Download: Weedeater - "God Luck and Good Speed" [MP3]
Southern skuzz-fuzz raspy riffers Weedeater (pictured above) have announced a tour with fast-sludge duo Black Cobra. Weedeater's latest, 2007's God Luck and Good Speed, buzzes with guitars so overdriven they'll shred your speakers' diaphragms if you're not careful. The album also includes, we shit you not, a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Gimme Back My Bullets." Neil Young would be proud.
Black Cobra - "Sugar Water":
Make the jump for a Weedeater video and the tour dates.
Weedeater - "Bull":
Weedeater, Black Cobra - 2008 Dates:July 30th San Francisco, CA @ Annie's Social Club *
July 31st Los Angeles, California @ Relax Bar**
Aug 1st Tempe, AZ @ Stray Cat**
Aug 3rd Lubbock TX @ Whiskey Dix**
Aug 4th Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves**
Aug 5th Dallas, TX @ Club Dada**
Aug 6th Austin, TX @ Red 7***
Aug 7th Shreveport, LA @ Mia's Pub$
Aug 8th Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree, 2008$
Aug 8th Savannah, GA The Jinx$$
Aug 9th Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade^
Aug 10th Raleigh, NC @ Volume 11 Tavern
Aug 12th Baltimore, MD @ Sonar &
Aug 13th Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's
Aug 14th Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Club
Aug 15th Providence, RI @ AS220%
Aug 16th Buffalo, NY @ Club Diablo%
Aug 17th New York, NY @ Knitting Factory
Aug 18th Parma, OH @ Jigsaw
Aug 19th Columbus, OH @ Café Bourbon St
Aug 20th Lansing, MI @ Mac's Bar
Aug 21st Chicago, IL @ Double Door
Aug 22nd Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews
Aug 23rd St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
Aug 24th Lincoln, NE @ Box Awesome
Aug 25th Denver, CO @ 3 Kings Tavern
Aug 28th Seattle, WA @ Funhouse
Aug 29th Portland, OR @ Satyricon
Aug 31st Los Angeles, CA @ Relax Bar+
Sept 2nd Albuquerque, NM @ Launch Pad++
Sept 3rd Oklahoma City, OK @ The Conservatory++
Sept 4th Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves++
Sept 5th Austin, TX @ Emos++
Sept 6th New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks++
Sept 7th Brimingham, AL @ The Nick++
Sept 8th Athens, GA @ Tasty World++
* w/ Sourvein, Slough Feg
** w/ No Weedeater, Slough Feg
*** w/ NO Weedeater, Slough Feg, The Roller, The Lions of Tsavo
$ w/ NO Weedeater, Power Pellut
$$ w/ NO Black Cobra, Black Tusk, The Dumps
% NO Weedeater
^ w/ Withered
& w/ Misery Index, and Lair of the Minotaur
+ w/ NO Black Cobra, Ancestors, Its Casual
++ NO Black Cobra
July 8, 2008
Tour: Weedeater, Black Cobra
April 21, 2008
Monday Metal Update 4/21
Remember that time we slagged Grails' drummer Emil Amos? Well, Mr. Amos (not the famous one) has been officially announced as Chris Hakius' replacement in Om. Hopefully Al Cisneros will teach the guy a thing or two about 'less is more.' Om will be releasing a 7" featuring the song "Gebel Barkal" later this year via Sub Pop.
Om - 2008 Tour Dates:
May 17 - Festival International de Musique Actuelle Victoriaville, Quebec, CanadaChris Hakius has also been replaced in the highly-anticipated Shrinbuilder project, here by Melvins' drummer Dale Crover. Speaking of the Melvins, they'll be touring this summer, again with Big Business, who've added a third member-- guitarist/keyboardist Toshi Kasai (Altamont)-- and announced a new album to be released by Hydra Head.
May 29 - De Kreun / Theater Antigone, Kortrijk, Belgium
May 30 - Parc del Forum, Barcelona, Spain (Primavera Festival)
June 4 - Shibuya O Nest, Tokyo, Japan
June 5 - Huck Finn, Nagoya, Japan
June 6 - Fandango, Osaka, Japan
June 8 - Z-1, Niigata, Japan
June 10 - Shibuya O Nest, Tokyo, Japan
The insan-o-tour featuring Judas Priest, Motörhead, Heaven and Hell, and Testament has gone from rumor to fact.
'Metal Masters' Tour 2008:
Aug. 06 - Susquehanna Bank Center - Camden, NJHalford and Co. will be releasing Nostradamus, their sixteenth album, on June 17 (US) and 16 (everywhere else). Hear the album's title track at Blabbermouth.
Aug. 07 - Nissan Pavilion - Bristow, VA
Aug. 09 - PNC Bank Arts Center - Holmdel, NJ
Aug. 10 - Nikon at Jones Beach - Wantagh, NY
Aug. 13 - Molson Amphitheatre - Toronto, ON
Aug. 15 - Mohegan Sun Arena - Uncasville, CT *
Aug. 16 - Post Gazette Pavilion - Pittsburgh, PA
Aug. 18 - DTE Energy Music Theatre - Detroit, MI
Aug. 19 - First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre - Chicago, IL
Aug. 22 - Superpages.com Amphitheatre - Dallas, TX
Aug. 23 - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion - Houston, TX
Aug. 24 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre - San Antonio, TX
Aug. 27 - Journal Pavilion - Albuquerque, NM
Aug. 28 - Cricket Pavilion - Phoenix, AZ
Aug. 30 - Glen Helen Pavilion - San Bernardino, CA
Aug. 31 - Shoreline Amphitheatre - Mountain View, CA
Sep. 01 - Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort - Las Vegas, NV
Black Cobra's kick-ass Feather and Stone will finally be available in vinyl format on May 27 via At A Loss Recordings. Black Cobra hit the road in Europe next month with Saviours.
Saviours, Black Cobra - 2008 Euro Dates:
05/15/2008 Magasin 4 - Brussels, BelgiumIn other news from At A Loss, the label will be releasing Arkansas-based metallers Deadbird's second full-length, Twilight Ritual on June 24 in North America. John Baizley (Baroness) did the cover art, which resembles-- wouldn't you know it-- a dead bird at twilight:
05/16/2008 013 - Tilburg, Holland
05/17/2008 Muziek O Droom - Hasselt, Belgium
05/18/2008 Het Podium - Hoogeveen, Holland
05/19/2008 La Zone - Luik, Belgium
05/20/2008 Hafenklang - Hamburg, Germany
05/21/2008 Pirate Cove - Berlin, Germany
05/22/2008 Rosenkeller - Jena, Germany
05/23/2008 Arena - Vienna, Austria
05/24/2008 PMK - Innsbruck, Austria
05/25/2008 Circolo Magnolia - Milano, Italy
05/26/2008 Le Sonic - Lyon, France
05/27/2008 Mojomatic - Montpelliers, France
05/28/2008 Le Férallieurs - Nantes, France
05/29/2008 Epicentre - Cherbourg, France
05/30/2008 La Mécanique Onlulatoire - Paris, France
And speaking of Baroness, the fast-rising Georgian quartet has some dates scheduled with emo-prog-sometimes-guilty-pleasures (but don't tell anyone, especially our girlfriends) Coheed and Cambria as well as a few European Festival appearances.
Baroness - 2008 Dates:
May 19 - Roseland - Portland, Oregon *Signings:
May 20 - Showbox - Seattle, Washington *
May 21 - Commodore Ballroom - Vancouver, British Columbia *
May 23 - Edmonton Events Center - Edmonton, Alberta *
May 24 - MacEwan Hall - Calgary, Alberta *
May 25 - Odeon Event Center - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan *
May 26 - Burton Cummings - Winnipeg, Manitoba *
May 28 - First Ave - Minneapolis, Minnesota *
May 29 - Orbit Room - Grand Rapids, Michigan *
May 30 - Gravity Nightclub At Ches Arena - Cheswick, Pennsylvania *
May 31 - The Sound Academy - Toronto, Ontario *
Jun 18 - Melkweg - Amsterdam
Jun 19 - Vk - Brussels
Jun 20 - HELLFEST - Clisson
Jun 21 - SUMMER BLAST Festival - Trier
Jun 23 - HOVE Festival - Arendal
* w/ Coheed and Cambria
• Prosthetic has signed Seattle blackened death metallers Book of Black Earth. The band's Prosthetic debut, Horoskopus, "a concept album about the hidden astrological elements of the Christian church," will be recorded at The Red Room Studios in Seattle with Chris Common (Mouth of the Architect, These Arms Are Snakes).
• Black Market Activities signed The Indomitable Iron Sloth. Formerly known as The Abominable Iron Sloth, the band plays what can be most efficiently described as 'fast doom.'
• Seventh Rule Recordings has added Brooklyn's Wetnurse to their ranks.
That's it for us today, happy Monday!
Continue Reading...
December 11, 2007
The Sword - Live at Bowery Ballroom with Valient Thorr, Black Cobra [12/6/07]
by crustcake gerf (photos by Jesse Angelo)
Austin's The Sword may not be reinventing the wheel with their vintage stoner-doom bigriffs, medieval themes, and general bad-assery, but they do what they do with such efficiency and fervor that it hardly matters. Their "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach is commendable and, though they'll certainly never see any accolades for innovation absent some drastic shift in artistic direction, they manage to explore a style of music that's been done countless times before without sounding wholly derivative. In short, The Sword take a tried-and-true formula and give it new life.
Last week, they dropped by Bowery Ballroom with Valient Thorr and thrash duo Black Cobra in tow. Jason Landrian and Rafael Martinez of Black Cobra put out a lot of volume for a two-piece (though not as much as Seattle's Big Business), and their performance was tight. Landrian and Martinez are a well-oiled machine and, despite their disparate physical appearances, were quite possibly separated at birth only to be reunited years later in a fateful meeting. Their minds seem to be in tune with each other's when they play, and the ferocious riffs of Landrian's guitar meld with the heavy-hitting blitz of Martinez' (who also plays bass with Bay-area doom outfit Acid King) drums in a seamless, high-octane explosion.
[Black Cobra]
If there is one thing that really stands out about this duo, it's their wide tempo variance. In the space of a single song, Black Cobra often shift between furious, punkish blast beats and impossibly slow breakdowns. Occasionally these breakdowns steer dangerously close to the tired, regurgitated, simple-trick breakdowns of metalcore, but here the context is quite different, and it seems to work for Black Cobra.
Next up was Valient Thorr, who I admittedly knew nothing about. Still downstairs after a post-Black Cobra beverage, I could hear-- but not see-- their first song. Naturally, my ears incited my mind to paint a picture of the band's appearance, but when I finally went upstairs and got my first glimpse of them, I could not have been more surprised. On stage was a quintet of rock star characters-- four of them clad in patchy, sleeveless jean jackets and the fifth, the singer, already shirtless, glistening gut exposed. Embodying the 'Thorr' persona (most band members take 'Thorr' as their surname à la The Ramones) there was more hair onstage than on a barber shop floor.
With a cock-rock flair, vocalist Valient Himself (yeah, that's his name) pranced about the stage, all the while preaching his political views. On the one hand-- although his political views seemed on the same wavelength as my own-- it was a bit obnoxious but, on the other hand, his preaching was almost refreshing with its garish, unapologetic tone. It was reminiscent of a bygone day when rock n' roll was more overtly concerned with challenging authority and protesting the status quo; when rock stars weren't afraid to flaunt their convictions before a vast audience.
A fairly substantial group of hecklers took issue with Valient Thorr, calling for The Sword and offering up poignant comments such as "you suck!" and "get off the stage!" Though numerous, the dissenters were clearly in the minority, as every time Valient Himself asked the crowd, "you know what I'm talkin' about?!" (which was several times), the predominant response was resounding cheers and raised fists.
Shortly after the Thorr brothers vanished, the lights dimmed and The Sword took the stage to anxious cheers from the New York crowd, who had not had seen the band in nearly a year. Wasting no time, The Sword kicked things off with "Barael's Blade," then followed up with their Guitar Hero II hit "Freya." Initially, the mix was sub-par-- guitars were sorely lacking presence and volume-- and their performance was a bit lackluster. The latter can almost certainly be chalked up to the fact that The Sword have been touring for the better part of three years-- during the course of which they've played nearly 300 shows-- and yet they've released only one proper studio album.
By the third or fourth song, however, the mix had greatly improved, as had their energy. The improvement in their performance during these two songs was hardly surprising, as both were new songs. In general, there was a noticeable difference in The Sword's collective enthusiasm between the Age of Winters songs and the newer cuts.
Refreshingly, the setlist contained more new songs than old (6 to 5), each of which promises to be an excellent contribution to their sophomore effort, which is due in March via eccentric NYC label and crustcake favorites Kemado Records.
Setlist - The Sword @ Bowery Ballroom, 12/6/2007:"Barael's Blade"
"Freya"
(new song)
(new song)
"Winter's Wolves"
"To Take the Black" (new)
(new song)
"Iron Swan":"The Black River" (new)
Ultimately, though they may not be innovators, The Sword are a reputable band, proclaiming their devotion to authentic heavy metal and toting the songs-- and riffs-- to back it up. Jack Booty of Prefix put it this way: "This genre is growing thicker by the minute, and navigating your way through the smoke can be difficult, but The Sword is a worthy stop along the journey."
"The Red White Sea" (new)
Encore:
"The Horned Goddess"[MP3] The Sword - "Under the Boughs"[MP3] The Sword - "Freya"[MP3] The Sword - "Winter's Wolves"
[MP3] Valient Thorr - "The Man Behind the Curtain"[MP3] Black Cobra - "Below the Cusp"
The Sword [MySpace] [MP3]
Age of Winters [Amazon]
December 6, 2007
Crustcake Picks - NYC Shows 12/6 - 12/12
It's not that the Big Apple is lacking for live music this week, but the only show that's a definite for me is tonight's medieval metal meltdown at Bowery Ballroom featuring The Sword along with Black Cobra and Valient Thorr. Check out the mp3 below for "Under the Boughs," which appeared on Kemado's spectacular Invaders compilation last year. The song will also reportedly be finding its way onto The Sword's yet-to-be-named sopohmore full-length, due early 2008.
Thursday 12/6 - The Sword, Valient Thorr, Black Cobra @ Bowery Ballroom
[MP3] Valient Thorr - "The Man Behind the Curtain"
Various Artists (Kemado Records)
Invaders [Amazon] Continue Reading...
