“Chronical Moshers” on podcast: “Life is too short to listen to anything but metal!” | free press

2023-06-01 09:50:00

What makes the smallest metal festival in Saxony so desirable that it was sold out again after 5 minutes in 2023

heavy metal club.

Ernst Jörg Gerlach, known as “Mafia”, used to listen to hippie music, like the Stones or Deep Purple. But “by Black Sabbath at the latest,” he says in the new episode of the podcast “Something Culture Must Be,” “I knew where to go!” The 68-year-old is a veteran of the heavy metal club “Chronical Moshers” from Reichenbach, which was founded in 1982. In the 90s at the latest, the musical clock has traditionally stopped, but not the musical heart: metalheads of all ages are members and live their hard music passion in family togetherness.

Among other things, this community has kept one of the most notable small festivals in Saxony running for over 20 years, and while other such events are feeling the hangover mood in the industry, the “Chronical Moshers Open Air” at the Mühlteich in Vogtland’s Hauptmannsgrün was again reliable this year after five minutes sold out.

What is remarkable is the cult scene program from June 10th to 12th: legends such as Pestilence from the Netherlands, Messiah from Switzerland or the British Benediction. The whole thing is served with the lovingly wide heart of a scene without worries about young talent, which lives for its music with every fiber. “I’m tolerant, everyone should do as they like,” says club boss Michael Burkhardt, for example: “But I only listen to metal. If there’s only radio in my company car, then I’d rather turn on a news program.” Or, as “Mafia” puts it, only half jokingly: “Life is too short to hear anything else!”