Tag: OBN IIIs

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Orville Neely III (guitar, vocals),  Aniel Fried (drums) and Gregory Rutherford (bass), the Denton, TX/Austin, TX-based trio Bad Sports features some of their home state’s most accomplished musicians — Neely is the frontman of OBN IIIs, while Fried and Rutherford have played together in Video and Radioactivity. Interestingly, the trio’s fourth full-length album Constant Stimulation is slated for an October 29, 2018 release through their longtime label home Dirtnap Records, and the album, which finds the trio celebrating their tenth anniversary together, also reportedly finds the band pushing their sound and songwriting in a new, more mature direction, centered by a leaner, tense production meant to evoke a decided sense of frustration and world-weariness.

Constant Stimulation‘s first single “Don’t Deserve Love” continues in the power chord-based punk vein that won the trio attention across the blogosphere but there’s a decided power pop leaning with their deliberate and thoughtful attention to crafting crowd pleasing hooks — but where their previously released material was the sort of stuff you’d shotgun beers to in your favorite dive bar, there’s a subtle acknowledgement of the fact that a world and civilization inching towards its annihilation will force you to put down the childish concerns of one’s youth and grow up a bit, all while still knocking you on your ass. Interestingly, the track may be the most personal one they’ve written in quite some time, as its fueled by a crippling self-doubt and insecurity that hide an adult vulnerability; the sort of vulnerability in which you’d freely admit that life can make you a broken and fucked up person — but a survivor all the time.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Currently comprised of founding members and siblings Victor Ziolkowski (drums, vocals) and David Ziolkowski (guitar) and newest member Alex Recide (bass), the Austin-based thrash punks Skeleton features members of several applauded Austin-based punk bands including Nosferatu, Residual Kid, Recide, Enemy One, Plax and Witewash. Since their formation back in 2014, the band has gone through several lineup changes — and initially, the band was deeply influenced by the local punk scene of the last decade paired with industrial and noise rock. Although they’ve generally been much darker than most of their peers, the band’s recent sound has been decided riff-heavy, as it’s been influenced by Kyuss, Dystopia, Bolt Thrower and 90s black metal.

The band has released two flexi disc EPs — I Hate I Skate and Breathing Problem Productions through Super Secret Records; however, their soon-to-be EP, which was recorded by OBN IIIs’, A Giant Dog’s and Bad Sports‘ Orville Neely III and mastered by Seth Gibbs will be their first proper 7 inch release, and reportedly, the EP solidifies a punk leaning sound as they move forward metal on their full-length effort. “War,” the EP’s latest single is a bruising and pummeling punk assault reminiscent of JOVM mainstays Ex-Cult and old school NYC hardcore, but with a furious, booze-fueled misanthropy at its core. And holy shit, does it kick ass, take names and pisses all over everything.

The members of Skelton will be touring throughout July and August with Skourge. Check out the tour dates below.

Tour Dates
07/25 – Houston, TX @ TBA

07/26 – Austin, TX @ The Electric Church +

07/27 – Dallas, TX @ TBA +

07/28 – OKC, OK @ 89th Street Collective +

07/29 – Springfield, MO @ TBA +

07/30 – Denver, CO @ 7th Circle +

07/31 – Salt Lake City, UT @ TBA +

08/01 – Bosie, ID @ TBA +

08/02 – Portland, OR @ TBA +

08/03 – Seattle, WA @ TBA +

08/04 – 05 – Olympia, WA @ Olympia Hardcore Fest +

08/07 – Santa Rosa, CA @ TBA

08/09 – San Jose, CA @ TBA

08/10 – Los Angeles, CA @ TBA

08/11 – Fullerton, CA @ TBA

08/12 – Phoenix, AZ @ TBA
08/13 – El Paso, TX @ TBA
+ with Skourge

 

Austin, TX trio  Skeleton share the first track from their forthcoming EP today via Revolver Magazine. Hear and share “War” HERE. (Direct Soundcloud.)
Skeleton features members of other celebrated Austin punk bands Nosferatu, Residual Kid, The Real Cost, Recide, Enemy One, Plax, and Witewash.
The band hits to road this summer for several dates, including a spot on the Olympia Hardcore Fest. Please see current dates below.
 
Skeleton was formed in 2014 by Victor Ziolkowski and David Ziolkowski in Austin, TX. Having had evolved from many different line ups and variations of the band, it’s now performing with Victor on drums and vocals, David on guitar, and Alex Recide on bass.
The band was originally influenced by the punk scene in Austin of the last 8 years, bands like Recide, Iron Youth, and Total Abuse also paired with industrial/noise vibes of Throbbing Gristle. They have always stayed on the more evil or dark end of the spectrum and incorporate dramatic live performances and stage set designs. The band’s more recent sound derives from riff-heavy bands like Kyuss, Dystopia, and Bolt Thrower with the atmosphere of early 90’s black metal.
Skeleton has released 2 previous flexi disc EPs on labels Super Secret Records, I Hate I Skate, and Breathing Problem Productions. This is the band’s first 7 inch release, and solidifies the punk sound of the group as they move toward the upcoming LP, which will be fully metal. The 7 inch was all written and performed by Victor Ziolkowski (on drums, bass, guitar and vocals) and David Ziolkowski (on lead guitar, and bass) Recorded in Austin by Orville Neeley (OBN III’s, A Giant Dog, Bad Sports) and Mastered by Seth Gibbs.
The 4-song EP will be available on 7″ and download on June 30, 2018 out via Super Secret Records. Available for pre-order HERE.
SKELETON TOUR 2018:
07/25 – Houston, TX @ TBA

07/26 – Austin, TX @ The Electric Church +

07/27 – Dallas, TX @ TBA +

07/28 – OKC, OK @ 89th Street Collective +

07/29 – Springfield, MO @ TBA +

07/30 – Denver, CO @ 7th Circle +

07/31 – Salt Lake City, UT @ TBA +

08/01 – Bosie, ID @ TBA +

08/02 – Portland, OR @ TBA +

08/03 – Seattle, WA @ TBA +

08/04 – 05 – Olympia, WA @ Olympia Hardcore Fest +

08/07 – Santa Rosa, CA @ TBA

08/09 – San Jose, CA @ TBA

08/10 – Los Angeles, CA @ TBA

08/11 – Fullerton, CA @ TBA

08/12 – Phoenix, AZ @ TBA
08/13 – El Paso, TX @ TBA
+ with Skourge
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Perhaps best known as a member of James Arthur’s Manhunt, Sean Morales is a Norfolk, VA-born, Austin, TX-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who started working on his Stuart Sikes-produced solo debut effort, Call It In while he was living alone in Houston. When he returned to Austin, he enlisted several of the city’s most accomplished and renowned musicians to assist him in completing the album, including his wife Erica Barton, a drummer in Faceless Werewolves, who helped shape the songs; Jonathan Horne, a jazz guitarist, known for his work with The Young Mothers,  Ichi Ni San Shi and Knest; OBN III’s and Manhunt’s Orville Neely III; Golden Boys‘ Bryan Schmitz; and James Arthur.

Reportedly, Morales wrote and recorded the album with a particular mission in mind, more than an artistic vision —  or in other words, the record was written both as a way to celebrate the ease of life, and much like a comfort to those who feel as though records are like old friends, who provide a little bit of wisdom from time to time, and who you’d like to catch up with when you haven’t thought of them in a while. Slated for a January 12, 2018 release through Super Secret Records, the album’s first official single is a fairly straightforward cover of Chris Spedding‘s easy-going, jangling and twangy “Video Life” that possesses the same, loose, easy-going vibe of a bunch of friends jamming and bullshitting while passing around a bottle of bourbon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few months, you’ve likely come across a post featuring the Austin, TX-based punk quartet PLAX. And as you may recall, the band, which is currently comprised of Michael Goodwin, a member of the OBN IIIs and eeetsFEATS; Chris “Anton” Stevenson, a member of Spray Paint, Dikes of Holland and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth; Marley Jones, a member of the OBN IIIs and Sweet Talk; and newest recruit Victor Ziolkowski, a member of Skeleton and Nosferatu can trace their origins to when Goodwin approached his longtime friend Stevenston and current OBN IIIs bandmate Jones about the possibility of forming an unconventional, outsider punk band, inspired by  Wire and Dawn of Humans. The band’s founding trio quickly went to work writing songs for a demo — they eventually wrote 9 — but they felt were still in need of a vocalist to complete the project. At the time Marley was collaborating with David and Victor Ziolkowksi, the founding members and frontman of Skeleton, a constantly evolving project featuring the Ziolkowski Brothers and a rotating cast of collaborators and friends. Stevenson and Marley then recruited Victor Ziolkowski, who then finalized the project’s lineup.

 

Last July, the quartet played their first live show with  New Orleans punk act Patsy and they quickly followed that by playing with a number of national touring Texas-based bands including Crooked Bangs, Institute and Army and others — and building upon the buzz they were receiving, the band went on a January 2017 attention grabbing tour throughout Texas. And although Stevenson has recently relocated to Melbourne, Australia, the band has continued writing, eventually finishing their full-length debut Clean Feeling, which is slated for an August 11, 2017 release through Super Secret Records.

Wit the album’s first single “Boring Story,” the band revealed that they specialize in a scuzzy and sneering, garage punk that would be be perfectly at home on Goner Records or on Castle Face Records, complete with slashing power chords and punchily delivered vocals — and unsurprisingly, the album’s second single “Night Watch” continued along a similar vein, while nodding at the nightmarishly tense, piss vinegar, and PCP-fueled fury sound reminiscent of Ex-Cult’s Cigarette Machine and Negative Growth.  “What A Waste,” Clean Feeling‘s third and latest single “What A Waste” is a bruising punk track that evokes the bitter frustration of those who lives have stalled — often beyond their control; and sonically, the single much like its immediate predecessor will continue to cement the band’s burgeoning reputation for crafting scuzzy and forceful garage punk.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Earlier this month, I wrote about the Austin, TX-based punk quartet PLAX, and as you may recall, the band comprised of founding members Michael Goodwin, a member of the OBN IIIs and eeetsFEATS; Chris “Anton” Stevenson, a member of Spray Paint, Dikes of Holland and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth; Marley Jones, a member of the OBN IIIs and Sweet Talk; and newest recruit Victor Ziolkowski, a member of Skeleton and Nosferatu can trace their origins to when Goodwin approached his longtime friend Stevenston and current OBN IIIs bandmate Jones about the possibility of forming an unconventional, outsider punk band, inspired by  Wire and Dawn of Humans. The band’s founding trio quickly went to work writing songs for a demo — they eventually wrote 9 — but they felt were still in need of a vocalist to complete the project. At the time Marley was collaborating with David and Victor Ziolkowksi, the founding members and frontman of Skeleton, a constantly evolving project featuring the Ziolkowski Brothers and a rotating cast of collaborators and friends. Stevenson and Marley then recruited Victor Ziolkowski, who then finalized the project’s lineup.

Last July, the quartet played their first live show with  New Orleans punk act Patsy and they quickly followed that by playing with a number of national touring Texas-based bands including Crooked Bangs, Institute and Army and others — and building upon the buzz they were receiving, the band went on a January 2017 tour throughout Texas. And although Stevenson has recently relocated to Melbourne, Australia, the band has continued writing, eventually finishing their full-length debut Clean Feeling, which is slated for an August 11, 2017 release through Super Secret Records. And from the album’s first single “Boring Story,” the band seems to specialize in the sort of scuzzy, sneering, garage punk that would be be perfectly at home on Goner Records or on Castle Face Records, complete with slashing power chords and punchily delivered vocals.

The album’s second and latest single “Night Watch” will further cement the quartet’s burgeoning reputation for crafting scuzzy and sneering, garage punk; however, the song possesses a nightmarish, tense, piss, vinegar, whiskey and PCP-fueled fury reminiscent of Ex-Cult’s Cigarette Machine and Negative Growth.  And much like its predecessor, it’s a cathartic, mosh pit worthy, barn-burner.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Currently comprised of founding members Michael Goodwin, a member of the OBN IIIs and eeetsFEATS; Chris “Anton” Stevenson, a member of Spray Paint, Dikes of Holland and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth; Marley Jones, a member of the OBN IIIs and Sweet Talk; and Victor Ziolkowski, a member of Skeleton and Nosferatu, the Austin, TX-based punk quartet PLAX can trace its origins to last year, when founding member Goodwin approached his longtime friend Stevenson and current OBN IIIs bandmate Jones about the possibility of forming an outsider punk band that would defy all conventional expectations while being inspired by the likes of Wire and Dawn of Humans. The band’s founding trio quickly went to work writing songs for a demo — they eventually wrote 9 — but they felt were still in need of a vocalist to complete the project. At the time Marley was collaborating with David and Victor Ziolkowksi, the founding members and frontman of Skeleton, a constantly evolving project featuring the Ziolkowski Brothers and a rotating cast of collaborators and friends. And as the story goes, Stevenson and Marley approached Victor Ziolkowski to contribute his vocals, and when he agreed, the project’s lineup was finalized.

By the end of last July, the newly formed quartet had played their first show with New Orleans punk act Patsy and they quickly followed that by playing with a number of national touring Texas-based bands including Crooked Bangs, Institute and Army and others — and building upon the buzz they were receiving, the band went on a January 2017 tour throughout Texas. And although Stevenson has recently relocated to Melbourne, Australia, the band has continued writing and recording; in fact, as you’ll hear on “Boring Story” the first single off the quartet’s forthcoming full-length debut Clean Feeling, the band specializes in the sort of scuzzy, garage punk that would be at home on Goner Records or on Castle Face Records, complete with slashing power chords and punchily delivered vocals. Arguably, “Boring Story” is one of the most mosh pit worthy songs I’ve listened to in several months — and it reminds me of the sort of music I’d hear in countless dive bars and dank DIY spaces.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Hard rocking Denton, TX/Austin, TX-based trio Bad Sports first caught the attention of the blogosphere upon their formation back in 2007; however, it’s been some time since they’ve released any new material as each of their members have been busy with other successful projects — Orville Neely III (guitar and vocals) is also known as the frontman of renowned rock act OBN IIIs, an act that’s been pretty busy over the past two years, as they’ve released two albums over the past two years, while the rhythm section comprised of aniel Fried (drums) and Gregory Rutherford (bass) have been members of Video, an act that has not only recently received attention across the blogosphere, they signed with Jack White‘s Third Man Records, who released Video’s debut effort. Additionally, the duo of Fried and Rutherford are also half of Radioactivity, an act that released Silent Kill through Dirtnap Records last year.

The trio of Neely, Fried and Rutherford had recently reconvened to record a quick series of three songs; however, after the band had written and recorded 7 songs, the folks at Dirtnap Records and the members of the band realized that the songs fit so well together, that they should be released together — but on a 12 inch EP that the band titled Living With Secrets. Interestingly, the material on the Living With Secrets EP  finds the band at yet another change of sonic direction; whereas 2011’s Kings Of The Weekend consisted of punk and power pop-leaning material and and 2014’s Bras consisted of grimy punk, the material on on Living With Secrets will reportedly take on a much darker, bleaker and desperate tone and yet some of their catchiest material they’ve recorded yet.

Living With Secrets‘ first single “Done to Death” still manages to be full of the power chords and propulsive rhythm section that has won each member of Bad Sports attention both within Bad Sports and their individual projects; however, the song manages to have one of most infectious and anthemic hooks they’ve written and recorded while sonically the material sounds as though it owes a debt to the Ramones and to Cheap Trick but focusing on the absolutely hopeless and bleakest shit possible with a subtly weary air. And yet, it’s still a song you can listen to with your friends, raise a beer up to the sky un-ironically and rock the fuck out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the past year or so, Memphis, TN-based  quartet Nots and their Stateside label home Goner Records have become JOVM mainstays as I’ve written quite a bit about both the band and their label; in fact, Goner Records have quickly established themselves as the label home to some of the country’s best hardcore punk and hard rock bands, as they have been the label home to the likes of Ex Cult, whose Midnight Passenger and Cigarette Machine EP have been two of the best (and angriest) punk albums I’ve heard in about 5 years, OBN IIIs who have released several albums of swaggering power chord party rock in the vein of early AC/DC, the late Jay Reatard and several others. And with the release of their debut effort, We Are Nots, the Memphis-based quartet comprised of Natalie Hoffman (guitar) and Charlotte Watson (drums), Madison Farmer (bass) and Alexandra Eastburn (synths) started to receive national attention for material that sounds as though it owes a debt to the 60s era garage rock, punk and new wave – but with a frenetic, unhinged and very visceral feel.  Personally, I think the Memphis-based quartet’s debut effort should have received much more attention as their sound and aesthetic can be compared favorably to The Fall, Bikini Kill, Protomartyr, The B52s and others.

Renowned British indie label Heavenly Records licensed Nots’ We Are Nots and are releasing the effort across the UK on the 20th. The quartet will touring across the UK and the Ehe European Union to support the British/EU release of their debut effort — and to further celebrate the British/EU release of We Are Nots, the band in concert with Heavenly Records released a 7 inch of non-album material featuring “Shelf Life” as a B side to their latest single “Virgin Mary.”

“Shelf Life” is a messy, murky, lo-fi garage psych rock song comprised of relentless, chugging guitar chords, propulsive drumming, layers of distortion and feedback and shouted vocals that rushes in and out in a breakneck 1:43. And although the song kick ass, it manages to reveal a band that’s subtly and playfully expanding their sound while remaining familiar.