Popping SSRIs en masse until my Devil Eyes tonstartss%^*
I'm on my way to a house party and need to pick up some octupus on the way there. I'll let your mind wrap around that bizarre intro for the time being.And when I get back I'll continue the post and elaborate on the great local bands and artists we'll be playing with in Montreal and Vancouver: the SSRIs, En Masse, Devil Eyes and tonstartssbandht.
One of the things I'm looking forward to most on the tour is working with En Masse at the Oct 13 show @ Divan Orange. En Masse is a collective of Montreal artists who take on creative large scale projects involving murals with black and white paintings. They are making LOTS of noise in the Montreal art community and will be incredibly busy with an exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts right around the time of the NMFT tour. For them to take time out of their painfully hectic schedule and participate at the Oct 13 show is a miracle from God and I couldn't be more appreciative or ecstatic to have the opportunity to work with such an awesomely talented group of people. I don't want to spoil things but it's pretty transparent that the intent is for En Masse to create a B&W mural while the bands perform. Ideally they'll pull inspiration from the bands' music but whatever they choose to design is fully up to them. Just watch the videos embedded above and below and their phenomenal talent, cohesiveness and creativity is so blatently obvious that I really don't care if the mural has anything to do with the bands' music at all. The finished product is bound to be a mindblowing work of genius regardless of where they cull their inspiration.
In addition to En Masse, Devil Eyes will be spiking the punch with hot fire. Matt, Zen and Emily played with us during NMFT2 and they're great people so we thought we'd ask them to help us out again for vol 3. There's no "P" "K" "N" or "U" in Devil Eyes but they are the true embodiment of what punk music is about: speaking your mind, following your gut, playing damn loud and not giving a f*ck about sound check. ;)
On Oct 14 @ Lambi, tonstartssbandht headline the show though I can't wait to see how their fans react to hyacca and NATSUMEN before them. tonstartssbandht are a guitar + drum tandem of two brothers Adam and Edwin White. Adam resides in MTL while Edwin commutes out of Noo Yawk. They have a pretty large underground following and are known for intense performances that are both punishing and sublime. With bands like Lightning Bolt, Japanther, Japandroids, PS I Love You etc there's no shortage of 2-man bands stormtrooping through with an aggressive drum/guitar/bassless sound.
But what sets tonstartssbandht apart are the superb vocal and instrumental harmonies akin to syrens listening to David Bowie while bad tripping on the precipice of the apocalypse.
And in Vancity, we play with local superheroes the SSRIs in the fight against depression, 4/4 time signatures, sh*tty music and gingivitis. These guys carry the torch passed on by No Means No in terms of "sh*t yo' pants" airtight and intricate punk rock in Vancouver. Plus their sense of humor is nuttier than squirrel sh*t at a neutering clinic. It's unfortunate Tony Dallas isn't with the band anymore b/c that guy was a BEAST on drums. But the new guy (f*ck! I forgot his name already) is equally badass. The bands on Oct 18 will be tearing the Biltmore a new adze hole.