The Sixth Chamber

*Photo of The Sixth Chamber used for the front cover of The California Tech 3/12/07 issue following a performance at a university in Pasadena - The California Tech

Rockin’ Chamber music
By John Sollenberger 03/20/2008


When you hear the words "hard rock band," thoughts often come to mind of a group of guys who are grandfather candidates. Not so with The Sixth Chamber, who will be rocking the house Wednesday night at the Buccaneer in Sierra Madre.


This young, LA-based quartet plays some of the best modern hard rock I’ve heard lately, with hooks and licks that should rivet the audience’s attention. The sound salutes music of the past while taking the genre to a new level. You can check it out on their new, self-titled EP at www. myspace. com/thesixthchamber.


Vocalist Sevan Kand belts it out with hard-rock flair, a style inspired by singers of the late ’60s and early ’70s, and a touch of R&B. Along with guitarist Rahne Pistor, drummer Michael Ferrara and bassist Patrick McHugh, this "chamber" music isn’t the kind blue-haired ladies sigh over.


The band leaves town on Saturday for a mini-tour of the Southwest. Four days after the Buccaneer gig, they’ll be in Austin, home of the late drumming great Buddy Miles, where they were asked to play a tribute to the former Electric Flag and Band of Gypsies member, who died Feb. 26.


Music starts at 10 p.m. Wednesday at the Buccaneer, 70 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. Call (626) 355-9045.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SIERRA MADRE, CA ~ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26th - Buccaneer Lounge, 70 Sierra Madre Blvd., (Pasadena area) 10 p.m.
doors, free admission!!!

LOS ANGELES, CA ~ FRIDAY, MARCH 28th - Spaceland, 1717 Silver Lake Blvd., with Circus Minor, Chuck Dukowski Sextet and Infrared Sunday, 9 p.m.
doors

EL PASO, TX ~ SATURDAY, MARCH 29th - Zeppelin’s Pub, 111 E. Robinson Ave., 10:30 p.m.
w/ Radio La Chusma

AUSTIN, TX ~ SUNDAY, MARCH 30th - BUDDY MILES MEMORIAL CONCERT @ Threadgill’s, 301 West Riverside Dr., 6 p.m.
doors w/all-star lineup including Billy Cox, Bernie Worrell and many more special guests

SAN ANTONIO, TX ~ MONDAY, MARCH 31st - Black Diamonds Sports Bar, 9431 Southton Road, 11 p.m.


LAREDO, TX ~ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2nd - Average Joe’s. 9652 McPherson Road, 11 p.m.
, free admission! - Pasadena Weekly

*Feature interview with The Sixth Chamber in April issue of The Rockit, an LA rock newspaper

The Sixth Chamber: A Marriage of Lust and Madness

by Robbin Clifford

"There they were reciev'd by Men who occupied the sixth chamber, and took the forms of books & were/ arranged in libraries." -- William Blake "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell"

Taking his band's name from William Blake's illuminated poem "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," guitarist Rahne Pistor interpreted the sixth chamber as either a library in hell holding the world's secrets or a place in the imagination that stores esoteric knowledge. It is a fitting interpretation for L.A.-based The Sixth Chamber, whose self-titled EP is a sexually-charged, psychedelic trip merging late- '60s/early-'70s sounds with a modern stoner rock edge. The erotic cover art of the EP was painted by imprisoned Charles Manson associate Bobby Beausoleil, adding a macabre twist to the audio headtrip.

The band worked on the EP in Hangar 1018 studio in Downtown Los Angeles with producers James Bairian and Louis Castle of The Hippos and Dirty Little Secret (also producers of Giant Drag's album Hearts and Unicorns).

"We really wanted to make the songs count on this recording," says Pistor. "Quality over quantity. We just wanted to make something incredible out of these songs, and not skimp out or cut corners really."

Songs on the disc include "Something's Going Wrong," a pure ripper with a Zeppelin/Sabbath vocal delivery about reaching a state of borderline insanity and a guitar solo straight out of Bellevue. "Divine" sounds like a hypnotic striptease. "It's an exploration of being spellbound by an intense moment of sexuality and passion, without any regard whatsoever to what may lie in the future or in the past outside of that moment," says Pistor of the song.

The whimsical "Secret Lovers Land" makes it difficult for the listener to decipher whether the lyrics are fantasy or reality or some confused state in between the two. Is it a doomed obsession or a fairytale love affair? Meanwhile, "Magic Box" features a libido-driven vocal delivery that quickly dispels any confusion.

"This is the band's first time overtly exploring sexuality and its manic repercussions in our songs," says vocalist Sevan Kand. "The songs were inspired by lust, passion, love and insanity…topics which don't necessarily define the whole scope of what we are about, but
that just happened to be a powerful influence on our songwriting this year."

Though its influences are apparent, The Sixth Chamber has twisted its psychedelic leanings into something new and original. "We've evolved a lot in sound since we started," says Pistor. "We are constantly changing and growing as people, and we just let the music go where imagination, creativity and inspiration take us."

Kand and Pistor are joined in the line-up by bassist Joshua Soto and drummer Michael Ferrara.

Kand's main vocals are a mixture of '60s soul, '70s rock and early blues. His influences include Jim Morrison, Jack Bruce, Robert Plant, James Brown, Al Green and Ian Gillan. Kand was born on a European tour to parents who were members of seminal goth band Christian Death. He traveled with them throughout his youth and lived in England, the Netherlands, Maine and Los Angeles.

Pistor hails from New Jersey, where in his teenage punk days he played bass in a band with members of The Misfits and Samhain. He often adds a mystical gypsy flamenco flare to his lead guitar as well as a lot of blues scales and minor chords, with the minor keys giving way to a psychedelic rock sound.

Born and bred in Venice, birthplace of The Doors and home to street artists from around the world, bassist Soto delivers seductive grooves inspired by John Paul Jones and Billy Cox. Drummer Ferrara comes from a jazz background, which gives him a technical edge when creating his blues-fueled beats.

"We really don't try and emulate anybody else," says Pistor. "We're all just total characters off on our own plane somewhere in space, off on our own wave length and together we have a great musical chemistry."

For The Sixth Chamber chemistry builds to an ecstatic climax every time. So, go ahead, take a deep breath and lose yourself in the voluptuous pleasure of The Sixth Chamber. - The Rockit

"...possibly the best recording of 2007" - Joel Gausten - author/rock historian

Featured band of the week on the music page of The Argonaut 3/1/07 issue
- The Argonaut

The Sixth Chamber at Safari Sam's Pick of the Week

Despite their intricately tangled guitar riffs and pummeling heaviness, the Sixth Chamber are more than just another hard-rock band. The local quartet claim that they're influenced by Edgar Allan Poe, the Black Panthers' Bobby Seale, Timothy Leary, defense attorney William Kunstler, Henry Miller, abnormal psychology, shamanism and "consciousness alteration" just as much as they are by psychedelic rock and Black Sabbath. They say they're inspired by the movies of Roman Polanski — and yet the cover of their new self-titled EP (on Novokkane Recordings) features sensual artwork by imprisoned Charles Manson affiliate Bobby Beausoleil. Clearly, there's a lot going on with this ambitious group. Sevan Kand howls with a wild-eyed, from-the-mountaintop kind of rock evangelism, firmly supported by drummer Michael Ferrara and bassist Joshua Soto's mighty bedrock of Led Zep–style rhythms. Guitarist Rahne Pistor slathers "Secret Lovers Land" with a wash of exotic slide guitar and deft psychedelic licks, while Kand croons ominously until the song is swept out to sea on a rising metallic tide. It's all good stuff — even if it's not clear how they really feel about Sharon Tate. (Falling James) - LA Weekly

Damned if I know why we gotta go all the way to Australia for Wolfmother, when we got The Sixth Chamber, our own hard-rocking retro psychedelic melody monsters, right here.
- Greg Burk

...The Sixth Chamber do what so few bands...are capable of - create original music. This is a really impressive debut, and it would be great to see this band get signed to a good label."
- Reviewer magazine #17

The Sixth Chamber spans sonic generation gap

By John Sollenberger


When you think of classic-sounding hard rock, you might immediately
catch a mental image of a bunch of gray-haired grandpas doing their
40th anniversary tour. But a new breeze is blowing out there, fanned
by a second generation of hard rockers who've learned from the past
and added their own flourishes to keep it fresh and sexy. That's a
hint of what's in store Wednesday night as the Sixth Chamber takes the
stage at Sierra Madre's Buccaneer Lounge.

The Sixth Chamber lists as influences the most classic of rockers,
including Cream, Black Sabbath, Zeppelin, the Animals, the Doors and
others of that era, as well as blues masters like Lightnin' Hopkins
and funksters Parliament/Funkadelic. Yet the band doesn't appear to be
heading for the rocking chair any time soon, as members are mostly
college-aged.

Singer Sevan Kand belts a bluesy, soul-filled style influenced by
late-'60s/early-'70s rock and R&B, everything from Jim Morrison to Al
Green. Guitarist Rahne Pistor's bio describes him as "a pupil of the
Jimi Hendrix school of blues and psychedelic rock guitar," while
adding a dash of gypsy flamenco to keep things interesting. Drummer
and Caltech student Michael Ferrara is known for his classic rock and
blues–based psychedelic sensibilities, with jazz influences and
abilities beyond his age. Bassist Joshua Soto credits iconic
low-noters like John Paul Jones and Billy Cox as influences, along
with the education gained from growing up in the cultural soup that is
Venice Beach.

These guys have been getting rave reviews from New York to LA, and
boast a fairly ambitious recording history, having released a string
of EPs — basically one a year since 2004 — culminating in this year's
"Divine."
- Pasadena Weekly

The Sixth Chamber is featured in February 2008 issue Angeleno as one of three main torchbearers of a neo-hard rock psychedelic wave of sound in Los Angeles....The article was written by New York Times journalist Marc Weingarten, who wrote the biography on Hunter S. Thompson (author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)... - Angeleno Magazine