written by Chris Familton

Not by a long stretch was The Lair the optimal venue to see and hear Dead Meadow play their brand of psychedelic stoner rock. Slink up an alleyway to the back door of The Metro, climb some stairs and you find a room that looks and feels like a converted concrete bunker, complete with old furniture, a ‘rock club’ mezzanine and a decidedly low strength PA system.

Dead Farmers tested the volume early with their brand of hardcore garage rock. The live-wire trio kept their collective foot to the floor and exhibited just the right amount of tension and abrasiveness them a niche in a genre that is too often one dimensional.

Canadians Nadja simplified things even further with a setup comprised of guitar, bass, pre-recorded drums and a table of effects pedals. The played only a couple of songs over a half an hour set, such was their slow-burn approach resulting in a certain type of glacial metal. Most songs evolved slowly but surely from meditative moods to epic washes of distortion with sonic debris cascading in free-fall from their instruments. It was the sort of music to close your eyes to and allow yourself to be immersed in its grandeur.

Dead Meadow were last here playing the larger stages of the All Tomorrow’s Parties so it must of felt like a step back when they arrived at The Lair. Though the sound man was hidden up high to the side of the stage and the mix was both muddy and constrained by the venue’s technical capabilities the band shrugged it off early and delivered a set that encompassed songs from across their career. The recent tracks like What Needs Must Be from  Old Growth exhibited a stoned rock vibe while their earlier material like At Her Open Door sat more in the droning camp of bands like Brian Jonestown Massacre.

One of the biggest surprises came when a giant Sasquatch ambled on stage and lumbered around the band before stage-diving onto the less than expectant audience. It was a moment of ridiculous humour that perhaps showed the band aren’t just the bong and whiskey fueled retro-ists that many may peg them as. Dead Meadow overcame the sound limitations and played a blistering set of classic psych rock. It was nothing new but they showed they are masters of that particular domain.

this review first appeared in Drum Media