The Interrupters have Billie Eilish covered, Nêhiyawak hit the city, The Grahams are their own worst enemies, Rapport talk about love and more in today’s Roundup. We’ve definitely got some interesting band names in the lineup today. Read on and see for yourself.
1 Another day, another cool cover tune. And there ain’t nothing wrong with that. Watch L.A. ska-punks The Interrupters tackle Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy in this video filmed live at Ship Rec Studios. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “We were covering Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy while on tour all summer,” explains vocalist Aimee Interrupter. “When we had the chance to do this session in Los Angeles we thought it would be the perfect song because it’s so fun to play live! We are big fans of Billie and Finneas’s songwriting… What a breath of fresh air for music! Here it is captured live in one take, we hope we did it justice.”
2 Indigenous Edmonton trio Nêhiyawak’s name refers directly to their Nêhiyaw ancestry. Their Oct. 24 album Nipiy translates to water. And their first single is Otênaw, which features the viscerally affective interplay of sonic exploration and cultural meaning that is core to their sound. Or so I am told. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Otênaw means city in Nêhiyawēwin. There are things being spoken to that are directly about cities and how they dominate the social fabric across a plethora of cultures all over the world. Also trying to understand not only historical ways, but also the contemporary factors that lead to this apparatus as something that continues to work and also questioning what that work is. For instance, there is a major reference in the bridge about the creation of ‘they’: not only linguistically but also how that impacts the psychology of people who live in cities.”
3 L.A. rockers The Grahams battle diabolical doppelgangers in the video for their single Bite My Tongue, an early preview of their upcoming album Kids Like Us, due for release next year. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The song was inspired not by anarchy but instead by, “a fringe of towns between the desert and L.A. that are like unstable elements, caught between two different states of being,” explains Doug. “Their residents seem to have that same restless instability.” “It’s not a great place to break down on a motorcycle, but we did,” adds Alyssa. “Bite My Tongue was inspired by our strange and disturbing encounter in the Mojave. One could call it our Rock and Roll Revenge song.”
4 Toronto’s Rapport have more to say with their new single and video for All The Other Lovers, the second cut from their Oct. 4 debut EP In The Dark. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “All the Other Lovers is about memory. How time turns a memory into a kind of fantasy, something so far away that it could never happen again. The song is about looking to the past, remembering a love that used to be and how nothing has compared since then; all the other lovers have just filled in the blanks. But was that past love all that we remembered it to be?”
5 Detoxi hail from sunny Ventura, Calif. — but say their music lives somewhere between ’80s SoCal deathrock and English post-punk, while creating a sound that’s all their own. Judge for yourself with the video for their track Death of a Nation, from their Oct. 18 album First Flesh. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Members Derek Jennings (vocals/guitar), Oscar Estrada (bass), John Crerar (drums) have been friends for years, cutting their teeth touring in bands like Catholic Spit, The Fucking Wrath & The Return. The guys had been playing together for a couple of years as MAäSK, but when a few members moved away (including Thomas from Strike Anywhere), a new band was born.”
6 Swiss psych-rock alchemists Dirty Sound Magnet are letter-perfect on their second single and video USA, LSD, BNB, HIV, a preview of their Oct. 18 album Transgenic. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Dirty Sound Magnet is a lifelong pursuit built on a feverish, borderline-religious passion for music and a common set of guiding values and beliefs. The three state it plainly: “there is no plan B”. Their dedication is unconditional, unequivocal, and unavoidable. Not one of the members has been engaged in any side projects since the band’s formation a decade ago; Dirty Sound Magnet offers them a musical framework without any boundaries to their creative expression.”
7 Said it before. Saying it again: I’m probably missing something painfully obvious, but I really have no idea what 5Rand’s goofy name is supposed to mean. Is it Brand? Grand? Five Rand? Five Grand? I really don’t know. Or care, if I’m honest. Anyway, here’s the video to their track Several Injuries, from their album Dark Mother. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The band confirms its prowess in combining melody with heavy, aggressive riffing, clean vocals and growling. The album discloses a mature and modern metal songwriting that brings to life a dark, disturbing and violent, and yet captivating atmosphere.”
8 Toronto’s Killer Virgins will drop their debut EP Reboot on Friday. But to get you in the mood, here’s the lyric video for their first single Karate Girl. Chop-chop. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “At the centre of Killer Virgins is the irrepressibly upbeat and exceptionally talented vocalist/ guitarist/songwriter Samantha Weinstein. Bubbling over with as much enthusiasm as she has latent compositional talent, Weinstein has seamlessly woven together a musical concoction that brings together the best of authentic punk energy, with the alternative rock grit of the 1990s and the more lush and pop-oriented sensibilities of the post-punk movement of the 21st century, creating a sound that is as engaging as Weinstein is as a performer and conversationalist.”
9 You’d expect a band called Charm City Devils to hail from Baltimore. But you might not expect them to dish up southern-tinged hard rock, like they do the song Skipping Stone, from their Nov. 22 release 1904. Surprise. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “While writing and collaborating on the songs for 1904,” explains singer John Allen, “I started reflecting on my life and music career and how the town where I grew up impacted my view of the world. The story of Baltimore is a direct parallel to what most people experience in life. In everyone’s life there is a change arc. We begin that change with ‘uninformed optimism’ only to find out that optimism quickly turns to ‘informed pessimism,’ and as the spiraling continues they ultimately bottom out at ‘crisis of meaning.’ It’s in the crisis part of life where a person has to decide if they are going to be stuck or are they going to pick themselves up and begin the upward struggle toward happiness and fulfillment. The first single, Skipping Stone, is a journey into self-awareness and ultimately about being resilient.”
10 L.A. psych-rockers Tombstones in Their Eyes head off into the wild blue yonder with Open Skies, from their album Maybe Someday. Which actually comes out Oct. 16, despite its title. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “It was time for another full record; luckily, the songs kept coming, starting with the song Maybe Someday — one of those songs that just pours out with almost no effort. The song is very sad, really. We had a few more songs ready and we went into Kitten Robot Studio, with our good friend Paul Roessler at the helm, to start the record. Open Skies was originally almost a joke song with lyrics about all the ways I could kill myself, until I got it together and wrote real lyrics,” says John Treanor.”
11 Swedish blues-rock power trio Stew have a lousy name. But they hope to win you over nonetheless with their sweet ballad Goddess, from their Oct. 11 album People. Good luck to them. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Markus Åsland’s hot and groovy vocals will lead your way to this promising debut album, which brilliantly explores the blues rock spectrum. Taking its cue from soul, psych, acid rock, and pretty much all the good vibes coming from that an unforgettable era that brought about what we now call cosmic rock. Rory Gallagher and Stevie Ray Vaughan may come to mind when listening to People.”
