The US psychedelic blues sludge fusion band known as Wo Fat make their debut pilgrimage to Australia next month with a national tour and the self-named Wo Fest.
Though they’ve had their ups and down over the last ten years, the Texas outfit are ready to power through their shows harder than ever, unpacking their six studio albums with all the overdrive and fuzz-laden imaginations that make them unique.
Wo Fest, happening all day and all night, will feature some of Australia and New Zealand’s greatest bands and solo artists under the stoner, blues and psychedelic monikers. The likes of Burden Man, Subterranean Disposition, Turtle Skull, Motherslug, and Pseudo Mind Hive will support the Texan headliners.
Excited as he is for their Wo Fest appearance, drummer Michael Walter says the band can’t take credit for the festival’s inception and curation. “I feel like it’s a party given in our honour that everyone gets to come and share in the good times,” he says. “What could be better? I’m unbelievably stoked about it and the entire tour – meeting new people, seeing new places, and checking out new amazing bands.”
As far as witnessing how Wo Fat’s American brand of psychedelic blues translates with an Aussie demographic, Walter has a pretty deep perspective. “Music has no translation, it is the source and the medium,” he says sombrely. “It bores into your soul, and the blues bore deepest. Within the blues lie the supreme archetypal bones of all other music – it is universal. When you summon its power, you are drawing from a deep, inexhaustible well.
“When you drink from the source, everyone is replenished… no one will be left out. So, yeah, we expect people will dig it.”
With six albums under their collective belts, Walter says there will be an element of curation in what Wo Fat decide to perform on this tour. “Since this is our first time here, we wanted to go back a little bit and bring back a few songs that we felt helped to define us and that we felt people would want to hear that we haven’t played in a while.
“I would have liked to have dug even deeper, but we only have limited rehearsal time, so we took our current set and fleshed it out with some favourites from the past.”
Wo Fat have local support from Jack Harlon and The Dead Crows for the remainder of their tour, sounds from whom Walter says he really digs. “I mean, we have played stages with bands that run the gamut of the genre, from Crypt Trip to Elder, Monolord to the Melvins.
“It’s all heavy in one way or another. I think bands within the heavy blues scene are especially good at inviting the audience on the trip with them. The only ‘fail’ by a band is if they don’t take you outside of yourself in some way during their set.”
For those seeing Wo Fat for the first time, they will find that the band is made up of happy differences that slide together like a difficult puzzle. “I think what people will come away with is that, as cohesive as we try to be as a unit, each of us has particular command of his own station and each of the three voices balance the others,” he says.
“We have sections of tunes that are very unscripted, where we are teetering on the edge of the precipice. You have to have a lot of faith in your teammates to be there for you when you are reaching out for that next tier, or else you will always just do what you’ve always known – play it safe, and miss something that could have changed the whole trajectory of things. Because ultimately, that’s why we do this.”
Wo Fat come to The Bendigo Hotel on Thursday June 6 for their headline show and for Wo Fest at the same venue on Saturday June 8. Grab your tix via the venue website.
