EPK – Ivy Gardens – Goon (2024)
Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com
“Goon contains many tracks that our fans have been hearing live for a while. We knew how to craft a listening experience that mirrored our live performances, but we wanted to do something a little different. Sustaining a mosh pit through the course of a performance isn’t a concern on an album. We wanted an experience that took you places, with some unexpected twists, flowing from one song to the next and feeling like a natural progression to an ultimate finale.” – Ivy Gardens
For fans of Kyuss, Truckfighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Nirvana, Soundgarden
Band: Ivy Gardens
Album Title: Goon
Release Date: April 19, 2024
Label: Paper Cut Recordings
Facebook.com/ivygardensband | Instagram.com/ivygardensofficial | Youtube.com/@ivygardens420/
Ivygardens.bandcamp.com | Spotify
The Canadian National College Radio – May 2024 – Top 20 Loud – #9 Ivy Gardens (Earshot)
The Canadian National College Radio Loud Chart – #8 Ivy Gardens (Earshot) – For the Week Ending: Tuesday, May 21, 2024
“…the sonic equivalent of a panic attack.” – Canadian Beats
“Stoner metal, a little chilled sounding, but fast paced, cool stuff.” – Mosh Pit – WORT 89.9 FM (Madison, WI)
““Boner” has got a really cool groove, too, showing you what can happen when you’ve got a band that is truly possessed by the power of The Riff. It’s one of those grinding, motoriffic jobs in the spirit of Kyuss’ “Green Machine.” And it doesn’t take long before we, too, are caught under its sway. The retro organ sound from the keys provides a spooky touch to the chorus, which comes like a sigh of relief after the tense build-up of those guitar-driven verses. The drumming is swarmy and frenetic, and strikes with power at pivotal moments. The breakdown at 4 minutes is a headbanging oasis, made even cooler with the synthesizer’s late-’60s garage twist.” – Doomed and Stoned
“This Canadian trio are promising us a debut album that is “a relentless onslaught of vulgar, belligerent punk, sludge and sweat” when it is released in April. If this lead single is anything to go by, things are going to get very belligerent and sweaty when the full-lengther finally hits our death decks.” – Uber Rock
“GOON is an action packed and turbocharged release powered by Pissed Off grooves and a snarling Punk Rock Attitude which allows IVY GARDENS to deliver a devastating FREAKY slice of Psychedelic Sludge/Stoner Metal.” – Outlaws of The Sun
“Nothing about Ontario’s Ivy Gardens is predictable. Describing it is just going to sound trite. I love it when I know I’m going to miss the mark no matter what I write. But here’s my take: take some awesome keyboard parts from 1967, link them to 80’s New Romantic Synth parts played on guitar, add equal parts Stoner, Punk and Post-Metal. I mean, these guys drank the wrong whiskey and mixed it with the wrong drug while listening to the Clash, and then came down listening to Elvis Costello and early Queens of the Stone Age. Someone somewhere was blasting the B-52’s and the Stooges. It’s a heady mix that when mashed together is cohesive, fresh and original.” – Clean And Sober Stoner
““Goon” by IVY GARDENS. Pretty cool stuff. I like the inventiveness of it. Not something you’ll find carbon copies of. I also like the Stoner edge. Definitely worth checking out.” – Metal-Temple
“Alright, folks, if you haven’t already been swept up by Ivy Gardens, now’s the time. The Niagara, Ontario crew—masters of raw, unfiltered punk and sludge—delivered their first full-length album, Goon, back in April 2024. And let me tell you, it’s an auditory onslaught like no other… Goon is more than just a debut album; it’s a setlist Ivy Gardens fans have been craving. Since their thunderous arrival on the scene in 2021, they’ve been wreaking havoc across Canada’s east coast. And with a summer tour already in the works, this runaway train isn’t slowing down. Ready to dive in? The volume’s punishing, the intensity’s relentless, and there’s zero room to catch your breath—it’s like a panic attack in musical form. Ivy Gardens is daring you to join their world, where the mosh pit never ends, and the ringing in your ears is the only encore you’ll get. If you’re into Kyuss, Truckfighters, or Queens of the Stone Age, then Goon is about to become your new favorite album.” – Papy Jeff Metal
[Download Album Cover | Download Album Lyrics]
Band: Ivy Gardens
Album Title: Goon
Release Date: April 19, 2024
Label: Paper Cut Recordings
Track Listing:
1. 12 Million Bar Blues (4:43)
2. Boner (5:27)
3. Chlorine (1:52)
4. Black Sand & Gold (0:57)
5. Lamb (2:01)
6. Stoic (3:14)
7. Goon (3:22)
8. Shattered Glass (1:45)
9. Provider (5:37)
Album length: 29:01
Album Credits:
All songs written, produced and performed by Ivy Gardens.
Joe Zandwyk, Andrew Blackborow, Sebastian Hogg
Mixed by Joe Zandwyk
Mastered by Audrey Leyenhorst
Album Artwork by Sebastian Hogg
Canadian Content – MAPL
Live and Recording Band Lineup:
Joe Zandwyk – Vocals, Drums
Andrew Blackborow – Vocals, Guitar
Sebastian Hogg – Keyboards
=======================================================
About The Album Artwork
The cover features a former mascot who died a very quick death. He’s immortalized forever on this record.
About the album as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
We consider Goon to be a historical document. At a particular point in space and time, somewhere in a sweaty basement in Southern Ontario, we achieved a sound. Sonic belligerence, and euphoria through volume. The words flowed out naturally from personal struggles and experiences. Here it is documented: Goon.
Track by Track (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
1 – 12 Million Bar Blues, the opener, our instrumental odyssey. No words. Just riffs. Energy. Power. The introduction to our sound, the introduction to the experience. It sends you hurtling forward at a million miles per hour until it drags you straight back down.
2 – Boner is our very own feel-good hit of the summer. Opening with a relaxed groove that builds and builds to the heaviest possible climax, Boner has been a major highlight of our live set since it was introduced. Following the more relaxed pacing of the song, the softer vocal performance less seen in our music tells of a (seemingly) simple disagreement between two bitter individuals.
3 – Chlorine is our oldest song to date. Written when we were just 14, it’s a pure punk song that is full of energy the whole way through. Speed and intensity. Lyrically, the track details the human experience of chemical warfare.
4 – Black Sand & Gold is an ambient soundscape, named after an old novel chronicling the Yukon gold rush. Vast, uncaring wilderness, biting frost, black sand, and gold are the visual references for this quiet, palate-cleansing track.
5 – Lamb is our fastest and most aggressive track. Andrew screams commands: be a lamb, guide my hand. Rhythmically intricate at a breakneck pace, this track was one of the first written for the album, and the first to reach this level of sonic violence and belligerence.
6 – Stoic is our most lyrically packed song on the album as well as rhythmically unique. Bouncing between hard-hitting dirges and quick, jumping rhythms, the song explores the perspective of someone with a lot of self-destructive behavior, who still manages to find peace through it.
7 – Goon is a song that was written with the intention of being both rhythmically intricate, but ultimately danceable. Where the verses are filled with screaming lyrics from the point of view of a struggling addict, the chorus takes a more melodic approach, as the person in question experiences the ecstasy that comes with getting their fix.
8 – Shattered Glass is a quick punk blaster that turns on a dime. The lyrics depict a specific scene of violence and gore, and someone’s attempt to escape a dangerous situation.
9 – Provider, the record’s finale, is our stoner-doom sludge fest. A delicate introduction builds quietly, introducing its themes, until it all comes crashing down at an immense volume. We ride the groove out, and variations on its themes are introduced until the pressure is released gradually for the final gentle climax. Lyrically, Provider is a song about struggling to abandon a substance you’ve formed a reliance on, trying to ditch the last thing that keeps you going.
=======================================================
Fun Facts – Story Angles:
1 – Ivy Gardens operates under a golden rule: the “dollar to decibel ratio”. We almost exclusively use old junk amplifiers and speaker cabs. Old Peavey garbage, fished from some old fart’s garage jam space, is not only the secret sauce in our sound, but also the only possible way for us to accomplish the task of CRUSHING volume under a budget of $0.
2 – Among our various accolades is the title of “loudest band in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia”. A small little restaurant was not prepared for the volume and intensity we brought there on our recent East Coast tour, but the audiences were. A great show.
3 – One of our first musical achievements was a successful cover of YYZ. We’re huge Rush fans. We were maybe 15 when we first played it live, and under the unfamiliar lights of a strange venue, we blasted through it at nearly double speed. We’ve yet to be able to recreate it.
4 – Ivy Gardens is entirely DIY. We’ve built our own jam space, and recording studio, and studied audio engineering to record and mix our material. We are entirely self-sufficient.
L-R – Sebastian Hogg (Keyboards), Andrew Blackborow (Guitar & Vocals), Joe Zandwyk (Drums & Vocals)
Photo Credit – Rachel Imre
DOG ASS MUSIC. The only way to describe the vulgar, belligerent, punk, sludge & sweat of Ivy Gardens, from Niagara, Ontario. Birthed from a primal desire for physical volume and violent catharsis, Ivy has been hitting the road hard since their inception in 2021. Vibrating in the bones of audiences across Ontario, Quebec and the east coast of Canada.
The Ivy Gardens experience is a nearly endless stream of beaten-to-hell drums, searing organ, throbbing bass synths, and a liquid wall of guitar sludge. The volume is crushing. There is no room to breathe. The sonic equivalent of a panic attack. Never breaking the groove, never killing the energy, never stopping the mosh pit. The audience earns a brief moment of quiet melodic respite before a thundering finale, and the endless phantom ring in your ears serves as the band’s only encore.
Discography:
2024 – Goon (LP)
2023 – Shattered Glass (single)
2022 – Walk Like An Egyptian (single)
2022 – Ivy Gardens (EP)
2021 – Stonaire (single)
2021 – Another Blood (single)
2020 – About You (single)
ashermediarelations.com 