On Stage: Desert Mountain Tribe @ Paradiso

One of the bands that surprised me at the Eindhoven Psych Fest almost a year ago was the London based trio Desert Mountain Tribe. Their psychedelic and powerful music was both convincing as well as nice to watch. Now they are doing a tour in Europe in support of their first album Either That Or The Moon.

Desert Mountain Tribe at Paradiso Amsterdam, April 28 2016

That album managed to capture the same powerful rock sound and spacy hooks on its recordings. Live on stage their music manages to drag you into its hypnotic universe even more, with lots of reverb on vocals and guitars. The drums are loud and could use a bit more dynamics but all combined together it is a great mood the band put you in.

Singer and guitar player Jonty Balls already is a charismatic front man, sometimes saying a thank you or a jolly remark in the microphone that is impossible to understand with all the reverb. It doesn't really matter what he has to say, the idea is clear. With his eyes closed he's playing his spacy guitar solos, totally submerging himself into the music.

He does need to switch or tune guitars regularly, which takes the speed out of the performance a bit, but once they grow bigger and can afford a guitar tech, that problem will fix itself. Because I do think this band has plenty of potential to grow bigger as they have the right set of skills, the right attitude and most importantly great music with some killer songs. Listen to tracks like 'Feel The Light', 'Runaway' or the epic nine minute 'Interstellar' and you know what I mean. Go check them and their album out.



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