photos by Chris Boarts Larson, words by BBG

Little Ozzy

While a rain (and wind) delay is shutting down our city currently, a rain delay only shoved back set times by an hour at the final show of Best Friends Day 2011 on Sunday (8/21) at the Bike Lot. Featuring a headlining appearance from Corrosion of Conformity, Victims, Iron Lung, Magrudergrind, Little Ozzy and Dry Spell, the show also featured the final performance from the reunited Jesuit who played NYC in April.

Magrudergrind will hit NYC with Despise You at Shea Stadium on 9/11 as part of their tour together.

Our pictures from the previous day of BFD are HERE and HERE. Pictures from all bands at The Bike Lot except Magrudergrind (who we missed) are below....

Continue reading "Best Friends Day 2011 - final day in pics (Little Ozzy, CoC, Victims, Iron Lung, Jesuit & more)"

Strike Anywhere @ Best Friends Day (more by Chris Boarts Larson)

Richmond's Strike Anywhere are joining the throngs of punk bands touring around their appearance at Riotfest. The melodic hardcore/punk band will kick off a round of dates on 9/27 in Asbury Park, NJ at Asbury Lanes before heading to The Studio at Webster Hall on 9/28 with A Wilhelm Scream, The Copyrights, & Bridge And Tunnel. Full tour schedule and video of their entire set from Best Friends Day is below.

Continue reading "Strike Anywhere touring in the fall (dates)"

photos by Chris Boarts Larson, words by BBG

7 Seconds

After a crazy Friday, the Saturday of Best Friends Day 2011 included a 10AM set at a grocery store with Night Birds (who recently played Public Assembly), a show at Hadad's lake with Against Me! (who recently played House of Vans), Baroness, 7 Seconds, Big Freedia (who also played House of Vans), The Dopamines, No BS Brass Band, New Creases, Tubers, and The Haverchucks, and acoustic sets by Kevin Seconds and Mikey Erg on buses that they picked at random on the way to Hadad's Lake.

7 Seconds, Baroness, and Against Me! pictures are in this post and continue below. More from Sunday are on the way.

Continue reading "Best Friends Day 2011 w/ 7 Seconds, Baroness & Against Me! (pics)"

photos by Chris Boarts Larson, words by BBG

"The pg.99 reunion last night was truly something special. Thanks to all who made the journey." -magicbulletrecs

pg.99 @ Best Friends Day 2011

Friday (8/19) at the Canal Club in Richmond, VA was the place to be, as pg.99 made their triumphant return supporting Converge with Strike Anywhere, Dead To Me, The Catalyst, and Capsule as part of Best Friends Day 2011. The rare appearance was one of two scheduled for the band, who will join Thou for a sold-out show at Black Cat in DC on 8/27 with Circle Takes The Square.

Converge will play NYC TOMORROW (8/24) at House of Vans with Touche Amore (in place of Cold Cave) and the recently added Krallice. The show is FREE with RSVP (which is still open).

Pictures from Day Two and Three are on the way.

Check out full sets of video from Converge & Pg.99 below, alongside pictures of most of the bands who played the first day of the fest (none of The Catalyst or Capsule)

Continue reading "Best Friends Day 2011 - Day 1 in pics & video (pg.99 reunion, Converge & Strike Anywhere included)"

Touche Amore at Santos Party House (more by Paul Birman)

Cold Cave regret to announce that due to an unforeseen illness they are unable to travel and thus not able to play their dates in the UK and Europe in August and September.
We hope they will be able to reschedule the shows in 2012.

Those dates INCLUDE next week's show at House of Vans. Cold Cave is no longer playing the August 24th show, but Converge and new addition Touche Amore are. All Pigs Must Die are still NOT playing despite what the RSVP page says. One more band TBA

House of Vans hosted an eclectic lineup last night with Tokyo Police Club, Against Me, Japanther, Big Freedia, and Team Robespierre. Pictures are on the way.

Converge play Richmond TONIGHT (8/19) as part of Best Friends Day with the reuniting pg.99. pg.99 will ALSO play a DC show at Black Cat next weekend (8/27) with Circle Takes The Square and Thou.

by BBG

Night Birds at Chaos in Tejas (more by Keith Marlowe)

Quite a few were left blue when the much loved NJ band The Ergs called it quits. Luckily, members of The Ergs are back with a new project in Night Birds, a punk/garage/surf hybrid that rips as much on record as it does live. After a series of 7"s, the band is welcoming their debut LP The Other Side of Darkness on Grave Mistake on 9/13. Stream the title track and all of their older songs below.

Night Birds are scheduled to play NYC at Public Assembly on August 15th with From Ashes Rise, and Full of Hell, one of two US shows scheduled with the other being an appearance at Best Friends Day. They tour Europe in September. All dates and songs below.

Continue reading "Night Birds releasing 'The Other Side of Darkness' (song premiere & some upcoming shows)"

by BBG

Converge at The Chance (more by Meghan McInnis)

Best Friends Day is now exploding with bands taking part in its 10th event in Richmond, VA on August 18-21, 2011. Tickets are on sale for one show, on 8/19 at The Canal Club, which will feature Converge (who are touring with Trap Them), pg.99 (as previously announced), and Strike Anywhere. The remainder of the weekend features some incredible names as well, like Against Me!, 7 Seconds, Corrosion of Conformity (Animosity Line Up!), Baroness, Jesuit, Iron Lung, Victims, Screaming Females (who play Santos in NYC tonight), and many many others. Full list below...

Continue reading "Best Friends Day 10 initial lineup announced, pg.99 tix on sale"

by BBG

Pg. 99 (also spelled pageninetynine) was a punk band from Sterling, Virginia on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. The band formed as a 6-piece in winter 1998 and later expanded to an 8-piece. With continual line-up changes, they once played as a 14 member outfit. Pg. 99 were known for their intense live shows.[1]
After several US tours, a European tour, and numerous releases, they disbanded in May 2003. [Wiki]

pageninetynine will resurrect from the dead and reunite to play Best Friends Day 2011, August 18-21 in Richmond, VA. The band will be comprised of the Document #8 lineup who will perform all of that LP. Members of pg.99 went on to join/form bands like City of Caterpillar, Enemy Soil (which also featured JR of Pig Destroyer), and many others.

Last year's Best Friends Day saw the resurrection of Black Army Jacket.

Watch all of pageninetynine's last show below.

Continue reading "pageninetynine reuniting for Best Friends Day 2011"

by BBG

Black Army Jacket Demo Tape cover

Black Army Jacket was an American grindcore / power violence band... Their ex-members can now be found in bands like Hope Collapse, Municipal Waste, Matt Pond PA, Burnt By The Sun and Birds of Prey.

The band was started by Andrew Orlando (ex-guitarist of Milhouse and owner of Reservoir Records) and Carlos Ramirez... both fans of bands like Terrorizer, Assück and Napalm Death and wanted to create a band in those styles. ...Queens, NY-based Chainsaw Safety Records would go on to release the band's The Path of Two Swords As One 7" and the band started to tour regionally shortly after... [Soon after] Dave Witte joined the band on drums. Now a four piece, they toured with California's Benumb and Noothgrush.

In 1998, BAJ... wrote throughout the year and entered the studio with Dean Rispler (Killing Time, 25 Ta Life) in the producer chair. The resulting album, 222, saw the musicians incorporating hints of death and black metal along with some more traditional elements of hardcore to their sound. They toured extensively to support their debut.

... Rob Lawi and the band parted ways shortly afterwards. Bassist Carlos Ramirez then became their vocalist and New Jersey native Tom Hayden joined in to fill the bass slot. Another native Jersey musician, John Adubato, was also asked to join to make Black Army Jacket a two guitar unit.

They came home from tour in mid 1999 and began to write newer, more technical material... [but] after a tough show in Worcester, MA the band decided to break up. Adubato and Witte then formed Burnt by the Sun, whilst Ramirez started melodic rockers Lakota a few years later. Andrew Orlando went on to join Anodyne and then Disnihil in the early 2000s. - [Wiki]

We are proud to announce that NYC powerviolence/grind greats Black Army Jacket will return to play a reunion show at Cake Shop on September 4th! Support is still TBD. Tickets are on sale.

The show is one of two lined up for the great Black Army Jacket with the second being Best Friends Day in Richmond, VA on Aug 19 - 22:

Continue reading "Black Army Jacket reuniting to play Cake Shop & Best Friends Day in Virginia (lineup) "

by Black Bubblegum

Thursday @ Terminal 5

Thursday is devoted to tour dates. Not only here at BrooklynVegan every Thursday (and really, every day), but the New Brunswick post-hardcore band Thursday who will hit the road in September with The Fall of Troy, tagging Bowery Ballroom (a venue much smaller than their most recent shows at Terminal 5 and Nokia Theatre) on 9/20. Support will rotate, but Bowery will get BV-SXSW 2009 vets Young Widows and the post-rocky Moving Mountains. Full tour dates are below, with all shows currently on sale via Thursday's Doves Club (general sale kicks off 8/7). Thursday is touring off of their current LP, Common Existence, which was released earlier this year on Epitaph.

Young Widows recently issued an update on new releases and some details with respect to their tour with Thursday:

...we'll be playing Best Friends Day 8 in Richmond this year! There is somewhat of a twist as Jeremy will be in Finland on the day of the fest... Instead, our very good friend Dave Witte (of Burnt By The Sun, Municipal Waste, Melt Banana, etc...) will be filling in for the show! We are excited to be playing with Dave and making him an honorary Young Widow!

We have two releases to announce, both on Robotic Empire and both to be released in the next couple of months. The first is Evan's project Bad Secrets, which was born out of improv jam sessions between him and Kodan Armada's Dan Davis. ...[Their] debut will be released on 9"+CD! The second is a Young Widows live record! We had the privilage to play live on WMUC Radio back in April and it was all recorded... [and] it will be released on 12"+CD of a limited number.

Dave Witte on drums for Young Widows? Wow.

Best Friends Day 8 takes place in Richmond from August 20th -23rd and features a killer lineup of heavy, including Torche (who just played MHOW), Strike Anywhere, Coliseum, Brainworms, Magrudergrind, Off With Their Heads (who are coming to Europa), Asshole Parade (who are coming to The Charleston), Cannabis Corpse (them too), Ultra Dolphins, and many more. Flyer is below with all Thursday tour dates...

Continue reading "Thursday & The Fall of Troy touring (dates include Bowery) with Young Widows (who are playing Best Friends Day 8)"