MetalSucks

Way back in December on the eve of the brand new Bronx record Bronx III, frontman Matt Caughthran told me in an interview about a mariachi record the band had recorded concurrently with Bronx III. At SXSW this past March, Kip and I witnessed a very special Mariachi El Bronx performance in which the band performed a full mariachi set in full mariachi garb, and it was nothing short of spectacular. And finally 5 months later we get to hear said mariachi record (listen on MySpace), which came out yesterday. Reports Noisecreep:

The idea to release an entire album’s worth of authentic mariachi music came to the Bronx following an on-air appearance they did for Fuel TV. “It was kind of an acoustic thing,” says Caughthran. “The treatment for rock bands doing acoustic music is so horrible, and so generic. And it was something that we really wanted to stray away from. So we got some friends involved and did a mariachi version of ‘Dirty Leaves.’ And when we did that — the transformation, creatively — it was super inspiring, and it was something that we wanted to explore further.”

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Where to begin? So many debaucherous moments — too many beers, not enough whiskeys, a shit-ton of BBQ, and a helluva lotta MUSIC….yes yes, it was another sleep-deprived week in Austin, Texas, and at the end of it all, it was the best one yet.

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Wednesday has done and drawn to a close, and an awesome day it was. Highlights included Young Widows, The Bronx, Fighting With Wire, Jucifer, El Mariachi Bronx (The Bronx as a full mariachi band), Valient Thorr, Pack of Wolves, These Arms Are Snakes, and finally meeting MS contributor Corey Mitchell in person. There’s so much to be seen today, Kip has gone missing, and I’m hungry, so I’ll make this quick:

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Free of the shackles of a major record label, The Bronx frontman Matt Caughthran seemed like a newly reinvigorated man when I spoke to him on the phone this fall. Excited about finally having a team behind the band that actually cares about the band and their awesome new record The Bronx III, Matt told us about how the band’s deal with Island / DefJam went south, what’s it’s like to be in control of everything again, and about the writing and recording of the both the band’s new record and the already-recorded, soon-to-be-released traditional mariachi record they have in the can.

We were supposed to rendezvous at the midtown offices of the band’s publicists but Matt got caught up handling band business at their management’s office, the same firm who handles Fall Out Boy. And that’s where the conversation began.

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All is not lost in the world of metal; in fact, this past week brought some nice surprises, along with the usual mish-mash of shitty radio rock bands. Last week’s sales numbers, with our usual sardonic commentary, after the jump. (Hint: look at the tags below, and click “read more” if any of those bands interest you!).

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Mostly this week I just watched the Puppy Cam. But when I could pry myself away for a few moments, this is what I focused on:

• Proto-jazz-metallers Intronaut released an artsy new video, as did Protest the Hero and Dir En Grey.
• We interviewed Brother Von Doom.
• Ozzy may be pretty good at shilling for Samsung phones these days, but we still like him better the old way.
• Arsis did some member-swapping. Yes, again.
• We reviewed new releases from The Faceless, The Bronx, and a bunch of awesome bands on Prosthetic Records.
• We contemplated the prospect of new releases by Carcass, Napalm Death and Down.

Party it up, it’s the weekend. See you next Tuesday Monday.

I caught The Bronx live two years ago opening for Converge and Mastodon. Though the rest of the show that followed them was one of the best shows I’ve ever witnessed (Converge a transcendent, high energy, jagged mess of noise that translated their aural violence perfectly into a live environment; Mastodon an Earth-rumbling embodiment of the sort of heaviness upon which metal was founded), The Bronx left me feeling cold. Part of that was them being dropped into the wrong context. What would Converge’s esoteric noisecore and Mastodon’s technical reimagining of metal’s basics have to do with The Bronx’s obnoxious (though in retrospect, not a bad obnoxious) swagger? Would it be fair to have Scars on Broadway open up for Gojira and Meshuggah (for a super-2008-y package tour!)? For a band as deceptively simple as the Bronx, mislabeling and mishandling are practically standard. But these initial misdeeds would result in the unfortunate overshadowing of the ridiculous fun their music is, typified just as strongly on their third self titled album.

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Just because it’s short doesn’t mean it can’t kick your fucking ass. Eighteen and a half minutes after I started listening to their new album Bearing & Distance (Level Plane Records), it ended; so I simply listened to it again.

Through those 18 minutes and the course of 15 tracks — 5 of which are under a minute and the longest of which is 2:08 — California’s Ghostlimb proved that they’re doing something really fucking cool and different. I can’t quite put a finger on their entire palette of influences because there’s a really strong hardcore flavoring, and frankly I just don’t have the musical vocabulary to go there. But fuck it, at the risk of making myself look really stupid and non-versed in the history of punk and hardcore (this is true), I’ll try: Minor Threat, Bad Religion (on coke), Paint It Black, and even NYC’s Wetnurse, but with big, clear production Matt Bayles would be proud of and a whack-you-in-the-nuts metal sensibility that’s also hard to place. Think a faster, non-stop alcohol-fueled Bronx, blending anthemic punk chord progressions through highly overdriven Marshalls and some dude passionately screaming his fucking lungs out on top of it as if he had a fist shoved up his ass and singing these songs was the only way to get it out.

Find out for yourself and check out Ghostlimb on MySpace.

-VN

(four out of five horns)

We aren’t sure which member of Buffalo, NY metal warriors Every Time I Die wrote the below “official” press release we received today, but we’d like to think it’s axe-slinger Andy Williams, if only because of his ginormous, manlier-than-thou, f’ing awesome beard:

November 3rd, 2008

An Open Letter to Axl Rose Ending With an Impression of Howard Dean,
Thanks a shitload Axl. You haven’t put out a GNR record in 10 years and the month we decide to go out on a tour cleverly named NOVEMBER REIGN, you find it prime time for “Chinese Democracy” to hit shelves. You couldn’t have waited another 3 weeks? We haven’t done a single headlining tour on “The Big Dirty” so this was a really big deal for us. You should have seen Josh’s face light up when he thought of the name. The guys in THE BRONX and STICK TO YOU [sic] GUNS were happier than pigs in shit to be a part of this epic journey across the east coast. But you just couldn’t stand to see us happy.
Buckethead probably wouldn’t have stolen our thunder. And when I met Matt Sorum at House of Guitars like 16 years ago, he came off as a real nice dude
who would be glad to let us have November to ourselves. Well fuck it, we’re doing it anyways. Starting November 1st, we’re going to Quebec City! and
then we’re going to Milwaukee! And then we’re going to JOPLIN AND NASHVILLE AND RICHMOND AND THEN WE’RE GOING TO FARMINGDALE TO TAKE BACK THE
CRAZY DONKEY!!! BEYYYYYAAAWWW!!!!!
love every time i die.
ps. you rock.

Full tour dates, featuring Every Time I Die, The Bronx, and Stick To Your Guns, after the jump.

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Our bro-bros at BITPOM have posted pictures from the MetalSucks co-sponsored CMJ showcase this past Tuesday night featuring The Bronx, Trash Talk and Akimbo. To say that all three bands impressed and tore the tiny basement of Fontana’s apart would be an understatement. Check out BITPOM for the full photo-set of all three bands.

Lest you forget, MetalSucks is sponsoring a show this year at CMJ, otherwise known as the week in which thousands of annoying skinny pants-wearing indie snobs descend upon downtown Manhattan. But fuck ‘em, because there are a ton of great metal events going on this year, of which your favorite metal douchebags are sponsoring one!

Tuesday, October 21st
Fontana’s
105 Eldridge St., NYC
8pm, $8 cover

THE BRONX
TRASH TALK
AKIMBO

See you there.

-VN, AR & KW

MetalSucks is proud to announce our first-ever CMJ event. Together with the fine folks at Solid PR, Sailor Jerry, and Keep-a-Breast.org, we will be hosting a show during the week in which thousands of music industry minions and self-important snobs descend upon NYC’s Lower East Side, also known as the CMJ Music Marathon. The details:

Tuesday, October 21st
Fontana’s – 105 Eldridge St.

THE BRONX
TRASH TALK
AKIMBO

That’s a fucking great lineup. I love The Bronx, and you should too; even if they’re actually from L.A., we’ll forgive them because they rock so damn hard. Akimbo is also a really cool and innovative band; and though I don’t much about Trash Talk, I’m sure they’re worthy of your time by way of inclusion on this bill.

See you there! Buy us drinks. We poor.

Kip has been raving about Seattle’s Akimbo to me pretty much since we met one drunken night at a Mastodon show in the bowels of New Jersey, and with a new album on the way (Jersey Shores, September 23rd on Neurot) and the spate of press releases that accompany said album, I finally decided to give ‘em a shot.

And I like. What I’m hearing is a blend of stoner rock/metal ala Mastodon/Isis/Neurosis, but with an extra emphasis on being bluesy and rocking the fuck out. Like, imagine those bands but way less serious and introspective and way more FUN. A stonier Bronx, if you will.

Check out the new song “Great White Bull” and a collection of older ones on their MySpace page, and let us know what you think.

-VN

There are a certain subsection of metallish bands that have elements of metal in their music but aren’t metal, per se, by the purists’ definition. The Bronx are definitely one of those bands. I have complete faith that some of our readers are big fans; others will have never heard of them and wonder what crap like this is doing on a metal website.

But fuck it. The Bronx are awesome and they have a new song on their MySpace page called “Knifeman.” If you like Fugazi, Shellac, and good, dirty, raw rock n’ roll in general, you oughtta like this band. I think they’ll be releasing a new record this year, too. Sweet.

-VN