Yesterday afternoon, the Appleseed Cast's van and trailer were run off the road in KS. No members of the band were in the accident, but friend and tour mate Anthony Piazza of Muscle Worship was driving and luckily is OK. On the not so lucky side, Appleseed's trailer was completely destroyed, there are damages to their tour van, and many pieces of their gear were wrecked. If you have any loot to spare and want to help them get back on the road next week, we here at Graveface really appreciate it. If you donate a minimum of $15, you'll get their new (and incredible!) album, Illumination Ritual, in just about any digital format you can imagine. If you already have this record and simply want to donate, you can send your donations to gravefacerecords@hotmail.com
[Graveface Records].

Following a van collision earlier this week that destroyed their trailer, damaged the vehicle, and wrecked many pieces of gear, The Appleseed Cast are raising money in hopes of getting back on the road next week. As seen above, there are two ways to donate: via Bandcamp in exchange for a digital copy of TAC's new album, Illumination Ritual, OR via Paypal set up through gravefacerecords@hotmail.com. Their entire May tour schedule is in jeopardy of being scrapped.

TAC are also slated to play some more U.S. dates this summer. That tour includes a pair of shows at Fireside Bowl on August 8 & 9 with tourmates Heartscape Landbreak. An Aesthetic Anaesthetic will act as main support on August 8, and August 9 will feature Red Fox Grey Fox. Advance tickets for both shows are on sale now.

All known Appleseed Cast dates and a stream of Illumination Ritual are below...

Continue reading "The Appleseed Cast raising money following van collision, playing two nights at Fireside Bowl in August"

White Mystery @ HoZac Blackout Fest 2012 (more by John Yingling)

White Mystery, who recently opened for Garbage at Metro, are set to play an intimate hometown show at the Fireside Bowl on Tuesday night (8/14). Support with come from Madison, WI's The Hussy, Absolutely Not, and The Eeries, and tickets will be for sale at the door.

WM's next upcoming Chicago show after the Fireside Bowl gig is a performance on Sunday (9/16) of Riot Fest. Two-day and single-day passes are still available.

All White Mystery dates and some videos are below...

Continue reading "White Mystery playing Fireside Bowl on Tuesday w/ The Hussy, Absolutely Not & The Eeries"

London, Ontario's Single Mothers are currently on tour in the US and will make their way to Chicago for a July 31 show at the Fireside Bowl. Velocicopter, Sleeping in Gethsemane, and Bully in the Hallway are also on the bill, and tickets will be available at the door.

Single Mothers' raucous punk/post-hardcore is well represented on their most recent self-titled EP and 2010 effort Wild Party. The group are signed to Deathwish's Secret Voice imprint and will be recording a debut LP for them this fall, with the help of The Bronx's Joby J. Ford. While you wait for that, take a listen to both of their currently available albums at the bottom of this post.

All Single Mothers dates are listed below, along with streams of both of their EPs.

Continue reading "Single Mothers are touring their way to the Fireside Bowl"

by Parker Langvardt

Shy, Low

Richmond, VA instrumental post-rock quartet Shy, Low will be playing the Fireside Bowl this Tuesday (7/3) with their hometown tour mates Comrades. Shy, Low are dynamic, with melodic ambience that can build to crushing chords and distorted bass. Comrades take a more technical, post-hardcore approach to their mostly instrumental music. The show will serve as the EP release for local headliner Loud Loud, and will also include a performance by the ambient, progressive pop quintet American Wolf. Like So will be opening with their pop-punk informed math rock. The show starts at 7:30 PM, and tickets will be available at the door.

Instrumental rock quartet An Aesthetic Anaesthetic will be playing Fireside Bowl the following Tuesday (7/10) with the more math-oriented instrumentalists Brownie Mountain. Also playing are a vaguely danceable post-punk band from Pennsylvania called Edelweiss, and Chicago math pop-rockers Options. The show starts at 7:30 PM, and tickets will be available at the door.

It will be An Aesthetic Anaesthetic's first show since opening for Battles at the Bottom Lounge, where they proved to be much tighter than their currently available albums. Their newest effort, NAMES, was recorded by Sanford Parker and will be released on August 8.

Some song streams below...

Continue reading "Fireside Bowl shows: Shy, Low this week, An Aesthetic Anaesthetic next week"

Refused @ Coachella 2012 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Refused played their second North American show in a long, long time, at Coachella Friday night (their first was one night earlier at the Glass House). Refused, who are bringing the reunion to the Congress Theater this summer on tour, played Chicago's Fireside Bowl on July 2, 1996 with Snapcase. And you can watch that show in full below!

Continue reading "watch Refused play a 1996 show @ Fireside Bowl (videos)"

words & photos by John Yingling

"Ted Leo was swell. Enough to make the peeps I know buy stuff. Which was great. But you frickin Aderall kids need t'learn to dance, bejeebus." - Linus Lee

"My dog is going to be pissed. Fuck him. It's Ted Leo." - Michael Gibson

"Ted Leo at the Fireside Bowl tonight. #1997?" - Mike Kinsella

"It's good to be back at the Pritzker Pavilion", Ted Leo joked at the sold out show at the iconic Fireside Bowl. "Compared to the bathrooms of old, it really is like the Pritzker Pavillion". The Eternals warmed up the crowd, and were exceedingly better than the last time I saw them. Proggy, fuzzy, screamy, they blended a gamut of sounds that won everyone over, especially Ted Leo. He thanked them for "leaving a splinter of a stage for us to play on" (and later tweeted "EEEEEYYAAAAAAAAH I wanna move to Chicago and just be in the Eternals!! #SoGood")

Unlike the previous day's Pritzker Pavillion where they played Tyranny of Distance in full, the set consisted of a wide array of cuts from the band's history. The crowd threw jokes about his cut-off jean shorts, and Ted said his knee felt better. Even with a strained knee, he hopped around with all the normal energy. I was unfamiliar with a chunk of the set, but came away a bigger Ted Leo and the Pharmacists fan. Those who weren't dancing had huge smiles plastered across their faces, likely happy to just witness Ted in one of his old stomping grounds. A great intimate performance, by a true front-man.

Continue on to view more of John's pictures..

Continue reading "Ted Leo & the Rx, The Eternals played the Fireside Bowl (pics)"