Evil Blizzard have spent the past 12 months or so terrifying and delighting audiences in equal measure. Upon experiencing them live, some people have absolutely no idea what to make them, the rest become instant converts.
Already garnering a healthy grassroots following, they seem well on their way to establishing their own ‘Blizz Army’, whose die-hard devotion is not dissimilar to that seen in for example, Turbonegro‘s Turbojugend. Here, however, denim has been swapped for disturbingly warped latex masks and a penchant for the truly weird. Being in the audience at an Evil Blizzard gig is like being a Peeping-Tom at behind the scenes of a freakshow. Only at some point you get noticed and invited to join the party.
The band were ‘discovered’ at an early gig by Manchester music legend Mark E Smith who promptly asked them to tour along side his band The Fall. Smith has gone on record to say Evil Blizzard “…give me hope that music is alive and kicking”.
Hailing from Preston, Evil Blizzard comprise four bass players – Prowler, Filthydirty, Kav and Stomper, as well as singing Drummer, Side. Originally there had been a guitarist, but following a heart attack , he bailed. Like moths to the eternal flame, bass players continue to be drawn to the band’s masked cult and as such, they frequently play with a 5th guest bassist.
Recently interviewed for The Guardian, Side the band’s vocalist commented: “When we supported the Fall, half of the crowd said: That’s the absolute worst thing I’ve ever seen. The rest thought it was fucking brilliant”. Recent media coverage from just about everywhere has seen the band (deservedly) sell out numerous shows.
Their music itself is reminiscent of grimy, doomy Hawkwind mixed in with Black Sabbath‘s most tripped out moments. There’s a healthy dose of psychedelic electronics and theatricality that the Crazy World of Arthur Brown (circa 1968) would have been proud of. Heavy, hypnotic bass riffs are -obviously- abundant and the sheer level of strange makes you feel at times like you’ve stumbled into a bizarre David Lynch-esque nightmare. All this is topped off with Side’s mournful, demented vocal style. At points in their live show they like to whip out a baby’s head theramin and pounce into the audience getting them to join in. Don’t let the masks fool you though, there is real music here and it’s catchy (in the best possible sense) at that.
“My face began their set stoic and expressionless, and ended up melted. Immense, Al Cisneros-gone-postpunk basslines powered songs ripe-to-bursting with chemical ooze and brainworm vocal mantras; it served, there and then, as a unifying force, but the grotesque latex masks each member wore suggested that a sadistic part of them relished soundtracking someone’s bad trip.” – The Quietus
Capsule first welcomed the band to perform at Bring To Light, our mini-festival for Discovery Season at the end of last year. We are now excited to welcome them back to Supersonic Festival, our signature annual event. For your last chance to get tickets for the festival go HERE.
Evil Blizzard need to be experienced, words alone just don’t do them justice.
