Joey Osbourne

Joey Osbourne
Background information
Birth Name	Joey Osbourne
Born	25 October
Occupation	Musician, Social Worker
Genres	Doom Metal, Stoner Metal, Stoner Rock, Alternative Rock, Punk Rock, Pop, Folk
Instrument(s)	Drums, Vocals
Years active	Early 1990s - Present
Labels	Man's Ruin Records, Small Stone Records, Sympathy For The Record Industry
Associated acts	Acid King, Altamont, Porn (The Men Of), The Stimmies

Joey Osbourne is a drummer based out of San Francisco, California. He is best known as a founding member of both Acid King and Altamont, the former a doom metal band based out of San Francisco while the latter is an alternative rock band based out of California.

Biography

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. Osbourne would state he me Lori at a party when she asked around if anyone was a drummer to start a band to which he would speak up. As a rite of passage he would read the book "Say You Love Satan" to join the band. Acid King's first live performance would be at Lennon Rehearsal Studios in San Francisco (With Luv Hammer).

Acid King started playing the club scene in SF and 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 both bassist Mark Lamb and drummer Joey Osbourne would leave the group, with Rafa Martinez returning on bass and new drummer Bil Bowman joining.

Altamont

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

Altamont would be founded in 1994. According to drummer Joey Osbourne, he would meet Dale Crover through Dan Southwick and Lori S. of Acid King and expressed interest in forming a band together. Notably, Crover would give Osbourne a set of double bass pedals that he would use for both Acid King and Altamont. Some time after forming the trio of Crover, Southwick and Osbourne would record at Big Rehab Studio in San Francisco with Billy Anderson and Aaron Nudelman, Dead or Alive would see release via Man's Ruin Records on 29 May 1997. In the Fall of 1997 the band would tour the West Coast with Acid King.

Recording in 1998 with Billy Anderson and featuring a cover of "Ezy Rider" by Jimi Hendrix, Civil War Fantasy on 9 October 1998, followed by a string of shows with Black Oak Arkansas and Honky. The band also participated in showcases for Man's Ruin and Small Stone Records. The band would contribute a cover of "Make It" by Aerosmith for the Small Stone Records tribute album Right in The Nuts - A Tribute to Aerosmith, released in 2000. Altamont would tour with Acid King and Honky in 1999 and join up with Core and Porn (The Men Of) for a string of Fall shows in 2000.

A second Altamont album, recorded by Tim Green and featuring covers of Mose Allison and Johnny Thunders, Our Darling would see release on 15 May 2001 via Man's Ruin, one of the final releases on the label. The band would play occasional shows in California, along with a 2003 West Coast tour with Melvins.

In 2005 Toshi Kasai would join the band as a second guitarist and record a third album with the band, in what would be the first produced album of The Deaf Nephews, comprised of Kasai and Crover. The Monkee's Uncle would see release on 1 November 2005 via AntAcidAudio to positive reviews of the likes of AllMusic, SF Weekly, LA Weekly, Billboard and AntiMusic among others.

Following a string of shows with Jello Biafra and The Melvins to support The Monkee's Uncle, Altamont would play occasional shows and in 2010, record new material. Altamont would sign with Valley King Records as part of a re-issue campaign. Notably the band would also release a 7" of a new song and a cover of "Transmaniacon AC" by Blue Öyster Cult, notably featuring a guest drummer in Coady Willis (Big Business) and artwork in Alan Forbes. Mrs. Creech would see release on 2 November 2005, with a release party at Bender's Bar in San Francisco with Frehley's Vomit and an art presentation of Alan Forbes and Junko Mizuno.

Valley King Records would release all three albums on picture disc vinyl, along with two split 7" picture discs in 2016. The band's activity is largely unknown, with Crover eventually forming The Dale Crover Band in 2016 along side several solo releases in conjunction with Joyful Noise Records.

Other Bands

• Prior to his tenures with Acid King and Altamont, Osbourne notably played with an alternative/indie rock band known as The Stimmies. They would be largely active through the early 90s and release a single album in 1994's Pet. Osbourne would leave the group in 1994 when he grew bored of playing pop music. Notably, The Stimmmies won the "Best Pop band" by way of the voter’s choice awards for the SF Weekly in 1993, along with opening for the likes of Uncle Tupelo, Sleep and Neurosis, the latter two at a marquee show in Canada.

• Osbourne would also perform live for Sawed Off, a one-off studio project featuring Bill Bartell, Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover. Sawed Off (With Osbourne on drums and Dale on bass) would perform once in April 1993 at Jabberjaw in Los Angeles, California.

• Osbourne had also been a contributor to Porn (The Men Of) from 1996 - 1999. He would play three tracks on the band's debut album American Style. In an interview with Doom Mantia, Osbourne would state the following of the project: "As far as the Men of (Porn); that connection actually started in Omaha, Nebraska by way of my ex – wife saying ‘you need to meet this friend of mine, Tim Moss. I think you guys would get along’. We did. Frank Kozik convinced him to move to SF so Moss, Joe Goldring and I laid down some tracks to add to some other tracks that Tim had already recorded in Omaha w/ MOP. We really enjoyed jamming and it always had a loose and chaotic feel. Very sonic and very punk in ethos. I love every song we recorded. We did some songs on the ‘American Style’ album and did ‘Lightnin’ Strikes’ on the Small Stone Aerosmith compilation. (Altamont did ‘Makin It’ on that comp. as well). Good times for sure.".

• Osbourne had also played in punk bands in the San Francisco area, namely The Corruptors and Triple X, the latter being an X cover band.

• Since the 2010s, Osbourne has been part of a dark folk band called Saturn Returns. It consists of Osbourne on drums and vocals, Eric Peterson (Lost Goat, Nite After Nite) on guitar, Max Barnett (Hammers of Misfortune, Old Grandad) on bass, Marc Sieling on lap steel and Sean Kohler on guitar and vocals.

Personal Life

Osbourne grew up in Kentucky, but would move to San Francisco in the 1980s where he currently resides. He studied Social Work at San Francisco State University, graduating in 1991.

Bands

• The Stimmies - Drums (1990 - 1994)
• Acid King - Drums (1993 - 2016)
• Altamont - Drums, Vocals (1994 - ?)
• Sawed Off - Live Drums (1994)
• Porn (The Men Of) - Drums (1996 - 1999)
• Triple X - Drums (Unknown Time Period)
• The Corruptors - Drums (Unknown Time Period)
• Saturn Returns - Drums, Vocals (2010s - Present)

Discography

With Acid King (Selected)

• 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)

With Altamont (Selected)

• Dead or Alive (EP) (1997, Man's Ruin Records)
• Civil War Fantasy (1998, Man's Ruin Records)
• Our Darling (2001, Man's Ruin Records)
• The Monkee's Uncle (2005, AntAcidMusic)
• Mrs. Creech (7" Single) (2013, Valley King)
• Black Coffee / Black Hole (7" Split with The Phantom Ships) (2016, Valley King)
• Gotards Theme Song / Junkie (7" Split with Honky) (2016, Valley King)

Other Releases

• The Stimmies - Chester / C'mon (7" Single) (1992, Perseverator)
• The Stimmies - Pet (Studio Album) (1994, Perserverator)
• Porn (The Men Of) - American Style (Studio Album; Drums on 1, 2, 12) (1999, Man's Ruin Records)

External Links

• Acid King Official
• Acid King Instagram
• Acid King Facebook
• Acid King Bandcamp
• Joey on Facebook
• Joey on Discogs
• Stimmies on Bandcamp
• Stimmies on Facebook