Freak Valley Festival 2014

This was an amazing festival… the bands, the people, the place, the vibe… all of it was great. I missed the first rainy day and arrived in time to catch at bit of Mother of God (Sweden) laying down some cool 70s rock and stoner to get people going…. Next up was Mothership (Texas), who I was really looking Blood Ceremony was next and brought their version of Black Sabbath meets Jethro tull occult rock to the stage. They played a diverse set and unless I missed it, they did not play either song from the new 7” record, which really surprised me… this is a very good band, they are very tight (maybe too tight.. I would like to see them take some chances and do some jamming but I doubt it ever happens with them). 
forward to see as I dug their first record a lot… They are a lean, mean tattooed no nonsense rock and roll band from Texas…. They played some kick ass stuff and a few new songs as well. They started with an instrumental, Cosmic Rain, Serpent Throne (new song), City Nights and a few other tracks. Great set…

Blood Ceremony

Set List: ?, Black magic, I’m comin’ for You, Return to Forever, My Demon Brother, Witches dance, Lord Summerisle, ?, (Song about Oliver hattersly)

WO Fat—wow…. I love these guys as well and we hung out with the band (minus Ken) a lot. Super cool guys and ØSC fans as well…. They did their thing and Ken played killer guitar but man his voice was pretty trashed. The tour and talking to too many people can do that.. They played a cool set with two new songs and some old ones but not some of the old ones I really dig like Analog Man..maybe next time..

Set List: The Black Code, Conjuring, Read the Omens, Bye Yo Juju,  Nameless Cults, Riffian, Black Lotus

Next up was something completely different with Solstafir from Iceland. I am not really sure how to describe these guys. It is a four piece band with two guitars, a bit heavy metal, a bit hard to describe.. Lots of heavy and spacey riffing guitar and hardly any guitar solos to speak of.. The lead singer has an intense approach to singing a mixture of power and screaming attacking like vocals.. He played this really cool E-bow guitar on the first number. They were pretty cool and people seem to dig them…

Truckfighters are Swedish Stoner rock band that have come back with a vengeance. There was a big crowd. They had a really massive and bassy sound as the guitar is tuned really far down. They are a bit hard to describe but most of their songs had a similar structure with these melodic vocal parts and then these bouncy stoner rock grooves with the very rare guitar solo. The bass player and guitar player run and jump around like crazy (especially the guitarist) and give a lot of energy to their show. I actually got a bit bored after 30mins as it was a bit too much but the crowd was digging them and they sure had a lot of fun for sure…

Blues Pills, a band with French, Swedish and American players but based in Sweden, hit the stage a bit late and ended up being cut off when the PA was cut right at 01:00.. Anyway, they play a pretty traditional blues rock with a really powerful and charismatic female lead vocalist and a great young guitar player who show no facial emotion or expression, like had wore a mask… he puts it all in to his emotional playing and head movements.. They started off their set with a few mostly instrumental pieces before playing the songs from their new LP and a few from the 10” records like Devil Man…  They have a lot of songs that are really similar in structure but they were still great live. The bass and drummer are awesome together as well. Cool band… It was damn cold on this night though..

Blues Pills

Day 2

The first band up on a small stage was Magnetic Mountain. I only saw a couple of songs but it came across as pretty straight forward and powerful stoner rock grooves (did not hear any solos on the songs I heard).. next up was a band that I really liked who is sort of the house band for the festival called Bushfire. I stood with Tony and Shawn I think) from Mos Generator and we all dug the show. Great front man…. This band play a bit like Clutch and with a lot of energy.. Fun band…. Check out the video….

Bone Man

The first band on the main stage was Bone Man (Germany)… I only caught a few songs by them as we had to get all of our things together as we were playing in a two hours time. They play some pretty raw punky attitude rock… there was some pretty cool guitar sometimes but not a lot of solos per se. Nice people…

                                       

Zodiac was next and I thought they started off a bit too slow and boring but man, did that change 15 or so minutes into the set when they really took off and played some great 70s rock stuff, with the occasional organ, played by one of the guitar players. Towards the end of the set they played a great version of Cortez the Killer by Neil Young. They really ended on a high note and were great in the end..

Zodiac

          My band, Øresund Space Collective was up next and we rushed to set up as fast as we could and soundcheck and play but it did not really work too well. The sound on stage was terrible and we had not time to really sort it out and I had technical issues with my cables so in the end, we just got on with it and played about an hour.. we were supposed to get 80mins but the stage manager was telling me we had 5mins left when we really had 15… so we only played one hour and we had 80mins… Anyway, the crowd was awesome and gave us a great response and feedback. The band played great (it was not my best show, this is for sure) and Nicklas from Papir joined us on the last jam as well. Enjoy this cool video of the first 25mins below..

Mos Generator

Next up was Mos Generator and it was great to see and hear these guys again. I did not catch the entire set as I had to sell some merch and talk to people but I was digging it for sure. I spent some time at the festival chatting with these guys, the Elder guys, Wo fat guys Admiral Sir Cloudsley Shovell and Kadavar guys.. All super cool people…. Not sure what the set list was… they make it up each night as they go…

Admiral Sir Cloudsley Shovell

Admiral Sir Cloudsley Shovell was another band I was really excited to see and I saw their entire set. They are a quite special acquired taste sort of band… either you like the taste of the their nasty rock and roll or you don’t get it…. Cool 70s attitude and great playing. Some funny and great songs and nice solos and bass and drum parts.. Very authentic, very nature, real…

Set List: Do it Now, Devils, Elementary, Running from  Home, Black Sheep, 2 tonne Fuckboot, I death, Bulletproof, Last Run, Red Admiral, The Thicker the Better

Samsara Blues Experiment

Samsara Blues Experiment are another band I really like a lot but my path and Christian (the guitar player, singer and band leader, whom I have known since 2003) rarely seem to cross. We did have some nice chats.. Anyway, I was really looking forward to see them and now they are a three piece band, which surprised me but they still pull it off. The band played 5 like 10mins songs and for some reason I felt like Christian was really holding back a bit today, not playing as intense while the rest of the band were really killing it….. he said it was true.. he hated the guitar sound and this was really bothering him.. He does not like Marshall… Anyway, I thought they were great…

Set List: Souls, Revelation and Mystery, Back to Life, Shangri la, Double Freedom

Elder

It was a bit strange to have Elder play right after Samsara as they have a bit in common… Both a trio, in the stoner rock genre, both with a lot of intense guitar solos, etc… This is also a really great band. I saw like half their show at Roadburn (still don’t have the vinyl) and liked it a lot. One of the members bought an OSC t-shirt, which was cool… Anyway, they rocked the place and opened with playing both tracks from the Spires Burn EP and the Compendium, The End and Riddle of Steel Part 1… Great set.. Fucking cool band….

The next band, which I have seen many times, just blew me away tonight, MOTORPSYCHO. It took an hour to change out the stage and all I can say this band is playing better than ever before. I have no idea what the set list was but it was captivating and having the 2^nd guitar player allows Hans to really let loose.. The entire band was just unreal. The drummer is so intense, the bass player just lays down the killer grooves. They played a lot of instrumental music including a 40min suite in the middle of the show. The first encore was a powerful version of the Grand Funk Railroad song, Into the Sun.. Wow…. Just amazing concert….

Kadavar closed the festival and sadly had their set cut off at 01:00 when the band and the crowd was really hungry for more music. This is also a great and powerful band that although they have this Black Sabbath feel at times, they know how to lay down the 70s rock… Wow..

http://www.freakvalley.de