If you’ve spent time in the heavy-music corner of the internet, you’ve probably crossed paths with Howling Giant — Nashville’s self-described “heavy jamming psych-wizards” with a decade of touring behind them and a reputation that holds up live. Their third album, Crucible & Ruin on Magnetic Eye Records, is built around what the band calls “heavy music in pursuit of lightness,” a phrase that sounds like marketing until the music makes it literal.
About the Show
Joint Jam lands at Putnam Place in Saratoga Springs on Saturday, October 10, starting at 3:00 p.m. The bill runs Howling Giant, High Desert Queen, Gozer, and more. An afternoon format gives the full lineup room to breathe, which is real reason to be there from the start, not just for the headliner.
Howling Giant is Sebastian Baltes (bass/vocals), Tom Polzine (guitar/vocals), Zach Wheeler (drums/vocals), and Adrian Lee Zambrano (guitar/synths). Three of the four sing, accounting for the three-part harmonies that somehow land harder than the distortion. The Nashville four-piece draws comparisons to Baroness, Elder, and Mastodon while tracing influence back to King’s X and the Allman Brothers, a lineage that explains how Crucible & Ruin moves between “ethereal textures and wide-open spaces” and hammer-drop riffs within the same stretch of music. The band describes the material as “gorgeous, knotty, searching,” pairing “impeccable songwriting chops” with real instrumental range. They’ve shared stages with Heavy Temple, The Obsessed, and Black Tusk — if those names mean anything to you, you already know what kind of afternoon this is going to be.
High Desert Queen and Gozer are also on the bill, with more acts to be announced.
Venue & Logistics
Putnam Place is at 63A Putnam St in Saratoga Springs, a club in the capital region. The 3:00 p.m. start gives every act on the bill proper time. Showing up early is the play.
Tickets
No ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. Buy tickets