Cel Damage - No Volume

 

 Anytime you've got 12 songs in under 20 minutes you know you're in for a wild ride if nothing else. Such is the case with Cel Damage's new record, the mindblowing mathcore masterpiece that is No Volume. This is a challenging and intense offering from these High Desert freaks. There is a wonderful madness to their music, with its skronky performances, screamo influences and unrelenting wall of sound assault. Cel Damage have found a way to make listeners choke on the overwhelming abyss of noise unveiled on No Volume and it is glorious. 

While No Volume is certainly a challenging listen, for a certain subset of fans enamored with grindcore and mathcore, then Cel Damage are hitting all the right notes. It's a record that is abrasive, but that uses these abrasive elements to become deeply engaging and fascinating. No Volume eagerly chokes listeners on bitter pills and repeatedly reminds them of the insufferable rot that we all have to come face to face with every day. The thing that really strikes me here though is the production, there is a massive scope to this record, best captured on tracks like "I Was Catfished", the album closer, which nicely showcases interlocking waves of sound choking listeners out. 

No Volume is a delightfully in your face listen, a record that is unapologetic in how weird it is and seems to embrace some of its darkest moments eagerly. Cel Damage is the sound of a band who understand just how bleak their music is and the weird soundworlds that they inhabit. No Volume is the chaotic sound of creativity running unfiltered and for those of us who are emotionally ready for the blitzkrieg it's going to be hard not to fall in love.

 Pre-order the album!

https://silentpendulumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/no-volume

Deaf Club - Productive Disruption

 

This is a really sick one. Deafclub, for those not in the know, has made a name for themselves as one of the most interesting hardcore bands to be emerging from the ever fertile Southern California scene. There sound is mathy and manic. The highly political lyrics and hyper power rage that define this record is addictive. It speaks to a band who routinely go above and beyond in fostering darker sounds and bringing new and weird elements into hardcore. There is a lot of creativity in their upcoming record Productive Disruption and it's exactly the sort of thing keeping the scene exciting. 

What I dig the most about this offering is the hectic nature of the delivery. Yes, there are surprisingly technical passages and I love the breakneck rhythms, but it's the fact that everything feels like it could fall apart at any point that really makes Deaf Club an exciting band. This is the sort of project that really taps into the youthful energy of the genre and which is guaranteed to keep listeners coming back, fascinated with the demonic delivery and chaotic house show magic that defines so many of the best tracks on the record. On some level it gets at why we all got into this in the first place... and I kind of love it for that. 

Productive Disruption is a hardcore record for freaks. It doesn't necessarily always stick to every trope of the genre but it does a great job speaking to the exciting ongoing energy of the music. The way that they eagerly bring in fresh concepts and dare themselves to embrace ever more high flying antics is exciting. Immersing yourself into these waves of volume and experiencing the crush is guarantee to get listeners excited. I can't help but love this record, it's passionate and powerful. Let yourself loose, this album is like a kick in the teeth.

Pre-order the album!

https://threeoneg.com/archive/vinyl/productive-disruption

Pound - S/T

This one is fucking weird and I love it. Pound isn't exactly a record for conventional metalheads, in fact it's quite the opposite of that. It's a record that darts all around from death and grind all the way to doom but runs it all through their trademark insane mathy assault. This duo does the work of ten men and forces you to question basic realities around the power of grindcore. Ecstatic, surreal and wonderfully over the top, Pound have done something special her.e Sure this is a hard fucking listen, but isn't that the point?

There is an inherent sense of chaos that makes Pound an especially fascinating record. Every track has a distinct vibe and the sense of chaos that the band embodies from back to front is fascinating. The bottom end assault of one song is perfectly counterbalanced by the hyper speed angular guitar playing on the next. There are loops within loops here and some of the craziest drum work I have heard in years. While yes there are fairly obvious comparisons to be made to bands like Behold... The Arctopus! and The Dillinger Escape Plan, Pound still feel like their own thing and this record is sort of a surreal tribute to all they have accomplished.

This record isn't afraid to dart all over the place because its sheer diversity is what makes it so special. It doesn't surprise me that it took the band a decade of percolating to craft their debut. This is the sort of release that doesn't come often. It's so absurd and all over the place that most people I think wouldn't be able to properly process what comes together here. Pound is a masterful piece of music and one that is going to continue to fascinate me for years to come. It's weird, over the top and endlessly exciting.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/PoundBand/

'NIE Presents: Hollow Earth, Church Tongue, Disparager, Mary Todd, Wrist Deep @ Black Bear Bar

A note on Black Bear Bar: I have to say, I am disappointed with the venue at Black Bear Bar. Upon walking into the bar I was stoked by their indoor halfpipe and tasteful, if not metal, music choice. However, upon entering their venue space the problems began. First, the lighting: I don’t know how the people at Black Bear could possibly have thought this was a good idea, but the whole stage was lit blue with a purple spotlight over the drummer. It didn't just hurt the eyes, it looked terrible. Second, while I laud the musical taste of whoever picked the interlude music, it was way too fucking loud. Like holy shit guys, I was trying to buy a t­-shirt and they couldn’t even hear me. Totes inappropes. What makes me especially upset about the way Black Bear put on the show was how it detracted from one of the best nights of music I have seen in a while. And it would have been so easy to fix. Seriously. Really cool venue, and they totally fucked it up.


On to the music...


Wrist Deep


There is no doubt Wrist Deep are an incredibly talented group of individuals and this is reflected in their sound, heavier than an Easter Island statue. Wrist Deep brings the kind of aggression and raw sound that brought us to love Powerviolence in the first place. While edging away from the genre’s hardcore roots, they remain too stately for Thrashcore, moving in an almost Sludge­-like direction. While no less brutal for it, Wrist Deep's performance felt less cohesive than it could have been. However, this is completely understandable for a group who have been together for a year. While drummer/vocalist Joseph certainly brought energy to the stage, guitarist/vocalist Mike and bassist/vocalist Jay could have brought it harder. The lighting certainly did nothing to help this “one man show” effect, but that's on Black Bear. Further reinforcing this were some slightly self­-indulgent breakdowns. Everything else was technically sound, and you can tell Wrist Deep put a lot of time and effort into the composition of their songs. All in all, I feel like Wrist Deep are an incredibly promising group who I’d love to see again when they are a little more comfortable on stage.


Buy their album here
Follow them on Facebook here


Mary Todd


There are very few bands who bring as much energy to the stage as these Bushwick Grindcore badasses. It’s refreshing to see a band get up and so obviously enjoy what they are doing. With all the fierceness you expect from Grindcore, the chabois (as they call themselves) put out a consistently heavy sound with guitarist Ashley Levine’s stunningly complex math riffs, bassist Christopher Day’s deep groove, and Josh Harris’s flawless drumming. Mary Todd put out a set that started in a good place and ended in an epic one with the unveiling of a new song T.R6. This song harks back to the Hardcore Punk origins of Grindcore, and if it is any indication of the direction they intend to take in the future, I want to be there.


Buy their album here
Follow them on Facebook here


Disparager


Most good shows have one band that’s a little bit different, pushing the edges of the genre. On this bill it was Disparager and it was wonderful. Displaying a remarkable amount of versatility during their set, this Brooklyn band flowed seamlessly between an almost Pop­-Punk lightness with *gasp* clean vocals and a Grindcore/Sludge beat-­down brutal enough for your favorite dictator. Their juxtaposition of heavy throbbing beats with soaring clean vocals against the scratch of screaming accompanied by light almost airy backdrops is stunning. That’s not to say everything hinged on the interplay between light and heavy, because when they went for it Disparager was just as heavy as anyone else in the room. Contrary to the almost frenzied energy brought by the previous band, Disparager played it cool, and it worked with their more pensive, questing sound. Everything was exactly where it needed to be when it needed to be there for a full polished sound that is oh­-so­-difficult to categorize (kinda like the Deftones?) but entirely worthwhile to listen to.


Buy their album here
Follow them on Facebook here


Church Tongue


Hailing from Indiana, Church Tongue picked right back up where Mary Todd’s energy left off. Though slightly more restrained, vocalist Mike Sugar’s presence in the room was no less felt as they blasted out a set of what they call “Chaotic Metalcore” (which is as close as I can get to it, so that’s what we’ll stick with). They still had all the heavy Sludge riffs we expect, but overlaid with the rawness and charisma of Metalcore. Once they started, it felt like the sound would never stop pouring off the stage. Particularly on point was the coordination between guitarists Chris Sawicki and Nicko Calderon, they doubled up and played some of the sickest “solos” I’ve heard in a while, in almost perfect synchrony. If you can catch them before they finish their tour, it will be worth your while if just to see Mike Sugar’s adorable dance.


Check out their music video here
For tour dates or to follow them on Facebook, click here


Hollow Earth


Holy shit guys! The big boys came out to play. This Michigan band closed out and perfectly ended what has been one of the best shows I’ve been to in New York. Just a beautifully polished, blaring, bone-­shaking, relentless sound. Everything they did on stage was right. They struck the horrible Black Bear Bar lights and set up their own. One industrial light placed behind the drums back-lit the band. Clean. Simple. Incredibly effective. The band themselves were slightly slower, almost Doom Metal in stateliness, but with an aggressive straining vocal and symphonic sounding guitars sweeping to and fro paired with a more meditative interludes with almost Middle-­Eastern guitars. It’s almost post-­rock in feel, but with a strongly militant aggression. Hollow Earth bring everything you could possibly want from Hardcore, but more.


Buy their album here
For tour dates or to follow them on Facebook, click here

Mary Todd, Organ Dealer and Meek Is Murder at ABC No Rio

ABC No Rio really is a magical place to see a show and the kind of thing that invokes dreams oftentimes forgot. It reminds us where we all came from and where we need to be going. Of course, it doesn't detract from the quality of the bans, and the three acts that I got to check out at this afternoons particularly special performance (Conveniently falling on my birthday) helped me to affirm my place in the scene and reminded me why I care so much about this music in the first place. ABC No Rio is important because it brins us back to the basics and reminds us of the eternal magic of punk rock.

Mary Todd are a band I've gotten to see two or three times in the past, and they never get old. There is something wonderfully vital and frenetic about their music. The math-y elements that infringe on their twin vocalist grindcore assault is a lot of fun and helps to invoke a sense of pure chaos. This is a band who are clearly tortured, and the way that they crash forward with demented vocal lines, pounding drums and terrifying guitar parts speaks to the power of their music. I get the impression though that this band is only getting better - there is something incredibly fresh about their music, even though it fits into older polemics and makes me feel like these guys will soon be moving onto greater things.

I've heard a lot about Organ Dealer, mostly dudes in Infest hoodies saying they are 'so sick'. Then I actually saw them for myself, and holy shit, Organ Dealer are so sick. This is a band who are more than just a group of dudes playing deathgrind, they are veritable monsters. Few bands have the level of insanity and intensity that Organ Dealer so easily invoke. With a couple of crazed dreadlocked guitarists juxtaposed with a hipstery frontman (Who is an absolute motherfucker of a performer)this is a band who perfectly understand what it means to create some of the most potent and wonderfully evil death metal that you will ever hear. Watching them live is a truly dangerous experience, proving that Organ Dealer are the real deal, and you better hop on board the bandwagon because this band is going to blow up.

Meek Is Murder of course are on a whole other level. Those in the know are familiar with the hard work that the band has put in and  their endless tours. This is one of those bands who understand what it means to make it in the metal world, and their hyper-intelligent brand of grindcore, with just a dash of silliness is guaranteed to capture the attention of heavy music fans the world over. At this particular performance the band seemed totally on point - Keller jumping off the bass drum and the bands bassist stomping into the pit - driving the punters into a strange fury that only this kind of music can truly invoke in its fans.

And so the afternoon came to a close. Friends were hugged, trains were taken and now I sit here on the couch next to my roommate listening to dubstep remixes of Eiffel 65 songs. That doesn't matter though. What matters is that matinees like this one are what helps to keep the spirit of punk rock alive in New York City. The dudes and dudettes who run this are anarchists of the highest degree - keeping things running forward and guiding us all forward in the crucial search for ultimate freedom. Or maybe they're like me and just really like death metal - fucked if I know.

Find the bands on Facebook!

Mary Todd: https://www.facebook.com/marytoddtheband/?fref=ts

Organ Dealer: https://www.facebook.com/OrganDealer/?fref=ts

Meek Is Murder: https://www.facebook.com/meekismurder/?fref=ts

Interview with Jesse and Shane Matthewson of KEN Mode

Band Photo by Brenda Faris, courtesy of Seasons of Mist

With a hefty touring schedule ahead of them and a new album right around the corner, KEN Mode made a stop through Paris last month to headline the first day of this year’s OTB Fest alongside Celeste and to promote their upcoming full length effort Success, with this current date marking the albums’ (pre)release party. I sat down with the Matthewson brothers Jesse (Guitar/Vocals) and Shane (Drums) to discuss their upcoming album (amongst other things).

So this is the 2nd installment of your European tour, right? Last month you were also in Europe.

Jesse: Yes, we seem to be coming over a ridiculous amount lately (giggle). We'll be here in the fall too.

You've also played a set at Roadburn this year. How did that go?

Jesse: It was cool, it went over pretty well. We were definitely a little bit of an oddball thrown in there, since what they like to focus on is more "doomy" stuff I guess? But it was fun, I'm glad we did it.

So this current date marks the pre-release party for your newest album Success.
First off, how would you describe the sound of this upcoming album?

Jesse: For the most part I'd say that a lot of the metal and hardcore influences of our previous records have kind of been stripped away and what you're left with is a much more Rock n' Roll/Noise Rock kind of approach to the way we write music. The songwriting is a lot more stripped-down and it just focuses a lot more on the roots of the types of bands that made us want to start playing music in the first place when we were teenagers.

Was the shift towards a more Noise Rock-oriented sound a conscious move?

Jesse: I think it came naturally, maybe to a certain extent through a bit of an exhaustion of dealing with trying to fit into the metal and hardcore scenes. We've never really fit in anywhere. We did a lot of touring for Entrenched; we were out on the road for 10 out of 12 months from the time that album came out, from march to march. It was very exhausting being the square peg trying to fit into the round hole.

With this album you've also had a chance to work with the legendary producer Steve Albini.

Jesse: Yeah, he engineered it. He sat in on the mastering and helped Bob Weston master it, who's actually a bandmate of his in Shellac too. So yeah, we did it with Steve Albini in Winnipeg, Manitoba, our home town.

Steve Albini

Were there any changes with the recording process this time around? I understand Steve likes to record some stuff live.

Jesse: Yeah, for the most part he prefers all of the instruments to be done live and that's how we did it. It was the first time we've ever really done it that way. Usually, with a lot of engineers, they'll have you do the drums first and the guitars will play along but typically you won't actually track those. You usually do the guitars properly after you have the bed tracks of the drums. With Steve he just sets everyone up so that it's as isolated as it can be and you all play at once... like a live band, go figure.

Was it the noise-rock driven songs you had written that led you to work with Steve Albini or was it the idea of working with him that reinforced the noise-rock aspect of your sound?

Shane: Well we had already written a bunch of the songs before we decided to record with him, so it was already going in that direction. We could've done it with other engineers and it would've still sounded good but I think it was the perfect combination of the songs and the engineer that made it sound the way it did.

 Jesse: If Steve would've done the previous record, who knows if it would've sounded quite as good. It was a little bit more metal and hardcore, some of the songs were faster.. I'm just not sure the feeling of it would've translated as well, but for this record it translated very well.

I know you like to keep your lyrics open to a certain degree of interpretation, but could you maybe touch upon what the album is about?

Jesse: I consider it our first actual concept album. It revolves around the various concepts of success, especially the modern western, "traditional" concept of it and how insanely relative that term is. There's a lot of poking fun at it and what people think it should be and where we, as individuals, fit in to the universe as a grand scheme and how ridiculous THAT all is too. That's kind of where this album jumps all over.

Shane: We also did joke about how funny it would be if we had an album called "Success" that was just a miserable failure (laugh), like if it didn't do well at all but it was called "Success". We thought that that was really funny. That wasn't the only reason why we picked the name, but we did think that it would be a funny joke if the album did really poorly (laugh)

So either way, you're the happy whether the album does well or not? (laugh)

Shane: Yeah. If it does really well, we look like geniuses and if it doesn't we just look like we're jerks again...

Jesse: ... which is nothing new (laughs)

I also understand that this album has a different lyrical approach compared to the previous albums.

Jesse: Yeah, that’s' actually one of the bigger changes. Historically, the lyrics have been very personal to me; things that make me feel strongly about something. With this album, a lot of the songs were written in a format where I take notes all the time. A lot of the time it’s ridiculous phrases or word combinations that I think are funny, a lot of it is mean things HE says (points at Shane, laughing) or that our new bassist Scott says. I'll be writing these things down and I have this journal of ridiculous phrases, and a lot of the songs on this record were pieced together from those ridiculous phrases. I managed to string all of those things together with a general concept, so that it actually has a cohesive idea behind each song. But it's very much like this litany of inside jokes and black comedy, pushing the envelope further from the meaner, more sarcastic tones we've had in the past. This is way out of left field for us, but it was a lot of fun to write. I also do a lot more rhyming on this album. I was kind of making a conscious approach of making these songs a little catchier. Rhyming schemes tend to make everything catchier but I didn't want to do it in a dumb, cliché, "pop" way, because a lot of that is 4th grade rhyming. So I like to think that this is a little bit higher than that. Well...

Shane: 5th grade.

Jesse: Yeah, 5th grade ! (laughs)

Could you give us some insight as to where the amazing song titles from your new album come from?

1. Blessed
   Jesse: "Blessed" is kind of hitting the nail on the head. The whole song itself is kind of about how we don't really feel like we fit in or belong anywhere in the music industry. It's kind of sarcastic in that... we're "Blessed"! (giggle). We also sometimes feel like the fact that anyone pays attention to us at all is funny in itself. We've been through so many years of nobody giving a crap, so that' kind of what that song is all about.
   
2. These Tight Jeans
   Jesse:(Laugh) Oh god. That was just another one of those phrases that I wrote down that I thought was funny. I don't even know where I even came up with that (laugh). When I told my bandmates "this is what I'm calling the song!", everyone just let out a big sigh and were like "why???" (laugh). Basically THAT is why! (laugh).
   
3.  The Owl...
   Jesse:  The Owl was part of a title of a play where the term "Cuckold" came from (The Owl and the Nightingale, which is actually a poem).
   Shane: Jeeesus Christ.
   Jesse: Yeah, and the whole song is a lot about the gray areas in life.
   Shane: …A cuckold play??
   Jesse: (laugh) Yeah it's where the term originated. I didn’t want to hit the nail right on the head with that one so I made it just "The Owl..." with the ellipses.
   
4. I just liked Fire
   Jesse: I just liked fire actually came from a friend of ours in Winnipeg named Alex who was talking about how he used to like to light fires when he was a child, because he just liked fire (choking with laughter). I thought that was really funny, and I ended up spitting it into a song about something else. (Catching his breath).
   So it's not a song about your friend who just liked fire.
   Jesse: No, it's more of a really perverse passion-filled song. I just took the spin of "I just liked fire" and applied it to that, and I thought it was funny. But yeah, the actual origin of it was more litteral (bursting out laughing).
   Shane: A LITTERAL child who LITTERALY was a pyromaniac. (laughs)
   
5. Management control
   Jesse: I think it stemmed from a Matthewson family dinner, where we were talking about something to do with management controls...
   Shane: Oh you mean like a financial system control?
   Jesse: Yeah, the term "management control" came up and I was like "that's a really cool name for a song!"
   Shane: Huh, I don't remember that being said.
   Jesse: I ended up applying it to a song that’s' just about life in general.
   Shane (Laughing): That's going to be the answer to every one of these: "eeh, I took this, and it's basically about life."
   (Everyone bursts out laughing)
   
6. A Passive disaster
   Jesse: The title originally was kind of the concept of what we felt our lives were at when we were touring for 10 months out of the 12 month year. That's kind of what our lives felt like. Not like an active disaster, but a passive one (laugh), even though we were in control. But things just move very quickly. The song itself deals with experiencing the beautiful scenery in life, taking a second to stop and experience it... while also having a sociopath breakdown (laugh).
   
7. Failing at fun since 1981
   Jesse: That's autobiographical, in that everytime I try to have fun I end up screwing it up somehow (laugh).
   So I'm assuming it's referring to your year of birth?
   Jesse (chuckling): Yeah.
   
8. A catalog of small disappointments
   Jesse: That one is a fun one. It was on a small article about Kepler and his love life. There was a line in it that was referring to the process with which he was trying to pick a second wife, and it was "a catalog of small disappointments". The entire song is about that, and how he could've broken it down into a mathematicians' formula that ended up becoming the Secretary Problem (Note: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_problem ), only applied to his love life. I just thought that the whole thing was really funny and it tied in with the concept of peoples' perception of love, marriage... and how that fits into the way of how a successful life is supposed to be.
   Shane: Kepler was a physicist, right?
   Jesse: Yeah.
   Shane: So it's a physicist who's trying to mathematically break down how to choose a wife.
   Jesse: Yeah.
   Shane: So it was an article on that, and he was describing the process of choosing a partner as a "catalog of small disappointments" (everyone laughs). It was just this insane look at a mathematician trying to take objectivity out of something that is a very personal. It was just ridiculous.
   Jesse: As soon as we'd read that article we were like : "this HAS to be a song!"
   
9. Dead actors
   Jesse: Again, it's one of those bleak yet optimistic outlooks on existing as a conscious being in the universe. It's about how we're both completely unimportant yet at the same time to those around us we're completely relevant and important in every way. I think I came up with the title around the time Robin Williams died.
   Shane: Everybody just lost their minds because they all grew up watching movies that he was in.
   Jesse: Yeah, he was like THE actor in every freakin' family movie for that age group. It was an interesting spin on what that song was about so I felt that it tied in well.
   Shane: That was a weird thing to see though. So many people were basically saying things like : "huh, my childhood killed itself". Goddamn it!
   

Did you come up with the phrases and song titles roughly around the same time period or did you draw from some older stuff in your journal of phrases?

Jesse: Most of the song titles and lyrics are from the past year and a half. I actually constructed all of the lyrics into "song format" from April through august of last year, so it was a pretty condensed period that we put all of the songs together in.

Could you explain how the album art ties in with the seemingly contradictory album title?

Jesse: The album cover itself was really the only overtly miserable picture in the panels that made it up. Our good friend Randy Ortiz did all of the artwork (http://damnthedesign.com/ ). He was very much a part of the actual building of the concept for the album from the ground up. He's actually done a lot of work for us since about 2007, so it's been a long time coming for him to do a proper commercial release for us.

Most of the panels draw from the concept behind the actual words for the album. It's taking western concepts of success and putting it through the viewers' filter. The pictures could either be something that you're striving towards or that makes your horribly depressed. A lot of the people who've been looking at the actual panels have been saying that this album is really depressing. Like one of the panels is a guy mowing his lawn, in shorts and sandals with socks. Another one is a woman looking into an empty crib, holding her stomach and you don't know whether she's lost a baby, if she's expecting a baby... it all depends on how you want to look at it. Most of the people that we know that have seen it immediately go to the BUMMER. The back panel is this couple at a table, the guy is looking at some bills and the woman is looking out the window. You can either say to yourself: "aaaw, that's a couple!" or you could go "Goddamn it, that makes me wanna kill myself. I never want to get married. What life is this?" (Shane laughs).

So I read that you quit your jobs a couple of years ago. What got you to make such a decision, considering that you've said yourself that album sales don't bring in that much money?

Jesse: (laugh) We just never wanted to look back and say "what if?"

Shane: If you want to make a go of it, doing anything, you need to focus all of your time on it. You can't just get up and leave any job for 3 months at a time. We both went to university; we had professional jobs, so we needed to "pick a street". If we had other types of jobs we might have been able to do both at the same time, but in the fields that we were in, it wasn't possible. So we figured we'll take the next couple of years and see how it goes ... if not, there's always office work! That never goes away!
So that was basically why. It wasn't so much like "we're going out into the music world, we're gonna be huge stars now!” It's just that if you're gonna try to do this as best as you can, you've gotta commit all of your time to it, or else you'll never know!

What's the coolest thing about Canada?

Shane: Hockey! (Jesse laughs) ... no, the mountains! The Rocky Mountains! Those are cool!

Jesse:  Nature too, just nature in general.

Shane: Yeah, but the Rocky Mountains are pretty intense, particularly the Canadian Rockies are really, really huge. A lot of people come to Europe and Switzerland to go skiing in the Alps but the Canadian Rockies could go toe-to-toe with any mountain range in the world.

Jesse (proud): The Alps are shrinking and the Rockies keep getting bigger also...

Shane: ... It happens very slowly though (laughs). It's shrinking like a centimeter a year. But yeah, if I had to pick one great thing about Canada I’d say the Rockies. Number 2 is Hockey!

Jesse: (Laugh) oh god...

Shane: ... but nobody gives a shit about hockey... other than Canadians!

It's even on your dollar bills, right?

Jesse: Yeah!

Shane: Yeah well there was a hockey scene on the 5 dollar bill for a while and I think they changed it now

Jesse: Yeah I think they might have changed it to a space satellite or something.

Shane: Yeah they did that thing where the Canadian money is now made of plastic, since the last couple of years. You can't tear it, and it apparently lasts longer BUT if you leave it in your pockets when you put your clothes in the dryer, it MELTS! So it's virtually indestructible, other than heat. Heat will destroy it. (laughs) It will melt your money in your pocket.
Also when you're counting bills they stick together.

Jesse: It's kinda...

Shane: ... dumb. But I'm sure they did it for a reason. It last significantly longer I guess. I don't know other countries that actually have plastic money.

Jesse ­: This is fascinating material!

Shane: Canadian blunders.

During a previous interview you finished off by saying "Don't do as Donny Don't Does"(a reference to the Simpsons)

Shane: Oh God, I think that was something I filled up.

Jesse: Yeah I think you said that (laugh)

Shane: I think that was a European interview.

Jesse: What was the context of that?

Shane: ... I don't know... I was being an asshole

Jesse: Don't do what Donny Don't Does (bursting out laughing)... It was probably in regards to what we were doing with our lives (laughing out loud).

(Laughing) Every goddamn thing you say relates to life itself!

Shane (With Jesse hysterically laughing in the back all throughout): I remember writing that. I think it was the final garbage question, like "Any advice for the kids?" "Fuuck... Don't do what Donny Don't does". I think because it was a European interview, I thought that in translation, it would get completely fucked! (laughs)

Jesse: That is a good advice!

Shane: Kids today won't get that though, it's too old, old-school Simpsons (note: Season 5 Episode 8, Boy-Scoutz N the Hood). That was 20 years ago!

Could you name one of your favorite albums, movies and books?

Jesse: One of my favorite albums would have to be Nirvana, In Utero, because that's the one that just ruined my brain when I was 12. That's why we wanted to work with Albini. It sounded too good.

One of my favorite movies: The Elephant Man by David Lynch, because it's one of the only movies that has made me cry more than once and because it's just... fucked.

For my favorite book:  another life changer,  Get in the Van by Henry Rollins. That's where we got our band name from and a lot of the way we approach doing music. It's got a lot of pearls of wisdom for DIY bands and I think it's worth reading for anyone interested in underground music.

Shane: I'm just gonna back your choice. I think those are all excellent answers. (Laughs)

And to close things off: any final words?

Jesse: I hope people purchase Success to make it a great Success! (laughs)

Shane: And don't do what Donny Don't does!

Interview by Robin Ono

Band Photo by Brenna Faris, courtesy of Seasons of Mist.

Thank you to Gunnar, to Lauren, to the band and everyone who made both this amazing show and this interview possible!

KEN Mode
Official Website
http://www.ken-mode.com/
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/kenmode
Bandcamp
https://kenmode.bandcamp.com/

Throatruiner Fest in Paris (@Glazart - 14/05/2015)

When I started writing for Two Guys Metal reviews, one of the main personal objectives I had set out for was to promote and expose the very best of France's hardcore and metal scene, a goldmine of talent severely lacking of the recognition it deserves. Moreover, it hurts me all the more to run into all too many French heavy music enthusiasts claiming that you can count all of the great French metal and hardcore acts on one hand. To these people I dedicate this following article, and to these people I proudly present to them 8 more bands for them to count.

Last Thursday at the Glazart, Paris celebrated the 5th anniversary of one of the country’s' most heavily armed record labels: Throatruiner records. 8 bands, 8 of France's most devastating acts lined up to delivers nearly 8 hours of sonic mayhem.

Right from the get-go, the show kicked off by jumping straight to business with the first of 8 loud, bleak and incredibly abrasive bands scheduled for the evening: Calvaiire. Fronted by none other than the head Throatruiner himself, Matthias Jungbluth, the  metallic hardcore act made for an explosive opening act with its noisy dissonant guitars delivering chaotic syncopated riffs over cataclysmic drum grooves, coupled with Matthias' inhuman vocals (a hybrid between Jacob Bannons' vocals and those of a pissed of humanoid insect from another planet).

Lined up next and ready to keep our blood pumping were the Bayonne-based hardcore act known as The Rodeo Idiot engine, ready to blast our ears with their 30 minute set of wailing guitar riffs and Gatling drums. With their solid half-hour setlist, the band successfully made all hell break loose with a well-articulated setlist showcasing influences from post-hardcore, sludge and black metal amongst others. Their energetic stage presence made for an all the more memorable show, with axes swinging, cymbals swaying and cables flying and dancing through the air. 

Local psychopathic hardcore act Comity stepped up next. Articulating their sound around a post-hardcore baseline, this eclectic and innovative band from Paris kept the show going with their dense, volatile compositions effortlessly tying together influences from mathcore, post-hardcore and noise rock within their ambitious lengthy songs. With a fine-tuned sense of bittersweet melody sprinkled on the bands' set, Comity led the show with a fine balance of winding riffs and crushing sludge-driven landscapes.

The fourth band of the evening, the Lorient-based ear-wreckers known as Death Engine were up next. Out of all of the bands scheduled to play this evening, this one were quite possibly the loudest and the noisiest. Take the climactic, long-winded compositions of a post-metal song, the crushing slow edge of Neurosis, the down pouring desperation of post-hardcore and add a bleak shoegaze-inspired wall of sound and some noise-rock grittiness and what you get is the uncompromising sound of Death Engine. Yet another brilliant show by a promising and original band brilliantly standing out from tonight’s' heavy lineup.

The second half of the evening started off with quite possibly one of the most pissed off bands of the night, the Holy Terror inspired hardcore act from Paris known as Cowards, here to promote their latest chapter in the bands' ruthless discography, titled "Rise to Infamy". The band started off their set slow and steady with a sludgy, massive, evil opener, setting the tone for the rest of the show before letting all hell break loose and unleashing their pitch-black brand of sonic savagery. More than a mere hardcore act, Cowards draws from the bleak, tortured realms of black metal and the groovy low end of sludge metal to deliver filthy, hellish vocals (inspired by bands such as Arkangel and Kickback) , guttural baselines and dissonant riffs, making for the perfect balance between cacophonous chaos and groove.

After the demise of one of Frances' most infamous hardcore bands, Cowards seem to make for a serious contender as one of france's most abrasive bands, with their incredibly abrasive sonic savagery and their great stage performances.

Next up on stage were the Toulouse-based four piece Plebeian Grandstand, ready open up a black hole with their impenetrably black, apocalyptic sonic wrath. With their great stage presence and incredibly dense sound delivered at maximum volume, the band managed to keep their audience present after five sets worth of relentless heaviness. Not unlike Death Engine, the audience was once more hit by a thick wall of sound, yet this time with a strong, distinct experimental black metal edge delivered with the intensity and aggression of a hardcore act. While this kind of music doesn't always work as well live as in the studio, Plebeian Grandstand did a great job when it came to taking both the atmospheric vibe and their ruthlessness to the stage.

 Deathwish Inc.'s very own French protégés were up next to hit the stage to play a set I, for one, had been waiting to see ever since having first heard their album. Birds In Row were finally back to kick some Parisian ass and were largely prepared to do so. The Laval based screamo-infused hardcore punk trio quite simply conquered the stage along with each and every square inch of the venue as soon as they unleashed their fiery energy. Each and every band member was at the top of their game, blasting away and fueled by an unmistakably genuine sense of passion. Seeing a band sing and play their hearts out like this was absolutely enthralling, to the point where their 35 minute seemed to have flown by in what seemed to be a mere 10 minutes.

Last but certainly not least on the bill for the evening, As We Draw were there to close off the show. For their headlining set, As We Draw had decided to make use of their 50 minute set by dedicating it to their latest album, the cosmic voyage that is "Mirages", allowing them to properly lay out their somber sonic textures and set up an atmosphere for the set. Their show made for a perfect balance between bursts of frenetic, heartfelt aggression and cathartic, floating sonicscapes with clear, spaced out instrumentations beautifully intertwining with one another to create a distinctive, introspective, raw and visceral live sound unlike any other.
By brilliantly combining the likes of heartgripping essence of Post-hardcore with the compositional ambition of post-metal, As We Draw will take to the moon and back and make for yet another prime example of an underrated display of brilliance deserving of more recognition in France and overseas.

And thus yet another great evening had come to a close. I walked out of the Glazart that night more confident than ever in the french heavy music scene. If this night was proof of anything, it would be of an incredible amount of talent and passion deserving more exposure. I can only urge you to look up these bands to hear this all for yourself and find out for yourself why this goldmine of a record label deserves our utmost support and attention. French readers out there will also be glad to hear that this might be the last Throatruiner fest, which give us all the more reason to make sure events like these happen more often.

Robin

Photos by Rémy Barbe

A Huge thank you goes out to all of the bands and especially to Matthias of Throatruiner for making both this live report and both interviews possible. Long live Throatruiner!

CALVAIIRE  (Noise/hardcore, Laval)
http://music.throatruinerrecords.com/album/forceps
http://facebook.com/calvaiire
THE RODEO IDIOT ENGINE  (Noise/hardcore, Bayonne)
http://music.throatruinerrecords.com/album/consequences
http://facebook.com/Therodeoidiotengine
COMITY (Noise/hardcore, Paris)
http://music.throatruinerrecords.com/album/the-journey-is-over-now
http://facebook.com/pages/Comity/351656149310
DEATH ENGINE  (Noise/hardcore, Lorient)
http://music.throatruinerrecords.com/album/mud
http://facebook.com/deathenginesound
COWARDS (Hardcore/sludge, Paris)
http://music.throatruinerrecords.com/album/rise-to-infamy
http://facebook.com/cowardsparis
PLEBEIAN GRANDSTAND (Black metal/hardcore, Toulouse)
http://music.throatruinerrecords.com/album/lowgazers
http://facebook.com/pages/PLEBEIAN-GRANDSTAND/160680714032
AS WE DRAW  (Post-metal, Laval)
http://music.throatruinerrecords.com/album/mirages
http://facebook.com/aswedraw
BIRDS IN ROW (Hardcore/punk, Laval)
http://music.throatruinerrecords.com/album/collected
http://facebook.com/birdsinrow