Something magical is happening in rural Croatia along the Mrežnica river in Karlovac County. Close to the picturesque town of Slunj the 3rd edition of Bear Stone Festival is taking place during the first weekend of July. Surrounded by natural Croatian beauty and being pretty much isolated from the rest of the world, the Bear Stone festival goers will enjoy a long weekend of psychedelic stoner rock and metal, amazing scenery and lots of chill out time. There’s not a better place to soak up the sun whilst listening to that beautiful stoner fuzz sound coming out of the festival speakers.
There are a number of smaller bands on the line-up, including a big pile of Croatian bands, but in order to attract a good festival crowd the organisers have booked a number of mouthwatering headliners for this edition. Probably the biggest name playing this year’s edition is the mighty High On Fire, who are currently undergoing an extensive tour to promote their latest riff-fuelled album Cometh the Storm, their first release in 6 years. I really wouldn’t be surprised to see Matt Pike lounging along the banks of the Mrežnica river basking in the Croatian sunshine before taking the Stone Stage on the Friday night. They’ve just played a number of UK shows and from what I’ve heard we can expect an hour-long barrage of mighty riffs and pounding drums. Warming up the crowd ahead of High On Fire are Newcastle psych rockers Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, also one of the Echoes and Dust team favourites. These lads have been growing stronger every day and their extensive touring in Europe, Australia and the US is really starting to bear its fruits, as their live performance usually delivers a very loud and engaging show. Closing the Stone Stage on the Friday are another UK band, namely Mother Vulture, who have the dubious honour to continue where High On Fire left the stage. Here’s hoping the audience will be ready to soak up more riffage after Pigs x7 and a full hour of Pike et al. I’m not overly familiar with Mother Vulture, but after I’ve seen some of their live videos, I’m sure they’ll create a great party to close the first full day of the festival.
Saturday’s main acts are all veterans within the genre, with Germany’s Kadavar and Colour Haze, Greece’s 1000Mods bringing plenty of stoner riffs and psychedelic levitations to the Karlovac County. These three acts don’t really need much introduction for those who are familiar with the genre, and it’s great to see them together on this festival line-up as they all bring something else to their music and stage performance, making the Saturday night a very chilled finale of the festival. Interestingly, none of these three bands have released anything new for a number of years now, so it will be interesting to see and hear what their live set will be focusing on. We might get a selection of songs that highlights the vast discography these bands have produced in their careers, or they may even treat us with some new material.
With the festival being in its early stages (this is only the 3rd year running, the 2nd year with actual ticket sales), the organisers provide a lot of space and opportunities for local Croatian bands to demonstrate their talents. Having the honourable opening slot on the Thursday A Gram Trip will kick off the festival proceedings with their brand of stoner doom combined with gnarly, sludgey vocals. Jantar follows from this with a slightly different musical focus, namely more progressive post-metal. On the same day Entropist will also play the Mill Stage, and their blend of instrumental doom with nuanced influences of space, psychedelic, and post-stoner rock will surely hit the spot this early on. Friday’s opening band is Tight Grips, who play bluesy heavy rock, and with a vast live experience on the Balkan gig and festival circuit will be a great opener that day. On the bigger Stone Stage ### (which is apparently pronounced by hitting a random object three times) and Muscle Tribe of Danger and Excellence will represent Croatia later in the day, with ### bringing more instrumental post-rock sounding tunes to the stage, and Muscle Tribe sounding like the Balkan version of Clutch, which means time for an early riff party!
Playing early on the Mill Stage Rifftree are a drum and bass duo playing stoner, sludge, doom whilst mixing in a good level of psychedelia. Later on at the Stone Stage Nemeček will perform their interesting mix of local Croatian folk elements with hypnotic noise rock, and Them Moose Rush will bring their unique fusion of prog, noise, math, pop, and stoner elements. On Saturday night as the final act to play that day and provide some after party tunes are Chui, who play instrumental music that has a unique fusion of contemporary club dance music with jazz, progressive elements, electronics, and rock ’n’ roll, which I’m sure will get people dancing. Sunday is the last festival day with only 4 bands scheduled to play on the Mill Stage, two of which are from the local Croatian scene with Vukojarac being the first band on the bill that day, who produce an atmospheric brand of stoner rock. Rens Argoa are an interesting instrumental trio who often have guest musicians on their recordings, and they play an ever-evolving fusion of jazz, orchestral, prog-rock, and punk elements.
Completing this year’s line-up are Austrians Blitzpøp, who will bring their own brand of rock ‘n’ roll to Croatia. Belgium’s finest garden ornaments Gnome, all three bands bringing their own unique take on the stoner rock genre. Heavy rock duo Zolle from Italy, who have just released their latest album Rosa. Also from Italy are Kyuss inspired stoner desert rockers Kayleth, heavy rockers Slowtorch, and Quiet Confusion, a dynamic rock ’n’ roll, psychedelic, and heavy-blues band. Paris-based instrumental trio Baron Crâne show an overflowing inspiration, confidently mixing fat and psychedelic riffage with fusion or noise sounds. Stonetree are from Austria and they play a riff-fuelled heavy rock, blending alternative rock, grunge, stoner rock, and prog rock. With a name like AcidSitter you can only expect a band delivering the psychedelic goodness, reminiscent to the great Japanese psych scene. From Bosnia and Herzegovina comes Misery Crown, a Southern/sludge/stoner band with influences from genre pioneers like Down and Crowbar. And from Budapest we get Azutmaga, an instrumental stoner rock duo, who will take us on a sonic journey marked by climbing riffs and tribal rhythms. Ending the Saturday line-up are Freakin’ Disco who are also from Budapest and are known for their deep, psychedelic, and groovy music, merging elements of instrumental electronica with captivating rhythms, making us all dance into the early morning hours.
And this isn’t everything that’s on offer at Bear Stone Festival this year. Throughout the festival days Sviraj!jam takes place at the Jam Stage, which sounds like anyone can get on stage and join other musicians and like-minded individuals to create some nice jams resulting in who knows what. There is of course the opportunity to go for a refreshing swim in the Mrežnica river (there are lockers available to rent to store your valuables), and there are many tourist attractions available to do in the region where Bear Stone festival goers will get a 10% discount. These include ziplining, visiting a deer park, quad tours, horse riding, cave tours, visiting a freshwater aquarium, or just visiting some of the local towns such as Slunj. Whatever you do, make sure to bring sun creme with you as the Balkan Summer sun can be pretty intense and stay hydrated, not just by drinking the Bear Stone official festival lager produced by Nova Runda Brewery, but also by drinking plenty of water.
