For the end of our dog days giveaway with NOKILL Pedal Co (which you can see here), we raise a glass to noise rock swamp dog legend Stella, forever friend of Bionatops. We haven’t heard from the band in a long, long time, probably because they were having so much fun with Stella, and really, that’s how it’s supposed to be. It really doesn’t get much better than hanging with the dogs.
As a tribute to their time together, Bionatops put out one hell of a single – “The Adventures of Swamp Dog and Stella B” is a wild slog that does it’s name exponential justice. The noisy, axe-dragging anthem falls somewhere between Faith No More, Sikth, and Primus, yet very much has it’s own angle on the experimental thrash you’d find between all three.
Listeners might also be able to pull some Tom Waits and Martin Bisi out of Joseph Spiller’s insane delivery as well, which as abrasive as it is, is actually quite sweet the more you get into the lyrics of the song. Oh, and it’s got quite the spicy rhythm section courtesy of Billy Rymer, our personal favorite of The Dillinger Escape Plan‘s impressive roster of stickmen.
Pour one out for Stella and check it out below:
_
Here’s part of the formal press release as well:
After a 7 year silience, BIONATOPS has released a new song entitled “The Adventures of Swamp Dog & Stelly B.” The song sees Bionatops multi-instrumentalist frontman Joseph Spiller (Caricature, Too Late the Hero, System Divide, Black Heart Sutra) joined by drummer Billy Rymer (Dillinger Escape Plan, Atomic Life, Thoughtcrimes)
The song is a tribute to Spiller’s late dog Stella (Sept 2010 – Feb 2025) done lovingly in the absurdist avant metal & rock style of BIONATOPS and features recordings of Stella and her brother Eli aka Swamp Dog embedded in the song’s bridge.
“Stella was the absolute best and there is nothing that could replace her friendship. Going out hiking, to the beach, and splashing around in the water with Eli was her favorite so we put that into a song that hopefully is as fun as the adventures I got to have with Stella.” said Spiller.
We’ve listened to it about a dozen times today, so at the very least, we’d say about as fun as a game of fetch or chasing sticks into the river. We’re just guessing though because Salem has yet to chase a ball for more than ten seconds unless it involves taking it from another dog. Anyway. Fair winds, Stella, and huge thanks to everyone that bought a pedal from NOKILL to help donate proceeds to One Tail at A Time, we weren’t sure how this giveaway was going to turn out but it was a huge success for everyone involved.
To the dogs!
(Thanks for reading! If you’re looking for more music, check out our Bandcamp compilations here. If you like us, or possibly even love us, donations are always appreciated at the Buy Me A Coffee page here, but if you’re in a generous mood you can also donate to folks like Doctors Without Borders, the PCRF, Charity Water, Kindness Ranch, One Tail at A Time, Canopy Cat Rescue, or Best Friends Animal Sanctuary that could probably use it more – click on their names above to check ‘em out if you’re so inclined. Thanks again!)