by BBG

Al Cisneros of Shrinebuilder at LPR (more by Greg Cristman)

As I write this, Scion Rock Fest is still 46 days away and still in Ohio, but, it has been announced, that one of its very special headliners will play NYC two days earlier! Shrinebuilder will play a show on Thursday, March 11th at E&L Auditorium at NYU. Ticket info is forthcoming.

The NYU date is currently the lone east coast show scheduled for the band. Earlier in March they'll be skipping along the west coast with A Storm of Light, tagging shows with Harvestman (aka Steve Von Till of Neurosis). Full tour dates are below.

Speaking of A Storm of Light, do you think you have the chops to be their new drummer?

In just over two years since the band's inception, A Storm of Light has had the honor and privilege of playing with many great drummers: Vinny Signorelli, Jason Roeder, Pete Angevine, Andy Rice, and our current man, Geoff Summers. While this band is built around revolving members both in touring and recording, we have decided that a central three-piece will make us sonically/rhythmically stronger. That said, we have decided to look for a permanent drummer, one that will make Storm their primary focus, and be part of the band for the long haul.... Ideally we want someone in Brooklyn/NYC, or damn close. While we are willing to consider people outside of the area (New Jersey/Philadelphia/Upstate NY/ etc), we are constantly writing, recording, practicing, touring, so you will have to be in Brooklyn very regularly.... Please include links to your drumming/musical projects, and email us.

Though the search may be ongoing, that doesn't stop the the band from hitting the road on 2/18 with their current drummer, Geoff Summers of Batillus. The band loops back to NYC on 3/18 to play a homecoming show at Union Pool.

Ex-Storm drummer Vinny Signorelli will pound NYC on 2/12 at Union Pool with his current band, Unsane, when they join Made Out of Babies, United Nations and Dark Vibe. Tickets are on sale. The show is a BV/Osiris production.

Al Cisneros of Shrinebuilder will be back in New York (state) with the legendary Sleep when the band hits ATP New York at Kutscher's in September. Tickets are still available.

All tour dates and a few live Shrinebuilder vids (some in HD) are below...

Continue reading "Shrinebuilder playing NYU & other dates, A Storm of Light is looking for a drummer (and touring too)"

by JJ Koczan

We continue with JJ's report from Roadburn in Tilburg, Holland. If you missed it, you might want to start with Day One. Here is Day Two (Friday April 23, 2009)...

Cathedral LIVE at Roadburn (Erik Luyten)

It's really easy to tell as you walk around Tilburg who is here for Roadburn and who isn't. Even when I first got here from Amsterdam on the train, the front of the station looked like an Eyehategod show could have broken out at any minute, all the bearded longhairs and black t-shirts, including my own, standing around looking for a bus or a cab. Like some kind of convention for the International Society Of Social Awkwardness. But oh, we do have a good time.

The thing about the "doom scene," as much as there is one, is that it's really more of a community. Maybe it's because the majority of its patrons are a little older, a little more stoned, a little more concerned with paying their rent, but there are way fewer scene rules than, say, in black metal, where the contest to be more kvlt than thou goes on ceaselessly. Certainly there's a uniform -- see "beards and t-shirts," above -- but there are some normal looking dudes running around here and no one really gives a crap one way or the other what they look like. I'd say it's refreshing, but it's been this way for as long as I've been into doom, so it's nothing new.

This is easily the best festival I've ever seen. The fact that I'm here still astonishes me. Yesterday, as I watched Angel Witch demolish bands half their age (though Saviours would answer back heartily later on), I couldn't help but look around me and be amazed at the gathering of riff worshippers. The Atomic Bitchwax, for example, played to a Green Room so packed that people were lined up into the hallway watching them through the open doors. I've seen the Bitchwax plenty of times in our shared home state of New Jersey, and most of those shows have been relatively empty. Here you can barely go from one part of the venue to the next without doing a bump 'n grind on some poor schlub. It's something to get used to, but I made a conscious decision to take a different approach to day two than I had to day one.

continued below...

Continue reading "Surviving Roadburn, Day Two: Riding To The Sabbath"

by Black Bubblegum

Neurosis LIVE @ Fury Fest

Neurot Recordings have confirmed that Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till are working on new Neurosis material, the follow-up to 2007's mammoth Given To The Rising! No word on when that material will surface, but with a little luck, maybe we'll see it in Neurot's 10th anniversary year (2009).

Neurot have also announced plans for In a Dark Tongue by Harvestman (aka Steve Von Till), a new Skullflower (due in March or April), as well as a new record by The Chord featuring members of Pelican.

The Chord currently have a single date laid out in their native Chi-town, at the Empty Bottle on 1/27 with A Tundra and Bruce Lamont (Yakuza) & Michael Zerang (tix here).

In addition, Neurot dropped a wee bit of Shrinebuilder news....

The band will be in the studio with Toshi [Kasai, Big Business] from January 9th through January 11th. Shrinebuilder's debut full-length, currently self-titled, is set for a summer 2009 release on Neurot Recordings.

Scott Kelly has announced that he will report live from the studio via [his blog] beginning no later than Saturday, January 10th. Look for guest blogs by other members of Shrinebuilder as well as possible in-studio photos from the band.

Wino added:

Yesterday we visited the gear catacomb where we exhumed some vintage gear for the recording including: Two seventies silver{gray} label Sunn model T's (which I immediately set upon replacing the existing preamp tubes with secret ones), a vintage Matamp, an Orange OD IOO, Roland space echo, various cabinets etc.

In case we haven't beat it into your skull already over the past year, Shrinebuilder is Wino (St. Vitus, Hidden Hand, The Obsessed), Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Al Cisneros (Om, Sleep), and Dale Crover (Melvins).

Al Cisneros of Om/Shrinebuilder sat down for an interview with us during ATP and after Sleep announced their reformation.

Wino has a new record due next week entitled Punctuated Equilibrium.

Neurosis, Skullflower, Om, Harvestman, and a ridiculous amount of others will soon descend upon the sold-out Roadburn.

Neurosis, A Storm of Light, and many, many others will also be at the Scion Rock Fest in Atlanta on February 28th.