Their Prime will be available worldwide from Sub Pop Records with the exception of Canada through Royal Mountain Records
Stoked to announce we signed Canadian rippers Jo Passed, and on May 25th we’ll release Their Prime, the band’s first full-length record, worldwide through Sub Pop Records, with the exception of Canada through Royal Mountain Records. The album, which features the singles “ MDM,” “Glass” and “Millennial Trash Blues,” was recorded during the fall / winter of 2016/17 at Thor’s Palace & KW Studios, both in the band’s hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia.
The band have delivered an official video for Their Prime standout “MDM,” which was directed by Eleanor Petry.” Bandleader Jo Hirabayashi says of the video, “something something, on my phone too much, something something, marshall mcluhan, something something, stanley kubrick, something something, the medium is the message, something something, ouch my insides.”
Jo has been part of the DIY music scene since his late teens. Initially it was just him and his high school best friend Elliot Langford against the world. They were the “freaky music weirdos” and they began their own band projects. Jo was pretty sure that it would be two of them riding into the sunset – or maybe the gloom – together. Personal circumstances and the phenomenon of the late 20s return of Saturn (for those who believe in astrology) got in the way. Their band Sprïng called it a day. That’s where the life of Jo Passed began. The idea of a band dynamic is far more appealing to Jo than solo projects, and the current incarnation of Jo Passed feels like its most robust yet.
Jo, along with his friend and drummer Mac Lawrie, moved across the country from Vancouver to Montreal. The two would play shows in Montreal and eventually tour the far right corner of North America. Upon Jo’s return to the west coast, multi-instrumentalist Bella Bébé officially joined the band in January of 2016, expanding Jo Passed from trio to a full quartet. Multimedia artist Megan-Magdalena Bourne began working with Jo Passed on a video project for the song “Rage” (from the Out EP). This creative partnership would eventually lead to her taking on the role of bassist for the band.
When not geeking out over The Zombies, or Nirvana, or Johann Sebastian Bach… Bella, Mac, and Megan have worked with Jo to realize the live experience of Their Prime, following two Jo Passed EPs titled Up and Out.
Jo Passed has scheduled a few spring club shows and festival dates before hitting the road later this year. Current highlights include shows with Hardly Art’s Dick Stusso (March 16th-24th) and an appearance at Treefort Music Festival in Boise (March 21st).
Mar. 16 - Bozeman, MT - Labor Temple* Mar. 18 - Denver, CO - Lost Lake Lounge* Mar. 19 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court* Mar. 21 - Boise, ID - Treefort Music Festival Mar. 22 - Seattle, WA - Barboza* Mar. 24 - Portland, OR - Crush House * Apr. 14 - Victoria, BC - Lucky Bar *w/ Dick Stusso
Preorders for Their Prime are now available through Sub Pop and Royal Mountain Records. LP purchases in North America through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition on clear vinyl (while supplies last).
Their Prime is a record about identity and the loss of time that happens as a direct consequence of being in the city with nowhere to rent, no time outside of employment and no realistic expectations to live up to. It encompasses that fear of being beyond the glory years, the most creatively fruitful period of one’s life. Those years were lost to contemporary struggles for working relationships, home, identity and space. “It’s me owning my worst nightmare,” he admits. “A lot of the Jo Passed project has been about confronting fears. I was afraid to move away from Vancouver to Montreal on my own. Afraid to leave musical relationships I had. Afraid to bare the full responsibility of a project. I’ve been putting out records and not ones anyone’s necessarily heard. Being open about those fears is a good way of dealing with them. You end up at this point where you hit 30 and you’re like, ‘Oh what happened? Am I done? Did I not activate my main creative energy?’ It’s a ridiculous idea but 30 feels a little like 1000 in rock n roll terms.” You can hear the frustrations and the jitters in the crashing loud-and-quiet motifs throughout the album’s twelve tracks, which offer up a patchwork quilt of sound, similar to Faust’s IV or Fugazi’s Red Medicine[read more at Sub Pop].
2018 International Tour Now Includes Dates Supporting METZ (Europe) and Preoccupations (US West Coast); New Shows Include Brooklyn, UK tour, SXSW
Experience Moaning’s forthcoming new album (out March 2nd) ahead of its release through a voyeuristic lens with this cover art visualizer and stream (see Brooklyn Vegan premiere February 26th). Directed by the band and Max Flick, this “cover art visualizer” features a different vignette for every song on the album.
“[Moaning] incorporate dark shoegaze and wall-of-noise rippers into their hazy palette, with some soaring, poppy numbers too. (They’re a little bit like ’00s-era LA band Abe Vigoda.) We’re premiering a visual stream of the whole record that cleverly riffs on the album’s cover art,” says Brooklyn Vegan (see premiere February 26th).
Moaning has also just extended their international tour schedule for 2018 through June 21st. Highlights include: appearances at SXSW March 14th-17th; a support slot on labelmates METZ European jaunt (April 17th-18th; select dates April 23rd-May 5th); A US West Coast run opening for Secretly Canadian records act Preoccupations (May 11th-19th); A return trip to mainland EU and the UK for more festivals and headlining shows (May 25th-June 17th); And the addition of a Brooklyn, New York show on June 21st at Zone One at Elsewhere. Additional tour dates announced soon.
Mar. 09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo ^ Mar. 10 - Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom / Flying Burrito Music & Food Festival Mar. 11 - Flagstaff, AZ - The Burn Ward Mar. 13 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger / Heatwave 3 Festival Mar. 14 - Austin, TX - SXSW / Ground Control Touring Showcase at Barracuda Mar. 15 - Austin, TX - SXSW / Grey Estates Showcase at Voodoo Doughnut Mar. 16 - Austin, TX - SXSW Mar. 17 - Austin, TX - SXSW / Burgermania 7 at Hotel Vegas Mar. 18 - Hot Springs, AR -Valley of the Vapors Mar. 20 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle Mar. 21 - Omaha, NE - O’Leavers Mar. 21 - 25 - Boise, ID - Treefort Music Festival Mar. 22 - Denver, CO - Lost Lake ^^ Mar. 23 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court # Mar. 25 - Reno, NV - Holland Project $ Apr. 17 - Lisbon, PT - Musicbox * Apr. 18 - Porto, PT - Hard Club * Apr. 19 - Benidorm, ES - Fuzzville Festival Apr. 20 - Hondarribia, ES - Psichobelicenea Apr. 21 - Barcelona, ES - Sala Be Good Apr. 23 - Milan, IT - Magnolia * Apr. 24 - Bologna, IT - Freakout* Apr. 25 - Munich, DE - Strom * Apr. 26 - Cologne, DE - Gebaude 9 * Apr. 28 - London, UK - Test Pressing Festival * Apr. 30 - Glasgow, UK - Stereo * May 02 - Manchester, UK - Soup Kitchen * May 03 - Ramsgate, UK - Ramsgate Music Hall * May 05 - Leffingen, BE - De Zwerver * May 11 - Seattle, WA - Barboza ** May 12 - Portland, OR - Star Theatre ** May 14 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop ** May 17 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo ** May 18 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo ** [SOLD OUT] May 19 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar ** May 25 - Laval, FR - 3 Les Elephants Festival May 26 - Amsterdam, NL - London Calling Festival May 27 - Brussels, BE - AB Club May 29 - Lausanne, CH - Le Romandie May 30 - Carpi, IT - Mattatoio Jun. 01 - Nimes, FR - This Is Not A Lovesong Festival Jun. 05 - Tours, FR - Aucard de tour Jun. 06 - Angers, FR - Heron Carre Jun. 07 - Le Havre, FR - Mc Daids Jun. 10 - Hilvarenbeek, NL - Best Kept Secret Festival Jun. 12 - London, UK - The Lexington Jun. 14 - Glasgow, UK - Broadcast Jun. 15 - Bristol, UK - Rough Trade Jun. 17 - Margate, UK - Tom Thumb Jun. 21 - Brooklyn, NY - Zone One at Elsewhere
Hot on the heels of their 2017 record Strange Peace, Toronto rippers, METZ have announced new dates in North America, Europe and Asia. These headlining and festival tour dates span March - September, and will bring the band back to the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany, France, Ireland, UK, Japan, China and Singapore. Sub Pop label mates Moaning, will open a slew of EU shows. See below for a full list of dates.
In other news, we’re elated to share that the band are nominated for a 2018 JUNO award in the category of “Metal/Hard Album of the Year.” You can visit the awards website for a full list for nominations. We’re rooting for you, METZ!
Strange Peace is available now on CD / LP / DL / CS worldwide (except in Canada) from Sub Pop right here. In Canada, Strange Peace is available from Royal Mountain Records over here.
Jericho Sirens will be available worldwide on March 16th
As previously announced, Friday, March 16th, 2018 will mark the release of Hot Snakes’ Jericho Sirens, the long-awaited fourth album (and first in 14 years!!!) from the San Diego-based punk rock recidivists. For your listening enjoyment, we now share the second single from the band’s new record, entitled, “Death Camp Fantasy.” (also available on Spotifyand Apple Music.
Jericho Sirens is now available for preorder - available on CD / LP / DL / CS - from Sub Pop [right here]. And the band’s newly reissued catalog - Automatic Midnight, Suicide Invoice and Audit in Progress- is also available now on Sub Pop [over here].
The band will play a hometown release show in San Diego at the Casbah on March 7th, which is then followed immediately by a midwestern U.S. tour March 10th-16th.
Mar. 07 - San Diego, CA - Casbah [Sold Out] Mar. 09 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall Mar. 10 - Detroit, MI - El Club Mar. 11 - Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop Mar. 13 - Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge Mar. 14 - St. Louis, MO - Blueberry Hill Mar. 15 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club [Sold Out] Mar. 16 - St. Paul, MN - Turf Club
Please join us in welcoming multi-talented artist Yuno to Sub Pop Records! We will release his music into the world throughout 2018, beginning with this official video for “No Going Back.”
Yuno’s bittersweet vocals glide over a buoyant bass line and, fittingly, one of the song’s central themes is passing a point of no return.
Yuno both stars in and directs the “No Going Back” video and offers this of the visual, “The video pretty much represents how I was feeling when I wrote this song. Kind of wandering around, not too sure about where I want to go, but definitely sure about where I don’t want to be. Just trying to make sure I have some fun along the way.”
Yuno was introduced to the label by Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces and Digable Planets fame, who’s a member of Sub Pop’s A&R staff. Butler offers his praise, “First time I heard Yuno, I peeped, of course, that he possessed all the trappings of a great musician, impeccable taste on his riffs, songs catchy but not corny, familiar but dopely strange. There was seductive magic that I couldn’t, and still can’t put my finger on, which is the essence of his uniqueness. Kids a star, man.”
27-year-old Yuno’s pedigree is diverse. His parents are from the UK, and of Jamaican descent, and his musical upbringing involved a wide array of discovery mainly as a result of being part of his local skateboarding subculture. That’s what got him into music: hanging out with friends at their now abandoned mall, going to the skate shop, playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video games, watching skate videos, and listening to all the music featured therein.
At home, he’d listen to reggae, ska, rocksteady and classic R&B, but it was skating that got him into rock and rap. Formative albums included ones his friends would pass along to him on burned CDs: HIM’s Razorblade Romance, AFI’s Sing The Sorrow and Rancid’s …And Out Come The Wolves. He never really went to shows because rarely anyone worth seeing would come through. The first gig he attended was headlined by a rapper called MC Lars. That’s what made him consider starting a solo project – seeing one dude onstage, recreating all the music alone with a laptop. To this day, he’s only been to four shows. “I’m used to just watching them on YouTube,” he says. “ I never think about a live show when writing songs. I just make whatever.”
He continues “I knew in high school that I wanted to make music. When I was really young, drawing had been my thing; and in middle school I started to make videos with my friends – little skits. Then I began playing guitar.” In eighth grade, his cousin taught him how to make beats, and that’s when Yuno arguably began. His dad also bought him a $20 guitar at a flea market. Despite his mom insisting he get lessons, he taught himself by learning online guitar tabs, mostly for metal bands. He says, “I’d bring my guitar to school every day. In high school, I had a lot of friends that played guitar, as well. We would all come to school early, learn songs and play for each other in the cafeteria.”
Yuno creates his music in his home studio, self-producing, and engineering, playing all the instruments. He also shoots all of his press photos, designs his album art and directs his music videos, with a great amount of attention paid to the use of color throughout his work. He explains, “Pink has been my favorite color since around 6th grade. I had pink and black shoes, skateboard, and even painted my bedroom pink and black. It was mostly inspired by Razorblade Romance at the time.” He continues, “I like being really hands-on with everything surrounding my music, even now that I’m with Sub Pop.”
