This is one of the best lineups I’ve seen for a US-based heavy fest in the 15-plus years I’ve been running this site. I don’t know what else to say about it, honestly. For the fact that Ripplefest Texas is bringing Dozer over alone, let alone any of the other Euro acts involved who have, say, been to North America in the last 20-plus years, it’s astonishing. And not just bigger bands like Dozer and Truckfighters or Mars Red Sky and Belzebong, but Domkraft and Kal-El, bands you know if you’re into this thing but that haven’t been around as long and aren’t as ‘huge’ in the whatever sense that applies in underground music.

And it’s not like they’re skimping on within-US geography either. Of course the desert is well represented, and Texas has a significant presence as it invariably would, but with Gozu and Leather Lung headed out from Boston, Borracho traveling from D.C., Temple of the Fuzz Witch from Michigan, Robots of the Ancient World from Portland, Oregon, and so on, they’ve got all the corners and between pretty well covered. La Chinga coming from Canada. Demons My Friends giving Mexico a nod. It is extensive.

And quality. I don’t know that I’ll be there to see it, but I’d imagine that for most who get to be, it’ll be the stuff of legend. Congrats to Ryan Garney and Lick of My Spoon for bringing it into the world, and safe travels to all involved:

Here it is! The lineup for RippleFest Texas and the amazing art by Simon Berndt @1horsetown 🤘🔥❤️

We still have a few surprises left but this roster is stacked! Don’t miss your chance to see the world’s best heavy music at the largest family reunion of the year. Plus this is the ONLY premier festival that has absolutely ZERO OVERLAPPING so you can see every second of every band! Get your tickets now and we will see you in September!

Tier 2 tickets are almost sold out and the price increases on Monday so get your tickets now:

www.lickofmyspoon.com

DOZER
TRUCKFIGHTERS
BONGZILLA
MARS RED SKY
BELZEBONG
DOMKRAFT
LEGIONS OF DOOM
FATSO JETSON
GOZU
HOWLING GIANT
THE HEAVY EYES
HIGH DESERT QUEEN
KAL-EL
20 WATT TOMBSTONE
THE OTOLITH
TEMPLE OF THE FUZZ WITCH
LEATHER LUNG
THUNDER HORSE
HASHTRONAUT
BONE CHURCH
BORRACHO
SUN CROW
CRYSTAL SPIDERS
TIA CARRERA
ROBOTS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
MR. PLOW
LA CHINGA
FOSTERMOTHER
BLUE HERON
TEMPTRESS
FORMULA 400
DEMONS MY FRIENDS
VERMILION WHISKEY
VIOLET RISING
HUDU AKIL
BUZZ ELECTRO
SHADOW OF JUPITER

GRAND FINALE w/ MARIO LALLI & THE RUBBER SNAKE CHARMERS “Desert Jam Session”

Plus the best light show in the business by @themadalchemistliquidliteshow

https://www.facebook.com/theripplemusic/
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/
http://www.ripple-music.com/

https://www.facebook.com/LOMSProductions
https://www.instagram.com/LOMSProductions/
http://www.lickofmyspoon.com/
https://linktr.ee/Lickofmyspoon

Mars Red Sky, Live at Rock in Bourlon 2023

The message here is clear: Desertfest is all-in on New York. Begun in 2019 and resurfacing in 2022 at a new venue, The Knockdown Center, somewhere in the nebulous border region between Brooklyn and Queens, and a corresponding pre-show at the Saint Vitus Bar, which one hopes will reopen well in advance of this September, Desertfest New York 2024 is vivid in taking it to the next level.

It’s nothing less than a generational event to bring Dozer from Sweden to NYC (they toured the US circa 2000, I’m pretty sure), and for that alone, Desertfest earns your weekend ticket price today. Never mind that at the same time they’re celebrating legends like Dozer and Acid King, they’re also extending their reach to up and coming bands. Green Lung will play — gotta be the main stage, right? isn’t their sound too big for anything else? maybe outside at night? — coming over from the UK to do so, and West Coast outfits Kadabra, Abrams, Deathchant (who at this point I count as a secret being a little too well kept) and Hippie Death Cult complement well Acid King near the top of the bill, where you’ll also find instrumentalists Russian Circles, presumably a headliner, and fair enough. Oh yeah, and Truckfighters just in case anyone gets tired and needs a bit of a cardio pick-me-up.

Guhts from New York, Domkraft from Sweden, Belzebong from Poland and an awaited appearance from Boston’s Gozu round out this initial announcement, with more to come. It’s on my calendar. You might think about putting it on yours as well:

Desertfest NYC announces Russian Circles, Acid King, Green Lung, Truckfighters, Dozer & more for its 2024 lineup.

For their return to the Knockdown Center this September, Desertfest NYC has unveiled its first artists set to take the stage for their fourth edition, announcing post-metal giants RUSSIAN CIRCLES as their first headliner. Joining them will be California stoner metal legends ACID KING and London occult metal sensations GREEN LUNG, making their US debut. After they were unable to perform at DF 2022, the festival is thrilled to finally be hosting them stateside.

Swedish rockers and long-time Desertfest friends TRUCKFIGHTERS will return for their first New York performance in four years, along with fellow countrymen and stoner devotees DOZER.

Joining the party will be Poland’s instrumental ‘dudes’ BELZEBONG, Swedish psychedelic hypnotizers DOMKRAFT, and a healthy dose of rock n roll arrives courtesy of Los Angeles quartet, DEATHCHANT and Boston mainstays GOZU.

Elsewhere we’ll be treated to some psychedelic swagger from Pacific Northwesterners KADABRA and HIPPE DEATH CULT, and some heavy gazin’ with Denver’s ABRAMS and NY locals GUHTS.

Desertfest New York 2024 will take place September 12th – 14th. 3-Day Festival Passes (incl. pre-party access) and 2-Day Festival passes are available now via https://www.desertfestnewyork.com & https://link.dice.fm/desertfest2024

https://facebook.com/Desertfestnyc/
https://www.instagram.com/desertfest_nyc/
http://www.desertfestnewyork.com

Dozer, “Big Sky Theory” live in Adelaide, Australia, Nov. 2023

With Pentagram at the top of its thus-far bill playing what will reportedly be their final Swiss show ever on a retirement tour that will also stop through Desertfest Berlin 2024 this Spring, the Sound of Liberation-associated Up in Smoke Festival has made the first lineup announcement for its 10th anniversary edition. Set for Oct. 4-6, it is at the spearhead of what will almost certainly be a busy month on the European underground touring circuit. And as one expects news to follow shortly from other October festivals throughout Western Europe — Keep it Low in Munich, Desertfest Belgium in Antwerp, Høstsabbat in Norway that I’ve been fortunate enough to go to a couple times, and so on — knowing that the likes of Truckfighters, Monolord, Lowrider, Greenleaf and Slomosa will be out on the road, at least the latter two of them behind new records, warms the heart in February’s drear. Will I be there? Probably not, barring a miracle or some kind of grant that doesn’t exist, but someone will be, and that’s rad enough of a thought to get me through the end of this sentence, so I’ll take it.

Wonder if we’ll see new stuff from Gnome this year, and I think Messa were beginning the process this winter of their next LP. October is far enough away that just about anything can happen between now and then, and I guess that’s part of the fun in posting these things in the first place. Thanks for talking that one through with me.

And while we’re here, happy 10th anniversary to Up in Smoke, and many happy returns.

Here’s the latest:

⚡️UP IN SMOKE FESTIVAL 2024 – FIRST BAND ANNOUNCEMENT⚡️

Hey Smokers,

Today, we are thrilled to announce the first bunch of amazing bands for the 10th-anniversary of our beloved Up In Smoke Festival!🖤

None other than Bobby Liebling and his crew in Pentagram will be joining us to celebrate their last show in Switzerland ever! 🔥

So great to see our Scandinavian friends Truckfighters, Monolord, Slomosa, Greenleaf and Lowrider joining the madness with exclusive Switzerland shows.

In addition to this, we are introducing the dark, haunting sounds of the female-fronted doom outfits Messa and Wolvennest, along with the experimental rockers Djinn, Belgium’s one and only Gnome, and the UK riffmasters Psychlona.

Up in Smoke takes place near Basel and Switzerland offers some excellent bands as well! Check out Tar Pond, Preamp Disaster, Norna, No Mute and Glue.🇨🇭

Make no mistake, this was just the beginning!👀

Up in Smoke 2024 will be a massive heavy rockin’ birthday bash and the stoner party of the year!🪩

Line Up:

Pentagram *last Swiss show ever*
Truckfighters
Monolord
Lowrider
Greenleaf
Slomosa
Messa
Wolvennest
Gnome
Psychlona
Djiin
Tar Pond
Preamp Disaster
Norna
No Mute
Glue
& many more

🎫Online-Tickets: www.sol-tickets.com
(link in bio)
& www.z-7.ch

🎫Hardtickets: www.sol-records.com

🌐Website: www.upinsmoke.de

Up In Smoke Festival
10th Anniversary
🗓️04. – 06. October 2024
📍Z7 Konzertfabrik
Pratteln, Switzerland

Cheers,
Your UIS-Crew

https://www.facebook.com/upinsmokefestivalswitzerland
https://www.instagram.com/up_in_smoke_festival

https://www.facebook.com/Soundofliberation/
https://www.instagram.com/soundofliberation/
https://www.soundofliberation.com/

Lowrider, Live at Hellfest 2022

If you’re the type who likes to take care of things early, well, you’re apparently in good company with the Munich-based Keep it Low Festival. The two-dayer fest, which is one of many under the umbrella of Sound of Liberation booking, is held annually in October, and that’s when it’s set to take place in 2024 as well, at Backstage in Munich on Oct. 11-12. Tickets, however, are on sale almost 10 full months early.

Why? I’m not sure, but I have a definite answer in “why the hell not?,” and I find that when I try to answer that question, I come up blank. So yeah, it seems like that’s really early, but on the other hand, why not put tickets for next year on sale while people are at the fest this year? It’s different, I don’t know if it’s been done before, but doesn’t that just make it a new idea, and is that something so terrible to be chasing down in a climate where live music is trying to draw people out of the entertainment hotbeds we’ve built in our homes?

I’ve gotten sidetracked from this lineup announcement, which came out the other day from Sound of Liberation and hints toward Fall 2024 European tours for at least Fu Manchu, Monolord, Truckfighters, Greenleaf, Messa and Psychlona, but I like to keep an eye for how things evolve from year to year and for all I know, Keep it Low has been doing this every year for the last decade (happy 10th anniversary, by the way) and I’m just picking up on it now because, well, I’m kinda slow sometimes, but it stood out to me as something you might not see all the time. And maybe you like to make early travel arrangements. I know I do.

From social media:

KEEP IT LOW 2024 – ⚡️FIRST BAND ANNOUNCEMENT & TICKETS ON SALE!⚡️

Hey Keepers,

we are super excited to present you the first bands for next year’s edition of the Keep It Low festival!🔥

Please welcome:

FU MANCHU
TRUCKFIGHTERS
MONOLORD
GREENLEAF
MESSA
WOLVENNEST
PSYCHLONA
APTERA
DJIIN
ZERRE
HECKSPOILER
MINDCRAWLER
& MANY MORE!

🎫Weekend tickets are available in our shop.
www.sol-tickets.com

Keep It Low Festival
10th anniversary
🗓️11 & 12 October 2024
📍Backstage Munich

Artwork by Sebastian Jerke

Cheers,
Your Keep It Low Crew

https://www.facebook.com/keepitlowfestival/
https://www.keepitlow.de/
https://www.soundofliberation.com/
http://www.sol-tickets.com

Greenleaf, Live at Desertfest Berlin 2023

Man, you ever feel like you’re crawling to the finish line? I’m doing news catchup the next couple days, and this announcement from SonicBlast Fest came out like last weekend or some such with a first round of lineup adds for the Aug. 2024 edition of the Portuguese heavy festival — it’s the 12th one — and as I sit here with my e’er expanding ass sinking e’er deeper into the couch I feel about as far removed as I could from, let’s say, the glorious nighttime walk across the beach in Âncora that I was lucky enough to be born to eventually undertake after a night at SonicBlast earlier this year.

Not only was it my first time in Portugal and Iberia, period, but I met people I never thought I’d get to meet, saw old friends and made new ones, and for a few days pretty much lived the festival ideal. You get there, see sets, go back, write, drink all the coffee, take pictures, write more, write more, eventually collapse from fatigue, then go home with a rejuvenated spirit. You know, fest life.

Submitted for your daydreams is the initial billing for SonicBlast Fest 2024, with the heavy, stoner, psych and punk and hardcore sides of the festival represented and a solid punch of names with Graveyard, Brant Bjork Trio, 1000mods and Truckfighters. Think this means Deathchant and Sacri Monti will tour Europe together? I do. Think it means Sacri Monti‘s album will be out by then? I hope so. Deathchant, who also played this year, are awesome, by the way.

Here’s news. Tickets are on sale already:

SONICBLAST FEST ’24 – Aug. 8-10

It’s getting hard to breathe… We’re so proud to announce the first bands for SonicBlast Fest’s 12th edition!! Viagra Boys, Graveyard, Wine Lips, Brant Bjork Trio, Sunami, Colour Haze, Home Front, Truckfighters, Poison Ruin, 1000mods, Sacri Monti, Maruja, Deathchant and Máquina will join us at the craziest heavy psychedelic weekend by the ocean ⚡🌊☀️

*** more to be announced soon ***

🔥 Full festival tickets are already on sale at BOL (Fnac, Worten, Ctt…), at https://garboyl.bol.pt/ and at https://www.masqueticket.com/entradas/sonicblast-fest-2024

Artwork by Branca Studio

https://www.facebook.com/sonicblastmoledo/
https://www.instagram.com/sonicblast_fest
https://sonicblastfestival.com/

Colour Haze, Sacred (2022)

This past January, when posting a round of late-Winter/early-Spring touring to be undertaken by Sweden’s Truckfighters, I noted they’re due for a new album. The last 11 months haven’t made them any less so, to be sure. But if Truckfighters, who spent the earlier portion of their career establishing themselves as a barnburning live act, want to keep their focus on that part of what they do now, who the hell can blame them? That’s where the fun is, where the audience is, and where the merch sales happen most. The studio will still be there (hopefully anyhow) when they get back to it.

There are fests here and club shows around them. You’ll note Into the Void in the Netherlands, Desert Hel in Finland and Belgium’s Alcatraz Fest as one of probably more to come this summer, in addition to Interstellar Solar Festival and These Go to Eleven as part of this run. It’s probably not the only run they’ll do in 2024, and they’ve announced the dates for their next Fuzz Festival in Stockholm as well, which will be held Nov. 22-23. No bands confirmed yet, but there’s a pretty gosh darn solid chance Truckfighters will play as they do every year, in addition to hosting the event at Debaser Strand and Bar Brooklyn.

They say there’s more to come and I take them at their word. For now, this was the latest from the newsletter of the band-helmed label, Fuzzorama Records:

TRUCKFIGHTERS announce Euro shows

Germany, Netherlands, UK, Finland, Belgium and more to come.

Truckfighters Tickets here: https://www.truckfighters.com/dates-2/

TRUCKFIGHTERS
21.2 BIELEFELD, D – Forum
22.2 DRESDEN, D – Chemiefabrik
23.2 ERFURT, D – Bandhaus
24.2 EINDHOVEN, NL- Into the void festival
25.2 FRANKFURT, D – Zoom
10.3 LONDON, UK – Garage
30.3 LEIDEN, NL – Interstellar solar festival
31.3 ZWOLLE, NL – These go to eleven festival
18.4 TURKU, F – Utopia
19.4 TAMPERE, F – Tullikamari Klubi
20.4 HELSINKI, F – Desert Hel festival
Aug 9-11 Alcatraz Festival, Belgium

http://www.truckfighters.com
https://www.facebook.com/truckfighters
https://www.instagram.com/truckfighters/
https://www.youtube.com/user/TruckfightersTV

https://www.fuzzoramarecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Fuzzorama/
https://www.instagram.com/fuzzoramarecords/
https://fuzzoramarecords1.bandcamp.com/

Truckfighters, Live at Vera Groningen, March 25, 2023

The Fall incarnation of Into the Void, held in Leeuwarden, took place on Sept. 30 with Alabama Thunderpussy, Howling Giant and scores of others, and that had been announced in April, so there’s a fitting symmetry to unveiling the initial lineup for Spring 2024 even as the autumnal festival season in Europe continues to play out. Look for Truckfighters, Mars Red Sky, Skraeckoedlan, Black Rainbows, Endonomos and Acid Mammoth to be out and about in Winter 2024, as the Dutch fest will be early on the circuit and probably a launch point for tours, and with Netherlands natives like Ter Ziele, Rrrags and Onhou, the regional underground is supported as well. Feb. 24 is the date and there are reportedly three more acts to add.

No, I don’t know who they are, but you might have fun trying to guess based on who has records out now and in the early going of 2024. No shortage of names on that list. But you’ll notice that Endonomos from Austria and Onhou aren’t included in the text of the announcement but are on the artwork, so don’t ask me who’s gonna play when. February is four months out. I’m sure by the time the fest happens it’ll be sorted. Everybody calm down in the meantime.

Lots to dig here, so get diggin’:

After a successful first edition of Into the Void in Rockcity Eindhoven, of course, a second edition can’t be missed. (#128640#) On February 24, 2024, the Effenaar will be submerged once again in a swamp of stoner, sludge and doom.

In this edition we welcome the following bands: BLACK RAINBOWS, Truckfighters, ️ Mars Red Sky,️ Acid Mammoth, SKRAECKOEDLAN, TER ZIELE and RRRags. The final 3 bands including the headliner will be announced soon.

As of now, a limited number of early bird tickets are available at: https://www.universe.com/events/into-the-void-eindhoven-2024-tickets-NK39WY.

https://www.facebook.com/gointothevoid/
https://www.instagram.com/intothevoidfestival/
https://www.intothevoid.nl/

Truckfighters, Live at Vera Groningen 2023

The first bands for Truckfighters Fuzz Festival #4 have been announced, and in addition to the Swedish fuzzlords themselves — whose self-description below is hilarious in a “you know who we are, it’s our festival, damnit, do we really need to tell you about ourselves?” kind of way — they’re bringing in Khan from Australia, Kaiser from Finland, Valley of the Sun from the US Midwest, and Swedish natives Dark Ocean Circle and Tidal Wave. Set for this November, the two-day event will take place at Debaser and the adjacent Bar Brooklyn in Stockholm, right down the block from the fancy Italian restaurant and down the hill from the angry hot dog guy, to whom I hope they give tickets this year in order to cheer him up. Poor dude was feeling it when I was there this past December. Hard.

They’ll add more bands between now and the Nov. 10 kickoff (that’s my sister’s birthday), but the reach is already notable, even if Khan were going to be on the road in Europe anyhow. Valley of the Sun are overseas now from their Ohio home-base, and knowing they’ll return in the Fall, perhaps hitting Fuzz Festival #4 on the tail end of their own continental run, is good news for them and for anyone who gets to see them, as they are among the finer fuzzrock ambassadors the States currently has to offer. They’re not, but they most certainly should be funded by the federal government to serve in that capacity.

More to come, and I said as much on social media, but having gone once, I’d return to Truckfighters Fuzz Festival in a heartbeat. It was a blast for more than just the two-day deluge of distortion and riffs.

Check it:

Finally! The Fuzzfestival is back! What a festival we will have this year (as always)! Just grab the early bird ticket NOW for the suberp price of 666SEK

OR TICKSTER – https://secure.tickster.com/sv/zyh5vw9beph4p7t/products

EVENT PAGE –
https://facebook.com/events/s/truckighters-fuzzfestival-4-10/634595348488406/

TRUCKFIGHTERS

Well, we play fuzzy, progressive, hardrock… Just see it and embrace it. May the fuzz be with you!

VALLEY OF THE SUN (USA)

For the last decade,Valley of the Sun have lit up stagesacross Europe and North America, dropped three albums of high-octane rock ’n roll and won over thousands of loyal fanatics along the way. Now, they have their sights set on world domination with their most stunning album to date,The Chariot, coming summer 2022 on Ripple Music and Fuzzorama Records. A dynamic flurry of top-volumeriffage, soaring melodies and furious rhythms served up Cincinnati-style with a cold beer on the side. Check out the record today and get on board, and you’ll see why everything’s more dazzling in the Valley of the Sun.

KHAN (AUSTRALIA)

“Khan meld hazy psychedelia and heavy stoner riffs with a penchant for progressive rhythms and almost dirge-like, industrial-scale crescendos. The songs are lyrically evocative, exuding a sense of despondency and melancholy. Vocally, their songs waver from ethereal falsetto and hypnotic crooning to impassioned wailing punctuated by occasional guttural screams. The Australian trio released their third album ‘Creatures’ in February 2023 through Full Contact Safari Records and are returning for their second tour of Europe to promote the new album.”

KAISER (FI)

Kaiser is a northern desert storm, the master of doomy dunes and hi-octaned with fuzzy tunes. This three headed snake gave birth to their debut ’1st Sound’ in 2018. After that they’ve spread the fuzz across the ocean and beyond European highways. Now finally, it’s time for Sweden to get fuzzed. Prepare yourselves…

DARK OCEAN CIRCLE

Dark Ocean Circle is a four-piece band from Stockholm, Sweden. We play music in the heavier genres such as stoner, doom, heavyrock and psychedelic rock. We like to float a bit between genres and not get stuck in just one. We just released our debut album and it moves from punky stoner to doom and 70´s hardrock to heavy rock.

TIDAL WAVE

They released their debutalbum ”Blueberry Muffin” early in December 2019. It got recognised both by fans and blogs all over the world really fast. Tidal wave from Sundsvall in Sweden creates music that according to one of the biggest musimagazines ”Swedenrock magazine” is stonercoloured hardrock with a touch of all that where Seatlle grunge in the 90’s. With the new record “The Lord Knows” out early 2023 they are ready to spread their music even more.

https://facebook.com/events/s/truckighters-fuzzfestival-4-10/634595348488406/
http://www.truckfighters.com/festival/

Valley of the Sun, The Chariot (2022)