Drawing predominantly from the worlds of stoner rock and psychedelic, THUNDERBIRD DIVINE provide a heavy fuzz-filled sound in “Times Gone Bad”. The track is taken from their forthcoming album, Little Wars, set for release on August 30th, 2024 via Black Doomba Records and is now accompanied by an official visualizer available HERE.
“Times Gone Bad” showcases THUNDERBIRD DIVINE’s signature sound, blending dense, overdriven riffs with mesmerizing, trippy undertones. The single is a testament to the band’s ability to evolve while staying true to the raw, heavy roots that have garnered them a loyal following.
THUNDERBIRD DIVINE’s Little Wars promises to be an epic journey through sonic landscapes, characterized by its rich textures and powerful compositions. The album is expected to resonate with fans of stoner rock and psychedelic music, offering an immersive listening experience.
“The process of creating music has to be organic, and it has to come from a sincere place devoid of fear,” says Erik Caplan, the band’s guitarist/vocalist. “At least, that’s what works best for this band. So I find it essential to trust my co-creators and have them trust me. We have to be willing to wander into curious musical rabbit holes together just to see what we might find. I think we did a lot of that kind of stuff with this album, but the foundation of the entire effort is songwriting. That has to be solid. If you don’t have good songs at the core of your album, adding funky textures is an exercise in pointlessness. And I think we’ve covered that base as well. These feel like good songs to us.”
“Our recording process was very involved,” Caplan says. “We demoed every song in our rehearsal space, sketching out all of our ideas from the ground up. We took those basic demo tracks and embroidered them back at Josh’s (bassist Josh Solomon) studio. We threw a lot of sounds at those demos, and we started getting a strong idea of what worked best to our ears.
“Nothing was off limits. For example, if I said, ‘I think I can hear a sitar in there,’ the response was almost always ‘OK, let’s hear the part you have in mind.’ It’s inspiring to work that way.”
About THUNDERBIRD DIVINE:
THUNDERBIRD DIVINE comprises four Philadelphia musicians who came together in March of 2017 to collaborate and create riff-heavy psychedelic/stoner/doom in the spirit of artists like MONSTER MAGNET, HAWKWIND, FLOWER TRAVELLIN’ BAND, THE MC5, GRAND FUNK RAILROAD and many others. Named after the street moniker of a homeless Vietnam veteran from vocalist/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Erik Caplan’s childhood neighborhood, the band formed after the dissolution of two long-term Philly stalwart acts, WIZARD EYE (Caplan) and SKELETON HANDS (drummer Mike Stuart). Keys man Jack Falkenbach appeared out of the ether to join up in 2019, and highly experienced engineer and bassist Joshua Solomon came along just as THUNDERBIRD DIVINE parted ways with its original bassist, Adam Scott (also of SKELETON HANDS) in 2022.
Magnasonic, THUNDERBIRD DIVINE’s first release, appeared on Salt of the Earth Records (CD) and Interstellar Smoke Records (vinyl) in 2019, and its follow-up, The Hand of Man, was also released on CD by Salt of the Earth Records in 2020. The band also released a single recording of THE YARDBIRDS’ “Happenings 10 Year’s Time Ago” in the same year. Since 2022, The outfit have released recordings of “Crazy Horses” by THE OSMONDS and “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More, Babe”, by BARRY WHITE, both given the band’s signature quirky imprint.
THUNDERBIRD DIVINE is:
Erik Caplan: Vocals, Guitar, Theremin, Sitar, Banjo, Harmonica, Synth, Drones, Weird Stuff
Michael Stuart: Vocals, Drums, Percussion
Joshua Adam Solomon: Vocals, Bass, Guitars, Synth, Percussion
Jack Falkenbach: Vocals, Keys, Violin, Melodica
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thunderbirddivine
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thunderbird_divine/
Bandcamp: https://thunderbirddivine.bandcamp.com/
Track Listing:
1. Pony Express
2. Times Gone Bad
3. Last Laugh
4. Black Rhino Mantra
5. These Eyes
6. Tides
7. Highway Dawn
8. Old Black Crow
9. Carousel