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Category: Rock
Unknown Mortal Orchestra releases crunchy new single, “American Guilt,” ahead of upcoming tour.
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The Sword’s new album, “Used Future,” is due March 23rd, but the first single is already here.
Metal masters the Sword will release their next album, Used Future, on March 23rd and are planning a U.S. tour to promote it. They’ll be touring with another fine stoner rock band – King Buffalo.
The first single from Used Future, “Deadly Nightshade,” is already available and will be an instant download if you pre-order the record.
Keep your mind open.
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Clutch announce spring tour with Red Fang, the Bronx, and Fireball Ministry.
CLUTCH ANNOUNCE SPRING HEADLINE TOUR DATES
January 30th, 2018 – Clutch has just announced a string of Spring headline tour dates starting on April 27th in Chattanooga, TN. Supporting the tour will be The Bronx, Red Fang and Fireball Ministry. Fan club pre-sale tickets will go on sale today, Tuesday, January 30th at 2:00 pm and will be available through Thursday, February 1st at 10:00 pm. Fan club tickets will be available at https://www.mt.cm/clutchPassword: fans1. Tickets will go on sale to the general public Friday, February 2nd at 10:00 am at local outlets as well as at pro-rock.com and www.facebook.com/clutchband.The band is currently in the studio working on their new record with producer Vance Powell (Jack White, Chris Stapleton, Old 97s, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown, Red Fang) at Sputnik Sound in Nashville.Clutch, The Bronx, Red Fang and Fireball Ministry Spring Tour Dates:*Festival date04-27-18 Chattanooga, TN The Signal04-29-18 Jacksonville, FL Welcome To Rockville*04-30-18 Athens, GA Georgia Theater05-02-18 New Orleans, LA House of Blues05-03-18 Birmingham, AL Iron City05-04-18 Memphis, TN Beale Street Music Fest*05-05-18 Lexington, KY Manchester Music Hall05-06-18 Charlotte, NC Carolina Rebellion*CLUTCH:Neil Fallon – Vocals/GuitarTim Sult – GuitarDan Maines – BassJean-Paul Gaster – Drums/PercussionFor more information, check out the band’s website:Facebook: www.facebook.com/clutchbandInstagram: www.instagram.com/clutchofficialTwitter: www.twitter.com/clutchofficialOfficial: www.pro-rock.comYouTube: www.youtube.com/user/officialclutchKeep your mind open.[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]
The Coathangers announce winter and fall tours.
The Coathangers are heading out on tour this winter and spring, starting on the west coast, to promote an upcoming live album. Some of these dates include shows with Death Valley Girls, Dengue Fever, and Minus the Bear. Catch them if you can!
Keep your mind open.
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The Damned’s “Evil Spirits tour” has begun, and their new album is out April 13th!
THE DAMNED ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM ‘EVIL SPIRITS’ TO BE RELEASED APRIL 13th VIA SEARCH AND DESTROY/SPINEFARM RECORDS
LISTEN TO NEW SINGLE ‘STANDING ON THE EDGE OF TOMORROW’ ON SPOTIFY
Photo: Steve Gullick
Formed in 1976 at the forefront of the fledgling London punk scene, The Damned kickstarted the birth of punk as we know it, leaving an influential legacy for generations to come. Their musical journey has seen the quintet intent on moving forward, courageously exploring sights and sounds way beyond their brash wide-eyed beginnings – and they’re back to do it all over again.
Some ten years since the release of their last studio recordings, The Damned return with a new album, ‘Evil Spirits’, to be released April 13th on Search And Destroy/Spinefarm Records, preceded by the new single ‘Standing On The Edge Of Tomorrow’, streaming online today ahead of their forthcoming Evil Spirits UK tour starting January 26th.
Propelled by an enormously successful Pledge funding campaign, the band headed to Atomic Sound Studios in Brooklyn in early October 2017 and began a frantic, high-energy, nine day burst of creativity with famed producer Tony Visconti, whose list of past working-relationships reads like a who’s who of popular music. (David Bowie, T Rex, Morrissey, U2, The Stranglers, Iggy Pop and Thin Lizzy to name but a few), Reunited with former bassist Paul Gray (who played on the legendary ‘Black Album’ and ‘Strawberries’ in the early eighties), the renewed line up took full advantage of the studio’s classic Neve recording desk, valve gear and vintage equipment to form the new record.
“We deliberately recorded the album retro style,” explains guitarist Captain Sensible. “The same way our debut album was made, basically. There’s something wonderful about the seventies sounds; glam, rock and punk records, they all sound so great and Tony specializes in beautifully crafted old school production. He had us all playing live, bashing it out in the same room with a focus on getting the initial band version of each song as close as possible to the finished thing.“
The first taste of ‘Evil Spirits’ comes in the form of ‘Standing On The Edge Of Tomorrow’, a song penned by frontman Dave Vanian, that packs a punch and carries a melody that is impossibly hard to shift once heard.
“It’s supposed to be very optimistic, even though it’s about a dark subject,” states Vanian. “As an artist, you can’t help but reflect the times, because that’s what art does. I think we always do it, but in a slightly different way. So a song like ‘Standing…’ may seem quite joyous and uplifting musically, but some of the lyrics might be about quite dark things. That’s what I’d like to think this album is – an uplifting album, not a moaning old album – not ‘this is terrible, and that’s terrible’, and then not offering any answers. It’s more a case of, ‘If we get it together, maybe we could change things a bit”.
Across the album’s ten-tracks, The Damned get to the root of their collective song-writing and ‘Evil Spirits’ is an album which doesn’t shrink from opposing the dastardly political forces at work in 2018, and indeed triumphs in seeking higher ground, to progress beyond them.
“This album is filled with a lot of influences from our earlier, pre-’70s tastes – the ’60s stuff. ‘Standing…’ is really linked into Joe Meek, ‘Telstar’, and that kind of stuff,” continues Vanian. At first, I’d said in an interview before we started writing this stuff that the album would be psychedelic, and maybe a trip through the historical side of The Damned, as in what we like. It didn’t happen in the way I thought it would, but it still does the same thing. It still has all that in there, but it’s not as obvious as it could’ve been, which is good. It’s not like pastiches of songs you remember, it’s more a case of, what was great about something you loved as a kid has somehow influenced a guitar sound, or the way the drums are. You might not even know it if you’re one of our younger fans, but if you’re a little older, you’ll hear it, which is kinda cool.”
And of the ‘Evil Spirits’ that the album intends to dispel? “I started buying records in 1967, the Summer of Love,” adds Captain Sensible. “There were so many positive changes happening through the 60s and 70s; civil rights, feminism, the anti-nuclear demos in particular. Whatever happened to all that? Where are today’s anti-war marches? Whatever happened to the beautiful hippy dream of worldwide peace and love?”
Evil Spirits will be available on digital download via Spotify and i-Tunes, on CD and 180g vinyl available to pre-order HERE
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TRACKLISTING:
1. Standing On The Edge Of Tomorrow
2. Devil In Disguise
3. We’re So Nice
4. Look Left
5. Evil Spirits
6. Shadow Evocation
7. Sonar Deceit
8. Procrastination
9. Daily Liar
10. I Don’t Care
Catch the band on tour this January and February. Main support comes from fabled Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom (*except Koko), whilst support at Koko and The Forum comes from Kristeen Young.
See The Damned on their ‘Evil Spirits’ tour 2018:
27th January – Dundee, Caird Hall
28th January – Glasgow, O2 Academy
30th January – Leeds, O2 Academy Leeds
31st January – Manchester, Academy 1
1st February – Birmingham, O2 Academy
3rd February – Leicester, O2 Academy
4th February – Nottingham, Rock City
6th February – Folkestone, Leas Cliff Hall
7th February – Southend, Cliffs Pavilion
9th February – Cardiff, Great Hall
10th February – Bristol O2, Academy Bristol
11th February – Bournemouth, O2 Academy
13th February – Southampton, O2 Guildhall
14th February – Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion
16th February – Koko, London*
17th February London, O2 Forum
Tickets available HERE
Follow The Damned at:
Keep your mind open.
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Ty Segall – Freedom’s Goblin
It’s hard not to like an album that opens with a song about the lead singer’s dog.
That’s exactly what Ty Segall does on his newest record, Freedom’s Goblin, a sprawling double-album with rock riffs galore, wild horn sections, funk jams, new wave trips, ballads, and psychedelic freak-outs. The opening track, “Fanny Dog,” launches like a Polaris missile with a full brass accompaniment and Segall shredding his guitar like his dog probably shreds a stuffed animal.
Segall makes a hard right turn on “Rain,” which seems to reveal his admiration for Radiohead with its simple piano chords, unadorned vocals, slightly warped horns (which are all over this record, really) and lyrics about pining for a lover. His cover of Hot Chocolate’s “Every 1’s a Winner” is outstanding, and one of the best covers anyone has put out in a couple years. Segall and his crew keep the funk but up the fuzz on it, and we’re all winners for it. Speaking of funk, the bass on “Despoiler of Cadaver” is downright slick, and the rest of the tune is a weird, disco / new wave fun zone.
“When Mommy Kills You” is appropriately hard-hitting. “My Lady’s on Fire” is a ballad that displays Segall’s love for 1960’s folk rock, and the saxophone solo on it immediately gets your attention. “Alta” is stadium rock brilliance. Want more cowbell? There’s plenty of it on the groovy “Meaning,” which blends hot beats with guitar freak-outs. “Cry Cry Cry” isn’t a cover of the Johnny Cash song, but it does sound like a nice salute to ELO‘s ballads. “Shoot You Up” is a slugging, chugging song that I think is about the dark side of the record industry, or fame, or both.
“You Say All the Nice Things” and “The Last Waltz” are two love songs, one about love in the now and one about a love lost to death. One of the longest tracks on the record, “She,” is a wild jam that would be appropriate for any lady wrestler’s entrance music or the theme song for any metal-loving dominatrix. “Talkin’ 3” is almost a free-form acid jazz session, but with a noise rock band playing at the same time. “The Main Pretender,” with its skronking, squealing saxophone by Mac DeMarco, was one of my top 10 singles of 2017. “I’m Free” gets back to Segall’s love of 1960’s folk, and “5 Ft. Tall” has some 1960’s power pop touches to it and then evolves into a garage rock fuzz-fest. The closer, “And, Goodnight,” is a twelve-minute psychedelic jam and a great finale.
As you can guess, Segall is all over the map on Freedom’s Goblin, but it all works. He’s created a record that embraces his many influences and is having a great time exploring all of them. It’s a treat for us as well.
Keep your mind open.
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Loma release “Joy” from upcoming album due February 16th.
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MIEN release first single, “Black Habit,” and it’s a doozy.
Is it too early to say I’ve already heard one of the best singles of the year? MIEN, consisting of the Black Angels‘ Alex Maas, Elephant Stone‘s Rishi Dhir, the Earlies‘ John Lapham, and the Horrors‘ Tom Furse, have released “Black Habit,” the first single from their debut self-titled album due out April 6th.
The single is a heady, almost nightmarish trip blending psychedelia with a bit of dark wave. The album is available for pre-order and the band will play live at Levitation Austin this April. I already have my tickets for their performance. Don’t wait to get yours, or to order this record.
Keep your mind open.
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Shopping – The Official Body
Are you shopping for Valentine’s Day gifts? Do you need something for your lover who hates everything played on commercial radio, or your husband who loves 80’s music, or your wife who enjoys funk and dance rock, or yourself? Let me save you some time: Buy them The Official Body by Shopping.
Consisting of just three members (Rachel Aggs – guitar and vocals, Billy Easter – bass and vocals, Andrew Milk – drums and vocals), Shopping’s third full-length is the grooviest post-punk album I’ve heard all year. The opener, “The Hype” (which you’d better believe with this band), begins with a Bow Wow Wow-like drum count before the three of them put down a groove that instantly gets you moving. I love their vocals bounce off each other like they took lessons from the B-52’s.
“Wild Child” (a song about keeping up appearances) continues the dance grooves (and Easter’s killer bass work), but brings in some subtle synths into the mix. The use of synths is frequent throughout the record and brings even more of a dance-punk feel to the album. Aggs’ guitar on “Asking for a Friend” is bouncy and tight, which is difficult to pull off, but she seems to do it with ease. “Suddenly Gone” is a sharp song about Aggs’ struggles of being black and queer in an industry dominated by straight white dudes.
Milk sings about losing one’s sense of self on “Shave Your Head” while Aggs’ guitar chatters over his typewriter-like beats. The synth bass on “Discover” is a bit jarring at first, but I love the darkness it brings to a song about being desperate for attention. “Control Yourself,” despite its title, will get your toes tapping before you realize it (thanks in large part to Milk’s wicked beat). I also love the chorus of “I know what I like, and I like what I know.” It sums up the (closed) mindset of many these days.
Aggs’ guitar work on “My Dad’s a Dancer” is a bit Middle Eastern and her vocals about bigotry (i.e., “Would you like me if I looked like you?”) are sharp as a knife. “New Values” begins with synth bass that reminds me of weird 1990’s 16-bit video games, but Easter’s vocals are solidly in the modern world. “Overtime” seamlessly blends the synths and the traditional instruments as it builds in tempo toward an exhilarating finish to the record.
I’ve been on a post-punk kick all year, and The Official Body is a great kick-off to 2018 for me and the genre. Don’t let it slip by you.
Keep your mind open.
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