Sixty Watt Shaman

Sixty Watt Shaman is an American rock band known for incorporating hard rock with blues, southern rock, punk and metal influences, originally based out of Baltimore, Maryland.^[1] The band play a diverse repertoire of hard hitting groove rock and ethereal psychedelic jams, with classic tube tones, echoing heavy blues, southern groove, doom, and even the ghostly spirit of historic Americana and Appalachian bluegrass. They formed in 1996 and recorded and released their first studio album in 1998. The band last recorded in 2002. The last official band tour was in late 2002 through January 2003; but, have made reunion appearances since. Currently, their efforts are focused on festival events in the US and Europe, with plans to record new music. They are widely regarded as innovators in their musical genre with the "Sixty Watt" sound, and have been both imitated and replicated by peers and bands who followed in their footsteps.

History

Sixty Watt Shaman was formed in 1996 by vocalist/rhythm guitarist Daniel Soren, lead guitarist Joe Selby, drummer Chuck Dukehart, and bassist Jim Forrester. All came together to form "The Shaman" out of two separate projects—Approach (Soren, Selby, Dukehart), and Supercreep (Selby, Dukehart, Forrester)—which were both active during the time period of 1995 to 1996.

The band name derives from a split reference to Jim Morrison and an infamous amplifier once played by Jimi Hendrix; the band name was dubbed by lead singer Dan Soren (known earlier by middle name, Kerzwick) in early September 1996 upon his return from European travel where he had visited the grave of Jim Morrison who is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France. Jim Morrison was called the "electric shaman" by press and popular culture during his Doors years. The story behind the reference to "Sixty Watt" is that it refers to a now infamous amplifier that was built specifically for Jimi Hendrix by the pioneering amplifier manufacturer Jim Marshall; it was a special sixty watt amplifier which was used during live performances and on the famous Electric Ladyland album, but was alleged to have been stolen and never recovered after Hendrix's famous Isle of Wight performance.

The Shaman released their seminal album, Ultra Electric, recorded in two 24-hour sessions @ Hound Studio in Baltimore, Md by Frank Marchand, in 1998 on the independent label Game Two Records.^[1] Also recorded, studio outtake track "Red Colony", was released on the Welcome to Meteor City Compilation. Marked as a ground breaking release for its showcase of up and coming heavy rock bands. Soon after they also recorded two tracks with Baltimore Producer/Engineer Jon Smulyan with a moblle unit @ The Regal Beagle rehearsal studio the band had built in the loft of an early 20th century barn. One track, "Whiskey Neck", was released on another seminal compilation, In the Groove by NY's Musicl Cartel Records. After the releases, Sixty Watt embarked on a US tour, from Maine to Texas, with California rockers Nebula, while Nebula supported their recently released Let It Burn EP as their first release following their departure from Fu Manchu in 1997. In 1999 NY's TEE PEE records released a now very rare split 7" with Maryland's Spirit Caravan featuring the track "Stone's Throw Away" from the Regal Beagle sessions. During this time period (1998/1999), the band had developed a friendship with members of fellow Maryland-based rock band Clutch, after playing shows with their side-project The Bakerton Group, whose drummer, Jean-Paul Gaster, would later be recruited to produce their next album Seed of Decades.

In the late 90s the band worked tirelessly to play shows all along the East Coast with bands in and outside of their scene, including Solace, Atomic Bitchwax, Nothingface, Alabama Thunderpussy, Spirit Caravan, Meatjack, Tree, Compression, Negative Reaction, Dog Fashion Disco, Vision of Disorder, Unorthodox, Internal Void, Wretched, Las Cruces, Archie Bunker, War Horse, Crisis, Karma to Burn, Clutch and many others. They toured nationwide with Nebula and Spirit Caravan during that time period. After playing several shows in New York City and developing buzz about the band, Sixty Watt landed a showcase for Spitfire Records President, Paul Bibeau, at the Continental in the late summer of 1999. Bibeau offered Sixty Watt Shaman a recording contract in the downstairs backstage room immediately after their performance. Two weeks earlier, Sixty Watt had played a show at the same venue where Frank Kozik (of Man's Ruin Records fame, as well as fame for his album-cover art, concert flyer art, and directing music videos for Soundgarden and Mint Condition) had been in the audience; Kozik approached the band about an album deal following that show. Sixty Watt was extremely excited to have the honor to work with Kozik; but, with the approach by Bibeau only 14 days later, with a more extensive offer (a multi-album deal, including tour support, wide US and European distribution, PR and album support), Sixty Watt Shaman opted to go with Spitfire Records.

With one release behind them, in 1999 the band were signed by Spitfire Records and released Seed of Decades in 2000. Seed of Decades has been compared to the 70s hard rock sound of Aerosmith and Grand Funk Railroad "with a more modern harder edge".^[3] The band toured with label-mates Black Label Society and Crowbar in support of the album in the summer of 2000, and then later with Clutch and Corrosion of Conformity.

For their 2002 release, Reason to Live, Dukehart was replaced by drummer Pete Campbell.^[1] Former Kyuss bassist, Scott Reeder, was recruited to work on production for this album. It was recorded at Phase Studios in College Park, MD in 28 days. The album reveals the strong influence of the heavy music and the musicians that Sixty Watt had been on tours with over the previous two years. Reason to Live features many standout tracks including "All Things Come to Pass" which features Sixty Watt Shaman and guest performers Scott Reeder (Kyuss, The Obsessed) and Scott "Wino" Weinrich (The Obsessed, Saint Vitus) who were brought together again after having played together years earlier in The Obsessed for this live jam performance.

Before the release of Reason to Live, Sixty Watt Shaman toured Europe with Karma to Burn, playing with many of their European contemporaries such as Dozer. After the release, they embarked on a final full US tour with Alabama Thunderpussy and dates with Clutch that culminated in a final show at the 9:30 Club, Washington DC on January 4, 2003. After the last US tour, lead singer Daniel Soren moved to the mid-west and worked on other projects including The Mighty Nimbus with Pete Campbell; he worked on a project out of Norman, Oklahoma with Chris "Paco" Johnson and Forest Smith, playing shows in Norman and Oklahoma City. Rev. Jim Forrester worked on other projects including The Devil You Know, Angels of Meth, Soaphammer and currently Serpents of Secrecy.. Upon his return to Maryland from Oklahoma, Dan Soren rejoined Joe Selby in another rock project, Stillhouse. Dukehart went on to form Baltimore-based The Expotentials and now Foghound. Currently, Soren has rejoined Dukehart, Forrester, and new guitarist Todd Ingram (King Giant and Serpents of Secrecy) for on-going Sixty Watt Shaman work.

Sixty Watt Shaman are widely considered pioneers of the "Sixty Watt" sound and have inspired much imitation and replication.^[1] Band members have continued to work both separately and together on various projects since the inception of Sixty Watt Shaman. They have made reunion appearances including a show with Angels of Meth and Stillhouse in Cincinnati, OH and a festival event April 28, 2007 at the Ottobar in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sixty Watt Shaman officially returned to the stage in 2014, playing Baltimore, Md's Moving the Earth Fest, Desertfest Berlin, Desertfest London, The Eye of the Stoned Goat IV Festival, bassist Reverend Jim Forrester's 40th Birthday Celebration (also in Baltimore, Md), and The Feast of Krampus Festivals in Philadelphia, Pa and Brooklyn(NYC). Through various media outlets the band has confirmed that these dates were not reunion appearances, but rather a new chapter in the band's history, version 2.0. They have recently made statements promising new material, and remastered versions of their back catalog, to be released in 2015 and beyond.

Members

Current

• Daniel Soren - vocals, guitar
• Todd Ingram - Guitar
• Reverend Jim - Bass guitar, backing vocals
• Chuck Dukehart - drums

Former

• Minnesota Pete Campbell - drums
• Kenny Wagner - Drums (2000, now in Superheavygoatass)
• Joe Selby - Guitar

Discography

• Ultra Electric (1998) (Game Two)
• Seed of Decades (2000) (Spitfire)
• Reason To Live (2002) (Spitfire)

References

External links

• Sixty Watt Shaman on Facebook
• The Official Sixty Watt Shaman Website