''The Action is Go'' is the fourth studio album by American
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. ...
band
Fu Manchu
Dr. Fu Manchu () is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, com ...
. It features new drummer
Brant Bjork
Brant Bjork (born March 19, 1973) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is perhaps best known as the drummer and founder of the influential Californian stoner rock band Kyuss. Bjork played in Vista Chino, along with ...
(
Kyuss
Kyuss ( ) was an American rock band, formed in Palm Desert, California, in 1987. The band disbanded in 1995, and since then, members of Kyuss have gone on to form or play in several notable bands including Queens of the Stone Age, Fu Manchu, D ...
) and new lead guitarist Bob Balch, replacing
Eddie Glass
Eddie Glass (born December 19, 1970) is an American rock musician best known for his work with punk band Olivelawn and stoner rock bands Nebula and Fu Manchu. Nebula has been Glass' primary musical group since 1997, when he and drummer Ruben Ro ...
and Ruben Romano, who left to form the band
Nebula
A nebula ('cloud' or 'fog' in Latin; pl. nebulae, nebulæ or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regio ...
. The album was produced by
Jay Noel Yuenger of
White Zombie, who contributed some additional instrumentation.
According to an
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
review, the new lineup provided Fu Manchu with "the impetus and inspiration to really start moving forward,"
and the resulting album demonstrates the band's "
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
energy, classic rock drive,
psychedelic
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...
crunch, and heavy-ass grind all at once."
Track listing
The European version includes two more songs:
Personnel
*Scott Hill – vocals, guitar
*
Brant Bjork
Brant Bjork (born March 19, 1973) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is perhaps best known as the drummer and founder of the influential Californian stoner rock band Kyuss. Bjork played in Vista Chino, along with ...
– drums
*Bob Balch – guitar
*Brad Davis – bass, theremin
*
Jay Noel Yuenger – producer, organ, Minimoog, Electro-Harmonix Space Drum
Notes
*"Module Overload" was first released on the ''Godzilla'' EP and was re-recorded with a new vocal line and a different middle part. The original version appears again on ''
Eatin' Dust''.
*"Swami's Last Command" was originally a contribution to the soundtrack of the movie ''
Chicago Cab'' (1998).
*"Evil Eye" was featured on ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2'' is a skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the second installment in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series of sports games and was released for the PlayStation in 2000, with subs ...
''.
*
Tony Alva
Tony Alva (born September 2, 1957) is an American skateboarder, entrepreneur, and musician. He was a pioneer of vertical skateboarding and one of the original members of the Zephyr Competition Skateboarding Team, also known as the Z-Boys. The ...
(of
Z-Boys
The Zephyr Competition Team (or Z-Boys) were a group of American skateboarders in the mid-1970s from Santa Monica and Venice, California. Originally consisting of 12 members, the Z-boys were originally sponsored by the Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zeph ...
) is on the CD cover skating in the "Dogbowl".
*This albums introduces
Brad Davis on the
theremin
The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...
which he used again on ''
Start the Machine''.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Action Is Go, The
1997 albums
Fu Manchu (band) albums
Mammoth Records albums
Albums recorded at Sound City Studios