My favorte part about these Toyota Antics events is the part where you have to decide if you want to "Check here if you would like to be contacted by a dealer."

words & photos by Keith Marlowe

Brahms @ 450 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY - July 15, 2010

I felt weird as soon as I walked in the room, which had a girls giving out candy standing by two Toyotas, opened up like they were in a showroom. There was a DJ playing club music, and signs that read Toyota and the Village Voice everywhere, because everyone knows the only thing more important than throwing a party is constantly reminding people WHO is throwing the party. On the other hand, there were pretty women giving out free Cabo Wabo tequila, so I decided to have some drinks and try to relax. As I watched people take photos of themselves in a car turned into a makeshift photo booth, I still felt more like I was at a mall than about to witness one of the most unique touring rock bands in the world.

Brahms was the opener, and they seemed a curious choice to me - not only their music, but because the band stood almost motionless behind orange pieces of plexiglass or something. They were the exact opposite of what was gonna happen when Monotonix came out. I listened to a couple songs, and went backstage to watch my friend Haggai (the drummer) do push-ups in Garfield underwear.

While getting warmed up for the show he told me they had just come from Chicago where they finished a third recording session with Steve Albini. They had originally planned on doing a single, but it went so well they went back two more times and ended up recording an entire album, still untitled, that will drop this winter on Drag City. "I'm really excited about this record, I feel like it's the first time we really got the live show energy into an album format," he said. Monotonix formed in Tel Aviv, Isreal, in 2005. This record will be their third.

continued below...

Continue reading "Monotonix Up The Antics @ Siren Fest pre-party (pics & more) "

Crystal Castles DJ the official All Points West afterparty on Friday. They play All Points West on Saturday. Tokyo Police Club also play All Points West on Saturday, and they DJ the APW afterparty happening that night (sponsored by Toyota, free with RSVP). Flyer below...

Continue reading "Crystal Castles & Tokyo Police Club are DJing official All Points West afterparties @ Red Bull Space in NYC (RSVP)"

2/27/09 - Chicago, IL:
Nachtmystium has sad news today with a once-again recurring issue surfacing from the wake of our past. We've been forced, at the request of the promoters and the folks at Scion / Toyota, to pull out of the Scion Rock Festival, scheduled for Saturday, February 28th. This news came to us just this past Tuesday and was very disheartening to say the least. A troubling, and unjustly-applied notion that we are, or ever have been, in any way, a "Nazi" band or a political band on any level, is completely absurd and we are disgusted that there is someone out there who really believes we are of this ilk. It made it as far as the sponsors of this events desks, and now we are forced to pull out of it after some political threatening on the part of these ridiculously uneducated person/people who have caused this ruckus.

Continue reading "Nachtmystium deny racism charge. Regardless, Toyota kicked them off this weekend's Scion Rock Fest"

Photos by Leia Jospe

More photos from the Friday night Antics party below...

Continue reading "Black Lips (and King Khan) @ Antics Warehouse, NYC - pics"

Black Lips @ Lollapalooza 2008 (more by Zach Dilgard)

Black Lips, Japanese Motors and The Teenagers are playing two Toyota parties during CMJ this year. Japanese Motors are also playing a VICE late night party @ The Studio. PLEASE NOTE the corrected lineups for that... and the Toyota Antics flyer below...

Continue reading "Black Lips & Teenagers playing Antics parties during CMJ"