New Noise Magazine Issue # 63 by New Noise Magazine

GOGOLLBORDELLO

SOLIDARITINE

the band returns to their Punk Rock roots ON the new album out SEPTEMBER 16TH includes the singles “Forces Of Victory” and “Focus Coin” guest appearanceS from H.R. (Bad Brains) and KAZKA produced by Walter Schreifels (Quicksand, Gorilla Biscuits)

TOURING THE U.S. THIS OCTOBER & NOVEMBER www.gogolbordello.com

ISSUE 63

THE FRONT 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38

THE NEW WHAT NEXT DEATH BELLS NEAR BEER WAKE TEMPLE OF VOID FEAR OF A QUEER PLANET FEST WHAT AWAITS US BORIS TRAIL OF DEAD CANDY GWAR BEACH RATS HEALTH SENSES FAIL MIDTOWN TAKING BACK SUNDAY

FEATURES 41 44 48

MUNICIPAL WASTE ALEXISONFIRE THE INTERRUPTERS

THE BACK 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84

VIAGRA BOYS PIANOS BECOME THE TEETH KARL SANDERS ARCH ENEMY END IT THE FLATLINERS HIGH VIS BENT BLUE HEILUNG MANTAR ONELINEDRAWING CHAT PILE CF98 FIXATION THE DREADNOUGHTS THE SHORTLIST ANALOG CAVE

TREVOR STRNAD 1981-2022 PHOTO BY TOBIAS SIMMONS INTERRUPTERS COVER PHOTO BY ERICA LAUREN ALEXISONFIRE COVER PHOTO BY VANESSA HEINS MUNICIPAL WASTE COVER PHOTO BY ROB COONS

BY NICHOLAS SENIOR PHOTO Maq Brown

GUILLOTINE A.D.

Location: Atlanta, GA Album: Born to Fall, out now via M-Theory Audio

Extreme metal really isn’t that old (could I be saying that because I’m almost the same age… ?), but there’s been a really interesting bit of growth that’s more obvious as the subgenre has comfortably eased into its 30s and 40s. Extreme metal’s most notorious offshoots are black metal and death metal, and it’s those two siblings that are most apparent on Born to Fall—though there’s one other relation that hangs around and is quite the motivator, and that’s sludge metal. Yes, Guillotine A.D.’s style is a three-headed monster child through which Eyehategod’s swampy low end is closely connected with European black metal (think early Rotting Christ or Satyricon) and American death metal, a la Obituary or Cannibal Corpse with one puff of pot. If all of that sounds like, well, a lot, there’s some magic in the Miller house, as brothers Adam (bassist and vocalist) and Lance (guitarist) make for a truly powerful and palatable potable. This sounds like the future of extreme metal, one that honors the past while blazing a new path forward. Adam talks about the band’s connection: “I’d say the initial spark, and one of our defining features, is the brother connection between Lance and me. We have a bond and chemistry that can’t be replicated. We don’t pretend to be virtuosic players, but I think our synchronicity makes our sound far more interesting than if better players played the same riffs. The addition of Evan’s drums to our telepathy provides a pummeling dynamic energy.” 💣

PHOTO Anna Bouchard

PHOTO Travis Shinn

CLASSLESS ACT

Location: Los Angeles, CA Album: Welcome to the Show, out now via Better Noise

FIME

Location: Los Angeles, CA Album: Sweeter Memory, out now via Forged Artifacts

FIME is not necessarily a spin-off, but two of their members, Maxine Garcia and Beto Brakmo, were in the backing band for the excellent indie pop artist Jay Som. Twenty-twenty saw the newly formed FIME ready to roll with a new EP and the anticipation of being able to tour and spread their hazy gospel. The state of the world had other ideas, but the resulting time away means we have an incredible full-length in the form of Sweeter Memory, which certainly feels like a breakout release for the Bay Area band. Shades of indie rock, dream pop, post-hardcore, emo, and even Queens of the Stone Age can be unearthed in these wonderful 11 songs. The album’s title comes from the idea that we can’t rely on the hazy truth of our memories, as the memory is often sweeter than the experience. I feel a sense of being haunted Vocalist Derek Day shares the band’s close-knit ethos: and reminiscent, with a dash of hope. What did FIME want to “The uniting force or the creative spark behind this group, I talk about with this record? Garcia answers, concurring with would say, is the mutual respect we have for each other. my (wild) guess: Everyone in this band plays a mean guitar, everyone. The drummer, the bassist, the singer, we all play a little percus- “Yeah, I think you definitely nailed it. Honestly, I tend to sion, we all play a little piano, and everyone loves to sing. romanticize the past a lot, maybe like a lot of artists do. We all respect the hell out of each other for being able to So Sweeter Memory thematically gives you a little ache of have the sort of malleable lust for learning in our bodies and nostalgia, but it›s also bittersweet. The current state of indie our brains. I guess that was our common ground; we look at rock feels like digging through vinyl at a record store, and each other as different versions of each other. And so there’s maybe we couldn›t help but be a part of that. Ultimately, this that mutual respect, love, and kindness, and it really creates record is our homage to the ephemeral and trying to build a force that feels like it’s been there for many, many years, a monument to the impermanent. Dreams, loved ones, loss, failure. Looking back, but with more wisdom.” 💣 although we’ve known each other a short time.” 💣 Classless Act feel like a band outside of space and time, and one listen to Welcome to the Show will easily prove my theory. This is a new-ish band who sounds like greatest hits of ’70s and ‘80s rock eras, with a grace and vibe that’s a tad more modern. To call this glam rock without the sleaze wouldn’t be inaccurate, but Classless Act are so much more. Hints of ‘70s prog, blues, and good-old-fashioned arena metal are sprinkled throughout a record that feels most easily summed up as “powerful.” If you fell in love with music through your parents’ (or,*shudders* grandparents’) vinyl cabinets, stop reading and get this record – or see the band opening the Stadium Tour, with Motley Crüe, Def Leopard, Poison, and Joan Jett.

HIGH CASTLE TELEORKESTRA

Location: America, Norway, France, and Australia Album: The Egg That Never Opened, out now via Art As Catharsis

Listening to The Egg That Never Opened on the 40th anniversary of Philip K. Dick’s most famous adaptation, Blade Runner, was quite an interesting experience. High Castle Teleorkestra’s (HCT) jaw-dropping debut is somewhat of a tribute to PKD and a hypothetical score to a non-existent (except to the band’s minds) adaptation of Radio Free Albemuth. Featuring an incredible pedigree (Estradasphere, Mr. Bungle, and Secret Chiefs 3, among others), HCT is what happens when talent and execution meet, though bassist, keyboardist, celloist, and vocalist Tim Smolens acknowledges the sheer amount of ideas was a lot: “Some of our main influences are exotica, Italian Film Music, 60’s surf, off-color progressive music (such as Mr. Bungle’s Disco Volante), Balkan folk, western swing, 50s instrumental ensembles, space age lounge, doo-wop, Joe Meek, metal, The Beach Boys, found sounds from all corners of the globe and much more. Combining those influences feels natural to us, but to most of the public, it must seem insane. We wanted to make those disparate elements feel like they belong together in the same musical space, not an easy task with our music. All the songs go through months of production to achieve the highly layered sound of the finished product. For this album we used a (Radio Free Albemuth) to help frame our songs into a cohesive narrative. The number of times that book ended up having a huge influence on the direction of the recordings are too many to count.” 💣

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PHOTO Jayden Pitts

PHOTO Shervin Lainez

JULIA BHATT

Location: Miami, FL Album: it is what it is, out now via Self-Release

“I’ve just always been around music, so I guess it just became my way of expression. I can associate every part of my life with the music I was listening to at the time. I was lucky to meet the people who made my songs come to life.” In fewer words than I could ever use, Julia Bhatt explains why her music feels so lived in and, well, alive. This is a debut that equally ushers in a new talent while also hinting at even greater potential in the future. To call it is what it is “kitchen sink indie pop” would be a little silly (are the wonderful rhythms a blender or a coffee maker?), but there’s a clear fearlessness that makes for a wonderfully confident yet vulnerable listen. Each song offers a different surprise, resulting in an album that’s a little dreamy, a bit electronic, certainly poppy, but also unabashedly eclectic and unique. Bhatt even acknowledges this in naming the record: “I think each song speaks for itself. They each have a message or takeaway. I think the record itself is just an expression of all the shit in my head. I called it it is what it is, and I think that that vague title defines it well. People often ask me what genre or what type of music I make, and I never know what to say. Now, I can say, “I don’t know, it is what it is; listen to my album.” 💣

PHOTO Ryan Canavan

STILL FORM

Location: Portland, OR Album: From the Rot is a Gift, out August 19 via Hex Records “I wanted to create something heavier, but not too heavy, where that’s all it was. Blend in some noise, have a few hooks, some spaciness, a little tension as well, as an homage to one of my favorites: the late Mr. Glenn Branca,” says guitarist and vocalist Robert Comitz, reciting the album’s north star. This idea of everything all at once but none of it being too much is accomplished incredibly well by Comitz and company. This is a weird metal/noise rock record that feels both delightfully off-kilter while also being eerily melodic and hypnotic. The fact that it was all done without a single live show under their belt is incredible, as he notes: “Back in 2019, all of us just had our previous bands fall apart. For me, it was Marriage + Cancer. For (the others), it was Dark Numbers, Ireshrine, and Lightning Rules. Everything clicked pretty well once we all got in a room together. We were gearing up to play our first show, but then COVID hit, so we went back to the room and polished off these songs for about a year and then recorded it all in my old studio space right before I moved out in June of 2021. It was a weird experience to record a full-length album before playing a single show, that’s for sure! I think that, in the beginning, we were all trying to complement each other’s musical stylings, as all of our previous projects were quite different from each other, spending a good amount of effort dialing in our tone along the way.” 💣

NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER

Location: Ballarat, Australia Album: The Bones That Grew from Pain, out now via Metal Blade There’s an uncanny timeline convergence of when famed actor Nicolas Cage has had his greatest success and when metalcore has been the most interesting. Both started out in the late ’80s (crossover thrash is metalcore), made most of their waves in the late ’90s and early ’00s, and have had renewed success as well as a critical reappraisal in recent years. I have no idea if Nicolas Cage Fighter are aware of the parallels, but their Metal Blade debut is both a winking nod to the actor and a renewed appreciation for the history of metallic hardcore. Combining the brutality of deathcore, the speed of thrash, and the hooks and bitter attitude of hardcore, The Bones That Grew from Pain feels like a “best of” for the style. The band have an interesting method of musical creation, as they note: “We all listen to different styles of heavy music, and we are all inspired by so many sources to create. We actively try to take on everyone’s ideas and suggestions in the creative process, so once we have those ideas collaborated, it’s really just a big riff soup that we can draw from what we need to fit the song idea or individual section. We really just wanted to make a record we were happy with, and we’ve achieved that.”💣

PHOTO Lenore Romas

SARATTMA

Location: Philadelphia, PA Album: Escape Velocity, out July 12 via Nefarious Industries There’s something to be said about music that speaks to your soul. Sure, there are albums that pull at your heartstrings, those that you connect with via numerous neck oscillations, and even those that have a nostalgic pull. However, Escape Velocity is one of those albums that dug deeper than all those combined and has latched onto my being. Perhaps this is what all those Dave Matthews Band fans have been evangelizing to my deaf (read: ignoring) ears? Regardless, Sarattma’s unique blend of ‘70s prog, tech metal, jazz, punk, and psych is like those Star Trek II ear eels that have latched onto my brain, thankfully for good rather than my own destruction. Escape Velocity even sounds like the soundtrack to a lost in time sci-fi epic, all hypnotic breaks and perfectly timed freak-outs. Drummer Sara Neidorf explains how the band came to be: “Funny enough, the spark that started Sarattma was Yanni Papadopoulos, guitarist of Stinking Lizaveta, a long-time mutual friend, and fixture of Philly’s adventurous heavy music scene. He did some musical matchmaking and insisted that we form a band together. That was that! We jammed once at the music school where Yanni taught guitar, and songs just started pouring out of us, which quickly became the first EP. It’s hard to say if there’s a uniting ethos beyond a love for limitless improvisation, the alien, harmony, dissonance, and math-y configurations that still dare to groove.” 💣

NEW NOISE 5

PHOTO Colin Maloney

CAMICHES

GUILTY PARTY

Rarely does a band’s self-labeled sound intrigue me quite like Camiches’ “feeling core,” in large part because it perfectly hits the mark. The band harnesses the type of emotional post-hardcore that bands like Basement, Citizen, and Balance and Composure have mastered—expertly balancing big, grungy riffs with excellent hooks and lyrics that dig deep. The band share a deeper level about what the EP means to them:

We all deal with feelings of inadequacy, but I think I speak for every working millennial when I say imposter syndrome is a mother. Interestingly, this whole concept wouldn’t be something I’d pick up from listening to newly-form punk rock group Guilty Party. There’s a comfort in these initial four tracks that speaks to a band who know exactly what they want to do and have no issues putting that concept to record. It helps that Guilty Party have an impressive Bay Area pedigree, boasting members of toyGuitar, Bracket, and Long Knives, though, again, Imposter Syndrome doesn’t sound how I expected.

Location: Mexico City, Mexico Album: Self-titled EP, out now via Wiretap Records

Location: Bay Area, CA Album: Imposter Syndrome, out September 7th via Paper Street Cuts

“We wanted to address the feeling of freedom and perspective, and we found it with an action that would perhaps describe the EP: contemplation. Even the image of the EP is an untapped view of the trees, not because we do not know it, but because we are always left Speaking to the album’s themes, drummer Rosie Gonce states: with the idea or perspective of a tree. We know what a tree looks like, but how long have you not had the experience of looking at it with your own eyes and not through a photograph “I know that for Angelo (Celli, vocalist and guitarist) and me, our experience as parents is or video? We wanted this album to address an insight perspective of who we are as a band. something that we both wrote about. It wasn’t purposely done for the sake of relatability, Another curious fact: the EP was recorded in the room where we rehearsed, with the things but we do write honestly, and I think when people are honest about what they go through, we rehearsed with, and a simple and economical guitar that (Ramses’ and Sinuhe’s) mother people are bound to relate to it. We are also honest about the constant struggle with feeling gave us almost 20 years ago to start with this punk rock. We restored it, and it made a lot of comfortable in our own skin and being over-thinkers. Hence why we all related to the album sense to contemplate its sound, and, as we said before, ‘give it a new beginning.’” 💣 artist’s caption for his artwork ‘Imposter Syndrome’ and chose to name the album that. We each doubt ourselves, but when we come together, we get a better sense of belonging. We’re all hardworking people who make music because we love to. We write and play music that makes us happy and if people end up liking it, well, then we’re really happy!” 💣

PHOTO Caroline Harrison

SCARCITY

Location: Brooklyn, NY Album: Aveilut, out now via The Flenser

PHOTO Dew Process

WAAX

“This record is obviously a kind of grief ritual,” composer and guitarist Brandon Randall-My- Location: Brisbane, Australia ers explains. “I was having really intense feelings, and I needed to turn them into something Album: At Least I’m Fine, out August 5 via Self-Release so they wouldn’t totally overwhelm me. In naming the record Aveilut (Hebrew for “mourning), “We wanted variety and drama! I wanted to see this record through the lens of ‘if WAAX I was thinking about the connection between my experience of metal—which has always helped me deal with my feelings and feel like I’m not alone in doing so—and my own an- made a Queen record,’ if that makes sense—lots of visceral energy and super vulnerable moments,” says vocalist Maz DeVita. cestral grief practices. Music is absolutely a spiritual and communal practice for me; it’s the closest thing I have to a religion. So yeah, (labeling this a) secular requiem is pretty dead on.” DeVita and company shot for the moon with At Least I’m Fine. Thankfully—and miraculously—they pulled it off, as WAAX’s latest is not only an incredible record that maintains Scarcity is indeed the most spiritual record I’ve heard in decades, and one that listeners their patented melodic grunge punk hybrid, but one that feels like a band stretching can expect a uniquely personal relationship to. Marrying experimental black metal—a la their wings in bold new directions. These 11 songs are both wonderfully cohesive and Krallice and Mare Cognitum—and drone, doom, industrial, and Glenn Branca microtonal exceptionally distinct, a rollercoaster of emotions and sounds that works because of guitar wizardry, Scarcity have created the most overwhelming yet soothing extreme metal release of the year, as the note-by-microtonal-note chaos blends into this wavelength calm- DeVita’s incredible voice and songwriting ability, and some impressive collaboration: ing sensation. Aveilut is incredibly powerful stuff. Randall-Myers explains the band’s origins: “I went on a life-changing trip to LA back in 2019, and that’s where both sessions with K.Flay and Linda Perry (4 Non Blondes) took place. It was super nerve wracking since I’d never “I’ve known Doug since 2010ish and have been a fan of Pyrrhon almost as long as the band’s been overseas by myself or even done proper co-writes. I went straight into the deep end! existed. Doug and I started talking about doing a project together in 2016, but it took me a long time to find the right material and the right compositional approach. Then in summer Linda is the most incredible energy I’ve ever had the pleasure to witness. I learnt more with her in a few hours than all the years I’d been a musician put together. K.Flay and I connect2019 two people close to me died really randomly and suddenly within about a month of ed instantly; she’s such a beautiful and creative soul, and we hit it off right away, I feel so each other, and I sketched about 20 minutes of this music in response.” blessed to have had those sessions with her and, the track we made, “No Doz” was super fun. I think a collaboration is a push-and-pull of energy between both parties—If anyone tries Moore poignantly adds, “The circumstances under which each of us wrote and recorded our respective parts—isolated in lockdown and surrounded by mass death—affected our to push it too far their way, it kind of misses the point, in my opinion. I like to feel like no matter what, it feels like a true collaboration—even if I’m screaming internally with nerves.”💣 specific contributions profoundly.” 💣

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AUSSIE INFUSION

DEATH BELLS

PHOTO Senny Mau

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST WILL CANNING BY NAT LACUNA

album is an impressive feat that the duo hen Death Bells jumped from an handles with grace, crafting something Australian sextet to an Angeleno duo prior to their last album, that is bold and captivating the entire time and pulling influence from a few different their sound took a shift into brighter source materials. passages and greener pastures. Collecting themselves over the course of the brunt of the pandemic and beginning to familiarize “It was certainly more of an organic process than a conscious decision. I always look at themselves with the new terrain, the group got to explore all corners of that environ- lyrics last, that frees up the mental space to jump in on songwriting with Remy and ment on their new album, Between Here & make sure that the skeletons of everything Everywhere, out now via Dais Records. That we’re writing have decent potential… Last new and creatively stimulating environment year, my friend Luke lent me a book that he had finally given them a place to flourish. had really enjoyed, called Everything Now “Life in L.A. has been great. Obviously, by Rosecrans Baldwin. I can’t recommend COVID threw a huge spanner in the works, it enough. It does a really fantastic job of weaving together different vignettes that but it allowed us a very deliberate period reflect life in L.A. I drew a lot of inspiration where we could get acquainted with the city itself. We spent a lot of lockdown craft- from that, as well as a book of conspiracy theories called Weird Scenes Inside The Caning this new record. The main difference yon by David McGowan, and John Lurie’s coming from Australia is just how many autobiography.” more people there are doing the same as us. Lots of like-minded people makes for Accompanied by a few artists from an environment with less friction. Pursuing other notable acts such as STRFKR, Feels, music feels more natural here.” Object Of Affection, and Froth, Death Bells have made an expansive cityscape Through the tumult of the last couple of of character analyses. Between Here & years, they began work on the album. This record explores the nightlife and overlap- Everywhere makes good use of a more maximalist sound. It feels fitting considerping stories of the Los Angeles metropolis ing the size and scope of an ode to all the and displays a broader range of emotion inhabitants of the heaven and hell that is in the music as well. Tackling a narrative Los Angeles. 💣 structure in the lush 34-minutes of the

THE WILFUL BOYS INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/DRUMMER STEVEN FISHER BY JANELLE JONES

he Wilful Boys’ latest release, World Ward Word Sword (Big Neck Records), is their third full-length, following 2016’s Rough as Guts and 2019’s Life Lessons. Everything about this band is so intriguing and engaging— from the raucous, multi-faceted sound to the often-urgent vocal style, to the subject matter, which spans from “a bit silly” to more complex matters.

The Brooklyn-based band, who formed in 2014, have an amazingly cool, unpredictable sound that makes their material so gripping and exciting, which, according to vocalist/drummer Steven Fisher, can be attributed in part to the members’ influences and musical experiences. “My influences in Australian rock and PHOTO Nick Washkin

punk were kind of more slower and swampy and more post-punk leaning, like The Scientists or Cosmic Psychos. And I’m quite a big fan of Wire and The Fall,” Fisher, who emigrated to the US from Australia, explains. “And I think that contrasts with [guitarists] Johnny [Provenzano] and Nick’s [Isles] love of faster hardcore, NYHC punk, or just in general faster American hardcore and punk. I think we ended up meeting in this happy middle ground where our stuff is drum and bass-driven, which is what I love, but then Johnny and Nick add this sort of more US element to it. So, it’s a sort of hybrid between the two, in my mind at least. I don’t know if that’s how it comes off, but Johnny would frequently play a riff and I would just be like, ‘Maybe do a half-step instead of a full-step to make it sound more augmented and weird.’ Just taking classic rock ‘n’ roll structures and making it a little bit weirder.” Rounding out the fourpiece is bassist Eric Lau (of Child Abuse fame), who adds a vital dimension to the band’s sound. Contributing to the band’s energy and unique aesthetic is that Fisher plays drums and sings. “Playing the drums and singing, it becomes kind of a visceral

8 NEW NOISE

thing,” he explains. “The music we play is always pretty high-energy and it’s somewhat of a release to get it all out in that way. The earlier stuff, I yelled a lot more and now I’m kind of a little pulled back with the same intention.” He laughs, “I’m a generally placid person. I need some way to get it all out.” In addition to The Wilful Boys sounding eclectic musically, their lyrics fit that bill, too. “I think it definitely depends on the subject matter,” Fisher elaborates, “Sometimes when I reflect on our songs, we have some that are a bit silly and some that aren’t necessarily about important issues or they’re not super-emotional, sometimes they’re just a little funny or tongue-in-cheek. But then I think some of them have a little depth to them.” In all, he says, “We try not to take ourselves too seriously, but then if we have something to talk about, I’ll try not to be super-overt about it; I use a lot of metaphors and I use a lot of idioms and such. If I have something serious or emotional to talk about, I try to skirt around it a little bit and leave it up for interpretation and I sort of get what I need out of it as a songwriter.” 💣

PARTY DOZEN INTERVIEW WITH DRUMMER/SAMPLER JONATHAN BOULET AND SAXOPHONIST KIRSTY TICKLE BY CALEB R. NEWTON

ydney, Australia-based duo Party Dozen deliver a boundary-breaking, rock ’n’ roll-powered dance party on their new album The Real Work, although other descriptions for the remarkably multi-faceted record could apply. It’s a July release handled (outside Australia and New Zealand) by Temporary Residence Ltd. The music features steady and sometimes blasting percussion, alongside elements including ferocious saxophone and various loops. “I’m always picturing this stuff happening in old movies,” percussionist/ sampler Jonathan Boulet shares. “If I can see the movie happen with this track underneath it, then it’s going in the right direction already.” The Real Work is entrancing and intense. It’s like getting psyched up before some big event as it grabs your attention, and by the end, everybody is roaring and ready to go.

“We grew up watching bands, like Australian bands like The Drones—these bands that had these real thick energies live,” Boulet says. “And this whole project was kind of designed to be an energy amplifier. We

always want the shows to just feel tense. And we want people to feel at these shows. I feel like we have to put in a lot of energy and effort to get that across, and sometimes when it’s projected back from the audience, you start to incorporate the feedback, and it gets to the spot where it’s an amazing show, and you get that feeling that you can’t get anywhere else.” Boulet shares he appreciates the “challenge” of organizing shows in new environments. “I think especially in Australia, our shows are starting to become a lot more consistent with that level (of energy), “Those are the best moments, and man, they’re so good,” Boulet says about when which is really nice,” he says. “Just being something that “feels right” emerges from overseas recently, we had to kind of start the band’s jam sessions. “Once you run fresh again. There’s some shows where it’s just—you got those people who aren’t a track like that, it’ll leave you smiling the whole day. It’s like a nice kick of drugs or sure who you are, and they’re wondering: something. Every time.” ‘OK, are you gonna win us over?’ Those are the character-building shows, where it’s a Bickle and Boulet both feel originality is imchallenge. And it’s nice—It’s nice to have portant. “I just think there needs to be more those shows again because if you get too of a push towards originality and people used to having really good shows every seeking out something different,” Boulet says. time, it’s just—you lose the edge.” “It feels like people just want to repeat. They just want to feel safe. They want to do someThe energy Party Dozen bring to live shows thing that they recognize and I hate that. runs through their entire creative process.

There needs to be more people pushing into the darkness, challenging themselves, challenging the audience.” “I think this whole radio-palatable, samesong-over-and-over-again thing kind of undermines the intelligence of the average listener because I think people are open to hearing different things if there’s an opportunity for that thing to be heard by them,” Bickle adds. “I don’t think it’s just because there’s not an audience. I think that it just needs to be put in front of an audience, and the more people that do that, the more accessible that’s going to be.” 💣

SPEED INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST JEM SIOW BY KEVIN DIERS

n first viewing, the music video for “Not That Nice,” by Sydney, Australia’s Speed might seem like paint-by-numbers, tough-guy hardcore fare. We see a mob of heavily tattooed and muscle- bound men roaming the streets chanting, hardcore dancing, spin kicking and flipping off the camera while showing off their iced-out grills. But dig a layer beyond the surface and you’ll find the lyrics accompanying this crossover-thrash-influenced, in-yourface anthem tell a highly personal story of identity, community, and fighting racism. As 29-year-old vocalist Jem Siow describes, the song was inspired by seeing the increase in anti-Asian hate crimes during the peak of the pandemic, coupled with stereotypes of people in his community being seen as “nice” and meek.

PHOTO Jack Rudder

newest release on Flatspot Records, A Gang Called Speed.

The explosion in popularity for Speed Along with the re-ignition of the Austrahas brought along what Siow de- lian scene, the rise of Speed has done scribes as a renaissance for Australian the same for Siow’s passion for hardcore “For me, I wanted to get everything done hardcore. Instead of the typical local altogether. as quick as possible,” Siow explains. “I was hardcore show attracting 40-to-50 show done with waiting around for things to hap- goers, as it has within the last 5 years or “It’s a beautiful thing when you’re paspen. All of the goals and the vision that we so, Siow explains that coming out of their sionate about something so abstract and had, we just wanted to just check it off.” almost two-year lockdown, the energy is you share that same collective passion palpable, with the highlight being Speed with other people and you’re growing This six-song EP is sure to claw its way to headlining an all-Australian hardcore older with each other,” Siow says. “I used the top of year-end lists, as it is equal parts festival, the first of its kind, to a sold out to be ashamed about talking to hardcrushing, catchy and groovy. Somehow 800-person audience. core with other people. Now I’m getting The band’s name, Speed, is fitting con- Speed has managed to craft an album older and I’m just more proud of it.” 💣 that hits all the right tried and true break- “It was truly a life changing weekend,” Siow sidering they have just three years under down-centric hardcore notes while oozing their collective belt while a mountain recalls as he looks back at the history-making personality and what Siow calls “swag.” of underground hype surrounded their hardcore fest. “Can’t really put words to it.”

“I was thinking that could be one of my grandparents or one of my parents on the street,” Siow, who along with two of the other four members of Speed is a first generation Australian of Southeast Asian descent, explains. “I’m a nice guy, but I also have to allow myself to recognize there are some things I cannot accept. So… not that nice.”

NEW NOISE 9

WELL WORN INFLUENCES

NEAR BEER

PHOTO Brad Coolidge

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST AND VOCALIST JOEY SIARA BY JOHN B. MOORE

Records. The band draw from bands he Scottish power pop/jangle pop like The Replacements and Guided By band Teenage Fanclub put out one Voices, as well as some less obvious of the genre’s best albums in the inspirations. early 1990s with Bandwagonesque. They are also responsible—at least partially— for the founding of Near Beer, a brilliant “I think all my favorite bands are in those trio that blend punk rock, power pop, tunes,” he says. “I think that the main circles of influence for the band are in and the odd Brit pop influence for one of that classic, guitar-heavy indie rock à la the best debut LPs of the summer. Pavement, Built to Spill, The Wrens; then the punkier stuff that I’ve loved forever— “I think it was 2017, and I’d just gone to see Descendents, Hot Snakes, Jawbreaker; Teenage Fanclub at the Teragram,” says then the classic rock I grew up on by Joey Siara, vocalist and guitarist for Near Beer. “And that band brings me such joy. default—The Kinks, The Who, The Byrds. almost seems, dare I say, prophetic? But Despite being the kinda grumpy band- All of those are united by prominent gui- “Lyrically or thematically or whatever you tars and most of those bands are pretty I am happy to at least feel like our record dude who stands in the back, something want to call it, I constantly go back to The melodic I’d say. I guess the other, maybe about Teenage Fanclub just makes me Wrens album The Meadowlands. That al- is like a 2nd cousin twice removed.” less obvious, influences are in the more smile and sing along. So, yes, after seeing bum is perfect to me. When I first heard it, distinctly British realm. Pulp is easily one Though the band was founded in L.A., Teenage Fanclub, I think the next time I saw I was 21 years old. So, hearing this record Siara has since moved to the opposite Jeremy (Levy, bassist) at a backyard party, of my favorite bands, and they were on about dudes in their 30s dealing with coast, so Near Beer is already planning it was like, ‘We’re doing this. Teenage Fan- my mind when I wrote a couple of these.” all of these personal and professional some West Coast dates to start showing club made me realize how much happiness heartbreaks, working day jobs, sorting There is also a fair amount of 12-string off these songs and are in the process of I get from music. We have no choice. We’re out their family-lives—At that time, it felt booking some East Coast shows as well. starting a band.’ But then I think it was an- guitar on the album. This is not a surprise, like a glimpse into a heavier, very adult as Siara cops to being a sucker for re- future. And now, doing this Near Beer other few months before we finally got our cords with jangly guitars—from Tom Petty act together and practiced.” record with very similar themes, at pretty “After that, I can’t help but write more,” he and Echo & The Bunnymen to The Church. much the same age that The Wrens fellas says. “I moved to New York last year and now have a new batch of songs that were Five years later, the band are finally out were when they did The Meadowlands, I Lyrically, he looked to the New Jersey ’90s with their first full-length, a self-titled feel this renewed kinship to that album, written out here. Hoping to get into a studio band The Wrens for inspiration. in a few months and dump them out.”💣 affair released July 15 via Double Helix and in some ways The Wrens’ record

HER HEAD’S ON FIRE INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST JOE GRILLO BY BEN SAILER

ustaining your passion for music as you get older isn’t always easy. For Her Head’s On Fire vocalist Joe Grillo (also known as Sid Jagger), it has been particularly challenging. His bestknown band, the post-hardcore outfit Garrison, struggled to break through in the early 2000s. He coped with resentment by drinking and turning (by his own admission) into a ‘jaded cliché’. Later in life, he lost his voice for eight months after having tumors removed from his larynx. The surgery could have robbed him of the ability to sing forever. These days, he isn’t taking anything for granted. If you ask Grillo about his band—or music in general—he radiates with youthful energy and passion. He’s even picked up a side gig that allows him to further explore new sounds while pursuing a dream he’s had for years.

“I tell this story about the embodiment of my midlife crisis,” Grillo says. “Rather than buying a Ferrari, I got one shift a week at Limited to One Records in Manhattan, in the East Village, because I’ve never worked at a record store, and I always wanted to.” Looking at the rest of the lineup in Her Head’s On Fire—Jeff Dean (The Bomb, guitar), Rodrigo Palma (Saves The Day,

10 NEW NOISE

bass), and Jeff Gensterblum (Small Brown Bike and Able Baker Fox, drums)—it’s easy to see why Grillo is stoked on creating music again. This is a lineup loaded with deep experience in some of the most beloved emo and post-hardcore bands of the past three decades. “Supergroup” feels like a decidedly un-punk term, but it’s a descriptor that fits the band’s collective resume.

portunity to play, and to share what they It’s not just older fans that have been have created together. drawn to the band, either. Grillo says showgoers have ranged from fans old enough to have bought Dead Reckoning “There’s a joy onstage that’s palpable,” Grillo says. “I look at the other guys, and or A Mile In Cold Water when they were I think we all feel fortunate to be able first released, to excitable high school to still do this, and we all feel so in love kids looking to get copies of their records with the sound. I think those feelings are signed. But no matter who’s coming to the shows, the band are thankful for the op- contagious.”💣

Yet, when listening to the lead singles from the band’s debut full-length College Rock and Clove Cigarettes (available now via Iodine Recordings), it’s clear this isn’t an attempt to recapture former glory. Their post-hardcore sound blends influences ranging from REM to modern indie rock, building on the foundation established by their respective previous acts, without feeling like a comeback or a revival. “The legacy stuff is interesting,” Grillo says. “I like putting the previous band names on the cover to get your foot in the door or to make people go, ‘Oh, maybe that’s worth my time,’ because there’s just so much music out there. But I don’t really care, you know what I mean? I would rather not be a legacy act because I’m just not a big living in the past sort of person. I’m always happiest with what I’m making now.”

PHOTO Nathaniel Shannon

HISSING

INTERVIEW WITH DRUMMER SAM PICKEL, GUITARIST JOE O’MALLEY, AND BASSIST/VOCALIST ZACH WISE BY CALEB R. NEWTON

into startling, perceptibly unnatural shapes f you’ve wondered how it might feel to that suggest an onset of destruction. get suddenly torn apart from the inside out as though the universe itself suddenly devolved into a violent fit, venture “Things tend to transform in the process. Everything is sort of grist for the mill for into Hypervirulence Architecture, the new whatever the hell it is we’re doing,” Wise album from the Seattle-based extreme explains. “But obviously in general, we want metal trio, Hissing, a July release from the music to be challenging and to demand Profound Lore Records. something of the listener. We can’t make PHOTO Marena Shear “I think it exists outside of us at this point,” concessions. We just don’t work that way.” bassist and vocalist Zach Wise says of the The lyrics also deliver an exhilarating connew album. “It’s a weird, hostile creature frontation with something grim. we brought into the world for better or ficult to solidly capture, that description for worse.” is exactly the sound of Hypervirulence “The lyrical theme of the record is difficult to put into simple terms, but the general idea Architecture. “My intention was to inject a lurching and is assorted dispatches from a nightmarish awkward feel into the tracks,” drummer near-future where inhuman techno-cap- “Any record that can come out sounding Sam Pickel adds of his contributions. “If ital has induced a mass schizophrenic truly menacing is an accomplishment,” one wants to consider thematic elements state in which the animate bodies of living Pickel says. “I’ve listened to records where of the drumming you could say I was trying humans and the inanimate machinery of it felt like I was being warned. Whenever to give the drums a ‘voice’ that exemplified industrial and information technology black or death metal can make you feel a the confusion and absurdity of our times. I purity of emotion or visceral physiological become confused,” Wise shares. found myself trying to either over-simplify reaction, there’s some degree of success the drumming or make it as overplayed “There is no possible reversal of this state occurring. An album that knows what it is and strenuous as possible.” of the world. It’s not a coherent narrative and where technicality meets its correlate Hypervirulence Architecture seems in- either, more a series of rhizomatic varia- in terms of production style and vision is tions on a theme, like “Inland Empire” or more likely to hit the spot.” escapably upending to whatever it may the fiction of Robert Coover. Some of it, I’m contact. Where something else might use stylistic familiarity in bringing in listeners, not even really sure the full meaning of, like “The music has to invigorate, humor, and make you happy to be alive for a moment,” the music itself it now exists outside of me.” this employs surges of vicious mania. While And although such a thing might be dif- guitarist Joe O’Malley adds of what makes united by relentless force, the record bends

a top-notch black or death metal album in his view. “It has to have a certain attitude and spirit of execution. Pure monstrosities, if they don’t succeed in this, just become fatiguing. Same goes for overachieving technicality. You can also have too much of a bad attitude, such as all the toxicman-vocals-too-loud shit out there.” As for specifics, it’s not all shadows and gloom. “The Divine Punishment (by Antediluvian) is the only album I’ve heard recently that also made me laugh,” Pickel shares. “Death and black metal are pretty self-serious musical styles, and albums that give you the impression that the members are both serious about the music and aware of the absurdity of what they are doing are always refreshing.” 💣

HIEROPHANT INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST FABIO CARRETTI BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

PHOTO Ester Zerbini

tions.” If you listen to that, you can figure hat symbolizes tradition and out that things were moving toward a difconvention, you have to be ferent direction. This is mostly because very careful not to succumb to the singer and main leader is Lorenzo artistic stalemates. No one would ever accuse Italy’s Hierophant of such a thing, Gulminelli. He’s always been wanting to do that mostly. But when you got people but on their latest album — and first in in your band that maybe have different six years —Death Siege, out August 26 via places of music or different views, what Season of Mist, the band tackle head-on any notion or fears of stagnation. Eu- do you do? You got to compromise. rope’s most ferocious metallic hardcore band is still mostly intact, but there’s a “The Thing is, after Mass Grave, two previous members left. And after that, I joined stunning sense of blackened chaos that the band, and I am totally agreed with is, well, terrifying. him on everything related to music because I’m a black metal and death metal Death Siege is clearly the evilest left turn guy. I’ve always been listening to Morbid Hierophant could have taken, and it’s Angel, Dissection, blah blah, all the good awesome. If you ever wondered what stuff. And so, I guess that Lorenzo took The Secret would sound like if they went that chance to be like, ‘OK, now I get anfull Watain, good (evil?) God, do I have a record for you. Guitarist Fabio Carretti ex- other one that is thinking like me, so let’s do some black metal and death metal.’” plains why the long wait between records:

“I’ve been in the band since 2017, so it’s “I guess that we started planting that seed in late 2018. But it wasn’t like, okay, let’s been five years. I joined the band right do any record. It feels started with trying after Mass Grave was released. We get some touring. Then we did release a sev- to figure out the feel and what’s behind it. en-inch single called “Spawned Abor- We did start with an idea of chaos. I have

to say that we took a lot because COVID comes in, and we don’t live in the same city. Here we couldn’t even go outside our municipality. We couldn’t see each other for like a year and we just had Zoom, WhatsApp and telephone calls. It was strange because we always been like a super analog band. Not digital band. We play with Marshall from the eighties. We are very old school about the sound,

about how we play. We’ve always been writing stuff and reacting to each other, taking a look in each other eyes. This wasn’t possible because we couldn’t play in person, so we had to figure out a new way of writing stuff. But it was difficult because, since the starting point was feels, chaos feelings, making things that create emotions, how can you create emotion without being in the same room?” 💣

NEW NOISE 11

WAKE INTERVIEW WITH BASSIST RYAN KENNEDY BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

listen to come through in what we make.’” It’s much more than leaving a constricting handle behind. Thought Form Descent is about a band truly letting go of notions of the past and venturing deep down into the cavern of possibilities.

hings feel a little different this time around for new Metal Blade signees WAKE. The Calgary-based act’s label debut, and sixth full-length overall, Thought Form Descent, out now, is a masterclass in everything all at once. Thought Form Descent feels like a band firing on all cylinders, one who is aware of exactly what they want to be and how their past can and should inform that. It’s also a gleefully psychedelic experience, where grind, death, black, post, prog, jazz, and shoegaze all come together to create the most incredible extreme metal record of 2022.

“At the heart of everything we’ve done since I came back to the band, about five or six years ago, is that we don’t want to be motivated by one thing, but we do want to have goals. That was a bit of a struggling point for us going into this new one because it was clear that everybody wanted to have more parts like Devouring Ruin that were nicer and melodic and reflective of different sort of movements. But we also were completely unwilling to think that this is the record that we’re going to make a hit single off. None of us wanted to do that at all.”

“Without us (pushing the envelope) every time, we never would’ve been able to have something like that work, says bassist Ryan Kennedy. “(Our social media) handle is @ wakegrind, but that’s because when we started playing in 2012, we were definitely playing grind. But after a while, we all just realized that we don’t spend all day listening to Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and no one in the band really does or ever did, and finally it was OK to say, ‘Well, not only can we do that when we’re listening to music, we can let the music we want to

Here’s where the “Eureka!” moment kicks in for Kennedy:

ative elements that do represent a more welcome, open type of music. I mean, we all contribute, but I think Josh is really the biggest part of that because a lot of the times when you see a fast drummer play extreme music, they’re just attempting to go as fast as they can in the 16th notes. Josh is so good at introducing all these cool rhythmic elements at a high speed because he played jazz for so long.” He continues. “All my accents from my lines come from Josh’s ghost notes and his alternate notes. He’s just so good at coming up with that. We just feed off of each

“And I what I think the truth is that we kind of got lucky because of our drummer (Josh Buekert) … who can play blast beats for five straight minutes. But he’s also a really, really good musician on his own. I think he’s like the middle linchpin sitting among all of us that just enables us to keep playing really, really heavy, fast, things that are unpalatable to a commercial ear but to still have a lot of really good rhythmic, cre-

PUBLIC OPINION INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST KEVIN HART BY CALEB R. NEWTON

odern Convenience, the new EP from the Denver and Seattle-tied punk rockers Public Opinion, out on Convulse Records, is catchy-as-hell and warmly inviting in the way a riveting, live show experience sweeps in bystanders. It’s like you just can’t help but sing or fist-pump along, and there’s an implicit element of working out festering, old energy. Public Opinion accomplish that striking bit of real-world magic with soaring guitars, invigorating drums, and lively, additional components filling out Modern Convenience.

Hart shares. “And I was like, ‘Oh, this is kind of the love song, and you know, how it turns out is how it turns out.” But everybody was really, really big proponents of making sure it made the record. And so I was really glad that the choices to be more vulnerable were celebrated by those I trusted at the time. Especially Ian Shelton, who produced (Modern Convenience), and then Phil Odom, who produced and recorded it, were both like: ‘Oh, this is the song—it’s OK to be vulnerable on this song. This is the one. This is definitely making the record, dude.’ Like alright, I trust you guys. Let’s do it.’”

“It was a conscious effort to try and do a Modern Convenience is undeniably inlittle bit more catchy, a little bit more kind of like that 2000s garage rock revival,” tense, but Public Opinion find a burst of brightness. The melody-centered rock vocalist Kevin Hart says. “A lot of major that’s always around somewhere defichords, a lot of bounce, and not nearly nitely feels reflected here, and in that, as swift as the previous material, trying the EP is person-centered: you’ve got to slow it down and make it more of a space to rock out. It’s like firing up the bop-along. As far as lyrically, that first lights on full blast and keeping the party single, the angry single, the ‘Modern Congoing, even if that’s just you and four venience’ single, was written before the friends in a backyard. rest of the songs lyrically. And so that was me being more angry, and then once the other songs were written, and I just laid “Being a good live band, I think, is probably my number one focus,” Hart explains. my own lyrics over the top of it, there was an opportunity to try and not do that the “As far as the people that I ask to help fill in, it’s not just kind of anybody. Most recently, whole time. It was an active choice to try we have my friend Devan Bentley, who’s and soften up a little bit.” in a bunch of bands over the last 10 years, fill in on playing drums. And we made sure Slowing things down helped provide for we got to practice; We got it exactly where one of the EP’s singles. “I never thought it needed to be. That stuff’s one of the “Sweets All The Time” was even going to make the record when we recorded it,” big hardcore influences, I think, on the

12 NEW NOISE

other. I think that’s a big part of how we are lucky enough, not to just kind of either sound like an extreme death metal band or sound like Turnstile. That’s where we managed to find a way to get in between because we’re lucky to have Josh thinking like that and me thinking like that. So that’s a pretty long answer to a simple question, but I think if you want to talk about our mindset, that’s probably where it starts is that we’re able to find places where we’re not just playing extreme blast beats, and we’re not writing hooks. We’ve got some stuff going on in the middle that’s a little different than either of those.” 💣

band stylistically, not necessarily sonically. But like, let’s go with a big one, an obvious one right now is Turnstile. The Turnstile record is obviously good. But then you see it live, and you’re like: ‘Oh, holy shit, this is the band right now; You know what I’m saying?’” And the process leads to personal benefits for Hart. “If we can be totally

personal, the specific ‘you’ in mind when I wrote the ‘Modern Convenience’ single is not something that bothers me,” as the singer recaps things. “And I think that writing it, and putting it out, and having people like it, and then getting out from underneath that was huge. It’s a lot to write pissed off lyrics, but to have it actually make you feel better, and feel like you’re out from underneath the weight of something or someone is huge, and it was great for me. I think that there’s themes throughout the rest of the record that are still things that aggravate me, but (getting) out from underneath the thumb of that one is huge—huge, huge.” 💣

PHOTO Hise Gatton

THE ART OF OVERCOMING

SRSQ INTERVIEW BY NAT LACUNA

coming together, like I would no longer have to punch at smoke.” Ever Crashing sounds like these struggles were taken entirely in stride. Kennedy has a way of writing, producing, and singing that is breathtaking, graceful, uplifting, and buoyant against any and all bullshit. Part of what makes the album so beautiful are the dense layers on each track, all of which hover around the six-minute mark. Though Kennedy claims she was trying to be as minimal as possible, it is clear that the songs got the type of treatment that makes every single one shine, a few of them hovering around 100 individual tracks contained within.

ennedy Ashlyn has been making music for over a decade, originally one half of dream pop outfit Them Are Us Too. She has grown into her own identity as SRSQ (pronounced “seer-skew”) and made some of the most enrapturing pop music of the 21st century. SRSQ’s early days was music made through the process of grieving her bandmate, Cash Askew, but with her new album, Ever Crashing, out August 19 via Dais Records, she is tackling something “Despite being so layered, the process feels less like laying down sandstone and more even bigger: self-discovery through mental like carving marble, honing in on someillness diagnosis. thing that already exists … The song needs what it needs, it feels out of my control.” “For many years, I felt like I was fighting an invisible monster. I knew something was ‘wrong with me’—I felt horrible all the time. The 10 songs that make up the entirety of I couldn’t manage my life or my emotions, Ever Crashing were pored over for “about two years of consistent work” and then relayed to and I was behaving in ways that didn’t line up with my deep understanding of myself, producer Chris Coady (Beach House, Slowand that cognitive dissonance further per- dive, Zola Jesus) for finishing touches. petuated this cycle of chaos and confusion and self-harm… I felt a huge sense of relief “I feel like he had an immediate understanding of what the album was supposed to be when the pieces of the puzzle finally started

THE KUT INTERVIEW BY JOHN B. MOORE

he Kut’s debut album, Valley Of Thorns, seemed to come out of nowhere to dominate the U.K. music press. It climbed to number seven on the U.K. Rock Albums Chart and number 18 on the Independent Albums Chart in May of 2018. GRIT, her sophomore effort, out now on Criminal Records, is more of the same brilliant mix of punk raucousness paired with smart, relatable lyrics. She admits to feeling pressure following up on such a popular debut.

“Valley of Thorns was a massive milestone because I’d been working on the idea of a debut album for what seemed like forever before it happened. In that time, almost 10 years had passed, so it had changed from the debut I intended, to an entirely different collection of songs, tinged with the frustration I’d felt from my experiences in the music industry. The idea of following all that up with another album was a pressure waiting to be realized (laughs). There was more of a financial pressure on the follow-up, though, because the money from the record had been lost, or should I say stolen, during the closure of PledgeMusic, who went under with 70% the money.” With the support of her fans, known cleverly enough as Team Razor, she set up a Patreon account, and was able to get back on track. She refers to the reception of her first album as “in many ways life affirming” and something that inspired her to work on the second album and its title.

PHOTO Nedda Afsari

and took it even further than I could have imagined. Like, I feel like he could see it from above, and I was in the weeds with it, and together, we brought the songs to life.”

tailored together by Kennedy’s masterful hand, and then sequined with her incomparable vocal work. With work this strong, the future of SRSQ is certain to be bountiful and there is a beaming star at the center of it.

From the work the two of them put into the record, it truly flourishes and drives home every message it is trying to convey. SRSQ “I want to make work that I’m proud of, to has pushed herself in new ways to deliver push myself, to tour a lot, and to get better at everything I do… I just want to have a something vulnerable, demanding, and brutally alive. Glittering synths, violin swells, visceral experience and share that with others.” 💣 crushing drums, gazey guitar riffs are all

“I’ve given up a lot to be a musician and follow my dreams as it were, and that includes time, energy, money and relationships. GRIT is the psychology of getting back up when you fall, and it’s something I’ve had to channel really hard throughout my time releasing music as The Kut.”

In addition to help from fans online while writing the album, she applied for and received Arts Council England funding to create the new record. The Kut states that constantly working on and evolving your music is never a guarantee of a better record, but the reactions to the first single “ANIMO” (including three songwriting awards), proves she was doing something right. The song is a reaction to the horrific murder of Sarah Everard, who was kidnapped and killed by a London police officer. “I wrote “ANIMO” to contrast it, as a psych-up song— because as women we carry these feelings all the time, but we just get on with it—We get out there, live our lives, and for the most part, women are smashing it in every walk of life.” Sexism was still alive and well when she started out playing music. Some people asking if she was the girlfriend of one of the band members while others spent their time looking for the ‘real guitarist’ behind the curtain that was supposedly playing her solos (an incident she swears happened). “So, now in 2022 we’ve come a real long way—not far enough, but still a long way. With “ANIMO” I wanted to shout that, as women, we are brave, courageous, and that it is ok to channel our inner animal spirit and let everyone know it.” 💣

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TEMPLE OF VOID INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST MIKE ERDODY BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

emple of Void are a doom force to be reckoned with, constantly churning out hard-hitting, heavy record after heavy record without missing a beat. Now they’re back at it again with Summoning the Slayer, out now via Relapse Records.

PHOTO Brian Sheehan

and had the entire thing completely tracked in about five days.” PHOTO Muted Fawn

The new record deals with themes relating to the human condition, including lore that threads throughout their records.

“I tried to springboard off “Leave the Light Behind” from the last album as a way to “The writing process began shortly bridge that lore between the albums, after the recording of The World That Was, vocalist Mike Erdody explains. though they both kind of stand independently as their own thing, Erdody says. “There was hardly any down time. That album also dropped a week into the “Burke’s cover for The World that Was shows Charon ferrying the boat into the mouth pandemic, so it seemed fairly evident of this massive cave bearing the band sigil. that we wouldn’t be doing the release It seemed almost mandatory to address show we had planned for it nor playing the journey into the cave with Summonany sort of live shows in general for the ing the Slayer, so we commissioned Ola foreseeable future. Larsson to create this expansive, almost psychedelic scene of horror leading up to “So many things were just out of our this monstrosity at the heart of it all. hands, so we defaulted to writing for the next one because it was something we did actually have some control over. “It was the monster that gave me the inspiration to turn it into a metaphoric I think that’s why there’s some stylistic representation of the culminations of similarities in the writing between the the worst parts of ourselves and our two albums and why the new album choices in life that we are confronted art loosely connects to the story set with before ultimately passing into the by the previous one. I believe we had land of the dead, and each song kind it all written in less than eight months

of highlights a different step in that journey as the listener gets deeper into the cave. One of the good things about playing death doom is that the common gloomy misanthropic atmosphere allows for a degree of emotional vulnerability that is much harder to pull off playing strictly death metal. It really allowed me the opportunity to use horror in a very humanistic sense because none of us

are perfect, and we’re all guilty at times of letting insecurities, shame, and our own egos influence poor behaviors and decisions that hurt others and ourselves.” As if this new record wasn’t enough, the band also have a split release in the works and another planned for 2023, but they will be taking some time to regroup before writing their next record. 💣

EXECUTIONER’S MASK INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/PROJECT MASTERMIND JAY GAMBIT BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

ost-punk, dark goth powerhouse Executioner’s Mask are back following their powerful debut fulllength, Despair Anthems and their latest album, Winterlong, released this June on Profound Lore, was well worth the wait. Winterlong features, in the band’s own words, a “less raw,” more polished sound, highlighted by double-tracked vocals and other studio tricks. But in no way has it lost its signature grit and backbone.

“The themes of the record are really a symbolic death and rebirth,” says vocalist and project mastermind Jay Gambit. “That in a destructive world, we can spiral downwards through into a new self, creating flashes of beauty within the insanity. To me, it was kind of an emulation of what it was like to kind of just exist within the past few years with everything going on, and environmentally as well. And I recently had a spinal surgery, which put a lot of my world into a new perspective. Winterlong to me is very much an album that is reflective. There’s a lot of inner turmoil played out the only way you can, which is externally.” The themes of rebirth are not only personal, but extend to the scene in general, and Gambit couldn’t be happier to witness the scene flourishing after a period of pandemic stasis.

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“I think that the global post punk scene is so fruitful right now,” he says. “We’re in such a wonderful position that it reminds me of 2013 and watching bands like Full of Hell explode and change art in underground music as we know it. I’m seeing the same thing within the post punk world. And it’s just a real honor to be able to be somebody that is listened to and spoken about within a community that’s so diverse and so powerful right now. I couldn’t want anything more as a musician and as a fan of post punk and dark music.”

ness and community. The brutality of the past year or two was unwavering, and everyone is trying to rebuild and/ or redefine their lives. If you can make someone’s life better, do it. Try to help some creature every day to have a better future than their past and present would dictate. It could be something big like

fostering an animal or small as a positive comment on an independent creator’s YouTube video for the algorithm. We are all helpless in a grand sense, but it’s better to be bludgeoned by that helplessness knowing that you’re at least actively and tangibly trying to make the world better.” 💣

Moving from polished symbolism into new, exciting directions, Gambit is already thinking ahead and towards the next phase of creative output. “The next record is going to be a lot less compositionally rigid than this one,” Gambit says. “Not that there’s anything wrong with being straightforward, but I think we are going to move in a more amorphous direction with how everything gets structured.” With the promise of even more music in store in the future, Gambit leaves us with words of wisdom for humanity during this still-trying time. “Now more than ever is a time for kind-

PHOTO Paper Tiger

PINK MASS

he culmination of all queer camp and metal brutality is extremity, and queer goregrind powerhouse Pink Mass are nothing if not extreme. The Jersey band push all the boundaries: extremity in sound, stage names, leather, art, and linguistic imagery. Think Judas Priest on acid mashed up with the most brutal thing you listen to. “The new record, Nympho Commando, is a love letter to extremity in all its forms (music, art, cinema etc.),” the band say. “Musically we embrace a more metallic sound and the songs are a bit longer. Lyrically, all the songs are about sexual fetishes involving fluids and waste. Some are heavy with religious imagery mocking and sexualizing Christian symbolism, influenced from movies such as The Baby of Mâcon. “Others are written in almost a fan fiction style taking influence from

16 NEW NOISE

INTERVIEW BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

some of Aleister Crowley’s poetry,” the band continue. “I like to write these lyrics in a way that is pleasing to the folks who are sexually aroused by these fantasies. If it’s repulsive to those who are not into these types of fantasies, that is also an achievement for us. We always want to ‘push the envelope,’ so to speak, in this band. We want to become more extreme as we age instead of becoming a watered-down version of ourselves.” The band went on hiatus in 2018 after recording songs for a split with Sadomagickal Seducer from Quebec and an EP featuring songs from that same session. After taking a break and shuffling the lineup to include a new drummer and bass player, and having some members move, they began to jam again and wrote and tracked four new songs. Then they added industrial tracks for their intro and outro and wrapped up the record.

“We are a very confrontational and fully accept those in the band band; we pull no punches,” they who are queer. continue. “We have existed for almost 10 years now spitting in the “Don’t let the bastards grind ya face of the Christian Right as well down, they add. “No one owns as other bullshit American values. punk or metal. Anyone who says We feel instead of coming off as we are not welcomed can taste another ‘preachy’ band, we choose our fucking steel.” to be more unforgiving and without compromise. I hope that our music Now, Pink Mass are back in the inspires others to embrace who they studio, getting ready to write and are and deface the bullshit traditions record a new album. In addition to Pink Mass, members of the and roles we were forced into. band are also involved with other “Music, art and subcultures in gen- products, including the grind band eral will always reflect the system Schmuck, a new grind-death band and society around us. If we want yet to be announced, a blackened our music and art to change, we doom band called MRSA, and an need to decimate the system that industrial band called DSM-III. In enables bigotry. This is the true root addition to musical projects, the band help put together a fest of the problem.” called Necrofest, which includes The band maintain that accep- death metal, wrestling, and a gentance in the scene is not an issue for eral good time. 💣💣💣 them, as they turn their backs on those who choose to pass judgment,

YE A R S O

INTERVIEW WITH TONY WEINBENDER BY NAT LACUNA

he name Tony Weinbender is one that should be revered with that of legends. Beside him being a wonderful conversationalist, family man— he is also the figurehead and driving force behind the southeast’s largest punk attraction: FEST. It is an event that takes over almost a dozen venues in downtown Gainesville, FL every year with a staff of nearly 600 people between volunteers and crew and boasts a lineup of hundreds of artists. FEST is on their 21st year and 20th installation in 2022, we talk to Weinbender about what makes the event so special after two decades of work:

“I really try to treat FEST as a yearto-year project. We for sure learn more and more each year on how to run it a little smoother and fill the cracks in the old foundation, but I think as long as attendees and bands leave happy and healthy; then collectively, we kicked ass. “I never really have this ambition to make FEST ‘bigger’ but, just to maintain the course and hope we are able to look back after all the hard work and think that we pulled something off that made a positive impact on the folks involved and Gainesville as a whole… “I think what sets FEST apart is that we really try to make it all about the attendees. We treat everyone on the same level and just try to showcase the best parts of the DIY scene and Gainesville.” Over that span of time and with that amount of people, artists, and cre-

18 NEW NOISE

ative energy, some really wild things happened. You see bands like Against Me! playing with more audience members on stage than on the floor. Or Paint It Black attempting (and failing) to do a pop-up show in a U-Haul.

the infamous Hot Dog Cart to the venues all within walking distance of one another, the Gainesville DIY scene is something that inspired Tony in the beginning and still inspires him to this day.

Or, most memorably for Weinbender, Hawks & Doves transforming into a surprise Planes Mistaken For Stars reunion. There are also countless attempts at ordering pizza to venues by patrons and artists “I think Gainesville is the ideal spot alike, some which ended up more for FEST for many reasons. There was such a great Southern scene successful than others. here that was built on the principle The one thing that has facilitated of taking care of out-of-towners first that unrivaled experience is the and foremost… In the end, I think it supportive attitude of everyone just comes down to the fact that involved in the festival and the Gainevsille is just a small town with countless hours that go into build- a small, loving, scene, so everyone ing everything and curating such a involved really appreciates it when bands come through and especialmonstrous lineup. ly when FEST happens. “I have a really, really long Google spreadsheet, so I start making a I think what sets FEST apart is that list of bands we wanna invite back, we really try to make it all about the bands who might not have been attendees… In the end, we are not able to play the previous year who a big “production” company, but we wanna make room for, some just a big family of punks that truly crazy reunion ideas that may or love the bands and the scene that may not pan out, and the thousands spawned from it.” of emails requests to filter through… FEST is a mecca for up-and-com“Back in the early days, bands would ers and established veterans alike. actually mail in demos, press kits, etc. Whether it’s your first time or 20th, We would have piles in the No Idea you will be welcomed with open arms house that we would spend evenings to the beautiful city of Gainesville. with cheap beer and cheaper whiskey cracking open packages and The future of FEST is bright, and full of promise. It takes place for its 20th having listening parties.” installation from October 28 to 30, Aside from FEST being about art 2022 in Gainesville, Florida. You can and experience, it would be nothing check out more information and without its community. From Sean at get tickets at thefestfl.com. 💣💣💣

If you are in a band and want to get onto the festival, fear not, as they are always on the lookout. To make it even more possible for you, Weinbender decided to share a few tips for how: 1. First and foremost, I have to like the music. 2. We also usually ask other bands about them that we know from their area. Kinda see if they are good folks or total tools. 3. Does it even “fit” into the FEST vibe. You would be shocked at some of the submissions we get sent and it’s like “Where the fuck am I supposed to put a 20-person Irish step show?” It’s also nice to try to see how active of a band they are, check out their socials and see if they actually are playing shows, helping out their scene, or sitting on a 10-year-old record. 4. One of the best things is when FEST alumni bands send us suggestions of new bands they know about. Usually that checks all the boxes and ends up being long lasting FEST alumni... And lastly, “Playing FEST would be awesome but it’s not the be-all- end-all for you being a band. Work on helping your scene and helping touring bands by putting on or playing shows in your town.”

BOOK SPOTLIGHT:

MAKING SPACES SAFER INTERVIEW WITH SHAWNA POTTER BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

Shawna as David Lee Roth in a short-lived Van Halen cover band, Panama.

PHOTO Drew Kaufman

ince the dawn of the #MeToo about how to put the work in the someone being harassed in their Since doing this, she has received movement, and even before that, book into practice. space, how they should respond positive feedback. Many times, folks during the golden era of feminist and be helpful. She developed a tell her they already use a lot of the punk, one topic of discussion has “I got my start in activism in, like, 2010, training program, and after doing techniques in the book, but despite ruled the day: many of our coveted when I started doing anti-street that for about six or seven years, knowing they were doing a good job spaces to gather and listen to and harassment activism and working decided to put all her knowledge already, they learned even more play punk and metal music are not with Hollaback, which is now known into a book. from the book than they expected to. in fact safe spaces for women, queer as Right To Be,” she explains. “I did folks, people of color, and other that for years, and then, just as “There’s only so much I can tell peo- “I love that it’s validating people and marginalized groups. But there soon as society started to realize, ple in an hour and a half, and there the good protocols and decisions hasn’t been a clear guidebook to like, ‘Street harassment is bad,’ are a lot of different ways to make that they’re already making, but explain how to shore things up and then people were immediately like, your space more inclusive from the then I’m still giving them some new make these spaces safer: until now. ‘What do you want us to do about get-go,” she says. “There’s a lot of ideas, or sharing stories that gave it?’ I thought that was great, but I different ways to respond in the them ideas,” Potter says. Shawna Potter, best known for her also thought it was rushing it a bit, moment, and I just wanted people work as frontwoman of the band and I think there’s actually more to be as prepared as possible. So I For more on the book and her proWar on Women, released Making room to understand it first.” took my training; I put it in a book, gram, check out Potter’s Patreon Spaces Safer: A Guide to Giving Haand then I also found the research to ask questions about safe spaces, rassment the Boot Wherever You Work, With these thoughts in mind, Potter and statistics for the nerds, and and listen to her podcast But Her Play, and Gather, out via AK Press. began to ask herself the tough I found the people to share their Lyrics, featuring expert interviews The book came out in 2019, but giv- questions about how to make spac- stories for those who need the per- and talks with other feminists and en the global pandemic that shortly es safer and created the Safter sonal connection. Some of us need musicians. And best of all, stay tuned followed, Potter is just now getting Space program in order to teach to hear those personal stories, and for more music from War on Women, out there, doing readings and talks people how to be prepared for some people need the hard facts.” out soon. 💣💣💣

NEW NOISE

DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT:

reflective of the entire time from when Beyond broke up to when we started playing again, and all those in between years,” says Egan. “In a compartmentalization way, where can I put this?” Not many people’s first bands are still relevant 30 years later, and it was the acceptance of this— that even with a wealth of other music to his name, he will always be Kevin Beyond— that led Egan to begin filming. It all started on a train ride he took from New York to California to join his bandmates for a set at Rev Fest in 2017.

he was speaking to his other bandmates, friends, and fellow members of the New York hardcore scene, piecing together a full-length film about the band. “I worked on the movie from April of 2020 to December of 2020, like, 12 hours a day, every day. It was the benefit of lockdown,” Egan says. “I just literally buried my head in my computer for eight months.” Along with the interviews, the film is loaded with old photos, videos, and walks down memory lane. In the best way possible, What Awaits Us is as raw and unpolished as a film about a couple of kids who just wanted to play CBGBs should be.

“I took a train ride out there, and my friend Jason— who we always considered him the fifth member of Beyond, and is still one of my best “I think the charm of the movie is that friends— he leant me his camera,” it’s DIY theater. I’m not a pro. I’ve Egan says. “He said, ‘You should seen slicker movies— music docdocument this train ride and then umentaries that were a lot slicker just film everything when you get to than that— but I don’t know if they California— film everyone hanging have the same heart that I feel like I out, film the rehearsals, have some- put into it,” Egan says. “The fact that one film the show, maybe talk to it was about a band that grew within the DIY scene— it was perfect.” Walter or Porcell.’” “I in no way envisioned it as a 65-minute movie,” recalls Egan, “I figured it’d be a 20-minute thing and I’d post it on YouTube.”

Over the last year, the movie has had a number of screenings and has been available online for streaming, but there is talk of a DVD release with a flexi disc of unreleased Beyond material in the future. And for a reunion from the band?

But the interviews were encouraging, and once he got Beyond’s drummer Alan Cage and guitarist Tom Capone involved, the rest “I would think maybe 2023 seems began to fall into place. Suddenly, more likely.” 💣💣💣

INTERVIEW WITH KEVIN EGAN BY COLIN ROBERTS

uicksand. Inside Out. 108. Burn. 1.6 Band. There’s a thread that ties them all together, and it leads back to Beyond. It’s a point that’s driven home in Kevin Egan’s documentary, What Awaits Us: A Beyond Story. In it, the filmmaker (who is also the band’s vocalist) documents the history of Beyond, a group whose brief, two-year existence propelled its members to the forefront of ’90s underground music. From their humble Long Island high school roots to the recording of their 1988 Dew It demo tape, their unceremonious ending, and subsequent reunion shows, Egan, with the help of people like Walter Schreifels, John Porcelly, and his fellow bandmates, paints the picture of what made Beyond special and how his high school band fits into his life today.

“The sort of existential issue that I was addressing in the movie is more

20 NEW NOISE

A LISTENER’S GUIDE TO THE BAND’S PROLIFIC CATALOG BY THOM WASLUCK OF PLANNING FOR BURIAL

f you are new to the music of Boris, a quick Wikipedia or Discogs search could instantly become overwhelming. To say they are a prolific band would be an absolute understatement. For three decades now Boris have been tirelessly releasing full length albums in-between touring the world. From insane collaborations, seven and 12-inch singles, EPs, live albums, remixes, and so much more— many of these releases see them playing within a certain chosen genre at the time or blending as many genres as they possibly can. I personally got into Boris sometime in 2005 or 2006 when a friend burned me a copy of Pink to bring along on a road trip and I was hooked immediately. I even followed their live show for a week, sleeping in my car around the northeast during their Smile tour in 2008. As an avid collector of things, I tried tracking down nearly every variant and import that I could at the time while trying to piece together the differences between them. Eventually, it came to be too much and too expensive. That being said, I think there is something for every fan of heavier experimental music within the world of Boris. Here, I did my best to sum up the main full-lengths as well as a few select collaboration albums as a jumping off point in their discography. It is equally for new listeners to decide where to start, or for casual listeners who may have dropped off at any certain point in time and want to get caught up. This is just the tip of the iceberg, really. I’m not a professional writer, just a die-hard fan. I know my opinions might differ from others and that’s okay.

The three best options for starters are notated with a * mark next to them.

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ABSOLUTEGO (1996)

FLOOD (2000)

thrash band you’ve ever heard— with song tempos damn near tripled compared to those previous albums. We have the type of lead guitar that Wata is now known for over the years: all feeling, aggression, beauty, and precision which shines most even when they take a short breather halfway through the album. There is even an appearance from Japanese noise legend Merzbow on a few tracks. AKUMA NO UTA (2003)

One long song— slow and brooding, focusing on repetitious bass work while guitar feedback and clanking percussion slowly build for the first half of the album. It’s almost as if Sunn O))) heard this and thought, “If we just did this and slowed it down even more, we’ll really have something.” The middle section goes into Melvins-worship territory smeared into reverb before descending back into a feedback drone squall to finish it off. AMPLIFIER WORSHIP (1998)

Another one-song album— only this time it’s broken up into digestible sections. There’s a real ebb and flow to the pieces from Part 2 through Part 4. The first section feels like it was tacked on unnecessarily after the fact since it doesn’t seem to flow with the rest of the album, but once you get through that, you’re treated to some of Boris’ best slowcore work that eventually explodes into a fullon assault on your eardrums. You can really hear them discovering their own sound on this record. HEAVY ROCKS (2002)

Here we find Boris putting the brakes on the constant genre-hopping to put out a record that is a refined mix of everything they’ve previously done. The first half of the record focuses on their heavier doom and thrash/punk material, while the middle section features some of their best slowcore/psych work, before heading back into their thrashy, heavy material to wrap it up. PINK (2005) *

Building off of the middle section of Absolutego with more focus and urgency, this one is best for fans of sludge, doom, heavy drone, and a brief moment of the softer melodic material they will introduce in the future.

Take anything you thought you knew about Boris from the previous three albums and throw it out the window. It’s as if, out of nowhere, they became the heaviest punk/

I would dare say that this might be Boris’ most widely loved record. It’s also one of three of their records I recommend to someone as a starting point in their discography as a new listener, and then work forward or backward from here. This is where they perfected a blend of all of the styles that they are known for: the heavy doom, the faster punk and psych rock, as well as elements of lo-fi and shoegaze. To make it fun for everyone, there is a different track listing and sometimes different track lengths between the Japanese and U.S. CD and LP editions.

ing heavier on experimentation while still using the traditional pop structure, it is mostly devoid of big distorted guitars. This one is great for fans of the more post-punk and slowcore elements of Boris. . DEAR (2017) Some have called this a return to form of their earlier work ala Absolutego and Amplifier Worship, which is mostly true, but it doesn’t come without everything they’ve learned in the 25 years since they started as a band at this point. The cleaner production, better use of dynamics, and more confident vocals peaking over top of everything, as opposed to being buried in the mix, really helps it stand out from the earlier material.

VEIN (2006) This is where things start getting really confusing in the Boris discography... There are multiple albums released at the same time under the name Vein: The first is a lo-fi hardcore record with squalls of harsh noise over it. The first 11 tracks clock in at just under 20 minutes before a final slower heavy drone noise song takes up the last 10.5 minutes of the album. The second album is a two-track album with each track coming in at just under 17 minutes. This album is harsh noise over heavy drone with the occasional explosion of drums. To make it even more confusing, the album was re-released in 2013. On this re-release, the track list seems to be a mixture of both albums cut up to make a whole new album. ALTAR [with Sunn O)))] (2006) This collaboration album belongs in this list alongside the rest of the full lengths because it is not a throw away release for either band. You do get some of the heavy droning guitars that you would expect from both of these bands, but the real selling point is that it is filled with some of the most beautiful and somber pieces either band has done. Filled out with guest contributions from members of Earth, Soundgarden, and Jesse Sykes. RAINBOW [with Michio Kurihara] (2006) * Another collaboration that should be included because Michio Kurihara played an important role in their touring line-up for this album and Smile. This is the second of three of their albums that I often recommend to people as a starting point. Though it starts off on the heavy side, with soaring vocals from Takeshi and big, melodic guitar leads; they spend more time

Thom with his cat, Wata

in the psych rock realm on this one. Michio’s guitar leads are a perfect match for Boris at their softest moments, as well as when they turn the volume up. SMILE (2008) * This would be the third release that I would suggest starting with for new listeners. At this point, the band is running on all cylinders— It might not have some of their biggest songs like Pink, but I think this album perfects that vision. For a completely different experience, the Japanese release takes the more straightforward rock/punk songs and turns them into noisier remixes, then the slower heavy material opens the space up a bit more. I personally make a playlist using the track listing for the Japanese edition and replace the first four songs with the U.S. versions. If you’re a fan of the songs that feature Michio Kurihara on this album, you should search out the official live recording from this tour that features him on every song. In it, you can see him playing with extra ferocity and stretching out the bigger moments that would

change nightly as you could tell they really melded together as a full unit. HEAVY ROCKS (2011) Another confusing era… Not only is this the second album with the name Heavy Rocks within a decade, but it is an era where they released three albums within one week. Some songs are featured on multiple of the albums in different versions or different mixes from one another, some of which are different from the other singles or splits they were first featured on— Heavy Rocks (2011) is the most middle-ofthe-road of the three albums. If you were into Pink, Smile & Akuma No Uta you’ll be sure to enjoy this too. NEW ALBUM (2011) The pop record as made by the metal band Boris with a cleaner production than what they are mostly known for, deeper focus on hooks, melodies, and more traditional song structures. ATTENTION PLEASE (2011) If New Album was the pop record, this is the art school record. Lean-

LOVE & EVOL (2019) I like to imagine Jack White seeing Boris performing at Third Man Records during the 10-year anniversary tour for Pink and being so rightfully blown away that he immediately asked if he could release a record for them. In order for him to release this double album of mostly drones and studio experiments, they have to agree to let him re-issue some of their earlier work that was in the vein of what he loved when he first saw them. They would later deliver on more of that type of material with NO. NO (2020) This one fakes everyone out at the start with one track that feels like it’s picking up where they left off with Dear before ripping through a set of crossover punk rippers, showing that they are truly masters of whatever genre they choose to play at any certain time. It’s a shame the album was released in the middle of the pandemic and they were unable to tour off of it. This album really needed to be played in a room full of bodies slamming into one another. W (2022) Another album of what appears to be mostly studio experiments in their softer shoegaze and drone styles. Much of it meanders and just when you think a piece will start progressing or being pushed to its full potential, it’s cut short. More potential and style than substance. We had to trim this sampling of releases for space. Their output is massive! But check out the New Noise website for Thom’s full deep dive into Boris’ incredible catalog. 💣💣💣

NEW NOISE

…And You Will Know Us By The

TRAIL OF DEAD PHOTO Dave Creaney

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST CONRAD KEELY BY NAT LACUNA

“ONE LUXURY OF GETTING OLD (AND THERE ARE VERY FEW) IS BEING ABLE TO LOOK BACK ON THE DARK TIMES, THE LOW TIMES, AND IDENTIFY WHAT IT WAS THAT BURNED YOU OUT.”

eing in an industry for over magic and pouring fuel on to a stead25 years is impressive in any fast flame was adding a sixth member, field, but when you see a band unorthodox recording environments repeatedly outdoing themselves and (most of the record was done in a reinventing themselves for that peri- barn) and inventing a new sport od of time, it is even more impressive during recording known as Frisball. than usual. The music industry is XI: BLEED HERE NOW, while a little dour constantly shifting, and in the current in the name and some of the subject period where singles rule all, …And matter, is an album of reconnecting You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead with the parts of art that you love. have decided it is time to rediscover a deliberate and focused, and I hope historical format and put their focus “One luxury of getting old (and there that some of that managed to be on a quadraphonic record sound on are very few) is being able to look conveyed in the music.” their eleventh album, XI: BLEED HERE back on the dark times, the low times, NOW, out now on Dine Alone Records. and identify what it was that burned Grandiose, gorgeous, and brimming you out,” Keely says. “What it was that with passionate odes to classic rock “Mixing in quad actually makes mix- beat you. And if you can learn from sensibilities rediscovered through ing easier, and it doesn’t take away these, you can anticipate and take sharing favorite past performance from the stereo mix at all, but rather steps to eliminate as many negative accounts of legends like Santana, improves it by somehow magically outcomes as possible. Grateful Dead, and Black Sabbath, widening the stereo mix,” says vocalist XI: BLEED HERE NOW is a stunning Conrad Keely. “I feel like I’m giving “When it comes to making albums, and poignant production. From away some secret here, but to be one of the worst feelings is when it string arrangements in multiple songs honest, I’d much rather that the cur- simply isn’t fun… But when it turns (including the Satoshi Kon-inspired rent bands I know and love catch on into a career, the fun can some- “Millennium Actress”) to guest vocals and start doing it as well.” times be sucked out of what should from Spoon’s Britt Daniels to masterbe a joyous process. The last album, ful prog rock anthems, the album has This album is the band’s longest X (The Godless Void) was like that; what you want and— more imporrecord and the one with the most it was an excruciating, laborious tantly— what you need. More than songs to date. Experimenting with process. So, with that fresh in our anything else, though, it has a focus shorter songwriting but longer album minds, we made sure to do everything on change, even if it feels like forever structuring is a way the band found possible to make this album a joyous since there’s been any. themselves catching a new creative occasion, from start to finish. We were wind. Other ways of capturing that playful, joking, but at the same time “I hope that people understand that

24 NEW NOISE

music can be the rallying cry for the upcoming changes that we’re about to experience in the world at large… Music has to begin to reflect the urgency of us coming together as a species and making sure that the species is still here in another 50 years. If a documentary on the subject isn’t enough to wake people up, then maybe we need more music that does.” 💣💣💣

A N APOC A LY P T IC M A ST ER P IEC E FROM T HE GERMA N F RON TL IN E OF P RO GR ESSIV E ROCK

GR IP P ING. AT M O SP H ER I C. I N ST RU M E N TA L . P RO G R ESSI V E. T H E G E R M A N P RO G R E S S I V E RO C K QUA RT E T LO N G D I S TA N C E C A L L I N G H A S B E C O M E A M O D E R N B E N C H M A R K F O R I M A G I N AT I V E , P RO G R E S S I V E A N D E C C E N T R I C - H E AV Y M U S I C . " E R A S E R " I S A H E A RT F E LT T R I BU T E TO T H E E RO S I O N O F N AT U R E B Y M A N K I N D A N D D E D I C AT E D TO T H E WO R L D ’ S E N DA N G E R E D S P E C I E S , W I T H E A C H S O N G A D D R E S S I N G O N E PA RT I C U L A R A N I M A L FA C I N G E X T I N C T I O N.

Ltd. CD Digipak | 2LP (180g, black) | Ltd. Recycled 2LP | Download | Stream

MO R E I NF O H ER E

THE PRICE OF UTOPIA

CANDY INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST MICHAEL QUICK BY WIL WILSON

elentlessly pushing their sound the time allotted to the band during to the most extreme, Candy’s the pandemic, they were able to dig latest LP, Heaven Is Here, out deeper into influences and incornow on the venerable Relapse porate new elements. Records, is a stunning example of their commitment to intensity. The “The biggest silver lining of the panband aren’t just reinventing the demic was the free time to really try wheel with this release, though. With to understand our music and find a

PHOTO Rachael Shorr

26 NEW NOISE

better way to say what we’ve been trying to say the whole time,” says guitarist Michael Quick.

After nearly four years following their previous full-length, 2018’s Good To Feel, and informed by the current socio-political environment, Candy have had the time and influence to create a

masterpiece that feels fitting for the apocalyptic times we live in. The isolation and hopelessness felt by everyone during the COVID-19 pandemic was especially poignant for Quick. Forced to move to an isolated cabin while writing the record, the atmosphere of the end of the world influenced the tone of the album.

PHOTO Michael Thorn

“YOU HAVE PEOPLE IN SILICON VALLEY WHO ARE SAYING THEIR IDEAS ARE GOING TO SAVE THE WORLD. MEANWHILE, YOU LOOK AROUND, AND WHAT IS THE PRICE OF UTOPIA? IT’S PEOPLE BEING PRICED OUT OF THEIR FUCKING HOMES THAT THEY’VE LIVED IN FOR YEARS.” “My girlfriend lost her job. My parents lost their jobs… (before) it seemed like things were going well, and then that’s all it takes. Everything’s gone. Then it’s just survival. What do we do to survive?” As evidenced by the name of the band and the accompanying song titles (“Good to Feel” and “Joy of Life” come to mind), Candy are a band that like to explore the dual nature of the human experience. Following in this tradition, Heaven Is Here speaks to the promised happiness from leadership figures who have failed to deliver a better world. “You have people in Silicon Valley who are saying their ideas are going to save the world. Meanwhile, you look around, and what is the

price of utopia? It’s people being priced out of their fucking homes that they’ve lived in for years.”

most bleak thing we’ve done because it’s so informed by the pandemic and that hopelessness,” notes Quick.

afforded a lot of time to figure out ways to make that sound right and to dive deeper into influences.”

The aggravation and hopelessness Production-wise, Heaven Is Here uti- While elements of industrial, noise, experienced throughout the pan- lizes new layers and techniques in and crust punk have woven their demic comes out on this record, a way that emphasizes the raw na- way into Candy’s sound, their signawith harsh noise interludes setting ture of Candy’s music, rather than ture no-holds hardcore still makes the tone for the music itself, which sounding too polished. Co-pro- up the meat of this record. is equally blistering with little time duced by Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, to breathe. Meanwhile, tracks like Black Curse, Prurient) and Quick, “We still see ourselves as a hardcore “Transcend to Wet” and “Kinesthesia” the overall sound of the album band because that’s the scene maintain the brutality of Candy’s has been expertly woven together we’re involved in,” says Quick, “but sound while exploring the indus- elements in a way that compliments the theory that guides us, is that it’s trial feel of metal. The electronic Candy’s sound. just a genre of music like anything elements throughout feel perfectly else and it doesn’t need to be fit for the apocalyptic atmosphere “I honestly would say we’re just trying sectioned off from other kinds of of the album, making the listener to make punk and hardcore and music. It serves the same purpose question how close we actually are metal with electronics,” says Quick. as any other music. It’s supposed to to a cyberpunk nightmare. “That’s kind of how we saw it with this scratch an emotional itch—a sperecord with samples or with drum cific one—but that’s what it does.” “This album specifically is probably the machines. And the pandemic also 💣💣💣

NEW NOISE 27

“WE DRAW OUR INSPIRATION FROM THE IDIOCRACY OF HUMANITY.”

28 NEW NOISE

band needing no introduction, GWAR have been bridging the gap between Richmond, Virginia punk and metal, and superhuman, alien space rock hailing from Antarctica since the ’80s, and they’re still going strong. To the joy of longtime and new fans

INTERVIEW WITH LEAD GUITARIST/BACKING VOCALIST PUSTULUS MAXIMUS (AKA BRENT PURGASON) BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER Ages, and you’re being trapped by your own technology. You disavow knowledge, integrity, morality, things of this nature in the pursuit of higher political power, money, wealth and things like that. It’s a disgusting scene, quite frankly. The world is descending into chaos, and there’s nothing you

Richmond. Now, for the first time, the beer will be available via Anheuser Busch distribution nationwide through their work with Devil’s Backbone. GWAR can also be found on tour throughout the U.S. this summer and fall. From their upcoming shows, you

he says. “There was a very long wait from this last record to this one, and we personally can’t wait to put out new material. And this new record? It’s going to be no-bullshit, straightup heavy metal. We’ve done a lot of experimenting, but I think it’s time to just kick people in the face with bru-

“THERE’S NO POINT IN SAVING YOURSELF OR SAVING ANYONE ELSE. SACRIFICE YOUR LIFE TO GWAR.” alike, they recently dropped a new album via Pit Records, THE NEW DARK AGES. The record, while not a huge departure from their previous work, is a testament to the fact that after all these years, they’ve still got it.

“We draw our inspiration from the idiocracy of humanity,” says lead guitarist and backing vocalist Pustulus Maximus, aka Brent Purgason. “And quite simply, the human race is ascending deeper and deeper into the new Dark

tal, hard, heavy riffs. Fuck melody and just go for it. Go for the throat.

can do about it. And this is just our way of rubbing it in your faces.” In addition to the new record, which carries the band’s signature blend of metal and punk rock, equal parts humorous and heavy, they also have some other projects in the works, including a line of local beers they’ve done for annual event Gwar B-Q in

can expect even more of a treat Purgason also reiterates that, as than usual, and the band can’t wait we all know, life is hopeless and the to put out more music after this run apocalypse is here. of dates and aren’t showing signs of “There’s no point in saving yourself or slowing down any time soon. saving anyone else. Sacrifice your “This is going to be a very unique life to GWAR, and at least come and GWAR experience— considering not see the spectacle that is the show only do we have a record, but the before you give yourself onto the comic book that came out recently,” dark side.” 💣💣💣

PHOTOGRAPHY Elena de Soto

NEW NOISE 29

JERSEY’S BEST MINUTE-AND-A-HALF BANGERS

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST ARI KATZ BY JOSHUA MARANHAS

BEACH RATS ROLLING OUT OF THE SANDS OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, RAT BEAT, OUT NOW ON EPITAPH RECORDS, IS QUICK AND PUNCHY HARDCORE PUNK ROCK ‘N’ ROLL FROM A CREW OF MOSTLY NEW JERSEY-BORN MUSICIANS WHO PUT PUNK ROCK ON THE WORLD MAP.

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They may call themselves Beach Rats, but few bands today can tout the sheer amount of legacy as what is collectively contained by the members.

Windas of Let It Burn, on drums. Finally, there’s Lifetime’s wordsmith and Beach Rat’s singer Ari Katz who gives context to their beginnings.

Reaching back the furthest is guitarist “I’m in Asbury Park, and I’m at work Brian Baker, who has played in Minor right now, says Katz. “I’m about five Threat, Dag Nasty, Samhain, The blocks from the beach. I can smell Meatmen, Government Issue, and the ocean. It’s sunny out, beautiful. It’s Bad Religion. Guitarist Pete Steinkopf very strange. We all grew up in a town and bassist Bryan Kienlen founded called New Brunswick, and that’s Jersey’s pride, the Bouncing Souls. where our bands were from, but it Adding a backbeat is Daniel “Dubs” seems like almost the entire scene

PHOTO Matthew Gere

through time has moved down here. So, like, everybody I know is here. It’s very strange. I don’t know, there’s some kind of calling. There’s something about the beach in New Jersey... that pulls certain people.” When the Bouncing Souls guys “immigrated” from New Brunswick, it opened the door to do a band. “We were around. We’re all friends, and we just decided to start playing. And then once we started going in the

basement, it really felt like— it feels like your first band, you know, just, like, in a room writing songs with each other. And I know for a fact none of our bands, our main bands, operate that way anymore! BOUNCING SOULS, Lifetime, Bad Religion, they’re not all sitting in a room and writing a record together, you know, ‘cuz everybody’s so spread out, and technology and whatever. So, it was really special to sit in a room for a few hours, and then to have a song at the end of it. It’s pretty magical.”

The magic of sunny days and the it’s personal to Katz as well. The songs are salty air through the open basement weathered like beach rock being hit practice space windows shaped a with uneasy Atlantic Ocean waves. more relaxed and easy-going vibe. Katz says, “I sort of decided when the “The lyrics are definitely the darkest Beach Rats started, that I didn’t want it I’ve ever written, At the same time, to be this serious thing that boxed us in there’s a lot of fun going on. There’s a corner of seriousness. I wanted— and light stuff to keep it from being such a I think everybody wanted— it to just be heavy affair. It’s supposed to be fun. light. We just wanted to play fast hard- I approach anything I write lyrics for core, that’s all— just play fast music.” one way. Whatever comes out, comes out. I don’t think, ‘in this band, I’m Shipping noise into the briny sea gonna write this’ or ‘I’m gonna write breeze like a heavy freighter, blasting that.’ It’s all just whatever kind of haptunes at the gulls like a ship’s horn pens… with the vibe of the Souls.” from just off Asbury Park’s boardwalk, eventually their music— the singles— With his kids at home, his marriage on found human ears and interest. his mind and in his texts, COVID outside the front door, and an uncertain future “The first EP, I think, it’s a little bit more in many ways, Katz gets very personal all over the place. I think the LP is a lot for a minute, saying it was, “A very good more cohesive,” Katz admits. “I’m glad time for me to write a punk record.” that our first thing wasn’t a full-length record. The second we announced He elaborates, “When I was in the stuourselves a lot of people were like, dio doing vocals, I was going through, ‘super-group, this, that,’ but we wrote between takes, texting back and forth the songs and recorded them on our with my wife. I don’t know, it was just own dime without telling anybody. such a crazy, intense time. There’s Then once we had it, we thought we some songs that aren’t, but if you just should probably play it for some look at some of the lyrics, there’s a lot labels and see if somebody wants to of about things ending and closing. put it out. But it was very much, we just When we were recording, it was the did it because we could, and we had end of the beach season. The town the time.” really undergoes this transformation. The beach is closed and they start He credits all the Rats with their putting everything away— everything creativity. just changes. That coincided with my relationship and with COVID. It took “In a way, no one person wrote one a lot of meditation to get through it song. Somebody would have a riff, without losing my mind.” and then at practice somebody would come up with the other riff. With the dark, offshore clouds rolling Kienlen would do the bass and Dubs in and the thunder imminent, Katz is an awesome drummer, he’s really harnessed his words, his power, and good to write with. He has tons of his talent, and put it into Rat Beat. good ideas, and everybody just was He battened down the hatches and like going for it. I think my favorite closed those basement windows. song is “Bikes Out.” That, to me, is the While the internal storm raged, he funnest song to play on the whole and Beach Rats hit back at Poseidon, record. And that’s one of the first ones writing 12 quick bangers averaging we wrote. So that was kind of exciting.” 1:30 a piece. Once that sun’s back in the sky, the ocean air is sweet again, In fact, everything about the project and the boardwalk’s raging at sunset is exciting to Katz at this stage of his Rat Beat is the fun, hardcore punk already illustrious career. album of the summer of 2022. “This is a complete life highlight. I’m 50. The fact that I’ve been able to keep making records is sick. The fact that those guys wanted to do a band with me, I never would’ve imagined it,” marvels Katz. “I met Brian Baker at our first rehearsal. I didn’t know him. The guys from the Souls were like, ‘Hey, Brian wants to play.’ And I was like, ‘What?!’ I didn’t believe it until I saw him at the first practice. This is a complete highlight. I’ve never been on Epitaph Records. Everything is just fun and awesome. I’m so excited.” The music on Rat Beat is fun and fast, but

Katz concludes, “I think the reason why people write such short songs is it’s really fun. As a songwriter you have to take this really short thing and there’s only a few parts, a few changes and a few opportunities to make it interesting. When you can make a minute and something song, a bunch of things happen in that and keep it interesting, kind of take you on this little journey that is fun. I love writing hardcore songs. And it’s not that it’s my only interest musically. I do love all other kinds of music, but I’ll never get bored of writing short, fast hardcore songs.” 💣💣💣

NEW NOISE 31

HEALTH

A WALK THROUGH THE LIFE AND EVOLUTION OF

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PHOTOGRAPHY Derek Tobias

INTERVIEW WITH BASSIST/SAMPLER JOHN FAMIGLIETTI BY JAMES MUDRAK

very artist has their moment when they know if they want to do music for the rest of their life. That moment for John Famiglietti, bassist and software programmer for HEALTH, was in 2002 when he attended OOPS! The Tour with The Locust, Lightning Bolt, Arab on Radar, The Blood Brothers, and Harkonnen, “all at one show at the Teen Center minutes from my house. To really date myself, I went straight from the show to do stock overnight at Blockbuster video drenched in sweat from the pit.” Forming in 2005 with Famiglietti, Jake Duzsik, BJ Miller, and their former guitarist Jupiter Keyes, HEALTH made their debut in the L.A. punk scene.

“I met Jake working at Guitar Center Hollywood of all places,” says Famiglietti of the origins of the band. “We both worked in the accessories department, and I was playing, like, The Chinese Stars or some wacky As the 2000s ended, the dawn of a shit on the stereo. So, he asked me If new age was on the horizon. EventuI wanted to meet up with him and our ally shelfing their punk band, HEALTH former member, Jupiter. They wanted transitioned into the industrial force to make a band but weren’t sure what we see them as today. kind of music they wanted to make. We all met up, and then found Benja- “Close to the end of the 2000s and the min through Craigslist.” turn of the 2010s, so much innovative music we were listening to was elecWith the roster solidified, it was time tronic, and there was a huge jump at to decide on their name. The name that time with the level of sheer power HEALTH has such an unorthodox ca- this new music had. So much of what dence to it. It rolls off the tongue with a drove early HEALTH was a desire to soothing yet demanding tone to it that make heavy, abrasive music that was mirrors their music. different and current, and this new level of production was impossible “It’s quite hard to name a band these to ignore. Two-thousand-era album days (or back then),” Famiglietti laughs. production was already so frustrating, “The direction they were after was “a as it was this strange, transitionary post-punk style band name like MAG- time when we had all these amazing AZINE— an ordinary word. We were set tools available, but it wasn’t that great on MEDICINE, then found out they were yet. Every rock record sounded sad a ‘90s L.A. shoegaze band (with Justin compared to an older one. But now Meldal-Johnsen). So, Jake was looking you’re hearing this electronic music at the medicine bottle he got it from, he that is just orders of magnitude bigger worked at a specialty doctor’s office at than anything you’ve heard before the time, and the next word on it was and, in that shock (which calmed HEALTH. We kept planning to be on down over time), made your favorite the lookout for a better name… it still heavy records sound like a box of hasn’t come up in over a decade.” crackers. We had to figure it out but still make our own music, integrate With the roster built and the name some of the sonics but still make chosen, HEALTH began to map out something we felt was meaningful.” their game plan and embark their journey. They joined the L.A. scene With HEALTH, having put music out and began playing shows at venues since the early Myspace days, adaptlike the Il Corral and The Smell. ing to the times was a necessity for the group to thrive. Even the way human“The L.A. scene was very fertile and cool ity consumes music changed over the and diverse in abrasive genres, whether last two decades, pushing HEALTH to it was punk or avant-garde noise,” say adapt to each era. Famiglietti. “It all had a hilarious almost anti-intellectual West Coast approach Famiglietti describes the music to even the most highbrow of music. We sphere: “It’s completely changed, and spent all our time going to shows and a thing we say a lot is that the arrow playing shows. It was a great time.” of time has been broken, of this sound

to that sound and it all making some kind of sense. However, the current time, as strange and dehumanizing it has been, it’s been very good to us, so who am I to complain?” HEALTH has been classified under the umbrella of numerous genres such as rock, noise, and experimental, along with many others. Their sound, techniques, and overall song structures blur the lines of genres in that they’ve created their own niche within multiple genres of music. Famiglietti sets the record straight, saying, “Right now, we are calling it industrial, and we’re putting that out there. We’ve never truly had a genre, and that has pros and cons, but we are really pinning our names to industrial. It’s the closest and makes the most sense. I know we don’t sound like Skinny Puppy, so Neo-Industrial or something like that would be fine, too.” Famiglietti also had a heavy hand in the direction of their visual aesthetic. “I have designed all of HEALTH’s merch and artwork from the start until about late 2019, when I started working with Joe McKinney, a fan I met who angled to become my right-hand man, and now I co-create all merch and marketing with (him),” explains Famiglietti. “(It) was kinda born out of necessity; we loved all these avant and noise artists - Black Dice, Lightning Bolt, AIDS Wolf - who had all this incredible either hand drawn or cut-n-paste brilliant art and imagery, but we didn’t want to copy them with a shittier version (nor could we). So, I started making stuff that was totally clean, digital, and graphic with my limited skill that was

intentionally computer-y. To our surprise, people immediately responded to it, so it became our style.” Collaboration being an important key in HEALTH’s process has given them a new avenue of expressing themselves. With their recent releases DISCO4 :: PART I & II, HEALTH has decided to keep that ethos of collaboration in full force. These LPs contain notable collaborations from the likes of Ghostemane, Lamb of God, Youth Code, Poppy, and Nine Inch Nails, to name a few. When talking about collaboration, Famiglietti says, “I don’t know if it’s necessary, but it sure is fun. Also, we were kinda like, ‘Fuck man, we’re in the future; why not act like it?’ So much has changed about the musical landscape, and people really enjoy these collabs. Also, they’re not features. This is a total collaboration and an attempt at synthesis with the sounds of both artists. Each time, it’s a bit of a riddle of how we’re gonna do it, and how it’s gonna play out depending on their sound. I think what makes it work is, we have no problem getting out of the way if something someone else gave us is great, I don’t have to add some bullshit on top to say I wrote something. Who gives a fuck? We just want to make something cool.” Maintaining their authenticity and spirit throughout the different phases of time shows that nothing will ever bring down the inexorable force that is HEALTH. The journey is nowhere near over. Famiglietti assured that there are “lots of tour dates, some more scattered releases like remixes, and maybe a surprise or two.” 💣💣💣

NEW NOISE 33

senses fail CONQUERING GRIEF AND FACING DOWN DEATH

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST BUDDY NIELSEN BY TABITHA TIMMS

PHOTOGRAPHY Karalyn Hope

34 NEW NOISE

“I THINK MOST PEOPLE JUST AVOID THE IDEA OF DEATH... IT’S INTERESTING BECAUSE IT’S UNAVOIDABLE.”

enses Fail’s Hell Is In Your topic of death. Whether it’s fictional Head, out now via Pure or a real-life experience, fans have Noise Records, ignites felt these great losses with the band. a furious fire, providing While one might be led to think contrasting songs between fictional revisiting these feelings of grief is stories and entering a world of real- difficult, Nielsen absorbs it as an ism— songs that ooze fresh anthemic emotional release. beats while hinting at nostalgia as the record plays through. “I think most people just avoid the idea mother’s death, which I don’t think says. “When people are influenced by of death... It’s interesting because it’s I really ever processed. I never fully your art to make art, it doesn’t really “It came in a couple of different unavoidable, but it’s something that grieved; we never buried her. Part of matter if it’s successful; that’s somephases,” says lead vocalist Buddy we spend most of our life avoiding this record was the idea that I want to thing to be immensely proud of. It’s Nielsen about creating the cohesive until we’re really faced with it, and do that. I want to go back and grieve allowed me to live a really great life.” flow while writing songs that differ then when we’re faced with it can be that death and close that story. It just from one another. “The first phase quite difficult to deal with.” felt like the end of Still Searching didn’t While Nielsen has gained much sucis just to throw everything out. I don’t really resolve itself.” cess over the course of his 20-year judge what it is. I have a lot of songs; He continues, “How do I get to a long career, he still lives in uncertainty, I have stuff that sounds like trap mu- place of comfortability with accep- While the band continue to make and touches on this subject with the sic with screaming, just, like, weird tance of mortality? Now I’m kind strides in their careers, they still take band’s single, “I’m Sorry, I’m Leaving.” stuff. I experiment with everything, of more into the phase of how do I time to celebrate old releases that with a lot of different instruments personally accept my own mortality connected with other artists and fans. “It’s just a part of it, you have two opand different tempos. We can go and the mortality of my loved ones tions; you have security or freedom. super heavy, or we keep it really in a way that doesn’t make it so that “It’s crazy how many people are The consequences for both deny the poppy and melodic. Mixing the two it’s soul crushing.” impacted by those two records and other one. The balance of freedom is kind of hard because I don’t want how this amount of time later, they’re and obviously being able to have to go too one way or the other. I While the band play with various still impactful and relevant to people money and live is part of that freethink one of the things throughout new elements within this new record, in their life. It’s hard not to be proud dom. It’s this intricate balance of, how our career that’s been successful is taking fans on an intricate journey, of that, just making something that do I have this freedom, and then how that we kind of have like a middle they still tap into nostalgia by start- is continually influencing people in do I balance the uncertainty? Then, road where we have a little bit of ing Hell Is In Your Head in the same their lives, in their art. how do you have kids and demands both.” He says, describing the writ- key that Still Searching ends in. while also living in uncertainty? You ing process of the record. Influencing another person’s art is have to be somebody that’s willing “The main reason was what preempt- probably the biggest compliment you to adapt,” says Neilsen about the Senses Fail habitually return to the ed Still Searching was my grand- can get from making something,” he burden of this ambiguity. 💣💣💣

NEW NOISE

MIDTOWN A

INTERVIEW WITH DRUMMER ROB HITT AND GUITARIST HEATH SARACENO BY BEN SAILER

s one of the greatest rock bands in history, My Chemical Romance could have chosen almost anyone to join them on their fall reunion tour. If one were placing bets on who they’d select, a pop-punk band that haven’t played live since 2014, nor released a record since 2005, might not seem like a winning wager. This is, after all, a limited run of massive arena shows that will draw thousands of fans. Given those kinds of stakes, every opener each night must count.

There’s something special, then, about My Chemical Romance picking Midtown to open several of those dates on the East Coast. Here we have two bands who emerged from the same tight-knit New Jersey punk scene in the early 2000s, who haves remained close despite traveling along two wildly divergent trajectories and have now brought back together under seemingly unlikely circumstances. It all came together thanks to one chance encounter. “Tyler (Rann, guitar, Midtown) is texting Mikey (Way, bass, My Chemical Romance)—and I didn’t tell anybody this; I don’t think anybody told anybody that we were thinking about doing a show again—but Tyler tells Mikey, and I didn’t know,” drummer Rob Hitt says. “Then, ironically (…) Gabe (Saporta, vocals and bass, Midtown) sees Mikey in L.A. in person, and Mike is like, ‘Hey Gabe, heard you guys are doing a show.’ Gabe was like, ‘What? Who told you that? How do you know that?’” And he was like, ‘I was talking to Tyler. (laughs)’” You’d be forgiven for needing a flow chart to follow this exchange, but regardless, here’s how the story ends: My Chemical Romance calls Midtown and asks if they want to play some of the biggest stadiums in the United States and Midtown agrees to do their friends a solid. It’s hard to imagine that this is how business typically gets done in the music industry’s big leagues, but when your roots run deep in DIY

36 NEW NOISE

punk, maybe there are some things that never totally change. “It’s wild; the long game in music is like nothing else,” Hitt says. “It’s not like high school where you may remember or you may talk to one to five friends, max. Honestly, one to two friends in some cases. Music

just sticks with you a different way.” In order to put My Chemical Romance and Midtown’s relationship into its proper context, let’s rewind back to where it all began— Both bands were close friends within New Jersey’s wildly productive underground punk scene (which also

produced peers like Thursday, Tak- “There would be three to four shows ing Back Sunday, and many more), a weekend,” guitarist Heath Sarand in their earliest days, My Chem- aceno says. “Sometimes we would ical Romance would often open play Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. shows for Midtown. Long before Sometimes we’d play twice on a major labels would come calling for Saturday, and we’d go from show to either group, they were bored sub- show. The hardest part about being urbanites, making noise wherever in that scene back then was decidthey could find an available space. ing which shows you were going to go to. There was always a show, always something to do.” When placed on the precipice of seemingly unlikely superstardom, My Chemical Romance and Midtown went in wildly divergent directions. The former’s 2004 major label debut, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, became a cultural force nearly instantaneously, while the latter bounced between releasing 2002’s Living Well is the Best Revenge on MCA and 2005’s Forget What You Know on Columbia while struggling to catch on with mainstream rock radio. Despite releasing two critically acclaimed albums with major label backing, Midtown’s meteoric rise fell short of expectations, unable to find their footing within an unforgiving music industry. My Chemical Romance, meanwhile, took the exit from the underground scene at breakneck speed and never looked back. The contrast between their trajectories is striking, and despite the similarities between their roots, it shows exactly how precarious life can be for punk-adjacent bands when they’re presented with the opportunity to roll the dice on rock n’ roll stardom. Yet, when listening to Saraceno and Hitt tell the story of Midtown, their relationship with My Chemical Romance, and how their respective band’s fates have been intertwined, there are two themes that emerge. First, they’re still very much the same friends that used to play double-headers at American Legion halls (even if the stages have gotten a bit bigger since then). And second, none of this has ever been about anything other than a passion for playing music. “In a way it feels in certain ways like it did when Midtown first started,” Hitt says. “It was fun to play. You didn’t have the pressure of a record label, the pressure of, ‘Well, however we perform is going to affect the rest of our careers.” We can just do it because it’s fun and we enjoy it. I mean, the truth is, if we were doing it for money, we wouldn’t do it at all. We would just stick it to our nine-tofive jobs.” 💣💣💣

NEW NOISE 37

ONE SHOWATATIME

TAKING BACK

SUNDAY

38 NEW NOISE

PHOTO Kristin Breitkreutz

INTERVIEW WITH BASSIST SHAUN COOPER BY FRANKIE TOROK

elebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album while working on their eighth studio release, with three certified gold records and a place in the Long Island Music Hall of Fame under their belts, Taking Back Sunday are at the sweet spot in their career where they can look back to their humble beginnings and forward to a future of their own choosing.

met somebody on the road or someone gave us a place to stay for the night, we’d give them our demo to thank them, and that’s how we spread the word: one show at a time.” Not many bands can say their first album is what launched them into becoming one of the mid-2000 scene’s biggest bands, and for Cooper, it still doesn’t quite feel real.

Looking back to the start, the ear- “(Tell All Your Friends) came out in ly 2000s saw the band making a March (2002). I figured by Sepname for themselves long before tember that would be it for Taking social media. Back Sunday,” he says. “We didn’t know what we were doing. We put “I was the internet geek and would our heart and soul into everything be like ‘we gotta get a website, we did, we really believed in it. we can put our tour dates up And that was super fun. I’ll never there’,” bass player Shaun Cooper forget that time, and here I am still reminisces. “Communication was talking about it. It’s pretty incredifew and far between and we just ble and entirely unexpected.” would play shows anywhere we could. That was most important to It’s always been important the band us. We had an old-school mailing didn’t get stuck in that era though. list that we’d set up at the shows, and we’d sell our CDs for $5 for “We wanted to avoid that nostalgia five songs, a buck a song. We had for as long as we could. We were so Steve Jobs beat on that idea! We afraid of being lumped in as this built a grassroots following. If we band that only wrote good songs

20 years ago,” he reflects. “But we the best songs of our career,” Cooput out the Tidal Wave record in per says. “It’s going to be another 2016, and people seemed to really leap forward when this next album respond to that one. So we felt comes out. We did (latest single like we had set ourselves up really “Just Us Two”) with Steve Aoki, which nicely to do the nostalgia thing, we kind of gives a hint at where the could go revisit [the older records]. sound may be going. For Tell All Your Friends, we did the reissue, and we weren’t going to There’ll be no mistaking whose album it is though: “It’s all from us. tour on it. But now we’re ready.” It’s all from our hearts and the comDamn straight they’re ready, bination of influences we all have, ready to play the biggest nostalgia and I feel like the production makes trip the world’s elder emos and it sound like a more modernized middle-aged pop punk kids could version of Taking Back Sunday.” ever dream of: When We Were And while he can’t say much about Young Fest. the new record, one thing is defi“I can’t wait,” Cooper admits. “There nitely on the cards in the band’s are so many friends that we’re near future: playing shows. gonna see. It’s just wonderful to see all these people doing great things “We have so many ideas that we and thriving, and the world is ready have to pin down what’s actually going to make the record so it’s not for rock music again.” quite there yet,” Cooper teases. “I Taking Back Sunday are looking to think the next couple of years are the future just as much as they’re going to be packed with touring reminiscing on the past, with studio and getting back around the album number eight. world as often as we can. I think we’re going to keep going for a “Of course, everyone’s gonna say the very long time.” 💣💣💣 same thing, but I think we’re writing

NEW NOISE 39

ELECTRIFIED REIGN 40 NEW NOISE

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST TONY FORESTA BY HUTCH

PHOTOGRAPHY Rob Coons

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possible. If we can get funding for that shit, then it’s great. They knew that when they signed us. We’re not a hard band to make happy.” Regarding his time in Iron Regan, Foresta divulges, “It turned problematic for me for a while because I tried to do too much with both bands. And I usually had a very good talent of balancing it all with my home and personal life. And all of it spiraled out of control a few years ago. I was just overworked. But at the time, you’re not just thinking about yourself. You’re thinking more about the people in both bands. And you’re trying to make other people happy. You need to dial it back and focus on yourself and your health.”

Municipal Waste just unleashed a surging return with their new LP, Electrified Brain, on Nuclear Blast. Two decades and a thrash revival on their veteran backs, a reenergized quintet has come to dominate with their passion and energy distilled over a placid pandemic. Tony Foresta, plodding through the humidity of a Florida summer, got on the phone after walking his two dogs, a chihuahua and a rottweiler/pitbull mix. “They look like Ren & Stimpy,” he quips. Foresta admits to initially rushing this record as the uncertainly of a COVID dormancy was looming. The world halting allowed The Waste to address and adjust their songwriting and add more meat to the album and individual songs. “We were able to go back and write a way better record. It gave us time to tweak shit, (including) six songs that weren’t supposed to be on the record. It worked out in our favor.” The “we” comprising Municipal Waste is based on the four members who have held it down since their second album, the breakthrough behemoth, Hazardous Mutation (2005, Earache); Landphil, bass; Tony Foresta, vocals; Ryan Waste, guitars; and the man, Dave Witte on drums. On the band’s previous album, Slime and Punishment, they added a fifth shredder, Nick Poulos on lead guitar. Here, Poulos

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This is where the sage behind the kit comes into the fray. Appreciation arrives in the subtle form of a deluge from Foresta. “Witte has always been an inspiration for me,” he continues to explain, “as far as being able to balance his personal life, family, and his musical endeavors while keeping Municipal Waste as a priority. “I’m still learning from the guy. We’ve all been doing a lot of shit,” he chuckles. has been let off the leash. His solos “It has been good.” add just enough without delving into Yngwie hero worship. Solos are This year and 2023 will pave a concise and targeted, making sure familiar road for Municipal Waste, the riff mania remains the focus. filled with tours, fests, and gory, outlandish videos. The recording and production was helmed by the one and only Arthur Rizk. Foresta excitedly shares, “a couple more videos are already done that “What’s really bizarre is that Arthur are fucking great.” This year will also scratches all those weird itches that see the band play a “couple shows Ryan and I have,” Foresta muses. in Tennessee with Midnight. We’re “Arthur knows an extended amount playing a festival that Frozen Soul of hardcore and has a history of is putting on with 200 Stab Wounds working with newer hardcore bands and Creeping Death.” and older thrash bands like Sacred Reich and Kreator. He knows his shit A mention is dropped of the Instawhen it comes to heavy metal. Obvi- gram videos of Frozen Soul’s “pushously. He plays in Eternal Champion, up pits” phenomenon. He interjects, and that is right up our alley. That is “We’re gonna outdo the push up pit how we want our record to sound.” and start handing out jump ropes.” Should go well. Like “Free Bat Day” Rizk harnessed the well-honed at Yankee Stadium. live vibe that defines the acme of Municipal Waste, their live set. Also slated is a full U.S. tour with At Relentless touring is what perpetu- The Gates, starting in Worcester at ates their success. Rizk nailed that Tattoo the Earth Fest. The Festival’s confidence and synchronicity of the August 27 return boasts Anthrax, band’s sound. The Red Chord, Crowbar, At The Gates, Overcast, Hatebreed and Electrified Brain is The Waste’s third more blessing the outdoor stage. album on Nuclear Blast, a veteran of the industry. “We just resigned “I wonder if that parking lot is hauntwith them. They are very supportive. ed too,” Foresta laughs. “That venue They are fun. We get along great is haunted as shit.” with them. There are a lot of cool people that work there. They are And speaking of the Big Four, Muaccepting of our ideas. All we want nicipal Waste will hit Europe with to do is make crazy music videos Anthrax. A thrash fan’s indulgent and do as many ridiculous tours as paradise. 💣💣💣

PHOTOGRAPHY Rob Coons

“WE’RE GONNA OUTDO THE PUSH-UP PIT AND START HANDING OUT JUMP ROPES.” NEW NOISE 43

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST GEORGE PETTIT BY ASHLEY OKEN

PHOTO Kristin Breitkreutz

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onning a camouflage jacket, George Pettit, lead vocalist of Alexi- “Especially for us, and I think a lot of fans of Alexisonfire, and people in sonfire (comprised of Pettit, vocalist Dallas Green, guitarist Wade general, I think most people, especially those attracted to loud music, MacNeil, bassist Chris Steele, and drummer Jordan Hastings), have, at one point or another, regardless of where you come from, problooks relaxed and is open and earnest when discussing the gen- ably felt ‘othered’ in some sort of way. I felt very different since I was very esis of his band’s latest record, Otherness, out now via Dine Alone young, and I think everybody in the band has felt different,” says Pettit. Records. Smoothly pushing his long locks back, Pettit says in a calm voice that the concept of otherness is something that has colored However, this sense of difference helped Pettit find his band members, as his existence at every life stage. he believes, “We found each other because we’re different. We met in the

“WE WERE ALL EXPERIENCING ALL OF THE SAME THINGS, THE WHOLE PANDEMIC AND THEN THE GENERAL STATE OF POLITICS AND PEOPLE. IT CAN BE A NEVER-ENDING SLOG TO PROCESS ALL OF THAT.”

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secret corners of music and culture “a little bit separate from the general and art and that raised us. Now in understanding of what normal is.” our adult lives, even those moments where we’re doing something com- With lyrics penned by guitarist Wade pletely mundane and normal, it’s MacNeil, the single “San Soleil” is always there with you, that sensation inspired by a breakup. “It’s mostly that you’re a very different person.” about him (MacNeil) processing a lot of complicated feelings in his life. I think Although Pettit says that people can in- it works really well as a song because terpret the album’s title in different ways, it doesn’t rely on a great deal of metit’s mostly about that “sensation” of being aphor; it’s just very straightforward.”

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An emotional and earnest tune, the song sees MacNeil put his myriad feelings into words and seeks to have listeners dream of a future in which all their pain and hurt is behind them, enabling them to look forward. Due to the song being one that’s “plainly stated and beautiful,” Pettit believes the track is the “most effective song we’ve released on the record.”

Making it even more impactful is the song’s release being connected to recent events and the uncertainty of the state of the world, something that the band was enduring collectively. “We were all experiencing all of the same things, the whole pandemic and then the general state of politics and people. It can be a never-ending slog to process all of that.” For Pettit, it was “a matter

PHOTO Kristin Breitkreutz

in our pockets that just show us all the horrors of the world. There’s still a lot of really good things out there that are worth fighting for.”

DEAD TIRED

In keeping with the buoyant nature of the album, a previously released track off of the record entitled “Sweet Dreams of Otherness” sees the band attempting to fit into a strange reality, being honest about that process, and infusing hope into art at a time when music lovers need it most. Otherness is the band’s first fulllength effort in over 13 years, with the band approaching the 20-year anniversary of the release of their debut self-titled album. Formed in Ontario in 2001, the Canadian post-hardcore band released their first full-length record, Old Crows/ Young Cardinals, in 2009, before separating two years later due to Green and MacNeil diving into new projects, and personal issues among the remaining members. Since then, Alexisonfire performed reunion shows in 2015, and just played the Slamdunk Festival. Regarding performing, Pettit has learned one thing over the course of his music career: performances don’t have to be perfect to be great and capture people’s attention. “Back when we were touring eight months out of the year and really traveling hard, I got to a point where performance didn’t really move me anymore. I knew how to perform but it wasn’t moving—I was on the back of a tour bus with my wife, and we were watching a DVD and someone came and knocked on the door and said, ‘You have 10 minutes before we play,’ and I was like ‘OK.’ So I paused the DVD; I went on stage; I played for an hour and a half, took a shower, came back on the bus, unpaused the DVD, and laid there. My wife yelled at me, and she was like, ‘How do you do that? What are you doing?’ It was like nothing.”

of time” before the current state of affairs entered the creative process. “You want to vent and use your creative outlet to vent those feelings around that. It resonates for me as well because as much as I get down on the world or different things, I do feel hopeful. I think it’s harder to shake the core good of most people, even though we have these things

Now that Pettit is older and performs less often, he “feels the nerves of performing more.” But that nervous energy makes performing easier. To the vocalist, performing is a commitment to letting yourself go and isn’t “something you can act through.” With upcoming summer performances, Pettit will get plenty of practice in making the most of that nervous energy. For now, Otherness will help Pettit “elevate and take it to the other place while embracing difference in all of its glory.”💣💣💣

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST GEORGE PETTIT BY ASHLEY OKEN

anadian punk/hardcore outfit Dead Tired, comprised of drummer Theo McKibbon, vocalist George Pettit, bassist Nick Ball, guitarist Mark “Sparky” Bressette, and guitarist Frank Stefanik, mix a blend of genres on their new album, Satan Will Follow You Home out now via New Damage Records. On this, Pettit says, “We all have a lot of different influences from a lot of different realms of music. Sometimes you want to get that out, and sometimes songs you write for one band aren’t necessarily suitable for another.” Composed of 10 new, unrelenting tracks, the record mixes punk, hardcore, and sludge, making for a cathartic and chaotic listening experience. Previously released track “Domestic,” accompanied by a music video, drives this description home with its thick chords and aggressive sound while the album’s title track is inspired by “the root of evil and how evil is acting in one’s self-interest.”

Started as a “fun, informal project for guys with more formal ones on the go from arena touring rock bands, to thriving recording studios, tattoo parlors, and other endeavors,” according to a press release, the band have managed to create a record worthy of a full-time gig. Inspired by the Dead Kennedys and early Converge, the band released their self-titled album in 2015 followed by three EPs Vol. One (2016), Vol. Two (2017), and Vol Three (2018) Pettitt says listening to hardcore punk when he stared the band is what inspired them to make their first record one of the same genre. Over time, the band have evolved through member changes; however, Pettit doesn’t have a desire to make an Alexisonfire record without those particular band members. “I want to make different-sounding things with different people.” Satan Will Follow You Home may sound like a cool title, but there’s a real-life story behind the inspiration for the album name. With his blue eyes growing wide, Pettit recounts a dream he had. “I live a couple of blocks over from an abandoned mental health facility that’s probably the creepiest building you’ll ever go to. I jog by it all the time. There’s a field right next to it. I had this ridiculous dream one night where these witches tried to conjure the devil, and the devil rose from the ground right next to the mental health facility, and I ran home. I could tell that the devil was coming to my house. I got really scared, and I woke up.” When Petit woke up the next day, an individual had spray painted the phrase “Satan Will Follow You Home” on the building. Not a superstitious person, Pettitt says the occurrence stuck with him for a while, and he thought it would be a great name for the record. A conglomeration of fast punk tones and moody “stoner rock” songs, Satan Will Follow You Home captures the rock veterans making the genre sound vivacious. 💣

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HOW THE WORLD SHUTTING DOWN OPENED A WILD WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES.

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST KEVIN BIVONA BY FRANCESCA TOROK

“WE WERE GETTING READY TO GO INTO THE STUDIO BEFORE THE WHOLE WORLD SHUT DOWN”

is a statement that could come from pretty much every band active right now, but for Kevin Bivona and The Interrupters, the pause that the pandemic brought on turned into a reflective moment that would inspire their new album, In The Wild.

us as kids, and you know, we’re always writing, but the songs that we’d been writing became an autobiographical thing for Aimee where she had this collection of songs that were stories from her life. She’d never really done that on an Interrupters record before, we always kind of spoke more generally, third person, but this was a lot of first-person, very personal stuff.” With a bunch of songs written and inspiration flowing, what’s a band to do in the midst of a global pandemic when all the studios are off-limits? They build their own. “We built (the studio) in our backyard. We just had a little practice room, 10 feet by 20 feet, and as soon as we figured out the world’s not going back to normal anytime soon, we need to have a place we can record music, we built that place in our backyard.”

“It was really sad to think that concerts had just completely gone away, so we decided we’d make a live album from our earlier tour in Japan In their own COVID-secure bubble, and working to their own schedule, so that way, even if there’s no Interrupters concerts for a year, at least the band were able to find the big picture concept they needed for there’s something to grab on to,” Bivona says. “And in the process of the album. doing that, we decided to make a mini documentary that went along with the concert film. We were going through old footage of our lives, of “We had so many ideas, but the collection of songs that everyone was

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PHOTO Erica Lauren PHOTOGRAPHY Erica Lauren

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most excited about were these very put everything we have in us into this personal songs from Aimee’s life, like album and into the future of this band.” “In The Mirror” and “Anything Was Better.”” And that kind of became Putting their heart and soul into the the anchor for the whole album.” Bi- record meant allowing the songs vona reflects. “It made it really easy to guide their own direction, and with all of the song ideas to be like Kevin says the band were the most let’s save that one for later, let’s not open-minded they’ve ever been. do that one right now. Let’s just stick “One of the first songs that was written to these ones that are really close to was “Alien,” which is the ballad at the her heart, close to all of our hearts.” end of the record. There’s no guitar on that song at all, which is funny And (because) we recorded at because we’re a guitar band and home, if Aimee wanted to do vocals we’re a punk rock band, but that song at three in the morning, it’s a four wanted to be what it became.” second walk to our backyard. And she did do vocals at three in the “With the places Aimee went lyrically morning. We were able to stay very we just followed along and it was close because we were in our own because of that we found ourselves little bubble. There isn’t any other pushing into other musical areas time we’ve made a record at a stu- that we haven’t gone before, but it dio like that.” still feels like us. I never felt like we were stretching it so much that it was For In The Wild, Aimee was able to uncomfortable. We’re only going into look at her life as an open book, places that felt right and felt natural.” finding catharsis in closing chapters each time she finished a song. And That family feel extends into every for Kevin, as not just her bandmate aspect of the band’s career and but husband too, it was a rewarding may well be the key to their tremenexperience to witness her putting dous success. “We have to be able such vulnerable parts of herself into to trust each other. There’s no one words. “The whole world doesn’t person in the band that dictates know her story the way I know it, so everything. It’s all about being able watching her finally be ready to put to coexist and bring out the best in these ideas out there and just be each other and help people in the really vulnerable in that way was so places where maybe they’re not rewarding for me to watch as a fan strongest and then accept their help of her as an artist.” in places where maybe you’re not the strongest,” Bivona says. “I am constantly in awe of her strength and vulnerability throughout life. “If we’re not happy as people and our Once you get to know someone relationships aren’t there, the muand you’re like, OK, this is an area sic’s not going to be good; the tour we don’t go, and then you see them isn’t going to be fun. We always try to break those barriers down and go surround ourselves with people that into those areas, it’s inspiring.” we love and keep them as long as we can. We’ve had the same managers, Kevin was a producer on the album, been on the same label, we’ve been as well as writer, guitarist, and vo- with the same booking agent, our calist, but none of those roles mean crew that we tour with, forever. We anything if he’s not holding up his try to just stick with the people we role as brother and husband. “It’s love and approach every situation everything about our band being a like family, and then everything else family and being as tight knit as we just falls into place.” are, that type of energy makes all of us want to be better performers, Being one of the biggest supporters better musicians, better songwriters, of The Interrupters, Tim Armstrong better people to each other. (For has appeared on each of the the) writing and recording process, band’s album since their 2014 debut. we’ve never been so close. Everyone They’ve played together a lot over really put a lot of heart and soul into the years but playing as part of an the whole process,” Bivona reminisces. Operation Ivy reunion wasn’t something Kevin ever imagined. “We kind of all agreed this is our fourth album, let’s go places we’ve “It was a pretty surreal moment. We never gone before. If we don’t do it got asked if we would backup memnow, when are we going to, what are bers of The Specials, and it didn’t we waiting for? Nothing is promised. really hit us until we got into band We had this realization that we can practice with Terry Hall and Horace lose this at any moment, so let’s just Panter. It was incredible,” he gushes.

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“I AM CONSTANTLY IN AWE OF (AIMEE’S) STRENGTH AND VULNERABILITY THROUGHOUT LIFE. ONCE YOU GET TO KNOW SOMEONE AND YOU’RE LIKE, ‘OK THIS IS AN AREA WE DON’T GO,’ AND THEN YOU SEE THEM BREAK THOSE BARRIERS DOWN AND GO INTO THOSE AREAS, IT’S INSPIRING.” “Jesse Michaels is also friends with the ”The more Aimee has opened up in people that put on the Rock n’ Roll this band and told personal stories, Carnival, and still very close with Tim. even from back on our first record We got up there and did “Sound Sys- with a song like “Easy On You” to tem” and we’ve been covering that our second record, with a song like song in The Interrupters for years “Turntable” to our third record with but hearing his vocals and having “Titleholder” and “Gave You “EveryTim during the bridge, it was like an thing,” people are always reaching out-of-body experience. We were so out to her saying, ‘This song helped lucky to be involved in all of that.” me through a hard time.’ Anytime anybody comes up to us and says Tim Armstrong isn’t the only genre our record helped them with anygreat the band collaborated with on thing, that’s exactly what music has In The Wild though. ““As We Live” was always done for all of us. If you could a song that Tim kind of brought to put on this record and you’re having us, and it had such a great two-tone a party, and you’re just wanting muenergy so we asked Rhoda Dakar sic to have a good time, that’s great. from The Bodysnatchers to be on it. If you’re having a hard day and you It’s great because it’s three genera- can put on this record, and it can tions of ska, you have the two-tone help you. Anything this record could era, the 90s third-wave era, and this do—if you’re trying to keep the door newer era,” Bivona says. open because there’s a nice breeze and you just want to use the vinyl to “And then we have “Burdens,” bring- prop the door—whatever you could ing in Hepcat. We just always heard use this record for that will make their voices on it. Their harmonies your day better, we would be so were so great, their energy in the grateful to hear about it. And that’s it. studio was incredible. They were having such a great time, and they “And the day it comes out, August brought this brightness to the track. 5, it’s not ours anymore, it’s everyWe were just smiling ear to ear the body’s. And that’s how we feel playwhole time they were singing. ing these shows, it’s everybody together, having a shared experience “And The Skints are a band we always of celebrating music and forgetting wanted to collaborate with. We had this about all the other stuff that’s going song that just felt like would be a great on in the world and just really sharcollaboration with them. They were in ing a beautiful, genuine moment, London, so we sent it to them. And then and hopefully listening to this record they did some parts and sent it back will be very similar to that.” it was really fun because we’ve never done anything like that before where And in case you’re wondering what we were sending stuff back and forth. the future looks like for The Interrupters, just look at the album title. “It’s “Like I said, [it’s about] surrounding been really fun playing shows again. yourselves with the people you trust We’re really excited to go back to and having them lend an ear and Europe and to go back to the U.K. I’m lend their abilities and talents, so really excited about playing the new we know that we’re doing the best songs,” Kevin says. “We haven’t put out we can with everything we’re doing. a full-length album for years, it’s going I love everybody involved on this to be so fun to put new songs in the whole record and I can’t wait for it set, and just see how it feels, I’m really to come out for the world to hear.” excited about that. Going as many places as possible, because we were When the album does come out, locked in our house for years and I Kevin says it not the band’s anymore, want to go see the world and play it belongs to the fans. some music.” 💣💣💣

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country artists their lyrics were really fucked up and I really love that.”

“AS A SOCIETY, WE’RE GOING BACKWARDS, AND IT’S TIME TO MOVE BACK INTO OUR CAVES.”

OUT OF THE SHRIMP SHACK AND INTO THE CAVE

VIAGRA BOYS INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST SEBASTIAN MURPHY BY TYLER SOVELOVE

iagra Boys are a serious force to be reckoned with. Fueled by a wailing saxophone, post-punk swagger, sarcasm, and empathy, they’ve quickly carved a path into the walls of legendary punk status. Their latest record, and perhaps most experimental, Cave World is a musical soup that combines the best of punk, freeform jazz, and old school country, among many other influences. It’s a record born out of the turmoil and instability of the world in the last few years.

“The meaning behind the title is just where I think we belong. As a society, we’re going backwards, and it’s time to move back into our caves,” explains Murphy with an unsettling level of certainty. “When I wrote the lyrics, I was watching a lot of YouTube documentaries about monkeys and evolution and stuff like that. Also, news channels and commentary channels on current events and fucked up shit that was going on,” he continues. “Especially in the U.S with all of the people fighting about, you know, wearing a mask or not wearing a mask or taking a vaccine. I kind of just mashed it all together in some weird mixture of evolution and current world problems and hoped that there would be some sort of connection.”

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On the music video for “Punk Rock Loser,” you can find Murphy at his peak cowboy. Donning boots, spurs, and a gun on his hip, the video captures a bit of that outlaw spirit albeit with a sprinkle of Viagra Boys humor. The video for “Ain’t No Thief” is a chaotic fiesta where Murphy plays the part of a shady televangelist. Both brilliant in their own right, the pair of videos were a collaborative process between the band and the director. “Eric the director had some ideas for both videos after listening to my feedback, and I thought they sounded great, so I just went with it,” explains Murphy. “He let a lot of it be up to improve. Saying, like, I’m going to film this, and I’m thinking that you just do your thing, but the whole premise of the videos he came up with. You know that I was going to be in a church or that I would be a cowboy. We filmed it in Romania. In Romania’s Hollywood, which is also a funny idea to me. I kind of hate music videos, and I hate doing it, but the end result was pretty cool.” You can’t go far listening to Viagra Boys without hearing some sort of reference to shrimp. From the track “Shrimp Shack” to the kickass live Shrimp Sessions, it’s become ubiquitous with the band. No example is more glaring than the legally registered company Shrimptech Enterprises created by Murphy.

It’s not entirely an end of the world-type with perhaps the most predominant record. Take the track “Ain’t No Thief,” being the influence of country. which combines probably the most clas“Shrimptech Enterprises is all of our sic Viagra Boys sound with a level of sar- “I think that comes from just when I was creative ideas put into one big fake casm so high few would dare approach. a kid, my dad used to play a lot of Hank company. When we first started out there Williams at home,” Murphy responds. “I was a lot of talk about shrimps and that’s Musically Cave World flirts with different fell in love with Hank Williams, and that’s a reference to amphetamine, but since genres and experiments with new sounds always been a huge inspiration to me. I’ve stopped doing amphetamines it’s for Viagra Boys. Built off of the sound of Just the spirit of country in general, this gone on to be this creative world, and I post-punk and hardcore, the group lonesome sound. Being a bit desperate like the idea of world building. I just love finds themselves pulling new influences and also how country can be a bit con- this idea that there’s this huge company from jazz, krautrock, and noise music, tradictory of itself. A lot of these outlaw behind everything we do.” 💣💣💣 PHOTOGRAPHY Rachel Shorr

PHOTOGRAPHY Rachel Shorr

A JOURNEY FROM THE LIGHT INTO THE DARK

PIANOS BECOME THE TEETH PHOTO Micah E. Wood

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST MIKE YORK BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

ianos Become The Teeth (PBTT) ently, but more so just the constantly “There’s a lot of soundscapes of volatility of the echoes, and just how have finally become the creature coming back to it, kind of record things that we were recording from,” it was just warping itself because they debuted with 2014’s mag- when we started putting it together. says York. “We wrote a lot of this up at the tape on that was from the orignum opus, Keep You. The pensive We wanted something that felt super a house that my uncle owns in (the) inal tape. We started putting all the post-hardcore band of yore is some- immersive. I think throughout all of woods (in) Virginia. And a lot of it was songs basically through this thing. thing completely different from their our records, we’ve always tried to just the sounds of when it would rain There’s a lot of places in the record inception in 2006, but they’re also the build something (where) the songs there, and we’d be talking outside that we specifically wanted to make same. Drift, out August 26 via Epitaph would flow into each other or create and walking around and just the it feel as though something was Records, is their most intimate and an environment of listening. We’re ambience of the spaces. I feel like falling apart or degrading. But what powerful record since their breakout not much of a single band usually. we wanted to create something that I think was really cool was we were record, The Lack Long After, and that’s You have to take the whole thing as when you put your headphones on, able to put them together is if there not an accident at all. Paired with the the whole piece together, but there’s it’s like you’re in a space now. You’re were different, almost characters, same producer as they did back then, something special about this record. not listening to a record. You’re in a where you’d have the main part and Kevin Bernsten, PBTT are as emotionspace that takes you through these these weird echoes that you aren’t ally charged and loud as you’d hope, “This is my favorite thing we’ve ever little chapters of this night. We spent sure are there.” but there’s something extra to this done just first and foremost,” York a really, really long time trying to pull record that is beautiful in a way that adds, a notion that most artists things apart, and put them together “I’ve always wanted to create somefew records ever reach. would echo, but one that is abso- … it took about a year to get it re- thing where you couldn’t grasp it on lutely true in this case. “I feel like corded and mixed … I think it really the first listen,” he continues. “Drift So much of that has to do with the one of the cool things about it is started taking on a life of its own at feels like you’re listening to someperformances and engineering of that just from that first opening the tail end of that.” body’s inner monologue versus a Drift. The listener is going to discover of “Out of Sight” it’s almost like this record. Honestly, I’m proud of us as more with each rotation of this record moment where you’re just floating. Drift is very visual and plays off of a band to be able to have gotten but will also discover more with each It’s just a very light moment, and it the idea of light and dark. There’s here with that because I think that is type of listening equipment. Good has this beautiful lightness to us until a cinematic, psychological horror something that I strived to do forever, headphones, earbuds, speakers. the bass comes in and brings this vibe to much of the record, yet it’s and us five together. I feel like (we) There’s just so much to appreciate. It’s darkness. I feel like the whole record oddly hopeful. just dove in as hard as we could like when you re-watch or re-read a ebbs and flows like one long night. It and truly just tried to consistently favorite story, you pick up on different starts at twilight and then thrusts you “I think one of the things that I really make something that was a bit weird little things. This is a fucking heavy al- into the deepest part of the darkest wanted to convey,” York says, “is this or a bit more different each time bum, but subsequent listens reveal just part of the night. And then slowly as sense of either disorienting or stuff that you would listen to it. I think we how throbbing and electronic and the record ends, you start get a peek falling apart. Or moments where tried to exemplify if a song felt like you’d feel like, ‘Why is this happen- it should be disorienting and feeling noisy this record is. of the light again.” ing within this song there?’ I work like it should be falling apart or feel “You know what, that is very intention- Part of that sense of time and place at a guitar amp builder, and there fucked up. I think audibly, we could al,” says guitarist Mike York. “Maybe only happens when you can get away was this old, ‘60s Echoplex (that I take the lyrics and make it happen.” less of wanting it to translate differ- to record, and Drift is no exception. was able to bring home). I loved the 💣💣💣

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THE APOCALYPSE IS UPON US

Sanders’ music prior, showcasing plenty of “end-of-the-world drums.” The songs that make up Saurian Apocalypse weave together hard-hitting, calamitous details that paint a picture of hopelessness and devastation. “I remember that the first couple of pieces written, “Skull Fuck Ritual” and “The Sun has Set on the Age of Man,” suggested the Saurian Apocalypse idea to me, and the genesis of a vague story line concept: Mankind destroys itself, and reptiles and insects take over the planet,” explains Sanders. The music and story then began to just feed off of each other.

PHOTO Nill Silver

KARL SANDERS INTERVIEW BY SEAN MCLENNAN

aving built his reputation around being the founding member, primary songwriter, lead guitar player, and vocalist for ancient Egyptian-themed death metal band Nile, Karl Sanders is someone who’s become greatly respected as a prominent musician within the world of extreme metal.

Through further exploration of Egyptian history, religion, music, science, and mythology, Sanders has been able to fully enrich the atmosphere of Nile’s music over the past 28 years. Surrounding the band’s ferociously fast and brutal-natured death metal sound comes a wealth of Middle Eastern and Egyptian folk ambience and acoustics, vocal chants, and orchestral components.

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Many of the aforementioned ancient, traditional musical elements that have served as interludes or intro and outro segments on Nile records became the focal sounds for Sanders’ solo endeavor. He revealed his project back in 2004 with the release of the debut full-length Saurian Meditation. His follow-up, Saurian Exorcisms, was released in 2009, and after nearly 13 years, Sanders unleashed the third chapter of his entrancing saga, Saurian Apocalypse, on July 22 via Napalm Records. For Sanders and his vision for Nile early on, “The wealth of Egyptian history… seemed an unending wellspring from which to draw upon and explore. I also really enjoyed the possibilities of working with Eastern modal tonalities and how they applied so fluidly

with the guitar… evil fourth and fifth parallel guitar riffing, ominous octaves, war horns, cinematic tympanies, war drums, and evil mummy vocals. It all just seemed so natural and obvious to me.”

He continues, “To me, the track, “An Altered Saurian Theta State,” just sounded exactly like these reptile overlords in their subterranean lair, cracking open skulls of human slaves in chains, licking up the brain goo and tripping balls, astral projecting and traveling out of body, back and forth in time.”

“While I was writing the album, I think for me, the stark realities of the pandemic had peeled back a veil of complacency we as a society had all been lulled into. It revealed a whole ghastly trove of human selfishness and failings of us all as a collective. Making the record was my way of coping with the unwanted, unasked-for horrors I was seeing in the news every day and in how people were treating each other.”

Having become fascinated by the ancientness of it all, Sanders Although Sanders tries his best to explains, “Egypt and Sumeria were create positive experiences with already ancient civilizations, thou- the time he has in life, he mentions, sands of years old at the time of Ju- “Sometimes one just has to create lius Caesar, and that was over 2,000 some dark art in order to get on years ago. Humans have time and with life and not be consumed by it.” time again, risen to great heights of civilized development, yet each His hope for listeners is that they get and every time fail so utterly, falling something positive from listening to to ruin and dust. That, to me, is a his music as well. fascinating reveal of some of the darker natures of man.” “There is some sort of calming, hypnotic effect this music has on me, With that in mind, his newest effort and I feel a sort of narcotic inner is noticeably darker, heavier, and peace when I listen to this record.” far more percussive sounding than 💣💣💣

PHOTOGRAPHY Katja Kuhl

ARCH ENEMY

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST/BACKING VOCALIST MICHAEL AMOTT BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

o stranger to the world of death metal superhero status, Arch Enemy are finally returning with their latest, Deceivers, out August 12 via Century Media Records. Still heavy and melodic as ever, this new record pushes the boundaries of their sound without reinventing the wheel.

those and building it up. It’s a lengthy process but very enjoyable and creatively rewarding. While the band have naturally grown and changed, Amott says he believes the band has stayed true to their early musical foundation, and it shows. They still channel the same melody in their lyrics that established them as some of the pioneers of the melo-death genre, and they still do it well.

“I’m always collecting riffs and musical ideas, maybe a lyric here and there, but it’s not too serious, and I just end up having a lot of these fragments on Of course, we would be remiss not to my phone and computer,” says metal mention the contributions of frontguitar legend Michael Amott about woman Alissa White-Gliz, who conthe process behind the record. “The tributed greatly to the album. writing process for what eventually became the Deceivers album started “Myself and Alissa split the lyric writing becoming more serious and focused duties on Deceivers, and I wouldn’t in January 2020. say there is an overarching theme on the album, although we have recently “The way we went about it was pretty spoken to some music journalists in much the same as always: Myself and interviews that certainly have found Daniel (Erlandsson, drums) begin one–which is cool! One of my favorjamming and working out the basic ites that Alissa wrote for this album is song structures, and from that point “House of Mirrors,” which was born out on, it’s a matter of embellishing on of her experiences and thought pro-

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cess during times of lockdowns and gust with six European festival shows isolation in 2020. One of the songs that and are planning more touring even I wrote lyrics for is “Sunset over the into 2023. This fall and winter, you Empire,” and I wish it wasn’t as timely can catch them on tour with Beheas it’s turned out to be now with the moth, Carcass, and Unto Others. ongoing war in Ukraine. But overall, the lyrics go in all kinds of directions “The plan is to go everywhere, all corand cover a lot of ground.” ners of the world … that’s what we usually do, and we’re all looking forward The band will be tearing it up this Au- to doing it again,” Amott says. 💣💣💣

FUTURE STATIC N

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST AMARIAH COOK AND GUITARIST RYAN QUALIZZA BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

ormally, static signals a bad connection, or the loss of something you previously had. For Australian metalcore act Future Static, any fizzle (or sizzle) you hear is the sound of their very bright future. The band has a sonic fearlessness akin to Spiritbox and fellow countrymen Northlane. Both of the songs that are out now, “Waves” and “Venenosa,” from their forthcoming full-length showcase how adept they are at emotional storytelling and leveraging lyrical concepts into distinct, dynamic ragers. “I think this sort of early on in our career, we’re just sort of honing in on our sound,” says guitarist Ryan Qualizza. “But at the moment, we’re just sort of doing whatever the fuck we want, and whatever sounds cool to us at any given point in time.”

band, but a lot of what Ryan writes shapes what I do on top of it.” There’s this synergy between the instrumentals and vocals that feels like Future Static’s hallmark, and it’s evident even just conversing with the two of them at almost midnight, Melbourne time. There’s definitely a voice in the instrumentals, which makes the interweaving of music and vocals so much more powerful. It sometimes feels like the voices are speaking together in perfect harmony. “Well, it’s funny you should bring that up,” Qualizza notes, “because call and response is a huge pillar of the

like, ‘Oh, Jack sent through a new riff idea.’ ‘Ami sent through a new vocal demo or sent through lyrics.’ It’s just like unwrapping all these really sick presents from your band members. (It) put a bit of sunshine on the dreariness that was the last two years. So yeah, that was cool.” Cook dug deep into personal experiences when writing the lyrics. “I have an autoimmune disease, and it comes and goes. It’s like that flow. I have good times, and I have bad times,” she says. “(“Waves”) is about the feeling of just being overwhelmed by everything, of wanting to do things and not being able to and knowing

stuff started coming out of my skin. I jumped in the shower and was trying to scrub it off, and I realized that all of the negativity that I was feeling was because I was being a horrible person to people. I was the toxic influence. And it was just like after that little trip I took, I went back home and I was like, ‘Okay. Time to stop being a horrible person.’” That vivid, inspired experience directly fed into the horror-themed music video. It feels like Cronenberg directing his take on the Evil Dead films, where the demons you have to exorcise were yours all along. “[Our bassist Kira Neil] is really into films in general,” says Qualizza. “She loves all the horror stuff, Evil Dead, The Brood, all those ‘80s schlocky body horror movies. She wrote this amazing treatment around the idea of “Venenosa,” and all these different things that would happen to the band members as they went into this creepy house.”

Vocalist Amariah “Ami” Cook is a new addition to the band and a powerhouse behind the mic. Her unique vocal abilities clearly contribute to the multifaceted music on display. “I guess The two new songs definitely I’ve always enjoyed writing feel and sound brighter than vocals and lyrics, and kind their debut EP, Fatalist, which of taking somebody’s song featured a different vocalist. and trying to perceive what it wants to portray in a way, “Fatalist was one of the most or what it can portray,” she nihilistic pieces of work that says of the collaborative I’ve written as an instrumenPHOTO process. “When Ryan talist,” says Qualizza. “It was Andrew Basso brought an instrumental just this feeling that nothing out, we’ll listen to it a couple of times way I write music. You hear it a lot in that your body’s just going to give up was going to get better. Everything’s and before I even start thinking about “Waves.” I’ll play the same riff twice, on you even though you really want to fucked, and there’s nothing you can melodies or anything, just really but the tail end will be a little bit dif- be doing things. It’s also a reminder do about it, just in the instrumentals acknowledge how it makes me feel ferent. The first riff’s saying, ‘Hello,’ to take a breath and just let your alone. I’m a little bit older than I was inside first. And then I’ll connect that and then the second riff is saying, ‘Hi, body do what it has to do, and rest as back then, you know? I don’t want to something that I could possibly how are you?’ It’s a really powerful much as you can. And when you are to say I’m this old guru who knows write about, or sometimes I’ll have thing. It creates that conversation, feeling good, go for it. Just go hard. everything about everything and is poems or lyrics that would fit well with which is sick. But as a guitarist, I’m It doesn’t matter if it’s going to come content with their life. But I’ve sort of the vibe of the song. I definitely feel always just trying to write the best back. Just go hard. Do everything learned that being cynical and just like the music that Ryan was writing song possible. And then obviously that you possibly can. Drain yourself, being this sad sack doesn’t get you called for a lot more screaming than Ami, as the singer, is trying to write and then have your months of rest. anywhere. It doesn’t make you better. I initially was comfortable doing, but I the best song possible, so yeah, it It doesn’t make you smart or clever all sort of speaks to each other. It’s “And then “Venenosa” is about a or cool. We’re getting old. The joints found a real love for it…” made writing this new album a bit of time where I guess I was feeling very are getting squeaky [laughs]. There’s down,” Cook expands. “There was hope in this new record, and we’re “We kind of shoved you in the deep end a dream, which is fantastic.” a lot of bad energy in my life, and I exploring new territory just by trying right away, huh?” Qualizza chuckles. The pandemic also provided a silver wasn’t entirely sure what was going to be happy. It’s awesome.” “Oh yeah. It’s like, ‘I could sing over lining in how the writing process on. I wasn’t feeling connection with this, but it just really needs it. It really rolled out, as Qualizza explains, “We’d people as much as I normally would. “I just want to uplift everyone,” Cook needs some screams here. I’m just lock ourselves in our separate studios. I went on a little self-adventure down adds, “even though the stories are so going to do it. It just has to happen.’ That was a really cool experience. It to a beach area for one night and dark. I always want to make people I guess my vocal writing and lyrical was like Christmas every day. You’d had a really weird experience where feel good, and that’s the intention compositions could have shaped the wake up one morning and it would be I just had this horrible dream. Black behind it.” 💣💣💣

NEW NOISE 59

PHOTO Kenny Savercool

END IT INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST AKIL GODSEY BY HUTCH

DEFIANT. ENERGETIC. CHAOTIC. Fronted by vocalist Akil Godsey, End It drives direct intent burdened by a sincere purpose with their lyrics. Search End It on YouTube and get a litany of explosive sets (most in the hate5six library) or one of the band’s bad ass videos, “Hatekeeper” or “New Wage Slavery.” The five-piece dropped a Self-Titled EP in 2017 and in 2020 spat out One Way Track. Now the band gifts the hardcore scene with Unpleasant Living with the aid of Flatspot Records. Birthed in Baltimore, MD, if someone didn’t tell you prior, the band will let you know that fact within seconds. Godsey answers the phone already laughing. A vibrancy pulses through the phone. His demeanor and the exuberance belie what he addresses vocally regarding a community’s rage stemming from poverty, racism, neglect, and struggle. And violence is always one wrong step away. End It’s brand of hardcore is lightning fast, broken up by a welcome groove or two-step part or breakdowns. Their presence is kinetic. Stagnation or repetition is not a musical option. End It is Baltimore through and through, visually and in the per-

60 NEW NOISE

sonality. Baltimore bands such as I noted, “I would have been like you is very important. And that’s cool. Stout, Gut Instinct, Next Step Up, and gone to both.” His amused retort, But, in terms of this hardcore shit. You Slumlords, and Trapped Under “How do you think I got here? I didn’t either fuck with hardcore or you don’t. Ice have left imprints that course know I wasn’t supposed to see both. Me and a lot of my dudes, at a certain through their blood. But sparked by Just like I didn’t know I couldn’t be a point, you not supposed to come to a fresh originality, End It infuse some punker or a skinhead and be in the these shows and be concerned with being Black. I came here to see the heavies from NYHC, such as Leeway, choir and play sports.” bands. We already know how to treat Cro-Mags, Maximum Penalty, and District 9. Godsey has a brazen love The virtue of that quip opened a big each other. […] You either gonna for those bands. window. Godsey can embrace all come for the music, ultimately, (and) versions of himself because there is dig out your own hole. After a while, “That’s my shit. Max Pen. That joint only one: refuting norms and tropes. people going to learn to respect with the speakerbox (Independent, The choir admission explains his and conduct themselves properly. If IJT Records) or the two girls on the purpose-driven, preacher-inspired they don’t – after you’ve established front (Superlife, Gypsy Records) affability, combining determina- yourself – ya feel me? I’m almost 15 with “Could You Love Me” and all tion and a gregarious tone. The years into this shit. I wish a motherthose songs… when I got exposed to sports reference explains the ener- fucker would come around talking that side of hardcore, that’s what I gy and tenacity. Baltimore did not ‘nig nogs’ and shit like they used back in the day. Thinking it was funny to wanted to hear. That stuff is good. defeat Godsey, it molded him. sieg heil in the pit and what not. And Max Pen don’t get the appreciation. Burn, Absolution don’t get the Hardcore has exploded to em- (when I was) new here, I just can’t respect they deserve, in my profes- bracing a larger spectrum of races, start shit, but you hang around long sional opinion. Supertouch, Fahr- ethnicities, genders, and sexuality. enough, you’ll see that shit fade out. enheit 451 – all that weirdo NYHC To people who got through the 80s Hardcore takes care of itself. Just shit. Remember, I’m coming from and 90s, this is a relief. All the lessons come be who you are.” 💣💣💣 Baltimore by way of DC. Nation of that these white males were preachUlysses, that DC hardcore. I love ing are tangibly coming to fruition. those dissonant chords. It’s weird, Baltimore legends Stout and Gut but it’s still hard. I love that shit.” Instinct had Black guys in the band and that impact had to be huge. Godsey reflects on the old division of Akil continues this tradition and is Baltimore. cognizant, but also sheds that categorization and dispels assumptions. “Either you went to The Sidebar, you were a Sidebar kid. That was more “I’m a little bit weird because of the punk, crust punk, streetpunk-type shit, way I was raised. I know I’m Black. I Oi! shit. Madball, Stout … Then, you look in the mirror every day. Hmmm had the Art Space side, which was … how can I word this without soundmore Rival Mob, Mindset, Mental.” ing fucking crazy? Of course, race

PHOTO Josh Maranhas

THE FLATLINERS T

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST CHRIS CRESSWELL BY JOSHUA MARANHAS

and every hobby you have becomes a side hustle, becomes a job, and becomes something that you really rely on monetarily to get by in a world that was kind of stacked against us in part by previous generations. How the world was back then, and how much money was spent on certain things, and how much value was placed in other things— now for a touring musician or anyone who dreams, which happens less and less—anyone busting their ass and trying to make a living, it’s really hard. It’s near impossible to get those kind of important ‘benchmarks’ in your life at a similar rate that our parents did. It’s not necessarily about the timelines as it is just the disparity of the generation. There’s an environmental toll that all that takes. It sometimes feels like there’s not much of a future left for who is always told is the future, which is the children. It can be dark and discouraging. His frame of mind and critical thinking shouldn’t be shocking to people who have listened and have heard Cresswell’s words. “I think fans of the band aren’t surprised that I’m not singing about stuff that makes me happy 20 years in. I never really have. It’s time to take a look at each and every one of ourselves in the mirror and really kind of see how we can each make a difference, how we can each improve ourselves. I think it starts with ourselves. It’s making sure that people are being represented in all corners of the world that have largely turned their backs on them.”

he Flatliner’s New Ruin, out I love it here. I guess it’s been, like three record ‘cuz it’s a serious record, dark, I August 5 on Fat Wreck Chords, years since I’ve been here, but it doesn’t guess. There is a light at the end of the is full of power, anger, and feel like that long. It’s nice to be back.” tunnel. I think there always is with the some darkness. Vocalist and music we write. But that’s the reason it’s songwriter Chris Cresswell If The Flatliners are metaphorically heavy, and that’s the reason it’s angry. had a lot of time to think over the driving a manual stick shift like a It’s because we are, and I hope that past few years. With The Flats living sports car, this is a fast record. If their comes across.” in different cities and off the road last album, Inviting Light, was running due to the pandemic, he had time to strong in fifth gear on the transmission, After 20 years, The Flatliners have made Cresswell sums up The Flatliner’s last tune in and listen to the sound of the they shifted into overdrive. New Ruin is one of their fastest, most powerful few years of reflection, writing, discovalbums— words and chords. A record ering, and the birth of New Ruin. planet. New Ruin isn’t a summation a sixth gear for The Flats. that’s trying to shine a light. All metaof current events, but a sampling of thoughts and feelings gathered from “It’s definitely powerful. It’s got its own phors aside, Cresswell offers his own “We’re very, very happy to be back a big globe with big problems. power. It’s got its own gear to it… defi- comparison and explanation of the doing this and the record we made, I nitely some of the heaviest moments growth in their sound and message. mean, we love the record we make ev“I think with all that downtime over the we’ve ever written musically on this ery time. I sound like a broken record, last couple years, I was able to spend record, and it feels good. I think every “Certain songs like “Unconditional Love,” but it’s kind of a thing with us; we’re some time with my own thoughts and time we get together to do something, we got pretty heavy. Even though it’s not gonna put a record out if we don’t really process a lot of that information. it ends up being a direct response to still melodic, there was still some real really believe in it. That that’s part of I suppose part of my privilege is that I what we did last time. I believe that. kind of heft to it. I think because we the reason why there’s time between wasn’t confronted with those realities I really do believe that some of the were able to access that other side of records and stuff. It’s not that we need all the time. The world around me heaviest moments before New Ruin ourselves musically with Inviting Light, it to reinvigorate our love in what we do really is what it is, I have the outlet to came around were on Inviting Light— frees us up to do the next thing. I think or our belief ourselves, but we like to sing about it. It’s just a whole whirlwind even though there’s also some of the that’s why New Ruin has ended up being let things kind of take its time and kind of frustration.” lightest, most approachable moments a response to Inviting Light, and it turned of reveal themselves to us. We like to out the way it turned out. Another part discover the songs ourselves. It sounds that we’ve had.” After taking a break from touring, The of why it turned out the way it turned a little corny, but when they present Flats are back with new tunes and live Inviting Light is heavy, New Ruin has its out is because of everything that was themselves to us, you know, and with this performances approaching. own weight. It’s fast and powerful, as happening in the world around us all. one, New Ruin, we had a lot of downtime well as serious and sometimes dark. We were, sitting in a really uncomfort- in the last couple years to really sit and “I’m everywhere (at) once all of a sudden, Maybe more than a sports car, it’s able moment and continue to sit in an think and reflect and write and work on after being in one place for so long, and a fully loaded bullet train moving uncomfortable moment.” stuff. Albeit not together cuz not all four it feels good. We just did the first shows through a tunnel striving to find a light, of us live in the same city anymore, but with the Flats back since 2019 in the U.K. looking for an end to the darkness. He breaks the album’s thesis down we were able to make really good use and then I did a little double-duty with further with “Heirloom” as an example. of that time away from the road. It’s got Flats and Hot Water Music at Slam Dunk “As exciting as it is the getting back to some power to it. I’m so thrilled with it— I in England and then went home for 48 playing music and doing this together, ““Heirloom” was a lot about our gener- think people are gonna like it, if not, at hours, and just touched down in Denver. there’s a bit of a different gravity to this ation now having to work twice as hard, least four of us do.” 💣💣💣

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PHOTO Simon Wellington

PHOTO Nedda Afsari

INTERVIEW WITH BAND AND VOCALIST GRAHAM SAYLE BY CALEB R. NEWTON

ondon-based High Vis play a sort of upbeat post-punk, their catchy new album Blending, a September release from Dais Records, is abrasive, but it’s pulsing with life.

“The album is definitely one of hope and reflection,” High Vis say. “Our last LP, No Sense No Feeling, captured the state we were in as people, feeling trapped in patterns of self-destructive behavior with no obvious way out. The subsequent lockdown and isolation cornered us to take action. Blending is the product of hours of trauma-centered therapy, acceptance, and understanding.”

deeper emotional consciousness that a lot of the early post-punk bands invested in. Bands like The Sound and The Chameleons with their barbed, introspective takes on individual hopelessness definitely informed our earlier recordings. But this only further reinforced the kind of nihilistic state we were in at the time. We found inspiration for the new album in an openness to new ways of working and a lowering of our defenses.” High Vis singer Graham Sayle delivers an exuberant performance across the new record, helping it feel anthemic and cultivating a rich sense of communal energy.

Album opener “Talk For Hours” aptly sets the tone. It’s intense but free-flow- “The music definitely feels warm and ing, like a friendly slap on the back ‘Northern’ to me,” Sayle shares. “By from a friend, communicating you warm, I’m referring to the nature of won’t be alone in your struggles. The people from the North of England melodies—placed central to what’s you encounter, good-humored and straight-talking. I grew up in a neglectunfolding—sound genuinely uplifting. ed Merseyside, seaside town called “We definitely never set out to be a New Brighton from 1986 to 2005 and ‘post-punk’ band as such; the genre is then in South East London until now. such a broad term,” High Vis explain. The landscape, experiences I’ve had, “But we definitely connected with the and people I’ve met in these places

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have shaped who I am and informed The bounding energy captured across everything I write about. Severe wealth Blending sounds ready-made to expegaps, neglect, destitution, supportive rience in a crowd. communities, violence, pure kindness, “When we’re writing, we try not to limit and everything in between.” where the song might go by thinking The hazy, mellow title track begins on a about how well it will play with audinoticeably gentle note and moves into ences,” High Vis say. “At the same time, something perhaps surprisingly blissful, if we do hit upon a part that seems like like somehow clutching a ray of light to something a crowd of people might the chest with ragged urgency. That respond to, we tend to work on that bit vibe, although more prominently dis- until it’s refined to a point where it feels like people might sing along to it or kill played here, isn’t dissimilar from the each other to it. As for the live show, the rest of the album. more serious this thing becomes, the “Our expectations are low, so everything more we want to consider and craft an is a gift,” High Vis explain. “We’d love to environment or aesthetic scene where play a big festival to a diverse crowd. the songs can thrive. At the same time, We don’t want our music to alienate smoke and mirrors often mask the true anyone and would love to play more essence of what is behind the music, mixed-bill shows with artists from all so the balance has gotta be right. Ulgenres. The idea of touring on our own timately we wanna play with the same terms and getting time to visit more of energy for everyone, every time we play, until it kills us.” 💣💣💣 the world is super exciting.”

“ULTIMATELY WE WANNA PLAY WITH THE SAME ENERGY FOR EVERYONE, EVERY TIME WE PLAY, UNTIL IT KILLS US.”

OUT NOW

"OTHERNESS IS PURE EAR CANDY, DISPLAYING AN EVOLVED SOUND FROM THE POST-HARDCORE QUINTET, WHILE ALSO DELIVERING FAN SERVICE FOR OLD SCHOOL FANS." — NEW NOISE WWW.THEONLYBANDEVER.COM

ECLECTIC AND UNEXPECTED

BENT BLUE PHOTO Becky DiGiglio

xposed and honest— the songs of San Diego melodic hardcore outfit Bent Blue capture raw emotion with ardent vulnerability while channeling their frustration from a crumbling world through an intense version of punk. The D.C. influence on their new album, Where Do Ripples Go?, out August 19 on WAR Records, is brash and unapologetic— think Rites of Spring, Embrace, Dag Nasty, and add some Western Addiction, Paint It Black and Free.

The casual acceptance of a fickle hardcore fandom is empowering. But the reality of the fantastic record finally sitting in the hands of the fans is a special moment for vocalist Tony Bertolino. “I’m hyped! It feels so good to finally have this thing see the light of day. We recorded the EP back in early 2021

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INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST TONY BERTOLINO BY HUTCH and have had to wait over a year to “Eclectic and Unexpected” is a damn offered meaningful feedback to conget it out because of vinyl plant issues. fine way to put it. While a cohesive sider, and because of his experience We’ve already begun playing some of record which has a bold flow, the twist we trusted him as a sounding board the songs at shows, so it’s going to be and turns are as engaging as they for new ideas. We’re stoked to have cool to have those tracks available are welcome. Recorded and mixed worked with him. for people to get familiar with ahead by Gabe VanBenschoten (producer of time.” of Ancestors, Daisy Chain, Horse the The lyrics for the song “CommodBand), there is a certain ebb and flow ified Existence” is a declaration Reflecting back on the egregious and to the EP. VanBenschoten’s experi- against the willingness of humans low hanging fruit comparison to D.C.’s ence behind the boards aided Bent as consumers to exchange data Revolution Summer, Bertolino admits Blue in honing their ideas and solid- as currency for convenience, ease, but molds his response. ifying the exacting execution. There is and speed, and, Bertolino adds, “as well as the general idea that capia loose, raw feeling to the record. talism requires the objectification “When we were all looking to start a hardcore band, the four of us landed Where Do Ripples Go? is an explosive of humans. Profit motive demands on a handful of old-school influences yet introspective dynamic harnessed low costs and high consumption. we intersected on. Most of these fit within 15 minutes. Bertolino lauds That motivation often incentivizes primarily in the more stoic sounds VanBenschoten for his guidance. companies to pay workers as little of D.C.-style hardcore. But we didn’t “Working with Gabe was such a cool as possible to maximize profit. A lot want to be some kind of style-worship experience. He’s a talented musician, of us forget that our consumption band either and not put out anything which makes him a good partner to comes at the cost of dignity and original. I think the balance has been have in the studio. He was quick to humanity for ‘expendable,’ out-ofstruck by keeping songs eclectic and pick up on the direction we wanted sight workers and the resources of kind of unexpected.” to head in for the record. He always ‘distant’ communities.” 💣💣💣

PHOTO Andy Julia

INTERVIEW WITH PROJECT MASTERMIND KAI UWE FAUST BY DOUGLAS MENAGH

disappeared again,” says Faust. “If we stick to the Vikings, they travelled all around the known world at the time, and they brought everything home, from glass beads to technology to fashion. We can trace their travels down to the Middle East from Scandinavia, from Sweden.”

you. Your poems around the campfire are not there anymore. Can’t you just record them and give them to us?’ My family was missing me. Then I was like, ‘OK, I know that guy; he’s a producer; he probably can record me.’ That is when I walked up to Christopher and said, ‘Hey, Christopher. Can you record a couple poems for me? I’ll make two for you, and then I can send that to family.’ Then we started, and out of it came Heilung.”

In addition to reconstructing music usic with an old Norse newest album from Heilung, out Aug from history in the present, members of twist has existed as a 19th via Season of Mist. While Ofnir Heilung also adapt art from their pasts. genre within metal go- was a masculine album and Futha “Keltentrauer” is based on a poem ing back to the beginnings of hard was a feminine album, the concept Faust wrote almost 20 years ago. rock. Like the stories and mythology of Drif is “throng.” Heilung’s music addresses a broad of that time, music reminiscent of “I was writing that poem in a time spectrum of human experiences, Northern Europe in the days of old “Every song is like a short story that when I was living at a place where including the dark and shadowy keeps finding audiences today. With- could more or less stand for itself,” there were actual combating Celtic aspects of life. in the last decade, however, Viking says Faust. “Every song is very indi- tribes and the Romans,” says Faust. inspired art has expanded into film, vidual, but still ‘gathering’ in that “I went out of my door, and 100 “What we do is describe stuff which is ‘throng’ thing.” television, and literature. meters away from there were old very dark,” says Faust. “When you’re just into light and just into heaven, Roman army barracks.” Over the years, Heilung have been What makes Drif unique from what then you completely lose the roots. instrumental in bringing this style of Heilung have previously done is Faust was deeply involved with Viking As they say in Eastern Buddhism, the music into the mainstream. Kai Uwe how it also explores music in other reenactment and theater perfor- lotus is rooted in the swamp.” Faust, Christopher Juul, and Maria historical periods. On Drif, there mances where he read his poems. When it comes to Heilung’s future as a Franz formed Heilung in 2014. On is a song that was sung by the RoOfnir and Futha, Heilung created man army and a Bronze Age song “At that time, I was part of a super band, Faust emphasizes that having Viking folk metal through counter- carved in tablets from Ugarit. tiny, old-style Viking reenactment fun while making music is imperative. balanced vocals and heavy use of theater group,” says Faust. “Then, I percussion to create the feeling of “There is no culture that popped up moved to Denmark in 2010. After a “It must be fun,” Faust says. “That’s a ritualistic ceremony. Drif is the isolated, had an isolated life, and while, people were like, ‘Kai we miss the most important thing.” 💣💣💣

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Low (So the Rats Can Get ‘Em),” “Grim Reaping,” “Piss Ritual,” “Of Frost and Decay,” and “Walking Corpse” mirror the sentiments behind the LP. “The last one-and-a-half years were so shitty for Erinç and I (that) recording this album was no fun,” he says. “It completely blew and sucked through and through. (… ) Several times, I had to call up Erinç or write him, claiming, ‘… I don’t like the songs, and I don’t think it’s any good.’ Erinç had to reassure me: ‘Hey, no, trust your instincts. It’s good’ because I lost hope several times.” Sakarya concedes that Mantar crafted Pain Is Forever and This Is the End during a difficult time. As for the quality of the material, though, he disagrees with his bandmate.

MAN AR S

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST/VOCALIST HANNO KLÄNHARDT/DRUMMER AND VOCALIST ERINÇ SAKARYA BY KURT ORZECK

imon & Garfunkel. The Everly Brothers. The White Stripes. Mantar.

What do these musical acts share in common? Not much, other than they were (or are) duos. Also, the first three artists listed above are dead, while Germany’s Mantar are still raging harder than… well, most Americans these days.

humbly or sarcastically. He is wearing a sleeveless black T-shirt, a cap promoting German brewery Oettingen, and a permagrin. “We’re just loud.” Like, really loud. Klänhardt and Sakarya bonded, in part, over their love of thrilling heavy music. Sakarya recalls having heard about a bassist who was “killing it” in a local band at just 15 years old. As if on cue, Klänhardt whips out a photo of himself, donning a Metallica T-shirt, on his 15th birthday.

Ten years into their career, the twopiece are marauding back with a new slab of sludge, black metal, and “You had very long hair,” Sakarya quips. melodic doom. Mantar unsheathe their fourth LP, Pain Is Forever and This “We both had long hair,” Klänhardt Is the End, on now via their new label, shoots back, without missing a beat. Metal Blade Records. He further expounds: “I fell in love with One of the Bremen behemoths is Erinç Erinç because he was several years Sakarya, a white-bearded drummer older than I was, and it’s always cool who hits harder than a carpenter to have a big, strong buddy.” hammering a nail into a stud. His partner in crimes and good times The dastardly duo’s comedic rapport is guitarist Hanno Klänhardt, who isn’t always this visible, as they rarely speaks softly in person but screams discuss their music together in public. deafeningly onstage. Sakarya plays But on a rainy evening in May, the the Straight Man, and Klänhardt the perpetually vaping Klänhardt and Wise Guy, with aplomb. Zen-like Sakarya are clearly enjoying each other’s company during a virtu“A lot of the live sensation of Mantar is al conversation online. pure volume—which is great because it covers up that we’re not super-good They’re also acutely attuned to each musicians,” Klänhardt says, either other’s answers to questions—most

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likely, so they don’t miss the opportunity to crack a joke. They also lock gazes during Mantar’s live performances. “We don’t know the songs good enough, so we have to stay in eye contact all the time,” Sakarya says. “If one of us forgets one part, the other one remembers.”

“Because I was not the person who wrote most of the stuff, I have a more objective view of it,” the drummer avers. “I was a little stressed about not having enough time to do it properly. But I was always sure that the songs (…) were the best we ever did.” The admittedly obsessive Klänhardt chimes in: “I’m really glad that Erinç had confidence that the songs were good, because I (didn’t). The way I feel about writing music is, you’re building a house. But (if) you build it from the inside… you’re going to walk into walls. When you build a house from the outside, (you can) step away for a day or two, come back, and check it out from a different angle.” Klänhardt says it’s no coincidence that the first lyric on the album is, “I live in a house that is made out of bones. On every wall hangs a cross.”

Adds Klänhardt: “We started playing live very, very quick(ly) after we start- He further explains that the making ed rehearsing with this band. It was a of the record led him to states of denatural thing for us to set up onstage pression and anxiety. Making matters just as we rehearsed, facing each worse, he spent time in the hospital other. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able recovering from a torn meniscus and to pull off the songs. It became this ACL. The injuries occurred in Germaimage/stage persona kind of thing, ny, where he had traveled to make the but in the beginning, it was practical. new record with Sakarya. We could look at each other and see there’s some nodding here, a wink “It felt for the first time ever that the there …” universe was (pitted) against us,” Klänhardt reveals. One would expect Mantar to be brimming with confidence following the On the other hand, Sakarya maintains wild success (in underground metal, that Mantar’s trials and tribulations at least) of 2018’s The Modern Art of led to an album that is more melodic Setting Ablaze. and pop-structured than their previous studio albums, which also include But making Pain Is Forever and This Is 2014’s Death by Burning and 2016’s the End was as tortured an experience Ode to the Flame. Whether Sakarya’s as the album title suggests. Klänhardt— or Klänhardt’s assessment of the new who recorded, engineered and wrote album is more accurate will be in the the album—candidly admits that ear of the beholder. What matters the entire process was downright most, though, is that Mantar endure. nightmarish. Songs like “Hang ‘Em 💣💣💣

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But after two years of lockdown and personal reflection, the singer realized he was overthinking it—onelinedrawing is who he is. And so with a group of friends, former bandmates, and collaborators, Matranga put together the batch of songs that would usher in the return of his former nom de plume. “It’s the most band atmosphere that I have ever let a solo record be, but that was on purpose. It was like, I want to let people in; I felt so disconnected from the world in so many ways,” Matranga says. “It’s very much just about people connecting through music.” “onelinedrawing was never about me alone. It was about me running around and doing shit with different people, and super heavy stuff, and super soft stuff, and all of the things,” he adds. “It’s just that I guess I’m the constant in it, but all I’m trying to do is get ideas out of my head in as personal and direct a way as possible.” Lyrically, the songs range from upbeat personal ballads-the title track was actually Matranga’s wedding vows—to heavy, down-in-the-dirt, socio-political meditations. But those songs aren’t lectures on civilization gone wrong. They’re candid, heartfelt observations of a person who wants to see progress in the world. “I just want to write songs that certainly pierce my heart and get me to think about things, and get me to check out my blind spots,” he says. “I do believe that being really personal about it is the way to the universal. And if there is any way I’m going to change a heart or a mind around these issues I’m talking about, it’s not going to be with one of my many lectures. I’m just so tired of myself on that level and I just love being as real as I can in the music.”

onelinedrawing INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST JONAH MATRANGA BY COLIN ROBERTS

onah Matranga has built his career on his own terms. The vocalist and songwriter is reluctant to use that word career, but it would be difficult not to think of his musical output from the past 30 years in that manner. He has fronted bands like Far, Gratitude, and New End Original, collaborated with fellow post-hardcore legends, and released his own solo material, occasionally flirting with wider commercial success, all while remaining truly independent.

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Tenderwild is as bright, poppy and clean sounding of a record as Matranga has ever released. It is also as sincere. Navigating the music industry is hard enough, but for a musician who has always done it his own way, the future looks even more difficult; but like he has sung about over the years, he’ll find a way.

His latest album, Tenderwild, out now “When it starts to be a thing that “My music has not changed in the on Iodine Recordings, sees Matranga is commercially appealing, that sense that I adore it and it still comes resurrecting his beloved oneline- disgusts me in a little bit of a way,” from the same place and it will never, drawing moniker some 18 years after Mantranga says. “I started to feel ever, ever, ever fucking be a way to laying it to rest. The name spawned that way a little bit about my little pay the rent,” Matranga says. “I just in 1999 as an outlet to release songs post-hardcore emo scene, because try to be realistic about how I want following the dissolution of Far, at first it was like, ‘We’re breaking to do it and where money is going to but by 2004—amidst an industry all the walls down to really be face come from. So, it is an unsure time for frenzy of pseudonym-driven solo to face with each other,’ and then me—there’s no way around it—and so projects and the mass marketing when that started to be a commer- I’m sticking to what I’ve always known of emo—Matranga had opted for a cial hook that publicists were using which is that this is medicine for me, more traditional approach, playing to make bands cool, I was just not (and) it seems like it can really be medicine for other people.” 💣💣💣 into that.” under his own name.

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CHAT PILE INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST RAYGUN BUSCH AND BASSIST STIN BY NAT LACUNA

ith two EPs, a split, and a movie soundtrack under their belt, Chat Pile’s much-anticipated first full-length, God’s Country, is out now via The Flenser. The Oklahoma City sludgy noise rock quartet have been an object of affection amongst horror fans and heavy music lovers alike, writing some of the most horrific and punishing tunes out right now. Their album sees the act pushing even further into narrative consideration and the real-world application that makes their music so impactful.

Raygun Busch: It’s all mostly real-world based—even “Pamela” is an attempt to ground famous cinematic madness. “Why” is probably the scariest song on the record.

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Stin: More than anything, we’re trying to capture the anxiety and fear of seeing the world fall apart. Raygun is especially talented at that, even if the lyrics are fantasy-based at times. I think that that specific type of anxiety comes through no matter what.

it’s really the only way to do things, right? We’ve each been recording our own music since at least our teen years. There’s really no reason for anyone to ever pay someone to do shit that a computer has made pig-simple for the masses.

Through the group’s approach to their style, it is unflinching, unwavering, and unmistakable, from the e-kit drums played without a click to the in-house design work they do for all their releases to the subtle humor woven into their work to offset the seriousness of their subject matter. It has given them a trusty trademark and distinctive flair that has aided them in their rise thus far.

S: If messing around in bands for many years has taught us anything, it’s that you can’t rely on anyone else to share your vision or even show up to help when the time comes. I think we have a strong point of view, and the best way to express that is by doing as much of the process as possible yourself.

RB: It was borne from necessity, but

God’s Country is graphic, confrontational, and masterful in the art of storytelling. Sound palettes ranging from

post-punk roughed up around the edges to sparse sound collage tracks with intimidating spoken word over it. The album examines homelessness, loss from shootings, new perspectives on classic horror story characters, and even smoking too much weed to the point you transform into a familiar fast-food monster. With all the questions it poses about existence in this day and age, God’s Country really shows that existence, peril, and the horror that we live in day-to-day is less of a political question and more of a measure of humanity and morality. It is only fitting that they’re able to envision a different possibility for all of us if given the power. RB: Tax or jail for the rich; homes, medical care, clothing, food and education for everyone no exceptions; and of course, upturn law enforcement and completely reshape the criminal justice system in America… term limits, no death penalty, releasing those from jail for nonviolent drug charges, etc. 💣💣💣

U A POCKETFUL OF P

CF 9 8

“(“Double Sunrise”) was actually the one I wrote to cheer up myself,” Duszkiewicz continues, “We come from a country where November is the shittiest month – short, cold and gray days, long nights. I needed to put [the sunshine] into a song and to make myself believe [the darkness was] temporary.” This Is Fine is more than fine, as it is easily my favorite skate punk record since some of the classics from Lagwagon, NOFX, or MXPX. Killer riffs, vocals that beg to be heard at an outside venue, and a wonderful, full rhythm section everything’s on point. “We wanted to make [the album] pop/skate punk but with our personal CF98 touch,” says Duszkiewicz. “I think this is our super-power, that we all listen to different styles of music, and you can actually hear that influence on This Is Fine. After 2 short EPs, which we wrote quite fast, we wanted to write a really diverse album with cool melodies, clear structure of the songs, and catchy sing-along choruses. We wanted to go back to the roots of ’90’s skate/pop punk and to write more enjoyable, pure fun songs full of meaning. As you probably also heard on that record, I love harmonies!”

PHOTO Adam Mikolajczyk

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST KAROLINA DUSZKIEWICZ BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

kate punk has always been about the vibes, and the best records in the style’s heyday can clearly transport listeners to a California half pipe on a sunny day. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater may be a reason for the West Coast connection but considering many of the best skate punk records came from the Golden State, the video game only added a few kickflips to the fire. Few modern records so perfectly embody the best aspects of skate punk like CF98’s latest, This Is Fine,

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out September 2nd via SBÄM Re- “It’s not the easiest to always find that cords, that one would be surprised energy, positivity, and motivation,” to learn that the band hail from half- says Duszkiewicz. “Sometimes it’s way around the world in that mecca really fuckin hard. Sometimes seems of skate culture... Kraków, Poland? impossible. It [all] took time, but at the end we just knew we couldn’t This Is Fine is imbued with the sort of waste any more time. I believe we positivity and good vibes that this just wanted to write good songs. We mid-30s writer can’t help but both were disciplined, and when I say we appreciate and want to knock down worked hard, I really mean it – we a peg or two. Thankfully, vocalist were writing almost every day, pracKarolina Duszkiewicz and company ticed almost every week. We wanted know not only how to write the best every song to be an adventure and skate punk since the ’90s, CF98 also have a story to tell. Plus, we like each understand how to tell wonderfully other’s company, skate punk, and uplifting stories with depth and care. playing music together.”

“I really wanted to write a completely different story in each song,” Duszkiewicz adds. “I wanted to have them about totally different topics, and this required time. I wrote about the girl who misses adventures, about being addicted to sports, about our van life, about being a villain in someone else’s narrative, about people who see just the dark side of the moon, about Judy and her coming out, about protesting an anti-abortion law in Poland. In terms of lyrics this is my 2021 diary, musically this is CF98’s diary. If people treat those stories like their own, if they can relate to it somehow, if those stories will make them feel a little less alone, it will be absolutely great.” Their name, CF98, taken from the element Californium, evokes this concept of taking a sunny disposition as you are fighting oppression. It’s also an element used in metal detectors to find gold, which is what you’ll feel like while playing this record. “We’ve always known that Californium could be used to produce pocket bombs, which we’ve imagined as an explosion of really positive and cool vibes, punk rock energy, and shining bright in sometimes shitty world.”💣💣💣

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fixation

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST MIKEY BIFOLCO BY HUTCH

ixation are four Philly dudes who formed and quickly lit up the hardcore scene with their intense live shows. From 2017 – 2020, they spat out five releases: three demos and two 7” EPs, on WAR Records, who are about to put our their first full-length, The Secrets We Keep. “Oh man, I am overly stoked for this LP to be out,” says guitarist Mike Bifolco. “We recorded it like two years ago, maybe more. Covid and other bullshit just got in the way. So, to everyone (in the band), it just seemed like this was never gonna see the light of day. It’s been a pretty wild journey, honestly. We decided to replace our old PHOTO Sean Reilly

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singer with Philadelphia’s recording wizard Wyatt Oberholzer (who also produced the LP), probably a couple months before Covid hit.” Fixation’s early sound with the ex-vocalist was more straight forward stomping, gritty hardcore. Think bands like Philly peers, PLEASE DIE!, 86 Mentality, or UKHC like Violent Reaction and Arms Race. On The Secrets We Keep the sound has expanded and been molded with a more creative bend. Oberholzer’s vocals are more screamed than growled, conjuring a more 2000’s approach. The riffs, two-step rhythms and fast parts align perfectly. Upon

PHOTO Ian Shiver

PHOTO Sean Reilly

pressing play or dropping a needle, the tions, times changes, and a productracks quickly beckon comparisons to tion approach that creates space American Nightmare, especially, but and a full sound. The instrumental also Right Brigade, Panic, Count Me intro which follows to transition into Out, and Blacklisted. The different “Purgatory” establishes a similar sound sits on the same foundation but feeling. Other stand out tracks are “The Art of Playing Dead,” “Violence,” adds extra layers. and “D.I.D.” Bifolco states succinctly, “The sound was definitely just an organic growth. The Secrets We Keep results in a We never wanted to put out the same focused band. Caustic, bitter, and sounding record. This is just where we ferocious. The eleven tracks race through eardrums in protest and felt our sound should go.” spite. Waiting to share these tracks And it goes there. There are longer must have been excruciating. songs, tempo changes, and more As far as playing live, Bifolco shrugs, melodic lines with texture. “We got some things in the works but “Toledo” (upgraded from Promo 2020) ya can always contact us if ya got and “Motion Sickness” are written with any wild ideas…” 💣💣💣 thought, showcasing separate sec-

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THE DREADNOUGHTS INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST NICK SMYTH BY JOHN B. MOORE

opportunity,” Smyth says. “But the phrase itself is just a sailing term for casting off and getting underway. And I was sitting in my little apartment cut off from my friends and started thinking about comradeship and what it means to me—i.e., a frigging lot - and the song sort of came out.

Dreadnoughts, no matter how many songs we record or release,” Smyth says. “So, playing last night in Calgary, for example, was so wonderful. The crowd went nuts, and they were already singing along to the new stuff. That’s what every musician dreams about, and we are thankful for it every time.”

ven during a global pandemic, flown out, we had a lot of guests,” he with bandmates spread across says. “Among others, Jamer (Turnip) the globe—including Canada, from our sister band The Surfin’ Turthe U.S. and the U.K.—the members nips did vocals on “Cider Holiday.” of The Dreadnoughts were still deter- Accordion maestros Alex Meixner mined to record together in a studio, and Carl Finch contributed to like always, at least one more time. “Vicki’s Polka,” and Shawn Ostafie of Edmonton’s own Ukrainian folk The band’s fourth album, Into the The band will continue to play shows “We were pretty committed to doing rockers, Millennia, did hammered North, was out less than six months in their strongholds, but long-range things in the studio, but the reality dulcimer on the instrumental “Tu- when COVID slammed the world touring is probably off the table, is that the modern world is making ika.” It was so amazing to be able shut, putting the band’s future in given job and family commitments. this a lot easier, and our insane to get these people on the album. question. geographical spread is making The songs absolutely went to a new “One of the things that’s kept us it more likely that we’ll try to do level.” “It shut down all of the plans. We going over the years is that we hathe next one more remotely,” says had to hit the reset button and ven’t sacrificed our entire futures vocalist Nick Smyth. “It’s just kind Written during the early stages of ask ourselves what we could re- and lives for this one project,” says of silly, financially, for the climate, the pandemic, you can hear a lot of alistically do,” he says. “Also, the Smyth. “We’ve built careers and and for a lot of other reasons, to fly fear and trepidation on this album, album would have even potentially families, so the band is still fun and people a third of the way around but the band is still just as defiant been out in 2021 if it weren’t for rewarding. Whenever some kid in the world to play a mandolin part and at times raucous, churning the vinyl shortage caused mainly Rio de Janeiro or Athens sends us a into a microphone.” out their brand of Celtic punk rock. by Jeff Bezos and Adele. Seriously, sweet and semi-desperate message The title track is a perfect example, look it up.” asking when we are going to play The results of those sessions can be and also happens to be one of the there, I find it very touching, but it’s heard all over the band’s fifth and band’s best songs yet in an already A year later the record is finally out, also kind of insane that bands are latest LP, Roll & Go, out now via Stomp solidly impressive career. and the band are left their homes expected to go literally wherever in Records. But the band did make an across the globe to finally start order to tour. I always want to tell exception with the guests that make “We knew we wanted to call the al- playing live shows once again. these kids the reason there will be cameos across the album, in part bum Roll & Go, and since I’d always a Dreadnoughts in 2033 is that we because there were quite a few. wanted to write an anthemic, mov- “Our identity and inspiration have aren’t killing ourselves doing long, ie-soundtrack, Hans Zimmer-type always been built around the live crazy tours in shitty vans in order to “Yeah, since some people can’t be song, this seemed like the perfect show. Without it there really is no break even.” 💣💣💣

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DON’T SLEEP ON THESE SPECIAL RELEASES... BY HUTCH

REISSUES:

SSD

THE KIDS WILL HAVE THEIR SAY REISSUE TRUST RECORDS 2023

It’s truly a daunting task to mold words that capture SS Decontrol’s impact on hardcore (and SXE). Inspiring with their lyrics, riffs, and fashion, SSD changed the scene and left an indelible mark on hardcore. The Kids Will Have Their Say (released in 1982 as a collab between Dischord and guitarist Al Barile’s label, X-Claim!) was bootlegged over the years and cherished by collectors, but new fans could never access the vinyl due to its rarity and, if found, astronomical price. The only way to hear the songs was on the dubious Taang! Records comp, Power, which included songs from all releases, not done chronologically, and missing tracks). 40 years later, Trust records – the fantastic label who gave us gorgeous reissues of 7 Seconds and Circle Jerks within the last year – once again resurrects a groundbreaking record (the first official straight edge record; note the jacket with “The Straight Edge” painted on back). With meticulous hands, the LP was remastered by David Gardner at Infrasonic from original analog master tapes. This included dealing with water damage and mold by Dan Johnson of Audio Achieving Services on each classic of these monumental 18 tracks. The reissue will be partnered with a 20-page booklet including unpublished photos from Glen E. Friedman. Additionally, the masters held other sessions which Trust will release in tandem. This will include 1981 demo, multiple recordings of The Kids Will Have Their Say, plus an unreleased song called “Typical America.” 💣

THE LIBERTINES

UP THE BRACKET 20TH ANNIVERSARY BOX SET ROUGH TRADE October 22, 2022

Great bands often have a long, tumultuous road behind them. The Libertines’ path was led by parallel vocals and guitars of Peter Doherty and Carl Barat, backed by the synchronous duo of John Hassall (bass) and Gary Powell (drums). But these days the situation is glorious. And how better to celebrate that than with a re-issue of the earthshaking debut, Up the Bracket. While there are myriad albums from that era which were stellar, Up the Bracket captured tones, melodies, and emotions that attracted skins, punks, rudies, and pop fans. Truly an authentic record which was alluring to the charts and the underground. Four blokes took their pain and misadventures and recorded an astonishing collection of raw, leering songs redefining power punk and Brit-pop. A sparkling moment in a descending slip of self-destruction, Up the Bracket (produced by Mick Jones of The Clash) presented working class woes in ornate prose mired in self-reflection, regret, and blind instant gratification. 💣

GOATSNAKE

1 SOUTHERN LORD August 29, 2022

In 1996, the elder spirits of doom metal summoned new WAR RIPPER breath into the genre by STRENGTH IN NUMBERS beckoning masterful Earth DYING VICTIMS PRODUCTIONS dwellers. Spawned by guiAugust 26, 2022 tarist Greg Anderson (Engine Kid, Brotherhood, SUNN O))), Thrash master and Midas Burning Witch, Thorr’s Hamtouch producer, Joel Grind, mer, and founder of Southconquers yet another metal genre with his one-man proj- ern Lord), and vocalist, Pete Stahl (Scream, Wool). Anderson ect, War Ripper. He plays all then collected Greg Rogers (drums) and Guy Pinhas (bass) from instruments brilliantly and the Wino’s recently defunct doom legend group, The Obsessed. On results here are five tortuous I (pronounced as the number one), the quartet concocted eight tracks in nine minutes paying churning, hypnotic, fuzz-drenched tracks. Stahl’s soulful voice homage to Discharge, Disfear, adds a true blues expression to these songs, which, is from Disgust, and (later) Anti-Cimex. This EP, errr…well, rips. The crushing where Sabbath extracted their genre-defining sound. And, oh approaches of pure rage channeled through six strings, lamenting man, is there potent Iommi worship dripping on I. At about 31 screams, and thunderous drums are a pleasure. Grind had released minutes, a sincere mind-bending journey awaits for wounded a four song EP in 2007 (Hell Storm, Hell’s Headbangers). After the souls ready to embark with raw emotion on a dirge-soaked blasphemous dormancy, fans finally are reunited with this sonic foundation. Originally released by Mans Ruin records in 1999, assault. This EP actually had been released in 2020 (Acid Rat no vinyl pressings have been available since. Until now, when Records) via a stingy distribution of “25 hand-numbered and Anderson’s label, Southern Lord (also, Pinhas runs Southern dedicated copies. Comes with download code and Joel Grind Lord Europe) have blessed the fans. Considering members of business card” – per discogs. So, Dying Victims is now bringing the band are overseeing the project, strict adherence to the Goatsnake vision is assured. 💣 forth justice to share these battle-tested songs to the masses. 💣

82 NEW NOISE

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DJ MOVES

TOMB MOLD

ПЛАТТЕНБАУ (PLATTENBAU)

PREDATORY LIGHT

DJ Moves is from Nova Scotia and has some deft technique. Pam Grier’s Kids showcases it tenfold, featuring a plethora of rappers blending and traversing through his high-art, cuts, and beats. He goes blunt on tracks like “The III Formula,” featuring Cee!!!!!!!, and “Thunder Warriors,” featuring Kush, where hardness is paramount and transparency is crystal whereas “StankinSpeckledSocks,” featuring Jeff Spec, Ghettosocks & Stinkin Rich, deforms that hardness and breaks it up, allowing the lyricists to perform like water and dreams, a beautiful pace with cubist-like incantation. On space adjusters like “Morris Day,” featuring Tachichi, it’s the punctuation, the extension, the touch that defines the form, a combination that is pure hip-hop. DJ Moves has the ability to darken and lighten the movement within songs, often paralleling multiple times throughout a track; this creates a concentration that is at the forefront, allowing the lyrics to glow and infuse within the listener. 💣

Tomb Mold’s got a three-song EP out that continues to refine/define their death metal aura, this time using space as trajectory, treating it to highlight movements rather than effects. For three songs, you get quite the treatment. From tactile horizons (“Final Assembly of Light”), to classic rippers (“Aperture of Body”), to the Chuck Schuldiner-inspired ending in “Prestige of Rebirth,” this is a trip that is concise and open, presenting itself as clear and driven, something Tomb Mold has always done well: they never trip over themselves, their interest in varying forms of sound and melody always keeps them sounding alive, right there in your central line of vision; they pack the periphery with taste, contemporary art, and continue to work on the main structure, and it shows on Aperture of Body: three songs that never leave you wanting more: there’s plenty enough right here, plenty enough for a long and real experience. 💣

Aleksandr Chlesa’s solo project Платтенбау (Plattenbau) is a heady dive into acid techno and inventive beats. The compositions have a knack for bending the space-time continuum: one minute you’re here, the next minute you’re not. It’s the continuous nature of the groove and feel that causes such flights of the mind. And those flights might seem numb almost; you’ll get lost completely, like a brick, and it’s good because this is techno that has depth and variation, but it’s subtle, and you might miss it conceptually; it still retains that blinding techno quality to it where you become something outside of yourself, like at the club, a long time ago, grooving, forgotten, cosmopolitan, an out-ofbody experience. The songs really build on top of one another. By the time the dark-laden “Step 5” hits (the six songs are entitled “Step 1,” “Step 2,” through “Step 6”), you’re in the true mind of Платтенбау, not really any place in particular, but all places all together. It feels good. 💣

For songs that often drift past the 10-minute mark, Predatory Light are masters of making every moment feel eternal. The twin guitars connect and reconnect sections seamlessly, creating worlds within worlds; you get swept up in the strange darkness, the bleak and unique mood that the band weave though form and momentum. There’s a spiritual quality to the four songs on the record that are true; like the early Norwegian black metal bands, Predatory Light showcase propulsion that is organic and fresh, a rotten freshness, theirs is an organic and ripe mode. Death and the Twilight Hours is psychedelic and lean, eerie; a haunting, European quality plays throughout, a sinister pitch that is consuming and direct. Back to the length of the compositions: few bands can pull this off, and even fewer black metal bands, but Predatory Light are really good and never waste your time: it’s full force, full art, straight on, worthy practitioners of a true black metal. 💣

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