Acid Mothers Temple
It feels like tonight's very nearly sold out here at The Owl Sanctuary, which is wicked cool for a Sunday night. There's a lot of hair in the audience. You'd expect that from a night of psych rock. Well done everyone.
We've got two local bands for support, and first up are duo Soyuz Rats. They haven't been together for too long, both members having been in seperate bands beforehand, but they're tight and confident on their drum machine, bass and guitar. This is stoner rock at its best, with pounding rhythms, and meandering psych guitar. The vocals could be stronger and in fact musically they don't add much to the experience. There are some great tunes in there and I like their navel gazing vibe. It will be exciting to see where time takes them.
I've made no secret of my love for BK & Dad in the past, and tonight they tick my box once again with a big fat felt tip. Verging on proper jazz freak outs at times, Pip is a virtuoso on drums; I could watch him play all day. He's like some kind of puppet master and the drums are his bitch - he truly puts his own spin on his sound and it's always a total joy to watch. BK & Dad are a very male outift who make very male music, and they're unashamed of that. As a result their huge, expansive space rock, with beautifully timed syncopation, riffs and runs is full of raw energy and power. Leo's chugging bass is a beast, and Loggerhead has never sounded stronger or more determined than tonight. Runaway is brutal. Halfway through their set it really starts to pulse through the room, we're locked into a groove together and it feels like we're one. That's not easy to achieve within a 30 minute set. Yet again, BK & Dad blow not only me but the whole room right out of the building. I do bloody adore them.
This is the second time I've seen Japanese psych rock wizards Acid Mothers Temple, and they have a new bass player and drummer tonight. Theramin and keys are played by old guy with long white hair dressed all in black who looks like he's communing with a higher being, swooping and swaying with his white hair swishing about . There are two guitar players, one in a red curly wig, skirt, tights and boots wirh carefully applied make up. The oher one looks a bit like Mr Miyagi, the bass player looks like Keanu Reeves circa 1975 and the drummer is a blur of hair and tie die and sparkle. From the very first song onwards it's absolute mindmelting madness, with swirling, hypnotic tunes and rhythms that won't let up, dragging you deeper in with every circuit of the tune. We get mythical chanting and a slow steady trippy rollercoaster of a ride through an hour of music with expansive soaring guitar solos. This is music that's like the breeze, unknowable, uncatchable, spiritual. Their cover of The Wizard by Sabbath. is the stuff of dreams. There are incredibly complex basslines and drum parts throughout, and I'm mesmerised, but there's constantly so much going on with each musician and so much constantly changing it's hard to focus on just one of them for long enough at a time. Safe to say they slay us, utterly slay us, and we hope to see them at The Owl against in 2017. Pure magic.
