Messed!Up
Let’s start in our amusing reality: when I jumped off the bus in Gothenburg for my fourth Viva Sounds Festival it was -11 degrees and snow. At the same time, our Melbourne photographer sent the first batch of photos from Good Things Festival and complained about light showers and +24 degrees. That’s an outtake from Messed!Up’s different realities on December 1, 2023.
I admit, I wasn’t prepared at all for the Arctic winds surrounding Gothenburg and the day after the festival I was caught in a cold that developed into something far worse and kept me in bed for a week, but I should be used to it as I’m a Gothenburg-breed and have spent many years freezing my butt off . Enough about the weather. Well, just one thing; my German colleague was looking forward to snow and cold weather – you won this one!
So, what’s s special about a club festival in December? The overall line-up may not be something most people would know about, but remember that it is a showcase festival and not a platform for bands with already prospering careers – it’s a clear focus on new talent but with some renowned bands to spice it up a bit. That’s why it’s interesting, to get a glimpse of new bands and artists ready to take off in a couple of years. And Viva Sounds has kept the true showcase festival spirit and refrained from booking bigger acts to sell more tickets as some of the bigger showcase festivals across the world have done in the last few years (I’m not even sure if they can be called showcase festivals anymore).
As an emerging artist, playing showcase festivals is hands down the best way to reach new audiences and progress your career. It can be a bit dull at times to be in a crowd made up of industry people if they outnumber the common festivalgoer. I’ve been to a fair share of pointless shows at Reeperbahn Festival (one of the biggest showcase festivals in the world, in our hometown of Hamburg) where the audience is more interested in networking and having a beer than dedicating their attention to the band on stage. Luckily, it’s far from that feeling in Gothenburg, maybe because the industry people are kind of few compared to ticket buyers.
DAY 1
The first day at Viva Sounds didn’t really unfold as it was supposed to, and instead of starting off at Gathenhielmska and a Moto Boy gig we ended up at Hängmattan in Musikens Hus with Danish singer-songwriter Marí. Usually, I’m not a fan of singer-songwriters at festivals at all. Festivals should be hotspots for high-energy bands and moshpits, but Marí was the perfect this night. Me, sipping on a beer, and listening to (pretty good) lo-fi guitar music with only a few people in the audience (better view, no people talking too loud etc.). From here, it was going to speed up considerably.
Upstairs, in the big club at Musikens Hus, sludge/doom metal three-piece Firebreather were firing up some doom. For those unaware, Firebreather is a Gothenburg band proficient in crafting absorbing doom metal atmospheres. Their latest effort, their 2022 album Dwell in the Fog, entertains just as heavy rock music should, focusing on crushingly heavy and in-your-face, yet melodic doom metal. Vocalist/guitarist Mattias Nööjd also has that kind of doom metal charisma that many doom metal bands lack, especially the doom/sludge metal voice capacity. I know some people say that not much happens at doom metal gigs but with a great setlist you don’t need people running around like Turnstile on stage. Bands like Firebreather fire up the aggressive side of people and then you need a punk show to release some steam – and luckily, that was next on the schedule.
Now, before we left for the next gig, there were decisions to make. Remember that Gothenburg was plagued by some sort of ice age during the festival and it was -13 outside? Oceanen, the next venue, was 300m away – should I dress in all those layers of clothes for 300m and then have nowhere to put them at Oceanen where temperatures above +50 were expected? Hell no! After 200m I couldn’t feel my hands anymore and at the door at Oceanen, they had to resurrect me with a huge glass of whisky. I can’t recommend it and I won’t do it again (well, the whisky part of it maybe). And next on the schedule was a band that would get me sweaty.
Gothenburg punk rock outfit Upploppet are expected to release their debut album sometime next year but have already made a name for themselves as one of the rowdiest live acts you can watch – they’re built for live performances. Their songs are completely built around energy. The droning, repetitive licks build, and build into these massive moments of courageous punk glory. Frontman Kristoffer Olsson brought unmatched energy and stage presence, reaffirming his status as one of the best live performers Sweden has to offer.
The entire performance was truly great, but there were certain moments more significant than others. Moments when you know you are experiencing something fantastic, something historic, something no one in the audience will ever forget. Keep an eye on Upploppet and their upcoming debut album, I know I will.
After Upploppet I had to make it back to Musikens Hus without freezing to death on the way, and an unnamed colleague came up with the idea of buying another whiskey and pouring it into a paper cup to make sure I stayed healthy on the way. Done!
Next on the schedule was Spanish hardcore/rock two-piece Bala. I hadn’t heard anything about the band until a few days before the festival when I (for once) listened through a festival playlist and thought ‘There’s moshpit potential here’.
Bala are made up of guitarist Anx and drummer V, and in-between the collective primal scream and through the bi-polar opposites of the frenzied anger-filled guitar riffs, Bala were completely and utterly compelling from start to finish. The band’s energy seemed to be fuelled by the crowd before them as the set progressed. The songs appeared to go up a gear each time, both in terms of their speed and the intensity of their delivery, and there was even a moshpit halfway through the set. Sure, I didn’t understand a word of what Anx was singing but who cares when the music speaks for itself. This was live music as alive, as visceral, and as vital as you’re likely to find this year, and by far the best performance we would see at this year’s Viva Sounds.
Another missed Moto Boy gig – we had beers and networked at Musikens Hus instead – and Skraeckoedlan were about to start. And it was a different kind of gig as they were one man down tonight. The frontman had to cancel due to becoming a father, so the bassist stepped in as the singer (not really sure due to the beer fumes making my brain dizzy at this point) and pulled it off brilliantly. Skraeckoedlan are a genre-bending, sci-fi mash-up of stoner rock and psychedelic prog that veers much more towards a 60s-style kaleidoscopic vision via the cosmic sounds of krautrock than their desert-dwelling compatriots.
Although I’m not the biggest stoner rock fan here tonight, I had reached the (beer) level where this was much appreciated. People around probably had one or seven more beers than me and were going nuts – Skraeckoedlan have quite a fanbase in Sweden – and all that combined made it the perfect end to the night.
The only problem left was to get well dressed and find a tram back to the hotel. Luckily, I just had to wait one minute and then walk another five minutes from the tram station until I was back in my warm room. A quick shower later and I went to sleep.
DAY 2
The second wasn’t as intense gig-wise, but it was a day of meetings. As the line-up wasn’t that interesting we had booked unusually many meetings with industry people to widen our network ecology a bit, and that’s equally important for future work. On the downside was the caffeine shock I had after a long day of meetings and I had to go back to my room and sleep it off a few hours before the first gig started.
Saturday started at Gothenburg’s best metal club, The Abyss, and a band that cause riots wherever they play. Stockholm hardcore/grindcore band Godmother have drawn accolades for their performances and I was quite curious what the fuzz was all about. The band did not merely knock however as they blew the whole door off. God Mother put on the most immersive, heaviest and the most energetic performance of the evening. Straight from the off, singer Sebastian Campbell was weaving between members of the crowd, who were delighted to be in his presence. Within the limitations of the forty minute set, Campbell was jumping on chairs, crowd surfing, screaming in the audience’s faces, running across the venue and even hanging from the rafters. Our photographer even had to make an effort to avoid getting kicked in his head once!
A combination of powerful drumming and rhythmic bass-playing ruled the music, but Campbell was such an energetic enigma that you get the sense that while watching him, the band could have stopped playing and the crowd would not have realised. This was a performance of endless energy, with only the mic-lead holding him back.
After such an intense experience I walked just around the corner to the new venue Potatisen. On stage was a band I’ve had on my radar for a while, Liverpool four-piece The Kairos, because of their UK trademark of indie rock music. With their brilliant EP Better Late Than Never, filled with indie rock bangers, I was expecting something great. And great it was!
The Kairos entered the stage to Iggy Pop’s “Lust For Life” to be faced by a packed, sea of heads from front to back of the venue (which was a normal pub with too many tables in the way). In an utter explosion of screaming guitars and distortion, the band spontaneously combust in both energy and musical prowess onto the stage; it’s loud, and wild, a musical storm is being created and it’s a frenzied force that is handed down to us as a crowd. Vocally it’s a wonderfully characterful tone, in the whole quite high and clear but a grating, rasping is present which brings rawness and edginess. It’s basically indie rock how indie rock should sound like, the kind of indie rock that disappeared from Sweden many years ago. The songs are pretty anthemic feeling, stadium worthy; instrumentals are textured and animated and the crowds chant back lyrics with enthusiasm. It’s clear why this band is so loved on home turf, in Liverpool, and in the whole north of the UK. Another stand-out band to see live, nonstop adrenaline and an addictive sound!
I was supposed to have left Potatisen right away and spend the rest of the night at Musikens Hus, the main venue, but old friends just happened to pop by and that usually means more beers. And that’s also how the night ended. While most people headed off to Musikens Hus to watch Kårp, we stayed for a beer night which turned into an after-party in a nearby flat and a very rough next day.
As always, Viva Sounds offers more than you expect just by looking at the line-up. I may be biased as I have my roots in Gothenburg (although it has been decades since I lived here), but a winter festival with new and upcoming bands just a few weeks before Christmas is perfect and makes December a little easier to get through.
Messed!Up will be back next year as well, that’s a promise!
**********
Photos by Richard Bloom
