Roadkill Festival – aka one of the highlights of the year for Belgian stoner and  rock ‘n roll fans – is held every year in the first weekend of August, in a little town called Waarschoot.  This year it already was the 11th edition. In the early days, the festival took place in a barn. Nowadays, the festival takes place in a tent, in the middle of the fields and meadows.

Day 2

Unfortunately we missed MØLK, the first band of the day, because we were still on our way to Waarschoot from Ghent. But I heard from friends that  they were really good.

Lost Baron (***1/2) from West-Flanders plays a mix between death metal, rock ‘n roll and stoner. This combination might seem a bit odd, but it works really well, especially live. Their straight forward, no-nonsense rock/metal set the place on fire, even though the tent was still mostly empty then.

Dutch rockers MAGNETIC SPACEMEN (***) play energetic garage/punk rock in the likes of The Hives and The Von Bondies. Original? Nope, definitely not. Good? Hell yeah! They were really enthousiastic and seemed to enjoy themselves on stage. This wake-up call was exactly what the still sleepy and quiet crowd needed.

Fire Down Below (****) is a stoner rock band from Ghent. They are often compared with Truckfighters, Kyuss and Red Fang. And rightly so! Fire Down Below’s songs are really great, with good melodies and strong vocals (live as well!). They played a compelling and earsplitting set. Their excellent debut album Viper Vixen Goddess Saint was released in 2016 and internationally re-released in 2017, and it already earned a spot in the ‘Favorite Albums of the Year’ list of famous music magazine MOJO.

Cocaine Piss (***), you either love ’em or you hate them. To be honest, I was not really a fan before. But then I saw them live, and they won me over with their outstanding noise punk and their super energetic live show. As usual and in true punk spirit, singer Aurélie spent more time performing in the middle of the crowd, than on stage.

Acoustic guitar duo WhiskeyDick (****1/2) really won over the crowd with their amusing Hillbilly country rock. The songs are really good, ranging from up-tempo to slower songs. The vocals are also very good, especially the harmony of the two members’ voices. The only thing that was a bit dissapointing, was that they played on a really small stage outside. It was rather difficult to see and hear everything well there.

I missed blues rock bands Swain and Child, because I was standing in line to have a piece of that delicious whole roasted pig (this year formerly known as ‘Wesley’), a true Roadkill Festival classic.

Audience favourite Death Alley (****1/2), revolves around former The Devil’s Blood guitarist Oeds Beydals. They played a top-notch show, filled with good old dirty rock ‘n roll/proto metal that made standing still absolutely impossible. The excellent musicians and charismatic frontman really know how to set a place on fire!

Thundermother (***1/2), an all-female AC/DC influenced rock band from Sweden, played a good, dynamic show. Especially if you consider the fact that three of the members (the bassist, drummer and singer) are new. The only original member left is guitarist Filippa Nässil. In the beginning of the set, the new members needed some time to get into it. Once they were used to it, they performed really well.

Apparently the stage was too small for LA rockers The Lords of Altamont (****), so singer Jake Cavaliere used one of the keyboards as extra bit of stage. The crowd loved every minute of their mix of 60s garage/psychedelic rock and blues. Judging by the amount of Lords of Altamont patch jackets in the audience, a lot of people came all the way to Waarschoot just for them! The band was on tour to present their new album The Wild Sound of the Lords of Altamont, that will come out in October 2017.

And then, lastbut not least, the headliner of the weekend: doom pioneers Pentagram (****)! Pentagram delivered a good, but quite static show. Singer Bobby Liebling could not be around, so guitarist Victor Griffin took over on vocals. Victor had big shoes to fill, but he did well.

First the official statement was that Bobby had health issues, then rumors about him being in rehab appeared. Eventually the other  band members   released an official statement on their Facebook page (at the end of October 2017):

“Bobby just went off the rails (drug induced) and ended up assaulting his mom. Pretty much the worst thing someone could do in my opinion. He assaults the one and only person that has always taking up for him? Wow! Just horrible.

All pictures by Vincent De Maertelaere. For more pics, look here and here.