In Shorts #4 📢 mid-August roundup, feat. new CONVERGE, HOT SNAKES reunion, final HOLLOW TRUTH show, and more!

Photo: VATICAN live by Nathan Fitzgerald.

CONVERGE premiere another new track called “Under Duress”; launch pre-orders for their new record “The Dusk In Us”. GO HERE to secure your copy.

Five years since their last release, Converge return with The Dusk In Us: a brutal but beautiful album that shows the band’s artistic evolution while still capturing their classic sound. The ninth full-length from the Boston-based heavy-music innovators—vocalist Jacob Bannon, guitarist Kurt Ballou, bassist Nate Newton, and drummer Ben Koller—The Dusk In Us proves to be both dark and hopeful, abrasive and melodic, devastating and powerfully cathartic.

Irish thrash hardcore punks HOLLOW TRUTH release farewell 3-track EP, available for streamning below, to be released on tape via Powertrip Records on August 27th, 2017. Final show coming up on August 26th at AIHC Fest #1 – go here to see more details and RSVP.

HOT SNAKES (post DRIVE LIKE JEHU band by John Reis and Rick Froberg that existed from 2000 to 2005) announced their second reunion! They are now signed to Sub Pop and will release a new album in 2018, their first in 13 years! They have announced their first live shows in 6 years! ally go see them if you get the chance. Check out the dates below.

11/08 – Long Beach, CA @ Alex’s Bar
11/09 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour
11/10 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
11/11 – Portland, OR @ Star Theatre
11/12 – Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
11/15 – Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel
11/16 – Brooklyn, NY @ Bell House
11/17 – Boston, MA @ Middle East
11/18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts

TOUCHE AMORE are headed out for 27 shows in the US and Canada this September/October with SINGLE MOTHERS and GOUGE AWAY. The tour will wrap up in L.A. with two nights at the Teragram Ballroom as they just added a second show with support from CITY OF CATERPILLAR and THOU. Tickets can be grabbed here.

Swedish post-punk veterans MAKTHAVERSKAN announce new record “III” on Run For Cover Recordsl to be released on October 20, 2017. New song “In My Dreams” streaming below.

Deep at the heart of Makthaverskan’s new album Ill lies a burning desire, a longing to find compassion against a global backdphomore album II via Boston’s Run For Cover and Sweden’s Luxury Records.  The failure of love and loss of innocence that punctuated II and No Mercy’s searing condemnation of “fuck you for fucking me when I was seventeen” however no longer dominate Milner’s worldview on Ill.  Here, each new day is a cyclical curse for Milner as she sings on “Leda,” “I wake up feeling worse every day.”

Makthaverskan’s III represents the band’s most focused songwriting, patiently recorded over the last three years as a leaner four-piece with producer Hans Olsson Brookes. Where past records were collections of scattered songs, IIIconveys an intentional cohesion. At the core is Milner’s austere purview. She turns her feminine powers against society, rather than the wreckage of her past, yet still exploring themes of what can and cannot be controlled. “In My Dreams,” takes the perspective of dreams as an opportunity to play out the grand possibilities of love, knowing that once she’s awake they’re out of her hands.

Despite this, Makthaverskan are far from defeated. On “Eden”, Milner struggles to find her place in a society increasingly divided by hatred (“humanity equals misery / there’s nothing here to see / Is this what we want, or is it all we know?”). On “Comfort” she finds trust in a stranger – refusing to give up hope. In fact, Makthaverskan is a band built to overcome.  Even when Milner’s lyrics suggest the bleak – raw, unbridled energy pulsates through III.  “Witness” showcases the rhythm section on overdrive with an intensity that carries over into the erratic pace of “Eden” and “Front.” For all the disillusionment that Milner dishes out, behind her is a monolithic sound that broods in unison yet shimmers with hope.

With the band navigating through their mid-to-late twenties, closer “Days Turn Into Years” encapsulates the biological shift in how time is felt and internalized.  The band subdues its lilting chords ever-so slightly and Milner slips into a lower register for the refrain. This is Makthaverskan settling in, but not relinquishing to complacency.

Florida hardcore band FAZE streaming new tracks from their upcoming record on Triple B Records. Listen below.

Female fronted hardcore powerpack WE RIDE premiere new video “What You Are”, feat. guest vocals from JJ peters of DEEZ NUTS; announce more tour dates.

Front-woman Mimi Telmo explains,

“’What You Are’ is about the fine line split between friendship and indifference. No matter how hard you try to salvage a relationship, sometimes you just have to walk away. This video was a lot of fun to create, and it was a personal challenge for me since it was the first time I had to be the ‘main character’ of the story. Definitely an interesting experience.” On the collaboration with Deez Nuts, she adds, “I’ve always been a fan of theirs, and when meeting JJ (Peters) in person, I saw that he is not only a great front-man, but also a lovely person. Over the years we became good friends and we always have a great time when we share a stage together. While writing this song, I felt it was perfect for JJ and I love how it turned out!”

WE RIDE live:

August 19 – Daimiel, Spain – Brujas Festival
August 26 – Lugones, Spain – Underpark Festival
November 2 – Barcelona, Spain – Razz3 (with Stray From The Path, Capsize)
November 3 – Madrid, Spain – Nazca (with Stray From The Path, Capsize)
November 4 – Oviedo, Spain – Wolfest (with Stray From The Path, Capsize)
November 5 – Lisbon, Portugal – RCA Club (with Stray From The Path, Capsize)

Our long time e-friends, Salt Lake City emotive rockers HEARTLESS BREAKERS release new single Procrastinate. Listen below.

PROCRASTINATE offers a new perspective to Heartless Breakers — one that is straight-forward, honest, and reminds us that it’s okay if you don’t have life figured out, just don’t stop trying. The band is set to release new music in the fall of 2017. Formed in 2013, the band has self-released two EP’s and released their debut full length, The Great Give Back, on Animal Style Records in 2015.

Lead singer Chase Griffis commented:

“We needed to step away from the band to focus on our lives outside of music. “We weren’t in a position to put the band first and we didn’t want to rush releasing new music for the sake of staying active. Things just didn’t feel right.
We wanted the songs to sound like us — who we’ve always been, and we did that by letting go.”

Fat Wreck Chords has revealed a new covers compilation from NO USE FOR A NAME, featuring b-sides and rarities and available for streaming below:

Chicago’s heavy hardcore/metal mob HARM’S WAY start recording new album at Graphic Nature Audio in Belleville, New Jersey with producer Will Putney (Thy Art Is Murder, The Acacia Strain). Expect a winter release via Metal Blade Records.

Mike Hill from TOMBS offers his latest “Everything Went Black” podcast with NYHC legend Roger Miret of AGNOSTIC FRONT! Listen below.

Virginia Beach dream-pop rockers TURNOVER release new single “Bonnie (Rhythm & Melody)”, off new album Good Nature , their first record since parting ways with guitarist Eric Soucy.

JULIE & THE WRONG GUYS, a new project from Julie Doiron of ERIC’S TRIP, Eamon McGrath and members of CANCER BATS will release their self-titled debut LP on September 8th on Dine Alone Records.

From the outset, Julie and The Wrong Guys may come across as an unlikely union. Juno award-winning songwriter Julie Doiron began her musical journey as a founding member of ’90s East Coast indie-rock iconsEric’s Trip, the first Canadian band signed to Seattle’s famed Sub Pop Records. Meanwhile, The Wrong Guys are made up of Edmonton-born country/punk troubadour Eamon McGrath alongside Mike Peters and Jaye Schwarzer, the rhythm section of Toronto’s metal/hardcore heavyweights Cancer Bats.

Doiron’s celebrated career, has featured a laundry list of collaborations with the likes of Chad VanGaalen, Phil Elverum (a.k.a. Mount Eerie), Gord Downie, The Wooden Stars, Shotgun and Jaybird, and The Tragically Hip, and these wide-ranging musical alliances have all prepared her for an effortless amalgamation of the Wrong Guys’ respective projects, where Doiron’s tender and lyrically evocative songwriting crashes headfirst into the pummeling volume of her bandmates.

Doiron first enlisted The Wrong Guys as her backing band in 2011 during a two-year stint living in Toronto. While working at the Bloor West coffee shop, café, and venue Saving Gigi, she asked them to join her for a series of shows. Finding an immediate comfort and chemistry, the quartet hit the studio to record a two-song 7”, then set off for high profile tours throughout Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes.

“All of the collaborations I’ve done over the last 24 years have taken me to the next place, whether I’ve realized I’m learning something or not,” says Doiron. “They helped me learn how everybody’s process is different, but working with these guys is super easy. Even if I never collaborated I could have just breezed into this band. Whatever is going on in my life before meeting up with them, I don’t feel stressed out or like I have a million things to do. We just make music and it’s super fun.”

Julie and The Wrong Guys’ self-titled debut LP, due to be released by Dine Alone Records on September 8^th, 2017, was recorded after Doiron returned to her former home of Sackville, New Brunswick last October. The Wrong Guys regrouped at Peters’ family cabin in the Manitoba wilderness near Red Rock Lake where, freed from the distractions of daily life, the group crafting the album’s music and lyrics from sun-up yoga practice until the waning hours of their wood-oven-heated nights.

“We essentially worked on the record for 12-14 hours per day” says McGrath. It was disciplined but there was no whip cracking. The environment was very tranquil, beautiful, and secluded. There was no cell reception and we didn’t have anything else to do but write.”

“There were a few songs where I hopped out of bed, ran down to the lake and wrote them in one go, but for the most part it was collaborative,” adds Doiron on the influence of their serene recording environment. “When I was putting myself into the songs, they were about figuring out who I am and what I need in my surroundings to feel whole. It was a bit more contemplative about finding my true nature and finding my way home, which is within. Who is Julie? Who’s in there?”

Searching together, Julie and The Wrong Guys have found a distinctly harmonized voice that weaves throughout and acknowledges the vast array of influences across their backgrounds, paying obvious homage to the music that drove these four unlikely collaborators together. As each member approaches the material with their own very literal insight of endless days across the world’s highways, they’ve come out of the woods with one of the most exciting debut records of 2017. Alongside delicate standout songs like “Call My Own Shots” and the McGrath duet “Farther From You”, Doiron also returns to her full-throttle, early ’90s grunge/punk roots on ragers like “Wanted What I Wanted” and “Calm Before the Storm.”

“I come from a noisy, energetic background playing in Eric’s Trip,” she concludes. “It’s kind of ironic that people refer to me as a solo performer or singer-songwriter because that’s not what I feel that I do. I made a couple of quiet records after Eric’s Trip broke up because I didn’t want to try to replicate it. Then I played with The Wooden Stars and made two quiet records after that. Every time I’ve ended a collaboration I’ve done that, and people still pigeonhole me as a singer-songwriter, but I love playing loud, heavy music.”

After a recent reunion show report, JAWBREAKER played another reunion show at The Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco on August 12th. Watch the video below.

Belgian melodic pop-punks CHARLIE BIT MY FINGER announce the release of their sophomore album, Third Time’s A Farm. Scheduled for release on September 16th, the new offering will be available via a partnership between Thousand Islands Records and Bearded Punk Records. To celebrate, the band has unveiled the video of a new song called “Part Of The Plan”, you can read what vocalist Diede stated and watch the video below.

“A clear fuck you to present-day world leaders who are ruining life for many of us working-class people”…”Stop behaving like cattle in a herd and do something about these issues rather than plainly follow orders we shouldn’t be taking in the first place.”- Diede Van Muylder

German blackened metal/hardcore act ANCST sign to Lifeforce Records; new album coming up next yearl live dates coming up this September (see the details below).

The band commented:

We are proud to announce that we will be joining forces with Lifeforce Records for our upcoming album in 2018.

Growing up with German metallic hardcore and proto-metalcore Lifeforce has a special place in our hearts and we are honored to be part of the label family alongside bands such as our friends in King Apathy, dutch grinders Teethgrinder and also some of the bands we grow up with such as Heaven Shall Burn, Between The Buried And Me and many more.

These are exciting times for us and we all are looking forward to work with Lifeforce in the future.

Pittsburgh punk rockers ANTI-FLAG comment on violence in Charlottesville; release new lyric video for their new song “Racists”.

“We stand in solidarity with those fighting racism and fascism in the streets of Charlottesville and beyond. We believe it is time for the removal of all monuments to the confederacy and the racism for which they stand. We must put these symbols of white supremacy into places where the proper context can be provided for what they actually are; outdated, backwards, and antithetical to what we believe the values of humanity should be. It is past time to have real conversations on systemic racism and America’s history of it. There are museums memorializing the holocaust all across Europe while America continues to try to hide from its racist, murderous past and present.” – Anti-Flag

“Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living.” – Mother Jones

As announced earlier this year, THE MOVIELIFE continue the promotion of their new 4th record ‘Cities in Search of a Heart’, slated for a September 22nd release via Rise Records. The band has released a new song ‘Ghosts in the Photographs’ and announced a bunch of tour dates – see the details below.

Tour Dates:

Supporting The Menzingers – on sale now:
9/13 – Portland @ @Port City Music Hall
9/14 – Hartford @ The Webster

Co-Headline Dates with The Early November – on sale now:
9/18 – Boston @ Paradise Rock Club &
9/19 – Philadelphia @ Union Transfer &
9/20 – Baltimore @ Baltimore Soundstage &
9/22 – Brooklyn Warsaw Concerts &
9/23 – Buffalo @ The Waiting Room Lounge &
9/24 – Cleveland @ The Beachland Ballroom and Tavern &
9/26 – Chicago @ Bottom Lounge &
9/27 – St. Louis @ Fubar Saint Louis &
9/29 – Dallas @ The Curtain Club &
9/30 – Houston @ Walter’s Downtown &
10/1 – Austin @ Mohawk Austin &
10/3 – Phoenix @ The Rebel Lounge ^
10/4 – W. Hollywood @ Troubadour
10/5 – San Diego @ House of Blues San Diego + ^
10/6 – Anaheim @ House of Blues Anaheim ^
10/7 – Berkeley @ Cornerstone Craft Beer & Live Music
10/9 – Salt Lake City @ Club Sound ^
10/10 – Denver @ The Bluebird Theater ^
10/11 – Kansas City @ The Riot Room ^
10/13 – Lansing MI @ The Loft ^
10/14 – Toronto @ Sneaky Dee’s ^
+ : The Movielife only
& : Heart Attack Man opening
^ : Racquet Club opening

**JUST ADDED** Headline Dates (with Iron Chic supporting) – on sale this Friday 10 am:
10/26 – Richmond @ Strange Matter
10/27 – Carrboro NC @ Cat’s Cradle
10/28 – Jacksonville FL @ 1904 Music Hall
10/29 – Gainesville FL THE FEST10/30 – Atlanta @ The Masquerade

**JUST ADDED** Headline Dates (with Wallflower supporting) – on sale this Wednesday 10 am:
11/14 – Southampton @ The Joiners
11/15 – London @ The Underworld Camden
11/17 – Bristol @ Exchange
11/18 – Leeds @ The Key Club
11/19 – Liverpool @ The Magnet Liverpool
11/20 – Glasgow @ The Garage G2
11/21 – Manchester @ Manchester Academy 3

Metallic hardcore band VATICAN reveal another new single “Dreamer’s Bodybag” at this location. The band continues their second consecutive US tour advancing the EP’s release later this month via Sorrow Carrier Records.

Of “Dreamer’s Bodybag,” VATICANvocalist Jonathan Whittle states,

“I wrote this song to reflect my love for the melodic, mournful side of metalcore. While writing this, I pictured myself as a ghost, roaming in slow motion and trying to win in the tug of war between depression and love: knowing the potential for greatness in being emotionally intimate with someone but being aware of how it could all come tumbling down if I lost that person. The lyrics focus on the latter, reminding myself to never forget that possibility but to not let it take over and descend into total apathy. The line, ‘Your sorrow saved me from my final descent,’ is me telling myself that every moment of sadness I felt strengthened me and made it so that loss crashing down wouldn’t crush me.”

Alongside their premiere of the new track, Metal Injection, who premiered the track, issues in part,

“These straight edge, nonreligious dudes are not fucking around,” noting that their Ache Of Eternity EP, “is a doozy for anyone that worships Zao, Poison the Well, It Dies Today… can’t deny there is a huge Swedish death metal influence in there, somewhere, either.”

Tour Dates:

8/15/2017 Transitions – Tampa, FL
8/16/2017 Nighthawks – Jacksonville, FL

Post hardcore band CANVAS release new song & video “Medicate Me” and new track “Hospital Beds”, coming from their new record Worry, to be released on October 6th via Basick Records.

Boston, MA garage punks BLACK BEACH share “No Place For Me”; Play Loud Die, Vol. II EP Out September 8th; Extended Tour Schedule available below.

The band is set to release Play Loud Die, Vol. II in September, an EP that they recorded with Paul Kolderie (Dinosaur Jr., Hole, Pixies) and the follow up to the band’s recent split with Nice Guys. The trio have pulled back from their “always at 10” approach to blown out fuzz, opting for more dynamics while making their sound all the more visceral in the process. One of the Boston underground’s best and most explosive new bands, Black Beach have added nuance to their menace, and they are only getting better in doing so.

Tour Dates:

08/26 – Boston, MA @ House Show w/ Kal Marks, Cult Fiction, & Gravel
09/02 – Frederick, MD @ House Show
09/03 – Akron, OH @ The Overlook
09/06 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Far House
09/08 – Brooklyn, NY
09/09 – Somerville, MA @ Starlab Fest
11/09 – Somerville, MA @ ONCE Ballroom w/ The Proletariat & Seige
11/10 – Fall River, MA @ Narrows

SLAUGHTER BEACH, DOG (Jake of MODERN BASEBALL) announce new record Birdie for an October 27th release via Lame-O Records; premiere new song “Gold and Green”; announce headlinning tour this Fall! Pre-orders for Birdie are available now physically and digitally via Lame-O Records, in the UK/Europe via Big Scary Monsters, and in Australia via Cooking Vinyl.

Slaughter Beach, Dog have also announced a headlining tour this fall with support from Shannen Moser. Jake will also be playing solo in the UK this September. A full list of dates can be found below, and tickets can be found here. Slaughter Beach, Dog also recently released the Motorcycle.jpg EP, which can be heard in full via Lame-O Records.

Slaughter Beach, Dog was started as a side project for Jake Ewald, one of Modern Baseball’s two singer/songwriters. Born out of a case of writers block, Jake used the project to experiment with writing from the point of view of fictional characters in the fictional town of Slaughter Beach to break off from the ultra-personal technique he’d developed in his main project. Since Modern Baseball announced their hiatus last year, Slaughter Beach, Dog has become Jake’s main vehicle, giving him a chance to go all in on developing as a songwriter. Combining writing styles and flowing free between truth and fiction, the album takes Jake’s signature mouth-full writing style, adds in some new influences from bands like Wilco, The Weakerthans, Jets To Brazil and Pedro The Lion, and comes out with something completely fresh.

Tour Dates:

08/17 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s*
09/03 – Machester, UK – Partisan#
09/04 – London, UK – Servants Jazz Quarters#
09/05 – London, UK – Servants Jazz Quarters#
11/02 – Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls Funhouse*
11/03 – Toronto, ON – The Smiling Buddha*
11/04 – Cleveland, OH – Mahall’s*
11/05 – Lansing, MI – Mac’s Bar*
11/07 – Chicago, IL – Beat Kitchen*
11/08 – St. Louis, MO – Fubar*
11/10 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge*
11/11 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court*
11/13 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom of The Hill^
11/14 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo^
11/16 – Mesa, AZ – The Underground*
11/18 – Dallas, TX – The Dirty 30*
11/19 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s Jr.*
11/21 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade*
11/24 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge*
11/25 – Allston, MA – Great Scott*

* = w/ Shannen Moser
# = solo
^ = w/ Shannen Moser, Walter Etc.