Chron Goblin returning to Lethbridge with new music

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Calgary stoner rock band Chron Goblin hope to break out of that genre with their fourth CD “Here Before.”

Chron Goblin return to Lethbridge, Oct. 10. Photo submitted
 They kick off a tour in support of the new CD with Black Mastiff at a  special ticketed event at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Oct. 10.
“We didn’t want to get stuck in the stoner rock genre. And I’m more of a progressive rock rock guy,”  said long time bassist Richard Hepp, noting he is pleased with the CD’s cleaner sound.


“ So we recorded it at OCL studios just outside of Calgary in Strathmore. half of the house is a residence and the other half is a soundproofed recording studio. A lot of big name country guys come there to rehearse for their shows a t the Saddledome or other venues, which we didn’t know when we started recording last summer. So they’d stop by to see what was going on,” Hepp said, adding he had to work  until five and came by to record after that, so he didn’t actually get to meet any of the country guys.


 The band includes vocalist  Josh Sandulak, guitarist Devin ‘Darty’ Purdy and drummer Brett Whittingham.
 They started to play together just over 10 years ago.


“Brett and  Darty started jamming together while living in residence in university on some thrash metal, but that didn’t work out. They asked Josh to sing and he‘d never sang anything before, then I joined. I was the guitar player. I never even thought of playing bass and now I love playing bass,” Hepp summarized, adding the band made a conscious decision to record elsewhere with people who weren’t  focused on alternative rock and stoner rock.


“Josh sings punkish, but also really clean. you can understand what he’s saying.  But they used to distort his vocals and the guitar. And even my bass was all fuzzy.
 This time everything was a lot more clean,” he said.

 They recorded an EP,, then released their debut CD ‘One Million From The Top’  in 2011, then the follow-up ‘Life for the Living’ in 2013 and  ‘Backwater’ in 2015.
“I didn’t do a lot of writing on the EP, but I played on it,” he said.

 


 He noted  the band took their time to release the album because they were testing out record companies before deciding to release it on their own label with Black Mastiff.
 
“A lot of record companies weren’t into us just using their PR people and distribution channels, so we just decided to do it ourselves, which is how we started anyway,” he said., adding audiences have responded positively to the CD since releasing it on  their new record label Grand Hand Records on Sept. 27.


“We’ve had a lot of eight and nine star reviews,” he said, adding audiences can expect to hear a lot of the new album.


“When some bands have a new album, they like to play it all the way through. We were thinking of doing that. But we‘re still toying with the set list. You’ll hear at least half of the new album,” said Hepp, who has a newborn at home, so he will only be joining Chron Goblin for the Alberta dates of the two week tour.


“ We’ll probably play half of the new album and half older songs. it will be a lot of fun,” he said.
Chron Goblin, Black Mastiff and local band Face Cut play the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Oct. 10 at 9 p.m. Tickets are $15 advance and $20 at the door for the special ticketed event.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 02 October 2019 12:27 )