And so, finally, the eternal question is answered. No, not the one about the meaning of life (it’s 42 by the way), but the one regarding Elvis and his choice of career in the modern world. Elvis, it transpires, would have fronted a stoner band – or so it would seem when you first place Loading Data into your CD player and find yourself confronted with a rich, warm baritone, eerily reminiscent of the King’s sensual delivery and set to the sort of nitrous powered, sun-dried desert rock that so gleefully fuelled the first three QOTSA albums.
Featuring contributions from two QOTSA survivors – Alain Johannes guesting on drums, bass and keyboards (as well as production, mixing and mastering) and Nick Oliveri on vocals – Loading Data belong primarily to the mysteriously named Patron (alongside Matt Vatimbella, Adam Keller, Ashley Parker and Robin Veiville) and make music that exists out of any point in time by referencing the highlights of the last fifty years of music making. Here you’ll find groove, swing, sensuality, distortion, smoke haze and a sense of sand-blasted debauchery. You’ll find the pop harmonies of the Beatles saddled to the hard rock of Led Zeppelin sent staggering off into the desert under the weight of Elvis’ bloated carcass only to come back loaded in Peyote and the Screaming Trees’ ‘Uncle Anaesthesia’. Production wise it sounds immense, and musically it is contradictorily familiar and fresh all at once. The opening track, ‘double disco’ with its throbbing bass, off-kilter drums and bleached guitar lines will tell you everything you need to know about Loading Data but were too afraid to ask. Musically reminiscent of ‘monsters in the parasol’, it has a darker, more brooding vocal and replaces that song’s sense of fun with a searing art rock sensibility delivered via a scratchy guitar line that tears holes in the song’s otherwise highly addictive melody. ‘Give the rat a name’ similarly grinds away against your leg, whilst Patron’s vocals slither into your ear. Not afraid to break away from the more straightforward QOTSA groove, ‘teeth and tongue’ is a delightfully oblique piece of music that superficially sees the musicians involved playing in isolation from one another, but which coalesces into a beautifully oddball noise that is more closely related to Dutch mentalists De Staat than anything to have stumbled across the Mexican border and collapsed in a haze of Tequila and sun-stroke. Yes, it’s indulgent, but it’s also adventurous and possessed of an exploratory sense that many bands seem to lack these days.
Getting back to the dance-floor, ‘butterfly shelf’, with its whirling organ and martial beat is a gleeful stomp that is entirely irresistible whilst ‘so high’ contrasts the gentle ripple of the mandolin with a thunderous beat that sounds like the coming of an army. ‘Hanging low’ has a neat groove, the guitars clipped and restrained whilst Nick Oliveri unleashes his anguished howl over the song, bringing back memories of the first time ‘autopilot’ rampaged through your mind. ‘Round ‘n’ round’ is as accurate a representation of taking too much mescaline as you could wish for, the music whirling around the listener in a dizzying assault that will leave you disorientated before ‘mezzoven’ pops up and sneakily riffs on ‘ode to joy’ being molested by Kyuss and Mark Lannegan. ‘Gift’ is no less salacious, the riffs may be desiccated, but hot blood pumps fervently on the chorus which sees the drums build up a head of steam and the guitars suddenly soar into life. It keeps things interesting and as the album darts and slips through the desert sand you find yourself longing to keep up with these battered, unhinged sonic explorers. ‘Alright’ is the payoff – a heavy hitting, balls out rock song with a vital, surging riff only for ‘not gonna take it’ to fly off like the Beatles at their most experimental plugged through a distortion pedal. The band quickly get back to the business of rocking in their atypical way on ‘Armageddon’ which has an oily groove thanks to a repetitive central guitar riff and hypnotic drums both of which give way to a falsetto chorus that is pure QOTSA. ‘Midnight situation’ adds a near-industrial feel to the band’s ever-increasing sonic arsenal and then crosses it with Tom Waits just to really add to the confusion. The album’s finale, ‘on my heart’ keeps the Tom Waits feel and throws in a touch of Depeche Mode for good measure, the song existing in a dark miasma of toxic morals that threatens to leave you in need of a shower.
Loading Data are a compelling band who have many points to favour them. The references to QOTSA are unavoidable with both the musical lineage and the involvement of Alain Johannes and Nick Oliveri aiding the comparison, but whilst Loading Data undeniably exist in the same torrid field, they have carved out their own niche thanks to Patron’s dark, rich vocals and the fact that the band are unafraid to experiment around the fringes of the genre, adding in elements that are entirely their own. The album is an enjoyable listen throughout, but it is on those songs where boundaries are pushed (‘Mezzoven’, ‘not gonna take it’, ‘midnight situation’ and ‘on my heart’) that the band really show from what they are made. It’s a long album, and the record could, arguably, have been improved by a greater exercise on quality control – perhaps losing two songs would give the LP a tighter sound, but overall Loading Data offer a huge amount and when they indulge in their wilder side the results are electric. Ultimately, anyone with a taste for off-kilter stoner rock will find this to be an excellent album, and it comes highly recommended.
