In late 2013ish Los Angeles California, Wand formed up and got right on it, playing, writing & plotting a path forward – a not-undifficult task for a special new band come to life in the twenty-teens and audaciously self-identifying as “Wand”. The original group – Cory Hanson (guitar, vocals), Lee Landey (bass), Evan Burrows (drums) and Daniel Martens (guitar) – recorded Ganglion Reef before too long and attracted the attentions of GOD? Records, In the Red and Drag City all at once. A deal was dreamed up and hammered down: first album with GOD?, second with In the Red, and then Drag City. What would the result of THAT be? So began the years of furious activity; near-constant days of touring and recording and releasing. Between August 2014 and September 2017, Wand released Ganglion Reef, Golem, 1000 Days and Plum, a period in which they also reduced from quartet to trio (less Daniel) and then expanded to quintet (with the addition of Robbie Cody (guitar) and Sofia Arreguin (keys, vocals, percussion)). All this action had launched them onto the world-wide stage, which suggested increasingly more to do all the time. No prob: everyone was playing in other bands, and Cory started a solo career too. No time like the present! A maxi-EP, “Perfume”, appeared in the Spring of 2018 and the double-album Laughing Matter dropped in April 2019. Touring continued apace; it was only the CoCo craze of the following year that that forced any downtime – and even that gap was filled with the mixing of an epic live document, the 2xLP Spiders In the Rain, dropped in the pan in 2022. All this while Evan focused on his long-time other band, Behavior, plus Pink Trash Can, and Robby joined in on both endeavors, while Sofia played with Shannon Lay and Kamikaze Palm Tree, and Cory wrote and recorded two more solo albums! When the smoke cleared on all the pandammit action, Lee and Sofia had decided it was time to get on beyond Wand, something the other three were still dedicated to doing while remaining in the band. Ayund… clock on the wall said it was time for another album, as it was suddenly a few years since Laughing Matter. That’s when Vertigo set in. Robbie began to record the new stuff at his place. The new Wand directive: recording only, no writing. That would come later. Surely the next great Wand album was somewhere at this end of this rainbow? Yep – by late 2023, all of it had boiled down to album-size, and Vertigo was soon slated for release on July 26, 2024. In the process, Wand had grown an extra hand – or more accurately, become a quartet again, with the addition of Evan Backer (known as Evan Too, for those keeping track). And what ho, more dates had been scheduled and played, and more scheduled. For the earth is round and we must continue in orbit. For Wand, this means North America in the summer and Europe in the fall, with Mars TBA. What next, man?
WAND
“There’s long been a growl festering in the West, an earthen rumble fed by tectonic tension, acrid smoke, and sun-parched air. The brew has boiled over lately, a pressure-cooked chaos that can no longer be contained. The growl has grown to a howl.. the howl is at the door. Few are as ready to meet the madness head on as Frankie and the Witch Fingers. On their new album, Data Doom, the band hurtles the listener head first into the wood-chipper of technological dystopia, systemic rot, creeping fascism, the military-industrial profit mill, and a near-constant erosion of humanity that peels away the soul bit by bit. With a fuse lit by these modern-day monstrosities the band seeks to find salvation through a thousand watt wake-up of rock n’ roll exfoliation.
After tearing through the tender heart of the Midwest, Frankie and the Witch Fingers found themselves clamped down on the fried edges of Los Angeles, carving out a niche that’s equal parts molten tar pit teardown and cataclysmic careen. Following releases on Hypnotic Bridge, Let’s Pretend, and Permanent, the band landed between the twin barbs of Greenway and The Reverberation Appreciation Society, a perfect fit for their frenetic blend of rhythmic whiplash and sonic soul shake. Anchored by songwriters Dylan Sizemore and Josh Menashe, the band has kept a rotating door of friends and collaborators moving through their midst over the past few years, coalescing post-pandemic into a symbiotic stage beast that’s become the beating heart of their new album, Data Doom. Bassist Nikki “Pickle” Smith and drummer Nick Aguilar have been road-hardened and readied over the last year, laying the groundwork for the new record’s 300 pounds of pummel and propulsion.
That heft was hurtled onto tape in the band’s Vernon, CA studio space. The locale let the city’s grit creep into the crevices of their new record, a wild swing at the sternum that hits the listener like an adrenaline shot to the heart. Wiping away the haze of stoned-ape psychedelics that permeated their opus Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters… the band favors an asphalt assault of rock, riff, and amphetamine rhythm. As they’ve wound out of the last phase, their sound, over a series of singles, has begun to thicken and throb. It’s coalesced into a darker strain that ingests the explosive impulses of gas-crisis-era proto-punk, the rhythmic insistence of 70’s German Progressives, and the elasticity of funk fusionists alike. They’ve welded their arsenal of influences to a chassis of nail-bitten bombast that drives Data Doom into the midst of the maelstrom.
The band has shared bills with Kikagaku Moyo, Ty Segall, Oh Sees, Cheap Trick, and ZZ Top, churning their stage-side scorch into household recognition — burning through a barrage of multicolored vinyl pressings and sparring with indie heavyweights for Billboard chart positions. Data Doom looks to cement that status, a sinewy slab cut on the stone of social collapse and licking the blade in anticipation of what’s to come. “Never name the darkness itself,“ intones Sizemore, but the darkness is already here, embedded in every moment, inextricable from the capital, sabbatical, sustenance, and solace of the modern age. Data Doom is the elixir and the exorcism, it’s the reformation rendered in rock ’n roll.”
Soledad Brothers were an American garage rock trio from Maumee, Ohio. Taking strong influence from blues rock, the band consisted of Ben Swank on drums, Johnny Walker on guitar and vocals, and Oliver Henry (formerly of The Greenhornes and who was recruited just before the release of their second album) on sax and guitar. The band produced four albums: Soledad Brothers (2000), Steal Your Soul and Dare Your Spirit to Move (2002), Voice of Treason (2003), and The Hardest Walk (2006).
Primitive Ring consists of Bert Hoover (Hooveriii, GROOP), Jon Modaff (JModaff, Hooveriii, GROOP), and Charles Moothart (Fuzz, GGGS). The three LA based musicians found each other in a collective state of high functioning de evolution, and collectively agreed to bend the knee to the primal instincts of melody and rhythm. Primitive Ring started when the three members realized their worlds were organically converging. Seeking a new well to pitch the mental bucket in search of creative fluidity, the choice became obvious: start a new band. “Bring in the new” is not to say “Out with the old”. It is to continue the story and elaborate on the plot. A band of three individuals (ring) tapping in to their collective sound (ring) to form a solid bond (ring) in which to burn away superfluous modernity (ring). Rock and roll is for everyone and belongs to no one.
Playing garage-accented pop, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mikal Cronin was raised in Laguna Beach, California, where as a teenager he developed a passion for both surfing and rock & roll. While attending Laguna Beach High School, he fell in with a handful of like-minded music fans, many of whom he still collaborates with to this day. When not focusing on his own music, Cronin is a member of Ty Segalls Freedom Band.
Washington, DCs DES DEMONAS have been hailed as a favorite of Henry Rollins (KCRW FM/Black Flag), Marc Riley (BBC6 Music/The Fall), and Iggy Pop (BBC6 Music/The Stooges) since the release of their debut LP on In The Red Records and their subsequent singles and EP. DES DEMONAS much anticipated follow-up LP “APOCALYPTIC BOOM! BOOM!” is out this fall on In The Red Records. The group is made up of some familiar names from the DC punk, garage, and indie scenes. A Kenyan punk-poet-politique Jacky “Cougar” Abok (Foul Swoops, Thee Lolitas) is on vocals & percussion, Mark Cisneros (Hammered Hulls, Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds, The Make-Up) is on guitar, Paul Vivari (Benjy Ferree, DJ Soul Call Paul) is on Farfisa organ and bass machine, and Matt Gatwood (Two Inch Astronaut) is on drums.
Acid Dad is an American alternative-rock band composed of singer-guitarists, Vaughn Hunt and Sean Fahey, and drummer, Trevor Mustoe. Vaughn first started recording the band in his Bushwick, NY basement releasing singles “Brain Body” and their first EP “Lets Plan a Robbery.” Appearing live in the New York City rock scene in 2016, Acid Dad quickly moved to a world stage with their self-titled debut album in 2018. In 2021, while continuing to independently produce all their own music, art and even building their own guitars, Acid Dad produced their second LP Take It From The Dead and spent time building a studio space in Queens, NY. Unfortunately that studio was lost in a catastrophic flood brought in by Hurricane Ida later that year, but thankfully its energy and soul were captured with the bands live film and album Levitation Sessions, recorded only a few months prior. In 2022 the band is set to release their new 7″ single Get Me High, featuring an otherworldly video by Acid Dad visual artist Webb Hunt. The B-Side Brain Body was recorded live at Shaky Knees Festival in April 2022. The band will tour all of October supporting Australias Psychedelic Porn Crumpets across the entire USA with festival stops including both Desert Daze and Levitation. “Since our studio was destroyed by the hurricane Ida floods, our music has been heavily influenced by the nature of water. Get Me High is about trying to grasp a breath after unexpectedly losing everything. Inspired by childrens cartoons, pipe systems, and fluid dynamics, we created Ding Ding, creatures who find themselves lost in a foreign psychedelic world.” – Acid Dad Get Me High is co-released by Brooklyns Greenway Records and psych powerhouse LEVITATIONs label, The Reverberation Appreciation Society. Acid Dad is Vaughn Hunt (guitars and vocals), Sean Fahey (guitars and vocals) and Trevor Mustoe (drums).
Apollonia, Nikos and Adonis, schooled and skilled in the ways of the old, these siblings share a kinetic bond that is erupting in real time and their band is called Frenzee. They are Occams Razor, hair trigger tight, pulverizingly mean and lean. Born in Melbourne, raised and based on Crete, Frenzee embody the antipodean riffing of AC/DC, The Hard Ons and The Angels but with a heavy dose of their childhood loves Bikini Kill, Motorhead, The Prodigy and Rage Against The Machine.
Bella and the Bizarre is a high-energy Berlin-based band that blends the raw intensity of garage rock with a tender soulful flow. A wild fusion of garage punk, sixties rock n roll and a touch of RnB soul, with its own gentle smokiness. Combining a broad spectrum of influences – from Wanda Jackson to the Remains, Eartha Kitt to the Ramones, they are ready to set you in trance! Known for their vibrant stage presence and infectious energy, Bella and the Bizarre deliver performances that are as captivating as they are unpredictable.
Born in Auckland, New Zealand and now residing in New York City, Dion has played in various bands, most notably The D4, who released two albums on legendary New Zealand label Flying Nun Records and A Place To Bury Strangers, appearing and writing on their studio albums Worship (2012) Transfixiation (2015) and Pinned (2018) as well as numerous singles and EPs. He also played in the formidable Flowers Of Evil beside members of Crocodiles. While taking a break from touring with A Place To Bury Strangers, Lunadon recorded a self-titled solo album encompassing all that he loves about rock ‘n’ roll. Previewed by the single Com/Broke, Lunadon’s LP arrived in 2017 on Agitated Records. Just as the pandemic hit early 2020, Lunadon decided to leave A Place To Bury Strangers and focus on his own music. In June 2020, he released the song “When Will I Hold You Again”, a duet with Kate Clover, and September 2020 saw the release of the “Schreien” EP. In 2021 he put a band together to give his songs life and in 2022 Henry Rollins got him in touch with In The Red Records who released his sophomore album Beyond Everything. November 14th 2023 saw In The Red releasing his 3rd album, Systems Edge.
