Photo by Paul Birman

Wetnurse
TBA
Label – TBD
Release date – Tentatively sometime before Christmas 2011

New York City’s own Wetnurse are one of those bands whose music I have almost no idea how to describe; I mean, it’s like trying to tell a blind person what a color looks like. They mix elements of All Things Rock into one dirty, aggro, and wholly unique package, and if you’re not hip to them yet, well, you best get on that shit.

(Bonus: they are SO MUCH FUN LIVE, I don’t even know where to start. Gene Fowler has to be one of the most entertaining front men out there right now; he looks like he’s having an epileptic fit every time he takes the stage. And I mean that as a compliment.)

2011 marks Wetnurse’s tenth year of existence, and they’re hoping to celebrate the anniversary with a new release sometime towards the end of this year. Drummer Curran Reynolds (who, along with bassist Ryan Jones, is also now in the always-great Today is the Day) tells me:

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Kip sang the praises of Today is the Day’s In the Eyes of God back in 2008, but the album has just been re-issued by Relapse in a spiffy expanded edition that includes bonus tracks and Steve Austin-directed DVD. It’s streaming here, and if for some reason you’ve never listened to this record before, you should so that ASAP.

Promotional materials refer to the 1999 release as “noisecore,” which I guess is as apt a description of the album as you’re gonna get — but I’m a little wary of affixing the “core” tag to this music, for fear it might turn people off, and, really, TITD are genre-benders anyway. The album traffics in the same questioning of religion that’s so prevalent in death and black metal, but the music also contains elements of grind, crust, and drugged-out expermental shit. Regular readers of MetalSucks will know that I appreciate music that maintains a strong structure even as it thinks outside the box and kind of does whatever the fuck it wants, incorporating a vast array of influences; In the Eyes of God certainly meets that description.

And if that wasn’t enough to make you wanna check it out, this particular incarnation of TITD featured Mastodon’s Brann Dailor and Bill Kelliher.

Listen to In the Eyes of God here. And in case you’ve never read them, here’s a completely fucking insane interview I did with Steve Austin in 2008, and here’s a completely fucking insane guest blog he wrote for us later that same year.

-AR

Unsane’s 1995 LP Scattered, Smothered and Covered is a classic in the Amphetamine Reptile discography, and one of the truly essential noise rock recordings. Surely you remember the “Scrape” music video! So when the band announced they’d be performing the album live in its entirety for a select series of North American shows, I finished in my pants. Having witnessed Unsane decimate a sold out Union Pool in Brooklyn some months back, I can’t stress enough how powerful and loud this savage trio are after all these years.

Even better, Keelhaul open nearly all the dates, which is awesome since their latest Hydra Head album Keelhaul’s Triumphant Return To Obscurity fucking rules nations. (If you like aggressive and slightly weird metal, this is your bag, baby!) Other openers (depending on the date) include Unsane member Dave Curran’s side-project Pigs, and fellow noise rock legends Today Is The Day. The New York City date, which takes place on Thursday August 5 at Andrew W.K.’s Santos Party House (tickets here) also features a set from Disappearer, the band that topped my Top 20 Albums of 2009. The tour culminates in an appearance at the opening night party that precedes the sold-the-fuck-out Amphetamine Reptile festival in Minneapolis. Dates and details are below.

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A deleted scene from Iron Man 2? Nope, just one of the many cinematically stimulating moments in Maryland Deathfest: The Movie

Alright, I kinda don’t wanna talk any shit about Maryland Deathfest: The Movie for a number of reasons. I don’t know David Hall, the dude who made it, but I know he’s worked with a lot of cool bands I like, including Fuck the Facts and Today is the Day. Scott Hull mastered the audio, and I don’t think it’s any secret that if Scott Hull asked me to walk a few feet ahead of him and sprinkle roses in his path, I would happily do so. Maryland Deathfest is clearly one of the best U.S. festivals in all of metaldom, and I don’t want anyone to think I’m speaking ill of that fine institution, ’cause I ain’t. The first twelve minutes of the movie premiered earlier today at Metal Injection, and the Metal Injection dudes are like brothers to me, so I don’t want anyone to think that I’m disparaging that site. And I certainly don’t want anyone to think I’m trashing any of the artists in the movie, ’cause they really had nothing to do with its creation.

With all of that said, those first twelve minutes of this movie really do not make me wanna see the next twelve minutes.

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In 1992 or so, someone who must have inherited a few oil wells figured that it’d be a good idea to give some of that scratch to the Beastie Boys so that they could publish their own magazine. I don’t think you have to like them as a band or even as a cultural force to appreciate what it must have been like for these guys to get that first check. “You wrote a date rape anthem called ‘Fight for Your Right to Party’ and then proceeded to ignite doctoral dissertations with your next record. Here’s a shitload of cash so that you can indulge the spohomoric writing whims of you and your friends.” Even after the beepers of every weed dealer south of 34th Street finally stopped buzzing, there was plenty of moolah left over to stage photo shoots, subsidize starving indie writers, and pay for a die cut to assemble your own bootie bass jeep from the back cover.

Of course it all went bust, but the most lasting cultural impression of that cash vacuum were the metal record reviews that happened in the third or fourth issue, where the guy correctly identified records by Eyehategod, Today is the Day, 16, and one other band I don’t remember as being the shit we all had to go buy. I knew enough about TDID to take the cue, and so went out and bought the other three. And the most important thing in this review was the guy talking about was “Taco Riffs.”  When you heard those records, you knew exactly – EXCATLY – what he was talking about.

My noble band-mate Thad Calabrese and I have never had any confusion or even any discussion about what a Taco Riff is. It’s just the two of us, and so some late nights driving back from an ill-conceived show we’ll be playing “Strap It On” just to stay awake. Side 2 kicks in, the band clears away “FBLA” and then they rip it with “Blacktop.” And that “chorus” riff, accented the second time through with the vocals – “Walk on top. And you run beneath…” – we’ll just look at each other and won’t even have to say. Fucking Taco Riff. YES.

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People who become “a fan” of some bullshit on Facebook really grind my gears, and as such I’ve avoided joining such asinine groups as “Dear ghetto moms, no one is going to hire your kid named Shanaqualeesha” on principle. Yet one of the few I’ve followed is the one for Amphetamine Reptile fan page, which is actually maintained by the otherwise mostly dormant label.

Today, my noise rock geek-o-meter went directly into the red when I saw the following status update:

25 years ago AmRep released it’s first 7″. Aug. 28th 2010 is going to be a huge live birthday party in Minneapolis. Melvins, Boss Hog, God Bullies, Today Is The Day, and more!!!! Stay tuned – - – more updates – - – exclusive show only releases!!! Invite any and all to sign up here to get updates – and please help spread the word.

Holy crap!

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We loved the last tour blog that Bison B.C.’s Dan And did for us so much, we’re only all-too-happy to present another! Below, please enjoy part 1; check back tomorrow for part 2!

Sep 11 ’09 (Vancouver BC @ Commodore)

I always love kicking off a tour with a show in Vancouver. It’s great to have one last chance to get completely loser pissed with our friends before we hit the road for however long. This time we were fortunate enough to finally share the stage with local good ‘ol boys The Golers and old pals 3 Inches of Blood. The Golers have been around forever and everyone should fucking hear them. They’re basically Vancouver’s Venomous Concept: relentless, break-neck speed pummeling. Is grind-punk a genre?

Show was fucking fun as all hell. It was 3 Inches record release show for Here Waits Thy Doom (which may or may not feature all of us doing backups on the song “Preacher’s Daughter”) and the place was packed! The cap of the Commodore is somewhere between 950 and 1000 and apparently it was like 15 tickets away from being sold out. Jesse from local grinders Zuckuss pointed out how fucking crazy it is that three local bands brought that many metal heads out of the woodwork. The night was bitter sweet though because not only was our good friend Ian unable to be there because of surgery but that night would also be my last chance to ever set foot in local punk/metal institution the Cobalt. I can’t even describe how awesome that bar and the staff are. The thought that it’s getting shut down by the fucking slum lords that own the building so they can cash in on Olympic fever makes me wanna tear someone’s head off. I’m consoled by the fact that I know bar legend/honcho Wendy 13 will soon enough have a new venue I can crawl out of at 5am reeking of Jager bombs. COBALT FOREVER!
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Did anyone see Today is the Day’s Axis of Eden DVD? I only got to see some of it, but it was some pretty trippy shit, and clearly there was a mind behind it that was as willing to think outside the box as TITD main man Steve Austin.

That mind belonged to filmmaker David Hall, who now returns with Disgorge, Mexico, a film based on the album of the same name (minus the comma) by Fuck the Facts (read our review of that record here). A press release tells us the following about the flick:

Described by Hall as “a substance abuse art house riff on the destructive and volatile nature of love,” Disgorge, Mexico: The Movie is a violent, hallucinatory depiction of one woman’s strange journey, set to the soundtrack of Fuck The Facts’ Disgorge Mexico.

Costumes for the film were created by Nekro, known for her costume design work for Arch Enemy’s Angela Gossow.

Plus, Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s Jay Randall (who is easily one of the best tweeters in the world) says that “It’s like your eye is a cock, balls deep in a peyote button butthole.” So there’s that.

Disgorge, Mexico doesn’t have an official release date yet, but it should be out soon on DVD and as a digital download. You can check out the trailer by clicking the image below. If said image doesn’t make you extrememly curious, something is wrong with you.

-AR

It was a crazy week at the MS Mansion. Vince passed out in the bathroom after a 48 hour coke binge only to be awakened by Axl, whom, after coming home that morning from a strip club with The Blogronaut and Dallas, was viciously attacked by a bunch of angry Hinder fans stalking him outside the MS Mansion gates. Actually, none of that happened. But here’s what did:

• Axl offered up a bounty on Hinder’s Austin Winkler.
• Chinese Democracy leaked, and almost two decades of waiting finally ended.
• Whitechapel became the new controversial band du’jour.
• The Faceless killed it on the Soundscan charts.
• Today Is the Day’s Steve Austin’s house almost burned down.
• A video of a fat kid singing along to Dimmu Borgir. Nuff said.
• Vince went Jew on Jew with Genghis Tron’s Mookie Singerman, only to find out he’s not as Jewish as he once claimed.
• Tommy Lee reformed Methods of Mayhem and Vince Neil announced plans for another solo record, sans Steve Stevens. We scratched our heads.

We’ll see you next week, albeit it’ll be an abbreviated one due to the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. Toodles.

Fire!!!

It’s 1:30 in the morning and I just can’t sleep. My stomach is rumbling and I head to the bathroom to take a shit, hoping my pained stomach will relax and let me go to sleep. As I am walking down the hallway to the bathroom, I smelled a wood-burning type of smell. The type of smell an outdoor BBQ makes when you add hickory wood to it. Though I am half asleep, I think it’s odd and just for safety’s sake I check all of the rooms in my house to see if anything is burning. A quick check and fast dump and I am on my way back to the futon in the living room to try get some sleep. My wife and sons had fallen asleep earlier in the kids’ room and I was trying to do the same in front of the TV.

An hour went by and I awoke with my stomach in knots, twisting and turning and in general feeling I needed to once again take a major dump. I begrudgingly went to the bathroom and proceeded to blast out dump #2. Back down the hallway to the living room to resume the light sleep I had going. I smelled the burning wood smell again and shrugged it off as my white trash neighbors just up late and cooking out on the grill. It’s the beginning of fall and the temperature outside in Nashville is in the mid-70′s at night, so I could understand a little late night grillin’. When my head hit the pillow, I drifted off to sleep just like that. A comfortable, hopeful feeling that whatever evil demons that were in my stomach had been clearly shit out in my two thorough and involved attempts at clearing myself. The sandman came and off I went into a very deep sleep. I had been working late nights trying to wrap up mixes for two different bands from Italy, working out a deal recording and producing weapon sounds for a Major Video Game Company, and getting together the final edits of “Axis of Eden: The Film”. All usually a one-man job, handled by me with not enough hours in the day for sleep or personal life sometimes. Yes, this had been a very long and tiring week.

My nose wiggled and my cheek twitched. Something just woke me up. In a flash I looked straight up and then to the wall to see Smoke. Smoke that filled the Air like a thick blanket of black insulation that measured 3-4 feet from the ceiling down. My Whole House was consumed with black smoke. It was at this moment I remembered the smell I had picked up on the way to the bathroom. I didn’t understand and was chaotically confused, paranoid and freaked out all at one time. The first thing I thought was someone had set fire to my house from the outside because I had checked the whole house earlier and nothing was on fire or burning. It didn’t matter who or what caused it, because after the 2 seconds that all of this blasted my mind, I realized my house was on fire.

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If you’re like me, you likely spend a shitload of your time on The Internets, feverishly pleasuring yourself and plugging random phrases into The Google and other websites for cheap thrills. After learning from Brooklyn Vegan’s Black Bubblegum of some potential NYC-area shows from one-time Amphetamine Reptile act Boss Hog, I made my merry way to the Youtubes to watch some old videos. Much to my delight, some dedicated user has posted a ton of the old AmRep spots from its Dope, Guns, and Fucking Up Your Videodeck series. Check out some classy cuts below from Helmet, Today Is The Day, and the aforementioned Boss Hog. It’s not like you were going to do anything else today, right?

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From The Austerity Program to Made Out Of Babies, it seems that some of my favorite acts in noise rock these days are coming from NYC, something that makes this native beam with hometown pride. Wetnurse is the latest addition to this list.

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The Phillies won the World Series, it’s Halloween, and we have a U.S. presidential election coming up in less than a week. But what’s happening in metal is obviously way more important:

• Living Colour ruled. As always.
• Mastodon announced the title and tracklisting of their new album.
• We spoke with Cynic’s Paul Masvidal and Today Is the Day’s Steve Austin, the latter of whom practically gave us his life story.
• Gaahl publicly acknowledged his homosexuality. Black metal bigots everywhere cried outrage, but we thought it was pretty cool (kvlt/br00tal/tr00/etc).
• Slayer released a new song which sounds just like the old song(s). And that’s a good thing.
• Someone with way too much time made an AC/DC music video in an Excel spreadsheet

Happy Halloween, mofos.

If you like noise rock and you live in or near New York City, the next week-and-a-half will melt your genitals clean off. You read right.

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This past spring, the opportunity presented itself for me to do a phoner with Steve Austin, mastermind for Today is the Day. Since I a) think Today is the Day is brilliant and b) knew that Austin had recently started his own label, Supernova Records, I jumped at the chance. And when I called him, I thought I was gonna get the usual ten to fifteen minute chat full of the usual B.S.

Boy was I wrong. Not only did Austin stay on the phone with me for close to an hour, but he answered every question with a level bridge-burning honesty not usually found by even the most hardcore of the most hardcore. It should go without saying that Steve’s opinions are his own and not necessarily those of MetalSucks, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find the dude fascinating. After the jump, read his thoughts on pretty much any and every topic under the sun.

And, uh, oh yeah: this is easily the longest interview we’ve ever done. Fair warning.

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Vince Neilstein isn’t at the MetalSucks Mansion today. He told me he had to rush to Washington to save America from our financial crisis, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find him blogging for the guys over at Metal Injection instead. He’s a slippery one, that Vince.

ANYWAY, some cool tours have been announced over the past couple of weeks, and yesterday came the announcement of a tour that strikes me as especially odd, and I feel like discussing, so let’s discuss.

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So Derek Roddy is out of Today is the Day, which is a cryin’ shame, because a) Roddy is an awesome drummer and b) TITD is an awesome band (whose initials would seem to spell out the word “tit,” but only if you’re speaking in the past tense). Roddy left over what seems to be a financial dispute, as posted on his blog:

“I settled for almost half of what he owes me…just to have this done and over with. I’ve agreed to take less than HE agreed to pay me… I’m trying to work with this dude and he’s fucking me… I know dude doesn’t have much money but, shit man….send me 20 bucks a week…..something… He’s proven what he is to me and I have NO respect for Steve Austin.”

So those are some pretty harsh words.

But then Blabbermouth goes and posts a statement from Austin:

“Derek stepped away from underground touring back in October… Wishin’ Derek the best as he is one of the best there is!”

Man, you know when your friend breaks up with his girlfriend, and he’s a total mess and all he can do is get drunk and bitch and moan about it, and then you see the girl one night and she’s totally fine and with a new guy and everything?

Ladies and gents, Mr. Derek Roddy and Mr. Steve Austin.

-AR

I have no idea if this is true or not, but someone recently told me that Steve Austin (the legendary musician, NOT the pro-wrestler and NOT the Six Million Dollar Man) made current Today is the Day drummer Derek Roddy wear a bullet proof vest during his audition for the band so that Austin could shoot him as he played in order to test his skill under pressure. That seems incredibly extreme and totally fucking fuck nuts if it’s true, especially since Roddy’s skills have already been tested in Hate Eternal, but, uh, hey, it’s still a pretty cool story.

ANYWAY, Austin taking his band out on the road is always cause for excitement, but the fact that’s he taking a rotating support line-up of some of our favorite bands out there right now with him – including Rwake, Lair of the Minotaur, Fuck the Facts, and our friends in the most excellent At All fucking Cost – just makes this tour that much more worthy of your time and money.

After the jump, get a complete list of tour dates, along with a list of which bands will playing which shows.

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