They call them a Massachusetts band, but the truth of the matter is much more complex than that. Their roots are in the Bay State, and Black Pyramid guitarist/vocalist Darryl Shepard still resides there, but drummer Clay Neely lives in Georgia and bassist Dave Gein is on the West Coast in Los Angeles, so it’s not exactly like these dudes are just going to call each other up and meet in a basement and jam and then go play Berlin. The mere fact that they’re getting together at all is an event, let alone that their performance at Desertfest 2015 will be part of a European tour with dates still to be announced.

There hasn’t been much word from Black Pyramid since Neely moved following their 2013 release, Adversarial (review here), and performance at Hellfest in France. With Shepard and Gein having subsequently moved forward with the offshoot project The Scimitar, whose debut, Doomsayer (track stream here), came out earlier this year, it was easy to speculate that Black Pyramid‘s day had come and gone. We’ll see if they manage despite the distance to put together any kind of new offering to coincide with the tour, but even the fact that Shepard, Gein and Neely are able to coordinate hitting the road is excellent news as far as I’m concerned, even if I’ve got about a snowball’s chance in hell of being there to see it.

Desertfest Berlin kept the announcement short and sweet, confirming Black Pyramid thusly:

Massachusetts Black Pyramid confirmed to bring their Psychedelic War Metal to DesertFest Berlin 2015! Prepare to be crushed!

DESERTFEST TICKETS available on :
http://woolheads.com/cms/produkt-kategorie/festivalmerchandise/desertfestberlin/tickets-desertfestberlin/
(83€ + shipping)

DESERTFEST BERLIN #4 – APRIL 23th, 24th, 25th 2015
ASTRA KULTURHAUS / F-HAIN/X-BERG BERLIN (GER)

Red Fang + Orange Goblin + My Sleeping Karma + Black Pyramid + Brutus + Dopethrone + Lo-pan + Mountain Witch + many many more acts:)

www.desertfest.de
www.soundofliberation.com
facebook.com/pages/Black-Pyramid/49292323952

Black Pyramid, Adversarial (2013)

Hot off the release of their fourth album, Colossus (review here), Ohio fuzz rockers Lo-Pan have been announced as taking part in Desertfest Berlin 2015. The announcement follows a recent schism/split with guitarist Brian Fristoe, and since Lo-Pan are also slated to play Roadburn and have shows booked before then and will be touring Europe as well, one can’t help but wonder who’ll be handling guitar for them going forward. No word has come out yet in that regard, but I’ll let you know when I hear what’s up.

In the meantime, good for the band — who killed when they came through recently with Black Cobra — for getting over to Europe. Feels a little overdue for how hard they’ve slogged it out in the States, but better late than never, and I’m sure they’ll find open arms waiting for them at Desertfest, Roadburn and wherever else they might wind up.

Two-in-one news: first, we are pleased to tell you that fuzz rockers Lo-Pan join the SOL family and will be touring in April! Then, we are proud to add them to our DesertFest Berlin line-up! Stay tuned for more news!

We stoked to announce that fuzz rockers Lo-Pan are now confirmed to kick a good deal of ass at Desertfest Berlin 2015!

With “Colossus”, LO-PAN’s last album – released about a month ago on Small Stone Records – the Columbus’ four-piece have moved beyond their influences and arrived at their own sound – a “style built on aggression without caricature, fuzz without cliché, melody without redundancy and their meanest groove to date.” (The Obelisk)

Do not miss them! DESERTFEST TICKETS available on :
http://woolheads.com/cms/produkt-kategorie/festivalmerchandise/desertfestberlin/tickets-desertfestberlin/
(83€ + shipping)

DESERTFEST BERLIN #4 – APRIL 23th, 24th, 25th 2015
ASTRA KULTURHAUS / F-HAIN/X-BERG BERLIN (GER)

Red Fang + Orange Goblin + My Sleeping Karma + Brutus + Dopethrone + Lo-pan + Mountain Witch + many many more acts

www.desertfest.de
www.soundofliberation.com
https://www.facebook.com/lopandemic
https://www.facebook.com/DesertfestBerlin
http://smallstone.bandcamp.com/album/colossus

Lo-Pan, Colossus (2014)

Currently banging out a quick round of dates in Canada and a couple US shows surrounding ahead of hitting the road with Opeth and In Flames in December, raucous Portland heavy rock forerunners Red Fang have been announced as headliners for the London and Berlin 2015 editions of Desertfest. Both fests will take place at the end of next April. They join Sleep as one of the headliners for London and Orange Goblin‘s 20th anniversary special for Berlin, of course among many others and more to come.

Announcements from both Desertfests follow, yoinked from the PR wire:

RED FANG confirmed for Desertfest London 2015!

They need no introduction, each one of their gigs turns into the best metal party you’ll ever have: ladies and gents, we have the immense pleasure to confirm RED FANG as second headliner of DESERTFEST LONDON 2015, which will take place on April 24-26th in Camden.

For the fourth year running, Camden will be hosting one of the most exciting stoner/doom/sludge/psyche gatherings in Europe, for a full weekend of fuzzed-out tunes, psychedelia and partying. As the first headliner of this 2015 edition, American stoner rock pioneers SLEEP will be treating the Desertfest crowd to the finest smoked-out odysseys, with an exclusive headlining set at London’s famous venue Koko. Also headlining, Portland’s heavy rock’n’rollers RED FANG are set to turn this fourth edition into a massive metal celebration. The ground is set to tremble once again this year, with UK metal heavyweights ORANGE GOBLIN delivering their fiery metal anthems for a one-off 20th anniversary performance. It’s very rightfully than German psych foursome MY SLEEPING KARMA will be perfectly embodying the cosmic side of this first announcement.

Desertfest Berlin – April 23th, 24th & 25th 2015 – Red Fang added to the Line-up!

The fourth edition of our festival will take place once again in the famous ASTRA KulturHaus, in the beating cultural heart of BERLIN (F-Hain/X-Berg), from APRIL 23TH to 25TH 2015! We already look forward to welcome you again : 196 days left to wait :)

On the programme: 2 stages, around 25 bands playing across the 3 days, a beergarden, a hippie corner market and art exhibits… you know the formula… but also a bunch of new suprises that you will discover soon enough!

We started in September to unveil the first bands of a line-up that will totally blow you away, with a lot of exclusive/special shows: ORANGE GOBLIN “20 Year Anniversary Special Show”, MY SLEEPING KARMA “Album Release Party”… And we are proud to announce today that Portland’s Hard Rock Heroes RED FANG will headline one of the 3 nights!!

EARLY BIRDS TICKETS can already be purchased for 75€ via the link you will find a the end of this release!

https://www.facebook.com/redfangband/
http://www.leedstickets.com/eventinfo/4318/Desertfest-2015-24th-26th-of-April
http://woolheads.com/cms/produkt-kategorie/festivalmerchandise/desertfestberlin/tickets-desertfestberlin/

Red Fang, Whales and Leeches (2013)

Wherever it might be taking place, Desertfest does not waste time. Mere weeks after the 2014 fests in London and Berlin, Desertfest Belgium was announced, Sleep were revealed as the headliners for London next year, and now comes word that tickets for Berlin are already on sale. 11 months out from April 23, 2015, you can get your Desertfest Berlin ticket — and further, if you do, they’ve got a t-shirt to go with it. Not too shabby.

The Berlin Desertfest, which is presented by Sound of Liberation, has tapped French poster art/screenprinting duo Elvisdead to create the official event poster, and you can see the results in the worm-eaten-looking skull below. Elvisdead also did the 2013 poster, which was similarly themed if not necessarily as directly dark (Ammo did this year’s). Nobody’s been revealed for the lineup as yet, but as past years have shown, the poster isn’t necessarily indicative of the brutality level of the fest itself. Probably a good thing or they’d have to rename it altogether, but still, it’s a cool-looking design and it’s probably best to get used to looking at it now, since there are another 343 days until the fest kicks off.

Click the poster for a higher-res look and find the order link for Desertfest Berlin 2015 tickets below, courtesy of Sound of Liberation:

*** DESERTFEST 2015 POSTER – ELVISDEAD ARE BACK ***

Hey Guys,

So far you got a preview on this page, but it’s time now to unveil the whole OFFICIAL POSTER for DESERTFEST BERLIN 2015! As you can see, our great Elvisdead are back!

We hope you’ll like it as much as we do!

—–

Remember that our EARLY BIRD HARD TICKETS are already on sale on http://woolheads.com/cms/produkt-kategorie/festivalmerchandise/desertfestberlin/tickets-desertfestberlin!

Order yours before the end of MAY and get a free shirt, button and sticker of your choice! Rock on…

Elvisdead on Thee Facebooks

Desertfest Berlin’s website

Sound of Liberation on Thee Facebooks