Read the interview after the Jump.

Your first record, Farmer's Almanac (Forgotten Empire Records) came out and earned East of the Wall a decent reputation in the instrumental music scene.  Two years later, the full-length followup, Ressentiment, was something of a departure.  I loved it, but when we talked at the show with Rosetta, Fight Amp and Kylesa, you told me that there was a mixed reception. Can you tell me  little more about that?

I mean, there is a certain segment of people who were into The Farmer's Almanac and were a little put off by the fact that there were vocals on [Ressentiment], but I mean the way we look at it, we always try to react to the last record we wrote and after doing an instrumental record, we wanted to bring a different element into the sound, so that was just the natural progression of the band.  I think most people were on board with it. There were a few who weren't psyched but hopefully, people will come along for the ride with us when we change it up, you know? Sometimes it won't work out like that, but we're generally really happy with the way the record was received.

With that change, are you going to be going in a new direction again on your third record, The Apologist?

In terms of the vocals, it's going to be more like a half and half split; about half of the songs are instrumentals, a quarter have a little tiny bit of vocals on them in little parts here and there, like some of the stuff you heard tonight and there are some songs that are more covered by vocals like Ressentiment was.  In regard to the sound itself, it's not as discordant of a record; you know what I mean? There was a lot of amelodic stuff on Ressentiment and there's still a hint of that in what we're doing on The Apologist, but it's not as front-and-center to the sound as it was on the first record.  It's still a very heavy record, but it is heavy in a different way than Ressentiment was.You're going to record in Brooklyn on May 8th?

Yeah, it's either May 8th or may 9th, we're loading into Translator Audio with Andrew Schneider, who's done just a million great records.  He's done Cave In, he’s done Keelhaul, he did the last Rosetta record, the last City of Ships record, Made out of Babies, the dude’s done a million records that sound great by really rad bands and we’re really fucking excited to be working with him.  It’s like a dream come true for me.  He’s one of those guys who, any record he’s done, I can just pop it in and it just sounds amazing, so I’m really proud that we’re going to get to work with him.

Empty Days

Defeater's new record, Empty Days & Sleepless Nights is, perhaps the most highly anticipated hardcore record of Spring 2011.  This release, on Bridge9 records is a follow-up to the critically acclaimed Lost Ground EP and something of a partner record to Defeater's debut full-length, Travels.

At first listen, it is obvious that the band has progressed musically.  This record is more overtly somber, lacking many of the Verse-like qualities that their previous efforts have displayed.  There are more melodies in the guitar and although Defeater has never been a very typical band, they have further rejected the normally accepted styles of hardcore on this record.

More after the jump.

This album is truly impressive, though I would expect nothing less from Defeater at this point.  Defeater have forged a career on making musically powerful, and lyrically unsettling records which play out more like novellas than albums.   Empty Days & Sleepless Nights is no less spectacular or sobering than the records that preceded it and makes for an incredible sophomore attempt.

Lyrically, it is exactly as expected of Defeater: a beautifully written narrative, involving violence, alcohol, drugs and family conflict.  Empty Days & Sleepless Nights tells the story of the main character of Travels' older brother as he deals with the mess that has become of his family, father slain by his brother, mother strung out on heroin and the mountain of debt his father leaves behind.  He meets the love of his life and marries and as the story progresses and concludes, it's both dramatic and cathartic.  It would be a shame to gloss over the lyrical content, but any further description would only understate the fact: the liner notes are as vital to the first listening of this record as speakers and ears.

The elements that set Defeater apart, and likewise, the things that fans enjoy are ever-present, but the storytelling has evolved with the music and the result is spectacular.  Empty Days is a near perfect display of originality in hardcore: marvelously planned and beautifully executed.

Recent Deathwish Inc. Signees, Touché Amoré have been busy little bees recently.  With the announcement of a new full-length, Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me, a US tour in support of Title Fight, South By Southwest and... ok, maybe they haven't been much busier than most other bands out there, but they sure haven't been lazing about.

If you're following TA vocalist, Jeremy Bolm, Deathwish Inc. or Fuckyeahthewave on Tumblr, this isn't new news, but if you're one of those "I just don't get Tumblr" people, Bolm has been posting lyrics to the new album one at a time on his Tumblelog.  Definitely worth checking out.

Lyrics and video after the jump.

Look for Touché Amoré on tour with Title Fight in May and June and on Krazy Fest 2011 in Kentucky.  La Dispute will be there as well.

As far as 3-day festivals go, there are a bunch and they all have a few really good bands on them, but the weekend of May 21 will be quite legendary.  Louisville, Kentucky is home to Krazy Fest, a 3-day hardcore and punk rock festival that pulls no punches.  Sure, it doesn't have the clout that Coachella has, or the brutality of the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, but this is a wet dream for any fans of underground hardcore.  Every band in The Wave will be in attendance, This is Hell, Former Thieves, Title Fight, 7Seconds, Frontier(s), Cave In, Coalesce, and so many other great bands will be playing.

The best part is that a 3-day pass is just $75... no, wait, the best part is that there won't be any of that Attack Attack/Vanna-type bullshit there, the second-best part is that a 3-day pass is just $75.  I'm tempted to say that there won't be any Warped Tour fluff either, but Anti-Flag will be playing.  Here's hoping that I'll get to go.

Follow them on Facebook or on Twitter.

This will be Title Fight's first headlining tour.  Shed is Title Fight's first release on SideOneDummy Records, following their signing to the label in January of this year; it is also their first full-length, making this a spring of firsts for Title Fight.  Don't be that guy, don't miss out.

Dates after the jump

The art and tracklist for Shed were announced earlier this month, along with a free download of "27" on Title Fight's tumblr.  It is worth checking out even if you're not already a fan.

"We wanted to try out a song that’s a little different for everyone to hear right off the bat so here is “27”. Don’t worry, there are still plenty of fast songs on the record. This one just stuck out for us."

Look for the album May 3rd, 2011 and see them on tour with Touché Amoré, The Menzingers, and Dead End Path (with Shook Ones on the West Coast, though it's kind of a bummer that they're not going to be on the whole thing) May 19th through June 25th.

Defeater's been in the studio for a minute now, and today Bridge 9 released a bulletin announcing the title and tracklist for their new Double LP.  I want to talk about how excited I am to have some new Defeater in my life, but I am only capable of understating the fact.

Defeater's new record is a dual LP called :

Empty Days & Sleepless Nights

Empty Days:
1. Warm Blood Rush
2. Dear Father
3. Waves Crash, Clouds Roll
4. Empty Glass
5. No Kind of Home
6. White Knuckles
7. Cemetery Walls
8. Quiet the Longing
9. At Peace
10. White Oak Doors

Jay Maas has guaranteed that Empty Days will have nothing but "incredibly dynamic and huge-sounding melodic hardcore songs." and I can't get mad at that.

Sleepless  Nights:
1. But Breathing
2. Brothers
3. I Don't Mind
4. Headstone

These are all acoustic tracks, a la "Prophet in Plain Clothes." I'm sure some hardcore kids won't be happy about it, but if there's one thing you should know, it's to have faith in (producer/guitarist) Jay Maas.  Quite the perfectionist and fully in control; he'd sooner die than release a sub-par Defeater record and although some of my friends thought the acoustic track was out of place, I was a little sad that there wasn't one on Lost Ground.

Empty Days & Sleepless Nights goes back to the family from Travels and tells the story from the older brother's perspective.  There's no telling if you'd have to hear the first one to understand what's going on in this record, but if there's one thing that Defeater can do, it's spin a great story, but if you've read the lyrics, specifically "Debts," then you know how it ends.  If you haven't, then SPOILER ALERT: he dies in this one, but even knowing that, I am still excited to see what's in store with this new record because Defeater has developed a reputation for telling amazing stories through their songs.  I expect nothing less from Empty Days & Sleepless Nights. Look for it on March 8, 2011 on the Bridge 9 estore.

You plus-one more people than you draw to a show... I mean, really guys?

I went to a concert a while back, where Come What May was playing on tour.  The headliner at the show was a band called Wysteria.  I had heard of them before, but didn't think they were all that.  I didn't think they were a joke, but I sure wasn't into them.  The show was at a good-sized venue, one of my favorite venues, in fact: H2O in Orlando, FL.  It's actually a huge venue, and has great lights and audio.  I think it would be an ideal location for a music video shoot and I'm told that a lot of people shoot live videos there.

A band that shoots a music video at their live show would hype it, right?  Bring out as many people as they possibly can, so the video can have crowd shots and the like, right?  When I think of a live promo, I think of something like this:

... but Wysteria must have had another idea in mind. There were fewer than 10 people in the audience of this 300 capacity venue. There were people there to see the other bands on the bill, but they had all scurried off to the lounge areas, instead leaving the stage more crowded than the floor.

So many camera people that I couldn't even get all of them in one shot.

4 full stacks were brought out to amplify the one guitarist, 2 8x10 cabs for the terrible bassist (all of which, we discovered, was rented just for the show) and 4 camera people were there on stage, blocking the view and catching all of the "action."

Their set was garbage and sloppy and it was clear that they were playing for the cameras and not the 3 people paying attention, but after filming the entire set, the videographers were able to put together 1 whole minute of footage for the Wysteria Live Promo and it looks really good. The Result:

I remember in high school watching a video about Coheed and Cambria and hearing them talk about playing shows where there were more people on the stage than there were in the crowd.  They said that even though that's a disheartening experience, they would play as hard as they could, so that those 3 people watching would be able to go home having seen a great performance... or something like that.  I don't think that this was what they meant though.  I don't think I'll ever be able to take Wysteria seriously.

My Chemical Romance have a new record coming out, entitled, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys and when I first heard about it, it was exciting news until I remembered how God-awful The Black Parade was.  When I finally heard their new single, NA Na NA, a wave of nostalgia hit me as I thought about the days when I was a kid, listening to My Chemical Romance (yes, I know I'm young) and I am so excited about the new record that I cannot contain myself.  I listen to Na Na Na when I wake up,  on repeat when I'm on the train, and even when I'm at work, I sneak out to the back to get a quick fix of that new track.  I'm hooked.

As a die-hard fan of underground music and counter culture, I hate a lot of records.  Every now and then I wonder if I hate some records simply because they’re mainstream and not because they’re shitty.  The Black Parade was one of them.  Released to general acclaim from the likes of Alternative Press and other such “underground” (read: teeny pop pandering to the Warped Tour, too-cool-to-be-pop crowd) publications, The Black Parade was a record that I wanted to enjoy so dearly, but couldn’t bring myself to get all the way through.  I wasn’t sure if it was just “too mainstream” or if I genuinely didn’t like it.

I remember when I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love came out, my friend, Ben and I used to listen to it saying “this’ll never go mainstream…” same with Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, “…but something about that 5^th track seems like a radio single.” Perhaps I was just mad that the band that I thought was always going to be my little secret blew up into something I couldn’t keep to myself, but no matter how hard I tried, I never got to liking The Black Parade.

I had stopped listening to MCR quite a few years ago, relegating them to the "I liked them in high school" list,  but I was reading on SPIN.com the other day that they were cutting a new record and I got really excited (then hesitant, then excited again).  I was ready to mark my calendar down for the November 22 release of Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (though, I won’t lie, I was a little miffed that it sounds so much like a Coheed album title).  I had high hopes for the new My Chemical Romance record, and I’ll be damned if it sucked, I would MAKE myself like it.

I was at work and I got a text message from an old friend of mine about the new MCR video, NA NA Na, which debuted today (Thursday, October 14).  He said that he knew I’d like it because I “like lame-as-shit things” and fuck him, cuz he’s right.  I had a blast watching the video and I only got to watch half of it before my mind blew all over my keyboard (you're reading the result).  It’s not at all what MCR was up to on I Brought You My Bullets, but it’s new and it’s cool; upbeat and playful.  My Chemical Romance have made the perfect single to announce their return from The Black Parade: a killer punk rock song that’s not like anything I can think of.  It’s a great track and what’s more, Na Na Na is genuinely fun; something you can’t say about a lot of bands these days.  KUDOS, My Chemical Romance, this is what I’ve been waiting for for the last 6 years.  I just hope you deliver when this record comes out.

On another note… really, the same note: I really hope that the video for “Na Na Na” is the first part of a serial.  All the Power Rangers action, shitty acting and comic book editing really caught my attention.  Nick tells me it’s 50’s post apocalyptic garbage and I’m inclined to agree and add on “… but isn’t it awesome?!?”

I’m sure I’ll lose some Scred with my readers, but look; y’all gotta understand, I grew up on this.  If not for Coheed and My Chemical Romance and Senses Fail, I wouldn’t be into hardcore one bit.  I gotta show love and with songs like this, My Chemical Romance deserve more love than I think I can give.  Even if you’re not a fan, give Na Na Na a listen and come break my kneecaps if it doesn’t make you smile.

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that a lot of good southern bands are really from the north.  You’ve got Every Time I Die, A Life Once Lost, and all these other “Southern” bands; you guys are from New York, how do you fit into the southern thing?

I don’t think that location determines what sound comes out of the writing.  That’s not what we’re influenced by.  We have a really broad background.  Josh and I grew up on hardcore punk rock, the old school stuff, and I think it shines through a little bit in our music and we also have a lot of classic rock influence and southern rock and blues, so it’s really a combination of metal, blues and southern rock and we’re not afraid to throw a breakdown in every once and a while.

Tell me about your new album.

We have a new record out August 17.  It’s called Gypsy Circus and the Southern Wind and it’s kind of a split album.  The first half is all of our more metal, hard rock stuff and the second half is more of our blues and southern rock, it’s a little more soulful.  It’s not really a concept album, but there are two sides of the band and we wanted to capture that on one CD.  It’s not separated, but it will appeal to both sides of our fanbase.  We’ve noticed that different kids like us for different things.  We’ve got hardcore kids and some metal heads that like our band, and they like us for our heavier stuff, but we’ve also got some classic rock fans and even some older people who like our older stuff so it’s split that way.

And these two sides of the band, do they both come out in the live set?

Not out here.  We intentionally kept only our heavier stuff just because this is that kind of a tour.  When we do a venue tour, we try to mix it up a little more and to bring out a more well-rounded rock show.  There’s a lot of room in rock music for fans to be into a lot of stuff.  You find fewer narrow-minded fans in that genre and people are open to letting you slow it down and smooth it out a little bit and then also rock your face off and we try to bring all of that.

Have you guys done any big tours before warped tour this year?

We did Warped Tour last year.  We had just formed and we put out a record on Eulogy Recordings and it was our very first tour and we’re back again this year.  It went well, we got a lot of love, especially here in the south.

What are you doing after this tour.

We’ll probably be touring to support Gypsy Circus and the Southern Wind because it comes out August 17.  Nothing is set in stone yet, but we are definitely going to try to go down to the south again because we love it down here and we think that people love us down here a little more than in the north.

So they're not so hot on you in The North?

No, It's alright, but we're just better received down here.  We're really close to New York and it's a lot of Brooklyn hipsters and who's got the tightest pants and that kind of thing, so [although] we're pretty well received in our own area, and it's been good across the board, it's just the south seems to give us a little bit more love.  It may have something to do with the southern rock influence.

So What time are y'all playing?

We already played.  We opened today.

We played the opener today and I had every technical difficulty in the book but we pulled it off and we had a good time and the people were great and it's always nice to see people come back from last year and it's nice to see them sing along a bit.

Deathwish Live Series 01: Blacklisted Live on WERS

Blacklisted is one of my favorite bands on the Deathwish Inc. roster.  Again, I won't lie like I'm die-hard, I haven't gotten the chance to buy any of their records from before Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God but that album and No One Deserves to Be Here More Than Me are some of the darkest, most incredible hardcore albums I've ever owned.
Blacklisted Live on WERS is a 16 minute set from 2006.  It has some songs from their 2005 record, The Beat Goes On as well as their (at the time, upcoming) Peace on Earth, War on Stage 7" and although these recordings are of older songs, the guys were damn good back then and you can see how they developed their style.  Before they play "Eye for an Improv" ("Eye for an Eye" on their split with First Blood), vocalist, George Hirsch says "... and I don't feel like screaming, so I'm gonna sing" and then you really hear the Heavier Than Heaven sound.  Without droning on, I'll just say: I'm impressed.  It's a great record; one that I would have gladly paid for.

Deathwish Live Series 02: Converge Live at the Triple Rock Social Club

This show was recorded in Minneapolis, 5 years ago today (well, yesterday, by the time this posts) and although it features mainly songs off records I couldn't ever get into (You Fail Me and Jane Doe), I can't say it's a bad set.  I'm pretty sure everybody agrees that Jane Doe is one of Converge's best albums, and marked a big change in Converge's style.  Well, this performance was smack dab in the middle of this transition and it shows.  The recording quality is a little shoddy, but that's to be expected from a live recording (though, of the 4, this one has the worst audio quality).  Even with the poor quality, it's a bombastic set and this recording is definitely a must-have for any Converge fan.

I don't know why I'm even bothering to explain how great these new releases are.  They're free, so there shouldn't really be anything to consider.  In Deathwish Inc.'s own words:

"The Deathwish Live Series is a series of FREE live recordings of Deathwish/Malfunction affiliated artists... We are giving these recordings away as a thank you to the listeners who continue to support independent music. If you dig what you hear, please support these artists by seeing them live and by purchasing their releases and apparel in the DW Estore @ www.deathwishinc.com."

I think it's a beautiful thing, to be rewarded for supporting independent music.

You can find the Deathwish Live Series parts 1 and 2: Blacklisted and Converge here and parts 3 and 4: Pulling Teeth and Bitter End here.

I was digging and I saw a link for a part 5: The Hope Conspiracy on Google, but the link was dead.  If anybody finds that, hit me up cuz I want it.