TOTAL FEST PRE-BLAST, FRIDAY JUNE 6TH W. PRIZEHOG

That name, "Prizehog," in the context of Total Fest makes me think first of some kind of midwestern noise rock outfit, pretty male in the chromosomal department and also obsessed with a kind of 2010s version of David Yow's 1990s poetry/lyrics, mostly about the dark side of state and county fairs, and carnies and... I don't know. Maybe they tour with Animal Lover.

Not so. Coastal American Prizehog is none of the above, really. They're like a acid-damaged Melvins or a a more riffy Residents, actually. It's heavy-as-shit, and weird-as-fuck simultaneously, you know? For a lot of folks at Total Fest XII in 2013, they were the unknown, unexpected, and completely blown-away-by band.

Prizehog exists in their own realm. And it's a pretty stoney one. Not in the conventional "stoner rock" way either. More in a bizarre, soundtracky, diverse, melodic, down-tuned and sort of mystical vibe. It's friggin awesome. We can't stop listening to their recent "Re-Unvent The Whool" LP that Eolian Empire released. It's so great a record.

Prizehog

And, by chance and luck, you get a two-fer with Prizehog this year. Once in June, this Friday (June 6 at the ZACC, North 1st in Missoula) and once with everybody else at Total Fest in August.

Hefty metallions Shramana and Swamp Ritual, both from the flood-carved valleys of western Montana play to. This will be excellent.