Ride Into The Sun

We were certain that Friday was the best line up. I knew it would be the day of Austin Psych Fest to defy the forecast and get silly with cameras and stuff. On the day’s agenda was Bass Drum of Death, Tamaryn, The Soft Moon, Suuns, BRMC, Warpaint, The Besnard Lakes, Raveonettes and Vietnam. Australia’s Ride Into The Sun provided the delightful surprise. Tinariwen provided camera fodder. Carson Creek Ranch provided the backdrop.

Check out the big gallery. Find your friends, reminisce…


When I arrived, final touches were still being made, soundchecking and the like. Vendors were still setting up, but were determined to be ready for the masses. Once we got the lay of the land, the pics and festival festivities went into full swing.

Psych Fest has lost the independent edge with plenty of corporate tents from XX and Red Bull. I get it, you have to pay the bills, but Psych was a final hold out. Log rolling challenge? Really?

The Soft Moon won the day for me. This is becoming a habit. Having chatted with the band for a bit before their set, I am a bigger fan – very approachable and they liked my pics of their DeVille set from SxSW (yay me). You must go see them, it bends your brain a little, making simplicity and noise an art with one word lyrics and punishingly driven basslines. I was standing with the guys from Bass Drum of Death during The Soft Moon’s set and we marveled. They were kinda pissed about how they can command the crowd with seemingly simple song structure, but the power and energy of the live performance just owns you.

The Besnard Lakes put down a lovely set, they were milling about the whole day, talking with fans, watching bands, good people. Bass Drum also killed and should have been later in the day. The new-to-me winner was Ride Into The Sun, a band from Australia that started things on the big stage with a phenomenal set garnering fans prompting some merch sales.

Psych does pick solid food vendors, the beer lines were never long, prices reasonable, camping for those willing to hippy-up. The venue has some kinks to work out around vendor layout, security policies and media rules and access. And get that grass growing for next year…

All the pics are at the photo site.
- Austin Town Hall

We were certain that Friday was the best line up. I knew it would be the day of Austin Psych Fest to defy the forecast and get silly with cameras and stuff. On the day’s agenda was Bass Drum of Death, Tamaryn, The Soft Moon, Suuns, BRMC, Warpaint, The Besnard Lakes, Raveonettes and Vietnam. Australia’s Ride Into The Sun provided the delightful surprise. Tinariwen provided camera fodder. Carson Creek Ranch provided the backdrop.

Check out the big gallery. Find your friends, reminisce…


When I arrived, final touches were still being made, soundchecking and the like. Vendors were still setting up, but were determined to be ready for the masses. Once we got the lay of the land, the pics and festival festivities went into full swing.

Psych Fest has lost the independent edge with plenty of corporate tents from XX and Red Bull. I get it, you have to pay the bills, but Psych was a final hold out. Log rolling challenge? Really?

The Soft Moon won the day for me. This is becoming a habit. Having chatted with the band for a bit before their set, I am a bigger fan – very approachable and they liked my pics of their DeVille set from SxSW (yay me). You must go see them, it bends your brain a little, making simplicity and noise an art with one word lyrics and punishingly driven basslines. I was standing with the guys from Bass Drum of Death during The Soft Moon’s set and we marveled. They were kinda pissed about how they can command the crowd with seemingly simple song structure, but the power and energy of the live performance just owns you.

The Besnard Lakes put down a lovely set, they were milling about the whole day, talking with fans, watching bands, good people. Bass Drum also killed and should have been later in the day. The new-to-me winner was Ride Into The Sun, a band from Australia that started things on the big stage with a phenomenal set garnering fans prompting some merch sales.

Psych does pick solid food vendors, the beer lines were never long, prices reasonable, camping for those willing to hippy-up. The venue has some kinks to work out around vendor layout, security policies and media rules and access. And get that grass growing for next year…

All the pics are at the photo site.
- Austin Town Hall

Ride Into The Sun formed in Adelaide, Australia in 2010 and just six weeks later recorded its self-titled debut, available on Bandcamp. The five-piece, which describes itself as “dreamy psychedelic shoe staring journey music,” is currently working on a new album to be distributed as an EP, singles and B-sides throughout 2013.

The album is being produced by The Black Angels’ vocalist Alex Maas and producer Brett Orrison and will be released by up-and-coming Australian label Pilot Records.

April 26 through April 28, Ride Into The Sun will be in Austin, Texas, alongside The Black Angels, for Austin Psych Fest and The Spec will be there to cover the action.
Can you give us a little background on who you are?
My name is Ant and I sing and play guitar in Ride Into The Sun. I’m from Devon, England but now live in Adelaide, Australia. I’m 27 years of age and I have always really digged music. When I was a kid, I remember long journeys with my father and the rest of the family, he used to play Pink Floyd‘s Dark Side Of The Moon over and over. Staring out the car window at night time, with forests passing by, and that as the soundtrack to our little journeys, was awesome! I wanted to create something like that, where music isn’t just a song but becomes a feeling and your own journey, it gives you goosebumps.

How long have you been making music?
I have been making music for about six years, sometimes just jamming with some friends and then moving on to play in bands. Ride Into The Sun has been playing for just three years now, but it feels like we have been playing for 10! We have so much more to do! So many ideas still! We just finished recording but are ready to lay down some more new tracks again.

Who/what are your influences?
We all have different influences in music, which is really a great thing! It would be so boring digging exactly the same stuff. When you have five different members, into five different things, you can create a lot! As for me, older stuff like 13th Floor Elevators, Link Wray, the Stones, Beatles, etc. Even some blues, Howlin Wolf, Blind Lemon Jefferson, John Lee Hooker and Son House. I got a record recently called Prison Songs, Don’tcha Hear Poor Mother Calling?, it’s incredible! It’s just vocals and hand claps mostly old recordings of Chain Gangs, but you can just hear the emotion coming out, the pain and suffering. It’s dark but man, it’s the truth! It’s honest, to me… that’s real music right there.

I also really love the music being created today! I find myself just raking the net looking for these little gems that many people have never heard! Man, if only people knew about some of these bands! There is so much talent out there, people are creating stuff that’s completely new. The Brian Jonestown Massacre are a big influence, that’s a band that can write a song! The Black Angels are also a band we look up to a heap. We had the honor of having Brett Orrison (live sound tech/producer of The Black Angels) & Alex Maas (lead vocalist of The Black Angels) produce our latest release. To actually spend time in a studio with two really down to earth people, and with knowledge and experience teaching us, was incredible!

How did you come up with your name?
Ride Into The Sun was named after one of The Velvet Underground‘s songs. It’s a term that you hear a lot and it can be visually described. We thought it suited well to what we were doing. When you hear it, what’s the first thing that comes to your head? And whatever it is, then thats what it is…

What do you look forward to most about playing Psych Fest? Have you played the festival before?
For us it’s a dream come true! For a band from a small city in Australia, being invited to play something like this is incredible! The line up is unreal, I was talking to Adam our bass player about the perfect line up for a festival before this was all announced and 90 percent of the bands we discussed are playing this! Not only is that a perfect festival, but we get the opportunity to share it! We haven’t played the festival before, but we do hope to play more in the future!

What band at Psych Fest are you most excited to see?
All of them! But bands that come to mind straight up are: The Warlocks, Black Angels, BRMC, Black Ryder, Roky, Dead Skeletons, Raveonettes, Moving Sidewalks, and a band I only recently discovered who I have fallen in love with called Tamaryn. I know there are so many more I have forgotten.

What inspires your music?
Just the moment, things in time. You can never tell where a song will come from, it happens when it happens.

Why do you make music?
I just love music, I love creating things. I am a artist also (Illustration & Graphic Design), maybe it’s just what I do, it just feels right and it makes me feel at peace, I feel relaxed.

Anything you’d like readers to know that we haven’t asked you about?
I would like you all to know that we are very excited to be getting over there! And if you s - The Spec

Ride Into The Sun formed in Adelaide, Australia in 2010 and just six weeks later recorded its self-titled debut, available on Bandcamp. The five-piece, which describes itself as “dreamy psychedelic shoe staring journey music,” is currently working on a new album to be distributed as an EP, singles and B-sides throughout 2013.

The album is being produced by The Black Angels’ vocalist Alex Maas and producer Brett Orrison and will be released by up-and-coming Australian label Pilot Records.

April 26 through April 28, Ride Into The Sun will be in Austin, Texas, alongside The Black Angels, for Austin Psych Fest and The Spec will be there to cover the action.
Can you give us a little background on who you are?
My name is Ant and I sing and play guitar in Ride Into The Sun. I’m from Devon, England but now live in Adelaide, Australia. I’m 27 years of age and I have always really digged music. When I was a kid, I remember long journeys with my father and the rest of the family, he used to play Pink Floyd‘s Dark Side Of The Moon over and over. Staring out the car window at night time, with forests passing by, and that as the soundtrack to our little journeys, was awesome! I wanted to create something like that, where music isn’t just a song but becomes a feeling and your own journey, it gives you goosebumps.

How long have you been making music?
I have been making music for about six years, sometimes just jamming with some friends and then moving on to play in bands. Ride Into The Sun has been playing for just three years now, but it feels like we have been playing for 10! We have so much more to do! So many ideas still! We just finished recording but are ready to lay down some more new tracks again.

Who/what are your influences?
We all have different influences in music, which is really a great thing! It would be so boring digging exactly the same stuff. When you have five different members, into five different things, you can create a lot! As for me, older stuff like 13th Floor Elevators, Link Wray, the Stones, Beatles, etc. Even some blues, Howlin Wolf, Blind Lemon Jefferson, John Lee Hooker and Son House. I got a record recently called Prison Songs, Don’tcha Hear Poor Mother Calling?, it’s incredible! It’s just vocals and hand claps mostly old recordings of Chain Gangs, but you can just hear the emotion coming out, the pain and suffering. It’s dark but man, it’s the truth! It’s honest, to me… that’s real music right there.

I also really love the music being created today! I find myself just raking the net looking for these little gems that many people have never heard! Man, if only people knew about some of these bands! There is so much talent out there, people are creating stuff that’s completely new. The Brian Jonestown Massacre are a big influence, that’s a band that can write a song! The Black Angels are also a band we look up to a heap. We had the honor of having Brett Orrison (live sound tech/producer of The Black Angels) & Alex Maas (lead vocalist of The Black Angels) produce our latest release. To actually spend time in a studio with two really down to earth people, and with knowledge and experience teaching us, was incredible!

How did you come up with your name?
Ride Into The Sun was named after one of The Velvet Underground‘s songs. It’s a term that you hear a lot and it can be visually described. We thought it suited well to what we were doing. When you hear it, what’s the first thing that comes to your head? And whatever it is, then thats what it is…

What do you look forward to most about playing Psych Fest? Have you played the festival before?
For us it’s a dream come true! For a band from a small city in Australia, being invited to play something like this is incredible! The line up is unreal, I was talking to Adam our bass player about the perfect line up for a festival before this was all announced and 90 percent of the bands we discussed are playing this! Not only is that a perfect festival, but we get the opportunity to share it! We haven’t played the festival before, but we do hope to play more in the future!

What band at Psych Fest are you most excited to see?
All of them! But bands that come to mind straight up are: The Warlocks, Black Angels, BRMC, Black Ryder, Roky, Dead Skeletons, Raveonettes, Moving Sidewalks, and a band I only recently discovered who I have fallen in love with called Tamaryn. I know there are so many more I have forgotten.

What inspires your music?
Just the moment, things in time. You can never tell where a song will come from, it happens when it happens.

Why do you make music?
I just love music, I love creating things. I am a artist also (Illustration & Graphic Design), maybe it’s just what I do, it just feels right and it makes me feel at peace, I feel relaxed.

Anything you’d like readers to know that we haven’t asked you about?
I would like you all to know that we are very excited to be getting over there! And if you s - The Spec

For all of you psych-heads out there, here’s another group to add to your ever-growing musical radar. Ride Into The Sun’s newest mini self-titled record was produced by Brett Orrison and Alex Mass of The Black Angels fame. The Australians’ sound is within a similar musical vein, think tambourines, fuzzy synths and strong dominating vocals with thick, exotic guitar work.

Their launch is happening at the Jive Bar in Adelaide on Sat July 6, and me of five years ago is excited that The Morning After Girls will be supporting the band after they have been in hibernation for what seems like ever. It is a match made s shoegaze heaven.

You can brush up on Ride Into The Sun‘s music on their bandcamp, have a listen below, or eagerly await for the real 180gm colour vinyl 12?, which is supposedly going to be very pretty and rare which can be bought here on July 6.
- Something You Said

For all of you psych-heads out there, here’s another group to add to your ever-growing musical radar. Ride Into The Sun’s newest mini self-titled record was produced by Brett Orrison and Alex Mass of The Black Angels fame. The Australians’ sound is within a similar musical vein, think tambourines, fuzzy synths and strong dominating vocals with thick, exotic guitar work.

Their launch is happening at the Jive Bar in Adelaide on Sat July 6, and me of five years ago is excited that The Morning After Girls will be supporting the band after they have been in hibernation for what seems like ever. It is a match made s shoegaze heaven.

You can brush up on Ride Into The Sun‘s music on their bandcamp, have a listen below, or eagerly await for the real 180gm colour vinyl 12?, which is supposedly going to be very pretty and rare which can be bought here on July 6.
- Something You Said

Adelaide’s Ride Into The Sun are releasing a mini-LP this month through Pilot Records, it follows the band’s single ‘Lost At Sea (A Love Song)’. The sessions were recorded at Toyland Studios in Melbourne with Alex Maas (of The Black Angels). Check out the recent b-side ‘Hunt Like Wolves’ which shows off Ride Into The Sun’s big, bass ass guitars! Locals can catch the launch show on Saturday at Jive with The Morning After Girls. - Sounds Better With Reverb

Adelaide’s Ride Into The Sun are releasing a mini-LP this month through Pilot Records, it follows the band’s single ‘Lost At Sea (A Love Song)’. The sessions were recorded at Toyland Studios in Melbourne with Alex Maas (of The Black Angels). Check out the recent b-side ‘Hunt Like Wolves’ which shows off Ride Into The Sun’s big, bass ass guitars! Locals can catch the launch show on Saturday at Jive with The Morning After Girls. - Sounds Better With Reverb

A reverberating string-driven rhythm introduced the follow-up act, Ride Into The Sun. Launching their self-titled mini-LP, their songs shook with psych-rock. A smooth lethargy draped the musicians, shaped by the flow of their rolling melodies, and was lost and found and lost again in accordance with the climaxes of the instruments.

The room was filling, and rightly so – this band, with obvious roots planted within The Black Angels and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, was one deserving of the whistling attentions garnered.
- Tonedeaf

A reverberating string-driven rhythm introduced the follow-up act, Ride Into The Sun. Launching their self-titled mini-LP, their songs shook with psych-rock. A smooth lethargy draped the musicians, shaped by the flow of their rolling melodies, and was lost and found and lost again in accordance with the climaxes of the instruments.

The room was filling, and rightly so – this band, with obvious roots planted within The Black Angels and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, was one deserving of the whistling attentions garnered.
- Tonedeaf

An Adelaide band with a prog/psychedelic sound, Ride Into The Sun reminded of a beefed-up Kinks with the added relish of a great keyboard sound.

Tonight the band are relying on a wall of sound technique to get a strong message across to the audience. The lineup of bass, drums, highly complementary guitarists and the well-chosen retro sounds of keyboardist Jess are able to demand the attention and approval of the audience in a way unusual for an opening act.

The solid, demonstrative chord-work of rhythm guitarist Ant allows main guitarist/vocalist Todd to slash and burn through the leads, the pair veering into garage-grunge territory. This diversion ignites the potential of the band and takes them beyond the limits of the prog/psychedelic milieu. The work of drummer Dan and bassist Adam is high impact at all times and helps to solidify the impression of a band with its head and heart pointing in the same direction.

It’s a great synthesis of the classic semi-acoustic Epiphone/Gibson 335 sound with a gutsy female keyboardist/vocalist and a live presence that demands attention. Long may they ride.
- Tonedeaf

An Adelaide band with a prog/psychedelic sound, Ride Into The Sun reminded of a beefed-up Kinks with the added relish of a great keyboard sound.

Tonight the band are relying on a wall of sound technique to get a strong message across to the audience. The lineup of bass, drums, highly complementary guitarists and the well-chosen retro sounds of keyboardist Jess are able to demand the attention and approval of the audience in a way unusual for an opening act.

The solid, demonstrative chord-work of rhythm guitarist Ant allows main guitarist/vocalist Todd to slash and burn through the leads, the pair veering into garage-grunge territory. This diversion ignites the potential of the band and takes them beyond the limits of the prog/psychedelic milieu. The work of drummer Dan and bassist Adam is high impact at all times and helps to solidify the impression of a band with its head and heart pointing in the same direction.

It’s a great synthesis of the classic semi-acoustic Epiphone/Gibson 335 sound with a gutsy female keyboardist/vocalist and a live presence that demands attention. Long may they ride.
- Tonedeaf

Which brings us to our second act, Ride Into The Sun. Yup this is the fourth time I've seen them in just two months (third time on record) to which Jessica Honeychurch their keyboardist couldn't help but acknowledge with "alarm" when she saw me: "oh crap, don't tell me we're the new Mona Lisa Overdrive!?". Not because both her and guitarist Luke Mayes used to be IN Mona Lisa Overdrive (aka: everything awesome you used to "love" about The Velvet Underground, only rehashed by 60's obsessed fashionistas) but more because they rapidly earned a reputation in this blog and in the Adelaide scene at large for being the most notorious "serial offenders" to a live stage in 2008 (duuude no shit they were like bad pennies, you just couldn't get rid them!). So just to "reassure" her that they totally WEREN'T Mona Lisa Overdrive, not even in the slightest, I helpfully suggested: "oh don't worry that's Sincerely Grizzly this year, except oh wait? they actually improve with age! AAAAHAhAhAhAhAHaHA!!". Yup as much as I was simply dishing up an a-grade burn on bands past (I know, I'm such an hilarious bastard aren't I?) despite only being on the scene for a relatively short space of time, Ride Into The Sun have indeed "improved with age", and quite quickly in fact, and if tonight's set is any indication? just like Friends before them they may very well be another contender for one of best new bands in the Adelaide scene in 2010. NO SHIT!! And the first thing that's really making a difference tonight is in the live mix. It's something that's somewhat eluded them in the past (don't mention Arcade Lane.. DON'T MENTION ARCADE LANE!!). And as much as it may be rough as all guts tonight thanks to The Metro's trashy as fuck PA? it also gives their presence a weighty and welcome "crunch" to it, especially in James Thomas' murderous throwdown on drums (just like watching a butcher hack up a cattle carcass I swear!) and also in accentuating what the rest of the band are playing too. So with that shit no longer a distraction, and not a single malfunctioning microphone in sight (no really, DON'T MENTION ARCADE LANE!!) Ride Into The Sun can finally focus on what they do best, and that's cooking up mad tunes to put you in a swimming trance. Beginning with the hypnotic pulse progression of "Run For The Hills" each song has its own unique take on a sun scorched Death Valley feel, so much so you can practically taste the peyote twisting your head severe. From Anthony Candlish's coyote yelpings in "Stand Alone", to Jess's mesmerising rattlesnake tambourine in "Realise", to the shimmering heatstroke of their Mazzy Star cover "Wasted" (always a highlight) there's a cohesive cinematic feel here, an overall vision that pulls everything together: but one where no two songs feel quite the same in expressing it. Each band member carries their own in the mix. From Anthony on vocals and guitar drawing everything out in a languid haze. To Luke's antagonist guitar stabs and feedback fills raising the tension in contrast. To Jess on keys swaying about like a spirit medium caught in a constant life and death struggle between both extremes. To Adam Vanderwerf on bass, the proverbial "white hat", with his mild mannered rhythms treading the straight and narrow. To James on drums the quintessential "black hat", stabbing that mechanical metronome again and again without a hint of remorse. This is a band rich in character: in both the sounds they weave and in the authentic stage presence they project. This is a band finally living up to all that promise.. and about fucking time too! Ride Into The Sun? Yup I swear that rumoured album of theirs couldn't come soon enough!
- Spoz's Rant

RIDE INTO THE SUN (****) myspace ::
Which brings us to our actual headlining act: who despite any impressions I might have given in my mad rush to see Booster here tonight? are in no way "sloppy seconds" to me, pfft.. far from it duuude, they're nothing short of ridiculously awesome! For in an exceptionally short space of time, six months since forming, or a little under four months since their "triumphant debut" at Arcade Lane (in as much as it was a complete and utter disaster, second only to that Honey Pies show a week ago, and we should never speak of it again.. yeeeouch!) Ride Into The Sun have quickly established themselves as a "must see band" in the Adelaide scene (at least by my reckoning) for the simple fact that there's very few other bands here right now (short of say Like Leaves) that even approach what they've got cooking (in a way that either makes them waaay ahead of the curve, or waaay behind it.. either way duuude what's not to love!?). Yup think of them as a blacker than black blues rock ensemble all mixed up with 60's psychedelia, spaghetti western overtures and film noir cinematics. Think of them as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Josh Homme's "The Desert Sessions", The Doors, The Velvet Underground, Mazzy Star, The Black Angels and The Brian Jonestown Massacre all rolled into one. Or simply think of all the above delivered like a mad hit of peyote swirling thick through your synapses and you'll be close to appreciating just what they're getting at here (especially if you're actually ON peyote or a similar psychoactive and currently playing keyboards in this band.. duuude!). Better yet they've totally got all the signature songs to back it up. I mean it's anyone's guess HOW they've come up with them so soon? (as they've only been around for six months) but they've totally got an album's worth of them, they've just finished recording one in fact and if anything I've been hearing of late is any indication? then they've easily got a cult classic on their hands. And best of all they've totally got the stage presence in delivering it all live too. And tonight? ooooh trust me maaan they're on a mission and a half to murder us all! Yup they may only be playing to a handful of people in the band room (maybe ten to fifteen at most?) but they're giving us all they've got. Partly due to the fact they're loosing guitarist Luke Mayes this week for a fashion magazine "photography internship" in Paris (I shit you not!) and they might be wondering just how the hell they're gonna survive without him. But also because they generally play every show now like it's their last one anyways. From the increasingly antagonistic Anthony Candlish in lead vocal: hooting, shrieking and snarling every lyrical refrain like he's about to be cut down by a hail of bullets (and he's accusing us all in advance of pulling the trigger). To Jessica Honeychurch on keys: swaying too and fro like a coiled cobra crossed with Cleopatra and an anamorphic oil slick (and when she sings the lyrics to their cover of Mazzy Star's "Wasted"? duuude it's like she's drowning!). To Luke on guitar: utterly nonchalant in how he goes about his business, no matter how brilliantly he's shredding those riffs in a howl feedback, that you begin to wonder if he's simply phoning it in from afar (perhaps from you know where?). To James "Balf" Thomas on drums, stabbing every beat like a butcher cutting up a carcass with an axe.. and you KNOW it's not an act. To Adam Vanderwerf on bass, the one proverbial "white hat" among them, innocently holding the rhythm section in check as much as you know he's complicit in all of this. Yup as much as they may only be playing to a handful of us here, it's so damn potent to experience first hand, every one of us is swaying about in a giddy trance like it's Woodstock and we're all on a mad batch of acid. In every song the band only gets more turbulent in delivering it, more fuck off paranoid, more downright gritty and gutteral. The highlight of which being a new song "Redneck" where next to every lyric consists of Anthony spitting out "ya ya yeah yeah yeah!" in a loop like a hillbilly caricature gone horribly wrong; and he's all the better for it. And by the last song "Chosen One" Balf gets so wound up in the raw emotion of it all: he totally snaps, throws his sticks violently to the ground and storms off stage.. and when asked about it later, he simply responds with a sheepish grin: "ooooh I dunno, guess I got caught in the moment!". Yup that's Ride Into The Sun. There's just no half measures with them, just as you suspect the more desperate and deranged they get with their shit (as much as they may only be imagining it) it'll only make them stronger!
- Spoz's Rant

RIDE INTO THE SUN (****) myspace ::
Which brings us to our actual headlining act: who despite any impressions I might have given in my mad rush to see Booster here tonight? are in no way "sloppy seconds" to me, pfft.. far from it duuude, they're nothing short of ridiculously awesome! For in an exceptionally short space of time, six months since forming, or a little under four months since their "triumphant debut" at Arcade Lane (in as much as it was a complete and utter disaster, second only to that Honey Pies show a week ago, and we should never speak of it again.. yeeeouch!) Ride Into The Sun have quickly established themselves as a "must see band" in the Adelaide scene (at least by my reckoning) for the simple fact that there's very few other bands here right now (short of say Like Leaves) that even approach what they've got cooking (in a way that either makes them waaay ahead of the curve, or waaay behind it.. either way duuude what's not to love!?). Yup think of them as a blacker than black blues rock ensemble all mixed up with 60's psychedelia, spaghetti western overtures and film noir cinematics. Think of them as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Josh Homme's "The Desert Sessions", The Doors, The Velvet Underground, Mazzy Star, The Black Angels and The Brian Jonestown Massacre all rolled into one. Or simply think of all the above delivered like a mad hit of peyote swirling thick through your synapses and you'll be close to appreciating just what they're getting at here (especially if you're actually ON peyote or a similar psychoactive and currently playing keyboards in this band.. duuude!). Better yet they've totally got all the signature songs to back it up. I mean it's anyone's guess HOW they've come up with them so soon? (as they've only been around for six months) but they've totally got an album's worth of them, they've just finished recording one in fact and if anything I've been hearing of late is any indication? then they've easily got a cult classic on their hands. And best of all they've totally got the stage presence in delivering it all live too. And tonight? ooooh trust me maaan they're on a mission and a half to murder us all! Yup they may only be playing to a handful of people in the band room (maybe ten to fifteen at most?) but they're giving us all they've got. Partly due to the fact they're loosing guitarist Luke Mayes this week for a fashion magazine "photography internship" in Paris (I shit you not!) and they might be wondering just how the hell they're gonna survive without him. But also because they generally play every show now like it's their last one anyways. From the increasingly antagonistic Anthony Candlish in lead vocal: hooting, shrieking and snarling every lyrical refrain like he's about to be cut down by a hail of bullets (and he's accusing us all in advance of pulling the trigger). To Jessica Honeychurch on keys: swaying too and fro like a coiled cobra crossed with Cleopatra and an anamorphic oil slick (and when she sings the lyrics to their cover of Mazzy Star's "Wasted"? duuude it's like she's drowning!). To Luke on guitar: utterly nonchalant in how he goes about his business, no matter how brilliantly he's shredding those riffs in a howl feedback, that you begin to wonder if he's simply phoning it in from afar (perhaps from you know where?). To James "Balf" Thomas on drums, stabbing every beat like a butcher cutting up a carcass with an axe.. and you KNOW it's not an act. To Adam Vanderwerf on bass, the one proverbial "white hat" among them, innocently holding the rhythm section in check as much as you know he's complicit in all of this. Yup as much as they may only be playing to a handful of us here, it's so damn potent to experience first hand, every one of us is swaying about in a giddy trance like it's Woodstock and we're all on a mad batch of acid. In every song the band only gets more turbulent in delivering it, more fuck off paranoid, more downright gritty and gutteral. The highlight of which being a new song "Redneck" where next to every lyric consists of Anthony spitting out "ya ya yeah yeah yeah!" in a loop like a hillbilly caricature gone horribly wrong; and he's all the better for it. And by the last song "Chosen One" Balf gets so wound up in the raw emotion of it all: he totally snaps, throws his sticks violently to the ground and storms off stage.. and when asked about it later, he simply responds with a sheepish grin: "ooooh I dunno, guess I got caught in the moment!". Yup that's Ride Into The Sun. There's just no half measures with them, just as you suspect the more desperate and deranged they get with their shit (as much as they may only be imagining it) it'll only make them stronger!
- Spoz's Rant

For a band barely older than the year thus far, local five-piece psychadelic rockers, Ride Into The Sun have already managed to carve out quite a niche for themselves. They've already earned a steadily growing reputation and have a handful of songs recorded with Adelaide's independent engineer of choice Matt Hills, with a view to having an album ready for the summer all in little more than the time it takes most bands to figure out what to call themselves.



Of course, part of that probably stems from the experience of the band's members in their previous projects. As their bass player, Adam surmises, "We got Anthony from Kytes of Omar and then Luke and Jess from Mona Lisa Overdrive... we just all got together liking the same sort of music, you know. We started just before Christmas and since then we've recorded six tracks with Matt Hills and done about eight or nine gigs. I guess there is a little bit to what those other guys brought from those bands into this, but I think the main thing that we like about us is we don't really sound like any other bands in Adelaide at the moment, you know? We really like the old 60's and 70's psychadelic rock and Brian Jonestown Massacre and Black Angels, things like that. So we kind of bring all our influences, which are pretty similar, into our band."



The culmination of those influences puts them right at home with the smattering of bands here in Adelaide who delve into a psych sound, though these projects all come at that common thread from different angles. It's a small but vibrant circle that has only just begun to come together into anything recognisable as a scene. "Yeah, it's starting off..." Adam considers, "like you've got Two Suns and you've got Like Leaves... a bit of Lady Strangelove."



Ride Into The Sun have a dirtier, noisier take than any of those bands. The driving beats of their stripped back drum kit punctuating the dense wall of sound created by the guitars and keys, peppered throughout with dynamic touches to keep the songs changing and evolving.



"We're trying to get that balance of a wall of sound and then something else to make the move as well. I guess we just kind of see where the song takes us, what sounds best... I mean we're not into filling it out with a gigantic drum kit and we like to keep it fairly simple, but having the five instruments, especially having an organ you know, like that sort of fills out that sound a lot so even if we're all playing pretty basic music, you've got that organ over the top that fills it out and makes that big boomy sound."



Having come together with a strong understanding of the journey they'd be taking sonically, their songs have come together quickly, something I'd expect to take a whole lot of exploratory jamming to find the right parts given the kind of music they play. "We try, I mean, I guess we're lucky in the fact that the songs that we've written so far have come really quickly. When we got together before Christmas and had a couple of practices to see how we'd all fit together, I think from sort of two practices we'd already written four songs... Since then we've been steadily writing songs. I dunno if it comes so much from extended jams, I mean, we do that in practice, but once we've got an idea for a song in our heads we kind of nut it out and see where it goes."



With things now well and truly under way for the band, they seem to be enjoying the ride immensely, embracing the experiences that come their way as things build, including a regular DJ spot at the Crown and Anchor on Saturday nights and shows with somewhat unexpected line-ups. "Yeah, we've only done, I think it's seven or eight gigs now, but we've noticed with each of those that the crowd is steadily building each time. The hardest thing is obviously trying to find similar sounding bands to play with... But yeah, we're pretty excited to play with The Beards, Ed Castle's always a cool place to play, it'll be interesting to see what The Beards' crowd think of our stuff... as long as we don't get any comparisons to The Doors I think we'll be happy."
- dB Magazine

For a band barely older than the year thus far, local five-piece psychadelic rockers, Ride Into The Sun have already managed to carve out quite a niche for themselves. They've already earned a steadily growing reputation and have a handful of songs recorded with Adelaide's independent engineer of choice Matt Hills, with a view to having an album ready for the summer all in little more than the time it takes most bands to figure out what to call themselves.



Of course, part of that probably stems from the experience of the band's members in their previous projects. As their bass player, Adam surmises, "We got Anthony from Kytes of Omar and then Luke and Jess from Mona Lisa Overdrive... we just all got together liking the same sort of music, you know. We started just before Christmas and since then we've recorded six tracks with Matt Hills and done about eight or nine gigs. I guess there is a little bit to what those other guys brought from those bands into this, but I think the main thing that we like about us is we don't really sound like any other bands in Adelaide at the moment, you know? We really like the old 60's and 70's psychadelic rock and Brian Jonestown Massacre and Black Angels, things like that. So we kind of bring all our influences, which are pretty similar, into our band."



The culmination of those influences puts them right at home with the smattering of bands here in Adelaide who delve into a psych sound, though these projects all come at that common thread from different angles. It's a small but vibrant circle that has only just begun to come together into anything recognisable as a scene. "Yeah, it's starting off..." Adam considers, "like you've got Two Suns and you've got Like Leaves... a bit of Lady Strangelove."



Ride Into The Sun have a dirtier, noisier take than any of those bands. The driving beats of their stripped back drum kit punctuating the dense wall of sound created by the guitars and keys, peppered throughout with dynamic touches to keep the songs changing and evolving.



"We're trying to get that balance of a wall of sound and then something else to make the move as well. I guess we just kind of see where the song takes us, what sounds best... I mean we're not into filling it out with a gigantic drum kit and we like to keep it fairly simple, but having the five instruments, especially having an organ you know, like that sort of fills out that sound a lot so even if we're all playing pretty basic music, you've got that organ over the top that fills it out and makes that big boomy sound."



Having come together with a strong understanding of the journey they'd be taking sonically, their songs have come together quickly, something I'd expect to take a whole lot of exploratory jamming to find the right parts given the kind of music they play. "We try, I mean, I guess we're lucky in the fact that the songs that we've written so far have come really quickly. When we got together before Christmas and had a couple of practices to see how we'd all fit together, I think from sort of two practices we'd already written four songs... Since then we've been steadily writing songs. I dunno if it comes so much from extended jams, I mean, we do that in practice, but once we've got an idea for a song in our heads we kind of nut it out and see where it goes."



With things now well and truly under way for the band, they seem to be enjoying the ride immensely, embracing the experiences that come their way as things build, including a regular DJ spot at the Crown and Anchor on Saturday nights and shows with somewhat unexpected line-ups. "Yeah, we've only done, I think it's seven or eight gigs now, but we've noticed with each of those that the crowd is steadily building each time. The hardest thing is obviously trying to find similar sounding bands to play with... But yeah, we're pretty excited to play with The Beards, Ed Castle's always a cool place to play, it'll be interesting to see what The Beards' crowd think of our stuff... as long as we don't get any comparisons to The Doors I think we'll be happy."
- dB Magazine