Five crazy diamonds badly in need of a shave and a haircut, their clothes reeking of bong smoke and time travel, Sacri Monti are bassist Anthony ‘Ant’ Meier, Brenden Dellar on vocals and guitar, Thomas Di Benedetto on drums, Dylan Donovan on guitar, and Evan Wenskay on organ and synth. From Oceanside, California, a beach city in San Diego County, they all met in high school in the early 2000s and began jamming.
“Our first show we made two songs last for fifty minutes,” chuckles Brenden. “That’s how it began. Not so much putting on shows as improvising in front of people.”
The band are named after nine sacred mountains in northern Italy, and their music has been described as ‘heavy psych’ and ‘psychedelic prog’: a peak early-70s cross between Hawkwind and Deep Purple. However, Ant says: “I don’t see us as progressive rock at all. We’re a heavy rock band.” Brenden says they “let the music take over and see where it takes you. We go for a more timeless vibe than progressive rock”.
Their self-titled first album came out back in 2015. The second, Waiting Room For The Magic Hour, took another three years to flash in the sky. Now comes their third, Retrieval, a six-track masterpiece. From the towering Maelstrom to the chunky Intermediate Death, it’s like cutting-edge Uriah Heep-meets-Cream when Eric really was God.
The mesmerising nine-minute finale More Than I is for Sacri Monti what In The Light was for Led Zeppelin: music as mystical communication, with a ferocious drive and flare that screams acid.
I tell them how when I worked for Hawkwind in the late 70s they made a point of tripping on acid when they were recording. “Oh my god!” Ant says, laughing. “We probably dipped into everything – not the hard opiates and stuff – since high school.”
Would they trip on stage?
Brenden: “We used to in the early days when we would jam a lot.”
What kind of fans come to see Sacri Monti?
“Mostly men,” guffaws Brenden.
I imagine a crowd of deranged men with beards…
“Rocker men,” Ant says, smiling.
Sacri Monti did four shows in the UK this summer, and say their British fans get them more than fans in America.
“No question about that,” Ant confirms. “The UK is the home of a lot of the music we love. What’s cool is we can play indierock festivals and heavy metal festivals. It really is different every show. We never know what way it’s gonna be.”
And that in a nutshell is what makes Sacri Monti special. Even they don’t know what way it’s gonna go. Can ya dig it?
Retrieval is out now via Tee Pee Records
