Greys on the set of the "Carjack" video shoot (photo by Sarah Cramer)

Toronto punks Greys, who we recently profiled and interviewed and whose great new Drift EP is out now and can be streamed here or below, have finally announced that North American tour they were talking about in the interview. The tour kicks off tonight (2/28) in Ontario and hits NYC on March 11 at Cake Shop. The band also mentioned a Brooklyn show too, and though one wasn't announced, they do have a break in their schedule on March 12, so maybe there's still one on the way. UPDATE: They also play Death by Audio on March 12. The Cake Shop show, DBA show, and most others on the tour are with Shahman.

Greys also made a video for Drift's opening track, "Carjack," which you can watch, and check out all tour dates listed below...

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by Andrew Sacher

Greys (photo by Jesse Crowe)

Toronto noise punks Greys formed about two years ago when singer/guitarist Shehzaad Jiwani teamed up with high school pal Cam Graham (guitar) and began playing the type of abrasive guitar-based rock they grew up on. They eventually brought in drummer Braeden Craig and bassist Colin Gillespie, and turned Greys into the four-piece touring force that they are. They surfaced with the Ultra Sorta EP in 2011, followed by the Easy Listening EP in 2012, and they're about to drop their heaviest release yet, the Drift EP, on February 12 via their new home, Kind of Like Records. It was recorded by Josh Korody (of Beliefs) at Toronto studio Candle Recording (Owen Pallett, Austra, Doldrums, and more). That EP is making its premiere in this post, and you can stream it in its entirety below.

An easy comparison to make for Greys is their Toronto neighbors METZ (who're touring), but like that band, Greys have reached back to the noise rock-meets-post hardcore of early '90s bands like Drive Like Jehu, The Jesus Lizard, Unsane... the list goes on. You'll also hear elements of My War-era Black Flag sludge, Seattle scene grunge, and straight-ahead fast punk. Plus, the band are working on a full length right now and according to Shehzaad, one of the songs they're working on "sounds like early Sloan, or Guided by Voices, or Pavement."

Greys might look to the past for influence, but not without a wink in their eye. "Hey, we're late to the party," they shout on "Drag," with the sort of post-modern notion that nothing's really original anyway. And they do this while playing with the kind of urgency where nothing in the world matters for two and a half minutes except playing the hell out of their songs. The guitars are thick, the drums pound away in fury, and Shehzaad shouts with a burning passion as he delivers lines like, "We have no marching song to overthrow our leadership/We have no teenage anthem to make ourselves feel like shit," on "Drag," which itself could end up making a pretty good case for being either of those things. "Drag" is the EP's second track, and it's sandwiched between the fast-paced opener "Carjack" and the notably longer closing track, "Pill," a song about medical issues which opens with a discordant swagger and ends with the band literally sounding like they're drowning and screaming out for help.

Greys don't have a tour booked at the moment, but they're expected to head to the US and stop in Manhattan and Brooklyn this March, so stay tuned for that. Meanwhile, I just spoke to Shehzaad about the making of the EP, the Toronto scene that they come from, and a pretty crazy experience the band had the last time they played NYC. You can head below to read that interview and listen to a stream of the Drift EP.

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The 2012 edition of Calgary, Alberta festival Sled Island is set to take place from June 20-23 at venues throughout the city. This year includes over 200 bands performing at 30 venues plus a large comedy schedule, film screenings, and art shows.

Sled Island 2012 will once again use outdoor venue Olympic Plaza as its main stage, featuring performances by Feist, The Hold Steady, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, The Dudes, Shabazz Palaces, Parlovr, and others.

Acts including Russian Circles, Hot Snakes, The Antlers, Boris, Thurston Moore, Willis Earl Beal, Trust, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, Terry Malts, Neil Hamburger, How To Dress Well, The Evaporators (aka Nardwuar's band), DJ Jonathan Toubin, Hannibal Buress, Andrew W.K., Tim Heidecker, Archers of Loaf, and many more will be performing at various bars and venues. Check out the full lineup at the bottom of this post.

Festival passes, individual tickets for some clubs shows, and tickets for the Olympic Plaza events only are all on sale. The full festival schedule iwill be announced in June.

Full lineup and 2012 festival trailer below...

Continue reading "Feist, Stephen Malkmus, The Hold Steady and lots more playing Calgary's Sled Island Festival (full line-up)"