SONIC VOODOO HISTORY
A.C.I.D.D. I TEST PHASE
Sonic Voodoo is a heavy metal band formed in Houston, Texas, in August 1991,
by Jungle Bob Wedward, Double Barrel Darrell, and "Super Dave" David Lloyd.
We met at a Shurgard Self-Storage complex that allowed bands to rent
units for rehearsals. Bob had a 10'x10' space for honing his drums skills,
while Darrell and Dave had joined a metal cover band in the same complex.
From the first time we jammed together, we knew we had musical chemistry
Each of us brought different styles, ranging from Pantera-inspired power
groove metal, to progressive rock, jazz, Texas blues,
thrash metal, funk, and even big band.
The creative chemistry between us was a natural, powerful thing,
and we were able to quickly start writing our own songs.
Dave started playing bass in order to have a power trio and focus on playing live,
and we immediately began writing Metalshavings, Broken Society, Cry Mercy,
Napalm Mosh I & II, Terrors, Freakwood, A.C.I.D.D., and Voodoo Slab Dance.
rotating members and evolving jam rooms
We realized early on that a 10' x 10' room was not going to work with 3 dudes + gear,
so we upgraded to 10' x 20' and then 10' x 30' space, complete with a drum
riser, lounge, and various wall decorations. Good times, man.
All the while, we continued to write songs and look for other musicians to join us.
In October 1991, old friends of Double Barrel briefly joined the band
for about 6 weeks. Jim Stockdale played bass (Dave switched
to guitar) and Sean Johnson handled vocal duties.
This version of the band was short lived, but very productive. We wrote five songs together,
including Room 7, Fiction, Candyman, Play-Do (aka Lockjaw I), and Outland,
and we played a friend's Halloween party just to get out and jam.
"that dude with the cane"
After Jim and Sean's departure, the band hired Jon Jordan to handle vocals
and Dave switched back to bass duties.
This four piece line-up played the band's first live show in April 1992,
opening for Dark Tomorrow at Live Wire in Houston, TX.
This first gig was memorable and continues to facetiously haunt Sonic Voodoo
three decades later. Jon had hurt his leg in a special forces skydiving rescue mission
(or he fell off a drum riser at our jam room - details remain sketchy),
but fans certainly remember "that dude with the cane" on stage at Live Wire.
The band continued to play live for the next couple of months,
including shows at Struts and Backstage.
Due to a difference in music styles, the band decided to part ways with
Jon and immediately began the search for a new lead singer.
"Bad to the Bone"
Within a couple of months, the band found a vocalist in the most unlikely
of places: a friend and photographer for another band
at the same rehearsal facilities.
Mat Cassidy would often be hanging out with his friends in Soul Biscuit,
and he would come jam to Sonic Voodoo tunes while we rehearsed.
Eventually, someone in SV asked if he would be willing to try out vocal duties,
since he really seemed to dig our tunes and had the right attitude.
Off the street, he was a natural front man. He was definitely
the metal vocalist we needed, especially as a band with
a bunch of songs ready to go.
Shortly after Mat joined us, our good friend (and future head roadie
& light technician), "G-Man" Gerard Pesce, connected us with his best buddy
and bass player, Eric Brown (aka GROTUS).
This allowed Dave to switch back to guitar, and the band continued to
hash out and fine tune our full set of original songs.
We then moved into a much bigger rehearsal space in the back of
a cargo warehouse run by one of our family's business,
and this was the mother of all jam rooms.
It was badass.
We decided to play an open mic night at Westfield's by the Railroad in order
to give our new vocalist some stage experience before booking a full gig.
It was a fun night. Mat's first song was fittingly "Bad to the Bone"
with a random group of musicians before we took the stage.
PART OF VOODOO DNA
METALSHAVINGS AND THE ART OF PLAYING LIVE
Later in 1992, Clay Estrada, friend of the band & guitarist for Dark Tomorrow
(the headline band SV opened for its first gig earlier in the year),
joined the stage as a rhythm guitarist for a couple of gigs.
The Napalm Mosh
The four piece line-up of Jungle Bob (drums), Double Barrel Darrell (guitar), Grotus (bass)
and Mat (vocals) continued to intensely rehearse and write songs.
Live shows were booked throughout 1993, including gigs at Fitzgerald's, Backstage, Aviators, Hurricane Alley, Millennium Night Club, Zeldas, and other local venues.
Sonic Voodoo continued to write new tunes, including The Untamed One,
Dung Song, Overdrive, Intense, and Meltdown.
We built a great following of dedicated fans,
- THERE'S NOTHING LIKE JAMMING TO A MOSH PIT!!! -
and we eventually booked some studio time to record six of the songs for an "EP" *cough*demo*cough*.
pieces of a steel slab
We recorded our EP (demo) at Joe Danger Studios in Houston in July 1993.
We were already a very tight band after rehearsing 3-4 times a week
and gigging regularly, so we tracked all of our parts in one day.
Which is fortunate, as a day is all we could afford as a poor metal band
that could barely scrape together change for a dollar burger.
It was a fun experience, and all in all, it came out sounding pretty good for a
$400.00 session. But, it could have sounded better, and that fact alone eventually
changed the nature of future Sonic Voodoo recording projects.
This "classic four piece" version of the band (i.e. drums, guitar, bass, vocals) continued
to play live shows, culminating in repeated headlining gigs at Fitzgeralds.
We released the EP demo, Pieces of a Steel Slab, in September 1993.
We quickly sold out the first batch of tapes and continued
to order more to fulfill demand.
A few months later we recorded our instrumental, Voodoo Slab Dance,
at Swamp Studios, a new setup through a friend of Grotus.
Mat and Grotus had invested in a laser light show for our gigs
(if only that money had been used for recording! ha),
and Jungle Bob's sister, Wendy, ordered a batch of
custom t-shirts to build our brand.
It was awesome to have some momentum,
and we will always appreciate the fans that made it fun.
it's better to burn out than fade away
The band had achieved some local success and we knew that
we had some momentum going into a new year in 1994.
But, we wanted to accomplish more.
Gigs out of town, more recording sessions, new songs,
and continued growth was our focus. . .
. . .or, at least it was for some of us.
However, as often happens with bands, members do not
always share the same vision, ambitions, and goals.
And such was the way of Sonic Voodoo in early 1994.
For some it's a passion and expression of art,
something we feel compelled to do regardless
of commercial success. . .
. . .and for others, it's not.
Such is life.
that's one fucked up bug!
Jungle Bob and Double Barrel, however, never lost their focus.
We continued to rabidly rehearse and write songs.
It's what we do and what we love to do.
Later in 1994, Brett Herring joined the band on bass, and
Double Barrel Darrell started handling vocal duties.
Sonic Voodoo was back as a power trio!
The chemistry of the three piece was awesome, and
the humor in the band was clearly evident in the
new songs and live show.
We had as much fun together in rehearsals as playing live,
and our jam room became a regular destination for friends
with nothing better to do on Friday nights.
Nobody thought to take many pictures beyond those
below. . .but, hazy memories sometimes persist.
the legend of the seventh generation
The power trio 2.0 of Sonic Voodoo entered an experimental phase of song writing,
often being heavily influenced by a combination of Pantera, Frank Zappa,
Toto, Tesla, and jazz fusion.
A collection of very diverse songs came from this era, including Excessive Force, Ripperhed, Speedbump (Pissbrake), Drill, Grasshopper (That's One Fucked up Bug!),
SH!, Lokjaw II, Hedrush, and Sleep.
The band continued to play a series of live shows at the end of 1994 and throughout 1995,
including gigs at Backstage, Headquarters, Millennium Night Club, Hurricane Alley, Deep Phat,
among other local live show venues catering to hard rock and heavy metal.
sonic voodoo plays the blues
Sonic Voodoo was taking an unintended break.
After religiously rehearsing 3-4 times a week for five years, our work
schedules and life in general pulled us in different directions.
Jungle Bob and Double Barrel still jammed as often as we could, and Bob
started taking gigs with other bands to expand his experiences
and to continue playing live shows.
He joined a zydeco band with Kevin "Navyy" Blues, who also had
a blues band on the side (Blues on the Run).
Blues on the Run were in constant need of a bass player,
so they asked Double Barrel if he wanted to join.
It was an interesting transition, going from a heavy metal guitarist and vocalist
to a supporting role playing bass in a blues band. But, DB approached
it with the same attitude that he did with guitar: with all heart & soul.
Bob and Darrell brought the same energy to Kevin's original songs
as they had with their own tunes. Kevin would often look at us while we
played and seemed to be wondering what these crazy dudes were doing.
There was a chemistry between us, and if this band had good
management, there is no doubt it could have built a respectful following.
We recorded some of those tunes and maybe we will release them
on Rabid Records some day.
The most important aspect of this experience was that it was a pivotal
turning point, because it got DB back in touch with his bass playing roots.
When Sonic Voodoo started getting serious about writing
(and recording) music , Darth Bass would rise!
the rise of darth bass
The studio era begins
Undeterred, Jungle Bob and Double Barrel Darrell continued to regularly
get together and write songs throughout 1996-1999.
And fortunately for Sonic Voodoo, Jungle Bob had a plan. He had been researching
and educating himself for years about audio recording and engineering, so as
Sonic Voodoo continued to write new songs, Jungle Bob started
building a recording studio.
We started in February 1999 in the back of a warehouse with a four track
cassette recorder, writing songs primarily on drums and bass.
This was a different sound for us, as the majority of material up to this point was
guitar driven. Now, the songs were more funkier and groovier with drum and bass,
especially since both of us were playing a lot of Texas rhythm and blues recently.
We eventually had the drum/bass foundations for Biochicken,
Swampbuzz, First Pancake (with February Jam), Sugarfixxx,
Thong Bikinis & Little Weineys, and Biggiwell.
A HEAVY METAL "STEELY DAN"
In 2000, Jungle Bob made the financial plunge and heavily invested
in studio equipment, buying a Pro Tools computer rig along with
a set of Roland V-Drums.
This equipment allowed us to write and rehearse anywhere, including
a spare bedroom that Jungle Bob had commandeered to accommodate
our "warp generation techniques and groove manipulation experiments".
We were back to getting together on a regular schedule, and we
steadily made progress on our self-produced first album.
FOUR TRACK MIND
The songs continued to evolve in different directions, often bringing
out both of our musical roots in funny and interesting ways.
We had friends help us with random yells, chants, and gang vocals,
and a friend introduced us to Princess Leah for guest vocals.
She could actually sing and was willing to sing our crazy lyrics.
By 2005, after 5 years of dedicated writing, recording,
engineering, and just an overall general DIY attitude (as always),
we were finally ready to release our first album.
FOUR TRACK MIND was completed, and the name is a connection
to our beginning as a "garage band" that now had its own
studio and ability to control our own song production.
Double Barrel had worked with visual artists he met online to create
the album cover and several illustrations, including a Dali-like
"Four Track baby" made by his friend, Sean Johnson (the same
one that had been in the band for 6 weeks in 1991).
R.M.F.
In 2006, Sonic Voodoo was invited to record some songs by DB's brother, Travis,
at the Houston Community College audio school.
Ripperhed, from the 7th Generation live band, was picked. In addition, Overdrive
from the 1993 live band, a new song called R.M.F. (Rambo Mother Fucker), and a
cover of Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf" as performed live by the band Galactic.
At least two of the songs, Overdrive and Ripperhed, will be released on a remastered
version of Pieces of a Steel Slab (which will also include Voodoo Slab Dance
from the Swamp Studios session in 1993.
pieces of a steel slab 2.0
1993 SESSIONS REMASTERED WITH
ADDITIONAL SONGS FROM HCC @ T&C
RELEASE: 2022
O.P.I.O.D.
OLD PEOPLE IN ODD DIMENSIONS
In 2015, Sonic Voodoo decided that playing live was a mission, even if it was
just a "2 piece" band. Perhaps additional parts could be created with technology
- loop stations, samples, prerecorded tracks, etc.
But ultimately, what we really wanted was a live band with real people
playing and performing the songs.
And as fate would have it, opportunity presented itself with the addition
of "Big Sexy" Jeff Phelps on vocals in 2019.
Jeff had been a vocalist in a couple of bands when he lived in New York,
but had been unable to connect with anyone since moving to Houston.
He immediately started learning our songs and
quickly started collaborating on songwriting and lyrics.
This was still not the full band, but that never stopped Voodoo before and it would
not stop it now. New songs were (and continue to be) written, including
Deranged, Roadblock, Blind Ambition, Voodoo Man, Dirtgrinder,
Lokjaw III, The Prophet, and many others in their embryonic state.
In 2021, the band become a complete audio assault unit with the addition of
an old friend and member of the Sonic Voodoo tribe with
Brett "Lethal" Herring returning to the groove on bass.
On July 09, 2022, Sonic Voodoo played
it's first live show in 26 years
at the 19th Hole, Spring, Tx.
The band continued to play many more shows
at Acadia, BFE Rock Club, and 19th Hole.
In 2025, the band continues to work on mixing
Project: Concept, an album that started
after Four Track Mind was released.
2022 and beyond!!
