Bands are precious, fragile ecosystems and never more so than now, in an apocalyptic, post-pandemic landscape of inflation, gentrification, fascist rhetoric and media-hype, all clawing to get by in an evermore opportunistic music business obsessed with numbers. Certain bands just won’t give in to any of that and stay fiercely committed to their ideals, Temple Fang is one of those.
Forming in 2018, Temple Fang really started hitting their stride in 2019 with, amongst many others, two highly acclaimed Roadburn shows and appearances at many festivals and clubs across Europe. Having no release out yet and thus creating much anticipation to what their recorded output would end up like.
With alternating lead vocalists, two wildly harmonizing guitarists, a powerhouse of a rhythm-section, and armed with truly psychedelic compositions fueled by their exposure to South American plant-medicine, the band took the heavy-psych underground by storm and seemed to be gearing up to bottle this magick and commit it to their studio debut. And then 2020 happened.
During the pandemic the band stayed as active as possible, appearing on whatever live-streams they could, resulting in well received appearances on Eurosonic and National Dutch Television, creating even more buzz. A string of seated shows followed, whatever it took to keep playing. And then like so many others, despite their best efforts, the band fractured anyway…
Losing their original drummer, the band continued on with a replacement post-covid, putting out a half live/half studio album (Fang Temple 2021), an EP (Jerusalem/The Bridge 2022), multiple live albums (Live at Merleyn 2020, Live at Freak Valley 2023, Live at Krach am Bach 2024), and playing an seemingly endless string of shows from Oslo to Milan, hitting many festivals in between. Roadburn, Desertfest Berlin, Sonic Blast (twice) Palp and countless others were exposed to the magick of this true free rock n’ roll phenomenon, leaving audiences stunned and clamouring for more.
But with the band still not managing to release a proper debut studio album, all this kept fueling speculation that Temple Fang’s live-sound was too in-the-moment, too whimsical, too untamed to be properly captured in a studio environment, something the band never themselves believed to be true, quite the opposite. It just would require the right set of circumstances.
Fast forward to 2025 as Temple Fang is ready to release ‘Lifted from the Wind’ on Stickman Records. A record they themselves consider to be their true debut studio album. On this sprawling double record, released on the only label they would give up their independence for, Temple Fang appears, for the first time in their existence, fully formed. Fierce and strong, hard rocking yet elegant, with 20min+ psych freakouts and prog ballads side-by-side, Temple Fang truly delivers on the promise they’ve always held, to really stretch the possibilities of what it means to be a rock band in 2025. With spectacular wild-man Daan Wopereis as a full member on the drums, Temple Fang now can deliver on their commitment to really rock, to blow your mind AND tear your heart out. Rock n’ Roll as a means to attaining spiritual freedom, right on!