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Shrinebuilder
Shrinebuilder
Shrinebuilder. L-R: Al Cisneros, Wino, Dale Crover, Scott Kelly
Background information
Origin USA
Genres Stoner Metal, Doom Metal
Years active 2008 - 2011
Labels Neurot Recordings
Associated acts Sleep, Om, Neurosis, Melvins, Altamont, The Obsessed, The Hidden Hand
Website Facebook
Past members Al Cisneros
Scott Weinrich
Dale Crover
Scott Kelly
Chris Hakius

Shrinebuilder was a doom metal supergroup that lasted from 20082011, featuring Scott Kelly (Neurosis, Tribes of Neurot, Corrections House, etc.), Scott Weinrich (The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, Saint Vitus, etc.), Al Cisneros (Sleep, Om) and Dale Crover (Melvins, Altamont, Nirvana, etc.). The band’s name was derived from the Om song “Rays To The Sun/To The Shrinebuilder”.[1]

History[]

Founding[]

The band's origins were established around 20032004, when Al Cisneros contacted Scott Weinrich sometime after the dissolution of The Hidden Hand and proposed that they form a new collaborative three piece group with Om drummer Chris Hakius.[2] Cisneros named the band and it was intended that Wino would be the only vocalist. A few years later, and after sporadically working on some music together, Cisneros enlisted Scott Kelly on guitar and vocals to round out the band to a four-piece.

In early 2008, drummer Chris Hakius retired from playing music. As a result, Dale Crover was brought in to replace him.[3] Over the next year the band sent audio files to one another, refining their material, and rehearsed when possible in various configurations of two or three in Baltimore, San Francisco, Ashland and Los Angeles.[4]

In an interview with The Line of Best Fit conducted in 2010, Wino would speak about the origins of Shrinebuilder:

“Well, the idea had been around for a little while, and then me and Al decided to slip the idea to Chris on drums. Then when Chris left Om he said it wouldn’t quite be right for him, so that left just me and and Al. About that time Al had asked me about bringing in Scott Kelly (guitar/vocals) and I thought that was a great idea. Then we needed a drummer and basically all of us agreed that if we could have our dream drummer it would be Dale and when he said “yes”, we were pretty blown away. I think we’d been together about 6-7 months. The interesting thing is we never actually played together until the night before we went in the studio. It was either me and Dale, or me and Dale and Al, or Al and Dale, and then, finally, me and Al and Scott. The first time we all got together was midnight on a Thursday night and the next day we went in the studio. Three days later, we’d recorded the record, so it was pretty rad.

A lot of cool stuff happened, a lot of serendipitous stuff. I was struggling with the lyrics for this riff that I’d bought to the table and Scott happened to call me at that exact moment and said “Hey man, I got some lyrics that might help you finish that song” so it was pretty amazing. Then Al had a piece that he’d tapped out that fit just perfectly. So everything on that first record is written by all of us – everyone has written a little piece of each song.

[On writing and sharing ideas over the phone and online] A lot of computer files sent to each other. It actually forced me to get little bit more computer-literate. But it’s getting easier and easier now. ”

 
— Scott "Wino" Weinrich, The Line of Best Fit[5]

Debut album[]

In January 2009 the full band met together for the first time to set about recording the material they had previously sketched out. Kelly documented the recording sessions via his blog site "We Burn Through The Night".[6] A majority of the writing process was done by the respective members sending files to each other over a period of time.[4] The debut record was recorded in three days,[7] with Crover and Toshi Kasai (Collectively known as The Deaf Nephews) as producers.[4] Commenting upon the recording experience, Kelly stated:

The sheer weight of it all pushed this thing into another realm the moment the decision was made to do this. The fifth member of Shrinebuilder is the godhead. This record honours the traditions set forth by all those that walked through these endless halls before us.
 
— Scott Kelly
Shrinebuilder_live_in_Belgium_PROSHOT

Shrinebuilder live in Belgium PROSHOT

Shrinebuilder was released in October 2009. Following the album's release, the band announced a string of concerts, and the first Shrinebuilder track, "Pyramid Of The Moon," was added to the band's Myspace page On November 11, 2009, Club My War arranged and hosted the band's first live show in the United States with two performances at The Viper Room. [8] A short string of dates followed that year.

Shrinebuilder largely toured in 2010 whenever each member’s schedules had allowed, beginning with a west coast tour of the United States in 2010 leading up to Scion Rock Fest. Whilst unable to fly over to Europe to tour during the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption of April 2010,[9] the band returned to LA and completed the writing stage of their second record after a surprise show in New York. According to Scott Kelly their flight to the venue was literally missed by six hours at the time of the volcanic eruption [10].

In an interview with The Line of Best Fit conducted in 2010, Wino would speak about the cancellations and the rehearsal for songs on a proposed second album:

“It was pretty fucked actually. We kept trying and trying to get in . Al Cisneros’ [bassist/vocals] original idea is that we come in over Africa we could have made it in, but then we might have never made it out so, after the first couple of shows we knew we couldn’t make it in – the first four shows was like a third of the whole tour budget. We really wanted to play so that was really cold. Something good did come out of it though because, as we can get together so rarely, we used the extra time to go into rehearsal where we fleshed out our next record. We’ve now got way more than enough material, so we’re in good shape. I think we’re going to do a couple of other releases first. We’re going to release a live album first before we go in and record which might not be until next November.


Let’s see – I’m not sure if I should do this – ah, I can give you a couple. One song is called ‘In The Wake Of Zeus’, we talk about the volcano, and another is called ‘The Concept Of Now’.”

 
— Scott "Wino" Weinrich, The Line of Best Fit[11]


Two tours of Europe would follow in it's wake. One year later the band performed on the main stage at the 16th Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, the Netherlands which they had been previously set to appear at had there been no hindrance in schedule.[12] This ended up being their final live performance. [13]

Dissolution[]

While a break-up of Shrinebuilder was never officially announced, two interviews in recent years hinted that the band was no more. Scott Kelly stated in a 2012 interview with The Obelisk:

“I don’t even know if there’ll be another Shrinebuilder record.”
 
— Scott Kelly, The Obelisk [14]

In a May 2014 interview with Wino via Metal Assault, Wino made the statement:

“Cisneros is insane so Shrinebuilder is not going to happen.”
 
— Scott "Wino" Weinrich, Metal Assault [15]

In a June 2016 interview composed at Hellfest, Dale Crover briefly spoke about his tenure in Shrinebuilder, describing how he got in the band and a mention as to why the band isn't active anymore.[16]

A second album was in the works with other songs in live shows known as “Nagas” and “We Let The Hell Come” though studio recordings of a second album never came to fruition. A live album was released via "My Proud Mountain" in September 2011 detailing four songs from the November 2010 Europe tour, including a live recording of "We Let The Hell Come".

Discography[]

Studio Albums[]

Live Albums[]

Singles[]

  • Coextinction Release 3 (2011, Coextinction Recordings)

Members[]

Tours[]

  • 2009 USA Tour (2009)
  • March 2010 USA Tour (2010)
  • Spring 2010 European Tour (2010)
  • Fall 2010 European Tour (2010)
  • 2011 Tour (2011)

External Links[]

Band Links[]

Blog Entries via "We Burn Through The Night"[]

References[]

  1. Allmusic Inerrant Rays of Infallible Sun EP, accessed 8th January 2016
  2. Blistering Shrinebuilder-Pillars of Doom, accessed 7th January 2016
  3. Extreminal Webzine Shrinebuilder Interview (December 2010), accessed 7th December 2016
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Brooklyn Vegan an interview w/ Scott Kelly (Neurosis, Neurot, Shrinebuilder), accessed 7th January 2016
  5. The Line of Best FitTLOBF Interview: WINO, accessed 2 July 2023
  6. We Burn Through the Night accessed 8th January 2016
  7. BBC Music Shrinebuilder - Shrinebuilder Review, accessed 8th January 2016
  8. Apeshit: An Extreme Metal Webzine SHRINEBUILDER to Make U.S. Debut at The Viper Room’s Club My War O))), accessed 7th January 2016
  9. BBC News How volcano chaos unfolded, accessed 8th January 2016
  10. Extreminal Webzine Shrinebuilder Interview (December 2010), accessed 7th January 2016
  11. The Line of Best FitTLOBF Interview: WINO, accessed 2 July 2023
  12. Blabbermouth SHRINEBUILDER, VOIVOD, BLACK MOUNTAIN, DEAD MEADOW, YOB Confirmed For ROADBURN, accessed 8th January 2016
  13. Setlist.fm Shrinebuilder Setlist at Poppodium 013, Tilburg, Netherlands, accessed 7th January 2016
  14. The Obelisk Scott Kelly Interview: Mapping the Road Home, accessed 7th January 2016
  15. Metal Assault In Conversation With Saint Vitus Singer Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich, accessed 7th January 2016
  16. Kadaverine via YouTubeMelvins interview - Hellfest 2016, accessed 28 June 2016
V·T·E Shrinebuilder
Past Members Al CisnerosScott KellyScott WeinrichDale CroverChris Hakius
Studio Albums Shrinebuilder
Singles Coextinction Release 3
Live Albums L•i•v•e
Associated Bands and Artists NeurosisTribes of NeurotThe ObsessedSpirit CaravanSaint VitusSleepOmAsbestosdeathMelvins
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