New Noise Magazine Issue #43

NEW NOISE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 41

ISSUE 43

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FEAR OF A QUEER PLANET SCENE NOT HEARD RESONANT VOICES SOUTHERN LORD THE NEW WHAT NEXT BRONCHO MISERABLE HALLOWEEN

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FEST 17 CURSIVE HIGH ON FIRE BEHEMOTH SAVES THE DAY COHEED AND CAMBRIA BASEMENT TERROR

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TITANS OF INDUSTRIAL LAURA JANE GRACE AND THE DEVOURING MOTHERS AMERICANA ROUNDUP JOYCE MANOR DRUG CHURCH GOUGE AWAY HAIL THE SUN ATREYU POLYPHIA SOULFLY THE SHORTLIST ANALOG CAVE

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HIGH ON FIRE COVER PHOTO BY ALAN_SNODGRASS CURSIVE COVER ART BY DAN BLACK TABLE OF CONTENTS PHOTO BY ALAN_SNODGRASS BAND - THE DISTILLERS

SHINING A LIGHT ON THE JOYS AND HEARTACHES THAT LIE AT THE INTERSECTION OF THE LGBTQIA COMMUNITY AND THE WORLD OF ALTERNATIVE MUSIC‌ hether they blame climate change, secularism, or literal vampire potbelly goblins hobblin’ around comin’ after us, everyone seems to agree that the end is nigh. Berlin-based artiste Joey Hansom is no exception, but while others feverishly pack their bug-out bags, don ominous sandwich-boards, prepare for their exodus to Mars, or froth and quiver over shirtless photos of Vladimir Putin, the songwriter better known as Godmother only grows more impatient for extinction.

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Godmother’s self-titled debut LP— released via New Pangea on Sept.

21—offers nine odes to joyful resignation, from the melting electronic syncopation of album opener “Death Drive� to the creeping jazzy staccato of closer “Another Armageddon.�

After the decimation of humanity, the record will exist as a relic of singular temporal specificity, like an impeccable accounting of the Weimar Republic’s sex clubs communicated only through emojis, tongue-pops, and half-remembered excerpts from Camus’ “The Myth of Sisyphus.�

WHO’S AFRAID OF A QUEER PLANET?

I’m not so sure anybody is—at least not anymore. Sure, queers are feared variously around the world, and as we know from the word “homophobia�—and from Yoda—fear leads to hate. This often takes the form of physical and legislative violence, overwhelmingly committed by cis men, and disproportionately affecting POC, the gender-nonconforming, and the poor. What response do we have, especially as queer musicians? From my limited, white, Western perspective, I don’t think our international solidarity movement has properly instilled fear in the oppressor. Straights are increasingly less worried that queers will con-

6 NEW NOISE

vert their children; instead, queers are converting to normativity as they join the marriage-industrial complex and spawn children of their own. The prevailing dominant system is absorbing any threat posed by queerness.

To what extent are we queer-identifying artists complacent or even complicit with capitalism? Are we steering toward social liberation or toward individualistic commodification? It reminds me of some old punk sticker I saw once: “Are you using your band to sell the revolution, or are you using the revolution to sell your band?� Over the course of the ’90s, the radical potential of Riot Grrrl somehow got stifled into harmless Girl PowerTM. Queer is trending, and within a couple of years, we’ll “Well, if I wanted, I could enable ads on have some similarly manufactured my YouTube videos, but I don’t out of pop group, like the Spice Queers, or aesthetic principles. They’re annoying.� the Backstreet Non-Binaries. “I’m talking about New Noise,� he’d say.

There used to be a measurable pe- “Do you get a share of the revenue from riod of time before an independent the ads they run next to your words? musician would “sell outâ€? or before If you’re going to sell out, you’re supan underground movement would be posed to get paid!â€? subsumed by the mainstream. Nowadays, thanks to the internet, a DIY act “I get the exposure. It was my choice can be embedded in the corporate whether to accept the offer. Would you world from the get-go by providing please leave this column? I don’t think New free content and traffic to platforms Noise is interested in our conversation.â€? such as YouTube and Facebook. Heck, while I appreciate New Noise inviting “You can’t eat exposure. Bite the hand me to write about whatever I want, that starves you!â€? however I want, for this column, I can’t help but wonder what Karl Marx—who Whatever—you can’t eat money, either. turned 200 this year!—would say‌ Marx is a total bro. He just doesn’t get it. When I don’t receive a wage for my “Dude! Why are you performing un- labor, it makes me feel femme, which paid labor?â€? is validating for my gender identity.

I’m joining a centuries-old tradition “Look, when you say ‘dude’ like that, of not getting compensated for my I realize it might just be a generic work. I can also cook and clean, and exclamation, but it comes across as although I’m never going to have biomisgendering me,� I’d politely ex- logical children of my own, I can take plain. “I’m actually non-binary.� care of the li’l ones who already exist.

That’s why they call me “Godmother.� “Quit derailing. You know that those sites get a load of money from adver- I do kind of want to get pregnant, tisements. Do you get a cut?� though, just so I can exercise my right to

PHOTO BY SVEN

have an abortion. Whatever the case, I’m proud to be childless. I love that classic anti-gay argument: “If everyone were gay, we’d stop procreating and die off as a species.� Exactly! It’s the perfect solution to global crises and conflicts— just stop reproducing. I promise: the rest of the planet won’t miss us one bit. And if that’s what a queer world would look like, I’m sure straights would fear us after all.

I know, I’m a negative person. Negativity is built into my identity: non-binary, gender-nonconforming, and so on. It gets exhausting! With all the polarized hatred on this planet, it seems that escalation is the only response. It’s time for a double-negative. The only thing we have to queer is “queerâ€? itself. đ&#x;’Ł

NOT

D R A E H

BY SEAN GONZALEZ PHOTO BY ADAM ELMAKIAS

self-publish. You really need to have an editor with you, and you really need people telling you what’s wrong with your work so you can better yourself. Find someone who will take your stuff and tell you what is wrong with it.

Listen when people tell you what’s wrong and try to get better.�

And what about his main character?

FEATURING KEITH BUCKLEY

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

“I think he is just so content with being victimized. Everything in John’s life happens to him, and he doesn’t realize it’s because of who he is. He wasn’t paying attention to all these signs of where things were going. He doesn’t pay attention to anything, because he is a victim and he believes that everything is happening to him. It is all surprising him, and he never sees it coming. That’s the whole theme of the book: he doesn’t see it coming, but he should see it coming. He’s arrogant—that’s his character flaw.�

ferent part. You have to tune in to something different. I don’t worry about writing lyrics. Although I may not feel inspired at the moment, I know the second I sit down to write lyrics, “Watchâ€? is a wonderful read. It’s something is going to happen. I ghastly, reflective, and horrible, don’t take it for granted, but it’s hellbent on presenting the readpart of the process I have got- er with the knowledge that they’re ten familiar with from being in watching someone struggle—especially in a beautiful scene at the the band.â€? end that depicts exactly what kind “You just have to write, wheth- of person John Harvey is. It feels er or not you have an idea. It’s cultish and brash, but it dials in on something that I have found the perspective of hopelessness with writing a book. I wake up, I and whether it’s possible to flip the sit down and open the comput- narrative for the better of one’s life. er and just write. When you do it for days on end where nothing is Pick up a copy of “Watchâ€? via Rare happening—maybe a sentence Bird Books. đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł or two—it can feel like your goal and where you want to be at the Olympics, but you are only doing a push-up and another push-up.

The next day, maybe you do one sit-up. You think, ‘OK, I’m not going to make it anywhere at this rate,’ and it feels hopeless. Then, one day, something just clicks, and you see a similarity with something you wrote three weeks ago. These patterns start to form, and all of a sudden, you’re looking at it a little closer. You’re less removed from it.�

hroughout his 20-year career Is this a novel about Buckley’s life as the frontman of Every Time and experiences?

I Die, Keith Buckley has been celebrated for his challenging and “I knew that I wanted to tell a story pensive lyrics. The singer has an En- this time. I was obviously basing glish degree and is known for his love a little off of what I was going through in the Low Teens process, of books. like what would happen if things In 2016, Buckley released his went the other way. I didn’t put first novel, “Scale,� and he has my emotions into it; in fact, that now penned a follow-up entitled was taken out a lot, because I “Watch.� The new book follows John knew it was interrupting the stoHarvey on his quest to get revenge rytelling part. It was too much of on the concept of time. After nu- me in it, and I didn’t want that. merous tragedies happen in his life, It was all of me in ‘Scale,’ and I Harvey realizes that everyone can didn’t want that again. I realized be traced to a specific moment of that this guy, [John Harvey], isn’t time on his watch. Upon this real- me. This is not my family; it’s not ization, the character smashes all anything about me. It’s just a sto- Does Buckley have any advice for the representations of time around ry. It’s about the human hopeless- aspiring authors? him: his watch, his clock radio, his ness that everyone experiences.� “Just do it. Google any publisher hanging clock, and the microwave.

He decides to live unbound by time How does writing a novel compare you can and finish your manuscript and send it everywhere. Exitself, continually ending up in a to writing lyrics? pect to hear a lot of ‘no’s. Don’t bar or idling in a swirling storm of “It comes from a completely dif- take it personally and don’t hopelessness.

T

NEW NOISE

7

RESONANT VOICES

BY BRITTANY MOSELEY

FEATURING MAGGIE ARTHUR AND MATT WALSH OF OURMUSICMYBODY BAND - VALIENT THORR

Spotlighting the important changing the landscape of playing a single note...

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lectric Zoo, Coachella, and “We realized that conversations around Outside Lands. Those are just sexual violence or harassment weren’t the U.S. ones, though. Let’s happening,â€? Walsh says. “We’d hear not forget Glastonbury Festival and from friends or we’d experience it perBestival in England and BrĂĽvalla in sonally, these acts of harassment or Sweden. What connects these six mu- violence, and no one was having these sic festivals—and many more—is that conversations on this larger scale of all of them have been in the news in change-making.â€? recent years due to incidents of sexual harassment and assault. Last year at When working with venues and fesBrĂĽvalla alone, there were a reported tival promoters, whether that means four rapes and 23 sexual assaults over creating anti-harassment policies for the four-day event. This June, festival Chicago venues or setting up shop at officials announced the end of BrĂĽval- Lollapalooza to provide people with la, telling The Guardian, “Certain men resources and support, OurMusicMy[‌] apparently cannot behave. It’s a Body start with a couple of questions: shame. We have therefore decided to What do you want? What makes you imagine a safer space? Most people cancel BrĂĽvalla 2018.â€? want to do better, but figuring out In 2016, two Chicago nonprofits decid- where to start is often the toughest ed to do something. Between Friends, part—and the starting point doesn’t an organization that supports victims look the same for everyone. of domestic abuse, and Resilience— formerly Rape Victim Advocates— “We start from the approach that evwhich works with victims of sexual as- eryone is here to have a good time. We sault, created OurMusicMyBody. The don’t go to festivals with big signs that campaign aims to raise awareness say, ‘You’re gonna be sexually assaultabout sexual harassment in the mu- ed’ or ‘This is how many people are hasic scene by working with festival and rassed at a festival,’â€? Walsh says. “We’re venue staff as well as fans to promote there to remind everyone that they and create safe and enjoyable en- deserve to have a good time, and your vironments for everyone. Matt Walsh, idea of a good time does not get to enPrevention Education Specialist at croach on somebody else’s good time.â€?

Between Friends, and Maggie Arthur, Prevention Educator for Resilience, Part of the challenge facing OurMusicMyBody is getting people to change spearhead the campaign.

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how they think about sexual harassment and Riot Fest. This summer, they took and assault in terms of prevention, shift- their campaign on the road, visiting ing the onus from potential victims to po- Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware, tential perpetrators. “So often, the pro- and Audiotree Music Festival in Kalammoters or organizers or whoever we’re azoo, Michigan. The end goal is to get working with have the best intentions, festivals and venues to take a proactive and they see that this is a problem and rather than a reactive approach. they want to help, but they are still operating from this mindset of ‘How do we “At first, OurMusicMyBody was going protect women from getting assaulted?’� to fests and saying, ‘Hey, you have this Arthur says. “We have to check them on problem. We’re here to help,’� Walsh that and tell them that’s not really what says. “Now, fests are coming to us and the conversation needs to be about. In- saying, ‘Hey, we have this problem. stead, it needs to be about ‘How do we Somebody call us out and help us.’ put into place policies and procedures Hopefully, in a year or two, fests are that hold people accountable when coming to us and saying, ‘How can we they cause harm?’� do this before it gets picked up by the news and somebody has actually been In their two short years, OurMusicMy- harmed?’ That’s where we’re headed.�

Body—which, alongside Arthur and Walsh, consists of approximately 60 vol- “As prevention educators, there’s a joke that unteers—has coauthored Riot Fest’s first we’re basically trying to work ourselves out anti-harassment policy; surveyed more of a job,� Arthur says, laughing. “That’s the than 500 music fans about their expe- same attitude with OurMusicMyBody. We riences with sexual harassment at con- would love to do this work so hard that we certs; worked with Chicago venues Beat don’t have to do it anymore.�

Kitchen, Subterranean, and Lincoln Hall; and reached more than 10,000 music To learn more about OurMusicMyBody, fans at Pitchfork Festival, Lollapalooza, visit ourmusicmybody.tumblr.com. đ&#x;’Ł

PHOTO BY ISABEL S. DIEPPA OF BUST MAGAZINE

LABEL SPOTLIGHT: SOUTHERN LORD RECORDINGS

INTERVIEW WITH COFOUNDER GREG ANDERSON BY MARIKA ZORZI n the mid ’90s, in the cold, bleak north of Seattle, two friends in their mid 20s, Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley, were wading deep in the behemoth dirge of Melvins and melting into Earth’s expansive, glacially paced, guitar-based soundscapes, heavily influenced by these sounds.

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“I met Stephen through my first highschool girlfriend, who had a little brother who was getting into punk and hardcore,� says Anderson, cofounder and owner of Southern Lord Recordings. “He introduced me to a friend of his, and it ended up being Stephen. It was funny, because we were young, punk, hardcore kids from the suburbs with short hair, but Stephen had long, black hair and sideburns. I was like, ‘Who’s this guy? He’s different.’ His nickname back then was Rocker Steve, which I changed to Death Metal Steve—kind of a funny little joke we had.�

At that time, Anderson and O’Malley started playing together in Thorr’s Hammer and Burning Witch. They

forged their own paths after the demise of those bands, only to be brought back together in Los Angeles in 1998. In a new city, at the dawn of a new decade, the two went on to form a new band, Sunn O))), and launch Southern Lord with the vision of releasing recordings of these works. “The intention of starting the label was based on finding a place for these recordings and making sure that they were documented, not lost or forgotten,� Anderson reveals. “That was our only aspiration.�

On April 1, 1998, Southern Lord was officially established and put out their first CD release by Thorr’s Hammer, Dommedagsnatt. Twenty years later, the label is marking this milestone year with the release of a limited-edition silver vinyl subscription and reissue series. “I’m extremely honored and proud, and I honestly can’t believe we’ve been able to do this for 20 years. This year has been one of a lot of reflection for me, of going back and looking and really taking the time to think about what we have done,� Anderson explains.

“I think that the hard work of the label and sticking to our vision and releasing quality consistently over the years has really been important and is one of the many reasons we’re still here.�

space in downtown L.A.,� Anderson shares. “It was very raw and brutal and noisy, but Stephen and I both felt it was really special and important to have it available for people to hear, because it might possibly put everything in perspective.�

Southern Lord has been part of the development and the rise of several “When we recorded with Steve Albini, bands who now help form part of a lot of the ideas that we had for the the essential fabric of underground pieces of music that we recorded music. “It’s an extreme honor to work were created the same way that the with the bands, release their records, original practice tape was made: me and work hard with them in getting and Stephen in a room with a bunch their music out there,� Anderson of amps, making noise and trying to admits. “When people can actually manipulate amplification and tone,� connect with it and love the band, he confesses. “In the end, it’s really that’s a really great feeling for me, about the friendship and the chembecause, honestly, when we put out istry between Stephen and I. That’s an album, the intention is somewhat what Sunn O))) is about. So, the pracselfish. It’s not necessarily to put out tice tape recording on a boombox in a record for the band to be really 1998 has the same roots and the same popular and successful. The intention foundation as a recording at Electriis, ‘Wow, I really like this band. I like cal Audio with Steve Albini in 2018.� their music. I want to be a part of this.’�

Southern Lord will also unleash As a celebration of the 20th anni- several new projects in the next few versary of Southern Lord, Sunn O))) months, including releases from also unleashed remastered reissues Caspar BrĂśtzmann and Pelican. “I of 2003’s White1 and 2004’s White2. also have a new musical project It’s a look at the past that coincided that I’ve been working on called This with the recording of the band’s White Light,â€? Anderson shares. “It’s forthcoming album—due out in somewhat different from the music early 2019—at Electrical Audio with that I’ve been making over the last Steve Albini. “That was the very first 20 years in that it has a female vorecording of Sunn O))) that we ever calist and there’s a lot more melody made, which was literally a cassette in the music, but it still has a very tape in a boombox in our practice powerful and epic aesthetic to it.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

PHOTO BY KERRY O'SULLIVAN

NEW NOISE

9

THE NEWEST NOISE FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE!

ARLINGTON Southern California

ART THIEVES Boston

A Walk Through Jackson County | Oct. 26 | Rise Records RIYL: Performance anxiety. Hip-shakin’. Humming to yourself.

Russian Rats | Sept. 14 | State Line Records RIYL: Self-awareness. Accountability. Laughing at the man in the mirror.

Rise’s latest excellent find exist at the nexus between a unique viewpoint and a hellacious good One of my most significant memories of childhood is my father’s persistent chorus that I needtime. Arlington mix two decades of punkish indie rock with hearty doses of Led Zeppelin’s bom- ed to be more aware of my surroundings. Awareness isn’t an innate quality, he’d remind me: bastic soul and an offbeat progressive rock heart, and their label debut triumphantly plows it’s learned over a near-constant realization—and self-reflection—that the world doesn’t stop through a shockingly danceable style—with cowbell! A big part of the band’s success lies at for us. It’s that inward-facing deliberation that fuels Art Thieves’ resounding, reflective, and the feet—and vocal cords—of vocalist and guitarist Tyler Benko, who spins homey, compelling remarkable new record. Russian Rats radiates the frustration, fury, and fucked-up nature of the yarns that almost hide the dexterous musical accompaniment. That earnest approach tracks world around us, with a keen awareness that maybe we aren’t as perfect as we wish we were. through the, um, “Mudâ€? of their lead single, which focuses on an under-discussed subject. “‘Mud’ “The record comes out swinging with a lot of outwardly-directed vitriol, calling everything and is about being worried that you’re bad at sex and being afraid that rumors will spread about everyone out for insincerity, along with hypocritical behavior and derivative ideas,â€? vocalist you,â€? Benko laughs. “I think it’s something that a lot of young people worry about, especially in, and guitarist Andrew says. “About halfway through, the facade starts to crack, and the blame like, a college setting.â€? Like everything else on A Walk Through Jackson County, it’s unexpected, starts turning inward.â€? Sure, all this talk of self-help sounds dreary, but Russian Rats is a musical but it works so damn well. đ&#x;’Ł joy. Art Thieves are here to steal your heart. đ&#x;’Ł

PHOTO BY JOE CALIXTO

BEACH GOONS San Diego

hoodratscumbags | Aug. 24 | GRNDVW RIYL: Mexican culture. Making 12-year-old you proud. Sí, se puede PMA. Coming straight out of Logan Heights, San Diego’s Beach Goons are much more than the sum of the collective noise they make on hoodratscumbags. Theirs is an intriguing and arresting hullabaloo: part garage punk, part surf rock, part trippy power pop, and part Mexican indie.

Beach Goons’ unique style grabs the listener not by being weird—though they embrace that wonderfully—but by allowing their art to be, first and foremost, fun as hell. “I truly want people in my neighborhood—and communities like my neighborhood—to realize what we’re capable of doing,� vocalist and guitarist Pablo Cervantez says. “We’re young, we’re Mexican, and we’re kids from the barrio just trying to showcase our culture, our world, our community, our arts, our lifestyle, and our talents. I want people to see we can make it without being afraid of where we came from or who we are.� Whether Beach Goons speak to your head, heart, or both, Cervantez’ voice is loud and proud—as it should be. ≈

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PHOTO BY ELEANOR PETRY

THE BERRIES Seattle

Start All Over Again | Oct. 26 | Help Yourself Records RIYL: Life mulligans. Freedom. Drifting off into la-la land during road trips.

Matt Berry makes self-discovery sound absolutely enchanting on his solo debut, Start All Over Again. It’s the first record under his pseudonym The Berries, though he’s known for his work in other West Coast acts Happy Diving and Big Bite. His latest sonic collection takes cues from old-school country and Woodstock-era classic rock to create a perfect alt-country album for hippies. There’s an inescapable warmth to these songs that radiates a comfortable quality. It plays with the notion of looking at different ways we could and should live in our world, wrestling with frustrations in a constructive manner. “I’m starting all over again every second of every day, and the rules are different every time,â€? Berry notes. “There are a lot of things in this world that are out of my control, and I have to accept that.â€? Along for that ride, listeners can expect energetic, compassionate, and powerfully twangy rock ’n’ roll of the highest order.đ&#x;’Ł

BLACK PEAKS Brighton, England

All That Divides | Oct. 5 | Rise Records RIYL: Empathy. Tearing down walls. Avalanches of meaty riffs.

Brighton’s brightest musical mountaineers offer up their most impressive musical trek yet on their Rise Records debut, All That Divides. Black Peaks’ progressive post-hardcore is built on what makes mountainous riff-craft trailblazers like Deftones, Muse, and The Mars Volta the peaks of their respective styles, all done without ever coming across as pompous. These are songs that make you think, feel, and headbang. Thematically, All That Divides airlifts in a mirror for society’s collective ills, but Black Peaks wisely steer clear of airing their grievances from the mountaintop. “We’re very careful not to come across as preachy,â€? vocalist Will Gardner notes. “The last thing we want is to tell people what they should think, vote, or believe in. If anything, the lyrical content of this album is just reactionary; we are just expressing how the events around us over the last three years have made us feel.â€? All That Divides will not divide fans of heady, beefy prog rock. đ&#x;’Ł

BURST New Caledonia, South Pacific

You Must Die | Oct. 26 | Give Praise Records RIYL: Geography 401. Heavy metal beach parties.

Simmering misanthropy.

Don’t feel bad for not knowing where New Caledonia is, because the country’s newest grind exports are here to illuminate that for you. “It needs to be understood that our country is a reggae territory stuck in the middle of South Pacific Ocean between Australia and New Zealand,â€? Burst explain. “Because of this, doing extreme music is tough work, which makes the metal scene very united.â€? In a chicken or egg scenario, the band also note that New Caledonia has very good weed—more research should be done‌ for science—but its small size and distance from larger mainlands create frustrating barriers to making music. That, and a greater violence the band feel from the outside world, seeps into You Must Die’s vitriolic, violent, and visceral grindcore. Burst embody the hatred of humanity’s baser instincts and squeeze every ounce of frustration into their songs. It’s a minor miracle that You Must Die made it out of their homeland, and fans of the purest, vilest grindcore will eat it up. đ&#x;’Ł

PHOTO BY TOBY HOCKENBURY

GODCOLLIDER Los Angeles

HISSING Seattle

Godcollider | Oct. 26 | Indecision Records RIYL: Mental prison breaks. Moshing for a cure. Middle fingers.

Permanent Destitution | Oct. 26 | Profound Lore Records RIYL: Everyday horrors. Metaphysical philosophy.“The Good Place.�

While they sound like an imaginary weapon from a religious steampunk series, Godcollider are every bit as powerful as their name suggests. Featuring current and former members of Darkest Hour, The Hope Conspiracy, Suicide File, and Narrows, the group have weaponized everything that is, was, and ever shall be great about ’90s metallic hardcore. Of course, Godcollider is no mere rehash, and one can almost hear the collective vitriol that went into the record’s creation. Vocalist Todd Cooper explains, “These songs were written as Donald Trump was taking office, and there was a lot to be pissed about—that, combined with being raised as an evangelical Christian and having only seen my way out of that in the past decade. There was a lot I wanted to say about it. Even though it had been some time since I had quit believing in Christianity, I had never really had a chance to sort it out lyrically, and this was a chance to work through some of that.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

If there is a death metal philosophy, Hissing are out here solving The Trolley Problem one blood splatter at a time.

Of course, the details are intentionally a bit fuzzy in their upcoming thesis on dissonant extreme metal. Sure, they went to school and trained with the best of them—Deathspell Omega, Portal, Ulcerate—but Permanent Destitution showcases a next-level take on existential audio horror. “Our lyrics are materialist at heart. There is nothing extant but the world around us, and even that stops being verifiable as our minds degrade with age,� they say. “To me, the most horrifying things imaginable are everyday occurrences.

[Permanent] Destitution refers to not only an economic condition but a spiritual condition as well: the whole of culture was created in absence of some greater interior purpose. The lyrics on the record explore different symptoms of this metaphysical poverty that defines every aspect of life, exploring the malignancy of human life on every level, from the historical to the social to the mental.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

PHOTO BY JACKI VITETTA

LOWFAITH Denver

On Loss | Sept. 14 | Sore Ear Collective RIYL: Moving on up. Monochromatic neon. A good cry.

Denver goth-tinged post-punk act Lowfaith find that compelling balance between resonance and resounding fun that results in a record that radiates emotion without getting sappy.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that On Loss has something to say thematically and musically. Lowfaith specialize in a shoegaze-y form of goth post-punk, one that borrows from the ’80s and ’90s in almost equal measure while sounding mighty fresh.

Vocalist Cole Janzen takes listeners along on the emotional rollercoaster with aplomb. “The period of time leading up to On Loss was filled with a lot of big changes in all of our lives,â€? he shares, “some for the better, but a lot for the worse. I think the fog of all of those things began to lift for us as a band, collectively, at the same time, and we were able to translate all of those life experiences into songs that are on the sadder side of things but still carry the feeling of first breaths after healing from a deep hurt.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

NEW NOISE 11

PHOTO BY DANTE TORRIERI

PHOTO BY KEVIN GOSSETT

NIGHT SHOP Los Angeles

OUTER HEAVEN Douglassville, Pennsylvania

In the Break | Sept. 14 | Mare Records RIYL: The road. Punks with acoustic guitars. Passion projects.

Realms of Eternal Decay | Oct. 12 | Relapse Records RIYL: Invisible oranges. Finding beauty in the disgusting. Shrooms.

There’s a saying in the punk community: “You either retire a hero or play long enough to see yourself become a singer-songwriter solo act.â€? While that is certainly the case for longtime scene drummer Justin Sullivan—of The Babies, Kevin Morby Band, Flat Worms, and formerly of Worriers—Night Shop translates that experience into excellent songs. In the Break is a road record about the people you meet along the way and the weird and wonderful lives they lead. “I think, in a lot of ways, what I loved about punk is still very much embedded in this record,â€? Sullivan states. “I don’t really know how to properly play the guitar or sing, but the lesson I learned from punk and that community was that it didn’t really matter. You just have to play the song that’s in your heart, and if people come to it, then great, but if not, it still was the song you had to sing. Playing basement shows to a dozen people and having them be some of my favorite shows ever taught me that lesson.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

There’s been a subtle but significant evolution of death metal over the past few years, one in which the only intelligent design is courtesy of sacrifices made at the altar of the riff. Outer Heaven exemplify this sonic shift wonderfully with their Relapse debut, and they have drugs to thank—but not in the way on would expect. Realms of Eternal Decay centers around the “stoned apeâ€? theory, which posits that magic mushrooms were a major catalyst for the evolution of Homo sapiens, with a gross—read: delightful—twist. “The record takes place through an entire life cycle of a planet,â€? vocalist Austin Haines notes, “eventually being taken over by slime mold creatures.â€? While the record embraces a dripping, oozing layer of filth, Outer Heaven are masters of the majestic and metallic. This is a record that is as impressive as it is expressive. đ&#x;’Ł

PHOTO BY CHAD FJERSTAD

THE PRIMALS Los Angeles

All Love Is True Love | Sept. 7 | Southern Lord Recordings RIYL: Noisy amps. Feeling joy. Channeling rage.

PHOTO BY OLLIE NORDH

VIAGRA BOYS Stockholm, Sweden

Street Worms | Sept. 28 | YEAR0001 RIYL: Spam filters. Sportsball. Disguising emotions with jokes.

Featuring members of Darkest Hour, Dead To Fall, and The Explosion, The Primals’ debut, All Much like the drug they’re named after, Viagra Boys’ Nick Cave-inspired take on post-punk is Love Is True Love, keeps the punk fury of the member’s shared musical DNA, but the riffs are most effective about an hour after initial ingestion. Vocalist Sebastian Murphy’s manic, morgloriously amplified and the hooks are even bigger. The record doesn’t shy away from reali- dant lyrics flow masterfully with the thumping music, and his Iggy Pop-ish voice gives the songs ty—there are bits of doom and gloom—but vocalist and guitarist John Henry’s focus is on that the quality of a sermon. However, it’s after the second or third listen that Viagra Boys really, uh, sweet release of dopamine. “I’ve been writing dark lyrics for [Darkest Hour] since I was a kid, grow on you. Street Worms’ playfulness belies a shockingly earnest evisceration of what it means and it’s honestly been one of the most therapeutic ways to overcome times of darkness and to be a man, and it’s that disconnect that helps firm up—sorry!—the idea that they are one hopelessness for me,â€? he shares. “This album, lyrically, is pretty much about navigating through incredible band. “Well, Viagra Boys is a name you will remember,â€? guitarist Benjamin VallĂŠ says, life as an unwed, childless, aging man who’s had moderate success in the music business. The “and it’s a mockery of the role that men have, the shame of not being able to be sexually active, title came to me after a realization that the meaning of life is to experience and share love with which everything in society nowadays seems to be all about—well, it has always been about others. So, for me at least, it rings true that all love is true love.â€?đ&#x;’Ł that, though,â€? he laughs. Clearly, Viagra Boys are rising to the occasion‌đ&#x;’Ł

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THE RATCHETS NEW ALBUM, “FIRST LIGHT”, AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 9, 2018 ON PIRATES PRESS RECORDS

THE RATCHETS ARE BACK WITH A NEW ALBUM, TWO VINYL RE-ISSUES, AND A COLLECTION OF PREVIOULSY RARE AND UNRELEASED MATERIAL!

VISIT PIRATESPRESSRECORDS.COM & THERATCHETS.COM FOR VIDEOS, TOUR DATES, AND MORE.

NEW ALBUM OUT NOV. 16TH, 2018

B E A R I N G S B L U E

I N

T H E

D A R K

CAN'T SWIM INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST CHRIS LOPORTO

BY TOM CRANDLE

n Nov. 16, New Jersey quartet Can’t Swim issued This Too Won’t Pass through Pure Noise Records.

It is their second full-length and third overall release in a mere three years. Most modern bands would consider that a blistering pace, but not Can’t Swim.

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Lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Chris LoPorto explains, “Honestly, I feel as if we are taking our time. I am constantly writing, and for these last two LPs, we have had so many demos that it was hard to narrow them down. I enjoy making music, so it never really feels like work. I think it’s very important to always have it flowing.�

LoPorto actually started his musical career as a punk drummer. He spent 15 years behind the kit, and that clearly had an influence on his songwriting. “So many of the ideas that spark a song come from the drums,� he says.

Can’t Swim songs have an undeniable lyrical heaviness combined with musical catchiness. They’re a hard-to-define com-

CRIM RIM are a melodic punk quartet from Tarragona, in the autonomous Catalonia region of northern Spain. The area is known for its political independence and the use of the Catalan language. On Nov. 9, the band released their third full-length, Pare Nostre Que Esteu a l’Infern—which translates to Our Father Who Is in Hell—through Pirates Press Records.

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According to CRIM’s singularly-named guitarist and backing vocalist, Quim, the scene in Catalonia is thriving. “In the last six to seven years, the scene has started growing again, since a few of us decided to start different projects in our everyday language,� he reports.

Worldwide, about nine million people speak Catalan. While that’s a whole lot of folks, it’s only a small sliver of the globe.

Quim says that the band never considered writing songs in English or Spanish. “No, not with CRIM,� he confirms. “We never decided to write songs in Catalan for any particular reason either, other than to make it easier for ourselves to write lyrics.�

Despite the language barrier, Quim can still sense a connection with the band’s

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bination of pop punk and post-hardcore.

They can be bleak, emotional, and raw, but they are undeniably compelling.

LoPorto may be the band’s mastermind, but he values the other members’ contributions. “We armchair quarterback all the instruments. Everyone puts their two cents in on all the parts, and we even switch up who performs those parts on the records,� he reveals. “Most of the rhythms I come up with in the demo state, but cracking down and figuring out what exactly the part is going to be is totally a group effort.�

Most Can’t Swim songs are dark and don’t “Over the last three years, though, I have shy away from addressing painful personal found comfort in telling my stories with issues. While facing down his demons has people and showing them they aren’t alone a certain amount of therapeutic value in this misery. It makes this band feel even for LoPorto, emotionally, it’s more of a that much more worthwhile,� he adds. “Seemixed bag. “Writing something, making a ing people connect with it is really amazing negative into a positive, is definitely a way and absolutely unexpected.� to cope with a situation,� he acknowledges, “[but] having to relive and retell these stories Can’t Swim continue the tradition of night after night can get quite tiring. It’s wonderful bands coming from New Jersey. hard to forget events when you have to sing LoPorto has a simple explanation for this about them all the time.�

phenomenon. “Stuck between New York City and Philly, growing up, there were just so many shows to go to, so many bands, so many kids learning to play—New Jersey is oversaturated with music,â€? he says. “[It] keeps you hungry and keeps you motivated to get better when everyone around you is doing it and giving it their all. I think that environment is an obvious way to get some great music.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST/BACKING VOCALIST QUIM BY TOM CRANDLE audiences. “We can feel it more and more every chance we get to play in other countries,� he says. “Of course, it’s not the same as when we play here in our small country, but we are twice as grateful every time we meet people out there who come to our shows in Europe and the States with CRIM t-shirts or telling us how much they enjoy our music, even when they can’t learn the words.�

It may seem counterintuitive, but the language barrier might inadvertently lead to a greater understanding of the lyrics.

An English translation is included in the American version of Pare Nostre Que Esteu a l’Infern. Those who take the time read and soak in the words are likely to gain a good grasp on what CRIM are saying— more than they would if they were able to sing along mindlessly.

In many ways, those lyrics will feel familiar. “You’ll find some of those universal subjects—as it’s a punk rock record—such as politics, police brutality, religion, tour life, etc.â€? Quim explains, “but we are quite open-minded about talking about our daily problems or personal feelings too, beyond the classic clichĂŠs.â€?

Ultimately, the music is truly the universal language. The intense vocals and melodies, crashing guitars, and pounding drums say so much. CRIM’s songs are so infectious that you won’t be able to resist singing along, even if you have no idea what you’re singing about. đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

BRENDAN KELLY AND THE WANDERING BIRDS

SHITTY MARGARITAVILLE

INTERVIEW WITH BRENDAN KELLY BY SCOTT MURRY hen speaking with Brendan Kelly of Brendan Kelly And The Wandering Birds, he is quick to downplay any laurels of success. “You mentioned bands putting out [some] amazing thing and then coasting on it for 30 years,� he begins. “I was fortunate enough to not do anything that was that good, so hey! I’m still learning and evolving this whole thing.�

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Kelly is a modest man with creative juices constantly flowing through his bones. On the heels of a retrospective release and vast tour with another of his many bands, The Lawrence Arms, his second full-length with The Wandering Birds, Keep Walkin’ Pal, hit the streets on Oct. 26 via Red Scare Industries. Taking a left turn out of the punk rock parking lot, the sound of Keep Walkin’ Pal is exhibit A of a writer undeterred by preconceptions. “It’s all the path of maturity, for lack of a better term, that I’m on,� he explains. “I absolutely take the lessons I learn from a Lawrence Arms record [and] apply it to a [The] Falcon record or Wandering Birds record.

The Wandering Birds is always a learning process.�

When spinning the new tracks—on which Kelly worked closely with lifelong friend Nick Martin—the listener is slapped, charmed, and soothed by the odd collection of lyrics and instrumentation.

Referring to their second single, when Martin asked Kelly what he was thinking for the vibe of the song, he replied, “Whatever you’re thinking I’m thinking, do the exact opposite.� According to Kelly, he “was really trying to [get] experimental with the notion of cramming a bunch of disparate shit into a bag.�

Kelly’s signature gravelly voice opens Keep Walkin’ Pal alongside the slowly-strummed acoustic riffs of the title track, a confessional song that blooms into Americanathemed tones with shakers, slow bass, and anthemic drum beats.

It’s vaguely similar to the band’s first release, 2012’s I’d Rather Die Than Live Forever, until hitting the second track, “Shitty Margarita,� a song conceived while roadtripping to Michigan with Martin. “‘I can’t wait to get out of these woods and into a small town where I can get a shitty Margarita,’�

Kelly recalls saying, followed by the epiphany, “‘Holy shit! That’s a

song!’ I wrote all the words right there in the shotgun seat, before we even got our shitty margaritas.

So, it was born out of a moment.�

The track introduces keyboards, shredding tambourines, and sunny backup vocals to the classically wry Kelly lyrics. It’s a fun, odd ditty.

Kelly attributes some of the album’s wildest musical turns to Martin. “He’s like one of these virtuosos who plays everything,� he says. “He was always this wacky genius.

He had this FourTrack when we were 11 years old. We’d go over to his house, he’d play the bass and guitar, I would sing, and he’s always had this knack for music and melody. Chris [McCaughan] from the The Lawrence Arms, he, Nick, and I played music all through middle school and high school— just, like, never for anybody, just ourselves.�

While recording with Martin wasn’t entirely new territory, the duo took a new approach compared to Kelly’s previous projects. “I would lay my vocals down and do guitars, then he would come back with this track [where he] just kept adding these pops of candy,� Kelly says. “In a weird way, it was a lot like being

Ariana Grande or some shit, where I would write the song, and then, I wait around, and it would come back ready to sing.�

Before they hit the studio, Kelly’s writing process resembled an artist with a sketchbook. “For this record, I filled an entire moleskin, both sides, in tiny handwriting in order to get 24 minutes,� he says. “I’d write all these things, and if they didn’t come together right away, I’d be like, ‘Fuck this, I’m done. I’ll write something else.’ I try not to overthink it too much. That shit is so complex in its simplicity.�

The musical concepts uniquely blend ’90s hip hop and small yipping dog loops, then interject deep booms of club bass. “The point of view is hedonistic, nihilistic, and that sort of informed the sound,� Kelly says.

Keep Walkin’ Pal creates a celebratory kind of debauchery— but that does not mean you should offer Kelly margaritas at every show or come adorned in Jimmy Buffet-esque Parrothead gear. Just let the man have his funny song and leave the margs at the bar. đ&#x;’Ł

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17

ANTARCTIGO

VESPUCCI INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS FARREN

BY SAMANTHA SPOTO

n 2013, Chris Farren found himself alone in New York working on what would become the final, unreleased Fake Problems record. For him, this was the end of an era; what he began as a teenager in Naples, Florida, and what had steered him into the next decade of his life was now falling to pieces in front of his eyes.

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Out of desperation, and with guidance from his manager, Farren tried to find collaborators to help him through the writing process. Ultimately, this foreign way of creating music left him feeling uncomfortable and lost. On one of his last nights in the city, before Farren would return home nearly empty-handed, he stopped by to see his friend Jeff Rosenstock. It was there, in Rosenstock’s small Brooklyn apartment, that the DIY aficionado suggested the two write a song together. “Foolishly, it honestly never occurred to me to try to write songs with people I knew,� Farren admits. “I had it in my head that I needed

to get with industry hitmakers. The next day, I went back to Jeff’s, and we wrote a song together. It was really easy and felt so natural. I’m pretty sure that was actually the first time I had ever written a song with anyone and felt satisfied with the result.�

The two went their separate ways after that, with Farren headed back to Florida to record the Fake Problems album that never came to be and Rosenstock on the road for what would be the final tour of his critically-acclaimed band Bomb The Music Industry! “When [Fake Problems] got the mixes back, we all agreed it wasn’t good enough to release. I felt heartbroken and depressed and like a failure, but I knew I had to do something,� Farren says. “I texted Jeff and asked him if he wanted to make more music together. I first pitched the idea of doing a solo split 7�, and Jeff said, ‘No, that’s boring. Let’s start a band.’ I sent him a bunch of songs I had been working on and bought a plane ticket to New York.�

Together again, the two bonded over the difficult transitions they were dealing with and wrote and recorded what would become their first EP as the band Antarctigo Vespucci, 2014’s Soulmate Stuff.

Now, they are set to release their poppy sophomore full-length, Love in the Time of E-mail, on Oct. 26 via Polyvinyl Records. “The two main things I find come up a lot in this record are the ideas of obsession and friendship,� Farren says. “I think the record

PHOTO BY ALEX MORGAN IMAGING

PHOTO BY ANDY DE SANTIS

really just boils down to wanting to feel loved and wanting people to know you love them.�

Love in the Time of E-mail is rife with the theme of companionship, and Farren has found a true friend in Rosenstock. Overall, Antarctigo Vespucci has been an uplifting and important project, one that shapes the way Farren navigates not only his music career but also his life in general. “Watching the way Jeff works creatively and operates day-to-day has inspired me in so many

different facets of my life,� he shares.

With Farren currently deep into writing his next solo record and Rosenstock scoring the music for Cartoon Network’s “Craig of the Creek,â€? Antarctigo Vespucci have still found time to tour in support of Love in the Time of E-mail. They will set out along the East Coast in November with a band of talented musicians helping them on the road, including Benny Horowitz of The Gaslight Anthem, John DeDomenici of Bomb The Music Industry!, and Laura Stevenson. đ&#x;’Ł

HATE ETERNAL

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST ERIK RUTAN

BY JAMES ALVAREZ

t’s no secret: Hate Eternal are the king of all kings when it comes to underground death metal. For the last 20 years, vocalist and guitarist Erik Rutan has guided the Florida band through perilous waters, destroying eardrums and genre boundaries in the process. The band’s latest record, Upon Desolate Sands—out Oct. 26 via Season Of Mist—is the latest in a long line of pummeling sonic head-scratchers. Exploring new aural terrain, boasting a ridiculous new drummer, and kicking all sorts of ass, Hate Eternal have just dropped one of the best metal albums of the year—again.

producer who has worked with Cannibal Corpse, Goatwhore, Krisiun, and more, as well as the owner of MANA Recording Studios in St. Petersburg. “Between producing and running a studio and also having a band, I feel like I have three fulltime jobs sometimes,� Rutan shares. “I love doing all of it, though. That’s the price I pay. Sometimes I lose record productions, and sometimes I lose some tours; that’s how it is, because I’m trying to do multiple things.� Despite his insanely busy schedule, Rutan has managed to crank out new Hate Eternal albums every three or four years like clockwork.

First, let it be known that Rutan is a busy, busy man. The Hate Eternal ringleader is also an extremely sought-after music

Upon Desolate Sands picks up where 2015’s jaw-dropping Infernus left off, mixing high-speed death metal ferocity with

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bold new sonic textures, time signatures, and neoclassical guitar shred makes for and new levels of emotional depth. “I nev- one hell of a finale. er want to do the same record twice,� Rutan says. “Some people want to hear the “There’s always a certain depth to the music, and that’s because the music comes band do the same record over and over from a deep place. It always has, from again, but the only thought in my brain the day I started playing guitar until now,� was to make a conscious effort to expand Rutan says proudly. “I started at a time even more than we did on Infernus. For this record, we expanded the tunings. when I was emotionally inept, and playing guitar gave me an avenue to express Three of the songs were recorded with a myself through very angry and sometimes seven-string, which we’ve never done in depressed, sad-sounding music. It’s alHate Eternal.� ways been that vessel for me to explore.�

Traditional Hate Eternal ragers like opener “The Violent Furyâ€? and second track “Something that’s really important to me and all the records I do and really “What Lies Beyondâ€? reaffirm the band’s important with Hate Eternal is authenbrutal prowess. “All Hope Destroyedâ€? is ticity,â€? he says. “I’m always trying to bring a whirlwind of a track, something Rutan the best out of people and get the best describes as “probably one of the wildest performances. The fact that it sounds songs I’ve ever written.â€? Then, there’s the like human beings—I mean, it’s inhuman closing portion of the album, especially shit, but it is authentic. I want my records the last two songs, which work in tandem to sound like everyone on their best day, with each other. The album’s title track rather than a drum machine and a guitar and its final song, “For Whom We Have Lost,â€? are two of the most surreal but ab- recording note by note to get it perfectly.â€? solutely mesmerizing tunes of the band’s Be sure to check out Upon Desolate Sands career. That mighty seven-string and the if you’re into authentically awesome band’s ridiculously precise new rhythm death metal. It’s the new Hate Eternal, so section—rounded out by longtime bassist you know it’s going to rule—eternally. đ&#x;’Ł and writing partner J.J. Hrubovcak and newest member and international drum phenom Hannes Grossmann—coupled with Rutan’s ear for haunting melodies

CANDY

PHOTO BY JOE CALIXTO

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST ZAK QUIRAM BY YONG LOS he hardcore community is rife with hollow lyricism and lackluster musicianship, but amidst the weeds are bands with something to say who will do whatever it takes to be heard.

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Good To Feel reflects this close attention to lyrics. The concepts and ideas portrayed share the band’s disdain for not only what’s happening in the world around them but also within themselves. “The title Good To Feel is a reminder to feel all of that all the way through, and there’s no problem with that, whether it’s positive or negative,�

Quiram explains. “Enjoy that time that you’re able to feel.�

On Sept. 28, Candy unleashed their blistering debut LP, Good To Feel, via Triple B Records.

In 2017, Candy emerged from the ashes of the members’ previous bands, and the Richmond, Virginia, group’s debut EP, Candy Says, offered a glimpse into their merciless brand of hardcore. Though Candy’s sound may be similar to their peers’, there’s something unique about the band’s presence. In a genre in which ideas get recycled day by day, it can be hard to separate yourself from the crowd, but for Candy, the solution was simple: be louder and be real. “The people and bands who have nothing to say fall to the wayside—as they should, because nobody needs to take time out of their day to go to a show or listen to music that has no substance,� vocalist Zak Quiram

standing of who they are and what they stand for made this transition feel completely natural. Writing a full album allowed the band to explore different ideas more thoroughly, both musically and lyrically. To Quiram, lyrics are a band’s opportunity to really show what you’re all about. “Lyrics are extremely important to us as a band,� he says. “It’s your only chance to portray your feelings in a thoughtful and thorough way.�

idity and cohesiveness that’s rare nowadays. says. “I think the bands that really thrive are bands that have something to talk about, “We just wanted to make a piece of music that created a world, and every song and and I appreciate that.� part in the music built a whole instead of existing in a vacuum,� Quiram says. BeThe nine songs on Good To Feel may come tween the fizzling guitars, explosive drumand go quickly, but Candy make every ming, and Quiram’s scalding vocal delivery, second count. From beginning to end, Good Good To Feel is a passionate representation To Feel is a magnified interpretation of the of the band’s thoughts, emotions, and fury. sound the band unleashed upon the world in 2017. Each song moves with purpose, leading the listener through an onslaught of break- The leap from writing an EP to a full-length neck rhythms and skull-splitting breakdowns. can be tricky, especially in a genre like The record flows from song to song with a flu- hardcore, but Candy’s profound under-

LEE COREY OSWALD

With Good To Feel, Candy prove that they aren’t afraid of who they are. The band use music as a medium for channeling their emotions, and they do it well. For Candy, the music they make is more than just a way to blow off some steam—it’s a way to make a change. “People always talk about the glory days of when they first started going to shows,â€? Quiram says, “but if you don’t like the way things are, then you either voice your opinion and change things or you go the fuck home, because nobody needs you.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

PHOTO BY DAN STANTON

INTERVIEW WITH COREY CIRESI, LEE ELLIS, AND DAN SILVER BY DEREK NIELSEN

or their second LP, Darkness, To- rate, while their experience on the fest chain left a sour taste in their mouths and put them gether, Portland rockers Lee Corey deep in debt. “We’d sit down in the lounge Oswald took the ingredients from with our manager to open up our little safe, their first record, 2014’s Regards, and cranked and, like, a moth would fly out,â€? Silver laughs. the gain up to Dave Grohl levels. Recorded at Trash Treasury in Portland by Nick Vicario and mixed by Justin Francis, the record—due “We went from the DIY scene into this weird thing where we had a manager and a booking out Oct. 12 via A-F Records—has a healthy agent—oh god, our manager had a mental dose of big riffs and big drums, with a fresh breakdown a week before Warped Tour and coating of ’90s-era pop punk. turned his phone off. It was fucked,â€? Ciresi says. “This was the first time we had someone “I ended up leaving halfway through, because my fiancĂŠ was leaving me. So, I went home to produce a record,â€? drummer Corey Ciresi deal with that, and then she left me anyway.â€? explains. “It was nice to have someone not going to record the new songs we had written. let me do a bunch of frivolous shit. There’s at Anti-Flag was super encouraging. They said, least one guitar solo on each song, so simpli- Ellis reflects on this period, “We got ahead of ourselves and booked a five-week DIY tour ‘Hey, we love your new music. If you record it, fying the drums made the guitar stuff stand we really want to put it out.’ [‌] So, that’s why out. We wanted this to be a more mature, about a month after that. We got back and we’re putting out our new record on A-F.â€? then had to leave again, and that’s when we sicker record that’s heavy as fuck.â€? lost [former bassist] Sam [Pape]. He was in a The band were finished recording Darkness, really abusive relationship and basically was An understandable sentiment—especially since Darkness, Together almost didn’t hap- forced to choose between her and the band, Together when Ellis’ older sister passed away unexpectedly, prompting him to record one so we didn’t have a bassist for the last two pen. For Ciresi and vocalists and guitarists final song, “Darkness, Together (11/20/85),â€? weeks of that tour. We had to have our friend Lee Ellis and Dan Silver, the last few years to close out the album. “Writing the song was learn the songs in the van. Sam was really have been a harsh lesson in how dark life can very cathartic and was my form of therapy great, so we had a hard time when he left.â€? get. “Lyrically, this record is way darker than for the situation,â€? he shares. “Recording it and anything we’ve ever done,â€? Ciresi reflects. “A putting it on the record felt very right and like At the end of that year, Ellis, Silver, and Ciresi lot of horrible, bad-luck shit has happened to a great ending to it. It’s also a tribute to her found themselves back in Portland, tired and the three of us in the last few years.â€? life and such, so I’m just glad people will be disillusioned. Despite the uncertain future of able to hear it.â€?

Lee Corey Oswald, the trio accepted a slot Lee Corey Oswald toured rigorously after opening for Anti-Flag on their Canadian tour the release of Regards, doing a full stint on the Vans Warped Tour, then booking a five- in the spring of 2016. “We decided if this was “I honestly feel reinvented and hopeful with the record finally coming out,â€? Ellis concludes, going to be our last tour, then fuck it, let’s go week DIY tour immediately after. It was right around this time that the band members’ out with a bang,â€? Ciresi says. “They treated us “like a dark cloud has passed, and we’re back to being a band again.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł personal lives began to collectively deterio- super well. We weren’t even sure if we were

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19

EROSION INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST NICK YACYSHYN

BY TOM CRANDLE

rosion are an underground supergroup from Vancouver, British Columbia, with members from prominent cult favorites like Baptists and 3 Inches Of Blood. The five-piece band are set to unleash their debut full-length, Maximum Suffering, through Hydra Head Records on Oct. 19.

The record is a powerful piece of aggression, full of pummeling hooks, bludgeoning drums, and throat-shredding vocals.

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Erosion’s sound is a hard-to-define combination of punk, metal, and hardcore. According to guitarist and riff-provider Nick Yacyshyn, that’s kind of the point. “Different influences sneak in and out of the record, but being a definable band is not really a priority for us,� he says. “We’re just a band that plays music intended to stomp the listener into mush.� “I think we always just envisioned Erosion being a heavy punk band,� he adds. “That’s been the core of our vibe since the beginning and remains the same today.�

The members’ commitments to their primary projects made the timing of Erosion and Maximum Suffering fairly complicated. “We actually recorded this LP in 2016, but everything just hese past few years have seen a renaissance in the death metal world. While death metal has always had diehard fans, it briefly took a backseat to genres like doom hardcore.

Now, many death metal bands are getting in touch with their roots and reenergizing their sound. Boston’s Revocation are one of those bands. On their most recent record, The Outer Ones, released Sept. 28 on Metal Blade Records, this influence really shows through.

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happened to come together this year as far as actually getting it released,� Yacyshyn says. “We were very lucky to have the interest and support of Hydra Head and for them to take a chance on us and put this record out. We’re grateful that the timing worked out for everyone, because we didn’t really have any other plans!�

Erosion didn’t have to look very far for inspiration on Maximum Suffering. Yacyshyn explains, “The musical inspiration came from the same crust, grind, death sources we’ve always taken from. I can’t really speak to the lyrical inspiration, but I feel like it comes from a place of bewilderment at the actions of the idiots we share the planet with.�

Erosion are a different animal from the members’ other bands and offer a different type of catharsis and appeal. “Aside from our singer Jamie [Hooper], we all play different instruments in Erosion than we normally do in

our other bands,� Yacyshyn elaborates. “That in itself is pretty appealing for us guys. The nature of these songs is different than in our other bands as well, so it’s nice to cut loose and play some bleak caveman shit with these boys.�

Yacyshyn also speaks enthusiastically about the noise currently coming out of Vancouver. “The scene up here is great!� he says. “There are so many sick bands here, like endless killer bands that play shows and put out music.

Lots of touring bands stop here too, because it’s close to the border. There are a bunch of great studios in town as well. There’s always something going on.�

REVOCATION INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST DAVID DAVIDSON BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

“I think we’ve always had a death metal element to our sound, but over the years, it has become more intensified and distilled down to its more aggressive form,� lead vocalist and guitarist David Davidson explains. “Over the past few years of touring, I think it rubbed off on us a little bit, being in the presence of brutality every night.

It’s always been there; it’s just more so than ever now. I think, as far as what we are listening to in our downtime, it gears more toward thrash and death metal, but as far as newer bands I am listening to, the sound gravitates more toward death metal. As far as metal bands go, I still revisit old stuff, and I also listen to Charlie Parker, Coltrane, Miles Davis—I kind of split my listening between black metal, death metal, and jazz.�

Despite the heavier death metal influence, the recording process for The Outer Ones was much like that of Revocation’s previous records. “It was the same as last time; it’s been the same every time,� Davidson says. “I’ll write a lot of the material on my own, coming

20 NEW NOISE

PHOTO BY TAYLOR FERGUSON

Maximum Suffering will no doubt put these heavy-hitters on the map, and Erosion hope to one day bring their destructive live show to a dive bar near you. “I think we would all love to take this band on the road at some point, for however long we’re able,â€? Yacyshyn concludes. “It’s too fun not to.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł lyrical themes in a dark and classic direction, focusing on Lovecraftian stories and themes. “The album as a whole is very Lovecraftian,â€? he adds. “We had Lovecraft-inspired lyrics going back all the way to our second album, [2009’s Existence Is Futile]. Those are themes we played around with, and this is almost like a concept record surrounding those themes. The writing process is the same on every record as far as lyrical inspiration goes: I get an idea and just go for it. I would say the themes on this record would be more like sci-fi horror and Lovecraftian, things of that nature.â€?

With The Outer Ones recorded and under their belts and the band moving things in a new direction, Revocation are focused on touring in support of their music. “We just recorded this record, so we aren’t really focused on writing for the next one at all,� Davidson admits. “As far as tours go, we’ve got a headliner lined up for North America [in October], touring with Exhumed and Rivers Of Nihil. After that, we will be doing our first headlining tour over in Europe [in late November and December], so that’s exciting.�

The boom in death metal popularity has been great for Revocation, and they are excited to see their peers thriving and exciting new bands doing work in the genre.

up with riffs and things like that, getting them together, sending them out, getting them out to the other dudes when I feel like it’s time to go. Then, we get in the room to rehearse and whatnot when I feel it’s time,

and we just rehearse as much as we can. I like to be very prepared before we go in.�

In addition to the attention to detail and heavier sound, Davidson carried the band’s

“I think it’s doing well,â€? Davidson explains. “It’s definitely on an upswing. It seems like old-school death metal is having a resurgence, which is good to see, and the younger generation is always flying the flag, so yeah, that’s a good thing.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

MISERABLE

REAL EMOTIONS

PHOTO BY JOE CALIXTO

INTERVIEW WITH KRISTINA ESFANDIARI BY J. POET ’ve been trapped in my rehearsal space for days,� says Kristina Esfandiari, lead vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter of Miserable, an introspective group who merge doom rock and shoegaze instincts.

“The songs I write for King Woman are more spiritual, and I don’t play guitar with them, so I get to run around in the crowd,� she says. “Miserable includes my three closest girlfriends. Playing with women who have had experiences similar to my own and It’s nine in the morning, and Es- feel the same as I do allows me fandiari is already up and run- to come from a different place.� ning. “I know it’s not very rock star of me,� she admits, “but I’m Miserable will be touring to rehearsing for two shows. One support their fifth EP, Loverboy, is with my industrial project, released by Sargent House on NGHTCRWLR. We’ll be playing Oct. 2. The record incudes a festival with backing tracks, four new songs and four songs so I’m a bit nervous. Then, I’m that appeared on Dog Days, going to Mexico with Miserable an EP Esfandiari put out on and rehearsing some solo stuff. her own as a limited-edition I’m really tired.� cassette in 2015. “

I

Esfandiari is best known for her work fronting King Woman, the Oakland, California, metal band who support her confessional lyrics and riveting stage presence with waves of guitar noise and a dense rhythm section.

The songs on Loverboy delve into the discontents of romance, with a combination of wrath and resignation that’s mirrored by the twin guitars of Esfandiari and her friend Pat Hills. “Cheap Ring� recalls The Velvet Underground with its

relentless rhythm, while “Pain Farm� combines Esfandiari’s passionate vocals with a throbbing metallic attack. The sounds move from tooth-grinding volume to shimmering, understated interludes, with Esfandiari’s vocals processed and mixed down to provide a deeper texture to the songs.

the plane and jotted them down. I could hear all the music in my head, I just had to figure out how to recreate it.�

Esfandiari says the tour with Miserable will be taking up her time for the next couple months, but she’s also working on songs for the next King Woman album, doing sporad“I played guitar and sang, but ic gigs with NGHTCRWLR, and I turn into a different person developing Whateverwrld, a when I have to sing,â€? she ex- new post-punk project. plains. “I never took any vocal lessons; I just open my mouth “I just wrote a bunch of stuff and do it. I had all the guitar and did a single called ‘Do parts in my head, but I’m an What You Fear’ for Whateveremotional guitarist, not a wrld,â€? she shares. “We’re maktechnically good player. If ing a video of it, and we’ll see there was something I couldn’t what happens. It’s just a way play, I explained it to Pat, and for me to keep busy. I always he’d do it.â€? have all these ideas in my head, and I need to do some“I wrote the songs on a long thing with them. It’s like having plane trip, in one sitting,â€? Es- a bunch of TVs going at once; fandiari adds. “I got chills, and they’re all important.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł they just downloaded into me in about five minutes. I got off

NEW NOISE 21

SMOKING POPES

PHOTO BY PATRICK HIGGINS

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST JOSH CATERER

BY JOHN B. MOORE moking Popes’ 2011 record, This Is Only a Test, could very well have served as a swan song for the band’s decades-long career, and brothers Josh, Matt, and Eli Caterer, alongside newish drummer Neil Hennessy, were more than happy to get together and play a handful of shows in their native Chicago and nearby Midwest stops every now and then. However, when Hennessy moved out of state, they sought to rekindle a once-strained friendship with original Smoking Popes drummer Mike Felumlee.

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“We had some shows with Face To Face in Chicago we had booked and confirmed, but then, Neil couldn’t do them. We had to get a replacement drummer and decided to contact Mike. We hadn’t talked to him in a while,� vocalist and guitarist Josh Caterer relates. “He said, ‘Let’s give it a try.’ We were all sort of open-minded, and as soon as we got together and practiced for the first time, all of those things evaporated, and we felt like we were the Smoking Popes again.�

Caterer describes a shift in energy that began with that 2015 practice. “We all felt inspired by that reunion, and the new songs just flowed naturally out of that,� he says.

SWEARIN' INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST /GUITARIST ALLISON CRUTCHFIELD

BY JOHN SILVA

Though Hennessy—who also drums for The Lawrence Arms and The Falcon—was and is a great drummer, there was something unique about adding Felumlee back into the fold. “With any band that has its own voice, all of the individual players are essential to that,� Caterer says. “Each of those gears has to be in place in order for that band to have that sound. I hadn’t thought, ‘Let’s get Mike back in the band and start working on a new album, and let’s do a tour.’ We just thought it would be cool to play those shows with him, but there was just something about the chemistry there that inspired those songs. The songs started coming really easy after that.�

Turns out there were enough songs to create an entirely new full-length, Into the Agony, out via the band’s longtime label, Asian Man Records, on Oct. 12.

Caterer says he noticed a change in his songwriting around that time as well. “[This Is Only a] Test and [2008’s] Stay Down—I look back, and I feel like they’re good records, and I’m proud of them; there are some good songs on them,� he says, “but I do feel like, in the writing, there was kind of a grasping for who we are as a band. I was trying to write for what I thought the musical identity or musical voice of our

band was, and I didn’t necessarily have a firm grasp on that yet.�

fine our identity again. I was just writing a song from a less self-conscious place.�

In Smoking Popes’ first incarnation—prior to their breakup in 1999—Caterer was just writing to write. He wasn’t worried about how he was going to write Smoking Popes songs, because, well, they were the Smoking Popes. “Then, we got back together and had a different drummer, and there was something about the way that felt that caused me to try to find that voice again,� he explains. “I never totally felt that I found it until we got Mike back in the band, and then, immediately, I felt like I was writing from a place where I wasn’t trying to rede-

With Into the Agony, Smoking Popes are rediscovering the joys of playing their songs together as a band, a feeling that got lost somehow over the years. As a result, expect the band to be out on the road soon. “I think our approach is going to be, instead of touring the entire country in six or eight weeks, we’ll break it up into two-week runs with a little bit of space in between,â€? Caterer says, “but we are planning on covering all of the United States and Canada in the tour cycle of this record over the next year.â€?đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

Bolt and Gilbride’s unique styles, the songs she demoed took on characteristics of all the band’s members. With Fall Into the Sun, the band were able to break the paradigms they had imposed upon themselves, allowing

them room to explore new things lyrically and musically. However, the record isn’t a complete departure, and longtime fans of Swearin’ and Crutchfield’s other work are sure to enjoy it. đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

Kyle [Gilbride] does solo music and is a recording engineer and producer, so he’s busy; and I was touring in Waxahatchee and writing for my solo music. So, we’re all just kind of spread out.�

When they came back together, they were able to look at Swearin’ from a new perspective. “I think that sort of healed us, and llison Crutchfield’s 2017 solo de- it gave us time to reassess the way that we defined the band in our mind,� Crutchfield but, Tourist in This Town, solidified says. “We had these really hard opinions her status as a powerful voice in about what the band was supposed to be, the DIY scene. Of course, she already had plenty of indie cred. She and her twin sister, and then, about a year ago, maybe a little over a year ago, we just had a conversation Katie Crutchfield, garnered a dedicated where we sort of let go of that. We were like, cult following with their indie pop punk band P.S. Eliot between 2007 and 2011. During the ‘What if we did the band, but we did it in this way instead?’ and that just felt really freefinal years of P.S. Eliot’s career, Katie formed Waxahatchee and Allison started the four- ing and got us really excited about doing the band again.� piece emotional garage rock band Swearin’.

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Swearin’ have been inactive for the past five years, but now, one year after Crutchfield’s solo record, the Philly band have linked back up and put out their third LP, Fall Into the Sun, on Oct. 5 via Merge Records. “I see people referring to it as a reunion, and in some ways, it makes sense—and then, in some ways, I’m like, ‘You know, we weren’t really not doing stuff for that long,’� Crutchfield explains of the band’s five-year hiatus.

Time apart was good for the band, and while Swearin’ were on hold, the members worked on other projects independent of each other. “We started doing other things,� Crutchfield says. “I mean, Jeff [Bolt], the drummer, plays in Radiator Hospital; [vocalist and guitarist]

22 NEW NOISE

With the experience Crutchfield gained from the work she put into her solo music, she was able to take on a bigger role in the production of Fall Into the Sun. “I think that a big thing that I keep saying when I’m talking about this record is I think that I have grown a lot in the last few years as a songwriter and producer,� she says. “I’ve grown, but I’ve also just gained a lot more confidence than I’ve ever had on a Swearin’ record. I think doing music on my own and producing my solo record sort of gave me that. This was really the first Swearin’ record that felt coproduced by me and Kyle.�

Crutchfield took greater ownership of the songwriting process than on the band’s previous albums, but in conjunction with

PHOTO BY ALI DONOHUE

NEW NOISE 23

WINDHAND

PHOTO BY JOEY WHARTON

INTERVIEW WITH DRUMMER RYAN WOLFE

BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

With these new influences, Wolfe isn’t quite he old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it� is especially true for clas- sure how fans will respond to the album.

He feels that no matter what, people will sic, heavy rock ’n’ roll. The things wax nostalgic for old records or claim not that make the genre stand strong are the enough strides have been made, and he unshakeable riffs, powerful lyrics, and song acknowledges that a few of their moments structures that stand the test of time. These of experimentation may raise eyebrows. “I are the same tools Windhand employ on really can’t predict fan reactions,� he admits. their new record, Eternal Return, out Oct. 5 via Relapse Records, but the Richmond, Vir- “It seems that ‘You’re playing the same ole ginia, band are also shaking it up and throw- riffs’ or ‘The first album was better’ rhetoric happens no matter what. It’s sort of pointless ing in more of their influences. to exhaust yourself with all that. Without revealing too much, though, I do think this “We’ve gotten labeled as a doom band, and record has a few tracks that will catch some we’ve been trying to incorporate certain off guard. It’s a better look into the musical aspects of psychedelia, rock, country—the preferences of the band.� music that inspires us and what we listen to on a daily basis—into our songs, to form it Since Grief’s Infernal Flower, Windhand in a way that is Windhand,� drummer Ryan have gone through a lot, and Eternal Return Wolfe says. “I think we finally were able to do definitely reflects that. “I can’t really speak that. When we recorded our [2012] self-titled for [vocalist] Dorthia [Cottrell] and the record and [2013’s] Soma, we didn’t have lyrical content, but since our last album, a deadline to finish. The songs just sort of happened, and we recorded them. So, we’ve had a lineup change, the death of our good friend Jon Rossi [of Pilgrim], and when we recorded Grief’s Infernal Flower [guitarist] Garrett [Morris] had a child,� [in 2015], we had a set date to finish, and Wolfe says. “So, naturally, the ebb and flow unfortunately, we had to improvise a few of life sorta took center stage on the rethings in the studio. It wasn’t done. But with cord. We had some structural ideas for the Eternal Return, we finally managed to get the time and focus on writing and com- songs even before these events took place, posing the songs in the manner we wanted.� and as things progressed, these themes

T

WHISKER BISCUIT INTERVIEW WITH CODY PLOURD AND ZACH SMITH BY JONESY

ntario’s Whisker Biscuit will Just like their 2016 self-titled debut, make their debut on Give Kill for Beer was recorded live straight Praise Records with their sec- off the floor of HK Recording Co in ond full-length album, Kill for Beer, Ontario to capture the right attitude on Oct. 26. With a loud, fast, and and energy. heavy mix of hardcore, punk, thrash, and grindcore, these Canucks are “Our new album feels like we did evready to hit harder than a cross- erything right,� Smith explains. “We had check. Citing controversial fellow more time to put it together, we were Canadian band Dayglo Abortions actually used to recording by this point, as one of their influences, there is no and we’ve had a great opportunity to doubt they are here to shock and piss work with Give Praise Records who have people off with song titles like “Nuclear helped us along the entire process.�

Vomit,� “Tit Pit,� “Fully Baked,� and the title track, “Kill for Beer.�

Kill for Beer will be released on vinyl featuring a piece of wonderful art“There isn’t much we wouldn’t write a work by Brazilian comic book artist song about,â€? guitarist Cody Plourd Lobo Ramirez that will look great on says while talking about the lyrical any record shelf. The bizarre aesthetic themes on the new album. of Ramirez’ work connects very well with the themes and attitude of WhisMost of the songs are written by Plourd ker Biscuit. and drummer Zach Smith while drinking and playing video games, and one “Fuck digital. Vinyl is the best way to gets the feeling that almost anything listen to music,â€? Plourd laughs. that could piss someone off will end up in a song. “Digital serves its purpose when it comes to opportunity of hearing music, So, what pisses Whisker Biscuit off? “Hip- but it’s so much better when you can sters and people who can’t take a joke,â€? hold an album in your hand,â€? Smith Plourd laughs. elaborates. đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

O

24 NEW NOISE

sort of started to work themselves into the songs without us forcing it to happen.�

Along with taking more time on the song structures and incorporating real-life emotion into the lyrics, the band took a special trip to do their recording. Windhand went to Seattle in order to channel some of the classic rock and grunge vibes that inform their sound. “It was great,� Wolfe says. “[Producer] Jack Endino is a fucking saint. The man has been all around the world recording bands [for] the past 30-plus years, and, of course, he had a huge hand in the Sub Pop sound in Seattle back in the day, so naturally, it worked very well in our approach to these songs.

There was a lot of joyful bickering and shittalking amongst us while tracking the songs.

Some would find it defeating, but having Jack—the man who has seen and heard it all—say to me, ‘Why the hell did you do that drum fill? That sucked,’ was pretty cool.�

With yet another record under their belt, Windhand are excited to go out on tour to support Eternal Return. “We’re hitting the road this October and November to tour the U.S. and Canada with Satan’s Satyrs,â€? Wolfe explains. “In March, we’ll be touring Europe with the Italian band Grime. We also have a few other things in the works that we’ll be announcing soon. Besides eventually going deaf and never having a real job, I have no clue where this is headed. I’m just enjoying the ride for now—but a Japanese tour would be welcomed, if anyone’s listening.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

NEW NOISE 25

TYPESETTER

INTERVIEW WITH MARC BANNES AND ALEX PALERMO BY BEN SAILER

here’s a long-running paradox in punk—speaking in the broadest possible sense of the word—wherein the genre is obsessed with both breaking and conforming to rules. Deviate from stylistic norms too much and be chastised for selling out or lacking purity; stick to the book too closely and risk accusations of being derivative. The line between each end is thin, but when bands ignore expectations, embrace growth, and follow their own creative will, it often results in records that make a longer-lasting impact than if they’d played it safe.

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Imagine where Refused or At The Drive-In would be if they only colored inside the lines.

to be a straightforward punk band,� vocalist and guitarist Marc Bannes says. “It just kind of came out that way. From day one, at least for me personally, it was just always about trying to write really interesting songs. The things that I find interesting have changed a little bit from five or six years ago, but the end goal is the same.�

If there’s one word that best summarizes Typesetter—rounded out by bassist Alex Palermo, guitarist Kyle McDonald, keyboardist and trumpetist Sarah Bogosh, and drummer Matt Gonzalez—on Nothing Blues, “maturity� might be it. Written over the course of a few years following the release of their 2014 debut full-length, Wild’s End, the record pushes past punk’s narrow confines and reaches into more lush territory with complex melodies and massive chorus hooks.

By the time country-influenced singer-songwriter Lydia Loveless puts her subtle guest vocal touches on “Technicolor� midway through the record, it’s clear the band have naturally settled into a more mature sound—one that’s true to their roots yet reaches toward new ground.

It would be hyperbolic to predict which record will become the next Shape of Punk To Come or Relationship of Command, but while the indie post-hardcore five-piece Typesetter share little in common with those bands son- Amongst all this change, Nothing Blues also sees Typesetter settling into a new home on ically, they do demonstrate a similar desire to grow from their gruff punk rock roots, 6131 after releasing their previous work on Black Numbers. There, they’ll join a suitably introducing layered textures and melodies diverse roster that has expanded from its to create a sound that owes as much to Hot own roots in hardcore to help launch the Water Music as it does The National—a key careers of rising stars like Julien Baker and influence. That restless dissatisfaction with Culture Abuse. As with everything else the the status quo becomes apparent when one band do, it’s a relationship that came about tracks the trajectory from the Chicago-based band’s early EPs to their forthcoming sopho- organically. more full-length, Nothing Blues, out Oct. 26 on 6131 Records. “We drummed up a conversation, and it just ended up working out,� Palermo says. “All the stars aligned, and they’re really great people.� “When we started the band, we were not trying

WOLFHEART

latable, shining a light through the darkness Fittingly, the record’s lyrics also center on rather than dwelling in its futility. themes of personal reinvention and taking the necessary steps to push past struggles with depression and anxiety. After suppress- “I want people to come out of the other ing those feelings throughout his 20s, Bannes’ side thinking there’s nothing wrong about addressing the way that you feel. If you feel lyrics document his ongoing journey through his 30s toward better mental health, con- that something’s wrong, that’s not admitting fronting personal demons rather than bury- defeat,â€? Bannes says. “It’s a positive step to take in your life to take responsibility for your ing them. While he says there was no specific agenda set prior to writing for Nothing Blues, thoughts and your emotions—even the really the results are as personal as they are re- negative things in your life.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST TUOMAS SAUKKONEN

BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

lation of the Black Light also contains a lot of etal can often be a solitary ven- Lauri Silvonen plays bass and adds backing ture, especially black metal. vocals. Although Saukkonen is still the cre- songs about war and chaos.

Plenty of solid, well-respected ative force behind the group, these addiprojects have been formed as one-man tions allow Wolfheart to get more creative “There is no particular theme, but I noticed that, on this album, there are a lot of lyrics bands and stayed that way for multiple with recording. that are about warriors, soldiers’ minutes albums. Wolfheart expanded after one. As about the final assault, first or last day of the band began to gain traction, they want- “I always write most of the material on my the war, etc.—this kind of ‘eye of the storm’ ed to push their music even further. Now, own until I have pretty ready arrangements situation inside pure chaos,� Saukkonen Wolfheart’s fourth album, Constellation of for all instruments, and then, I sent the adds. “It is not that long ago since the Winthe Black Light—released Sept. 28 on Na- songs to the other guys and started to palm Records—employs multiple musicians rehearse the songs with the drummer,� he to create a layered and brutally bleak new says. “When other guys have ideas, they piece of music. will send those to me, and we start brainstorming those forward. We start the re“The debut album, [2013’s Winterborn], was cordings together with the drummer, and basically a solo album with me playing all I play with him on every take and actually instruments except guitar solos,� vocalist, in the same room where he is tracking the guitarist, and founder Tuomas Saukkonen drums. By that, we can still test some ideas explains. “Since I got [drummer] Joonas while recording. For example, the outro [Kauppinen] into the band for the record- part of ‘Boneyard’ [from Tyhjyys] was ings of the second album, [2015’s Shadow improvised during the recordings when World], I was able to write a lot more varied we just continued jamming after the song stuff, especially faster stuff, and each album was done. Then, each guy comes and since then has included more and more does their part, and only at that point, I faster and more black-metal-oriented start to write the lyrics. I need to hear the songs. Also, with the previous album, [2017’s song almost on its final version to get into Tyhjyys], we took a stronger approach with the right mood for lyrics.� keys and orchestral elements.�

Based in Finland, Wolfheart’s sound and In addition to Kauppinen, Mika Lammas- lyrics revolve around the dark, the cold, saari plays guitar on the new release, and and their local history and culture. Constel-

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26 NEW NOISE

ter War in Finland, and in my home village, there are still old cannons as monuments facing toward [the] Russian border. So, maybe my fascination [is] not toward the war and horrors of it but to the mind of the warrior. [It] comes from there.�

Pick up Wolfheart’s newest record, Constellation of the Black Light, and prepare to be impressed—and cold. đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

PHOTO BY MIKE SIREN

VIOLENT DELIGHTS:

HORROR HYMNS FOR HALLOWEEN

THE DAHMERS

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/ GUITARIST CHRISTOFFER KARLSSON

BY MICHAEL PEMENTEL & KELLEY O’DEATH

ARSIS

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/ GUITARIST JAMES MALONE

BY NICHOLAS SENIOR

DANIEL DAVIES INTERVIEW BY MICHAEL PEMENTEL

orror resonates because of its ability to use the supernatural to reflect our very natural fears. Visitant—the upcoming, uh, visitation from long-running Virginia Beach extreme metal experts Arsis, due out Nov. 2 via Nuclear Blast Records—is appropriately haunted as hell, both by vocalist and guitarist James Malone’s lifelong appreciation of horror films and a host of personal demons that he needed to exorcise.

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Each track on Visitant is possessed by a different film. “In my opinion, the aesthetics of heavy metal, even at their most fundamental and basic level, lend themselves perfectly to horror, and vice versa,� Malone says. “When I would listen to the music we were writing for Visitant, I would try to let my mind wander and paint a mental picture for me. I would relate these mental images to a horror film and use that as the lyrical inspiration. I didn’t try to tell stories with the lyrics as much as I tried to paint images that were inspired by the films.�

hrowback garage punks The Dahmers are obsessed with things that go bump in the night, be they the monsters who stalk through ’70s and ’80s horror films or “The Milwaukee Monster,â€? real-life serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer, from whom they take their name. Though many may mistake these dark appetites for telltale signs of melancholia or psychosis—you’ll As with all great horror-related art, there’s more to Visitant than just never understand, mom!—this Swedish band of misfits remain meets the undead eye. “[That] is the ‘surface’ reason that I chose committed to making terror fun on their new album, Down in the to give the lyrics on the album a horror theme,â€? Malone explains. “I think the underlying reason is that I lost my father this year, and Basement, due out via LĂśvely Records on Oct. 26. given his illness and the care he was receiving, it was something I “We all have a common interest in old horror flicks and a fascina- was trying to brace myself for during most of the writing for Visitant. tion of the dark side of the human mind, so it became a natural An interest and appreciation for horror was something that both part of the band from the start,â€? vocalist and guitarist Christoffer he and I shared, so in that sense, it was kind of a tribute to him. In Karlsson says. “We’ve all liked horror movies since we were kids, another sense, I feel that one of the reasons horror exists as an basically. Don’t know why—it was exciting and felt a bit forbidden art is to help us deal with events or emotions that we don’t wish to maybe. Kind of like when you hear bands like KISS or AC/DC for process in reality, death being the most obvious.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł the first time as a kid, I guess. It’s thrilling and feels a bit ‘dangerous.’ You also find a lot of the same ‘outsider’ themes in horror movies just as in punk and rock music, so I guess that’s been very appealing for us as well.â€?

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Karlsson says the themes and stories found on Down in the Basement are based on “all kinds of things. A few of them are based on short, creepy horror stories, and some of the lyrics are based on more personal stuff. There’s themes such as alienation, frustration, and solitude. Music is a great way to expose and vent your feelings. The horror theme is also a great way to [draw] similarities with completely different things.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

WAXWORK SPINATURES KEVIN BERGERON’S TOP FIVE FAVORITE HORROR SLASHERS! 1) MICHAEL MYERS FROM “HALLOWEEN�

2) JASON VOORHEES FROM “FRIDAY THE 13TH�

3) BILLY FROM “BLACK CHRISTMAS�

4) HARRY WARDEN FROM “MY BLOODY VALENTINE�

5) THE PROWLER FROM—YOU GUESSED IT—“THE PROWLER�

28 NEW NOISE

PHOTO BY SOPHIE GRANSARD

aniel Davies is an artist captivated by images and sound. Horror fans may know Davies from his work with legendary film director and music composer John Carpenter. He played an instrumental role in Carpenter’s 2015 Lost Themes and 2017 Anthology: Movie Themes 1974–1998 albums, and he recently helped cowrite and perform the soundtrack for 2018’s “Halloween.� “It’s always fun to work with John,� Davies shares. “He’s inspired me with his love of using synthesizers and exploring electronic music in scoring.�

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On Aug. 31, Davies released his debut album, Events Score, digitally via Lakeshore Records and Burning Witches Records. Davies says that the idea for Events Score came while trying to put together a scifi film. With each visual that came to mind, the sounds for the record began to blossom. “Most of the time, it would start with visuals in mind,� Davies relates. “I try to find the appropriate sound to support the story I’m trying to tell. I write most of the music using piano and guitar and then orchestrate it using various synths. Other times, a sound I find on the synth leads the piece.�

Davies’ love for synth music comes from exploring film and film soundtracks, as well as his own artistry. “Stanley Kubrick’s ‘A Clockwork Orange’ score by Wendy Carlos had a major impact on me,� he says. “The film had such striking visuals paired with an amazing score that blew me away. But it wouldn’t be till years later when I started composing and working on Lost Themes that my love of synthesizers would take hold.�

Sci-fi and synth go hand in hand for Davies; the two mediums allow him to fully express his ideas and deliver cosmic delights. “I can get lost in sci-fi,â€? he explains. “It triggers my imagination but also makes me think critically about how the world is.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

INTERVIEW WITH COFOUNDER KEVIN BERGERON

BY MICHAEL PEMENTEL t’s Halloween! What better way to relax than to take in the thrills with a nice spooky record? And why not dress up said spooky record a little? If you’ve ever wanted to decorate your vinyl, give it a shot with Waxwork’s Spinature collection.

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“We noticed that a lot of people who buy records like to place an item on the center label: a toy or a trinket,� Waxwork cofounder Kevin Bergeron says. “But that’s actually kind of dangerous. It can really mess up your record or tonearm if it falls or rolls off somehow. So, we decided to create a decorative turntable accessory toy that is balanced and designed to securely sit on the spindle of your turntable while you spin records. Spinatures are safe, and they’re really fun. You don’t even need to have a turntable to enjoy them. They can be used to decorate your desk, bookshelf, dashboard—anywhere you can sit them, really.�

Waxwork is a fascinating label that goes above and beyond to include various offerings. “Waxwork started as a record label in January 2013 that specialized in releasing soundtracks and film scores,� Bergeron shares. “Since then, we’ve expanded into releasing original music, a book publisher, printmaking, and now, a toy company with Spinatures.�

Just in time for the season of death, Waxwork will release a Spinature of the iconic “Friday the 13th� slasher, Jason Voorhees. “He’s so iconic and instantly recognizable,� Bergeron states. “We’ve released many of the ‘Friday the 13th’ soundtracks on vinyl, and the fans for that franchise are pretty devoted and hardcore. Jason was a no-brainer.�

If the release of Jason gets you excited, Bergeron assures there will be more to come: “We have many in mind, but we can’t divulge them just yet.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

KING DIAMOND

THEM

MORE CLASSIC REISSUES FROM METAL BLADE RECORDS!

BY HUTCH

On Sept. 14, Metal Blade continued their rereleasing of King Diamond classics. This round—there have been 11 already—the demonic Dane’s fans are lucky to receive the sacrament of 2003’s The Puppet Master, 2004’s Deadly Lullabyes Live, and 2007’s Give Me Your Soul‌ Please.

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST KK FOSSOR

BY MICHAEL PEMENTEL or vocalist KK Fossor of German thrash and power metal act THEM, there are two things very dear to his heart: horror and King Diamond. “Horror,� he says, “has always been in my blood—literally.

From the time I was a child, my thirst for the macabre has never been quenched. I find a connection to the afterlife and am mystified by the unknown.� Regarding Fossor’s love for King Diamond, THEM is actually a nod to the album of the same name. “Our band name is a direct tip of the hat to King Diamond,� he confirms.

F

THEM are proud to release their sophomore LP, Manor of the Se7en Gables, via Steamhammer / SPV on Oct. 26. The record continues the band’s story, weaving a tale of ghostly horrors. “The concept story is a single story that follows my tragic life experiences,� Fossor shares, “every major loss of life that I have encountered, including the loved ones most close to me who were once part of my life.

Still flanked by King Diamond and Mercyful Fate guitar vets Andy LaRocque and Mike Wead, these recent albums have amassed critical and fan praise, respected and played loudly. The Puppet Master especially is seen as a modern classic, and nearly-perfect critical ratings are common. The sweet visuals raise the stakes and channel the satanic sonic seduction coming through your home speakers.

You also learn the origin of my ghastly scar.

Currently, this tale spins across two albums, with the latest, Manor of the Se7en Gables, taking the story into a very dangerous and fiery place. Is it the end for me? You will have to wait and see how the story unfolds further.�

Having started THEM as a King Diamond tribute band, Fossor’s vocals are clearly inspired

by the Danish legend, but he also puts his own spin on things. “You either love King Diamond or not,â€? he states. “I chose to love him. However, as you listen to our latest album, Manor of the Se7en Gables, I tend to use similar style falsetto vocals more sparingly. I have many voices to share, and depending on the mood, I choose certain voices to use. I hope you enjoy them all!â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

Each release is a double-LP, and all four sides feature a different image. These limited editions are each one of 2,000 copies.

KK FOSSOR’S TOP FIVE KING DIAMOND RECORDS 1) “THEMâ€? (1988) 2) ABIGAIL (1987) 3) FATAL PORTRAIT (1986) 4) THE EYE (1990) 5) GIVE ME YOUR SOUL‌ PLEASE (2007)

GRAPHIC HORROR CADABRA RECORDS LABEL SPOTLIGHT:

INTERVIEW WITH ARTIST GYULA HAVANCSĂ K

BY MICHAEL PEMENTEL

INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDER JONATHAN DENNISON BY MICHAEL PEMENTEL

PHOTO BY CHUCK WESTFALL

yula HavancsĂĄk is a graphic artist from TĂşrkeve, Hungary, who is responsible for numerous horror-themed works filled with ghoulish creatures and chilling imagery. His love for horror began at a young age thanks to his passion for cinema—and a little help from his grandmother. “When I was a child,â€? he shares, “I often visited the cinema in my hometown. I collected sci-fi magazines, books, and movies. My grandmother was really nice. When I wanted to watch a horror movie, she smuggled me into the cinema. I watched several age-[restricted] horror movies, [such] as ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘Aliens,’ ‘Dracula,’ and others.â€?

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With his love for horror movies, the seed had been planted for HavancsĂĄk to explore the arts. “Originally, I dreamed that I [would] be a mask designer for horror movies, but the pencil and the paper were my favorite tools,â€? he says. “I think my way [of finding my craft] wasn’t anything special; I just made thousands of drawings,

and my window was wide open for the inspiration from pop culture or traditional arts.�

When asked who his five favorite horror artists are, HavancsĂĄk replies, “I am an ‘Aliens’ fan, [so] HR Giger is the first. John Carpenter, because he made the brilliant ‘The Thing’ movie. Sam Raimi, ‘Evil Dead.’ H. P. Lovecraft.

Stephen King—and [all] the others!�

HavancsĂĄk’s artwork has appeared on the album covers of bands such as Annihilator, Iron Maiden, and Jungle Rot, and he has created book covers for the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Anne Rice. For HavancsĂĄk, there’s a genuine enjoyment in creating horror imagery: it is a means of expressing himself while also having fun. “I guess I have too much aggression in me, [but] I think I am a really friendly guy, and I try to keep the demons [inside] me,â€? he shares. “I enjoy the work on a horroristic death metal cover much better than a nice fantasy image. That is the real horror to me!â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

he Halloween season is the perfect time to get wrapped up in a spooky story—and while wrapping yourself up in a good book is just dandy, what about listening to some spoken word vinyl? Cadabra Records releases horror classics as LPs, having adapted numerous titles from the page into chilling tales for listeners to experience.

Just in time for Halloween 2018, Cadabra has released Edgar Allan Poe’s iconic story “The Black Cat.� Italian horror composer Fabio Frizzi scored the LP, with iconic Cadabra reader Anthony D.P. Mann bringing life to the story’s words. When asked what drew him to this particular tale, Dennison says, “Two things. ‘The Black Cat’ is a perfect starting point for the Poe catalog. In 1981, Fabio Frizzi was orig“I think the vinyl experience is like no other,� inally lined up to score Lucio Fulci’s adaption of ‘The Black Cat,’ but things didn’t work out.

Cadabra founder Jonathan Dennison Our release acts as a tribute to Fulci as well.â€? shares. “We pay great attention to detail on every level to assure the customer is getting the most for their dollar. From the This addition of a Poe classic is only the packaging to the audio, our records are de- beginning of many exciting new releases to signed for the ages. We have a very serious come, Dennison reveals. “We [have] some fanbase who are passionate about horror very great releases ahead,â€? he says. “We’re fiction, something that we all grew up with also launching a new book series called which brings us together. These stories are ‘Cadabra Illustrated,’ which will coincide with the root for most of the films we watch to the some of our vinyl releases; these will be finely comics we read. This is ground zero. With this printed illustrated chapbooks. I’m also proud said, I think customers understand Cadabra to say that we have a future collaboration in is something fresh that is happening today the works with Fabio Frizzi and H. P. Lovecraft— and they’re proud to be part of it.â€? this will be an epic release!â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

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NEW NOISE 29

EVERY YEAR, THOUSANDS MAKE THE JOURNEY DOWN END OF DRINKING, MUSIC, PRO WRESTLING, COMEDY,

B Y J O H N S I LVA

TEEN AGERS

TO FEST 17, MAKE SURE TO STAY JUST SOBER ENOUGH TO

ASPIGA

PHOTO BY JEN CRAY

NIGHT BIRDS RADON

PHOTO BY KEITH BAILLARGEON

PHOTO BY JANA MILLER

“I remember my first day of the first FEST I went “I think this album is a nice snapshot of everything “We’ve stayed pretty true to our formula that Every year, FEST features bands from all to,” TEEN AGERS vocalist and guitarist Jordan that the band has done over the years,” Aspiga kicked the band off, which was just doing over the country and even a few interShroyer muses. Shroyer has been going vocalist and guitarist Kevin Day says. “Since it’s a col- the band for fun,” says Brian Gorsegner, national acts—but Radon don’t have to since FEST 6, and over the past decade, his lection, all of the songs might sound a little different, lead vocalist of New Jersey punk outfit travel far. The Gainesville punk legends Orlando, Florida-based band have become as they were almost all done in different recording Night Birds. “We never tried to do it for a are playing right in their own backyard. a staple of the annual punk gathering. “It’s sessions with various amps, drums, guitars, etc.” living or anything. We are still all working “Lots of old friends come to town,” Radon been such a welcoming thing for us,” he says.

50 jobs and playing in the band as a hobby, vocalist and guitarist Dave Rohm says. “I “Some of our former bands—Go Rydell, How which has kept it fresh and fun. Every time live in Atlanta, but most of our band is in The band’s new LP, Dragged Through the Dare You, Protagonist—had played it before Gainesville. [Vocalist] Jen [Vito] from our Years—released Sept. 7 via A-F Records— we go on tour, it’s like going on a vacation we were even a band. The first year we were band is playing five sets and doing two features 11 newly-remastered songs, with your very best friends.” a band, someone dropped off week of, and comedy shows. She’s pulling a Mikey Erg.” some that were only previously available they offered us a spot to fill it. That was six The band’s new album, Roll Credits, came digitally or on a 7” and a few that have years ago, and we haven’t missed one since.” out on Sept. 21 via Fat Wreck Chords, but During FEST, Rohm says “Gainesville becomes never been released. longtime fans of the Night Birds—who are a town dedicated almost entirely to us, to all also celebrating their 10th anniversary this of us likeminded losers. Then, the rain comes This year, TEEN AGERS come bearing new tunes, At Aspiga’s upcoming performance at FEST as they released their new album, When We year—will not be disappointed in their set and cleans up those dirty FESTers.”

17, attendees can expect to hear songs off at FEST 17. “We’re actually playing more Were, on July 13 via Smartpunk Records. “We’re the new LP alongside some deep cuts. “We really excited about our new record,” Shroyer says. always try to include a song from each re- old stuff than we used to, because our orig- Radon put out their fourth album, More of inal guitar player Mike [Hunchback] is back “It’s exploring a lot of new terrain for us as a band, lease,” Day says. No matter the source, these Their Lies, in May via Dead Broke Rekerds and we for sure want to take the opportunity to in the band,” Gorsegner explains. “So, we’re emotional New Jersey punks intend to make and Creep Records, and they’re looking doing a lot of songs—older stuff that we play as much of it as we can, so this year’s set will you feel something with their tunes. forward to playing some of those new likely heavily consist of it.” Shroyer describes When haven’t done since he was in the band.” songs live. They also promise FEST-goers We Were as a “very genuine record,” and the a special treat: a cover of “Civilization’s band are excited to share it with their FEST family.

Dying” by the classic Indianapolis punk band Zero Boys.

AUDIO KARATE

MERCY UNION

“Expect a very appreciative and excited Audio Karate, trying to outdo our old friends Tsunami Bomb,” guitarist Jason Camacho and PHOTO BY GREG PALLANTE vocalist and guitarist Art Barrios say of their This may be Mercy Union’s first time playing upcoming performance at FEST. “The set FEST, but it is not lead vocalist Jared Hart’s will likely be Space-Camp-heavy, as we are first rodeo in Gainesville, as he has previously still celebrating the [Wiretap Records] vinyl played the festival with his other band, The reissue [of the 2002 album] and having fun Scandals. Mercy Union is his new project, and with playing some of the deeper cuts again. with Benny Horowitz of The Gaslight Anthem on drums, they are something of a supergroup. We’ll certainly be playing some Lady Melody stuff [from 2004] and our new single, ‘Bounce,’ “Benny was just home and wasn’t really playing his drums as much,” Hart says. “So, one day, in- as well.” stead of getting coffee, we decided to jam some riffs here and there, and we realized that it was The California band announced in early kind of progressing quicker than most sessions 2018 that they were officially reuniting like that go.” Those jam sessions led to the cre- as Audio Karate for the first time since ation of the band’s first album, The Quarry, out 2005, and part of that reunion is a set at Oct. 19 on the band’s own Mt. Crushmore label.

FEST 17. In addition to a handful of shows, the band are putting out new music. “We are stoked to have something new, even Along with new music, Mercy Union are bringing though it is a song that was written around a taste of New Jersey to FEST this year. Hart says the Lady Melody era,” Camacho and Barthat the East-Coast state is deeply ingrained in rios say about their new 7”, out Sept. 28. who they are and how they sound. “I definitely think there is something unique to this area, that “We have a full album completed and are finishing the mixing and mastering. We we wouldn’t have sounded like this in any of our will have it out in early 2019.” bands without being from here,” he confirms.

30 NEW NOISE

DIRECT HIT!

“TWO MINUTES TO LATE NIGHT”

Direct Hit! are not newcomers to the pop punk scene or FEST. The Milwaukee-based group formed in 2007 and released their first full-length album, Domesplitter, in 2011. Since then, they’ve put out two more PHOTO BY DREW KAUFMAN LPs—2013’s Brainless God and 2016’s Wast“Two Minutes To Late Night” is unlike any ed Mind—and plenty of EPs and splits. comedy show on network TV. It’s a talk show They have a new record, Crown of Nothing, by and for metalheads, and that aesthetic runs throughout, complete with a house due out Nov. 10 via Fat Wreck Chords, but band led by loud guitars—Brooklyn’s own vocalist and guitarist Nick Woods assures Mutoid Man—copious skulls, and a host fans that their set in Gainesville will include donning a suit and black metal—or KISS?— a variety of old and new. “We worked hard on a new record over the last year or so, style face paint. but we don’t really expect many people to know many of the tunes yet,” he says, “so we’ll be doing plenty of shit you’re already sick of too.”

Fans who aren’t going to make it to FEST 17 may still have an opportunity to see the band, as Direct Hit! plan to tour more in 2019.

The show has a clear affection for metal and the subculture surrounding it, but the hope of the creators is that it will be welcoming to a broader audience. “The real concept for the show comes from wanting to show people how fun metal is,” host and cocreator Jordan Olds says. “Even though it is about the metal genre, we want it to be a show for everybody who just loves music in general.

We don’t just have metal guests, we don’t always cover metal songs on the show, but the wrapping paper is metal.”

Olds says FEST-goers won’t want to miss their performance, if for no other reason than because it will give attendees a chance to see their favorite bands in a different format. “You’re gonna get to see them be themselves and be really funny and hang out with us,â€? he says, “and you’re gonna learn a lot about them, but in a way that isn’t just a normal interview.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

FEST WRESLTING

Punk rock and pro wrestling have intersected a lot over the past few decades, but the addition of pro wrestling to the FEST lineup a couple of years ago really helped solidify the marriage. Arik Cannon has a foot in both worlds, using his punk rock aesthetic to become a liaison between the two subcultures. “I wanted to be someone who punk rock kids of all ages could relate to and see some of themselves in,� the wrestler says. “Maybe you like punk rock and I helped get you into wrestling; maybe you’re a huge wrestling

fan and I helped you get into some punk rock music. Either way, it’s a win!�

Cannon explains that the similarities between punk and wrestling are uncanny. “As a performer, I think there are so many similarities, it’s hard not to find some common ground,� he says. “The mutual respect and admiration was inevitable!

Beyond that, the ethos and the whole DIY culture of what we do are so close, I think it makes for an easy and comfortable transition.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

EVEN MORE

FEST-IVITIES!

THE BEST SET I’VE EVER SEEN AT FEST:

EVEN MORE BANDS YOU SHOULDN’T MISS:

Jordan Shroyer of TEEN AGERS: “Last year, Jordan Shroyer of TEEN AGERS: “Debt Ne‘The Chris Gethard Show’ at The Wooly was glector are a must if you like good punk. If amazing. In the early days, it seemed like you’ve never been to FEST, I would say there was always a great Dan Yemin band The Copyrights, RVIVR, PEARS, Timeplaying: Armalite, Lifetime, Paint It Black. shares, and Wolf-Face are a must. In Every Ergs set. RVIVR’s mystery set at New my opinion, those bands are the best World Brewery. Dead To Me, Crime In Stereo, representation of what FEST is. If you and Banner Pilot in a warehouse aftershow, want to see a Gainesville staple, Radon and a couple years later, You Blew It! play- are the best sloppy pop punk—[think] ing in front of a warehouse with a generator early Lookout! Records—you’re going a 2 a.m. with a billion people—the cops shut to catch. I also recommend catching the it down just as Braid was about to play. Tim ‘Two Minutes To Late Night’ show Friday Kasher [of Cursive] wasted in a wedding night at Rockeys; if you haven’t seen any dress playing a 10-minute version of ‘The episodes of that show yet, I highly recomRecluse’—I could go on and on.� mend looking it up.�

Jared Hart of Mercy Union: “I’m gonna say Hum was pretty rad last year.�

Kevin Day of Aspiga: “That’s a really tough question to answer, as I’ve been to FEST a few times and there’s just so many talented bands playing all weekend. Some highlights would be The Ghost reunion show at The Atlantic, Little League final show at Rockeys, and Able Baker Fox at High Dive.�  Brian Gorsegner of Night Birds: “Probably a tie between a Chris Gethard standup set and 7 Seconds.�

Nick Woods of Direct Hit!: “Code Orange’s surprise set at the Florida Theater a few years ago sticks out to me. I’d seen them play at Stay Sweet! Fest in Virginia a little while before that, but they hadn’t blown up to where they are now. So brutal on that huge of a stage and through that enormous of a PA.�

Dave Rohm of Radon: “Naked Raygun at the Florida Theater. When they played the song ‘Treason,’ I felt like I was in the presence of higher beings. The feedback and harmonics came through the PA and just stunned the crowd.�

Jared Hart of Mercy Union: “Walk The Plank’s a big one—our boys from D.C. [There are] so many homies playing who come down every year that I almost expect to see them all, whether they’re playing or not. Mike Frazier is great.�

Kevin Day of Aspiga: “I’m really excited to see Attic Salt, Meat Wave, and The Stereo.

I’d recommend seeing our friends Bike Tuff, Goddamnit, Kali Masi, Late Bloomer, Jason Thompson, Nightmarathons, Sleep In., and You Vandal!�

Jason Camacho and Art Barrios of Audio Karate: “Cursive’s new single is killer, so I’d say Cursive. Piebald are always good, as are Bad Cop/Bad Cop. Get Married are a great young band on Wiretap [and] Asian Man, and I’m stoked to catch them.�

Brian Gorsegner of Night Birds: “Radioactivity is probably my favorite band playing this year whom I don’t believe have played in the past.�   Nick Woods of Direct Hit!: “Don’t skip out on Problem Daughter.�

HOT TIPS FOR NEW FEST-GOERS:

you can one day tell your friends, ‘Dude, I saw them at FEST 17 when no one gave a damn,’ and feel so cool.�

Brian Gorsegner of Night Birds: “If they Jordan Shroyer of TEEN AGERS: “Try to take really wanna make the best of their fesin some of the comedy sets at Rockeys. Set tival experience, they can do like me and aside a few hours a day to pop into a venue not drink, so they get to maximize their or two where you’ve never heard of any of set-viewing experience. Though, I believe the bands. It’s always fun to play some punk that [drinking is] a lot of the fun for a lot roulette. You may end up accidentally finding of people, so that’s probably shitty advice, your new favorite band. And finally, if you find out any band you really like is doing a mystery ’cause a lot of years, I feel like the only set, you should go to that, because it’s proba- person at this festival who’s not drinking.� bly going to be even better than their regular Nick Woods of Direct Hit!: “Don’t make a set and in a much more intimate venue.� schedule; it’ll only frustrate you. Just pop Jared Hart of Mercy Union: “Drink water, into different places and listen to someone you haven’t before. If you smoke or drink, wash your hands, and attempt to get some pace yourself. Get some fuckin’ sleep.� sleep—whether it’s in the back of the car or wherever—’cause you’re gonna get Dave Rohm of Radon: “It’s illegal to roam sick, and that’s not fun going home. Drink the streets naked, even if it’s raining. Don’t let Emergen-C. That’s key too.�

Paddy set your merch money on fire. Those are the big two. Also, you can FEST totally Kevin Day of Aspiga: “The first year or two straight and not even drink and still have that I went, I made it a point to see as many bands as I could. Bring ear plugs, a blast. There are unbalanced geniuses all grab a slice from Five Star while on the fly, around you, so reach out to them and try to break through to them, because they are and drink a lot of water! Also, bring a book probably really shy and didn’t even want bag for merch, because the flea market to leave their room. Have a good time now, on day-one is fantastic.â€? because you actually have to leave at the  end of the weekend—I guess you technically Jason Camacho and Art Barrios of Audio don’t have to leave. I have a few friends who Karate: “Hydrate. Catch smaller club decided to stay and never go back.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł shows and find a new favorite band that

NEW NOISE

31

R SHE M KA I T T RIS UITA ST/G I L A VOC WITH IEW REURS V R INTESON SCH

BY JA

PHOTO BY TONY BONACCI

32 NEW NOISE

W

hen asked to with acts such as Bright Eyes, M. Ward, describe Vitri- and Jenny Lewis—the far-reaching, o l a — O m a h a , negative effects of Trump’s adminisNebraska, in- tration were something that ultimatedie rock institution Cursive’s first al- ly could not be avoided and persisted bum in six years—vocalist and guitar- throughout the writing process. ist Tim Kasher uses the words “moody� and “dark.� The 10-song album, out “We had an ongoing discussion during Oct. 5 on the band’s own 15 Passen- the writing of the album about it ger label, came together relatively being important not to ignore what seamlessly, and the band were excit- was at the forefront of how we were ed to return to writing music, despite feeling, and we did feel a certain responsibility to write our raw emotions,� those moody and dark overtones.

Kasher says. “We feel strongly about “There was certainly a lot of me feeling current politics and didn’t want to shy out what the band was responding to away from them. There’s a growing after sitting with the songs for a while, movement to go back to ignoring but it all evolved fairly smoothly,� them and turning away, to keep poliKasher says. “We didn’t have any di- tics out of our lives, and we’re just not rections we were going in or have any- ready to do that. We don’t want to do thing in mind. We just felt energized that. But I still contend that Vitriola is to do a record together again, and it not necessarily a political record; it’s took a bit of trial and error to suss out just a reaction to our environment what kind of record we were doing.� over the past couple of years.�

Part of the reason for Vitriola’s darkness, and one that many American bands are unable to escape, is the current political climate of Cursive’s homeland. Even though the band started planning and writing the album before the 2016 presidential election took place, lyrics for the album were written in fall of 2017, a lengthy process that involved editing some of the more obvious political statements. According to Kasher, the extreme shift in administration influenced his lyrics tremendously.

Known for their thick, textural indie rock sound and the incorporation of keyboards and string instruments, Cursive made the decision to include cello on their new songs for the first time since 2003’s The Ugly Organ, considered by many to be the benchmark of their emotional sound. Rejoining Kasher, guitarist Ted Stevens, bassist Matt Maginn, keyboardist Patrick Newbery, and cellist Megan Siebe is founding drummer Clint Schnase, who took a one-album hiatus. According to Kasher, that reunion, as well as the much longer lull in activity between albums, took the pressure off the band to drastically change their sound.

“There is part of me that doesn’t want to be an overtly political songwriter, because I don’t want to be that and I don’t consider myself that. I just don’t like to pigeonhole myself into any “Every time we wrote an album since category, and I don’t feel a respon- Domestica, we were really trying sibility to write politically,� Kasher to expand what we do or reinvent explains, adding that he likes to think something about ourselves. This time the latest Cursive album was written around, we didn’t really have anything in mind or a specific direction as naturally as any other. on what kind of record we planned “A lot of the ideas that inevitably came on doing, and that was nice for a out were shaped by 2017, in particu- band that’s been together so long lar, and the constant onslaught of the and done a bunch of different kinds news and being slapped in the face of records,� he says. “This album by it daily,� he adds. “So, I was just felt like more of what, perhaps, we writing what was on my mind. After really sound like. We weren’t trying to that, we spent a lot of time editing, branch out to any specific thing; we because I didn’t want to write some- were just glad to be together again thing that was coming out of this very and write music as Cursive.� specific moment in time. I also didn’t want to bore people with more on- With Cursive’s upcoming headlining slaught of the same shit we’re already spot at punk rock haven The Fest in reading in the news every day.�

Gainesville, Florida, at the end of October, the album’s timing couldn’t Cursive have never shied away from be better, Kasher says. heavy issues or themes: their 2000 album Domestica tackled the hard sub- “Cursive has been trying to make it ject of divorce, 2006’s Happy Hollow work to play FEST for years, so it’s addressed organized religion, and really great that it’s lined up well,â€? he 2012’s I Am Gemini was a meditation shares. “The new album is coming out on morality. On Vitriola—recorded at in early October, and we get to play ARC Studios in Omaha with co-pro- FEST at the end of the month. We’re ducer Mike Mogis, who has worked stoked.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

NEW NOISE 33

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALAN SNODGRASS

34 NEW NOISE

GODS AND ALIENS INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST MATT PIKE BY MIKE GAWORECKI

W

hen Lemmy died, many fans’ first thought was: “We gotta keep Matt Pike safe. He’s all we’ve got left.”

The High On Fire vocalist and guitarist says that a number of people have called him “the American Lemmy.” Pike got a lot of calls after the Motörhead vocalist and bassist passed away in 2015.

“I had a dream about Lemmy after he died,” Pike says. “I knew the man to a degree—I was on tour with him, I got to interview him—and it broke my heart.

Motörhead is one of, if not the biggest, most influential things.

That, Celtic Frost, Bolt Thrower, and Amebix are what High On Fire kinda is.”

“THREE ALBUMS IN, WITH THE FACT THAT WERE IMPOSSIBLE.” NEW NOISE

35

Pike knew High On Fire had to pay their respects to the fallen metal god. “So, I wrote a song, and for some weird reason, I had these lyrics about Lemmy from that dream, and it’s: ‘All give praise as the ace hits the stage / All are amazed at the cards that he played / My homage paid to the king in his grave / He’s playing bass, and he’s melting your face / All give praise as the ace hits the stage.’ All the other lyrics are just lyrics that I figured Lemmy would sing.’�

That song is called “Electric Messiah,� as is the new High On Fire album on which it appears.

Electric Messiah is out Oct. 5 on Entertainment One Music, and Pike says it’s his favorite record the band have created to date. “Everybody playing on the whole thing is ridiculous,� he says. “I just love the riffs on it. I love the leads. I like my singing probably better than any other record. It’s got some magic to it, that’s all.

It’s been a while since I had new songs to play and a challenge ahead of me, and I’m just really excited about it.�

36 NEW NOISE

For two decades, Pike and his bandmates—drummer Des Kensel, who founded High On Fire with Pike in 1998, and bassist Jeff Matz, who joined in 2005—have been taking the concept of a power trio to absurdly heavy new heights.

Electric Messiah captures the band in all their might. “I love everything on it,� Pike says. “Des obviously is an anomaly, so you don’t have to explain how my drummer just kills everybody. And then, Jeff Matz stepped up to the plate; he did so much of the writing on this. He was on riff-time for a little while. It was like, ‘Dude, can you stop? I’m starting to get jealous.’�

he admits, “but at the same time, I find some validity in the fact that we have a history of it and a lot of the cuneiform tablets are being deciphered now by scholars.�

he’s some kind of alien truther conspiracy theorist, Pike isn’t all that worried. “I realize [after] the last record, [2015’s Luminiferous], a bunch of people put tinfoil hats on my head and shit like that, but After traveling to places like Peru it does keep the radiation out,â€? he and Egypt and seeing for himself jokes. “Everybody with their perthe ruins of the ancient civiliza- sonal pocket Jesus is invading my tions that once thrived there, Pike space with their fucking radioachas been fascinated with the his- tivity, so that tinfoil hat might be tory and mythology—and mythol- the smartest thing. Who knows?â€? ogizing—surrounding prehistoric cultures. “From what I’ve seen with If anything, the American Lemmy my own eyes, there’s no possible is more than happy to further way a bunch of people with a provoke his critics on Electric bunch of stone daggers and very Messiah. Of the eponymous limited tools did any of that archi- ziggurat referred to in the title tecture,â€? he says. “There’s no way. of his Sumerian historical epic Of course, as one might imagine, And they did it with the landscape, rock opera, “There’s a theory Pike had plenty of riffs to con- so it was recyclable. It’s a whole that there was a time machine or tribute as well. He also supplied different head-trip.â€? a portal underneath that thing, a good amount of research. and that’s the reason that we After the speed-doom assault of Every record he’s written since invaded Iraq, and we used the opener “Spewn From the Earthâ€? his travels, starting with 2012’s De oil story for it. Which would make comes the two-song suite “Steps Vermis Mysteriis, has been based sense. I mean, if, you know, you of the Ziggurat / House of Enlil,â€? on those same themes. “Three dig up ancient Anunnaki techa rock opera Pike wrote based albums in, I’m still infatuated nology that allows you to step on the Sumerian creation story with the fact that I saw things that between star systems in the flash as told by their gods the Anun- were impossible,â€? Pike says. of an eye, that’s just metal lyrics. naki. He plays three different Whether I believe that or not, it’s characters in the song. “This is While he seems a little concerned an amazing metal song.â€?đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł ‘ancient aliens’ shit and all that,â€? that people are starting to think

Debut album ‘Bought to Rot’ DIGITAL/CD/VINYL LP 14 tracks spanning Laura Jane Grace’s fractured relationship with her adopted hometown of Chicago, true friendship, complicated romance and reconciling romance, everything in the end.

PHOTO BY ALICIA ARMIJO

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST NERGAL BY JAMES ALVAREZ writing a story. When I hear about other bands writing on tours in the back lounge, I think, ‘What’s the inspiration?’ Every day looks pretty much the same. For me, it’s two completely different modes. Before I get into the writing mode, I like to go places, meet people, process life.

When I come back, if I feel like there’s something to tell you, I’m going to do it, you know what I mean?�

ehemoth are one of the few hyperbole-laden metal bands who actually live up to their namesake. For most of this millennium, the Polish group have been on a maddening trajectory, growing quicker and larger while simultaneously playing faster and heavier than any of their Ăźberblasphemous extreme metal contemporaries. For a band who, more often than not, sound like a fleet of tanks synchronized swimming, their acclaim and success is astounding.

B

Behemoth’s new album, I Loved You at Your Darkest, out Oct. 5 on Metal Blade Records, sounds nothing like that. The breakdancing freight train of Behemoth 2.0—which had been firing on all cylinders since the new millennium and first took a breather on 2014’s The Satanist—has been put to rest on their latest record. We have officially entered the Behemoth 3.0 era, and it’s friggin’ glorious.

“I DECIDED TO GO IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SPACE JUST TO REFRESH MYSELF, TO REFINE MY PASSION FOR EXTREME METAL.�

“When we finished The Satanist cycle, I was empty—my banks were empty. I had no ideas left in my system,� vocalist and guitarist Nergal reveals. “That’s why I decided to go in a completely different space just to refresh myself, to refine my passion for extreme metal.�

That completely different space was Nergal’s 2017 Western folk rock project, Me And That Man, who delivered a somber, stripped-down, acoustic-heavy album, Songs of Love and Death, that found Behemoth’s corpse-painted growler singing a woeful croon. It was a complete 180 from his mechanized black metal day job. “I experienced myself in a whole new dimension,� he reveals. “It also made me realize how much all the extreme metal genres are all based in the same thing: the root is the blues, the blues chords. I think I just decided to make that more transparent on this new record.� “I’m a fan of living my life before I start writing a record,� Nergal says enthusiastically. “Writing music is like

38 NEW NOISE

And boy, does Nergal have a lot to say on I Loved You at Your Darkest. This, the band’s 11th full-length album, takes Behemoth into exciting new realms of blasphemy. Nergal’s beef with Christianity has been well-documented over the years, but this time around, the history scholar and full-time Satanist has really outdone himself. The album’s title is a quote from J.C. himself, repurposing the Lord’s own words against Him. There’s also a tune called “If Crucifixion Was Not Enough‌â€? which, if you think about it, is probably one of Nergal’s best-named, worst-mental-image titles since “Christians to the Lions.â€?

Tracks like the explosive “Wolves ov Siberia� and lead single “God = Dog� are pummeling but different.

From the production to Nergal’s vocal delivery, there’s nuance in the maelstrom. Songs like “Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica,� “Bartzabel,� and “Angelvs XIII� are some of the most eclectic and exhilarating of the band’s career. We’re talking rockin’ guitar solos, ingenious interplay between gloomy acoustic and crushing electric riffs, legitimately groovy basslines, and a head-spinning, borderline-psychedelic jam session.

Make no mistake about it: Behemoth are still kingpins of the extreme metal world. They just don’t rely solely on sledgehammers these days, brandishing scalpels to make some intricate musical cuts along the way. “Extreme metal, black metal, death metal—when you play a 40-minute long record that’s super intense and just blast beats all over the place, it’s overwhelming and becomes dull,�

Nergal explains. “Building the dynamics—when you listen to AC/DC and Led Zeppelin or classic rock bands, that’s what it is.�

I Loved You at Your Darkest is Behemoth’s most diverse and multilayered release to date. Strap on your best pair of headphones and dive in, because Nergal and company have a ton of shit for you to digest. “I really hope that, in four weeks or in two months, you’ll be discovering new things about the album,â€? he says proudly. đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

The legendary death metal juggernaut takes another huge step forward in their quest to push death metal to its outermost limits.

See them on tour in November with CANNIBAL CORPSE!

Merch available at Season-of-Mist.com

Out now on CD, Ltd. gatefold LP, Ltd. cassette & digitally.

Merch available at Season-of-Mist.com

BEYOND CREATION are one of the worldwide leaders in modern technical death metal, and 'Algorythm' is a study in the forward motion of intelligent, progressive extremity.

Out now on Digipak CD, Ltd. deluxe CD box, Ltd. gatefold 2LP, Ltd. cassette & digitally.

SARAH LONGFIELD DISPARIT Y

Longfield is in the vanguard of young players leading the evolution of the modern guitarist, and the genre-defying Disparity is a fascinating and mesmerizing glimpse inside the storm.

Merch available at Season-of-Mist.com

Coming Nov. 30 on Digipak CD, Ltd. gatefold LP, & digitally.

Atoms Aligned Merch available at Season-of-Mist.com

Coming Undone

SYLVAINE is an wholly unique entity, and 'Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone' a deeply moving album.

Coming Nov. 2 on Digipak CD, Ltd. gatefold LP, & digitally.

g comin16 Nov.

ESBEN AND THE WITCH Nowhere Sublime and epic post-rock greatness from this veteran trio.

g comin7 Dec.

HORRENDOUS Idol

Grand Declaration of War

MAYHEM

Dynamic, progressive death metal that positions HORRENDOUS in a leagueof their own.

One of black metal's most controversial albums! Revisit this newly remixed and remastered genre classic now!

CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX Great Escape 'Great Escape' is a beautiful, ominous, and stunning work of post-rock, outsider art.

BENIGHTED Dogs Always Bite Harder Than Their Master A ltd ed, 20th anniversary collection with 10 previously unreleased recordings.

VREID Lifehunger Truly extreme metal devoid of genre convention and redeening darkness with its metallic grandeur.

n the surface, 9—the

album from O forthcoming Saves The Day—chron-

icles the epic story of a group of kids from New Jersey who realized their dreams and became international sensations. On another level, it shows how founder, vocalist, and guitarist Chris Conley “woke up” and became aware of his own consciousness through his relationship with music and the unbelievable adventures it inspired since he formed Saves The Day in 1997.

INTERVIEW WIT H FRONTMAN CH RIS CONLEY BY TI M ANDERL

“ TO BE AT ALL IN

CLUDED IN THE

There is no question that the story is autobiographical. The truth is that Conley was casting significant shadows under the bright indie limelight before he was even an adult. That said, there’s never before been an official documentation of the band’s history. Out via Equal Vision Records on Oct. 26, 9

LINEAGE OF

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KELSEY AYRES

40 NEW NOISE

tells the story of Saves The Day in a way that’s as exhaustive as it is poetic and makes the listener a part of the songwriting process.“[For me, my history] is a direct source of strength,� Conley admits. “[Notability and fame] can be crushing, or it can create challenges to survive and learn from. Having dealt with the experience of being in the limelight before I was really aware that this could be a potential future, I just had to learn how to swim.

I’m grateful for the strength that it has given me.� “People have expectations before you have an idea about what you want to do or what it is all about,� he continues. “They want you to do version-two of the last thing they heard. It is a bizarre thing to even admit is difficult, because if you are lucky enough to be a musician, that is part of the conversation— people are listening to your re-

cords and talking about it. That’s so surreal in and of itself. I’m so incredibly grateful for that, so any difficulty in terms of dealing with expectations is so minimal. The pros outweigh the cons so clearly.�

In addition to weathering the pitfalls of others’ expectations, Saves The Day have been through a lot over the past two decades: van accidents, lineup changes, and a whirlwind of adventures that carried the band from adolescence to adulthood. “We went through this kind of whirlwind experience with The Get Up Kids, who are still some of my closest friends to this day. It feels like we went to war together,� Conley recalls. “They felt like the cool older brother who didn’t really want you at the party. We joke about that all the time now. We were all just going through it together.

There was Alkaline Trio and

UNDERGROUN

Dashboard Confessional—the Vagrant family; we all went through that together. We were just kids playing guitars. We had no idea [that we’d become famous].�

joy amidst the chaos in the world and a love letter to fans who’ve stuck it out with Conley and his compatriots.

“I write whatever comes to me at a “To be at all included in the lin- gut level. I couldn’t hold back the eage of underground music that feelings [communicated on 9],� he has made a difference or made explains. “It all feels so effortlessly people feel like they belonged is natural. I’m glad to be at this point such a special thing,� he adds. “It in my life. When I get to sing these is awesome that when we came songs up onstage in three months, along, there wasn’t yet that I’ll be able to laugh and rememmainstream momentum. We got ber the way we got through it all.� to be kids. It created a similar experience amongst bands “We’ve worked really hard, and of our ilk, and we were able to we’ve gotten so much better at be ourselves.� writing songs,� Conley says proudly. “Saves The Day is an artist’s band.

Today, Saves The Day’s members We are not a commercial act. We include Conley, guitarist Arun Bali, make cool records and cool songs. bassist Rodrigo Palma, and drum- It’s not going to reinvent the wheel, mer Dennis Wilson—the band’s but there is something important most consistent lineup to date. and special about it. I’m incredibly With considerable assistance from grateful that I’ve been gifted this this stability, 9 resonates as a cel- long career and that I’ve been ebratory record about allowing able to dedicate myself to my craft oneself to experience and art.â€? đ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Ł

D MUSIC THAT

HAS MADE A

NEW NOISE

41

HAEL PEMENTEL RIST CLAUDIO SANCHEZ BY MIC ITA /GU IST CAL VO H WIT W INTERVIE

42 NEW NOISE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACKI VITETTA

“I’VE ALWAYS ENJOYED BEING ENTERTAINED AND I JUST WANTED TO HAVE ONE OF MY OWN.� oheed And Cambria have had one hell of a ride to say the least, and it’s astonishing to see how far they’ve come since their debut record, The Second Stage Turbine Blade, was released in 2002.

C

In the 16 years since, the New York progressive rock act have taken listeners on epic fantasy adventures. Their output has consistently followed the story of “The Amory Wars,� except for their 2015 LP, The Color Before the Sun, their first departure from the concept album format. The science-fiction thriller has also made its way into comic books, further enhancing the music.

codename Sister Spider—and their vindictive “third-wheel,�

Colossus. The story starts in a planetary prison called “The Dark Sentencer,� which, fittingly, names the second track of the album, following the opener, “Prologue.� Nostrand and Nia have been apart for years due to the machinations of the mon-

of five parts, it will introduce folks to new characters throughout its 15 tracks, but while it’s a new tale, Sanchez insists that the record is still easily accessible. He states that new Coheed listeners can “absolutely� go into the record without knowing previous elements of “The Amory Wars� and adds, “I believe that’s true for any of the Coheed albums.

“Inspiration,�

Sanchez shares, “can appear in many odd forms, in so many random moments that it’s hard to determine what one instance acts as the seed for creating this stuff. I am certainly a product of my influences, and they can help guide me around certain roadblocks here and there, but mostly, it’s hours of contemplation, cataloging notes and music that help define the story’s identity. That feels like the most important [thing] to me before committing to a final idea.�

The protagonists of The Unheavenly Creatures are star-crossed lovers turned bank robbers— Nostrand, aka Creature, and Nia,

As a lyricist and comic book writer, Sanchez finds that his two styles of writing are compatible with one another. Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures presents progressive scales of epic melodies, and Sanchez’s words echo out in waves of emotion. Tapping into his artistry, he weaves story into music, allowing the former to flow naturally alongside the instrumentation. “Mostly, with ‘Amory Wars,’ at least,� he says, “there’s a symbiotic relationship between the two mediums.

They both have the power to inform each other. Music is usually the initial approach, helping to invoke a mental picture of a moment, a visual that can be transformed into words and give actions to the players involved. But, other times, personal experience or an event can help mold those actions, influencing the approach to the sound of the music.�

This intertwining of music and fantasy is all thanks to Coheed And Cambria vocalist and guitarist Claudio Sanchez. He is responsible for creating “The Amory Wars� story, guiding it through the band’s compositions and the pages of his comics. Sanchez is a dedicated craftsman of the written word, a writer who has found that balance between utilizing artistic influences and relying on discipline.

On Oct. 5, Sanchez and crew presented the newest addition to the Coheed And Cambria “Amory Wars� story in Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures, out via Roadrunner Records. Alongside the standard-format record, they offer a deluxe edition that comes with an illustrated novella of the story.

with preexisting material, as this album is setting the stage for something new that will reveal its connection to the overall arc of ‘The Amory Wars’ in later records and stories.�

strous Colossus—except they’re not as far apart as they think. Nia is now known as The Glass Widow, the prison’s reluctant executioner, while Nostrand is nearing his own execution. Despite the very different places in which they’ve ended up, they may be each other’s only hope.

The Unheavenly Creatures is the beginning of a whole new story arc in “The Amory Wars.� As the first

Stories aside, the band’s name suggests the unification of two people, so naturally, the universal themes that go with that idea resonate throughout our music.� “I think most people are longing to be received by someone, and our songs are made to speak to those people,� he continues. “That said, those willing to participate in The Unheavenly Creatures concept will not need to familiarize themselves

In their existence as a band thus far, Coheed And Cambria have dared to do something extravagant.

Rather than merely cramming in as many notes as possible, they tell a story—and not just slices of life, but a real epic. Through his work with Coheed and his comics, Sanchez is 20 years into this journey. It’s a remarkable achievement for any storyteller, and Sanchez is a testament to the power of those who dream of sharing stories as wild as they are wondrous. His words embody both the personal and the fanciful, coming together to bring listeners around the world on journeys filled with spaceships, magic, and discovery.

Speaking to his inspiration and drive to write, Sanchez shares, “I think it’s my inner kid. I’ve always enjoyed being entertained in these sorts of otherworldly settings, and I just wanted to have one of my own.

At the root of it, it’s fun; that’s what keeps me doing it. These, and all my characters, are an extension of my strengths, fears, and desires. I put them out there [hoping] to entertain and inspire.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

NEW NOISE 43

PHOTO BY ZOE DILLMAN

C R O O K E D

INTERVIEW WITH RONAN CRIX, DUNCAN STEWART, AND JAMES FISHER BY RENALDO MATADEEN

asement are a five-piece

Ipswich in Suffolk, EnB from gland, who have long paid

homage to bands such as Nirvana, Deftones, and Cave In. Recently, they switched it up from their signature ’90s grunge sound to something more melodic. Going from the heavy Colourmeinkindness in 2012 to the softer Promise Everything four years later felt like a drastic change, but as Beside Myself—their fourth full-length and second with Fueled

By Ramen, out Oct. 12—indicates, they’re serving fans a reminder that the fires of old are still burning. “I think everything we’ve done has been totally natural and organic,� drummer James Fisher says. “The change isn’t a conscious decision.

When we get together and write music, it’s just what we produce.

I feel like time goes on and the meanings of songs change. It’s never like, ‘We want more catchy songs,’ or anything. I do feel like we still got some of the old heavier bits in addition to the melodic parts and catchy choruses.�

This approach is quite fitting given the album’s focus on diverging paths. “It’s all about self-reflection

44 NEW NOISE

and being very aware of the choices you’re making in life and seeing where its paths go—maybe you’re not happy with some of them, but you’re so powerless to stop yourself,� guitarist Ronan Crix explains. “It’s pretty in-depth, and there are lots of reasons why we called it Beside Myself, but those are the main themes: insecurity, self-reflection, and being taken down paths you’re not sure you’re happy with.�

While there are nostalgic tones in Beside Myself, make no mistake: the record focuses on new roads ahead.

This is exemplified by Basement’s choice to switch from working with the producer of their last two fulllengths, Sam Pura, to collaborate with Colin Brittain, who has worked with Dashboard Confessional, Papa Roach, and All Time Low. “Working with Colin was a pleasure. He connected to our vibe and was very positive,� bassist Duncan Stewart reveals, his enthusiasm obvious. “He wanted to really work with us, and he let us do what we wanted to do but still lent us his abilities as a producer, songwriter, and percussionist. That was really integral to making the

P A T H S

“IT’S ALL ABOUT SELF-REFLECTION CHOICES YOU’RE MAKING IN LIFE MAYBE YOU’RE NOT HAPPY WITH POWERLESS TO STOP YOURSELF.� album what it is. Every day, we all felt going to the studio was a positive experience, and one which was really fun.�

Which tracks on Beside Myself should fans most look forward to? “The two that stand out for me— just because they’re not heavy, they’re different from anything we’ve played before—are ‘Ultraviolet’ and ‘New Coast.’ They’re just interesting, mature-sounding songs, and I feel like we really let loose when writing them,� Crix says, pride evident in his every word. “We didn’t have any rules; we just went for it. We took a risk, and those two songs are the ones that I’m most proud of in terms of what we’ve ever written.�

It’s a writing process Basement have taken to, and it all comes down to one main factor. “More than ever before, we had a decent amount of time in the studio,� Fisher confesses, highlighting how the band adapted to their Los Angeles sessions. “It was a comfortable environment where we could explore all possible avenues until we got the songs we wanted and which we were really happy with—something which we didn’t quite get to before.�

Ultimately, the consensus is that Beside Myself isn’t just another album Basement recorded; it is a new experience and a new chapter in the band’s evolution—as music-makers, friends, and, above all, as a family.đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

info and pre-order at fatwreck.com

NEW NOISE

45

“I DON’T HAVE TO AGREE WITH THE WORDS BANDS ARE THROWING AT ME, BUT AT LEAST IT WILL GET ME TO THINK AND FEEL, AND THAT’S THE BEAUTY OF HARDCORE.”

PHOTO BY JOE CALIXTO

46 NEW NOISE

or more than 15 years, Terror have been standard-bearers of hardcore. They’ve also been one of the most productive bands in the genre, with 20 or so official releases under their collective belt. The Los Angeles-based fivepiece issued their punishing seventh LP, Total Retaliation, through Pure Noise Records on Sept. 28.

F

Vocalist and founder Scott Vogel seems pleasantly surprised by Terror’s longevity. “It’s pretty fucking crazy how long we’ve actually been around at this point,� he says. “Any band I was in before Terror came and went so fast, so I’m not really sure how this thing has stayed together for so long.�

with,� Vogel says. “We aren’t afraid to explore new places and still have that youthful spirit from the early days of the band.�

Vogel didn’t have to look far for lyrical inspiration on Total Retaliation. “I wake up and turn on CNN every morning and watch what our nation has become and what people in this world do to each other,� he says, “the greed that runs this world and the sickness of humanity. Stepping out my front door and walking around my neighborhood, watching how people live and treat each other and treat themselves and planet Earth—that’s where I found inspiration.� Vogel doesn’t think musicians should shy away from potentially controversial politics, opining, “I think that’s great when the lyrics are saying something.

I think that is what separates underground music from civilian nonsense: an energy in the music that is backed with words of unrest and change.�

While Terror are undeniably one of the leading voices in hardcore, Vogel is slow to take much credit. “Sometimes I’m not sure what our role is in the scene, and I’m OK with that,� he says. “I am super comfortable with the band we are today and the people we have grown to be. I I love “I don’t have to agree with the words this band, and I’m proud still to be bands are throwing at me,� he clarifies, a part of this band and the scene.� “but at least it will get me to think and According to Vogel, that scene really feel, and that’s the beauty of hardcore.� hasn’t changed much in the last 15 years. “I think, when you get down to Despite the extremely serious nature the root of it, it’s very much the same,� of Terror’s music, they seem to have he explains. “There will always be found the key to not taking themyoung bands playing in small rooms, selves too seriously. Vogel advises, pouring their hearts out through “Stay young at heart, and keep in sound and word to express their joys mind that life is short and you need and pain in this ugly world.� to try to enjoy the time you have here on Earth.� He confirms, “Of course “The hardcore scene and all its beauty this band is serious to us, but it is also is still very much alive and well,� he a vehicle to stay young and remain adds. “Of course, things evolve and against the grain.� change, and with so many years passing, the world grows and technology Terror are a band who must be seen comes into play, but at the roots, the live to truly be appreciated. They scene is very much the same.� once again hit the road in September and October, bringing along a When it came time to make Total strong supporting cast with Harm’s Retaliation, the thought process was Way, Backtrack, and Year Of The simple. “We just set out to make the Knife. “Every day on tour is as good hardest-hitting, most impactful Ter- or bad as you make it, and I’m at that ror album we could,� Vogel says. “The place in life where I keep my head in record is dark and ugly and comes a positive place,� Vogel reports. Terror from a place of disgust and anger. are known for their violent and chaotic There isn’t too much that’s pretty live shows, and Vogel is known for his about the new record.� He then notes, stagediving and crowd surfing. “I have “I think, at this point, people know what realized I’m not in my 20s anymore,� he they are getting when it comes to a Ter- admits, “but at the same time, I’m never ror record or live show. We have always going to act my age.� stayed the course and are the same people on and offstage. There is no Hardcore has reached a ripe old gimmick with us. We never let the highs age, and many of its greatest bands go to our head and still love to play the have been around for 30 to 35 years. dirtiest tiny venues we can find.�

Vogel can’t say with certainty if that will be the case for Terror, preferring Total Retaliation is a relentless audito- to leave things open-ended. “Who ry assault, but Terror have no prob- fucking knows?â€? he concludes. “This lem with throwing in the occasional wild ride we have been on for all twist. “Terror isn’t afraid to step out- these years doesn’t seem to really side our comfort zone when it comes slow down or let up, so who fucking to songwriting or the bands we play knows?â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

NEW NOISE 47

TITANS OF INDUSTRIAL

AUTHOR & PUNISHER

INTERVIEW WITH TRISTAN SHONE BY MIKE GAWORECKI

ristan Shone—the composer and mechanical engineer behind industrial-doom project Author & Punisher—says that Beastland is his most aggressive and dynamic album yet.

PHOTO BY JOE CALIXTO

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In part, Shone credits the sound he achieves on his sixth full-length to the new “drone machines� he built, which are lighter and nimbler than past iterations, allowing him to traverse sonic territory that would have been nearly impossible with his previous rig. Due out Oct. 5, Beastland will be the first Author & Punisher release on Relapse Records.

Anyone who has seen a performance by Author & Punisher already has an idea of what the hell “drone machines� are, but for the uninitiated: When Shone takes the stage, he becomes something of a cyborg, triggering crushing industrial beats and harsh noise via a number of precision-made aluminum-and-steel constructs that he calls “interactive sculpture.� “These things take a long time to build,� Shone says, so he typically does a few albums with each set. The bigger machines he started building around 2005’s The Painted Army were used through 2010’s Drone Machines, then he built new ones, which he used until 2015’s Melk En Honing.

In the past, Shone’s drone machines were so The machines don’t actually make any noise themselves, of course. They’re purely control- heavy and, thus, physically demanding to perform with that they were partly responsible lers for the rack-mounted synths Shone uses for the droning sound heard on earlier albums. to craft his noise-laden industrial metal. That However, he wants to be able to play everything places him squarely in the middle of a raging debate he characterizes as “this idea of con- from his albums in the live setting without having to automate it all. “I’ve basically made extentrollerism versus analog synths,� one that has sions of these synths that are very physical and been “creeping around in the hipster synth have a lot of weight to them,� Shone explains. world.� Simply put, some analog synth purists frown on controllers. Shone is having none “They’re not steampunk; they’re not meant to look heavy, they actually are heavy. They’re like of it. “At some point, the modular and the haptic interfaces. [When] the instruments were analog synth world is going to have to face heavy, there was a lot of weight and inertia the fact that they have to build controllers [and] I couldn’t play very fast rhythms—at least for their instruments,� he says, “because you live. On the albums, you can program stuff, but can’t just be pressing buttons and twiddling when you gotta perform live with these heavy little knobs onstage. It’s not a meaningful instruments, you couldn’t do that.� form of interaction with an instrument.�

As the years and albums have gone by, the machines have gotten smaller and smaller. “I wanted to play more dynamic stuff and play more intricate beats and hit pitches a little bit closer than in the past, maybe a little less dissonant,� Shone says. “I used to have a lot more drone and a lot more space between songs, but [Beastland] is just angry and a lot more aggressive, with constant rhythms going. It’s probably the most aggressive set I’ve had; there’s not a lot of drone.�

The machines Shone built for Beastland may have opened up new ways of creating his industrial soundscapes, but they are still taxing to play. “Even playing this stuff live, I can do about 45 minutes, and I’m thrashed

at the end of it,� he says. “But it’s fun in that way. It kind of fucks me up.�

While the new machines were a response to Shone’s internal desire to take his sound in a new direction, the lyrical theme of the album is very much outward-looking. “I think a lot of my lyrics tend to be a bit abstract, and for me, the idea of ‘Beastland’ was different beasts that I think have been preying on weaker subjects, in the U.S. or wherever,â€? he says. “This rise of nationalism, fascism, that takes different forms: corporate beasts or political beasts, just different individuals in society who basically take advantage of weaker people. That’s nothing new right now. Everyone’s feeling the same thing.â€? đ&#x;’Ł

INTERVIEW WITH BASSIST TORSTEIN PARELIUS BY NICHOLAS SENIOR here is a subtle but distinct sepa- “We really wanted to dig deeper and go darker on this album too,� he continues. ration between the strange and the absurd, and Norwegian exper- “Demons and devils seem to get a lot of attention, but for me, topics like, for example, imental act MANES embrace the former and abuse, alcoholism, and cancer take things to the latter in different ways. Their unique mix of styles—metal, trip hop, industrial, synth- a darker place altogether. We wanted and needed that level of darkness on this album.� pop—never sounds obtuse, and their first record after their four-year hiatus reveals a This musical darkness weaves itself wonderwillful embrace of the absurdity of life. fully into an acceptance of life’s absurdity— Slow Motion Death Sequence—released Aug. and, for Parelius, a certain pointlessness.

24 via Debemur Morti Productions—is majes- “Slow Motion Death Sequence is an album that lets you tap into a chain of thought, a tic, morose, beautiful, and a wonderful way different kind of feeling that you might not to remind listeners of one of the most unique have dared to experience before,â€? he says. voices in dark art rock. “We never aim to ‘be weird,’â€? bassist Torstein Parelius explains. “We “I fully endorse those who dare to ask, ‘What awaits us in the afterlife?’ and ‘Is there a are four people who each have a bag full of influences and sources of inspiration gath- God?’ and similar big questions. However, I feel it is equally important to allow yourself ered through a lifetime, and we combine that to dive into the possibility of no meaning with a plethora of instruments and machines whatsoever, no afterlife, and no god.â€? đ&#x;’Ł that go ‘beep.’ That is the basic formula.â€?

T

48 NEW NOISE

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ALL GET OUT OUT OUT

felt, in the life of this moniker, that this is what comes next: a rock record,� says All Get Out vocalist and guitarist Nathan Hussey.

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�

At this point, Hussey is the only original member, and the foundation of the band has focused in on his songwriting.

INTERVIEW WITH NATHAN HUSSEY AND KYLE SAMUEL BY CAMERON CARR

He’s referring to No Bouquet, the “It was terrifying feeling like you’re one characterized All Get Out’s earlier “I used these shows and [other things] South Carolina band’s third album, fourth of a band, and then, you don’t work. Instead of studio maneuvering to kind of trick myself into writing out Nov. 2 on Equal Vision Records. have a band anymore,â€? Hussey says. to accomplish the blown-up sound, about real things,â€? Hussey says. “It It’s an interesting statement given that “Then, you decide to try to make anoth- No Bouquet takes the feel of a live starts out as fiction, and you kind of All Get Out have always been a rock er record. It was with great relief that band and pushes everything to the weave yourself into it without even front, making it perhaps the band’s trying.â€? band. When the group appeared I realized, ‘OK, the songwriting is me.’â€? best representation yet of their heavy with their debut LP, 2011’s The Season, they arrived in a fire of distorted gui- On No Bouquet, All Get Out expanded performances. Where there once The lyrics for No Bouquet came tars, slammed drums, and voices at to include guitarist Kyle Samuel, a was a multitude of guitars, now two late in the process. Hussey and the edge of their limits. It was an emo touring member for roughly three guitars sit loudly in their place. Where Samuel went through the demoing alt-rock accomplishment of towering years. Samuel and Hussey were then Hussey once utilized vocal doubling process first, working out the best proportions, the kind of thoughtful yet joined in studio by Dominic Nastasi on and octave harmonies to strengthen arrangements and structures they unrelenting guitar rock that’s made drums. Despite the significant divide a melody, now his lone voice carries could before any lyrical ideas came into the picture. As a result, Hussey Manchester Orchestra so successful. in people and time that separates it all. found himself occasionally pulling the early incarnation of All Get Out Except The Season didn’t reach those from their current form, the band are “We’re really proud of this record as from Samuel’s guitar melodies to massive heights. Following a modest much the same. The guitar muscle a document,â€? Samuel says. “This is All create vocal lines—a fitting representation of the band reimagined reception of the album, All Get Out and dramatic lyrical storytelling that Get Out.â€? and refocused around this new dwindled into silence. During that work together to form dynamic arThe lyrical content marks the most lineup. There’s not a preconceived downtime, the record started to gain rangements remain key to the songs. notable difference from past All notion about what All Get Out have popularity, bordering on a cult-like appreciation, but it would take five Still, Hussey isn’t wrong to refer to No Get Out releases. For the first time, to be or who can contribute; this is years and some significant lineup Bouquet as the band’s rock record. Hussey opened up to more romantic new territory. changes for the band to present an- He and Samuel made the decision sentiments—see lead single “However other full-length, 2016’s Nobody Likes early on to approach the songs from Longâ€?—but he also took heavy inspi- “We’re just trying to write the best song a Quitter, which was produced and a more live perspective, forgoing ration from stories in sci-fi TV shows possible every time we do something,â€? cowritten with Manchester Orches- synthesizers and even the layers before reworking the songs into more Samuel says. “We kind of give our ego to that.â€? đ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Ł tra’s Andy Hull and Robert McDowell. of guitars and doubled vocals that personal narratives.

50 NEW NOISE

NEW NOISE 51

LAURA JANE GRACE & THE DEVOURING MOTHERS Runnin’ Down a Dream INTERVIEW WITH LAURA JANE GRACE BY JOHN B. MOORE

L

aura Jane Grace has a strong connection to the late Tom Petty.

Petty’s 1989 debut solo album, Full Moon Fever, was the first record she ever bought, and, maybe more importantly, the two share a common hometown in Gainesville, Florida.

When Grace started writing her own debut solo LP not long after her musical hero died, it was obvious that Petty’s influence would eventually seep into the material—but a serendipitous purchase years before played perhaps an even bigger role in their connection. “I was sitting at home playing on this old Fender Jaguar that I don’t usually play on because it’s an antique and it’s a really nice guitar made in the ’60s,� Grace says. “I was playing along to Tom Petty, and I was thinking, ‘This guitar sounds so good it could have been on one of these Petty albums.’ Then, it hit me: ‘Oh, fuck! I bought this guitar off of Stan Lynch, [the drummer] from The Heartbreakers, when I was still living in Gainesville.�

As she was writing what would be-

52 NEW NOISE

come Bought to Rot, the first album from Laura Jane Grace & The Devouring Mothers, Grace built up a story in her head around this guitar. It was pristine when she bought it, and it had been resting untouched in a case for years. “I had it in my head that this guitar was just sitting in the studio, surrounded

by The Heartbreakers as they were making these records, and because it was the drummer’s guitar, nobody ever used it,� she explains. “It was just sitting there saying, ‘Hey, guys, put me on the record. Come play me.’ This was the guitar’s chance to be on a record and get out there. So, that was the guitar I used for everything on this record. I also used an amp that I bought from Stan Lynch.�

Chicago-based punk country label Bloodshot Records will put out the record on Nov. 9.

PHOTO BY BRYCE_MATA

one felt really excited about it, so it was up to me to get excited about it and to make it happen. So, I made it happen.�

Grace says the timing seemed right Coincidentally, the timing of Bought for a solo record, with Against Me! to Rot’s release comes on an unexcoming off a long tour cycle and pected anniversary. experiencing changes in their lineup.

Bassist Inge Johansson was leaving “Looking at it after the fact, I realized the group and former bassist Andrew it’s been 10 years since I did that Seward was rejoining the band after Heart Burns EP when I was on Warner,� walking away in 2013.

Grace says, referencing her first and only solo effort until now, “and 10 “I guess, in earnest, I got the idea in years before that, I started Against my head for this record about a year Me! So, maybe, every 10 years, I need ago, where I’m like, ‘I’m gonna do to do a little something out of my this,’ and I started talking about it,â€? comfort zone.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł Grace says. “We knew we were taking a little bit of a break and that we were going to have to regroup, but we were also figuring out what we were going to do as a band label-wise, because we were kind of done with our own label model.â€?

Much like Full Moon Fever featured Petty branching out with new sounds and emotions, Bought to Rot finds Grace taking chances and flexing “We were starting to talk to labels, and new creative muscles. She is joined everyone we talked to, I said, ‘I kind of on the record by longtime Against want to do a solo record before the Me! drummer Atom Willard and next Against Me! record,’� she continMarc Jacob Hudson, a bassist and ues. “I had this urge, and I felt like peosound engineer for the band. Iconic ple weren’t taking it very seriously. No

e have five raccoons out here that we feed every day,�

Danny Kiranos says. “They come into the house now and all that.

It’s amazing. Well, two of them do; two of them feel comfortable. Kevin is the main one.�

�

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HYMNS FOR THE HOPELESS

PHOTO BY AMBER JAMES

Kiranos, the jovial human counterpart of the wild-eyed murderfolk demon known as Amigo The Devil, notes several times that he lives “in the middle of nowhere.� Originally from Florida, he has settled in Spicewood, Texas: the land of Willie Nelson and a landscape more befitting of his banjo-driven, outlaw-country proclivities. So, he lives in good-time country? “Basically, yeah,� he confirms. “We have one bar next to us in our town. It’s called Poodies. Whatever you imagine it to look like, that’s what it looks like.�

AMIGO THE DEVIL

Kiranos may reside in good-time country, but Amigo The Devil’s romantically sinister folk tunes are devoted to chronicling the bad times. His first three EPs—2010’s Manimals, 2013’s Diggers, and 2015’s Decompositions, INTERVIEW WITH DANNY KIRANOS BY KELLEY O’DEATH which were combined with several unreleased tracks to form an LP, Volume 1—scrutinize the world through a pair think, on a very obvious human scale, of carmine-colored glasses, capturing most extreme measures,â€? he explains. “It was a very hard turn for me, because the most mundane human fears and “Granted, I’ve obviously struggled with I wasn’t used to it, so I didn’t know if I things are pretty shit right now in terms was doing it correctly,â€? Kiranos says of people having empathy,â€? he says. desires from the perspectives of infa- people thinking I’m glorifying serial killers, and that’s always gonna hap- of writing more personal songs. “The mous serial killers. pen, but all I’ve ever tried to do is take first thought that crossed my mind was, “For once, I wanted to kind of allow people to believe that it’s OK to feel Amigo The Devil’s new album, Ev- the most extreme measure—’cause ‘Who cares? Who’s gonna care? No one bad and it’s OK to feel like shit and erything Is Fine—out Oct. 19 via everything happens on a spectrum, cares about how I feel, because it’s Regime Music Group—is slightly less a line, and what you may consider not anybody else’s problem how I feel.’ it’s OK to not be at your best at all times,â€? Kiranos expounds. “That’s not blood-spattered than his previous a problem isn’t a problem at all for Then, it was something that became output, bringing his own internal someone else down the line. You just a little bit more natural to do as I was a problem. It doesn’t mean anything’s writing the songs. [‌] It’s something broken. It’s a rough patch, but hopestruggles into vulnerable focus with- take the furthest example of that line out quite so much homicidal window and apply it to everyday life, and that felt good to get out there, but fully, it’s solvable. There’s hope there dressing. Community and connectivity you realize everyone is just kind of my biggest fear is that I don’t want somewhere, I guess. It’s real hard to have been a cornerstone of the Amigo the same, just on a different side of people to consider it a record about find sometimes, but it’s there.â€? me. I hope anybody who listens to it The Devil fellowship since its inception, that line.â€? applies it to however they’re feeling Kiranos will once again bask in the but while the singer-songwriter’s earlier work hinged on recognizing the hu- Songs like “Edmund Temperâ€? and or whatever they need to hear from it, glow of community when Amigo The Devil heads out on tour with Harley manity in individuals most people see “The Dreamerâ€?—which is baby-mak- as opposed to taking it as: ‘Damn, this ing music told from the perspective guy’s sad.’â€?

Poe starting Oct. 13. “It’s a really as inhuman monsters, the Everything Is strange feeling, but I’m really happy Fine era finds Kiranos making radical of Wisconsin-born arts and crafts empathy his explicit mission statement. fanatic Ed Gein—may beg sympathy Everything Is Fine is a deeply personal that there’s a group of us who feel for the devil, but more introspective record, but Kiranos admits that the similar to some degree,â€? he says of the “A lot of the first songs—even songs cuts like “Cocaine and Abelâ€? and “Ev- horrors of our current sociopolitical project’s devout fanbase. “It’s clear that didn’t get recorded—I think a eryone Gets Left Behindâ€? chart Amigo climate “absolutely did affect a lot of that somebody else feels the way I felt writing those songs, and that’s a crazy lot of that was about humanizing re- The Devil’s efforts to afford himself it,â€? especially informing his desire to the same kindness. push back against dehumanization. “I feeling—to not feel alone.â€?đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł al-life, everyday problems using the

JUSTUS PROFFIT/JAY SOM

BY KELLEY O’DEATH

fter the release of her 2017 debut LP, Everybody Works, Jay Som’s Melina Duterte left the Bay behind to hang her hat in Los Angeles.

There, she encountered an unexpected welcome wagon in the form of L.A.-based singer-songwriter Justus Proffit, who extended a casual invitation to get together and jam. Their melodic chemistry was undeniable, and on Sept. 28, the duo released their debut EP, Nothing’s Changed, via Polyvinyl Records.

A

54 NEW NOISE

The EP’s five tracks distill a mĂŠlange of garage rock, country, and art-pop influences into a heaping helping of musical comfort food. “Neil Young, Crosby, Stills, and Nash are big influences to me,â€?

Proffit says. “I don’t consider myself a big country head, more of an Americana or just singer-songwriter fan. If a song has a sweet pop hook, then I’m all about it. I think Melina and I were looking to make predictable yet interesting music in each song on this EP.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

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BESIDE MYSELF THE NEW ALBUM FEAT. ‘DISCONNECT’

AVAILABLE OCTOBER 12

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PHOTO BY GREG JACOBS

OLD SAD SONGS

CHAD PRICE INTERVIEW BY JOSHUA MARANHAS had Price—vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist of ALL, Drag The River, and A Vulture Wake—released a solo album via Joey Cape’s One Week Records on Aug. 21. The tree on the album’s cover gives vision to the recording. It’s a cold walk through a beautiful sonic landscape. His songs fill the air around the trunk with crisp, dark, and meaningful thoughts. His feelings float through the branches. His words and music are an early-morning rise in the country, a walk in the forest. They are distant, moving away, but how far away? To the moon or to outer space? He finds his songs in inner space, the space in his head.

C

“Some people will take their guitar and go hang out at the beach or the woods. I’m not really like that,� Price says. “I lock myself in a room in the basement. I like to be totally in my head, not let any outside factors get in the way.�

Price is a fan of David Gilmour and Roger Waters’ work on The Dark Side of the Moon and channeled that energy into writing these songs. “I kind of had a lot of stuff mapped out,� he says. “I wanted [a] full band. I’m a huge Pink Floyd fan. I wanted to get this kind of space that Pink Floyd has a lot of the time.�

track, “House I Died In,� he explains, “Just as far as songwriting, the craft, I may have slightly stepped up my game for that song. I don’t know where it came from. I remember seeing some line I wrote down: ‘You built the house I died in.’ I had that around for a while. I like the sound. I like the feel. Lines like that are really kind of depressing.�

Price added some great musicians to the process, including Brian Wahlstrom on piano, Dave Barker on drums and pedal steel, and Lief Sjostrom on cello. Price says he stayed out of their creative way. “I would just as soon let these musicians do what they’re good at,� he explains. “I had an idea of what I wanted, but these guys are the pros. I let them do their thing.�

This One Week release was recorded with guest producer Chris Fogal at Black In Bluhm Recording Studio in Denver, rather than the usual setting of Cape’s home studio. Fogal was a great fit. He previously mastered all of the One Week Records releases, and he was close to home for Price, though the singer-songwriter has since moved to Indiana. “I could go home at night, and we didn’t actually have to get it done; we could take our time,� he says.

Emotionally, Price made it to the dark side of the moon with this record. Of the eighth

“Since Chris has a lot to do with One Week Records, I decided to do it that way.�

Price has great latitude within any hemisphere of music. He’s able to articulate the distance from north to south and the feeling of the temperatures in between poles. Sometimes, his music is definitively punk, and other times, he pushes the spatial limits of the punk ethos. He’s a great commander of his ship, though he has a different landing spot than where Pink Floyd settled down 45 years ago. Make no mistake, Price is not recreating, emulating, or echoing; his record is inspired by that space. If his feelings take him off the Earth and into his deepest thinking, the chill in this release is like a trip back to the dark side of the moon to witness Price’s own vision of touchdown. đ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Ł

FAR FROM ANY ROAD LARRY AND HIS FLASK INTERVIEW WITH DRUMMER JAMIN MARSHALL BY JOHN B. MOORE

PHOTO BY BEN MORSE

end, Oregon’s Larry And His Flask were one of the first bands to deftly fuse punk rock and bluegrass, a Frankenstein genre that has been replicated plenty of times over the years but rarely with results as impressive.

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From 2006 through 2013, the band put out one addictively satisfying album after the next—seven in all between full-lengths and

56 NEW NOISE

EPs—but then, they slowed down. Their shows were more sporadic, and it looked for a while like that was it for new music. When asked if he thought they would see a recording studio again, drummer and cofounder Jamin Marshall’s answer is blunt: “Not really, no,� he says.

Mid tour in 2014, the band’s van—along with all their instruments—was stolen, which

contributed to the hiatus. “That’s not something that we consciously thought about at the time,� Marshall says. “However, looking back at it, the stress of that event definitely added to the overall need for a break from the road. It was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back. From that point forward, we knew we needed time off from touring.�

most of the writing. When they have a song fully written and a demo made, we all get together. As we practice the new stuff, we all throw ideas in, and the songs always take on a new flavor. That is the way that we all get to contribute to the songs. It’s the easiest and most productive way that we have found to write nowadays.�

Thankfully, they did find time to work again, and the result is This Remedy, out Oct. 12 on Xtra Mile Recordings.

While there is no denying that this is definitely a Larry And His Flask album, it seems like a big step forward for the band. The music sounds tighter and the songs more inspired. Much of that is due to the band being in a different place personally than when they first started in 2003. “We are all in a much healthier mental place,� Marshall says. “During the By the Lamplight years, we were all working through some pretty difficult times, and being in a moving vehicle together for months and months at a time just made the ice thinner. So, having time to find our own individual identities was paramount in moving forward as a group. We all grew up a lot since then.�

The band had plenty to fill their time during the long break between 2013’s By the Lamplight and this latest offering. “[Vocalist and guitarist] Ian [Cook] and his girlfriend are now raising twins. [Mandolin and trumpet player] Kirk [Skatvold] got married. [Bassist] Jesse [Marshall] is in about 10 different bands and has traveled around the world working with human rights groups,� Marshall says. “[Banjo, trombone, and trumpet player] Andrew [Carew] has been working, writing music, and playing in a side band with Kirk and Ian called Woebegone. I was living in the Caribbean on a tiny island, taking drunk tourists on snorkel and sailing trips.�

Slowly, between setting up in new locales and starting families, the band began work on what would eventually become This Remedy. “All of the guys except me live in Oregon,� Marshall explains. “Ian and Andrew do

There is also significance in the album’s title. “This album is a fresh start, a rebirth, and a remedy for the band,� he adds. “It comes from a place of happiness and optimism.

Whereas in the past, the songs were somewhat less personal and told sad stories, This Remedy is all about moving forward with a positive mental attitude.â€? đ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Ł

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PHOTO BY JOE CALIXTO

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST BARRY JOHNSON BY YONG LOS orrance, California, is tucked away along the state’s lower knuckle, a mere stone’s throw from the western edge of the United States. Despite lacking the West Coast charm of some of their hometown’s neighboring cities, Torrance sons Joyce Manor managed to rise from the dirt. The band’s fifth studio album, Million Dollars To Kill Me, was released on Sept. 21 via Epitaph Records. The album balances the same energy and charm that have become the band’s signature while bringing some dynamic new elements to their sound.

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Joyce Manor emerged from Torrance in 2008. Vocalist and guitarist Barry Johnson started the band after attending house shows in Long Beach, a college town just off the coast. The house show scene in the area did remarkably well, even if it was simply an excuse for students to throw crazy parties, but according to Johnson, the “artsy noise� bands didn’t inspire the room to let loose. “I was kind of like, ‘This sucks! Let’s start a fun band that can play these parties,’� Johnson recalls. As a result, he decided to start a project with a little more energy that people could sing and drink along to.

Five albums later, Joyce Manor find themselves at the top of the alternative and emo scenes. The band’s music combines sweet melodies and intricate chord progressions with lyrics that jab at your gut. Across their discography, Joyce Manor have encapsulated the highs and lows of being human, and with Million Dollars To Kill Me, they don’t skip a beat.

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The album’s title comes from a video wherein legendary drummer Travis Barker talks about the traumatic plane crash that almost took his life in 2008. In the video, Barker describes the physical and emotional pain the ordeal put him through, which led him to offer a friend one million dollars to kill him. This thought stuck with Johnson as he started writing, influencing the record’s overall themes and tone. “It’s just really cool. Like, ‘a million dollars’ just sounds really fun, and ‘to kill me’ is just, like, damn—it’s so brutal,� Johnson explains. “It’s an up and a down, and that’s kinda what I try to do with the band. It’s this really fun and celebratory band, but it’s pretty depressive too in that it’s defeatist and miserablist and misanthropic. It just worked.�

As Joyce Manor have evolved over the years, one of the things that has stayed consistent is their songwriting. The imagery and emotions conveyed shine because of how they interact with the music. For Johnson, the music and lyrics influence each other. “I never know what the fuck I’m writing about when I’m writing. I know kind of how I want the words to sound, like what kind of vowels I want there to be,� he explains. “It’s like collaging. It speaks to me in that it’s kind of telling of what I’m going through, but I’m not really that aware of it at the time.�

Johnson’s ear for lyrics gives Joyce Manor’s songs that personal touch. Writing music provides the band an opportunity to not only express themselves and connect with others but also to measure personal growth. After revisiting their early discography, Johnson found the lyrics radiated with anger. “There was just more violence in my lyrics when I was younger,� he says. “It still feels good to sing those songs, [and] it felt good to write them, but it feels nice to have grown and not still be dwelling on that.�

The album was recorded at GodCity Studios in Salem, Massachusetts, where the band worked with Kurt Ballou of Converge. While the record retains much of the bold energy they’ve be- Joyce Manor have allowed themselves to come known for, there are also hints of change and evolve naturally over the years, different colors and flavors stirred in. both as musicians and individuals. Despite Johnson credits Ballou for opening the their many successes and pitfalls, they havband up to experimentation, bringing in en’t lost sight of what this all means to them. subtle ambient tones that float beneath “I wanted to start a band because it sounded the ensemble. fun to drink Four Lokos and act stupid and jump around,â€? Johnson says. “That’s what I’m interested in.â€?đ&#x;’Ł

KINDLON PATRICK H IT W W RINGTON INTERVIE PHER J. HAR

BY CHRISTO

PHOTO BY MICHAEL THORN

f you’re searching for some depth in Albany, New York, punk band Drug Church’s newest record, Cheer—due out Nov. 2 via Pure Noise Records—try not to break your mind doing so. Let the album just be: feel it and hear it. This is rock ’n’ roll, man.

I

“We’re not that methodological, really,� vocalist Patrick Kindlon weighs. “This is just a lot of fun.�

Drug Church’s unique amalgamation of hardcore and alt-rock gets a shot of Cali-pop on Cheer, a record that thrashes when it needs to but mostly resurrects ’90s singalong mind-expansion—and that’s its beauty: the realization that songs can be about joy and remembrance and rage. Cheer intertwines the expression of both forms, switching to straight fury just when you’re riding out to swinging bliss. “Honestly, I’d probably prefer it to be more on the hardcore and aggressive side more often than not,� Kindlon says, “but if the material is good, I’m into it. And these guys came up with great stuff.�

Cheer is remarkably even. It’s something you want turning up on your

iPod shuffle over and over again. of deeper meaning pass by, but you Cheer is about Drug Church finding Pop has its infectious quality, and mostly just bop and feel. their true form within themselves. hardcore has its transcendental There is no hiding behind percepbluntness, but together, the two “It was a little different on Cheer,� Kind- tion; the art is first and foremost. Huopposing forms—when done well— lon says. “I had the songs with me for a mor, color, and volatile exchange are like water slipping past rocks, little bit beforehand, going back and burn through the sunny breezes, the smooth and effortless. That’s forth a little bit, but for the most part, pace ironic and loose. Kindlon is as Cheer: a loose-sounding, confi- it was the same take. It’s a nontradi- paradoxical as ever, a shadow, a dent motion. tional way to go, for sure, but that’s pleasant prophet. how I do it. I mean, I could be sitting “It was the least stressful album to on my carpet with no deadlines at “We’ve found our own voice,� he says. make as a band,� Kindlon explains. all and I couldn’t generate anything, “We had enough resources, and we nothing at all.�

And you can hear it. đ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Ł had enough time in the studio. It was cool. It was the right amount of presPHOTO BY JACKI VITETTA sure, and we really felt it.â€?

Kindlon is known for his “create on the spot� lyrical process, churning out lyrics to whole albums right there in the studio. There’s realness and truth to this approach, and the songs on Cheer feel honest, even when they’re mind-numbingly ironic.

That irony, though, is part of what makes the vocalist’s particular spin successful. The spontaneity overrides the falseness of planning as it pertains to the creative process. As a listener, you hear the music first—thinking is superfluous. Cheer just plays. Shards

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e figured people wanted to hear the same political, abrasive type of stuff, and I just wasn’t in the place to write about that this time around,� says Christina Michelle, vocalist of the Florida-based hardcore band Gouge Away.

“We definitely wanted to expand and change it up a bit,� Michelle confirms. “‘Ghost’ was actually the second song that we wrote for this record, and it was one of those where we were like, ‘I don’t know if we went too far.

Like, I don’t know if this is gonna make it on there.’ We were kinda nervous it was too different, but The band’s second album, Burnt it was just a song that we really, Sugar—released Sept. 28—is really liked, and we were like, their Deathwish Inc. debut, but ‘No, we just have to keep it.’� the record label backing the band isn’t the only new thing The single is slower than some about them. Since their 2016 de- of the band’s other songs, yet it but release, , Dies, Gouge Away is undeniably heavy. It manages have shifted one member from to be something completely drums to guitar and added two different while still sounding like new members. After the lineup Gouge Away—a seamless evoluwas solidified, they decided tion for the hardcore band. where they wanted to go, both musically and lyrically.

Gouge Away also went in a new direction lyrically: their previous “We evolved a lot in terms of album was more political, while member changes,� Michelle says, this one is more personal. On “but we just talk about music so much and knew that we wanted to do something different with this record, so we really focused on that.� "

W

Burnt Sugar, Michelle opens up about deep personal issues like mental health. She says that in order to talk about these things, she needed to rethink previous perceptions she had of what the band were supposed to be.

She also notes that in the past, she wanted music to feel more poignant and impactful, but in writing this record, she realized that subjects like mental health are critical too. “When I was younger, I really wanted hardcore to be about something important and something that I could learn from,�

Michelle says. “I don’t know—I had my own perception of what we’re supposed to be that I had to erase as well. But because of that, I did realize that talking about this stuff was important in its own way.�

In October, Gouge Away will take Burnt Sugar on the road, hitting the East Coast, U.K., and the Groezrock festival in Belgium before heading to the West Coast and circling back across the U.S. in November and early December. đ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Ł

Gouge Away’s recent single, “Ghost,� is a good example of their ability to venture into new musical territory without alienating their fans.

N SILVA ELLE BY JOH TINA MICH IS R H C T S LI WITH VOCA INTERVIEW

PHOTO BY JOE CALIXTO

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

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PHOTO BY ZOE DILLMAN

ail The Sun are a group who aspire to be more and more with each release, to the point that their own creativity is centered in the dialogue on their newest album, Mental Knife.

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“We are addicted to staying busy and staying creative,� vocalist and drummer Donovan Melero explains. “It’s just in our nature. It is very hard to stay still.�

catharsis through a multitude of upheavals, ending with a statement about living for the now delivered via urgent yells from Melero.

vocal prowess. While at Soundwave Studios preparing for their tour with CHON, guitarist Aric Garcia began playing a riff that put Melero in a reflective state.

“With lyrics and vocal melodies, I want to evoke any type of emotion out of someone. I love that music has the power to do that,� the vocalist comments. “I’m a huge fan of contrast: dark lyrics on happy music, grindcore beats on melodic chord structures, stuff like that. So, anytime we can jar the listener, we like to. We’d rather turn heads than have people completely turn away.�

“The one line that came to mind for me was: ‘How could I commit when I didn’t feel it?’ and I really wanted to use that but didn’t know how I could make it work,� Melero explains. “Months later, when we were hashing the song out, I was thinking about a picture I had come across of myself when I was much younger where I looked very unhealthy.

I decided to focus on that and what came with it.�

Out via Equal Vision Records on Sept. 28, Mental Knife pushes the California band’s beloved orchestration into a new realm.

Whether the ambiance feels like a floating Delta Stream or a catastrophic storm, every Compositions like “Suffocating song is detailed with delicate Syndrome� and the title track, progressions that canalize each “Mental Knife,� are full of adrenmember’s artistic expression. aline pistons, keeping listeners guessing about where Hail The The quartet are known for a Sun’s energetic engine will turn. distinct dichotomy, combining frantic, atypical patterns and “The Stranger in Our Pictures� emotionally distraught mel- is a tidal wave of melodic disodies with ease. “Suffocating position, rolling through genSyndrome� takes this sonic tly-picked guitars and delicate

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The resulting song is a fantastic crescendo, encapsulating the emotions and neuronal firing of the situation in a four-minute concoction.

Existence.� “Really, I think it’s amazing that we are these little parasitic organisms on this rock in space and are literally living in such a small window of time to be able to exist,� Melero says, detailing the thought processes that birthed the song. “The temperature allows for it, the sun is the perfect distance away by millidegrees, and soon, the window will close, and we will be gone—unless we adjust. At the same time, no one can answer with 100 percent certainty why we are here or where we come from. How fucking incredible is that? We just live with it. We create things to worship and a bigger purpose, but in reality, no one really knows.�

These otherwise “randomâ€? thoughts encapsulate the reWhile sticking with the person- cord’s big idea, forming the thealized idea of finding one’s sis that is Mental Knife: an expecreative identity, Mental Knife rience of sonic euphoria about touches on the idea of existence existing with purpose. đ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Ł as it spirals to its final track, “On

range County metal legends Atreyu have returned with a new full-length that will sweep fans off their feet from the start. From the first note, expect to have your ears begging to turn the volume up while continuously waiting to see what’s next on the album’s tracklist.

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The band’s seventh studio album, In Our Wake, is out Oct. 12 via Spinefarm Records. The release solidifies the band’s success over the past two decades and kicks off their November and December North American tour, which is their first headliner in roughly two years. “With every album we write, we learn more and more, and we get better and better. Along with the experience in our music world, we’ve all grown a lot as people and bring those experiences and knowledge that come along with that into our music,� guitarist Dan Jacobs says. “Because of all these

elements, creating this album felt easier and more natural to write than any album in the past, and in turn, we produced something that sounds huge and we’re extremely proud of.�

The guitarist mentions that he feels extra close to the song “House of Gold,� stating that it features one of his favorite guitar solos he’s ever written. “It’s a really pretty and melodic solo with this classic, super-reverby neck pickup tone that has never been used on any Atreyu song before,� he says.

Jacobs notes that In Our Wake is the second release the band have done with producer and writer John Feldmann. “He’s the first and only producer we’ve ever used for more than one album,�

Jacobs says. “We wanted to push forward musically, as we do on every album, and love his vibe and energy that he brings to his collaborations, so we felt it was a perfect match for this record.�

Jacobs mentions that the biggest contributor to Atreyu’s success is passion. He claims it “fuels everything in the most positive and amazing way possible.â€? This passion drove the band to their first headlining show in 2003 with Darkest Hour, God Forbid, and UNDERĂ˜ATH and allowed them to continue supporting musical friends such as Avenged Sevenfold and Godsmack at Ohio’s Rock On The Range in May. “Super Hero,â€? In Our Wake’s closing track, even features guest vocalists Aaron Gillespie from UNDERĂ˜ATH and Matt Sanders—better known as M. Shadows—from Avenged Sevenfold.

Jacobs describes the track as a “really epic, classic-sounding song� and says it was influenced by bands like ELO and Chicago while keeping the classic Atreyu style.

On their tour, Jacobs says he most looks forward to “running around onstage with my best friends, rocking people’s faces off all over the planet.� The band are

ATREYU PHOTO BY AMBER JAMES

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST DAN JACOBS BY NATALEE COLOMAN

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excited to play songs from In Our Wake for their friends and fans. “We love every song and how huge they turned out, so we’re really excited to release it to the world,� he admits.

Along with celebrating their 20th anniversary on tour, the band are coming up with a few unusual memorabilia items. “We’re currently working on an Atreyu beer that will be released in the upcoming months,� Jacobs shares. “We’ve put a lot of thought into it, and it’s turning out to be more amazing than we could have imagined, so we’re really excited about it!�

Jacobs is in awe of how much Atreyu have grown and accomplished while reflecting on his years with the band. “The past me would be blown away by everything myself and our band have accomplished,â€? he says. “It’s changed all of our lives in the most amazing way, and we love that we’re still able to be successfully doing this 20 years later. Cheers to the next 20 years!â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł

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NTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST TIM HENSON BY JOSHUA MARANHAS olyphia’s latest release, that we are writing,â€? he explains. song structure, making the song go of passion. “We’ve been calling New Levels New Devils, out “It’s really not traditional. [Guitarist] somewhere and do something and ourselves the biggest and the best metal band in the world, because Oct. 12 on Equal Vision Scott [LePage] and I are producers. mean something to someone.â€? metal fans seem to get very upset Records, is a crazy walk through We have a lot of producer friends a carnival funhouse. The Tex- who work in hip hop and electronic New Levels New Devils dives in on that we even call ourselves metal,â€? as-based instrumental band’s mu- music. I do a lot of sessions with a the fact that the band are leveling Henson says. “To say that we’re the sic is twisted, bent, and constantly lot of friends. With our music, we up. They’ve recently graduated biggest and the best is very tongue morphing like a hall of mirrors full have a million friends and just say, from van touring to bus touring, in cheek for us. They take it very seriof people. It sounds like standing ‘You want to work on some Polyphia and as their popularity grows, so ously, and [it] offends a lot of people.â€? in a video arcade while “Asteroidsâ€? music and have, like, a section here do the challenges. Henson fills from Atari comes alive in the air, and a section there?’ We’re all hav- in the blanks. “Van life sucks,â€? he “Whether they hate it or love it, the a constantly-tapping barrage of ing fun. It’s just a general idea, and states. “Then, we got to the bus— more passionately they feel about notes that feel like asteroids and then, it’s like, ‘OK, let’s get bass and and bus life sucks. My friend back it, the better,â€? he concludes. đ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Ł saucers floating faster and faster drums on this.’ It’s not really a tra- home was like, ‘Well, new levels, ditional [way of] making the music new devils,’ and I was like, ‘What in space. like a band would.â€? the fuck did you just say?!’ I was like, “With this record, we kind of just like ‘Dude, that is hard as fuck.’ As you really intricate trap beats—we just So, if it’s trap music with samples get bigger, you’re going to experiplay them on real instruments,â€? gui- and live instruments arranged ence more problems. As you grow, tarist Tim Henson says. “We’ve had together, what’s important to things are going to change.â€? djent-y death metal songs, real the process isn’t the computers pop-ish kind of songs. We’ve had with which Polyphia record and New Levels New Devils has a dynamelectronic kind of songs. It’s what- produce their music, it’s—Henson ic sound that bounces with every ever kind of music we want to make interjects, “Guitar first, the in- pluck and tap of the strings, every [without] really putting a label on it.â€? struments—I think a little of both. riff, and every growth in the size of Polyphia may have more in Things that come straight from Polyphia’s touring machine. The common with hip hop artists like your hearts and hands, your mind, album offers a greater sense of Fetty Wap than other instrumental those tend to be the best things. the band’s musicianship, but are bands like labelmates Night Verses. Arranging afterwards, in Ableton they trying to start rap-battle-style According to Henson, they’re a [Live], that’s important for the song. trouble with any fan or foe who different kind of band. “I don’t feel The general ideas need to be fire will listen? This instrumental band like we’re in the same kind of thing to start with. Once you have fire aren’t afraid of controversy, espewith anyone just because of the way ideas, you do the extra work on the cially when it comes from a place

P

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INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST MAX CAVALERA BY NICK HARRAH t’s been over 30 years since Max Cavalera catapulted himself out of Brazil and into the global metal world with Sepultura. Born out of his exit from that band two decades ago, Soulfly return with Ritual on Oct. 19 via Nuclear Blast. Alongside their devoted “tribe,� the band are here to fight back against a new dark age.

I

Cavalera says those fans can expect quite the unique package for this, Soulfly’s 11th studio album. “I think it’s a really strong album, because we were able to really capture, maybe, the best of Soulfly on it,� he admits. “Which I think is kind of cool, if you can do that as a band after going for so many years.�

Comprised of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Cavalera, lead guitarist Marc Rizzo, bassist Mike Leon, and

drummer Zyon Cavalera, the band recruited producer Josh Wilbur—who has worked with Lamb Of God, Gojira, and Megadeth—for the 10-song effort, and they came out with something not even Cavalera expected. “[Wilbur] came in as a fan. That’s the fun thing,� the metal icon says fondly. “I was pulling more for kind of a fast album, and he wanted more of a groove album. So, the butting of our heads gave the album this really cool flavor, because it’s got everything.

It’s got fast stuff, it’s got groove stuff, and, I think, a return to some of the more—I’ve been calling it ‘groove terror,’ especially stuff like ‘Ritual’ and ‘The Summoning.’�

Navajo chant at the end of ‘Blood on the Street.’ I’m really fascinated

by Native American culture.�

Soulfly went back to a tribal, primitive feel on Ritual’s opening title track, with Cavalera drawing inspiration from a proud culture. “The album has a lot of influence from the Navajo,� he explains. “‘Ritual’ starts with a Navajo chant, and there’s a

Ritual also features guest appearances by Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe and Immolation’s Ross Dolan, which made it extra special, Cavalera says. “Those are two bands that I look up to. I really love both of them a lot,� he notes.

The latter song, in particular, was inspired by a recent horrific injustice against the Navajo. “‘Blood on the Street’ is pretty direct,� Cavalera reveals. “It’s a special subject. It’s about a girl who was killed on a Navajo reservation in Winslow, Arizona, and nothing happened to the cops [who fatally shot her]. It was a big injustice and a big letdown. You have this tragedy: she was a mother with a little kid, and they killed her right on the street. So, the song is called ‘Blood on the Street.’�

With artists Eliran Kantor—whose rÊsumÊ includes Testament and Iced

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Earth—and Marcelo Vasco—who has worked with Slayer and Hatebreed—providing the cover and booklet art, respectively, Cavalera is stoked for fans to consume the album as a total package, a ritual in itself.

As far as using his music as a platform to unite diverse cultures and nationalities all over the world, well, that’s what Cavalera has been doing all these years. “I think metal has succeeded where politics and even religion have failed,� he asserts. “It’s all over the world. It’s everywhere.

It’s bigger than ever. It’s really a universal experiment—without barrier—that has succeeded.�

Cavalera adds that his own familial tribe are pretty tight these days too. “It’s really cool. I started Sepultura with [my brother] Iggor [Cavalera], because he played drums,â€? he shares. “We grew up together, and it was always kind of a family thing. Now, we have family of our own, and we’re still doing it all together. I think we’re a really unique metal family that is real, not fake. I’m very proud of it. I couldn’t be happier.â€? đ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Ł

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DON'T SLEEP ON THESE SPLITS, EPS, & REISSUES

DAD BRAINS: DAD BRAINS: PIRATES PRESS RECORDS

LA DISPUTE: SOMEWHERE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RIVER BETWEEN VEGA AND ALTAIR: NO SLEEP RECORDS

While remaking a classic—and yes, La Dispute’s enigmatic, frantic 2008 debut certainly qualifies—tends to lead to disappointment, the Nov. 9 reworking of Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair is actually better than the original. The Grand Rapids band worked with No Sleep Records, the label that put out the landmark release, putting three all-star engineers on the case. Will Yip re-amped the guitars from the original files, Dave Schiffman provided a new mix, and the album was remastered by Emily Lazar. The original was fine, great even, however, this reissue sounds fucking fantastic. This is a wonderful example of a reissue that rekindles and enhances a previous love. –Nicholas Senior

A quieter but still—thankfully—political Anti-Flag returned with an all-acoustic album on Sept. 28. American Reckoning takes seven tracks from the group’s last two albums and reinterprets them as acoustic jams. In addition to their own songs, Anti-Flag included covers of three songs that have inspired them over the decades: tracks by Cheap Trick, John Lennon, and Buffalo Springfield. American Reckoning is out on Spinefarm Records in the U.K. and available as a bundle from the band’s own A-F Records, limited to 100, which includes 2015’s American Spring, 2017’s American Fall, and American Reckoning, as well as a screen-printed poster cover that is hand-numbered and signed by the band.

–John B. Moore

MODERN COLOR: PORTUGUESE BEND: INDECISION RECORDS

MANIC HISPANIC: THE RECLINE OF MEXICAN CIVILIZATION: INDECISION RECORDS

TTNG: ANIMALS ACOUSTIC: SARGENT HOUSE

Ah, fatherhood. A 20-year adventure that beckons the stress and anxiety of trying to raise a human into a decent person without damaging the young soul. Dad Brains were birthed as a nurturing outlet to help the members vent their struggles and joys with punk speed, riffs, and humor. The Oxnard and Ventura, California-based fervent fathers are formulated of former members of No Motiv, The Missing 23rd, Creep Division, and The Fucking Wrath. Producer Roger Camero recorded the self-titled EP. He polished the five tracks, with titles like “Baby Jail” and “Quiet Time,” with a brash punch. At 10 minutes long, you’ll have enough time to rock this whole 7” while your kid is in time-out. –Hutch

Named after the beautiful coastline near where the band grew up in Redondo Beach, California, Portuguese Bend is just as beautiful as the famed untouched stretch of mountainous bluffs. Modern Color’s style is lush, luxurious, and calming— which are all odd descriptors for a post-hardcore group, but Modern Color aren’t here to start a moshpit. The two songs on this lovely 7” are a great introduction to the band’s shoegaze-centric take on modern melodic hardcore and a masterclass in poignant tunes. The potential for greatness is clear on this short release. A purple vinyl variant was released via Indecision Records on Sept. 28. –Nicholas Senior

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It’s been 17 years since the brilliant Orange County Chicano punk rock band Manic Hispanic put out The Recline of Mexican Civilization, and it’s just about time a new generation discovered that Cali-made classic. “Staind and Nickelback controlled the rock charts and Cristian Castro the Latin charts with his hit ‘Azul.’

Manic Hispanic had just found each other on the yard, and the man put us in a room and turned on the mics,” guitarist Mo Grease says. “We had some times with our homies, good and bad, but we all came out of that time period in a good place. The Recline… was a big part of that. The band kept cruising.” Indecision Records is releasing a one-time pressing of 500 of copies on red vinyl, out Oct. 26. –John B. Moore

ANTI-FLAG: AMERICAN RECKONING: A-F RECORDS

After years of relentless touring and three LPs, Oxford, England’s TTNG—formerly This Town Needs Guns—revisited their 2008 debut record, Animals, for its 10th anniversary.

Animals Acoustic, released Oct. 5, features acoustic renditions of some fan favorites, as well as the band’s original vocalist, Stuart Smith. Animals Acoustic takes the band’s masterful musicianship and allows it to breathe in a way never heard before. “We knew we had a bunch of songs that were loved by a lot of people, so we were very conscious that we had to balance the pressure to remain true to the originals with the urge to express ourselves musically,” Smith says.

“I think the outcome is a record that is fresh yet familiar— which I guess is the best you can hope for from an album of covers.” –Yong Los

BOOKNOOK “BURNING DOWN THE HAUS: PUNK ROCK, REVOLUTION, AND THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL”

KADAVAR: LIVE IN COPENHAGEN: NUCLEAR BLAST

Kadavar sated eager fans when Nuclear Blast released an infamous live set from the band on Oct. 14. The CD version of Live in Copenhagen will be a bonus CD on a tour-edition package of 2017’s Rough Times. Packed with two extra tracks, the vinyl boasts three alluring colors in a gatefold LP. The Berlin, Germany, band have been distributing their radiant retro rock riffs and rhythms since 2010. Pushing themselves as a touring band constantly has been a priority. Finally, fans can find the groove and fury of Kadavar’s live set on record—though European fans can catch them in person from Oct. 25 to Dec. 6 with Monolord. –Hutch

OPETH: GARDEN OF THE TITANS: LIVE AT RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATRE: NUCLEAR BLAST

There are great live records. There are amazing venues. Then, there are live records recorded at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, one of the most unique and satisfying venues. The Denver outdoor theater is where Sweden’s Opeth recorded their latest live record, Garden of the Titans, out Nov. 2. Opeth exploited the opportunity of this significantly specific production sound to display their original take on metal over 10 songs lasting 88 minutes. Sweden’s Moderbolaget Records and Nuclear Blast Entertainment work to release Opeth’s May 11, 2017, performance on double-CD, double-LP, and DVD or Blu-ray options, with art by Travis Smith. –Hutch

YONY LEYSER: “QUEERCORE: HOW TO PUNK A REVOLUTION”: ALTERED INNOCENCE

“What happens when the community you need is not the community you have?” Over 83 challenging and cathartic minutes, Berlin-based director Yony Leyser seeks to answer this question by relating the story of two Canadian punks, Bruce LaBruce and G. B. Jones, who stood up and challenged both the bourgeois mainstream gay culture and hypermasculine, often homophobic punk scene of the mid ’80s with a new, blossoming subculture: queercore.

“Queercore: How To Punk a Revolution” chronicles how a crop of young radicals redefined what it meant to be both queer and punk through art, zines, film, music, and activism, planting the seeds of a cultural battle that is still be waged today. A who’s who of transgressive queer icons including Kim Gordon, John Waters, Peaches, Beth Ditto, Kathleen Hanna, Genesis P-Orridge, Justin Vivian Bond, and many more lend their voices to the documentary, discussing wide-ranging issues from feminism and anti-capitalism to AIDS and assimilation.

After opening on Sept. 28, the film will make its way through festivals and independent theaters around the U.S. in October and November. –Kelley O’Death

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INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR TIM MOHR BY JOHN B. MOORE

hile the spirit of punk rock is certainly not limited by geography, there is a big difference between sporting a mohawk and railing against the powers that be when you live in the U.S. suburbs versus, say, a drastically suppressive Communist country in the ’70s and ’80s. While a punk rock attitude could lead to detention or a grounding from your parents in Anytown, USA, wearing homemade safety-pinned clothes and penning “fight the power” poetry in East Germany could lead to visits from government Stasi agents and, potentially, months in a jail cell.

Tim Mohr, an American who lived in Berlin throughout the 1990s, heard plenty of these stories while living overseas. Enough, in fact, that he compiled many of them into his remarkably compelling book “Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall,” released on Sept. 11 by Algonquin Books.

“I spent most of the 1990s as a club DJ in Berlin, and it turned out that former Eastern punks were involved in almost all the first-generation bars and clubs in the Eastern part of the city,” Mohr says.

“As I got to know some of them, people began to show me photos, lyric sheets, scrapbooks—all kept hidden during the dictatorship, of course, because being a punk was so dangerous—and I realized this was an important story, and one that outsiders really didn’t know anything about. I didn’t yet know I’d be a writer at that point, but the story always stayed with me, and I always hoped to be able to tell it in some form one day.”

“Burning Down the Haus” is crammed with stories of teens and early-20-somethings discovering punk music, usually through smuggled-in magazines or hard-to-find, crudely-made mixtapes.

Through activism and music, the punks, alongside other revolutionaries, helped create the environment that eventually led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, literally and figurately uniting an open West Germany with the overtly repressed East Germany.

“For the most part, the scene disappeared overnight when the wall fell—at least, as a musical phenomenon,” Mohr says.

“Eastern punks were absolutely instrumental in establishing the uniquely politically-active DIY character of the Berlin nightlife scene as we know it today, and quite a number are still involved in various aspects of music and nightlife, but the music and the message changed once the dictatorship was overthrown.”

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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.

SCHNEIDER/COMPLAINER: SELF-TITLED: ALREADY DEAD TAPES A trio comprised of Jörg Schneider of Jealousy Mountain Duo and the two members of Complainer, Schneider/Complainer are unique in their methodology and braveness. Schneider recorded drums in Germany and sent the tracks to St. Louis, where Complainer improvised to them on their first encounter. The result is both mechanical and free, rubbing the magical stones of both worlds. Free jazz is the addition to the musical realm that captures the most natural of feelings. It is beyond human: it is real and conjures the drifting of ocean bubbles on the sand, the scraping of mountain against concrete, the loneliness of existence. This trio move in bodily thrashes, adhering to the impressions of exact moments. They are life, as sounds.

And in these sounds, we are reminded to breathe, to extract the toeness, the legness, the animalness of our total makeup.

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YOVENEK: OSHUN: NEKUBI TAPES NOX NOVACULA: SELF-TITLED: CASINO TRASH RECORDS Dark music is so great. The happiness it brings is unmistakable. Nox Novacula are from the great Northwest, and you can hear it. The Seattle quartet are awash in cold and misty dewdrops from the Puget Sound. The stars from the great sky like diamonds shining down. The group’s goth is post-modern, and naturalness rules.

The giant sequoias touch down upon each punk layer; technology is fitted like a seashell on Mars. There is much environment here, and dimension too. A respect for historical inquiry is noted, the drums and synth like “Terminator” in cloak. Through the depths of shadows, Nox Novacula create passages that curtail the spirits of the longing, bringing forth hope. The sound is heavy and circular. There is power and restraint. You can feel the autumnal horror around every corner, the orange pain and bleak stillness of a night walk around the bend.

oshun is the spiritual tale of a Parisian artist who searched the world over for secret musical knowledge. It is the mixtape of the future, a Don Quixote of the analog kind.

The beats that Yovenek weave are sparse in their solitude, grand in their musing.

There’s a slowness that is infectious, a kind of drag and drum that is hypnotic and peaceful. And there are contemporary modes, like “potatoes,” which uses metaphor and symbols to extract distance and illusion. “april” hits like urban fantasy and jazz down in the old clubs, deciding which street to glide through, hang and chill.

Scratches and dubs heighten the system tenfold, your ears like jelly refined. Over the course of 19 tracks, the Parisian hero reaches a dimensional apex. Here, they cultivate their findings and grow a tree for the universe to dance to.

JASON CRUMER: OTTOMAN BLACK: NO RENT RECORDS Ottoman Black was first released as a CD in 2008 on Hospital Productions, then as an LP in 2015 on Urashima, and now, finally, on cassette via Philly’s No Rent Records.

It’s good this epic is on tape now, because the form is unholy, a master class on noise and experimental sound. Jason Crumer is a noise vet from Baltimore whose output typically pays rewards to listeners who are invested. “Noise, you say?” Along with Merzbow and Prurient, Crumer’s an artist who can elevate his materials in unique ways. There is more than sound here, more than image—there is an idea, a story about natural and unnatural impulses, about highbrow and lowbrow artistic intent. Ottoman Black is a classic to the underground, and the best place to start if you’re just discovering your noise curiosity. The twisting and varied composition is a total vision.

You’ll swear you’ve heard it before, as its human and inhuman hyperrealities tickle and drown your sorrows.