Dear reader.

If this is the first time you visit Merchants Of Air, the following festival review might look  somewhat strange and unusual, almost fiction-like even. So, perhaps an explanation might not hurt. My name is Serge. I am the founder and chief in staff here but I am also a writer, one who recently finished his first novel. 'Cecilia's World', my debut, is a book about the world of alternative music, about life and about love. The main character is Cecilia, a sixteen year old girl who moves to a new city and gets acquainted with the local (and international) underground music scene.

Spoiler alert: at one point Cecilia volunteers at the VAR, a big venue where she gets familiar with the hussle and bussle of the music industry. The VAR is a completely fictional venue but it is inspired by Trix in Antwerp, the venue where Desertfest took place. In the book, a big stoner rock festival is mentioned, but there is no detailed write-up for that particular festival, mostly because it would probably add another 25 pages to a book that is already 355 pages long. 

During the second day of Desertfest 2017, I decided to turn my annual Desertfest review into an extension of 'Cecilia's World', following the young girl throughout the festival. She will see the bands I have seen. She will hear the conversations I have heard and she will buy the records I have bought. In that aspect, it will be a rather normal festival review, just from the point of view of a volunteer who does not really exist. If you enjoy reading this review, I am quite positive that you will like the book as well. You can order it here, there will be digital and printed versions. 

Cecilia looked in the bathroom mirror while she brushed her teeth. She was somewhat nervous but also looking forward to this big event. It was not her first festival and by now she knew the inside of the venue very well, but this was something different. Some of the other volunteers had told her that the weekend was going to be a busy one. Three days of hard rock, stoner rock, doom metal and psychedelic rock were waiting for her, along with probably tens of thousands of plastic cups to fill and to clean up after every concert. The festival was sold out, meaning that more than 1800 people would fill the venue. People had been talking about it. In the past few months, magazines had gradually announced bands, much to the delight of fans from all over the world. Cecilia had been following Desertfest on facebook and reading the people's reactions. People were thrilled. So was the young girl.

As had happened before, Johan had volunteered to pick her up and bring her back home again. Throughout the past months, the teacher had become a friend of the house. In fact, Cecilia's mother trusted him more than most of the younger boys and men. Besides, she still thought Johan had a girlfriend. He had never told her that that was a little lie. Why would he? Nothing bad had happened, on the very contrary. Cecilia stepped in the car, excited to plunge into a weekend of heavy psychedelic sounds. Discovering bands was her second favorite thing in the world and obviously, this weekend would guarantee heaps of new names. 

There they were, waiting for the doors to open. Almost all of them were wearing black shirts and black trousers. Most of the men sported heavy beards and tattoos. Some wore ear stretchers, others were emptying the cans of beer they had bought at the supermarket next door. The bunch looked like a vicious biker gang, preparing for a violent battle. The security people did not look impressed by those big, scary men. They smiled and had friendly chats with one another.

"Cecilia, come on in."
"Hey Walter. Big crowd already."
"Oh, it will be bigger."

​Walter gave Cecilia a volunteer bracelet and a time schedule before he quickly disappeared into one of the rooms. She looked at the schedule. Today, the Vulture Stage would be her workplace. She met up with the other volunteers and noticed that Kaleidobolt were already setting up. The party was about to start soon and would only come to an exhaustive halt on Sunday night. She looked towards the merchandise room which was already filling up with shirts, records and posters. The money in her pocket started itching.

The doors opened and calmly the visitors entered the venue. Some walked towards the Vulture Stage while others checked out the food trucks in the garden. Shortly after, Kaleidobolt climbed on stage, ready to kick off the fun. The band came up with a mix of vintage hard rock and progressive jazz jams and they did a decent job, but opening a festival like this on an hour like that is always an ungrateful task. Several people had already gone upstairs, where Caronte blasted their furious doom metal through the speakers. Cecilia watched them for a few minutes and she liked what she heard. Later, while throwing cups into the garbage bag, she overheard people saying that Caronte was an extremely early highlight.

In the big hall, dubbed 'The Desert Stage', All Them Witches delivered a smashing set of groove loaded hard rock, something Cecilia would be hearing a lot of during the weekend. In the already big crowd, she saw Johan nodding his head along with the "swampy blues" but for the girl it was time to take her place behind the bar again. There, Grime violently pounded the last sleeping audience members awake with their thick, filthy guitar riffs and skull bashing drums. Apparently, this musical extreme was a bit too much for the young girl and after a while she asked Walter if she could go for a little walk.

"Sure, take it easy. We still have two and a half day to go. Go upstairs, Minami Deutsch is about to start. I think that's more to your liking."

And it was. According to the booklet, Minami Deutsch started playing on the streets of Tokyo. Now, they entertained a surprising amount of people with their gentle but immersive krautrock. Cecilia loved it. For her, this was definitely the first highlight of the weekend. She took in a large part of the concert and before going back to her duties, she quickly visited the merchandise area to buy a first record. Through the opening and closing doors of the different rooms, she could pick up flashes of Lowrider but she promised herself to take it easy. Johan had warned her up front, "Desertfest is exhausting".

Back behind the bar at the Vulture Stage, Cecilia happily shook her hips along with the heavy but melodic sound of Black Lung. It was an excellent concert and the people seemed to enjoy it. Johan came in and walked to the back of the room to enjoy the concert but he quickly disappeared into the merch area. He waved at Cecilia but she did not notice him. She was too busy handing out drinks and collecting plastic coins.

After the concert, the room emptied again. Upstairs Gozu was about to play but now Cecilia grabbed the brush and collected all the rubbish. A few remaining audience members sat down on the wooden benches to enjoy the quiet, a burger and a fresh beer. For Cecilia and her colleagues there was a hot meal backstage. They talked about the concerts so far, about their own musical preferences and about either work or school. Cecilia however didn't really feel like talking a lot. She was getting tired. After all, she had already finished a day of school. After she finished her food, she walked to the Desert Stage to see and hear what Radio Moscow was all about. She could not make it past the door since a large crowd had gathered to witness the psychedelic blues rock legends enchant everyone. 

-16- closed down the Vulture Stage with an overwhelming bombardment of sludge metal and noise rock. Much like Grime earlier that day, -16- blasted their music through the speakers with sheer ferocity and brutality. It was amazing, this time Cecilia was impressed, but just not enough to buy a CD. By the end of the destructive set, most people were already walking upstairs to see Belgian sludge masters Steak Number Eight do their very best to set the Canyon stage ablaze. They did and for a short while Cecilia stood at the back, listening and watching the outrageous audience. Then she left to once again clean the Vulture Stage and wait for Johan to drive her home.

"Did you have fun?"
"Of course, although I have to say that a bit more variation couldn't hurt."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, there was a lot of stoner rock and sludge metal today. That's ok, but I would have greatly enjoyed some drone ambient or space rock."
"Minami Deutsch was different."
"True, and they were the absolute highlight of the day for me."
"For me too. I bought the record."

"Good morning sweetie."
"Morning dad."
"How is Desertfest going?"
"Pretty good. It's great fun."
"That's good. By the way. Johan called this morning. He can't pick you up, he's got some errands to run before he can make it to the festival."
"That's ok, I'll take the tram."

​On Saturday, Cecilia took her place behind the bar at the Desert Stage, the biggest one in the whole venue. It was always packed to capacity, even with the first bands. Since the day promised to be busier than the previous one, Cecilia promised herself to work a little harder and miss a few bands. She was sure that she would catch up on a later date. Still, she strolled into the Vulture Stage where A Supernaut delivered a highly enjoyable set. They did not seem to mind that they had to open, on the contrary. With their gloomy rock and roll sound, A Supernaut quickly got the audience shaking their behinds.

Upstairs, another Belgian band, Hidden Trail, was about to deliver a groovy set of stoner rock but Cecilia decided to stay downstairs and focus on the task at hand: deliver drinks to fans of The Vintage Caravan. This band from Iceland had been on Desertfest before, pleasantly surprising the audience in the Vulture Stage with their vintage hard rock. Now, opening the main stage, The Vintage Caravan showed a matured but equally impressive set, which Cecilia only heard. Johan saw the bigger half and spent the rest of the concert at the bar, talking to his student.

"Busy?"
"One after another."
"Yeah, I just heard that they're breaking records on beer consumption. Thousands of liters will pass through people's stomach this weekend."
"I know. I heard they found a half naked drunk guy on the parking lot last night. Feel asleep while peeing."
"Well, that happens. I've seen a guy who could barely walk but perfectly balance two full cups in his hands. He drank them, sat down, fell asleep and was carried out by his friends."
"Oh, the one with the "Fuzz Off" shirt? I saw him get carried away."
"Yeah."
"Guess what. He walked back in a hour ago and ordered two beers."
"Tsss, young people."
"Hey."

For Cecilia, King Hiss was the first real highlight of the day. With their heavy and intense stoner rock, these Belgians almost effortlessly set the Canyon stage ablaze. They pretty much blew the roof off the place. As pretty much every band on Desertfest, King Hiss was blessed with an excellent - but loud - sound, which undoubtedly helped them get over with the crowd. The second highlight followed immediately after, when Stoned Jesus electrified the main stage, also with an energetic array of stoner rock. This day was already promising to be better than the previous one and, according to what Cecilia overheard people say, Sunday was going to be even better. But now, it was brushing time, which was not an easy task with hundreds of people tripping over the brush.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Do you know where I can buy some weed?"
"In Holland probably."
"No, seriously. Do you know anyone here?"
"No man, sorry, can't help you with that."
"Damn. Well, I'll have a drink then."
"That I can help you with."
"Great. I'll have a cola."
"You're not from here, are you?"
"No, I live in Poland."
"And you travel here just for Desertfest?"
"Yeah, I have been doing it every year. It's my vacation."

Cecilia noticed how it seemed to be much easier to talk to rockers than to her classmates. In school, she was not unpopular and she made a few close friends but she never felt like "one of the guys". Here at Desertfest, it was different. People were nice, friendly and pretty much always in for a decent chat. While Unsane was setting up in the big hall, the girl tried to check out White Manna and Church Of The Cosmic Skull. She adored the krautrock inspired sounds of the first one but she could not get into the vibe with the second so she quickly returned to her duties.

Walter had told her that Unsane was a legendary band and indeed, the Desert Stage was soon packed to capacity. More than a thousand people were eagerly awaiting this noise rock vehicle to pound them into a bloody pulp and Unsane did exactly that. Cecilia did not go in but she shook her head along with the music, just like everyone else in attendance. This was surely another highlight of the day, if not the entire festival. The money in Cecilia's pocket started itching again.

From then on, Cecilia was so caught up in her soda duty that she missed much of the other acts. Troubled Horse and Beastmaker would still be unknown to her, but Windhand pleasantly surprised her. She knew the band from a live album, recorded a few years earlier, which she had been listening to in the record shop. But here, live on stage, Windhand simply proved why they are such a legendary band. This was an immersive set with all the right ingredients to make it memorable.

Ohhms and Satan's Satyrs seemed to have become the victims of the sheer excellence in the main hall. Cecilia heard people say that both bands did an awesome job but she was way too busy with bottles, cups and coins. Yet, she still managed to walk into the Vulture stage at the moment House Of Broken Promises was delivering an intense and solid hard rock medley. She recognized songs by Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Again, only a few people were there to enjoy the rock 'n roll orgy and the band's own songs, mostly because Graveyard was headlining at the Desert Stage. Graveyard was probably the calmest band on this entire festival and heaps of people had shown up to enjoy these delightful rock tunes.

For Cecilia the shift ended there and after cleaning up, she walked into the garden. She was tired and sat down on one of the benches. Many people had already left and the weird noise rock of Dÿse was apparently not suited for everyone. For Cecilia neither was the afterparty as she gladly chose her bed over another night of heavy drinking and headbanging. 

"Good morning rock chick."
"Morning dad, mom."
"How is the festival going?"
"They drank 2500 liters of beer yesterday. The cocktail bar ran out of rum by nine. It's Unsane."
"Well, it is pretty warm for the time of year."
"Yeah, dad, that'll be it."
"By the way, I heard Harry is at the festival too."
"Really? I haven't seen him yet."
"Will you be careful?"
"I'll be good. Don't worry, mom."

Walter greeted Cecilia when she walked into the venue. He said that other volunteers would now work the whole day and that Cecilia was free to roam around until her services were needed. She was glad to hear that and quickly stormed into the merchandise room. She had become an extremely fast record scroller. Her fingers rushed through the vinyl. Then she tried on a few bandshirts and checked out the beautiful posters before she heard the first guitars of the day, blasting through the speakers in the Vulture stage. It was Big Fat Lukum, a Belgian band that immediately set the smallest venue on fire with their groovy stoner rock. The atmosphere was set, this was truly about to become the best Desertfest day of the three.

Upstairs, High Fighter continued the adrenaline pumping riffs in an aggressive way and in the big venue Monolord awoke the last sleepers. During Partisan, she got engaged in a conversation with a man wearing a Ziggy Marley t-shirt. They talked about music, about her teacher Johan and about the excellent food here in the garden. But suddenly, after checking his phone, he rushed off back into the venue and up the stairs.

"This is going to be a definite highlight", he said before leaving.

He was right too. The Canyon stage was about to become the decor for a massive ritual by Belgian post metal masterminds Hemelbestormer. They played four songs, and much like the guy with the Ziggy shirt, Cecilia watched the whole thing with her mouth wide open in amazement. Hemelbestormer delivered a rollercoaster of riffs, soundscapes and drums, much to the delight of the crowd. Halfway through their set, several people left to see doom metal legends Church Of Misery but Hemelbestormer easily managed to entertain the majority of the people.

So did Church Of Misery, the Japanese pinnacle of doom metal. Cecilia watched the remainder of the show and enjoyed it as much as everyone else. She saw some familiar faces banging their heads and almost in tears because of the sheer power and quality. But once again, several people left early to find a good spot for the Dool concert upstairs. That one was yet another highlight. Gothic doom rock from an insanely high level, fronted by a charismatic and energetic frontwoman. Near the end of their set, they came up with a surprising cover of 'Love Like Blood' from Killing Joke. For Cecilia, and plenty of other people, this was certainly a top-5 gig.

Sunday was a busy day with loads of people walking the stairs from gig to gig, leaving only a handful people in the Vulture stage. After Dool, the horde walked to Saint Vitus and after Saint Vitus they climbed the stairs again to see Mantar. For a while Cecilia walked among them. She loved the traditional doom metal of Saint Vitus and she was amazed by the axe wielding battle doom of Mantar but she knew that the best was yet to come. She felt it. It could have been Kadavar, who delivered an intense array of old school hard rock. Heads were banged, no doubt about that, even Cecilia engaged in the joyous action of "hair everywhere".

But when she finally stepped into the Vulture stage, for the first time that day, Cecilia and a few other people were about to be awestruck by Spirit Valley. This had very little to do with stoner rock, doom metal or noise rock. No, here was a band that opened with Suicide like electronics, only to suddenly blast out in a whirlpool of new wave, post punk and psychedelic rock. Suddenly, the vulture stage had transformed into an eighties party. Cecilia saw familiar faces, the guy with the hat and leather jacket, the guy with the Ziggy t-shirt and Walter, all dancing wildly. 

"That was awesome."
"Yeah, it was. Who would have thought that a non stoner rock band would win a stoner rock festival?"
"Win? Really?"
"Well, they became my number one discovery here. But of course, there is also Conan."

As much as Spirit Valley had set the vulture stage ablaze, Melvins wrecked the Desert stage. Cecilia forced herself a way into the crowd to see King Buzzo and friends cover a Beatles tune and simply having tonnes of fun with their own music. For a while she enjoyed the intense set, until nature called. At the toilets, fueled by The Melvins' pounding rhythm and a bit too much alcohol, a guy wearing a Dopethrone shirt was flirting with one of the sanitary women. Cecilia grinned. She was already happy that it wasn't Harry.

The girl had been free all day, simply walking from stage to stage, buying records, eating delicious food and chatting with passersby. Often she sat down to message Christian, Jeffrey or Lisa. But in the end, it was time to indulge herself in the caveman battle doom of Conan. Where Melvins had wrecked the Desert stage, Conan just destroyed the Canyon stage. Earplugs were a necessity, certainly for Cecilia, who was quite attached to her hearing abilities. But of course, Conan is not just music for the ears. Conan simply takes over people's entire body and won't let go until it hurts. That is exactly what happened and after an hour Cecilia's body was feeling the effects of three days Desertfest. She left the venue behind her and started walking to the tram stop. Conan was still raging like a madman.

Right, that was fun to write. I think I enjoyed writing this review just as much as I enjoyed Desertfest. Undoubtedly, this was another high feast in the world of psychedelic stoner doom hard rock, or whatever it is called nowadays. For me personally, Spirit Valley, Minami Deutsch, Conan and Hemelbestormer were the four greatest acts on this year's edition. Perhaps I did not see as many bands as I wanted to but on an event like Desertfest, such a thing is almost unthinkable. I'm extremely curious about next year's line-up and I most definitely will go to Desertfest Belgium 2018, unless something really bad happens. 

You might have guessed it. I was the guy with the Ziggy Marley t-shirt. I happen to be the only one in attendance who knew and knows Cecilia pretty well. I created her half a year ago and I spent many evenings writing down her story. A few days ago, I finally managed to get that story approved for publication. If you liked what I wrote for Desertfest, you might like the book as well, even more so because there are way more genres and bands in the book ànd it has a neat "coming of age" story too. 

You can order the ebook, as well as a printed copy. Just go to the 'Cecilia's World' tab on top of this page or just click here. You can also visit your favorite ebook retailer. They should have it by now. Thank you for reading and see you at Desertfest 2018 (or earlier of course. I don't know about you but I'm not going to sit and wait until October 2018 to see another bunch of awesome bands.).


​Serge

Aah, Desertfest, one of Belgium's most exhausting weekends of the year, an orgy of fuzz, distortion and psychedelic jams, expanding our minds while at the same time demolishing our eardrums. 

I've been to the first and second edition of Desertfest so I expected nothing less than an absolute blast. In that, I'm undoubtedly not the only one. Everyone has high expectations for this festival, certainly since they recently expanded to Athens. 

​About that, perhaps it's time to add a fourth skull to their logo?

As you might be used by now, we don't have many high quality photos to go with this review. There are a few reasons for that, each one eventually leading to me taking pictures with my smartphone and hoping they would turn out ok. For starters, my camera is perfectly suited to make pictures of robins and tits (the birds, but it'll probably work just as well on the body parts), but fails when it has to focus on a musician on stage. Second, on a festival like Desertfest it's annoying to walk around with cameras, backpacks or anything that makes me wider than I already am. It's crowded enough in there and I can do without people accidentally getting stuck to the camera bag. 

Which actually takes me to a first point of criticism. Weren't there a bit too many people at Desertfest? It was crowded as hell, lacking pretty much every possibility to get away from people and things for a while. I usually don't mind being jampacked into a crowd at a brilliant concert but I also like to be able to sit down, enjoy a little breather and have a conversation with someone at a reasonable volume level. 

And since I'm writing about a little breather once in awhile. Personally, I wouldn't mind adding a few drone or ambient acts to the line up. They fit quite well with the already massive amount of musical styles and I'm sure they could be a welcome little getaway from the harshness of the multitude of performances. So, how about adding acts like Stratosphere, Ashtoreth, Dirk Serries or Aidan Baker to the line-up next year?

Oh well, perhaps I'm just becoming an old man who can't handle the youthful energy anymore. Although, I have to say, I definitely wasn't the oldest person in attendance. That one could have been Bobby Liebling who at 62 still knows very well how to bewitch a huge audience. That Pentagram gig sure was something to remember. It was as if we all witnessed the birth of doom metal again, with riffs we all can remember and we all love so much.

​Desertfest are slowly shedding off their "stoner-rock" skin, and that's a good thing. With the addition of thrash and black metal inspired bands, the line-up already gained a little more variation. Strangely enough, it were those bands that eventually stole the show. Alkerdeel, Wolvennest and Black Swarm were simply stunning, and all definitely deserving a spot in my best-of-Desertfest list. 

I enjoyed the majority of the concerts, and you, dear reader, are here to read about those, aren't you? Well, you're lucky because there were only five bands I didn't see. I admit, I've seen very few concerts in their entirety because of my journalistic duties and because I wanted to check out as much as possible. Yet, I think I managed to see enough to get a decent impression of the bands. The ones I missed were Josefin Örhn & The Liberation (I'll complain about that with De Lijn, the Belgian public transport screw-ups), Mother's Cake, The Atomic Bitchwax and the last two bands on the bill, Toxic Shock & Vodun (simply because of pure and utter exhaustion - old man, remember?).

It was a cold, rainy day. Gray clouds dominated over a landscape of traffic jams. I took the bus to a park not far from the Trix venue and decided to have a little stroll in the green before I was about to embark on my noise-filled mission. After all, I wasn't feeling to well, as I mentioned on facebook. I carried several painkillers with me and promised myself not to be crushed by a hangover on day two of the festival. After arriving and being checked for explosives and weaponry, I entered the venue to the fuzz-fueled sounds of Black Wizard, who were already playing at the Vulture stage. I liked what I heard, but I don't think I was ready to party yet. Several people were, and the band too looked in a good mood and ready to kick off this festival in style. We had lift-off, that was for damn sure.

Upstairs, the festival would really blast off with a stunning performance by Belgian horde Alkerdeel. They simply bashed the Canyon stage with their vigorous and intense black metal induced filth. For a moment, I felt sorry for the drummer who continuously accompagnied the grinding noise of his bandmates with ferocious blastbeats. He had quite a painful look on his face when he reached top speed. Still, bloody impressive performance if you ask me. 

In the big hall, aptly named the Desert Stage, Torche was about to kick off. For a while, I really enjoyed their glorious blend of alternative rock and sludge and I could see I wasn't the only one. In fact, a lot people came early and seemed to enjoy the first shows. So yes, Torche played in front of an almost full venue, damn well deserved too. They simply delivered the goods and the audience was definitely pleased about that.

Yet, I've always been more interested in the smaller bands, so I quickly walked towards the Vulture stage where SubRosa was about to start. I really liked their album 'For This We Fought The Battle Of Ages' (read review) and I was curious about their mysterious doom being played live. At first the gig couldn't please me, something wasn't right. Perhaps it was the sound but the band didn't convince me. Eventually, I walked back upstairs where Your Highness would make us Belgians proud. They did. This was solid, for as long as I saw them. Shortly after they started, I had to go downstairs again for journalistic duties. Waiting there, I was able to check out some more of what Subrosa delivered and by now it sounded convincing, making me enjoy what was left of the show.

Back at the Desert Stage, the doomers from Yob would once again roll over an astonished audience, like they already did earlier and pretty much like they always do. Yob is Yob, and their performances are simply intense and captivating. These guys are always worth the effort and on this edition of Desertfest that wasn't very different. Yet, I was being dragged into the Vulture stage again, to see the first band I had to interview on this festival.

That band was Black Rainbows who kicked off with the infectious 'Electrify' and continued raging that fire throughout their entire set. Suddenly, the Vulture Stage felt too small for these guys and I felt sorry for them. This quality should have at least been booked on the Canyon Stage, upstairs. In my opinion, this was one of the highlights in a Desertfest packed with heavy psychedelic music, even though not that much people showed up for this one. I guess those people were still enjoying Yob or some nice food. Their bad, Black Rainbows was bloody awesome.

In fact, they were so awesome that I left Coogan's Bluff's & Joy's performance after a few minutes. I felt like I had experienced enough intensity for a while so I went outside for a drink, some food and a nice chat with Black Rainbows. Besides, I still wasn't feeling so well. From what I heard, both bands delivered a decent to excellent performance, so that seems ok. By the way, I would also miss most of Black Cobra because I really, really, really didn't feel like listening to hardcore induced sludge metal anymore, at least not for a while.

I did catch some Red Fang and I must say that I underestimated these guys. To be honest, I wondered why they headlined instead of Yob, but now I understand. Goddammit these guys are good, delivering a massive set in front of an ecstatic crowd. The Desert stage looked packed to capacity, and with good reason too. This was a party, and definitely one that the majority of visitors bought a ticket for.

Top 3

1. Alkerdeel
2. Black Rainbows
​3. Red Fang

The weather improved, and so did my overall mood. I felt a bit better than the day before. Black Mirrors seemed to help a little as well, making me realize that day two had kicked off and throwing a smile on my face. While listening to the music from outside, I had a chat with some friends, colleagues and merch people. Perhaps I should have payed a bit more attention to the band, but I'll make up for that somewhere in the near future.

Upstairs, again a Belgian band would blast itself into my top-3 and again one with blackened influences. Their name is Wolvennest and they delivered one of the strongest performances I've seen at Desertfest ànd in 2016. A blend of doom, dark ambient, krautrock and black metal filled the room, which was soaked in utter darkness. Many people were entranced by this performance. Afterwards, I heard several witnesses claim that this was so intense and immersive that it was indeed one of the best concerts at this festival.

In fact, Wolvennest was so good that Purson had the utmost difficulty to come close, and in the end they never did. Not that this was a bad concert, on the very contrary. The band seemed in a good mood, a decent part of the audience danced and the guy running the accompanying projection had loads of fun. I guess I just wasn't into it that much. Same counts for Giobia by the way. Again, decent to excellent performance but hey, I still had one and a half day of this stuff to go through and I was already sure I'd seen more bands than most people. Hell, I can say the exact same thing about the Elder gig, which I enjoyed for a while. It was good but not memorable enough at this point, not for me.

For memorable moments you had to be upstairs, where 1000Mods crushed the Canyon stage. Their album is a blast (read review) and seeing them perform these awesome songs live was stunning. These guys know what they're doing, that's for sure. They have been doing this for quite some time now and it looked like they. Finally I felt in the mood to party a little and I started a little headbanging session. They gig was short but certainly intense enough.

One of the biggest surprises on this festival, were Arabrot. Oh man, I really digged the theatrical approach to whatever music it is these people make. This was a great performance, perhaps on a stage that is a bit too small for bands with this charisma. Still, hell of a gig, and that also counts for Cough, who bulldozed their thick sludge over an audience that willingly took the abuse. It was great to see those heads nodding to the rhythm of the music, as if Cough brought an army of bobble-heads with them. 

Colour Haze was announced as the replacement for Graveyard, who suddenly split-up. Personally, I don't think that was a very good choice. To me, it felt like the trio was playing on automatic pilot, without really being interested what anyone thought about their performance. Maybe during the concert things got better but I never witnessed that. I went for a bite, a smoke and an excellent gig by Hangman's Chair. Their melodic stoner doom is something I can enjoy pretty much every day, and certainly when played live. 

Interview duties made me miss the apparently amazing performance by The Atomic Bitchwax and a big part of Weedeater. I did see a little of the latter and what I saw was pretty damn nice. Same counts for the masked bards of Salem's Pot but I needed to rest. So I went upstairs, where at that moment very few people were strolling around or sitting, having a little break, just like me. At this point, I also realized that three days of Desertfest might be a bit too much, and that the festival could definitely do with a few drone/ambient acts (yeah, I'm trying to push this). 

That was until Ahab climbed on the stage. In a way, their somewhat gothic funeral doom sounded a bit off at this festival but I loved every second of it. My fatigue was over, my attention was back and I was ready to sprint to the finish of this second day. The Germans certainly delivered the goods and the energy I needed to get me through the rest of the day. Obviously, the one profiting the most from that were doom legends Pentagram. Of course Pentagram was amazing, of course we all heard these riffs before, of course this was a worthy headliner for another great day. Hell, they even blew away all memory I have of the concert by Electric Citizen. Sorry.

The evening ended with Monkey3 who had a new album to present. Here I could aso throw in a lot of 'of courses'. If you know Monkey3, you will be aware that these guys always come up with quality.  Whether it's the music, the visual aspect of their performances or recently added vocals, Monkey3 always makes things fit together. On Desertfest that was no different, a typical Monkey3 concert, excellence from a band that does not know how to disappoint their audience.

Top 3

-Wolvennest
-Pentagram
-1000 Mods

This day started out a bit different from the other two, including a visit from my in laws and a bus that never showed up. So I arrived quite late at Trix. Too late to see ​Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation but just early enough to throw myself into the drones and noise of a band named Dorre. The guys from Leuven sounded pretty damn solid and I'm anxious to see an entire set from them soon.

Then, a number of bands would fall into something I like to call 'the fatigue trap'. Moaning Cities were ok but not as immersive and emotive as I've seen them before. Komatsu could have been a lot better if there would have been a bit more variation on the line-up. I liked their performance, but you know, it was stoner rock, again. In that aspect, the gig from Earth Ship completely passed me by and I started to wonder if it was me. It was. The crowdedness and intensity of the past few days (along with a headstrong cold) were taking their toll. Even My Sleeping Karma, a band I secretly adore, couldn't do the trick. For a moment, I thought "perhaps it's best if I just go home and sleep for a few weeks in a row".

Instead, I headed to the Vulture stage where Black Swarm would soon climb on stage. Before I realized it, I was fiercely banging my head to this massive blend of thrash metal and hardcore. Maybe this was the kind of variation I was so eagerly looking for, but these guys rocked  & thrashed themselves into becoming one of the absolute highlights of this festival. This felt so underground, so genuine that I could easily imagine undergoing this gig at Antwerp Music City. Black Swarm have just announced their split and a final performance at Rodeo Winter Fest. All of you have to come over and witness this. 

From Black Swarm to Duel seemed like going back to the whole stoner rock thing again but eventually these acts caused me to SMS 'it's getting better and better' and 'Duelicious' to my wife. Oh man, that Duel gig was electric. From start to finish the vintage heavy metal blasted through the speakers. These guys are made of sheer energy, and I'm damn happy I could have a chat with one of them (you'll read that soon on this website). Duel delivered exactly what I expected from this festival, a brilliant performance, rising to absolute genius.

A much welcome piece of variation, came from the shamanic duo of Tau. With their festive and celebratory music, made by vocals, an acoustic guitar and a drum, this duo invited all in attendance to a moment of meditation and dance. I've seen these guys before (at Incubate) and I welcomed their music for a while until interview duties dragged me back upstairs. I had a few minutes left to check out Belgian legend La Muerte, and much to my delight,  I walked in when they started playing a stunning, quite industrial sounding track. I don't know the name of that song, but I'm sure I'll be searching through their releases to find this awesome piece of work.
​
During the set of Lonely Camel, I had a nice chat with Jeff & Shaun from Duel (you can read about that soon). So I missed most of Lonely Camel's gig but from what I could hear, it sounded like a band to see again pretty soon. Back downstairs, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats kicked off their set in front of a packed Desert stage. They started with the iconic 'Mt. Abraxas', a song I'll probably love until the end of days so I was immediately in the right mindset for this performance. Of course, the stunning shows by Black Swarm and Duel had already given me wings and the necessary energy to see a few more bands. Uncle Acid was amazing. I loved every single second of it.

But then, the man with the hammer appeared, chasing me throughout the venue and the food corner. Castle sounded alright, but too heavy at that time, which could also be said from Scorpion Child. So I ordered one final drink and walked back to the Desert stage where Goat were about to begin. For a second I thought it would be funny to simply put an actual goat on the stage as a piece of performance act or something. The enigmatic Swedish act opened in a beautiful and highly immersive way, making me forget about that man with the hammer for a while. I let myself float along with the psychedelic beauty of Goat for about half an hour before I finally decided that it had been enough for me. The edition of Desertfest was over. Another day, another time and I would have loved to see Toxic Shock and the strange act Vodun but for now, it was time to say goodbye to the massive crowd, the friendly security and that amazing yearly gathering that Desertfest Belgium has become.

Top 3

-Duel
-Black Swarm
-Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats

This was another amazing edition of Desertfest, which obviously is no longer merely a travelling stoner circus. The addition of thrash metal bands like Toxic Shock and Black Swarm, plus the celebratory music of Tau definitely added a welcome  touch of variation to the line-up. I hope they continue that trend in the future.  Oh well, there are so many bands I still want to see and would therefore recommend to this festival, Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, Master Musicians Of Bukkake, Winter, Dale Cooper... The list goes on and on. 

I'm sure Desertfest 2017 (13-15 October) will be another blast with a solid line-up and loads of delicious stuff to be discovered. Speaking about delicious, I love those food trucks, but it could do with one more, one that does something Italian. That would definitely add a bit of variation to our Desertfest-diet. 

See you next year, you sweaty, bearded and beer soaked men & women...


​Serge

Trix Antwerp - 10-12 oct 2014

What was I thinking?  Three days of stoner rock, doom and psychedelic rock: I should have known that it would wear me down to complete exhaustion.  So here I am, only a few days after the assault, my legs have stopped cooperating, my back hurts and my head aches.  It’s like having a hangover but not from alcohol, more like a volume-hangover or something.   But what a sweet hangover it is.
 
Desertfest Belgium is not really a new festival, although it was the first time the organization came to our country.  Previously the festival has taken place in London and Berlin, solidifying their spot in the world of all things “stoner”.  The younger cousin of the Dutch Roadburn festival completely sold out and took over the Trix venue like a boss. The venue seemed to be perfect for this, with three stages (Desert Stage, Canyon Stage and Vulture Stage), a market and a food garden.
 
(artwork: Charles Degeyter - facebook)
 




FRIDAY
 
Because we’re working people I missed the first few bands.  I arrived when Valley of the Sun was almost at the end of their set.  What I heard was good old dirty riffing that sounded very promising.  Hopefully I can see the band again soon.  Upstairs Toner Low had already started their set.  Their unwieldy doom sound almost reached perfection and their weed leaf projections only added to the atmosphere. Unfortunately I wasn’t completely ready for their heavy stoner doom yet but again, I’d like to see them again.
 

Truckfighters were the most active band from a merchandise point of view.  They were the band with the most t-shirts, hats, records, buttons… on the entire festival.  Apart from that, their music was really welcoming.  Heavy, up-tempo riffing an pounding drums reminded me of old Warrior Soul, a band that I thought about a lot about on Friday.
 
Off to the Vulture Stage where The Vintage Caravan was about to start.  These young Icelanders were really impressive.  They convinced the entire audience with their uplifting seventies hard rock, being the first highlight of the festival.  With bands like these, the future of quality music is secure.  The Bevis Frond is an experienced live band with some very good musicians.  They started with a great piece of music, sometimes reminding me of Pink Floyd.  However, they could not continue to fascinate me. Maybe I was just getting tired.
 
Kadavar, on the other hand, did so.  Their set was basically the same as at Incubate but that didn’t matter one little bit.  Kadavar did what they do best: rock our socks off with more than decent seventies hard rock.  So yes, to me they were second highlight of the day and simply the best band playing on the first day of Desertfest.  Lecherous Gaze had the opportunity to finish day one with their heavy sleaze-rock but just like with The Bevis Frond earlier I didn’t feel it. Another time, another place maybe.
 
 
SATURDAY
 


Day two of Desertfest looked very promising on paper. So I hurried to be at Trix on time to see David Celia.  Celia, the only solo-act on this festival, was able to charm most of the audience with his introvert acoustic folk.  It was a very nice set indeed.  After his set it was time for the Belgians to impress.  First up was Moonward, a young stoner/psych rock band.  With a very solid live set these youngsters convinced the audience of their talents.  Great good old stoner rock, reminding us of the early days when the genre consisted of Kyuss and Fu Mancu.  Keep an eye open for these guys, and while you’re at it, go watch Cowboys and Aliens (interview) as well.  I did so and I was extremely happy about it too.  Cowboys and Aliens are a Flemish rock band formed in the nineties.  They played their set with an enormous amount of enthusiasm and energy, immediately convincing us of their quality and experience, winning a lot of well-deserved fans.  
 
Suddenly there was a gap. For some reason I can’t remember the Death Alley, Dirty Fences and Steak gigs.  Maybe because of the fact that they sounded pretty much alike or maybe because Cowboys & Aliens was that amazing.  Same goes for Your Highness for some reason and I hope I can see them again pretty soon because Your Highness is one of the most promising bands in the area at the moment.  I did watch a bit of Satan’s Satyrs and I kinda liked it.  Their stoner punk was very entertaining and they were a lot of fun to watch as well.
 
But it was time to wander towards the extremes.  First up was Herder, hailing from the Netherlands and blasting its fury over an almost full venue.  At this point they might have been the most popular band at this festival, and with reason.  Herder is on top of the contemporary sludge scene and an excellent live band.  Very strong.
 
I had time for a little trip to the bathroom so I went downstairs again and showed my toilet-wristband (also called 'Pisspass').  The toilet lady said that I was wearing yesterdays pisspass and that I had to buy a new one.  I looked at the floor and the urinals and decided it was actually worth paying the two euros again.  After all, the ladies did an excellen job.  So I bought a new pisspass and said that 'I'll take two pieces of candy than'.  The woman smiled.

Being a doom fan, I was looking forward to Pallbearer and Yob and I was very right to do so.  Both bands played a more than excellent set, assuring themselves the top spots on this festival.  I can’t decide which of both was the best so let’s call it a draw and go buy some cds and t-shirts dammit.  I felt that a lot of people were actually waiting for their somber but awesome doom after witnessing the many up-tempo rocking bands that already played, so both Pallbearer and Yob could count on an enthusiastic audience.
 

The Shrine, another deity in the making, continued Herder’s work and started a huge party at the Canyon stage.  Hard rock at its best and at its stoniest, or something like that.  Very entertaining stuff here.  Celeste kicked ass but I feel that the Vulture stage was too small for this black sludge band.  Their minimal live performance (nothing but a red light on their heads) and pitch black music deserved a bigger audience.  What they did was simply awesome, period.
 
Upstairs Karma To Burn did what Karma To Burn do best.  Their instrumental rock was played with an astonishing amount of enthusiasm and  experience and the audience really loved it, including me.  KtB was the perfect headliner for a great second day of Desertfest.  Yes, I said headliner because Electric Wizard simply wasn’t.  Maybe it was the fact that the audience was exhausted after the fantastic shows earlier that day or maybe Electric Wizard didn’t really feel like it but there was no magic in their set.  For once it just didn’t work.  Too bad for a such a hugely talented band but there’s always next time.
 
 
SUNDAY
 
On Sunday I decided to take it a little easier, I’m not twenty anymore and the past few days had already been pretty exhausting.  I made a list of bands that I really wanted to see and I realized taking it easy was not really an option.  Damn you, awesome festivals with an awesome amount of awesome bands.
 
Bloodnstuff had the opportunity to kick-off at the Vulture stage and they did pretty good.  Another two-piece that is able to sound like a complete band by producing a more that solid rock sound.  They instantly gained a lot of new fans, that’s for sure.  Upstairs Moaning Cities brought back the sixties and seventies with their simply beautiful psychedelic rock, driven with sitar.  Once again a Belgian band proved that our country has a lot of talented residents.
 
Old Man Lizard filled in for Slabdragger whose guitar player had been rushed to the hospital with a collapsed lung.  The music was pretty ok but I wasn't very fond of the vocals.  Nonetheless Old Man Lizard played a very good set and had quite some followers.  Upstairs Black Bombain, a drugged-out three-piece played an excellent set, filled with decent rock and entertaining psychedelics.  I loved it and so did most of the people at the Canyon Stage.
 

Over years there has been way over a Thousand band that I've seen live but what happed at the Conan gig has never happened to me before.  Their concert was so immensely bombastic, loud and brutal, leaving me completely knocked out and exhausted.  The powerful doom of Conan drained every piece of energy out of my body in such an intense manner that I had to sit down and smoke a cigarette in the rainy market.  My god this was awesome, probably the best concert of the year…
 
Only fifteen minutes later it was time for national pride again when Sardonis’ (interview) assault rolled over the Canyon stage.  For as far as I know they had the largest audience in this part of the venue and with reason.  The two-piece unleashed their thrash-doom with an intensity that could almost be compared to Conan a few minutes earlier.  It wasn’t even eight o’clock yet and this day had already been a huge success.
 
Back downstairs to watch a little bit of Color Haze before my interview appointment with Sardonis.  Color Haze is one of the most well-known proto-stoner rock bands but this time they couldn’t really convince me to stay and watch. I don’t think it’s their fault though, since they played a decent set.  The Conan & Sardonis gigs were still in my head and I needed a little rest, so off to the merchandise booth and spend money on really cool stuff.
 
Jex Thoth was presented as a psych/doom band but instead they reminded me of old The Gathering and other gothic rock bands.  That’s not a  bad thing by the way so Jex Thoth was really good.  So was Brant Bjork.  The stoner deity played an excellent set, better than I had expected to be honest.  I stayed for a while and really enjoyed the master of desert rock.  For years I kinda ignored this brilliant musician, mea culpa.
 
When I went downstair to put my newly accquired cd's and vinyl in a locker, someone suddenly asked me if Conan had already played.  I said yes and saw his dissapointed face.  We started talking.  He told me that he fell down in a puddle of vomit and was kicked out of the venue, not to return unless he cleaned himself (maybe a tip for the security: it's a lot easier to clean up in the bathrooms than on the street, the poor guy missed his favorite band because of this and it wasn't even his own puke).
 

Finally it was time for Monkey3, a band that I have witnessed in Antwerp about seven years ago.  Although their post-rock sounding music was a bit out of place they played a beautiful set.  Monkey3 has clearly grown towards being a top act in the genre.  The Swiss space rockers were a more than excellent headliner on the Canyon stage and as far as I was concerned a perfect headliner for the entire festival.  For me it was time to go home and rest.  I passed the Desert Stage where Fu Manchu sounded pretty good.  Unfortunately my tired body had decided that it was over and reminded me of the 45 minute bike ride I still had to go through.
 
Sunday obviously was the best day of a great first edition of Desertfest.  I heard it was completely sold out, giving me a lot of hope for a new edition next year.  If it promises to be half as decent as this, I’ll be there.  I want to present my sincere congratulations to the organization, the Trix venue, the bands that gave it their best and the eclectic audience.  This has been a weekend to remember for a long time.