Totem

In 2007, Tomahawk released their third studio album, Anonymous.  Guitarist Duane Denison did the research for this Native American concept album by touring Indian reservations after being disappointed in "normal" sounding Native American rock music.  He eventually came across transcripts of traditional music, and based the album around this sound.  The writers of this original material are unknown, hence the Anonymous title reference.  Denison and drummer John Stanier recorded their parts in Tennessee studio and sent them to California, home to Patton and Ipecac Recordings, for the vocals.  Bassist Kevin Rutmanis had already departed the band before this recording, so Patton and Denison together filled in the bass tracks for the album.  In need of a bassist, they signed on Patton's longtime pal and Fantômas/Bungle bandmate, Trevor Dunn, to return Tomahawk to a quartet supergroup. 

 

Unfortunately, no song on this recording would make it to the live stage, with the exception of "Totem", and that only happened within the last year during their tour to promote their latest album, Oddfellows.  I was lucky enough to see Tomahawk in Philadelphia last June, and even happier to hear them play this song.  This isn't my video, but it's from the show I attended (super-grateful for all the videos posted from that show online).  There's about a minute of banter between Patton and the audience before the song starts. 

    I would absolutely LOVE to attend a show where Anonymous was played in it's entirety, though I don't think that will ever happen.  The band, thankfully, still plays together, and is even releasing a 7" limited edition vinyl, "M.E.A.T." in a couple of weeks (two extra songs from their Oddfellows session).  More Tomahawk?  Yes, please!