METAL ZINE scionav.com Vol. 2

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municipal waste - crom agalloch - floor - nails bonded by blood SCION A/V SCHEDULE

A p r il April 9 Scion Metal Matinee with Mind Eraser and Noisear in Chicago, Illinois

April 10 Scion Metal Matinee with Mind Eraser and Noisear in ,

April 26 Scion A/V: Enslaved EP

M ay May 14 Scion Metal Matinee in Los Angeles, California

Staff C u r r en t ly Availa b le : Scion Project Manager: Jeri Yoshizu, Sciontist Nails, Editor: Eric Ducker Creative Direction: Scion “Conform/Scum Will Rise” video Art DirectION: mBf Production Director: Anton Schlesinger Contributing Editor: J. Bennett Assistant Editor: Maud Deitch Graphic Designers: Nicholas Acemoglu, Cameron Charles, Kate Merritt, Gabriella Spartos Question: Sheriff: Stephen Gisondi How do you keep up with new bands to book for Scion metal events? Contributors AskAnswer: Scion Writer: Adam Shore There are two sources that never steer me wrong: Aquarius Records’ Photographers: Donofthedead, Greg Bojorquez, Magdalena weekly email, which is simply the best, most ecstatic piece of Wosinska, Colin Young-Wolff music writing that exists today; and Decibel magazine, who have the perspective I value most when it comes to , , Contact thrash, grind and doom. I RSS about 20 metal blogs and read them in For additional information on Scion, email, write or call. real time, especially parsing posts on sites like Invisible Oranges and Scion Customer Experience The Obelisk. And I rely on a trusted network of friends in bands and 19001 S. Western Avenue Scion Magazine is published by malbon Brothers Farms. at labels, people who promote and book shows, and people who just Mail Stop WC12 For more information about mBF, contact [email protected] live and breathe metal. A lot of the passion I feel for the bands I love Torrance, CA 90501 Company references, advertisements and/or websites listed in this publication are not affiliated with Scion, is contagious—they were championed by someone else who was lucky Phone: 866.70.SCION unless otherwise noted through disclosure. Scion does not warrant these companies and is not liable for enough to hear it before I could. Fax: 310.381.5932 their performances or the content on their advertisements and/or websites. Email: Email us through the contact page located on scion.com © 2011 Scion, a marque of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. All rights reserved. —Adam Shore, booker for Scion Rock Fest and Hours: M-F 6am-5pm PST Scion and the Scion logo are trademarks of Toyota Motor Corporation. 00430-ZIN02-MT the Scion Metal Matinee series

Online Chat: M-F, 6am-6pm PST Cover Photography: Colin Young-Wolff If you have a question, email us through the Contact page on scionav.com Story by: J. BennettB o n d e d b y B l o o d Taking its name from the influential 1985 “It’s an album with a very metaphorical message,” by Bay Area thrashers Exodus, Bonded by Blood says Garcia. “It’s about how an alien race called rolled out of Pomona, California, with a four- the Crong takes over Earth through the system- song demo titled Four Pints Of Blood. That they atic collapse of world governments into a new world recorded this demo with studio time they won in order. They seek something hidden deep within the a local battle of the bands contest—beating out human genome that will secure their existence.” 249 competitors—has “Cinderella story” written all over it. And so it was… Inspired by the conspiracy theories of Alex Jones, David Icke and ’s 2009 album In 2007, the band self-released an EP titled Ex- Endgame (which was named after an Alex Jones tinguish The Weak, which featured a cover of the documentary), Exiled to Earth merges shadow gov- theme song from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ernment menace with comic book battle action, and landed them a contract with lauded U.K. ex- as evidenced by the band’s shoot ’em up video for tremity label . They then helped the song “Prototype: Death Machine.” “I wanted introduce classic 1980s thrash to a new genera- the concept to be more relevant to this era, but tion of headbangers with their 2008 Earache de- it ended up being set in 2610,” Garcia says. “Regard- but, Feed The Beast. Though they’ve experienced less of what time the album is set in, I believe it sends some lineup changes over the years, the group a very clear message out to those who seek it.” currently features guitarists Juan Juarez and Alex Lee, bassist Jerry Garcia, drummer Carlos Re- myspace.com/bondedbyblood galado and newly added vocalist Mauro Gonzales. Bonded By Blood played the 2011 edition of the Bonded by Blood’s second and latest full-length, Scion Rock Fest. For photos and videos, go to Exiled to Earth, takes an entirely different turn, see- scionav.com/rockfest ing them entering unfamiliar territory for most thrash bands. Exiled to Earth is a concept album about an alien invasion of our planet, circa 2610. Interview: J. Bennett Photography: Donofthedead Formed in Los Angeles in the early 1990s, Crom became cult favorites when their 2001 full-length debut, The Cocaine Wars: 1974-1989, throttled listeners with a gonzo onslaught of uncleared samples, deranged verbal outbursts and blasts of sludgy . They followed it up six years later with Hot Sumerian Nights, a sharper, more precise amalgamation of the band’s monster riffage and heavily sampled Bronze Age fixations. Known for unhinged live shows, Crom currently has a new album and a documentary in the works. Guitarist Phil Vera, also of L.A. powerviolence legends Despise You, gave us the rundown.

How would you say the band changed between The Cocaine What’s the status of the Crom documentary? Dude, I have no clue. I recently saw the guy Wars and Hot Sumerian Nights? The musicianship has definitely gotten better. I don’t know who’s doing it, and he was interviewing a bunch more people. I was under the impression that he was if that’s good for everybody, but for me, I just can’t keep playing a bunch of noise. I want to progress. pretty close to being finished, but then he was asking for more footage, so I don’t know. It’s too bad, I want to become DragonForce. I mean, who doesn’t? But basically, we feel the first record is like Evil because that teaser that came out a while back was cool. But I guess he’s like us when we make records, Dead and the second record is Evil Dead 2, where they improved the formula. So we’ll probably blow it it just takes forever. Except that we don’t put out a two-minute clip for something that’s coming out in with our third record, kinda the way Sam Raimi did with Army of Darkness. five years.

A new Crom album is in progress. Will it ever come out? That’s a good question. I’d say Crom shows are known for being unpredictable. What do you hope people get we’ve written about half of a record. My goal is to actually have it done this summer, which means I out of seeing you live? You know how when jazz bands play, they leave that kind of free space gotta get my pops going on the artwork. where every performance can be different? Crom is kinda our version of jazz. You never know what’s gonna happen. I think we might start doing some flips, maybe get some chainsaws. I think people Good segue. Your dad is the mastermind behind the Crom album covers. How did would be into that. that start? My dad has been a commercial artist for about 40 years now. He started with a company that did all these cheesy 1970s movies like Food of the Gods, Meteor and The Hearse. He drew sketches and allhailcrom.com storyboards, whatever they needed. He’s actually working on the new Transformers movie now. When we needed artwork for the first Crom album, I asked him and he was totally into it. We told him we Crom played the 2011 edition of the Scion Rock Fest. For photos and videos, go to scionav.com/rockfest wanted a girl riding a polar bear, done [Frank] Frazetta style, and he was totally into it. And then he did the foldout with that Viking—we call him Sven. He totally gets where we’re coming from.

BASTARD NOISE

Story: J. Bennett Photography: Magdalena Wosinska

When discussing the goal of Bastard Noise, bassist and co-vocalist Eric Wood says, “We just wanna go for force, precision and calculated progression.” Wood co-founded the Los Angeles noise band 20 years ago as an offshoot of powerviolence progenitors Man Is the Bastard. “Bastard Noise really came from my love of bass,” he offers. “It goes back to when I was a kid and first discovered bands like Budgie and Yes and Gentle Giant—and, of course, the original [Black] Sabbath catalog. I liked anything that threw me overboard in a blissful manner. But at some point you wanna stop being a spectator and just do it.”

As a result, Bastard Noise was born on a cold slab of heavily manipulated electronics and bone-rattling low-end. Known affectionately as “the Skull”—a reference to their infamous death’s head logo—Bastard Noise is lauded as much for their prowess in the noise genre as for its insanely prolific output. “We’ve put out over a hundred releases,” Wood estimates. “Some of them were extremely limited runs, but we’re committed to getting our stuff out there by any means necessary.”

The band’s current lineup includes Wood alongside drummer Joel Connell and new vocalist Aimee Artz, also of Southern California grind outfit Progeria. “She’s our secret weapon,” says Wood. “She’s an incred- ible front person. When people see her play live with us, I think they’re gonna be impressed.”

With several new releases already in the pipeline, the Skull will not be letting up anytime soon. “I’m pro- art and anti-sports, so I pretty much live for this stuff,” Wood says. “I found my healthy addiction, you know? I mean, what else am I gonna do? Sit around and watch the ballgame?”

bastardnoise.com Bastard Noise played the 2011 edition of the Scion Rock Fest. For photos and videos, go to scionav.com/rockfest Los Angeles is a rough city to create a scene in. It’s unbelievably spread out geographically, and people tend to stick to their own neighborhoods and put up a fight when you want them to leave, even just for the night. This makes the promoter’s job even harder, but Daniel Dismal, of the Church of the 8th Day, has managed to make the metal scene in Los Angeles thrive despite some pretty tough logistical and economic circumstances.

Independent Record Stores If you want to support local stuff, Headline Records or Vacation Vinyl are the places to go. Headline used to do in-stores with a lot of legendary bands, but they had to stop because, you know, the police weren’t really into having 300 people in a record store. Vacation Vinyl has in-stores pretty much every week. The guys who order at Vacation Vinyl are all vinyl nerds, so they bring in a lot of killer stuff, and the same with Headline, but the owner, Jean Luc, is more of a guy who loves metal.

The Boulevard The Boulevard is a small bar in Boyle Heights. It’s really the only venue that’s all ages and won’t charge you a million dollars, and they have great shows all the time. Brutal Truth played there, and that’s a band that used to play the main stage at the Knitting Factory, which is a 600-person venue, so seeing them in a 200-person room was really intimate. It’s a really cool spot, laid back and relaxed.

The Black Castle They have a lot of black metal shows. Some people consider Black Castle the most important metal venue in LA. If you’re really into black metal, the Black Castle is like your church. It’s pretty far out there, so when they have shows, a lot of people in LA are like, “Man, I don’t want to drive all the way out there.” But then there are people who live out there who are just happy to have their own place.

Cobalt Café Me and my partner threw a show at the Cobalt Café and there were about 350 people there, and that’s a lot for a little café in the middle of the West Valley. And it was all people from that area, and they all came to a metal show. There’s always been a strong scene out in the Valley, and in Whittier and Montebello. I think most of the people that are into metal don’t live in LA proper. churchofthe8thday.com

Story: J. Bennett Photography: Greg Bojorquez

Asked about the ideas behind Unsilent Death, Nails’ 2010 full-length debut, vocalist- guitarist Todd Jones says, “Life. Freedom. Independence. Unsilent Death is about doing what feels right despite any opposition.” It’s an album that took the underground by storm upon its release in 2010. A fierce barrage of d-beat punk pounded through the classic crunch of the Sunlight Studios buzzsaw guitar sound pioneered by Swedish death metal vets Entombed, it’s about as aggressive as hardcore gets. “Prior to starting the band, I wanted to do something that had a filthy guitar tone, and I always thought the Sunlight

Studios guitar sound was really disgusting, so I picked that and started writing the tunes,” Jones says. “The tone is crushing and hard.”

The Southern California trio’s stun-gun aesthetics aren’t confined to distortion pedals. Jones and his bandmates—bassist John Gianelli and drummer Taylor Young—also recog- nize the importance of kicking the audience in the teeth and leaving them wanting more. In true punk fashion, the ten songs on Unsilent Death have a combined running time of just under 14 minutes. “We don’t write songs with an intended time length,” Jones insists. “We just do what feels and sounds right to us. There were some concerns amongst our group when we decided to travel and spend a lot of money to record not even 14 minutes worth of music, but the group of songs we had for Unsilent Death felt like a complete album, re- gardless of how short it was.”

It’s all part of a musical philosophy that’s as straightforward as it is effective. “We ba- sically just have a desire to please ourselves,” Jones explains. “We do what we feel good about and try to avoid anything that makes us feel uncomfortable.” myspace.com/unsilentdeath

Nails played the 2011 edition of the Scion Rock Fest. For photos and videos, go to scionav.com/rockfest NAILS CONFORM/SCUM WILL RISE

WATCH THIS VIDEO, PLUS OTHERS FROM , MELVINS, LANDMINE MARATHON AND MORE

SCION A/V SERIES Interview: J. Bennett SCIONAV.COM/MUSIC/SCIONAVVIDEO Since releasing Marrow of the Spirit, one of the most critically acclaimed of 2010, Agalloch has become the torchbearer for a highly atmospheric style of heavy music. It’s a complex sound that incorporates elements of black metal, and dark rock. Led by vocalist and guitarist John Haughm, and featuring guitarist/pianist Don Anderson, bassist Jason Watson and drummer Aesop Dekker, the band finds influence from some decidedly non-metal sources. “The title Marrow of the Spirit is drawn right out of Thoreau’s Walden,” says Anderson, who is a doctorate student at the University of Washington and teaches writing and American literature in the school’s English department. “I actually just taught the book to my students last week.” Turn the page for an excerpt from an interview with Anderson: Obviously, Agalloch is not a pure black metal band, but you incorporate elements of that sound. Has your definition of black metal expanded because of what Agalloch does?

Yeah. There has to be a term for what we do, I suppose, and I’m comfortable with “post-black metal.” The prefix “post” gets kicked around a lot and criticized a lot, but I actually think it’s a very apt term. Arcturus’ second record, for me, was the first post-black metal record. It took the common language of the early 1990s Norwegian scene, expanded upon it and opened it up to new possibilities. I feel like that’s what Agalloch is doing in the sense that we’re taking the basic language of Burzum, Mayhem, Satyricon and and trying to expand and contrib- ute to it. We’re trying to elevate it to other possibilities.

Marrow of the Spirit was named Album of the Year by Decibel magazine and was even featured on National Public Radio. What effect have you seen from that attention?

More than anything, the NPR accolades have acted as a legitimizing force. It’s weird to see our record up there with Kanye West or Arcade Fire. When that happened, I think the people who began taking an interest in us were people in the music business going, “What’s this strange band that NPR is giving so much attention to?” So we’ve seen more industry interest—from promoters, people wanting to book shows, that kind of thing. It’s very flattering for me personally because I listen to NPR regularly, but I’m still hoping for a Terry Gross interview.

The members of Agalloch don’t live in the same city. Other than the fact that you can’t rehearse very often, what kind of effect has that had on the band?

Well, there’s a lot of anxiety. It’s gonna change a bit because I’m gonna move back to Portland in the summer, but of course Aesop will always be in . It’s been a challenge more than anything, but I do think it’s kept us from getting burnt out, whether on each other as individuals or on the music.

Does Agalloch mean something different to you today than when the band started 14 years ago?

It’s definitely become a fundamental part of my identity, to the point where if the band were to break up I would have an existential crisis. I really wouldn’t know what to do with myself. But because we work slowly as a band, I like to think we can keep going longer. Our heroes in terms of how to be a band would be Neurosis, who are also spread out geographically. They’ve been going forever and they’ve always put out, in my opinion, high-quality work. For us, having been together since 1997, I’m starting to think of Agalloch as something that’s not only half my identity, but also as something that will continue to evolve.

facebook.com/agallochofficial

Agalloch played the 2011 edition of the Scion Rock Fest. For photos and videos, go to scionav.com/rockfest Interview: J. Bennett

Photography: Colin Young-Wolff Over the course of the past ten years, Municipal Do you see Municipal Waste continuing in that Waste has delivered its manic brand of crossover direction with the next record? thrash to audiences around the globe, leaving wind I don’t know, man. The stuff I’ve been writing milling, crowd-surfing fans with what the band re- lately is funny, without me even meaning for it to fers to as “bangovers.” Comprising vocalist Tony be. We’ve got about four or five songs right now, “Guardrail” Foresta, guitarist Ryan Waste, bass- but we actually wrote three before that and just ist “Land” Phil Hall and drummer , the trashed them because they weren’t working. I think Richmond, Virginia-based thrashers are one of the some of it will be funny, some will be serious, some most relentlessly entertaining live bands in the un- will be personal or commenting on social issues. derground today. Their most recent album, Massive I’ve always wanted to do a concept record—me Aggressive, trades in the good-times vibe of 2007’s and Ryan have always joked about it—but I think if for the sci-fi comedy of songs we were to do something like that right now, people like “Wolves Of Chernobyl” and the gruesome pa- would just think we were stupid. People as in, like, thology of “Acid Sentence.” Tony Foresta explains all. other members of the band. But I think people out- side the band sometimes don’t realize that we’re It seems like a lot of people are into Municipal not as dumb as we look. I mean, just because we’re Waste for the fun aspect, but it also seems like funny doesn’t mean we’re idiots. it’s that same aspect that turns off the “serious” All the Municipal Waste albums are a half hour or metal dudes. What’s your take on that? less. Do you keep it short on purpose? Yeah, I’ve noticed that. People are weird, you know? Our songs are so fast and jump around so much A lot of times it’s younger kids getting into metal that there’s just as many lyrics and riffs as there for the first time, and the fun vibe is what attracts would be on another band’s album that’s twice as them to us. As they get into more serious stuff, all of long. And you know, I am not a huge fan of really a sudden we’re too fun for them. But we’ve always long thrash songs. When bands start beating on kinda poked fun at people who take themselves too the four-minute door, I’m like, “Uh, let’s wrap this seriously, and I think a lot of that goes on in metal. up.” We just try to pack as much in as we can and It doesn’t bother me, though. I think people appre- not overstay our welcome. ciate us because we’re honest with our music and we’re having a good time. myspace.com/municipalwaste At the same time, it seems like there was maybe less of the party vibe on than Municipal Waste played the 2011 edition of the on previous albums. Scion Rock Fest. For photos and videos, go to Yeah, because when we did The Art of Partying, we scionav.com/rockfest. Watch their video for were already kinda sick of talking about partying. “Wolves Of Chernobyl” at But we were also already halfway through the re- scionav.com/music/scionavvideo cord. By the time it came out, we were tired of that stuff. Now I don’t mind talking about it, because it’s not as in my face as it was two years ago. When The Art of Partying came out, that’s all people expected from us: party, party, party! It seemed mindless. So with Massive Aggressive we wanted to show that there’s more to us than that. Story: J. Bennett

When Floor split up in 2004, there wasn’t even a thought of looking back. Sure, the Miami power trio had made a name for themselves over the course of the previous decade by carving huge pop hooks out of thundering doom dirges, all led by the loose and legendary “bomb-string” guitar acrobatics of bandleader Steve Brooks, but that was over with. Brooks had moved on and formed the hugely successful Torche, a band that continues to dominate faces worldwide with its insanely catchy brand of “sludge pop.” Watch videos from the Scion A/V Video series at scionav.com/music/scionavvideo

But then revival- ism reared its timely head. In late 2009, Floor’s old label, Ro- botic Empire, decid- ed to put out a Floor box set—a massive musical compendium boasting ten LPs, eight CDs and a 7-inch. Titled Below & Beyond, the set was limited to just 305 copies, but it was enough to get Floor back onstage for a series of reunion shows in the spring of 2010. “It’s MELVINS ELECTRIC FLOWER all due to the Floor box set,” says Brooks. “Everyone was together again, hanging out, and the idea of doing a few shows came up. We did it for those who never got a chance to see us back in the day.”

The first handful of Floor reunion gigs featured Brooks and bassist Anthony Vi- alon performing three separate mini-sets, each with a different drummer from the three Floor incarnations. All of the shows since then have been performed by the lineup behind the band’s brilliant 2001 self-titled LP: Brooks, Vialon and drummer Henry Wilson. “We’ve grown up a lot,” Brooks says. “We’re more WATCH THIS VIDEO, PLUS OTHERS FROM confident, more professional and sound 100 times better than we did in the past.” NAILS, MUNICIPAL WASTE, BLACK TUSK AND MORE In the years since Floor’s original end, the band’s musical stock has appreci- ated considerably, due in no small part to the prominence of Torche. “It’s wild to hear the crowd along with the Floor songs,” says Brooks. “That never used to happen before.”

As for the box set that got Floor back in action, with a $250 list price, there are still some available. For that kind of money, you might think you’d be get- ting everything the band ever recorded. Not so, says Brooks. “We actually had SCION A/V MUSIC VIDEO SERIES more material that didn’t make it to the box set,” he admits. “But six hours is all we needed.” SCIONAV.COM/MUSIC/SCIONAVVIDEO myspace.com/floor

Floor played the 2011 edition of the Scion Rock Fest. For photos and videos, go to scionav.com/rockfest F

Story: J. Bennett Photography (left): Colin Young-Wolff

While Ottawa, Ontario’s F**k the Facts is first and foremost a grind band, it’s also a catch-all reposi- tory for whatever style of music founder and guitarist Topon Das feels like playing. And anyone who’s heard FTF knows that Das’ musical preferences tend to change on a dime—from jazz to noise to death metal—and often in the middle of a song. “When I started the project, the main idea was to create a vehicle for all my musical ideas,” he explains. “I was very much into , noise, metal and more experimental kinds of music, but I didn’t want to have five or six different projects for everything I wanted to do. I created FTF as a project without any limitations, and I would like to think that that’s still how things are. The only difference now is it isn’t just me, but all the ideas and influences of five different people working together.”

FTF’s current lineup includes vocalist Mel Mongeon, drummer Mathieu “V il” Vilandré, bassist Marc Bourgon and guitarist Johnny “Beige” Ibay, but Das has always been insanely prolific no matter who he’s playing with. Over the course of the past 11 years, FTF has released eight full-length studio albums, two live albums, five EPs and a DVD, not to mention countless splits singles with other bands. All this frenzied output has come via labels of varying sizes, but many have been DIY releases, which FTF seems to unveil whenever they feel like it. “We’re not the kind of band that likes to wait around, so if it means releasing our own records, we have no problem doing it,” Das says. “It’s great that we’re able to work with [current label] Relapse so we can benefit from all the visibility of being on that label, as well as having all the control we want to release independently. But I’m sure all the work we put into our independent releases helps get people to check out our Relapse catalog as well.S o everyone wins.”

Watch video of F**k the Facts performance at Scion’s Metal Matinee series at scionav.com/metal B l o g R o l l

decibelmagazine.com The online companion to the only monthly extreme music magazine, Decibel features exclusive interviews, news and articles that you won’t find in the printed edition. Topics covered include major bands playing tiny shows and essays on tour bus drivers.

metalsucks.net If you can’t take a joke, ignore the site’s genre-baiting title. Metal Sucks brings original compilations, reviews, downloads, news and basically everything else you might be looking for. It’s also home to one of the web’s most active metal forums.

metalunderground.com Metal Underground is an online news zine focusing on underground extreme music. Along with news, photos and interviews, Metal Underground has a near comprehensive list of upcoming metal releases.

T O P P ICKS: A D A M S H O R E

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(self- and Trap Trap and y AT SCION obit u ar y AT POMONA, CA. ROCK FEST,

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