When Atlanta’s I CREATE last played to a packed, sweaty basement in 2013, they walked away to the shrieking feedback of amplifiers certain it was their last outing. Time marched on, members scattered, but as fate would have it people didn’t stop listening. Now 10 years after its initial release, I CREATE’s 2008 full-length All We Are Is Now is being re-released for its first ever vinyl pressing courtesy of Upwind Records. Serving as a sonic bridge across a decade of silence, the release features new album art, the addition of fan favorite “Your Sun Is A Destroyer”, and two new songs that push the band in a direction their younger selves might not have predicted.
Ahead of the album’s re-release comes another first for the band in the form of a music video accompanying freshly recorded new track “Veneer”. While retaining a knack for sludgy rhythm and off-kilter guitar, “Veneer” navigates chaotic new territory in defiance of a safer, more familiar approach.
In regards to the song’s meaning, guitarist Joal Hohensee explains bluntly:
“It’s about the thin veil of normalcy people outwardly project in spite of themselves. It’s also about nothing, really.”
Veneer lyrics:
Found my way home, long as it’s taken, Through all the shame and penance owed along the way. What a curdled emotion. One of my last, I think. Reflect references, subtle human cues. They’re washed off me, but left on you. Hands in pocket, connect the eyes, don’t bring it up.
I’ll quiver, I’ll try– a version of you. I’ll smile, I’ll cry– a version of you.
I need to be believed. I just need you splayed and conscious, clipped bare. Do you believe me? Explaining away the difference between night and day. Crimson and clover, an exposed altar. A pleasure to be on your knees. A decaying shelter left to please. Pumping all his wants, swollen fucking needs. Cased in the foul ghost of belief. I’m shaking inside, my shame, my fear, my guilt. It’s fucking over. No place to recover, no great epiphany. Just a husk slumped over the table soaking himself dry.
The band is set to embark on a European tour in May of 2018 with Italian blackened hardcore punishers DEATH HAS GONE. The first stop of the tour will be a performance at Berlin’s Miss The Stars Fest and Warsaw’s Ultimate Screamo Fest, alongside Guillaume Archambault’s THE ULTIMATE SCREAMO BAND, who have recently dropped an amazing new record called ‘Tout est fini‘.
MAY 12 BERLIN (MISS THE STARS FEST), GER
MAY 13 WARSAW, POL
MAY 14 PRAGUE, CZ
MAY 15 DRESDEN, GER
MAY 16 ESSEN, GER
MAY 17 TBA GER
MAY 18 PARIS, FR
MAY 19 TBA, GER
MAY 20 TBA, AT/CH
MAY 21 VIENNA, AT
MAY 22 BOLZANO, IT
MAY 23 MILAN, IT
MAY 24 ROME, IT
MAY 25 NAPOLI, IT
I CREATE are: Joal Hohensee (guitars), Wesley Hohensee (drums), Daniel Reese (vocals), Tyler Findlay (bass). “Veneer” was recorded in December 2017 with Michael Matejick @ Burnt Toast Sound Studios. The video was co-directed by I Create, Mac Hunt & Drew Jacobson.
