REVIEW: Primitive Ring—The 3 Singles (2025)

The Charles Moothart and Bert Hoover psych supergroup delivers

I’m not quite sure what the longer term plan is here, but a few months ago, Charles Moothart (solo, Ty Segall, Fuzz, GØGGS etc) Bert Hoover (Hooveriii, GROOP) and Jon Modaff (also Hooveriii and GROOP) played a few gigs around California under the name Primitive Ring, and have followed that with a trio of 7 inch singles—all released on different record labels, and all a bit of a faff to get hold of, unless you happen to have attended one of the gigs and bought one on the merch stand.

For anyone who has followed Charles or Bert’s endeavours over the years, you’ll know they are low key legends of the psych rock scene. Putting them together in the same band was always going to work, as these singles underline. The first one out of the door on February 7th was In The Ground/Golden In Your Eyes, released on green or swirl vinyl on Greenway Records, with just 300 pressed in total. Fastest fingers, etc.

As you can see from the video I’ve located from their San Diego show on 30/12/2024, Charles takes on guitar, while Bert’s on bass, with both sharing lead vocal duties. For anyone into this particular brand of full-power psych, it has that instant, unmistakable quality to it, all clattering fills, with Charles’ face-melting riffs driving it on. Live it would be an assault, and even on record it still hits.

They take it down for the mellow b-side, Golden In Your Eyes, with Charles switching to drums, and Jon taking on the lush 12-string guitar. It gives a preview of what what else they’re capable of, which is good news if they plan on extending this to an album. Live, this song barrels along in rather more traditionally rocky form—presumably they didn’t want to mess around switching positions!

The second release Poisonous Gift /TV City, followed just eight weeks later on April 2nd—this time on good old In The Red Records—home to countless psych releases. Both tracks picking up from where In The Ground left off, all hair swishing riffs and pounding drums designed to upset the neighbourhood. Honestly, I hope they play the Flying Duck or similar so that this actually occurs. Over to you, Pop Mutations.

Completing the set, we got Luck/I’ve Been Waiting for You on May 28th, with another classic psych label helping out—The Reverberation Appreciation Society. Luck continues the straight-ahead psych blaster approach, moshpit ready, and demanding that you bring your earplugs, with bellowed vocals, a massive riff, and a fully locked-in rhythm section to bring it on home. We also get a take on the Neil Young classic, I’ve Been Waiting For You, a song I recall Kim Deal singing on for Pixies a million years ago. But as much as I adore Kim, this version rocks about as hard as is legal before the noise abatement orders get fired off.

All told, a very pleasing set of 7” singles, and it all bodes extremely well for whatever the next phase of the band turns out to be. Hopefully a full album and Euro/UK tour, thanks. Not much to ask.