Freak Valley Festival 2022 – Day 3

06.17.22 – Fri. – 12:51 – Picnic table, side of lawn

Would you like to squeeze the wobbocado? And no, that’s not the worst innuendo of all time. It wobbles, and it’s an avocado stress ball with a smiley face on it. I’ve just about worn it out, but I have a spare if I need it. You deal your way and I’ll deal mine.

It’s going to be hotter today than yesterday, so I’m told. So be it. The production crew is setting things up. On the stage, Revvnant are soundchecking drums, placing synth and keys centerstage as if to offer a clear signal that something different is coming. The beer truck seems to be cleaning its lines — respect — and shade is at a premium.

In the pre-fest narrative of my expectation for coming to Freak Valley for the first time, this was the day I figured on being most exhausted, and at least so far, that’s how it’s panned out. So it goes. You sit when you can sit, drink water. The eggs I think helped, and I haven’t quite given myself an ulcer yet with coffee, so clearly there’s work to be done there. But I’ve got time. Doors open in about two minutes. Again, the calm.

Like My Sleeping Karma before them — and with two shared members — The Great Escape have bowed out of their anticipated reunion set, with Glasgow Coma Scale stepping in. Bummed, since I remember playing The Great Escape on the radio in college and digging those records, but seeing another band I’ve never seen before and wouldn’t otherwise get the chance to see is not a hardship.

Someone mentioned yesterday that a few years ago it rained and was kind of a wet mess, and you can see where it would be for sure. Something has bloomed here — the same thing as at home, whatever it is — and I can’t breathe for the allergies, but that’s a small price to pay for the outdoors and the experience. I haven’t seen the campsite yet and I may or may not get up the hill to it but there are tents down by the road as well and walking past those last night in the foresty dark felt intrusive enough. You have to balance these things.

First band, 2PM and on from there. Going to be a busy one, but standing on the edge, I’m looking forward to diving in again. And I did dunk my head in the kiddie pool yesterday and will likely do so again.

Here’s the blow-by-blow of the day. Thanks if you check it out.

Revvnant

And now for something completely different. True to Elias Mays Schutzman’s roots as a drummer, there is neither guitar nor bass, but two keyboard and synth setups and drums and, during the first song, ukulele. The uptempo “The Revvnant” (posted here) had the still-assembling crowd dancing a bit and “Death Cult” worked in a bit of space rock, at least beefier the heavy roll and piano finish, and though I’ve written about the project before and about Schutzman’s other bands — Black Lung and The Flying Eyes, the latter of whom played their last show here a few years ago — I was intrigued to see how the band would take shape and how the songs would come across like. The answer is that among the 15 other bands who have played Freak Valley so far, Revvnant are on their own wavelength, and if you’re going to start someplace, that’s where you want to be. Bonus points to them for saving the real dance song until the end. The trick will be getting the right scope of production, but this stuff on record could be mind-altering. Nothing but potential.

—

Djiin

Djiin are more than just a great harp. But they also have that, so, bonus. Their second LP, Meandering Soul (review here), came out last year on Klonosphere, and they were true to its heavy bluesy foundation, and they certainly capped their set in driving fashion, but on stage they brought psychedelic expanse and classic heavy to bear as well, a cacophony emerging gradually that grew fiercer as they moved toward the finish. I knew I wanted to see them, but I didn’t know how much until they really got going, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many labels are trying to poach them as we speak, because they’re young, they dress the part, they play well, they sell it on stage well — they’re not just standing there — and they have cool, varied songs. Shit, if I had a label I’d be chasing them up too. They have a firm idea of who they are and seem right on the cusp of further realization. I had a good feeling when they started all minimal and quiet, and it was a pleasure to follow the path of that winding, dynamic build.

—

Swedish Death Candy

Now that’s a name. They’re from the UK — which, for however long they end up being a band, may just always need to be said, so they might want to get used to it — and they didn’t kill anyone except maybe their own riffs, and the candy thing, nope. But you know, Swedish Death Candy’s weighty moniker is also kind of a description of their sound. Psychedelic, grunge toned, intermittently dreamy like post-rock or all out heavy, they seemed to change up their sound while creating a palpable atmosphere. Near the end, the guitarist seemed to have some trouble with his guitar and so wound up plugging into a keyboard across the stage and just mashing away madly — it was noisy and exciting — and they came back around from that to a multi-tiered heavy psychedelic build that took my head to Colour Haze, and that’s never a thing I’m going to complain about. When they wanted to they could really ride a groove, and they did but they’re clearly not interested in doing any one single thing. Their last album, Are You Nervous? (yes, perpetually; I take pills for it) came out on 2019, and I missed it, as I will, but I’ll think of their set as a learning experience.

—

Glasgow Coma Scale

Yes, that will do nicely, thank you. Stepping in for The Great Escape, whose Matte Vandeven took ill, Glasgow Coma Scale came from Frankfurt — hey, me too! except presumably they live there — and made an offering of mellowed-out, warm-toned instrumental heavy psych-prog, which if that sounds like a lot, well, it is, but they make it flow easily with a range of effects and languid grooves. One of the best bass tones I’ve heard this weekend, and I’ve heard a few by now, and they were kind of in league with Toundra aesthetically, if more subdued on stage. Again, I was reminded of My Sleeping Karma, with the floaty noodling guitar and solid drums behind holding it together, but especially in light of the circumstance, the fact that they were able to fill in on such short notice. One might think they’d feel rushed playing or something like that, but not from what I can see and hear in the sundry peaks and valleys of their material. They’re well suited to this fest, the spirit of the thing and the fact that I’ve been here three days now and not run into one asshole. Of how many places on earth could you possibly say that right now?

—

Daily Thompson

Dortmunder trio Daily Thompson exude an obvious love for what they do. It’s amazing how much smiling is taking place on stage. The whole time but right now as well. And all the while, they draw a line between happy grunge, heavy psych and a jammy take, with all three of them contributing vocals. Another band I never really thought I’d see, they’ve got stoners doing handstands in the crowd, and no I’m not speaking figuratively. There’s at least one O see over there. And whatever the band are doing, they make it swing, and that’s a thing to love. I’ve dug their records, last year’s God of Spinoza (review here) was a good time and then some, but of course there’s more character and depth to the sound live, though they also have a good amount of variety in the set. The sprinkler kicked on while I was taking pictures and I got surprise-sprayed, but it’s so hot in the sun I didn’t even care. Camera was fine — by which I mean it’s still broken — and beyond that, I was only glad for the wetdown. I’ve been in and out of water all day. There’s a shower in the building backstage. I put that shit as cold as it could go earlier and didn’t even take my shoes off when I got in. Zero, zero regrets. Glad to have refreshed before seeing this band for the first time, especially with that last jam.

—

Green Lung

Ayo, Green Lung are the real deal. I wouldn’t lie to you. I was expecting professionalism, and that’s what was delivered. They do justice to their records — last year’s Black Harvest (review here) was one of 2021’s best LPs, no question — and then some, and with the organ, the shred solos, the push of the drums, Tom Templar’s presence as a frontman bringing an edge of metal to the proceedings, they’ve got everything working for them. Their songs are memorable, their performance suited to a stage this big, and they got on, hit it, and there was no question. They owned the moment. Rest easy, Freak Valley, you’re in good hands. “Reaper’s Scythe,” “The Ritual Tree,” “Leaders of the Blind,” “Woodland Rites” and damn near everything else they played was a highlight, and their energy was electric. Nuclear. Time to go on tour forever, gentlemen. And in the name of all that is cultish and/or unholy, put out a fucking live album. People need to know. I’ll hope to be here next time they play and they’re headlining, and in the meantime, “Graveyard Sun” is my favorite song off Black Harvest — those keys are even more Type O Negative live — and I get to say I saw it happen on stage. No bullshit: Where this band is playing is where you want to be. They ran a little long and got cut off, but still. What a show.

—

Leech

Heavy, instrumental psych, but more on the post-rock side of things from Switzerland’s Leech, who’ve been at it more than two decades and who featured the first ‘xylosynth’ I’ve ever seen or heard. They also have regular synth, so they’re covered either way, and for an act I knew next to nothing about before coming here today, they were engaging while staying true to the atmosphere of the music, which of course is heavily atmospheric. If you’re wondering, the bubbles have started up again but they’re filled with smoke now, which suits where we’re at in the evening. It’s starting to cool off after being hotter than [fill in your own hyperbole for a very warm day here], and Leech are immersive in a way that live music doesn’t always get to be. And they started a couple minutes late but it didn’t matter once they got into it. It’s the right kind of thing for when you can start to see the colored lights on the trees that they have at night here, and the crowd, smoke bubbles and all, is totally along for the ride. Hell, I’ll go too and see where it ends up. Just as soon as I grab another coffee. Or maybe I’ll just stay right here. The finale was even prettier, it turned out.

—

Reignwolf

The factoid that Seattle’s Reignwolf played Lollapalooza six years before releasing their debut album on 2019, and that they toured with Black Sabbath on 2014 tells me there is significant management behind them. I don’t have a clue who that might be, but kudos to them on placement. To be fair, vocalist/guitarist Jordan Cook is very obviously insanely talented. Playing as a duo, Reignwolf brought a riotous, classic shred amid heavy blues vibes with way blown out vocals. He had a kick drum at the front of the stage, jumped off our during the first song, then the drummer left the stage and Cook ended up behind the kit playing guitar and drums at the same time, singing into his pickups. Then they moved part of the drum kit to the front of the stage and continued to deliver a rock show like some idealized version of your dad used to make. “Reignwolf loves you, Germany,” said Cook before leaving the stage 20 minutes early and thereby telegraphing the encore to come. They’ll play another festival tomorrow, and another the day after that. Respect the hustle, even if it’s not really hitting home for me. I give points like mad though for a white dude playing boogie blues rock without trying to sound like he’s Chester Frickin’ Burnett. Shouldn’t be that hard, but it’s rarer than you’d think. Reignwolf made it sound easy. Pro band, pro show, even if what they were being pro at was raw in form.

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Red Fang

I still have Red Fang songs stuck in my head from seeing them in New York a few weeks ago (review here), but I’ve never seen them that they sounded as huge as coming from that stage, and goodness gracious it works for them. The band seemed genuinely happy to be here, and their set was a shove in the direction of awesome. I’m not sure I understand why they don’t just record all their albums on stage, since they’re no less tight than they are on record, and they absolutely crush. They’ve always been a live band, and one expects they always will be, but with, again, having recently seen them in a headlining role, they made this one feel special and I think the crowd could feel it. I could. Smiles on stage, and Aaron Beam asked if everyone was allergy after the long day in the sun. In fact, I did see one young woman being walked out through the backstage area to a waiting ambulance. And folks were swaying this way and that. Over by the merch where I stood I could see some beginning to make their way back to the campsite — fair enough; that’s a decent-sized hill — but I’m dead serious when I tell you I’ve been hearing Red Fang songs on the ol’ mental jukebox for the better part of the last month, and I guess that’s not going to stop anytime soon. I call that a win. They don’t just make heavy fun, they make it heavy. A lesson in the benefits of touring forever and a welcome finish to day — wait, what day is it? — three of Freak Valley Festival. Have I mentioned how stupid lucky I am to be here? I’ll say it again, just to be sure. I am stupid lucky to be here.

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06.18.22 – Sat. – 10:29AM – Hotel

I’m not sure how to properly express the relief I felt last night when I came into the hotel room and took off my socks. True liberation. Of toes.

Breakfast did me so much good yesterday I just now repeated the same course of eggs and cheese. Shower in a bit. I stink. Long, hot day yesterday. And the day before. That shower in the AWO International building was a godsend yesterday afternoon. Zero qualms about walking around with my head soaking wet dripping all over myself. And I’ll always remember the time I got surprise-sprayed by the sprinkler. Gave the people up front a laugh, anyhow.

Today will be hot too, I think. The sky has that summer haze that I recognize from home, settled over everything but still letting the sun through to burn your ass. Or at least your face. Buying a silly hat was the right choice. Utility. Survival. Shower. Now.

Thank you for reading. More pics after the jump.

Read more »

I’m not asking for much here, just let me go. I just want to go. It’s only a few days, and it’ll be June so whatever wave of whatever variant we’ll be in of this endless fucking pandemic shouldn’t be too terrible. But come on. Pelican and Supersonic Blues and Slomatics and Temple Fang and Elder and Geezer and IAH and Fu Manchu and The Midnight Ghost Train and Green Lung and Revvnant and Monster Magnet headlining and, and did I mention Slomatics yet because increasingly it’s starting to feel like Freak Valley Festival 2022 is being put together as a favor to me and it seems like the very least I can do is go. I just want to go.

That’s all I’ve got. I wrote this announcement for the fest. It’s a good batch of bands and that’s about the depth of insight I have on the matter just now:

Happy New Year, Freaks!

We know things are crazy right now just about everywhere, but we’re still doing our best to bring you the biggest celebration of Freak Valley Festival ever. How could we do otherwise?

Today’s announcement is huge and includes another headliner! Let’s welcome RED FANG to Freak Valley!

This will be the first time in Siegen for America’s overlords of Pacific Northwest rock and roll, and they come supporting their new album ‘Arrows,’ which reminds that nobody out there throws a party quite like they do. Their shows are the stuff of legend, the record rules, and the time is right. We can’t wait to see what they bring to our stage!

BLACK MOUNTAIN will also play on the Wednesday of the festival. If you’ve bought three-day tickets, we’re making more tickets available for the Wednesday show, so don’t miss out! It will sell out again!

Progressive heavy rock mainstays ELDER will also return, along with Chicago’s instrumental innovators PELICAN and even more!

Behold!

NEW ADDITIONS TO FREAK VALLEY 2022:
Red Fang (headliner)
Black Mountain (playing Wednesday)
Pelican
Elder
Reignwolf
Mondo Generator
Daily Thompson
Leech
Green Lung
Temple Fang
Swedish Death Candy
IAH
The Re-Stoned
Les Big Byrd
Slomatics
Supersonic Blues
Revvnant

Still more announcements to come!

Freak Valley Festival // No Fillers – Just Killers

Freak Valley Festival 2022 IS SOLD OUT.

June 15-18 2022

https://www.facebook.com/events/2434350453469407
https://www.facebook.com/freakvalley
https://www.instagram.com/freakvalleyfestival/
https://twitter.com/FreakValley
http://www.rockfreaks.de/
http://www.freakvalley.de/

Red Fang, “Rabbits in Hives” official video

Maryland Doom Fest 2021 is set for Halloween Weekend, Oct. 28-31, in Frederick, Maryland. Some of the acts on the newly announced bill are carryovers from the first-delayed-then-canceled 2020 edition — among them Sasquatch, Worshipper, and so on — but it’s worth noting that among those and others, the likes of The Age of Truth will have a new record out by this Fall, and pre-pandemic, Boozewa didn’t even exist. So yes, things have changed.

For further proof of the festival’s stylistic branching out — and with this many bands, they’d just have have to — you’ll note the departure in the poster art from the fest-standard purple toward a greater range of color. The music they’re pushing is likewise broader in palette, and to think of seeing the likes of Howling Giant and Revvnant alongside Arduini/Balich, Omen Stones, and Place of Skulls is an encouraging thought indeed. This even was much-missed last year.

Expect a time-table sooner than later, as organizer JB Matson doesn’t screw around when it comes to that kind of thing. The lineup announcement — short and sweet, as ever — is further proof of same.

I don’t know what the world’s gonna look like come Halloween, but I know damn well this is one reason I’m glad I got that vaccine.

[UPDATE 04/30: Black Road and Vessel of Light can’t make it. Lo-Pan and When the Deadbolt Breaks have been added. If there are any further changes, I’ll probably just make a new post.]

To wit:

Here is the Md Doom Fest 2021 roster folks!!!
Halloween weekend – Oct 28-31, 2021
WE CANNOT WAIT TO DOOM WITH YOU!!

Lineup:

Poobah, Sasquatch, Place of Skulls, Lo-Pan, Lost Breed, Cavern, Horseburner, Spiral Grave, The Age of Truth, Mangog, Wrath of Typhon, Helgamite, Almost Honest, Indus Valley Kings, VRSA, Monster God, Et Mors, Astral Void, Worshipper, Boozewa, Admiral Browning, Omen Stones, Formula 400, Molasses Barge, Arduini/Balich, Dirt Eater, Dyerwolf, Ol’ Time Moonshine, Shadow Witch, Revvnant, Bloodshot, Ritual Earth, Gardens of Nocturne, Conclave, Crow Hunter, Bailjack, Warmask, Akris, Alms, Thunderbird Divine, Strange Highways, Howling Giant, Yatra, Jaketehhawk, When the Deadbolt Breaks, Grave Huffer, Dust Prophet, Plague Wielder, Weed Coughin, Morganthus, Tines

www.marylanddoomfest.com
#4daysofdoom

https://www.facebook.com/MdDoomFest/
https://www.instagram.com/marylanddoomfest/
www.marylanddoomfest.com

Industrial music has always been about isolation. As peppered as the ’90s were with caricature images of spiky-haired ravers dressed in black engulfed by dark mechanical sounds, the actual processes by which the likes of Nine Inch Nails, The Electric Hellfire Club and others patterned their work were much more singular. Locked in a room in keyboards, synthesizers, recording gear. There’s a romance to it, but even that is the romance of loneliness. Is it any wonder industrial music is swinging back around as hard as it is?

To wit, Revvnant, the new solo vehicle of Elias Schutzman (also of Black Lung, formerly of The Flying Eyes) plus a few others, have a new single: “The Revenant.” With lyrics building from Baudelaire — that most junk-wagging of French poets — and a video that includes an apparently-real human skull, there’s no shortage of theatricality to the clip that accompanies the song, but industrial music always had an eye toward presentation anyway, and so Schutzman and Anne Godoneo are right on target in that regard. The song, though, is more than just a display of affection for Pretty Hate Machine, as its weighted guitar and post-rock/metal sensibility bores through the rhythmic intensity surrounding and an overarching vocal melody floats above the wash.

The video — a product of quarantine and thus all the more fitting the loneliness discussed above — comes with a warning for those who are sensitive to flashing images, and it’s well earned. If that’s you, I might suggest checking out the Bandcamp page instead, where I’m sure the song will show up sooner or later. “The Revenant” has something of a different stylistic feel than either “Automatic” (posted here) or “The Second Coming” (posted here) which preceded it, but as Schutzman builds out the project, one can increasingly get a sense of the richness and scope as it expands, and that’s only becoming more exciting a prospect the farther he goes.

Enjoy:

Revvnant, “The Revenant” official video

WARNING: This video may potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy.

Created by Anne Godoneo
https://www.annegodoneo.com
https://www.instagram.com/annegodoneo

“The Revenant” is the eponymous second single from Revvnant, a musical adaptation of Charles Baudelaire’s darkly sinister poem “Le Revenant”. Set against the backdrop of pulsating drum machines, heavily distorted synths and Schutzman’s haunting vocals, it’s reminiscent of Kraftwerk and Nine Inch Nails, while sounding completely unique. The video, created by Brazilian photographer and video artist Anne Godoneo, is an intense visual experience, equal parts eerie, entrancing and mind melting. Using occult and devilish imagery from classical artwork, as well as a real human skull, Revvnant embraces their identity as a Satanic artist, not afraid to deal in blasphemy. The video was created remotely while both Schutzman and Godoneo were locked down in the Covid-19 pandemic, using the tools they had available at home.

Revvnant is the new creation of songwriter Elias Schutzman (drummer of The Flying Eyes and Black Lung) that finds him leaving percussion behind for analog synthesizers, drum machines and fuzz pedals. Drawing from the realms of trip-hop, dream-pop, industrial and doom, the sound cannot be defined by any one genre. Although Revvnant is Elias’ solo vision, the band is a shape-shifting outfit of collaborators, including Trevor Shipley on keyboards and Sidney Yendis (mem. of Burnpilot) on drums. Revvnant’s first show was a sold out support gig for Orville Peck in 2019, and this year the band was scheduled to make their debut festival performance at Freak Valley Festival with Pelican, Witchcraft and Elder. It’s now been rescheduled to 2021, for obvious reasons. For now, enjoy “The Revenant”… and Hail Satan.

Revvnant on Instagram

Revvnant on Thee Facebooks

Revvnant on Bandcamp

I do my best to not talk about politics on this site, and I’m not always successful. I am of the firm belief that everything — even the decision not to talk about politics on this site — is political. So as Revvnant, which is the post-The Flying Eyes project helmed by that band’s drummer Elias Schutzman (here cast as a multi-instrumentalist/vocalist), unveil the new single “The Second Coming” with lyrics derived from Yeats‘ poem of the same name — “what rough beast” and all that — it’s harder than usual not to engage with the political moment in which we’re living. As much as COVID-19 would seem to be the plague of our times — or at least until the next one hits — perhaps too one might consider the persistent spread of the schism between sides of humanity that might lead some people not to care as others are dying. I know that’s nothing new, but it sure is stark these days.

If you’re not considering radical labor action, you probably don’t work at a grocery store right now. I know the young woman who scanned my blueberries at Shop-Rite yesterday was thinking about putting a bullet in my brain, and I can’t fault her for that.

Capitalism. Symptoms and causes.

Enjoy the track:

Elias Schutzman on “The Second Coming”:

Shortly after the 2016 election I came across the apocalyptic poem “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats… It perfectly expressed the existential dread I was feeling so I decided to put it to music, enlisting the help of Adam Bufano (my long time bandmate in The Flying Eyes) on guitar. I wasn’t really planning to release it, but in this moment it feels so relevant. This song isn’t the “feel good jam” people probably wanna hear right now. But for me music is supposed to express truth, no matter how dark and ugly that is. And the truth here is we are in deep shit. We have a “leader” who cannot, or will not adequately protect us in this time of crisis, instead feeding us incessant lies and looking out for his own self interest. If we don’t remove this human virus from office, we will truly reap the whirlwind…if we haven’t already.

Lyrics adapted from William Butler Yeats’ poem “The Second Coming”…

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”

released March 24, 2020

Elias Schutzman- Vocals, Synthesizers, Programming
Adam Bufano- Guitar
Stella- Backing Vocals

Produced and mixed by Elias Schutzman

https://www.facebook.com/revvnantmusic
https://www.instagram.com/revvnant
https://revvnant.bandcamp.com/

Revvnant, “The Second Coming”

Freak Valley 2020 has revealed its official poster art, once again contributed by Sebastian Jerke who has done the past I-don’t-know-how-many-years. It’s a kind of deer-fox-wolf-dragon-warthog beast that, well, if you look to long at it might just haunt your dreams, but is unquestionably exquisite in its detail and creativity. From the forked tongue to the fact that it’s holding a tattered black flag and the logo of the festival like a trophy it just won for Most Horrifying Thing With Feathers, it’s every bit the hoodie-worthy level of work one has come to expect from Jerke, who is no stranger to killing it.

Speaking of killing it — FUCKING BEASTWARS ARE PLAYING FREAK VALLEY. I’m thrilled to say I’ve got my flight booked, and no, I have no clue how to get from the airport in Frankfurt to Siegen, and no, I have no clue where I’m staying when I get there, but hot damn, I’m going to Freak Valley 2020. Thanks so much to the festival for inviting me. This is a trip that has been years in the making and I could not possibly be more stoked on it, not the least because it means I’ll see Beastwars, whose work I’ve spent the last decade being pummeled by. Elder ain’t bad either. Ha.

All kidding aside — of course Elder are amazing blah blah blah — this is a pretty killer round of adds. I wrote the announcement, as I’ve done all the Freak Valley 2020 announcements, and I didn’t know Hank Davison at all, but his stuff is pretty right on, and I felt like having seen Sunnata in Norway last October gave me a distinct advantage in understanding where the band was coming from. Revvnant‘s recently-unveiled single bodes well for that set’s experimentalist bent, and while I won’t give The Great Machine too many points for the title of their most recent album, their stuff is pretty off-the-wall heavy in that kind of what-you-wish-Queens–of–the–Stone–Age-became kind of way. I’ll take that.

So here you go. If you’re going, I’ll see you there:

Freaks, The Countdown Is On!

Every one of these announcements brings us closer to Freak Valley Festival 2020 and we can’t wait to welcome you all. There are some huge names coming to the lineup this time, so let’s get down to business!

Join us in welcoming Elder, Beastwars, Sunnata, The Great Machine, Hank Davison & Friends, and Revvnant!

ELDER

Do they need an introduction? We certainly don’t think so. They stand among the next generation’s most crucial and most progressive heavy acts to be found anywhere. With guitarist/vocalist Nick DiSalvo and new drummer Georg Edert based in Berlin, the four-piece are half German at this point, so maybe we’ll think of them coming to FVF as something like a hometown show! Why not? Their upcoming album, Omens, is out in April and paints a proggy wonderland of heavy riffs and lush melodies like never before, with DiSalvo and Mike Risberg’s guitars and keys fleshing ever further out and Jack Donovan’s bass holding down the band’s inimitable groove. They are one-of-a-kind and stand among the upper echelon of modern heavy. There. How’s that for an introduction?

BEASTWARS

You asked, we answered. Let’s face it, Beastwars coming from New Zealand to play at Freak Valley is a gift we’re giving ourselves as much as we’re presenting them to you. For years, we’ve watched and admired from afar as their crushing riffs resonated from Aus/NZ tour after Aus/NZ tour and when the band broke up following 2016’s ‘The Death of All Things,’ we thought we’d never get the chance to witness them in-person. It was facing mortality that brought them back together for 2019’s ‘IV,’ but their sound was as much a physical sonic force as ever, and their sludge will be even more epic coming from the stage. If you know their albums, you already know why we’re so excited. If not, there’s still time to get yourself educated.

SUNNATA

Those who’ve paid heed to the weighted prog rock/metal of Poland’s Sunnata — whose style is like a plant grown from roots of grunge that reaches out to the stratosphere — can attest to the sense of poise and presence they bring live. Their studio work is melodic and forward thinking, to be sure, and on stage, the band transform themselves as a part of the ritual of playing. It’s not just about headbanging or throwing themselves into the songs, it’s about watching their communion with the material as the play, and thus having your own experience with their work. While avoiding all cult rock cliche, they actually bring a ceremonial feel to each performance, and we know you’ll agree as we bring them to Freak Valley 2020.

THE GREAT MACHINE

From the raging speed-punk of “Bitch Too” to the sprawling nod and crash of “DM II,” Israeli three-piece The Great Machine made one hell of an impression with their 2019 album, ‘Greatestits,’ and we knew there was no way we could let 2020 pass without inviting them back to play Freak Valley Festival for the second time. Maybe you caught them in 2017 as they were supporting their ‘Love’ album — “South West Sugar Rush,” anyone? — but you can still expect something new and off the wall for their return. And anyone else who didn’t see them last time? Yeah, you’re in for a treat.

HANK DAVISON & FRIENDS

You Freaks outside of Germany might not be as familiar, but Hank Davison is an institution when it comes to biker blues. From his days leading the Hank Davison Band to his solo acoustic work and more recently finding a middle ground performing unplugged with Hank Davison & Friends, the man himself brings a sense of outlaw country danger and classic blues to everything he does. At the tender age of 63, Davison sets the standard for badassery everywhere he goes, and you know we love our blues here at Freak Valley, so get ready to get down as the “Face of a Wanted Man” itself comes to our stage for the first time. We promise it’ll be something you’ll be talking about long after the weekend is over.

REVVNANT

Back in 2018, it was with bittersweet joy that we played host to the final gig from Baltimore-based blues rockers The Flying Eyes, whom we loved dearly. Revvnant is a new project spearheaded by Elias Schutzmann (also of Black Lung) that brings him out from behind the drumkit to front the band based around psychedelic and progressive experimentation, analog synth, washes of effects noise, soulful vocals, the occasional bit of death-whistle and more. Joined by keyboardist Trevor Shipley and Burnpilot’s Sidney Yendis on drums, Revvnant seem poised to blow open the doors of perception, and we can’t wait to watch them walk through as they forge their own path forward.

Still more to come!

FREAK VALLEY 2020
No Fillers – Just Killers

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Elder, “Omens”

I don’t feel like it’s a risky political position to not support murder either on a mass or individual scale. Violence is a ubiquitous and foundational part of American culture, from the ongoing subjugation of the Native American population as part of the colonial process, to the continued stain on the nation’s soul that slavery represents — implicit bias, cultural appropriation, casual racism, fear, microaggression; it’s its own list — to the regular slaughters that pepper the news, to the rise of Antisemitism and xenophobic jingoism, to the glorification of rape for shock value in media at the same time an entire landscape of sexual violence is being unveiled, to every time a husband batters his wife behind a closed door and no one ever knows about it, or worse, everyone does but can’t or won’t do anything in response. As a people, we are complicit in violence against the earth itself every time we wear mass-produced clothing, eat Roundup-treated produce shipped by a truck, or run tap water through a 60-year-old lead pipe, use a car, plug in a refrigerator, or heat our homes. It is the way the world has been arranged for us and for as long as there is a planet hosting us, it is the inheritance our species will pass to the subsequent generations that follow our path, either blindly or conscious of their own shame.

It doesn’t matter whether you believe these things or not. Glaciers fall into water. People die. Life proceeds until it doesn’t. And violence was by no means invented by America, though American gun culture, as Revvnant‘s Elias Schutzman examines in the new single “Automatic,” does seem to be something that, at least for now, is particular to the national character. In the “Automatic” video, drone-wave undulations of riff and far-back dream-style vocals are set to footage of firearms being shot and various other portrayals of violence throughout culture, some insidious — televangelist preachers knocking people over to heal them, snakedancers, Charlie Manson, etc. — some subtle like the staring eyes of Bill Cosby selling Coke, Burt Reynolds smacking Marc Summers from Double Dare on The Tonight Show, and so on. But the visual hook is guns, and the focus is guns. Schutzman, formerly the drummer of The Flying Eyes and currently also in Black Lung, is hardly the first to tackle the subject, but the means through which he and Christopher Stone and Dave Gibson — who made the video — use it to tie the various sides together into a single description/perspective is clever and no less hypnotic than the song, which sets its trance around the refrain, “You’d better pray that god is really dead.”

So be it.

Revvnant, which also features Trevor Shipley (who worked with both The Flying Eyes and Black Lung in the past) alongside Schutzman, are donating proceeds from this debut single to the March for Our Lives via their Bandcamp, and there are far worse ways you could spend your money. Like on a gun. Or a snake.

Video and info follow:

Revvnant, “Automatic” official video

Elias Schutzman on “Automatic”:

“Automatic” is my livid critique of American gun culture, the epidemic of mass shootings, and the profiteers who lobby to keep the system in place. It’s just one of the many viruses that have infected our society. People have an almost erotic obsession with their firearms. Many will claim it’s for safety, when the hard facts show owning a gun makes you statistically less safe. I think it’s really about a false sense of power, when you feel powerless about everything else in life. And after every mass murder, gun sales go up, and masters of this bloody industry get richer…”

Video created by Christopher Stone and Dave Gibson

Buy the single here: https://revvnant.bandcamp.com/track/automatic
All proceeds will be donated to March For Our Lives (marchforourlives.com).

Lyrics:
“Words carry disease
Murder feeds families
God killed himself from shame

You’d better pray
That god is really dead

All hearts flirt with insanity
Tools of men worshipped so easily
Auto-erotic war machines
Breed violence, a quest for infamy

You’d better pray
That god is really dead

Where do we place the blame?
Evil, a flawed society?
Or masters of blood and industry?

You’d better pray
That god is really dead.”

Revvnant is Elias Schutzman (Vocals, Synthesizers, Programming), with Trevor Shipley on guitar.

Mixed by Mickey Freeland
Mastered by Alan Douches

Revvnant on Instagram

Revvnant on Thee Facebooks

Revvnant on Bandcamp