Note: This post contains no Tool content (aside from a few Tool shirts I saw at the gig).  For those that can’t handle that concept, please move on!

Last night I was lucky enough to head into town with a mate of mine and check out a band I’ve been meaning to see in a small setting for some time now.  The Dillinger Escape Plan are a band I’ve been a fan of for a while now, and it seemed that every time they did their own tour here I missed the gig for one reason or another.  I was the lucky enough to check them out at Soundwave in 2009, and they put on a great show there, so I expected big things here.

This year, they toured playing a local small venue here called Fowlers Live, and I made sure I didn’t miss it this time around!  Also on the bill were American metallers Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster and Periphery.

The gig was all ages, and the last one I went to at Fowlers started really early, so this time I made sure I was there not long after the doors opened so I could catch Periphery.  They jumped on stage at about 7:30pm, which personally I think is far too early, and played to a crowd of maybe 100 people.  They put on a good show though, and seemed quite into it despite the lack of crowd response (there were a few die-hards jumping about). 

They played about 5 songs I think, all of which I think I recognised form their debut album.  Having 3 guitarists on stage was a little different – looked like there wasn’t much empty space on the already small stage!  I had a quick chat with the guys after the show as well, the seemed like really cool guys, and were genuinely happy to be give the chance to play Down Under.  I’m sure we’ll see them again soon.  I’m not sure these guys are really at their best yet, but I feel there’s potential for these guys to be a pretty good band.

Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster were up next, and I’m not really a fan of theirs.  Unfortunately for them their set didn’t change my opinion of them, so we hit the bar for a few Pale Ales.

Thankfully by the time Dillinger came on, the crowd size had increased somewhat, and it actually felt like their was an audience in front of the stage for once.  DEP seemed to have made an effort to bring their lighting rig with them, as the stage was filled with many more lights than are usually present at a Fowlers gig.  No fancy ones swinging from the roof though.

Dillinger Escape Plan hit the stage at about 9:30, and played for just shy of an hour.  Basically, they kicked ass.  The set list was more or less as you’d expect – a range of classics from all of their albums, with the highlight for me being the final song Farewell Mona Lisa.  As is expected at a DEP gig, they well full of energy, leaping all over the place, slinging guitars around and jumping into the crowd – all while a seizure inducing lightshow was on display.

Dillinger I felt where at their best when they played songs which varied the tempo from blisteringly fast, to more mellow and slowed down sections.  Mouth of Ghosts was a great example of this, and while I love the full on aspect of DEP live, my favourite parts of the set where the more mellow sections such as this.

The only criticisms I would have is that the sound was cranked partway through the set, and what started sounding pretty good, became a bit of a distorted mess in the end.  Could be just my old ears though…

Overall it was a great night, Fowlers is a cool little venue, and I always enjoy seeing bands there.  I thought the ticket prices were perhaps a little too expensive (after booking fees it was just under $70), though if I were a Maylene fan I probably would have thought otherwise.  The crowd size was disappointing.  I thought DEP would be more popular than this, but I guess Tuesday nights aren’t really conducive to big shows in Adelaide (or any other night I suspect…).  Shows starting this early suck as well, but being as they’re all ages on a Tuesday night, I guess that’s understandable.  Though I was happy with the lineup for the night, I wished there was a local support act – local music needs all the support and exposure it can get.

Didn’t have a great night with the camera tonight, Dillinger’s light show was a little tricky for my Nexus One, but here’s a snap of Periphery:

According to a recent post on the ISIS website, they have decided to call it a day:

ISIS has reached an end. It’s hard to try to say it in any delicate way, and it is a truth that is best spoken plainly. This end isn’t something that occurred over night and it hasn’t been brought about by a single cataclysmic fracture in the band. Simply put, ISIS has done everything we wanted to do, said everything we wanted to say. In the interest of preserving the love we have of this band, for each other, for the music made and for all the people who have continually supported us it is time to bring it to a close. We’ve seen too many bands push past the point of a dignified death and we all promised one another early on in the life of the band that we would do our best to ensure ISIS would never fall victim to thiat syndrome. We’ve had a much longer run than we ever expected we would and accomplished a great deal more than we ever imagined possible. We never set any goals in the beginning other than to make the music we wanted to hear and to play and to stay true to that ideal, so everything else that has come along the long and winding path has been an absolute gift. As with any momentous life changing decision (which this certainly is for the 5 of us), we feel a very dynamic range of emotions about this and cannot express all of this within the space of a few sentences, and perhaps it’s best to do what we’ve always done in and let our music speak for us. It is and has been the truest expression of who we are as a collective and in some ways who we are as individuals for the 13 years in which we’ve been together. The last and perhaps most important thing we might say in relation to all this is how grateful we are for the people that have supported us over the years. It is a lengthy list that would include those who put out our records, those that played on and them and put them to tape, the many bands with whom we shared the stage, all of our family, friends and companions who supported us in our individual lives and thus made it possible for us to continue on in the band, and most importantly those that truly listened to our music whether in recorded form or by coming to out to our shows or both. It is quite true that we would never have done what we have without those people, that is many of you who are reading this. Our words can never fully express what we feel, but we hope that our music and the efforts made to bring it into being can serve as a more proper expression of gratitude for this life and for everyone in it. Thank you. 

In more immediate and practical terms the tour we are about to embark upon is indeed our last. We are hoping that these final live rituals can help us bring a close to the life of this band in a celebratory and reverent way and also provide us with a chance to say goodbye to many of those that have supported us over the years. While there is a measure of sadness that comes with the passing of this band, we hope that the final days can be joyous ones during which any and all that wish to come and join us will do so. It seems fitting that the last show of the tour and of our existence will take place in Montreal, the site of the very first ISIS show in 1997 though that was an unintentional  move when booking the show initially. After the tour we also plan to follow through with other projects set in motion some time ago, that is pursuing the completion of a final EP, compiling live audio and visual material for future releases, and generally doing whatever we can to make our music available for as long as there are people who wish to hear it. 

Thanks again to any and all,
ISIS, May 18, 2010

Thanks for the memories guys, I’m a little sad I never got to see you play in a smaller venue!

Bill sent me an email yesterday letting me know that one of the customised posters done by Adam for the 2007 tour has found it’s way onto Ebay.  The cool tour posters were based on a cool looking print, and then further customised be Adam, in this instance he drew a picture of a weird looking dude no dissimilar to one found in Tool videos.  Starting bid is $500, do be prepared to spent a bit on this…

Those with a more modest budget may be interested in Jeremy’s auction of a tour poster he picked up in Atlanta last year.  This poster is at a much more tasty $50:

Looks like the Tool show in Seattle has been confirmed by several sites (not on Toolband though) as being on the 10th of July at Key Arena.  Looks like Gorge fans will have to wait for next tour.  Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10am, presumably at everyone’s favourite ticketing vendor.

I get plenty of questions from readers regarding other shows on the tour (are Tool gonna play town xyz?) and generally I don’t have any further information that what I’ve posted on the site.  It’s very rare that I receive info that I’m asked to sit on, so while I’m happy to answer any questions or emails I get, be aware that it’s likely that 99% of the time the answer will be “I don’t know”. 

As far as this tour goes, given that leaks are slowing down, I kinda suspect we may be getting to the end of date announcements.  My gut feeling at this stage is that we’ll see the show on the 20th of July in LA confirmed, and that will probably be it.  Bad luck for those that missed out, but be happy that Tool will be hitting the studio shortly afterwards, and that we should see a fuller tour hopefully next year.  For all of the non-North American readers, I’m sure that means we’ll see them abroad with shows in Europe, Asia and Australasia.  I sure am keen to see them again…

Here’s a bunch more Melvins dates that I may or may not have posted about in the past:

Jun 1     San Diego    Casbah   
Jun 2        Phoenix    The Clubhouse   
Jun 3     Albuquerque, NM    Launchpad Nightclub and Restaurant   
Jun 5        Austin         Emo’s   
Jun 6        San Antonio, TX    White Rabbit   
Jun 7        Houston    Warehouse Live   
Jun 8        Baton Rouge, LA       Spanish Moon Cafe   
Jun 9        New Orleans       One Eyed Jacks   
Jun 14        Athens, GA    40 Watt Club   
Jun 17        Philadelphia        Theater of the Living Arts   
Jun 18        New York City         Webster Hall   
Jun 23        Cleveland         The Grog Shop   
Jun 25        Chicago    Double Door   
Jun 26        Madison, WI    High Noon Saloon   
Jun 29        Denver        Ogden Theatre   
Jul 2     Calgary, Canada    Sled Island Festival   
Jul 3        Calgary, Canada    Sled Island Festival   
Jul 5        Vancouver, Canada        The Rickshaw Theatre   
Jul 6     Seattle        Showbox at the Market   
Jul 9        San Jose       The Blank Club

Safe to say that based on these dates The Melvins won’t be supporting Tool this time around.  Well at least not for all of the gigs anyway.

Amer contacted me today and asked my to plug his Ebay sale of an extremely rare copy of Aenima.  His description can describe it better than I can:

"A [studio master is a] recording that, presumably, has been mastered at the same studio it has been mixed at. Most recordings are mastered at a mastering facility. For security purposes (since this was a CD made before Ænima was released for public consumption), the cardboard sleeve has been numbered."

These were released in limited numbers (no one knows how many) and distributed to radio stations almost 15 years ago. This copy is #391. An overwhelming majority have been lost or destroyed, making this the rarest Tool promo item, ever. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise I have owned several Aenima promo vinyls, signed Cesaro Summability promo vinyls and signed Lateralus vinyls, but they do not come close to this item in rarity.

The only other copy I ever saw for sale in all my years of collecting was on this obscure Taiwanese(?) auction website more than 5 years ago. I will be surprised if you see another one of these for sale for years to come. Don’t miss out.

The disc has only been played once by the original owner, and is in mint condition. The cardboard sleeve is in excellent condition for its age, with minor edgewear.

I’ve not heard of this particular edition on Aenima, then again I’m not a huge Tool collector, so I can’t really comment on it’s rarity. Either way it sounds interesting, and I’m sure that Tool collectors out there would jump at the chance to grab the piece Tool’s history.

The price is currently at $5 (I couldn’t help myself) and there is a reserve, which I’d hazard to guess would be north of $500.

Blair just posted a confirmation of the two Red Rock shows, and a new show on the 13th of July in Sacramento on Toolband.  Hopefully more dates to come!

While not yet confirmed on Toolband, the 93.3 Website and AEG Live are showing that Tool are playing at Red Rocks, CO on to consecutive nights on the 28th and 29th of June (not that’s June not July).

I’m not 100% convinced by those dates yet, so wait for confirmation on Toolband, but seems extremely likely that this will go ahead at this awesome venue.  Two nights in a row is interesting as well, I’m sure there will be plenty of speculation in about them perhaps filming something that night…

In a recent Puscifer email, Maynard talks about some of the ups and downs in wine growing, as well as mentioning that Puscifer should have a Live DVD out in Spring next year.  There are also plans for a Wine Club called the Velvet Slippers Club which I imagine will distribute a range of Arizona wines including some of Maynards own.

And just in case you’ve forgotten, here’s a range of Blood Into Wine screening dates:

• AB – Edmonton – May 13 – The Billiard Club
• AL – Birmingham – June 17 – Workplay Theater
• AZ – Flagstaff – May 22 – Orpheum Theater
• CA – Modesto – May 14 & 15 – The State Theatre of Modesto
• CA – Los Angeles – June 4 to 10 – Rave Motion Pictures Beverly Center
• CA – Sacramento – Jun. 10 – The Crest Theatre
• CO – Fort Collins – May 14 – May 20 – Lyric Cinema
• FL – Jacksonville – June 20 – 5 Points Theatre
• IL – Peoria – Apr. 15 – May 15 – Peoria Theatre
• MA – Nantucket – May 17 – 20 & May 22 – 24 – Starlight Theater
• MI – Grand Rapids – June 17 – Wealthy Theater
• MO – St. Louis – May 20 – Tivoli Theatre
• NC – Winston-Salem – May 21 – May 22 – a/perture Cinema
• NV – Las Vegas – June 17 – Rave Motion Pictures Town Square Center
• NY – Brooklyn (Williamsburg) – May 29 – Uniondocs
• NY – New York City – May 27 – With Special Guests – City Winery
• NY – New York City – May 28 – City Winery
• OH – Cleveland – May 21 & 28 – The Cleveland Museum of Art
• TX – Austin – June 21 – Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek
• TX – Houston – June 19 – Alamo Drafthouse West Oaks
• TX – Dallas – May 20 – Wine Tasting and Q&A w/Eric Glomski – Magnolia West Village
• VT – Burlington – May 14-20 – Roxy Cinema
• WI- Madison – June 4-17 – Orpheum Theatre
• WI – Milwaukee – May 20 – Times Cinema

A range of Tool related merch has appeared on Ebay today – collectors should check out the following items:

• "Sieban" Limited Print by Maynard James Keenan of Tool  http://item.ebay.com/200465409464
• Tool Lateralus Signed Vinyl http://item.ebay.com/200470844864
• Alex Grey "Net of Being" limited print http://item.ebay.com/200466514727

Happy shopping!  And if you ever want to buy anything of Amazon or a range of other joints, check out my buddies website CamelCamelCamel.

Just got an email today from a reader who heard that Tool have booked to play two shows at the Red Rocks in Colorado on the 27th & 28th of July.  Not sure about this source though, so definitely in the rumour category for now…