Like it has been in the past few years, one weekend in the middle of October is reserved for the high mass for stoners, psychedelic rockers and doomsters in and around Belgium. The weekend is Desertfest time. The organisation has just revealed a first batch of names:

We know you all have been aching for this, so without further ado let us present the first names for the 2017 edition of Desertfest Antwerp!
​
We kick things off with Windhand, a scene favorite that has also managed to capture the hearts and minds of rock fans worldwide with their unique brand of female-led Sabbathian worship.
Radio Moscow is another winner with a stone solid live reputation that will be sure to set the DF stage on fire.
Next up, something more out of the ordinary: Part Chimp blends sludgey riffage with the acid bite of Amphetamine noiserock, and will delight anyone with a fine ear for heavily distorted blues.
Finally, we keep the tradition of presenting Belgian bands to our international crowd. Hemelbestormer (that's Dutch for 'Stormer of Heaven') is a local postmetal band that has been making waves in Europe and the States for the last couple of years. 

Early bird tickets are still available here

The good people from Rodeo Shows have revealed the full-line up ànd the artwork for the upcoming edition of RodeoFest. The festival will take place on June 24th in the beautiful fort in Wommelgem.
​Briqueville​, Hard Resistance​, Cheap Drugs​, Carrion​, Mästürbätör​ and Furia are the added to the bill, next to the previously announced bands Emptiness, Primitive Man, Bathsheba​, Ortega​, Ten Foot Wizard​, Psychonaut and Hedonist​!

PRESALE TICKETS ARE ONLY €18. 
(by bank transfer, paypal or cash at Antwerp Music City​)
For a line-up like this, it's almost for free!
Hope to see you all on June 24th in Fort II Wommelgem​.
* Artwork by Mr. With​ at Stonebridge 99 *

Rodeofest 2017 Line-up:


EMPTINESS
​PRIMITIVE MAN (US)
BRIQUEVILLE
HARD RESISTANCE
CHEAP DRUGS
BATHSHEBA
ORTEGA (NL)
TEN FOOT WIZARD (UK)
HEDONIST
PSYCHONAUT
CARRION
MÄSTÜRBÄTÖR
FURIA

The Dutch have always been keen or strange television shows, and they are mainly responsible for the whole reality-tv thing. It was a Dutch company, named Endemol who produced the immensely popular Big Brother series, which set a whole range of televised stupidity in motion. In the past decade or so, reality and survival shows have been massive hits. Recently, even a real life hunger games show has been announced in Russia. It never seems to end...

Now, another Dutch company, from the city of Groningen, announced plans to produce a rock and metal themed survival show. Martijn Verduin is the general manager of AFN Productions but also a metalhead. He decided to create a thirteen series where a rock or metal album has to be written and recorded while the participants try to survive in difficult conditions. One band resides in a shed somewhere in the forests of Finland while another has to cope with tropical heat on an uninhabited island.

Verduin comments:

"The idea formed when I heard some brutal death metal bands singing about decapitation, ripping out guts, smashing skulls and other odd hobbies. I thought "would they really do that if they had to?"

The show rips the participants out of their natural environment and showcases their adventures. A grim and frostbitten black metal band will be told to record their album in a tent in Tahiti. But what they don't know, is that they will end up on a summer camp for new born christians. A straight-edge hardcore band will record in Ibiza where all drinks are loaded with alcohol and drugs, a math metal band will end up in a university, learning actual math and so on.

Verduin:

"But it's not just about that. We will also send a number of distractions to the recording bands. Hot girls with enter the studio to have sex with the musicians and immediately after we send in their girlfriends. The producers will only have dubstep-experience, Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You up' will play all night through speakers hidden in the woods, Kanye West will come in to insist on a guest appearance, the metalcore band will experience real pain, real emotions... It will be fun for the entire family."

As of this moment, the show does not have a title. Possible work titles include 'Within Temptation Island', 'Moshing With The Stars', 'Deadliest Jams', 'The Hunger Grinds' and 'Cannibalistic Corpsepaint' Several well-known metal labels are fake-briefing the selected bands at this very moment, sending them off to a strange and unusual recording experience. 

The show also has an interactive section. After a few weeks, the viewers can pick one band that will have to on tour as Adéle's back up band. Obviously, on those occasions the band will play for exposure only. After thirteen weeks, the winning band will be picked by the viewers. That band will be rewarded with a worldwide festival tour, one album, three singles and a live album before they will be kicked back into obscurity again.

Verduin:
"There is still a massive future in reality-tv and metal is a yet unexplored niche. The average metalhead's reality is a lot different from that of most people. It consists of loud concerts, loud albums, beer and aggressive forms of dancing but they also have feelings, you know. We want to show those feelings to the world, and - of course - watch the participants have sex with each others...