Let’s talk about Acid King. I know it says ‘review’ up there, and that’s all well and good, but in this case, that’s really just me needing to categorize a thing. I remember Acid King getting announced for Roadburn 2011 in Tilburg, the Netherlands. I remember the poster art that’s now the cover for Roadburn Records/Burning World Records‘ Live at Roadburn 2011 live album. I remember that they played the same day as Wovenhand. I remember being stoked to see them, not for the first time, but on the Main Stage of the 013 venue. It was the biggest stage I’d ever seen them play on, and the way the San Francisco trio filled that room with sound — it was smaller then, you’ll recall — was incredible. It was like Lori S.‘s fuzz swallowed Tilburg. The whole town. Not even just the Roadburn part. I’m pretty sure they were feeling the rumble over by the university.

Some sets stay with you over time. I’d seen Acid King before and I’ve seen them again since, but on that stage, with that sound system, and with that crew, it was something special. I could say the same of Colour Haze in 2009, Ufomammut in 2011 or Sleep in 2012, among countless others (one should note that Dead Meadow‘s 2011 set has already been released, and so has Ufomammut‘s, and Godflesh‘s; it was quite a year). But even on Live at Roadburn 2011, you can hear it when Lori intones, “Tell all the people/That I’m on my way,” the sense is that, yeah, she means all the people. You want to run out and let the world know. I don’t know what chain is being broken on “Silent Circle,” taken as is the opening title-track from 1999’s ultra-classic, seriously-I-mean-it’s-one-of-the-best-heavy-rock-records-of-all-time-and-if-you-don’t-agree-there’s-a-good-chance-I’ll-think-less-of-you-as-a-person Busse Woods (discussed here, discussed here, discussed here), but clearly it doesn’t stand a chance against the rattling force of Acid King on that stage. Pushed ahead by then-drummer Joey Osbourne and underscored by the low end of Mark Lamb‘s basslines, Acid King‘s sound was engrossing in the extreme. You could stand there and nod, and you could stand there and nod.

As a live album, it runs a tidy-enough 47 minutes. The show begins with a simple “Alright,” and then a pause presumably while the steam engines that powered their Orange stacks that day got going. “Busse Woods,” again, is the opener, followed by the hooky “2 Wheel Nation,” which led off 2005’s III (discussed here), which it’s worth noting was the band’s latest record at the time, already six years old. That tradeoff, Busse Woods into III, plays out again with “Silent Circle” and “On to Everafter,” and in the closing duo of “Electric Machine” and “Sunshine and Sorrow,” but the ride along the way is sweet, thick and for the most part molasses slow, emphasizing just how much Acid King are able to make a riff roll in a way that’s not only been hugely influential over a generation of heavy rock and then some, but in a way that despite the best efforts of many is still utterly the band’s own.

I watched some of the set from the side of the stage — traditionally, at the Roadburns I’ve been fortunate enough to attend, I’ve given myself one band to do that for; I don’t want to be in the way, but just once for something special — and I watched from the back of the house. When they were done, you could hear the crunch of the plastic beer cups on the floor as people filed out, no doubt to grab some munten tokens and purchase their next round, and as I remember it, things felt quiet. That might honestly be me projecting in hindsight, but I kind of stood there for a while, stupefied, exhausted from travel but very much alive despite having been chewed up and spit out by what I’d just seen and heard. These 11 years later, and especially given the events (and in terms of concerts, lack thereof) over the last two years, hearing Acid King‘s Live at Roadburn 2011 feels like something precious.

And yeah, that might be true of any number of live albums that happened to be made at a show you attended. It’s always cooler when you can say you were there. But god damn. Consider the unveiling of “Coming Down From Outer Space.” What would eventually show up on 2015’s Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere (review here, discussed here) — which came out on Svart Records, no less — was aired in the midst of the show, right between “On to Everafter” and “Electric Machine.” There was no grand announcement, no “Here’s a new one” or anything like that. Just feedback and then the riff that would in no small part define that album, itself a landmark that continues to hold up. Immediately catchy, immediately spaced out to suit the title, “Coming Down From Outer Space” here only leaves me wondering why Live at Roadburn 2011 is the first Acid King live outing, and sits easily among the already-then-familiar cuts from III and Busse Woods. And even for being unfamiliar at the time, that it heralded more to come from the band was a joy and a relief to witness.

Understand, as a fan of the band, I want this release to do well because I believe strongly in what Acid King do and I want them — or Lori S., who is now the sole remaining founder and has a different lineup in place — to continue doing it, but I can’t and won’t try to separate this live record from my experience of it, and if nobody buys it and it’s a huge flop or whatever, I’m still happy it got made because damnit, I want it for myself. You either get Acid King or you don’t. They’re either pioneers who helped shape the sound of modern heavy or they’re not, and if you think not, I seriously doubt any ranting and raving from me about how great their Roadburn 2011 was is going to change your mind. But know this — if you don’t appreciate this band, everything we as listeners get from them, it’s your loss. As a member of the human species. Your loss.

Good talk. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a preorder to wait on.

Acid King, “Electric Machine” Live at Roadburn 2011

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[Click play above to stream ‘What Needs Must Be’ from Dead Meadow’s Live at Roadburn 2011 on Burning World Records. Preorders go live next Friday through Bandcamp.]

It was the most fuzz. And Roadburn wasn’t exactly light in that regard circa 2011. The renowned Dutch festival that year featured the likes of Zoroaster, Quest for Fire, Naam, Acid King and The Atomic Bitchwax… on the first day. L.A. by way of D.C. three-piece Dead Meadow played the last day, what was then called the Afterburner (review here), and their slot could not have been more appropriate. Sandwiched between Coffins and evening headliners Black Mountain on the Main Stage, they offered a mellow-heavy hour that was utterly consuming. People in the back sat down. Not out of fatigue, though it has been a long weekend by then, but just to let the warmth of Jason Simon‘s buzzing guitar wash over them. Joined by Steve Kille on bass and Mark Laughlin on drums, Simon‘s urfuzz and unfailingly drifting vocals filled that space with a laid back vibe and groove that that Burning World Records‘ Live at Roadburn 2011 presents in all its Sasquatch-inclusive righteousness.

Of course, Dead Meadow by then were on their way to being veterans already. More than a decade into their career, they’d released Three Kings (discussed here) in 2010 as a semi-live album/video, and that followed their fifth album, 2007’s Old Growth. Their Peel Sessions collection would show up in 2012, but as regards live records, they’d also done Got Live if You Want It! in 2002 following their 2000 self-titled debut and 2001’s Howls From the Hills (discussed here). Strangers neither to performance nor captured-performance, then, and Live at Roadburn 2011 brings that spirit to bear. Though the Alexis Ziritt cover art offers a glorious mania of colors and lines, planets, stars, an undead wizard and hooded mandrill acolytes, the 53-minute set itself is more about what Dead Meadow do within that abiding sense of mood, seeming to go deeper and deeper into nod until finally, with “Sleepy Silver Door,” it engulfs everything.

That set-closer was also the opener of the self-titled, and if Dead Meadow have a signature riff, that might be it (they’d revisit it in 2005 as part of a 13-minute jam), but on Live at Roadburn 2011 it’s also part of the larger story of side B and of course the LP as a whole. After launching with “Good Moanin'” and “Let’s Jump In” from 2003’s Shivering King and Others and 2005’s Feathers, respectively, their course is set between dense Orange-toned riffing and open-stretch psychedelia, and even as “What Needs Must Be” from Old Growth pulls back from the farther reaches of ‘far out’ to bring a bit of boogie to the proceedings, the ethereal sensibility remains in the solo even though the overarching rhythm is tight in its stops and starts, a kind of rolling swing that reminds that Washington D.C. was once the funk capitol of the US as well as the seat of government.

I’m trying really hard not to say the word “vibe” too many times, but that’s really what it’s all about. Heavy chill. As side A plays out, Dead Meadow speed things up through the first half of “Indian Bones,” bliss out in the middle and bring it back around in time to squeeze in “September,” which would close 2013’s Warble Womb, and “Rocky Mountain High” from the self-titled ahead — if nothing else, you’ll know it by the repurposing of the riff to Black Sabbath‘s “Iron Man” — of the big turn to “Beyond the Fields We Know.” One doubts Dead Meadow were thinking of putting the set out on vinyl at the time — you can’t ever be sure — but as regards the LP, it’s telling that side A features six tracks and side B only three. The band structured their set to follow a linear path outward. That’s not to say it lacks dynamic along that. Certainly as “Beyond the Fields We Know” hits nearly 10 minutes and “Sleepy Silver Door” nearly 11, for all the jamming going on, those two songs still come with the relatively straightforward strum of “At Her Open Door” from Feathers in between.

And just as certainly, that song trips out far and wide in its second half, riding its solo jam to the finish, so Live at Roadburn 2011 isn’t just one thing or the other, but the let’s-get-gone is palpable, and they invite the crowd along with them on their way. The performances of “Beyond the Fields We Know,” “At Her Open Door” and “Sleepy Silver Door,” compiled together on a single vinyl side, would be enough to justify this release. That they happen to occur at the end of an already right-on set is a bonus. I don’t remember at what point it was they brought out Sasquatch, but I remember whoever it was in that hairy, had-to-be-really-really-hot costume sleeked out onto the stage with the trio, sort of slow-’70s groove-walked around, checking things out. Went behind the drum riser. Went over by Kille and by Simon. Kind of hung out in the middle and danced for a bit.

But the thing about that moment — yeah, it was a novelty — but it was also a perfect fit. You stood there and, oh, here comes Sasquatch. Well of course. In the interest of full disclosure, I took the picture that appears on the inside gatefold of the LP of the elusive North American Skunk Ape hanging out with the band on stage (no money changed hands), but in the interest of fuller disclosure, no one gives a crap. What’s important for you to know is that the vibe — there’s that word again — was such that when it happened, you just went with it. It was unexpected, and hilarious, but it just became another part of what Dead Meadow already had going on that Sunday evening in Tilburg. And so, incredible.

Maybe it’s 2020’s effect of making one extra nostalgic for live music, the festival spirit, but the intervening nine years have done nothing to dull the luster that Dead Meadow show on Live at Roadburn 2011. I can only speak as someone who was fortunate enough to be there to see it, but that set was something special, and not just because of the ‘squatch. Dead Meadow sounded glad to be there, like they were rising to the occasion, like they realized it was more than just another gig, and Live at Roadburn 2011 resonates all the more for documenting that so well.

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