DIDZFEST: Evening tribute to Didier Séverin
A year ago, on March 23, 2022, Didier Séverin – Didz for friends – left us at the age of 51. This great (false) shy will have fed with his extreme clairvoyance and his scathing humor the stake of human vanities. The multiplicity of his centers of interest, his convictions and his perseverance were a source of individual and collective inspiration. A howler in Knut for almost two decades, then a sculptor of noise and drones under the pseudonym Llama and in Strommorts, Didier left a deep mark on the Swiss scene as well as those close to him. After the abrupt departure and the meditation, comes the moment to pay homage to him in music. Active groups who have crossed his path in the rock/metal and ambient/electronic/drone fields will play short sets designed for the occasion.

POL + NOSTROMO + IMPURE WILHELMINA + HEX + TERM + EX-KNUT + FRANZ TREICHLER + STROM|MORTS + THE DEAD TRAVEL FAST + SOLASTALGIA + DJS BRAIN & MONSTER DR

POL

Long before devoting himself to metal, Didz had explored/destroyed electronic music. POL opens the hostilities with a massive drone in memory of its passage within the mythical combo MXP.

NOSTROMO

Nostromo emerged in the mid-1990s on a boiling Geneva scene (Knut, Impure Wilhelmina, Shora, Brazen, Prejudice, KA, Goz of Kermeur, etc.). The precision and fury of Nostromo, somewhere between Napalm Death and Meshuggah, hit the mark. After a first album, “Argue”, released in 1998 by Snuff Records, an independent Geneva label, the dates follow one another throughout Europe. Nostromo released “Hysteron-Proteron” in 2004, an album entirely composed of acoustic versions. Risk-taking as successful as it is welcomed. In 2016, after a sixteen-year hiatus, Nostromo's relaunch took everyone by surprise; all it took was a few photos on social networks to set things on fire: Gojira hastened to invite them on their French tour, the Hellfest scheduled them for the 2017 edition… Galvanized, Nostromo released the EP “Narrenschiff” in 2019 then his fourth studio album “Bucephale” in October 2022 on Hummus Records, a label which reissued Knut's first albums and cultivates the same DIY approach and energy as at the time. The circle is complete, and participating in this evening tribute to one of the people who most influenced and supported Nostromo in the early days is more than obvious.

Impure Wilhelmina

For more than twenty-five years, Impure Wilhelmina has been shaping unique music at the frontiers of rock and metal. The quartet has never been afraid to reinvent itself and push back stylistic barriers, without losing its strong identity. Intensity, melody, power and melancholy, these are the hallmarks of the group's rich discography, which has been able to refine album after album this subtle alloy of metal, new wave or even indie rock sounds. The latest album, “Antidote”, released in 2021, testifies to the creativity and versatility of the group, which never stops exploring new horizons, without ever getting lost. A figure on the Geneva scene, Impure Wilhelmina has shared the stage with Knut several times, notably during a joint tour in 2006. It was therefore only natural that the group take part in this tribute evening.

HEX

Scenic reactivation of the Swiss-speaking quintet which has been developing for more than ten years a sound vortex where cyclical motifs and hallucinatory clouds gravitate around a metronomically propulsive rhythm section. Faithful to its maximalist minimalism, HEX will for the occasion combine its sophisticated aesthetic with the mechanical rigor of its spiritual peers, Knut.

TERM

A sludge metal trio formed in the fall of 2020, TERM brings together former members of the bands Knut, Brutalist, Commodore, Préjudice and Mandroïd of Krypton. After a first instrumental concert in September 2022 at the Usine, TERM started working with a singer, Kim Makombe. A first studio album is planned for the end of 2023.

EX-KNUT + FRANZ TREICHLER

Born in 1994, Knut carried the colors of the Geneva and Swiss alternative scene high until 2012. First using his plectrums and drumsticks in the cellars of squats and the Factory, the group experimented with the DIY modus operandi by publishing crafting his first 45s before serving the local scene (Nostromo, Fragment, Grace, Brazen) with a bespoke label, Snuff Records. Operating somewhere between metal, hardcore, noise-rock, even noisy and industrial music, Knut has always escaped classification. Five albums, numerous tours in the United States and throughout Europe as far as Russia, shared stages with Isis, Converge, Mastodon, Voivod, Neurosis, Zeni Geva, The Young Gods, Celtic Frost, Nostromo and even Motörhead, a signing in 2000 on the American label Hydra Head (Cave In, Botch, Keelhaul, Oxbow, Jesu, Khanate), electronic remixes and participation in countless festivals, both underground and Hellfest, have made Knut a reference in music Swiss extremes. To mark a year of painful absence of their emblematic vocalist, lyricist and electronic wizard Didier Séverin, former members of Knut (Roderic Mounir, Tim Robert-Charrue, Christian Valleise and Jeremy Tavernier) exceptionally return to service for a brief special set , essentially instrumental. Friend and tutelary figure of the Swiss scene, Franz Treichler (The Young Gods) will join them for a slow-burning eruption…

STROM|DEAD

Made up of veteran members of post-metal bands Knut and Abraham, strom|morts was born out of a common passion for synthesizers and drone/ambient music. They started playing and composing together in November 2018 in Conthey, Switzerland. Following the sudden loss of their founding member Didier Séverin (Knut) in March 2022, strom|morts is currently performing as a duo (Olivier Hähnel, Mathieu Jallut). The aim is to compose music deeply inspired by their direct alpine environment and its weather which, changing with the seasons, glides over impassive mountains. During this evening, they will present a drone-style cover of Knut in tribute to their friend who died prematurely.

SOLASTALGIA

Solastalgia is the unexpected and obvious meeting between Adriano Perlini and KHAGE (Aleksandr Thibaudeau) reunited for the first time to honor the memory of Didier “Didz” Séverin. Long discussions, many memories, a few regrets sometimes... and a common desire to tap into the profusion of projects left in progress by this abundant sound hacker. An evolving sound heritage, Solastalgia takes up sounds initially created by “Didz”, both to honor the memory of their author and to bring out new perspectives and explore a constantly changing material. A saving and providential form of synaesthesia to move away from the dominant paradigm of affliction towards that of permanent continuity. Requiescat in pace.

THE DEAD TRAVEL FAST

The Dead Travel Fast is the meeting of Fabien Thévenot [Iscariote, Cradle of Wild Wills] and Stéphane Dequine [The Tigers of the Future, Violent City]. Their instrumental rock has its roots as much in the electronic music of the 1980s as in the meditative music of South Asia.

Doors open at 8:30 p.m.

Admission: Free price
From 11 p.m.: 10.-

From 16 years old
Children under 16 must be accompanied by a legal guardian or an adult with a power of attorney signed by the legal guardian.