The Stoner Hands of Doom festival 3
Red Blood Club in Dallas, Texas (USA)(5 to 7 oct. 2001)
The Stoner Hands of Doom (SHOD) festival is one of the premier annual gatherings for stoner/doom (“stoom”) music in North America. This year’s festival, the 3rd, featured a lineup of well over 20 bands from across the US, and also included several bands from Europe. Held at the Red Blood Club in Dallas, Texas’ Deep Ellum district from October 5th to 7th, SHOD 3 demonstrated that the spirit of brotherhood and good times that many people -wrongly- attribute to media disasters such as the most recent Woodstock is alive and well in our own little musical genre, deep in the underground.Thursday, October 4: My girlfriend arrives from over the hills and far away, and we start preparations for the 11-hour trip to Dallas, Texas, and SHOD 3. I have to admit that I’m excited enough that I’m not sleeping too well, and the fact that the day of departure is finally here seems too good to be true. We throw the suitcases in the trunk and off we go. After enduring a hideous traffic jam in the southwest part of Missouri, we decide to stop and overnight in Joplin, Missouri, in the southwest corner of the state. Our motel is…. how can I say it? …. rather austere, but we don’t care as we’re very happy to see each other. Very. Happy. And the fact of the matter is, I’ve yet to meet a rich doomster, and I’m no exception, and I wanted to save my money for more important things: CDs!
Friday, October 5: After a lengthy drive over an old 4-lane highway though Oklahoma and into north Texas, we arrive in the greater Dallas metroplex. Traffic, traffic every-damn-where, but fortunately the jams are going in the other direction. We arrive at the motel. Uh oh. Something feels wrong. My girlfriend sees emaciated, shadowy figures in the halls. Our room is none-too-clean, and all the furniture looks like it came from a fire sale for bankrupt motel chains circa. 1975. We decide to ignore this in favor of seeking out the Red Blood Club near downtown Dallas. We creep along with the evening traffic, take the wrong exit, the usual stuff you do when you’re in a strange city. We finally find the Deep Ellum district, a formerly run-down light industrial area, which has been renewed as Dallas’ club district. Not much going on down there in the early evening. We eventually find the club, barely visible off of Commerce Street. We wander in, and see a rather small yet somehow comfortable-looking club. The first person I see is festival organizer Rob “The Wretched” Levey, former member of doom legends Iron Man. His wife and co-organizer, Cheryl, is home pregnant in Arizona. He’s seeing to last-minute details and greeting early arrivals, including us. Down to earth and friendly as always, Rob is an awesome force in the world of stoom. I look across the room and there’s my bud Steve, all the way from Belgium with his new doom band, Plague of Gentlemen. Steve is a great enthusiast of all things doomy, and a genuinely outgoing and funny guy. The rest of the Gentlemen are friendly but a bit reticent, perhaps their English is not as good, or perhaps I see the influence of the Demon Green? Nah, couldn’t be. In any case, things are off to a good start. We adjourn across the street for some awesome Mexican food. If nothing else, you owe it to yourself to hit Dallas if you love Mexican food. Damn, it’s the real thing!
With well over 20 bands scheduled at SHOD 3, its not practical to give a rundown on the performance of every band. Besides, that would be boring. I’ll hit the highlights, with the understanding that there was not a single bad performance at the whole fest IMO (others may disagree), and by leaving a band out I’m not implying that they were not good, or even that I didn’t like them, ‘cause chances are I did. OK? OK. The ass-kicking started on Friday night with Super Heavy Goat Ass, who rocked our collective asses hard. There seemed to be a widespread and humorous - misinterpretation of their name, however, in favor of “Super Heavy Gonads.” Hell, I like it! For me, the highlight of the evening was Men of Porn. How to describe them? Experimental stoner? Experimental doom? I don’t know, but the combination of distorted vocals, killer riffs, and a drummer with eight limbs instead of four had everyone’s jaw on the floor. New bassist Randolfio smoked the four-string like he founded the band, when in fact he was a new recruit for this tour. Fantastic. Dixie Witch showed why they are considered one of the up-and-comers in southern-influenced stoner rock, and who doesn’t like a singing drummer? Not me sir, not me!
We returned to our seedy motel, where we observed junkies in the hall and scary sounds emanating from some of the rooms. Sleaze is one thing, but out-and-out fear is another!
Satrurday, October 6th: Upon waking we decide to decamp from the degraded premises of our motel, in favor of a place where we don’t have to worry about junkies breaking down our door at 3 a.m. New quarters secured, we head back down the Red Blood Club for more stoom goodness. With their rough, distorted vocals and doomy tempos, Plague of Gentlemen provide a set that is not for the weak. They were perhaps the band of most interest to those of you interested in death-influenced doom, although they are doom through and through. Life Beyond showed that the Maryland old school is alive and well, with their strong, clean vocals and fluid guitar solos. This was the first band that my girlfriend really liked, and I have to admit that they turned in one of the strongest performances of the fest. Next were German stoners Calamus. I’ve liked these guys for several years, and they definitely lived up to their stoner tag! I loved Slow Horse, who opened with their trademark version of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game.” The word is that The ‘Horse was not happy with their performance, but I found no fault with it. Plaster turned in a solid performance of what I would call atoned-out space rock.Then it was time for the much-anticipated performance of Place of Skulls, featuring one of the titans of riffing doom, Victor Griffin, formerly of Pentagram and Death Row. I had spoken with the affable Victor for quite awhile that afternoon, and learned that he is still a solid Sabbath fan, God bless ‘im! Acid King arrived as Place of Skulls started, and Lori remarked to me that Victor “really has that Wino thing going.” Indeed he does. Not only does he resemble him, but there’s a feeling of integrity around the guy that one also feels around Wino. Plus, he’s a killer guitarist, a musician’s musician. If you’re looking for life in the old school, look no further than Place of Skulls. And Life Beyond. As an interesting aside, the story of the fest was that Life Beyond had been pulled from their van en route to Dallas and had had guns held to their heads by state troopers! Evidently they were mistaken by terrorists by these wise paragons of virtue. Needless to say, Life Beyond was not happy about this, but their usual good spirits prevailed, helped along by the good vibes that were spreading through the club as everyone chose their favorite poison, listened to their favorite music, and dug the scene in general.
You see, like SHOD 2 the first and foremost item on everyone’s agenda was to have a good time. There was no room for fucking with other people, just laughs, alcohol, kind, and good tunes. Everyone held up their end, and everyone benefited. Yeah! The real spirit of Woodstock (Weedstock?) lives!
The climax of the evening for me was Las Cruces. I’d heard a few of their tunes and liked them, but the rejuvenated version we saw at SHOD 3 kicked everyone’s ass across the street and down the block. Those vocals! That bass drum! And, like everyone else at the fest, they were incredibly nice guys. Viva Las Cruces!
Sunday, October 7: My girlfriend and I got there early, and were informed by Rob that the bombing had started in Afghanistan. Fuck. Well, lets start the music. Arizona dudes Sons of Serro rocked the early arrivals hard with their spacey desert sounds. Someone sign these guys! Louisiana natives Santeria were on next, with one of the most unique sets of the whole fest, featuring bongo drums and a “hippie death cult drum jam” while frontman Dege Legg replaced a broken string. Dege, also an author, was one of the most interesting presences at the show. We got into a long conversation about literature after their set. And hey, thanks for the CD amigo! Zero the Hero caught everyone’s attention with a set of good ole’ metal. Slow Horse's Dan came up to me afterwards, saying “a plain metal band! I feel like I’m 19 again!” Lots of fun. After the Sun supplemented their excellent set of doom with guest vocals by Rob Levey, covering some old Black Sabbath tunes. How could you not enjoy that? Oversoul turned in one of the best shows at all of SHOD 3, followed by Oregonians Witch Mountain, who kicked ass with their unique brand of mathy doom. El Danno, running the merch table for Stonerrock.com, has seen them many times and reckoned that this was one of the best Witch Mountain performances he had seen. This was my first experience with them, and I thought they smoked! Solitude Aeturnus, reunified for this show, hit the stage next. To be honest, I’ve always liked their music, but had a bit of trouble with their vocals. Well, all doubts were cast aside as they brought the house down with their brand of riffing doom. Too fuckin’ good! Guitarist John Perez, who also runs Brainticket Records, thought they may have sounded a bit rough, but you couldn’t tell it by me.Monday, October 8: Although we had spent dozens of hours sitting in a smoky club being blasted by music over the weekend, I was reluctant to leave. Couldn’t we have just one more day, please? Please? Nope, time to pile in the car for the long drive home. Many thanks to all the fine people that made the show a success: my girlfriend Karen, Rob, Steve, Viix, Dan, Victor, Life Beyond, John Perez, the Red Blood Club staff, well, there’s way too many to mention. The SHOD 3 high lasted a good week after the show, and I’ve already got visions of next year dancing in my head. Its supposed to take place in Phoenix, Arizona, and if you’re a doomster of the old school, or a stoner of the new school, or like kickass live music in general, you’ll be there. I’m saving my money!
- Kevin McHugh
(6 Nov. 2001)
Pictures from band
homepages and not SHoD3
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