Exploding out of some cyberpunk world, Bangor, Maine Hard Rock three-piece Manic Abraxas have got their engines firing at full throttle, and on fourth album, Skinformation (Self-released), a petrol-fueled cloud of dirty Rock n’ Roll and skuzzy, mind-warped Metal sees the trio blasting a hole through the fabric of this universe into dimensions unknown.Continue reading
Tag Archives: Steve Austin
PODCAST: The Weekly Ritual Rock and Metal News Show Live 5-24-24
PODCAST: Episode 486 – Steve Austin (Today Is The Day) on His “Marked Cards And Loaded Dice” Album
Steve Austin is a name synonymous with underground metal. Through his three-decade-plus career with Today Is The Day, as well as his countless production credits on albums both genre-defining and extremely heavy, such as Deadguy, Converge, Unsane, former Dead Kennedys vocalist Jello Biafra, and Lamb Of God, Steve continues to help evolve the sound of metal. But through it all, Steve is still evolving himself as an artist too, as evidenced by his new project inspired by Classic Outlaw Country! Steve dropped his first single so far gone and his upcoming full-length album, “Marked Cards And Loaded Dice” has been announced, with more details to follow. Reviews editor Tom Osman is back to interview this legend about this new direction, his first gig in the books, and the myriad of other projects in the works, soon to be revealed.Continue reading
Steve Austin (Today Is The Day) Shares Studio Performance Video for “So Far Gone” – Solo Album Coming Soon
Steve Austin, the founding vocalist/guitarist for Today Is The Day and renowned engineer of Austin Enterprise studio, has started a new chapter, with his classic outlaw country/bluegrass act. Work is well underway on the first album from this solo project, Marked Cards And Loaded Dice, and a studio performance of the track “So Far Gone” has now surfaced. Catch the video of Austin and his band playing the song below, and find more information.
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Today Is The Day to Reissue Classics “Supernova” and “Today Is The Day” LPs on SuperNova Records in January
Following the release of their acclaimed No Good To Anyone LP, released through BMG in February of 2020, Today Is The Day founder Steve Austin used the downtime of the COVID-19 lockdowns to secure the rights to every one of the band’s albums, relaunching his SuperNova Records label. With the entire catalog now under one roof, the label reissued the band’s entire back-catalog digitally and began rolling out additional Today Is The Day recordings, rare gems, previously unreleased material, and more, and began repressing the catalog in updated physical incarnations, leading with last year’s reissue of the seminal 1994 album Willpower.
EP REVIEW: Portrayal of Guilt – Devil Music
On Devil Music (out now on Run For Cover Records) Austin, Texas three-piece Portrayal of Guilt up the ante with a thirty-minute barrage of inventively malevolent extreme metal, firmly achieving what they’ve hinted at on recent releases: greatness.
INTERVIEW: Jesse Matthewson of KEN Mode Discusses “Null”
Like a deadly, grizzled beast that lurks in the shadows, KEN Mode emerges every few years with a new record, tearing off limbs as it goes, before skulking back into its pit. With September 23rd seeing the release of Null, on Artoffact Records — the band’s eagerly anticipated follow-up to 2018’s Loved — founder and singer/guitarist Jesse Matthewson talks about the new record and what keeps the KEN Mode fires burning. Continue reading
Today Is The Day and Lazer/Wulf Announce North American Tour
Today Is The Day have announced an upcoming North American tour for April and May with Lazer/Wulf. This is their first shows since their nearly fatal van accident last November. They have also completed two new music videos for “Heathen” and “Animal Mother” from their tenth full length album Animal Mother, which was released in October via Southern Lord. The video for “Heathen” has been commissioned to Marcos Morales and Neil Barrett of Novel Concept TV (Primitive Man, etc.), and the visual depiction of the title track, “Animal Mother,” to David Hall of Handshake Inc. (Brutal Truth, Lae, Maryland Deathfest: The Movie), who also directed the band’s intense “Masada” video. View them below.
The current Today Is The Day lineup is completed by bassist Trevor Thomas, drummer Douglas Andrae, and founding guitarist/vocalist, Steve Austin.
Apr 24: Space – Portland, ME
Apr 25: Cambridge Elks Lodge – Boston, MA
Apr 26: Coco 66 – Brooklyn, NY (= no Lazer/Wulf)
Apr 27: Kung Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA
Apr 28: Cafe 611 – Frederick, MD
Apr 29: Strange Matter – Richmond, VA
May 01: Hideaway – Johnson City, TN
May 02: New Mountain – Asheville, NC
May 03: Siberia – New Orleans, LA (= no Lazer/Wulf)
May 05: Fitzgeralds – Houston, TX (= no Lazer/Wulf)
May 06: Lost Well – Austin, TX (= no Lazer/Wulf)
May 07: Doublewide – Dallas, TX
May 08: Sister – Albuquerque, NM
May 09: Pub Rock – Tempe, AZ
May 10: Complex – Los Angeles, CA
May 11: Opera House – Oakland, CA
May 12: Dantes – Portland, OR
May 13: El Corazon – Seattle, WA
May 14: Rickshaw – Vancouver, BC
May 15: The Pin – Spokane, WA
May 18: Larimer Lounge – Denver, CO
May 19: Record Bar – Kansas City, MO
May 20: Nether Bar – Minneapolis, MN
May 21: Double Door – Chicago, IL
May 22: Outpost – Kent, OH
May 23: The Shop – Pittsburgh, PA
May 24: Bug Jar – Rochester, NY
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LAE Streaming Break The Clasp
LAE is streaming their new album Break The Clasp here. The album, out now via The Compound and Battleground Records, was recorded at a woodshop in Montreal by Today Is The Day and Austin Enterprises founder, Steve Austin (also band vocalist), and mastered at Austin Enterprises. Artwork was done by Sonny Kay (The VSS, Angel Hair, Gold Standard Laboratories label) and a layout by Kay and Dave Brenner.
Originally performing as Lae-Tseu, they began performing in the mid-1990s until going through a retransformation in mid-2013, bringing in Austin to record at Marc Lucas Ablasou wood shop and utilizing accordion, trumpet, saws, organs, pianos, and electronics to capture analog onto its debut album. LAE also features Ronald Jean-Gilles, Serge Nakauchi Pelletier, and Stephane Desgroseilliers.
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Today Is the Day Involved In Van Accident
According to Today Is The Day’s Facebook Page, band vocalist/mastermind Steve Austin was involved in an auto accident, en route to the first date of the tour they were about to start. Fortunately no one was severely injured and everyone in the band is apparently alright. He posted the following statement below:
At 9:30 PM last night while driving to New York to meet up with our Drummer, our van was struck by an out of control car that had collided with another car. My dear friend and TITD merch man Trevor and I had just left my home in Orland, Maine after a 4 day Thanksgiving break in between tours. We had just completed 50 + Shows since October 7th, both Headlining and Main Support for EYEHATEGOD. Our band was set to play 23 more shows starting tonight in Pittsburgh.
We had been driving for 4 hours and had just crossed into Massachusetts.
Suddenly, Trevor said Look Out! I looked towards the passenger window and saw a car heading in a straight line for the side of our 15 Passenger Van. The car was within 3 feet when he saw it and it nailed us perfectly in the side spinning us around 180 Degrees, followed by flipping the Van UPSIDE DOWN. Trevor and I were thrown super hard inside the Van with Glass bursting all around us, hot transmission fluid pouring down and sparks flying everywhere as the Van was sliding backwards and upside down the Middle of I-495 interstate. I truly felt at that moment that I was going to die.
When we came to a stop, I held on tight and waited thinking the next thing that would happen would be a car finishing us off and slamming right into us. I screamed to Trevor to get out of the van immediately for fear that it would catch on fire and explode. We crawled through the Driver and Passenger windows worried that oncoming traffic would hit us. Once out, we made our way to the guard rail. Disoriented and in Shock I was emotionless.
In one terrible second:
#1 New van was completely Destroyed.
#2 Equipment was Destroyed.
#3 Merch was destroyed
#4 Tour cancelled.EMT’s arrived and Fire Dept. They took me and Trevor by ambulance to the hospital. Cat Scans, X-Rays and Morphine was given. My left arm was cut up by broken glass and the left side of my body was badly beaten and bashed on. We stayed in the hospital for 8 Hours and were finally released early this morning. When we got out the room we had reserved was gone and we spent another hour trying to find shelter and a place to regroup.
It goes without saying that It was Truly a Miracle that he and I were not killed yesterday. Fuck Black Friday and all that it stands for. People had been driving wildly going from store to store to save $10 bucks in the name of xmas. The capper was that the 2 cars that had collided were full of liars that would not admit they were the ones who hit us even though the police can paint match who did.
I am beaten and bruised and recovering. With the help of my friend Aarne Victorine that plays in UXO with me and his friend, we were able to pry open the back door with a winch to be able to get our broken stuff out of the van a few hours ago and rent a U-Haul to be able to get what’s left home.
I am devastated and still in shock since this happened. I am extremely sorry to the fans in the towns that we were supposed to play in over the next few weeks. If we weren’t injured so badly, I would have still wanted to try to make it to you some how. But for now, I am a father with 2 kids, wife and 2 dogs trying to figure out how to move forward after losing everything yesterday. I just want to let everyone know, that Trevor and I will be ok. It will take some time. Mentally, it was just way to heavy to deal with and we will need some space and time to try to make sense of what just happened.
I leave for home in the morning and will begin to pick up the pieces after I get to feeling better and can physically address the things going on.
Take care of yourselves out there during these holidays. People are careless and drive crazy during this time of year and no matter how careful you are, the other drivers can take your life in a second. I am thankful to be alive right now and can’t wait to be with my family. Again, don’t worry. If what happened yesterday didn’t kill me, I don’t know what could. Love and Peace to everyone. If you don’t hear from me, for a while it is because I am just trying to get myself back together.