This is a site where I post reviews of CDs, DVDs, LPs, and concerts. I have been writing music reviews on and off since 1984. I ran a heavy metal fanzine from 1984-1988 called Metal Madness and have been a staff writer for Aural Innovations for many years. I have also contributed to Chrohinga Well (RIP), Bad Acid (RIP), Lowcut (RIP), Roadburn and a number of other zines as well. I recently moved to Portugal so please request the new address and do not send any music to Denmark anymore. Tak..
This
is a really cool record featuring Ax Genrich, The Pancakes and Zone Six live
from Oct 14th, 2011. The A (Moon) side starts off with A Trip to
Paradise by Ax and his current band. The
track starts slow and spaced spacey but slowly takes off with a few spoken
words, a bass solo and then Ax takes the center stage and plays some really
cool guitar. Great track. The Pancakes are next with Man on the Moon, which is
features a lot of great psychedelic lead guitar playing and cool vocals as the
singer is really good and passionate. The track must be 10 mins long but has a
good mix of melodic singing, guitar parts and psychedelia. This is my favourite
track on the record. Flip the record over to the UFO side and it starts with a
track by the Pancakes called Elephant. The track is built on a repetitive
guitar riff that drives it. Hypnotic stuff. A little guitar freakout at the
end. Zone Six starts with some space sounds and a melodic guitar line slowly
moves to the front. As soon as the jam takes off it is driven by Lulu’s bass
line and Rainer's freaky guitar and will remind you of Electric Moon since it is
basically all the same people and same concept. Sula plays the drums here though. Rainer is really freaking out on
the guitar making this track quite spaced out. Crazy stuff.
This
is an interesting split LP with the current Germany Psych band, The Pancakes (older
material from 2005-2009) and some unreleased material by Magi Razzo from 1986! The
record comes with a 2 sided insert for each band. The A side starts with 5
tracks of psychedelic garage rock by the Pancakes including the one called The
too long fried hemp pancake woman. The Ghost is a funny track but it has you
singing along, “Silly Ghost” by the end. The Hemp Pancake song is freaky,
strange and a bit like surf psych stuff. I really like the long track Flying,
which is more psychedelic and floating with some nice bendy guitar and a stoned
nature. Hawaii and Banana are shorter 3-4min tracks. Hawaii is a funny track
and Banana a mostly instrumental track with a repeated theme and again surf
returns.
Magi
Razzo were a dada psychedelic band from Germany in the 80s. These 8 tracks were
recorded on a 4 track tape machine in 1986. All the songs are sung in German so
I have no idea what they sing about. Java Girl reminds me a bit of Hungarian
music! Der Rhein ist tot is also a strange mix of surf calypso nonsense with
some psychedelic guitar. I like the bass line. Melancholie 86 has a cool drive
to it as well. Flashback No5 also returns to this slight surf psych feel and a
really strange psychout section in this instrumental track. Wieder einmal is
the longest track at 5mins. Silicon Orbit features that 13th floor
elevator freaky jug sound but is pretty cool. Silcon Safer Sex part 1 ends the
side and is a happy strange number that you want to whistle along with… Pretty
strange but cool record especially if you like surf psych stuff and understand
German!
House
of Aquarius was a special Swedish stoner rock band. They did not release that
much material but this one has long been out of print (released in 2002) and
this is the first time on vinyl on a new label started by Christian of Samsara
Blues Experiment. It is 9 tracks with a diverse expression within the stoner
rock genre. Lord of Vermin kicks in very powerful and you immediately get to
hear the diversity in Mikael’s vocals. The riffs are pretty massive at times
but this is balanced by more laid back melodic parts. This is a great number
with really cool dynamics and lots of changes.
Rock and Roll Grandma and the KKK is a funny little track and I love
when the wah solo just rips takes the band out on a jam at the end. It is quite
unexpected. Fear no Evil starts with a solo guitar riff in a slow simple track with
a passionate vocal before they kick in with the monster riff and groove to take
it away in stoner headbanging fashion and the sound becomes really fuzzed out.
Azteroid Zombiez has a heavy tuned down riff and a bouncy bass line that Thomas
mixes playing straight riffs, and some different guitar ideas before the main
riff returns. A short track. Cosmic Weed has a wah riff that leads the track.
Very cool track. Side B starts with
Unholy with an uptempo track with an excellent guitar riff and groove, then a
blues section and the head down groove with a short solo. Apes and Blood has a
really killer spaced out mid section with a manic bass line. One of the more
psychedelic tracks. Out of the hands of your God is probably the best track on
the record and a great way to end. Starts as a Kyuss like track but then really
goes psychedelic at the end. Pretty cool record..
The
German Kraut rock band, Electric Orange are celebrating 20 years and so have
released a new 4 song double LP to celebrate. Rumor has it they will play some
more gigs next year to support this. The band has released a lot of cool and
pretty diverse stuff over the years and is not afraid to step out the box and
experiment either. The four sides of vinyl all have different black and white
pictures but no other information so it is impossible to know what side is what
since every side is just one long track around 20mins long. Anyway, the first
side I put on (has a picture of some rodent) starts with a very slow stoned
spacey jam, that slowly builds up as each member (Georg, Dirk, Tom and Dirk
Jan) finds their way. It slows down to just some droning organ and guitar sound
experiments and but before it totally dies out, the bass and drums return. Maybe
this was supposed to be the last side you hear? Next side has a pictures of a
piece of wood with some like dried cement on it. It starts very slow and
spacey. The drum kicks in and tries to raise the tempo but the others resist
and stay in drone mode. Slowly, the bass also tries to push the track forward,
still the guitar and organ resist until the end and refuse to play a solid riff
or join the groove. Next side (Mountain Goat picture) plays from the inside out
and again is another organ drove thing to start but finally a real guitar solo
slowly jams the track out. This one was pretty cool. Flip the record over and
this is another starts with a real uptempo drum intro that ends after 15
seconds and the organ drone takes over but the kick drum keeps a rhythm as some
of the other guys start to bubble up from the bottom and the guitar drones in
as well. The guitar riff and spacey organ build this one up with a real feel of
tension, like something menacing is about to happen and then it all fades away
comes down at the end.
This
is a pretty strange stoned drone trip with not a lot of energy. I think a lot
of people will not really dig it and might get bored unless they play it really
loud and are really stoned, then you will hear it in another dimension…
Dust
Storm Warning is a pretty damn cool psychedelic stoner rock band from Italy. A
four piece with bass, drums, guitar and vocals. Wolf has a pretty deep gruff
voice but I really like his vocal delivery and feeling. The sound is dirty,
heavy, raw stoner rock riffing with a mix of short and longer tracks. Outrun is
a straightforward stoner rocker with a powerful vocal. Space Cubeship is tuned
down, heavy, slow and mean. 666.1.333 starts with a coughing laugh as he took
too big a bong hit before the hypnotic riff kicks in later on the band goes
into a bit of a guitar solo jam section and then back to the riffs. Dune is
nearly 8mins and starts slow with a heavy bass that slowly builds up and might
remind some of Colour Haze at times but takes a really long time and never
really goes anywhere interesting. Lonely Coyote is also 8mins and starts slow
but by 1½ mins the main heavy parts kick in and then go up and down as the
track evolves. Sherpa is another short improvised piece but it does not really
go anywhere that interesting but serves to connect you with the Monkey Woman!
This is a short 3 min hard rocking track with a slightly different sound
production. Trippin’ the Drill has a really cool stoner rock riff that really
gets you moving. Rise again returns to a cool groove and I like the guitar
section but as on all these tracks the solos are so short. Cool riff. Wasteland
is a sort of experimental track with a really cool beginning. Requiem is
melodically sung and you would not even know it was the same singer at all.
Cool way to end the CD. If
you like the high energy stoner rock like Dozer, Deville, Magnified Eye you
will dig these guys for sure. No offering anything really new but some kick ass
songs and a pretty cool record. The digipack artwork is really excellent. Oh yeah.. must be played LOUD.
The
band is back with more material that was recorded at the session they did with
John McBain and was first released on the Smoke Drip release. This is the 3rd release that I have reviewed but the band this year! The A side opens
up Nor’ easter, a slow stoney build up. It features a dual guitars with one
playing the main heavy stoned riff and the other complimenting with some wah
and effects guitar. Photos of Photos is next and with some spacey keyboards and
drones as the guitars slowly come in a noodling grateful dead like way. It
stays this way til the end. Flip the record over and crank it up and you can
really feel the feedback as the main riff starts to take hold in Space Treader.
The layers of guitars are quite psychedelic on this one as McBain really adds
to the bands mix. A really cool synthesizer solo takes the lead towards the end
of this jam as the riff dies out. Wingspan is a slow floating drone trip to end
the side. Now
to the 12”, the A side (The one that got away McBain remix) was a perfect space
out for the opening of Sunday morning but wow, this B side track is probably
one of the best things and the coolest guitar psychout that has ever appeared
by this band. What an amazing cool jam on Pink Floyd's When you’re In (Live from
Roadburn Festival) that makes this package all worth it. Really great stuff. I
was there as well!
The Snails are a Greek 60’s style
garage rock band. They released their debut 7” Heartbreaker on Action Records
last year. The record is a mix of original music and three cover songs (I’m
Five years ahead of my Time, Gypsy Woman and Satisfaction Guaranteed). 14 tracks
in 41mins starting off with the cool track, Sidewalk. I like the hard surf garage riff and harmonica
solo. The Third bardo cover was short and straightforward. Tramp has a reverb
guitar line and cool bass line. Tide and Coffin both see the return of the
harmonica. Pollution is one of the more psychedelic tracks. Surfazat ends this
pretty cool CD with an instrumental surf track. If you like 60s garage surf
psych stuff. Digipack CD comes with a small sticker as well.
I did not hear the bands last CD (Superautobahn)
but recently got this one (thanks Niko) when I was in Croatia for the first
time. It was released earlier this year on the Sulatron label in Germany. IN
starts the record off with a some spacey voice and then kicks into the main
melodic riff that the track is built on when they repeat as the intensity
builds. . Next is the long title track AUM and this is really an amazing track
with some killer guitar playing. In the middle a sort of like vocal drone
section takes your attention away before it really builds up again and Niko
just rips it up big time on the guitar. It goes through a lot more changes in
this really complex track and ends with the vocal ommmmmmm. Wow. Side B starts with In, a noisy spacey
loud mildly violent feedback drenched drone.. This leads into the very uptempo
track, Rock ist Krieg. It has a very complex rhythm and dynamic and then it
breaks out into some really intense guitar soloing and then the next section
the drummer and bass player lay down this super powerful stuff and Niko spaces
out with a slide guitar section and back out into a powerful riff that is
repeated and then it has a slow painful death. Out starts with a lead guitar
riff that is repeated over and over again and there is a like distant vocal
ethereal vocal melody that makes it pretty psychedelic and trippy. The guitar
line evolves slightly over time. Seven that Spells does it again with a damn
cool record with some new fresh blood including an American bass player named
Jeremy White.
Scabsmoker is a pretty new three
piece band from Canada. This is their first cassette release on the Prairie
Fire label. It is a one sided tape with 6 tracks of intense stuff. It starts pretty far out and psychedelic with
a lot of twisted, distorted sounds and a freaky keyboard line. A spoken word
line comes in but you can really hear it over the ever increasing noise
intensity that is building up. A slow heavy noisy guitar riff with lots of
sustain is used to build the track with the occasional cough or other vocal
utterance until the real singing, screaming kicks in. Might remind people of
Cough, a more tortured less psychedelic and more low fi Sons of Otis at times.
You have to be really patient for this band but then the band just takes off
and spaces out. It is all very raw in its recording quality. The sound quality
changes quite a bit for the better half way through the tape but also becomes a
bit more normal for the track Black Queen. The Abyss is like hardcore punk,
very raw and fast. Butcher of Demons has a cool bass line to start and then
they take off. Very raw sound and frantic vocals. They slow down to more slow
doomy parts as well and then take off again and add some cool effects on the
voice at times as well. Death by natural Causes is slower from the start with a
slow vocal delivery with delay. I like the feel on this track as it stays slow
and doomy throughout. Call of the First Aethyr ends this cassette. If you can
handle the raw sound this tape delivers some intense stuff…
Golden
Void is the new band from Isaiah, lead guitarist in Earthless. He has joined
with some dudes and one gal from the SF bay area that he went to junior and
high school with and created a melodic hard rock band where he sings and plays
all the guitar. He is backed up by Aaron Morgan on bass, Justin Pinkerton on
drums and Camilla Saufley-Mitchell (Assemble Head of Sunburst Sound) on Hammond
and Rhodes. If you are expecting anything like Earthless, then you will be
disappointed. There are not that many guitar solos, which I was really
disappointed in but there are some great songs and I like his singing. The
opening track gives you an idea of the overall style of the record and features
some great organ playing and a really ripping massive solo (but this is the
only one like it on the whole record). Virtue has a harder edge riff but it
mellows out quite a bit and is pretty melodic except when they bring back the
cool guitar riff. He plays a short wah solo at the end of the track. Jetsun
Dolma is more laid back and features the Fender Rhodes and a cool wah guitar
riff as Isaiah tells his story. I like this track. Badlands has the same
singing style as the others but a more complex interaction between the organ
and guitar and some intense drumming. Both the tracks from the 7” released last year start the
B side of the record. I already reviewed this record here.
The Curve is a totally amazing track and still probably the best the band has
done. Atlantis ends the record. This is a slow building track that has a very
cool guitar riff and the Hammond comes back in strong on this one. The vocals
play a big role in this track especially at the end of the track where the riff
is played over and over and the same vocal line is sung over and over until it
is the only thing left and all else fades away. A pretty cool record that
really grows on you. Here is a great interview if you want to learn more about
the band. http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.dk/2012/10/golden-void-interview-with-isaiah.html
Jakob is best known
in the world as the drummer with the Danish outfit, Causa Sui. On the side he
has been involved in a number of electronic projects such as September. This is
his first solo record on the Causa Sui label, El Paraiso Records. It is pressed
on blue vinyl in 500 copies. The record 4 tracks on each side and is pretty
short, totally playing time less than 30 minutes. Tune in (55 seconds) starts
things off. It is all basically performed on old analog synthesizers (Moog,
Sequential Circuits, etc). Tune In is quite far out. Prophet uses repetitive
loops and layers and is going back to the real old spacey sounds of the early
70’s Germany synth space explorers like Klaus Schultze. It is that same vibe. Rates
is a more melodic symphonic like piece with a lot of spacey sounds. Longevity
Suite is the one you can hear on the label web site and the longest track on
the record at 7½ mins. Again, this takes you back to the early synth pioneers
from the 70s. Cool stuff. Side B starts with a more high tempo synth space out
that fades into space before the next track, In Between which leads into Legacy
Lost (6mins). This one has a really nice melody that follows the repeated synth
programmed drone and it ends with some delays on some of the sounds. Echoes is
a short repeated lush drone piece to settle your mind at ease. If you dig old school stuff like Cluster check
this out.
I
have not really been too fond of the direction this band has taken after the
first three brilliant records but I decided I would give this new one a chance.
I can see it has many songs, which is not really a good sign for me. As always,
nearly all the songs are sung in Spanish. The band is still a three piece
although Xtian, who played on the first 3 records guests on the title track.
Anyway, the record is a pretty intense uptempo psychedelic garage rock
experience I would say, moving away from the space rock of the early days.
Occassionally the band slows the pace a bit and there are some spacey effects
mixed in like on Care and Trust (sung in English) and the very short
Aparecidos, which has an almost reggae like skank riff and the ending track, El
Apego. The title track is quite stoned and features acoustic guitar and Xtian
making some electronic sounds like he did in the old days. Flip the record over and kick into the high
energy track Underground! It features some really spaced out effected vocals. The
Unrest has a cool riff and spacey effect and is quite intense psychedelic
stuff. Green Smoke is a more laid back and melodic track and really changes the
vibe of the record. Grita goes back to the garage psych feel and is high
energy. It is more diverse than the last
record but I still dig the first three way more. The vinyl comes in clear and
black and it also has a nice insert with the lyrics and pics of the band.
Glitter
Wizard is a San Francisco band who I have been following and I just happen to
hear they had a new 7” out, so I picked it up. It is two tracks, both recorded
in 2011 and features some pretty far out black and white artwork. Horses is a
pretty frantic track with some crazy parts like a more insane Danava. Pretty
raw sound production and some cool guitar and organ parts and a great jam for a
7”. Flip the record over and you have Fire! It is also a high energy
psychedelic track with some cool organ stuff. The band continue on their unique
psychedelic trip.. The band has a new record Hunting
Gatherers due out in Nov 2012.
Dusty
Skull is a collaboration with members of Witch, Lecherous Gaze, the Ruffians
and Isaiah from Earthless on Vocals (no guitar). Tossed and Lost starts things
off and is a bit inspired by Southern rock! The track is pretty melodic and
almost happy mainstream but the riff becomes a bit heavier towards the end and
they experiment a bit which is pretty cool. Side B has the track called My
Fang. It is a more uptempo boogie rock track but keeping with the same feel but
no real jam or extended solos on this one. More straightforward. Fans of Stone
Axe will probably dig this. I wonder if they will make a full record or already
have?
Oak is a new four piece group from
Stockholm playing spacey sludge doom stuff.This is a one sided tape and has some really cool stuff on it. The tapes
starts off with The Obligation to Endure, a straightforward DOOM track but a
bit rawer than most you hear these days. Vocal is not mixed that high. The long
mid-section is a really nice melodic guitar part (no solo), just a nice slow
building riff and at the end some sort of other instrument that sounds like
that Indian one that BONG uses can be heard. Great Shrines starts with a synth
drone stuff and then the eastern theme enters and then fades as the drums just
stay steady. realms of the Soil is a really long track that is very BONG
inspired and starts with monster riff
but maintaining that Eastern feel from the previous track. It does remind of
BONG but it is not nearly as heavy but this track is just as repetitive and
lacking in guitar solos just two guitars playing the same heavy stoned doom
riff over and over and over… I miss the solos badly but still dig the sound
these guys have.Flip the tape and you
start with the long track No Birds Sing. It is a slow quite melodic but still
heavy track but going towards a more post rock like vibe but not quite. Still
has a dark mysterious edge to it. Towards the end of the track there is a short
melodic guitar solo, so at least one of the guitar players can play some lead.
Indiscriminately from the Skies is a beautiful, heartfelt guitar piece clearly
about the inhuman use of drones to kill people. Obama should for sure be put in
front of the Hauge for war crimes but it ain’t gonna happen. Great song. The
tape ends with Nature fights back. This is more menacing as the title suggests
and a shorter instrumental doom piece. There are only 150 copies of this one,
so get it fast.. Cool tape.. I dug it..Hope we can get these guys down to Heavy Days in Doomtown 2013…
Justreb is a new band from Niko,
guitarist and wild genius behind Seven that Spells. The CD is one 37min long
repetitive journey. The track is clearly inspired by Pharoah Overlord. The
track starts off spacey and then the main guitar riff that is repeated over and
over kicks in. The track has some slow variations and some cool spacey stuff is
added from time to time to keep the track interesting. I actually thought this
was pretty damn cool. If you are a fan of Pharoah Overlord’s early works, you
will dig this. It was released on a cassette as well.
This
is the 2nd release by Horders (first was a split tape with Pink
Priest). The cassette or LP features guest spots by members of THE BURDEN,
50/50, and WITHDRAWAL. It is made in an edition of 100 copies. It features like
14 tracks on one side of a cassette. Some of the songs have live drums but most
don’t according to the tape info. Anyway, World without End start things off
and is pretty raw, rehearsal room raw, very loud, repetitive heavy riffage
stuff where the guitar is the most well recorded instrument, the be the drums
and bass (if there is any?) are often far away. Next, they can come back at you
with some acoustic guitars where you feel you out in the deep forest. They use
some interesting sound samples as well such as cows and night time in the great
outdoors. A few spoken word samples appear as well but they are mixed pretty
far out there so hard to identify. A piano is also included on one of the
tracks. Ambient, experimental acoustic noise music. It
is also released on a 12" vinyl LP courtesy of the UK's FEAST OF
TENTACLES, housed in a gatefold jacket with full color inside and screen
printed black inner sleeves (edition of 100 on clear vinyl, 400 black). all
design and layout by GIVE UP.
Haiku
Funeral is back with their third scary as hell release just in time for
Halloween. The lyrics are a bit more erotic, twisted and sometimes more evil
and scary than before. The music is bass lines combined with some spaced out
vocals mixed with a more normal spoken word voice (William) with some programmed
drums and a lot of cool keyboards, sound effects, etc.. by Dimitar. Anyway, it
is 10 tracks in 43mins so more focused and not as long tracks as in the past. The
CD starts things off with a really spacey feel, deep bass, and whispered words
at first. Blacklight Amniotic Erotica sung by William has really killer bass
playing and the words are in a spoken word style. Then Dimitar comes in with
the very evil voice and more spaced out sounds. Scorpion Ritual features some
really intense bass playing and also drum (sampled) backed up by crazy stuff. Behemoth
Rising slows things down some and again they share the vocals. The store that
unfolds is far out, evil, disturbing. Raining Nightbirds is one of the longer
tracks (6mins) and a really slow psychedelic track. The Flags of a new Empire
Burn brings back the intensity. Death Poem is a short track which is followed
by Heavy Breasted Innocence. This has a really groovy bass line that drives the
track while Dimitar adds the necessary ambience. Your heart a black Tunnel has
a spacey drone that starts as the drum track keeps a steady rhythm and William
takes the first vocals. Spaced.. The last track, Damnation is sung in another
language… very spacey this last track. A very difficult to describe band and
totally unique. If you take the lyrics very serious it could damage your mental
state and cause you to do terrible things. You have been warned… This would be
pretty intense stuff for Roadburn.
This is the first big ØSC tour, 6 concerts in 10 days plus one at Loppen when we get home for the Give your Brain a rest from the Matrix CD release party. I flew down to Zagreb to spend some days with my girlfriend Sue and to rest my back before the tour. The rest of the guys are driving to Croatia.
12/10/12
The guys drove for nearly 20 hrs to get to Austria and to crash with the guys from Go Banana’s the local band that is hosting the show in Salzburg on the 18th. The guys said they were all really cool but they were having a huge party and wanted to have a jam session but the band really just wanting to sleep. They hung out for a bit and then crashed out. The entourage was: Mogens- Synth, Jiri- bass, jocke- bass, Mathias- guitar, Nick- guitar, Birk- Drums, Sabine- photographer, sales person, roadie, and Dr. Space..
13/10/12
The guys got off to quite a late start and when Sue and I arrived at the Medika venue at 17, the Fjodor guys were not there and the guys said they were not going to arrive until at least 18. The sound guy took Sue and me to a German style beer bar and then he went home. We had a really nice fish and chips dinner with some local draft beer that was really good and then went back to the venue. 18:30, the band said they were in Zagreb but hopelessly lost. It took them about an hour before they did arrive at the venue. Everyone was really relaxed and so it was not a big deal but still they were very frustrated after doing around and being lost. We really needed a GPS but no one owns a car and wants to put out the money but we are already paying the price and Fjodor said these other countries are much more difficult without one. At 19, the Pitsome guy arrived with the long sleeve tour shirts and wow. They turned out really fantastic. I am very satisfied with them. Niko from 7that Spells also dropped by for a bit but could not stay.
21:40 We are finally soundchecking and all is going well but it takes a long time. Quite a few people already showing up this is nice. Fjodor guys are all cool and just getting high and waiting for their turn to soundcheck and play. The vegan food everyone said was really excellent. Sabine and I have set up all the merchandise but I wonder if we will sell anything??
22:15 We finally finish a very long soundcheck. It is insanely loud on the stage. Not sure what we are going to do about that. This will kill our ears if the whole tour is like this. They are multitrack recording the show tonight as well and I have set up my mics to record as well but it is quite a booomy sound at the back of the hall.
Fjodor
24 Fjodor played a great concert and it was all just jamming and they had a different keyboard player from the last time they played and also a guy playing a Cajun (drum box). They really spaced out and played very intensely. It was just 3 tracks for about an hour. The room was really packed with people as well. Good crowd. We set up really fast since it was all the same gear almost.
03:15 Wow.. What a fucking intense concert! We really blasted them and got into full trance mode at the end of the show. Nick really played some killer guitar riffs and Mathias some cool spacey stuff. Jiri and Jocke switched off every other jam or so and Bark was amazing. He really had the groove and knew how and when to push and pull. People really dug the concert and were dancing like crazy in the front. Sabine shot some video at the beginning of the show and lots of pics. I think we played like 6 jams around 2hrs. I also recorded the show from the audience.
11:15 I arrived back at the venue and the guys were all packing the van and did an amazing job. Wow, Jiri… great work. They are all a bit tired as well but everyone is happy and in a good mood. It is totally grey again. I have been in Croatia for 4 days and never seen the sun.
13:06 We are driving through Croatia on our way to Serbia It is all pretty flat right now with some forests and small towns here and there and farm land. Highway is pretty good and we are just cruising. Not sure what is playing on the CD player but there are only speakers in the front and they sound like crap anyway. Birk has his own music and headphones one, Mattias is sleeping, Mogens tries to sleep as well. Only, Sabine, Nick, Jiri and I are awake. Jiri looks really tired though… We are still not sure if we will crash in Serbia or not. NO word from the guys in Belgrade.
14 We are half way to Belgrade now. Jocke is driving and we are listening to Ozric Tentacles. WE just had a coffee and tea break. Paid 40 kuna for one tea and 6 coffees. My back is feeling pretty good and we are making good progress.
Serbia Border Crossing
15:17 We are stuck at the Serbian border. The people are cool but we don’t have the correct stamps on our ATA carnet. The guy at the Croatian border did not stamp it and now it gives us trouble all the way. We met some really cool people from a Macedonian band and they were just coming home from being on tour for a few weeks. Sasko something. We exchanged CDs .
16:16 We finally get out of here. We had trouble also finding the car registration which they wanted to see. We heard some of this Sakso band and it was not our type of music. Someone said it was like Pet shop boys or something… We made it through like 2 songs.. That was enough. They also gave us a cd by another young Macedonian band called Culture Development.
18 We are in the center of Belgrade. The drive in was really beautiful across these bridges and you could see parts of the city. It is a big city with a river running through the middle like so many European capitals. Yonico from Temple of the Smoke is coming to the bus stop where we are stopped to meet us in his car and then we will follow him to his place. The sky is really strange here like a mixture of smoke, pollution and mist or fog. Does not smell really terrible.
20:00 we are all relaxing and had some beers. He brought back like 10 beers for less than 2€. That was cheap. We have ordered some pizza and lasagne as people are hungry. Some of us will stay here while others are going to go into town with the Temple guys who are supposed to meet an Australian music promoter who does gigs in Europe and Australia. We take it really easy. He has a nice apartment and plenty of space for us to sleep. Everyone is in a good mood. Pity we could not have a gig this night.
21:00 Wow.... we watched that crazy Austrian guy Felix jump from 38km above the earth and land in New Mexico. That was insane... We will have to dedicate a song to him...
Day 3
8:30 We are all up and soon Mogens and the others will arrive to pick us up and we have to repack the van. The Serbian guys from Temple of the Smoke are super cool people. We had a comfortable place to stay and everyone is doing ok. We need to set off for Bulgaria as soon as we can. Not sure what we will do for breakfast but I think we still have some things in the van. My back is ok but I need to get it up and walk around now. I did some stretches.
9:25 We are on the road towards Nis which is half way to Sofia, Bulgaria. Mogens has downloaded a detailed map of this area now so we should not have a problem with getting super lost. We will see. We need gas so it will be interesting to see what that will cost.
9:45 We paid about 90€ for 57L of gas. I wonder how the normal people afford that? It is pretty expensive considering that everything else here is so cheap. Crazy… Jiri drives really fast so we will make good time while he drives. half the band is sleeping now and we hear no music, which is a bit strange. I need to have music if I drive. Mogens downloaded a detailed map of the region to his Iphone so we should not have as many problems now. It strangely shows where you are even when the phone has no internet connection, which is a bit creepy..
11:30 We are making good time and are in Nis, Serbia for a lunch break.
12:39 We had a bit too long of a break now and have 162km to Sofia but still have to pass the border. The food was cheap. Paid like 27€ for 4 coffee, tea, two cokes two sandwiches, and three like meals with French fries, sausage, or chicken and some veggies.
13:30 Fantastic autumn colours and really beautiful drive at the moment. We are listening to Korai Orom and it is perfect for this scenery. Roads are getting pretty rough now. We also heard Tommy Bolin and friends earlier and Stone The Crows BBC sessions Disc 1. Only 82km to go.
14 We are now at the Bulgarian Border and had to park the van. See how long this will take.
15 It was slow but it all went fine. Seems my passport was the only one that got a stamp.
16:30 We are a bit late but Cvetan is about to meet us at the National Football stadium and he will take me to the Bulgarian National radio to do a live interview that will be streaming on the internet. His girlfriend will take the rest to the club to set up and do the soundcheck.
18 Wow… that was a trip. Did a fun interview with three young Bulgarian girls. two asked questions and one did the translation. They were very well researched and asked good intelligent questions. I was really hot and sweaty and thirsty but I think it went well.
19 We had a nice soundcheck and the club is really nice but has no backstage room. Sound was really good
on the stage but I only recorded 5mins of the soundcheck. The guy doing the visuals has a very nice set up and it looks great so far. He incorporates a lot of stuff from our record covers, logos, etc….Sadly we cannot start too early and some friend of Cvetan (Paolo) will do an electronic set before us for like 45 mins.
Surbahar (Pavolet)
21:30 Pavolet is about to start. Everyone is in a great mood. Cvetan’s girlfriend took us to a fantastic Bulgarian food restaurant, A lot of us had soap and different kinds of vegetable dishes. I also had a fish. IT was all really good. We had some decent Bulgarian beer as well on tap,. It is pretty cool that the show is going to be broadcast live on the National radio. The first hr live and later, he will stream the rest. We will get a copy in some weeks.
00:30 We played a really fantastic gig for about 1hr and 45mins just before midnight we had to stop. People really enjoyed it. I guess there were about 100 people. We had one crazy guy who bought 3 shirts and all the cds and one LP as well. We actually sold quite a lot of stuff considering. I was pretty happy. Met so many nice people.
02:00 We got the 300€ for the gig now as well. The entire band are staying at the Art Hostel that was near the restaurant while there was no space left there so Sabine and I get to go to a hotel. I am really surprised as it is like a super nice three star hotel. We have separate rooms but the entire band could have slept in one of the rooms. It was a long day and I am quite tired.
10:00 Slept well but still not enough sleep. Sabine and I will go to breakfast now. Cvetan will come get us at the hotel and we will drive back to the hostel and get the others. We have to be on the road by 12:30 at the latest. We are supposed to be in Kumonovo for the gig by 17 if possible.
11:30 Had a huge breakfast with ham and cheese omelette, fresh fruit, juice, croissant, etc.. Sabine had one piece of bread with butter and coffee and they took all the food away and closed the buffet.. She was too slow.
12:37 We are still at the Hostel, things are going slowly. Jocke stepped in some dogshit and they are cleaning his shoe now as he can’t get in the van with that. I bought some really cool ceramic glasses for like tea or coffee. Really nice and cheap for this quality stuff.
15:46 We got some gas and all went well to the border but now, it is totally crazy. They say we need to pay 210€ for insurance for the vehicle to drive in Macedonia since our insurance will not cover us. This is an insane amount of money and we won’t pay that. We only get 100€ for the gig. We called Vlatko and talked with them and nothing happened for hours. Then we got a really nice guy who explained everything and it seems that the rental company screwed up and did not issue us this green card for the vehicle. He said we should be able to get them to pay the 50€ that we had to pay now. Anyway, we can finally go.
Band at Macedonian Restaurant
16:36 We should have been there already. It goes so slow. It was only 190km from Sofia but it has taken us like 4½hrs and we still have 30km and you have to drive so slow through the mountains on these small quite poor roads. Vlatko is aware of the problems and very cool about it. We are supposed to drive into town and find the Irish bar and call him.
20:00 We finally got to the club and we just loaded all the gear in and Vlatko and his friends took us out to a traditional Macedonian restaurant. They served us their local schnapps, beer, huge platters of veggies, sausages, bread and this amazing spicy Ivar like stuff. It was the best I had ever had. I had no idea that they were into spacey food in this country. That is great. I wonder if they have a Macedonian restaurant in London? We had a really good time and were in a good mood for the show.
Nick on Guitar
OSC Kumanovo
00:06 It was a very loud concert tonight and the guy who did the visuals showed really strange movies and stuff but it was cool. We perhaps had too much to drink and were a bit too relaxed and did not take the time we need for the soundcheck so it was a very difficult concert tonight. No one could hear Mathias, I was totally blasted but the bass and Nick’s guitar so could not hear Mogens and hardly myself. We only played like 4 jams total for about 1hr 45mins.. Unfortunately, I only got 81mins recorded. Vlatko filmed the first hr with a very nice camera but it was very dark a lot of the time. I would say the club was 85% full. A lot of people for a Tuesday night. 60-70 people but really into the show and music. A lot of smiling faces. We had a girl and his boyfriend who sang but Mogens shut off the mic which was ok. At the end of the night though they had been in a fight and she was very sad on a step outside so I spoke to her and gave her a couple of hugs. She needed it. Nice to see people dancing as well. Fun night and you can hear the concert at the link.
02:00 After the gig we had to drive about 20km out to the middle of nowhere to this motel to crash. It was an interesting drive, glad that Jiri was driving and not me. Crazy bad roads, dark, a bit forested, lots of corners, etc… Anyway, it was a cool place. I crashed out right away but some stayed up drinking with the nice people from the gig. what an experience.
Day 5
Band in the nature in Macedonia
9:30 I had a room with Mattias, who is a really quiet and nice guy. I walked around in this very rural place in Macedonia. A small stream running through, geese, dogs, almost n people. A like crazy guy who seem to be working for low wage for the owner of this place herding the animals and cleaning up. These countries are so trashed, just trash all over, like no one cares. Sadly only ¾ of the show was recorded. I transferred it to the computer and it sounded much better than I though and it was like 81mins. We have to get the guys up as it will be a long day.
12:30 We had some coffee, tea and breakfast (cheese omelettes with some tomatoes) and it was very expensive, 1800 Macedonian dinar. like 30€)… We were ripped off for sure.. Oh well. Amazing weather. We took a band photo by the stream.
15:37 It went pretty fast at the Macedonia- Serbia border. It is a nice drive through the mountains in Serbia but so slow going. We still have like 60km to Nis on our way to Zagreb. We took a really nice break at a small place called Tagovisa in Serbia.
17 We are stopped about 200km from Belgrade, so that is still till Zagreb. It will be very late at this rate.
20:21 We are waiting at the Serbian border. The customs guy was really funny and joking with us. We need this stamp on the ATA carnet document and he told us we had to do it like 10km back, but it was a joke. Anyway, we got through quite fast. But now we have to pass the Croatian border now.
22:10 We are in some small Croatian town and going to an Italian restaurant as we are all starving and have not had any real meal since lunch. We are surviving on nuts, fruit, chips, sometimes not that healthy. Still 150km to Zagreb.
23 The pizza in this place was really good actually. I paid the bill for everyone. 260 kuna. It is about 1-1 to Danish kroner.
01:45 We are finally near Aljosha’s mom’s place. Mathias, Sabine and I are sleeping with one of Aljosha’s friends. His apartment is pretty disgusting. Has not been cleaned up in years and he has a cat that apparently just pees, poops wherever it likes as it really smells strongly in this place. We will leave the window open all night for sure! That was a hell of a long drive and day...
Day 6
8:15 Fuck… We had no choice but to get up as we have to get to the club by 15 at the latest for soundcheck. People are quite tired and were really cranky the last evening as we were in the van for 12 hrs yesterday. That was a hell drive. I am really tired.
10:15 We are at the Slovenia border and it took some time which I did not really understand why it was so slow. That was the last time we had to deal with the ATA carnet. Sunny day and a lot of discussion in the van about the bad show in Macedonia since no one could hear each other well but we accepted that we were really to blame for not taking the time to get the sound right, when we could have if we had just taken the time. People were too tired, had too much to drink at the dinner, etc… let’s see the recording says? We have 300km to go.
12 We stopped for gas close to the Austrian border. 83€ to fill the tank with gas. 200km to go. This was an amazing drive through the mountains in Slovenia towards Austria. Wow..
15 We drove through these amazing mountain landscapes like out of a postcard (as Matthias said). There was fresh snow on the ground when we came out of one of the mountain tunnels and everything was white which was quite a shock. I am wearing shorts! We arrived 1hr late and the BW guys are soundchecking first since we are late. Oh well. What a totally cool theatre in the basement of a church. First time we play in Church. This part of town is really amazing and they have done a lot of cool things to decorate the theatre. Baby Woodrose guys are in a good mood and had a great show the night before in a sort of Christiania like squat place in Wien (Vienna).
17:15 We finished a quite difficult soundcheck. The young guy doing sound is very inexperience. This is only his third time doing sound. He basically does not really know what to do. I think it will be totally pointless anyway since Go bananas will set up now and chance everything. Baby Woodrose played Disconnected and Volcano at their soundcheck. Had a nice talk with Guf and the guys and Henrik, who does the driving. I decided to record the show from up front and not at the back as the sound was not good. The PA speakers are not that good and are spaced too far apart. Go Bananas guys are so nice. Hubert and Wolfmaster as so cool. They said that some people in the world if they could have any band in the world come play for them they would choose Metallica or someone like that but for them, we are the band! They listen to us every week. Wow.. that is so fucking cool.
Go Bananas (psychedelic stoner rock)
18:45 They have opened the door now and Go Bananas will start at 19:45. They have a lot of strange merchandise. They have banana scented condoms, pins, cool small posters, handmade double lps, with only 99 copies. I traded Wolfmaster for one. Andi and Peter showed up now to set up their cameras for filming the show. They will use 5 cameras, wow… Everyone is so kind here and so happy that we are here. It is like dream come true for them. We just had some lasagne and beer.
20:15 Go Bananas have a really cool visuals and play pretty cool melodic, spacey heavy stoner rock stuff with a lot of cool parts. Sound is not very good though unless you are close to the stage. I guess there are 100 people here now. They clearly have a good local finding. Baby Woodrose are at the hotel and most of the band is outside hanging out and smoking. Nick has not eaten anything in nearly a day.
21:45 Baby Woodrose are rocking the place right now and the people are really into it. Very cool and totally different visuals. I had not seen BW for a couple of years now and they still sound great and it is cool with the dual guitars. They have a more full sound. Anders has really improved the sound. They played a lot of songs like opening jam, What a burn, disconnected, drowning man, volcano, baby woodrose, You own it, Bullshit detector>long jam plus many other songs. It was a 75min set. Crowd loved it.
01:15 Even though BW gave us some extra time, it was complete chaos setting all our stuff again and the young sound guy did not know how to give us any monitor sound, etc.. Nick and Mogens were very slow getting set up and we were all standing around waiting and Mogens had this annoying buzz in his line. I had to run out and get Anders from Baby Woodrose to take control and help this guy out. Within 15mins, all was fine and we could actually start to play on a few mins later than planned. I think we played 75mins only though as this all took way too long. They had really cool space visuals, a lot of people took pictures, etc.. 50% of the crowd was gone now probably as it was a Thursday night.
OSC Banana Space Festival, Salzburg
I think this was the worst show of the tour so far. Nick was totally in another world after smoking joints and drinking beers with the locals all day and did not seem inspired at all. Mogens also seemed really not into playing at first. Mattias was just amazing as always. I did my thing and tried to fit in. Let’s see what the recording will says as it could also be the best. You really can have a different opinion afterwards. Unfortunately, there was a quite wasted guy and his girlfriend who kept standing in front of the mics and they were just talking all the time. I even had to jump off the stage and ask them to move. It was really fun to play for these people that were just so into it. People were dancing and really focused and that was cool. The people loved the show so many we were better than I perceived it. We had to end just at 01:00.
02:00 We are finally at the place we will crash about 20km away. Again. Mattias, Sabine and I will had a real house while the others are in the rehearsal room of Go Bananas. I feel a bit bad but it is for sure best for my back to have a better place to sleep. The guys will be able to get shower at the place tomorrow.
Day 7
10:30 Had a small breakfast and then we had to get going. We are now at the Go Bananas rehearsal place getting the other guys and then back to the venue to get the gear and stuff. pack and go. Amazing weather today and the view of the mountains and the colours of the trees is just fantastic.
12 We were at the store buying some food to eat in the van on the way. People are in a good mood even though this was the 2nd day with only 6hrs sleep. Some can sleep in the van but I cannot so it takes it’s tool. Nick bought no food. Has already had two beers today. Not sure how he does it.
1:06 The traffic getting out of this area was crazy and lots of road work in Austria all the time. took 1hr to go like 20km. Now we can finally getting going.
2:25 We just had a break and have about 200km to go to Feldkirsch. We are passing through Innsbruck and it is amazingly breath-taking here. So beautiful. We have heard Seun Kuti and Korai Öröm 95. Great stuff.
16:20 Wow…we are actually early for a gig and did not get really lost either! Amazing weather and this was the easiest drive for sure. The gig is in a basement. It will be really hot in there.
19:10 We are finished with the soundcheck and it took some time. I had to take the soundman to go pick up the mixer and he said it was 10mins but it was like 20km away in the countryside and the van got assaulted by cows!!!!!!!!!!! They just came out of nowhere. One smashed into the side of the van and made a small scratch with its chain on its neck. All is cool. The soundman was complaining that we played so loud but Mogens and Jiri were out in the room and it was not that loud. He has too sensitive ears for this job. The guys from Stator who open the show and run this cool underground club are super nice people.
Stator
21:15 A decent crowd but Stator has still not started yet. I am really tired and since is is so smoky down stairs I am mostly hanging out upstairs in a backstage room. We have plenty of food, beer, fruit, water, etc… We had a veggie lasagne that was ok. Filling. Mathias is playing some guitar for us in the back stage stuff like Funky 47 by James gang, All Right Now vby Free, etc… We laugh and joke quite a lot. I think Sabine gets a kick out of it that we are not so serious. A bit mad, perhaps.
01:39 This was for sure the best gig of the tour. Nick was on top and focused and not so out of it, which was great. We played two sets of about 65mins each and the people really loved it. I guess there was about 70 people or something. We sold quite a few things, I guess about 3-400€. Great… We need to. I was so exhausted by the end of the night I just had to crash now after I packed up my gear.
You can relive or hear the show for the first time here!
Day 8
9:45 People are slowly rising up. Nearly everyone agrees that last night was the best show pity it was not one of the ones that was mulittracked or filmed. Funny, but last night there was not a single person taking pictures or filming besides Sabine. I did not see one. No one on cell phones, people just into it and having a good time in the local club. Another beautiful sunny day but I splet terrible. I will need some coke today for sure. Coke a cola, that is….
01:00 We just had the last break and are about 120km from Würzburg. Weather is amazing. I spoke to Horst on the phone and all is on order and the soundman will be there at 16 latest. The bad news is that Kozmik Klaus had to cancel his light show and there were only like 50 pre- sale tickets but we hope more people show up. Thierry and Wah wah TV people will film and multitrack record the show. That is great. I hopoe we will play well tonight. Vibravoid open the show. We have heard Jefferson Airplane and Kansas today in the van. Pity there might not be any visuals tonight, especially when they are going to film the show.
16:05 We arrived fine ad are setting up for the soundcheck. Horst will be here about 16:45. It is really hot in the club. We have a great place to set up the merch tonight as well.
18:15 Vibravoid is soujdchecking now. They are really nice guys and wer are sharing the drum kit and bass amp and they will let us use some of their visual projectors but not all of them. The pizza will arrive in a few minutes. The mood is good Soundcheck went pretty well.
18:55 Vibravoid are playing and fuck, they are so amazing. They opened with Astronomy Domine by Pink Floyd. I guess about 50 people are here. They did not play some of the songs I expected and they ended with a long freakout version of Mother Sun by CAN. Amazing band.
Vibravoid
01:00 Well, that was the last show of the tour. We started about 20:30 and the first stet was more or less a disaster. Mogens was having huge problems with his gear (monitor died, his delay unit is fucking up). Nick was in a strange stoned-out of it state and could not get enough volume, broke a string and just walked off in the middle of a jam, which was really annoying. He could have waited until the jam ended. He was in his own zone and did not think about it was being filmed and recorded,.. just left… We have an ok opening jam but it was not that good. The 2nd set was when we really got going but this was also when Mogens had to replace his delay. The sound was finally good for everyone on the stage. The crowd was really digging what we were doing, especially Horst, who was really so happy we were there playing for him again. He even invited us back to the Psychedelic Network Nov 6th, 2013. We will be the first band to play twice! Wow… People are really buying out records today and also shirts. So nice.
OSC Cafe Cairo, Würzburg
The 2nd to last track in the 3rd set was one of the most amazing pieces of music we played on the tour, Nick played just a mindblowing beautiful guitar solo. I was blown away and then Mathias tried to follow and was also brilliant. The sets on my recorder were 65, 72 and 51min but my recorded had stopped so I am sure I missed some of the end. Horst he also recorded the show as well as the multitrack. Lots of other pics and video were taken as well. It was a great night a fantastic venue to play. It was after 2 when we crashed at the hostel. I was totally busted.
Check out this cool long show.....Here..
http://www.archive.org/details/OSC2012-10-20.FLAC
Day 9
We were up at 8 to get on the road to catch the ferry to Denmark from Germany at 18:15, one of the few times that I could book as they were all booked up.
10:00 We are just leaving now, 30mins later than we had planned I will drive fast. I always drive first as it is good for my back and I am usually fresh tos tart the day compared to the others. No one has been drunk or hung over the entire tour but they smoke way too much and this probably takes several hrs out of our days, playing time, etc… It would be so nice to have a tour with no smokers.
14:00 Sabine is driving into Hamburg. We are about 120km away so this is good time. We need to leave her place for the ferry no later than 16. A bit before if possible. Listened to Pothead, Justtreb (new band from Niko from 7 that Spells). Amazing weather today. The fog in Würzburg was intense and also in some of the valleys….
It was a fantastic time and tour and we could not have managed without Sabine. We really owe her a lot. We hope to make some sort of tour DVD from all the great pictures and video she took. You can see more pictures on our web site listed below.
