Death Before Dishonor‘s approach to metallic hardcore is and will always be to spew it out there like it’s rented by the hour. There are no intros, intermissions, samples, or acoustic guitars on Unfinished Business (Bridge 9), only bad intentions and bricks. Death Before Dishonor dishes out the hardcore like the great poet Joey Diaz describes as “to sling dick with three hands.’ Such elegant prose rarely gets used in this publication, but Unfinished Business requires such language. Continue reading →
This Is Harcore Festival has announced its partial 2018 lineup so far. The long-running beacon of hardcore and metal takes place at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, PA from July 27th-29th and has announced One King Down, Ten Yard Fight, E.Town Concrete, Eighteen Visions, Sick Of It All to the bill. Other notables All Out War, Merauder, District 9, Knocked Loose, Twitching Tongues, Wisdom In Chains, Jesus Piece, Sworn Enemy, Queensway, Lionheart, and many more. Tickets go on sale on April 2nd and the full lineup so far and ticket link can be found below. Continue reading →
There’s always that one destination festival people call home. For metal heads it’s Wacken Open Air in Germany. For cruise enthusiasts it’s 70,000 Tons Of Metal. For hardcore it’s This Is Hardcore. Many people I’ve talked to love this festival and call it like a place they can get together with friends and see bands they love.Continue reading →
There’s always that one destination festival people call home. For metal heads it’s Wacken Open Air in Germany. For cruise enthusiasts it’s 70,000 Tons Of Metal. For hardcore it’s This Is Hardcore. Many people I’ve talked to love this festival and call it like a place they can get together with friends and see bands they love.
In Ghost Cult’s continuing series of how bands deal with touring all summer long, we chatted with Todd Jones of Nails about touring behind their new album You Will Never Be One Of Us (Nuclear Blast), getting props from his heroes, opening for legends like Black Sabbath later this year and more.
On who Nails likes to tour with most:
I’d like to share a stage with pretty much all of the bands were currently touring with. If I had a wishlist of bigger bands to play with, I suppose it would be Hatebreed, Soulfly, Carcass, it would be pretty cool to tour with them guys. Those bands are all on our label so maybe it can happen.
On getting humbled by respect from the metal community:
I woke up one day to go to work and I looked at my phone that somebody had texted me and told me about this article that they saw where (Max Cavalera) said he was proud of me. I lost my f***ing mind because when I was 13 years old, I saw the (Sepultura) ‘Territory’ video on MTV, and I’ve been a fan of everything that he’s done since that. It’s someone that I’ve looked up to, that I’ve admired for a long time. To get him acknowledging me is big, and it’s basically what I’m doing in my writing.
(‘Territory’) That came out, I think I saw it on Headbanger or MTV. Maybe they were playing it during the day which is f***ing crazy. I don’t know, man. I still listen to ‘Territory’. I think they might be one of my top 5 metal bands. For sure one of my top 3 metal bands for me anyway.
On opening for Black Sabbath at Ozzfest/Knotfest:
That’s one thing I’ve learned above everything else is, that nothing is impossible. Like you start by yourself at a small rehearsal stage like seven years ago, eight years ago, and we’re going to have to play with Black Sabbath. If it’s not pessimist to say anything isn’t possible, then I don’t know what is.
Other cities Nails will hit on tour this year:
London, U.K. Mexico City. We’re going to go there in October, and of course, our hometown of Los Angeles. Let’s not forget we’re sold out here. Those are probably the cities where we get the most wowed at the reactions.
In Part II of our exclusive chat between Hansel Lopez of Ghost Cult and Todd Jones of Nails, Todd discusses touring with the band, while keeping things stable as possible on the home front. He also goes in-depth about playing on bigger festival stages with more mainstream bands such as Ozzfest, This Is Hardcore, New England Metal And Hardcore Festival, and the possibility of another new Nails album in the works soon. I noticed that you guys are going to be making an appearance at the Ozzfest this year.
Yeah, we’re going to be playing Ozzfest. We got asked to play. I don’t know what was the deal. We got the phone call saying “Hey, do you want to play with Black Sabbath?” I said “Yeah, for sure.” They put us on. I’m pretty psyched to play that shit.
I’ve noticed, it’s a diverse bill since it has bands like Kataklysm, and brutal bands like that. But at the same time, Disturbed and other mainstream acts. How do you think the audience are going to react to you guys? Do you think it will be a good show?
It’s a process man. It’s fucking mainstream metal. What do you expect? How are people going to react to it? I don’t know. I don’t even know if there is people there. It’s 1:50 in the afternoon, that’s our set time. I imagine people will come to the stage when we play, and we’re going to get up there and do our thing, and use it to the best of our ability. I don’t know how people are going to react to us. Like I said, I mentioned Oz Fest is fucking cool cause ongoing to get to see Black Sabbath for free.
That’s pretty much it. We’re going to go play and do our thing, and hopefully, people dig on us. If they don’t, they don’t. We’re only going to be playing for 30 minutes, so we’re not going to waste our stage time. I don’t know what to expect, and I don’t have any expectations other than I’m going to drive an hour away from my house to go play a show and then go watch Black Sabbath, and that’s pretty much it. I’ve always understood that you guys work day jobs, but sporadically will tour across … I know you guys have a date coming up I think in Boston next month.
We tour for about 1 month to 6 weeks per year. We take time off of work here or there, just go off and play some shows from June 17th to June 26th. We’ll be going from Chicago to Raleigh, North Carolina, and just playing about 11 shows from the Midwest to the East coast of the United States. That is correct. We will be playing Boston at the Middle East, and that’s pretty much it, man. We do tours sporadically, and we do tour one week at a time. With Nuclear Blast, they didn’t require that we play more shows. When we contacted them, we told them what we were willing to do and what we weren’t willing to do, and they told us what they needed from us and what’s they didn’t need from us, and that was pretty much it. They didn’t want to change the format. It’s pretty much just business as usual for Nails, man.
Nails, by Emma Parsons Photography
Outside of the little summer tour you guys are doing, and the Ozzfest appearance, what’s next for you guys?
We’re going to go to Europe in November, and then I’m sure we’ll find our way to … We’re going to be playing This Is Hardcore Festival in Philadelphia in August. We’ll find our way around the country a couple more times before we start making another record. We’ll probably be playing Boston, I think we’ll play Boston four times, so we’ll probably get out there and play some more shows, some more festivals. They’re still doing New England Hardcore Fest (Editor’s note: New England Metal And Hardcore Festival) and if they want us to come back, we’ll definitely come back. It’s just playing shows, man. That’s pretty much it. We’ll probably start working on another record in the next year or so.
Really, that quick?
Yeah. Typically, bands put out records every 2 years. We put out records every 3 years, but who knows what will happen, man. Maybe it’ll take another 3 years to make a record, but … If our record comes out in June, and Nuclear Blast wants to try to get another record out within 2 years, that means we’ll probably have to start writing about a year from now and record. You have to follow the idea of a year. Who knows? Who knows what’s going to happen? We’re just stoked. We’re ready for our new album to come out, and we’re just ready to have fun, play shows. We’re just grateful that there’s people who want to see us play, and that’s pretty much it.
Nails, by Emma Parsons Photography
Just speaking of the writing really quick, ‘They Come Crawling Back’, which in my understanding is the longest song you’ve ever written at 8 minutes?
Yeah, that’s fair. Yeah, that’s our longest song.
That’s my favorite track off this new album. I thought it was killer.
Thanks, man. We’re going to have to play that song live because I’ve been getting so much feedback like that. We’re starting to play our songs live too much, but we’re going to have to rehearse it and get it together. I really like that song too. It’s just, it’s fucking long.
But it’s rewarding. It’s almost like for me it’s like when you listen to Godflesh and Neurosis, it’s like that crushing heavy sound.
Yeah, man. It’s like my favorite bands, and my language was referencing those 2 bands.
All Out War is streaming “Nothing Left To Bleed,” off of their Dying Gods EP, out June 23, 2015 via Organzied Crime Recordshere. The band has a number of upcoming live dates confirmed.
May 22-24: Neumo’s (Rain Fest) – Seattle, WA Jun 20: the Loft – Poughkeepsie, NY (release show w/ Black Anvil, Sub Zero, Living Laser, Jagged Visions, Absolute Suffering, Dark Past, Internal Warfare) Jul 26: Electric Factory (This Is Hardcore) – Philadelphia, PA Aug 07: JZ St. Peter – Duisburg (DE) Aug 08: Still Cold Fest – Hannover (DE) Aug 09: Cassiopeia – Berlin (DE) Aug 10: Underworld – London (UK) Aug 11: Werk 21 – Zurich (CH) Aug 12: Molotov – Marseille (FR) Aug 13: La Mechanique Ondulatoire – Paris (FR) Aug 14-16: Motocultor Fest – Bretagne (FR) Aug 14-16: Ieperfest– Ieper (BE) Sep 04-09: Hearfest – Gatineau (QC)
Wisdom In Chains is streaming “Violent Americans,” off of The God Rhythm, out this summer via Fast Break! Records below. The music for The God Rhythm was recorded by Len Carmichael — drums and bass Trax East and guitars at Carmichael Sound — and the vocals recorded at Mountainside Studios by Rich Rescigno, and the album’s tattoo-style artwork by Chris Jones bears obvious and obfuscated meanings, which carry through the entire layout by Jonathan Buske.
The band has a string of live dates coming up.
May 17: Webster Hall – New York, NY (Black N’ Blue Bowl) Jun 27: Club Reverb – Reading, PA (Record Release Show) Jul 23: The Electric Factory – Philadelphia, PA (This Is Hardcore)
Dying Gods Track Listing: 01: Dying Gods 02: Vengeance Reigns Eternal 03: Nothing Left To Bleed 04: Servants To The Obsolete 05: Choking On Indifference 06: Arise 07: God Is Dead
The band has confirmed upcoming shows.
May 22-24: Neumo’s – Seattle, WA (Rain Fest) Jun 20: The Loft – Poughkeepsie, NY (release show w/ Black Anvil, Sub Zero, Living Laser, Jagged Visions, Absolute Suffering, Dark Past, Internal Warfare) Jul 26: Electric Factory – Philadelphia, PA (This Is Hardcore) Aug 07: JZ St. Peter – Duisburg (DE) Aug 08: Still Cold Fest – Hannover (DE) Aug 09: Cassiopeia – Berlin (DE) Aug 10: Underworld – London (UK) Aug 11: Werk 21 – Zurich (CH) Aug 12: Molotov – Marseille (FR) Aug 13: La Mechanique Ondulatoire – Paris (FR) Aug 14-16: Motocultor Fest – Bretagne (FR) Aug 14-16: Ieperfest – Ieper (BE) Sep 04-09: Hearfest – Gatineau, QC
Stroudsburg, PA powerhouse Wisdom In Chains has confirmed a string of upcoming shows in support of their upcoming fifth full length recording, out June 30, 2015 via Fast Break! Records.
Apr 11: The Foundry – Lakewood, OH (The Big Show) Apr 18: The Palladium – Worcester, MA (New England Metal & Hardcore Fest) May 16: Webster Hall – New York, NY (Black N’ Blue Bowl) Jul 23: The Electric Factory – Philadelphia, PA (This Is Hardcore)
