Doomed Confessionary: Jon Mlyniec & Jon Harrison (Afghan Haze)
Photo credits: @hip_light
Afghan Haze is a psychedelic doom/sludge band from Connecticut, USA. The group formed in 2018 by four veterans of the Connecticut and New England hardcore/metal scene.
In their current form as Afghan Haze, they draw upon their years of influence and experience to craft a sound that pays tribute to their roots while simultaneously plows forward into new territory, culminating into a true, aggressive and original concept. To quote them directly, they’re “fueled by booze, bud, Satan and good times!”.
They are not shy to admit their admiration for all and genuinely carry over this mantra into their live shows. Their style can be considered doom/stoner rock, but isn’t afraid to dive deeper and darker at times before veering off into a psychedelic hypnotic drone.
Can you say a few words about your band?
Harrison: First off thank you for having us be a part of this.
Well, we are a 4 piece heavy, louder than hell, stoner sludge band from CT. We’ve been around i think for about 6 years. We have one EP »Burnt Offering« & 2 LPs and we just finished recording our 3rd LP. Which won’t be out for a little bit. Oh also just released a split 7″ with our brothers Purple Kong. Check them out cuz they’re badass and they play some killer spacey stoner doom/rock.
We’ve had some things we’ve had to deal with over the past 2 years from just recently losing our brother & bassist Erik Barrett. We also lost our brother & drummer a few years back. So it’s definitely been tough and challenging for us. But we know our brothers would want us to continue so we’re pushing forward and we’ll keep making heavy stoner music that the people would dig and our brothers would be proud of. Right now the band is Jon Harrison on guitar, Jon Mlyniec on vocals, Paul Litewka on drums and who we lost recently on bass our fallen brother Erik Barrett.
Mlyniec: BOOZE WEED SATAN.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Harrison: Well that question can go back to what I previously said about the loss of brothers/friends & bandmates. That is and has been extremely challenging. Not only were we bandmates but we were friends first and some of us since high school. So to lose that bond and such is tough. But again we just keep pushing forward. That’s what our friends would want and playing music is good for soul you know what I mean? It’s just a great outlet and helps with stuff. Plus it’s just badass to play music, drink beer and smoke weed with your boys & make killer music haha.
Mlyniec: Sadly loosing 2 members over the past few years.
What can you be most proud of so far?
Harrison: Hell I’m proud of everything we’ve done!!! I’m just happy as hell that we made music that reached all over the world and people like it haha. I’m from the old school days of making cassette demos and that reaches a few people & you’d be happy with that. I’m proud & happy that i was able & still able to make music and create records with my friends. I’m proud of all the friendships we’ve made because of this band. There’s a lot of cool people and bands out there man & I wouldn’t have met some of them if I wasn’t in this band. I’m proud of every show we get to play all the music we’ve written together and the friendships that has been made. Long answer to a short question I guess haha.
Mlyniec: The attempts we have made to express ourselves by making and putting out music.
What was your biggest regret?
Harrison: Hmmm well I don’t think we have any real regrets cuz we normally just do what we kinda want but I guess for me personally it would be not playing enough show last year or having to turn down shows.
Mlyniec: Not achieving the musical level I think I should.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Harrison: Well we don’t tour so the best show we played was probably with Goatwhore cuz that was our first show with a big band and at a cool venue. Also Goatwhore were just such badass guys it was an honor!! Big up to our man Ben from Manic Presents for hooking us up with that show and continues to support us. That just set the pace for playing with other killer bands after that like Cro-Mags, Primitive Man & Crowbar. We are really just thankful for all the shows we get to play and with all the great bands we’ve played with. We’ve been pretty lucky in that aspect.
Mlyniec: We opened for Cro-Mags and there were a bunch of our shirts in the crowd, enough to notice- really wild and cool.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Harrison: All the great new bands and venues that are coming out and popping up. Not sure if that’s a surprise but it’s definitely a great thing for the scene in general.
Mlyniec: When we started it was how many killer local bands there were. Now – how many killer local bands there are.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Harrison: For me personally I listen to really everything. I’ve been listening to Disrupt, Bolt Thrower (always haha), Integrity big time as both Bolt Thrower and Integrity are two of my favorite bands and I’m pretty heavily influenced by them. I’m listening to Discharge as I’m writing this haha. New Nails, Wolfbrigade & from Australia Werewolves which all are pretty sick albums. But I’ve also been listening to Viagra Boys and Idles a lot lately. Oh yeah Amenra non stop for the past few months. Also I’m a huge hip hop fan!! So I do listen to a lot of 90s hip hop.
Mlyniec: Eagle Twin, Sick Of It All, Vrsa, False Gods, Bitter Branches, Dope Throne, Blast!, Warblood, E, Neurosis, Edict, Purple Kong.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Harrison: When I was a kid I was a huge Mötley Crüe fan and I wanted to play bass cuz I thought Nikki Sixx was the shit. But, my uncle who does play guitar and who got me into playing told me nah play guitar instead haha. Also to play by feel and not so much real structured style.
Mlyniec: The music happens between the notes.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Harrison: I do enjoy some fine marijuana and a nice glass of whiskey. Then again who doesn’t haha? I love me some old motown and African funk music big time. Also a huge hip hop fan. Big fan of music with groove to it and feel. Also i fucking love me some chocolate and smoking meat as a past time.
Mlyniec: Cheap ass packaged/bagged dried sausage (ala- slim jims) but cheap big bags.
Can you say something more about current music scene in Connecticut?
Harrison: We have a lot of great bands of all genres in CT. In the building we have our practice space in there’s a bunch of killer bands that are our friends there. There’s more venues opening up around and everyone from the promoters to the venues to all bands are just awesome!! We have a great scene and community here. A bunch of new bands are popping up all the time which is awesome!! Also the shows are sometimes mixed. So you’ll have a doom band with a hardcore and a deathcore band with a punk and a death metal band. So we have mixed genre shows which is pretty killer. So all in all we have a pretty cool and positive scene out here.
Mlyniec: CT has an amazing underground heavy scene – you could easily go to a show a couple times a week with multiple options.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Harrison: As far as shows we don’t have anything lined up for the rest of this year. We are focusing on getting our 3rd LP finished and getting that out there. Also we are looking to get a new bassist because of our brother passing away recently. So we are just trying to get back in the swing of things. So hopefully next year we’ll be back out there. We play pretty locally in CT or just mainly New England area. So keep an eye out for us at places like Cherry Street, The Cellar, Space Ballroom, Bleachers and there’s others i can’t think of at the moment but are all in CT. But we do venture to RI, Mass, VT & Maine.
Mlyniec: Not sure due to the sudden loss of our bassist.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Harrison: Just keep on moving forward and writing some heavy booze, weed, Satan influenced music haha. Find a new bassist and keep on trucking and doing our thing and have a fucking kickass time doing it. Also get our newest album mixed and mastered and getting that out there. We are constantly writing stuff. So we’ll have some new music to work on once everything is figured out on our end with stuff. Also just wanna get out there and play some shows. Just have fun writing music with my bros!!!
Mlyniec: Figuring it out. Just trying to get the new album mixed and out there.
How can people best support your band?
Harrison: Just like for any small band. Just come out to the shows and buy some merch straight from the artist. Plus if you go to smaller shows you’ll learn and find new bands that you might not have heard about. Or just hit us up on our Bandcamp page afghanhaze.bandcamp.com & buy some shirts or vinyl or whatever we have for sale.
Mlyniec: Take a listen to us. Of course Bandcamp if you want to buy something but when we play come check it out and have a drink with us.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Harrison: First off thank you for conducting this questionnaire/interview. We greatly appreciate it!!! Also thank you to everyone that has ever listened to Afghan Haze, bought our music or merch, for coming out to our shows!!! We really appreciate everyone!!! We have a new split 7″ that is out now with Purple Kong from England. So check that out!! Also we have a new album in mixing stages and will be coming out soon. Once we get everything handled on our end we’ll be back playing shows and making more heavy stoner music. So stay tuned!!! Again thank you to every single person, promoter, band, venue or anyone that has helped us, listened to us or just shown us any love in any way!!!! Thank you and we appreciate you all and everything anyone has done for us!!!!!
Mlyniec: Thank You!
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well