Two LPs and four singles in, WEIRD OMEN still evade direct comparisons to … anyone. Descriptions abound: “Primitive garage, a deluge of trash brass, reverb, and fuzzzzz”, “a crypto-hypnotic garage trance, blending ‘60s tones and psychedelic neo-garage”, and “France’s strangest garage-psych-rock trio – comprised of guitar, sax, and drums. Lost somewhere between The Cramps and The Kinks”. For sound-alikes, you might look to Morphine and James Chance and the Contortions, but all this tells you is that while Weird Omen has influences like everybody else does, their sound is their own.
There’s a helluva pedigree here too: King Khan & the Shrines , Bee Dee Kay & the Roller Coaster, Lost Communists, Limiñanas, We Are Not Indians, Escobar, Anomalys…
Balancing between a gloomy psychedelic atmosphere and fast-paced punk energy, Weird Omen manage to make some new with the old, imposing their own unique style.
Refusing to succumb to one genre only, the band bravely blends garage, exotica, rockabilly, and psych.The lineup is straightforward, if unusual; a storming rhythm section comprised of drummer Remi Pablo and guitarist Sister Ray and what can only be described as a lead baritone saxophonist, Fred Rollercoaster.
Weird Omen defies the current trends of garage; or more exactly, builds upon its foundations to make something completely different out of it. The band have just served up a new 7″ (‘Girls Are Dancing On The Highway’ b/w ‘A Place I Want To Know’) single to wet the thirsty whistles of the garage-punk intelligentsia; paving the way for a European tour behind their forthcoming full-length LP, “Surrealistic Feast” slated for release in March only on Dirty Water Records.