Stoned from the Underground, 9. – 11.07.2015, Alperstedter See, Stotternheim, Erfurt
Thuersday, 7-9-15
High Fighter (Ger)
The second band of the first evening already set a high level in terms of power, groove, hardness, riffs and vocals. Two different guitarists - metal riffing meets stoner riffing, a solid bassist, an octopus of a drummer, and an over all-enthroned voice that screams, growls, sings, and lives through music and lyrics. A very varied and great concert, consisting of the ingredients Metal, Sludge, Hardcore and Stoner. Hard to believe that the band is only December 2014 exists.
Wedge (Ger)
Wedge from Berlin summarily summoned for Stoned Jesus, because the latter did not get permission to leave Ukraine. Wedge have obviously absorbed the groove and riffs of Led Zeppelin and Grand Funk Railroad. Very interesting combination, very heavy and at the same time very organic.
Dead Lord (Swe)
Swedes are born with a guitar, listen to Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy and Motörhead in the kindergarten, found a band 15 years later with their kindergarten friends and then play at the first festivals five years later. Dead Lord, a tougher, more metallic version of Thin Lizzy and Wishbone Ash, was so well played and familiar. How close these two bands are to Iron Maiden was shown by Dead Lord as they covered the trooper with a big grin. So if Thin Lizzy is too bluesy and Maiden too metallic, if Phil Lynotts mumble-jumbo is too unclear and Bruce Dickinson's voice is too theatrical, then Dead Lord, both live and on CD, is just right. Great concert!
Greenleaf (Swe)
No, the Swedish supergroup is not a Stonerband, but a band in the tradition of North American heavy-rock bands like April Wine, Triumph or the Ambuy Dukes, with a voice inspired by the MC5's Rob Tyner. Proto-punk rock with a very tight rhythm section that keeps pushing forward. The audience went completely nuts and over time I did just that as well.
Radio Moscow (USA)
This band does not reinvent rock music, but goes back to 40 years of blues and hard rock, with a pinch of progressive rock and psychedelic rock. Nothing new for me, not even the stage presentation, yet the audience present celebrated the band
Freitag, 10.07.2015
White Mills (A)
Just one duo, according to the press release, but I hear a distorted bass and a guitar, and it growls and sings an incredible voice. So a four man band? No, Hansjörg Loferer on the drums and Medina Rekic, git & voc meet Kyuss, QOTSA and Black Sabbath, a killer riff chases the next one and via switch pedal Medina switches from guitar to bass amp or she has both amps. And if you want to know what different sounds a Fender Telecaster, who also plays Bruce Springsteen, is capable of, listen and watch this band. And you will notice that they play for one or two additional members. What a concert!
Nick Oliveri (USA)
Fired as Bad Ass from all his bands, today alone and with a amplified and distorted acoustic guitar on the tent stage in front of 400 spectators. From the opener "Green Machine" to the Turbonegro cover "Back to Dungaree High" to "You think, I ain't worth a dollar, but I feel like a millionaire", he plays with his construction worker hands through his songs. No, it's not fingerpicking, he says, he's a bass-player. It shows in the course of the concert that all songs work and touch. In the end, Oliveri was so touched by the exuberant public reactions that you saw a tear on his cheek from the front row. A great, intense concert !!
Mos Generator (USA)
This band is still remembered by Hellfest 2014, but this concert was not good for the song selection, the joy of playing and the sound. The band seemed to be playing through the show with a lot of flu. A pity, I love Mos Generator live.
The Midnight Ghost Train (USA)
Actually, the band should be called The Mighty mighty Midnight Ghost Train, because what happens to the trio on stage is a blind understanding and an exuberant joy of playing, crowned by Steve Moss' smoky, blues-soaked voice. Bassist Dave Kimmel creates a fat groove through the perfect interlocking of drums, guitar and vocals and the audience celebrated this perfect performance, which this band brought to the stage with equal intensity three weeks earlier at Hellfest.
Mammouth Mammouth (Aus)
The slightly different band then tore the last chilled and beguiled from the lethargy. The Australian band plays straighter than Airbourne and dirtier than Rose Tattoo and also has the better frontman with vocalist Mikey Tucker and best poser with guitarist Ben Couzan. The MC5 cover "Kick out the Jams" and "Life's a bitch" marked the end of a great concert, big poses on stage, the singer in Circle Pit, beer on my clothes, yeah !!
Dozer (SWE)
A somewhat tired performance with a non-festive setlist that did not really make the audience go crazy. Somehow I just like the band in the studio, it does not bring anything live, even though I've seen it live three times over a long period of time.
Elder (USA)
Despite the immense appeal of all the musicians who followed the trio from the stage and the euphoric reception by the audience, nothing to me changes the fact that all songs of this band are five minutes too long, that guitarist and singer Nick DeSalvo can not sing and that all songs are built according to the same pattern. Technically accomplished musicians who, out of sheer joy in playing, gas the song and the end of the song.
John Garcia (USA)
At the end of the second day, John Garcia and his band (Groborg, guitar, Mike Pygmie, bass & voc., Greg Saenz, dr.) Will be showing their decades of festival experience. Just play the best songs of all bands, so mostly Kyuss, then the audience will go crazy. And that's exactly what it was like; the briefly played "Molten Universe" went over to "Gardenia" until the last encore "Whitewater". The band played a lot straighter than Kyuss Lives! or his band Garcia plays Kyuss, so that the songs were a lot tougher, while at the same time losing none of their class. For the encore "Green Machine" Garcia gets his buddy Nick Oliveri on stage, what more could you want. A grandiose concert in which sound, band and light formed a unity.
Samstag, 11.07.2015
The Moth (Ger)
You have to master your instrument in order to play either very slowly or very fast. You also have to be able to sing to celebrate the seriousness of Doom and Sludge and you should design the stage so that you can move between monitor boxes, backline and drums. Yes, it was not a good concert because the band made it hard for themselves.
Powder for Pigeons (Ger / Aus)
This German-Australian duo played in a stripped-down way the entire spectrum of music tuned by lower-tuned guitars. Whether Doom, Stoner, Psychedelic or Sludge, all styles flowed into each other and guitarist Rhys showed how you can play three different amps together or separately with a guitar. Meike on the drums played only the bare essentials, without flourishes and whirls and brass, with a lot of groove, so could the sound and the vocals work. Great concert!
Tricky Lobster (Ger)
Heavy Rock is a bit harder and more pounding than AC / DC, after a few bars I realized that this band was too fast for slow music and too slow for fast music. A few of the present Harley fans liked it.
Honeymoon Disease (SWE)
Not only boys are born in Sweden with a guitar, no girls, too, and their music in kindergarten was called Hellacopters and not ABBA, yes this band has also listened to Thin Lizzy and Wishbone Ash, yes and also this band provided a tight rhythm section, twin vocals and twin guitars for the right party mood. Everything was right with this band, the outfit, Attitude, all original 1975. Uops, I think that's when their parents were born.
Monomyth (NL)
This band is a recommendation for those who find Hawkwind packing too much frills into their songs, My Sleeping Karma is too meditative and Monster Magnet is too guitar heavy. Straighter Spacerock with a very variably playing drummer, who beats the sound walls and timbres of his band relentlessly and tightly into the audience. Great concert.
Danava (USA)
Danava mix harmonica guitars, galloping, whipping drums with a voice reminiscent of the young Ozzy, or to Bobby Liebling of pentagram. The whole mix of Hard Rock, Spacerock and Psychedelic makes you inevitably dance and headbang. Despite all the line-up changes, this band is fully attuned to each other and has a really good frontman with Gregory Meleney on vocals. A memorable concert.
Rotor (Ger)
For us, a rediscovery, although these bands since 1998 merge jazz, fusion, stoner and doom with each other. The band did not look heavy in their casual clothes, but they are one of the pioneer bands for the big stoner scene in East Germany. Before the main days, all the headbangers, nerds and dancers gathered to celebrate this concert. As a freshman, it is difficult for the first time to recognize and appreciate all musical subtleties. A very interesting concert.
Pallbearer (USA)
This band takes the heavy riffs of Neurosis, the slowness of Electric Wizzard and the epic vocals of Candlemass and Cathedral to celebrate progressive Doom Metal. Should that work out, singer Brett Campbell would have to hit the notes and play drummer Mark Lierly tighter. For my taste a very overvalued group, which laces itself by the choice of their musical role models a very tight musical corset.
Electric Wizzard (UK)
The apotheosis of the last day: Electric Wizzard. Consistently, the band adapted the films on the screen behind the drum kit to their annoying, slow music; Violent sex and torture scenes, black masses, killing, etc. Again, a rather simple song scheme, which is repeated through the concert: halftime 6/8 bar, a sustained riff, which is played 7 - 10 minutes. I did not like the whole concept four years ago at Hellfest and not this year either.
