Posted in Whathaveyou on January 22nd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
San Diego heavy psychedelic rockers Sacri Monti have finished recording their yet-untitled third full-length for release later this year. Pictured below with producer Eric Bauer at Discount Mirrors, the band issued Live at Sonic Whip MMXXII (review here) last year through Burning World/Sonic Whip, and though one assumes Tee Pee Records will handle the studio release to come since they did 2019’s Waiting Room for the Magic Hour (review here) and Sacri Monti‘s 2015 self-titled debut (review here), but it occurs to me I have no confirmation of that.
But it seems to have been a joyous process, if the posts I saw from bassist Anthony Meier were anything to go by. Osees‘ John Dwyer stopped in for a bit, which was surely rad, and it looked like the focus was on playing live, getting that energy onto tape as best as possible. I hope to and look forward to engaging with the results and hearing what the last five years have brought to Sacri Monti‘s sound. I haven’t heard any of it beyond the new songs that were on the live record, but I’ve got a good feeling about this one with just about nothing to base that on except the band’s own history and the fact that they looked like they had a good time putting it together. But I think that might be enough to go on, at least for now.
When I see or hear anything else, I’ll post it. Expect release news and tour dates both, as Sacri Monti will return to Europe this summer and are already confirmed to appear at SonicBlast Fest and Hoflärm 2024, happening on the same weekend in Portugal and Germany, respectively. While a just-that trip would likely be intense enough to count as a whole tour, more dates to come feels like a safe expectation.
So, for now, here’s what I saw to mark the end of the recording/mixing process:
Just wrapped up recording and mixing our third studio album in the past 7 days. The process was a lot of fun and everything came together sonically with this one. It was a pleasure and an honor to work with Eric Bauer at Discount Mirrors Studio in Los Angeles. Stay tuned for release date and upcoming plans. Onward!
Sacri Monti is: Brenden Dellar -Guitar Dylan Donovan- Guitar Anthony Meier- Bass Evan Wenskay- Organ, Synth Thomas Dibenedetto- Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 3rd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
After celebrating the fifth anniversary edition in 2023, German festival Hoflärm has made known the first round of acts confirmed for its three-day stretch from Aug. 8-10. If you’re paying attention — and I know you are — that’s the same weekend that SonicBlast Fest is happening in Portugal, and Brant Bjork Trio, Wine Lips, Sacri Monti, Home Front and Poison Ruin are confirmed for that as well, so there’s going to be some driving happening that weekend across Western Europe, to be sure. Nonetheless, the initial lineup reveal for Hoflärm finds the German fest welcoming Slomatics and Siena Root in addition to the above, and from this we can glean that Brooklyn’s Castle Rat will be taking their theatrical show abroad supporting their to-be-released debut LP, and Bikini Beach, Thronehammer and Tornet round out. If this was it — and as the poster tells you, it isn’t — you’d call it three days well spent. Or I would, anyhow.
From social media:
HOFLÄRM – First Band Announcement – THE RIDE IS ALWAYS LOW
Join us 2024 for the 6th stony ride to Hoflärm! We are very happy to announce the first bands of the line-up today! We also announce the start of the presale by 01.01.2024 at 6 pm (link in bio)!
Get ready for our first Headliner @winelipsband !
Coming all the way from Canada, Wine Lips will tear down the stage with a big Mushroom Death Sex Bummer Party of their current album! If you know, you know!
Needles to say, @brant_bjork is a legend. Therefore we felt very honoured to welcome Brant, @mariolalli and Ryan Gut for the second time to the unholy woods of mary valley! Back at Hoflärm 2022 these guys visited with Stöner, in 2024 they will hit Hoflärm with a special Brant Björk set!
You wanted something new, you get something new! @poisonruin and @arewenothomefront will test you apart with their fresh sound! Poison ruin will deliver you some Infest the Rats‘Nest Vibes, while Home Front brings you the energy with their influences by Joy Division, High Vis and late 80s Post Punk.
We welcome @siena root, @slomatics and @sacri_monti_band ! These three bands are the holy trio of stoner, psych and doom!
What would be a Hoflärm Fest without our dearest Friends Sabine, Jan and Andre ? This year they will come to perform with @earthship_official
Castle Rat will be for the first time in Europe! They just played Desertfest New York with their Electric Wizard inspired Doom!
To complete this announcement we welcome @thronehammer.official , @bikini_beach_fuzz & @tornet_xvi !
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 20th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Man, you ever feel like you’re crawling to the finish line? I’m doing news catchup the next couple days, and this announcement from SonicBlast Fest came out like last weekend or some such with a first round of lineup adds for the Aug. 2024 edition of the Portuguese heavy festival — it’s the 12th one — and as I sit here with my e’er expanding ass sinking e’er deeper into the couch I feel about as far removed as I could from, let’s say, the glorious nighttime walk across the beach in Âncora that I was lucky enough to be born to eventually undertake after a night at SonicBlast earlier this year.
Not only was it my first time in Portugal and Iberia, period, but I met people I never thought I’d get to meet, saw old friends and made new ones, and for a few days pretty much lived the festival ideal. You get there, see sets, go back, write, drink all the coffee, take pictures, write more, write more, eventually collapse from fatigue, then go home with a rejuvenated spirit. You know, fest life.
Submitted for your daydreams is the initial billing for SonicBlast Fest 2024, with the heavy, stoner, psych and punk and hardcore sides of the festival represented and a solid punch of names with Graveyard, Brant Bjork Trio, 1000mods and Truckfighters. Think this means Deathchant and Sacri Monti will tour Europe together? I do. Think it means Sacri Monti‘s album will be out by then? I hope so. Deathchant, who also played this year, are awesome, by the way.
Here’s news. Tickets are on sale already:
SONICBLAST FEST ’24 – Aug. 8-10
It’s getting hard to breathe… We’re so proud to announce the first bands for SonicBlast Fest’s 12th edition!! Viagra Boys, Graveyard, Wine Lips, Brant Bjork Trio, Sunami, Colour Haze, Home Front, Truckfighters, Poison Ruin, 1000mods, Sacri Monti, Maruja, Deathchant and Máquina will join us at the craziest heavy psychedelic weekend by the ocean ⚡🌊☀️
Posted in Reviews on August 21st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
It doesn’t seem out of line to think of Sacri Monti as survivors of the San Diego heavy rock/psych scene, which is also to say that not everybody has lasted so long who circa 2015/2016 was ripping it up in what had become arguably the most vital underground in the US. And they were never the flashiest band — that was and remains a flashy scene — but they’ve put out two quality records in their 2015 self-titled debut (review here) and 2019’s Waiting Room for the Magic Hour (review here), and toured domestically and internationally to support, going about their business in almost defiantly unpretentious fashion.
Their music is not arrogant, for all its ’70s-derived swing and strut, the swirling and shredding guitars of Brenden Dellar and Dylan Donovan, Evan Wenskay‘s organ right alongside to drive the apex of “Staggered in Lies,” which also began the first LP, as it opens Live at Sonic Whip MMXXII, their first official live album. Even as they hit that crescendo, the song becoming an upward sweeping churnfest, guitars in freakout mode as bassist Anthony Meier and drummer Thomas Dibenedetto hold it together in forward movement. “Staggered in Lies” ends with a semi-big crashing rocker finish, not overdoing it, and Dellar, who’d said hello to Nijmegen before the song started as well, says, “Thank you. We’re Sacri Monti from San Diego, California.”
And so they are. Live at Sonic Whip MMXXII (on Sonic Whip/Burning World Records) is the third live release to come from the 2022 edition of the Dutch Spring festival, behind offerings from Kaleidobolt and Elephant Tree, so clearly recording the fest is producing the desired result. With a mix and master by Scott “Dr. Space” Heller (also Øresund Space Collective, Black Moon Circle, etc.) at Éstudio Paraíso, the wubbing impression made as the synth swallows the quiet guitar at the start of “Staggered in Lies” doesn’t feel like a coincidence, but there is clarity in among the stems, and way the organ emerges solo from the power-shuffle intro to new song “Immediate Death” is duly churchified. Clearly this is the magic hour they’ve been waiting for.
“Immediate Death” is one of two new inclusions, with “Desirable Sequel” later on, and has a proggy enough bounce to its verse to earn an Astra comparison, flourish of lead guitar carrying through under the verse, which is vintage wistful heavy rock of the sort Led Zeppelin could make believable and repeated depressive lyrics, “Running through this world on empty,” it sounds like the song is reassuring itself when Dellar follows with, “Trying to do the best I can.” It moves into a quick run to cap, and after, there’s a natural pause perhaps to tune up. That’s a detail not always worth keeping, but having it here makes the shift into the mellow start of “Fear and Fire” feel that much more organic. So maybe Sacri Monti aren’t the biggest bunch of showoffs ever to come out of San Diego. I don’t think you could see them live or hear them twist their way around “Fear and Fire” on Live at Sonic Whip MMXXII and not come away thinking they’re hot shit nonetheless.
It’s a rare thing for a live album to work well on headphones, by which I mean that ‘live albums,’ as a general category, can vary widely in terms of the character or flatness of their sound and the general quality of the recording — it’s off the board, fine, but mixing, mastering, and so on — before you factor in something like the actual performance. Live at Sonic Whip MMXXII has dimension enough to its execution that elements like the fluid kickdrum as “Fear and Fire” gives over directly to “Armistice” as the second in a three-song salvo completed by “Starlight” that appears in the set in the same order as on side A Waiting Room for the Magic Hour.
Particularly fiery is “Armistice” as it reminds that the prog lean showing itself in “Immediate Death” isn’t entirely new in Sacri Monti‘s aural playbook and cymbal washes into the languid groove at the outset of “Starlight,” gorgeous and bluesy and, again, worth hearing in detail as the keys and one of the guitars shift to the verse while the other guitar continues the spaceout under the vocals. Compared to some from San Diego and elsewhere, I’ve never really thought of Sacri Monti as a vintage or retro band. They’ve never touted antique recording technics or fancy costs-as-much-as-a-car amplifiers, though they might have both, but on “Starlight” especially and “Winter” to come, Live at Sonic Whip MMXXII has a vibe that’s way more MCMLXXII, which works to its benefit and adds to the vitality of the show itself. It must have been a hell of a set to see, but they sound like a band actively coming into their own touring around Europe, not yet old enough to be jaded about it (much) and about to put out a third album that will be a defining moment.
The second of the new songs, “Desirable Sequel” calls to mind some of Deep Purple‘s balladeering — as I guess it inevitably would — but has a trippy comedown after its verse and chorus that recalls the quiet start and builds to the live album’s most fervent thrust before the band lines up for cascading downward crashes for a false ending and turning back to end “Desirable Sequel” with a final chorus and instrumental run. Maybe they are flashy. Maybe they are arrogant. Maybe it’s just all in the music. Fair enough if so, as they take on “Winter” by rediscovered original-era heavy rockers Iron Claw with its memorable line of lead guitar and spaciousness to fill out in the midsection, a surge of volume and another controlled-cacophony finish not far behind. When the guitar stops, you can hear some whistling as Meier starts the bassline of 11-minute closer “Sacri Monti,” and there’s cheering at the end, but otherwise the crowd isn’t really the point here so much as the performance itself, and in that, “Sacri Monti” arrives like a victory lap (not on the vinyl), perhaps some sense of exhale after the new song and the cover back to back as they return to a comfortable, signature piece from their debut — it’s the band’s eponymous song and it’s closing the set, safe bet they know it pretty well — and explore some reaches around its well-established central groove.
Dellar offers the quick reminder, “Thanks, we’re Sacri Monti,” as they presumably begin breaking down pedal boards and keyboards and such and leaving the stage. In an hour-long set though, Sacri Monti put forth a vision of themselves as the veteran act they may yet become, mature and poised, experienced on the road and with a chemistry born out of that between players. They’re not the type of act to be out there selling themselves as a product on social media, and as dug-in as they get on Live at Sonic Whip MMXXII, they’re never any more indulgent than the song needs them to be. They perform with class, distinction and purpose, and I come away from hearing this with a really good feeling about their next studio full-length and an appreciation for the moment they’ve captured here.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 7th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
To tell you the truth, I’ve been looking for an excuse to write about San Diego heavy rockers Sacri Monti for a while now. The explosion of bands in the scene of their home city, so prevalent just a few years ago that Roadburn invited a large swath of them over to the Netherlands for a group showcase/brodown in 2018, has abetted, and players have either reorganized themselves into different outfits or turned their attentions elsewhere. It seems early to say that Sacri Monti, who’ve never been the most hyped of the bunch, are ‘survivors’ of that somewhat inevitable ebbing — their last record, Waiting Room for the Magic Hour (review here), was only their second — but especially in the post-Covid, it’s been quiet from San Diego and these guys are an exception.
Earlier this year, they returned to the road like many others around the world, and went on tour in Europe to support Waiting Room for the Magic Hour and play some new songs, playing the likes of Desertfest London and Sonic Whip in the Netherlands. It’s from the latter that their newly-announced live album will be taken — you might recall their headspinning Finnish tourmates in Kaleidobolt recently put out their own recording from the same fest — and is currently being mixed for release in Spring 2023. The fact that there are songs from their yet-unmade third album — a crucial moment for any band — bodes well, and one looks forward to this as well as that as they continue to press forward where others before them have gone by the wayside.
To everything, riff, riff, riff, there is a season, riff, riff, groove.
Hopefully more to come closer to the release:
We are releasing a live album from Sonic Whip Fest in Nijmegen, Netherlands from the last tour. Mixing is underway and almost finished. Three new surprises on the set list and a few old ones from the first two albums. We are looking forward to it and are in the process of writing the next record. Stay tuned for release date this Spring and stuff.
Not sure who took this photo too… [Ed: Photo by Maaike Ronhaar]
Sacri Monti is: Brenden Dellar -Guitar Dylan Donovan- Guitar Anthony Meier- Bass Evan Wenskay- Organ, Synth Thomas Dibenedetto- Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 7th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
They’ve been marking time for more than two years to do so, but starting late next month, San Diego’s Sacri Monti will at last head to Europe (not at all for the first time) to support their 2019 album, the prophetically-titled Waiting Room for the Magic Hour (review here). Of course, the good news here is that these shows will most likely happen, and that’s even better as stops are included at Desertfest in London, Sonic Whip, Doom in Bloom, South of Silence Fest, and Muskelrock, as well as club shows.
Some of these are prior confirmations that were delayed owing to circumstances that everyone knows and I don’t feel like talking about anymore, but Sacri Monti teaming up with Kaleidobolt — who have a new album coming soon from Svart Records — is one hell of a burner, as far as shows go. I have no doubt they will rip it up together as they go.
Dates follow, as posted by Sacri Monti on social media:
Sacri Monti & Kaleidobolt tour
UPDATED 2022 EUROPE/UK TOUR DATES
27.04.22 UK Brighton Komedia * 28.04.22 UK Bristol The Crofters Rights * 29.04.22 UK Liverpool Outpost * 30.05.22 TBA 1.05.22 UK London The Underworld (Desertfest) * 3.05.22 FRA Paris La Machine du Moulin Rouge 4.05.22 FRA Metz L’Aérogare 5.05.22 BE Brussels mag4 6.05.22 NL Nijmegen Sonic Whip 7.05.22 DE Siegen Vortex 8.05.22 DE Münster Rare Guitars 10.05.22 DE Dresden Chemiefabrik 11.05.22 DE Freiburg MensaBar / MensaGarten 12.05.22 DE Berlin Doom In Bloom 13.05.22 DE Lohr South of Silence Fest 14.05.22 CH Martigny Caves Du Manoir 15.05.22 FRA Clermont Ferrand Raymond Bar 17.05.22 ES San Sebastian DABADABA 18.05.22 PT Porto WS69 19.05.22 PT Lisbon RCA Club 20.05.22 ES Madrid Wurlitzer Ballroom 21.05.22 ES Barcelona Sala Upload 22.05.22 TBA 23.05.22 FRA Nantes Scène Michelet 24.05.22 FRA Chalons en Champagne Espace Solana 25.05.22 NL Utrecht Dbs 26.05.22 TBA 27.05.22 DK Copenhagen Stairway 28.05.22 SWE Malmö Plan B 31.05.22 SWE Stockholm Geronimo FT 1.06.22 NO Oslo Revolver 3.06.22 SWE Tyrolen Muskelrock * *only Sacri Monti
Sacri Monti is: Brenden Dellar -Guitar Dylan Donovan- Guitar Anthony Meier- Bass Evan Wenskay- Organ, Synth Thomas Dibenedetto- Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 16th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Sonic Whip are making it easy for you. Sitting around your house thinking about whether to travel to Nijmegen next May? Well, they’ve got Motorpsycho and Earthless atop a two-day bill of righteous heavy that kills all the way down the poster. Rotor? Stöner? Mythic Sunship and Slomosa? Who’s going to argue with any of that? I mean, the answer was yes on going to Nijmegen anyway, but if Polymoon and Sacri Monti are showing up, that’s all the more reason.
I’ve got a yelling four year old upstairs to go tend to — it’s about six in the morning my time, he’s up and banging around as he will — but there’s some urgency here as Saturday tickets are already sold out. There’s still Friday, for now, or two-day passes, if you want to do the full Sonic Whip 2022 experience, and apparently if you had bought in for the long-long ago in 2020, you get in automatically. That’s nice.
Here’s info and links:
Sonic Whip 2022 – May 6-7
We are back! It is time to let the guitars roar again on 6 & 7 May in Doornroosje Nijmegen.
Living legends Motorpsycho will headline Sonic Whip 2022 – Official.
Next to them we have invited Earthless, Stöner, Rotor, Sacri Monti, Maidavale, A/lpaca, Polymoon, Mythic Sunship, Slomosa and Kaleidobolt to this killer psychedelic party. And there is more to follow…
The beautiful artwork created by the talented Maarten Donders.
TICKET SALES UPDATE
We are grateful so many of you held on to the Sonic Whip 2020 tickets which remain valid for the 2022 edition. As a result of this and the recent sales the day tickets for the Saturday are sold out now!
Only weekend tickets and Friday day tickets remaining. We can promise you both days will be worth it!
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 30th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
It’s good to see you again, Desertfest London. The 2022 lineup of the esteemed British edition of Desertfest brings some returning presences who were to have been at the 2020 edition, then the 2021 — both of course gone the way of corona. But we see Electric Wizard, Shellac and Witchcraft in headlining spots, while Corrosion of Conformity will bring their delayed 25th anniversary of Deliverance to Camden Town, and returning kingpins Orange Goblin will play, along with YOB, Truckfighters, Earthless, My Sleeping Karma, Mos Generator, Conan, The Obsessed, the reunited Josiah, Lowrider come for a Refractions victory lap well earned, along with Elephant Tree, Elder, Steak, Deathrite and a ton from the UK’s own ever-blossoming underground scene — Blind Monarch, The Brothers Keg, King Witch, the more established Alunah and Trippy Wicked, and so on and so many.
Note Slomosa. Note Wolftooth. I would expect both to be touring Europe around this time. Green Lung too, for that matter.
There’s no way this isn’t going to be one to remember and it is my sincere hope to be there for it. Maybe I’ll see you there. Maybe we can hug.
Kudos and thanks to the Desertscene crew — Sarika, Jake and Reece — on and for a job well done.
Here’s looking forward:
DESERTFEST LONDON ANNOUNCE FULL LINE-UP FOR 2022 ·
A DECADE IN THE DESERT CELEBRATING TEN YEARS WITH THE BIGGEST & MOST DIVERSE LINEUP YET
EXCLUSIVE UK PERFORMANCES FROM WITCHCRAFT (FIRST UK SHOW IN OVER A DECADE) and SHELLAC
As the home for all the things truly heavy, leading independent UK festival Desertfest have announced their full line up for 2022, which will take place in Camden, London from Friday 29th April – Sunday 1st May.
Celebrating their tenth year, next year’s festival promises to be their biggest and most diverse yet. Covering six venues across the heart of Camden and now including a full line up at The Roundhouse on both Saturday 30thApril and Sunday 1st May.
Founding owner of Desertfest Reece Tee comments, “Desertfest is 10 years old! I’m so proud that our independent festival has stood the test of time. What we have created is special, a decade of great bands, great friends and amazing memories. This year’s line up is a true reflection of how diverse Desertfest has become and with such a loyal audience, Desertfest can champion the underground for decades more to come.”
Headlining the Friday will be Swedish heavy rock masters Witchcraft, with a UK exclusive performance and their first UK show in over a decade. Saturday’s headliners are none other than Chicago’s Shellac, who in another UK exclusive will be bringing their experimental post-hardcore sound to the Roundhouse. Fronted by the iconic Steve Albini, Shellac are one of those bands we all need to experience live, at least once. Whilst closing the festival on Sunday will be UK doom legends Electric Wizard, whose heavy sound encompasses the spirit of Desertfest.
Other acts confirmed include the likes of Corrosion Of Conformity, Orange Goblin and Truckfighters who all played the festival in its debut year in 2012 and there are further UK exclusive performances from hardcore-punks Integrity and the Ukrainian psych space rock trio Somali Yacht Club.
The festival will also see desert legends Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri’s new band Stoner, who will be playing the Electric Ballroom and doomed heavy metallers Khemmis making their UK debut at The Underworld.
Please see below for the full Desertfest 2022 line up / stage splits. Tickets are on sale now and are available at www.desertfest.co.uk
NEW TICKETS FOR 2022 Weekend Ticket (all venues) – £132 +fees Friday Day Ticket (all venues) – £45 +fees Saturday Day Ticket (all venues) – £50 +fees Sunday Day Ticket (all venues) – £50 +fees Saturday Roundhouse only – £35 +fees Existing ticket holders from 2020’s postponed event have a number of options as the festival is now larger, with an added Roundhouse line-up on Saturday 30th April & Sunday 1st May.
EXISTING WEEKEND + DAY TICKET HOLDERS OPTIONS Full refund Weekend roll-over to 2022 without Roundhouse upgrade (access only to Electric Ballroom, Underworld, Black Heart & The Dev) Weekend roll-over to 2022 with Roundhouse upgrade – £15 +fees Day ticket holders can upgrade to a full weekend ticket – £92 + fees – or will be issued a refund. Upgrade options only available until May 7th ’21. For any ticketing enquiries please contact sarika@desertscene.co.uk
Desertfest 2022’s artwork is hand drawn by legendary artist Arik Roper who has created illustrations for the likes of Sleep, Earth, Sunn O))), High on Fire, Kvelertak, Windhand and many more. As always, posters and other merch will be available to buy at the festival.
