The Death Set at Jelly NYC's Pool Parties

The Death Set played Jelly NYC's Pool Parties at East River Park last Sunday July 25th in Brooklyn. Dan, Johnny, and Jahphet aka Roofeeo, of course, were batsh*t crazy. Our friend Colin Devin Moore shot a bunch of photos of their set. Then, he ran them down for the most uninformative interview in the history of man.



At some point shortly after this interview the crowd went over to Brooklyn Bowl where Johnny threw a bowling ball at Japhet.





So what the hell is going on with them? Here's a state of The Death Set email Johnny Sierra sent out this week:

"The big news is that we have finished our new album! Its called "Michel Poiccard". Some may recognize that name as the bad ass lead character from the French New Wave movie "Breathless". Dedicated to the rough and tumble dude he is.?? The record was mixed and executively produced by XXXChange, producer for Spankrock, The Kills and remixer of a gazillion from Thom Yorke to Kylie Minogue. We are super psyched on it! Includes a collaboration with Diplo on a track and Spankrock on another.??Expect a mixtape in October, singles with videos from November and the record to drop in January. Coming out on Counter records. The rock sibling of Ninja Tune."

The Death Set will be playing The Mad Decent Block Party tomorrow in Philly with buds, Ninjasonik. Shortly after, they're getting all fancy & going to France to break a bunch of really old, historical stuff after drinking a lot of beer. The France tour dates are listed on The Death Set's site so have yourself a look.

Catching up with Ninjasonik

The Ninjas were running the roads in CA doing some shows in the bay area & in LA a couple of weeks ago while also doing a bit of recording in the studio. Fortunately, their rad gal manager Felice packed them all in a car to the Vans office before they had to head back to Brooklyn. While she passed out on this bench-looking thing for a much needed nap, I chatted with Telli "Bathroomsexx" Gramz, Ben Robey and Roofeo from the infamous baller black ikea couch.

By the way, they got a fresh new site: Ninjasonik.com.

See them with The Death Set, Diplo & a buncha cool people for FREE at the Mad Decent Block Parties. The first one is in Philly on this Saturday July 31.

School of Rock: Live Aid Remade

If you don't know about it, School of Rock is just what it sounds like. Their mission is to inspire kids to rock the eff out.

"With more than a decade of successful experience teaching music, School of Rock is the national leader in music education for kids from age 7 to 18. Students learn from professional musicians in an interactive environment combining weekly private lessons and structured group rehearsals with the ultimate goal of performing live in front of real crowds."

I could totally do this. I bet I can pass for 10-ish, right? Kids have grey hair sometimes. Back to the matter at hand, The School of Rock's Live Aid Remade! Tonight at the Whisky and also on July 30th in Pamona at the Glass House Vans is proud to be sponsoring the School of Rock All Stars as they perform a tribute to the 1985 Live Aid concert. The School of Rock kids are doing this to benefit Music For Relief. If you're not in SoCal for these events, check out their tour page for a date near you.

Here's the kind of serious musicianship you can expect at the show.

Matt Costa Free New Track Download

Like the headline says, our buddy Matt Costa is offering up free track "The Season" from his new album Mobile Chateau on Matt Costa dot com. The new album, due out on 9/21/10 on Brushfire Records, will accompany a big, long tour that will most certainly come to a city near you. The dates are up & some are already for sale.



Here's a snippet of what you can expect from Mobile Chateau via OC Weekly, "Costa promises a "distinct departure" from his previous work in Mobile Chateau, leaning towards what the press release calls "'60s psychedelic superheroes," before name-checking Donovan, 13th Floor Elevators, the Zombies and the Electric Prunes." Congrats, Matt!

Man Man in the Studio

Writing songs in both LA & Philly, Man Man thought it best to record their album somewhere in the middle. They picked Omaha. Hints the band is posting online makes this sound somewhere between a fight and a party with kids and a torture chamber & a symphony, "Took much longer than we thought to create the overdub the sound of the sound of a man being electrocuted. 15 minute break then onto the sound of a crazy bodega thug," and "big, little girl" trapped inside Honus' throat pipes." Here's a vid of Stella, the producer's little girl as guest vocalist.



Anti Records hasn't said when the album might be released, but status updates from front man Honus Honus say, "mixing, mixing, mixing." Man Man has few tour dates where I'm sure you can get a preview of the new material at the beginning of September.

Hopeless Romantics & True Believers

Many bands have a few serious fans, but few bands have the army that The Bouncing Souls have amassed over the years. Check out a few of these tattoos and view the rest on The Bouncing Souls facebook. They're on tour now so check them out this summer. I'm backing the all black solid one. Keeping it classic.

Set Your Goals Gets Political

With Set Your Goals' new video for the song "Gaia Bleeds" the guys are being pretty clear about how they feel we're doing with taking care of environmental business. Not that rad. So besides asking you to be more conscientious of your own impact, SYG are asking their fans to donate to Operation Gulf Rescue via SeaShepherd.org. Here are a couple of shots, but view the video on Myspace Music. Catch the guys on Warped Tour all summer.

Mastodon + Jonah Hex EP

This excites us. Because we like comics, we like movies, and we like metal. If you wondered why the music in the Jonah Hex trailer was so badass, it's because it was written by Mastodon...

In light of the release of latest DC comic book movie Jonah Hex yesterday, Mastodon have announced they will release a 6-song EP of the movie scores- despite the struggling process the band endured while working on the project. The album will be released on June 29th.

Here's a snippet of how the band approached writing the music for the film:

For their first venture into the realm of film, Mastodon would record the tracks spontaneously while viewing the movie footage, proving to be a daring and daunting way of creating music together over a short period of time. The resulting sessions yielded incredibly exciting results produced in a completely different way than they normally would approach writing and recording for a Mastodon album.

Just for kicks and to hear how the guys approached the movie, check out the trailer:

The Death Set's "Far Weathered Friends" Video

We are excited to have the official music video for The Death Set's "Far Weathered Friends," a reworking of Daedelus' "Fair Weathered Friends." The video is directed by LAZLO, illustrated by J. Penry and animated by Wealthy Pictures.

On top of the video, we can (luckily) be expecting more stuff from The Death Set this year- including a documentary, a mix tape of the band's favorite tracks and unreleased material....and all before a new fall album. Score.

After the unexpected death of founding member Beau Velasco in late '09, I applaud the band for their choice to continue their writing, touring and general badassery. No doubt that 2010 will wrap up to be a solid year, so here's to many more awesome musical endeavors by TDS!

As details unfold about the year's planned releases, you know where to look.

Interview: Dilinger Escape Plan

Liam from Dillinger Escape Plan was cool enough to sit down and answer some questions from the Warped Tour Pit Reporter...who also happens to be me! He tells us who he's liked working with, what it's like getting this far on the band's 10th year, new releases he likes and more- not to mention a prank the band pulled on The Bronx a few years ago on Warped.



If you haven't already picked up the band's latest album Option Paralysis, be sure to give it a good listen.