Wizard Rifle, Netherlands, the austerity program, Tween

The two-man* wrecking crew known collectively as WIZARD RIFLE first came together in the autumn of 2009. Based in Portland, OR and drawing influences from Black Sabbath, Lightning Bolt, High on Fire, Karp, Sleep, Sonic Youth, Nomeansno, The Stooges, and Danava, WIZARD RIFLE are as difficult to describe as they are to ignore. Eclectic, innovative, and all-around out there, their sound is a constantly-evolving, always-adapting entity that changes with their moods. Frantic, chaotic, noise rock tempered with dredges of doom, swinging rock'n'roll, grimy grunge, and a heady dose of AmRep skronk - that's what Wizard Rifle are made of! The band is comprised of drummer Sam Ford and guitarist Max Dameron, who share vocal duties and down right mesmerize in a live setting. The interplay between the two is fluid, jarring, mechanical and organic - a jumble of impressions, and a captivating spectacle. WIZARD RIFLE have done their best to spread their tapestry of noise across the entire continent, completing a full US/Canada tour with Norwegian noiseniks Arabrot alongside festival appearances at SXSW, Fall Into Darkness, and PDX Pop Now and gigs supporting the likes of Lightning Bolt, Valient Thorr, Black Cobra, Yob, Agalloch, Witch Mountain, Chinese Stars, Thrones, Atriarch, Rabbits, and more.

NETHERLANDS WERE FORMED IN 2008 IN NYC BY TIMO ELLIS (GUITAR, THROAT), SAM LEVIN (SYNTHBASS, THROAT) AND DAVE BURNETT (DRUMS).

ABOUT TIMO LEAD SINGER AND MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST TIMO ELLIS IS FROM NYC. HE'S RECORDED AND PLAYED WITH YOKO ONO, CIBO MATTO, JOHN ZORN, THE MELVINS, GIBBY HAYNES, WEEN, JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN AND SPACEHOG, AMONG MANY OTHERS, AS WELL AS PUT OUT OVER 30 MUSICALLY WIDELY VARIED SOLO ALBUMS AS TE AND UNDER SEVERAL OTHER PSEUDONYMS.

ON THE PROCESS TIMO ELLIS: "I WANTED TO HAVE A BAND WHERE THE SONGS WERE SUCCINCT, PRIMARILY DRUM/ BEAT DRIVEN. LATELY THE MUSIC HAS BEEN EVOLVING TOWARDS LONGER (AND OCCASIONALLY QUIETER) FORMS, BUT STILL THE MAJORITY OF THE SONGS BLAST LIGHT HEARTED, BRUTAL, ECSTATIC REVERIE. LYRICALLY THE SONGS VARY WIDELY IN TONE AND INTENT, WITH SUBJECT MATTER RANGING FROM MARINE BIOLOGY TO MEXICAN FOOD TO POLITICS TO DMT TO SUDDEN CELEBRITY TO FULL ON GIBBERISH/ NONSENSE."

The Austerity Program is two people from New York City and their drum machine. Thad Calabrese plays bass and Justin Foley sings and plays guitar.

Thad and Justin began playing music together while attending college in New York City. We were not, at that point, the Austerity Program. Instead, we were called Polonium after what we thought was the heaviest metal on the periodic table. We're rerelease some of that stuff soon. Here's a sneak preview: we listened to a lot of Bolt Thrower.

After school Justin moved up to Hartford, CT while Thad stayed in NYC. This made practicing infrequent and difficult. In 1997, Justin moved back to New York and we began working on new material in earnest. We played our first show in 1998 at Coney Island High. Do not ever try to lie and tell us that you were there, because we personally knew each of the 11 people in the audience. At that point we kept all of our stuff in a big loft in the Bronx. Practices were either freezing cold or swelteringly hot depending upon the time of the year.

After a few years Justin got a house and we relocated to Queens. We practiced in his cramped basement and spent most of our band's golden years building a recording/rehearsal room in his backyard. Details abound on this project up in the "Studio" section above. Abound.

These days, Thad lives in Brooklyn and Justin still lives in Queens. We get together about twice a month to practice. = During the day Thad teaches college. Justin works for a labor union. We are both married to two wonderful women. That's "both", not "each". We've got five wonderful kids between us. You may think that slows us down for being a band, but you'd be wrong. Our pace may be slow but we have no plans to stop, ever.

We used to be on Hydra Head records but then they pretty much stopped releasing anything so we started our own record label with our friends in Nonagon; it's called [ Controlled Burn Records ]. We do not endorse any particular products, but if the people at G. Heileman start making Powermaster again, we can be contacted through e-mail. You can come up to us an yell "Valnott" at a show and we'll smile, but you won't be the first.

Tween is a two-man bass (Anthony Kingsley) and drums (Matthew O'Koren) duo that combines the brutality of schizophrenically accented drumming and corrupt oceans of distorted bass guitar with the precision of modern rock and the arrangements and vocals of classic pop. The two studied music together at Bard College and have combined their backgrounds in noise, free jazz, and classical percussion to create a band for the modern day - a band that delivers jaw-dropping performances and unique soundscapes, and refuses to be subsumed into the growing trend of non-sequiterism and aloofness of content. Tween does not accept the narrative of the 21st century American as a passive recipient of pre-packaged culture. In defiance, Tween utilizes the two musical elements most commonly relegated to the background to portray the true modern American condition - one of simultaneous immersion and solitude.