Landmine Marathon photos by Taylor Keahey, words and photos of Failures & Mammoth Grinder by BBG

Landmine Marathon at Kimo's

Salome and Landmine Marathon are in NYC, and are ready to tear the roof off of Union Pool TONIGHT (7/13) as part of a two night campaign of obliteration. Wetnurse, who have been on the low this year to work on new material, will get the assist on tonight's shindig, while Batillus will support the pair two days later (7/15) at Cake Shop (unfortunately, Cleanteeth had to cancel their appearance). Want tickets? I have THREE pairs available for giveaway for EACH show. Details on how to win are at the bottom of this post.

The Landmine/Salome dates are two of three BV shows scheduled for this week. The Funeral Pyre will team up with Early Graves, Mutilation Rites and the recently added Valdur(!) play Union Pool on July 17th (Sat). Valdur, who shared a split with the great Lightning Swords of Death (check out our interview), are in the NYC area to play a second show as well. The Cali black metal crew will also take on Precious Metal at Lit on Monday (7/17) alongside Mutilation Rites (again) and Syphilitic Lust.

Landmine Marathon recently played Kimo's in San Francisco on their way out east, a trek which would eventually lead them to Dudefest (pics from Dudefest) where they crossed paths with Failures and Mammoth Grinder. Failures played Acheron on Sunday (7/11) with Vaccine, Raw Nerves and Rats In The Walls, and though I missed all the support. Pics from that show are below.

Mammoth Grinder played the Thrasher party during SXSW, and a set of unpublished pics from their appearance are below as well. The band plays The Charleson on July 15th as part of a tour that was originally supposed feature Lewd Acts, who have now officially called it quits...

Lou Dax succumbed on June 20th, 2010 to the coma brought on by a head wound sustained in New York City on May 6th. Lou is survived by his 4 sons. In lieu of flowers, pick up a Lou Dax memorial shirt or record at www.lewdacts.bigcartel.com or www.deathwishinc.com to help his legacy live on. Thank you to everyone who ever listened, saw, helped, or cared about Lou. - [Facebook]

Long live Lewd Acts.

Those pics, and the new Landmine Marathon video for "Shadows Fed To Tyrants", are below.

Continue reading "Landmine Marathon & Salome are here (win tickets) ++ LM, Failures & Mammoth Grinder live pics, Lewd Acts & more"

by BBG

Tylure of Lewd Acts leaping off of the stage at Santos (more by Paul Birman)

San Diego, CA hardcore band Lewd Acts has dropped off the remainder of their with Converge. All seemed well when they played Santos in NYC on Thursday, but, one day later, vocalist Tylure was noticeably absent from the show at Grog Shop in Cleveland, Ohio. The group issued the following statement via the B9 board on Saturday morning:

"It is with the HEAVIEST of hearts that we must announce our departure from the Axe to Fall tour. We cannot begin to express our appreciation and thanks to Converge, Touche Amore, Thursday, Black Breath, Pettibone, M0nster, Shaun and everyone else who was with us. Bands are fragile, volatile things and not everyone wants to do a band to this extent. We will be going home to regroup and refocus. We will keep everyone updated in the near future. We still love this music and at this point, that's all we know. Once again, THANK YOU to everyone who came to a show, bought a shirt or cd, sang along, talked to us, shared a house, or helped us in any way.

Much love, Lewd Acts."

No word on what the future may hold for the band, though they played a killer set at Santos along side other Converge openers Touche Amore (who have replaced Lewd Acts on some of the current dates) and Black Breath. All dates (including another Lewd Acts tour that is supposed to start at the end of May) and some videos below...

Continue reading "Lewd Acts drop off Converge tour after playing w/ no singer"

photos by Paul Birman, words & additional shots by BBG

Packed to the gills, Converge played a sold-out Santos Party House Thursday night, 5/6, with support from a slate of killer whippersnappers, Touche Amore, Lewd Acts, and Black Breath. Converge, as usual, were stellar, pulling from all of their recent output and opening with the Jane Doe classic "Concubine".

All of the support impressed as well. Heavily favored (by me) rookies Black Breath where crusty and powerful, seemingly winning over the mostly unfamiliar audience. With a guitar tone that recalled Uffe Cederlund and a bassist that looked like a younger Dave Chandler the band opened their hardcore informed SDM attack with "Black Sin (Spit On the Cross)". I was stoked.

It was my second experience with Lewd Acts with the last taking place in the infinitely smaller Charleston (with Graf Orlock), and the band definitely benefited from a large stage and a tight crowd. Vocalist Tylure jumped into the audience a number of times, sang from the pit, bowled over audience members, swung mics at the front row and, on two occasions, lept 10 - 15 feet into the unsuspecting crowd. The set ended with Tylure collapsing at a fire door after crawling across the room (he was fine). Stage antics aside, the instrumental postion of the band has the material to back up their singer's misanthropy.

Touche Amore spent a good portion of their set thanking the crowd and Converge for the show that they were clearly excited to play. Their enthusiasm showed, as the Cali band delivered a killer set that was as energetic as their Red 7 apperance, though without the crazy stage dives. Look out for these guys.

Tons of pics from the show, including Converge's set list, below...

Continue reading "Converge, Black Breath, Lewd Acts & Touche Amore played Santos Party House - pics & setlist"

by BBG, Touche Amore pics by Brain Reilly

Converge at Hammerstein Ballroom (more by Ryan Muir)

Thursday (the day) can't get here soon enough. That's when the great Converge (currently on tour with Thursday the band) will headline a bill of killer young hardcore/influenced upstarts at Santos Party House (presented by BV, 1000Knives & AEG Live). Tickets for the May 6th show are still on sale.

Opening the NYC show are Black Breath, Lewd Acts and Touche Amore. We're fans and think you should get there early to catch the whole show, but we asked Converge's Jacob Bannon what he thought of these young'ns. His answers along with the chance to win one of THREE pairs of tickets to the Santos show, below....

Continue reading "Jacob Bannon discusses the bands opening for Converge in NYC (win tix) ++ Touche Amore pics from Austin"

by BBG

Converge at Hammerstein (more by Ryan Muir)

Its with the utmost pride that Brooklyn Vegan and 1000 Knives and AEG Live present the return of Converge with Touche Amore, Lewd Acts and Black Breath on May 6 at Santos Party House. Tickets go on sale on 2/17 for $16 adv/ $18 dos. CAN'T WAIT!

The show is part of an ongoing headlining tour for the hardcore titans that leads up to their appearance at Maryland Deathfest. Flyer below...

Continue reading "Converge add NYC show! (BV/1000 Knives/AEG Presents) "

by BBG

Converge @ Hammerstein (more by Ryan Muir)

The rumors are true. Converge WILL hit the road with a rotating assortment of unsavory characters like Coalesce, Harvey Milk, Gaza, Black Breath, and Lewd Acts. So far no NYC dates to speak of, but there are rumblings that the NYC date will take place at the start of the tour (late April/early May).

Converge's last US tour was with Mastodon (pics of day 1 and day 2 at Hammerstein), who are also hitting the road in April. Atlanta's finest will hit the road with Baroness, Between The Buried and Me and Valient Thorr for a string of US dates, tagging Starland Ballroom on 4/21 along the way. No tickets for that show yet, but presales are running already for some of the shows (password = OBLIVION). All dates below.

Converge's Nate Newton is scheduled to play NYC on 4/13 and 4/14 with his other project Doomriders. They're at Mercury Lounge on 4/13 (tix) and 4/14 (tix).

Full Mastodon and Converge dates are below, as well as a few vids of each...

Continue reading "Mastodon touring w/ Baroness, others + Converge dates too "

words by Black Bubblegum, photos by Lori Baily

Graf Orlock

"Check it out... independently targeted particle beam phalynxes... WAP! We got tactical smart missiles, base plasma pulse rifles, we got sonic electronic ball breakers! We got nukes... we got knives... sharp sticks"

And with that pitch perfect whine delivered by Bill Paxton in Aliens, then re-delivered via sampler in the basement of The Charleston on 1/18, Graf Orlock sailed into the first song of their set, "Game Time" from Destination Time: Tomorrow. The LA-based grind crew were slated to headline the night, but came on third due to some scheduling issues with the opening bands 26 Beers and Vermefug (who played 4th and 5th, though I didn't stay for them).

Wetnurse was first, drawing mostly from their latest record, Invisible City. Gene is a madman on "stage" (read: dirt floor) and the band sounded as unpredictable as ever, even though guitarist Greg Kramer was barely audible in the mix. From my poor vantage point, I literally had to check and see if they were missing a guitar player. They weren't.

Lewd Acts were up next, and although it was my first experience with the band (and likely Lori Baily's last.. a casualty of Tyler Lewd's "dancing"), their firebrand style of hardcore was simple, direct, and just plain great. Kurt Ballou (Converge) is on the boards for their upcoming LP, so I would imagine that this is one for hardcore fans to look out for when it drops.

Continued below...

Continue reading "Graf Orlock, Lewd Acts & Wetnurse @ the Charleston - pics "

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Graf Orlock - "Run Over By A Truck" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Graf Orlock - "A Shocking Interrogation" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Wetnurse - "Not Your Choice" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Lewd Acts - "Play Me Something That I Know" (MP3)

Sweeeet undies, GOrlock!

What do you get when you cross a metal band with a serious case of ADD and multiple personality disorder, spazzy-grinders with a Point Break fetish, and a crew from a whale's vagina with a Deathwish? A f'n good show, that's what!

Wetnurse, Graf Orlock, Lewd Acts, and 26 Beers will redline the RPH meter (that's riffs per hour) when they team up to destroy The Charleston in Brooklyn on Sunday Jan 18th. The shindig kicks off at 9.

Graf Orlock and Lewd Acts are in the midst of an East Coast tour that also brings the band to New Brunswick, NJ on Saturday Jan 17 and completes in Atlanta on Jan 24.

As we reported in July, Graf Orlock is prepping Destination Time Today, due on March 3rd via Level Plane. Decibel proclaimed it one of the most anticipated albums of 2009. I gotta agree.

Wetnurse recently released Invisible City, garnering heaping shit-tons of end-of-year accolades, including by John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats...

John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats' Best of 2008:
Wetnurse, Invisible City (Seventh Rule)
Larkin Grimm, Parplar (Young God)
Tata Young, One Love (Sony/BMG)
Kaki King, Dreaming of Revenge (Velour)
Aura Noir, Hades Rise (Tyrant Syndicate)
Cece Winans, Thy Kingdom Come (EMI Gospel)
Killer Mike, I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind 2 (SMC Recordings)
Planet Asia & DJ Muggs, Pain Language (Gold Dust Media)
the Breeders, Mountain Battles (4AD)
Enslaved, Vertebrae (Season of Mist)

We interviewed Wetnurse drummer Curran Reynolds around the time the album came out.

Lewd Acts recently signed on with hardcore heavyweights Deathwish Inc, and are finishing up their LP with Kurt Ballou at God City Records. Until that drops, the band has a few 7"s including their latest one, Lung Patrol, on 16oh Records... check out "Play Me Something That I Know" from the Lung Patrol 7" above and pick one up at the show!

By the way, I'm not usually one to point out merch, but one gander at Graf Orlock's merch from past and present is good for a chuckle.

All dates and Sunday's flyer below...

Continue reading "Graf Orlock & Lewd Acts -2009 tour dates (Wetnurse Sunday)"