The five-piece metal/groove band Wormwood: Earth rocks the Tri-Cities with more than a traditional angry metal sound.
Members are Adam Ledford (vocals), Jeremy Fannon (guitar), Tony Droke (guitar), Jef Roberts (bass) and TJ Jackson (drums).
Wormwood, as it is known in the biz, began in 1996.
This band is full of lyrical content. Just as much as the music matches the mood, the lyrics set it above just another normal metal band playing a normal metal song.
Ledford, who is credited with creating most but not all of the lyrics, is more of a modern day poet than a rock star. The words are sometimes a call to arms about our world as in the song “Doomsday Machine” in which he sings “What are we thinking?/ Corruption speaks/the U.S. government peaks/slithering closer to its own fate/while the nation sits and waits.”
But at other times the listener can be swept away by tunes that are struggling with a question no one can answer. Wormwood puts questions in your head that rips the conventional idea apart that metal music isn’t supposed to be anything but screaming and yelling.
“What’s weird about us is that we actually say something about the world we live in just with a metal or hard background,” Jackson said. “I speak through my beats.”
“We are influenced by all kinds of things like politics, women, religion, just anything we come into contact with,” said Jef Roberts, the bass player.
The music and lyrics compliment each other very well. This is why some critics call their music “groove.” It’s hard, then it slows down. It’s spiritual and then it’s mean.
Their music says more than metal has traditionally said in the past. But that’s the beauty of Wormwood.
“These ideas are strong to us,” said drummer TJ Jackson. “We try to take people on a journey that will give them power and move them.”
Wormwood is soon to release its fifth full-length album called Nickel. Critics have said it is to be the best one yet from the band.
“We called it Nickel because if we can’t go platinum we’ll go nickel,” Jackson said. “It’s also our fifth album.”
If you like Kyuss, Soundgarden, Down, Tool, or any band like this you will instantly fall in love with Wormwood: Earth.
The goal of the band is to be able to tour and make music for a living.
“The challenge is getting the media to pay attention to us,” said Roberts. “There is a whole scene that is a force to be reckoned with here in the Tri-Cities and no one gives us any publicity.”
“For those of you that haven’t seen us, get up off the couch, quit being apathetic, and come see us or any other local band,” he said.
To find out when they are coming to a club near you just log on to your favorite search engine and use Wormwood: Earth as the keywords.

Author