The Rise and Fall of Weird Boners
"The Dark Arts are many; varied, ever-changing and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible."
This may seem a strange passage to include in a local event review. I did so because in preparation for this piece a few specific features of this review made me recall it and frantically turn page after page until I found it.
First off, it leans toward how Dystopia is beginning to evolve from my perspective. Starting out with a drunken dream at Endless Daze by two best friends, we wanted to help spread the music we love to like minded folks in a critical, informed and unbiased way. We never could have expected people would enjoy it this much and certainly not that we'd grow or evolve this quickly, or that we'd be able to expand to more writers in both Cape Town and Gauteng so soon after starting. For that, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We promise to do everything in our power to help local music, no matter what may stand in our way, we put music and music lovers first, always. We love you.
Secondly, the extract reminds me of the local music scene. We've been lucky to meet and befriend so many of those in SA music we have admired and respected since long before starting Dystopia. Learning from these people has taught us such resilience, passion and dedication to furthering this dream we share with so many of you. The local music in SA is that many headed beast, unfixed, mutating and indestructible. So much has been said about how in previous years opportunity and success were easier to come across and yet, despite all challenges we have faced as musos, we can not help but see a resurgence forming with every new event we attend. Experienced and rooky musos alike are inspiring passion and working their asses off together for this dream we have. Support wherever and however you can and do your part in realizing our dream.
Onto the review.
In the spirit of malleability, we have decided to double team this Weird Boner (3). So to speak.
What follows is a dual review of the event and bands on the night by André and, one of our latest Dystopian recruits, Luke.
Metal carries a certain expectation, even reputation, with many of us. Especially with those that are not familiar with the genre, or those who might dislike or misunderstand it's very unique characteristics. It is once again reminiscent of the above passage, in that it is widely cast aside as a whole by many who perhaps do not understand it's true nature or intention. Metal is not all just screaming and shredding, and it certainly isn't easy to do well. Metal is malleable, contrasting and clever. Metal is provocative and unapologetic. Most importantly, metal is unequivocally unique and diverse. Weird Boner 3 exemplified this for me.
Weird Boner 3...You had your way with us and left, but we're not even mad. Hats off to Rumours Rock City for always keeping the venue so clean and safe. Welcome to Johannesburg. In a change of approach, Rumours deviated from the standard and added a second stage - approximately 10 meters from the main stage, and don't worry, only one act performed at a time. As we arrived I figured it would be a complete nightmare for the engineer, managing two stages at once, but we were proven otherwise. Handovers were unbelievably smooth - Maybe two minutes between sets at most and crucially the sound was excellent. All in all - I was fucking impressed, to say the least.
Overall, a great event but certain things may have flourished better with more attention. The lineup was noteworthy, featuring some legendary bands such as Pollinator, Mad God and Bleeding Spawn - but could have just been slightly more carefully selected. What I'm getting at, is that although a solid 90% of local the household metal names were there, there were a few bands that I would have loved to have seen on the lineup… (*cough cough* Boargazm and Vulvodynia - yes I know they're out of town, and fuck it! Demogorath Satanum. Gotta love the Soweto bands!)
Here's a list of the bands that killed it at Weird Boner 3: Koedoe - Karaoke Machine Of Death - Apocalypse Later - Slippery When Wet - Dirty Moonshine - Pollinator - Deity's Muse - Goat Throne - Riddlebreak - Mad God - The Drift - Deadline - Zombies Ate My Girlfriend - Bleeding Spawn - Facing The Gallows - Feed The Beneath.
As for the performances, some killed it more than others…
Mad God - the first word of their name describes their performance to a tee. Not a single second of silence from the second they stepped on to the moment they left. Honestly considering Mad God's caliber of showmanship, I would have expected them to fall later in the lineup - no matter - it was insane. Without a doubt one of the finer doom performances I've ever been lucky enough to catch. If only - if only they had a longer set…
Goat Throne have stomped their hoofprints all over the scene in the last few weeks and months. Despite the fact that they grabbed my attention long before now. With their own side on the Unholy Rituals album along with Mad God, which they absolutely annihilated. This band serves as a gorgeous pairing with the sludgy, doomy melodic style of Mad God, although their style is undeniably unique and oh so deliciously heavy. The standouts for me are indisputably the vocals and good god the drumming. I highly recommend seeing this band as soon as you can, specifically along with Mad God. Incidentally, just that is happening in JHB next month.
Deity's Muse honestly surprised us all, being a progressive/alternative rock band they definitely had huge shoes to fill at a predominantly metal orientated event… consider them filled. One of the tightest sets I've seen in a good while. It's always a good time when you're genuinely blown away by a performance, all I can say is "jho" to the guys over at Deity's Muse. My only critique is that at times it felt almost as if the band was more focussed on nailing every part perfectly rather than engaging the audience and enjoying themselves - but keep in mind that this was only the case for a total of about 3 minutes throughout the entire set.
We arrived to the event rather late, having needed to drive through from PTA and with a million other things to do in between. This meant we missed quite a bit of the non-metal side of the event. Not to worry! I'm pretty obsessed with a lot of those bands anyway, so here, have a quick glossover of the best of the earlier acts.
KMOD and Apocalypse Later both feature some of the most experienced, dedicated, creative and individually talented musicians that Gauteng has to offer. Both regularly play around the whole province and their unique musical styles and attitudes should not be missed if you can help it.
Pollinator, boy oh boy. Absolutely lovely people. Where do I start? So much to say so little attention span. Evert, Louise and Tim are singularly talented musicians. Their dynamic together works absolute magic, and I honestly think their creativity knows no bounds. They're very literally the type of musos that help start a ridiculous and absurd band such as Bombaby, and still fucking kill it. All the while playing in the absurdly good Swandy and obviously Pollinator. If you need more info, meet me at Railways on 7 June for the Swandy show and see for yourself, or else keep your eyes peeled for a Dystopia behind the scenes review and interview on the upcoming Pollinator album coming very soon.
Speaking of wild performances. Bleeding Spawn… Oh man, oh man, oh man. These guys have just been tearing it up lately. If Death- bordering on Black Metal is your thing then definitely check out one of these shows. Aside from the ridiculously clean yet technical progressions, the thumping bass, and the oddly machine-gun-esque drums, the dual vocals are absolutely brutal for lack of a better term. Load, abrasive and aggressive, this is exactly what we signed up for. When weird boner 3 was announced this is the type of music we were expecting and boy, did they rise to the occasion. Without a doubt, one of the finer death metal bands in the local scene - thank you for making the crowd shit themselves.
Finally, Feed the Beaneath and Facing the Gallows once again proved how large the divide between different metal acts' sound so often is. Two excellent sets by two acts noticeably different from most others on the line up, while both are unassailably excellent musically and technically, not to mention the passion I know these guys have for their music and all they do for the scene. Deserving headliners with an incredible and astoundingly unique and diverse set.
In the spirit of critical review, I feel in closing I should point out one aspect of this diversity and malleability, that Luke mentioned earlier in the review, which has been floating around in my mind since the event.
This event was a highlight in this year's calendar for me, that much is undeniable. The wide array of styles and sounds are incredibly appealing and certainly form an incredible and somewhat intimidating musical experience. Rumours Rock City provided a gorgeous ambience and it was a valiant send off for this old war horse of a venue.
I speak under correction, but I believe the event was in the lion's share organized by the lads from The Drift. By all accounts and in my own opinion, they pulled off an achievement that is astonishingly difficult and immensely inspiring in equal part.
However.
As much as I applaud their skills and dedication in organizing a feat this impressive (and truly, the sound, stages, organization, and so much else was unquestionably well done.), the danger in doing such a wide ranging event musically comes crashing to the front of my mind every time I think on the event. Although the lineup was exciting and expansive and all the bands played their hearts out, I believe an event such as this should primarily focus on achieving the best atmosphere and sound for each band and in combination with the others. Even if that means cutting the line up short. Mad God and Goat Throne were exceptional, as were the majority of bands early on, but it could have been so much more so given a longer set was provided to certain bands, by either changing up or limiting the line up somewhat.
Booking some of the best live acts in SA should require curating the line up in such a way that gives those acts more than just 30 minute sets, and in my view, there were quite a few bands in later slots with longer sets that should have been swopped out for a few we mentioned above. Use the two stages more efficiently by not simply cutting the change-over time, but by allowing the differing rock, metal, death and doom metal acts to interchange, and in doing so allowing the crowd to enjoy more of the varying soundscape for themselves, (a major example of this was the constant shifting of the crowd size and the rate at which the crowds filled up for different bands.) Instead of making it so that you need to be there from the early afternoon to experience the very reason we were interested in this event, curate the line up in a way that evolves in the same manner that the event was so obviously meant to considering the bands that were booked.
Aside from this, I applaud the organizers and every band that participated. It was an incredible night and a reminder, to those who need it, that metal is alive and flourishing all around you. If you know where to look for it.
Love, Dystopia.
Photography by Keets Productions and Dystopia
This may seem a strange passage to include in a local event review. I did so because in preparation for this piece a few specific features of this review made me recall it and frantically turn page after page until I found it.
First off, it leans toward how Dystopia is beginning to evolve from my perspective. Starting out with a drunken dream at Endless Daze by two best friends, we wanted to help spread the music we love to like minded folks in a critical, informed and unbiased way. We never could have expected people would enjoy it this much and certainly not that we'd grow or evolve this quickly, or that we'd be able to expand to more writers in both Cape Town and Gauteng so soon after starting. For that, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We promise to do everything in our power to help local music, no matter what may stand in our way, we put music and music lovers first, always. We love you.
Secondly, the extract reminds me of the local music scene. We've been lucky to meet and befriend so many of those in SA music we have admired and respected since long before starting Dystopia. Learning from these people has taught us such resilience, passion and dedication to furthering this dream we share with so many of you. The local music in SA is that many headed beast, unfixed, mutating and indestructible. So much has been said about how in previous years opportunity and success were easier to come across and yet, despite all challenges we have faced as musos, we can not help but see a resurgence forming with every new event we attend. Experienced and rooky musos alike are inspiring passion and working their asses off together for this dream we have. Support wherever and however you can and do your part in realizing our dream.
Onto the review.
In the spirit of malleability, we have decided to double team this Weird Boner (3). So to speak.
What follows is a dual review of the event and bands on the night by André and, one of our latest Dystopian recruits, Luke.
Metal carries a certain expectation, even reputation, with many of us. Especially with those that are not familiar with the genre, or those who might dislike or misunderstand it's very unique characteristics. It is once again reminiscent of the above passage, in that it is widely cast aside as a whole by many who perhaps do not understand it's true nature or intention. Metal is not all just screaming and shredding, and it certainly isn't easy to do well. Metal is malleable, contrasting and clever. Metal is provocative and unapologetic. Most importantly, metal is unequivocally unique and diverse. Weird Boner 3 exemplified this for me.
Weird Boner 3...You had your way with us and left, but we're not even mad. Hats off to Rumours Rock City for always keeping the venue so clean and safe. Welcome to Johannesburg. In a change of approach, Rumours deviated from the standard and added a second stage - approximately 10 meters from the main stage, and don't worry, only one act performed at a time. As we arrived I figured it would be a complete nightmare for the engineer, managing two stages at once, but we were proven otherwise. Handovers were unbelievably smooth - Maybe two minutes between sets at most and crucially the sound was excellent. All in all - I was fucking impressed, to say the least.
Overall, a great event but certain things may have flourished better with more attention. The lineup was noteworthy, featuring some legendary bands such as Pollinator, Mad God and Bleeding Spawn - but could have just been slightly more carefully selected. What I'm getting at, is that although a solid 90% of local the household metal names were there, there were a few bands that I would have loved to have seen on the lineup… (*cough cough* Boargazm and Vulvodynia - yes I know they're out of town, and fuck it! Demogorath Satanum. Gotta love the Soweto bands!)
Here's a list of the bands that killed it at Weird Boner 3: Koedoe - Karaoke Machine Of Death - Apocalypse Later - Slippery When Wet - Dirty Moonshine - Pollinator - Deity's Muse - Goat Throne - Riddlebreak - Mad God - The Drift - Deadline - Zombies Ate My Girlfriend - Bleeding Spawn - Facing The Gallows - Feed The Beneath.
As for the performances, some killed it more than others…
Mad God - the first word of their name describes their performance to a tee. Not a single second of silence from the second they stepped on to the moment they left. Honestly considering Mad God's caliber of showmanship, I would have expected them to fall later in the lineup - no matter - it was insane. Without a doubt one of the finer doom performances I've ever been lucky enough to catch. If only - if only they had a longer set…
Goat Throne have stomped their hoofprints all over the scene in the last few weeks and months. Despite the fact that they grabbed my attention long before now. With their own side on the Unholy Rituals album along with Mad God, which they absolutely annihilated. This band serves as a gorgeous pairing with the sludgy, doomy melodic style of Mad God, although their style is undeniably unique and oh so deliciously heavy. The standouts for me are indisputably the vocals and good god the drumming. I highly recommend seeing this band as soon as you can, specifically along with Mad God. Incidentally, just that is happening in JHB next month.
Deity's Muse honestly surprised us all, being a progressive/alternative rock band they definitely had huge shoes to fill at a predominantly metal orientated event… consider them filled. One of the tightest sets I've seen in a good while. It's always a good time when you're genuinely blown away by a performance, all I can say is "jho" to the guys over at Deity's Muse. My only critique is that at times it felt almost as if the band was more focussed on nailing every part perfectly rather than engaging the audience and enjoying themselves - but keep in mind that this was only the case for a total of about 3 minutes throughout the entire set.
We arrived to the event rather late, having needed to drive through from PTA and with a million other things to do in between. This meant we missed quite a bit of the non-metal side of the event. Not to worry! I'm pretty obsessed with a lot of those bands anyway, so here, have a quick glossover of the best of the earlier acts.
KMOD and Apocalypse Later both feature some of the most experienced, dedicated, creative and individually talented musicians that Gauteng has to offer. Both regularly play around the whole province and their unique musical styles and attitudes should not be missed if you can help it.
Pollinator, boy oh boy. Absolutely lovely people. Where do I start? So much to say so little attention span. Evert, Louise and Tim are singularly talented musicians. Their dynamic together works absolute magic, and I honestly think their creativity knows no bounds. They're very literally the type of musos that help start a ridiculous and absurd band such as Bombaby, and still fucking kill it. All the while playing in the absurdly good Swandy and obviously Pollinator. If you need more info, meet me at Railways on 7 June for the Swandy show and see for yourself, or else keep your eyes peeled for a Dystopia behind the scenes review and interview on the upcoming Pollinator album coming very soon.
Speaking of wild performances. Bleeding Spawn… Oh man, oh man, oh man. These guys have just been tearing it up lately. If Death- bordering on Black Metal is your thing then definitely check out one of these shows. Aside from the ridiculously clean yet technical progressions, the thumping bass, and the oddly machine-gun-esque drums, the dual vocals are absolutely brutal for lack of a better term. Load, abrasive and aggressive, this is exactly what we signed up for. When weird boner 3 was announced this is the type of music we were expecting and boy, did they rise to the occasion. Without a doubt, one of the finer death metal bands in the local scene - thank you for making the crowd shit themselves.
Finally, Feed the Beaneath and Facing the Gallows once again proved how large the divide between different metal acts' sound so often is. Two excellent sets by two acts noticeably different from most others on the line up, while both are unassailably excellent musically and technically, not to mention the passion I know these guys have for their music and all they do for the scene. Deserving headliners with an incredible and astoundingly unique and diverse set.
In the spirit of critical review, I feel in closing I should point out one aspect of this diversity and malleability, that Luke mentioned earlier in the review, which has been floating around in my mind since the event.
This event was a highlight in this year's calendar for me, that much is undeniable. The wide array of styles and sounds are incredibly appealing and certainly form an incredible and somewhat intimidating musical experience. Rumours Rock City provided a gorgeous ambience and it was a valiant send off for this old war horse of a venue.
I speak under correction, but I believe the event was in the lion's share organized by the lads from The Drift. By all accounts and in my own opinion, they pulled off an achievement that is astonishingly difficult and immensely inspiring in equal part.
However.
As much as I applaud their skills and dedication in organizing a feat this impressive (and truly, the sound, stages, organization, and so much else was unquestionably well done.), the danger in doing such a wide ranging event musically comes crashing to the front of my mind every time I think on the event. Although the lineup was exciting and expansive and all the bands played their hearts out, I believe an event such as this should primarily focus on achieving the best atmosphere and sound for each band and in combination with the others. Even if that means cutting the line up short. Mad God and Goat Throne were exceptional, as were the majority of bands early on, but it could have been so much more so given a longer set was provided to certain bands, by either changing up or limiting the line up somewhat.
Booking some of the best live acts in SA should require curating the line up in such a way that gives those acts more than just 30 minute sets, and in my view, there were quite a few bands in later slots with longer sets that should have been swopped out for a few we mentioned above. Use the two stages more efficiently by not simply cutting the change-over time, but by allowing the differing rock, metal, death and doom metal acts to interchange, and in doing so allowing the crowd to enjoy more of the varying soundscape for themselves, (a major example of this was the constant shifting of the crowd size and the rate at which the crowds filled up for different bands.) Instead of making it so that you need to be there from the early afternoon to experience the very reason we were interested in this event, curate the line up in a way that evolves in the same manner that the event was so obviously meant to considering the bands that were booked.
Aside from this, I applaud the organizers and every band that participated. It was an incredible night and a reminder, to those who need it, that metal is alive and flourishing all around you. If you know where to look for it.
Love, Dystopia.
Photography by Keets Productions and Dystopia
Say what you want about the sound being a tough cookie they fucked Pollinator's sound up big time. Fucking sound engineer was chatting to his mate the whole time and we had to literally stop a song to get his attention. By then we were halfway through our set and ONLY THEN was the guitar coming through the mains properly. Not cool. You're right by saying the lineup should have been shorter.
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