Fai Laci
“What can we do to get people off their fucking phones?” exclaims founder and frontman Luke Faillaci, explaining the mission behind Fai Laci, the band he founded and fronts. “And how can we give them something real and make them have a great time? That’s the most important thing we can do: Just communicate with our followers and let them know they fucking rule!” The Boston quintet — which also includes guitarists Anthony Cervone and Michael “Goldie” Goldblatt, bassist Cal Hamandi, and drummer Zack Putnam — have already amassed a grassroots fanbase thanks to their energetic, wildly cathartic live shows around the Northeast. They’ve seen a community coalesce around their inspired rock songs, with a quarter-million monthly followers and millions of streams despite, until recently, having no label, no publicist, and no manager. They’re proof that good tunes can still find their audience, and they’re working hard to bring others into the fold. “We’ve always been making music for ourselves, and we’re going to hold ourselves to that, because we know other people will want to hear it, too.” Fai Laci are a band with a mission, and Elephant in the Room is the ideal vehicle to achieve it. Produced by Dan Auerbach and recorded at his Easy Eye Sound Studios in Nashville, the album blends the urgency of punk and the stomp of glam with the theatricality of classic rock, all bound together by the band’s sharp swagger and Faillaci’s boundless charisma. Especially for a debut, it’s confident and surprisingly diverse, full of brazen rockers and bruised-heart ballads. The band expertly traverses the psychedelic time and tempo changes of “Cure Upon the Hill” with the same grace and nuance that they bring to “Beautifully Boring,” a dreamily bittersweet anthem about navigating your young adulthood with your sense of self intact. “We never set out to make a certain kind of sound,” says Faillaci. “It takes us wherever it takes us. We got more into the rock side of things on the album, but we also wanted to have some really beautiful songs on it. We wanted to have something for everybody.” That’s been the defining Fai Laci attitude since Faillaci founded the group. Working by himself and learning as he went along, he released two EPs and a handful of singles that he hoped might eventually make their way beyond his circle of friends. Gradually, Faillaci brought players into the band, based more on personality than chops. “It was never about adding another guitar just to have another guitar,” he says. “It was about getting the right people. I knew they’d be a good fit for the band because nobody has an ego. We’re all pretty level-headed.” Currently, all five band members live together in a house in Medford, Massachusetts, where they can jam ceaselessly and record whenever inspiration strikes. Fai Laci aren’t an explicitly political band, but they do see rock and roll as a subversive force: a battering ram for storming the castle, the glue that binds people together into a community that’s more powerful than any one person. It is, ultimately, a noble pursuit. “We’re trying to get people together so they can hang out and just talk to each other,” Faillaci explains. “So, let’s be as real as possible. Let’s keep hammering away at the stuff that makes a true difference to the people in front of us. We’ve proved on a small scale that we can do that. Now it’s just a matter of finding cool ways to do it on a larger scale.”
Luke Severeid Comedy
VIP INCLUDES A RESERVED SPACE IN THE FIRST TWO ROWS OF SEATING LUKE SEVEREID is a Hill-Hiking, Metal-Music-Loving, Chrome-Dome-Having Stand-UP Comedian from Seattle, WA. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest with the plaids and IPA-fueled husk to prove it. LUKE’s comedic style has been described as insightfully idiotic, aggressively absurd, and most accurately, unmedicated ADHD in action. Besides looking identical to your favorite bouncer and or bass player, Luke was also recently in the Big Sky Comedy Festival, a semifinalist in both the Seattle and San Francisco International Comedy Competition, and a winner of Best Comedy Film at HUMP! Film Festival. He also just got back from a sold out Australian tour as a part of the Heavy Metal Music Festival KNOTFEST. Millions have enjoyed his stand-up videos online and we’re sure he’ll be able to get a giggle or two out of you.
Wraith
Wraith – Wraith is a blackened speed metal band from Northwest Indiana, currently signed to Prosthetic Records. Known for their high-velocity sound, they blend elements of 80s thrash, punk, and black metal. https://wraith219.bandcamp.com/music WitchTrap – Witchtrap is a Colombian black/thrash metal band formed in 1992 in Medellín by brothers Burning Axe Ripper (vocals/guitar) and Witchhammer (drums). Originally “Dark Millennium,” they shifted to 80s-influenced speed/thrash metal. Known for raw, alcohol-fueled, and evil-themed metal, the trio has released multiple albums and runs Dirty Sound Records. https://witchtrap-official.bandcamp.com/ The Black Moriah – editious, malicious, fiends, the horde of highwaymen ride on! The Black Moriah is influenced by hymns buried deep beneath dried earth, T.B.M. drinks the spirits of past greats Bathory, Kreator, Motorhead, Slayer, Venom, and other Kings as they frequent dens of iniquity, homes of misfortune and girls of ill-repute. https://theblackmoriah.bandcamp.com/ Burial Oath – black/heavy metal est 2015 (ex members of Cloak/Uada) https://burialoath.bandcamp.com/music Ungoliant – Ungoliant is a 4-piece black metal band from Omaha, NE. Formed in 2018, they have been bringing an old-school black metal approach to venues across the Midwest, opening for bands such as Warbringer, Uada, Panzerfaust, Jungle Rot, Hulder, and more. https://ungoliantamerica.bandcamp.com/
Saintseneca
Saintseneca’s Zac Little has been thinking a lot about memory. Not necessarily his memories, though they creep in often, too. Rather, he mulls over the idea of memory itself: its resilience, its haziness, how it slips away as we try to hang on, the way it resurfaces despite our best efforts to forget. Memory is the common thread running throughout the Columbus folk-punk band’s fourth album, Pillar of Na, arriving in late summer via ANTI- Records. Following 2015’s critically lauded Such Things, the new album’s name is rooted in remembrance, referencing the Genesis story of Lot’s wife who looks back at a burning Sodom after God instructs her not to. She looks back, and God turns her into a pillar of salt. “Na,” meanwhile, is the chemical symbol for sodium. “Nah” is a passive refusal and the universal song word. It means nothing and stands for nothing. It is “as it is.” Like Lot’s wife, Little cannot help but revisit where—and how—he grew up. Raised in church in southeastern Appalachian Ohio, he took up preaching when he was still a teenager, sometimes in small country settings and other times to congregations of thousands. But these days he’s more interested in listening. And questioning. Musically, Pillar of Na is Saintseneca’s most ambitious album to date, with Little aiming to incorporate genre elements he’d rarely heard in folk. “I wanted to use the idiom of folk-rock, or whatever you want to call it, and to try to do something that had never been done before,” Little explains. “To reach way back, echoing ancient folk melodies, tie that into punk rock, and then push it into the future. I told Mike Mogis I wanted Violent Femmes meets the new Blade Runner soundtrack. I’m looking for the intersection between Kendrick Lamar and The Fairport Convention.” “You’re always going to be situated in the folk legacy,” Little continues, acknowledging his past recordings, which include three albums (the aforementioned Such Things, 2014’s Dark Arc, 2011’s Last) and three EPs (2016’s The Mallwalker, 2010’s Grey Flag, and 2009’s self-titled). “But let’s move forward. I’m not trying to make the lost Velvet Underground B-side. I want to find something that has never been heard before, or at least go down trying.”
Beyond Lobotomy
Beyond Lobotomy – an Omaha, Nebraska based 5-piece Metalcore/Hardcore band!https://www.instagram.com/beyondlobotomy/Shadow Hounds – hardcore / punk / metal / crossover from San Antonio, TX https://www.instagram.com/shadowhoundstxSexcult – metal / punk from Austin, TXhttps://www.instagram.com/sexcult_austin/Glass Trenches – hardcore / punk from Omaha (DEBUT SHOW!!!)https://glasstrenches.bandcamp.com/
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Haunt
Haunt was originally formed by Trevor William Church as a musical project to be worked on alongside his existing band Beastmaker; the project was to take on a traditional metal sound as opposed to Beastmaker’s doom metal style. In 2017 Church wrote and recorded Haunt’s debut release, the extended play Luminous Eyes , with Daniel Wilson playing drums for the recording. It was first released digitally, as an independent release, but it later received physical releases from the Shadow Kingdom Records label. In 2018, Church wrote and recorded one single for Haunt, Ghosts . Later that same year, Haunt released their first full-length studio album, Burst into Flame . Daniel Wilson returned to play drums for the album, this time as an official band member. Joining Church and Wilson for the album were Matthew Wilhoit on bass and John Tucker on guitar. Both Wilson and Tucker would stay as permanent members, but Wilhoit would be replaced by Taylor Hollman on following releases. In 2019, Haunt released their second EP, ( Mosaic Vision ) their second studio album, ( If Icarus Could Fly ) and two split albums. ( A Fool’s Paradise / On the Streets Again and Sea of Dreams / The Crystal Temple ). The following year they released their third and fourth studio albums, titled Mind Freeze and Flashback respectively, as well as the Burst into Demos compilation.” Haunt has been featured on the cover of Decibel magazine (February 2020), featured in Rolling Stone magazine and has made numerous “top” lists, such as Rolling Stone’s top 20 metal albums of 2018 (with Haunt at number 12). The band has toured with Municipal Waste, and Toxic Holocaust as well as fellow metal travelers such as Hell Fire and Idle Hands. Haunt’s Spotify plays for 2020 reached 1 million streams. — Intranced (hard rock / heavy metal from Los Angeles) https://intranced.bandcamp.com/
The Return of Dan Alten Comedy
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David Nance & Mowed Sound
