Black Mastiff present long awaited third CD to Lethbridge

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Edmonton based stoner rock/ alternative rock band Black Mastiff are excited to finally release their third full length album “Loser Delusions,” on Oct. 18 though they will have it with them when they kick off a western Canadian tour with Chron Goblin, at a special ticketed event, Oct. 10 at the Owl Acoustic Lounge.

Black Mastiff return to Lethbridge, Oct. 10. Photo by Richard Amery
“It’s been four years, it‘s been a process, not necessarily musically, but logistically,” said guitarist/vocalist Bob Yiannakoulias, who is  joined by bassist Clay Shea and drummer Alan Harding, who moved to Vancouver three years ago.


“Because Allan moved to Vancouver  and wanted to try it long distance and we didn’t want to replace him. So we communicated digitally. Through technology, Clay and I could send him guitar, bass and click and sometimes rough drums for us. He didn’t want to  play drum parts that weren’t his,” he said.


“ We recorded it three times, dropped a lot of songs,” he continued, adding they recorded the album with Nik Kozub at the Audio Department Studio.
“ We recorded the last album in Palm Springs, so this was a quite a transition. There can be a lot of distractions when working at home.
My house is about two blocks away, so every day, I could bike, walk or skateboard to the studio and work. And Nik is so relaxed and we both love dogs, so we were always showing each other pictures of our dogs,” he enthused.


 Taking more time allowed the trio to experiment more, though there is a heavy Black Sabbath Influence.
 “There is Black Sabbath. We definitely feel that, but we didn’t want to just do that. I don’t like the term eclectic, but there are a lot of different things, like garage rock, heavier music and jam rock and even some pop. It’s a bit different,” he said.

 “Some of the best songs we left off the album were eight minute long jam songs,” he said.

He said the band put the songs on that felt the best.


“ We just knew. When we played a riff or a part of a songs, we can just feel it. Like that’s a hit and that’s a hit,” he said.
“ I’m really proud of it. It checked off all the boxes for me. There are a lot of good songs on this album,” he said.


Bassist Clay Shea, also spent the early part of the year on tour with Seas, but that didn’t affect Black Mastiff.

“We all have lives and families.So it was like, ‘oh, you’re gone.’ Then ‘oh, you’re back’. Even Allan didn’t know he was touring with Seas until they showed up in Vancouver,” he chuckled.
 he had his own project to work on— a n ambitious animated video for “Star Base 77.”


“ I’ve only done shorter films. But I’m really inspired by Heavy Metal (Canadian made animated adult sci-fi move from 1981) It is Rotoscope animations and 2,400 frames in that video. I spent  two months  and I went into the poorhouse making it. I neglected a lot of work to do it,” he continued.


“I’m really proud of it. It’s really exciting,” he said.


 He is also excited to share the music with people, promising lots of new music.
“We’re touring with our friends from Calgary, Chron Goblin, who also have a new album out. So there will be lots of new music,” he said, adding they released their new albums on their own independent label Grand Hand Records.


Chron Goblin and Black Mastiff and local band Facecut play the Owl Acoustic Lounge at 9 p.m. for a special ticketed event. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
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Last Updated ( Friday, 11 October 2019 18:38 )