Everyone’s favorite experimental drone, doom, and black metal wonders, Locrian, are on tour right now. The band decided they wanted to give some of our readers a glimpse into what it looks like when a band like Locrian goes on tour, so they wrote up a handful of tour diaries about their time on the road. Check it out, and allow yourself to live vicariously through the band’s adventures.
Baltimore 07/16 – 07/19 w/ Curse + Digital Negative + HUVR @ Metro Gallery
Locrain is from nowhere really, spread out across three cities after Andre and I left Chicago. I wonder in the band origin stories how many bands needed a city to generate their myth, or does a city generate a myth for a band? After I left Chicago, I made Baltimore my home. It has a killer music scene, amazing people, great artists and food, and for an awesome city is relatively affordable.
This week, we spent days practicing, eating killer food, and seeing lots of friends before our first show. The first practice was during an over-100-degree day in an un-air-conditioned large garage at Orion Practice studios and was the ultimate test of climate change versus the human ability to stay sane and cool. The owner told me Amyl and the Sniffers were about to use the space; I hope they bring portable air conditioners or something.
A visit to Checkerspot brewing broke it up, but we made it through, sweat-filled and surprised some of these songs sounded better than we expected. The following two days were at J. Robbins’ Magpie Cage which had air conditioning, proximity to Charm City Meadworks, and we felt the set started to come together. We even got Erica, my wife and collaborator, in to work on vocals for her guest spots in the set.
The show was great; Huvr started off the night and sounded good. Digital Negative was a perfect follow up, as a noise electronic duo. Then Curse (were up next)—the hardest working band in America, a synth/drum duo who channeled everything from synth horror soundtracks to creepy goth doom. Just a great bill.
Baltimore was great; the set kind of felt spindly, full of potential. It has been eight years since we have toured, and the songs we recorded for End Terrain, we had never performed before an audience before. A major highlight was not just having Erica sing with us on her songs, but also having our kids there—very cool to see them headbanging a few times during the set. Metro Gallery was perfect, and the venue was full of friends and family. A great way to begin the tour, in front of friends and family on what was, at least to me, home turf (whatever that means).
Baltimore photos courtesy of Erik Weir
Philadelphia 07/20 w/ Planning for Burial + Have A Nice Life @ Union Transfer
Atopia. Socrates used the word ‘atopia’ to describe things that are ineffable hard to describe. Compared to a potential “utopia,” it is a nonplace. I think that this is an interested and relatable category relative to LOCRIAN’s existence. When a band is so attached to a scene or location it can present challenges when that connection no longer exists,members leave, scenes change. Chicago was a home for LOCRIAN for eight years, but I never really felt like it fit in with a scene, and it was always more evident when we went out on the road.
Your context becomes more defined, for better or worse. How would you be received? It is that unknown, alongside many others, that kind of haunts touring. Hoping for connection, and assessing if they were made, fell short, or directly hit is a strange ether of anxiety. So, to brave the American landscape to Philadelphia, a city we haven’t played in for almost 10 years, and play at Union Transfer, was exciting and daunting. The venue made it insanely easy for us, being professional and incredibly organized.
This set was amazing. We were backlit and Cody, Have a Nice Life’s projectionist/video artist, took the helm of the insane visuals generated for us by Nick Rosendorf. We cut a track from our set and kept it brief but intense. Planning for Burial (played next). We’ve been friends with Thom for a long time—In fact the last time we played Philly was with him at Boot and Saddle—but this was a different situation all together. PFB’s set was intense, full of beautiful drones seamlessly drifting into songs and the crowd was really into it. Have a Nice Life had the entirety of UxT in the palm of their hand, though normally —on record—being a duo, live HANL fill out their set with a core group of friends who bolster their sound with a more muscular heft.
We said our goodbyes and went our way into the dark American night towards Delaware watching chemical flares burning blue in the port of the night.
Philadelphia photos courtesy of Locrian
Voorhees, NJ 07/21 w/ deadyellow + Pale Shade @ TUNES
Before we went to New Jersey, we had some serious oysters in WIllmington, DE on the day that Biden dropped out of the race. Incredibly surreal.
Playing New Jersey has always been on my list of places to play. I was born in south New Jersey and have a few family connections in the area. It’s a strange place and defies probably what most people expect of the state if you only see the turnpike and the industrial wastelands of the northern part of the state. So, when TUNES asked us to play a day off we said yes. TUNES is in a strip mall, has a pretty dedicated staff who run the shop and own it and play in one of the bands.
DEADYELLOW started off the show with atmospheric black-metal and were followed by the epic dreamy shoegazers PALE SHADE. A solid bill in suburban New Jersey. The hosts were completely kind, and their friends. Very cool to meet new fans who saw us the night before in Philly.
After the show we hung out with the legend Edley ODowd (Psychic TV/Toilet Boys) who lives nearby.
Loaded up our gear and drove off into the darkness of an uncertain country.
Queens, NY 07/22 w/ Cementation Anxiety @ TV EYE
I may be one of the few who love the drive into New York City as the greenery makes way for industry. Refineries and petro-chemical infrastructure amidst ancient rusting hulks of buildings and debris below a highway like some strange moving dramaturgical display of climate change. I often dream of this wasteland, wandering through it, knee-high in waders trudging through gray arsenic infused mud below burning flames and strobing red warning lights.
We actually got to the venue very early, and loaded in easily with help from Cementation Anxiety. Our old friend Paul bought us some sick pizza from Decades, and we saw a lot of old fans and friends; online names were placed to faces. TV Eye is a great venue with excellent sound, definitely makes up for the (temporary) loss of Saint Vitus.
Cementation Anxiety played a huge loud massive drifty and droney set that really blew us away. Great visuals too.
Tonight the set felt perfect; it may have been that the visuals were on point. Our friend Nicholas Elzrioth Rosendorf made a sick collection of glitched videos that we put into a huge loop for our set, and they project onto us like wavering scan lines.
Another guest was the visual artist Sean Dack,who also plays in the excellent Ghost Cop. He did the cover for our collaborative album with Christoph Heemann (Handmade Birds, 2012), and he and his partner Lucy made the video for our track “Mortichnia,” and it was great to see him, catch up and get his recommendations for cool stuff in Portland.
Finally, Kyle from Cementation Anxiety told me that the last time we played Brooklyn, he asked me for advice about balancing life and art; he is a teacher too. This was maybe eight years ago. Apparently, I said to make time for your art. He said it helped him, but I think it helped me more to hear an older version of myself say this, and it is valid advice I need to heed.
New York photo courtesy of Paul Granger
Tonight is the final show of the tour in Chicago at Cobra Lounge, and you can get tickets here. Locrian’s new album from earlier this year is called End Terrain, and you can order it form Profound Lore Records. Follow Locrain on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for future updates. Stay tuned for more reports from the road from Locrain.
All images courtesy of Locrian
