Back in March heavy rockers Slow Season came through Arcata on their way home from tour and played a surprise set at Dead Reckoning Tavern. While their set was ripping and just about blew the doors off that place, the drummer was seriously ill and the band cut things short. (Read more about that show here.) I considered myself extremely lucky to have gotten to witness what I did, and hanging out with the band and a host of Reck regulars afterwards was a delight. And then Slow Season returned.
Last week, in Arcata’s slowest season, these Visalia-based titans of heavy rock n roll left the cornfield behind to once again tour the coast. This time around they booked a show at the Alibi, my favorite crusty dive bar in Arcata and ground zero for most of the great rock / punk / metal acts that come through Humboldt County. My evening starts with catching up with a friend over a couple pints at Soul Party before rolling over to the Alibi. HFRA DJ Rex Everything is working the door and regrettably informs us that we missed the opener. It was just after 11pm, which, by Alibi standards, is insanely early. Once again, I fail to catch Lord Ellis.
We walk inside to find a host of people filling the bar, lots of friends and familiar faces from Dead Reckoning. Slow Season is just setting up in the wake of Lord Ellis. They get everything plugged in, and frontman Daniel takes a minute to mention their most recent excursion to Humboldt. With a look around and a nod of his head, he kicks things off. Slow Season come galloping out the gate in a frenzied, facemelting jam that I don’t recognize which quickly breaks into the opening chops of “Sixty-Eight.” One of my favorite tracks, the opener to my favorite of their three records, and a perfect way to open the night.
I remember loving and being blown away by their short set back in March but this is something else. I’m not sure if they’re kicking things into high gear to make up for last time or if they’re riding high off the crowd’s excitement, but my instincts tell me this is just the kind of caliber that Slow Season brings on their average night. The floorboards are shaking with the onslaught of their music, the crowd is eating it up, and it’s still only the first song. The venue section of the Alibi is densely packed with headbanging bodies, and there’s even an exceptionally inebriated blonde lady right up front doing her finest Sweet Dee dance moves. She manages to both slosh my beer all over me and get a wad of her hair in my glass before her friend helps her find a better place to be.
After a few songs the band members leave the stage one by one, letting the music give way to a drum solo. This isn’t the masturbatory, navel-gazing drums of the Grateful Dead; this is the raw percussive riffage of John Bonham and Neil Peart. It’s rare that I find myself geeking out on a drum solo but I’m hypnotized as I watch Cody’s rhythmic supernova on the kit. Whatever demon was making him sick back in March is being exorcised as Cody attacks the drums with dynamite for drum sticks.
Slow Season slash and burn their way through a number of songs from their three albums, with a heavy draw from Mountain. David’s guitar playing is equal parts drippy and acerbic, and he and Hayden ooze with effortless cool as they conjure a deafening assault of blues inflected rock n roll from their instruments. Daniel’s vocals alternately coast and strain over the music, and Cody’s rigorous performance on the drums is captivating and mindbending. In a breath-catching moment of quiet between songs, Daniel introduces the next one as a “spooky song” that they wrote in a cabin. The guitar gently strums, Daniel’s vocals echo hauntingly over the chords and as he tells of his parents’ life inside the belly of the mountain the rest of the band thunders in and brings the song to life with the impact of crash paddles. After a sweltering and heady few minutes the eerie melody of “Synanon” comes to a beatific close. Amidst a wash of feedback the bass thrums straight into “King City” without missing a beat. This seamless progression from song to song is standard fare from a band that clicks as well as Slow Season – they play their sets much like a DJ selects songs, curating an atmosphere and playing to the crowd as much as showcasing their music.
Slow Season played a long, blistering set that left me and the rest of the crowd sweaty and cheering for more. They closed out the night with an aggressive and tight knit rendition of “Supernaut,” a fitting end to a heavy set of unfiltered rock n roll that sounds like it came right out of the ’70s. Slow Season have an uncanny knack for crafting music that takes your ear right back to the downer era, yet they pull it off without sounding like a tribute band or a nostalgic gimmick. They have a fresh, infectious sound that is entirely their own, and that is instantly classic. Decades ago The Who described their music as Maximum R&B, and in the modern era Slow Season forcefully carry the torch of heavy, shredding rhythm and blues.
Keep an ear open for their next tour, which Slow Season expects to be this fall. In the meantime they have three fantastic albums you can purchase on vinyl, CD, or digital download via the links below or at your local record store.
Easton Connell 
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