Despite m'colleague Mr Piva stealing all the stoner, this is the scene I was brought up in. Give me some fat riffs, fat blunts and grooves for days and I'm a happy boy. Especially if those bands are from the legendary Swansea stoner scene or the reversed Greek stoner scene. Getting to see both in one night was a real treat as two home grown riff machines came out to The Bunkhouse in Swansea to support some Greek scene veterans.
Kicking things off were E11VEN (8) a band I'd not seen but, Hail Satan do they make and impression. Playing wild, raucous and slightly glammy stoner riffs, there's and air of danger and menace to their show as if Motley Crue did mushrooms instead of heroin. Their frontman is absolutely wild, scary and maybe having a few screws loose he's the focal point of a well drilled stoner rock machine. I mean how can you not like them they have a s song called Shit Disco which is a a bit shit but disco but its not shit it's bloody good and they cover The Prodigy's Omen with a dash of Salt N Pepa's Push It as a final track.
Upping the noise and the intensity are the hardcore tinged sludge noises of Pale Bastard (7), not often you see a member of a stoner band in a Darkthrone shirt but Pale Bastards angrier, nastier, shoutier style is befitting these threads. Things got faster and thrashier while they were on stage, these Pale Bastards bringing noises that are closer to the extreme fringes of metal music and if I'm honest closer to the origins of the Swansea greebo scene. They shifted into elongated psych grooves as the set progressed with Miserable Git the closer tumbling like and earthquake to send these bastards off into the damp Swansea evening with a snapped guitar string but a recovery that kicked them back into the finale.
Greek stoner kings 1000mods (10) playing a UK tour is a rarity, them playing South Wales is as rare as hens teeth so kudos to The Bunkhouse for booking them and additional congratulations to the crowd for turning out on a Thursday evening. Taking a set that was mainly from their two most recognisable albums Repeated Exposure To... and Super Van Vacation and their latest effort Youth Of Dissent, we got only one from Vultures but that meant that it had an old school feel allowing a lot of us who had never seen the band to hear those classic riffs on stage for the first time.
Kicking things off were E11VEN (8) a band I'd not seen but, Hail Satan do they make and impression. Playing wild, raucous and slightly glammy stoner riffs, there's and air of danger and menace to their show as if Motley Crue did mushrooms instead of heroin. Their frontman is absolutely wild, scary and maybe having a few screws loose he's the focal point of a well drilled stoner rock machine. I mean how can you not like them they have a s song called Shit Disco which is a a bit shit but disco but its not shit it's bloody good and they cover The Prodigy's Omen with a dash of Salt N Pepa's Push It as a final track.
Upping the noise and the intensity are the hardcore tinged sludge noises of Pale Bastard (7), not often you see a member of a stoner band in a Darkthrone shirt but Pale Bastards angrier, nastier, shoutier style is befitting these threads. Things got faster and thrashier while they were on stage, these Pale Bastards bringing noises that are closer to the extreme fringes of metal music and if I'm honest closer to the origins of the Swansea greebo scene. They shifted into elongated psych grooves as the set progressed with Miserable Git the closer tumbling like and earthquake to send these bastards off into the damp Swansea evening with a snapped guitar string but a recovery that kicked them back into the finale.
Greek stoner kings 1000mods (10) playing a UK tour is a rarity, them playing South Wales is as rare as hens teeth so kudos to The Bunkhouse for booking them and additional congratulations to the crowd for turning out on a Thursday evening. Taking a set that was mainly from their two most recognisable albums Repeated Exposure To... and Super Van Vacation and their latest effort Youth Of Dissent, we got only one from Vultures but that meant that it had an old school feel allowing a lot of us who had never seen the band to hear those classic riffs on stage for the first time.
Purveyors of some low slung riffs, in the case of the bassist/singer Dani, Peter Hook level low, bringing grooves fatter than kokoretsi. The use of both of Giannis and Giorgos' guitars bring a cavernous bottom end and some dreamy psychedelic melodies, as they both shift between rhythm and lead. For me though it's their drummer Labros who mesmerising, doing so much on the drum fills of Road To Burn, with such a stripped back kit.
Low got the crowd bouncing but not for the first time while Warped has the fuzz of Motorhead's Orgasmatron. The closing strains of Super Van Vacation saw them go into interstellar overdrive as both guitarists used their pedalboards as feedback loops, it was a sight and sound to behold. The clarity was perfect, as it so often is in The Bunkhouse, allowing the band to sound huge on a small stage. I've seen loads of stoner/psych etc etc gigs but few bands have left me speechless the way 1000mods did. No chat, no bullshit, no encore, just riffs. The way it should be, Bravo!
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