Reviews

Kit Burns - Overground Underground (Dec 15, 2007)
Reviewed by Kit Burns
The Seeded Planet/Smoking Mirror

The Seeded Planet are among the few new alternative bands that rock with a sense of purpose. Fronted by Iraq War veteran Erik Jonsun, the Seeded Planet arrive with the heavy artillery immediately on “Nameless,” which has enough crackling, head-banging electric riffs to challenge Metallica in an arm-wrestling match. However, the noise doesn’t originate from pointless, empty machismo. You get the impression that the vocalist/guitarist is unveiling the real-life experiences he had in the desert through music. Sonically, the influences are fed by Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, and the other participants of the early ’90s alt-rock revolution; spiritually, the roots are a million miles away in battle-torn terrain.

The ominous tones of “Mexico” create a feeling of dread; the feedback-drenched guitars crawl like reptiles underneath the dirt. What excited the most on this three-track EP was the final cut, “Whispering.” It’s the most ambitious tune on here, blending electronics and acoustic guitars with Middle Eastern singing that could only have come from Erik's time in Iraq.


CDREVIEWS.COM
The Seeded Planet - Smoking Mirror
Written by Michael Sutton (Jun 8, 2007)

Iraq War veteran tosses explosive EP in emo-saturated waters

Leave it to a veteran of the Iraq War to remind us of how rock and roll can truly rock, punching through the wall of wanna-be punks and impotent emo kids. But this is rock as defined by Generation X, not the bell-bottom hedonism or spandex-metal idiocy of decades before.

Yes, it's the early '90s again when the Emerald City (my adopted hometown) was at the forefront of the musical landscape. The difference is that the Seeded Planet are not from Seattle. However, you couldn't tell from the amount of guitar shrapnel flying in various directions on "Nameless" or the bracing fuzz of "Mexico." Although credited as a band, the Seeded Planet is really the brainchild of singer/guitarist Erik Jonsun, who received a Purple Heart for fighting in the Iraq War. In various online interviews, he has made his feelings about the war candidly known: He's against it. You can almost hear why in "Nameless," which has a disturbing, claustrophobic feel. This is no light grunge; it's heavy mental thunder. Erik's utilization of six and 12-string acoustic guitars give the song a beefier tone; it rocks even before the electricity hits, which smashes everything to bits.

There is an urgency to the singing on these tracks that, whether he intended to or not, will make people think of his involvement in the Iraq War, especially the Middle Eastern backing vocals on "Whispering." While Jonsun doesn't really take you to the front line, you certainly get an idea of where he's been.


Adam Harrington - Whisperin & Hollerin (Jun 3, 2007)
from Whisperin & Hollerin (UK)
Genre: 'Rock' - Release Date: '2007'
Our Rating: 9 of 10 stars

What is The Seeded Planet? It is the heart of darkness, seen through the battle-scarred eyes of Erik Jonsun, the group's Iraq War veteran.

As enigmatic as R.E.M.'s early work but as black-clad and pissed off as Metallica and Alice in Chains, the Seeded Planet bring back the Rock, but not in the superficial way that a band like Hinder does. If Pearl Jam had given way to their more esoteric side, then the three tracks on the Seeded Planet's debut EP would provide a sneak peek as to what would've sounded like.

Mysterious yet brimming with passion and wounded emotion, the Seeded Planet focuses on texture as well as muscle. In other words, although the band can jam as loud as System of a Down, they're not just about surface noise. The opening track, "Nameless," has stomping riffs that Nirvana would've salivated over, but there's an undercurrent of ethereal atmospherics that gives it added depth. When the guitars begin to truly roar, "Nameless" is quite breathtaking. I can't fathom what Erik is singing here; however, I do have a feeling that, judging from the apocalyptic tension in the song, it has something to do with his experiences in Iraq, which earned him a Purple Heart.

"Mexico" and "Whispering" aren't as boisterous, but they, too, are unsettling. At first, I was lamenting the lack of a lyric sheet but it's probably more fun to sit back and try to interpret the cryptic messages that Sans is communicating. "Whispering" even has some eerie Middle Eastern touches that are seemed to be haunted by Iraq.

What The Seeded Planet have presented here is an intriguing puzzle that takes shape after each captivating listen.


Kyrby Raine - Shotgun Reviews (Jun 4, 2007)
Shotgun Reviews
06.04.07

Having already interviewed Erik Jonsun, the lead singer of the Seeded Planet, has given me an advantage in absorbing the skillfully weaved philosophical views behind the Smoking Mirror EP. While I cannot fully comprehed all of the material myself, I do know where Erik is coming from.

While the band is based in New York, it’s obvious that the group’s heart is somewhere else. This is not a New York record. At all. Music from that part of the world have a certain swagger to them, from the leather-jacket hi-jinx of the Ramones to the drunken stupor of the Strokes. Musically speaking, the Seeded Planet are rooted in Seattle: the steak-thick guitar crunch of Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Nirvana loom overhead like black hole suns. “Nameless” is touched by Kurt Cobain’s ghost, especially with those ferocious guitars that scratch the speakers like hungry wolves. Jonsun’s deep, bellowing voice recalls Eddie Vedder at times; however, the Seeded Planet may have been the Pearl Jam that Cobain would’ve actually liked. Let’s not forget Cobain’s disparaging remarks about Pearl Jam in Rolling Stone magazine. The Seeded Planet’s has Pearl Jam’s edginess but without the AOR sheen.

I’m quite partial to the last track, “Whispering,” which is probably the Seeded Planet’s most artistic statement here. A midtempo cut with spiraling acoustic guitars and a creepy electronic pulse a la Radiohead, “Whispering” points to a spellbinding, mentally stimulating future for the Seeded Planet.

Interviews

Kyrby Raine - INK 19 (Jul 2, 2007)

Normally, this would be an article about the Seeded Planet. What they sound like. How excellent their album is -- and it certainly is. And while the New York-based group should receive high-fives for not copying hometown heroes the Strokes and opting for a more rootsy style instead, the bigger picture belongs to Sans, who not only speaks about the war in Iraq but has the flesh wounds (and a Purple Heart) to prove it.

Being outspoken about America's involvement in Iraq, do you worry about accusations from people that you're using your experiences there to further your rock & roll career?
I wouldn’t worry too much about that. This is a new band yet. No one knows who I am. Still, it’s a point that has come up after other interviews I’ve given. I wouldn’t argue that my Iraq experiences are generating interest even before people hear the music. It would be a valid criticism. Norman Mailer served in WWII and wrote a novel about it. Oliver Stone made at least three of his signature films about Vietnam. I’d like my rock & roll career to stand on the merit of the songs and performances, yes. However, if the Iraq story opens some doors, I will walk through them.

I just want to sing for people. I enjoy what singing does to me. There is a vibration and a resonance that clarifies worry and brings what matters into focus. It’s like getting a tattoo. You start in pain -- by the end, you want it to keep going. I’m blessed to be able to sing at all. I got hit in the throat by RPG frags and shrapnel from my own M-16 magazine. I told the trauma surgeon I didn’t care about scars, but please save my voicebox. Told him I was a rock singer. He probably thought I was a prima donna. He was right. But I didn’t care. When I woke up, he said, "You made it ... good luck with your singing career." Then I got interviewed by a spooky guy in civilian clothes about the setup of the ambush. It was like a scene from the Bourne trilogy. Apparently we encountered some hardcore dudes coming up from Saudi. Long story. Iraq was an experience that changed my life. I wouldn’t know where to begin to keep it out of my art.

One thing that struck me about the soldiers in Iraq is how they are able to tolerate such hellish conditions, not just the unpredictable violence but also the barren heat of the desert. Were you conditioned to that prior to going or were you simply thrust into the situation?
I was in an infantry troop, so I was lucky to have had very intense training before I got over there. I was in California training and flying around the desert in topless Humvees when word went around about an opportunity to go over early. Very short notice, but infantry and certainly Special Ops units are always ready to go. I can’t imagine pulling five and six tours like some of the lighter Army units and Marines are. But you have plenty of people over there who want to be there. The more mature special operations types, for example. Look, this situation is madness. Can I tell you something? I wanted to go over there. I was already 33 when I joined. I had studied Vietnam growing up; I was a Boy Scout and all that. There was something sinister about 9/11. Something just didn’t seem right. I never believed in the box-cutter stories. With all the grown men on those planes? Preposterous. I don’t know why, but during summer of ’01 I started thinking about going back into the service.

Anyway, in Iraq, we were good to those people, man. Not the ones shooting at us, no. But the farmers and schoolteachers and kids? I watched medics cover children with their bodies during a mortar attack. I watched men run right into fire to save people after car bombs or ambushes. I watched vehicles and people disappear. I watched mortars land and bloom like green electric trees through night vision goggles.

War rewires your soul.

I've spoken to veterans of the Vietnam War before, and to them it was a "loss of innocence." Would it be the same case for you in Iraq?
I was already in my 30s so not so innocent to the world and the origins of -- and manic need to begin -- this war by its architects. I think, for me, it was more a case of an intense witnessing of life and death that made the world almost seem to take on additional dimensions. I knew this war was going to be bad. I had a bad feeling about 9/11. I almost feel it was a trigger of some kind.

What politically minded musicians do you feel the most kinship with or inspiration from?
Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Jim Morrison (Frank, my guitar player, and the guys at Hoboken Recorders will mock me, but Morrison absolutely was a political artist and poet, just overwhelmed by drinking in the end), Jimi Hendrix (National Anthem redux) Neil Young, Ani DiFranco. John Cage comes to mind. I’m sure there are thousands of artists whom I can’t name who are taking action. I see myself becoming involved in Latin American causes. I don’t know why. I don’t even know the language yet. I’m sure I will find them as we move forward. This is a tough question because the idea of politics tends to be defined and limited by elections and governments. ‘Politics’ to me is more about taking action against inertia, violence, racism. Taking action against the general insanity and decadence and rampant waste being propagated in the modern world.

My music is in no way openly political. Perhaps moreso in the future.

I’m interested in revolution. But the sort of revolution proposed by Khrishnamurti. A revolution from within more so than without. A revolution of the self moreso than an ‘other.’ I am an American. I am far from wealthy but I enjoy a quality of life and a general state of freedom living that I don’t take for granted. I am free to say in print that I feel great rage, mistrust and disappointment in my government, elephant and donkey alike. Everyone comes here to make money, yeah. But culturally and ethically we are like the overweight schoolyard bully of the world. Our leaders shoot their friends while hunting birds. It’s pathetic. If I had the money, I’d move south to Latin America and never look back.

In the late '60s, youths were more involved in politics. Do you feel that the draft had something to do with that? Do you think that, if there was the threat of being forced to fight in Iraq, that many teenagers would hold picket signs and march around the White House?
That’s a really good question. I have a lot of admiration for American kids today. They’re going to be inheriting a terrible mess, aren’t they? Politically, economically, environmentally. I wish their parents would stop feeding them fast food and sugar water so that we could get a handle on their health. We need every American child to be healthy, educated, and safe. We’ve led ourselves into a valley of woe, and the next generation is going to have to lead us out of it. As for the '60s versus today? Let’s see. I can’t name one of the architects of the Iraq War who served in Vietnam. Can you? I know Dick Cheney got five college deferments. And he’s a gun lover. He knows what it’s like to shoot a man.

I don’t know how kids would act if there were a draft. I think definitely there would be uprisings against it. With the internet? Blogs, etc.? It could never get off the ground. I would be much more concerned with another 9/11-style get-out-of-jail-free card for whatever remains of the neo-con movement. That’s their only hope to have any credibility at all in their waning years. You have to ask what it is that so fiercely drove these men to get this war started. Was it just peak oil? Or was there some secret Indiana Jones power talisman hidden in the Baghdad Museum? Who knows? But now look at them. They’re each falling from grace, one by one. And snarling all the way down. Like power-mad, corrupt Hollywood cartoon characters. Can we get some young good-looking politicians in the house again? I like Barack Obama. I realize he has to play along and not stand out too much for awhile. I think it’s historically cosmic that his middle name is Hussein. The world and history are a script that we are writing, right now, in this moment.

The war is going to end. I think kids who have the revolutionary spirit should be looking at protecting rainforests, raising awareness of the effects of the toxic and poisonous American diet, working toward a less bipolar, argumentative system of government and more toward a council of peers, globally. The nation-state era is coming to an end. Just in time for 2012.

What is the meaning behind the name: The Seeded Planet?
Oh man, I have to leave that up to the listener! Google it, you’ll find some wild stuff. The name just came to me one day. I didn’t realize the depth of the concept at the time.

Out of curiosity, did you listen to music while on patrol in Iraq? What did you listen to?
I did. Not so much on patrol, but while riding in the LMTV or maybe catching some rack time. I was listening to "Hold On" from Pearl Jam (borrowed from one of the 18-year olds in my platoon) when a car bomb went off behind me. It was meant for the truck I was riding in but got a Humvee instead. That was a bad day. I always had rock music to listen to, and I picked up on what some of the other guys had. I have to say I listened to a lot of Steve Roach. He is an ambient composer out of Tucson, and I’ve been listening to his music for almost 15 years. It’s haunting, tribal, rhythmic, spacey. It’s the kind of music that can take you out of your material surroundings. It gave me a lot of peace during a hard year.


Shotgun Reviews (Apr 30, 2007)

Many rock bands, especially in the alternative field, are fairly uniform in their distaste for America's war on Iraq. You, however, speak from experience. What were you views on the war prior to being there? What incidents changed your mind about it, and will it be reflected in your songwriting?
There’s a line in ‘Nameless,’ the first track on the release. It says: ‘In the sea, in the desert green, night vision reigns, you shoot at men who served you tea.’

I can’t really say how autobiographical that is. Let’s just say that we were in the countryside often, walking the land, sharing meals, playing soccer with kids. But always among our so-called enemy. Sometimes very close indeed.

As far as my views on the Iraq War, it appears now to have been a monstrous lie and deceit. I think dishonorable wars create dishonorable action, even among honorable men. Look at how the architects, Wolfowitz, all, are falling. The scandals there are not the standard, but I’ve heard from Veterans’ Administration personnel that there has been rampant abuse of female troops and that’s a serious problem that needs to be addressed and remedied immediately.

I joined up shortly after 911, having been in the service, in the Coast Guard, when I was 19. So I was an old man at 33 to be going to Infantry school, but I did well. Even went to Special Forces selection, but that course smoked me bad. My feet just melted down. I wanted to be an SF medic. They invited me back, but I went off to Iraq soon after.

I have deep respect, even awe, for the Iraqi people I met in the towns, homes and fields north of the Euphrates River, Anbar Province.

Our war is not with the good and beautiful people of Iraq, that much is certain.

I won’t give any trade secrets away by saying our chief enemy were imported. It’s like the Super Bowl. The game may be played in Atlanta, but the teams don’t have to come from there.

Did you always imagine yourself being in a rock group, even prior to your time in Iraq? How did your experiences in Iraq affect the music that you create?
I was on my way to becoming an actor, accepted to study at the Graduate Acting school at NYU when the Doors movie came out. That music, that era, made me know that ultimately I would need to write my own scripts and live my own myths. And singing rock became my main vision. It took awhile, but here we are. My guitarist isn’t a fan, but no one has followed the Doors and Jim Morrison.

From ’99 to ’01 I fronted a really good New York band called Isolate. We didn’t play out much but released a really good EP and had signing interest apparently from Elektra and few other labels. Unfortunately, by the time the EP wrapped and got to the conference rooms in the sky, I was already off in the Army. My friend the guitar player had to tell them the singer was overseas and unavailable for shows. That didn’t go over too well I understand.

Listening to the Azan, the Call to Prayer, 5 times daily in the Arab world will affect the way you perceive and use the human voice. Sometimes beautiful and unamplified. Sometimes delivered woefully out of key and through a badly distorted loudspeaker. Sometimes irritating. But always haunting, and beautiful.

What are some of the horrors that you saw in Iraq? Did it change your view of life or the world in any way?
Badly injured innocents. Children and noncombatants. And putting the remains of friends into sandbags to make sure we left no part of them on the field. I’ll never be the same. I had already experienced more years of life than most of the soldiers I knew. So I am for certain wanting to make the most of the life I’ve been given, and love those close to me, and help people in need, and prevent an insane populace from ruining any further our Earth Mother, who sustains us so well, even when we run rampant, destroying everything in sight. But not forever. Wake Up, I think is the order of the day.

How about your fellow soldiers? What is the general feeling that you were getting from them?
I never met more noble and courageous men than those of 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 1/9 Cav. CPT James Modlin is the best officer I ever met (besides my Dad). Matt Bertles the best soldier I’ve ever seen.

We were in a hot area. In contact almost daily. There is no time to think it over once you’re in it. We were Infantry, and never slept more than two hours in a row. That will wear you down. But griping about is fiercely discouraged. We were tired man, that’s all.

Who are your musical influences, and what kind of impact did they make on you?
I’m mainly a vocalist doing my best with the guitar. So...The Doors, Jeff Buckley, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Floyd, Zeppelin, Neil Young, Steven Stills. Bob Marley, Horace Andy, and Steve Roach, the ambient composer from Tucson, AZ. I’m listening again to 16 Horsepower and think David Eugene Edwards is one of America’s greatest singers and writers. I’m always impressed with Mike Patton. Coming from Seattle I was definitely impacted by all those bands of the 90s. Seeing Eddie Vedder live made me want to front a band. Then there’s Mark Lanegan, unbelievable. And I loved Alice in Chains.
Frank, my new guitar player, is expanding my mind constantly with Chris Whitley, Tom Waits, and just a host of strange and wondrous selections of music.

Then there is so much music I can’t name, from all over the world. So many different scales, languages, voices, sounds. I love rhythm. I love to watch people who can move.

Is there a place in rock & roll for politics?
There’d better be. If not, I’ll make room.

We have 2 million displaced Iraqis, hundreds of thousands killed and wounded.

We have 40,000 American wounded, and I don’t even want to count the dead today.

Our government has been asleep at the wheel. They gave this nation’s war power away to about 8 men, not one with combat experience. Gen. Shinseki and Gen. Powell were forced out of the picture post haste.

I want our brave men and women out, and I want them out now. Even our special ops forces, who operate like superheroes, with great dignity. Many many soldiers and sailors over there still believe in the mission. If you find yourself in a bar brawl, you duke it out, yeah, but you gotta always be looking for the door. Our troops need out. The reinforcements are burned from prior tours. You can work a willing horse to death. That’s the tragic honor of U.S. Armed Forces today.

I was fairly seriously wounded and sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury, along with some other stuff. I’m very lucky. I’d like to get involved raising awareness of this issue. It’s made getting my life back in order very difficult. And I’ve hurt people close to me, not being aware really, that the body can heal. But the mind and soul take more time.