Sardinian bluesy heavy rockers King Howl stream first single “Motorsound” (via Doomed & Stoned); LP ‘Homecoming’ comes early June 2023.
Italian heavy blues/proto-doom quartet King Howl has shared “Motorsound,” the first single off their upcoming roaming-themed album, Homecoming, scheduled for 09 June via Electric Valley Records. The album tells an on-the-road story set in 1960s America, where a young man escapes from a rural setting and embarks on a nomadic journey.
Of the single “Motorsound,” King Howl vocalist Diego Pani says:
“‘Motorsound’ was first inspired by ‘The Never Open Desert Diner’ by author James Anderson. It talks about the beauty of a shiny truck owing the highway while cruising a desert. Like much of King Howl’s music, it is a eulogy to travel, to the road, and motors.”
“Motorsound” is also available on all major digital/streaming platforms.
The album “Homecoming” will be available on four editions of vinyl (Black, Red Marbled, Brown Galaxy, and Ultra LTD “Road Edition”). PRE-ORDER available at Bandcamp (vinyl + digital) or the label’s Webstore (vinyl).
King Howl from Cagliari, Sardinia, plays heavy blues: the raw sounds of the blues, filtered by a multitude of different musical influences coming from stoner rock, ’70s classic rock, funk, and punk in a crossover labored with spontaneity and naturalness, a flow of sounds that never stops.
King Howl attracted conspicuous attention with their first full-length, King Howl Quartet (2012, Talk About Records/Go Down Records), which imposed a personal sound, pushed by singles like “Morning” and “Drunk.” In 2014, the four-track Truck Stop Ep (Talk About Records) brought new nuances to King Howl’s trademark, developing a more mature songwriting exposed in songs like “Kerouac” or “Time to Say Goodbye.” In July 2017, King Howl released their second full-length called Rougarou. This 10 tracks of blues-fueled, booze-soaked rock’n’roll record is another proof of the band’s peculiar sound defined through years on the road, represented by bangers such as “Gone,” “Screaming,” and “Demons.”
The band toured all of Italy and central Europe several times, often included in the bills of international festivals such as Pietrasonica Festival, Time in Jazz, Duna Jam, Maximum Festival, Crumble Fight Fest, Freiburg Fuzz Fest, Swanflight Festival, Narcao Blues, and Aglientu Summer Blues; and opened (among others) for Mud Morganfield, Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man, Greenleaf, My Sleeping Karma, Siena Root, and Bob Margolin.
King Howl’s new album, “Homecoming”, represents a new chapter in the band’s stylistic universe, spurring their trademark sound while mixing it with new compositional and sound influences. A mix of blues, stoner, psychedelia, and classic rock that paints the soundscape of an on-the-road story set in 1960s America, a narrative plot that permeates the entire work, accompanied by a constant sonic evolution, always on the road. Thus, King Howl returns to the theme of travel, the band’s favorite concept from the beginning.
“Homecoming” tells the story of a young protagonist who escapes from a rural setting and embarks on a journey that takes him on a train ride and encounters various challenges, including temptation and change. The theme of travel and change is a central focus of the album, with some tracks drawing inspiration from James Anderson’s novel “The Never-Open Desert Diner.” The animal world is also a prominent symbol, represented on “The Great Blue Heron” by a powerful Hammond organ. The album’s epic journey concludes with the track “Home,” which represents an angry but hopeful homecoming and serves as an epic tale of growth, change, damnation, redemption, and rebirth. Homecoming also pays homage to the great Rolling Stones with the sixties classic “Gimme Shelter.”
The album was recorded in Sardinia by Roberto Macis and Willy Cuccu and mixed by Nene Baratto and Richard Behrens at Big Snuff Studio in Berlin, a key production hub for international heavy Psych (Kadavar, Samsara Blues Experiment, Elder, Wucan). A sound production focused on an “organic” analog sound, thanks to the use of vintage gear and a reel-to-reel master made by Nene Baratto at the Berlin-based Morphine Raum Studio.
Track Listing:
01. The Rooster
02. From the Cradle
03. The Train
04. John Henry Days
05. Motorsound
06. Slowly Coming Down
07. Temted
08. Jupiter
09. The Great Blue Heron
10. Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones cover)
11. Home
—Band Lineup—
Diego Pani – Vocals, Harmonica
Marco Antagonista – Guitars
Alessandro Cau – Bass
Alessandro Sedda – Drums
