Old Man Lizard- Old Man Lizard (Heavy Psych Sounds HPS028)

OML is a pretty new group from Suffolk, England. They have a previous EP and split 7” out. The band is a trio. Jack, the guitarist, also sings (sort of) the lead vocals with some backing from the others. The music is heavy but with a clean guitar sound (not doom or metal), angry, abrasive sort of rock music. The lyrics are very dark, about death, killing, people having a fucking tough life, etc. and the lyrics are laid out in a powerful, angry delivery. Cold Winter Blues starts things off and gives you a feel for the rest of the record, although this track is a bit more melodic than others.  The vocal is mixed quite low so it is hard to tell what he is yells about but you have the lyrics in the CD digipack (and I guess the LP). King Clone does not have as many lyrics and is a bit harder hitting.  Fawza Falih has a quite cool groove over which the nasty vocal is delivered. Lots of heavy riffing.  El Doctor has a bit of a Spanish inspiration in the guitar and is mostly instrumental and a bit more melodic towards the end. Old Hag is quite intense to start and then gets quite laid back. The guys play really well together as a unit. Craniopagus Parastiticus starts a bit more slow and bluesy. A Gruesome Mess ends this album and tells a nasty story in the last tale from this record.. This is really intense stuff at times and I have to say not really my taste. There are no real guitar solos, just heavy, depressive angry riff music with a lot of dynamics. IT is actually not all that fast.  A lot of people will dig this though. The promo info compares then to Sleep, Kyuss and Mastadon but I don’t hear any of that in the music. Check it out for yourself. 

http://heavypsychsounds.com

https://oldmanlizard.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/oldmanlizard

Black Rainbows, Måneskjold and the Presolar Sands- Loppen, Christiania, DK Oct 8th, 2015

 This was an interesting day. My friends in Siena Root were playing across town at KB18 but I had already committed to coming to the Black Rainbows show to record the bands.  So I arrived at Loppen when Black Rainbows were soundchecking and I said hello to the guys. I had been writing mails and reviewing CDs from the guitar player, Gabrielle’s record label, Heavy Psych Sounds for some years but we had never met. The whole band were really nice people.   Anyway, this was about 16 so I headed off for KB18 to meet Siena Root. They were in a good mood and this was the first gig of the European tour and only the 2^nd gig with the new singer. I was a bit bummed I could not see them as they are a great band and old friends but I can’t be a both places.. We talked for a while as they set up and they were in a great mood. We talked about their deal with Cleopatra records in the USA…. This has not gone that well, you could say.

Black Rainbow soundcheck

Anyway, back at Loppen about 20 and they asked me to make Spotify playlist as a sort of DJ for the night so I programmed it with Deep Space Riders, Monomyth, Astrosoniq, Gas Giant, Hawkwind, Edgar Broughton Band, Farflung, The Spacious Mind, Hidria Spacefolk, Black moon Circle, Widespread Panic….   There was not a lot of time between bands.. No one commented on any of the music so I don’t think they paid much attention..

The Swedish band, The PreSolar Sands hit the stage a 21:30. There are a four piece with two female vocalists (on bass and rhythm guitar) plus lead guitar and drums. They had recently released a 7” record (which I will review shortly) this summer. The concert had some quite intense parts and one really long song (that I filmed). It was part dreamy shoegaze psych and some more rocking stuff. The lead guitar player did not play rock lead guitar but more noisy, wild solos with some cool effects. I loved the bass players sound. IT was really cool but I missed that she played the bass more like a guitar than a bass and some of the tracks lacked a groove… the drummer has a hard time driving it alone, in my opinion.. Anyway, I quite enjoyed their short 35mins set..

Set List: Into the Dirt, Voodoo Ritual, Counting, Prostration, Anchorsoweights, At least I know this about fire that nothing can die in Ashes

The Danish band, Måneskjold (Moon Shield) hit the stage quite quickly and played a really powerful set. Rasmus’s vocals were great and the band really seem to enjoy themselves and really played great versions of the songs tonight with a bit of jamming, improv as well. One of the new songs they squeeze in a few lines from the Bob Calvert songs, Aerospace Age Warrior, which is cool… They debuted one completely new track.. The crowd was small, about 60 people but really into it. The female sound lady did a great job and Lars did amazing projections..

Finally, Black Rainbows get to play in Denmark.. They had never been here before and were having a good time. They would see a bit of each band and then go hang out with some of their friends from Italy that live here in Copenhagen. Such nice people.  Only about 45-50 people left when they hit the stage around 23:30….   They play the same set every night so it was the same set as I had seen in Portugal but of course much more intimate on this night…  The open with the powerful, Fu Manchu inspired No Fuel, No Fun and then right into Wolf Eyes.. The highlights of the set for me were the new tracks, Hawkdope and The Cosmic Picker… they had a great sound and groove and people were totally into it. The sound was awesome as well. The do a great 15min version of the MC5 classic, Back to Commn.. I think they might have played one more but he broke a guitar string in the last track.. I think they sold some records and t-shirts even with this small crowd.. It was a great night and I met some friends, some new people including a cool couple from Argentina (Guadalupe and Luis??), a guy from Australia..but still I missed my wife…

Set List: No Fuel No Fun, Wolf Eyes, Hawkdope, Hypnotize my soul with R&R, The Prophet, The Cosmic Picker, Black to Comm (MC5)

Spids Nøgenhat- Pumpehuset, Copenhagen Oct 2-4th, 2015

Day 1

Anders

I arrived at 19 to the back stage and the band was all hanging out and the smell of marijuana was in the air. The mood was great and everyone seemed to be in the perfect mood for the weekend… They had had some nice sandwiches (Danish style) and a beer….. The show was going to start at 21:30. I bounced between the room with Guf and Anders (the bass player) and Anders (the sound man) and over to the one where Morten, Henrik, Sven and Anders (the drummer) were sitting. We talked about all kinds of stuff from vinyls made from CDs, concert memories, music streaming, and many other things.. The mood was so great. I have known all these guys since nearly the time I arrived in Denmark in 1997. December 1997, I first saw On Trial and became friends with Henrik. Since then, I have seen every band that these guys have played in together or on their own, many times… It is really an honor to be friends with such incredibly gifted and talented musicians and songwriters. They all do their own thing and when they come together for the magic, we call Spids Nøgenhat, and it is amazing!!!

Hobbiten

The concert on the first night blew my mind. I had not seen the band since the Den Grå Hall show in Christiania a year ago.  This night was a lot of the same songs in a different order but some really cool spaced out versions. Two from the first album and two from the new one were not played this night compared to last year. I don’t recall the Christiania gig as nearly as far out on some of the songs.. I felt like they played it safe that night but not tonight. Morten had an incredible guitar sound and the way he mixed with Henrik was so psychedelic.  Both are just great guitar players but totally different in their styles.  The band does such great covers of classic Danish songs from the 70s like Tommerclaus (Når Spindelvævene Blomsterv) from 1975, Røde Mor (Lil Johnny- a very political band from the 70s), and others..

The 3 songs that really stood out were Jørden Kalder, Hva’ har du taget?, and Lil Johnny… such great improvs and playing.. The Udkoks was also really awesome and sounded like 1967 Pink Floyd to start and then off into some Hawkwind territory also.. A great first night…

Anders

Set List: Mere Lys, Lever Vi Nu, Det Psykedelikse Tapet, Den Gennemsigte Mand, Nøgenhet i Græs, , Jørden Kælder, Lolland-Falster, Vand, Brød og Te, Ud på Landet, Hva har du taget? Encores: Når Spindelvævene Blomsterv, Lillie Johnny, Udkoks, Kommer med Fred,

Day 2

I arrived a bit later today and gave some of the guys an A4 picture that I took from the night before and we had a chat. Morten did not arrive until about 20:50 but was in a good mood. A few different guests backstage tonight compared to the previous night but lots of beers and joints and a great mood again…

Guf

Morten

The band started off quite a bit more stoned tonight. It was the same set of songs but some how less together than last night. Morten was on fire last night, while today Henrik was really more aggressive, and intense in his solos, perhaps..  Guf sang amazing again on the vocals but he had some problems with the tuning of his 12 string acoustic guitar and in the end had to ditch it and play the 6 string and it is not quite as lush sounding. (Turns out two strings were broken on the 12 string). The jams were different tonight as well and did not gel as well but were still really cool and seemed a bit shorter.  Sebastian had some issues with the lights so they seemed more intense yesterday but still super psychedelic. I shot some videos so let’s see how they look…  The highlights were probably Hva har du taget and Lil Johnny, where the war visuals were really intense today and Morten did some really cool stuff with feedback… Far out…  They did a cover of Green Grass- Du er min allebedste Ven, which was different from the 1^st night (or was it?). The show ended with Kommer med Fred but tonight instead of the whole band it was only Morten and Guf singing it and it was less drawn out.. quite short….  What a great band….  Do I go for a 3^rd night in a row??  I will later post some videos but I have to work on the audio first.

Set List: Mere Lys, Lever Vi Nu, Det Psykedelikse Tapet, Den Gennemsigte Mand, Nøgenhet i Græs, Jørden Kælder, Lolland-Falster, Vand, Brød og Te, Ud på Landet, Hva har du taget? Encores: Når Spindelvævene Blomsterv, Lillie Johnny, Du er min allebedste Ven , Udkoks, Kommer med Fred (abbreviated version)

Day 3

I arrived about 20 and the guys were all hanging out and in a really great mood again. I gave them the CD with some artwork of the show from the night before as the recording came out really amazing..  We had some laughs about different stuff and we talked about Guf’s guitar issues, etc..   The crowd was a bit slower arriving tonight but the band hit the stage about 21:30. The set list was exactly the same but the band played the songs the most together of any of the three nights and Guf sang amazing, again.  Hva´har du taget was really awesome tonight and they for the first time, extended it a third time. That was cool. The lights were not as vibrant tonight though as their was a green or blue light shinning across from Morten’s side and it was just lighting up the stage too much. Seb finally killed it at the encores, and the rest was much better. Pity..  The encore songs were great and Udkoks was more wild at the end but not as jammed out. No Hawkwind like section tonight but wild enough to get Morten on the floor working his pedals with the rest of them.. What an amazing 3 nights. Sure, I wish they would have played a few different songs but great songs are great songs and this set is full of them..  Enjoy the videos from this night.. One of the best ever Danish bands and thanks for the friendship and amazing hospitality! 

Korpiklaani and Heidra- Pumpehuset, Copenhagen Sept 28th, 2015

My friend Janne (Finnish) came over for dinner and a couple of  beers and then we headed out on the bikes to the concert. It had been many years since I had seen a show in the main hall at Pumpehuset. The last time I had seen Korpiklaani was in Vienna, Austria back in 2009, I think. They are such a fun live band.  The venue was even selling Mjod (mead) tonight. A few folks with drinking horns, kilts, but mostly lots of Korpiklaani shirts. The fans were out in force for a Monday night.

Heidra

Anyway, a Danish melodic metal band with some death and some clean vocals and a lot of double bass (with only one bass drum) opened the show.  They were called Heidra and have been around since 2009 and released quite a few records and clearly had a good following. Sadly, their own soundman thought it was most important to only hear the pounding drums and bass and not the guitars very clearly so whenever the music got intense the guitars disappeared. You could hardly hear the guitar solos at all. Keyboards were clear though. They had poor sound overall. Pity.. I stood directly behind him and is sounded the same. Anyway, they only had 30mins and played a solid set and people were into and yelling , “hey, hey” when the singer demanded it with fist in the air.. Janne said they sounded like Ensifirem. 

At 21 Korpiklaani hit the stage and the people went nuts. The band must have played about 25 songs, it seemed anyway.  A lot of fast and wild songs to start and then they started to mix it up with some slower tracks as well. The bass player is really great in this band and plays nice lines that bounce but also rock. The guitar player lets the accordion and violin players do all the solos and he just played riff rock! Singer is very charismatic and into and the audience love him. It is pretty wild to see all the people so into a band where they can not understand anything he sings as it is all in Finnish. I am sure there were a few Finns like Janne who can understand it but it is pretty rare…. This is still a great live and band and really fun to see..  I think they played about 95 mins..  I had fun..

Set List

Viinamäen Mies, Journey Man, Pilli on Pajiusta Tehty, Kantaiso, Lempo, Kirki, Sahti, Ruuniinmultaa, Luontoni, Petoeläimen Kuola, Sumussa Hämärän Aamun, Vaarinpolkka, Viima, Metsämies, Kultanainen, Mina Näin vedessä Neim, Ämmänhauta, Kylästä keväinen, Vodka, Routa, Doden Pints