It’s not long now until Austin Texas heavy metal legends The Sword will be making their highly anticipated return to Australia and New Zealand in support of their critically acclaimed 5th album High Country.
Having charted at number 30 in the US Billboard 200 and smashed top 10 lists and sales charts all around the World. It’s fair to say The Sword are at the top of their game and they’re finally returning!
Since their inception in 2003, the guys have graced us with their presence on a number of occasions, previously touringhere in support of Metallica (2010) and as part of the 2011 and 2013 Soundwave Festival. They’ve never however headlined their own visit down under.
Being touted as the stoner rock kings of the modern era we decided to ask the band’s guitarist Kyle Shutt to curate for us a crash course in everything stoner rock.
As Shutt explains “I must preface this list by acknowledging the silliness of the term ‘stoner rock’. If you classify a type of music solely on a drug that a band ingests, you’re missing the point of the music entirely. All rock is stoner rock, because it all sounds good when you’re high.
“At least one person in every one of your favorite bands was stoned out of their minds on one thing or another along the way, and not every ‘stoner rock’ band member actually smokes pot regularly. So let’s just call it ‘rock’. After all, you don’t call hip-hop ‘stoner rap’. That being said, here are 10 songs that sound great… on weed.” Fair enough, let’s get into it.
Queen – ‘The Prophet’s Song’
This is a great, long epic of a song that is on one of my favorite Queen albums, A Night at the Opera. It’s dynamic, lumbering, heavy as hell, and the vocal breakdown in the middle of the track will leave your mind more expanded than it was when you lit up that doob.
Funkadelic – ‘Baby I Owe You Something Good’
This track isn’t your typical Funkadelic song, from the record Let’s Take It To The Stage. Its slow paced guitar and keyboards play in unison, while the caveman style drum beat plods the riff right through the swamp that the lead and background vocals create in your mind. All of the sounds combined feel like the weight of the ocean bearing down on you, only lifted by the silence before each chorus, and then crashing down on you again with each verse. This record is a must own for anyone who enjoys lighting one up and sinking into the couch.
Fu Manchu – ‘Cyclone Launch’
The album In Search Of could make up this entire list, but I chose this track because of the behind-the-beat drums, head bobbing main riff, and the cowbell. Oh, the sweet, sweet cowbell. Good luck trying not to play air drums to this one.
Soundgarden – ‘4th Of July’
From their classic Superunknown album, this track seems almost tailor made for getting lifted. The dissonant main riff and hypnotizing vocal melodies swirl through your ears and scramble your brain, making it perfect for getting lost while staring at the ceiling as you lay in bed.
Torche – ‘Tarpit Carnivore’
Probably the heaviest song ever written, on the heaviest album ever recorded, by the heaviest band to ever exist, this track off of In Return will destroy you. You simply can’t beat it, don’t even try. Just quit your band, get stoned, and put this on repeat for the rest of your life.
High On Fire – ‘10,000 Years’
This song from their awesome debut, The Art of Self Defense, features a winding, devastating riff that’s thicker than peanut butter and just plain sounds amazing after five or ten bong rips. I saw them play this live after not having listened to it for nigh on a decade and I found myself full-body banging and remembering just how fantastic that first record is.
Graveyard – ‘Blue Soul’
When Graveyard first came to the states, they did a ten week tour, four weeks with Witchcraft followed immediately by a six week tour opening for ourselves and Clutch. It was hands down one of the most fun tours of my life. The antics we were all involved in will make me smile until the day I die, but getting blazed and watching them play this song every night was really something special. I could tell they were going to get big, fast, and watching them become what they are today has been no surprise to me. Love you guys!!!
Melvins – ‘Boris’
Had to throw a Melvins jam in here. Their music had a huge influence on me in my formative years. When I was 18 I used to play GTA3, put on Bullhead, and do fat bong hits of dirt weed and this song was pretty much the soundtrack to those times.
Monster Magnet – ‘Bummer’
This track off of Powertrip is one of my favorite jams by these dudes, and it sounds GREAT when you’re super baked! We did a festival run with them a few years back and I asked them to play it, but the couldn’t because they only had a 30 minute set and this song would take up a third of that, so I’ve still never seen it live. Bummer…
The Sword – ‘Farstar’
Who says I can’t put our own band on this list? Nobody, that’s who! This is a Warp Riders outtake that was the bside of the “Tears Of Fire” single, and I’m stilled peeved that it didn’t make the cut. It’s super spacey and was unlike anything we had done at the time, plus we were so stoned during the recording of that album that I almost don’t even remember recording the guitar solos on this song.
The Sword Australian Tour Dates
