The Bitchin’ Atomic Bitchwax

 

IMHO, one of the most overlooked, and super trippy bands out there making music these days, is Chris Kosnik’s little three-piece The Atomic Bitchwax.  I’m currently jamming  to their entire catalogue, thanks in part to Bandcamp.  

See, I came to TAB via my love for all things Monster Magnet, and former MM guitarist extraordinaire one Ed Mundell was a co-founding member of The Bitchwax way back in 1992 along with Kosnik and drummer Keith Ackerman.  However, I was a bit of a late-comer, not discovering the side-project for Mundell until 2008, nine years after the band’s debut release, 1999’s The Atomic Bitchwax 1, and several year’s after Mundell’s departure from the group.  I picked up 2008’s TAB/4, which introduced guitarist Finn Ryan, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I went back and snagged a copy of 1 on vinyl before they became too outrageous in price a few years back, but have been unsuccessful in my bidding on copies of The Atomic Bitchwax 2 and the red vinyl versions of the Spit Blood EP.  

The third TAB album, simply titled 3, has only been issued on cd to date and then there’s the EP Boxriff, which features both a short cd and a dvd.

Since the release of TAB/4, I’ve followed the group religiously.  The 42 plus minute long instrumental single track album The Local Fuzz came next.  What a trip that record is.  Put it on, kick back and sink into your bean bag chair and let your cares melt away with an IPA, your favorite smokable, a fine cognac or whatever.  

The band, which has featured Monster Magnet drummer Bob Pantella since 2007 and TAB/4, has issued three consecutive dynamite releases with Gravitron (2015), Force Field (2017), and Scorpio (2020), all featuring outstanding musicianship and song craftsmanship.  However, Ryan departed after Scorpio and Pantella’s Monster Magnet alum Garrett Sweeney joined, bringing along his ax, to re-unite three fifth’s of the Monster Magnet line-up that recorded and toured the album Mindfucker in 2018 and 2019, as Kosnik himself took up bass and backing vocal duties for Dave Wyndorf’s outfit for about three years during that album cycle.  

If you’re not familiar with The Atomic Bitchwax I highly encourage you to check out every incarnation of the band, though I caution, obtaining physical copies of some of their earlier work can prove quite difficult, and often is also pricey, even on compact disc.

Tunes for beginners:

1

“Birth to the Earth,” “”Hey Alright,” “Hope You Die,” “Kiss the Sun,” “Shit Kicker.”

Right in the Nuts compilation: A Tribute to Aerosmith 

“Combination.”

2

“Solid,” “Liquor Queen.”

Spit Blood - EP

“Black Trans Am.”

3

“The Destroyer,” “Maybe I’m A Leo” Deep Purple cover), “If I Had A Gun,” “Half As Much.”

Boxriff - EP

“STD,” “So Come On.”

TAB/4

“Revival,” ”Sometimes Wednesday,” “Daisy Chain,”

“Wreck You.”

The Local Fuzz

“The Local Fuzz” (instrumental).

Gravitron

“Sexecutioner,” “No Way Man,” “War Claw,” “Coming In Hot,” “Down With the Swirl,” “Ice Age ‘Hey Baby’.”

Force Field

“Hippie Speedball,” “Alaskan Thunderfuck” (instrumental), “Shocker,” “Crazy,” “Houndstooth.”

Scorpio

“Hope You Die” (re-recorded), “Ninja” (instrumental), “Crash” (instrumental), “Super Sonic,” “You Got It.”