Chimpyfest Preview: Massgrav

By on 15 August 2014

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Today is the day that Chimpyfest flings open its doors and invites us all in for a weekend packed full of grindin’ goodness! Head on down tonight to catch the likes of Water Torture, Paralyzed Society, Mangle, Selfless and many more, and then come back tomorrow to catch a rare showing from blistering Swedish crust legends, Massgrav…

Massgrav formed in Stockholm in the early ’90s, spurred into existence by copious amounts of cheap wine and repeated spins of side A of Discharge’s classic ‘Why?’ EP (side B was sadly out of action after bassist/vocalist Ola had glued the thing to his turntable after a particularly heavy drinking session), which should tell you all you need to know, really. Taking the snotty fury and d-beat fuelled energy of kängpunk, hurling in a healthy dose of greasy, hard rockin’ Motörhead-isms and then accelerating the whole thing to speeds that would have Hellnation stopping to catch their breath, the Massgrav sound is utterly infectious and totally fucking righteous.

The band have been on hiatus for a few years due to drummer issues, but now they’re firmly back in action and are ready to reduce T-Chances to a pile of smouldering rubble tomorrow evening. Come on down and discover that these guys are ‘Still The Kings’ indeed…

NAME: Massgrav
ORIGINALLY FROM: Stockholm, Sweden
WEBSITES: Official Site, Facebook, Spotify
FIVE WORD DESCRIPTION: Absurdly fast punk rock mania
MUST-HAVE ALBUM/EP: ‘This War Will Be Won By Meat Eaters’
FOR FANS OF: Skitsystem, Framtid, Nasum
SONG TERRORIZER WILL BE GOING NUTS FOR: ‘Sell Your Hole For Rock’n’Roll’

Could you tell us briefly how Massgrav came into existence?
Ola: “The not too unique combo of small town-induced boredom and general pissed off-ness over pretty much everything, I’d say. Me and Norse had a hard time finding a drummer though, it took us more than five years before we had what you’d call a steady lineup.”

For the uninitiated, how would you describe your live show?
Ola: “Pure, unfiltered rock ‘n’ roll mayhem with a lot of posing during songs and crowd insulting inbetween them.”

Johan: “Add some raw meat, blood and naked ladies and you got it!”

The Chimpyfest lineup is looking pretty packed this year, who else are you looking forward to seeing over the weekend?
Ola: “Are Spasm playing the day we do? I hope not – I don’t want to have to put bleach in my eyes. I wanna see Wheelchair x 4.”

Johan: “Nashgul of course! But I also wanna see Water Torture, The Day Man Lost and Hello Bastards.”

If you were planning your own three day festival, which three headliners would you pick?
Ola: “Limp Wrist, Siberian Meat Grinder and Die Antwoord. And the Dwarves.”

Johan: “New Bomb Turks, Hellnation and Dark Angel. And the Dwarves.”

If you could impart three golden rules for festival survival, what would they be?
Ola: “For festivals in general, I’d say: 1. Fuck tents – get a decent hotel room (I’m guessing tents is not a problem at Chimpy, but also avoid crappy tourist hotels in Bayswater. Hilton is usually a safe bet). 2. Drink all the beer you can lay your hands on 3. There’s no shame in missing a few bands.”

Johan: “And please leave your “crust dog” at home.”

What does the future have in store for Massgrav after Chimpyfest?
Ola: “A weekend trip to Germany for a festival gig and a Berlin gig, then it’s back home to write new songs. We also have a couple of records that we’ve sent off to the people releasing them but have yet to see, so they should be out sometime around that time we hope.”

And finally, in keeping with the chimpy theme, if Massgrav was a primate, which one would it be and why?
Ola: “I’m guessing we’d be howler monkeys most likely.”

Johan: “The monkey on your back.”

Chimpy Fest is due to take place from August 15th to 17th at T Chances on Tottenham High Road, London. Tickets are available here, and priced at £25 for the whole weekend. Weekend tickets will also be available on the door at £30, and if you just want to head down for a single day you’ll be looking at £10 on the door.

For more information, you can find the Facebook event page for Chimpy Fest here, or follow Chimpy Fest on Facebook.

About Kez Whelan

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