Posted in Whathaveyou on March 18th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Set for the weekend of Oct. 18-20 and (I think?) celebrating the 10th anniversary of the first Desertfest Belgium, which was held in 2014, the 2024 edition of the Antwerp-based Desertfest has made its first lineup announcement, anchored by Fu Manchu and Russian Circles and featuring a host of others ranging in both geography and style. From the fluid textures of REZN and classic melodic prog rock of Mondo Drag to the reunited Scorpion Child, Bongzilla‘s singularly stoned crust and the expansive riffery of Stoned Jesus, whose Mother Dark complement to early-2023’s Father Light (review here) is awaited, it’s a well-rounded bill even before you account for heavy psych rockers Seedy Jeezus and bluesy ’70s traditionalists Child making the trip from Australia, the latter on the heels of Heavy Psych Sounds reissuing their catalog, the expansive sounds of Messa, and so on.
That it looks like a cool time isn’t really a surprise. Desertfest Belgium has developed a character of its own as the flagship Fall Desertfest in Europe, and while I’ve never been, I always look forward to seeing what it brings to the seasonal cohort of heavy festivals. Already we know REZN will be on tour with Russian Circles, as that was announced last week too, but it’s likely more tours will come from Mondo Drag, Ritual King and others below that haven’t been revealed yet if they’re even at this point finalized. In addition to the usual daydreaming-about-travel, I find thinking about these things and imagining tours and who might have new records out by the time October gets here to be a particular kind of nerdy joy.
The announcement, as per social media:
It’s that time of year again! It’s with great pride and excitement that we announce the first names for DF24! 👁️
Confirmed for Desertfest ANTWERP are: Fu Manchu Russian Circles Stoned Jesus Bongzilla Scorpion Child MESSA Wolvennest Mondo Drag Seedy Jeezus CHILD REZN Ritual King The Abbey Lethvm RRRags Crouch Kara Delik
Three days of delirium and heavy delight are surely awaiting us all in Antwerp!
Got back to the hotel in Siegen last night around two, I think. The question was whether to shower before collapsing into bed. I did, and it was the right call. The smell of cigarette smoke, sweat, and humanity was powerful motivation. And when I did conk out, I slept harder than I have in some time. Maybe about a year?
It’s hot today and soon to start. Bit of breeze in the shade is a big yes. In the interest of honesty I tell you I’m beat and a little nervous for what the day might bring, but ready for it. Took all the allergy medicine, have sunglasses, my silly hat, earplugs. Water. So much water. Gonna go grab some more now, in fact. All the water.
Sorry for the typos today as well, but thanks for reading if you are/do. Here’s the day:
Orsak:Oslo
The Norwegian/Swedish instrumental four-piece remind me of last year’s fest, which had a whole bunch of meditative psych/post-heavy with which they would fit well. Their new album, In Irons (discussed here), came out in April on Vinter Records, and they harnessed that fluidity live, or maybe that’s the other way around, I’d have to see them a few more times to properly judge. But the bit of krautrock they worked in was met with some dancing from the crowd, and while I think many of those in the audience today are definitely feeling the edge of the late finish last night — I know I am — Orsak:Oslo were a way of easing into a day that’s even longer and has more to see. For sure a different vibe than Tuskar, who were first yesterday, but their flow and comparatively mellow but still lucid psych seemed to hypnotize just right. I was glad to see them again after seeing them briefly in Norway in 2019 (review here), and their set was a stirring reminder to get my ass in gear on reviewing that record. Message received. Obviously they didn’t have the biggest crowd of the day, playing at 1:30 some 10 hours before the headliner, but there were people out front, more by the end, and they were dancing.
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Earth Ship
I was very curious to see Earth Ship, because as regards projects from the Berlin-based Jan Oberg and Sabine Oberg — the others are Grin and the pandemic-born Slowshine — Earth Ship are kind of the middle ground. They rock more than Grin, whose sludge is pointedly aggro, and they’re more grounded than the psych-tinged Slowshine, and not only do I appreciate how their bands are organized — I like a bit of this goes here, this goes here, this goes here — but Earth Ship’s riffs are a hook of their own. And they’re more even more rock live than on record, though Jan’s vocals are still largely barks, but watching them for the first time, it’s easy to see they’re having fun and love what they do. They weren’t thrashing around or anything, but there was passion behind their delivery and stage energy, and it was infectious. Inviting, in a way. “You dig this. We do too. Let’s get loud.” Unfortunately this utopian vision doesn’t apply to everyone everywhere all the time, because it’s a big planet, but I’m glad to have had a sampling of what they do and hope it’s not the last time our paths cross, in whatever incarnation.
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Kamchatka
Heavy blues promised, heavy blues delivered. Nothing there to argue with even if you wanted to. In the heat of the afternoon, Sweden’s Kamchatka brought a little bit of a breeze that, in combination with the sprinklers strewn about the festival grounds being frequented by adults and children alike, was some measure of relief. No doubt the wind was conjured by the air being pushed through the amps and the swing of drummer Tobias Strandvik, who was comfortable in the pocket as the trio — completed by guitarist Thomas “Juneor” Andersson and bassist Per Wiberg (yes, the same one who’s played with Opeth, Candlemass, Spiritual Beggars, on and on, mostly on keys; he’s also got a few solo releases; must like music or something) were classically dynamic, varied of tempo and mood, and they had a couple sleek jams worked in with the bouts of uptempo shove, mellow groove, all that stuff, definitely heavy ’70s informed but modern in their presentation. I wandered a bit, trying not to be just in one place all day — the quest for shade is part of that, to be sure — but my own restlessness was duly counteracted by the solid, unpretentious grooves coming from the stage, and as one will on such an occasion, I found myself feeling like I need to listen to this band more. A lesson learned, maybe.
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Steak
So somewhere in the long-long ago, I saw a band in London called Crystal Head who blew me away and left me wondering what the hell the deal was that they weren’t huge. Seeing that band’s former guitarist/vocalist, Tom Cameron, joining his ex-and-again bandmate Dean Deal (drums), as part of an upgraded five-piece Steak lineup, again on guitar and adding his vocals to those of frontman Chris “Kippa” Haley — they even covered that band’s likewise memorable “Perfect Weirdo” before playing a new song called “2×2” — was a thrill. Haley sharing vocal duties is a shift in the dynamic, but in line with 2022’s righteous Acute Mania (review here) — if you heard the record you might say their realizing their potential to such a degree was “a long time coming” — they’re a deeper band for being able to bring their arrangements to life with another player on board. I haven’t been to a show in London in half a decade, but I hope Steak are playing the next one I hit. I was prepared for a more mature act by seeing them in 2019 at Desertfest New York (review here), but between the lineup, the record and the performance, they’ve truly put it all together. Change is the nature of the universe. Sometimes it even works out.
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Pontiak
Well, that’s my new working definition of underrated. Based in Virginia, the brotherly trio Pontiak were the perfect blend for the moment. They were heavy enough to follow Steak so that there wasn’t a loss of aural push on the day, but with each of member of the Carney family with a mic, yeah. Just, yeah. I’ve written about them intermittently over the years, never really with any depth, and I’m sorry that it’s only now I understand the error in that neglect. The noisier, punkier, more aggro impulse is still there in the guitar, but the atmosphere is so reconciled to it, so right in being what it is, that the melodies seemed that much richer for the underlying tension. Sitting at stage right, I turned my head and saw a small pocket of maybe four dudes being led in a yoga class and hell fucking yes I joined (asked first). Happy to report that yoga and Pontiak went together extremely well, and the stretch and the focus on calm movement, purposeful movement, that slowdown was incredible. Doing cat-cows while the band locked in a half-time nod that reminded me of the time they toured with Sleep. Planks and down-dogs and pigeon and all that. I said yesterday that I could feel myself being too tight. I’m not sure my back will thank me this evening for the cobras, but screw it, sometimes the riffs are right and the thing is happening and you need to go with it. I have absolutely no regrets. I hope it happens again tomorrow. And if Pontiak wanted to do a hang out and do a second show, that’d be rad too.
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Seedy Jeezus
Would be an odd way to start a conversation, but if you asked me how many times in my life I was going to see Melbourne, Australia’s Seedy Jeezus, my honest answer would’ve been zero to one. Thus I consider watching them play a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and with their The Hollow Earth live 2LP (discussed here) fresh in mind — they played the title-track, and no, that wasn’t all — I tried my best to soak in every minute of their heavy psych-blues jams and the scorching guitar work of Lex Waterreus, who put his soul into every note in a way that was palpable, but that didn’t lose the audience along the way. I’d say he was all heart if he wasn’t also so clearly technique. They were Hendrixian even before they threw in the cover of “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” that also appears on that live record, but certainly that would seal the deal in that regard. The last time they were here, in 2015, they put out a live album after. If they did ‘Live at Freak Valley Again’ they’d be well within their rights. Actually, maybe they should just record all their shows. Worked for the Dead. Easy, organic flow, jammy but headed somewhere, joy to follow. They’re not a band I ever thought I would experience live. And I met Lex and drummer Mark Sibson — the band is very much completed by Paul Crick on bass — and they seem like nice sorts. Lex teared up thanking the crowd — he also shouted out the much-missed Stoned Jesus, who would be here but for war — and then the whole band proceeded to tear into another ace jam of the kind you get to witness, well, let’s just say not very often. Having now done so once, that’s a record I’d be happy to break.
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King Buffalo
What a charmed fucking existence I lead. King Buffalo are the first band this weekend whose set I was so wrapped up in that I forgot to write. Sometimes you just leave time. It hasn’t been that long since I last encountered the Rochester, New York, three-piece, less than a year — though as history has shown, that’s long enough for one or two landmark LPs from them — but they were a pleasure as always. Dan Reynolds, man. Taking that bassline in “Silverfish” for walks both literal and figurative. They’ve been on tour for somewhere around three weeks now, have somewhere around a week to go, and are duly sharp onstage. I could go on and on about their pandemic trilogy of LPs, regale you with hyperbole and superlatives about the depth of their sound, the emotional undercurrent to their melodies, the sheer growth they’ve undergone in the last nine years, but I’ve said it all before. And being me, I’ll probably say it all again. I could have put in the review links, but fuck it. Watching them, it wasn’t time for that. It was time to be in that moment. That particular almost gone right very now. Dudes in the crowd throwing love hearts at each other. It was a beautiful moment to be alive. I can take out my phone and finish the god damned sentence later. I don’t know about you, but I would have had a much harder time the last three years of my life without this band. And I don’t think they’ve yet done their best work. I hope they never do. Would be a shame to think of them not chasing that thing. Not gonna take away from anyone else on this bill or the decades of work Earthless and the Melvins have put in, but this was my headliner set for the night. And it wasn’t even dark.
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Earthless
I was in front of the stage at the time, but I have to think that wherever you were on the festival grounds, you knew Earthless as about to go on when Isaiah Mitchell started warming up on guitar. Little shred here, little shred there. Mario Rubalcaba back there thump thump, Mike Eginton rumble rumble. And that’s Earthless. You take shred shred, thump thump, rumble rumble, make sure everyone is unrealistically talented, and you let it become epic as it inevitably will. Serve hot, like scorching. The most-of-the-time instrumental trio came to Freak Valley to play their latest album, Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (review here), in its entirety. That album came out in January and in following 2018’s Black Heaven (review here), found the band reclaiming their longform sans-vocal approach after the last record’s partial foray into more traditional rock songwriting. Of course they ripped it up, they’re frickin’ Earthless. Gradual start, bit of a raga wakeup at the beginning of the record, then all of a sudden except not really sudden it’s been happening the whole time you just didn’t realize it because see “unrealistically talented” above, and they were fully immersed. And so was the crowd. It was after 10PM but still just barely nighttime — Earthless at sundown; I dare you to ask for more — and I guess I didn’t realize it at the time, but it turns out that whole record was meant to be played live. And that’s something they can actually do because the parts are plotted. They’re songwriting, just on their own level, which incidentally is how they do everything. The world is in no small part because of Earthless not at all short on instrumental heavy psych rock — more bands seem to form every time they play, and they play a fair amount; someone tell Bandcamp they’re gonna need more servers — but still, one Earthless. They were entrancing.
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Melvins
I would never dare call myself a Melvins fan, especially in the presence of so many who obviously are, but it’s common knowledge they destroy live and their current incarnation absolutely slayed. I don’t know if I’m going to go dig into the probably 15 or so records they’ve done in the last decade-plus to catch up, but I definitely don’t regret watching them cover “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and they played a tune or two I recognized from the days when they and Big Business were a thing — fortunately Dale Crover didn’t seem to have much trouble doing the work of two drummers — and that song from Stoner Witch or whichever of those Atlantic-era records it was. Imagine a major label signing a band like this now. Ha. But these Melvins have been at it — hard — for the last 40 years and they’re still punk rock no matter how thick their riffs are. Goes without saying this was my first time seeing them with Steven Shane McDonald and he was a perfect fit. That’s the guy to keep up with Crover and King Buzzo, as much as anyone could hope to do so. He was a blast, they were a blast, and they came out to “Take on Me” by A-ha, which in the world of weird coincidences, I’ve run into three times in the last month. Great song, doesn’t matter. The important thing is the Melvins let Freak Valley know why they are who they are and sat on top of this bill because it would’ve been silly for another band to try to follow them. King Buzzo echoing into the finally-night sky. Total blowout.
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Okay that’s enough. Day three tomorrow. Thanks for reading. More pics after the jump. Good night.
It is arguable of human art that no matter what it is or does, it will never completely encapsulate the drive behind it or the inspiration causing it to be made. I tend to believe this of great historical works — your Mona Lisas, your Sphinxes, and so on — as well as of the statues-of-nothing one finds outside office buildings. It certainly applies to my work — already, three sentences in! — and over the last two decades I’ve heard from countless songwriters and bands that it’s true for the greater part of theirs as well. Not that you can’t be happy with what you’ve done, but that some part of you always knows the motivation behind it was even stronger than the realization.
So imagine a momentous occasion. I bring this up because Australian heavy psych r-o-c-k-ers Seedy Jeezus last summer released The Hollow Earth through Lay Bare Recordings, as a double-LP, and more, as a moment captured. I could summarize, but here’s the band’s recounting:
In Melbourne we had some crazy lockdowns, some of the strictest in the world. There was a window between lockdowns we had the chance to get a group of friends together without social distancing etc… so we took the chance to get into a studio, and have a bbq, catch up and a jam. Mark flew in from Tasmania for a rehearsal the day before the recording session.
What we got was a great testament to where we were after lockdowns and very little time together. During lockdown Lex had learnt to play Voodoo Chile and dropped it on the band to cover it… we selected a mixx of old n new for the session. We played 2 sets, and thought wed get a album out of it, but as it turned out we had enough for a double album.
This went down at Studio One B here in Melbourne, with David Warner engineering it all. Tony Reed came on and mixed n mastered what we sent him, and did a killer job. Stephen Boxshall took the cover photo and with a little help from our friends it all came together.
And there you are. That guitarist/vocalist Lex Waterreus learned Jimi Hendrix‘s “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” is something that comes up between the songs as either bassist Paul Crick or drummer Mark Sibson chimes in, after Waterreus says “I was bored during lockdown and learned it,” that then the rest of the band had to do the same to make the cover. Fair enough. They rip the galaxy open with it though, so I assume it was all worthwhile.
That cover is also the tip of the 75-minute 2LP iceberg that is The Hollow Earth. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of engaging Seedy Jeezus‘ studio work — their latest proper full-length is 2018’s Polaris Oblique (review here) but they’ve done live stuff and one-offs since — you’ll know they walk the line between stretched-out heavy psych and more traditional rock, structure and ‘out-there’ vibes pervading at the same time. They’re not the first with a similar blend, but they do it exceedingly well, and as they run through two sets on The Hollow Earth for a lockdown-era gathering of friends, you can hear them digging all the way in, getting it while they can because who the hell knows when they’ll be able to again?
Even before you get to the bass leading the way through “Echoes in the Sky” with the drums at the foundation and the guitar gone a-wanderin’ in a fantastic display of classic chemistry and Seedy Jeezus‘ own dynamic in particular, or the 11-minute Floydian highlight “Dripping From the Eye of the Sun” with its own jam giving a slight return to the earlier parenthetical in the Hendrix tune, as a concept it’s a beautiful thing to capture. However many people were there, it’s enough to sound like at least a small crowd in between songs, and for all the implied intimacy of that, Seedy Jeezus bring the full breadth of their sound, be it Wattereus‘ scorching solo work in “The Golden Miles” or the later fuzzy shove of “Oh Lord Pt. 2.” I know everybody’s tired of hearing about the pandemic and I am too, but this isn’t about the lockdown so much as the vital creative spirit that persisted through it. The same need that had humans drawing on cave walls tens of thousands of years ago made this. What an incredible species we can be when we’re not busy killing or otherwise being complete assholes to each other, the planet, animals, and so on.
They start quiet and gradual with the ‘strap yourselves in, kids’ unfolding of “Is There All That Is,” which immediately demonstrates the malleability of structure in the band’s grasp, the openness with which they approach their own work. They’re jammers, is what I’m telling you, even when the jam has a set destination in mind via a vis the next chorus, the quiet part, whatever, to which it will eventually return the audience. But man, these cats really go, and The Hollow Earth, for every moment like the righteous crash into the second verse of “Wormhole” and the freelance fiending that ensues has a corresponding fleshout, like the 16-minute take on “How Ya Doin'” that for most acts would be a career landmark but here is delivered, well, not with no ceremony, because certainly it’s a good time, but with some sense of being understated when it comes to the actual vibrancy of the material being explored.
I wonder if they had chairs or if people sat on the floor. Studio couches for those who got there early? How was the barbecue? Burgers and dogs, curried sausages, what? How long was the party? How soon after did Melbourne go back into lockdown? Did they know it was coming? Just how true is the getting-away-with-it narrative around the record’s making?
Maybe it’s better not to know. Maybe it adds mystique so often absent from the world of immediate access, cloying social media content and storyline positioning. In any case, Seedy Jeezus did two sets as part of one show and got a double-vinyl out of it, and if you ever needed an example of an offering hurt by the pressing delays that slammed record manufacturing between 2020-2022, this is it. Beset by bullshit. By the time it came out last summer, it already seemed to be a historical document, and it may be years before it can be rightly and fully embraced for what it captures and the vibe throughout, never mind the actual sound of the thing. Such as it ever ended, it was a weird time to be alive. Tucked into the middle of it, this must’ve been a hell of a night.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
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My alarm went off at 3AM. The first time. Then four. By the time the last one came around at 5:30, I was already up, but it felt like a luxury nonetheless. I needed the sleep, I guess.
Was feeling pretty light on motivation this week after finishing the Quarterly Review (for now), thinking about what a bummer it is to lose the Gimme Metal show because they’re shutting down the app, and so on. That and dividing my attention between writing and keeping up with the GoFundMe for Leanne from Riff Relevant/Mettle MediaGoFundMe for Leanne from Riff Relevant/Mettle Media as it met, passed, met and passed again its goals, plus a decent amount of fuckoff time was where my head was at. I’m glad to have reviewed the Black Moon Circle, Fuzz Sagrado and Dozer records. Next week is Ruff Majik and I’ve already talked about that. There’s other stuff too, but in my mind that’s the centerpiece of the week. It’ll be posted on Thursday.
This weekend I’m in Maryland for wedding of The Patient Mrs.’ brother, who lives in Baltimore. That’ll be fine, if a little harried chasing down The Pecan, whose new dress for it is lovely and bound to be wrecked by wearing if not immediately then almost certainly soon thereafter. So it goes in the way of things that go. Pretty much nonstop.
I hope you have a great and safe weekend. Wherever you’re at, I hope the weather is good and you’re comfortable and not worried about money or some other bullshit. Watch your head, don’t forget to hydrate, and don’t tell me spoilers for the ending of Star Trek: Picard, because I haven’t watched it yet (yeah I read a review but comprehension is low and of course I want to see it for myself). In any case, thanks for reading.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 24th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
No doubt there is an entire swath of silly subtitles one might — in a spirit of joy, of course — tack onto Tranquonauts 2, the upcoming, may-not-actually-be-called-that-when-it’s-released sequel to the 2016 first collaborative LP from Australia’s Seedy Jeezus and Earthless guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, Tranquonauts (review here). I don’t even know where to start, except to say that ‘Electric Boogaloo’ is out because it was usurped by fascist dickheads. Ditto Twitter and a whole bunch of other shit. Alas, the times.
I’m pretty sure Mitchell is back in Oz on tour playing guitar with some band called The Black Crowes, but Earthless have been out and about this year as well supporting the January release of their latest LP, Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (review here), their second record for Nuclear Blast and something of a return to form. Meanwhile, Seedy Jeezus issued the live 2LP The Hollow Earth (discussed here) on Lay Bare Recordings and Blown Music after a somewhat fraught pressing process. Was it really July that came out? Shit. I’m later than I thought on a review. So it goes. Constantly.
Needless to say, I’ll do my best when the time comes for Tranquonauts 2 though I wouldn’t necessarily think that’s happening soon. They mention setting the tracklist and having Tony Reed of Mos Generator, Big Scenic Nowhere and various others involved. Interesting that “his genius” isn’t specified as mixing, mastering or actually playing on the thing. All, incidentally, would only be good news.
Speaking of:
Tranquonauts 2 was recorded today Studio OneB.
It was awesome to get the album in the can…. we just need to pick n choose what will be the running order and how it will flow and then send it to Tony Reed to add his genius to the mix.
Heads up – It’s very different to the first Tranquonauts album . We decided to push in different directions to what we would usually go.
Bring on 2023 for its release.
Photo by Stephen Boxshall ( Rag and Bone photography) Barry Lumber, Mark Stewart Sibson, Lex Frumpy, Isaiah Mitchell.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 3rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
A whopping 15 names dropped in the first announcement from Freak Valley Festival‘s 2023 edition, which also happens to be its 10th anniversary. I was fortunate enough to be there for it in 2022 and hope very much to follow suit next year, having fallen in love with the place, the people, the time. It’s a special thing happening between those German hillsides. If you’ve been, you already know. If you haven’t, tickets go on sale next week, and they’ll be gone. If that makes your FOMO kick in a little bit, good, go with it.
Orange Goblin doing Time Travelling Blues is a hoot, and it’s been more than a decade since I last saw Melvins, so probably time to punch my card there — I’ve been down on them the last however many years, but have the utmost confidence they’ll deliver live — and of course the thought of seeing King Buffalo on that stage, and the likes of Pontiak and Seedy Jeezus and Besvärjelsen for the first time (also a bunch of the others) is exciting. But the name that’s really got me here is Hypnos 69, the reunited Belgian Elektrohasch veterans whose albums Timeline Traveller, The Intrigue of Perception (discussed here), The Eclectic Measure and Legacy (review here), should be commonly regarded as classics and will hopefully get another look as a result of their starting to play again. I mean that. They were incredible. I hope they do another record, too.
A little bit of a different format to the writeup, which I wrote, than in past years, but I think it gets the point across. This is going to be incredible. If it’s at all possible for you not to miss it, don’t. Like they say: “no fillers, just killers”:
Time to start daydreaming about June 2023 and the return of Freak Valley Festival! Come join us for our 10th anniversary and the best FVF yet!
Tickets go on sale next week (Nov. 7 local, Nov. 8 online). We expect once again to be completely sold out, and we hope you agree that the lineup we’ve been putting together is worthy of your great faith in us.
Gather ‘round, fellow freaks, it’s time for the first names of Freak Valley 2023!
If you’re gonna go, go big. We start our season by announcing that the lords of weirdo crunch riffing themselves, the MELVINS, will play FVF for the first time ever! They mark their 40th anniversary in 2023 and remain some of heavy rock’s most lovable oddities. We’re thrilled to have them and know it will be something special.
It will have been seven years since we last hosted ORANGE GOBLIN – far too long – and we’re bringing the London doom ‘n’ roll kingpins over to play a special ‘Time Travelling Freak Valley Blues’ show to celebrate 25 years since their classic 1998 album, Time Travelling Blues!
Two very special returns for us in KING BUFFALO and SEEDY JEEZUS. Since KB last played in 2019, they’ve released three incredibly special albums in their pandemic trilogy and become a household name among heads in the know. We haven’t seen Seedy Jeezus since 2015, but we can’t wait to welcome Mr. Frumpy and company back once again! Hugs and riffs both will happen.
Joining us for the first time are Wino-fronted doom legends THE OBSESSED in their new four-piece incarnation, Appalachian psychedelic craftsmen PONTIAK, French heavy rockers KOMODOR, and the reunited Belgian progressive psych trio HYPNOS 69!
Speaking of reunions, Sweden’s ASTROQUEEN come to Netphen as part of theirs, and their countrymen in the classically bluesy KAMCHATKA, and the ever-vibing BESVÄRJELSEN will further blur the boundaries between genres as they make it sound so easy to do, both also first-timers at FVF.
Berlin’s EARTH SHIP, featuring Jan and Sabine Oberg (also Grin and Slowshine, etc.), are also set to make their first appearance!
PSYENCE – if you don’t know them, take four minutes and get introduced, but be ready to buy the record after: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_RCDiXuoX8 – come to us from the UK, as part of a contingent that thus far includes the sludgier TUSKAR and righteous up and coming riffers RITUAL KING. Expect that contingent to grow before June.
We’re doing our best as always to bring you the greatest and biggest Freak Valley Festival to-date. Who are you most excited for here? Who do you want to see on our stage? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to get your tickets for Freak Valley Festival 2023 while you can!
Freak Valley Festival // No Fillers – Just Killers June 8-10, 2023
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 23rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Recorded between lockdowns in 2021, there is a certain sense of urgency, of longing in Seedy Jeezus‘ The Hollow Earth, and in thinking about life, death, the unknown, the perpetuation of conspiracy theories as both an escapist fantasy and a way to deal with very real cultural, political and economic change, it’s hard for a rock show to speak to all of it, but there’s something just a little extra in the atmosphere of Seedy Jeezus‘ upcoming 2LP live album on Lay Bare Recordings. Maybe it’s knowing that after this everyone would have to go back home again, to recede into lockdown-mode again, or maybe it’s the cautious hopefulness with which the show was played in the first place, that sense of we-need-to-go-for-it-right-now-because-it-turns-out-all-this-shit-is-really-fragile-and-can-go-away-at-any-time, that’s coming across.
I’ll allow that could be me reading into it, but this one has been in the making pretty much since the show was played and its pressing has been met with of-the-era delays and so on, so as the world pokes its head out from under protective cover and hopes to move actually into some kind of “post-pandemic” existence, it’s fitting too that Seedy Jeezus included so much new material in this set. “The Hollow Earth,” which you can see premiering at the bottom of the post, is a mellow, immersive Floyder, and figuratively as well as literally it’s just a fraction of what’s on offer throughout the 10-track outing.
You can read more about the idea of the ‘hollow earth’ concept below. The key I think is where the band ties in the idea of something mysterious and unknown happening beneath the surface in with the notion of death, which of course is what ultimately unites us all. The bridging of one concept to the next, particularly as reflection on the time of the album’s making and when the show was played, is nothing short of brilliant.
Info from the PR wire:
SEEDY JEEZUS – THE HOLLOW EARTH PRESALES JUNE 27 – RELEASE DATE JULY 16 2022
Preorder (open June 27): http://seedyjeezus.com
The Hollow Earth Theory has a long and entwined interaction with the human races’ historical cultural belief systems. Early on it was believed that it is a dark place filled with the souls of the dead. A chasm of dread and foreboding filled with danger and challenge. Later beliefs suggested a world of light and life. A place suspended in the center of that hollow with an interior sun that is divided by day and night. The other part of the Hollow Earth theory is that near the North and South pole are substantial openings that lead into this interior where it is thought that the Aurora Borealis is the escape of the internal heavenly light of this centre world.
Possibly the first person to scientifically speculate about a hollow earth was none other than Edmund Halley, of Halley’s Comet fame. He proposed it as a way of explaining anomalous compass readings, Halley’s theory is that the planet is a series of nested, spherical shells, spinning in different directions, all surrounding a central core. Jules Verne was obsessed with the concept and although the existence of this place is yet to be substantiated by modern science, six feet under the worlds’ surface are pockets of earth, musty and dark. They are filled with fine clothing, jewellery and hold artefacts of one’s existence. They are the final deposit of all we can take with us. Bones, dust and memories.
Seedy Jeezus recorded a live double album capturing fan favourites and a window into what is in store on their next studio album. It was recorded at Studio One B out the back of a stonemasons’ across from the main graveyard in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. It was performed in front of some friends in between heavy lockdowns in 2021 when live performance and social gatherings were almost a forgotten decadence. We were lucky to have this short space of time bring together a time capsule of Seedy songs to send to friends and fans everywhere.
Tracklisting :
1. Is There All That Is – This track will be opening the next studio album, it also hints as to the direction of the album.
2. The Golden Miles – this will also be on the next album… it’s about the end of a relationship, and looking at it as a whole.
3. My Gods Are Stone – from the Polaris Oblique album, Isaiah Mitchell originally played the lead on the studio version.
4. How ya Doin’? – When we first recorded this for the Debut it was 20 mins long, but never released. We thought we’d reinstate the full version.
5. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) – a Hendrix cover Lex learnt during lockdown and put to the band to play.
6. Echoes in the Sky (Jam) – we debated playing the full song or not at all- the jam won as an overflow from Voodoo Chile.
7. The Hollow Earth – A next album track that also indicated the direction the band is heading… it’s written from the body in the coffin view.
8. Oh Lord Pt. 2 – From Polaris Oblique, this song is a favourite live, and one we always love to play.
9. Dripping from the Eye of The Sun – this song evolves and changes all the time, it’s very diff to the studio version. This is something the band likes to do live.
10. Wormhole – another live favourite, taken from our debut… it’s lost none of its lustre played live.
2LP available in multiple colours: Deluxe (3D colours – Red n Blue) Europe is Purple Death Australia – Halo Gold Standard – Black Death
Also a very limited Destroyer Edition – this is a splatter edition that was pressed and destroyed as they were noisy.
And Test Pressings with unique art, etc….
The Deluxe version comes with: 70 min bonus CD of unreleased Studio demos and Live Slip mat 8 Page booklet of photos taken at the show Liner Notes by Patrick Emery and a set list
Posted in Questionnaire on August 31st, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Lex ‘Frumpy’ Waterreus of Seedy Jeezus
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I play guitar and sing in Seedy Jeezus… I’d always wanted to play guitar since a kid. My father played guitar and every other string instrument, banjo, ukulele, etc. Oddly enough he never once had any interest in my playing, but my mum saw music as a healthy interest. She supported it, and well… after A LOT of gigs, jams rehearsals… then developing hand problems and stopping for many years, I auditioned for a band playing 60s Mod stuff… I clicked with the bassist, that eventuated into the first incarnation of Seedy Jeezus, and the first time I’d ever played in a three-piece band.
Describe your first musical memory.
I was kid, maybe five… My sister had been given the Shangri-las greatest hits record, and played it over n over. It was the equivalent of the Wiggles in the house. My mum threatened to smash it many times. That was the first time I took notice of a band or record. To this day I love the Shangri-las.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Playing Freak Valley Festival. There’s plenty of them, touring jamming and hanging with Isaiah Mitchell, just being onstage with your band and playing music with one mind… but Freak Valley was like finding family you didn’t know you had. The people we met that day have become very good friends. I think any friendship made through music is special.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
You know, Covid has tested many beliefs, and also revealed many disappointments.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
I think artistic progression is reflected on life growth and experiences. It’s like those times when life kicks you down, then one day you realize you’re back up and walking. You look back and are happy you survived, you feel stronger and you’ve grown… That growth flows into art, music and outlook on life and expression.
How do you define success?
When you write a song and someone loves it and they connect to it. When your music has moved someone, they’ve responded to it on an emotional level… that to me is success. There are many bands I have loved and supported since a kid that were to me successful, they may have only played local gigs and released a demo tape or CD… but I still listen to them today. To me they’re successful. They wrote something I connected to…
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
It’s funny JJ, what came to mind first off was watching my mother take her last breath while she looked directly into my eyes. I didn’t sleep for days after. Every time I closed my eyes I relived it. Then I saw the cycle of life in that moment, she saw me take my first breath and I saw her take her last. That somehow made the trauma seem like a natural part of life. I wrote about it on “Treading Water” from Polaris. The line “breath in and set me free” that last breath and the silence after held me at a spot which seemed like forever, but it was moments… Then my world fell apart. We don’t play it live cause it’s a headspace I don’t want to visit on stage.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
For the last couple of years I have tried to raise money for an organization back in New Zealand, in my hometown, that helps the homeless with food. I have done this through producing artwork, etc., that are based from the town’s history. I have an idea of how I can set up a business model that would be a perpetual income for the organization that looks after the homeless, and would need little effort to maintain and run. I have already tested waters to raise $$ and they’ve been successful, with support from local businesses back home… Once Covid passes, I hope to get things a bit deeper and more solid. Homelessness in NZ is a problem, I have had friends I grew up with end up homeless and sadly a couple have died on the streets. It took a childhood friend who went down the drugs, gangs and homelessness and prison, to getting out and turning most perceptions people may have had of him, on their head. And showing up all these people with real action, real love and real support for the homeless who have been where he was. Inspiring stuff.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Art for me is a place of healing and perspective. When you’re lost. Music can be your hiding place. Like most of us we all go through stuff, when I had hand problems and stopped playing guitar for many years, I took up art and painting. I’d prepare all day for it and sit up all night listening to music and painting portraits etc. Very happy memories right there.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Buying some fish and chips and sitting by the ocean listening to the waves and feeling the sun’s warmth. That right there is something that goes back to when I was a kid… so even though I’m here in Australia, I feel I am at home by the water.
[Click play above to stream ‘Polaris Oblique’ from Seedy Jeezus with Tony Reed’s limited Live in Liege LP. Album will be available on the band’s upcoming European tour (dates here).]
The front cover of the LP is emblazoned with the heading ‘The Broken String Incident,’ and indeed, Seedy Jeezus guitarist/vocalist Lex “Mr. Frumpy” Waterreus does break a string as the Australian outfit make their stop in Liège, Belgium, on July 18, 2018. “Incident” might be stretching it — so far as I know no ambassadors were recalled — but you gotta call it something, and it underscores the intention of the limited-to-150-copies, only-available-on-tour LP, which is to capture a bootleg-style feel. The artwork for Live in Liège is taken from Waterreus‘ own tour poster for their 2018 European run, which was their first — the tour they’ll sell the LP on is their second — with Mos Generator‘s Tony Reed filling in on bass for Paul Crick, who couldn’t make the trip from Australia with Waterreus and drummer Mark Sibson.
And if Reed seems like an out-of-the-blue choice, the relationship there runs deeper than just the live shows, with Reedhaving traveled from his home in Washington to record Seedy Jeezus in their native Melbourne for their 2015 self-titled debut and again for last year’s Polaris Oblique (review here) — he’ll reportedly produce their next album as well whenever that happens. Bottom line, then, is Tony Reed is about as close as one could get to being in Seedy Jeezus, and sometimes he is kind of in the band. He plays like it, taking on a backing vocalist role in the 10-minute side B launcher “Dripping from the Eye of the Sun,” stepping in to introduce Waterreus during the second round of band introductions before they finish the set with “Oh Lord Pt. 2” from the sophomore LP. That the two parties would fit well together isn’t a huge surprise, since both play a style of largely straight-ahead heavy rock with a strong foundation in the classics of the form, an emphasis on songwriting as well as the tightness of the presentation. In the rhythm section with Sibson, Reed‘s right at home throughout “Polaris Oblique” and the subsequent “Everything’ll Be Alright” — billed as “Everything’s Alright” on the back cover; a notable change in tense — and all throughout the 40-minute set that unfolds.
By the time they got to Péniche la Légia in Liège, Seedy Jeezus had already been on the road for somewhere in the neighborhood of 11 days, and they sound like it. The actual audio on Live in Liège is fairly raw. If we’re going on the scale of bootlegs, it’s definitely a soundboard, and it’s gorgeous compared to some recorded-in-a-jacket-pocket DAT shows I’ve heard in my time, but neither is it a polished live record even as much as was Seedy Jeezus‘ 2016 offering, Live in Netphen: Freak Valley 2015 (discussed here). Again, it’s not supposed to be. The whole idea behind this release is that it’s something special that documents this special moment of their European tour supporting their second album. As Waterreus rips into the solo at the furious outset of “Sun in My Car” at the end of side A — stopping amid that triumphal boogie between measures to give the crowd a well-earned moment to holler, whistle, etc. — before, indeed, that string breaks and he does the first round of band introductions presumably in the midst of changing it out. If it didn’t say so on the cover, they’d have gotten away with it no problem. No one would know.
Still, if that’s something to stand the show out from the others on the tour, they handle it smoothly enough, which is the kind of thing a band can do without being derailed when they’ve already been on the road for a week-plus. “Sun in My Car” picks up in all the more energized fashion when it returns and blasts off en route to the interstellar drift of “Dripping from the Eye of the Sun” after the side flip, recalling the initial punch of “Polaris Oblique” and “Everything’ll Be Alright” at the start of the set — those two also lead off the Polaris Oblique album in succession — and prefacing “Barefoot Travellin’ Man” and “Oh Lord Pt. 2” still to come. Seedy Jeezus excel at this kind of madcap shuffle, and Live in Liège brings that out well, but their range has never been limited to just one thing, as “Dripping from the Eye of the Sun” demonstrates that with its slower roll and more spacious feel, which isn’t something that one would necessarily expect to come across on a live record, since it’s doubly hard to set the mood for someone listening when that person isn’t at the gig, but Seedy Jeezus deliver the set as it happened and the rest takes care of itself.
I imagine there are some who would hear Live in Liège and not understand the “warts and all”-style vibe it hones or why a band would even put out a recording of a set where the guitarist breaks a string in the middle of a song. But isn’t it obvious? It’s cinéma vérité — the most stripped down manner in which they could showcase the reality of what the tour was like. The only way it could be more real is if they recorded the 23 hours that day they spent driving, sleeping, no doubt, waiting for the time when they could get on stage and kick ass as they do here. By the time they get to the end of “Barefoot Travellin’ Man,” the scorch in Waterreus‘ soloing is so encompassing that whatever concerns might exist about fidelity simply dissipate. You just get into it and that’s all there is. This is the bootleg ideal, of course. Seedy Jeezus put you where the show is happening just as they put the audience who was there where they wanted them.
This may only be a limited LP, offered up in plain style through the band’s own Blown Music imprint with no super-deluxe special edition or anything like that, but it represents something special about their approach just the same, where it’s not just the fact that they boogie down or riff out or get spacey or whatever it might be, but that they do so with such obvious, resonant joy. I can’t imagine a more compelling argument to go see a band than that.
