Premiere: New Red Mesa Track ‘Death I Am’
After Josuph’s review of the awesome Women In Doom album, Desert Records head honcho Brad Frye dropped us a line to say thanks, and introduce us to his own band Red Mesa. Rolling out of the now infamous Albuquerque, which is probably now more famous for crystal meth than anything else these days, this stoner rock trio are gearing up to release their new album The Path To The Deathless.
And today, it’s our pleasure to be streaming a true slice of Americana that is Death I Am, guitarist/vocalist Brad comments…
‘Death I Am is the fourth track on The Path to the Deathless, ending Side A on the vinyl LP. It’s a total departure from the heavy songs on the rest of the album, being the only acoustic guitar song, but adds the trippy desert vibes that the band is also known for. It’s a psychedelic, country-western/rock song that is minimal, yet powerful and catchy.
Featuring only 1 member of Red Mesa‘s power trio, myself Brad Frye on vocals and tremolo guitar, the song showcases the talents of Red Mesa‘s musical brothers, Steve Schmidlapp (Prey for Kali, Blue Heron) and Alex McMahon (GRAL Brothers).
Steve and I wrote the song together in 2014, recording a demo on Steve’s computer where it sat for 6 years. Steve wrote all the music and performed the beautiful acoustic guitar tracks for the album. Alex McMahon was enlisted to play the pedal steel, adding two layered pedal steel tracks drenched in delay and reverb, while I wrote the lyrics and performed the vocals on the album.
When Alex Cantwell and Roman Barham, Red Mesa‘s bass player and drummer, heard the demo of the song they said ‘don’t change a thing.’ With their blessing, the song was resurrected and officially recorded at Empty House Studio where it now lives and breathes on The Path To The Deathless.’
Now click play below, then head over to the Red Mesa bandcamp page where pre-orders are available for the digital download, and various vinyl pressings prior to the official release date of 12th June via Desert Records.
More on Red Mesa & ‘The Path To The Deathless’
Red Mesa has created their best album yet with Path To The Deathless.
A concept album about death and beyond (fitting for the current times), this album features the blend of desert rock, heavy metal, heavy psych, and acoustic blues that only Red Mesa can create and deliver.
The band has brought along some of the most talented musicians to help them create one of the Top 20 albums of 2020 including Wino (The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan) on Disharmonious Unlife and Dave Sherman (Eathride, Galactic Cross, Spirit Caravan) on Desert Moon.
Recorded at Empty House Studio by Matthew Tobias (OM, SuperGiant, Al Cisneros solo albums) and mastered by John McBain (original guitarist of Monster Magnet) in January and February of 2020. And features original album artwork by Joshua Mathus.
The Path To The Deathless Tracklist:
01. Ghost Bell
02. The Path To The Deathless
03. Desert Moon
04. Death I Am
05. Disharmonious Unlife
06. Revelation
07. Swallowed By The Sea
Red Mesa are:
Brad Frye – Guitars/Lead Vocals
Roman Barham – Drums/Backing Vocals
Alex Cantwell – Bass/Backing Vocals
Guest appearances on The Path To The Deathless:
Wino – Vocals/Lead Guitars on Disharmonious Unlife
Dave Sherman – All Vocals on Desert Moon
Kristen Rad – Violin on Ghost Bell & Swallowed By The Sea
Alex McMahon – Pedal Steel on Death I Am & Swallowed By The Sea
Steve Schmidlapp – Acoustic Guitar on Death I Am
Path To The Deathless will be released on Friday 12th June via Desert Records
Label: Desert Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter | Instagram
