Innervenus Music: Two New CDs Coming Next Month!

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Hello, friends. Regular visitors to this website have surely noticed that recently the volume of writing I am putting out there has significantly decreased. I apologize for that. But it hasn’t been the result of laziness, I assure you. I’ve been getting myself involved with a few other things — as I keep alluding to in several new posts over the past few weeks — and finally I want to let you know about one of those.

So, I have been asked to join the Pittsburgh-based record label The Innervenus Music Collective to help out with their PR and publicity. It’s a pretty exciting opportunty for me — first of all, as a writer I’ve been working with a variety of PR people and representatives from other labels, so I understand what’s involved, and it’s cool to be getting some experience from the other direction now. But even more than that, now I get to work directly with a group of people who do so much to support our local music scene — between planning shows and giving away the Iron Atrocity compilations, not to mention releasing albums from some really talented bands (Vulture, Invader, Fist Fight in the Parking Lot — just to name a few examples that I had written about last year)!

And so this new position has been using up a lot of my free time recently, mostly because we’re gearing up to put out two CDs in February: the debut full-length by grindcore/death dealers Grisly Amputation, and a self-titled EP by death-thrash-groove-sludge-core band Lycosa. I’ve been sending out promo materials to a whole slew of websites and magazines, so we should start seeing some reviews trickle in shortly, but I figure I wouldn’t really be doing my job (EITHER job – as a writer OR a publicist!) if I didn’t also inform you about the releases here on Valley of Steel!

 
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The Huge List of 2012 Year-End Lists!

Well, friends, here we find ourselves in the waning moments of 2012. It’s been an interesting, eventful year that’s had lots of high and low points — a ton of excellent new music has been released and quite a few brand-new bands have emerged that I’d fully expect to be making some serious waves in the near future.

One of the best things about 2012, for me personally, was that I found myself (and my wife) going to lots more shows than in recent years, and as a result I’ve been fortunate to meet a lot of new people — as well as starting to take a way more active role in the local music scene.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I had a suggestion from one of those people I’ve gotten to know in the past year (I won’t say who — he said he preferred not to be given credit for the idea, although I will say that it’s somebody who contributed to this). The idea was to collect top-ten lists from various folks in the Pittsburgh metal community.

So I put out an open invitation for any musicians or other people who are involved in the scene in some way — I was looking for anything, whether it was the traditional “Top Ten Albums” or something totally off-the-wall like someone’s ten favorite sandwiches they ate during the year. Really, the only rules were that it had to be a list, and involve something from 2012.

 
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VOS Interview: A Drummer Double Feature! Molasses Barge vs. Vulture!

Hello folks, and a happy Friday to you! Just when it felt like it would never happen, the weekend’s finally here. I’ve got a feeling this is going to be an especially good one, because there’s a ton of amazing shows and events happening! I’ll have more on that later, so stay tuned.

One of them in particular stands out, though — tomorrow night at the 31st Street Pub is the first date on the joint headlining tour between Relapse Records artists 16 and Tombs. That by itself is reason enough to get excited, but opening the show will be two of my absolute favorite local bands, the heavy doom armada that is Molasses Barge and Steel City sludgelords Vulture!

I’ve only seen Molasses Barge once before (and it was over a year ago! — read more about that here), and (believe it or not) although I’ve been listening to Vulture for a long time, I’ve never had the chance to see them play live yet! So needless to say, I’m really looking forward to this show. I’ve already got my tickets (they can be ordered here) but if you don’t, it’s just twelve bucks when you show up at the door. More info on the show itself can be found here.

Anyway, in anticipation of this event, I decided to get a couple of interviews lined up. If you’ve been reading my reviews for a while, you may have picked up on the fact that I often tend to focus on drumming while listening to music. It’s just the way I hear things, I guess — and I don’t know if it’s because I play drums (occasionally) or if I chose to play that instrument because it’s something I pay a lot of attention to.

In either case, the drumming in each of these bands’ genres is one of the main things that attracts me to those particular styles. So, it only seemed natural for me to talk to the two bands’ drummers. Here, then, are the questions and answers from Molasses Barge’s Wayne Massey and Vulture’s Kelly Gabany

 

 

 
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What To Do In Pittsburgh This Weekend (30-31 August 2012)

 

Argus, Iron Crown, Devil to Pay

 

at the 31st Street Pub

3101 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh (at the 31st Street Bridge)

 

Thursday 30 August 2012 | 10:00pm | $5 | 21+ only

 
Looking for something to do tonight? Head out to the Pub to catch Ripple Music recording artist Devil to Pay, coming to visit from Indianapolis. Joining them will be locals Iron Crown and Argus (be sure to get there early, as Argus says they’re taking the stage first, and dusting off a few songs they haven’t played live in a long time — or ever, in some cases!)

More details and RSVP here or here.

 
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Lurking Corpses, Mud City Manglers, Abysme

 

at Howlers Coyote Cafe

4509 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh (Bloomfield)

 

Thursday 30 August 2012 | 10:00 pm (doors 9pm) | $5 | 21+ only

 
Another great band from Indiana (these guys are from Fort Wayne) are also coming to Pittsburgh tonight: horror punkers Lurking Corpses. They’re making an appearance at Howlers, alongside local punk rockers Mud City Manglers, and opening the festivities with some Pittsburgh-style death metal will be Abysme (whom you might remember from the Iron Atrocity V.1 compilation).

More information and RSVP here.

 
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Fist Fight in the Parking Lot, German Shepherd, Supervoid

 

at the Smiling Moose

1306 E Carson Street, Pittsburgh (South Side)

 

Friday August 31 | 9:30 pm | FREE!! | 21+ only

 
How’s this for a fun Friday night? The Moose will be full of heavy rock ‘n roll craziness as FFITPL take the stage (of course you remember them, from when I reviewed their self-titled CD earlier this year, right?), with two other local bands, German Shepherd, and the newly-formed Supervoid. Best of all, the whole thing is absolutely FREE!!

 

 
More information and RSVP here.

Some Incredible Events Today In Pittsburgh And Kent, Ohio! (18 August 2012)

Hey readers! Did you see my post yesterday about the Lady Beast record release show? Just curious, because that was absolutely the most pathetic excuse for writing a post that I’ve ever done. Like a sentence and a half and a “here, check the Facebook event for more details”…

For that, I apologize. I know I’m always going on and on about being so busy and not having enough time to write as much as I want to, and it probably gets annoying to read, but it’s true — and I wish there was something I could do about it. Maybe I should leave the “What to do in Pittsburgh” stuff up to The Pittsburgh Scene, or MoshPittsburgh. I dunno. But, there are two HUGE events happening today, one right in town, and the other just about two hours away, and I couldn’t possibly neglect my duties to inform you about these!

As always, I’m sorry if I missed anything, please be sure to let me know in the comments (or send me a message on Facebook), and also as always, stay tuned because –honestly– there are more reviews and stuff forthcoming!

 
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Upcoming Shows: Chrome Waves Tour Starts Tonight!

 
Okay, folks, listen up. Here’s another tour you need to know about. It’s only nine days long and only covers the north-eastern quadrant of the United States, but if you live in or near any of the cities listed below (including Pittsburgh!) you won’t want to miss Chrome Waves. How’s this for a super group: Stavros Giannopoulos (The Atlas Moth), Jeff Wilson (Wolvhammer, ex-Nachtmystium), and Iron Bob Fouts (The Gates of Slumber)!
 
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Upcoming Shows: What To Do In (And Around) Pittsburgh This Weekend (27-29 July 2012)

What’s up, readers!??

Pittsburgh metal. Good stuff. FREE. Read about it, download it. You won’t regret it, and I won’t stop bugging you until you do it. Seriously.

A whole bunch of the bands who have songs on that comp are playing shows this weekend, along with a whole bunch of other bands. If you’re in the Pittsburgh region over the next couple days, you’ll want to pay attention because here’s your guide to what awesomeness you might have missed if I wasn’t here to help you out!

 
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