Doomed Confessionary: Josh Hargrove (Red Sun Sermon)

Photo by @qroghie

Red Sun Sermon is a four-piece heavy blues/stoner/doom rock band from Missouri, USA. The band consists of Kat Hargrove (vocals), Josh Hargrove (drums), Ryan Hoehn (bass) and Marshall Mason (guitar).

Red Sun Sermon beckons you to a sonic ritual where Southern-fried stoner metal riffs meet the mysticism of bluesy undertones and haunting, melodic hooks. Their debut album, »Queen Of Swords«, recorded live with Gabe Usery at Encapsulated Studios in St. Louis, Missouri, emerged as a hymn to introspection and raw power, officially released in January 2024. With their forthcoming opus, »Anno Lucis«, the band delves deeper into esoteric realms, weaving themes of light, shadow, and transcendence into their ever-evolving soundscape. Summer 2025, join The Sermon and let the music guide you beyond the veil.

Can you please say a few words about your band?
We’re an ambitious outfit from the East Ozarks in Southeast Missouri. We blend many styles ranging from blues and psych, to doom and rock/metal into a personalized genre that’s not shared by many other acts. We’ve been around since November of 2021, getting started in Marshall’s (guitar) spare bedroom just south of St. Louis. We have since moved headquarters to my house, aptly named the Den of Heck. A lone house on a far-removed dirt road out in the middle of nowhere in Southeast Missouri. We’re about to drop our second album, »Anno Lucis« this year and have already released a few singles (»Floodrites« and »Insidious«). We are actively writing for album 3 already!

What was the biggest challenge for the band?
The biggest challenge for us is probably the same for many bands. Dealing with life outside the group. Things that tend to take focus away from creating and performing. Conflicting schedules, etc. We lucked out and seem to really be aligned as far as goals and having quality individuals in the band. We all have vastly different influences, but are highly in-tune as a group. We’re able to blend all of that together pretty well and we don’t allow ego to run the ship. We’re all equals.

What can you be most proud of so far?
There’s a lot to be proud of! I think getting a group together that can agree on things is tough enough. But managing to take that group, drag conflicting schedules into alignment, and hammer out songs and play shows is nearly an impossible feat. I’m very proud of that. We’ve played gigs with some very cool groups and got to know some rad people along the way. Bands like Castle Rat, VOLUME, The Well. And making local friends with Missouri groups like Scuzz, Free Field, Mongoose, Kilverez amongst many many others. We love our scene and we’re beyond proud to be amongst such great local acts. The music scene in the STL and Cape Girardeau area is full of so many extremely talented groups and individuals.

What was your biggest regret?
Here in RSS there are no regrets. We always move forward. There are mistakes, but those are chewed up and digested into lessons-learned. We always march onward. If you get caught up in regrets, then your focus is directed on what’s behind you. We’re always looking ahead. trying to catch a glimpse of that Red Sun on the horizon.

What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
A real highlight for us, in my humble opinion, was being joined on-stage by our great friends in Free Field and opening up the Red Flag enue in STL for the might Castle Rat. Everybody really put on a great show and performed so well. We met many cool folks who traveled so far to see all the bands. Such a delight.

What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
I think it can be kind of cutthroat. That’s a surprise for a lot of folks getting into the scene. Some folks have a sort of famine mindset. Like there’s only so many show opportunities and only so many fans in the world and if they an’t have them then nobody can. We like to promote the scene, we like to promote other bands and performers. There’s more than enough love and attention for every single group out there. I think ANY attention and love for the local scene, whether it’s directed at your group specifically or not, is a net positive for everybody in the scene. When folks in the STL or Cape G. area get a big bump, it brings me joy. I love to highlight that and celebrate wins across the scene. “The rising tide lifts all boats” so to speak. When others let jealousy or spite take over, it can get nasty. And it just hurts the scene as a whole.

What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Personally, I think you’d be surprised by what’s in my playlist. When I was young, I cut my teeth on the classics, Pantera, Chimaira, Lamb Of God, Amon Amarth, Deftones, etc. I’ll keep it heavy and give you a few tunes I love to rip when I’m in a heavy mood these days.

Gnome – Ambrosius
Gozu – CLDZ
Earthless – Uluru Rock
High On Fire – Slave The Hive
ASG – Right Death Before
Belzebong – Diabolical Dopenosis
Red Desert – Older No Wiser
Red Fang – The Smell Of The Sound

A whole lot of RED going on around us lol

What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Maybe a year or so after I was just starting to play drums, back when I was 10-11 years old or so, my brother gave me a piece of priceless advice. I was playing on his drums he’d gotten for his 16th birthday (a cheap Yamaha YD kit I still have, and I’ve since named Oscar the Grouch). I would sit down to play and would play the same little basic rock pattern over and over and over and over. I got REALLY good at that little basic pattern. You all know it. It resembles a dumbed down version of the Amen drum break.
Anyway, one day, I was in there playing away and my brother barged in and sternly insisted, “If you play that rhythm again, I’ll run your head through the bass drum.” That was the moment I branched out and started learning other things. Like exploring what those shiny bronze colored things were that were hanging over the drums, and the other drums around the kit that he said were called toms. Incredible. Thanks, Jarred!

What are your guilty pleasures?
Chocolate. And most things involved with, pertaining to, or containing chocolate.

And the occasional classic pop tune like »Hung Up« by Madonna.

Can you say something more about the current music scene in Missouri?
It’s a very good time to be involved in the music scene in Missouri. I’ve been in and out of a few bands over the years playing around STL and Cape Girardeau. I’ve never seen more talent and exposure than I have now. It feels like you can’t round a corner without stumbling into a really killer music act absolutely laying waste to the crowd. Incredible. And it seems like the pay-to-play influence and money grabbing promoters are going by the wayside.

Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
We’re about to announce a few local album release shows for late summer/early fall and we’ll probably have a few good shows this fall and winter. We’re in writing mode at the moment and are trying to get our ducks in a row for this second album release. If you see a show announcement and want to catch us out (or pick up a vinyl or cd of the new album), you better show up! We’re not playing a whole boatload of shows this year!

What are your plans for the future as a band?
GROWTH. We aren’t playing music for recognition, money, fame, anything like that. We want to grow as a band. We want to grow our group of friends. We want to grow our skills and connections. We want to grow our catalogue and merchandise offerings. We want to grow our influence in the scene and we want others in our scene to benefit and experience the same growth we’ve been so lucky to have thus far.

How can people best support your band?
We are just so happy to have folks give a song a spin. That’s just fantastic. That’s the single best way to support RSS. Others who wish to go above and beyond, recommend us to a friend. Come to a show. Say hi on social media (we will happily respond back). Buy some CDs or vinyl or merch. Follow us on Bandcamp. Pay attention to a new service that’s similar to Bandcamp but is much more beneficial to the artists themselves called SUBVERT. We’re going to be involved there as well.

Do you have any message for your listeners?
Hello listeners, we thank you for stopping by. We’d love to extend an invitation to become more than listeners. Become friends. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for any and all support and we wish you all an immense amount of GROWTH, and love in this life. It’s short, so keep moving forwards. Thanks!

Links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well