Metal Riot

Casting Ships are a Kingston, NY based nautical folk punk band who grew up on hardcore and cut their teeth on a deep love for the scene. The band is now a duo made up of Rob Samps on vocals and guitar and Nikki Mayone on cello. They are about to drop one of the gems of the Summer with new release From The State Of New York on Burning Capital Collective. The five song EP was recorded Nada Studios by the great John Naclerio (My Chemical Romance, I Am The Pilot) and will likely turn the head of anyone unfamiliar with the group who hears it as well as please older fans.

I caught up with Samps and had a lengthy chat about the record, the country and a LOT more. Casting Ships are about to open for famed ex-Faith No More and Bad Brains vocalist Chuck Mosley and will have cds available at the show. They have a lot of other stuff on their plate as well.

We don’t really pander to people with short attention spans like a lot of sites these days. If a conversation is interesting but long, chances are we will go way above other sites word counts here. If that offends you, don’t be the daft twit who writes tl;dr on our Fbook page. If it wasn’t for you, go back to twiddling your thumbs liking 800 random Instagram photos and speaking in emojis as you post your 800th Snapchat dog ears/nose selfie.

For those of you who can handle a nuanced hour long conversation, by all means come aboard BELOW.

Svetlanas are a killer live band I always tell people about. I had a blast sharing a small Altercation Records festival campout concert with them last year with my Walking Bombs project and a buncha other bands like Sheer Terror and Damn Broads. That was a fucking great weekend. Not only do Svetlanas lampoon Putin and write kick ass punk anthems but they also are friendly and hang out with fans.

Svetlanas have been called “the most dangerous band in the world” thanks to their super intense live performances at such international festivals as Vans Warped Tour, South by Southwest, Rebellion Festival and more.

The Russian “thrashcore” band (now living in Italy) consists of (first names only): OLGA (vocals), DISTE (drums), STEVE (bass), RICKY (guitar) and the newest member, former Queens Of The Stoneage /Kyuss bass player Nick Oliveri who dubbed Olga, “The best front wo’Man’ I’ve seen since Lee (Trash Talk) and Blag Jesus (The Dwarves).”

Svetlanas’ latest release, THIS IS MOSCOW NOT LA just came out on Rad Girlfriend Records / Subkultura Records.

Stream the video HERE.

The tastefully bleak and bold Cercle Social Records camp has launched the Pre-Order for pushy post-punk’s Haunted Horses new 5 song EP HERE! The Seattle group have a very compelling sound that is both spare and huge, the live drums bashing through the discordant yet melodic guitar layers and sort of morose but personally affecting vocals for a sound that reaches out and grabs you tightly. Really hope people get into this industrialized punk EP.

Seattle’s The Stranger describes the band as “confrontational prog punk as imagined by a troupe of angry cave-dwelling Luddites, Haunted Horses manifest a furious onslaught of sound rarely found these days, at times channeling prime-era Liars in their cacophonies of claustrophobic angst.”

New music is not available to preview yet but you can get crushed and crush on the older vibes of HH’s  “The Void” music video HERE. It’s pretty close to some of the energy of the new stuff I have been lucky to get a preview taste of only the newer stuff I heard was more driving without sacrificing cool experimental aspects.

Get yr shit together and get on over and order a copy! The EP drops July 20th, so you won’t even have long to wait!

The Discussion is the new post-punk/goth/rock band from vocalist and guitarist Laura Pleasants of Kylesa fame. Pleasants has always been very versatile and we are stoked to hear more from this latest endeavor (also feat. Derek Lynch and Richard Adams).

The band have a pretty substantial European tour mostly booked for this autumn with more dates TBA, so if you can catch them as they develop their swing you’ll be able to tell people you were there later on. Should be some super cool shows.

Dates BELOW.

Pierce The Veil and Rise Against plus White Lung? Well that is certainly not the most everyday combo. I can dig it. All of the bands have integrity for different reasons and do have connections to the family tree of punk while here and there dabbling in hard rock.

General and VIP tickets go on-sale for all dates at 10 a.m. EST on Friday, May 12. All tickets will be available for purchase at here: www.piercetheveil.net

We wanna take an extra moment out of our busy schedules thinking about death metal as we vainly deny the onset of adulthood here to shout out crust punk moshtastic monarchs of the moment Cliterati here as they kick off their new West Coast tour. Ami Lawless fuckin’ rules and this band is one of the best. They already feel like a real, cohesive unit in a short amount of time. That’s what happens when you combine good people with a real punk and metal pedigree/actually caring about what you’re doing. So much more refreshing than the 800th million stale over processed tech death/deathcore promo or interchangeable wankers.

A kick ass recent interview we did with Cliterati was one of the ones that sadly was murdered when we suffered a site malware attack that ended up in us losing about a year of content here…and it was  irreplaceable due to the original recording being gone and me not having backed it up well enough like a fucking asshole. Much chagrin and sorrow…BUT, we can tell you to check the shit out of this tour and become ten times cooler in the process just for being there! The band have a lot in store working with beloved and true af label Tank Crimes, so stay alert!

Tour dates below.

Modern Feminist punk trailblazers War On Women are one of the most important acts in the scene right now, especially in the hateful age of Trump. The rise of rape culture on the Warped Tour from some scene bands was a frightening trend and destructive on so many levels, so it is excellent to see the tour booking a band that stands in such firm opposition to that kind of behavior.

Some other great bands this year include Beartooth, Candiria and Barbed Wire Dolls.

War On Women commented:

DC sadly dropped the ball on the bloated BVS so fucking hard (Deadpool and Ant Man both blew it awayyyyy in terms of quality and are both  initially lower profile non team movies from other studios) but one thing that they are currently behind which rocks is the new Black Canary series helmed by Brenden Fletcher. Not since Dazzler’s days of fronting a band in the pages of X-Men has there been such a fun blend of pop art and punk rock in a comic book (unless you count the Brody Dalle inspired lead character of American Dark Age).

Black Canary is now a punk rock/new wave band who sort of sound like The Sounds or White Lung mish mashed with Missing Persons. Yes, I said sound like because in an awesome viral move the band have an EP out on Bandcamp! In a world where we can have Gorillaz, why not? “Fish Out Of Water” is actually a pretty fuckin’ great song! I wonder who the real performers are? Kudos on this great idea, a way better reinvention of a character than making Lex Luthor a sad Riddler rip off wuss.

Is the comic good? Well, the Vol. 1 Kicking and Screaming trade is plenty fun. It is campy but still has some depth, albeit a bit of the male fantasy side that usually happens when super hero blondes front rock bands in comic books. Black Canary’s Dinah Lance in this current incarnation sort of recalls the real band Barb Wire Dolls‘ Isis Queen if she took the time to beat the living crap out of many of her fans or those foolish enough to heckle.

The supporting cast is great, from a mute pre teen band member named Ditto who Dinah protects to Lord Byron, a sort of Gail Ann Dorsey ringer who tries to bring restraint and reason to the chaos and anchors the band. Some things are silly like the band always using a tour bus. Empire also is a pretty absurd depiction of the music industry these days. It just isn’t how things are any more. But this is a comic book and the Black Canary band is supposed to be pretty controversial and popular. The art by Annie Wu, Pia Guerra and Sandy Jarrell recalls what worked best about Jill Thompson’s epic Invisibles issues in the 90’s with perfect bright colors from Lee Loughride really bringing this book to life even more than the more fun than vital writing.

It’s not as life changing as Transmetropolitan or as groundbreaking as the body positive Faith over at Valiant, but Black Canary is certainly a fun ride. If you only know the character from CW’s Arrow, you’re going to be confused as heck, but this is a great book for readers who love rock n roll and want to jump into a newer comic that isn’t as brooding as Batman yet still mixes some real world stuff into a crazy Universe. There is also a good sub plot about rivalry between a former singer of the band and Dinah, the new singer. It kind of underscores well how sucky it is that women more often than not are competing in music rather than helping one another form a united front.

Order the first graphic novel collection HERE.