by BBG

Black Army Jacket at Best Friends Day 2010

After a return to the stage at Best Friends Day 2010, Black Army Jacket are readying to play Cake Shop on SATURDAY (9/4) with the newly added Tombs (!), Defeatist, Concrete Cross, and Grown Ass Men (ex Phobia, Wheelbite, Stop It!). The show will be the first for the band in ten-plus years, and as such, we cornered bassist Carlos Ramirez to ask him about the return of Black Army Jacket, some of his fond memories from that time, and possible plans for the future....

Continue reading "an interview w/ Black Army Jacket (who play NYC Saturday) "

by BBG

Magrudergrind supporting Verbal Abuse (more by Keith Marlowe)

With all of the BrooklynVegan-related shows on the horizon, it can be hard to keep up. That said, we have some recent additions to some of our upcoming heavy music bills to report.

Atakke has been added to the upcoming Fuck The Facts / Magrudergrind / Defeatist destruction campaign THIS SATURDAY (8/7) at Cake Shop. Atakke recently roughed up the audience at Acheron supporting The Body. Fuck The Facts will have a new cassette entitled Live In Whitby available at the show, with the remainder showing up online after the tour. Get a copy and download one and pay-what-you-want.

Fresh off of wowing the crowd at Black Cobra, East of The Wall will support KEN Mode and Castevet at Acheron on August 17th.

Tombs have been added to the upcoming Black Army Jacket reunion at Cake Shop on Sept 4th. The show is just two weeks after the band plays Death By Audio on 8/22 with Planks.

And a reminder, Unsane/Keelhaul/Pigs/Disappearer take on Santos TONIGHT (8/5) (tickets) and Pollution, Megasus, The Love Below, and Judas destroy Acheron on August 13th at 8PM. Interested in seeing Unsane, Fuck The Facts, KEN Mode, or Pollution? I have two pairs of tickets available for EACH. Info on how to win, Pollution flyer, and some video is down below...

Continue reading "upcoming metal shows (and a chance to win tickets) "

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]

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

They say that the clothes make the man, but in the music world, the drummer makes the band. That's the only way to explain the string of successes that have followed Dave Witte since he first sat behind the kit as a member of the influential yet under-appreciated Human Remains. Since then, Witte has played with some of the greatest bands in the heavy underground, laying the back beat to names as powerful as Municipal Waste, Discordance Axis, Anodyne, Black Army Jacket, Melt Banana, and we can't forget about Burnt By The Sun.

Burnt By The Sun recently released their swansong, Heart of Darkness, via Relapse Records. In celebration of this last LP, the band will embark on final tour of Europe in October with only one US date scheduled: October 2nd at Cake Shop with Tombs, Black Anvil, Bloodhorse, and Torchbearer. Considering the band members' current undertakings, it isn't out the question to say that this could be their last show for a very very long time.

With that as a primer, I fired some questions at Dave Witte about Municipal Waste, the end of Burnt By The Sun, and the possiblity of him returning to the kit for Human Remains, Discordance Axis or Black Army Jacket. The conversation is below....

Continue reading "an interview w/ Dave Witte (of Burnt by the Sun, Municipal Waste, Human Remains, Black Army Jacket...)"