As noted earlier, it’s not my policy to blog about
literally every concert I attend, unless I feel it’s somehow noteworthy. A three day stoner rock festival in Brooklyn,
New York may well qualify. So here goes.
I’d been meaning to see a band called Elder, from Boston,
Massachusetts, which has 4 albums out.
They come off as an intriguing mix of prog and stoner, with 9-12 minute
songs which jam out a little. Finally,
the opportunity came: DesertFest NYC, to
occur on April 26 (Friday) through April 28 (Sunday). The Friday show was at the Saint Vitus Bar in
northwest Brooklyn, the Saturday and Sunday shows at The Well, also in Brooklyn, close to the Montrose St. station on
the L line. It’s a large enough venue
with a large outdoor area, the immediate area in front of the stage protected
by a canopy. This neighborhood is
industrial, due east of Williamsburg.
Before I go further: thank you to Dave and Loni for making
this adventure possible, each in their own way.
Thank you.
Anyhow. For reasons
most plausibly related to the desert jams out in California with which KYUSS is most closely related, many of
these stoner rock festivals invoke “DESERT” in their name even if the locale,
downtown Brooklyn, is thousands of miles away from any desert. Like DC, the NYC area is more like a swamp
than a desert. It was never a desert
and if mankind vanishes from the city letting nature retake it, things will probably
be flooded and swampy until the Sun expands into a red giant billions of years
from now and we’re all long gone (except for Keith Richards).
For logistical reasons I did not catch Friday night’s
lineup, in reverse order from headliner to “who the hell are these guys?”: Black Cobra, Here Lies Man, High Tone, Son of
a Bitch, Heavy Temple. I think I have
some Black Cobra CDs, vaguely recalling them as stoner rock. The rest I don’t recognize. In any case I wasn’t there.
Saturday & Sunday had alternate stages full of bands
which I ignored.
Saturday (again, reverse order): Windhand, Weedeater, The Skull, Danava, Electric Citizen (main stage), Steak, Mirror Queen,
Worshipper, Tower (second stage). My
prime concerns were The Skull, Eric Wagner’s post-Trouble band, and Danava, who
I had never seen before.
Electric Citizen have a female singer and a worried
looking lead guitarist who reminds me of William H. Macy. They’re not bad, but not particularly
memorable, and may well be doomed to perpetual opening band status. We’ll see.
Danava are
from Portland, Oregon, and have three albums:
self-titled, UnonoU, and Hemisphere of Shadows. They’re another band that seems to take Black
Sabbath as a starting point and change it up with a modest dose of
weirdness.
The
Skull gave us the same awesome riffage we might expect from Trouble, for obvious reasons. Mr. Wagner was in high spirits and shared
that energy and enthusiasm with the crowd.
I got to shake his hand twice.
I’ve seen Trouble once with him on vocals (years ago) and saw The Skull
more recently at Café 611 in Frederick, Maryland. While the big four of Metallica, Megadeth,
Slayer and Anthrax got most of the attention from thrash fans back in the 80s
and 90s, a few lesser known but quality thrash bands were putting out albums if
you had the good fortune to know about them.
Trouble added some 60’s psychedelic vibe to distinguish themselves from
the others, Manic Frustration (1992) being my favorite album. Dave Grohl is also a big fan, and said that
for him, buying Psalm 9 (the first album) was like buying Sgt. Pepper. If
you’re into Trouble, by all means check out this band, who have two albums of
their own: For Those Which Are Asleep, and The Endless Road Turns Dark.
Weedeater gave
me too much of a NASCAR-METH vibe and their cover of Skynyrd’s “Gimme Back My
Bullets” was unrecognizable. Another
band with decent tuneage marred by abysmal vocals, thanks to bassist/vocalist
Dave “Dixie” Collins. I have their most
recent album, Goliathan, and listened to the prior four albums, all of
which sound pretty much the same. Maybe
they should just follow Karma To Burn,
whose songs are 80% instrumentals, though confusingly named by number.
Having seen Windhand in DC in January, I left after
Weedeater. Like The Sword, Windhand are
a band with decent enough studio material but live, seem to believe that simply
getting up on stage and playing the material is sufficient. Sadly, neither band has appreciable stage
presence.
Back again for more the next day!
Sunday’s lineup: Elder, Monolord, ASG, Ruby the
Hatchet, Fatso Jetson (main stage); Mick’s Jaguar, Duel, Green Milk From the
Planet Orange, Sun Voyager (second stage).
Sun Voyager had a cool
dugout/onehitter for sale, but as I had ignored all the second stage bands, and
had a King Buffalo one already, I had to pass.
I missed Fatso Jetson and ignored Ruby the Hatchet,
another band with a chick singer, in their case a woman who looks like a metal
version of Britney Spears. Like Electric
Citizen they’re ok, just not particularly different or memorable, and may well
share the same fate of perpetual opening band.
Intriguing that the promoters saw fit to put them on different
days.
ASG. I had Survive Sunrise and Blood
Drive (newest and second newest albums) both of which I liked. When I saw them on the bill, it was another
incentive to catch this show. Lead
guitarist Jonah Citty plays something I’ve never seen, a left-handed Gibson
Flying V. I can’t describe their
difference from the baseline of Black Sabbath, but it was enough to discern if
not to articulate. Not bad.
Monolord. I had seen them a few months back. They’re from Gothenburg, Sweden, and the
guitarist/singer Thomas Jager plays a Greco Flying V. He has a BOC cross tattooed on his arm. Slow and drudgy, a bit repetitive, you have
to be in the mood for “Into the Void” or “Under the Sun” type songs. Hell, he was tuned to C, down from E, so he
had to retune between each song. I have all their albums! In reverse order, Rust, Vaenir,
Empress Rising, and Lord of Suffering/Die in Haze.
Elder. Finally.
This band is led by Nick DiSalvo, who plays a weird guitar I don’t
recognize – usually he’s shown playing an SG.
I had actually purchased their first album, Elder, soon after it
came out, followed by Dead Roots Stirring, Lore, and now Reflections
of a Floating World, but hadn’t been able to see them live until now. They start off with a riff, then plunge into
an intense jam, and come back again. Now
repeat that for the next four songs in the set….and you have Elder, who blend
stoner rock with some prog and jam band elements for an alluring mix.
Overall an excellent show, which I’m glad I made the
effort to visit the NYC area again to attend.
My next out-of-the-area shows are TOOL
at Hampton Coliseum in southeast Virginia, May 10, followed by the third Earth
Rocker festival in northeastern West Virginia, on July 13, the main attraction
being Maryland band Clutch.
The
Vest. I’m noticing more rock fans showing up with
vests adorned with patches. Usually
there’s a large back patch, the rule seeming to be that the patch size is
inversely proportional to the fame and fortune of the band. A band I like, REZN, whose recent stop at the
Sidebar in downtown Baltimore was sparsely attended (fortunately myself
included) is selling large back patches on its website. I snagged two smaller patches. In fact, I’ve accumulated enough patches to
start a vest, but at this point I can’t help considering it an
affectation. I still have a denim jacket
from Paris around, which dates from my high school days. The large, central back patch on that is
Black Sabbath.
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