Fear and Loathing in Moledo do Minho - A Savage Journey to the Heart of the Heavy Psych Dream.
Friday morning and everything is set for a weekend of
fun and great music... the annual pilgrimage to Moledo do Minho for the
notorious Heavy Psych rendezvous called SonicBlast is finally upon us and we
hit the road burning the 300 km of asphalt separating us as fast as we can. Me,
my brother Rodriguez and Bernie (fictions name), a friend who decided to tag
along without a ticket even though the fest was already sold out...
And why Bernie, some may ask!? Well, remember that classic 90s movie titled “Weekend at Bernie`s” about two guys strolling around with a dead`s man body...
enough said!
Planning our arrival in time for the young heavy psych
band Holy Mushroom from Spain, but I was only able to hear them from the
outside as I waited for my turn on the chaotic ticket booth to get my press
credential... things would move smoothly if they were only taking care of the
wristbands instead of also dealing with the drinks tokens, just a though!
Grabbed a beer in a hurry on my way to the pool stage only to be stopped by the
security saying I can´t come in with it... Fuck! By the time I managed to get
in, the show is over and the next band is already setting in... So unfortunately,
can´t say much about their gig but from what I´ve heard they delivered some
fine trippy jams to the lucky ones already inside. No biggie, pretty sure
they´ll be returning soon...
I´m back on the move as there´s still the camping
issue to take care... with tales of crappy conditions and an overcrowded
camping site, we kinda stumble up on a private one near the church and looked
no further. With shadow all day, private W.C. and only a few meters from the
site, it was a no brainer... we payed up and settle down like three kings!
Bernie was trying to buy a ticket from a Spanish girl over the Facebook,
spending the last 3 hours trying to make a money transfer to an IBAN with a
missing number as I left them to go see Black Bombaim, the last band on the
pool stage for the day... but the first one for me!
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| Black Bombaim |
The psycher trio from Barcelos, regulars at this fest,
presented themselves this time accompanied by a sax player for a collective
meltdown through the by now famous jams fueled by an acid guitar, the grooviest
bass lines around and pounding drums with a touch of free jazz brought in by
the sax that would go on frenetic duels with the guitar solos. As much I see
them live, and has been quite a few, this band never ceases to amaze me with
they’re quality and thirst for experimentation and new ways of expanding
they´re sound. The stellar performance left me all pumped out for an evening
that would still bring The Well, Monolord and Elder.
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| The Well |
Opening with their classic “Mortal Bones” the power
trio The Well coming from Austin, Texas gave us an outstanding performance distilling
their doomy blues laced with Tejas Psych. Dancing with sun as it was coming
down, the band seemed possessed on stage as they go through their set comprised
of songs from they´re 2 LPs. Brighten even more by the sun rays, the gig was
hitting the boiling point pretty fast to the pleased crowd and band who was so
excited to be in Portugal right now in particular and outside of the US in
general during these past weeks of the fascist wave going over their country.
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| Yuri Gagarin |
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Yuri Gagarin were hitting the stage next with
they´re cosmic space rock and a one way ticket to the next galaxy. With a slow
start as if the engines were firing one by one, we took off as soon as the sun
went down… With their logo now glowing behind them and the light effects
kicking in, the performance went from good to great. A feast to the senses and
a recommended experience for all the space travelers... it´s such a fun ride!
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| Monolord |
From Sweden,
Monolord came to slow things down a bit with the signature spine bending doom.
Saturated fuzz and dragged riffs, deep bass lines and smashing drums were
served quite well to the thirsty and famine crowd. The heavy trio, for the
first time in Portugal just like most of these bands, didn´t fool around and
leaved it all on stage with a crushing set...
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| Elder |
It was time
for the first headliner of the fest, now a quartet and dwelling further and
further into proggy ambiances and atmospheres, Elder delivered a much
anticipated performance. As fan of their early work the only thing I can point
out is about the set comprised almost of their last two albums but despite that
the band from Boston put out a great show in overall. I was enjoying myself so much
that only snapped out of it when a buddy tapping me on the shoulder holding a
friend on a mushroom trip collapsed in his arms asking me for help to deal with the situation. Oh
man what a circus... he regained
consciousness as the first chords of the closer “Gemini” were ringing and I
remember saying to him: “hold on my friend... We´re coming home!”.
Too wasted and tired to stick around for The Cosmic
Dead we headed out to the tents for a much needed and deserved rest.
Did I tell how nice was our camping? This dude slept
like a baby and had the best camping night in years... Fresh and fully recharged
we stroll down to the villa for the vital morning coffee. It´s funny to see the
contrast of the locals with the festival goers as we go looking for options to
lunch earlier in order to catch Vinnum Sabbathi at the pool. We were back at camping getting ready to head for the
gig and Larry finally managed to score a ticket from a staff member... hahah,
the look on his face as he had totally lost any hope of getting in!
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| Vinnum Sabbathi |
Already by the pool under a blistering sun, the
Mexican quartet Vinnum Sabbathi gave the best gig I´ve seen on this stage.
Solid performance with their instrumental doom filled with spacey elements and
samples, serving as a great departure to the trippy day ahead. It was the last
stop of they´re first Euro Tour and they went out with a bang! Great deliver by
all members specially the drummer... the dude is a fucking beast!
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| Blaak Heat |
Delayed by a
sketchy sound check and suffering from that later, the Franco-American band
Blaak Heat were on next presenting their new EP Arabian Fuzz. Exotic
psychedelic rock with middle eastern influences was on the menu and the setting
by the pool was perfect... but by the time they started the place was already
too crowded so I couldn´t see the stage and the crappy sound was ruining what
would have been a truly nice set featuring even a drabuka player!
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| Crowd at the Pool Stage |
I was not too worried about it because I knew I would catch them on the road
again later on and certainly have a better experience... which I did! Just had
the most wonderful Sunday matinée on an old primary school in Pisões, Alcobaça
with them, around ten more people and a dog! It was epic... but I´ll talk about
that another day! Besides, as soon as Virginia Monti, (lead singer of Dead
Witches) walked in with that gnarly outfit, she pretty much stole the show and
all the attention... sorry friends, but you just can´t compete with that!
Grabbed
another beer, enjoyed their last song from the balcony and headed back to tent.
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| The Machine |
We´re approaching the
golden hour with the sunset effect as The Machine were hitting the stage. As
the well-oiled piece of psychedelic engineering that they are the Dutch trio
came back to SonicBlast for another trippy ride through their now vast catalog
of technological advanced jams. Really nice set which included a brand new song
and some of their classics in a fuzzed out performance by one of the local’s
faves as they´re were put on fire with a blazing show.
Outside a
full fleshed skate sesh was going down with high spirits and lots of fun
around... I sat for a bit while I enjoyed my 4th bifana of the day and went in
as Acid King were already cooling things down with their very special kind of
Doom!
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| Acid King |
The American trio besides being known by their massive riffs and powerful
transitions they also have that amazing and smoothing voice... Lori S., gives
this band such a unique power to captivate an audience so easily! Between fresh
material and classics such as Electric Machine, Red River or 2 Wheel Nation everybody was
left quite ecstatic with such a gnarly show and quite buzzed for what would be
coming next.
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| Colour Haze |
The band that everybody was waiting, me personally for
almost 10 years, to see live on this shores was Colour Haze... though this day
would never come! That´s why I went to Keep it Low Fest in Munchen in 2015 to
get some of the magik directly from the source. Loved both shows but they were
two different experiences... if the first was more intense because of the
sweaty 2h set on a packed club this in one Moledo was more liberating by the
open air setting even though they only played around 70 minutes! Opening with She Said going through Aquamaria, Skydancer, Transformation and closing beautifully with
Temple, apologizing for not coming sooner but promising to be back next year
somewhere in between, it was magical to see the musicianship of the German
power trio on stage and the technique of each member... specially the guitar
virtuoso Stefan Koglek as the crowd went totally wild with such deliver.
I just wish they would spend more time on the road then
on the studio...
Hum.. in case anyone is wondering about Bernie... he pissed his pants on the overflowing
WC potties just before the gig and had to go change, found him mid concert at the
bar when I went for a refuel and he remained with us for the rest of the night...
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| Orange Goblin |
To tell you
the truth I wasn´t expecting much of Orange Goblin since I´m not a big fan of
their latest work, but you couldn´t ask for a better ending show then the one
the British veterans gave. Goddamn it... going through their classic songs like
a heavy metal blitzkrieg it was kinda the last assault to our hazed and
inebriated minds and beaten bodies! These dudes know what they're doing and have
been doing it for a very long time and it shows as soon as they step on a
stage. Not only by how good they sound but how well the front man Ben Ward
interacts with the crowd... the beast that knocks down cold brewskies with a
couple of zips must be one of the nicest guys in our scene!
We sticked around a bit for Dead Witches, but sleazy covers
of Electric Wizard and the dramatic dances by the front-woman wasn´t convincing
anyone… so after one last stop by the merch area spending the last few euros we
had left , it was time to head back to our tents and proceeded to fully collapse.
This was without any doubt the best edition of the
festival ever and the fact that it sold out for the first time only proves that statement!
Happy and thankful for the organization and staff who put all the hard work not
only this year but for the past six, helping this amazing festival to grow so
naturally. Now I believe in order to maintain the balance and harmony between
the locals and festival goers, there´s always room for improvement… specially
the infrastructures for those attending like more WCs and cleaned more regularly;
the pool stage is getting too small after a certain hour for us to enjoy the
gigs perhaps it´s time to take the party to the beach, and so on…
I just want this fest to keep going strong for as many years as it can since
it´s the only one bringing all the great bands that everybody wants to see live...
LONG LIVE SONICBLAST!
