Wild Cub (Keegan DeWitt) Plays Bowery Ballroom on August 9th / Natalie Prass and SACCO (Andy & John from Guards' Touring Band) are Opening

DOWNLOAD: Wild Cub - "Black Tide" (hosted on http://blog.kexp.org)



(Photo: Will Morgan Holland)

I love this quote from KEXP (and am envious that I didn't write this): Wild Cub's "brand of darkly-tinged new wave recalls elements of the youthful abandon of John Hughes soundtracks, the baleful allure of Greg Dulli, and the clockwork electronics of New Order’s middle period."

Formed in early 2012 by songwriter-composer Keegan DeWitt and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Bullock, Wild Cub’s debut LP, Youth, was released last August in the US, and showcases the now five-piece band’s dexterity in seamless transitions between infectious electro-pop, tropical rhythms, and quiet washes of cinematic reflection.

Wild Cub is headlining a show at Bowery Ballroom on August 9th and is supported by Natalie Prass and SACCO.   The show starts at 9PM (doors at 8PM) and tickets are $13 in advance and $15 DOS.




Wild Cub is: Keegan DeWitt (vocals/guitar), Jeremy Bullock (guitar/synths), Dabney Morris (drums), Harry West (bass), and Eric Wilson (keys/synths).

Links:
Wild Cub

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Simple Minds - 'Celebrate' CD Review / Show at Roseland Ballroom on October

DOWNLOAD: Simple Minds – “The American” Live at Sands Centre Carlisle, 5/29/13
{Note: RIAA wackjobs – link is posted on SimpleMinds.Com – no bootlegging/piracy here so...move along}

Simple Minds was last in NYC for a show at Beacon Theatre (with INXS) in June of 2002 so it is a pretty big deal that the band is returning to the US for the first time in over a decade. This is probably the longest that Simple Minds has had a consistent line-up as, 4/5 of the 2002 lineup are still in the band - Jim Kerr (Vocals), Charlie Burchill (Guitar), Mel Gaynor (Drums) and Andy Gillespie (Keyboards) are joined by newcomer Ged Grimes (bass).

The band is playing a seven-date mini-tour in October and which includes stops at Roseland Ballroom on October 24th (ticket prices range from $59.50 - $79.75 and Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey on October 17th.

Simple Minds are touring behind a new 3CD / 50-song greatest hits collection, Celebrate, and had been playing 25 of these songs (with no variations) each night during the UK leg of the Celebrate tour which took place earlier in the spring.

Simple Minds – Celebrate Tour - Spring 2013 Set List

Set One:
Broken Glass Park
Waterfront
Once Upon A Time
Up On The Catwalk
Let There Be Love
All The Things She Said
War Babies
Glittering Prize
I Travel

Set Two:
Book Of Brilliant Things
Neon Lights (Kraftwerk cover)
Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)
She's A River
This Is Your Land
Blood Diamonds
The American
Love Song
See The Lights
Don't You (Forget About Me)
Promised You A Miracle

Encore:
New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)
Sanctify Yourself
Space
Alive And Kicking

Celebrate is an interesting and enjoyable listen as the thress discs trace the band’s evolution from the jittery ‘art school’ punk of the band’s first recording to the experimental, minimalistic post-punk sounds of the following albums to a brief sojourn through New Romantic, finally breaking big in the US with bombastic stadium rock.  This evolution of the band's sound is full captured on Disc One this disc ends with the band shaking off the last bits of new wave.

In an interview last year with The Guardian UK, Jim Kerr talked about the band's move to stadium rock:

Does he regret that? "Regret is a strong word because it implies that you carry it around, and I wouldn't say I do. I'd hate to seem begrudging of success, but at the same time I'd like to be honest enough to say maybe we shouldn't have cashed in all the chips. It's a bit overwhelming when your band is no longer your own, you become an industry within an industry, but I'm very wary of going 'poor us'. C'mon, it's what you dream of. We wanted to be a great band and take it around the world, that's still what we work for."

Disc Two starts with “Don’t You Forget About Me” and, after getting past the radio hits of Once Upon a Time, the band seemingly tries to follow Bono, Mike Peters (The Alarm) and others down a path of bombastic activism. Simple Minds lost their mojo with Street Fighting Years (along with long-time keyboardist Mick MacNeil) and Disc Two ends with two tracks from 1991’s snooze fest Real Life.

Disc Three is a great compilation as it pulls out the best tracks from Simple Minds’ somewhat hit and miss early 90’s – mid 00’s releases. This disc ends on a strong note as Simple Minds seemed to hit a second wind with albums like 2005’s Black and White 050505 and 2009’s Graffiti Soul. [Q Magazine said that Graffiti Soul “…might be the best album Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill have put together since 1984's "Sparkle In The Rain."] The final two tracks on the disc, “Blood Diamonds” and “Broken Glass Park”, are new and follow in the spirit and sound of Graffiti Soul.





Given the recent flood of Simple Minds’ box sets and compilations, I think the real question with this release is whether the world needs yet another ‘best of’ compilation as the two new tracks can be purchased individually from iTunes. As points of comparison: this CD is available for $22.82 on Amazon, last year’s X5 release (the first five [best] Simple Minds albums + some non-LP singles] is on Amazon for $33.99, Live 5x5 documents the band’s 2012 tour with five songs from each of the band’s first five albums (essentially a live greatest hits compilation). This 2CD set is available on Amazon for $17.21. Lastly, there is the 2CD + DVD set, The Best of Simple Minds, which is available from Amazon.UK for £8.43 (which shouldn’t be more than $16, with shipping). The DVD included with this set is the “Live in Verona” show, which include 13 songs recorded in Paris in 1989 and 6 songs recorded in Newcastle in 1982.

Links:
Simple Minds

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At The Gates, Taake, Solstafir, and MGLA will be making exclusive US appearances at the 2014 Maryland Deathfest

The first bands to confirm for Maryland Deathfest XII were posted to the festival's Facebook page earlier today:

The following bands have already confirmed for MDF XII:

AT THE GATES (Sweden)
GORGUTS (Canada)
TAAKE (Norway)
SOLSTAFIR (Iceland)
MGLA (Poland)
EXCRUCIATING TERROR
BONGRIPPER
HEMDALE
DIOCLETIAN (New Zealand)

We thought there would be more to announce today, including a band that will definitely headline one of the days, but that will take another week or two to finalize. Expect the next announcement in about 2 weeks.

Notes: At the Gates, Taake, Solstafir, and MGLA will be making exclusive US appearances at MDF.

We have a feeling many of you will ask what's going on with Carpathian Forest, so here's what's going on. We had preliminary discussion with them right after MDF XI and all parties understand what needs to be done for them to come to the US next year, but since our contact person for the band has been on vacation with no access to e-mail, we have to wait until he's back before confirming that officially. So, as of now, they are NOT confirmed, but chances are likely that they will confirm sometime soon.

Links:
Maryland Deathfest

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HUFF THIS! (Alison Clancy) Play Show Tomorrow Night, July 28th, at Highline Ballroom

HUFF THIS! has returned to its roots with a new, all-girl line up. It's a performance that lives in the worlds of of both music and dance, born in the basement of The Metropolitan Opera where Alison Clancy and Allison Jones dance together. In the past year, during breaks between opera acts, they started jamming and singing in the ballet studios, and recruiting other Met girls to dance. They recently joined up with impish drummer Erica Mancini and producer Benjamin Ickies and are ready to crash the Highline Ballroom on Sunday.

Clancy, notorious as the wild and emotive front woman for a few bands, leaves you no choice but to get involved in her shows. Her electric singing and dancing shakes the room with feline energy and her crew of seductive creatures weaves back and forth between the stage and crowd, literally consuming the audience. Echoing the raw energy of Patti Smith and PJ Harvey, HUFF THIS! delivers visceral performances of adoration and murderous vengeance.

HUFF THIS! at Highline Ballroom - Sunday July 28th
band: Alison Clancy, Erica Mancini, Allison Jones
dancers: Erin Moore, Lucy Struever, Ali Castro, Kyla Erst-Apler
produced by: Benjamin Ickies
tickets: $10 in advance and $12 DOS
Also on the bill: Strip Darling, Eric Dash, The Candy Apples and Colin McShane



Links:
HUFF THIS!

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The Ocean (Metal Blade) Unveil New Video for 'Bathyalpelagic II: The Wish in Dreams' / Show Aug. 7th at Best Buy Theater (Summer Slaughter Tour 2013)

The Ocean has launched a brand new video for "Bathyalpelagic II: The Wish in Dreams" from their most recent album, Pelagial. The band's first official music video, not counting previous videos composed of live footage, was directed by Alexander Kraudelt and Lukas Hambach and produced by Frameshock, with additional visuals by Craig Murray.

Founding guitarist Robin Staps comments: "This clip is blending performance footage with excerpts from Craig Murray's Pelagial movie, which was released along with the limited edition CD and vinyl boxset versions of the album. We've never really done a clip like that before, but it was great fun making this."

Pelagial, the latest album from The Ocean, has been received with open arms and ears across the globe. RockARolla, bastions of taste at the experimental end of heavy music, emphasized how revered The Ocean currently are: "With Isis gone, no one has yet taken their place as intelligent and sensitive masters of post‐metal but, with this, there's no doubt that The Ocean are shoe‐ins for the title."

The Ocean play New York City on August 7th as part of the Summer Slaughter Tour. This show is at Best Buy Theater and doors are at 3:30PM (obviously they aren't expecting anyone who has a job to get there for the first few bands). Tickets are $29.50 in advance and $35 DOS. Other bands on the bill include: Animals As Leaders, Periphery, Norma Jean, Cattle Decapitation, The Ocean, Revocation, AEON, Rings of Saturn, Thy Art Is Murder and Dillinger Escape Plan is headlining.



The Ocean on The Summer Slaughter Tour [remaining dates]:
7/24/2013 - Diamond Ballroom – Oklahoma City, OK
7/25/2013 - The Scott Inn – Austin, TX
7/26/2013 - House of Blues – Dallas, TX
7/27/2013 - House of Blues – Houston, TX
7/29/2013 - House of Blues – Lake Buena Vista, FL
7/30/2013 - The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
7/31/2013 - Old City Courtyard – Knoxville, TN
8/01/2013 - House of Blues – Myrtle Beach, SC
8/02/2013 - The Filmore Silver Springs – Silver Springs, MD
8/03/2013 - The Palladium – Worcester, MA
8/04/2013 - The Trocadero – Philadelphia, PA
8/07/2013 - Best Buy Theater – New York, NY
8/08/2013 - Sound Academy – Toronto, ON
8/09/2013 - Metropolis – Montreal, QC
8/10/2013 - Upstate Concert Hall – Clifton Park, NY
8/11/2013 - The Majestic Theatre – Detroit, MI
8/12/2013 - House of Blues – Chicago, IL
8/13/2013 - The Rave – Milwaukee, WI
8/14/2013 - The Cabooze – Minneapolis, MN
8/15/2013 - Club Antares – Omaha, NE ***
8/16/2013 - Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO
8/17/2013 - The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
8/19/2013 - Snowbox Sodo – Seattle, WA
8/20/2013 - Roseland Ballroom – Portland, OR
8/21/2013 - Biltmore Cabaret – Vancouver, BC ***
8/24/2013 - Circo Volador – Mexico City, MX ***
9/01/2013 - The Wall – Taipeh, TWN ***
9/04/2013 - Hidden Agenda – Hong Kong, HKN ***
9/05/2013 - B10 – Shenzhen, CHN ***
9/06/2013 - SD – Guangzhou, CHN ***
9/07/2013 - Vox – Wuhan, CHN ***
9/08/2013 - 46 House – Changsha, CHN ***
9/11/2013 - Yuylntang – Shanghai, CHN ***
9/12/2013 - Nuts – Chongqing, CHN ***
9/13/2013 - Little Bar – Chengdu, CHN ***
9/14/2013 - Mao – Beijing CHN ***
9/15/2013 - 13 Club – Tianjin, CHN ***
9/19/2013 - Megapolis – Irkutsk, RUS ***
9/21/2013 - Era – Krasnoyarsk, RUS ***
9/22/2013 - Mayak – Tomsk, RUS ***
9/23/2013 - Rock City – Novosibirsk, RUS ***
9/25/2013 - Plan-K.Tone – Tyumen, RUS ***
9/26/2013 - Nirvana – Yekaterinburg, RUS ***
9/28/2013 - Plan B – Moscow, RUS ***
9/29/2013 - Arktika – Saint-Petersburg, RUS ***
***THE OCEAN headlining shows

Links:
The Ocean

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Jon Oliva: 'Raise The Curtain' Interview with BrooklynRocks, July 14, 2013

Three years ago, I reviewed Jon Oliva’s last outing, Festival, (released as Jon Oliva’s Pain) and compared the disc to Alice Cooper’s mid-70’s work. That same comparison still stands with the follow-up to that disc, Raise the Curtain, which was released earlier this month on AFM Records. This time out, in addition to the Alice Cooper influences, Raise the Curtain touches on 70’s prog rock (Yes comes immediately to mind), jazz/fusion and roots-rock of John Lennon. This is an eclectic disc but fans of Jon Oliva’s past work will surely enjoy it.

I had the pleasure of talking with Jon about the making of his debut solo disc, his recording plans with Jon Oliva's Pain and Trans-Siberian Orchestra and his upcoming 'storytellers' tour.

Check out the interview - the link is posted above.

Links:
Jon Oliva's Pain

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Orange Goblin Returns to North America for Fall Tour / Show at Saint Vitus Bar on Nov. 2nd

Britain's premier stoner metal band Orange Goblin will return to perform at venues throughout North America this Autumn.

Following the band’s huge success earlier this year as main support for Clutch on their Earth Rocker North American tour, the Brits return for a full headlining run. Kicking off in New Orleans on September 27, the band will visit 38 cities around the United States and Canada before concluding in Nashville on November 9. Support on the tour will come from Holy Grail and Lazer/Wulf.

The trek finds Orange Goblin continuing a year-long commitment to performances in support of their latest studio album, A Eulogy For the Damned (2012), and first live CD/DVD released earlier this year. This rigorous schedule has seen them perform in over 25 countries across the globe, ensuring that the band is firing on all cylinders and maintaining their reputation as one of the fiercest and most exciting live acts on the planet! In fact, Clutch's own Neil Fallon was recently seen on That Metal Show wearing an Orange Goblin shirt and proclaiming them to be one of his favorite bands!

Released March 12, A Eulogy For The Fans/Orange Goblin Live 2012 includes Orange Goblin’s complete performances from England’s Bloodstock Open Air and France’s Hellfest. The package’s DVD includes the official Tom Cronin directed videos for “Red Tide Rising” and “Acid Trial,” the latter courtesy of Scion A/V. It further includes the Matt Chance directed “Red Tide Rising” documentary and Gaetan Chataigner directed “Highway to Hellfest” documentary. Art and design was provided by Jimbob Isaac under the direction of vocalist Ben Ward. The live album follows the release of A Eulogy For The Damned, now Orange Goblin’s highest selling album in North America. Produced by Jamie Dodd and mastered by two-time Grammy-nominated engineer Andy Jackson (Pink Floyd), the album entered the UK charts at position 96 and for the US landed on Billboard Magazine’s Heat Seekers chart at position 38.





Orange Goblin - Fall 2013 Tour w/ Holy Grail, Lazer/Wulf

09/27/2013 - One Eyed Jacks - New Orleans, LA

09/28/2013 - Red 7 – Austin, TX

09/29/2013 - Fitzgerald’s – Houston, TX

09/30/2013 - Club Dada – Dallas, TX

10/01/2013 - Sister Bar – Albuquerque, NM

10/02/2013 - Yucca Tap Room – Tempe, AZ

10/04/2013 - The Catalyst - Santa Cruz, CA

10/05/2013 - The Satellite - Los Angeles, CA

10/06/2013 - Soda Bar - San Diego, CA

10/08/2013 - The Observatory - Santa Ana, CA

10/09/2013 - Oakland Opera House – Oakland, CA

10/10/2013 - Oak Street Speakeasy – Eugene, OR

10/11/2013 - Fall Into Darkness Festival – Portland, OR

10/12/2013 - The Highline – Seattle, WA

10/13/2013 - Rickshaw Theater – Vancouver, BC

10/15/2013 - The Palomino – Calgary, AB

10/17/2013 - The Pawn Shop – Edmonton, AB

10/18/2013 - Amigos – Saskatoon, SK

10/19/2013 - Windsor Hotel – Winnipeg, MB

10/20/2013 - The Aquarium – Fargo, ND

10/21/2013 - Triple Rock – Minneapolis, MN

10/22/2013 - Reggie’s – Chicago, IL

10/23/2013 - Pyramid Scheme - Grand Rapids, MI

10/24/2013 - Now That’s Class – Cleveland, OH

10/25/2013 - Rockstar Arena – Dayton, OH

10/26/2013 - Rex Theater – Pittsburgh, PA

10/27/2013 - London Music Hall – London, ON

10/28/2013 - The Opera House – Toronto, ON

10/29/2013 - Mavericks – Ottawa, ON

10/30/2013 - Foufounes Electriques – Montrea, QC

11/01/2013 - Empire – Springfield, VA

11/02/2013 - Saint Vitus – Brooklyn, NY

11/03/2013 - The Note - West Chester, PA

11/05/2013 - Strange Matter – Richmond, VA

11/06/2013 - Tremont Music Hall – Charlotte, NC

11/07/2013 - Broadway’s – Asheville, NC

11/08/2013 - The Earl – Atlanta, GA

11/09/2013 - Exit/In – Nashville, TN

Links:
Orange Goblin

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