Posted in Whathaveyou on August 23rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
On Sept. 1, UK heavy rollers Alunah will release their new single, a cover of Alice Cooper‘s ultra-classic ‘I’m Eighteen,’ as a limited one-sided 12″ vinyl along with two live tracks, a patch and download. The release is timed to a stint of shows that the Birmingham-based four-piece will do alongside The Obsessed, three nights in October that include supporting the doom legends at The Underworld in London, and the song originally appeared on the Pale Wizard Records tribute compilation, Killer: 50 Years Later, celebrating the half-century legacy of that album released in 1971.
I don’t really cover tribute comps at this point if I can help it — I wouldn’t have time to write about anything else; heavy rock loves heavy rock — but in light of “I’m Eighteen” being released as a standalone single, it seemed like fair play. The vinyl is available to preorder through Bandcamp, naturally, but you can also stream the track on the player at the bottom of this post, assuming your internet isn’t being as choppy as mine this morning. Nonetheless, we persist.
From social media:
ALUNAH – I’m Eighteen
PRE ORDER – I’m eighteen – Special Edition 12″ Tour Promo (one sided, white label) with Patch & Download from Alunah
RELEASE DATE 1st September ’23 to celebrate the UK dates with The Obsessed. Originally featured as a bonus track on the “Killer: 50 Years Later” Alice Cooper tribute cd, now remastered by Chris Fielding and appearing on vinyl for the first time, along with:
* “Bootlegged Out From The Void” (a two song vinyl only recording from “Into The Void Festival”)
* An Alunah logo printed patch ready to cut to size*
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 10th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Not to take away from Bear Stone Festival completing its lineup by adding Church of the Cosmic Skull, Alunah, Deville and Malady Lane, but the transportation update from the fest is a big one as well, especially for somebody like me, who while not morally opposed to camping is in no way a camper. Running the proverbial shuttle-into-town lets the Croatian fest accommodate a greater range of attendees, and again, for someone like me, that makes a big difference.
And to return to the lede, the lineup is frickin’ awesome and the vibe looks right. You want to see Church of the Cosmic Skull and Conan and Orange Goblin and Monster Magnet in a Croatian riverside field? I do. Bringing Deville on board from Sweden adds impact alongside the awesome weirdoism of The Freak Folk of Mangrovia, and with Alunah, Seven That Spells, Mother Cake, Woodstock Barbie, Cojones and Malady Lane, there’s aural and geographic variety to be had. For their second installment, Bear Stone are showing that they learned important lessons the first time out and are looking to build their event over a longer term. I look forward to keeping up over the next few years.
The following came down the PR wire:
Bear Stone Festival 2023 Full Lineup Announcement + Transportation Update
After months of looking at locked brackets in the poster, we’re proud to finally present you with the full lineup for Bear Stone Festival 2023:
MONSTER MAGNET (USA) ORANGE GOBLIN (UK) CHURCH OF THE COSMIC SKULL (UK) CONAN (UK) MOTHER’S CAKE (AT) SEVEN THAT SPELLS (CRO) COJONES (CRO) ALUNAH (UK) WOODSTOCK BARBIE (HU) DEVILLE (SWE) MALADY LANE (CRO) THE FREAK FOLK OF MANGROVIA (CRO)
From Nottingham (UK) we have Church of the Cosmic Skull, part time seven piece Rock/Prog/Psych/Pop band and a part time spiritual organization that puts “Abba in Sabbath”.
Also coming from the UK, from the Sabbath City of Birmingham Alunah brings their very own Doom/Blues/Psych brand of Hard Rock amped up by ethereal vocal expression of their frontwoman Siân Greenaway.
For more than 15 years Swedish powerhouse Deville have been touring on their signature fusion of Rock, Metal and Stoner. This summer the road brings them to the lovely shores of the Mrežnica river.
Last but not least are Croatia’s very own Malady Lane, a Rock band whose creativity stretches through various realms of Post-Grunge, Alternative, Indie Rock and dreamy lyrics. Their music is compared by many with the spirit of the Seattle scene of the 90’s with its groove and ferocity.
TRANSPORTATION UPDATE
In order to make Bear Stone Festival more accessible to our visitors that plan to travel to the festival by using public transport, we have partnered up with our local transportation provider Autopromet Slunj to create our very own bus line.
Bear Stone Festival bus line will drive from Slunj to Bear Stone Festival and back several times a day starting on Thursday, July 06 and finishing up on Sunday, July 09.
We’ll give you more details regarding the bus line timetable as we get closer to the festival.
This is the part where I’m supposed to tell you I’m quaking in my flip-flops about doing 100 reviews in the span of two weeks, how worried I am I’ll run out of ways to say something is weird, or psychedelic, or heavy, or whatever. You know what? This time, even with a doublewide Quarterly Review — which means 100 records between now and next Friday — I feel like we got this. It’ll get done. And if it doesn’t? I’ll take an extra day. Who even pretends to give a crap?
I think that’s probably the right idea, so let’s get this show on the road, as my dear wife is fond of saying.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Alunah, Strange Machine
Following on from 2019’s Violet Hour (review here), Birmingham’s Alunah offer the nine songs and 42 minutes of Strange Machine on Heavy Psych Sounds. It’s a wonder to think this is the band who a decade ago released White Hoarhound (review here), but of course it’s mostly not. Alunah circa 2022 bring a powerhouse take on classic heavy rock and roll, with Siân Greenaway‘s voice layered out across proto-metallic riffs and occasional nods such as “Fade Into Fantasy” or “Psychedelic Expressway” pulling away from the more straight-ahead punch. One can’t help but be reminded of Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio — a different, more progressive and expansive take on the same style they started with — which I guess would make Strange Machine their Mob Rules. They may or may not be the band you expected, but they’re quite a band if you’re willing to give the songs a chance.
Skipping neither the death nor the doom ends of death-doom, Los Angeles-based QAALM make a gruesome and melancholic debut with Resilience & Despair, with a vicious, barking growl up front that reminds of none so much as George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, but that’s met intermittently with airy stretches of emotionally weighted float led by its two guitars. Across the four-song/69-minute outing, no song is shorter than opener “Reflections Doubt” (14:40), and while that song, “Existence Asunder” (19:35), “Cosmic Descent” (18:23) and “Lurking Death” (17:16) have their more intense moments, the balance of miseries defines the record by its spaciousness and the weight of the chug that offsets. The cello in “Lurking Death” adds fullness to create a Katatonia-style backdrop, but QAALM are altogether more extreme, and whatever lessons they’ve learned from the masters of the form, they’re being put to excruciating use. And the band knows it. Go four minutes into any one of these songs and tell me they’re not having a great time. I dare you.
The Traveler is Sterling DeWeese‘s second solo full-length under the banner of Ambassador Hazy behind 2020’s Glacial Erratics (review here) and it invariably brings a more cohesive vision of the bedroom-psychedelic experimentalist songcraft that defined its predecessor. “All We Wanted,” for example, is song enough that it could work in any number of genre contexts, and where “Take the Sour With the Sweet” is unabashed in its alt-universe garage rock ambitions, it remains righteously weird enough to be DeWeese‘s own. Fuller band arrangements on pieces like that or the later “Don’t Smash it to Pieces” reinforce the notion of a solidifying approach, but “Simple Thing” nonetheless manages to come across like Dead Meadow borrowed a drum machine from Godflesh circa 1987. There’s sweetness underlying “Afterglow,” however, and “Percolator,” which may or may not actually have one sampled, is way, way out there, and in no small way The Traveler is about that mix of humanity and creative reaching.
Strange things afoot in Stockholm. Blending classic doom and heavy rock with a clean, clear production, shades of early heavy metal and the odd bit of ’70s folk in the verse of “While the Devil is Asleep,” the five-piece Spiral Skies follow 2018’s Blues for a Dying Planet with Death is But a Door, a collection that swings and grooves and is epic and intimate across its nine songs/43 minutes, a cut like “Somewhere in the Dark” seeming to grow bigger as it moves toward its finish. Five of the nine inclusions make some reference to sleep or the night or darkness — including “Nattmaran” — but one can hardly begrudge Spiral Skies working on a theme when this is the level of the work they’re doing. “The Endless Sea” begins the process of excavating the band’s stylistic niche, and by “Time” and “Mirage” it’s long since uncovered, and the band’s demonstration of nuance, melody and songwriting finds its resolution on closer “Mirror of Illusion,” which touches on psychedelia as if to forewarn the listener of more to come. Familiar, but not quite like anything else.
Almost tragically atmospheric given the moods involved, Wyoming-based industrial metallurgists Lament Cityscape commence the machine-doom of A Darker Discharge following a trilogy of 2020 EPs compiled last year onto CD as Pneumatic Wet. That release was an hour long, this one is 24 minutes, which adds to the intensity somehow of the expression at the behest of David Small (Glacial Tomb, ex-Mountaineer, etc.) and Mike McClatchey (also ex-Mountaineer), the ambience of six-minute centerpiece “Innocence of Shared Experiences” making its way into a willfully grandiose wash after “All These Wires” and “Another Arc” traded off in caustic ’90s-style punishment. “The Under Dark” is a cacophony early and still intense after the fog clears, and it, “Where the Walls Used to Be” and the coursing-till-it-slows-down, gonna-get-noisy “Part of the Mother” form a trilogy of sorts for side B, each feeding into the overarching impression of emotional untetheredness that underscores all that fury.
You got friends? Me neither. But if we did, and we told them about the wholesome exploratory jams of Belfast trio Electric Octopus, I bet their hypothetical minds would be blown. St. Patrick’s Cough is the latest studio collection from the instrumentalist improv-specialists, and it comes and goes through glimpses of various jams in progress, piecing together across 13 songs and 73 minutes — that’s short for Electric Octopus — that find the chemistry vital as they seamlessly bring together psychedelia, funk, heavy rock, minimalist drone on “Restaurant Banking” and blown-out steel-drum-style island vibes on “A2enmod.” There’s enough ground covered throughout for a good bit of frolicking — and if you’ve never frolicked through an Electric Octopus release, here’s a good place to start — but in smaller experiments like the acoustic slog “You Have to Be Stupid to See That” or the rumbling “Universal Knife” or the shimmering-fuzz-is-this-tuning-up “Town,” it’s only encouraging to see the band continue to try new ideas and push themselves even farther out than they were. For an act who already dwells in the ‘way gone,’ it says something that they’re refusing to rest on their freaked-out laurels.
Behold, the sludge of death. Maybe it’s not fair to call When the World Dies one of 2022’s best debut albums since Come to Grief is intended as a continuation by guitarist/backing vocalist Terry Savastano (also WarHorse) and drummer Chuck Conlon of the devastation once wrought by Grief, but as they unleash the chestripping “Life’s Curse” and the slow-grind filthy onslaught of “Scum Like You,” who gives a shit? When the World Dies, produced of course by Converge‘s Kurt Ballou at GodCity, spreads aural violence across its 37 minutes with a particular glee, resting only for a breath before meting out the next lurching beating. Jonathan Hébert‘s vocal cords deserve a medal for the brutality they suffer in his screams in the four-minute title-track alone, never mind the grime-encrusted pummel of closer “Death Can’t Come Fast Enough.” Will to abrasion. Will to disturb. Heavy in spirit but so raw in its force that if you even manage to make it that deep you’ve probably already drowned. A biblical-style gnashing of teeth. Fucking madness.
In the works one way or the other since 2020, the sophomore full-length from Pittsburgh heavy rockers ZOM brings straight-ahead classicism with a modernized production vibe, some influence derived from the earlier days of Clutch or The Sword and of course Black Sabbath — looking at you, “Running Man” — but there’s a clarity of purpose behind the material that is ZOM‘s own. They are playing rock for rockers, and are geared more toward revelry than conversion, but there’s no arguing with the solidity of their craft and the meeting of their ambitions. Their last record took them to Iceland, and this one has led them to the UK. Don’t be surprised when ZOM announce an Australian tour one of these days, just because they can, but wherever they go, know what they have the songs on their side to get them there. In terms of style, there’s very little revolutionary about Fear and Failure, but ZOM aren’t trying to revamp what you know of as heavy rock and roll so much as looking to mark their place within it. Listening to the burly chug of “Another Day to Run,” and the conversation the band seems to be having with the more semi-metal moments of Shadow Witch and others, their efforts sound not at all misspent.
Making their debut through Black Doomba Records, Columbia, South Carolina’s MNRVA recorded the eight-song Hollow in Spring 2019, and one assumes that the three-year delay in releasing is owed at least in to aligning with the label, plus pandemic, plus life happens, and so on. In any case, from “Not the One” onward, their fuzz-coated doom rock reminds of a grittier take on Cathedral, with guitarist Byron Hawk and bassist Kevin Jennings sharing vocal duties effectively while Gina Ercolini drives the march behind them. There’s some shifting in tempo between “Hollow” and a more brash piece like “With Fire” or the somehow-even-noisier-seeming penultimate cut “No Solution,” but the grit there is a feature throughout the album just the same. Their 2019 EP, Black Sky (review here), set them up for this, but only really in hindsight, and one wonders what they may have been up to in the time since putting this collection to tape if this is where they were three years ago. Some of this is straight-up half-speed noise rock riffing and that’s just fine.
The third full-length, Accelerationist, from Easthampton, Massachusetts’ Problem With Dragons is odd and nuanced enough by the time they get to the vocal effects on “Have Mercy, Show Mercy” — unless that’s a tracheostomy thing; robot voice; that’s not the first instance of it — to earn being called progressive, and though their foundation is in more straightforward heavy rock impulses, sludge and fuzz, they’ve been at it for 15 years and have well developed their own approach. Thus “Live by the Sword” opens to set up lumbering pieces like “Astro Magnum” and the finale title-track while “In the Name of His Shadow” tips more toward metal and the seven-minute “Don’t Fail Me” meets its early burl (gets the wurlm?) with airier soloing later on, maximizing the space in the album’s longest track. “A Demon Possessed” and “Dark Times (for Dark Times)” border on doom, but in being part of Problem With Dragons‘ overall pastiche, and in the band’s almost Cynic-al style of melodic singing, they are united with the rest of what surrounds. Some bands, you can just tell when individualism is part of their mission.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 25th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
New Alunah single sounds pretty huge, huh? Festival-ready. One imagines it’ll do well too when the band hits stages in their native UK alongside decades-running doomlords Paradise Lost for a few shows of that band’s tour. Plus Desertfest, naturally. Strange Machine marks the first appearance of new guitarist Matt Noble alongside vocalist Siân Greenaway, bassist Dan Burchmore and drummer/founding member Jake Mason, and even as 2019’s Violet Hour (review here) was the debut of Greenaway on a full-length Alunah release, it sounds like more changes in sound are taking place on the new outing as the Birmingham four-piece continue to move beyond their forest-worshiping early work.
So be it. I haven’t heard the record yet, so I can’t speak to how it might blast out psych to coincide with its trippy cover art, but the single is streaming at the bottom of this post, and makes a vibrant showcase for Greenaway‘s powerful delivery, so they’re making an impression either way. I’m intrigued to hear where the rest of the songs take them.
From the PR wire:
UK hard rockers ALUNAH return with new album “Strange Machine” this April 15th on Heavy Psych Sounds; preorder and stream first track now!
Birmingham’s hard rock pillars ALUNAH announce the release of their new album “Strange Machine”, due out April 15th and available to preorder now on Heavy Psych Sounds Records. Listen to the title track!
ALUNAH’s frontwoman Sian Greenaway about the song: “Our title track is full of groove, blues, psychedelia, ferocity and we are so excited for our fans to have a taste of this cosmic cocktail. This single encapsulates the experimentation and growth the band has seen over the past 2 years. We may have been lockdown due to the pandemic but we’ve allowed our musicality to be well and truly free. The wait is finally over, so come and take a ride with us on the Strange Machine.”
Hailing from Sabbath City, ALUNAH continues to tread their own path in 2022. Their latest album “Violet Hour” marked a new beginning with a drastic change of lineup, and opened up a world of doom-infused hard rock with little regard for outside trends.
Returning to Foel Studio in October ’21 for the follow-up to their Heavy Psych Sounds debut with producer Chris Fielding, the nine tracks span the epic majesty of “The Earth Spins” featuring guest guitars from Shane Wesley (Crowbar) to the groove of “Dead Woman Walking”. From the West Coast psychedelia of “Psychedelic Expressway” to the swagger of the title track, this is the sound of Alunah cutting loose and free. Welcome to the “Strange Machine”. Artwork by Mariano Peccinetti.
“Strange Machine” is not just the title of the new ALUNAH album but a summary of surviving the last two years. Written and rehearsed during the pandemic whilst overcoming numerous personal struggles, “Strange Machine” shows ALUNAH in their most diverse yet focused light.
ALUNAH New album “Strange Machine” Out April 15th on Heavy Psych Sounds.
Alunah Live with Paradise Lost: February 5 – Leeds, England – The Warehouse 6 – Colchester, England – Arts Centre 7 – Norwich, England – Waterfront 8 – Brighton, England – Concorde 2 9 – Stoke, England – Sugarmill 13 – Wolverhampton, England – KK’s Steel Mill
ALUNAH lineup Siân Greenaway – Vocals Matt Noble – Guitar Dan Burchmore – Bass Jake Mason – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 28th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
UK doom-rocker four-piece Alunah recently reissued their 2018 Amber & Gold EP (review here) on CD through Solitude Productions, and word has come of Majestic Mountain Records following up with a corresponding vinyl issue due out at the end of next month. Preorders soon, so hold your doomly horses. This was of course the release that saw the band introduce Siân Greenaway on vocals, her striking first impression made across three originals and a cover of Chris Isaak‘s “Wicked Game” that has become something of a landmark for this version of Alunah, who have also already been confirmed for Desertfest London 2022.
Way back in 2019 — which somehow seems longer ago than 2018; go figure — Alunah offered up Violet Hour (review here) on Heavy Psych Sounds as their full-length answer to Amber & Gold, and you’ll find both EP and LP streaming at the bottom of this post, because, well, one likes to be thorough. And one likes Alunah. So there.
One, in this case, is me. If that wasn’t clear.
Okay. Good talk. Here’s PR wire:
The Majestic Mountain Newswire is at it again with a truly scintillating treat for you all!
It is our great pleasure to announce a Majestic Mountain Records re-issue of Alunah’s stunning, long sold out 2018 EP, ‘Amber & Gold.’
The re-release will be very limited to 300 copies in two editions of 150 copies each. The pre-order will take place in August with details soon to come- the test pressing is already approved on this so vinyl will be shipping at the end of the month!
‘Amber & Gold’ is a beautifully captivating, four track EP full of spellbinding, impactful lyricism and melancholic tension communicated by vocalist Siân Greenway who gives an incredibly soulful and commanding, yet fluidly sensual performance. Her vocals ring ethereally forward, crystal clear and melodically mesmerizing through a richly woven and hook laden tapestry of primal, crunchy, chugging riff mastery, thick, burly bass tones and thundering drums. This ep is a treasure trove of highly emotive and groove laden doom sauce poured on thick and in the highest quality with a cavernous grandiosity that almost sounds live from the heart of some ancient druidess’s temple and is capped off by a brooding cover of the classic track “Wicked Game” by the one and only Chris Isaak.
Yes, you know the one.
Keep an eye out for more info about the presale to come as this release without question will not stick around long once it hits the ground in August.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 30th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
It’s good to see you again, Desertfest London. The 2022 lineup of the esteemed British edition of Desertfest brings some returning presences who were to have been at the 2020 edition, then the 2021 — both of course gone the way of corona. But we see Electric Wizard, Shellac and Witchcraft in headlining spots, while Corrosion of Conformity will bring their delayed 25th anniversary of Deliverance to Camden Town, and returning kingpins Orange Goblin will play, along with YOB, Truckfighters, Earthless, My Sleeping Karma, Mos Generator, Conan, The Obsessed, the reunited Josiah, Lowrider come for a Refractions victory lap well earned, along with Elephant Tree, Elder, Steak, Deathrite and a ton from the UK’s own ever-blossoming underground scene — Blind Monarch, The Brothers Keg, King Witch, the more established Alunah and Trippy Wicked, and so on and so many.
Note Slomosa. Note Wolftooth. I would expect both to be touring Europe around this time. Green Lung too, for that matter.
There’s no way this isn’t going to be one to remember and it is my sincere hope to be there for it. Maybe I’ll see you there. Maybe we can hug.
Kudos and thanks to the Desertscene crew — Sarika, Jake and Reece — on and for a job well done.
Here’s looking forward:
DESERTFEST LONDON ANNOUNCE FULL LINE-UP FOR 2022 ·
A DECADE IN THE DESERT CELEBRATING TEN YEARS WITH THE BIGGEST & MOST DIVERSE LINEUP YET
EXCLUSIVE UK PERFORMANCES FROM WITCHCRAFT (FIRST UK SHOW IN OVER A DECADE) and SHELLAC
As the home for all the things truly heavy, leading independent UK festival Desertfest have announced their full line up for 2022, which will take place in Camden, London from Friday 29th April – Sunday 1st May.
Celebrating their tenth year, next year’s festival promises to be their biggest and most diverse yet. Covering six venues across the heart of Camden and now including a full line up at The Roundhouse on both Saturday 30thApril and Sunday 1st May.
Founding owner of Desertfest Reece Tee comments, “Desertfest is 10 years old! I’m so proud that our independent festival has stood the test of time. What we have created is special, a decade of great bands, great friends and amazing memories. This year’s line up is a true reflection of how diverse Desertfest has become and with such a loyal audience, Desertfest can champion the underground for decades more to come.”
Headlining the Friday will be Swedish heavy rock masters Witchcraft, with a UK exclusive performance and their first UK show in over a decade. Saturday’s headliners are none other than Chicago’s Shellac, who in another UK exclusive will be bringing their experimental post-hardcore sound to the Roundhouse. Fronted by the iconic Steve Albini, Shellac are one of those bands we all need to experience live, at least once. Whilst closing the festival on Sunday will be UK doom legends Electric Wizard, whose heavy sound encompasses the spirit of Desertfest.
Other acts confirmed include the likes of Corrosion Of Conformity, Orange Goblin and Truckfighters who all played the festival in its debut year in 2012 and there are further UK exclusive performances from hardcore-punks Integrity and the Ukrainian psych space rock trio Somali Yacht Club.
The festival will also see desert legends Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri’s new band Stoner, who will be playing the Electric Ballroom and doomed heavy metallers Khemmis making their UK debut at The Underworld.
Please see below for the full Desertfest 2022 line up / stage splits. Tickets are on sale now and are available at www.desertfest.co.uk
NEW TICKETS FOR 2022 Weekend Ticket (all venues) – £132 +fees Friday Day Ticket (all venues) – £45 +fees Saturday Day Ticket (all venues) – £50 +fees Sunday Day Ticket (all venues) – £50 +fees Saturday Roundhouse only – £35 +fees Existing ticket holders from 2020’s postponed event have a number of options as the festival is now larger, with an added Roundhouse line-up on Saturday 30th April & Sunday 1st May.
EXISTING WEEKEND + DAY TICKET HOLDERS OPTIONS Full refund Weekend roll-over to 2022 without Roundhouse upgrade (access only to Electric Ballroom, Underworld, Black Heart & The Dev) Weekend roll-over to 2022 with Roundhouse upgrade – £15 +fees Day ticket holders can upgrade to a full weekend ticket – £92 + fees – or will be issued a refund. Upgrade options only available until May 7th ’21. For any ticketing enquiries please contact sarika@desertscene.co.uk
Desertfest 2022’s artwork is hand drawn by legendary artist Arik Roper who has created illustrations for the likes of Sleep, Earth, Sunn O))), High on Fire, Kvelertak, Windhand and many more. As always, posters and other merch will be available to buy at the festival.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 20th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Would you believe me if I told you these Alunah tour dates had been rescheduled? Yes, of course you would, because you too have lived through the last year-plus and are old enough to read this sentence. Kudos on that, by the way.
Yes, Alunah originally announced this relatively brief UK run last September, and at the time it was a Feb. 2021 tour. Well. We know how February went — as in, it did, without shows. Fortunately, however, Alunah have persisted — and likewise their booking agency — and a new round of gigs has been confirmed for July. Okay. According to the BBC as of four days ago, the hope in England is that all nightclubs will be able to fully reopen no later than June 21. That seems ambitious to me, but I have to acknowledge that I base my own assessment on other than my trauma-induced skepticism and Boris Johnson’s hair. I know next to nothing of vaccination or case rates in England and Scotland, where these shows will happen. But still.
So hey, maybe Alunah are rolling the dice a little bit, cutting it close with July shows. If it works, triumph! If not, they reschedule again. It’s not like they’re losing anything by giving it a shot and the potential gain of being someone’s first show post-lockdown is the stuff of for-a-lifetime memories. Worth it, I’d think.
The dates follow here, and in addition to 2019’s Violet Hour (review here) still being readily available on Heavy Psych Sounds, on March 26, the band issued a CD version of their prior 2018 EP, Amber & Gold (review here), through Solitude Productions. Links for that are below as well:
Alunah – UK Tour July 2021
14 July Birmingham UK Dead Wax 15 July London UK Black Heart 16 July Bradford UK Nightrain 17 July Glasgow UK Audio 18 July Manchester UK Star & Garter
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 20th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Even apart from how it relates to the other festivals under the Desertfest banner — Berlin, Belgium, New York — Desertfest London set an extremely high standard for itself last year, and it was obvious coming into Desertfest London 2020 that they’d have their work cut out for them in reaching those same heights. Their lineup isn’t finished yet, and of course we’ll see how it all looks when the day-schedule is fully unveiled, but bringing Lowrider on board to support their first release in 20 years, Refractions, is nothing if not significant — they played there in 2013 and were fantastic — but they’ll also be the the UK debut for Khemmis from the US and at least the first time at Desertfest for MaidaVale from Sweden. They’ve pretty much lost their minds and added 20 bands in a single shot here, so there’s plenty to dig into, but you’ll note King Witch, who are frickin’ awesome, as well as The Hazytones, Alunah and the slew of others taking part. They’re building a desert empire in Camden Town.
Has it been nine years already? I may have to start planning my return for year 10 if they’ll have me.
From thee social medias:
DESERTFEST ADDS 20 NAMES TO LONDON LINE-UP, INCLUDING GRAVEYARD AS NEXT HEADLINER
Desertfest is thrilled to be kicking off the new year in style with the apt number of 20 names added for our 9th edition this May. Sweden’s most beloved export of hard rock, the impeccable Graveyard will bring their unique bluesy tones to London as headliners of Desertfest London 2020. The Swedish family reunion continues as we welcome back one of the most synonymous desert rock (and Desertfest) bands, the iconic Lowrider return with not only a rare live performance, but their first record in almost two decades. A masterclass in the melting pot of genre fluidity comes from two-man powerhouse Big Business, whilst psychedelic stoner rock trio Somali Yacht Club will make the trip from Ukraine to play Desertfest for the first time.
Speaking of debuts we’ll play host to the first UK show for Denver melancholic doom outfit Khemmis and Sweden delivers once again with rock’n’roll four-piece MaidaVale. Elsewhere on the bill we are thrilled to welcome Your Highness, Hexis, FIREBREATHER, The Hazytones, Opium Lord, King Witch, GURT, Alunah, 1782, Tides Of Sulfur, Doomicidal, Under, A Gazillion Angry Mexicans and Dunes.
As you may have noticed, The Picturebooks have unfortunately had to cancel their performance at Desertfest due to a schedule conflict out of our control. However with more acts still to be unveiled, plus day tickets on sale soon there’s much more to come for our 9th edition.
