FOUR MORE ADDED TO THE LINE-UP
A COLOSSAL WEEKEND has added four new artists to its 2027 programme. Scottish duo Arab Strap, Italian innovators Messa, American heavy-music outliers Inter Arma, and Louisville collective Doom Gong each occupy their own corner of the alternative and experimental music landscape.
A COLOSSAL WEEKEND has always been a place for artists and audiences moving across genres, traditions and expectations. From Arab Strap's darkly funny observations on everyday life to Messa's self-defined Scarlet Doom, Inter Arma's refusal to recognise musical boundaries and Doom Gong's psychedelic collectivism, these four artists point in very different directions while sharing a similar spirit of exploration.
The newly announced artists join a programme that already includes A Place To Bury Strangers, Warning, Sadness and Antropoceno.
"When booking A COLOSSAL WEEKEND, we rarely look for artists that fit neatly into a particular genre or context. We're far more interested in bands that continue to challenge their own boundaries and their audience's expectations. Arab Strap have spent three decades being entirely their own thing. Messa have built a sound that exists in its own universe, while Inter Arma consistently refuse to stand still. Doom Gong represents a new generation of artists driven by curiosity rather than genre affiliation. Together, they say a lot about the kind of music we want to present."
– Jeppe Nygaard Christensen, Festival Director and Booker, VEGA.
For more than three decades, ARAB STRAP have remained one of the most distinctive voices in British alternative music. Through a blend of spoken word, indie rock, electronica, black humour and brutal honesty, Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton have created a catalogue that has always resisted easy categorisation. Their recent release Half-Told Tales marks the band's 30th anniversary by embracing the contradictions that have defined them from the beginning.
MESSA arrive in Copenhagen after more than a decade spent carving out a singular place within contemporary heavy music. Drawing from doom metal, progressive rock, dark ambient and psychedelic music, the Italian quartet eventually coined their own term, Scarlet Doom, to describe their sound. On the acclaimed The Spin, they continue to reshape that identity without losing sight of the emotional core that runs through their work.
If Messa move across genres, INTER ARMA largely ignore them. Over six studio albums, the Richmond band have woven together doom, black metal, sludge, grindcore, southern rock and acoustic passages into a catalogue defined by constant movement rather than stylistic allegiance. Two decades into their career, they remain one of heavy music's most difficult bands to pin down.
The announcement concludes with DOOM GONG, a seven-piece collective from Louisville, Kentucky, who abandoned existing genre terms and coined their own: Denim Psych. Built around two drummers, shifting instrumental roles and a collaborative songwriting process, Doom Gong move freely between psychedelic rock, jazz fusion, improvisation and explosive heaviness. They embody a generation of artists creating their own frameworks rather than working within established ones.
Together, these four artists reflect a festival where some of the most interesting things happen between genres. From Arab Strap's distinctly Scottish storytelling and Messa's Scarlet Doom to Inter Arma's restless reinvention and Doom Gong's collective psychedelia, each offers a different route through contemporary alternative music.
A COLOSSAL WEEKEND 2027 takes place at VEGA and Basement in Copenhagen from 13-15 May 2027 and will feature around 30 artists. Three-day festival passes are on sale now via acolossalweekend.dk and vega.dk. Single day tickets will go on sale in December.
