Doomed Confessionary: Christian, Hendrik & Björn (Wasteland Haze)
Photo by Penny Picassa
Wasteland Haze is an instrumental stoner/doom/post-rock band from Düsseldorf, Germany since 2022. Heavy and apocalyptic riffs tell a story that doesn’t need words.
The trio just released their new EP »Fresh Hits From The Vault« on May 28th, 2024. Available now on all major streaming platforms!
Wasteland Haze are Christian Lastowski on bass, Björn Lepper on guitar and Hendrik Dräger on drums.
Can you say a few words about your band?
We are Wasteland Haze from Düsseldorf, Germany. As a instrumental three-piece we found our home in a stoner doom kind of music and spice it up with some influences from post-rock and psychedelic style of music. Björn and Christian founded the band in October 2022 and since then we released our fulllength debut album »Welcome To Wasteland Haze« in July 2023 and the EP »Fresh Hits From The Vault« in Spring 2024.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
The biggest challenge for us was to get in touch with the local scene as a DIY band. We did all the recording, production, promotion, graphics and merch ourselves, sometimes with help from friends and that was a big amount of work for us. Then we didn’t have the connections to the music scene to get gigs and promote our work. Getting some gravitas here was a lot of sweat, but only a few minutes on stage with all those beautiful people is worth every work hour.
What can you be most proud of so far?
We did a support job for High On Fire in Cologne, that was such a blast. Matt Pike is an absolute legend and a nice guy to hang out with. Also getting in touch with Andy from Clostridium Records, who will help us with releasing our debut in a remastered version as a hard release.
What was your biggest regret?
Nothing to regret. Making a mistake or getting declined by a booker or curator is only a chance to get a new strategy on the road.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
We have done a lot of shows since we started playing live in july 2023. There were some big shows like with High On Fire, playing in front of 300 people. There were some scene concerts like a gig in cologne with Astral Kompact and Cosmic Marauder where around 80 people were hungry for some stoner rock. And also small concerts like we did with Turtle Jet and Fuser from Oldenburg in Hamburg, where only 30 People bought tickets, but the room was bloody boiling in love for our kind of music.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
That we could make our way so far as a total DIY project with nearly no budget.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Christian: Monolord, High On Fire.
Hendrik: Slomosa, Lowlives.
Björn: Gipsy Sun Revival, Deathchant.
…and for all of us all time classics such as Black Sabbath, Kyuss and so on.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Be kind to the other bands, the bookers, the venue and mostly to the people coming to your show or listening to your music. Be helpful as far as you can and be supportive to the scene.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Isn’t making music and drinking some beers not enough as a guilty pleasure 😉 Maybe playing some video games and drinking some beers. Something with beers, mate, we are Germans.
Can you say something more about the music scene in Düsseldorf?
The German stoner scene is growing really strong right now. A lot of new bands rise from the underground. We try to connect the musicians with their audience with our Spotify playlist “New wave of German stoner”, where over 200 stoner, doom and psych bands from germany are listed. Düsseldorf itself is… you know, we only have two to three bands here from the genre… one of them is Wasteland Haze.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
16.08.2024 TBA
17.08.2024 TBA
05.09.2024 w/ TFNRSH @ Pitcher, Duesseldorf
06.09.2024 w/ TFNRSH & Exdirectory @ Rare Guitar, Muenster
07.09.2024 w/ TFNRSH & Cosmother @ Jam Club, Koblenz
05.10.2024 w/ Aeon Temple & Cosmother @ HIND, Gelsenkirchen
09.11.2024 Clostridium Record Party @ Backyard club, Recklinghausen
29.11.2024 w/ Stargo & Schubmodul @ U27, Bochum
30.11.2024 w/ Stargo & Blue Marble @ Waldmeister, Solingen
20.12.2024 w/ Astral Kompakt & Schubmodul @ Druckluft Oberhausen
What are your plans for the future as a band?
We want to play as many shows as we can until august 2025. Then we want to get some time for ourselves and make a little break from playing live to work on a new release.
How can people best support your band?
Listening to our music and coming to our shows in the first way. We are always happy to get requests for playing live, so go out and organise some shows 🙂
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Go out, support your local bands, drink some beers and hang out with your friends.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well