“Most of this album was written in the studio,” offers Well singer/guitarist Ian Graham via a late-night phone call from a tour stop in Kansas City. “Our first shit was written in a fuckin’ garage. This album is thicker, darker, and not as garage-y.”
Sophomore full-length from the doomy psychedelic trio, Pagan Science – out Friday on SoCal indie RidingEasy Records – evinces a sonic upgrade for the Austin trio, with he and bassist Lisa Alley’s drone-kissed duets manifesting magnificently, while the band’s metallic punch – pounded by drummer Jason Sullivan – benefits from a heightened spaciousness and detail. If good art results from hard labor, expect Pagan Science to be the band’s best work.
“For a couple months, I’d be up at the studio until midnight or 1am, then sit at my desk writing ’til 5am, then go to work the next day, then go right back to the studio,” reveals Graham. “That went on for a long time, and I almost lost my fuckin’ mind.”
While writing and recording locally at MicroMega Studio with producer Chico Jones, the bandleader conjured inspiration from constantly feeding his brain with poetry – William Blake, Ezra Pound, Yeates, Joyce – and crucial records: Electric Wizard’s early seven-inches and Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here.
“I had Wish You Were Here in my car the entire time we were recording Pagan Science,” says Graham. “I really listened to it over and over again for two months. I think some of the cynicism on our record came from that. ‘Have a Cigar’ is really cynical and that probably has a lot do with how ‘One Nation’ came out.”
That key track opens with Graham’s wailing pledge of allegiance, “One nation to follow me dowwwwwnnnn,” before kicking into a battle march of drill-pressed proto-metal riffs. Lyrics detail a coming battle, and read like a cross between Roger Waters’ political messaging and the war machine prose of Slayer’s Tom Araya.
Is the song inspired by the possibility of President Trump?
“Being inundated with all that shit, yeah, it definitely leapt into my subconscious,” sighs Graham. “It’s about the hypnosis and puppetry that we’re subjected to our whole lives. That’s what human beings do. We hypnotize each other with symbols and speech, and the majority of people like it because it’s comfortable.”
And the refrain “And if they were to rise?”
“That’s about the people rising and flipping it over,” he explains. “I read a quote, maybe by Mark Twain, that if people want peace, one day they’ll remove the politicians so they can finally have it.”
On October 23, the Well’s national tour with Mondo Drag and Crypt Trip burns through Austin for the Pagan Science release show at Hotel Vegas, also featuring Communion. Four days later, the band blasts Waterloo Records with a free in-store performance. At both shows you can score a copy of Pagan Science on CD or vinyl, and you can also order it here.
This article appears in October 7 • 2016.