You don’t need the assistance of mind-expanding pharmaceuticals to perceive that there is something of a psychedelic renaissance happening in music, albeit one that is mostly confined to the fringes—for now, at least. Its most visible proponent is probably Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, whose 2012 release Lonerism was hailed as that year’s best album by the likes of Rolling Stone, NME, and Filter. Consider also the success of Austin Psych Fest, which celebrates its seventh year in May with performances by the Black Angels, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Toy, and Temples, among many others. (Temples also plays Vancouver this week.)

Among the more established acts slated for that celebration of acid-washed genius is Dead Meadow. The group’s frontman, Jason Simon, says it’s heartening to see a resurgence of interest in the type of music that he and his bandmates have been exploring since Dead Meadow’s formation in Washington, D.C., in 1998.

“There’s a scene that would have been great to have had around when we started, but there was just nothing like that,” Simon says when the Straight calls him in Los Angeles, where he and his band are now based. “So it is really cool that after all these years, finally a scene came up that Dead Meadow fits into, at least more than any other scene—more than we ever did in the postpunk scene or the stoner-rock scene, which is what was there when we started. So it’s cool. And it is cool that young kids are into it. For us, it seems like there’s a whole new generation of kids that are just getting into Dead Meadow now, which is really great.”

From the evidence offered on its most recent album, Warble Womb, Dead Meadow hasn’t totally outgrown the bong-water-drenched sludge-rock doom riffs that characterized its early albums, like 2001’s Howls From the Hills. The hypnotic head-nodder “This Song Is Over”, all nine minutes and 37 seconds of it, would fit on that record seamlessly. “One More Toll Taker”, however, is a haunting acoustic lament, while “1000 Dreams” is as close as Dead Meadow gets to a pop song—which just means that it sounds more like Cream than it does Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.

Warble Womb was a long time in the making—it was the first Dead Meadow studio album since 2008—and the band has undertaken some of its most extensive touring to promote it, including a string of European dates last fall and a North American trek that started in January. It sounds as if Simon will be glad to see the end of the road.

“We just finished this big round of touring,” he says. “We were overseas for a while. So after this coming up—this batch of shows, and there’s Psych Fest and some festivals down that way in the South—we’re gonna lay low for a little bit, work on some new stuff.”

Well, not everyone in the band will be taking a break. Bassist Steve Kille, for one, has a full dance card.

“Steve is actually going back out on the road with Pink Mountaintops,” Simon says, referring to former Vancouverite and current Angeleno Stephen McBean’s own psych outfit, which has a new LP, Get Back, slated for release at the end of this month. “He played on that record, too, so he’s doing the entire three-and-a-half months of touring we just did all over again—like, a lot of the same places. Which is cool if you’re up to it, but I’m kind of looking forward to being at home, recording some new songs.”

Dead Meadow plays Electric Owl on Saturday (April 5).