Posted in Whathaveyou on July 30th, 2012 by JJ Koczan
Not that I don’t get the immediate appeal of seeing Saint Vitus at the bar in Brooklyn that shares their name, but that’s gonna be one crowded-ass show. Nonetheless, dig into these tour dates, much as they’ve dug into my calendar:
Scion A/V Metal presents
The 2012 SAINT VITUS U.S. headlining tour
in support of Lillie: F-65
with special guests WEEDEATER & SOURVEIN
Tour Dates
9/14 Little Rock, AK @ Rev Room (also w/ RWAKE, YOB) 9/15 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone Cafe 9/16 Nashville, TN @ Exit / In 9/18 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade 9/19 Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre 9/20 Richmond, VA @ Kingdom 9/21 Huntington, WV @ V Club 9/22 Lexington, KY @ Boomslang Festival 9/23 Pittsburgh, PA @ The Rex Theater 9/24 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Downstairs 9/25 Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus Bar 9/27 Washington, DC @ Black Cat 9/28 New York, NY @ Best Buy Theater (w/ DOWN, No WEEDEATER/SOURVEIN) 9/29 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop 9/30 Chicago, IL Bottom Lounge 10/1 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club 10/2 Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater 10/3 Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater 10/4 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge 10/5 Boise, ID @ Neurolux 10/6 Portland, OR @ Fall Into Darkness Festival 10/7 Seattle, WA @ The Highline 10/9 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent 10/10 Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater 10/11 Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s 10/12 Santa Cruz, CA @ The Atrium at The Catalyst 10/13 Pomona, CA @ venue tbd (No WEEDEATER/ SOURVEIN) 10/14 Santa Ana, CA @ The Constellation Room 10/15 Mesa, AZ @ Nile Theater 10/16 Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad 10/18 Austin, TX @ Beauty Bar 10/19 San Antonio, TX Bond’s 007 Rock Bar
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 15th, 2011 by JJ Koczan
Of course, if you read either the Ben Hogg interview or the Q&A with Sourvein‘s own T-Roy Medlin, you already knew the band was hitting the road in July starting at the Kung Fu Necktie in Philly on the sixth, but hey, I guess it’s nice to see all the dates in one place too. Here’s the PR wire info:
North Carolina sludge-slingers Sourvein will celebrate the release of their long-anticipated new full-length, BlackFangs, with a near-three-week US tour this July! The chaos will commence in Philadelphia with Jucifer on July 6 and steamroll its way through 16 more cities before coming to a close at GroundZero in Spartanburg on July 23. The trek includes three shows with psychedelic black metal enigmas, Nachtmystium.
Comments vocalist T-Roy: “I’m so ready to unleash Black Fangs on the public in a live setting… it’s gonna be awesome! I’ve been waiting for this for a while; it’s gonna crush! King James, Kong Moen and I will be joined by The Misanthrope Project bassist Ahmasi O’Daniel, who also laid down the low-end on the album, for the tour. Sourvein from Cape Fear… dates coming all year!”
Sourvein July tour dates:
07/06 Kung Fu Necktie Philadelphia, PA w/ Jucifer
07/07 Heirloom Arts Danbury, CT w/ Jucifer
07/08 St. Vitus Brooklyn, NY
07/09 Popeye’s Peekskill, NY
07/10 Big Jar Rochester, NY
07/11 Sidebar Baltimore, MD
07/12 Now That’s Class Cleveland, OH w/ Nachtmystium
07/13 Mac’s Lansing, MI w/ Nachtmystium
07/14 31st St Pub Pittsburgh, PA
07/15 Ravari Room Columbus, OH
07/16 Volrath Indianapolis, IN
07/17 Pyramid Grand Rapids, MI
07/18 Frank’s Power Plant Milwaukee, WI
07/19 The Empty Bottle Chicago, IL w/ Nachtmystium
07/20 Fubar St. Louis, MO
07/21 TBA
07/22 The Hideaway Johnson City, TN
07/23 Ground Zero Spartanburg, SC
Crude, crusty and eternally sludged, 18 years into the band’s existence, Sourvein have rightfully amassed a reputation for bullshit-free heaviness the likes of which almost no one else could even begin to think about matching. Frontman, vocalist, founder and lone original member T-Roy Medlin offers a look at life that’s as intense as it is intimate, casting off the “songs about monsters” ethic in favor of a brutal honesty that’s won Sourvein loyal fans the world over. Raw expression is barred by neither language nor culture, and Sourvein‘s primal take is about as close to “real” as it gets when human beings are involved.
The North Carolinian outfit’s new full-length, Black Fangs (Candlelight), is their first long player since the beginning of the Bush era. In 2002, they released their sophomore outing, Will to Mangle, on Southern Lord and began to cement a legacy they’ve since backed by nearly a decade of constant touring and solid EP and split releases with the likes of Japanese mayhem bringers Church of Misery (twice) and now-defunct Israeli crushers Rabies Caste. Their trio of Sourvein-only EPs, Emerald Vulture (2005), Ghetto Angel (2008) and Imperial Bastard (also 2008), allowed them to keep on the road without taking too much time off to record, while still also maintaining a momentum of offerings going into the eventual next album.
And as that album emerges in 2011 in the form of Black Fangs, Sourvein find themselves with perhaps their most potent, gritty batch of songs yet. Medlin — joined in the band by guitarist “King” James Haun (Ol’ Scratch), bassist Ahmasi O’Daniel (Earthride’s Dave Sherman filled in on recent tours) and drummer Jeffrie “Kong” Moen — is scathing in his throat-ripping assertions, seeming to inflict physical and emotional pain in equal measure on himself and audience alike. That feeling comes straight out of Sourvein‘s live show, and captured on Black Fangs by Vince Burke of Beaten Back to Pure, it’s balanced perfectly with clarity of sound.
To be blunt, there was a lot to discuss with Medlin. From the time between albums to the origins of the material on Black Fangs itself, Roadburn, other upcoming tours and his appreciation of tragic Hollywood starlets (Theda Bara graces the cover of the latest record, and the band have had a years-long love affair with the memory of Sharon Tate), he was no less honest over the phone than he ever is in Sourvein, and it was exciting to hear him talk about taking the lessons he’s gleaned from his years in the band and using them to move forward into their next record and beyond.
Please find the complete 3,300-word Q&A after the jump, and please enjoy.
Posted in audiObelisk on May 27th, 2011 by JJ Koczan
As ever, I thank Walter and the Roadburn crew for their generosity in allowing me to host the links to the official streams from Roadburn 2011. As we Americans get ready to celebrate Memorial Day, I can think of few better complements for a barbecue than The Machine‘s Hendrixian take on heavy jamming, or, as the evening wears on, drinks are imbibed and fists are raised in triumph, Black Pyramid‘s doomy gallop. And, of course, just in case the universe comes to a crashing end (as my work email account just did), there’s Ufomammut playing Eve in its entirety for sonic complement. You can’t ask for more than that. From life. But there’s more anyway, so enjoy the aural hubris:
These and all Roadburn audio streams were recorded by the vigilant Spacejam team headed by Marcel van de Vondervoort (also of ass-kicking rockers Astrosoniq), so if you see him, please say thanks for all the hard work. Roadburn 2011 took place April 14-17 at the 013 Popcentrum in Tilburg, The Netherlands. If you’d like to read more than you could ever possibly want to read about it, click here.
If long-running North Carolinian sludge outfit Sourvein are anything, they’re uncompromising. Those familiar with their work know what’s coming, but that doesn’t make the impact of their music any less devastating or abrasive. Led by frontman T-Roy Medlin, they began in 1993 and have seen numerous lineup changes from members who’ve gone on to play in bands from Electric Wizard to Bongzilla to Saint Vitus. But Sourvein – closely related to Buzzov*en both ethically and through Medlin – has persisted nonetheless, and following a slew of EPs and splits since 2002’s Will to Mangle, nine years later finds them releasing Black Fangs (Candlelight), their third full-length. Medlin is joined for the album by guitarist “King James” Haun (Ol’ Scratch), bassist Ahmasi O’Daniel (Earthride’s Dave Sherman filled in on tour) and drummer Jeffrie Moen, and though the personnel in the band seems to be on a regular rotation, the mindset is the same as it’s ever been: Dirty sludge from the dirty South. Where their sonic and geographic countrymen in Weedeater peppered their latest offering with excursions into addled swamp psych and (eek!) brighter melodicism, Sourvein is all misery, all the time.
Were it not for the fact that anyone who’s going to hear it is likely already to have an opinion on Sourvein one way or the other, Black Fangs would be the kind of record you couldn’t put on for company. It begins with “Fangs,” which is among the riffiest tracks, with Haun’s guitar dominant in the mix and Medlin’s raw-throated screams buried underneath. This is to be the course for just about all of the album, but the rhythm section of O’Daniel and Moen isn’t to be counted out. Moen’s cymbals fill out the high end while O’Daniel drops the low like his arms just can’t hold it anymore, and a song like “Society’s Blood” – or really any of the tracks present – is that much stronger for their work. It’s amazing that Sourvein at this point should sound so potent as a lineup, since it’s been proven over and again that all the members around Medlin are interchangeable. Nonetheless, Sourvein in 2011 distinguishes itself simply by releasing a full-length album – four splits and an EP trilogy have marked the years since 2002 – and the dedicated fanbase that’s followed the band over that time will be much pleased with the feedback-soaked nastiness served up on these 10 cuts. For dank, hateful Southern sludge, Black Fangs is second to nobody.
Posted in audiObelisk on May 9th, 2011 by JJ Koczan
Sourvein don’t put out an album all that often, but when they do, you can pretty much bet they mean it. Black Fangs follows a trilogy of EPs and a host of splits with the likes of Church of Misery, Rabies Caste and Blood Island Raiders, and is the North Carolinian band’s first full-length since 2002’s Will to Mangle. After more lineup changes than I think anyone can count behind frontman T-Roy Medlin, Sourvein 2011 is a lethal sludge force imbued with all the recklessness of the Dirty South in which the band makes its home.
Joined on bass by Dave Sherman of Maryland doomers Earthride for the first time for the pre-release supporting tours (see comments below), Black Fangs is a feedback-caked melee of crusty aggression. Flooded with riffs and dirty groove, the band sounds more stoned and more pissed than ever, Medlin leading the charge from far back in the mix with his disenfranchised screams.
Candlelight Records, the label bold enough to unleash such a monster, and Earsplit PR were kind enough to allow me permission to premiere the song “Night Eyes” from Black Fangs, which you’ll find on the player below. Hope you dig it:
Sourvein is T-Roy Medlin (vocals), King James (guitar), Dave Sherman (bass) and Jeffrie “Kong” Moen (drums). Black Fang is out June 21, 2011, on Candlelight. More info at Sourvein‘s Facebook page.
Posted in Features on April 17th, 2011 by JJ Koczan
1:46AM — Sunday Night/Monday Morning — Hotel Mercure, Tilburg
It’s over. I couldn’t even leave the building. I walked out of Sourvein more than three-quarters into their set, and still, it was another 15 minutes before I could actually bring myself to walk out of the 013 and head back to the hotel. I stopped along the way in Weirdo Canyon for fries, which, true to form, came buried under a heap of mayonnaise. Kind of a tradition at this point, though most of it I scooped off and sent down the sink in the bathroom here at the Mercure. Hot water on. Gross nonetheless.
Hard to know where to begin, really. When I got back to the venue, I hit up the Green Room to catch the start of The Machine, and of course it was packed. Amazing to see what a year’s done for them — although, granted, they weren’t on in the Bat Cave opposite Eyehategod like they were in 2010 — but I guess that’s part of it too. They sounded tighter, more mature, more together than they did when last I encountered them, but the material was no less vibrant and spontaneous for it. I was back and forth between them and Dead Meadow, who were on the main stage, and while they were a decent sonic complement for Sungrazer (a sort of new school European fuzz Green Room trilogy would be completed later in the evening as Samsara Blues Experiment closed out the night), they also did right in showing some of their own sonic personality, which they began to display on their recently-issued Elektrohasch debut, Drie.
Dead Meadow, on the other hand, brought out Sasquatch. Literally. There was a dude in a Sasquatch costume, and he came out during their set and stomped around the stage while they played. Clad in my Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy t-shirt, I couldn’t have felt more appropriate. I’ve never seen Dead Meadow before, so I couldn’t say whether or not this is a regular thing, but either way, brilliant. Their music, sedate, meandering, cosmic, seemed to make a good impression on the furry beast, and everyone else there to see it (myself included), and with visual accompaniment from festival organizer Walter Hoeijmakers, who handled a video mixer of various psychedelic imagery, it was “a show” despite the lack of anyone losing their minds on stage.
Other than Sasquatch, of course. He seemed to be really enjoying Dead Meadow‘s set.
I stood and waited for Black Mountain to go on, thinking I’d catch their opening couple of songs and then head in for Black Pyramid, but before they even got on stage, I realized how dumb that was, that I’d never get a spot to watch Black Pyramid, and that Black Mountain‘s set was allotted enough time that I could see them after Black Pyramid were done anyway. So, without reason to stay in the main stage area, off I went to the Green Room, which was already mostly full — although nowhere near as full as it would be by the time they started playing — and set up shop there for the duration.
With their riffs of stone and language of doom, Black Pyramid inspire devotion. They played a couple new songs — “Stormbringer” from the 8″ vinyl of the same name — and when they were finished, the crowd wouldn’t let them go. True enough, they hadn’t yet seen their time-slot to its conclusion, but I don’t think they’d have been allowed to leave even if they’d wanted to, so they fired up the amps again and treated Roadburn to a new song from their upcoming second full-length. It was rough, but guitarist Andy Beresky was trying out some new things vocally, so it should be interesting to hear what they come up with on the next album. Everyone seems to go all-out for the fest anyway, but Black Pyramid really have become an excellent live act. I stayed for their whole set and regretted not a second of it.
And sure enough, when they were done, Black Mountain was still on the main stage. They’re one of those bands I keep hearing about, people recommending them and so forth, and good people, too, but although I have a copy of their latest CD, Wilderness Heart, I can’t say I’ve ever listened to it. I remember hearing them when they put out their first record and being unimpressed. Maybe I need to give them another shot. They were elaborate melodically, and probably not my thing on the whole, but decent enough for what they were doing. They sounded clean, which, with Sourvein following, was like wiping off the mirror before crushing up six vicodin and making an evening of it.
T-Roy Medlin fromSourvein‘s “Dirty South” was in full force when they hit the main stage. Before they even started, he urged the crowd to “get ghetto.” I’d already by then been in and back from the Green Room to see Samsara Blues Experiment, who were killer, and had Black Mountain not just played opposite Black Pyramid, I’d have a hard time coming up with a time when two more sonically incongruous bands were on simultaneously. Samsara Blues Experiment: warm, sweetly toned, jammy, laid back. Sourvein: like being punched in the face with the broken glass of the mirror from the paragraph above. They do abrasive and it’s about all they do.
If the two bands had anything in common — and it just might be the only thing — it was energy. Samsara Blues Experiment did well in not getting too lost in their material, in keeping the audience engaged, and Sourvein, complete with Dave Sherman from Earthride on bass, were personality on parade. For not the first time in the evening, I was reminded of Eyehategod doing an Afterburner set last year, but Sourvein might be even more demented. They were ridiculous in their heaviness and completely over-the-top in their stage antics, Medlin managing at one point to call European beer weak while asking for a whiskey from the stage, which aside from not being true was not exactly going to win him friends among the Dommelsch-downing audience.
But then, if he was even slightly concerned with being accessible or friendly, he probably wouldn’t be in Sourvein. They’re good at being mean, only thicker with Sherman (now bearded) on bass, and considering the last time I saw them was playing to an empty Europa club in Brooklyn, the response they got from the main stage was enjoyable to watch. After a festival with acts as diverse as Wovenhand and Wardruna, Sourvein and Samsara Blues Experiment were as fitting a finale (who likes alliteration?) as Roadburn 2011 was going to get.
I’m not exactly ready to wrap up the festival reporting yet, and I’ll allow that maybe that’s me just not wanting it to end and/or being too exhausted tonight to finish it off once and for all, but I’ll have a post to round out this series tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, thanks to everyone who’s been reading and commenting. That kind of feedback means a lot and is greatly appreciated.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 23rd, 2011 by JJ Koczan
Score one for the miserable bastards out there anytime Sourvein hits the road. The band, who’ve released numerous splits and EPs in their nearly 18 years together but only have two full-lengths under their belt (2000’s Salvation and 2002’s Will to Mangle) have had more lineup changes than anyone can count and have somehow still come out of it with a reputation as a must-see live act. Vocalist/founder T-Roy Medlin — long since the only original member left — is nonetheless leading the charge into a 2011 that will see them release a third LP and tour Europe with a stop at Roadburn‘s Afterburner show on April 17.
Before that, though, they’re doing a run of dates on some of which they’ll be joined by Jucifer. For those who would pick up what the PR wire’s putting down:
North Carolina doom metal heathens, Sourvein, will kick off a short US tour this March. Dubbed the “Disturbing the Peace Tour 2011,” the band will be joined by Jucifer on select dates. Said vocalist/guitarist T-Roy Medlin of the upcoming jaunt: “Can’t wait to hit the road with Jucifer, bring the doom and unleash some new songs’!”
Sourvein Disturbing the Peace Tour 2011:
03/01 Sonar Baltimore, MD
03/02 Volume 11 Raleigh, NC
03/03 Cadelonia Lounge Athens, GA
03/04 Wormhole Savannah, GA
03/05 Checkpoint Charlie’s New Orleans, LA Jucifer joins tour: 03/06 Rouge Fayetteville, AR
03/07 Hi Tone Memphis, TN
03/08 Exit Inn Nashville, TN
03/09 JJ’s Chattanooga, TN
03/10 Soapbox Lounge Wilmington, NC
03/11 Tremont Charlotte, NC
03/12 Hideaway Johnson City, TN
03/13 Krug’s Place Frederick, MD w/ Iron Man (no Jucifer)
Sourvein are readying to release their third studio full-length, Black Fangs, this June via Candlelight Records [cover art above].
North Carolina doom metal heathens, Sourvein, will kick off a short US tour this March. Dubbed the “Disturbing the Peace Tour 2011,” the band will be joined by Jucifer on select dates. Said vocalist/guitarist T-Roy Medlin of the upcoming jaunt: “Can’t wait to hit the road with Jucifer, bring the doom and unleash some new songs’!”
