Ultra Mega Post of Past Music Journalism

You’ve been warned: this is a mammoth post. I wanted to get all my exemplary bits of music journalism (if you can call it “journalism”) posted here, for safekeeping. Most of them are from Noisecreep, but the site hasn’t been updated for months, so its demise may be soon Nevermind…it’s still kickin’. Buzzgrinder is still around but in a much different format.

Actual author pages are here: Noisecreep, Buzzgrinder.

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Album Art of the Week: August Burns Red – ‘Lost Messengers: The Outtakes’ – February 25, 2009 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)
The jumble of curves and beiges seen in the hands may look confusing from afar, but there is a definite purpose behind the image on August Burns Red’s release of ‘Lost Messengers: The Outtakes [EP]’.

Meant as an aesthetic companion piece to the art on August Burns Red’s previous release, ‘Messengers,’ Ryan Clark at the workhorse Invisible Creature tells Noisecreep, “The original cover features a similar image, but the candle is lit. The hand holding the candle symbolizes a messenger from long ago, that would likely travel by candle light at night. Instead of holding the candle in an ordinary fashion, we used the palm of the hand as the foundation, as if the message itself were growing from the messenger’s hand.”

Album Art of the Week: Believer – ‘Gabriel’ – March 18, 2009 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)
The art on Believer’s comeback album gives us some wonderful contrast: all of the complexity is seen in the immense intricacy of linear blues, and is framed on the canvas of the model’s skin. Simpler elements of the design, like the band name and album title, are all “rejected” and float outside.

I’m not one to diminish the roles of the artists involved, but I almost want to call this a photograph of great art rather than great art itself – and that’s at least factually accurate, since very little post-production was involved. Instead the process relied on makeup, ram’s horns (they were real) and lighting to create the image of Gabriel, as seen in this video of the photo session.

“The best thing about working on the cover art for the Believer album was that it allowed me to work with a great group of artists both at Eye Level Studio in California and the band in PA,” Michael Rosner from Eye Level Studio told Noisecreep. “I do want to stress (because it caused us plenty to get it right) that the entire piece you see is a photo and no digital software was used to create the original work. We did eventually crop the photo and added the logo and title but that’s it.”

Album Art of the Week: Mastodon – ‘Crack the Skye’ – March 25, 2019 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)
Designer Paul Romano has quite a few metal notches in his belt, and in looking at his corpus of work it seems that he unbuttons his palette when it comes to Mastodon. Not that we’re complaining at all; the deep blues, bright reds, and varied textures are one of his great strong points and act as a trippy compliment to the band’s prog-sludge beard metal.

Luckily, at least in the case of ‘Crack the Skye,’ it’s not just post-modernism for the sake of being weird. There’s a definite story arc, lyrically, that involves astral projections, divinations, time travel, turbulent Russian politics, and famous dead revolutionaries. Romano culls the already-abstract field of ideas, spits it out onto canvas, and continues to not disappoint.

“Once Nothing’s Final Show, Future Plans” – April 15, 2009 (archive.org)
“I love everything associated with this band.”

Those were words of the affable Once Nothing vocalist Todd Lowry, at the band’s final show at the Altar Bar in the Strip District of Pittsburgh on Sunday, April 5. Fitting nicely into the self-designated “blue collar metal” position on Solid State Records, they only released one album on the label and still held big sway in the local scene. The legions of fans there to say farewell was proof positive of their influence.

Once Nothing’s free agent members are already busy with other things. Guitarist Geoff Jenkins is now doing vocals for Gwen Stacy, and bassist Steve Lucarelli will be the fill-in for the low end for War of Ages this summer.

As for starting another band or project? “I don’t know if I can really talk about them right now,” Lucarelli explained to Noisecreep. “I guess other stuff will just come out in time. You’ll still see us around.”

Gwen Stacy’s Workhorse Tour Schedule – May 29, 2009 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)
“They say the more you tour, the more money you make,” Gwen Stacy bassist and vocalist Brent Schindler told Noisecreep.

If touring were the sole means of survival for a group of five guys, then Gwen Stacy have put all their proverbial eggs in this one basket. With the advent of summer and the prime touring and festival season, this Indianapolis, IN metalcore band turn their work schedule up to eleven.

Add to playing shows the recording of the as-yet untitled new album, the band’s rigorous schedule has consumed their time so much that there’s not even any room for a part-time job. “Honestly, we just don’t have any time. We had two and a half weeks between our headliner and Europe [with Poison the Well and 36Crazyfists], and we had two and half weeks between Europe and this headliner [with Eyes Set to Kill]. And we go straight to studio for four weeks. After than we’ll have around ten days off, then six weeks on Scream the Prayer. So it’s like a week and a half to two weeks of random time off, and it’s just not enough to hold down a job.”

Bands on the road, especially larger bands that are backed with contracts, enjoy the advantage of getting reasonably well-fed and having a place to stay, thereby reducing costs greatly. But is that enough for the members of Gwen Stacy to pay their personal bills?

“We’re working on it,” Schindler says. “Hopefully it pans out, God willing.”

Demon Hunter Unleash ‘Huntour’ on the Northwest – July 22, 2009 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)

Seattle’s Demon Hunter will take their brand of modern metal around their area of the country this August, appearing with newcomers like 7 Horns 7 Eyes, as well as resurrecting legends like the Crucified. Noisecreep got some details on the power-packed set of shows from vocalist Ryan Clark.

Many people might be wondering, “How are four show dates a tour?” What would you say to them?

Well, the thought process behind these shows was to do something like a small-scale festival in several different cities – large bills, maybe a reunion show or two, vendors on sight (maybe tattoo artists, etc.). We’ve had the name Huntour for a while, so we decided to go with it – and I’ve never loved the perception of the word ‘festival.’ It’s obviously not a full-on tour for us, but we are traveling to several cities, and ‘Huntour’ sounds better than ‘Huntstival.’

The Huntour comes with an ‘inaugural’ qualifier. I assume this means it would happen every year. Is there a certain theme or purpose behind the tour?

Our goal is to do it every year, and hopefully hit different cities each time. This is another reason for the Huntour name – we’d like to do these shows in different regions from year to year.

The purpose behind it is to make live appearances between our regular schedule of recording or touring. Ordinarily, we’d take a full year off of playing live to work on a record. Doing these shows is a way for us to bridge that gap a little. And instead of just playing a random show here or there – we’re doing our best to put together exciting lineups, and make the shows a little more of an event – that’s how we’ve always strived to do things with DH.

The dates on the Huntour are the only dates this year that the band will play. Have the Clark brothers’ workload with Invisible Creature hampered the band’s touring schedule? Who would win if the band and the design company had a boxing match?

Our touring schedule has always been what it’s been. We’ve never toured two years in a row, and we rarely play shows if we’re not touring. Playing these shows after last year’s summer tour actually means that we’re more active now than we have been in the past. There are also a lot of other happenings in the DH camp that we’ll be revealing in the coming months. All this to say – there is no boxing match necessary.

Focused were former labelmates of yours. Have you kept in touch with them at all? Did you have a part in getting them back together for the show?

We hadn’t kept in touch with these guys for some time, but when we were putting together the bills for Huntour, we really wanted these guys to be a part of it. It turns out this year is technically the 20th anniversary for the band, and they were gracious enough to agree to play. Focused was a pretty major band for me when I first started playing music, so it’s an honor to have them be a part of Huntour.

Finally, are you at liberty to give any hints on the special announcement for Demon Hunter that you plan on revealing on the tour?

No, we’re going to save the news for the shows.

A Good Time Is Serious Business at Ravage’s CD Release Show – September 29, 2009 by Jay DiNitto
It seemed like the first cold night of the season in Worcester, Mass., at the CD release show for Ravage’s ‘The End of Tomorrow’ on Sept. 6 — but the thrash and power metal-laden lineup comfortably warmed up the upstairs of Ralph’s Diner.

The leather-and-chains rock-metal of Amadis set an intense but lighthearted tone — a tone that seems almost innocent when compared to the darkness of more modern heavy bands. Painted renderings and sculptures of James Dean, Einstein, and Jack Nicholson’s Joker covered the walls, while the epidemic of band stickers that infect every rock club were quarantined respectfully to the metal poles and bathroom doors.

The spectacle of Armory’s progressive power metal was matched by the humor of their impromptu stand-up routines in between songs. Vocalist Adam Kurland made Peter Rutcho’s keyboard commit sonic flatulence before their first song, and later in the set he instigated a call-and-response with his powerful voice: a lost art in more trendy genres of metal.

Relapse Records’ youthful Revocation was perhaps the most aggressive band on the bill. If it weren’t for their disgustingly competent and technical death-thrash, I would be distracted by drawing invisible diagonal lines with me eyes, starting from the Municipal Waste logo on guitarist/vocalist David Davidson’s shirt, down to bassist Anthony Buda’s shoelaces (both glowed uniquely green in the heavily blacklighted stage).

The venue slowly packed in and burst at the seams when Ravage finally took the stage, visually supported by Repka’s colorful album art on the backdrop. Vocalist Al Ravage gave heartfelt thank-yous before the sonic onslaught. A red sign behind the bar, proclaiming that it was “Time to F—,” hung a scant few yards away from a ceramic of Jesus carrying the cross, which oversaw and blessed the night’s proceedings.

Ravage tore through wonderfully riotous and thrashy tracks from the new album as well as old favorites — ‘Freedom Fighter’, ‘Damnation,’ ‘The Nightmare’s Hold,’ ‘Grapes of Wrath’ and even a Judas Priest cover. Before their final song, Al politely asked if we were ready for “one more thrashin’ song,” a question that was answered with shouts of affirmation and clapping. They then blasted into their namesake tune, but something tells me they would have played it no matter how we all answered.

The Agonist’s Alissa White-Gluz Stays Healthy On The Road – August 20, 2009 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)
It’s easy for a touring band to fall into unhealthy habits: partying too much, too many fast food stops, strange sleeping patterns, stress and exhaustion. Alissa White-Gluz, vocalist for Canadian metal band the Agonist, makes plenty sure she doesn’t get trapped into a physically destructive routine on the road, though. “I’m always, always really health conscious — even more so on tour,” she told Noisecreep. “I’ll rarely eat junk food anyways, but I do not eat junk food [on tour].”

In addition to staying fit while at home in the city of Montreal — she even works at a gym — Alissa continues her exercise on the road. “I drink lots of water,” she explains further. “I do minor warm-ups. I work out a lot. I started to work out on the road as much as I can, but I work out a lot at home to keep myself in good shape.”It’s not all about just staying healthy for health’s sake; there’s a practical benefit for her diet and exercise with respect to her demanding role as as a metal vocalist in a live setting. “There’s this company called Vega that sponsors us, and basically what it is is a vegan health optimizer,” Alissa said. “But really it’s a protein shake that has all the vitamins, all the enzymes, all the minerals, all the carbs, all the proteins … everything that you need to set yourself for the day. I actually drink one of those on stage, so I feel like it kinda helps my throat keep going if it’s a longer set.”

She credits her health-consciousness partly to her upbringing. “I was raised vegetarian, my whole family is vegetarian, and I became vegan about 11 years ago. And so just did it because it made sense to me … Same thing with being straight edge: I just sort of picked it up because it made sense to me.”

Once in a while, just like anyone, Alissa will give into temptation and soon learn to regret the decision. “It just feels like ‘God, what did I do?'” she wondered with disgust, when discussing potato chips. “Every once in a while, I’ll get a weird craving or whatever, and I’ll eat some. For the next day, and sometimes for a week afterwards, I’m like, ‘Why did I do that?'”

Flyleaf Has Much Love for Girls, Guys, and God – November 17, 2009 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)
“Where are all the girls in this place?” Flyleaf vocalist Lacey Mosely asked at a recent tour stop in Pittsburgh. “Let me hear your voices.” You can guess what the response sounded like. The band then tore into ‘Set Apart This Dream,’ a song about a little girl’s dreams of a better life in the hereafter.

Not one to leave anyone out, the diminutive Mosley (she clocks in under five feet tall) asked before playing new song ‘Circle’: “Where are the all the guys here? I want you to know that I believe in you.”

The Texas-based abrasive alt-rock band is on tour now in support of their new release, ‘Memento Mori,’ the follow-up to the platinum-selling eponymous debut. The western Pennsylvania date was special for two reasons — the band had canceled two scheduled shows there in the past, and the city is the new home for Mosley, who married Joshua Sturm, the guitarist for area prog rock band Kairos.

All throughout the night at Mr. Smalls, small slips of paper the shape and size of fortune cookie fortunes floated down inexplicably from the ceiling, spinning spastically like propellers on a strange axis. They were most likely remnants from a previous event, but they were a fitting coincidence considering the band’s name. The metallic circle of lighting rigging hung ominously over the stage like a gray halo, and the old-church-turned-venue wisely retained the beautiful, stained-glass windows as an acknowledgment to its former use.

Four songs into their set, before launching into one of their most popular songs, ‘All Around Me,’ Mosley — who hadn’t uttered a word that wasn’t sung until this point — said, “This is our love song to Jesus Christ.”

In keeping with this strong, transcendent tone for their performance, Mosley spoke about her struggle with depression as a teenager and her spiritual journey that led her and the rest of the band to that point in time. “A lot of miracles happened to bring us here,” she told the audience.

Perhaps the most moving moment came at the end, after the song ‘Arise’. Mosley asked the audience to sing the the last lines of the song a capella, which bore the words, “Arise and be/All that you dream”. Mosley, with striking sentiment, gave the reason why she wanted everyone to participate “We put our hearts into this show for you tonight, and we ask you to then be the show for us.”

The Memento Mori Tour ends Nov. 23 in Atlanta.

Spinal Tap’s ‘Back from the Dead’ Grammy-Nominated for Best Packaging – January 1, 2010 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)
Designer Brian Porizek has been nominated for the Best Packaging for his stand up work for Spinal Tap’s ‘Back from the Dead,’ which features fold-out cardboard figurines of the legendary sort-of-fictional metal band.

“There’s so many talented artists out there creating album art,” Porizek told Noisecreep. “I’ve seen some amazing packages over the years. I am very honored to be recognized by the Recording Academy for this, and especially to be along side the other nominees who all have done such great work.”

With digital music penetrating the market more and more, bands, labels and especially designers are stepping up their game to get their product noticed. “I feel the need to offer music fans added value, something more than just the standard CD jewel case configuration,” Porizek said of his design for ‘Back from the Dead’. “It has to be something that you want to keep or keep as a collector’s item. With dwindling sales, it’s just an added bonus that I can add as a designer.

The Grammys will be held on Jan. 31 in Los Angeles.

Shai Hulud’s Matt Fox Gets Old School With Gaming – November 23, 2009 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)
“I have nine,” guitarist Matt Fox of Shai Hulud answered Noisecreep when asked how many board games he has. “Maybe more than the average person, but not many. If I really wanted to think about it, I could name them all right now.”

Board games — those flat, unanimated pieces of cardboard that came with perhaps some cards and little plastic baubles — have fallen out of vogue with the advent of home computers and gaming consoles. In earlier times, video games were kept safely in movie theaters and arcades, while board games ruled the home roost.

Fox wonders if he should bring these strangely non-electric video games with them when Shai Hulud tours. “I should take them on tour,” Fox muses. “No one really likes — well, Chad [Gilbert, of New Found Glory] likes board games like I do — but no one cares about them too much. I should bring my mint condition Alfred Hitchcock ‘Why’ on the road, even though it’s not a fun game to play … I remember when I was a kid, it was really fun.”

Don’t think that Fox limits his gaming to the analog, though. Most Noisecreep readers may not be old enough to have experienced ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ game for Atari in all its frustrating, eight-bit glory. “That’s a fun game … you had to go the black market and get the parachute. I remember that much. If I remember, that was like the crux of solving the game — the black market parachute. But I barely remember it. I think you had to jump of a cliff, and that’s why you needed it.”

Behind the Scenes at the Devil Wears Prada’s ‘Almost Shocking’ Video Shoot – February 12, 2010 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)
“This is the unglamorous side of Endeavor Media,” producer Danny Yourd said while setting up to film the video for the Devil Wears Prada’s ‘Assistant to the Regional Manager.’

It was a cold Pittsburgh winter day, even under the roofs the hangar-sized warehouses at Mind Mogul Studios. Making the shoot for the track from the band’s ‘With Roots Above and Branches Below’ release poignant was that it landed on Groundhog Day. Just like Bill Murray’s detestable weather anchor in the holiday’s namesake film, those involved had do things again and again and again, until they got things right, as it is with any video shoot.

We know that the video would be something different for the band and borderline controversial. Even up to the day of the shoot the band wasn’t completely sure of what Endeavor had planned.

“[Endeavor] showed us the video for the Nine Inch Nails video for ‘I Want to Eff You Like an Animal’ or whatever that song is,” vocalist Mike Hranica told Noisecreep, during the silence in between takes. “It’s real weird, just strong imagery and stuff, like hanging people … And being a band that isn’t like Nine Inch Nails we have discretion. We wanted like an industrial vibe more than like a dirty, dusty vibe.”

A trip to the women’s bathroom shed some light on what was to come. Inside the comfortably warm and close quarters of the tiled room, two makeup artists sprayed white body paint on a scantily-clad man and woman. The female talent, Erin Carey, is a local actress, but for this project, she will draw upon her skills as a circus performer and acrobat.

“They want some movements that were kind of contorted,” Carey said. “Interesting, odd, forms of the body. So I think I’m going to be kind of moving slowly, twisted movements.”

As the concept talent prepared, the crew filmed the band members individually, with minimalist scenery and a solitary, overhead camera. The band, fresh from hauling straight from Ohio, appeared anxious yet maintained the obligatory good cheer of a group of young men on a road trip.

Guitarist Chris Rubey noted that “it was gonna suck” just before his first take, and he quipped continually throughout the day that he “jinxed” the filming because he had remarked at the outset that it would be an easy time. At one point later during a take, the music was so loud that it shook one of the many computer hard drives on the set, causing the recording to drop frames. Despite this minor technological flub, most of the recording went without much obstacle.

Though the video lacked a coherent storyline and used the raw aesthetics of a pair of pale white, contorted bodies, Hranica had much to say about the lyrics to ‘Assistant.’ “This song is about being a band based on like a Christian foundation,” he explained. “Any Christian band will have songs about finding God or about God in general. I get messages from Christians that are like, ‘Man, I’m struggling. I’m having a hard time like … I started doing this and I knew it was wrong, and now I need to get back to it.'”

“Christian bands should write songs like that,” Hranica said. “It’s about people that have found God but — and it’s actually a lot off the new album: just working, just keep pushing, keep climbing towards it, and persevering — from the perspective of being a Christian but struggling. And that’s what this song is about.”

The Devil Wears Prada are currently on a nationwide tour with Killswitch Engage and Dark Tranquility.

War of Ages Frontman Was Kidnapped by the Paperboy – April 8, 2010 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)
Leroy Hamp, lead screamer for the Erie, Pa. metalcore act War of Ages, is a bestial war animal on stage. But in person, he is as mild-mannered and considerate as could be. His personality, he said, has always been this way, but it unfortunately has lead him into serious trouble. “I was a very helpful kid,” he told Noisecreep. “I liked helping everyone, and I had that personality. The paperboy needed my help and he kidnapped me. [He was a] 16-year-old boy.”

It isn’t difficult to lure an innocent preschooler into helping you out if they are willing, and the kidnapper took advantage of that fact. “He actually just said, ‘Yeah you can help me deliver papers,'” Hamp recollected. “He took me further and further away from home, and I started noticing. And I was like, ‘Hey, can I please go back home now?’ And I was too far away for me to go myself. I didn’t know where I was.”

Implying that the perpetrator had lecherous plans for his captive, Hamp continued, “He took me far away from home and would not take me home, unless I ‘helped him out’ in a few areas. So I was a scared kid. I was in pre-school.”

Luckily for Hamp and metalcore fans everywhere, he was returned to his guardians safe and sound. Regardless of that, Hamp still had to overcome the trauma that comes with being taken from home. “It’s definitely taken some time to get over,” he said. “I’m definitely over it. I went through to proper stages and channels to fight through something like that, but it was definitely a hard thing for sure. I could’ve been a lot worse.”

While the incident certainly caused emotional problems in Hamp’s life, the after-effects haven’t trickled down into any War of Ages lyrical content. “I don’t really touch base with too much abuse,” Hamp said of his writing. “It’s more so overall problems … I deal more with ‘overall picture’ things than individual issues. It’s not about these little things in life that happen; it’s about who you are as a person and how you’re going to get through those things. That’s what War of Ages deals with.”

War of Ages’ will be on a U.S. tour with As I Lay Dying and Demon Hunter starting late April, to support their forthcoming album, ‘Eternal.’

The Ocean Robbed by Fake Cops – October 27, 2010 by Jay DiNitto
The Ocean recently had their cash stolen by thieves posing as policemen in Spain. The Oct. 20 incident happened on a highway about 20 miles outside of Madrid while on tour with Dillinger Escape Plan. Though the exact amount stolen isn’t known, the German experimental metallers believe they lost around €6,000, which translates to over $8,300 in American currency.

The band was initially pulled over two people in a black BMW who identified themselves as police officers. One of the impersonators asked the band to see their merchandise money. “When we showed them the merch wallet, the guy reached through the open window, seized it and ran back to the BMW in front of us, where his colleague was waiting with the engine running,” the band said in a press release. “Unfortunately our van and trailer don’t match the speed of a BMW.”

The band urged fans to pre-order their new CD, ‘Anthropocentric,’ and consider adding extra funds to the order to cover their unfortunate circumstances. Those who donate an extra $6.90 (€5) will receive a copy of the police report and a thank you card signed by the band members. Pre-orders can be made on the Pelagic Records website.

‘Anthropocentric’ pre-orders will be shipped as early as late November. The Ocean will be embarking on a European tour with Anathema in November.

Norma Jean Singer Would Rather Wax His Car Than Reunite Old Bands – May 27, 2010 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)
Concerning the issue of reuniting a defunct band of his — Eso-Charis — Norma Jean frontman Cory Brandan is humorously clear on where he stands. “I have other things I do, so that’s kind of pretty low on the list,” Brandan admitted. “Washing my car might be above getting Eso-Charis back together. Waxing my car seven times in a row might be better.”

Eso-Charis was a metalcore band signed to Solid State Records. They put out one full-length, which was produced by Living Sacrifice’s Bruce Fitzhugh and a seven-inch record. They disbanded after Brandan joined Norma Jean and two other members joined Living Sacrifice. Besides an active family life, Brandan is in two other side projects, Fear Is the Driving Force and the Radio Sky — so the prospect of reforming Eso-Charis seems dim.

“I think it might be fun to play those songs again, maybe,” Brandan continued. “But it’s like me in the middle of three other dudes that all hate each other. I don’t know if they hate each other. I can’t say that … they’ll get mad at me. It’s not going to work. We’re all different people now. Honestly, I think it would be in vain to do that. If I’m not doing Norma Jean, I want to be with my family. If I’m not doing that, everything else becomes a hobby.”

Returning to the subject of auto care, Brandan gave a brief history of his vehicle — and if its condition is any indication, we would have to wait a good bit of time before he starts getting Eso-Charis back together. “I got it in 2005 and it was awesome then,” he reminisced. “I don’t know what happened between then and now. It’s pretty messed up. Oh, a hail storm happened. That really screwed up my car. Like baseball-sized [hail]. It had little bitty dents all over it. It knocked the antenna off. It broke the window. I still haven’t replaced it.”

And the car can only get worse, being in Brandan’s home base of Arkansas. If there’s a tornado, there’s usually hail around it. “We have a lot of tornadoes. You could actually just be driving, and it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s kind of sprinkling.’ Then hail! I’ve seen it before, out of nowhere. You just hit a random patch of hail.”

Norma Jean are set to release their new album, ‘Meridonial,’ on July 13.

Iwrestledabearonce’s ‘Gay’ Shirt Inspired by Blog Comment – August 16, 2010 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)
The first time you hear the brutal grindcore-influenced chaos of Iwrestledabearonce, you don’t know how strange they are — until maybe you see one of their T-shirts. A great example of this is their ‘Metal Just Got Gay’ shirt, with the message written in bold rainbow foil colors, inspired by a random comment on MetalSucks.

“Someone named like ‘fetuseaterpigdestroyer666,’ you know, ‘Ihategod420,'” guitarist Steven Bradley told Noisecreep. “[MetalSucks] posted a review of a show or EP or something that was praising it. There were some good comments, some bad — and then there was ‘Metal just got gay.’ It’s like, ‘Wow, that’s f—ing great! Let’s put that in rainbow letters on a T-shirt.'”

Bradley continued, “We didn’t think anyone would buy it. It was just kind of to f— with this one kid on the Internet, because we’re all such douchebags.” But the shirt’s first printing sold out, and potential customers kept asking for it. “So we just keep printing it, two years later. Who would’ve thought? It’s our biggest selling shirt.”

Vocalist and handbag maker Krysta Cameron was glad that people didn’t take offense to the shirt’s message. “At least people have humor,” she said. “It’s good that if people had a bad day, we can put a smile on their face.”

Bradley was happy that MetalSucks supported them so early in the band’s career, but is annoyed at the negative attitude that blog commenters have. “Even if I wasn’t on tour doing this, I wouldn’t spend my free time talking s— about people doing things on the Internet,” Bradley said. “I just don’t understand that. It blows my mind.

“It’s like, ‘You don’t have anything better to do with your free time?’ The Internet is a great tool to find music, but when all you do is use it to do like, ‘S— I gotta check the newest blogs to comment and let people know how f—ing angry I am!’ It’s like, get some hobbies. Oh well. Whatever makes them happy I guess. Somebody’s got to do it.”

Iwrestledabearonce will be touring the U.S. in September with Chelsea Grin and the Chariot.

The Chariot’s Last Trip to England Almost Ended in Deportation – July 28, 2010 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)
This past spring and early summer, the Chariot toured European countries on their Tours and Rumors of Tours Tour (say that three times fast) with Iwrestledabearonce. The Georgia experimental metal band have gone overseas many times before, and one particular time there was an interesting situation on a stop in England on the way back stateside.

“Because we didn’t have the address number of where we were staying, [airport security] brought us through customs,” bassist Jon ‘KC Wolf’ Kindler told Noisecreep. “And literally the people we were staying with were on the other side of the wall.”

“We were staying in England for like one day, just to fly back to the States,” vocalist Josh Scogin explained. “We met [the show promoters], they booked a show for us, but we don’t ‘know them’ know them. So [security] didn’t believe us but we were just like, ‘Well, what’s the worst you’re gonna do, send us home? That’s where we want to go!'” Things were eventually smoothed over with the security agents and the show promoters, and the Chariot returned safely home to do things like light off fireworks in their van.

Another interesting incident occured when on a European tour with British metalcore band Architects. “They went to this sushi place, which was hilarious to us because we were supposed to go with them,” Scogin recounted. “And they had ‘elements coming out of both ends.’ We’ll just say that — and at the same time. And when you’re at most venues that’s a very, very bad thing. Bad combination.

“I personally have never been sick.”

After the Burial’s Justin Lowe Covers Video Game Music — Song Premiere – December 1, 2010 by Jay DiNitto (archive.org)
Earlier this year, Noisecreep reported on eight-bit versions of metal songs making the rounds on YouTube. What if a metal band covered video game music? That’s After the Burial guitarist Justin Lowe’s idea. “It’s from ‘Mega Man 2,’ and it’s the Bubble Man stage,” Lowe told Noisecreep of the song he covered. “I didn’t release it or anything. I just did it for my own sake.”

Lowe received some inspiration from the eight-bit version of their song ‘Aspirations’ off of their second album, ‘Rareform.’ “That actually made me inclined to go out and seek out the software that they used to make that,” Lowe explained. “So I started messing around with it and just got done with [the] Mega Man song, using this plugin. But I figured it all out on the guitar and stuff … but I thought it was really cool that somebody took the time to do that.”

The plugin Lowe mentioned is called the Magical Eight-Bit Plugin, and it was used in a few spots in the actual recording. The rest was made using the Superior Drummer and Trillian applications, as well as Lowe’s own guitar playing. The result is a track that would sound at home on any modern metal album.

Lowe, who went to school for audio recording, has his own studio that he uses for demoing tracks for After the Burial. When not on tour, much of his free time can be spent in studios with audiophile friends. “I have never had a problem calling them up, and we’ll hang out in other recording studios,” Lowe said. “But our home [studio] stuff is pretty simple. It gets the job done for our demos and stuff like that. Like if we’re going to get serious about doing some real tracking, we’ll just give one of our friends a call and we’ll spend some time in a nice big room.”

“I always try to stay surrounded by music. If I’m not doing recording or doing something with us, I’m going to try to produce or track another band.”

After the Burial released their third album, ‘In Dreams’ on Nov. 22, and will be on on the December Decimation Tour until the end of the year, with Winds of Plague and Carnifex.

Best of the Decade, Number Two: At the Drive-in – Relationship of Command – January 15, 2010 by Jay DiNitto, originally posted on buzzgrinder.com
Artist: At the Drive-in
Album: Relationship of Command
Release Date: Sept. 12, 2000
Label: Fearless/Grand Royal

At the Drive-in‘s One-Armed Scissor, the single off of their mammoth swan song release, might be like the Kennedy assassination for post-rock bellwethers — they know where and when they first heard the jagged start-stop intro on mainstream radio. They immediately began to map out a clear trajectory for the band’s sojourn toward selling out-dom to a major label (or was Grand Royal too major?), using an indie rock-approved, telemetry-guided magic bullet. Something like that.

If you can push aside the mental fog of my awkward, mixing analogy, just try to understand one thing: Drugs can and will hurt you. But before they do, they will elevate your artistic output to godlike levels. This band is exemplary. I will explain this.

But first let’s return my muddled prose concerning our nicotine-addled record store rat. After the song ends with Bixler-Zavala’s gonzo-rage peaking, the DJ is wondering what in tarnation his program director is thinking, and he slips out a slick Freudian, betraying his ignorance of the bombast that just preceded him. Our elitist hero rolls his eyes as the DJ tries to explain the goofball sonics he just heard, and our hero clicks off just before the first bass buzz note of the new Korn song slapped through.

So that’s kind of like the Zapruder film (OK, I’ll stop it) that serves as an overture for this tragic scenario. ATDI festered in the underground before starting to get really, really big for almost no discernible reason. On the verge of breaking through, they promptly broke up — again for no seeming cause. They did offer a few explanations, but I believe they can ultimately be linked back to the two afro dopeheads.

To wit: After their sudden collapse, At the Drive-In got their mitosis on and split into two very different bands. The druggies formed the meandering, incomprehensible Mars Volta, while Hajjar and Ward (the latter having one of the most distinct rock voices of the decade) did the wonderfully plucky Sparta. Now do you see where substance abuse will get you, and where you go when you do things right?

There, I said it. I was also the second gunman.

Best of the Decade, Number Five: Further Seems Forever – The Moon is Down – January 15, 2010 by Jay DiNitto, originally posted on buzzgrinder.com
Artist: Further Seems Forever
Album: The Moon is Down
Release Date: March 27, 2001
Label: Tooth & Nail

Partnering with releases belonging to their scene’s peers — like Thursday’s Full Collapse—The Moon Is Down bridged the crucial gap between the feet-shuffling self-effacement of ’90s emo and the power-pop emo that would come after and propel the genre’s three letter appellation into mainstream, household use. The band—essentially Strongarm with a different vocalist (the singy-note kind)—and their debut full-length with the strange pink and white color scheme, acted as a stabilizing fulcrum that kind of kept either side of the seesaw from knocking everyone’s Buddy Holly glasses off.

Over a rolling bed of chord voicings—heretofore unused in indie rock circles—and drummer Steve Kleisath’s creative, trickster skin work, then-unknown vocalist Chris Carrabba wailed in his almost-falsetto about romance found dead or gettin’ dissed by once-good friends. So it seems, anyway; one can’t exactly tell.

There was an overhanging theme of alienation brought about by physical separation: a recurring rite of passage that bookended the college experience (Carrabba joined the band just shy of his quarter-century mark). His attempts to reconcile romance and friendships with incompatible geographies borderlined on the obsessive. To him, time may have healed all wounds, but distance ripped them back open. Travel was his savior.

His word choice and delivery were neither too forlorn nor too saccharine (a delicate balance that he obliterated, in my opinion, in Dashboard Confessional), but it was sufficiently sincere enough to make it attractive and unspecific to just about anyone yawning from all the screaming metal bands.

From the power waltz 3/4 of the opening title track to the jazz-slide seagull guitar of the album’s closer, “A New Desert Life,” the Colbert/Dominguez/Neptune signature songwriting is writ large. Further Seems Forever converted droves of hardcore kids into their kinda-sorta Christianized denomination of amalgamated emo and rock. For those still unfaithful to FSF, try listening to Carrabba’s optimism and the guitars” hopeful echoing in the last half minute of “Snowbirds and Townies,” and feel your doubt drain away. I know it still gives me the shivers.