Blog Stoner bands need to step it up

Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I have nothing against stoner rock.

In fact, that particular sub-genre of heavy metal—first invoked to describe the slow-and-low, bass-heavy, mildly psychedelic retro-rock sounds of High Desert bands like Kyuss and Sleep—is one of my very favorite types of music. It's produced such consistently solid acts as Fu Manchu, Queens Of The Stone Age, and Clutch, and in its more extreme manifestations has yielded the hugely underrated space-rock outfit Farflung, and Earthless, who might be the best band in the world.

Likewise, I have no problem with stoners, or at least with getting stoned. Not to betray a confidence or anything, but I've been known to take a hit or two every couple of hours, and it's not as if worshiping at the temple of THC hasn't been an essential component of metal since Black Sabbath recorded “Sweet Leaf.” I don't even mind when a band goes a bit overboard on the zoot-related lyrics, as long as it can make them elaborately goofy (like Sleep's Dopesmoker) or back them with ferociously powerful music (like the Electric Wizard's Dopethrone).

What bothers me is when the obsession with weed is the only reason for a band to exist. If your whole goddamn raison d'etre is to crack dope jokes, then you're not a band, you're a Cheech & Chong routine, and the world already has plenty of those, thank you very much. You had better be able to bring it musically if you're going to expect me to overlook the fact that your lyrics, cover art, graphics, and liner notes are designed to give 16-year-olds who have just smoked their first bowl a cheap giggle. Bands like Kottonmouth Kings, Cannabis Corpse, and White Mice—I'm looking right at you.

For a long time, it looked like North Carolina's Weedeater was going to be one of those one-joke “pot rock” bands. Despite their impeccable pedigree (“Dixie” Dave Collins came to the band from the terrific sludge outfit Buzzov*en), their first records were crammed with we-get-it-already references to the joys of stoner culture, sung over mediocre stoner riffs that weren't nearly good enough to disguise the futility of the whole venture. Fortunately, Weedeater—who plays The Frequency on Wednesday—seems to be crawling out of that particular smelly bong-hole and getting its shit together. Its latest album, God Luck And Good Speed, sees Weedeater making the big jump to Southern Lord (where it will be accused of becoming “hipster metal”) and getting recorded by Steve Albini (which will put the band on the shit list of everyone who hates the outspoken Chicagoan). But let the haters hate:  It's Weedeater's best album by far, both musically and lyrically, and the band takes the kind of chances that the pot-rock contingent are too lazy to even think up.

Cannabis culture was, is, and always will be a major influence on rock music, especially of the hard and heavy variety, and long may it reign. But there are a lot of bands who should take Weedeater's example to heart: The jokey dope references might be fun, but your fans are a lot more likely to keep funding your habit in the long run if it turns out you really have something to say.

Leonard Pierce's Metal Box column appears monthly at avclub.com.