Emily Bach is the perfect person to talk to about this weekend’s Psych Fest III. The local violinist played at the event’s two previous editions, either with Dirty Spells or with Eric Campbell and the Dirt. And this year, as was the case at Psych Fest II, she’ll be playing with both bands.
So, what’s being at a Psych Fest like?
“I can describe it, but I certainly cannot describe it,” she says, a trifle cagily. “It’s an immersive experience. It’s like being involved in a live-action soundtrack for a really crazy day. Music doesn’t start and stop. There are a couple of stages, and wherever you decide to put yourself, there’s art everywhere: on the walls, in your ears. It’s crazy, it’s full on, and it’s wonderful.”
The fest kicks off at 2pm and runs late into the night. Bach, knowing that many people will turn up later, urges people to arrive as early as possible. “I don’t think people who come just for the evening are having the full experience,” she says. “The best part of Psych Fest is just sort of dreamily being around music all day.”
Asked just how psychedelic Psych Fest is, Bach gives a mischievous giggle. “There have been people in the past” – whether in the audience or onstage, she doesn’t clarify – “who have had their eyes extremely open throughout the whole experience and who seem to be enjoying things on many levels. I, of course, do not know any of those people, and cannot confirm or disconfirm how, exactly, they’re enjoying their experience. But I can tell you that my dad was at the first Psych Fest – he came to see me play – and one of his first comments was how instantly transported he felt to the 1960s.”
There’s nothing particularly ’60s-sounding about the music of Dirty Spells, mind you; they sound a bit like a stripped-down Hawkwind jamming with Godspeed! You Black Emperor (or maybe Battles, a comparison Bach prefers). The band started a little over four years ago as a seven-piece psych-garage band with a lead singer. They’ve since evolved into a mostly instrumental trio, with Bach on violin and Doug Phillips and Ryan Betts on bass and drums, respectively.
But there’s music for everyone at Psych Fest, from the echo-laden, spacey blues of Mother Upduff (named after a song by Krautrock legends Can) to the intense prog-metal of Astrakhan. Visiting Arizonans Destruction Unit sound sort of like guitar-wielding Japanese noise monsters Fushitsusha crossed with early Bauhaus – at least on some of their albums. All-girl trio L.A. Witch offers a more retro approach, with nods to the Velvet Underground and Black Sabbath, and a discernible hint of Gun Club.
And then there’s Eric Campbell and the Dirt, who filter a folky singer-songwriter aesthetic through the intense jamming of vintage Sonic Youth.
“What makes Eric Campbell special is his charisma onstage,” Bach offers. “He’s sort of like Iggy Pop, where he really gets off on being weird and dangerous, and people love it. In the early days, before I was in the band and I went to see them, he was thrashing around onstage and humping his amp. I couldn’t stop staring at it. I really wanted to be around it. We’ve had some pretty weird shows – [Campbell’s] got scars on his body. And we’ve got a lot of loyal audience members.”
Campbell himself, weighing in via email, offers his thanks to Mitch and Taya of organizers Art Signified, saying that the fest “breaks down the barriers of reality and society, leaving the night wide open for band and audience to transcend. Psych Fest, every year, challenges any preconception of what a show can be.”
