Break

back next week

WESU's Homegrown - what got missed

God damn it, Alice, turn it back up, Ferocious Fucking Teeth are on

We tried to sneak High Pop's For Jord on at the very end of the show, but Thank You Mr. Keating's A Change of Plan faded out into the next program. Here's the track:



We didn't get to Medication at all, but it was going to be Judgment Day:

Medication - Judgment Day by sacredbones

Base Camp by Snake Oil was another that I wanted to spin. Here it is:

I wanted to play Female's song Bull Mugg off of their A Spider's Web release. Here's the entire album for your listening pleasure:



Dead Lights by Get Haunted was another favorite that we couldn't get to:



Finally, the new EP from Ovlov, What’s Great About the City? got missed - planned to spin the song The City:



I wanted to bring some Ferocious Fucking Teeth, but I couldn't come up with a non-lame way to not say Fucking on the radio, so fuck it, here's their EPIC track Hombre



Thanks again to Rob DeRosa for having me down. We'll do another session in the fall.

Sidewalk Dave Register Session Video

Thanks to Chris March and Arnie Gold for hosting and documenting this solo Sidewalk Dave session. The room used was an atrium, which sound and looks wise is excellent. More video is available on the New Haven Register's site here. The next session will be in a few weeks!

Register Sessions: Story time with Sidewalk Dave (submit questions, watch it live)

No need to leave the comfort of your computer screen or find a designated driver Wednesday night. If you got an internet connection, you got front row seats to the next live-streamed Register Session, featuring New Haven's favorite alt-rock barn burners, Sidewalk Dave.

Watch the intimate acoustic set with Sidewalk Dave right here or at www.newhavenregister.com Wednesday night at 6 p.m.

Sidewalk Dave will also answer questions from fans and listeners during the live set. Submit any questions you have about Sidewalk Dave or their music as a comment on this post.




More details on the Facebook event page.

Most recently, Sidewalk Dave released the Can't Be Your Friend EP for free which you can download here.



While you're at it,might as well check out this guest playlist Sidewalk Dave compiled for the New Haven Register earlier in the year with songs that inspired them in 2010.

About Sidewalk Dave (from www.sidewalkdave.com)
Since 2007, Sidewalk Dave has been tirelessly touring the North East with a rare blend of artistic Alt-rock. They have played with such similarly inspiring acts as Deer Tick, The Low Anthem, O'Death, and more. A relentless pursuit to challenge and entertain the listener has earned them generous national press:

"Consider this The Beatles, on whiskey instead of acid or pot" - Country Music Pride

FREE SHOW: Erusiko, TJ Kong and The Atomic Bomb play New Haven's Elm Bar

Safety Meeting Presents: Erusiko, & TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb


Location:  
Elm Bar
372 Elm St
New Haven, CT

July 20, FREE, 9 p.m.

Eurisko:
Eurisko is a 5-piece rock band from the greater New Haven/Waterbury area that formed in early 2010, putting together members of CT bands Barstow, Just For Today, The Switch, First Aid Kit and Lazywayout. Since their inception they have developed a sound soaked in whiskey, multi-layered guitar riffs, and grim lyrics. Influenced primarily by folk and indie rock, Eurisko's music spans from quickly paced melodic ballads to deep, creeping songs carrying shipments of woe. Combining three guitars, bass, and drums, Eurisko sets the scene for the dynamic narratives that characterize their unique style of songwriting. Eurisko has drawn comparisons to Tom Waits, The Decemberists, Murder By Death, and Bright Eyes.

TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb:
TJ Kong & the Atomic Bomb are a Philadelphia-based band of scientists who found God in the passing lane on Route 81 going South while reading mad libs and trying to cut up the Adderall. The band is known for their effusive and uninhibited live performances characterized by throngs of dancing mayhem and gorgeous sweaty women. This is not a lie. Their sound is defined by rootsy Americana/garage punk derivations of classic rock and roll, blues and country sounds driven by caterwauling drums and frontman Dan Bruskewicz's elegiac poetry and coal miner's baritone. They have been called, among other things "a post-apocalyptic fall-out shelter house band" and "entertainingly unhinged." They are now and always will be, a completely unadulterated and exasperatingly freewheeling good time

Paul Flaherty & Bill Nace, The Mountain Movers, Oxbow Lake

Friday, July 15, 2011, Indie Night @ the Oak presented by CT Indie

Location:
Charter Oak Cultural Center
21 Charter Oak Ave
Hartford, CT

All Ages - 8 PM - $6 or only $5 w/ a canned good donation for Hartford Food Not Bombs

FB Event page

A night that will melt your mind.

Free-reed wise man Paul Flaherty has been in the improv trenches for some four decades now. Equally powerful solo as he is in collaboration with likeminded free-scene jazz/noise instrumentalists, here he joins Bill Nace, extreme-guitar wizard. The duo was most recently documented by Jim Matus at Paranoise Studios in Hadley Mass. The LP, No, the sun is out on Open Mouth in a limited edition of 250. The duo also released the LP An Airless Field last year on Ecstatic Peace!. Both Flaherty and Nace have collaborated with legendary drummer Chris Corsano, with Flaherty in The Hated Music and Nace in Vampire Belt. Thurston Moore and Bill Nace, who play together in The Northampton Wools, joined Flaherty for an untitled CD in 2008, another Paranoise Studio recording, which has been called "Ferocious, killer, and loud as fuck."



Begun by Dan Greene (Butterflies of Love) and Rick Omonte (Crooked Hook/Shaki Presents), the psych-pop-jam-noise-folk of The Mountain Movers most recently grew into a three sided double-LP called Apple Mountain, their fourth full length, and second (first two LPs were on Safety Meeting Records) on their very own Car Crash Avoiders label. John Miller helped in the creation of Apple Mountain, but The Movers are now backed by Kryssi Battalene on lead, Ross Menze on drums. Kryssi fondly calls this current rhythm section the Rick Ross. The cassette EPs Get Out and Come In came out a few months ago, collections of lo-fi freak outs and "drinking songs" put together on the 8 track in Dan's garage.



Oxbow Lake, an avant-garde trio consisting of Stephen Haynes (horns), Charlie Dye (drums), and Matt Sargent (guitars). Haynes is an improv composer, a product of the Black Music Division at Bennington College. He has worked with Rhys Chatham, Cecil Taylor and the Dells to name only a few. Charlie Dye plays drums in several projects, including Sunspots, Mary of Egypt (Indie Rock/Avant-Garde), Andy Akiho (Contemporary Classical meets Soca with Steel Pan, Harp and Strings), Trio Schema (Free Improvisation) and Basecadet (Southern Metal Ska Rock). Matt Sargent is a musician from Hartford, CT, by way of Chesapeake Bay. Since 2007, he has directed the Hartford Sound Alliance, a CT-based performer/composer ensemble. Matt currently holds a Presidential Fellowship at SUNY Buffalo, where he will begin a PhD in Music Composition in Fall 2011.

Oxbow Lake at La Paloma (4.29.11) by mattsargent

Late Nite Wars, Washington Square Park, Wolves At Bay, Robbing The Vatican, It's All Happening, Night Owls

Friday, July 15, 2011, The Arc Agency presents

Location:
Branford American Legion
243 North Main Street
Branford, CT

6PM - $8 - All Ages

A night of pop/melodic-punk

Info from the FB event page

This is the first of four of Late Nite Wars' final shows and their last Connecticut show. This is also the tour kick-off for Wolves At Bay and Robbing The Vatican.

Late Nite Wars:
Residing north of Boston, Late Nite Wars exists as a group of kids longing for the days of fast, fun and aggressive pop-punk. Influenced by legendary bands like Lifetime, Piebald and The Get Up Kids, Late Nite Wars are doing their best to recapture the feeling that they got from the bands they grew up on.

The lyrics on their newest release “It’s Okay Or Even Worse” stray from bitter-end anger to chin-up positivity, with topics such as the monotony of the daily routine, moving on from your hardships and the unbreakable bond of friendship. Late Nite Wars gained worldwide attention after being featured on MTV’s Real World Cancun in 2009. Since then the band has worked tirelessly to do what they love to do, play honest music from the heart. “It’s Okay Or Even Worse” is a great example of the hard work that goes into being Late Nite Wars. Panic Records




Washington Square Park is a punk rock band hailing from Northern New Jersey that is already stirring up noise all up and down the East Coast. After dropping out of high school and drumming for the band Tourmaline for 5 years, Max Rauch started the one man side project known as Washington Square Park. Max knew he wanted to take a different path and after losing his father to suicide in August, he knew his dad would have wanted him to pursue whatever made him happy. His only motivation was to make music and see Washington Square Park succeed so he began to focus on it full time. WSP’s self-titled debut album was recorded in just two weeks and mixed by Mike Sapone (Brand New, Taking Back Sunday), with Max playing every instrument on the album. After recording the album, Max decided it was time to turn his one-man project into a full band. He soon added Keith Williams (guitar/backing vocals), Brian Legentil (bass) and Justin Niemiec (drums). For fans of The Movielife and Jimmy Eat World.




Wolves At Bay has the work ethic and raw intensity that sometimes is missing in an over fabricated music scene. Taking influences from a variety of music to create something unique to them that stands for more at times than just music. Going through the struggles of life and hardships with family, friends, and relationships can weigh down anyone. Though being a newer band to emerge they certainly won’t be going anywhere and will be showing just how hard there workmanship and how much meaning this has to them in the years to come.

It's All Happening: Pop-punk on tour from Indianapolis, Indiana.




Robbing The Vatican: Pop-punk out of central Connecticut

Night Owls: Matt (ex-Don't Say I Wont) teams up with some new faces to the Connecticut music collective for their first show ever. They will be releasing their definitive EP in August and hitting the road for a few dates with Deadlights. With big plans for the Fall, this is the first step the long life of Connecticut's newest melodic-hardcore/post-punk​ band.

Smoking riffs, gnarly beards and....pad thai? Red Fang prepare to bring mayhem to Hartford

Red Fang deal in the type of whiskey fueled musical badassery that should endear them to all lovers of kick ass riff rock, for both the beer chugging beard-o's and beardless hell raisers alike. They do a great job of mixing an up-yours attitude of doing-it-yourself with some of the best riffs this side of the Melvins or Clutch.

This fearsome foursome from Portland, Oregon has been building their following through great music, relentless touring and a couple of hilarious music videos that capture the band in all their dude-tastic glory. They have come a long way since I saw them open for the Fucking Champs and Birds of Avalon at a VFW hall in Wallingford many years ago.

The first of these videos, for “Prehistoric Dog,” a track off their self-titled debut CD released by Sargent House in 2009, shows the band running afoul of some angry LARPing nerds in a park. The video perfectly captures the essence of a band that is as much about self-deprecating fuck-it humor as they are serious about shredding as tightly as a frog's asshole.



“That was 110 percent the director Whitey McConnaughy’s idea. He just took us to a bar and explained the concept to us. We were laughing our asses off, so we just knew it would be good and to be honest we wouldn’t be quite on the radar without it,” said guitarist/vocalist Maurice Bryan Giles.

This clip helped raise the band’s profile quite a bit and eventually lead to a deal with Relapse Records, who just put out the band’s sophomore effort, “Murder The Mountains” earlier this year. They definitely don’t succumb to any slump on this one, as the band, which also includes Aaron Beam (bass/vocals), David Sullivan (guitar) and John Sherman (drums), steps up to the plate and delivers a fine slice of riff rock, tempering their frantic pace with slower tempos, lush atmospheres and great songwriting.

Giles said that they were very pleased on how the record turned out and will put some of the credit to producer Chris Funk, who is more known for producing indie rock bands like the Decemberists, than anything approaching hard rock or metal. Using an outside the metal box producer has worked wonders for fellow label mates Baroness and Tombs, who used John Congleton, another noted indie rock producer for their latest, critically acclaimed platters. So it was a bit of risk that paid off.
“Chris approached us and expressed interest in producing the record. I was a little leery at first because the Decemberists sound totally different from us. But he persisted and we found out that he has an appreciation for all types of music,” said Giles.

In fact, the band and Funk formed a fruitful creative partnership in the studio. The band members were pushing each other and Funk would encourage them to take their music wherever they thought it should go.

“Chris is a great producer, great motivator and good with getting the ideas out and getting them done,” said Giles.

The biggest difference between “Murder” and their debut is that the newer one sounds a little more produced and works with differing tempos throughout. Giles said that the first one was more of a punk record while this one has more diverse ideas and sounds.

He is completely right in that regard, because if anything “Murder The Mountains”, shows the band stretching their songwriting wings a bit and going a little outside of their comfort zone. It’s a diverse record with a diverse amount of sounds and tempos because some of the songs on it are older while some are newer. It just takes their sound in some newer directions.

While the record is easily one of the best pure hard rock experiences of the year, the band once again turned to McConnaughy to make a video for lead single, “Wires”. This one shows how the band spends a check from their label and features a cameo from comedian Brian Posehn, who utters a hilarious one liner, and once again captures the band in their ragged glory.



“The characters in the video are very close to who we are. I admit it, I’m a dude,” said Giles.

But don’t let the beards fool you, the band are also, shall we say a bunch of foodies. For instance, there is a recipe for Red Fang Pad Thai by Beam in Steve Seabury’s awesome metal themed cooking book, “Mosh Potatoes”. And it is delicious. (Trust me, I got the book for a girlfriend who is way into cooking and collecting cookbooks and she cooked me this and it was really good.) Even though, that wasn’t the only recipe submitted. Giles submitted a recipe for something called Chicken L’Orange, but was denied. This recipe includes ramen noodles, an egg, diced chicken and orange marmalade.

“It’s what I call budget fancy. It’s from my salad days,” said Giles with a laugh.
Luckily they have the music thing going for them, as you can see them on the Jagermeister Stage at the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival which plays the Comcast Theater in Hartford on Sunday, July 24, where they will be bring their wild and woolly rock to the masses.

Get there early, you might just discover a new favorite band and if you want some cooking tips, I’m sure they’ll give those to you, too.

Mayhem Festival
Comcast Theater
61 Savitt Way
Hartford CT
Sunday July 24, All Ages, 2:15 pm, $25 - $75

Fuck The Facts, David Carradine, Against Empire, Warfear, Misanthropic Noise

Location:
Whitney House
Hartford, CT

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

$5.00 for the touring bands. Starts at 7:00 sharp, will happen fast and be over early.

By way of Riotous Outburst Records:

Quick bios from the fb event page

Fuck The Facts: Canadian experimental grindcore with girl vocals on Relapse Records

David Carradine: CT power-violent muthafuckazzz, new 7 inch out soon on Incursion Records

Against Empire: Los Angeles crusty-metal-punk on Propfane Existence Records

Warfear: NY zombie-obsessed grindcore metal punks

Misanthropic Noise: local mincing grindcore sonsofbitches will make your ears spray blood... in a good way

Energy, Mountain Man, Heavy Breath, Old Wounds, Code Orange Kids, Al Borland

Friday, July 22, 2011

Location:
Branford American Legion
243 North Main Street
Branford, CT

$8, doors at 6:30, show at 7 (booze is nearby, but respect the hall and keep it dry)

Heavy Breath are releasing their first LP The E.Ps August 9th on Get Young Records. The A side is their new Ugly Americans EP (recorded in June with Jay Maas at the Getaway Group) with their debut EP Synthemesc Dreams on side B. Their debut was tied together thematically, which I dug, and pretty much blew the doors in start to finish. Kilian's voice will always be one of my favorites in the world of melodic hardcore (even though in general melodic hardcore has never been one of my standbys). So, Heavy Breath sounded clever and interesting on Synthemesc Dreams, even making something as culturally pervasive as A Clockwork Orange part of the EP's thrust instead of a dumb distraction. All we get to check out of the new stuff is the song Real Man, which is closer to Refused territory than their last batch of tunes. Seems like they got way better and tighter as a band, though maybe getting a little too conventional in the process, but it's not fair to judge based on only one track. I do rather appreciate their... ahem... ballsy cover art.

The E.Ps will be available in red, white or blue vinyl - 100 of each color. The first 25 pre-orders come with a cassette copy of the LP.




And as for their upcoming show:

Bookface event page here


Energy (MA Punk)
http://www.thisenergy.com/

Mountain Man (MA, Think Fast Records, ex-Last Lights, I Rise)
http://www.facebook.com/mountainmanhc

Heavy Breath (Get Young Records)
http://heavybreath.bandcamp.com/

Old Wounds (on tour from NJ)
http://oldwoundsnj.bandcamp.com/

Code Orange Kids (on tour from PA)
http://codeorangekids.bandcamp.com/

Al Borland (first show, ex/current PoW/Das Hate/Cold Snap)

Harvey Milk hits Daniel Street with The Body (part 2)

Mike White

Check out part 1, on The Body, here!

Also, check out Jason's Ferocious Fucking Teeth release review here!

In this day and age of five minute careers and bands that are forgotten quicker than a person can click delete on their mouse button, the career trajectory of Athens based loud rockers Harvey Milk is kind of an anomaly. They originally formed in the early 1990’s released a bunch of really good, yet sometimes hard to find albums, and then called it a day in 1998.

But they didn’t stay dead, they reformed in 2005, and were given a heroes welcome by a bunch of underground rockers who had kept their legend through word of mouth and the internet. Yes, this is one case where the internet, actually helped extend a bands career instead of speed its demise.

“It’s something that has grown over the past 4 or 5 years. We have fun doing it, so that’s why we do it. We feel very lucky that people still care enough about us to come out and see us,” said drummer Kyle Spence. “We know really good bands that can’t even tour for two weeks.”

The band, which also, includes singer/guitarist Creston Spiers and bassist Stephen Tanner, has seen an up tick in the amount of people that have shown interest in the band. The internet has kept the band’s name alive so that people could still hear the albums they made in the 90’s before they broke up.

He also sees other things good things that came about because of the internet. Booking has become easier, even though downloading has had its effect, it hasn’t had enough of an effect to change the way they operate. It will be noted that each member of the band has day jobs and lives outside of the band.

“Let me put it this way, honestly for a band like us, it hasn’t taken that much money out of our pockets,” said Spence.

Even though Spence is a big fan of CDs, he knows those are on the way out. In fact, the band has gone the vinyl route, putting a lot of their money into making vinyl to sell at their shows. This whole thing of vinyl being on the upswing is no joke, because Spence said that people do buy it at the shows.

But before we talk too much about the economics of a touring band, let’s just say that none of this would be possible if it wasn’t for the incredible music the band puts out. Sometimes called a sludge band because of their use of slow speeds and down turned riffs, the band actually has a wide variety of influences that include noise, experimental and classic rock.

But if you talk to Spence, he’ll even have a more streamlined description of the band’s sound.

“We’re basically a blues rock band, a blues rock trio, in a way like Cream, but with a music major writing the songs,” said Spence.

That blues tag is actually quite apt, because when Spiers starts moaning, you can definitely tell he has something deep down inside of him that he needs to get out, and the bands riffs draw on the classic sounds of that genre, though dipped in tar and slowed down a bit. But that is just only one part of their, as evidence by 1997’s “The Pleaser” the band can turn it up and boogies like the best of them.

Spence said that record was a response to what was happening at the time it was released.

No where has the band’s love of the slow and low is more evident on the band’s newest release “A Small Turn Of Human Kindness”, where the band takes it love of slowing things down to the extreme, trimming all the fat off this sound. In fact, according to Spence, the band has kind of fucked itself, because they’ve taken it as far as it can go on this one, it’s like the closing of a chapter.

And who knows maybe they might even close a chapter on another aspect of their musical lives. You might want to come down to the show because you never know when they will stop doing this. Spence has this to say

“We haven’t thought it out past the next few weeks. Who knows this could be everyone’s last chance to see us. We’ll do what we feel,” said Spence.

Manic Productions Presents:

Harvey Milk
The Body
Ferocious Fucking Teeth

Tuesday, July 12
Daniel Street
21 Daniel Street, Milford, CT
8:00 pm – 21+ - $12 ($10 advance)

De Omega sets their controls for the heart of the sun

photo: Vomit Pickles

Instrumental rock is making a mini-comeback these days. There are a whole ton of bands ditching vocalists and expressing themselves with just their instruments. Some do it better, than others. In the case of Connecticut’s De Omega, they are one of the bands that do it well. We e-mailed bassist Mark Eles a few questions to coincide with the band’s opening slot for Bongripper this Wednesday at BAR in New Haven. Here are his answers.

When did the band start? How did it get started?

I believe it was April of 2006 when Carlos (Ferriera, drums) completed the circle. Sam (Zombar, guitar) and I have been in bands together throughout the 18 yrs. Or so that we've known each other. And when our last band (The Father Panic Riot Orchestra) came to an end, we weren't about to stop playing music. So over the next few months, we pushed on developing new techniques, exploring new directions, while revisiting some of our dormant styles, until we had a couple solid ideas to build off of that we felt were unique enough to call our own and carry their own weight. Thats when we knew it was time to search for a drummer. We had a couple of people in mind but they were already preoccupied with projects of their own. Eventually a mutual friend of both Carlos' and mine caught wind of what Sam and I were trying to do, so he threw out his name to us. We got in touch, tried him out and we were pretty much sold instantly. Carlos is extremely fluid and tight behind the kit and he compliments our sound rather naturally.


Was it your intention to start an instrumental band or did it just happen that way?

Pretty much. We've all played in bands with singers before and 9 times out of 10 that is where the band goes sour. Whether it being the singer's ego is toobig, or they come to practice/shows shit-faced-hammered, or their lazy and unproductive, unreliable, or they just want to control everything about the band while putting in the least effort. It just didn't seem worth it anymore and wesimply didn't have the patients for that anymore. We weren't totally opposed tothe idea of having a singer, but we wanted to set the foundation of the music first before we even thought about giving that a shot. This was gonna be ourband. That may sound close-minded and selfish or whatever, but we wanted totreat this project like a work of art, not a cock flexing contest. Gearing more towards the musicians, artists, and people with souls rather than some randomasshole scenester who wants to prove something and/or has their own preconceived notions of what they think music should be.

Despite my hateful sounding rant about (LSD) Lead Singer Disorder, that was justan element we wanted to avoid in De Omega. In complete contrast to our motivation, I have found myself stunningly fortunate to have worked with 2 singers over the past year and a half, both from Nightbitch and a shit ton of other bands each. Phil Swanson and Christopher Taylor are two of the hardest working musicians I know. Both are extremely talented and each bring a lot to the table.


What can you express in De Omega that you can't in NightBitch? What do you get from playing in these different bands?

Well, clearly these 2 bands are rather different from each other. De Omega is abit more modern, avant-guarde, progressive, experimental, doom rock/metal or something.... and Nightbitch is simply traditional heavy metal. Paying homage to the pioneers of heavy music. A throw back if you will... So where De Omegais to say, a heavy semi- psychedelic vision quest, Nightbitch is to sex, drugs, and rock n roll. But I try to use these differences to my advantage, as a learning tool. Experience is the best teacher. Every band I've ever been in has been completely different from each other and will continue to be in the future. You see to me, each of these bands draw influence from somewhere completely different. And as a bass player, they all require different approaches from me. Such as my tonality, whether or not I play with my fingers or use a pick, should I be following more of the guitar or drums etc. All of these perspectives need to be figured out and eventually just start making more and more sense.


Are your songs written in advance or do you improvise a bit? What is the songwriting process for the band?

Our songs are written in advance, but there are certain sections of our musicthat we that we intentionally leave some slack in to provide options like transitions, or dragging out the ending of a song to kill time, or for the purpose of simply mixing it up to keep ourselves entertained. As for the writing process, there are a few ways we begin to construct. My favorite is the old fashioned jam session cause that is often times where the most unique, and unpredictable riffs come from. No planned structure, just everyman for themselves. We tend to record those improvisations cause it's nearly impossible to remember everything that happened in 20 minutes or so of chaos. Then we go back and listen, pick and choose what we like, sometimes throw in something already pre-existing, then assemble.


Is there a meaning behind the band's name?

There is, and we kind of stole it from the last track on Section 8's album "nine ways to say I love you". De Omega appears to be a combination of 2 ancient languages. Latin and Greek respectively. And when interpreted together, seem to say "from the end". We really liked the meaning behind it cause, what else can you really believe in? Religion has only proven itself to be a hoax with centuries of corruption, greed, and war. And everything that ever lives dies. At some point in time, everything comes to an end. So what else is there?

You released a CD back in 2009. Is there going to be any new recorded material soon? If there how is the new stuff different or similar to your other music?

We actually have enough material for another album right now, but we're holding back for a couple reasons. Sam is getting married in September, so that's obviously going to eat up a lot of his time, and when all is said and done, it's gonna set him back a few bucks. So we haven't really set anything in stone yet. In correlation to the big day, we decided to keep it relaxed and just continue to writing for now. But the next album is going to be huge! The ultimate goal is to use up every second of available memory on our next compact disc release. 80 minutes of De Omega! Not sure if that’s really been done before, but that’s what we're aiming for. And we'll probably need a little bit more time to finalize that whole arrangement. So for now, we're keeping any release information really vague.

What does each of you bring to the band? Individually? And as a whole?
 
Stylistically we all bring something different to the table. Sam has always had this dark, bluesy, rock type thing. Carlos has this latin, progressive, fusion action going on. And I just tap on the fretboard a shit-ton. Although these styles sound really far fetched from each other, they end up blending together really nice, and I couldn't imagine working anyone else.


What are the plans for the band's future?

Obviously, step 1 would be to finish writing the remainder of this next album, record it, and get it out there. Other than that, we've just merely ran concepts of albums "to come" through our heads. Potentially on deck would be, an extended tuning type album where sam would jump down to a baritone guitar, and I'd be playing a 6 string bass verses a 4 string. There has also been mention of doing a record with multiple guest vocalists and possibly a split LP. But only time will tell, so we shall see.


Manic Productions Presents:

Bongripper
De Omega

Wednesday, July 13
BAR
254 Crown Street
New Haven, CT
9:00 pm – 21+ - FREE

Rhode Island Rocks: The Body bring their crushing sound to Connecticut

Photo by Richard Rankin

There is a loud and destructive force that has called Providence, Rhode Island home for the past 11 years. It includes the crushing weight of downtuned guitars and the pounding of drums. For the most part, the locals are quite proud with this force, and it seems like a lot of metal and loud rock fans are picking up on the Body’s destructive frequencies. So now, it’s time for Connecticut to submit to their will.

The Body, which is comprised of Chip King on guitars and vocals and Lee Buford, on drums, has been blowing eardrums and minds and ears. Their sound is one of the world coming down, the apocalypse brought to life, and it all started humbly enough for these two Arkansas transplants.

“Chip moved to Philly and I moved to Boston to go to school for a year. I ended up not liking Boston so I moved down to Providence where I seemed to like more of what was going on there way more than Boston. Eventually, Chip moved out of Philly and ended up in Providence, too,” said Buford.

You would think trading in those two major cities thriving loud rock scenes for Providence would hamper the duo’s creative opportunities, but, in fact, the Rhode Island capital has a thriving underground rock scene that seems to turn out edgy and wonderful loud rock bands at an alarming frequency. (Anyone remember the now unfortunately defunct Daughters and the current prog-sludge upcomers Howl, to just name two) So, it was a perfect fit for these two dudes.

“I think it’s a pretty small scene so there’s no division in terms of musical genres. We have a lot friend that play really great music that isn’t easy to classify and I think people kind of feed off of each other, too,” said Buford.

And the band’s ethos gels perfectly with the scene’s ethos.

“I think we fit in pretty well, we have a ton of Providence musicians on the record and we’re lucky to have really great friends here that are doing like minded things, maybe not musically, but thematically,” said Buford.

The record that Buford mentions in the above quote is called “All The Waters Of The Earth Turn To Blood”, and is the band’s latest and greatest. Released on the At A Loss label last year, it has garnered the band raves from such non-metal publications as Pitchfork, NPR and the New York Times. But there is truth in the title as the music contained on this disc is dark, heavy and scary, brimming with hymns for the end times.

It also features a bunch of Providence musicians and various other instruments, but the biggest contribution comes from the Assembly Of Light Choir, which is a full-fledged female choir whose voices are used to great effect on the record.

“Chrissy Wolpert, who started the choir up, is a great friend of ours and has been on other records of ours in the past. She was getting the choir going around the same time we started recording, so we both evolved in unison. I love the way the choir pieces worked out. We just went on a tour with them and seeing them every night was unreal,” said Buford.

In fact, the first seven minutes of the CD are taken up by the Choir’s angelic voices, before Chip and Lee weigh with their drums and guitars on the song “A Body”. But that isn’t the total highlight of disc. On the last track, “Lathspell I Name You”, Chip and Lee lay down a bludgeoning sound right before the choir kicks in at the half way point of this 14 minute song and totally takes it an epic sounding direction. It’s quite a way to end an already excellent CD.

It’s also interesting to note that the band’s live show differs from their recorded output. Live, it is all about the volume, while the studio is more a place to experiment for the duo. Buford affirms this thought.

“We can’t achieve the feeling of a live show as far as volume, so we have to come up with other ways to come up with the same feeling without relying on our equipment,” he said.

Right now, the band has a few other projects they will be working on, including a collaborative record with Braveyoung, that will see light in the fall, as well record another record with a friend named Steve, who plays with them sometimes on tour and Neill from Krieg for a record that will be released on their own Aum War label. So look out for those. It doesn’t look these two will be slowing down any time soon.

“We’re best friends so it’s pretty easy to keep going. I don’t know what we’d do, if we didn’t do this,” said Buford.

So get down to Daniel Street early, not only to catch great local opener Ferocious Fucking Teeth, but also to catch this crazy duo when they take the stage before headliners Harvey Milk. You will be glad you did.

Manic Productions Presents:

Harvey Milk
The Body
Ferocious Fucking Teeth

Tuesday, July 12
Daniel Street
21 Daniel Street, Milford, CT
8:00 pm – 21+ - $12 ($10 advance)