Richard HolmesTOOM’s Behold The Basilisk – a never before released slice of UK stoner/doom history – will finally see the light of day next month.
The EP, which was originally recorded at London’s SAE Studios in London, will be released for the first time on October 1 via APF Records.
TOOM was formed by Suffolk doom fans Teddy-James Driscoll, Jus Smith and Jack Newnham back in 2007, and drew influences from Sleep, Iron Monkey, Mastodon, High on Fire, Acid King, Floor and Black Sabbath.
Although the band were short lived and only recorded one four-track EP, its members went on to have a major impact on the UK’s heavy music scene.
After TOOM broke up in 2010, Driscoll went on to join Telepathy and has recently formed Cobra Lucha, Smith found fame with psych-rockers Purson and is currently a member of Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, and Newnham went on to form Old Man Lizard and join London-based sludgers Slabdragger.
Jack Newnham said: “For us this release is a time capsule back to a long weekend, just over a decade ago. January 2010; one of the last months of a band we had formed as teenagers.
“It was the coldest January since the mid-80s and on the night we recorded it was -8° overnight in London, meaning that even the canals just outside the studio had totally frozen.
“We smashed out all the tracks in one evening, at the studio which was part of the uni our friend Jason (who recorded us) was studying at.
“I recall we had to dodge the security guards to crash in the studio overnight.
“The next day, we had rehearsals for a show, the day after that, at the legendary Crobar in Soho.
“My memory of that evening is a blur, but apparently it involved us getting a bus full of people getting kicked off of the bus because we managed to break the doors, Christ knows how.
“We also ended up at the opening party for the, now equally legendary, Black Heart and at some point in the night Ted, our guitarist, got headbutted outside a corner shop. Exciting times.”
