Acid Mothers Temple warped space and time with their psychedelic acid rock. Guitars were smashed into amps, pedal boards were turned into synthesizers, bass drum heads were broken and the sound system was pushed to the limit. The small bar was filled to capacity on this hot Fall day. The openers Magick Potion, a heavy blues band and The Green Door, a local garage-psych band, gave outstanding performances. The audience’s ears were bleeding and sweat was dripping. Rock and roll was alive on this night in San Francisco.
Acid Mothers Temple played epic space rock during their set. They are known for their intense psychedelic, experimental rock. The music sounded like an alien transmission converted into an over-the-top psychedelic explosion. The band’s musical approach is constant exploration of structured improvisation. AMT lives in the moment. They never know exactly what they will play on stage until it happens.
The captain of the ship is Kawabata Makoto. Kawabata Makoto is an unsung guitar legend who is a must see for anyone who loves bombastic psychedelic guitar. He directs the music with his powerful guitar styling. His tone is rich and layered with fuzz, wah, reverb and a maxed out 100 watt Marshall and Roland amplifiers that rattled the bottles off the bar shelves. Kawabata Makoto’s style is what Jimi Hendrix would have sounded like if he had gotten very experimental and inspired by krautrock, prog and modern heavy acid rock. The guitar went from vintage jangle to heavy stoner fuzz to echoing choruses dripping with wah-wah sweeps and tonal modulation. Acid Mothers Temple plays face melting music unlike any other.
Acid Mothers Temple is complex and unique constellation / collective of bands that is broadly known as Acid Mothers Temple. Kawbata Makoto is the only constant and plays on every Acid Mothers Temple album and every live performance. Their touring line-up is fairly consistent with guest appearances and new members joining the band overtime. Kawabata Makoto is prolific to the extreme. He is credited on over 1800 recordings including over 200 solo albums and around 200 Acid Mothers Temple albums. His musical career started in 1978 blazing through experimental rock, noise rock, heavy metal, ambient, drone and every related genre.
USA Survive the Metaverse Tour – October 4th – Bottom of the Hill San Francisco:
This years tour is titled, 2026 USA Survive To Metaverse Tour and has 31 dates with Magick Potion opening throughout and one off local openers in each city. There are no days off in this rigorous tour schedule. Acid Mothers Temple is joined by Cotton Casino for this USA tour. Cotton Casino is an original member of the band joining in 1995 until 2004. She has kept in contact with the band making guest appearances on several of the Acid Mothers Temple’s albums and Kawbato Makoto’s solo albums and side projects.
Bottom Of The Hill is a small bar in the Potrero neighborhood near Mission Bay. The Pow Magazine team was in attendance setting up 7-8 cameras to capture video of the show as well as videotaped interviews with Kawabata Makoto and Dresden Boulden, the singer-guitarist of Magick Potion. Following the interviews the show opened with The Green Door.
The Green Door:
The Green Door presented their psyched out garage rock to the many early attendees. Their music includes hints of soundtrack inspired acid western sounds. The final songs in their set were from their recent releases, ‘In Your Blood’, ‘Dead Stock’ (which we reviewed here at POW) and they closed with ‘Sugar’. The forward vocals and jangling rhythm guitar had a retro 60s flare. The lead guitar got wild with their sound blasting broken fuzz tones and echoing effects for a mind-blowing sound.
To close out their set the drummer walked to the front of the stage and manually adjusted the settings on the lead guitarists pedal board. This pulled the guitar into a new sonic space with whirling effects expertly controlled by the able hands of the drummer. The guitar transformed into a synth and the pedalboard FX became an instrument onto itself. The ending of the set was inspired and captivated the growing audience.
Magick Potion:
I was excited for Magick Potion, I had never heard them before and didn’t know what to expect. I had just completed and interview with the guitarist Dresden Boulden and was unprepared for their epic set. They describe themselves as being inspired by late 60s and early 70s hard rock and photo metal like Black Sabbath, Cream, Jimi Hendrix and Blue Cheer. They are also inspired by the rare proto-metal in the Brown Acid compilations which chronicle early proto-metal.
The bands presented themselves in vintage clothing with long curled hair mopping through the air. Dresden, the guitarist / vocalist was the focal point of the band. His vocals were delivered gently and precisely taking a secondary seat to the guitar. His voice was dynamic ranging from quite close to the mic phrasing to loud plosive pushed rock vocals. This range pulled me into the music and gave the songs a sense of mystery and craft. This style was exemplified in the song ‘Love With A Wizard‘. The vocals fit the 70s style of the band perfectly giving the songs solid melodic structure.
The guitar sound was well-crafted with ear pleasing tones. He would encourage controlled feedback between the huge amps behind him and the large hollow body of the guitar. It reminded me of Jimi Hendrix live performances when he would get crazy sounds out of his instrument by facing the amp and letting the harmonic feedback influence his sound and create sustained notes. The controlled feedback guitar technique is challenging because the distance from the amp and the size of the stage vary each night causing a degree of unpredictability. This wild approach creates an energy that nothing else can replicate and a dangerous edging toward losing control.
The band was tight and well rehearsed. They played songs from their Self-Tiled 2024 album, Magick Potion. They included a new song from their upcoming album which is expected to be released in Spring 2027.
Magick Potion was really impressive and will remain on my radar for years to come.
Acid Mothers Temple:
Acid Mothers Temple had a brutal sound check before their set. Noise ripping through the PA and sustained guitar feedback as the huge amps were cracked and levels were set. The layout and size of The Bottom Of The Hill made for challenges with the mix. The room looked sold out with little space available and the venue was far too hot. Sweat was dripping down my brow as I prepared myself for the onslaught of otherworldly acid rock.
This hot tension was felt in the opening of AMT’s set as the band themselves seemed to be clearing the air and testing the sound in this space which was too small for their wild and loud gear. Some of the vocals were difficult to hear due to the sheer volume of the music. The PA couldn’t keep up with Kawabata Makoto’s rig. AMT have played every kind of room over the years and soon tuned into the space and transmitted their cosmic vibrations.
The guitar was loud and proud! It nearly overwhelmed the heavy speedy drumming. The songs were trance inducing, experimental, beautiful and inspired. The drummer, Nani Satoshima is unbelievable. The complexity of the rhythms along with the speed and power he expresses into the drums gives the music big energy. Cotton Casino was on synth and vocal and sounded like a cosmic witch casting spells; Hiroshi Higashi the white bearded wizard on synth; Jyonson Tsu on lead vocal and rhythm guitar was steady and reliable. Shozo Sawano, the newest member, was on bass adding melodic and rhythmic flavor to the thunderous sound.
The band played classic songs ‘Pink Lady Lemonade’, ‘Comet Orbital Drive’ and included a cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘The Wizard’. ‘The Wizard’ was completely transformed with the psychedelic guitar leads braided into the outstanding Sabbath riffs. The 90 minute set flew by and was filled with amazing improvisations and 10 out of 10 energy.
The set ended with the guitar being held over the audience. Arms reached up to strike the fretboard and the audience created a cacophony of sound through the instrument. Makoto placed the guitar in the arms of a Halloween skeleton and had the skeletal hands strummed the guitar. For the finale, Makoto balanced the instrument precariously with the headstock of the guitar in his flattened palm. It swayed dangerously as he moved to balance it. Casino Cotton was crouched ready for it to fall and smash the rest of the band on this small stage. Makoto then swung the guitar with violent force slamming it down onto the top of the amplifier with a flat thud causing the rattled amp to make an incredible sound.
The show ended and the band immediately packed up ready to jet off to hit the road. The merch line was long and took nearly a hour to clear out. All the bands had great merch available. As always support live music, support bands by buying their merch and albums.
Thank you to all the bands and Bottom Of The Hill for a night that was all killer and no filler!
Media Links:
https://www.thegreendoorband.com
https://thegreendoor.bandcamp.com
https://magickpotionband.bandcamp.com
https://acidmotherstemple.bandcamp.com
