If you are a band and you want to release a 7-inch EP for the world to enjoy, teaming up with a brewery and a local bar/music venue seems like the right thing to do in Albuquerque.

Local metal band Blue Heron will take the stage at Sister on Saturday night, while Boxing Bear will do its first offsite tap takeover since before the pandemic. VantaBlack Russian Imperial Stout and Metal Head American Stout will both be available at the downtown venue.

Blue Heron’s Big Steve explained the team-up between band and brewery in an email, noting that the band released its EP, Black Blood of the Earth, last Friday, and also appears on the homage album AC/DC Redux that was released by Magnetic Eye Records that same day.

“To celebrate our first two official releases, we’ve organized a cool local gig at Sister Bar on Saturday, Dec. 11,” Big Steve wrote, “featuring some great heavy locals, a killer band from Austin who just released their debut record to much acclaim in the heavy rock underground, and an exclusive tap takeover from Boxing Bear with their VantaBlack and Metal Head stouts on draft for the night.

“The back story is our the EP is called ‘Black Blood of the Earth,’ and we’re huge fans of VantaBlack, having played a set for the 2019 stout release at their Corrales brewery, so we pitched them on a beer collaboration to go with our EP (hoping for a ‘VantaBlack Blood of the Earth’ kind of thing, haha). They were too far along with Vanta production to make it happen this year, but kindly offered to sponsor our show and bring out the stouts for the headbangers to enjoy for the night.”

That “killer band” from Austin that was mentioned is High Desert Queen, and they will also be playing a special acoustic set Friday night at 8 at High and Dry, if anyone would like a stripped-down preview of some of what will be played at Sister.

The Sister show starts at 7 p.m. and also features Heave, Pot Hole, and DJ Breathalyzer. The cover is only $5, leaving you plenty of funds left over for beers and band merchandise.

Get on out there this Friday and Saturday to support some grinding desert metal, local breweries, and one of our top local venues.

Hails!

— Stoutmeister