With more than thirty years experience and a discography that could fill a decent record collection, the Norwegian power trio Motorpsycho is still as productive as ever. The psychedelic rock band uses an incredible array of different styles as inspiration, including jazz, heavy metal, as well as psychedelic, progressive seventies rock, pop and folk. That’s why every album sounds like a new, adventurous journey, while the unique Motorpsycho signature remains intact. The latest album ‘Kingdom of Oblivion’ is no exception and is bursting with quality again. Motorpsycho are true masters at their own game. We are honored to have them play at Sonic Whip 2022.

German instrumental group My Sleeping Karma have been carving out a unique niche of their own over the past decade. The group’s sound takes progressive metal, post-rock, psychedelic rock, and heavy shades of Eastern music influence into a rather immersive listening experience.

Their latest release, ‘Moksha’ from 2015 proves that the Germans are masters of the heavy chill. It is a perfect display of everything the band does, and they do it well. The band recorded a new album which is going to be released soon. We can’t wait. My Sleeping Karma was one of the few bands that performed last year in Nijmegen during the pandemic for a restricted audience, but what a tremendous show it was. Enough reason to invite them back. This time they will enter the mainstage for a well deserved massive crowd in front of them and rightfully so!

The instrumental psychedelic rockers of Earthless don’t mind if a song takes a minute longer than is expected. Their new record ‘Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons’ contains only three songs, the shortest clocks in at just 19 minutes. The trio from San Diego is born to jam like there is no tomorrow. Both on stage and in the studio improvisation is a key word. The ever-driving groove of drummer Ruby Mars and bassist Mike Eginton forms the indestructible foundation of Earthless. A foundation on which guitarist Isaiah Mitchell can play the most amazing solos. Their incredible perfomance during Sonic 2019 was reason enough to invite them again in 2022. A must see band.

Elder combines heavy psychedelic sounds with progressive elements and heavy doom. Since the debut album ‘Elder’ from 2008, the band has become a trendsetter in the scene. The American quartet looks beyond the already paved paths. This different approach means that Elder stands out compared to many of its peers. This can also be heard on ‘Omens’, their most recent album from 2020. The drawn-out compositions unfold like journeys, taking in a range of styles: from the 70’s to the present with a taste for the ‘pure grandeur of the gatefold record era’.

The music of the biggest Greek rock band 1000MODS is a dynamic affair, always bursting with vivacious energy. Their slightly psychedelic, hard pounding stoner rock breathes the spirit of Kyuss. In this case that’s a compliment, because the band still knows how to create their own distinctive sound. The song ‘Vidage’ has become a true stoner rock anthem and the video of ‘Electric Carve’ made it even to a modest internet hit. The band’s ridiculous knack for an addictive riff will do the dirty work during their live show in Doornroosje.

The American power trio Stöner consists of Brant Bjork, Nick Oliveri and drummer Ryan Gut. All three are no strangers to the scene. From flowing roaring jams to all-out punk songs, they master it like no other. Stöner knows what they are doing and it shows in the band name. Since the founders of Kyuss; Björk and Oliveri, invented the genre almost single-handedly. And not only that, because they also formed the basis for Mondo Generator, Ché, Vista Chino, the sound of Stöner is therefore an extension of all those projects. The debut album from 2021 will soon have a successor. That’s good news; just in time for their show in Nijmegen.

‘Ding Dong. You’re Dead’ is the title of the latest work by Hedvig Mollestad Trio. Not an everyday name for an album. But this is not an everyday band, ladies and gentlemen. The instrumental trio from Norway with Hedvig Mollestad on guitar, Ellen Breken on bass and Ivor Loe Bjørnstad on drums is truly one of a kind. Staccato basslines and rolling drum patterns battle with Hedvig’s fiery and honest guitar riffs. Screaming psychedelia with throbbing krautrock, wild garage rock with surfing twang go hand in hand with modern jazz. The band will come over to Sonic Whip for an exclusive show. And we can’t wait to see them play live.

Mythic Sunship is a Copenhagen-based band and is known for their improvised, fanned out psychedelic rock. The band draws inspiration from free jazz, kraut, space rock, stoner and much more. The Danes are brilliant at creating hard, heavy feedback jams but also expansive, repetitive psychedelic creations. It makes Mythic Sunship one of the most interesting bands in the European psych scene. The fact that the band has released most of their albums with the quality label El Paraiso Records underlines this status.

Elephant Tree is known for their ever enchanting riffs with the necessary distortion. The clean, dreamy vocals fit in perfectly with the grooving, fuzzy guitar riffs and the stirring rhythm section. The airy vocals are almost shoegaze-like. In combination with the guitar work you could almost call it doomgaze. It is impressive how apparently simple and flawless the trio from London manages to bridge the gap between the quieter and heavy passages.

The latest album ‘Habits’ from 2020, successor to the eponymous and also impressive album from 2016, is therefore a small masterpiece. It also shows that the trio still is evolving to greater heights. There is more to come and we are more than curious how that would sound like. It is clear that they have earned their spot on the big stage during Sonic Whip.

The Southern California rock scene is brimming with talent right now. It’s a tight-knit, vibrant cultural scene made up of people who love to skate, surf and make music. Psychedelic rock is in the blood of Californian musicians. This is also audible with Sacri Monti. The group incorporates many elements of bands that flourished in the sixties, from Jimi Hendrix to Blue Cheer. The compositions of the quintet are whirling with energy. From the start you are bombarded with instrumental furiosity where screeching guitar parts alternate with explosive rhythms and distorted synths.

The Swedish MaidaVale is one of the most striking acts and consists solely of hard rocking ladies. For their second album from 2018 ‘Madness Is Too Pure’ the foursome drew their inspiration from the 1970s. The period when obscure bands such as Jane, Jeronimo, King Ping Meh and Epitaph unleashed their incomparable psychedelic musical fantasies on humanity.

But MaidaVale has also listened carefully to proto bands like Blue Öyster Cult and Blue Cheer. The ladies know how to bring the groove, spirituality and psychedelics together into a unique, funky and heavily rocking experience. New material is on the way and if their 2019 show in Merleyn is any harbinger, the band will be making lots of friends at Sonic Whip 2022.

The sympathetic friends of Rotor are no strangers to Nijmegen, but this time it will their debut during Sonic Whip. Musically, the German band moves into an area where heavy psychedelic rock and stoner rock meet. Exciting, drawn-out, largely instrumental compositions in which the wah wah pedal is regularly pressed in deeply. It leads to sonic eruptions that makes headbanging mandatory. Rotor sounds like a musical love baby between the later King Crimson and Kyuss without the vocals. Every time the band gives a performance, they make the audience crying out for more at the end. That’s an easy task when you have a song like ‘Vollast’ at your disposal…

The psychedelic sounds from Hey Colossus is menacing, brutal and vibrant, its brown-acid intensity hits you square in the third eye. Throughout their evolution Hey Colossus have been banded in with such genres as sludge metal, alternative rock, noise rock, psychedelic rock, krautrock and even drone.

The latest effort of the British band ‘Dances/Curses’ from 2020 is a distillation of the cumulative experience of a staunchly DIY band with nearly two decades of hard graft under their belt. It’s a honing of their considerable abilities in crafting a nuanced, detailed record that carries all of the weight, urgency and emotional pull of their early work while continuing to push inexorably forward into invigorating new territory. And it is our opinion just insanely good.

There is almost a cathartic religiosity to the music of Sex Swing. During this era of sorrow and anxiety, the British band remind us of the restorative powers of rock. A pyroclastic flow of mutant post-punk, demonic no wave, and exalted psych. It is violent, disruptive and chaotic. Many time you get a false sense of security before they are pulverised by an onslaught of psychedelic guitars and Chandler’s robotic vocals. Their music is not directionless in its ferocity. Psychedelic rock is supposed to be transcendent after all, but what makes Sex Swing so powerful is that they transcend the limitations of psychedelic rock. And that makes them perfect for Sonic Whip.

Kaleidobolt doesn’t just convince with their exciting records. The live shows are just as thrilling. The Finns are used to writing long exhilarating tracks, leaving a lot of room for the individual qualities of the musicians. The compositions consisting of a mix of heavy psych, sixties, progressive rock and proto metal are bursting with energy. Yesterday Kaleidobolt released their new video ‘I Should Be Running’ which will appear on the new album ‘This One Simple Trick’ which is going to be released on the day they will wreck the stage of Sonic Whip, which is May 6th. It is yet another example of their raw talent in fabricating amazing tunes. We can’t wait to welcome them back to Nijmegen again!

The four piece band Kryptograf hailing from Vestland Norway clearly has a clear musical preference for the heavier psychedelic bands from the late sixties and early seventies. Think of Black Sabbath, Captain Beyond and Leaf Hound, but there is also a relationship with contemporaries such as Witchcraft and Motorpsycho.

Their eponymous debut saw the light of day in the corona year 2020 and consists of wonderfully thick grooving songs. Their new album ‘The Eldorado Spell’ was released last week. Immersed in dark atmospheres, their songs flutter in the orbit of the pioneers of proto-metal, but they also contain moments more typical of Uriah Heep, with acoustic elements and certain progressive tones, as well as placid compositions inheriting the legacy of Wishbone Ash that show us an unreal world in which psychedelia also has a place. Go check them out.

The four-piece a/lpaca, hailing from from Italy, synthesize a high-powered lo-fi space-rock through a clever collage of influences from different decades. With steady foundations hailing from the late 60s psychedelia to 70s acid space-rock, and krautrock, they also indulge copiously in punk and post-punk energy, as well as modern psych-garage-punk atmospheres. It’s a wonderful mix, resulting in a brilliant and highly addictive cocktail of sonic pernicious obsession.

Heavy compositions, mourning vocals, the 60s and 70s appearance in both music and artwork and the accompanying science fiction theme all contribute to the success formula that is called Kal-El. The Norwegian band has released an album with ‘Dark Majesty’ from 2021 in which the low-tuned guitars and the slow tempo lead you through a universe in which Barbarella and Buck Rogers would feel extremely at home.

Slomosa describe themselves as ‘a desert rock band from a cold country’. That is a description that suits them very well and it is also completely true. It’s nice to hear a band, relatively fresh from the crop, keeping the flames of stoner rock well and truly alive and kicking. The rustic punch of the guitars and bass have been meticulously crafted to complement the iconic style, and this is something they carry across over all their songs. The band from Norway have honed their craft to near nostalgic perfection, with every moment exuding the desert style in expert fashion. It is deep, energetic, and even feel-good in places.

Supersonic Blues consists of three befriended young fellas who have mastered a killer debut album with ‘It’s Heavy’. It not only sounds heavy, but also swampy, bluesy and psyched out at the same time. The gentlemen are no stranger to the rough underground scene of The Hague and all have that wonderfully healthy obsession to track down that one obscure rarity from the 60s and 70s. Still, these guys are definitely enjoying a 21st century dystopian boogie. Fans of Taste, Grand Funk and the Jimi Hendrix Experience will get their money’s worth with Supersonic Blues.

The young power trio of Have Blue from Berlin, Germany is a brand new hidden gem at the psychedelic firmament. Their latest album ‘Learning to Die’ has been released by Nasoni Records and is an exciting record to say the least. The Berliners say they were inspired by a selection of artists during the recordings. From Motörhead to Fela Kuti, Soundgarden to Thee Oh Sees, Thin Lizzy to John Coltrane and so on. Quite an eclectic list, but you better believe it, it is intriguingly unique, coherent and energetic. This could well be the surprise of the day.