The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets

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The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets before their Halloween 2005 concert at the University of British Columbia. From left-to-right: Jordan Pratt, Warren Banks, Toren Atkinson, Merrick Atkinson, and Mario Nueva.

The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets are a rock band from Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. Their music largely consists of often tongue-in-cheek homages to the works of H. P. Lovecraft, specifically the Cthulhu Mythos.

[edit] History

The band's name is drawn from a phrase in Lovecraft's story The Tomb: "I will tell only of the lone tomb in the darkest of the hillside thickets." The band formed in January 1992 after meeting at Fraser Valley College in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Afterwards they formed a local role-playing group.

After a slow start, several of their songs were picked up by music magazines and others for inclusion on compilation CDs, lending them greater recognition. They often perform live, and have performed concerts with many other bands including GWAR, They Might Be Giants, Dayglo Abortions and Nomeansno. The Thickets continue to enjoy reasonable cult success.

[edit] Members

The original three members of the band, at the January 1992 formation, were Toren Atkinson, Warren Banks and Quentin Rogers. Quentin, though, never appeared on any of their releases. The band has gone through several bassists and drummers since its inception. The discography below details band member history.

The current line-up of the band consists of vocalist and lyricist Toren Atkinson, guitarist Warren Banks, bassist Mario Nueva, drummer Jordan Pratt (former drummer for the band Mystery Machine), and backup vocalist Merrick Atkinson.

Outside of the band, Toren Atkinson is also an artist, having illustrated books for role-playing games including Dungeons & Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, as well as the Lovecraft-inspired collectible card game Mythos. Warren Banks and Toren Atkinson also co-wrote (along with contributions by John Tynes and Monte Cook) the roleplaying game Spaceship Zero, published by Green Ronin Publishing.

[edit] Current news

The band is working on a new album tentatively titled The Shadow out of Tim, to be released Spring 2007. Working titles of album tracks are: "Track 1: Prologue: A Marine Biologist", "Track 2: Chapter I: Some Things Man Was Not Meant To Know", "Track 3: Chapter II: No Way", "Track 4: Chapter III: It’s Automatic", "Track 5: Chapter IV: (to be determined)", "Track 6: Chapter V: Return to Melanesia", "Track 7: Chapter VI: They Come in Threes", "Track 8: Chapter VII: Operation: Get the Hell Out Of Here", "Track 9: Chapter VIII: Ride the Flying Polyp", "Track 10: Epilogue: Downtown (In the Cenozoic)", "Track 11: Footnote: Sleestak & Yeti", "Track 12: Footnote: Nyarlathotep" [1].

[edit] Discography

[edit] Gurgle! Gurgle! Gurgle!

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Recorded 1992. Three songs recorded using an 8 track recorder at an associate's studio. Using their own equipment, they made 50 cassette to cassette copies to give to friends and to sell. The original master has been lost.

Band: Toren Atkinson (lead vocals), Warren Banks (guitar), Chris Woods (guitar), Devon Presseau (bass), and Josh Pratt (drums).

Tracks: 1. Digging Up The World; 2. Hurts Like Hell; 3. Three Hour Log

[edit] Hurts Like Hell!

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Recorded 1993. Nine songs recorded using an 8 track recorder at an associate's studio. Using a cassette reproduction company this time, 250 copies were made to sell at shows and to use as demo tapes for record companies, radio stations, and clubs.

Band: Toren Atkinson (lead vocals), Warren Banks (guitar/bass), Chris West (bass/guitar), Jordan Pratt (drums).

Tracks: 1. Tarred and Feathered; 2.My Tank; 3. Batttered; 4. One-Gilled Girl; 5. Jimmy the Squid; 6. Chunk; 7. Diggin' Up the World; 8. Screams From R'lyeh; 9. Stitching Uranus

[edit] Cthulhuriffomania!

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Released 1994.

Band: Toren Atkinson (lead vocals), Warren Banks (guitar), Bob Fugger (bass), Jordan Pratt (drums).

Tracks: 1. Colour Me Green; 2. Space Ghosts; 3. A Thousand Fists; 4. Big Robot Dinosaur; 5. Rocket Science; 6. Flee!; 7. Everyone Calls Me Ted; 8. Mustard Gas; 9. Diggin' Up the World (Acoustic); 10. Yog-Sothoth

[edit] Cthulhu Strikes Back

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Released 1995. Reissued 2003 as a Special Edition with two extra tracks.

Band: Toren Atkinson (lead vocals), Warren Banks (guitar), Bob Fugger (bass), Jordan Pratt (drums).

Tracks: 1. Goin' Down To Dunwich; 2.Ogdru Jahad; 3. Shoggoths Away; 4.Unstoppable; 5.Yig Snake Daddy; 6. Hookworm; 7.Rock Lords; 8.Protein; 9.HVW; 10. Burrow Your Way To My Heart; 11. Worship Me Like A God; 12. Cthulhu Dreams; 13.Gluttony; 14. Slave Ship (Special Edition reissue only); 15. House of Clocks (Special Edition reissue only)

[edit] The Great Old Ones

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Released 1996, rerelease of material from Hurts Like Hell and Cthulhuriffomania, with a few additional tracks.

Band: as per release on which material first appeared; new material by Toren Atkinson (lead vocals), Warren Banks (guitar), Bob Fugger (bass), Jordan Pratt (drums).

Tracks: 1. Tarred and Feathered; 2. My Tank; 3. Battered; 4. One Gilled Girl; 5. Jimmy The Squid; 6. Chunk; 7. Diggin' Up The World; 8. Colour Me Green; 9. Space Ghosts; 10. A Thousand Fists; 11. Big Robot Dinosaur; 12. Rocket Science; 13. Flee!; 14. Mustard Gas; 15. Everyone Calls Me Ted; 16. Diggin' Up The World (Acoustic); 17. Yog-Sothoth; 18. Hookworm (Live); 19. Burrow Your Way To My Heart (Live); 20. Please God No!; 21. Walking On The Moon; 22. Six-Gun Gorgon Dynamo

[edit] Spaceship Zero: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

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Released 2001. For more information on the marketing of the CD, see Spaceship Zero marketing information.

Band: Toren Atkinson (lead vocals), Warren Banks (guitar), Bob Fugger (bass), Jordan Pratt (drums), Merrick Atkinson (background vocals/bass), Thomas Falk (electronica).

Tracks: 1. Theme to Spaceship Zero; 2. 20 Minutes of Oxygen; 3. The Innsmouth Look; 4. Power Up; 5. BTL Drive; 6. Frogstar; 7. The Math Song; 8. Dies Is Unverschamtheit; 9. Oblivion; 10. The Chosen One; 11. Slave Ship; 12. Requiem for a Clone Hunter; 13. KABLAM!; 14. Sounds of Tindalos; 15. End Credits

[edit] Let Sleeping Gods Lie

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Released 2002, featuring tracks from previous albums. An all-Mythos themed CD produced in association with Wizards of the Coast to promote their new d20 edition of the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. If the CD is played during a roleplaying session, there are rules for die roll modifiers depending on what song is currently playing.

Band: as per release on which material first appeared.

Tracks: 1. A Thousand Fists; 2. Colour Me Green; 3. Goin' Down to Dunwich; 4. Shoggoths Away!; 5. Yig Snake Daddy; 6. Please God No; 7. Six-Gun Gorgon Dynamo; 8. The Innsmouth Look; 9. Sounds of Tindalos; 10. The Chosen One; 11. Yog-Sothoth; 12. Cthulhu Dreams

[edit] Trivia

• Chapter ten of Gary Hill's "The Strange Sound of Cthulhu: Music Inpsired by the Writings of H.P. Lovecraft" is titled "The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets: Lovecraftian Humor Set To Music". [2]

[edit] External links

• The official web site
• The band's MySpace site (includes four free songs)