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Reunited '90s power-pop band Fantasy tops eclectic bill at the Ivy Room

Revived local favorites Fantasy bring their danceable power-pop grooves to the Ivy Room Saturday night for a show that includes East Bay metal heroes Blackwülf and hard-rock cover band Thunderbleed aka Blind Vengeance.

A San Francisco club scene fixture during the '90s, the band anchored by the falsetto vocals of singer/guitarist Kirk Markopoulos developed a solid following during its early heyday. Known as much for their outlandish costumes as their hooky power-pop anthems, Markopoulos would reconfigured Fantasy into the group Little Fuzzy during the early 2000s, issuing one self-released album in 2007. 

Fantasy would resurface a few years ago with Markopoulous and original drummer Ragi Dindal (who has played with songwriter Kelley Stoltz and Americana band Macerator) and has been regularly playing many of its old haunts like the Make-Out Room -- and spots that have opened since their extended hiatus like Albany's Ivy Room -- to enthusiastic crowds.   

For this show at the Ivy Room in Albany Saturday, Fantasy will be joined by one of the leading lights on the current burgeoning Bay Area metal scene, East Bay band Blackwülf. Over the past dozen years, Blackwülf has established a reputation for dishing out colossal Sabbath-influenced riffs and memorable metal anthems. 

Coming together in 2012 around longtime collaborators guitarist Pete Holmes and drummer Dave Pankenier -- who have played music together since they were growing up in Arizona --  the original line-up of Blackwülf was rounded out by singer Alex Cunningham and bassist Scott Peterson.

Working from the classic quartet model that served so many great hard rock and metal bands during the '70s, Blackwülf crafted a handful of doom-laden originals for their self-released album Mind Traveler in 2014. While the group's sound owes an unquestionable debt to Black Sabbath, even on that debut effort Blackwülf stood apart from the many stoner-metal outfits who are content to pilfer riffs and song ideas wholesale from the iconic metal godfathers.

Blackwülf - Mind Traveler (2014 - Full LP) by HeavyStonerDoomBlues on YouTube

With Cunningham's commanding delivery and memorable vocal melodies at times recalling singer Pete Stahl (who fronted notable bands Scream, Wool and Goatsnake) and Holmes' hefty chord progressions and stinging, concise solos ably propelled by the group's hard-swinging rhythm section on "Royal Pine" and "Thunderwitch," the album quickly earned the band fans locally and abroad while catching the ear of Bay Area heavy rock imprint Ripple Music. The label would partner with Blackwülf to release the group's sophomore effort Oblivion Cycles late in 2015, earning another round of rave reviews, including the endorsement of Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich in a video posted on YouTube.

The East Bay headbangers took some time to get their next batch of songs together, but Blackwülf returned in 2018 with their second sternum-rattling effort on Ripple Music entitled Sinister Sides that was released to wide acclaim. The album featured guest appearances by legendary doom-metal guitarist Geof O'Keefe (a founding member of Pentagram and Bedemon) on several tunes and further refined the crew's heavy, psychedelic metal sound.

Blackwülf - Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream Cover (Official Video) featuring Geof O'Keefe of Pentagram by Blackwülf on YouTube

In addition to having O'Keefe play on the album, the band prevailed upon the doom legend to visit the Bay Area to appear at their local record release party in addition to filming a couple of videos for songs from Sinister Sides. The band would go on to make appearances at Desertfest London and Planet Desert Rock in Las Vegas that same year.

The band has played regular local shows since 2019 (including a short surreptitious set in the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum parking lot before a Raider game before security pulled the plug), but focused most of its energy before and during the pandemic on writing and recording new material for the fourth Blackwülf album. Released once again on Ripple Music in early 2023 -- and the first feature second guitarist Jesse Rosales, who joined the band a year earlier --Thieves & Liars was quickly hailed as the band's most ambitious album yet.  

Blackwülf - "Shadow" (Official Music Video) | Ripple Music - 2022 by Ripple Music on YouTube

Kicking off with the lead single "Shadows," the latest salvo from Blackwülf raises the already high bar that the band has set for itself over the course of nine tunes that show the quintet refining the art of stoner riff rock on the pulverizing title track and the cowbell-punishing "Failed Resistance" while pushing into dynamic new territory on the epic "Psychonaut/Edge of Light." In the summer of 2023, Blackwülf celebrated a release of a different kind after partnering with Oakland's Original Pattern Brewing Company to create Blackwülf Pilsner.

Opening the show will be long-running hard rock and metal cover band Thunderbleed aka Blind Vengeance. A tribute act so good it requires two names, group has a history going back to the late '90s when it would occasionally hit San Francisco clubs when not playing house parties and backyard barbecues, though a fan-run website presents an elaborate band mythology that dates back even further. 

Fronted by consummate bar-boogie-ing showman Arnold "Action" Jackson (also known as Ajax Green, who played in '90s SF alt-country band Granfaloon Bus and more recently with garage power-pop trio the Wrong Words), their powered by the massive drum kit of band engine Doug Pooch (aka Russ Blackmar) -- who has blown-up photos of himself on his double-bass heads. 

THUNDERBLEED aka BLIND VENGEANCE live at Hemlock Tavern 3/17/18 by kustomgreaser on YouTube

While the line-up has changed since the early days, the current version of the band has included guitarist Brian Mello (formerly with the Morning Line, the Bellyachers and currently a member of Harold Ray and East Side Dynamite) for a number of years. Thunderbleed shows are an unrepentant celebration of rock, being a rocker and liking to rock. Fans can expect well-executed takes on radio hits and deep cuts from the likes of UFO, AC/DC, April Wine, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy and -- thanks to the recent addition of a synthesizer to their instrumental arsenal -- Rush when the band takes the stage.

Fantasy with Blackwülf and Thunderbleed aka Blind Vengeance
Saturday, Jan. 18, 7:30 p.m. $15-$18
The Ivy Room

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