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Earthless is a mostly instrumental psychedelic rock band from San Diego, California, consisting of guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, bassist Mike Eginton and drummer Mario Rubalcaba.
The band formed in 2001 and released their first album, Sonic Prayer, through Gravity Records in 2005. Their second album, Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky, was released in 2007 through Tee Pee Records.
Mitchell sings occasionally, but the band's music is mostly instrumental and features long semi-improvised songs drawing on classic rock, psychedelic rock, metal, blues rock, jazz, and krautrock.
Eginton suggested the name Earthless, inspired by a song titled likewise by a 1960s American rock group called the Druids of Stonehenge. The trio accepted the name for its "psychedelic ring" and ambiguity, but by then they had already been together for at least three months (five rehearsal sessions and one live show) without one. At the group's earliest rehearsal, they played songs from Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath interspersed between lengthy improvisations; at their second session the band only played their own material. They played their first live show together at the Casbah, a venue in their native San Diego, but in general they found it difficult to come together for rehearsals or shows owing to Rubalcaba also playing drums for Rocket from the Crypt at the time. He also played in Hot Snakes for a time, but after both groups disbanded, Rubalcaba and his Earthless bandmates had more free time to devote to their new project.
Earthless' debut album, Sonic Prayer, was released in 2005 and won the 2007 Best Hard Rock Album award at the San Diego Music Awards, where their second album, Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky, was also nominated for the same award and the band themselves were nominated for Best Hard Rock Artist.
In February 2009, Earthless toured with Witch in North America. The band toured in Europe and the UK with Russian Circles in April 2010, in the US in support of Baroness from November to early December, and in Australia for the first time from December 2010 to January 2011.
As the band members continued with their rigorous touring schedule, they became increasingly involved with side projects (Rubalcaba with Off! and Mitchell with Howlin' Rain) and Mitchell moved to Northern California, which reduced the available time to rehearse as Earthless, much less record another studio album (even though some of the material on Live at Roadburn was intended for the next album). As an act, Earthless eventually entered into a period of inactivity by default, but not by intention.
Earthless toured in support of From the Ages along the western coast of the United States in October 2013, and with the Shrine in Australia from December 2013 to January 2014, and the east coast of the US in August 2014. They are embarking on a tour of Europe in October 2014, and have rescheduled a tour of Japan with Eternal Elysium that Earthless had to cancel to tend to ill family members; the tour will take place in January 2015.
In 2016 Earthless, together with Harsh Toke, released a split-record each with a single track on it.
On March 16, 2018, the band released their album 'Black Heaven'.
Although typically labeled a stoner rock group, they reject the term, and the band have stated they do not use marijuana; rather, they drink coffee or iced tea.
The band alternate between writing their songs out and improvising them on the spot, repeatedly playing the improvised parts in their live set to the point that the parts become features of the song. Rubalcaba has noted the distinction between improvisation and jamming; he argues that improvisation differs from jamming in that improvisation is more focused and has a purpose, while jamming does not.
As Earthless are primarily an instrumental band, their music has no vocals by default, although Mitchell has sung vocals for the group on the few songs that need them (such as "Cherry Red" and "Woman with the Devil Eye"). Other than that, the group do not intend to hire a full-time vocalist, despite all the offers they have received over the years.
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