Dayton based three-piece Maharaja have infected audiences with their doom, sludge, desert rock brand of noise. Slowly dehydrating the crowds through heavy delivery and heat leaving them thirsting for more. Vocalist, bassist Eric Bluebaum, guitarist Angus Burkhart and drummer Zack Mangold play their hometown heavy habitat Blind Bob’s Friday, March 9 with Black Mass, Led to the Grave, and Crewneck.
“Bob’s is gonna go down at least a few inches, to the basement,” Bluebaum says.
Burkhart put the show together, “Led to the Grave is thrash, like the first four albums of Metallica and Slayer. It’s gonna be a really cool blend of a show, super heavy hardcore, thrash bands, than us to come in and slow it down, for the evening.”
Their style comes from a variety of influences and experiments with doom, “We all got together in 2013. Angus was in a heavier punk band, Zack had been doing music between doom to indie rock outfits,” Bluebaum says. They wanted to come together and make something heavy in the vein of Sleep. “That kinda doom band. We do a blend of everything. We wanted to get back to playing heavy music again.”
Credit: Steve Guilding
Bluebaum’s a former guitar player and Maharaja’s the first heavy band he’s played bass in that’s had promise. He studied jazz in high school on bass, translating to sludge metal. Vocally he’s influenced from classic rock to Red Fang, to the hellish screams of Slayer. Dixie Dave of Weedeater was a big influence as a lead singer and bassist with good tone.
They’re also fans of Torche, Weedeater and Lord Mantis, “Just the metal spectrum in general.”
They want to gain a following with their own version of doom metal with costumed ingredients. “Anybody that does their thing is awesome. You have doom metal that’s [slow paced] or the stoner metal thing, more straight forward almost classic rock.”
They’re trying to make their own mark show by show, “We want to try something different and it’s harder to get across because it’s a new thing.”
Blind Bob’s is home, “At least two-thirds of us have played there so much, we’ve all been banned at certain times,” he joked. “We’re there all the time. They bring in a lot of good stuff. Bob’s was our first show back in 2014. We opened for Mouth of the Architect, a group of rad dudes. Mouth of the Architect, Grand Mammoth and Zuel were on that bill. That was a really cool kickoff, one of our favorite places to be. We’re also playing again next month April 13th with Heavy Temple and Horseburner out of West Virginia.”
The band name came after much trial and error, “Anything you’re super attached to is already taken. Either by someone who’s just popular enough you didn’t notice or by some kids in Idaho that took up the URL space.”
They’re not political but do use metaphors, symbolism and poetry to express their ideas, “We do write about things we feel are important to a degree,” Bluebaum says. “We’re not blatant about it. We try to find something that addresses those things. Maharaja in sand script means great king, great ruler. A lot of our songs deal with war, the politics of war, the ruling class, the futility of war, stealing people sovereignty, things like that.”
They’re big fans of Maharaja beer, “We saw that, that’s a pretty cool name. That will fly. It was a relevant name and also a beer, politics and beer.”
Credit: Turning Granular
All lyrics are by Bluebaum minus a few verses on select songs by their former vocalist, “There’s a few songs where it’s a mixture of what he wrote and what I wrote,” Bluebaum says. “All my lyrics are fables, metaphors and stories. “Ethisfidi” when you’re reading it, is about a dragon happening upon a traveler. The dragon comes down, burns the dude alive and eats him. The lyrics are a little more poetic, but that’s essentially a poem about the last minute of this dudes life after he saw this dragon. The lyrics are really about heroin and all the lyrics are changed around into the serpent of addiction.”
The title in Latin and English isn’t far apart. It’s a combination of dragon or serpent in Greek. The title is a smash up of each word along with the word for addiction, lyrically the demon serpent.
“Ouroboros” is the snake eating itself, “That’s about religion and global powers using people to benefit themselves through war, pitting people against each other through religious means. That song is about being used by religion to put money in people’s pockets and control the world.”
Their first full length Kali Yuga’ was released September last year. “We’ve been in the studio, putting stuff out since 2015.” There were studio mistakes due to lost vocals, clashing schedules and inferior sound quality. The Black Magic Carpet Ride single was to be their first full-length but their sound guy disappeared sending only two songs to use months later. Eventually, though, they made an album they’re all very proud of.
They’ve stretched their legs gigging and touring around the East Coast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest for years. They’ve hit multiple states and cities working up a following. “We’re trying to stamp out most of the eastern side of the U.S. trying to get more traction.” Guarantees aren’t always a given and being in Dayton they’re five-nine hours away from huge cities. It’s harder on the West Coast with seven-eight hour drives between cites.
They’re still working up to nationals, “We’re not opening for anyone yet, especially on this side on the U.S. yet but always looking for the opportunity.” They’ll play with any bands within the realm. Anyone able to do it with a team behind them, they’re cool with.
Their first tour produced some unique misadventures in New York including being spooky history buffs visiting Sleepy Hollow. They visited The Old Dutch Church where the horseman rode and Ichabod Crane saw him, fictionally. They went at midnight, with orbs flying around seeking the legend of the revolutionary witch (Hulda) that was buried beside the church under the tree, chugging beers in her honor.
Bluebaum’s super stoked, guaranteeing an awesome show that’s heavy as fuck and highly encourages everyone to come out.
Feature image:Steve Guilding
