Long-running indie label Robotic Empire returns with their third Nirvana tribute LP, Doused In Mud, Soaked In Bleach, completing a trifecta of homages to the legendary band's official studio albums.
The Hall of Famer's debut LP Bleach is covered in full, start to finish, by a diverse range of independent/alternative artists including Basement, Beach Slang, Big Hush, Circa Survive, Daughters, Defeater, The Fall of Troy, Mean Jeans, Rob Crow's Gloomy Place, The Saddest Landscape, This Will Destroy You, Thou and Young Widows.
Appropriately reflecting Nirvana's rawest studio album alongside a full-circle nod to Robotic Empire's roots, this is arguably the darkest, heaviest release in the tribute series. A tasteful re-envision of these classic songs sees all 13 "Bleach" tracks run through the bands' creative engines, putting an intense new perspective on these 25+ year old songs.
Utilizing their renown sound of heavy yet melodic hardcore/alternative rock, Basement opts for a somewhat traditional rendition of the frustrated anthem. On their approach to the song, vocalist Andrew Fisher elaborates:
"We picked 'School' because it's really heavy and so simple but so good. It has two parts the whole way through. Just goes to show how dynamics can make a song interesting. Whenever we play it I wish we wrote it because it's that good. We flirted with the idea of trying to make it 'our own' and change it, but because the song is so simple everything we came up with sounded forced and wrong. Instead we thought we'd try our best to do the song justice and so recorded it live and tried to keep it as true to the original as possible. I think it came out pretty cool"
Like both previous tributes, the vinyl edition of Doused In Mud, Soaked In Bleach is being released in conjunction with Record Store Day, occurring on Saturday, April 16th this year. The Record Store Day edition exclusive metallic-silver vinyl color and includes a bonus oversized poster, with standard editions (sans poster) to follow RSD via Robotic Empire's Online Store. All copies include a high-quality digital download of the full release. The album will also be released digitally across all major platforms on Saturday, April 16th, with iTunes and Bandcamp pre-orders live now, including an immediate download of the Circa Survive cover for pre-orderers.