Noise: Stu Brundy invites you into his SpiritWorld

WESTERN UNION

FORMER FOLSOM LEADER STU BRUNDY BRINGS NEW TALES TO LIFE WITH SPIRITWORLD

Stu Brundy leads SpiritWorld through a pre-pandemic set

at American Legion Post 8. (Jennifer Tenorio/Courtesy)

SPIRITWORLD spiritworldprophet.bandcamp.com instagram.com/spiritworldprophet

NOISE

BY CASE KEEFER

sense of self-preservation was a A prerequisite for those attending a show by Stu Brundy’s seminal band knew if I could expand on a concept record Folsom, which waved the Vegas that’s not some political hardcore record hardcore  ag around the world during the that kind of sticks you in a box, I could go early 2000s. insane with it. It was liberating, because I

The ability to dodge spinkicks and just didn’t care. I’m not tied to any sort of back sts in venue-encompassing mosh success about what this does.” pits will continue to be vital when Brundy’s Don’t underestimate the release’s new project, SpiritWorld, begins playing prospects for success, however, given its live more regularly, but that’s only the start sonic warmth. Pagan Rhythms is more of the checklist. Revelers will also require inviting than many albums in a similar loose neck muscles to headbang freely to vein, thanks to crisp production job from the black-metal blast beats and death-metal Sam Pura, more known for work with ri s, air guitars for the cocksure claspop-punk acts like The Story So sic-rock swagger and, perhaps Far and Basement. most importantly, Stetson Brundy wrote everyhats and boots to match thing on the record but the lyrical content. brought a small army

That accounts for of collaborators into part of the territory the studio. Spiritexplored on SpiritWorld’s debut fulllength album, Pagan Rhythms, recently released on Bandcamp and streaming services, World has played three just shows, but Brundy has a new live lineup ready, featuring local scene veterans Matt Schrum (guitar), ( J e n n i f e r O l s e n / C o u r t e s y ) with physical copies expected Justin Fornof (bass) and later in the year. Stu Brundy Jeremy Johnson (drums). The

“I wrote a series of short only spot left to  ll: someone horror Westerns, so this whole record is to play samples, of which there are many a bunch of stories that exist in that same on Pagan Rhythms. The album employs evworld, with cowboys  ghting at the gates of erything from  eld recordings of thunderhell,” Brundy explains. storms to lines from a variety of  lms.

SpiritWorld takes its name from a line “If I get a cease-and-desist and get sued, of dialogue in 1988 Billy the Kid-based it’s whatever,” Brundy says. “You make blockbuster  lm Young Guns, and the something, and the odds of it penetrating Western in uence pervades the material. the noise and people picking it up is so rare Early demos and singles were more steeped anyway. I  gured I’d just make exactly what in country-punk, but Brundy reined in I think is cool as sh*t and  gure out the rest that sound and steered towards his love of later.” extreme metal on Pagan Rhythms. The songs might be bleak, but Brundy

The likes of Waylon Jennings and George is buoyant. He recalls a time when local Jones also remained major in uences, but hardcore shows would draw “a group of more for their songwriting brevity and 10 kids who knew each other by name on storytelling style. The back half of Pagan a weekend,” and contrasts that with how, Rhythms is particularly country indebted pre-coronavirus, 200 could show up on a (see: the murder balladry of “Armageddon weeknight. Honkytonk & Saloon” and revenge fantasy He’s looking forward to getting Spiritof “Comancheria”). There’s a theatricality World on more bills and bringing his repupresent throughout the 32-minute total tation for live intensity to a new generation. run time that feels several night-rides away “I hope some kid in high school gets into from the bare-bones beatdown of Folsom. death metal and hardcore through this, and

“This is my wheelhouse,” Brundy says. “I it’s a gateway to the abyss,” Brundy says.

Universal appeal

Local artist Eric Vozzol a’s Meow Wol f mural l ooks to worl ds beyond

By C. Moon Reed

Artist Eric Vozzola might have only ever lived in Las Vegas, but his imagination allows him to see into the great beyond. That interdimensional vision helped lead art collective Meow Wolf to Vozzola for a 16,000-square-foot mural on the west exterior wall of Area15.

Vozzola completed “Window Into the Multiverse” this spring. The funky, whimsical creation mimics a tear in the fabric of the universe. Beyond the black wall of our dimension lies a desert moonscape, colorful geometric shapes, Joshua trees, foreign suns and the night sky. It’s a little bit M.C. Escher, a little bit Lisa Frank and a little bit National Geographic.

“I basically reached into my entire repertoire and bag of techniques and created another world based on my fusion of geometry, patterns, desert landscape and flora, and overall psychedelia,” Vozzola says in an artist’s statement on his website, ericvozzola.com.

According to Vozzola, the mural represents Meow Wolf’s interaction with Las Vegas. Taking that idea one step further, the native Las Vegan represents the link between Southern Nevada and the Santa Fe-based arts organization, which has built its first satellite location in the not-yet-open “experiential retail and entertainment complex” just west of Interstate 15.

“I’m just really honored that I can represent Las Vegas in a sense,” Vozzola says. “Meow Wolf could’ve gone with any other artist—they work with artists internationally. … It makes me super proud each time I can put up a piece that reminds me of the Vegas landscape or that’s inspired by the city.”

To tackle so much square footage, Vozzola used the building’s natural grid structure as a guide. “All the planning kind of went out the window when I got to the wall, because it’s just so big,” Vozzola says. “I used the design as a general road map and then just [went] in and allowed it to be a little more free-form.” If Vozzola’s distinctive style looks familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen his murals around town. His work has been featured at Life Is Beautiful festival, inside Downtown’s VegeNation restaurant, outside Chinatown’s Cultivate Dispensary and as part of Clark County’s ZAP9 Project.

For the first part of his career, Vozzola earned his living through graphic design while painting in his free time. He loved both fields and wasn’t sure how to reconcile the different worlds. “I was always doing design and art—two ends of the creative spectrum for visual artists,” Vozzola says. “I was always attracted to the design world—very geometric, flat, rigid, almost a digital motif— but I couldn’t get my hands off of painting and drawing, you know, traditional art.”

“Window Into the Multiverse’’ is Vozzola’s largest, most comprehensive work yet. It’s a triumphant balance of his competing tendencies: planning versus improvisation; graphic design versus painting; organic versus digital; and black-and-white versus a prism of candy colors.

“That term ‘multiverse’ really stuck out to me,” Vozzola says. “It was a blanket term for bringing all of this imagery together. … I just embraced my two passions within the art that I do and made them both work.”

ART

BY THE NUMBERS

■ The mural is 40 feet tall by 400 feet wide, or 16,000 square feet. ■ It took more than 200 gallons of paint and 30 different colors. ■ Vozzola and his assistant Derrick Beyenka spent 320 hours hand painting the mural.