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Nu Metal Nu Festival: Too Much Talent To Fit In An Evening

Dutch nu-metal bands are ready to take on the world
22 september 2002, Nighttown, Rotterdam (NL)

Tekst: Vinodh Lalta

Beeld: Ron van Rutten

Publicatiedatum: 10 november 2002

Some people like to spend their Sunday afternoon in church or pulling weeds from their gardens. But of course, that's what old folks do. Today's kids have their mind set on more brutal entertainment. For them, there was a nu-metal fest at Club Nighttown in Rotterdam.

If only they had made sure that the information on the website was correct! According to the site, the fun would start at seven o'clock p.m., but it actually started at FOUR o'clock!

In other words, I missed the first two bands: 88 Circles Above and Brainshake. But fortunately, our photographer Ron got his information from a more reliable source, so he was there in time to shoot pics. And as the old proverb claims, a picture's worth a thousand words, so the damage wasn't that big, after all.

The third band on the bill was Chakra. Even though this event was called a nu-metal festival, one couldn't help but notice that their music doesn't really sound like standard nu-metal. Their sound has more similarities with Green Lizard (the headliner of this fest) and Tool.

Chakra played for about 30 minutes and made quite an impression in that short time. Their lead singer, though a small fellow, has more volume than the average fire alarm. The guitarist proved to be a versatile person, as he also took care of some vocal parts and even played a didgeridoo solo in one of the songs!

The next band was the local band Craven. These guys play an explosive form of emo-core with a whole bunch of other influences. Their music has some funk in it, but also some touches of KoRn can be heard. They did a nice job, but as the big hall of Nighttown was hardly filled, the response of the audience was as small as their number.

Smogus, who played next, were luckier than that. Okay, so they had to play in the tiny basement, but that proved to be a good thing. All the people from the main hall were now stuffed into the much smaller room, and the energy was almost palpable.

Smogus have already built up quite a name in the Netherlands through their live performances (i.e., at the Ozzfest!), and it was clear that in that time they learned how to drive their audience completely wild. Their gig was like witnessing an earthquake: intense, heavy, and impossible to keep standing still. One thing is for sure: Smogus' reputation is well-deserved, and they are definitely going to break through!

After that, Dreadlock Pussy were playing on the main stage. In itself, their performance wasn't bad. As expected by anyone who is familiar with this band, the show was dark and heavy. But after the explosive set by Smogus, DP just didn't make that much of an impression. Fortunately, the better sound on that stage, as well as the presence of an actual DJ (instead of a tape), still made it worth watching.

Last, but definitely not least, the headliners of the day, Green Lizard, entered the stage.

Earlier that day, I ran into Willy Tjon-A-Jong, one of the guitarists in Green Lizard, and this is what he had to say about the Nu Metal Nu Festival:

"We don't belong here! It's weird that we are headlining this festival, as we are no nu-metal band. We just play heavy rock music. But still, it's nice that we can do our thing for this crowd. It gives us the chance to reach another audience than usual.

"Also, it's great to be able to see these bands play and see them grow through the years. For example, the next band, Craven, opened for us a year ago, and I'm curious what they are like nowadays. It would be good to see that they've evolved since the last time."

He also talked for a bit about Green Lizard's new album Newborn. "The new album has more variation in it than the previous one. The five of us have grown both as persons, as well as musicians. We're more experienced, and, using that experience, it was easier for us to find solutions for problems we encountered while working on this album.

"Also, we had a better idea of what we wanted, and we were able to spend more attention to the songs. We worked with the same people as on Identity, and because of that, we had the same vibe. It was almost as if we were back in the time of the recording sessions for Identity."

And Willy was right: The new songs do sound a lot like the old material. Energetic and heavy, yet still melodic. Green Lizard played for over an hour and did a mix of both new and old songs. Maybe these guys don't belong at a nu-metal festival, but they have definitely deserve the status of headlining band!

http://www.kindamuzik.net/live/green-lizard/nu-metal-nu-festival-too-much-talent-to-fit-in-an-evening/2036/
Meer Green Lizard op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/green-lizard