Matt Pike of High On Fire and Sleep fame will be releasing his debut solo album, “Pike Vs. The Automaton” on February 18th through MNRK Heavy. Pre-orders for the record are up now at pikevstheautomaton.com. For now, you can take in a music video for the album’s first single, “Alien Slut Mum” below.
Pike wrote and recorded the album with drummer Jon Reid (ex-Lord Dying), while Billy Anderson (Sleep, High On Fire) oversaw the recording process. While considered a ‘solo’ album, Pike was joined by numerous guests on the outing, including his High On Fire bandmate Jeff Matz (playing electric saz), his own wife Alyssa Maucere-Pike (Lord Dying/Grigax), Brent Hinds (Mastodon), Steve McPeeks (West End Motel), Josh Greene (El Cerdo), Todd Burdette (Tragedy) and Chad “Chief” Hartgrave.
Pike commented of the record:
“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?’
He continued:
“The album title, ‘Pike Vs. The Automaton‘, wasn’t an ego thing for me. Billy and Jon said, ‘Dude, you should use your name in this. This is your solo project.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to do that’. The Automaton, in Greek mythology, is the big robot that’s the guardian of the Gods, basically. It’s a soulless, big machine named Talos. The big machine that’s working against mankind at this moment. In ‘Jason and the Argonauts’, Jason and the Argonauts have to battle this big machine guy that protects the island. Basically, what the album title is saying, metaphorically, is ‘Pike against the World.'”
“I made a psychedelic rock record that Sleep and High On Fire fans would like And maybe if you’re not a Sleep or High On Fire fan, you might like it too. I definitely think it’s interesting; it has D-Beat punk, two-step. It’s got everything and it still works together, it doesn’t sound odd. It’s just an off-the-wall psychedelic rock record.”
Speaking of this first single from the release and the video for it, Pike offered, “Four friends enter the woods, for a getaway, little did they know they would never return! Dogmen, Sasquatch, Reptilians, or alien slut mum?!?! Where have they gone??”
“Pike Vs. The Automaton” track listing:
01 – “Abusive”
02 – “Throat Cobra”
03 – “Trapped In A Midcave”
04 – “Epoxia”
05 – “Land”
06 – “Alien Slut Mum”
07 – “Apollyon”
08 – “Acid Test Zone”
09 – “Latin American Geological Formation”
10 – “Leaving The Wars Of Woe ”
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