Ripple Music announces the release of "Turned To Stone Chapter 8: The Wake", the new split record featuring Southwestern heavy and stoner rock merchants HIGH DESERT QUEEN and BLUE HERON, to be issued on May 26th, 2023. Listen to Blue Heron’s debut single "Able Baker" now!
About joining forces with High Desert Queen, Blue Heron frontman Jadd Shickler says: "We dig High Desert Queen as musicians and as people. We invited them to Albuquerque to play the release party for our first single, which I think was their first-ever out-of-town gig. They returned the favor by having us play with them at Ripplefest Texas last summer, and I think all of us in Blue Heron are pretty impressed by their go-getter attitude. Along with all that, several of us are actual friends outside of band stuff, so it just felt like a natural pairing that Todd at Ripple was on board with. We're stoked that it worked out, and with luck, we'll be playing some shows with them to promote the record later this year!"
Listen to Blue Heron's new track "Able Baker"
Pairing up two highly esteemed bands of the Southwest underground scene, "Turned To Stone Chapter 8" is a gigantic masterclass of heavy rock, with six tracks that will take you on a riff-fueled journey with no further ado! Between HIGH DESERT QUEEN's versatile and massive-sounding heavy and BLUE HERON's raucous and desert-shaped songcraft, it is no understatement to say that we are in presence of true forces of nature, an alliance between two up-and-coming greats of the US stoner and desert rock scene.
"Turned To Stone Chapter 8" will be available on May 26th in various vinyl formats as well as digitally, with preorders available now on Ripple Music. The artwork was created by award-winning comic and poster artist Johnny Dombrowski.
HIGH DESERT QUEEN / BLUE HERON
"Turned To Stone Chapter 8: The Wake" Out May 26th on Ripple Music
US preorder - European preorder - Bandcamp
TRACKLIST:
1. High Desert Queen - Black Moon
2. High Desert Queen - Drift Into The Sun
3. High Desert Queen - Roll The Dice
4. Blue Heron - Able Baker
5. Blue Heron - Day Of The Comet
6. Blue Heron - Superposition
Formed in 2019 to an eclectic backdrop of influences, Austin foursome HIGH DESERT QUEEN’s sole aim was to make the kind of music they could file away on their own record shelves, among the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Elder, Lowrider, Alice in Chains, Tom Waits and The Allman Brothers. Providing high-octane shows that never deliver the same experience twice, they were well on their way to establishing themselves as one of the hardest-working rock bands on the Austin music scene. They released their critically acclaimed debut "Secrets of the Black Moon" in the fall of 2021 on Ripple Music in collaboration with Blasko. With their thunderous, fuzz-drenched anthemic rock'n'roll, the Texan foursome got instantly adopted by the heavy and stoner rock community worldwide. After two successful trips to Europe, HIGH DESERT QUEEN is set to embark on an extensive UK & European tour this spring, highlighted by several large festivals like Desertfest London, Desertfest Berlin and Esbjerg Fuzztival.
BLUE HERON is a heavy rock band from Albuquerque, New Mexico, whose firsthand relationship with the desert is inextricable from who they are and how they sound. Surrounded by endless horizons, Blue Heron formed in 2018 out of a compulsion to fill the vastness with massive volume, saturating their piece of desert with rolling, thunderous riffs, drums that pummel and swing, deep, thrumming tones and vocals that rip and roar. Blue Heron’s guitarist and singer were founding members of Spiritu, possibly Albuquerque's first desert-style rock band, whose brief burn included a Jack Endino-produced album, a European tour with Clutch, Spiritual Beggars and Dozer, and a compilation appearance alongside Entombed and Mastodon. BLUE HERON’s debut LP "Ephemeral" arrived in May of 2022 via Kozmik Artifactz (EU) and Seeing Red Records (USA), and was described as "superior stoner rock" by Big Takeover Magazine. Substantial appreciation throughout the heavy underground led to performances at Ripplefest Texas and Monolith on the Mesa, and slots opening for The Well, Elder, Black Mountain, Ruby the Hatchet, Howling Giant, Heavy Temple and The Obsessed.