Doomed Confessionary: Ivan Skvortsov (Sacred Buzz)
Photos by Jura Titov
Sacred Buzz is a 4-piece garage psych band from Berlin, Germany. It materialized out of thin air in the hot summer of 2023 and already became known for stirring up Berlin’s psych underground scene with their mesmerizing blend of raw energy, kaleidoscopic patterns and psychedelic rhythm.
Sacred Buzz brews sound elixir on every show in search of the perfect blend. This potion features electrifying drums, face-melting bass, haunting guitar, mesmerizing combo organ drone and distorted lo-fi vocals. One sip and your soul will take a wild ride up to the 13th floor and then back to velvet underground and only the wizard (be it lizard or otherwise) will be able to tell that you are tripping balls.
The band just released »Radio Radiation / Rebel Machine« 7″ single on August 28th, 2024 via Fuzzed Up & Astromoon Records.
Sacred Buzz are Ivan Skvortsov (guitar, vocals), Jane Skvortsova (keys), Luca Büttner (bass) and Max Storck (drums).
Can you say a few words about your band?
Sacred Buzz came into existence last July when me (Ivan – guitar/vocals) and Jane (keys) invited our neighbor Luca (bass) and his best friend Max (drums) to play with us. It was apparent from the first jam that there was some magic between us. We quickly recorded our first demo (which still can be found on our Bandcamp) and soon received an opportunity to play our first show in one of the loudest and meanest venues in Berlin called Urban Spree. That was a very blasting kickstart for us! Since then we played many shows (mostly in Berlin) and gained a reputation of a very tight band. People see our name on the flyer and they can be sure they are in for good vibes and energy.
We love psych, kraut, rock’n’roll, old psych garage nuggets, and modern psychedelic rock. There are lots of drone, fuzz, and mesmerizing motorik rhythms in our music. We love making noise together and I think it shows.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Living in a big city like Berlin, it’s always a challenge to find good rehearsal studios and opportunities to play. But I’d say that with the right approach and a good amount of musician friends and friendly bands, it’s not a big challenge. I’d say that dragging Jane’s keyboard (12KG) to our shows is a challenge because it’s big and heavy haha (but it sounds heavenly).
What can you be most proud of so far?
I guess, we’re proud of how much we have achieved in just one year. Like we have a good set of songs that we love, Irish label released our music on vinyl, and we played a decent number of shows already. I believe that’s just a beginning because we love what we do and we have no intention to slow down. I can’t wait to record a full LP with our new songs. We need to finish them but they are shaping up to be super tasty!
What was your biggest regret?
We almost scored a support show with the band we love a lot called Frankie and the Witch Fingers but there was some mess up with their tour dates and they had to use another booker. Things like that happen but we still hope to play with them in the future.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Can I name 3? Haha.
We’ve played a heartwarming show at Leipzig in April. It was super cozy and people didn’t want to let us go, so we played a few songs again after our set had ended. Also, it was the first 4.20 (April 20th) after cannabis legalization in Germany. So everyone held a beer bottle and a joint in their hands. It was very fun to play there, obviously.
The biggest band that we played with so far is Daiistar from Austin, Texas. They sounded very good and we feel lucky that we were picked as a support band for them. Charming guys in person, too. Their 2023 LP »Good Time« was produced by Alex Maas from The Black Angels (one of our favorite bands). Also, Daiistar’s bassist Misti occasionally plays with The Black Angels on tours.
And our most recent show, our release party at the legendary 8mm bar was our best to date in terms of sound and vibe. Our good friend and studio-mate Fabien from the band Perilymph was a sound engineer that evening and we sounded really good. Lots of our friends came and lots of new people as well. The owner of the bar was projecting trippy visuals during our set and we celebrated all night. I still feel the afterglow from that night.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Oh, I don’t know. Probably how many cool bands there are and how few venues there are for them to play.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
I like Major Kong, Cosmic Dead, Mt. Mountain, and Electric Wizard to name a few.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Embrace the mistakes. Also, repeated mistakes are not mistakes. And just do what you do.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Me and Jane discovered a passion for playing pool. We found a really cool heavy metal bar (or kneipe as they are called here) and we try to play there every Tuesday with our friends. It’s great to lose our thoughts in the grassy green fabric of the pool table and the mesmerizing click of the balls colliding with each other. It’s music, man!
Jane loves pickles and instant noodles (especially with tom yum flavor), especially at night. She’s crazy about them!
And I like particular sweets I found in Berlin. It’s called Ufonauten. Waffle flying saucers with tasty sour powder inside. I like to bite them on one side so that all the powder falls out into my mouth. Mmm, yummy!
Can you say something more about current music scene in Berlin?
There are lots of cool bands in Berlin. Too many! Go Mahhh, Abanamat, and Perilymph come to mind. Our friends Angelic Milk, Menk, Pivnoy Cowboy are all very talented and different. But honestly, It’s a topic for another article and sadly I can’t name all of the cool bands in our city because there are just too many of them to name!
But if you are in Berlin, keep an eye out for Positive Transmitter shows. The man behind this booking agency, Rinat, is a very good friend of ours and he has immaculate taste in music, particularly in psych, heavy psych, and the like! Lineups on Positive Transmitter shows are nearly always perfect, highly recommend it for full immersion in mood/vibe!
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
We try to add all of our shows to Songkick and BandsInTown. But sometimes we get busy or lazy!
We have ahead of us:
5.10. – Telefest – Hühnermanhattan Kultur, Halle – our friends Tommy and the Teleboys are making this Telefest where we will be playing with them and our good friends Go Mahhh.
18.10. – Neue Welt, Ingolstadt – We’ll be playing with Thomas Greenwood band from Italy there.
1.11. – Loge, Berlin – our EP release party with support from our friends – angelic milk.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Come up with more songs, play more shows, have fun, record, release, repeat haha.
But seriously, we want to record a full LP next year and we have more than half of the songs ready to be recorded for it. And yeah play more shows wherever we can.
How can people best support your band?
Honestly, the best way to support us would be to ask your local bookers to bring us to your city. We love playing our music and we’d love to play in different cities and countries. Telling your friends about our music or including it in your playlist would also help. Supporting us by buying our music on Bandcamp would be probably the most direct way. But you know, even if you drop a message to us on social networks that would make us happy. Thank you for even including this question here!
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Thanks for reading our answers. I hope it wasn’t boring. If you have some more questions for us or just want to say something, please leave comments here or drop us a message on Instagram or anywhere. And huge thanks to Doomed Nation and Bojan for taking an interest in us and our music.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well