Weekend Nachos / Primitive Man / Wake / Daggers @ Dynamo, Eindhoven 17/06/2014
Tonight is a night filled with grindcore and of course for those who want football too. It’s visible throughout Eindhoven that Mexico and Brazil are playing, but that hasn’t stopped the black clad crowd of making its way to the Dynamo venue for a basement show.
The great thing about the Dynamo basement is that no matter how little people are there, it always looks crowded. That must be nice for Belgian opener Daggers. Who I regret missing out on since their show is much anticipated. The place fills up a bit further during the break for Canadian grinders Wake. The self-described harsh grinders blast through their setlist like there’s not enough time for that left on this earth. Switching gears continuously between raging speed and almost standstill, the band impresses in their tight performance. In between the tracks they seem to shy away from the audience, but those moments are so brief, they are forgotten immediately.
Fun fact about Dynamo, which takes its position serious as a youth centre, is their campaign for non-alcoholic drinks. Even selling their own water bottles, they even get hardcore beer guzzlers to switch it seems. For some that’ll never be an option and I’m quite certain the bar will have complaints about that at the end of the night.
Anyways, the band I actually came to see for their Sleeping Shaman Sound (that’s a thing now) is Denver’s own Primitive Man. The kick-off is sudden in hectic, bleak and blackend bursts of doom riffs, creeping like a mudstream from the speakers. Like gore filth seeping into your ears. The misanthropic sound chills the room and creates an intense atmosphere. When main man and guitar player Elm opens his mouth to sing, it’s like unhuman guttural barks come from the man’s lips. Lumbering onwards, slow but certain, the band demonstrates their unique, primitive and scornful art. Violent and heavy, the band is surprisingly polite in-between songs. This band is all they say they are.
Mainliner and obvious fan favourite tonight are the powerviolence/sludge dudes from the renowned Weekend Nachos. You know, they print it on their shirts, so let’s just call it grindcore. There’s an energy and enthusiasm to the shows of this band that awakens the crowd. Also they’ve been here before headlining Bloodshed Fest twice, so go figure. Singer John Hoffman knows exactly what buttons to push and makes both the intense power parts as well as the dredgy sludge moments sound like mosh time to the fans. Their weird and unique humour adds to that vibe hanging in the basement. With ‘Still’ out on Relapse Records, nothing can go wrong for the guys. Riffs like hatchets with insane speed and gritty vocals are mixed with slow muddy parts. The band entertains and the crowd loves it. Rightly so, Weekend Nachos know how to play a set and concoct the right cocktail of grindcore and hardcore to make the show awesome.
Shows like these deserve more visitors; luckily the venue itself offers a great location and atmosphere with their basement stage. Primitive Man unfortunately seemed to draw the least crowd this night, but they shattered everything around them with that dirty, dark sludge sound.
Scribed by: Guido Segers
