I have no problem admitting to feeling overwhelmed looking at the full lineup and individual day splits for Desertfest London 2017. I mean, seriously. Look at that poster. What a way to spend a weekend.

Likewise, I have few grand reflections to offer in light of that overwhelming feeling, except perhaps to take a step back and be massively impressed at how much this event has grown in just six incarnations. Along with Desertfest Berlin, the London edition has become an anchor not only for the UK heavy rock underground — which is well represented here as ever in Elephant Tree, Black Spiders, Stubb, Vodun, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Terminal Cheesecake, Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters, Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, and so on — but for bands from abroad as well. You’ll note the three headliners: two American, one Norwegian, and the next line down on the poster is two Swedish, one American. Desertfest London 2017’s reach feels wider than ever. Staring at the final lineup, it’s clear just how much of a big fucking deal this festival has become.

Wish I could be there to see it.

Here’s the announcement of the individual day lineups from their website:

DESERTFEST 2017 DAY SPLITS AND DAY TICKETS ARE HERE!

Finally, the Desertfest 2017 day and stage splits are here, along with individual day tickets. It’s the point of the year where you can start planning the weekend, you can imagine the sets in your head and you can curse those god damned clashes.

Last things first, let’s get straight to that insane Sunday main-stage. To celebrate The Roundhouse joining the Desertfest family, we made their debut appearance something special. Not only will stoner doom icons Sleep be topping the bill, but the Roundhouse hosts a full bill of huge acts. Candlemass, with over three decades of underground acclaim to their name, bring the epic doom metal. USA’s Wolves in the Throne Room bring the atmospheric black metal. Traditional doom metal stalwarts Saint Vitus bring the classic riffs. And how about this for a ‘curtain jerker’? Bongzilla bring the raw weed metal for their second show of the weekend; more on the first later.

It’s not just about the Sunday though. Friday’s stage at the Electric Ballroom is headlined by returning heroes Slo Burn whose short run in the mid 90s furthered the then fledgling stoner rock scene. One band they surely had an impact on is Lowrider, who play Europe’s finest stoner rock alongside them. Ukraine’s Stoned Jesus celebrate their resonant album Seven Thunders Roar, and 1000Mods and Pontiak round up the main stage on the Friday.

The Electric Ballroom on Saturday will be swarming with Turbojugends as death-punk grandmasters Turbonegro turn Camden into party central. John Garcia sticks around for a solo show, sure to feature classics from his years of nonstop mastery in the stoner rock scene. Sheffield’s rock and roll five piece Black Spiders visit London for one last time on their farewell tour, with Satan’s Satyrs and Avon rounding up the main stage.

As ever though, it doesn’t stop at the main stages. Our regular partners have delivered three stages with diverse lineups. Human_Disease_Promo and When Planets Collide take over The Underworld on Saturday in a bill headlined by Bongzilla with a special set celebrating the band’s early work. The Quietus stage is led by synth wavers Zombi, and Nightshift Promotions bring an eclectic mix led by Hungary’s Apey & the Pea. To be honest, just stick a pin in the lineup poster and you’re guaranteed a good time.

For those who can’t make the full weekend, we have a limited number of individual day tickets. Priced at £40 for Friday tickets, £40 for Saturday tickets and £45 for Sunday tickets, links are below.

So there we have it. Our final lineup for Desertfest 2017. We hope you’re as excited as we are to get back to Camden this April and riff London to the ground.

DESERTFEST LONDON 2017 Final Lineup:
SLEEP
SLO BURN
TURBONEGRO
CANDLEMASS
WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM
SAINT VITUS
JOHN GARCIA BAND
BONGZILLA
LOWRIDER
SCISSORFIGHT
BLACK SPIDERS
SAMSARA BLUES EXPERIMENT
THE PICTUREBOOKS
STONED JESUS
SATAN’S SATYRS
INTER ARMA
WEAR YOUR WOUNDS
1000MODS
STEAK
AVON
DEATH ALLEY
DEAD LORD
BOSS KELOID
PONTIAK
YURI GAGARIN
HARK
VODUN
CHRON GOBLIN
PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS
THE WELL
MAMMOTH STORM
CELESTE
STUBB
MONOLITHIAN
WUCAN
VENOMOUS MAXIMUS
BRUME
APEY & THE PEA
ELEPHANT TREE
GRAVE LINES
IRON WITCH
EARTH SHIP
BACKWOODS PAYBACK
WIZARD FIGHT
BRULE
CLOSET DISCO QUEEN
GRAND MAMMOTH
CHUBBY THUNDEROUS BAD KUSH MASTERS
MAMMOTH WEED WIZARD BASTARD
SAMAVAYO
WELCOME BACK DELTA
DEAD LETTUCE
MONSTERTONE
LEDFOOT
ZOMBI
TERMINAL CHEESECAKE
KHÜNNT
BASK
BRUXA MARIA

http://www.desertfest.co.uk/#tickets-section
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/desertfest-2017-tickets-27305267791
http://www.desertfest.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/DesertfestLondon
https://twitter.com/DesertFest
https://www.instagram.com/desertfest_london/

Dead Lettuce, Booze and Blues EP (2015)

UK’s heavy rock scene continues to reshape itself and grow. Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of the Knight, who haven’t been heard from much since 2013’s Underground EP (review here), have joined forces with Wizard Fight and Lacertilia to hit the road for a handful of shows next weekend in England, hitting Cardiff, Bristol, Manchester for the Noiz All-Dayer, which also features Groan, Alunah, Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters and Monolith Cult, among others, and closing out in London. They’re calling the long weekender “Carry on Tripping,” but really, whatever they wanted to call it, it’s heavy.

Silly poster, info and dates follow:

In the year of 2015 three bands come together to bring fourth the heaviest, dirtiest carry on saga one would struggle to fully comprehend! Coming October 15th-18th 2015!

Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of the Knight
A rolling, thundering mass of infectious riffs, distorted gut-busting bass, tripped out vocals, relentless beats and hairy sweaty faces twisted with grins and gurns. Trippy Wicked & the Cosmic Children of the Knight cut a groove deeper than the ocean abyss.

Wizard Fight
Formed in 2012 by Luke Bolton (ROTS) and former Steak drummer of 7 years, Dan Kinsey. They set out as a two piece to play insanely sludgey filth with a good measure of Doom and a wee bit of hazy Stoner groove. Early 2013 see the addition of Dave on bass adding the much needed earth shaking guts needed to add to the Wizard Fight sound.

Lacertilia
Lacertilia are a tripped out rock n roll machine from South Wales that brings together the manic stomp and wild stage performance of The Stooges, the fuzzy desert sounds of Kyuss, the weird psychedelic frequencies of The 13th Floor Elevators and the proto doom of Pentagram.

Rolling in on….
October 15th – Fuel Rock Club, Cardiff
October 16th – Stag & Hound, Bristol
October 17th – Rebellion, Manchester (NOIZ ALL-DAYER)
October 18th – The Unicorn – London

https://www.facebook.com/events/1679292702289298/
https://www.facebook.com/trippywicked
https://trippywicked.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/LacertiliaUKBand
https://lacertilia-uk.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/Wizardfightuk
https://wizardfight.bandcamp.com/

Trippy Wicked, “Hillbilly Moonshine” Live in Newcastle under Lyme

Coinciding with the slated release of their fourth album, Red Skies and Dead Eyes, Oslo-based stoner doomers Tombstones will head to the UK and link up with Widows and Wizard Fight for a string of shows. Red Skies and Dead Eyes is set for release on Soulseller Records and follows on the heels of last year’s Year of the Burial, which you can hear in full under the dates, links and info below.

Told you:

FAT Wizard Promo Presents SONIC SEA MONSTER ROAD TOUR PART I

10/10 Heretic Promotions Presents Tombstones / Widows / Wizard Fight / Yamakunt at Scruffy Murphys, Birmingham
11/10 Tombstones / Widows / Wizard Fight / Black Fathoms at The Old Angel, Nottingham
12/10 When planets collide Presents Tombstones / Widows / Meadows / War Wolf / Prosperina / Wizard Fight / Burden of the Noose /March of the Desert at the Brixton Windmill, London
13/10 Tombstones / Widows / Wizard Fight at the Tubman, Hastings FREE ENTRY
https://www.facebook.com/events/494378830647608/

TOMBSTONES
The ultra-heavy Norwegian doom three-piece are coming back to tour the UK after their 2 mind blowing sets at this years Desertfest.
https://www.facebook.com/tombstonesoslo

WIDOWS
Formed in 2008 in the troubled UK town of Nottingham,
WIDOWS play music you can raise a beer and swing a fist to
and they do it hard fast and loud, with bone crushing grooves and undeniable swagger!

Influenced by the likes of Down, Kyuss, and Clutch, WIDOWS have spent the two years since the release of their debut EP (2010’s Raise the Monolith) building up an ever more impressive live set as they chewed up, spat out, and
pounded venue after venue into submission, adding weight to their sets with regular new tracks and building the collection of songs that would later become
their debut full length CD, Death Valley Duchess.
https://www.facebook.com/widows666

WIZARD FIGHT
Formed in 2012 by Luke Bolton (ROTS) and former Steak drummer Dan Kinsey, they set out as a two piece to play insanely sludgey filth with a good measure of Doom and a wee bit of Stoner groove. Early 2013 see the addition of Dave on bass adding the much needed earth shaking guts needed to add to the Wizard Fight sound. Work is ongoing writing material and we will be coming to a shithole near you soon! WATCH THIS SPACE DEBUT ALBUM COMING OVER YOU SOON!
You can get a FREE DOWNLOAD of our first release ‘The Beast Lives (Demo)’ at http://wizardfight.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Wizardfightuk

Tombstones, Year of the Burial (2012)

With a CD pressing limited, I presume, to however many the band felt like spraypainting, Wizard Fight make their debut on the new The Beast Lives Demo. The Hastings, UK-based trio recorded the three tracks live on March 11 and initially put them on a cassette, but the CD followed not far behind as they’ve begun to play more shows, discs spraypainted green with stenciled pink logos as above in a sleeve with photocopied artwork — a bit of a classic touch to go with the band’s heavy-footed sludge stomp.

The three tracks themselves keep the formula pretty simple. Riffs, screams and growls, a few tempo changes and a consistent level of aggression keep The Beast Lives Demo well within the realm of the straightforward, and the trio — guitarist/vocalist Luke Bolton (Rise of the Simians), bassist Dave Sage and drummer Daniel Kinsey (ex-Steak) — seem just fine with that. Across “The Devil Rides,” “Wizard of Black” and “Thine Enemies,” the three-piece settle into a solid groove that ebbs and flows while also keeping a strong sense of momentum moving within and between the songs.

Frills are slim to none — a sample at the beginning of “The Devil Rides” — but especially for a first demo recorded live, that winds up being part of the appeal, and though it’s abundantly clear throughout all three of the tracks at Wizard Fight are getting their bearings in terms of writing songs as a unit, their sense of structure works well on “Wizard of Black” as they move fluidly from the chorus to the instrumental ending, wherein they lock in the demo’s best groove as a precursor to the burly riffing that takes hold on “Thine Enemies,” closing out with a semi-metallic chorus that Bolton tops in post-Superjoint Ritual fashion.

They’ve got some work ahead of them, but considering The Beast Lives is as rudimentary as a release can get — a live demo — Wizard Fight sound tight and like they have a good idea of where they want to be in terms of sound. I wouldn’t ask anything more of a release like The Beast Lives than that, and hopefully it sets the band up for something to grow on the next time out. Until then, in true demo spirit, they’ve made the songs available as a free download:

Wizard Fight, The Beast Lives Demo (2013)

Wizard Fight on Thee Facebooks

Wizard Fight on Bandcamp