Local psych-rock heavies the Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound pilot a cavernous, abandoned spaceship, where the ponderous echoes of Black Sabbath, Neil Young, the Stooges, and the 13th Floor Elevators reverberate through empty chambers and recombine into mind-frying gamma rays. Equal parts brooding stoner sci-fi, choogling jam-along, thunderous riffage, and Californian-sunset melancholy, the Assemble Head plays the Hemlock tonight at 9 p.m. If the mood should strike, do stop by.

In the meantime, frontman Charles Saufley graciously answered a few questions for us:


The lyrics on Ekranoplan, your latest album, are frequently indecipherable. Would you care to tell us what sort of things you're howling about ?

At least one song is about a female version of Jimi Hendrix delivering mankind from the clutches of oppressive ogres. I suppose there's some lyrics about lust too. There's a lot people finding their humanity amid future shock meltdown. That's probably the most prevalent theme.

An Ekranoplan is some kind of monstrous Soviet hovership. You also namecheck the Gemini space program, and your first record had a painting of a dead cosmonaut, piloting a lunar rover. If you could replace your tour vehicle with any craft, real or imagined, what would it be?

Blimp—preferably something in kind of a sky anemone/jellyfish configuration. Dangling ganglia and tentacles are a must for vittles acquisition and general terrorization purposes. I would also require a bean bag-equipped gondola and one of those sky chairs hangin' outside…or maybe just a big bucket on line that you could hang out in when you need the alone time.