Festival report: Fluff Fest 2012, day two

Ever since the schedule for the second day surfaced on the festival's website, I knew that I would be killed by it. The list of bands was insane and it was definite that I'll have to sacrifice some bands in order to see others. Lots of tough decisions and maneuvering, but in the end it resulted in a fantastic day. Only thing that did suck was the stubborn heavy rain which greeted us from the early morning hours.  

Schedule for day two of the festival is as follows:

Main Stage:

1:25 PM: Beton

2:05 PM: Bokanovsky

2:45 PM: True Nature

3:30 PM: Run With The Hunted

4:15 PM: Titan

5:05 PM: Wolf Down

6:00 PM: Masakari

7:00 PM: Suis La Lune

8:00 PM: No Turning Back

9:00 PM: Anchor

Tent Stage:

12:30 PM: Controlled Existence

1:15 PM: Vendetta

1:55 PM: Ralph Macchio

2:35 PM: Kung-Fu Girlz

3:20 PM: Child Meadow

4:05 PM: Osawatomie

4:55 PM: Planks

5:45 PM: Boredom

6:45 PM: Aussitot Mort

7:45 PM: Vaccine

8:50 PM: Light Bearer

10:00 PM: Alpinist

While the rain was pouring down like there was no tomorrow and everyone was covering at the merch desk, "Beton" marked the beginning of the day on the main stage. A quintet from Slovakia playing some superb crust, the band unleashed a series of devastatingly fast d-beat tunes across the soaked festival field. Prior to the festival I found myself craving some more bands of this genre in my book and this act came with all the ingredients that I love, nonstop beating to the senses with speedy playing and that good old dirty crust sound. Sadly I was too far away from the stage and at one point I had to run to my tent to grab a hoodie, so I didn't enjoy the band to the fullest, but I definitely praise the very discovery of their work. Will keep an eye out on this project, attention is most deserved.

Moments later it was time to crawl from under the covers and step into the rain to see "Bokanovsky" from a closer point. Right away I have to say that this band definitely jumps up to be in my personal top five performances of this year's "Fluff Fest", no doubts about it. I know about these guys for several years now, though I kinda neglected listening to them in recent periods of time. After this performance, there is no way to ever forget about them again. The band was so powerful and emotionally impacting that they immediately resurrected the passionate love I had for them back in the day. Seeing that unbelievably well-crafted combination of beauty and serenity wrapped in heavy and unpredictable sounds oozing with emotions and passion was magnificent. This is, without any second thoughts, the first band on this festival that managed to thoroughly impress me and shake me to the core. My readers probably know how much I adore screamo hailing from France and this band is a perfect example of why I feel so much infatuation for their music scene. But wait, there is one more band from this country leaving its mark on this review, just coming up next.

Right after "Bokanovsky" finished their set, two of their string players went on into the tent to form "Child Meadow", only this time one of them was on drums and the other remained on the guitar. This band has to be the most pleasant surprise of the festival, without a doubt. These two guys managed to fill the entire tent and the audience with so much positive energy with their smiles, jokes, insanely catchy melodies and extremely pleasant attitude. There was interaction with the crowd, silly playing mistakes which created even more smiles on peoples faces and just make everyone feel like they are attending a house show. Aside of their own songs, the band did a cover of "Remek" which was actually assisted by the singer of the said band. The same happened with a "Paper Plane Crash" cover song. When you put everything together, you get a really thrilling show and a true bomb made out of positive emotions. I seriously don't recall a gig when a band managed to make me smile during the entire set. France, you should be proud.

After some hanging out around distros it was time for "Wolf Down". For various reasons I saw the band perform only briefly, but the tiny spectacle was amazing. If I remember well, I came just in time to hear "Rot" and it blew me away at how perfect it sounded. Also, I was kinda far away from the stage so I had a really nice view on what is going on there and the band really managed to move the crowd with its insane amount of energy. Jumping on stage, crowd surfing, rampage on the ground, the band itself being wild and constantly moving, just total mayhem everywhere. The sound they succeeded in creating was far more aggressive and brutal than that on the recordings, so it was quite a sight seeing them live. Definitely a band worth the note. I also did an interview with them some time ago, found here, so you should also check that out if you already haven't.

Next up, "Boredom". Maybe it is quite cheezy to say, but they instantly annihilated any possible presence of actual boredom in the tent. Precisely as on their recordings, the amusing clash between raspy, thrashy crust and almost rock and roll type melodies managed to impress me beyond measure, changing my mood from calm to nigh hyperactive. Ever since I first heard their split with "Rivers Run Dry", courtesy of good friend Botond from "Itai Itai Records", I've found their sound so unique and intriguing, thus this being an absolute honor to attend their show. Similarly to when I listened to them at home for the first time, they just swept me off my feet when they started playing on stage and my mind blown state was present until their sound died. "Lap Dance of Rats" and "The Poverty Lawyer" punched me in the gut so hard that I really don't know how I restrained myself from killing someone in the dancing area in front of the stage. What this band can do to you with their music is insane, that's for sure. They have less than 500 listeners on last.fm and that is something that is not tolerable at all. Seriously people, what's wrong with you? Check this band out, I promise you won't regret it!

It is sad to say that this is the point where the schedule became extremely tight and squeezed for me, with too many good bands entwined with one another. I really wish that "Fluff Fest" starts doing what "Ieperfest" does with its schedule, although this will have to wait until I write the review of my stay in Belgium. Until then I'll stick to what happened in Rokycany. "Masakari" was next and due to seeing "Boredom" I couldn't attend to their whole set. Although I only witnessed a part of the gig it was definitely enough to stomp me entirely. Approaching the show I realized how enormous their sound is, not only because of the fact that they were on the main stage, but also because it was, plainly put, the sound of "Masakari". There was just so much anger and energy hurling from the stage, so much that I felt completely battered, in a positive way of course, despite the fact that I was rather far from the source of sound. If I recall well, I arrived just in time to hear "X. Pain Conceived As A Tool", the song which is featured on the benefit split with "Tempest", and the band just killed everything with the sheer massiveness of their music. I've always been in love with "Masakari", but I never imagined them being that good in concert, just stunning. I feel insanely sorry that I didn't see their whole act, so I hope they come back to Europe one day to wreck havoc on everything. 

One more occasion to see "Aussitot Mort" and yet again I wasn't able to view their entire set, because I needed to catch another band. Sigh. "Fluff" you are killing me. Anyway, if I remember well the band once again opened their act with "La Ride Du Lion" which is just a superb opener and mood-setter. The band simply excels at lashing out their amazing atmospheric sound in a single swipe and it definitely doesn't leave you unshaken. I only saw that first song being played and I already had to run to the main stage, but it was absolutely worth it. I still hate myself due to the fact I missed their show with "Heaven In Her Arms", especially now since I have a chance to see them properly but always fail to see the entire set. The band hates me probably, that's why. I due love them, however. 

Rushing to the main stage earlier I managed to secure a first row place for the next act. "Suis La Lune",  legendary screamo band from Sweden and a long time favorite band of yours truly, was getting ready and just about to start. I was quite anxious about this performance due to the fact that, prior to the festival, I heard that they weren't really entertaining live and I honestly had some level of fear about what was going to happen. Additionally, for various reasons, they kind of drifted away from my liking and this show was definitely a sort of a test for the band in my eyes. Saying it right away, the band swept me off my feet entirely. And they would sweep me even easier if I wasn't stupid enough to neglect listening to their newest album called "Riala". The majority of the performed songs were from that album and, although I watched with awe and utter pleasure, it just isn't the same when you actually know the songs, if you know what I mean. Needless to say, "Cornea", "Remorse", "All That Meant Something" and all other new pieces managed to resurrect the old love I had for the band. Mixed with those were "With Wings Of Feathers And Glue" and "September Gave Us...", while the ending came in a beautiful combination of "Utter Silence Is Fragile" and "A Letter A Void". In all the years that I followed this band fervently, I always imagined that they would be so blissful and wonderfully gentle and there they were, proving and justifying all my previous thoughts. I have always dreaded about writing things concerning my favorite bands, among which is definitely this one, and this amount of text is enough to make me shudder, thus I will stop here. Astonishing performance, worth the wait all these years. 

After soothing melodies and emotions, it was time for pissed off straight edge powerviolence. That sounds gnarly, wouldn't you say? "Vaccine", a band hailing from Massachusetts and featuring members of acts such as "Orchid", "Ampere", "Glue", "Failures" and "Think I Care", just got on stage and basically kicked everyone in the face, over and over again. This came as an enormous shock to the senses after the previous band, but damn, it was worth it. Their entire set was just a violent ball of rending, heavy guitar riffs, choking drums, harsh bass and angry to the core vocals to top it off. I was simply flabbergasted at how awesome this band is, especially since I never heard about them before. I did, however, get a second chance at seeing them on "Ieperfest" where I managed to pay more attention to what is going on amid the chaos they created. Seeing this band twice shows that I'm really lucky that I didn't get a heart-attack. This day just didn't fail to continuously impress.

Once the truly maddening set was over, I had just enough time to go to my tent and put on my "Vestiges" shirt for the next band, just for fun. By the time I got back, the tent stage was overcrowded and bursting with expectations for "Light Bearer". I managed somehow to squeeze inside, despite my initial wishes to be in the very front row. The band opened with their newest song, that from the split with "Northless", called "Celestium Apocrypha: Book Of Watchers", which I have to say surprised me a bit. Although it is a truly astounding piece, I think it is a really bad choice for a short festival performance due to its length and slowness. Needless to say, the band somehow pulled it off and mesmerized the crowd with their great sound and ambiance. After a sluggish start came "Prelapsus", which literally exploded inside the tent, the mass of people erupting into a conjoined choir of screams at the cataclysmic ending of the song. From then on it was continual stage diving and dancing on the part of the audience, while the band continued with "Lapsus" and, if memory serves well, "Primum Movens". The strength of the sounds radiating from the small stage kept being increased to unbelievable levels, completely justifying the epic concept the band is enveloped in. I had my doubts about how the performance will come out in the tent stage, but so much energy and power packed in such a tight spot proved to be magnificent. My only complaint would be the pick of the opening song, since I presume that "Armoury Choir" would be a far better decision, but this stays in the boundaries of personal choice. Additionally, for a score of reasons, I really didn't approve of words spoken by the band during breaks, some of them addressing the whole situation with "Defeater". I just find it a lot better when people mind their own business and think about what they are saying before they actually say it. Otherwise, a great performance.

"Alpinist" gets one word as an opener. Wow. I wasn't pleased at all with their performance on "Cry Me A River" and I came to this gig to give them a second chance. Wow, again. The very first millisecond the band started playing, the crowd erupted like an eons old volcano. Instant stage diving, jumping, crowd surfing, screaming, pushing, everyone became so squeezed together from the sheer amount of people which hurled into the tent to participate in the sea of limbs and sore throats. The band seemed to play in such a violent fashion, when compared to the last time I saw them, and it doesn't come as a surprise that the audience replied in such a fashion. Their sound became exceedingly heavy, pounding and fast, so much that even though you were trying to stay alive in the whirlwind of bodies your mind was well aware of the sounds rushing towards the ears. There was minimal time for pauses or speeches, although they were present, and it was just nonstop insanity until the end of their set. The band just didn't stop beating their instruments until the crowd started feeling fatigue approaching. The only downside to the entire thing was that a girl got seriously injured, if the information is correct she got a fractured skull, during the set. Although it was really fun and adrenaline rushing, people should be a little bit more careful with really hurting someone, especially since at the beginning of the show a lot of tinier people were in front. I got separated from my girlfriend during the course of a couple of songs and I can't say that I wasn't worried for her. Also a similarly lame thing happened to me on "Light Bearer" while I was crowd surfing and was dropped to the ground at one point, without people actually trying to get me up but going along with their business. Just a little bit more concert etiquette is needed I presume. But aside of that, this is by far the wildest and most intense concert I've attended in a long, long while. "Alpinist", I applaud you, this was a show to remember. 

Gig announcement: Wolf Down, Demonwomb, Become As One

A fine number of concerts are boiling in Serbia it seems and this happens to be one of them. "Rebuild Collective" and "Crna Ovca" (Black Sheep) prepared this fine evening for us at the famous "CK13" venue in Novi Sad. Date of the gig is 16 August 2012 and the entry fee is 2,5 euros.

First up will be the Novi Sad youths going under the name of "Become As One". Never heard about them, never saw them, so it's going to be a total surprise for me. After them it's time for "Demonwomb", a five-piece thrash metal hardcore crossover. Judging by their bandcamp page, found here, this is going to be a ride! And finally, the proclaimed heirs of the legendary "Gather", "Wolf Down" from Germany will be ready to beat the venue into a pulp with their metallic hardcore wrapped in the vicious tendrils of vegan straight edge! I recently did an interview with this band, so head over here for a quick read and also check out their tunes here!

More information about the event can be found on its facebook page, found here. See you there!

Interview: Wolf Down

Finally, as promised, here is the interview I did with an awesome upcoming band from Germany named "Wolf Down". After just a quick glance at their work, I immediately fell for their tunes and had a great desire to have a talk with them, so here is the fruit of our correspondence. Really friendly people doing something awesome, take a read and a listen, you won't regret it! 

1. Up front, thank you so much for taking your time to answer some questions for "Natures With No Plagues" blog. Please, introduce yourself and the rest of "Wolf Down".

Tommy: Hello, thanks for having us! My name is Tommy, I play guitar in "Wolf Down" together with Larissa, she is our singer, Sven is our drummer and Merlin plays the bass.

2. You are still a very young band, so I'm interested in hearing how did you all get together to start writing music.

Tommy: We started writing music together in April 2011. Larissa, Sven and Merlin had a band called "Sink Or Swim" together. This band called it quits about one and a half years before that and I had also just left a band. We knew each other from shows and knew, that the ethics of veganism and straight edge are very important to all of us. So we began talking about doing a band together promoting these ethics with a heavy and non-compromising sound and that's how it all started.

3. Why and how did you choose that particular name for the project? Does it have any special meaning for you or was it just cool to use?

Tommy: Yeah, sure, wolves are really cool animals! But to be honest, we really liked the meaning of "(to) wolf down" which menas, to eat hastily. In our opinion this reflects how most of the people do not pay any attention on what they eat and consume, where it comes from and how it is produced. So the name of the band directly displays our criticism about this behavior.

4. Thus far you have one release called "MMXI". Tell me something more about the album and some interesting details about the creation of it.

Tommy: It's actually the first 4 songs we ever wrote and recorded, so technically this is our demo. We recorded them even before we played our first show if I remember correctly. We are very happy how everything worked out and about the positive response we got for it!

5. You are all vegan and straight edge in the band. When and how did you first get in touch with these ideologies? What sparked the flame that took you down that path?

Tommy: It was about 7 years ago when I was searching people to do a new band with. So I knew this guy who I knew was a very good drummer, so we gave it a shot. We began talking and eventually I found out he was vegan. He was the first person I ever knew who was vegan. Sure, I knew some vegetarians but to be honest, until that point I always thought that this was some kind of thing hippies and mid-40s moms do to just feel better about themselves. Getting to know this person changed my life. I soon became very interested in how veganism works, what he eats and what else he is aware of. With his help I started thinking and informing myself about all the different aspects and organizations promoting a meat free living. To say the least, in my opinion not all of them are promoting it the right way but thats another thing. Se with his help and guidance the transition was very easy to me. Maybe I have to add that I never was a vegetarian, I went straight from omnivore to vegan.

Straight Edge is another thing. I had my first contacts with hardcore music and shows also about the time I became vegan and started the band mentioned above. By that time I already had stopped taking illegal and legal drugs which played a huge part in my teenage years. But I didn't consider myself straight edge because I just knew too little about it. With the time I spent within the scene I got to learn about all the positive aspects about it and now I am proud to call myself straight edge. You don't need a lable to abstain from drug use, but I believe that through this label it becomes more concrete and achievable especially for younger people. It gives everyone a feeling of affiliation which for some people is very important. By calling yourself straight edge you are promoting a clean, positive, liberated way of life. Of course there are some people misusing the straight edge for their elitist excluding "I'm better than you" bullshit, but thats not our idea of it. So you can feel save around us whilst drinking your beer ;)

6. Aside of through your band and obviously your diet, is there any other way that you support veganism? Some sort of activism or anything similar?

Tommy: Yes, sure, we try to show support for different organizations and actions as much as we can but we hope you understand that we don't want to go too much into detail about this!

7. Your lyrics critique the common "9 to 5" life style, so I'm interested in what do band members do for a living in their own time?

Tommy: We are trying to work our way around the system, but to be honest, this only works to some point. We have to pay rent and stuff, so we sadly have to make money somehow. Right now a couple of us are still studying, the other ones have to work.

8. Do you think that society as a whole can undergo a drastic change, especially now that riots and revolutions are flaming up all over the world?  In your opinion, can capitalism be smashed?

Sven: That drastic changes are possible is written in history, both, positive and emancipatory as well as negative, reactionary and destructive. That's why the unwritten future is like a scale with achievements and throwbacks. The uprisings all around the globe prove that society's are in turmoil. Even though there is no master plan "how to abolish capitalism once and for all" we have the impulse, the anger and the courage to provoke this systems collapse and to destroy and rebuild, because we surely know what we don't want and how it should not be. We have a dream which guides what we want and how a sustainable, liberated and emancipatory society could look like and be organised; self-governed based on non-violence, equality and solidarity. All actions against capitalism (as a whole, or it's excesses) and revolutionary struggles at all must be accompanied by actions for something (aka the utopia) because we create the new world already in the here and now. This also affects your own behavior! "The" revolution won't be a single event which will happen on day X and after it capitalism is history, no. The revolution is a developing process carried and impelled by it's proponents. That's why it is important to raise a network of united struggles worldwide. Cosmopolitical like the proposition - think global, act local.

9. Tell me something more about your local music scene and about Germany in general. Is there anything you specifically love or hate about it? 

Tommy: The music scene in Germany is really big. There are a lot of clubs where shows take place. It's sad, but most hardcore shows are taking place in clubs that are run with a commercial interest so the shows are mostly expensive. We don't have a lot of alternatives in our area, there are some, but without a commercial background it's mostly not possible to pay what booking agencies are asking for bigger bands nowadays. Touring in Germany is very nice because the standards are very high. You get mostly good food, don't have to worry about sleeping places and promoters keep their promises. I guess thats the main reasons that bands are touring Germany over and over again (despite the fact that the hardcore scene is huge). So here you have it. We love the food but hate the money aspects about it in some cases.

10. Are there any more xvx bands in your surrounding area with which you do shows or somehow collaborate?

Tommy: We don't know about any other xvx bands in our area, there is one in eastern Germany called "Barren". We recently played a show with them and they are really great.

11. It is known that some of you have been involved with the band "Sink or Swim". How much does the music writing process differ between these two bands?

Sven: The sound differs as "Wolf Down" is a way heavier than "Sink or Swim" was, but the writing process is pretty similar. The guitarist writes stuff on his own and shows it to the rest at rehearsals or we just jam together and see what comes out. Mostly it's like a puzzle as we sort out a few parts and replace them, in turn, a few fit into another song idea and that's the way it goes. It's not always that easy, maybe that's also the reason why we don't have so many songs yet, but it's important to us that everyone is satisfied or at least compromised with the result. The difference which exists is, that in "Wolf Down" only Larissa is writing lyrics which she feels more comfortable with when it comes to performing the songs. In "Sink or Swim" almost everyone in the band was involved in writing lyrics.

12. Aside of "Wolf Down" and the already mentioned "Sink or Swim", do band members have some other projects? 

Tommy: Yes, Merlin has a really great band called "Rocksofa". They kill it! Other than that, all of us played in other bands in the past. 

13. At this point, are there any special plans for the future of "Wolf Down"?

Tommy: We are leaving for our first trip to Sweden on July 5th and we are really excited about this! We will also be playing Fluff Fest this year which feels truly amazing because in my opinion it's the best place to be for a hardcore/punk (or really any kind of) band!

In August we will be touring the Balkan States for a little over 2 weeks with our friends in "Demonwomb" (check them out!) from Austria. On this tour we will play shows in Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria.We are really looking forward to this and to find out what the hc/punk scene is like over there! After this there will be a few single shows in Germany before we leave for the UK in mid-September.

As you can see, we have a lot of shows to come this year ;)

Besides all the shows of course we are overly excited how everyone will react on our new "Renegades" 7" which was released on June 16th.

14. Again, thank you so much for doing this interview! Any final message for the readers? 

Sven: Thank you even more for your interest and thanks to everyone out there for taking the time to read what we have to say! Now get off the internet! Stop mourning - take action.