Nebula – Heavy Psych

Label: Tee Pee Records
Rating: 3.5 Guns

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Written By: Matthew Chernus

The stoner rock genre is a lot like professional wrestling: it’s loud, obnoxious and so masculine that it’s downright silly. Like rasslin’ it is also guiltily addictive and an easy cartoon world to loose yourself in. If we were to continue with these comparisons it could easily be said that Tee Pee Records (Sleep, High on Fire) is the WWE of stoner rock labels and that Nebula is the genre’s answer to ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage.

Heavy Psych is nothing more than a continuation of the Nebula tradition. It’s plodding, “authentically retro” and “riffing as shit!!!” – The soundtrack to a gnarly summer of bong rips and cold kegs. ‘The Dagger’ is boogie rock defined: the guitars shake and tumble like an old ZZ Top song dipped in blotter. Eddie Glass has the voice of a fallen angel, he’s the worst greaser in the bunch ready and able to steal your chick (maybe he already has.) You may want to give her a call after listening to ‘Aphrodite’ where he groans ‘Get out of my head/sweet lady get into my bed.’ Full of sex and swagger, it’s all in a days work for this road warrior band.

Unfortunately Heavy Psych shotguns too many beers too fast: the hangover comes hard with the trippy instrumental bummer ‘Dream Submarine’ which drones for just long enough to put the proverbial damper on the party. ‘Crown of Thorns’ does nothing to help matters; it’s like the worst midday afternoon jam session you ever heard walking through the local practice space. Spacey guitar tones drifting around unfocused drum fills may sound nice in the Nebula state of mind but it does nothing to help round out what could have been a stellar hard rock album.

When it comes down to brass tax, Nebula always delivers a handful of absolute rulers. ‘The Other Side’ and ‘Lead Sky’ are perfect SoCal desert rock tunes; dirtier than Fu Manchu, drunker than Bad Wizard and as pummeling as an elbow from the top rope.

Like Nebula? Then you may also like: Queens of the Stone Age, The Muggs, Annihilation Time

Nebula – New Tour, New Album

Download This! – NEBULA – THE DAGGER

Nebula have announced a full US tour that begins in August. The tour will be in support of their new LP Heavy Psych due out July 7th on Tee Pee Records. Nebula will be joined by The Entrance Band, who will be fresh off a tour supporting Sonic Youth.

Playing dirty rock and roll and primitive blues, psychedelic iconoclasts Nebula have earned a reputation as one of the most influential bands to emerge from the Los Angeles underground rock scene of the last two decades.

With a penchant for Fuzz-wah pedals, wild drums and debauchery, Nebula plays feedback-heavy, guitar-driven psychedelic rock in the tradition of The Stooges, MC5, Jimi Hendrix, and Cream– laced with the spaced out sounds and dischord of Spaceman 3 and The Velvet Underground.

Formed by frontman Eddie Glass out of the ashes of Fu Manchu upon the band’s split in 1997, Nebula toured relentlessly in North America, Europe, Japan and Australia, playing alongside bands like Mudhoney, Iggy and the Stooges, Local H, The Hellacoptors and Queens of the Stone Age.

Nebula quickly gained a cult following in the burgeoning psych scene that was taking root in their hometown of Los Angeles and in music scenes abroad, paving the way for bands like Brian Jonestown Massacre, Dead Meadow, Black Angels, and Wolfmother. In 2009, Nebula joined Tee Pee Records for the release of their latest LP, Heavy Psych. The new line up includes Eddie Glass on guitar/vox, Tom Davies (bass/vox), and Rob Oswald on drums.

Combining the combustibility of the sun with the mysticism of the moon, Heavy Psych lives up to its name, no matter your preferred definition, and reaffirms Nebula’s reputation as one of rock’s brightest stars – in this galaxy or any other.

Heavy Psych Tracklisting:
1. Pulse
2. The Dagger
3. Aphrodite
4. Dream Submarine
5. In The Depth’s
6. The Other Side
7. Crown Of Thorns
8. Lead Sky
9. Little Yellow Pill

NEBULA US TOUR DATES w/ The Entrance Band
08/04/09 Elbo Room, San Francisco CA
08/05/09 Nocturnum, Eureka CA
08/06/09 Rotture, Portland OR
08/07/09 Chop Suey, Seattle WA
08/09/09 Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City UT
08/10/09 3 Kings Tavern, Denver CO
08/11/09 Jackpot Saloon, Lawrence KS
08/12/09 Turf Club, St. Paul MN
08/13/09 Bottom Lounge, Chicago IL
08/14/09 Ravari Room, Columbus OH
08/15/08 Club Echo, Huntington WV
08/16/09 Peabody’s, Cleveland OH
08/17/09 Bug Jar, Rochester NY
08/18/09 Call The Office, London ON
08/19/09 Casbah, Hamilton ON
08/20/09 The Wreck Room, Toronto ON
08/21/09 il Motore, Montreal QC
08/22/09 Santos, New York NY
08/23/09 Johnny Brendas, Philadelphia PA
08/24/09 Ottobar, Baltimore MD
08/25/09 Black Cat, Washington DC
08/26/09 Jewish Mother, Virginia Beach VA
08/27/09 Soapbox, Wilmington NC
08/28/09 Masquerade, Atlanta GA
08/29/09 Hi Tone Cafe, Memphis TN
08/31/09 Walters on Washington, Houston TX
09/01/09 Emo’s, Austin TX
09/02/09 Rock Bottom Tattoo Bar, San Antonio TX
09/03/09 Conservatory, Oklahoma City OK
09/05/09 The Sets, Tempe AZ
TBA Los Angeles, CA