Noothgrush

Noothgrush is a doom metal band from Oakland, active from 1994 onwards. It forms in San Jose, California, where Gary Niederhoff and Chiyo Nukaga start the group in 1994 with the aim of playing slow, heavy, riff-based music. Tom Choi and Luis DaVilla join soon after, and the band’s early sound includes a severe low-end attack, with Gary and Luis both playing bass on many songs.

Line-up changes and early recordings

Tom and Luis leave only a few months into the project, shortly after the band records the songs they write together. Russ Kent then joins, new material is written, and the band begins playing live. Matt Harvey, known for work with Dekapitator, Exhumed, Athrenody, Gravehill, Repulsion and Scarecrow, takes over second guitar briefly before Gary moves into that role. Al Ruel then handles bass for around a year.

Releases and activity in the 1990s and 2000s

Chiyo Nukaga’s friend Chris Dodge arranges the release of a 7-inch, which brings wider attention and leads to offers for split releases, including a split 12-inch and CD with Corrupted. During the 1990s the band records, tours and plays extensively, including shows with Seized, Corrupted and Sour Vein. Activity fades over time and the group drifts apart in summer 2001. There is later activity around the first official release of Erode The Person on Throne Records in 2006.

Later reformations and collaborations

In 2011, Parasitic, Southern Lord, Fuck Yoga and Emetic Records all agree to release material by the band, and Noothgrush returns for three shows in summer 2011, their first in ten years. Two of these are with Winter at Southern Lord’s Power Of The Riff Festival. In 2012, the band adds vocalist Dino Sommese, who is known for work with Asunder, Carcinogen, Dystopia, Ghoul, Phobia, Insideous and Lachrymose. That year the group undertakes a short European tour, starting at the Heavy Days in Doomtown Festival in Copenhagen, and also plays Maryland Deathfest X and 305 Fest in Miami. It also hosts Eyehategod in Oakland.

Members named in the text

The band’s line-up across the period described includes Dino Sommese on vocals, Russ Kent on guitar, Gary Niederhoff on bass and vocals, and Chiyo Nukaga on drums.