I know people’s schedules can be weird and sometimes you have to work on a weekend or you have a family thing or whatever it might be, but I don’t really get the day-ticket thing. If you’re going to go to a festival, don’t you want to be there for the entire event if you absolutely can? I mean, if monetarily it’s one day or nothing, that’s one thing, but if you have your choice between one day or three, who would just choose one? Isn’t part of the appeal of the thing that there’s so much going on? Again, if that’s how it has to be and there’s one band you absolutely need to see or something like that, fine, but would you really choose to only see one day of a fest like Desertfest Belgium 2019 if you could see all three?

The autumnal edition of Desertfest has a few new lineup announcements, including the surprise headliner of Ty Segall & the Freedom Band. They’re right. I didn’t see that one coming:

DFBE19 NEW HEADLINER: TY SEGALL & THE FREEDOM BAND! Day Tickets available 15/05

Guess you didn’t see this one coming! And yet here it is: Ty Segall & The Freedom Band will perform a highly exclusive set of European shows this fall, and we are honoured to host one of these as a headliner at this year’s Desertfest. More details are forthcoming, but Ty’s performance has never been anything less than blistering – and The Freedom Band sees him in his most ambitious setup yet.

A completely different strand of melodic heavy rock will be brought in as ASG hits the stage. The North Carolina riff-rockers certainly need no introduction to our crowd and have become a perennial fan favorite, and with good reason. Coming in from Madrid, Toundra is an experimental instrumental post-rock outfit with a vibe that is entirely in its own plane of existence.

As far as stoner doom legends go, you can’t get much more legendary than Wino. His most beloved outfit The Obsessed has been back with a vengeance since 2016, so it’s high time they make an appearance on our festival! And finally, we present you with two highly original doom bands to complete this batch of names. Yatra offers up a spiritual blend of doom, sludge and blackened vocals, straight from the Maryland forests. Sunnata hails from Poland, working towards a highly acclaimed sound that incorporates psychedelia with grungey harmonies and severe riffing.

DAY TICKETS ARE IMMINENT

If for some reason you don’t want to go the entire length, and would prefer to limit your DF intake to 1 day – we have just the ticket for you!

Or rather: we soon will have. On Wednesday 15/05 at 1pm sharp we will start selling day tickets for this year’s festival. From that point, we will also publish the line-up per day so far on our website. These tickets will be highly limited, so get them while you can!

http://www.desertfest.be/tickets
https://www.facebook.com/desertfestbelgium/
https://www.facebook.com/events/2260579413999993/
https://twitter.com/DesertfestBE

Ty Segall & the Freedom Band, Deforming Lobes (2019)

I went back and looked, and on the posters for Desertfest Belgium 2018, every band’s logo appeared. It looked pretty crowded by the time their full lineup was announced, but that’s how it was. This year, it’s the second announcement for 2019, and already they’re showing some names written out in regular, non-logo letters. What does this tell you? Well, it might mean they’re going to add even more bands than last year. It might mean they want to highlight some of the bigger names, like Sleep, Eyehategod, Bongripper, Nebula, and so on. Or it might just be that they got someone new in to do the graphic design and that’s how they wanted to do it. Always possible to be reading too much into anything. Or everything, as it were. Hi. I look at a lot of festival posters. One tends to notice these things.

Anyway, six new bands added to Desertfest Belgium 2019 and nary a clunker to be found in the bunch. Info came down the PR wire:

DFBE’19 NEW NAMES! EYEHATEGOD, BONGRIPPER, NEBULA & MORE

We’re back, kickin’ butt and dropping names!

We have a couple of hard-hitting sludge and doom monsters added to our line-up, beginning with the absolute trailblazers of them all: EYEHATEGOD from New Orleans has been at it for over thirty years, and their most recent tour showed them in prime form. We’re excited to welcome them to our Antwerp Fest for the first time! Hailing from Chicago, BONGRIPPER is not a band of many words but their colossal and thoroughly evil riffage speaks big and loud volumes. And to complete this Unholy Triad, how about the legendary NEBULA who are back in the game with a new album that will be aptly named ‘Holy Shit’, and we have nothing further to add.

But of course, that’s only half the story… if you’re looking for some straight-up no-frills rock with killer hooks and catchy shout-along choruses, FIREBALL MINISTRY is your ticket – classic hard rock done right! And since no Desertfest would be complete without some proper Sabbath worship, we’re delighted to have HIGH REEPER on board, the proto-metal alliance from Reeperville (or so they claim). And finally, the glorious sound of the West Coast will be revived with CRYPT TRIP, sweet grooves and harmonies with just a touch of classic Dead.

Some old, some new, all fresh… we think this is is shaping up to be another DFBE line-up for the books, and we hope you all agree! More to come in 2 weeks time, stay tuned…

http://www.desertfest.be/tickets
https://www.facebook.com/desertfestbelgium/
https://www.facebook.com/events/2260579413999993/
https://twitter.com/DesertfestBE

Even as the first-ever Desertfest New York gets ready to roll out next week and Desertfest London and Berlin prepare to follow soon thereafter, the autumnal incarnation, Desertfest Belgium 2019, has begun to unveil its lineup for this October. They had their work cut out for them in topping the 2018 lineup, but let’s face it, if you’re going to do that, announcing Sleep as a headliner right out of the gate is probably the way to go. It’s like, “Oh, well, that settles that, then. This’ll rule.” Not that the reunited Truckfighters, Monomyth, Temple Fang or even 30,000 Monkies are anything to sneeze at, but let’s face it, you don’t announce Sleep first unless you’re trying to make an impression. Mission accomplished. Impression made.

This of course will be the first of many Desertfest Belgium 2019 announcements, and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if by the time October gets here, Desertfest London and Berlin are back revealing their respective lineups for 2020. The cycle is ongoing. Cyclical, you might say.

Here’s word from Antwerp:

The moment you have all been waiting for! The first thing we can tell you about DFBE ’19 is that YES, your prayers have been answered. The Mighty Sleep will be headlining our Fest this year!

Of course, that’s just the first of many names. We are equally delighted to welcome back Truckfighters and the cosmic Monomyth to our stage. For more Northern heavy pysch grooves, look no further than Temple Fang. And finally, we want to introduce you to the first Belgian homebrew act for this year’s Fest: 30,000 Monkies.

And with that, the ticket sale is ON! Reduced Combi Tickets are available for a limited time only for €100, all costs included. We have also brought back the Hotel Accommodation deal, find the details on our website. Be swift to avoid disappointment, go get them tickets!

http://www.desertfest.be/tickets
https://www.facebook.com/desertfestbelgium/
https://www.facebook.com/events/2260579413999993/
https://twitter.com/DesertfestBE

Sleep, “Sonic Titan” live at Roadburn 2019

The story here is pretty short: ‘Really good lineup gets better.’ The end.

I’m not sure what more one could reasonably as of Desertfest Belgium 2018 that it isn’t already delivering. I mean, seriously. Just look at the names. Festivals happen all the time in Europe — hell, for the last couple years there’s been one through just about each successive week in October, somewhere, in some country, usually with a lot of the same bands. But even with that factored in, how could you look at the names below and not know it’ll be something special?

Even just the circumstances of timing. So many of these bands will have or already have new records out, from High on Fire themselves to YOB, Ancestors, The Skull, Eagle Twin, Castle, Sonic Wolves, Dopethrone, on and on. To have all these groups come together at the same time can only be a win. You know they’ll be fired up, and even those who aren’t directly plying their wares on new records still have stuff recent enough or coming — or, like Acid King, a new lineup — so yeah. It looks absolutely unreal. If you get to go, I’m jealous.

Here’s the latest announcement:

HIGH ON FIRE HEADLINES DESERTFEST 2018

The Devil & The Almighty Blues, Oscillation & 4 more

And so the cat’s out of the bag, so to speak… High On Fire is headlining Desertfest 2018 and we couldn’t be more thrilled. In fact, you might call it a fever dream come true! Especially since the band recently announced their new album cum Lemmy tribute ‘Electric Messiah’ to be released just 1 week before the Fest, so we can expect a freshly hot live set.

But of course, the good news doesn’t stop there. We still have a hefty load of names to drop unto you, and we start with The Devil And The Almighty Blues. The Norsemen have made it their mission to follow all the strains of blues that run through the history of rock’n’roll, and we’re totally on board for their killer blues trip.

Replace the blues by the psych, and you could end up with The Oscillation. For ten years Demian Castellanos and his cohorts have made their mark with their unique brand of psychedelic rock that points to everything from krautrock to new wave disco, all drenched in that sweet sweet echo chamber feedback that you love.

Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell are on board once more with their time machine into a mythical past when hardrock was only just turning to doom, and denim bell-bottoms were not frowned upon in society. From that time they bring along The Well, another keeper of the flame that sparked many a toke in the bonehead freak era.

If you can take a slightly more epic take on the genre, Dead Quiet will fit the bill. Their ‘Grand Rites’ album from end of last year was certainly a trip in many exciting directions. And finally, make sure you don’t miss the unique sounds of Frayle, occult blues with a female lead that draws comparison to anything from Sleep to Portishead.

We’re nearing the finishing line, so all you casual Festers screaming for day tickets will soon get their fill. But of course, there’s nothing like getting the full 3-day fix! So if you can make it, there’s still some combi tickets left at a reduced price – although how long they’ll last, we can’t tell for sure!

http://www.desertfest.be/tickets
https://www.facebook.com/desertfestbelgium/
https://www.facebook.com/events/364607267372737/
https://twitter.com/DesertfestBE

High on Fire, “Electric Messiah” lyric video

So, uh, there’s a band called Heads. playing Desertfest Belgium 2018. They’re from Germany and not at all to be confused with The Heads from the UK. I guess the punctuation makes some different there, but isn’t it a little like calling your band Beatles. and expecting not to get sued? Question of scale there, I know, but you get my point. Heads. are a different band from The Heads. Okay.

I’m kind of surprised that Dead Meadow, in joining the lineup for Desertfest Belgium 2018, aren’t among the headliner, who are still TBA. I’ve got some names I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised to see signed on to play, but no question the lineup is ridiculously strong in the interim, what with Dead Meadow, Heads., Ancestors, Wiegedood and Messa all newly confirmed. I guess we’ll just have to wait on those headliner announcements.

From the PR wire:

DEAD MEADOW PLAYS DF ANTWERP ’18

WIEGEDOOD, ANCESTORS and more

Well, we promised a worthy replacement for John Garcia, and we think this one will delight all you fans of delicious stoner grooves.

With 20 years and 7 records on the counter, Dead Meadow can truly be considered venerable veterans of the scene. With their most recent album ‘The Nothing They Need’, the DC band has made a glorious return 5 years after the previous outing. By now the ingredients might be familiar – heavy proto-metal riffing and long psych workouts – but once again the band proves noone cooks up a stew quite like they do. A rock solid addition to this year’s line-up, we think you’ll agree!

We already have one Belgian heavyweight on the program, so how about another? Wiegedood got its infamy coming up with a disturbing band name that translates to “crib death” in Dutch. But soon we learned that this was no mere gimmick: their peculiar version of black metal is effectively as unsettling and grim as the name suggests.

If the album teasers are anything to go by, the next album by Ancestors is gonna be something truly special. A culmination of everything the band stands for, from the atmospheric post-rock passages to the chugging riffs. Six years is a long wait for a new album in these times, but it seems like this will truly be worth the wait.

Another singular voice at the festival comes from Messa, who merge seemingly disparate genres like doom metal and dark jazz into one sonic stew they describe as ‘Scarlet Doom’. And finally, the German HEADS. adds shades of shoegaze and post-rock in their noiserock, with equally unique results.

There you have it, a selection of new names that truly add a sense of adventure and experiment to the line-up. You know we still have some headliners in store for you, so stay tuned!

http://www.desertfest.be/tickets
https://www.facebook.com/desertfestbelgium/
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https://twitter.com/DesertfestBE

Desertfest Belgium 2018 is set for Oct. 12-14 in Antwerp, and the bill gets a little more packed with the latest lineup announcements, bringing in Norwegian progressive black metal forerunners Enslaved, as well as Berlin traditionalists Lucifer, Texas rockers Blood of the Sun, Aussie blues specialists Child and Italian doomers Sonic Wolves. Pretty smart batch, if you ask me. Desertfest Belgium has grown — much like the Desertfest brand in general; still waiting for a US one to surface so I can be sad when I’m not at all involved in its making and/or presentation — into one of the most essential European festivals for the autumn season, and this year’s is unquestionably the biggest and most diverse yet. This announcement highlights that without even saying it. All these groups? Yeah, I’d call them a fit. But doesn’t that just show how broad the sphere of Desertfest in general has become? Of course it does. I don’t think Desertfest Belgium could’ve come out of the gate in 2015 with Enslaved taking part, but now it makes sense to the point of not even being a question. Of course Enslaved are playing. Of course Child are coming from Australia to play. I mean, duh.

Here’s what the fest has to say about it:

DESERTFEST ANTWERP 2018 welcomes ENSLAVED, LUCIFER and more!

We continue the onslaught with another roundup of heaviness, and this one’s top heavy!

Desertfest has always been about expanding the idea of what is truly mindbending heavy music. Some of you may think the progressive black metal of Enslaved is a leftfield choice for the fest, but there you have it – it feels like a natural fit for us.

For those of you who still crave the boogie, don’t fret! The rest of our new additions will give you that heavy blues fix many times over, in all forms and shapes! First up we have the Berlin-based witchery of LUCIFER, paying glorious homage to ’70s hard rock while building on it with some impressive song craftmanship. CHILD is another take on the same era, with a psychedelic heavy blues infusion that belies the band’s Australian origin. They came to shred the ‘Fest in 2015, and they will return to shred once more!

In a more loose caboose vein, Blood Of The Sun will offer up no-frills Texan boogie that is all about ridin’ that muscle car down the desert road, beer and reefer in hand. Oh yeah: and lots of organ, oh that glorious organ! Finally, for those of you who want it nasty and just a little bit dangerous, there’s Sonic Wolves, a sideproject featuring Vita from Ufomammut and the most awesome DoomQueen Kayt Vigil – and that is all you need to know really.

We have been warning you about those Reduced Combi Tickets, right? Well, one day they’re just… there. But the next minute, they may be gone. Don’t stick around until they’re gone. Get them while they are still here. It’s better for everyone.

http://www.desertfest.be/tickets
https://www.facebook.com/desertfestbelgium/
https://www.facebook.com/events/364607267372737/
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Enslaved, “The River’s Mouth” official video

Five new lineup additions for Desertfest Belgium 2018 this time around, and with countrymen headliners Amenra as part of it, the festival immediately expands its overall context like the other Desertfests before it. And while Amenra will top the bill — they won’t be the only ones — also joining the roster for the weekend are Greek jam-psych forerunners Naxatras, woefully-monikered noise rockers Whores., as well as Timestone and Swedish Death Candy. It’s a bit all over the place this time around, but with a lineup that already includes the likes of Crowbar and Elder alongside not only each other, but YOB, John Garcia, Acid King and others, the Antwerp-based fest seems to be in the process of putting together its most varied edition yet. I’m not sure how much more they’ll add to what’s already been announced, but even if they called it quits here, it’d still be well worth the trip.

Info came down the PR wire as follows:

DESERTFEST ANTWERP 2018: Amenra, Whores & more confirmed

Although you have all given us much love for the line-up so far, we know that a lot of you have been waiting with bated breath for the announcement of our first headliner…

…and here it is. At Desertfest Belgium, we’ve always taken pride in the best of the heaviest our country has to offer. And so it is with the greatest of pleasures that we finally have the absolute heaviest of heaviest in the land to ravish our stage: AMENRA will headline DF Antwerp 2018.

A band that has pummeled crowds all over Europe and The States, and released on the Neurot label of kindred spirits Neurosis. A band that transcends the genre as none other, a band fit to rule Desertfest!

But let it be known that our other new arrivals broaden the spectrum of sounds at the Fest even further. Naxatras is a Greek band that has grown increasingly more ambitious with each release, now incorporating prog, funk and jazz in their psychedelic jam-based stew. In contrast, Whores is as monolithic as they come, providing the perfect soundtrack to a blunt object repeatedly hitting you hard in the face.

Let’s also not forget the name of our festival, and where it comes from. Timestone may hail from Austria, but their pure brand of desert stoner will transport you to the desert for sure! And finally, we’d like to make a prediction here: sometime very soon, Swedish Death Candy will be a name to be reckoned with. They have it all: insanely fuzzy riffs, smart songwriting, catchy vocal harmonies, and just the right amount of unhinged feedback. Consider this a band to discover at the Fest!

Now about those Reduced Combi Tickets. You know we still have hem on offer at €95 right? We just don’t know how long they will last… so don’t be that guy or gal crying over lost opportunities, get yours today!

http://www.desertfest.be/tickets
https://www.facebook.com/desertfestbelgium/
https://www.facebook.com/events/364607267372737/
https://twitter.com/DesertfestBE

Amenra, Mass VI (2017)

Who’s going to argue with this? Sludge, doom, psych, noise, and metal? It’s like Desertfest Belgium 2018 decided its third announcement was when it would encompass the scope of underground heavy in one go. It’s got oldschool and newschool vibes, American and European bands next to each other, and fucking Castle, who just never stop touring ever. Never ever. I’m pretty sure they made their new record in the back of their van.

Maybe not, but still.

Seriously, the list of bands says it all, and the roster of acts they join only makes Desertfest Belgium all the more significant in Europe’s massively-crowded Fall festival scene. I’m not going to tell you to buy tickets or travel if you’re not in a financially secure situation or something, but if you have to sell your car and become a curiously aged European street urchin, complete with backpack and dog, this one might be worth it.

Behold:

Since you all liked our last announcement so much, we’re already back with another one!

And oh boy… Another quintuple hit of doom, rock, metal, psychedelics and whatever strikes your fancy, here we go…

First up, the absolute heavyweights of Southern sludge will grace our stage for the first time. Yes, Crowbar will be charged up fresh from their upcoming Eastern Europe tour in the summer, so expect them to be sharp as a razor and hard as nails at Desertfest Antwerp 2018!

Another scene stalwart, this time in the traditional doom vein, we welcome former Trouble makers The Skull, who reportedly will come loaded with a fresh sophomore album, out on Tee Pee Records in the fall.

For some more traditional doom vibes with a nice dose of occult rock, San Fransiscan trio Castle – Metal Band will be back at our festival after their killer set in 2016. We are also most pleased that the Swedish spacerock shuttle Yuri Gagarin will land at DF Antwerp from whatever outer space voyage they’ve embarked on. They’ve got an interstellar live reputation, so expect this to be a highlight for sure! And finally, we close off this batch of goodness with something French and sleazy. SOFY MAJOR is a noiserock outfit that will hit you in the face like a solid steel beercan.

So rest assured, your precious Reduced Combi Tickets will be well worth… what’s that? You STILL haven’t bought your tickets you say? Even though they’re still a steal at €95 for three days? This will not stand! We’ll give you just a little more time to go get them, but next time we see each other, don’t give us any excuses you hear!

http://www.desertfest.be/tickets
https://www.facebook.com/desertfestbelgium/
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Crowbar, Live in Flint, Michigan, March 2018