Everybody at Total Fest knows Ben Verellen from his ripping current band Helms Alee who've played a handful of times, and who rage full-on, undeniably. They also know him from his rad amplifiers and pedals and stuff, sold under the handle Verellen Amps.
But before all of that there was Harkonen. I think we'll say a bit more about them in a minute, but why don't you please just click play down below and get treated to some ragin'.
Harkonen are officially broken up, but have agreed to melt the collective un-conscious of Total Fest-goers for a very special, one-off deal. It'll be a freakin' huge treat to see these rippers. I guess the only other thing I'll say (the internet's full of information, man) is that this year marks a first, I'm positive in Montana history, and perhaps festival history across the world: we've got two bands in Harkonen and Sandrider whose names are direct references to Frank Herbert's Dune. Think on it. Dress like Feyd Rautha if you're feelin' it. We'll let you in free that night.
That's right, Total Folks. We're posting the final batch announcement of this year's Total Fest line-up. Not that we've saved the best for last, but this batch is a gut punch combo: old heads, well worn travelers, noisy weirdness, hefty stoner, playful pop, psych fix, and riff ration. A few strands are still lingering, but we'll have you caught up by the week's end. As with the last two announcements, we'll expand on each of the bands in the following days. Stay tuned.
Helms Alee are one of those bands that came out of nowhere and just straight up knocked me on my ass. I'd heard of their guitarist Ben Verellen's old band Harkonen in passing, but to be honest, I'd never checked them out (later smacking my forehead about that one). Anyway, I remember grabbing their first record, Night Terror, on a whim from my friend Andy's label when it came out a couple years back. A minute or two into the first track, I think my jaw dropped on the floor in utter shock at the weird, complex and amazingly heavy and melodic mix of sounds that came out of this little ol' three piece. Due to my geographic location at the time, it wasn't until last fall that I was actually able to see them live. And in that dark, dank Missoula basement, those songs from their LP (and much fabled demo 12" of which I then grabbed a copy) were fully realized for me, finally in a live setting. That said, they aren't super technical -- it's the range of sounds and textures that they create from such minimal instrumentation and vocals is what that makes them so unique. It's got equal parts of full-on, head crushing, sludgey riffs with sugary, border-line dreampop melodies and a few sparse, instrumental dirges here and there... it's hard to explain but utterly awe inspiring and all makes sense to me.
They played Total Fest a few years ago, and we're excited to have them back for Total Fest X this August. By then they'll have released a new full length on Hydrahead (out June 21st) and will be fresh off a long haul across the US with Big Business, Torche and Thrones (hell of a line-up, eh?). While we wait, let's marinade on a brand new song and a great older, live video here:
