GLACIERS

Fans of Big Guitars, rejoice! The San Francisco band who first brought us the superb And the Sea Won the Battle has returned with an even harder-edged album: loud, catchy, and confident. But don’t call it post-rock; this is really all-out rock, meant to be heard at outdoor venues where one can take cover when one’s ears begin to bleed. The limited vinyl edition was red, the regular edition smoke; for where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

Some unintentional humor appears in the press release, as Glaciers calls this “a dark album heavily influenced by life, death, nature, California and all things heavy”. We’re not convinced that “life, nature, and California” are heavy, and to call this “heavily influenced by (the) heavy” borders on Spinal Tap. But that’s where the humor ends, and there’s a good chance it’s intentional. Dark this LP may be – distorted, thick, even murky at times – but not overly serious or self-indulgent. The long, sweet passages of “Opalescent” lend the album a contemplative sheen, the proverbial calm before the storm. Otherwise, Mirrored Through the Ancients is an exercise in controlled chaos.

Tempo shifts are a huge factor; the opener alone shifts twice in the first minute. Muscular drumming and reverberated guitar riffs alternate with melodic interludes until the adrenaline kicks in. Then it’s fists in the air, boots on the floor, and spilled drinks. Are people moshing? Maybe not, but they’re certainly moving. The drum passage that begins at 5:42 is an invitation to clap in time. “Pierced by the Sun” begins in a more placid fashion, but eventually erupts with even greater force, while “Veil of the Phoenix” breaks the brake pedal and tosses it out the window without a backward glance.

With one sea album and one fire album completed, we suspect Glaciers will tackle air and earth to form a quadrilogy. With quality this high, that’s one boxed set we’d love to own. (Richard Allen) - A Closer Listen

Forgoing their last album’s crushing maritime vibe for an equally crushing land-based, almost-Cormac-McCarthy-esque sense of epic doom, San Francisco–based Glaciers seem to have found the perfect place to unfold their cathartic instrumental jams. Recorded by Phil Manley (Life Coach, Trans Am), each of the five new tracks follows the form of: establish riff, elaborate on theme, pummel listener into either awe or submission. “Veil of the Phoenix” stands out for its brevity and immediacy, but the band’s full power is best exemplified by the sunburnt death dirge of “Southwest of Heaven." - Filter Magazine

With the Bay Area showing no sign of letting up on the onslaught of fuzz and scuzz, sea-monster conquerors GLACIERS are preparing to release their new album Mirrored Through the Ancients July 30 with a release show this Friday, July 12 at Bottom of the Hill. Following up 2009's And the Sea Won the Battle, the quartet takes their maritime myth voyages into the grounded riddles of earth and the ancients on the featured album cut “Veil of the Phoenix”.

The four warriors reach the land of scorched earth after a long spell at sea that rivals the epics of Conrad's The Secret Sharer and Melville's Moby Dick. Met with the new ordeals of dragons and veiled phoenix birds, Wig brings forth both hell and sky with his bass, Chuck Pettry and Matt Youdall use all the amplified electric guitar ammunition they can muster while D. Remsing's drumming plunges all chords forward ahead to slay the new beasts in their path. And once you think “Veil” has come to an exhausting conclusion at the 2 minute mark lull; the quick gasp for air propels you back to health and back into the fray as the perilous fight intensifies in the song's second half of decisive action in the form of an epic battle jam.



We had the opportunity to talk briefly with GLACIERS about monster jam sessions and their upcoming new album.

How do you all keep that doom and drone energy burning and churning on cuts like “Veil of the Phoenix”?

As a band, we try to push our musical boundaries and comfort zones to expand our sound. It's easy to just go with what you know. But creatively, it's not a very inspiring approach and tends to stifle the creative process in the end. With “Veil of the Phoenix”, we set out to do something a little different and ended up with exactly that. It's different than all our other songs but it still sounds like us. The challenge helped us grow as musicians as well.

The new album Mirrored Through the Ancients has been in the works for sometime, what are some of the inner creative workings of Glaciers that you can share on creating a sound loud enough to knock down the constructs of rock?

Our writing process is definitely a slow one but it seems to work for us. Most of the time it begins with a guitar riff that we try jamming for a while, then improv from there. It ends up becoming a mess a lot of the time. But sometimes either the planets are aligned or we have the perfect amount of beer in our systems. Whatever the case, we end up writing something really great. Some of our best songs came together this way. A key ingredient is good chemistry within the band. We all work very well together.

For our new album, we worked on close to 100 different song ideas over the course of three years. A lot of different approaches helped us evolve and mature as a band. The end result is a much heavier sound than before.

GLACIERS' album release show is this Friday, July 12 at San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill with their new LP Mirrored Through the Ancients available July 30 on their imprint, Sound of Glaciers. - Impose Magazine

Somehow stumbled upon the debut album by Glaciers, entitled "And The Sea Won The Battle" and figured that if I care, so would you perhaps. Now, normally I wouldn't get excited about yét another band on the whole instrumental post-rock trip like Explosions In The Sky, Mogwai, Red Sparowes and countless others, but they happen to come from a town that I love being San Francisco, and the real bonus here is that Glaciers is a new band featuring members of Outspoken and Kill The Messenger, two bands that I really appreciated back in the good ole days.

So, their debut vinyl-only album (good call) recently went up for sale, and the version you can get from the band directly reeks of love and care as it comes in a silkscreened cover, a belly band with the band's logo letterpressed on it , a wax seal on the back side and this limited edition of 118 copies is handnumbered as well. It's a bit more expensive, but worth the trouble. The regular version comes on light blue vinyl, and is also available from the band or from your favourite recordstore such as RevHq and Interpunk. - Hex Vinyl

Glaciers, And the Sea Won the Battle. Glaciers chose its name well. This local instrumental rock band has a sound that's both serene and majestic — similar to Russian Circles, but a lot less metal. Even if you believe that instrumental bands are boring, Glaciers is worth a listen — technically skilled and often stunningly beautiful, it's music for people who really love music. Who needs lyrics when you can create a sound this compelling without them? (self-released) - Kirsty Evans for East Bay Express

"First proper full length (after a super limited cd-r), of gorgeously blissed out post rock from this Bay Area ensemble. Lush and textured, rhythmic and hypnotic, slow burning and sprawling, epic and super rocking, these guys take that nineties sound we love so much and make it their own, the songs smolder and pulse, before exploding into dense roiling Godspeed / Mogwai style blowouts. Meandering prettiness, gives way to loping mathy minimalism, chiming guitars, simple spare drumming, looped melodies, a slow build to near metallic crush, the bass throbbing, the guitars tangled up in psychedelic squalls, the drums muscled and propulsive. The sound moody and minor key, cinematic and soundtracky, brooding and intense, heavy and emotional and harrowing. If you dig stuff like Mogwai, Aereogramme, Mono, Pelican, Grails, Explosions In The Sky, Magyar Posse, Red Sparowes, Snowblood, that Temporary Residence instrumental rock sound, that heavy post POST rock, well, Glaciers does it as good if not better than most of your favorites. Not sure how these guys slipped under our radar, since they're from right here in the Bay Area, but it's time to right that wrong.

There's nothing much to add about the sound and the style of the musci Glaciers are playing. I was surprised when I gave them a listen because I really felt comfortable in the sound, even if it lacks "break-out's" like you get them from Shora, Grails or Saxon Shore. Perfect music for a cloudy and rainy sunday, enjoy folks! - Cult of Ruins

A beautiful post-rock band from Oakland, CA, recommended to me at Aquarius Records in San Francisco. They've recently put out an album called And The Sea Won the Battle which is available on LP and iTunes. The folks at Aquarius had this to say:


"First proper full length (after a super limited cd-r), of gorgeously blissed out post rock from this Bay Area ensemble. Lush and textured, rhythmic and hypnotic, slow burning and sprawling, epic and super rocking, these guys take that nineties sound we love so much and make it their own, the songs smolder and pulse, before exploding into dense roiling Godspeed / Mogwai style blowouts. Meandering prettiness, gives way to loping mathy minimalism, chiming guitars, simple spare drumming, looped melodies, a slow build to near metallic crush, the bass throbbing, the guitars tangled up in psychedelic squalls, the drums muscled and propulsive. The sound moody and minor key, cinematic and soundtracky, brooding and intense, heavy and emotional and harrowing. If you dig stuff like Mogwai, Aereogramme, Mono, Pelican, Grails, Explosions In The Sky, Magyar Posse, Red Sparowes, Snowblood, that Temporary Residence instrumental rock sound, that heavy post POST rock, well, Glaciers does it as good if not better than most of your favorites. Not sure how these guys slipped under our radar, since they're from right here in the Bay Area, but it's time to right that wrong, RIGHT NOW.
Pressed on gorgeous ice blue vinyl, comes with a download coupon, and yeah, it's probably limited too... " - Soimove Opdos

A conversation with Glaciers at the Kilowatt Bar in San Francisco's Mission District
Interview by Wallace Mills

Wallace Mills: I know a little about where you guys came from. A lot of it’s more hardcore, not based lyrically on anything, all instrumental. Does that come from SF? Hanging with the Wig here in the early 90’s, Neurosis split from that, so I guess I’m curious if Neurosis is an inspiration?
Wig: If you say, Neurosis, the four of us will say, yeah, Neurosis; they are amazing. It goes on from there. A bunch of bands that splintered off that are inspirational for us.

Chuck: We were just playing; we never really talked about having a singer or vocals and we naturally acclimated sans vox. It just didn’t seem like the songs we were working on needed a singer. We had all been in bands that had singers. It just seems like in 2009, it’s not that big of a deal anymore. Maybe 15 years ago it was weird. Nowadays… whatever. Especially for me, I came from an avant-garde jazz background, so it wasn't a big deal.

Dennis: For me, 15 years ago, it came from not wanting to have a singer. Nothing against singers I was involved with, but I’d already done bands that were fronted by aggressive music with aggressive front men. The more I did, the less I wanted to repeat myself. It was a new challenge to do it. But now, I guess tons of bands do it...

Matt: You guys were coming from more of a HC background. Now you're more interested in atmospheric music. For me, I’m coming from the opposite background. I’m now getting more interested in louder stuff. My background was growing up on more jam band music. Grateful Dead, that kind of stuff!
(Everyone laughs)
Also, I was into metal as a kid; I’m against their grain. I’m getting more into heavy stuff now.

Chuck: I was actually going back and listening to some old tapes lately, and when I was in college, I did a radio show of all instrumental bands. It was kind of a surprise. 13 years ago, there weren’t tons of instrumental bands. Tortoise... early Don Caballero…

Matt: That was just getting relevant; those bands were doing tons of interesting things. Now you hear instrumental bands and it’s automatically called post rock. That’s just generalizing to me. I just think there’s lots of ground to be broken there.

Another band I wanted to throw out, as far as thought process, obviously with instrumental stuff you are thinking more technically... Shellac is one of those bands… Do you nerd out on technical stuff? How gnarly do you guys get?
Matt: yeah, like BATTLES.

Chuck: Especially for Shellac and BATTLES, there’s a certain intellectual vibe that comes with recording and performance, but I think for us, it’s definitely more of a casual dude vibe. None of us can afford $7,000 guitars. Those guys have awesome equipment. Bob Weston and Albini do it for a living. I'd be hesitant to say there's lot of technical thought process for our band.

Matt: Definitely, it’s more emotionally driven for us. Not as nerdy. I think Wig has a little bit of a background in music study, but we are more feeling it.

Chuck: To be clear, I love Shellac! (Laughter) I just feel that genre has a lot of the angry nerd musicians. There’s a lot of Chicago Touch 'N Go bands. For us, there’s more of a California thing.

Does location play into it? You guys are here in the bay area...
Wig: We live in California. Two of us live in Oakland, two of us live in SF - two of the most expensive places to live. This is not the number one thing we do, but we all love every single time we get together. But the crazy thing is, just so you know, Glaciers writing process happens at 10pm, 11pm, midnight on a Wednesday night. We have a few sodas in us, we feel good and, I’ll tell you right now, it's a cool process.

So you aren't the Rolling Stones, who gives a fuck? So what do you do?
Matt: I'm an architect. That's what I do everyday. It's super important to me, but I love hooking up with these guys.

You guys practice every week?
Chuck: Family permits once a week.

Dumb question, when you are drawing, do you listen to your music?
Matt: I have my headphones on a lot during the day and I have been listening to us lately. We just put out this record, but I’m kind of sick of it now! Ha! I get inspired a lot during the day; I hear things and I want to bring it to practice, or take it home and work on it.

Chuck: By day, I work in the music merch biz.

Like batman! (laughter)
Chuck: actually, in the morning, I am a shrimp fisherman (HA HA), and in the afternoon I make merchandise for rock bands.

Matt: MILT WALSH!

Chuck: What was the other question? Oh, I do spend a lot of time listening to our music. Like these guys, I listen to our recordings and demos all the time, especially guitar demos.

Do you ever zone out and dissect your guitar?
Chuck: I do a lot of our demos in Garage Band of just guitar, so yeah, I listen to it over and over, just my guitar playing. One of my fave things is just listening to Dennis drumming, though I don’t want to embarrass [Dennis], I love our drummer! I love my dead gay son!

Dennis, what do you do?
Dennis: I’m a graphic designer by day. For me, I've always been a musician in some form. And on a certain level, I can see it related to design. I used to have a label and part of the joy was creating and coming up with designs that people enjoyed. I just learned through music that I had this passion for design. I still have a shitload of records. I just loved looking at the covers. I liked playing drums… and records. The label ended up falling part, but I went to school for design.

Give me a couple of album covers you have stuck in your brain…
Dennis: I’ve talked about this numerous times with my friends... Black Flag Damaged... Back when SST did radio spots on KROQ. I don’t know how I talked my mom into, but I convinced her to buy the record for me. I saw that cover and it was so intense. As I got older, it was the Dischord singles, things like that. In my eyes, 7" was great. So many… Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon, Joy Division’s Peter Seville was a big influence on what I’m doing visually for the band now.

Chuck: A lot of the early Factory Records stuff was a huge influence on how Dennis and I looked at graphic design. Especially during the 80s when we got into punk, it wasn't as graphically oriented, it was pre-computers. I grew up outside of Washington DC in West Virginia, Dischord Records and the band Government Issue was always stuck in my head. Then it was SST Records… Husker Du artwork, for sure. Even the Replacements artwork, then in the 90s it became very computer oriented. It seemed like in the 80s album covers had original artwork, like Gang of Four, Adolescents, and then in the 90s the band typeface stuff took over.

So Wig, we were talking about what you do during the day…
Chuck: Wig is a very professional man

Wig: Well, these fellows have the Wig on a lease with an option to buy. I don’t really have time to do this band. Notwithstanding my beautiful children, the best part of my week is the band. I like what I do in Higher Education, but it’s still a job. 10pm to 1am on a Wednesday night when I do this with these three great guys…. Man, honestly, no kidding, this is the coolest thing ever, less my wonderful kids. It’s the next best thing. I’m a Dad, lots of responsibilities… Glaciers keeps me sane. Love these guys.

Stay tuned for Pt. 2 - Wallace Mills for Etnies

San Francisco-based instrumental quartet Glaciers opened up for Skinwalker and Tera Melos at Bottom of the Hill last Thursday evening the latest stop on a tour of California, and set a multifaceted, intense and powerful sonic tone to the night.

Given that it was a night full of great shows, not to mention the San Francisco Giants' first playoff game against the Atlanta Braves, it was impressive and incredibly energizing to see a crowd so large on a Thursday night at Bottom of the Hill. Given San Franciscans' notorious penchant for skipping opening acts made it even more impressive. Whatever the reason, it made Glaciers set even better, a crowd interacting as one with the undulating, genre/mind-bending set.

Glaciers may be an instrumental band, but for those who are more...lets say, vocally inclined, this in no way means they are boring. In fact, one could say that watching these four highly talented musicians on stage interacting with each other, with their instruments, the music and the audience sans words creates a more interactive, more powerful experience somehow.

For as much evidence of this as a review can provide, do check out the slideshow; otherwise, you'll need to see for yourself, the next time Glaciers play in the bay area. Unfortunately for current and future fans of Glaciers' intense sonic journeys, you'll have to wait until January or February of 2011, but hey, look at it this way: that gives you something to look forward to after you've stuffed your Christmas tree in a plastic bag and put it on the sidewalk!

In all seriousness, though, it is something to look forward to. Check out music by Glaciers by clicking here. - Amber Gregory for the SF Examiner

This Bay Area quartet plays expansive sludge-rock, fusing heavy guitars, drums, pulsating bass, space echo and tape loops.

Glaciers says via e-mail that they're friends who started making music together "to escape the realities of day-to-day life." They recorded a demo in February 2008, and then recruited friend and guitarist Matt Youdall to play with them, making it a two-guitar band and adding that extra punch. In the fall of 2009, the band released their debut "And the Sea Won the Battle," on their label, Sound of Glaciers.

They are about to undertake a brief West Coast tour, and then they plan to finish writing and recording an album for 2011.

Lineup: Wig, bass, amplifiers; Chuck Pettry, guitars, amplifiers, reverb, echo; Matt Youdall, guitars, space echo, amplifiers; Dennis Remsing, drums.

How did you name your band?

We wanted something to match the music - loud, expansive, moving - and something that would make sense for a band without vocals. It was actually named by our guitarist Chuck's wife, Natalie.

Who are your musical influences?

I think we all found common ground in bands as diverse as High on Fire, Boris, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, My Bloody Valentine, Pink Floyd, Sonic Youth and the nonmusical, such as art, life, books, design, baseball, beer, etc.

What are the main themes for your songs?

We initially used a nautical theme as our overarching inspiration, which we loosely interpreted in our sound. With our new songs, we've been shifting our focus away from this but have yet to decide on a new direction.

How do you approach live music differently from recorded music?

Live is far more physical for us, the recorded is more cerebral. When we play live, it's mostly about giving the songs a different life than when they are recorded.

What's new in the recording of your music?

It's not new, but we basically did everything ourselves - no manager, no agent, no lawyer, no label, no publicist and no producer. In general, we try to push personal boundaries in order to achieve something we've never done before. Like sketching, we keep trying new things in hope of achieving that moment of discovery when you break away from your comfort zones.

Check it out: www.soundofglaciers.com, www.myspace.com/glaciersband.

Next gig: 9 tonight. $10. With Tera Melos and Skinwalker. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. (415) 621-4455. www.bottomofthehill.com.

SFGate.com: Check out Bandwidth's Web page. Share local show or band photos and videos, start writing a blog and more: sfgate.com/bayareabandwidth

To be featured in Bay Area Bandwidth, you must have a confirmed gig coming up and a recording that readers can buy, download or listen to via a Web link. Then e-mail us at bandwidth@sfchronicle.com with: band or artist name, gig info, website and/or MySpace link, a one-paragraph bio that includes your lineup, city location, description of your sound and a link to your two best songs. Do not e-mail music files or other attachments.

- Michelle Broder Van Dyke, bandwidth@sfchronicle.com

This article appeared on page G - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/07/NSIO1FLODG.DTL&type=babands#ixzz148ZNkBwx - Michelle Broder Van Dyke for SF Gate

I began my night at Bottom of the Hill, waiting for Glaciers to take the stage. A-ha! Here we go!

Some tuning, some electric loops, a big honkin' Marshall stack, an Orange stack powered by a Sun (((0))) (no, not the fellows of "Monoliths and Dimensions" fame) amp feedage, Dennis Remsing's rapid yet calm control shaping of the rhythm groove, add some deep resonating bass and we're off to sea. With a sound piercing enough to sink a fleet of Titanics, I am proud to report that these brave men delivered an apocalypse I had been waiting to hear all week. With mammoth whale sized waves of grilling guitars; they made grandiose movements amid a raging sea of adorning fans. Glaciers' gave us a structuralist hope in the notion that post-rock can be more than disjointed noodling. To have witnessed something this voluminous in sound and syntax, I consider myself very blessed indeed. - By Sjimon Gompers for Impose Magazine