The Charm The Fury (& others) @ Baroeg Open Air Rotterdam
The Charm The Fury (& others) @ Baroeg Open Air Rotterdam (Netherlands)
Saturday 21 September 2013
Raw guitars, grunts and electro. People that like the heavier segment of alternative music were at the right spot. For the 6,300 metal heads it was an ideal combination: good music (sometimes of unknown bands), free entrance, nice weather and plenty of not too expensive beer. The number of visitors of the 6th edition was a new record in the history of this free festival with a focus on heavy alternative music (read as loads of metal). It's linked to the pop podium Baroeg in Rotterdam.
The festival had two stages; the Main stage and the Charlois Talent / Electronic Stage. The Main stage offered the (heavy) (more) known bands: The Charm The Fury, Radio Moscow (US), Dead Head, Hausmagger, The Monolith Deathcult, Meteors (UK), Focus and headliner Moonspell (PT). The Charlois stage was in the afternoon the domain of the upcoming Dutch bands, e.g., Servantum. In the evening Electo took over that stage.
The number of bands is too many to cover all in detail. I’ve picked 4 bands from the Main Stage for various reasons. Only one fits in the category Female Fronted Metal. That’s why The Charm The Fury is in the title and gets the most words. “The others” in the title are Hausmagger, Focus and headliner Moonspell.
The Charm The Fury was also the band that opened the festival. I don’t know why this Dutch band has not been identified by Sonic Cathedral earlier. Doing my “research” upfront, I’ve found out that they have over 25,000 Likes on FaceBook from all over the world. So I asked for an opportunity to talk a little with Caroline Westendorp (vocals) after the gig and heard that The Charm The Fury also is very surprised by that attention and because of the variety of countries of the likes she can’t tell “where the fan base is located”. Other band members are: Mathijs Tieken (drums), Lucas Arnoldussen (bass), Mathijs Parent (guitar) and Rolf Perdok (guitar).
The gig was also their first one after releasing their first full album A Shade of My Former Self on 16th of September 2013 by a French Label. The Charm The Fury is from Amsterdam and is a not standard metal core band. Of course having Caroline Westendorp as the frontwoman makes a difference but it’s also their music. The band produces good songs where aggression and melody mix together. If you like a raw, aggressive (female) grunts/screams and a metalish voice, you should check out their album and live gigs. All are very dynamic on stage and that counts definitely for Caroline. She represents both the aggressive and melodic parts well. The got the limited crowd already very enthusiastic despite the early hour.
In the set list were also songs from the debut EP The Social Meltdown (marked #).
Intro
The Enemy
Family Values #
Colorblind
The Social Meltdown #
Heartless, Breathless
Interlude
Living Saints
Carte Blanche
Virtue of Leadership
Dirty South #
As said earlier I had a little chat with Carolina. Outside the usual introduction and chit chat it was structured around two questions. It’s not really a transcript but the structure is easy.
Ton: How was it today, the first gig after releasing the album?
Caroline : Exciting and fun. Now we can play a more extensive set on gigs. With the new songs we have more options. In last week’s gig (Eindhoven, September 15) we could not play as many new songs as from now. It was also challenging playing a lot of new songs for the first time on stage. I think it mainly did go well.
Ton: Can you tell me a little about the writing process.
Caroline: Mathijs (Tieken) provides the basis for the songs and then with support from the band the musical structure is set. After that Rolf and I start writing the lyrics. The final production is done by Mathijs Tieken.
Hausemagger is the local band. Baroeg is a hometown game for them. I’m not sure Hausmagger is a one of a kind band but they are definitely typical. The band is formed around singer / poet Theo Wesselo -Ted Hausmagger. The timing might have been not the best, because some of the lyrics, poems and jokes are for later hours. All is brought in the local Dutch. Some, including me, might have missed some clues (we have most likely another local Dutch) but that was no real issue. The music is categorized as Surf Rock. The band played well but the members were very careful in not taking attention away from Theo. Band members are: F*ck The Writer - Emil v. Steenwijk (guitar), The Beast - Myrle Kloens (bass) and The Beauty - Daim de Rijke (drums). The use of nick name already indicates that they “don’t want to be taken serious”. However the music is interesting, different, fun and easily digestible on a sunny afternoon.
The third band I picked was later on the evening and created a significant shift in the audience. Real metal heads used this gig before the headline to prepare themselves; get a beer (or more), something to eat or whatever. The “new” audience had a different look; less dressed in black, a little older looks and more relaxed (less active). The explanation is the selected band. Who doesn’t know “Hocus Pocus”? This song is played every moment somewhere in the world. It’s was the breakthrough in the early 70’s from the Dutch Progressive Rock band Focus. The song “Sylvia” confirmed the status. The lineup still has members from the early days: founder Thijs van Leer (keyboard, flute, vocals) and Pierre van der Linden (drums). The band is completed with (metal) guitarist Menno Gootjes and Bobby Jacobs on bass. Their music is mostly instrumental with long songs where the members (of this in the old days first Dutch super band) have sufficient opportunities to show their skills. Although the band is a little outsider, the organization made an excellent choice with adding Focus. It attracted a wider audience and the ones in the tent really liked this set very much. To some is it was new (in some cases music from before they were born) and to some it brought up memories. Also for me. I checked the internet and found out that the last time I saw Focus live was when they played at sunset at Mid-Summer Festival in Meerlo in June 1972. A special festival for me, because Genesis, the set before Focus, played for the first time outside the U.K.
Of course they played the old hit songs. Thijs, still on his old Hammond Organ, leads the band through the gig, It is a hard job to compete with former master guitarist Jan Akkerman but Menno did an excellent job. Focus has its roots in the beginning of the 70’s. The old songs have a link to the psychedelic music of the hippy period and the long associated instrumental sections made this band a strange duck in the metal pond. Nevertheless a good choice, an enthusiastic (different) audience where young and old listened with full attention to the compositions.
The festival closed at the main stage with Moonspell. The first rows in the audience were metal heads again. More black, younger, longer hair and more active. The return for Moonspell was a good decision. Moonspell is around for many years and plays a mix of dark, death and gothic metal. In the loud alternative scene, it’s most likely Portugal’s best export product. They are known for their dynamic live shows. And Moonspell doesn’t disappoint. These almost metal veterans (since 1992) know how to interact with the audience, especially Fernando Ribeiro (vocals). Also the “newer” member Aires Pereira (bass), Pedro Paixao (guitar, keyboard) and Ricardo Amorim (guitar) are very dynamic. I will not forget to mention Miguel Gaspar, mostly hidden behind the drums, who was loud and clearly present with his pounding drums.
The set list had a good mix of new songs (from Alpha Noir - “ Axis Mundi”, “Alpha Noir”, “Lickantrope”, “Love is Blasphemy” and the Portuguese “Em nomedo medo” ) in the beginning and old songs (Wolfheart) – “Vamperia” and “Ataegina” ) at the end. In the middle a song of Memorial (“ Finisterra” ) and Irreligious (“Opium” ) The audience reacted very enthusiastic on the set but was a bit disappointed when they had to choose between two songs “Full Moon Madness” and “Alma Mater”. Because of schedule limitations and a late start due to sound check difficulties, Moonspell had to skip one song .I’m not sure if all went democratic, but when “Alma Mater” (Wolfheart) started all was forgotten.
It was a successful festival and it showed again that metal heads may look aggressive but that the atmosphere is totally not problematic. To close with a quote from Karin Koolen’s article in the Rotterdam Newspaper: “The public is relaxed and social, no bad words and no incidents. Exactly how a festival should be”.
