Big Business: Play Monday, June 27th at the Palace.
June here in Missoula is a good month! We just got done with Camp Daze, which was a great blast of a fest, and we've got three great shows with some kind of direct Total Fest tie-in coming our way.
First up, this Sunday, June 19th Helm Alee is playing. Helms brings the fury, and I'd never miss 'em, ever. Spacious, but focused. Heavy, but pretty. You know, a band of paradoxes or something like that. And a great live band. That's at the Palace, and it's this coming Sunday at at 8:00 PM.
Helms Alee play Sunday, June 19.
Next up, Darto, comes through here on their way home to Seattle from a string of dates in western Canada. Darto similarly skip traditional rock conventions and do whatever the fuck they want to. Which means that each of their records has got a whole different vibe to it. I like their heavy stuff, I like their soundtracky stuff, I like it all. I can't wait to see them again. They play an all-ages show on Sunday, June 26th at the ZACC. Zoo City Apparel is hosting that.
Darto play June 26, Sunday.
Finally, Big Business are coming on Monday, June 27th. That show will be at the Badlander and is 18+. Local locos Holy Lands and Swamp Ritual open. Tickets $10 via Ear Candy, or through the show page. Big Business will be touring behind a brand new LP, which they'll have on tour before stores do.
Always a Missoula favorite, Ben, Dana and Hoz of Helms Alee will return to perform at Total Fest XII this August. A unique, triumphant beast of a band, the trio are capable of bringing both bludgeoning and surprisingly calming sounds to their dynamic music. Seeping through the thick, syrupy and heavy bits are whole lot of beautiful pieces of melody, both musically and vocally, which sets them apart from many bands making heavy music today.
Following up their 2011 album Weatherhead, Helms Alee are currently at work on their third full length Sleepwalking Sailors which they successfully crowd-funded earlier this year (see the amazing video below). If all goes well we'll get to hear some of the new tracks from this forthcoming album in August. In the meantime, you can stream tracks from previous releases on their Bandcamp page.
Music, like food and wine, is all about pairings. Combine Seattle's Constant Lovers hard hitting, rough-hewn rawk with sweat, a little bit of an ornery mood and a dose of caffeine, and you'll be kicking up your feet and working out those kinks in no time.
Seattle blog Sound on the Sound (get what they did there?) called Constant Lovers' True Romance "one of the best albums of 2011," with one of the creepiest covers, to boot, an instantly memorable piece of art depicting a finger stuck through a stick of butter.
Constant Lovers went through some changes last year when drummer Mike Horgan moved to Chicago. (A Stranger blog poll tried to guess who would replace him, and a cat nearly won,) They come to Total Fest this year with Helms Alee's Ben Verellen on drums, along with Joel Cuplin, Eric Fisher, Gavin Tull-esterbrook. Check 'em out on Good to Die records.
Everybody at Total Fest knows Ben Verellen from his ripping current band Helms Alee who've played a handful of times, and who rage full-on, undeniably. They also know him from his rad amplifiers and pedals and stuff, sold under the handle Verellen Amps.
But before all of that there was Harkonen. I think we'll say a bit more about them in a minute, but why don't you please just click play down below and get treated to some ragin'.
Harkonen are officially broken up, but have agreed to melt the collective un-conscious of Total Fest-goers for a very special, one-off deal. It'll be a freakin' huge treat to see these rippers. I guess the only other thing I'll say (the internet's full of information, man) is that this year marks a first, I'm positive in Montana history, and perhaps festival history across the world: we've got two bands in Harkonen and Sandrider whose names are direct references to Frank Herbert's Dune. Think on it. Dress like Feyd Rautha if you're feelin' it. We'll let you in free that night.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
HELMS ALEE RETURNS TO TOTAL FEST.
Helms Alee are one of those bands that came out of nowhere and just straight up knocked me on my ass. I'd heard of their guitarist Ben Verellen's old band Harkonen in passing, but to be honest, I'd never checked them out (later smacking my forehead about that one). Anyway, I remember grabbing their first record, Night Terror, on a whim from my friend Andy's label when it came out a couple years back. A minute or two into the first track, I think my jaw dropped on the floor in utter shock at the weird, complex and amazingly heavy and melodic mix of sounds that came out of this little ol' three piece. Due to my geographic location at the time, it wasn't until last fall that I was actually able to see them live. And in that dark, dank Missoula basement, those songs from their LP (and much fabled demo 12" of which I then grabbed a copy) were fully realized for me, finally in a live setting. That said, they aren't super technical -- it's the range of sounds and textures that they create from such minimal instrumentation and vocals is what that makes them so unique. It's got equal parts of full-on, head crushing, sludgey riffs with sugary, border-line dreampop melodies and a few sparse, instrumental dirges here and there... it's hard to explain but utterly awe inspiring and all makes sense to me.
They played Total Fest a few years ago, and we're excited to have them back for Total Fest X this August. By then they'll have released a new full length on Hydrahead (out June 21st) and will be fresh off a long haul across the US with Big Business, Torche and Thrones (hell of a line-up, eh?). While we wait, let's marinade on a brand new song and a great older, live video here:
Thursday, May 19, 2011
KOWLOON WALLED CITY TO BRING THEIR WALL OF NOISE TO OUR FINE CITY.
So far, with the exception of a few, this year's Total Fest line-up has been somewhat lacking in the heavy department, but we're proud to announce that San Francisco powerhouse Kowloon Walled City will be joining us this August in Missoula. This Bay Area group has been around for a couple of years now, melting minds one head at a time with their unique blend of low-end, crushing sludge metal and AmRep-inspired, mathy noise-rock. Their self-released 2008 debut EP Turk Street quickly caught the eyes and ears of many (including rave reviews from San Fran mainstay Aquarius Records and others) and interest in the band has since exploded with the subsequent release of their Gambling on the Richter Scale LP, a split 12" with Fight Amp, occasional touring (when they're not juggling family and work lives) and non-stop local shows supporting the likes of Unsane, Kylesa, Saviours, Helms Alee and many others. Their visit to Missoula this August will be a rare out of town performance for the band and our collective inner-metalhead is eagerly looking forward to it (and hope you are too).
We've posted a live video from a past show below, but their penchant for gratuity and accessibility certainly shows through as they've made all of their releases available for free digital download on their website here.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
TOTALITY: INCOMING
Whether you are a Western Montanan, anti-government type from an enclave like Noxon (MT), or a Spokanite, looking to get away from the town with the gayest...yet weirdly anti-gayest mayor ever (or, we guess "former mayor"), Total Fest VIII is anticipating you, and awaits you with arms spread wide. Or as wide as you could expect from friendly Missoulians who spend the better part of 9 months making sure these three days rock hard as fuck.
It's hard to talk globally about a festival that goes to painstaking lengths to choose individual bands that we think represent the best shit going on in music currently, but hell, what's the harm: I honestly believe that we are proof that a festival can be thoroughly non-commercial, but feature some awesome talent that you'd be hard pressed to find at any larger/expensive/bogus fest. This year we've got rap, folk, punk, hardcore, metal and boogie rock, and everything in between and it's all unified by the same oneness of purpose: Quality. If you're these parts, please come out and bring a friend with you! Thank you, and we'll see you at the Badlander Thursday, August 20th!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
LOZEN: IN! (This Total Transmission from Organizer Lou) These Tacoma, WA gals, Justine Valdez (drums) and Hozoji Matheson-Margullis (guitar/bass), return for a third time to Total Fest. Hooray! Prepare yourself to be lulled into a false sense of whats-to-come-next by body-swooning melody; pulsing, almost tribal, drumming. Serenity is suddenly annihilated as crushing guitar, and crashing cymbals bear down upon you. Rhythmic chanting will swerve you through sweet melodies, only to crash into more rhythmic chanting. Then there you are again, right back where it all started... with your body swaying from side to side, and left wondering if you didn’t just help summon the spirit of Lozen, herself. And like their namesake, who led hundreds of native woman and children to safety, Lozen, the band, wants to take you on a journey that is for your own good as well. Let them. You won’t be sorry.
