Escuela Grind announces a spring North American headlining tour in support of its celebrated new LP Memory Theater. The three-week trek will kick off on March 29 in Montreal, Québec, and runs through April 16 in Morgantown, WV, featuring support from Massachusetts’ Bonginator. The run will also include an Escuela Grind performance at the 2023 Decibel Metal & Beer Fest, where the group will share the stage with Suicidal Tendencies, Incantation, and more.
“Who’s ready to be ripped apart by endless hooks?! Touring Europe with Napalm Death is killer but we are also very stoked to be back in the States next month doing what we love,” says the band. “It’s going to be rad bringing Bonginator along for the ride too. See you out there. SKREEEEEE!”
Escuela Grind’s ‘Memory Theater’ LP was released last September via MNRK Heavy (High on Fire, Crowbar) and features nine tracks of sharp, scorching underground music that rages and rips in equal measure. ‘Memory Theater’ is seven minutes shorter than Slayer’s ‘Reign in Blood’, but with a few songs running past the three-minute mark, it’s downright epic by grindcore norms. The album met to scads of fan and critical acclaim, and landed on oodles of year-end ‘best of’ lists, while being extolled as “invigorating” by Revolver, “incredible” by Bandcamp Daily, and “a giddy rush of nonstop thrills” by Treble, while SPIN opined, “For sheer galvanizing rage, no other heavy album this year matched ‘Memory Theater.” ‘Memory Theater’ is available for purchase at this location.
“On the new LP, we wanted a fantastical architectural theme, as the Memory Theater is meant to symbolize this internal building, composed of infinitely-expanding, constructed rooms,” said vocalist Katerina Economou. “We wanted the artwork to show that each song is a ‘room’ within the mind. And each room contains symbolic objects of all ideas. Sound-wise, we realized how important the physical aspect of our live performances is, and how we wanted our riffs and grooves to make people move. We demoed and composed these songs multiple times to get them exactly the way we wanted them.”
Escuela Grind U.S. tour dates
March 29 Montreal, QC Foufounes Lounge
March 30 Ottawa, ON Café Dekuf
March 31 Toronto, ON Hard Luck
April 1 Detroit, MI Sanctuary
April 2 Chicago, IL Cobra Lounge
April 3 Indianapolis, IN Black Circle
April 5 Atlanta, GA Boggs
April 6 Chattanooga, TN The Dark Grind
April 7 Richmond, VA Another Round
April 8 Savannah, GA Sentient Bean
April 9 Tampa, FL Orpheum
April 10 Miami, FL Gramps
April 11 Orlando, FL Conduit
April 12 Columbia, SC New Brookland Tavern
April 13 Wilmington, NC Reggies
April 14 TBA
April 15 Philadelphia, PA The Fillmore (as part of Decibel Metal & Beer Fest)
April 16 Morgantown, WV 123 Pleasant St.
Escuela Grind is available to speak with interested media. To chat with the band and/or attend a live performance, simply contact Carl Schultz at Action! Public Relations.
Escuela Grind “Forced Collective Introspection” (Official Music Video)
While its music might be intimidating on first listen, the overwhelming spirit behind Escuela Grind is a message of empowerment. As it destroys musical boundaries, the quartet attacks the idea of “gatekeeping” with equal ferocity. Anytime Katerina Economou, Jesse Fuentes (drums), Kris Morash (guitar), and Tom Sifuentes (bass) convene, an aural apocalypse will ensue. Escuela Grind stitches together a new metallic hardcore monster from the rotten corpses of grindcore and power violence with gleefully unhinged blasts of percussive bombast and chaos. An architect by trade, Economou explores philosophy, politics, and experiential experimentation, building a kind of structure amidst the band’s musical cacophony.
Escuela Grind released a video for the song, “Forced Collective Introspection”. Directed by Michael Jari Davidson (Alice in Chains), the barn-burning clip is an ode to the 1971 science fiction film, THX 1138, a work of sociological commentary set in a dystopian world where individuality and love are forbidden. The clip debuted via Knotfest which surmised, “Escuela Grind manage to incorporate social commentary in their brand without soapboxing, weaponizing their powerviolence in a way that is compelling in meaning and commanding in execution.” Stream Escuela Grind’s “Forced Collective Introspection” video at this location.
‘Memory Theater’ track listing:
1.) Endowed With Windows
2.) My Heart, My Hands
3.) Cliffhanger (stream VIDEO)
4.) Strange Creature
5.) Faulty Blueprints
6.) All Is Forgiven (stream VIDEO)
7.) Forced Collective Introspection (stream VIDEO)
8.) The Feed
9.) Memory Theater