Lori S.

Lori S.
Lori performing with Acid King.
Background information
Occupation	Musician
Genres	Doom Metal, Stoner Metal, Stoner Rock, Alternative Rock, Punk Rock
Instrument(s)	Guitar, Vocals
Years active	1981 - Present
Labels	Man's Ruin Records, Small Stone Records, Blues Funeral Recordings, Sympathy For The Record Industry, Svart
Associated acts	Acid King, Gross National Product, Bhang Revival

Lori S. is a musician born in Palatine, Illinois and currently based out of San Francisco, California. Initially starting her career with Midwest punk bands, she is best known as the guitarist and frontwoman of the stoner metal band Acid King. Inspired by Ricky Kasso and the book "Say You Love Satan", Acid King would form in 1993 and release four studio albums among other releases.

She was once married to Dale Crover of The Melvins, whom contributed to a handful of Acid King's early releases.

Biography

Early Bands

Bhang Revival.

Lori grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois (Acid King's seminal album, Busse Woods, is named after a nearby forest preserve). Her first involvement in music was in the local punk scene. Involved with Eric Brockman, guitarist for the bands The Anti-Bodies and Life Sentence, Lori aspired to be more than just the girlfriend of a guy in a band and instead picked up a guitar and started her own group. That band, Gross National Product, was a mixed-gender hardcore band that existed from 1982 until 1984. The band's only known studio release is two tracks on the 1984 Midwest compilation Code Blue.

After GNP's demise, Lori S. and GNP drummer Lori Peter, along with bassist Edna Ho, formed the all-female band Bhang Revival in 1985. The band would release a handful of 7" singles and perform in the Chicago area, including a gig at Metro on 1 April 1990 supporting Nirvana. When Bhang Revival broke up in 1992, Lori S. would re-locate to San Francisco.

Acid King

• For more details, feel free to view the Riffipedia page on Acid King.

Lori S. would start Acid King in 1993 when she would put an ad in the local newspaper seeking out a bassist and drummer to make a very large and low-end sound. Peter Lucas would answer the call as the band's first bassist and read Say You Love Satan as a rite of passage to join the band. The two began harvesting heavy riffs while in search of the third. After several months in search of a drummer and getting frustrated, Lori was at a party and screamed out "anyone know any drummers?" Enter one Joey Osbourne whose Ritalin style drumming was just what Acid King was looking for (And would also read Say You Love Satan as a rite of passage). Acid King's first live performance would be at Lennon Rehearsal Studios in San Fransisco (With Luv Hammer).

Acid King started playing the club scene in SF and, because Lori S. was the girlfriend of a guy in a band, was lucky to score some killer opening slots with some of their favorite bands like Melvins, Sleep, Nik Turner's Hawkwind and The Obsessed. In 1994 after putting a handful of songs together, the band put out its debut 10" EP on Sympathy for the Record Industry, produced by Dale Crover and engineered by Billy Anderson.

The band continued playing SF shows and started going on small West Coast tours. In the Fall of 1995, they released their debut album Zoroaster. In the summer of 1996 Acid King set out on their first U.S. tour. The tour took the band from L.A. to New Orleans, The East Coast, the Midwest and back home. When reaching Kalamazoo, Michigan, Peter decided he had enough of Acid King and announced he was leaving the band. Acid King had shows already booked in LA and needed a bass player fast. In a panic Lori called up Dan Southwick, bass player for Altamont. Although he never read the book, Dan's ace musicianship and deference to Ricky Kasso translated into a full-time slot with the King as he learned all the songs in two weeks.

Following the tour the band had a few new songs and were introduced to Frank Kozik, owner of Man's Ruin Records. Upon quickly signing with the label in 1997 they went back into the studio and recorded their first release for Man's Ruin, a 10" titled Down with the Crown (Released on 25 July). The EP would also be released as a split CD with Altamont. After the release and small West Coast tours with Melvins and Fu Manchu to support it, the band started concentrating on new material. However in the Spring of 1998 Southwick would leave the group. Lori would then recruit Brian Hill (Buzzov*en, Spilth) and he would read SYLS as a rite of passage. He'd tour with the band in 1998, performing with Goatsnake, Fatso Jetson and Queens of the Stone Age among others. Hill, Osbourne and Lori would begin work on Acid King's second album.

Busse Woods would be released via Man's Ruin Records on 10 September 1999 and would be praised as an essential album in stoner metal. In support of the record Acid King would tour with Altamont but after that tour would be finished Hill would leave the band. Guy Pinhas (The Obsessed, Goatsnake, Beaver) would join the group (and read SYLS) in 1999 and record a handful of songs with the band, later released as a split with The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight in 2001. Acid King would also notably tour with High on Fire in 2000.

2001 would see Acid King largely performing in the West Coast, sharing the stage with the likes of Electric Wizard, Spirit Caravan, Warhorse, Operator Generator and High on Fire among others. This would build up to an appearance in October at Stoner Hands of Doom Festival, that year being in Austin, TX. The next year would see largely weekender tours with the likes of Dixie Witch and Bongzilla as work on new material slowly began. The next year amid a host of shows the trio would venture to Ohio for an appearance at Emissions from the Monolith. Acid King would notably sign with Small Stone Records and after a March tour with Drunk Horse would release III on 21 June 2005, produced by Billy Anderson. III would attain praise across the board from various publications such as Sputnikmusic, Your Last Rites, and Exclaim! among others. What would follow would be the trio's first ever tour of Europe. However by the end of that tour Pinhas would leave and Black Cobra drummer Rafael Martinez would take over on bass. The next year Acid King would tour Japan with Eternal Elysium and then the United States with Black Cobra and Eternal Elysium. That same year a compilation of their early material saw release in form of The Early Years, via Japanese label Leaf Hound Records.

2007 would see them back in Europe with Black Cobra and Blutch, including an appearance at Roadburn Festival. Kreation Records at this point would have a hand in vinyl reissues of Busse Woods and III along with reissues of the Man's Ruin splits and The Early Years a few years later. Acid King would regularly tour Europe over the next few years with notable exceptions being a 2009 California show with Ufomammut (Notably Ufomammut's first appearance in the United States), the band's first ever Australian tour in 2012 and the band's first of many appearances at Hellfest that same year.

While new material had been written and in the works for some time no new studio releases had some since 2005. New songs would appear in the set as early as 2013 and on 18 December 2014 a new album would finally be announced along with European dates in the Spring. Working with Finnish label Svart Records with Billy Anderson once again handling production, Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere would be released on 14 April 2015 to critical acclaim.

Touring with Black Cobra once again the trio would begin support for their fourth album which would include appearances at DesertFest London, DesertFest Berlin and Heavy Days in Doomtown. The band would also notably embark on their first United States tour in nine years. The next year would see more sporadic shows and festival appearances, including Desert Generator and Psycho Las Vegas before returning to Australia as part of Doomsday Festival. However by the end of 2016 bassist Mark Lamb and drummer Joey Osbourne would leave the group, with Rafa Martinez returning on bass and new drummer Bil Bowman joining.

With a new lineup the trio would hit the road once again for a host of festival appearances including Maryland Deathfest, Electric Funeral Fest, Modified Ghost Festival and a tour of Europe which would include appearances at Stoned From The Underground, Red Smoke Festival and Lake on Fire Festival among others. The year would close out with a pre-show appearance at the inaugural Days of Darkness. 2018 would see the band touring North America alongside Yob and CHRCH before returning to Europe for appearances at Into The Void and Desertfest Belgium. In 2019 the band is slated for their first appearances in Russia and a return to Hellfest among other dates. On 21 May 2019 Acid King would announce a North American tour in support of the 20th anniversary of Busse Woods.

On 2 April 2021 it would be announced that Acid King would be recording new material for the PostWax series by Blues Funeral Recordings.

Bands

• Gross National Product - Guitar (1982 - 1984)
• Bhang Revival - Guitar, Vocals (1985 - 1992)
• Acid King - Guitar, Vocals (1993 - Present)

Discography

With Acid King

• Acid King (EP) (1994, Sympathy For The Record Industry)
• Zoroaster (Studio Album) (1995, Sympathy For The Record Industry)
• Down With The Crown (EP) (1997, Man's Ruin Records)
• Busse Woods (Studio Album) (1999, Man's Ruin Records)
• Free... / The Father, The Son and the Holy Smoke (Split with The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight) (2001, Man's Ruin Records)
• III (Studio Album) (2005, Small Stone Recordings)
• Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere (Studio Album) (2015, Svart Records)
• Beyond Vision (Studio Album) (2023, Blues Funeral Recordings)

Other Releases

• Gross National Product - Code Blue (Compilation; contributes "Death Farce" and "Twisted Cross") (1984, Last Rites)
• Bhang Revival - "Jolt/ Running Hiding" (7" Single) (1989, Snake Eye Records)
• Bhang Revival - Noise From Nowhere Volume 7 (Split 7" with Hullabaloo) (1991, Toxic Shock)
• Bhang Revival - "I'm not talking about / Carpetburn" (7" Single) (1991, Noiseville)
• Sawed Off - Sawed Off (7" Single; Lead Guitar on "Butcher Town") (1993, Gasatanka)
• Boris - Heavy Rocks (Studio Album; Spoken Word on "Heavy Friends") (2002, Quattro/UK Discs)

External Links

• Acid King Official
• Acid King Instagram
• Acid King Facebook
• Acid King Bandcamp
• Lori S on Discogs
• Gross National Product on Punk Database
• Bhang Revival on Punk Database