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..
Peter IB, played drums with ØSC from 2007 to 2012, almost full time and he played now and again until 2015… Sadly, PIB lost his battle with cancer. There was a funeral earlier in the day but this was a dinner for close friends and musicians and 3 musical acts. It started with a nice speech and then Sorte Per started things off with a 50 min set of original music. PIB had played with all these guys in different jams, and bands before as well. It was all sung in Danish and some great and funny songs..
Vionysos Skål, Par og Per, Ca Drømme, Tagernes Høj!, tak skal du há, ?, Business Blues, I mi hjælpe mig, En Hvildes Ballale
Music for Hearts, a duo wtih Thomas Thor played a short set of 18mins or so and a lot of small speeches about PIB.. Everyone had a good story to tell…
There was a long break now for nearly 3hrs and then ØSC played at 21… It was so smokey inside that I could not be in Loppen anymore so stood outisde the entrance where there was som good air and talked to who ever came by…
ØSC was: Me, Mogens, Mattias, Mikkel and Jiri in the first set. We did like 2 jams and I told a bit of a story about PIB in the middle for a few mins. It was too smokey and I was really suffering so I had to leave but the guys played some more with Lasse on Bass afterwards-.
My friend KG Westman was playing sitar with some world class Indian and Danish jazz musicians as well as the Copenhagen Youth Jazz Orchestra. It was a nice 80mins of composed and improvised ,music mixing tabla, sitar, sax, drums, contrabass, guitar and lots of horn players. Plenty of solos over the 6 pieces of music.
KG Westman, Lars Møller, Zuheb Ahmed Khan, Thor Madsen, Thommy Andersson, Jonas Johansen,
Went with my good friend Mogens and it was lovely to see our friend Lone their as well. A super nice evening of great music.
When I was at the Tabernas Festival in Spain in October I met the drummer from this band, Lander and we really got on well and spoke about music and his bands. He also played in a more heavy band called Wreck Totem. Anyway, these guys have been around 10 years and this is their 2nd album. They play music a lot like Little Feat, US southern rock inspired stuff. All the musicians are Spanish except the singer, Dan, Cabenela (from the US). Some of the tracks are really uptempo and they have a really great mood and feel. Some laid back country like stuff as well. A very good mix and some nice guitar solos (a must in Southern rock!) as well. I enjoyed the album a lot. Check them out….
I drove to Coimbra and then took the train to Porto. This new music venue is in the basement of a fancy hotel about 10mins walk from Campanhã, which is pretty convenient. The building itself it a bit of a maze to get into the basement but when I arrived I could hear Elder soundchecking. I managed to find my way in and the Madmess guys were watching the soundcheck. They stopped and we greeted each other. Nice to see the Elder folks. Super nice people, all of them…
Elder Soundchecking
After soundcheck I hung out backstage with the band while Madmess were setting up but I was really hungry. I was invited to go eat with them at 19 but I could not wait that long.. Has some chicken and chips 3mins away and came back but missed the Madmess soundcheck, they were done. Michael (2nd guitarist in Elder), he was hanging around, while the others were eating so we chatted about life on the road, his music life, the insane USA, etc.. such a nice guy..
Madmess backstage
The doors opened at 20 and Madmess hit the stage just at 2030. A lot of people were still coming in at this time as only a couple of weeks ago they changed the start time from 21 to 2030.. Anyway, it was full by the time they finished and they pretty much blasted the audience with the very tight set of acid rock. They used to space out a bit but not at all anymore, very tight and perfect, a bit too much for my liking. Most of the set was from the new album and two from Rebirth and nothing from the first album. The band is working on new material. Sam said it is their best stuff ever.
Set List: Death by Astonishment, Widowmaker, Albatross, Endless Cycles, Velvet Nebula, Stargazer
Vasco on Bass
Elder were very fast to get things going and within 20mins after the Rush- Tom Sawyer into they blasted into In Procession!!! Sound was great but LOUD…. The two guitar players have such a great dynamic (Nick and Michael)… They both do leads and cool parts. The band is so tight. Jack is just rocking out hard on all the songs and Georg just keeps the time and manages the dynamics. Great players. These are complicated and long songs. I wish some of the guitar solos were a bit longer and they would adventure a bit.. Still such an awesome and powerful band. It was the soundmans birthday so they gave him a shout out, which was cool. This was the 4th to las show so they had sold all the copies of the new album. Pity… I asked about playing those songs live and they gave it a try but determined it was not going to be possible and do them justice. I think it is some of their best stuff.. Anyway, Merged in Dreams is an amazing track and glad they had that one in the set. I had hoped we would get to hear Lore or Spires Burning.. It was a powerful set. 80mins.. Great night. Thanks guys..
Set List: In Procession, Thousand Hands, Merged in Dreams, Compendium, Sanctuary, Catastasis, Gemini
Santtu, is on a role with his 56th release which now includes this new project as a duo with Shane Beck (spoken Words) and on this one Jonathan Segel (guitar and other instruments). This is the 4th release in this project. This CD features 10 tracks and while it sounds a lot like Astral Magic at times, it is a bit more spacey and relaxed in general. I love the fluid guitar layers that Jonathan adds and the poety is nicely mixed in here and there. Some great song titles here as well like Children of the Perpetual Echo, Whispering Oracle, and Misguided Sunrise.
Volume III in this series continues with 10 new tracks but this time Santtu plays all the instruments and even does some of the spoken word parts (tracks 5&7). Crystal Starship starts things off with an uptempo rocker. Shane comes in pretty quickly after the track starts. Lots of interesting keyboards. Perpetual Change keeps the tempo high and opens with a nice synth sequence, that is quite hypnotic at times. Lots of stuff going on in this track at times but driven by the synths at all times. Desert Winds starts off really spacey, like a 1972 Hawkwind track. Master of Mystery has a bouncing bass line to drive it forward and is a fun one. Thought Projections Acquisition is another strange electronic one and features Santtu on vocals.. Trippy…Sacred Geometry has a sort of dark mysterious feel to it. Passing the Knowledge is another fully electonic on with whispered words by Santtu.. Dream Quest features some guitar and I really love the vibe on this one. Cool track and the longest on the album as well! Frequency Waves is another beatless electronic piece. The CD ends with The Druid´s Temple. A bit like Astral Magic and a bit different as well with the help of Shane, doing what he does best.. Only made in 50 copies. Peace..
I had heard about this festival a few times but this was the first time I got a ticket and decided to make the journey. It was a 12hr drive (I stopped for a day and 1/2 to see a friend near Malaga to break it up. Tabernas is way down south near Alimeira on the coast. It is where a lot of the spaghetti westens were film. The concerts are just outside the main salon of the film sets. Really cool. Festival is organised by a German guy Marco and a bunch of other German folks. 70% of all the people here are from Germany and Belgium. Not many Spanish and I only met 3 people from Portugal. about 300 total. A very cool and unique place to have a festival. Everything is very relaxed and easy going. Two places for food, only one drinks bar which can get a bit crowded but is ok. They still put on the shoot out at the saloon twice a day and normal people can stil pay and come talk around and eat at restaurants, etc..
I arrived about 1330 and found a place in the parking lot near a couple of young German guys with their car and tents. 16hr drive for them to get here.. Had some lunch and then walked all around the western town and took pictures. Met a group of Belgian folks associated with Sara and Benni and Down the HIll festival (including Dries).. Super nice people.
First band was supposed to be Nightstalker from Greece but they were too stoned to play so Kal-El from Norway played first instead. Both bands I was really looking forward to see. Kal El rocked and had good grooves. Singer sounds like he is singing right at the edge of his range most of the time, so it feels a bit strained somehow. Both guitar players did solos, the one on the right seem to play the same one every or something close most of the time. They grooved but not a lot of variety in their stoner sound. They played mostly their new album Astral Voyger Vol 1 (4 of the 6 songs) and a new single, JUggernaut, as the encore. I enjoyed the set a lot and talked with the guys which were really cool folks.
Nightstalker, I was looking foraard. I have 4-5 of their records but never seen them live. They had a lot more variety to their songs which were shorter and they were totally into it as well. By now, the sun was hot and the stage is in the direct sun!!! I think it was 28C….. It was a diverse set but a lot from the last album, I think… I dug their set and they had the biggest crowd today..
Set List: Trigger Happy, Baby God is Dead, Forever Stoned, Just a Burn, Heavy Trippin, Uncut, Return from the Point, Sweet Knife, Cursed, Never Know, The Dog that no one Wanted, Zombie Hour, Dead Rock Commandos, Children of the Sun
High Desert Queen from Texas were next and they really ripped thru their set of high speed stoner grooves and ripping solos. Singer had a Texas flag on his back for the first few songs and was a chrasmatic guy. Crowd really dug em as well. Their set went by fast somehow.. They only played 2 older songs and the rest was from their latest album. Jason from Sasquatch was filling in on bass for the tour. He was awesome. They had a few doomy moments like the last song but it ended in a high energy blast!! Cool… Spoke to Jason and he said they had done preproduction demos for enough material for a new Sasquatch album but had no idea when it was going to be recorded properly. All depends on Keith….
Set list: As we Roam, Palm Reader, Time Weaver, Head Honcho, Tuesday Night Blues, Mountain, Solar Rain, Ancient Aliens,
Tankzilla (DE) was an intense drum and distorted nasty guitar duo. It was very blusey, punky, stoner, nasty rock and roll.. Crowd seem to know them a bit. A lot of people were eating at this time (including me), so I did not see the whole show but they rocked for sure.
Set List: Crossroads, Lucifer, UFO, Brother from another Mother, Rubberman, Wolfpack, Down Below, Saw Surfer, Hard Way, Wrong Place,
Up to this point I had recorded all the bands but some asshole spilled their drink on my edirol recorder. I started to recorded Scrotem, another German band, quite intense front man who sang in many styles and was great. Solid bass and drum grooves but sinple, not that interesting guitar so that was a bit of a let down. They had a lot of fun and people up front were into it for sure but lack of interesting guitar riffs and the guy could not solo (he only tried on 3 songs). Anyway, recorded died completely during their recording and I could not restart it.
Set List: Smile, Mislead, Curfew, The day that never ends, Lay your bombs down, Little by Little, Lifeline, Sweet 16, Stoned, Enemy, Let you Die.
Last band of the night was Psychogarden (DE) and I really liked these guys. IT was like a bit like The Devil and the Almighty Blues but very bass heavy sound and sadly the guitar player had a very dull sound and you just blurred into the bass and you had a hard time hearing him. Pity as I think he did some interesting stuff. THey played a bit more than an hr and ended about midnight.
Set List: Blues, King Bee, Octa, Shadow, Song 1, Song 2, SOMA, Three, New Saw Nick Oliveiri, some of the guys from Temple Fang around said hello and went to bed…
Day 2 (Oct 4th)
Very sunny so far. Got up around 9… Sun comes up late here… had some breakfast, cleaned up, charge the phone (which died) and the camera. Listen to the Grace and Space CD. What a great one. Listening to Fusing your Synapses. I also enjoy this one a lot as well. More relaxing way to start the day. Writing up this diary. Trying to dry out the Edirol and hope it comes back to life. Really unhapy about this. I can still record on the Zoom video camera but it is more difficult and not as good quality and I do not have the wind screen. It was very windy yesterday until the sun went down.
Anyay, Nick Oliveri´s Mondo Generator is first, Unida (not seen them since 1999!), Rotor, also not seen then since we toured together back in 2002!! Temple Fang, and I do not know the rest of the bands. Going to be a fun day..
Mondo Generator more or less started on time and totally rocked. Mostly his solo stuff, a couple of Kyuss numbers, a QOTSA song and the crowd was digging it. He was clearly happy to be here and has played here a few times, I believe. It was hotter today and the stage is in the direct sun so they worked hard…
Set List: 13th Floor, Rubber Room, Supa duppa (Kyuss), Fuck it, FYIF, Gonna Leave, Turboner, Sharner, Void, Green Machine (Kyuss), Death March, Nowhere Man, ?, For a Day, Blast off, Listening to the Daze, I never Sleep, Dead Silence, Millonaire (QOTSA)
Unida, a band that I have not seen since 1999, when Gas Giant opened for them was next and they rocked… Sound has not changed much and they have a monster bass player. Wow. He was killer, probably the best at the festival.. I think the guitar player and drummer are the only original members left. The new singer (not John Garcia but sounded a lot like him at times) was very good and cool front man, from the band Riotgod. He was covered in tattoos… They played two brand new songs (Unbound) and the encore, which he said they wrote last week…
Set List: Left, Red like a River, Unbound, Tanglo, Human Tornado, If Only, Stray, Sweet, Hand, Energy, Black Woman
Rotor, from Berlin, I had last seen in 2009 but played some gigs with them way back in 2002 when they opened for Gas Giant. They now were a 4 piece band but damn, what a cool change from the normal stoner rock we have been getting. Lots of interesting songs and they can do a bit of Colour Haze like stuff but it was a great set. I loved it.. Still an awesome band.. It was super cool that they played Ennio Marconnie (Time in the West).. Most of the set was from their last album in 2023.
Set List: Costa Verde, Reibach, Reblansoul, Schabracke, Volllast, Kahlschlag, Druckverband, Ennio, Oktagon
Godsleep (Greece), I had never heard of were a four piece band with an intense female singer, who also played a bit of guitar. The drummer ran some samples and programmed stuff to mix into their stoner punk vibe. The 2nd song, the one I filmed, had a riff like Dinosaur Vacuum by Monster Magnet. She could do punk, very clear singing, very versatile. They had some great songs for sure. After the 2nd song, she asked if anyone had some weed and she got a joint from someone and smoked the entire thing. Could be dangerous if it was really strong!! I missed some of their set though as I had to get something to eat!!!
Komatsu from Eindhoven, NL were next and doing the tour with Mondo Generator since Ritual King had to cancel. I was looking forward to see them. Anyway, they were a trio played a sort of stoner doom stuff with some really spaced out guitar. His guitar had no prescene or treble, so it was hard to hear him when they were just riffing. Bass player was very intense and into it but seem to play mostly the same riffs over and over.. They rocked..
Temple Fang, were next and the band I was most looking forward to see. I think they are one of the best bands in Europe at the moment.. Love them! Such nice people and they came on and just were amazing. Very spacey start and then into the River. The rest of the set was either new stuff or ideas and from the latest album. Very cool set and people were really into it as well. Love these guys..
It was now nearly midnight and I was very tired. I saw Balâte setting up. They are a Spanish band and apparently play ever year… Convoy was after that but I did not hear them either.
Super cool festival in an amazing place. Would love to come back again.. We will see… 12hr drive for me though. 900km!!
I had never heard of this 10 year old Brasilian four piece band before and I think this might be their first release in Europe. Anyway, after a short intro the band blast into Masters of the Craft of Pain. This is really classic late 80s inspired doom metal like Candlemass, Soliditude Aeternus at style but then also Spirit Caravan at times… marked by Hate slows things down to a more doomy vibe. A good groove kicks in and off you go. Mirror Maze, has a bit more of a biker rock feeling (like Wino). Great guitar solo on this one as well. In the Drives End is a mid paced track but it slowly gets more doomy and groovy. Thumbscrew is instrumental and one of the more heavy tracks and a bit psychedelic with some wild cool sounds going on and a strange vocal ending. The Inquisitor Pt 1 is a slow doomy one. Pt 2 starts with an acoustic intro that ends this record.. Nothing very original here as it is nearly impossible to do in DOOM but well played, well crafted songs and nice powerful clean vocals. Good job guys.. I dug the album!!
I have really enjoyed the music of Ilya Lipkin and his different band projects. Glad to see they have made another album. The album features 12 tracks, only 8 on the vinyl and 4 appear as bonus tracks on the CD (which comes with the LP!), so you get the entire session if you buy the LP… I have heard the digital tracks twice now and it is a really great record. The opening track is "core" Re-Stoned with some great guitar solos and I love the delay guitar part at the end! Overall, the album is more laid back but the songs and moods are great. Even some acoustic songs. Bad Stone was one of my faves and glad that is on the vinyl. Check it out….
1 Sleeping on the Emerald Throne 2 Lotos 3 Spiral Jam 4 Saikhshya Sakhyash 5 Elliptic Flowers * 6 The Loom 7 Ostara 8 Stellar Kaleidoskope * 9 Bad Stone 10 Myth * 11 Prizmatic Snowflake 12 Lizard Footprint #2 *
Been a while since I have heard from these Finnish stoner rockers from Tampere. This is a pretty intense record with mid and fast tempo songs and great riffs. My main problem with all the stoner rock today is that the best riffs have been played and written and it is hard to come up with anything really new.. The band hammer away at you for the first 4 songs and then Kairos slows things down and is a bit more doom for sure. Great guitar sound and powerful vocals. Dissolve is a more laid back affair to start but then the intensity build, especially with the vocals. The groove really kicks ass at the end of this one. The Age of Unreason, starts with a strange bass (?) intro before the groove kicks in. Like middle part on this track.. The album ends with The Weight of the World, the 2nd longest track on the record and one of the coolest guitar sounds on the record. I like that effect…. Powerful band… wonder if they will ever make it to Portugal???
The SF based psych rock band, Carlton Melton are back with a live album from their October 2023 European tour, the first as a four piece band!! This is the bands 5th live album, 2nd one from Hebden bridge, where they also played Smoke Drip, which starts off with a synth drone and a great spaced out feeling and nice solo by Rich… March of the Cicadas has a shorter synth drone intro before it gets really heavy with the two guitars and one is quite dirty and distorted and love that slide guitar, just makes it feels strange.. Intense.. Vanquished is from the bands last studio album, Turn to Earth and features some really nice guitar playing and good energy. The band is for sure heavier on the tracks with two guitars!! Prescribed Skies is from the Resemble Ensemble record, a record they also released in 2023. Starts very drony. Not sure if that is Rich or Anthony?? Anyway, once the band kicks in they rock with some nice solos..
If you like the mood and feeling of the band, then you will for sure dig this. They never play anything exactly like the records, it is about going out into space and exploring the other side with these guys… Great band..
This caught me by surprise as I had no idea this band was still playing. Saw them a few times when I lived in Denmark but they have not had any new music for some years now. Their last album was in 2018. They live for the 70s sound and feel for sure and have an interesting vocalist.
Shadow Crawler starts things off and has that sort of Deep Purple like feel. Good melodic track wtih nice harmony guitar parts. Hell Maker has a much darker feel to it but is also very melodic. Le Voyage, has a very mellow start with some nice piano and guitar lines. Emotional vocals and a lovely guitar solo. Euphoria is quite a short mellow track. Night Hunters starts with this 80s synths sounds that I am not a fan of and then the energy picks up and some nice harmonies are played the synths are dropped for the organ. Felt like they could have really jammed this one out but they did not. Fatal Romance starts off with a bit of a guitar jam before settling down into what seems to be the standard sound and vibe of the album. Memories features a very nice hammond sound to start the track as the drums build up the tension before the harmony guitars take the lead. Lovely sound production. Mortal Desire ends the album with a nice organ intro and turns into one of the longest tracks on the record.
Overall, this album is a more laid back affair then their previous records and I feel has less variety. Solid effort. The band is: Vocal: Nicolaj Jul, Keys: Peter Pørtner, Guitar: Thomas Ulrik, Guitar: Dennis Warburg Bass: Søren Olesen, Drums: Peter Østergaard
This is a great band from Sweden and it was an honour to play on three songs on the record.. The band has really grown over the years from making some very strange psychedelic drone music to good time rocking music. The videos of their live shows so the band is really fantastic and I think they have caputured that live energy well on this excellent record. Seems a bit unfair to review it when I am sort of part of it but it please check it out. Very proud of this one..
“Imagine Charles Manson and a group of fake Hare Krishna hippies in an old VW bus speeding down the Hippie Trail toward Kathmandu in ’ 72. That’s the starting point for Pilgrims and Psychonauts – a hypnotic concept album of neo-psychedelic rock, kraut grooves, and ritual mantras from Swedish musical collective Nepal Death. This record fuses spiritual longing with heavy grooves, raw guitars, pounding drums, and layers of analog space synths, flutes, and sitars – all wrapped in a strangely melodic and ceremonial atmosphere.”
What a fucking time this has been to sort all this out and now it is finally going to happen… I am on the train to Porto and early flight to Berlin tomorrow. They are having strikes at the airports so who knows if all will go smooth or not… We will see.
Jiri has been having trouble with the van and he got it back today and it broke down immediately. FUCK.. They will work on it first thing in the morning and they hope to get the ferry at 13.. If not, they will have to take Gregers car and we will have to find some backline gear for Berlin. Call some bands…. Also, Gregers said he was taking his girlfriend and sister along on the tour.. I told him we could not guarantee them any food, drinks, sleeping places, etc…… Lets see what happens.. I can not stress about it.. It will be what it will be..
Sept 5th- Neue Zukunft, Berlin
I had a relaxing night in Porto with Pepe and his family and flew out at 9:10 and arrived in Berlin at 1330 in time. I wrote to see about the van but no word yet….. Just hope it all goes well.
This is a sort of strange de ja vu. I am sitting outside the club, a lot like another club we played where it was the same situation. NO one but me… Things are all fucked up… Van got fixed but they were 3hrs later leaving than expected so now they will not arrive to the venue until 1930 or 20.. We were supposed to be here at 1630, soundcheck 17-18, dinner 19, doors open at 19 and play at 20. So now, we will not get to play before 21 earliest and not sure what about food… It will be chaos and stress. Sabine made it to Lubeck and then they rejected her ticket and kicked her off the train so she went back to Hamburg. I was really looking forward to see her and she was bring records and cds, etc.. bummer… We will just have to manage with some old shirts and cds that I brought..
Mattias flew into Berlin yesterday and showed up here at the club at 1600…. bad news though was that the band did not get the ferry until 14 so they will not arrive before 2030. We are supposed to start at 2000! Oh Well.... The entire night is going to be delayed. Anyway, it was what it was and they arrived at 2030, we set up, had some food and started playing at 22 and played straight to midnight (the curfew).
Brad (Pothead) was there and some of our older fans and folks that come to the spaceboat. It was a great crowd of about 100 people. Band played very well. Long jams, 4 in 2hrs.. Lights were bright and a bit annoying but sound lady who was awesome, had to do both.. Great sound on the stage, everyone was a great. Jiri said he thought I was good. tak Jiri. Fun gig. Still annoying that when Nick solos, no one hears him as his sound disappears. Fun gig.. Look forward to hear the show. Will not be great though as the camera vibrated due to the bass and was facing the wall by the end of the gig. Bummer.. Check it out below.
It was 230 by the time we got to bed. Was up at 08. Had a shower and we were out of the hostel at 08.
Sept 6th- Moor Happening IX, Germany
It was a nightmare getting out of Berlin and Nick left his guitar in his girlfriend's car so we had to stop and wait for her to bring it to us. We got some food and gas (119€) and they smoked lots of cigs and now it 10 and we still hardly gotten anywhere. So much traffic.. GPS says we will get there at 1419 but am sure we stop a few more times and will be late… We always are late… I am tired..
We had a few more stops so they could smoke and we got there about 1540. Everyone was super cool and a really cool festival space on a bar with the stage and bar in an old barn, nice building.. I guess about 150-200 people. A lot of people I know from the Spaceboat and other festivals. They only announce who is playing each day on the day of the show so it is a surprise and they were blown away we were playing. Gemma and Simone have wanted us to play for years. Anyway, they took great care of us and we played on all our own gear and started on time. We played for nearly 2hrs and it was a fantastic concert. People loved it, I had fun as well. People dancing and smiling. Cool light projections. Fun.. http://archive.org/details/OSC2025-09-06.FLAC
Octopizz, a stoner band was before us and a decent crowd. A lot of people sat on the benches outside the barn as you could hear the band well and from many of the places also see the band thru the doorway. They had a cassette they were selling.
Next a very intense band called Modder was after us. This was very dark and intense music. It sounded really massive and was LOUD.. They had some interesting textures though, not just pure doom.
There was one more band called Highest Primzahl on Mars after that played like Neu-Circle like stuff but less variety. Did not see them but we could hear them. Sleeping accommodations were not great for Jonathan, Jiri and Mattias. A freezing cold shipping container, some army cots and a thin sleeping bag. No heat. They did not sleep well or much. Nick and I had a proper camper with a matress, pillow and it was not warm but it was ok.. Did not sleep at all until the music stopped at 1 or so….
Sept 7th- Nijmegen, NL
1040 and we are on the way to Nijmegen. We get a free lunch if we arrive at 1230-13. If we are at 14, the food will be gone. GPS says 1238 if we do not stop but I am sure we will and get there at 1330 or later.. That is just what these guys prioritize, smoking over being on time. Crazy eh???
Matinee show today with a new band with Peter from Bismut/DundW and one of the guys from RRRaggs called VIIM. Should be a cool band. I will film and record them as well. They asked me to play on one song as well. Joe from Rock Times is coming from Germany, a few people from this festival are also coming.
We are running behind as usual…and Jiri nearly missed the exit and smashed the van. It hit a deep bump and the van went down hard but seems ok at the moment… Supposed to arrive between 12-13 and we arrive at 1330 earliest. Doors open at 1430…
Bad news back in Portugal, so of our fans, their farms have burned down but there house is ok. nick, Tif, Gary and Marla.. Tom…. so sad… So glad it did not get as far as Mike and Pat and us.. The fire was set on purpose by the neighbour of Gary and Marla… Pity. all that loss…
Lets see how the rest of the day goes…
It was a bit of a rush but it all went smooth in the end. Stage was quite small so there was no way we were going to be able to set up soundcheck, tear down the gear for VIIM and do it again so we just let them set up the gear in front of ours except the synths and then, they played and we just set up and started to play….
VIIM was great. Three piece band with Peter on Drums (Bismut, DundW), bass player from RRRaggs and a cool guitar player. They played 4 songs about 30 mins. I joined in on the last song. Really good music. Place was pretty full with their friends and awesome lights.
We just set up and started to play, no real soundcheck, just go.. We played about 80mins I think til 1730… Very zappa inspired stuff and very melodic and spacey to start and then we rocked. very different show again. Jonathan was super tired and frustrated but played brilliantly as always.. Nick also did some amazing solos as did Gregers.
Venue people were great and food was really good, best on the tour….. Fun but not going to do this kind of touring again.. The band drove back to Denmark, while Mattias and I stayed in Amsterdam for 2 more days. Jonathan flew direct to the USA to tour with Camper Van Beethoven!
It was great to meet our fans and friends and thanks to all the promoters..
Due to the high fire risks around where I live, I stayed home and missed the warn up party so that would not be away for so long and leaving my wife and dogs alone.I really wanted to see Daily Thompson and Castle Rat (heard they were amazing!). Overcrooks and Nerve Agent (UK Punk) also played. I heard it was fun
Aug 7th
It was strange foggy weather for most of the entire drive as when I left home at 9. It was already sunny and hot!! Takes about 3.5 hrs with a short stop. At the festival it was cloudy and cool. Just what I needed after weeks of over 30C…
I arrived in time to catch the 2nd act of the day, Bøw but missed Capela Mortúaria (Braga Thrash metal). Bøw, played punk-metal-doom stuff but with shouty punk vocals. They were intense for sure but did they do anything very original??? Hum…..
Hoover III (from LA) I could not find them on bandcamp or you tube so was not sure what to expect. They played some sort of melodic vocal style (everyone in the band sang at least backing), with some heavy psych guitar at times and other times just sort of strange arrangements. It was hard music to get into somehow.. Unusual… Their last song of the set was the best though, a really intense psych space rock type thing. Crowd liked them. They have a few records out over at the merch.
Spoon Benders (Portland OR), were also a band I had never heard of. They had a female singer, guitarist, 2nd lead guitar player, bass and drums. It was an eclectic mix of stuff. I am not sure how to describe them well. I kind of liked them. Sound was not that good for them. Way too much bass and drums.
It was actually getting quite cold now and I had to get my hoodie. Never happened before at this hour.. Bizzare..
Slomosa (Norway), have been touring relentlessly around the world and their brand of straight up simple stoner riff rock with no solos, just heavy grooves, really resonates with the audiences. I am not a big fan. They need to add a lead guitar player to take the band to another level. Anyway, they blew everyone away and were really powerful and rocked… I can not deny that.. Wow.. Great show, even if the bass play more or less plays the same bass line on most of the songs. She has a nice 5 string bass but mostly plays E.. Maybe all the songs are in E…. They rocked!!!
I had a little chat with Isaiah (Earthless). He is such a nice human. Gave him a flyer for the studio. Earthless is up after the next band,
Ditz (UK punk)… I did not really see much of these guys as I needed to eat but I heard the show. They were for sure eclectic. They had a male lead vocalist in a dress who pretty much got totally wasted during the show and was climbing the scaffold (as nervous staff looked on!), did a sort of mix of power punk vocal and spoken word. Not really my thing but unique. They said Portugal was the first country outside the UK they ever played back in 2018..
Earthless…. what can I say. Wow.. They ripped out heads clean off. I hung out with Vasco (It was the Elf) and his girlfriend. It was a guitar solo orgasm for everyone as Isaiah just gave 200% and blew minds. This band is so awesome. The rhythm section are tight and he just blasts on with endless cool solos. Wow. The stamina… Sonic Prayer, Ululu Rock??, and Behind the Walls of Sleep by Black Sabbath. I think that was the 65min set.. Phew..
King Woman (NYC), were bathed in red most of the show and were sort of doomy, post rock, something…. They had a very charismatic female singer. I did not think she sang well but she made up for it in attitude!!! Band were a strange set of folks. Female drummer and bass player and two male guitar players, one very peculiar one…. Not sure what to think of these folks..
Amenra…. this was a very intense experience for those who choose to go on the ride with them. Very HEAVY, emnotional, intense, dark, depressive.,. not happy music. They had a film running which 40% of the time you could not really see as the white lights and strobes were just too much in your face. Pity as it was a lot of effort to set up for them. They blew everyone away..
Fu Manchu… I love this band and I had not seen them in a very long time. Not sure why.. Anyway, they are playing at the top of their game now., Never sounded tighter, heavier.. Just incredible sound as well. LOUD… They did a mix of older stuff (Super Bird, Mongoose, King of the Road, hell on Wheels, California Crossing, Saturn 3 (last song), Evil Eye as well as three new songs (Lochness, Liquify, ??) all which were great and had a new sound as well, not just rehashing their old grooves and sounds. Bob, just killed it on the lead guitar as well This was my fave act of the day along with Earthless…
Maquina, who played last year was up next and it was after 01 in the morning. I really wanted to see Heavy Trip but they were not to 0230. Too late for me. I would have bought their record but they wanted 40 euro for their single vinyl lps. Not even a double. so no way guys… Great day of music and meeting with old friends, etc..
Aug 8th
Slept ok, Got up at 10, had breakfast, wrote up my thoughts of the last day, Foggy start… Had a jump in the sea to wake me up and a bit of wave hopping and then out. Really cold but refreshing. Came back and had some lunch and a layed down until about 1430 and then ate a snack and headed down to the festival. I heard that Heavy Trip were awesome but I was just too tired.
To Yo (Japan) were the first band to play. They had apparently played in Porto once before. They started at 1530 to a small crowd that grew very big. They played nearly all instrumental music. Drums, bass and two guitars. The guitar parts were really nice and while most of the music was pretty laid back, they broke out into some great guitar jams and solos and got heavier towards the end. It was a really nice spacey, way to start the day. Great band. Nice people. Sadly, they had no shirts or music for sale. I shot a video of the entire show.
Culturally speaking, it was a bad and offensive decision to put this band on right after a band from Japan but no one was probably thinking that. If I was from Japan, I would have felt a little offended.
Nagasaki Sunrise (PT), were a Lisboa based speed-thrash metal band. They were super intense. Everything faster than everything else attitude. They smashed it. They had two songs basically. One with the Iron Maiden influences and harmony guitar parts and one with out.. Then just full on speed metal. The singer would every now and then use some intense effect on this vocal.. Crowd was digging it… not for me though…
Sunflowers (PT) were first on the main stage and played to a decent sized crowd (pretty big by the end). They had a great energy driven by the intense drums and bass. The Bass player plays these killer bass lines tha set up everything for their songs. The guitar player, singer (and occasional synth-samples), had a lots of room to space out, go crazy, etc.. He used a lot of vocal effects at times. It was a great garage rock, high energy set that had people dancing and grooving for sure but lots of psych in their as well. Great set… Cool message projected on the screen behind them;
Gnome (BE), a sort or metal, hard rock stoner band who I saw at Down the Hill, gave a solid show,. Crowd was really into it at times and I admit they can be fun but musically they do not do a lot for me. They give a good fun show that is for sure..
Emma Ruth Rundle (US), played solo on the main stage. This was a very emotional, deep and dark but also some lighter shades. I liked her acoustic songs best where she played a bit more guitar than the real naked ones. What a voice, presence and personality. She held quite a big crowd and had a nice response. Lovely concert. I loved it. She spoke about wanting to get out of the USA and was looking for a boyfriend in Europe!! I can only imagine what is like over there now. Fuck..
Chalk (Ireland), had to be one of the worst choices ever for this festival. They played some very intense eletro with guitar and screaming vocals (a bit like early NIN) but then half the set was this really awful 80s new wave synth techno shit. Just awful. Most of the people around me were confused and frustrating. Sure there were 1000 people watching and into it but there were 4000 people wondering what the fuck are these people doing here???? LIke me.
My Sleeping Karma were back after 3 years. Certainly, becoming a standard here. Last time was the last tour with their original drummer, Steffan, who died of cancer the next year. The new drummer was great and the band sounded fantastic. They played their standard set of hypnotic stoner groove music. Melodic noodling over the amazing bass grooves and then heavy build up and distorted guitar. Nearly every song had this theme with slight changes. IT was nice to hear the synth guy more than you usually do. He is always to buried,. Great sound man They had fanastic movies and lights.What a great 75min set.. They got an extra song.
Witchcraft… I could hardly believe it.. Not seen them in years and had no idea what to expect. The band was now a three piece with a great female bass player. Drummer was solid. Magnus was happy and sang and played fantastic. They played 4 songs from the new album (I think) and then all older stuff from what I can tell. No Angel No Demon and Witchcraft (long drawn out version) were great to hear again. He played a lot of cool solo guitar. I really though I would miss the 2nd guitar player but it really did work well. I loved the show and great song choice. Kudo Magnus. Your back in the scene!!
It was one in the morning now . Still had the Spanish electro duo, Dame Area, Daevar (German stoner doom) and Witchthroat Serpent, the later who I would have loved to see but 2:55 in the morning. Just too late… It was a good day except Chalk. What the fuck???
Day 3
Up about 945, listening to Atomic Bitchwax with tea and breakfast. Wrote up my thoughts for yesterday. I headed to beach for a dip in the ocean and along the way, the headline act, some sort of Dark synth wave 80s band from Belarus, were soundchecking loud and playing for at least 30mins. It was not at all my kind of music, yuck.. Supposed to be a bit more sun today.
Last day but some great bands to look foward to.
I met Paulo about 1430 or so and then we walked down towards the site. He went for a coffee and I kept going. Ate an apple along the way.. Met a few friends when I got there, checked the merch area see if the Atomic Bitchwax guys were around but they were on the stage so I went and said hello.
Messa (Italy), were the first band on today at 1530. I had not heard of them but they are a four piece band with a female singer. They play melodic dark, light doom rock. She has a lovely voice. They had some backing synths every now and then. IF it was not for the guitar player though, they would just be another generic band but he was fantastic and really made this band. He was bluesy, jazzy, could rip it up, played interesting riffs around the main themes.. Wow.. A good opener for the day..
Atomic Bitchwax, third time for me to see them at Sonic Blast and it is usually the same songs every year and it was mostly the same this year but they had at least 3-4 that they did not play last time so that was good but I do not think they had any new ones even though they had no album for 5 years now. Anyway, they kick totally ass.. Just awesome. So tight and Gavin just rips on the guitar. Great band and cool guys.. They had 10 more mins but quite early. Pity.
?, Kiss the Sun, The Giant, 45, Coming ON, War Claw, ? I hope you Die, Jam?, Burn to the Earth, Instrumental (Fuck Face??), Shitkicker.
King Buffalo, a band I was really looking forward to see again. They have been to Porto a few times since last playing here. They were much heavier today than the last time. They still focus on a core sound of sorts and he loves this one guitar line and way of singing that makes some of the songs sound a bit too much a like but what a great band and the drummer and bass player are awesome, leaving the singer-guitar player lots of space. They do not really jam and space out though. What a powerful set.. Crowd loved them.. Me too.
IT seems that the bands are just getting louder and louder today…
Dead Ghosts was next. I thought it was the experimental doom band from San Diego but it turned out to be a 6 piece 60s inspired garage rock band from Vancouver Canada!! This was something totally different but it went down really well and they were fun.. People were dancing and smiling. Their songs were all really short and too the point though, not real jamming going on. They did a Neil Young cover as well. Fun band.
Monolord, heavy doom from Sweden, were back and the stage was packed. The sound man had cranked it up to 110 db or something stupid. It was so LOUD.. Monolord is one of those bands that just do not really do it for me. they were great live and so powerful but it is like doom like. Two guitar players playing the mostly the same exact riffs, hardly any guitar solos, melodic laid back singing like in the Mars Red Sky style… makes it almost like commercial some how.. They rely too heavily on this same exact doom riff and groove on too many of the songs. The crowd loves it.. They mix it up a bit though and the bass player he does some solos… I liked it best when they got a bit spacey. Awesome live band.
Patriarchy (US), were an intense performance art band from Los Angeles. The woman, did the lead vocals and some guitar while the man, he played a stripped down drum set and controlled all the prerecorded stuff. It was like Ministry at times and just far out experimental electronica. She used a lot of effects on her voice so it was quite psychedelic and trippy. Very intense band. Wow.. Great to watch but I can not see listening to them at home..
Circle Jerks, hardcore punk from the LA scene. I never saw them in the 80s and now they are these old men around 70. Far out.. The singer was here 2 years ago with a band called OFF!. They played 29 songs, mostly about 1 min, max 2mins long. The singer spoke nearly half their time. He was not happy about the state of the US and told stories about the old punk days and what bands they were all from. Very proud. Crowd loved it. Crazy stuff..
That was it for me. Next was Molchat Doma (Belarus), Castle Rat,Dopethrone, and Vinnum Sabbathi (Mexico).. I would have loved to see the last 3 but Castle Rat did not start until 120 and that is too late and I hated the band next and could not stand to hear that for 90mins.. Pity.. I am sure the end of the festival was awesome.. By the way, all my videos are usually the 2nd song of the set..
Congrats Ricardo to another great and successful festival. A lot of variety so you have metal, punk, stoner, electronica, dark wave, industrial, doom, psychedelic rock, 60s inspired (Dead Ghosts)….
