Band of the week 39/2024
Origin: Cologne
Genre: Heavy Rock, Stoner Rock, Grunge
Hier geht’s zur deutschen Version.
The band about itself:
A Spaniard, a Mexican and a German walk into a bar…
What sounds like the beginning of a bad joke could also be Riot in the Attic feeling like an aftershow drink! As different as they may seem at first glance, they have at least one thing in common: They do not fit into the normality of our society. This feeling of not belonginging paired with migration backgrounds and different musical influences lead to the distinctive mixture in Riot in the Attic’s music and lyrics. This band won’t fit into any of the stoner rock, hard rock or grunge pigeonholes and play their very own individual sound linking these genres and adding personal influences of their heritage.
Editorial commentary:
A riot in the attic is indeed a rather rare experience. It sounds a lot like a poltergeist, because there’s no other way to imagine such an obscure situation, and yet three guys got together in Cologne in 2014 to make music under this name.
They describe themselves as not fitting into any pigeonholes, and you can hear that, because it’s really difficult to completely categorize Riot in the Attic into a genre. You can try, but you inevitably end up with a wild mix of prog, stoner and heavy rock with a pinch of grunge, or as the band themselves put it “The missing link between hard rock and stoner rock”. The sound is raw – hard guitars, booming bass and driving drum rhythms dominate the sound and the pithy vocals hang over everything like a curtain. It often tells metaphorically of the ups and downs of life, of uncertain love.
This concentrated force is interrupted at the lower end of the frequency range by sophisticated guitar solos that drift into higher pitches for a change. The band’s entire online presence, like the covers, is kept in black and white to match the style. The only colour that creeps in from time to time is red.
I heard the band for the first time at the Flörsheim Open Air as part of the Under the Sun Tour 2018, where they won me over straight away. In the meantime, they have been able to introduce themselves to a wider audience as support for international bands. While all concerts from May 2020 to August 2021 had to be cancelled due to the pandemic, they by no means sat idle. After the debut EP Lost & Found from 2015 and the 2017 record Under the Sun, their first album Dawn was released in 2020, followed by Those Who Don’t Belong in November 2022 after a line-up change on bass. The third album, Human, was released at the beginning of September this year. The European tour is just coming to an end, with one last concert on 12.10. In Ilmenau.
Be sure to listen to Riot in the Attic and never forget: Whatever you do, keep your Head high.
Music recommendation:
Upcoming live dates:
12.10.24 – Baracke 5, Ilmenau, GER
Links:
Band of the week is our weekly posting about a band we recommend and is posted every Tuesday at 8pm (CEST). These are bands that are just at the beginning of their career and that we think should recieve more attention.
You can also find all the bands we’ve featured this year in our playlist on Spotify!
Antworten