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 not normally something I would attend but these guys had booked a few days in my studio on Monday and Tuesday so since they were playing 30mins away on Sunday, I thought I would check it out. Cara Creek is an amazing place in a hidden valley of forest about 20mins from Oliveira do Hospital. I was a bit late as I had a hard time to find the place but I caught at least half of Antarma´s set and all of Sam´s main set and part of the Bob Marley medley and jam and chant at the end with both of them..
Antarma is from the UK and his concert was in 2 parts where he played acoustic guitar and sings and the 2nd part was him on djembe and singing and chanting and with a lot of audience participation. He is really into the Indian spiritualism and that is what most of the songs were about, peace, love, emotional well being, and different gods like Shiva, Krishna, etc.. He was a very good performer and played some really complex guitar parts.
Sam Garrett lives in the southern part of Portugal and mixes Rastafarian and Eastern spiritualism into his songs. The guitar parts are much more simple than Antarma and a lot of reggae inspiration as far as lyrics and music goes. He has a fantastic voice. This set was a bit too religious for me but he had some great songs and what a voice. This was more relaxed after the intense singing and dancing that ended the Antarma show. They both performed at the end for a while.
There was a crowd of close to 100 people, I guess and 70% women!!! A huge mix of hippies, kids, older English or European people, etc… It was a lovely day as well with the sun shinning right down into the stage at sunset.
I had just arrived in town and got reminded when I ran into Per Engholm, that Kanaan was in town just down the street from where I am staying. I contacted the band and they invited me to join them so after I had eaten, I headed down to the club and it was great to see the guys. They have achieved so much in the last few years since we first met and jammed together in Oslo. Wow..
It was great to talk and hang out with them for some hours and of course see them play. There was about 25-30 people when Psycholona hit the stage at 21. I was talking with Todd and Deb from New Hampshire, who had come over to Europe to catch Somali yacht Club, who were to be on this tour but could not make it due to the war. Anyway, Psycholona, laid down a cool classic stoner rock groove. What can I say, the guys are really good at what they do. They are not reinventing the wheel or creating anything really new but solid songs and playing. They are tight. No jamming going on here. Cool people and good show.
Set List: Blast Off, 1975, Rainbird, Down in the Valley, Meet your Devil, Star, Resin, Purple River, Blow, Warped
Kanaan, I had not seen since 2019 and they have really evolved for sure and are such amazing players. Each one of them. Their set was almost entirely new material so I was not familiar with it at all. They opened with a very intense version of Amazon. Then Downpour from the new album. A quite advanced proggy track.
Pink Suite saw the band all three playing KORG MS-20s…. Esk had the KORG SQ1 sequencer as well connected to his. A very cool little interlude before the really heave Fuzz track. After Orbit, I joined them for part one of Solaris from the new album. This was spaced out for about 10mins and then they did part 2 and that was the end of the show. Wow.. awesome sound and powerful and diverse set. Lovely people as well. Do not miss this tour..
Set List: Amazon, Downpour, Pink Suite, Black Time, Orbit, Solaris 1 and 2
This release was a collaboration between 4 different labels. The project is headed by Kriller Anderson, multi-instrumentalist from Copenhagen, who has or does play in a lot of bands including Gaia, Måneskjøld, and many others. This album was recorded primarily in an old house in the Swedish countryside. All instruments except the bass (by Morten Bastkjær). There are 3 tracks on the side A and 2 on the side B with different moods. The record starts off spokey but a nice acoustic floating number (Mørket (The Dark) starts things off. Lyskmaskiner (Light Machine) you can hear some sounds recorded around the house but is mostly a slow growing keyboard based track. Later a drum machine comes in after a section of trippy stuff as the transition to Slukket. Side B starts with organ and chanting song that is pretty much what it is… Ilden, has a nice keyboard drone and slowly picked guitar creating a very laid back mood to chill to... It later evolves into the most interesting and psychedelic track on the album. Really cool stuff.. Interesting album and cool to see Kriller just follow his own path…. Try to walk the road he has and see where it takes you…..
This is the 2nd Liquid Orbit album from the Bremen area based Germany band and quite an adventurous one! The CD is taken from jam sessions the band had over the last few years and they took the best parts and put together 6 long tracks. All was recorded live including the vocals, which were spontaneous word creations. It was mixed by the now legendary Willi Dammier (most will know him from his work with Colour Haze). The opening track has a nice uptempo beat and open spacey sound. So Slow, slows things down and is more mysterious. Love the exploring keyboards at the start and slow build. Walk that Highway starts with some mysterious dark theme and has some cool guitar and keyboard parts and fewer vocals. The Machine inside you reminds me of an old German classic but I can not place it but I love the organ especially on this one.. Passionate singing and great groove. All that Bitterness is a slow burner with a lot of mood and nice Rhodes like piano.. YOU…the Seeker ends this record with a track with a really nice groove and vibe. The vocals are a bit too dominant on much of the album for my tastes but there are a lot of awesome jamming tracks with cool guitar and keyboard parts and a very solid rhythm section. Don´t get me wrong, Sylvia is a fantastic singer!! A very cool German band…
This is a fairly new and cool instrumental band from Hamburg Germany that is for sure inspired by the Budos Band. The core of the band is: Dennis Rux (Guitar, production) and David Nesselhauf (Bass). They are joined by Mark Norton (Sax), Jan Schepmann (Trumpet), Chris Haertel (Philicorda, Moog) and Corneel Canters (Drums).
This is their 2nd album. Side A features shorter tracks with a Black Sabbath inspired riff on Lupus. Side B is mostly one long track called Vetus Imperium and the most musically diverse with repeated heavy guitar riff sections punctuated with synth solos, horn sections, spacey sounds as it goes thru several movements. If you like the Budos Band then this one is for you for sure..
Am I Dreaming? was put out on the 10” lathe-cut with three others tracks from three other future (back then…) albums. One track (the CD bonus) was on Flicknife comp, one was on the Irish 7” lathe-cut. Some of the tracks are from earlier releases but in new versions. The LP came out in some special colour editions (purple, gold, orange, clear, etc) and then 200 on black vinyl. It is very nice release with a cool poster and the special coloured ones came with the CD with a bonus track. Lots of cool people from the psychedelic rock underground appear on the record including Jay Tausing, Dr Koch, Gregory Curvey, Fred Laird, Jaire Pätäri, etc.. There are 8 tracks total. It is another really cool release but I have to admit, it is becoming hard to hear something new in Astral Magic. A lot of it sounds like tracks I have heard before. Of course a lot of these are from these other releases I mentioned above and this was a way to get these tracks out on a larger scale. Still high quality psychedelic rock. Was released on Friday May 5th.. As well as another new CD called Cosmic Energy Flow and 7”..
Eclectic SF Bay area band are back with a new rockin´ EP, going back to more of their glam rock roots and shorter more direct tracks including a cool Bowie cover… This was recorded over a weekend in Los Angeles at the record label´s studio. Then another weekend to do some overdubs and mix! It starts off wtih She´s a Star! It is a fast paced rock and roll number, a mix of GW own strange and funny parts and then real classic rock. Love the synths on this one. Check out the fun video below. Glitterati packs a lot into this 2.5 min track. The keyboard hook line is crucial to this one. The vocal chorus is so 70s cheese but it works… They back spacey sounds and short guitar solos in so you get it all!! Sequins and Leather slows things down. Flip over the record and you get a bit of Bowie. One of his well loved songs from the early 70s.. Hard to beat the original but cool version. Sugar Beat is one of my fave tracks. Something about the mix of the footstomping beat, vocals and that guitar riff!! Pogo Tonight is a real 70s cheese pop number, that ELO synth, and … well.. you just have to hear it.. Not my fave track…. It is a really fun EP!! Enjoy…
Lorfin Terrafor - guitars and vocals, Wendy Stonehenge - lead vocals , Moon - bass and vocals, Doug Graves - synthesizers and sequencer , Fancy Cymballs - drums and vocals , Screamin’ Lord Duff - vocals , Geoff Yeaton - saxaphone
This interview is a must read if you dig the band.. You will also learn more about the making of this album.,
The Swedish Duo, Anders and Britt are back with a short Ep featuring 4 covers songs that the band really like. The band are in a very relaxed mood on this EP. The first is a quite underground track from 1968 by Nick Garrie. It is the only semi-uptempo track with a nice strummed guitar and accented with the Rhodes piano. Lovely sung. Beachwood Park by the Zombies is next. It is a very relaxed track with some nice layered vocals on this beautiful track. Little Girl in Bloom from the first Thin Lizzy record was an interesting choice for the band. It is also based on keyboards, drums and bass except the guitar solo section. The EP ends with The Garden of Jane Delawney by the TREEs. The addition of flute is quite nice. I do not know any of these songs except the Thin Lizzy song but they did very nice versions of all the songs. Beautiful music. Check them out!!
This is the bands 8th studio album and the first since 2020. It features 11 original tracks in 47mins… It starts off with Coincidence and Fate, which kicks in with what I would call a signature SR sound now, one you have heard before!! Powerful female vocals are also a trademark and Zubaida is on her 2nd album with the band but also takes over all keyboard duties as well.. Impressive… Professional Procrastinator is a funky and very cool track with some great playing and I like this spaced out sound that rises up before the band kicks it up to another level but so sad it ends at 3 mins. Fantastic sound and great to hear the band experiment a bit more!!! No Peace keeps the groove medium pace and the organ plays a bit more of a role in the sound on this one. Less than 3 mins this track! Fighting Gravity is a bit more bluesy. Dusty Roads is an acoustic number with flute by Lisa, and the mood changes a lot, Fantastic vocals. Winter Solstice is another acoustic one but more uptempo. Love the bass line on this track. Lisa is also on this track and Eric (used to be the organ player) also plays on this short track. Dalecarlia Stroll is instrumental and starts with some flute and the bass and organ kick in and disappear and the flute takes the lead again. It gradually gets more heavy and reminds me of Uriah Heep. Leaving the City is another acoustic track with sitar (Stian) and hand drums. Great song. Little Burden is another relaxed and laid back track. Madukhauns is another sitar lead piece and a bit more traditional Indian inspired in a way. Love it.. The last track, Keeper of the Flame, is an emotional one and focus on the guitar playing this time before rocking out at the end!!!
The band deliver a mixture of their core sound but with a bit shorter tracks and solos, then provide a more relaxed vibe but with great songs to show another side of the band. When you are this many albums out it is can be hard to escape your sound and move forward. The band have some new ideas for sure but you also know this is Siena Root!!! Great job folks…
I am on the bus for Lisboa and an early flight to Denmark in the morning. One day to see my daughter and do a few things I need to do and then the first gig in Malmo on Thursday. Exciting… I have my modular, kaossilator pad, monotron and the mellotron so I have a lot of sound options! I recently got the monotron to work well again (bad connection still but a new cable helps) and running the kaossolator pad thru the Echophon you can make really cool spaced out sounds… Out of this world stuff… Have not tried the mellotron but might…
The guys are really well rehearsed for the tour and excited about jamming for sure. Seems they want to do mostly the same set but I hope to push them that they always start with a jam and then into Snake Oil or Serpent. Both great opening numbers. Did not hear the new work up of Jacks Cold Sweat but that is a fun one to play! We will have fun that is for sure and play some great shows.. It is a powerful band and I look forward to meet, hang out and play with Tomas.
I arrived at the hostel about 1930. When I came in a guy and a Korean girl (Juno) were about to eat and they invited me to eat with them. She made a spicy salad with cucumber and they had fried some pork steaks and had an extra. I went out and got a couple of beers for us. They were really nice. Andreas (Italian but lives in Berlin) plays drums in a hard rock band called Screams of the Butterfly. They have toured around and last year did 9 shows in the UK but the lost 2000€! We talked about music, studio, etc… and we all crashed at 21.
March 15th
All smooth and as usual, TAP flight is 20mins late leaving. Amazing first flight of the day and they can still not leave on time. Fucks up everything for all the flights the whole day now. These new seats in the plane suck. More uncomfortable and they do not recline at all. I am in the emergency exit. Might have slept time bit. 3 hr 45 min flight today..
Good news, is I got a message and we got another gig in Kiel now after the first one was cancelled a few days ago! That is great news.
March 16th
It was a hell journey to Malmo today. Took me 2.5 hrs to get to the venue. Check in was 16 and I left Jiri´s place at 1430 and got to the main train station, bought a ticket to Malmö and the first train was at 15:07, cancelled, next 3 trains, all cancelled.. So then it was 1547 train and this one was so packed and at each stop got more and more packed and it took ages at each stop. I was told get off at Malmo C and catch the local train to Persborg station, it is 10min walk or less. Well turns out you should have got off at Hyllie, which is the first stop after the bridge and then it was only 2 stops instead of going into the central station and trying to find the train on another line, etc.. anyway, it was after 17 when I finally got there very tired and frustrated.
Soundcheck went pretty smooth. We played a bit of Jacks Cold Sweat and Serpent. Tomas is still not that familiar with the song until he hears the music, then he knows the song. I had my mics in a good place and Patrik from Lund, he set up to multittrack, soundboard and film with 3 cameras..
Tim showed up… I had no idea he was already back from Scotland playing on the next Ozrics studio album. How cool was that?? Tobias and Jocke also came and Pär as well. So good to see them all..
We started about 2035 I think and the set was:
Jacks Cold Sweat, American Eagle, Cohiba*, Psychedelic Space Lord, Snake Oil, Serpent, Enigmatic Superbandit. About 85-90min set.
*world debut of Cohiba!
Audience loved it. Tim was up front and dancing and that was so cool. I think there were about 25 people showing up. Tomas(drummer), his girlfriend, set up and sold the merch. The new merch is very cool. the shirt, bag and album. Wow.. The new album looks amazing. Purple vinyl. Very proud. I think she said we sold for 2000SEK.. not sure..
It was a great night and I felt like I was totally in the zone and played very well and into the parts at the right times and some cool stuff in the jams. We were all smiling and it was like there had never been a break! Wow.. Tomas, what a awesome drummer and nice person!! Cool night. Lots of beers and shots and I was tired when we got to the hotel at 0030 to crash out..
I was up at 830 and had breakfast with Tomas. Super nice guy. Other guys missed breakfast. Tomas is off to spend the day with his dad in CPH and will meet us at the check in. No idea when that is. Partly sunny day and cold..
Get it is 16 today.. we need to be on time.. We left Malmö after getting shawarma or falafel at a Turkish place near the venue. Van packing went smooth and we were at the venue 1445 and went and had a local coffee. Tomas was waiting at the venue as he had gone to CPH to have a day around town with his dad.
It took nearly 45mins to decide how to set up the stage and we put Tomas way up off the stage in part of the bar as the stage was so narrow. I felt like he was far away but the rest seem to think it worked well. We finished Soundcheck on time an 18 and Lucid Grave set up, etc… Our merch stand looked great. Thanks to Caroline for helping out the these first 2 days. We will miss her on the rest of the tour.
Dinner was a vegan lentil soup and some dense bread. It tasted pretty good. Had an apple and some crisps as well. I was tired so only had one beer at beer o´c clock (17), one on stage and one after the show today..
Lucid Grave were great and there was a good crowd. Michael Chomski, one of the OSC band camp subscribers who was from Berkeley but lives in CPH was there. It was so nice to finally meet him… A lot of old friends, Jakob and Rasmus from Causa Sui, Jesper, Stefan and Thomas, my old friends from Gas Giant, Nils, Knud (Fuzz Manta), my daughter and her boyfriend, Mogens, Jiri, Kasper, etc..
I put the set list together with Vemund. Set List: Intro Jam into American Eagle, Snake Oil, Talk, Psychedelic Space Lord (video below), Drum solo, Serpent, Cohiba, Plains.
Well.. it did not go as planned. During the first intro jam, my kaossoilator pad was on low battery must have been on in the bag, the monotron cable was not working so I was frustrated and not playing much and then Øyvin, the fuse in his bass head blew and there was no bass. The rest just keep jamming and we went into some crazy territory musically.. Wow… Crowd loved it.. Rest of the set went well with some epic musical exploration by everyone. Tomas said the gig was magic!! Edirol says 97mins.. and we did not even get to play the encore song. We were pretty wiped. It was the tour debut of Plains with Tomas…
The club folks, the audience all really dug the gig, Great response. I think we sold for 3000DKK and there were 64 paid people. Great night.
Get in is between 17-18 today. Nothing is very clear about this gig at all as it was put together at the last minute. Plan today is to meet Tomas and pack the stuff out of the venue at 11… Took 30mins to pack last time. We took off at 12 and got gas and were on the way. If we do not stop too many times, we should get there on time or early even. Mood is good. guys were up in the bar til 2!! Weather is warmer and a bit of rain here and there but driving going smoothly. Asked Tomas about his drum inspiration- Ian Paice, Bill Bruford…. Cool…. Very creative guy with Yodak (drums and tuba), and his other projects. I am just not sure what to talk to him about.
No music in the van most of the time as everyone is on their smartphone or trying to sleep. We listened to a bit of Hippie Death Cult yesterday. Not a bad band.
We arrived at the venue in Kiel on time! Wow… what a cool place…. like a mini-christiania with cool arts places, cafes, wood workshop, food workshop, etc.. The venue was small but very nice, Mikael who runs the place was very cool. It was 50m to move the gear and you had to lift up thru a window-door. We moved all the stuff in and then had a beer and rest and then set up. It was a bit stressing as the doors were open before we even had a soundcheck…
Mikael made some nice food- Pasta with tomato sauce. Added chile myself. They had a good selection of beers. Tomas had one of the local craft lagers but it turned out it was a sour!!! He did not like it. It was an acquired taste but it was quite good I thought.. Anyway…. set list was pretty open and we did not plan too much. Great set up for the mics and video on this night. Young sound guy Willi was very cool and totally into psychedelic music and funk. Offered me LSD, mushrooms, DMT, salvia… funny….
We started at 2030 and there was 40 people. It was a donation but they ask people to pay 5-15€ at the door. We opened with a blues jam into Psychedelic Spacelord. that was along cool heavy version. Jack´s cold sweat was supposed to be next but Vemund started Cohiba! Only 2 songs plus jam 45mins!!
Set I Blues Jam, Psychedelic Spacelord, Cohiba
Set II Enigmatic Superbandit, drum solo, Serpent, Snake Oil. Plains 55mins
In the 2nd set, they wanted an encore and it was going to be either Plains or American Eagle. Øyvin used his pick and put it in one of his hands and let one of the guys choose. The hand with the pick and we play Plains. Empty hand, American Eagle. Plains won! It was a great audience and there were people from the spaceboat as well. Nice people. Really surprised that Tommy and Claas from Komboyant Robotron did not come up and talk with me. Claas for a few mins before soundcheck and then he seem to go… Good night but what a nightmare after the gig.
We finally managed to get the van packed and locked up safe at 1220. Then we had to walk to the apartment where we were supposed to play. There was big techno party going on at the club and we could find the apartment or anyone who knew anything so we sat around in the street for nearly an hour. Finally some guy ´Richie appears and says we stay at Wiking Hotel. He takes us there. We get one key for a room, only 2 beds, they have to sort out another room. 130 before we could sleep. I was so tired and unhappy about the situation.
March 19th- Rare Guitar, Münster, Germany
Tomas set the alarm for 830. We had showers and then went down to have breakfast. We had a nice talk. Other guys did not come out until 9:50 to eat and we had been waiting around as we were supposed to go to the van at 9:30 and leave by 10 latest. We are already 1hr behind. It is 4 hrs and we have to get around Hamburg and get in is at 14 and we did not even leave until 11…. most likely we roll in at 1530 or 16 and we are supposed to play at 17.. It is going to be rushed and very stressed…
We arrived 1550, almost 2 hrs late so it was a bit of a rush to pretty much set up, soundcheck and start to play. Vemund had some issues with a noise in his guitar feed, they tried to sort it out but never really did so he had to just play like that. Sound guy was great and as it is a guitar shop they are going to fix Øyvin broken 68 Marshall bass head. Cool… not til Tuesday..
No one was thinking much about it so I wrote up a set list and Vemund and Øyvin thought it looked good so that is what we played.
Set List: Intro Jam (very spacey), Jack´s cold Sweat, Psychedelic Space Lord, Serpent, Snake Oil, American Eagle. Encore: Enigmatic Superbandit.. about 100mins.
It was a very good concert. About 30 people and they were really into it. I experimented a lot more with the mellotron today, and most of it was pretty cool. A few things did not work though. I had perfect sound on stage. We were able to film, do a soundboard and audience recording from this gig!!
As we arrived so late we could not get any food and I was very tired and had only a small sandwich, chips and an ice cream since 1230 or something and thought we would be able to eat by 1930 or 20 as we could just leave all the gear in the store. But no.. big party and talking and talking and nothing happened until nearly 21 and I was feeling very bad by this time.
We finally got food at 2130 at a place nearly next to the store. Salad and vegan nuggets for me. It was also a pool hall so Tomas and I had 2 games. I won both of them but it could have gone either way. Neither one of us is that good.
Cloudy today and I could lay down for nearly 9 hrs.. Uli was up and seems they had a party til 1 in the morning. I crash a bit after 23……. I was so tired… Was up about 730 this morning. Uli was up in the shower already. I had some musli with dates and honey, a banana, tea and juice and feel pretty good at the moment.. I watched a bit of the video from yesterday. Audio was great and picture clear but distant.
Checking out the audience recordings and they sound pretty damn good. Wow…. at least last night and Malmo. We just sat around most of the day and talked about music. End of the day we headed over and packed the van. Øyvin bought a vintage Marshall bass head and they will repair his old one and he will get it back tomorrow. We had a really excellent Indian meal and the special Vindaloo they made for Vemund and I was HOT!! Vemund was all red and crying but we loved it.. I did not suffer as much… Great food…. We sat up listening to music and drinking beer and wine with our host til 2! I went to bed at 1030 or so….
Tuesday March 20th- Day off
I slept badly…. Sent out some promo links for the new Black Moon Circle today… see if we get any reviews… 6 places I think….We plan to go to a big music shop 40km from here after lunch and then go back and pick up Øyvin´s bass gear. Gray and light rain today… Lots of birds out.. Sue said it was over 20C and sunny and all the flowers are coming out. The dogs are bored and missing me.. 1340 and Vemund´s phone will not charge so this is the high priority for the day now to get it fixed.. Vemund got a new charger and guitar strap, Tomas found a cymbal he really wants but did not buy it but now decided he can not live without it so we will have to go back there today. It is the opposite direction of Hamburg, 40km so this is an extra hr to the trip today.. I tried a lot of synths but nothing I would buy.
Øyvin got his two bass heads in working condition now and we hung out at the rare guitar shop for 2hrs. Had a beer and I got a couple of cheap CDs (Out of Focus, Sam Gopal, Orchid).. Øyvin and I made pasta sauce (tomatoes, garlic, onion, beans, red pepper, chile) last night with pasta and garlic bread.. Save us some money. was 16 euro for all the food and some chocolate! I crashed at 22. Uli went to bed at midnight and said they were still up drinking.
March 22nd- Bar 227, Hamburg, DE
It is supposed to be about 3-4hr drive. Club is right in the center. We are going to try to get on the road at 11:30 at the latest.. Get in is at 17-17:30…. Food at 19 and doors at 20 and show at 21..
We are about 168km away from Hamburg so unless there is terrible traffic, no way we will be late. Rainy and cold weather.. We are barely moving now. We have been listening to some of Tomas´s band projects- Arabrot (he is just a hired hand), Disfear (thrash metal), Werl, etc…
We arrived in time to go to Tomas´s fave pizza place in Hamburg… Pizza was really good… We got to the venue 1725 about and loaded in and set up went pretty smooth. Sabine was there and it was nice to see her. Soundcheck we had a lot of problems with the drums and later the monitors but it was ok in the end but very loud..
Photo by Sabine.
Sebastian, the host had made some very nice chile sin carne and rice but almost no one ate any of it as they had just eaten a whole pizza! Tomas ate 3 bowls in the end though, 1 before and 2 after. I had half a bowl as well. I guess the other guys ate some after as well..
We started the first set at 21 and it was pretty packed… I think there were 50 paid people. We had discussed the set list but it all went in its own way… There was a huge Hendrix mural above the drums which inspired us to open with a Voodoo Chile jam!! Wow.. crowd loved it.. Then it was supposed to be Snake Oil but stuck with the original idea of Cohiba, then Snake Oil and Serpent.. about a 45mins set.. This was the best show so far on the tour....
Set List: Intro Jam Voodoo Chile> Cohiba, Snake Oil, Serpent,
Set II: American Eagle, Jacks Cold Sweat, Psychedelic Spacelord
We were up early and hit the road at 10… I did all the driving today. Traffic was not that bad and we had 2 short breaks and stupidly, a long late lunch break til 16 and we were supposed to arrive at 16. We had 33km to go at 1515 so we could have been there on time. We arrived at 1640. Tomas was sure it would be ok if we showed up at 1630. Stage manager was not happy and the other band was set up and starting to soundcheck so we missed our chance and have to wait to get ours.
Tomas is a bit sick and Øyvin and Vemund have a bit of a cough as well. I am in the back stage. Super cool venue and totally professional people etc… All eventually went well and we had a our soundcheck and all was cool. Peter and the guys from DunddW arrived and they were only getting a line check and we agreed I would come on at 2135. They started at 21:10 and finish 2150..
First band Black Night Karma were super nice guys from the UK.. They were on at 8:15, I think and played to like 10 people… 15 at the most. Pity.. 3 guitars, bass, drums…. play a melodic rock music. I thought they were pretty boring overall. Singer and lead guitar player played some cool stuff, especially at the end of the concert. That was the best part..
DunddW were really cool. (see pic below) Spacey music that went up and down in dynamics and pretty heavy and then down to almost no sound at all but Huibert on bass pedals. I joined them after about 20mins and that was fun. Added some space sounds. It was cool… I think they enjoyed my contributions.. I thought they were great..
The guys went to the hotel and missed the complete show but were back in time for us.. They had made a very optomistic set list for 1hr. We ended up only playing 4 of the 6 tracks and only material from the new album.. I tried to listen to the advice from Øyvin about not playing so much and the right key for mellotron on Snake oil. I think it went well. Vemund complimented me on my synth playing afterwards, which was nice. It was a powerful set. Psychedelic Spacelord was the highlight, probably 25-30mins long. Bed at 0100…. too late…
Set List: Space in> Snake Oil, Cohiba, Psychedelic Spacelord, Serpent. (American Eagle and Plains were on the set list but not played)
Friday March 24th- L´Internationale, Paris, France (The gig we did not make!)
We meet for breakfast 8:30, mood was good, Tomas was still not feeling that well. We left 905 to pick up the van but could not fit all so Tomas unpacked a lot of it and started again. We had hoped to be on the road at 930 but it was 950 before we left and no one had their GPS working so we drove around and wrong directions and then back, etc.. finally on the highway. CHeck in was 1530 so already no way we would get there in time.
I drove for the first 2 hrs and there was a hell of a rain storm. All the guys were sleeping. Anyway, just after Gent, the car kicked into safety mode. An hr before the wrench symbol appeared so we stopped at a rest stop. Check the fluid, oil, etc.. all was fine.. Now, we had to pull off the road in Nazereth at a rest stop-gas station-hotel… Vemund called the Sixt rental company… We had to unload the gear into the hotel and sit and wait. We had a nice lunch and evetually a tow truck came and took the van and then we knew the gig was fucked.. Tomas made a lot of calls and saved the day and managed to get a guy from Leuven to come pick us and the gear up. We had a beer at 16… Guy came at 1630 or so and repacked the van and were off. Huge accident on the Brussels ring so we have to go back to Antwerp and around another way. going to take 2 hrs… Fuck…
We will unload the gear into the venue and then go to the hotel.. Food, beer and sleep!! What a fucked up day..
March 25th- Sojo, Leuven, BE
Had a nice meal and beer at the bar with the guys and after Tomas went to bed, we discussed a lot of things. I was in bed for 10hrs. that was good. Had a great breakfast and now, just relax. Check out is 12 and then we walk around the town and then we can get into the club at 14. I was feeling really bad last night, sore throat, snotty nose but better today… Just relax for now.. Last show..
All went pretty smooth on this day. So great to see Sara and Benny, Peter Breems (DJ) and other folks I know. Great food, soundchecks all pretty smooth except Øyvin was too sick to come and stayed at the hotel until 2115. Both Tomas and Vemund took turns sound checking the bass!! There was a small jam with Peter (Bismut)on drums. I set up all the merch, microphones, etc…
Shift, a heavy rock duo started at 1945.. Great loud bass playing.. musically like stoner rock without a guitar player. Half full place. They got a good response. IT was a bit of an older gray audience on this night.
Bismut, wow….wow.. what an awesome powerful band with strange guitar parts and ultra cool dynamics and bass and drums. Unique!! They asked me to play on the same track I played with them a few years ago so that was fun and the audience loved it…..
Place was totally packed now. Vemund was on fire.. I was tired and tried to be in the zone. The people in the front were so into it.. Wow… Øyvin left the stage for some reason during Cohiba and a punker in the audience grabbed the mic and did some singing and Vemund went a long with it. It sort was ok.. I sat on the floor some of the set and played the monotron as I was too tired to stand anymore.. We play very intense and I have to be very focused for all the transitions once we exit the jam parts… I think we did a great show though, at least people gave a lot of positive feedback. 95mins.. We sold more merch at this show than any of the other by far!!! Almost all of the 5 CD box set!!! I had to leave the guys and go back to the hotel. Got back around 0030 and had a shower and repacked. I hardly slept as the clocks changed on this night and I did not know if my computer or phone would change (and they did not!). I had set an alarm for an hour earlier just to be safe, which was a good thing… I am on the train to the airport. Almost there… Was a great tour but a bit hard. I am not sure I would do it again..
Set List: Intro Jam>American Eagle, Psychedelic Spacelord, Snake Oil, Serpent
Thanks to all the people who helped make this tour a success (musically)… Pretty sure we did not break even though. Maybe see you next time.....Just a warning... Do not rent a van from SIXT if you are a band. Øyvin and Vemund were stuck in Belgium for 4 extra days and had to leave all the gear and fly home. They never sorted out another van in 5 days!!! Bastards....
Our first Doctors of Space concert of the year and also our first gig as an electronic duo..We have been doing this since November and getting good but never for an audience.Martin sketched out 6 drum-bass ideas that we will try to work with and see how that goes…5 bands on the bill. I managed to get all my gear into the smart car. I really hope we can park close by and this does not go too late!!!it is Portugal so probably no one even starts before 18!!!
We arrived at 1515 and found the place.. There was a big poster on the wall but the door was locked. After 10mins or so we could hear drums in the basement and they eventually came and let us in and helped load all the gear in., Interesting long and skinny hall with a bathroom, kitchen-bar and backyard…It was supposed to start at 16 and it cost 3€ to get in and by 16, there was already 40 people and double that by 17 and still nothing had started.A guy that had something critical only got off work at 16 and he did not get there until 1730.Anyway, they had added a 6th act now..
Penumbra started things off. They were a three piece of drums, bass and Miguel on pedals, phone and noise making. They had a microphone and later the bass player would make insane voices thru the effects pedals and stuff. Intense. 12min set…
Druida
Druida was just one guy playing doom style guitar with an E-bow. It was pretty basic and not very interesting at all. I think he did one 15-20min piece.People had lost interest pretty fast.. He needed to use his pedals more and change the sound, do some looping or something to make it less the same all the time..
Rense, a 3 piece death metal act were next and they were intense and had a more punk energy at times… I think they played 25mins… We actually enjoyed them quite a lot. They gave it 100% including the death metal facepaint, candles, etc.. Cool...
Doctors of Space, we were next and it was already 20 and the place was supposed to close at 22 and still 2 more acts. We tried to set up as fast as we could but it was a lot of gear.We managed in 15mins or so… We played 4 pieces in 50mins and we had never played anything like this before. It was very noisy, chaotic and crazy….. I felt like we had to fit more with the vibe of the night so I just went for it!!!!People loved it.. I guess there were about 25-30 people up front…
We did not get to see the last act, Maximum Stress Cooperation but we could hear them as we were packing the car. Wow. that was maximal insanity… The guy had a table of home made spring reverbs, metal sheets with contact mics, and some pedals and he went mad with a guy doing some crazy vocals..
Fun night. I guess about 80-100 people…. Good turn out….
This is a proper CD digipack release (in 100 copies) with some really cool artwork by Piet Koster, who has done quite a few covers for Santtu.Anyway, this CD features 9 tracks.As is quite common these days, Jonathan Segel plays guitar, electric sitar and mastering.Shane Beck is featured on 2 tracks and Alisa Coral (Space Mirrors) plays some synth pads on the opening track, a very Nik Turner inspired track (in fact I think the whole album is).Monsters from the ID is a more happy track and also quite uptempo. Fantastic guitar playing. Dawn of a new Age is more spacey and relaxed. The drum programming is a bit more complex as well.Message from Within, is another HW inspired track, with this laid back, Nik Turner singing style. Good message in the lyrics. The Colour of Adoration starts with a synth sequence and is quite psychedeluc. It features Shane on spoken words but you really have to listen carefully to hear them all… Only in my Dreams is very Hawkwind like with a nice guitar riff and vibe. Autumnal Equinox is a very nice moody piece with the sitar guitar. Lovely….. One of my favorite tracks.. Shimmer brings the melodic uptempo rock back!!!The Inner Light has a quite funky bass line and cool vibe and the return of the Last American poet. A very solid and perhaps one of the best Astral Magic releases. Get it before it is gone!! It was released on bandcamp Friday in March 2023 and still available!
This is quite a lot different from all the other AM releases as it focuses on analogue synths and is more instrumental. It features 11 tracks in about 40mins and Santtu plays all the instruments and does some spoken word as well.It starts off with Alien Ritual, and a cool Moog sequencer line, overwhich other keys are laid and spacey sounds.. This sets the mood…Galactic Hustlers has a drum rhythm that gives it some drive as you take a ride thru the cosmos with Santtu! Centipedes of Mars has another wild synth sequence with some strong delays. Some voice like synth sounds are overlaid as the track grows. Heavenly States has a very fast synth sequence and some relaxed spoken words from the man himself!Lots of spacey stuff going on…Transcendental Guild (should you join?) sees the return of a simple kick drum under the layers of space sounds and keys… Triple Freak Out is one of the stranger ones for sure….. Hard to describe.. Stargate 20221230 is very floating and mysterious with some nice synth playing. In Limbo has some high pitched like vocoded alien voices that make this one pretty cool and trippy…. Stellar Boogie sees the return of a simple drum machine beat and slows things down. Not really much boogie happening but for sure some acid dreams.. Space Wind has some nice windy synths and deeper MOOG like stuff here and there. I really like this track… The CD ends with Mourning for another Universe.
Santtu really should start a subscription on bandcamp, where people can pay 10€ a month and get all the releases.If they play 12 or so, they can get the physical ones as well… except vinyl of course…
Wow.. this was a huge surprise. I always liked this band who have created stoner rock but in their own universe and this album keeps that vibe and just rocks..After a German spoken word sample, the band kick in with the opening uptempo rocker, Oars.The track takes a dramatic shift into a world of magic at 2.5 minutes with some nice violin and very spacey. It slowly builds up into a really cool track. Anabranch kicks the stoner vibe up another notch while there is some great harmony parts with the different instruments while the drive keeps it heavy.A 2.5 mins there is a nice mellotron and acoustic guitar part before the guitar solo section and the end. Ricochet starts with some beautiful guitar-keyboard parts before the heavy guitar riff kicks in but it is not for riffing but mood, and then a great keyboard sequence changes the mood. A nice melodic track and it really kicks up the pace later but keeps all the melodic parts intact on this hard driving start. The beat changes at 2.5 mins and becomes a bit like Neu (drum and bass) but the keys and guitars are melodic. Afterglow is more keyboard oriented and has some spoken words at the beginning. It makes a dramatic change at 3mins and has a great synth solo to start this next section. Love all the changes in this track including the sort of world music vibe of the end. The last track Shapeshifters has some intense drumming and cool hammond organ to start things off. Reminds me a bit of Sacri Monti this track and is maybe my fave on the album. Great CD. You can hear the whole thing streaming on you tube below..
I have been a fan of this band for some time but I have to say this album over the last months of absorbing its magic, has taken me on many adventures..It is a pity this is only a digital release as I really think these 7 pieces of shown another suepr cool side of this band set them free in a way. This album was recorded live and all improvised.Totally deep space at times, hard rocking, and always with a heavy psychedelic vibe. You have to give it a try!!!
