INTERVIEW: The Art of NerdGore

Over the course of the last 6 years not only are we striving to cover great music but to cover the wider community involved in the music we adore. It's not just bands, its label people, engineers, and very importantly its artists and illustrators too.

I love a great album cover and visiting the local record store in my teens every Saturday made me notice album covers even more than I had before.  More recently one of my favourite album covers was also for one of our favourite bands at THE SLUDGELORD, none other than Grizzlor and their fantastic debut full length “Disastroid”.   The artist responsible goes under the moniker of NerdGore, a truly gifted individual with an insane eye for detail in his work. And I am beyond pleased that he accepted an invitation to talk to us. I truly hope you all enjoy

Could you introduce yourself and offer a quick bio?  What media do you work in?

My real name is Rich, but I ply my trade as an illustrator under the moniker NerdGore. I grew up in the UK but moved to Australia about 5 years ago. I currently live in a rural town called Bellingen on the East Coast with my wife, three kids and a collection of various animals. My route to becoming an illustrator has been some-what unconventional, given that I had such a shit time at art college that I promptly dropped out, gave up drawing and tried to become a horror writer instead... it wasn't pretty. I didn't start drawing again until I came to Australia and couldn't get a 'normal' job, I posted my efforts on instagram and was blown away by the response and it has just kind of snowballed from there. The vast majority of my work is produced very simply with paper, brush and ink. For colour work, I prefer watercolour over inks, but I also do digital colour with photoshop.

Could you highlight some of the musicians/bands who you've created artwork for and what that process is like?

I'm lucky enough to have worked with bands like Black Dahlia Murder, Municipal Waste, Exmortus, Gatecreeper, Ohhms, Grizzlor, Clowns (Aus), Ratlord (Ger) and others. I would say that nearly all the bands I work for have given me very loose briefs like 'something satanic' or 'a bunch of undead warriors' and this really works for me. I usually respond to that with working drawings and thumbnails and between myself and the client we hammer out a decent working rough. I then light-box my own rough onto larger paper and produce the tight pencils. I normally go back to the band at this point as it's still easy to make changes and then once they're happy I ink directly over the pencils and produce the final illustration. A number of the bands I've worked for, I've already been a fan of and know their music, but if the band is new, I'll always listen to some of their music to get a feel of what sort of illustration might suit them.

Grizzlor, "Disastroid"

In what ways does music influence your creative process? Do you have "go to" bands or albums when working?

I have a slightly odd approach to listening to music whilst working. When producing pencils, I always prefer listening to punk or thrash bands (Early Graves, Venom Prison, Power Trip, Bloodlust, Barbarian, etc) so that I stay fast and loose and don't get too obsessed with detail. Then for inking, I like to slow it right down and listen to a lot doom and sludge, much heavier music (Dopethrone, Chrch, Elder, Hollow Leg, Sunburster, etc) because it requires a bit more patience and a steadier hand. Then again, I often reach points where I overdose on metal and just spend periods listening to old Fat Wreck Chords albums from the early 90's. The pop-punk scene, along with skateboarding, exploded in the UK right when I was a teenager and it was my first proper music love; listening to Snuff, Propaghandi or Lagwagon is like wrapping up in a warm blanket haha.

So when a label or artist commissions you to start a fresh piece of work, what is the process for you? Do they come to you with pre-conceived ideas at all?

As above, it is generally a loose brief but most bands have a good idea of what they want and just allow the illustrator to fill in the details. I did have one experience where the brief was super tight and detailed and it was probably my least successful piece of work. It caused a lot of redrawing and tweaking and made it hard to keep a lid on all the changes. I'm sure there are illustrators that excel at this type of brief, but I think my best work comes when I have freedom to use my imagination a bit and invent some characters or worlds.

Are there any artists, visual or otherwise, who distinctly influenced your style, medium, or process?

The absolute single biggest influence on me as a person, let alone illustrator, would be the British comic 2000ad. I'm the proud owner of a near complete collection (they recently passed issue 2000...), have Judge Death tattooed on my leg and it is absolutely at the top of my 'people-I-want-to-work-for-bucket-list'. 2000ad is fairly legendary these days and its cultural significance is well documented, but for me personally, it was an art training course. From the age of 8 I was copying whole pages of art from my heroes (Mike McMahon, Simon Bisley, Steve Dillon, Glenn Fabry, Colin McNeil, etc) and it's most significant creator, Pat Mills, shaped many of my opinions towards authority, religion and the environment, although I didn't really appreciate it at the time.

In terms of process, my first exposure to how comics were made was from Conventions in the UK and I would hang around at the art booths of all the 2000ad guys. In those days, it was much more informal and you could watch them doing stuff, have a long conversation with them and show them your art work. I got great advice from guys like Henry Flint, Siku, Greg Staples and Peter Doherty and it pretty much meant I was set from an early age to pencil everything and then ink using brush or dip pen. I still work like that now.

Who are some of your biggest influences within your field?

Instagram is running shit hot at the moment with amazing artists. It's actually quite scary how many good artists just appear out of nowhere each day on Instagram, definitely encourages you to keep raising your game. One of the guys who impresses me time and time again is Scott Wygman, he's an awesome dude who recently did a killer cover for a GWAR comic book and his work is steeped in Heavy Metal and RPG gaming, but also draws influence from Anime and stuff like Calvin and Hobbes. It's hard to exactly describe his style and it is very unique, but one scroll through his feed always encourages me to loosen up and stay imaginative (check him out @darkwizard­_bezerker).

The most metal artist I know, is without a doubt Daniel Shaw(@shawillustrations). His work is incredibly detailed and dripping with everything that is cool about underground metal illustration, from decaying skulls, to vomiting priests, to haunted graveyards; this guy can draw it all. His work really influences me to push the detail and never settle for short-cuts and just draw the fuck out of everything. Lastly, the grand-daddy of all Metal meets Gaming illustration; Skinner. This guy has been a massive influence on my work. When I first moved to Australia and was sitting around doing nothing, a feature in Pork Magazine on him was the thing that got me back at the drawing desk. He definitely influenced me to just draw shit that I loved or found funny and make art for the enjoyment, rather than to spin a buck.  

You're quite obviously a big metal fan. Was album artwork always an aspiration for you? What were some of your favourite covers growing up, and do you have a favourite from your own portfolio of work at all?

I am a big metal fan, but I would say that I'm a late convert. I was much more into punk as a teenager and came to metal in my mid-20s. Because of that, I don't have that deep connection to a lot of metal album covers that you would forge as a teenager. However, there are a lot of parallels between a lot the fantasy stuff that influenced me as a kid and heavy metal. One of my single favourite pieces of artwork, is Michael Whelan's painting Stormbringer which I remember vividly from my dad's Michael Moorcock collection. Of course, this later became the cover to Cirith Ungols great album Frost and Fire but I knew it first from the Elric book. Alongside that, I used to hang out in video shops as a kid and the amazing covers always stuck in my mind. Stuff like Deathstalker by Boris Vajello blew my mind and also influenced many a heavy metal album cover. Then, as always, it comes back to 2000ad... so many of those artists started out doing album covers; Simon Bisley's Mortal Sin cover and an near unknown Kev Walker doing Autopsy's Mental Funeral cover.

As for my own work, I think the original Corehammer t-shirt I did is possibly my favourite. It was early on when I started getting commission work and it took me ages but the response to it was great. Corehammer is a blog and facebook group that focuses on Tabletop Gaming and Hardcore Punk music and by doing that shirt, I got to meet a whole bunch of cool people who I've stayed in contact with. I've since done a bunch of shirts for them (and their sister arm DungeonPunx) and we are always planning all sorts of stuff from zines to RPG supplements.

There have been several blogs and articles calling attention to appropriated or "repurposed" artwork, generally taken without credit to the original artist, specifically in the world of "music artwork". Could you speak a little about the current attention to this issue and your feelings on artistic credit in general?

I'll try not to get too ranty here, haha. I really don't like shit like this and, to me, it ties in with the rise of digital art. That's not to say digital art is bad, just that it has provided a whole set of tools that make it easier than ever before to rip people off and make money off someone else's hard work. For years, people have been influenced by other artists and my drawing board has a ton of art books around it so my all my art heroes are within reach if I need a shot of inspiration. But, actually copying artwork directly and re-skinning it as something new is fundamentally wrong and entirely pointless. With stuff like this, it just confirms to me that a lot of people aren't interested in learning how to draw and that speed has overtaken everything. Personally, I think a lot of time saving and cheats that can be done with photoshop, etc skips out essential steps that make you a better artist; sure, Google Sketch Up can do perspective for you, but if you learn how to do it, then only your imagination can limit you. The end result might not be perfect but it will have a ton of personality and character and that is way more important.

Do you still have anything left that you want to achieve in your chosen art form? Maybe a group you would like to do a cover for, or another artist that you would love to collaborate with?

I feel like I've only just scratched the surface to be honest and there is heaps I'd like to achieve. As for an ultimate art goal it will always be 2000ad and more specifically Judge Dredd. If I could work on even just a one-off 5 pager in 2000ad, I would die a happy man!

Finally, where can fans view and purchase your work? Feel free to promote any musical/film/literary/etc. projects you're involved in as well.

The best place to find me is on instagram @artofnerdgore  

Thanks for having me!

Artist info: facebook || Official

ALBUM REVIEW: Grizzlor - "Destructoid"

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 15/08/2017

Label: Hex Records

“Destructoid” is a record that fully lives up to its title. Grizzlor have served up a sumptuous platter of riffs that effortlessly lays waste to the opposition.

“Destructoid” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Fruitloopville

2). House in the Woods

3). Tooth Pain

4). Miserable Jerk

5). Stupid Shit

6). Too Many People

7). Fighting Aliens With No Gravity

8). Wade’s Notes

9). Feeling Like Shit

10). Simulation

11). Quit And Die

The Review:

New Haven’s Grizzlor continue to carve out their own bizarre niche in the world of noise rock with debut LP “Destructoid”. The band achieve a perfect balance of lurid absurdity and nasty heaviness like opening up a kids comic book to discover it has been used to harbour dark top-shelf material.

The album lurches into life with the gargantuan “Fruitloopville”. Imagine a 50 foot Clutch after having their drink spiked by the Melvins and you have an idea of the monstrous, city-levelling riff Grizzlor unleash here. This sets the scene for the next thirty minutes of mayhem. While on previous releases the band have ripped through seven songs in ten minutes, here they have managed to lengthen their attention span in order to wring maximum impact from their bottomless arsenal of weapons-grade riffs. “Tooth Pain” and “Simulation” prove they can rock hardcore punk tempos without losing their edge but it is the relentless attack of closer “Quit Ad Die” that captures the band at their peak.

The fact that Grizzlor can achieve this and maintain their unhinged acid-fried intensity is no mean feat. Key to this are the vocals and lyrics of guitarist Victor. His barked maniacal delivery is the perfect vehicle for his darkly comic rants on tooth pain, crippling paranoia and feeling like shit. The air of weirdness is enhanced by outbursts reverb-drenched lead guitar that lend the likes of “Feeling Like Shit” a warped surf edge.

“Destructoid” is a record that fully lives up to its title. Grizzlor have served up a sumptuous platter of riffs that effortlessly lays waste to the opposition.

“Destructoid” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

TRACK PREMIERE: New Haven noise trio Grizzlor raise the finger to mediocrity with “Fruitloopville”

 

Spewed forth into existence in the year 2013, GRIZZLOR hit the Earth with a misanthropic thud. Hailing from the toxic depths of New Haven, CT, these are three dudes power slopping their way through the daily drudgery, weighed heavy with fuzz, sludge and an itching disdain for the mundane. Their anthems are sonically beefy for the sardonically bored. 

Coming 3 years after the release of their 7” “When You Die”, GRIZZLOR will finally release their first full-length album, "Destructoid", on September 8th via Hex Records  and their unique brand of lurid, sludgy weirdness is perhaps more potent than ever.  Coming across like the Melvins providing a twisted soundtrack to Saturday morning kid’s cartoons, "Destructoid" is a barrage of sharp angular riffs, aggressively pummeled rhythms and vocals spat through a wall of misanthropic fuzz and today we are excited to deliver a  brand new exclusive track, for your listening pleasure.

To quote Fight Club “This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time”, so why not enrich it by playing a cool fucking tune by kick ass band. Check out the magnificent “Fruitloopville” below, preorders for “Destructoid” are available here.

 

Band info: facebook || official || twitter || instagram || youtube

REVIEW: Grizzlor / Godstopper - "Grizzlor / Godstopper 7inch"

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: 7inch

Date Released: 17/02/2017

Label: Corpse Flower Records

 

Overall this is an excellent split that showcases two awesome bands with differing styles united in their bizarre approach and love of the riff.

“Grizzlor/Godstopper 7”//DD track listing:

1). Grizzlor – Are You Doing Your Job?

2). Grizzlor – Jack and Diane

3). Godstopper – Down Here For Long

4). Godstopper - Cellphane

The Review:

Corpse Flower Records have brought together two titans of oddball noise rock in the form of Grizzlor and Godstopper to create a killer split 7”.

New Haven’s Grizzlor came to my attention with their mighty 2015 7” “Cycloptic”. This time the band have slowed the tempo slightly to pack two songs into seven minutes, making these tracks almost prog in length compared to their previous output. Their unique brand of lurid, sludgy weirdness is as potent as ever though coming across like the Melvins providing a twisted soundtrack to Saturday morning kid’s cartoons. “Are You Doing Your Job?” sees the band expand their twisted surf edge in the form of unhinged reverbed-out guitar solo while “Jack and Diane” is a perkier slice of damaged punk rock. These two tracks offer a tantalising glimpse of Grizzlor’s power and hopefully they will be back soon with a longer release.

This split is my first taste of Godstopper and it has definitely made me hungry for more. The Toronto quartet deliver two tracks of wildly contrasting style but both of high quality. “Down Here For Long” is the heaviest track on the record, with crunching stop/start riffs giving way to outbursts of glorious Torche style melodic sludge. “Cellophane” provides a complete change of pace in the form of a strange power ballad. Consisting mostly of sparse guitar, piano and rim clicks, it’s a catchy tune that has hints of Faith No More’s quieter moments, particularly during the brief eruption of distortion. 

Overall this is an excellent split that showcases two awesome bands with differing styles united in their bizarre approach and love of the riff.

“Grizzlor/Godstopper 7” is available here

Band info: facebookgrizzlordestroys || facebookgodstopperband

ALBUM PREMIERE: New Haven noisekniks Intercourse are caught “Pissing Into The Abyss”

Hailing from New Haven, Connecticut, home to The Sludgelord’s favourite noise terrorists Grizzlor, Intercourse are “5 grown men who still dress like they're 17 and drink too much" but also play a spectacularly vitriolic blend of hardcore noise rock, meaning they’re aren't pretentious in their delivery, rather straight to the point, angular and ready to rip your face off. 

“Pissing Into The Abyss” their 3^rd release was released via their own Eye Tape Records imprint today and for your listening pleasure you can stream the record in full below.  Here is what the band had to say about the album title.  You pick up the album here

"The album title comes from the Nietzsche quote, "If thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee". You see sometimes you gaze into it so long it becomes comforting. You bring a 12 pack, a bottle, whatever you need to have a good time, and you pass it back and forth between yourself and the abyss. You drink too much, you pass out, you puke, maybe you wet yourself. Hence "Pissing Into the Abyss."

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

"Riffs are our Future" - In conversation with Godstopper Mastermind Mike Simpson and New Song Exclusive



Like a disgruntled commuter waiting for the number 83 bus, invariably you wait that long for your mode of transport to come along and then 2 -3 come along at once.  Not that I am comparing today’s featured artist to a bus, but Hex Records will be releasing another batch of material from Toronto's Godstopper, a band we featured just last week with the premiere of a new track from their forthcoming split with compatriots The Great Sabatini set for release via No List Records.  

In addition to properly giving their download-only 2015 full length "Lie Down" (with "The Children Are the Future" EP as bonus tracks) a proper physical release on CD, Hex Records will also be releasing a new 12" EP entitled "Who Tries Anymore".  Godstopper is essentially the project of songwriter Mike Simpson who has members backing him up live and sometimes in the studio. Their heavy-handed approach brings to mind everything from The Melvins, to Cave-In, Mare and Torche.

So with the release of "The Children...","Lie Down", and now on "Who Tries Anymore" the progression from harsh, down-tuned sludge fests with hidden hooks and melodies has almost been reversed.” Who Tries Anymore" is Godstopper presenting their most blatantly catchy songs to date whilst retaining their core heavy elements, in turn this material showcases the exceptional song writing talent of Simpson coupled with his pitch-perfect vocals. 

Today, we are delighted to have been given another opportunity to showcase this unique band, with the debut of their track “Halfway” from their forthcoming EP.  Not only that, you can check out my short interview with Godstopper mastermind Mike Simpson, all of which can be viewed and consumed below. 

SL: Mike, thanks for do this, can you give us an insight into how you started playing music, leading up to the formation of Godstopper and the release of your current record?

Mike Simpson: That would take a long time! I’ve been playing music since I was about 12 years old. I started playing in metal bands of the “post-metal” and “progressive” variety about 10 years ago. I had a more funk-oriented band that I led for a period of time, sort of a la Mr. Bungle. I started Godstopper in late 2010 (after a false start consisting of one show in 2009), recorded a demo by myself, and then got others to join the band and play with me.  In addition to the demo, “Empty Crawlspace”, we’ve released a full length “What Matters”, a split 7-inch with Tendril (featuring our track “Everybody Writes Good Songs”), an EP “Children are our Future”, and a second full-length “Lie Down”.

SL:  What can you tell us about your upcoming record and where do you feel it sits within the context current doom scene

Mike Simpson: I think you could say we are doom-inspired, but from more or less the get-go I figured “doom” wasn’t the best classification for us. This was verified when I sent the demo tracks off to Edgy 59 from Burning Witch, who was kind enough to respond to me with his feelings on the music…I’m only paraphrasing his words slightly; he said “call it what you want, but this is not doom”.

More recently, through a random facebook conversaton, I got Sean “Pellet” Pelletier (Bobby Liebling’s manager, or at least was so in Last Days Here…I’m sure he’d be familiar to you and your readership!) to listen to the music, which I recall him describing as “melodic post rock”.  No mention of doom.

Point being, if those two guys, who I’d consider to be among the best authorities on what doom music is, don’t think it’s doom, I don’t think I’d call it that either. More realistically, I’d say we are one of many bands who include doom music into a broader stream of influences. I suppose this would make us “post-rock” or “post-metal”, although both of those classifications miss the mark for me, in terms of the impression they give.

SL: What was the mood in the camp going into the recording of the record?

Mike Simpson: One track, “Halfway”, was recorded with the full band back in fall 2015. The other four tracks were recorded with just me playing the instruments. For those tracks, I was happy to see things through from creation to execution. It also gave me a good excuse to improve my drum skills (in the beginning, I played drums for our live shows, but have since switched to guitar).

SL: What can fans look forward to from you over the next 12 months? How is your schedule shaping up?

Mike Simpson: We have three releases coming…”Who Tries Anymore” is already available via Hex Record’s bandcamp, and pre-orders for the vinyl can also be made there. Additionally, we have a split tape with The Great Sabatini coming out later this month, through No List Records. And we have a split with GRIZZLOR coming out through Corpse Flower Records in the fall. We’ll play shows as the opportunities come. Due to the level of time and money investment required, it is doubtful there will be a tour from us anytime soon.

  

You can stream the track “Halfway” below and pre-order Godstopper’s new material at the Hex Records with one simple click here

Band info: facebook

Grizzlor - "Cycloptic" 7inch (Review)

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: 7inch

Date Released: 28/10/2015

Label: Hex Records 

Each track is a barrage of filthy, lumbering Flipper-style basslines and riffs that sound like Clutch on downers. Effected vocals and pitched down samples sit on top of this to add an acid-fried weirdness to proceedings, echoing crazy Texans, Butthole Surfers.

“Cycloptic” 7inch//DD track listing:

1). Sundays Are Stupid

2). I’m That Asshole

3). Life’s A Joke

4). Tommy

5). Winter Blows

6). War Machine

7). Starship Mother Shit

The Review

Ever wondered what the Melvins would sound like if they were three times faster with a tenth of the attention span? New Haven trio, Grizzlor, are here to provide the answer in fine style on new 7” “Cycloptic”.

Barrelling through 7 tracks in 9 minutes is the kind of behaviour I’d normally associate with grind or crust bands, not a mid-pace noise rock band. I was initially sceptical about how this would work and worried that  “Cycloptic” would just be a series of unsatisfactory truncated jams. Grizzlor soon put all doubts to rest.

Reverbed moans and maniacal laughter give way to the pummelling opening riff of “Sundays Are Stupid”. This track somehow manages to sound simultaneously cheerful and menacing, like going to the circus after your drink’s been spiked with LSD. This is a trick Grizzlor manage to pull off throughout “Cycloptic”, balancing dark humour and heavy aggression to great effect.

Each track is a barrage of filthy, lumbering Flipper-style basslines and riffs that sound like Clutch on downers. Effected vocals and pitched down samples sit on top of this to add an acid-fried weirdness to proceedings, echoing crazy Texans, Butthole Surfers. Somehow these 90-second bursts of noise manage to feel like fully-formed songs, cramming in more variation and surprise than you get in most songs twice the length without sounding forced or awkward.

“Cycloptic” is an addictive blast of dirty air that makes you want to hit play again as soon as it’s over. You could have listened to most of it in the time it took to read this, so don’t waste any more time; get listening now.

“Cycloptic” is available here

Band info: bandcamp | facebook

The Sludgelord Song Premiere: 'Starship Mother Sh*t’ by Grizzlor

By: Aaron Pickford

Firm favourites at The Sludgelord and rising noise rock power trio, Grizzlor are set to release their next record with Hex Records .   Entiled ‘Cycloptic’ a 7 song 7" vinyl, it is with great excitement that we premiere the stunning track ‘Starship Mother Sh*t’ for your listening pleasure.  To set the mood, here is what John from Grizzlor had to say about this fantastic track

"A little ditty that came together after just another typical, monotonous day.  Some of us being fans of old Star Trek, along with a miserable day upon us, the song came into existence. It's basically an ode to those days when everything just sucks and you'd rather just disappear from this planet. I guess technically if Scotty was beaming you up, you'd end up on the Starship Enterprise, but I guess that might be cool?"

‘Cycloptic’ will available on 7" red and white vinyl as well as digital.  It is available to preorder here and the awesome artwork, track list, band and label info can be found below.  The label is aiming for a release in late October, so support this band and support DIY.

‘Cycloptic DD//7inch track Listing:

1. Sundays Are Stupid

2. I'm That A**hole

3. Life's a Joke

4. Tommy

5. Winter Blows

6. War Machine

7. Starship Mother Sh*t

Band info: facebook | official | twitter | instagram | youtube

Label info: facebook | bandcamp

'The Road to Death to False Metal': GodHunter –vs – Destroyer of Light ‘Endsville’ Tour Diary - Leg Two: Day 10-18

 By: Jake Brazelton & Keegan Kjeldsen

Day 10 - Indianapolis (Keegan from Destroyer of Light): On our very first tour, we played a place called Indy's Jukebox, which got bought out and is now called the 5th Quarter - our stop in Indianapolis for Endsville. Returning there was surreal. The last time, we played with Apostle of Solitude (who showed up this time and were nice enough to give us a place to stay) and the great Black Tusk (RIP Athon). Needless to say, it was a 'full circle' kind of moment, although the murderous stairs have been improved under new management. Conjurer slayed it hard - I was admittedly blazed out of my mind and managed to stand long enough to watch them, albeit through my shades. Yes, I wore my sunglasses at night and I didn't even bash the hell out of my shins. Indy treated both us and Godhunter very well this time. The bathrooms did not. I don't know if it's because there's literally a gym on the top floor and all the body odour just accumulates or if the innards of the bar patrons are just downright wretched (we probably contributed on that front). But all that was forgotten by the great support from a host of old and new friends and fans. The only scent that stuck with us at the end of the night was the sweet smell of love. And weed.

Day 11 - Louisville Kentucky (Jake from Godhunter): Sometimes a town has ways of surprising you. Louisville was definitely one of these kinds of towns. We rolled into town a little early so we could stop by the Lousville Deathfest to check out our buds in Immortal Bird. They were playing in what looked like a warehouse kind of building next to an abandoned silo. Immortal Bird ripped apart a sea of dudes in black shirts and their girlfriends. We then drove down to the Mag Bar which is a rad little dive in a weird part of town. Tonight was just us and Destroyer of Light so we weren't in any kind of rush to get set up. We played our set to Destroyer of Light and like one other dude but that dude bought a shirt. So we were 1 for 1 on fans in Kentucky. The owner of Mag Bar was one of the coolest dudes we met on tour. He kind of looks like a shorter hipster version of Abe Lincoln and told us approximately a million dad jokes while smoking a blunt with us.

Day 12 - Raleigh (Keegan from Destroyer of Light): It was a doomed night at The Pour House after a looong all-night and all-morning drive straight from Louisville. With multiple drivers and room enough for two to sleep, it can be done - but we don't recommend it unless you absolutely know what you're doing. If everyone's tired, pull off at a rest stop and sleep for a few hours. You don't even need to set an alarm when you tour in summer: the sun will helpfully commence with burning you to a crisp as soon as it comes up, a friendly nudge that it's time to wake up and drive. Needless to say, we spent most of our time after coming into Raleigh sleeping, dreaming of Lone Star, nachos, cowgirls and all the other things we miss about Texas. At the bar, The Hag woke us the fuck up with their punishing style of sludge-grunge, as well as Bitter Resolve, whose name fit their sound perfectly. They were aggressive and thunderous, and got the blood flowing before Endsville descended on Raleigh. For future reference: no drinking alcohol in the parks of Raleigh... Unless you have a permit.

Day 13 - Charleston, WV (Jake from Godhunter): #picklemouth 

Day 14 - Pittsburgh (Keegan from Destroyer of Light): We've been known to wax poetic about Pittsburgh, especially about the striking view of the city you get when coming in. Tunnel after tunnel through hills and mountains... then, bam. You come out onto a bridge and see the full majesty of the city: the river, the bridges, the hills, and the unique skyline. We seriously can't say enough good things about it. The weather was close to perfect and the wind was refreshing when up in the hills. But, oh yeah, there's hills everywhere, and that makes loading gear a special kind of pain in the nuts. Still, I'm always happy to return to Gooski's for more pierogies, sausage, kraut and wings: playing on Polish Hill has its benefits. After watching Slaves BC and Outlander blast the smallish room in the back of the bar, we were ready for a tight show, and Jeff and Dick jammed bass on the floor. After load-out (my favorite part of tour), Max from Dendritic Arbor was kind enough to put us up for the night, and we got cuddly with some big, fuzzy cats (my actual favorite part of tour).

Day 15 - Buffalo, NY (Jake from Godhunter):  I need to tell you guys something. Western New York is beautiful. We tried to leave early so we could hang out at Niagara Falls for a few hours but we woke up way too late so we only got to stop for fifteen minutes or so. The Falls are insane though. Mist in the air, tourists everywhere, and crazy ass ducks chilling in the water right before the falls. Crazy shit. David's cousin who live in Buffalo showed us and DoL a ton of love by cooking us up some burgers and letting us hang out before the show. We get down to Mohawk Bar where we got to watch a drunk guy get thrown out of the bar, call the cops on the bar for refusing service to him and when the cops showed up they told him "Get your shit, take your head out of your ass and get out of here." After all of this, Bastard Lord brought the hammer of doom down on the crowd before it was time for Endsville. Buffalo is an interesting place. I'd definitely play here again.

Day 16 - Brooklyn (Keegan from Destroyer of Light): Driving into NYC during rush hour is an Odyssey of torture that filled me with enough suffering to write three funeral doom records. Pro tip: iPhones can't handle New York. They can't figure out where the hell they are and you end up getting re-routed through Times fucking Square. Yeah, that happened. After our souls and bladders were crushed for several hours, we reached St. Vitus Bar and remembered why we come to New York. It felt like a metal mecca of sorts, and it was awesome to meet up with Immortal Bird again, this time to play a show. While we were unloading in a bus zone, a city bus pulled up right behind us and the driver got out. We were sure it was to tell us to move our asses, but a lady on the bus, the only passenger shouted that it wasn't her stop. The driver shrugged and said, "I'm gonna eat a sandwich at this deli. Sorry", then walked right past us. Got to meet the mighty Frank Huang of Pit Full of Shit. Immortal Bird's performance was brutal and technical, but without crossing into prog territory. After some very loud sets from the Endsville tour, we drank, partied and mourned the toll money we'd parted with earlier that day. We parted ways with tour buddies Immortal Bird, but not for the last time: Death to False Metal Fest awaits in two days!

Day 17 - Salem, MA (Jake from Godhunter): Salem might have been one of the best on this tour. We got into the witchy world of Salem early so we could check out some of the sights before the party started. We got a taste of what the witch trials were like by seeing the re-enactment and dungeon tour at the Witch Dungeon Museum before checking out some of the cemeteries. After we got done with all of our touristy bullshit, we got to one of the most strangest venues we have ever played, Koto Sushi Restaurant. I've never played an actual sit down restaurant before so I had no idea what to expect but fuck Salem, you dudes know how to party. We had people who came out to the show from Boston and some from as far as Maine to see this show. After letting the close the sit down aspect of the restaurant, the bands set up on the floor across from the bar. After the venue filled up, Led to the Grave thrashed and shredded the energetic crowd and set everything up perfectly for Endsville to lay waste to Koto. During our set, an extremely inebriated dude was rocking out a bit too hard and almost knocked over Dick before his buddy took him off somewhere to sleep it off for the night. After wrapping up the music we shared some booze and stories with all of our new friends, it was time to hit the road again. Salem fucking rules and Koto fucking rules.

Day 18 - Hamden, Death to False Metal Fest (Keegan from Destroyer of Light): We've been calling this the 'traffic tour', because we've managed to hit awful traffic almost every drive so far, and the road to Death to False Metal was no different. Jeff walked side-by-side with the van for a bit as we inched along, because sometimes you gotta smoke and we weren't going faster than walking distance. We rolled into the parking lot with little time to spare before loading in gear for Godhunter's set. The Outer Space stage where we both played was agonizingly small - and given the size of the room and the loudness of the bands there, I'm guessing it was incredibly loud. I'm guessing because my hearing has been systematically destroyed already, so who knows. Needless to say, I approve of that: Godhunter, Destroyer of Light and Secret Cutter all shared gear and blasted the audience in what could only be called a 'heavy metal lounge party'. Just outside, metalheads strummed away at acoustic guitars, and finally Archaic Decapitator finished the night on the small stage with their technical death assault. Meanwhile, at the ballroom, Grizzlor's raw, reckless abandon was followed up by the power doom of Demon Eye and Nasty Disaster's nasty brand of heavy metal. Immortal Bird kicked up the harshness and freakout level in preparation for Krieg's black metal blitz. Good people run this fest, and I can only hope that the discovery of another fest with the same name will only be a minor hurdle: while the fest may not be keeping the name, every band performed their asses off. Hats off to everyone involved.

Band info: Godhunter Facebook| DOL Facebook