Bones of Goliath are a heavy, riff-driven rock band formed in Fostoria, Ohio, in 2018, and “Down The Steps” is how they introduce a new lineup. The live video was captured at The Rex Theater in Morenci, Michigan, while opening for Green Jelly, and it features vocalist Aaron Dilorenzo, drummer Hayden Alesch, and Gerald “Foam” Ammons, who has moved from bass to lead guitar. Dilorenzo wrote the song about Lacey, an early bandmate’s temperamental Rottweiler who was kept in a kennel at the bottom of the stairs in their practice space whenever guests were around. It became a song built around a conversation between singer and dog, and their shared understanding of isolation. The video came out on October 30th.
Musically, this band clearly understands what really makes a song heavy: it’s not huge hooks or low-tuned guitars but the space between the notes that the bass and drums create after all this song was written 27 years ago, before those trends came to be. This live version feels more ragged, with the bass tone especially being a lot more gnarly; in my opinion, it’s better. The vocals shine here because they manage to cut through the wall of sound of that heavy rhythm section. The band has great chemistry, and I enjoyed the moments where they all sync up, and there is a shared melodic motif between the vocals and the guitar
The band says bringing the song in let it show off Dilorenzo’s songwriting, and that it took on the feel of Bones of Goliath as they worked through it together. The video follows “Face The Flames” and “Blade, Fang, Blood and Claw,” and the band says its sound has become more distinctive, which opens up new ways to approach writing. They have started preproduction on new material and plan to head into the studio soon, so there is more to come from this lineup.
