Stoner Hands of Doom Festival IV
Mesa, Arizona (suburban Phoenix), November 8-10, 2002.
SHOD website: http://shodfests.virtualave.net/hotels.htm
Organized by Rob Iron Man Levey and his wife Cheryl, the fourth Stoner Hands of Doom Festival was one of 2002s premier gatherings in the name of heavy stoner/doom music. 38 bands, ranging from local acts to world-famous names, joined together in the dry desert air to worship at the altar of heavy riffage. The festival was permeated by an air of happy mayhem, as friends old and new ingested their favorite poisons to a soundtrack of some of the best music on the planet. It was an experience that nobody in attendance will forget.
There arent too many things that will get me out of bed at 3 in the morning with a smile on my face, but the Stoner Hands of Doom fest is one of them. I was truly getting stoked by the time I hit the airport, only to be told that the commuter plane to St. Louis was broke. As in not working. After sleeping on the floor for 5 hours and wishing that the airports one restaurant was actually open, I was ready for the next flight, and I eventually got to Phoenix without any further problems. Fuckin A! I had never been to Arizona, and it was great to feel the warm, dry breezes and see the cactus growing next to the city streets of Mesa. I arrived at Hollywood Alley just in time for the first band, Hognose. First, a word about the venue: its a very cool two-room arrangement, with a low stage and booths in one room with a game room behind. The staff is very friendly, the sound is great, the food is tasty, and the beer is cheap. That completes my list of must haves when looking for a great place to see a band. And speaking of bands, there wasnt a bad one in the whole 38-band lineup. I saw almost all of them, and they all had something worthwhile to say. If I leave any names out its because of space restraints; every group kicked my ass in one way or another.
Festival meister Rob Levey was greeting folks at the door. His partner in crime, Cheryl, popped in and out throughout the weekend, with their 2 wonderful young boys in tow. I sat down just in time to hear the first band, local boys Hognose, who threw down some excellent hard stoner riffage. Friday night, however, pretty much belonged to the south. Super Heavy Goat Ass cranked up the earlier arrivals with their high-energy, in-your-face slammin southern heaviness. I remembered them as being good at SHOD 3, but they were freakin great this year! I dont know the title of the song, but one of my favorites of the whole fest was the first song by Southern Gun Culture, which was all male/female harmonies and heaviness. Truly beautiful. Of course, you cant talk about southern heaviness without names like Dixie Witch, Sour Vein, and Suplecs entering the conversation. Sour Vein, with their distinctive brand of dirty southern doom, experienced technical problems with their bass amp, but that didnt stop them from whipping us all like the red-headed stepchildren we are. Unfortunately, they would not be the only ones to experience bass amp problems. Dixie Witch improves every time I see them, and Friday night left me shaking my head in awe. The evening ended with a multiband jamming finale that was so excruciatingly hot that nobody in that room is likely to forget it. Thats the soul of music, baby!
For my money, Saturday had the strongest lineup. First among equals, anyway. Those of us lucky enough to arrive early were treated to the Melvins/Sabbath worship that is Core of the Earth. They even did a cover from Bullhead! Yeah! Floating Goat was an unexpected treat in a hard spacey stoner kind of way, with an unbelievable drummer. Greenhouse Effect WAS as good as I knew theyd be, but they were more doomy than I had expected after listening to their disc. The whole evening stepped up a notch in drugged intensity when Volume took the stage. Their unique brand of lysergic, heavy-as-fuck tuneage was complemented by strobes, smoke machines, and an acid rant from Pat. Now THATS the way this kind of music should be presented! Smoke in Sunshine, together after a 4-year-or-so hiatus, showed that keyboards do belong in stoner rock. SHOD favorites Slow Horse with Mace from the Rubes depping on bass - played a lot of tasty new material in their patented melodic doomy style. They were followed by Eternal Elysium, who were touring the US west with fellow doomsters Witch Mountain. The crowd ate up their brand of psychedelic doom. After all that, can you think of a suitable headliner? How about Unida? Damn, all I can say is 1 Inch Man. They brought down the house but good, despite more bass amp problems. Hint to club: rewire that circuit!
If Saturday had the strongest overall lineup, Sunday had some of the most intense individual bands of the whole fest. Blackwaters set of driving metal sounded like Forced Entry with less vocals (thanks Greg!). Denver, Colorados Iron Kind played some amazing heavy doom, including a Pentagram cover. Hell yeah! They even got Rob Levey up on stage to cover Iron Mans Dark Knight. I cant figure out why these guys arent signed. Belgiums Plague of Gentlemen, with their twin rough vocal attack, blew through the club like a howling icy wind of doom. With their complex changes and slow doomy feel, they crushed everyone in attendance. I didnt hear Hillbilly Devilspeak, but props for that look! There werent a whole lot of people in the club who had heard L.A.s Smoke and their doomy version of stoner rock before, but there were a lot of converts by the time they finished playing. The Rubes knocked everyone out with their take on the classic 70s sound. That voice! Those drums! That guitar! I dont know if you would call their cover of Zeps Black Dog an encore (I would), but it was one of the weekends high points, matched only by Unidas 1 Inch Man. The crowd was fuckin nuts! Pale Divine won my award for guitar playing for the weekend, despite the occasional tuning problem, and their bass player just kicks so much ass. Local favorites Sons of Serro showed much improvement from last years great set; theyre ready for the bigtime, make no mistake about it. Their heavy stoner sound bludgeoned the crowd into happy submission before Tummler brought it all home. There may have been reservations within the Tummler camp about headlining the show, but such concerns were all for naught, as proven by the enthusiastic crowd reaction.
As the afternoon turned into evening on Sunday, I could feel the familiar signs of Post-SHOD Depression coming on. The only known cure is to contemplate the next one, rumored to be in Portland, Oregon. In the meantime, Ive got about 50 CDs and 15 tees to remind me of how incredibly cool this years fest was. As always, the weekend was about meeting friends and learning once again about how incredibly cool everyone in the scene is. Not to mention the music! Special thanks and ups to: Rob and Cheryl Levey, Chris Barnes, the Hollywood Alley staff, Greenhouse Effect, Pat and Volume, Suplecs, Jadd and Spiritu, Slow Horse, Ume (sp?) and Eternal Elysium, Unida, Buddah and Blackwater, Steve and TPOG, Greg, the King of Musical Knowledge, Mace, and the unbelievable Rubes, Pale Divine, Nate (the other King of Musical Knowledge) Mountain, and most of all to my beautiful wife Karen, whos giving spirit helped make it all possible. See ya next year!
Mesa, Arizona (suburban Phoenix), November 8-10, 2002.
SHOD website: http://shodfests.virtualave.net/hotels.htm
Organized by Rob Iron Man Levey and his wife Cheryl, the fourth Stoner Hands of Doom Festival was one of 2002s premier gatherings in the name of heavy stoner/doom music. 38 bands, ranging from local acts to world-famous names, joined together in the dry desert air to worship at the altar of heavy riffage. The festival was permeated by an air of happy mayhem, as friends old and new ingested their favorite poisons to a soundtrack of some of the best music on the planet. It was an experience that nobody in attendance will forget.
There arent too many things that will get me out of bed at 3 in the morning with a smile on my face, but the Stoner Hands of Doom fest is one of them. I was truly getting stoked by the time I hit the airport, only to be told that the commuter plane to St. Louis was broke. As in not working. After sleeping on the floor for 5 hours and wishing that the airports one restaurant was actually open, I was ready for the next flight, and I eventually got to Phoenix without any further problems. Fuckin A! I had never been to Arizona, and it was great to feel the warm, dry breezes and see the cactus growing next to the city streets of Mesa. I arrived at Hollywood Alley just in time for the first band, Hognose. First, a word about the venue: its a very cool two-room arrangement, with a low stage and booths in one room with a game room behind. The staff is very friendly, the sound is great, the food is tasty, and the beer is cheap. That completes my list of must haves when looking for a great place to see a band. And speaking of bands, there wasnt a bad one in the whole 38-band lineup. I saw almost all of them, and they all had something worthwhile to say. If I leave any names out its because of space restraints; every group kicked my ass in one way or another.
Festival meister Rob Levey was greeting folks at the door. His partner in crime, Cheryl, popped in and out throughout the weekend, with their 2 wonderful young boys in tow. I sat down just in time to hear the first band, local boys Hognose, who threw down some excellent hard stoner riffage. Friday night, however, pretty much belonged to the south. Super Heavy Goat Ass cranked up the earlier arrivals with their high-energy, in-your-face slammin southern heaviness. I remembered them as being good at SHOD 3, but they were freakin great this year! I dont know the title of the song, but one of my favorites of the whole fest was the first song by Southern Gun Culture, which was all male/female harmonies and heaviness. Truly beautiful. Of course, you cant talk about southern heaviness without names like Dixie Witch, Sour Vein, and Suplecs entering the conversation. Sour Vein, with their distinctive brand of dirty southern doom, experienced technical problems with their bass amp, but that didnt stop them from whipping us all like the red-headed stepchildren we are. Unfortunately, they would not be the only ones to experience bass amp problems. Dixie Witch improves every time I see them, and Friday night left me shaking my head in awe. The evening ended with a multiband jamming finale that was so excruciatingly hot that nobody in that room is likely to forget it. Thats the soul of music, baby!
For my money, Saturday had the strongest lineup. First among equals, anyway. Those of us lucky enough to arrive early were treated to the Melvins/Sabbath worship that is Core of the Earth. They even did a cover from Bullhead! Yeah! Floating Goat was an unexpected treat in a hard spacey stoner kind of way, with an unbelievable drummer. Greenhouse Effect WAS as good as I knew theyd be, but they were more doomy than I had expected after listening to their disc. The whole evening stepped up a notch in drugged intensity when Volume took the stage. Their unique brand of lysergic, heavy-as-fuck tuneage was complemented by strobes, smoke machines, and an acid rant from Pat. Now THATS the way this kind of music should be presented! Smoke in Sunshine, together after a 4-year-or-so hiatus, showed that keyboards do belong in stoner rock. SHOD favorites Slow Horse with Mace from the Rubes depping on bass - played a lot of tasty new material in their patented melodic doomy style. They were followed by Eternal Elysium, who were touring the US west with fellow doomsters Witch Mountain. The crowd ate up their brand of psychedelic doom. After all that, can you think of a suitable headliner? How about Unida? Damn, all I can say is 1 Inch Man. They brought down the house but good, despite more bass amp problems. Hint to club: rewire that circuit!
If Saturday had the strongest overall lineup, Sunday had some of the most intense individual bands of the whole fest. Blackwaters set of driving metal sounded like Forced Entry with less vocals (thanks Greg!). Denver, Colorados Iron Kind played some amazing heavy doom, including a Pentagram cover. Hell yeah! They even got Rob Levey up on stage to cover Iron Mans Dark Knight. I cant figure out why these guys arent signed. Belgiums Plague of Gentlemen, with their twin rough vocal attack, blew through the club like a howling icy wind of doom. With their complex changes and slow doomy feel, they crushed everyone in attendance. I didnt hear Hillbilly Devilspeak, but props for that look! There werent a whole lot of people in the club who had heard L.A.s Smoke and their doomy version of stoner rock before, but there were a lot of converts by the time they finished playing. The Rubes knocked everyone out with their take on the classic 70s sound. That voice! Those drums! That guitar! I dont know if you would call their cover of Zeps Black Dog an encore (I would), but it was one of the weekends high points, matched only by Unidas 1 Inch Man. The crowd was fuckin nuts! Pale Divine won my award for guitar playing for the weekend, despite the occasional tuning problem, and their bass player just kicks so much ass. Local favorites Sons of Serro showed much improvement from last years great set; theyre ready for the bigtime, make no mistake about it. Their heavy stoner sound bludgeoned the crowd into happy submission before Tummler brought it all home. There may have been reservations within the Tummler camp about headlining the show, but such concerns were all for naught, as proven by the enthusiastic crowd reaction.
As the afternoon turned into evening on Sunday, I could feel the familiar signs of Post-SHOD Depression coming on. The only known cure is to contemplate the next one, rumored to be in Portland, Oregon. In the meantime, Ive got about 50 CDs and 15 tees to remind me of how incredibly cool this years fest was. As always, the weekend was about meeting friends and learning once again about how incredibly cool everyone in the scene is. Not to mention the music! Special thanks and ups to: Rob and Cheryl Levey, Chris Barnes, the Hollywood Alley staff, Greenhouse Effect, Pat and Volume, Suplecs, Jadd and Spiritu, Slow Horse, Ume (sp?) and Eternal Elysium, Unida, Buddah and Blackwater, Steve and TPOG, Greg, the King of Musical Knowledge, Mace, and the unbelievable Rubes, Pale Divine, Nate (the other King of Musical Knowledge) Mountain, and most of all to my beautiful wife Karen, whos giving spirit helped make it all possible. See ya next year!
