Article By: Leanne Ridgeway
Weekend Pass bought (check), hotel booked (check), job time off approved (check), camera-ready (check), road trip mood (check), procrastinating packing (perma-check). I will be attending the Maryland Doom Fest for the first time this year. Pat Riot stated his musts, now here are mine…
I wasn’t at MD Doom Fest the first year due to my oblivion to it. I wasn’t there the second year due to a commitment to another music event. I vowed to not miss the third year. Not a moment of it. I am ridiculously amped for this festival of heavy in the State of Doom, at Cafe 611 in Frederick, MD.
If you’ve read other Riff Relevant articles about the MDDF event or bands in this year’s lineup, you should already be aware it starts with a Pre-Fest show on Thursday, June 22nd, and keeps going right through Sunday the 25th. Get there and attend at least one day of this fest. There is a truckload of bands, I believe this year the total is 47.
Hi. That’s FORTY-SEVEN bands over four days for less than $100.
Pat Riot was able to narrow down his ‘must-sees’ to a Top 5 acts of MDDF 2017. I don’t like choosing one band over another. I like music for different reasons. I can’t come close to a Top 5. I can’t even come close to a Top 25. Doubtful I could come up with a Top Day.
Instead of wracking my brain, I’m going to take an easy out. Do you know who I really want to see? Every single band playing the entire festival. Yep, every fucking one of them. All 47. At least I’ll enjoy the ever-living-hell out of my trying to. I’ll also be taking a ton of photos during every set I do witness.
What I will instead do is split this article out by each day of the fest. Here is each band at MDDF Pre-Fest Party, with a sample track stream where available (every band needs a Bandcamp page, just sayin’), by order of that day’s lineup – confirmed as of today:
MDDF Pre-Fest Party – Thursday, June 22:
• Valkyrie 10:55 – 11:55
• Beastmaker 10:00 – 10:45
• Borracho 9:15 – 9:50
• Weed Is Weed 8:30 – 9:05
• Sweet Heat 7:45 – 8:20
• Spillage 7:00 -7:35
VALKYRIE: (10:55-11:55 pm) I’ve seen Pete Adams perform with his other (now former) band Baroness a few times. I’ve never seen Valkyrie live before, which is both Pete and his brother Jake on guitars, along with two other amazing musicians. I enjoy any song I’ve heard from them and can’t wait to see them live. Harmonies, yum.
BEASTMAKER: (10:00-10:45 pm) Their new record ‘Inside The Skull‘ has graced my turntable at least twelve times (hear it streaming here) thus far. I bought it from the band themselves at the May 19th NYC show with Zakk Sabbath. No offense to Zakk, but Beastmaker is the reason why I went. Okay, sure, I will watch Blasko anytime in any band, but Beastmaker rocked a packed house of BLS fans into submission that night. They gained a ton of new fans in the process.
BORRACHO: (9:15-9:50 pm) They’re made of heavy, dirty, desert dusted rock. Their name translates from Spanish to many variations of the word ‘drunk’. They completely kick ass. I mean, what the hell more do you need to know here?
WEED IS WEED: (8:30-9:05 pm) This group is made up of hometown Frederick boys. They’re also some of the founding fathers, uncles, and brothers of the legendary Maryland Doom scene. In fact, it might surprise you how many times you see a few of these guys over the course of the entire Fest.
SWEET HEAT: (7:45-8:20 pm) I can’t find out a whole lot about Sweet Heat, other than they’re from Rhode Island and released a demo last summer. They sound pretty damned decent, but seriously… update your page, folks.
SPILLAGE: (7:00-7:35 pm) Spillage put together this nifty teaser video all for their first slot opening appearance at MDDF this year. How cool are they?
Want tickets just for the Pre-Fest Party? CLICK HERE.
That’s all of my must-see bands for the Maryland Doom Fest 2017 Pre-Fest Party. With exactly 10 days to go, I’m all abuzz for all the heavy and fuzz. Stay tuned for my rundown on MDDF’s Days One, Two, and Three this week! Find all you need: Maryland Doom Fest 2017 venue, hotel tickets, merch, etc.
