“We were somewhere
around Barstow
on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.”
We, being myself, drugs being caffeine and
stoner rock, and Barstow being closer to Beatty, NV as my Toyota Tundra muscled
its way closer to Sin City for the second annual Psycho Las Vegas. Like
many of you, I was feeling a little left out being unable to partake in what
many were claiming as the best concert experience of their lives that was
Pyscho Las Vegas 2016. I was in that category, still am, until a couple weeks
ago when the stars aligned and I found myself with tickets and a room at the
Hard Rock Hotel slated for 4 days of heavy rock and roll for the second annual
Psycho Las Vegas music festival courtesy fellow bandcamper and Facebook friend
Simon Howard whom hooked me up with tickets and a room. I can now claim that
victory, that feeling and that experience I heard all about during season one
of Psycho Las Vegas.
To say it
was an experience would be selling it short. To say it was a party would be an
abbreviation, and to say it was madness would be modest to the core. It was all
but chaotic and overrun with black band tee shirts, beards, and tattoos, and
biker vests with metal band patches. The local residents would become the freak
shows of the scene and the misfits of metal would rise as the popular crowd of
the entire joint. Personally I showed up
in a white band tee shirt, zero tattoos, and clean shaven all chameleon like I
typically am. That didn’t stop the masses of music junkies from welcoming me
with open arms.
I left my
house around 4am on Thursday to drive the gauntlet from Reno to Vegas. Along the way was an open
desert highway, air conditioning, coffee and an ipad full of killer tunes. 7
hours later I walked inside the Hard Rock Hotel for the first time, lost and
overwhelmed with excitement. By the time I changed into my board shorts and
flip flops and found my way to the pre-party concert at the pool stage The
Great Electric Quest had just finished their set. It was about 12:30 and
blistering over the 100 degree mark as I spied the first familiar faces on my
social network feed. Mr. Steve Janiak singer/guitarist of the band Devil to Pay
and Mr. Matt Bacon, a young up and coming promoter of the scene and liaison of
the heavy underground music scene were hanging left of the stage waiting for
the next band to start up. Bacon was sizzling in the sun wearing a black tee,
black pants and black boots with long black hair flowing in the breeze. There
was 24 hour access to actual bacon available inside at Mr. Lucky’s. None of us
had met in person (minus me and the pork product) but the phenomenon of
familiarity via the internet allowed greets with handshakes and hugs like long
lost brothers reuniting after a long time away. This feeling would remain all
weekend long as the crowds of folks coming from around the world joined
together to celebrate music like no festival I’ve ever been to.
Over the course of 4
days, nearly 90 bands and 3 stages, I found myself meeting dozens of friends on
Facebook, followers on Instagram, and other fanatics from Canada, Australia,
Europe, New Jersey, Utah, New York City, Philly, New Mexico, Texas, California,
South Carolina, Las Vegas etc.….. Seems like all reaches of the globe were
present and everyone had a similar mission. The cool thing about the Hard Rock
is that we were there for hard rock and music memorabilia was all over the
place on display. The main stages were adjacent to each other where you could
easily go from one to the other without any real bad congestion occurring. The
pool stage was set up about 50 feet from the pool with mosh pits occurring
simultaneously on the floor and the pool during some of the heavier sets. No
matter what time of day or night you could be sure that Psychos were wondering
the lobby, casino, and center bar. Not once did I sense arrogance or feel
threatened. It felt like a family reunion with family members that you loved
and respected.
I didn’t
count how many bands I witnessed, nor was I concerned about any sort of number.
I watched some bands whom I’d never seen, some that I wasn’t anticipating
watching, and others I missed, which breaks my heart. I could go on and on
about details of the weekend, but that would only make you jealous or bore you
to death so today I’m going to share some bands that I was able to compare the
live performance to the bandcamp streams I’ve grown so fond of.
“Turn the goddam music up! My heart feels like an alligator!”
Mothership
These dudes
opened the show on Friday in the big arena (The Joint) and came out firing on
all amplifiers as they always do. Mothership has made a name for themselves
over the last several years and in particular they are known for their high
energy live sets. Kelley had his Orange amps
stacked in the biggest pyramid I’ve ever seen on the stage and together with
Kyle and Judge they gave us the modern equivalent of AC/DC rocking in the early
70s.
Youngblood Supercult
Youngblood
had the card stacked against them, starting 2/3 of the way through the
Mothership set in the smaller more dive bar modeled club Vinyl. I had an
extreme desire to see Youngblood as I’ve become a huge fan of their sound over
the last couple years. They sounded great and it was apparent that they are an
extremely young band in the grand scheme only beginning their journey towards
rock n roll stardom.
Toke
Toke was one
of the surprises of the weekend for me. I had heard them before, but I wasn’t
completely sold based the bandcamp stream alone. The live show was brutally
rocking and the vocalist/bass player dominated with convincing vocal chops and
alluring stage appeal. Funny how live shows can make a fan of you and these
guys did just that.
Sons of Otis
Another
surprise of the weekend was Sons of Otis. These guys have been laying down the
spaced out doomy stoner for decades and I was absolutely blown away at their
performance. The reverb on the beefed out vocals was mesmerizing as was the
psychedelic jams echoing across the stage. The drummer was slamming
sporadically lit up in front of the trippy projector screen. It was a sight to
behold and boys owned it like true champions in the stoner rock battlefield.
“The
possibility of physical and mental collapse is now very real. No sympathy for
the Devil, keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride.”
Ruby the Hatchet
Going into
this festival Ruby the Hatchet was at the top of my watch list. They played the
pool on Thursday and absolutely throttled my expectations. If I were to give a
favorite performance of the weekend it would have to go to Ruby the Hatchet.
The entire band was on fire, Jillian was smoking hot and sang her heart out.
They played older hits as well as many off the new album, which is amazing. I
feel very privileged to get to see them in this setting.
Sumac
Sumac wins
the award for heaviest band of the weekend that I watched. Holy fucking shit
they were border-line disturbing with the notes they were hitting. Mosh pits
rippled in the pool as the sun was setting and the heat was tempering.
Summoner
Kicking off
Saturday was the next biggest band I was looking forward to and the first of
the Magnetic
Eye Records bands to go onstage. They absolutely melted that stage
and I think turned a lot of new fans onto them. They played some cult classics
off their debut album Phoenix
as well as some new ones off their latest album which I featured here on the
bonanza earlier in the year. WOW.
“What kind of rat bastard psychotic would play that song- right now, at
this moment?”
Hollow Leg
Man these
guys were heavy as shit and super fun to watch up on stage. Blue collar doom
with great stage presence and heavy riffs pounding down in unison with the
guitarist’s 200 pound leg kicks shaking the stage. It’s not hollow, trust me.
Seriously, he had this move that was terrifyingly awesome as he shredded riffs
into the eyes of the fans. I really enjoyed these guys.
Elephant Tree
Elephant
Tree came all the way over from the UK and was a pleasure to witness on
stage. They brought an eclectic heavy grungy rock to club Vinyl that we were
all aware of via bandcamp prior. The live settings allowed them to showcase
their personalities and they shined with excellent showmanship and groovy
tunes.
The Skull
By this time
in the evening a fellow friend, and bandcamp colleague Mr. Paul Rote had arrived to Vegas. It
was a pleasure hanging out with the old man and he convinced me to go to watch
The Skull with him. Oh my gods were they the real deal. Singer and legendary
front man Eric Wagner showed us how it’s done as Rob Wrong and Lothar Keller
teamed up to drop the sickest riffs of the night for a full on set of classic
doom meets modern stoner. Absolutely Fantastic!
These were
only highlights of some of the bands I saw and happen to have bandcamp links.
So check em out and start planning your trip for next year. I’d strike while
the irons hot. God forbid the festival gets too much attention and becomes too
big for its own good. From what I witnessed this year, it was well organized,
well attended, and well respected the entire weekend. What happens in Vegas
does not stay in Vegas during Psycho. What happens is meant to be shared with
the world.
“Maybe
it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run, but no explanation, no mix of
words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there
and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant.”
-The
Huntsman
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