Bang Your Head 2001  -  Total Kaput!

    "Well, its me, Fraser Crask, Simon Jones and Skyclad drummer Jay Graham. Skyclad are carrying on with Kevin Ridley singing as a kind of folk pub band with no metal and that left me with putting a new band together and then maybe finding out that you're with the wrong type of people again. However, a lot of people have been asking about Sabbat and its been 12 years since we played the material so why not put together a tribute band? My intention, once we've got this band running is to develop it into the most horrible, detested pagan metal band the world has ever seen ha ha! It will be dark but as you know I don't believe in Satan, because that's an invention of the Christian church. The dark side is based on ancient and mythological characters, some of whom were good and some bad. It sorta like nature, one minute the ocean can be beautiful and the next its a storm. When I was in Skyclad I wrote about finding the positive side of human beings and nature and after 10 years of that its time to explore. I'm taking the time to look back on the past and see what worked. What you're seeing tonight is like a Sabbat holiday and while we're doing this we're working on new ideas. I chose Return to the Sabbat not cos of legal reasons but to remind everyone that its an old band but also a new one. In truth, without Andy (Sneap) and Simon (Negus) its not the original band but a tribute."

    "Sabbat started off with me and Fraser, when we were at school together in band called Hydra and were influenced by bands like Venom and Mercyful Fate. We did 2 albums with Noise (I have one!-ED) and went on for 4 years until we got fucked by the thing that's fucked bands through time: you have to have people you can work with. Back then we were all young guys with strange attitudes which looking back was pretty unfortunate. I'm still good friends with Andy but he went off into the technical side of the business and he's happy there cos he's making some money now than he did in the band. He's more of a businessman than me. Back in England I was involved in the Bloodstock festival which is just getting off the ground this year and its a similar to thing to Bang Your Head. I think these festivals are important cos they're put on for fans by fans: where else can you see bands like us ha ha! As for my name the oldest ancestor we could find was born in Warsaw in about 1813. For some reason - maybe they were Jewish - the family moved away rapidly and settled in England on the Isle of Wight and then they spread out. A Polish guy told me the name meant something - I just hope it wasn't wanker ha ha!"

Friday 29 June

    The festival is taking place in a business park on the edge of Balingen town centre and everything has been laid out extremely well along with purpose built toilets. Ok, the ground wasn't grass but overall the event was just right when you compare it to the 3 day demolition fests like Holland's Dynamo (cancelled cos of hoof & mouth) and the mighty Wacken in northern Germany. First noteworthy band on were Solitude Aeternus, who at first looked dismayed at having to play their brand of doom metal at 11am on a bright sunny morning. However, they needn't have worried as the dry ice flooded the stage and vocalist Rob Lowe called out to the audience to come forward - and lo they did - to the sound of SA's mid western style doom metal. Curious to see the effect sunshine has on a doom band I chat to Rob and drummer John Covington:
Rob: "Well, I've never played this early before in bright sunshine ha ha! But I called them out and they got outta their sleeping bags and came to see us man, that was fuckin cool"
John: "it can affect you because you feel different at different times of the day but y'know, it didn't make a difference to the German audience cos they're so hard core they don't care anyway and that motivates us!"
Rob: "My philosophy is based on a book by Wayne Dyer and which was called 'Manifest Your Destiny' and its based on positive thinking: think it and it will happen. Its believing in a divine source whether its Christianity, Buddha, Islam, whatever and you have to meditate and tap into that source and create the premonition of what you wanna be....and you will manifest your destiny. Its not the group belief but myself and John are into it. In Solitude we don't force anything upon each other. We've played so long together - around 12 years so we all mesh well: Robert could suggest something about my drums and I could ask him to sing a certain way - there's a very free atmosphere between us."

    The earlier lyrics were done by the original vocalist back in 97, I took over in 89 and kept with the same philosophy but I turned everything personal, every word is extremely personal - so if you wanna know about me then just read the lyrics. Originally we were known as Solitude and later - actually after a lawsuit - we added Aeternus, which is Latin for eternal so it means eternal solitude. There isn't a single meaning to that because everyone will interpret things differently but to me, if someone takes my lyrics and can mesh with them and use them for themselves that's a great compliment".

John: "We may not be the biggest band out there today but that's not this bands goal. Over the years we've gotten to see most of North America and Europe and we've gotten to do things that we only dreamed of when we were children and be appreciated as part of the global metal community. We may not be rock stars but we still have a passion for our music which is our lifeblood, our soul".

After Kamelot, Brainstorm and Vicious Rumours is the mighty Kreator, who have gone thru many changes but with Ventor back on drums they belt out a no nonsense thrash metal set from 'Extreme Agression' to 'Flag of Hate' - the German crowd know what they want and Mille & co deliver it to them, complete with orange smoke bombs that makes us feel that we're in Beirut, not Balingen! Armoured Saint are supposed to be up next but are stuck on the autobahn (freeway) so its left to Rock Hard's editor cum metal icon Gotz Kuhnmund to entertain the audience by unveiling 2 giant metal claws on either side of the stage from which fire will shoot up like some ancient temple rite. It does the trick as the crowd either fall about laughing or are in total awe, just in time for Armoured Saint's tour bus to come screeching in next to the stage. The bus door flies open, and like a commando unit 5 guys in black run up the stairs and burst on stage with Saint classic 'Can You Deliver'. Bassist Joey Vera actually hits the stage so hard his bass strap breaks and his guitar ends up at his feet. But this is BYH, so instead of him running off or crying, he just gets on his knees and plays the fucker right on the spot until a shocked roadie comes out to help. Vocalist John Bush doesn't care anyway, he's too busy whipping the audience into a frenzy acknowledging the band's motto - Saints Will Conquer. After the blasting from Armoured Saint it was time to beer up (courtesy of local brewer sponsor Furstenberg) in time for veteran Aussie band Rose Tattoo, who play their own 101% proof blues rock. Having seen them at last years Wacken, it wasn't quite the OTT spectacle I had previously witnessed, where Angry drank so much he collapsed onstage with the audience not far off in an equally delirious state, but nonetheless the band delivered the goods and were well received. Sets from hippy rockers Uriah Heep and opera rockers Savatage followed, with the mighty Priest closing a long Fri to the sounds of Green Manalishi, Painkiller and a final crowd singalong for the football anthem United which carried on so long after curfew time that the power had to be cut!

Sat 30 June

    After opening sets from Eidolon and Squealer, Canuk heavies Anvil hit the stage and do so with such ferocity that it leaves me wondering how mainman Lips can still rock at the age of 45! I saw this band about 17 years ago at the old Marquee and this guy is still fuckin mental, bouncing around the stage with that stupid grin, playing his guitar with his teeth and then finally whipping out a Doc Johnson vibrator and abusing his Flying V to the sounds of 'Metal on Metal' and 'March of the Crabs'. Original drummer Robb Reiner is still awesome behind his kit and newbies Glen Five and Ivan ably fit in as OTT muppets. The roar from the crowd at the end of their set has Lips almost crying and its easy to understand why bands (many of whom are unappreciated in their own countries) will fly all this way and even to play a short set. For more Anvil click HERE! The 80's trend continued with Texas outfit Helstar receiving an equally huge response befitting their cult status. Considering they'd played a special extended set (along with Return to the Sabbat) the night before at a local disco, they were in excellent shape with James Rivera clearly challenging John Bush for the BYH Frontman award. Its amazing the way James has held Helstar together over the years despite its many line-up changes and his mastery over the audience earns him respect from artistes backstage and the audience alike. By now the crowd is tiring and its a welcome relief that the Company of Snakes take to the stage to play the Whitesnake numbers that made that band famous. While CoS have their own fans supporting them the rest of the crowd kick back and just absorb the beauty of classics like Lovehunter and Ain't No Love: its truly metal heaven when you see so many people ranging from ageing bikers to a young kid in a Mayhem t-shirt stopping to appreciate the guitar talents of Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody.

    "Are you fuckin maggots ready for some Six Feet Under death metal?" The weird dread locked shape of Chris Barnes shuffles onto the stage like some pyscho hippy as SFU start their cannibal dance and totally wipe out BYH. I mean, its total kaput man! Chris Barnes is Jim Jones and the arena is his Jonestown massacre as the audience is possessed into a tribe of zombies, paying homage to their demented leader's screeches and gutteral groans. Get this, at the start of the set some nu metal chick in front of me is telling SFU to fuck off, 3 songs later she's doing some weird dance grinding her pussy into her friend's thigh! Even the guys in Company of Snakes are staring in disbelief (and they couldn't stop chatting about SFU on the plane home either!) and when Barnes rolls his eyeballs the crowd wail as if to acknowledge his divine power. An awesome spectacle.

    The crowd by now is totally wasted, and while some are hanging in to see Axel Rudi Pell, most of us are getting relief in preparation for Megadeth's detonation at zero hour. Its been almost 12 years since I've seen them but the Dave M & Dave E team is still there belting out classics like 'Wake Up Dead' and 'Peace Sells'. They're keen to reaffirm their status as a headline metal act and considering how laid back they were backstage, its great to see they've lost none of their aggression onstage and in fact have improved (no more drunken raps from Dave M), working the audience in a manner befitting their 17 years of touring. I don't stay for the Stratovarius set but return for the grand finale with Mr Dee Snider who, along with fellow TS drummer AJ Pero, stamps 'Noo Yawk' all over BYH. The crowd know it's the end of the fest so every song is a huge drunken party singalong. Even when a thunderstorm hits in the final 20 minutes Dee (by now totally soaked as he's standing on the extended ramp) just carries on delivering song after song as the energy between him and the audience makes them invulnerable to the rain. The crowd are so moved that at the end of Dee's set they start to sing 'We're Not Gonna Take It' back to the band in the pouring rain and this carries on for 10 minutes after the band leaves the stage - even Presidents don't get that kinda glory!!!!

    Thanks to Jagger, Thomas and Tim for all their dedicated help and assistance in making this report possible and keeping the stress level of all the press down thru their professionalism - you guys rule!

-Shan Siva