Posted in Whathaveyou on August 30th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Did you know it’s Labor Day weekend? I had no idea, but yeah, I guess we’re there. Look, I don’t know. I’m just trying to get through the days over here one at a time. All of a sudden it’s coming on autumn and the nights are getting colder and Black Cobra and Eyehategod are about to headline Scorched Tundra XI over the next two nights and I guess that means summer’s winding down. Chicago’s got two righteously curated bills to go with those headliners for the two-night event, as well as a badass poster to go with it, so if you happen to be in the area or, you know, live there, you might consider heading out to the show as an alternative to whatever else your plans were as you start your three-day weekend. Or four-day weekend. Or maybe you’re just unemployed and have some cash to go out. Either way, good shows deserve attendance, so attend.
Go with a friend. You strike me as the popular type. Go Whatsapp somebody and see if they’re free. I bet they are.
Dig it:
SCORCHED TUNDRA XI LINEUP: EYEHATEGOD, BLACK COBRA, CLOUD RAT, ASEETHE & MORE OVER LABOR DAY WEEKEND 2019
Scorched Tundra is proud to announce the entire lineup for its eleventh edition. Taking place on Friday/Saturday, August 30th and 31st at The Empty Bottle in Chicago, ST XI features newcomers and veterans of the festival from across the country.
Friday August 30th Black Cobra Cloud Rat Varaha
Saturday August 31st Eyehategod Aseethe Luggage Hitter
Scorched Tundra’s mission is to give a new generation of up and coming – as well as established – artists a unique live platform in Gothenburg and Chicago. “The eleventh edition of Scorched Tundra focuses once again on talent from near and far. While headliners have historical connections with this festival, much of the lineup will be new to the festival and provide a wide musical variety, all at the convergence of dark, heavy and progressive. Balancing the dynamics of this lineup was an interesting and enjoyable challenge for this edition: I look forward to taking it in with you on Labor Day Weekend,” states organizer Alexi D. Front.
Tickets for August 31st and September 1st will be $20 per night.
Posted in Reviews on April 27th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
An unfamiliar context in familiar environs. Desertscene and Sound of Liberation, who together are behind Desertfest in London and Berlin as well as numerous other events, are playing it smart. New York is a hard town to do a festival, and if they’re thinking of making this an annual event, they’re building from the ground up. It’s not about rolling into Brooklyn and trying to nudge arguably the most entitled audience in the US — because fucking everything comes through New York, and is expected to — into embracing your brand, but about introducing what you do in a way that allows that audience to feel like it’s getting in on something on the ground floor.
To that end, the first night of the first Desertfest NYC was held at the Saint Vitus Bar with a welcoming spirit and a due course of volume. To those who’d point out there are no deserts in New York, congratulations on your cleverness. Please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope for your sticker. For those of more discerning cognition, the point was the music, always, and Desertfest NYC 2019 both embraced the space it was in and the audience it drew in delivering an inaugural night that felt like a kickoff as much for the parties behind it as those in attendance.
Four bands would lead in to two days of nine apiece, and the venue for Saturday and Sunday is The Well, but the Saint Vitus Bar is not only pro-shop from top to bottom, but an intimate enough space to still feel like something special might happen. Whatever the future holds for Desertfest in New York City, I’ll gladly argue that something special already did.
Here’s how the night went:
Heavy Temple
Have you told two friends yet about Heavy Temple? I sincerely hope so, and I hope they do likewise. It was my first time seeing the latest incarnation of the Philly purveyors of hard fuzz, who seem to have sacrificed little of their forward momentum for once again swapping out two-thirds of the lineup around founding bassist/vocalist High Priestess Nighthawk. Now in the company of guitarist Lord Paisley — and congratulations to him on the stage name, because that is marvelous — and drummer Baron Lycan (not bad either), Nighthawk remains the commanding presence at the heart of the band. They’re new in this form, but at least some of what they played was readily familiar from 2016’s shorty-long-player Chassit (review here), and with Nighthawk righteously softshoeing her basslines in true “taking them for a walk” fashion” and Paisley and Lyan certainly more than just along for the ride, they showed that the band’s potential has not at all dimmed for the tumult in personnel. They’re recording — guitars next, apparently — and have tour dates lined up with Ecstatic Vision (info here). I’d say by the end of that run they’ll be on fire, but they already were.
High Tone Son of a Bitch
I seem to have a preternatural aversion to bands with two frontmen, which is a terrible generalization to make across the board, but true nonetheless. Some people don’t like two guitars. I tend to feel like if you’re going to have more than one person whose primary function is as a singer, you need to earn that aesthetically, either with some harmonies or arrangement depth, etc. Oakland, CA’s High Tone Son of a Bitch brought some aggro noise spirit to both traditionalist heavy rock and Southern-tinged riffing, and indeed there was some interplay between their two vocalists, which helped. They’re a band requiring context, with members of Noothgrush and Kalas aboard and the fact that they were together in the early part of the century before losing guitarist Andrew Kott to drug addiction, and taking more than a decade off only to recently begin a comeback. Even for those without the background though, they seemed to hold their own. They’ve been touring with Weedeater — always helps — and were still getting their feet (back) under them amid some competing vibes onstage, but they acquitted themselves well and their new material seemed to pick up where they left off 15 years ago, so all the better.
Here Lies Man
There was talk afterward of Black Cobra stealing the show — and fair enough — but I’d never seen Here Lies Man before, and among the entire weekend’s lineup, they were high among my most anticipated sets. Their two full-lengths for RidingEasy Records, 2017’s Here Lies Man (review here) and last year’s You Will Know Nothing (review here), have both garnered significant critical praise, but they have yet to capture the kind of word-of-mouth-holy-crap-you-gotta-see-this-band backing they deserve. With shared vocals among guitarist Marcos Garcia, drummer Geoff Mann and bouncing bassist JP Maramba and keyboardist Will Rast prominent in the front-of-house mix, they showed just how far they’ve taken the central conceit of the group they started with — “what if Black Sabbath played afrobeat” is how it’s been phrased in the press releases — and made something new from it that’s neither entirely one or the other but all the more a defined Here Lies Man sound. They jammed with character and held down air-tight rhythm and melody with a sense of artistry and professionalism, and as they move toward their third full-length, they only seemed to be poised for people to catch on to what they’re doing. They were, in short, really, really good. You like bands? Okay cool. Here’s a band. Fucking dig in.
Black Cobra
Hey, guess what. Black Cobra were completely dominant. Well of course they were — that’s what they do, and they do it remarkably well. There was some trouble early on with Rafa Martinez‘s bass drum trying to run away from him — only reasonable, since he was kicking the shit out of it at the time — but he and guitarist/vocalist Jason Landrian took the Saint Vitus Bar stage and pummeled, pummeled, pummeled their way into a massive oblivion of thrash-infused heft, delivered with the efficiency of a band 15 years removed from their first EP who have long since attained plug-in-and-destroy status via touring that, for years during that stretch at least, was well into what most humans would consider “excessive.” They’re three years out from 2016’s Imperium Simulacra (review here), and I certainly wouldn’t mind if they did a follow-up to that offering, which was their most dynamic to-date, but let’s face it, if Desertfest NYC wanted to be sure everyone stumbled out of the bar feeling like their asses had just been handed to them, they called the right band. I thought maybe I’d try an experiment and try to review their set without once referencing an act of violence — really, I thought of it while they were playing and people were moshing, chuckled out loud to myself at the notion and was interested to try — but obviously such a cause would be hopeless. With the venue duly laid waste, Black Cobra wrapped their set and gave the addled room over to the after-party, every bit in the fashion of the headliners they truly are.
—
One thing I wanted to mention that didn’t fit in the review: I got pushed at this show. I was taking pictures of High Tone Son of a Bitch and was up front for it, and I stepped to the other side of the stage, saw the guy I was getting in front of was wearing a SonicBlast Moledo shirt, said “nice shirt,” turned to take a picture of the stage-right guitarist, and the dude pushed me as if to move me out of his way. I don’t imagine this was someone from the area. I spent a decent few minutes afterwards thinking about the ownership of space, personal agency of one’s body, how one responds to being bullied, my own history in this regard, and so on, and landed pretty much on my initial reaction, which was a hearty go fuck yourself. It’s a show, and shit happens, but if you want to be up in front of the stage so bad, get there first. Otherwise, feel free to kiss my ass.
I saw the same guy after the set as he was walking to the back, and as he passed me, I gave him a little shove. Equal and opposite reaction. No words were exchanged — I didn’t think it required verbal follow-up — and that was it. I didn’t see him again and if I did, I don’t think there would’ve been any residual acrimony. But these moments affect one’s evening, if temporarily, and I was glad to be in a place I enjoy so much and surrounded by so many good people — the New York Faithful Family Reunion 2019 in full effect — who helped put me back in the proper mindset without even knowing they were doing it. It was a great night.
Today the show moves to The Well and it starts in a couple hours, so I’ll leave it there and just say I’m looking forward to it. More pics after the jump if you’re interested.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 13th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Desertfest New York 2019, the first one ever, has completed its lineup for this April. Taking place at The Well and Saint Vitus Bar, the three-night event will be headlined by Black Cobra, Windhand and Elder and will boast newly-announced performances from Steak, High Tone Son of a Bitch, Heavy Temple, Tower, Green Milk from the Planet Orange, Duel, Sun Voyager, Fatso Jetson and others. It was always going to be a stacked bill, and well, it’s worked out to be a stacked bill. Obviously the Desertfest brand, with history in London, Berlin, Athens and Antwerp, are no strangers to putting on an event, and as Desertscene and Sound of Liberation partner with NY-based Tee Pee Records, there was really no way this was going to be a flop, and it looks like it won’t be.
Calendar’s marked.
Here’s the final lineup:
THE 1ST DESERTFEST NEW YORK
FULL LINE-UP + DAY SPLITS ANNOUNCED FOR DF NYC – BLACK COBRA, WEEDEATER, HERE LIES MAN, ASG + MORE
Taking place at Saint Vitus Bar on Friday 26th April and The Well on Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th April, please welcome to the bill:
• black cobra • Weedeater • Here Lies Man • ASG • Ruby the Hatchet • FATSO JETSON • Electric Citizen • HTSOB • Steak • Mick’s Jaguar • DUEL • Heavy Temple • TOWER • Green Milk From The Planet Orange • Sun Voyager
Unfortunately, we also have to announce that The Atomic Bitchwax can no longer play due to touring conflicts, along with Cali rockers Dommengang. Both band conflicts were out of our control, but we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
2-day weekend passes for ‘The Well’ shows only (Sat + Sun) are still available via www.desertfest.nyc
3-day passes which include access to Saint Vitus on Friday are SOLD OUT
Desertfest NYC will take place at Saint Vitus Bar on Fri 26th April & The Well on Sat 27th April + Sun 28th April
Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 23rd, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Black Cobra, Bestial (2006)
Black Cobra are now, always were and likely will remain a live band for as long as they’re any kind of band at all. On paper, should it even work? Of all the branches of the Cavity family tree, Black Cobra might be the most unlikely, as one of that band’s guitarists, Jason Landrian, stepped into a frontman role by pairing up with Acid King bassist Rafael Martinez, who moved to drums. They were a two-piece before being a two-piece wasn’t something to comment on — that is, in their early going, they heard a lot of, “You’re so heavy… and just a duo!” — and their project from the outset with their 2004 self-titled debut EP seemed to be to bridge the gap between sludge/doom tonality and intensity born of thrash. Consider the pummeling “The Cry of Melora,” the centerpiece of 2006’s Bestial, their At a Loss Recordings-issued first full-length. From an angular introduction, it turns to outright extremity before locking in a massive, consuming nod complemented by the harsh bark that would become such a hallmark of Landrian‘s vocal approach. Largely amelodic, they took what High on Fire started doing a few years earlier and pushed it further, playing faster and harder and with more of a sense of impact to their material. And they toured the crap out of it. Especially in their early years, they were largely nomadic. Across Bestial, 2007’s righteous Feather and Stone, 2009’s Chronomega (review here), which found them picked up by Southern Lord well ahead of that label’s full dive into next-gen metalcore and working with Billy Anderson as producer, and 2011’s conceptual triumph Invernal (review here, which seemed to realize the promise of their harsh atmosphere by pairing it with a historical narrative of Arctic exploration, they always seemed to showcase something different while remaining tied to the core elements of their sound, but if and when they grew, it was due to their live work, and the stage was where Landrian and Martinez always seemed most at home.
Bestial was a launch point for that, and like Black Cobra on tour, the album takes only momentary breathers. With the exception of the two-minute intro and shorter outro of its longest cut in the six-minute “Broken on the Wheel,” which goes on to emit a plod unmatched anywhere else in the component 11-tracks/36-minutes — conjuring a rumbling bomb tone not unlike that of another former Cavity guitarist, Steve Brooks (of Floor and Torche), in the process — and maybe a tense moment here or there elsewhere, Bestial is about the sharpness of its turns, the weight of its tone and the onslaught brought to bear rhythmically. Riffs hit like they should draw assault charges, from the opening “One Nine” and into “Thrown from Great Heights” and “El Equis,” there’s no letup. All told, it’s about an eight-minute salvo, but the effect it has remains overwhelming 12 years after the fact. “Beneath” dives into an opening quiet stretch like it’s tossing the listener a life preserver only to yank it away again with the lung-squeezing riff and crash that takes hold en route directly into album highlight “Omniscient,” an air-tight execution that winds its way into a slowdown as it heads toward its midsection but loses none of its ferocity in the process. By this point, Martinez and Landrian have already cast their lot in terms of style and made their violent, aggressive intentions plain to hear. Their putting together quieter introductions and slamming into all-out directed chaos is a subtle but essential component, as though they need to remind listeners that quiet exists, but Bestial has its title for a reason: the album is defined by its animalistic raging, a kind of natural brutality brought to life in “El Doce de Octubre,” the foreboding quiet and chugging largesse of “Sombra de Bestia” — which accomplishes more in its two and a half minutes than bands do in their entire careers in terms of creating an ambience while still remaining outwardly monstrous-sounding — and the return to searing thrash with closer “Kay-Dur-Twenty” that seems to call back to the beginning of the record in a way that nonetheless emphasizes how far Black Cobra have actually come from that initial beastliness.
It’s hard to think of Black Cobra as underrated, but as a studio band they might be. Since so much of their focus has always been on playing live, there’s been an almost begrudging aspect to some of their studio work — as though they didn’t want to stop touring to actually record new material — but their albums have always managed to bring some new aspect to their sound, and that was true even as 2016’s Imperium Simulacra (review here) worked itself around the theme of human interaction with technology, which, like Invernal, was a subject befitting the band’s sound, this time for its precise, inhuman attack, rather than the frozen nature of its atmosphere. They’ve slowed down in terms of touring somewhat, though still hit the road significantly to support Imperium Simulacra, and continue to reside in a place between genres with a sense of willfulness in doing so. They’ve never wanted to be exclusively a sludge band, or a thrash band, or a hardcore band or a doom band. Their sound draws from all of those and more besides, but it’s in melting down these different and sometimes opposing sides and reshaping them to their purposes that is where Black Cobra manage to land so hard. And maybe being between genres as they are has contributed to that under-valuing of their recorded work. One way or the other, they’ve never been a comfortable band, and Bestial still offers no quarter to this day. It is a refusal to compromise their approach that has gone on to become one of their signature elements, and though as noted they’ve pulled back somewhat on touring and Martinez has rejoined Acid King once again on bass, it’s the studio work that is left to document who they are and were at various points, and whatever comes next from them, it’s a safe bet they’ll remain steadfast in that identity, wherever else they might take it.
As always, I hope you enjoy.
—
I’m sitting up trying not to fall asleep as I type. I’ve got one eye open and one eye closed like I’m trying to compromise with myself and let the right side of my body go back to bed — it’s not yet 5AM — while the left side stays up and finishes this thing off. I wouldn’t say it’s working, but I kind of knew that going in. Not exactly my first time at this dance.
But no, there will be no dancing.
Yesterday in the States was Thanksgiving. If you celebrated, I hope you enjoyed. Like New Year’s, it’s traditionally a take-stock holiday. Yeah, there’s the feast and the turkey, but there’s also the “what are you thankful for,” and so on. There are a lot of people and things in my life for which I should be grateful, that are better than I deserve. It is not always easy to keep that in mind, especially when you’re as much of a narcissistic shit as I am prone to being.
In two weeks I begin a two-week Quarterly Review. The countdown is on. I think it’s too weeks. Whenever December starts, that’s it. Two full weeks of 10 records a day. It filled up easily. Next week though is a bunch of reviews I want to get in before the year starts to wind down and we get into lists and all that. Greenleaf is in there, Belzebong, Green Dragon, Horehound. There are a couple premieres slated otherwise, but yeah, that’s what’s up. You’ll pardon me if I don’t do proper notes. Right now, holding shift and hitting enter seems really, really hard.
But next Friday the Year-End Poll goes up. Sneaking it in a day early this year. Don’t tell anyone. Or wait, better: Tell everybody.
We’ve been in NJ since Tuesday and have to go back to Massachusetts on Sunday because The Patient Mrs. has some fucking awful work thing that, tragically, doesn’t involve sitting on the couch and eating leftovers while watching Deep Space Nine. I’d say her loss, but I think we all really know it’s mine.
Alright. I’m gonna put the first post of the day up and try to catch some sleep before The Pecan wakes up upstairs. Have a great and safe weekend, and if you’re traveling, stay off I-95. Ha.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 28th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
The final addition to the lineup for Up in Smoke 2016, which starts this Friday at Z7 in Pratteln, Switzerland? Camping space. Namely the floor of the venue, which will be cleaned after the last band finishes each night so that fest goers can grab their sleeping bags and bed down for the night, only to find breakfast waiting when they roll back to consciousness the next morning. I’ve never slept on a venue floor before. That would be a new one. But provided they get the beer/other fluids up, which I’ve no doubt they’ll be able to do because it’s Switzerland and things like that increase the likelihood that anyone gives a shit about what they’re doing, it seems like a cool way to achieve total immersion in a festival atmosphere. I’ve never gone camping either, though, so don’t necessarily take my word as an expert or anything.
With the festival’s most massive lineup yet, Up in Smoke 2016 kicks off this Friday. A new trailer for the fest with some 1000mods in it has been posted and you can find that under the camping info and complete billing below:
SOUND OF LIBERATION and Z7 KONZERTFABRIK PRATTELN proudly present the 4th edition of UP IN SMOKE INDOOR FESTIVAL on September 30th and October 1st 2016! Musical Highlights include Electric Wizard, Yob, Truckfighters, Pentagram and many many more.
Many of you asked for the chance to sleep over in the venue, like we offered in the last editions. Here´s the procedure:
After the last band is done playing, we will go on partying with Dj music for another hour. Then afterwards, we will ask everybody to step out of the main hall for a few minutes. The floor will be cleaned and covered with a sheet so that the place gets clean for all our “in site – campers”. If you want to sleep over in the venue, you should bring your sleeping bag and camping mat. Upon your arrival on the festival site you can store your belongings in the wardrobe and get it back for the night.
In the morning, we will offer you a nice breakfast with coffee/tea, bread and breadrolls, meat and cheese and sweet stuff to get you in shape for the next festival day! The price for sleep over and breakfast is 15.- CHF per person/night. There´s no option of separate bookings like ” only sleep over and no breakfast” or “only breakfast”.
Up in Smoke 2016 Final Line Up Electric Wizard Pentagram Truckfighters YOB Elder Greenleaf Monkey 3 Cough Black Cobra 1000mods Yawning Man Fatso Jetson Dyse Wucan Desert Mountain Tribe Giobia High Fighter Mother’s Cake Ephedra
Also not to forget: No overlapping set times, sleep over/breakfast possibiity in the venue + some more specials to be announced soon to sweeten you the “TWO NOT TO BE MISSED DAYS OF VOLUME WORSHIP” !!! Grab your ticket (2-day passes) right now on our website, on www.z-7.ch and on our Facebook (tab ‘Buy Tickets’). If you prefer to buy an original, real hard-ticket, our partner Woolheads is selling them!
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 30th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
With the additions of Black Cobra, Dÿse, Mother’s Cake and High Fighter, the lineup for Up in Smoke 2016 is complete. The Pratteln, Switzerland-based festival runs for two nights, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, and will be headlined by Electric Wizard, John Garcia, Pentagram and Truckfighters, with YOB, Elder, Yawning Man, Fatso Jetson and more listed below on the bill.
Black Cobra and High Fighter are particularly interesting of this final batch of adds. I’m not an expert on Desert Mountain Tribe or Ephedra to say for sure, but it would seem the San Francisco heavy thrash duo and the German sludgecore rockers are the two most aggressive acts playing. I guess you could make an argument for Cough, but they’re more about drowning you in tone than getting a pit going, where it doesn’t seem unreasonable to think that in the right setting Black Cobra or High Fighter would do just that.
The PR wire has this:
UP IN SMOKE 2016! Sept. 30th / Oct. 1st … Black Cobra, Dÿse, Mother’s Cake & High Fighter complete the line-up!
Summer is here, and before you all go on vacation trying to find the sun far, far away (…), we’d like to give you the last bands confirmed for our Up In Smoke Indoor Festival 2016! We are thrilled to welcome San Francisco’s Hardcore-fueled Sludge Metal duo Black Cobra, Berlin’s incredible Noiserock stage freaks Dÿse, Austrian Alternative Space Rock outfit Mother’s Cake (touring with John Garcia next fall) and Hamburg’s rising Heavy Stoner Bluescore band High Fighter (who just released their debut album ‘Scars & Crosses’ on Svart Records)!!
Taking place on September 30th and October 1st 2016, in our dear Z7 Konzertfabrik (Pratteln / near Basel / Dreiländereck) this year’s edition also features Electric Wizard, John Garcia, Pentagram, Truckfighters, Yob, Elder, Cough, Greenleaf, Monkey3, 1000Mods, Yawning Man, Fatso Jetson, Wucan, Giöbia, Desert Mountain Tribe and Ephedra.
Unfortunately, the Italian band Noon had to cancel their appearance for medical reason.
Also not to forget: No overlapping set times, sleep over/breakfast possibiity in the venue + some more specials to be announced soon to sweeten you the “TWO NOT TO BE MISSED DAYS OF VOLUME WORSHIP” !!! Grab your ticket (2-day passes) right now on our website, on www.z-7.ch and on our Facebook (tab ‘Buy Tickets’). If you prefer to buy an original, real hard-ticket, our partner Woolheads is selling them!
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 22nd, 2016 by JJ Koczan
I don’t recall hearing too many complaints when Oregon visionaries YOB and San Francisco demolition specialists Black Cobra hit the road together last fall in the US, and I don’t imagine they’ll come up against much resistance when they bring the show to Europe this September and October. YOB are still out supporting 2015’s album of the year, Clearing the Path to Ascend (review here), while Black Cobra head out under the banner of earlier-2016’s Imperium Simulacra (review here), for which they’ve already toured in the States alongside Bongzilla, Lo-Pan and Kings Destroy and which offers a broader take on their trademark tumult.
The tour will hit an impressive number of festivals, from Incubate to Smoke the Fuzz to Asymmetry to Up in Smoke to Desertfest Belgium, each one basically providing an anchor with club shows in between. Looks like it’ll be a great time.
YOB announced the tour thusly:
EU FALL TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT: All current festival and show dates for our European tour this fall with black cobra are below.
Check back for more dates and ticket info, as we’ll be updating again soon!
11/09/2016 – Tilburg NL – Incubate Festival – September 2016 12/09/2016 – Dortmund DE – FZW 13/09/2016 – Aarhus DK – Radar 14/09/2016 – Gothenburg SE – Sticky Fingers // Göteborg 15/09/2016 – Oslo NO – BLÅ 16/09/2016 – Copenhagen DK – Pumpehuset 17/09/2016 – Athens GR – Smoke The Fuzz gigs Fest 19/09/2016 – Wiesbaden DE – Schlachthof Wiesbaden 20/09/2016 – Munich DE – Feierwerk 21/09/2016 – Berlin DE – Musik & Frieden 22/09/2016 – Wroclaw PL – Asymmetry Festival 23/09/2016 – Leipzig DE – UT Connewitz 24/09/2016 – Nurnberg DE – Z-Bau 25/09/2016 – Vienna AT – Chelsea 26/09/2016 – Ljubljana SL – Club Gromka 28/09/2016 – Zagreb HR – VintageIndustrial Bar 29/09/2016 – Linz AT – Stadtwerkstatt 30/09/2016 – Milan IT – Lo Fi Milano 01/10/2016 – Pratteln CH – UP in SMOKE indoor festival in Z7 02/10/2016 – Orleans FR – L’Astrolabe – Orléans 04/10/2016 – Belfort FR – La Poudrière – Belfort 05/10/2016 – Paris FR – GLAZART 06/10/2016 – Tourcoing FR – Le Grand Mix 07/10/2016 – Bristol UK – The Fleece Bristol 08/10/2016 – Glasgow UK – The Garage 09/10/2016 – Birmingham UK – The Rainbow Venues 10/10/2016 – Manchester UK – The Ruby Lounge 11/10/2016 – Dublin IRE – Whelan’s 13/10/2016 – London UK – Scala 14/10/2016 – Antwerp BE – DESERTFEST ANTWERP 2016 15/10/2016 – Hannover DE – CAFE GLOCKSEE
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 14th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Starting to get crowded on the poster for Desertfest Belgium 2016, but there’s no question the latest lineup update from the Antwerp-based Oct. fest is worth making room for, with John Garcia and Black Cobra leading the charge and the likes of Scorpion Child, JOY and Black Wizard offering backup. I can’t imagine there will be anyone in attendance at the fest who won’t be familiar with Garcia‘s work in Kyuss, Hermano, Slo Burn, Unida, etc. — I actually revisited the Vista Chino record last week on a whim; it’s held up well — and of course Black Cobra‘s devastating reputation precedes them as veterans of other Desertfests and just about everywhere else at this point.
The fest sent the following down the PR wire:
Hot on the trail of our last announcement, we present you with another load of great names to look forward to. We are delighted to welcome desertrock royalty JOHN GARCIA to the DF Antwerp stage this year, for what is sure to be a mesmerizing performance like we have come to expect from the Man. We are equally happy to announce SCORPION CHILD and BLACK COBRA, two bands with an excellent live reputation who will surely set the stage on fire. Expect no less from JOY too, a jam experience that is sure to equal Harsh Toke’s blistering performance from last year. And finally, BLACK WIZARD will be appearing to bring their homemade blend of stoner doom.
Our next announcement will be a biggie, so keep watching this space!
JOHN GARCIA
The man, the myth, the legend. John already secured his place in the rock history books as the iconic singer for the band who started it all, Kyuss. After that, he has consistently delivered only the finest in desert rock, both with outfits like Slo Burn, Unida and Vista Chino and as a solo recording artist on his 2014 self-titled album which showcased his immense talents as a vocalist and songwriter. Still one of the most powerful voices in rock music period, we’re proud to present the Man at DF Antwerp 2016.
SCORPION CHILD
Hailing from Texas freak capital Austin, Scorpion Child indeed add a slightly unhinged quality to their unique combination of classic rock influences. Their 2013 self-titled debut and the subsequent “Polygon of Eyes” single established them as a force to deal with. After that, gigs with Clutch and Monster Truck on the “Lords of the Riff” UK Tour cemented a serious live reputation as well. Now with their new album Acid Roulette, Scorpion Child confidently expands their sonic palette, but the focus is still squarely on a rocking good time!
BLACK COBRA
Formed by drummer Rafa Martinez (ex-Acid King) and guitarist/vocalist Jason Landrian (ex-Cavity), BLACK COBRA catapulted themselves onto the scene in 2001 with their ravenous, upbeat and ultimately unique style of punk/hardcore-fueled sludge metal. After several albums on At A Loss Recordings and Southern Lord, they have become virtually a household name to the tens of thousands of fans who’ve witnessed their flooring live performance.
JOY
The sound of JOY has been described as “a spaced-out sonic groove-ride” and “outer reach freak out.” Their kaleidoscopic flurry and full-throttle riffage is anchored by a subtle ear for detail and surprising textural depth. JOY has shared the stage with acts such as Dead Meadow, Harsh Toke, and psychedelic giants Earthless, with whom they now also share a record label. Tee Pee Records just released their new full album ‘Ride Along, another glorious slab of psychedelic boogie featuring members of Earthless, Sacri Monti and Radio Moscow.
BLACK WIZARD
Their performance is impressive, the sound is massive, the vocals are colossal and the guitar leads are seriously, seriously great. We could find more adjectives to describe the heavy heavy sound of Vancouver’s Black Wizard, but nobody put it better than the mysterious “Gord”, who is quoted on their website: “The only band in town that adds inches to your dick.” How could we follow up an endorsement like that!
