Dillinger Escape Plan at Terminal 5 (more by Greg Cristman)

Good news, bad news, good news. Let's start with the bad and then go to the good.

The RSVP for the Dillinger Escape Plan show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 27 with The Faceless and Royal Thunder has run dry. That said, we have a pair to giveaway to a lucky individual, details on how to get into this Converse Rubber Tracks event are below.

In addition, DEP has announced that they will headline the Summer Slaughter festival for 2013, snagging support from Animals As Leaders, Periphery, Norma Jean, Cattle Decapitation, The Ocean, Revocation, AEON, Rings of Saturn and Thy Art is Murder. Though dates as a whole have yet to be revealed, look for that lineup to play House of Blues in Los Angeles on July 20 and Best Buy Theater in NYC on August 7. Tickets for the latter go on sale April 19 at noon.

Contest details and song streams are below.

Continue reading "Dillinger Escape Plan add 2nd NYC show as part of Summer Slaughter tour; win tix to the "sold out" smaller one"

by Fred Pessaro

As discussed, The Dillinger Escape Plan is proclaiming One of Us is the Killer with a brand new LP, celebrating it with a set of new dates with The Faceless and Royal Thunder. Brooklyn's date at Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 27th will also feature a set by Converse Rubber Tracks recording artists Primitive Weapons and a DJ set by yours truly. The Brooklyn show is totally free/open to the public, but you need to RSVP aka grab a free ticket. They become available at noon on Wednesday (4/10),

The Brooklyn show is part of the ongoing Converse Rubber Tracks Live series. The last one was with Vivian Girls, Widowspeak, Heliotropes and Eternal Summers.

DEP recently dropped a new tour promo, as well as a snippet from their forthcoming LP. Check them both out below along with all tour dates and a short documentary on Primitive Weapons and Saint Vitus...

Continue reading "The Dillinger Escape Plan announce RSVP for free Brooklyn show, part of Converse Rubber Tracks Live"

Vivian Girls at Knitting Factory, Sep. 2011 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

The latest free "Converse Rubber Tracks Live" show has been announced with headliners Vivian Girls, plus Widowspeak, Eternal Summers and Heliotropes which happens at Music Hall of Williamsburg on February 15. While the 16+ show is free, you do have to get your tickets through Ticketmaster and those will be available on Wednesday (1/30) at noon.

Vivian Girls don't seem to have any other shows at the moment though Cassie and Katy have both been busy with The Babies and La Sera, respectively. Widowspeak just played Mercury Lounge and their very good second album, Almanac, is out now.

For Eternal Summers, the MHOW show is part of a short East Coast tour and those dates are listed below. And, as mentioned earlier today, Heliotropes have a few other local shows coming up as well.

Continue reading "Vivian Girls, Widowspeak, Eternal Summers and Heliotropes playing free Converse Rubber Tracks Live show in NYC"

METZ at Knitting Factory earlier this month (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

The new-ish free bi-monthly Converse Rubber Tracks series at Music Hall of Williamsburg, which began in June with White Rabbits, continued in August with Action Bronson, and again in October with Ghostface Killah and A-Trak, will continue on December 19 at MHOW with its most rockin' edition yet: King Tuff, METZ, Sean Bones, and Devin. The show is free but you can pick up tickets to secure yourself a spot starting today (11/27) at 2 PM.

Like all of these shows go, part of the lineup includes bands who've recorded at Rubber Tracks, and for this one it's Frenchkiss labelmates Sean Bones and Devin. Converse session videos, all King Tuff and METZ dates, and the show flyer, below.

Continue reading "King Tuff, METZ, Sean Bones & Devin playing free Converse Rubber Tracks show at MHOW in Dec (dates)"

photos by Julie Schabel

Flosstradamus @ 285 Kent, 10/5/2012

Fools Gold is turning five years old and Converse Rubber Tracks is helping celebrate with a free show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday, October 20 which is the last night of CMJ. Performers include Ghostface Killah, A-Trak, Flosstradamus, Donnis, Nick Catchdubs, World's Fair, Troy Ave, and the ever-popular "special guests." Doors are at 9 PM, first come first served, no RSVP. If you'd like to party in style, however, we are giving away a pair of VIP passes to the show and details on how to enter are at the bottom of this post, along with a flyer for the show.

The next night (10/21), A-Trak and Flosstradamus will bring their "House Party Tour" to Asbury Park, NJ at an undisclosed residence. To receive info on the secret locations, sign up HERE. Meanwhile, Flosstradamus played a packed and sweaty show at 285 Kent this past Friday (10/5)and a few pictures from that show are in this post.

Speaking of Converse, the shoe folks are offering up a live version of Green Day's "Oh Love" from their new album ¡UNO! which you can stream below. There are also ¡UNO! Chuck Taylors (green of course)

Continue reading "Converse Rubber Tracks Celebrates Fool's Gold Five Year Anniversary ++ pics from Flosstradamus @ 285 Kent"

photos by Chris La Putt

White Rabbits at Music Hall of Williamsburg - 6/30/12

White Rabbits, who have dates coming up with the Shins, played a free show (first come, first served) at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on Saturday (6/30) with We Barbarians. The show was part of a new series of free shows presented by Converse Rubber Tracks, Converse's recording studio in Brooklyn (where We Barbarians recently recorded, and that is about to celebrate its one year anniversary in its Williamsburg location). The next free, live show in the series will be announced soon.

The show was an early one, starting at 8pm sharp and ending by about 10:30, and for White Rabbits, it was their second show with new drummer David Scalia who replaced Jamie who is expecting his first kid. David will play the rest of the shows this year with the band while Jamie spends time with his family. Here are some pictures from the night.

The White Rabbits show was happening right next door to the inaugural Martyrdoom Fest (co-presented by BrooklynVegan, Signature Riff, Order of the Serpent, and Catharsis PR), which went down in Public Assembly. This of course lead to a very drastic contrast of crowds on North 6th St. that night. Stay tuned for more on that show.

More pics from the White Rabbits show, below...

Continue reading "White Rabbits played MHOW with We Barbarians (pics)"

The annual Crest Hardware Art Show runs from June 30 - August 31 and kicks off this Saturday (6/30) with Crest Fest 2012 which goes from 1 - 7PM and features a live music stage, two DJ booths, plus local, creative art, and food vendors. Bands performing include Aabaraki, Grey Sky Appeal, Hard Nips, PitchBlak Brass Band and Workout and DJ sets are by Petey Complex, Lucas Walters, Dom Leon, King Cut, Peter Hale and Krunk Pony. The show is free and all ages.

Crest Hardware is located at 558 Metropolitan Ave Between Lorimer and Union in Williamsburg. This year's Art Show will include "100+ works from various artists of different mediums. The art will be installed contextually throughout 10,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, including a 5,000 sq ft urban garden...All art is about/made with/or inspired by hardware." Flyers and posters are at the bottom of this post.

Speaking of things happening on June 30 sponsored by Converse Rubber Tracks (which Crest Fest is), White Rabbits are playing a free show at Music Hall of Williamsburg Saturday night and we're giving away a pair of VIP tickets which guarantees you admission to the otherwise first-come, first-served show, and gets you into the VIP balcony. Details on how to enter are below...

Continue reading "Crest Hardware 2012 Art Show starts Saturday with Crest Fest; win VIP tix to see White Rabbits at MHOW"

White Rabbits in Chicago in April (more by Ben Rodig)

White Rabbits don't have too much planned for this summer. They'll be in Toronto this week for NXNE and will do a few festivals in August, including Lollapalooza (who just announced their schedule). Other than that, they've only got a couple other shows scheduled at the moment -- including a free show in NYC on June 30 at Music Hall of Williamsburg with We Barbarians. The show is the first in a new bi-monthly, free concert series called Converse Rubber Tracks Live and admission is first come first served. Each show in the new series will feature a band who recorded at Converse Rubber Tracks (this time that band is We Barbarians who were also chosen to open by White Rabbits).

A list of all White Rabbits dates and a video below...

Continue reading "White Rabbits playing a free NYC show with We Barbarians (and other dates)"

Live Room at Rubber Tracks

Just in time to remind people that Vans is not the only sneaker with a new presence in Brooklyn...

Converse Inc. announced the official opening of Converse Rubber Tracks, a new state-of-the-art recording studio in Brooklyn, NY. Converse Rubber Tracks will provide dedicated artists of all genres the opportunity to record their original music in a high quality studio alongside a team of experienced engineers at no cost. Converse Rubber Tracks is providing a new platform for musicians by helping them overcome one of the biggest hurdles in their career -- affording studio time.

...Converse will support the local New York music scene with the first round of emerging bands set to record at Converse Rubber Tracks. Kicking off today [7/13], five emerging New York area bands including the funk/R&B group Aabaraki (Brooklyn, NY), psychedelic rock group Majuscules (Brooklyn, NY), hip/hop funk group G.I.C & Funk Face (Brooklyn, NY), R&B pop artist Andre Henry (New York, NY) and the pop/punk band Super Rocket Car (New Brunswick, NJ) will begin recording at the space. They will work alongside a team of experienced and professional engineers to lay down original music that the artists themselves will retain all rights for.

Along with its famous density of music acts, Williamsburg also has a surplus of recording studios. At least four professional studios operate within four blocks of Rubber Tracks. Converse also had reason to worry about riling the locals.

"It's a scary situation to have people give recording time away for free," says Oliver Straus, owner and chief engineer at Mission Sound Recording. He says [the marketing company who helped Converse set up the Studio] Cornerstone approached him a couple years ago with the idea of running the operation out of his studio on Powers Street. But as Rubber Tracks took shape as a stand-alone facility, he says, "there were many assurances that this would not be an adversarial thing."

In fact, Mr. Straus expects to generate some business from Rubber Tracks. Mission Sound is one of the local studios that may be offered overflow work from Rubber Tracks.

Continue reading "Converse Rubber Tracks studio is now open in Williamsburg"