\u201cThe psychedelic thing just came out, because we were, uh, how can I say this? We were on a lot of psychedelics at that period of time in our lives,\u201d he says with a chuckle. \u201cWe were, literally, nine times out of 10 on psychedelics.\u201d<\/p>\n
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But Acid Bath\u2019s triumphant second act is no trip, no flashback. They got back together in 2024, played a string of festival shows, then booked some headlining dates and found themselves playing the biggest gigs of their lives. They were hand-picked by System Of A Down to open their stadium tour with Queens Of The Stone Age<\/a>. This comeback is very much real even if it is one of the most unlikely stories in underground metal.<\/p>\n Acid Bath recorded just two albums before splitting in tragic circumstances when bassist and co-founder Audie Pitre was killed by a drunk driver in 1997. Pitre and Duet were friends since childhood.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n Pitre\u2019s bass guitar<\/a> was integral to Acid Bath\u2019s volatile sound, the mercurial complement to Duet and Mike Sanchez\u2019s guitars, alternating between fuzzed out (Cheap Vodka) or with that bright tri-chorus modulation (Scream Of The Butterfly). They hired Pitre\u2019s friend Joseph Fontenot on bass and tried to continue but soon called it quits and went their separate ways.<\/p>\n Riggs and Sanchez formed Agents of Oblivion. Duet formed New Orleans black metal stalwarts Goatwhore<\/a> and joined up with Crowbar for a trio of albums. And that was it for Acid Bath, until 2024, and the death of keyboard player Tomas Viator brought home that they had to do this now or never. Former Crowbar bassist and longtime Acid Bath fan Shane Wesley stepped into the fold. Goatwhore\u2019s Zack Simmons took Jimmy Kyle\u2019s spot on drums. And it was all systems go.<\/p>\n \n (Image credit: Amy E. Price\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it started because we just realised that we\u2019d better do it sooner than later because we\u2019re not getting any younger,\u201d says Duet. \u201cSo while we\u2019re still physically able to do this, that was the catalyst for doing this. Because there was always talk about us doing it, but other things came up, all that stuff, so I guess the timing was right this time.\u201d<\/p>\n Acid Bath\u2019s audience had grown in absentia. Thirty-two years since their seminal debut LP, When The Kite String Pops, their notoriety and influence grew over the years to the point where we have to raise the question as to why they weren\u2019t swept up in the major label boom of the \u201890s, when grunge broke the glass ceiling for ugly guitar sounds, when somehow the Melvins ended up on Atlantic for three LPs \u2013 and as Duet notes, Morbid Angel were on a major, Cannibal Corpse were in the movies.<\/p>\n At the time, I was listening to a lot of death metal, and a lot of black metal, a lot of doom. The first Cathedral album was on repeat for a very long time on my stereo<\/p>\n Maybe the suits were spooked because Acid Bath were so hard to categorise, or because they had an illustration of serial killer John Wayne Gacy in his killer clown suit on their debut album\u2019s cover. For its follow-up, 1996\u2019s Paegan Terrorism Tactics, they used artwork by Jack Kevorkian.<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n They were too raw for the mainstream. Still, Paegan Terrorism Tactics proved that When The Kite String Pops was no fluke. It was heavier, and yet Acid Bath retained the capacity for surprise, opening the record with a salvo of low-end sludge, closing it out with the aggro riot of 13 Fingers and New Corpse then the acoustic closer, Dead Girl.<\/p>\n Acid Bath could change styles on a dime. Duet names Tom G Warrior, Tony Iommi<\/a> and KK Downing on his Mount Rushmore of players but he says they would listen to all kinds of styles, and it all seeped in.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, man, it\u2019s like, at the time, there were no bands like us at all, anywhere,\u201d says Duet. \u201cI hate to make this comparison but the only thing that even came remotely close to what we were doing was some of the more experimental death metal.<\/p>\n In Morgan City, there was an old abandoned porno theatre, and we would practise in there<\/p>\n \u201cWe were listening to a lot of different stuff. We were listening to death metal, doom metal, any sort of psychedelic music, all kinds of goth music. At the time, I was listening to a lot of death metal, and a lot of black metal, a lot of doom. The first Cathedral album was on repeat for a very long time on my stereo. Anything that was dark, we were into. It didn\u2019t matter if it was metal or whatever as long as the music was dark.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, some things are not a mystery; we know why Acid Bath didn\u2019t end up on Roadrunner. The label\u2019s legendary A&R Monte Conner couldn\u2019t hold his drink.<\/p>\n \u201cMonte came to see us,\u201d says Duet. \u201cI guess he had been drinking with the Exhorder guys before the show, and he fell asleep during our set, so that\u2019s why we didn\u2019t get signed to Roadrunner. So that blew that fucking idea right there, you know? It\u2019s like, well, the head of the record company fell asleep during your set, you\u2019re probably not impressing him much. That\u2019s what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n That gig became something of an underground legend, that the fans tore the place up, that the staff at the venue were injured. It was like a hurricane blew through it. This was par for the course with Acid Bath; they were born in the post-storm devastation of a Cat 5 hurricane that devastated the state.<\/p>\n Where better to inhale everything that was being passed around underground \u2013 proto-sludge, hardcore punk, death metal, doom and gothic rock \u2013 then set nihilistic poetry to riffs to come out with a sound that was totally unique? Houma, Morgan City, the whole of Louisiana was in a mess. Acid Bath played around in the wreckage.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, man, we never really had a set practice room. Every time we jammed, it was always in a different place,\u201d says Duet. \u201cHurricane Andrew hit Louisiana and devastated the state, and there were these bikers that lived in a trailer park. So they got their money from the hurricane and they had one nice trailer.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the rest of the trailers were just fucking fucked up! One of the trailers had electricity in it. They would let us practise in this abandoned trailer. It was falling apart but it had power, so we practised there for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s where their sound came together, on the trailer park, in whatever practice space was available, and some of these locations were pretty gnarly, or just plain weird. That had to have had some effect on their aesthetic disposition.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just wherever we could find a spot,\u201d says Duet. \u201cIn Morgan City, there was an old abandoned porno theatre, and we would practise in there. I think one time we practised in a church. Wherever anybody would let us practise, that\u2019s where we would go.\u201d<\/p>\n Acid Bath cut a pair of demos in \u201993 before heading into the studio to track their debut with Greg Troyner at his studio, and Spike Cassidy of crossover champs DRI.<\/p>\n \n (Image credit: Amy E. Price\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n For a band with two guitarists, both of whom were maximalists with gain, tuned down to C standard or lower, When The Kite String Pops is a miracle of sound engineering. There is space between the instruments. It\u2019s wide open and dynamic.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a combination between Greg and Spike, because Greg had the studio, and he had put out a bunch of records from some New Orleans bands,\u201d says Duet. \u201cBut we didn\u2019t want it to sound like that, we wanted to have our own identity as far as the production goes, and that\u2019s where Spike came in and helped out, and kind of made it sound \u2013 like you said \u2013 not squashed and just big and open.\u201d<\/p>\n They knew the material inside and out. They had played these songs for years. In the time between recording the demos and the album sessions, the songs had evolved onstage. \u201cIt was just like they took on a life of their own,\u201d says Duet.<\/p>\n But then these songs had come straight off the floor in the rehearsal space. What we are hearing came together on the trailer park, in the derelict porno theatre, the church, from minds addled by all that subtropical swamp air and humidity, LSD and pot. They just played until they found something.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was all accidents!\u201d says Duet. \u201cNo one ever really came into the rehearsal room and said, \u2018I have this song, or I have this idea for this song.\u2019 It was always a spontaneous jamming. Very seldom, somebody would come in with a riff or something and we\u2019d build a song around that. But the majority of the time we would just be getting stoned and jamming. The music just came out of us. That\u2019s just the way we wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the five of us got in a room together to write, the music just came out. There was no pre-planning or anything. We were just jamming and having fun and writing music that we liked to hear. We were just going with the flow, letting the music flow out of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Acid Bath LIVE- Hollywood, CA – 1996 – YouTube Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n These days, Duet plays his ESP\/LTD SD-2 signature guitar<\/a> through a Lichtlaerm Audio Prometheus head, with \u201ctoo many pedals\u201d but always his MWK Audio Dybbuk signature overdrive in the mix, plus chorus<\/a>, reverb<\/a>, wah<\/a>.<\/p>\n We just played whatever we could get our hands on, whatever worked, and whatever we could afford<\/p>\n Back when Acid Bath were cutting their teeth, Duet\u2019s rig was more rudimentary. He used his Ibanez<\/a> Rocket Roll II V-style for the Kite String sessions, modded with EMG humbuckers and running through a Marshall<\/a> JCM800. Duet recalls a Randall RG100ES solid-state head in the mix, too. Sanchez was playing through a Peavey Butcher. They didn\u2019t have the money for anything better.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just played whatever we could get our hands on, whatever worked, and whatever we could afford,\u201d says Duet. \u201cWe wanted nice stuff \u2013 don\u2019t get me wrong \u2013 but we couldn\u2019t afford the nice stuff. We had to play what we could find at a pawn shop for 50 bucks.\u201d<\/p>\n And that never really changed while they were together. Acid Bath never made it rain during their first act. They would pack them in on home soil. They would do well below the Mason-Dixon, but the rest of the US \u2013 the rest of the world \u2013 wasn\u2019t quite ready for them.<\/p>\n Me and Audie grew up together, since we were kids, and I know how he was. He would probably be pissed if we didn\u2019t do it<\/p>\n Their influence travelled after they split. Those two records had a second life. System Of A Down were fans. Slipknot\u2019s Corey Taylor was a fan. You can hear how all that whipsawing from sludge riot to hypnotic down-tempo reveries might influence both.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s time to collect some dues and give these songs an airing again. Acid Bath is taking this chaos to stadiums and Festivals across Europe, and has just extended its US headlining tour, with Neurosis just announced as support for its Asheville, NC, date. Two great bands, two great comeback stories, both on one bill. Duet says there\u2019s no question Pitre would give his blessing to all this.<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely, I mean, wherever he is right now, he\u2019s probably smiling at us,\u201d says Duet. \u201cAnd it\u2019s more of a tribute to him. Me and Audie grew up together, since we were kids, and I know how he was. He would probably be pissed if we didn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If someone would have told Sammy Duet in 1993 that Acid Bath would be stepping onstage to play…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-553947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Dax](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/on2Q7ZLkXRTEV6EUsgF8mQ.jpg\")
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