EarthQuaker Session: Relaxer - "The Warlord"
Aaron Rogers
In addition to being the EarthQuaker Devices house band, Relaxer may very well be the world’s first (and only) “Passive Progressive” rock band. I don’t know what it means, either.
In an interview with NPR affiliate WKSU earlier this year, Relaxer guitarist (and EQD President) Jamie Stillman says the term, “kind of sums up that we’re sort of prog-y, and we’re also sort of lazy.”
“It’s a mixture of passive aggression and progressive rock,” adds singer/guitarist Joe Scott.
Artists are often their own harshest critics, and this performance of “The Warlord” from Relaxer’s Unreal/Cities proves it. There’s no laziness to be heard here folks, only five minutes of finger-twisting, solid gold riffs from Akron, Ohio’s hardest rockers anchored by the furious percussion of drummer Brad Thorla, a fog machine, and a whole bunch of lasers.
Jamie Stillman uses the Speaker Cranker and Warden as his tonal platform throughout, adding the Levitation reverb for ambience during the intro, Afterneath in the verses, bringing in the Westwood for extra gain in the bridge, and finally, bringing down the house with the Erupter and Digitech Drop at the end.
Bassist Corey Haren, besides being the world’s leading Rainbow Machine expert, warms up his Yamaha bass with the Bellows Fuzz Driver, Nobels ODR-1, Tone Job EQ & Boost, DOD Octoplus, and the Empress Compressor.
Relaxer’s Unreal/Cities is available now.
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