Ancestors is an American five-piece

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

ensemble, residing in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States.

Biography

Justin Maranga, Nick Long and Brandon Pierce began a three-piece project in the summer of 2006; afterwards, the band added Englishman Chico Foley, who had met Brandon shortly after taking up what was at the time a temporary residence in Los Angeles. The band later added Jason Christopher Watkins as a member. They released their debut in Europe in April 2008 on North Atlantic Sound, a division of Tee Pee Records; and in August 2008 in the United States on

Tee Pee Records Tee Pee Records is an American independent rock music record label in New York City, prominent for releasing music by Sleep, Witch, Graveyard, Earthless, High on Fire and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. It has housed many stoner rock bands. Rost ...

. Artwork for the record was produced by

Arik Roper Arik Moonhawk Roper (born 1973) is a freelance illustrator and painter based in New York City. Roper grew up in Richmond, Virginia. His parents both being artists, his creativity was encouraged and he spent a great deal of time during childhood ...

, who has also worked with

Sleep Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a de ...

High on Fire High on Fire is an American heavy metal band from Oakland, California, that was formed in 1999. Matt Pike, the band's frontman and founder, also plays guitar for doom metal band Sleep. High on Fire won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Metal Per ...

, and

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. In October 2009 the band released their second album, '' Of Sound Mind'' on Tee Pee Records. The double LP was produced by the band and

Pete Lyman Pete Lyman is a mastering engineer, and owner of Infrasonic Mastering, an audio and vinyl mastering studio with locations in Nashville, Tennessee, Los Angeles, California, and Oakland, California. He has mastered Grammy-award-winning and Grammy-no ...

while the artwork was done by Derek Albeck. It featured cameo performances by

David Scott Stone David Scott Stone (sometimes referred to as Sir DSS and Mr. David Ascott Stone) is an American musician who has recorded and toured with artists like The Melvins, Unwound, Fantômas, The Locust, Jello Biafra, Keiji Haino, Mike Patton, Adam Jo ...

(

Melvins Melvins (sometimes The Melvins) are an American rock band formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. Initially, they performed as a trio but later also sometimes appeare ...

Unwound Unwound is an American post-hardcore band. The band was formed in 1988 in Tumwater, Washington, Tumwater and Olympia, Washington by vocalist/guitartist Justin Trosper, bassist Vern Rumsey and drummer Brandt Sandeno, and was largely based in Olym ...

, Slug), Sera Timms ( Black Math Horseman) and cellist Ramiro Zapata. In 2010 the band parted ways with Chico Foley, and synth/guitar player Matt Barks joined the band in his place. They entered the studio in early 2011 to record the ''Invisible White'' EP, which was released on June 26, 2011 via Tee Pee Records. The EP was produced by Kenny Woods.

Influences

Ancestors have been influenced by

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

, and heavier

stoner rock Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sleep. ...

and

. They have also tried to implement an amount of

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

and

musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic, ...

influence. However, despite their influences, they never set out to have any specific sound when they write music.

Band members

;Current *Justin Maranga -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

(2006-present) *Nick Long - bass,

(2006-present) *Jason Watkins -

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

(2006-present) *Matt Barks -

modular synthesizer Modular synthesizers are synthesizers composed of separate modules for different functions. The modules can be connected together by the user to create a patch. The outputs from the modules may include audio signals, analog control voltages, o ...

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...

(2010-present) *Daniel Pouliot -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(2011-present) ;Former *Chico Foley -

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

(2006-2010) *Brandon Pierce -

gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

(2006-2011) Timeline

Discography

Albums

*'' Neptune with Fire'' (

) (2008) *'' Of Sound Mind'' (

) (2009) *'' In Dreams and Time'' (

) (2012) *'' Suspended In Reflections'' ( Pelagic Records) (2018)

EP's and Singles

* ''Ancestors / Graveyard'' - Split 7" (

Volcom Entertainment Volcom Entertainment, officially founded in 1995, in Big Bear, California, and currently based in Costa Mesa, California, Costa Mesa, CA is the brainchild of Volcom founder Richard Woolcott and theLINE's singer/guitarist Ryan Immegart. Ryan being ...

) (2009) * ''Invisible White'' (EP) (

) (2011)

References

External links

Ancestors' MyspaceAncestors' YouTubeAncestors' page at Tee Pee Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ancestors American doom metal musical groups American experimental musical groups American noise rock music groups Musical quintets Progressive rock musical groups from California American stoner rock musical groups