Heavy Psych Sounds Fest

Spring 2023

I have been lucky enough to enjoy an abundance of good live music lately. So far this year, I have been to Planet Mammoth Festival in Arizona, Godspeed! You Black Emperor at Pappy and Harriet’s, Heavy Psych Sounds Festival in Joshua Tree, an unforgettable night of experimental music The Palms and another show of newly-formed, local doom band, Mother, in Joshua Tree.

To the excitement of local residents, this year Heavy Psych Sounds Festival brought their show to Joshua Tree for the first time. It was quite a rare, special event. There are only a few doom metal bands native to the area, that I know of : The Holy Corrupt, a two-man heavy doom band that is heavy AF, Sandeater, (originally Mojave Rituals), and Mother, an offspring of This Lonesome Paradise, (a popular, dark, western band), called Mother. (My old band Ninetail Wolf, has been on hiatus for 5 years now.) A two-day festival with heavy acts from all over the country was a big event for Joshua Tree!

I already had my tickets to HPSF 2023 when I was pleasantly surprised to see that one of my two favorite bands (power heavy psych trio, Kadabra, from Spokane, Washington) was added to the bill. (My other current favorite band is Greenbeard, a blues/doom band out of Austin,Texas).

Kadabra absolutely stormed on stage. Chase, the drummer, broke a pair of sticks right in the first song, which was a correct omen of the show we were about to witness. The first two or three songs were instrumental ones I didn’t recognize (new material?) very much evoking style of their first album. Antics included drummer Chase stopping the crash cymbal with his tongue, bassist Ian having a stagehand restrap his bass on him mid-song, and a flurry of more broken sticks. Kadabra’s performance was heavy as fuck and on point. They played with so much passion, and such high energy. They poured themselves into every moment. Their sounds were thunderous, raucous, and evil, with heavy fuzz and Garrett's signature heaping dose of fuzz wah slathered throughout. Their raging tones tore through the atmosphere, commanding the attention of all nearby. The audience quickly and steadily grew, throughout their set. They played “Graveyard” straight away after the instrumental songs. Much like the first time I saw them live in San Diego, they blew me away. I was too captivated at first to get my usual allowance of one video, one or two pics per show until “Faded Black” (right after “Graveyard", just like on Ultra). The lead singer mellowed away from the high notes in “Graveyard”, but I can imagine that one needs to protect the voice during relentless touring. They played “Bean King” and “Settle Me" without skipping a beat. They didn’t play “Coyote”, which I would have loved to hear. Overall, they absolutely ripped and people in this town were still talking about their performance weeks later.

Stoner rock band Nebula brought their usual high-quality space-rock sound.They were true to form with the exception that bassist Tom wasn’t present, due to illness. Instead the bassist was (I think their original bassist?). Their was still great chemistry, although Tom is a favorite bassist of mine. Drummer Mike played like an unleashed beast in his ability to rock, but with exact, precise technical execution. Lead guitarist/singer Eddie was intriguing to watch, with his masterful guitar playing and his signature colorful quirky outfit. They played “To the Center”, “Highwired” and "Warzone Speedwulf", which is my favorite song of theirs for the insidious bass riff jam at the end. Their set was solid as I expected, despite Eddie mentioning that his fingers were cold.

I caught a couple songs by Feverdog, who played the indoor stage. The sound was excellent. The guys in Feverdog are always a joy to behold as they absolutely rip at breakneck speed and are fun to watch in their shiny 80s type jumpsuits. They are top dogs of their genre of stadium 80s throwback speed metal due to their masterful technical playing ability, of which I am consistently in awe. Despite their style, seeming a bit contrived, ie cheesy rehearsed-sounding banter, I highly recommend anyone go see them. They always put on an excellent show.

For my first time, I saw Weedeater, who headlined Saturday night. Their riffs were really really heavy-killer. They were solid and seemed to not miss a note. They were very cohesive, solid. One song droned on a bit too long. At that point, I took my friend who was showing signs of fatigue, to our friend's vintage clothes booth for a break. She had said earlier, in all seriousness, “I am going to have nightmares of the expression on the lead singer’s face”. In all fairness, she had a point. His angry expression was a bit scary. She said that he was spinning a bottle of liquor around in between sipping from it. I had heard about him doing this, but I couldn’t see over the crowd because of the taller people standing in front of me. I was standing in the back, as a precarious-looking mosh pit kept intermittently forming in the center. So, I took her word for it. Overall, I enjoyed their sound.

The second day of the festival, I wasn't able to attend, but I watched the videos people were posting and received live updates from my friends. It looked like another great day of great music.

I have only one bone to pick with HPSF. In two days of music (with 2 stages, over 20 bands and 16+ hours of music) there were only two female performers on stage (the bassist/singer of Hippie Death Cult (who, I am told, slayed) and the violinist of Spirit Mother). Now, in the genre of heavy metal/doom/sludge music, there are not a lot of females, that’s true. But, Faetooth, Spoonbenders, or Moonfuzz could’ve been good additions to the bill. Were they asked? Were they just busy? I don’t know. I realize that the premise of the festival was to showcase the Heavy Psych Sounds label bands, but if I’m not mistaken, there were a few bands booked at the festival that aren’t on the label, and they did include at least one local band that is outside of the genre (Third Ear Experience). And let me mention, if they were allowing bands outside of the genre, local female-fronted rock bands Flames of Durga or Firebug also could have been asked to play. For whatever reason(s) there was very low representation of female musicians (about 0.3% female). That is misleading I think, to lovers of heavy music, and a little sad.

Overall, the festival was awesome. I hope Heavy Psych Sounds Festival comes to Joshua Tree again next year. Otherwise, I'll consider making the trip to San Francisco.