Some dudes just sound like they were born to do it, and listening to the classic heavy rock groove of The Socks, there can be no doubt it’s what they’re made for. They’re naturals. The double-guitar French foursome formed in Lyon in 2009 and started surprising audiences almost immediately, eventually settling down to pump out their debut EP the following year.

2010’s Side A was five songs well concentrated from a band still feeling out where they wanted to go. You had your Sabbath, your Zeppelin, and The Socks supported the release by playing with an array of national and international acts, busting out energetic, intense gigs while continuing to develop their style. The next two years drove the band to write darker songs, hit harder, become thicker, more powerful, more calculating and less frenetic.

The resulting 2012 EP, Bedrock, soon caught Small Stone Records’ eye, with strong instrumental performances from Jess (drums), Vincent (bass), Nico (guitar/keys/vocals) and Julien (vocals/guitar), the latter also serving as the frontman and delivering a guttural but memorable vocal performance throughout the tracks, psychedelic in some places and elsewhere delving into a neo-grunge moodiness that was a change from the first release. During Fall 2012, The Socks completed their first European tour, drawing on experience garnered from festivals and gigs alongside Karma to Burn, Red Fang, Truckfighters, Horisont, Mars Red Sky, Black Rainbows and many others with whom they share some elements while still maintaining a personality of their own.

Simply put, they were a hit. Small Stone picked up the band and is set to issue their first full-length in 2014, as the band continue to thrust themselves into Europe’s next generation of heavy rock and roll alongside acts like Abrahma, Deville, Asteroid, Isaak, Black Rainbows and Mother of God. Look for The Socks to continue their momentum into 2014 and beyond, in the studio and on the road, and expect nothing less than some of the finest riffs the continent has to offer. That’s how it goes when you deal with naturals.

The Socks are:
Julien: Lead Guitar & Vocals
Jess: Drums & Percussions
Nico: Guitar, Keyboards & Vocals
Vincent: Bass

Copyright© Small Stone Recordings

The Dwellers are on the threshold…again!

On the threshold of what, you may understandably inquire? World domination, the apocalypse, a slushy mission to the local 7-Eleven?

The answer may well be “all of the above,” but we think none is as important as the impending release of the Salt Lake City group’s hotly anticipated second full-length, Pagan Fruit (call us biased!), which is due to see the light of day through Small Stone Recordings in May of 2014.
The album follows in the still echoing sonic shockwaves of Dwellers’ enthusiastically received debut of 2012, Good Morning Harakiri, which saw the newly assembled trio of vocalist/guitarist Joey Toscano, bassist Dave Jones, and drummer Zach Hatsis pooling together their impressive prior musical credentials (Toscano with psych-metal adventurers Iota; Jones and Hatsis with doom/goth atmospheric bandits, SubRosa) with staggeringly powerful and memorable results.

Now, the terrible triplets are confident they can one-up themselves with Pagan Fruit: an album that both exceeds the lysergic power chord trip initiated on that first album, and expands the band’s creative horizons into realms heretofore unexplored.

Recorded at world famous Boar’s Nest Studios in faaaaabulous Salt Lake City, Utah, Pagan Fruit was expertly produced and engineered by Andy Patterson, whose copious credits with numerous local talents demand more room than we care to spell out here. Likewise Eric Hoegemeyer, who took charge of mixing the end results at Brooklyn, NY’s Tree Laboratory, with the same finely tuned ear previously applied to works by Luder, Abrahma, Giant Brain and Gideon Smith & the Dixie Damned, to name but a few.

So on top of the already multifaceted influences, both subliminal and overt, picked up by discerning listeners from Good Morning Harakiri — influences ranging from Hawkwind to Soundgarden, Monster Magnet to Captain Beyond, Sons of Otis to the Screaming Trees — the songs/seeds found on Pagan Fruit reveal novel, dynamically varied musical touchstones as far reaching as vintage Neil Young & Crazy Horse and Goat’s Head Soup-period Stones.

So take a chance and take a bite of this forbidden, Pagan Fruit, if you dare; let its sweet and sinful juice run down your chin as reality-bending tunes like “Creature Comfort,” “Son of Raven” and “Call of the Hallowed Horn” blow your synapses to blissful smithereens; then call us in the morning once you’ve properly grasped the, errr… “enormity of the object,” if you catch our reference.

Chances are, by doing so, you’ll have crossed that mysterious threshold alluded to above — whatever it may be! — and ascended to a higher plane of unique and imaginative sonic synchronicity with the help of your helpful guides, Dwellers.

• Copyright© Small Stone Recordings