Doomed Confessionary: Tea, Ondra, Matěj & Martin (Voodoo Garden)
Voodoo Garden is a female-fronted psychedelic stoner rock band based out of Slaný, Czech Republic. They released their debut EP »Age Of The Mist« on December 13th, 2024.
Voodoo Garden brings dense stoner rock mixed with psychedelic elements straight from the underground. A hazy atmosphere, solid guitar riffs and darkly lyrical lyrics combined with the melodious sound of cymbals.
Voodoo Garden are Tea on vocals, Ondra on guitar, Matěj on bass and Martin on drums.
Can you say a few words about your band?
Tea: Voodoo Garden is a heavy stoner psychedelic band from Slaný, but we play mainly in Prague. There are four of us – I sing, Ondra plays guitar, Matěj plays bass and Martin plays the drums. What makes us stand out in the scene is having a woman main vocal, which brings our music a little to the occult side. We love the mystical and occult, and bring that to you with our music.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Ondra: Definitely relationships in the band.
Tea: Yeah, that’s true. In the beggining it has sometimes been hard for us all to get along, personal issues got in the way. But I think that also as we got older we learned to communicate better, not to take offense about everyting, and now we all get along better than ever.
What can you be most proud of so far?
Ondra: I think we can be most proud of our fans, that come to our concerts and the support they give us.
Martin: Yes. I think for me it is seeing that there are people among our fans that we don’t know personally. Knowing that it’s not one of our friends that’s only there so we don’t feel bad about ourselves. During the last year we have had people we don’t know come see us repeatedly, and they come to see us, not the band we’re supporting.
What was your biggest regret?
Ondra: I think I don’t really regret anything.
Tea: Yeah, I personally don’t really have any regrets in general, because I believe that whatever I did in the past, whether it was good or bad, it has brought me to where I am now, and I have the same thing regarding the band. If we haven’t done all the things we have, we wouldn’t be where we are now, which is a great place, where all of us are happy with our music and where the band’s going.
Martin: Yeah, I have a lot of regrets in life, but nothing regarding the band.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Matěj: 100 % our concert to celebrate our new EP release on 28th of December in Klubovna in Prague. We really played our best that night, there were probably the most people we ever had there, and they all enjoyed it. The atmosphere was really just amazing. And on top of all of that we have been getting so much praise regarding the EP and the music we play.
Ondra: And I really feel like that concert confirmed that what we’re doing is right, and people really like it.
Matěj: Yeah, we’re doing what we like to do, and somehow, I don’t know how, it’s working.
Martin: I also saw a lot of people that I usually meet at other stoner concerts in Prague, and they were there to see us play since we were headlining, and they liked it, which was a great feeling as well.
Photo by Ivo Oskar Osvald
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Tea: Well what I was most surprised by is how some bands that have been playing for a couple of years are so difficult to communicate with reagrding organizing shows. Like you would be playing somewhere, and the day before you have to beg them to tell you what time to be at the venue, and what you should bring. that will never cease to amaze me.
Matěj: I think what surprised me most is how a lot of the bands who look really mean on stage are usually really chill.
Martin: Well what suprised me are drummers, that come to you half an hour before the show and want to borrow your cymbals, and kick pedals. Like I would never want to play on another drummers‘ cymbals.
Ondra: What has most surprised me is how well we have been accepted into the subculture. Like when we were total newbies everybody really supported us. All the people we have met have been nothing but nice to us, whenever we got any critique it was always constructive and helped us get better. No one has ever tried to bring us down, and it’s been very wholesome.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Tea: I am curently hooked on the EP »Medusa« from the German band Hephaistos.
Ondra: I have recently been listening to older albums of bands I like. For example Elder’s self-titled album. And even though the sound was very different back then, I really like it, and it’s really inspiring for me.
Matej: Well I really like listening to any Tool songs, and the band Gojira.
Martin: Lately I’ve been listening to the band 1914, which is Ukranian black metal inspired by World War 1.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Ondra: To play more live shows. I’ve had several people tell me this, and it really does help the band to sound better. It helps us comunicate better while we’re playing, and unites the band more, you get to see what works and what doesn’t.
Martin: For me it is when someone told me that it doesn’t matter what I play, but I have to play with real people. No one cares how many technical excercises you can do, when you don’t know how to play with other instruments, and react to them.
Matej: A good one someone told me is “When you fuck it up, don’t shit yourself. No one will notice you made a mistake.”
What are your guilty pleasures?
Matěj: I think my biggest guilty pleasure right now is just having a joint after a concert.
Ondra: My guilty pleasure is listening to the Skyrim soundtrack before going to sleep.
Martin: Well my guilty pleasure is getting drunk and writing song lyrics for my second band, which plays agro pop rock music.
Can you say something more about current music scene in Prague?
Ondra: The music scene in Prague is blooming, there are many interesting new emerging projects, that really are worth seeing live. I also feel like the fanbase is growing. Because for example we introduced the stoner, doom genres to many of our friends, who now really enjoy it.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
21.2. in Prague – Hospoda Brouk with the italian band The Black Flamingo.
8.3. in Katowice (Poland) – klub Faust with the Polish bands Devil In The Name, Starless Void and Void Ritual.
22.8. in Prague – Klubovna
6.9. Sumava Against festival
These are the shows we have confirmed right now.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Tea: We would like to play in more czech cities, other than Prague, and maybe try to play in surrounding countries as well.
Ondra: We want to play more, make better music and spend more time together – either rehearsing or just chilling together.
How can people best support your band?
Tea: What would suport us most is buying our EP »Age Of The Mist« on Bandcamp.
Ondra: Or just listen to our music, share it to your friends, and invite us to play anywhere, anytime.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Martin: We love you, keep enjoying what we’re doing. We hope it makes you happy, because the biggest thing for us is seeing that what we’re enjoying to do is enjoyable for others as well.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well