Albuquerque desert rockers Blue Heron and Austin heavy rock purveyors High Desert Queen team up with The Obelisk to premiere the "Turned To Stone Chapter 8: The Wake" split album in its entirety, ahead of its official release this May 26th on Ripple Music.
Pairing up two esteemed bands of the US Southwest underground scene, this eighth chapter of Ripple Music's revered "Turned To Stone" split series is a gigantic masterclass of heavy rock. 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 the presence of true forces of nature, an alliance between two up-and-coming greats of the US stoner and desert rock scene!
Stream "Turned To Stone Chapter 8: The Wake" in full HERE
High Desert Queen's frontman Ryan Garney comments: “It’s an honor to share a split with Blue Heron. From the first time we saw this band play live we were immediately happy to do anything with these musical juggernauts. Incredible musicians and even better people. It’s also great to be able resurrect three songs from the dead. These 3 tracks didn’t make our debut record and we are happy they get to see the light of day in conjunction with three powerful songs from Blue Heron.”
Blue Heron's frontman Jadd Shickler adds: “Split releases work best when there’s a reason for them to exist. It’s easy to slap two bands on a record to fill up the album sides, but when there’s something to connect them, that’s when a split makes sense. Blue Heron and High Desert Queen are both from the Southwest, we’ve both got a shared love of massive desert rock and, whether we intend it or not, a lot of grunge influences. We also dig them as people and as musicians. We welcomed them for their first out-of-state show at our 7-inch release gig in 2021, and they hosted us at Ripplefest Texas last year. We respect the hell out of their ambition, their musicality, and their dedication to huge riffs, so it’s a real pleasure to share this record with them. As for the songs, we put a bit of pressure on ourselves. Our debut album came out just a year ago, and we wanted to follow that with a batch of new tunes that are compact and fairly straightforward, but still show our love for starting a song in one place and ending up somewhere radically different.”
"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. Watch the videos for Blue Heron's "Able Baker" and High Desert Queen's "Black Moon"!
High Desert Queen & Blue Heron "Turned To Stone Chapter 8: The Wake"
Out May 26th, 2023 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.