Heavy Guitarist looking for heavy drummer

Minneapolis MN

Description

Me: Late 40's guitarist, been playing ~30 years. Married, professional, homeowner, father. Played in a few local bands (none that anyone would have heard of though), gigged around a little bit. Would like to get a bit more serious about it again. Primary "band" on and off for the last 10-14 years has been a group of my good friends. Mostly kind of "garage rock" stuff, straying into other oddball territory at times. It's been great and fun, but there's a definite lack of focus and commitment on my bandmates' part. Understandable, since they are friends first and bandmates second. A fun yet frustrating setup for sure... Looking to sync up with like-minded individuals who share some of my tastes and drive. Large range of musical interests, but personally wanting to focus on heavy psych/doom/sludgy end of the spectrum (words sometimes fail here). See list of bands below for a better representation. Not 100% set on one thing, but these are the general “guideposts”. I tend toward lead/improvisation most naturally, but have been trying to work on my sorely neglected rhythm chops a bit lately. The old adage of "If you don't use it, you lose it" is very much apropos... Gear: Lots of pro gear. Too MUCH gear. Spent too much of the Pandemic downtime buying gear. It's embarrassing... Need to blow some of the dust off. “Ideal Situation” (NONE of these are dealbreakers, this is just my "ideal" situation) Pair up with drummer, in/near NE Mpls., 30's-40's (+/-) with space to practice. Solid, experienced drummer, but doesn't need to be a master or virtuoso by any means. Stable, good chemistry both musically and otherwise. CHILL atmosphere. Fun/enjoyable first and foremost. 3 piece (guitar/bass/drums). Ideally someone else in the band doing vox. 2nd guitarist/etc. definitely cool too, just trying to simplify/less schedules to plan around. Songwriting: Open, jam-focused, collaborative. I've leaned heavily on other band members in the past to perform "songwriting" duties but would like to push myself out of my comfort zone and explore this further myself. No dictators/control freaks. (Open communication.) - Practice/Jam ~1/week - Gig ~1/month? (eventually) - Record eventually? Alcohol/420 friendly, but not over-the-top (i.e. a few beers is great; not interested in getting trashed/wasted. Haven't smoked since to 90's, but not against others doing it. Zero substances is fine too.) If I had to describe my ideal band I've always liked the idea of "Black Sabbath fronted by Jimi Hendrix" (If only this could have happened in real life...) Styles: Doom, sludge, heavy psych, heavy blues, etc. Names don’t really mean anything. I just want to make honest, HEAVY music… List (partial) of relevant bands: Earthless, Tia Carrera, Elder, Aleph Null, Windhand, Witch Mountain, Monolord, Electric Wizard, Sleep, Solace, Melvins, Hendrix, Trower, Black Sabbath Local bands: Maeth, Red Desert, Kult of the Wizard, Wolf Blood, too many to count really… **I listen to a ton of other bands/genres outside of just this, but this is what I ideally want to focus on musically Reach out if any of this sounds interesting to you!