Opening for Mudhoney on Sunday night, The Freeks were a great surprise of high energy 70s psychedelic rock. Five on stage, they were very loud, filling the Echo with a monster sound of distortion pedals, raucous vocals, hard rocking riffs bathing in a psychedelic ambiance and a few roaring screams and whistle blows that had the most awesome retro effect. With their long hair, long sleeve shirts and this explosive sound, they could have fitted in any music festivals with Jimi Hendrix or the Grateful Dead in the bill,… or may be not, there was this retro element but they were something else too. Of course, there was ‘freeks’ in the moniker, so it wasn’t at all about flower power, as their music was rather aggressive, in a good way, the type that jumps at your face and bites you as you are asking for more.
These guys are not new in the music business, just check out this line-up: Ruben Romano, on guitar and lead vocals is the former drummer for Nebula and Fu Manchu, Jonathan Hall on guitar, vocals and whistle, has been part of such notable bands as The Porno Sponges, Backbiter and The Angry Samoans, and Tom Davies, on bass and vocals, was Nebula’s bass player. On drums, there was also Hari Hassin, former drummer for Roadsaw, and member of the Blue Man Group, and also Esteban Chavez on a vintage Moog organ/synthesizers and other vintage pianos.
Probably a large part of their sound also comes from the fact that Scott Reeder, ex-Kyuss member, is recording their second album, financed with a successful kickstarter campaign. So there was a little bit of that desert stoner element in the mix, and that may be why their setlist had ‘beer’, ‘more beer’ written between the song titles… not that beer is a very powerful stoner tool, but you get the idea! It was the sort of music that goes very well with alcohol,… more than any other altering-state molecules, as the music has this double inhibitory-excitatory effect with its moments of pure freaking-out propulsive garage-punk-rock and its moments of heavy psychedelia. Their raw-power sound had an arena-like dimension that could potentially fry your eardrums in just a few songs, especially in such a small club. And they sure didn’t spare mine!
Setlist
On a Whim
Fast & Black
Weirdness
Secret Path
(beer)
Big Black Chunk
Gogo Get
(more beer)
Vitamin D
Bitchin’