SURROUNDING THE EARTH
Part I (2016).
Composed by Nick Vasallo.

Performers:
Travis Andrews – guitar, vocals
Andy Meyerson – drums
http://thelivingearthshow.com/

John McCowen – clarinets
https://johnmccowen.bandcamp.com/

Gleb Kanasevich – clarinets
http://www.glebkanasevich.com/

Studio guests:
Weston Olencki – trombone
http://www.westonolencki.com/

Mobius Trio – gang vocals
http://www.mobiustrio.org/

Nick Vasallo – guitar, vocals
http://nickvasallo.com/

Audio recorded and mixed by Zack Ohren
https://www.facebook.com/CastleUltimateStudios
Sharkbite Studios, Oakland, CA
March 10, 2016

Video filmed by Taylor Joseph Rankin, Gabriel Pena-Ramos, and Martin Azevedo

Logo by Adam Pierce

Program Notes
For The Living Earth Show’s 2016-17 season, the ensemble commissioned Nick Vasallo to create Surrounding The Earth, integrating classical experimentalism and doom metal to create a maximal music that exists in a space of euphoric or utopian excess. The project will exist in the form of a full-length recording and a staged production presented in spaces not traditionally friendly to classical music: the punk and metal clubs in which Vasallo originally spawned his musical language.

Composed from February 13th-21st 2016. Originally titled East-West Doom Test as a project involving The Living Earth Show and virtuoso clarinetists from each coast: Gleb Kanesevich from the East Coast and John McCowen from the West. Both well versed in the art of extreme metal. The clarinetists would each interpret the music in their own way on their respective coasts and come together for a studio recording. Surrounding the Earth is an homage to the beautiful simplicity of early sludge and doom metal. Simple materials and complex sonic results; deep, heavy, and permeating.

Released on No Clean Singing: http://www.nocleansinging.com/2016/05/20/an-ncs-video-premiere-surrounding-the-earth-part-i/