Posted in Whathaveyou on March 18th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Set for the weekend of Oct. 18-20 and (I think?) celebrating the 10th anniversary of the first Desertfest Belgium, which was held in 2014, the 2024 edition of the Antwerp-based Desertfest has made its first lineup announcement, anchored by Fu Manchu and Russian Circles and featuring a host of others ranging in both geography and style. From the fluid textures of REZN and classic melodic prog rock of Mondo Drag to the reunited Scorpion Child, Bongzilla‘s singularly stoned crust and the expansive riffery of Stoned Jesus, whose Mother Dark complement to early-2023’s Father Light (review here) is awaited, it’s a well-rounded bill even before you account for heavy psych rockers Seedy Jeezus and bluesy ’70s traditionalists Child making the trip from Australia, the latter on the heels of Heavy Psych Sounds reissuing their catalog, the expansive sounds of Messa, and so on.
That it looks like a cool time isn’t really a surprise. Desertfest Belgium has developed a character of its own as the flagship Fall Desertfest in Europe, and while I’ve never been, I always look forward to seeing what it brings to the seasonal cohort of heavy festivals. Already we know REZN will be on tour with Russian Circles, as that was announced last week too, but it’s likely more tours will come from Mondo Drag, Ritual King and others below that haven’t been revealed yet if they’re even at this point finalized. In addition to the usual daydreaming-about-travel, I find thinking about these things and imagining tours and who might have new records out by the time October gets here to be a particular kind of nerdy joy.
The announcement, as per social media:
It’s that time of year again! It’s with great pride and excitement that we announce the first names for DF24! 👁️
Confirmed for Desertfest ANTWERP are: Fu Manchu Russian Circles Stoned Jesus Bongzilla Scorpion Child MESSA Wolvennest Mondo Drag Seedy Jeezus CHILD REZN Ritual King The Abbey Lethvm RRRags Crouch Kara Delik
Three days of delirium and heavy delight are surely awaiting us all in Antwerp!
Posted in Questionnaire on November 14th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Rob Zim of Rrrags
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I play the bass. As a teenager the only videotape I had was the Who’s Tommy (apart from some porn of course). I must have seen it at least 100 times. Entwistle’s enchantingly playful and creative bass lines made me play the bass. I remember every single note, I wish I had half his talent.
Ron from Rrrags has been a long time friend and I played in several bands with him before. We always went to the Roadburn Festival and stayed over at our friend Bidi, who is unfortunately not with us anymore, through whom we met Rob Martin. We decided to jam together and the satisfying outcome was the base for Rrrags. It is fun to play with Rrrags since there is a lot of space for improvisation and every concert is an adventure.
Describe your first musical memory.
Roger Glover’s ‘All you Need is Love and Understanding’ was, I believe, the first animated videoclip in the early/mid seventies when I was about three years old. When it was on television I pushed my face to the screen and immersed in the music and visuals. There was a singing frog, I loved it so much. Only 30 years later I found out the singer was Ronnie James Dio, which was also the first metal concert I went to as a teenager. That was weird.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
As a musician, playing Hellfest for 10.000 people was cool. But playing an improvised 75 minute Kraut/jazz/psychedelic jam session for a few hundred people on the Roadburn 2022 festival with my friend Ron from Rrrags and Ingvald and Ask from Kanaan was a highlight in my career. We had played two nights with Rrrags already and I was already home and all my gear loaded out when they phoned me to come back and do the gig. The audience was pretty baked from three days Roadburn and it went down very well, a full house was really digging what we did. Of course we did not record it, even though we were prompted by Roadburn’s house recording technician Marcel van der Vondervoort. We still forgot and maybe it is better like this, probably in the memory it’s better than the reality haha.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I have hardly any principles and and can relativize almost anything but my belief in evolving intelligence is tested on a daily basis.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I don’t think art progresses to a higher level. Rather it meanders parallel to life and changes and reshapes accordingly. I have the feeling that art is quite immersed in daily life at the moment. Advertisement videos are weirder than video art 30 years ago and a lot of street art is more exiting than modern art in galleries. It is easy to express yourself, due to software like GarageBand and photoshop/illustrator and AI filters and apps on the smartphone. Art is utilitarian and not idealistic. It doesn’t lead to a better life or something.
How do you define success?
I think to be successful is to get recognition, for being good at doing what you are passionate about. This can start already on a tiny scale, with few people.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Anything of U2. I have an allergy.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I explored all of the arts I am interested in quite extensively already and kind of did what I wanted to do. That is quite a relaxing situation to be in. No Ambition, No Frustration is my motto. I just want to make and play music but that is nothing I did not do yet.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
For me the Only function of art is to levitate one’s mind somewhere where there is no troubles and challenges, only ecstasy. Art does that, it can make you forget about all your problems. Especially music since it hits you unconditionally, it needs no explanation or context. For me music is the highest form of art.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I look forward to my next voyage. Don’t know yet whereto it will be but I love travelling.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 21st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Antwerp, Belgium’s Gnome made a convincing enough argument with their 2022 album, King (review here), that the year-plus since its release has seen them snatched up by a broad swath of European festivals, among them Desertfest in London and Berlin, Stoned From the Underground in Germany, Down the Hill, Masters of the Riff, and the impending Lazy Bones in Hamburg after this first US tour that continues their forward momentum. Yes, my fellow Americans, it’s like your “Come to [insert town here]!” reaction comments were heard, processed as visa applications and put to the best use, as Gnome will bring their blend of sick riffs and silly hats to the West Coast starting on Sept. 22.
Bookended by festivals, the tour puts Gnome on the road through the Midwest before hitting Oregon and Sacramento, CA, to finish out. There are a couple shows in here that might be rougher — I don’t know how Omaha rocks on a Tuesday night — but with Louder Than Life on one end and AfterShock Music Festival on the other, this initial incursion is both careful in not taking on too much expense and still positioning the band to do well on the whole. Safe travels to Gnome. Hope to see them along the way somewhere, if not this tour (and not, since it’s on the other side of the country from me), then maybe the next one.
From social media:
With great pleasure doth we announce our 2023 US BLASPHEMY TOUR!!! (#127482#)(#127480#) See you there, little gnomies from the other side! We’ll be sharing some of these stages with the lovely BoneHawk !
Much love and kudos to Bradley Raffenaud at Madison House for making this tour possible!!! (#129395#)
Cheerios muchachos
GNOME 2023 US Blasphemy Tour
09.22 Louder Than Life Fest Louisville KY 09.24 Revival Music Hall Peoria IL 09.25 The Bottleneck Lawrence KS 09.26 Reverb Lounge Omaha NE 09.29 Nortons Brewing Co. Wichita KS 09.30 Vultures Colorado Springs CO 10.01 Globe Hall Denver CO 10.04 Volcanic Theatre Pub Bend OR 10.05 Dante’s Portland OR 10.08 AfterShock Music Festival Sacramento CA
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 28th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Man this looks like a wild time. Desertfest Belgium 2023 has just about finalized its lineup, bringing Enslaved, Quicksand, Black Mirrors, Khan, Iron Jinn, Bushfire and a host of others to the bill and teasing that there’s still one more to add. Belgian native. A surprise. You’ll note below that it says “artist” instead of “band.” Could it be a solo act? Curious.
Whoever it is, they’ll join a packed bill that stands out even among the crowded European Fall festival circuit. You can see the list of names below and I sincerely doubt you need me to tell you how badass an assemblage it is, so I won’t. I will point out that it’s a great mix of European and American acts with representatives from Australia in Khan and South Africa in Ruff Majik. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s four continents accounted for across the three days of the fest. Not too shabby.
The latest from the fest is below, as per social media:
We are excited to announce the following final bands. Some are big, some badass, some barbaric, some boisterous, and some all of the above! (#129304#) We are talking about:
Enslaved – Quicksand – Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds – Khan – Black Mirrors – LA MUERTE – Fire Down Below – BUSHFIRE – Red Sun Atacama – Iron Jinn – Astodan – Witch Piss
Unfortunately REZN’s European tour was cancelled, so they won’t make it to this year’s Desertfest. We sure hope to welcome them back somewhere in the near future.
On the bright side, we have one final, very talented Belgian surprise artist tugged away in our sleeve! The project is so secret that we can’t say much more just yet, but we will be lifting a corner of the veil pretty soon…
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 15th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Quickie lineup update from Desertfest Belgium 2023 for Antwerp. Having previously confirmed the likes of Yawning Man, Shellac, The Ocean, Monkey3 — whose 39 Laps is about to be reissued on Sound of Liberation Records — Dopelord and King Buffalo, Ruff Majik, Siena Root, on and on, the venerable Belgian installation of the Desertfest brand has put forth word that North Carolinian original-era sludge chaosbringers Sourvein won’t be making the trip after all, but that New Orleans mainstays Eyehategod will, alongside The Obsessed, The Great Machine, ultra-crushers LLNN, as well as Moonstone and Apex Ten, the latter of whom are Belgian natives. Their Aashray (review here) album was released last month.
A little context here offers potentially crucial information. What the below announcement doesn’t say is how on-fire The Obsessed are right now or that they’re headed into a new album release this Fall — release date still forthcoming, but I’m pretty sure Wino said on stage at Freak Valley that the album is called It’s Not Okay — or the extent to which Israeli trio The Great Machine tear it up on (or potentially off) stage, which is something else I was lucky enough to find out for myself in Netphen. Knowing that, they become more than just another name on a bill or another act who put out a cool record this year, and if you haven’t seen them and are headed to Desertfest, they are indeed a sight to see. All the more because the tones and sings are so right on.
Here’s what the fest had to say:
We’re thrilled to add a couple of new names to our Desertfest congregation. Joining our bill for the best fest of the year are:
EYEHATEGOD – The Obsessed – The Great Machine – LLNN – Moonstone – Apex Ten
Unfortunately SOURVEIN won’t make it to the fest this year due to a contingency.
Get your pass to Desert Heaven with a Reduced Three Days Combi Ticket or a Day Ticket at our Ticket Page!
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 7th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Some expected names in this first announcement from Desertfest Belgium 2023 in Antwerp — Yawning Man, King Buffalo, Truckfighters who seem to be making the rounds all year, etc. — but plenty of unexpected too, with aCarlton Melton returning to Europe, Philadelphia’s Heavy Temple apparently traveling abroad for the first time (new album?), Sourvein returning to road work, REZN heading over to support their killer new record, BlackWater HolyLight, Howling Giant — maybe also their first time in Europe? — Duel getting back over and so on.
As ever, I’m curious to see which of these acts will be on tour, and which with each other, but for now Desertfest Antwerp 2023 looks like a banger in the making. Early-bird tickets sold out in like hours when they were put on sale in February — two months before this first unveiling of band names, mind you — and one expects the sale on weekend tickets to follow suit. I’m not much for the big name on the poster personally, but I recognize I’m in a minority pretty much of myself in that, and from there on I don’t see a clunker in the bunch. Call it a win.
Of course, Desertfest Belgium also helms the Ghent edition. I’m not sure if that will be earlier or later — my guess would be earlier, but maybe the Fall fests spill over to November this year; could happen, wouldn’t be terrible if it did — but for today there’s plenty to dig here as posted by the festival:
The moment we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived! We’re beyond stoked to announce the first round of names for Desertfest Antwerp!
Confirmed for Desertfest Antwerp 2023 are Cult of Luna, Truckfighters, MANTAR, King Buffalo, The Vintage Caravan, Year of no light, Nebula, Yawning Man, Dopelord, The Atomic Bitchwax, DUEL, Siena Root, Blackwater Holylight, Howling Giant, SOURVEIN, Carlton Melton, Heavy Temple, REZN, Margarita Witch Cult.
No doubt, it is going to be another epic version of Desertfest Anywerp!
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 31st, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Yo, not for nothing, but you could go see Incantation and Bongripper and Naxatras on the same lineup if you go to Antwerp. Or how about Alunah, Gozu and Suma? Cities of Mars and Stygian Bough? Slomatics and Somali Yacht Club and Polymoon? Sasquatch and Weedpecker? God damn.
If I had cash and time, I — well, I’d do a lot of things — but I’d be at this one. I know sometimes in the grand scheme of things looking at a bunch of names on a poster your eyes can glaze over, but if you can stop that from happening here, it’s worth looking at the stylistic sprawl that’ll take place over the course of the weekend. It is far more in terms of aural landscaping than simply desert, which has been true of the various Desertfest-branded events over the last, I don’t know, six years-plus, but is only emphasized here.
Plus, just about anytime Slomatics do anything it makes me happy. Those guys are great.
From the PR wire:
DF 2022 ANTWERP: WEEDPECKER, WUCAN, SLOMATICS, AND MORE!
This is the final batch of names that completes the DF Antwerp line-up, and we’ve definitely saved up some fine morsels for last. All sizes and shapes is the name of the game, so get hyped and dig in.
For those of you who like their stoner music to truly widen the senses, WEEDPECKER and SOMALI YACHT CLUB definitely fit the bill. Both incorporate many psychedelic influences in their jams, taking you on a killer trip.
On the more brutal side of things, we welcome New York’s death metal pioneers INCANTATION who come to celebrate their ‘Tricennial of Blasphemy’. With SLOMATICS, we present you with the heaviest of heavy in sludge doom. No messing about – just pummelling wall-to-wall riffage.
WUCAN and ROSY FINCH enrich our line-up with two kick-ass women that deal in idiosyncratic and highly original rock. Wucan’s Francis Tobolsky still rocks a flute like nobody’s business, and speaking of unconventional instruments in stoner bands: meet MY DILIGENCE who traded their bass player for a Moog keyboard!
As an unfortunate side-note: we have been mercifully spared of cancellations this year.. until now. We are sad to let you know that MOTHERSHIP will not be appearing at this year’s Desertfest Belgium. Their slot has already been filled in above, but still… it’s a bummer.
But hey! We’re still looking at one seriously sumofagun line-up for three days of delicious fuzztastic wreckage… So if it wasn’t before NOW is the time to secure your tickets. Especially because those Reduced Price Combi Tickets are going fast and be gone before you know it.. Don’t let it happen! Don’t do it! By which we mean: do it!
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 19th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Desertfest Belgium, now in its eighth year and second to feature festivals in two cities — Antwerp and Ghent — has put day tickets on sale as of yesterday. Further, the day splits — who plays when — have been announced, so I guess if you only want to see one day’s worth of killer shit, you can do that. Honestly though, unless you have a pressing prior engagement like your own wedding or there’s a family emergency or some such, I’m not sure how you make a conscious decision to not do all three days.
Even if The Brian Jonestown Massacre isn’t your thing, or you’ve never been huge on Red Fang or Wolves in the Throne Room, look down these bills. From Gozu and Samavayo and Josh Graham‘s IIVII the first day, Naxatras and Suma the next (talk about a marriage of opposites) and Bongripper and Polymoon the third, there’s really no way you lose. Pick one? Shit, I’ll take 10.
Ghent is apparently next to be filled out, and of course there will be some crossover for bands who are tour for a couple weeks, but there’s always a bunch of acts reserved for one or the other as well. I don’t know. I like bands playing shows. I like fests. I’d like to go to Belgium one day and make up for that one time I was there only long enough to fuck up ordering coffee in French like the dipshit passthrough tourist I was. Make up for it by probably doing the same thing, that is.
Oh, and they’re not on this poster, but Cities of Mars play on Sunday.
From the PR wire:
DF 2022 ANTWERP: WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, BELZEBONG, AND MORE!
Back once again, with another headbanger. This time we break out the truly deep ‘n’ heavy, from all over Europe and beyond. Please take note: the following bands will be appearing at DF ANTWERP ONLY. News on the Ghent edition to follow in short order.
Making up for last year’s unfortunate cancellation, we’re glad that WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM will make it this year. Let’s burn some black candles to ward off any new pandemic, shall we? We’re also very glad to welcome two doom titans from the east and the north. BELZEBONG from Poland are always a Good Bad-Ass Time with their ripping lowdown instrumentals, and Sweden’s SUMA are keen on celebrating a belated 20th birthday on stage.
In case you were wondering if there will be a no-frills blues rock fix on the bill, wonder no more! THE HEAVY EYES have us covered with their homegrown Delta boogie, while DOMMENGANG will be here to deliver a West Coast vibe.
Greece has been delivering the stoner goods for a long time now, and it is with great pleasure we announce the return of the jam-adelic NAXATRAS and the first-time arrival of HALF GRAMME OF SOMA.
We promised some deep cuts, and we got ’em. Berlin scene mainstays SAMAVAYO will be here, as well as Sweden’s Ripple Records signees CITIES OF MARS. We’re also very excited that POLYMOON will come to dish out a hefty dose of Finnish nu psychedelia.
To round things off, two Belgian bands from extreme ends of the spectrum. On the one end we got the extremely grim sludgers of HISPYN, at the other is the very goofy but equally hard-banging GNOME who despite their diminutive appearance are not to be messed with.
What’s more? This Monday 18/07 at 11:00 AM CET we will announce the day per day lineup for DF ANTWERP. This means that on Monday 18/07 separate one day tickets will go on sale for DF ANTWERP! You have been warned!
Let’s be honest here: things are looking good, and better by the minute. Your hard-earned money will be well spe.. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T HAVE YOUR TICKET YET!! Ticket prices are still reduced now, go get ’em before we start calling ’em ‘regular’!
MESSAGE OF GENERAL IMPORTANCE: We now welcome the Day Trippers to join the Weekend Trippers, as DAY TICKETS for the Antwerp Edition (Friday, Saturday & Sunday) become available as of NOW, Monday 18 July at 11am. You can find them on our ticketing page at the price of €58 (all-in) per day.
Desertfest insiders know what’s coming next: the DAILY SCHEDULE for both festivals is also visible on our line-up page, and will be complemented with any new acts we announce from now on. This will somewhat facilitate the hard choice to make when picking a day.
But! Let’s not forget that them Reduced Combi tickets are still available, so maybe you don’t have to choose after all. Get the full monty, 3 days of Desertfest Antwerp, or even throw in a day of Desertfest Ghent as a kicker.
We’ll be back soon with another round of new names.. stay tuned!
