7-22-2004 The Stork Club, Oakland, CA

Here

4-24-2004 Faseplant's Backyard, Oakland, CA

Here

July 30th, 2005 Thee Parkside, San Francisco, CA

Here

1. Hey Gringo
2. Lovechild Miscarriage
3. At the Firing Squad
4. Stage Banter
5. Plan in Crayon
6. Stage Banter
7. Ignormia
8. Flight of the Nazgul/ Gypsy Whiskey Mountain

July 3rd, 2004 Kimo's San Francisco, CA

Here

I believe there may have been 10 people there.


1. The New One
2. Hey Gringo
3. Green Leprosy Boob
4. Wrath of Shamash
5. Lovechild Miscarriage
6. Ice Spiders
7. Plan in Crayon
8. Stage Banter
9. Afuckingwreck
10. Brickyard Pond

Dead For Tax Purposes

Here

This is the final album we made, recorded over the course of a year at different studios and different geological locations. Mostly from Spring 2005 to Spring 2006. Mostly. -Bruce

1. The New One
2. Ignoramia
3. Plan In Crayon
4. Afuckingwreck
5. Rolling Joints of Vengeance
6. Ice Spiders
7. At the Firing Squad
8. Lovechild Miscarriage
9. Flight of the Nazgul / Gypsy Whiskey Mountain

Dead For Tax Purposes isn't so much of an album as it is a mock-up of what the album would have been if we'd remained a band. The songs here are cobbled together from different sessions and studios and present, in kind of a collage format, a vision of where we could have gone with a second album.

1. The New One: Recorded Spring 2005 at Earhammer Studios in Oakland, CA. You might recognize this version from "The Black Tape."

2. Ignoramia: Recorded Spring 2005 at Earhammer for the Black Tape session. When we went into the studio to do what we became The Black Tape, our intention had been to record a whole second album, but everything took so long, in typical HD fashion, that we only finished four songs before we ran out of time and money, and we decided to release them as a tape EP. Further problems arose when the wrong length of tapes was ordered, and there was no room to fit Ignoramia on side B, so it was replace by a live version of Plan In Crayon. Ignoramia was a staple of our set list at this time, and signified a change in our sound to a (slightly) less stoner style, with the addition of more technical and NWOBHM aspects.

3. Plan in Crayon: Clint, Leo and Bryce's parts recorded at the Dutch Oven, Alameda, CA, 2006. Bruce's parts recorded at Snake Mountain, Rhode Island. After the band was basically done for, Leo, Bryce and I went into the Dutch Oven to record at least "demo-worthy" versions of all the new Hotblack Desiato songs that had not yet been recorded. We then sent the files to Bruce in Providence, Rhode Island, where he took them to another recording studio and overdubbed his guitar and vocal parts. An awkard coast to coast collaboration, indeed, but at least we got it done. Plan In Crayon was our fastest song ever, a pretty blatant Slayer rip off. Again, one of the new directions we were exploring late in our career. The song is about a friend of ours who went insane from doing too many drugs and wrote a master business plan for an evil goth Starbucks... in crayon.

4. Afuckingwreck: Recorded bi-coastal at Dutch Oven and Snake Mountain. Afuckingwreck was a rippin' instrumental that we had been playing for a long time, and originally appeared on our third demo. We were trying to capture a better version here, but I'm not sure if we did...

5. Rolling Joints Of Vengeance: Earhammer. Version from The Black Tape.

6. Ice Spiders: Recorded at Dutch Oven and Snake Mountain. This song was Bryce's baby, and came about when I brought home a copy of the first Iron Maiden, and left it lying about our living room. Bryce soaked it all in and penned this epic tale.

7. At The Firing Squad: Recorded at Dutch Oven and Snake Mountain. Another epic warhorse of the late Hotblack setlist, this heavily High On Fire influenced song was a bitch to play, but sounded really awesome when done right. I don't feel this recording does any justice to how we played it live on a good night.

8. Lovechild Miscarriage: Earhammer. Black Tape. Probably our scummiest, sludgiest song. We were also going to use this recording for a split seven inch with the Concord grind band Brutal Death, where they would have a ten song 45rpm side, and we would have a one song 33rpm side. It even got to the point where RSR records in Germany was almost going to put it out, but it never happened, and both bands broke up.

9. Flight Of The Nazgul/Gyspy Whiskey Mountain: Recorded at Dutch Oven and Snake Mountain. We read some magazine article where a journalist was pondering why no one ever writes epic two part songs anymore like Layla or Rocket Queen or Wheels Of Confusion. We responded with this little ditty. Probably my second favorite Hotblack song, and one that never seemed to fail at bringing down the house in a live setting. This studio version is a little tame, but you get the idea. -Clint

Hotblack Desiato In Print

Years ago, I used to do a very moody, very punk rock styled zine called Stop Go Destroy. In issue number 6, there are a couple of stories about Hotblack Desiato. This one is the ridiculous tale of our first road trip out of town, to a weird party in Eugene, Oregon that we didn't even get paid for. Bryce drew the picture of our van, Molestro. The night in Red Bluff was the subject of the Hotblack Desiato song "Wrath of Shamash."
And what comes now is a little vignette of life at the Hotblack Desiato house (The Secret Volcano Fortress) where we all lived together from the Spring of 2003 to the Fall of 2004. Ahh, let's have everyone live together! And have band practice in the basement! That will be so cool!

Lucy was the pit bull who slept on the couch most of the time and gaurded our weed plants.

One time this guy called us up on the house phone (back when people had house phones!) and I answered
"Secret Volcano Fortress!" Without a pause he asked
"Is Pele there?" Taken by surprise and dumbfounded, wrecked on hash and vicodin and steel reserve, I stuttered
"Uh, who?"
"Pele, at the Secret Volcano Fortress!"
And then I thought of course, why wouldn't Pele (the Hawaiian godess of fire, lightning, dance and VOLCANOS) be at the Secret Volcano Fortress? Very funny dude. I don't remember who that was on the phone. Some friend of a friend. Smartass.

Above: 5757 Shattuck Avenue, Oakland, CA

So that's a trip down memory lane, memories of what it was like to be trapped in a van and a house with the Hotblacks. More coming soon once we dig it up. -Clint

Antfarm Studios 10-26-02

SET LIST:
1. Green Leprosy Boob
2. Wrath Of Shamash
3. The New One
4. Luther Htoo
5. Banter
6. Three Days (Jane's Addiction)
7. The Insect God
8. The Narrow Way (Pink Floyd)
9. Banter
10. Dante Damasco
11. School (Nirvana)

Here's one for die hards only! A few months into our quest, we played this totally sloppy, kind of wasted Halloween party at Ant Farm Studios in East Oakland. The instruments all sound pretty muddy, and you can't hear the vocals for shit.

I have a clear (or perhaps not so clear?) memory of hitting a six foot bong in the loft before the show whilst listening to Sweet Leaf on volume eleven, then eating from a casserole of delicious tamales. Let's get ready to play a show boys! As this was a Halloween gig, we peppered the set liberally with covers, and had a lot of wasted good times. The segue of Three Days (more of an interpretation than an actual cover) into The Insect God into The Narrow Way is pretty cool, I must say. You can hear us getting drunker and sloppier as the set goes on (and on... and on...). The mini disc recorder ran out of space right before the last song, which if I recall correctly was a pretty rippin' cover of Kyuss' Fatso Forgotso. Then I have a very unclear memory of us all partying at the warehouse, passing out there, waking up to the ghostly voice of Lou Reed coming out of someone's room, and us all going for a righteous breakfast at Quatros Caminos down the street. Fuck Yeah. -Clint

Antfarm Studios

The Time Out 2-19-2005

1. Ignoramia

2.Flight Of The Nazgul / Gypsy Whiskey Mountain

3. Eye Of jupiter

The Time Out

KZSU Review

We must have sent our CD to KZSU at one point. I have no idea if they ever played anything from it, but much later I found this weird, track by track review, probably for DJs who might want to play some tracks. Some of the descriptions make sense, others sound like they're talking about a different band! Just goes to show how differently I think about some things I did than those who review them. Wait till we dig out the Maximum Rock N Roll review! Ha ha!! -Clint

Ragnar of Ravensfjord
Reviewed 2006-04-11

Loud/sludgey heavy rock/sometimes metal from Oakland. Kinda similar to Jesus Lizard, Glazed Baby, and Dinosaur Jr. , (without much of the ‘hippy’ parts) though not as loud and not doing anything that’s really making them stand out amongst any other bands that have gone this route.

1. (Hey Gringo) Heavy, noisy & disjointed rawk sung en español
2. (Brickyard Pond) Slow-ish, riffy , crawlin’
3. (Luther Htoo) Demented, fucked-up sludge, drum heavy, oozing.
4. (Sinking Into A Giant Crater Of Moondust) Excessive cowbell intro. WTF? What is this
Grand Funk? Big slab of melted boogie cheese.
5. (Insect God) Cigarette worn vocals, damaged darkside of the Dino Jr. 7” ?
6. (Evil Vacuum Wars) Roughshod, fuzz-heavy-rawk with some solid drumming.
7. (Wrath Of Shamash) Sloppy but fun, spur of the moment punk.
8. (White Widow Skull Bud) Bland stoner rock from satan’s armpit with incomphrensible as
Cannibal Corpse vocals.

The Black Tape

Here's a shout out and thanks to Robert Collins for reviewing and ripping our Black Tape to his excellent tapes only blog Terminal Escape. He did it so we don't have to. Contrary to popular belief, this was not our demo tape (we had three different CDr only demos), but was a stop gap release that was to precede our second album. We went into the studio to record for the album, and only got four songs done. The tapes I ordered were not the right length, so we ended up using the live version of Plan In Crayon instead of Ignoramia. This ended up being the final HD release.

A Black Tape Redux is on the short list of future Stop Go Destroy Tapes releases, which will include remastered sound and all four intended original tracks! Coming soon. For now, enjoy the download! -Clint

Black Tape

Hotblack Desiato @ The Slaughterhouse, Oakland, CA 7-31-2004

I don't really remember much about this show except that I was excited to play at the Slaughterhouse, which was a pretty cool punk warehouse down near Jack London Square in Oakland. I remember our friend Kevin Kenyan heckling us and you can actually hear him on the recording. I also remember screwing up and you can hear that too. This guy Christian was working the soundboard and he did the recording off of that. I always liked working with that guy. It makes the drums sound nice. Clint or Bryce can probably remember more than I can. -Bruce

The Slaughterhouse was an amazing punk spot that actually WAS a slaughterhouse at one point. It has since been torn down and replaced by (of course!) condo lofts. The scene was a filthy paradise of labyrinthine corridors full of graffiti, drug use, and unsupervised teenage makeout parties. People stood in an inch of piss waiting for the insufficient bathrooms, which were also full of people making out and doing drugs. Ahh... the memories. I think I have the flyer for this show still. I'll post it if I find it. -Clint

Added the flyer. I don't remember this show at all actually, so that tells you a little about my lack of soberness that night. After listening to it, all in all I think it's a good example of our live sound. Kevin's heckling in between songs is quite priceless too. The things I do remember about the slaughterhouse was that yes, as Clint mentioned, was quite labyrinthine and I often would just stumble around in that places wondering where the fuck I was. They also had a huge collage of cut up nasty D-grade porn behind plexiglass in the main hall that always fascinated me. Go figure... -Bryce

Slaughtered

Hotblack Desiato S/T Album Outtakes

We had recorded these four songs (Dante Damasco, Vowel Matt O'Douls, Wicked Retada, and Robbins Nest) when we recorded our S/T album at Expressions (see the previous post for recording info). We never ended up adding any vocals, because I don't think they had any. For some reason, we didn't think that they'd be a good fit on our album. Maybe we thought they didn't rock hard enough or something stupid like that. We never released these in any form, so this is their sloppy birth into the world. Looking back, two of these are some of my favorite songs we did (Wicked Retada and Robbins Nest). -Bruce

These four songs reflect the other styles of music we were interested in at the time. We shaved them off of the s/t album so we'd have a cohesive forty minutes of metal for an LP, and these misfits fell by the wayside. You might be able to tell that in addition to our stoner rock interests, we were listening to lots of Sonic Youth, Mahavishnu Orchestra and My Bloody Valentine. We played all of these songs live at one time or another right along side the heavy shit. -Clint

Outtakes

Hotblack Desiato S/T

This was our first album. It was recorded by Matt Koshak and Tim Zebal at Expressions Center For New Media in Emeryville, CA in May 2004. We recorded all the instrument tracks live and added the vocals the next day. I think we still have some of the handmade CD versions of this lying around, so if anyone is interested in one let us know. The inside the CD cover photo of the amplifier stack was taken in our backyard by Clint. Our whole band lived together there on Shattuck Ave. in Oakland with this drugged out hippie wizard guy named Bliss who never left the house. There are things I would change with the recording if I could go back in time, but now it just reminds me of a really good time. I love it, warts and all.
-Bruce

First album? Only album! Only released album! For those who don't know, Ex'pressions (don't forget that pretentious-ass apostrophe!) is a media school, and they record bands for free. That's how we got this done. The tape machine was from a studio in Florida that had been used to record Derek and The Dominoes and Foreigner in the 70's. There are some inconsistencies in the mix that really bother me and some other problems that I wish could have been fixed, but whatever. I get really nostalgic when I hear this recording. 500 CDs were pressed and released on our own imprint, Lummox Records. The front cover photo was taken by Kevin Repp. -Clint

Self Titled

Hotblack Desiato Third Demo

Recorded January 25th, 2004 at Shine On Studios, Oakland, CA Engineered and mixed by Davis Hughes

Cover By Bryce Shelton

Our first recording done in a studio. I don't know how we found out about the place, but someone liked it because it was named after a Pink Floyd song. We spent one night in the joint recording these three songs. After the drums and bass were done someone went to get us Giant Burgers from MacArthur and Fruitvale. The dude who was recording us was having an ongoing feud with the upstairs neighbors and he told us about how they had come down a few nights before, interrupting a session, to punch him in the face. -Clint

Third Demo

Welcome Friends, Old And New

Awhile back, Bruce and I were bantering over the phone about the sorry state of the mountains of hard to find and unreleased Hotblack Desiato recordings we had. Since the band broke up, there were a few ideas about how to get the material to anyone out there who cares. Concepts such as CDr volumes and four-tape boxed sets were proposed and ultimately rejected due the cost and lack of motivation to do work for a band that has been floating face down in Brickyard Pond for quite some time now!

Me and Bruce settled on the conclusion that we would develop a blog (in this modern age, a popular way of sharing music) to showcase the lost tunes. Wait patiently as we upload all this shit, but in due time we will grant access to all of the demos, official recordings, unreleased songs, and live recording that we have. It will be ridiculously thorough. To keep ourselves entertained, we will also probably throw in a smattering of tour photos, anecdotes and trivial information (where the fuck is Brickyard Pond, anyway?).

-Clint