Bolder Damn

Bolder Damn was a outfit formed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the Summer of 1969. They played a sort of heavy rock music in the Black Sabbath/Alice Cooper vein and had a spectacular live show to match and, opened for many big name bands of the time. Several magazines quotes got a buzz going about them, one writer in 1971 said "Bolder Damn make Black Sabbath sound like a Sunday School church band".

The band could and should have been huge but but front-man John Anderson and bassist Ron Reflett got drafted into the US Army and inevitably finished up in Vietnam, after this the band never recovered leaving us with just one record that was recorded in just four hours. That album titled "Mourning" still shows how a record should be made today, no overdubs, just pedal-to-the-metal powerhouse heavy grooves.

Thankfully those fine people at Rockadrome with the help of guitarist Glen Eaton saved the day putting the album on CD with the use of a old tape straight from Eaton's personal collection.

"Mourning" still sounds incredible which is especially amazing seeing as it was recorded in just 4 hours. "Dead Meat" which took up most of the albums playing time was doom-metal 20 years before the tag were ever popularized. At the other end of the Stoner-Doom spectrum comes songs like "Got That Feeling" that is just pure groove-ridden heavy boogie with a incredible dark vibe. With those other obscure 70s' legends "Josefus and Bang" reformed and doing it again, it might give bands like Bolder Damn the inspiration to dust themselves off and hit the stage once more. You have to keep it mind that all these bands here have members 60+ and sadly many of the other great proto-doom metal musicians have long since passed away but there is still a few around and Bolder Damn are one band that could make it work again. The strength of the "Mourning" album is its influence, everyone from fans of Electric Wizard to Kyuss to Monster Magnet love this album and it has equally influenced and inspired many a musician