All three of these bands had releases out in 2024. In the case of London heavypunkers Thee Alcoholics, they had two. Poland’s Sunnata released Chasing Shadows (review here) and Scottish psychfreaks The Cosmic Dead proffered Infinite Peaks (review here) last Spring, and both have set about supporting the records ever since. The three bands join the lineup for Nijmegen’s Sonic Whip Festival alongside a righteous host of acts from various genres, from Frankie and the Witch Fingers‘ heady garage-psych-punk to Temple Fang‘s farthest-out soulful prog, to Orsak:Oslo‘s Scandidrone and Osees‘ how-do-they-do-it-oh-yeah-cocaine-and-ADHD chicanery, among others.

Two days, all killer. Elder, Slomosa and The Devil and the Almighty Blues sharing the stage with Graveyard. Khan and Dutch prog-boogie upstarts Heath holding it down next to Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol and Lord Buffalo. Whether it’s those two from the US, Khan from Australia or others from around Europe, there’s 23 acts on this bill and each one brings something different to the proceedings than the others. Yeah, there are elements shared — it’s a genre-based heavy fest; not a new concept — but if you get a sense of personality looking at the assembled names of the final Sonic Whip 2025 lineup below, I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

There have been a few ‘Live at Sonic Whip’-type releases the past few years as well. If anybody wanted to get that The Devil and the Almighty Blues set on tape, I’m pretty sure a live album from those guys would make the world a better place. See also everybody.

From social media:

LINE-UP SONIC WHIP 2025 COMPLETE

With the addition of the exploratory Scottish spacerockers The Cosmic Dead, ritualistic Polish doomsters SUNNATA and raunchy noise UK five piece Thee Alcoholics the line-up for this year is now complete. Three killer bands next to twenty other amazing acts making the 2025 edition surely one not to be missed!

Tickets & info: https://bit.ly/Sonic-Whip-2025

https://www.facebook.com/Sonicwhipfestival
https://www.instagram.com/sonic_whip/
https://www.doornroosje.nl/festival/sonic-whip/

Sunnata, Chasing Shadows (2024)

The Cosmic Dead, Infinite Peaks (2024)

Thee Alcoholics, Bear Bites Horse Sessions (2024)

If this week has felt like little more than catching up with fest announcements and doing-myself-a-favor heavy psych reviews, yeah, I think you’ve basically got the picture of what’s been going on. Of course the holidays are a factor, but even in the quietest of weeks — and this and next are the quietest weeks, traditionally, though the music industry used to shut down from December through February when it ruled the world and anyone could afford an off-season — there’s stuff happening for me to be behind on, and so here we are with Sonic Whip 2025 in Nijmegen bringing on Slomosa, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Help and The Janitors.

Going by the results so far to the Year-End Poll, people are ready for Slomosa to have as busy a year as they apparently will in 2025, and Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol‘s European Not-Vacation has been teased for a few months. That they’d be anchoring club shows at fests makes sense; it’s how things are done these days and I honestly don’t know how much time they’ve spent in Europe at this point. And Khan coming from Australia is incredible, no less because the Melbourne, Australia, psychcrushers are also slated to appear at Hoflärm 2025 in August, which means they could be in Europe for much of the summer. That would be a hell of a trip.

All that’s very exciting, but The Janitors are my real lesson here, as I hadn’t heard them before and they’ve been around for a long time and the record they put out this year, An Error Has Occurred, streaming below, rules. Enjoy it along with this from social media:

NEW NAMES SONIC WHIP 2025

All ready and set for the holidays? We for sure are, but not before adding some truly fine gems to the Sonic Whip 2025 line-up; Slomosa, The Janitors, Help, Khan and Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol!

Slomosa can’t wait to make their appearance again with their hard hitting Norwegian tundra rock. As are The Janitors who will conjure their heavy fuzzed out drones, a truly Swedish psychedelic aural wormhole, cool and mega-trippy. Which is nothing like Help, these guys from Portland bring throat-shredding, veins-bulging, shirt-soaking hardcore noise punk. The Aussies from Khan on the other hand deliver evocative, hazy psychedelica with intricate stoner riffs. And last but not least Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol. This trio from Texas create the most brilliant doom sludge pop psych combination you propably will hear this year… It’s big, it’s dumb, it’s fucking rifftastic!

That’s not all, daytickets are available now as well at a reduced price, available until January 12th. Snag these while they are still hot. The new year will also bring more cool names including the second headliner!

Tickets & info: https://bit.ly/Sonic-Whip-2025

https://www.facebook.com/Sonicwhipfestival
https://www.instagram.com/sonic_whip/
https://www.doornroosje.nl/festival/sonic-whip/

The Janitors, An Error Has Occurred (2024)

A lot to like in the batch of new names added to Sonic Whip in the Netherlands this coming May. The 2025 Nijmegen edition of the festival has announced Dutch upstarts Heath will play — reasonable — and brought on Graveyard, who immediately go to the top of the bill and are playing for the first time — and punctuated noise rock masters Whores., the ambient Orsak:Oslo, as well as Utrecht heavy punkers Rats and Daggers and Los Angeles’ own Frankie and the Witch Fingers for those who’d dare a little fun while they have a good time.

As Lord Buffalo are also added, I can’t help but wonder if the Austin-based outfit won’t do a tour around this appearance, and if so, I believe that’s their first European jaunt. Don’t quote me on that, I could be wrong. Either way, I’ll try to keep an eye for dates and, if they’re going to make a run of it, with whom.

The announcement was short and sweet, the lineup is righteous and by all accounts I’ve heard, Sonic Whip is an amazing time. Barring some never-gonna-happen fiscal miracle, I won’t be there to see it, but if you get to go, enjoy. Tickets are available. Here’s what they had to say on socials:

NEW NAMES SONIC WHIP 2025

We’re thrilled to announce Graveyard for Sonic Whip 2025! The appearance of the Swedish band will mark their debut at our festival. Judging by their blistering performances lately they are on fire! Also present on 16 & 17 May; US garage psychrockers Frankie And The Witch Fingers, noise-punk-sludge juggernauts Whores., Norwegian atmospheric kraut-jazz-psychrockers Orsak:Oslo, cinematic & melancholic rockers Lord Buffalo from the US, Dutch psych revelation Heath and upcoming sonic punkrockers of Rats and Daggers.

The line-up is shaping up nicely with Elder, The Devil and the Almighty Blues, Temple Fang and Karkara being announced earlier on and there’s still more to follow! Keep your eyes peeled.

Get your tickets for Sonic Whip 2025 via https://bit.ly/Sonic-Whip-2025

https://www.facebook.com/Sonicwhipfestival
https://www.instagram.com/sonic_whip/
https://www.doornroosje.nl/festival/sonic-whip/

Graveyard, 6 (2023)

The Nijmegen-based Sonic Whip Festival has unveiled the first five acts for its 2025 edition. Elder are all over the place — here, Desertfest in London, Berlin and Oslo, plus club shows — and The Devil and the Almighty Blues will be making the rounds. If you’ve never seen them, just know that they deliver a lot of both devilry and blues from the stage. It’s early to get a sense of the full shape of the thing, but with Temple Fang, Karkara and Den Der Hale rounding out, Sonic Whip 2025 presents a varied face within the realms of that which is heavy and psychedelic. I look forward to finding out who else is taking part, as the Spring European touring circuit begins to take shape months before the year has even started.

Also, as Burning World Records recently announced it was restructuring business to lean more into the distro side of things rather than new releases — fair enough — it specifically noted that the label would continue to release live outings captured at Sonic Whip, so it’ll be fun to see what if anything emerges from next May’s fest. For those of us who’ve never been, such things are only fuel for daydreams.

From the PR wire:

FIRST NAMES SONIC WHIP 2025 AND START TICKETSALE

Two days full of roaring guitars with steaming bass lines, pounding drums and other sonic, psychedelic excesses. That’s what you can expect during Sonic Whip 2025 on Friday 16 May and Saturday 17 May.

We are delighted to share the first few names; Elder, The Devil And The Almighty Blues, Temple Fang, Karkara and Den Der Hale will hit the stage for next year’s edition. There are many more artists to be announced. Join us on this sonic journey, because it’s going to be a killer party again!

A limited amount of early bird weekend tickets is available now. Get yours when you can. Day tickets will be available on a later date.

Tickets & info: https://bit.ly/Sonic-Whip-2025

https://www.facebook.com/Sonicwhipfestival
https://www.instagram.com/sonic_whip/
https://www.doornroosje.nl/festival/sonic-whip/

The Devil and the Almighty Blues, “These Are Old Hands” live at Desertfest Oslo 2024

Don’t mind me, just over here daydreaming about this one. Yeah, maybe I’ll always be something of a sucker for The Netherlands in Springtime, but even taking that into account, the lineup for Sonic Whip 2023 in Nijmegen speaks for itself top to bottom in terms of the bill. There’s a couple bands I don’t know — including The Psychotic Monks, who were just added, and Shaman Elephant, who were the other band that took part in Enslaved‘s big-band collab — but for familiar names and faces and acts I’ve never seen like Stoned Jesus, Causa Sui, Somali Yacht Club, Samavayo, Vinnum Sabbathi, Slift, and so on, I feel like this is two days I very much wouldn’t mind living through.

I feel that way about a lot of European fests these days, and maybe that in itself is worth examining — if perhaps we’re in something of a golden age (a loaded phrase for the Dutch) of smaller-scale festivals across the continent. I see nothing but arguments in favor of that proposition here, and post-covid, the explosion of events both new and returning is only welcome as far as I’m concerned. I haven’t been invited, won’t get over for it, but it’s a good one, and if you’re headed out to it, I tip my hat in your general direction. Or at least I will next time I have a hat on.

Final announcement follows. Tickets are on sale:

LINE-UP SONIC WHIP 2023 COMPLETE

5 & 6 MAY Doornroosje, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Sonic Whip, the multi-headed rock monster that combines ripping guitars with steaming bass lines, pounding drums and other sonic, psychedelic excesses. The 2023 edition will happen on May 5 & 6 in Doornroosje, Nijmegen.

With the addition of The Psychotic Monks (fra), Samavayo (ger), Shaman Elephant (no) and Vinnum Sabbathi (mex) the line-up for Sonic Whip is complete! We’re looking forward to welcome all these fantastic artists and are convinced this is going to be a rad psychedelic sonic party. We hope you will join us on 5 & 6 May in Doornroosje.

FULL LINEUP:
King Buffalo, SLIFT, Stoned Jesus, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Causa Sui, Lowrider, Somali Yacht Club, Les Big Byrd, GNOD, The Psychotic Monks, Radar Men From The Moon, Samavayo, Ecstatic Vision, Iron Jinn, USA Nails, The Gluts, Deathchant, Dommengang, Shaman Elephant, Psychlona, Vinnum Sabbathi and Madmess.

Get your tickets here: https://bit.ly/SonicWhip2023

Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/530494448958919

https://www.facebook.com/Sonicwhipfestival
https://www.instagram.com/sonic_whip/
https://www.doornroosje.nl/festival/sonic-whip/

Vinnum Sabbathi, Live at Channel 66 (2022)

You had me at King Buffalo. Also at Slift, Causa Sui, Lowrider, Somali Yacht Club, Gnod, Radar Men From the Moon, Ecstatic Vision, Deathchant, Dommengang, Iron Jinn and Psychlona. This year’s Sonic Whip Festival turned out to be one of the most significant events of 2022, not the least because it’s already produced a number of live albums from sets recorded over the course of its two days. I’d expect no less as Sonic Whip 2023 continues to grow the scope, pulling in acts who’ll be on the road at the time — some of these have popped up on other announcements, King Buffalo and Deathchant, Ecstatic Vision and Somali Yacht Club and Dommengang among them.

These along with others like Lowrider and Iron Jinn — the latter of which features Oeds Beydals (Death Alley, Molassess, The Devil’s Blood, etc.) on guitar, and the former of which is Lowrider — form the first shape of Sonic Whip 2023’s personality, a bit of what you can see if you’re elsewhere along with some stuff you can only see if you’re there. The art also rules, and is distinguished from the glut of cartoon-style posters, so count that as a bonus. I do, anyhow.

Announcement follows here, along with the links for tickets and word there’s more to come:

SONIC WHIP 2023 – 5 & 6 MAY Doornroosje, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Sonic Whip, the multi-headed rock monster that combines ripping guitars with steaming bass lines, pounding drums and other sonic, psychedelic excesses. The 2023 edition will happen on May 5 & 6 in Doornroosje, Nijmegen.

The first names have been announced: King Buffalo, SLIFT, Causa Sui, Lowrider, Somali Yacht Club, GNOD, Radar Men From The Moon, Ecstatic Vision, Deathchant, Dommengang, Iron Jinn and Psychlona. More bands to follow.

The ticketsale starts on Saturday 17 December, 11.00 CEST with the (limited) weekendtickets. Daytickets will go onsale on a later date.

Sonic Whip 2023 line-up

⮞ King Buffalo
⮞ SLIFT
⮞ Causa Sui
⮞ Lowrider
⮞ Somali Yacht Club
⮞ GNOD
⮞ Radar Men From The Moon
⮞ Ecstatic Vision
⮞ Deathchant
⮞ Dommengang
⮞ Iron Jinn
⮞ Psychlona
⮞ more to follow….

Ticket Info

The ticketsale starts Saturday 17 December at 11.00 CEST with the sale of weekendtickets. Day tickets will be available on a later date.

Weekendtickets Limited – €75 – click here: https://tickets.doornroosje.nl/nl-NL/Package/Details/Sonic-Whip-2023-Weekend-Ticket-Limited-5-mei-15
Weekendtickets – €85 – click here: https://tickets.doornroosje.nl/nl-NL/Package/Details/Sonic-Whip-2023-Weekend-Ticket-5-mei-14

King Buffalo, “Mammoth” official video

Europe’s Spring festival season would seem to be on the rebound this year, and a delayed Sonic Whip fest in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, is set for May 6 and 7 as a part of that process. With poster art by the esteemed Maarten Donders, the festival has announced that Elder, Elephant Tree, Kal-El, Kryptograf, Hey Colossus and Supersonic Blues are going to play, which is some pretty killer adds alongside the already confirmed likes of Motorpsycho, Earthless, Slomosa, and so on.

Among the things to dig about the bill’s international reach is the presence of more Norwegian acts than one might’ve seen even just a couple years ago. Motorpsycho‘s place among headliners is, of course, well earned, but you can see too in Kryptograf and Slomosa an up and coming generation of rockers, and in Kal-El the kind of act they might want to grow up to be. It’s cool to see Norway’s underground become immersed in the broader sphere of European heavy. They’ll do well here alongside other groups from the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the US, UK and so on.

There are apparently more announcements to come. Fine, but if Sonic Whip was like, “Nah this is it,” it’d still be good fest.

Here’s the info:

NEW ADDITIONS SONIC WHIP 2022

We are pretty stoked to announce that Elder, Elephant Tree, Hey Colossus, Kal-El, Kryptograf and Supersonic Blues will be part of Sonic Whip 2022 – Official!

Already confirmed for 6 & 7 May are Motorpsycho, Earthless, Stöner, Rotor, SACRI MONTI, MaidaVale, Mythic Sunship, a/lpaca, POLYMOON, Slomosa and KALEIDOBOLT. This is going to be wild! And that is not all, there is still more to follow…

Saturday daytickets are sold out, only Friday and a few weekend tickets remaining. Tickets are available here: https://bit.ly/SonicWhip-2022

The beautiful artwork created by the talented Maarten Donders.

Friday 6 May 2022
Elder, Sacri Monti, Mythic Sunship, Kal-El, Kryptograf, Kaleidobolt, Supersonic Blues and more to be confirmed.

Saturday 7 May 2022
Motorpsycho, Earthless, Stöner, Elephant Tree, Rotor, Hey Colossus, Maidavale, Slomosa, Polymoon, A/lpaca and more to be confirmed.

https://facebook.com/events/s/sonic-whip-2022-official/427908701471605/
https://www.facebook.com/Sonicwhipfestival/
https://www.instagram.com/doornroosjenl/
https://www.doornroosje.nl/event/sonic-whip-2022-2/

Elder, Omens (2020)

Elephant Tree, “The Fall Chorus” official video

This looks like fun, simple as that. Well, maybe not three two-headed, four-armed, knife-and-pill-wielding snake beast on the poster. Though obviously cool looking too, that just kind of looks like it would kill you after opening your third eye. But the event itself, Sonic Whip 2020. That looks like a good time. It’s important to be specific about these things.

The Netherlands-based Spring festival to be held May 1 and 2 has completed its lineup, adding seven more names to an already impressive initial batch. Newcomers include Spaceslug, Big Business, and Greek heavy rock forerunners 1000mods, the latter whose addition to the bill makes me wonder if they’ll be on tour at the time, and if so, if their new album might be out to coincide. If that’s so, an announcement would be coming shortly, I’d think. An exciting prospect, whether it pans out that way or not.

You can see the full list of new adds and the complete final lineup below. Dig:

SONIC WHIP 2020 – NEW NAMES – LINE-UP COMPLETE

1000MODS (gr), Causa Sui (dk), Big Business (usa), Somali Yacht Club (ukr), Samavayo (ger), Netherlands (usa) and Spaceslug (pol) have been added to the line-up of Sonic Whip 2020.

With these last seven names the line-up is complete. We are proud to have been able to book these twenty artists for the upcoming edition. In our opinion a nice cross section of what the sonic and psychedelic -heavy rock- genre has to offer at the moment. From old heroes and established names to new artists who know how to push the boundaries again. Next to that also a number of special acts that can rarely be admired live in the Netherlands like Masters of Reality, Pissed Jeans, Causa Sui and Rotor. Look for the daily schedule on the website or event of Sonic Whip.

Day tickets: http://bit.ly/SonicWhip2020
Combi-tickets: http://bit.ly/SonicWhip2020Combi

Sonic Whip, the multi-headed rock monster that combines roaring guitars riffs with steaming bass lines, pounding drums and other sonic, psychedelic excesses, is preparing for the third edition. We kick off on May 1 with a pre-party deluxe in Doornroosje to completely unleash sonically on May 2 at the same location.

LINE-UP
MASTERS OF REALITY
KADAVAR
1000MODS
BRANT BJORK
CAUSA SUI
PISSED JEANS
BIG BUSINESS
ROTOR
SOMALI YACHT CLUB
MAIDAVALE
THE COSMIC DEAD
SAMAVAYO
SACRI MONTI
FORMING THE VOID
ACID ROOSTER
SPACESLUG
GUM TAKES TOOTH
NETHERLANDS
BONNACONS OF DOOM
DHIDALAH

https://www.facebook.com/events/427908701471605/
https://www.facebook.com/Sonicwhipfestival/
https://www.instagram.com/doornroosjenl/
https://www.doornroosje.nl/event/sonic-whip-2020/