Eye Weekly diss production butt dig the riffs
BLACK SHIPS ***
Omens / New Romance For Kids
On Omens, Montreal’s beastly and thunderous Black Ships perfectly balance melodic tendencies bastardized by detuned aggression. Uniting Cancer Bats’ modest metallic edge with Cursed’s death-metal-meets-hardcore guttural prowess as well as the apocalyptic slant of High On Fire, Omens is direct and hyperactive, packed with girth and rabid fury. But while their redlining distortion initially creates a strong, haunting atmosphere, by the halfway mark it becomes a tiresome jumble of static detracting from their obvious abilities. When Black Ships step up the production aspects of their hardcore dirge, they may acquire the underground scene’s throne that was abdicated by Cursed. For now, they still have some plotting to do. KC
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Black Ships // issue oriented blog
Black Ships // Omens
New Romance For Kids
I really thought this was Union Of Uranus when I first heard it (which in case you didn’t know – that’s a very good thing). Omens is blast of bitterness from Montreal that is equal parts Entombed sludge and Black Flag’s fuck-off attitude. These eight tracks pack enough piss and vinegar into 25 minutes that you will be hitting repeat. This is one for the crust punks that tire from waiting for Tragedy to play again. Or the metal kids who are tired of hearing the same boring breakdowns.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Black Ships - Bang Bang
ALEXI CHARLEBOIS LAURIN - 11 novembre 2008
We are not a d-beat band:
BLACK SHIPS interview
So you’re now in the middle of a really long tour. When a band decides to go on tour for so long, is it just a question of «promoting» or «pushing» his new record or it’s also a lifestyle the band as chosen? A way to escape the 9 to 5 lifestyle?
We have always wanted to do a long tour. We were supposed to do one a couple of years ago but we blew up two vans before leaving. This time around, we got a good working van and decided that we were going to do all of North America. Obviously, it’s great to do a tour like this when you have a new record coming out, but we probably would have done something like this regardless. The 9 to 5 lifestyle is mundane, and touring offers a way of life devoid of having to follow any sort of set schedule every day.
What have been the coolest and most frightening states so far in the US? Can you feel the actual campaign being something very important for most of the people there?
Any city around the Great Lakes is definitely different than what we are used to in Montreal. The people from around that area refer to it as The Rust Belt. We went to Gary, Indiana and it is like hell on earth. Apparently they film post apocalyptic movie scenes there because there is so much decay. It was the only place in the very religious State of Indiana where they are letting the churches crumble. Florida was a pretty cool State as was Texas. Campaigning isn’t the same here. The american legislating system is different than in Canada so it is a lot different. There aren’t a million fucking campaign signs everywhere cluttering the skyline with smiling faces promising a better future for all of us. The politicians do a lot more live rallies and it seems like citizens do a lot of promotion for the political parties as well. You can definitely feel a difference here. People want change. Obviously, in the scene that we play in, people normally don’t even bother to vote because every option is the wrong one, but for this election, there is a lot more people getting involved and wanting to actually vote, which is something drastically different than in Canada.
What is a good day and what is a shitty day on tour? Best turnout so far?
Shitty days are when you find out that a show has been cancelled, or when you play a really shitty show and then you can’t find somewhere to sleep. Some of the best turnouts have been in all of the shows in Quebec and Ontario, Boston, Cleveland, Hammond Indiana, Brooklyn and Fort Worth, Texas.
You earned the reputation of being the loudest band in Montreal. Your music is heavy that’s for sure but do you make sure that things are really fucking loud at your show or it’s just something that happen?
It seems like these days, everybody that plays in a heavy band feels like they need to have the most amps they can fit into a van. We decided that instead of doing that, we might as well buy really good amps and get rid of the 4 other shitty ones. We are still a loud band, but it is a good sounding loud, not an abrasive «I want to stuff as many earplugs as I can into my ears» type of loud.
OMENS. What’s the meaning behind this title? What should we get from the artwork of your record? Is it your perception of where the world is going or a way to show how the human race is a destructive one?
We came up with the title because of all the bad luck we had been experiencing during past tours, etc. It just seemed like an omen that something would fuck up during or even before leaving for a tour. The artwork was done by Ryan Patterson, who fronts the band Coliseum from Louisville, Kentucky. It is more to show how something that was once beautiful can quickly turn into ruins. It just so happened that the imagery was that of a war torn city.
Do you feel this record is definitely a step forward compared to your Low EP?
Definitely! We took more time to record it and didn’t feel like we were racing against the clock to finish it. We recorded it with our good friend Julien Brousseau and he did a great job. He knew exactly what we were trying to do and really listened to what we had to say and added in little things here and there that we completely agreed on as well. Everything came together really nicely in the end. We also took a longer time writing the songs since last winter was so shitty in Montreal and we had nothing else to do.
Favourite TRAGEDY song?
This is probably the oddest question we’ve ever been asked. I like all of them, but I like His Hero Is Gone more…
Does playing in a D-Beat punk/hardcore band necessarily equals being a negative person in life?
I’m glad you asked this question. I’ll answer it in tow parts. First, just to clarify things since we’ve been asked it a bunch of times; we are not a d-beat band. We don’t play one d-beat on any of our songs. D-beat is a certain type of drum pattern which you would find in any Tragedy song. I can see how people could make the mistake but I would like to think that we shouldn’t be classified as a d-beat band. Being in a band like this doesn’t necessarily equal being a negative person in life. The world is a fucked up place and pisses all of us off to a huge degree but what the fuck are we going to do about it? So instead of sitting at home and feeling sorry for ourselves we sit in a van for hours on end and let out all the negative energy we accumulate in a 25 minute set every night.
www.myspace.com/blackships
We are not a d-beat band:
BLACK SHIPS interview
So you’re now in the middle of a really long tour. When a band decides to go on tour for so long, is it just a question of «promoting» or «pushing» his new record or it’s also a lifestyle the band as chosen? A way to escape the 9 to 5 lifestyle?
We have always wanted to do a long tour. We were supposed to do one a couple of years ago but we blew up two vans before leaving. This time around, we got a good working van and decided that we were going to do all of North America. Obviously, it’s great to do a tour like this when you have a new record coming out, but we probably would have done something like this regardless. The 9 to 5 lifestyle is mundane, and touring offers a way of life devoid of having to follow any sort of set schedule every day.
What have been the coolest and most frightening states so far in the US? Can you feel the actual campaign being something very important for most of the people there?
Any city around the Great Lakes is definitely different than what we are used to in Montreal. The people from around that area refer to it as The Rust Belt. We went to Gary, Indiana and it is like hell on earth. Apparently they film post apocalyptic movie scenes there because there is so much decay. It was the only place in the very religious State of Indiana where they are letting the churches crumble. Florida was a pretty cool State as was Texas. Campaigning isn’t the same here. The american legislating system is different than in Canada so it is a lot different. There aren’t a million fucking campaign signs everywhere cluttering the skyline with smiling faces promising a better future for all of us. The politicians do a lot more live rallies and it seems like citizens do a lot of promotion for the political parties as well. You can definitely feel a difference here. People want change. Obviously, in the scene that we play in, people normally don’t even bother to vote because every option is the wrong one, but for this election, there is a lot more people getting involved and wanting to actually vote, which is something drastically different than in Canada.
What is a good day and what is a shitty day on tour? Best turnout so far?
Shitty days are when you find out that a show has been cancelled, or when you play a really shitty show and then you can’t find somewhere to sleep. Some of the best turnouts have been in all of the shows in Quebec and Ontario, Boston, Cleveland, Hammond Indiana, Brooklyn and Fort Worth, Texas.
You earned the reputation of being the loudest band in Montreal. Your music is heavy that’s for sure but do you make sure that things are really fucking loud at your show or it’s just something that happen?
It seems like these days, everybody that plays in a heavy band feels like they need to have the most amps they can fit into a van. We decided that instead of doing that, we might as well buy really good amps and get rid of the 4 other shitty ones. We are still a loud band, but it is a good sounding loud, not an abrasive «I want to stuff as many earplugs as I can into my ears» type of loud.
OMENS. What’s the meaning behind this title? What should we get from the artwork of your record? Is it your perception of where the world is going or a way to show how the human race is a destructive one?
We came up with the title because of all the bad luck we had been experiencing during past tours, etc. It just seemed like an omen that something would fuck up during or even before leaving for a tour. The artwork was done by Ryan Patterson, who fronts the band Coliseum from Louisville, Kentucky. It is more to show how something that was once beautiful can quickly turn into ruins. It just so happened that the imagery was that of a war torn city.
Do you feel this record is definitely a step forward compared to your Low EP?
Definitely! We took more time to record it and didn’t feel like we were racing against the clock to finish it. We recorded it with our good friend Julien Brousseau and he did a great job. He knew exactly what we were trying to do and really listened to what we had to say and added in little things here and there that we completely agreed on as well. Everything came together really nicely in the end. We also took a longer time writing the songs since last winter was so shitty in Montreal and we had nothing else to do.
Favourite TRAGEDY song?
This is probably the oddest question we’ve ever been asked. I like all of them, but I like His Hero Is Gone more…
Does playing in a D-Beat punk/hardcore band necessarily equals being a negative person in life?
I’m glad you asked this question. I’ll answer it in tow parts. First, just to clarify things since we’ve been asked it a bunch of times; we are not a d-beat band. We don’t play one d-beat on any of our songs. D-beat is a certain type of drum pattern which you would find in any Tragedy song. I can see how people could make the mistake but I would like to think that we shouldn’t be classified as a d-beat band. Being in a band like this doesn’t necessarily equal being a negative person in life. The world is a fucked up place and pisses all of us off to a huge degree but what the fuck are we going to do about it? So instead of sitting at home and feeling sorry for ourselves we sit in a van for hours on end and let out all the negative energy we accumulate in a 25 minute set every night.
www.myspace.com/blackships
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Black Ships enter (loud) top 10
Loud
For the Week Ending: Tuesday, November 11, 2008
TW LW Artist Title Label
1 3 Misery Index Traitors Relapse
2 1 Amon Amarth Twilight Of The Thundergod Metal Blade
3 6 Unearth The March Metal Blade
4 8 Gojira The Way Of All Flesh Prosthetic
5 -- Darkthrone Dark Thrones & Black Flags Peaceville
6 2 Bison BC Quiet Earth Metal Blade
7 -- Black Ships Omens New Romance For Kids
8 7 Enslaved Vertabrae Nuclear Blast
9 -- Metallica Death Magnetic Warner
10 -- Toxic Holocaust An Overdose Of Death Relapse
For the Week Ending: Tuesday, November 11, 2008
TW LW Artist Title Label
1 3 Misery Index Traitors Relapse
2 1 Amon Amarth Twilight Of The Thundergod Metal Blade
3 6 Unearth The March Metal Blade
4 8 Gojira The Way Of All Flesh Prosthetic
5 -- Darkthrone Dark Thrones & Black Flags Peaceville
6 2 Bison BC Quiet Earth Metal Blade
7 -- Black Ships Omens New Romance For Kids
8 7 Enslaved Vertabrae Nuclear Blast
9 -- Metallica Death Magnetic Warner
10 -- Toxic Holocaust An Overdose Of Death Relapse
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Stolen Minks round out October at N.2 on national indie charts
Chad Van Gaalen tops the top 200 for the second month in a row with Soft Airplane. Can super-stardom be far behind. Nipping at his heels are Stolen Minks with High Kicks and Mother Mother with O My Heart.
!earshot charts - october 2008 - top 200
top 200
Rank Artist Title Label
1 Chad VanGaalen * Soft Airplane Flemish Eye/Sub Pop
2 The Stolen Minks * High Kicks New Romance For Kids
3 Mother Mother * O My Heart Last Gang
4 The Stills * Oceans Will Rise Arts & Crafts
5 FemBots * Calling Out Weewerk
6 The Pack A.D. * Funeral Mixtape Mint
7 Elliott Brood * Mountain Meadows Six Shooter
8 Okkervil River The Stand Ins Jagjaguwar
9 Hexes And Ohs * Bedroom Madness Noise Factory
10 Final Fantasy * Spectrum, 14th Century Blocks Recording
!earshot charts - october 2008 - top 200
top 200
Rank Artist Title Label
1 Chad VanGaalen * Soft Airplane Flemish Eye/Sub Pop
2 The Stolen Minks * High Kicks New Romance For Kids
3 Mother Mother * O My Heart Last Gang
4 The Stills * Oceans Will Rise Arts & Crafts
5 FemBots * Calling Out Weewerk
6 The Pack A.D. * Funeral Mixtape Mint
7 Elliott Brood * Mountain Meadows Six Shooter
8 Okkervil River The Stand Ins Jagjaguwar
9 Hexes And Ohs * Bedroom Madness Noise Factory
10 Final Fantasy * Spectrum, 14th Century Blocks Recording
illinois entertainer
The Stolen Minks preview
Posted on October 29th, 2008 in Weekly, Stage Buzz
The Stolen Minks
Darkroom, Chicago
Sunday, November 2, 2008
I put The Stolen Minks’ High Kicks (New Romance For Kids) into the CD player to listen while perusing the band’s press interviews, liner notes (nonexistent), and other “important materials” us rock critics use to judge a band’s worth, but a funny thing happened: By the time I surfed to the Minks’ Myspace page, the album was damn near over!
The 10 songs on High Kicks (the band’s follow up to 2006’s Family Boycott) total 22 minutes but feel more like 15. Erica Butler, Rachelle Goguen, Stephanie Johns, and Tiina Johns don’t waste a note, chord, beat, or vocal on songs like “Get Wet” (an epic for the Halifax, Canada group, clocking in at 3:03!), “North End Strangler,” or “Consecutives,” one of a few tracks that doesn’t eclipse 1,000 beats per minute.
Despite its girl-pop makeup/background, there’s not even necessarily a lot of melody or hooks on High Kicks, but interestingly enough, it doesn’t necessarily matter. The sweaty, grimy, dank-basement (or Darkroom) intensity is enough. If you’re looking for local comparisons, consider The Dials (with shorter attention spans) or Reptoids . . . without the Slayer kick.
Hidden Mitten and The Cathy Santonies open; this is an early, 7 p.m. show.
– Trevor Fisher
Tags:Stage Buzz, The Stolen Minks Weekly
Posted on October 29th, 2008 in Weekly, Stage Buzz
The Stolen Minks
Darkroom, Chicago
Sunday, November 2, 2008
I put The Stolen Minks’ High Kicks (New Romance For Kids) into the CD player to listen while perusing the band’s press interviews, liner notes (nonexistent), and other “important materials” us rock critics use to judge a band’s worth, but a funny thing happened: By the time I surfed to the Minks’ Myspace page, the album was damn near over!
The 10 songs on High Kicks (the band’s follow up to 2006’s Family Boycott) total 22 minutes but feel more like 15. Erica Butler, Rachelle Goguen, Stephanie Johns, and Tiina Johns don’t waste a note, chord, beat, or vocal on songs like “Get Wet” (an epic for the Halifax, Canada group, clocking in at 3:03!), “North End Strangler,” or “Consecutives,” one of a few tracks that doesn’t eclipse 1,000 beats per minute.
Despite its girl-pop makeup/background, there’s not even necessarily a lot of melody or hooks on High Kicks, but interestingly enough, it doesn’t necessarily matter. The sweaty, grimy, dank-basement (or Darkroom) intensity is enough. If you’re looking for local comparisons, consider The Dials (with shorter attention spans) or Reptoids . . . without the Slayer kick.
Hidden Mitten and The Cathy Santonies open; this is an early, 7 p.m. show.
– Trevor Fisher
Tags:Stage Buzz, The Stolen Minks Weekly
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
