That’s a pretty good bill, man. Seriously, who’s better than Acid King? Anyone? I just started watching the video at the bottom of this post and god damn, that band is awesome. You know 2019 is the 20th anniversary of Busse Woods and they’ve already announced some celebratory shows, but whenever you can see them, god damn, just go. And having them headline a night with Witch Mountain, Wizard Rifle and Warish (like a Nanotear showcase), with Nebula, Red Fang, Black Elk, Sasquatch, Holy Grove, Eagle Claw and American Sharks playing across the other two nights, the last night ending with the weirdness of putting Necrot and Fat Tony back to back? Well, yeah, like I said, that’s a pretty good bill. I won’t be there to see it, but if you are, I promise I’ll be jealous.

They’ve got tickets for sale now, and I don’t know how big these rooms are because they’re on the other end of the country, but I know that even looking at the list of bands I’m like, “Duh, I should go to that,” so I’d imagine even more people feel that way when, you know, it’s an actual possibility for them to do so.

Pray for the master:

Northwest Hesh Fest 2019

Sep 19-21 – Star Theater Portland – Bossanova Ballroom – Dante’s

NORTHWEST HESH FEST 2019
Opening Party Sept. 19 at Bossanova Ballroom

RED FANG
BLACK ELK (Reunion)
AMERICAN SHARKS
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/red-fang-black-elk-american-sharks-northwest-heshfest-tickets-60316705891
(Opening Party TICKET w RED FANG )

Friday Sept 20 at Star Theater
ACID KING
WITCH MOUNTAIN
WIZARD RIFLE
WARISH
https://www.ticketweb.com/event/nw-hesh-fest-2019-feat-star-theater-tickets/9446285?pl=star (ACID KING Ticket)

Saturday Sept 21 at Star Theater & Dantes

FAT TONY
NECROT
NEBULA
SASQUATCH
EAGLE CLAW
HOLY GROVE

MANY MORE BANDS TBA!

NORTHWEST HESH FEST 2019 FEST PASS
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/northwest-hesh-fest-2019-friday-saturday-sept-20-21-tickets-53528655650

NOTE! FEST PASS is for FRIDAY & SATURDAY ONLY!
OPENING PARTY TICKETS w RED FANG Sold Separate

https://www.facebook.com/events/498976627248137/
https://www.facebook.com/NorthWestHeshFest/

Acid King, Life in Sacramento, CA, Sept. 6, 2018

I’m not gonna discount the notion of seeing the likes of Josefus sharing the stage with The Well and Doomstress, or of watching the almighty Acid King roll out their riffly triumphs next to Dead Meadow, Elder, Mothership and a megaslew of others, but I think the fact that if you buy a ticket for the second day of End Hip End It you get two slices of pizza speaks volumes to the vibe the Spring, Texas-based festival is going for, and that’s a vibe with which I think just about anybody can get down.

The lineup is varied from Funeral Horse and Switchblade Jesus to King Buffalo and Stone Machine Electric, but there’s a heaping representation of the fertile Texan underground here, and that’s likewise respectable. My understanding is they’ve run into some branding issues — I guess repeating any word in your fest name in Texas is verboten because you’re making fun of SXSW? seems to me SXSW could stand to be taken down a peg or two, but couldn’t we all? — and might rename the event for 2018, but whatever you call it, it looks like a good time to me.

Lineup, other info and ticket link follow:

END HIP END IT MUSIC FESTIVAL

OCT 21 – OLD TOWN SPRING, TEXAS

DAY 1 will feature 25 bands in Old Town Spring, Texas. Preservation Park will have three stages of music as well as many interactive art projects thanks to the Generators Playground.

Stage 1
Dead meadow 12:00 – 1:00
The Bright Light Social Hour 10:40 – 11:20
Golden Dawn Arkestra 9:20 – 10:00
Bayonne 8:00 – 8:40
The deer 6:40 – 7:20
AMERICAN SHARKS 5:20 – 6:00
ROSE ETTE 4:00 – 4:40
VANILLA WHALE 3:00 – 3:40
pyreship 2:00 – 2:30
JODY SEABODY & THE WHIRLS 1:00 – 1:30

Stage 2
Acid King 11:20 – 12:00
ELDER 10:00 – 10:40
MOTHERSHIP 8:40 – 9:20
king buffalo 7:20 – 8:00
eagle claw 6:00 – 6:40
greenbeard 4:40 – 5:20
funeral horse 3:30 – 4:00
SWITCHBLADE JESUS 2:30 – 3:00
WARLUNG 1:30 – 2:00

Stage 3
John Evans Band 8:20 – 9:00
Flower Graves 7:10 – 7:50
The Cuckoos 6:10 – 6:50
Ancient Cat Society 5:10 – 5:50
The Mammoths 4:10 – 4:50
Mantra Love 3:10 – 3:50
Howard & the Nosebleeds 2:10 – 2:40

OCT 22 – WALTER’S DOWNTOWN
SUNDAY at Walter’s Downtown there will be two stages with 13 bands on rotation. Ticket purchasers will receive two drink tickets and two pizza slices!

the well
L.A. Witch
doomstress
amplified heat
space villains*
white dog
josefus
crypt trip
stone machine electric
only beast
concrete heat
daze
shallow

KIP Passes get you…
Entry to both days
backstage access
FREE T-shirt on Saturday
access to hammock hangout
one extra beer on Sunday

At End Hip End It you will find a tightly tucked 20 acre plot of land filled with green grass, craft breweries, interactive art projects, live music, beer tasting events, auctions for charities, Light shows, food trucks, VIP access, local vendors, and more. Interactive art projects will be hosted by Bao Pham of the Generators Playground.

https://www.facebook.com/HoustonPsychFest/
https://www.facebook.com/events/444285199249564/
http://www.endhipendit.com/
http://www.endhipendit.com/tickets
https://www.instagram.com/end_hip_end_it/
http://www.twitter.com/endhipendit

Acid King, Live at Electric Funeral Fest, June 17, 2017

[TO ENTER GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment on this post with your email address in the form. You’ll be contacted at that address if you win.]

Sorry, but the lineup here pretty much sells itself. Over three nights, Sept. 22-24, at Dante’s in Portland, Oregon, Northwest Hesh Fest 2016 will host:

Night 1:
Red Fang
American Sharks
Witch Mountain

Night 2:
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats
Danava
Banquet

Night 3:
Deafheaven
The Blood Royale
Diesto
Greenbeard

If you enter now by leaving a comment on this post, you can win a three-day pass to see all of the above and get a limited, signed screenprint of the poster shown here, of which only 100 are being made. Obviously, you need to get your ass to Portland — if I could afford to fly you in, I would, believe me — but barring for anyone in that part of the world who’s maybe been on the fence about going or just hasn’t managed to buy tickets yet, yeah, entering seems like it would be kind of a no-brainer. High “duh” factor and whatnot.

For the headliners alone, never mind the chance to see locals like Witch Mountain, Danava and Diesto tear it up alongside imports from Austin, Texas, like American Sharks, The Blood Royale, Banquet and Greenbeard, essentially pairing two of the country’s strongest scenes — Portland and Austin — and topping it not only with the Pacific Northwest’s number one heavy rock export in Red Fang, but bringing up Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats on their tour with The Shrine, as well as Deafheaven, who seem to divide opinion everywhere they go while consistently drawing a crowd from both sides of the argument.

Killer lineups, killer shows, free pass and free poster. Like I said, it sells itself. One winner picked a week from today. Thanks to all who enter and to American Icon for letting me host the giveaway.

[TO ENTER GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment on this post with your email address in the form. You’ll be contacted at that address if you win.]

Northwest Hesh Fest on Thee Facebooks

Northwest Hesh Fest 2016 tickets at Eventbrite

Last year, The Obelisk was proud to be among the presenters for the Northwest Hesh Fest, and it looks like Northwest Hesh Fest 2016 — set for Sept. 22-24 at Dante’s in Portland, Oregon — will be no different. I’ll have a ticket giveaway closer to the event, so keep an eye out for that, and the festival has just unveiled the lineup for each night, and it brings some formidable names.

Headliners are Red Fang, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, and Deafheaven, which I think would probably be enough on their own to draw a three-night crowd, but they’re joined by American Sharks, native Portlanders Witch Mountain, Diesto and Danava, as well as The Blood Royale, Banquet and Greenbeard.

American Sharks, Greenbeard and The Blood Royale hail from Austin, Texas, which makes sense as a complement to the Portland acts since American Icon, which puts together the festival, is based there as well. Of the non-headliner acts, that’s as far east as Northwest Hesh Fest 2016 looks, but in bringing aboard UK garage doom forerunners Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, it extends its reach internationally for the first time. That’s a hell of an opening salvo to the rest of the world.

More to come as we get closer to September and the fest itself, but American Icon announced the lineup today and tickets are now on sale both for the individual nights — for which you can see the complete lineup breakdown below — and for a combined three-night pass. I won’t tell you what to do with your time, but this looks like an awful lot of fun:

NORTHWEST HESH FEST 2016

Sept 22-24 @ Dantes in Portland Oregon
RED FANG-UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS-DEAFHEAVEN
American Sharks-Witch Mountain-Danava
The Blood Royale-Diesto-Banquet-Greenbeard

9/22/16
Red Fang, American Sharks, Witch Mountain
http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?eventId=6780785&pl=dante&dispatch=loadSelectionData

9/23/16
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Danava
http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?eventId=6776535&pl=dante&dispatch=loadSelectionData

9/24/16
Deafheaven, The Blood Royale, Greenbeard, Diesto, Banquet
http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?eventId=6780605&pl=dante&dispatch=loadSelectionData

Northwest Hesh Fest Three-Day Pass

Northwest Hesh Fest event page

Northwest Hesh Fest on Thee Facebooks

Information on the Austin, Texas-based heavy rocking foursome American Sharks is sparse – which is impressive given their social media presence (Facebook, Twitter, Bandcamp, etc.) – but what it rounds out to is I can’t even say for certain if their recently-issued Weedwizard 7” is their first or not. It’s the first of their output I’ve encountered if not the first overall, so my inclination is to regard it as a debut, and the upbeat energy they show on the two included tracks, “”XVI” and “Indian Man,” would speak to a freshness of ideas in general, so even if it isn’t the first thing American Sharks have put out, it functions well on an introductory level. Not the least because of the short amount of time it takes up. Between “XVI” and “Indian Man,” Weedwizard (released by Pau Wau Records) clocks in with less time than inches on the record; both songs are just under three minutes. Nonetheless, within that span, Mike, Will, Nick and Zach, make a solid effort at establishing an aesthetic and context for future releases to come.

Their sound is new-school American stoner, taking cues from punk and metal’s heavy rocking forebears – The Stooges, MC5, etc. – and filtering them through modern indie/hipster shimmy, resulting in a sub-metallic swagger not at all unlike that which Portland, Oregon’s Red Fang affected on their 2011 album, Murder the Mountains. American Sharks have work ahead of them in establishing their own personality within this context, but the punkish pulse to “XVI” and “Indian Man,” though rudimentary, gives no indication it can’t be done. Transplants from Houston, the band clearly have some idea of what they’re doing and where it can be best presented, and with the grooves they lock in on these two songs – if Weedwizard is in fact their first outing – in less than six minutes, they’ve made a solid argument in their own favor. The shuffle fueling “XVI” draws a direct line to Red Fang’s wires in its overall affect, but the guitar lead that kicks in at the beginning of the final minute is confident enough in its tone and execution – and the rhythms behind it are likewise assured – that it’s enough to hold the attention. The charm of a 7” called Weedwizard and the complementing cover art (if that’s not Ryan Lesser of Megasus’ work, I’d be amazed) notwithstanding, American Sharks show a burgeoning depth of songwriting that does well here and hopefully will continue to grow.

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