THRONES - WHITE RABBIT (1999)

Here's a splendid nugget of an album, Joe Preston's majestic solo project, Thrones, and their (his) monolithic, epic LP "White Rabbit". Joe is a Bro Of The Highest Order, a dude involved with such a vast bevy of awesome bands it's almost not even worth mentioning. But I will anyway: The Melvins, High on Fire, Godheadsilo, The Hoodwinks, Men's Recovery Project, Harvey Milk, etc. etc. etc. etc...
He crashed at my house after a show in Eureka at The Vista (RIP) once, and let me tell you: Joe is the sweetest, nicest, weirdest guy you'll ever meet, and it's definitely reflected in his music. Upon arrival at my homestead, his first priority was to take Polaroid pictures of my cat, and then, to later share his collection of pictures of other people's cats he had taken elsewhere on his tour with me later in the evening. Joe is so cool. DANG.

This album contains only 4 songs, but they are some of the darkest, heaviest, and most brutal songs ever, crowned by the 13+ minute epic "Obolus". This is one of my favorite songs ever recorded, alternately beautiful and vicious, the sort of thing that still sends chills up my spine every time I hear it. A later version was included on the Thrones "Day Late, Dollar Short" compilation, but it was only half as long as the REAL version, lacking the long intro and outro so necessary to a full appreciation of this amazing track. The whole album is great, but "Obolus" is the treasure here, a song so weird, glorious, and HEAVY that any fan of music has to at least tip his hat in respect.
Here's to Joe Preston: Weirdo, Shredder, and Friend of the Animals. May your reign over of the kingdom of Trippy Metal be a long and fruitful one.

Download HERE



Yeah, I know Joe's not on bass, but here's an adorable clip of The Melvins doing a TV performance circa 1984. Is it just me or did King Buzzo have a major Billie Joe Armstrong thing going on (before Billie Joe Armstrong)?