Oceanlord

Oceanlord from Australia

A dark ocean stretches all the way from the shores of New England to the coast of New South Wales. The hidden terrors that lurk in its depths have found their way into the writings of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and also into the tales that Australian doom trio OCEANLORD tell.

The band came together in 2019 in time-honoured rock'n'roll tradition at the pub: Bass-player Jason Ker was joined by guitarist and singer Peter Willmott at a bar for a serious drink to ponder work, family, mortality, and the hellscape of corporate existence. Jason had worked in the world of prison security and graduated to the crushing grind of white collar public service after breaking his back in a motorcycle accident. Peter had recently jumped from nerdy software development to executive management, which seemed a wonderful turn of events on its surface, except that the company was secretly, inexorably heading toward bankruptcy. Drink was seriously in demand that night.

Naturally, beer-fueled talk soon drifted towards music. Peter was a connoisseur of black, death, and progressive metal, while Jason may be described as an acolyte of alt-rock and grunge. Yet, both were drawn to construct something deeper, more powerful as they also shared a love for the horror genre in general and the works of H. P. Lovecraft in particular.

Thought soon turned into rehearsal room action. The initial sound was primal and ponderous, with a glimpse of melody under thick, sludgy riffs. What would evolve into OCEANLORD instantly became a shared passion. Music was the answer, and stoner doom was going to save their souls from the slow soul-death of the modern corporate drone. Basement writing sessions began, riffs started flowing, and the search for a drummer was on.

Open the curtain for Jon May, who did not only contribute musically as an experienced drummer but also was in the possession of a van and good gear. It also helped that he looked great in an Uncle Acid t-shirt. Despite his long history of punk, metal and rockabilly in Perth, which was followed by a stint into country-folk and swamp-blues in Melbourne, his secret passion had always been everything slow and heavy. In short, Jon was the perfect third man.

In 2000, the trio released a demo, which caused a stir throughout the doom-underground. With several labls knocking at their door, Peter built a home studio during Melbourne’s dramatic 263 days of pandemic lockdown, and as life started its return to normalcy in 2022, OCEANLORD tracked their debut release. Having signed to Magnetic Eye, the eerie Australians are preparing to unleash their tentacled album debut onto an unsuspecting planet.