I was on my way back from a road trip to Atlanta and had time to stop in Louisville, Kentucky on the return route to catch the recently reunited Nashville punters Be Your Own Pet. I was late to the news that they’d reformed, let alone were touring and had a new album, so I was happy to have the chance to see them for the first time.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get there in time to see local rockers Zerg Rush, and Birthday Girlwere already a few songs into their set. Birthday Girl play a wild mix of post-punk, power pop, and some kind of art rock. I mean, they even have a cellist in the band – who adds a great extra bass line to all the tracks.
Birthday Girl
Be Your Own Pet came out blazing, with classic tracks like “Zombie Graveyard Party,” “Food Fight,” and “The Kelly Affair,” and tracks from their new album like “Hand Grenade,” “Goodtime!”, and “Worship the Whip” (the title of which was emblazoned on lead singer Jemina Pearl‘s shirt).
Worshipping the whip.
Not only was BYOP’s set fiery, crazy, and downright frenetic, it was also free of any set list. A good portion of it was done on the fly, with band members suggesting songs to each other as they went or taking audience requests. This led to guitarist Jonas Stein saying, “Call it out.” to Pearl, who immediately said, “Girl U Want,” and then they launched into the Devo cover as easily as crossing the street.
Don’t miss them if they’re near you. It’s a wild show, and it’s great to have them back after fourteen years.
I took a friend to see three crazy bands in Indianapolis not long ago. Those bands were new wave / no wave punk rockers Playboy Manbaby, Transformer rockers The Cybertronic Spree, and “drive-thru metal” giants Mac Sabbath. He had no idea what to expect, and is pretty much a 1980s metal guy. He’d heard from another friend that Mac Sabbath were some sort of killer clown band, but that’s about it.
I hadn’t heard Playboy Manbaby either until this evening, and they were great. They came out looking like average dudes and then tore up the stage with a wild punk set and even held a mini-election in the crowd decided by a game of rock-paper-scissors.
“Oh wow…” was all my friend could say when The Cybertronic Spree came onstage in their Transformer outfits. He was even more stunned when they shredded for their entire set, playing originals from their new album, Ravage, and covers of fun tunes like AC/DC‘s “Thunderstruck” and Weird Al‘s “Dare to Be Stupid.” You have to be able to play well if you’re going to have a gimmick like this, and The Cybertronic Spree play very well. At one point, co-lead singer Arcee was hitting such high notes that my friend said he thought his eardrums were going to rupture.
“We’re the toy in your happy meal!” – Hot Rod on bass (3rd from left)
The “main course” was Mac Sabbath’s weird and wild rock / comedy show, full of heavy Black Sabbath parodies like “Sweet Beef” and “Frying Pan,” bad fast food-rock band puns (“Dokken Donuts,” “Dairy Queensryche,” “International Bauhaus of Pancakes,” etc.), water sprayed on the crowd, bizarre characters, and even a tribute to David Lynch‘s Blue Velvet and Roy Orbison.
Again, you have to be able to play well to do stuff like this, and Mac Sabbath have no problems doing so. Slayer McCheese can change riffs on a dime, The Catburglar is a sharp drummer and comedian, Ronny Osbourne never stops moving, singing, or joking when he’s onstage, and I don’t know how Grimalice plays bass in that outfit.
My friend was happy and dumbfounded by the end of the show. “I’ve never seen anything like that before,” he said. I hadn’t either, and I loved it. This was the last show of the first leg of their “More Than Meats the Eye” tour with the other bands, so don’t miss your chance to catch the second half.
Keep your mind open.
[Thanks to Annie at Adrenaline PR for the press passes!]
This was my fourth time seeing some iteration of Goblin, the third time I’d seen a version including founding member Claudio Simonetti, and the first time I’d seen the film Demons (properly known as Demoni in Italy, where it was made). Simonetti and his crew were performing a new prog-rock version of the film’s score to a live screening of the film – the first time they’d done this in the United States.
It was a fun show right out of the gate, with good sound quality the whole time. Simonetti announced that the original score was synth-based, but hoped we’d all enjoy this new take on it by him and his band.
In case you haven’t seen it, Demons, is flat-out nuts and is about a bunch of people trapped in a movie theatre while most of the patrons turn into blood-thirsty monsters. I can’t tell you more than that, not because I’d spoil it, but because there isn’t more than that. Simonetti said he loves the film, stating, “I think it’s very funny.” It is, actually. It’s a wild ride, and so was their new score.
After that came a brief intermission and then they returned for another full set of Goblin classics and even some rarities – including the theme to Ruggero Deodato‘s crazy action / horror film Cut and Run.
And, of course, there was plenty of music from Dario Argento‘s films, including the themes to Opera, Tenebrae, Deep Red, and Suspiria.
Simonetti’s current band includes Daniele Amador on guitar (who played a great solo during the Opera theme), Federico Maragoni on drums (who delivered double-kick drum beats so fast that I thought they were programmed tracks), and Cecilia Nappo again on bass.
It was a fun night all-around, and a fun way to kick off the Halloween season. The crowd was made up of prog-rock fans, horror fans, and movie buffs. It felt like a bunch of friends (including the band) just hanging out to watch movies and listen to good music.
Chaos master Dion Lunadon has announced his newest solo album, Systems Edge, due out November 14, 2023. To whet your appetite for it, he’s already released the first single, “I Walk Away.”
On top of that, the album is already available for pre-order on vinyl and “shockwave” vinyland he’s already announced a tour across Europe in the next two months.
Can’t make any of these gigs? Why not go see him in New York for the album’s release party, then?
As they approach the release of their ‘Illuminated 1989’ album, the original 1989 full-length record produced by Cocteau Twins’ Robin Guthrie, trailblazing soul-influenced shoegazers The Veldtannounce North American tour dates and alsopresent the single ‘Aurora Borealis’ with Elizabeth Fraser making a cameo appearance on backing vocals towards the end. Complementing this is theB-side remix, created by The Veldt around the turn of the century.
This is the second single from the album, which Guthrie produced in autumn 1989 and has now remastered for vinyl. While intended to be the band’s first album, their label Capitol Records shelved the recording and sent them back into the studio with producer Lincoln Fong (Moose), resulting in their first album released with the title ‘Marigolds’.
Earlier, the band released the lead track‘The Everlasting Gobstopper’ digitally (with a video produced by Jammi Yorkand the late Yuko Sueta) and on vinyl, involving a B-side previously unreleased vinyl exclusive ‘Joshuu Lullaby’, also recently produced by Guthrie.
One of the most notable first-wave shoegaze bands, formed in North Carolina in the 1980s, The Veldt surrounds identical twins Daniel Chavis (vocals, guitar) and Danny Chavis (guitar). Their unique sound was influenced by Cocteau Twins as readily as Marvin Gaye and free-jazz warriors Sun Ra and Pharaoh Sanders. Referencing European post-punk while embracing modern hip-hop, these trailblazers work with transient dreamscapes as fluidly as solid song structures.
Pitchfork included The Veldt’s album‘Afrodisiac’, produced by the legendary Ray Shulman (The Sundays, Bjork, The Sugarcubes) and released via Mercury Records, in the top 50 shoegaze albums ever released, while Stereogum included ‘Until You’re Forever’ in the top 31 shoegaze tracks. Their sound also inspired future generations of alternative artists, including TV On the Radio.
Daniel Chavis on their inspiration for ‘Aurora Borealis’: “This song is about my brother’s love for his newborn daughter. Written out of high school and dug out around the time the band had started to get noticed. We had written so many, but it was one of the newest pieces that we had begun experimenting. This would signal our departure from being a band that made people dance to a band that made people confused. ‘The Everlasting Gobstopper’ came shortly thereafter and was being finished.”
Danny Chavis adds, “This song was written in 1986 and was included in the first batch of songs we demoed under the name VELDT. Having heard ‘Treasure’ by Cocteau Twins, this song was inspired by that very album and RUN DMC’s ‘Sucker MC’s’ around the same time that year.”
The Veldt’s journey is fascinating. Performing since they were children, the Chavis brothers’ musical roots lead back to the church and southern juke-joints, and listening to music that included gospel, Motown and Pink Floyd. The Veldt formed in the late 80’s in Raleigh amongst the legendary North Carolina music scene of the time, initially signing with Mammoth Records – leading to a chain of major-label relationships that took the group across Europe and the U.S. playing shows with the likes of Throwing Muses, Pixies, Cocteau Twins and Jesus & Mary Chain.
After moving from Raleigh to New York, they briefly performed as Apollo Heights before returning to their original name The Veldt. Joined by Japanese bassist-programmer Hayato Nakao, they together forging music that is a heady and sensual blend of shoegaze and progressive soul, dreamy soundscapes and infectious grooves. Some of the band’s recent notable releases include‘The Shocking Fuzz Of Your Electric Fur’ EP(2017) and the album ‘Entropy is the Mainline to God’ (2022).
Over the years, The Veldt has collaborated with TV On The Radio, Mos Def, Lady Miss Kier (Deee-Lite), A.R.Kane and toured or played with Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Pixies, Throwing Muses, Echo & The Bunnymen, Cocteau Twins, Manic Street Preachers, Phantogram, Modern English, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Oasis, Chuck D, Living Colour and Schooly D.
‘Aurora Borealis’ is now available everywhere, including Apple Music, SpotifyandBandcamp. On November 24, the ‘Illuminated 1989’ album will be released on vinyl, CD, cassette and digitally via Portland-based Little Cloud Recordsand 5BC Records. From October through December, The Veldt will be touring many cities and will be performing at Levitation Festival in Austinand Seattle’s KEXP, as well as playing several exclusive dates supporting Violent Femmes.
TOUR DATES SAT 10/21 = Norfolk, VA @ the NorVa w/ Violent Femmes SUN 10/22 = Richmond, VA @ the National w/ Violent Femmes MON 10/23 = Asheville, NC @ TBA TUE 10/24 = Nashville, TN @ the Underdog WED 10/25 = Memphis, TN @ Growlers THU 10/26 = Little Rock, AR @ EJ’s Drinks and Eats FRI 10/27 = Dallas, TX @ TBA SAT 10/28 = Austin, TX @ the Far Out Lounge (LEVITATION Festival) MON 11/27 = Atlanta, GA @ 529 TUE 11/28 = Birmingham, AL @ TBA WED 11/29 = New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa THU 11/30 = Houston, TX @ 1810 Ojeman FRI 12/1 = Austin, TX @ Hotel Vegas SAT 12/2 = Silver City, NM @ Whiskey Creek Zocalo w/ Tremours SUN 12/3 = Phoenix, AZ @ Linger Longer Lounge w/ Tremours MON 12/4 = San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar w/ Tremours TUE 12/5 = Los Angeles, CA @ Gold Diggers w/ Tremours WED 12/6 = San Francisco, CA @ Kilowatt w/ Tremours THU 12/7 = Portland, OR @ Show Bar w/ Tremours FRI 12/8 = Seattle, WA @ the Central Saloon (TremoloFest) w/ Tremours SAT 12/9 = Vancouver, BC @ TBA SUN 12/10 = Bellingham, WA @ The Shakedown w/ Tremours) MON 12/11 = Eugene, OR @ Old Nick’s w/ Tremours TUE 12/12 = Olympia, WA @ Le Voyeur w/ Tremours WED 12/13 = Tacoma, WA @ TBA THU 12/14 = Seattle, WA @ KEXP
Don’t miss your chance to see psych / desert rock giants King Buffalo this winter as they make one last tour through the east and midwest before they finally take a break to record another album. They never disappoint, and tickets are already on sale – not only for this tour, but also for the European tour they’re already running!
Recorded live November 27, 1977, The Damned‘s The Captain’s Birthday Party Live at the Roundhouse is, like other Damned records, mired with some weird history.
First, this album is often known and titled as Not the Captain’s Birthday Party. The band did play a show at the Roundhouse on April 23, 1977 – a day later after (then bassist, now guitarist) Captain Sensible‘s birthday. However, this show wasn’t recorded until seven months later at the same venue. Their label at the time, Stiff Records, thought this album was the April 1977 show and thus released it as The Captain’s Birthday Party. Later, in 1986, the album was re-released by Demon Records as Not the Captain’s Birthday Party. Are we all clear?
Another interesting bit of Damned history with this album is that it’s a recording of a rare lineup of the band with the Captain on bass and perpetual lead singer Dave Vanian, but with two guitarists – Brian James and the newly acquired Robert “Lu” (short for “lunatic”) Edmunds – and a new drummer – Jon Moss (who would later go onto worldwide fame drumming for Culture Club), as the legendary original drummer, Rat Scabies, had quit the band two weeks earlier.
The album is just eight tracks, but they’re eight tracks of raw power thrown at an enthusiastic crowd. Opening with “You Take My Money,” the guitar roars and feedback are immediately apparent, and Moss is holding his own with just two weeks of practice with three guys who were already punk legends just a couple years into their careers. “Creep (You Can’t Fool Me)” gets a great response from the crowd. “Fan Club” is rough, with Edmunds and Moss still figuring out some of the band’s mechanics, but that energy just brings more growl to it.
“This one’s for Rat Scabies,” Vanian announces before they start “Problem Child.” The whole band is energized for this one, and you can tell Moss wanted to slay it. “So Messed Up” is a full-blown sprint that must have sent the crowd into a panic. “New Rose,” their first hit (and, by most accounts, the first punk single) transforms from a grungy rocker into a wild mix of feedback, crashing drums, and bass rumbles that only settle for a moment before they rip into a blistering cover of The Stooges “Feel Alright.” They end with “Born to Kill,” barely leaving you any time to process what the hell just happened.
It’s a wild ride, not unlike one of those carnival rides that takes you up high, spins you around, and then drops you at a frightening rate.
Sessanta, an untraditional tour that sees Puscifer, A Perfect Circle, and Primus joining forces, and sharing band members, is slated for April of 2024.
The Western U.S. outing is a resurrection, and expansion, of the 2014 Los Angeles event, Cinquanta, which was originally a one-time only celebration. Much like that fabled evening, which commemorated Maynard James Keenan’s landmark 50th birthday, Sessanta celebrates the Puscifer and A Perfect Circle frontman as he turns 60.
Sessanta’s unique format sees the musicians from the trio of bands joining each other’s performances throughout the concert. While each group will have their own distinctive set, the players will continually transform as the night unfolds.
“It took some massaging, and some long days in rehearsal, but we managed to seamlessly pull off this three-song rotation at Cinquanta, my 50th birthday shows, at The Greek Theatre in 2014,” says Keenan of the seven-date run that also sees A Perfect Circle’s first live performances since 2018. “Bands aren’t used to simultaneously sharing the stage with other bands, but if anyone can do it, it’s Primus, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer.”
Tickets are on-sale now, with VIP options available via Tour.puscifer.com.
Recorded live in Glasgow, Scotland in 1995, Julian Cope‘s Barrowlands is almost seventy minutes of Cope and his four-piece band (Richard “K-R” Frost – bass and vocals, Michael “Mooneye” Watts – lead guitar and vocals, Mark “Rooster”Cosby – drums, Timothy “Thighpaulsandra” Lewis – vocals, piano, Mellotron 400, and synths) performing what was a three-hour set that’s been whittled down to this album. It marked a heavy synth influence on Cope’s live shows, as he’d recently acquired a vintage 1966 Mellotron 400 and dove head-first into synth-psych.
As a result, the live show is a wild freak-out (as, I’m sure any Cope concert is) heavy on synths and keys, but not skimping on raucous guitar riffs, tight bass, or near-panicked drum beats.
The album opens with blasting versions of “East Easy Rider” and “Spacehopper” before they slow things down a bit on “Nineteen Ninety-Five” (which Cope dedicates to a rowdy man in the crowd as Cope offers to throw him some meat). It’s a song that encourages us to open our minds and explore, and the heavy piano chords behind the message have a hint of danger to them (and the journey).
“Sleeping Gas” is downright manic, with Mooneye’s guitar sounding like an industrial saw one moment and a thrash metal solo the next. “Don’t Take Roots” is wonderfully loopy, and tracks like “Leli B.” and “Passionate Friend” (a Teardrop Explodes track, no less) keep the crowd rowdy. “Torpedo” features Cope’s unique voice supported by Thighpaulsandra’s Mellotron chords. Cope’s vocals can go from crooning to punk rage and then dreamy stylings that almost become spoken word pieces. “Torpedo” is a good example of this last one. “Julian H. Cope” is a solo acoustic track that’s like a warm-up before the sonic blast of “Out of My Mind on Dope & Speed.”
“Double Vegetation” sounds even better live than I’d hoped. Cope’s band brings a strange, haunting energy to it. Afterwards, Cope tells the crowd there won’t be an encore. “It’s really hard to go offstage after three hours and then come back,” he says. , claiming there will be only two more tracks. There are actually four.
“Reward” is first, another Teardrop Explodes classic. “It’s coming to an end,” Cope says before he and his crew launch into “Hanging Out & Hung Up on the Line.” Cope’s vocals take on an angry snarl while Mooneye’s guitar buzzes like someone just threw a beehive on the stage. “World Shut Your Mouth” roars with heavy bass from Frost and Thighpaulsandra’s synths are at times bright and other times skronky. The album ends with Cope’s wild, trippy, frenetic classic “Reynard the Fox” – which must have caused a near riot when they played it at this show because it’s like ending a marathon with a kickboxing match. It’s always been one of Cope’s best songs, and getting a live version of it on this record is a treat.
The whole thing is a treat if you’re a fan of Cope’s work. I hope the Archdrude releases more live cuts. He’s a bit of a hermit nowadays, and has mostly given up the rock life, but maybe, just maybe, he’ll come out of hiding and surprise us.
The inimitable King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard announce their first 2024 North American tour dates, all 3-hour marathon sets. Following the release of PetroDragonic Apocalypse — their latest album and “end times thrash metal concept album” (The Needle Drop) — as well as this year’s recently-wrapped sold-out residency tour, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s newly announced dates will bring their acclaimed marathon sets back to North America, including stops in New York, Chicago, Austin, TX and Quincy, WA at the legendary Gorge Amphitheatre (which, at a capacity of 21,600 tickets, will be the band’s largest headline show to date). General on sale begins today Friday, September 15th at 12pm ET. A full list of dates is below. Tickets will be available at kinggizzardandthelizardwizard.com
KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD TOUR DATES Sat. Aug. 17, 2024 – Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium Sun. Sept. 1, 2024 – Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island Sat. Sept. 14, 2024 – Quincy, WA @ The Gorge Amphitheatre Fri. Nov. 15, 2024 – Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater
