the_Network reveals plans to tour the eastern half of the US this fall with Australia’s Robotosaurus. Starting in Texas and ending in the_Network’s home state of New Hampshire, the tour includes shows with such bands as Strung Out, Rise And Fall, and Fight Amp.
No strangers to the road, the_Network has toured Australia, the UK, Puerto Rico, and the US, all within the past year.
the_Network’s second full length album, Bishop Kent Manning, is due out September 15 on Black Market Activities. Produced by Kurt Ballou (Converge, Trap Them), Bishop Kent Manning is a concept album that follows the epic story of a corrupt televangelist’s decline.
Oct 2 Austin, TX @ Red 7 (w/ Strung Out)
Oct 3 Houston, TX @ Moto Warehouse (w/ Dissent)
Oct 4 New Orleans, LA @ Dragon's Den (w/ Thou)
Oct 5 Birmingham, AL @ a storage unit
Oct 6 Charleston, SC @ Weekends Pub (w/ Nations)
Oct 7 Raleigh, NC @ The Brewery (w/ Rise and Fall, Bracewar)
Oct 8 Richmond, VA @ Nara Sushi (w/ Fight Amp, The Catalyst)
Oct 9 Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie (w/ Fight Amp, Rosetta)
Oct 10 Binghamton, NY @ The Downtown Quarterback (w/ Dance-A-Tron)
Black Market Activities proudly reveals its next release: Bishop Kent Manning, the staggering second album by the_Network, out September 15 on BMA.
Produced by Kurt Ballou (Converge, Trap Them) at Godcity Studio and mastered by Nick Zampiello (Torche, Unsane) at New Alliance, Bishop Kent Manning is a concept album that follows the epic story of a corrupt televangelist’s decline. Opening with the desperate cry, “I just got caught blood-redhanded selling absolution for a lion's share,” the album tells its tale through ten tracks that veer seamlessly from jagged aggro chaos to haunting melody and back again. Inspired by the likes of Coalesce and Botch, Bishop Kent Manning is an album of anthems -- both complex and simplistic, atonal and melodic, it’s all from the gut and it’s all punk rock.
To celebrate the upcoming release of Bishop Kent Manning,Black Market Activities unveils “You Fucking Fakes,” a song that embodies the spirit of the new album and gives a taste of how far the_Network has evolved. Stream “You Fucking Fakes,” here:
Bishop Kent Manning’s full tracklisting is as follows:
1) From Holy Water To Holy Wars
2) Following And Failing
3) Your Own Personal Time Bomb
4) Service With A Smile
5) Telethons For The Rich
6) Paranoid Deserter
7) Easter Just Stopped Showing Up
8) Corpse Paint
9) You Fucking Fakes
10) Kent Manning
Look for the_Network on tour in the US throughout the fall in support of Bishop Kent Manning. Renowned as champions of the “do-it-yourself, eat-shit mentality,” the_Network has already toured Australia, England, Scotland, and Puerto Rico, all within the past year.
Destroy Destroy Destroy guitarist Jeremiah Scott will be interviewed live on 91.7 WMWM Salem State University radio tomorrow at 5 p.m. EST. http://www.myspace.com/destroydestroydestroy
Lords vocalist/guitarist Chris Owens and Coliseum drummer Chris Maggio are joining forces for a side project. More information to come as it develops. http://www.myspace.com/lordsoflouisville
Three days worth of smelly dudes embracing their punk roots—and Slip N Slides—storms into Indianapolis from July 17-19. Non-crust folks may only be able to tolerate a solitary day of such a pungency of the senses, which is where our suggestion for watching GAZA andLordson Saturday of the fest comes in. Salt Lake City’s resident conscientious objectors are back again this year, after leaving last year’s Dudefest salivating at the gills. The last remaining rebels of the South follow later Saturday evening to kick what’s left of the concert goers’ corpses in the ribs. Other bands scheduled to join the stage with both GAZA and Lords Dudefest weekend are Torche, Russian Circles, Harvey Milk, Furnace and more.
For a complete listing of bands, venue and ticket information, visit the Dudefest MySpace page:
7/11 - The Beat w/High Hopes - Minneapolis, Minnesota
7/17 - Nights of Columbus (w/Old Ironside) - Sioux Falls, South Dakota
7/18 - The Red Raven (w/Battlefields & Old Ironside) - Fargo, North Dakota
An excerpt of Paria bassist Dustin Treinen describing the band’s wacky relationship with Psyopus in a recent interview with Thrash Magazine:
“We were in the middle of a song and a girl walked out holding a big sign that said something like “Psyopus owns you pussies!” The next thing I knew, my band was being pelted with flour and glitter wrapped in paper towels. We were caught completely off guard because as far as we knew, Psyopus was 5 hours away from us….”
To complete a week of recapping on Shaun Luu Horror Fest in Syracuse, NY is a final blog entry from the BMA family's resident mystery human, followed by the second live video of the_Network.
Day one: Friday, June 12 – Boston, MA
Ripped pants, spaghetti sandwiches, delicious treats and booze.
All three pretty much sum up the days leading up to Shaun Luu Horror Fest in Syracuse, NY.
After exhausting all of my electronics on the non-stop, five hour plane ride on Friday, departing from San Diego, CA, and arriving in Boston, MA, I was ready to check out the portion of the nation yet-to-be discovered by yours truly—but apparently by most other humans.
For a first timer in Boston, I could go on for days about the things I saw. But chances are many of the people reading this have already been there and are thinking, “relax Cali, I’ve already run like 20 miles around what you just saw.”
I was a sheltered kid, OK? Traveling was a rarity in my household.
I’ll save you all some eye-rolling, and stick to the highlights:
·Vegan food in the North End, joined by post ingestion grub crawling across the plate where my vegan slider once sat.
·Chocolate covered cannoli from Mike’s Bakery. Two of these suckers proved to be too many—my first fail in pastry eating.
·Boston Common sidewalk dweller proudly exclaiming his awareness of what resided beneath our pastry box—“I know what yah gaa-aht!”
·An Irish bar playing techno and a bartender who really wanted to prove he knew his Guinness.
·Map fail in Boston, no “You Are Here” dots to be found on ANY of the city maps.
·My guide stepping in a murky, dog-shit textured puddle of dirt that adhered to his shoe for the next three days.
Day 2: Saturday, June 13 – New Hampshire
It’s 11 a.m. and time for the_Network to hit up the jam spot before heading to a show in Portsmouth, NH.
All I’ve been told about Portsmouth for the past hour was that it’s a city by the ocean and it’s awesome—too bad the show ended up really being in another city adjacent to Portsmouth, so all my dreams of grandeur went down the shitter.
Greenland, NH wasn’t anything spectacular, nor was the show the_Network played. What was supposed to be a fest ended up being more like a grab-and-go liquor store—go in, do your stuff and get out—and your choices for a beverage were watered down beer, or one lone bottle of whiskey.
I’ll leave the Greenland gig at that—what follows next is much tastier.
Pre day three: Sandwiches and six hours of open road
Massive French rolls covered in assorted grilled meats, spiced up condiments and layers of melted cheese was the best idea for a fitting meal to try and forget the fact that we had a six hour drive before us to Syracuse, NY.
Restlessness prevented some of us from sleeping, others knocked out in meat-induced food comas, but upon reaching Keith from Architect’s house, everyone slept like they were trying to kick Swine Flu.
Day three: Shaun Luu Horror Fest – Syracuse, NY
Two pound sandwiches were a great idea, yesterday.
Breakfast at Mom’s Diner in Syracuse had to be the best choice of the day—so far, anyway.
Curry and Mediterranean spiced eggs were the highlight of the meal, and Recess Coffee and Roastery provided its glorious conclusion (shameless plug for Ed Gein).
Properly caffeinated, I watched the_Network wake up the half-glazed over audience, with distorted bliss running through my ears and Mikey Bones assaulting random members of the crowd.
Engineer followed shortly after, playing to a mostly full room of eyes gleaming with excitement for the band of brothers. No matter how hard I try to describe how fucking great Engineer was, no description will do justice to the post-show exciting masses, who were evidently amazed given the rampant amount of prideful name droppings and “fucking rad”’s being uttered upon their departure to fresh air.
Architect reminded me why I just traveled nearly 3,000 miles. My mind was literally blown and dripping down the side of my skull post set—they definitely need more than a Swiffer to clean that shit up. I was told they deliver every fucking time, but at this particular show, they were near God-like—though I bet the band would be disgusted to share a comparison with God.
Ed Gein. Do I really need to say anything? Seriously. So many people have hyped up how fucking stellar this band is live. How it’s been years since they’ve shared a stage. The more I heard, the more stoked I became. I didn’t doubt for a second that Ed Gein wouldn’t live up the hype. I was so fucking right. If everyone else’s mind wasn’t lying in a pool of chunky mucus on the floor, I would not have doubted it. The crowd knew what they had just witnessed was magnificent, chanting “Ed Gein” and “play more songs,” to which the band responded, “We don’t have any more songs!”
If you missed out on the fest, no worries. All of the afore mentioned BMA bands are writing for coming albums—the_Network’s “The Bishop Kent Manning” is out in September—so you’ll get your chance to make a mess of the floor soon.
(note: Kev Digi is not pictured in the Australian Outback, but the wilderness in Reno, NV)
(Photo credit: Metal Jeff)
April 20, 2009
Coinciding with Hitler’s birthday and the anniversary of the Columbine massacre, Pete and I are sitting in the LAX Airport waiting to board our flight to Australia.In order to save money on “Entertainment Visas,” and to avoid all the other injustices traveling bands usually endure, the whole band decided to take separate flights to the other side of the Earth.It was just by coincidence that Pete and I got the same flight to Australia.Shane and Bones are sharing a flight, but poor Vic is cruising solo the whole way.
It should be made clear that the_Network will be playing this Australian tour with Shane “the main brain” Frisby on bass and Vic “the prick” on drums.So later in the diary, perhaps, when I say something like “Shane and I built the London Bridge with the help of some ‘Sheila’ with daddy issues,” or “Shane, Vic, and I drank a keg of Foster’s while watching some Australian fuck tapes with some Aborigines and their semi-tamed Kangaroo family,” there won’t be any confusion.Traveling is expensive; and traveling across the entire world is very expensive, so our full time scumbag partners in crime, Tim and Bennett, couldn’t make it.Shane’s experienced the embarrassment of touring with us before so he’s prepared, and Vic seems just sleazy enough to not even bat an eyelash when Pete drags a girl into a bathroom, a girl drags Mikey Bones into a bathroom, and Shane and I have our hands deep in each other’s pockets in a bathroom.
Back to the issue at hand, I’ve just been assigned a window seat with my own little entertainment system installed into the headrest in front of me so my grundle’s tingling with excitement (and a few milligrams of Xanax) at the thought of maybe watching “Mall Cop” or “Confessions of a Shopaholic.”I’m writing my local congressman to ensure that The Dark Knight, Rambo, or any Rocco Siffredi films are the only legal entertainment one should experience when remaining stationary for more than four hours.We can all make a difference.
Oh, quick effeminate celebrity sighting to report.Like I said, we’re in the Los Angeles airport, and you can’t whip out your cock anywhere in L.A. without offending some B list celebrity or obscure television actor.In the airport, I saw an actress from the HBO serious “Big Love” rushing out of the restroom (after hopefully just eating cocaine).If you’re an HBO slut like myself and are familiar with the show Big Love, you’ll know the woman who almost became Bill Paxton’s fourth wife.That was her.I find that show a bit unrealistic because I’m positive that Bill Paxton doesn’t have three wives; he surely has about eight or nine.I didn’t get a chance to speak to the actress but did get a picture of the bathroom she most likely just sprayed with a digested lunch and shame.
The Boeing 747 we’ve just boarded has a second floor where Pete and I assumed we’d be able to enjoy a few cocktails while wearing airline bequeathed tuxedos and James Bond shoe phones for graciously fitting in with the movers and shakers of the world.I haven’t gotten laid in embarrassingly too long and my imagination got the best of me.I thought I’d join the mile high club with the type of beauty you see in postcards from Paris.I was supposed to furiously lift her silk skirt just high enough to get the job done and then charm her into a puddle of ooze throughout the rest of the flight; maybe call her again someday and get married.I’d tell her I just need a few years to build my empire and to save the world and she would stoically wait for me.Damn my imagination!And damn the rules of the 747.Instead of discussing geopolitics waiting for a dry martini upstairs during the flight, Pete and I learned that the upstairs remains reserved for the true blue bloods and high, high end prostitutes.Even at 30,000 feet, the separation of classes is a necessity.I mean, American Airlines can’t have some mother of three wearing a Mickey Mouse sweat shirt ordering a Bud Light on the second floor!It’s bad enough that we lowlifes have to walk past the first class pricks with their mimosas and too much leg room when boarding to the back of the plane where there are only one and a half bathrooms that are constantly occupied by body odor.I endure all this without a cigarette by the way.I hope all you holier than thou non-smokers board a flight with Stephen Hawking behind the wheel.
Oh!I’ve just been handed a menu.Is a menu really necessary on a flight?How many pages does it take to say “cold” shit or “hot” shit?I have to admit that I enjoy airline food.The meal is just another thing to keep my mind off the Parisian model I’m supposed to be fucking like an animal in the upstairs bathroom.An airline meal is like a Hungry Man served as filet mignon minus the delicious brownie and delicious food.“Sigh.”So I’ve got a window seat, an empty seat next to me, an airline menu, and, Parisian model or not, I’m going to invite myself to join the mile high club soon enough.
Another layover:Pete and I are on our final flight from Brisbane to Adelaide, Australia and I have just met one of the most inspirational people I’ve ever known.She’s an older woman named Peta.She’s on her way to Adelaide to visit her daughter and grandchildren.I started a conversation with her immediately upon taking my seat.(I believe I may have a fraction of woman’s intuition.)She has sugar sweet, wise eyes.A real hippy might say she’s beaming with an almost radioactive aura.She seems like the type of mother orphans see in their dreams.She’s also facing death.Really, she told me she’s actively living out her “Bucket List.”I didn’t delve into what’s ailing her, and her optimism wouldn’t even let me tell her how sorry I feel for her.It’s obvious she’s past that and is too tough for anyone’s pity.She may be the bravest person I’ll ever meet (If I don’t die young, I picture myself wilting, feeble, dying like a needy little nothing).Peta said she used to waste time worrying about the future and has now told herself to not look beyond two days ahead. You’d never guess that she’s sick, tired, or troubled in the slightest.I’m sitting next to a living saint.She gave me all her contact info and told me to immediately get in touch with her if anything goes wrong.This is where my brain starts up the strings section, soft music reverberates through my skull and bones, and the crane shot of me staring out the plane’s window pans back; farther and farther until my life and I become as obscure as the squares of land pock marking the world beneath us.As jagged, grotesque, and stupid life can be, it’s always worth living.
My wildest, sexiest, and basically impossible dreams didn’t come true on that flight, but something real and much more important did.That’s how life is I guess.
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