Posted in Whathaveyou on January 31st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Esbjerg Fuzztival last week added Dead Meadow as their first night’s headliner. Today brings word of the final lineup addition: Ukrainian progressive heavy rockers Stoned Jesus.
There’s a full set video below of Stoned Jesus in their current incarnation playing a festival in Germany last year, or at least a show outside. I put it there for two reasons. One, there’s a point in the second half where the guy who’s up front filming goes for a beer, and he keeps filming — the essential documentarian. Two, I saw this band, this version of this band, in 2024 (review here). It was my first time seeing them, and it only underscored the impression given by their records, that they are a band who care deeply about their songs, who respect their audience, and who are able to create a sense of presence on stage while remaining humble in it. Good band, in other words. You get some sense of the dynamic in the clip, plus the sound is good. You can really hear him order that beer.
I don’t know the status of such a thing, but I’m expecting a new Stoned Jesus album before the end of the year. Does that mean one will happen? Nope. But I’ve got my hopes up and you know that even while they might go on a tour celebrating their XVth anniversary, they’re even more interested in moving forward as a band. If it’s 2026 before it happens, fine, but it’s still only January. They’re still with Season of Mist for the new one so far as I know.
And the bottom line is they’ll kill it at Esbjerg Fuzztival 2025. I believe this is the last of the announcements for the 2025 lineup, so keep an eye for day splits and, if you can go, have a great time:
ESBJERG FUZZTIVAL 2025 – Stoned Jesus
Here is our last announcement for Fuzztival 2025:
Stoned Jesus will be the perfect way to wrap up Fuzztival as our Saturday headliner!
We hardly have to say much about this band: Ukrainian progressive rock and doom combined, with a sabbath worshipping first album, that we still spin in plenty here, not to mention a second album that has become a legacy in the stoner/doom community with the epic chant I’m The Mountain. This band alone is worth both the ticket price and the trip, so don’t sleep on it: it’s pay-day after all!
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 24th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Last week, Esbjerg Fuzztival set forth on a series of weekly lineup additions by adding Danish heavy psych forerunners to the bill, and today they follow that rather substantial happening by announcing that Dead Meadow will headline. The Californian outfit will be on tour in Europe supporting their upcoming album, Voyager to Voyager, which is out March 28 through Heavy Psych Sounds. And as Dead Meadow have been previously confirmed for Freak Valley Festivalin Germany, which happens June 19-21, two weeks after Esbjerg Fuzztival, it seems likely they’ll spend at least a substantial part of June on the road. Fair enough. The new single “The Space Between” is below, and I hope to have more on the record — like a review, I mean — before it’s out.
Esbjerg Fuzztival 2025, meanwhile, I expect will be back next Friday with another name to drop for its bill, which in addition to Dead Meadow and Causa Sui includes Wyatt E., Daily Thompson, Karkara, Daevar, Dunes, Skyjoggers, Green Milk From the Planet Orange, Aptera, Djinn, the house band Vestjysk Ørken, and yes I did just cut and past that from the last post. It doesn’t make it less true, and among the crowded sphere of European festivals, you can see Esbjerg Fuzztival developing over the last several years its niche in heavy psychedelia and a range of jammy, heavy or trippy sounds. Dead Meadow can fit with any of it, so could hardly be more fitting to headline.
From social media:
ESBJERG FUZZTIVAL 2025 – Dead Meadow
Headlining Friday night at Fuzztival 25 we have Dead Meadow (Official) the American Heavy Psych pioneers! For nearly 30 years this is a band that have continued to push boundaries and set the gold standard for other bands to follow. We never thought the day would come where we would be able to present Dead Meadow – one of our all time favourite bands!
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 17th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Taking part in a bill that also includes Wyatt E., Daily Thompson, Karkara, Daevar, Dunes, Skyjoggers, Green Milk From the Planet Orange, Aptera, Djinn, and the house band Vestjysk Ørken, it’s hard to think of Causa Sui coming to the lineup for Esbjerg Fuzztival 2025 this June as anything other than heavy psychedelic figureheads. Not only to they represent the national underground of Denmark, where the fest also takes place (in Esbjerg, oddly enough), as one of the country’s greatest exports, but they bring a veteran presence among a slew of up and coming bands. I don’t know that they’re headlining and I don’t know that they’re not, but you would definitely expect to see them later in the day, whichever day they end up playing.
This announcement — and I think Causa Sui are a band to stand well alone — is the first of three that Esbjerg Fuzztival will do for its 2025 edition over the next couple Fridays. I’m going to try to keep up with it — you might recall Desertfest Oslo did something similar in Dec. — and so keep an eye next Friday to find out who else is still to come. I think these are the last lineup adds? I only know what I’m told, but either way, the more Causa Sui play the more live albums they might put out and that’s a thing that makes the world a better place.
From the PR wire:
ESBJERG FUZZTIVAL 2025 – Causa Sui to Play!!
Proud to once again host the legendary Kings of instrumental heavy psych Causa Sui.
Just a few months ago they released their newest album “From The Source” and hailed as a landmark achievement from a band that consistently change up the definition of what a “heavy” sound can be. The epic 23 minute long “Visions of a New Horizon” takes everything you know about heavy psych, strips the sound to its core and add layers upon layers of abstract beauty. No words are needed when they play, yet so much emotion is translated through their vibrations. This band is pure art, and we are looking forward to once again just stand in silence and awe and be moved.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 26th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Okay, so yeah, Esbjerg Fuzztival made its first lineup announcement a couple weeks ago, and I’m behind on posting it. Are they going to make another announcement today like right now this afternoon? I don’t know, probably. I do my best to keep up.
In any case, the lineup is right on for the Danish two-dayer fest set for this coming June. Skyjoggers impressed on their recent split with Sula Bassana, and Karkara and Wyatt E. bring a vibe for sure, Djiin too with that harp — it’s quite a sight to behold — and Green Milk From the Planet Orange will carry their righteous weirdness to Europe for at least a month starting in May, while hometeam players Vestjysk Ørken will once again take the stage to launch the proceedings, as has become an annual tradition.
In addition to this announcement, the fest has announced it’ll be promoting a selection of club nights under the banner of ‘Fuzztival Presents…’ which is a natural extension of what’s been a successful festival buildout over the last however many years. Worth keeping up with announcements if you follow Esbjerg Fuzztival on socials. I bet they pull in some good gigs over the course of the year.
From the internets:
ESBJERG FUZZTIVAL 2025 – First bands announced AND partout tickets now available!!
We are proud to announce the first line of bands for Fuzztival 2025!
Skyjoggers from Finland caught our eyes and ears at a festival in 2024, and we instantly had to have them! Musically representing what it is to travel through time and space as a living being, their brand of krautrock inspired heavy psych is exactly what we need!
KARKARA is one explosive powertrio combining garage and fuzz with middle eastern sounds, in a unique way that found their way to our ears.
Wyatt E. Is a Belgian doom outfit, and that’s pretty much all the info we have, as the band remains cloaked in mystery. They write the soundtrack of a pilgrimage to Neo-Babylonian Empire, which they call music for gods and Antiquity Doom. It’s doom and drone and sounds pretty damn good to us.
Djiin is a psychedelic stoner group from France fronted by the enigmatic Chloe Panhaleux on vocals and electric harp. They had us at electric harp!
Green Milk From The Planet Orange is a Japanese heavy psych, prog-rock and punk outfit. Fully experimental sounding, this is an act you can’t miss!
Vestjysk Ørken is THE best house band this side of 1973! Heavy Psych blended with cosmic doom and a total disinterest in doing anything like anyone else, they will once again open the festival on Friday!
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In light of our success with recent club shows (and with new possibilities in Esbjerg) we are looking at hosting TEN club shows in 2025 under our “Fuzztival presents…” concept!
If your band is planning a tour in 2025, be sure to hit us up by mail! Or get your booker to do so – that’s what you pay them for! Contact info on our website www.fuzztival.com . Only 3 of these are booked already, so hurry up! Touring bands only.
Lokalt DK band der gerne vil opvarme? I skriver da også bare!
These 10 shows will be hosted at the new “Kulturscenen” in Esbjerg.
Meanwhile we’re waiting anxiously to announce both these shows and the remaining bands for Fuzztival 25! We had planned to announce more bands Friday but have been asked to sit on the news just a little bit longer. Maybe next week? Probably next week.
Partout tickets, 1-day tickets and kiddie-tickets are already available.
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Our second announcement adds another 4 bands on the poster, with three headliners still TBA!
First new band on the bill is Daily Thompson a German desert grunge trio that are no strangers to the European stoner festival circuits, Influenced by bands like Alice in Chains, Sonic Youth, Kyuss and The Smashing Pumpkins.
DAEVAR @daevargram is another German trio that considers themselves a doom grunge outfit ala Windhand. We can’t wait to finally experience the mysterious hand of DAEVAR reach out to grip the soul of whomever is ripe for the taking.
Dunes is a UK stoner rock outfit out of Newcastle, and they sound just like their name implies. Known for marrying up hard hitting riffs with hook-laden melodies, the three-piece channel a handful of Northern grit through the fuzzed-out, cranked-up, trip-tinged sounds of the infamous generator parties of the 90’s desert rock scene and the beer-soaked, sweat-drenched, feedback engulfed clubs of the grunge era.
Lastly we are presenting Aptera which is a heavy doom/metal 4-piece, that we think you guys are going to dig quite a bit. We know you like it heavy. Hailing from Brazil, Italy, Belgium, and the US, Aptera have risen from the seas to join forces in Berlin. Playing a mix of sludge, doom, blues, and classic metal glued together with some punk grit, Aptera is a guttural cry that will lure you to your destruction.
Don’t forget that both Partout Tickets and Single-Day Tickets are already available! We’ll be revealing our headliners in the new year!
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 2nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Last we left them, Denmark’s upstart Esbjerg Fuzztivalwas teasing six more bands to add to finalize its bill for May 2022. Hell if they haven’t done precisely that thing. I’ll note that while my immediate association with acts called Khan goes right to the Australian sludge band, there is a Danish Khan as well and I’m not sure which is being confirmed here. As of me writing this sentence — your yesterday — neither act had posted one way or the other.
However, I am definitely sure which Conan, Domkraft, The Spacelords, Kombynat Robotron and Syreregn they’re talking about, even if I wasn’t previously familiar with the latter, whose 2019 LP, Cogito Ergo Sum, was released by Kozmik Artifactz, starts with a reminder that there is no spoon, and can be streamed in its entirety below. These last six round out a killer lineup that as I’ve been saying all along is most definitely the biggest that Esbjerg Fuzztival has put together, and if you’re headed to Denmark in May — why not? — get yourself in shape for 12 hours of heavy across two days that well earn the bigger poster they needed. Right, frickin’, on.
The fest’s announcement follows here from social media:
“We’re gonna need a bigger poster”
Thanks for your patience! To celebrate we decided to announce the last bands for Fuzztival 22, and they are HUGE!
PROUD to present… CONAN, DOMKRAFT, KHAN, THE SPACELORDS, KOMBYNAT ROBOTRON & SYREREGN
We can’t even believe we managed to pull off this ambitious a lineup on just one stage over two days! Near non-stop music Friday & Saturday from 1pm—1am both days! We present to you our picks of the very best in Heavy Psych and Doom. So so much doom. So so much heavy.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 3rd, 2021 by JJ Koczan
As they started hinting toward announcements for 2022, the Danish fest Esbjerg Fuzztival made it known that they were shooting for the biggest edition yet. Bringing Truckfighters down from Sweden to headline the first night of the two-day proceedings does nothing at all to hurt that cause. Pulling bands from Norway, Poland, the UK, the US, Chile, Germany, now Sweden and of course Denmark itself, Esbjerg Fuzztival has made itself a genuinely international concern, and with more acts still to be unveiled — six more, including a Saturday headliner — it seems like anything else they want to bring in at this point is gravy to an already rock solid lineup.
Hard to believe it’s been five years since Truckfighters released 2016’s V (review here), but I guess it’s been a tumultuous few years. They had some controversy around that record, then announced a hiatus in 2018 that lasted just about a year before they started playing festivals and touring again, then 2020 happened. They recently announced a stint alongside fellow Swedes Asteroid and Greenleaf for March into April (holy hell I want to go) and provided any of it can happen at all, it looks like they’ll be getting back to their live-focused ways in 2022.
I don’t know if they have new songs or whatnot, or if they feel like they even need them, but 2021 marks 20 years since their start and they’re exactly the kind of band who can be announced as a fest headliner and make somebody’s night by kicking ass on stage as they so reliably do.
EsbjergFuzztival is a fest of short announcements. Here’s the latest:
We are PROUD to present our Friday night headliner… TRUCKFIGHTERS!
These legends of the desert need no further introduction! Full festival partout tickets are available now!
17 of the finest and fuzziest bands out there. Oh, and Vestjysk Ørken.
Full festival tickets available now. 1-day tickets available at a later time.
Lineup so far: Truckfighters (Friday headliner) Bongzilla Dopelord Weedpecker Papir Purple Hill Witch Kal-El Ritual King Arteaga Bogwife Vestjysk Ørken *Plus Six More TBA!
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 22nd, 2021 by JJ Koczan
By my count there are still eight more acts to be announced for Esbjerg Fuzztival 2022, among them two headliners. That count also doesn’t include the potential three more who would/will join the lineup if/when — because it’s good to be optimistic about these things — the Danish festival reaches 400 tickets sold.
Among the groups added to the already formidable bill — which boasts Bongzilla and Weedpecker and the others below — you’ll note the inclusion of Papir, who are shortly to release their new album, 7, on Stickman Records. The fest posted at one point that it considered Papir the most underrated Danish band going. That’s a pretty fair assessment, the more I think about it. Having been fortunate enough to see them live, their chemistry is something unique even among the crowded sphere of heavy jammers, and while the Danish underground is pretty underrated as a whole — I’d extend that to include the likes of Gas Giant and Baby Woodrose — there’s no question Papir are a special group. Probably don’t need to say this, but I’m looking forward to that album, which is out in January.
The below isn’t from the PR wire, but I kind of assembled it from social media posts making the announcements. Esbjerg Fuzztival keep it short and sweet in revealing acts, which as someone who periodically writes announcements for other fests, I can appreciate.
To wit:
We proudly present… DOPELORD at Fuzztival ’22!
Full festival partout tickets available NOW! Get yours before December 31st and help us add another night of fuzz and THREE more bands!
Fuzztival proudly presents… PURPLE HILL WITCH!
We proudly present PAPIR, RITUAL KING and BOGWIFE at Fuzztival ’22!
More bands TBA including two headliners!
Partout tickets now available. Day tickets available in 2022.
Remember to buy your tickets ASAP! If we reach 400 by new years eve we’ll add a FREE pre-party Thursday the 12th with THREE additional bands!
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 28th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Esbjerg Fuzztival has persevered through cancelations and reschedulings and setbacks like everyone else, but they’ve done so without flinching and they’ve done so with a special fervency toward putting on the best show they possibly can under the circumstances. With Bongzilla announced among their first bands — I’m not even sure if they’re headlining — the promise for 2022 to be the Danish two-dayer’s biggest year yet seems like one they’re no less intent to keep. Right on. They’ve built a cult following and what seems to be a supportive community around it and that’s the ideal no matter who shows up on the bill. If you don’t have that vibe, all you’re doing is putting on a show.
They’re set for May 13 and 14 at the Tobakken Esbjerg in — you guessed it — the city of Esbjerg, which is on Denmark’s west coast, about three hours straight shot from Copenhagen. I don’t know where you fly into if you’re flying over, but it sure would be fun to find out. Ha. In any case, these people do good work and are fun to keep up with. I’ll hope to do just that as we get nearer to next Spring.
Tickets go on sale this weekend. Here’s the latest:
Tickets and more band announcements soon! But let’s just say: ’22 will be our BIGGEST festival ever!
Fuzztival proudly presents… KAL-EL!
Do you like to groove and dance and be merry? Then you came to the right place! Nothing better than a day full of stoner rock to get those hips moving.
Hot from the Chilean highlands Fuzztival proudly presents… ARTEAGA!
Their distinct brand of satanic retro acid fuzz is not to be missed at their first show in Denmark!
Full festival partout tickets available October 31st! That’s THIS Sunday! We have plenty of huge bands still TBA! Don’t miss the party of the year!
