In the immortal words of Thin Lizzy... the boys are back in town.
The Buffalo Shitty Dudes Extraordinaire have just released their first video from their upcoming album, The New Junk Aesthetic... and upon watching it, I am perplexed. Earlier this year, all the articles about ETID's album in the works claimed that they were "going for heavy again, something between Last Night in Town and Hot Damn!, a sound they were unconsciously drifting from with the last two albums, blah bitty blah blah blah"... However! This song sounds strikingly and solidly still in the southern/hard rock/groove/core vibe they seemed to always be growing towards, not really changing the current formula... Although! I will keep a verrrrrry open mind and sit anxiously hoping and wishing that this new album WILL live up to the early descriptions... the descriptions that sent me from 6 to midnight in three seconds flat.
Anywho! The video lies just south of this mini paragraph, and decide for yourselves how you feel about it. Honestly, the film stock treatment to the video footage is pretty rad, I really can't complain... except for some cuts of Keith looking shocked and closing a door that look the same over and over (just wait. you'll see)... Oh, and an interesting sidenote, all the drawn animation portions of the video were done by ETID's own second guitarist, Jordan. He also did the cover art of the new album, which you can see at the end of the vid when Keith puts his hands on his eyes... watch for it! ... Now eat it, fatboy. Enjoy!
Damn it, this is one trend that I hope keeps fuckin rolling along... Just like my shock with the Charlie Rose story earlier, I really wanna damn thank whoever it is in these board meetings that is pushing for little seedlings of straight up powerviolence to enter into our mainstream media world...
Late late last year, Jimmy Kimmel had the Buffalo shitty dudes, Every Time I Die, as a music guest on his show to play "We'rewolf" (which you can find at the end of this post in case you were a dumbshit and missed television history in the making... you're welcome). And just yesterday, I got wind that the mighty Dillinger will be making a performance appearance on the mighty Late Night with Conan O'Brien... Did you hear what I just fuckin' said? On Feb. 6th, DEP and Conan will meld into one mechabruiser and destroy everything between your retinas and the back of your scalp in one powerviolent swoop! ... Brace yourselves... Here's the official statement from the band: "We're playing Conan O'Brien on Wednesday February 6th....and it's not a joke. Really? Really. And you thought Cloverfield was the only time this year you'd be able to see New York get destroyed by monsters. Other guests include Heath Ledger's corpse and Asian Steve." ... Here that? ... That's the sound of your soul being crushed, whipped into a froth, transmogrified back together again, and then smashed back into shitty little pieces.
Now relish in the awesometown that was ETID on the Kimmel... It's good for what ales ya.
So we here at the Bells Bells of Hells Hells just got word that Every Time I Die's skinsman, Mike Novak (affectionately known in the Buffalo Shitty Dude's camp as Ratboy) won't be participating in their winter tour that's about to commence in a hot minute. Here is an official statement from the band on the sidelining of their silent drum pummeler:
"We here at Every Time I Die Inc. regret to inform you that Michael "Ratboy/ Red Nuff/ Nuff Daddy/ Ol Hundreds" Novak will not be taking part in our upcoming tour with Killswitch Engage. He has suffered a very painful back injury while slam dunking a basketball at the park. Fortunately a wonderful gentleman by the name of Steve Bache from He Is Legend will be filling in drumming duties. We hope that Mike recovers quickly and is both behind his kit and back on the court in no time. See you soon. Love ETID"
Check out Mike and Jordan on a break from recording The Big Dirty and spending a day at Disneyland in California... shits laugh laugh bearfuck.
I was just alerted to some news that's fresh as a spring dew in hell... Every Time I Die has announced that they will headlining the 7th installment of the Take Action charity tour. Here's some info, if this is foreign to you: "Take Action was founded by Hopeless & Sub City Records with the mission to create a better world, one voice and one action at a time. Take Action strives to educate people about the positive difference that can be made by each of us in our community through activism and charitable work. To date over $450,000 has been raised through the efforts of Take Action." ... Wow, quite a mouthful, indeed. Unlike the thousands of BS charities running rampant nowadays, Take Action doesn't fall into anywhere near the same category as these piddly, fad-based, just-support-them-so-you-look-cool wastes of time... Also, with ETID on the bill, this run may be the most rowdy and powerviolence ever (seeing as past co-headliners have been Jimmy Eat World, Thrice, Chiodos, Silverstein, Poison The Well [you know PTW shred, don't think I'm saying they don't bring the rowdy], Sugarcult, Matchbook Romance, etc) ... And lastly, I also have gotten word that Escape the Fate will be the co-headliner for this round's tour. I don't know anything about these guys, but at one quick glance at their myspace page, I was slapped in the face with how much they look and sound like utter douchebags. Hopefully this co-headlier jazz was just a rumor, and they'll be revealing the real headliner at another date.... did someone say the Bronx? Converge? or those righteous dudes in the Red Chord? ... They're all due for a fancy North American square dance on our faces... think about it...
And don't forget, you crazy sonzabitches... Additional information including the full line up, charity information, and tour dates will be announced soon. Please check Takeactiontour.com for the most up to date information.
Happy Day After Devil's Night, numbskulls! ... (I think today is also known in some small parts of the country as "Halloween", or something to that effect) ... but more importantly, it's Wednesday! And you know what that means... another lethal dose of our picks for GnarVideo of the Week -- spooky-style.
All joshin' aside, we have finally made it to the most important day of the year, and the most important holiday ever dreamed up by man (with St. Patty's and Flag Day coming up a close second and third, respectively, in the race). So on this special day of days, we've decided to be generous and give you greedy bastards not one, but THREE GnarVideos on this marvelous Wednesday. First off are two of the greatest (and most cleverly titled) songs about this holiday in question... now get creepy creepy spookfest with yourselves, kids.
Misfits - "Halloween" (live)
Dead Kennedys - "Halloween" (live)
And to keep true to the actual purpose of this column (to alert to you to the radness in new video form, or something) ... BUT still keeping with the theme of Halloween, we have selected one of quite possibly the greatest music videos of all time... maybe soley for the sexy over-abundance of Teen Wolf references... and maybe even more so for all the rad 'staches running rampant throughout it.... either way, the shit jams, and we are jamming with it... in fangs and hairy palms.
10.24.07 - Nokia Theater, NYC - Underoath/Every Time I Die/Poison the Well/Maylene and the Sons of Disaster -- Shits was tight tight tight... and then some. And that ain't even the half of it...
So! I guess I'll just give the play-by-play and walk you through a gnarfully memorable show (minus the headliner). Wait, maybe I should just get that out of the way first... I did not stay for Underoath. I sooooo didn't stay for Underoath... In your head, you might be asking me "Hey bruiser, why'd ya skadoot? Those fellas bring that supa-sweet-kinda-tryin'-to-be-loud-and-angry-when-really-they're-just-tricking-you-into-listening-before-they-vomit-hooks-and-harmonies-that-are-so-straight-up-emolicious-it-would-make-My-Chem-and-the-new-From-Autumn-to-Ashes-shudder. Not to mention they really attract an awesome fanbase of little boys who shouldn't be wearing painted-on pants and skin-tight graphic hoodies. Oh, and what about those supa-fly overweight broads in Chiodos tshirts who looked like they've watched the Nightmare Before Christmas a little too much. Those babes be babes!" ... No, you're right fella. And that's exactly why I skadooted.
Now that we got that out in the open, onto the important shit! Maylene and her boys of Disaster opened up the night, and damn it if they didnt rage straight out the gates. I felt like I was watching an old fashioned barn-burning getdown in Birmingham, Alabama! There were human pyramids, one-handed shredding, nonstop long-haired headbanging, chunky guitarists in jean shorts, basically, every kinda fun imaginable.... radly approved. I think I peed a little every time they yelled "New York City" in a southern accent in between songs, like in those old salsa commercials.
Then PTW... What the hell do I even need to say... These assholes can still tear a crowd's face off just like back in the Opposite of December days. It's pretty uncanny. These road dogs haven't lost a step at all, and dare I say, they might even be more ferocious than past times our paths have crossed. Sure, there were two unfamiliar faces up on stage with them, but these new kids sure did their homework and skillfully tore through cuts from all of PTW's catalog. There's nothing like a full-crowd yell-along to "Nerdy"... thanks guys.
And then the center-stage main event (the headliner, in my damn opinion)... The Shitty Dudes. The Buffalo Big Dirty. Every Time I Die... Always the true showmen, the set went off without a hitch. Opening it with the lead track off their new record and ending with the closing track from the same, it took shitty-dude twists and gnar-dirty turns through their whole catalog (minus Burial Plot Bidding War, and waaaay hardly any Last Night in Town, sadly). But fuckin a, it was incredible nonetheless. Best moment of the show... brace yourself...
Who's that fella flanking Keith on his left?? ... It's our champion face-runner and one-man wrecking crew, Greg Puciato from Dillinger Escape Plan! (I didn't even think to ask him if he was planning on going to the ETID show when I went to the Ire Works album preview with the Dillinger guys two nights prior)... Before the shitty dudes kicked into "Kill the Music", Keith started saying that people were in the the house that if it weren't for them, ETID wouldn't have existed. And then when the first lick hit, Greg came barging out of stage left to share the vocals (and throw himself into the crowd, surprise surprise)... It was a fuckin horrorshow, in the most positive sense of the word... increda-rad-able... duh, girl.
So all in all, for an old man like me, who stood off to the side with all the fat girls (cuz this dum dum old man accidently wore flip flops to work and he didn't want his toesies stepped on, or his highway-robbery priced beer spilled on him) ... it was the show I've been waiting five fucking months for. Cuz this summer was a fuckin bummertown and a half for shows... Eat it, fatboy.
** Pre-show Post** 10.24.07 - Once again, I'm breaking form for writing on this show... just cuz I'm so damn jazzed for it. It's also once again to alert everyone of its existence, in case you wanted to bop on down to the Nokia Theater and check it out. I will be there front and center, from the first note of Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, through PTW's vicious set, to the always face-ripping amazingness that is ETID... but I probably wont pay attention during Underoath, that's smoke break and merch table time... Dallas Taylor is in a better band now anyway... he'll have my attention earlier in the night with the Sons. Anywho! Come on down and rage it up with us... and if you don't, then be looking forward to a dynamo review on it tomorrow... But these should keep you company until then:
" 'Shit Happens' is appropriately titled, as shit does indeed happen on the road, as is one of the best things about being in a band and how ridiculous touring can be. The DVD follows the band on tour over the last few years, mainly focusing on their latest jaunt out on the Vans Warped Tour.
"Shit Happens" captures the humor of the band, and what I have always appreciated about Every Time I Die; their fuck you, "look how much fun we are having" attitude. After years of controversy, as the band used to be well known for bailing on shows at the last minute, and being assholes to amuse themselves. "Shit Happens" is a entertaining look at the good times of being in a band, at the level of success to allow them to get away with what every kid in a band dreams to attain. The bottom line, if you like ETID, then you will love this DVD." ~ N. Shannon
And for further emphasis, one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life... I'm sorry, this video clip makes me almost piss my with powerviolence every time i see it...
