On March 23, West Coast feedback-laden rockers Dead Meadow will have something extra special for their fans with The Three Kings. Not only does the LP feature five brand-spanking new tracks — which will likely with that ever-present 70s stoner vibe they tend to dish out — but it’ll also include a handful of live tracks recorded on the 89th and final date of their last major tour. And if you haven’t had the honor of catching Dead Meadow live, trust me, it’s something to be psyched about.
But hold up, that’s only half of it. This, my friends, is the zinger: Along with the album, the band is including a conceptual film that incorporates footage from the previously-mentioned live tracks, along with a feature film that the band has created in collaboration with the freaked minds of Artificial Army. If this alone hasn’t gotten you all tingled and aroused, here’s a quote from bass player Steven Kille concerning The Three Kings:
A stunning mix of fantasy film and multi-camera live concert footage, *The Three Kings* overlays the transcendental experience of the band’s music with film vignettes of *The Three Kings* at work. They are sort of a play on characters we allude to a bit in our last record (*Old Growth*), but elaborated on with the biblical Bedouins concept of wandering holy mystics and function as a vehicle to bring all these ideas we have had for years into your living room. The Kings look into our mortal world where each of the three human characters we play are tempted by the dark side of things and each react differently. Not sure if it is a moral tale, but I suppose a viewer can look at it like that.
On top of all that buzz, scenes from the film were shot at locations like the California sand dunes, which played as the backdrop for Tatooine in Star Wars, and a house in Palm Springs that was used for the James Bond film Diamonds are Forever. I honestly don’t see how this could be bad. Enough of my drooling. Here’s the tracklist:
01. The Kingdom Come
02. Between Me and The Ground
03. Good Moanin’
04. At Her Open Door
05. The Whirlings
06. To The One
07. That Old Temple
08. The Narrows
09. Push Em To The Crux
10. Seven Seers
11. Greensky Greenlake
12. Beyond The Fields We know
13. Everything’s Going On
14. Lady
15. Darlin’
16. Queen of All Returns
Oh yeah. Here’s a teaser trailer, and you can watch the video for “That Old Temple” at the Chocolate Grinder.
And, of course, they have a smattering of tourdates:
03.27.10 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
03.31.10 - Eugene, OR - Wow Hall
04.01.10 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
04.02.10 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret
• Dead Meadow: http://www.myspace.com/deadmeadow
• Artificial Army: http://www.myspace.com/artificialarmy
• Xemu: http://www.xemu.com
