THE MACHINE

This is a statement of love and affection...

Once upon a time I got in contact to the stoner family and discovered some of the greatest music I ever heard. Coming from late sixties and seventies rock, being pushed by bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath, but most of all, of course, there was the spirit of Jimi Hendrix that has influenced my musical taste over so many years. So in 2010 I discovered a little power trio from Rotterdam, called The Machine, and I lost my heart from the first second I heard that fantastic kind of music. It was the time when the band started to prepare for their third album, simply called „Drie“. Yes, indeed, this is the third CD of the band. They started in 2007 with a self-release named „The Shadow Of The Machine“, which obvious seem to be unknown to many people. It never released as a vinyl and even the band today loughs a bit about their first tries I can tell you it is worth to listen to every minute of that songs.

How can I describe the style of The Machine easily? Imagine the music of desert rock collides on an astral path with the genius of Jimi Hendrix´ guitar, and then you will be close to The Machine. Wonderful inspirited guitar workout, rising up some of the coolest improvisations in modern times the licks will carry you into your personal nirvana, totally fired by the deepest and hardest rhythms of thick strings and powerful drumming. A journey through times of Rock´n Roll, taking its roots in the first and greatest period of our culture and develop it into a modern way, that is timeless, full of passion and fun. So it´s not a surprise, that we can tell The Machine a fantastic live band. On stage they will show you their emotions in a way that can really hypnotize you. Every time I saw them performing it was pretty dangerous for my back and neck, but this music has ever fulfilled every cell of my being and it will bring my bones to move, even if I want or not.

First time I met The Machine live in Holland, I was thinking of much older people, only knowing their second album „Solar Corona“ on CD, so I was totally surprised when I realized that all of them were so young that they could be my sons. Such young guys that make such great music that can transfer old buddies like me into the heaven of rock? Yes, they can!

It was a kind of religious feeling when they started their set with „First Unique Prime“, my absolutely dearest song of the band and one of the four or five greatest pieces of music I heard in the last twenty years. Shivers, showers and a lot of bouncing up and down floated through my body and brain, a totally symbiosis between the music and my own impressions. Yeah, I think that´s exactly the reason why I love that band so much.

David Eering on guitar and vocals, Hans van Heemst on bass and Davy Boogaard on drums gives the term power trio back its deepest meaning. It´s pure energy and power which they can create on stage, but every time in a native, nice and modesty way, they will win your heart with their pure music, not an overloaded show.

Looking back to the releases of the band you can follow their musical development. In early times the songs could be called a complete picture of the crazy jams they produce on stage. Outracing, long improvisations started their career and led into second album, which was the first official release on Nasoni Records, „Solar Corona“ and culminated in fantastic „Drie“, now on Elektrohasch. Step by step the songs got a bit more structure, but the greatest step for the band was the way to album four, named „Calmer Than You Are“. This phrase you should know from cinema, yeah: „I´m calmer than you are“, once said Walter Sobchak to The Dude in one of the funniest movies of all time, the Coen Brothers “The Big Lebowski”, a movie that especially David loves very much. So the title is a kind of homage to a great movie, something you can find also in the history of my other deepest loved band, Monkey3.

But let´s have a look back to „First Unique Prime“ from Drie. Surely this song is perhaps the best example for fantastic improvisations and spontaneous composing. But you would simplify that wonderful song too much, if you only had a look on the great jamming parts. This 18 minutes monster is an absolute clever combination of styles, starting with some of the best psychedelic sounds the band ever produced and taking time to let the music breathe. Then it gets its break by fantastic and stone hard stoner riffs and licks, culminating in a kind of blues-rock inferno. This song was born really in a jam, the band once told me. Hans started a riff which remembered on a song of The Sword and the band followed that way. The main theme and most of the entire outracing end, David thought back, were in his head for a longer time, only waiting to become set free. The result is a song that can show you the way into a better world, giving you strength and hope, a song that takes you away.

As named in „Calmer Than You Are“ the band first time went over to more structured songs. My favorite from this album is „Sphere (Or Kneiter)“, a fantastic musical adventure with deep psychedelic workouts, also one of the greatest live experiences of the band.

Last work on vinyl and silver rounding was the split album with their mates from „Sungrazer“, also from Holland and no longer existing (sad, sad...), where the band showed some of the deepest riffs in their history, most of all in „Awe“, but also created a very short, but heavy punk song.

I think, fun and humor is a basic fact in the music of The Machine. Once I saw them in Cologne, and they played one of their totally thrilling jams, when David suddenly started the theme of „Daddy Cool“, old pop song from the seventies. The jam incidentally started with Jimi´s „Machine Gun“, so I think there is only one band on planet earth, that is able to combine Jimi Hendrix with Bonny M. in a way, where you can say: Yes, that fits! Crazy and funny, but with deepest empathy and devotion to the music.

The Machine has rocked a lot of stages, playing great festivals as Roadburn, Desertfest and Burg Herzberg. They have a strong fan community and the concerts of The Machine will always show you the deep respect of all band members to the music, they will ever do their best to satisfy the audience with energetic and powerful music. So where ever you get a chance to watch them live, just take it and have a great time. Yeah, and the guys are always prepared to have a lot of fun, so get in touch and find it out yourself.

The Machine is:

David Eering – Guitar and Vocals

Hans van Heemst – Bass Guitar

Davy Boogaard – Drums

Visit them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themachine.nl

Albums:

The Shadow Of The Machine – Produced by themselves

Solar Corona – Nasoni Records

Drie – Elektrohasch

Calmer Than You Are – Elektrohasch

Split With Sungrazer - Elektrohasch

Alterna-Sounds-Festival

Alterna-Sounds-Festival, Münster 05.04.2014

World can be great and far, even everything seems to be so near. What would you call it, when an old rocker from the Ruhr area goes to Westphalia just to visit his favorite bands from Bavaria and Switzerland and later talks about it on Stoner Rock Austria – that´s desert rock feeling made in Europe. One evening, cruising through the orbit of Monkey3, just to continue your journey into universe with Colour Haze is a privilege of first class happening. And somehow this has its special connection to the Lake On Fire festival, because the headliners from last year and the upcoming event shared that stage at Münster.

Alterna Sounds Festival was located at the amazing Sputnik hall, a cool location which reminded me a bit on Astra Kulturhaus Berlin. The event was created for two stages and five bands. From Münster and the surround came Wooly Antshake and Mindreader and as special guest from Rostock our old buddies Coogans Bluff took part on this night (I saw them several times) and remember one Friday evening, shivering together with guitarist Willi for our soccer teams (Rostock and Duisburg) playing just before concert. But this evening now, I had only a little time, so I concentrated on the two headliners, I´m sorry that I can´t talk about the other bands this time.

MONKEY3 (C) Michael
Since I first time heard a song called “Jack” I lost my heart to the music of Monkey3. Meanwhile I visited them a lot of times live on stage and so it was great joy to meet the band again. As Boris told me later they had just arrived from Lausanne, only to perform this one event – great enthusiasm I would say!

MONKEY3 - (C) Michael
I was very excited waiting for one of my all-time favorite songs which is of course "Icarus". And after the announcement was done, the keys in the background started muttering the intro to that epic song. The four guys took the stage, first time for me to see Kevin, the new bass player and after Walters starting shots Boris took the lead and led us to the stars with his wonderful clear and emotional licks, floating in elegance over the powerful sound carpet of Guillaumes keys. I will not explain my complete emotions about this unbelievable song which has to do with some happenings last year, but I never have heard a piece of music that produces so much positive energy and emotion, a song about enthusiasm and the might of human dreams and wishes. It was my cure after a hard time, the hand of Gods of Rock´n Roll that was offered to me. Yeah, somehow a religious experience. So you may imagine that I banned myself taking photos during this magic song, there is no time for anything, when I listen to "Icarus". The set was mainly oriented on the current album “The 5. Sun”, perhaps the most compact and powerful album in the band´s history. And the cool bass  intro to “Jack” sounded great as ever, Kevin has taken his part in the band as if he had never done anything others. So in the end it was a wonderful concert of world´s greatest instrumental rockers, just another mosaic stone in the picture of my deep adoration to this band.

MONKEY3 - (C) Michael
So coming back from the planet of the apes (although the pictures in the background during the concert were influenced by Kubrick´s 2001, of course) it wasn´t easy to calm down and there is only one band, I think,  that I was able to inhale after Monkey3 – that´s for sure Colour Haze!

MONKEY3 - (C) Michael

In times of RTL and Bild newspaper you should be careful with the word cult. In our society this term is often used for strange things I will never understand. But if cult comes from class and capability then Colour Haze deserves it to be cult. In the European underground scene this band is surely the most admired trio, fantastic solo musicians who founded an origin and authentic style, that a complete generation of musicians like to imitate. Philipp, who plays the fat strings harder than anyone other, a sound, that kicks your ass like thunder and lightning; Manni, who rushes over the skins like a wizard, with energy that never seem to stop; and of course Stefan, who plays the guitar in a way only Stefan does, a style that would make old Jimi smile on his cloud when he passes by. And together they change between fascinating psychedelic workouts and the hardest riffs in the universe. Thanks again to Gods of R´n R that they have put them three together.

COLOUR HAZE (C) Michael

We got a classic set with the bands most played live acts, connected with two completely new songs. Yeah, and the rumors are right, Stefan confirmed that the band is working on a new album, wonderful outlook for future. “Aquamaria” and “Moon” were a traditional start of a Colour Haze concert, but too late I noticed that I got problems with my camera, so I had to do a lot of shots at the end of the concert. But similar to Monkey3 there is a song during which I will never put photos, that is “Transformation” from latest album “She Said”. This epic is an energy fountain of first class. Coming from a smooth and leisurely rhythm Stefan develops a solo, that increases its intensity more and more to an ecstatic feeling, a float of optimistic and positive electricity, that lead you to outer worlds but also to the best ghosts into yourself. This song sets you free, it´s hypnotic in best way.

COLOUR HAZE (C) Michael

Certainly “Peace, Brothers And Sisters” was also a main part of the evening with a particularly virtuosic solo of Stefan. And the new stuff have taken all my senses and anticipation to the new album, whenever it will release.

COLOUR HAZE (C) Michael
The audience was highly satisfied, same as for Monkey3, when they got “Love” and “Temple” in the end. And although the band members had some problems with illness the days before they gave us an encore with “Get It On”.

All visitors of Lake On Fire 2014 can feel happy to see this great band performing live, one of the biggest highlights of the year. And Stefan has promised to give us an interview for Stoner Rock Austria just before the festival, so let us be curious for what he will tell us. For all who can´t wait until that event in summer, there is Desertfest coming up at last weekend of April in Berlin with a fantastic line-up, three days of Stoner, Doom and Hardrock, I´m looking forward to that.

by Michael

ALBUM REVIEW - MONSTERS OF THE ORDINARY

Monsters Of The Ordinary – Mirror

Nach Besuch der fulminanten Album Release Show nahm ich mir dieses Album mit hohen Erwartungen mit nach Hause, um diese Review zu schreiben. Gleich vorweg, es wurden alle Erwartungen zur Gänze erfüllt!

Der Opener „Lines“ öffnet mit einem kurzem Intro und geht dann sofort in die Vollen. Druckvolle verzehrte Gitarren legen sich gemeinsam mit einem knurrendem Bass über ein druckvolles Schlagzeug, so wie es sich gehört!  Spätestens beim Einstieg der Stimme verführen MOTO dazu sich das Album durchgehend anzuhören. Der zweite Song und zugleich der Titelsong „Mirror“ steht dem Opener um nichts nach. Hier imponiert vor allem das Songwriting. Coole Breaks und intelligentes Sounddesign schrauben sich genüßlich ins Ohr. Das gesamte Album setzt sich auf hohem Niveau weiter fort und ist bei jedem Hören ein Genuss.

Mein Lieblingstrack auf Mirror ist „Just a Little Bit Like Me“, hier stimmt einfach alles, das Gitarrenspiel ist hier besonders beeindruckend.

Besonders positiv fällt Sänger Oliver auf, dieser versteht es, sich nicht wie viele seiner Genre Kollegen, hinter den Gitarren zu verstecken und weiß sich mit ausgefeilten Linien auf die Musik zu setzen. Aber auch die andern drei glänzen auf ihren Instrumenten.

Da dieses Album an Orten wie Wohnzimmern, Kellersauna und ähnlichen Orten aufgenommen wurde und vom Schlagzeuger Christoph zu Hause gemischt und gemastert wurde, verdient es zu dem noch die Bezeichnung HOMEGROWN!

„Mirror“ ist durch und durch ein gelungenes Album und hinterlässt in keinster Weise negative Eindrücke.

by Funkhead

MOTO auf Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/monstersoftheordinary

Free Album Stream:

REVIEW - Timestone

Timestone – EP

Die Wüste ist immer und überall. Auch im Donautal. Was im Zeitalter des Klimawandels vielleicht auf den ersten Blick erschreckend klingen mag, versetzt die Gemeinde der Stonerfreunde in Verzückung, denn aus dem Orbit der Österreichischen Chef-Metropole startet ein neuer, heißer Komet direkt ins Herz eines alles rockenden Universums. Getragen von den schönsten und melodiösesten Riffs, die ich seit langer Zeit gehört habe, entwickeln Jakob an der fuzzigen Gitarre und dem Gesang, Johannes am besonders tief gestimmten Viersaiter und Walt als treibender Schlagmann drei fantastische Songs voller musikalischer Raffinesse und vorwärts gerichteter Energie in eine Welt aus versengender Sonne und glühendem Wüstensand. Stonerrock vom Feinsten, dafür musst Du nicht in Texas geboren worden sein, das beweisen unsere einheimischen Freunde wieder einmal aufs Trefflichste.

Mal psychedelisch getragen, mal in spacig kreisenden Soli kulminierend und immer wieder in wunderschönen Riffs breakend führt die Band den geneigten Freak durch ihre faszinierende Welt der tiefen Töne, stets garniert von Jakobs leidenschaftlicher Rockröhre. Sie ziehen alle Register guter Rockmusik, empfangen uns im ersten Song „Meridian“ mit einer Überraschung aus klassischen Südstaatenklängen, einer schönen tragenden Twingitarre. Und dann gleich wieder diese brutal geilen Riffs. Es knallt und rockt wie Sau, so muss das sein. Du liegst sofort auf den Vibes der Band und lässt Dich mühelos in den nächsten Kracher hinüber grooven, „Shadow“ betitelt. Herrliche Tempowechsel und ein fantastisches, melodiös rotierendes Gitarrensolo spacen Dich ab, der Flug hat längst begonnen.

So präpariert bist Du bereit für den ultimativen Showdown „All Wrong“, einer gut elf minütigen Stonerhymne, bei der mir ganz unwillkürlich der Titel eines berühmten Albums dieses Genres in denn Sinn kommt, Into The Sun. Genau dahin scheinen uns die Drei nun entführen zu wollen.

Zwanzig Jahre ist es her, dass ich in der Atacamawüste, dem trockensten Fleckchen auf Mutter Erde einst unterwegs war, um ein paar Berge zu erklimmen. Eine Landschaft, unwirklich wie zwischen Himmel und Erde, ultra heiß und unerbittlich, aber auch sagenhaft schön. Damals begleiteten mich wilde Gitarren eines Carlos Santana und Joe Satriani, aber mal ehrlich, was hätte „All Wrong“ für einen genialen Soundtrack damals abgeben können. Danke Jungs, dass Ihr mir nach so langer Zeit dieses Feeling gegeben habt. Das großartige Songwunder nimmt Dich Gänsehaut erzeugend auf, zieht Dich in seinen Bann und spielt mit Dir, mal psychedelisch lang gezogen, dann wieder Rhythmus peitschend und Muskel verachtend krachend. Der Fuzz durchdringt Dich, nimmt vollständigen Besitz von Dir. Ein fantastisches Stück Musik, das mich im Auftakt fast ein wenig an die irren Exkursionen meiner Lieblingsmaschinisten (The Machine) erinnert, mit dem sie auf der Bühne mein geliebtes Epos „First Unique Prime“ eröffnen. Überhaupt könnte man Timestone die eine oder andere Holländische Verwandtschaft andichten, denn die raffiniert schönen Melodien und Riffs lassen Gedanken an Sungrazer wach werden, die sich leider im vergangenen Jahr aufgelöst haben. Eigentlich aber verbieten sich solche Quervergleiche, wenn eine neue Band derart stilsicher und kreativ in der Lage ist, einen eigenen Duktus zu hinterlassen. Meine Herren, und das nach gerade mal drei Songs, Respekt.

Die Abmischung der Songs ist perfekt, ein wahrer Hörgenuss, der Dir alle Nuancen seines akustischen Universums transparent und voller Energie vermittelt. Diese EP ist ein Kleinod geiler, moderner Rockmusik und weckt den Hunger auf ganz viel mehr, vor allem aber auf die eine oder andere Liveperformance – aber da hoffe ich mal auf den Vorteil, mit der Band bekannt zu sein. Jungs, ich rechne mit Euch!

Timestone sind:

Jakob „Chewie“ – Gitarre, Gesang

Johannes – Bass

Walt - Schlagzeug

Links: 
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Bandcamp

by Michael

INTERVIEW - THE MOVEMENTS (SWE)

Last autumn the European psychedelic music scene became highly attentive to the new album of Sweden´s “The Movements”, called “Like Elephants 1”. It´s a wonderful homage to the music of the sixties, but it sounds also very fresh, cool and psychedelic.

We got the chance to talk with the band about their music, so say HEY to “The Movements”:

Hey guy´s, great to have you here for an interview. First of all, congratulations for creating such a great album. Do you think it is your best, yet?

Thanks! Ever since we decided to do this album the intention was to do an album that was way much better than anything we recorded before. For some years we were very restrictive to do tours, so we could focus on songwriting. When we started to record the album we had to work very hard to get the sound we wanted and when we finally found it we were so into this progress that we just kept on going and made two albums instead of one. We started to record these albums in 2010 and then we worked ourselves through it in various sessions. Everyone in the band makes songs and we have become much particular in choosing the material to work with. That´s why these two new albums are superior to our old ones, the songwriting is much more solid and the composing of the album is much more carefully planned. We have worked a lot harder with our lyrics as well. During the years we also learned a lot about recording and producing so for the first time we really made the album(s) that we intended to do.

The reactions to your album are fantastic, all over Europe. Many print media have discovered your band after the release of “Like Elephants 1”. Did you expect such a big reaction?

Well... We really like the album ourselves and have never doubted that it's a good one. But on the other hand: to hear and read nice words about something you spent hours, money and energy on making is something you want but never can expect. We're happy that people like it, what more can I say?

The first songs are floating into each other and it seems like the band is totally under stream and passion to play. Is there a special meaning why the songs are connected?

We have worked a lot at the flow of the music through the albums. Everything floats together, as you hopefully have noticed. The important thing for us is that every song fits in a good context with the other songs on each album. It was important for us to create strong albums and not just compilations of songs, and that the albums would to create a whole, a kind of continuity, together. But the challenge was also to make songs that could stand on their own as well. We tried various order of songs but at one point or another, the albums created themselves you could say.

Sweden seems to be an unbelievable fountain of great rock music, especially for retro stuff. This is completely different for example to Norway, as the guys from Lonely Kamel once told us. What do you thing, what could be the reason for that?

I have hard to believe that it's something in our water or school system that make great rock bands. Or the politics for that matter. One of the reasons might be that retro sounding bands get a better or second chance if they're Swedish. The "Sweden-brand" gives bands wind under their wings and that makes it easier to keep working, do shows abroad and so forth. Bands from outside Sweden also play great music but maybe they don't get the same attention right away if they're Norwegian, Danish or German. It's a positive spiral for Swedish bands, starting decades ago. That's my guess, anyway.

To clarify: I'm not saying Swedish band get more attention than they should, I'm saying people should pay more attention to what bands sound like than where they come from, which unfortunately isn't always the case.

What where your most important influences?

On these albums we were influenced by elephants. I don´t know if you know this but elephants have ways to communicate which goes beyond our understanding. They can communicate with some kind of sixth sense. We humans don´t really believe that we can do that but I think that music is exactly that. A way to communicate with each other. Sometimes it works much better than all other forms of communication and tells a lot more about a person playing or a person listening. The albums are about how we can sometimes glimpse that spiritual communication but we seem to have a problem opening up fully to it. To get the whole picture you can say. With these albums we hope to achieve some kind of deeper understanding of who we are to the ones listening to the albums, if they are interested.

We also have some musical influences, for example these records:

Morgan Delt - Barbarian Kings / Black Tuna Gang 7"

Entrance Band – Face The Sun

The Pyramids – King of kings

John Coltrane – Interstellar Space

Gene Clark – No other

Bombino - Nomad

Bo Hansson - El-Ahrairah (Music Influenced by Watership Down)

Do you listen to sixties music yourself or do you prefer more the modern versions of psychedelic rock, bands like Vibravoid for example?

I don´t know if I would classify Vibravoid as a “modern band”, even if they are from nowadays, he he! But they are a great band that we really like!!

For us it´s not important if a band/record is new or old. We like to listen to good music and then its unimportant if the recording are from 1929 or 2014 as long as it´s good.

As we said, German psych fans have reacted very positive to The Elephant. Can we hope for some live shows in Germany soon?

Yes, we are gonna do a tour in Germany in February so check our calendar for when and where in Germany we will be. You can expect us mainly performing songs from these two album´s, we have so many songs now we like to perform so I think it will be a very cool set this time.

What about Like Elephants 2, is it already written or are you going to create new songs and compose some new stuff just in future?

It will be released 7th of March 2014. Both of the records are recorded in same studio sessions and have a similar sound and concept, but with different songs of course. Some days ago I got the test press of “Like elephants 2”, and it sounds terrific.

Thank you very much for you being so kind to give us this interview. Like Elephants 1 was the first time for me to get in contact to your music, but surely it will not be the last. I´m looking forward to meet you on stage next time and of course to Volume 2 of The Elephant!

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by Michael