by Fred Pessaro // BBG

United Nations at Union Pool, Feb 2010 (more by Paul Birman)

United Nations, the shrouded supercrew containing vocalist Geoff Rickly at the helm, are playing shows in middle January, including one at Saint Vitus on January 18 with support from Brooklyn crews Primitive Weapons, Descender, and Black Clouds. Tickets are on sale. Look for the rest of UN to be comprised of Ben Koller (Converge), Lukas Previn (Thursday, Regents), and Jim Carroll (The Hope Conspiracy).

In related news, The Hope Conspiracy have stepped out of hiding to announce work on new material. No details on said material or when/where it will emerge yet.

Also, Descender will join Ghostlimb and Old Wounds at Precious Metal on Monday (January 7). The show will be one of the final PM events, and will feature yours truly (Fred Pessaro, BBG) on DJ duties.

More United Nations tour dates and some streams are below.

Continue reading "United Nations are back, touring East Coast (dates); Hope Conspiracy working on new material"

words by BBG, photos by Paul Birman

Unsane are KILLING it dead. -[MetalSucks]

Made Out Of Babies rrrarrrr!!! Julie rockin' amazing Blade Runner makeup - [terryhope]

Unsane

Unsane played their first show in two years to a packed packed packed Union Pool with Made Out of Babies, United Nations and Dark Vibe on 2/12 (a BV/Osiris production). Besides a few bumps and bruises, blown eardrums, a chunk of eyebrow missing (sorry Julie Christmas), and the fact that some folks couldn't get in, the show was a huge success.

If you have never seen Unsane, these NYC noise rock legends are an absolute MUST SEE. Chris's jangly guitars cut through the mix like a razor blade while Vinny's big drums and Dave's distorted bass punch up the low end. To me, this band should be mentioned in the same breath as pioneers like The Jesus Lizard, Shellac, Helmet, and others... their live show is just pummeling! Essential.

Made Out of Babies were destructive as usual - with their instruments and to themselves. Part way through one of the bands' songs, Julie Christmas cut her eyebrow (presambly in her flailing around) and was GUSHING blood (the squeamish shouldn't look at the pics below). The band are currently working on new material and opened with one massive new jam devised in the past week.

My main beef with United Nations is that although I enjoy the individual projects of it's members in varying degrees (Converge, Thursday, HopeCon, Acid Tiger), I wish United Nations were a full-time endeavor. Incredible live show! UN is a must see, just wish it happened more often!

Bear in Heaven side project Dark Vibe opened the show. More pictures, setlists and videos below...

Continue reading "Unsane, Made Out of Babies, United Nations & Dark Vibe @ Union Pool - pics, setlist & videos "

words by BBG, photos by Samantha Marble

Hope Conspiracy

Much like my experiences with Lightning Bolt, I spent a portion of The Hope Conspiracy show at Cake Shop on 1/15 testing out my quads. By pushing back on the crowd from the front, I did my personal best to pacify the onslaught of fans behind (and above!) so they didnt come crashing down on me AND the band. My best wasn't good enough.

Pointing in broad circles at the floor directly in front of their amps and the drum kit, HopeCon's vocalist Kevin Baker said, "I love that you guys are having fun, but we do need to be around HERE to actually play our instruments."

Of the times that I have seen a packed out Cake Shop, this was the most fierce crowd. Burnt By The Sun's tight front rows and rabid pit had nothing on the chaos of 1/15 that included people crowdsurfing underneath the low Cake Shop ceilings.

All opening acts impressed. Mother of Mercy's riffy hardcore comes off more metallic and muscular live even though their energetic and distinctly hardcore vocalist brings it back to their roots. As usual, Blacklisted>'s heartfelt, thundering hardcore was never better with George Hirsch's dynamic lyrical content matching his empassioned performance. Make sure and catch them again at Cake Shop on 3/8.

The real surprise for me was United Nations. Thursday has never been my bag, but this side project featuring Geoff Rickley in addition to Ben Koller of Converge (drums), Jim Carroll of HopeCon (bass!), Lukas Previn of Acid Tiger (guit), and Jonah Bayer of The Lovekill (guit), ripped through insanely great post-hardcore-y screamo powerviolence. They were tense, powerful and beyond awesome and I can't wait for their return at Union Pool on 2/12 with Unsane and MOoB.

More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "The Hope Conspiracy, Blacklisted, United Nations & Mother of Mercy @ Cake Shop in NYC - pics "

by BBG

Unsane

It's with an extreme amount of delight that Osiris and BrooklynVegan are proud to present the return of Unsane with Made Out of Babies at Union Pool on 2/12! The show marks Unsane's first NYC show in two years, and Made Out of Babies first since playing CMJ 2008. In addition to that must see pairing, we are happy to report United Nations and Dark Vibe will also be on board to round out the evening. Can't wait!

You can also catch United Nations (who just played with Dillinger, Glassjaw and Thursday at Starland Ballroom) next Friday (1/15) at Cake Shop with The Hope Conspiracy, Blacklisted, Mother of Mercy, and Black Anvil. Advance tickets are gone, but a few are left at the door. It's one of three shows that BV is a part of in January. The other two are 1/22 at Union Pool (with Tombs/Rosetta/City of Ships/Battlefields) and 1/23 at Cake Shop (a matinee with Magrudergrind/Defeatist/Black Kites/Psychic Limb/Ramps).

A few videos are below...

Continue reading "Unsane & Made Out of Babies playing a show (BV presents)"

by BBG

The Hope Conspiracy (photo by Meghan McInnis)

We are proud to present, in conjunction with 1000 Knives and Chronic Youth, The Hope Conspiracy, Blacklisted, United Nations, and Mother of Mercy at Cake Shop on Jan 15th! The date is one of a select few for HopeCon, and the only east coast date scheduled so far. No advanced tickets. Stay tuned for giveaways to what may be the first must-see hardcore show of the new year.

The Hope Conspiracy released the True Nihilist 7" earlier this year on Deathwish. Their last LP was 2006's Death Knows Your Name.

Blacklisted played Santos Party House on 10/24 along with Bane, Maximum Penalty, Cold World, and a host of others as part of the Deathwish - Chronic Youth Day Party at Santos Party House. Blacklisted shares members with the incredible Mother of Mercy who recently played Cake Shop with Iron Age. We profiled Mother of Mercy here.

United Nations is a supergroup of sorts, featuring Thursday's Geoff Rickly playing what is described as "emo powerviolence". The Hopecon show isn't the only one that United Nations has lined up, as the band is also scheduled to play Starland Ballroom with Glassjaw, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Rickly's main squeeze, Thursday. Tickets go on sale at noon on 10/30. The show is part of a larger tour. All dates below

Thursday played Bowery Ballroom on Sunday with Midnight Masses and Far, who also headlined Mercury Lounge on Monday. At Bowery, Thursday performed Full Collapse in its entirety.

They never really seemed to miss a beat, save the quick breaks in among songs, and I think that could probably be attributed to the fact that a lot of these songs have been set staples for years, anyway. They were just stringing them all together here (Rickly's wide-radius mic swinging for the "rain rain down" part in "Paris in Flames" came right on time).

Despite no barrier, Bowery was awesomely lax about crossing the stage threshold; some crowd-surfed, others stage-dove. In the pit, you could witness everything from goofy push-mosh and hardcore two-stepping to that silly watered-down version thereof I remember being amused by at "post-hardcore" shows like these around 2001-2003. Both cases made for a pretty good indicator of the crowd's diverse makeup.

But all loved it, and when the band came back out on stage for a bonus six-song encore it was even better. The audience was notably less responsive for the trio of tracks off Common Existence songs, but the band probably expected this; almost a dozen gigantic black balloon-type spheres were launched onto the crowd as Thursday kicked into the mournful, new wave-y, morose textures of "Circuits of Fever." But when it ended, everyone ceased slapping the buoyant balls into the air and bugged out when the band kicked into their best complex anthem in "Jet Black New Year." And speaking of anthems, "War All the Time" could not have demonstrated that stripped-down quality of Thursday's songwriting better as a closer. [Punk News]

The Cake Shop flyer, a few Hope Con videos, a recent Dillinger Escape Plan Studio vlog chronicling the making of their new LP Option Paralysis, and tour dates are also below.

Continue reading "Hope Conspiracy playing NY w/ United Nations who's playing NJ w/ Dillinger & Thursday (dates) who played NYC w/ Far"

Tickets for the Green Day show at Webster Hall are going on sale at 4pm.

Tickets for the United Nations show at The Delenacey are on sale now

Tickets for the Joe Lally show at Union Hall in June are on sale.

Rival Schools are opening for Eagles of Death Metal at Webster Hall on August 6th. Tickets are still on sale.

There are also tickets on sale for a May 29th Walter Schreifels show at The Kyber in Philly (with McRad).

Tickets are now on sale for the Underground Revolution Fest happening for two nights at the Gramercy Theater this month. HR, Reagan Youth, Blanks 77, and many other bands are on the bill.

H2O is playing Knitting Factory on June 21st (in its still-in-Tribeca location). Tickets are on sale.

Tickets are still on sale for the Sick of It All show happening at Gramercy Theater on June 20th.

Agnostic Front is playing the same venue on June 12th. Tickets are on sale.

by Black Bubblegum

In their NYC debut and third show as a band, the mysterious United Nations will play the Delancey on May 23rd along with Acid Tiger and Gay for Johnny Depp. While we don't have full confirmation of the lineup, I think we can safely assume that Geoff Rickly (Thursday) and Ben Koller (Acid Tiger, Converge, Cave In) are probably on board.

Acid Tiger, who is currently streaming two new tracks at their myspace, recently recorded their new record with Kurt Ballou at GodCity. No word on a release date, or a home for it yet.... Cave In recently ended their hiatus.

Flyer and some videos below...

Continue reading "United Nations playing NYC (also their third show ever)"

by Black Bubblegum

original (back?) cover art (publicity stunt?)

The new record by supersecret supergroup United Nations almost didn't hit store shelves due to controversial artwork. Hmmm.... I wonder what the controversy is all about?

Check out the new cover below and order a limited edition version with the original cover here.

Continue reading "United Nations album released with modified album art"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: United Nations - The Spinning Heart of The Yo-Yo Lobby (MP3)

Hey wait! I know that hairless chest (photo by James Petrozzello)

A band of unknowns announced their new self-titled LP to be released on Eyeball Records on September 9th, as well as another EP and a seven inch. Ok, they aren't exactly unknowns... it's just that the true line-up of United Nations ISN'T known. Lets start with the facts.... Yesterday, Geoff Rickly of Thursday sat down with Alternative Press to discuss his new side project, United Nations, a "secret supergroup of mid=90's screamo revivalists"

So who are the members involved with this project, and what do they do in the band? Besides you and vocals, obviously

Well, I actually mostly played guitar and did some of the singing. The rest of the band are in contracts, so they're anonymous.

How did this idea first come up?

I was... This is really weird... I've known a kid named Daryl who plays in Glassjaw for a long time, and we used to go to shows, all the same hardcore shows, and we would get excited about a lot of the same bands. We both really loved what was going on on the West Coast in the early '90s, like Gravity Records stuff, really spazzy stuff. We also really loved the Ebullition style, mid-'90s, what they call the emo power-violence stuff.

So we have some kind-of-but-not-really confirmation that Daryl Palumbo is on board. That in and of itself is not a mindscrambler, but add in the fact that Converge has confirmed that drummer Ben Koller (also of Acid Tiger and ex-Cave In fame) is on board, as well as that message boards / the world's most accurate online encyclopedia are claiming Cooper of Made Out of Babies has joined on, UN takes on a whole new realm of possibilities.

United Nations is streaming their entire self-titled album at their myspace and you can download "The Spinning Heart of The Yo-Yo Lobby" from that record above.

In related Thursday news, Japanese badasses Envy will share a split with the band for Temporary Residence Limited, due on vinyl (with accompanying CD) September 15th. Spanning seven tracks, the record will have four new joints from Thursday and three new ones from Envy. The split was recorded this spring and Thursday enlisted Anthony Molina of Mercury Rev to remix one track, "Appeared And Was Gone", the lead in to Envy's first song. Pick it up at TRL when it drops....

Continue reading "United Nations = Thursday + Glassjaw + ?, full stream, MP3"