes to a stock of artists ready for proper attention.
When I planned my trip, I knew my brother would be instrumental in writing this piece. He’s been living in Boise for the majority of the past 20 years playing the scene in various bands. His drive to start a band in Seattle (FUZZBUD, 1993) and play the clubs was my inspiration for maintaining my residence there, even though by many people’s standards, the magic had left Seattle years ago. As the artist and musician communities get priced out of greater Pacific Northwest metropolitan areas like Seattle and Portland, Boise has been able to support local musicians and foster a lively club scene by way of a vibrant public access radio channel, a university whose students enjoy having a good time by attending concerts, and an arts community that is growing every day with the addition of California tech refugees.
So, let’s discuss how this vibrant, diverse music scene is anything doom, stoner, desert, or doom-adjacent in classification? Having spawned bands like H-Hour, Caustic Resin, Snakes and Uzala, the future roots of tomorrow run deep. While this story may transcend the boundaries of Doomed & Stoned, I feel it’s an entertaining journey, nonetheless. Follow me in my rationalizations and I shall explain!
Day One
I took a happy-hour flight the evening before the festivities began so I could re-acclimate myself to time zone (my excuse to drink cheap beer until the wee hours). Wednesday morning found us checking into the press suite of the Owyhee Hotel to gain our five-day wristbands and photo pit credentials. I gotta say, the staff were really looking forward to seeing who “Doomed & Stoned” had representing them. Definitely a door opener! We paused for the obligatory selfie in front of suite 420 – then off to prepare for the V-Fort festival kickoff.
V-Fort, hosted by the Vista Bar on the bench, was put on by a local promoter to showcase local acts who weren’t considered for the greater festival as a whole, and the touring acts that come through from the highways connecting Boise to Salt Lake City to the Pacific Northwest. My brother and BFAM (brother from another mother) and drummer from the first incarnation of FUZZBUD, Pat, have a band named The Sun Cat Brothers (dating back to the mid 1990’s), and are well acquainted with the local hardcore punk and metal scene that plays the Vista Bar. We were there primarily to see NO – a band fronted by Boise’s premiere hardcore record producer and studio owner (Chop Shop Recording). We were treated to a local band, Zemon Lemon, and touring from California: Frequency Within. While we were able to catch Andy Agenbroad (NO) in prime form onstage, we would follow up with him later at the studio to discuss his legacy recording and producing hardcore acts in the region.
We hopped an UBER down to the Linen Building (in the Linen District), as Idaho, while gaining some ground in progressive culture, is still ruled by a draconian, conservative, religious center. DWI and DUI convictions will basically stunt your growth and hobble you for life. The adage “Boise: Arrive on vacation, leave on probation” is a mantra worth checking out. Luckily, the local cab fare and UBER rates will not kill your bank account.
The draw for me at the Linen Building this evening was Crosss, a doom metal band from Victoria, B.C. who collaborated with Boise local and Caustic Resin frontman, Brett Netson on his Snakes/Crosss album. Brett would be closing down the festivities at the stroke of midnight with lit candles and a healthy smudge of sage, joined on stage by locals he’s collaborated with for years and his own son and daughter, surrounding himself and his ample pedalboards with a tribal drum circle.
Who was that swaying in the sonic breeze? None other than Caustic Resin bassist Tom Romich (Tommy Dirtweed) and his daughter – making this a family affair on multiple fronts. I had met Tom and Brett in 1993 when my band FUZZBUD found ourselves in the same obscure basement recording studio in North Seattle with Caustic Resin. It was obvious they were about to do something great.
What makes Brett such an enigma and proto-celebrity here? He’s a man of few words in person, yet prolific once he’s in his element. His guitar and gear mastery knows few boundaries as his wizardly appearance may suggest. His musings on politics and the future of the community can be heard every week on his Boise Public Radio program, “High, Wild & Free.”
We stayed well after closing so we could introduce ourselves to Crosss, then catch a ride back up to the bench for a sleep lasting until noon. Give the Snakes/Crosss album a listen:
Day Two
6:00 AM. Too damn early. Still – I get my morning walk to coffee in and downtown we go. No rest for the wicked. Wickedly hungover, that is. Power through.
Our first stop today was at GIG’s Music and Chop Shop Recordings, both local institutions in the Boise music scene for years. Andy Agenbroad, former owner of GIG’s Music and owner/audio engineer at Chop Shop allowed me a few moments to snap some promo pics at the studio and muse mutually about being TAD fan boys. Tad would be borrowing a few drum parts from Andy for his performance with H-Hour later that evening. Andy has had a unique distinction of being active in the local scene since the early 80’s, and has had a catbird seat behind the mixing console assisting so many of the bands throughout the region get their recordings out into the world (Sun Cat Brothers, included).
Many of the younger local acts that would be playing Treefort this year had the honor of having Andy’s guidance. Every regional scene needs a recording guru to help mold the sound, whether intentional or not. Seattle’s Tad Doyle and Jack Endino, Portland’s Billy Anderson stand out as a few. From amp and guitar selection and repair – to recording the band, Andy’s hand is evident.
Tonight was a departure from the local artists, being that it’s a festival and all. We’ve had Seattle’s Hobosexual on our agenda from the very start. They are popular with the record collecting set. Classic, big, brash and monolithic in sound, recorded and produced by none other than Alain Johannes (QOTSA, Them Crooked Vultures, Eleven). A recent KEXP in-studio performance was engineered by Ancient Warlock’s Chris Matthews Jr. – keeping it all in the stoner rock family. There’s no denying they fit with the stoner culture – flannel, PBR and Newport 100 menthol-spitting Teddy Ruxpin included.
While I did chase them across town for the day, finally crashing the artist lounge at the Owyhee Hotel (they get a no host bar? We got half a pizza and free Red Bull in the press lounge). We may have missed them, but we did get the distinction of being turned away at the door. That’s ok…we’d see them later that night at Humpin’ Hannah’s for a CRAZY good time! The boys are well acquainted with Hanna’s after playing Treefort a few years earlier…I’m sure she was anxious to have them perform again!
Ears still ringing and stepping over the Treefort Festival sidewalk street-meat diners, we made our way around the corner to Tom Grainey’s Basement in time to have a nightcap and view a surreal, smog-filled set by Red Hand Black Feet (now called Bright Old Giant). A complete guilty pleasure and new music find for me – and for our fans hungry for new jams!
Day Two – in the can!
Day Three
6:00 AM. Too damn early. Still, I get my morning walk to coffee in and downtown we go. No rest for the wicked. Wickedly hungover, that is. Power through. Wait…what day is it again? “Groundhog Day” Syndrome is setting in.
Today is the big day. The H-Hour reunion occurring at the Neurolux, followed by the Treepeople reunion – the second of three Treefort performances by them. The first occurred at the “Hell House”, a north end punk/DIY party house where the Treepeople played their first show back in the 80’s. Being as busy as we were the previous night, we opted to see them twice at the Neurolux and the Shredder – both iconic venues in their own right.
We were able to secure 5-day wristbands for the rest of our crew – so off to the show we went! The Neurolux, a long time focal point of the Boise scene, has been booked solid for the duration of the festival. Another scheduling boffo made me miss WEEED there earlier in the week. Hey, I tried. They played a 3:30 PM set and I think I was still asleep. I’ve been to the Neurolux a few times before, specifically to see the Melvins and Big Business a few years before. The building adjoins Boise’s premiere record store, The Record Exchange. It had been booked solid, as well. Seeing both the Treepeople AND H-Hour in this hallowed hall would be epic!
I made a break to the front of the room to capture images the best that I could. Luckily, the curtains parted and Peg ushered me backstage to snap some choice pics of Tad Doyle on the drum kit! Doug even got in on the action, looking amused toward the stage and crowd. H-Hour was better than ever! Every tone, every song sent everyone swaying back. This really was the key – this sound. In its raw, unadulterated form. This is where Seattle proto-post-punk-hardcore-what-have-you gets its sound. Soundgarden? They opened for them. Skin Yard? Mudhoney? Melvins? All from the same school. The common thread runs deep. Deep roots. I hear echoes to this day in bands who draw direct connections to them. Those who were in attendance back in the day and those that still listen when they can. Slow and low. The brown sound. You say stoner rock? I agree.
INTERMISSION! Yay! I caught Jamis Harms, guitarist for Hand Of Doom, Boise’s resident Black Sabbath tribute band hanging out with my friends and asked for a photo. As you can tell, he’s no stranger to the lens… or the tattoo needle.
My sister-in-law is seen here speaking with Darren Peters of H-Hour. She’s a fan of his music, and he’s well acquainted with her grandfather’s notoriety. Kenneth Arnold was the first to coin the term “flying saucer” when he was flying over Mt. Rainier. She’s quite the UFOlogist herself, now!
Treepeople take to the stage and I squirm and worm my way to the front of a packed house. Why I did not get into them in the 90’s, I’ll never know! I had my head wrapped up in Nirvana and Mudhoney and a whole lot of Death Metal at that time. They had just broken up when I turned 21, so that was probably a huge contributing factor. The Treepeople were a definite force in the scene – both in Boise and Seattle. Suddenly in 1993 BTS - Ultimate Alternative Wavers appeared on the shelves and Doug & the Halo Benders with Calvin Johnson came out in 1994 and that was that. In the past ten years of listening to my brother’s stories of Boise, and his collaboration with Scott Schmaljohn (Zen Zero and The Treatment), I’ve been able to piece together the missing years (Stuntman).
Flash forward to two weeks ago while on a photo shoot with Tony Reed and Mos Generator – when Tony revealed to me that he was in the Treepeople…twice (drums and bass) – and had appeared on Something Vicious For Tomorrow and Just Kidding, as well as the tours supporting them. Getting closer to Kevin Bacon (ask Jono Garrett about that someday). This PROVES without a doubt that the Treepeople are part of the roots of Stoner Rock here in the PNW. Not necessarily because of the style of music they wrote, but the lineage they spawned. That interconnected, often incestuous pool of musicians once isolated by regional geography and airplay, all-too-soon to be homogenized and spread out through the universe by the internet rather than a Ford Econoline.
My ties here in this effort are on a personal level. I took a chance and joined my brother’s band, eventually recruiting TAD’s drummer Steve Wied in 1994 after Willard disbanded and Foil was on break. Willard, being Johnny and Darren from H-Hour. Steve, having played briefly with Skin Yard after they lost Matt Cameron to Soundgarden, was the one who taught me the most in my musical career. Polyrhythmic time signatures with industrial sensibilities, introductions to underground punk scene icons and late nights studying his vinyl collection (Big Black, Pixies, Scratch Acid, Swans – all required listening) brought me up to speed. Our band FUZZBUD wanted to be the FIRST “Stoner Rock” band in Seattle – before the tagline ever came about. I was granted a unique and privileged education in the PNW music scene and it’s stayed with me. I’ve met a lot of colorful people along the way. We all have similar stories here in Seattle, Boise, Portland – those of us left hanging on here as the tech hoard invades and pushes us all out into the hinterlands, that is. There’s my Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.
Day Four
This, the fourth day of my itinerary, is the cornerstone of why I came. Let’s recap:
- Tad returning to Boise and reuniting with H-Hour.
- Brett Netson officiating a sonic ritual three nights previous.
Combine these two music powerhouses in an improv session on one stage, the Shredder, for a wake & bake (4:00 PM) set and VIOLA. History is made. Sonic fury and inter-dimensional portals await! Tad’s work with his band Brothers of the Sonic Cloth and Incineration Ceremony establish him as an orchestral genius, establishing the perfect platform for Brett’s vocal rasp and signature guitar & pedal mastery. The crowd in attendance, all local legends in their own right and Treefort faithful, received a true gift that day. Two very different captains of two similar star ships from the same port, who set diametrically different courses to arrive at this destination in one epic performance! Two guitar heroes sharing this moment in time with us.
A rest was needed before returning to The Shredder to see the headlining acts, Toy Zoo (touring with the Treepeople) and Sick Sense both hail from the Chop Shop Recordings camp.
The night was capped off with a third Treefort performance by the Treepeople. It’s amazing how a change of venue and lighting can dramatically change the set. By far, the best that I have seen by Doug, Scott and company. Seeing a room this size packed with two generations of fans, mouthing every word to every song. Soccer moms braving the pit just to have that moment back in the front of the stage. Young skate punks who wore out their dad’s cassette collections. All one and the same.
This is a feeling I get when I attend our shows in Seattle and Portland. We have geographic boundaries separating all of us, but the heavy community, whether doom, stoner, punk or metal, can attest to the live music scene forefathers who earned their wings in the pits. After years of thinking I missed out, I finally got vindication and fulfillment.
Day Five
With each passing show and every day here, I’m feeling the connections. There was the magic we lost in Seattle decades ago. Can Boise keep it going? What does the future hold for local clubs, hardcore bands, and their faithful audiences? Do communities need to rely on touring acts and multicultural events to bring attention? How do you sustain momentum? How do you make a sustainable music community?
We took the morning to rehearse with the Sun Cat Brothers, my brother and Pat’s band that came after Fuzzbud, still jamming updated Fuzzbud tunes with new material added all the time!
Enter Hansi Hilmer. A German import to Boise, he brought with him his own school of metal. Heavy Metal Clubs aren’t unique to the United States, I know of a few now through my Doomed & Stoned contacts. I thought it a magical meld of Biker Gang unity and true, undeniable passion for Heavy Metal. A community, a family to attend shows and parties with. Protection for those who may fall in the pit and support outside the venue to lift you up. Brothers and Sisters, clad in leather vests adorned with patches of your musical conquests.
Hansi now fronts Munchkin Suicide (referring to the Wizard of Oz fame and misfortune), a hardcore metal and punk sideshow of classics, covers and originals. Munchkin Suicide also is manned by members of MANY bands in this community, from the originator of the Rock On The Mountain Festival, to members of local grindcore band Kurgan Hypothesis, and Tulpaa, an eight-piece doom orchestra awaiting a proper recording and the attention of a welcoming doom community outside the city borders and internet-wide. As you can hear for yourself in this interview from Grainey’s Basement, these guys are true showmen.
So, I may have begun this trip with the idea of finding where Doom and Stoner rock may fit into the Boise and Seattle music heritage, but I ended up looking at my place in the community. I may not belong to any one group, style or school of thought. I’m a musical feral cat, feed me and I’ll stick around. What does one do to maintain momentum in a “scene”? Do you diversify and play other styles, open for acts outside your genre? Look at my portfolio: shoegaze, stoner and doom; Seattle rock veterans and drag, drag, drag (Gurl, them queens put me through the gauntlet more than most punk bands do!) If anything, I’ve injected more of myself into the acts I work with than they do me. They’re my muse, yes, but my eye is there.
I got to spend time with my family and friends, exploring new sounds and revisiting familiar ones, all while putting my stamp on images for you to see. I got to see what my life would look like if I could do this gig full-time, and actualize that life that exists in the back of my heart. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the support and love of my brother and his wonderful family, rock & roll community, and Doomed and Stoned’s Billy Goate for giving me carte blanche to do pitch this crazy idea to y'all!
My goal was to shine my light on heavy hitters in my backyard who I thought were worthy. I threw out the idea of a ‘Doomed and Stoned in Boise’ compilation to everyone participating, and to Billy Goate. If I can make it a reality, I’ll be knocking on Boise’s door for track submissions. You all are worthy!
I hope y'all enjoyed it! Cheers!
Check out the complete photo album: Treefort 2018 Photo Gallery