GORDON HEAVYFOOT Offers Gnarly Sludge Take on The ‘70s Folk Icon

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
                                –Charles Caleb Colton

Covers are probably one of the coolest traditions we have in the heavy music scene. It’s all too easy to lose touch with the spirit of previous generations (the aesthetic and sentiment of 1970s folks music, for example), but covers help to keep the essence of a song alive.

I’m addicted to covers (always have been) and appreciate the fuzzed up series put out over the years by the likes of Heavy Psych Sounds, Redux Records, and Ripple Music, so I love when a band or series of bands give their take on brilliance.

Usually that includes the original melody, harmony, and rhythm, though all that can be in flux. Sometimes covers can be entirely unpredictable (think Low Flying Hawk’s rendition of “Dam that River” by Alice in Chains). At other times, a cover will up the ante over the original, such as Howling Giant’s majestic take on “Rooster.”

A well-written song can stand up to this kind of scrutiny, even feeling reinvented. Such is the case with GORDON HEAVYFOOT. The message remains the same, but with a notably growling new animal giving it voice.

This week, Canadian musicians Nichol S. Robertson and Friendly Rich Marsella are poised to release a standout collection of heavy interpretations (really a better term than “covers”) of six Gordon Lightfoot songs. Joining Robertson and Marsella are Gavin Maguire on drums and Vivienne Wilder on bass. The recording was mixed by producer Greg Dawson of Olde (producer of Olde, Grale, Thantifaxath, Panzerfaust records).

While paying tribute to the famed Canadian singer-songwriter of yesteryear, the spin before us stands surprisingly well on its own merits.

Nichol and Friendly tell Doomed & Stoned:

We wanted to honour Lightfoot using our unique voices as artists. We chose these tunes, as they lend themselves well to the heavier interpretation. The band was sort of born from a play on his name, and then when we began working on it, we realized it really worked well. Sometimes, all you need is a creative spark like that, and it almost seems to write itself. That being said, Nichol wrote these sludgy tunes with some help from our bassist Vivienne. Simply put, these are all Gordon Lightfoot songs re-imagined in a heavy dark world.

“Black Day In July”

Motor City madness has touched the countryside,
and through the smoke and cinders you can hear it far and wide

The album begins emphatically, with the spirit and conviction of a downtuned stomping rhythm. When the first verse begins, there is a chill of the night, smoke-filled atmosphere afoot, and I can imagine myself among hushed throngs as the story unfolds.

“Everyone is listening and everyone’s awake.” The lyrics resound today, though contemporary listeners may update their sentiment to the moral, social, and political realities that have evolved since the ‘60s and '70s.

Don’t think it’s going to be a gentle ending. No, we are ushered into pure madness. The payoff, as with so many of the songs here, is well worth the build-up.

“If You Could Read My Mind”

If you could read my mind, love
What a tale my thoughts could tell

Even if, God forbid, you haven’t heard the original song (and it won’t take much more than a hop, skip, and a jump to listen for the first time), Gordon Heavyfoot’s rendition holds its own. Many people feel isolated and alone in their thoughts, misunderstood, which makes the words so relatable.

Here, however, the singer takes a break (after the opening “1-2-3-4”), and the instrumentalists do their thing, an extended solo guiding us through the song. The wordless approach is a brilliant call that seems in line with the sentiment of the song, which explores how two people can be so close and yet have such a hard time expressing the true nature of their thoughts and feelings. So, appropriately, it’s a guitar takeover. The ever winding, twisting, screeching, angsty electrified stream of melodic consciousness says it all. Pure music is capable of tapping into a kind of spiritual language that somehow seems to get its point across by how it touches mind, body, and intuition.

All philosophizing aside, this will be an instant yes for many of the regulars here, its tone warm, fuzzy, and inviting. There’s an honest to goodness desert-stoner vibe going on, often noodling its way into psychedelic frenzy, bass and drums providing hearty support for the journey. I was really attracted to the guitar tone, of which Nichol tells me: “The guitar tone is simply a stratocaster through a Traynor Bassmate. With a custom ALLCAPS fuzz and occasional wah.”

“Oh Linda”

I’m gonna sing you a goodbye song
Sing a song that’s most unkind
I ain’t even gonna try to change your mind

This song works so effectively in this style, and would make a fitting companion to the raspy, corrosive cover of Bill Withers’ “Aint No Sunshine” by Montreal’s Dopethrone. The repeated rhythm is a brooding, dark, and bluesy and dons a hypnotically agreeable riff that’s easy to get lost in. The longest song of the album at nearly 6 minutes (just a second shy), I found myself really leaning into the lazy, hazy flow.

“Pony Man

When it’s midnight on the meadow, and the cats are in the shed
And the river tells a story at the window by my bed
If you listen very closely, be as quiet as you can
In the yard you’ll hear him, it is the pony man

This may be a new Halloween classic, worthy of a playlist with Acid Witch and Uncle Acid. Most of us boxed into cities don’t get to experience a quiet midnight on the meadow, but in our mind’s eye the singer can take us there. This demented ghost story goes from eerie to gnarly, Weedeater-style, eyebrow-raising, Dixie Dave territory. So much thoughtful intention was put into the unfolding story that you can’t help but get chills. The sweet spot begins at that 2 minute mark when the rest of the band joins the fold, and a repeated riff just keeps doubling down on the sugar.

"Ribbon of Darkness”

Ribbon of darkness over me
Since my true love walked out the door
Tears I never had before
Ribbon of darkness over me

This is pure doom (probably the doomiest folk song, lyrically, among Gordon Lightfoot’s output), and serves as a release from the nervous tension balled up inside us after the previous song. The grizzling vocals give a sardonic twist of the knife, while lumbering chords stomp beneath Soundgardensque cloud cover. Things kick up quite a notch in the final moments, with a stark raving mad hoe down and some hearty chuckles.

“The Way I Feel”

Now the way I feel is like a robin
Whose babes have flown to come no more

The Gordon Heavyfoot album ends with a song that would have fit just about anywhere on a normal album, but here its ominous feel seems best for last. I have to say, these songs have held up surprisingly well in the stoner-sludge medium. The vocals are ominous, gritty, realistic, defiant, savage, and ultimately unhinged, with the crashout inevitable in each song. The finale here does not disappoint, with an insane Mr. Bungle-like turn.

This is one of my favorite listens of the year so far. If the mood strikes you, it just might be yours too. The attention to detail raises its artistic merit into something I can see being influential in the scene, even if the record is temporarily lodged in the underground of the underground. This may become more and more the norm as AI slop muddies the waters. I can envision a future underground network that passes authentic, badass music like this through trusted hands (much as in the good old days of mix tapes). However, I do hope this project surfaces for wider circulation, perhaps through a record label release. For now it remains among the whispers of the Doomed & Stoned. Spread the word.

Look for the debut of Gordon Heavyfoot on Tuesday, September 30th and catch the act live in October. The album will be issued digitally and on CD at the band’s management site (get it here).

Give ear…