Since 2015, Daniel Hall, the man behind RidingEasy Records, and Lance Barresi, co-owner of music emporium Permanent Records, have been mining the surprising rich reserves of heavy rock and proto-metal from the ‘60s and ‘70s for their popular series of compilations called Brown Acid. Usually taken from one-off singles by bands from smaller markets in the U.S. who had the talent but lacked the resources to hit the big time, these collections have been crucial to understanding the history of a subgenre of rock that had far deeper roots than most fans realize.
“A lot of the bands we are reissuing stuff from made one 45 single, the purpose was to have something to send the major labels so they could get that Led Zeppelin/Black Sabbath fame,” Hall told Paste. “Because there was a lack of ‘commercial’ influence to mold these bands into something that the public could consume en masse, these guys took things in their own direction.”
The well has yet to dry up for Hall and Barresi as this Saturday (4/20, naturally), RidingEasy will drop Brown Acid: The Eighth Trip, a new installment of this compilation, which we are thrilled to share with you here.
As with the previous seven editions of Brown Acid, this rough and ready mix is a varied collection with the fuzzy, garage psych of White Rock, a Houston-based band that only released one single in their short existence, riding alongside a Hendrix-like cover of “Heartbreak Hotel” by the Memphis outfit Grump and “Gambler,” a glammed-up tune from the Ohio-born Bartos Brothers Band.
While little is often known about many of the groups that wind up on these comps, Barresi and Hall take great pains to legally license the tracks, either from the bands themselves or the folks who helped release them.
“We have just under 200 songs licensed,” says Hall. “It hasn’t been very difficult at this stage in the game because we have such a robust library to choose from. That said, there are still some we’ve been after for four years now.”
The good news for fans of these comps and this sound is that RidingEasy shows no signs of easing up on the throttle with these releases yet. The ninth volume is already on the books for the label, with a release date of Halloween, 2019.
Until then, let’s sink our teeth into volume eight, streaming below.
Physical copies of Brown Acid: The Eighth Trip are available to pre-order over at RidingEasy Records. Digital pre-orders are happening over at the label’s Bandcamp page.