South By Southwest to Host to Sydney Event for The First Time This Fall


  

South by Southwest (SXSW), one of the most important music, tech, and culture events in the world has announced its expansion outside of North America, to Sydney Australia this fall. the festival will take place from October 15th to the 22nd, 2022.  More details for Sydney to come. The fest also announced dates for the 2023 event back in Austin as well. 

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EXCLUSIVE: Stonecutters Announce “An Image Carved In Time Tour”


Genre mashing Death Metal dealers Stonecutters have teamed with Ghost Cult today for the announcement of a new tour this spring! Included in the dates is a stop at South By Southwest (SXSW) and notable stops at The Riot Room in Kansas City, Vino’s in Little Rock, Wits End in Dallas, and Santos in New Orleans. The full list of tour dates is listed below. Stonecutters acclaimed Carved In Time album was released in 2018. Continue reading


Video: Deftones Joined By Bushwick Bill For Geto Boys Classic At SXSW


deftones and Bushwick Bill of Geto Boys ghostcultmag

Deftones played a free show on March 17th at South By Southwest, and performed a bit of Hip-Hop classic ‘My Mind’s Playing Tricks On Me’ by classic Gangsta Rap legends Geto Boys. Rapper Bushwick Bill of the band joined Deftones on stage for the track, which happened as an intro to ‘Digital Bath’. You can see a video of the track at this link or below:

deftones gore albumcover news ghostcultmag

Deftones kicked of their tour with their set at SBSW. Their new album Gore releases April 8th from Warner Brothers Records. They recently released a second single, the very heavy ‘Doomed User’.

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Deftones Add Additional Tour Dates, Presale Starts This Week


Deftones, photo credit Frank Maddocks

Deftones, photo credit Frank Maddocks

Deftones, whose new album Gore arrives April 8th (Warner Brothers), have announced more tour dates to their upcoming run of the USA engagements this spring . Starting May 8th near Charlotte, NC, this second leg of 14 dates will end May 28th gig in El Paso, TX. Ticket pre-sales begin starting Mar 4th at the Deftones’ official site. These dates cover special events, such as MusInk, Spin Magazine’s  South By Southwest (SXSW) showcase, and festivals such as Carolina Rebellion, The Shakey Knees Fest, and Rock on The Range.

deftones gore albumcover news ghostcultmag

Deftones Tour Dates

Mar 05: Musink Festival – Costa Mesa, CA

Mar 16: Never Say Never Festival – Mission, TX

Mar 18: SPIN Party at Stubb’s – Austin, TX

Mar 19: Lonestar Events Center – San Antonio, TX

Mar 20: South Side Ballroom – Dallas, TX

Mar 22: Revention Music Center – Houston, TX

Mar 24: Lonestar Pavilion – Lubbock, TX

May 08: Carolina Rebellion – Concord, NC

May 10: Minglewood Hall – Memphis, TN

May 11: Ryman Auditorium – Nashville, TN

May 13: Pompano Beach Amphitheatre – Pompano Beach, FL

May 14: House of Blues – Lake Buena Vista, FL

May 15: Shaky Knees Festival – Atlanta, GA

May 17: St. Augustine Amphitheatre – St. Augustine, FL

May 18: Orpheum Theatre – New Orleans, LA

May 20: Uptown Theatre – Kansas City, MO

May 21: KPNT Pointfest – Maryland Heights, MO

May 22: Rock on the Range – Columbus, OH

May 24: The District – Sioux Falls, SD

May 25: Cotillion Ballroom – Wichita, KS

May 26: Criterion Theater – Oklahoma City, OK

May 28: Neon Desert Festival – El Paso, TX

 

Pre-orders are live for Gore now:

 

 

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Video: Baroness Share Behind The Scenes Clip For New Album


baroness in the studio

Baroness has shared a video entitled Ultraviolet: Making Purple. You can watch the clip at this link or below:

 

Purple will be released on Dec 18th from their newly formed own label, Abraxan Hymns. The first track ‘Chlorine & Wine’ has already been released in the form of a video. You can see the video at this link or below:

Pre-orders are available now via this link: http://smarturl.it/dpurple. iTunes (http://smarturl.it/ipurple), Amazon (http://smarturl.it/apurple) and Google Play (http://smarturl.it/gpurple).

Baroness purple album artial reveal

Purple track listing:

1. Morningstar

2. Shock Me

3. Try to Disappear

4. Kerosene

5. Fugue

6. Chlorine & Wine

7. The Iron Bell

8. Desperation Burns

9. If I Have to Wake Up (Would You Stop the Rain)

10. Crossroads of Infinity

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Dates for the band’s forthcoming U.S. tour are listed below, tickets are on-sale now viawww.yourbaroness.com/tour.

Nov 27: Ace of Cups – Columbus, OH
Nov 28: Beat Kitchen – Chicago, IL (SOLD OUT)
Nov 29: Frequency – Madison, WI
Dec 01: The Demo – St. Louis, MO
Dec 02: Jackpot Music Hall – Lawrence, KS
Dec 04: 89th Street Collective – Oklahoma City, OK
Dec 05: Double Wide – Dallas, TX
Dec 06: Mohawk – Austin, TX
Dec 08: Rudyard’s – Houston, TX
Dec 09: Gasa Gasa – New Orleans, LA
Dec 11: 8-BIT Bar – Gainesville, FL
Dec 12 :The Jinx – Savannah, GA
Dec 13: The Earl – Atlanta, GA
Dec 15: Local 506 – Chapel Hill, NC
Dec 16: Strange Matter- Richmond, VA
Dec 18: Metro Gallery – Baltimore, MD (SOLD OUT)
Dec 19: Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA (SOLD OUT)
Dec 20:Saint Vitus Bar – Brooklyn, NY (SOLD OUT)

 

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Kosha Dillz On Networking On The Road


Kosha Dillz Live At Vans Warped Tour 2015

Kosha Dillz Live At Vans Warped Tour 2015

Kosha Dillz is one of the newest faces to make waves within the music scene in 2015, and his DIY approach at spreading his name out to the masses has made inroads with fans on various levels. His unique blend of hip hop music fusing English, Hebrew and Spanish lyrics has caught the attention of many new fans along the way on Vans Warped Tour this summer.

His name got out through blogging on various music tech sites such as Hypebot, discussing his experiences with promoting at and for shows and tours. His outlook on how to spread the word about his music has caught the attention of many readers, who eventually transitioned into becoming a fan of his music and even coming to see his performance at one of the Warped Tour stops.

Kosha Dillz Live At Vans Warped Tour 2015

Kosha Dillz Live At Vans Warped Tour 2015

I’m trying to stay active during this time on social media and stuff. I’m giving shout outs to other bands and just being part of it. That’s what I like about it – being part of the entire get up. They’ve got 70 bands on here. I meet a lot of kids who’re like ‘man you played? I didn’t know you played…I wish I saw you play. I want to get your music anyways.’

There are other kids that are like ‘I look up all the bands before I come.’ Other people are like ‘I come because it’s Warped Tour.’ It’s a good thing. It’s something that people go to and never look the bands up.

Prior to Warped Tour, he performed at South By Southwest in Austin, TX, and he shared his experiences and his thoughts on the ins and outs of promoting within such a large event.

Yeah South By Southwest – you play ten times for 20 people each time, or maybe 200, and another for 100. On this one you’re playing for 100 or 200, or you could be jumping on stage with a bunch of other people, free styling with other bands for 10 people. It’s the same thing except you’re on a bigger stage and you have your own tent and people you’re taking pictures with left and right. That’s such a really cool experience,” he said.

Kosha Dillz. Photo Credit: Amelia Burns (via Facebook)

Kosha Dillz. Photo Credit: Amelia Burns (via Facebook)

Back to Warped Tour, he adapted his past promotional tactics and his networking approaches and made it work with reaching unfamiliar attendees to checking out his music. Whether it was selling his CDs or simply talking to people about having his songs on a Warped Tour related CD compilation, he raised awareness of what he was doing and shared his experiences from this past summer.

It’s been cool to tell people you’re on the Warped Tour compilation. I’m autographing those. It’s a nice experience to be like ‘yo…I’m on the CD that everyone’s buying!’ I’m one of the last tracks to finish it off. It’s kind of an honor that the song I made with the guy after….what’s going to happen after 60,000 views on YouTube and now it’s on 100,000 CDs that you’re going to sell. How cool is that? So I get to show people pictures of these shows and they’re stacked. The shows are huge. How grateful should I be? It’s like a second or third chance I never got.

The thing is, when I got the call to do Warped Tour, I didn’t expect to get the call. I was working hard and I could hope. I put one foot forward saying it’s only show time and time again if you work hard and do it DIY that something steps up and appears and disappears. It’s nice to hear a lot of people say we deserve it, but also it’s up to me if I seize the moment and take advantage of this. That’s what Kevin [Lyman] mentioned to us.

kosha dillz 2

During his time on the Warped Tour, he got to experience a lot of new artists he was previously unfamiliar with and bonded with those he knew from before. He shared some of his personal discoveries amongst his touring mates.

Family Force 5 I think it is. They’re cool. I met them. Trace [Cyrus] from Metro Station – he’s a really humble dude. I like that they’re on the grind. Palisades – they’re my homies. They’re really dope. They’re from New Jersey. There’s a lot of New Jersey people. Candy Hearts are my friends. My homegirl Mariel [Loveland] – she’s dope. Le Castle Vania on the Beatport Stage, MC Lars, Koo Koo Kanga Roo – check them out. They’re amazing. Born Cages – I watched them play. New Beat Fund – they’re on Red Bull Records.

Riff Raff and Mod Sun are totally different. I love them both separately. I love their branding. I love the way they present their music, the colors and everything. There’s so much more. We live in LA. When’s the last time you’ve hung out with someone everyday for two months? I’m basically living with a bunch of people. I’ve never done that.

By Rei Nishimoto


Got Witches: One Eyed Doll


one eyed doll

There are very few artists who live and breathe music like One Eyed Doll. The one time Austin, Texas residents (now they live out of their touring vehicle) have roughed it on the road and cataloged over ten full length releases (on their own Nebulost Records) since their beginning in 2006.

The duo of vocalist/guitarist Kimberly Freeman and drummer Jason Rufuss “Junior” Sewell have been touring behind their latest release Witches (out now via Standby Records) and most recently ventured on their first full headlining tour across the United States.

Photo Credit: Rei Nishimoto

Photo Credit: Rei Nishimoto

Freeman admits that Witches came together by accident and was not originally planned. She explained how she was reading about the story behind the album and sparked her interest into creating an album about what she read about.

I just happened to read the story of a lady named Mary Esty, who was executed for witchcraft in 1692. It was pretty much new information to me besides from the fiction that I’ve seen. It was such a sad story. It was so interesting to me that I had to write a tribute for her. Her story needed a song and it was a dedication to her. It’s called ‘A Rope For Mary’ and I kept reading more and more about it, and the whole event surrounding her execution. I was inspired to keep writing more and more songs.

We weren’t out to write an album at this time. I just really had to write about this stuff when I read it. It was total inspiration from having read about the Salem Witch hysteria. It was interesting to me so I wrote about it. Then BLAMMO!…next thing we know, we have this whole concept album. The next album in line is going to have to wait because we’re going to put this thing out! We’re a little ahead of ourselves now.

Kimberly Freeman of One Eyed Doll. Photo Credit: Crystal Dean (via Faccbook)

Kimberly Freeman of One Eyed Doll. Photo Credit: Crystal Dean (via Faccbook)

The band self produced this album within a short period of time in a rehearsal studio they rented. Pushing aside another planned album they had ready for release, they decided that Witches was something they had to share with the world.

That was the one that was supposed to come out next but I accidentally wrote Witches…? I fell and wrote Witches. I busted my knee and it came out with all of the blood,” Freeman said, semi jokingly.

She wrote this whole album in the course of three or four days,” explained Sewell.

I was very inspired too. It came easy. We had been jamming this really cool acoustic music in the Redwoods and it sort of just worked. It translated really well to big wild epicness. We already had a lot of the music. It kind of worked out. We had all of these cool riffs and we had been jamming with banjos and mandolin and guitar, and it sort of worked. I had these melodies in my head when I was writing the lyrics. We weren’t trying to write an album. We jam and we write and we play when we feel like it. What we do for fun is bust out acoustic instruments,” said Freeman.

Photo Credit: Rei Nishimoto

Photo Credit: Rei Nishimoto

Sewell explained how despite the short period of time they spent to write this album, the songs came together somewhat quickly. The music and the themes behind each song blend together and created a vibe that told them story about the Salem Witches and the overall story.

If you listen close, there’s a real cohesive feel to this album. Because all of the songs were written in such a short period of time, it’s almost like we wrote one long song. The melodies translate throughout the album. One melody right in the beginning, there’s the church bells playing the melody and that end up being one of the acoustic riffs in ‘Remember’ and it ends up being a metal riff for the very last song ‘The Ghosts Of Gallows Hill.’ It’s all the same riff. A lot of the vocal melodies are the same way. Sometimes the vocal melody will be a guitar riff in a different song, or sometimes for example, in the song ‘Inflicted,’ there’s a synth solo. That’s actually a vocal melody from the bridge of ‘Witch Hunt.’ We really were inspired to make a cohesive thematic kind of album where everything you hear different parts of different songs throughout the whole thing, as if it’s one long song.

One Eyed Doll Witches_1500Cover1-400x400

One of the unique instruments used on this album was a banjo. One Eyed Doll has incorporated unusual instruments to create some of their darkest yet exciting sounds on the new album.

There’s banjo on three or four of the songs. There’s banjo in ‘Remember,’ ‘Stillness,’ I believe there’s banjo on ‘Prayer’…,” he said.

I think there might have been…it at least was written with banjo…I can’t remember if we went ahead and recorded it into it,” added Freeman.

Like they have demonstrated with Witches, One Eyed Doll is a creative machine when it comes to constantly producing music and ideas. They also find new ways to release their music, whether it is through a new album or digitally as a single.

If we have free time, we’re always making new music,” said Sewell.

Writing and playing music is what we do for fun. I get asked in these interviews ‘what are your hobbies when you’re not doing music?’ What else would I want to do?,” said Freeman.

Eat, sleep, breathe….play music of course,” said Sewell.

We’re constantly tinkering in the studio and writing,” added Freeman.

They have built a loyal following through their past tours and the word has spread like wildfire about their energetic live shows. While their audience has their personal favorite songs, Freeman admits that constructing a set list and including songs off of Witches can be challenging.

It’s so hard! It’s so hard to narrow it down, but there are some songs that are so fun to play together so we usually go for the funnest jam songs. We have some staples – I don’t think we can get away with playing a show without ‘Committed’ or ‘Be My Friend’ right now. There’s some that are fun to do live so you go with what feels the best to us. ‘Black In The Rye’ actually if we’re going to play one song from this album on this tour, this one is a blast to play live. So we’ll just do that.

Freeman’s vocal power is one of the band’s unique points, where her angelic vocals compliments her angst ridden screams during various songs. She shares her secrets behind how she takes care of her voice and if she has a regimen behind making it sound so powerful.

I basically do what feels comfortable. If it’s not comfortable I don’t do it. Like the RAHHHH parts that I do are comfortable for me. I don’t push myself hard enough at any point to like hurt.

I try to warm up a little bit for the show but I don’t have any specific tricks. I just drink lots of water, take my vitamins, eat my veggies, try to take as healthy as I can. Adrenaline carries me through a lot. I don’t specifically know how to do anything. I do what feels good and try not to torture myself.

Even Sewell, after being in this band with her for over nine years, has his own observations on how her voice sounds at different times.

I’ve been playing music with Kimberly for almost five and a half years now in the band, and even longer before that in the studio,” he said.

I’ve heard her voice change based on performing a lot and talking a lot, but to me it always even sounds better when it gets a little grit in there I’m like ‘oohhhh…it sounds cool.’ She can always still sound super awesome when you can tell she’s on the brink.

There’s only been the one time when she was like really deathly sick and actually lost her voice. We had to cancel the show,” he added.

It’s one of the few shows we’ve ever had to cancel. I couldn’t make anything come out. I got laryngitis,” admitted Freeman, about a rare show that they had to cancel.

Despite the setbacks, they got a little help from some friends in the audience who made it to the show the following night after they cancelled.

The next show we actually played it and it was a little rough in Pittsburgh after the show it was coming back,” said Sewell.

We had the fans sing along and they helped me out. I didn’t have to push it so hard that it hurt,” added Freeman.

Lastly, while One Eyed Doll has been living like road dogs, one of their highlighted moments was their recent return to Austin, TX’s South By Southwest, where they headlined the Heart of Texas Rock Festival, on a rainy Saturday evening during that week of festivities, and were joined on stage by a familiar face there.

“Something cool that happened on this tour was we hit South By Southwest with John Moyer from Disturbed,” explained Sewell.

He hopped on the stage for ‘Black In The Rye.’ We’ve been talking about jamming live together for years. We finally got to. He’s really a great bassist – such an awesome performer. The chemistry was so good,” added Freeman.

By Rei Nishimoto


Video: Baroness Announce Purple Album For December, New Animated Video


Baroness purple album artial reveal

Baroness has announced their long awaited new album, and the officially confirmed title of Purple will be released on December 18th from their newly formed own label, Abraxan Hymns. The first track ‘Chlorine & Wine’ has been released in the form of an animated video complete with classic John Baizley artwork reveal. You can see the video at this link or below:

 

John Baizley has commented on the album:

After releasing a lengthy and investigative record like Yellow & Green we all felt that we needed to make something much more direct and immediate. We wanted to write with our normal focus on artistry, balanced against an increased level of energy and focus. It was important for us to write our new songs with the type of enthusiasm and expressiveness that could act as a counterpoint to the album’s dark themes. As a result, the music came out in an intense, heavy and sonically captivating in a new way, which was important, loathe, as we are to fall into any kind of complacency pitfall or formulaic songwriting routine. Purple is the most fully realized representation of our intention as a band; considering the amount of physical and mental energy spent writing it, we have accomplished something which would have seemed impossible to us a couple of years ago.”

 

Baroness, photo credit Jimmy Hubbard

Baroness, photo credit Jimmy Hubbard

Produced by Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, MGMT) at Tarbox Road Studios, the band worked with Fridmann in the secluded town of Cassadaga, New York. Pre-order packages for Purple, which feature an instant grat download of ‘Chlorine & Wine’ as well as a limited edition colored vinyl version of the new album, two picture discs, t-shirts and other unique items, are available now via this link: http://smarturl.it/dpurple. iTunes (http://smarturl.it/ipurple), Amazon (http://smarturl.it/apurple) and Google Play (http://smarturl.it/gpurple) are also offering pre-orders as of today.

Purple track list:

1. Morningstar

2. Shock Me

3. Try to Disappear

4. Kerosene

5. Fugue

6. Chlorine & Wine

7. The Iron Bell

8. Desperation Burns

9. If I Have to Wake Up (Would You Stop the Rain)

10. Crossroads of Infinity

The band performs tomorrow at the Reading Festival and at the Leeds Festival on Sunday. North American tour dates are pending. The Purple will be the long awaited follow up to the critically acclaimed Yellow & Green (both Relapse) released in 2011. Less than a month after that album’s release the band was in a near fatal tour bus crash outside of Bath, England. The band resumed activities less than 8 months later with an appearance at South By Southwest in March of 2013 and has remained mostly on the road or in the studio ever since.

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Baroness To Reveal New Album Details Tomorrow


baroness purple

 

In a series of posts to their social networks, Baroness has announced they will reveal details of their next album, tomorrow on their website www.YourBaroness.com. The band has been teasing that new material was forthcoming all summer and using Purple as the color scheme, evoking a possible theme and name for the release. The album is due out later this year from their own record label Abraxan Hymns.

Tomorrow. YourBaroness.com

Posted by Baroness on Thursday, August 27, 2015

The “Purple” album will be the long awaited follow up to the critically acclaimed Yellow & Green (also Relapse) released in 2011. Less than a month after that album’s release the band was in a near fatal tour bus crash outside of Bath, England. The band resumed activities less than 8 months later with an appearance at South By Southwest in March of 2013 and has remained mostly on the road or in the studio ever since. The band is winding up a European tour ahead of the new release.

Baroness, Photo by Susanne A. Maathuis

Baroness, Photo by Susanne A. Maathuis

Baroness online

Baroness on Facebook

Baroness on Twitter

Baroness on Instagram