New Noise Magazine Issue #49

NEW NOISE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 41

ON TOUR Oct 03 - St. Louis, MO - The Firebird Oct 04 - Des Moines, IA - Vaudeville Mews Oct 05 - St. Paul, MN - Amsterdam Bar & Grill Oct 07 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge Oct 08 - Billings, MT – Yellowstone Valley Brewery Oct 10 - Seattle, WA - The Crocodile Oct 11 - Vancouver, BC - The Biltmore Ballroom Oct 13 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge Oct 15 - Sacramento, CA - Holy Diver Oct 16 - Berkeley, CA - Cornerstone Berkeley Oct 17 - Felton, CA - Felton Music Hall Oct 19 - Los Angeles, CA - Teragram Ballroom Oct 20 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar Oct 22 - Austin, TX – Barracuda Barr Oct 23 - Dallas, TX - Deep Ellum Art Co Oct 24 - Memphis, TN – Hi-Tone Oct 26 - Gainesville, FL - High Dive Oct 27 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade (Hell) Oct 28 - Charlotte, NC - Amo’s Southend Oct 29 - Chattanooga, TN - Songbirds South Oct 31 - Washington, DC - U Street Nov 01 - Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts Nov 02 - Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair Nov 03 - Hamden, CT - The Space Nov 05 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom Nov 07 - Albany, NY - The Hollow Nov 08 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern Nov 09 - Detroit, MI - El Club Nov 10 - Columbus, OH - A&R Music Bar Nov 11 - Pittsburgh, PA - Smiling Moose Nov 22 - Orlando, FL - Florida Man Music Festival Nov 23 - Fort Lauderdale, FL - Riptide Festival Nov 30 - Austin, TX - Emo’s Dec 01 - Austin, TX - Emo's Dec 08 - San Diego, Dieg CA - 94.9 Not So Silent Night Dec 19 - Nashville, TN - The Basement East Dec 20 - Indianapolis, IN - Hi Fi Dec 21 - Chicago, IL - Metro

ISSUE 49

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SCENE NOT HEARD GIRL BAND PIXIES CHRIS FARREN END OF THE CENTURY - AFI TIGER ARMY RED SCARE INDUSTRIES STUPID RAD MERCH CO.

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AVAIL WHITE REAPER

24 25 26 28 32 34 38 42 44 52 60 66 72 76

STRUNG OUT FRANK TURNER THE MENZINGERS SUBHUMANS THE FEST DISPATCHES FROM D.C. MEAN JEANS GIDEON KILLSWITCH ENGAGE DRAGONFORCE MICROWAVE GARAGE GIRLS BORIS ANALOG CAVE

WHITE REAPER COVER PHOTO BY JIMMY FONTAINE AVAIL COVER PHOTO BY CHRIS BOARTS LARSON AVAIL COVER ART BY BRUNOFSKY TABLE OF CONTENTS PHOTO BY ALAN SNODGRASS BAND - JAWBOX

, PHOTO BY COLIN CZERWINSKI

SCENE NOT HEARD

FEATURING NEW NOISE’S OWN SEAN GONZALEZ

BY KELLEY O’DEATH

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ay back in the slightly-less-dark ages of September 2016, Sean Gonzalez chose to “turn the tables� by interviewing me for my own former New Noise column, Fear Of A Queer Planet. Now, the time has come to exact my revenge.

SHIFTING THE FOCUS FROM THE INDIVIDUALS WHO CREATE THE BEST ALBUMS TO TAKE AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES JOBS THAT KEEP THE INDUSTRY RUNNING. GO BEYOND THE MUSIC AND MEET THE PEOPLE WHO KEEP YOUR FAVORITE BANDS IN THE PUBLIC EYE...

Gonzalez wears many hats at New Noise, acting as a web editor, web PHOTO BY JERED SCOTT content creator, interview contributor, and, of course, the mastermind behind Scene Not Heard. He is also pieces our writers create, which “It has made me more human. You rying Capacity’ by Harm’s Way to a harried grad student and a devot- keeps me in the loop of this ev- know the old saying that the best help [them] see the atrocities of hued public educator. He spends most er-changing industry.� relationships between humans in- mans and global warming. It might of his spare time—of which there is volve having separate interests and have been a little dark for week two, precious little—playing “The Leg- What parts of this work bring him not always being together? The big- but the response was urgent.� end of Zelda,� reading “Star Wars� the most joy? gest thing I have learned is nothing expanded universe novels, getting is wrong with me if I don’t want It can be difficult balancing his ridiculous tattoos, and cuddling his “I have interviewed artists such to listen to music. There are days, double life of intrepid teacher by dog, Wren, who is a very good girl. as Keith [Buckley] from Every weeks even, when the last thing I day and music press superhero by night, but like all of us, Gonzalez is Time I Die four times, Ensiferum want to hear is music.� just doing his best, working overNo matter what he’s devoting his twice, Children Of Bodom—I am time to, Gonzalez’ defining char- so lucky—and numerous other “This comes with really wanting to time to marry his two passions into acteristic is on display: he cares bands who are still creating mu- listen instead of just hear. A perfect one spectacular career and maxideeply. He is passionately commit- sic. To tell myself at 15 years old example is today, after a long pro- mize the positive change the world ted to promoting up-and-coming that this was even a possibility fessional development session, I sat around him so desperately needs. musicians, celebrating the unsung would have made my eyes wide. in my car for the whole 30-minute behind-the-scenes heroes of the Another joy is interviewing friends car ride through traffic in silence.� “There’s a beautiful blending of creativity within the madness of this music industry, and empowering his and giving them a space in this economy, and luckily, the skills from students to love learning and dis- world, like my wonderful friend “Am I jaded?�

New Noise, the clients, and the artcover passions of their own.

Sonia Kreitzer of Doe Paoro.�

Luckily, it’s not all music all the time ists who I have worked with over the So, in this hallowed forum dedi- “Now, the biggest joy I have is hear- for Gonzalez. Sometimes, it’s text- years have allowed me to be the cated to the people who “keep the ing and reading what others have books, syllabi, and lesson plans— best educator I can be in this moment—and continue to grow.� industry running,� one must inquire: to say about the music they listen but then, why can’t it be both?

What does Gonzalez’ job entail? to, whether it’s interviews, stories from my students, or the compan- “Bringing music into the classroom “Thanks to Kelley for giving me the “My job used to entail more actual- ions I have made along the way af- is always a favorite activity of mine. space to answer some questions, ly! My job currently, in my creative ter a few tours—another OMGWTF I am a huge advocate of and be- and I’ll be back with another intelrealm of the world, involves edit- moment of this job—including the liever in Social Emotional Learning, ligent hard worker from the indusing interviews for the website and greatest friends, Julien Baker and or SEL, in public education. Music try next issue!â€?đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł scheduling them throughout the her tour manager Avanthi Goven- offers an easy connection to have weeks. [‌] Before I became an ed- der. I just like to keep in touch by students play with different ideas ucator for high schoolers, I would sharing and hearing.â€? of emotions, including ones that arhave about six to 13 premieres a en’t their own. Throughout my life week as well. That has since dwin- How has working in music changed growing up, I learned how to empadled down a bit, but I still get to run Gonzalez’ perspective as a fan of thize by listening to music. [‌] The this column and see the wonderful music? other day, I brought in ‘Human Car-

6 NEW NOISE

POST-PUNK'S NOT DEAD AVANT-GARDE. HARD TO DEFINE. DRENCHED IN SYNTH. SOMETIMES, THREE CHORDS JUST AREN’T ENOUGH.

PHOTO BY RICH GILLIGAN

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST DARA KIELY BY CHRISTOPHER J. HARRINGTON

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ublin quartet Girl Band’s new- come things outside the inner-mind. if the whole album was imagined as “Ereignis� closes The Talkies out. It’s est album, The Talkies, opens up “Going Norway,� “Shoulderblades,� a larger extension of some human a pulsing, post-punk slab based with the minimal, synth-driven and “Couch Combover� are songs system and the continuation it’s de- around the idea of Marvin Gaye’s “Prolix,� which features a panic attack about repetition, long stretches, and signed for. “What’s Going On.� Like the opener, from vocalist Dara Kiely. flyswatters. The distance from huthe song works as both a windup manness is profound. “The first record, [2015’s Holding and a wind-down, a mental check “It happened at practice, and that’s Hands With Jamie], was more from to make sure one hasn’t completethe first song,� he laughs. “There were a couple of concepts diaries,� Kiely notes. “Lyrics would fit ly left the building. Breathing is the we were working with,� Kiely says. into random places. The Talkies was key, and Girl Band exude a tranKiely’s short, suffocated breaths set “Lyrically, I didn’t use any pronouns. more thought-out.� scendental aura throughout the the tone for an album that swings to ‘I,’ ‘you,’ ‘he,’ ‘she’—those are strong patterns they weave. its own mental beat. connotations, almost selfish. ‘You’ A serious as everything gets, Girl has this accountability to it. ‘He/she’ Band’s charm lies in their comedic “I really got into mindful meditation,� “It was just something different, just is almost sexist. I started writing one effect. Kiely’s freedom of expression Kiely explains. “When I’m onstage, breathing into the microphone,� he song with ‘I,’ and I thought, ‘Oh god, was honed by his love of comedians. I concentrate on meditation, fosays. “It’s very odd, but we wanted it how cheesy.’ It took a long time to His looseness, both on record and cus on my breath. I’m not thinking to be different on this record.� write, but it was rewarding.� onstage, isn’t taken for granted. about some big line and how I’m going to fuck it up.�

Released on Sept. 27 via Rough Trade, Some songs, in fact, took a few “The way comedians approach the The Talkies is a workout in cerebral months to a year to write. The vis- microphone, that is very influential,â€? Girl Band succeed through pracdexterity. Instruments and vocals cosity shines through. Every section he says. “I could never do standup, ticed uninhibitedness. It’s free, but are a means to breaking down the in every place is dense, and when but I come from a comedy back- it’s built upon hard work. psychology of contemporary man. there is a chance to take a breath- ground. I love the ’90s. Eddie Izzard, Yet, there are no pronouns uttered er—such as the intro to “Salmon of he’s so cool. Such a big influence, “We write for ourselves,â€? Kiely says. throughout, and compositions be- Knowledgeâ€?—it’s not for long. It’s as the human side of things.â€? “No one else.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

8 NEW NOISE

PHOTO BY JOHN SWANSON

PHOTO BY SCOTT BARWICK

WEEPING ICON

BEEHIVE

INTERVIEW WITH LANI COMBIER-KAPEL AND SARA FANTRY CHRISTOPHER J. HARRINGTON

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST JAKE SPRECHER CHRISTOPHER J. HARRINGTON

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omposed of longtime vets from Brooklyn’s experimental and punk scenes, Weeping Icon are the accumulation of confidence and hardfought battles, a band who have risen from the wars. “We’re not necessarily looking to lead a revolution,� guitarist and vocalist Sara Fantry says, “but there’s definitely something radical about expression. Ultimately, what this project is meant to do is something radical for all of us.�

The group’s self-titled debut LP, out Sept.

27 via Kanine Records and Fire Talk Records, flies toward that release, swimming in existential waves, shimmering with pronunciation. Through its abstraction, a movement is sculpted and refined. “I think that a lot of music that you ingest, people just sort of leave it as, ‘It’s a song. Now, let’s put a face on it and let that be it, and let’s have the music industry just take me where I need to go,’� drummer and vocalist Lani Combier-Kapel explains. “I think we’re just trying to combat that, because what musicians are making is art, first and foremost.�

There is joy here, like “Power Trip,� and

anger, like “Ripe for Consumption,� but this rager isn’t content with mere formal qualities—even if they’re spectacular. No, Weeping Icon dig deeper. They see the power of critical analysis. “Something we’ve been exploring lately is the concept of the weeping icon,� Fantry says, “who’s the crying Mary statue, crying blood or tears, in churches. What we’ve been exploring in our artwork and music is the concept of the weeping icon as an updated thing, like iconography, like an emoji icon, the weeping icon crying for what is lost when we confuse personal identity with brand identity, which seems to be a large issue for our generation. So, I guess when we started playing in bands, it was an important and radical thing for us just doing it, but we’re also trying to respond to the issues we see at large and the kinds of things all our generation suffers from.�

Weeping Icon’s uncompromised fortitude is the inspiration we’ve been looking for, a release for all people. “It’s definitely a feminist message,â€? Fantry notes. “All oppressed people need to experience emancipation in some way.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

UNDER THE INFLUENCE: THE (GUILT-FREE) SMITHS

BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

PHOTO BY ROME WIDENHOUSE

CROOKED GHOST

Asheville, North Carolina Colors Bleed | Sept. 20 | Crooked Ghost Records Colors Bleed feels like a lost ’80s classic featuring some of the best elements of the post-punk, new wave, and synthpop scenes. Echoes of The Smiths, The Cure, and Echo & The Bunnymen play in and around the four gems on this new EP, and Crooked Ghost nail the aesthetic. Jangly guitars, haunting synths, and even vocalist and guitarist Ray Lark’s Morrissey-esque performance bring the feel of a despondent disco to life. It’s the lead single, “Sinew in Red,� that brings everything together most perfectly, with a pulsing rhythm section and swirling synth lines building to a gorgeous crescendo.

There is a plethora of post-punk acts in 2019, but few are this evocative and delightful. Please, please, please, let yourself get Colors Bleed. đ&#x;’Ł

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he debut EP from Chico, Califor- is a blot of half-human, half-machine nia’s Beehive, Depressed & Dis- innuendo. “Between myself, Bud, and the drum machine, we’re just this one contressed, is seven continuous tracks injected straight into the bloodstream— stant rhythm section,â€? Sprecher laughs, no breathers. “That was the whole con- “which is part of what I wanted to do, just have this kind of driving, punk rock thing cept,â€? vocalist and guitarist Jake Sprecher that doesn’t put on the breaks for anysays. “That’s how we play live; we don’t thing. It’s kind of funny actually, because stop the drum machine. I just wanted it as when you get up and play a 25-minute set raw and emblematic as possible.â€? like that and you don’t ever stop, it feels like it’s longer, I think, to the audience. So, Paired with bassist Bud Amenti, Sprecher lets rip a classic sound that’s angular— you don’t have to fill 45 minutes; you can just punch someone for 25.â€? with beats that bang like the Apple I—and liberating. “Bands like Flipper,â€? Sprecher chimes in, “who had a great drummer, Beehive started gigging in January and, a month later, recorded Depressed & where everyone around him could just get loose, I think that trashiness, that improvi- Distressed. “When I listen to it now, I’m just sation, it’s part of what creates the mood, proud of having done something really spontaneous,â€? Sprecher says. “It just had so long as the rhythm is always on point.â€? that sort of spontaneity that you hope you The EP, out Sept. 5 via Jester Records, can put down on record.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

With every new Morrissey interview, this man becomes less charming and more unloveable. We know the bigmouth will inevitably strike again, so it’s time to stop crying into your The Queen Is Dead shirt like half a person and give these upand-comers a chance to sing your life.

PHOTO BY VERONIQUE LEVESQUE

MUNDY’S BAY

MontrÊal, QuÊbec Control Room | June 13 | Pure Noise Records This band! If you’re looking for talent, mood, and passion—everything The Smiths offered at their best—minus Morrissey’s bullshit and plus all the synth-y goodness of The Cure at their peak, then this gem from Pure Noise is for you.

Actually, it’s not quite fair to box in Mundy’s Bay like that, simply because the potential excellence Control Room hints at is itself downright unfair. The Canadian band combine new wave, shoegaze, indie pop, and a hint of The Cranberries with the lovely vocals and keys of Esther Mulders to soar to great heights across three gorgeous numbers. This is dream pop for those who live in the real world, yet the sky may be the limit for this promising band. Few acts can combine so many ’80s and ’90s styles this damn well, but Mundy’s Bay make it fit like hand in glove. đ&#x;’Ł

PHOTO BY MIKE LAWSON

PRETEND COLLECTIVE

Philadelphia Pretend Collective | Sept. 13 | The Giving Groove Music this melodic isn’t usually this Lynchian, but the blend of off-kilter psych pop and indie rock on Pretend Collective’s debut is as subversive as it is engaging. Much like David Lynch’s famous “Twin Peaks,â€? it’s deeply weird yet human, the bizarre elements swimming in one’s subconscious while they reckon with how to be a better person. In many ways, the Philly group are The Anti-Smiths, welcoming not only in sound but also in spirit. The brainchild of Mike Reilly, the collective features folks who have played with Dirty Projectors, Amos Lee, Britney Spears, and Marky Ramone, among others. Pretend Collective will bring a smile to your face with their killer hooks and make you want to bring that light to the world—perhaps a light that will never go out? đ&#x;’Ł

NEW NOISE

9

WAVE OF INSPIRATION

pixes

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST JOEY SANTIAGO BY MARIKA ZORZI PHOTO BY TRAVIS SHINN

10 NEW NOISE

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hile Pixies were one the most influential pioneering bands of the late ’80s and early ’90s alt-rock movement, having blazed a trail for artists from Nirvana to Pearl Jam, today, a whole new generation of music lovers is discovering the Boston-born band thanks to their new album, Beneath the Eyrie, out Sept. 13 via Infectious Music / BMG. “The challenge has always been the same: an album has to be good,� founding guitarist Joey Santiago says, “but we’re a fortunate enough band that our good doesn’t really suck. We’re trying to top ourselves.

We’re just one of those lucky bands that could click and do pretty decent things. [Vocalist and guitarist] Charles [‘Black Francis’ Thompson] is a hell of a songwriter, and we could put together the songs in a Pixies format.�

After four genre-defining studio albums, including the now-platinum-certified Doolittle from 1989, Pixies split up in 1993, then launched their reunion tour in April 2004. In 2012, they secretly booked studio time in Wales, but six days into the recording, founding bassist Kim Deal decided to leave the band. Black Francis, Santiago, and drummer David Lovering chose to carry on, recruiting bassist Simon “Dingo� Arthur, formerly of The Fall, and finishing and releasing the band’s first studio album in more than two decades, 2014’s Indie Cindy.

In 2016, Pixies released their second post-reunion studio album, Head Carrier, with former A Perfect Circle member Paz Lenchantin, who became Pixies’ permanent bassist the same year. “During these years, something has changed, and I can always theorize that it was when we had recorded a full-length record with Paz, her first one with us,� Santiago confesses. “We felt very comfortable, had a lot of joy,

PHOTO BY GLENN ROBELEN

so this time around, we were at a different level. We jelled. We know how people work, the process—especially Paz actually knows what to do, and she knows how to deal with the group dynamic. That’s it. We just got to know each other on Head Carrier, and we knew each other coming to this new one. That’s about it.�

a dusty book of eerie folklore tales, full of the black arts, death, and its aftermath. “Surroundings have a big impact on anybody,� Santiago shares. “The way a house is built, the same thing. We built music around them, and those atmospheres had influenced Charles.�

Pixies tell more stories like this one in their 12-episode “It’s a Pixies Podcast,� which began airing on June 27 and documents what took place in the studio during the recording of Beneath the Eyrie. “The manager proposed it, and there was also some kind of financial arrangement where the podcast funded it,� Santiago explains. “OK, that’s fine and dandy, but did we like it? Did we want people in there?

But it was just a person, [author] Tony Fletcher, and he was a fly on the wall. He knew the deal. He knew how to behave in the studio. So, we were totally comfortable.�

“The album has a gothic theme,� he December 2018 saw the band hid- notes, “witches, things are floating den away with Grammy-nominated around, things swimming around, all producer Tom Dalgety at Dreamland that stuff. The overall feel has a mysRecording Studios near Woodstock, tery to it.�

New York, where they recorded their  second album as a unit, Beneath the Pixies recorded the album surrounded Eyrie. “We won’t do a record every six by nature, and while they were taking months, because that’s just not going a break outside the studio—formerly St. to be good for the records, for peo- John’s Church, built in 1896—Lovering “Talking to him was very therapeutic ple to absorb it,� Santiago explains. spotted the thing that would inspire its with what was actually going on with “So, as it is, the way the band works is title. “The studio we were in was literally your mind, because you never realwe record, and then, we’ll tour. We’ll underneath an eyrie, an eagle’s nest,� ly think about what you’re doing untour all these territories, and it takes Santiago remembers. “It was up on til you talk about it,� he adds. “It’s a a while to go everywhere. Then, once the hill; we were in this church. There podcast, and it demystifies what this we’re done with that, we’ll record an were these old railroad tracks that particular band does when we realbum. So, we’re pacing ourselves.� are dead now. That doesn’t work; no cord—which was, this time around,  trains go through anymore. Lover- a lot of humor, a lot of lightness.

The album’s debut single, “On Grave- ing spotted this eagle’s nest, and the They say humor is a defense against yard Hill,â€? is an in-your-face, clas- name ‘eyrie’ sounded cool. Tom Dal- reality, and that’s what that is.â€? đ&#x;’Ł sic Pixies tale of imminent, ominous gety, the producer, suggested the title, doom. Beneath the Eyrie sounds like and we took it.â€?

WIVES TRYANDTHISSPINTRICK IT

PHOTO BY MILAH LIBIN

Fans of Pixies, Sonic Youth, and The Fall will fall in love and lust with Queens, New York’s WIVES. The new electropunk band bring the bassy goodness in spades, making So Removed—out Oct. 4 via City Slang—feel like a dance record for people who don’t like to dance. The hooks, the rhythms, and the vibe scream party; however, the rebellious lyrics, sneering attitude, and sheer noise put So Removed squarely in punk territory. If you love Pixies but miss Kim Deal’s basslines, then WIVES are the perfect band for you. –Nicholas Senior

NEW NOISE 11

SYNTH AND SYNTHABILITY

BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

PHOTO BY BRENDAN TIDD

HEAVEN’S CLUB Oakland, California

PHOTO BY DAN STACK

Here There and Nowhere | Sept. 27 Profound Lore RIYL: Connection. The dreamer who lives within the dream. Radiator ladies.

There’s a happy irony to the fact that even the most electrified music still comes from a person, the dreamer who dreams up those various rhythms and sounds. It’s that human connection that produces the goods in Heaven’s Club.

Initially started as an outlet for Deafheaven guitarist Shiv Mehra, the band have blossomed into something beautiful and resonant. Using methodology borrowed from krautrock, post-punk, and synthpop, Heaven’s Club feel both timeless and current. That singularly krautrock sense of “otherness� lives on in the band’s spirit. Their debut, Here There and Nowhere, features a dreamy style that many try to pull off, but few do it this majestically.

That nexus between old and new and an ache for union with others are at the heart of the album.

JOYERO Durham, North Carolina

Release the Dogs | Aug. 23 | Merge Records RIYL: Vision quests. Texas landscapes. Dogs.

Joy is central to Release the Dogs. It is such an exuberant experience. The brainchild of Wye Oak’s Andy Stack, Joyero craft tunes that speak to the whole spectrum of human experience.

Joyero’s sound is both familiar and unique: Stack’s newest venture certainly stacks up to his past indie rock work, but this project feels closer to pensive dance music, electronic tunes conjured through thought more than feeling. As a result, the record takes a few songs to fully enrapture the listener, but the careful concoctions reveal a lovely depth that rewards active engagement with the music.

The fact that Release the Dogs feels so cohesive despite its various sonic tangents is a massive credit to Stack. “A big part of my headspace for this project came from living in a small town, Marfa, Texas, for about four years,� he explains. “It’s only a population of 2,000 people, and it’s far out in the Chihuahuan Desert, pretty far from most civilization.

I spent a lot of my musical time working in solitude, without the regular collaborators I had become accustomed to.�

“The name Here There and Nowhere is derived from human disconnection,â€? Mehra expands. “We are absorbed in individualism and technology to a point of disconnection in the greater picture of existence. A lot of the songs are very meaningful to me, as my outlet for thoughts. A longing for peace and collaborative coexistence between nature and humanity, feelings of love, and distrust for authority can all be sensed within the “So, if I had an idea for a song or a record, then I needed to make it happen myself,â€? he album. I appreciate all who listen and find meaning in it all.â€? continues. “That also allowed me to go down some creative and emotional rabbit holes, circle around ideas for long stretches of time, and get in touch with some of my more There’s a distinctly Lynchian pull to Heaven’s Club, one that only adds to the wonders experimental impulses.â€? đ&#x;’Ł left to discover on their transcendent debut. After all, in Heaven, everything is fine. đ&#x;’Ł PHOTO BY RAY L

WINGTIPS Chicago

PHOTO BY ALEXUS MCLANE

Exposure Therapy | Aug. 23 Artoffact Records RIYL: “Pretty in Pink.� “The Terminator.�

Crying on the dancefloor.

What if a goth band wrote a dance album? That’s the central conceit behind Exposure Therapy, a record that deftly walks the tightrope between human anguish and the desire to have a damn good time. That Wingtips somehow nail the mix of happy tunes and sad tomes is central to their success.

The album’s sound constantly morphs in service of the individual songs but stays consistently excellent. Sure, there are callbacks to The Cure, early Ministry, and ’80s movie soundtracks—think John Hughes meets John Carpenter—however, there’s a brightness and verve that make it clear the Chicago duo are having the time of their lives delving into their most challenging life experiences. “For us, it’s more about finding different ways of musical expression,â€? vocalist and guitarist Vincent Segretario expands. “The more peculiar our sound is, the better, but we aim to remain universally translatable. I would say what really has shaped us is this idea of following whichever individual sounds resonate with you on a personal level.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

SECRET SHAME Asheville, North Carolina

Dark Synthetics | Sept. 6 | Portrayal Of Guilt RIYL: Conquering turmoil. Spoopy things. “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.�

Secret Shame have crafted the type of record that transports the listener to a different place every time they listen. The transcendent grace and beauty of these songs—and their dark undercurrents, of course—grow more lovely with each spin.

Dark Synthetics is like a house party in a mausoleum—a really lively gathering, if you will. “If you know of any such parties, invite us please,� bassist Matthew jokes. “We’ll be the ones scowling in the corner, refusing to have fun. It’s (mostly) an aesthetic.�

It’s that sense of humor and silliness that help make Secret Shame’s gothy post-punk and darkwave tunes feel accessible. Plus, few records in the past few years have been such a sonic joy to absorb. Its playfulness pairs very well with lyrics that suggest that, maybe, not everything is OK. As vocalist Lena notes, “We wanted to create something that we’d be excited to listen to, that’d outlive us, that’d capture a turmoil that, while specific to us, could resonate with anyone who has felt the struggle of waking up to face the world. I think the confidence is because this is literally what we were feeling, what we were going through. We wanted to create the sonic equivalent to spiraling out of control.�

It’s impossible to overstate how good Dark Synthetics is, a must-listen for fans of anything dark, melodic, or haunted. Come spiral out of control with Secret Shame. đ&#x;’Ł

NIGHT AT THE MOOGSEUM

The history of synth music would cease to exist without the genius of Bob Moog. The list of artists who have not only used but truly relied upon various versions of the Moog are endless—The Cure, Dream Theater, DEVO, Daft Punk, and on and on—but the very idea of what a keyboard can bring to music clearly started with the man himself.

ration with The Henry Ford Museum in Detroit to bring the iconic Moog synthesizer prototype to life with an exhibit entitled “Moogmentum: Synthesizing Innovation, Music, and Creativity.� For anyone with an interest in music history—and transport to North Carolina—the Moogseum is worth the trek.

In August, The Bob Moog Foundation’s Moogseum—what For more info on the instrumental scope of Moog’s work, a name!—in Asheville, North Carolina, worked in collabo- go to moogseum.org and moogfoundation.org.

12 NEW NOISE

ANOTHER PERFECT INTERVIEW

CHRIS FARREN INTERVIEW BY JOHN SILVA

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o me, it is so insane and out of my comfort zone to feel confident. That is a feeling that is very, very foreign to me,� Chris Farren says, laughing.

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of irony with which Farren presents himself. “Some people don’t get the joke sometimes and are like, ‘Oh, that’s what that guy’s like,’â€? Farren laughs. “Which is fine. I think that’s pretty amazing in itself.â€?Â

This may come as a surprise to people who follow the Floridian singer-songwriter on social media, where he exudes the confidence of a prize fighter, or to anyone who has seen his live show, in which large photos of his face are projected behind him. At the end of every Chris Farren set, the words “ANOTHER PERFECT SET� are displayed in large font.

Even the title of Farren’s new album, Born Hot, plays with the ideas of confidence and self-acceptance.

The marketing campaign Polyvinyl Records rolled out ahead of its Oct. 11 release is quite bold as well, and fans on the internet have been talking about the album’s billboard, which features a cartoon depiction of Farren in a suggestive pose and a phone number dubbed the “Born Hot-Line,�

1-810-BORN-HOT. Farren’s excitement about the billboard has been nothing short of endearing, including tweets like “I miss my billboard.�

“It’s like doing an impression of a confident person,� Farren explains. “I think a lot of people understand where it’s coming from and that it’s coming from, like, a deep place of self—I hesitate to say self-loathing but, at the very least, self-extreme-uncomfortability.�

Most of Farren’s fans are in on the joke, and it’s not uncommon to see them tweet about how “Chris Farren is the most perfect human.� Of course, every now and then, there’s a person who isn’t hip to the layers

For the fans who get it, that sums up Farren’s whole persona—unabashed public self-love that’s drenched in irony, as the creator of this persona doesn’t like being the center of attention—and is part of what makes him so irresistible. Farren, who previously performed in the band Fake Problems, started doing this in the first place because the idea of making

music as a solo act was a leap outside his comfort zone. “It kind of started because, when I started playing music under my own name, it felt like I was putting myself out there in a way that I had never done,� Farren says.

By pretending to be his own biggest fan, he added a layer of distance that helped him feel more comfortable.

Farren’s lyrics paint a different picture from the one his fans see, often dealing with subjects like depression and anxiety, a stark contrast to both his online image and his upbeat, poppy, synth-infused music. “It’s just a struggle for me to not tell myself that something I’m doing is bad,� Farren explains. “So, I think that kind of plainly pours out in my lyrics, and then, I’ve always just thought it was funny or interesting or whatever to juxtapose that with, not only the artwork and the album title and stuff like that, but the music content itself. I often try to make things more sunny than they actually are.�

Ultimately, Farren’s aim is to lift people up and let them know they’re not alone. “I talk about my anxiety and my depression and feeling insecure and all that, but at the same time, I

PHOTO BY ERICA LAUREN

have such a great desire to bring relief and joy to people when I perform.

I’m not necessarily wanting people to be sad when they see me play,� Farren says. “I want people to just have such a fun time. I want them to walk away feeling so good. That’s my goal, to bring relief to people and help them forget about the shit. So, I think the funny visuals and all the wacky stuff that goes on in my live show and spills into online [spaces], that’s kind of all built for that.�

From the bubblegum synthpop backdropping lyrics about anxiety to the self-worshiping Twitter persona masking real-life insecurities, Farren’s presence helps his fans feel like it’s OK to not be OK—to be worried, to be sad, to feel alone.

At the same time, while the boisterous Born Hot title and concept may be in jest, it sends a message that it’s also OK to be proud of who you are, of what you’ve created and what you’ve accomplished, no matter how big or small.

This concludes a perfect piece of writing about Chris Farren. đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

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WHETHER YOU WERE STOCKPILING CANNED FOOD IN PREPARATION FOR Y2K OR DANCING YOUR ASS OFF TO PRINCE, 1999 WAS A HELL OF A YEAR. TWENTY YEARS LATER, END OF THE CENTURY LOOKS BACK AT SOME OF THE MOST ICONIC ALBUMS TO DROP RIGHT BEFORE THE NEW MILLENNIUM‌ BY BEN SAILER

AFI, Black Sails in the Sunset, and the Genesis of a Dark Revolution

F

ew punk bands have lasted nearly three decades while evolving their sound as effortlessly as AFI. From skate punk roots to dark rock reinvention, the Ukiah, California-born four-piece have never followed anyone else’s sense of direction, staying true to their own ever-changing vision.

For fans discovering the band today, the first half of their discography would be unrecognizable as AFI if it weren’t for vocalist Davey Havok’s signature wail. The same could be said for older listeners who tuned out after the turn of the century; by the time the 2000s hit, the band’s creative trajectory had taken them places few would have predicted.

The first signs of AFI’s pivot away from straightforward punk toward darker territory appeared on 1999’s Black Sails in the Sunset, their fourth full-length album and third release for Nitro Records, run by Dexter

Holland of The Offspring. While its tones, while Havok’s vocal presence predecessor, 1997’s Shut Your Mouth projected greater confidence and Open Your Eyes, hinted at a than before. This was the sound of harder-edged sound and bleaker a band growing into themselves, aesthetic, this album marked the staying true to their roots while moment the band went all-in on pushing their boundaries. merging fast, melodic hardcore with more goth-inspired leanings. Those creative risks show themselves Ironically, moving in this arguably most clearly on the lyric sheet. On less accessible direction brought “Porphyria Cutanea Tarda,� Havok them closer to breakout success, cries, “In darkness together, we’re positioning them as a unifying voice bringing the light / In darkness for the lost and lonely. together, we are forming / The fire tomorrow is born of the night From the opening notes of “Strength / In darkness together, we ignite,�

Through Wounding,� it was clear AFI issuing a call to unify outcasts that were set to blaze new trails. The has carried through the rest of the hardcore-influenced skate punk band’s catalog. The newfound riffs and anthemic chorus chants goth-inspired aesthetic wasn’t just that became calling cards for their window dressing, nor was it merely previous releases were still present, “dark� for the sake of being “edgy.� but they were delivered with Rather, AFI were putting their stake more polished execution. Newly in the ground as a rallying force for recruited guitarist Jade Puget—who kids on the margins, turning sorrow completed what has since been into strength without devolving into AFI’s permanent lineup—brought a sad-sack navel-gazing. fullness to the band’s buzzsaw guitar It’s safe to say they succeeded. More than being just another band, they made a conscious effort to invite misfits into a movement they could call their own, a sentiment that would later lead to the formation of their exclusive fan club, The Despair Faction, in 2002. It still operates today.

While getting those fans to agree on which record is best is impossible, when looking back at the entirety of AFI’s output—which includes several Billboard-topping releases like their 2003 major label breakthrough, Sing the Sorrow—it’s clear Black Sails in the Sunset was more than just a punk record. It was a creative turning point and an uplifting call to arms for the downtrodden—one that still resonates today. đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

14 NEW NOISE

THE DARKNESS CALLS

AFI certainly aren’t the only punks who grew into their goth influences.

Here are three more bands who broke with traditional punk convention to embrace the darkness.

THE DAMNED THE BLACK ALBUM Well before AFI first hit the stage, groundbreaking British punks The Damned followed a similar trajectory from raw and raucous noise to mature pop-goth stylings. Their fourth LP, 1980’s The Black Album, marked their first steps in that direction, following up 1979’s critically acclaimed Machine Gun Etiquette with a creative turn down the left-hand path.

THE LILLINGTONS STELLA SAPIENTE After releasing several solid skate punk records and breaking up in the early 2000s, The Lillingtons reunited to release the horror-themed The Too Late Show in 2006. The Wyoming band subsequently returned to the shadows, reemerging in 2017 with Stella Sapiente, which melds massive pop punk hooks with lyrics about monsters, cults, and conspiracy theories. Cheerful stuff.

ENERGY INVASIONS OF THE MIND The comic-style horror punk of Massachusetts’ Energy bears more than a passing resemblance to Black Sails in the Sunset and its 2000 follow-up, The Art of Drowning, albeit with more overt hardcore influences.

With its dark album art and darker lyrics, 2008’s Invasions of the Mind remains worth checking out for fans of the style.

ROCKABILLY HEARTS “I DON’T RELATE TO MUCH OF WHAT GOES ON IN THE MODERN WORLD, AND I DON’T WANT TO.�

tiger army INTERVIEW WITH FRONTMAN NICK 13 BY GEN HANDLEY

N

ick 13’s earliest musical memory is a vivid one.

punk was definitely a match to the gasoline.�

world that he cannot relate to. “I don’t relate to much of what goes on in the modern world, and I don’t want to,� he admits. “I think a lot of people who listen to the band feel the same way.�

shift down with Nick 13’s crooning seducing the listener, like “Valentinaâ€?; “I see [Tiger Army] as something that and truly retro flashbacks like “The goes all the way back to the birth of Past Will Always Beâ€? and “Black Neon.â€? rock ’n’ roll—and even farther, really,â€? he says. “You start with the things “When I got together with the produc- that were the basic building blocks of er, Ted Hutt, we kind of came up with rock ’n’ roll, like hillbilly and rhythm a sonic approach of how we were and blues. It’s influenced by the rock going to pile this stuff together, and ’n’ roll and pop music of the ’50s and it wound up being a guitar record,â€? ’60s, and then, it’s influenced by a lot Nick 13 says. “There were a lot of of the offshoots of rock ’n’ roll that different instruments on [2016’s] V•••–, came later, whether that was surf or and with this album, it was just guitars, garage in the ’60s, glam and punk bass, and percussion. We decided to in the ’70s, all the way up through go with a rawer feel to push some things deathrock and darkwave in the ’80s— tone-wise. That had to do with the retro- and then post-punk, of course. All of future aspect as well. There’s a lot of old that stuff is in a blender.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł ’50s and ’60s tube tape delays on some of the guitar stuff that pushes it in kind of a fucked up, distorted direction. So, it’s garagier, it’s kind of lo-fi in certain ways, but it’s all done with older stuff.â€?

“I was 3 or 4 years old,� the Tiger Army Six albums, multiple EPs, and a sucvocalist, guitarist, and visionary re- cessful Nick 13 solo album later, that calls from his home in Los Angeles. gasoline continues to burn brightly “My dad had made a decision to move with Tiger Army becoming a wellthe family out of the Bay Area—from known name in punk, rockabilly, and the rat race, if you will—to a small Americana circles. Their newest retown in Redwood Country, and one of lease, Retrofuture, out Sept. 13 via Rise the things he was going to do up there Records, keeps that flame alive with a was to teach himself how to play gui- collection of 13 songs that summarize tar. Basically, he never got to, because the band’s legacy succinctly, crossing every time I would hear the guitar and bridging genres with the fire that come out of the case, I would instantly was ignited so many years ago. beeline and bug him and he wasn’t able to learn anything and basically “I don’t consider Tiger Army to be of a gave up.� particular genre,� the frontman explains. “It’s definitely rock ’n’ roll, and I He laughs. “I don’t know why he didn’t see connections between Buddy Holly do it at night when I was asleep,� he and the Ramones or Dion [And The Belsays. “I wound up learning to play monts] and the New York Dolls. There’s all on that guitar a few years later. It these different kinds of through lines that was something I was always drawn jump around across the decades. That’s “Oddly, it kind of sounds fresh and to from very early childhood. When I something that speaks to me.� modern,� he adds with a laugh. first heard punk, there was something about the rawness of it that made me Retrofuture feels like driving a classic It’s that dichotomy of the past and feel like I could do this. When I was 11 turquoise ’57 Chevy. There are mo- present—that Retrofuture vibe—that and I heard hardcore punk for the ments that cruise on the highway with Tiger Army radiate so well. Nick 13 first time, it was so raw. I felt like I could punk adrenaline, like “Death Card� says that was never intentional. In a do that and I need to do that. Hearing and “Eyes of the Night�; songs that way, it’s how he reconciles living in a

16 NEW NOISE

PHOTO BY TRAVIS SHINN

PHOTO BY PAT PIASECKI

DIABLOGATO

HEELS

INTERVIEW WITH BRENNAN WHALEN AND JOSHUA MCLANE

BY DANIELLE TORRENCE

“You know, I did the douchey little contrarian thing when I was a kid, so I didn’t know anything about Sun Studio and Elvis until I was in my early 20s,� HEELS vocalist and guitarist Brennan Whalen says from his Memphis, Tennessee, digs. “I’m kind of glad I was like that, though, because now, I appreciate all those artists more.�

Regardless of whether or not the city that gave birth to the dynamic, tough-to-classify—punk-folk-country, maybe?—duo played a part in their upbringing or simply was an absentee father always lurking on the periphery is kind of beside the point. Memphis is in their blood, seeping out of their pores and on to the stage during the band’s jaw-dropping, energy-exorcistic live shows, which seem to conjure the ghosts of Jay Reatard, Johnny Cash, and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.

INTERVIEW WITH DRUMMER JESSE MAYER BY GEN HANDLEY

W

hen asked to describe Diabloga- essence of what makes art, well, art?

Does it make you feel something? If it’s to’s sound, drummer Jesse Mayer doesn’t mince words. “It’s revved-up, art, it should, I think.� greasy garage-stomp with a swampy As longtime friends in the local punk swing and a voodoo twang,� he says. rock and hot rod scenes, the band  came together very naturally and Formed in 2014, the Boston rockabilly band released their debut LP, Old Scratch, quickly. Mayer says their goals are pretty simple—goals that he and his on Aug. 23 via State Line Records. “Getting bandmates are very passionate about. the opportunity to work with State Line Records is a really positive thing for the “We try to write the best songs we can band and, we hope, for the label too,� and make the best records we can, put on the best live shows we can and Mayer says. reach as many people [as we can] and see if it all resonates while having fun Mayer also hopes Old Scratch will doing it,� he explains. “We don’t want move their listeners. “We fucking love to bore anyone in the process, espemusic,� he states. “We all really love all kinds of music that fall under the rock, cially ourselves.�

R&B, soul, and country umbrellas, from the early ’50s to some present-day art- So, how did Diablogato get their name? ists, but it’s not limited to that. We’re “Well, Devil Cat sounds pretty goofy inspired by other art forms like films, in English but ferociously badass in books, paintings, photography—what- Spanish,â€? Mayer says with a laugh, “and MotĂśrhead was already taken.â€? đ&#x;’Ł ever moves us. Isn’t that kind of the

PHOTO BY DALEY HAKE

JASON HAWK HARRIS INTERVIEW BY THOMAS PIZZOLA

M

any artists write what they know, and for Los-Angeles-by-way-of-Houston alt-country singer-songwriter Jason Hawk Harris, that maxim was taken to the extreme during the writing of his debut album, Love & the Dark, released Aug. 23 on Bloodshot Records.

While he was writing the album, a set of tragedies—that may seem severe even for a country performer—befell Harris’ family.

His mother passed away due to complications related to alcoholism. His father went bankrupt after being sued by the King of

Morocco. His sister was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and gave birth to a premature son with cerebral palsy. In addition, he was dealing with his own vices and issues.

In true Americana fashion, these experiences influenced Love & the Dark. “It’s been an arduous and incredible few years. The album would not have existed without them,� Harris says. “A lot of the songs on this record, almost all of them, are a catharsis for me. They represent the darkest moments and the greatest triumphs of a tough few years.�

When it came time to release their fantastic new album, Good People Even Do Bad Things, on July 12, the band chose to sign with New York- and Austin, Texas-based Altercation Records, an outfit known primarily as a punk label with eclectic taste. “I think we’re mostly a good fit at Altercation because of our overall ethos,� Whalen explains. “We’re not really that punk, but we’ve got a DIY drive and a knack for yelling into microphones. We’re a bit more pop-influenced than hardcore, so I think that sets us apart.�

Featuring 10 tracks that range from impossibly anthemic, like “I’ll Have a Name Someday,� to Townes-Van-Zandt-worthy, like “Compost,� Good People Even Do Bad Things is a scorcher from start to finish, highlighted by eyeball-bulging cover art that combines linedrawn mythology with—well, we’re not exactly sure. “That’s all Nathan Parten, the artist behind it,� drummer Joshua McLane laughs. “All the art has Easter eggs from the songs hidden in it. His work is also featured in the first video, for the song ‘King Drunk,’ which [came] out in July to coincide with the album release.�

With a recent support slot for Lucero’s Ben Nichols in the band’s back pocket and a slew of tour dates in support of the fresh album on the horizon, Whalen is taking a few rare days off to concentrate on the current matter at hand—some Memphis BBQ. “Never use propane if you can help it,â€? he offers. “Stick to charcoal.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

Harris uses music as a way of dealing with the world around him. “It’s staring straight into the chaos the world throws your way and saying, ‘You know what, fuck it. I’m gonna organize this stuff into something beautiful,’� he says. “I think that’s all any artist is doing when they create: finding order in this chaos we call home, so that we don’t descend into madness.�

Love & the Dark is an emotional wrencher. Sonically, it mixes Harris’ background in indie rock and punk with his childhood surrounded by country music.

It’s a combination rooted in tradition, but it’s not afraid to branch out. “I’m not out here trying to change country music; I think it’s just fine the way Hank and George did it. As a songwriter, all I have is my perspective, and my perspective is informed by a lot of different genres,�

Harris says. “That said, respecting a genre’s roots and traditions, regardless of what genre it is, is very important to me. I won’t use a genre of music if I don’t understand its roots.â€? ​or Harris, the past few years have F been filled with tragedy and pain, but he channeled all that darkness into one hell of a debut. After all, that’s why creates in the first place. “[Creating music] forces you to be present, to put the phone down, and to have hilarious and horrifying conversations with your demons,â€? he finishes. đ&#x;’Ł

NEKROMANTIX “3 DECADES OF DARKLE�

Just in time for Halloween, Nekromantix give the drooling hordes a radiant 4K Blu-ray celebrating their demonic stroll through the last 30 years. Beginning in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1989, Kim Nekroman and his coffin upright bass have soared through nine LPs. The concert featured in “3 Decades of Darkle� was filmed in 2019 at The Observatory in Santa Ana, California, and the film is directed

by Vicente Cordero. MVD issues this limited-edition package boasting exclusive interviews and rare photos on Oct. 29. The stunning eight-panel Digipak will include a DVD, audio CD, and a digital version of the set, in which Nekromantix rip through beloved, classic psychobilly songs like “Struck By a Wrecking Ball,� “Demons Are a Girl’s Best Friend,� “Gargoyles Over Copenhagen,� “Haunted Cathouse,� and “Who Killed the Cheerleader?� –Hutch

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17

PROTEAN REBELLION: NO ONE CAN AGREE ON THE EXACT ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES, BUT PUNK HAS UNDENIABLY ADAPTED AND EVOLVED IN INNUMERABLE WAYS SINCE EMERGING FROM THE PRIMORDIAL SOUP. DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING FIELD SAMPLES ARE NOT EXHAUSTIVE. PHOTO BY CHARLIE WRZESNIEWSKI TOBIAS JEG, LABEL CO-CAPTAIN BRENDAN KELLY, DEANNA BELOS OF SINCERE ENGINEER, TOM MAY OF THE MENZINGERS

SHOW THE COMRADES SOME SOLIDARITY AND CHECK OUT

RED SCARE INDUSTRIES: 15 YEARS OF TEARS AND BEERS

RED SCARE INDUSTRIES INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDER TOBIAS JEG BY JOHN B. MOORE

I

n 2004, Tobias Jeg was working fulltime for indie punk label Fat Wreck Chords, but he was still looking for new ways to pay back the music community that meant so much to him.

side project made up of members from The Lawrence Arms, Alkaline Trio, and The Loved Ones—produced one of Red Scare’s first releases, 2004’s God Don’t Make No Trash –or– Up Your Ass With Broken Glass.

“You know, there have been some hard lessons, but I don’t wanna sound jaded or spend too much energy on negative stuff,� he says. “When your physical distro goes out of business and owes you five figures, it can be a real drag. Vinyl costs and postal costs continue to go up, and people expect 1990s pricing, but those nuts-and-bolts things are inevitable in this biz, so you just have to be in a position to be able to endure those unexpected expenses.�

“What got me started was that I was really passionate about the “Going by the catalog numbers, The underground music community. Still Falcon’s EP was the first, but the am!� says Jeg, who founded the label Enemy You record, [Stories Never Red Scare Industries. “I still wanted Told], came out at the same time,� Jeg Through it all, Red Scare has been able to get involved and put my own says. “Maybe that’s what made me to pay their bills and pay their bands. stamp on things. There were bands think I needed to start a label; I had that I tried getting signed to Fat and two quality bands that were looking “The reason is because we spend Epitaph but had no takers, so I said for a new label.� within our means,� Jeg says. “I think fuck it and did it myself.� one lesson I have learned from “We obviously got super lucky with those being around the scene is that the The early bands Jeg signed were also two initial acts. Man, I must have been people with the biggest mouths are his friends, which made it all the more way cooler 15 years ago to have those the most bullshit, especially when fun and added the incentive of helping guys knockin’ on my door,� he laughs. it comes to the ‘hot topics’ of the out his buds. He eventually left his job scene. For example, the people who at Fat to strike out on his own, and over Guiding Red Scare through a decade are the most overzealous about safe the past 15 years, he’s put out releases and a half of both music and industry spaces almost always turn out to be

by The Menzingers, Masked Intruder, trends, Jeg has managed to remain the creeps and bullies around. So, Cobra Skulls, Teenage Bottlerocket, passionate about the records he we try to stay away from weird, The Falcon, and a slew of other punk puts out and realistic about running judgmental dorks like that. Them’s heavy hitters. In fact, The Falcon—a a business. bad vibes!â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

18 NEW NOISE

Remember how dumb we were in 2004? We thought we were living through the worst presidency that would ever come along.

Facebook was founded, and we assumed it was just a harmless networking site.

Surprisingly, something rad did happen in 2004: the birth of Red Scare Industries! To celebrate, on Sept. 27, the label put out a comp of 15 previously unreleased songs

by Brendan Kelly And The Wandering Birds, The Lippies, Sincere Engineer, The Bombpops, and a ton more. Fists up! –John B. Moore

EVEN MORE FROM RED SCARE INDUSTRIES

SICKO’S IN THE ALTERNATE TIMELINE

The back catalog of Seattle punk legends Sicko has long been out of print, but Red Scare Industries found a solution of sorts.

On Sept. 13, the label put out a 19-song anthology culled from the band’s criminally underrated four LPs, 1994’s You Can Feel the Love in This Room, 1995’s Chef BoyR-U-Dum and Laugh While You Can Monkey Boy, and 1997’s You Are Not the Boss of Me. The tracklist was handpicked by the band and fully remastered. Sicko called it quits in 1998, but there’s hope that this collection could inspire some reunion shows! –John B. Moore

A

few years ago, Simeon Meyer, bummed that so many of his favorite local bands were barely scraping by, decided to buy a button press and make a few batches to see if he could help out.

“I was talking to a band that tours nationally and internationally and was amazed by the jobs they would have to work when home from tours,� Meyer says. “Up until that point, I kinda had the perception that their band was their income and they were able to live off music alone. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, so I bought a one-inch button press and started making pinbacks and reaching out to bands—mostly local Chicago and Milwaukee—and giving them out either for free or super cheap just to do what little part I could in helping bands make a couple more bucks on tour.�

So begins the origin story of Stupid Rad Merch Co., a full-service operation that sells everything from band t-shirts and coffee mugs to

show—shirts, patches, pins, etc.— but they do occasionally get the unusual request. “Which we would love to do if we could find a way to get it done,� Meyer says. “I think I remember a request for a pink vibrator coming through, but I really have no idea how to handle something like that since I’m sure there are some sanitary regulations I would have to meet.�

INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDER SIMEON MEYER BY JOHN B. MOORE lighters and beanies and works with bands like Bad Cop / Bad Cop, The Bombpops, and Red City Radio.

It took a while for Meyer to shake the nickname The Button Guy. “My button company was called Stupid Fucking Buttons,� he says. “Trying to have a somewhat more tasteful name, I asked the Facebook community for a name that would be so stupid rad that people couldn’t look it over, and well, that’s where Stupid Rad came from.�

From there, Meyer reached out to Matthew Ryan Sharp, a friend and talented designer who was working with 350 Brewing Company at the time, for a rad logo and mascot. “I told him I loved skulls but wanted a skull that wanted to party, rather than most skulls, which are kinda the same and boring,�

Meyer explains. “We teamed up and grew the brand, with Matt being the illustrator for all things Stupid Rad.�

Once he branched out from traditional and, eventually, enamel pins, Meyer made the big move to doing all of the merch for The Bombpops, including webstore hosting and fulfillment. “For whatever reason, they responded to my message, and we built a webstore for them. It’s been super rad,� he says. “We now have other great bands like Bad Cop / Bad Cop, Red City Radio, and some more local bands that we can hopefully get some exposure for, because at some point, they made a huge impression. That’s what it’s all about: helping bands in the community where we can and trying to get a network of people together.�

Although he can’t think of anything he would have done differently when starting Stupid Rad, Meyer admits to having learned some difficult lessons along the way. “I think the hardest lesson I learned was that just because you are doing something that you love doesn’t mean you don’t get burned out from it,â€? he says. “I love music, I love punk rock, but when it becomes a job, you gotta take a step back sometimes and remind yourself you started this company to help the industry that helped make you who you are.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

The bands have full involvement in the creation of their merch. Most of the groups Stupid Rad deals with have something in mind or an artist they like to work with for their merch items. The requests are usually pretty standard for most bands, the typical stuff one would find on the folding tables at the back of a

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19

WON’T YOU TAKE ME TO SCUFFLE TOWN

INTERVIEW WITH HYPE MAN BEAU “BEAU BEAU” BUTLER AND DRUMMER ERIK LARSON

BY MICHAEL THORN

20 NEW NOISE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL THORN

“

T

here was this shit that we just used to do. There’s a part in a song where me and [guitarist] Joe [Banks] have touched feet every time we played it for 20 fucking years. We weren’t even looking at each other, and I was probably fucking around on my phone and he’s playing guitar, and we both just lifted our foot up and touched feet.”

That’s AVAIL dancer and hype man Beau “Beau Beau” Butler talking about practicing for the punk rock

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21

legends’ sold-out, packed-to-thegills reunion shows in their hometown of Richmond, Virginia, on July 19 and 20. “I mean,” he says, “there were certain parts we needed to tweak a little bit, but it came right—like, someone would say, ‘Let’s play this song,’ and we would just start it. We’d just fucking play it.

It just felt right.”

Butler’s presence is just one of many things that make AVAIL such a unique group. “Not to toot my horn or nothing, but it’s not very often that you have a band that has a dancer,” he states.

There was a time when it was impossible to go a punk show without seeing the patch that accompanied the band’s second EP, 1993’s Attempt To Regress, stitched onto a bag or jacket—a testament to their cross-genre appeal. Notorious for their live shows and constant touring, they steamrolled through the ’90s and into the ’00s playing just about everywhere, with every band, and to everyone. They were the band who would roll through town, go absolutely apeshit, and leave the whole scene wondering what the fuck just happened.

Then, suddenly, they were no more.

“Some of us had other jobs and stuff, but this was our job, and it was getting—there’s a lot of work, and there wasn’t a big payoff at the end. Then, we honestly played a show in Richmond and then just never got back together,” Butler says, explaining their unofficial disbandment in 2007. “It was super weird. We just stopped. There wasn’t anything said; one of us didn’t go, ‘Fuck you. You’re a dick,’ and leave. We just stopped being around each other. It was really odd, and it’s just—I don’t know.

When we decided to play shows again, that was the first time all of us were in the same room in 12 years.”

In those 12 years, frontman Tim Barry crisscrossed the country playing folk music, bassist Gwomper did time in Smoke Or Fire and The Real McKenzies, and Banks played in Freeman with former AVAIL bassist Chuck McCauley and current drummer Erik Larson, who also played for a litany of other bands including Alabama Thun-

22 NEW NOISE

derpussy, Kilara, and Parasytic. With sit around if they can’t remember everyone busy with their own projects, the parts or they can’t play it or it the obvious question is how did AVAIL just doesn’t sound good. So, maycome back together? be the fourth practice, we came. It was like, ‘Holy fuck! It sounds dead According to Butler, “Over the nuts like it used to!’” years, I tried to get everybody back in the same room and just Larson wasn’t concerned. “I shoot the shit, ’cause I’ve always never thought that it was gonna thought it is weird when your be an issue of us sounding bad, friends aren’t friends anymore. So, but I didn’t even think about it I brought it up a couple of times, or even worry about it, ’cause I and everyone was like, ‘Man, knew that—I had played with Joe whatever. I gotta go do this, so before, and I felt like, ‘Man, you maybe next year’—like, blah blah guys just gotta knock the rust off, blah—but I think it was a Satur- brush away the cobwebs, and it’ll day night, like 7 o’clock at night, be fine,’” he says. “I know Tim was and Tim just called me out of the a little concerned about singing blue and was like, ‘Hey, man. You these songs, because it’s a differinterested in playing some shows?’ ent way of singing and a different I was like ‘What?!’” approach than what he does with his solo stuff. It’s definitely harder “He just straight hit me with that, on his body. He was a little conand I was like, ‘I think it would be cerned about that, but within two cool as fuck,’” Butler continues. days, he was just like, ‘I got this.

“He was like, ‘Nothing crazy, just We’re good.’ So, I think everyone like—’ and I’m like, ‘I just want my kind of felt that way.” kids to get to see me.’ They know what AVAIL is, but they don’t Reunion now confirmed, it came know what AVAIL is, you know? time to sort out what that actually Like, I think that would just be su- looked like. “Justin [Collier from per fucking cool.”

Good Fight Entertainment], who is now our manager, basically Larson chimes in. “Beau didn’t put together some proposals for call me at first. I made him call me. shit,” Butler explains. “He said, He texted me and asked me if I’m ‘All right, well, we’ll do Richmond interested in doing AVAIL reunions shows, then we’ll do an East Coast with an Over the James theme,” he run, and then we’ll do a Southeast says, referencing the band’s 1998 run, then a Dallas, sorta Texas run, LP for Lookout! Records, which then we’ll do, like, two runs on was rereleased by Jade Tree in the West Coast and do a Chica2006. “I said, ‘Yes, I would total- go thing,’ and all of this kind of ly do that, but this is not a texting stuff. We were like, ‘OK, yeah, we conversation. You have to call don’t wanna do any of that shit. me,’” Larson laughs. “He wrote Let’s just play Richmond and see me back, ‘Damn it,’ and then, he how it goes.’ I, for one, was super called and we started chatting. skeptical that it was even gonna My first question was just, ‘Where do well, honestly.” is this coming from? Why is this happening now?’”

While AVAIL had booked a backup venue in case the 1,500-caPer Butler, it was important that pacity The National theater didn’t the reunion showed just what had sell out, tickets for the first night made AVAIL so special. “I mean, were gone in 10 seconds and the we were way more nervous about second night sold out after local that than anybody else for sure, Richmond residents waited up’cause the band has this weird rep- wards of four hours in line. utation—and this was before the internet and before fucking cell “That was insane. That doesn’t phones and all this stuff. We had even make sense to me,” Butler this reputation of coming to wher- says. “To think [of] where we came ever it was and going ballistic,” he from and, then, what we were dosays. “We didn’t wanna fuck that ing in the meantime—and some up. We don’t wanna ruin that.” of us were just not that into music.

“Tim and I basically told the guys We’d go see shows and stuff, but it we weren’t gonna come to the wasn’t like music was an everyday first couple of practices,” Butler [thing] like it used to be. Literally, adds. “There’s no need for us to when we came back from tour,

we would play Alley Katz, and it holds, like, 600 people or some shit like that. So, yeah, we came from playing a 600-person room to over 3,000 people.”

Still, the question remains: Why a reunion centered on the oddly numbered 21st anniversary of AVAIL’s fourth LP, Over the James?

By all accounts, it is their most successful record in terms of sales, but in a lot of ways, it feels like more than that. It features some of Barry’s most emotionally heavy lyrics, and for the band, it really stands out as a sweet spot, marrying the anger and energy of their earlier material with the point at which the band really figured out exactly what they were doing.

“Well, I can go into each individual record, but for me, I think Over the James was just kind of like a culmination of everything that had happened prior,” Larson says.

“The band just felt comfortable being the band. The songs were good. Everyone knew each other very intimately and well, so it wasn’t a struggle—it wasn’t like we were fighting for something still. It was more just like, ‘Here we are.

This is us. Boom.’”

It’s not just being a tight, high-energy live juggernaut that makes AVAIL such a special band; there is also an approachability and connection to the overall scene that formed them, which come from years of steady touring and taking a grassroots approach to building their fanbase. This has taken form through booking their own shows and making connections with and striving to help out other bands—particularly those from Richmond. Their hometown reunion shows featured such diverse bands as crossover thrashers Iron Reagan, Richmond straight edge legends Down To Nothing, the ripping hardcore punks in Nosebleed, and the thunderous crust punks of Asylum. While Iron Reagan and Down To Nothing are certainly used to playing a big room, Nosebleed and Asylum are more likely to be found wrecking a living room at a chaotic house show.

“We were all very, very adamant that it had to be Richmond bands, and it’s the same on all the shows on the tour—or the four shows

we’re doing or whatever,â€? Butler “This isn’t our job anymore. This says. “For us, it’s a big thing that is what we do for fun,â€? Butler the opening band has to be from notes. “If we just don’t wanna do there [and] has to be smaller, to something, even though everyone give them a little exposure. It’s else thinks we should, then fuck it. just cooler, right? It’s cool to see We’re not gonna do it.â€? a band that comes through and they’ve got their two bands that “‘How can we do this so that everyplay with them. That’s fucking cool one is enjoying themselves and as shit, but when your friends can having fun?’ That should be the be like, ‘Dude, we’re playing the baseline,â€? Larson concludes. “If show,’ that’s cooler, right? It makes you feel it, you give it off, and then, it more grounded. It makes it real, everyone who’s watching and lismore authentic.â€? tening feels it and they give it back to you. It’s just this great feedback “I wanted to make the bands a lit- loop. I think that’s kind of where tle bit diversified too—not just in we’re at. Everyone is definitely—I music but to show the change in don’t know, pretty amazed, really. the scene,â€? Larson adds. “Chris I hate to use that word, ’cause it’s [Boarts Larson], my wife, had a familiar catchphrase, but it’s posted a picture of a collage of kind of overwhelming to see photos that she had taken the first the reaction that people five or 10 years that she was living have been having with here, and someone internet troll- just the two shows that ing her or whatever was like, ‘Oh we did. You don’t great, just a bunch of white guys.’ think about the Well, that’s what it was then in the art that you cre’90s. It was just a bunch of white ate having that guys playing music. Right? That’s kind of impact not the case anymore. There’s a lot on other peoof women involved. There’s a lot of ple. At least people of color involved. There’s for me, it’s a lot of different viewpoints, both more of a in politics and religion, and just c a t h a r s i s , style issues that I thought were im- and I would portant to highlight if I could, the do it rebest way I could. You only get two gardless, but opening bands, right?â€? getting honest j o y coming from people is really kind “It’s really important to not just be of surprising. It’s awesome, but it’s a band and take from your scene,â€? not at all what I was expecting.â€? đ&#x;’Ł Larson asserts. “It’s important to đ&#x;’Ł give back too.â€?

So, all this begs perhaps the most important question: Will AVAIL return to the road full-time? “I think it’s more wait and see what happens. We don’t know,� Butler says. “We kinda wanna get through these stretches of shows, and if something comes up that we wanna do, then cool.� “I have a personal bucket list of things I wanna do with the band,� Larson says. “If [George Stroumboulopoulos is] listening or reading, I wanna play [‘House of Strombo’]; that’s one of my things I really wanna do. There’s other things, but hopefully, once we complete this first run of shows, we will have figured out how to be a band again so we can do things in a more regular way—but I do wanna play Strombo’s house.�

PHOTO BY MICHAEL THORN

“EVERYONE KNEW EACH OTHER VERY INTIMATELY AND WELL, SO IT WASN’T A STRUGGLE—IT WASN’T LIKE WE WERE FIGHTING FOR SOMETHING STILL. IT WAS MORE JUST LIKE, ‘HERE WE ARE. THIS IS US. BOOM.’�

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PHOTO BY ALAN SNODGRASS

PUNK ROCK & PAINTBRUSHES PRESENTS “There are such things as in your dreams�

In addition to creating a new Strung Out album, Cruz has been busy writing books and making art. His first children’s book, “There are such things as in your dreams,� will be available on Oct. 25.

Cruz is celebrating its release with a fine art show at CoproGallery in Santa Monica, California, on the same day, which will include an acoustic performance by Strung Out and a guest artist, legendary skater Steve Caballero. The whole event is pulled together by the art collective Punk Rock & Paintbrushes.

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST JASON CRUZ

BY JOSHUA MARANHAS

S

ongs of Armor and Devotion, released Aug. 9 on Fat Wreck Chords, is the latest release by the pioneering Fat band from Simi Valley, California, Strung Out. It’s another step forward for vocalist Jason Cruz and company.

In 1994, their debut full-length, Another Day in Paradise, cauterized painful skating slams for many listeners. In 2019, Songs of Armor and Devotion heals emotional wounds, closing them with strong, thoughtful lyrics. “I guess we’re old-school,� Cruz says. “If people are going to believe and buy records, every song deserves everything you got. It deserves your life.�

Cruz is riding a motorcycle in the desert near a small Mexican town as he stops to reflect on the last five months spent making Songs of Armor and Devotion. “The four main writers are still operating on all eight cylinders,� he says. “I think that’s Strung Out’s biggest strength, that we all write. It’s a core writing group, and we work well together.

We’re more creative than ever. We found a groove.�

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Cruz seems most interested in what these are; these songs are life, feelings. He explains how he feels and they are love. Stand for love.â€? about the album, saying, “It’s a little more reckless than the other From one’s first skinned knee or ones. It’s full drum tracks; [new bruised hip to that sharp pain in drummer] RJ [Shankle] plays full the brain, Strung Out have been drum tracks, full takes from front there. Another Day in Paradise’s to back. To me, that’s essential in “Awayâ€? picked flesh up off the curb creating a groove, an organic feel, and rolled fast. Songs of Armor and and I think that’s my favorite thing Devotion picks up the heart and about this record. It’s reckless, but pushes it up a hill of emotion. It’s an there’s a cohesion to it.â€? introspective album that provides shield and restoration to fans old According to the vocalist, Songs and new. It’s still real very to Cruz. of Armor and Devotion has an overall theme of love. “There’s “We have to struggle to do things,â€? always a theme to every record,â€? he concludes. “Something happens Cruz says. “The last record, with a connection somewhere with [2015’s Trasmission.Alpha.Delta.], somebody, [and] it makes me feel was ‘We are all just transmitters like, when I’m away from my family, of energy, ideas and thoughts, that it’s something bigger. I think I transmitting and receiving. Our need that. Sometimes, you just get ego is nothing. Our ego weighs down and wonder, ‘Is this even doing us down.’ This album is more anything? Am I wasting my time?’ I about love and loss, putting want to live my life to do something up boundaries or guards and good. I don’t want to just be a band, breaking and shattering them. living off people’s applause; I want The songs stick with you, thy rod to contribute something positive to and thy staff. There’s something people’s goals and inspire them. I to get you through, to get you like to know that I’m doing good.â€? through the darkness. Love, that’s đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

“It’s about describing to a kid what dreams are,â€? Cruz says of the book. “I asked my daughter once what she dreams about when she falls asleep, and she looked at me like, ‘Dreams? What?!’ [‌] The book starts out in pencil illustrations. It blossoms as the kids go into the dream world. The colors take over the whole book, and by the middle of the book, it’s jam-packed full of imagery and colors.â€?

The project has been a DIY affair from its inception. “I’m publishing it myself,�

Cruz elaborates. “It will be available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, [and I’m] trying to get it into schools. Mostly, it’s a cool thing for parents, punk rock parents who are new parents, to read to their kids. Something positive. My daughter thought of the title; she just blurted it out. I thought it was brilliant.� “There are such things as in your dreams� will be available for preorder soon at jasonalexandercruz.art.

13 WOMEN AND

FRANK TURNER INTERVIEW BY SAMANTHA SPOTO

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nglish folk-punk sing- autobiographical. Here, Turner er-songwriter Frank Turner leans into his love of antiquity has returned a year after and storytelling to craft thoughtful his last release, 2018’s Be More songs about women who he didn’t Kind, with his eighth studio album, know about before—and who No Man’s Land. Released Aug. he suspected others didn’t know 16 on Xtra Mile Recordings and about either.

Polydor Records, this 13-track LP chronicles the lives of historical “I wanted to experiment with female figures. From professional different approaches to writing, dancer turned spy Mata Hari to and once I found my meter with gospel guitar heroine Sister Ro- this, it was very inspiring and I setta Tharpe to Turner’s mother, wrote pretty quickly,� Turner says. the biographies of extraordinary “I did research—of a kind; I’m not women are front and center here. a professional historian, [and] I wasn’t in the archives in cotton On an album that celebrates gloves—and worked hard not only women, it seems fitting that to tell the stories properly but also Turner chose to feature an all- to find the necessary emotional female cast of musicians and or philosophical angles to make producers. Turner sidesteps his them into proper songs.� typical Sleeping Souls ensemble to employ the expertise of violinist While Turner is using his position Anna Jenkins, cellist Jo Silverston, to introduce these women’s accordion and piano player Gill histories to a wider audience, he Sandell, and producer Catherine understands that their legacies Marks. While it makes sense can’t fit into a three-and-a-halfto emphasize the role of these minute song. To supplement this, female accompanists, Turner he has released a podcast, “Tales acknowledges, “It’s the talents From No Man’s Land,� in tandem people bring to the session that with the album to expand on matter the most.� their lives.

This new team of players isn’t “There is some deep history here in the only apparent shift Turner the lyrics, and I was thinking of a has taken with No Man’s Land. medium in which to explore that The British rocker also took a more fully, to give these people different approach to songwriting the attention and respect they compared to his previous albums, deserve,� Turner admits. “In the which are confessional and end, a podcast seemed like the

PREFER YOUR PUNK A LITTLE GENTLER? CHILL OUT WITH FREEZING COLD INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST JEFF CUNNINGHAM

BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

There’s a comfort, an instant spark when listening to Glimmer, out Sept. 27 via Salinas Records. The result of longtime friends from New York City’s DIY music community, Freezing Cold’s brand of indie punk will be endearingly familiar to fans of The Lemonheads and Throwing Muses, but there’s something unique and, well, different about this band and this album.

Rarely does a record embody the feeling of fall so well: the joy of watching the leaves turn beautiful colors, the elation of getting together with friends to watch football, the comfort of wearing warm clothing again. Freezing Cold tell stories that mean something to them and their listeners, and that organic synchronicity played into their songwriting. “Nothing was forced or robotically premeditated, but once you start a sentence, the rest of it kind of finishes itself,� vocalist and guitarist Jeff Cunningham notes.

However, some songs were immensely personal and elevate those individual moments. “The song ‘Skywriting’ I started before my daughter was born and finished about a month after her birth,� Cunningham shares. “That’s one of the most personal things I’ve ever written. I really wanted that on the record.�

In total, Glimmer is heartland-style punk at its most infectious, but its ability to speak to the soul in a very real and affecting way is what will keep Freezing Cold fresh in your mind.

PHOTO BY LIAM QUIGLEY

PHOTO BY MARK DEKTOR

best way to do it, and it’s worked really well, I think. I’ve learned a lot more about everything.�

women. In the wake of the album’s release, unbeknownst to Turner, supporters launched “Tales from Wo-Fan’s Land,� a fan project that is working to open up the dialogue around “the stories of womxn and non-men from history,� according to their website.

No Man’s Land is rooted in good intentions, but the public has taken swings at Turner for what they consider to be a dose of mansplaining. Turner is aware of the criticism and is cautious when talking “That was a wonderful thing—and about his work, for obvious reasons. a surprise. A whole load of people got together and wrote blog “I’m hesitant to say that I’m ‘giving pieces on lesser-known historical a voice’ to anyone. I’ve tried women, in keeping with the spirit my best to be sensitive to the of the record,â€? Turner says. “I was politics of me singing about these touched by it, not just because people as a man but hopefully it was a gesture of support at a not crowding them—or anyone pretty trying time for me, but also else—out,â€? Turner shares. “I think because it’s exactly the kind of thing that there’s an implicit politics to I was quietly hoping might come the record, which I’ll stand behind, from the record—people taking the and I hope that people go out and idea and running with it.â€? learn more about them and others and generally shift the scales of Run with it, Turner shall. He’s taking our historiography a tiny amount.â€? the tales of these 13 women on the road throughout the U.K. and U.S., Not everyone is dwelling on the during which he’ll perform a solo undeniable fact that Turner is a set dedicated to the album. After man writing about overlooked that, “We’ll see,â€? Turner says. đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

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PHOTO BY ALAN SNODGRASS

CRAVING MORE MELODIC PUNK? MAKE A PLAYDATE WITH 8KIDS

PHOTO BY FRANZ SCHEPERS

INTERVIEW

BY NICHOLAS SENIOR Pressing play on 8kids’ Blōten, released Aug. 23 via Napalm Records, is gloriously disorienting. First, the listener is bombarded by a post-hardcore-meets-indie-pop style that’s difficult to classify, let alone comprehend.

The Darmstadt, Germany-based band sound like Refused writing M83 songs or letlive. collaborating with Foster The People.

This is all before it sinks in that most of the record is in German—if the album title didn’t give it away—so unless you speak the language or have Google translate handy, the meaning might get lost. That sucks, because Blōten isn’t here to coddle the listener with carefree ditties.

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST/VOCALIST TOM MAY BY DEREK NIELSEN

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t’s been more than a decade since The Menzingers collectively relocated to Philadelphia from their hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Their breakthrough 2012 album, On the Impossible Past, showcased a young band already flexing on some serious nostalgia, while 2014’s Rented World took a desaturated detour into Gen X territory. 2017’s After the Party knocked the ball so far out of the park, it left everyone else throwing their gloves in the air, yelling, “Ham, you idiot!

Now we can’t play no more!â€?Â

We just tried to not play over each other as much.�

others while also developing your own independent moral agency requires a level of negotiation that is often, well, painful. On the song “Strangers Forever,� vocalist and guitarist Greg Barnett sings, “Maybe it’s for the best we stay strangers forever / Maybe it’s for the best we just act like we never met.�

“We think every artist, singer, band, whatever has to stand up against racism, sexism, and hate of any kind,� the band explain. “We are privileged to have the opportunity to play in front of many young people and need to use that in a good way. [They] are looking up to us, and some of them don’t have a political opinion yet. We try to give them something on the way and help them build their own position in the world.�

Just like Springsteen, Dylan, and Petty, The Menzingers’ lyrics lean Just when you thought this bright, cheery alheavily into themes of nostalgia, bum was all pop, 8kids let their words speak love, loss, and redemption. It’s a loud and clear message of inclusion—one this blue-collar approach to that is echoed in this delightfully unique songwriting that has made them musical experience. reliable narrators for punks old enough to remember 9/11 but too “A lot of the change that comes with young to remember Reagan. Hello this lifestyle,â€? May reflects, “we’ve Exile’s opener, “America (You’re had a lot of friends come and go, more times than most people talk to Freaking Me Out),â€? is a marching some of them because we aren’t their fucking husbands or wives in manifesto that so perfectly and in the same realm anymore and their entire lives.â€? cathartically captures the zeitgeist, some of them because they’re For their sixth album, Hello Exile, it practically whispers tauntingly to dead. There’s been a bunch of After the Party opened with Barnett dropping Oct. 4 via Epitaph the subsequent tracks on its way out, that experience, which definitely frantically repeating, “Where are Records, The Menzingers didn’t “Yeah. Try to follow that.â€? colored the record this time, and we gonna go now that our 20s are need to pull any stunts; instead, they that makes you think about your over?â€? and “I don’t mind telling continue weaving the melancholy— “I read something today that’s been own mortality, and that changes lies.â€? It’s clear-cut denial, for and the infinite sadness—we all fucking me up,â€? May segues. “If you your lens on the world.â€? sure—but denial is simply the first carry around inside of us into take how often you see your parents, step. Hello Exile ends with “Farewell meticulously crafted punk anthems. and you enter their age, where they Throughout these changes, there’s Youth,â€? a midtempo college-radio live, whether they smoke or not, you been one constant for the four rocker on which Barnett croons, “We spent a lot more time figuring can see, at this rate, how many times members of The Menzingers—each “Farewell youth, I’m afraid I hardly out what it was to have a song and you’re going to see your parents other. got to know you / I was always what made a song a song and before they die. It boils down to, hanging out with the older kids.â€? what we liked about certain songs,â€? like, 50 times! Those painfully real “We started the band with a There it is—acceptance. These guitarist and vocalist Tom May moments, this record has a bunch foundation that has allowed us to two songs bookend a journey that explains. “We tried to have more of those.â€? grow, and we communicate on the most of us have or will embark on, space in the instrumentation to same page,â€? May explains. “I have a coming-of-age lesson that a have the songs feel more open. It’s Emotional maturity is a tricky bitch, been drunk with those three guys tearful farewell is simply setting the still us; there’s no indie whispering. because sharing an identity with talking about life and the future stage for a new hello. đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

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innipeg’s Mobina Galore have been blowing up the scene for eight years, with guitarist and vocalist Jenna Priestner and drummer and vocalist Marcia Hanson proving what aggressive power chord punk rock should be about.

With two full-lengths, 2014’s Cities Away and 2017’s Feeling Disconnected, already under their belt, the duo released Don’t Worry on Sept. 6 via New Damage Records. It unpacks years of touring, supporting bands like Against Me!, Pennywise, and Propagandhi and rocking out at festivals such as MontrÊal’s Pouzza Fest, Punk Rock Bowling in Vegas, and Groezrock in Belgium. It is clear how much the album means to their personal growth.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALAN SNODGRASS

“We were both dealing with heartache while writing the songs, so they ended up very sincere and personal,� Hanson says. “At first, we didn’t know if we wanted to be playing these songs all the time, because the feelings were so raw, but after a while, we decided they were too good to hide away.�

INTERVIEW WITH JENNA PRIESTNER AND MARCIA HANSON

BY RENALDO MATADEEN “Most of the songs are about hurting someone you love, getting hurt by someone you love, and feeling stuck songs are a tough sell for Marcia, be- are a few songs on Don’t Worry I inside a thick pain and trying to talk cause she doesn’t relate to my com- didn’t even want to put on [there], yourself out of it,â€? she continues. plainy lyrics and aggression; she’s a because I was sick of singing about “Because the songs are so personal, much nicer and kinder person than I the same shit in all these songs, but we thought naming it Don’t Worry am,â€? she laughs. at the end of the day, that can be would be like a wink to our friends what makes a great album: emotion, and family to tell them, ‘I know we “I Need To Go Homeâ€? is the space a theme, and relatable content.â€? đ&#x;’Ł might sound like we’re not doing so they’re more often playing in. well, but we’re OK.’â€? “There’s quite a lot to this song, in fact, musically and lyrically, from YEARNING FOR MORE HONESTY? “The first thing my dad said when he first aid kit references to Winniheard the full album was, ‘Should peg shout-outs that no one would BOW DOWN TO THE ANTI-QUEENS I be worried?’â€? Priestner inter- understand but me,â€? Priestner INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST EMILY BONES jects, laughing. “So, I think the title says. “It’s a woe-is-me song about

BY NICHOLAS SENIOR couldn’t be more perfect!� comparing your pain with others’, “I now realize that most of these songs are be kind of scary, but the moment someone which isn’t generally a fair thing to basically telling people to fuck off, which is tells you how much a song inspired them or While most of the album falls into do. Some of the lines are quite lithilarious, because that was completely acgot them through something, you remember the indie punk vein of old, Priest- eral, and we all fuck up in life, but cidental,� The Anti-Queens lead vocalist and why being honest and open is so important.� ner takes pride in the faster tracks, the main idea and takeaway of the guitarist Emily Bones laughs. such as the skate punk jam “Sorry, song is that your best is yet to come!�

Calling The Anti-Queens a damn good time It’s that inadvertent middle finger that gets at would diminish the album’s surprising depth I’m a Messâ€? and the ’90s-reministhe soul of the Toronto band. Their self-titled and replayability. Few bands straddle the line cent “Back to the Beginningâ€? Ă la On Don’t Worry, Mobina Galore debut, out Sept. 13 via Stomp Records, oozes between humor and heart so wonderfully.

The Offspring and Hole. This is be- did their own thing but still honboth a rebellious streak and a desire to cause she gets to scratch a more ored what made the last couple of invite as many people to the musical party aggressive itch, though that isn’t albums tick. “I don’t know that we as possible. Given the sneering yet honest something Mobina Galore want to were thinking of anyone’s expeclyrics, hooks sharper than a box cutter, and fully explore. tations; we just wanted to make a a brand of tunes that could only be labeled record we loved,� Hanson contends. “fucking rock ’n’ roll,� there’s no doubting that The Anti-Queens know how to throw an audio “I would love to be in a super-fast rager. There’s a distinct authenticity to the ’80s hardcore or ’90s skate punk Priestner makes it clear what her songs that feels both relatable yet personal band, but I don’t have time for that!� ambitions were. “Feeling Disconand makes this party linger like a bad hangPriestner says. “As for Mobina, we nected was received OK on the small over—but, this time, it’s on purpose. think a lot about the live perfor- scale, but I’ve always had greater mance, and vocally, it’s draining goals for us than what that got us, so “Whether it be a particular lyric or a vibe in the to scream every song, which is why I certainly had high expectations of melodies and riffs, music can be a very powthere’s such a variation on this new myself to create something bigger erful healer,� Bones elaborates. “Exposing your vulnerability through songwriting can PHOTO BY MICHAELXCRUSTY record. Some of these harder, faster and better,� she concludes. “There

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INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST DICK LUCAS BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

band who need no introduc- that and our emotions,� he continues. you look like,� he explains. “I’ve tion, Subhumans have been “Nationalism, aka fascism, has, via heard bands all sounding original making, and pioneering, Trump, the conservatives, and other within the confines of punk rock punk rock since the ’80s. The Brits are right-wingers, given closet racists a before there were any confines, still at it, and they’re not showing signs permit to go loud and public. They and nowadays, I hear 20 bands all of slowing down any time soon. Their have us fighting each other while they sounding the same before I hear one new album, Crisis Point, out Sept. 13 consolidate all the money and power.� that doesn’t: imitation, the sincerest via Pirates Press Records, is all about form of flattery? Maybe.� the state of the world—a popular While that may all sound bleak, it’s topic in punk but, unfortunately, an frightfully spot-on, and it’s hard to “The sheer amount of punk bands increasingly relevant one. imagine how a punk band could means repetition is unavoidable,� he avoid being influenced the current clarifies, “but the spark of originality “It’s called Crisis Point, ’cause the political climate. Punk’s ethos is too often missing. I sound like planet and humanity are at this place involves evaluating the state of the a miserable old cynic, but I’m a where, without drastic reappraisal of world, and right now, it’s not looking happy old cynic, really, kept so by the way we live, we are screwed, to too bright. In addition, Lucas also the continually invigorating sounds put it politely,� vocalist Dick Lucas feels the state of punk is a little dark, of new bands as fired up—and explains. “Environmentally, politically, but he’s still cheerful about it. original—as ever bands were. We just and socially, we are at the edge of need more of them, giving vent and disaster: the pollution caused by “I’ve seen the reduction to zero of inspiration in a world gone insane.� consumer culture, led by shallow punks being beaten up by skinheads gratification; the screen-based social on a regular basis and the evolution 2019 may be the perfect year for media that flattens communication of the downplay of appearance, a new Subhumans album, but it and the nature of truth to a lowest with the more realistic attitude that almost didn’t happen because of common denominator of confused actions speak louder than words, geographical separation. righteousness, where the nature of which say way more than what morality and values comes second to “Trotsky, our drummer, moved to being noticed and gaining ‘likes.’�

Germany years back, and since then, our practice sessions to get “Politics has moved from exploiting songs together have shrunk from our labor and income to exploiting once a week to once or twice a

year, so getting enough new songs for an album took its time,� Lucas says. “When we had seven formed or halfway ready, we booked a local U.K. studio to practice and record in—this was in April—in three twoday gaps in a U.K. tour we were doing.

[We] rapidly nailed the semi-formed songs, created three more, and got them recorded. It was fast work, with most of the songs hardly, if at all, played live before being vinylized, so to speak. It lends a rawness to the process, which we think sounds great.�

Listen to Crisis Point and appreciate the changes Subhumans have seen over the years and the new developments still to come within their music—before it’s too late! đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

CAN’T GET ENOUGH SUBHUMANS? PIRATES PRESS HAS YOU COVERED! SUBHUMANS / THE RESTARTS SPLIT 7�

PHOTO BY ALAN SNODGRASS

28 NEW NOISE

It could be coincidence—or it could be evidence that punk bands are fed up and frustrated with the grotesque wealth gap in the world. Either way, legendary UK82 band Subhumans and The Restarts from the East End of London, with 25 years of their own in the scene, submitted their tracks for a split EP and unknowingly addressed the same issue. On 99% / 1%, Subhumans provide the yin to The Restarts’ yang, bolstered by commentary on the dispiriting distance between the world’s wealthiest people and everyone else. The split follows the release of Crisis Point on Sept. 17, also via Pirates Press, and Subhumans’ track, “99%,� complements The Restarts’ “The One Percent� extremely well.

Only 2,000 white vinyl 7�s were pressed, so don’t delay! –Hutch

PHOTO BY MIKE HARI

Mizzi laughs when discussing the idea of a distinctly Midwestern punk scene.

THE MIZZERABLES INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST JOE MIZZI

BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

F

or those of us who first discovered punk while growing up in the Midwest, it will be to the band’s great credit that The Mizzerables’ stellar new album sounds exactly how we remember expertly crafted melodic punk sounding back in those less-than-stellar formative years. Middle school sucked, but Whatever... This Sucks most certainly does not.

The Chicago act aren’t afraid to say something real behind their killer hooks and bright riffs, as The Mizzerables know how to masterfully convey personal and existential frustration. Released Aug. 23 via Whoa! Records and the band themselves, the album’s punch and

www.rockabilia.com

“We had a conversation about how ‘Midwest punk’ is definitely a thing at band practice recently,� he says. “I’ve been thinking more recently about my life growing up in the Midwest and what the perceived difference in values is between this region and other parts of the country or world. I don’t have a great answer yet, but something definitely exists. Obviously, a lot of people blame it on having to get through the cold every year, and maybe there is something to that; it does take the commitment of being able to literally weather the storm to enjoy being here every year. I don’t find many people who disagree, from any part of the world, that summer in Chicago is a really special thing.�

brash perseverance are reminiscent of peak MxPx, pushing forth a message that, “What I wanted to talk about on the while not exactly optimistic, is clearly record,� Mizzi continues, “was that in the rooted in Midwestern fortitude and real world, we all have a bunch of warts values: taking “Responsibility,� letting and scars—whether self-inflicted or frustrations go because “Tomorrow’s not—and somehow, we got to just get to the next day. There are times that is not Another Day,� and finding comfort in community because “I’m OK, You’re OK.� easy at all, especially living alongside this other world of online personas that completely ignores the truth of the However, The Mizzerables’ secret human condition. I want my songwriting weapon is vocalist and guitarist Joe to reflect our reality.�

Mizzi and company’s ability to craft timeless punk anthems. Seriously, Thankfully for The Mizzerables, their Whatever... This Sucks would feel at home reality is that they’re crafting some in just about any era from the late ’70s of the best melodic punk around. to now. That old-fashioned—but not Whatever the opposite of sucking is, backwards—attitude mixes well with a Whatever‌ This Sucks is that. đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł homey sensibility.

OMNIGONE INTERVIEW WITH ADAM DAVIS

BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

PHOTO BY MARK PASKOWSKY

San Francisco Bay Area upstarts Omnigone are the best spin-off ska punk band in history. Spawned during a series of Link 80 reunion shows, Omnigone feel like a natural progression of that legendary ’90s East Bay outfit. Big basslines, bigger horns, and a general bounciness that never quits are just a few of the treats in store on No Faith, out Sept. 13 via Bad Time Records. “I wanted a band that played similar music to Link 80, building on the history of that band while being a new thing,� vocalist and guitarist Adam Davis says. “This allows me to give my perspective while leaving Link 80 intact.�

Consistent with someone over 30 writing a ska album, this debut LP is keenly focused on what growing up means, aside from increased back pain. “I think the main themes of the record are disillusionment and the passage of time,� Davis confirms, “the way we use the time we have, the lies we tell ourselves about what growing older means, the value that gets placed on youth.

I’m 42, it’s 2019, and I just put out a ska punk record! It took me a long time to realize the only person telling me not to make the music I want to [make] is myself.�

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FROM NOV. 1 TO NOV. 3, GAINESVILLE’S ANNUAL INVASION OF SLOPPY-DRUNK PUNKS WILL DESCEND UPON THE CITY TO GET WEIRD AT ONE OF THE MOST NOTORIOUSLY RAUCOUS FESTIVALS AROUND: THE FEST. HERE’S JUST A SMATTERING OF THE BANDS YOU PROBABLY WON’T REMEMBER SEEING THIS YEAR.

PHOTO BY ALAN SNODGRASS

M

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST JOHN POLYDOROS BY GEN HANDLEY

inneapolis punks Off With pression,� Polydoros reveals. “It’s all pushes down on you, but what are Polydoros says the secret to mainTheir Heads dropped their about, as you get older, learning you going to do about it? It’s about taining harmony within the ranks is new album, Be Good, on how to deal with that shit.� tough self-love and looking in the pretty simple.

Aug. 16 via Epitaph Records. So, mirror, getting introspective, beathow does one be as good as the “It was so funny,â€? he continues with ing yourself up about it but then “We were in New York City with Alkatitle suggests? a laugh. “People were worried this having culpability and responsibil- line Trio, and it was my second tour, would be an optimistic album. I think ity for one’s bullshit. Get your shit and I was feeling down and lonely,â€? “Fuck if I know, man,â€? guitarist John that was the fucking most hilarious together. Figure it out.â€? he recalls. “Lindsay [McMullen], our Polydoros admits. “I struggle with it. thing I had heard in my life.â€? tour manager at the time, told me, I think it’s something you personally Be Good is Off With Their Heads’ ‘You have to learn to go out and do come to terms with on your own. It At time of writing, the band are in third album released on Epitaph, stuff by yourself. You have to learn might be to get out and be more ac- Croydon, Pennsylvania, in the mid- and the guitarist says it’s still “surre- to find your own moments and be tive and socially conscious. It might dle of the record release tour. It’s alâ€? to be working with the legendary with yourself.’ That philosophy has mean to basically not take your shit been just days since the album was label. really helped our band. Just reout on other people. It might mean released, and Polydoros has had spect each other’s space and do you need to learn how to talk about time to reflect. “It’s fucking crazy,â€? Polydoros ad- your own thing.â€? your own shit with other people, or mits. “It’s something that goes back you can get out there and help your “There’s definitely some very opti- to my childhood and being a kid He pauses to ponder the question community and treat people with mistic or encouraging parts on the listening to those bands. I’ve been further. human decency and kindness.â€? record,â€? he amends. “It’s about listening to Bad Religion since I was accepting where you’re at and 13 years old and I’m 43—it means a “Also, when I joined the band, Ryan Despite the positive title, this is not an figuring out how to get through it. lot. Working with Epitaph has been told me, ‘Just don’t be a psychooptimistic Off With Their Heads album. Like, what’s the best plan? Before, incredibly supportive and incredi- path,’â€? Polydoros laughs. “That’s it was about complaining about bly cool.â€? also good advice and has worked “[Vocalist and guitarist] Ryan it and saying, ‘All this sucks.’ It’s for us. ‘As long as you do that, the [Young] is still the same person as kind of like a reckoning with one’s As part of a band known for exten- band will be all right,’ and it has far as dealing with anxiety and de- self. Sure, there’s a lot of shit that sive touring and time on the road, been.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

32 NEW NOISE

INTERVIEW BY DEREK NIELSEN

A

PHOTO BY KEVIN THOMSON

ppropriately named after a 1960s British movie featuring a young man eager to escape the banality of proper suburban life, Billy Liar is a classic punk outfit from Edinburgh, Scotland, helmed by a fiery singer-songwriter of the same name. His new album, Some Legacy, dropped in late June via Red Scare Industries and carries the torch lit by Billy Bragg and The Clash back in the ’70s.

For his debut LP, Liar brought out the big guns: Smoke Or Fire’s Joe McMahon, producer Tim Van Doorn, drummer Robin Guy, and Stina Tweeddale from Honeyblood. “I’m so glad I worked with the team that I pulled together for it and proud that I got to work with them,� Liar says.

PHOTO BY JEREMY MCGUIRE

THE ERADICATOR

BILLY LIAR go back to work in NYC. [‌] So, for the next two weeks, I got onstage every night, played three quarters of my set, and then asked the audience if anyone at the show had a day off the following day and fancied a road trip in exchange for gas money and beers at the next punk show.�

Being able to flex as both a full band and solo artist means the Scottish troubadour built his following in the most DIY way possible: touring tirelessly with a worn-down acoustic guitar strapped to his back. “On my first tour in the U.S., back in 2013, my friend Jason hired a car and drove us from “The U.S. punk scene pulled together and New York down to Gainesville for FEST,â€? he had my back,â€? Liar says. “I wouldn’t change recalls. “After FEST, I had two more weeks of it for the world, but those were some stressshows booked, but he unexpectedly had to ful situations!â€? đ&#x;’Ł PHOTO BY VINCE SADONIS

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST ANDY SLANIA

BY TOM CRANDLE

T

he Eradicator are a Chicago band based on some pretty unlikely source material. The original Eradicator was a character on the now-longdefunct Canadian sketch comedy series “Kids in the Hall.â€? He was a ski-mask-wearing, squash-obsessed dweeb who took the obscure racquet game way too seriously. That sketch, just under five minutes in length, has inspired a ton of music. The Eradicator will release their second full-length, Peak Eradicator, on Oct. 4 via Say-10 Records.Â

share the same love for that sketch and having it applied to different medium,� he recalls. “But that didn’t work at all. I’d say 10 percent of the people who see me play are familiar with the sketch, and the [rest] are weirded out by a guy in a mask screaming at them about a sport they’re not very familiar with.�

RAMONA

INTERVIEW BY DEREK NIELSEN

The Eradicator are the brainchild of vocalist and guitarist Andy Slania. Slania previously played in Galactic Cannibal, who are a pretty good sonic reference point. The music is propulsive, shouted, funny punk and hardcore with digital and melodic elements. Slania sometimes performs solo, playing guitar and singing to a prerecorded track. Other times, he has a full band behind him while he screams and menacingly waves his squash racquet in the crowd’s faces.

Ultimately, perseverance is paying off for The Eradicator, as it has been a very productive four years. Peak Eradicator adds to a catalog that already includes their debut EP, Eradicator, in 2015; their follow-up LP, The Eradicator, in 2017; and both a massive 29-track live concept double-album, War on the Courts, and a holiday-themed EP, The Court’s Closed on Christmas, in 2018. “It is definitely a huge surprise to see how far this journey has come along and how many people I’ve met along the way who are genuinely interested in the concept and what has come of it,â€? Slania explains.Â

Despite the absurdity of the inspiration, Slania had high hopes from the very start. “Honestly, when I first had the idea of doing live shows, I thought it would be a huge thing, because that show and that sketch have always stuck out in my memory. I thought others would

So, are the creators of the original sketch aware that there’s a punk version of “This is the first recording that we’ve made and thought, ‘This is what we sound like,’â€? they The Eradicator? “I’m not sure, actually,â€? elaborate, “partially because our performances are where we want them to be—after Slania confesses. “The running joke that four years of almost constant show-playing and practicing, we feel pretty solid in our I’ve had is that once I get the cease and abilities—[and] partially because of [Defeater’s] Jay Maas and [Rebuilder’s] Sal Medesist paper from them, that it’s the end drano, who knew how to take our three-piece live sound and turn it into a full-sounding of the band.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł record, which is what we always wanted to achieve.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

I

t’s an awesome feeling when you put on a record and the first song violently snaps you out of the general malaise of adulthood. Ramona’s debut album, Deals, Deals, Deals!, released in June via Red Scare Industries, manages to sound huge while maintaining the aesthetic of a trio of friends who consume shitty beer and grew up watching too much TV.

“We’re definitely culture fiends,� the band say. “Between the three of us, we could probably talk about any topic of pop culture or media: sports, anime, reality TV, the news, and pretty much every movie that’s come out in the past 20 years. Like most parts of pop culture and media, it’s all amazingly hilarious or depressing depending on what’s happening that day, where you’re getting your media from, and your mood.�

With song titles like “Mambo 69â€? and “Panama by Van Halen,â€? you know you’re in for a good time. The Philly-by-way-of-Seattle band imbued Deals, Deals, Deals! with meaty power chords, booming drums, and crystal-clear vocals while maintaining a dirty-tour-van vibe.Â

THE COPYRIGHTS / KEPI GHOULIE OBSERVATION WAGON | RED SCARE INDUSTRIES

Kepi Ghoulie and The Copyrights have collaborated in the past, so a split EP just seemed like a natural evolution of the relationship. Red Scare Industries put out this stellar 7�, Observation Wagon, on July 12. Each act contributes a new song to the effort, The Copyrights’ “Welcome Wagon� and Ghoulie’s “Observation Day,� along with a cover, with The Copyrights taking on Ghoulie’s “Are You Passionate?� and Ghoulie tackling The Copyrights’ “Four Eyes.� “Welcome Wagon� is also the first new song from The Copyrights in five years. –John B. Moore

NEW NOISE 33

STILL DISCHORDANT HAMMERED HULLS H INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST ALEC MACKAYE

BY CALEB R. NEWTON PHOTO BY CLAIRE PACKER

ammered Hulls are a rousing hardcore band from the D.C. area with an energetic delivery and a sound so crisp, it’s a wonder they’re a brand-new project. Their self-titled three-song debut EP was released on Aug. 9 via Dischord Records, a staple of the D.C. music scene. It’s a community vocalist Alec MacKaye feels is “always evolving.�

Some of them are in other projects, but MacKaye asserts, “We give plenty of room for each other to work in other areas of our lives. It’s an allowance that pays off.�

Hammered Hulls pour their perspectives into the project, delivering some real emotional honesty. MacKaye notes that the tense track “Looking After You� is a “concise examination of an unnerving compact between freedom and control.�

Although Hammered Hulls as a band are new, the energy packed into Hammered Hulls isn’t. “I love listening to records,� “It’s not news that people—trying, in their way, to be free—find themselves giving MacKaye notes, “but I really love seeing and hearing bands walking the high-wire, away freedom and power all day every day in small, seemingly painless ways,� he putting it out there, feeling it and making notes. “In return, their new unseen bosses the audience feel it too. I like when the have them working for the tools, helping audience takes the energy and gives it back exponentially. This record is a way into that.� to refine methods of continuous fleecing, and we all mostly go along with it.�

The band’s members—MacKaye, bassist Mary Timony, guitarist Mark Cisneros, “It’s all very tidy, and it happens quickly, like the song itself,â€? MacKaye concludes. and drummer Chris Wilson—have all been involved in live music for years. đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

THE MESSTHETICS

PHOTO BY FARRAH SKEIKY

BY CALEB R. NEWTON

words; it doesn’t matter. I like when things don’t fall in line with familiar expectations and exist only to push the boundaries of sincere creativity.�

PHOTO BY MATIAS CORRAL

W

ithout uttering a single word, Washington, D.C.’s The Messthetics present a captivating musical adventure on their second album, Anthropocosmic Nest, released Sept. 6 via legendary D.C. label Dischord Records. The entirely instrumental group travel through wild rhythms that are sometimes jazzy and sometimes noisy, but these pieces consistently come together with a stunningly smooth power. Anthropocosmic Nest ultimately provides a gripping little glimpse of a new universe to be explored.

Guitarist Anthony Pirog feels the “main objective with this album was to not repeat ideas that we had already executed on our first record, [2018’s The Messthetics].�

“I am always looking for new sound,� he adds. “I don’t care what the genre or dynamic is. You can hear when the intent is pure, and that’s what I react to more than anything else. It can have words or no

34 NEW NOISE

That path is exactly the one Pirog and his bandmates, former Fugazi members bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty, take on Anthropocosmic Nest, its striking dynamics reaching for the stars from the perspective of its creators. “We were recording from the first time we were writing,� Lally explains. “I think listening back to what we were doing helped us move ahead with it. It sounded like us but something new that we had not planned on making. We continued working out ideas and listening back. We were watching it unfold song by song.�

The songs’ sincerity reflects the musicians’ personal stakes in the process. “The story that I get from this recording is that the group is becoming more comfortable and open as a unit,� Pirog shares. “I am having the best time playing with Joe and Brendan. They are incredible musicians and people to be around. It feels like we can execute anything we want to in a pretty unique way, and it feels like there’s still a lot of ground to cover. I have a lot of ideas that I can’t wait to get to work on with them.�

Lally says that The Messthetics “certainly have more ideas for the third record,â€? noting, “It shows how much we enjoyed playing together that first time. It turned out we were all hoping there was going to be more playing together somehow.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

THE OSYX

INTERVIEW WITH ERIN FRISBY, SELENA BENALLY, ROBZIE TRULOVE, AND MAYA RENFRO

INTERVIEW WITH ANTHONY PIROG AND JOE LALLY

BY JANELLE JONES

there was an even greater personal bond forming. Frisby explains, “I never before had been in a band where I felt super-comfortable jamming with other people.�

I

n just over a year, The OSYX have managed to form their band, complete a self-titled album, due out Oct. 11, replete with incredibly soulful and haunting postpunk, and start a nonprofit label called This Could Go Boom!

Comprised of women who have long been an integral part of the D.C. scene, The OSYX started when three of the musicians— multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Erin Frisby and guitarists and vocalists Selena Benally and Ara Casey—got together for fun. “It was three guitarist singer-songwriters getting together, so it didn’t feel like, ‘Oh, this is gonna turn into a band,� Frisby recalls. However, that changed quickly. They started writing and Frisby relays that “there was so much music chemistry,� they couldn’t help but pursue it further.

They then enlisted bassist and violinist Maya Renfro and drummer Robzie Trulove. “It was just jamming and already seeing and supporting each other’s bands,� Benally states simply. “[It was] seeing what happens when you put all of us in a room together.�

In addition to the undeniable musical chemistry that led to some powerful songwriting— including cello from Hannah Sternberg—

Trulove encapsulates it nicely, noting, “It’s such a beautiful story, actually, how it all came together: just women wanting to create freely together.�

What ensued from The OSYX’s collaboration and openness was a great amalgam of sounds. As Renfro says, “It is fascinating that each member has gone through different phases musically, [and] now, they all culminate together.�

However, The OSYX aren’t only focused on themselves. The collective created This Could Go Boom! after the band considered crowdfunding their album, then, according to Frisby, opted “to do something that would be more engaging and would give back to this community that has just given us so much love right from the get-go.�

So, they started the label, which disseminates the “unheard narratives and artistic voices of womxn and nonbinary people.�

Frisby expounds, “We really wanted to make sure that we started the foundation as mission-driven rather than profit-driven,â€? adding that hopefully, one day, “we’ll be completely unnecessary and that artistic expression, exploring these different experiences and different backgrounds, different genres of music, is gonna be so normalized that us existing just doesn’t need to happen anymore.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

BOOK NOOK

“KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN: THE FUGAZI PHOTOGRAPHS OF GLEN E. FRIEDMAN� to give my section even more depth.

Besides adding more actual pages, it’s an approximately 20 percent larger book by volume too, nine inches by nine inches now!�

“I like what they do there,� he says of Akashic, “independent with a professional attitude, no slackers, real lovers of good books. I really wanted these two books to remain in print forever, and I just could not work out how to continue to do PHOTO BY B RATNER that on my own with my ConSafos [Press] crew any longer. ConSafos So, what was the wildest Fugazi still distribute my books ‘The Idealist: show Friedman ever shot? “I cannot [In My Eyes – 25 Years’ from 1998] answer that fairly, because there and ‘Recognize’ [from 2005], which were so many great ones,� he I encourage people to get if they cautions, “but those at Fort Reno are into my art. Depending on how [Park in Washington, D.C.], and the next 18 months goes with these perhaps several I did not bring my releases, there is likely going to be camera to, were more wild than ones INTERVIEW WITH GLEN E. FRIEDMAN BY GREG PRATO a new release in the future with the I did bring my camera to.� “While most photographers were success in the business and art of crew at Akashic.�

Finally, Friedman offers his advice taking photos of Fugazi, Glen was book publishing, so knowing he too making photos with us,â€? Fugazi was very inspired by Fugazi and the Of his favorite images featured in for aspiring live photographers. vocalist and guitarist Ian MacKaye is ethics of Dischord [Records] and “Keep Your Eyes Open,â€? Friedman “Get close, get intense, make images quoted as saying on the back of the myself, I approached him with the says, “I love the first color image at only you can! Fuck long lenses!â€? expanded second edition of “Keep idea of his publishing group taking Maxwell’s [in Hoboken, New Jersey], he exclaims. “If you don’t love the Your Eyes Open.â€? over the title from me and my crew.â€? when the flash did not go off and band, get the fuck outta the way and the light was barely enough to light let people who do shoot them. Only do The Glen in question is, of course, “It took a few years, but at last, here Ian. To print it, you see each grain in it when you need to, because your Glen E. Friedman, the New York it is!â€? he says. “Johnny and Ian both the film, as the front of the Burning heart tells you you need to, because photographer who has offered thought it would be cool if we could Flags [Press] website shows. I love you are going to share something countless classic images of the make something a little different a lot of them, really—so many for that no one else can the way you do.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł skateboarding, punk, and hip hop from the original to celebrate its different reasons.â€? scenes. In 2007, this photo book republication, so we did!â€? focusing entirely on his work with DIY post-hardcore trailblazers Fugazi hit Friedman will also release a new bookstore shelves. It subsequently went book, “Together Forever: The Runout of print, but on July 1, it was reissued DMC and Beastie Boys Photographs,â€?

by Akashic Books, now including more on Oct. 1 via Rizzoli New York, which photos and a new interview between features a foreword from Chris Friedman and MacKaye.

Rock. An expanded edition of “DogTown: The Legend of the “I always wanted to get it back out Z-Boys� was also released by for the public at some point, but the Akashic on July 1. “That book, of constraints of independent book the three books rereleased or new publishing kept me from reprinting,� this year, is one of the most exciting Friedman explains. “Eventually, I for me,� Friedman shares, “because went to our friend [Girls Against Boys we added so much to that book bassist] Johnny Temple at Akashic and redesigned and updated the Books, who we initially helped with design in so many ways. Lots of some rudimentary information never-before-seen action photos, on book publishing when he was expanded caption information, lots ALL IMAGES FROM “KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN: THE FUGAZI PHOTOGRAPHS OF GLEN E. FRIEDbeginning. He has had some good of new insets on previous old pages MAN,� COPYRIGHT 2019. USED WITH PERMISSION OF GLEN E. FRIEDMAN AND AKASHIC BOOKS (AKASHICBOOKS.COM)

KEEPING A POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE WITH BAD BRAINS’ HR Originally from iconic D.C. punk band Bad Brains, Paul “HR� Hudson is again rolling out new solo music, the latest installment in a threedecades-and-counting career. Available Oct. 18 via Hardline Entertainment, he’s called his newest effort Give Thanks, and it’s another foray into smooth, laidback reggae with a punk edge.

On Give Thanks, HR keeps his commitment to what he calls a “positive mental attitude,� or PMA, via music. It follows a live album, HR Live at CBGB’s 1984, and an EP titled Jah Family in 2017, which are among more than a dozen solo releases stretching back to 1985’s It’s About Luv. Outside of Bad Brains, HR focuses his energy on pushing his unique reggae stylings ever further outside of the box. –Caleb R. Newton PHOTO BY JACK GRISHAM

NEW NOISE

35

TM

ES ERS 18 VENU WRESTL 3 DAYS O R P & S MEDIAN NDS, CO A B + 0 5 3

JAWBREAKER LESS THAN JAKE AGAINST ME!2 NIGHTS PLAYING WHITE CROSSES, TRANSGENDER DYSPHORIA

BLUES, SEARCHING FOR A FORMER CLARITY & NEW WAVE

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DEBUT ALBUM OUT NOW ON VINYL LP, CD & DIGITAL

“Equal parts classic country and modern experimentalism (not unlike Sturgill Simpson) with contemporary themes and a punk ethos.”

—Radio Free Americana “A kind of genius global country music that should be popular with purists & freewheelers alike.”

—Paste Magazine

NEW NOISE 37

UNDER THE INFLUENCE: I WANNA BE A RAMONE

P

roving once again that it takes barely more that two chords to party, Portland’s Mean Jeans returned on Aug. 30 with Gigantic Sike, their third album on Fat Wreck Chords. The melodies are sweet, the guitars are crunchy, and the choruses are sticky. When this thing hits, don’t be surprised if Sunday Mass is spoiled when the earworms infect the priest and he or she unintentionally blurts, “What the Fuck Is Up Tonight?� to a horrified congregation.

Mean Jeans have always left listeners wondering if the whole thing is a joke, and calling their new album Gigantic Sike broadens the conspiracy, but vocalist and guitarist Billy Jeans’ smooth and sincere tenor, which he effortlessly cracks at all the right spots, returns on this record better than ever.

Combined with honest lyrics and their trademark self-deprecating humor, it’s obvious there is something more to Mean Jeans’ new album than just an inside joke.

Like the single, the rest of the album features Mean Jeans’ Ramones-y sound, but the best part is that behind each joke is a sincere reflection on life. “What the Fuck Is Up Tonight?� finds Jeans “plannin’ for the future,� “gonna climb up that ladder� and “straighten out [his] life / But in the meantime,� he asks, “What the fuck is up tonight?� According to Jeans, the song is “written from the experience of watching the people around you move on in their lives and feeling the pressure to clean up your act� and about “the procrastination of feeling like you’re going to get it together pretty soon here, but not tonight, so who wants to party?�

PHOTO BY ALAN SNODGRASS

What separates Gigantic Sike from the band’s Fat debut, 2016’s Tight New Dimension, is the deliberate simplicity, which gives the album a sense of completeness. Each song feels like it belongs on this record, even the two songs, “Buddy’s Leaving� and “Blackout Magazine,� that were written and sung by drummer Jeans Wilder, whose voice is a buzzsaw version of Billy’s. That INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST BILLY JEANS simplicity allowed Mean Jeans,

BY BRIAN REEDER who all live in different parts of the country, to take a three-day The album starts with “Party Line,� the party line�—which is his real-life layover in Los Angeles during a a rip-roarin’ elegy to party-times- personal cell number. “The number tour with Me First And The Gimme past when it was “Every night, Coors is true to the song. The party line is Gimmes to record. The band Light / Tiny little bag of blow, oh.� my cell number,� he confirms, “and learned the songs on day one and Apparently, those days are gone, as nobody is blowing up the party line recorded on days two and three.

Jeans laments, “No one’s calling on like they used to be.�

In “Just a Trim (Don’t Buzz Me, Alright),â€? the fanbase will appreciate the “Wayne’s Worldâ€? reference, but while the track’s title is meant to be goofy, the song is really about not belonging. As Jeans describes it, “The outside world is the Suck Kut™, and I am Garth.â€? The theme continues on the album’s closing track, “Time Warp,â€? a song about feeling out of place and longing for an escape.

While Mean Jeans dive into personal struggles on Gigantic Sike, the songs are as fun and bouncy as ever. Jeans says there is no place for sadness at a live Mean Jeans show. “It’s supposed to be loud and fun,â€? he explains, “but I think there are multiple layers to the songs, and they’re supposed to be reflective of what it’s like to live an idiotic lifestyle like we do.â€? On Gigantic Sike, Mean Jeans strike that balance perfectly. đ&#x;’Ł

OUT OF TIME, OUT OF SPACE REAL SICKIES These Canucks from Edmonton, Alberta, chose the wrong sci-fi theme for the (inter)stellar Out of Space, released Aug. 30 via Stomp Records. Considering how the band play with the sense of time and place, this album may be more in tune with a time-traveling narrative than a space epic. Their pop-infused punk is two-parts Ramones, one-part Teenage Head, and one-part Teenage Bottlerocket—which is to say, they’re “whoa-oh�-ing through the decades. With more hooks than a Peter Pan convention—and definitely more fun, if not more maturity—Out of Space is giant-laser-focused on delivering exactly what good power punk should. Whether you’re a time traveler or a space traveler, it’s a cosmic blast spending half an hour in a different orbit with Real Sickies. –Nicholas Senior

38 NEW NOISE

FRANK TURNER NO MAN’S LAND NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2019 Oct 8. MONTREAL, QC • Corona Theatre

Oct 10. TORONTO, ON • Queen Elizabeth Theatre Oct 12. WILKES-BARRE, PA • FM Kirby

Oct 14. WASHINGTON, DC • Warner Theatre Oct 15. NEW YORK, NY • Town Hall

Oct 17. CHICAGO, IL • Athenaeum Theatre

Oct 23. SALT LAKE CITY, UT • The Depot

Oct 25. SACRAMENTO, CA • Ace Of Spades

Oct 29. MESA, AZ • Ikeda Theatre

Oct 30. ALBUQUERQUE, NM • Kimo Theatre Nov 1. DALLAS, TX • The Majestic

Nov 2. HOUSTON, TX • White Oak Music Hall

Oct 18. MINNEAPOLIS, MN • Pantages Theatre

Nov 4. NASHVILLE, TN • James K Polk Theater

Oct 21. BOULDER, CO • Boulder Theater

Nov 6. ST PETERSBURG, FL • Palladium

Oct 20. LAWRENCE, KS • Liberty Hall

Nov 5. ATLANTA, GA • Variety Playhouse

Two Sets per night: Solo & then Unplugged With The Sleeping Souls

Plus Special Guest

The new album NO MAN’S LAND out now LP|CD|DL • TALES FROM NO MAN’S LAND podcast out now

ROTTEN TO THE CORE

METALCORE, MATHCORE, GRINDCORE, HARDCORE, OR… CROSSOVER THRASH, THESE BANDS SHARE THE SAME CORE VALUES: UNYIELDING SONIC FURY, EXPLOSIVE OPTIC INTENSITY, AND UTTER STAGE ANNIHILATION.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALEX BEMIS

T OUTSIDE THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST TYLER RILEY, DRUMMER JAKE SMELLEY, AND BASSIST CALEB DERUSHA

BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

42 NEW NOISE

ypically, within the first few words of anything written about Gideon, there’s a mention of “Christian metalcore.”

However, that’s no longer an appropriate classifier for a band who have struggled to internally and collectively define themselves.

Sure, bands lose their religion all the time, but few Christian bands from the South—named after a biblical character, no less—are able to emerge from the change with so much positivity.

That’s what’s most laudable about Out of Control, out Oct. 11 via Equal Vision Records. Gideon, a band so closely identified with pushing people to be better, more honest versions of themselves, have only doubled down on that motive after leaving religion behind. The album isn’t a middle finger to Christianity, it’s a statement of hope for a new, different future. It’s also a bold redefinition of Gideon’s core values: honesty, determination, and a fucking boatload of aggression.

Guitarist Tyler Riley laughs that “It wasn’t like, ‘We’re not even Chrisbefore, he and his bandmates tians. Should we really do this?’� were upset when bands aban- he continues. “It was more that we doned their religion. Now, he has don’t want to talk about it, because empathy for both sides. “That’s we don’t really know where we’re at one of the weirdest parts about right now. We’re not going to pump this is that we knew [people] were this out onstage when I’m still struggoing to say this or that, because gling to figure it out in my own head.� we said that before,� he says. “It’s a different situation; it’s not about Gideon’s characteristic honesturning our backs or giving up. It’s ty clearly led to some awkward about attempting to be happy be- moments, but it was within that discomfort that the band grew ing yourself.� closer than ever. “I can rememWas this change in belief a grad- ber having talks with each of the ual process for Riley? “It was defi- dudes,� Riley states. “I especially nitely a gradual thing,� he says. remember a time when [vocalist] “We started straying away from Daniel [McWhorter] and I were A big reason people choose to be am as honest as possible and push certain shows where we knew we downstairs at a venue, and both religious as adults, rather than be- as hard as I can, what boundaries were going to have to deal with of us opened up to each other for ing forced to as kids, is that sense of are there?� this conversation. More and more, the first time. He was like, ‘What community and belonging. Gideon we slowly phased out playing do you think about all this?’ We have built their own community, “All of the songs portray different Christian festivals and things like just shared our points of view and outside the shadow of the cross. It’s parts of this process,� Smelley that. We didn’t feel comfortable where we were coming from.� apropos, as Gideon is more than adds, “different emotions along doing things like that until we were just a biblical figure—the name is the way. Some of the songs are ready. We had to form our own “When you go through something like Hebrew for “feller� or “hewer,� one more vulnerable and more from this, when you’re questioning everyidentity.� who fells colossal obstacles or hews what you’re internally thinking. thing you grew up with, it’s good to inflexible materials into useful or Some are more when you’re the “We didn’t want to be vague toward have your brothers there to know beautiful forms. With Out of Control, most frustrated and least rational. anyone,� drummer Jake Smelley you’re all going through the same Gideon have done both.

All of it has a place. It felt harsh, concurs, “so when we got those thing together,� he says. “We’ve had but were we going to lie and say offers to play those festivals, we each other through all of this.�

So, what are the tenets of their new we haven’t felt like telling people knew they expected us to preach way of life? “The biggest thing we’re to leave [us] the fuck alone?â€? and stuff, and we realized it just “It’s like a team-building thing, you standing up for,â€? Riley answers, “is know?â€? Riley laughs. felt weird.â€? in these small towns, in these rural Now that the rules Gideon were places, it’s easy to just get stuck in brought up with have largethis bubble and wake up every day ly been left behind, was it easy and not question who you are and for them to come up with new really push yourself to find that out. boundaries? “We’re all at a good The boundaries are already set for boundaries place,â€? Riley anyou; the rules are already set for nounces. “Music is the one thing you. You’re basically told you’re not that has never changed, and we going to make it out of this place.â€? all share this massive love for music and how powerful it is. It “Our biggest thing,â€? he continues, “is can make you feel things that just really reaching out to the people other parts of life can’t. We’re so who feel that way, feel stuck in this in love with what we do, and we cage or bubble and want to break want to be able to use it.â€? out of that control. Anything that is holding you back from being your “I’m just thankful for this process,â€? true self, you can’t let fear control DeRusha smiles. “Anytime you want that.â€? to progress in life, anytime you want to achieve something great in life, Gideon have always stood for be- there’s going to be a lot of struggle ing comfortable in one’s own skin, and pain, and you just have to overand that is even more pronounced come it.â€? on Out of Control, especially as they take some clear musical risks. Plus, “A lot of people have it misconstrued,â€? they fucking swear now! “It is a more Smelley asserts. “They will say we did honest record,â€? Riley acknowledges. this in order to gain and gain.â€? “When [bassist] Caleb [DeRusha] came to the table with all these cra- “One thing Gideon has always done, zy riffs and ideas for this album, it and what made this record feel was so out of the box. It gave me the right, is that we’ve always been courage to speak my mind and be completely honest,â€? he concludes. just as out of the box lyrically.â€? “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we knew it was something we “All of us work very hard jobs when had to do.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł we’re home, and there was a feeling of wanting to get out of here,â€? he adds. “Music is what we all want to do; it’s taken me so far already. If I

“ANYTHING THAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK FROM

BEING YOUR

TRUE SELF, YOU

CAN’T LET FEAR

CONTROL THAT.�

NEW NOISE 43

“I WAS JUST TALKING WITH THE GUYS AND LAUGHING, ‘WE’RE PLAYING WITH THE CRO-MAGS RIGHT NOW! WHAT IS HAPPENING?’ MY 12-YEAR-OLD SELF, HIS HEAD WOULD EXPLODE.”

O U R

I N G N E K A W A

INT

E IST MIK

H BASS

WIT ERVIEW

IOR AS SEN ICHOL N Y B ONIO D’ANT

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALAN SNODGRASS

44 NEW NOISE

I

t may sound patently ridiculous, but Massachusetts’ own Killswitch Engage may be the closest thing we’ll ever get to metalcore superheroes.

Their landmark eighth album, Atonement, released Aug. 16 via new label Metal Blade Records, might also be the most important— and impressively potent—mission statement in their 20-year existence.

Musically and lyrically, there’s a resiliency and strength contained within that make the listener feel like they can run through a brick wall.

Killswitch Engage’s motto has always been that your life may suck right now, but we’ll get through it together, one Juggernaut-sized riff and breakdown at a time—and that message feels especially vital right now.

There’s even a nod to an “Avengers�-style collaboration, with one of the album’s most stirring songs, “The Signal Fire,� featuring both of the band’s storied ringleaders, original and current vocalist Jesse Leach and former vocalist Howard Jones.

In a sense, Killswitch Engage even began as a superhero team-up—a Fantastic Four, if you will—rising from the soil of Massachusetts’ fertile metalcore scene after the dissolution of their former bands Overcast and Aftershock in 1999.

The fact that Atonement holds a candle to their past genre classics is impressive enough, but the feeling that there’s a new and exciting chapter at hand is cause for the kind of optimism bands 20 years into their careers don’t always warrant. It takes a truly super band to keep the momentum going this long.

Anyone who has ever consumed a The challenge of meeting one’s superhero comic book, film, or TV idols is often meeting one’s idols, so show knows that caped crusaders D’Antonio is relieved it has been a influence each other. Killswitch positive experience.

Engage have been able to meet many of their predecessors in me- “I’ve met many and have liked few,� tallic rage, but that all came to a he chuckles. “People of that stature head when they toured with Cro- can be real people. It doesn’t hapMags “JM.� pen often, though, unfortunately.�

been nothing but nice to us for years and years and years. We really love [label founder] Brian Slagel; we love all the dudes in the office. They’ve supported us for years, coming to shows and hanging out way back when.�

D’Antonio is a big fan of comics, and if it’s not clear yet, Killswitch Engage are a bit more Marvel than DC. The band don’t exhibit that trademark scowling nihilism that permeates DC Comics, and while Marvel grapples with the responsibility of power, there’s always an uplifting element at the end of the day. “To me, the difference between Marvel and DC,� D’Antonio ponders, “is DC is hokey and stuck in the past of superheroes being a cartoon character, whereas Marvel is based in the future and the now, with making the characters relate to real-life situations that could possibly happen any day. It’s way more believable.�

So, who’s his favorite superhero? “I love the new Spider-Man. I think that dude [Tom Holland] does a great job; he’s the closest to what I think of as who Spider-Man should be: awkward, nerdy, not as outgoing as other superheroes. It re-inspired me to get another Spider-Man tattoo,� D’Antonio laughs. “I love the ‘Avengers’ movies because of the way the characters interact, people making fun of each other—it’s not so serious anymore. That’s the best thing they could have done, adding the humor aspect and not taking themselves so seriously, kind of like we do. We try to have fun with the audience.

We’re not growling at them. We want them to participate and have as much fun as we do. We’re not here to command you to put your hands up; we’re here to party.�

“We wrote, like, 21 or 22 tunes for this new record. We had to say, ‘Stop writing, everyone!’â€? bassist Mike As a musical superhero in his own D’Antonio smiles. “We were just so right, it’s inevitable that people excited to write, and things were will be inspired by D’Antonio like so popping up and sounding great. We many people inspired him, right? just had to end it, because we knew, He’s not so sure. eventually, we were going to have to “It is surreal, and I have to pinch my- Speaking of superhuman feats, few give this to Jesse, and he’s not going self all the time,â€? D’Antonio admits. bands are able to complete a full “It’s a little weird to me. I’m still a litto like having to do this many songs, “I was just talking with the guys and record deal, but Killswitch Engage tle kid looking up to my heroes, even because it might explode his brain.â€? laughing, ‘We’re playing with the actually did, completing six albums though I’m old,â€? he laughs. đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł Cro-Mags right now! What is hap- for Roadrunner before signing with “Which it did! It actually did explode pening?’ My 12-year-old self, his Metal Blade for Atonement. his brain,â€? he laughs. “To his credit, head would explode. It’s almost he was able to do 17 songs’ vocals too much to take in right now. I’d “That is probably the single coolest before he tapped out. The best also liken it to two other tours we’ve thing about this entire 20 years, is that part was that we could pick from done. We did two tours with Anthrax, when we signed with Roadrunner, 17 tunes, not have exactly 14 and and I love Anthrax to no end, espe- they were like, ‘Yeah, it’s for a lot of maybe put two on the special edi- cially that bass tone that Frank Bel- records, but don’t worry, no one ever tion. We had so many that we really lo has. It’s a huge influence on me. makes it to the end,’â€? D’Antonio recould pick and choose exactly what [Iron] Maiden—what hasn’t been calls. “We did it. We said we were gowe wanted. It’s the first time every- said about Maiden and Steve Har- ing to do this, and we fucking pulled it one in the band was like, ‘This is the ris, one of the best bass players of off! Now, it’s a fun thing to start fresh, record. This is what we want to do.’â€? all time?â€? to start brand new. Metal Blade have

NEW NOISE 45

The No. 12 Looks Like You PHOTO BY KAREN JERZYK

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST JESSE KORMAN AND GUITARIST ALEXIS PAREJA BY THOMAS PIZZOLA

M

any bands burn out on the road. The endless cycle of releasing an album and touring to support it can be grueling. New Jersey mathcore stalwarts The Number Twelve Looks Like You found themselves in a similar situation back in 2010 after the release of their fourth album, Worse Than Alone, the previous year. Instead of powering through, the band decided to break this cycle and go on hiatus. According to vocalist Jesse Korman, it was long overdue.

called it quits, I knew it wasn’t the time to write [another] album. Not then, not yet. We needed this break to have a good perspective on life and real appreciation for things.�

The hiatus lasted until 2016 when The Number Twelve Looks Like You roared back to life. They started touring again with a lineup that features original members Korman and guitarist Alexis Pareja along with new recruits Michael Kadnar on drums and DJ Scully on bass.

Now, they’ve released their first album in a decade, Wild Gods, on Sept. 20 through Overlord Music.

“It was a good run, and we wanted to go out with dignity,� Korman says. “We were always at 100 our whole career, and we were running on While some bands might feel a bit of fumes by the end. So, we knew it trepidation entering the studio after was a wrap. To live 10 years of your such a lengthy layoff, Korman says youth in a touring band and come they had no such qualms. “We were back home after each tour not like, ‘OK, it’s finally time,’� he recalls. knowing what to do besides working “We knew, between all of us, that we odd jobs makes you crazy. It’s the would make something absolutely band bubble: when you’re in it, it’s crushing or it wouldn’t go out to the amazing, everything is great, but world. I never thought about trying when you’re out of the bubble and to top the quality of the previous in the real world, you have nothing albums, because they will always be to show for the last 10 years. It was so uniquely special and stay that way. time to discover ourselves.�

I wanted to parallel that.�

So, the band took a break, but this was never meant to be the final chapter. “One thing I always felt after writing Worse Than Alone was, ‘This couldn’t be our last album,’�

Korman says. “In 2010, when we

46 NEW NOISE

Wild Gods builds on the foundation of the band’s previous releases while adding new wrinkles to their mathcore sound. It’s all killer and no filler. “If the general consensus is lacking excitement, I will often

be the first to scrap or rewrite it all together,� Pareja says. “Naturally, when you explore harmony, rhythm, and melodic construction in greater depths, you are bound to find interesting colors and feels.

These elements are what generally resonate with me. However, in the end, I prefer it to be simply experienced just as music that moves you and not mere concepts.�

In addition, the lyrics on Wild Gods incorporate everything from the personal to the political. “They are a hybrid of voices, including mine, from around the world who have things to say and real issues to address,� Korman says. “They are emotional, and they are real: real stories from a young poet in Syria whose mountain was invaded

by ISIS to diseased children in Africa who have no clean water but still have a smile on their face every day to the built-up rage toward priests abusing their power.�

With a new album out, the question of touring comes up once again. This time, the band are touring smarter instead of harder. “It’s absolutely going to be more selective now,�

Korman says. “Keep it special and do shows every once in a while; don’t oversaturate yourselves.�

The Number Twelve Looks Like You have come back from the brink

of oblivion with a healthier, more worldly attitude and a killer new album in Wild Gods. The band have learned from their past and are ready to make the most of their second wind. This time, it’s purely for them. “This time, we have nothing to lose and we have nothing to prove,�

Korman says. “We have something to say and on our own terms.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

RUIN THE SMILE meth.

The absolute perfect sonic accompaniment to your recent binge of Netflix’s psychological thriller “Mindhunter,� meth.’s debut full-length is—a lot of things. Unnerving. Exhilarating. A three-dimensional onslaught of riffs and noise.

Most importantly, Mother of Red Light, released Aug. 23 via Prosthetic Records, is fucking fantastic. Continuing the Chicago collective’s cult-inspired tale of a man who believes he is God, Mother of Red Light is meth. delivering potent doses of mathy, experimental noisecore, showcasing that the creative wellspring The Number Twelve Looks Like You and Converge unleashed on the world has yet to run dry. This is powerful music that will stick with you like a crime scene photo. –Nicholas Senior

PHOTO BY JACKI VITETTA

SEEYOUSPACECOWBOY INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST JESSE PRICE

BY CHRISTOPHER J. HARRINGTON

W

hen space opens up and the deep end grows closer, one may find themself swimming far beyond what they thought possible.

For mathy sasscore punkers SeeYouSpaceCowboy, their newest album, The Correlation Between Entrance and Exit Wounds, out Sept. 27 via Pure Noise Records, is like backstrokes in the middle of the Pacific. “You know, trying to write a different style of music made a lot of us realize that maybe we had more depth to our music,� guitarist Jesse Price explains. “I think the new record is a lot more emotional. It’s a bit less angsty. There’s a few political songs, but it goes more into despair and struggle, in mental and societal respects.�

emotional, which was a really cool thing to watch unfold.�

The Correlation Between Entrance and Exit Wounds sways with the length of a human cord—it’s spiritual punk, beaten down but forever reigning. It’s a quality that feels familiar, like an homage to a notso-distant past. “We kind of had been wanting to move away from the stuff that we had been doing before,� Price expounds. “We were getting more inspired by early 2000s melodic metalcore—you know, like Hopesfall and Misery Signals.�

Regardless of genre labels, this is a fast album—but noticeably thoughtful, organic in its inner-nature. “I mean, we wrote eight full songs in two weeks,�

Price says, “just kind of wrote every day and, then, kind of filled in the blank spots for a few months after that.�

While the advanced technicality, palpable mood, and instrumen- The Correlation Between Entrance tal vision is immediate, it’s vocalist and Exit Wounds also feels live, and Connie Sgarbossa’s methodology with a band like SeeYouSpaceCowthat wraps the Los Angeles band boy, who could ask for anything up into a whirling totality. A spill- more? The stage is their mantra, ing of heart pours out from each of their eternal Dharma. her manic bursts and visions. “I feel like, maybe, a lot of the lyrical con- “Playing the songs is much more tent of the old stuff was hidden by about catharsis,â€? Price opines. “It’s metaphors and there were a lot of obviously fun, but I think it’s really walls up,â€? Price notes. “I think, with special to be able to express yourthe new stuff, Connie was able to self in a public forum. I think playing realize that she could be more re- live is a great way to get the bullshit latable, more vulnerable, and more out of your system.â€?đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

STOP CALLING US SCREAMO CHAMBER Visceral, neck-snapping passion—that’s what the absolute best mathcore brings to the mosh pit. Beneath the technical precision, the shapeshifting songwriting and jazzy flourishes are where Chamber truly excel. Their 12� EP, Ripping / Pulling / Tearing, released July 17 via Pure Noise Records, features a delightful series of sonic surprises.

However, the Nashville, Tennessee, band also offer up a masterclass in choppy, venomous riffing. Each of these eight songs highlights a different aspect of their sound, and there’s a clear appreciation for noise beyond Botchian bombast that elevates this short but very sweet record. Pure Noise has found a gem in Chamber, a mathy hardcore band who are already playing at the levels of their influences, hinting at the colossal heights to come. –Nicholas Senior

“WE WERE GETTING MORE INSPIRED BY EARLY 2000S MELODIC METALCORE— YOU KNOW, LIKE HOPESFALL AND MISERY SIGNALS.�

PHOTO BY JACKI VITETTA

NEW NOISE

47

SECT INTERVIEW WITH SCOTT CROUSE AND CHRIS COLOHAN

BY HUTCH

S

Crouse and guitarist James Chang unleash driving guitars and rely on the ravaging rhythm section of bassist Steve Hart and drummer Andrew Hurley. “We like to try to add new elements with each album, but the additions are subtle,�

Crouse says. “On this one, we have a brief melodic section in a song. There was a conscious effort to try new song structures, but overall, I feel like Blood of the Beasts is really just us being a little more confident and sure of ourselves.�

ECT are a fierce, no-frills vegan straight edge hardcore band comprised of dedicated scene vets ready to confront and conquer. Their third LP, Blood of the Beasts, savagely portrays “Confident� was established on their sophomore LP, 2017’s No Cure for Death. the remnants of a callous world. Their politics, delivered via the lungs of vo- Now, it’s more like “dominant.� Sounds intact, it was Colohan’s cue to do his calist Chris Colohan, are bold, and the thing. music is bolder.

On Blood of the Beasts, released Aug. 30 on Southern Lord Recordings, the band’s chemistry is focused and vicious. “I think we understand each other’s strengths now,� guitarist Scott Crouse comments. “Chris is left alone to exorcise his demons lyrically, and he never fails to impress us.�

To match the ferocity of the message, SECT create blazing-fast songs with a short duration and loud approach.

In Blood of the Beasts’ press materials, Colohan coined the phrase “the new old tribalism,� and by that, he means “the base, animalistic self-protection instinct ingrained in us as animals, where, despite the pretense of civilization or the self-deception that we’re not bad people, we can consistently be depended on to devolve into frightened tribes when our security or place in the pecking order is threatened—in the exact same way that bullshitters could

PHOTO BY MICHAEL THORN

turn [fear] into easy power and money not just decades or even centuries but millennia ago.�

When corporate and governmental entities exploit every possible river of profit, people’s very existence is shaken. “There’s a power structure to who does whose work, who pays for whose lifestyle,� Colohan says. “It’s not fair or good and never was, but it’s real and isn’t going to voluntarily phase itself out.�

Whether listeners see Colohan’s views

as cynical or realistic, the ideas that informed Blood of the Beasts impact his daily life and he accepts this burden. “I find the more negative a thought is and the longer or louder it’s been doing circles in my head, the lighter I feel for getting it out in words and [sharing it] with people with the same frustrations and barriers,â€? he says. “I’m actually quite a people person one on one—I just can’t do humanity.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

HANGMAN

INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL SMITH AND DAN MULLIGAN

BY HUTCH

I

mprinting themselves on the annals of Long Island hardcore, Hangman return with their first full-length on Sept. 20 via Flatspot Records. One by One hits like a lock in a sock: hard, quick, and definitely New-York-style. Hangman embrace New York hardcore as one voluminous scene. “I’m just happy that we’re a part of it at all,� guitarist Michael Smith says. “We love straight-up, 100-percent hardcore music, and that’s what we stay true to.�

Hangman cite bands like Terror, Neglect, Backtrack, and Biohazard as influences and proudly fill those shoes. To harness the energy and brutality, Hangman went back to producers Greg Thomas and Chris Teti at Silver Bullet Studios in Burlington, Connecticut. “We had been up there for our last release, A

Vile Decree,� Smith recalls. “We were all blown away by the final mixes when we got those songs back. On top of that, we clicked immediately.�

One by One was mastered by Bill Henderson, who made the tracks punch and resonate—“always a pleasure getting work back from Henderson,�

Smith adds—and a nod from the old guard came from Aaron Knuckles of Death Threat, who laid down vocals for the title track. “Jay [Petagine] from the Hudson Valley—shout out to Mindforce— introduced me and Aaron a little while back,� Smith reveals. “He and I hit it off pretty quick, smoking and talking about hardcore, pizza, bullshit.�

As direct as One by One kicks, so do

PHOTO BY JESS TYLER

REGIONAL JUSTICE CENTER INSTITUTION TRIPLE B RECORDS the lyrics. “There’s no nuanced ideas behind anything,â€? vocalist Dan Mulligan comments. “Although there are different themes behind each song, such as selfreflection, death, and views on the world, among other things, it all stems from the same place—anger.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

School Drugs INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST JOSH JURK BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

N

ew Jersey is crawling with Big Pharma. Sure, the pharmaceutical industry has its many justified detractors along with a few positive attributes, but it’s unlikely that growing up in Pharma’s backyard has convinced School Drugs of any of its benefits—especially after listening to their debut LP, Modern Medicine, out Sept. 27 via Indecision Records.

That’s just fine—just say no, kids!—if it means the band will keep pumping out such potent, fiery hardcore punk. The Black-Flag-esque power they harness is infectious to the point of needing medical intervention, yet Modern Medicine feels almost polished, so purified that School Drugs must have put themselves through a harsh self-regulatory process rivaled only by the FDA.

“Drugs extend past pills and doctors, though,â€? vocalist Josh Jurk expands. “We self- “I really wanted to overproduce the shit out this record,â€? Jurk explains, “not in the sense medicate with anything and everything: of throwing unnecessary bits and pieces at politics, religion, our own thoughts and the wall but taking the time to flesh out ideas. I wanted to bring forth what we truly something cohesive and whole.â€? đ&#x;’Ł use today as modern medicine.â€?

48 NEW NOISE

PHOTO BY KEITH BAILLARGEON

Ian Shelton of Seattle’s New Gods and Drug Culture utilized his multi-instrumentalist talent and anger to rail against a system of injustice during the tribulations of his brother Max’s incarceration. To add to the unique story, Regional Justice Center now thrive as a live collective, which permits the band to tour vehemently across North America and Europe. At five songs in less than six minutes, Institution, released Aug. 16, savagely attacks its audience with an audacious aural experience, emulating the lyrical target of a system that manipulates, grinds, and punishes the less fortunate. –Hutch

cloud rat INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST RORIK BROOKS

BY MARIKA ZORZI

PHOTO BY JASON TIPTON

of the tension sometimes, but thankfully, we’re good friends first, so we’re able to get on the same page.�

I

n just one decade, Cloud Rat have re- These emotions bleed through every note and tormented scream, and the entire leased an incredible number of albums: album plays like one continuous song. four full-lengths, 11 EPs and splits, a live album, and various compilations. On Sept. “Pollinator is our most complete and accomplished work yet,� Brooks admits. “I 13, the Michigan grindcore band returned with Pollinator, their most intense and blis- wanted the production to be even better and clearer but also not sterile. I feel like tering recording to date, out via Artoffact we struck a balance the best we ever have Records. “We wanted to make a more cohesive thing,� guitarist Rorik Brooks says, between it being visceral but also hefty at “maybe even get a little bit less experimen- the same time.� tal with the proper album itself and more The lyrics touch on suffering and memaggressive but still retain some of that kind ories, relationships and communicaof weirder stuff we were going into.� tion problems, as well as the cruelty of society. “The concept behind the reThe process of creating Pollinator wasn’t easy for Brooks, vocalist Madison Marshall, cord started as a visual idea that Madison came up with,� Brooks remembers. and drummer Brandon Hill. The trio live in different cities, have work and family “It was a two-faced monster that sort of looks like the old theater faces, comedy responsibilities, and struggle with mental health issues. Brooks was also recuperat- and tragedy, but it’s one being the real face that resides in each of us and the ing from a serious injury. “Being in a band other is the one we put out into the world, is being in a relationship,� he says. “All that which, nowadays, is done via social mestuff came up through the record and dia. Then, Pollinator came in because made its mark on it. You can hear some

cliterati

PHOTO BY MICHAEL THORN

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST AMI LAWLESS

BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

“Sometimes being able to laugh in the face of the world’s insanity is the best way to take care of one’s self,� Cliterati vocalist Ami Lawless remarks.

That sense of humor may not be immediately apparent in Cliterati’s ravenous, rapturous debut album, Ugly Truths / Beautiful Lies, released Aug. 30 via Tankcrimes, but it roils under the surface. Their hardcore style sprinkles in dashes of grind, d-beat, crossover, queercore, and crust for a sound that stands out amongst their peers. The Portland, Oregon, band’s core principle involves marrying different identities together to create a sense of community—both in sound and substance.

That carries through in their love for each other and for anyone who is hurt or oppressed. “It’s very simple,� Lawless states. “We’re all in this shit together. We all want a good quality of life and happiness for ourselves and

each of our brains is being pollinated every day with too much information.�

maybe explores some of the [same] feelings of paranoia and sadness,� Brooks says.

“It feels grim all the time,� Brooks reveals, “and I’m trying my best to stay as positive as possible, but it truly feels like a psychedelic, delusional time, mostly because of the internet.�

“I think of music like magic: it changes moods and entire vibes of places, and it can shape your life in ways,� he continues. “After all these years, it’s still just three of us making loud sounds.�

As a companion piece to Pollinator, Cloud Rat devoted a seven-song EP to its more experimental leanings. Artoffact released Do Not Let Me Off the Cliff, also on Sept. 13, as the second disc in a double-CD Digipak. “The idea was to have a complementary piece that you can listen to if you desire to feel a different vibe that’s not so extreme but

The members “still have a lot of the same ideologies,â€? Brooks adds, citing veganism and anti-fascism, but Cloud Rat aren’t overtly political. “With our music, I want it to be a more positive, not just fuck-everything-all-the-time, image,â€? he concludes. “Does that sound silly?â€? đ&#x;’Ł

shock narcotic INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST JEFF TUTTLE

BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

those in our community—a decent living wage; an end to tyranny, oppression, and hate; and a healthy Mother Earth. We are, indeed, a melting pot unto ourselves: four individuals with very different backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, views, and identities who’ve come together to create music we’d wanna listen to.�

Cliterati rise above the crust through that attitude, which shines masterfully within Ugly Truths / Beautiful Lies’ sneering sense of humor. Plus, with Joel Grind of Toxic Holocaust handling mastering duties, you know the guitar tone is on point. What better way to spend half an hour than marching along to Cliterati’s drumbeat for the downtrodden as Lawless’ pointed, punchy words wash over you? đ&#x;’Ł

WOUNDVAC THE ROAD AHEAD CORPSE FLOWER RECORDS

Arizona’s Woundvac whip a frenzied version of grind, hardcore, and death metal and have gained momentum with myriad shows, two EPs, and a lauded 2018 LP, Terrorizing the Swarm. For The Road Ahead EP, out Sept. 13, they hit the trifecta with producer Zach Rippy at Sound Signal Audio, engineer Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, and cover art from Bite Radius Designs. This is a complete package of dirty riffs and vicious beatdown rhythms. Available on translucent orange vinyl with red splatter, limited to 300. –Hutch

“The scales and intervals used throughout this record are widely considered to have a specific connotation,â€? Tuttle explains, “but when writing this record, which was fueled by a lot here are those who prefer to deal of anger and frustration, I realized that this with the past, current, and impend- connotation didn’t necessarily apply. Like ing horrors of humanity’s shared existence genre rules, the meanings we’ve attached by experiencing and reacting to extreme to different sounds and musical movements art. Whether it’s horror fiction, scary mov- are also somewhat arbitrary. To me, these ies, or heavy music, what is a challenging songs don’t sound like anger, they sound experience for many is a soothing experi- like comfort in the all-too-familiar chaos. ence for others—like comfort food for the Yes, this album represents existential dread blackened soul. and giving up hope, but it’s also about being completely OK with that. It’s about finding Shock Narcotic’s brand of grind should be the calm within the storm.â€? đ&#x;’Ł perfect not only for those folks but for anyone who looks at the current sociopolitical landscape and craves an outlet.

The Detroit band’s debut LP, I Have Seen the Future and It Doesn’t Work, released Aug. 16 via Housecore Records, is shockingly comforting and experimental—but as the brainchild of former Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Jeff Tuttle, that PHOTO BY AARON JONES should come as no surprise.

T

DRUGS OF FAITH DECAY SELFMADEGOD RECORDS

Often described as “grind ’n’ roll,� Drugs Of Faith have dropped two LPs, a Godflesh tribute, and splits with Atigama and Cloud Rat. Since 2006, they’ve brutalized their instruments to vent about sociopolitical disturbances. Coming out of Northern Virginia, the trio return with five explosive tracks on Decay, released Sept. 6. Recorded with Kevin Bernsten at Developing Nations and mastered by J.C. Griffin at Lakebottom Recording House, Decay boasts chaotic hemorrhages of sludgy, infectious, and challenging hooks. –Hutch

NEW NOISE 49

HIGH COMMAND

INTERVIEW WITH RYAN MCARDLE AND KEVIN FITZGERALD BY HUTCH

C

rossover thrash has had a mighty resurgence over the last 10 to 15 years, but eschewing the neon palette, party anthems, and nuclear aesthetic, High Command garner accolades from playing a darker version of the genre. Their new album, Beyond the Wall of Desolation, is out Sept. 27 on Southern Lord Recordings.

obvious influences, it’s hard to ignore the rich heritage Massachusetts has of bands that masterfully blurred the lines of metal, punk, and hardcore,� he says. “We were all brought up on bands like Overcast, Only Living Witness, and Converge. Some bands like to pretend they were born in a Hellhammer shirt, but we prefer to embrace our roots.�

High Command’s sound is grisly, full of power and grit, not just flash and polish. Guitarist Ryan McArdle quickly comments on the fertile soil of their home state. “Keeping in mind some of our more

Vocalist Kevin Fitzgerald, whose rapacious tongue colors vivid visions and conquers with sneering domination, explains his lyrical inspiration. “The lyrics are fantasy-based, leaning toward the

sword-and-sorcery side of things,� he says. “I’ve tried my hand at writing more traditional-style lyrics, and they were fucking terrible. To me, it’s a lot more fun to get stoned in the woods and create a whole new world. The possibilities are endless. There are a lot of terrible things that are going on right now, and I’m glad bands are bringing attention to that— they execute it a lot better than I ever could—but personally, I’d rather put on an LP and escape for 30 minutes or so, reading about mystical landscapes and chopping people’s heads off with swords.�

High Command draw from their local scene’s history and legacy, but they also celebrate the vibrant scene being cultivated in the present. “There are so many sick bands crushing it right now,�

Fitzgerald says, “not just in metal but across the board: hardcore, punk, rock ’n’ roll, electronic, experimental. It’s really great to see.�

After putting out Beyond the Wall of Desolation on Sept. 27, High Command plan to hit the road hard with no thoughts of stopping. “[The release will be] followed by an East Coast tour with the sick fucks in Enforced from Richmond, Virginia,â€? McArdle shares. “As far as I’m concerned, in 2020, the entire world should shut their windows and lock their doors. High Command is on the prowl.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

IRON AGE THE SLEEPING EYE 20 BUCK SPIN

In 2004, Austin, Texas’ Iron Age came slinging Cro-Mags and mid-’80s-Agnostic-Front crossover, with vocalist Jason Tarpey being compared to MotĂśrhead’s Lemmy Kilmister, Integrity’s Dwid Hellion, and Earth Crisis’ Karl Buechner. In 2009, their second LP, The Sleeping Eye, was released via Tee Pee Records. The Sleeping Eye, immortalized in a stellar reissue by 20 Buck Spin on Oct. 11, erupted with thick, hazy riffs, sinister metallic guitar work, and thunderous production. 20 Buck Spin tapped Jerry “Wyrmwalkâ€? Hionis to create all-new artwork that embraces the Lovecraftian influences dripping from the tones and lyrical themes. –Hutch

EXPORT WITHOUT PRINTER MARKS PHOTO BY BEN STAS

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DRAGONFORCE

THROWER’S LIGHTNING CRASHES. IT’S MOVING, IT’S ALIVE—AND IT FUCKING SHREDS!

D

ragonForce’s eighth studio album, Extreme Power Metal, is due out Sept. 27 via Metal Blade Records. “People were complaining that we played too fast for a power metal band, so it’s like, ‘Well, let’s just stop these people complaining, because it’s not power metal, it’s extreme power metal!’� founding guitarist Herman Li explains in his easy, joking manner. “All bands need their own label; they think they’re unique and all that stuff, so—guilty.�

On defining the London band’s style, Li adds, “Some people call it ‘Nintendo Metal,’ some people call it ‘Journey-meets-Slayer’—I don’t really mind either way.

Celebrated as the fastest band in the world, DragonForce were formed in 1999 by Li and fellow guitarist Sam Totman. Over the 20 years since, the two have remained the only constant members, as DragonForce have seen multiple line-up changes, the latest being the exit of longtime keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov in 2018.

Keyboardist Coen Janssen was recruited for Extreme Power Metal. “Coen is from the band Epica,� Li shares. “They’re kind of like a classical, symphonic band.

We worked with him very closely to bring the DragonForce sound and also his style into it. So, it’s still DragonForce keyboarding—you know, the video game sound. We have a bit more of a retro, synthwave [sound] in it as

52 NEW NOISE

asked if he can play the song in-game, “but I have played the first one on PlayStation 2, and the second one. Obviously, I’ve played the third one, because, you know, I got cocky when the game came out,� he laughs.

“No, it’s actually easier to play it on my guitar than on those plastic controllers,â€? he continues with a humorous air. “I think it’s fun, and if I play it—the first time I was playing, like, Eric Johnson’s ‘Cliffs of Dover,’ something I don’t play on guitar.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST HERMAN LI

BY ANGELA KINZIE well, along with the big orches- corded it live on Twitch.� tra stuff.� “People actually saw me recordWhen asked about influences, Li ing multiple versions of the guilists “the best of rock and heavy tar parts on the album,� he adds, metal mixed together, from ’80s “and then, I asked them, ‘Hey, hard rock to extreme metal, which parts do you think sound death metal, thrash metal, video better?’ and they’d give me game music from the retro era. feedback at the same time. Even We have kind of a poppy chorus writing lyrics. We were writing feel as well, so we like songs that lyrics, and the fans were involved. are catchy, that you can sing [...] We were doing it for literally along to in the shower.� six months I think, captured online, in front of the fans.� “We tried to have more fun on this album, like we used to,� Li ex- The platinum-selling “Through plains, “not just in terms of music the Fire and Flames� from the but even recording the album. band’s 2006 album, Inhuman We recorded it with the fans, Rampage, gained DragonForce livestreaming the actual process international notoriety after beof making the album—to make ing featured on “Guitar Hero III: it different. So, all the parts that Legends of Rock.� “I mean, I play are on the album, people have the guitar, so I don’t need to play actually heard, because we re- ‘Guitar Hero,’� Li answers when

IS IT FUTURE OR IS IT PAST? THE HU PHOTO BY E.ALTANKHUYAG

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of The HU is how pretty their music is. The self-described “hunnu rock� band use a clear experimental template to craft truly gorgeous tunes, marrying traditional folk elements with contemporary metal textures.

The mix of Mongolian instruments with a conventionally Western style of heavy metal is arresting and unusual. Their debut album, The Gereg, out Sept. 13 via Eleven Seven Music, immediately grabs the listener with driving rhythms, the catchiest throat singing to reach this side of the Pacific Ocean, and a distinct cinematic quality, like a Mongolian rock opera playing out through the speakers. Masters of the more arresting side of experimental metal, The HU bring history to life. –Nicholas Senior

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST JUN TOKITA

BY CHRISTOPHER J. HARRINGTON

J

un Tokita’s lyricism is at the cold, dark heart of Japanese doom and death metal vets Coffins. His gargling bursts are splatters from infinite worlds.

His street realism fuses with the supernatural, offering both hallucination and truth. Take a walk down the tortured path with Beyond the Circular Demise, out Sept.

20 via Relapse Records.

“This is a very hopeless story,� Tokita says. “When I write lyrics, frustration is often the driving force, but everyday things have always influenced me as well.�

Whether they’re particular to the story itself or metaphorical, Tokita’s lyrics serve multiple dimensions, connecting to both the physical and spiritual. “Forgotten Cemetery� cuts through time via the vocalist’s unhinged mood. It’s as if the undead live only in the minds of the represented. Freud would be intrigued. “That song was originally written by me with the motif of ‘lonely death,’� Tokita explains, “but the interpretation of the lyrics is free for the listener, so it’s the best, for me, to enjoy the various interpretations.�

Tracks like “The Tranquil End� grind up and move fast, as Tokita pours a unique potion into the totality. The ability to switch from

fantastical doom to speed punk three days.� Coffins’ pragmatic gives the song a wide lens, reading approach is the key. Equalization as both editorial and folklore. “I’m has led to a seamless delivery. both influenced and stimulated “Since the album production was by punk,� Tokita shares. “As far as my decided,� Tokita adds, “we shared lyrics are concerned, I think there is the direction of the work among the some feedback from ‘reality’ no mat- members, so the path to completion ter how ‘fantasy’ the content is. That was always narrowed down.� is obviously an influence from punk.�

The album’s cover features a The result is that Beyond the Cir- roundtable of skeletons—in cofcular Demise continually shifts, fins, naturally—hanging around a never satisfied with complacency, burning hand. It’s classic Coffins, always peering around the corner illustrative and underground, with raging dragons in hell mode. punk in its truest form. “I personalFor all its peculiar variation, there ly don’t like excessively digital artis still a very pragmatic system built work,â€? Tokita says. “We leave the up. Coffins, as a team, depend on visual arts to professional artists. each member—Tokita, founder and We don’t make any special orders guitarist Uchino, drummer Satoshi, when offering, but we just tell them and bassist Masafumi Atake—to that it’s impor.tant to have a dark formulate patterns that breathe to- and dazzling visual that harmonizgether. “In my case,â€? Tokita chimes es with the sound of the band.â€? in, “it’s to express songs and lyrics that harmonize better with the Cof- Beyond the Circular Demise leaves fins sound.â€? listeners in a haze of horror and energy. There is hope, but it’s Beyond the Circular Demise is the bleak, and the DIY realism is the band’s fifth full-length since their centerpiece of the whirling onformation in 1996. They’ve also slaught, a nightmare contained released dozens of EPs and splits. within. “There are so many ridicThe newest album has been in the ulous things happening around works for a while, though it was re- the world that I don’t understand,â€? corded relatively quickly. “We had Tokita relays. “So, I often ask mybeen composing the album for self if I’m crazy. If you go crazy in several years,â€? Tokita says, “but it this crazy world, I’m sure.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł was a month before the recording that all the songs were complete.

We finished the recording in about

FEELING A LITTLE MASOCHISTIC? GET NASTY WITH VITRIOL INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/ GUITARIST KYLE RASMUSSEN

BY NICHOLAS SENIOR PHOTO BY CHARLOTTE LITTLE WOLF

Trafficking in sonic violence is not exactly a new idea for an extreme metal band, but there’s something gleefully masochistic about Vitriol’s debut that elevates the music well beyond aural torture porn.

To Bathe From the Throat of Cowardice, released Sept. 6 via Century Media, is purely enjoyable, well-crafted post-Morbid-Angel-style death metal in large part because of how adept the Portland, Oregon, band are at creating catchy violence that leaves a mark.

Vocalist and guitarist Kyle Rasmussen nails this dichotomy. “I’ve endearingly referred to Vitriol’s approach as ‘musical waterboarding’ on many occasions,� he shares. “The specific goals of each song vary, but ensuring that the listener is always on the edge of being overwhelmed is an aspect of our sound that we try to preserve in all of our music. We want to be able to overstimulate even the most experienced listener of extreme music while maintaining an anthemic quality that causes them to return. We want it to hurt so good.�

Sometimes love don’t feel like it should, but Vitriol sure know how to make death metal hurt so good.

NEW NOISE 53

, PHOTO BY ROCIO MONTSERRAT

MONOLORD

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/ GUITARIST THOMAS JĂ„GER

BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

M

FOSCOR

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST FIAR

BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

"Sensual, intimate, vitalist, dynamic, intense, and so dense are the first words coming to my mind in order to describe its music,� says Fiar, vocalist of the Spanish experimental black metal band Foscor, regarding their latest album, Els Sepulcres Blancs, released Sept. 6 on Season Of Mist. “I do think that the metal or atmospheric labels are not enough for closing a summary of colors and layers someone might find here.�

Truly, no labels really do these sounds justice. “Els Sepulcres Blancs translates as The White Tombs, as a metaphorical way to call to the dreamworld, the ultimate expression of the individual state of consciousness where humans chained to reality can die and [be] born free to imagine a better world,�

Fiar says. “The lyrics don’t deal with an objective reality but the effects it generates on humans. How those threats become our weaknesses and how we manage to transform them into something better speaks of a vital strategy for dialoguing and changing the world.�

Foscor also channel a mystical, transformative energy with the blue dye

FISTER

onolord are powerhouses of doom, constantly crafting catchy, meaningful music that works well live or on-record. They’re a staple doom band who stand out as an example of how the genre should be executed. The Swedish trio’s latest album, No Comfort, out Sept. 20 on Relapse Records, was written mainly by vocalist and guitarist Thomas Jäger.

used in the album’s artwork, which was developed by Irish photographer Deborah Sheedy. It highlights the extremes and contradictions of everyday life, as blue can represent either the dreamworld or sorrow. These deeper themes are nothing new when it comes to the exploration and experimentation within Foscor’s music. “I’ve been the one who has been writing the most since we started this band, and While the band worked with similar material it’s still that way,� he explains. “I’ve been on their other records, they feel that this writing most of the stuff in my home album is the next major step in their sound.

PHOTO BY ESTER SEGARRA studio. When we go in for recording, tion of our process,â€? Jäger explains. “We we arrange it all. This time, we did some “This album may confirm the decisions and didn’t write the songs to make them pre-production, but many of the tracks musical path opened with our previous, Les we were working with for the first time. sound a specific way. That’s not even Irreals Visions, in 2017,â€? Fiar says. “Checking why we went to a studio this time; we just This was also the first time we recorded how it connects to the listener and becomes wanted our gear to sound good.â€? somewhere that wasn’t our rehearsal part of their lives is the most exciting thing space. We went to a friend’s studio out in to face. We speak to the world with our own in the middle of nowhere and recorded it.â€? The lyrical themes focus on several voice, trying to share a piece of ourselves topics, including why people still turn and our cultural background, but we always to religion in the face of more logical In addition to their eclectic approach have the expectation of connecting with explanations. “Religious themes are big, to writing, Monolord found inspiration others on an emotional level and growing and that’s a bit of a carryover from the together. This is what our music is about, everywhere, from themes and sounds last album, [2017’s Rust],â€? Jäger adds. in everyday life to other bands. “It’s a besides having speech or ideas to share.â€? mixture of everything I like,â€? Jäger says. “We talk about religion and how people still turn to religion instead of science Foscor strive to humanize their music by “I can hear elements of things I listen to and things like that. We have some talking about issues that impact everyone, sometimes—like, I listen to a Paradise major themes like that and some other Lost record, and I can find something working them into deeper themes of minor ones as well.â€? that reminds me of a Monolord song. I transformation. “Ours is a constant process of evolving and improving our language,â€? find inspiration in things like that, even if While No Comfort definitely reflects I’m not thinking about it. I’ll come up with Fiar says. “After wandering within the first change and growth, it’s certainly not the something that might [not] be similar to three or four albums, before signing with a Paradise Lost song, but it’s there some- end of the line. Jäger is working on more Season Of Mist, we were still wise enough music with Monolord, as well as some where. I can find themes and moods in to understand how to control and hone our different things and then make it our own.â€? solo efforts, and he plans to keep creatskills and resources.â€? ing. In the meantime, catch the band on tour this fall and winter in Europe and There’s also a major focus on lyrics with That they have, even more so on Els No Comfort, even more so than before. the U.S., and play No Comfort loud and Sepulcres Blancs, available now via Season “For me, I see this as the natural evolu- often. đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł Of Mist.đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł we approach a record, but that was a bit of a factor in deciding to do other bands’ songs instead of writing new material. Our hope, essentially, was to give these songs a new approach but without completely dismantling the attitude and overall creative vitality that makes them special in the first place.â€?

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST/ Fister also had to go about writing in a VOCALIST MARCUS NEWSTEAD

BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

S

t. Louis, Missouri’s Fister are known for brooding, slow, aggressive music with a distinct and despondent sound. Now, they’re putting that sound to the test with a new collection of covers, Decade of Depression, on Sept. 27 via Listenable Records.

different way, as their dark, heavy sound took a slight backseat for their takes on Metallica, Hellhammer, Danzig, Darkthrone, and even Fabio Frizzi, among others. This presented a challenge, Newstead says, but “we just dug into each one and made it a point to really understand what the original pieces were all about.�

“We are all pretty excited for people to po- “We went so far as to study some actual tentially hear how we interpret some pretty transcribed versions,� he adds. “We well-known songs,� guitarist and vocalist mainly did this to get over some of the Marcus Newstead says. “We normally don’t tricks our ears tend to play on us when take listener sensibilities into account when you are familiar with a piece of music

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you’ve never quite learned to play before but have loved for years. In the studio, it came together really well, though.

Our engineer, Gabe Usery, has been a part of 99 percent of our recording

history and made the whole operation run smooth as always.�

Check out the killer covers on Decade of Depression and catch Fister on tour this fall. đ&#x;’Ł

MIZMOR INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDER/SOLE CONTRIBUTOR A.L.N.

BY MARIKA ZORZI

P

ortland, Oregon’s Mizmor continues and more comfortable with sharing what his existential exploration of personal it’s about, partly because I’ve become suffering through religion, nature, and life more confident as an atheist and less itself with a third full-length, Cairn, released embarrassed about that point of view, bevia Gilead Media on Sept. 6. The album is cause it’s not based on magic.� a personal journey that Mizmor founder and sole contributor A.L.N. started with his “The theme in Cairn is clarity and lucidity, previous two albums, 2012’s self-tiled and and it’s in the lyrics; it’s also in the production quality,� he adds. “You can hear all 2016’s Yodh. the vocals, all the lyrics. That’s completely “The first Mizmor album came out in intentional. I want everyone to know what 2012, and I made that album while I was this album is about.� still struggling, as a devout Christian, to maintain belief in God,� A.L.N. says. “I was Cairn was lyrically influenced by “The Myth overcome with doubts and depression and of Sisyphus,� the essay by French philosovery close to losing my faith. I wasn’t able to pher Albert Camus. “He really gets down pray and read the scriptures and worship to the issue when he says that all of our God anymore. It was becoming too compli- experiences as mankind are absurd, becated and painful for me. So, the only thing cause they’re in this world that it is devoid I could think to do was to be honest with of ultimate purpose, and yet, we continually seek meaning,� A.L.N. says.

God and write songs.�

stance; you can kill yourself, because you’ve determined life is no longer worth living if there’s no ultimate meaning; or you can accept the situation for what it is and live in the absurdity every single day. He just hit the nail on the head, and it really inspired me and helped me articulate the idea of the cairns.�

This concept is well-represented by the cover art, which was drawn by Mariusz Lewandowski. “It’s this cloaked God figure who is kind of tempting you to come toward this object of light,� A.L.N. summarizes, “but the figure is on fire and burning down, and on the other side, on the back cover, you see the cairn.�

The pile of stones from which the album

“That first record was completely mysterious, “There are really only three responses you so folks felt like they could connect with the can have to that situation,� he continues, sound of it well enough, but I didn’t want “you can take a leap of faith out of the them to know what it was actually about,� absurd into ultimate meaning by believing he continues. “Over time, I’ve gotten more in God and thereby rejecting your circum-

WHITE WARD INTERVIEW WITH ANDRII PECHATKIN AND YURII KAZARIAN

BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

PHOTO BY ALINELE - GROTESQUE PHOTOGRAPHY

takes its name often marks a boundary, a route across rough ground, or the top of a mountain, and it is sometimes built in memory of someone. “It is a literal concept that is in the record,� A.L.N. explains. “I build giant cairns in the desert so that when I walk forward on the narrowing way, when I get lost and confused and disoriented, I can look back and see those guideposts and remind myself to not retrace my steps, because I’ve already been there and come up with defined conclusions for those things.

So, it’s very much a navigational, guidepost, memorial sort of thing that marks the death of these ideas in my mind.â€? “This album is extremely personal,â€? he concludes. “It’s very much my journal, and it’s ultimately an individual experience.â€?đ&#x;’Ł

PHOTO BY KENTO WOOLERY

“The key topic that unites all songs on the record is the inability to accept and love ourselves, other people, and the entire environment around us,� Pechatkin says. “In a fast-paced city, people are more stressed and closed, so that they often face numerous problems and various issues. They work all day long and spend hours in a transport, so no time and effort is left to enjoy being alive. The only ways to get satisfaction are to consume or escape to the depths of the internet, becoming more closed and blind.

This leads to the environmental crisis we traight out of Odessa, Ukraine, White Ward make experimental, atmo- have now. Scientists also speak about a high rise in mental issues. With our lyrics, we spheric black metal with a unique, urban want to draw listeners’ attention to these and vibe distinct from music of the same genre coming out of the U.S., Sweden, or Norway. other problems, showing one of the worst things caused by ‘love exchange failure.’�

Their new album, Love Exchange Failure, out Sept. 20 via Debemur Morti Productions, The intensity of these subjects is reflected in focuses on love, a topic not often explored the music, as White Ward opted to make the in black metal. songs feel more “live� and in-the-moment. “I’m really excited about how will people understand, support, and share the ideas “At first, we decided to make dark-jazz, more dark, massive, and atmospheric, using live discussed in our songs,� vocalist and bassist piano, Rhodes piano, and Hammond organ,�

Andrii Pechatkin says. “We’ve completely guitarist and backing vocalist Yurii Kazarian changed the topic of our songs. The shift says. “We used two different drum sets in differillustrates our desire to change at least ent studios: one for metal parts and the second something using our art. We are singing about obvious things, but often, it is nec- for jazzy parts. We tried to make the sound of the dark-jazz parts ‘live’ as much as possible, essary to repeat them multiple times to [and] regarding the metal parts, so they enable even the smallest changes.� become more intensive, fast, and aggressive.�

In these seven somber songs, ideas about Love Exchange Failure is heavy, dark, and struggling to find love and connection are uplifting all at the same time. Listen to it on highlighted, and the topic is amplified a rainy day to usher in the fall weather.đ&#x;’Ł through distortion and dreamy delivery.

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WORKSHED

INTERVIEW WITH MARK WHARTON AND ADAM LEHAN BY HUTCH

T

seems. “It’s a line from ‘Evil Dead II’ that’s he quick version of the undeniable clearly overdubbed—one of those ‘it’s so rĂŠsumĂŠ of England’s Workshed is that bad, it’s good’ moments,â€? Wharton says. drummer Mark Wharton and guitarist Adam Lehan are former members of “We also liked the idea that a workshed is where you go to work on a project. What Cathedral who have joined forces again we were doing, certainly in the early days, to wreck and destroy. With no allegiance felt more like a project than a band, so we to any genre, they developed Workshed organically. What grew from this collabo- thought it kind of fit.â€? ration is certainly doom- and sludge-inSurprisingly, Wharton and Lehan have not fluenced, but the sound has festered with faster tempos and jazzy time signatures, been making too much music in the 25 echoing noise rock. Sounding like Cathe- years since they departed from Cathedral. dral, Fudge Tunnel, Conan, Helmet, and “I did some drumming for Cronos after I Unsane were in a high-velocity bus crash, left Cathedral and recorded some tracks the duo produce gnarly but rhythmic songs. for the [1995] compilation album, Venom,â€?

Wharton notes. “After that, I didn’t do a Hooked up with former Cathedral band- great deal.� mate and friend Lee Dorrian’s Rise Above Records, the band’s debut, Workshed, is “I tried to get a band going that were more in the vein of Deep Purple or Black Crowes,� packed with tumultuous riffs and sure to Lehan adds. “Mark even played drums on impress following its Sept. 13 release. a lot of it, actually, but I could never find a singer who fit, so it just slowly died.�

The first clue that the duo changed their focus is a lack of supernatural or occult connotations to their band name—or so it “We just sort of fell into doing it again to be

honest,� Wharton states. “The songs have gone through a lot of evolution to get to where they are today. It took us a long time to find our feet stylistically—we didn’t want to sound just like Cathedral—but we’re both really happy with where we are today.�

Workshed erupt with such thick riffs and volume, the idea of them being a duo—à la MANTAR—is stunning. “Now that we have the album out, we definitely need a third member,â€? Wharton acknowledges. “We’d really like to do some shows.â€?

While the band’s moniker is a nod to Sam Raimi and the tones are ominous and foreboding, the lyrics Lehan penned for Workshed highlight horrors of the self and the

UNIFORM | THE BODY INTERVIEW WITH UNIFORM’S BEN GREENBERG AND MICHAEL BERDAN BY MARIKA ZORZI PHOTO BY MARIKA ZORZI

A

“It just feels like misery [is] always in my head waiting for a chance to get my attention,� he laughs.

The misery on Workshed is palpable, but paired with amplifier-shattering gusto and propulsion and screamed to an audience who can relate, it is glorious.đ&#x;’Ł

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK 10 ARTISTS REWORK THE BODY FOR REMIXED

book, and the details, circumstances, and inherent emotions that surround life never end. While Mental Wounds Not Healing references issues such as anxiety and depression, this new work carries a more precise awareness. “Everything is always kind of around anxiety, depression, hopelessness, yadda, yadda, all that fun stuff,�

Berdan says, “but this one has, at its core, this idea of closure, of someone dying or a relationship ending, about how people are supposed to just get over it like it doesn’t matter and how that’s not really possible.

Maybe the pain will subside, but you’re still left with a wound, with a memory, and it shapes you.�

With Magnets in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

After starting with 2018’s Mental Wounds Not Healing, industrial-noise, post-every- “Right after we finished the first one, we were “This idea of ‘Just get over it. Be done. Everyalready talking about doing a second one,� thing is OK once you say it’s OK. Be a man. thing duos Uniform from New York City and Berdan says. “Working with [The Body vo- Toughen up’—it’s bullshit,� he adds. “It’s The Body from Portland, Oregon, returned total bullshit.� with a second collaborative album, Every- calist and guitarist Chip King and drummer  thing That Dies Someday Comes Back, on Aug. Lee Buford] comes easy, and we’re pretty good friends. This happened right before The collaboration between Uniform and 16 via Sacred Bones Records. we did a collaborative tour, so we took The Body was built upon an appreciation  for each other’s work, which led to bonds “It’s a true sequel, because it wasn’t a plan,� extra days and just hung out.�  of friendship. “We’re very much on the Uniform instrumentalist Ben Greenberg says.

The result sounds like a sonic world of terror same page,â€? Greenberg admits. “Musically, “We just all show up in the studio and shrug, that grips the throats of fans once again. we come from very similar places, and we always talk about—people come up to us at and eventually, something comes out,â€? Uni- “When we make our own records, we kind of know exactly what we want it to be, and so, shows and are like, ‘Why are you so angry?’ form vocalist Michael Berdan adds. we’re just carving it,â€? Greenberg confesses. and we’re not. We’re not mad. We’re sad.  That’s the same for them. Once we realized Much like the collective’s debut, Everything “When we’re working on the collaboration, it’s very open, so it takes shape very naturally.â€? we had that in common, it was very easy to That Dies Someday Comes Back was built  make music together. I think it is a kind of over a series of collaborative sessions with Dealing with tragic loss is never a closed special relationship.â€?đ&#x;’Ł producer Seth Manchester at Machines

56 NEW NOISE

leaden burden of depression and anxiety.

Catharsis can be found when screaming in the confines of a practice space, but once pressed to vinyl and digital bits, the words expose a certain vulnerability. “There is a certain release in ‘coming out’ in public about these kinds of things,� Lehan admits. “At the same time, it doesn’t really heal anything.�

The Body are restless. Whether they’re moving all around the country, releasing numerous albums of their own, or recording a multitude of collaborative projects with Full Of Hell, Thou, and Uniform, among others, the duo do not slow down for a second. So, it’s rather remarkable to hear someone else pick up their torch and run with it for a change. Featuring two handfuls of artists each taking creative control of a different The Body tune, Remixed, out Oct. 11 via Thrill Jockey, somehow maintains the sonic suspense the duo are known for. Yet, there is a clear playfulness unearthed from their patented violent noise. This comp is fucking fun and a wonderful reminder of just how arresting The Body’s restlessness can be. –Nicholas Senior

H

enry Rollins once said, “You can only trust yourself and the first six Black Sabbath albums.�

Two illustrators and graphic designers from Sabadell, a small town near Barcelona, liked the quote so much, they put it on the shirt that became one of their most famous designs. Branca Studio is a design studio created

by Pol Abran Cantador and Marta Maldonado. Under this name, they have been creating artwork for bands like Venom, Angel Witch, and Converge, to name a few, for almost 10 years. “We started doing posters and other design works around 2008, but only in 2013 I started using this name to sign my works for friends and shows we booked in Barcelona,� Abran Cantador says. “In 2015, I got fired from my regular job, and it was when I started focusing 100 percent on Branca Studio. First, it was my project, but slowly, Marta got more involved.�

BRANCA STUDIO

INTERVIEW WITH ILLUSTRATORS/GRAPHIC DESIGNERS MARTA MALDONADO AND POL ABRAN CANTADOR BY MARIKA ZORZI now my favorite band. Since then, fantasy and the illustrations in metal album covers influenced my style so much.�

“I never thought about making it professional until I was about 18 years old,� Maldonado “Music has been the main says. “I couldn’t study arts at obsession since I was a teenager. the university, so I was studying This is why I ended up working different things until I was 22, for bands,� Abran Cantador when I started studying only remembers. “I left school when illustration. Today, I’m 29 years I was 17 years old, and I started old and still studying it, and I think working as a carpenter, pizza it’s something you never stop deliverer, and in a metal factory. learning and improving. I started The time at the factory made reading fantasy when I was 9 and me get back to studying. I was 25 listening to metal music when I when I started studying silkscreen was 11 thanks to my sister, who and then graphic design.� introduced me to Iron Maiden, “I started booking shows in Barcelona around 2012 for bands like Acid King, Acid Witch, Pilgrim, Monolord, Windhand, Eagle Twin,� he continues. “We could make posters for those shows to have a more professional portfolio. Then, slowly, I started to get money for those works until [I began creating] the designs under the name you know now.�

works. It can start with a little seed and keep growing until the final result.� “It’s a word that makes you think of growing, of creativity,� she continues. “At the beginning, we couldn’t imagine that we would make our living working only with bands; that’s why we choose a ‘not metal’ name. You know, it’s not ‘Blood And Steel.’�

Maldonado and Abran Cantador are not only a team, they are also a couple. “Surprisingly, we didn’t meet exactly because of music,� Maldonado admits. “Pol wrote to me asking for a tattoo— yeah right, good excuse. We had a date to ‘talk about the tattoo’ but quickly forgot about it. We’ve been together since that very first date, seven and a half years ago.�

Since then, they have worked together as Branca Studio, collaborating with many musicians. “Bands like the Cavalera brothers, Black Sabbath, Rammstein, Pentagram, Saint Vitus, etc. made us who we are now,�

Abran Cantador says, “and if I can make a wish, I really would love to work for Electric Wizard.�

for Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Rothfuss, or, of course, Tolkien!�  Even if Branca Studio works with bands worldwide, Barcelona and Catalonia remain their main point of reference. “There are a lot of talented musicians, but I think our cultural and geo-economic situation don’t let bands explode as in other countries like Sweden or the U.K.,�

Abran Cantador says.  “It’s also important for us to stand politically,� they declare. “We use our small platform to tell people our vision of what happens here.

Maybe this closes some doors [for us], but we think that it will open others.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

The name Branca Studio has a personal and particular connotation. “It comes from Pol’s surnames,� Maldonado explains. “His name is Pol Abran Cantador, so we took that, Bran-Ca, from it. “Let’s dream so—Iron Maiden!�

It also means ‘branch’ in Catalan, Maldonado adds, “but, of course, and we thought it could explain other bands like Satyricon, a lot [about] how graphic design Tribulation, or making book covers

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57

FROM THE GARAGE

FUZZED-OUT GUITARS, CLINKING BEER CANS, AND RATTLING WALLS: THE

AMERICAN GARAGE IS A HALLOWED SONIC SPACE, NOT JUST A PLACE TO STORE YOUR LEAF BLOWER. PLUG IN, TURN UP, AND PISS OFF YOUR NEIGHBORS. but ultimately, I think most of my favorite records are ones where that doesn’t seem to have been a very big consideration.�

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/ GUITARIST NATHAN HARDY

BY RENALDO MATADEEN

A

tlanta’s Microwave have been one of the most intriguing bands on the indie rock circuit over the last few years. They released their debut album, Stovall, in 2014 and its follow-up, Much Love, two years later on SideOneDummy Records, and now, they’re back with Death Is a Warm Blanket, out Sept. 13 on Pure Noise Records.

Following a shoulder injury at The Wrecking Ball ATL festival in 2016, Hardy’s difficult journey to recovery almost led him to abandon making music completely. “I turned 26 and lost my health insurance right around the time that I started dislocating my shoulder and needed surgery,� he reveals. “This was a big contributing factor to me sensing the need to hang up my music hat and get a job that provides health insurance. Thankfully, MusiCares is a great organization and helped me get fixed up.�

There is an angrier, heavier aesthetic on tap this time around. This assistance allowed Hardy’s “We’re always working on music struggles to become the engine for and revisiting different ideas for songwriting rather than a musical songs,� vocalist and guitarist Na- roadblock. Elaborating on the althan Hardy says. “I think the songs bum’s title, Death Is a Warm Blanthat get finished with lyrics and ket, he explains, “I embrace nihileverything are indicative of what’s ism, quite literally, as a worldview. going on in my life at the time. Dif- I’m a big proponent of being comferent songs bring out different pletely honest about everything thoughts and ideas just based on regardless of the implications or how they sound, and some things consequences.� just resonate at different times. A lot of this album was written while “I also wanted to see how many difwe were on small club tours where ferent ways I could reference ‘shitwe weren’t making anywhere near ting’ and have it feel appropriate enough money to consider our in the context of a song,� he laughs. lifestyle sustainable. I don’t have any sort of financial safety net, so These trying circumstances helped pursuing my passions with Micro- Microwave focus on differentiatwave has been an unnerving ex- ing their sound and not playing it safe. “We’ve always tried to write perience at times.�

HUNGRY FOR MORE GRUNGY TUNES? DESATURATE WITH GRAYLING

INTERVIEW WITH LEXI CAMPION BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

We all need an outlet, someone or for 6131 Records, “Chalk Dust� and something to bounce ideas off of when “Cursed,� released June 12 and July 2, we’re at our lowest. Some have best respectively, are so distinct yet still confriends, others a spouse, and many nected by an earnest thread. “Cursed� look to different forms of art. sounds like a power pop jam written by a noise rock band, while “Chalk Dust� is Philly singer-songwriter Lexi Campion pensive grunge pop. chose the latter. Campion writes and records the music herself, which may “The two songs that have been released explain why Grayling’s recent singles so far are about feeling stuck and

60 NEW NOISE

as many different types of songs as we could and experiment with shit that sounds like it wouldn’t necessarily even be the same band from song to song,� Hardy explains. “One of my longtime favorite bands is Ween, and that’s an element of Ween that I always thought seemed really genuine and cool and thought, ‘Why not?’ As a musician with no financial safety net, you find yourself considering which of several directions that you could go may be the best route toward becoming a musician with a financial safety net. It’s somewhat unnerving to do, PHOTO BY CAM FLAISCH

stagnant,� Campion states. “When I was writing ‘Cursed’ in particular, I was finishing up my degree and felt like I was perpetually going through the motions in academia and wanted so desperately to be finished and focus on music. I think, in general, as a person, I’m a realist and am often walking that line between the glass being half empty and half full.�

That push-and-pull of being a creative realist elevates Grayling’s gleefully dirty indie rock into something truly special. đ&#x;’Ł

Hardy adds that fans can look forward to a strong ’90s vibe on Death Is a Warm Blanket, as well as traces of some cuts he’s been a fan of for years that recently resurfaced in his consciousness. “I think there’s some somewhat obvious Queens Of The Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails influence on the record,â€? the frontman concludes. “The Daughters album You Won’t Get What You Want came out [in 2018] right around when we were tracking the album and blew us all away. I think that was an influence on our decision to try to make something that felt unique to us.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

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“Whatever your entry point, it’s cool to have that deep exploration you’re able to do as a music listener today.”

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST TONY ESPOSITO BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

A

n album like You Deserve “I was nervous because of all the and mom would drive me around, didn’t even catch the band name, Love, out Oct. 18 via Elektra resources we now had available and they were listening to classic and I didn’t even find that out until Records, and, what’s more, to us,” vocalist and guitarist Tony rock radio all the time. You’re right, years later, but that video hit me a band like White Reaper, could Esposito reflects. “I just really wanted you hear the same 50 to 100 songs and made me want to be in a band.” only be influenced by outdated to make sure that the record we put every time; there’s not a lot of variety technologies. Whether it’s hearing out was the right one and the songs on those classic rock playlists. But if The Eric Clapton paradox—the a favorite classic rock radio tune in were the right ones and were as good you grow up listening to that, you idea that you don’t have to play the backseat of your parents’ van, as they could be. I was scared at first find out about those bands, and fast, complex tunes to pluck at a jamming cassettes and CDs in your to start writing, because I was just with the advent of Spotify and person’s heartstrings—is at play friend’s bedroom, or watching old so terrified of what would happen if streaming, you can listen to all of on You Deserve Love. White Reaper VHS tapes and DVDs in the basement, everything sucked. It was all pressure their records, not just the ones that make resonant, resoundingly great White Reaper pull inspiration from I was putting on myself.” have been on the radio forever. music that shoots straight to the and display an admiration for a If you read about it online, you listener’s soul. “I think of writing as plethora of old-fashioned goodness.

The idea for the album came can figure out who produced the an extraction process,” Esposito through an iPhone message from record, who played guitar on the says. “In my head, I hear an entire Based in Kentucky, in the home of the his band—one of the few instances record, and you can find other song, all its parts—the drums, bass, Louisville slugger, White Reaper knock in which modern technology came similar bands through this crazy guitars, keys, and singing—and I it out of the park like few bands can. to the rescue—yet, as the band’s network of music. Whatever your just hear it all at once. Whenever Their throwback garage punk sound primary songwriter, Esposito still entry point, it’s cool to have that I’m demoing, I’m trying to match it absolutely nails what classic music can leaned on an old faithful. “I have deep exploration you’re able to do in my head as much as I possibly do and how it can make a listener feel. a lot of black moleskin notebooks as a music listener today.” can. It’s less building something Make no mistake, You Deserve Love is that I’ll carry with me sometimes and more trying to replicate these destined to be admired for decades and just write down lines here and “We listened to a lot of records like thoughts that I have.” to come. The album is overflowing with there,” he says. “Whenever I’m stuck [The Beatles’] Love,” he continues, retro rock anthems that are perfect for lyrics, I’ll go back to one of those, “and The Tubes and weird stuff from There’s definitely a sense that these for Saturday BBQs and sunny Sunday like pulling from my toolbox.” the ’60s and ’70s I had never heard songs are supposed to make the drives. Through their breezy, brazen before. While it’s not new, it was a listener feel rather than remain major label debut, White Reaper are White Reaper seem more confident breath of fresh air. Even if you do laser-focused on music theory. sowing the seeds of love and reaping about who they are. Before, they the same thing over and over again, There’s an organic energy that good vibes. sounded classic and retro, but just like there’s a million different can’t be accessed through clinical You Deserve Love feels wider in ways to get to that chorus or that songwriting. “When I’m writing, it’s Here, White Reaper reify their 2017 its musical scope, almost outside second verse you like so much, you all based on feeling, because I sophomore album’s boast that they of time or era. What got them discover something new each listen.” don’t have the other tools to use,” are the world’s best American band. interested in this style of music?

Esposito laughs.

The new songs are light and almost It’s not like classic rock radio has It’s humorous, then, that the song carefree in their adoration of the changed their 40-song playlist in that lit the fire of music in Esposito’s “The last time I took a guitar lesson, almighty guitar lick and earworm the past decade. soul is from another contemporary I was 5 years old and I wanted to hook. However, like most gems, You band whose sound feels timeless. play drums,” he relates. “My mom Deserve Love was the result of a “That’s where it started,” Esposito “I saw The Hives’ video for ‘Hate To wouldn’t let me play drums until pressurized scenario. shares. “When I was a kid, my dad Say I Told You So,’” he reveals. “I after I played piano. Whenever I

NEW NOISE 63

there’s a little bit of both,� Esposito admits. “Maybe we get bigger, maybe things get better for us, or maybe they don’t. It’s been a crazy past couple of weeks flying all over the country. It’s been a whole lot of fun. Every time I’m on a plane with the band, I think, ‘If we die right now, we’ve had a good run.’ I really feel like the ultimate goals for us are to make each record better than the last and to play bigger shows.

That’s it.�

was taking lessons, I was coasting through it and not absorbing it because I wanted to play drums, so I don’t really know anything about music theory. I don’t know all that much about time signatures and don’t really know that many scales—I know the major scale and the minor scale, and that’s it. Everything else is trying to learn songs by hearing them and playing along to them, trying to use my ear as much as I can.� “When I was a kid, the interest and passion just wasn’t there, but I kept up with drums for a long time,�

Esposito adds. “I played drums in the band at church for years and years, and that’s how I met [keyboardist] Ryan Hater; he was also playing in the church band.

White Reaper’s newest effort is gleefully connected to the past, but it’s ushering in a very bright future.

Has Esposito ever felt like the band have “made it�? “I’d like to think I have not felt that way yet, but I think the first time we took a plane to a show, that kinda blew my mind,� he says. “We got to open for The Killers, which was pretty sick. When it’s never better than it is, you’ve made it, right?�

With keys, that’s how I’ll often start other’s houses and watch ‘Detroit songs, and I enjoy it now, but I wish Rock City’ and try to learn songs we For Esposito and White Reaper, I kept with it. I could be way better, actually cared about.â€? “making itâ€? may just mean making but I was a stubborn little idiot. Now, fans happy. If music, at its core, I’ve got to live with that.â€? “I was lucky to be born at that exact is meant to make listeners feel time,â€? he continues. “My parents something—connected, fulfilled, Esposito and Hater started out would not have bought me a record or just more inclined to smile— playing odes to Jesus, Mary, Peter, with a parental advisory sticker on few albums do that as well as and Paul, but they really wanted to it, but they weren’t smart enough to You Deserve Love. “That’s what I sing the praises of St. Billie Joe and know that I could just buy that stuff want people to get out of it!â€? he St. Gerard. “[We met] when [Green on iTunes. All I had to do was click exclaims. “We’ve all been through Day’s] American Idiot came out the box that asked if I was 16, and hard times and dark days. It’s [in 2004], so we were all jamming I always clicked yes. Got ’em,â€? he really a mental thing, but if you to that,â€? Esposito says. “Then, it laughs. can just feel better, you’re going to was the My Chemical Romance be better off. I’m not perfect; I get years. We totally bonded over the White Reaper may have joked bummed out a lot. It’s also just a nonreligious music we actually about being the biggest and best reminder for the band. Especially loved listening to and playing. I American band in the world, but after naming the last record The made a lot of friends with the guys with You Deserve Love, there’s a World’s Best American Band, we in church band, so whenever we chance they very well could be. Has wanted to chill out and name didn’t have to play ‘Every Move I the ambition settled down or are it something nice that everyone Make’ or whatever, we’d go to each they just getting started? “I think could smile about.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

PARTIAL TRACES DIGGIN’ THIS GUITAR AND KEYS COMBO? EXPERIMENT WITH

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/KEYS PLAYER MAREN MACOSKO

BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

While there are so, so many punks To that end, the band found a neat way to writing synth-y post-punk, Minneapolis’ reimagine human connection. “A partial Partial Traces don’t color within the trace, greatly simplified, is a way to map lines. Low Definition, out Sept. 27 via the movement of entangled particles on to Salinas Records, borrows from The two dimensions,� vocalist and keys player Cure and The Jesus And Mary Chain Maren Macosko notes. “I find this somehow in style, substance, and spirit, with darkly romantic, and for me, there are a lot a driving energy that leaves traces of emotional parallels in the sciences, espeof a punk past in its wake. What truly cially in physics, chemistry, and astronomy.� defines Partial Traces is simple—these are fucking great songs. They evoke “Low Definition covers a lot of ground, but what gave those ’80s classics their there’s an overarching investigation into staying power: not the atmosphere or the rules we make for ourselves,� Macosko attitude, but the wonderful tunes that continues. “You know, basketball wouldn’t drew listeners in with human stories. be any fun without its rules, but we made

64 NEW NOISE

those rules up. We say how it goes, we get upset when rules get broken, and we come up with new ways to explain the pressures in our lives. I try to get at these really human universals—expectations, disappointments, readjustments—through lenses that are still physical or biological but not necessarily

human. I hope that the distance lets people listen to the songs and hear something that can speak only to them.�

That in-depth thought process is what makes the themes and songs on Low Definition truly sing. đ&#x;’Ł

E G A R A G GI R L S

BY NATALEE COLOMAN

BABY SHAKES

INTERVIEW WITH CLAUDIA GONZALEZ, MARY BLOUNT, AND JUDY LINDSAY

G

irl groups are dominating the punk scene, and Baby Shakes are no exception, mixing sweet pop melodies with deeper, more aggressive lyrics. The fiery New York band’s fourth full-length, Cause a Scene, is out Sept. 20 via their own Lil’ Chewy Records.

“Lyrically, [Cause a Scene] is bolder than our earlier music, which was sweet, poppy, girl-groupy, and dreamy and not

necessarily about personal topics,� bassist and backing vocalist Claudia Gonzalez says. “This one is a bit more open. It’s not so much boy-meets-girl. It’s really for anybody.

It’s not about being sweet and happy; it’s a little more complex than that. It’s about not putting up with anything and standing your ground and inspiring people to do the same in whatever aspects of life.�

These power-poppy garage punks released

a single, “Love Song in Reverse,� on Aug. 22, and they weren’t kidding: this song is the anti-love song. “It’s like when you’re trying to just be a friend or whatever and they take it the wrong way,� lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Mary Blount says. “There’s a lot more things going on in these songs besides just love.�

This take-no-shit attitude fits Baby Shakes well. Lead guitarist and backing vocalist Judy Lindsay says Cause a Scene has a heavy, raw punk vibe rather than being “sugary sweet.�

Gonzalez adds, “It went from being cute and adorable and sweet to ‘Wow, these bitches claw! They aren’t putting up with anything.’ It’s fun to get out that aggression, but it’s not negative aggression. It’s just getting it out there and stating that, ‘Yeah, this pisses me off, and I’m going to say something and do something about it. If you don’t like it, then tough.’�

While the band play hard-hitting, in-yourface music, the members show nothing but respect to their fans and one another.

Lindsay says the stresses of being a DIY band have made their relationship stronger. “There have been so many things over the past few years that we’ve survived,� she admits. “We put each other first over ourselves, because that’s the only way to be on the road 24/7 with four people.� “I think the key things are that we are super collaborative and we all have a say in what we do,� Blount adds. “We bury our egos.�

Following the release of Cause a Scene, Baby Shakes plan to visit their fans in Japan in November. In 2020, they hope to visit Australia and Eastern Europe. “We are just really lucky to have a lot of friends and fans who support us. Doing these things wouldn’t be possible without them,�

Gonzalez shares. “As hard as we work, we are just really excited to share this with friends and fans who we know have been supporting us for a long time. We hope they enjoy it as much as we have. That’s the goal of this album!â€? đ&#x;’Ł

PHOTO BY BECCA HEUP

PHOTO BY ALAN SNODGRASS

OLIVIA JEAN

T

he multitalented Nashville-based songstress Olivia Jean released her second solo album, Night Owl, on Aug. 30 via Third Man Records. The album is filled with twangy guitars and fast drums that give it a surf feel atop Jean’s signature garage rock style.

Along with writing the music for each instrument, this is the first album Jean has produced. “It was great. I had a lot of control over the album,� she shares. “There were a lot of times where I needed to learn to disconnect myself from the music as if I hadn’t written it, because I have an emotional attachment to it. As a producer, you need to hear it through other people’s ears as well, so that was a challenge. Ultimately, I learned a lot [about] how to deal with those complications that come along with taking criticism and applying it to the music as if I’m hearing it for the first time.�

66 NEW NOISE

Jean began playing and writing for each instrument on her 2014 debut album, Bathtub Love Killings. “Originally, I wanted to play everything, write everything, produce it, and be a part of every single element,� she says of Night Owl. In the end, Jean realized it would be too difficult, but she did record three songs by herself, sharing, “Those songs are all me playing all the instruments, and the rest of the album, I brought in musicians to play parts I’d already written.�

Jean also personalized Night Owl’s artwork and created her own merchandise. The clock on the cover shows her birth time, and its hour and second hands point to taste. They are completely open-minded one and four to represent the album’s 14 about it.� tracks. The title track is two minutes and 23 seconds long, which correlates with her Jean recently finished an East Coast tour Feb. 23 birthdate. “To have that freedom with The Raconteurs, followed by a record is great,� she states. “Third Man gives the release party in her hometown of Detroit. artist all the creative control on their proj- “We get to play amazing venues, we get to ects, and it’s a great label to be on when travel, and the guys in The Raconteurs are you want to try something new or you’re so fun!� she says. “It’s really exciting to tour playing a genre that’s a bit of an acquired with them. I get to be surrounded by people

who are so awesome, positive, helpful, and encouraging.�

Jean already has her next project in the works, indicating that this is just the beginning of what’s to come for Oliva Jean, and fans are already ready for more. Whether she is producing, writing, recording, touring, or all of the above, there is no shortage of excitement and adventure for this night owl. đ&#x;’Ł

was not physically recording alongside L.A. women Shattuck and Vammen, the three felt as if they were in the same room. “We are in cahoots so much that it was short and sweet,� Shattuck says. “I’m glad it was really easy; I usually take forever to record!� “I think there were no egos at all amongst us,� Delran adds. “I felt so free working with these two.�

PHOTO BY STEVO ROOD

PHOTO BY KIM SHATTUCK

PHOTO BY ALBIE MITCHELL

THE COOLIES

INTERVIEW WITH MELANIE VAMMEN, PALMYRA DELRAN, AND KIM SHATTUCK

M

ost friends in the music scene dream of forming a band and spending quality time doing what they love with the people they love. This dream has become a reality for super-trio The Coolies. The three ladies released their debut six-song EP, Uh Oh! It’s... The Coolies, on July 19 via Wicked Cool Records.

“This is now the third band with Kim [Shattuck], and I love it! We are meant to be in a band together,� Melanie Vammen says, “and now, I get to do this with

Palmyra [Delran] as well. They are both my greatest best friends, so the three of us getting to do it together now and enjoy this and have fun—we are giving the music we love so much to everyone else. It’s really special.�

While The Coolies might be a new project, the trio have been playing together since 1986—whether it was Shattuck and Vammen working together on the West Coast in The Pandoras and The Muffs or Shattuck singing alongside Delran of East Coast band The Friggs after

she formed a new supergroup, Bubble Gun, out West. “It was really funny how quickly this band happened,� Delran shares. “We were talking and laughing about something completely stupid and silly, and then, three seconds later, we were in a band together.�

If listening to Uh Oh! It’s... The Coolies doesn’t make you want to love them, The Coolies have added something even cooler to the mix, donating every penny of the EP sales to the ALS Association Golden West Chapter. The band are closely affected by ALS and hope the donations will help fund research to find a cure and raise awareness.

Musically, the EP is the perfect representation of these three power pop punks. The melodies are sweet and poppy, while the lyrics skew darker—like another meeting between The Archies and Ramones. “We love it sassy!� Shattuck exclaims. “We are triple sassy girls who are really broads. So, basically, I have coined our music as ‘sassy broad music!’�

As naturally as their friendship formed, it was just as easy working together to create Uh Oh! It’s... The Coolies, with each “It’s what we listen to. It’s who we are,â€? Vammen shares. “When you see pictures of us, member pitching in vocals and playing a number of different instruments. that’s exactly like the music we do!â€? đ&#x;’Ł Although Delran, the lone New Yorker,

PHOTO BY NEIL KRYSZAK

LET’S MAKE THIS GARAGE SHOW A FIVE-BAND BILL! THE PARANOYDS

VIVIAN GIRLS INTERVIEW WITH CASSIE RAMONE, KATY GOODMAN, AND ALI KOEHLER

PHOTO BY GINA CANAVAN

V

ivian Girls have returned after a long eight-year break with their highly anticipated, killer new album, Memory, out Sept. 20 via Polyvinyl Records. It’s as if no time has passed at all. Memory is a reflection on the band members’ lives over the past few years—inspired by their cross-country move from New York to Los Angeles— and revolves around truly finding oneself.

“I got really inspired when I first moved here, because I was in a whole new place and I was learning how to live my life in a different way than how I was used to in New York,� vocalist and guitarist Cassie Ramone says. “Any kind of change has been inspirational to me in the past, and it continues to be.�

Integrating the fuzzed-out sounds of their favorite bands, such as Wipers and their female punk forebears, with dreamy, melodic lyrics, there is no other way to describe Memory than to say it is a true Vivian Girls album. In fact, most of their inspiration came from Everything Goes Wrong, the

band’s 2009 sophomore album. “I feel like Vivian Girls has a very unique sound at this point that is very Vivian Girls-y,� bassist Katy Goodman adds. “Cassie writes the songs, while [drummer] Ali [Koehler] and I do what comes naturally for us, and I think that creates our own specific sound.�

Ramone agrees, adding that a Vivian Girls song made with any other musicians wouldn’t sound the same.

we were doing this very large, important project to us in private was pretty cool.�

During the band’s break, fans longed for a reunion anytime the trio posted about being together—so, they were in for a surprise when “Sick� was released as Memory’s first single, followed closely by news that Vivian Girls will be touring, starting in L.A. on Oct. 4 and ending in Denver on Nov. 3. On Sept. 20, Polyvinyl also offered fans remastered 180-gram color vinyl reissues of their first two albums, Everything Goes Wrong and their 2008 debut, Vivian Girls.

While Vivian Girls spent the past year and a half working unceasingly on Memory, they kept the project hidden from everyone, including close friends. “We “I am excited for people to hear the had never done anything like that be- entire album from start to finish instead fore, and especially in 2019, everything of just a track here and there,â€? Koehler is done online all the time and people says. “I see this album as one whole colknow where you are and what you’re lective piece, and I’m excited for people doing,â€? Goodman shares. “The fact that to hear it that way!â€? đ&#x;’Ł

Fuzzy-wuzzy guitars are cool, but there’s more under the surface that makes The Paranoyds’ Carnage Bargain, out Sept.

13 via Suicide Squeeze, a fascinating and endearing garage album. There’s a love of new wave, vintage horror soundtracks, and power pop harmonies, and the Los Angeles band only grow weirder and more hip-shaking as the record spins. A riot grrrl edge cuts the sci-fi paranoia in a spellbinding way when these ladies—and one dude—pile hook on top of hook. Carnage Bargain is imbued with a certain timelessness, its influences and sounds tripping from the ’50s onward as the foursome wrestle with the fear of an unknown future. The Paranoyds’ party hits are perfect for dancing toward oblivion. –Nicholas Senior

NEW NOISE 67

FAR-OUT SONIC GALAXIES COMMUNING WITH NATURE, TRIPPING THROUGH THE COSMOS, OR SUMMONING

ANCIENT EVIL—IT DON’T MATTER WHAT YOU’RE INTO, MAN, AS LONG AS IT GROOVES.

ECSTATIC VISION

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST DOUG SABOLICK

BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

E

cstatic Vision’s third album, For the Masses, out Sept. 20 on Heavy Psych Sounds, combines the best of everything the Philly band have done previously.

and accessible than the band’s previous releases—as the title suggests. “This one kind of has a bit of a fuller sound; it’s a little bit clearer,� Sabolick explains. “I think it takes a couple albums to find out who you are as a band and really home in on it, and I feel like that’s what we did on this one.�

“With this record, we kind of home in the best parts of both of our previous records, [2017’s Raw Rock Fury and 2018’s UNDER THE INFLUENCE], because they were quite a departure from each other,� vocalist and gui- Like they’ve done before, Ecstatic Vision tarist Doug Sabolick says. “Because we have conceptualized the album before they actually sat down to record it. “Pretty pretty extreme opinions about production much just like every other one, we kind and things like that, we always work hard to make sure things are exactly what we want. of start by brainstorming,� Sabolick says.

We got Tim Green to mix the record for us, “I do some demos in my house and then and he’s done some pretty amazing records. bring them to the table for the band.

We recorded in Philly and mixed it out The reason we never really had anyone mix our stuff was mostly just because no one was in Grass Valley, California, [at Green’s Louder Studios].� really coming to mind, but once we realized he had done a lot of records we liked, we realized it was a great fit.�

Ecstatic Vision are extremely happy about where they are now and the fact that While it’s still heavy, fuzzy garage psych, they get to do what they love for a living.

For the Masses is also a lot more refined “Basically, what I’m doing right now is

what I’ve always kind of dreamed of doing, which is just going on tour around the world and being busy as a working musician,� Sabolick affirms. “I’m already kind of happy where I’ve gotten, even though I am always striving to get to the next level.�

For the Masses will truly please the masses with its heavy undertones and catchy rhythms. Listeners everywhere can check the album out now and European fans can catch the band live in October and November. đ&#x;’Ł

MOON DUO INTERVIEW WITH KEYBOARDIST SANAE YAMADA

BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

S

an Francisco’s Moon Duo are known for two things: their incredible chemistry and the light, airy quality of their krautrock-influenced heavy psych music. Their new album, Stars Are the Light, out Sept. 27 via Sacred Bones Records, takes their previous sound and builds on it.

in only a matter of months.

“The actual recording process was quite condensed; we recorded everything pretty much over the month of February, [2019],� Yamada says. “We went into Jackpot! Recording Studio in Portland, [Oregon], and did some basic tracking and, then, all the overdubs and vocals “A lot of our songs on this record are pret- at home. It felt pretty intense at the time, like we were totally absorbed in it.� ty different from other things that we’ve done,� keyboardist Sanae Yamada says.

To go with the newly conceptualized muThey also pushed the ideas and concepts “It’s been a refreshing challenge to work sic, Moon Duo also added a new visual on the new album a bit further than they it out live, and we’ve even got a new light presentation. have on previous releases. show to go with it. The sound we’ve been working on pretty much since the incep“We went in rethinking our entire artistic tion of the band is still there, just pushed “While all the ideas on the record are situation,â€? Yamada admits. “We added a previous concepts, we’re still taking it in a even further. We talked about where we whole new light show, and the way it inwanted to go and what we wanted to do, somewhat different direction,â€? Yamada teracts with the music is really interesting adds. “We’re still playing around with ideas because we felt like we couldn’t go any and unique.â€? of repetition and layers of sound, but this further in the direction we were going.â€? record has a more intense focus. The guitar Stars Are the Light is playful, heavy, trippy, plays a really substantial role, but I think it’s While it had been a while since Moon and all things Moon Duo. Look for the alinteracting with the music in a somewhat Duo—who are comprised of Yamada bum now and catch that new light show different way, and I think the overall feeling and Wooden Shjips guitarist Ripley on tour through Europe in October and is a bit dancier and lighter. We went in think- the U.S. and Canada starting in early Johnson—made an album, it appears ing we wanted to do something different, November.đ&#x;’Ł that, musically, they’ve mulled over a lot and this feels different.â€? in that time. Stars Are the Light was made

70 NEW NOISE

PHOTO BY BRETT JOHNSON

MARS RED SKY

PHOTO BT ROD MAURICE

INTERVIEW WITH MATHIEU “MATGAZ� GAZEAU AND JULIEN PRAS BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

L

ike the famous red wine, Bordeaux, What’s really intriguing is that musicians France’s psychedelic stoner rockers so indebted to mood can be also such imMars Red Sky have only gotten better pressive storytellers. Vocalist and guitarist with age. It’s highly doubtful that the trio Julien Pras took a different approach on have spent any time in an oak barrel, but The Task Eternal, which paid huge dividends. the sonic flavors they play with—thick “I always write words on top of the melodies, basslines, more-fuzz-than-a-ripe-peach so the mood of the music, the phrasing of riffs, and slithering grooves—have im- the vocal melody will be the starting point,� proved over the course of a decade. It’s he explains. “After throwing [out] a few words on their fourth album, the hauntingly that abide these restrictions, I’ll try to make titled The Task Eternal, out Sept. 27 via Lis- sense of it. A sort of story starts to take shape, tenable Records, that this maroon vision like a silhouette in the fog. That’s the reason realizes the extent of its greatness. why the lyrics are pretty cryptic usually.�

Maybe that added storytelling complexity Like the best psych bands, Mars Red “With this album, though,� he continues, “I came from a desire to bring some goodSky use haze as an asset rather than a feel the songs are more embedded in ness, some light to a world that needs all songwriting crutch. Casual spins of stellar reality, fed by the ongoing turmoil of our “ standouts like “Collector� and “Recast� times. As for the title itself, which is a line the love it can get. Drummer Mathieu highlight the stunning bursts of musical in [opening track] ‘The Proving Grounds,’ “Matgaz� Gazeau acknowledges that the bouquet. The former solemnly offers a it’s taken from a poem by Walt Whitman, album wasn’t written in a vacuum. “Most of all, the mess that is happening in this Soundgarden-like dirge, while the latter ‘Pioneers! O Pioneers!’ but we found our feels almost like a fuzzy blackened-krau- own reading of it. We see it as our dedi- world touches us as human beings, and it affects us in our way of living and being trock behemoth. A veritable tasting menu, cation to the band, the efforts we put into as a band,� he says. “To come back to the eight songs each offer something our music but also into all other aspects our new album, the only rule we have is unique and fulfilling. of our lives.�

to try to come up with some new things for our ears.�

That crisp note of newness is highlighted in the best songs of Mars Red Sky’s already impressive career. There’s a simple point to be made here: Those who liked their previous vintages will surely adore the trio’s latest batch. However, the added flavor in The Task Eternal is sure to entice some new fans as well. đ&#x;’Ł

YEAR OF THE GOAT

INTERVIEW WITH MELLOTRONIST MIKAEL “POPE� POPOVIC BY JAMIE CANSDALE

S

down to the smallest detail has been weden’s visionary storytellers considered, from the jubilant tone of the left-hand path Year Of highlighting the celebration of what The Goat have been tapping into Pope calls “freedom from the bonds of the grander narrative ever since religion� to the use of Cecil B. DeMithe release of their 2012 debut, the award-winning Angel’s Necropolis, lle’s epic 1927 film, “The King of Kings,� in the lyric video for “Superbia� to the while the pious have fought among glorious artwork of Mattias Frisk, vothemselves for dominance over the dominion of man. With what mel- calist and guitarist for Swedish death metal band Vanhelgd, which perfectly lotronist Mikael “Pope� Popovic calls their “divinely inspired� third album, captures the Son’s fall from grace.

Novis Orbis Terrarum Ordinis, released on Napalm Records Sept. 6, the band “We knew he was the right guy already back in 2017,� Pope explains. “He is reveal what happens after the debut’s also an art historian and started off celestial battle rages down on Earth. with long rants about the main forms “Our conscious choices for this album,� of religious art, and Christian art in particular. For me, the choice to look he says, “centered ’round the idea against what Pope calls the “Same toward Eastern Orthodox art was a of a story: the Son sent back down to World Order,� the religious right vying given, since I grew up around that kind Earth after the death of the Father, a to rule like the writers of the original clean slate, tempted by devils, demons, of imagery.� texts. He likens the tools used by foland such to commit the deadly sins lowers of the Christian savior to the Art and reality coalesce smoothly in and take the throne of ice in Dante’s Year Of The Goat’s world, one that is “murderous, jealous, megalomania depiction of Hell.� fundamentally grounded in rock ’n’ found in the Old Testament.� According to the band’s lore, the desperation roll’s saving grace: rebellion. Even “We drew up a magnificent mind map dealing with the chronology of events,� in such a secular country as Sweden, of “insecure men with daddy issues,� as Pope intones, striving to uphold he continues, “and thought, ‘What would “religion still sort of demands to be met the old ways has addled the mortal with respect,� Pope laments, pointing happen to the idea of morality coming realm since Lucifer’s takeover in 70 out how many European countries from a god if such a god was dead?

AD. “Lucifer is the light that embraces What would life be like for those believ- retain their blasphemy laws. “Religious self-worth and equality of all,� he says. dogma should always be rebelled ing such things?’� against and ridiculed,� he continues. “Lilith is the beacon of gender equality Sure enough, Novis Orbis Terrarum Or- “I find the idea of questioning the au- and emancipation from misogynous religious shackles.� thority of such obviously made-up shit dinis, the band’s first full album since to be a duty.�

2015’s The Unspeakable, is nothing Though he ponders whether humanity short of a spectacle, unearthing a rich It’s hard to ignore the parallels be- is ready to follow the original rebels, cornucopia of delectable textures that Pope knows the time for acceptance tween the need to rebel against such delivers on the big questions driving is nigh and says he wants Novis Orbis dogma and the need for rebellion the record’s conception. Everything

Terrarum Ordinis and all of Year Of The Goat’s music to ignite the fire in those who blindly follow “stories in a book where someone forgot to write ‘Once upon a time’ at the beginning.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

NEW NOISE

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UNDER THE INFLUENCE: LET IT ALL BE MELVINS

O

f all the bands who have consistently looked to new horizons to push their music, Boris reign supreme alongside Melvins, whose song “Boris� from their 1992 album, Bullhead, inspired the Japanese band’s name.

Continuing to play with their sound since the release of 2017’s Dear, Boris will release their first new album in two years, LφVE & EVφL, on Oct. 4 via Third Man Records.

INTERVIEW WITH MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST TAKESHI

BY MARIKA ZORZI

but beyond that, we now have the freedom to have more fun and do collaboration work and new moves.

We think that the situation can be seen in our music.�

“We’ve been recording since Dear, including digitally distributed live recordings, 12â€? singles, split 12â€?s, a Japanese-exclusive CD single and unreleased collection of recordings. It almost feels like it was LφVE & EVφL shows a more organic, to the extent that this was the busiest nonlinear literary style from a band period we’ve had,â€? vocalist, bassist, who continue to explore their own and rhythm guitarist Takeshi says. vision of heavy music. “We never “LφVE & EVφL is a work born from create work by visualizing the such dizzying situation. It’s a piece finished product,â€? Takeshi clarifies. of work that generated before we “We don’t challenge it; we don’t knew it. Even to us, this work is full move toward the ideal. It’s more of mysteries, and that’s what makes like we create work by enjoying this feel special.â€? the accident. No one knows what kind of song it’ll end up. The music In the two years since Dear, Boris doesn’t belong to the musician, so have found a new approach to we need to listen well, feel how the music. “The band lost restrictions, song wants to be, which will lead us in a good way,â€? Takeshi explains. “It toward progress in production.â€? feels like the chain that restrained Boris is now gone; the situation feels The process of creating the album like we’ve been limitedly released. was more a cathartic experience A vast future is expanding. The number of nuisances has increased,

than just a recording session. “As we listened to how the song wanted to be created and hearing its voice, we were released from vertical, rhythm, and horizontal, pitch, axis,� Takeshi says. “Rather than playing, the recording feels like we’re drawing in space or theatrical experience that is close to physical expression.

Rather than when the sound is ringing, the gap when nothing is playing is extremely important, and that’s when the organic dynamism is born.�

LφVE & EVφL exists as two independent works, two separate albums, before reshaping its previous form and becoming utterly singular. “Even we don’t know why; before we knew it, it shaped into

this,� Takeshi explains. “The songs tied together, separated, then took this form. Even to us, the album has ended up full of mysteries. We didn’t even think we’d be releasing the album through Third Man Records.

This album will lead us toward a new future. Through the tour and release, we’ll likely end up solving those mysteries of this album.�

Using intense soundscapes made more elaborate with a massive sound, Boris have shared a profound experience with audiences across the planet through their concerts, earning legions of devoted fans along the way. “In recent years, we went on tour and got to see multiple countries, touched various worlds, and my sense of values has become completely different from before,�

Takeshi concludes. “It’s like we’ve made the pilgrimage to the world through music. It’s as though music has become the prayer of our daily lives. It has become a state where the music has more purity. The category of music, trendiness [or] outdatedness, doesn’t matter at all—just that it’s a daily prayer to us.

Like hope.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

I LAY LIKE YOU, I FEEL THE SAME EYE FLYS PHOTO BY MEGAN ELYSE LLOYD

PHOTO BY MIKI MATSUSHIMA

72 NEW NOISE

It’s not a surprise that this East Coast band, who are named after a Melvins song, sorta sound like their namesake’s creators. However, Eye Flys take the comparison further by also embodying the same subversive, creative spirit. The opening jam on Context, out via Thrill Jockey on Sept. 13, asks the calm, thoughtful question, “What the fuck makes you so sure?� before the rest of the new album reckons with nihilism, toxic masculinity, and how to cram as many goddamn riffs as possible into six songs. The songs themselves are as adventurous as Melvins at their peak, but Eye Flys are more concerned with having a good time, which makes Context a furiously fun exercise in feedback loops—and feedback loops—and feedback loops. –Nicholas Senior

out OCT 18th!

out OCT 4th!

info and pre-order @ fatwreck.com

LISTEN TO NAPALM‘S LATEST RELEASES NOW: OPEN SPOTIFY, SEARCH AND SCAN!

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You cannot stop ‘The Things We Can‘t Stop‘

COLD are back with the alternative rock album of the year!

Cold

The Things We Can‘t Stop OUT NOW!

DIGIPAK | LTD 1-LP GATEFOLD VINYL | DIGITAL

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A new era for the evolution of hard rock – Kobra and the Lotus level up once more!

OUT 9/20!

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MORE EXTREME, MORE MELODIC, MORE EXCITING

THE AGONIST ARE BACK! OUT SEPTEMBER 20!

Available on CD and Vinyl! www.rodeostar.de facebook.com/rodeostarrecords

THE SOUND OF SCARS – the logical consequence after the iconic album released 26 years ago, legendary LIFE OF AGONY return with their most haunting and strongest work to date!

OUT 10/11!

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Extreme metal at its best: The future not only belongs to Infected Rain – they ARE the future!

OUT 10/18!

JEWEL CASE | LTD 1-LP Gatefold VINYL | DIGITAL

PROKOPTON The Best Newcomer of the New Wave of Melodic Death Metal Scene!

OUT 10/25!

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ANALOG BECAUSE CASSETTES RULE HARD AND NEVER REALLY AGE, T HE ANALOG CAVE IS HERE TO BRING YOU SOME OF THE BEST IN UNDERGROUND TAPES A ND COLLECTED VISION. A CASSETTE IS LIKE YOUR BEST FRIEND, YOUR MOST TRUSTED TRAVEL PARTNER, AND A SPECIMEN OF IMAGINATIVE FANTASY AND OTHERWORLDLY DIMENSION. POP ONE IN AND TRANSFORM. RIDE THE HIGHWAY ETERNAL.

NASTIE BAND: SHAPESHIFT RMXXD: SLEEPING GIANT GLOSSOLALIA

SANTO_S: COSMIC DEALER: THE GET DOWN RECORDS

Nastie Band are a New York City-based supergroup of sorts, but they don’t sound like one. Rather, they play some serious, underground dark art and feature Faith No More’s Roddy Bottum, 82-year-old Chris Kachulis, and current and former members of Villains, Merchandise, and Pollution. Shapeshift RMXXD, released on June 14, features the single, “Shapeshift,” from their July 26 self-titled full-length and 10 remixes of the song done by various friends, members of bands like Dälek and Opening Bell, and some of the band’s own members. The variance between each song is enlightening. Fragments of the original are recognizable, but only if one is paying attention, each remix a universe unto itself. Some move abstract and long like “Ornament Remix,” while some are Dada-driven and mad like “Activated Corpse Remix.” The whole package is filling in its dimension, a workout in noise, avant-techno, and sound estrangement. DJ Teeth’s one-minute-and-15-second remix is my favorite, a passenger in a lonely cube, void of space and time—yeah, a masterpiece.

Cosmic Dealer is pure appropriation, a master class in sound collage. Written and produced by Christoph Savli, the seven-track cassette highlights the art of searching, pushing taste in physical and mental dimensions. There’s a heaviness that transforms the sequences in nostalgic ways. Here, a desire for the colors of the ’70s. Over there, grayness forged in the concrete alleyways. At every turn, a layering of artistic luster, a shine that permeates the totality. Cosmic Dealer is something for continuance, a tape for recollection, for movement, for living within the dayto-day complexity. It could work in your car, most certainly in your Sony Walkman, and in your basement while working on a new sculpture. There is room for listening contained within, and that is a difficult goal to achieve. Artists and DJs who take music created by others and give birth to new realms are a special breed. They create space out of space and, then, build on that.

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AVANTGARDE VAK: VANVAN: BLAQLOTUS RECORDS VANVAN is like a breeze, a dream of something pure, taking sequences from right under your mind. The beats are effortless, slow-moving waterfalls, reinforced by duplication, post-structuralism. Avantgarde Vak sets up 12 interwoven tracks with a soft spot for old psych, ’80s hip hop, and soul.

This is modernity at its finest, a re-scrambling of video montage put to tape. It flows like the highway, an everywhere sort of ride. The tape’s darkness is its light, and the assemblage of bright motions leads to introspection, the listener gaining insight into the mind of its ambassador. blaqLotus Records is out of Korea, featuring artists like VANtheUPALOOPA, ego-centric Bwoy, and 1JM, but mostly, it showcases the work of Avantgarde Vak, a wise master of the art of rearrangement and gravitation. “Futuristic type joint” is my favorite on VANVAN, a sort of accumulation of everything the artist does great: cutting, blending, conjoining, and drifting through the stratosphere.

ABYSMALIST: REFLECTIONS OF HORROR: CALIGARI RECORDS ABYSMALIST are Sacramento, California’s Jeremy Meier and Fred Avila. The music they forge comes from the cold, dead earth, pulsing in mud and bones—which is to say, it’s old-form, death metal at its finest.

Citing “Bolt Thrower, Obituary, and other ‘pre-blastbeat’ death metal” via Caligari Records, the duo’s debut EP is four songs that ring the demon’s horn in swampy and dimensional form. “Black Lacquer” is punk-death and mean thrash, with sparkles of melody and barreling progression.

“The Engineer” is an instrumental ballad turned demonic bridge, perfectly situated, transitioning into the speedy, gargling “Chain Ripper.” “Lascivious Rapture” is the opener, the introduction to the world of ABYSMALIST, a slow-down, speed-up nightmare of underground energy. Four songs make the perfect tape, infecting your soul, scrambling your mind, tattooed across your inner aura.

Reflections of Horror dares you to look into the mirror.

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PRODUCED BY DANIEL BRAUNSTEIN SEPTEMBER 27

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War Music October 18th

T O O T H G R I N D E R

I AM Produced & Mixed

by Matt Squire

October 11th A REAL F**KING ROCK ‘N’ ROLL RECORD

BONESHAKER Produced & Mixed by Dave Cobb

October 25th

spinefarmrecords.com