After many years of covering Riot Fest at Ghost Cult, your intrepid chief of editor got to experience it for himself. The lineup was too good to be true, even the competition from the many Punk and Metal festivals all happening around the same time in the USA. Having personally covered one other festival in Chicago in the past, (RIP Chicago Open Air), I was excited to spend some time here.
Chino Moreno has never been shy at exploring his mellower side away from Deftones, and over the years has dipped into the Post-Rock, Shoegaze and Trip-Hop genres providing us with some highly refined music by way of projects such as Team Sleep and Palms, his collaboration with three former members of Post-Metal kings Isis. Continue reading
Do you like to dress in black? Do you prefer a solitary pint of cider in the back of a smoky bar? (the smoky part might be hard to fashion in this day and age) Do you favour wearing a trenchcoat? Do you feel in a state of perpetual ennui? Maybe you are a Berliner! Or perhaps you’re a member of a Darkwave band… maybe both!
Riot Fest 2023 has previously announced their stellar lineup with Foo Fighters, The Postal Service, Death Cab For Cutie, The Cure, Queens of the Stone Age, Turnstile, with The Mars Volta, Mr. Bungle, Tegan and Sara, 100 Gecs, The Gaslight Anthem, AFI, Death Grips, The Used, The Dresden Dolls, Say Anything, 070 Shake, The Breeders, Kim Gordon, Viagra Boys, Pup, Sleep Token, The Interrupters, Flogging Molly, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, Pennywise, Bayside, Ani DiFranco, Finch, Silverstein, Insane Clown Posse, Head Automatica, Parliament Funkadelic Ft. George Clinton, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, L.S. Dunes, Gorilla Biscuits, Ride, Cults, Nothing Nowhere., Code Orange, White Reaper, Balance and Composure, Fake Names, Eshu Tune, Quicksand, Enter Shikari, The Wrecks, Thursday, Hawthorne Heights, Bowling For Soup, Braid, H20, Spitafield, Jehnny Beth, Drain, Snapcase, The Bronx, Microwave, Oso Oso, Origami Angel, The Exploited, Plosivs, Steve Ignorant Band / Crass, Black Angels, Yard Act, Warpaint, Nothing, Screaming Females, High Vis, Rival Schools, Caroline Rose, Sludgeworth, Free Throw, Just Mustard, Hotline TNT, Quasi, Corey Feldman, Just Friends, Bearings, Pinkshift, Olivia Jean, Calva Louise, The Aquadolls, Enola Gay, Earth Crisis, Empire State Bastard, Cassyette, FEA, Fleshwater, The Bobby Lees, Pool Kids, Young Culture, Fade ‘Em All, CK Vassi, and Total Chaos. Tickets are on sale now and the fest just announced their daily schedule!
Ah, another month, another Hardcore record, and this time it’s the turn of West Springfield, Massachusetts crew Restraining Order.
I don’t want to speak too early or jinx anything, but this Heavy Metal idea has been in a resurgence as of late. Bear in mind that a lot of the old promotional tools have been inactive for years. MTV lost its ass and stopped using the first letter of its acronym long ago and whatever is left of commercial rock radio is perfectly content to spin the same Stone Temple Pilots singles until the sun or Clear Channel finally burn out. Yet here we are in the age of streaming and shortened attention spans with several young acts making headway. Continue reading
Riot Fest 2023 has announced their lineup and it’s a banger, easily the heaviest and most throwback lineup to 1990s and 2000s bands in recent memory. Headliners include, Foo Fighters, The Postal Service, Death Cab For Cutie, The Cure, Queens of the Stone Age, Turnstile, with The Mars Volta, Mr. Bungle, Tegan and Sara, 100 Gecs, The Gaslight Anthem, AFI, Death Grips, The Used, The Dresden Dolls, Say Anything, 070 Shake, The Breeders, Kim Gordon, Viagra Boys, Pup, Sleep Token, The Interrupters, Flogging Molly, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, Pennywise, Bayside, Ani DiFranco, Finch, Silverstein, Insane Clown Posse, Head Automatica, Parliament Funkadelic Ft. George Clinton, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, L.S. Dunes, Gorilla Biscuits, Ride, Cults, Nothing Nowhere., Code Orange, White Reaper, Balance and Composure, Fake Names, Eshu Tune, Quicksand, Enter Shikari, The Wrecks, Thursday, Hawthorne Heights, Bowling For Soup, Braid, H20, Spitafield, Jehnny Beth, Drain, Snapcase, The Bronx, Microwave, Oso Oso, Origami Angel, The Exploited, Plosivs, Steve Ignorant Band / Crass, Black Angels, Yard Act, Warpaint, Nothing, Screaming Females, High Vis, Rival Schools, Caroline Rose, Sludgeworth, Free Throw, Just Mustard, Hotline TNT, Quasi, Corey Feldman, Just Friends, Bearings, Pinkshift, Olivia Jean, Calva Louise, The Aquadolls, Enola Gay, Earth Crisis, Empire State Bastard, Cassyette, FEA, Fleshwater, The Bobby Lees, Pool Kids, Young Culture, Fade ‘Em All, CK Vassi, and Total Chaos. Tickets are on sale now!
Hailing from Newport, Wales, noir pop and alternative rock quartet The Nightmares reveal their bleak yet breezy souls with their debut album, Séance, via Venn and Equal Vision Records. The record’s themes of death were inspired by the COVID pandemic putting a hold on the band’s touring plans, leading to experiments with seances during the writing process. As one could imagine, the mental and spiritual outcomes of this paid a great contribution to the music’s morbid concepts and haunting execution.
Steeped in Nordic mythology, France’s Skáld draw extensively on traditional folk music and employ the Old Norse language for many of their lyrics. Huldufólk (Decca / Universal Music) is the group’s fourth full-length release and is themed around the subject of its title: huldufólk, or “hidden people” is the name given to the mythical beings — elves, dwarves, trolls — that populate Nordic folklore. Moreover, according to the press release accompanying this record, the work honours “an entire people in whom many Scandinavians still believe”.
Ghost Cult caught up with Billy Howerdel (also of a perfect circle) to discuss his new solo album – What Normal Was (Alchemy Records, Rise Records, BMG). Billy discusses his career up to now, the choice to use his own name instead of Ashes Divide, letting his 1980s influences fly on the new album, his upcoming tour dates, and some plans for a perfect circle too. Continue reading