Weedeater and Cloak headline AURA Fest Underground Weekend 2
After several years of dormancy Aura Fest’s metal heavy Underground Weekend event is finally getting a sequel. The first Underground Weekend took place at the Jinx in 2020, mere weeks before COVID-19 struck, but the epic metal event is back more ear-rending than ever.
“I’ve been wanting to do this again,” said AURA Fest founder Timothy Walls. “The first one happened right before the pandemic. It was one of my favorite shows that I ever booked.”
In recent years, Walls has been constantly busy booking amazing metal and hardcore shows at venues like The Sentient Bean and El Rocko Lounge, but a full weekend’s worth of bands is always a trickier prospect. Fortunately, Walls was able to book two heavy hitters in Weedeater and Cloak to built a stacked weekend festival around.
“Sometimes the hardest part of doing these things is getting a big headliner,” said Walls. “A lot of it is timing, availability. I feel lucky enough that they were available to get a tour around us and have this fit in.”
Weedeater are a highly influential stoner metal, or “weed metal,” band from Wilmington, North Carolina. The bowl-rumbling caveman metal of Weedeater always gets Savannah metal heads fired up (and I’m not just talking about smoke).
“The last time Weedeater played the crowd was just bonkers,” said Walls. “It was a lot of fun and really memorable.”
Atlanta’s Cloak combine the brutal and icy sounds of Norwegian black metal with Southern gothic-tinged rock and roll. Their groove-laden 2017 debut album, “To Venomous Depths,” was #20 on Decibel Magazine’s Top 40 Albums of the Year.
Weedeater will headline Friday night supported by a cadre of punishingly heavy metal bands, with the exception of their standout touring partners, Rebelmatic.
Rebelmatic have been praised by H.R. of Badbrains as the closest thing to his legendary punk band touring today.
More:Savannah sludge trio Only Lonely Goat release debut EP, 'A Cure For Self Worship'
More:AURA Fest hosts EP release show for Savannah-based Deathcore band Omenkiller
“They are touring with Weedeater and they’re going to be the most unique band on the bill,” said Walls. “They’re totally different. Most of everything on the two night is stoner rock, doom metal, sludge, or in that world. Rebelmatic are a mix of hardcore punk and thrash metal.”
Savannah’s Space Coke play druggy fuzzed-out psychedelic rock that will make you feel like you’re headbanging inside of a lava lamp. Like their motto says, “If the amp don’t smoke, it ain’t Space Coke.”
Friday also features Damned to Earth and One Lonely Goat, for local metal fans that long for the traditional Savannah sludge of bands like Damad, Kylesa, Baroness, and Black Tusk.
Supporting Saturday’s headliner, Cloak, are South Carolina’s Witchpit. The four-piece sludge metal band draw inspiration from High on Fire, and the more cerebral sounds of Neurosis. With a love of vintage amps, Witchpit conjure up the heady tones of classic rock and stoner metal.
Doom/sludge metal band Oakskin out of South Carolina are co-lead by Phillip Cope of Kylesa and Damad fame. Savannah rising-stars Bastardane are a trio that play melodic hard rock and thrash. And Doof are “two doomed stoners blinded by Fate, and guided by weed.”
Walls hopes that AURA Fest Underground Weekend will become as big an event as his annual summer festival and promises more events like it in the future. With such a heavy duty bill, it’s hard to imagine that it won’t be a huge draw for area metalheads.
IF YOU GO
What: AURA Fest presents Underground Weekend 2
When: Friday and Saturday, starting at 7 p.m.
Where: El Rocko Lounge, 117 Whitaker St.
Cost: $22-50
Info: aurafestsavannah.com
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA concerts: AURA Fest Underground Weekend at El Rocko Lounge
