01 – “The Whip Hand”
02 – “Aegis”
03 – “Dyslexicon”
04 – “Empty Vessels Make The Loudest Sound”
05 – “The Malkin Jewel”
06 – “Lapochka”
07 – “In Absentia”
08 – “Imago”
09 – “Molochwalker”
10 – “Trinkets Pale Of Moon”
11 – “Vedamalady”
12 – “Noctourniquet”
13 – “Zed And Two Naughts“

On The Impossible Past was recorded at Atlas Studios in Chicago with longtime collaborators Matt Allison (Alkaline Trio, The Lawrence Arms) and Justin Yates. While the record retains all the raucous spirit of the band’s earlier efforts sonically, it’s a monumental step forward. “I think that ‘Gates’ is one of the most mature songs on the album,” guitarist/vocalist Tom May explains, referencing the tender rock song sung by Barnett that truly transcends genres. “I hope it surprises people because it’s not a straight-forward punk song with gang vocals or anything like that but it still definitely sounds like us.”

It’s undoubtedly been an exciting time for The Menzingers, touring with acts like Against Me! and The Gaslight Anthem as well as playing their own headlining shows to enthusiastic audiences and the band wouldn’t change it for the world. “I get a lot of personal emails that say something to the effect of ‘my girlfriend broke up with me or my dad died and I listen to your music and it makes me feel really good’ and that validates what we’re doing and the time and effort we put into the new album,” May summarizes. “When people hear the songs from On The Impossible Past, I just hope people can relate to it and it makes them feel the way we do when we sing it.”

The Menzingers will be on tour with Rise Against starting January 17th and will release a 7 inch single for the track “The Obituaries” available here.

Menzingers’ Tour Dates:

Jan-12 Greenville, NC Tipsy Teapot
Jan-13 Chapel Hill, NC Local 506
Jan-14 Charlotte, NC Milestone Club
Jan-15 Birmingham, AL God’s Butt
Jan-16 Little Rock, AR Downtown Music Hall
Jan-17 Dallas, TX The Prophet Bar
Jan-18 Austin, TX Austin Music Hall w/ Rise Against
Jan-19 San Antonio, TX Illusion Theater at Alamodome w/ Rise Against
Jan-20 New Orleans, LA House of Blues w/ Rise Against
Jan-22 Orlando, FL UCF Arena w/ Rise Against
Jan-23 Columbia, SC The Township Auditorium w/ Rise Against
Jan-25 Norfolk, VA Constant Convocation Center w/ Rise Against
Jan-26 Harrisonburg, VA The Blue Nile
Jan-27 Kent, OH Memorial Athletic and Convocation w/ Rise Against
Jan-28 Chicago, IL UIC Pavilion w/ Rise Against
Jan-30 University Park, PA Bryce Jordan Center w/ Rise Against
Jan-31 Poughkeepsie, NY Mid Hudson Civic Center w/ Rise Against
Feb-02 Lowell, MA Paul E. Tsongas Arena w/ Rise Against
Feb-03 Hartford, CT Webster Underground
Feb-04 Uniondale, NY Nassau Veterans Mem. Col. w/ Rise Against
Feb-05 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center w/ Rise Against
Feb-06 Fairfax, VA Patriot Center w/ Rise Against

The evocative and beautifully mournful song, a companion to the recently premiered “When I Write my Master’s Thesis,” is titled “Letter in Icelandic from the Ninette San.” It is set in a tuberculosis sanatorium which existed in the small town of Ninette, Manitoba from 1915 to 1973. The lilting and moving lyrics are sung as a letter written by a fictional Icelandic immigrant patient residing in the San, to his brother back home in Riverton, Manitoba, sometime in the 1940s.

To hear the incredible new song “Letter in Icelandic from the Ninette San,” go to: www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2012/01/john_k_samson.html

Provincial will be released this January 24th via Epitaph-Anti Records. The record contains newly recorded versions of songs from Samson’s previous two acclaimed EPs, “City Route 85” and “Provincial Road 222,” alongside a collection of beautifully evocative new tracks. They are hymns for the departed and rockers for the living, songs about dying villages, Icelandic longing, snowplows, broken glass, satellites, hockey skates, and staff room romances. In creating these sonic portraits, Samson talked to relatives, friends and strangers. The resulting album contains 12 fierce, tuneful, vivid stories united by a deep sense of place.

John K. Samson & The Provincial Band Tour Dates:

3/7 Kingston, ON at The Grad Club
3/8 Ottawa, ON at Mavericks Bar
3/9 Montreal, QC at La Sala Rossa
3/10 Boston, MA at Brighton Music Hall
3/11 Philadelphia, PA at Union Transfer
3/13 Washington DC at Black Cat
3/15 New York, NY at Bowery Ballroom
3/16 Pittsburgh, PA at Club Cafe
3/17 Buffalo, NY at Mohawk
3/18 Hamilton, ON at The Casbah
3/20 London, ON at The Aeolian Hall
3/21 Guelph, ON at E-Bar
3/22 Toronto, ON at Great Hall
3/27 Winnipeg, MB at West End Cultural Centre
3/28 Regina, SK at The Exchange
3/29 Edmonton, AB at The Royal Alberta Museum Theater
3/31 Vancouver, BC at The Biltmore
4/1  Seattle,WA at Tractor Tavern
4/2 Portland, OR at Doug Fir
4/5 San Diego, CA at The Casbah
4/6 Los Angeles, CA at The Troubadour
4/7 San Francisco, CA at Bottom of the Hill
4/8 Santa Cruz, CA at The Atrium
4/11 Bellingham, WA at The Shakedown
4/13 Calgary, AB at The Palomino
4/14 Saskatoon, SK at Amigos Cantina

Every Time I Die’s new album Ex Lives is currently available for pre-order.

The new video for a single off the album, “Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space” is online now. The powerful clip was directed by the band’s vocalist and lyricist Keith Buckley and features a barrage of startling visceral images which perfectly match the raging brutality of the track. As Buckley explains, “In order to write lyrics I had to pay attention to the defeatism that the music suggested. To compile this video I had to acknowledge the masochism I wrote of to myself. You don’t get rewarded for your faith and you don’t get celebrated for your heroism. Just when you find yourself attached, you have lost it. Everything is borrowed. C’est la vie.”

Ex-Lives Track Listing:

1 Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space 02:43
2 Holy Book Of Dilemma 01:49
3 A Wild, Shameless Plain 01:49
4 Typical Miracle 02:25
5 I Suck (Blood) 02:55
6 Partying Is Such Sweet Sorrow 03:12
7 The Low Road Has No Exits 02:51
8 Revival Mode 03:46
9 Drag King 04:11
10 Touch Yourself 02:17
11 Indian Giver 04:09
12 Grudge Music (bonus) 02:24
13 Business Casualty (bonus) 02:45
14 Starve An Artist, Cover Your Trash (bonus) 02:53

And catch Every Time You Die’s patented brand of rock and roll mayhem live when they take their beloved brand of punk infused metal mayhem on the road, joined by Los Angeles based hard core stage diving aficionados Terror. ETID will follow the tour by spending their summer adding some of their patented punk infused metal to the annual Van’s Warped Tour.

Every Time I Die Tour Dates:

Feb. 17 – Brooklyn, NY – Knitting Factory
Feb. 18 – Syracuse, NY – Lost Horizon
Feb. 19 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
Feb. 20 – Montreal, QC – Club Soda
Feb. 21 – Toronto, ON – Opera House
Feb. 23 – Thunder Bay, ON – Crocks
Feb. 24 – Winnipeg, MB – WECC
Feb. 26 – Saskatoon, SK – Louis
Feb. 27 – Edmonton, AB – Avenue
Feb. 28 – Calgary, AB – The Den
Feb. 29 – Spokane, WA – Epicenter
Mar. 02 – Colorado Springs, CO – The Black Sheep
Mar. 03 – Wichita, KS – the Scene~ary
Mar. 04 – Tulsa, OK – The Marquee
Mar. 05 – Memphis, TN – Newby’s
Mar. 06 – Birmingham, AL – Matthew’s Bar & Grill
Mar. 07 – Knoxville, TN – Valarium
Mar. 08 – Huntington, WV – V Club Live

A few months ago, the world was blessed with new material from Exitmusic in the form of “The Sea”. Aside from being the perfect love story, husband-and-wife duo Devon Church (NYC via Winnipeg, Manitoba) and Aleksa Palladino are the polar opposite of fellow New York couple, Matt & Kim’s “Daylight”. If the film begins at an upbeat pop tempo, the exitmusic is serene, eerie Exitmusic playing during the credits, all puns intended.

While Church paints a twilight sky, Palladino’s voice is a timeless lullaby aboard her counterpart’s shipwrecked raft of art supplies- vibrato opening tones, falling objects, and striking metallic paints. The latter of the group can be accredited to delightfully well-utilized mallet percussion. Their sound simultaneously encompasses the feeling of floating, stargazing, and washed-up mornings.

Strong, airy parallels between the instrumentals and vocals make for a hollow landscape, but one that is enviously beautiful. The source of this unnecessary envy, however, is completely unknown, seeing as we’re in no rush or place to challenge their industry-favourited spot for most chill pop noir duo… it’s probably something to do with their ridiculous, all-around attractiveness. (Gorgeous; oh, and here’s an album stream.)

Track listing

1 “The Sea”
2 “The Modern Age”
3 “The Hours”
4 “The Silence”

Preorder the four-track extended play (set for an October 4th release) via Secretly Canadian.

Exitmusic is Aleksa Palladino (vocals), Devon Church (everything else); live: Dru Prentiss (drums) and Nicholas Shelestak (programming).

It’s no secret that the band members love touring and recording both, equally- that is apparent in their exuberant smiles onstage and ridiculous excitement in the studio. They don’t tire of the cycle, a common trend with artists that are pushed to create, create, create and tour, tour, tour in a limited amount of time.

Rock N’ Roll Romance, however, is a bit of a hit and miss for a minority of their fans, myself included. Since the July premiere of lead single, “Have a Nice Day” (check out their lawn party music video, also premiered yesterday), I’ve progressively lost interest. Then came the mid-August announcement that the album was to be pushed back a month.

Nonetheless, the album sounds like an accomplishment. Such a fact cannot be denied- the guitar solos are glitzier, the rhythms are distinct, and Cameron Melnyk’s vocals are a lighter embodiment of that West Coast crunch (think Theory of a Deadman, The Veer Union). Despite complaints, it’s no “poppier” than its predecessor- remember the chart-topping chorus of “Money Honey”?

The lyrical theme of the album is a continuation of Life, Love & Lies, but with more sex, drugs, and glam. Apparent from their previous efforts, State of Shock excel at ballads, and fans will be gifted with “Innocent Girl”, “Mary Goes ‘Round”, “Last Call” and “Used to Be” this time round. “Wish I Woulda Wowed U” catches their audience with an anthemic swing. Although a little too layered at times, the gang vocals are well executed overall. Dirtying it up with fast, catchy hooks in “Gone N’Done N’ Did It”, then slowing it down before ending on a high note for the title track; the Romance feels whole.

upcoming tour dates
physical album and merch
digital on iTunes

State of Shock is Cameron Melnyk (vocals), Alison Toews (bass), Jesse Wainwright and Simon Clow (guitars), John Philippon (drums).

EastScene: What’s it feel like being back in Toronto and on this tour for the first time in 8 years together again?

Mark O’Connell: It feels great, yeah.

John Nolan: I remember this place in particular, we played in 2003, maybe, and it was our first show in Canada. We were gonna play in one of the smaller rooms here and actually got moved to the bigger room. We had no idea what to expect—we’d never been to Toronto before—and we get here and it was just people lining up so early, hundreds and hundreds of people, and it was mind-blowing.

ES: How is it coming to a country for the first time and not knowing anything about your fanbase?

JN: It’s amazing and it’s hard to comprehend. With touring in America, we started to do very well after a while, and that was pretty mindblowing. At least we had been touring around and working and doing that. It’s weird when that happens and you haven’t even been somewhere yet.  You don’t really know what to expect or what to think about it.

MO: On that tour, too, I think we were playing to 300 kids and by the end, it was like, 2000. This was in a two and a half month span, so that was like, “what the fuck”.

ES: What was it like recording this album together, fifth one, and back to the original five?

JN: It was great, and I think it was a great experience for us all. It was pretty different for me, I don’t know how different it was for the rest of the guys who had worked with Eric before, but we had a lot of time to really work on songs and hammer out details. I’d never had that experience. It’s always been a much more rushed kind of thing, and you just get through it and hope it comes out good. This was very, every day we had a lot of time to think about songs and develop them. It was pretty awesome.

MO: I think I enjoyed myself on this album more than any other one. We were having a good time, enjoying the songwriting, and having a fun time throughout the whole experience. It was hard work, but very enjoyable.

ES: Did the creative process change a lot over the years?

MO: No.

JN: No, not really. When we first got back together to work on songs it really felt the same as when we were working on songs in Mark’s parents’ basement. We have a way of collaborating that I think is pretty unique to these five people and that was just exactly the same as it has always been.

MO: Yeah, which was strange because we didn’t know how it was going to be. After the first or second day, we were like “this is nothing different.”

JN: Yeah, it was really surprising, actually.

ES: How did it come about? Who contacted who?

JN: It was Mark who put this whole thing together.

MO: You know, we found ourselves again being extremely unhappy and I couldn’t take it anymore. I would go home and talk to my wife and say, “I hate this” and just going through those emotions… I always wanted John and Shaun in the band—there was never a time I didn’t want them in the band—and Adam and Eddie weren’t ready for them to come in the band. So I was kinda like, “alright, it’s not gonna happen,” but John was actually doing a solo tour and was visiting as his parents’ house. Shaun called me and said, “John’s in town, let’s go out” so we went out and that was when I knew that this had to happen. It would be so much fun and it would be good to have a blast and have things get patched up, possibly. Short story long, it happened. I talked to Eddie and Adam about it and they said, “alright, fuck, let’s give them a call.” Shaun was down but when I called John, it was a bit of a shock. After a couple of minutes of talking to him, he was willing to give it a try. I was very excited about that. I was literally pacing back and forth in my room.

ES: You guys seem so genuinely happy.

TBS: Yeah, we are.

ES: Are you content with the record and how it turned out?

JN: We are very happy with it.

MO: It sounds great, the songs are really good.

ES: It’s very catchy

JN: Yeah, it is. I was saying the other day that we are so proud of this record. We worked so hard on it and put so much of ourselves into it. It’s just, when I first would see anything even remotely negative on the internet or something, I would just be like, I couldn’t believe it. Like, how is it possible that somebody could not like this? It doesn’t make any sense to me!

MO: They’re lying! They’re lying to themselves. That’s what I thought, you’re fucking lying! You love this shit

JN: You’re just pretending

MO: Yeah, you’re just pretending for some odd reason. Dicks.

JN: We couldn’t be more proud of it, you know. It’s like our little baby.

ES: Have you felt a lot of pressure from fans over the years to get back together?

MO: All the time. And I’d be like, “yo, I agree with you” but I couldn’t be saying that with other people from the band being around. You know what I mean? That whole time, there was a lot of that.

ES: You guys are playing a Straylight [Run] song. How did that come about?

MO: It happened in that first conversation.

JN: Yeah, it did.

ES: Was that the compromise?

MO: Well, I was trying to convince him a little bit. I was like, “dude, we’ll do whatever you want to. We can throw in a Straylight Run song into our set.” And we did.

JN: It wasn’t something that I was pushing for, you know. I think you and adam talked to me most about it, that that was something you wanted to do. And I thought it was awesome, but at the same time I didn’t want it to be like, “you guys gotta play one of the songs from my old band if I’m gonna do this!” It wasn’t that kind of thing. They just wanted to do it and they thought it would be fun, and it is.

ES: On that note, are there any songs that you refuse to play live?

MO: Well, there’re songs that, when we used to play them, I used to be like “aw man, do we have to play this?” and I feel bad because Adam really likes a couple of the songs that I couldn’t stand playing

ES: Like what?

MO: I think the song “Twenty Twenty Surgery” is an awful song.
ES: I like that one!

MO: I really don’t like it and I’m really happy that I don’t have to play it anymore! Horrible song.

JN: In your opinion!

MO: In my personal opinion.

ES: Do you guys ever get sick of playing the same songs all the time? But do you also feel pressure from the fans to play them, just because they really love them?

JN: I think that because people still get so excited when they hear those songs, it makes them exciting to play. There are certain songs that, when we get together to practice before a tour, we don’t spend a lot of time playing “Cute without the ‘E’”, you know? There are certain songs that we’ve played so much and we know so well. When we get out in front of the crowd, there hasn’t been one time that I haven’t been excited to play any of the songs.

MO: It makes it exciting to see their reaction. That makes it new every single time.

ES: Taking Back Sunday has been cited as a huge influence by so many bands. How do you feel about that, and about the bands that you don’t necessarily like?

MO: It’s very flattering.

JN: Yeah, it is very flattering. We’re so old and out of touch that I don’t think we’re even fully aware of which band are influenced by us. I know I’m not, but I know it exists and I know they’re out there. There’s bands that look up to us, but I’m just not tied into what’s happening with younger bands enough to really know—which is probably not a good thing. I need to be more aware of what’s happening in the new youth culture.

MO: Yeah, we don’t really know. We don’t listen, I don’t know. When John and I and Adam we on our bus the other night til like, late—I don’t want to say the time—we listen to Creedence Clearwater Revival, you know. That’s where we’re at in our lives.

ES: “Bad Moon Rising” is an awesome song

MO: Oh, dude, great song. “As Long As I Can See the Light”, that’s my favourite. But that’s where we’re at right now. It’s not like “Hey! Let’s put on the new, pop-punk-emo band coming up.” You know? We’re in our thirties.

ES: You guys all married? Have kids?

MO: Yeah

JN: Some, yeah. Eddie and Adam have kids. Shaun is not married, but he will be in just a couple weeks. Then we’ll all be married, officially, as a band.

ES: When you guys have kids, what would you tell them about your proudest moment?

JN: From our career?

ES: Anything, really.

MO: I don’t know…

JN: I’ve never thought of that, before…

MO: I think just the fact that we’re a band that’s able to do this. Like, go to a state and people actually want to see you play music….that’s something that I’ve wanted since I’ve been a little kid and now, you know, it’s been happening for the last decade. That doesn’t happen—that’s not real life. It doesn’t really happen with people, so we’re just extremely blessed people.

JN: Yeah, I totally agree with that. It’s hard, too, because there’s been so many things, positive things, and it’s hard to put a single moment down as the best, but I agree with that.  When I think about the fact that we’ve been made it through this long and people still want to see us play music, I, I just can’t believe it. I feel very proud of that.

MO: Yeah, it’s a strange thing.

ES: How is it touring with Thursday?

JN: It’s awesome. Those guys are the best.

MO: Awesome dudes.

ES: Have you known them a long time?

JN: We go way, way back to 2001-ish. They didn’t like us so much at first because we, we kind of were coming up behind them.

ES: Shoved them out of the way?

JN: We didn’t shove them out of the way. We sorta more rode their coattails [laughs] so they were a little skeptical of us at first, but over the years we go to know them, and they got to know us, and then they started to like us. This is the first time we’ve ever toured with them, though, so it’s cool after all these years of knowing and then finally getting to do a full tour. Their new album is great and the direction they’re going in is really cool. They’re just awesome guys and put on a great show every night. It’s amazing.

ES: What’s up with your new video for “Faith (When I Let You Down)”? Whose idea was it?

JN: That was the director’s idea. It was all his thing. He came to us with that. Mark was immediately into it. I was a little scared of the idea but I think it turned out awesome.

MO: I just thought it was so strange, you know

JN: It’s a strange video

MO: I thought it was kinda funny, shows our lighter side and that we’re able to have a sense of humour, and it’s funny. Just the “Welcome to the Jungle” video idea, and getting addicted to catnip, I thought it was hilarious.

ES: Are you guys fans of Keyboard Cat?

MO: I’ve actually never watched a cat video.

JN: I have seen Keyboard Cat. I always saw the, I think it was after the original video came out, there’d be something happen in a video and then it would say, “play him off, keyboard cat”. That was funny. I like that. It’s really one of the only ones I’m familiar with on any level. That’s what’s really weird about it; we haven’t really kept up with cat videos over the years.

ES: Well, that’s the thing now!

JN: And we just decided to capitalize on it.

The notorious road warriors are currently hunkered down in a Southern Californian studio, recording their highly anticipated, yet untitled follow up to 2009’s raging New Junk Aesthetic which Absolute Punk heralded as a musical “weapon of mass destruction.” The new album is being produced by renowned heavy rock producer Joe Baressi (The Melvins, Queens of the Stone Age, Parkway Drive).

Praise for Every Time I Die’s live Show:

“When the fans shouting the lyrics are louder than the screaming vocalist with the microphone and massive PA system backing him up, you know there’s some serious energy being circulated through the venue… ETID had everyone from the pit to the front row white hot frenzy, and they kept pouring on the fuel for the rest of the night.” - CWG Magazine

Their killer set at Soundwave has obviously converted many to their brand of raucous punk ‘n’ roll and the crowd went bananas. It was over all too soon with a sweaty stage invasion and a room full of satisfied punters. – Blunt Magazine

Every Time I Die Tour Dates:

09/ 24, 2011 Soundwave Revolution Brisbane, Australia

09/ 25, 2011 Soundwave Revolution Sydney, Australia

09/ 30, 2011 Soundwave Revolution Melbourne, Australia

10/ 01, 2011 Soundwave Revolution Adelaide, Australia

10/ 03, 2011Soundwave Revolution Perth, Australia

10/ 05, 2011 The Rock Pub Bangkok, Thailand

10/ 06, 2011The Substation Singapore, Singapore

10/07, 2011Bulungan Outdoor Jakarta, Indonesia

10/08, 2011 Hall D of World Trade Center Manilla, Phillipines

10/10, 2011 BOTTOM LINE Nagoya, Japan

10/11, 2011 O-EAST Tokyo, Japan

10/ 12, 2011 BIG CAT Osaka, Japan

10/18/11 Charlotte NC, Amos’ Southend

10/19/11 Norfolk VA, The NorVa

10/20/11 Washington DC, The 9:30 Club

10/21/11 Worcester . MA, The Palladium

10/22/11 Clifton Park New Jersey, Northern Lights

10/23/11 New York, NY, Irving Plaza

10/24/11 Cleveland, OH, Cleveland House Of Blues

10/25/11 Toronto ON. Phoenix Concert Theatre

10/26/11 Grand Rapids MI, The Intersection

10/28/11 Milwaukee WI, The Rave

10/29/11 Detroit MI Harpo’s

10/30/11 Indianapolis IN. The Vogue

10/31/11 Chicago IL, House Of Blues Chicago

11/01/11 Sauget IL Pop’s

11/02/11 Minneapolis MN, First Avenue Ghoul

11/04/11 Edmonton AB, Edmonton Event Centre

11/05/11 Calgary AB, MacEwan Hall Ballroom

11/07/11 Vancouver BC, Commodore Ballroom

11/08/11 Seattle WA, Showbox SoDo

11/09/11 Portland, OR  Roseland Theatre

11/11/11 San Francisco, The Regency Ballroom

11/12/11 West Hollywood, CA, House of Blues

11/13/11 Pomona, CA. The Glasshouse

11/14/11 Tempe AZ Marquee Theatre

11/15/11 Albuquerque NM, Sunshine Theater

11/16/11 Denver, CO, The Summit Music Hall

11/18/11 Austin TX East Side Drive In

11/19/11 Dallas TX, House of Blues Dallas

11/20/11 Houston TX, House of Blues Houston

11/21/11 New Orleans, LA,  The Hangar

11/22/11 Atlanta, GA, The Masquerade

11/23/11 Tampa, FL, Green Iguana Stadium

11/25/11 Raleigh NC, Lincoln Theatre

11/26/11 Philadelphia, PA. Electric Factory

11/27/11 New Haven, CT, Toad’s Place

12/ 30, 2011 Electric Ballroom London, UK

12/ 01, 2011 Concorde 2 Brighton, UK

12/02, 2011 Sugarmill, Stoke, UK

12/03, 2011 Academy 2, Birmingham, UK

12/ 04, 2011 Waterfront, Norwich , UK

12/ 05, 2011 Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, UK

12/ 06, 2011 Club Academy, Manchester, UK

12/ 07, 2011 King Tuts, Glasgow, UK

12/08, 2011 Cockpit, Leeds, UK

12/ 09, 2011 Corporation, Sheffield, UK

12/10, 2011 Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth, UK

12/ 11, 2011 Great Hall 2, Cardiff, UK

12/ 12, 2011 Academy 2, Oxford , UK