It’s spring bank holiday in the UK, which can mean only one thing; a long weekend of headbanging in London’s dingiest venues. 2019 marks the eighth edition of London’s Desertfest; a festival dedicated to the slow, the slower, and the heavy. With a healthy dose of bong and Satan worship thrown in for good measure. Continue reading
Roadburn, now in its 20th year, is a fest I had promised I would start going to many, many years ago but for one reason or another never did. This year I went and although it is like other music fests in some ways, I can say that it is equally unlike other fests in many other ways. Many of my personal experiences will not be akin to a standard festival goer due to the nature of what I do obviously but if you bear with me here I can explain some things that the average person should expect when and if they decide to go is on their list of priorities. If you already know the drill or aren’t interested in this part please feel free to scroll on through.Continue reading
Travis Barker returned to the Orange County Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa to present (alongside So-Cal radio station KROQ) the twelfth consecutive year of Musink—the end-all festival of music, tattoos, and custom cars.Continue reading
With 75-degree weather and lush landscape of saguaros and desert, the sun isn’t the only thing Arizona has to offer during the year. You can also expect the makings of a perfect setting for a weekend at the ballpark, rather Innings Festival 2019 at the Tempe Beach Park. Catching fly balls, pitching, and high-speed action at home plate isn’t the only thing that people show up for, of course. With this weekend’s line up of heavy hitters hitting both the music stage and the batting cages, it was an eventful weekend all around.Continue reading
Another trip to London for four bands from a label very quickly becoming a favourite of mine, Heavy Psych Sounds, with Dead Witches launching their new album, The Final Exorcism, with more than adequate support from Deadsmoke, Giobia and Black Rainbows. Will a 500 mile trip down and home for an evening of crushing riffs be worth the almost inevitable whiplash and exhaustion? There’s only one way to find out! Continue reading
Returning to the Effenaar venue on day two of Eindhoven Metal Meeting, logistical issues with trains sadly meant I missed the opener on the main stage, Izegrim. As I arrived I decided to do my best to at least catch Dervaza, but it quickly becomes apparent today is the “meat” of the fest for most people, and somehow it is even busier than the day before. Watching the bodies trying to squeeze into the small room, a line forming of metalheads craning their necks to see the band, I’m left to strike pretty much everything I wanted to cover in the small room off my itinerary today.
Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Jonathan Davis, Body Count, Zakk Sabbath, DevilDriver, Wednesday 13: This was the lineup that rocked in the new year at Ozzfest New Year’s Eve 2018.
The festivities began in the parking lot of The Forum, located in (not so) sunny Los Angeles directly below one of LAX’s flight paths. The gloomy weather and high-flying airliners, however, were no match for the onslaught of heavy sounds so graciously provided by the fest’s openers: Wednesday 13 with their horror punk antics and crowd-dusting snow blower; Dez Fafara of Coal Chamber fame brought his current heavy hitting band DevilDriver and killed it as usual; and finishing out the outdoor portion of the fest was Black Sabbath cover band Zakk Sabbath, fronted by a purple-kilted Zakk Wylde.Continue reading
December, for most a time of going home and seeing family, retrospectives, lists and copious amounts of food. However, for many in the European metal community, it’s also the time for the magnificent Eindhoven Metal Meeting. For many it’s the final party of the year, a place to see friends, network, hang out and lift the horns up one last time before the dead space at the end of the year when we all ascribe to the forced merriness we call the holidays.
As every year, the line to get in trails quite a way before the doors even open. It’s cold this year though, and very much sold out solid. It has been for several weeks. Progress inside is somewhat slow because security meticulously checks everyone. But once we get inside the familiar maze of the Effenaar venue the pace quickens, at least for now. Continue reading
Days of Darkness, Ram’s Head Live, Baltimore, MD 10/28/18
Brought to you by the minds behind Maryland Deathfest, Days of Darkness Festival held their 2018 edition last month in the same hallowed halls that host MDF: Rams Head Live and Baltimore Soundstage. Once again, Ghost Cult was on hand with our intrepid photographer supreme Hillarie Jason on hand to capture the moods and the moments from the fest.Continue reading
Once again it was time to convene the holy church of rock and metal that is the Rock Allegiance Festival. We have gone to ¾ of these fests, the North East’s biggest heavy music event every year. This years lineup was good, but perhaps not as stacked since the fest became a one-day affair in 2017. Still, even with the loss of Avenged Sevenfold (they canceled their entire tour due to illness), the fest was heavy on young talent, solid mid-level bands and big draws like Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, GWAR, Insane Clown Posse, Fozzy and more.
As we mentioned the early day was just packed with great young bands, maybe more than any fest Ghost Cult attended worldwide in 2018. From Blacktop Mojo’s soulful grungy metal, Badflower, Stone Broken, Bad Omens, Sylar and Knocked Loose bringing the hardcore, and even local Philly area openers Siravo are worth investigating. These bands are the bright future of music we have to look forward to.
We split the team into two so we could interview a slew of bands (check out our YouTube channel) and also see the show and take in the fest. BB&T Pavillion is a fun venue on the water with a real Naval battleship to hang out on for the VIP’s. Cool to see bands framed against the Schuylkill River, overlooking the beautiful Philadelphia skyline.
Besides seeing some of the early bands mix it up, there were impressive amounts of fans for Fozzy (in a rare American fest appearance), From Ashes To New, ICP, and the mighty GWAR who brought their “A game” and their full show to the Pavillion stage. They pulled no punches, murdered people, bled and came on fans (not really) and upstaged every other band. GWAR seemed to be playing to a brand new audience this day, which is always rad to see. ICP predictably had a ton if heads in the house, many who seemed to be there just for them. They were never my thing personally, but you have to respect what they have put down. Whoop whoop, indeed.
Expected high energy sets from Fever 333, Beartooth, Motionless In White made up that solid middle of the bill we spoke of. Bullet For My Valentine has taken a lot of flack over their new album Gravity being too far out of the box for fans. Still, they rule live and those in attendance today got the full the BFMV experience in person, and a great one at that.
Skillet is one of the hardest working bands in the world and when I ever I see them live I feel like they ought to be headlining these festivals. They have a deep catalog and frontman John Cooper is amazing!
Papa Roach had the fans amped as the crowd filled in the amphitheater for the last few bands of the day. They put on an excellent show, played some new jams, and had an amazing g light show. It was sick to hear fans sing and rap along to the band that is creeping up on 20 years I the scene. Of course, they closed with ‘Last Resort’ and of course people went apeshit.
Limp Bizkit put on their customary big show. Coming on with a tribute to Prince, complete with all purple lights and “Purple Rain” played over the speakers. Opening with ‘Full Nelson’, complete with a several minute elongated opening, so Fred Durst could pump up the crowd. And the crowd didn’t flag, they loved it, which shows the power of the band, even after all this time. Next was their short cover of Ministry classic ‘Thieves’, and this set the stage for many covers and medley breaks in the set. For the third song ‘Hot Dog’, Durst ran into the crowd and to the barricade between the pit and the seats and sang with the crowd. This was mere feet from me and it was pretty awesome how Fred touched ever hand he could, shared the microphone and seemed to make a personal connection to everyone near him. People can hate all they want, but he was awesome on this night.
The band rolled (pun intended) though some of their legit hits like ‘Rollin’. ‘Nookie’, followed by more covers like ‘Cowboys From Hell’ and ‘Creeping Death’ followed by more originals like ‘Take A look’ around’. With songs like these, the crowd was pretty hyped.
After a fast run through of their ‘Faith’ cover, the infamous “dropkick that wasn’t” happened where ICP’s Shaggy 2 Dope tried to attack Durst. It was pretty weak and dumb, although I can see why people thought it a PR stunt with all the beef between the two groups over time.
Still, LB pressed on and finished the set with even more covers like ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, and ‘Killing In The Name Of’, and before closing with ‘Break Stuff’ and ‘Take A Look Around’. It was a pretty fitting end to a fun day. See you next year Rock Allegiance!
WORDS BY KEITH CHACHKES
PHOTOS BY OMAR CORDY & PAUL COGHLAN