Colour Haze and Causa Sui - Loppen, Christiania 10/8/05
From Aural Innovations #32 (November 2005)
Everyone I knew was really looking forward to this concert. Colour Haze always takes you on a killer journey and on this tour they had a full blown psychedelic image show with them (thanks Jens!). The band had stayed at my place on the way up to Sweden before coming back for their last concert on this tour. The band was in good spirits and psyched to play as the sound was so excellent on the stage for the soundcheck and they were a bit more rested. It was a familiar crowd that was assembling for this psychedelic rock night. Guf from Baby Woodrose, the Lowcut crew (Lars, Jens and JT), Davolina's, Cherry Overdrive, On Trial, Gas Giant guys….
Causa Sui is a new band from Fyn, Denmark who plays full blow psychedelic rock. I have not heard their CD but a lot of rumors and this was only their second live gig, the first being the night before opening for Baby Woodrose on Odense. I had met the guys last year when they came over for the Colour Haze concert I helped arrange at Dragens Hule. Anyway, there was a pretty decent crowd of around 100 people when they started at 10:30. Damn, the guitar and sound was very loud but they have a really cool groove. It is very much a mix of Monster Magnet, Blue Cheer, Colour Haze and the spirit of 1995-96 era On Trial. They only played 6 songs in 60 minutes so there was some cool guitar jamming. The singer played harmonica on one track towards the end of the set. I think people were pretty blown away. What a great new band!
Colour Haze went as fast as they could to set up and a few minutes after 12 they started, but due to some wires being changed for the sound of the first band and not being put back in place for Colour Haze, their stage sound was horrible and the monitors totally screwed up. This clearly annoyed and affected the band and everything turned sour for them, but not for us. We thought the band were on fire and played a killer set. The band opened with the slow building "Plazmekeks". The band sounded great and played with killer intensity. The addition of the light show by Jens was a great addition as he was very good to change the speed of the visuals to match when the band got more or less intense. Killer stuff. The band went straight into a new song called "Fire". Philip starts the song with some really cool bass played through a Moogafooger as Stefan slowly builds up the guitar before the killer catchy riff takes hold. This was a very impressive new song. Stefan is singing in a higher range now and going for a more melodic style but the song really rips your head off when it kicks in. Very much like the killer old school Kyuss grooves. Another new song was next called "Earth". Stefan is really singing in a higher range on this song, doing the old school 70's falsetto style vocals a bit. This song is very Josiah inspired in feel, but a bit jazzy with killer drumming by Mani. Mani is just fucking unbelievable on the drums. He is one of the best drummers you could possibly ever see in a live situation. I am not shitting you. Amazing. The next 3 songs were all from the latest Colour Haze release. The started with "Love" and into the acoustic "Flowers" and ended with the amazing epic, "Peace Brothers and Sisters" which lasts 20 minutes and Stefan plays a killer guitar solo. The pair that follows is two of my favorite Colour Haze songs, "Sundazed" and "Zen". The grooves are catchy and addictive and you can just fly with the band. "I Won't Stop" was the last song of the set and so far it was all from the latest two releases or new material. No old songs. The band took a 5 minute break (if you were Mani, you would want one. The man is amazing and works hard!). A fan had requested "House of Rushmmon" from the Ewige Blumenkraft LP and the band played it! Stefan said they had not played the song in 4 years. Actually, all the next 3 songs were from this CD. "Almost Gone" and the song dedicated to the stoners, "Reefer", ended this killer concert. The band were going to play more but the club made them stop at 2, which was a pity as the sound was now good on the stage and they were getting a second wind, I could feel it. Amazing concert as always. A bit strange they did not play anything from the older records CO2 or Periscope (only came out last year even though it was recorded years before, most of it..)…. A killer night of music. Don't miss this band if they come to town…
Set List: Plasmakeks, Fire, Roses, Ta nr. 43, Earth, Love, Flowers, Peace Brothers and Sisters, Sundazed, Zen, I won't Stop, House of Rushmmon, Almost Gone, Reefer
Reviewed by Scott Heller