Track By Tracks: GOATFATHER - House Of The Rising Smoke (2025)

Goatfather – House of the Rising Smoke (October 24th 2025) by Olaf (guitar/vocals)

With House of the Rising Smoke, the goal was to reconnect with a more organic kind of stoner rock — less metal, more groove — compared to Monster Truck. We wanted to bring back that warm, 70s vibe: fewer guitar and vocal layers, more space in the mix, and songs that swing between tight and direct (Stoner Dream, Rainbow Rider) and long, trippy journeys (Night of the Blue Smoke, Space Weeds, and Heavy Trips). You can really hear that heavy-psych and blues influence running through it — that’s a big part of who we are. We also indulged ourselves with tracks that evolve and breathe, with long bridges (Eye of the Electric Mountain, Night of the Blue Smoke), and even reworked one of our oldest songs, Son of a Witch, which dates back to 2014 and used to open our early live sets.

The same goes with the artwork: a simple photograph of my hands holding our beloved goat skull Donnie, as a tribute to both our 1st demo in 2015 and 90s stoner artworks.

1. Stoner Dream:

This one’s a bit of an oddball. It was the last track we wrote — kind of at the last minute — when we realized we had a few extra minutes to fill on the vinyl. If you listen closely, it’s literally built around a single riff. That same melody loops all the way through, with tiny pauses and variations, but there’s always either a guitar or the bass holding it down.

The funny thing is, it started as a joke. There’s that old meme saying stoner rock is “one riff looping forever, then a bearded guy screams ‘I smoke weed on top of a mountain!’ and the riff comes back louder.” So we just… did that.

The lyrics are packed with all the clichés we love — aliens, mythical creatures, desert rides, worshipping Tony Iommi. Basically, it’s a dream version of the stoner world: one eternal riff, and Iommi is God.

2. Eye of the Electric Mountain:

This song came from a funny situation. When Quentin, our old bassist, left the band, Raph, Pierre, and I challenged ourselves to write a four-track EP as a trio, with me on bass and vocals. We each worked on ideas separately, then brought them to rehearsal. One day, both Pierre and I showed up with almost-finished songs. Each had great riffs, but also weak spots. Then we realized that by stitching the best parts together — one of Pierre’s riffs for the intro, one of mine for the verse, another of his for the bridge — it just clicked. And boom, Eye of the Electric Mountain was born.

3. Night of the Blue Smoke:

Even though we always work together on structures and arrangements, Night of the Blue Smoke is about 80% Pierre’s baby. It’s got that strong hard-rock energy, but also a trippy, multi-layered, almost prog side. It opens with a very Fu Manchu-style riff — somewhere between American stoner and punk-rock attitude — then shifts into a dreamy verse and a punchy, metallic chorus.

From there, it becomes pure Pierre: a series of bridges and refrains that build this expansive, psychedelic atmosphere. There’s even a bass solo — Violeine’s twist on our weird guitarist ideas — leading into an epic final solo and a melodic outro. We thought it was the perfect vibe for a B-movie-style video, so we made one using clips from Mario Bava’s Planet of the Vampires.

4. Son of a Witch:

This one proves that sometimes you write songs before you’re actually ready to play them. The core riff dates back to before I joined Goatfather in 2014, when Quentin and I were trying to get a band going. Back in the early days of Goatfather, it was our live intro, but we never managed to turn it into a proper track.

Over the years, I’d still play it acoustically or in a bluesy jam, with an improvised ending. When we started this EP, we thought, “Why not bring it back?” — especially with Pierre on guitar, because he’s got great chops and feel. Raph and I had leveled up, too, and Violeine actually pushed for it before even joining the band. Her bass groove fit the song perfectly. I’m not sure if we’ll play it live, but we’re really proud to have finally captured it in the studio.

5. Rainbow Rider:

Rainbow Rider was one of the last two songs we wrote after Violeine joined. We had already recorded four tracks at the start of 2024, then decided to go for six, so we jumped back into writing mode.

The idea was simple: keep it short, catchy, and punchy. No long intros or endless bridges — just a straight verse-chorus structure. Still, it’s not easy to sing! We also had a blast trading solos at the end. Personally, I hadn’t recorded a solo for Goatfather since Rebel Ways on our debut. Actually, I hadn’t recorded any guitar at all since then — Pierre handled everything on Monster Truck and the first four tracks of this record.

6. Space Weeds and Heavy Trips:

Another Pierre composition, and another multi-section, almost prog-style journey. He writes really clever stuff. The opening riff is amazing — dreamy, slightly off-balance — and the contrast with the heavy stoner-metal verse just hits right.

The lyrics aren’t really about drugs, though. It’s more about music as a way to trip — that feeling of being lost inside a massive wall of sound, where you just don’t want anyone to interrupt.