Who On Earth
Who On Earth
Somebody needed to pick up the torch for hard rock and heavy metal with real grit and gusto and without a gimmick. Enter WHO ON EARTH The New Jersey quartet - Coosh (vocals), Pete Rizzi (bass), Bruce Gatewood (guitar) and Joe D’Aqui (drums) - deliver a one-two punch of hard-hitting hooks and airtight instrumentation bolted down by pummeling grooves and piercing riffs. With virtuoso guitarist and producer Mike Orlando (Adrenaline Mob, Noturnall) in their corner, the musicians pay homage to rock’s past as they usher in its future on their independent full-length debut, Blame.
The group made their bones through countless gigs across the tri-state area in every dive bar and concert hall with a stage. Along the way, Andrew and Pete tore up venues as part of MadHaus, performing marathon covers. During 2021, the longtime friends chose to forego covers, hunker down, and compose an original album. Pete invited Joe D’Aqui - the ever-versatile drummer of their thrash band PIERCED - to join the fold. In order to bring the record to life, the band hit the studio with none other than Mike Orlando. Over the course of the next year, the guys endured numerous COVID delays as they recorded with Orlando behind the board as producer, engineer and as guest guitarist. Nodding to everyone from Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Metallica to Rush, Alice In Chains, and Tool, they placed storytelling in the spotlight.
After teasing the album with “Monster In The Jar,” Who On Earth unleashed “On The Brink.” A head-nodding riff and trudging groove stomp along with a cathartic chorus about, “the struggles of the everyday worker,” according to Andrew. This is a band with stories to tell and experiences to share which they deliver with groove and melody as can be heard in the band’s most recent song Down & Out which touches on the topic of addiction. Rizzi explains, “This is a song about alcoholism and drug addiction. It’s about a guy who wakes up after being in a blackout. Something terrible has happened, people are screaming and crying. He doesn’t know exactly what he’s done, and we don’t actually find out, but he knows that he is to blame and that the jig is finally up; he’s hit bottom.”In the end, WHO ON EARTH fill a void for rock ‘n’ roll.
