Influential doom band Pentagram headlines Cornerstone in Berkeley
The latest line-up of singer Bobby Liebling's veteran doom band Pentagram returns to the Bay Area Friday, headlining the Cornerstone in Berkeley.
Inspired by iconic pioneers Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer and The Stooges as well as unsung hard-rock heroes like Sir Lord Baltimore, Dust and Bang, Virginia-based band Pentagram forged a dark, foreboding sound in the early 1970s that should have made founding lead singer Bobby Liebling a rock star.
Though blessed with preternatural songwriting gift and remarkable tenacity, Liebling was equally cursed by his own destructive appetites that coupled with industry indifference, shady business dealings and just plain bad luck to keep Pentagram struggling in the shadows for much of its existence.
The group managed a handful of singles (some of which now sell for hundreds of dollars) during its initial period when it cycled through numerous line-ups and band names, at points playing and recording as Ram Family and Macabre. Liebling and company would also have brief associations with Kiss and Blue Öyster Cult producer Sandy Pearlman and manager Murray Krugman that could have led to a deal with Columbia Records, all to no avail. The band wouldn't release its first proper album -- initially self-titled but later renamed Relentless -- until 1985. Despite the contributions of Tony Iommi acolyte Victor Griffin on guitar, the instability of the band line-ups and Liebling wrestling with his demons continued to hamper any progress.
More releases followed in the '90s, but the band's profile rose thanks to reissues of the earlier material, both legitimate and illegitimate. The singer and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Joe Hasselvander kept the band going with the new recordings Review Your Choices and Sub-Basement, but it was the release of the legitimate archival compilation First Daze Here in 2001 on Relapse Records that documented the band's oft bootlegged early recordings and the growing recognition of '80s-era Pentagram albums as early doom classics that finally got Liebling and company their proper due.
The band's history and the singer's struggles with addiction were featured in the acclaimed and sometimes harrowing documentary Last Days Here that ended with the band returning to the stage and Liebling getting sober and expecting a child with a wife less than half his age. With the return of Griffin on guitar, Pentagram would release arguably its most fully realized album yet with Last Rites on Metal Blade Records in 2011.
Griffin would stay on board for much of the decade that followed, even taking over on vocals for a stretch after Liebling ended up in prison for elder abuse for assaulting his mother during a drug relapse. The singer eventually returned to the band in 2019 for more live performances with rumors of a new album in the works. While longtime bassist Greg Turley and Griffin left the band last year, in June a new line-up behind the group's first new album in a decade was announced.
Anchored by Mos Generator mainstay Tony Reed (an accomplished producer and engineer who also plays in psych outfit Big Scenic Nowhere) on guitar, this version of the quartet is rounded out by Mos Generator bassist Scooter Haslip and noted doom-metal drummer Henry Vazquez (Saint Vitus, the Skull, Spirit Caravan and many others). The new effort Lightning in a Bottle was released on Heavy Psych Sounds in late January and has been hailed as one of the best Pentagram albums yet.
For this show at the Cornerstone on Friday, Pentagram is joined by Bl'ast/Seized Up singer Clifford Dinsmore's veteran Santa Cruz stoner-rock band Dusted Angel. Featuring guitarists Ed Gregor (Hedgehog, No Use for a Name) and Eric "Dog" Fieber (Creature, Fire Sermon), drummer Steve Ilse (Creature, Herbert, Automatic Animal) and bassist Eliot Young (Lost in Line, Seance), the band recorded its long-gestating new album This Side of the Dirt and is currently planning its release. The tour also stops at the Felton Music Hall on Saturday night.
Pentagram with Dusted Angel
Friday, Feb. 7, 8 p.m. $25-$30
Cornerstone Berkeley
