words & photos by Chris La Putt

Butch Walkter in Brooklyn

"Well, I left the town of sinners, redneck priests and meth lab stalls
To find myself a few more just like me
The option's pretty skinny and the order's pretty tall
To swim the hippest waters in the sea

Somewhere in the sticky city, driving back and forth
I found myself a squat in Williamsburg
Nobody seemed the same sincerely this could be a curse
But everyone's the same with different shirts"

Former Marvelous 3 lead singer Butch Walker peformed at Music Hall of Williamsburg last month (10/25), "3 Kids in Brooklyn" included (the song quoted above)., in support of his recent album The Spade. Butch is known for his many pop star connections, so I guess it wasn't a complete surprise that Pink showed up and did a duet with him at his Williamsburg show (like she has done in the past). Not as cool as Mastodon's Brent Hinds jamming with him on 10/7 in Atlanta, but much crazier considering the size and location of the venue and the size of the special guest's fame. Videos of both are below.

Members of Butch's backing band, the Black Widows, opened the Brooklyn show, as did Shovels and Rope (who have shared bills with Jason Isbell and the Felice Brothers in NYC over the past year). Pictures of the whole Brooklyn show are in this post.

Earlier that day Butch was on Leonard Lopate's show on WNYC discussing his new book Drinking with Strangers: Music Lessons from a Teenage Bullet Belt which is about his life as a musician and record producer. You can listen to the segment below. Want to ask Butch a question about it? The Daily Swarm is collecting questions for an upcoming Butch interview.

Pictures, videos, and Butch's WNYC interview, below...

Continue reading "Butch Walker wrote a book, jams w/ Brett Hinds of Mastodon (video), and.... Pink in Brooklyn (pics from MHOW)"

by BBG

Brent Hinds at Madison Square Garden (more by Matthew Eisman)

From MSG to Union Pool. Brent Hinds of Mastodon (who just played MSG with Alice in Chains and Deftones) currently has at least two side projects, both of which are out on tour together. That tour hits Brooklyn's Union Pool on 10/26. Tickets are on sale for the BV/1000 Knives production.

You might not recognize him at times though. The six-stringer wears a stocking over his face (seriously) in his surf-a-billy side project Fiend Without a Face. The other bands on the bill are his distinctly country-inflected band West End Motel, and their touring partners in the wild-Japanese-influenced-surf band Daikaiju.

All dates and a few videos below.

Continue reading "Mastodon's Brent Hinds on tour in 2 separate side projects (Fiend Without a Face + West End Motel dates) "

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Zoroaster - "White Dwarf" featuring Brent Hinds of Mastodon (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Zoroaster - "Brazen Bull" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Zoroaster - "Bullwhip" (MP3)

Zoroaster at Hoeks Death Metal Pizza (more by Samantha Marble)

Zoroaster has a new 50s B-movie horror-tastic video for their Voice of Saturn rager "White Dwarf". The clip, directed by Nick Hood was shot in their native ATL and features, much like the song, Brent Hinds of Mastodon. Check it out below.

During SXSW, Zoroaster debuted a ton of new material from their forthcoming new album for E1, Matador. The material had the weighty Zoroaster feel, but with less of the droney heaviness and a more direct, almost doom-meets-crust punk direction. No word on when the Sanford Parker-produced LP will actually hit the shelves (though a release party is scheduled for July 17th in their native Atlanta with All The Saints and Wizard Smoke). In the meantime, dig on some video of the new track "Ancient Ones" from the BV show at Hoeks, along with new official video described above, below.

Continue reading "Zoroaster video premiere - 'White Dwarf' starring Brent Hinds"

Black Lips @ Williamsburg Waterfront (more by Bao Nguyen)

The now even-more-controversial Black Lips will be playing some shows with Box Elders this March. So far, three NYC-area shows have been announced: Maxwell's on March 21st, Brooklyn Bowl on March 23rd and Bowery Ballroom on March 24th. Maxwell's tickets go on sale Wednesday, January 13th at noon. Tickets for Brooklyn Bowl go on sale Friday, January 15th at noon. Tickets for Bowery Ballroom go on AmEx presale Wednesday at noon; general sale starts Friday at noon.

UPDATE: Full March & April tour w/ Box Elders is now announced. All dates below.

Before those shows, Black Lips will play a late-January West Coast run and February tour dates in Australia. All dates and a video of Black Lips at their New Year's Eve show in Atlanta playing "O Katrina" (with Brent Hinds from Mastodon) are below...

Continue reading "Black Lips touring, playing 3 NYC-area shows w/ Box Elders (dates), played w/ Mastodon's Brent Hinds on NYE (video)"