Posted in Whathaveyou on June 23rd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
I had the sincere pleasure of watching Samavayo play early this year at Planet Desert Rock Weekend V in Las Vegas (review here), as well as the sincere pleasure of meeting them and spending some actual human, not-at-show time together, which for me is both rare and awesome. They’ve never been the biggest band, never had the hype, but the truth is that they’re 20 years on from their debut album, Death.March.Melodies, and are continuing to explore new spaces not only geographically, but stylistically. A group that has grown as the people who comprise it have grown. Human, only, you know, without the awfulness pervading the species generally.
Samavayo will follow their first US run this past winter with their first UK run this coming Fall. Yes, they’ve done London — they’ll be at The Black Heart again on this run, which is a place of which I retain fond memories — but this will be their first time (keep on) rollin’ through more of the country, and the dates are below. Note that next month they’re at the legendary Stoned From the Underground in Germany, for I believe not at all the first time.
The band sent the dates down the PR wire:
SAMAVAYO – HEAVY TRIP TO BRIT – UK TOUR ’25
We’re back – and 2025 is shaping up to be a year full of firsts!
After our first-ever US tour this past January, we’re beyond excited to announce our very first UK tour coming this October!
Huge thanks to Sound of Liberation, Buried in Smoke, and Jake Cook from the Margate Rock Festival for the support and for making this amazing tour happen.
After many one-off shows in London over the years, it feels incredible to finally spend several days touring the UK – and to explore cities beyond the capital.
Meanwhile, we’re deep into writing new material for our next album – and we’ve already got a bunch of heavy riffs brewing.
But right now, all eyes are on “Stoned From the Underground”, where we’ll hit the stage on July 12. This festival has always been – and always will be – a true highlight for us.
September will bring us to Switzerland for two shows, including the Sixteentimes Music Jubilee in Winterthur on September 6 – another big moment for us this year!
OCTOBER – UK Tour 19.10. – TBA 20.10. – Bridgwater – Cobblestones 21.10. – Oxford – The Jericho 22.10. – Bristol – The Gryphon 23.10. – London – The Black Heart 24.10. – Bournemouth – Anvil 25.10. – Margate – Margate Rock Festival 26.10. – Düsseldorf (DE) – Pitcher
NOVEMBER 14.11. – Eberswalde (DE) – Haus Schwärzetal 15.11. – Plauen (DE) – Malzhaus
Samavayo is: Stephan Voland (Drums, Vocals) Andreas Voland (Bass, Vocals) Behrang Alavi (Vocals, Guitar)
Posted in Reviews on January 31st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Earlier – Before Show
Oh shit, I’m in Las Vegas. I opened the window four times on the five-and-a-half-hour flight here. Once was at Newark. Two in the air: the Rockies and the desert. And the last was at the gate after landing. My wife had recommended I watch the Sonic the Hedgehog movie. I may yet on the way home, but I played Zelda the entire time I was in the air. I slaughtered every lynel in Hyrule and they all came back to life and I did it again.
Adam Sage of the band Sonolith, who it turns out is quite a generous dude, kindly offered to put me up for the weekend — thank you, Adam and Jocelyn — and even picked me up at the airport. A stop at the grocery store and the weed store and I’ll of a sudden I’m hanging among the antiques and Weimaraner swag listening to Spaceslug, which was the right call, with a couple hours before the show. Mellow hangs. May it be a theme for the weekend.
Four bands tonight: Unida, MR.BISON, Sons of Arrakis and Samavayo. That’s California, Italy, Canada and Germany represented. Tell me the last time you saw a bill like that.
Okay? So that’s kind of the thing about this fest — it’s not big, but it’s stacked, and it’s thoughtfully curated. Of the four bands playing tonight, the only one I’ve seen is Unida, and it was a different incarnation of the band. Tomorrow is five bands, Saturday is six, Sunday is five, but each one brings something special to the mix. They’re all here for a reason. The whole weekend’s going to be a blast.
Just like you’ve heard in all those heavy metal songs about the night, here’s ‘the night’:
Samavayo
Samavayo aren’t the only reason I’m here this weekend, but they’re a big part of it. The Berlin-based three-piece have made a low-key tour of coming to the US for the first time, and the last show is tomorrow in Los Angeles. They locked into a groove and didn’t look back. The intricacy of their songwriting, and their blend of influences remains their own. Not that there was any doubt, but they did very much sound like they’d been on tour for a week, which they have been. Tight, having a good time, making the sing-along at the start of “I Keep on Rolling” extra fun, outright nailing the three-part vocal in “Vatan.” The kick drum pedal broke, which gave guitarist/vocalist Behrang Alavi a chance to thank the crowd and sound sincere in talking about how kindly they’ve been treated on their first US trip. The way they open up to a chorus, where you don’t even realize why your stomach was tight until the tension releases, how the songs seem to follow linear paths even in verses and choruses. This was my first time seeing them, and meeting then. I feel fortunate to have been able to do both. They go to L.A. tomorrow and then are out, taking their big grooves with them. It was lucky for those who got to see the band they brought them in the first place, let alone have them set a nigh-on-unreachable standard for the rest of the weekend with the big rock finish at the end of the set.
Sons of Arrakis
Another first for me were Canada’s Dune-themed melodic heavy rockers Sons of Arrakis. They were younger than I was expecting — which isn’t actually weird but kind of was anyway because I’ve seen photos of them before, but whatever. Very clearly a band working from an envisioned methodology of craft and performance. The four-piece are out supporting their second album, Volume II (review here), and they brought the songs to Vegas with due push, referencing 1970s rock but not necessarily boogie. I think maybe they’re what modern heavy rock sounds like. I’m cool with that. They spliced in on-theme samples between the songs and didn’t say much from the stage accordingly, but the riffs are there and the songs they make from them are memorable. Somehow I doubt this will be the last time I run into them at a festival setting, and at least now I know enough to look forward to the next one. I feel like their next album will tell a lot of the tale about the band they ultimately want to and will be, but go see them in the meantime so you can feel cool later.
MR.BISON
When I talk about Planet Desert Rock Weekend being impeccably and purposefully curated, from here on out I’ll cite the vibe liquefaction of Italy’s MR.BISON as an example from here on out. Neither Sons of Arrakis nor Samavayo were without some flourish in their sound, but the keys in MR.BISON, the effects on the guitars and vocals, made it something else. A shift in sound from the first two of the night, but the point is there’s a linear sense to it all. There’s a story being told in the progression from one band to the next, and MR.BISON tripped it out at just the right moment to feel like what the night has been leading toward up to this point — which happens to be true, technically — and pull off that vibe-shift, but still hold onto some sense of heavy continuity, while also daring funk and floaty solos back to back. They have grown into being this band, and that maturity suits them, but the songs were expansive even at their most thrusted, and a spacious feeling pervaded, highlighting some of the mood of last year’s Echoes From the Universe (review here) while seeing an overarching groove and hitting into a few bigger moments, double-tracking vocals live with effects. I guess the word is dynamic. At the very least, they were that. They were also a bunch of other stuff that all rounds down to awesome.
Unida
Enter the headliner. The “new” Unida — vocalist Mark Sunshine, guitarist Arthur Seay, bassist Collyn McCoy and drummer Mike Cancino — have a couple years under their belt at this point, and they absolutely owned the room from the moment they started. They seemed to find another level of volume, and it’s not like the evening had been lacking to that point, and used it to deliver a pro-shop, touring-band-type set. Old songs and new in set, which was fun. I’m eager to hear this band move forward, and writing new songs counts big as a part of that, as much as I have an affection for Unida classics. It’s been 12 years, but last time I saw them was at Desertfest London 2013 (review here), and that was a different kind of novelty, but now that I’ve seen this Unida, having seen that one, they’ve got something that could work. On stage, it already does, with Sunshine giving due homage to the band’s original era while beginning to put a stamp of his own on the newer material. I don’t know what the band’s plans for the rest of this year are — and yes, I asked — but they were just right to finish out this night, and they gave the narrative of the successive sets the blowout ending it deserved. There were some technical issues with the guitar late in the proceedings — and during a new song, which I feel like might sting more to start over when you didn’t actually screw it up. A couple minutes of jamming and on-mic shenanigans and they were back up and rolling, as was the entire room to that riff from the new one, and then it happened again and Arthur grabbed a different guitar, which was probably the way to go since they made it through the song. Mark Sunshine: “We’ve been on a journey with you people.” True enough. They finished and sent the crowd staggering into the cool of the desert midnight.
—
So tired. More pics after the jump. I know it was only four bands, but I did a fair amount of socializing tonight and my brain is done. More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 21st, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Samavayo arguably already got a jump on celebrating the band’s 25th anniversary — a mark they’ll hit next year — by reissuing their debut album, Death.March.Melodies! earlier this year through Noisolution. The Berlin-based outfit will continue to make the most of it early in 2025 as they cross the Atlantic in order to play their first shows on US soil. Apart from the anniversary, the specific occasion for the tour is a slot at Planet Desert Rock Weekend V on Jan. 30 in Las Vegas, where I’ll catch them barring disaster, but with the apparent assistance of Mario Lalli and folks in the orbit of Ripple Music, a week-long tour has happened that includes stops up and down in California and in Reno as well as the Nevada festival gig.
I haven’t heard yet of the band getting to work on a follow-up to 2022’s Pāyān (review here), but honestly, that’s a pretty good record to go new places with; it’s heavy and progressive, it’s catchy, it’s their own, it has notable guest contributors and actually takes the risk of having something to say. I’ve gone on about the band being undervalued, and that’s kind of the curse of an act who don’t ply their sound to conform with genre. Bottom line here is I’m glad I’ve got the chance to see them and I don’t want to miss it. As I hear more about their quarter-centennial plans, I’ll do my best to keep up.
From the PR wire:
We are thrilled and proud to announce our very first USA tour in January 2025!
What started as an exciting invitation to play a show in Las Vegas at the legendary Planet Desert Rock Weekend has grown into an unforgettable adventure. With the help of many old and new friends from this loyal scene, it has become a 7-date tour along the West Coast. Here are the dates:
• Jan 24th: Sacramento, CA – Café Colonial • Jan 25th: Reno, NV – Lo-Bar • Jan 27th: Palm Desert, CA – Hood Bar • Jan 28th: Phoenix, AZ – Yucca Tap Room • Jan 29th: Joshua Tree, CA • Jan 30th: Las Vegas, NV – Count’s Vamp’d • Jan 31st: Los Angeles, CA – Redwood Bar
The Planet Desert Rock Weekend V will take place from January 30th to February 1st in Las Vegas!
We want to express our heartfelt thanks:
• To Todd Severin, Blackwülf, and especially Shotgun Sawyer from the Ripple Music family, for helping us secure the shows in Sacramento and Reno.
• To the legendary Mario Lalli — like us, part of the Sound of Liberation family — an icon and hero of our youth, for supporting us with the shows in Palm Desert, Joshua Tree, and Los Angeles.
• And, of course, to John Gist, the mastermind behind the Planet Desert Rock Weekend, for his tireless efforts to bring us across the ocean to the desert—the birthplace of the music we love and live to play!
And yet, this is just a fraction of the amazing people involved in this adventure!
We’re deeply grateful to be part of a scene where so many things beyond imagination can become reality.
See you at the shows! 🌵🎸
Samavayo is: Stephan Voland (Drums, Vocals) Andreas Voland (Bass, Vocals) Behrang Alavi (Vocals, Guitar)
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 13th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Once again, the Las Vegas-based Planet Desert Rock Weekend still feature a different poster for each day. The first to be unveiled — and after one-at-a-timing through the lineup itself, you didn’t think it was going to be all at once here, did you? — is for the first night of the fest, suitably enough, and with the art/design by Joey Rudell (also Fuzz Evil and pointedly not a robot so far as I know) comes the confirmed running order of Unida, MR.BISON, Sons of Arrakis and Samavayo for Jan. 30, the first of the festival’s now-four nights, with the final being ‘Last Call’ slated for Feb. 2.
We have at least the day-split for that too, if not a separate poster and a confirmed running order. Duel, BoneHawk, Luna Sol, Iota and Jason Walker’s Badmotorfinger will play ‘Last Call.’ That leaves the two days between for the likes of Fireball Ministry, Solace, Mos Generator, JIRM, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Valley of the Sun, Fire Down Below, Green Desert Water and Godzillionaire, which breaks down into two sets of five. I don’t know if that’s how fest-curator John Gist will lay it out, but I do know that any way you mix those names up, you still get a badass way to spend a weekend.
Glad to say my flight is booked for this one. Still need to shore up a crash spot, but one thing at a time.
From the PR wire:
PDRW V – Opening Night – Thursday January 30th
Vegas Rock Revolution is excited to announce Night 1 of Planet Desert Rock Weekend V with a bang! Desert legends Unida will be headlining opening night along with 3 international bands to get the party started at Count’s Vamp’d in Las Vegas on Thursday January 30th. Unida reemerged back onto the scene just a few years back with the blessing of John Garcia as Arthur Seay (Guitars) and Mike Cancino continue the band’s legacy of melting faces each performance.
On vocals is the very talented Mark Sunshine who of recent years has been lending his vocal prowess to Patriarchs in Black. On bass is musician madman Collyn Mccoy who brings the thunder! We felt it appropriate to have Arthur Seay’s crew kick off PDRW as he and Mike were part of the very first night of PDRW for A Night with John Garcia. VRR has had Unida multi times for shows and they bring it hard and heavy!
Mr. Bison out of Italy on the heels of their very successful 2024 release “Echoes From the Universe” (#2 on the February Doom Charts) on Heavy Psych Sounds will be playing directly before Unida and we are grateful to have them return to PDRW. Their sound has expanded since adding a multi-instrumentalist to the fold that will sure be cool to see and hear.
Montreal’s Sons of Arrakis also is having an amazing year in which they released their 2nd album “Volume 2” to great acclaim including landing #3 on the June Doom Charts right behind Greenleaf and FU Manchu. Their accessible hard rocking sound has caught fire so much so that they get over 82,000 Spotify plays a month currently!
Opening then night will be Germany’s Samavayo who will be playing the USA for the 1st time on this trip, They have been rocking since 2003 and have creatively evolved each of their albums over the years. Their last release “Payan” landed #2 on the Doom Charts for March 2022 and featured guests’ appearance by Elder’s Nick DiSalvo, Tommi Holappa of Greenleaf and more! Their high energy rocking style is perfect to light the fire for the night.
We will have Night 2 of PDRW V announced within a week along with ticket sales.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 10th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
As they continue to celebrate the nearly-20-years-on reissue of 2005’s Death.March.Melodies! and look forward to a first US appearance at Planet Desert Rock Weekend in Las Vages this coming January, Berlin heavy rockers Samavayo have lined up Fall tour dates around previously announced slots at October’s Up in Smoke and Keep it Low festivals, in Switzerland and Germany, respectively. The three-piece’s most recent LP, 2022’s Pāyān (review here), remains a fitting backdrop for all of this outreach, but as they look to mark a quarter-century of the band in 2025, they’re likewise beginning the process of moving forward with new material headed toward the next work.
As they note below, they’re trying to get a week or so of West Coast shows around the Planet Desert Rock Weekend stop, and it goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway that if you can help in that regard, you should, both out of moral obligation and because the show will be cool. In the meantime, they’ll also next year issue two more tracks from the Pāyān sessions, and, well, that’s another thing to look forward to. Not sure if they’ll come together or one at a time, but either way, that’s good news and however many years from now, when Pāyān gets its own reissue, will surely enhance the picture that record paints of Samavayo in this era. Narrative, yo. No substitute for it.
Info from the PR wire:
SAMAVAYO – Fall Tour 2024
Attached you will see our tour poster of our fall action this year promoting our latest reissue “Death.March.Melodies!” and reviving our last album “PAYAN”.
We will be playing these shows + a show close to Berlin this week.
The tour will be a mix of many cool bands to play with Humulus, Valley of The Sun, Acid Row, Dopelord but also many more on the festivals Keep it low and Up in Smoke!
13. July in Sallgast (Castle)
12. Sep Leipzig DE Bandhaus w/ Acid Row 13. Sep Dresden DE Chemiefabrik w/ Acid Row 14. Sep Weiden DE Salute Club w/ Acid Row
04. Oct Würzburg DE Immerhin 05. Oct Pratteln CH Up in Smoke 06. Oct Brescia IT CSA Maggazino 47 w/ Humulus & more 07. Oct Zero Branco IT Atroquando 09. Oct St. Gallen CH Flon w/ Carson 10. Oct Nürnberg DE MUZclub w/ Valley of the Sun 11. Oct tbc 12. Oct München DE Keep it Low
15. Nov Potsdam DE Archiv 16. Nov Cottbus DE Muggefug w/ Dopelord
USA 2025
Meanwhile we are working on our first USA Trip in January 2025. It looks like we are going to play a few more shows around our show at Planet Desert Rock in Las Vegas on Jan 30th at the West Coast. We are in touch with people from the scene trying to make a week or so happen!
Outlook 2025
2025 will be a year of celebrating our 25th Anniversary and doing some songwriting for the next album.
We won’t be touring that much in the first 3-4 months of 2025 besides our huge party “Samavayo & Friends VOL. 2” in Berlin (Gonna be great guests again!). We are looking forward to playing some cool festivals and then at the end of 2025 we will be trying to play some areas in Europe we haven’t been to before!
Also we have 2 unreleased songs from our PAYAN recording session (2022), We definitely want to release them at some point so there are some things to plan and coordinate. Most likely a thing for 2025 too.
Samavayo is: Stephan Voland (Drums, Vocals) Andreas Voland (Bass, Vocals) Behrang Alavi (Vocals, Guitar)
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 29th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
The annual Planet Desert Rock Weekend festival will hold its fifth edition on Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2025, which I think marks the first time I’m actually writing that year to refer to an event that’s actually happening rather than random speculation. Feels like the future. And a killer future at that. Planet Desert Rock Weekend V makes its first lineup announcement today, and the sense of curation and purpose behind it could hardly be clearer.
No doubt the three-dayer conceived and booked by John Gist of Vegas Rock Revolution will pick up more than a handful of domestic acts in addition to Mos Generator (though if you had to only have one…), but five out of the six bands in this first publicly-confirmed batch will cross the Atlantic to play. Five for six, between JIRM, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Samavayo, Omega Sun (they’re making a return appearance after playing in 2019) and Fire Down Below. The very obvious message here is that Planet Desert Rock Weekend V wants to give the audience — the American heavy rock underground — a show it isn’t going to get anywhere else. If you can’t respect the put-up-or-shut-up nature of that, well, maybe you’ve never booked a show before. No doubt your existence has been easier and more gratitude-filled for that.
Early-bird tickets are up and there’s of course more to come, but in terms of the curation involved here and the feeling of Planet Desert Rock Weekend bringing over the acts it wants to see that no one else is bringing over, there’s a lot to admire as is. I will look forward to who else is added, finding out if this is it for non-US-based acts or if there’s more coming, and watching as the lineup takes shape generally. Thinking of making travel plans? I get it.
Word from the fest follows. Oh, and before you get your no-doubt-very-masculine panties in a bunch about AI art like all of a sudden you never used something cheap, convenient and easy because it was all of those things — we’re all complicit in the horrors of capital — the actual art is still in progress, and the full poster will be unveiled later. It’s a placeholder. Calm down, imaginary internet pearl-clutchers. Deep breaths.
Vegas Rock Revolution’s Planet Desert Rock Weekend is back for edition 5 and it’s going to be a spectacular collection of bands from around the world of heavy rock!
It’s 3 nights of highly curated bands with evening shows only so that you can enjoy all that Vegas has to offer during the day rather it’s hitting the museums or hiking or donating to our local casinos (ha we kid!). Each evening will be in a cool atmosphere and the sound will be top rate to make your concert experience an unforgettable one.
Our 1st 6 bands are:
Mos Generator / Washington State
Mos Generator has been rocking for over 20 years and led by Tony Reed who is a monumental force within the scene. From straight forward heavy rock to heavy psychedelic they have always created music that elevates above many.
JIRM/ Sweden
Ripple Music’s JIRM (formerly known as Jeremy Irons + the Ratgang Malibus) has built their reputation on an epic sound on each release regardless of the evolution and creativity of the album. They can range from a light summery psych song to a dark tinged song describing inner turmoil. They are accented by amazing vocals. JIRM’s album “The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam” landed #4 on the Doom Charts for March 2022. This will be their 1st time in the States.
Sergeant Thunderhoof / U.K.- England
These Brits have blown away fans in the U.K. for years and rocked amazing album after album of heavy rock for the world to hear. Highly touted for their live sets but their recent album “The Scripted Veil” took the scene by storm with incredible soaring vocals and superior songwriting to most. Landed #1 on Doom Charts for June 2022. This will be their 1st and only show in the States in 2025!
Samavayo / Germany
This German trio has been releasing amazing heavy rock since 2003! Their evolution of sound and influence have changed some over the years but at their core they are a heavy rock band that writes rocking songs that are catchy but yet get you moving. They have played with many of the top bands in the world whether it was on tour or at a festival. Samavayo’s album “Payan” landed #2 on the Doom Charts for March 2022. This will be their 1st time playing the USA!
Fire Down Below / Belgium
Since their 2017 release “Viper, Vixen, Goddess, Saint” they have done a masterful job of blending desert rock, stoner rock and grunge elements together to make music that is so easily accesible to people who want to rock. Their 2022 release “Low Desert Surf Club” on Ripple Music landed #5 on Vegas Rock Revolution’s end of year list and #3 on Doom Charts for September. This will be their 1st time playing the USA!
Omega Sun / Slovenia
Returning to Planet Desert Rock Weekend is Omega Sun whose recent 2023 release Roadkill captured many rocker’s ear with their powerful blend of heavy rock, doom, grunge and stoner rock. Recently the guys had the great fortune of opening up for USA supergroup The Winery Dogs and have embarked on a European tour. We love to bring back bands to the PDRW fold! Their 2023 release “Roadkill” landed #9 on the Doom Charts and VRR’s end of the year list at #6 in 2023.
We will be collaborating with Ripple Music again on this version and looking at a full night that would be all Ripple bands or close to it. Todd is such an amazing part of the scene and his curation of bands feels unparalleled.
We will announcements for at least 8 more bands from all around the world coming up in the months to come!
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 19th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
The 2024 Up in Smoke Festival came out swinging big in its first announcement last month, with names like Greenleaf, Monolord, Lowrider, Truckfighters, Messa and Gnome among others, and the second announcement below makes a fitting follow-up with the promise of a doesn’t-happen-all-the-time-see-them-when-you-can stopover from Monster Magnet, as well as up and coming atmospheric doomers Daevar, the e’er-a-riot Valley of the Sun, the reunited Scorpion Child and veteran heavy rockers Samavayo set to play. It’s the 10th anniversary for the Swiss festival held each Fall in Pratteln as part of what’s become an international family of festivals backed or semi-backed by Sound of Liberation — see also Keep it Low, Desertfest Belgium, etc. — and they’re only right to do it up accordingly.
From Pentagram to Slomosa, the span of generations and sounds here is broader than the monikers alone can convey, but the celebratory feel of how the lineup is taking shape remains strong. There’s a lot to like about it, in other words, and while I’ve never been lucky enough to attend, I do know enough to know that running a successful fest for a decade — never mind surviving the odd bit of pandemic interruption of same — is no minor feat. Congratulations to Up in Smoke on the anniversary, and I look forward to when the rest of the bill is announced, say, mid-April?
From the PR wire:
UP IN SMOKE FESTIVAL confirms MONSTER MAGNET & many more new band names for its 2024 edition!
UP IN SMOKE FESTIVAL has announced new names for their upcoming, 10th anniversary edition, and confirms spacelords MONSTER MAGNET, high-voltage desert rockers VALLEY OF THE SUN, Berlin’s finest SAMAVAYO, stoner doomsters DAEVAR, US rock act SCORPION CHILD & many more!
They will join the already eclectic line-up featuring mighty PENTAGRAM, who will play their last Swiss show ever(!), TRUCKFIGHTERS, MONOLORD, GREENLEAF, LOWRIDER, SLOMOSA and more high class live acts. Further band names will be revealed soon.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 6th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I distinctly remember being in the hotel room in Tilburg at whichever Roadburn it was circa 2010 and putting on the proper CD of Samavayo‘s Death.March.Melodies! for the first time. It was part of a stack of compact discs I’d picked up at various merch tables throughout the day; the album was released on Nasoni and I snagged it from the Exile on Mainstream distro while nerding out, trying not to be intimidated by Andreas Kohl and failing. Back in the room, I put the disc in the player and dug in. It wasn’t my first time hearing the band, whose sound has taken on nearly two decades of development since. You’ll note the mention below of Iraq War II and the post-9/11 sphere in which the album arrived. That awareness of social issues extends throughout Samavayo‘s entire career. It is part of what defines their aesthetic.
Certainly that was the case on their 2022 full-length, Pāyān (review here), which they followed later that year with the compilation Songs for the Iranian People, which it’s worth noting came before the current US war of aggression in the Middle East got started. Democrats’ poll numbers tank, they just seem to decide it’s time to bomb Yemen. Worked for Obama. As long as you have no moral scruples about being a war criminal, it’s fine.
Anyhoozle, Death.March.Melodies! will be reissued through Noisolution on March 22, Samavayo doing a bit of looking back before they invariably move forward with what’s coming next for them — live shows mostly in Germany, and probably continued writing (that’s confirmed; they’re also working on new stuff). There’s a fair amount of info below, so take your time soaking it up, and both the most recent comp and Death.March.Melodies! (original master) stream below, hoisted from Bandcamp.
From the PR wire:
We are very proud to announce the re-issue of our debut LP “Death.March.Melodies!” from 2005 on March 22nd through our beloved label Noisolution!
“We were young and had been quite busy in the previous years. The first 4-track demo in 2002, the first EP “131” in 2003, the second EP “Songs from the Drop-outs” in 2004 and the absolute hit on Stoned From the Underground in 2004! It was time for the first album!
We had already played a few shows in and around Berlin and through Caligula666 in other federal states and picked up various influences! And we recorded this one song in the ORWOhaus with Daniel Hassbecker: The first version of “Keep on Rollin'”.
With a colorful mix of songs with influences from punk, stoner, heavy rock and a lot of metal, we have the Death.March.Melodies in 2005! recorded. The time was marked by the wars after September 11th, especially the Second Iraq War. The artwork was just as dark!
The album paved the way for us into the European stoner scene. In 2007 we played 70 self-booked shows, including in Greece. Long before the stoner scene was as big as it is today!
Looking back, this album was not only important for us, but 18 years later we hear from various fans of the scene that this album was one of the first stoner albums by a German band and that they grew up with it. We are incredibly proud of that!
Many of our new fans over the last few years haven’t seen this album on vinyl and certain songs like “Nutso” or “Heavy Song” have also been part of our live set over the last few years!
It has been sold out for over 10 years now and we did a remaster by Pascal Stoffels and new artwork by Kiryk Drewinski. We will play shows in Feb to May where we will be adding songs from DMM. And one of the highlights is our Berlin show, the first edition of Samavayo & Friends with Mother Engine and Sons of Morpheus on April 13th!
There will be a very limited “Club 100” sale on Feb 18th 18:00 cet!
The features of the “Club 100” version are – Protective cover with additional screen printed artwork – Demo CD with 6 unreleased pre-production and live songs from the years 2004-2007 – Limited and exclusive patch with artwork from 2005 – Hand signed double sided poster (band photo vs. lyrics) – Hand numbered & stamped
Our shows so far: 24.02.2024 DE Neckargemünd, Altes E-Werk – NeckargemündTicket 25.02.2024 DE Frankfurt, Zoom Frankfurt 12.03.2024 DE Hamburg, Bar 227 13.03.2024 NL Nijmegen, De Onderbroek 14.03.2024 DE Dusseldorf, Pitcher 15.03.2024 DE Siegen, VORTEX SURFER Music Club 16.03.2024 DE Erfurt, Bandhaus Erfurt 17.03.2024 DE Hannover, Kulturzentrum Faust 13.04.2024 DE Berlin, Samavayo & Friends 10.05.2024 CG Martigny, Les Caves du Manoir
more shows tba!
The Bandcamp sale will start on Feb 19th!
Samavayo is: Stephan Voland (Drums, Vocals) Andreas Voland (Bass, Vocals) Behrang Alavi (Vocals, Guitar)
