I recently got an email from the band .Gyre. from Weehawken, NJ, asking me to check them out. Let me start by saying that I love when bands email me to check them out because it’s like a present, and you never know what kind of band it is until you unwrap it or, at least, give them a listen. I heard some of their songs and they almost sounded like the band that I featured last week, My Bitter End. My point is that I’m realizing that every group I hear today is starting to sound the same and there’s no originality to what these bands are writing. .Gyre. seemed to be no different. Their songs “Evacuate,” “Singularity” and “.Gyre.” are great and technically sound, but it’s just technical metal with tons of screaming. Doesn’t that sound familiar? Don’t get me wrong, .Gyre. are a really good local band for what they play and I feel really bad using them to vent about their style of music, but it is what it is and so many acts are starting to sound the same!
.Gyre. are a prog metal band, stating that their music is inspired by bands like Mastodon, lyrically like Tool, with the power and precision of Meshuggah, and a live attitude similar to Converge. They consider themselves a progressive metal band because of their song structure and musicianship, but most importantly because of their ideas that drive their music and their artistic aspirations. .Gyre. seem to use themes from each band member’s chakra as a seed for their creations. What is chakra? Chakra is believed to be centers of the body from which a person can collect energy. They feel that the more they create together the more each member knows their own and each other’s strengths. .Gyre. are made up of screamer Giovannie Jeckler, guitarists Juan Soaz and Ian McCartney, bassist Chirag Bhatt, and drummer Pablo Carpio.
.Gyre. are currently in the process of putting the finishing touches on their second EP. They’re using inspiration from the Swadhisthana, or second chakra, such as feelings of all-destructiveness, delusion, disdain and the idea that we must consume to produce to record this new CD. .Gyre. reached out to producer Kevin Antreassian of Backroom Studios in Rockaway to help them with this CD. The boys from .Gyre. are looking forward to promoting their upcoming EP and let their growing fanbase in on their new music. Even with all my venting about Jersey metal, .Gyre. really are a great sounding, brutal metal band! Check them out for yourself at reverbnation.com/gyreband.
NORTH JERSEY NOTES UPDATES:
My bro Santino Noir, lead singer of the band Scarlet Carson, recently released his debut solo CD, They’ll Never See It Coming, and I know that I warned you in the past that it wasn’t a rock record, but I still didn’t see this coming! Santino emailed me a copy of the CD, and I have to say that I really didn’t expect him to have this much hip to his hop! The CD is actually really good and even though it’s a hip-hop disc, you can still hear the rock in Santino’s voice, especially on the big choruses. The song structures in his tracks are still rock ‘n’ roll, no matter what he says. He’s definitely not reinventing the wheel with this CD and if you love bands like Hollywood Undead or Linkin Park, you’ll love Santino’s first solo disc. Some songs to keep your ears out for are “Believe,” the possible hit single “Feelin’ Good,” which he already has a music video for, and my favorite song and possibly a biographical track called “Rockstar Wannabe.” You can download They’ll Never See It Coming now on amazon.com.
The gang from Heroes Of Toolik have released a new CD called Winter Moon, and the disc showcases everything we love about the Heroes Of Toolik. The songs “F-String,” “Young Venus,” and the track that already garnered them some airplay, “Yellow-Haired Sea,” are all easy on the ears. In other Heroes news, they’ve recently added a violin player to the band, and her name is Jennifer Coates. Check out the new Heroes Of Toolik material on heroesoftoolik.com.
And finally, make sure you get your asses to Dingbatz this Saturday night (12/8) to see my boys from Audio Machine rock the house with my bros from VH1’s That Metal Show hosting. Yes, Eddie Trunk, Don Jamieson, and Jim Florentine will be at Dingbatz on this action-packed night! Also performing will be Generation Kill, featuring Rob Dukes from Exodus, and the band SMACK. For more info on this show, log onto dingbatznj.com.
That’s all for now! If your band is from North Jersey, and you want some exposure, send your press kits to Arts Weekly, c/o Tim Louie P.O. Box 1140, Little Falls, NJ 07424, or you can email me at tim@theaquarian.com, where you can also let me know where you’re performing next!
Just remember….We’re all in the same boat, so every little bit of exposure counts!
Tim Louie is the Author of S**t Happens.
NJN Concert Calendar:
12/6—Warrior Soul/Dirty Stayouts—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
12/7—Spread Eagle/Warrior Soul—Saint Vitus Bar, Brooklyn, NY
12/7—My Bitter End—Traces, Rome, NY
12/7—Nuclear Riff Attack/Mother/Bluesfield Drive/Natural Born Losers—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
12/8—Panzie*/Spread Eagle/Warrior Soul—Ollie’s Point, Amityville, NY
12/8—Generation Kill/SMACK/Audio Machine—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
12/10—Atom Strange—Arlene’s Grocery, NYC
12/13—Suffer Your Fate (Formerly Spoonfed)/Enemy Of Everyone—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
12/14— Indisguise/Pyramada/Ixion Lux/Empire Fallen—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
12/14—Panzie*/Star Killer—Mercury Lounge, NYC
12/14—She Said Fire—White Plains Performing Art Center, White Plains, NY
12/15—Mass Punishment/Hyngd—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
12/17—Atom Strange—Arlene’s Grocery, NYC
12/20—Beyond Visible/Seas Of Wake/Halfwitted Dogs/The Dead Elvi—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
12/21—Doomsday Prophecy/The Persevering Promise—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
12/22—Marc Rizzo/Carnavarice Breath/Scars Of Envy/Murder League All-Stars/Brand Of Julez/Lethal Affection—The Blue Room, Secaucus, NJ
12/22—Ghosts Of Eden/Bound By Substance/Revel 9/Last Stand For Lucy—Mercury Lounge, NYC
12/27—Julius Seizure/Thanatotic Desire/Shadows Of Dawn—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
12/28—40 Below Summer—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
12/29—40 Below Summer—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
12/31—Atom Strange—Arlene’s Grocery, NYC
