October 2022 – Page 4 – 1st 3 MAGAZINE

GRIN – Tones Of Supernatural Frequencies

14th October 2022

Heavy Psych-Doom Power Couple GRIN Streams Brand New Album, “Phantom Knocks”, In Its Entirety!

Nothing has changed yet everything is different when it comes to Phantom Knocks, the third studio album by Berlin-based heavy psych doom duo GRIN, consisting of unshakeable power couple Jan and Sabine Oberg (Earth Ship, Slowshine).

This Friday, on October 14th, the band is celebrating the release of their new collection of eight shamanic yet heavy-as-hell desert rituals that emanate from the mysterious space between the supernatural and the extraterrestrial. To shorten your wait for its official release, now, GRIN are streaming Phantom Knocks in its entirety!

The manic tribal beat of album opener “Transcendence”, comes rolling in like a psychic thunderstorm, extrapolating the collision of millions of tiny aqueous ions to the mighty thunder of Sabine Oberg’s bass, which continues to send seismic shockwaves throughout the rest of the album to leave you shaking on your feet. Meanwhile Jan Oberg’s clean voice and spectral grunts create a haze through which high pitched droning guitars fade in and out, like tones of supernatural frequencies cutting through the haze of reality. Phantom Knocks takes you on a rocking ride across shifting extraterrestrial desertscapes, while your spirit flies high above in a mystic transportation through the astral plane.

GRIN have teamed up with Invisible Oranges, for an exclusive pre-album listening premiere. Stream Phantom Knocks HERE!

The groundwork of GRIN’s trademark heavy drum and bass sound was already laid as early as their 2018 debut album Revenant, which is no surprise, since Jan and Sabine have been actively making heavy riff-laden tunes for over ten years. Translucent Blades in 2020 further solidified GRIN’s brand of sludgy psychedelic doom metal with the addition of high pitched guitar drones and eerie soundscapes. Again recorded in Jan Oberg’s own Hidden Planet Studio, Phantom Knocks has the same earth-shattering qualities as its predecessors, but is in every way more vivid and more powerful, aptly demonstrating how the Berliners have perfected their chemistry.

Phantom Knocks will be available as CD, Tape Cassette and Digital formats on October 14, 2022, with a Vinyl release to follow soon. The album will be issued by the band’s own label imprint The Lasting Dose Records.

Purchase your copy at THIS LOCATION!

Phantom Knocks track listing:

01. Transcendence
02. Shiver
03. Aporia
04. Arcane
05. Apex
06. Rivulets
07. Servants
08. Spectral

GRIN Line-Up:
Sabine Oberg – Bass Guitar
Jan Oberg – Drums, Vocals, Guitars, Soundscapes
Additional Musician: René Noçon – Hammond Organ on “Arcane”

www.instagram.com/grincult
www.grincult.bandcamp.com
www.thelastingdoserecords.bandcamp.com

ALTER BRIDGE – Keep Pushing

13th October 2022

HALLOWEEN SPECIALS, Mainly Metal

ALTER BRIDGE achieves hard rock brilliance with career-defining seventh studio album Pawns & Kings!

Since 2004, ALTER BRIDGE has been one of the most consistent bands to successfully represent the rock and metal communities with their driving melodies, blazing guitar riffs and topical lyrics that resonate with fans around the globe.

Their seventh album, Pawns & Kings, continues that trend with 10 unforgettable new additions to their catalog. Coming off the launch of what was shaping up to be one of the band’s pinnacle moments with Walk The Sky (#1 US Billboard Top Albums, #1 US Current Rock and Hard Music, #4 UK Official Charts, #1 UK Independent and Rock/Metal, #5 Official German Album Charts), everything came to a halt as the world would forever be changed due to the events of a global pandemic.

The time the members of ALTER BRIDGE spent apart sparked a new fire and heaviness when the quartet comprised of Myles Kennedy on vocals/guitars, Mark Tremonti on guitars/vocals, Brian Marshall on bass and Scott Phillips on drums would reconvene for what would eventually become Pawns & Kings. Teaming with longtime producer and collaborator Michael “Elvis” Baskette, the album shines with massive, menacing arena-ready production while emerging as another sonic testament to the seasoned Kennedy/Tremonti songwriting dream-team. The band deliver three epic anthems, including two that clock in at over six minutes – the reflective and absolutely epic title track “Pawns & Kings”, grim-riffed, progressive influenced “Sin After Sin”, and the emotive eight-and-a-half minute journey “Fable Of The Silent Son.” “Silver Tongue” is backed by a punishing intro riff that gives way to one of the band’s most infectious choruses as Myles Kennedy sings, “Truth of a crime. You can’t outrun. Under the spell of my silver tongue,” while tracks like “Holiday” and “Season Of Promise” ebb and flow within the trademark multi-faceted metallic rock attack that has enchanted ALTER BRIDGE fans for a generation. Songs like “This Is War,” “Dead Among The Living” and “Last Man Standing” showcase the heavier side of a band firing on all cylinders, with soaring leads, hair-raising vocals and introspective lyricism abound. Mark Tremonti helms lead vocal duties on the uplifting track “Stay” – an interchanging of skills that first debuted on the band’s fourth album, Fortress, and continues to this day. Nearly 20 years into their celebrated career, one thing is for sure – Pawns & Kings offers a musical snapshot of a band that shows no signs of slowing down and continues to push itself creatively for the whole world to see.

Track Listing:
1. This Is War
2. Dead Among The Living
3. Silver Tongue
4. Sin After Sin
5. Stay
6. Holiday
7. Fable Of The Silent Son
8. Season Of Promise
9. Last Man Standing
10. Pawns & Kings

ALTER BRIDGE is:
Myles Kennedy – Vocals, Guitar
Mark Tremonti – Guitar, Vocals
Scott Phillips – Drums
Brian Marshall – Bass

WEBSITE
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TWITTER
INSTAGRAM

Longheads – On A Higher Plain

13th October 2022

Mainly Metal

Psych-rockers Longheads have released the video for their latest single ‘One Step Further’, which is taken from their forthcoming EP Mars Doesn’t Feel Like Home Anymore and is coming out November 2^nd via Longreel records.

The video is tongue-in-cheek with folk-horror inspired visuals, which shift between horned demons and druid band members summoning the spirits of psychedelia. The track itself being the perfect accompaniment as it transports us to the outer realms with its lo-fi vocals echoing between the spaced-out orchestration of punchy drums and reverb rattling guitars transcending the listener to a higher plain.

With the track, the band were experimenting with ‘through-composed’ song structures, which is a continuous, non-sectional and non-repetitive piece of music and showcases the bands talents as fierce instrumentalists and masters of their craft.

Lead singer and bassist Sam Mitchell says, “‘One step further’ serves as the pre-amble to the narrative contained within Longheads’ upcoming E.P Mars doesn’t feel like home anymore.

The song depicts the unfolding of a siege, the beginning of the end. This can be felt within the dynamics of the instrumentation which build to a grand crescendo to conclude the battle.”

It follows the release of the EP’s first single ‘Longherder’, which is a lysergic slice of King Gizzard infused groove drifting between sanguine moments reminiscent of The Doors and expansive guitar solos of Hendrix. Listen here.

Mars Doesn’t Feel Like Home Anymore follows the release of 2021’s debut EP Higher Than Bacteria. The new EP has seen the band take a much looser approach when it came to both writing and recording, incorporating improvised jam sections and capturing the band’s incredible live energy to the songs on record.

“When gigs started happening again last year we found ourselves in a position where we needed to write songs to fill up the space in our set. Because of this we started playing the new songs live as soon as they were finished and we continued to change and refine them based on how they went down.” Comments guitarist Al Bishop

Originally hailing from Norfolk the band who are completed by Nick Oakes (drums), Benjamin Reeve (guitar & vocals) and Mitchell Corrigan (synths) are now based in South London where a few of the members live in the Guardianship scheme occupying various sites and spaces across London. This is where they recorded the EP at their very own ‘Longreel Studios’ in October last year, which was a space the boys had set up in an old theatre opposite the oval cricket ground.

Here the space of their surroundings allowed them to dive deep in writing with no limits and a week after they had finished all the live tracks they were handed their one month notice and had to dismantle the studio.

Longheads are building a name for themselves as an impressive live act and recently played yet another stellar show to a packed out Bermondsey Social Club, as well as recently supporting the likes of King Buffalo.

NEW EP

MARS DOESN’T FEEL LIKE HOME ANYMORE

OUT NOVEMBER 2^ND

VIA LONGREEL RECORDS

PRE-ORDER HERE

Now to celebrate the release of the forthcoming EP, they will be headlining the Black Heart on November 24^th with tickets available here.

You can watch a session recorded live at the Longreel Studio here, which will give you a taste of what to expect.

WEBSITE | SPOTIFY | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM

Gretchen Shae & the Middle Eight – Darkness Lies Beneath

12th October 2022

HALLOWEEN SPECIALS, Music News

Gretchen Shae & the Middle Eight expose the duality of digital lives on ‘Skeleton Closet’.

Incendiary new single from the reloaded Boston quartet hits the streams on September 27, with a Gene Dante-directed music video out NOW.

In the real world, things are often exactly how they seem. On social media, the opposite is nearly always true. And yet we play the game and endure the cycle: Post. Comment. Like. Share. Scroll. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

By now, our social media habits are second-nature, and when we’re not busy arguing over the most trivial of things, we’re spending time building our own personal facade of how we want others to perceive our lives. But on “Skeleton Closet,” Gretchen Shae & The Middle Eight pull back the curtain on the lies that fuel social media and show a different scene on the other side of the screen. The Boston alt-rock and post-punk band’s adrenalized new single hit the streams on Tuesday, September 27, with its Gene Dante-directed music video premiering on YouTube on October 11. The band plays Notch Brewing in Brighton on October 27.

Skeleton Closet

“‘Skeleton Closet’” is about the duality of social media: the public persona vs. the private,” Shae says. “We don’t want people to know we are unhappy, to see the unpleasantries, so we post a photo of some lavish object we bought, or of ourselves smiling with, perhaps, people we loathe. The idea of social media as a means to connect and share all emotions has really backfired, hasn’t it? Instead, we bury our secrets. We put filters on not just our faces; we put them on our lives. And we all do it, to some extent.”

Gretchen Shae & the Middle Eight: Gretchen Shae - Guitar/Vox Ronan Fahy - Lead Guitar Killian Carcosa - Bass Nick Mehos - Drums

When Shae offers up the opening lyrics of “It’s show and tell / Gather round / Take it all out / Don’t hide yourself,” she’s not only setting a thematic tone for the fiery track, which rages with a punk rock fury and a glossy ‘90s alternative sheen, but also welcoming us into a world where nothing is as it seems. And this is a world we’ve all welcomed with open arms, despite it constantly aligning against our best interests.

“The song came together in the summer of the pandemic,” Shae admits. “We were all stuck inside our homes. For many, social media was the only socializing permitted; thus, it became an extension of real life in a hypersensitive fashion. The uptick of posts was extraordinary. It is a basic human instinct to one to connect with others, to be approved of, to be loved. The song’s chorus ‘Living with secrets/they become your truth’ cautions the listener: beware the duality you project.”

Following this summer’s Exit Fire EP, which collected the band’s first batch of singles, “Skeleton Closet” is the latest and loudest in Gretchen Shae’s Middle Eight arsenal, refueled and reloaded with a new lineup that features guitarist Ronan Fahy, bassist Killian Carcosa, and drummer Nick Mehos. “Skeleton Closet” kickstarts an exciting new chapter for Gretchen Shae & The Middle Eight, and appropriately enough, the incendiary track’s music video is set on the red carpet of a film premiere. But like all things surrounding this song and our social media-driven lives, what lurks under the surface – here, the band rocking out in black and white in skeletal suits, away from the glitz and the glamor of the bright neon lights – is at striking odds with what we see in front of us.

“For the ‘Skeleton Closet’ music video, I envisioned a simple concept: what we present vs. who we are inside,” says Dante. “A movie premiere encapsulates that perfectly. The red carpet situation is a perfect symbol of people presenting their most agreeable selves: Smiling, positive, triumphant; putting on their best faces. In contrast, the ‘movie’ segment is literally a high-contrast black and white study of the band rocking out – their true selves. The red carpet shots were kept tight to emulate pressure, with the band standing rigidly together. They move more freely when ‘allowed’ to play their instruments. The black and white segment is when they really cut loose and are free.”

There’s newfound freedom within the real world of Gretchen Shae & The Middle Eight as well. The new lineup has sparked creativity and collaboration: Fahey and Carcosa play with Shae in their Siouxsie Sioux cover band Gretchen & The Banshees, and Mehos brings a visual component that gives the band’s music an animated and eye-catching aesthetic element. And the duality of the track shines through in its accompanying visuals. “wanted to create something that was in line with early-’90s Tim Burton playfulness on the surface while darker things lie beneath,” Mehos adds.

“This new line up is a new band in a multitude of ways,” Shae concludes. “Whenever you introduce existing songs to new players, they breathe their own life into the parts they play. We have taken a more post-punk turn on many of the songs we are working on. I love when everyone’s personality comes through on their instrument. This group brings a range of influences to the table; from metal to post-punk, from punk rock to shoegaze, our individual influences are reflected in our playing.”

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SPIDER GOD – Embrace The Fear

12th October 2022

HALLOWEEN SPECIALS, Mainly Metal

SPIDER GOD RELEASE FLY IN THE TRAP.

Was there someone there in those missing moments when you battled with your mind? Did the doors open to a ghost or a devil? Did you slip into the water to hide from the voices that had followed you from the womb, to silence the endless screams and whispers? Or were you left in the cold, wet darkness with your unseeing eyes open wide by a soulless thing that stole your laugh, your smile and your life? Or were you there at all? Only the spiders watching from their shadowed corners know…and they wrap their secrets in silk and store them with the flies.

From their unseen web Spider God have emerged, scuttling into your peripheral vision, a many-legged blackness that drips cold malice down your spine… After an array of split releases, EPs and an acclaimed collection of poisoned pop covers, the time has come for the arachnid deities to unveil their first full length album of original material – and what a breathtaking concoction of fear, confusion and madness it is! A concept album that explores the chilling mystery of Elisa Lam, the young Chinese-Canadian woman whose body was found submerged in the rooftop water tank of her LA hotel in 2013, Fly In The Trap immerses itself in the multitude of unanswered questions that surround this strange tragedy which has haunted the imaginations of so many. An onslaught of dazzlingly melodic black metal, touched with an anthemic hardcore quality, pours from the speakers in a cold torrent as the story unfolds; intimidatingly powerful yet enticing and captivating, a sound like no other. Featuring guest contributions from Revenant Marquis, Rope Sect and A Forest Of Stars, with soul-shaking drums recorded by Mountain Man’s Patrick Murphy at the renowned God City Studios (Converge, High On Fire, Kvelertak etc ) Fly In The Trap is one of the most remarkable albums you will hear this year, or any other. Spider God draw you into their labyrinthine web of heartbreak and horror, where cold winds of loneliness and loss assail you at every step. Mixed and mastered by Will Killingsworth (Abazagorath, Dödsrit, Wolven etc) at Dead Air Studios, Fly In The Trap sounds stunning; the full hurricane force and beguiling melody of tracks like the irresistible ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’ or the magnificent ‘The Fifty Second Murderer’ exquisitely captured, with every element of the band’s searing attack being given room to breathe, to speak and to scream.

Black Renditions | Spider God (bandcamp.com)

Spider God’s previous releases – eight of them in number of course – have all been markers along the way to this moment, their electrifying shows with Lamp Of Mumuur and appearances at the Darkness Over Cumbria festival all stepping stones to this emergence. When Fly In The Trap is released on November 11th by Repose Records, with its strangely unnerving, panic-inducing artwork created by Lucas Rackliffe, the true magic of the Spider God will be revealed. Embrace the fear and prepare to stare into an abyss of secrets.

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Nihilists – Sub-Sonic Bath-Bombs

11th October 2022

Music News

NIHILISTS is a band from Manchester and Hope Valley, England.

James Mudriczki and John Patterson met on a flaming Northern Rail train that was attacked by Africanised bees and sucked into a former Cross-Fire Hurricane of every musical genre ever conceived.

Fuelled by their mutual love of land, sea, air and artisan sandwiches, they vowed to work together on songs that could possibly warp the very fabric of the space-time continuum (or at least fray the edges a bit.).

Holed up in their recording studio in the wilds of Derbyshire, NIHILISTS aspire to the ethic that music is the only form of art that gives anything purpose and true meaning, aside from certain forms of mime.

I Am The White Stripes by Nihilists (soundcloud.com)

And so they let fly their first salvo I AM THE WHITE STRIPES, a soaring friction-fiction spark of longing fired into the very centre of a world-weary society uncertain of where the next sliver of happiness may come from, or even if it ever will. Let this be the first of many.

A collection of such similar sub-sonic bath- bombs is nearing completion and almost ready to drop. Soon, your tub fizzeth over...

NIHILISTS would like to meet with like-minded individuals for a mutually beneficial experience, and possibly nights in/out, and a gentle hike ending with a good-quality carvery

See you at the counter. Jimmy’s paying.

NIHILISTS.

Nihilists (@nihilistsmusic) / Twitter

WitcheR – Lost And Found

11th October 2022

HALLOWEEN SPECIALS, Mainly Metal

WitcheR release Lélekharang through Filosofem Records on October 15th.

The sparks spiral upwards through the smoke, dancing like fireflies. Somewhere beyond the haze of heat I can hear the priest mouthing his empty words, part condemnation, part salvation, all delivered with a painfully false, overblown piety.

I am just another part of the old world, the old ways, eaten up by their rapacious machine. I must burn as the world burns. When the flames reach my feet I look to the mountains and the forests. They cradle my soul and shield me from the pain. As my skin blisters and the smoke fills my lungs I hear the bell toll and I am lifted on the wind.

Lélekharang – meaning ‘soul bell’ – is the third album from Hungarian duo WitcheR and is steeped in the folklore and ancient beliefs of their homeland. The spirit of this album lies in the natural landscape and in a past untainted by destructive greed and the blind pursuit of power and wealth. In Hungarian tradition the soul bell tolls once on a person’s passing and again at their burial and with Lélekharang WitcheR cry out against the passing of the old ways of life, smothered and consumed by the domineering force of Christianity. Each song is swathed in an atmosphere of autumnal twilight and transports the listener back through the ages. The simple, haunting introductory melody leads you into the soft textures of ‘Hamvak’ and the rich, reflective melancholy envelops you like a dream. Only when the final notes of WitcheR’s inspired interpretation of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ fade to silence does the harsh reality of the modern world return. Lélekharang is atmospheric black metal in its most magical form, entrancing the senses with its yearning for things lost to the relentless march of progress. Synths and guitars entwine in a rare and perfect harmony painting sepia tinted visions that can never be forgotten.

The digital and CD versions of Lélekharang were released by Filosofem Records on October 8th and the beautiful vinyl edition will follow on October 15th. The album is adorned in the tragic, evocative artwork of Grafit és Hamu; his mastery of light, tone and shadow creating an image that sublimely captures the aura of these remarkable songs. Embrace this invitation and let WitcheR lead you through the forests of memory to a place where all that was lost is found once more.

Gere Karola – Synths/Vocals Neubauer Roland – Guitars/Drums/Vocals

www.facebook.com/witcherband
https://witcherband.hu/
www.facebook.com/filosofemrecords

Already Dead – Part Of Something Bigger

11th October 2022

HALLOWEEN SPECIALS, Music News

Already Dead rally around a working-class ethos on ‘My Collar Is Blue’.

To understand the sentiment behind My Collar Is Blue, the debut album from Massachusetts punk trio Already Dead, it helps to connect the lyrics both at the start and the end.

On opening track “Stability,” guitarist and vocalist Daniel Cummings offers up a personal revelation as the impactful first line of the record: “I feel my life is at a stop. I’m at the bottom; dreams at the top.” Seven songs later, the concluding chorus of closing track “Something of Freedom” paints a more hopeful picture from the songwriter, now surrounded by friends, colleagues, and collaborators supplying the gang vocals: “Something worth dying for, is all I really want.”

It’s an interesting progression, the singular voice of Cummings introducing the record, and then ending it surrounded by a community. The wistful hopefulness remains, the eagerness to break free from the mundane and the need to experience the proper fruits of life still burns, but by the time My Collar Is Blue wraps up over its fiery 22 minutes, Cummings has company in his ambition. And that’s an apt metaphor for Already Dead as a whole, as the band unleashes this album to the streams on October 14, with the record release party going down matinee style that weekend, Sunday, October 16, at The Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain.

Already Dead are: Daniel Cummings – Guitar and vocals Brandon Bartlett – Bass Nick Cali – Drums

What began as a Covid project for Cummings writing songs by himself about his blue collar identity and hope for a better future has evolved, quite quickly into a proper force of a band that has New England on notice. Over the summer Already Dead – rounded out by drummer Nick Cali and bassist Brandon Barlett – dropped the spirited opening track “Stability,” a ska-punk rager that lamented a stalled life and the desperation we feel to better ourselves; and in September, just after Labor Day, the trio unleashed the album’s title track, a working class punk anthem that raised a glass to the true builders of society.

The album’s title, My Collar Is Blue, isn’t some fly-by-night declaration. It’s a battle-cry firmly planted in who Already Dead are as people, and in turn encapsulates the band: Cummings is a Boston union pipefitter; Bartlett is a Boston union ironworker; and Cali is a CDL operator in his hometown. “Blue collar is the life we know outside of being musicians,” Cummings adds. “The songs on the album relate to similar views whether it’s internal or social commentary.”

Cummings started writing what would end up on My Collar Is Blue as a creative release while live music was on pause and his other bands were unable to play shows during the pandemic. With his songs taking shape and yearning for collaboration – recording most of his initial ideas on his iPhone voice recorded while working union gigs all around the region – Cummings linked up with Cali, who he previously played with in other projects, and the two took the demos from his house to Cali’s basement where they tracked drums. Cummings reached out to his friend Corbett, a key figure in developing the Already Dead sound, and brought the songs to The Bridge Sound and Stage for recording last Halloween, where Corbett produced and mixed what would become the album. Realizing they were suddenly a legit band, they brought on Bartlett to play bass and round out the trio.

“This album wouldn’t have been without Corbett,” Cummings notes. “I was too self conscious to take these songs anywhere else but to him, as he is a friend and bandmate from a different group. He let us take over his basement for some of the tracking, and he spent just as many hours as us making this album what it is.”

The seven compositions that comprise the record span a spectrum of punk sounds and ethoses – incorporating influences from ska and reggae to hardcore, folk, and hip-hop for what the band describes as “punk…sorta.” Furthering an upbringing on ‘90s punk and the type of closed-fist Celtic street punk Massachusetts is known for, album cuts like “City’s Burnin’” have a two-tone ska influence, tracks like “Hypocrite” and “Bruises And Bottles” rage with a hardcore punk fury, and the title track and “Talk About It” steer out into roots and alt-country territory. The ghosts of folk singer-songwriters like early Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie show up in the lyrical themes. It’s a punk record solely defined by punk itself being undefinable. It’s more about pieces that make up the whole.

“It’s maybe not punk in the purest of terms, but almost anytime I’m writing something it is heavily influenced by the punk genre or any of the subgenres,” Cummings admits. “I’ve played in a lot of other bands that play different styles of music, which is always fun to perform, but my wheelhouse of writing is punk. This first batch of songs were all written by me, and not necessarily for any band in particular. It’s more a tribute to all styles of my favorite genre of music. My cousin called it a ‘sampler platter of punk’ which I think sums it up perfectly.”

Cummings’ lyrical approach mixes self-reflection (“Stability”, “Bruises And Bottles”) with social commentary, and combined with the Already Dead sonic cocktail makes for a potent mix of memorable melodies with a harder edge across the surface. Cummings is not just frustrated with life, he’s pissed at what he sees all around him each and every day. And as pieces of songs come to him while he’s out in the field working with his hands – 30-feet up on a scissor lift, down in a trench in the middle of the street – he’s echoing the frustrations felt by many like him as the world continues to burn.

“Songs like ‘My Collar Is Blue’, ‘Hypocrite’, and ‘Something of Freedom’ are more outward looking at certain conditions of the world,” he says. “I specifically remember coming up with the hook to ‘Something of Freedom’ after watching the first Presidential Debate from the last election. Watching that, first off, made me need a drink. Second off, it just had me so frustrated because it seemed like a high school debate team would have higher standards, and no matter what, the American people deserved better representation than what I was watching. ‘Hypocrite’ was written on purpose to be straightforward and angry, about conditions whole communities are forced to live in, and survive and expected to thrive, while they are denied basic necessities that communities mere miles away or closer are given.”

With My Collar Is Blue, Cummings is quick to dedicate the record to those around him: His family and friends, his fiancée, his bandmates, and fellow musicians. And, as he puts it, “the working class heroes of our past, present, future – anyone enduring the struggle of today to build a better tomorrow.”

Cummings is building one too, and when he sings it, when he says it, and when he plays it, he can take a look around, and realize he’s part of something bigger. The voices alongside his own proves it.

HOMEPAGE . SPOTIFY . BANDCAMP . YOUTUBE . INSTAGRAM . FACEBOOK

Photo Credit: Daniel Johnson

LE CYGNE NOIR – Fueled By Dark Forces

10th October 2022

HALLOWEEN SPECIALS, Music News

This Halloween, LE CYGNE NOIR, is planning a special seasonal new EP release entitled: ‘Death & Consequences’ (out 28 October, via Anger Management Records).

Returning with a harrowing set of songs all about serial killers, the renegade electronic/prog artist is leading the way with the featured single: “Burn Bundy Burn”.

Set at the frenzied speed of 165bpm, “Burn Bundy Burn” lurches out of the stereo like Squeeze having a stab at “Bat Out Of Hell” while dialling up the fear factor to 11. A track finds the infamous Ted Bundy taking the mic for a musical exposé of his crimes and eventual demise, it sets the scene for five tracks of rule-breaking rock to come from Le Cygne Noir.

Featured on the ‘Death & Consequences’ EP, his latest release was written in 2020 during the dark days of lockdown when just about the whole nation were having trouble facing their own demons, let alone those of others. Finding himself possessed by supernatural forces during that most perverse of periods, Le Cygne Noir was drawn into murky mindsets of some of the world’s most notorious serial killers.

As he remembers:
“I was writing at the piano and kept feeling a tap on the back, I was initially scared to death, I could feel a strange dark force feeding me words which I wrote down’ and decided to embrace it and use it. It was all I had. Sometimes inspiration can come from a strange place, and this was quite intense to say the least.”

STREAM “BURN BUNDY BURN” ON ALL SERVICES HERE

Haunted in turn by a series of deceased mass murderers past, Le Cygne Noir was visited by five spectres who each infiltrated his mind and seeded their inner-most thoughts into the music he was writing. When at last released from their shadowy grip, he found before him four songs of murder, deception, hate and fear, that tell the horrific stories of Ted Bundy, Peter Sutcliffe, Dennis Nilsen and Richard Ramirez.

“The words we ‘given to me’. I don’t even feel like I wrote them for any of these songs!” Le Cygne Noir confirms. “However I will be claiming 100% publishing rights so f**k you Ted Bundy! After I got used to being poked around, I decided to invite this ‘force in’ and quite frankly I had a blast hanging out with the most evil people ever imaginable. They seemed quite happy to have their say…”

Initially consigned to the vaults never to be released, in 2022 Le Cygne Noir has decided it’s finally time to exorcise his demons. Seeing the light of day well over two years after their conception, they will appear as the ‘Death & Consequences’ EP on the eve of Halloween.

Enlisting a terrifying amount of talent to bring these creations to life, Le Cygne Noir is joined for his latest release by an array of special guest players including Neil Taylor (Tears for Fears/Morrissey), Alex Veale (Tax The Heat), the amazing vocalist Jo Nye, Charlie Jones (The Cult/Goldfrapp), Mikey Sorbello (The Graveltones/La Roux), Mark Gemini Thwaite (Peter Murphy/Gary Numan/The Wonderstuff), Danielle Gulino (Roxy Music), Samson Jatto (Maverick Sabre), Alan Wilson (The Sharks), and saxophonist Dave Colbourne. Recorded at BR Studios, the EP was mixed/produced by Le Cygne Noir.

LE CYGNE NOIR – ‘DEATH & CONSEQUENCES’ EP
OUT 28 OCTOBER 2022, VIA ANGER MANAGEMENT RECORDS
PRE-SAVE HERE

LISTEN TO LEAD SINGLE: “BURN BUNDY BURN”
STREAM ON ALL SERVICES HERE

Steel yourself and take a step into an extraordinary melting pot where Donna Summer meets Ted Bundy under a bloodstained mirrorball… A death disco indeed. A release that’s guaranteed to chill and thrill in equal parts, the ‘Death & Consequences’ EP will be streaming everywhere from 28th October, via Anger Management Records. Happy Halloween…

LE CYGNE NOIR – ‘DEATH & CONSEQUENCES’ EP
1. Burn Bundy Burn
2. Under the Floorboards
3. Tino Talking ( Interlude )
4. Dancing on Your Own
5. Killing Time

https://www.lecygnenoir.co.uk

Boss’ Daughter – Having A Good Time

10th October 2022

Music News

Boss’ Daughter is one of the hardest working bands in the underground punk scene.

They’ve played over 400 shows across seven countries, with major headlining and underground acts like Rise Against, Pennywise, Jeff Rosenstock, The Ataris, PEARS, Bridge City Sinners, Bad Cop/Bad Cop, and many more.

Simmering in punk, they create their own undefinable sound with harmonizing gang vocals, haunted screams, catchy melodies, and a thrashing, crusty edge, all topped with a sprinkling of horns. One thing’s for sure, Boss’ Daughter is on a mission to make sure everyone is having a good time.

The group started as Fox’s solo project but quickly blossomed into a trio-with Chris Fox, Danny Paul, Jamie Locks, and occasionally John Underwood on horns for live shows. They released their debut album, Songs are Songs, in 2015 and followed up with 2016’s Sleep EP.

For the next couple of years the band constantly toured, playing everywhere from bars to large venues and festivals including Montreal’s Pouzza Fest, Ironfest, and Florida’s The Fest, which they’ve played the past four years in a row. The boys have also appeared on Bridge City Sessions and Reno’s own, Worst Little Podcast.

Their most recent releases include two 7″ records, 2019’s Ace of BAC/DC b/w Built Up To This, and 2021’s Old Friends four-way split 7″ on Iron Fest Records.

Having recently signed with SBÄM Records, a new full-length album is finished and is slated for release in the coming year. To tied fans over they’ve released a two-song 7″ ‘Okay Photography’ which is out now.

Upcoming shows:

10/8 – Reno, NV – 40 Mile Saloon – OffBeat Festival

10/10 – Salt Lake City, UT – Aces High Saloon

10/12 – Ft. Collins, CO – Surfside 7

10/15 – Denver, CO – East Fax Tap

10/16 – Omaha, NE – Dr. Jack’s Drinkery

10/17 – Des Moines, IA – Bogg’s Hull Ave. Tavern

10/18 – Minneapolis, MN – Palmer’s

10/23 – Memphis, TN – Lamplighter Lounge

10/25 – Tallahassee, FL – The Bark

10/26 – Orlando, FL – Henao

10/27 – Gainesville, FL – High Dive (Acoustic)

10/30 – Gainesville, FL – Vecinos – THE FEST

11/11 – Newport, KY – South Gate House Revival – Iron Fest

http://bossdaughter.com

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Monthly Archives: October 2022

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Monthly Archives: October 2022

GRIN – Tones Of Supernatural Frequencies

Heavy Psych-Doom Power Couple GRIN Streams Brand New Album, “Phantom Knocks”, In Its Entirety!

ALTER BRIDGE – Keep Pushing

ALTER BRIDGE achieves hard rock brilliance with career-defining seventh studio album Pawns & Kings!

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Psych-rockers Longheads have released the video for their latest single ‘One Step Further’, which is taken from their forthcoming EP Mars Doesn’t Feel Like Home Anymore and is coming out November 2nd via Longreel records.

Gretchen Shae & the Middle Eight – Darkness Lies Beneath

Gretchen Shae & the Middle Eight expose the duality of digital lives on ‘Skeleton Closet’.

Skeleton Closet

Gretchen Shae & the Middle Eight: Gretchen Shae - Guitar/Vox Ronan Fahy - Lead Guitar Killian Carcosa - Bass Nick Mehos - Drums

SPIDER GOD – Embrace The Fear

SPIDER GOD RELEASE FLY IN THE TRAP.

Nihilists – Sub-Sonic Bath-Bombs

NIHILISTS is a band from Manchester and Hope Valley, England.

WitcheR – Lost And Found

WitcheR release Lélekharang through Filosofem Records on October 15th.

Gere Karola – Synths/Vocals Neubauer Roland – Guitars/Drums/Vocals

Already Dead – Part Of Something Bigger

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Already Dead are: Daniel Cummings – Guitar and vocals Brandon Bartlett – Bass Nick Cali – Drums

LE CYGNE NOIR – Fueled By Dark Forces

This Halloween, LE CYGNE NOIR, is planning a special seasonal new EP release entitled: ‘Death & Consequences’ (out 28 October, via Anger Management Records).

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Boss’ Daughter is one of the hardest working bands in the underground punk scene.

Newsletter

Psych-rockers Longheads have released the video for their latest single ‘One Step Further’, which is taken from their forthcoming EP Mars Doesn’t Feel Like Home Anymore and is coming out November 2^nd via Longreel records.