Joe Preston

Joe Preston
Preston performing live in the 1990s.
Background information
Birth Name	Joe Preston
Alias	Salty Green, Stinky, Denial Fiend
Born	1969
Occupation	Musician
Genres	Drone, Doom Metal, Experimental, Punk Rock
Instrument(s)	Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Programming, Electronics, Vocoder
Years active	1989 - Present
Labels	Sub Pop, Amphetamine Reptile Records, Boner Records, Southern Lord Records, Relapse Records
Associated acts	High on Fire, Earth, Melvins, Sunn O))), The Whip, Thrones, Witchypoo, Last Empire, C Average

Joe Preston is a musician born in Salem, Oregon with ties to Seattle, Washington. Notably, he's performed with a multitude of bands over the years including his own experimental drone/doom project Thrones. Notably his tenures in Earth and Melvins (despite being short-lived) along with his solo EP with the latter band, serve among pioneering works in drone metal.

Along with being a pioneer in the drone doom genre, Preston has performed with over a dozen bands since the 1980s in a wide arrangement of genres ranging from noise rock to punk to metal to power electronics and much more.

Biography

Earth and Melvins (1989 - 1992)

Preston's earliest known band was Snake Pit from Eugene, Oregon. In the late 1980s he would join Earth as their bassist. His contribution to the band, along with guitarist/founder Dylan Carlson and bassist Dave Harwell, would be a series of demos recorded at Smegma Studios circa October 1990 and the band's first release on Sub Pop Records in Extra-Capsular Extraction, released 18 October 1991. By the time the EP had released Preston had already left the band, joining The Melvins that same year. Preston was a huge fan of the band, with his first performance with the band being on 9 May 1991 in Portland, Oregon.

The Melvins then released three "solo" EPs following the concept and imitating the cover artwork inspired by the four Kiss members' solo albums released in 1978. King Buzzo, Dale Crover, and Joe Preston (Joe's in particular being heavily drone-based, likely a precursor to Thrones.) were all released in 1992 on Boner Records. Notably the band would also record a single entitled Night Goat and release it in 1992, beginning a long-standing relationship with Tom Hazelmyer's Amphetamine Reptile Records. The band would also tour with GWAR in 1992.

Later in 1992, they released the full-length album Lysol, focusing heavily on a drone-based sound with half the album being covers. Eventually the album had to be renamed Melvins because Lysol was a trademarked name. Preston would be fired from the band due to disputes over credit (Which led to an inside joke on the Lysol cover) and issues with "lazy" work ethic. Lorax would briefly rejoin the band starting with the band's appearance at Reading Festival that year. Preston would also notably be one of three bassists to decline an appearance on the Melvins documentary The Colossus of Destiny: A Melvins Tale.

Thrones (1994 - Present)

Preston would start his solo project Thrones in 1994 as it "seemed like a good idea at the time". Unlike most bands he'd perform in, Thrones would feature Preston handling all instruments and electronics, along with vocals. At live shows Preston would often introduce the live sets with a greeting and "We're Thrones from Salem, Oregon." despite being the sole performer.

Thrones would begin in 1994, starting with an untitled demo cassette in 1994 on the label Punk In My Vitamins?. Soon after Preston would sign with Communion Records to release his first (and to date, only) studio album Alraune in 1996. Thrones' first known tour would be a five date West Coast tour supporting the Japanese sludge band Boris. Thrones would also perform with bands of a wide range of styles such as Sleater-Kinney and Jerk With a Bomb among bands Preston had also played in at the time such as C Average, The Need, Witchypoo and Men's Recovery Project.

Thrones then signed to Kill Rock Stars and released the single The Suckling. In late 1997, Preston began a recording project under the working title "White Rabbit, White Rabbit, White Rabbit" to which this project would be later released as two EPs. The first EP, White Rabbit, would be released on 2 November 1999 with a release party some days prior on 24 October 1999 at The Arrowspace. Along with extensive North American touring as Thrones and with Men's Recovery Project, Thrones would release their second EP Sperm Whale on 19 September 2000, the CD version also containing the White Rabbit EP to create a sort of album. Following a tour with Unwound and Mecca Normal in 2001, Thrones would take a hiatus.

Thrones would occasionally perform over the next few years, largely as support to Sunn O))) (Where Preston would also be a contributor.) Signing with Southern Lord Records, the label would curate a compilation of demos, singles, compilation tracks and unreleased works entitled Day Late, Dollar Short, released on 22 October 2005. Exposing Thrones to a newer and more doom oriented audience, Day Late, Dollar Short would see praise from several publications such as Brainwashed, Aversion Online, AllMusic, Sea of Tranquility and Lambgoat among others.

Thrones would begin touring again in 2006, beginning with a short touring supporting the same band Thrones first toured with a decade prior in Boris. Tours of Europe and North America with the likes of ISIS and Two Ton Boa would follow before an extensive European tour alongside Growing surrounding a marquee appearance at Roadburn Festival. Further touring would take place through 2008, performing with the likes of SubArachnoid Space, Tia Carrera, Author & Punisher, Kylesa, Red Fang, Steel Pole Bath Tub and Corrupted among other acts.

On 22 March 2010 Thrones would release a 7" single entitled Late For Dinner, the project's first recordings in roughly a decade to positive reception. A split 12" with Sedan would follow on 21 April 2011. In 2010 Thrones would extensively tour Europe alongside Nadja followed by a three-day benefit tour for Natalie Cox, reuniting with The Need, C Average and Bangs. A tour with Christian Mistress would follow through North America and Thrones would finish 2010 supporting Om and Lichens.

Thrones would tour Australia for the first time in over a decade with John Weise in 2011 followed by touring alongside the likes of Danava, Big Business and Torche. Thrones would perform more sporadically over the next few years, largely as a supporting act to touring bands or as part of various festivals barring two tours with a reuniting Floor. Thrones would celebrate it's twentieth anniversary with a special live performance on 11 January 2014 at Rotture in Portland, Oregon. Also of note in 2014 is Thrones would begin adding select live performances on Bandcamp as part of a series entitled Unlovable and Unnecessary.

High on Fire (2004 - 2006)

High on Fire would tour heavily in support of the recent album but also have new songs in the works such as "Cometh Down Hessian" and "Devilution". However, George Rice would quit the band in the summer of 2004. Joe Preston would serve as his replacement leading up to the new album being recorded. The earliest known show with Preston on bass was on November 18, 2004 at Crazy Goat in Salt Lake City, Utah (With Big Business).

High on Fire would record their third album with famed producer Steve Albini (Shellac, Big Black, Nirvana, Weedeater, etc.). Blessed Black Wings would be released on 1 February 2005 with a music video produced for "Devilution". The band would tour heavily in support of the album throughout that same year.

In 2006 after the first leg of the 2006 Blessed Black Wings tour, Preston would quit the band and Jeff Matz (Zeke) would join the band to fill out the second leg. By the end of the second leg he joined the band as a full-time member.

In a 2007 interview, Pike and Kensel would speak about Joe's tenure and departure from the band:

“	“(Kensel) The thing with Joe is we basically talked to him and asked if he just wanted to be on the recording and he was like "Yeah, fuck yeah, man!". Then we got an offer to do a tour with Clutch. You wanna do the tour? "Yeah, sure I'll do the tour.". Oh, the record's out, you wanna do the first tour when the record's out? "Yeah, sure!". (Pike) Then we smothered him with like, ten tours in a row and he's like "Jesus Christ, you guys are fucking insane!" (Kensel) He lasted longer than I thought he would. (laughs) (Pike) That shit was awesome. He was on tour for like eleven years so he just got to the point where he was like "I don't want to tour anymore, maybe I'll just be on that High on Fire record!" and, like, he got punished for it. (laughs) Joe, if you hear me saying this, I love you to death, man."	”
	— Des Kensel and Matt Pike, WIR Atomkinder via YouTube, 2007

At the time of Preston's breakup the band actually contacted Hank Williams III with the possibility of being a touring bassist but due to his extensively busy schedule he couldn't do it. Ultimately Williams suggested Jeff Matz, whom would join 2006 and remain with the band ever since.

Other Bands

• Preston would be briefly involved with a hardcore punk band known as Mosisly in 1994 before also joining Witchypoo that same year. Witchypoo was somewhat of a supergroup from Olympia, WA and has consisted of many various members throughout their career, with several members in revolving roles. Some of their members were Steve Fisk, Slim Moon, Michelle Mae (The Make-Up), Rachel Carns (Kicking Giant, The Need), Sara Lund (Unwound, The Belgian Waffles!), Sarah Utter (The Bangs), Vern Rumsey (Unwound) and many other musicians among Preston. Witchypoo would release two albums among others releases and have been defunct since 2000.

• Preston would join Men's Recovery Project in 1998, an experimental band. Preston would contribute keyboards, bass and vocals to their 1999 album Resist The New Way, released via Vermiform Records. Preston would remain with the group until their breakup in 2003. Around the same year Preston would also briefly be involved with the rock/metal band C Average between 1998 and 2000.

• In 1998, Joe Preston briefly joined The Need, playing bass and sampler. The songs "Vaselina" and "Talk Potty" were released as The Need with Joe Preston & DJ Zena on Up Records. During this period Carns played drums with the Sub Debs and later with The Spells. Carns and Sloan both joined Mocket for a short time and appeared on their album Pro Forma. This was followed by the pair collaborating with Two Ton Boa. The Need returned to the studio with producer Mike Lastra in summer 1999 and completed their second album, The Need is Dead, for Chainsaw Records.

• Preston would also be a recurring contributor to the drone metal band Sunn O))). His first contributions would be on the band's critically acclaimed White1 (2003) and White2 (2004). Preston would also serve as the bassist for various shows from 2002 - 2004. Preston would notably contribute vocals on the Sunn O))) and Boris collaborative album Altar, released in 2006. He would appear on the Oracle EP the next year, playing the Jackhammer. Preston would also notably participate in the "Altar Presentation" in December 2007.

• Joe Preston would collaborate with two members of Karp to form The Whip in 2002. The band would go on to play shows around the Washington area and work towards making an EP or LP, with one single being released the next year on Wantage USA. However tragedy would strike as drummer Scott Jernigan would pass away on 10 June 2003 in a boating accident, ending the band unexpectedly. On 20 March 2020 Wantage USA would release a full album's worth of material by The Whip, culled from the 7" sessions recorded by Justin Trosper, a session recorded by Preston and a live recording by Mike Ziegler.

• Joe Preston would join the Athens, Georgia experimental rock band Harvey Milk in 2007 as a second guitarist, following that band releasing their first comeback album Special Wishes in late 2006. Signing to Hydra Head Records and recording in 2007, Life... The Best Game in Town would see release circa 3 June 2008. Life... would attain near-universal praise and even be awarded "Album of the Year" by Rock-a-Rolla Magazine. Despite these praises Creston Spiers would cite it as the band's worst album. Harvey Milk would tour through North America and Europe to support the newest album but the band would revert to a trio by the end of the year.

• Since 2009 Preston has been involved with a fantasy-based power metal band known as Last Empire, performing bass and vocals on their second album Heir To The Empire.

• Since 2014 Preston would also be involved with a noise/power electronics project led by Daniel Menche known as BEAST as a recurring guest musicians. To date Preston has contributed on at least three of their albums along with several live performances.

Bands

• Snake Pit - Bass (Unknown Time Period)
• Earth - Bass, Percussion (1989 - 1991)
• Melvins - Bass, Vocals (1991 - 1992)
• Thrones - All Instruments, Vocals (1994 - Present)
• Mosisly - Bass (1994 - 1995)
• Witchypoo - Bass (1994 - 2000)
• Men's Recovery Project - Bass, Keyboards, Vocals (1998 - 2003)
• The Need - Bass (1998 - 2000)
• C Average - Bass (1998 - 2000)
• Sunn O))) - Bass, Contributor (2002 - 2007)
• High on Fire - Bass (2004 - 2006)
• The Whip - Guitar (2002 - 2003)
• Harvey Milk - Guitar (2008)
• Last Empire - Bass (2009 - Present)
• Beast - Electronics (2014 - Present)

Discography

With Earth

• Extra-Capsular Extraction (1991, Sub Pop)
• Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars (2001, No Quarter)

With Melvins

• Night Goat (1992, Amphetamine Reptile Records)
• Salad of a Thousand Delights (1992, Box Dog Video)
• Joe Preston (EP) (1992, Boner)
• Lysol (1992, Boner)
• Neither Here Nor There (Tracks 2 & 9) (2004, Ipecac)

With High on Fire

• Blessed Black Wings (2005, Relapse)

With Harvey Milk

• Life... The Best Game In Town (2008, Hydra Head)

As Thrones

• Untitled demo cassette (Demo) (1994, Punk In My Vitamins? Records)
• "Enlightenment" (Split with Spaceboy, Lice, Toadliquor) (1997, Soledad)
• Alraune (Studio Album) (1996, The Communion Label)
• The Suckling (7" Single) (1998, Kill Rock Stars)
• Algol / Reddleman (7" Single) (1999, Punk In My Vitamins? Records)
• Senex (7" Single) (1999, Soda Girl Records)
• Thrones / Behead the Prophet No Lord Shall Live (Split 7") (1999, Voice of the Sky Records)
• White Rabbit (12" EP) (1999, Kill Rock Stars)
• Sperm Whale (12" EP) (2000, Kill Rock Stars)
• Sperm Whale/White Rabbit (Compilation CD) (2000, Kill Rock Stars)
• Day Late, Dollar Short (Compilation) (2005, Southern Lord Records)
• Late For Dinner (7" Single) (2010, Conspiracy Records)
• Sundries (EP) (2010, Joe Preston Solid Gold Recordings)
• Thrones/Sedan (Split 12" with Sedan) (2011, Joe Preston Solid Gold Recordings)

With Sunn O)))

• White1 - Contributor (2003, Southern Lord Records)
• White2 - Contributor (2004, Southern Lord Records)
• Oracle - Jackhammer (2007, Southern Lord Records)
• Altar - Vocals on "Akuma no Kuma" (2007, Southern Lord Records)
• Monoliths & Dimensions - Vocals (Choir) on "Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia)" (2009, Southern Lord Records)

Selected Guest & Misc. Appearances

• GodheadSilo - The Scientific Supercake L.P. (Studio Album; Engineer, Mixing) (1994, Kill Rock Stars)
• Mosisly - Dead Dreams (7" Single) (1994, Peace Creep Records)
• GodheadSilo - Skyward in Triumph (Studio Album; Engineer, Mixing) (1996, Sub Pop)
• Witchypoo - Salutes The Space Program (7" Single) (1997, Vermiform)
• Witchypoo - Olympia Must Die (7" Single) (1998, Thin The Herd)
• The Need - Vaselina (10" EP) (1998, Up Records)
• Men's Recovery Project - Resist The New Way (Studio Album) (1999, Vermiform)
• Witchypoo - Pitchy Woo (Studio Album) (1999, Vermiform)
• C Average - Second Rekoning (Studio Album) (1999, Kill Rock Stars)
• The Hoodwinks ‎– Stab! Stab! Stab! (Studio Album; Engineer) (1999, Thin The Herd)
• The Need - The Need Is Dead (Studio Album) (2000, Chainsaw)
• 1000 A.D. ‎– Annodomini (Demo; Engineer) (2001, Self-Released)
• Tracy + The Plastics ‎– Muscler's Guide To Videonics (Studio Album; Electronics, Engineer, Mixing) (2001, Chainsaw)
• Tracy + The Plastics ‎– Forever Sucks EP (EP; Engineer) (2002, Chainsaw)
• The Whip - Freelance Liaison / Sheep and Goat Judgement (7" Single) (2003, Wantage USA)
• Joe Preston And Daniel Menche ‎– Cerberic Doxology (Collaborative Album) (2008, Anthem Records)
• Last Empire - Heir To The Throne (Studio Album) (2009, Self-Released)
• Mamiffer ‎– Mare Decendrii (Studio Album; Additional Vocals) (2011, Conspiracy)
• Sissy Spacek ‎– Window Hammer (7" EP; Backing Vocals on "Complaints/Brain Candle", "Gaslight Square") (2014, Chondritic Sound)
• BEAST ‎– Ravenous (Studio Album) (2015, Self-Released)
• BEAST ‎– Gnasher (Studio Album) (2015, Self-Released)
• BEAST ‎– Prey (Studio Album) (2015, Self-Released)
• The Whip - The Whip (Compilation Album) (2020, Wantage USA)

List of Known Tours with Thrones

• 1996 North American Tour (With Boris) (1996)
• 2000 North American Tours (2000)
• 2000 Japan Tour (With Men's Recovery Project) (2000)
• 2001 North American Tour (With Unwound, Mecca Normal) (2001)
• 2003 European Tour (With Sunn O)))) (2003)
• Spring 2006 North American Tour (With Boris, Growing) (2006)
• 2006 European Tour (With ISIS, Zombi) (2006)
• Fall 2006 North American Tour (With Two Ton Boa) (2006)
• 2007 European Tour (With Wolf Eyes, Growing) (2007)
• 2007 North American Tour (With Grey Daturas) (2007)
• 2008 North American Tour (2008)
• 2009 North American Tour (Select dates with Coffins, Wolves in The Throne Room) (2009)
• 2010 European Tour (With Nadja, OvO) (2010)
• A Team Natalie Benefit (With The Need, C Average, Bangs) (2010)
• 2010 North American Tour (With Christian Mistress) (2010)
• 2011 Australian Tour (With John Weise) (2011)
• August 2011 North American Tour (With Big Business, Torche) (2011)
• Fall 2011 North American Tour (With Danava) (2011)
• 2013 North American Tour (With Floor) (2013)
• 20th Anniversary North American Tour (With Floor) (2014)

External Links

• Thrones Facebook
• Thrones Bandcamp
• Day Late Dollar Short on Bandcamp
• Thrones Myspace
• Thrones via Kill Rock Stars
• Thrones via Southern Lord Records
• Steel For Brains Interview
• Joe in the Bassist Morgue.
• Rockbites Interview with Joe.
• Thrones Live at WFMU.