Matt Pike will release his debut solo album, Pike vs. the Automaton, on February 18 via MNRK Heavy, the High on Fire/Sleep guitarist has announced.
Pike wrote the record with drummer Jon Reid (ex-Lord Dying) and recorded it with Billy Anderson, with whom he previously collaborated on Sleep’s Holy Mountain and High on Fire’s Surrounded by Thieves.
The album also features contributions by Alyssa Maucere-Pike (Lord Dying / Grigax), Chad “Chief” Hartgrave, Brent Hinds (Mastodon), Steve McPeeks (West End Motel), Josh Greene (El Cerdo), Todd Burdette (Tragedy), and High on Fire’s bassist Jeff Matz, who performs Turkish electric saz on the album’s closing track, “Leaving the Wars of Woe.”
Says Pike regarding the effort:
“I was just going bonkers during the pandemic. It was like really, truly miserable. And then all the riots here in Portland and all the political shit. I was trapped in my garage, which was the only place I could go and jam and do anything. I was trapped in there ‘cause I couldn’t go jam with High on Fire, I couldn’t do this, I couldn’t do that, no one could fly. I was going crazy. My friend Jon Reid, who was the original drummer for Lord Dying, had moved to Portland and was babysitting my dog, Crom, and he was drumming for my wife’s band, so he had his drums already set up at my place. I finally said, ‘Dude, do you want to come over and just start jamming?’ So, I just started this thing with my friend Jon. I was like, ‘Dude, fuck it. Let’s start a side band and we’ll just demo this and act like we’re starting it as teenagers, you know?’”
You can check out the first single from the album, “Alien Slut Mum,” via the below music video.
Says Pike of the clip:
“Four friends enter the woods, for a getaway, little did they know they would never return! Dogmen, Sasquach, Reptilians, or alien slut mum?!?! Where have they gone??”
Pre-order Pike vs. the Automaton here.
Pike vs. the Automaton track listing
1. “Abusive”
2. “Throat Cobra”
3. “Trapped in AaMidcave”
4. “Epoxia”
5. “Land”
6. “Alien Slut Mum “
7. “Apollyon”
8. “Acid Test Zone”
9. “Latin American Geological Formation”
10. “Leaving the Wars of Woe”
[via Decibel]