Justin Marler (born July 29, 1972) is an American musician. He is known for being a founding member of the

stoner rock Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sleep ...

band

Sleep Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited Perception, sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefuln ...

and for leaving a burgeoning career in music to become a monk in an

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canoni ...

monastery. In 1990, Marler joined the members of a little-known band called

Asbestosdeath Asbestosdeath was an American doom metal band from San Jose, California, the precursor to the highly influential band Sleep. History Asbestosdeath started life in the late 1980s as a trio consisting of Al Cisneros on bass, Chris Hakius on d ...

(with

Al Cisneros Al Cisneros (born September 23, 1973) is an American musician. He is the lead singer and bassist for stoner rock/doom metal bands Sleep and Om. He also was a member of Shrinebuilder and Asbestosdeath (the precursor to Sleep) and has put out n ...

Chris Hakius Chris Hakius is an American retired rock drummer best known for his work in Om and Sleep. Around 1990, Hakius was in Asbestosdeath along with Al Cisneros and Matt Pike. Asbestosdeath broke up and the three would form Sleep. Hakius was Slee ...

and

Matt Pike Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

), which the members later renamed Sleep. Soon after recording Sleep's first full-length record, ''Volume One'', Marler vanished, while the band went on to become metal icons. Marler turned up at

Saint Herman of Alaska Monastery The Saint Herman of Alaska Monastery is an Eastern Orthodox monastery located in Platina, California. It is part of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Western America. The monastery was founded by Seraphim Rose and Herman Podmoshensky back in 1968 w ...

in northern California and was later transferred to a monastery on a nearly-deserted island in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

. During his seven-year stint as a monk, he founded the widely distributed

zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very s ...

titled ''

Death to the World ''Death To The World'' is an Eastern Orthodox zine published in the United States.Chris Hakius Chris Hakius is an American retired rock drummer best known for his work in Om and Sleep. Around 1990, Hakius was in Asbestosdeath along with Al Cisneros and Matt Pike. Asbestosdeath broke up and the three would form Sleep. Hakius was Slee ...

, as the lead singer for an alternative band called The Sabians. Marler then moved to

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

in 2005 where he remained a musician and publishing author, active in the Austin music scene with his current band, Shiny Empire.Ratigan, John: "A Spectacular Crap #28", http://combatmusicradio.com/aspectacularcrap/?p=373, 2010.

Books

* ''Youth of the Apocalypse'', 1997, St. Herman Press * ''Door to Paradise'', 1998, St. Herman Press * ''Austin, San Antonio and the Hill Country'', first edition 2005, Moon Handbooks

Discography

with Sleep

*''Sign Language'', compilation (Allied Recordings, 1991) *''Very Small World'', LP compilation (

Very Small Records Very Small Records was an independent record label, formed in 1989 by David Hayes, co-founder and former co-owner of Lookout Records. The name of the label was changed to Too Many Records around 1994, but was changed back around 1997. The label ter ...

, 1991) *''

Volume One Volume One, Volume 1, Volume I or Vol. 1 may refer to: Albums * ''Volume One'' (The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band album), 1966 * ''Volume One'' (Sleep album) * ''Volume One'' (Fluff album) * ''Volume One'' (She & Him album), 2008 * ''Volum ...

'' (Tupelo Records, 1991)

as Monk John Marler

*''Lamentations'' (Catacomb Records, 1997)

with The Sabians

*''Beauty for Ashes'' (

The Music Cartel The Music Cartel was a record label based in Port Washington, New York and active between 1998 and 2005. It was founded by former Earache Records general manager Eric Lemasters. Many of their critically acclaimed releases – including prominent ...

, 2001) *''Shiver'' (The Music Cartel, 2003)

References

Sources

*Waltz, Mitzi. "Alternative and Activist Media", ''

Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...

'', published 2005. *Athitakis, Mark
"Riff Raff"
''

SF Weekly ''SF Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper has won national journalism awards ...

, 2000. *Duncan Collum, Danny
"Punks to Monks"
''

Utne Reader ''Utne Reader'' (also known as ''Utne'') ( ) is a digital digest that collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment, generally from alternative media sources including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music, and ...

'', 1997. *Moon.com
"About the Author"
moon.com. *AllMusic.com, "Sleep" ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

''. *Uttertrash.net
"Rock and Soul, an Interview with Justin Marler"
*combatmusicradio.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marler, Justin American heavy metal musicians American male writers American Christian monks Living people Eastern Orthodox Christians from the United States 1972 births Sleep (band) members Asbestosdeath members