Born in Red Bank, New Jersey, MONSTER MAGNET was initially a cosmos away from the major-label, alternative rock boom that would suck the band into the shiny MTV world of the early to mid-1990s. Originally formed by Dave Wyndorf, John McBain and Tim Cronin, MONSTER MAGNET came into the world with a lysergic ooze in 1989 with two demo tapes — “Forget About Life, I’m High On Dope” and “I’m Stoned, What Ya Gonna Do About It?” – making it perfectly clear from the start where they were coming from.
This was a band reveling in bad trips and the death of the hippy dream with a Manson family stare, playing squelchy lo-fi psychedelic music with a rabid punk rock sneer, like THE STOOGES terrorizing HAWKWIND at the most unpleasant free festival imaginable. There were tales of entire audiences at their gigs being spiked with LSD. It didn’t matter if this was true or not, it all added to the mystique. This was indeed a satanic drug thing you wouldn’t understand. Those two demos formed the base of what would become MONSTER MAGNET‘s pivotal “Spine Of God” album from 1991 and the “25…Tab” EP, which featured the mesmerizing 32-minute opus itself, “Tab”.
Long considered to be the true essence of MAGNET‘s early psychedelic voyages, “Tab” is finally returning to earth’s stratosphere with the release of “Test Patterns: Vol. 1”, available November 11 via God Unknown Records on 12′ vinyl.
“Test Patterns: Vol. 1” features a 2021 remix of “Tab” by John McBain, alongside the original demo, recorded in 1988 and then released on the aforementioned “Forget About Life, I’m High On Dope” in 1989.
“When MAGNET started, John and I worked in record stores in Red Bank and Dave worked in the comic bookstore and we made a lot of tapes for each other,’ recalls Tim Cronin. “A lot of ‘check this shit out’ kind of stuff… HAWKWIND, early UFO, AMON DUUL, CAN, SKULLFLOWER, MORGEN, LOOP, CRYSTALIZED MOVEMENTS, early ALICE COOPER, WALKING SEEDS, BUTTHOLE SURFERS, SPACEMEN 3. When we recorded the first demo and got to ‘Tab’, we just beat the shit out of it until it became heavy, noisy, weird, mean and either too long or not long enough, depending on your mood. Everything we wanted in a song (at least everything I wanted in a song),punishingly psychedelic. Jersey Shore krautrock.”
“Test Patterns: Vol. 1” will be available in two 12′ vinyl editions — a deluxe gatefold sleeve with acid blotter inner sleeve and a special Rough Trade Super Deluxe edition with gatefold sleeve, limited to 300 copies with four postcards, blotter inner sleeve, “orange sunshine” colored vinyl and alternative cover artwork.
PANTERA will perform at the Monterrey Metal Fest on December 6 at Estadio Mobil Super in Monterrey, Mexico. Also scheduled to appear are JUDAS PRIEST, MERCYFUL FATE, BEHEMOTH and STRYPER, among others. As previously reported, PANTERA will also co-headline the first night of this year's edition of Mexico's Hell & Heaven Metal Fest. The reactivated band will share the stage with SCORPIONS, MESHUGGAH, ARCH ENEMY, EPICA and CRADLE OF FILTH, among other artists, on December 2 at Foro Pegaso in Toluca. Other festivals PANTERA has been confirmed for […]
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