“It’s going to be wild,” says drummer Christoph ‘Tiger’ Bartelt. “The last time we were in Australia was in 2013. We had a lot of fun at Cherry, and it’s especially exciting because it’s the tenth birthday. The lineup is so good and we’re headlining this time, so we couldn’t be more excited, actually.”
Bartelt isn’t wrong. For this year’s festival Cherry owner and band booker, James Young, has called in a few favours to bring punters the most diverse CherryRock lineup ever. Acts from all over the world, including the USA and Indonesia, will come together to celebrate the power of rock’n’roll.
Kadavar will be closing the night, and the longer set time is a golden opportunity for the psychedelic, stoner rock three-piece to impress. “We’re going to throw everything in the mix,” says Bartelt. “We have about 120 tracks. We’re going to play songs from all the records. I’ve never been a fan of seeing a band who only plays their recent record. I always want to hear my favourite tunes, and I think we all feel the same, so that’s how we create our set list – there’s a bit of everything on it.”
Bartelt formed Kadavar with guitarist Christoph ‘Lupus’ Lindemann and bassist Philipp ‘Mammut’ Lippitz in 2010. The trio released two LPs, Kadavar in 2012 and 2013’s Abra Kadavar, before Lippitz departed and was replaced by Simon ‘Dragon’ Bouteloup.
“Berlin [2015] is the first record with Simon in the band, even though he’s been with us for two years already,” says Bartelt. “But we were touring all the time.”
Kadavar are currently in the middle of a massive European tour, which they’ll resume after completing the Australian tour. Spending so much time on the road can be detrimental to a band’s health, but Bartelt says Kadavar are as strong as ever.
“We’re a lot more together and interactive then we were before. On Berlin we definitely brought some things to the table that we haven’t shown anyone before. You can tell there are differences from our last record. We took our time with this one and we enjoyed writing those songs – it is definitely an important record. I don’t know if I’d call it our defining record, but maybe our defining record will come next, who knows?”
Kadavar are regularly compared to heavy metal and hard rock bands of the 1970s like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. The comparison is even more apt thanks to their flowing locks and retro visual aesthetic. As for contemporary equivalents, they’re not too dissimilar to Wolfmother, with whom they share a connection.
“We’ve toured with them a bunch and we’re good friends,” Bartelt says. “Actually Andrew [Stockdale] came to Berlin and we jammed a little. We had fun and we were able to record one full track [Wedding, a bonus trackfrom Wolfmother’s fourth LP, Victorious].”
Along with their Aussie friends, Bartelt says Kadavar love spending time in Australia because they always feel so welcome. “We want to thank everyone for their support so far. It’s only about one week away now and we’re really looking forward to it. We hope to see everybody at the shows.”
The feeling of anticipation is mutual, especially if Kadavar plan on performing their haunting cover of Reich der Träume by German singer Nico. “We only play that on very special occasions,” says Bartelt. “So I don’t know.”
BY NATALIE ROGERS
