LIVE REVIEW: Viva Sounds @ Gothenburg (01-02/12/2023)
An eclectic, vibrant and constantly surprising event. Mark it on your calendar!
You might remember that I have mentioned Viva Sounds before in the Festival Spotlight feature (more of those are coming soon, by the way), back then I was very much in excited anticipation about it, as it looked like a really cool and different event, and I was kinda counting the days to discover it in person. Turns out I was right to be excited, as this little shindig in wintery Gothenburg really is quite a quirky, individual, unique place to be in. Spread out over two days, it’s a meticulously organized but still with a pleasant chilled out vibe presiding over the whole thing, even if you might think beforehand that the schedule alone will induce migraines.
But it’s much more manageable and relaxed than it seems, you see. You get it once you’re there. All of the many shows that take place over the weekend are spread out over an intimidating number of venues, sure, but all of them are really close to each other, situated basically over two streets. Some of them are literally across the street from each other.
These venues range from proper music rooms to bars, record stores and cultural centres. The artists that are part of the line-up are typically up-and-coming, underground, promising acts, it’s one of those festivals where you go into it probably not knowing at least half of the names on the bill, and that’s really the point. It’s a mission of discovery that is only further reinforced by the tremendous eclecticism on display. From folk to pop, from metal to indie rock, from electronics to punk, there’s all sorts of great music for all your moods, even - in fact, especially - if your moods tend to shift every half hour. Wanna walk from a a shy singer/songwriter whispering into the mic over a softly strummed acoustic guitar playing next to the cashier on a second hand record store to dark room full of screaming maniacs throwing beer in front of a black metal band shrieking about Satan being their father while covering themselves in blood? And then go cool off at a bar sipping on a cocktail while you watch a synth duo dressed for halloween mangle some warped Eurovision-on-acid pop tune? You got it! And just for the record, those aren’t even random examples made up on the spot, that’s really just an example of the wild splashes of colour that you can paint your evenings with during this festival.
Finally, and if you read that Festival Spotlight article you might recall we talked a bit about that, it’s also a great place for music people to come together. Aside from the shows, there’s a conference part where nerds from all over the place, geographically and job-wise too, congregate to talk about subjects as diverse as, for instance, what does it mean to be “independent” in music? Or how do “scenes” actually form and cities become connected to a certain movement or genre? Or, in the case of my favourite one this year, which I luckily got to moderate, just a talk about merch? It might not seem so exciting until you get priceless pieces of info you didn’t know you needed, such as the fact that there is a bonfire-scented shampoo for people who still want to smell like the fantastic Midgardsblot festival once they’re home, or that the Motörhead rose wine was an express wish from Lemmy himself, or that you can run into trouble with censorship in certain countries if you want to do colouring books based on metal artworks, among many, many other funny and fascinating tales that were told by these fantastic people over the weekend.
Since I didn’t have any particular requirements for watching bands and I wasn’t on a writing job to review the festival for any publication, I decided to free myself of any shackles one usually has at these things and go with the flow, as hippie as that might seem. Since my better half and kickass photographer Estefânia had a busy schedule for shooting bands, I decided to mostly follow her and end up wherever fate might decide. Turns out that was a great decision, so here are some of the coolest highlights of all the different shows I managed to catch.
deepaak
I actually arrived at the “potato place”, as Potatisen was instantly renamed after a few too many nice beers, when deepaak, aka Martin Forsell, was still doing the soundcheck, and I actually had a drink and watched that. Martin is a local multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer, and a very talented all-of-those-things at that. His agile and dreamy indie pop songs are catchy, driven along by feisty 80s rhythms created by synths, but still, what gets you first and foremost is his voice. A sort of fragile but steady, velvety high tone, it’s an instant caress on the soul and seems to be able to carry any kind of song, including snippets thereof during a soundcheck, there we go. A really enveloping and emotional show, and surely an artist to follow from now on. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see the whole set, because…
Eradikated
…halfway through I took the minute-walk to The Abyss, a (in)famous metal venue across the street, where Eradikated were playing at the same time, a young thrash band that just released their ‘Descendants’ debut a couple of months ago on Indie Recordings. It’s always good to see promising bands at the infancy stage of their art, and this proved to be the case once more. Raw and savage, without some of the sillier trappings that betray many bands going for the retro-thrash thing these days, they seem hungry and pissed off on stage, and despite being nothing revolutionary in terms of genre innovation, their intensity really does set them apart, and a furious moshpit ensued to illustrate just that. Great fun.
Industrial Puke
Shortly after Eradikated, another interesting band stepped up on stage at The Abyss. You might remember Industrial Puke from the May 2023 edition of The Devil’s Month, when I recommended their excellent ‘Born Into The Twisting Rope’ debut. This was my first time seeing them live, and my expectations were truly met with a ferocious performance. Their gritty mix of industrial, hardcore and death metal really turns into a steamroller when they let the noise loose on stage, and they pummelled the Abyss crowd into a mush of happy, sweaty submission.
Octolab
See, if I hadn’t followed Stef around like an obedient puppy, I probably wouldn’t even have set foot in the “potato place”, and I most certainly wouldn’t have returned after finding myself in the warm comfort of a metal venue full of known faces, loud bands and cold beer as The Abyss was on the first night, but hey, I’m very glad I braved the chilly Andra Långgatan street once more, as Octolab were more than worth the short and snowy trip. The potato place is a bar/restaurant that serves really nice food, so when the band started I was happily munching away, sitting down in an adjacent room without even a view of the stage. When my photographer partner came back raving about how there were viking helmets and bridal dresses and all kinds of weird costumes on stage, I was already prepared to move my lazy ass, as the infectious weirdness of the music had already started to call me even without the appeal of the visuals to help out. Eurovision on acid was my first description of it, as I already used it up there as an example of variety in the festival, and that pretty much sums it up - catchy beats, danceable stuff, but with a severely deranged twist, a somewhat sinister, menacing edge underneath all the crazy circus imagery, and some real and perhaps surprising depth to the compositions, especially when they veer towards more layered, darkwave territory. One of the great discoveries of the festival! And it was also nice to bump into vocalist Arielle Andersson at breakfast in the hotel the next morning - especially as I was raving about the band at the time. Good timing!
Molnet
Apparently Albin Marklund has turned Molnet (Swedish word for “cloud”) into a full band in the last few years, but on this occasion, in the little space at the entrance of the Andra Långgatans Skivhandel record shop (a really cool one, by the way), it was a sort of back to the roots performance, with just himself performing a few of his songs. Thought the Molnet “project” exists since 2015, his debut full-length will only come in 2024, and I for one will be really looking forward to it. Lo-fi, minimalist and rather mournful songs, with his beautiful kinda Stuart Murdoch (Belle And Sebastian)-sounding voice carrying the emotions perfectly, Molnet has everything to cause an impact on anyone into the more quiet and introspective sort of indie rock.
Hands Off (Plays Kilo+++)
Some record browsing/shopping later, and suddenly another band shows up to play the record store. It was fortunate I hung around, because Dutch duo Hands Off are great fun. This was a special incarnation of the usual Hands Off though, as they left their habitual DIY lo-fi punk home to perform instead renditions of Kilo+++ (apparently their “iconic and ever obscure predecessors”) songs with a couple of synths and a guitar as main instruments, a more electronic and somewhat lighter side of the duo, who nevertheless show their true punk nature throughout - it’s really cool to see, for instance, how hard Janneke de Boer hits her drumpad, as if it was a proper physical drum. Good times.
Alicia Toner
Alicia actually had played on the first day, but I only managed to catch her more intimate performance in the crampled space of the Holy Moly - a cool bar indeed, but one whose stage is situated in a very small space triangulated by the toilets, the counter and a few tables by the window. As soon as Alice started playing, however, none of that mattered and it was like the place expanded to become an enormous theater with her in the middle of the stage dominating the spotlight. Her bio mentions that she is a “performing veteran”, having pursued a theatre career before the release of her first album, 2017’s ‘I Learned The Hard Way’. Opening with ‘Time Travel’ from her 2021 effort ‘Joan’, it not only became absolutely clear that her voice is capable of the softest hushed emotions but also the most powerful raging highs. Rawer and sparser than their studio versions, songs like ‘Have It All’ or ‘Joke’s On Me’ really hit deep, and Alicia’s joke that apart from that one love song, all her others are pretty depressing, really came as a truth delivered in jest. All in all, one of the best shows of the weekend.
God Mother
I know, I’ve been making a couple of half-assed statements like “one of the best shows of the weekend” just now on the previous band, but here’s a blunt one to make up for it: the best show of the weekend was, by far, the one God Mother put up at The Abyss on Saturday night! As soon as the first note rang out, there was not a single moment of quiet or rest. Vocalist Sebastian Campbell is an absolute maniac, breaking teeth and smashing his forehead with his mic, writhing around on the floor while screaming his head off, jumping carelessly into the crowd whether they seem ready to catch him or not, hanging from the light rafters, on top of a chair and/or the monitors and generally punctuating each fat riff or blood curdling scream with yet another physical act of madness, exhibiting the sort of intensity we haven’t really seen since Ryan McKenney was being his usual reckless self and bleeding all over stages with the sorely missed Trap Them. There is indeed a certain Trap Them-esque hardcore/death metal/sludge powerful rumble to the noise these weirdos make, as well as a certain Converge heft especially in the Ballou-ish riffs guitarist Max Lindström peacefully (apparently) spits out from his guitar, in absolute physical contrast to his unhinged vocalist. They seemed like super nice people when I talked to them at the merch table afterwards, where I left a substantial amount of money, so yeah, everything in its right place with these people. There’ll be new material coming in 2024, so go get into them right now. Here, God Mother dudes, you get a bonus pic just for being awesome:
Schizophrenia
It would be difficult for any band to follow the God Mother whirlwind, but Belgians Schizophrenia ended up carving their own space through the sheer quality of their tunes and performance. As if it wasn’t clear enough from their name, yeah, they are fans of early Sepultura, but in the best homage kind of way, never as a pastiche. In fact, their old-school death/thrash even evokes stuff like Ripping Corpse or Demolition Hammer, for instance, so it’s not like they’re a one trick pony at all. Moshpits ensued, of course, and no head was left unbanged by the end of their show. Fortunately for some of us, we will get to see them again at SWR Barroselas Metalfest (who were in fact Viva Sounds partners and actually had a banner up at The Abyss and did a cool contest to win some merch in between bands) next April, looking forward to it.
Blodskam
Speaking of SWR, remember that Swedish black metal band who had their first live show at the festival after 25 years of (semi-)existence? Yup, that’s Blodskam, and they seem to have gotten the hang of this live thing now, and this was their second performance ever. So I’ve seen 100% of all Blodskam shows so far. Hope to keep up the average! Anyway, this show at The Abyss obviously didn’t have the emotional impact of that SWR one, but they remain a very intense, passionate even, engaging act to catch on stage. In fact, they seemed tighter and more powerful this time, which is also natural, so I’m sure these two 2023 shows were only the beginning of something larger. Even it it means I will lose my 100% brag rights, they do deserve the growth.
Systemik Viølence
To wrap it all up, a bit of a surprise, but a very appropriate one - a Portuguese band, from my hometown of Lisboa, as a sort of reminder that I would have to hop on a plane and leave the wonderfully snowy Gothenburg in a few hours to return home, and in the same plane as these hooligans, as it turned out. Systemik Viølence have been around for a few years, they have a couple of very well known people from the Portuguese underground scene in their lineup, and their whole thing is being as raw and as aggressively in your face as possible. “Punk has gone soft and became just a musical style, rather than an outlet for protest.”, they lament on their Bandcamp page, and each of their shows is a confrontational blast aimed at putting the protest back in protest punk. No matter how tired they might be. You see, they should have played on the first day, but a cancelled flight meant they just arrived in Gothenburg on Saturday, and were given a slot earlier that day at another venue that wasn’t at all appropriate for the kind of unholy noise they do. Fortunately, the people at The Abyss were able to receive them for this show-closing extra performance, and they happily played their second gig in just a few hours for this much more violence-welcoming venue. Glad they did, as it was the perfect closer for a weekend of gnarly fun.
Thank you Viva Sounds, see you next year!