Mats Gustafsson's heavy trio Fire! touring after Big Ears fest

Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson has collaborated with Sonic Youth, Colin Stetson, Ken Vandermark, Yoshimi P-We, Peter Brötzmann, Merzbow and others and has a number of different projects running concurrently. One of them is his trio Fire! (with Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin), who draw from psychedelic metal and punk as well as jazz, are performing at the 2019 Big Ears festival in Knoxville later this month. They write:

Fire! is Gustafsson’s hypnotic half-metal, half-psychedelic trio with drummer Andreas Werliin and bassist Johan Berthling. Where The Thing is Gustafsson’s power trio, Fire! is, in spite of the name, more pensive and prone to color negative space or ride a doomed groove with steely resolve. Their 2018 album, The Hands, opens with a stoner rumble fit for Sleep, Gustaffson weaving his serrated shrieks through the beat; that’s where it hangs, threatening but tempered, lulling you toward the dark. Even at their heaviest, there’s a sense of rhythmic magnetism to Fire!, even if the threat of a tirade seems to lurk in the distance.

You can listen to Fire!’s pummelling 2018 album, The Hands, below.

Right after Big Ears, Fire! will tour the U.S., hitting Chicago, Milwaukee, Washington DC, Philly, NYC, Austin and New Orleans. The NYC show happens March 28 at Zurcher Gallery with Madalyn Merkey (tickets). All dates are listed below.

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Fire! – 2019 TOUR DATES
22.03.2019 Knoxville Big Ears Festival
24.03.2019 Chicago Hungry Brain
25.03.2019 Milwaukee, WI Sugar Maple
26.03.2019 Washington DC Rhizome
27.03.2019 Philadelphia Boots & Saddle
28.03.2019 New York City Zurcher Gallery
30.03.2019 Austin TX North Door
31.03.2019 New Orleans TBA