Starring Janet Leigh: Live Footage & Interview from "Metal As Art" Tour, NYC 3-4-10

Metal Blade/Ironclad Recordings band Starring Janet Leigh was in town last week for a show at Fontana's, which was also the final night of the "Metal as Art" tour. The death/math-metal band has been touring behind their debut CD, Spectrum, which was released in 2009.

I had the chance to catch up with Matt Z. ( Guitar), Matt N. (Vocals) and Justin (Bass) before the show to talk a bit about Spectrum, the current tour and what's next for the band.



Starring Janet Leigh's set was great; the band plays death metal that is punctuated with some serious jazz breaks that is comparable to Mr. Bungle or a harder, more out-of-control version of Candiria. The music shifts from brutal chugging riffs to intricately played jazz notes and polyrhythmic drumming in the blink of an eye but all of it sounds very purposeful and focused.

Links:
Starring Janet Leigh

The Boy Will Drown - Fetish CD Review (Earache Records)

The Boy Will Drown are a four-piece mathcore/death metal band based in Norwich/Colchester, UK who make music in a style similar to Dillinger Escape Plan (DEP), Psyopus and Car Bomb. The band made their recording debut in 2007 with an independent EP, which got them signed to Earache.

Fetish, which came out last month, is the band’s Earache debut. Even though there are ten tracks on the disc, it is hard to call Fetish a full-length as the band blasts through all ten tracks in under thirty minutes.

This is pretty brutal stuff as the vocals are roared and growled over DEP-styled guitar histrionics, a locked bass groove and breakneck drumming. While a lot of the music on this disc is similar in nature, there are melodies buried within each of the songs and, coupling this with a number of tempo changes and stops/starts, the disc stays interesting after repeated listening. There are even some twangy/country guitar-outros on two of the songs ("Josef Fritzl" and "Elisabeth Fritzl") that sounds like they are being broadcast from a battered AM radio.

The tracks streaming on The Boy Will Drown’s MySpace profile are a good starting point for the band’s music. “Deep Throat” is the opening track on the CD and it hits like a locomotive. “Joesf Fritzel” comes across like multiple songs crammed into one and really shows what the band is capable musically. “Suis La Luna” is the last track on the disc and it breaks down mid-song into some low-key melodic guitar work.

The Boy Will Drown are currently touring around the UK and here are the upcoming tour dates.

01 Aug 2008 - Peterborough, UK - The Park

02 Aug 2008 - Leeds, UK - Rios

03 Aug 2008, Liverpool, UK - Barfly/Carling Academy

04 Aug 2008, Birmingham, UK - Barfly

05 Aug 2008, Barnsley, UK - Archers

06 Aug 2008, Lowestoft, UK - Seabreeze

07 Aug 2008, Nottingham, UK - Junktion7

08 Aug 2008, Grimsby, UK - Matrix Club

09 Aug 2008, Bury St. Edmunds, UK - Pot Black

10 Aug 2008, London, UK - Camden Barfly

12 Aug 2008, Stoke On Trent, UK - The Glebe

13 Aug 2008, Bath, UK - The Porter Butt

15 Aug 2008, Poole, UK - Summer Slam, Mr C's

Chris Pennie & Ben Weinman (Dillinger Escape Plan) Live @ Northsix, 12/2/06

Chris (Drums) and Ben (Guitar) from Dillinger Escape Plan were the last act to play at Northsix on Saturday. This is a new, un-named project by Chris and Ben and their take on instrumental rock was much more jazz oriented than the acts that proceeded them. Both musicians are extremely talented and it was nice to see them shine outside of Dillinger's math-core structure.

While the duo's set was predominately instrumental, they did bring Alie up to sing one song. (See picture below - Unfortunately, you can see in the last two pictures that my flash batteries were all but dead by this point in the evening)