Monday, December 8, 2008

In Memorium: Adrian Bromley



Today we remember a great and important part of the heavy metal community, Adrian Bromley. Adrian ran Unrestrained! Magazine and supported a ton of our bands. Adrian was a great friend to many and will be very missed. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family.



Toronto's Eye Weekly reports:

The Toronto metal community is in mourning today after one of its most active and vocal supporters passed away Sunday morning. Adrian Bromley was a long-time music journalist whose writing appeared regularly in Chart, M.E.A.T. and Unrestrained! magazines, and online at Chronicles of Chaos and Canoe.ca, and more recently he worked as a publicist for heavy-music hotbed The End Records, among many other metal-advocacy initiatives. According to a Facebook post from his brother, Bromley died from a lingering bout of pneumonia. He had just turned 37 last week. Our condolences go out to his friends, family and fellow headbangers all over the city.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Torche Heads to All Tomorrow's Parties * UK Dates w/ Isis and More!




Plays All Tomorrow's Parties * UK Dates w/ Isis and More!



Torche are a band who don't write songs like anyone else... it won't be surprising if in 15 years some young band on stage starts playing a riff from Meanderthal and the crowd goes nuts. - Decibel Magazine

What more can be said about one of the most intriguing bands of 2008 that hasn't been said by just about everyone already?

America's doom-pop masters, in addition to being heralded the world over for having released one of the year's best album's (huge thanks to Decibel, Paste, Terrorizer, Mojo, Pitchfork, MetalSucks, Crustcake, and the rest, you know who you are, we're just not allowed to put your name here yet), TORCHE has also been tapped by none other than Mike Patton and The Melvins, to head to the UK this weekend and perform at All Tomorrow's Parties' Nightmare Before Christmas.

This event serves as a particularly special one, as it will mark the last time guitarist Juan Montoya will join the rest of the band on stage. Perhaps you've heard the rumors... all of them justifiably juicy, no doubt... but now it's official, TORCHE has parted ways with their guitarist of many years. In a statement prepared by Montoya, he had this to say:

"The ATP / A Nightmare Before Christmas show on December 5, 2008, will be my final show with TORCHE. I'm very proud of the music we have created together over the past 4 years. I have been blessed to tour the world and meet amazing people and will be seeing you all soon enough. I am very inspired and will be collaberating with many of the talented friends I have met in my travels. Look out for new material early next year and a tour to follow. I wish TORCHE all the best and I thank all the fans for listening and being a part of this amazing experience."

TORCHE singer/guitarist Steve Brooks had this to say about the split:

"He's no longer with us due to ongoing personal reasons."

Just as they did for the final dates of their month long stint with label mates Clouds, Steve, along with drummer Rick Smith and bassist Jonathan Nunez will continue as a three piece moving forward, including their support dates with Isis in the UK. The band will be writing and demoing after the holidays and throughout January for their upcoming third full length.

Before the band's recent line up change, they finished recording two new bonus tracks for an upcoming 12" on Hydra Head. The 12" for the Meanderthal tracks "Healer" and "Across the Shields," will coincide with the debut of videos for both.... but more on that in January.

Around All Tomorrow's Parties, TORCHE will also be performing a handful of dates in the UK supporting Isis, full tourdates below.

* Look out for a new TORCHE 12" and two new videos for tracks off Meanderthal coming soon!

Torche Live!
12/4 London, UK @ Scala w/ ISIS
12/5 Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrows Parties Festival w/ Melvins, Fantomas, Isis, Mastodon, Big Business, and more!
12/7 Sheffield, UK @ Corporation w/ ISIS
12/8 Oxford, UK @ The Regal w/ ISIS



Stream "Meanderthal" here!





For more information, visit:
www.myspace.com/torche
www.hydrahead.com


Poison The Well Blog: Studio Update #1!

ha!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Takka Takka on Daytrotter!

huge thanks to Sean Moeller and all the folks at Daytrotter for their support!



Takka Takka: A Den Of Catastrophic People With Death To Battle



Words by Sean Moeller // Illustration by Johnnie Cluney // Sound engineering by Patrick Stolley


Something smells as if it were burning right out of this roof, right out of this sweater. It’s as if a simple stroll of these shoes would leave a charred black trail of soot and ash a mile long if a decision to stand was to be made. Moving these bones into another room – if there are any rooms left, oh, we’re monstrously afraid to look out of the door – would made this crumbling down and apocalyptic scorching a reality confirmed by the senses. … [click to read full entry and listen to Takka Takka Live on Daytrotter!]

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Brooklynvegan and Punknews Leak New Medusa Album!

huge thanks to the entire Punknews and BrooklynVegan staff for their support!



Medusa (Racebannon) - album out now, streaming, free MP3s (by Black Bubblegum)

DOWNLOAD: Medusa - "Transform" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Medusa - "En Raga Sul" (MP3)




Meet Medusa from Bloomington, Indiana. They may not be quite as frightening as the mythical snake-haired devil-woman responsible for turning men into stone, but damn they (tunes) be ugly!

Medusa combines the noise rock asthetic that could only come from 3/4 of Racebannon (or possibly Jesus Lizard), along with an angry pre-Big Business-era Melvins thunder. Medusa's debut record En Raga Sul is out today on Hawthorne Street Records and streaming in it's entirety at Punknews. The band also hooked us up with a little gratis action in the form of the very Stoner Witch-y title track, and "Transform", both of which are available for download above.

* Racebannon dropped Acid or Blood earlier this year and toured with Light Yourself on Fire. The Jesus Lizard is getting back together.

These Arms Are Snakes Debut Video for "Red Line Season!"

huge thanks to the Tripwire for their support!

Monday, December 1, 2008

bygones (feat Zach Hill and Nick Reinhart) Announce Debut Album Out Early 2009 on Sargent House!


bygones
(feat Nick Reinhart of Tera Melos and Zach Hill)
Announce Debut Album "by-" Out Early 2009 on Sargent House!




The dynamic duo of Nick Reinhart of Tera Melos and Zach Hill of Hella have finally announced their new band, bygones. Formulated for some time but shrouded in secrecy, the two have finally decided to share a few of the new tracks.

bygones' debut full-length, entitled "by-" will see the light of day in Early 2009 on Sargent House, but for now, you can check out two new songs here!


Nick Reinhart talks about the new project here!

* More information, including tracklist, album art, and live dates coming soon!



For more information, visit
www.myspace.com/bygonesmusic
www.myspace.com/zachhillmusic
www.myspace.com/teramelos
www.sargenthouse.com