Posted in Whathaveyou on January 27th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Solid bill. More than solid, actually. I don’t think I need to argue in favor of Ruination Festival 2023’s headliners in Slomatics and Fatso Jetson, but check out the US/UK blend at the pre-show as well with Thunder Horse and Great Electric Quest with Old Horn Tooth and Oakenthrone and Gandalf the Green. That’s a good time even before you get to Sergeant Thunderhoof and Mastiff and Trevor’s Head and Ritual King and Goblinsmoker et al welcoming High Desert Queen and the aforementioned Fatso Jetson to England’s green and pleasant land.
Of course, the elephant in the room here, fest-wise, is Desertfest London, but there are arguments to be made here for the concise all-dayer/pre-show format, and if you want a curated sample of some of the best up and coming UK acts with some more established names on top, it’s a good way to go and a situation without the rampant timing conflicts that inherently happen at larger festivals. Even with two stages going, this seems doable to me and like a good way to pack in seeing a bunch of bands and not having to miss out on something you want to see.
The fest is a collaboration between Iron Boar Bookings and Riffolution Promotions, and you can see the full lineup and
RUINATION FESTIVAL
Ruination Festival is a joint event from Iron Boar Bookings and Riffolution Promotions. Taking place on the 13th of May across 2 stages, The Underground and Als Juke Bar!
Tickets are £15.
Make sure to RVSP to stay up to date with announcements. With some of the best stoner, doom & psych on the scene, from both UK and US.
(#127482#)(#127480#) Fatso Jetson Great Electric Quest High Desert Queen Thunder Horse
(#127468#)(#127463#) Slomatics, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Mastiff, Grave Lines, Trevors Head, Ritual King, Son of Boar, Everest Queen, Goblinsmoker, Boach, Swamp Coffin, Ironrat, Old Horn Tooth, Gandalf the Green, Oakenthrone
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 23rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Wit a lineup that brooks no argument, Riffolution Festival 2022 is set for mid-September in Sheffield, UK. Note the likes of Truckfighters (whose Spring tour dates are waiting on rescheduling) and Godflesh up at the top, and a broad spectrum of subsequent heavies, from Spaceslug, Slomatics and Boss Keloid the first day to Raging Speedhorn, Slabdragger and Mastiff the second. All told it’s 37 bands on three stages — which says to me the schedule is going to be tight, but doable — over the two days, and jeez, if you happen to find yourself in South Yorkshire early this Fall, one is hard-pressed to think of heavier way to spend that time. Hell, Stubb are playing. And King Witch. Right on
This is a lineup where bands will know each other, be familiar, be friendly, be drinking. You should go, join the party. And by you I mean me. Get out into the world again. It’s time, right?
As seen on the internet:
Riffolution Festival 2022 Lineup
Riffolution Festival 2022 full line-up is here, feast your eyes on our biggest event to date!
37 bands over 3 stages, at our new venue Network in Sheffield.
Big thanks to Scarlet Dagger Design for the amazing work on the poster.
Weekend + day tickets, as well as t-shirt bundles are available through the Riffolution Promotions website, and they’re already flying out.
If you wish to play next years show, we’re happy to listen to suggestions. Submit your details on the website or even show your support by grabbing a ticket and attending.
See you in September! https://www.riffolutionpromotions.com/festival
SATURDAY: Truckfighters / Naxatras / Spaceslug / Witchrider / Ten Foot Wizard / Swedish Death Candy / AWOOGA / Slomatics / Boss Keloid / KING WITCH / Dystopian Future Movies / Hair of the Dog / Mountain Caller / Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of the Knight / Stubb / Psychlona / Suns of Thunder / The Lunar Effect / Elder Druid / Regulus
SUNDAY: GODFLESH / Raging Speedhorn / God Damn / Palm Reader / Svalbard / blanket / Slabdragger / Mastiff / Dog Tired / PIST / GURT / VIDEO NASTIES / Grave Lines / BEGGAR / Battalions / Gozer / Gandalf the Green
Posted in Radio on September 18th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
This show’s actually really cool. A couple weeks ago I put up a post on Thee Facebooks asking for recommendations of young heavy bands, and by young I meant under 30. I’ve felt like it’s a lot of dudes who look like me: headed to or past 40, grey in the beard, showing more hairline and gut than they’d probably prefer. Anyway, I got a ton of awesome suggestions from people and decided to put together this whole show based on those suggestions. You’ll see there are groups from all over the US and Europe, plus Nor from Nova Scotia, which I particularly dug, and there are a range of styles covered as well from straight up heavy rock to sludge to post-metal and jams.
And I’d love to talk more about how great that is and how wonderful it is that even in these shit-tastic, things-are-only-getting-worse-every-single-day, times in which we live creativity can flourish among disaffected youth — gotta have something when you’re about to enter an even worse job market than I did — but I can’t talk about any of it. Because the dog is whining in the kitchen and all I can think about is how fucking obnoxious she is. Can’t stand this fucking dog.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the show.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at http://gimmemetal.com
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 09.18.20
Saola (Portland, OR)
Red Witch
Saola
Double Horse (Spain)
Highlands
Highlands*
Loud Silence (Athens)
Flow With It
Elements*
VT
Merlock (Spokane, WA)
Prolapse
That Which Speaks*
MAG (Poland)
Pragnienie
MAG*
Magnatar (New Hampshire)
The Melting Skin of My First Born Son
The Trail
SEED (Boston, MA)
Hole
Hole*
Faerie Ring (Indiana)
Heavy Trip
The Clearing
Liquid Signal (Kouts, Indiana)
Rush Limbaugh
Neuronicae
Mother Root (Seattle, WA)
Stranger Neighbor
The Baker Demos
Nor (Halifax, NS)
Ruby Pin
Ruby Pin
Adam (Perama, Greece)
Enter: Oblivion
Sun*
Misleading (Portugal)
Karmemoto
Misleading
Sugar Honey Ice Tea (Germany)
Heat’n Up – C
Tea Time*
VT
White Ward (Ukraine)
Uncanny Delusions
Love Exchange Failure
Gandalf the Green (UK)
A Billion Faces
A Billion Faces
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Oct. 2 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 6th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
At very least, it’ll be the end of your liver. Nestled into the southwest of England in the port town of Plymouth, the third End of the World Festival 2019 is set to feature the formidable likes of Dead Witches, Elephant Tree, Gandalf the Green, Cybernetic Witch Cult, Lacertilia, Oak and a likewise formidable slew of others for a one-dayer that looks like a marathon and will likely feel like one for anyone in attendance over the age of 30. As a one-and-done-type event, it’s a celebration of the UK’s native scene, which is indeed worthy of celebrating, and its lineup showcases not only regional heavy, but a bit of the various forms in which that heavy plays out — some sludge, some rock, some doom, some this, some that. There’s a lot to dig here, so needless to say I’ll be sailing in for it.
Nah, not really, but that would be awesome. Book project! I set sail from Massachusetts’ Plymouth to the real Plymouth for a fest, caught in a storm, stranded on an island, etc. The whole bit.
Ah screw it. Here’s the lineup:
End Of The World festival in Plymouth is in their third year, showcasing some of the best stoner, psych, doom and sludge metal bands in the UK. This year they’ve expanded to include Dead Witches, featuring the legendary Mark Greening (ex-Electric Wizard). These are exclusive South-West shows for many of these acts; the event typically showcases the South-West scene but has expanded to include Manchester’s Ritual King, Welsh alt-stoner act Heavy on the Ride and London-based blues-doom outfit Oak. In their third outing, they’re stronger than ever and hoping for their best turnout yet.
The event takes place between The Underground and The Junction in Plymouth on 06.07.19.
The bands playing are:
Mother Vulture Oak Heavy on the Ride Victus Gandalf the Green Greenhorn Ritual King Beggar Lacertilia Tuskar Cybernetic Witch Cult Elephant Tree Mother Vulture
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 29th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Gandalf the Green sound like somebody hit their riffs over the head with the ugly-stick. Filthy, doomed stoner-sludge is stock and trade for the UK at this point — it’s why they’ll be fine after crashing out of the EU — but the lumber the Huddersfield three-piece bring to the end of their new 13-minute single “A Billion Faces” is a feedback-drenched nightmare just the same, and by that I mean it’s damn good fun. They’ve got live dates coming up, including at Riffolution Festival tomorrow night, and that’s all well and good, but the single is out now through APF Records and you can get it on Bandcamp if you so please or Spotify or whatever outlet it is you choose to peruse. The song, naturally, is about parallel existences of the self in alternate universes. Duh.
Dig it:
APF Records Presents GANDALF THE GREEN – “A Billion Faces”
RELEASE DATE: 28th March 2019
Taking influence from bands like Conan, Sleep and Yob, GANDALF THE GREEN’s aim is to make slow music that is as heavy as they can possibly make it – dropping into spacey ambience and then back to crushing riffs again. The trio wanted to take a less dark and evil approach to Stoner/Doom Metal in favour of something a bit more colourful, weird and psychedelic. Music which uplifts rather than bring the mood down. Lyrical themes include Lord of the Rings, time, consciousness, and not being very sober. Someone once put it eloquently as ‘The brutality of Mordor with the serenity of the Shire.’
Gandalf The Green started in guitarist / vocalist Andy Flint’s bedroom in 2015 when the guys were all just 16 years old. “We’d previously been in a deathcore band together and knew we all liked slow and heavy music, so got together and started rehearsing with ghetto equipment in Andy’s bedroom in Huddersfield (UK). The band name came from a friend who’d just bought a Gandalf-style pipe and we found the pun hilarious for a Stoner Doom band, so we used it”.
Gandalf The Green released their debut EP ‘King of the Ashes’ in September 2016 as a 4-piece band with two guitarists, though soon after they split with their drummer and put Jack Walker behind the kit as a trio. After that things began moving properly. Since then, the three lads have been gigging more, collecting more equipment, and worsening their tinnitus by turning everything up even louder.
Gandalf The Green recently signed with APF Records, with their first release as a partnership being 13-minute stoner / doom epic “A Billion Faces”. Andy Flint’s notes on the track:
“It was the first track I wrote after we tuned down to drop F and bought a bunch of new effects, so I was really playing with all the new toys and trying to make something with a big dynamic change from the gentle intro to when it kicks in. We’ve been performing it live for a while, so the song’s evolved over time to include the sexy wah solo and, because Jack and Danny (Wrigley, bass) love noise music, we added the noise/screaming section in the outro. The original demo was only 9 minutes compared to the final 13!
We were approached by a friend of a friend who needed a band to record for his University coursework, it seemed mutually beneficial, and we’d get to record in the gorgeous Phipps Hall and borrow a bunch of Huddersfield University’s Matamp equipment for free to use with ours, so we took him up on it. We live recorded the track in December 2018 and mixed and mastered the track ourselves, so got away with recording this track for nothing. It sounded lovely in the room, but we really didn’t expect the final product to sound quite as good as it did.
Lyrically, the track is about parallel universes and how, if they exist, every different possible version of you exists somewhere in a big infinite tree of possible “yous”, experiencing the best and worst things all at once. I was wondering where I’d be if I’d taken a different turn in life and moved to a different city, and I realised that there’d be a version of me in a parallel universe where I did move there, wondering right now where he’d be if he took the turns I did. We’re both thinking about each other amongst a billion different versions of ourselves, but unable to know who the other is and what their life is like.”
“A Billion Faces” is out on APF Records on 28th March across all digital platforms, with the video for the track premiering on YouTube and Facebook. The band have a solid itinerary of gigs and tours for the rest of 2019, including appearances at Riffolution Festival on 30th March (supporting BelzebonG) and High Priestess and Cities of Mars in May.
Gandalf the Green is: Andrew Flint – Vocals/Guitar Jack Walker – Vocals/Drums Danny Wrigley – Bass
