December 2016 vandala magazine

HOLLYWOOD GATHERS FOR SECOND ANNUAL RHONDA'S KISS BENEFIT

Anthrax and Slayer Bring Classic

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Contents December 2016 Vandala REVIEWS & EDITORIAL 8 Shana Falana "Here Comes the Wave" (Dream Pop/Psych/Ambient) 8 Crocodiles "Dreamless" (Noise Pop/Indie Pop ) 10 Hollywood Gathers at El Rey Theater for Second Annual Rhonda's Kiss Benefit 16 Jethro Tull The Rock Opera Comes to the Arlington Theater 20 James Blake Brings The Moody Melodies 24 Anthrax and Slayer Bring Classic Brutality INTERVIEWS 30 Influences and Inspiration with Yotam Ben-Horin of Useless ID 52 Your Last Second of Fame An Interview with Face To Face's Trevor Keith 60 Touring, New Material, and All Things Hockey with - Sean "Sickboy" McNab of The Creepshow 40 COVER STORY The Fat Mike Interview "I try to keep punk rock punk. You're not getting a nice story out of me."

Fat Mike is the co-owner of an independent punk rock label, member and main songwriter of NOFX who are renowned in punk rock and beyond. Now a coauthor of New York Times bestselling oral biography of his band. If that was not enough this man has so much to say as he is one of the most interesting people out there.

PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS 18 Florida Georgia Line Rogers Place 26 Pears Live!

66 Halestorm Winspear Centre Edmonton, AB 68 1975 in Edmonton & Calgary 72 Dirty Heads 74 Dorthy and Lita Ford 76 New Beat Fund 78 Kongos and The Joy Formidable 04 VanclalaMagazine.Com - December 2016

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Shana Falana "Here Comes the Wave" (Dream Pop/Psych/Ambient)

By Michael Smith - 5/5 Dragons This Brooklyn duo has put together one of the strongest releases of 2016. A shoegaze/psych-pop sound of which will send you swimming in a ocean of guitar fuzz and keep you in motion with the rhythmic currents, never want to come up for air or lose the mood all out feeling of pure whimsy. When listening closely, doses of carefree and accepting attitudes that could likely be traced to Shana's San Francisco roots make their why into and fuse beautifully with the grit and grey feeling of a New York City pedal board. If you're looking for the something that is pure NYC noise, and fortitude you will find a gem in "Lie 2 Me", as well as classic ethereal sound in "Cloudbeats" and "Ocean". knowing you're loved and accepted (or at least should be in the most radio friendly and the mostly most attainable track to the masses the single "Cool Kids", ignoring any and every one to embrace that which makes them different or weird. That's only touches the surface as to what this album offers, and anyone that give this album a spin, is in for a musical treat, that is only made better by experiencing the band live, which is also highly recommended. www.shanafalana.com

Crocodiles "Dreamless" (Noise Pop/Indie Pop

By Michael Smith - 4/5 Dragons Crocodiles continue to create some of the best written indie pop songs youTll hear in college with their own spin on the influences of 60's psych-rock, and dreamy fuzzy droning vocals of Brandon Welchez will infuse you with all the same spirit of The Jesus And Mary Chain, and in that a most simplistic way to describe this album and band would be to call them and it a modern take on that band. The comparison are very warranted and not wholly untrue, however there is much more here than a band trying to be the ones who influence them, but enough about that. Dreamless is this duos 6th full length release, and arguably their most complete. The sound, slightly, ventures from the psych rock sound of previous releases, and modernization the sound of past albums. This release is void of the occasional spots listener's mind's could drift or loose interest on a track or two and only provides the highest quality of the indie pop/rock sound, and is brimming with fun, and the hip kid angst and charm that lights up a soul. Those in search of that single that expresses the sassily charisma you want to hear when, driving, working, or whatever, will want to hear "Time To Kill" and allow it to stick with you all day.

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Hollywood Gathers at El Rey Theater for Second Annual Rhonda's Kiss Benefit Photos and Article By L. Paul Mann Hollywood rock musicians and film stars banded together to perform a sold-out benefit concert at the El Rey theater in Los Angeles. The second annual Rhonda's Kiss benefit was organized by the family of Rhonda Stefanski, who passed away after a battle with stage four Pancreatic Cancer. Rhonda actually created Rhonda's Kiss before she lost her own battle with cancer, as an event to raise money to help those in the inner city who receive a cancer diagnosis, but may be unable to afford treatment. Her family continued the organization and enlisted the help of some of the best rockers in the Hollywood community.

The music this year featured an opening set by the Hellcat Saints. The band came together last fall for the first Rhonda's Kiss benefit concert, led by Velvet Revolver's Dave Kushner with a rotating roster. This year the band also featured Scott Shriner of Weezer, Joey Castillo from Queens of the Stone Age, Dave Navarro, lead guitarist of Jane's Addiction, and Brad Wilk, drummer of Rage Against The Machine. The musical portion of the evening began with Mark McGrath, the lead singer of Sugar Ray acting as the master of ceremonies and singing several songs, including the Sugar Ray hit, Fly. Part time rock singer and full-time actress Juliette Lewis took over the lead singer duties next playing several tunes including one of her favorite covers, the John Fogerty classic, Proud Mary. Lewis sang a spirited version of the song channeling the energy of Tina Turner, who also recorded a hit version of the classic cover. Chester Bennington of Linkin Park was the final guest singer for the opening set by the Saints.

The charismatic singer proceeded to whip the sold out crowd into a frenzied mass that surged towards the front of the stage in the ornate theater.

The opening set was followed by an award presentation to actor and musician Johnny Depp. The crowd reacted with adulation when the demure actor was presented with the first "Healing & Hope Award." The award was established to honor an individual or group of local heroes who have a positive impact on cancer patients, survivors and those in need. In a short film preceding the award, Depp could be seen visiting the children's cancer ward wearing his Jack Sparrow pirate costume to the delight of the children. In his acceptance speech, Depp spoke of the great inspiration he finds in the strength of the children dealing with their life-threatening cancer treatments. He also spoke of the recent passing of his mother, Betty Sue Palmer, who also died of cancer, highlighting the harsh reality that nearly everyone knows someone who has battled cancer. The emotional acceptance speech was capped with a signing of one of Depp's guitars from his private collection, which was auctioned at the end of the night.

The evening continued with a headline set by the Los Angeles band Weezer, playing a rare club date as part of the benefit. The band crammed a full set into a 75-minute performance featuring most of their hit songs and even squeezing in a few new ones.

It was obviously a Weezer crowd with the audience singing the chorus lines loud and clear on their anthemic hits. These included Say It Ain't So, Island In The Sun, Beverly Hills, Buddy Holly, and Hash Pipe.

For more information about the Rhonda's Kiss organization visit www.rhondaskiss.org www.facebook.comirhondaskiss www.twitter.comirhondaskiss 10 VandalaMagazine.Com - December 2016

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14 VandalaMagazine-com - December 2016

Jethro Tull The Rock Opera Comes to the Arlington Theater Photos and Article By L. Paul Mann On a beautiful balmy evening in Santa Barbara, Ian Andersen brought his new multimedia musical project to the elegant Arlington Theater. Not to be confused with the hard rock band formed in 1968, one of the first to combine jazz, blues and classic music, this presentation featured Andersen's latest touring band playing a performance piece based on the life of the real 17th century Jethro Tull.

Andersen wrote five new songs and combined them with songs from the immense Jethro Tull catalog for the Wednesday night October 19 concert.

The evening began with concert goers arriving early to take advantage of the historic theater's 4 new full service bars.

Many lounged on the expansive outdoor patio, with balmy Santa Ana winds heating the October night, making it feel more like Palm Springs than the usually temperate coastal Santa Barbara. Inside a nearly full house patrons began to take their seats in the cavernous theater built to resemble a Spanish courtyard.

Artificial stars twinkled on the ceiling as the first act of the two act performance began with a video presentation.

The 19 song performance was envisioned as biographical interpretation based loosely on the life of the 17th-century inventor Jethro Tull, from which Anderson's original band derived its name. Tull was an English agricultural pioneer from Berkshire, England, who was a principal player in the British Agricultural Revolution. He invented a horse-drawn seed drill in 1701 that economically sowed the seeds in neat rows, paving the way for commercial farming techniques. The band Jethro Tull was formed in the very same town, Berkshire, way back in 1967.

Andersen wrote five new songs for the production including, Prosperous Pasture, Fruits of Frankenfield, And The World Feeds Me, Stick Twist Bust, and The Turnstile Gate. These songs were combined with 14 classic Jethro Tull songs that more or less fit the story line. Unlike in recent tours with his new band, this show featured a large video screen with several singers performing an interactive concert with the band.

The group appeared about five minutes into the show, playing more or less in synch with the singers on the screen. The formidable band features Scott Hammond on drums, Florian Opahle playing a mean electric guitar, David Goodier playing an impressive but overpowering bass, and John O'Hare on keyboards.

16 VandalaMagazine.Com - December 2016

Live @rover15,gq° Shortly afterwards the Svengali of pied pipers, Ian Andersen himself triumphantly took the stage. In the late 70's the wild-haired flute and guitar playing madmen was one of the most famous English pop stars in the world. It was apparent from the onset that many in the adulate crowd remembered those glory days in vivid detail.

The playful singer still moves about like the young wild eyed performer of his youth and his musical performance remains magical, but it was apparent to all in the audience that the 69-year-old singer was struggling to perform his vocals. The ambitious performance was a good idea in theory but suffered from muddled vocals hard to decipher, as the sound engineer struggled to get the right mix between the live music and the recorded vocals. It wasn't until near the end of the second act when most of the on screen vocals had finished, that the band was turned up to true rock show levels. The performance nevertheless was a fascinating one, with Andersen reaching back to the bands earliest blues drenched classics, like A New Day Yesterday from the classic blues drenched 1969 Jethro Tull album Stand Up. Many music critics have compared that iconic rock song to early Black Sabbath. In fact, guitarist Tony iommi had a brief stint in the band at about the same time before returning to his band Earth, later to become Black Sabbath. That song and many others on the set list actually predated the bands more well-known material like Aqualung. But the signature song from that album along with Locomotive Breath and Living In The Past were actually the only songs to get to the stoic crowd to their feet.

All in all the evening was a fascinating performance of nearly forty years of the music of Jethro Tull, all be it a rather sedate one. www.jethrotull.com

December 2016 - VandalaMagazine.Com 17

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James Blake Brings Moody Melodies Photos and Article By L. Paul Mann A youthful crowd gathered early on a balmy fall evening at the elegant Arlington Theater in downtown Santa Barbara on Tuesday, October 18. As hot Santa Ana winds blew through the historic courtyards of the venue, the mostly millennial crowd sipped a variety of beverages to keep cool.

There was great anticipation in the air as the crowd eventually made their way to their seats, just before the start of a moody electronica-drenched set by English singer-songwriter James Blake, The 29-year-old singer has made quite a splash with his hypnotic mix of beautiful R&B inspired vocals and post-dubstep electronica. Blake is the son of English musician James Litherland, who is an English singer and guitarist best known as a founding member of the progressive rock band Colosseum. That band was one of the first bands to fuse jazz, rock & blues.

Blake is on tour supporting his third and latest album, The Color in Anything. The young keyboard player with an angelic voice took the stage with his band mates Ben Assiter on drums and Rob McAndrews on guitar and sampler. The three laid down a set of moody melancholy songs, drenched in electronic sampling. The band was awash in a multimedia light and video show, set in dark rich colors and geometric graphics synched perfectly with the music. With some songs sounding reminiscent of a demure and depressing Portishead, the singer struck a somber chord. But many in the crowd found other songs in the set, steeped in EDM backbeats, to be inspiring towards a more uplifting dance trance.

The trio began with a song from the new album, "Always." The audience came out of their seats as Blake played one of his most well-known hits next "Life Round Here" while lights flashed and the video presentation transformed the venue into an ethereal setting. The colors on stage changed yet again and the hypnotic sounds of "Timeless" started to play, and then segued into the Feist cover, "A Limit To Your Love" from Blake's past album Overgrown. That brought the crowd into the aisles with its deep dubstep beat. The band even managed to play a few pop music covers including, "Forward" by Beyonce and later in the encore a Joni Mitchell song "A Case of You." The 17 song set list flowed like an ocean tide from melancholy to dubstep dance moods throughout the evening, with a digital backdrop that transformed with each song, from a myriad of geometric shapes to a shadow of a bird fluttering its wings in orange lights before transforming into a swarm of butterflies. While the lyrics might have been heart wrenching, the blistering lights and synths created a trance inducing mood that made for a unique and unusual show.

The show was another great concert by Nederlander concerts for more information on upcoming shows visit their website. www.nederlanderconcerts.com James Blake Online: www.jamesbla kemusic.com/ www.facebook.comijamesblakemusic/ www.youtube.comija mesblake www.twitteracomilamesblake www.instagram.comijamesblakei 20 VandalaMagazine.Com - December 2016

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Anthrax and Slayer Bring Classic Brutality to Penticton, BC. Article By Ashton Clemmer It's a rare occurrence to see two extremely world renowned bands in one night, and even more rare that such an event happen in Penticton B. However on October 19th, 2016 at the South Okanagan Event Centre that's exactly what took place as Slayer's fall tour invaded the small mountain town and then completely annihilated it.

Accompanied by Anthrax, and having support from Death Angel, it was a night filled more thrash metal than Penticton would ever bare witness to again and with terrifying mush pits, vicious circle pits, and enough head banging to cause brain damage, it'll be something the small mountain town will never forget.

First on the docket was the boys from Bay Area, California, Death Angel. For some attendees who might not have heard of the Death Angel, by the end of their set, concert goers were set to be life long fans. Death Angel played a fair sized set and warmed up the crowd, getting the momentum going within the audience as the floor began to sway back and forth as metalheads crashed into each other. I was impressed by the raw talent the group displayed. Guitarists Ted Aguilar and Rob Cavestany were insanely entertaining to watch and left nothing to the imagination as to what was in their arsenal of guitar playing abilities.

Next up was the legendary Anthrax. Led by Joey Belladonna, the group stormed the stage and dove into a lengthy set list filled with classics and newer material. I love seeing Anthrax whenever they're in my neck of the woods and never pass up the chance because it's so hard to find a band that can create energy in a building the same way Anthrax can. With crowd involvement and the sheer intensity of their tunes, it moves people in a way thats completely unique and makes for such a diverse concert experience. Guitarist Scott Ian is still one of my favourite guitarists out there.

His technique isn't overly intricate, but it's completely engaging and particular. I spent the majority of the band's set watching Ian run rampant on the stage while his guitar wailed and Belladonna's vocals filled the arena. The group wrapped up their set with a power performance of the fan favourite 'Indians' and then exited, leaving the stage open for the one and only Slayer.

The wait was over for the people of Penticton as Slayer took to the stage and opened their set lists with 'Repentless'. The breakneck speed of Slayer's music was at full force and didn't slow down one bit. The group is known for showing up, f*cking sh*t up and walking out, almost as if it's the heaviest mic drop known to man. When you think of endurance, you might think of athletes, however the one thing I believe Slayer has over any band is their stamina. No one can play a show like Slayer can.

Intense speed and non-stop thrash metal for an hour and a half or more, straight. How Kerry King's neck and back haven't imploded yet is amazing to me because for the entire duration of playing, he's head banging while his massively long goatee bounces around. King and co-guitarist Gary Holt make one hell of a team on stage seeing them play together is something that I believe every fan of metal needs to do once. It's fast, it's intricate and showcases the insane amount of talent the two share. They are masters of their craft and the way they are able to interact with the audience all while keeping up with one another is a true reflection of that. Tom Arya is still the man. His vocals are still strong and punishing as ever, giving the group the trade mark sound everyone knows and loves. The group ended the night with a some fan favourites that capped off their massive twenty song set-list, including 'Raining Blood', 'Hell Awaits', 24 VandalaMagazine.Com - December 2016

and 'South of Heaven'. The night was ended by Slayer paying tribute to the late and great Jeff Hanneman by playing 'Angel of Death'. Accompanying the tribute was a massive banner with a similar design to the Heineken Beer logo, but instead read, "Hanneman".

After the show, the crowd quickly shuffled out of the arena and piled into the streets still screaming, and jumping around. The night wouldn't have been complete without someone screaming from across the arena parking lot that one word everyone knows is going to be belted out; and as I climbed into my vehicle, ears ringing and heart racing, i heard it, "SLAYER!" followed by the cheers of many other concert-goers.

Slayer came, flipped the South Okanagan Event Centre upside down, and gave the people of Penticton BC something that they will always remember.

Anthrax www.anthrax.com www.facebook.comianthrax Slayer www.slayer.net www.facebook.comislayer Death Angel www.cleathangel.us vvww.facebook.comideathangel

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The hardcore punk, band, Useless ID, hailing from Tel Aviv, Israel has been productive this year, releasing a brand new studio album, 'State is Burning' July 1st 2016 as well as providing support for NOFX on their "First Ditch Effort" Album Tour which is set to wrap up this mid November. I spoke to Useless ID's front man, Yotam Ben-Horin about his experiences both with and without Useless ID. Yotam shared many stories about his adventures and experiences, including how all of them have shaped the way he views the world and how they've impacted his life personally, and musically throughout the many projects he's created and taken part in.

You've stated that NOFX was a big inspiration for you on your most recent album, "State is Burning." What does it mean to you, personally to be touring with NOFX on their "First Ditch Effort" Album Tour?

Yotam: For me, and I think I could speak for all of us, it's completely mind blowing.

NOFX was one of the bands, that because of them Useless ID was formed. I wasn't even in the band yet but I was also so inspired by NOFX twenty something years ago. They were a key influence in Useless ID's sound and throughout the years, we've got to be very good friends with them and we've played many shows with them over the years whether it was at Warped Tour or here in Israel. That they asked us to join them is crazy; it's one of our accomplishments. We've always wanted to tour with NOFX, I mean, who doesn't? (Laughs) Was opening for NOFX on this tour something that was discussed before or did it come as a surprise to you and the group to get the invite?

Yotam: We recorded our record and once it was mixed I sent it to Fat Mike and people at our label and they all loved it right away. I got an email back from Mike within like, twenty-four hours saying, "I love this record. I think it's your best one and I want to release it." Months later, I had heard from someone that NOFX would be going on tour with their new record. I hit up Kent [Jamieson] the manager with an email and told him that if the band needed any support for the tour that Useless ID would love to do it and that we'd be totally down. He wrote back and said, "It's all good, we thought of you guys already and its happening." My first thought was, "Holy shit!" (laughs).

What was another major inspiration for you while you were recording 'State is Burning'?

I think besides musically, I started listening a lot of the bands I listened to when I was first discovering pop-punk and punk-rock and fast melodic punk. I went back to those records; Bad Religion's 'Suffer' (1988) and NOFX's 'Punk in Drublic' (1994), stuff like that, and really tried to listen to them from a fan's point of view where I was just discovering the record for the first time. I had this vision in my head that that's what I wanted with a Useless ID record. I want it to be a record that inspires people in the same way that I felt when I listened to those early records. I really listened to all of them obsessively and just wondered what made them so great for me, and why they inspired me so much and why I always go back to those records. I think all of that along with me going to the U.S.A. for half a year and touring solo while taking a break from Useless ID just really helped me dive right back into this record with even more life experience and a clear idea of what we should do. A lot of songs for 'State is Burning' (2016) were already written before I had gotten back from my trip in the U.S.A. because I was writing non-stop.

32 VandalaMagazine.Com - December 2016

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Yotam: I think it's always a good thing to u Ai IE IS BURNING get out of your comfort zone or your writing zone. Every time I make a Useless ID record, it's always followed by a side project I had. I had an alternative grunge band maybe fifteen years ago and then the next Useless ID record was slower. I started doing acoustic stuff and we came out with 'Symptoms' (2012). I was doing this pop-rock acoustic thing and many of the songs blended and came out of 'Symptoms'. I had formed a hardcore band with Corey [Ben Yehuda] our Useless ID drummer a few years ago and a Ir ' its very influenced by D.R.I. and Minor mi w' • Threat, where everything is very urgent • and the songs are only forty seconds long.

Ithink that came just in time to influence what we did on "State is Burning". It's a mash up of that stuff along with the cooler stuff we did on the older records.

What kind of message are you trying to express with the album?

Yotam: There's a few messages in there. One of them is very clear that we as citizens are sick of living in a political bubble, and that doesn't only go for Israel, it goes for the whole world. I don't go and vote because I've reached a point where I don't believe what anyone has to say. It doesn't ever matter who's elected because they're always going to get shit from one side and I don't think we're ever going to get clear stories.

Another message is that the more we get older and the more we're still stuck in our nine to five day jobs, we forget that the clock is moving. A lot of people don't pay attention to that and stay within their comfort zones while life is out there happening. You keep getting older and reach a point where you stop and say, "What did I do with my time?"

I had a very big wakeup call two years ago. I quit everything and completely rediscovered myself. I lived in a car and played shows wherever I could get shows. I was pretty much homeless but I felt that it was a new starting point. I think from that experience, I put that into the record and you can hear that message in a song like, `Borrowed Time' or 'Closer to The Edge'. Time is valuable and I think anyone can do great things with their time. You just have to open up your mind, be creative and genuinely nice to people and things will eventually work out.

You mentioned a wakeup call you had a couple of years ago. What was that wakeup call?

Yotam: I was playing bass in a production for nine years and I saw the whole world with this production. At the same time I managed to also record and tour with Useless ID, but at some point my soul started to itch something felt wrong. I felt like the eighteen year old me would have been pissed and said, "Dude, you f*cking sold out." (Laughs). I had this very cool, paying job and I'm not against where people just play music but aren't creating music and some people are really good for that and it's good from them. For me, because I write so much and I have all these projects in my head, I can't have anything holding me back or that I'm not making good use of my time. I had my wake December 2016 - VandalaMagazine.Com 33

34 VandalaMagazine.Com- December 2016

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ImPerview Imfluemeres amd Imspiriabiom up call. I auditioned for a reunion of a band that was really big in the '70's here in Israel, Kaveret, and they're a great band. I used to listen to them as a kid. I got the audition and that took up six months of my life where it was hard work in the studio and when we played a show it was in front of fifty thousand people. If you bring that many people in to a show in Israel, that's like The Beatles playing in England again. I got on stage and looking at the sea of fifty thousand people, I thought, "This is great, but it isn't mine.

This isn't my achievement." I felt like I needed to leave that situation and go full power into Useless ID and in my own art.

From your time in the U.S.A. you put together an acoustic solo album, 'California Sounds'. What factors played into creating that album?

Yotam: I wrote some of those songs for the next Useless ID album, but we didn't quite have the vision yet. I was just writing songs and when I let the guys hear it they all thought they were good but weren't sure; it felt kind of like a lukewarm response. While rediscovering myself in America and figuring out what I was going to do, I just hit the road and starting playing all these new "Useless ID acoustic tunes" and that was my show. I played those songs so much that they became a part of my journey and when I wrote the song 'California Sounds', I was on the road. I wrote more songs and I ended up calling the whole album 'California Sounds' (2015) because it all makes sense with me touring the west coast.

Are you planning on doing more acoustic projects in the future?

Yotam: I'm writing right now for an upcoming One Week [Rees] with Joey Cape that be recording right after the Useless ID tour. I'm really excited for it because Joey really pushed me to other places in my creativity. He can say something and what he says stays in my head and it shifts me in a better direction than where I was going. He'll encourage me to be inspired by a new source or write from a different point of view and it really helps me.

Which artists or groups would you say inspire your acoustic music?

Yotam: Elliot Smith is a very big inspiration. When it comes to my acoustic stuff, it always boils down to The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Nirvana, and stuff like The Pixies.

It's less punk oriented and that's what comes out when it's just me and an acoustic guitar. People tell me that sometimes I sound like Evan Dando, or Elliot Smith, or Tony Sly who's a really big influence of mine. His acoustic stuff really hit me hard. Sounding like them isn't intentional; it's just what comes out (laughs).

Earlier you commented about people being caught in their comfort zones, and never being given a wakeup call, like you yourself had. If you had to say one thing to act as a wakeup call for someone, what would it be?

Yotam: Oh man. I don't want to say the wrong thing here (laughs). It's kind of cheesy, but I think I'd tell them to go after their true passion. If someone's true passion is to sit in an office and do someone else's work for them, that's fine as long as that person is happy and not lying to themselves. Your time is running out when you're busy doing things that you don't relate to. For myself when I felt like that, I had to stop and think, "What the f*ck am I doing?" Since I was a little kid, my family has always been moving from house to house and country to country. When I was eighteen I started touring and was already on the road even though it was such a young age. I've always been used to getting out of my comfort zones and when I was in a comfort zone which involved paying rent, regular bills, and I was living by the sea, I didn't really enjoy it and that's where I felt the comfort zone was the enemy. It felt like it was too easy to let time pass.

36 VandalaMagazine.Com - December 2016

I'd like to touch on the album's political message in `State is Burning' and how you feel about the current political situation in the U.S.A. What are your thoughts on the election?

Yotam: It's insane! I'm watching all these videos of Donald Trump on Facebook and when I watched the debates and I thought to myself, "How can it get any worse?" (laughs) I don't live in the U.S.A. but I was really routing for Bernie Sanders and that all went to shit. I just hope nothing bad happens now, you know? It's like when Marty McFly from Back to The Future goes to the future and sees Biff as President and that's what Donald Trump is. It's like that movie predicted the future. When I watched the movie, I even said it was like they took Donald Trump and made him President and it was America's nightmare in the movie, and now it's happening for real.

Once you've finished your tour with NOFX, what comes next for yourself?

Yotam: I have an album I wrote in Hebrew three years ago coming out. After the Useless ID tour I plan on being very present for that. I plan on coming back to the states after the One Week [Recs] record is out and hitting the road really hard. A lot of touring because I've done too much writing lately. www.uselessid.bandcamp.com Label/Tour Dates - www.fatwreck.corn Music Videos - www.youtube.COffilfalwreck

December 2016 - VandalaMagazine.Com 37

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He co-owns one of the most successful independent punk rock record labels of all time; he has been a member and main songwriter of one of the most successful independent punk rock bands of all time; he wrote and helped produce a punk stage play; he's now the coauthor of a New York Times bestselling oral biography of his band. His name is synonymous with punk rock royalty. He clearly is a man who needs no introduction, rendering this entire paragraph moot. He is, of course, Fat Mike.

I know you've been doing a lot of press lately. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time you were so willing to do interviews was the War On Errorism/Punk Voter era. Why have you deiced to do so much press for this album?

Fat Mike: Well I think between our book and the album, that I actually have things to talk about. Where when we took the eight year break, it was kind of when punk was getting big. And it was the same f*cking questions every day and people didn't really know who the band was.

Well I want to ask about the album right off the bat. Because this doesn't sound like a 13th album from a band that's 33 years old. It sounds more like a debut album from a young band ready to take on the world. How do you keep the fire in your belly after so many years?

Fat Mike: Well thank you very much, that's a very nice compliment. You know, part of my personality is always pushing the envelope. And it's really hard to stay relevant after thirty years. And that's why I did The Decline twenty years ago. But I wanted to do something no one else had done, and really push. And even though I think our last few records have been good records, this one it seems is really touching people, in a way none of ours have before. Its super cool and it's because I had to go somewhere I'd never gone before, which is really personal and also try to write songs that don't sound like NOFX particularly. And that's what people keep saying to me, it doesn't sound like NOFX, but it does sound like NOFX. That's a good place to be. Because you want to branch out, but you don't want to change your sound.

Well I think you've accomplished that this time around. Whatever you've done with your albums, there's always that mix of originality and recognition.

Fat Mike: What a lot of people don't notice about us, is our most popular songs don't have choruses. Like *Linoleum' or 'Bob', there's no choruses. No band does that.

Yeah, no punk band. That's more of a hip hop thing.

Fat Mike: Yeah. And also, like the chord progression in 'Generation Z', that's a f*cking gnarly chord progression. Sixteen chords in the verse. Punk bands don't do that, they use four chords. The only band that kind of does it is Bad Religion, in some of their songs.

Is that your daughter at the end of 'Generation Z1 Doing the background vocals?

Fat Mike: that's Darla and also Tony Sly's daughter Fiona Sly. My stepdaughter reads the poem at the end.

Well what I love about this song, and about your band, is that I often think I know what direction a song is headed in, then it goes somewhere else. I think 'Generation V is a good example of that. 'California Drought' is another.

Fat Mike: I think 'California Drought' has a guitar rhythm that no one's ever heard 42 VandalaMagazine.Com - December 2016

Inberiviiew, Tine Fa, Mike IiiiPeriview before. I could be wrong.

Yeah it's weird. The timing is very, it's almost disorienting.

Fat Mike: It took me an hour and a half of just sitting there drinking, with a guitar and a guitar amp, trying to come up with a new rhythm. You know kind of like how 'Linoleum' was twenty-five years ago. So I kept playing and kept playing, and then I heard it. Then it took me twenty minutes to figure out what I did. Then when I taught the band, the band was like 'what the f*ck?' I also threw in some ragtime chords in parts.

It's nice that you can still surprise your audience half a dozen times in an album.

It's fun for the fans and it has to be fun for you as well.

Fat Mike: Thank you, that really means a lot to me. Our last album was not surprising, just a solid NOFX album, this one is out of left field.

Yeah and after all you've done; the book, the stage play, the band, the side projects. It always seems to be embraced by your fanbase. Do you have the best fans in the world?

Fat Mike: Well, we do have good fans, but they don't stick with us because of that. I think it's because our book is brutally honest, and no one's written a book like that. And we put out solid records. I mean I care a lot about putting out quality products. When we were talking about doing the book, I said that I don't want to do a book unless we're all going to f*cking tell everything. Because bands have all those stories, bands have amazing stories; it's just that we're telling them. We're telling things that are uncomfortable, are going to hurt, and our kids are going to suffer. You know, my daughter might get teased, 'your dad's a piss drinker'. And the lyrics I sing are f*cked up. But it's my art and I'm not going to tone it down for anybody. Because we care, we put out good stuff. And that's why we did nineteen songs (for this album) and took six off. You want to put out your best shit. I put my heart and soul into writing songs.

Plus, whether your daughter gets teased or not, which I would hope isn't the case, what if you hadn't released this book, or toned it down for her sake? When she's older she might wonder why you wimped out and gotten more upset with you for holding back.

Fat Mike: Yeah and I told both my daughters, that when you turn eighteen you can never read this book, because, they don't want to read it. You know what's cool is, my daughter Darla, she's twelve and she saw us play in L.A. last year and I was dressed in slutty clothes and she said 'Dad, I know you wear dresses, but you look like a stripper'.

And my step daughter, for father's day, she gave me some high heels and she wasn't kidding, it was a serious gift. How awesome is that? Because she was brought up in a polyamorous, BDSM family.

So it's the norm.

Fat Mike: Yeah, but it's not just the norm, it's like living your lifestyle openly and freely.

It may seem weird, but it should be the norm. We're the ones living how we want to live.

December 2016 - VandalaMagazine.Com 43

44 vanclalamagazine.Com - December 2015

December 2016 - VandalaMagazine.Com 45

Fat Mike: It's other people who are afraid to live out their fantasies; those people are the ones who are weird.

And that freedom leads to best selling tell all books and honest, emotional records that really strike a chord with people.

Fat Mike: And it's not just one song, a lot of times people will tell me what their favorite song (on a record) is and so far, it's been every one of these songs have touched people. ‘Transvest-Lite has really moved people, it's made a lot of dudes feel like they're not alone. That was the hardest song for me to write.

Really?

Fat Mike: Yeah because, I talk a lot about BDSM sexuality, but being a cross dresser I've always been really private about. So that was a hard one for me.

Well speaking of hard songs. I know a lot has been written about 'I'm So Sorry Tony', but reading about Tony in the book and then listening to this song, I'm wondering if it gets harder or easier to talk about him as time passes?

Fat Mike: I don't really know, I will tell you this: his death was the worst death in my life, the hardest. I wrote those lyrics six times and I changed them six times because I kept sending them to Bridgette, his wife, and she kept saying, 'please don't sing this'.

Because I was just so honest about this, and she didn't want it to get out there. And as it turned out, it turned out to be a really personal song and some of it's about me.

Instead of just talking about how he died, it's about how it affected our daughters.

Because our daughters are best friends. And when Urn around Fiona, there's just a sadness when she sees me hanging out with Darla.

The song really makes the listener feel like they knew Tony better than they did.

We lost a lot of people in punk rock, but he was different. He was such a sweet guy and such an amazing songwriter. It's such a tragedy because people realize what a great songwriter he is a lot more now. One of the last things he said to me was 'Mike, why is Joey (Cape) doing so much better than me, with his solo stuff? My songs are so good.' And I go know dude, they are, but Joey, personality wise, he relates to people better'.

He's like the class clown.

Fat Mike: That's right. And Tony's lyrics are so brutal. He's talking shit about his marriage and horrible things he went through. His wife hasn't even listened to his solo records, she can't do it.

That's hard.

Fat Mike: On one of No Use For A Name's last tours, they had a stop in Regina and the show got cancelled because of lack of interest. They sold something like ten tickets. And he called me and said 'what are we doing wrong?' It was just heartbreaking. So yeah, he had some rough times and we were very close. And I wish I was closer towards the end because he was having a rough time.

People are reacting to this album as if it's the first time NOFX has released deep, emotional songs. But you've always been deep on your albums. Coaster was the first time I was really taken aback by some of the sadness on that record, and your last album had some deep stuff on it as well, this might be your most vulnerable album, but it certainly isn't the first. Do you feel that way?

Fat Mike: Totally. I think its funny how people are like 'you guys have always been such 46 VandalaMagazine.Com - December 2016

a funny punk band. And, we're funny on stage, but our records, 90% of the songs are serious songs. Social commentary, telling stories that have meaning. I'm actually working on a book explaining 100 of our songs, because people have all the wrong ideas about our songs, they don't know what they're about, or what were trying to say, so I think it'll be an interesting read.

I'd read that.

Fat Mike: But there are brutal songs on our albums. We're a punk band, not a pop band and that's the difference. It's way better to write a song that touches 10% of the people that hear it, than to write a song everybody likes. Songs on this album, like 'Happy Father's Day, people are like 'yeah, Pck my dad too'. Just because you share the same blood doesn't mean you owe those people shit. That's why, I lost both my parents, but when Tony died, it hit me way harder.

And what's the coolest thing about the Ramones a lot of people don't get. It was poppy and upbeat, but those lyrics Dee Dee was writing? Brutal.

Fat Mike: Oh yeah, '53rd & 3rd' and 'KKK Took My Baby Away', I mean we all know what that's about. But it was hidden more.

It was hidden beneath poppy hooks, but anyone who picked up a lyric sheet and read it, I mean, Jesus Christ Dee Dee. Fat Mike: Well yeah and that's what we grew up on. Germs lyrics and Suicidal Tendencies lyrics. I mean lyrics used to be Pcked. Dead Kennedy's 'Stealing Peoples' Mail'. Punk rock was inventive and I try to toe that line. I try to keep punk rock punk.

You're not getting a nice story out of me.

That's interesting because even when I think back to albums like So Long and Thanks For All The Shoes, it's the funnier songs that immediately come to mind, but there is a lot of dark material on there.

Fat Mike: 'Dad's Bad News' and 'Falling in Love' and 'Kids of the K-Hole'. A lot of songs on that record are brutal. But yeah 'Monosyllabic Girl' is on there too. So there's a couple funny songs, but that's a f*cking gnarly album lyrically. 'Eat The Meek', that's f*cking serious. Even if you look at the song 'Don't all Me White', that song is hella serious. And a lot of people may say it's not PC, but it's stuff I was doing in debate class in college, and we were debating whether African Americans should get reparations for slavery.

That's what that song's about. And does calling someone black have a negative connotation? I don't think so. I don't call black people African Americans, because I've said that too many times and people are like 'I'm from Jamaica' or they're Nigerian. And then there was some American that introduced Nelson Mandela as African American, which is hilarious.

Yeah that's smooth.

Fat Mike: I also know a lot of South Africans that are white.

The song 'Oxy Moronic' is probably the most classically NOFX song on the record. When the album first dropped, it was a witty, funny song with double entendre's and some nice observations. Then a few weeks later, you open up Fat Mike's Instagram and he's posting videos from detox for prescription pill addiction and abuse. And you say 'my God, this song isn't funny at all'.

Fat Mike: It was interesting because I started writing the song and it was kind of a party song. And I was just using those words as like a fun NOFX song. And then I had my drug problems and I realized how I got totally conned by this doctor. I mean I've been doing 48 VandalaMagazine.Com - December 2016

PnteRvite-imv litflo Fat M ke Iinteriviievy drugs for seventeen years and it's been ok. And the only time I got really f*cked up was when I tried to get off drugs by seeing this doctor. I just told this story to The Observer, the British newspaper, they're doing a story about big pharma. Long story short, I went to see this doctor to get off these drugs and he put me on Suboxone, but would only put me on it if I did a three month program. I said, 'three months? I'm only doing two pills a day'. I was just trying to quit safely. But it was a con, he just wanted a new patient for the next three months, so he put me on this pill. And the same thing happened to my wife. They put her on Suboxone for two years and she didn't need it. So I went to another doctor and he said, 'I'm going to put you on Suboxone for one week and you'll be off'. And then I had three months sober, it was that easy. But doctors, they want patients to be life patients. It's money and it's such a scam. But I don't want people to think that I'm anti-drug now. I blame pharmaceutical companies for making drugs that are harder to quit than heroin. The same people that make Oxycontin make Suboxone.

They make the thing that hooks you and the thing that gets you unhooked, which you then get hooked on.

They don't teach doctors natural medicine in school, they teach them pills.

Fat Mike: To treat the symptoms, not the disease. But if you can you should check out the lyrics for 'Generation Z', in the booklet. There's twice as many lyrics, some hardcore shit in there. But what's interesting about this NOFX record is it's the first record I recorded and I was f*cking loaded every day, doing painkillers and drinking from eleven in the morning to one in the morning. That's why I think the album's a little different. I was having a good time, but also having a rough time.

Heading for bottom.

Fat Mike: Yeah, but I wasn't going to hit bottom. That's why, while I was recording I actually had a date set for when I was going to go into detox. Because I wasn't going to get addicted to this shit, that's not me. After every tour I would be sober for two weeks.

So I didn't really hit a bottom, I just wanted to get off pills.

NOFX has some great things to pick up. First of is the must read book "NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories" which we gave a 5/5. Also recently released is their latest album "First Ditch Effort For more information and to follow them online visit: Website www.nofx.org Facebook www.facebook.com/NOFX Intagra rt www.instagram.com/nofx Twitter www.twitter.com/nofxband Label/Tour Dates www.fatwreck.com Music Videos www.youtube.comlfatwreck December 2016 - VandalaMagazine.Com 49

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Yoe! r Last Second o An Interview w Face To Face' Trevor Keith Interview By Dustin Griffin

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Yeaur Last 5,_eepocl of Fame Other than a brief hiatus beginning in 2005, Face To Face have been going strong since 1991, historically known as 'the year punk broke'. This slogan was mainly attributed to Nirvana after the release of their landmark Nevermind album. Punk didn't really break till '94 though, when The Offspring, Rancid and Green Day became global phenomenons. But it's fitting that Face To Face's mark on punk music history can be traced back to that fortuitous year. A year later they released their debut album Don't Turn Away on the new Fat Wreck Chords label out of San Francisco. The rest, as they say, is history.

Face To Face as a band is as synonymous with great punk music as any of the bands that laid the foundations of the genre in the 90's.

It's lucky for us then, that their hiatus only lasted a couple of years and their creative output since has been so solid and welcome.

We had a chance to speak with singer/guitarist Trevor Keith about the band's history and their newest album Protection. Their first album released on Fat Wreck in nearly 25 years.

Your last album Three Chords and a Half Truth saw you guys trying some new things.

This album feels more raw, like you were reconnecting to a previous era.

Trevor: When we make records we just kind of write how we're feeling at the moment, what we were inspired to write. Three Chords was a fun record to make and we liked the songs. But we quickly noticed that, even though we were really into the songs and it was the kind of punk rock we were influenced by, it wasn't representative of the kind of punk rock that our fans liked. So since that was a little bit off the target, we made a bit of a conscious effort to go back toward making a record that was a little more true to the Face To Face sound.

How did you get yourselves into that head space?

Trevor: Well, we went back and revisited our older records and set up those Triple Crown shows were we only played our first three albums. I wouldn't say it was super deliberate, but we did try to get ourselves back in that head space of what it was like when we were starting out. And I think it definitely ended up rubbing off on the songwriting and the style of the songs. But the production was really left up to Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore at The Blasting Room. They have a lot to do with the way the record actually sounds and the rawness you were talking about.

Yeah Bill and Jason are to punk now, what Ryan Greene was to punk in the 90's, right?

Trevor: Except they make good sounding records, ohhhhhh! (laughs) Oh man.

leave that out of the interview.

Trevor: No, I'm kidding. That's actually not so much a dig on Ryan Greene as it is to say I think that Bill and Jason are doing far better work.

Agreed. I've heard from other bands that those guys are work horses over there. How was your experience, a lot of twelve hour days?

Trevor: Yeah, but that's not uncommon. As a band we have a crazy work ethic. We're 54 VandalaMagazine.Com - December 2016

kilter...view? Tremor Keith of Eaoe to Faqe not the kind of laid back slackers that take forever to get shit done. We're pretty good at setting a goal and meeting it. we were really focused on this album. we spent a lot of time on the writing and preproduction phase, just on our own. Then we had another round of preproduction with Bill before we ever recorded anything. So I think going through those two processes, they really helped us out with any of the problems or unfinished ideas or songwriting elements that needed to be flushed out at that point.

So it was good to be able to do that. But we didn't mind the long days. In fact, there were many times that I would've been willing to put in even longer hours, but Lit respect that Bill and Jason have homes and lives to get to (laughs). • It must've been nice for you guys to get some mental breaks in there as well.

Trevor: I think it was a good balance overall. But we lived at the studio while we were recording and that tends to get a little monotonous. You have to get out and take walks, or go to a bar, or go shop or something to break up that monotony of being in the same place, or you'd get cabin fever.

This is your first Fat Wreck release since Don't Turn Away back in '92. How is it being back on the Fat label?

face to face ;

Trevor: You know what, it's been really great. I don't know if it would've been as good at any other point in time. I look back on our career and occasionally regret jumping around to so many different record labels, but we were trying to find a situation that felt right and suited us. And Fat Wreck Chords, as a 25 year-plus, going strong label that's remained independent, those people just know what they're doing. Not that they weren't good in the early days, but I think at this point in time, they're one of the top few punk labels you can be at.

These people just know how to market and sell punk rock records. They know how to find the fans, they know where they are, and they know how to tell them about the new punk rock records coming out. It's really just as simple as that. But so many labels get that simple concept wrong.

And you guys are in a good place to judge that sort of thing, because you've been on a number of different independent labels, but you've also done the major label thing.

Trevor: I think so. You don't need to spend a ridiculous amount of money or time, you just need to know how to best apply your efforts. And that's what Fat is great at. So it's been great. More people have become aware of this record, than any record we've released in a long time. So it's been a very good thing and I'm looking forward in the future to hopefully doing more with them.

Listening to this record, a theme I keep coming across is redemption. Comeback. Was that a subject you were purposefully exploring here?

Trevor: You know, there were very few things I consciously went after. This is our ninth album and I've written quite a few songs, so it can be difficult to stay inspired.

December 2016 - VandalaMagazine.Com 55

TRierivAim Remo" 1, et* of Race to Faoe For me the hardest thing to do is not to repeat themes or phrases or become redundant. But I try to write from my perspective. I'm a 47 year old guy. I've been through a lot of stuff and the things that are important to you in life, especially in the short term, kind of change as you move through life.

And I've always written a lot about trying to become better. Trying to become a better version of yourself. That's a theme I've come back to again and again. And within that, that idea of redemption you were talking about comes up. And then on some of the angrier songs, it was my perspective of the world, complaining about some of the things I've witnessed at least. Songs like 'Fourteen Fifty-Nine', which go after the whole reality star thing that has come up in our culture over the last decade or so. And I hate it (laughs).

'Fourteen Fifty-Nine' is especially angry, even within the context of the rest of the album. It's about reality TV? Not reality TV so much, because I do watch some reality TV. But it's about this whole phenomenon of creating the reality TV star, because of a sextape, or a bldg. And all these people know who this person is and they're able to convert it into fame and money, or whatever. Basically for not doing shit, for having no skills, no talent.

Nothing redeemable, other than that other people want to watch them. I hope I'm not showing my age and my allegiance to my generation by crying out against that. But for the most part, the people that we're celebrating are just shit bags.

And the song titleTrevor: It's an Andy Warhol quote. In the future, everyone will have fifteen minutes of fame. So you've got about a second left, hopefully.

And it's a figurative death, when I say hope it won't be long before you die'. The death of their fame or career.

Face To Face consistently has some of the coolest cover art in punk. The cover for Three Chords and a Half Truth is just amazing. Who did the cover for Protection?

Trevor: Thanks man. A lot of those concepts come from within the band. Most of those concepts are Scott and mine together. I had a bunch of ideas for this album and Scott shot most of them down (laughs). We butted heads and argued a little bit about it until we both came up with this locked door idea. We wanted something that was stark and reminiscent of those early album covers. So I think it succeeded in doing that, but we didn't even know what we wanted to call the album. We went through a bunch of different album titles but we settled on Protection, because we wanted to put forth the idea that protection is basically an illusion. This is no protection, physical, or spiritual, or abstract. The photo was actually taken from an exhibit in a Christian museum (laughs). We thought it was the best photo because it was an exhibit showing this door with all these padlocks on it. And it was supposed to represent how it would be at the end times. We thought it was hilarious and just so perfect.

To me the cover represents paranoia and the locks are ironic.

Trevor: Exactly. You get it. And the title song is about a codependent, dysfunctional relationship. It's not specific, but it's that concept about how we have these things in life that makes us feel comfortable and the things we need to be strong enough to make it through. And I hope what people take away from that song, and this album, is that none of those things are going to work, until you finally find the strength to pull it off yourself.

56 VandalaMagazine.Com - December 2016

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Touring, N•tv Material, and cA71 Things hockey with Wean CeSickboy c71465Vth

ImberiviiAw, Ike Emeepshaw If you haven't heard of The Creepshow yet, now's the perfect time to check them out. The group is from Toronto Ontario, however the chances of finding them there is slim to none. The Creepshow is a travelling act and tours abundantly across the globe and does so like true masters of their craft, never disappointing with a live performance.

Through a choppy phone signal and the whirring winds of the highway in the background, I got to speak with the group's upright bassist and back up vocalist Sean "Sickboy" Mc Nab about some upcoming tour dates, projects including new music and involvement with a graphic novel, and of course the great Canadian past time, hockey.

The Creepshow has a very busy tour schedule for the next while. What gives the band the drive to tour so extensively?

Sean - We love it and we all have a really good time together. As of right now we've been on the road for nine hours and we're all still laughing with each other. We still have fun even while we're going through the shitty parts of touring, and on top of it we get to play music every night. We love it and I think you have to love it to be able to do this as much as we do.

The group's live performances are really high energy. Does the drastic round of travelling ever challenge the consistency of maintaining that energy?

Sean: Oh for sure. A few of us are sick right now and it doesn't help anything, but you get so much adrenaline when the first note of the set kicks in that you kind of forget about feeling sick until about half an hour after we're done a set that you begin to feel like shit again (laughs). Aside from having a throat problem effecting our vocals or feeling weaker than usual it's the adrenaline that helps you power through it.

While you're travelling city to city, what do you like to do if you come across any downtime while you're touring?

Sean: We sleep a lot (laughs). It depends where we

are. If it's somewhere that we've never been before, we try to do the touristy, sight-seeing thing where we take a selfie and then move on (laughs). I myself am really trying to go to some hockey games in different cities but the schedule just isn't lining up for me. I missed the Heritage Classic in Winnipeg, and we were in Winnipeg the next day. We also love eating. We try and find awesome restaurants to try all the local specialties and stuff like that. Ginty (Kristian Rowels) is really into cocktails so he'll find some crazy underground cocktail bar, will take off and then come back hammered (laughs). We really try and max out our sleep as much as possible.

To you personally, how important is it to you to maintain a connection with your fans?

Sear, ' I think it's the most important thing. They're the reason why we get to do this stuff and we always want to make sure we thank them. They feel like a big family, you know? We sell our own merch and we're always hanging out with everyone instead of hiding back stage. It's like we're just hanging out with all of our friends in different cities.

Being from Ontario, you are a Toronto Maple Leafs fan correct?

Sean: Unfortunately, yes.

62 VandalaMagazine.Com - December 2016

limberojew. Seam "Sie.kiLe n"0.Nab I'm an Oilers fan, so I feel your pain.

Sean: (Laughs) We share the same pain. Well I think things are looking up for you guys with McDavid; he's unreal. I mean, we've got Auston Matthews now and he broke like, four NHL records in his first game and it's awesome that we've finally got some young talent on the team but I think we need a few more pieces before we make the playoffs.

Do you get a lot of grief when you play in cities like Edmonton or Winnipeg being a fan of the Leafs?

Sean: I have a large Maple Leafs patch on the back of my vest that I wear every show and above it there's another patch that says, "Born to Lose" so I usually just end up talking hockey every night with people which is really cool. I don't get too much grief about it anymore. I used to a lot when we played in Montreal, but now it just sparks conversations about hockey and that's cool with me.

We haven't seen a new album from The Creepshow in the last few years. When could we be expecting to hear something from the group?

Sean: We've got studio time booked for January, and we hope to God we're going to have a record done by the end of January. We've got a bunch of songs, but we live so far away from each other that we just need to get in a room together and hash them out.

Hopefully a release will be in April or May. Do you know what kind of direction the band is exploring with this album?

Sean: That's not really a thing that we go in thinking about. We go into the studio, try everything and see what happens. We don't really have a plan or an idea of what we want things to sound like. We just kind of get in there and see what comes out naturally.

The Creepshow is a part of a graphic novel, "Necrogeddon." Can you tell me more about the novel?

Sean: It's these dudes from Chicago, the company is called Source Point Press and they've been coming to our shows for a few years and thought that we would fit this whole thing. They wrote up the story and drew out all of our characters and it's really cool. I haven't fully read it yet but some of the other guys here have and they thought it was awesome. I'm just waiting for the finished product before I read it. It's something we've always wanted to do but didn't know how to go about it. These guys approached us and we're really excited about it.

Has there been any thought to the record tying in to "Necrogeddon"?

Sean: Actually, our record was supposed to be done and out already, but because of us touring like crazy and it's been pushed back and now the record release is going to be close to lining up with the graphic novel release so that's something really awesome that we'd love to figure out for a package deal kind of thing.

After your tours and the record is out, what's next for The Creepshow?

Sean: We have a tour in the US booked with Sham 69 which starts early February in Detroit and ends in Seattle. Then we'll be releasing the record and tour a bunch of Europe dates in May. Some of those are festivals and also headlining shows. We always do the festivals in Europe and we go again in August to some more festivals in the UK but we'll be playing a bunch of North American stuff in between all of that.

Be sure to check out if Sean and the rest of The Creepshow is coming to your city on one of their many tour dates. This is a show you'd hate to miss, but if you make it, it will be a performance you'll never forget. www.thecreepshowsbandpage.com December 2016 - VandalaMagazine.Com 63

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS:

NOV 04 - NEW YORK, NY NOV 05 - WORCESTER, MA NOV 06 - PHILADELPHIA, PA

NOV15 - CLEVELAND, OH NOV16 - COLUMBUS, OH NOV17 - CREST HILL, IL

NOV 27 - PORTLAND, OR NOV 28 - RENO, NV NOV 29 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA

NOV 07 - SILVER SPRING, MD NOV 08 - CLIFTON PARK, NY NOV 09 - MONTREAL, CANADA

NOV 18 - MILWAUKEE, WI NOV 19 - MINNEAPOLIS, MN NOV 20 - SAINT LOUIS, MO

NOV 30 - ANAHEIM, CA DEC 01 - SAN DIEGO, CA DEC 02 - LAS VEGAS, NV

NOV 10 - QUEBEC, CANADA NOV11- OTTAWA, CANADA

NOV 21- MERRIAM, KS NOV 22 - DENVER, CO

DEC 03 - MESA, AZ DEC 04 - ALBUQUERQUE, NM

NOV12 - TORONTO, CANADA NOV 13 - WESTLAND, MI NOV14 - PITTSBURGH, PA

NOV 23 - SALT LAKE CITY, UT NOV 25 - NORTH VANCOUVER, CANADA NOV 26 - SEATTLE, WA

DEC OS - DALLAS, TX DEC 06 - MCALLEN, TX DEC 07 - HOUSTON, TX

11/12 - SOUTH BEND, IN

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2016

North American Tour

OMNIUM GATHERUM 11/06- The Fillmore- Charlotte, NC 11/07- The Fillmore- Silver Spring, MD 11/08- Upstate Concert Hall- Clifton Park, NY 11/09- The Trocadero- Philadelphia, PA 11/11- Starland Ballroom- Sayreville, NJ 11/12- Webster Theater- Hartford, CT 11/13- Club Soda- Montreal, QC Canada 11/14- Mavericks- Ottawa, ON Canada 11/16- Dallas- Kitchener, ON Canada Park Street Saloon- Columbus, OH 11/18- Token Lounge- Westland, MI 11/19- Rex Theater- Pittsburgh, PA 11/21- Rave- Mil*aukee, WI 11/22- Mill City Nights- Minneapolis, MN 11/24- The Exchange- Regina, SK Canada 11/25- Dickens- Calgary, AB Canada 11/26- Starlite Room- Edmonton, AB Canada 11/17-

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11/28- The Venue- Vancouver, BC Canada 11/29- El Corazon- Seattle, WA 11/30- Hawthorne Theatre- Portland, OR 12/02- Slim's- San Francisco, CA 12/03- Brick by Brick- San Diego, CA 12/04- City National Grove- Anaheim, CA 12/05- Club Red- Tempe, AZ 12/06- Tricky Falls- El Paso, TX 12/08- Gothic Theater- Englewood, CO 12/09- Granada- Lawrence, KS 12/10- Trees- Dallas, TX 12/11- Your Place Entertainment Center- McAllen, TX 12/13- Alamo Music Hall- San Antonio, TX 12/14- Scout Bar- Houston, TX 12/16- House of Blues- Lake Buena Vista, FL 12/17- The Masquerade- Atlanta, GA

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ALEX LAHEY • BAG RAIDERS (LIVE) • BAKERMAT • CHANCE THE-RAPPER DENA AMY • DUNE RATS • DZ OEATHRAYS • EATS EVERYTHIFIG EMMA LOUISE • GIRAFFAGE • GOLDLINK • HARTS • HERMITUUE HIGHASAKITE • HOT CHIP [DJ SET) • HUDSON MOHAWKE JAPANESE WALLPAPER • JARRYD JAMES • JIBE • KILO • KOLSCH (Di SET) LADYHAWKE • LASTLINGS• LUNICE a MONTAIGNE • MOTEl MSTRKRFT • OLIVER HUNTEMANN • PACES • PACHANGA BOYS PHANTOGRAM • RUNNING TOUCH • RYAN HEMSWORTH • SAFIA • SKREAM SLUMBERJACK • SONNY [HERA • STICKY FINGERS • THUNOAMENTALS TOKIMONSTA • TOTAL GIOVANNI VERA BLUE • WAFIA WHAT SO NOT • ZHU ir REAPS MORE FOR TiCOTS i LIAM CAMPING - MORE viSIT 8EVONOTHEVALLEY COlol AU

A Music

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Camping Festiva

Tuesday 27 Dec

Herrnitude Hudson Mohawke Remi Discovery: Daft Punk Tribute 4, Gift Pat

Wednesday 29 Dec

Sticky Fingers 4, ZHU Catfish And The I3otttemen

SAFIA

Thundamentats 4f The Smith Street Band 4, Hot Chip

(DJ Set)

Boo Seeka 4, Paces 4, Nina Las Vegas Koi Child 4. Montaigne 4. Tired Lion 4, 14u6ka Just A Gent Hydrautix 4. Odd Mob Running Touch 4.. Dena Arry Hideous Sun Demon 4, Mosquito Coast

Thursday 29 Dec

Peking Duk

The Cat Empire

Lad hawk 4. San Cisco 4- Phantogram Highasakite I. MSTRRRFT The Beanies

Stumberjack 4 Vera Blue Nicole Millar 4. Set Igo 4, UV Biai 4, Luke Million HWLS 4. Throttle 4, Time Pilot !due .1. Mathas

Sir Stewart Bovell Park eusselton, WA

Elk Road 4 Lilt

- 29 December southboundfestival.com.au

eSpotify MUSICREDS dObinthemix

Tickets on sale at Moshtix.com.au

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